BY: Deathstrike
On Solaris...
Wallart keyed into his team's frequency and prepared to order the offense to begin its run
for the enemy's flag. He was interrupted by a general broadcast to both teams.
"Sorry Mechwarriors, but it looks like the game will have to wait. Word is that
there's big trouble on Twycross, and the AFFC wants the best units to head there
immediately. Pack up and be ready by 0200. No more games..."
Wallart, watched anxiously from his seat in the Tactical Room, and felt the queasiness as
the Jumpship re-entered normal space. The journey had not been long, but with so little
information to work with regarding the current situation on Twycross, he almost wished the
jump would have taken longer. At least then maybe they'd have some concrete data.
The vidscreen flickered to life, then zoomed in to Twycross itself. Strange...it looked
like 2 small, angular moons were orbiting the world, surrounded by thousands of fireflies.
The screen flickered again, magnifying the image further, and Wallard gasped. They weren't
moons...they were ships. Huge ships.
"What the hell have gotten ourselves into?" he asked himself, as the order to
launch the aerospace fighters came across the com system.
Rick Hunter cursed under his breath as the casualty reports came scrolling down one of
the side monitors on the bridge of the SDF-3. Despite the fact that his Mecha were
superior in ability to the forces of this new enemy Empire, their numbers and the raw
firepower of their massive flagship were extracting a horrific toll.
He listened to the reports as several Veritechs in battleoid mode stalked the actual hull
of the Vindicator, blasting holes in the armor and taking out gun emplacements. In space,
swarms of enemy TIE fighters continued their runs upon the SDF-3. He'd just about had
enough.
"Its time to pull off the gloves." he stated. "Prepare to fire the Main
Gun."
"Uahhhhhh!" gasps filled the bridge.
The nose of the SDF-3 opened like a maw, and glowing bolts of crackling red energy danced
inside, growing in magnitude.
"Ready, Admiral!"
"FIRE!"
A massive, half-mile wide bolt of death screamed out from the SDF-3 and plowed straight
through the Vindicator's center section, causing cascading explosions and leaving half of
the giant ship dark and without power. The ship veered out of control, beginning
to get
caught in Twycross's gravity well.
"Well...that takes care of that." Hunter mused, sliding back down into his
command chair.
"My Lord, the Vindicator has taken a critical hit. I don't think we can avoid being
pulled into the planet." Thrawn informed the Emperor.
Palpatine sat calmly, staring intently into empty space. The Dark Side flowing out from
him, he contemplated the possibilities. How would the Force guide him out of this...
The question was answered. Whatever crawling chaos had thrown the Vindicator to this
section of the universe was intervening again. Palpatine felt the mental itching as the
Blackness surged through him...delivering into the orbit of Twycross another Imperial
weapon. For its own reasons, this Dark Side entity wanted the unfolding battle to
intensify. And so it would.
With a massive shimmering of space/time, an Eclipse-class super star destroyer
coalesced into existence. At over 17 kilometers in length, it dwarfed even the Vindicator.
With over 750,000 men aboard, it carried the personnel needed to invade entire worlds. Its
thousands of turbolasers and ion cannons made it capable of engaging entire fleets. And
its superlaser, with 2/3 of the power of the Death Star, allowed it to annihilate planets.
Or starships...
The incredibly massive ship prepared to fire upon the SDF-3...
"All power to the barrier shield!" screamed Rick, bracing himself.
A bolt of power equivalent to a sun lanced out from the Eclipse, impacting on the SDF-3's
shield barrier with the force of a billion atomic bombs.
Sparks flew in the air and the bridge lights flickered as the shield collapsed under the
might of the planet-destroyer. The ship listed as large chunks of the hull disintegrated.
Still, the shield absorbed enough of the blast to save the majority of the robotech
vessel.
"Get us out of here!" yelled Rick, eyes wide with fear. The SDF-3 slid away on
faltering engine power...
On the AFFC Jumpship, Wallarts eyes unblinking eyes stared dumbly at the vidscreen. The
room was silent...awestruck at what they were seeing...no words were spoken for a very
long time...
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