Chapter 68
---3rd Person POV---
Watching as Victor's fleet sailed out to face Khârn and his men, everyone felt they were about to see Khârn tear them apart. Outnumber almost two to one, aside from Obi-Wan, no one expected a relatively unknown bounty hunter to last more than a few minutes at best. With that in mind, the Lord General Militant inquired what their plans would be after the bounty hunter's forces were annihilated.
"Since bringing him into this was your nation's idea, it is only right you deal with the aftermath. That greenhorn antagonized one of our nation's greatest failures and did so with vessels mostly too small to be called cruisers in our fleet.", the Lord General Militant remarked, "I serious hope you have a back up plan, otherwise, we will be in for a rough battle afterwards."
"I would not be so quick to pass judgement on Victor. In case you are unaware, he has already fought members of the Black Legion. He knows what he is getting into, so I am inclined to believe he knows what he is doing.", Obi-Wan countered.
"Do not compare the Butcherhorde with the Black Legion, they have two different mindsets for combat. That said…I have heard about the deaths of eight Black Legion marines, but I was unaware that greenhorn was the one responsible for it.", the Lord General Militant responded, giving Victor a small amount of respect for pulling that off.
Before they could settle in for the battle, the Space Marines guarding the door notified them that the scientist Obi-Wan called for had arrived. Granting him permission to enter, Dr. Rodney McKay nervously entered the room with his laptop in hand. Quickly setting down his computer, he hesitantly walked over to the Jedi General while giving the Imperium group a wide berth.
(AN: For those who do not know, McKay is from Stargate Atlantis.)
"There is no reason to be so nervous, Doctor McKay, we are on the same side of this conflict.", Obi-Wan assured him.
"Be that as it may, I have heard plenty of rumors about how scientists like me are treated there. I would rather not upset them, if possible.", McKay said, having heard horror stories of colleagues disappearing during visits to the Imperium.
Unlike the Galactic Republic, who was open and willing to improve things, the Imperium hated changed. The Adeptus Mechanicus, the scientific governing body of the Imperium, held a firm believe that their God Emperor's designs were perfect, so change was unnecessary. Unless you held a high-ranking position, if you dared to improve upon anything, you were met with disdain and disgust or flat out disappeared. Having heard many instances where scientists were hauled off for trying to help border worlds, he had no desire to join them.
"I can assure you; you are in no danger here. This is Republic space, they have assured us that no harm will come to you in our territory.", Obi-Wan reiterated.
"Oh…okay…", McKay acknowledged, "So what did you summon me here for?"
"I believe I may need your scientific knowledge during this battle. We know very little about Victor, and know absolutely nothing about his vessels, his homeworld, or even where his homeworld is. Since I will be the one reporting back to the Galactic Senate on this conflict, I want to make sure I relay accurate information to them.", Obi-Wan said.
Understanding what he needed, McKay retrieved his laptop and reconnect to the live data feed. Confirming that everything was online and functioning correctly, he notified the other scientists to begin logging all the data coming in for evaluation later. Just as they confirmed they were beginning to log the data, the Butcherhorde made their preemptive strike.
Starting the battle with a full-scale bombardment from all one hundred and twenty vessels, all manner of munitions quickly began assailing Victor's fleet. Making no attempt to avoid the oncoming barrage, his ships remained in place allowing their shielding to protect them. Amazed that their shields were withstanding the assault, with seemingly minimal strain, Obi-Wan sensed a large disturbance in the force coming from Yamato. Walking over to one of the security computers, he used a camera pointing in that direction to get a better look at what was happening.
As the Butcherhorde bombardment began to wane, Victor gave everyone a display that would not soon be forgotten. Generating the strongest Force Storm he had ever created; he unleashed the current full extent of his current Force Power upon them. Watching in utter disbelief as the Butcherhorde fleet was engulfed by the ungodly attack, dozens of ships exploded in moments while others began to list as their systems went haywire. Having only heard of something like this in ancient text, he came to understand just how powerful Victor was as an individual.
'I am one hundred percent convinced now; Victor is not a Sith. He has somehow achieved perfect balance between both the light and dark side of the Force.', Obi-Wan thought, before looking at his dumbfounded Imperium counterparts, "Are you still certain that Victor is a greenhorn?"
Gritting their teeth, the Lord General Militant and Warmaster refused to respond to Obi-Wan's question. Unable to believe that a young man like Victor could wield such immense power, an uncomfortable thought began to creep into their minds. Wondering if Victor could somehow be connected to one or both Unknown Legions, neither of them could bring themselves to speak the words aloud knowing what would await them for uttering such blasphemy.
Watching the storm collapse in on itself, the thirty or ships with still functioning engines managed to escape before being torn apart. Leading the remaining ships in a charge toward Victor's fleet, the Conqueror began the charging sequence for its Nova Cannon. Immediately detecting the energy build up at the bow of the former Imperium Battleship, McKay also began noticing unusual readings coming from Victor's fleet. Trying to figure out if their sensors were malfunctioning, Obi-Wan snapped him out of it and motioned for him to come over to the terminal.
"Doctor McKay, what do you make of this?", he inquired, as McKay looked at the security monitor.
Watching Victor's fleet slowly become transparent, McKay was uncertain about what he was seeing. Zooming out a bit more, so he could see the Conqueror as well, he curious what would happen when the Nova Cannon was fired. Not having to wait too long, the Conqueror fired its powerful gun a few minutes later. Watching a streak of light pass harmlessly through the bounty hunter's flagship, the projectile ended up slamming into one of the Imperium's Escort ships. As fire began erupting from the impacted ship, radio chatter began to fill the room as all the blockade ships wanted to know what just happened.
"What witchcraft was that?! How did that ship escape unscathed from the Nova Cannon!!", the Lord General Militant shouted, having never seen anything like that before.
"His ships, they became intangible in our reality!! They must have phased themselves into a different space!!", McKay said, realizing what the sensors had been picking up, "Obi-Wan, where did you say this bounty hunter came from?!"
"Phased out of our reality?! That is Necron technology!", the Warmaster commented, "How did he acquire their technology!!"
"I will say this now, in case either of you have forgotten, there is no way Victor could have negotiated for this technology. It is a well-known fact that the Necrons have never negotiated with living beings before. Any attempts made in the past have all ended poorly for the negotiators.", Obi-Wan reminded them, trying to avoid Victor becoming branded a heretic by the Imperium, "We know absolutely nothing of Victor's homeworld nor where it is located. The technology he is using could very well be standard for where he is from."
"If that is the case, I might have an idea of his background then. There is a chance that he might be an Ancient.", McKay remarked, "Outside of the Necrons, we are fairly certain that the Ancient had this technology as well."
Recalling some of the more recent reports he had read from Stargate Command, Obi-Wan could see that being a possibility. Even though they were presumed to be extinct, there was always a chance that a group of them had survived, having chosen isolationism till now.
As his ships phased back to normal, Yamato sailed forward quickly creating a large gap between itself and the other ships. Beginning its own charging sequence, alarms began sounding on McKay's laptop as the sensors began reading extremely high amounts of energy radiating from the ship. Noticing green arcs of lightning beginning to arc off the vessel, a few moments later a large, green beam of energy fired out of Yamato striking the Conqueror head on. Shattering its Nova Shields in fractions of a second, the beam sliced straight through the battleship and continued toward the planet behind it.
"Have the refugee transporters reached us yet?!", Obi-Wan asked, turning his staff.
"They have not moved yet sir, the captains were too worried about being caught in the crossfire.", his clone trooper subordinate replied.
"Tell them to get out of there now!", Obi-Wan commanded, as the beam struck the planet.
Watching as energy begin to create large, green cracks all over the surface, the planet suddenly and violently exploded. Sending massive chunks of debris and superheated rock in every direction, the transporters immediately engaged their engines making a beeline for the border. As they began to move, Victor's fleet began disappearing and reappearing around the remaining Butcherhorde vessels.
"They are using Blink Drives!!", McKay shouted, having seen an Ancient Ship perform the same maneuver before, "They have functioning Blink Drives!!"
Taking full advantage of the confusion and chaos, Victor's fleet dumped hundreds of Drone Weapons into space and began obliterating the opposition. Burrowing through shielding and armor, the drones began detonating inside the ships, tearing them apart from the inside out. Amazed by everything he was seeing; McKay was now convinced more than ever that Victor and his fleet were indeed Ancients.
(AN: The Drone Weapons I am referencing are from Stargate. They were created and used mainly by the Ancients.)
---Victor POV---
Using the Blink Drive to maneuver us over the heavily damaged Conqueror, I began my assault preparations. Ordering Yamato to have all Heavy Armor units on the ships prepare for deployment, my fiancées and the onboard medical staff quickly raced down to the cargo hold where the hostages would be teleported too shortly.
"Once I am onboard, I will help Yamato lock-on to the hostage and send them your way. Please bear in mind that some among them may be working for the enemy so be prepared for a potential fight. All of you have your Holtzman shields and weapons on, right?", I confirmed, over the radio.
"We do!", Lucoa confirmed.
"We got this Victor, make sure you give those monsters a good thrashing!", Mylene told me, having heard the radio broadcast, "Then execute them!"
"Haha, I promise I will do that.", I chuckled, as we neared the drop point.
Jumping off Yamato's deck, as we drew near the command bridge, I flew toward the area I believed was just before my target. Swiveling their defensive guns toward me, the ship and her crew attempted to blast me to bits but nothing they threw at me managed to break through my first layer of shielding. Aiming my wrist mounted bunker buster at my intended breaching point, I launched it out ahead of me so I would not have to waste time cutting through the thick armor. Detonating on impact, the massive explosion ripped a giant gash in the ship which resulted in the expulsion of several Chaos Marines and grunt soldiers.
Watching them flounder around helplessly, the regular humans were trying to find a way to survive while the Chaos Marines used their remaining life to try and kill me. Raising my hand toward them, I used the Force to atomize their bodies. Flying past their floating metal shells, I grabbed their dog tags and continued on my way inside the ship.