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Mentar Palace Grounds, 2473: For years, we have tried to convince Dynalon of the true Meklar nature. Now that it is too late, he has asked for our advice. I don't know what to tell Dynalon when the time for our audience comes. For our part, we can only flee, with nowhere left to go. Perhaps an all-out attack on as many Meklar worlds as he can reach ... but it likely would not be enough. RBO-23 called him earlier today - called the whole Psilon people - and voided the alliance. It would only have done so if it believed it was positioned to achieve total victory.
The Meklar are now, without question, the most powerful empire in the galaxy. The Silicoids have crumbled into irrelevance - though they returned to the bombed-out Morrig system in hopes of expanding their empire once more, they had to fall back to their lone radiated world at Antares when RBO-23 assimilated their rebuilt Morrig colony last year. The Psilons and Bulrathi, if they bent all their power on defeating the Meklar, allying with each other in close coordination to defeat the bane of the galaxy ... at least might have a chance. They at least would be fighting for something, and Dynalon's technological edge at least makes him a power to be reckoned with. Since the Meklar have not taken the time to build up most of their worlds, he has not been left entirely behind, but remains a superpower in the galaxy. Yet his potential allies are dwindling in number. The Humans and Mrrshans ... are now but the Human and Mrrshan: Sasha and Prrlan. At first, when we heard the news that Romulas and Proxima had been assimilated by the collective, they were much in each other's company, often crying in each other's arms and speaking of their lost people and the agonizing relationships they'd had with their own cultures, but beautiful Miristys reminded them in time that we were three: I am the last of the Acerites, indeed the last of the people of Meklon not assimilated by the machines. Sasha wept still more then, but her tears were for me, and she bundled me into her arms until the hollow place inside me that I hadn't even recognized as it grew was filled with warmth and comfort again, with her kindness, and with love. It was then that I saw Miristys and Graur, sitting apart, with new eyes, and spoke fearful prophetic words: "Not just we three. If Dynalon and Durpp cannot be persuaded to act now, and act decisively, together, it won't be long before there are none of us left, of any species - until there are only the Meklar."
The reason the Meklar have not fully developed their worlds is in no small part because all their energies have been devoted to building their collossal death fleets, in preparation for this war. A pair of Capacitor cruisers, each with a warp dissipator and twin sets of tri-linked ion banks and heavy fusion cannons to go with all the computational and defensive power that can be assembled on-board, will only provide support for over a thousand Spark ion fighters, with hundreds more - and three more Capacitors - due to be completed next year ... and all this pales before the devastating force of the Meklar bombers: 190 Hack medium bombers left over from the Mrrshan wars are now supported by almost four thousand Meltdown 4 anti-matter bombers with class 8 defenses thanks to miniaturized stabilizers, and mark 6 battle computers. The entire fleet has been under construction for years, and gathering at muster points in preparation to dislodge Psilon fleets above Meklar worlds, and for a blitz attack on Dynalon the likes of which has never before been seen or imagined in the galaxy. Their only weakness is the alliance itself: If they had been able to develop a sufficiently advanced space scanner to scout Psilon stars without becoming allies, they could have used a scanner ship in recent years to determine the exact composition of the modern Psilon fleet, and adapt their own fleet designs and tactics in response. Now, they're going in blind, and we'll just have to hope they misjudged or underestimated the Psilon plans and fleets. I believe that is the only hope for the galaxy ... because there is another reason the Meklar never built up their worlds to full factory capacity, with the exceptions of ultra-rich Toranor, rich Iranha and Centauri, and the artifact world of Imra:
Most of their worlds have been kept at fifty to eighty percent of their population capacity ... while they shipped transports in a series of overwhelming waves toward every Psilon star, in an effort of logistical coordination impossible for anyone but RBO-23. All will arrive, along with the star fleets, simultaneously ... and almost before we can act! Still, act we must, as best we can. Dy rlas, the Mentar University Professor Emeritus of Field Mechanics, one of the many Psilons with inexplicable spaces at apparently random places in their names, has devised a plan of defense that might stop the Meklar fleets, and after failing to get anyone here to take him seriously, managed to covertly convince the governor of Celtsi. He needs to be present to personally coordinate the system's defenses, and local Psilon fleets are dedicated to the war effort exclusively, but if we can get him there in time...
We have to take the risk. Graur brings him aboard. We're bound for Celtsi.
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Melzyr Emergency Bunker, Celtsi, 2474: We made incredible time, thanks to the new upgrades Dy rlas helped Graur make to his engines, and the defenses have been arranged as best they can be in such a short time. I have my doubts that they can hold against the enormous Meklar assault fleet, but they'll have to - the Meklon-Psilon war has begun!
Almost sixty of the old anti-cat bombers are approaching, along with over 500 of the new Meltdown 4s - but our nearly 50 bases are supported by a defensive fleet of over 180 missile destroyers and over 200 Comet rocket fighters ... plus 11 Star Blades, carrying ten megabolt cannons apiece! With seventeen layers of shields at our bases, and each supporting three missile tubes of Herculars - the most advanced missile in the galaxy - we might hold out yet - if our plan is applied effectively.
Already, a Psilon force almost twice as powerful as our defending fleet here was stopped at the poor site of the Humans' last stand. Even though Zhardan lacked even a single missile base, it was defended by over 700 Meklar fighters and one of the deadly Capacitor cruisers. The destroyers expended their missile payloads and retreated, and the Star Blades were frozen in space by dissipator fire until time enough elapsed for their emergency home-bound hyperspace jump to kick in. Still, there's been hopeful news as well: Even Meklar coordination and production was insufficient for an attack on the scale they had planned: The small fleet that reached Gorra, with no hope of taking the Psilon fleet and fifteen missile bases there, was likewise forced to retreat! So the war is a stalemate thus far ... as the enemy closes in on us here at Celtsi! We're doing our best to help Dy rlas coordinate the planet's defense, and have full specs on the defending Psilon fleet, with notes on their absent ship classes as well.
The Dark Stars are beautiful attack ships, with Dissipators to kill Meklar maneuverability, repulsor beams to obviate their fighter stacks, Bio Terminators to turn their colonies into slush, and a pair of stinger missile racks and a heavy fusion beam apiece to hang around in any fight, together with the speed needed to get past Capacitor dissipator ships and reach their target worlds. None are here at Celtsi, but that's part of Dy rlas's plan: To defend, we use our missile boats to force their bombers to either waste time and energy dodging, and so take more hits from our Hercular bases, or to take the hits from our defense ships before they can reach bombing range. The Star Blades' dissipators may be of limited use if the Meklars are smart enough to go all-out against the planet, but those megabolt cannons will cut through bombers easily. We must concentrate all our fire on the meltdowns until less than a hundred are left, and then switch over only with fire from the bases. If we succeed, perhaps the other Psilon worlds can emulate us, and the Meklar gambit, their blitz on every Psilon star at once, will prove their undoing, and the end of their fleet!
The Meklar are coming! Hercular missiles wreak havoc on their Meltdown fleet, but the bombers reach the planet! I can hear the detonation of matter-antimatter explosions even through the walls of the bunker! The place is shaking! Our counter-attack is coming, but it may be too little, too late! Shrapnel fills the viewscreen as hundreds of bombers are shattered by missile fire and megabolt bursts - and the Meltdowns are gone! We're down to less than half our bases, but the Hack destroyer-bombers are burning too - another missile volley hits - and we're saved! The Meklar fleet is gone! We've won!
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Next: Outcome of the War
