Capital Prime

[Joa-Boo]

Silth’s well trained team made quick work of the confused Tithlitel soldiers. Her team pressed through the large room and into the corridors of the research facility. Telth soldiers poured into the halls, providing heavy fire. They were picking off people left and right. Silth’s team was pinned down unless they could figure something out. Thankfully another unit of her team made another push down a different hall, pulling some of the attention.

“They are all over down here. We don’t know who is enemy and who is foe. The test is compromised. Move forces to cover the virus and get it off of the facility.” Tozzar was able to pick up a con line the soldiers we speaking on. Silth may be in danger but at least things were moving forward with the plan.

“Unacceptable. We have come too far to not test it today. Apprehend these fugitives at all costs and then hold them in a chamber for testing.” The Tithlitel executive demanded with a fierce tone.

Izzer paniced once he realized he wasn’t sticking to the plan. He backed away from the door and ran back into the hall. He turned on his acting once he saw a few soldiers open into the corridor. They moved quickly down the hall and in front of the virus’s hold.

“It’s about time you idiots got here. Is this all we have for transport. I’m about to move the most important asset our company has and they send me 10 dimwits with guns.” Izzer stampeded around the soldiers in an angry fit. They all looked ashamed.

“What are you waiting for open the door and secure the virus.” A mech unhinged from behind Izzer down the other hall. Behind the mech suit were three other medium mechs with heavy armor on them. The telth soldier leaned forward from inside the cockpit and pointed at the door. “We are moving this virus to the active test chamber. NOW!”

“That is a lot of heat. Shouldn’t we get in there Tozzar?” Gargin had his hands on the controls. He was ready to storm the castle at any second.  

[Spectre195]

Tozzar flicked his metal tentacles, "Yes Silth's attack is not enough to convince them to remove the virus from the planet. Gargin looks like you get your wish after all. Command all reserve ships to begin the attack. Full scale invasion of the facility!" Tozzar barked to the crew around him. He stood up from his chair and went to change into his battle gear. The time of waiting was over, he would take to the field. Maybe his presence would send the Telth commander over the fence on retreating.  

[Joa-Boo]

“Sir we have picked up a large number of incoming ships. The facility will be overrun in less than 15 minutes.” Sigh’s scowl wrinkled to an uncomfortable level. He stomped a tentacle and turned to face his delegating administration.

“How did this happen? We have worked too hard on producing this viable virus. We cannot afford to le it fall into enemy hands.” Sigh moved towards a few scanners to see the oncoming force for himself. They didn’t have a visual on Tozzar’s forces yet but the long distance scanners showed a lot of red moving in their direction. “Get teams down there now to secure the virus. We are fleeing this facility at once. I will reconnect with the rest of the team once all vital personnel has evacuated.

Gargin punched the accelerator. The rest of the fleet that Tozzar’s faction could afford to expend moved into an open formation with plenty of space between each ship. It did not take long before Tithlitel counter ships were orbiting your fleet. Rockets, lasers, and missiles fired in all directions as the surrounding space became a quick warzone.  

[Spectre195]

Dressed in his battle gear Tozzar barked orders over the comms taking control of the battle. It was a difficult thing this battle. They had overwhelming supiority. Had he wanted to he could crush the Telth fleet and storm the facility unchallenged; but that isn't what he wanted. He needed to give the Telth time to escape. This lead him to acting foolishly and wasting his troops and buy the enemy time to escape. Thousands of his own men would die for his trickery, but it was a small price to pay for the stopping the Z virus test. "Hold the lines of fire. Do not break line. We must be patient and wait for our moment to strike!" Tozzar called out looking at the carnage happening in front of him.

On the ground Silth fought tooth and nail with her troops against the heavily armed Telth guards. They had been taken unaware at first but now they were rallying against her force. Most of the bystanders had fleed removing her cover. The fight was growing more intense now. Half her team was dead, but Izzer had relayed that the order to retreat had been given. She just had to hold on for a bit longer. Keep the facility in chaos up until they left, then she could retreat. She couldn't let attention fall on Izzer, It all was up to him.

Izzer was carrying the briefcase containing the Z virus samples. He had already switched the real virus with the fake one. As far as he knew no one had seen him do it, so they should be in the clear. He and his men were quickly be escorted to the launching pad to hand off the virus. In the chaos no one really had questioned him about who he was...luckily the facility was big enough that it was common not to know someone or he wouldn't have made it this far.  

[Joa-Boo]

The research facility was no fortress. It’s shields were most likely worse than some of the ships in Tozzar’s fleet. The weapons attached fired wildly and desperately at the oncoming invasion. The research facility had one dangerous offensive weapon and that was its rail particle cannon. Usually this slow moving weapon would only hit the heaviest- slowest ships. Those firing the gun thought they were gods as they picked off ships from Tozzar’s fleet. Little did they know, this was another trap. Like a tiger, they waited to pounce.
-Sir we are losing men left and right. Shouldn’t we break formation and flank. We could have this facility locked down and under our control in an hour.- Gargin did not understand why Tozzar was letting them lose so many ships. His hand hesitated over the commands. At any moment he thought he would disobey orders and launch the attack.

“These fools are nats in a forest.” A telth soldier tore into Silth’s cover with his acid oil based chain gun. The rev of his gun was so loud it was hard to think. Silth’s people were being depleted and things were looking grim for her until miraculously things turned.

“Soldier. The director has ordered a retreat. Seal off this hangar and report to your units drop ship.” A commanding voice roared over the chain guns. They backed up instantly and before Silth could move from cover the hangar unit was shut down.

Tozzar could see a great number of the Telth ships were taking off and fleeing from the facility. One of them hopefully held Izzer and the decoy virus.

“We have all been ordered to flee the facility. Scientist you are coming with me.” The mechanized telth captain moved quickly through each checkpoint throughout the facility. Each one added more and more soldiers to the unit. He was stuck on a ship surrounded by Tithlitel.

“I’m a sitting duck. What’s my next move?” Silth looked scared. She grouped up with the remaining humans who were all banging on a door to get out.  

[Spectre195]

Tozzar flicked up the visual feed of Izzer and say him secure on the ship with the fake Z-virus. He smiled, his plan was working they had fallen for his trap. Now he just had to hope that the forgery was good enough that the Telth corporations wouldn't realize the switch. Looking at the consoles he could see the destruction ringing through his feet. Such a pity, how many widows had he made to day? Orphans? They had died for a cause bigger than themselves though atleast.

Looking towards Gargin Tozzar smiled, "Ofcourse we could have. Those men dying are sacrificial lambs for our plan. Begin pressing the attack, slowly. Control yourself Gargin! If we box in the retreating ships then all will be for naught. An animal surrounded will fight till its last breath, leave an opening and it will remember it has other options."

Having ordered Gargin to press the attack he turned his comms to Silth's line, "Begin a retreat. Gather your troops and form up somewhere safe and hold out till we have taken the fortress. Your part is done. Gargin is beginning to press the attack. You have done well Silth."

Tozzar looked once more at the screen with Izzer on it. He didn't dare contact him directly while he was surrounded. In fact he cut the feed to Izzer's suit for the time being. Hopefully Izzer's skills would keep him safe while in their custody, Tozzar would not be able to retrieve him until after this was all done.  

[Joa-Boo]

“Woohooo it’s about time. Let’s punch it forward boys.” Gargin rattled this commands on the feed and then pushed their main ship forward. “Fire at the defensive turrets along the research base. Have our more mobile units track other ship but do it slowly. We need them to have a successful retreat that doesn’t look planned.” Gargin shared. His team echoed the excitement as ships all around the main battle ship fired off into different directions around the facility.

“If you guys could hurry that would be nice. This place is a ghost town and it is freaking me out.” Silth was all alone. No one form her team survived and neither did any of the volunteers still left in customs. She moved towards a window to watch the fleet sweep over the facility.

“This is bad. Tozzar their reinforcements have come.” Gargin referenced the radar but pointed forward at the viewing deck. “Tithlitel is not happy.”

“I’m reading two Citadel Ents sir. They are attempting to make contact with us.” Your communication expert looked nervously from her station to your left. “They have already deployed counter measures. We have 20 minutes before we are outnumbered two to one.”

Izzer gulped as he sat patiently by the rest of the telth on his escape ship. He could see form his small pod window that they were being sucked into by one of the giant Citadel Ents. This spiraling space fortress was a massive living creature shaped like an octopus. Each one was three times the size of the research facility. Only Tithlitel could maintain such massive ships. From what Izzer knew of them, this was going to be a very uncomfortable stay. Especially if he didn’t make it through the screening. The Ents were big enough as long as he kept moving he would probably be able to keep hidden.  

[Spectre195]

Tozzar looked at the screen as the Ents came into view. Would they attack? Or were they just here to ensure the safety of the virus prototype. Two Ents was a giant commitment to make for such a small raiding force. If Tozzar even took one Ent down Tithlitel would be the strategic loser. All of his ships combined were easier to replace than on Ent. "Gargin continue the assault. Use the back line to form a line facing the Ents. If they engage will move to fight them; however they would be foolish to throw the Ents in danger over a little research base. Show our teeth and they will back down. They have their prize after all" Tozzar said coldly as he walked over to his command chair and plopped down. "Send our fastest to ship to retrieve the Lady Silth, she is the only thing down that the needs saving. Once we have her we can retreat if the Ents are dumb enough to engage. Hopefully they are satisfied being escorts and we can take this facility."  

[Joa-Boo]

“Sir they have hacked our signal.” The communications expert typed tirelessly on his computer to try a counter measure. Sure enough an ugly proper telthasian popped up on the command screen.

“I am Admiral Hyponick. I speak for the Tithlitel Incorporated. How dare you attack this peaceful research facility? You barbarians are thwarting years of useful research. What is the meaning of this? Back down or you will all be eliminated.” His shrilling voice judged each and every one of you as ants beneath his feet.

“Their ships have been deployed. They have us outnumber in ships and they could charge us at any moment.” Gargin watched the scanners grow in targets exponentially. “Reinforcement line face and aim all weapons towards the nearest Ent. If it comes into range blast them will all you got.” Gargin turned to face you. “What if the Ent’s just stay put. They have enough ships in their fleet to overrun us. Plus we can’t risk them knowing it’s our company can we? They will think something is up if they figure out we are not just a bunch of radicals.”

Izzer’s ship finished docking onto the Ent’s body. He was quickly herded into the space fortress and placed in line with the rest of the debriefing scientists. Izzer noticed one of the greeting soldiers were asking the scientist to foster the virus to come forward. Faces from the unit that escorted him were turning to face Izzer.  

[Spectre195]

Tozzar looked at the screen and smiled, "Hold the line. Don't engage but don't retreat either. A stand off helps us more than it helps them." Tozzar got nervous. He would need just a little while longer to get his people off the planet. They should surely be able to hold them off long enough; however if things got to chaotic he might have to abandon Silth. She was valuable, but not worth losing this whole fleet over.  

[Joa-Boo]

Silth leaped out of the way as an auger explosively entered the grand. She pointed her half empty assault weapon towards the drilling and waited. A friendly call alarmed her that this was her escape team.

“Sorry we scared you. The hall is locked down so we had to excavate our own entrance. You better hurry though. The seal could break at any moment, subjecting this room to space!” The soldier waved Silth over. She didn’t need a warning to rush. She wanted out of this room as quickly as possible. “Wow you guys really did a number here. There is so many dead bodies.”

“Worth it. Other than my team, the rest of these bodies belong to fanatic idiots. What human would elect to help the Tithlitel murder a whole race?” Silth jumped aboard and strapped in.

“That’s why we are fighting this cause mam!” The soldier saluted as she passed and together they departed back for Tozzar’s fleet. “Careful with the maneuvering. Looks like the lines have finally broke.” The soldier pointed out to the piolet. Both sides’ ships had finally broken their hold and were in heated battle. Lines of ships crossed and turned amongst one another. Lazes and rockets fired in all directions. All of the large ships still hung from a safe distance but their fleets were dying by the masses.

Silth sat on the edge of her seat. She nearly bit through her bottom lip as she watched their ship dodge all kinds of explosions. Their shields were dropping at an alarming rate. Just before they were depleted she kicked the piolet out of his seat and took over. Her expertise got them out of the fray with no internal harm.

“Sir we have affirmation that Silth has returned and is safe on a tangent ship. Should we disengage?” Gargin sighed. He turned over to face Tozzar. This felt somewhat like a success. Nothing at this scale of magnitude was ever perfect.

((Do you want to take over Izzer on the Ent ship?))  

[Spectre195]

Tozzar flicked his eyes to the screen and eyed the two huge capital ships still waiting off in the distance. Silth was back, Izzer would not be recoverable. “Disengage, there is nothing more to do here.” Tozzar said turning his attention away from the screen and reclining back in his commander’s chair. His limbs throbbed. His body still fought the metal attachments with all their might. Every waking moment was a constant pain and aggravation. The stress of the operation wasn’t helping any either.

It did feel good to be back in action though. It still boggled Tozzar’s mind how much time had passed since his capture. How much he missed. Everything was different now; much of that was Tozzar’s fault. He thought of the sacrifices he had made so far; Troyce, Das Berg and he thought of how many more he was willing to make to see this through to the end. The metal limbs that burned his flesh wore just the tangible reminders of the pain he had brought to the universe. He laid there basking in the hellish pain as his troops began disengaging.

(No leave his fate a mystery until for now)  

[Joa-Boo]

One by one your ships fell back into hyper drive. It would be a few hour round trip before the fleet ended up back at HQ but the time spent routing prevented anyone from tracing your ships all the way back to base.

Your fleet broke apart as it returned to the giant mothership. This had been the first mission for many of the soldiers and they were exhausted. Coming home meant rest and in this case it was well deserved. Not for Tozzar. His age and the pain that haunted him from his past battles kept his mind racing. He was so sure this was a success but he body found no ease.

“You don’t look so good boss. Everything ….. ?” Gargin moved from the flight controls to your command chair. His voice seemed muffled and scratchy, as though he was a radio station getting feedback.

“I see you are at it again friend.” This voice came in clearly and loud enough to cloud other sense. “I thought for sure we finished you off.” The voice seemed familiar.

“Boss…bosss!” Gargin was shaking you now. “It’s over. We can go home now.”

As the hatch door opened to the main ship you were met with multiple faces most in disapproval. Barney was the first to reach you. You raised a hand for a high five, saw that you were in pain, and lifted your own mechanical tentacle to do the high five for you.

“First mission back into the field and you didn’t manage to ******** it up. You are about the only telth I know that on average exceeds his odds.” Barney laughed.

“Not only does he succeed in missions but he continues to ignore procedures and rules. What the hell were you thinking? You need full board approval before taking on a mission of that nature.” Dowser stood firmly at attention, calling everyone in the facility to salute. He frowned to one side and called everyone to ease. They all continued to pass, unload, and repair. “We have too many necessary resources for you to just whisk off with them to complete your missions of grandeur.” If we had been attacked while you were gone this ship could have been compromised.”

“Dowser your words fall on deaf ears. This is Tozzar we are talking about.” Terra giggled as she moved between you and Dowser to kiss you. “Besides what was the casualty amount. He didn’t lose anything that important.”

“The complete disregard for every life is astounding. Thousands of our men died in that mission. What did we accomplish? We slowed down the Z prototype.” Dowser’s brow shot up as his neck flared red. “Run your missions by the board before you go on them next time Tozzar.”  

[Spectre195]

Tozzar kissed Terra back and started to walk away from the group. With a grunt he raised one of his tentacles up at Dowser, "Sure thing boss, did you check the propaganda from the other side? We launched a failed attacked on the facility. They are celebrating it as a victory. It worked, we just need to retrieve our agent somehow."

Tozzar walked down the halls of the ship feeling the pain intensify. He used all his training as a spy to hold himself together as he walked through the ship. His brain felt like it was on fire as he stumbled into his cabin. As soon as the door closed he fell to his bed grunting in pain.

The pain never went away, constantly tearing at him. These tentacles were an abomination, a affront to what the Telth stand for...but Tozzar didn't care. He never cared about honor, tradition, procedure, anything of that nature. All that mattered to him was the result. The end always justified the means in his mind. He needed these monstrosities to carry out his mission, so he would learn to bear this pain, to ignore it.

He reached out from his bed and grabbed a bottle of whisky and chugged a couple of shots to numb the pain. He grunted again as he closed his eyes trying to ignore the pain.