Skyfire Avenue

The markings on the ships revealed them as the North’s Seventh Fleet. It was the North’s strongest battle group.

“An entire exploratory mission was wiped out while exploring an uninhabited part of the galaxy. All we got were ambiguous transmissions when we tried to get in contact.” The Terminator’s voice grew louder. “Now we are aware of what they encountered out there in space. When we learned of it, we sent out three battle groups to deal with the problem. Each wave of ships was stronger than the last. In the end it didn’t matter what we sent out, the results were the same. They would simply vanish, most without a trace. Judging by the time it has taken for the ships to stop transmitting, we believe this threat is getting closer. This was why we have sent out the seventh fleet. We will use this opportunity to show you what I mean.”

The Terminator did a fine job explaining the situation as it stood. He did not do so well in putting the crowds at ease. In fact, his words made them all quite nervous.

There were only a few people who knew the threat facing humanity before now. If not for the Terminator’s revelations, then it was likely the average man would never learn until it was too late. Even the Avenue wasn’t completely sure of what the Seventh Fleet found out there. It was delivered at the perfect time, too, while the attention of humanity was fixed in one place.

As though on cue, the faces of the Skyfire Avenue delegation became stern. For the North to do this, the situation was far beyond their ability to control. If they could, they’d avoid the potential panic of letting everyone in on the danger.

The recording went on to show the Seventh Fleet making its way through the vacuum of space. In the horizon one could make out three strange planets. They were massive in size, and were covered in a thin atmosphere of purple light. In the enormous and inky darkness of the cosmos, they were very hard to pick out.

Lan Jue had never seen images of the three planets before. Although the planets were too far away for him to pick out any surface features, that shade of purple was one he’d never forget.

When the three planets appeared in their field of vision, the Seventh Fleet began to slow. The entourage began to fan out in a battle array to bolster attack. They would need space to employ the full force of their arsenal.

The four battleships splayed out as well around a near-stationary Mothership. Cargo doors hissed oxygen out in to space before belching with scores of mecha suits. The flagship itself hummed and glowed with blue light that surrounded it like a halo. Part of its forward armor plating split, revealing an enormous main gun.

The diameter of the gun was ten times larger than the Great Conclave Arena. That was even just what the hologram showed, but it was enough to have the crowds marvel at man’s destructive power.

This was the main gun of a Mothership. The only other man-made instrument of destructive more powerful, was the attack force of a Bastion ship. A direct blast from a Mothership was strong enough to obliterate a small planet. That was the target of the Seventh Fleet’s flagship. It slowly positioned until it faced the middle of the three alien planets, all the while spooling up its doomsday weapon.

But under the surprised gaze of the crowd, that target planet actually began to grow. In what seemed like only a moment, the planet was ten time the size it had been. In the center of it, appeared an inexplicable black hole like a gaping maw. It swallowed up all the light around them, making the Seventh Fleet look like ghosts in a dream.

At last, the Mothership’s guns were ready to fire. A blinding orb of energy was emitted, stretching over time to a piercing beam of white light. The rest of the battlegroup followed suit, and aimed their weapons. Only specifics artillery could attack a target from this distance, so they instead prepared for the inevitable offensive.

The crowds couldn’t help but have faith in the power of their technology. Although these planets were strange, they couldn’t possibly be a match for something like a Mothership. The gun was enough to deal with the problem.

The enormous planet hovered against the bleak backdrop of space. Aside from being a planet, it had grown to a much larger target. There was no avoiding the blast. Everyone watched with quiet satisfaction as the energy blast ten times the size of the arena drilled in to the planet. But that wasn’t right. It never struck the planet. Instead, it was swallowed wholesale in to the depths of that black hole.

Blast delay? The silent hope was on the mind of the commanders as they waited. At the distance they were to these planets, even light would need time to arrive. Perhaps there was a shield, but the clash of energies would definitely enough for them to get a reading.

The silence stretched on. Then, from the depths of that black hole, the gathered energies switched direction.

And then erupted outwards!

The Mothership began to react right away. Now it was clear that these planets were an enemy to humanity. Safety had to be a priority above colonization, so these foes would need to be destroyed. This was the duty for any soldier – destroy that which threatens mankind.

As the audience watched the alien planet shrug off the cannon blast. Their pupils were wide with fear and disbelief. What was this light? Was that from the Mothership? But, how could it simply turn it around like that?

The Seventh Fleet never had a chance to react. The Mothership was immediately swallowed up in the cleansing white fire.

They watched as the shields began to fail. That thin shield of energy grew dimmer by the second.

It was rare for a Mothership to engage in conflict. A single shot from its main battery was enormously draining, and required a lattice of high-grade power gems. That was the price of near incomparable destructive power. Its shields had to be equally impressive.

The Northern battle group fought with terrible fervor, a cohesive and deadly unit. More blasts came from the battleships, while the expedition cruisers threw themselves in the line of fire to protect the flagship. The remaining ships could only stand by, with no practical combat use this far out.

The fleet pulled it together just enough to survive the alien counterattack. But, before the spectators could even recover, another wave of red light was ejected from the planet’s mouth. It rolled toward them like a cosmic storm of purple and red.

The image zoomed in, and sharpened. That wasn’t a cloud…. Those were the alien beasts.

Lan Jue’s pupils contracted. Weren’t these the same monsters he fought on Taihua? But none of them were tiny, and the smallest of them was larger than the progenitor he killed. Some of them beat wings more than a hundred meters across. Some were twisted and strange like enormous purple cauliflowers, and others were comprised of spiky angles. They hurdled though the air no faster than the expedition ships, and blotted out space.

The battle group opened fire on the horde. They didn’t have the benefit of the Mothership’s main gun, but secondary turrets were still operational. A wall of fire converged on the monsters’ path.

Thankfully the individual beasts didn’t share their home planet’s ability to grow, at least without the benefit of something to consume. However, their personal armor was intensely strong. Only a few of the blasts were strong enough to penetrate and kill the creatures. With their numbers, the humans just weren’t causing enough damage.

The monsters in the font ranks of the horde swallowed up many of the turret rounds. They encroached upon the human position in a crescent shape. They continued to flank them, with dedicated beasts to return and deflect fire. Soon they were surrounded.

Even the overwhelming destructive force of the Seventh Fleet wasn’t enough to destroy them. At present, it was barely enough to keep them at bay. From the holographic recording, they could see the fleet trying to retreat. But their evacuation route was overrun with purplish-red monstrosities. Their retreat was cut off.

These aliens worked together. Just like an army.

Scenes from the next; Skyfire Avenue!

Boom!

Waves of crimson blot out the distant galaxies – reinforcements.

—

The ragged breathing of the crowd was audible from everywhere. Households all over human occupied space were incensed, frightened, and shocked by what they were witnessing

—

“Everything you’ve seen is true.”

—

Jun Yongye pulled away the cloth to reveal a box that looked to be made for crystal

….