Homestar Saga

Chapter 122: The Fall of Brilend Prime

"Countermeasures." Admiral Fightsmart's hologram grimaced. It had been four days since the fall of Brilend Prime. The Krog looked tired. His pink skin looked rougher than usual, and his black greasy hair hung limply down his back. Still, he stood upright, his jutting jaw clenched. His snarl revealed sharp teeth, and his beady eyes burned with fury.

The bridge of the Random Encounter felt cramped. Lissa, Mims, Yvian, and Scarrend were all crowded around the holodisplay, but they'd made space for the holograms representing Admiral Fightsmart and the King of the Krog. Kilroy was absent, since no one wanted the krog to know about the Peacekeepers, but he was monitoring on the comms.

"I can't confirm it," Mims gestured at the paused sensor readings. Thousands of Vore Needles had just passed through the space the Vrrl fleet had vacated. Each Needle was half a kilometer long, and a third of a meter thick, tapering to a tenth of a millimeter at each end. "But I'm pretty sure the Needles were using some version of SHIELDBREACH. At the speed they were moving, they'd have atomized the Vrrl fleet when they hit."

"And Lucendian weapon?" King Tallest asked. The King of the Krog was leaned forward, elbows on the table in front of him. Even via holodisplay, Yvian was struck by the sheer mass of the man. The King was over three meters tall, and nearly two meters wide. His girth stretched the limits of his purple vest, and the plamsa turret he wore as a crown perched precariously on his oversized head. "That not stop it?"

"I don't think so," Captain Mims shook his head. "The anti-tech field disrupts complex technology, but anything that doesn't require active computing still works. Shields, life support and weapons aren't affected. I'm betting the Needles were set up so SHIELDBREACH would keep working. A full pulse would shut them down, but the range is a lot more limited, and it would have killed the Vrrl ships, too."

The human's voice was as steady as always. Yvian prayed to the Bright Lady it would stay that way. The Captain's two day bender had landed him in a med pod with broken hands and borderline alcohol poisoning. Yvian would not have insisted on being there for it if she'd known just how much seeing him that way would shake her. He'd come out of the pod as calm and composed as ever, but Yvian had not been reassured. The human's cold, professional calm was a lot less comforting now that she knew the broken mess beneath it.

"Mangy Vrrl can't kill Vore." The Tallest shook his head. "Even with Mimsey-cake, can't kill. How we stop?"

"We can't," the human admitted. "Even the Xill can't. That's why they joined up with the humans."

"What we do then?" The Tallest demanded. "What we do if Vore hit Krog Prime?"

"Evacuate," said Fightsmart. "Cut off Gates."

"No good," said the King of the Krog. "That only slow end of everything. Not stop."

"It's all we've got for now," said the Captain.

"We've only got one Lucendian ship," added Yvian, "but we're trying to grow more."

"And we're building up Pixa's military," said Lissa.

"The Vrrl Starfang Empire is on the hunt as well," Scarrend spoke up. "Every Mafdet from first to tenth is working on a way to kill the Scourge."

"Mangy Vrrl," Fightsmart grunted. "You really join stupid slutty pixens?"

"Call me mangy again," Scarrend growled. "See what happens."

"They're not insulting you, Scarrend," Mims cut in. "That's how their language translates." Yvian knew this wasn't technically true. The krog's formal words for species might be offensively descriptive, but they had shorthand versions that weren't. She almost said as much, but a look from Lissa convinced her to keep her mouth shut.