Grey War Saga 1: Twilight of Innocence (5 page)

General Yardek
stood on the bridge of the Viken flagship, the Hyrken. All of the fleets from
the lizard people’s territories had been called back to the homeworld. On the monitor
Yardek watched the latest intelligence report and video.

“What do you
think general?” his commander asked.

“Our chances
aren’t good,” Yardek said. He looked at his soldiers on the bridge before
hitting the com so the others in the fleet could hear him. “Today we can’t
settle for less than our best. The Greys have targeted our world with their
monstrous planet killers and our ships stand little chance against them. But
the duty of a soldier is to protect those they serve. We serve the people first
and foremost; if we must die in that service then so be it. Today we stake our
lives for our fellows who can’t fight. Today we rise and fight with the
strength of gods! Long live the Viken Republic! Long live the Confederation!”

“Long live the
Viken Republic! Long live the Confederation!” the soldiers echoed.

“Quite the
speech Yardek,” Prime Minister Ulad said over the monitor.

“Speeches are
nice but victory would be better,” Yardek said. “How goes the evacuation?”

“We’ve packed
every transport and colony to its limit,” Ulad admitted. “We’ve resorted to
setting up shield systems around the largest cities.”

“Excellent,” he said.
“They may kill our home but they will not kill our people.”

“The loss of our
homeworld would be terrible,” she said.

“I know,” Yardek
said. “But for now we must do what we can. Save the most lives, that’s our
charge right now. I wish you luck prime minister.”

“You’re the one
who needs luck general,” Ulad said.

Inside lunar
orbit the Viken detected a thousand Grey carriers. Behind them appeared a pair
of planet killers. Yardek sneered as he stared down the enemy.

“Perhaps luck is
all we can hope for,” he said.

Flashes of light
filled the space above the lizard people’s homeworld as five thousand of their
ships and innumerable fighters charged the Grey fleet.

* *
*

The Columbia
base appeared in orbit of Viken Prime and saw the entire military of the lizard
people engaging the Grey fleet. Veda and Reban manned the command center while
the six ships deployed. With them flew out another twenty five heavy class
vessels from the Confederation forces. Joining the almost eight hundred mobile
weapons from the base and six ships were nearly a thousand Lance Phalanxes led
by Commander Baeron. Veda opened a com line to the Viken flagship.

“This is Admiral
Veda Kein of Heaven’s Light,” she said.

“I hear you
admiral,” Yardek said. He sent over the Viken attack plan. “That should help
you figure out what to do.”

Veda smiled.
“It’s good to see a suicidal charge isn’t the only thing you planned for.”

“Of course not,”
Yardek said.

From the larger
and closer of the two moons of the Viken homeworld a number of silos opened up
and launched a barrage of two hundred nuclear missiles. As light filled the
area over four hundred Grey carriers were destroyed. From both the moon and the
homeworld pulse fire came as the orbital defense network activated. Valis
appeared on the monitor from the Minerva. On the other screens were the
commanders of the six ships and Baeron in his Lance.

“I’ve looked
over their plan and have to give them credit,” she said.

“That means we
have a chance,” Veda said.

“Yes, but only
if we strike down the two planet killers,” Valis said. “I hate leaving the
Viken alone but we need to focus on the bigger targets. Let’s begin with
formation A-3 and modify as we need to.”

“We’re on it,”
Veda said.

* *
*

The Minerva,
Gemini, Artemis, Siren, and Aegis flew to the front of the forces of the
Columbia base. Valis turned to her monitor and looked at the Mjolnir. She hit
her com to open a channel to her subordinate piloting the mobile suit.

“Are you alright
with this?” Meldi asked. “I normally trust your judgment but I’m not sure about
this.”

Valis smiled.
“Always remember Brian chose you as the Mjolnir’s pilot. That comes with a
burden but with it trust. Meldi, you’re the best pilot besides the five of us.
I have faith in your ability.”

“Thanks for
saying so captain,” Meldi said. “I’ll do my best.”

“I’ll leave the
mobile suit units to you then,” Valis said before switching over to the other
Maidens.

“You’re really
dumping a lot on Meldi’s plate,” Seles said.

“I know,” Valis
said. “But you do the same with Kyli.”

“She’s got that
right,” Mira said.

“So what’s the
plan?” Celi asked.

“The main unit
will stick with A-3 for now,” Valis answered. “We’ll stay close until an
opening to the planet killers appears. If we get lucky the trick we tried last
time will work again.”

“Sounds like
fun,” Kivi said.

The Columbia
base and all the vessels with it moved forward into the battle.

* *
*

“This is going
to be a mess,” Brian said.

He, Jesela,
Grigon, Myden, and the four droids were on the bridge of the Freedom as the
battle commenced.

“What makes you
say that?” Jesela asked.

“I say it
because it’s true,” Brian said.

“Well that
clears things up,” Grigon cawed.

“It’s because he
understands our enemy,” Myden said. “Tell us, what did you see?”

Brian looked at
Myden. “I saw exactly what you think I did. Our enemy isn’t content with
victory, it desires destruction.”

“We already know
that much,” Jesela said. “They wouldn’t be using those if they wanted to
negotiate.”

Brian looked at
the planet killers. “Their primary targets are the homeworlds of all the
Confederation races.”

“It makes sense
really,” Grigon said. “Although we can run and build elsewhere the
infrastructure to do so isn’t in place. Our homeworlds are the most built up,
therefore the best target to destroy first.”

“In a twisted
way I get it,” Jesela said.

“The other
factor is simple mathematics in terms of population,” Brian said. “The Reiki
homeworld held the vast majority of their people. It’ll take hundreds of years
to build their population back up.” He looked at Jesela. “Our foe is a
mechanized facsimile of a god. It thinks on the long term. We don’t have that
luxury.”

The Freedom
started shaking when pulse fire slammed into it from the Grey attack vessels.

“Ready the Hades
system,” Brian said.

“It’s ready
anytime you need it,” Grigon said.

* *
*

The Artemis and
Gemini took the front of the Maidens’ formation and fired into the enemy fleet
using their cannons in spread mode. The Aegis flew in the middle and had its
shield up for protection while the Minerva and Siren guarded their rear. Seles
shook her head to stop the berserk from happening.
Not yet.
She thought
to herself. She flipped her long silver blue hair back and took a deep breath.

“Are you alright
Seles?” Mira asked.

“My body’s
acting before my mind is,” Seles said.

“Keeping your
cool in battles like this isn’t easy,” Kivi admitted. “I’ve been fighting the
berserk the whole time too.”

“It’s different
because we’re not their targets,” Celi said. “The scale of death is far greater
than we’ve ever experienced.”

“How did Brian
handle the Braiden situation?” Valis asked. “In all the time since the sojourn
he’s never told me.”

“He’s never told
anyone,” Celi said. “After the Braiden homeworld was destroyed I saw a side of
him I don’t think anyone else has seen.”

“What was it you
saw?” Mira asked.

“Despair beyond
words,” Celi said. “All of us felt it. And when the Alaska base appeared I saw
the same thing in Captain Javrin’s eyes. The shock of billions being killed
isn’t something one grows used to.”

“I’d hope not,”
Seles said. “Otherwise we’d be just like them.”

The Maidens took
the lead as the Columbia base and its forces charged for the first planet
killer. As they cut their way through the smaller attack ships one of the giant
ships turned its face towards the moon of the Viken homeworld and fired. A
cloud of dust covered the entire globe of the moon while its surface was
superheated. Dozens of bases on the surface were vaporized when the heat cut
through their shields. Seles and the others watched in horror as millions of
Viken people were killed instantly. The dust covered moon began glowing
brightly as its surface was turned into molten lava.

* *
*

“General,” the
commander of the Hyrken said.

“I know,” Yardek
said. “Ulad, evacuate as many from the surface as possible. I don’t care if you
have to overload the orbital ring. Just save as many as you can.”

“We’re doing our
best,” Ulad said.

The com line
from the Freedom connected with every ship and base in the area.

“This is Captain
Peterson of the Freedom speaking,” Brian said. “To all those who can hear me, I
give but one order: survive. For those who can fight, do so with everything you
have. For those who can’t, run for your lives. The Greys are unlike any enemy
you’ve ever fought before. There is no negotiation and there is no peace. There
is only death. We of Heaven’s Light will fight this darkness. But we can’t do
it alone. Send out this request to the whole of the Confederation. Either we
fight as one or we die alone.”

The Freedom
started glowing after the Hades system turned on.

“Well said young
man,” Yardek said.

In front of the
closest planet killer a fleet of fifty thousand attack ships blocked the way.
Even with all their forces firing at full power the Columbia base was forced
back by the mass of pulse fire coming at it. From numerous areas on the planet
killer pulse cannons emerged and joined the bombardment. After the Freedom lit
up from the Hades system the Raulno, Avoni, Daevoni, and Reinkar followed suit
and turned on their special systems. Veda joined the berserk and lit up the
Columbia base. As a super powered shield reached out from the base the five
ships shifted their systems to attack mode and began firing a barrage of their
own into the Grey fleet. They slowly moved closer to the planet killer while a
hole in the Grey formation opened up. The Maidens flew in the lead position.
Behind them the Viken forces were engaged in a struggle with five hundred Grey
carriers and their attack ships. Seles and Kivi kept their weapons on spread
mode while they closed in on their target.

“Are we doing
the same thing as last time?” Seles asked.

“We’ll do it
until they find a way to counter it,” Valis answered.

“In other words,
we’ll worry about changing it when we have to,” Kivi said.

“Better to try
what we know works then something we don’t,” Celi said.

“From what I see
they don’t need to be fast learners,” Mira said.

“That’s true,”
Seles said. “They have the luxury of numbers.”

Valis noticed
something coming through the Minerva’s system. It was picking up an odd signal
from the closest planet killer. She quickly hit her com to contact all of their
forces.

“This is Captain
Valis speaking,” she said. “The Greys are about to try something that could
wipe us out if we don’t counter it immediately. Their planet killers have a
resonating device similar to the Siren. Move all of your encoding systems to
scramble mode now.”

All of the ships
of Heaven’s Light, the Confederation forces, and the Viken forces complied. A
moment later a wave of energy pulse from the planet killer. Even with the
protection Valis recommended half the Viken fleet found itself disabled.

“That could’ve
been the end of us,” Celi said.

“It isn’t over,”
Valis said. “We need blow that thing to pieces.”

* *
*

Yardek cursed
under his breath at the sight of half his forces being rendered useless. He
quickly sent out the orders to reorganize the fleet so the working ships and
their fighters were at the front.

“General, at
this rate we’ll be wiped out,” his commander warned.

“I know,” Yardek
said. “And they’ve already wiped out our people on the moon. Even with the aid
of Heaven’s Light I doubt we can hold them off much longer.”

On the other
side of Viken Prime a number of gravity jump enabled colonies appeared. They
quickly sent transports down to the surface to take civilians off the planet.

“Tell them when
they’re finished taking in as many as they can to flee through the Shandi
territories,” Yardek ordered.

“Of course sir,”
his commander said.

“That should do
it,” Yardek said as he looked up from his console.

The disabled
ships launched their smaller transport ships. A moment later they fired their
grappling anchors and started hauling the larger ships away from the battle.

“What are you
doing?” Veda asked over the monitor.

“Since those
ships are useless they’ll go with the colonies,” Yardek said. “From what I can
see from the Grey’s scrambling program its much like the Siren’s, including the
time it takes to fix. It’s best to preserve our forces if we can.”

“I agree,” Veda
said.

“We’re pulling
back for now,” Yardek said. “Our orbital defense network can handle the smaller
ships and carriers.”

“We’ll keep our
focus on the two in front of us,” Veda said.

* *
*

Brian glanced at
the Viken homeworld with his left eye glowing brightly.
I can hear their
fears. It’s the same regardless of species or creed. They don’t want to die,
they don’t deserve to either.
He stared at the planet killers.
Is this
what you really want? Is a void of nothingness the only answer you can come to?

“When the last
enemy is dead the war will be won,”
Myden said telepathically.
“The sad
conclusion so many warriors come to is such a notion. Even in my despair I once
came to the same belief.”

“What changed
you Myden?” Brian asked.

“You and all the
others,” Myden said.

“Did we miss
something?” Jesela asked.

“They were
speaking in their heads again,” Grigon said.

Brian smiled.
“It’s time.” He hit the com. “Kyli, have all of our mobile suits fire on the
same point.”

“Yes captain,”
Kyli responded.

Brian looked the
shield around the planet killer and saw some strange wave patterns.
I see.

“Veda, launch
all of our nuclear weapons at the target point I’m sending over now,” Brian
said.

“As you wish,”
Veda said.

“Why are you
focusing there?” Grigon asked.

“I see a
weakness in their array,” Brian answered. “It’s funny, all I’m going on is a
feeling and people take me seriously.”

“It’s because
you’re the only captain to survive fighting the Greys,” Jesela said.

“I didn’t do it
alone Jesela, remember where you were,” Brian said.

“I’ll never
forget that time in my life,” she said.

“None of us will,”
Grigon said.

A number of
silos on the Columbia base opened up before fifty nuclear missiles flew out at
high velocity. A number of them were shot down as they closed in on the planet
killer, but more than twenty went off. After the shield array on the massive
ship went down it stopped moving forward. It was evident from the flickering
lights that the power systems were fluctuating. While the ships charged up
Brian shifted the com to the Maidens.

“Valis, I want
the five of you to hold off for now,” he said.

“You think we’ll
be needed for the other one, don’t you?” she asked.

“Of course,” he
said.

“We’ll hold back
then,” Valis said.

The five ships
aimed their cannons at the center of the damaged planet killer and fired. After
each hit the opening to the interior grew larger. When it looked like they were
about to punch through to the center the massive vessel’s shield turned back on
to block their attacks. A moment later a dozen Talons from the Vomada charged
in and inverted their gravity drives. After a series of explosions the shields
went down again. Grigon quickly programmed another six Talons to detonate their
drives inside the planet killer. The six automated mobile suits flew in faster
than any mortal pilot could and charged straight for the center. Each Talon
recorded everything it could before reaching the center chamber, which
resembled a smaller version of the machine god. The six Talons began glowing as
they inverted their drives and exploded. All the lights inside the planet
killer went dark while the massive vessel turned and went to smash into the
moon orbiting the Viken homeworld. The second planet killer and the forces of
the Columbia base all quickly retreated as the two objects collided in space. A
great explosion shattered the glowing moon’s dark side. The shockwave pushed
everything nearby away. Once everyone could get their bearings the Grey fleet
regrouped around the second planet killer. The Columbia base, its forces, and
the remaining thousand Viken warships gathered together as well.

* *
*

“What just
happened?” Seles asked.

“We destroyed
one of the main targets,” Kivi said.

“But at what
price?” Mira asked.

Valis opened her
eyes. “The others will know soon enough.”

“What does that
mean?” Celi asked.

“Check the
orbital trajectory for the moon,” Valis said.

Each of the
others quickly did an analysis and found the moon was now moving in a
retrograde orbit towards the planet. Their estimates showed it would be three
or four weeks until impact.

“I don’t think
we can do anything about this,” Kivi said.

“Let’s focus on
what’s in front of us,” Seles said. “If we don’t take down the other one it
won’t matter whether or not their moon is falling.”

“You’re right,”
Valis said. “In order to do what we need to we need a push.”

* *
*

The systems on
the Viken flagship were like most of the others. Most of their ships survived
the explosion only to have the majority of their functions knocked out,
including shields and weapons.

“General, our communications
systems aren’t working,” the commander said.

“Our ships were
not enough for this war,” Yardek said. He stared at the second planet killer
when it renewed its approach on the homeworld. “Very well, if that’s the only
way I’ll take it.” He looked to his men. “All of you are to evacuate
immediately.”

“What about you
sir?” the commander asked.

“I’ll stay here
and make sure things run smoothly,” Yardek said.

“But sir,”
another officer said.

“Don’t question
this decision,” Yardek said. “Remember who we are.”

“Of course sir,”
his officers said.

After his
soldiers fled via the escape shuttles or fighters he turned the com back on and
sent out the same order to the surviving ships. While the forces of Heaven’s
Light regrouped another thousand Grey carriers appeared in front of the planet
killer. One by one the Viken ships were cleared of their personnel. Yardek
silently went about the work of readying their gravity drives for inversion.

“Farewell my
friends,” he said.