Judeor:Altiris Rising

Chapter 19:Strike

Captain Kollves, Itreal, Judeor and Lurana stood in silence, watching the recording on the holo projector.

"I don't have much longer. They may already know. You have to strike the factory now, before they reinforce it. I will get back as -

Shots were fired, and the spy collapsed, with several gaping holes in her chest. The recording cut out, as a Legion soldier destroyed the recorder under his boot. "Captain, have the fleet ready. We are running out of time", said Itreal. "At once", Kollves replied, and turned on his heel, exiting the command room.

The small fleet jumped to lightspeed, and emerged over a small Legion space factory. The Legion capital ships fired on them, covering the fighter deployment.

Judeor, Itreal and Lurana, along with 9 Alliance Commandos boarded a shuttle, and flew to the factory hangar. Several Legion corvettes intercepted them, taking out some of their escort, but two Alliance cruisers flew by, destroying the corvettes. One of the cruisers side swiped a frigate, sending it into another, clearing their path. Itreal entered the minds of nearby Legion pilots, causing havoc among them, thus making them easy pickings for an Alliance squadron.

At last, the shuttle entered the hangar, and the occupants exited. They were immediately fired upon by the hangar security. Judeor deflected the bolts with his saber staff, and retaliated with a burst of lightning, frying four of them. Lurana, Itreal and the Commandos disposed of the rest.

Two of the Commandos were suddenly pulled forward, and decapitated with a spear. Two more were shot with energy pistols, and another burned in a ball of black fire. The others faced off against a squad of Legion Commandos.

Three Legion Knights walked toward them, weapons drawn.

The Fire Knight attacked Lurana, Itreal took on the spear wielder, and Judeor battled the one with the pistols.

Judeor deflected the energy shots with his saber staff, and sent a torrent of air at the Knight. His foe ducked under the bolts and threw several energy capsules at him, blasting them with several pistol shots. Judeor shielded himself with a lightning net, but the explosions still staggered him.

Judeor retaliated, closing the distance with air and batted away several capsules with his saber staff. He pushed his foe back with an air spurt, but the Knight released a volley of energy balls from his pistols, halting Judeor's advance.

Judeor came at him again, but his foe evaded his attacks, and released several more energy capsules, destroying them with his pistols. The explosions gave him time to gain some distance, and by the time Judeor closed it again, the Knight's pistols had been reconfigured into electro rods.

Judeor attacked with his saber staff, but the Knight met each blow and pushed him back with a triple kick to the chest.

Lurana met her foe's pyrokinetic torrent with a lightning shield, but her power was insufficient, and she was forced to dodge. She immediately retaliated with a flurry of attacks with her energy pike, and unleashed a burst of lightning. The fire wielder blocked the lightning with a fire shield, and deflected her pike with her sword. Lurana continued her assault, striking her foe on the temple with the haft of her weapon and slammed her electrified palm in her chest, throwing her backwards. Lurana closed the distance and attacked with a low swipe, but the Legion Knight rolled away and got back to her feet. She released a volley of fire balls, followed by a fire torrent. Lurana met the balls with a lightning shield, and evaded the torrent.

The Legion Knight ducked under her counter and slammed the pommel of her sword into her jaw, and pushed her away with a slam kick to the chest. Lurana released a blast of lightning, creating space between them. The Legion Knight absorbed her attack, and channeled the energy into a flurry of sword strikes. Their weapons clashed, neither giving ground.

Judeor rolled under a volley of energy balls, and deflected several with his saber staff. He destroyed several energy capsules with a burst of lightning, and released a gust of wind, sending his foe to his back. He closed the distance between them and knocked his foe's pistols out of his hands. The Legion Knight batted his blade away with his arm and kicked him in the shins. He got back to his feet and as Judeor raised his saber staff for a decapitation, his foe slammed his elbow into his knuckles, and twisted his free arm, and dislodged his shoulder blade with his palm.

He slam kicked Judeor in the chest and followed it up with a barrage of punches to his chest. Judeor blocked several kicks with his healthy arm and shoved his foe away with a triple kick to the gut.

Judeor showered his foe with air and lightning, keeping him at bay, while simultaneously manipulating the dislodged shoulder blade, and it snapped back into place. Judeor winced with the spike of pain. He sent air flowing around his weakened arms, allowing him to more effectively counter his foe's strikes.

Itreal blocked another air wave, and struck back with a renewed mental assault, distracting his foe. The few seconds he gained allowed him to close the distance between them. He pounded away at his foe's defenses with his sword, and as the air wielder struck back with his spear, he slammed the pommel of his sword upward into the Knight's jaw. While his foe was off balance, he reversed his grip on his sword and impaled him through the gut.

The Legion Knight grasped his neck, and choked him with his other hand. Itreal tried to attack him with his mind, but the lack of air weakened his focus. Then, the grip on his neck relaxed, and the pressure lifted. The air wielder's head rolled on the floor, and his body joined it.

"Thank you," Itreal said, gasping for breath. "Can you continue?" Lurana asked. "I think so", he replied.

Judeor released his foe's electro rod, dropping it on its wielder's corpse.

"Captain, we eliminated their Knights. Send in the troops", Lurana said into her com link. "Right away", Kollves replied.

Several dozen troop transports flew towards the factory, escorted by several squadrons of fighters and 3 corvettes. Alliance soldiers rushed into the hangar, and the Altiris Knights and Commandos led the way. Several times they encountered Legion soldiers, but the Knights were able to keep the momentum going, and they reached the command center within the next 20 minutes. The Legion personnel inside surrendered, and were taken prisoner.

The Allies returned to the fleet, and the remaining 400 bombers destroyed the factory. What was left of the Legion fleet retreated to hyperspace.