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【Vision of an Alternate Future】

Arc 2: Return of the Crystal Guardians

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【VAF】Chapter║: 55 ─ Provocation

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On the other side of the Galaxy Crystalorb’s Expeditionary Division and the 7th Andronian fleet arrive in O’con Space to find the Defensive fleets battling a swarming BattleSphere Fleet that was decimating O’con ships, and the BattleCylinders were beginning to take direct aim at O’con itself in an attempt to deliver a debilitating blow to the O’ltana.

O’con is protected by over 800 Stations that are 400km long, and they project a powerful Planetary Shield that protected O’con from the First Round of Bombardment from a thousand strong BattleCylinder Fleet firing at long range. By redirecting hundreds of BattleCylinders to target a single O’con Station the Migon began to Destroy the Planetary Defence Stations.

Persistent Coordinated BattleCylinder weapons Fire Destroyed more and more O’con Planetary Defence Stations creating gaps in the Planetary Defence Shield. With O’con in danger more and more O’con and Andronian Ships took up a defensive position on the gaps in the shield in an attempt to protect O’con, but this was a temporary measure, and unless they destroyed the BattleCylinders O’con would be destroyed.

The arrival of Crystalorb’s Expeditionary Division and the 7th Andronian fleet tipped the balance and as soon as Aurora realise that the BattleCylinders were targeting O’con She ordered 350 of her 400 Nalen Class SkyGarrison to take up a defensive position blocking the BattleCylinder Fleet’s line of sight with O’con and the rest of Crystalorb’s Expeditionary Division made a direct attack on the Migon BattleCylinders and their escort ships.

Nalen Class SkyGarrisons carry a connected fragment of the Spirit Stone and because of this their energy reserves are backed up by the entire Crystalorb Energy Grid. However despite the enormous energy available to the Nalen Class SkyGarrisons there are unavoidable built in Design Limitations that dictate the circumstances of their survivability, and the survival of the Ship’s crew carried onboard.

Nalen Class SkyGarrisons have Shield Projectors that have Design Limits; they can generate a shield of a particular maximum strength. The energy conduits can transfer a particular maximum amount of energy to Shield Projectors, Energy Weapons Crystals, Propulsion or Other Sections. The Spirit Stone has the same limitations; the smaller the Fragment the easier it is to destroy.

As expected Combined Beams from multiple Migon BattleCylinders overpowered Nalen Class SkyGarrisons; penetrating their Shields and Destroying them. Fortunately the rest of Crystalorb’s Expeditionary Division got to the Migon BattleCylinders in time to save the remaining Nalen Class SkyGarrisons, but Migon BattleCylinders are no pushovers and the attacking Crystalan Ships now took the brunt of their tremendous Firepower.

The reinforcements to the Fleets defending O’con eventually convinced the attacking Migon and Hakum Fleets that victory was no longer possible, and the destruction of 77 Migon BattleCylinders hammered home the point, forcing a full scale Migon retreat. 19893 BattleSpheres, 970 BattleSpears, 923 BattleCylinders, 3479 Hakum Sky Spears and 3136 Hakum Sky Super-Spears made the escape out of O’con Federation Space

The Hakum and Migon lost; 8107 BattleSpheres, 30 BattleSpears, 77 BattleCylinders, 4571 Hakum Sky Spears and 2964 Hakum Sky Super-Spears.

The Andronians lost; 2154 SkyStriders.

The O’con Federation lost; 82 Planetary defence Stations and 375 BattleGroups each consisting of 11 ships for a total of 4125 Ships.

Crystalorb’s Expeditionary Division lost; 206 Esara Class SkyCruisers, 123 Casara Class Cruisers, 203 Nalen Class SkyGarrisons, 3375 Intrepid Class Ships and 1056 Indigo Class Ships from the Knowledge Division; Indigo Class Ships were assigned to different commands for the duration of the operations. Bringing the count to 15749 on the Migon side and 11324 on the Galactic Alliance side.

Crystalorb’s Crystalan Ships specially outfitted with Fragments of the Spirit Stone for the duration of current Operations began to Vortex Migon and Hakum Ship wrecks to CIDR-1; the Migon Ship wrecks were an important element of Crystalorb’s long term strategy for winning the war against the Migon enemy. The rest of Crystalorb’s Expeditionary Division capable of Fighting is Vortex Sequenced to join the rest of the Crystalorb Fleet at Byon.

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As the fleet Jumps into Byon Space they find 900 Planetary Defence Stations, 5107 BattleSpheres, 27 BattleSpears, 33 BattleCylinders, 1254 Hakum Sky Super-Spears, 2146 Hakum Sky-Spears, 1000 Hakum Sky-Swords, 1234 Hakum Sky-Daggers and 250 Hakum Sky-Blades arranged in a defensive position around Byon. Clearly the Migon had taken lessons from what happened to Mardon and they were preparing for a more protracted fight in an attempt to delay the attacking fleet until the Migon reinforcements arrived.

However the assembled Hakum/Migon Fleet is still outnumbered by 652 Nalen Class SkyGarrisons, 9375 Full Adult Intrepid Class Ships, 8012 Young Adult Intrepid Class Ships, 12340 Full Adult Indigo Class Ships, 8012 Young Adult Indigo Class Ships, 3594 Esara Class SkyCruisers, 3477 Casara Class Cruisers supported by 5485 Andronian SkyStriders; to a total of 50947; Crystalorb’s 45462 and the Andronian 5485.

Aurora arrives on the CCS Nalen’s Command Centre as the fleet makes a tentative approach toward Byon.

Cmd-Elrig : “ Guardian Aurora; Your actions on O’con were nothing less than Heroic.”

Cmd-Arog : “ Generations of Our People will remember the Actions of Crystalorb’s Expeditionary Division as worthy of distinction.”

Naole : “ You did good Aurora.”

Aurora : “ I’m honoured to be of useful service.”

Admr-Quanite : " Byon is a great deal more defended than Mardon!"

Gen-Holnari : " The Migon Border fleet will be upon us in 17 minutes."

Naole : “ Then let’s not waist time!” he activates the JCC “All ships open fire!”

There are light flashes as the ships open fire.

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The Fleet opens long range fire on Byon Defences and the Migon respond in kind. The long range fire is meant to determine the capabilities of the shields of the 900 Byon Planetary Defence Stations. As the ships move closer to Byon the battle grows in intensity and both sides are keenly aware that the clock is ticking until the arrival of the Migon Border fleet.

The Migon knew that should the Migon Border Fleet arrive before Byon was destroyed the probability for its survival rose exponentially, and the Migon had determined the optimal distance for Asteroid planetary bombardment; therefore all they had to do is keep the Crystalans from reaching optimal firing range long enough for the Migon Border Fleet to arrive.

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As the battle ensues Naole realise that time is running out.

Naole : “ Bloody hell!” he gets on the JCC “Rinav and Maen; Release the Planetoid!”

Rinav : “ On your Command!”

Maen : “ On your Command!”

Aurora : “ At this range we won’t be able to ensure that the Planetoid hits; they could deflect it!”

Rinav and Maen open an Inter-Dimensional Vortex that ejects a 565 km wide Planetoid at 100000kph towards Byon.

Gen-Onlec : " Look at that!"

Naole : “ Impressive!”

As the Planetoid hurtles towards Byon the Planetary Defence Stations target the surface of the approaching Planetoid with combined beams of such power they cause the Planetoid to explode; ripping the Planetoid apart and sending fragments flying in all directions. The pieces heading for Byon are further destroyed by other follow on beans.

Aurora : “ What power!”

Naole : “ Rinav and Maen; Release the Planetoid!”

Cmd-Arog : “ Isn’t this a waist of precious Energy? They’ll just blow them up!”

Guardian Naole opens a JCC with Hilan on Crystalorb.

Naole : “ Hilan; Prepare the BattleMoon Killer!”

Hilan : “ But Naole we have only had 7 hours to implement your method and design! We haven’t had time to perform tests!”

Naole : “ This is the test Hilan! I need that weapon!”

Hilan : “ Albright! Preparing the BMD Cluster!”

One Hundred unmanned Esara Class SkyCruisers with their shields at maximum are moved through a series of 11 Vortex Jump Sequences, and each time they move through a Vortex Jump Sequence they gain momentum due to the Inter-Dimensional Vortex forces and by the time the 11th Vortex Jump Sequence is completed the 100 Esara Class SkyCruisers are moving at 30% of the speed of light.

Rinav and Maen open an Inter-Dimensional Vortex that ejects a 612 km wide Planetoid followed by another 673 km wide Planetoid both moving at 100000kph towards Byon, and as the Planetary Defence Stations target the Planetoids the Crystalan Ship Cobalt opens an Inter-Dimensional Vortex that releases 100 Esara Class SkyCruisers moving at 30% of the speed of light. The Andronian and Crystalorb Fleet then proceeds to Destroy all Migon allied Ships; the BattleCylinders being the priority.

Each Esara Class SkyCruiser has a mass of 7.36E19 〘0.1% of Luna Mass〙, therefore by 〘1/2〙 Mv^2 the Kinetic Energy of each Ship is 0.5〘0.001X7.36E19〙 〘0.3X3E08〙 ^2】 = 2.9808E35 Joules or 2.9808E35/4.184E15 = 7.12428983E19 in Megatons of TNT.

With Byon defences focused on the Planetoids the One Hundred unmanned Esara Class SkyCruisers slipped passed Migon defences and slammed into Byon; ripping off entire chunks of the planet into the Space and because of the density of the Ships the impacts carried the energy deeper into the planet’s Mantle forcing magma through the cracks on the crust created by the seismic shockwaves.

Given the Speed and density of the Esara Class SkyCruisers they could not impart all their Kinetic Energy onto the Planet Byon; this largely due to the fact that at that momentum energy levels of the Esara Class SkyCruisers Byon’s Mantle and outer core behaved more like fluids. The Higher Pressures near the planetary core deflected the SkyCruiser’s path towards the core; forcing them back towards the Crust and into space.

As the fleet observed the catastrophic destruction of Byon and its Planetary Defence Stations Screens at the CCS Nalen’s Command Centre showed a Migon Fleet in the Earth System.

Gen-Holnari : " Looks like they are raising the stakes; retribution is at Hand!"

Aurora : “ I see 200 BattleCylinders; they’re going to destroy Mars!”

Cmd-Arog : “ We should send a Fleet to stop them!”

Naole : “ We will do no such thing!”

Aurora : “ But Naole they are going to kill billions on Mars!”

Naole : “ Our orders are to Complete our mission!”

Cmd-Arog : “ We have achieved our objectives! We’ve Destroyed both Mardon and Byon, and O’con is safe; we’ve done what we set out to do!”

Naole : “ There is still the matter of collecting Migon Ship Wrecks!”

Aurora : “ You’re going to let Billions of Humans Die just so we can secure refined minerals? Surely lives are more important than resources? Lives have to be worth more?”

Guardian Naole looks at both Arog and Aurora.

Naole : “ The two of you are as skilled Commanders as I am; you are probably better leaders; more effective. But there is a reason both the Crystalorb Council of Elders and the Crystalorb General Council wanted me to Command all operations.”

Cmd-Arog : “ What reason is that?”

Naole : “ I alone amongst the current group of Guardians understand the true burden of leadership! I know how to make the Hard Choices; I’ve made hard choices before and the Council of Elders understood that should the situation demand it I would make the Hard Choices again.”

Cmd-Arog : “ What Hard Choice necessitates the Death of Billions of Humans?”

Gen-Onlec : " Naole wants the Migon to know that Crystalorb had the Power to act but chose not to act."

Naole : “ It is the only way to make sure that the Migon don’t use Humanity or other Races to force Crystalan acquiescence and compliance; just as they did to the Andronians.”

Gen-Holnari : " I know it looks heartless but Naole is right! If the Migon realise that Crystalans will not fight for the weak they won’t bother trying to distract Crystalorb with diversionary wars."

Naole : “ They’re here!” he gets on the JCC “All Ships; Reform the Battle Lines and stand ready for Battle!”

Gen-Holnari : " The Migon Border Fleet is here!"

Gen-Onlec : " You can feel them like Andronians?"

Naole : “ Only when they are within range of our Psionic Probes!”

Just then the Migon Border Fleet jumped in from Hyperspace; emerging just outside weapons range.

Cmd-Arog : “ We can’t beat that; we don’t have the numbers.”

Naole : “ I know! But we will make a stand anyway!”

Gen-Onlec : " Dying here will achieve nothing!"

Naole : “ We will fight them here and now regardless of the consequences!”

Cmd-Arog : “ Regardless of the consequences? We need the Crystalan Ship fleet to rebuild Galactic infrastructure!”

Naole : “ This is not open to discussion Commander! Prepare your people for Battle!”

Cmd-Arog : “ On your Command!”

Gen-Holnari : " Naole; you are certain this is necessary?"

Naole : “ This may be the most important thing we do today!”

Admr-Quanite : " I like your spirit Crystalan, but be advised the Reinforcing Galactic Alliance Force is more than half an Hour away."

Gen-Onlec : " More than enough time for the Migon Border Fleet to do incredible damage to your fleet."

Coms-O : " Sir; I’m picking up a transmission from the Migon Border Fleet"

Naole : “ On screen!”

Coms-O : " Aye Sir!"

A Migon face appears on the Holographic Volumetric Displays and begins to speak. It is General Sozei of the Migon Federation speaking a language not in the Crystalan database; therefore unable to be translated by the CCS Nalen.

Gen-Sozei : " Te’ac Ne’a Sonic tonek nevi Efilim. Nama’x cenil taklano mearo’c ai’com nafa seo’c hui’l ouh em kanusamil dirando meni’j hano na’ a’ nu e’ Nam. Efilim du se ahun nafa em nevi g’r e’ nu a’ taklano bilam se’ a’u!"

Then just as suddenly the Migon Border Fleet jumped back into Hyperspace; disappearing behind the closing wormholes and later picked up by long range probes as they made their way deeper into Migon space.

Aurora : “ What the hell was that?”

Admr-Quanite: " That was one of a Thousand Migon Languages; Cryptic and mostly about the tone of what he was saying rather than what was actually said."

Aurora : “ You can speak Migon?”

Gen-Onlec : " All the Older Races can speak each other’s native Tongues!"

Cmd-Arog : “ What did the Migon General say?”

Admr-Quanite: " He said; the Efilim have today proven to be an enemy worth Fighting. And the Migon had underestimated Efilim capabilities; a mistake the Migon will not make again. He then said that your masters had done well to train and prepare you but it won’t be enough."

Aurora : “ Efilim?”

Gen-Holnari : " It means Proto-Phaylon or Basic Phaylon type."

Naole : “ It’s worse than I feared; that they would not fight proves it!”

Gen-Holnari : " You did want this fight all along, but they didn’t take your bait did they?"

Cmd-Arog : “ I’m lost here! What would have been the point of fighting a battle we could not win?”

Naole : “ The Fight itself was the point; it could’ve ended the war! That they would not fight even after we slaughtered billions of their kind on two planets proves that they are far more calm, organized and methodical than any of us ever imagined.”

Cmd-Arog : “ Are you saying that we slaughtered Billions on Mardon and Byon just to lure the Migon into a fight they would have won?”

Gen-Onlec : " I think Mardon and Byon were always legitimate military objectives, but had the Migon engaged this fleet at this moment we would have achieved far more than we had hoped for."

Gen-Holnari : " When Naole refused to help Mars I realized what he was planning, but I must admit that I thought that the Migon would fight. Winning this battle would have cost them 70-90% of their Border Fleet, and such a loss would have cost them the war."

Cmd-Arog : “ How?”

Naole : “ You’ve seen the numbers they have protecting their planets! If they lost 80% of their Border Fleet in a battle against our Fleet they would have been unable to protect the core of their space from the approaching Galactic Alliance Force; thus ending the war far more quickly than would otherwise be possible. Now this war will drive itself to a preposterously dark and ghastly conclusion.”

Gen-Holnari : " I’ll take the Andronian Fleet and try to head off the Migon fleet in the Human region"

Gen-Onlec : " I’m getting reports of attacks on Azleck and Nabi Infrastructure!"

Naole : “ We have to go Home and debrief! We must stand ready to assist O’con; it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that the Migon might return to O’con!”

Admr-Quanite : " So Crystalorb will not help the Humans?"

Naole : “ It’s time humanity learns the true value of its Allies!”

Cmd-Arog : “ Perhaps the Council of Elders might see things differently!”

Crystalan Ships specially outfitted with Fragments of the Spirit Stone for the duration of current Operations began to Vortex Migon Ship and Station wrecks to CIDR-1. Fragment Carriers then opened a massive Inter-Dimensional Vortex around Byon sucking the planet and its surrounding material into CIDR-2.

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