The Valhalla Incident

[Firebrand1]

Well this story is about a scientist that was thawed out over 3 centuries after he had tested his cryopod on himself, and was given a ship, the Valhalla, to look for survivors on a colony on Molikar. The first part mainly focuses on thawing out the scientist.

The Valhalla Incident

Part 1

2711 A.D.

In his top secret research facility on the Moon, a scientist by the name of Maxwell has just perfected his pet invention: Cryogenics. In the turmoil that was caused by Emperor Aganon coming to the throne and ending a 300-year war, he was planning to use this technology to freeze himself until a time when you were less likely to get shot for sneezing loudly. Maxwell steps into the cryopod and activates the controls. Outside the sealed lab, he can hear the gunfire of Earth security forces trying to break down the door and stop him from doing this. "Too late." Maxwell said with a faint smile, and activated the cryopod. The Earth security forces succeeded in breaking down the door 5 minutes later, and upon entering the labratory, the commander of the force said into his commlink, "We're too late, he's already frozen, and there's a security lockout on the controls."

3053 A.D.-Present Day, Sarayon.

In his office, the Rebel Station Commander was musing thoughtfully. They were fighting a war on 2 fronts, against both the mantis and the Krygar Caste Remnant, and it was going badly. Though the Imperials had been defeated 3 months ago, the Krygar Remnant was not happy about it. They were continuing to attack Rebel supply ships and combat vessels, and with the discovery of Draconis, the Rebellion forces were spread thin fighting the Mantis in Draconis, and the Krygar Remnant in the Sol System. They had also lost contact with a colony they had established on Molikar a few hours ago. The Station Commander's commlink signaled, interrupting his musings. Picking it up, he said, "Yes, what is it?" "Sir, the Iron Fist has just returned from a supply raid on the Moon, they've got something you should see." Said a voice through the commlink. "I'll be right there." the Commander said.

In the main hangar, the Iron Fist was busy unloading the cargo it had captured on the Moon. Among these objects was an object not dissimilar from a very old escape pod, but with significant modifications, and they were still getting a power reading from it- as well as a life sign. As the Station Commander enters the hangar, he sees the Fist and goes over to it. "You wanted to see me?" he said. The captain of the Fist looked over and said, "Yeah we've got a rather strange object over here-" he pointed at the modified escape pod "-we're not entirely sure what it is, but it appears to be a very early form of a cryogenics pod, we were just about to take it to the lab." "Alright, lets go then." said the Commander.

In the lab, a scientist was confirming that this was, in fact, an early cryopod. "Can you thaw him out?" asked the Station Commander. "We can try, but who knows how long he's been fozen," said the scientist, "he could have some...odd side effects." "Like?" "Well, temporary memory loss is common in cryo patients who have been frozen for more than 100 years." said the scientist. "Do it anyway, it's probably time this man was brought back into the real world." ordered the Commander. "Alright." replied the scientist. He activated a control mechanism, and the cryopod started humming and vibrating very slightly. "All systems look normal, initiating final stage now." said the scientist. The pod stopped vibrating, and the scientist opened the hatch. Inside was a man in an old Imperial uniform, just barely stirring. The Fist's captian and the scientist helped him out of the pod. "Are you alright?" asked the scientist. "Yes i'm fine," said the man, "may i ask what year it is?" "3053, and who are you?" asked the Station Commander. "Wow, i didn't think i would be frozen that long," said the man, "The name's Maxwell by the way. James Maxwell."

 

[pbhuh]

tham tham thaaamm....

Good beginning.

 

[Galm]

wow nice story

 

[Firebrand1]

well, here's part 2, a little earlier than i expected.

In his temporary quarters, Maxwell was surveying the datapad that had been given to him by the Station Commander, to allow him to get up on the times. Curiously, he could find no referance to Technatoria, his home planet, in a list of currently known planets and systems. The Gemini System was merely an entry in the datapad, it did not go into details like it did the rest of the systems. Maxwell got up and asked the guard outside his door for directions to the nearest Holoprojector room. The guard gave him the directions, then escorted Maxwell to the room. He entered the room, and the guard touched a control panel, which activated the holoprojector. Maxwell started looking for entries on the Gemini System. When he finally came across a historical referance and accessed it, he was nearly sick. Displayed above the holoprojector was a picture of Technatoria, split in half and still glowing from the immense destruction that had befell the planet. To the side of this image, there was a historical page, which Maxwell read. "3027 A.D., Gemini System was attacked by the Mantis and fell within a matter of hours. Gemini was the site of the greatest destruction of all, when the mantis dropped a bomb into the core of Technatoria and destroyed the entire planet. No survivors have ever been found, but several hundreds of mining slaves were rescued from Technatoria last year." Turning away from the console and feeling slightly sick, Maxwell said, to no one in particular, "Shut that off." He made his way back to his room in a daze, he couldn't believe that his home planet had been utterly destroyed by the beings known as "Mantis". He looked though his datapad, and found an entry on the Mantis, and continued reading through the night.

The next day, Maxwell was in the cafeteria, hardly eating, when he was approached by the Station Commander.
"I heard that you found out about Technatoria last night." he said. "How could anyone be capable of destroying an entire planet?" asked Maxwell. "Billions of lives lost, and for what? The Mantis obsession with Cryonite?" "Not exactly," said the Commander, "Technatoria was the site of the last battle ever fought by the Gemini Defense Force. They put up one hell of a fight too, they might have even won, but the Mantis were a little too...enthusiastic in trying to rid all resistance." Maxwell didn't answer. "Listen, when you have a moment, come to the hangar. There's something you need to see." said the Commander.

An hour later, Maxwell wandered into the main hangar bay. The commander called out to him, and gestured Maxwell over to him. Maxwell walked over, and his eyes were immediately drawn to the ship sitting behind him. It was truly a sight to behold, with 2 decks and covering a large portion of the hangar floor. "I see you've noticed the Valhalla," said the Station Commander, "We're assigning this ship to you, as you're currently the only person with pilot training that we have available at the moment." "Uuuum." stammered Maxwell. "She's a STAM S-class Lighting Storm, the best ship we have available at the moment. 2 decks, has a crew of 6, and it's powered by 6 Antimatter Impulse engines. She can take on almost anything." Maxwell remained speechless, then after a few minutes of drinking in the sight, he said, "Why me? My pilot training is over 300 years out of date, and i'm not even familiar with this time period yet." "Well your pilot training can be fixed, we've scheduled a training session for later today in order to get you familiar with ships of this time period," replied the Station Commander, "As for why, you, as i said before, arethe only pilot we have that's not either dead, out fighting in Draconis, or in replacement training. You'll be given a full briefing on your mission in a half hour in the holo room." "Um, ok." said Maxwell. After the Commander left, Maxwell started walking around the Valhalla. He touched the armor, which was glowing very slightly. He called to a nearby deckhand and asked why the armor was glowing. "Oh, that armor is a Deluvian composite laced with the Methanoid armor that we discovered from Draconis, that's why it's glowing." said the deckhand, and he continued with his duties. Maxwell tore his gaze from the ship with difficulty, and headed to the holo room.

In the holo room, Maxwell was listening intently, as the Station Commander started the briefing. "Now, yesterday we lost contact with a colony that we had established on Molikar. We suspect Mantis involvement, but we can't be sure. Ever since we reprogrammed their Long Range Guns, we've had no mantis activity on the planet. Maxwell, you will take the Valhalla to Molikar and see what happened, and if need be, search for survivors. It's possible that it's just a commications malfunction, but we can't be sure as we have no ships or pilots to spare at the moment, with the exception of Valhalla. Any questions?" The question was more directed at Maxwell than anyone else. When no one answered, the commander said, "Alright then. Maxwell, your pilot training update session will be in 3 hours. Dismissed."

Maxwell passed his pilot update with flying colors, and was now sitting on the bridge of the Valhalla waiting for departure clearance. The other 2 bridge officers were busy with prepping the ship for liftoff, while Maxwell was sitting in the pilot's chair, with his finger on the antigravity system. "Valhalla, this is Sarayon Launch Control, you're cleared for immediate departure, good luck with your mission." The Station Commander came on the radio and said, "Maxwell, that's an expensive ship. Try not to bang it up too much." With a faint grin, Maxwell replied "I'll try to get it back to you in one piece." Maxwell activated the antigravity lift system and the ship rose smoothly from the hangar floor. He moved the throttle slightly forward and the ship started slowly gliding towards the containment field. Once clear of the hangar, he lined the ship up on course for the Sol Stargate and activated the Hyperdrive. Sarayon and the ships around it disappeared in a whirl of stars as the ship set off to the Gate.

 

[pbhuh]

more plz

 

[Firebrand1]

here's part 3 ^^

At the Stargate, one of the bridge officers was configuring the astrogation chip to take them to Mizar. "Got it." he said, and activated the chip. Outside the ship, the Gate activated with a small shockwave as it burrowed through subspace to the coordinates of the Mizar Gate. Maxwell, who was watching the gate, transfixed, suddenly came to his senses and started taking the ship closer to the event horizon. He stopped the ship just short, then with a small nudge to the throttle he took the ship through. It was a curious sensation, like being sucked through a small tube at high velocity. Less than 2 seconds later, they emerged from the event horizon of the Mizar Gate and set a course for Molikar.

They reached Molikar orbit a few hours later, at which time Maxwell started trying to contact the colony. When he got no response after repeated attempts, he said "Alright, looks like we're going to have to take the ship down." He keyed the intercom, "All hands prepare for atmospheric entry." Maxwell deactivated 2 of Valhalla's 6 engines and started a descent with the help of the forward thrusters. When they made contact with the atmosphere, he switched the ship over to atmospheric flight mode and reactivated the 2 antimatter engines. "Well, that was fun." said one bridge officer, Malaya, who ironically was rescued from the mines of Technatoria a few months previously. Her console started beeping, at which she said "Looks like we've got company. 3 Mantis parasites on an intercept course, we're still at very high altitude." Maxwell started a series of evasive maneuvers to avoid a collision with the Parasites, who were using a kamikaze tactic that Mantis units recently started employing when faced with a much more powerful ship. The Parasites continued to persue Valhalla all the way to the Human settlement, at which they suddenly turned around and fled. "That was weird. Usually they're much more aggressive." said Malaya. Maxwell brought the ship down on a cusion of antigravity, and extended the landing gear. The ship settled lightly in the middle of the colony, and Maxwell deactivated the engines. He went down to deck 2 directly below the bridge, and opened a hidden compartment, from which he started handing out weapons. "Sensors picked up sporadic life readings to the east of here, me, Malaya, and Riley-" Maxwell indicated the bridge officer and an engineer, "-will go and check it out, you three-" he then indicated the other bridge officer and 2 engineers, "-will stay here and hold down the fort. Lets move out."

Outside the ship, the air was breatheable, if a bit sulfuric, so Maxwell, Malaya, and Riley all had emergency oxygen equipment. Maxwell was holding a scanner, which showed no life signs in the immediate area. Suddenly a loud bang came from one of the buildings, at which the 3 people froze and looked around cautiously, energy rifles drawn. "The scanner isn't picking up anything, lets move on." said Maxwell, his voice echoing through the eerily silent streets of the colony. They moved on, albeit with a bit more caution. The scanner started beeping, which meant it had detected an organic life form nearby. "This way," said Maxwell, "the readings are very faint, and they keep disappearing, but it looks like whatever it is, it's not moving." They made their way over and a scene of utter destruction met their eyes. The buildings were torn apart and there were craters in the street where thermal grenades had gone off. "Well, whatever happened here, the villagers seem to have put up a hell of a fight." said Riley. They heard a faint groan coming from under a pile of debris. When they shifted it, they found a man, severely injured and barely alive. When he saw them, he said "R-run...get out of here...there is nothing you can do for us." The scanner's heart monitor started beeping, then became silent. "He's gone." said Maxwell. "What happened here? It's as if the city was blasted from orbit." said Malaya. As if in answer to their question, a huge shadow befell the team. "Um, guys, i think you should look at this." said Riley. The other 2 turned, and saw a large Manits Juggernaut, which was also capable of deploying Mantis troops, flying overhead. It came to a stop above them. "What's it doing?" asked Maxwell, who had never seen such a ship before. "It's getting ready to bombard the city, it must have detected us, we have to move!" said Riley, and al 3 of them set off at a full tilt run back to the Valhalla. The Juggernaut started firing it's weapons at the team, and more Mantis ships launched from it's underbelly.

The team barely made it back to the ship, after getting in numerous firefights with Mantis ground forces. "Let's go! We have to get out of here!" yelled Maxwell to no one in particular. He ran up to the bridge and raised the boarding ramp, and was already in the process of taking off when the other 2 bridge officers entered the room. Malaya, at the sensor console, said "The Juggernaut is closing in on us, and Mantis bombers are almost within range." "No pressure." said Maxwell sarcastically. "The engines haven't finished starting up yet, only 3 of them are online" said Riley over the intercom. "Good enough, get ready for some fancy flying!" said Maxwell in reply. The ship took off, with barely enough power to keep it aloft, as the main engines also power the antigravity lift system. They blasted away, and flew as fast as they could with 3 engines away from the Juggernaut. "We're going to have to attack it, at least disable it." said Smith, Valhalla's tactical officer. "No, it's too powerful, we have to send word to Sarayon of what's happened." said Maxwell, and he opened a subspace channel to Sarayon.

 

[pbhuh]

poor poor city.

 

[Firebrand1]

here's part 4

"I'm sorry captain, we simply do not have any ships available at the moment." Valhalla was in high orbit, safely far away from the Juggernaut. Sarayon's Commander was on the radio, while Maxwell was trying to get a couple more ships out here. "Nothing? Not even a transport ship?" he asked. "No, i'm sorry, you're on your own out there." said the Commander. "Alright, we'll try to figure something out. Valhalla out." Maxwell cut the radio connection and started thinking of how to take care of the Juggernaut. "Any ideas?" he asked the other 2 bridge officers, and Riley. They all shook their heads. "Wait, sir, if the Mantis Long Range Guns are still operational, we could use them to our advantage." said Malaya. "Yeah, but one problem with that, the LRG's aren't designed to target anything lower than atmospheric entry altitudes." said Smith. "That wouldn't matter if we could get the Juggernaut close enough to the gun, one shot would obliterate it." replied Malaya. "That doesn't solve the fact that it could pretty much wipe us out in a couple shots." said Smith. "Well, if we eject 2 of our antimatter coils that power the engines then detonate them, the EM radiation generated by the explosion should be enough to scramble their targeting sensors temporarily, while still allowing us to use the engines, though they'd be a bit less efficient," said Riley, "but the problem is our sensors would most likely be effected by the blast as well. The sensor accuracy would probably be down by 50% or more." "50% is better than nothing, it's worth a shot." said Malaya. "We've got ourselves a plan, then." said Maxwell.

Belowdecks, in the small galley in the front of the ship, Maxwell was explaining the plan to the other 2 engineers. "So, Valhalla will lure the Juggernaut into the firing arc of an LRG while you 3-" Maxwell pointed Riley, Smith, and another engineer "-will man the gun and try to get it working." "You realise, if this doesn't work we're all pretty much a sitting duck?" asked one of the engineers. "Yes, but it's our best option short of ramming the thing." replied Maxwell. "Alright then, but that doesn't make it any less crazy..." said the engineer. "Crazy has usually worked in the past, why not now?" said Maxwell. "Let's do it, then."

Back on the bridge of the ship, Maxwell was locking on to the coordinates of a Mantis LRG. He initiated downward thrust, and started to reenter Molikar's atmosphere. "4 Mantis Interceptors coming up to meet us," said Malaya, "and they don't look very happy." Maxwell started evasive maneuvers to try and avoid the hailstorm of lasers flying towards Valhalla. He activated the afterburner system, and the ship sped away from the persuing Mantis ships, which broke off. They made it to the LRG platform without further incident, and Maxwell brought the ship to a landing and extended the boarding ramp. "Alright guys, get that gun online as soon as possible." he said over the intercom. As soon as the trio entered the LRG, Malaya's console started beeping rapidly. "Huge energy spike coming from the LRG, readings are off the scale!" "Get out of there, now, that LRG is going to explode!" yelled Maxwell over the radio. "Multiple sensor contacts all around us, they're Mantis ground troops!" said Malaya. Maxwell cursed and got his energy rifle. He went down to the boarding ramp and started shooting at the Mantis in order to distract them and allow his people back on board. A hailstorm of blaster fire started impacting Valhalla's hull, doing nothing more than causing scorch marks. Riley and the other engineer made it back on board, but as Smith was going up the boarding ramp a laser bolt hit him in the leg. With Maxwell and Riley supporting him, Smith managed to get back on board. "Get us out of here, now!" yelled Maxwell into a nearby intercom. Valhalla lifted off, and started flying away. Maxwell was just entering the bridge when a nova bright flash lit up the room as the LRG exploded, sending a shockwave towards them. The ship started shaking violently, and sparks started flying. "The shockwave clipped us, the right side engine pod has been destroyed, we've got rupured plasma lines all over the place, losing altitude fast!" said Malaya. "Weapons are offline, auxiliary power is down to 20%!" said Smith. Maxwell took the control yoke from Malaya and attempted to steady the ship, to no avail. "Brace for impact!" yelled Maxwell as Valhalla, with an almighty bang and much screeching of metal, crashed on the surface of Molikar.

 

[Firebrand1]

and here's part 5, which i just now managed to complete..lol ^^

At Sarayon, the Station Commander was in the docking control room when his commlink signaled and told him to go to the communications room. When he got there, he heard the voices of Maxwell and Malaya on the comm. "The shockwave clipped us, the right side engine pod has been destroyed, we've got rupured plasma lines all over the place, losing altitude fast!" "Weapons are offline, auxiliary power is down to 20%!" "Brace for impact!" a loud smash was heard through the radio, then nothing but static. "What just happened?" asked the stunned Commander. "Sir, what you just heard was part of a distress call that we recieved a few minutes ago from Valhalla. That was the last 20 seconds that the data recorder picked up, before we lost contact." said a comms officer. "What is going on over there?" wondered the Commander out loud. "Sir, the Iron Fist has just landed in the hangar bay, should i tell it's captain to come see you?" asked the comms officer. "Yes, tell him to come to my office immediately." said the Commander.

In the Commander's office, the Fist's captain was listening to the recording of the distress call. When it finished, he pondered for a moment. "So, you want us to go look for them?" he asked. "Yes, even without a rescue beacon it's possible that they survived the crash." said the Commander. "Sir, you realise how long it will take us to search the entire planet for the wreckage of one ship?" asked the Fist's captain incredulously. "Yes, but it's likely that the hull of the ship has remained largely intact, just configure your sensors to scan for the shape of a STAM-S," said the Commander, "Will, don't make me order you." "Alright then. I'll have my ship armed and ready in half an hour." said Will.

Half an hour later, in Sarayon's hangar, the Iron Fist was prepping for departure. The STAM S-class Thunder Shock had been modified significantly, with Zero Point blasters salvaged from a wrecked ship found in Draconis, as well as hull armor rivalling it's Methanoid successor, upgraded stunning capabilities, and more powerful engines. The Fist lifted off the hangar floor and flew out of the base, then it set course for the gate and shot off to Hyperspace.

Meanwhile, on Molikar, Maxwell was just coming to in the wrecked bridge of the Valhalla. The reinforced glass window had been shattered, and the pilot's control console had been ripped apart. The ship was no longer spaceworthy. Maxwell got up, and went over to Malaya, who was unconsious but alive. He checked her vital signs then went over to Smith, who had been thrown from his station in the crash, and was sprawled out on the floor. Maxwell, in a daze, registered that he could find no indication of a heartbeat. Smith was dead. He heard a groan behind him, and turned to find Malaya stirring. When she opened her eyes, Maxwell went over to her. "Are you alright?" he asked. "Yes i'm fine," said Malaya, who spotted Smith on the floor, "what about him, is he ok?" Maxwell shook his head and said, "He's dead. I'm going below to look and see if anyone else survived." "Alright." said Malaya, who followed him to the hatch. Maxwell opened the door, went over to get a scanner, and turned it on. "It still works. I'm getting 3 other life signs in the engineering compartment, looks like everyone else is alright." They went over to the door in the rear of the ship and pushed it open, as it's pressure seal had been broken. The 3 engineers were stirring, and started to get up when they saw Maxwell and Malaya. "Are you guys alright?" asked Maxwell. "We're fine, how about you?" replied Riley. "We're fine too, but Smith wasn't so lucky, he's dead." said Maxwell. The ship started to shake slightly, and the 5 survivors heard a rumbling overhead. Malaya, who was the nearest to a window, said, "The Juggernaut is flying overhead. It's passing right by us, my guess is it hasn't detected where we crashed yet." "Hey guys, we might have a problem," called Riley, "looks like the crash ruptured some antimatter coils, this whole compartment is flooded with radiation." They all ran out of that compartment and pushed the pressure doors closed. "Well, what are we supposed to do now?" asked one of the other engineers. "We wait. I managed to send our flight recorder data to Sarayon via subspace just before we crashed, i'm sure they've sent a ship to look for us by now." said Malaya. "And so we wait." said Maxwell, and he sat down on a collapsed bulkhead.

 

[metaldragon89]

nice story

 

[Firebrand1]

here's part 6, hope you enjoyed the story so far

On the Iron Fist, they were approaching Molikar and were about to initiate sensor sweeps of the planet. Will put the ship in a low orbit and started the sweeps. "Ok, this could take a while. I'm going to the galley, let me know if you find anything." he said.

On the Valhalla, the radiation from the ruptured antimatter coils was starting to flood the entire ship. "Well, we can't stay here much longer, the radiation is starting to reach toxic levels." said Riley, who was holding the only working scanner. "We stay in here for as long as we can, that Juggernaut can't be in the area for long." said Maxwell. "I don't think that will be an issue, looks like the Juggernaut has spotted us, it's heading this way and it's launching something." said Malaya. Maxwell ran to the window, and saw that the Juggernaut was heading right towards them, and was launching smaller transport ships. "And, now the fun begins." he said as he activated his energy rifle.

In the Iron Fist's galley, Will was busy making himself a sandwich when the intercom signaled. Walking over to the panel, he pressed a button and said, "Yes, what is it?" "Sir, our sensors just picked up energy pulses that look a lot like weapons fire down on the surface. We also picked up a sensor image that matches the Valhalla's profile." said a voice through the comm. "I'll be right up." said Will. On the bridge, he was looking at the sensor data. "Yeah, that looks an awful lot like weapons fire. Alright, i'm taking us down." he said. He got into the pilot's seat, and started a descent into the atmosphere.

Down on the surface, Valhalla's crew was about to be overrun by Mantis soldiers. They had a relatively safe position inside the ship, but even so it wouldn't hold for long. "We have to find a way out of here!" yelled Malaya as she tossed a thermal grenade into a horde of Mantis. "And go where?! In case you didn't notice, we're surrounded by Mantis!" Riley yelled back. Maxwell went over to cover one of the broken windows, when he heard a series of loud explosions and the sound of an engine. "What the?" he said. "It's the Fist! The Iron Fist is here!" yelled one of the engineers in shock and relief. The Fist flew overhead and started firing at the Mantis transports, which quickly became balls of fire, unable to withstand the power of it's weapons. "I've never seen weapons of that power." said Maxwell in awe. "Those are blasters based on zero point technology that we salvaged from a destroyed ship in Draconis! The Fist is one of the few ships in Sol to have them installed." replied Malaya. Above them, the Fist was now engaging the Mantis escorts, blowing them out of the sky with ease. It then focused on the Juggernaut, which slowly turned around and flew off. Valhalla's surviving crew took out the last of the Mantis ground troops, with the help of weapons fire from the Fist, which landed next to the remains of Valhalla.

After they were rescued, the Fist returned to orbit, and Valhalla's remaining crew were cramped into a space only designed for 6 people, but now held 11. Maxwell was on the bridge telling Will what happened to the colony, and his ship. Half an hour later, they came down and said that they had a plan. "Now, even with the Fist's upgraded systems, it would be suicide to try and attack a Juggernaut head on," Will was saying, "so we've decided to go with your original plan, with us detonating 2 antimatter engine coils to scramble their targeting systems, and, with the help of some aggrobeacons, lure the Juggernaut into the range of an LRG." "To make sure that the LRG isn't a trap like last time, the Fist will drop an aggrobeacon prior to landing to draw out any Mantis troops." said Maxwell. "Any questions?" when no one answered, Will said, "Alright then, let's get down to business." and went up to the bridge to take the ship back down.

 

[Firebrand1]

here's the ending, part 7. enjoy ^^

The Iron Fist managed to reach an LRG without incident, due in part to it's advanced stun and speed actuator capabilities. Will made a quick flyby, dropping an aggrobeacon in the process. "Well, we don't have any sign of movement, i guess it's safe to land." he said. The ship landed in front of the LRG platform, and Riley and his 2 engineers, Malaya, and one of the Fist's bridge officers disembarked. They entered the control room of the LRG, and started their work. "Looks pretty much intact, just simply...shut down. Should take a few minutes to power the gun back up." said Riley over the radio. Will took off again, and started flying towards the Juggernaut. As soon as it detected them, the Juggernaut altered course towards them and launched a wave of Parasites and Interceptors. "Here we go." said Will. The Fist started wild maneuvers, engaging the Mantis escorts, all the while edging them closer to the LRG. Maxwell jettisoned the 2 antimatter engine coils, the ship lurching as he did so, with the engine power decreasing slightly. When the coils wre a few hundred feet away from the ship, he detonated them. The effect was instant. The Mantis ships following them became much less accurate with their laser fire, and the Juggernaut was starting to fly erratically, but it was still on their tail. "We've just about got it, give us a few more seconds to charge the cannon." said Riley. The escort fighters were putting up a good fight, even with reduced accuracy. All the while the Juggernaut was hanging back, but still following the fight. "We're ready, we've got the Fist on our sensors, lure the Juggernaut just a bit closer to get it within our firing arc." said Riley over the radio. Will put the throttle to full and made a break for the LRG cannon. The escort fighters were following, and so was the Juggernaut. The radio crackled to life with the sounds of faint blaster fire. "Hurry, we've got company, looks like the Mantis soldiers have figured out what we're up to!" said Riley. "We're trying, in case you didn't notice we've got 20 Mantis fighters on our tails!" replied Will. Maxwell, who was at the tactical station, said, "The stun dome is fully charged, fire when ready." Will fired off his stun dome, which effectively neutralized about half of the persuing Mantis. The stunned Mantis ships fell to the planet's surface and exploded, too late to restart their engines after the stun effects wore off.

"Got it, the Juggernaut's in range, get clear, we're firing!" said Riley. Maxwell looked up in time to see the LRG fire a large pulse of energy at the Juggernaut, blowing it clean in half. "We got it, now we just have to take care of these escorts." said Will. They fired off their stun dome once more, and the remaining Mantis escorts fell back to the planet surface and exploded. Will brought the Fist to a landing outside the LRG and got his energy pistol out. "Lets go take care of the Mantis soldiers, shall we?" he said. Maxwell, still hungry for revenge for the destruction of his home planet, and the damage to the Valhalla, got his rifle and followed Will outside to the entrance of the LRG cannon. They entered the cannon, and immediately heard laser fire. "It's coming from that way." said Maxwell, and he turned right along the corridor. They saw the Mantis soldiers, and opened fire. The Mantis were picked off one by one in the crossfire, and Will and Maxwell went around the corner to find the LRG's control room, with the 4 people still pointing their weapons at the corridor's entrance. "Let's get out of here." said Maxwell, and they walked back out to the Fist. "I've been unfrozen for 3 days, and all this happens..." said Maxwell, with a grin.

The Valhalla was later salvaged and repaired, and is still under the command of James Maxwell and his crew, who are currently fighting in Draconis after he upgraded the ship's weapons and armor. The wreckage of the Juggernaut was examined, leading to technological advances in Antimatter weapon and engine technology, even though the power of Antimatter weapons is eclipsed by Zero Point technology. The colony was reestablished, and is currently thriving. The Iron Fist was destroyed in a surprise attack by the Krygar Caste Remnant, however the crew servived and was given a new AnIn-10 Terrorizer, which set the Rebels back by quite a bit, and which Will named Iron Fist II. It currently serves alongside Maxwell and the Valhalla, and has similarly upgraded weapons and armor systems.