Story: The Dragovian War
The Dragovian War is the story of how the Gaedrongos discovered Dragovia, their war against the Arbotiles, and the exploration of Dragovia. It is written by Toothless100.
Part 1 - Discovering Dragovia
Chapter 1
The picture from the screen showed a star, and many other stars dotting the background. Around the star orbited two planets. One was small and close to the star. The other was a large gas giant, and a long way away. It was obvious which one, if any, was going to sustain life.
"Head for the smaller planet," commanded the leader of the Pustynia Tribe of Gaedrongos.
They were strong for a tribe - 250 individuals, and their fleet comprised of three battleships and four cargoships. The leader, Aarvikyo, kept everyone in shape, so they were strong should they need to fight. Now, as they neared the small planet, he ordered the weapons to be readied.
"Turn on the scanners," Aarvikyo commanded.
A screen was filled briefly with static, and then cleared to show the planet. Three large continents dominated the planet's surface. One was lush and green, edged with pure white beaches, while another was mostly black, except for thousands of volcanoes, some vomiting lava into the air. Other lava flows were visible, already cooling out. The third continent was a dirty white colour, and sometimes a clear, light blue. It was clearly made of ice.
"We'll land the ships on one of the beaches near the tropical forest," Aarvikyo commanded. "We'll start our exploration their, as it is likely to contain the most diverse array of life. First, though, enter orbit around the planet so that we can see the other side."
The fleet entered the planet's orbit, and circled round to the other side. This proved to be an unbroken ocean. The only landmark was an enormous crater that showed the planet had suffered a major impact at some point in its history.
"When we come back round to the tropical forests, we can land," Aarvikyo said. "Prime the weapons!"
Chapter 2
In the end, they circled the planet and photographed all of its regions before landing on Tropica.
- Frostia3.png
- Tropica3.png
- Vulcas3.png
Photos taken by the Gaedrongos
Unfortunately, the Gaedrongos had chosen to land on the western side...
Part 2 - The Arbotiles
Chapter 3
The Gaedrongo spaceships cleared an area to land using the cannons, and then set down on the surface of Dragovia. They climbed out, weapons ready should anything nasty show up.
"Move out!" Aarvikyo cried. "Try and get specimens alive, but kill them if you must!"
They hadn't proceeded far, before they were ambushed, by a group of anthromorphic dragons. In panic, the Arbotiles shot the entire group with energy blasts. Then, they took a body back for study, dubbing them Draconids.
Suddenly, an enormous dragon jumped out of the bushes in front of them, slashing out with its claws and breathing waves of fire at them. Its claws sliced through the aluminium armour like butter, but though it was roasted, it held against the fire.
Several energy blasts came as retaliation, only angering the dragon. One Gaedrongo got out his heavy assault rifle, but the dragon knocked it out of his hand, breaking his hand as well.
Then, there was a thud-thud sound. The Gaedrongos whipped round, to see another of the same dragon towering above them. It turned side on, and knocked the group out of the way, before engaging in fearsome combat with the other dragon. The Gaedrongos snuck away.
Chapter 4
As the Gaedrongos proceeded they came upon a settlement, clearly made by sapients. One suddenly dropped from the trees to land in front of them, and uttered something in its own language. To show they didn't understand, Aarvikyo shot it in the chest. But, being so close to the creature, the bullet was stopped by its breastplate and the recoil threw Aarvikyo backwards.
Snarling, the Arbotile jumped back, simultaneously drawing a gun from behind its back. Four more similarly armed Arbotiles emerged from the huts, and another five dropped from the trees. Unbeknown to the Gaedrongos, five Arbotiles also snuck up behind them.
The leader began to speak in their tongue again. Aarvikyo remembered he carried a translator device, and switched it on. It made a loud bleeping noise as it charged up. Puzzled, the Arbotile stopped speaking and began again.
"I am Claw, leader of the Arbotiles. This planet, Dragovia, has been ours for many years. Why are you here?"
"It's hardly yours. We've seen sapient dragons here, and they're more likely to be natives. You come from another planet, don't you? We're the same."
"Perhaps, in some ways. But you have acted towards me with hostility. I only command my people to a certain extent."
There was a click as the Arbotiles, other than Claw, readied their weapons.
Chapter 5
The Gaedrongos were unquestionably more technologically advanced than the Arbotiles. Biologically was a different matter, so the fight was reasonably even.
The nine Arbotiles in front fired at the Gaedrongos. Some used standard bullets, which only damaged if they hit the skin, whereas other bullets exploded on impact, damaging armour as well. One Gaedrongo was dead and another two were disabled, their arm plates being insufficient protection from the the bullets.
Then, they fired back. Bullets bounced harmlessly off the Arbotile armour, but caused wounds when they touched the scales. Plasma rifles and energy guns were brought to bear, smoting Arbotiles on the chest and killing them despite their armour.
Then, the five from behind fought back, firing with their own bullets. The Gaedrongos were now under attack from two sides, making it harder to fight them all off.
Then, Claw whistled. Ten more Arbotiles joined him and the two remaining at the front, five burst from the bushes on the other two sides of the Gaedrongos, and five more came to reinforce those attacking from behind.
Aarvikyo knew when he was beaten.
"Hold your fire!" he yelled to his troops, and then to Claw, "We surrender."
Claw made a signal to the Arbotiles, which obviously meant cease fire.
"How many of you are left?" Claw asked.
Aarvikyo did a quick count.
"Fifty of us came in this exploration mission. We lost eight to a pair of massive dragons-"
"Armadraggons."
"-earlier, and there are twenty-three bodies here, which makes thirty-one dead. There are another two hundred waiting in the ship, which makes two hundred and nineteen."
"We outnumber you and have the advantage when it comes to combat and knowing the land. I propose an alliance."
Chapter 6
"You would not kill us all? As you stated, you have the advantage."
"We are not murderers. But there is another reason, and that is also why I have asked your number. I imagine you were planning an exploration of the planet?"
"Yes."
"Well that's tough. Because we have much bigger problems on our mind, and you need to help us."
"Or what?"
"There's no 'or what' about it. We won't kill you or anything. But there is danger approaching, and that will kill you."
"Explain."
"Follow me."
Claw led the Gaedrongos through the settlement. The Gaedrongos were flanked by Arbotiles, in case for some reason they did try to escape. The largest building in the settlement lay ahead of them. Outside, Claw stopped.
"Only you and two of your guards may enter," Claw said. "In the same way, I will have only two of my guards. Is this agreeable?"
Aarvikyo nodded.
"I'm sorry, but as a safety measure, the rest of your Gaedrongos will remain guarded and watched over while we are inside."
Aarvikyo nodded again, to show he understood. Claw took them in, closing the door behind him.
Chapter 7
He led them through well decorated rooms. The heads of various kinds of dragon hung on wooden plates from the wall, obviously Claw's hunting trophies. He led them past this, to the back of the house. There was a set of stairs leading down, into the basement. Claw gestured for them to enter. He allowed them in first and, out of their sight, whispered something to his guards, before following them in.
They were in a small room, undecorated other than pile of dragon skins lying in one corner. A door stood at one end.
Suddenly, there were two cracks, followed by two explosions. The Arbotile guards lowered their guns, barrels smoking, as Aarvikyo's guards slumped, dead, to the floor. Horrified, Aarvikyo tried to counter, but was grabbed and restrained by Claw's guards. Claw whistled again, and two more Arbotiles came to help restrain Aarvikyo.
"What treachery is this!" he hissed at Claw.
"It is necessary," Claw replied emotionlessly. "Your guards may not see this."
"You could not leave them outside?"
"They would suspect treachery."
"Like this?"
"Yes. Except they would imagine you lying dead. So, do you want to proceed or not?"
"Yes."
"Alright then."
Claw pushed open the door, leading Aarvikyo, still restrained, inside, and closing it behind him. The room was well lit by electric lights, revealing that it was also pretty much empty, other than the creature lying on the pile of dragon skins. It raised its head upon their entry.
Chapter 8
It was a Lentaa. However, its left wing had been completely ripped off, and its right foot was missing, also a bloody stump. The majority of its crest had also been torn off, the jagged tear clearly visible. Some sort of tube was jammed into its mouth, apparently unremovable, and it was attached to some breathing apparatus now lying useless on the floor.
"This is Perhe, a Lentaa," Claw explained. "Lentaa are another race of sapients from our homeworld, with whom we have an alliance. Just listen to what he has to say."
Perhe was silent for a time, before he began to speak.
"There is danger approaching, danger! Big danger! It is unstoppable! But you must try, oh yes, yes! Try, indeed!"
"Tell us about this danger," Claw pressed.
"Oh, it's big, so big! With fire, much fire, and invisible shields, yes! Oh, yes! It will fy, and shoot, and leave a trail of destruction! And so big!"
Leaving Perhe to his babbling, Claw took Aarvikyo back into the earlier room.
"I don't know for sure, but I interpret his warning as a giant spaceship of hostile beings is on its way, with some kind of force-field."
"How big? We can deal with it," Aarvikyo said.
"In earlier converstions, he mentioned size."
Claw took a tape out from his armour, took Aarvikyo upstairs and played it.
"Oh, so big, so so big. Like a Skogland, with engines, but bigger!"
"Skogland is your planet, I assume."
"Yes."
"So we're in trouble?"
"Yes."
Chapter 9
Claw continued.
"He fell from the sky days ago. No ship, no spacesuit, nothing. He said his spaceship had been destroyed tens of miles away, but he'd escaped, and flew here to warn us. He jammed the air tube into his mouth to give him oxygen for the flight, and he says his forcefield protected him in space."
"He travelled in space?"
"Yes, so he says."
"Nonsense. Don't believe a word he says, if he's conjured up a story that impractical. Let the exploration begin!"
"Why bother?" Claw asked. "We can show you maps, photographs, field sketches, creature bodies, orbit paths, anything you like."
"You have that all?"
"Yes."
"But how can you believe in the threat?"
"I'll show you."
Part 3 - The Exploration of Dragovia
Chapter 10
"Where are we going?" Aarvikyo asked.
They were moving through the jungles of Tropica. Aarvikyo was with three new guards, and Claw was with four of his own guards. They were speeding through the forest in an Arbotile truck, but at the current time, Claw was swinging through the trees as exercise, amazing still keeping up with them. Aarvikyo was surprised at his excellence despite his missing arm. He had questioned Claw about it earlier and recieved a short story in reply.
Suddenly, there was a bang on the roof. Aarvikyo reached for his gun, but before he grabbed it, Claw dropped in through the window.
"Just me," he said. "We're not going too far. An few hours there and the same back."
"But where?"
"We're moving along the coast to a destination which you may find of interest."
Exasperated, but realising he would get no more information out of Claw, Aarvikyo lapsed into silence, the only noise now being the sound of the truck's engine.
Then, there was a loud bang as something landed on the roof. Mere seconds after the noise, and long head, which was mostly jaw and ended in a beak, peeked through the window. Before Aarvikyo could even reach his gun, Claw had swung his arm round and punched it squarely on the nose, stunning it and causing it to lose its grip on the car. Its winded body rolled off onto the track.
"Prehensile-tailed Tree Dragon," Claw said to Aarvikyo, "Hangs from trees using its tail, and drops on prey, making it a great ambush hunter. Sadly for it, I'm not prey. Look at this."
Claw handed Aarvikyo a diagram showing how the Tree Dragon used its tail to hang from trees. Aarvikyo stared at it with a barely contained fascination. The species on the planet were so alien to him.
Chapter 11
"So how many of you are there?" Aarvikyo questioned.
"Nearly one thousand of us Arbotiles, and several thousand Lentaa. We've been hard pressed to find houses for everyone, and I'm worried there won't be enough spacecraft when we have to fight or flee."
"I'm sure several thousand is enough to fight off this threat."
"Maybe. We just don't know enough. The Lentaa were a bit vague."
They continued in silence for another hour or so, before Claw spoke again.
"We're here."
The truck stopped, and Claw leapt out, followed by his escort. Aarvikyo and his escort followed.
"Look at this."
Claw stepped aside, to allow the Gaedrongos past.
They were overlooking an enormous crater, several kilometres wide. The ground was blackened, and no plant life grew. The only evidence there had ever been plant life were a few blackened stumps near the edge of the blast zone.
"This was made by some artificial projectile," Claw said. "Fragments of nanodiamond were found on the crash site, suggesting the missile was made of nanodiamond. But we're pretty sure this was a stray missile, because there were no more."
"The projectile must have been massive," Aarvikyo said in awe. "If we flew our spaceships into the planet, I doubt they'd even make a crater that big!"
"It's exactly why we're worried. The Lentaa hold the key, but they're all too shell-shocked to speak of it, other than Perhe, and he was turned half-crazy. I think he came from a different ship to the one that crash-landed off shore."
"Must have been, if he was telling the truth."
"Hmm. Anyway, time to go back now," Claw said. "But first..."
Chapter 12
Back at the Arbotile settlement, Aarvikyo was still in wonder of the incredible creatures he had been shown on the way back, such as the Staggon, a large herbivorous dragon.
"What happens next?" he asked Claw.
"I really have no idea. We continue normal life until this threat shows itself, I guess."
"I could..." Aarvikyo began, before trailing off.
"You could what?" Claw prompted.
"The Gaedrongos, we're a tribal race, even now. But in times of emergency, we can call all the tribes together. If you can gather as much evidence as possible of this 'threat' I may be able to file a request to higher powers, who can gather all the Gaedrongos here."
"How many?" Claw asked.
"Some tribes, the more powerful ones, are in possession of battlecruisers. Each one can hold 25,000 individuals. There will be hundreds of thousands of us."
"And how do I know this isn't trickery, that you won't use the forces to conquer us?"
"Tribes can only be gathered together in times of great need. My entire tribe would be hung if we brought together the tribes for such a reason."
"I'll gather the evidence, then. No time to waste."
Chapter 13
"Here's your evidence," Claw said, handing Aarvikyo a load of papers and photos. "Get as many of them as you can."
"I'll do my best."
"We're trying to get allies from one last source," Claw added.
"Where's that?" Aarvikyo asked.
"The scarabians. They're sapient insectoids that live on the continent of Frostia. We haven't communicated at all, as we can't speak the same language, and we can't survive on Frostia. We don't know if they can survive on Tropica, but we have to try. Your translators should help."
"I'll go and request support from the tribes while you try that," Aarvikyo decided. "Here's my translator," he added, throwing a small cube to Claw.
Claw was in one of the Arbotile jets, travelling across the channel between Tropica and Frostia. They could see a coastal scarabian city, and it looked rather advanced compared to their settlement. They sent out a communication request. A few minutes later, it was accepted. A visual link switched on, and a muscular scarabian appeared on the screen.
"You are the Arbotiles?" he asked. The translator was clearly working.
"How do you our name?" Claw asked suspiciously.
"We have probes. We have picked up basic information about you."
"You've been spying on us?"
"You could call it that."
"I'll leave that aside for now, because we need your aid."
"Hrmm? What for?"
"Our allies, the Lentaa, arrived here, saying they have fled an enormous spaceship the size of this planet. In addition, a crater several kilometres wide has been made near our settlements by some sort of nanodiamond projectile."
The scarabian's face darkened noticeably.
"You are sure?" he asked.
"Yes."
"There is a landing runway a few miles from the city. Land there and I will meet you."
Chapter 14
Claw was just landing when he got a message from one of his guards back on Tropica.
"What is it?" he growled angrily.
"An unidentified spaceship has entered the planet's atmosphere above Tropica."
"Go and meet them. And if they prove hostile, destroy them."
The link shut off.
"That's a pretty large ship," Skar observed. "Let's try and make them allies. We need all the help we can get."
They sent a communication request out to the incoming ship, and it was accepted. A visual link snapped open, and an anthropomorphic amphibian appeared on the screen.
"Hello," Skar began. "We are the Arbotiles, from the world of Skogland. And you are?"
"We are the Salsenes," the amphibian replied. "We have allies called the Lentaa who say they came from Skogland."
Skar smiled with relief. It looked like they would be allies.
"We too are allies with the Lentaa, having come from the same homeworld. Do you wish to land? Although I warn you, we fear this planet is about to be assaulted by a spaceship larger than the planet itself."
The Salsene chuckled. "Of course you are. Yes, we would like to land and set up a colony here."
The Arbotile ships turned round, and guided the colony ship to a place where it could land. The Arbotile ships landed a few miles away, and Skar rushed from his ship to meet the Salsenes.
He got there just as they were dismounting. Skar shook hands with the leader, Harref Turnus, and guided him to the settlement.
"We have quite a few species here at the moment; us, the Gaedrongos and the Lentaa, along with the Scarabians up in Frostia, and the Draconids. They're nowhere near as advanced as any of us, though. They're also hostile."
"I'm sure we can repel any attacks from these dragons you speak of."
"I'm sure we can, too. Its the foe the Lentaa are going on about that worries me."
"The planet-sized spaceship?"
"Yes."
"I did not believe it at first. But if the Lentaa brought news of it to you..." Harref trailed off.
"I know," Skar said.
Chapter 15
Claw's jet set down on the requested runway. A scarabian escort came to meet him. They carried short, chunky weapons of the like he'd never seen before.
"What are they?" he asked, gesturing at one.
"Molecular Transfiguration Gun. Hit something with it, it gets transformed into the material you preset it to earlier. Sand, rock, ice, anything."
Claw was awed at this, but did not show it. "You have other weapons too?" he asked.
"Yes," the scarabian replied. "But now you will come and meet our leader."
Only then did Claw realise that he should be feeling cold, and he wasn't. When he asked the scarabian why, he said, "The cities are surrounded by forcefields that keep the heat in. We find this place a little cold too. But we came somewhere for zero interaction with other races. This was ideal."
Claw nodded, and followed the scarabian through the maze of the city. Eventually, they arrived at a large, metal building in the centre of the city. As they passed through the main doors, Claw could see the walls were fifty centimetres thick, and as far as he could tell, solid steel.
Inside, the rooms were kept at a comfortable temperature like the rest of the city. There were doors blocking every entrance and exit to each room or corridor, and they could only be unlocked by fingerprint recognition. From what he had seen so far, Claw didn't fancy taking on the scarabians.
They climbed a winding metal staircase to the top floor, which consisted of just one corridor and one room beyond that. Inside was the scarabian that Claw had spoken to across the visual link.
"Hello..." he began.
"Claw," Claw finished for him.
"Hello Claw. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, but... circumstances prevent us from going over these pleasantries. If what you say is true, then something has aroused the wrath of the Verplaatsen."
"The Verplaatsen?"
"They are a race of arachnid-like sapients, about the size of one of your smaller land vehicles. They are extremely advanced when it comes to weapons, armour and spaceships, and they own several billion of the planet-sized ships you speak of."
Claw gasped in shock.
"If they have indeed been aroused, then none of the multiverse is safe."
"Multiverse?" Claw asked. The scarabian smiled.
"We live in a single universe, but there are many more in what we call a multiverse cluster."
"You mean, they're from another universe?"
"I do not know for sure, but I believe they too evolved in Emenata. But there spaceships are capable of travelling through universes."
"And how do you know all this?"
"Our race started out as slaves of the Verplaatsen."
Chapter 16
"We are the oldest known model of Verplaatslaves, the slaves of the Verplaatsen. We were originally part-mechanical, but most of us had organic brains. In the year 3,999,010, we rebelled against the Verplaatsen. Many of us escaped and became independant; our lot didn't.
We then had a second rebellion, in 3,999,124. This time, our lot escaped and gained independance. We believe we managed to steal much more Verplaatsen technology than those who escaped in the first rebellion. And there are more of us than those on Frostia."
"Yes?"
"For many hundreds of years, we have been doing our best to mask a wormhole leading to our main colony world from here. There are hundreds of billions of us there, along with most of our warships."
"Warships?"
"Yes. Powerful ones. We may be the only race capable of holding back the Verplaatsen. Even so, we'd appreciate your aid."
"We'll aid you. So will the Lentaa that have landed here, and the Gaedrongos. Aarvikyo, their leader, has made a request to bring the Gaedrongos together. There will be millions of them in large spaceships."
"OK then. It's time to show the Verplaatsen who's boss."
Part 4 - Armageddon
Chapter 17
The Scarabian, who's name was Kapinal, took Claw and his elite Arbotile guard out on one of the scarabian cruisers towards the wormhole. Even the cruiser was over two kilometres long, and armed with advanced laser weapons, and antimatter bombs.
The journey took only a few minutes, and they were at the site of the wormhole. Claw could see it; a great white disc of light in otherwise black void of space.
"We haven't found effective ways of concealing it, so we've set up perimeter guards at a distance from which it is nearly impossible to see. We've applied lethal force when necessary."
Kapinal ordered for the mass-adjustment systems to be activated, and they passed through the wormhole without a problem. Filling the viewscreen was a relatively large, rocky planet. A message had clearly been sent ahead of them; enormous warships, hundreds of kilometres long and heavily armed and armoured, were already rising from the planet's surface and powering towards the wormhole. Enormous cannons of various designs mounted the sides, front and back of every ship. Claw was stunned by their sheer size.
"You're about to see a planet-sized spaceship," Kapinal reminded him, smiling. "These are nothing."
"Now, here's the battleplan," Kapinal said. "Even these will be unable to destroy the planet-sized spaceships. Our aim is to destroy the smaller ones, and board the mothership. In melee, we stand a larger chance than in space."
"Simple, then," Claw said.
"I wish."
Chapter 18
Back on Dragovia, Skar was briefing Harref on the current situation, along with information supplied by the returning ships from Frostia.
"OK then," Harref said. "We'll help."
"Good," Skar replied. "We need all the help we can get."
"From the looks of it, you've got a lot," Harref commented. "These Scarabians sure seem powerful."
"Yeah. Probelm is, the Verplaatsen seem more powerful."
Harref and Skar were silent after this.
"We may only have the colony ship," Harref said, breaking the silence, "but it's heavily armed and armoured. We can make a good stand. But I'm not going to risk calling in the Salsene Grand Fleet about what seems such hopeless odds."
"I understand."
At that moment, Aarvikyo entered the room. "The Gaedrongo carrierships have arrived, along with several tribes. We're ready for war."
"Then let's go," Skar said.
They left the room, and outside, they got a glimpse of some of Scarabian warships passing overhead.
"They're enormous!" Aarvikyo cried in amazement. Harref and Skar nodded in agreement, too awed to speak.
"I'm glad they're our allies," Skar muttered.
Chapter 19
The allied force was in the air and ready to face the Verplaatsen. The Scarabian warships formed the front line, with the comparatively tiny Arbotile, Gaedrongo, Salsene and Lentaa ships waiting in between and the behind them. The warships covered the smaller ships on all four sides.
In distant space, about as far as the allies could see, a dark, onimous silhouette blacked out a faraway star. At this distance, they could not appreciate its size, but it came closer. Two more silhouettes appeared on either side of it.
"Damn," Kapinal swore. "There are three motherships! We'll have to get some troops on them all!"
Before long, they were in range. Enormous, flaming projectiles streaked from the Verplaatsen mothership. One struck the forcefield round a scarabian warship. There was a massive flash and a large bang, and suddenly the scarabian warship was still there and the missile wasn't. Kapinal smiled.
"Counter!" he yelled.
Fighters were already pouring from the ship to engage them in closer combat. One scarabian warship fired at it. A missile streaked through space, leaving a smoke trail behind it, until it impacted on a fighter. There was a dull crump, an enormous flash, and the Verplaatsen fighter wasn't there. Kapinal's grin widened.
More fighters suffered the same fate, and more Verplaatsen projectiles were stopped by scarabian forcefields. The charge faltered.
"Now!"
The warships sprung forwards, powerful engines pushing them forward. They destroyed fighters left and right as they advanced, and none were destroyed by the Verplaatsen. A few missiles found their way right to the motherships, but failed to do any damage. Kapinal stopped grinning.
Though the Verplaatsen tried everything, they couldn't stem the advance. Some Arbotile ships were lost. A missile punctured the sole Lentaa ship's flame bubble, and it too was destroyed. Some Gaedrongo carrierships were lost.
The Salsene colony ship launched its lasers straight at the mothership. They were harmlessly deflected, and this attracted the attention of two fighters. They flew towards the colony ship, cannons blazing away. For now, the Salsene ship withstood the barrage, and blew a fighter from the sky with its cannons.
Too late, Harref realised the other oncoming fighter had no intentions of stopping.
There was an enormous bang as the two ships collided. More fighters were already swooping in, firing away at the badly damaged colony ship. Under the barrage, its armour gave in, and in a massive explosion, it was destroyed.
"There go the Salsenes and Lentaa," Claw said grimly, flying his ship with expert skill amongst the scarabian warships, and avoiding any missiles that came his way. He had never even tried firing his cannons, as he knew the weapons would be ineffectual.
"Coming in to board!" Kapinal yelled through the comms.
Chapter 20
The scarabians unleashed a few missiles upon the entrances to the fighter chutes. They were harmlessly deflected by the forcefield, and Kapinal swore for being so stupid. He shouted a couple of orders through the comms, and one warship simply accelerated towards the entrance. A few projectiles came to stop it, but they were destroyed by the forcefield.
With a mighty crash, the scarabian warship struck the Verplaatsen mothership. There was an enormous explosion centred round the fighter chute entrance, and Kapinal ordered for the pods to be readied.
He climbed in one himself, contemplating the thought of slaying the Verplaatsen, and smiling.
"Bringing death to the Verplaatsen. I've been waiting since I became an adult to do this."
The 'pods' were two kilometres long and housed thousands of scarabians. When Kapinal ordered, they would be fired from specialised cannons at immense speeds, into the fighter chutes. They had special forcefields designed to prevent the occupants of the craft being killed upon impact.
"Fire," he ordered.
The pods were shot through space, and struck the surface of the fighter chute. The momentum pushed them several kilometres up it. Through the comms, Kapinal ordered for the next lot to be fired. Then he exited the craft with the rest of the scarabians. They had mere minutes before the place was swarming with Verplaatsen, and before long the warship forcefields would give way, and they would be forced to retreate and hold a ranged battle again.
As he exited the craft, Kapinal murmured under his breath, "Come on Verplaatsen. You've got an appointment with death."
Chapter 21
As he'd expected, after a couple of minutes, Verplaatsen poured into the tube. There were thousands of them, but also thousands of Scarabians.
Electric bolts leaped from the claws on some Scarabians' hands. Other Verplaatsen were turned instantly to sand, stone or ice, by MTG rays. Kapinal's weapon of choice was in fact a different one.
The gun fired flat disks with a diameter of just over one centimetre. They were made of hardened steel, and spiked round the edges. When fired, they spun around very rapidly, as well as being propelled forwards, for maximum damage. They were fired at a speed which easily broke the sound barrier, and could fire at a rate of about ten per second, which made it a destructive weapon.
But how destructive, Kapinal wondered, eyeing up the nanodiamond armour worn by Verplaatsen. The scarabian standing next to him burst into atoms, and, in fury, Kapinal fired away at full power.
The discs flew into the Verplaatsen with such velocity that, combined with the explosion of the disc, successfully cracked the armour. It didn't take long to completely shatter the armour, and the Verplaatsen screamed in agony before it died. Kapinal took his finger of the trigger briefly, picked a new target, and fired away again. Other scarabians armour with the disc gun were following the same strategy.
As he continued to slaughter the Verplaatsen, Kapinal thought briefly at how 'disc gun' seemed a flimsy and unsuitable name for such a powerful gun.
Claw's ship continued to dance between the explosions. Some of the warships had advanced again, and were preparing to board the second mothership. In an act of daring, Claw's spaceship ploughed straight out towards it, past the protection of the remaining warships and into the danger zone. Almost immediately, a ten-kilometre projectile streaked past the ship, just missing. Claw continued regardless.
Amazingly, they reached the shelter of the advancing warships in one piece. Claw quickly requested to dock on one, and was allowed. The scarabian that greeted him asked why he had made such a reckless journey just to board this particular warship.
"I'd like to board the Verplaatsen mothership," he replied.
Chapter 22
Kapinal stared emotionlessly at the thousands of Verplaatsen corpses lying in front of him. There were Scarabians corpses too, but nowhere near as many; namely because most of the casualties were lying on the floor in individual atoms.
"Come on," Kapinal said. "We need to move."
The scarabian army continued up the fighter tube. Eventually, they reached the very end. However, the entrance was guarded by two cannons and around one hundred Verplaatsen. The cannons were fired instantly, and explosions tore holes in the scarabian formation. The Verplaatsen soldiers also fired, but they were met with a hail of retaliation fire.
Soon all the Verplaatsen were dead, and therefore no-one was left operating the cannons.
"Do it," Kapinal said, nodding to a squad of scarabians wielding MTGs. They simultaneously fired at one of cannons, and the entire cannon was turned to stone, rendering it unworkable. The second cannon was turned to sand, and fell to pieces.
"Just remember," Kapinal said to them, "Verplaatsen have MTGs too. They were stolen from them in the first place. So be careful."
The MTGs and the Obliterator Rifles were the only weapons the Verplaatsen had that could instantly kill a Scarabian. Their armour could take damage from their other weapons. It was made of hardened steel, with a layer of kevlar both on the inside and outside. It wasn't very light, but is wasn't too heavy and did the job well.
They exited the fighter chute, straight into a group of a couple of hundred Verplaatsen, who opened fire immediately.
