Chapter Twenty Seven: Wreckage
“My god…” the helmswoman had breathed when we saw Treno destroyed, I must admit I couldn’t disagree with her. We had stood, our mouths agape as the churning sea of fire tore through the buildings and people down there, I daren’t think of the casualty rate of the attack, the last time I had checked the population total of Lindblum it had numbered somewhere in the seven thousand region, probably higher now. Judging by the lack of people leaving the city by its main roads I judged the attack had come as a complete surprise and therefore there was little chance of many survivors.
Even more of a surprise had been the reappearance of the Invincible, the ship that myself and many others had thought destroyed over Dali.
Someone, somewhere has got a lot of explaining to do I thought bitterly to myself.
We had closed in to engage the Invincible, the Odin cutting around from the other side of Treno but had been caught by surprise by the ferocity of the Invincibles attack, I remembered the last time it had attacked a city, Alexandria to be exact, although it had caused major damage it hadn’t utterly destroyed the city, like it had here.
I thanked myself that it was Treno and not Alexandria the ship had attacked and then chided myself for being so callous, after all, what difference was there in national boundaries in an atrocity like this!
The Odin had moved within weapons range but the Invincible had suddenly shot off, not at its top speed, I could see that the ship was damaged, smoke had poured from its engines as it moved off, but at a speed greater than ours thus making pursuit impossible.
I ordered the Odin to patrol the area should the attackers return and sent the Red Rose into the centre of Treno, below us lay burnt or burning ruins of houses and towers, I could occasionally see a mangled and blacked body flung into the wreckage from the blast.
If the Invincible is still intact then what about Thunderchild? I wondered
When we reached the centre of Treno there was nothing but a blackened crater left, the buildings and people in the centre of the city had been totally vaporised for about a quarter of a mile in all directions. I shook my head and walked back inside the main bridge, trying to get the horrifying images out of my head.
“Do we land?” asked a crewwoman
I sat down on the chair and thought.
“No…not yet, send word back to Alexandria, tell them to send a couple of cargo ships here and search for survivors, we’d better…”
“General Beatrix! Lindblum warships bearing two-six-oh! Approaching fast!”
“Battle-stations, bring us about and arm cannons.” I ordered, when the crewwoman just stared at me incomprehensively I thought I’d better explain myself a little.
“It might be the enemy again, they used old Lindblum ships before.”
She nodded and sent the appropriate orders.
“Are you sure these are the right co-ordinates?” I asked the helmsman, a man by the name of Robert Tyler.
“Yes sir…this is, or should I rather say, was Treno.”
I stared at the view in front of me, fires burned out of control amidst rubble and broken homes.
“What has happened here?” I heard someone whisper softly behind me, I sighed
“We were too late…this is Fury’s doing.”
“Regent sir, there’s a ship bearing zero-four-five…it looks Alexandrian.”
I turned to the communications officer.
“Where’s the Red Rose and its escort?”
She shrugged
“I don’t know sir, she hasn’t reported in for half an hour.”
I sighed and cursed, it would be devastating for the Alexandrian forces if General Beatrix had been killed.
“She’s coming about sir, it looks like her cannons are at full readiness too!”
“Red Alert, all hands to battle-stations, bring us to port and prepare to fire!” ordered the commanding officer of the Vigilance, Commander Noding.
I took the telescope and frowned, staring through it I made out the dim highlights of the Red Rose in the skies above Treno.
“Hold your fire!” I shouted
“Sir?” asked Noding, confused as to my reaction.
“It’s the Red Rose, General Beatrixs ship. Signal our approach to them, they probably think we’re one of Fury’s ships.”
The comms officer nodded and began working straight away.
“General…we’re receiving a transmission from the lead Lindblum vessel.”
“What is it?” I asked, surprised
“It says…Red Rose, Red Rose, this is the Lindblum warship Vigilance, stand down, we have no, repeat no, hostile intent towards your vessel.”
“Send the following message: This is Red Rose, how can I trust your intentions are honest?”
She sent the message and we waited for a time, the Lindblum ships drew closer.
“They’ll be in firing range within five minutes.” Cautioned the firing officer.
I nodded at her and took a closer look at the ships, they weren’t lying about their identity, if my eyes were correct then we were looking at three Lindblum cruisers, two V class and one T class ships. But whose side were they on?
“Another message coming through…Red Rose, We are carrying Regent Cid, repeat Regent Cid, he wishes to discuss recent events with General Beatrix…we’re being asked to pull alongside the Vigilance ma’am.”
I nodded
“Very well, maintain our current course and speed and signal our intentions to meet with them, but don’t stand down. In fact, have the Odin follow us in…just in case.”
“Yes Ma’am.”
I turned back to the window and stared at the darkened vessels, one of them looked damaged, fairly badly in fact.
“What is going on here?” I muttered to myself.
I dodged a sparking cable on my way down the corridor and cursed myself for my dramatic flair. In my pursuit to overawe and annihilate the inhabitants of Treno I had pushed the Invincible way beyond its design capacities and as a result had shorted out many systems, including propulsion. Although we weren’t dead in the water we were at reduced speed for now.
“Dammit!” I swore, stopping just before the doors to the bridge I gathered my composure and walked forward.
Nagy and Xola were standing still staring at the viewscreen while Zidane sat slumped in the corner of his cell.
“We are proceeding with stage two.” Said Ilvian, as he worked the controls for the Invincible.
I nodded and stood watching the viewer as it displayed the fading image of Treno, or what was left of it, as we travelled away.
“Did you get a good view?” I asked Nagy
“You’re sick.” He muttered shaking his head in disbelief.
I shrugged
“To some perhaps, to others…I am…their leader.”
“What? Do you think all the nations of this planet are going to fall into line and worship you because of what you’ve done here…if anything this is likely to spur them into acting against you…for all you know their ships could be attacking your main castle by now.”
I shook my head
“That wouldn’t be advisable…Terran particle cannons defend every approach to Oeilvert, only a fool would dare attack it by air.”
I then swore at myself for giving away such information.
You’re slipping Fury. I thought
I sneered at Nagy and turned away, walking forward to the viewer and thought:
We had collapsed in exhaustion created by the passing of the adrenaline surge caused by baring escaping with our lives.
Reiganna put a comforting arm around Alex who looked like she was about to pass out.
“It’s happened again…it’s happened again.” She kept repeating to herself.
“Alex…it’s not you that’s caused this,” said Reiganna “It’s Fury…he’s…he’s…Domino’s husband.”
Alex looked up at Reiganna
“Thunderchild?”
Reiganna nodded
“Thunderchild did this?”
Reiganna nodded again, a little more sorrowfully this time.
“The bastard…” swore Alex as she stood up “We have to stop him.”
“I don’t know if he can be stopped.” Said Snikity
“Of course he can.” Protested Alex looking hopefully at Reiganna who simply shook her head and shrugged.
“I don’t know…essentially he’s still the same Thunderchild, there’s no doubt about that, but until we can find someway to rid him of that poison, he’s Fury.”
“Then let’s find a way!” said Alex, stomping her foot in a move which reminded me of Domino, obviously the two had shaped each others expressions and behaviour during their friendship.
“Maybe this Doctor would know?” I asked, pointing to the unconscious form of Doctor Tot lying propped up against the wall.
Reiganna nodded and knelt beside him, checking his wounds.
“Maybe he does, but if we can’t get him out of here then we won’t get a chance to tell him…these wounds will kill him if we don’t get him seen to.”
“Can’t you heal him or something?” I asked the silver genome
Reiganna shook her head
“Not fully, not while I’m out of the forest.”
Alex stood up and placed her hands on her hips.
“Then lets take the Gargant to Alexandria!”
Reiganna nodded
“It’s our only way out of here, you go and call it Alex. I’ll bring Doctor Tot.”
Alex nodded and ran down the small tunnel to our right.
I stood there for a moment looking at Reiganna.
“What is this ‘Gargant Roo’?” I asked her
When she answered I didn’t believe her the first time so she explained again, and then as we walked out onto the platform I saw that what she was saying was true.
I was having a hard time believing a lot of what Cid was explaining to me but after recent events I was forced to believe him…forced to believe that one of our greatest warriors was now one of our most despicable figures of hate.
“So…the Invincible wasn’t destroyed?” I asked
Cid shook his head.
“No, somehow, we don’t know how, the explosion was a ruse. We didn’t know the Invincible was still intact…when we last encountered Fury he was using the Hildagarde V.”
“Excuse me? Hildagarde Five?”
Cid coughed and averted his eyes.
“She was due to be launched next week…Fury stole her right from our most top security facility.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“And why didn’t you tell us this ship was about to be commissioned. I have no reports of a new class of warship entering the Lindblum fleet.”
Cid waved his hand dismissively.
“Look General, it doesn’t matter….really, it doesn’t, because we have to unite against Fury…he possesses Terran technology beyond our years. I have reason to believe he used Neutron torpedoes to bomb Treno…that’s why they caused so much damage even before the Invincible arrived.”
“But those ships…we saw Lindblum warships in the bombing fleet…how do I know you haven’t allied with him and even now are preparing to strike against Alexandria?!” I protested, standing up from my chair and pointing at Cid who raised an eyebrow.
“General Beatrix, as I have already said, those ships were lost over the Forgotten continent nearly a week ago. We were as just as surprised to see them as you were. I assure you, they were not under our control.”
I could see honesty in the mans eyes, he was telling the truth or believed it was the truth anyway. I sat back down in the chair and leaned back, thinking through what he had told me.
“We’re in big trouble here aren’t we?” I finally said after a couple of minutes.
Cid nodded and leaned forward.
“This is even worse than the Eidolon war.” He said.
Oh, you had to bring that up didn’t you? I thought, a pang of guilt striking me as I remembered how wrong I had been in my choice of allegiance in that war. But he was right, even though my former queen had possessed the power of the eidolons for the rest of her shortened reign, and even though Kuja and Garland had tried to destroy Gaia…this was a lot more deadly. Although the Black Mages of Kuja were powerful, they weren’t as unstoppable as technology that was thousands of years more advanced than ours.
“How do we even begin to combat such a menace?” I asked
Cid shook his head
“I don’t know, and it gets worse.”
“It does?” I asked, wondering what other surprises Cid had in store for me.
“Yes…a friend of Domino’s…Reiganna her name is, claims to have seen Fury’s base of operations, we suspect that its location is at Oeilvert. Anyway, she claims that he has amassed an army the size of which surpasses anything this world has seen to date.”
“Is this information reliable?” I asked him
He shrugged
“To be honest I don’t know…and there’s no way to ask any of them.”
I frowned
“Why? What’s happened?”
“The Hildagarde III was taken down by Fury’s fleet during the somewhat abortive battle over the Forgotten continent. Domino, Zidane, and three people from the Discworld were on board. Reiganna and two other Discworld colleagues left by Silver Dragon…they were heading for Treno…I haven’t seen or heard anything of them since.”
My heart skipped a beat. Zidane? The Queen would be devastated to learn her husband…our king, was missing.
“Did you see what happened to the Hildagarde? Did it blow up, crash land, what?”
Cid shook his head
“We were too busy fleeing for our lives.”
I sighed again, this whole event was turning into something of a nightmare, and I knew it was going to get worse.
“What direction did the Invincible flee in?” asked Cid suddenly
“Pardon?”
“What bearing did the Invincible run on…you said the Invincible fled at high speed after you arrived…where did she go?”
I didn’t know, to be perfectly honest, I had been too busy staring at the wreckage of Treno to really worry about the Invincible…but now I wished I had paid more attention. I picked up the intercom microphone and hit the button for the bridge.
“Bridge, this is Beatrix…what direction did the Invincible leave on when she fled the area?”
There was a pause and then I heard the voice of our navigational officer come on the line.
“General…the Invincible left on a course of zero-zero-zero, she was heading exactly north ma’am.”
I heard Cid curse and I did too.
“Helm set a course for Alexandria,” I turned to look at Cid “Will you join us?” I asked, he nodded but said
“I’ll return to the Vigilance.”
I nodded and returned to speaking into the microphone.
“Lay in that course, and prepare to depart, we’ll be leaving as soon as the Regent returns to the Vigilance, make it at our best possible speed. I want as much power out of those engines as possible!!”
I slammed the microphone back down on the wall, Cid was already leaving, we hadn’t much time to lose, and Alexandria could already be under attack.
As I reached the bridge, following Cid until he branched off to return to his ship, my worst fears were confirmed, as indeed were Cids.
“We’re receiving distress signals from Alexandrian and Lindblum ma’am. They claim to be under attack by unknown airships using unknown weapons which are causing a large amount of damage.”
The report of attacks on Lindblum made me stop and think for a moment, which way was the Invincible really going? Had he headed north to fool us to going to Alexandria when his real destination was Lindblum. I decided that my first duty was to my Queen and my country and stood by the decision to return to Alexandria and at the fastest speed possible…for all I knew the city was about to receive the same fate as Treno.
“Sir…we’re receiving reports from Lindblum, they’re under attack!”
“What?!”
The comms man turned in his seat and nodded.
“Yes sir, the defence systems are in operation but are having little affect, airships of unknown origin are launching a powerful attack against the city.”
“Is there any sign of the Invincible?”
The comms man looked back at his station and shook his head
“Not at the moment sir.”
I sat back in the command chair and thought, if I followed Beatrix to Alexandria and left my own city open to attack then I would be failing the people of my country. After all, there couldn’t be two Invincibles could there?
Could there?
I shook my head, dismissing the thought and sticking by my decision to head for Alexandria, after all, Fury had already attacked Lindblum when he stole the Hildagarde…the only city he hadn’t performed some form of powerful attack against was Alexandria.
“Do we head for home?” asked Commander Noding
I shook my head
“Maintain current course and speed.”
Nodings eyebrows shot up his forehead
“Sir? Our capital is under attack!”
“I’m aware of that Commander!” I snapped “But I’m sure our fleet can handle the attackers and limit the damage.”
“What’s left of our fleet.” He muttered
“Commander…if I hear one more word like that I’ll have you stripped of your rank and placed in detainment. Now, the order stands, maintain current course and speed.”
As Noding stood back I wondered whether I had made the right decision…whether I had just sentenced Lindblum to a fiery destruction.
Even if I was there I thought to myself What could I do to save the city…what power have we against Fury and his advanced technology?
The Invincible set down quietly on the outskirts of Alexandria, I had taken great care to slip past their airships, using the night and the air raid I had ordered to my advantage.
“Fleet wings two and three report a successful attack.” Said Rhiana from the helm.
I smiled and crossed my arms.
“Excellent…and the play is almost at the interval. Look at me, I have the most advanced ship of my enemies, the destruction of a major city and the king of another,” I said, pointing to Zidane “But…something is not right…something is missing.”
I walked closer to the genomes cell, Yugami stood next to me, saying nothing…come to think of it both her and Kitiara had been very quiet since the attack on Treno. I would have to investigate the cause of their silence later.
“Ah…I see what it is now…our genome friend here is lonely.”
Zidane looked up at me, caution and alarm in his eyes.
“After all,” I said with an evil smile “What is a king without his queen?”