Over the next few weeks the battles came often. They pushed past Jupiter and then headed towards Saturn. The battles were not as easy as the first. The Spectral Horde was learning. Duron had to keep coming up with new battle strategies. Ryoko had to think of new battle formations and deployments. The regular Solar Fleet military followed behind the Daedlus and easily cleaned up what was left.
After their initial assault on Saturn they found survivors from the last failed battle campaign. They had abandoned ship and been living on the remains of an old Saturn space station for over two years. One of them was a general. Kerrigan knew him. They talked and after Kerrigan said, “the last time I saw that man he told me I was damned. Now he is moved to tears to see me because I am a familiar face. What a strange universe we live in.”
They were victorious on the moons of Saturn just like on the moons of Jupiter. They made their assault of Uranus and observed the Spectral Horde fleet retreat towards Neptune . During every battle, Zai was present in the command and control center. He never said anything. He did not even move. He simply stood in the back by the door with his arms crossed and watched. When the battle was over Zai would wander the halls of the Daedlus. Whenever someone saw him coming they would hug the wall to let him pass or move into a doorway or down another hall to avoid him. Sometimes people saw him in the common hall or in one of the viewing rooms. A few times he went by the commissary or the social bar but he did not enter them.
All of the Spectral Horde’s remaining forces in the Solar System were gathered between Neptune and Pluto. This would be the most important battle so far. It started out well. They broke through the Spectral Horde’s line easily. It quickly became clear it was a trap so the horde could surround them. For the first time since their mission began they were taking real damage. Vanz Kerrigan usually waited out the battles in his suite but for this one he was present in the command and control center and Anyantha was with him.
“Damn it,” said Ryoko, “they are figuring out our attack plans before we can even begin them.”
In the command and control center of the Daedlus, Commander Duron Ardiniero tried to out think his enemy.
“Switch to attack plans Epsilon 2,” he ordered.
But whatever plan he used the Spectral Horde seemed to know how to counter and make it useless.
“Begin attack plan Sigma 3,” he barked out.
“You are losing,” said Zai. It was the first time he had ever said anything during a battle or moved from his spot at the back of the room by the door. Now he was standing next to Duron in the command circle.
“Unless you are going to help I ask that you stay out of the way,” said Duron.
“You can not win this battle,” said Zai, “not with your current strength.”
“You were thinking about killing us anyway,” said Duron, “Now you can watch the horde do it for you.”
“I never planned to kill any of you,” said Zai, “it was always my intention to take you all back to Earth before leaving in the event that you proved to be unworthy. However I have not had enough time to make my decision and I would like my ship to be in one piece when I take it back.”
Zai flipped open his arm device and began typing.
“What are you doing?”
“I am authorizing the release of the kite fighter strongarm system. I will also be activating the razor system on the Daedlus.”
Over the communications Ryoko shouted, “What the hell is he talking about Ardiniero?”
“You will see in a moment,” said Zai.
It happened all at once in every kite fighter squad. The panels on the sides of their fighters opened and deployed what appeared to be mechanical arms. And in what looked like holsters behind the front tip of the fighter there was something that looked like a pair of handguns.
“What the fuck is this?” said Raddy.
“That is the strongarm system,” said Zai, “use the handheld controls to manipulate the grapple arms and use your torso to steer and maneuver the fighter.”
Junitha was the first to use the grapple arms. She made them grab the guns from the holsters and she began shooting. The rest of the pilots followed her lead. The Spectral Horde did not expect anything like this. Their enemy had sprouted arms and was shooting them with handguns in space. Many of the pilots could not figure out how to use the grapple arms and they flailed wildly. Janessa was able to get the arms to grab the guns but she could not seem to hit a target.
In the command and control center Zai went back to activating the razor system on the Daedlus. While he did this Kerrigan gave Anyantha a signal. She nodded and whispered into her com watch. Elsewhere on the ship Evan listened to what she said. He nodded and Suchin Markjon got to work.
In the command and control center a ring descended from the ceiling and surrounded Duron.
“What is this?” he demanded.
“That is the control ring for the razor system,” said Zai, “With it you will be able to use the Daedlus itself to fight off the Spectral Horde. However when you use it you will have to shut down all other weapon systems on the Daedlus.”
Duron looked over the holographic display that described what the razor system was.
“Is this for real?” he asked, “Can this ship really do this?”
“It can,” said Zai.
So Duron gave the order, “shut down all cannon platforms. Close all gun ports.”
Ryoko called out, “Ardiniero, we have the pod fighters on the run but we can’t get close enough to the cruisers to use the pulse cannons.”
“I am ordering you all to take up defensive positions behind the ship,” said Duron, “we are initiating the razor system.”
“What the hell is the razor system?”
“It is something almost as insane as that strongarm system you are using right now.”
All of the squads did as they were ordered and the Spectral Horde fleet battle cruisers tried to move in for the kill. The wings of the Daedlus began glowing blue and they started to expand. The Daedlus charged forth as if to ram the incoming ships. Then the Deadlus began to maneuver in ways and with speed a ship that size should not have been capable of. The wings of the Daedlus began cutting the Spectral Horde battle cruisers in half. In the command and control center Duron Ardiniero stood in the center of a floating ring with his arms stretched out. The movement of his whole body told the Daedlus which way to go. Soon the remaining Spectral Horde ships were retreating. With the battle over Zai was about to leave the command and control center.
Duron called to him, “You did not tell us about these weapon systems. You kept more secrets from us. How are we supposed to trust you?”
“What makes you think I care if you trust me?” said Zai then he was gone.
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