textfiles/stories/SRE/sre08.txt

                    S o l a r   R e a l m s   E l i t e
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                            /____  /____/ /__
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                _____    _____    _____    _____    _____
                \    \  /    /   |     |  |     |  |     |
                 \    \/    /    |     |  |     |  |     |
                  \        /     |     |  |     |  |     |
                   \______/      |_____|  |_____|  |_____|


                  K         a         z         i         k


-=< Here it is! SRE 8: Kazik, the sequel to the spellbinding SRE7. I was
simply amazed by SRE7. It was the best SRE Text ever written, and, of
course, you could tell by the amounts of downloading. Anyway, SRE8 is
equally suspenseful, and powerful. On to the story! >=-


-< Prologue

The Kazik knew the other Universe had no chance. The only Universe left
for conquering had proven their original theory; they -would- be the
most difficult to take over. Of course with the Kazik's superior
technology and equipment, it wasn't possible fo their adversaries to
make it alive.

-< Chapter 1

Petros Station was buzzing with activity. The destruction of the
Cyberian Platform and the death of Amoko had caused a short hysteria.
Krael had worked quickly, taking initiative. He had told all four
admirals in the Cyberian Armada that he would welcome them at Petros
Station, and they could transfer their flags there. And they did. No
admiral in the Armada refused his offer, and in fact they had named
Krael Amoko's successor as Director of the Cyberian Group. Krael had set
about building new fighters and heavy cruisers for the Armada, equipped
with the pergium-steel frames and the polarcrystal shielding that had
proved effective against the Kazik plasma weapons. He had also ordered
they be equipped with more powerful energy units, so that they would
have a better chance at survival. Krael knew he needed to erect similiar
shielding devices on the Station and also on the four Command Ships in
the Armada, but the funds required to build the items were not
available. Krael had asked every empire from each Galaxy to send him
some donations, and they had. He had even been given a shielding company
called Target Shielding, which had agreed to shield all three hundred
thousand fighters in the Armada. Krael knew these measures would give
them a fighting chance at survival, but he wasn't so sure that there was
enough of one.

-< Chapter 2

Admiral Rytek had been made commander-in-chief at Krael's request. He
had been told that Krael didn't feel he had enough experience to command
the Armada, so he'd asked Rytek to perform the tasks. And so Rytek had
taken the reins. It was alot of work deploying the fighters and heavy
cruisers in strategic places. They knew very little about the Kazik
military position. The Kazik could become invisible, and that fact alone
allowed them strike anywhere they wished. It was also alot of work
reorganizing a fleet that was being completely refurbished. Krael had
managed to get the funds to build five heat-soliton emitters, four of
which were mounted on command ships, the other was mounted on Petros
Station. He had no idea where Krael had scrounged to get the money for
such expensive endeavors. Rytek personally suspected that Krael had shut
down the Petros Extrauniversal Exploration Program to compensate for the
new massive military spending. All the same, Rytek had his work cut out
for him.

Wildcat was the Empirial Representative to the Cyberian Group, the
organization in charge of eliminating Underground dissident forces. With
the arrival of the Kazik, the Cyberian Group had changed it's focus to
battle the Kazik forces. And Wildcat was in charge of letting Krael know
the position of all the empires included in the United Empire
Association. And that accounted for 95% of all empires. The other five
percent were secluded and preferred to not have anything to do with the
massive Cyberian Group. Wildcat's own empire was based at the Sree
Galaxy now, after brief stints in Galaxy deCeti. And the Kazik posed
serious threats across the board. Noone knew exactly what they were
going to do, except that they wanted to conquer their Universe. And
Wildcat was unsure of whether or not the Kazik were aware of the
Empirial System, it's roots, or it's main structure. The Empirial System
had first been instituted at Sree, but evenutally every Galaxy had
utilized it. When Amoko dissolved the Empirial System at Sree and formed
a massive Universal force to battle the Underground, many thought that
one-person power was too dangerous. It had, in fact, dissolved a
centuries-old system of empires, emperors, and empresses. The Kazik were
posing new threats to the empires' right to sovereignity.

-< Chapter 3

Inspector Tecouk was put in charge of searching through the remains of
the Cyberian Platform. He had completed the search, and had turned up
some interesting items. The residual effects left by the attack gave new
insight into the other weapons the Kazik possessed besides their
plazspheres. He would have to have the Investigations Lab analyze the
findings, but he was pretty sure of what they would find.

T'hoj, Tecouk's most trusted aid, had gone over his information
meticulously. And she believed he was correct. The Kazik seemed to have
used phase-induced gluon beams. The technology required to create a
continuous gluon beam was incredible. Gluons couldn't physically be
deattached from the subatomic particles which they bound together. But
ovbiously the Kazik had found a way to do it, and actually used a
phase-inducer. Gluon particles, while incredibly powerful, could be more
easily stopped than a plasma sphere. It also meant that it had been
another class of ship that had attacked the Platform. She would turn
over the findings to Vedet for processing.

-< Chapter 4

Ecstatic was the new leader of the Tau Galaxy. Ecstatic, a long heralded
emperor, with a history of unpredictability that led to his vast
fortune. His unconventionalism always worked to his advantage. However,
Ecstatic was being called upon from the strangest place. Wildcat,
representative of the UEA to the Cyberian Group, was in need of an
assitant, and he wanted Ecstatic. Ecstatic knew of Wildcat's history. He
had been an emperor of the Feline Realm in Sree at the time of Mace's
reappearance, and had also been present during the Underground Wars, as
a small empire. But, Wildcat had propsered over the fifty years since.
Ecstatic would be happy to help someone like Wildcat..

"Has there been any indication that the Kazik are coming back?" asked
Krael. Rytek shook his head. "They've made no moves, or even indicated
when there next move will be. We are on battle imminenece alert, with
shifts occuring in allowance for the refurbishing of the Armada," he
replied. Krael leaned back in his leatherback chair. He looked to
Admiral Regala. "Admiral, I want you to position your fighter divisions
along the outskirts of the Universe, near our border with the new
Universe," he ordered. "Meanwhile, I am giving Admiral Rytek a field
promotion to Full Admiral, six stars," Krael continued. Rytek looked up
in surprise. He had been promoted to commander-in-chief of the Armada,
sure, but THIS was unexpected! "Admiral Dwool, your Divs will need to be
brought back home, protecting the Petros Station. Admiral Celmn, your
heavy cruisers will be split up, assisting Admirals Regala and Dwool,"
Krael said. All four admirals nodded their compliance. "I am giving
control of the Plasma One, Two, Three, and Four Divisions to Full
Commodore Noliana, as well as the Black Thunder heavy cruiser Division.
They will be equipped with Vedet's new subspace thrustjump engines for
jumping between the border and the Station," Krael said. Noliana thanked
Krael. "Will that be all, sir?" she asked. "For you, yes. Thank you,
Full Commodore," replied Krael. Noliana nodded and left. Krael looked up
and began again. "Now, for you gentlemen, I have something else I need
to discuss....."

-< Chapter 5

The Kazik were going to move in quickly. Blakta Force Seven Elite, the
most powerful military division of the Kazik Armed Forces, were being
sent with the expressed purpose of destroying Petros Station and wiping
it's defense fleet out. Blakta Force Seven Elite consisted of three
thousand Blakta ships, along with one portable command powernode. The
weaklings of the other Universe couldn't survive.

Loka had just been informed of her leadership role. She had been named
commander of the Blakta Seven Invasion. With invisiblity shields, her
force would move in on the unsuspecting Station. With their small
numbers, but vastly superior fire power, they could easily wipe out the
Station and successfully engage the Cyberian Armada. Blakta Seven ships
were equipped with dynafuel storage containers, which would allow them
to remain invisible, fire their weapons, and move about at the same
time. With this advantage, there was no hope for their enemy.

-< Chapter 6

Full Commodore Noliana didn't have a Command Ship to control her very
small fleet with. Only the four Admirals recieved such luxuries. Noliana
had to make do with a mightily armored heavy cruiser. She was
contemplating these things when the Battle Imminence alert went off. She
tapped the AudCom on her bed. "Command Central, this is Noliana. What's
going on?" she queried. "There's been a brief attack on Admiral Regala's
frontier," came the reply. "Engage subspace jump field and prepare to
make a thrustjump," she ordered.

Upon arrival, they found what had been reported. A brief attack had
occurred, incapacitating five fighters in three minutes. The enemy had
remained invisible the entire time, which meant one thing: Kazik.
Noliana had diverted her fleet back to Petros, in the event their
services were required.

Admiral Dwool sat in the center seat, in the middle of Command Central.
They had been informed of the attack on Regala, and were at Battle
Alert. Petros Defense Outposts Two, Six, Ten, Twenty-four, and Fifty had
picked up brief traces of talvite particles, strange occurances. They
had deduced that the particles must have been residuals from the
incoming attackers.

-< Chapter 7

"Damn! Talvite particles? Do you know what this means?" screamed Tecouk.
T'hoj shook her head. "What does it mean, sir?" she asked. "There were
plasma particles, gluon traces, pergium-nitrate specks, and
pergium-lithium sheets. Put two-and-two together, T'hoj!" he replied.
T'hoj didn't see what the Inspector was getting at. "Don't you see? If
their engines are leaving talvite particles, then ovbiously they are
using thrustjump engines. But if they are using plasma and gluon
weapons, what type of power do they have? To power weapons of that type,
maneuver, and remain invisible requires several different types of
conversions. It is -impossible- to invert and redistribute the, at
least, five different types of energies requried. So, we have to make
several conclusions. One ship of that size can't use convetional
subspace generators. They must be using power distributors. Even so,
here is the point; Pergium-nitrate and pergium-lithium, which all along
we believed to be the generator residuals, MUST BE SOMETHING ELSE. If
they are weapons residuals, as I suspect they are, we can't go at them
with polarcrystal defense grids. They'll switch to the less powerful,
but more effective, pergium converter. It'll punch a hole straight
through their grids and make them vulnerable to plasma spheres,"
explained Tecouk. T'hoj realized that Tecouk was making some serious
jumps of logic, but it was the most complete idea they'd had so far of
what the situation was. "I'll order the Armada to use 50% polarcrystal
grids and 50% standard defensive grids, sir," she said. Tecouk nodded.
T'hoj -always- knew what he wanted..

"You want us to only use 50% polarcrystal grids?" demanded Admiral
Rytek. T'hoj, her image, at least, nodded. "Inspector Tecouk believes
the Kazik have pergium converters which go right through the
polarcrystal grids," she explained. Rytek sighed. After spending so much
money developing the new defensive grids, he was being told that they
might not work. "Alright, we'll make the necessary changes," he said.

-< Chapter 8

Steco was the leader of the relief fleet. Krael had given the order to
send a small envoy of HCs back into the new Universe while the Armada
was being readied. The Petros Extrauniversal Exploration scientists had
directed them to the planet they felt needed relief the worst, and
Steco's men were deploying the planetpods. Planetpods were small craft
that were deployed from the HCs with the express purpose of landing on
the planet. Steco was seated in Pod Two, right behind the first pod. As
they came in for landing, Steco gazed in awe at their sky. It was blue,
the first blue sky he'd ever seen. The pilot notified Steco that they
had landed, and he walked outside and stepped on the ground.

Luckily for Steco and his crews, the scientists at Petros had already
deciphered the language of this planet and created special translators
for them. "Hello," Steco said, "We are from the other Universe. We come
with food and other supplies!" None of the aliens even looked up. He
repeated his previous message, only he set the volume higher. Still, no
response. He walked up to an alien and talked right to it. "Can you hear
me?" he asked. The alien didn't respond. Steco touched the alien. It was
cold. "Kol, get over here!" he said. Kol, the xenobiologist, rushed
over. "What is wrong with these aliens? Scan them," Steco ordered. Kol
signaled to a member of the ground crew who activated the planetpod's
built-in scanner. Kol activated his VidTerm, and analyzed the read-outs.
"These things aren't even alive," he said. "What?" said Steco. Kol
pulled out a knife. He stabbed the alien. "NO!" screamed Steco, lunging
at Kol. Kol pointed at the alien, where he had stabbed it. "Oh my gosh,"
breathed Steco. He was staring at strands of wires, little boards, and
processor chips. The aliens were actually robots...

-< Chapter 9

Everything was getting confusing. Krael had recieved Tecouk's news, and
then he had gotten Steco's. Krael had ordered Steco to visit at least
six more planets, each in different Galaxies. Steco had complied, and
the findings were all the same. These aliens were not alive. They were
all robots, doing absolutely nothing except giving the illusion of life.
Krael had ordered the fleet home, and was awaiting the incoming Kazik
invaders detected by the Petros Defense Stations.

The Blakta Force Seven Elite had made their arrival at Petros. They
scanned the entire fleet in front of them and found nothing new. They
all were equipped with polarcrystal grids, that was the only difference.
The immediately activated their plazspheres.

Smoke filled the Command Center of the command ship. Dwool coughed and
coughed. "What was that? I thought they weren't going to use the
plazspheres!" he said. Chief scanner Lasru swiveled to face the Admiral.
"Sir, scans complete. There are two enemy ships which are not invisible.
Based on the amount of blasts we recieved in the attack, I imagine the
full number of enemy ships is in the thousands. A deeper scan reveals no
pergium converter weapons. It appears that Inspector Tecouk was wrong,"
she reported. Damn it! "Send the fighters out. Frontal Div should be
traveling at top speed on random courses, attempting to ram the
invisible vessels. All other fighters and HCs should be firing at random
locations. We are going to use the emitter against the two visible
ships. Carry out the orders," he said.

How appropriate was it that the Plasma Storm Divisions had been called
in against the Kazik. The Kazik were using their plasma weapons against
them again, and it did, indeed, look like a plasma storm outside.
Noliana had been rerouted back to Petros, and it seemed like there was
no hope. The ramming operations ordered by Admiral Dwool had been mildly
successful. They had taken out about one hundred invisible enemy ships.
THe two visible Kazik ships had been destroyed as well. For now, Dwool
had ordered the Armada to watch how much energy they expended. The
fighter divisions were rotating turns through their carriers recharging
their energy units, hoping to outlast the enemy. The HCs, carriers, and
command ship could go forever without needing a recharge, but the
primary defensive weapon they had, the fighters, need to outlast the
enemy.

Loka's Blakta Force Seven Elite was doing heroically. She was going to
dock twenty of her blaktas at the Petros Station and overrun it from the
inside. The Regime had ordered her not to destroy the Station, but
overtake it and get the complete surrender of the Armada. She would
carry out the instructions.

-< Chapter 10

Celmn's HCs and fighters had been brought back together and were coming
back to reinforce Dwool. Full Admiral Rytek's fleet had been brought
back, as well. Full Commodore Noliana had already diverted her ultrafast
fleet back to Petros and was plunging into the battle. They had switched
back to 100% polarcrystal grids, after learning the enemy wasn't using
any other weapon besides the plazsphere. The mistake of using only 50%
had cost Dwool's fleet dearly, but the arrival of reinforcements should
change all of that.

Krael was engrossed in the battle. They technically had no chance
against the Kazik. He had learned that several Kazik ships had made
themselves visible and had hard docked with the Station. Ovbiously they
intended to overtake them. Krael had decided on one thing. His military
would not be destroyed. He was going to keep Celmn's small fleet at
hand, but Noliana, Rytek, and Dwool were going to go to the Universal
front and assist Regala. If the Kazik were going to take his Station,
but not destroy it, there was no reason for him to leave his forces here
to be slaughtered in defense.

Steco's crew had made a complete survey of 1000 planets over a span of
fifteen Galaxies in the other Universe. The findings were always the
same. None of the planets had any type of biological life, or even
intelligent life. THey were seeded with robots and even holograms of
living beings. None were real. Steco was beginning to believe that an
entire Universe had been faked, for who knows what reason. There were
two Galaxies left to be sampled, even though he had left over fifty
thousand planets unchecked. To do all that would take years; time he
didn't have to waste.

-< Chapter 11

"I am Loka, Lead Pilot of Blakta Force Seven Elite. You will surrender
your Petros Station to the Kazik Regime, or it will be destroyed by our
superior forces," she said. Krael gazed intently at her. She was only
the second Kazik being he'd ever met. "Petros Station surrenders,
effective immediately, to your Kazik Regime," he replied. She didn't
smile, or even flinch. "And your Cyberian Armada will also surrender,
effective immediately," she ordered. Krael hesitated. "Uh, I'm afraid
the answer to that one is no," he said. Loka's eyes filled with disgust.
"You WILL surrender the Armada! These questions are a mere formality!
You cannot win!" she screamed. He returned her look of fire. "Damn you,
there IS a hope! I will surrender this Station, but the Armada is not
under my command. Full Admiral Rytek controls the Armada, not I, and if
you want the Armada's surrender, talk to HIM about it," he responded.
She slapped him. When his answer didn't change, she pulled out a small
black object. It reminded Krael of a flashlight, of course it wasn't.
"This is a fusion emitter. It has a small nuclear reactor inside, and it
emits intense radiation. If I switch it on, I will have two minutes to
evacuate this room, while you are bombarded by deadly radiation. Within
another five minutes, you will catch a radiation fire, and your skin
will burn. In another minute, you will simply be ashes. Do you
understand what I'm doing?" she demanded. "I sure do. Go ahead and do
it. I could care less," he said evenly.

Admiral Celmn knew what was going on. He had recalled Nuclear Three
Division, the fastest fighter division in his fleet. He was going to
destroy the Petros Station if he had to. Petros had a supply of psiodide
and psiox onboard, to treat mentally troubled people. If he could get
Krael onboard the command ship and ignite the psiodide and the psiox
together, the Kazik would be in for a surprise.

Mesur was in charge of getting the makeshift psionic bomb together. His
fighter had already docked with Petros and then detonated. His copilot,
Roli, was going to free Krael and the two would then go to the command
ship together. He was running through the steel grey halls of Petros,
when he saw the door to the hospital. He stepped inside and pulled a
nurse aside. He flashed her his Cyberian Armada emergency clearance
badge and asked her where the psiodide and psiox were being stored. She
directed him to a cabinet. He pulled out two large containers and took
some antiox, taken from the command ship, to use as the igniter. He then
took a laser scalpel, and then fled.

Loka looked at him. "You are a brave man, Krael. I will not kill you.
It's a waste of time. I shall destroy your entire Armada, then," she
said. Krael, impassive as before, just stared. "You are overconfident,"
he said quietly. Loka glared at him, but then lowered the intensity.
"Perhaps," she said. And with a flourish, she left the room, all the
Kazik but one following her.

Roli found the room Krael was being held in. He pulled out his
scattergun and obliterated the door. He rushed inside and found only one
guard with Krael. He shot the guard and grabbed Krael. Together they ran
down the hall, searching for an emergency escape pod. Krael was smart
enough to know he was being rescued, and not to say anything. At last,
they saw the latch controlling the entrance chamber to a pod.

"Admiral, Krael has boarded the Command Ship with Roli. Mesur reports he
has activated psilithium defensive grids and has left the Station,"
informed the communications organizer. Celmn nodded. "Raise our
psilithium grids. Tell Mesur to detonate his bomb as soon as our grids
are at 100%," Celmn ordered.

Mesur watched the scanner carefully. Finally, the grids were at 100%. He
had already attached the psiodide and the psiox using rubber tubing.
Crude, but effective. A fourth tube allowed him to dispense the antiox
into both containers. He did so. He pulled out some highly flammable
anti-ox/anthracite dust, which he had confiscated from a closet, and
spread it all over the inside of the antiox tubing, and over the outside
of the two containers. Then his pod was raked by Kazik fire. Funny, it
wasn't a plasma weapon, though. He activated the laser scalpel and
scorched the rubber. Finally the rubber began to burn. Soon the rubber
seal keeping the psiox and psiodide apart, melted, causing the two to
mix. The antiox caught on fire, and all three detonated, causing a
psionic reaction. Mesur had read of the effects of a psionic bomb, but
he had never felt them, much less felt them with the actual bomb seven
inches away from his head. The pressure in his head was incredible, and
his brain felt like it was on fire. His thoughts were interrupted by the
most intense pain he had ever felt, and he knew his brain was
convulsing, pulsing, and throbbing. His brain finally caught fire, as
did the rest of his escape pod. It was a terrible death.

-< Chapter 12

The Kazik had been unprepared for a psionic bomb. The entire series of
events which carried Krael away, all the way up to the detonation, took
less then ten minutes. They were completely surprised. Especially when
they discovered that being invisible and having defensive grids didn't
protect them from the psionic reaction. They all died, although not as
painfully as Mesur, who recieved the blast head on. The command ship was
intact, Petros Station was intact, and all the carriers and HCs were
intact. Unfortunately, it wasn't possible to shield the fighters or any
of the crews of the Petros Defense Outposts. Celmn thought the ends
justified the deaths.

The Regime heard of the terrible failure. The entire Blakta Force Seven
Elite had been destroyed, minus the twenty invaders inside Petros
Station. The resourcefulness of the creatures in this other Universe was
beginning to annoy them. So, they decided that they would send every
craft in the Kazik Armed Forces against Petros. They knew that the
entire Cyberian Armada had been rerouted to the Universal front. There
would be no questions about the outcome of this battle. Nothing would
stop them. They would install shields to protect themselves from any
further 'new' weapons.

-< Chapter 13

Steco had discovered something big. His team had spotted a gigantic base
inside the final Galaxy they were visiting. He had sent in the smallest
craft he could, and ovbiously it made it in undetected. And then he
discovered something even more encouraging. The base contained real,
living beings. KAZIK living beings. He knew this must be their base. So
he audcommed Rytek with the information.

The Armed Forces had departed the Kazik Regime Praetorial Palace and had
subspace thrustjumped into the enemy Universe. All five hundred thousand
of their various crafts, the blaktas, koors, aljoms, and small fighters,
were heading towards the Petros Station. And they were all invisible.

"Admiral, we're getting something from Inspector Tecouk!" said the
communications monitor. Rytek simply nodded, and the VidCom came on.
"Full Admiral, there is no time to waste. We got a look at one of the
alien spacecraft and we now know how they are becoming invisible. I fear
we are going to be invaded, so I have sent the schematics to your
engineers over a secured Com channel. Make the modifications and don't
spare any time at all making them. It will help us in the end.
Invisibility is done by simple additions to your deflector grids, which
means you won't have a hard time modifying all your fighters, HCs,
carriers, and command ships within an hour," Tecouk said. Rytek said,
"Thank you, Inspector, we'll do it. I've got to get someone on it, so
I'm going to have to let you go." He cut off the channel and nodded to
his chief engineer. "Get on it," he ordered simply. His Com monitor
spoke up again. "Full Admiral Rytek! Steco on VidCom channel!" He
nodded. "Rytek! Listen to me. We've accidentally found the Kazik
headquarters. The location is coming in code. Invade them while they
still don't know we've discovered their location. Steco out," he said.
Short and sweet. Oh well. It seemed eveything was going on fast. "Let me
know when the modifications are done. Then we'll invade the Kazik base,"
he ordered.

-< Chapter 14

The first volley of plasmafire hit the Station. After the constant
battering it had recieved over the past few weeks, Krael was getting
used to it. "Grids up! Notify Rytek we're under attack. BUT- Under no
circumstances is he to come and help us," ordered Krael. "Activate
Station invisiblity. Tell Celmn to activate his fleet's invisiblity," he
continued. Around him, the various officers busily complied with his
requests. "Okay. Now here's the tricky part. Activate the Station's
retrofields and move as us far from our normal position as possible," he
said.

"Lord prince, they have become invisible!" reported the short woman
manning the scanner. Prince Kolmy pounded the desk. "How could this be?!
It IS NOT POSSIBLE!!!" he screamed. The Regime, ovbiously, would be
disappointed. "Fire at all last known positions. Send all koors on
projected ramming courses. Aim for all possible Petros Station
locations," the prince ordered.

The Cyberian Armada was headed towards the Kazik headquarters at
blinding speed. It felt like the invisibility grids made them faster,
even though Rytek knew that was ridiculous. The mysterious Kazik base
loomed up ahead. "Can we fire while invisible?" he asked. "Sorry sir.
We've drained way too much power just on the journey here," came the
reply. "Deactivate invisibility. All three command ships fire their
heat-soliton emitters against the base," he ordered.

Inside the Kazik Regime Praetorial Palace, the Praetor of the Regime was
very surprised to feel his chambers shaking. He tapped a little green
button on his wall. "What is going on?" he demanded. "Praetor, we're
under attack!!" the junior officer replied. The Praetor jumped up and
screamed and screamed and screamed. "IT ISN'T POSSIBLE! THEY CAN'T BE
HERE!" was heard throughout the Palace. The Kazik, unconquerable
battlers, had been invaded.

Petros was shaking. The Station was named for unswerving stone. The name
was being defiled by all this battle. Even invisiblity wasn't buying
them protection. Their location had been discovered, and the energy
required to move to a new location just wasn't available. Celmn's fleet
was doing fair, under the circumstances, but all the fighters had been
required to become visible to keep from using all their energy. The HCs
were going to have to become visible soon as well, because their power
supplies wouldn't last much longer. Unfortunately, the Armada hadn't
been reconstructed with invisibility in mind. The fight had been brave,
and Krael knew he had beaten all the odds. It reminded him of a Feqh
deathsong, 'It is not to die, but to die well,' it was called. And he
-would- die well.

The Praetor of the Kazik Regime had surrendered the Kazik Regime
Praetorial Palace to the Cyberian Armada. Admirals Dwool and Regala had
advised him to destroy the base, but Rytek didn't want to completely
destroy it. He had ordered them to damage it severely, but to leave part
of it intact. He would leave Regala's fleet here, and the rest of the
Armada would head back to Petros and see what was going on. He had
neglected to tell Krael that they were leaving (Or where they were
going), so he hadn't been able to hear from him.

-< Chapter 15

The Command Ship, at the pinnacle of the Armada's formation, arrived at
Petros first. What he saw turned his stomach into a woven rope in a
knot. There, on his screen, were at least two hundred thousand Kazik
spacecraft, firing at what little was left of Petros and of Celmn's
fleet. He was surprised they weren't invisible, but the more he thought,
he decided they must've drained their power. "Fleetwide Battle Alert!
All HCs are to take up firing positions, and fighters are to be
deployed," he commanded.

Krael was still alive. It seemed like he was the only one, too. He was
desperately seeking an escape pod or something that would serve as an
escape vessel. All along the route from the operations center, he had
found complete carnage. Ruptured walls, sliced bodies; everything he
DIDN'T want to see. He rounded a corner and saw it. The dark protusion
of a ship. It must've been one of the harddocked Kazik blaktas. He
wasn't about to waste time...

"Celmn! Where is Krael?" demanded Full Admiral Rytek. "Noone can find
him. Last we heard, he had reboarded the Station. Nobody knows who is in
control of the Station now, or what the casualty count is," he replied.
"Where's Noliana?" Rytek asked. "Dead. Her divisions were all destroyed
before you arrived," Admiral Celmn replied. Rytek closed the channel and
directed his attention to the battle at hand.

One final barrage of plazspheres racked the Station. If they were unsure
before, now they were certain; Noone could possibly be alive on Petros.
The Kazik Armed Forces immediately withdrew and took off in the
direction of their Palace. Dwool wasn't worried about them. He had to
get with Rytek and Celmn to discuss some important things.

-< Epilogues

The Kazik Armed Forces arrived to find the Praetorial Palace in
shambles. The command powernode docked at what was left of the main
dock. On boarding, they found seventy percent casualities. This was
terrifying. The Palace was their home. No Kazik lived on a planet. None.
Every Kazik in the Multiverse was right here at the Palace. And the
enemy had invaded their space and slaughtered their home. It was
terrifying. Utterly wrenching. The Kazik were undefeatable! They had
underestimated the enemy Universe yet again. They weren't going to make
the same mistake again...

The Cyberian Group, once the most powerful force in the Universe, the
supreme reckoning, was on it's knees. Krael had joy, though. The
Cyberian Armada had fifty thousand remaining ships. Wildcat, official
UEA representative congratulated Krael on the masterful work done so
far. "I have had little to do with it," Krael replied. Full Admiral
Rytek had briefed every empire on the military situation and they were
working together to find other methods of attack. Not in fifty years had
the Universe been in such a state of disarray. But it wasn't finished
yet...


-=< This is my favorite SRE text to date. Look for the exciting
conclusion to the Kazik series in SRE: 9 -- Survival Of The Fittest.
Look for SRE: The Bribed Justice soon, also. The final battle will be
incredible, and I can't wait to distribue it. Until then, have fun, and
thanks for reading SRE: 8 -- Kazik! >=-