--Archaeus-- To the Ground Below [i]Chapter 7 -[/i] Counterattack (Part II) \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ Raghath approached the projections and reached for one with both hands. With a few gestures, he shrunk the hologram of the Beta mothership and walked to us with it in his hands. He gave me the speaking device, which I held outwards incase he wished to speak into it. "Humans, here is the Shyrdon Starship. As you can see, it is surrounded by many smaller Victory-class ships from its fleet, which act as a defensive perimeter to outside invaders. None of my ships, Ceteris's ships, or Nictus's ships were able to successfully pass that barrier and survive. But with the Destroyer you've recovered, we are able to make it so." Raghath pinched a small area of the mothership with two of his four fingers and spread them apart, which zoomed in on that specific area. "Here, humans, is where you shall be entering the ship. With that Destroyer, along with our portable Hyrshin explosives, you will be docking in that hanger bay, from which you will have to fight your way to the ships power core, here." He then zoomed in to a different area of the ship. This time, we were getting an interior look at this beast. More specifically, the center of it which contained the power core. Ceteris approached us after we finished looked at that view of the ship. "Humans, here is the explosive you will be carrying on your person with you to the core." It wasn't anything special-looking. It was quite small, and had two small cylinders on each side, which presumably had the explosives contained within. A small area of this device contained the buttons for handling the explosive. "When you are ready to activate the countdown timer, you press this button here. You will have five of your Earthly minutes exactly to escape the ship, or otherwise be swallowed by the chaos this device will surely cause." Ceteris gave the bomb to Jackson, and Raghath began to brief us on our escape plan. "The escape for such a heist, you may find to be difficult, based on your actions. By this point, you've alerted the entirety of the ship to your presence, and reinforcements will surely be converging on you. This is the best route, here. You are clear of any area that has much traffic. If you make for a quick leave, you should find this to be simplistic. But take a long while, and you will be completely surrounded by infantry. This route will lead you to hanger bay two, which has two docked Destroyers. You will take one and leave in it. I will order my fleets, as well as Ceteris's fleets to surround the perimeter of the Starship after you begin to escape. We will serve as a distraction so that you do not get shot down while leaving." Raghath then rolled the hologram into a ball, and threw it at the center projection, where it expanded back into a much larger hologram of the mothership upon entry of the projection field. A single Alpha then came to us with a floating cart close behind that had wrist shields on it. These ones were the same as we wore before. Once reaching us, the Alpha grabbed the speaking device. "You will all be wearing two of these shields to double your protection. Use them as sparingly as possible, as the recharge rate is a downfall we have not quite worked out yet. It, still, will make the outcomes of life and death entirely up to your quick, as well as smart decision making." The Alpha then walked away, the cart of shields following it, giving me back the device. Raghath then approached me. "This needs to be done fast. The sooner you are ready to go, the better. When you finish preparing, Ceteris and you will be on your way." Raghath walked over to the central projection module and began to tinker with something on it, while Ceteris, Mavis and I walked to the armory to join the rest of our task force. I couldn't believe we were actually about to do this. To invade the mothership, or Starship as the Alphas call it. Everybody wanted to believe this whole war was just a dream. But we new better than to do so with sincerity. If our solar system held the capacity to create an environment in which intelligent creatures could exist, it would be ridiculous to believe that it couldn't happen elsewhere. And because of this, the event of war between two species is bound to happen at some point. After about an hour or so of preparing, we were ready to leave. I found Ceteris and told him that my team was good to go. He took a moment himself to gather his Zealots, and we all entered the Destroyer. General Mavis, along with a few squads of soldiers, stayed behind with Raghath and the Nyr. The hanger bay doors slowly opened up, allowing us to leave the ship. I took a moment to check my gear before our arrival. I looked to the Zealots who were putting on their helmets, which covered up their heads completely. They then grabbed their plasma weapons, which glowed a bright blue color upon them coming into contact with the guns. Jackson was carrying the explosive, so he spent some time getting it tied tightly to the back of his utility belt. After I checked all of my gear, I just stood at the side of the ship, staring out the window. Watching as we slowly departed from Earth and entered the vast void of space. It was finally time...time to end this.