Rising up from a Nobleman to Intergalactic Warlord!!-Chapter 221

---3rd Person POV, Thirty Minutes Later, Terminus System---

“Bannister, Eagleson, look alive! The situation over here is rapidly degrading, and your support would be greatly appreciated.”, Lawson stated, contacting his colleagues via a private channel. “The first line of defense is offline, and the second line is on the verge of collapse.”

Carving a path through the automated defense grid within minutes of their arrival, the Hive fleet surged into the star system at an alarming rate. Firing on the bioships as they came into the range, things started out well enough but soon went to hell in a handbasket. Unveiling yet another new weapon, the enemy launched a counterattack using bio-railguns. Combining an electric organ and long, chitin tubes, metal-infused bioplasma torpedoes were hurled at the defenders at blistering speeds.

(AN: I came up with the idea of a bio-railgun from a few Discovery and National Geographic documentaries I watched.)

Taking out allied vessels with precise shots, the joint formation began to quickly crumble. Doing their utmost to close the gaps, they were ultimately unable to stop every vessel. The few dozen who got through were now only minutes away from Terminus.

“About time you contacted us! We have been sitting around waiting for your call. Send me the details; we will be there within five minutes.”, Naval Commander Eagleson said, cracking his knuckles.

“Hehe, I cannot wait to test out our newest toys. The Supreme Commander and I have been hard at work making countermeasures for the Tyranids.”, Engineer Commander Bannister stated, rubbing her hands together. “My division already has a map of the city. We will begin deploying our equipment here shortly. Make sure our allies know to expect us; I do not want to get shot at today!”

Thanking his colleagues, Lawson muted the channel and pulled up the latest field report. Estimating bioships would begin arriving within three minutes, an update went out to the ground forces to apprise them of the situation. Ensuring everyone understood not to bother Bannister’s people, the commander turned to King Deviluke with a serious expression.

“If I may, I would recommend sending your flagship off now before the fighting starts. While we do have naval forces en route, we do not know what other surprises the bugs have for us.”, Lawson remarked. “There is a possibility they could breach the city shield before help arrives. If that happens, your flagship will be a sitting duck at the spaceport.”

“The capital city was in poor shape when we arrived here on Terminus. It would not surprise me if the shield fell to sustained fire from those bio-railguns.”, Obi-Wan commented, hiding his disdain for the city’s situation. ‘After everything I have seen lately, I am far more sympathetic toward the Separatists. The Outer Rim Territory has been paying its fair share for generations, yet the Senate abandoned them. Times are tough, yes, but for Terminus to be in such a sorry state… it is unacceptable.’

Agreeing with them, Gid immediately requested the captain prepare for departure. Turning to Zastin next, he ordered his loyal knight to return to Coruscant with his family. Accepting the duty of protecting Sephie and the girls, Zastin saluted the king before leaving HQ. Content his family would soon be safely out of harm’s way, Gid focused his attention back on the ongoing naval battle.

---Front Line, Several Minutes Later---

“So, it begins once again…”, Anakin muttered, watching tens of thousands of small bioships descend on Terminus. “All units, commencing firing. Blow those bugs out of the sky!”

Lining up their shots, weapon batteries across the safe zone roared to life, signaling the start of the ground battle. Illuminating the sky with conventional, laser, and plasma cannon fire, thousands of enemy vessels were obliterated in seconds. Keeping the pressure up, the soldiers cheered with excitement as their numbers began dropping. Just as it seemed they were going to prevent any landings, the bioships in orbit rained down a barrage of their own.

Targeting the area outside the safe zone, a dense dust cloud began to form, obscuring the defender’s view. Using this to their advantage, the Tyranids redoubled their landing efforts, much to Anakin’s dismay. Sensing the surge in their numbers with the Force, Anakin knew they would be overrun at this rate. Jumping on his radio, he began handing out new orders to the fire teams.

“Blue teams, hold fire and standby to receive target coordinates from me. Red teams, continue laying down suppressive fire on the landing craft. I know you will be firing blindly, but it is better than letting those bugs act unhindered.”, Anakin ordered, switching channels. “Obi-Wan, something is off about the Hive fleet. They are not attacking the city’s shield like we anticipated. The bioships are using orbital bombardments to obscure our view of the landing crafts. This is very abnormal behavior for them.”

“Thanks for the heads up.”, Lawson spoke. “Naval reinforcements should begin arriving here shortly. Until then, do what you can to hinder the deployment of their ground forces.”

“Understood.”, Anakin acknowledged, changing frequencies again. “Blue teams, begin firing at these coordinates…”

Providing them with nine different coordinates, the gunners sort themselves out to maximize coverage. Using his Force Sense to gauge their effectiveness, Anakin provided teams with a few minor corrections. Once Anakin was satisfied, he leapt into one of the batteries nearby and began to assist them.

---Deviluke Flagship---

“Captain Targin, we are safely aboard the ship. Please get us underway immediately!”, Zastin requested, engaging the airlock and retracting the landing ramp. “We are headed to the bridge now.”

“Understood. See you shortly!”, Targin replied, pressing the PA button on his controls. “All hands to general quarters; prepare for immediate departure.”

Engaging the impulse engines, Helmsman Aldos severed the mooring tethers and quickly got the ship off the ground. Putting the ship into a steep climb, Aldos blindly plunged into the dust cloud using the sensor-array to guide him. Taking a few hits from the orbital bioships, they came out the other side and found their view covered in landing craft.

‘Ah shit… This is not good. We should have set sail when the Tyranids reached the edge of the star system. I may be a damn good pilot, but this is fucking suicide.’, Aldos thought, pushing the throttle controls forward. “Here we go, people. Hold on to your butt cheeks!”

Raising shield power to maximum, Tactical Officer Rorres got on the radio with the ship’s gunners. Making sure their gun batteries were online and operational, he started handing out orders.

“Forward batteries, cut a path forward for us. Everyone else focus on keeping the enemy away from the ship. I would not put it past them to attempt to ram us.”, Rorres spoke, monitoring enemy ship movements.

“Aldos, how long until we can jump to warp?”, Targin questioned as Zastin and his charges arrived on the bridge.

“ETA sixty seconds.”, Aldos answered, white-knuckling his controls.

Collapsing into her seat, Sephie stared out at the swarm of bioships ahead of them. Subconsciously recalling the fateful day she lost her childhood friends and parents, a wave of sheer terror washed over her. As Gid was not there to comfort her, she turned to her daughters for support. Grabbing their mother’s hands, Momo and Nana took a seat beside her and began singing a lullaby to soothe her frayed nerves.

“How are we looking, captain?”, Zastin questioned, stumbling into his seat.

“We are hanging in there…”, Targin spoke, a hint of unease in his voice.

“What is wrong?”, Zastin pressed him, picking up on it immediately. “If there is trouble, I want to know about it immediately!”

Shaking his head, Targin assured the knight everything was perfectly fine. Asking why he sounded anxious then, he stated it was because they were perfectly fine. Annoyed by his nonsensical answer, Zastin told him to be more specific.

“Look around us, Zastin. We are currently in the middle of the enemies’ formation, yet not one bioship is firing on us.”, Targin said, motioning outside the ship. “The only time our shields have taken a hit was passing through the dust cloud. In that instance, we were the ones who flew their bombardment. They were not actively trying to hit us.”

“I think you are losing it, Targin…”, Zastin remarked, worried stress was getting to him. “Bridge to medical bay. Please send a team up to- “

“For fuck’s sake, man. I am not losing it; you are the one who is not paying attention. Look out the damn window, and tell me what you see.”, Targin stated, irritated the youngster was disregarding his word. ‘Back in my day, people listened to what seasoned sailors said. Nowadays everybody is a hot shot who knows everything and cannot be told otherwise.’

Reluctantly humoring him, Zastin curiously observed the view outside the ship. At first, Zastin saw nothing, but as he focused on individual bioships, a disturbing pattern emerged. Instead of moving in for the attack, enemy bioships were actively getting out of their way. Unsure why this was happening, an uncomfortable feeling began to settle in. Reaching for his radio, Zastin contacted the fleet to see if they were noticing a similar pattern.

“This is the Avalon. If you are receiving this transmission, please respond.”, Zastin said, receiving multiple responses within seconds. “Listen to me carefully, I need very specific information about the ongoing battle. Have you noticed any abnormalities with the Hive fleet during your engagement? For example, have any vessels attempted to simply bypass you without firing?”

Receiving mixed answers from various ships, what he was seeing did not match what the fleet was seeing. Thanking them for the information, Zastin was about to mute his radio when a Devilukean spoke up.

“Now that you mention it, there is something weird I have been noticing.”, the D.E.S. Proximor reported. “Best I can tell, the bioships are focusing solely on engines and shield generators. Every Republic vessel I have seen taken out was struck in one or both locations.”

(AN: D.E.S is Devilukean Empire Starship.)

“You know… I think you are onto something. I am looking out over the battlefield, and they really are only targeting those places.”, the D.E.S. Retribution seconded. “Moreover, the bioships seem disinterested once those are destroyed. They are not dispatching boarding parties to clear the ships.”

“Hold on a moment… HQ was receiving reports that Republic vessels were being destroyed left and right. Is that not accurate?”, Zastin pressed them.

Adding their two cents, the G.R.S. Cyclops meekly acknowledged it was true. While they were taking heavy losses, hardly any of it was directly caused by the Tyranids.

“If I am being completely honest with you, we had no business being here. It may not look like it, but our vessels are being held together with hopes and dreams.”, the G.R.S. Cyclops hesitantly informed Zastin. “We have been requesting replacement parts from Coruscant for weeks now. Instead of getting us what we need, the Senate chose to ask your country for help. I am sorry you had to find out this way…”

“I… I see… Thank you for the information.”, Zastin spoke, turning his radio off. ‘It appears I was too hasty to pass judgement on the Jedi High Council. I thought it was rash of them to disobey their government; now I think it was the right move. If the Senate does not get their heads out of their asses, the Republic will collapse in a few years…’

Putting the matter aside for now, Zastin’s attention returned to the view outside. Blitzing past the last few Tyranid ships, Aldos saw nothing but clear sky ahead of them. Easing his grip on the controls, a relieved sigh left his lips.

“Josiah, anything on your sensor-array?”, Aldos called out to the radar operator.

“We are all clear, Aldos.”, Josiah confirmed. “Nothing out ahead of us, and the orbital bioships are ignoring us. Better jump now before they change their mind!”

“I hear you.”, Aldos chuckled, engaging the warp engines. “Jumping to warp in five… four… three… two…”

Before Aldos could get to one, the bow's proximity alarms began going off. Seeing nothing on his monitors, Josiah assumed it was just a system glitch. Going to say as much, he froze when he noticed space distorting off in the distance. Watching a massive bioship appear out of nowhere, he screamed at Aldos to take evasive action. Attempting to power down the warp engines, Aldos banked hard left at a downward angle.

“Shit!! I am not going to make it.”, Aldos howled, hitting his emergency button. “ALL HANDS, BRACE FOR IMPACT!! EVERYONE IN THE ENGINE ROOM, GET OUT OF THERE NOW!!”

Tossing Lala onto Sephie’s lap, Zastin dove on top of the four women to protect them. Using his body as a shield, he pushed their heads down and told them to hold on tight. Doing as he instructed, their ships rammed into the bioship seconds later.

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