The Stuff of Legends (FINALE)

written by Thomas Fritzinger

In all the Cosmos, there is only one Earth. Sure, there are other planets that sustain life forms, and there are many forms of life much more ancient than those on Earth. There are even sentient beings that bear no resemblance to “life” as we know it, yet Earth is unique. Among all of the planets in Creation, Earth alone had Mankind.

Men, collectively, can be stupid and little better than the animals they tend. They can be brutish and hostile. They can cause massive devastation to themselves and everyone around them. They can also, however, produce works of art. They can show kindness to others even at a cost to themselves. They have, for lack of no better word to describe it, souls and know love.

That gift, an immortal soul and the capacity to love, is something that no other creature in the galaxy possesses. That connection to the Creator is so powerful that he has destined mankind to rule over all of creation. Many of the denizens of the universe realize this and have dedicated themselves to the destruction of men as a result.

Barthandalus was one such being. An ascended being, he possesses power well beyond those allowed to most mortal creatures. Sadly, long ago, he turned this power to evil and dedicated himself to the destruction of all the Creator holds dear… life itself.

He descended upon the Earth as a comet. His power grew in the short trip to Earth and, although the Earth defense forces attempted to stop him with the functional Star Wars defense system in orbit, they were no match. He landed in Athens, specifically the Parthenon. He looked at the structure’s remains and remembered how he had ascended here many years before. With a wave of his hand, the millions of tons of cataloged and neatly organized stones around the structure lifted into the air. The scaffolding surrounding the edifice fell away and each stone fit into its proper place as if a child were playing with a gigantic jigsaw puzzle. Within seconds, the Parthenon was once again new.

Barthandalus’ eyes blazed an unearthly red and from within the newly re-constructed Parthenon a red glow responded. Barthandalus smiled as the first of his demonic warriors stepped through the rift he could not open from the other side with all his power. His plan was working to perfection. Not only was he once again standing on the Earth he so desperately hated, but his only real opponents had, and the only ones capable of stopping him, had been trapped in the prison that he himself was condemned to so long ago. It was a fitting punishment.

His trusty servant, Babel, appeared at his side having expected the arrival of his master. This world would burn brightly indeed!

In high orbit over Char…

The alarms on the ship blared as the rain of plasma and laser bolts rained down on the Daedelus. Knoah roared into the speaker, ordering the Valiant down to the planet’s surface with the survivors.

Those Knights in space outside the battleship were being hammered by hundreds upon hundreds of fighter craft. The half dozen remaining drone fighters in the human fleet were doing their best to escort the flaming Valiant down to Char.

Another volley of blaster fire hit the Daedelus. The weakened shields caved entirely. Caledonia and Knoah were the only two left on the bridge when the reactor core went critical. Knoah looked at Caledonia as if to say “I’m sorry”. A trickle of blood ran down the side of his temple from a cut on his head. Caledonia smiled sadly and took his hand. The bridge of the Daedelus erupted as a wall of energy consumed it.

A few miles away, Commander Zixl watched from his bridge as the human battleship was hammered from two of his war cruisers. He watched as one of his cruisers opened up its wave motion gun on the weakened battleship. The gun emitted a surge of energy, unparalleled as a weapon in the entire galaxy, and hit the battleship dead center, consuming the bridge and blasting a hole straight through the ship to the planet below. He watched as it exploded into a billion points of light as the fusion reactor erupted and thought that he would visit this “Earth” that could create such warriors. This battle was almost over, but he had never seen such fortitude come from an inferior species. It was as if they were fighting for something more than just their own lives. It’s no wonder the invasion of Earth had experienced “setbacks” lately.

Looking down at Char, he ordered his thousands of fighters after the remaining battleship. It, too, was severely injured and many of the wounded from the human fleet had jettisoned from their flagship to it during the fight. It wouldn’t matter. There would be no survivors. He dared not use heavy artillery on the ship for fear of hitting the structures below it and permanently opening doors that should remain forever closed.

He had to wonder, however, what had done such extensive damage to the ship before they had arrived. His scans indicated that whatever had happened occurred from within the ship rather than coming from without. Something powerful blasted the hull out from the inside. Had it not been for that, the humans would have destroyed more than two of his cruisers.

His thoughts wandered to possibilities as he was wanton to do. The ability made him rather unique among his kind and was the reason he had risen through the ranks so quickly.

This army did more than patrol this section of the Milky Way galaxy. His army was commissioned with the safeguarding of that doorway which must remain sealed forevermore. It took his race two generations of constant war to seal the beast. If these humans had released it, and it in turn had gotten free… He couldn’t finish the thought.

He opened the intercom and ordered the remainder of his fleet to follow the Valiant down to the planet. He would make sure every single human was dead before this was over.

On the bridge of the Valiant...
 
Eron looked up at the Daedelus as it exploded with Caledonia and Knoah onboard. He was speechless as the hopelessness of the situation sank in.

Those Knights who could fly were still outside fending off fighter attacks. The situation seemed hopeless. The ship couldn’t jump to light speed in the atmosphere and they were pinned. On top of that, they had unwittingly played the pawns that released a monster from its cage. The entire Earth could be doomed due to their lack of diligence and it appeared that they would meet their own end very shortly.

He heard a popping sound and turned to see Knoah and Caledonia standing behind him.

“What, you forgot I could teleport?” Caledonia smiled and hugged Eron, as he allowed himself a sigh of relief.

“Once again, we’re not out of this yet.” Knoah’s sobering reminder was followed by a large explosion to the aft of the ship.

Eron’s eyes shot open. “Get everyone down to the planet. Send them through the rift.”

“That’s suicide,” D exclaimed as he walked into the command module on the bridge. Another explosion rocked the vessel. Knoah looked at the two admirals, “It’s certain death here, too. Do as Eron says.”

Within moments, people were being loaded onto the transports once again and descending down to the planet’s surface as the Valiant provided cover with its own hull. As some of the admirals stayed behind to put up a last ditch effort to hold off the Zingonians, the remainder of the heroes ushered people to the rift, still open from earlier that hour. D flew ahead of everyone else and led the effort to clear the gateway of debris. Within minutes, a long line of survivors began pouring through the rift into the dull red sunlight of Tartarous.

Above their heads, the Valiant made its last stand. Outnumbered and outgunned, Eron and Captain Atom piloted the ship between the oncoming fleet and the rift to protect those escaping. Cap flew out and positioned himself above the bridge, deflecting or absorbing the blasts that would have hit it while Eron manned the gunnery station inside. The rail guns bled projectiles as the Valiant opened up with every remaining battery. Eron let loose every nuke onboard and the sky above them was set on fire as two more Zingonian cruisers fell to the ground below. The Valiant would not go down without a fight!

A bright flash of light from one of the Zingonian cruisers signaled another wave motion gun blast. The shields of the ship were no match for such raw firepower even at full strength and this one took out the bow of the ship entirely. The ship listed to the stern and the weapon systems ceased to respond as the power went out to the bridge.

The ship lost stability and gravity took hold. It began plummeting towards the surface of Char, its own flames combining with the brilliance of reentry at a high rate of speed. Cap blasted through the ceiling of the bridge and carried Eron out through the airlock as a wall of flame washed over the ship. The two admirals watched as the Valiant plummeted to the ground in a giant ball of fire about 50 miles north of the rift, unleashing a cataclysmic explosion as the fusion core exploded upon impact. Nothing within 40 miles escaped the blast. From their vantage in low orbit, they could see it, but not hear it. It made it all seem surreal to the two.

A bolt of energy blasted past Cap. A second one hit him square in the back. Although he absorbed it quickly, it did bring his attention back to the threat at hand. Zingonian fighters descended upon them as they flew downwards towards the Parthenon duplicate. As they landed, they turned towards their attackers and let out a deadly barrage of energy, destroying dozens. To their horror, they saw the dark forms of invasion modules descending above the fighters. As powerful as the two heroes were, the shields on those ships were more than enough to take anything they could dish out.

Passing through the rift into the dry, hot air of Tartarous, they found the survivors of their fleet huddled on the other side, unsure which way to go. Knoah was setting up a defensive perimeter around the rift to stop the ground force which was undoubtedly coming. The hillside had been opened up by the deity’s assault and the rift was now exposed to the dull red sky. The Knights set themselves up in the rubble around the rift and waited, hoping the rift would create a choke point that was defensible. Many of the unpowered military personnel had set up defensive positions with light weapons. Nearly all were choking on the dust stirring in the hot air and the tension was palatable.

Knoah, battered and bruised, looked through the rift. A large Zingonian was standing below them surrounded by several drone warriors. Looking impassively up through the rift, the Zingonian clicked and chirped something in its own language. The drone warriors surrounding him turned their weapons on the diaz at their feet. A volley of blaster fire followed as they destroyed the diaz. The rift shrank and faded from existence. There was no way to reopen it from this side.

Knoah looked up at the assembled force. It had been mighty at one time, but was now merely a band of survivors. Their rations were limited and of the 150 souls present, few had firearms and fewer still had powers. Many were injured, including several Knights, and all were stunned by the events that had just unfolded.

He looked out across the garden of the dead and wondered how many of them would grace the crosses littering the field before this was all over. A feeling of hopelessness set in and he sat on the ground, his head between his hands. This did not go according to his plans at all. Instead of rescuing a single Knight, he had doomed them all.

Captain Atom, floating above the remainder of the survivors, surveyed the landscape. With his connection to the Quantum Field, he could physically feel his life force being slowly siphoned off by this place. It was only a matter of time before the entire team felt it. In the distance, he could make out the shadowy form of a figure standing deathly still on a rock at the base of a hill. The hooded form was clothed in black robes which rustled slightly in the hot breeze. He got the sense that this creature, whatever it was, was best kept away from the team.

His attention was taken away from it by a sound below him. Cassandra had come to. She had been unconscious since her ordeal on the Daedelous. He looked back up at the hooded figure, but it was nowhere to be seen.

She had been saved, but at what cost? Was there any hope left?

Many miles away…

Darius looked through the reflecting pool at his feet at the huddled humans below him. “My master foresaw this. The time has come to prove my worth.”

He waved his hand over the pool and the image began to shift. “Hanzo.” The ninja lord melted out of the shadows behind him. “Is your army ready?”

Hanzo’s eyes blazed an unholy red and he simply nodded his head. Darius didn’t even turn to face him, but continued staring into the pool as the image took shape below him. An image of a well disciplined army of otherworldly ninjas arrayed itself below him. “Go. Ensure the Knights never reach this citadel.”

Hanzo obeyed without hesitation. Had Darius not known better, he was sure he had seen the glint of sadistic glee in the Ninja Lord’s eyes as he left. This would be good.

To be continued in Season 2...