Skyfire Avenue

Su He was just as stunned. As he had been peering into the encroaching host of alien seagulls, there was a sudden roar that filled the air. A strange light swept by, and suddenly the purple was gone – nothing was left but clear blue sky.

More and more bulky silhouettes fell from the ship and into the alien force, coming to the university in its time of need.

Su He was a God-ranked pilot, and his eye was more discerning than Xiao Han’s. When he saw how these newcomer fought he gasped. Where did these soldiers come from? They were so strong, well equipped, and every one of them flickered with the power of Discipline. He looked on as their heavy artillery mowed the enemy down, working together to bring out the strengths in one another. The aliens were asking for death in their persistent charge.

Since when did the East have such a mighty mecha division, and made of exclusively Adepts? Could they be from An Lun? Su He vaguely recalled news An Lun was creating an Adept army.

“Professor Su?” His thoughts were interrupted by a two-headed dragon, hovering before him.

“Who are you? Bahamut?” The mecha was distinctive and hard to forget.

ζ

“The same. I’m the commander of Star Division’s Third Brigade from Skyfire. We’re here to help – don’t worry, the situation here is handled.” The Bartender smiled within the cockpit.

Majesty had almost overloaded its engines to get here as fast as it could. Moments after they arrived, the danger to Lyr University caught their attention. They rushed to the rescue, handily managing the alien force. Once Second Brigade’s long-distance mecha fighters hit the ground they cleared a safe zone around the school. The aliens couldn’t contend against the overwhelming firepower, much less Majesty in all its terrible glory.

Su He’s heart raced. “Star Division? From Skyfire? Are you all from the Avenue?”

“We are,” the Bartender confirmed. “Our commander is an old acquaintance of yours, we call him the Jewelry Master. You probably know who I mean.”

Su He gaped in utter shock. All of a sudden Lan Jue was the commander of a crack mecha division? There wasn’t an enemy in all the universe that could face up to these soldiers!

Sounds of jubilation rang from within the university walls. The sudden arrival of these powerful saviors had pulled them from the brink of death.

A light shone from Bahamut’s chest, projecting a holographic image in the air between them. A familiar face; Lan Jue.

“Hello classmate.”Lan Jue nodded in greeting.

“Lan Jue. Thank you, you and your soldiers. We wouldn’t have been able to hold on any longer.” Su He was relieved and sincere.

Lan Jue went on. “The situation there has been stabilized. The rest of my team and I will be arriving soon to look for the mother, we call them progenitors. If you could, we ask you maintain command of the school and the people in it.”

“Of course, leave it to me.” Su He nodded.

Lan Jue smiled at him, and the hologram vanished.

Majesty’s superior engines had brought it here faster, but Lan Jue wouldn’t be left out of the fight. Zeus-1 was also tearing through space at top speed and closing in on Lyr.

Once Majesty arrived they were being fed a constant stream of logistic information. So far the alien invaders had taken control of more than one fourth of the planet. Their appearance had been explosively fast, too fast for anyone to react. Oceans of vital energy nourished the beasts to maturity almost right away, and was the reason for their vast numbers.

The aliens also seem to have had this planned. A number of creatures had been out in space, responsible for dealing with reinforcements. Majesty’s overwhelming firepower made short work of them. With the Accountant behind the fire controls the interstellar aliens didn’t stand a chance. Once the blockade was destroyed Majesty and other Eastern military vessels poured through to come to Lyr’s aid. Now that Star Division had arrived, the planet’s dire situation was under control.

“Brother, in a minute I’ll need your help finding the progenitor,” Lan Jue said, speaking through his communicator to Lan Qing’s battleship.

Lan Qing nodded. His eyes burned with anticipation of the fight to come. “It’s been elusive, our scanners haven’t been able to get a lock on a location. This is a problem, damage to the planet is significant. How many habitable planets are there for us? When it comes to outright war we won’t have the resources to resist them. What’s your plan, A-Jue?”

“I still believe it’s best to evacuate the outlying planets, circle the wagons,” he replied. “At least that way we can protect them better and defend resource planets. The remainder we can leave to automated mining for the time being. Citizens can be brought into the heart of the Alliance and resettled temporarily on planets more conducive to life. At the same time we need to strengthen our position and prepare for defense. Ramp up military production and train more soldiers. Fixed defensive positions aren’t nearly as effective as mecha, so swelling our mecha numbers and dispatching them to every inhabited planet should also be a priority. This’ll give us the chance to respond immediately to any threat.”

Lan Qing nodded. “None of the interior planets have what An Lun can offer. I’ll start dispatching units to administrative planets as soon as possible. Our military industry is working at its peak to produce weapons and outfit the defenders. We’re also equipping the interior planets with as many railguns as we can fit on them. If Lyr had had railgun installations the aliens wouldn’t have been able to blockade reinforcements.”

Lan Jue displeased. All of their plans were passive and after the fact. They needed time to learn about their foe and how they fought – time they didn’t have.

Lan Jue narrowed his eyes. “Actually the best plan is to bring the fight to them. That’s the only way to ensure we exhaust and destroy their energy supply, which in turn should cause them to be less aggressive. 1 It’s impossible to say how much life was stolen from Lyr, and it may even be the aliens came to try and destroy the Tears of Neptune. I’ve already ordered Majesty to keep its scanners wide and responsive. We won’t let any alien escape.”

“After we’re finished here I’ll run it up the chain, see if we can’t take the initiative,” Lan Qing said.

Lan Jue continued to think out loud. “If we do lead a preemptive strike it has to be small. The larger the force the harder it’d be to get out. Father said that there were aliens even stronger than me. I asked Jun Yongye about this, and he said the only creatures stronger than Jue Di were the immortals of old. Those immortal commanded power far beyond anything humans were capable of, so much so that the universe would outright reject something that devastating. Hence the immortals realms of the ancient days, because they couldn’t exist in the same space as everything else. If they attempted to leave their special reality the universe’s natural energies would obliterate them. You could say that immortals were forced to imprison themselves. Now the realm of immortals has ceased to exist the immortals have perished, too. There’s no more place for them to hide – and the stronger the immortal, the stronger the universe hits back.”

“Did you ask for more detail from father? Where does he stand, could be somehow become an immortal himself?”

A wry grin split Lan Jue’s face. “I tried, but he didn’t answer.”

Lan Qing’s voice was thoughtful. “There’s something wrong with him. He doesn’t want to tell us, so ask mother when you have an opportunity. She should know.”

Lan Jue nodded in agreement.

Lyr came into view from the ship’s bridge. A sick violet hue hung over vast swaths of formerly fertile ocean, shocking to behold. It looked like a nasty bruise. The ship puncture the planet’s atmosphere and down toward the ocean surface.

The alien’s poison had infected the land as well as the sea. Unquestionable, the progenitor was hiding somewhere the ocean of contaminated water.

“Let’s get out there and find it. Keep Zeus-1 as support.” Lan Jue said to Su Xiaosu.

“Aye aye!” She replied.

Lan Jue and the Driver exited the ship, entered their mechas and set out. Seated in Thor’s cockpit, the Jewelry Master felt a comfortable bond, like the sleek sapphire mecha was an extension of his own body. It was a sensation he’d begun to recognize only after absorbing the thunder essence. His Discipline merged seamlessly with the suit’s systems, and so his surprise Thor’s AI and body seemed to be influenced by the All-Heaven lightning. Like Lan Jue, the suit was somehow transformed by it.

As Thor flew through the air its body was surrounded by an undulating pale blue light. The energies released by the suit were gentle, but nonetheless were reflected by the surface of the ocean. A strange ocean, where even the waves had been silenced.

1. Now since Lan Jue came up with the idea we know that’s how it’ll be, but I’m curious if any of you would have a different tack. Let me know down below – if an evil race of aliens came for your vital energy, how would you fight back?