Chapter 238: (Savash) (1/2)
The back wall of the Voidship was made of black marble, shot through with red and green streaks, had a legend writ large in gleaming blood red orichalcum, each letter the size of an entire hand.
”GLORY AND HONOR TO MY HOUSE, WITH EGGS AND BURROWS THE ENVY OF ALL, BY MIGHT OR TRICKERY MY HOUSE, MY BURROW, MY CLUTCH ASCENDANT”
In the middle of the room was an oval of black and silver sand, with flecks of gold and the sparkle of powdered gemstones. In the middle of the sand sat a muscular, squat, heavily scarred saurian. He had wings folded onto his back, thick boned wings with a membrane that was decorated through scarification, the he could glide for long distances upon and even fly at times. His scales were rich and luxurious, heavy overlapping plates, some scarred from blade, talon, or energy. His eyes were closed as he sat in the circle, an inlaid and engraved sword on his lap that glowed with pent-up energy, glowing mist leaking from the blade to dissipate a few inches from the blade.
A soft chime rang out and the saurian opened his eyes, blinking several times as his eyes adjusted to the bright lighting that had risen up with the chime. He got to his feet, his body rippling with muscle, and held out his arms.
Pieces of armor lifted from the sand, reaching out with tendrils of energy to the saurian's body before clacking into place. All too soon the saurian was completely covered with armor, even his mighty wings, and he slowly sheathed the sword behind his back. He opened the faceplate to reveal his face and moved out of the room and into the interior of his voidship.
All too soon he left the elevator, stepping out onto the quarterdeck of his might voidship, The Unsheathed Claw, pausing for a moment to take in his crew. They were all hard at work, pulling the ropes to adjust the solar sails, watching the starry skies with farsight glasses, or other esoteric tasks involved in bringing a voidship into orbit of a planet.
Around him the rest of his armada, captained by reliable allies, exited voidspace in a plume of purple and red energy. They began flashing lantern signals and flag signals as the saurian moved up next to the captain of The Unsheathed Claw, who was resplendent with his tri-cornered hat with two feathers in it. Easily identifiable to the crew.
”The armada has made the transition safely. None lost to the hazards of the Astral Realm,” the captain said.
”Excellent. Bring forth my magus, I will give this world a single chance to surrender to my might,” the saurian said.
”At once, milord,” the captain said. He turned to the deck. ”Song Magus to the quarterdeck!”
The call was repeated until a graceful elf left the cabins and moved up the deck. She was dressed in a flowing gown, vast expanses of perfect skin exposed and covered in light glittering dust of precious metals ground by hand. She moved to in front of the armored saurian and curtsied.
”My will is at your command, milord,” she said.
”Contact the world below. I wish to speak to their leaders,” the saurian said. He held up one hand, his fingers curled, and the talons oozed energy. ”I seek not to liberate this world over rent flesh and sinew, but if that is what destiny requires, then that is how I shall free each egg, each hatchling, each clutch maiden, from the vile servitude they have languished beneath for too many generations.”
The elven sorceress felt goosebumps rise on her skin at her lord's words and licked her lips, faintly able to taste the blood and iron of his words. She turned and began deftly weaving spells, calling upon great and powerful spirits and using words of power that made all who heard them shiver.
She stepped back as a glowing orb appeared in mid-air and slowly grew to reveal a startled Lanaktallan staring out of the orb and at the saurian. The elven sorceress kept chanting, low, under her breath, to keep the difficult communication open.
”Who are you? How dare you appear...” the Lanaktallan began.
”SILENCE!” the saurian roared out, smoke puffing out of his nostrils.
The Lanaktallan went suddenly silent.
”You have a single planetary rotation to surrender this world and its peoples to me,” the saurian growled. ”Should you not, then my wrath shall be great and terrible. I shall have you chased down, captured like the animal you are, and roasted over an open firepit to be devoured by my loyal crew.”
The Lanaktallan goggled at the image on his holotank. As the Most High his personal holotank should have been unlisted, unavailable, but somehow the being on his holotank had not only managed to track down his holotank GalNet link code, but had overriden the display he had been showing the other gathered Most Highs of the system in order to show a saurian being in ornate fancy armor.
”Are you mad? I have tens of milliions of troops, hundreds of thousands of ships, you are in...” the Lanaktallan paused, looking offscreen. His eyes widened and he looked at the holotank, then at the Most High of the Unified Military Forces. He turned back slowly. ”You apparently have, well, wooden ships.”
”The pride of the Meratarrian Kobold Navy, blessed by Her Eternal Elven Grace, Divine Light of the Aether, Lady of Magic and Power, Queen Radosalvov the Eternal and Graceful,” the Saurian snarled. ”You have one planetary rotation to surrender, usurper, or be totally destroyed.”
The elven sorceress made a gesture and the globe vanished even as the Lanaktallan gobbled in confusion at the holotank. She slumped slightly and two of her servant caught her, supporting her. She took a couple of hitching breaths and then stood up, her strength returning to her quickly.
”Send the signals to all ships, prepare for naval action, that disgusting creature is too arrogant to understand that we will not be defeated,” the saurian said.
”As you wish, milord,” the captain said. He looked out across the deck. ”MAN THE GUNS, YOU SCURVY LIZARDS! PREPARE FOR BATTLE!”
The saurian moved up to the railing at the edge of the quarterdeck, looking down at the crew deck, and nodded to himself.
I am here now, having journeyed beyond your imagination, and I shall free every last one you, from fading one to hatchling, no more shall we dwell beneath the vile hooves of the interlopers, he thought to himself.
-----------------------
One of the orbital patrol vessels got within range of the strange ships and relayed a scan back to the planet.
Wooden ships, ocean going ships, with glittering sails of metal and crystal, crewed by saurians.
The System Most High ordered the patrol vessels to open fire.
Particle beams raced out, over half of them missing, but the three targeted ships each took a half dozen beams.
Which his some kind of battlescreen that flickered to life as the beams hit then faded away.
The Most High saw his holotank come to life. The armored saurian was back.
”Then war it is,” he said.
Before the Most High could reply, the communication was ended.
And the holotank fried out.
The Most High remembered that the insufferable Mantid diplomat had been here only a week prior.
Perhaps she had cursed him too?
------------------------
Barrels were dropped from the sides of the ships, 'falling' quickly into the gravity well and into the atmosphere. The heat of reentry broiled away the ablative shielding until finally, deep in the atmosphere, the barrels 'popped', releasing black mist that dissipated into the air. The crews manning the planetary defense battery waited to hear orders, but none came to fire upon the barrels. One Thirtieth Most High called his supervisor, who sneeringly told him that the ships in orbit obviously had no way to strike at the surface.
The planetary defense batteries ignored the literally tens of thousands of 'barrels' dropped overboard, believing the black mist to be little more than smoke from an explosion.
The components of the mist drifted down over the hours, gathering in raincloud in some areas to be taken to earth by the thousands in each raindrop. Others just drifted down on the wind, hundreds of trillions of them reaching the ground over the course of several hours. Some, when they touched down, sunk into the soil itself, gathering others, looking for what they needed.
Silently carrying out their commands.
Aboard the ships mages worked hard, sitting within their summoning circles, as they wove powerful and delicate spells, reaching down to the surface, where they could hear the whispers of the world voice babbling on with a million voices.
The Sixth Most High of Weather Management looked down at his monitor when it beeped. It was showing a blank screen and then rebooted. Across the control room dozens of other consoles beeped and reboot.
He tapped out a com-code.
”Station Computer Control,” a voice answered.
”Our consoles just rebooted. State the reason,” the Sixth Most High ordered.
”Everything's under control. Situation normal,” the voice stated.
”What happened?” the Sixth Most High asked.
”Uh, had a slight weapons malfunction. But, uh, everything's perfectly all right now. We're fine. We're all fine here, now, thank you. How are you?” the voice asked.
”Weapon's malfunction? What are you talking about?” the Sixth Most High asked.
”We had a reactor leak here now. Give us a few minutes to lock it down. Large leak... very dangerous,” the voice said. The lights flickered and the Sixth Most High frowned, his tendrils curling.