March of The Dreadlord

In space, above the 4th Plutonian homeworld, two dreadnoughts, and a large strike force warped in. Emblazoned on the sides of the normal-sized dreadnoughts were The Fallen and the Flying Dutchman. The Fallen looked like your 'average' dreadnought, despite it having four large cylinders with ornamental scimitar-like handles protruding from them. The Flying Dutchman however looked like a large-scaled ghost ship, save for its modern space weapons, engines, and giant bubble dome covering the top of the ship.

"Captain Jones, come in, Captain Jones."

"Yes, what do ye want Falcion?" The skeleton sat in front of the wheel in the Dutchman, insisting that it be used for manual control of the ship.

Falcion, the half-dragon half-man captain of The Fallen, which, besides looking as if made of pure gold, was a standard dreadnought, was confused.

"Why are we out here in the middle of no where? These..... these..... nerds-"

"We be here, because our lord Verax has deemed these fools a threat. And if he deems em' a threat, we be sent t' kill them." The Skeletal captain replied.

"Fine. Lets just take the planet and be done with it!" Falcion wanted some front line action, not being stuck under this Piratical excuse for a military leader. He wanted to be in on the fight for Crenel, but the Dreadlord placed each of his five dreadnoughts and his generals on their separate missions to spread out their forces.

The combine one million bombers, fighters, and gunships, 100,000 destoyers and cruisers, 10,000 battlecuisers, 25,000 battleships, and 2 flagships began readying for the assault.

Pluto is buzzing with movement. Not from the arriving ships, though; half the Plutonian population had been wiped out not long ago, and many are scrambling to return to normal life, or, as normal as can be.

Charon, Pluto's largest moon, holding the base of security, is also buzzing. This activity, though, /IS/ due to the arriving ships. The base is chaotic, not only due to the threat of the sudden visit, but due to the fact that not only is their Princess, Zyria, gone, but their Second in Command, otherwise known as Boggs, is missing. And now, no one can find the next in Command.

"Who the hell are we looking for, anyway?!"

"Uhm, a "Zeif" Skaam Plach. He's the next in Command. No one seems to know where he is, though. Lieutenant, Sir, you know, /you/ could always--"

"Shut it, Sphar! I'm not the next in Command. You know damn well that we need to find this guy. It's procedure."

Suddenly, the door bursts open, and a guard tosses a young man into the room. The boy falls to the ground roughly, and the guard chuckles at what he caused, as he closes the door. The Lieutenant walks to the man as he pushes himself up off of the ground.

"Soldier! Who are you? We don't need anymore interruptions, so talk fast."

The young man wrings his hands and looks to the ground, his voice quiet. "Oh, uhm, I'm , uh--"

"SPEAK UP!"

The man stands at attention, his shoulders back, completely uniform. He speaks louder, but the Lieutenant still has to lean in to completely hear him.

"Commander Zeif Plach! Homeland, the P4 Moon! Number 3K05LS67!" If the Lieutenant's hands weren't empty, he would've dropped everything.

"C-Commander?!" The Lieutenant quickly stands at attention, after recovering from the shock. He hits the back of the head of another soldier, Sphar, who is scrambling out of his chair. The Lieutenant continues. "Sir! I apologize, not only for myself, but for the lack of discipline here. EVERYONE STAY FOCUSED, WE NEED TO BE PREPARED!"

The Commander, Zeif, though, looks far from angry, or irritated. In fact, he looks almost....scared. The Lieutenant wonders, How can this be our new Commander? This kid looks about as rookie as it gets! He tries to coax something, /any/thing, out of the boy. "So......what're your orders? Commander?"

The young man winces at the title. "Oh, uhm, at ease. Keep up...whatever you were doing?"

This causes the Lieutenant to gag. The orders are so terrible, he can taste them in his mouth. This isn't good. We need more than some skinny kid to lead our whole army. The Lieutenant nods to his Commander, though, and begins barking out actual orders.

"Prepare the droids for coming attack. Begin zoning, in 3, 2, 1, NOW!" A soldier turns abruptly and presses a series of buttons.

In the next second, the entire planet freezes. All non-organic activity ceases. This is the signal. Every citizen stops and listens. A small click echoes over the small world, and suddenly, the Plutonian sky darkens even more. A shell, slightly opaque, is growing across the sky.

The citizens immediately begin running to their homes, each person pulling out a device and tapping away at it. Scientists run through the streets, stuffing papers into their bags. Buildings, reacting to the small devices begin pulling out of their protective outer shells, leaving the skeleton behind, and folding in on itself. Furniture is pressed into small sizes, and anything that cannot be shrunk tossed out. Everything goes into lockdown.

The shell growing over Pluto continues until it completely surrounds it. The Lieutenant nods in approval. "Good. Now warm up the field again, prepare for zoning of the moons."

"Yes sir!"

While Falcion started spewing curses, Jones took the situation into account. He contacted Falcion.

"Arrrrg, I think the scurvy dogs deployed a defense barrier!"

Falcion responded with a roaring, "ANYONE COULD SEE THAT YOU DOLT, WHY DID YOU GO TO THE TROUBLE TO TELL ME wait, do you think you can go through that, by.... you know....?"

"Aye, I can. But I think we should belay that fer the time bein'. Try hittin' it with yer special weapons if our normal one's powder is wet." Falcion smiled.

"THAT, I can do, old dog." Verax was obviously fond of plasma and energy/particle beam weapons, as that's what the majority of the dreadnought's firepower seemed to be. However, The Fallen and The Flying Dutchman both had heavy rail and chain guns, and began unloading round after earth-cracking round upon Pluto. Or at least, The Fallen did. Jones turned his attention towards Charon. Being both the largest of and being a moon itself put itself at a high probability for a military base of some kind, and directed his half of the forces to attack it.

With little avail overcoming the shield over Pluto with its mere weapons, Falcion gave the order to reveal The Fallen's hidden talent. Jones was upset at how hasty Falcion was, for patience is a necessity in warfare, but he understood his reasons. The four cylinders along the sides of The Fallen shot out, revealing four 275-Kilometer gold scimitars, and equally proportional in width, they hovered vertically next to the ship, before bludgeoning the planet with a heated fury.

Falcion also had orders prepped to ground force deployment, if they should get the chance. These soldier, this assortment of superhuman strength and calculating droids and cyborgs, had been field tested only once, and with inconclusive results. But they were numerous. They were easily replace. They were made only to kill without mercy and without hesitation.

And they do this one thing very, very well.

Zeif stands there, unsure what to do. The Lieutenant is making his way around the base, barking orders left and right.

"Are the droids prepped? How about our evacuation? Is the planet in complete lockdown? How about that fail safe?" A soldier runs up and walks with him.

"The droids are prepped and pouring out onto the launch pad. The evacuation is ready if we need it. The planet has just finished complete lockdown, and the fail safe is ready."

"Good! Launch the droids, and warn the citizens of the probable use of the fail safe!"

"Yes, sir!" The soldier runs off. The Lieutenant approaches Zeif.

"Sir!"

"Uh, yeah, at ease. Soldier." The Lieutenant relaxes, and pulls Zeif into a pace with him.

"Commander, sir. We need the motivation of a leader. We don't have her, so we'd turn to our Second-in-Command. He's not here, as well. So....we have you."

"So, no pressure."

"HA! Good, you have a sense of humor. You'll need that, to be in charge." The Lieutenant pulls him to a screen, that shows the invading ships attacking Pluto. "We're going to need you to keep everything going. To keep everyone /wanting/ to keep going. As long as you're alive, soldiers will know that there are people to fight for. Having the Princess so far away, well...soldiers lose sight of why they're fighting. With you here, even not knowing what to do, they'll have the reminder, the motivation. Just remember that."

"Uh, well, thanks, I guess? I wasn't really....prepared......"

"Doesn't matter. You still need to stand up and act."

All the while, as Zeif is given his....'pep talk,' the shield around Pluto is moving, wavering, almost. But, instead of dissipating, it stretches out, grasping the moons, first P4, then Nix, then Hydra. A soldier calls out to the Lieutenant, "The minor moons are captured! Zoning equipment is cooling now!"

Zeif looks to the Lieutenant, then the soldier. He stands up straighter, and turns to the soldier, feigning outward determination. "Good. Ensure that the moons are secure in the shielding, and that their orbit wasn't altered. Prepare for the zoning of Charon. We need to protect ourselves before they find this base." He looks to the Lieutenant again, a sheepish look on his face, and shrugs. The Lieutenant nods though, and the soldier turns back to his station.

"Sir, yes, Sir!"

"WHY-" Pluto was rocked by a massive sword crashing against it. "WON'T-" And again. "YOU-" Yet again, a massive sword was beating the planet's shield like an angry timpani player "BREAK?!?" Falcion was upset at this very upset. But he and his forces were still bombarding the planet's seemingly indestructible barrier.

Jones was unsurprised by the turn of events. In fact, he was told to plan on not taking or destroying Pluto. As one of The Dreadlord's two closest and best military commanders, the other Lord Vabin The Iron-Winged, he knew more of Verax's plans then almost any other living -semi-living, in Jones's case- being. So he took full control of the entire fleet, and began raining fire down upon Charon with no mercy or relent.

The soldiers in The Fallen were deployed too, at Jones's orders. Not to Pluto, but to Charon. They had but one chance at this, and their time was short. Failure, was not an option if they wanted to continue living. So the foot soldiers, the tanks, and some 100-foot tall warmechs crashed on to the moon's surface, ready to go wherever they were needed.

The Plutonian citizens rush to their shelters, everything finally in lockdown. The shield is holding, over 200 millennia of work at its best, but they may still have to execute the fail-safe, if the enemy doesn't let up. And on Charon, matters are worsening.

"They've landed soldiers on Charon! Chances of the base being discovered at 100 percent! Calculated time of discovery, a mere few minutes!"

"Damn it!" The Lieutenant stomps to the screen, the layout of the stretch of space from the enemy ships to the base showing the soldiers their future. "We need that shield ready! Estimated time for shield preparation?"

"Another couple minutes, sir!"

"Damn! That's too close. We need to prepare for battle. You hear me?! THE BATTLE'S BEGINNING!" Men and women scramble around, looking for equipment, protection, escape pods. Droids launch and head for both the enemy ships, and the soldiers, capturing as many images as they can and sending them back to the base.

Zeif, though, stands there, not knowing what to do. A gun is roughly shoved in his arms, and he checks it, making sure it's prepped. The Lieutenant sees the boy's hesitation, fear, and pats him on the shoulder. "Just remember, kid, as long as you're alive, we'll have an army." Zeif nods vigorously, mentally pounding that into his conscious. As long as I'm alive, we have an army. I need to stay alive, to keep the army alive, in order. Just until Boggs or the Princess returns. Right now, somehow, I have to stay alive, keep the motivation alive.

Then the droids' pictures of the coming soldiers returns to the base, and everyone sees what this already broken army is about to face.

Thousands of cybernetic soldeirs. About 7 feet tall and with various weapons for arms. Large biped mechs, with large beam cannon arms, railgun fingers, and various other hidden weapons. Then there were tanks, rusted, slow, looking like they used gun powder, pathetic laughable little things, until the 10-yard shells shot out their turrets.

"Falcion, I'll attack Pluto, ye deal wi' th' army!" Jones told him, he wanted to keep up the facade that they were still intent on taking or destroying Pluto. So he rained down fire upon the planet, while The Fallen began heading towards Charon.

All four of its massive scimitars ready to beat the moon like a child abusing parent. All of its weapons ready to make the music of its life a symphony of screams.

"Another sixty seconds until the shield is warmed up again!"

"Really? Damn it!" The Lieutenant slams a fist on the counter, and turns to Zeif. "You have to make the call. I'm not authorized."

Zeif looks to him in shock. "Well, what do I say?!"

"Whatever you feel to be the right course of action. Go with your knowledge, but listen to your gut, as well!" The Lieutenant walks across the room, and pulls a gun off of a rack. He checks the gun, and goes to the door. He glances back at the Commander, and smirks. "Think of this as your initiation. You'll do fine. You wouldn't be third in command if that wasn't true."

With that, the Lieutenant exits, making his way to the launch pad. He calls forward a pilot, and they take off in a ship, to the army. The pilot leans forward, catching the Lieutenant's attention. "Sir? Are you sure you want to be on the front line?"

"Of course, we need a high ranking soldier on the front line to motivate the others."

"But, the chances of survival, for every soldier on the front line--"

"I know the odds. That's why I'm going, not our new 'Commander.'" This silences the pilot.

---

Zeif is practically hyperventilating. The Lieutenant just /leaves/, forcing Zeif to take control. He looks at the screen, scanning over the large army. The calculations in his mind show him the options he has, but there are so many variables, so much self doubt, that he can't come to test one out. He merely watches as the enemy gets closer, and closer, until--

"Sir! The shield is ready!"

"Destroy them. We do not care for the planet. So long as they cannot aid the enemy or resist our might, the Dreadlord cares not for taking Pluto. CRUSH CHARON, AND YOUR REWARDS WILL BE WITHOUT MEASURE." Falcion was finally informed of the plan. Cripple the military, if not completely, than partially.

The Plutonians were the ones that could tip the scales in this plan, so the main goal right now was to make sure they withdrew any support against Verax, to make sure they were not inclined to challenge him. Verax had at first thought of trying to ally himself with the Plutonians, but he knew once Zyria got word of it, it would dissolve, so destroying at least some of their military was a prime objective.

Upon Falcion's message, all the units stopped progressing toward the military base, and began to fire at the moon itself. All the space units abandoned Pluto, all the ground units self-destructed, forming a crater in which The Fallen took all four of it's swords and stabbed.

"Blow a flagship in that crater. Let 't be th' powder that crumbles the'r ship." And so, willingly and proudly, one of the flagships began approaching the moon, all its systems already overloading.

[Oh my bejeezers, I finally have something figured out to type here.]

Zeif looks at the soldier that had spoken, just stares at him.

"Sir? The shield is ready, what are your orders?"

"Uhm, uh--"

"The enemy units landed here have self destructed! They're no longer head for us!"

Zeif looks to the other soldier, and at the final pictures that were sent from the now-destroyed droids. They're not after us anymore? Why would they blow themselves up?

"They're sending a flagship toward us, dangerously close! At the current speeds, the impact with certainly do more than merely damage the moon!"

Once again, Zeif just stares at them. They're just going to crash a ship into Charon? Zeif gasps. They're not trying to destroy just the base. They're going to destroy the entire moon. I need to get us out of this, save as many as I can.

"Sir! What are your orders for the shield?!"

"Don't activate it."

"Yes, sir, activating now--" The soldier turns from the buttons and dials, and his eyes widen on Zeif. "Sir?!"

"Don't zone Charon. We just need to evacuate everyone and anything necessary. If we activate the shield, they can slip through while they're attacking us."

"But, sir, they're not here yet, they haven't found the base--"

"They're not after the base. They're destroying Charon entirely."

The soldier almost falls from his seat. "W-What?! They're...--"

"Yes. Now, call out the evacuation. We need to save as many soldiers as we can. Pluto and the minor moons will be safe, they're already in the shield. Make sure they keep the shield up, but they don't need to stay in lock down. I need a radio that's on our frequency that can reach the soldiers on Pluto."

"Y-Yes, sir." The soldier hands Zeif a small radio, and turns on an intercom. "Evacuate the base, repeat, evacuate the base! Take only necessities, and save as many soldiers as you can, both wounded and capable. Use all ships for evacuation, and GET OFF OF CHARON AS SOON AS YOU CAN." The soldier's voice resonates off of the base walls, and men and women scramble around, grabbing what they can before boarding a ship.

Zeif places a hand on the soldier's shoulder. "You should go, too, soldier. We won't be needing anymore help."

The soldier looks up at his commander, and stands. "If it's all right with you, Sir, I'd much rather stay and help you. I can fly a ship out of here."

"Well, then, let's get going, shall we? There's one last thing we need to do, though." Zeif reaches over and presses a few buttons, sending every last droid out towards the ships. Hundreds upon thousands of them swarm out, creating a good enough 'fog' for some of the escape pods to make it far enough away. "Overload all systems, will you?" The soldiers begins rapidly pressing buttons, until a few alarms begin going off. "Good. Now let's find the smallest ship that can still jump dimensions. We have to leave."

The two run from the main room, to the last few ships. Zeif points to a painfully tiny pod. "We'll take that one." They rush in, the soldier quickly starting it up.

"This ship's tiny enough, it shouldn't take long to warm up. The flagship is barely sixty seconds away."

"Then we should be off as soon as we can."

~~

Hardly a few miles from where the enemy units had self destructed, the ship carrying the Lieutenant is still rushing to them. "Lieutenant, sir, the enemy soldiers have self-destructed. Your orders?"

"...Is that flagship heading toward us?"

The pilot does a double take. "Uhm, y-yes, sir. What do you suggest?"

The Lieutenant looks back to the base, watching as a few more ships shoot from the military base. Barely visible, an excruciatingly tiny pod flies off, the final evacuating ship.

"I think we should pay that flagship a visit. Thrusters on full. Begin overload."

"Y-Yes, sir, r-right away, sir."

(Darn it! I can't think of much. Brain, Y U NO MAKE LONGER POSTS?)

"They are intelligent. No doubt about that. Jones, sir, I think they're catching on." Falcion messaged. Jone's laughed.

"Pull back." Jones ordered calmly. Falcion roared in opposition.

"What, why? We... oh.... I see. And the troops?"

"Expendable."

"So then we leave! Another victory, right? If Vabin was serious about the whole balance thing, then we just made our lord stronger!" And The Fallen and The Dutchman warped back to The Voyager, as the rest of the invasion fleet continued their assault.

----

Sol, the A.I. aboard the Yetium flagship sent out a recorded message to Zeif, split into two segments. The first segment, if opened, would detail the coming Battle for Crenel if the Plutonians wished to regroup and aid the Alteriians, Martians, and NSI fleets that were set to engage the Voyager there. The second segment was a request, that she had no wish to perish in the explosion and would be willing to aid the Plutonians if they allowed her to transfer herself to one of their ships.

She highly doubted they'd believe her, but she hoped they would, she was panicking. Like the majority of the other A.I., save for Lurinia, they were quickly turning away from the Dreadlord for wasting them. She wanted to help.

"Commander the two main ships are pulling out."

"Because everything's already set here. Charon has fallen, unfortunately. The military lives, though."

"Also, there are two incoming messages. From one of the flagships, the A.I., specifically."

"What are they about?"

"One contains masses of information about a future battle near Crenel, with the Alteriians, Martians, and NSI fleets, against the Voyager."

"The Voyager, hm? We may have to look into that. Zyria would at least appreciate whatever help we could bring. And the other?"

"The A.I. called Sol is asking to transfer to this ship. She doesn't want to be left to deal with the explosion, and claims she can be of some aid."

"Well, it would be beneficial to have someone from the enemy helping us. Is there any way we could transfer her here, but not give her complete access to the entire ship?"

"I can try."

"Good. Get on that, and I'll send a message back, so she can transfer over."

~~

Meanwhile, the small ship holding the Lieutenant continues toward the flagship.

"Sir, the flagship will crash into us, and just push us into Charon."

"Keep moving. Everything's overloaded?"

"Yes, sir."

"I'll set to charging up what few weapons we have here. We'll go out with a bang, if we have to, and draw whatever attention of their's from the last escaping ships."

Sol sucesssfully transfered over, and while she didn't have full access of the ship, she was glad to be off the doomed flagship. She explored the Plutonian ship, eager and excited to be of use once again. "Greetings... Mr... um.... file... not... found? Sorry, I'm not used to this. I'm like a lot of the A.I.'s used by Verax, we were prisoners that he turned into data, I'm still kind of getting used to this."

As she was running her mouth, the flagships suddenly stopped, without the A.I. to guide it, it sat, suspended, just before gravity started pulling it towards Charon. The rest of the ships however began to blink out, as they were retreating to Crenel to aid Verax.

Zeif glances around the ship, 'looking' at the A.I. "Commander Zeif, but there aren't any needs for...formalities, I-I suppose." With the end of so many lives depending on him, Zeif has lost his confidence. He's still on alert, what with an enemy on board, but the self esteem that had boosted so suddenly, is dwindling.

"So, uhm, what was this exactly that you sent to us, about a battle near Crenel?"

"Oh! Thats right! You have to hurry! Right now theres a massive battle going on outside Crenel, and Verax has the upper hand I guess, even though the NSI struck first. From what we were told the assault is supposed to be a big distraction so the Dimensional Leaders can get to Eris-Tam, but it's a trick! Verax already has his generals inside, they're already set to slaughter them! That and the allied forces need probably every extra ship they can get. Any thing else?" She hoped she was being helpful.

Zeif's face slowly set, blank with furious horror. Then, his lack of confidence forgotten, he turns to his soldier friend. "Start towards Crenel. We need to at least warn them. I'll see if I can get a message to the soldiers on Pluto, they can send a message out to all the escaped pods, and whoever we have left can go help in the battle." The soldier nods, and begins working on the ship furiously. Zeif glances back to the ship ceiling, once again 'looking' at the A.I. "Thank you. This information is important. It's more than important. You probably just saved the lives of many important people, including our Princess. What can we call you? Were you named? I'd prefer not to just call you 'A.I.' "

She thought for a while. "I think... I think to take away our individuality he made us forget our names. I've been called Sol, so, I guess that's my name now. And I'm glad I could help!" She sounded almost, empty. She didn't know why she should be happy, or why helping people was good, she didn't even know why she was aware at all, but she felt happy she did.

Zeif half smiled up to the ceiling. "All right, Sol it is, then. I must admit, so far I'm glad we saved you. It was a risk, bringing someone from the enemy aboard, but I'm happy we took it. It was beneficial for everyone." He then turns and leans toward a small microphone nearby. "Shield base, come in. This is Commander Zeif Plach, aboard an escape pod, en route to the First Dimension, then Crenel."

After a moment, there was a reply. "Shield base to Commander Plach. Uhm, may I ask why you are traveling to Crenel?"

"There is a battle taking place there, apparently. Go find the energy tracking team, see if there's been more ships arriving nearby than usual."

"Actually, sir, the energy trackers brought their daily records to us, being the top military here at the moment, and there's been quite a rise, actually. So, I suppose either your statement is true, or the dimensions are beginning to implode. What do you propose?"

"Send a message to all escape pods that you can contact. Tell them about the battle, and to meet up with my ship there. We'll meet on the edge of the 1st Dimension. If the ships have weapons and all the necessary equipment already, they are to come directly to us. If not, they must plan to intersect paths with a ship that does, and share that equipment. Do it right away, this is our top priority!"

"S-Sir, if it's just another battle, why are we rushing to help?"

Zeif sighs, a long, frightened, drawn-out sigh. "Because, Princess Zyria is there."

"Yes. Hurry Zeif." There was no mistaking this voice, and the malice that oozed from it. It belonged to Verax. "Run, run, as fast as you can! If you don't move quicker, what's left of your princess will fit in a can! HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Sol worked feverishly.

"There! Now he won't be able to track me any more. Sorry about that, but I guess you know now Verax likes to strike doubt and fear into his enemies." Sol started setting up for just about any kind of analysis or use she would be needed for.

"Verax assaulted here to try to keep you all out of the Battle for Crenel. He knew you could tip the scales against him. Never doubt your ability to help, Zeif. You have one of the most dangerous men to live worried. Be sure of yourself, and things won't end badly for you. Now, I think we should hurry. The universe won't save itself!"

As the ship zoomed off, Zeif smirks. Now, this is probably the first time the boy has shown any confidence whatsoever, and it did not look right on his face. Strangely, while the Dreadlord's voice sent shivers down the soldier's back, Verax seemed to boost Zeif's self esteem. Maybe it was knowing exactly what Zeif would have to deal with. Maybe it was that hearing the enemy's voice made him more....imaginable. Whatever the reason, Zeif's confidence heightened. "So, now there's a voice to match the stories. Tracking us or not, Verax knows where we're headed. Not being able to track us now, though, means we can hide out in the outer edge of the 1st Dimension while we contact the princess. What's our ETA?"

"A few more minutes, sir. Being this small, with the same technology our large ships use to hop dimensions, we're moving surprisingly fast, given the amount of dimensions we need to slip through."

"Good. We'll be there before the other ships, so I'll have the time to speak with Princess Zyria and find out what we can do."

With that, the tiny pod skips off through dimension after dimension, prepared for just about anything.

[Starting next post in the Battle for Crenel thread]