The Evon Experience
by Alex Poff

Chapter 8 The Meklar War Continued… Or Not

Labon’s input to Lebak and the High Council was relatively straightforward. An assault on the Meklar via the Orion system was simply out of the question. An alternate route had shown itself, however. Upon further analysis of new available star charts, it was determined that an alternate route was available via another wormhole located in the Rayden system. The Rayden system was currently held by our allies, the Olaptra, the humanoid Psilon species. Rayden was located between Moya, the northeastern edge of our Empire, and Tapau and Tuscanni, the two systems we had taken so long ago which now stood as two “island” systems located amongst systems held by numerous allies. From Moya, we could travel through the barren Drossel system, and then through Gieneh, also held by the Psilons and into Rayden to access the wormhole. The wormhole would take us to the far southeast quadrant of the galaxy to a system called Juta, which was currently held by one of the bug species who called themselves Tachi di. We had recently signed a Non-Aggression Pact with this formidable species, so transit through their space was not going to be a problem. There were two systems south of Juta that were “dead-ended” which, for the time being, did not warrant any concern. It was to the north of Juta that the first system of the Meklar Empire lay, called Maestrom. This system held six planets, one of which was Meklar. Our allies, the Psilons and the Trilarians, held the other five planets. Long-range scans indicated numerous ships from each faction, and, lacking any real input from anyone else, we assumed that our friends were struggling with the Meklar as well. Beyond Maestrom lay the entire Meklar Empire. This was the route we would take to begin our assault on the mechanical menace.

The Nommo question still had to be answered. Because we no longer required a Non-Aggression Pact with this spineless species to access the Meklar Empire, the High Council decided to play hardball. We counter-offered, asking for additional technologies in return for our mercy. To be honest, Lebak cared not, one way or another. He was extremely confidant in Labon and his military. If the Nommo chose to accept our offer then we would profit from it; if they chose not to accept, they would die. It was frighteningly simple.

Labon contacted Hektar in the Heda system and informed him of the planned operation. He was ordered to assign defense of the system to whomever he saw fit and to report back to Tapau immediately for redeployment as the 2nd wave commander. Coilis was going to get his shot. Coilis would lead the 1st wave through the Rayden wormhole and attack the Meklar in Maestrom, departing from Tuscanni immediately. Coilis alerted his fleet officers and off they set. Coilis was confident. He had defeated the Meklar previously, here in Tuscanni, and with much less powerful ships at his command. Now he was going to battle with a full ten TF fleet of various generation Superdreadnoughts and he couldn’t wait to take a bite out of their mechanical asses.

Coilis led his fleet through the jump lane from Juta to Maestrom and initially heard and saw exactly what he expected. As the “Red Alert – Proximity Warning” alarm sounded, sensors picked up ten TF’s in the system, four Meklar, three Psilon and three Trilarian. As indicated earlier, there was only one planet in this system that was held by the Meklar and our political contacts had indicated that our allies were currently fighting with the mechs for control of the system. It was our intention to come to the aid of our allies, take the one Meklar planet for ourselves and use it to establish a launching point for all future incursions.

“Status report!” demanded Coilis. “All ships’ defenses and weaponry are on-line, Captain. Four Meklar TF’s dead ahead, sir. They have locked weapons,” replied his tactical officer. We had ten TF’s. Were the Meklar suicidal, thought Coilis? “Report on our allies’ position” stated Coilis. “Sir, it appears they are taking up flanking positions to us, the three Psilon TF’s are forming up on our left and the three Trilarian TF’s are forming up on our right. But something is very strange, sir, I can’t seem to raise them on any communications channel.” “What!” replied Coilis. He instantly had a very bad feeling about this situation. “Helmsman, relay an encrypted message to the fleet immediately. Full Reverse, Now!” he screamed. But it was too late.

The Psilon and Trilarian fleets turned inwards on our fleet and opened fire at point blank range. “Launch all fighters, now!” ordered Coilis. “Missile boats, target the Trilarian and Psilon ships. Fire at will.” We had been deceived on a grand scale. The rear of our fleet had their asses exposed to these traitors and if it hadn’t been for our superior armor all would have been lost in an instant. It was almost a certainty that many of our ships were lost that day by explosions from our own missiles, which were launching and detonating on target, which seemed like only scant meters from their launch tubes. If it hadn’t been for our overwhelming firepower and the apparent lack of equal shielding and armor available to our former allies, all would have been lost. Meanwhile, the four Meklar TF’s were closing fast, their powerful beam weapons reaching out across space, smashing into Coilis and our front-most ships. “Sir, the rear threat has been eliminated”, reported his tactical officer, “but we have lost five TF’s. They’re just…gone, sir.” There was no time to mourn, because a significant threat was still bearing down on them. “Do we have any missiles left?” “Yes, all missile boats remaining have two tubes,” came the reply. “Then target those damn mechs and fire, now!” ordered Coilis. Already, another TF had seemed to evaporate under the Meklar’s powerful beam weapons. Our missiles and remaining fighters raced across the sky to engage these demons. With our missiles reaching their targets, Coilis’s hopes began to rise. Through the main view screen, Coilis could see the devastation his missiles were causing. But would it be enough? We were now down to only three TF’s and all missiles had been fired. All remaining ships reported serious damage and many had major hull breaches and still one remaining Meklar TF continued to close, all the time firing its’ weapons of intense p ower, seemingly picking his targets on a whim. “Have we got anything left, other than Point Defense?” “Yes, sir, our only remaining fighter squadron has refueled and is launching now, captain!” exhorted the tactical officer. “Then order all remaining ships to withdraw. We can’t take on that TF with just Lightning Generators, he’ll tear us apart,” ordered Labon. “Do your stuff, flyboys, do your stuff.”

Our remaining fighter squadron, did indeed, do their stuff, sacrificing their lives to complete their mission. The final Meklar TF was finally destroyed with a final intense burst of Lightning Generator fire from Coilis’s own ship. As it turned out, our fighters had all but eliminated the Meklar when our last fighter was blown from the sky. Coilis and his sole remaining wing had turned to engage the Meklar point blank, reversing his previous order. His wing had been utterly destroyed as the Meklar could only choose to fire on one of the two attacking TF’s. It had simply been Coilis’s lucky day that the Meklar had chosen to fire right instead of left, or it would have been his wing reporting the victory, yet brutal devastation of the fleet, to Labon. Coilis called in the report with only three ships remaining intact out of an original fleet of one hundred and eighty. He was returning to Juta, where he would hook up with Hektar and the 2nd wave, but not after laying down, which was now, onl y a symbolic bombing run on the Meklar planet in the Maestrom system.