Nova: The Next Generation

Part Five – The Conclusion

Of

The Shi’ar Conflict

Written By: Timelord 01.21.10

 

Chapter Five: The Shi’ar Armada

Nova Prime Richard Rider listened patiently as Xandarian Star Corps Admiral Cyn finished describing the battle plan. The virtual Conference room of the Admiral’s Dreadnought, The XBS Victory, was filled with representatives comprising each wing of the Xandarian Federation fleet. The avatar of The Worldmind stood behind and to the left of Cyn. To Rider’s left sat his old friend, Admiral Che’Noth, commander of the Tauron wing of the fleet. The decades had been kind to the old Minotaur. Though approaching advanced age for her people and with fur more gray now than the roan color of her youth; Che’Noth still retained the sharpness and sense of purpose that had made her Rich’s most trusted advisor during the Guerilla War against the Annihilation Wave.

Che’Noth shifted in her seat and the light glinted off the gold caps on the tips of her horns identifying her as a member of Herd Noth. “Admiral Lord Cyn – I must say that today you have proven your reputation for devising unconventional tactics. Normally I would have reservations; but seeing how we are outnumbered by a factor of 3-to-1; I understand both the necessity and genius of your plan. It does, however, require us to commit every ship of the first, fourth, and ninth fleets to the fight. Should we not ask each participant race in the Federation to send extra ships immediately? There will be no ships in reserve to provide rescue or clear an escape route for us should the battle turn against us.”

Admiral Cyn sat at the head of the table. He was tall and thin with white hair and blue eyes. His black and gold Xandarian Star Corps uniform was heavy with medals – the old Xandarian aristocrat having led Xandar’s fleet to victory countless times in the seemingly unending campaigns since the third rise of the Xandarian Civilization. Cyn was a man of few words – a trait which others mistakenly often mistook for arrogance. He replied with a thin smile and a slow affirmative shake of his head. “True – so we shall not let the battle turn against us.”

Across the table from Rich was the leader of the Adanacian contingent to the Federation’s fleet, Admiral Guer-Kon, a former resistance fighter during the Second Xandar-Skrull War. Rich knew him from participation in that selfsame war’s campaign to liberate Adanac from Skrull occupation. The Adanacians were the most bio-technologically advanced race in Andromeda – using age-retarding bio-tech to achieve virtual immortality. So, Guer-Kon appeared to be very young even though he was actually several centuries old. Amphibious, darkly furred, with small ears, a sleek head, black nose, and long whiskers; to Rich’s eyes the Adanacian looked like a six foot tall anthropomorphized otter. Guer-Kon stood. “I share Admiral Che’Noth’s concern; but all available ships have been assigned to protect our planets. We alone must face the Shi’ar and stop their invasion fleet. We cannot wait for reinforcements. We must make our stand against the rapidly approaching invaders and Lord Cyn has devised a plan to give us the edge we need to win. I have seen many battles in my lifetime and have fought next to Admiral Lord Cyn during many of those battles. I am satisfied that his battle plan is sound and I am confident in his leadership. The Shi’ar expansionist agenda must be resisted at all costs or we will all find ourselves in thrall to them. Let it be now that we stop them once and for all.”

A chorus of “Aye’s” erupted from around the table as the representatives of the many races of the Xandarian Federation expressed their approval.

Jef, Warrior King of Andromeda’s Barthellian Expanse, sat at Rich’s right. Jef was an expatriate of Titan – the leader of a group of Eternals who had abandoned their homeworld centuries ago to seek their destiny in the vastness of space. White haired and mustached with steely blue eyes; he was dressed in the black and gold armor favored by the races he ruled. He wore an elaborately designed platinum torc – the only outward symbol of his status as Supreme Warlord of his sector of Andromeda. Both charismatic and physically powerful, the ancient demi-god was a force to be respected. Rich had seen him go toe-to-toe with the late great Strontian Warrior, Gladiator – fighting him to a standstill in one of the many battles of the Raptor Wars over the course of the past decade.

Jef stood and let two dark amulets fall from his hand onto the table, waiting patiently for the gasps and murmurs of the delegates seated around him to subside. “They are on the move again. I personally slew these Raptors only days ago. If there are two, then there are likely many more. We obviously did not drive them to extinction as we had hoped. The Fraternity of Raptors is almost certainly behind the recent upsurge in Shi’ar aggression – now using the Shi’ar themselves to fight us instead of proxies like the Veradinae. Ready or not, our hand has been forced; and this battle will help us determine the numbers of the new Raptor threat we must face. We must take the fight to them or the Raptors will surely bring the fight to us – and they will not stop until we are all exterminated. Admiral Lord Cyn’s plan is daring indeed; and that is good as it will take all of the daring and guile we may muster in order to defeat the Raptor controlled Shi’ar. I pledge my fleet of ships to this battle and my army of Eternal warriors to slay any Raptors that come out to fight us this day.”

Admiring Jef’s craftiness, Rich suppressed a smile as the other twelve delegates quickly signed off on Lord Cyn’s battle plan. Jef had removed any lingering doubts in the minds of the delegates as soon as he dropped the Raptor Amulets on the table.

Once the last delegate had committed to the plan, Cyn nodded affirmatively and stood. “It’s settled then. Let us all retire to our ships to prepare our crews for battle. This meeting is adjourned.”

Cyn’s avatar disappeared as did all the rest of the commanders except for Rich and Che’Noth.

Now alone in the virtual conference room, Rich turned to Che’Noth. “All right Che – tell me what you really think.”

Che’Noth averted her eyes and pursed her lips for a moment while she considered her response. She looked at the ceiling as she spoke. “Risky. Very risky. Especially for you and The Aurora. If the Shi’ar deviate from the defense strategy expected by Lord Cyn; then not one of our ships may survive this surprise attack on their staging area. This involvement of the Raptors is also unexpected and adds another element of unpredictability. I would prefer more ships at our disposal.”

Rich shook his head in agreement. “Me too – but d’ast, you and I have faced worse odds in our time.”

She met his eyes. The two old warriors had together faced many daunting battles over the decades of their friendship. Their shared history of battle rendered moot the need to mention specific instances when the odds were worse. “Aye – that we have.”

Rich clasped her shoulder. “When we get back to Nu-Xandar, I hope you can stay a few days with Sevilica and me at Oban. It’s been too long since we last visited. I’ve been meaning to drop by to see you and your father. How is the Emperor?”

Che’Noth laughed. “Old and cranky – but holding his own with the Syndicate. He’d love to see you again; and I’d enjoy visiting you and Sev.”

 

They were interrupted by the yellow alert klaxon. Rich and Che’Noth made eye contact and nodded farewell to each other. Words were not necessary. Everything that needed saying was reflected in their eyes. The parting of old comrades in arms just before battle was always sad as each knew full well that it might be the last time they saw the other. They both faded into the white void.

Re-united with his corporeal body, Rich woke in the Mindworld projection chamber of his battleship, The XBS Aurora. His Executive Officer, Shentak Valt, waited as Rich swung his legs off the virtual-link table. Rich made eye contact with Shentak as he brushed past him and headed for the bridge. “Sit-rep.”

Shentak talked rapidly as he and Rich rushed toward the bridge. “The Shi’ar have launched several attacks from their staging area. Nu-Xandar, Adanac, and Tauron are under siege. Other smaller attacks have been launched against strategic targets in the star systems of each member of the Xandarian Federation. So far, our defenses are holding. We will arrive at the Shi’ar staging area in fifteen minutes gravimetric. All preparations have been made in accordance with the Admiral’s plans and your orders.”

“Thank you. What’s the latest word from Nu-Xandar?” Rich was concerned about Sevilica and Sylvia; but tried to remain as casual as possible in posing his question.

Shentak was prepared with answers as usual. “Nu-Xandar and the Orienta Shard are safely ensconced in pocket dimensions. The Automated Defense Field has been breached at several points, but the Planetary Guard and their Nova detachments are holding the Shi’ar at bay. Sevilica is safe on Nu-Xandar. Sylvia was assigned to defense of the ADF.”

Rich shook his head affirmatively. He did the best he could to compartmentalize and put concerns about Sevilica and Sylvia in perspective. After all, there were no more capable and effective Novas than his wife and his daughter.

Arriving on the bridge of the XBS Aurora, Rich was pleased to see a tactical display on the main viewscreen. Live intelligence was being transmitted by Xandarian spy drones. Strangely, the Shi’ar had not substantially modified their fleet deployment since the Xandarian scouting mission of earlier in the day. Rich hoped their arrogance would be their undoing.

The avatar of The Worldmind appeared next to Rich. “Richard – may I speak to you in private?”

Rich nodded and motioned for The Worldmind to join him in the Ready Room attached to the bridge.

As soon as the door to the Ready Room snapped shut, The Worldmind spoke. “The siege of Nu-Xandar has ended in a quick victory for Xandar thanks largely to the efforts of your daughter, Sylvia. However, victory has come at a price. She has transformed into a Supernova, broken her link to me, and disappeared from local Nu-Xandarian space.”

“Squirt me the report.” Rich paused as The Worldmind downloaded the events of the siege of Nu-Xandar directly into his brain. “D’ast. She was doing so well controlling it until right there at the end when she channeled more power to take out those capital ships.” Rich pressed his lips together and looked at the floor, furiously concentrating to assimilate and analyze the data. He looked at The Worldmind. “Has Sevilica been informed?”

The Worldmind shook his head affirmatively. “Yes. Duchess Dru is at Starcorps Command Headquarters on Nu-Xandar monitoring tactical for any sign of Sylvia’s reappearance.”

Rich struggled for a moment as he considered his options; then took a deep breath as he resigned himself to his decision. “When it’s happened to me before, I eventually returned to normal after I had some time to settle down. She’s probably just gone somewhere to recover – just like I always advised her to if this ever happened to her. My girl can take care of herself. That’s the way I raised her. There’s nothing else I can do right now. I’m going into battle in a few minutes. Open a link to my HUD’s tactical and let me know if Sevilica finds any indication of Sylvia’s whereabouts. I have to get back to the bridge.” It was one of the hardest decisions Rich had ever made; and earlier in his life he would have probably rushed out to try to find Sylvia heedless of all the other responsibilities and consequences; but now he was a leader of men and as such he had made the only decision he could make. Hundreds of thousands of lives rested in his hands; and those lives would be saved or lost according to the decisions he made over the next few minutes and hours. He couldn’t afford to be distracted by personal matters or by the life of one soldier – even if that soldier was his daughter. Sevilica and Sylvia would be first and second in line in support of his decision. Military families understood such things. He forced himself to return to the bridge. Attempting to push aside his worries about Sylvia, he thought to himself – compartmentalize your problems they say – well that’s easier said than done.

Stepping onto the bridge he caught sight of Commander Shentak Valt. “Wormhole exit time from my mark.”

Shentak checked his HUD. “Seven minutes sir.”

Rich nodded. “Red alert.”

The red alert klaxon sounded as the crew assumed battle stations. Shentak glanced at the monitor in front of his station. “Admiral Cyn on fleetwide broadcast sir.”

“Patch the Admiral through to the entire crew Commander.” Rich and the Worldmind Avatar stood at attention by Rich’s command chair, waiting patiently for the Admiral’s traditional pre-battle communiqué. The remainder of the bridge crew also stood at attention by their stations.

Admiral Cyn’s image appeared on the holoscreen and his voice resounded throughout every ship in the Xandarian fleet. “This is Admiral Cyn. The battle will commence in five minutes. Xandar expects that everyone will do their duty.”

 

Rich, The Worldmind, and the bridge crew saluted as the Admiral’s image faded from the screen to be replaced by The Worldmind’s tactical feed. Rich took his seat in the command chair as the bridge crew resumed their duties. He shook his head. Cyn gave the same “speech” before every battle. Not the most inspiring words ever spoken, but Cyn had a reputation for winning battles; so his lack of eloquence was easily forgiven.

Rich patched into PRIME and quickly reviewed the Aurora’s readiness for battle. Satisfied that his orders had been followed to the letter, he returned his full attention to the events of the bridge.

Commander Valt announced, “Thirty seconds to wormhole exit. Shields at maximum. All weapons charged and ready. All squadrons poised.”

Rich leaned forward in his command chair, clenching his jaw and staring straight at the holoscreen. Suddenly, the wormhole terminus formed and normal space could be seen; though space was nearly blotted out by the sheer number of enemy ships.

The terminus had formed as planned in the exact center of the Shi’ar Armada’s staging area; warping space and crushing nearby enemy ships. The Aurora cleared the event horizon of the stargate and the terminus dissipated immediately.

Rich was satisfied. The Shi’ar ships were scrambling to position themselves. The enemy fleet was in disarray. The surprise attack was successful thus far. “Fire radiative aura pulse!”

The XBS Aurora, last of the line of the sentient Vengeance Class Battleships and considered a Nova Corpsman itself, generated a massive radiative aura gravimetric pulse expanding spherically from the surface of the ship. The energy wave slammed into the densely packed enemy fleet, destroying some ships and severely damaging others.

As soon as the gravimetric wave passed, six other Xandarian Federation stargates formed – one at each flank of the Shi’ar fleet. The Xandarian Wing led the frontal assault. The Tauron Wing led the assault on the rear. The Adanacian Wing attacked the left flank. The Barthellian Wing attacked the right flank. The upper and lower enemy flanks were attacked by coalition fleets from the lesser powers.

“Deploy Nova Cohorts!” It was Rich’s job to use his Special Forces troops, The Nova Corps, to attack the enemy fleet from the middle. Of course, they had drawn the most dangerous job. Rich watched as 5000 Nova Centurions emerged from the Aurora’s hull, formed into cohorts of four, and immediately flew away in every direction to attack enemy ships. “Ahead full sub-light! Launch fighters and drones!” Rich watched as the fighter ships emerged from the Aurora’s hanger bays and as the attack drones peeled away from the ship. “Shields to maximum! Compute firing solutions! Prepare to engage the enemy!” The Aurora was rapidly approaching the Shi’ar fleet. The plan was to punch a hole in the Shi’ar line and join the oncoming Xandarian fleet led by Admiral Cyn.

Rich glanced at Commander Valt. “Time to firing range on my mark.”

Valt checked tactical. “Fifteen seconds Sir.”

Rich turned to Communications Officer Nuf. “Message to Admiral Cyn. We are engaging the enemy.”

Gunnery Officer Baan glanced up from her tactical. “Sir, we have incoming fire from the enemy lines.”

Rich felt the impact of the enemy projectiles and energy beams which managed to evade The Aurora’s countermeasures. The ship shuddered ever so slightly as the shields absorbed the explosions. “Officer Baan – fire at will.”

Rich looked at the tactical holo-screen. The battle was raging and both sides were incurring heavy losses. The Nova Centurions and the Aurora’s fighter squadrons and drones were creating havoc with the enemy’s defenses as planned; and, as planned, they were preventing the enemy from seriously challenging The Aurora. That was about to change as The Aurora was flying directly into the rear of the enemy front line to press the attack.

Gunnery Officer Baan glanced at Rich. “Targets acquired. Firing main and secondary batteries.”

The Aurora, designed to resemble the venerable Upholder Class starships, fired its main forward battery. The powerful gravimetric pulse lanced through space from the massive forward emitter, touching the shields of the lead Shi’ar battleship. The Shi’ar ship’s shields were no match for the pulse and it was reduced to a cloud of rapidly expanding debris in seconds. The secondary batteries opened up against the battleship’s escort vessels – pounding the Shi’ar cruisers and destroyers with projectile and particle beam weapons while the main battery recharged.

Rich felt more impacts against the Aurora’s shields from return fire. He glanced at tactical and was relieved to see that so far The Aurora had sustained no damage and was holding its own against the Shi’ar assaults.

“Sir! We are receiving a priority communication from Admiral Cyn! You better have a look at this.” Valt pointed at the holo-screen as it switched to Admiral Cyn’s live tactical feed.

Rich looked at the viewscreen as it switched to live feed from Admiral Cyn’s dreadnought, The XBS Victory. He stood slowly, watching as a dark cloud descended upon Admiral Cyn’s wing of the fleet. It looked as if space itself was attacking the Xandarians.

Commander Valt stood next to Rich transfixed as he watched the screen in horror. “What is it sir?”

Rich knew the answer to Valt’s question but dreaded saying it aloud. “PRIME – magnify visual to extreme focus on the dark cloud descending on Admiral Cyn’s fleet.” The holoscreen shifted and confirmed what Rich already knew as the black armored form of the new enemy came into sharp focus. “Raptors Commander Valt. Thousands of Raptors.”
 

 

---

Sylvia sped through the wormhole, rapidly approaching the time-space coordinates of Xandar’s battle with the Shi’ar Armada. Her mind was filled with murderous rage stoked to ever higher levels by each terawatt of Zero Point Energy she absorbed from the structure of the wormhole. Her body had grown to 20 feet in stature to contain the energy coursing through it. Exhilaratingly drunk on Nova Force, she promised herself that once the Shi’ar Armada was destroyed, she would travel to the Shi’ar Aerie and destroy it as well. Her one and only imperative was that all enemies of Xandar must die. She meticulously planned how she would slowly and painfully kill the Shi’ar Majestrix.

 

The wormhole terminus formed ahead of her and she could see hundreds of Shi’ar ships. Screaming in rage and lusting for the blood of Xandar’s enemies, she exited the wormhole and flew headlong into the battle. Obliterating the first ship she encountered, a Shi’ar Heavy Cruiser, she bore down upon the battleship it had been escorting. Shrugging off fire from the battleship and its other escort vessels; Sylvia stretched forth her hand and generated her most powerful gravimetric pulse. The Shi’ar battleship was reduced to debris in seconds.

Hungrily summoning more power, Sylvia continued to destroy Shi’ar ships; reveling in the carnage wrought upon Xandar’s enemies. Noticing the Xandarian Fleet was being harried by swarms of armored beings; she broke off her attack on the Shi’ar Fleet and rushed to aid the Xandarians.

As she approached the Xandarian fleet, she could see that it was under attack by Raptors. Blinded by hate, she rushed headlong into a Raptor swarm, desirous of nothing other than to rend each Raptor apart with her bare hands.

Too close to the Xandarian fleet to safely generate a powerful radiative aura gravimetric pulse; she engaged as many Raptors as possible in brutal close quarters combat. The Raptors were caught off guard and before they could coordinate an attack; many fell to twin eye beams or to collimated beams of gravimetric energy piercing their armor. Having decimated an entire Raptor attack wing with her surprise attack, Sylvia turned her attention to the Raptors who were attacking the lead Xandarian dreadnought, the XBS Victory.

Flying directly into the flock of Raptors harrying the Victory, she pulverized the unlucky dozen who were surprised by her attack. The remaining 38 Raptors in the attack wing scrambled to adapt and reorganize; the Datasong coordinating their actions immediately analyzing their attacker, forming a counter-attack strategy, and instantly re-configuring their jet black armor to ultra-combat mode.

Sylvia pressed the attack, giving them no time to execute their attack strategy. Forming a low yield radiative aura gravimetric pulse to stun and confuse them; she followed up with rapid fire pulses from her hands and eyes as she remained in constant motion to evade the energy weapons the Raptors fired at her. Nine more Raptors fell to her attack; but Raptors were nothing if not adaptable.

The remaining 29 Raptors rallied, and, following the strategy designed by the Datasong, gracefully flew in wide arcs, surrounding Sylvia – moving as one to pace her, evade her attacks, and counter her every move as they relentlessly bathed her in powerful energy weapons fire.

Sylvia’s phasic shields were taking a pounding and she could feel them weakening. The radiation from the Raptors’ weapons began to seep through her shields and armor, searing her flesh.

Sylvia’s vast energy expenditure during combat having quelled her berserk rage; she began to ascend from madness. With her ever so tenuous grasp of sanity she realized her brute force strategy was a losing one – particularly since tactical indicated that two more attack wings of Raptors had broken off their attack on the Xandarian fleet and were closing on her position.

Frustrated by the Raptors’ perfect countermeasures to her attacks and the growing effectiveness of their attacks upon her; Sylvia realized that the combined efforts of the additional hundred Raptors approaching her position would certainly penetrate her shields and kill her. Single-handedly defending the Xandarian Fleet was not going to be possible at the moment. A new strategy was called for – one the Raptors’ Datasong could never anticipate.

Gritting her teeth as she summoned more Nova Force from space itself; Sylvia grimly turned from defense of the Xandarian Fleet, heading into open space with 129 Raptors in hot pursuit.

 

 

---

The Aurora violently shook; taking heavy fire from the Shi’ar front line battleships. Rich surveyed the holographic monitor next to his command chair. Admiral Cyn’s plan had worked well at first; but the Shi’ar were rallying with the help of the Raptors. Nova Cohorts and Xandarian fighter ships were keeping the path opened by the Aurora clear of the enemy and preventing the Shi’ar from surrounding the Aurora and destroying it. The Aurora was making headway through the Shi’ar front lines, now nearly halfway in its mission to fracture the Shi’ar front lines and join the Xandarian Fleet.

Nevertheless, Rich was worried. Due to the Raptor attack, the Xandarian Fleet was taking heavier than expected losses and there was a danger that it would be routed. Rich clenched his jaw. “PRIME! Clear us a path! Full power to the forward emitter. Maximum dispersal. I want to destroy or disable as many Shi’ar ships as possible with one shot. We’ve got to cut through this line and aid Admiral Cyn!”

The Worldmind Avatar stirred and moved closer to Rich. “Richard, it is critical that you pay attention at this time. Sylvia has appeared on the front lines near the Xandarian Fleet and has engaged the Raptors in combat.”

Rich jumped to his feet. “Tactical on main holoscreen!”

The holoscreen shifted to visual tactical feed, picturing Sylvia locked in mortal combat with a wing of Raptors. Rich clenched his fists in frustration as he beheld his daughter. He needed to go to her. Sylvia had obviously transformed into a Supernova. Her quantum body coursed with energy and had thus grown proportionally to contain the energy. Readings indicated that she was continuing to summon power. From personal experience, Rich knew the danger. She was not experienced enough to control such power; so the power would control her. She was already showing signs of it – rushing headlong into battle and relying on brute force rather than strategy. That could get her killed and could also endanger the campaign. He was again torn between the duty of fatherhood and duty to Xandar.

Commander Valt turned from his station. “Sir! Incoming message from the Victory. Admiral Cyn wishes to speak with you.”

Rich nodded and the holoscreen shifted to the image of the bridge of the XBS Victory, Xandar’s mightiest dreadnought battleship and flagship of the Xandarian Fleet. The Victory had sustained heavy damage and the Xandarian Fleet was wavering under the attacks of the Shi’ar Armada and The Fraternity of Raptors.

Admiral Lord Cyn stepped into view. The old aristocrat looked disheveled and the Victory’s bridge was in disarray from battle damage. “Rider. The Victory has been compromised. Our stardrive is going super-critical. We’re going to lose the containment field. I’m ordering all the ships of the fleet to withdraw from vicinity of the Victory. We’re going to take as many of these d’ast Raptors with us as we can. I am ordering you to take command of the fleet.”

Rich was stunned. “Sir. We’re almost there. Hang on and I’ll divert some Nova Cohorts to assist you.”

Cyn shook his head. “Negative. There’s nothing you can do for me. Take command of the fleet and carry on the mission.”

Rich stood at attention and saluted the Admiral. “Aye Sir. I am assuming command of the fleet. It has been an honor serving with you.”

Admiral Cyn returned Rich’s salute and his image faded from the holoscreen to be replaced by an external view of the Victory, surrounded by Raptors pouring fire into its battered hull. The Victory began to glow as the stardrive went critical. The titanic explosion took out the wing of Raptors harrying the ship.

Valt turned from his station. “Sir. Sylvia has withdrawn and is heading into open space. Jef the Barthellian Warlord is leading a force of Eternals to engage the Raptors and reinforce the Xandarian Fleet. ETA for the Barthellians at the Xandarian Fleet coordinates is five minutes.”

Rich nodded. “Put me on fleetwide broadcast.”

Valt pressed a button on his console and looked up at Rich as acknowledgement of his order.

Rich paused. The weight of responsibility was heavy. The future of Xandar rested with him now. He made his decision. “This is Nova Prime Rider. I am assuming command of the campaign. Carry on with the battle plan. Feed all tactical to the Aurora.” Rich nodded to Valt to close the broadcast. He breathed a small sigh of relief. Sylvia was withdrawing from the battle into open space – safe at last as she could outrun the Raptors – and Jef was rushing to counter the Raptor threat. The battle plan could still succeed. He turned to regard his bridge crew. “Helmsman! Full speed ahead. Gunnery Officer! Clear me a path to the Xandarian Fleet! Do whatever it takes to get me there!”

 

---

Sylvia sped into open space, putting as much distance as she could between herself and the Xandarian Fleet. Her Raptor pursuers had been joined by several other wings and she now had 300 Raptors closely following her. The Datasong had obviously concluded she was a major threat to the Shi’ar and had ordered its Raptors to eliminate her. Even at her current power level, she couldn’t hope to defeat 300 Raptors.

Shrugging off the energy blasts of her Raptor pursuers, Sylvia slowed and turned as if to fight, allowing her pursuers to close the distance. As the Raptors closed ranks and descended upon her, she reversed course and headed into open space again.

 

Concentrating, Sylvia opened a large stargate and headed directly for it at top speed. The Raptors, determined to prevent her escape, further closed their ranks and increased speed to attempt to prevent her from entering the stargate or follow her into it before she could close it behind her.

 

The stargate loomed before Sylvia as she bore down upon it at top sub-light speed, her Raptor pursuers pouring fire into her quantum body in an attempt to stop her escape. Sylvia shook with the effort to simultaneously maintain the concentration necessary to keep the stargate open while shoring up her shields against Raptor energy blasts and controlling the murderous Supernova rage roiling within her.

As she closed on the large stargate, she called upon the last of her reserves of concentration and focused on a point just in front of the large stargate, smiling savagely as she watched a small stargate open. Sylvia entered the new smaller stargate and it rapidly closed behind her.

The Raptors’ Datasong too late realized the danger. The Datasong screamed at its Raptors to clear the vicinity of the large stargate; but they had no time to comply. The super-heated plasma from the star into which Sylvia had opened the large stargate exploded at the speed of light from the large stargate’s terminus, engulfing all 300 of Sylvia’s Raptor pursuers and instantly vaporizing them.

 

---

A small stargate opened near the Xandarian Fleet and Supernova Sylvia Rider-Dru emerged; rushing headlong into a wing of Raptors. The Raptors’ Datasong was reeling from the sudden loss of 300 of its Raptors and was thus once again taken by surprise. Thirty Raptors fell to Sylvia’s surprise attack before the Datasong of the Raptors could compensate.

Compensating, the Datasong of the Raptors ordered an all out attack against Sylvia and she immediately found herself surrounded by hundreds of Raptors and fighting savagely for her life. Summoning more Nova Force, Sylvia descended into the berserk rage of a Supernova, crushing all Raptors who ventured within her reach and destroying others with gravimetric pulses.

Whenever Sylvia’s fists connected, a Raptor died. Wherever her eyes rested for a moment, a Raptor died from twin gravimetric pulses. Wherever her hands pointed, a Raptor died from a gravimetric pulse.

Lost in berserk rage, Sylvia barely noticed the wounds inflicted upon her by the attacking Raptors. She merely drew more Nova Force to compensate and to supplement her healing factor – heedless of her further slippage into madness as her power consumption grew exponentially and thus unsustainably. Little did she realize that the Datasong had deduced this weakness and was sacrificing Raptors in order to destroy her.

As Sylvia turned to engage an attacking Raptor, she was surprised to see it bisected by a longsword passing through its torso. From behind the bisected Raptor emerged a warrior in black and gold armor wielding a large adamantium longsword. Sensing the power of the warrior and having succumbed to berserk warrior rage, Sylvia made to attack him.

The warrior raised his hand in the universal gesture signifying halt. “Still your rage child. Such anger is unbecoming of a demi-goddess.”

 

In response to the warrior’s words, Sylvia’s rage subsided and clarity of thought returned. She felt herself fading into the white void.

Now within the white void of pure thought and energy, Sylvia found herself facing the warrior in black and gold armor.

The warrior removed his helmet revealing the face of a handsome white-maned humanoid. “You’re new to the local pantheon of gods. What is your name and why do you wear the uniform of a Nova Corps Cadet?”

Sylvia instantly recognized her host within the white void and was awed to be standing in the presence of such a renowned Eternal. He exuded the ancient power and authority of the King that he was – and his feats were legendary within the local group of galaxies. She removed her helmet. “I am Sylvia Rider-Dru, Countess of Sura and Nova Corps Cadet First Class.”

The King smiled and bowed. “It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance Contessa. I am Jef, King of the Barthellian Expanse. So, you’re Nova Prime Rider’s child and now newly ascended into demi-goddess-hood?”

Sylvia smiled and returned the bow. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Your Majesty. And yes – I am newly transformed into a Supernova and I’m having a hard time controlling the powers. You seem to have a special ability to help me control my powers much like another being I know, the Xandarian God Gamill. Are you acquainted with him?”

Jef frowned. “Yes, I’ve had the displeasure of meeting Gamill and the other Xandarian gods. We need to return to the battle soon. I’ve given you some temporary internal controls to help you regulate your power. When we return to the battle in a few nano-seconds, you concentrate on destroying the Shi’ar ships and leave these Raptor vermin to me and my Eternals.”

Sylvia bowed again. “Thank you, Your Majesty.”

Jef smiled and nodded his head. “Noblesse Oblige child. Never forget that we nobles have the obligation to use our powers to help others in their times of need. Now, when this battle is done, I hope you will do me the honor of visiting me on Barthel Prime so that we may become better acquainted.”

 

“I would be honored, Your Majesty.” Sylvia donned her helmet as the white void faded to be replaced by normal space – only a few nano-seconds having passed since she first encountered Jef. Jef stood before her, hefting his mightly adamantium longsword; and around her she could see more than one thousand of Jef’s Eternals engaging the Raptors. The Raptors’ ranks were rapidly dwindling and the Xandarian Fleet was re-grouping in preparation to re-engage the Shi’ar Fleet’s front lines. With a wave to Jef, Sylvia turned and flew toward the Shi’ar Fleet.

Jef turned to engage a Raptor, driving his sword through the Raptor’s chest while directing twin eye beams of cosmic energy at the Raptor’s head. As the Raptor’s head melted, Jef kicked the Raptor’s headless body off of his sword and rushed to join his warriors in their assault against the remaining Raptors.

 

---

Sylvia reached out with her powers, accessing Xandarian tactical and ascertaining the position of her father’s ship, The Aurora. The Aurora was fighting its way to the rest of the Xandarian Fleet, cutting a wide swath through the Shi’ar ranks with the help of its Nova Corps Cohorts and fighter ships. The other Xandarian Federation fleets were also inflicting heavy losses on the Shi’ar; and a successful final push against the Shi’ar Fleet would likely result in victory. Sylvia was determined to provide that final push against the Shi’ar Fleet.

Approaching the Shi’ar front lines, she began to block the attempts of damaged Shi’ar ships to form stargates and withdraw from the battle. She flew straight for the lead Shi’ar battleship, determined to strike a decisive blow in her initial attack.

The Shi’Ar battleship exploded as Sylvia smashed through its hull and released her most powerful radiative aura gravimetric pulse. She engaged the battleship’s escort vessels, making short work of them as well. The Xandarian Fleet was right behind her and the ship-to-ship battle was re-engaged. The Shi’ar began experiencing heavy losses.

Sylvia destroyed every battle group she encountered, clearing a path to The Aurora and dividing the Shi’ar line. Strangely, she found that it was getting harder to summon her powers and she was experiencing something she now rarely experienced – physical fatigue approaching exhaustion. A squadron of Shi’Ar fighters bore down upon her, and with a smirk, she destroyed all of them with rapid fire gravimetric pulses; but found herself faltering at summoning more power as she approached the next battle group.

She now found it effortful to continue to block the Shi’Ar fleet’s attempts to form stargates to escape while at the same time assisting the Xandarian fleet in destroying the remaining Shi’Ar vessels. She realized she would soon have to choose one or the other; and surveying tactical, decided that there was nothing left of the Shi’Ar fleet that the Xandarian fleet could not handle. She turned to make her way back behind the Xandarian line where she could concentrate fully on preventing the Shi’Ar from escaping by continuing to block their stargate formation. As she disengaged from battle, her power momentarily fluctuated, and she felt her body begin to contract, shrinking to normal size. She had never felt so tired before; and it was now becoming painful and effortful to block enemy stargate formation. Desperate at the thought that her faltering power might cost Xandar victory in today’s battle, she called upon Him. “Overmind! Help me!”

The Overmind appeared, a smirk gracing his handsome face. In mocking tone he spoke, “Ah sweet Sylvia, you refuse the help of my idiot savant brother, The Worldmind, and finally deign to call upon me when you have all but exhausted yourself due to premature use of your developing powers. When will you learn to listen to me? When will you heed the advice of your betters?”

Sylvia gritted her teeth to retain her composure. “Can you just help me now and patronize me later? I’m about to lose consciousness from exhaustion. Give me more energy!”

The Overmind shook his head. “Would that I could sweet Sylvia. You have chosen to ignore all that I taught you and become a Supernova prematurely; long before you were ready to wield such powers. I am surprised you are still sane. It must have been purely my influence over the past several months that has kept you from descending irretrievably into paranoid madness. Now you have exhausted the capacity of your immature quantum structure and it is rapidly failing. I am not sure if you can even survive – let alone ever wield such power again.”

Tears stung Sylvia’s eyes – not for her possible demise as she would gladly give her life for Xandar – but tears of frustration at being unable to continue the battle. What good was this pseudo-god if he couldn’t help her in time of greatest need? “Gods-dast-it you pretentious bastard! Can’t you for once do something besides criticize and cynically pontificate? Help me help Xandar!”

He shook His head negatively. “You know that I cannot directly intervene.”

Furious with him now, Sylvia exploded in rage. “Get away from me then! I renounce you! I never want to see or hear from you again for all eternity! Spend your sad, worthless life alone in your quantum realm and contemplate how today you lost the battle for Xandar and the respect of the one and only other living being who knows of your pathetic existence!”

Stunned by her rebuke, The Overmind recoiled, speechless for once. Sylvia noted His reaction. She was more important to Him than He had always pretended. It was obvious – He loved her and had never had any intention of letting her die; and most importantly, He could intervene.

He quickly recovered His composure. “This could kill us both and it has consequences that you cannot begin to understand. What I now do I do for Xandar; not for you, precocious child, or in response to your pleading and demands for favors.” He melted into her and she felt unimaginable power; along with pleasure more intense than any orgasm she had ever experienced and intimacy beyond that she had ever enjoyed with any of her lovers. Coursing with power, Sylvia’s fatigue vanished and she grew to the 50 foot stature of a mature Supernova. Surely this was how it felt to be a god.

She heard His voice in her head. “This cannot be maintained for long. Move quickly to end this fight or we shall both perish.”

Sylvia turned to face the Shi’Ar again. With cool confidence and clarity of thought and purpose, she extended her hand and encircled all the remaining ships save one with gravimetric nodes. She ordered the nodes to contract; watching with cruel satisfaction as each ship was crushed below its Schwarzschild Radius, vanishing in a flash of gamma radiation. She hovered before the Shi’Ar flagship, the only remaining ship from the Shi’Ar fleet. “Go now and do not return to Xandarian space or you shall surely die. So commands the Countess of Sura.” She formed a stargate behind the Shi’Ar flagship and, with a thought, propelled it into the stargate, sending it home to the Shi’Ar throneworld with news of their abject defeat.

Sylvia felt The Overmind leave her body, Himself exhausted, and flee to His quantum realm. Her body quickly shrunk to normal size and she found herself so fatigued it was hard to stay awake. Consulting her HUD for coordinates, she set course for her father’s ship, The XBS Aurora, and turned to make her way there.

Her tactical flashed a proximity alert and she turned just as Gladiatrix slammed into her and landed a massive punch to her jaw. Sylvia reeled head over heels from the punch. With normal Centurion level powers and phasic shielding, the punch had nearly penetrated and she fought to retain consciousness. Dazed, she turned to face Gladiatrix just in time for Gladiatrix to slide an adamantium knife into her abdomen and slowly slice upwards, attempting to eviscerate her. Sylvia grappled with Gladiatrix; holding her free hand and her knife hand to prevent Gladiatrix from further slicing her open. Their eyes locked.

Gladiatrix smiled cruelly and with mock concern said, “Hurts?”

Gladiatrix had mostly recovered from their earlier fight and was incredibly strong. Sylvia was exhausted and she shook; using all her might to hold Gladiatrix off and slow the upward advance of Gladiatrix’s knife.

Gladiatrix sneered, advancing the knife another centimeter upward against Sylvia’s resistance. “So tell me Countess, does your purri still become wet at the thought of killing me? I am so enjoying killing you that mine is soaking wet.” She advanced the knife another centimeter upward, twisting it to increase the pain, enjoying watching Sylvia shake as she fought to slow the advance of the knife. “This is for all my teammates you killed, for all the ships you destroyed, for all the Shi’ar you mercilessly slaughtered today, and for your treatment of me when I was your prisoner.”

Sylvia had never felt such excruciating pain; but refused to give Gladiatrix the satisfaction of hearing her scream. The knife was approaching her sternum and would soon pierce her heart. There was only one chance. Summoning all her flagging energy, Sylvia formed a radiative aura gravimetric pulse, sending Gladiatrix careening away from her, momentarily stunned from the explosion of the pulse.

Sylvia pressed the wound stretching from her abdomen to just below her sternum, attempting to hold in her blood and mutilated organs as she weakly turned and headed back toward the Xandarian fleet. The nanites in her uniform quickly shifted to cover the wound and knit it together; and her healing factor went into overdrive; but she had expended too much energy in the battle and was continuing to expend energy in this fight – energy she critically needed to heal her grievous wounds. She felt sick and could taste blood in her mouth. She was finding it hard to breathe from the massive internal bleeding; and she began to gag and retch blood. Her uniform’s emergency life support system sensed her distress and automatically intubated her. Her tactical flashed a proximity alert and she saw Gladiatrix rapidly closing, holding the knife ready for another attack. Sylvia couldn’t outrun her, so she turned to fight; trying but failing to summon a gravimetric node to imprison Gladiatrix.

Sylvia nearly blacked out from the effort to fight. Despite the sickness from her wounds and the terrible pain, weakness, and fatigue; she somehow managed to fight back to consciousness just as Gladiatrix was almost upon her. She hadn’t the energy to even try to summon The Overmind for help. She felt another wave of sickness which threatened to send her into unconsciousness; but her indomitable will resisted it. She raised her hands to fight, enduring the terrible pain that came from each movement of her body.

“Get away from my daughter you farking bitch!” A blur of navy blue and gold motion flashed by Sylvia and slammed into Gladiatrix. Nova Prime Richard Rider arrived.

Gladiatrix was surprised and fearful for a moment – not expecting to encounter the man who had killed her father and her mother. Her moment of fear at facing the Nova Prime cost her dearly as it weakened her psionic shields long enough for Rich to land several powerful blows, dazing her before she could put up a fight.

Sylvia had never seen her father fight so savagely. He fought with the ferocity of a father protecting his young; showing Gladiatrix no mercy as he relentlessly unleashed the awesome power of Xandar. Rich landed blow after powerful blow, faster than most eyes could track; pummeling Gladiatrix into near unconsciousness before in murderous screaming rage bathing her in the unforgiving blast of his most powerful gravimetric pulse. Gladiatrix’s flesh was charred to a cinder and she became still – slowly floating away into the cosmos.

Richard rushed to Sylvia and took her into his arms. She looked into her father’s worried eyes and could see tears streaming down his face as he beheld her grievous wounds. “Sylvia? Oh God! Syl? Are you OK baby? Activate your healing factor baby. Give it all your energy. Do it now! I don’t want to lose you. I love you. Sylvia? Sylvia!”

Sylvia lost consciousness, safe in the arms of her father. Her last thought was that if she had to die, at least she would die proudly on the battlefield in service to Xandar; and at least her father would have to admit he was pleased with her performance in today’s battles.
 

Chapter Six: Who Shall We Fear?

The white void beckoned and Sylvia heeded the call. It was different this time though – more effortful to make the journey. She felt weak, fatigued – and wondered if she had the energy to make it back to the corporeal realm. She felt the energy signature of the void shift ever so slightly – and when she changed the spectrum of her vision, she could see Zero Point Energy – or as the Xandarians nicknamed it, “Nova Force,” being absorbed by her body.

Sylvia was puzzled. She appeared to be alone; but of course, she now knew that she would never be truly alone in this realm. She looked around. Where was He? Reaching out with her natural powers, she scanned the realm and sensed His presence. Concentrating, she projected her consciousness through the void in His general direction.

She found Him slumped and sitting on the ‘floor’ with His head bowed. Though she could see that He was absorbing copious amounts of Zero Point Energy from the void, He still looked gaunt. She shook her head. “Poor thing – you look like schlag.”

He looked at her and scowled. “I feared your renunciation of me and your vow to leave me alone and in peace were too good to be true.”

She laughed as she sat down next to Him, “Curmudgeonly as ever I see.”

“Hmph.” He looked away.

She leaned into Him and kissed Him on the cheek. “Thank you for helping me.”

He looked despondent. “You have no idea what that ill considered action has cost me.”

She made eye contact with Him. “Oh, but I do. When we melded, I learned a great deal more about you including that your aid cost you your independence and continues to risk your existence. I know that right now, the only reason I’m still alive is because of our now permanent bond through the process of Quantum Entanglement – the same process the Worldmind uses to channel Zero Point Energy to every Nova. When we melded, we became one entity. When you separated and came back here, we maintained our connection because we are now part of each other – entangled as it were. You feel sick because I feel sick. I am alive because I’m drawing some of your energy to heal. If I die, you may die.”

He stood and became his usual haughty self. “You know too much, precocious child; but you know much less than you think and understand little of what you know. Do not ever believe one such as I could be killed as easily as one such as you.”

Ignoring his bluster, she looked at him with genuine affection as she now knew with absolute certainty how he felt about her. “It really is you – the individual Xandarian Eternal, Gamill, right now isn’t it? You’re not the Uni-Mind I’m talking to like you were when we first met.”

He looked irritated. “You did learn too much during our meld.”

She shrugged her shoulders. “So you’re a Xandarian Eternal. Why all the secrecy about that? It’s long been assumed that Xandar formed naturally without the aid of Celestials – thus no Eternals and no Deviants. Now I know that assumption is false. What harm could there be in the populace learning the truth?”

He voice was stern. “As I said, you understand little of what you know. Xandar is a special experiment on the part of the Celestials. Secrecy is critical for the success of the experiment. If the population were to become aware of the experiment, error would be introduced and the Celestials would be forced to abort it. Do you understand what that would mean?”

She nodded. “Yes I do. The Horde would descend upon us and destroy all. Don’t worry. The secret is safe with me.”

She saw that his absorption of ZPE was slowing and that he was nearly back to full strength. She smiled, feeling better and stronger as He felt better and stronger. She knew she was nearly healed and would soon need to return to the corporeal realm; but she couldn’t resist teasing Him a little before she left. Lowering her eyes to half-mast and adopting her sexiest, vampiest, most flirtatious attitude and posture; she stood and put her arms around His neck, pressing her body into His, her lips only centimeters from His lips. “I suppose in a way our entanglement means we’re married. Care to do your husbandly duty before I go and make me come as hard as I did when you melded with me?”

He was shocked and clearly exasperated as He pulled free of her. “Is that all you ever think about?” He looked at her self-satisfied expression, realizing He had been successfully played. He shook His head in frustration. “Go back to corporeality. Your parents are worried about you and need some reassurance.”

She laughed in delight at His discomfort. “I’ll be back soon.”

He sighed in resignation to that fact. “I know.”

She turned to leave – then stopped. Looking around, she said, “Won’t the rest of you come out and say hello?” She paused. “No? All right then. Maybe some other time.” She winked at Gamill before fading into the void.

The pantheon of Xandarian Eternals materialized the moment Sylvia left, completely surrounding Gamill.

Frammi stepped forward and slapped Gamill’s face. “You are a fool Gamill! You risk us all by tying our fates to that little strumpet. You should have let her die. We could always have cloned another. Now, you’ve narrowed our options to one – her specifically – and to make it worse, entangled us all with her at the quantum level. What were you thinking? Don’t bother to answer. We’ve had enough of your lies. We will form a Uni-Mind and your true motives will stand revealed.”

 

---

 

Sylvia stirred and fought her way back to consciousness. Her eyes slowly opened and she found herself in the familiar surroundings of the Nova Corps Infirmary on the Orienta Shard. Her parents, Richard Rider and Sevilica Dru, stood over her bed; both still dressed in their Nova Corps uniforms and both wearing expressions of worry. Visiting from Mindworld; the hard light holographic avatars of her Grandfather and Grandmother, Lord Severus Dru and Lady Ronica Dru, stood at the foot of the bed.

Richard smiled in relief as he stroked her hair. “Hi honey. Welcome back. We’ve all been worried sick about you. Your friend, Kritana, just left. She’s been here since you arrived; but needed to go express her sympathies to Cadet Ren’s family and Cadet Luf’s family.”

Remembering what happened to Surfaan, Sylvia made eye contact with her father. “Did he and the rest of my Cohort download to Mindworld?”

Rich nodded affirmatively. “Ren, Bem, and Luf are all safe in Mindworld. All have chosen to be re-iterated. New bodies are being cloned and they should all be back to active duty in a year.”

Sevilica leaned in close to Sylvia. “The doctor says you’re recovering faster than he’s ever seen before. How do you feel?”

Sylvia took a moment to take stock. The terrible pain was gone, she was breathing on her own, and she was feeling strong. “I feel well. I think I’m ready to go back to active duty now.”

“That’s my grand-daughter! She’s all Dru!” proclaimed Lord Severus, eliciting laughs of relief from everyone, including Rich, who decided to let the royals indulge their egos and to ignore the small slight to him.

There was a slight commotion in the hall and all eyes turned to the door as the hard light holographic avatar of King Ferenus Dru entered; accompanied by his daughter, Queen Adora Dru, and his grand-son, Prince Proculus Dru. The avatar of The Worldmind followed closely in step behind the High King of the Mindworld. Everyone in the room adopted the position of fealty. As Sylvia was lying down, she did the best she could to adopt the position of respect to the King by bowing her head until her chin touched her chest and placing her right fist over her heart.

The King was touched by her gesture and approached the head of the bed. “My dearest grand-niece; you honor me when I came to honor you. Your heroic actions today have brought about an end to what could have been a long and costly war. It seems that the Majestrix is now eager to resume negotiations with us after you helped us hand the Shi’ar a decisive defeat. All Xandar is in your debt and you bring great honor and acclaim upon our royal family. I bestow upon you the title of Heroine of the Xandarian Federation and proclaim a celebration to be held in your honor.”

Sylvia’s eyes glistened, holding back tears. “Thank you, Your Majesty. I would like to nominate as fellow heroes the remainder of my cohort – Cadet Tas and the Cadets who gave their lives defending Xandar – Ren, Luf, and Bem.”

Ferenus smiled at her. “It is a true sign of nobility to share the credit for one’s successes. I will honor your request. Now, I must go to attend to affairs of state; but we will speak again soon.”

Ferenus turned to leave, gesturing to Sevilica, Severus, and the Worldmind Avatar to attend him as he departed. He caught the eye of his daughter, Queen Adora, and nodded slightly. The Worldmind Avatar hesitated a moment, staring at Sylvia before turning to follow Ferenus. Proculus and his mother, Queen Adora, remained to visit with Sylvia, Ronica, and Richard.

Proculus approached the bed and took Sylvia’s hand, squeezing it with affection. “I am so proud of you. I hope you can take some time off from the Academy to come visit me at the palace.”

Sylvia was so happy to see her best friend that she fought back the pain that came with movement, raising herself in bed to hug Proculus. “I would like that.”

Adora, Queen of Corporeal Xandar, approached the head of the bed. “I’ve heard reports of what happened to you, Sylvia. Tell me the whole story from your perspective.”

 

---

King Ferenus found an empty conference room to confer privately with Severus, Sevilica, and The Worldmind Avatar. Once seated, he got right to the point. “I need to understand what happened to Sylvia today. It appears that she became a Supernova, was able to accomplish the astounding feat of controlling all that power without going mad, and then reverted back to her ‘normal’ power level. What happened? What are we dealing with? What do we do with her? The Shi’ar are accusing us of developing living weapons of mass destruction in violation of any number of treaties with The Galactic Council. The eyes of The Galactic Council are on us. This could cause a pan-galactic weapons development race. I need information and I need options.”

Sevilica and Severus exchanged looks, surprised by Ferenus’ line of questioning. Sevilica was first to speak. “Are you suggesting that Sylvia is some kind of danger to us?”

Ferenus shook his head negatively. “I suggest nothing. I am asking for information. We all know that we have been capable of creating Supernovae since shortly after we began creating Novae. We didn’t create them for a very good reason. Our initial experiments found that they were unstable and uncontrollable. While fiercely and even heroically protective of Xandar; they tended to pursue their own, often times monstrous, agenda for Xandar’s protection; ignoring the orders of their superior officers.”

Severus leaned forward. “Sylvia demonstrated no such instability and lack of control. In fact, the reports I’ve seen indicated she was in control of herself and the situation most of the time.”

Ferenus nodded affirmatively. “Granted she was in control most of the time; but she also exhibited some erratic behavior, broke her uniform’s link with the Worldmind, and used her title inappropriately to represent herself as part of the government and send threatening messages to the Majestrix. It seems clear that–.”

Sevilica interrupted. “We all know Sylvia is different. She’s a hybrid, like her father. Her father has shown a similar ability in the past on more than one occasion – becoming a Supernova for short periods of time, successfully controlling the power, and then reverting to normal. We have never determined the full extent of Richard’s powers; but we understand them better than Sylvia’s because his powers are mediated by our technology. Unlike her father, Sylvia was born naturally able to channel Nova Force. It logically follows that she would have greater control. Perhaps this Supernova transformation is a natural ability for her. Ultimately though, we admittedly understand little about her powers and abilities.”

Ferenus frowned. “Precisely my point – both Sylvia and her father are unique; but whereas Richard is a known quantity and can be controlled by our technology if absolutely necessary; Sylvia is an unknown with no current means of external control should it become necessary.”

Sevilica was starting to become defensive. “This is my daughter we’re talking about – and Richard and I have trained her since childhood to responsibly control and use her powers. I think, if anything, the restraint she exercised today can be attributed to that. I’m also getting a little uncomfortable with the direction this conversation is taking and I think Richard should be invited to join the discussion.”

Ferenus shook his head negatively as did Severus. “The Nova Prime is revered among our people and we literally owe him our lives many times over; but ultimately he is an instrument of the government – not a decision making part of the government. This is a government affair and he does not belong here at this time.”

Sevilica looked to her father for support. Lord Severus looked into Sevilica’s eyes. “I’m sorry Sevilica, but I have to agree with Ferenus. This is a government affair; and I would also point out – a royal family affair. Though Richard and I have our differences as you well know; I do respect him. He would, however, bring to these proceedings an unnecessary emotionality as well as his legendary insensitivity to the ways of the royal houses. Right now we need clarity of thought and sensitivity to politics both within our sphere of influence and outside of it.”

Sevilica was seething with anger. “I think you both once again underestimate Richard; and apparently Sylvia, and apparently me as well. After all the three of us have done for Xandar and as many times as we have risked – and in my case, given my life – you talk about Sylvia as if she’s a monster to be contained and Richard as if he’s an ignorant rube. I’ve had enough of this conversation. If you will excuse me, I need to join my heroic husband and attend to my heroic daughter’s recuperation.” Sevilica stood to exit.

Ferenus jumped to his feet and slammed his fists down on the table in rage. “Sit down! Your King commands it!” He locked eyes with her and held her in his gaze.

Shaking with anger, Sevilica slowly sat down.

Ferenus sat and calmly continued. “Do not misunderstand. We all love Sylvia and we love and revere both you and Richard as well. Sylvia is a heroine of Xandar and we will properly honor her. We merely need to understand this situation so we may appropriately respond. Now, when Richard held all the power of Xandar, the Worldmind devised a method to prevent him from becoming a Supernova and to help him exercise control. I am suggesting that we adopt a similar method with Sylvia.”

Sevilica turned her fury to the Worldmind. “I thought you had been strangely quiet through all this discussion. So, this was all your idea wasn’t it?”

The Worldmind Avatar seemed unusually distracted as if his thoughts were far away; and was thus strangely slow to respond. “It was indeed my suggestion. However, I have changed my mind based on new information.”

Ferenus did a double take, frowning in puzzlement at The Worldmind Avatar. “What? What new information?”

The Worldmind shifted uncomfortably. “Passive scans of Sylvia revealed that she is already linked to a Quantum Tesseract much like the one I inhabit and is now for all intents and purposes an entity much like myself. Modifying her uniform to build in a level of technological control over her would simply be ineffective for all practical purposes; though it may still have some political merit.”

Severus leaned forward. “You mean she is now a power equal to you?”

The Worldmind Avatar shook his head negatively. “No, I mean she is a power greater than me. She is beyond our ability to control with technology. I must agree with Duchess Sevilica Dru. Sylvia likely has the natural ability to become a Supernova and has developed internal controls through training from her parents. I suggest that we continue her training as a regular Nova Cadet and bring her up through the ranks as we would any recruit. Rather than in fear attemp

 

Nova: The Next Generation

Part Four

Of

The Shi’ar Conflict

Written By: Timelord 10.10.09

 

Chapter 4: Demi-Goddess

The rocket propelled adamantium ‘Nova Killer Round’ easily penetrated the phasic shields and tore through the chest of the lovely raven-haired Nova Cadet who had been lying in wait to surprise attack the approaching Veradinae dragons. She fell to the ground silently. The two Veradinae advance scouts converged on her body, anxious to dine on her flesh while she was still warm and freshly dead. They retracted their helmets in preparation for their meal. Her body began to writhe and shift, instantly breaking apart into two cloudy swarms of billions of tiny objects. Before the dragons could react, the nanites moved swiftly – entering the ears and noses of the Veradinae and burrowing into their brains. The dragons fell to the ground and convulsed violently for several seconds as their brains were pureed. Then they became still and moved no more. From the treetop, Sylvia smiled to herself as she ordered the nanites making up her uniform to exit the skull cavities of the slain Veradinae, clean themselves, and reform around her. It had been child’s play for her to wield her power to communicate with AI’s to order the nanites composing her uniform to morph into a facsimile of her to use as a decoy for the enemy scouts. Once the dragons had “killed” her facsimile and un-sealed their armor to dine; they were vulnerable to attack and the nanites had performed both admirably and silently. She much preferred the direct approach of a stand up fight over such guerilla warfare techniques; but she was willing to do what was necessary to give her people a fighting chance against the approaching enemy. She waited while the nanites clothed her nude body; and once her helmet formed, she quantum linked to Surfaan with one simple message. “Two enemy down. Fifteen to go. Send in the drones.” Sylvia prayed that the drones would keep the Veradinae busy long enough for Bem’s troop ship to win their own firefight with the Veradinae harrying the larger group of survivors, finish extracting the larger group of survivors, and come to the rescue of her smaller group of survivors.

Sylvia paused as the Xandarian Attack Drones, twelve small seamless silver orbs about the size of her fist, sped silently past her position, fanned out, and began their hunt for the enemy. Using her natural power to communicate with any AI, she patched into the AI controlling the drones so she could gauge enemy strengths and weaknesses as the drones attacked. She didn’t expect the drones to do much but slow the dragons down; as all advanced ground armies had developed counter-measures for drone attacks. That was why ground armies were still comprised of biologicals. AI drone systems could nullify each other and telepresence could be rendered inert via disruption of communication between operator and drone; but super-powered biologicals did not suffer the same constraints and were not so easily counter-measured. They could function independently and adapt to changing battlefield conditions – bringing guile, innovation, and un-predictability factors into the equation – the very factors that often won battles. In the final analysis, biologicals had millions of years of head start on AI’s in finding clever ways to kill each other. Biologicals were simply better at killing than AI’s.

Melding with an AI was always a strange sensation. Multi-tasking was something biologicals did not do very well; so to meld with an intelligence that multi-tasked as a matter of course was at first disconcerting. Sylvia felt overwhelmed for an instant before her mind made the adaptation from sequential information processing to simultaneous processing. Experiencing the drone attack from the point of view of the controlling AI, she was essentially in twelve different places at once – “seeing” what each of the twelve drones saw as they searched for the enemy. Quickly adjusting to this unfamiliar experience, she was able to follow the progress of the drones as they weaved through the murky swamp, using the natural terrain in addition to their stealth tech to mask their advance on the enemy.

The drones paused. The enemy had been found. Fifteen heavily armed dragons and one Veradinae drone controller android were about a mile from the survivor encampment and advancing as rapidly as the terrain allowed. Passive scans indicated that the Xandarian drones had not been detected. Sylvia attempted to penetrate the Veradinae Android’s firewall; but it was too strong for her to quickly overcome. She cursed to herself. She had hoped to render the enemy drone controller inert or even use it against the enemy. She realized that her drones would now get only one chance before the Veradinae droid took counter-measures. Sylvia and the AI concurred on the attack plan. Explosive charges were set and the drones attacked.

The Xandarian drones each picked a target. As one, they swooped down from the treetops at top speed in a surprise attack. Two drones targeted the android; and the rest targeted individual dragons. The Veradinae android reacted instantly, raising a force field and releasing ten interceptor drones. The Xandarian drones impacted against the android’s force field; exploding on contact. The Veradinae android was not harmed; but the concussion from the blast threw the dragons into momentary confusion; knocking three of those closest to the android off their feet. The Xandarian drones moved to capitalize on the enemy’s confusion; diving toward those most vulnerable to attack. The Veradinae interceptors did their job, intercepting and destroying most of the Xandarian attack drones; but two Xandarian drones managed to evade the interceptors and impact against two of the dragons who were thrown from their feet by the initial attack’s blast. The resulting explosions took one dragon’s head off and the other dragon’s leg off.

Sylvia was pleased. Xandar had been lucky. The drones had inflicted more damage than she had expected they would. She had one last immediate range glimpse of the enemy before her last drone was destroyed by an interceptor. She saw the commanding dragon walk over to the dragon that lay injured from loss of its leg and shoot it in the head.

Sylvia used her powers to conduct a long range scan in order to assess the enemy’s incurred damage. She was pleased to learn that the enemy had been slowed and was now having to take time to re-group. She quickly flew back to the survivor encampment to prepare to engage the Veradinae.

Arriving back at the encampment in seconds, she was greeted by Surfaan Ren. Ren had divided the encampment into defense zones and fortified each zone the best he could with the available men and material. The Star Corps regulars were ready. Surfaan would command the ground troops; and Sylvia would harass the enemy from the air.

They didn’t have long to wait. Within minutes of her arrival, Sylvia’s HUD flashed a proximity warning. The enemy was closing. Sylvia took flight, activating her uniform’s camouflage function, becoming invisible against the pale blue sky of the planet. Surfaan had prepared one last surprise for the enemy and it would be her cue to attack.

The Veradinae marched straight for the encampment. They were positioned in a ragged semi-circle, obviously intending to simply overwhelm the encampment with superior numbers and firepower. The Veradinae droid sent attack drones in to soften defenses; but Xandar’s droid sent interceptor drones and stalemated the attack. As the enemy entered the Xandarian outer perimeter; Surfaan activated the anti-personnel mines he had placed, watching with satisfaction as the explosions and adamantium shrapnel killed two enemy troops and caused the enemy line to waver.

Capitalizing on the wavering enemy line, Surfaan ordered the Xandarians to open fire; and the troops laid down a withering assault of plasma charges and projectiles. From the air, Sylvia dove in for a strafing run against the enemy line; firing furious volleys of gravimetric pulses from her eyes and both hands. She sighted her primary target and rushed in for the kill; smashing through the Veradinae android’s force field and then through the android itself, tearing it apart and rendering its drones useless. As the inert Veradinae drones fell from the sky, the remaining Xandarian drones were freed from their aerial dogfights with the Veradinae drones. Xandar’s drones dove from the sky to attack the enemy; and several dragons fell to explosions from drone impacts.

Though suffering heavy losses, the Veradinae were nothing if not tenacious. The remaining eight dragons regrouped under the leadership of their commander and made a concerted push against the Xandarian line. Concentrating fire from their hand held and armor mounted weapons; the Veradinae were able to overwhelm the Xandarian force field defenses, battering them down.

As the Veradinae grouped to rush the Xandarian line; Sylvia flew into their midst, generating a powerful radiative aura gravimetric pulse. The armor of the three dragons nearest her absorbed the greatest part of the concussion; killing the dragons instantly. Most of the rest of the dragons were knocked off their feet; but their commander managed to maintain his footing and rushed Sylvia with his claws extended, intending to rend her apart. Sylvia had learned from her earlier fight with an actual dragon to stay clear of dragons’ biomantium-coated claws; so she twisted and dodged the dragon’s attack, firing gravimetric pulses from her hands into its back as she took flight. The dragon twisted to avoid the pulses hitting its power packs and its armor-mounted plasma cannon fired at Sylvia. The plasma bolt bounced off Sylvia’s shields, but disrupted her flight function, causing her to tumble to the ground.

Momentarily stunned from the impact with the ground, a dragon rushed Sylvia and she barely recovered in time to twist away from a vicious swipe of its claws. Another dragon rushed at her; and she fired a gravimetric pulse into its chest as she took flight; knocking the dragon into the line of fire from one of the Xandarian defense zones. The dragon was caught in the concentrated fire and suffered several penetrating wounds from adamantium projectiles as Sylvia’s gravimetric pulse had weakened its armor’s force field. Before Sylvia could gain altitude, the Veradinae Commander leaped into the air, caught her by her ankles, and slammed her head into the ground.

Fighting to retain consciousness, Sylvia groggily twisted in his grasp attempting to activate her flight function and escape. Flexing his muscles, he slammed her into the ground again; causing her to lose consciousness for a moment.

Sylvia awoke to a familiar voice shouting, “Let go of her mother farker!” as Surfaan Ren flew to her rescue; firing short bursts of adamantium projectiles into the Veradinae Commander’s armor at point blank range so as to avoid hitting Sylvia with any stray pellets. The Veradinae Commander roared in pain as several projectiles penetrated its armor. It turned loose of Sylvia to attack Surfaan as Surfaan had strayed way too close to the dragon in his attempt to distract it before it killed Sylvia.

The realization that Surfaan had only seconds to live snapped Sylvia back into full consciousness and she viciously kicked the dragon’s leg, buckling his armor and causing him to sink to his knees roaring in pain. Gritting her teeth and rapidly struggling to her feet, Sylvia built up a gravimetric pulse in her right hand and with all her might struck the dragon commander in the head at the same time as she fired the pulse. Screaming in rage as her gravimetric enhanced punch penetrated the dragon’s helmet armor; she felt the dragon’s head explode before its decapitated body fell limply to the ground.

Sylvia twisted to avoid the shots fired at her by another dragon and took flight behind Surfaan, placing herself between him and the remaining dragons so her more powerful shields could defend him from their weapons fire.

Sylvia’s HUD flashed a warning that she was being scanned by a Xandarian Identify Friend or Foe (IFF) device and she looked up to see Bem’s troop ship sliding into place over the Xandarian encampment.

The ship’s plasma cannons and 50 caliber adamantium projectile weapons opened up against the few remaining dragons, causing them to scramble for cover as they returned fire. A hatch from the bottom of the ship opened and waves of Nova Cadets rapidly descended to the ground. Each Nova Cadet scooped up a Star Corps Regular and ascended to the ship as other Nova Cadets provided covering fire.

Sylvia and Surfaan provided covering fire and were the last to board the troop ship. The hatch snapped shut behind them and the ship rapidly ascended through the atmosphere into space, entering a stargate to the Orienta Shard as soon as it achieved minimum safe distance from the gravity well of the planet.

As the Nova Cadets tended to the wounded and stowed their combat and rescue gear, Sylvia caught sight of Surfaan placing his rifle in a weapons locker. She walked over to him and he turned to her with a smile of delight on his face.

Sylvia returned his smile. “Thanks for saving my ass out there.”

He raised his eyebrows and made a great show of craning his neck to examine her ass. “How could I let such a cute ass go to waste? Besides, I do like a screamer – more so in the bedroom than on the battlefield though.”

They shared a laugh; but were interrupted by a shout of “Commander on deck!”

Nothing if not efficient, Bem arrived with several clerk droids to begin debriefing. The cadets scrambled into formation and prepared to provide reports. The ride back to Orienta was going to be filled with official Corps business.

 

---

Surfaan finished his report to the clerk droid and headed to the mess hall of the ship. As he approached the door to the mess hall, it snapped open and out stepped Kritana Tas.

Unable to avoid the encounter, Surfaan sheepishly smiled at her in greeting. “Hi Kritana.”

Kritana’s eyes narrowed as she looked at him. “Fark you Surfaan.” She brushed past him.

His face red with exasperation and embarrassment, Surfaan said to her receding back, “Come on Tana! You can’t still be mad at me.”

In response, Kritana simply made an obscene gesture over her shoulder without turning back around.

“Oh nice! Very mature! Talk to me?” he said with no real expectation that she would.

Surprisingly, she stopped and turned around. Walking up to him, she placed her fists on her hips and with arms akimbo angrily got right in his face. “Talk to you? I’ll talk to you. What do you have to say?”

Caught off guard, Surfaan’s mind blanked and he could only blurt out a feeble, “I’m sorry.”

That was not what Kritana wanted to hear. She huffed. “That’s it? That’s the best you’ve got? Why did I waste my time?” Shaking her head in irritation and disgust, she turned to depart; then changed her mind and turned back to him. “You know – when you decided you wanted to fark that little Rigellian First Year Cadet, all you had to do was tell me. It’s not like I’m possessive or jealous or have ever demanded exclusivity. I thought she was cute too and I might even have joined in if she’d been interested. All I ever asked was that you never lie to me. I thought that we had agreed on that much.”

He shook his head affirmatively. “I know and I was wrong to lie about farking her. I farked up. I’m sorry. Can’t we just put this behind us and be friends again?”

 

Kritana shook her head negatively. “I have to be able to trust my friends to tell me the truth. That’s obviously beyond your capabilities.” She turned her back and walked away.

Surfaan watched her go, cursing himself once again for farking up the good thing he had had with one of the most gorgeous, sexy, and capable women he had ever known. He turned to enter the mess hall. The door snapped open and he saw several cadets milling about the food and drink synthesizers. He spied Sylvia extracting a drink from a synthesizer portal and waved to get her attention. She smiled in response and he took that as an invitation to approach her.

He decided to try confident humor. “Now that we’ve openly admired each other’s asses and established that we’re both screamers, I was hoping we could get some private time together to get even better acquainted. Care to share a shower?”

She laughed. “Subtlety is not your strong point.”

He shrugged. “What can I say? I believe in making my intentions known.”

She suppressed a smile. “Oh, by reputation I knew your intentions before I ever met you. My mother warned me about men like you.”

He looked deeply into her eyes. “Your mother sounds like a wise woman. We’ll name our first child after her.”

Sylvia raised her eyebrows. “My-my-my, the rumors about your large ego are true after all.”

He grinned. “I’d love to show you which large rumors about me are true.”

She laughed. “No doubt you would.”

He decided the time was right to make his pitch. “So let me. After this mission, we all get a week’s liberty. Let’s go out tonight.”

She looked away for a moment as if seriously considering his offer. “Would that I could. I’ve already made plans to celebrate with a friend tonight; and I leave for Nu-Xandar on the first shuttle out in the morning.”

He decided to go for broke. “Well, how about if I meet you somewhere before or after your date with your friend?”

She shook her head negatively. “You are a persistent one aren’t you?”

He grinned. “I’ve been called worse.”

“I know” she deadpanned.

He laughed. “Come on – we both know you want to give me a chance.”

She hesitated – then relented. “I really do have plans tonight and my date will be an all nighter – but I’ll be at The Paradise for awhile. Maybe I’ll see you there.”

Surfaan was mentally shouting ‘Victorie;’ but his verbal reply was calm and confident. “You will definitely see me there Sylvia Rider-Dru.”

The General Quarters klaxon sounded and with a last smile at each other, Sylvia, Surfaan, and the remainder of the cadets scrambled to prepare for arrival on the Orienta Shard.
 

 

---

“I’m telling you that you’re wasting your time Surfaan.” Owan Luf downed his synthahol shot and ordered another. The droid bartender complied and Owan stared morosely at the drink. “Listen to me. Nobody knows more about disappointment than me. There are plenty of women here who’d love to spend the night with you. Better pick up one of them. The one you’re waiting for is a royal – as far out of your league as I’m out of Kritana’s league.”

Surfaan rolled his eyes. Owan was a nice guy; but Owan could be such a wet blanket – especially when he drank. “And I’m telling you that I’m on to something here. She wants me. I know it. Nobody knows more about women than me.”

Owan downed his drink and ordered another. “You’ll see.”

Surfaan smirked. “Yeah right.”

The Paradise was Orienta City’s oldest, largest, most popular pleasure club. It was nearly full to capacity tonight with cadets celebrating the first liberty of the year. The music was loud, the dance floor was full, drinks and vapors were flowing, and the sex rooms lining the perimeter of the first several stories of the building had long waiting lists. The sex rooms were opaque at times and totally transparent at other times. They became transparent when they were randomly and intermittently illuminated for club patrons to observe the activities taking place within – pandering to the exhibitionistic and/or voyeuristic traits just below the surface in nearly everyone’s personality.

Surfaan was worried that he might miss Sylvia in the crowd, so he placed himself at the Center Bar where he could scan the new arrivals at the entrance. The entrance, some forty feet away, was lined with a canopy of Halthri Trees – the last of the line still alive from pre-cataclysm Xandar. Halthri trees contained natural illuminants, their branches lit with thousands of points of light to attract the insects that pollinated them. They were truly a natural wonder whose beauty was beyond compare. He looked at the tree tops stretching all the way to the skylights at the top of the building.

So distracted, Surfaan almost missed Sylvia’s arrival. As his gaze drifted back to the entrance, he stood transfixed as he beheld her. Dressed in a simple skin-tight white mini-dress that emphasized every lovely curve of her perfect body, she was the very picture of a goddess. The light from the Halthri’s refracted off her dress, seeming to make it glow of its own accord. Her high-heeled white shoes and white dress perfectly contrasted with her lovely raven hair, dark eyes, and lightly tanned body. She scanned the crowd as if looking for someone.

Surfaan elbowed Owan. “See Owan – she’s looking for me. Observe and learn.” Surfaan took a step in her direction.

He stopped short in stunned silence when he saw Kritana Tas rush up to Sylvia and greet her with a long passionate kiss. Arm-in-arm, the two lovely women descended to the dance floor.

Surfaan turned to look at Owan.

Owan finished his drink and ordered another. “Told you so. They’re the two hottest women in the academy. Of course they’d end up with each other. In fact, they’ve been seeing each other for weeks now – ever since Tana dumped you.” Owan downed his last shot of synthahol and did not order another. “D’ast. I hoped I’d have a chance at Kritana once she dumped you.” With one last longing look at Kritana, Owan got shakily to his feet. “I’m out of here. Not going to torture myself about Kritana any more. My shuttle leaves for Nu-Xandar first thing in the morning. I better get back to the Crista and sleep this off.” Obviously tipsy from drowning his sorrow in synthahol; he staggered toward the exit, weaving through the throngs of celebrating people.

Surfaan scanned the dance floor. Kritana and Sylvia were dirty dancing – obviously in heat for each other. In fact, they couldn’t keep their eyes or their hands off of each other. Surfaan leaned his back against the bar, ordering a vial of endorph-vapor and a shot of synthahol.

While waiting for his drink and his inhalant, he indulged some prurient fantasies about the lovely young ladies. “Ah – the possibilities” he whispered to himself. When his inhalant and his synthahol arrived, he popped the lid off the vapor vial, held it to his nose, and inhaled deeply. He downed the shot just as the music ceased. Before the next song started, Kritana whispered something in Sylvia’s ear. Sylvia shook her head affirmatively and they parted ways after a quick kiss. Sylvia weaved her way through the crowd and eased up to the Center Bar; taking a seat about ten feet away from Surfaan. She hadn’t noticed him yet. Surfaan realized that it was “now or never” time. He sidled up to her. “Well hello Cadet Dru. Fancy seeing you here in this den of iniquity.”

Sylvia touched her chest and batted her eyes in mock surprise. “Why Cadet Ren – what a surprise.”

He cocked his head. “Buy you a drink?” Without waiting for a reply, he motioned for two shots of synthahol.

“Trying to ply me with synthahol are you?” she teased.

“But of course – and would you care for a vapor too?” Without waiting for a reply, he motioned for two vapors. “So where’d Kritana go?” He asked casually, hoping that the answer would be ‘far away.’

“To get a room” Sylvia replied matter-of-factly as she picked up the shot of synthahol placed in front of her by the bartender. She lifted the glass in salute. “Our body counts were higher than anyone else’s today. So, to you and me – the two best d’ast cadets on the battlefield.” She clinked her glass against his.

He was delighted by her praise and her seeming receptivity to him. “I’ll drink to that.” They downed their shots simultaneously and he motioned for two more shots just as the vapor vials arrived. He handed one vial to Sylvia. They popped off the lids to the vapors and inhaled them.

The shots arrived and Surfaan motioned for two more – double strength. He made eye contact with Sylvia. “So you’re seeing Kritana. Now I know where you heard all the rumors about me.” He handed a drink to her.

Sylvia accepted the drink and downed it before teasingly replying, “It seems that your loss was my gain.”

Surfaan was dismayed as he saw his prospects for spending the night with Sylvia rapidly diminishing. Before he could reply, he nearly spilled his drink as Kritana brushed past him to stand between him and Sylvia.

Shooting Surfaan an angry glare, Kritana muttered, “These places will let any kind of sleaze in won’t they?”

“It’s always such a pleasure when I run into you unexpectedly.” Surfaan raised his drink to Kritana in salute before downing it.

Kritana ignored the sarcasm and turned to Sylvia. “Is he hitting on you? Tell me if he’s hitting on you. I’d love an excuse to kick his ass.”

Sylvia was a little tipsy from the drinks and vapors. She stroked Kritana’s hair. “It’s all right sweetie. We were just talking.”

With a sideways glance at Surfaan, Kritana moved closer to Sylvia and gave her a long, passionate kiss – slowly moving her hand up the inside of Sylvia’s thigh until it disappeared under Sylvia’s dress. Sylvia breathed deeply and arched her back as she moaned in pleasure and pulled Kritana closer, deeply kissing her.

The two double-shots arrived before Kritana and Sylvia finished their kiss. Surfaan drank one and reached for the other. He needed the drink to help him cope with the strange blend of jealousy, envy, and arousal he was feeling.

Kritana pulled back from the kiss. “Come on Syl. I called in some favors to get us to the top of the waiting list. Our room is ready.” Kritana pulled Sylvia away from the bar and they headed for a row of transparent rooms. Sylvia waved goodbye to Surfaan as Kritana rapidly dragged her through the crowd in an attempt to get her away from Surfaan as quickly as possible.

Surfaan was not so easily dissuaded. In fact, Kritana’s attitude had stirred his competitive spirit. He caught up to them when their progress was slowed by the crowd of people in the club. “You know Sylvia; I think I’m on the same shuttle as you in the morning. Would you save me a seat next to you? We can make arrangements to get together while we’re both on Nu-Xandar.”

Kritana huffed in irritation. “Go away Surfaan. She’s not interested in you.”

Surfaan was not ready to give up. “So you say – but let’s let Sylvia speak for herself.”

Before Sylvia could reply, Kritana hustled her into a room and slammed the door in Surfaan’s face.

“D’ast!” Surfaan was frustrated as he turned to retreat to the Center Bar. He stopped short as he felt someone grab him by the collar and pull him back. Turning, he found himself face-to-face with Kritana Tas.

Kritana glared at him. “She wants a toy and you’re the closest thing to an AI dildo I can find on short notice.”

Surfaan glanced over Kritana’s shoulder to see Sylvia sitting on the bed. Sylvia let her eyes drift below Surfaan’s waist before making eye contact with him and smiling coyly.

Surfaan grinned at Sylvia before making eye contact with Kritana. “Happy to be of service ma’am.”

Kritana rolled her eyes as she grabbed his arm and pulled him into the room. “Just shut up and take off your clothes.”

 

---

Sylvia stared at the ceiling of the room in The Paradise Pleasure Club – bored, irritated, restless, unable to sleep – an intolerable situation made all the more annoying by Cadet Surfaan Ren’s soft snoring as he lay next to her fast asleep. Kritana Tas was snuggled up to Ren on his other side; her head resting on his chest as she also soundly slept. Though Sylvia required less and less sleep as her powers developed; the world was made for those who did require sleep, so she often found herself all powered up with no place to go. The Overmind had explained to her that someday she would no longer sleep at all. She looked upon the arrival of that day with abject dread.

Sylvia briefly considered dropping in on The Overmind; but quickly quashed the idea. She was not in the mood to tolerate his typical condescending attitude; but more importantly, she was still angry with him. She sighed and turned onto her side, watching Ren as he slept. She liked him. He was a handsome young man full of dreams and possessing a lean, muscular figure, curly brown hair and hazel eyes. He was about two years older than her and about a year older than Kritana. He was a fine soldier – brave and bold – and on a personal note – a very skilled lover. She understood why Kritana liked him. Ren was the perfect complement to Kritana’s seriousness and ambitiousness. He made her loosen up, relax, and laugh. Sylvia smiled, satisfied that Kritana had finally forgiven Ren’s transgression. All it took was a little talk and a lot of sex. Kritana stirred and snuggled closer to Ren before instantly falling back to sleep. Kritana was among the best Xandar’s armed forces had to offer – smart, capable, tough, serious – and on a personal note, strikingly beautiful, incredibly sexy, and a passionate lover. Sylvia considered herself lucky to have had the pleasure of spending such an enjoyable night with two of the Corp’s finest Cadets.

They had all gotten to know each other better during rest periods from farking. After Kritana had finally forgiven Ren; they had all discussed possibly forming a steady triad relationship. Sylvia was warming to the thought of a steady relationship with them. She smiled in satisfaction as she recalled their evening together. Over the course of the evening they had farked in every conceivable three-way combination – some of which would have been impossible without their powers to manipulate gravity. It was some of the best, most satisfying sex Sylvia had ever had. She was impressed with Ren and Tas. Apparently other club patrons had been impressed as well – as the audience outside their room had grown with every illumination. Sylvia realized that the royal family would be displeased with such a public display if they ever found out; but what happened in pleasure clubs stayed in pleasure clubs – so they would likely never know. Besides, Sylvia and her friends were young and teeming with super power. Super-powered individuals had super-powerful sex drives. That was generally understood. But even super-powered individuals had their limits; and after several hours of farking, Surfaan and Kritana literally collapsed in exhaustion. Sylvia laughed quietly to herself when she realized that the hint of a sexually satiated smile still graced Ren’s sleeping face.

The Red Alert Klaxon sounded unexpectedly, jarring Sylvia out of her private amusement; and both Ren and Tas out of their post-coital slumber. They all made eye contact for a second, realizing what this alert likely signified – diplomacy had failed and Xandar was now in a shooting war with the Shi’Ar. With a thought, their uniforms appeared around them and they flew from the room through the ceiling exit and into the sky; joining the rest of the thousands of scrambling cadets rushing to the Nova Crista’s assembly area.

Arriving at the assembly area, the cadets quickly organized into formal columns and reported their presence and readiness for duty to Worldmind tactical. The Commandant of the Academy, Alistan Nix, approached the podium overlooking the assembly area and motioned for silence. “We have been ordered to full alert status as we are now at war with the Shi’Ar Imperium. The Shi’Ar and Xandarian Federation fleets are preparing to engage. A strike against our homeworld is considered likely. The Orienta Shard has been ordered to adopt a defensive position within a tesseract. All cadet classes have been promoted to active duty status to assist the Xandarian Planetary Guard in defense of Nu-Xandar. Stand by to receive your orders from Worldmind tactical. When your orders are received, you are to depart for the indicated duty station immediately. Dismissed.”

Sylvia’s HUD indicated that she was again assigned to a unit under command of Third Year Cadet, Ensicus Bem. Bem’s unit had been assigned to help defend one of the asteroid-based command centers for the Automated Defensive Field surrounding Nu-Xandar. Sylvia’s orders were to report to Troop Ship #347 departing from Landing Field #4 in five minutes. She hurriedly flew to the landing field, arriving at the same time as Surfaan Ren, Owan Luf, and Kritana Tas. Bem hustled the cadets aboard and the ship immediately took flight along with the thousands of other ships and tens of thousands of Corpsmen streaming off the Orienta Shard to report to their duty stations. The troop ship quickly cleared the dome and headed into space. Sylvia looked back upon her beloved Orienta City, watching as the last of the ships and troops cleared the dome; and the Orienta Shard, last surviving legacy of old Xandar, shimmered and disappeared into a pocket dimension as a failsafe against another genocidal attack against Xandar. With the Worldmind and cloning facilities on the Orienta Shard safe from all attack; Xandar could never fall again. She turned her HUD’s attention to Nu-Xandar. Thanks to Adanacian tech, Nu-Xandar too could enter a pocket dimension; and certainly would if the automated defenses surrounding her were ever breeched. She could see the Star Corps Planetary Guard ships deploying from the Torus and the Nova Centurion support troops taking up defensive positions. Looking forward, she could see her ship rapidly approaching one of the Command and Control asteroids placed in Libration Points within the field of automated defensive satellites surrounding Nu-Xandar and The Orienta Shard. The Automated Defense Field was a network of cloaked mines and robotic attack drones deployed in a spherical arrangement orbiting Nu-Xandar. Outside the plane of the ecliptic, the ADF was composed of nothing but self-replicating stationary mines. Along the plane of the ecliptic, the ADF was composed of mobile attack drones which could be ordered to attack or allow passage of any ship approaching Nu-Xandar. The Command and Control Center Asteroids controlled space traffic approaching and departing from Nu-Xandar; and had total control of the ADF. Calling up her HUD and patching into Worldmind tactical, Sylvia could see the Xandarian 6^th and 8^th Fleets deploying outside the ADF. She requested the position of her father’s flagship, The Aurora, and found that her father was with the Xandarian Federation’s First Fleet in the area of space under dispute between Xandar and Shi’Ar, some 10,000 light years from Nu-Xandar. Tactical indicated that the Fourth and Ninth Federation Fleets were on their way to rendezvous with the First Fleet; but that Xandar and her allies were still outnumbered by the approaching Shi’Ar Fleet.

The troop transport ship touched down on the landing pad of the C&C Asteroid and was immediately lowered into the asteroid’s hangar bay. The cadets hurriedly disembarked, anxious to meet the base commander and report to their duty station in one of the gun turrets. As they approached the security doors, they were automatically identity scanned and granted entrance. Hurrying down the corridors bustling with Starcorps regulars rushing to duty stations; they finally arrived at the bridge of the C & C. A grizzled, gray-haired old warrior, Commander Harvan Soth, was busy issuing orders and did not immediately notice the arrival of the Cadets; leaving them standing silently at attention for several long minutes. Finally, he turned his attention to the cadets; approaching Bem.

The cadets saluted as Commander Soth approached them. Returning their salute, he got right to business. “Millennian Bem. You will report to Gun Turret #4 and your cohort will provide all necessary aid and assistance to the gunnery crew there under command of Lieutenant Johaan. Any questions?”

Bem shook his head negatively. “No Sir.”

“Good. Dismissed.” Soth turned to leave just as the overhead lights flashed red and the emergency Klaxon sounded.

A Lieutenant shouted to Soth. “Sir! Multiple stargates forming outside the ADF! Our fleet and our Centurions are engaging incoming Shi’Ar ships.” Scanning a data screen, the Lieutenant jumped to his feet. “Sir! Multiple attempts to pierce our teleportation dampening field are being recorded. We are compensating.”

Soth looked concerned. “Lock down this facility! All crew to action stations! Internal security prepare to repel intruders! Centurion detachment to the surface to repel any enemy materializing outside the dampening field! Communications – message to The Torus. The ADF is under attack and a breach is possible. We are beginning countermeasures.”

Sylvia watched as the heavy security doors slammed shut; securing the C & C. Glancing at a tactical screen picturing Nu-Xandar, she saw The Torus, that wonderful combination of Xandarian and Adanacian tech that made life on Nu-Xandar possible, begin to glow with unimaginable power. Nu-Xandar shimmered and disappeared into a pocket dimension. Sylvia breathed a sigh of relief. At least her mother was now safe; though if she knew her mother, Sevilica was probably having difficulty restraining herself from leaving her governmental duties and joining the Centurions defending Nu-Xandar.

Soth glanced at Bem. “Change in orders Bem. Your squad will assume guard duty of the C & C. Arm yourselves and take up positions.”

Bem nodded to the cadets and they rushed to a weapons locker; each grabbing a plasma rifle, a projectile side arm, and an adamantium-bladed knife. Sylvia reluctantly armed herself along with the others. She had no real need of arms as she already possessed Centurion level powers; having been born naturally able to wield Nova Force. Her friends Ren, Tas, and Luf had only the cadet-level Nova powers of flight, slightly augmented strength, and partial invulnerability granted by their newly upgraded Nova Matrices. Bem had the Millennian level powers of energy absorption and projection granted upon entrance into the third and final year of the academy. Bem assigned the cadets guard duty over the security doors leading into the C & C.

The Lieutenant was again on his feet shouting to Soth. “Sir! The teleport signals are overwhelming the dampening field! Enemy troops have materialized near the surface. Our Centurions are engaging.” C & C tactical screens flashed with images of Centurions clashing with Shi’Ar armored troops and Imperial Guardsmen. “Sir, multiple contacts power diving toward the surface of the asteroid!”

The asteroid shook from a massive impact; and the ceiling burst as multiple super-powered beings invaded the C & C. When the dust cleared, Sylvia could see that the Shi’Ar Imperial Guard, led by Gladiatrix, had arrived. The Xandarians were quick to react. Soth drew his side arm and began to empty the clip into the chest of Galdiatrix. Purple-skinned, purple-clothed, lean, strong, and sporting the Mohawk hairstyle of her father; Gladiatrix smiled cruelly as she grabbed the still firing Soth by the neck and lifted him off the ground. Shrugging off his adamantium bullets; she snapped his neck and disdainfully threw his body to the ground. Bem and Luf flew at Gladiatrix, furiously firing plasma rifles; as Tas, Ren, and the Starcorps Regulars in the C & C all engaged other Imperial Guardsmen.

Sylvia threw down her rifle and fired a gravimetric pulse at the nearest Shi’Ar Guardsman, Smasher, vaporizing him from the waist up. Determined to prevent the Shi’Ar from disabling the ADF by taking control of the C & C; Sylvia flew toward the next Imperial Guardsman; firing gravimetric pulses furiously. She had studied the Imperial Guard at the academy and recognized this one as Diprin, an energy manipulator who easily shrugged off the blasts. As Sylvia closed on Diprin; Diprin spun and lashed out with her adamantium claws, just as Sylvia expected she would. Sylvia easily dodged the attack; flipped over Diprin, and put her fist through the back of Diprin’s head; killing Diprin instantly.

Sylvia had no time to gloat over her second kill as she was struck from behind by Velociti-raptor, the lizard-like speedster of the Imperial Guard. The strike did not penetrate her phasic shields but it did knock her off balance and into the energy matrix trap of Imperial Guardsmen Grelan. Sylvia absorbed the energy matrix as Grelan attempted to constrict it and slice her into cubes; firing the absorbed energy back at Grelan and knocking him off balance before he could construct another energy form to attack her. Her enhanced senses indicated Velociti-raptor was speeding toward her for another attack. She sidestepped his attack while drawing her adamantium knife and slashing savagely. Velociti-raptors body slammed into a wall and writhed on the ground. His severed head rolled across the floor, stopping at her feet; his eyes wide with terror as his mouth moved in silent screams at approaching death before finally becoming still. Sylvia took flight and flipped to avoid the slash of the energy sword the now recovered Grelan had directed toward her in an attempt to decapitate her in revenge for the killing of Velociti-raptor. She easily evaded the sword, fired a gravimetric pulse at him to distract him; and with all her might threw her adamantium knife, burying it in Grelan’s left eye to the hilt. Grelan silently keeled over, falling to the ground instantly dead.

Sylvia wheeled around in time to see Gladiatrix kill Luf by tearing him in half. Bem already lay dead on the floor beneath the feet of Gladiatrix, having been torn limb from limb. Sylvia and Gladiatrix locked eyes for a moment; each taking the measure of the other. Breaking the pause simultaneously, they rushed together; both intent on killing the other.

“Sylvia!” yelled Ren, flying between the combatants in an attempt to protect Sylvia with a clumsy attack on Gladiatrix.

Gladiatrix put her fist through Ren’s chest; splattering blood and gore upon Sylvia. Ren’s head fell back as Gladiatrix extracted her fist; and he briefly made eye contact with Sylvia as the light left his eyes and he fell to the ground.

Sylvia screamed in blinding rage and grief; firing her most powerful gravimetric pulse into Gladiatrix; stunning Gladiatrix and blasting her several miles into the rock of the asteroid. Sylvia was also stunned at the level of power she had just wielded. The battle had stopped as all combatants were staring up at her in stunned silence – staring UP at her as she had grown to eight feet tall and was glowing white hot with power. Energy arced from her eyes and across her body. She found it hard to think, her mind clouded with rage and consumed with hatred for Xandar’s enemies. She had become a Supernova – a vengeful demi-goddess intent on slaying Xandar’s enemies.

“My gods Syl, what’s happened to you?” said a distracted Kritana Tas. One of the Imperial Guardsmen, Mentat, sought to take advantage of Tas’ lapse of concentration on the battle and made to deliver a killing blow. Before he could strike, Sylvia bound him with rings of gravimetric nodes; shackling his ankles together and shackling his arms to his waist. She smiled cruelly as she ordered the nodes to contract. Mentat screamed briefly as the contracting rings trisected him. The remaining four Imperial Guardsmen turned from the Star Corps regulars they had been engaging to regard Sylvia.

Grinning broadly now, energy coursing across her body, mind filled with nothing but the bloodlust of a berserk warrior; Sylvia issued her challenge. “What’re you waiting for you Shi’Ar purries? Trying to decide which one of you wants to die next?”

The Imperial Guardsmen began to spread out in an attempt to surround her. Lasher moved to Sylvia’s left, charging her energy whip. Killbird took flight, hefting her cosmically powered mace. Fightmaster moved to Sylvia’s right with the dangerous grace of the galaxy class hand-to-hand combatant that he was. The weapons specialist, Quartermaster, moved to attack Sylvia from the rear; ramming a new clip of ‘Nova Killer Rounds’ into his projectile weapon. The surviving Xandarian Starcorps regulars and Nova Cadet Tas took the opportunity to re-group, re-arm, and lock down the C & C’s computers to keep the Shi’Ar from fulfilling their mission of commandeering the C & C to disable the ADF.

Quartermaster fired before Sylvia could dodge. To her surprise, her new larger body was going to take some getting used to as she now had to recalibrate her kinesthetic sense in regard to where her body was in space, how big it now was, and how fast she could move it. The adamantium slugs would have easily pierced the phasic shields and body armor she started the day with; but her new, more powerful shields were more resistant and the slugs merely glanced off. She was, however, knocked off balance by the impact of the slugs; and her unfamiliarity with her new body caused some coordination problems which left her open to attack from Lasher’s energy whip.

The whip wrapped around Sylvia’s torso, pinning her arms to her sides and delivering a jarring shock; as at the same time at point blank range Quartermaster unloaded a clip of slugs into Sylvia’s helmet. Sylvia reeled from the attacks; but as she was quickly becoming accustomed to her new body and as she was driven by berserker rage; she shrugged off the pain and focused on killing her enemies. Sylvia focused twin eye beams onto the whip, sending a massive jolt of energy into it. The feedback traveled up the lash and into Lasher; blowing Lasher’s right arm off at the shoulder. Flexing her muscles, Sylvia broke the whip pinning her arms to her sides and swatted the still firing Quartermaster into the wall, stunning him.

Sylvia ducked to avoid the swing of Killbird’s cosmically powered mace; but stepped directly into the path of Fightmaster’s kick to the torso. Stunned, she stumbled and was immediately struck by Killbird’s mace. Sylvia felt the cosmic power penetrate her shields and burn her flesh, sapping her power. She knew she couldn’t afford to take another such strike. Dodging and taking flight, she blasted Killbird with a collimated gravimetric pulse, flipped, and kicked Fightmaster in the head, stunning him.

Lasher was bleeding profusely from the site where her right arm had been separated from her shoulder; but had recovered enough to materialize a second whip and was wielding it with her left hand. Sylvia’s enhanced senses warned her that Quartermaster had recovered and was preparing to fire. Sylvia took flight just as Quartermaster fired, and the slug meant for Sylvia instead tore through Lasher’s chest, killing Lasher instantly. Quartermaster was momentarily paralyzed by the realization that he had just killed his teammate. His paralysis cost him dearly as Nova Corp Cadet Kritana Tas flew from behind a computer panel where she had taken cover and fired her projectile weapon point blank into Quartermaster’s head, splattering his brain onto the ceiling of the C & C. Kritana then flipped to avoid a vicious punch from Fightmaster and fired at Killbird before again ducking behind a console for cover where she continued to lay down covering fire against the Imperial Guardsmen.

Killbird dodged Kritana’s shots, but too late realized that her dodges had placed her within reach of Sylvia. Sylvia caught Killbird in a headlock and quickly snapped Killbird’s neck.

Fightmaster and Sylvia locked eyes from across the room. Fightmaster prepared to attack Sylvia, demonstrating his prowess by adopting several attack positions, taunting Sylvia as he invited her to prepare to defend herself. Sylvia sneered cruelly as she fired twin eye beams into Fightmasters forehead and watched him crumple to the ground instantly dead.

The remaining Xandarians were frozen in place, staring at Sylvia. All knew that Supernovas were obsessively devoted to the protection of Xandar; but they also knew that Supernovas were paranoid, murderously psychotic, and dangerously unpredictable.

The Avatar of the Worldmind appeared on Sylvia’s HUD. “Cadet Sylvia Rider-Dru. It is critical that–..”

Sylvia broke the link, silencing him; having no time for his prattling. There were enemies of Xandar to destroy. It was so hard to think. She knew there had been another enemy; but what had happened to it? She saw a familiar figure and turned to Kritana Tas demanding, “Where is the other one? Where is the one called Gladiatrix?”

Eyes wide, Kritana pointed down the tunnel bored by the gravimetric pulse Sylvia had directed at Gladiatrix. Sylvia turned to the tunnel and sensed an object approaching at hypersonic velocity. Before she could react, she was struck in the midsection and driven several miles through the rock to the surface of the asteroid and out into open space; emerging into the thick of battle between the Xandarian Centurions and the Shi’Ar Imperial Guardsmen.

The pain of having been essentially used as a drill bit through the nickel-iron asteroid had inadvertently helped Sylvia’s brain become accustomed to her new larger body. The pain had also cleared her mind of psychotic process and rage; and she was now able to focus. She remembered her mother’s advice about pushing all else aside but the battle; and by force of will, cleared her mind of all thoughts but those of combat. Quickly assessing her whereabouts, she could see combat raging all around her as Nova Corpsmen engaged Imperial Guardsmen and Shi’Ar regular troops. She could not risk cutting loose with full power against Gladiatrix for fear of endangering her own comrades in arms.

Gladiatrix gave Sylvia no time to recover; delivering blow after powerful blow, attempting to pierce Sylvia’s phasic shielding so she could deliver the killing stroke. Sylvia dodged Gladiatrix’s next punch and delivered a massive punch to Gladiatrix, sending Gladiatrix careening into the surface of the asteroid. Sylvia watched in satisfaction as Gladiatrix entered the artificial gravity well of the asteroid which gave it Xandarian normal gravity on the surface; and smiled as Gladiatrix impacted the surface, creating a sizeable crater.

Gladiatrix was stunned and Sylvia was not about to give her time to recover. Pressing her advantage, Sylvia dived to the surface, furiously firing gravimetric pulses into Gladiatrix. Gladiatrix reeled from the assault but was able to dodge many of the pulses and flew out of the crater to meet Sylvia’s attack.

Sylvia landed the first punch, sending Gladiatrix flying into the field of boulders created by her impact on the surface of the asteroid. Hefting one of the boulders, Gladiatrix sent it flying at Sylvia as Sylvia rushed to press the attack. Sylvia blasted the boulder into an expanding cloud of dust and pebbles with a gravimetric pulse; too late realizing that while an effective response, it had been a strategic blunder as the dust and debris momentarily clouded her tactical. Gladiatrix took advantage of Sylvia’s blinded tactical to surprise attack; flying directly out of the dust cloud and landing a massive punch that stunned Sylvia and sent her flying hundreds of feet; landing roughly on the ground outside one of the asteroid’s automated gun turret defenses.

Sylvia’s enhanced senses warned her that she was being targeted by the automated defenses; giving her just a second to dodge before the area where she had landed was vaporized by a plasma bolt. Apparently, the ‘Identify Friend or Foe’ system did not recognize her as a friend in her new Supernova quantum body; and had reacted accordingly.

Sylvia’s senses indicated that Gladiatrix was rapidly closing and Sylvia could also tell that the automated defenses were again targeting her. She had only a second to form a plan. Sylvia ran across the surface of the asteroid to attract the attention of all the surface defenses, deftly dodging the plasma beams and rapid fire 50 caliber adamantium slugs being sent her way from the automated defenses; deliberately staying just a second ahead of the targeting system. She rapidly closed the distance to Gladiatrix, taking flight to meet Gladiatrix head on, but dodging Gladiatrix at the last second, leaving Gladiatrix in the line of fire from the automated defenses. Gladiatrix was struck from multiple angles by 50 caliber adamantium slugs and by plasma bolts; causing her to scream in agony and fall twisting and writhing to the surface of the asteroid into a minefield; just as Sylvia intended.

Gladiatrix landed stunned next to a mine which suddenly blossomed with metal tentacles wrapping around Gladiatrix and imprisoning her. Two Xandarian Sentry Androids deployed from nearby bays to take the captured Gladiatrix into custody; training their projectile weapons on her and ordering her to surrender. Sylvia was engaged in dodging the automated defenses; delaying her ability to get to Gladiatrix and deliver the killing blow she so desired to deliver. Gladiatrix quickly recovered, flexed her muscles, and freed herself; using one of the tentacles as a whip to attack the androids who were now firing at her with their small caliber Gatling-gun-like weapons. The androids’ adamantium slugs were not powerful enough to penetrate Gladiatrix’s shields; but they were powerful enough to cause her pain from the impacts. Enraged, she attacked the androids. Using the severed metal tentacle she held to decapitate one of the androids; she leaped into the air and decapitated the other with a quick kick to the head. Before the android could fall, Gladiatrix tore the gatling gun from it’s body and began firing at the rapidly approaching Sylvia, striking her squarely in the chest and knocking her to the ground in the minefield.

Sylvia landed on an explosive mine; the concussion throwing her deeper into the minefield as the anti-personnel shrapnel glanced harmlessly off her shields. Landing roughly, a mine surrounded her with an energy net as a gun turret popped up from the ground and targeted her. Sylvia could sense that Gladiatrix was closing fast even though Gladiatrix was also slowed by having to dodge all the automated defenses. Sylvia absorbed the mine’s energy net and used it to destroy the gun turret before turning to engage Gladiatrix.

Still wielding the tentacle, Gladiatrix struck Sylvia in the head with it just as she turned; and the impact sent Sylvia flying head over heels, roughly landing on her stomach. She rolled to avoid the next strike from Gladiatrix’s makeshift whip; quickly flipping to grab the whip before Gladiatrix could withdraw it. Sylvia altered her gravimetric energy signature and sent several terawatts of alternating current into the tentacle, paralyzing Gladiatrix as she firmly gripped the tentacle. Maintaining the current flow, Sylvia turned the whip to her advantage and swung the helplessly paralyzed Gladiatrix over the minefield; slamming Gladiatrix into the ground over a concussion mine. The explosion blasted Gladiatrix back into space above the asteroid and Sylvia rapidly flew to close the distance. Before Gladiatrix could recover from Sylvia’s attempt to electrocute her and the concussive force of the blast from the mine, Sylvia pummeled Gladiatrix into unconsciousness.

 

With Gladiatrix’s shields down due to unconsciousness, Sylvia was able to bind Gladiatrix with rings of gravimetric nodes – shackling her ankles together and her arms to her waist; and placing a spherical node around her to prevent flight. She then turned her attention to the remaining Shi’Ar combatants that the Centurions had yet to subdue; killing all of them with gravimetric pulses. Per order of the Worldmind, the Nova Centurions warily withdrew to the C & C asteroid to secure it; leaving the Imperial Guardsmen captured by the Centurions to Sylvia’s tender mercies.

Sylvia floated in front of the beaten and captured Gladiatrix, knowing that Gladiatrix would quickly regain full consciousness. She decided to help Gladiatrix along in regaining consciousness and ordered the ring shaped nodes to form razor sharp points where they bound Gladiatrix. She ordered the rings to contract slightly, pushing the points into Gladiatrix. Gladiatrix stirred and stared at Sylvia with a mixture of rage and hatred, teeth clenched to keep from screaming.

Sylvia smiled cruelly before saying with mock sympathy, “Hurts?”

Gladiatrix snarled, “Fark you!”

Sylvia sneered, “Thanks for the offer but I prefer my women a little more feminine looking than you.” Sylvia pointedly looked Gladiatrix’s thickly muscled body up and down; noting every masculine-like feature. “Correction – a LOT more feminine looking than you.” Then, just for fun, Sylvia ordered the rings to contract some more.

Gladiatrix screamed in agony as blood ran from the places where the rings pierced her skin; and looking at Sylvia with hatred yelled, “You farking schmaug! I am going to farking kill you! I am going to burn your schlag-hole homeworld to a cinder!”

Sylvia’s eyes burned in response to the threat to her homeworld; and she found it difficult to fight back the murderous Supernova rage. “Wrong thing to say to a Supernova.” Sylvia ordered the rings to contract some more and was rewarded by Gladiatrix’s screams, the sound of several of Gladiatrix’s ribs snapping, and the site of blood oozing from Gladiatrix’s mouth.

Sylvia moved in close to Gladiatrix. “I want to kill you so much it makes my purri wet just thinking about it. But, I need you to carry out your role of lapdog and convey a message for me.” Sylvia reached out with her mind and contacted the AI of a nearby automated hospital ship, ordering it to her position. “I want you to tell your lowborn piece of schlag of a Majestix that Xandar is now under protection of me, The Countess of Sura, and I will brook no incursion of foreign powers into Xandarian space. She is to withdraw from the disputed area, withdraw from Xandarian space, and end all hostilities against Xandar or I will collapse her Throneworld into a black hole.”

Gladiatrix spat blood upon Sylvia in response.

Sylvia was enraged – and in a universal gesture of disrespect used the back of her hand to slap Gladiatrix’s face; watching in satisfaction as Gladiatrix’s head snapped back from the blow and as more blood oozed from Gladiatrix’s mouth. Sylvia moved her head within inches of Gladiatrix’s head and through clenched teeth issued her final insult and warning to the helpless Strontian warrior, “You worthless farking kint! If I ever find you in Xandarian space again, I will kill you!”

Sylvia roughly threw Gladiatrix into the open hatch of the hospital ship and, gathering up the rest of the gravity node imprisoned Imperial Guardsmen, roughly followed suit with them. She ordered the hospital ship to deliver the Guardsmen to the Shi’Ar Throneworld and opened a stargate for it; watching it disappear into the stargate’s event horizon before turning her attention to the battling fleets.

The Xandarian and Shi’Ar fleets had both suffered heavy losses in their battle outside the ADF; but the Xandarians were holding their own. The Shi’Ar plan to collapse the ADF had failed thanks to Supernova Sylvia’s efforts. Now she was determined to take out the Shi’ar Fleet.

Sylvia targeted the lead Shi’ar Battleship and sped toward it at her maximum speed, plowing through intervening ships and dodging or shrugging off any projectiles or energy bolts directed at her. The lead Shi’ar Battleship recognized their danger and aimed a withering assault at the oncoming Supernova to no avail. Sylvia smashed through the hull of the ship and released her most powerful radiative aura pulse when she reached the exact center of the ship, utterly destroying the Shi’ar capital ship in seconds.

With their command ship gone, the rest of the Shi’ar fleet disengaged from the battle to regroup.

Emerging from the debris field of the Shi’ar command ship, Sylvia aimed gravimetric pulses at the two nearest Shi’ar cruisers, completely destroying them. She turned to pursue a Shi’ar destroyer that was attempting to form a stargate to flee. With her Supernova-enhanced command of gravitons, she ordered the stargate to close before the Shi’ar destroyer could enter it. The destroyer sent a message of surrender to Sylvia, but pleas for mercy were now lost upon her. Summoning the immense power it had taken to destroy the capital ship had caused her internal controls to slip and she had descended into the murderous rage that was part and parcel of being a Supernova. The destroyer was reduced to an expanding cloud of debris in seconds.

Heedless of all Shi’ar unconditional surrender messages; Supernova Sylvia blocked all Shi’ar attempts to form stargates to flee and mercilessly destroyed the remaining seven Shi’ar ships. She then formed a stargate to the location of her father’s fleet some 10,000 light years distant. She knew a massive battle was underway there and that Xandarians were in danger. Supernova Sylvia’s only coherent thought was to destroy Xandar’s enemies; and she was determined that not one enemy of Xandar would return to its homeworld alive.

 

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The End of Part 4

Of

The Shi’ar Conflict
 

Come back next time for the conclusion of The Shi’ar Conflict.