Beyond the End of the World, Lokians 1

Chapter 13

"Admiral, that can't be!"

"It has to be," he yelled. "They're moving at faster than light speeds. Look, it's the only way they can escape the pull of their own black holes."

"Their own black holes?"

Suddenly, readings stabilized. The enemy had patched the space-time fabric. No sooner had Thewls taken a breath that the Lokians came to a halt. Readings indicated a flood of information.

"They're releasing fighters, Sir," someone barked.

"Damn it," Yew grumbled. "Message the rovers. Inbound enemies. Tell them to make exploration their only concern. We'll handle the Lokians space side, and the scrambled ships can handle them planet side. Got it?"

"Sir!"

All aboard the Carrier, Thewls darted off for their posts, for ships, and those unable to cram into lifts took stairs and maintenance shafts.

****

Back on Sahagun, the crews of each rover braced themselves. "Aw, shit," Swain gasped.

"Stay focused. They got us covered," Martinez reassured.

Swain looked to the Thewl on his left, who nodded. "You're doing fine. Head for the ice mountains in the distance. You there, take the gun," he said.

Martinez wasted no time, moving to a seat on a slightly higher level towards the rear of the rover. Another Thewl quickly ran down instructions on how to operate the cannon.

"Hell yeah! We gonna' fry these bitches," Martinez yelled.

****

Just beyond Sahagun's atmosphere, the Carrier powered its weaponry. Apart from plasma cannons was a devastating, anti-matter, reverse magnetron charge, or just AMRMC. Swain and Martinez had studied its properties extensively during their week long trek. It was an ingenious weapon, which fired a conglomerate of anti-matter particles. The reverse magnetron charge contained the explosion caused by collisions of matter and anti-matter particles. In short, the AMRMC caused a destabilization of spatial particles, a potent, high-frequency explosion, but partially contained in one spot.

Lokians were closing in at a phenomenal rate. Their fighters, creatures bred and built in a fashion resembling mechanical beetles and hornets, took the forefront. Quickly and efficiently they arranged themselves in such a tight formation that they maneuvered as one single unit; they were like a swarm of fish, which sensed one another via lateral lines.

Thewlian fighter pilots looked on in horror as shiny, sleek, space bugs bore down. Gritting their teeth and dimming their faces, they prepared for the worst. Then, Yew's orders blared over speakers.

"Once the enemy fighters close the gap, fire the AMRMC. I want to blow this alien trash to Hell and back!" The enemy came in, shifting panels to reveal all manners of protuberances, cannons, glowing membranes, and arcs of fizzling energy. Thewlian fighters held firm, however, they knew what an AMRMC did, and they wanted no part of its catastrophic damage, so they waited, breaths held, for the enemy to move just a little closer. "Fire," Yew shouted.

From the Carrier's cannon, a black blast flew through space. It covered some serious distance before the reverse charge broke down. Suddenly, as anti-matter particles were freed from their field, they collided with standard particles, resulting in an expanding array of black and white lightning. Carnage knocked out half the Lokian fighters—the whole of their rear—in mid-flight, yet the enemy transporters remained a safe distance as if gauging the battlefield.

Slowly, the AMRMC blast vaporized, leaving Thewlian forces an opportunity to engage half as many enemy vessels. They broke into various formations, fired plasma bursts at the insects, and tried to dodge laser beams.