Chapter 7: A Galaxy at War!!

As the Leaders of the Galaxy overcame their horror of the communications they received about the attack upon Ceti Alpha and the announcement made by Bob Dylan, nobody seemed to notice the old President quickly leaving the Great Hall. He transported onto his flagship that lay in orbit around Earth: the mighty Bloodred Death. A Paladin no less legendary then its Captain.

A channel was opened to the Plexxan High Council and the powerful voice of the President made the speakers in Brunneran buckle under the stress the volume caused: "Ready the Fleet! Dylan will not rule this Galaxy, not as long as there is a Plexxan to defend it!!!"

Thousands of Paladins and close to a million fighters soon joined their President in hyperspace. A private message read that Marc had called his Council and they were rushing to assemble their fleets in Deneb.

Taveius had his monstrous fleet hypering out of the systems of the Empire at an astonishing rate, and while the Federation steered her fleet towards Ceti Alpha word came from the Matrix...

As Howard allowed the Matrix hail to appear on his tactical view screen, the oldest of all Preservers - at least of those that were functioning - appeared. "Howard" said the metallic voice of Viga, "You might want to stay clear of Ceti Alpha. We have ourselves a little squabble with the Invaders here."

"Viga, it’s probably one of your circuit malfunctions that causes you to say something like that, but you should know that Dylan doesn't scare me. He will not set foot in this Galaxy." and with that the transmission ended.

Only moments later the Federation flagship jumped into the war torn system of Ceti Alpha only to see the Matrix fleets being slaughtered left and right.

"Ready weapons, power up the shields!!" the Captains voice was soft and almost silent but seemed to be booming all over the bridge.

As the Federation fleet jumped in and formed up behind Bloodred Death, one Invader ship seemed to notice the new arrivals and set course for Bloodred Death.

The Fleet received a message coming from Howard right that very moment: "Stay in position, wait for the Kolari and the Orfine to join up with you. I will take care of that Invader." And then he gave the order to plot an intercept course for the Invader ship....

While ships kept pouring into Ceti Alpha, among which a surprisingly large Brood fleet under the command of Walt, who just had been genetically stripped of the shortcomings his body endured due to his advanced age, Howard steered the Bloodred Death into position. Tea was moving towards him at high cruising speed. Sensors read that the Invader was charging weapons, thinning that Bloodred Death was no match for his ship.

As the first weapons fire hit the shields of the mighty Paladin, Howard’s gunner returned fire, destroying the shields of his attacker and damaging his engines.

Most of the power of the shields was gone, Howard dared to steer the front of the ship towards his opponent again, intending to completely destroy him. The Invader ships hull almost crumbled under the stress of the Missile impact, and the ship was rapidly loosing power due to the reactor being hit.

Out of nowhere, a Terran Battle Cruiser appeared, one with familiar markings. The old Plexxan recognised the ship immediately and ordered the Comm-officer to open a private channel to its captain.

Seconds later, a very familiar face appeared on the view screen on the bridge. The President slowly rose from his seat, and his thundering voice filled the speakers of the Battle Cruiser: "Spartan. How nice to see you again old friend!". S117 smiled and returned the greeting: "You got yourself another spitting contest here Howard? When will you learn, when will you have proven yourself enough? Let that poor Invader lick his wounds and go back to the hellhole he came from!". "I will let that lowlife be, but only if you finish him off. That Tactical officer of yours needs the practice." growled Howard.

And so, the system of Ceti Alpha witnessed the destruction of the flagship of Mr. Tea by the Longsword, commanded by S117, "The Spartan".