Homestar Saga

Chapter 130: Still Standing

"Ready." Yvian's body spoke mechanically. Her soul was wrapped tightly around the Last Hope of the Ones Who Were Betrayed. The ship was still hurting, but it was nowhere near the level of agony she'd experienced before.

"Firing." Scarrend's voice sounded distantly through the comms. Yvian watched a single Hissith class fighter angle in towards the Hope on the opposite side of the ship's missing section. The Hissith opened fire, raining lances of plasma down on the Lucendian vessel. The Hope drank down the energy, wincing slightly in Yvian's mind.

"Cease fire," Yvian's body commanded. A few seconds later, the Hissith stopped. Yvian whispered encouragement to Hope and bid her farewell, breaking the connection. She allowed herself a few deep breaths, letting the tension out of her body before she gave her report. "The microfractures are mostly healed. It still hurts her to eat, but I don't think she'll be in danger if we make a jump."

"Thank the Bright Lady," Lissa grumbled. "We've been stuck here for two weeks."

"We're lucky she survived at all," Yvian pointed out. "Two weeks is pretty good, all things considered." Between the fission bomb and the energy overload of an exploding planet, the Last Hope had been on death's door when they initiated the jump. The glut of dimensional energy from the Gate had nearly shattered the crystal ship. Thank the Bright Lady they'd chosen an empty sector. Even passively absorbing the light of distant stars had almost been enough to kill her.

"I'm glad she made it." Captain Mims folded his arms. "Does that mean we can jump now?"

"We can jump," Yvian assured him.

"Good." Mims switched to general broadcast. "Warmaster Scathach, this is Mims."

"Go ahead, Scargiver."

"The Last Hope's in the clear. We can jump any time."

"Praise the Empire." Warmaster Scathach rumbled. "Have Yvian tell the ship not to eat our jump field."

"Understood." Mims gestured at Yvian. "You heard him."

"Alright, alright." Yvian sighed and braced herself as she reached for the Node. An unpleasant minute later, ten destroyers exited the South Gate attached to the Lucendian ship and her amplifier crystals. Yvian was back in New Pixa. Finally home. She saw the rest of the Vrrl fleet following behind as she began to withdraw from Hope's soul.

Before she could disconnect, a shot of joy jolted through her. The Last Hope had spotted the Skygem. The smaller ship left her hiding place at the North Gate, accelerating towards the Crystal Mother as fast as her kinetic fields could take her. Yvian shook her head, smiling. She should have known Lucendian ships could fly themselves without a pilot. The Skygem's excited approach would leave the North Gate less defended, but she wasn't going to begrudge the ship for running to her mother.

The crew headed back to the Priderender. They found Skrell Scathach on the bridge with Kilroy. The First Hsst of the Priderender stood in his customary stance, back straight and hands clasped behind his back. He'd removed his helmet, and his three eyes were scanning through his holodisplay with an expression bordering on disbelief. He waited for Yvian and company to reach his command dais before demanding, "How is this possible?"

"You're going to have to be more specific," Mims drawled.

"Don't toy with me, human," the Warmaster growled.

"I'm not," the Captain told him. "I just got here. I don't know what's going on."

"Warmaster Skrell Scathach is examining the debris of the human invasion force," Kilroy spoke up. "Peacekeeper unit Admiral Ender Zhukov reports the fleet consisted of ten million battlecruisers, two million destroyers, three million frigates, five million carriers, and two hundred million fighter class vessels. All targets neutralized. No escapes. No survivors."