As they proceed, they start to see more of our structures. Terra raised a question. "Do they always color their stuff red and black?" "Have you not seen them in the news or the internet? They have everything in dark colors. No one knows the reason behind this, but I can only assume that it's to match their appearance after living on a dangerous planet" Sterling responds to her.
That is not correct. The black color resembles us as remnants of the first Narukh'za and the red is the thirst for power the Narukh'za had since the beginning. Although the Lord has said that, the colors we chose don't actually mean anything, it doesn't have any deep meanings but the Lord thought it's better to do than nothing.
Kirin Solana cuts their conversation and told the other team to proceed. I swiped my screen to move my view to the other side. Sterling and Terra are sneaking up ahead, then stopped behind a barrack. They talked for a few moments before moving on. They are now closer to the center of the outpost, where most of the garrison units are.
I was amused as doubts were starting to appear once more, but they are able to shape those doubts into courage. Such resilient people, this is probably why Kirin Solana chose them. If nothing goes wrong, these people will truly grow and become the bests of Arkula, trained by Kirin Solana herself.
After some more sneaking, Sterling eventually planned for a distraction and Kirin Solana contacted their marksman. I listened to their conversation and Kirin Solana said "True, and that's not an uncommon thought nowadays. The Zakana are rapidly evolving in these past years, the evidence and observations are as clear as the Earth's blue skies and they told all of that to the public"
Even we Narukh'za are able to identify this abnormal evolution the Zakana were having. These disgusting aliens have been getting great breakthroughs with their genes and multiple unknown evolved creatures are being hatched. Even on this very day, the Narukh'za is struggling to keep records of the new creatures. We cannot afford to have even one alien unidentified.
This will be truly disastrous to the Arkula. The only Zakana they know is the Zakana that appears on their planets. The count of Zakana unknown to their database is great, these aliens are everywhere and evolving steadily.
After some conversation, the marksman is informed about the distraction and he decided to shoot a window from the headquarters building. Smart distraction, the garrison will surely surround the building, and Sterling and Terra can sneak up ahead to the weapon depot they've planned to go to.
Marve eventually shot the window and the outpost were put on high alert. Most of them surround the building and the others scatter somewhere else. Just like how I thought things will happen, a window has opened for the two to run up to the depot.
Once inside, the camera automatically advances through, and my screen shows the interior of the depot with the two girls inside. They looked around the building in a hurry and then Sterling decides to get some kind of demolition. After looking around, they found a... Ravager?! Ravager... One of our finest creations. A Ravager is a long dark steel barrel with a gem inside as its main source of power. The gem inside contains a small amount of our ancient power, we were able to compress a small amount of that supernatural power into a gem and we created a device to activate it.
The cannon is etched with lines throughout its whole body for the power of the gem to flow through. The first procedure of firing the cannon is charging the power of the gem. There are complex technologies inside the cannon for that and also hold the gem itself. The charging will continue up and will halt right before it overcharges. During this stage, most of the power from the gem has already formed inside. When a prompt is activated, the cannon will remove every restriction that holds the immense energy at bay, and finally overcharge the gem to unleash a powerful beam. The etched line helps strengthen the beam.
As the cannon unleashes a hellish beam, the gem will melt away in the process. Once this happens, the cannon will take some of the energy from the beam enough to perform a crystallization and form a new gem.
"N-no way!" I jumped up from the seat in surprise. I had my hands holding onto the screen. If she uses that, the outpost will be in total ruins! Is she insane?! Even though I knew they were enemies, I can't shake off the thought of them turning this place into dust. With the cannon in hand, Sterling stepped out of the depot and starts meddling with the controls.
The warriors were alerted at her presence holding one of our Ravagers. As the cannon charges, Sterling exchanges threats with the warriors. The moment it finishes they wasted no time, they fired the cannon and its mayhem began. Multiple warriors were caught by the beam and the others scatter away. It was a chaotic scene to witness, I've yet to see anyone fire that cannon within an area with people and buildings nearby. The amount of destruction it caused was unimaginable. There was also potential harm to the user and their allies, Sterling couldn't withstand the great power the cannon is giving and dropped it to the ground.
That's why only a few select warriors are able to wield this in the field, a small mistake in handling this cannon will cost greatly. Even though Sterling couldn't hold the cannon, she was still in control when the cannon was on the ground. Sterling keeps steering the beam toward the direction Terra is shouting to her. With a lot of casualties, the warriors began to ignore stopping Sterling and ran somewhere, but there weren't any places to run to. Sterling has almost melted everything around her when the beam finally halts.
Some of the remaining garrison units of the outpost were the crews of the Scourges, they scurried toward the tanks. Unfortunately for them, Kirin Solana has rigged the tanks with explosives created by her artificial eyes, and they ran to their own death.
They waited for the crewmen to start up their tanks before setting off the explosives. Very loud explosions erupted from the outpost I could hear them from outside. That was all the amusement I can get from this day. After the explosion, the remaining warriors exchanged fire with the enemies. Of course, miraculously, they survived. Sterling charged her Ravager once more to completely destroy the outpost. They looked around for a while before leaving.
I stare at the ruins of the outpost. Not a long while ago, this place was filled with activities and the sounds of working people. Now everything has turned into chars, debris and dead, burnt bodies everywhere. No Narukh'za has survived the wrath of our own weapon and Kirin Solana and her squad rides away with not even one wound. How can that be? I wondered.
My screen made a beep sound as it received an alert from Ladrak's spacecraft "I watched them the whole time. They burned everything down, no mercy, no survivors" He said over the frequency. He is probably angry about this. Outpost Van is annihilated by Kirin Solana herself and her squad of children. "Follow them but don't show yourself just yet" I said to him. "Yes, my Lord" He flew towards the direction where the squad went.
"They took the Ravager with them, take it back from them" I commanded him to take back the Ravager. "Of course, my Lord, I will take back the Ravager from these fools" He replied. I took control of Sizsha and followed Ladrak from above. Later on, we both managed to catch up with Kirin Solana. "Ladrak. Do not harm them. Just do what you can to take that back Ravager back" I told him and he replied with a yes without any question.
I slowed down and focused on the screen. With Ladrak nearby, I heard someone warning the squad of his presence. I quickly spoke to warn him. "Ladrak, you're detected. Stay alerted" He acknowledged my call and slowed down behind the squad. We both saw Kirin Solana looking behind and working with her eyes.
"Shit! It's invisible! How is that possible?!" Kirin Solana shouted in confusion as she witnessed a cloaked Demon Eagle. "Speed up!" She told her squad to speed up. Using the jet-engines of the bikes to the highest, they quickly disappear ahead. "Don't lose them, Ladrak" I told him and he quickly matches their speed. "Nothing can outrun our spacecraft, my Lord" He said as he quickly recover his distance from the squad.
My screen detected a signal highjack, but it wasn't directed to Sizsha. That's where I knew Ladrak went into Kirin Solana's eyes. With him inside their frequency, he told them his intention. "Then how about you uncloak first? We will stop and give it to you then" Kirin Solana gave a response. "My Lord?" Ladrak awaits my command.
"Go on" I replied and he quickly responds to her. "Do not try anything stupid. Lord Karuga is watching" He didn't have to reveal it to them, I assume he was just trying to intimidate them. I won't ever go down there whatever happens. After exchanging threats they finally stopped to face each other. I eagerly watched them.
"Well? Are you going to land and take it?" Kirin Solana asked. Ladrak returns to me for orders. "Go" I said to him. With my order, Ladrak landed his Demon Eagle before the Arkulans. I was surprised when the squad raised their weapons on him in which Kirin Solana asked to lower them back so as to not antagonize Ladrak. While speaking with them, Ladrak revealed himself and jumped down from his spacecraft.
I can see them filled with surprise as they see Ladrak's appearance. Perhaps this is the first time they see an elite uniform? Once properly facing the enemies, Ladrak introduced himself and once again tells them he wanted the Ravager back. Of course, knowing Kirin Solana, this won't go very well. Looking closely, Kirin Solana and Sterling began exchanging glances when they pulled out the Ravager. And without anyone telling her to, Sterling charged up the Ravager, alerting us both.
I don't know the reason for their aggression so I got heated up at the moment. "What the hell are you doing...?!" I angrily muttered. "You fool! Don't make yourselves regret this! Stop that Ravager now!" Ladrak appeared more furious than I did. I quickly told him to forget about it. "Ladrak, get away from there, phase out with the Demon Eagle. There's no stopping that person and I'm not going to lose you on this planet" With that, Ladrak rushed back to his fighter and flew.
The moment Ladrak is high up in the skies, the Ravager fires. Its powerful beam chases the Demon Eagle. "Evade that beam or you'll be gone!" I leaned closer to the screen as I watch Ladrak escape from the Ravager. After a few seconds, Ladrak found a window and phased out. However, half of the fighter was caught on the beam when he does. I quickly called for him.
"Ladrak! Are you alright?!" I nervously shouted. After a few seconds, he gave a reply. "...I have survived, my Lord. But my fighter's half is gone" Oh well, at least he's not injured. We have all the time we need to create another Cloaker Demon Eagle.
The Cloaker Demon Eagle. Basically, it's a Demon Eagle with a device to hide its presence by being invisible. During our war with the Krygstek, the Fourth Loyalist Zal'vana was tasked to raid a Krygstek research facility to halt their progression on whatever they were developing during that time. Zal'vana knew that destroying that facility won't do much damage to Krygstek, but she proceeded anyway. Knowing this, she commanded her army to scavenge any technology they can from the facility.
And from that day, we obtained ways of developing invisibility devices. It was very complex, we weren't able to grasp it, and took us a long time to figure it out. Even to this day, equipment with cloaking devices are still considered prototypes.
"That damned woman!" I glared at the screen with her smile all over it. Out of anger, I performed the same hijack Ladrak did and got into her eyes. "I will remember this, Kirin Solana" I cursed her name under my breath. My call doesn't seem to faze her, however. "Sure you will, sweetheart" "Sweetheart?! He-hey!" Before I could react to what she said, the frequency died. I punched the screen hard enough to make the display glitch.
Sweetheart?! Such disgraceful word to say to a Loyalist! My face burns in anger as I thought about it. Such sugary words like what that woman said are never tolerable within the Narukh'za. No Narukh'za should be heard saying those kinds of words or it will be their end. Also, that word she said... From what I gather, it's a word you would say to a person you love, romantically...
I don't know the reason why would she call her enemy that way but sure as daylight it got me all heated up. What's her problem? I can't believe I'm getting caught up with her antics, it's what her reputation speaks of.
I quickly shoved off the thought before I get overwhelmed. I looked back at the screen as I sigh. It displays the same area where Ladrak confronts her, now it's just sands and the tracks they left behind. I placed my fingers on the screen and moved them in a pinching movement. The display zooms out far enough that I can see Kirin Solana far away, close to their base. I sigh as I knew it was the end of the day. I turned off the screen and flew back to my fleet.