Homestar Saga

Chapter 102: Klaath Queens

"Zhukov," Mims ordered, "I'm going to need you to evacuate all the stations."

"Negative," refused the Peacekeeper Admiral. "The Peacekeeper units will continue to perform their duties."

"We're going to have to use most of the ships we've got defending the stations," the Captain argued.

"I am aware," said Zhukov. "Peacekeeper units performing non-critical functions will evacuate, but necessary functions must be maintained. If we destroy the Queenships, those units will survive. If we do not destroy the Queenships, leaving the stations will not save them."

"I guess you've got a point," the human admitted. "Make it so. We make our move in ten minutes." He turned to Yvian. "Take the Skygem and dock her in..." he scrolled through a console next to the holodisplay. "...The Ballbreaker? Did we seriously not rename all the pirate ships?"

"We did," said Kilroy. His eyes glowed yellow with amusement. "This unit personally named the Ballbreaker. This unit knows you like to name ships after human music."

"And I suppose it's coincidence," Mims deadpanned, "that the closest terran battlecruiser is the one that you named?"

"Affirmative," Kilroy assured him. "It could just as easily have been the Bad Touch or the Bow Tie Daddy."

The human grunted. "Well, at least it's just the three."

"Negative," Kilroy corrected. "This unit has named One hundred twelve thousand, six hundred and seven vessels." His eyes glowed an even brighter yellow.

Mims froze.

"Are they all, uh," Yvian barely suppressed a snicker. "Did you name them all like that?"

"Like what?" Kilroy asked innocently. "Human song titles make excellent ship names. They will strike fear into the hearts of other meatbags. Even this unit would hesitate to face a vessel with a name like the Power of Orange Knickers."

Lissa giggled. Mims groaned. "Just take Skygem to the Ballbreaker, Yvian. We'll be right behind you."

Eight minutes later, Skygem and the Random Encounter were docked in the Ballbreaker. Ballbreaker was a Keter class Battlecruiser. Two kilometers in length, shaped like a spear. It bristled with MAC Cannons, Photon Pulse Arrays, and Plasma Rail Guns. As Yvian left the crystal ship and ran back to the Encounter, she noticed there were no other vessels in the hangar bay.

When she got back, Mims gestured at the holodisplay. "Here's what you missed." He zoomed in on the Stinger fleets. Five of the fleets had split in half. Seven Stinger armadas each accelerated towards a different Klaath portal. Two of the fleets continued towards the Gates. The last group, the one that didn't split, risked their hull integrity to increase their speed as they flew towards Yvian. "The Stingers are on the move. They should be able to shut down three of the portals before the Queens get far enough into the sector to defend themselves. We're sending Gladiator class fighters to join them, since they're the only things we've got that have MAC weapons that are fast enough to catch up."

"They will prove unnecessary," Kilroy predicted. "The Stinger units are Peacekeeper units. They will be sufficient."

"Better safe than sorry," the human replied. "There's no such thing as overkill when you're dealing with the Klaath." He shifted the holodisplay to show the other two sets of void stations. Small fleets of YEET Artillery Barges were moving away, escorted by fighters, frigates, and a few battlecruisers. "There are three more sets of Queenships that will make it halfway into the sector before we can get to them. We're sending a fleet of YEETs with an escort to join the Stingers and deal with them. Hopefully, the Stingers can stay just out of the Queens' range and clear enough ships out of the way for the YEETs to do their thing."