Hundreds of twin-fusion bombers roared into the sky, supported by over a thousand fighters, each mounting a real (non-laser) weapon ... and a fleet of missile cruisers with a payload of 1,855 Stingers. The missile cruisers were quicker to fire than any of the defending forces, and all the bombers and hundreds of the fighters used actual combat speed. The bases fell, one and all. Fighters burned in the sky, endlessly. The bombers could barely be scratched before they dropped their deadly payload, and though nearly all the enemy fighters died, all but a handful of the Sakkra fighters burned with them, together with every missile base on the planet's surface. 358 factories went up in flames, and no less than 79 million Sakkra died - nearly two thirds of the planet's population - under a relentless hail of stingers and fusion bombs from above. The planet held - just barely - but another fleet was on the way ... and another was bound for Anraq, in its glowing nebula, where no shielding, even on a planet's surface, could be sustained. The Klackons came in, thousands strong, with agile fighters and bombers such as RBO-29 himself might almost have designed. (A slightly different choice of weapons on the fighters, less armor in favor of more maneuverability if possible, computers, or - thanks to cheaper costs - ships ... and they'd pretty much be there.)
In desperation, the dragon traded technology to his friends in the galaxy for such devices as might conceivably aid his cause.
The greatest hope was for ships built with Mrrshan-designed auto-repair systems, acquired in exchange for atmospheric terraforming technology, but the Dragon took whatever he could get that might miniaturize his ships, improve his defenses, or increase his people's productivity. Scatter Pack Rockets devised by the Alkari were acquired for the latest improved industrial construction techniques, as were outdated robotic controls from the Darloks (to help with spying and computer miniaturization, even a little bit). Atmospheric terraforming went to the Darloks as well for enhanced ecological restoration techniques - and the Sakkra themselves developed Stinger missiles even as they traded their old Merculite designs and atmospheric terraforming to the Alkari, for an old battle computer and the plans for an anti-matter bomb. They taught Miamar their oldest terraforming techniques in exchange for outdated duralloy armor, just to miniaturize their fleets ... the year before she again declared war on them. Sakkra scientists came up with advanced soil enrichment techniques as much to help their colonies' meat shields breed more quickly as for any other reason. They built defenses of every kind they could ... and still the Klackons flooded into Sakkra space with invincible bomber fleets.
The dragon had his ruined colonies rebuilt only to see them turned to glass again, often in the course of a space battle. Anraq twice, the back-line world of Rigel, the reach colony of Galos, again and again, in the central galaxy, and Imra - not for the first time, though the first since it became so heavily defended - burned out in blazes of terrible glory. Growl cruisers, fitted with auto-repair nanites, patrolled the skies, but even they couldn't stand up to the largest fighter fleets, nor kill enough bombers soon enough to keep hundreds from reaching planetary bases, and Sakkra production centers were too desperately needed for present defense to think of completing even a single full-sized battleship. Klackon colonies were built on the ruins of Sakkra cities, reduced to cinders themselves by the lone Sakkra bomber fleet, and replaced anew by tiny Sakkra colonies where fully-developed worlds once had been. Perhaps in time the Growls and bombers might have begun to turn the tide, but the danger was immense, and it was not put to the test.
After enormous losses of ships and population on both sides, in 2473, Kikitik approached RBO-29 with an offer of peace. And for the first time in galactic history, in spite of its being proposed by another, the dragon accepted cleanly. He immediately began trading for desperately-needed technology - Atmospheric Terraforming and Advanced Soil Enrichment, heedless of the benefit that both would provide the insects, thinking only of worlds already made gaiian that would one day be his, for an advanced ECM Jammer to improve his computing power, his spies' hacking ability, and his planets' hope of survival in the face of bombs and missile volleys ... and the object of his greatest desire: A deep-space repulsor beam. The Darloks too eventually received scatter pack rockets for an older variety of ECM, because war with the Klackons was sure to resume, later if not sooner ... and another war was still ongoing, and being taken very seriously. The year after another transmission from Orion opened a new High Council meeting (as inconclusive as ever) Iranha was attacked by a massive Mrrshan fleet.
Shown here in composite with the Leopard cruiser and Cheetah destroyers (thankfully, none of those designs were present) discovered by a scanner ship in Mrrshan space the year before, Miamar's highly maneuverable and (of course) incredibly accurate battle fleet carried 229 Omega-V bomb racks mounting ten apiece, and 164 Stinger missile launchers - the payload was two apiece, but Sakkra scanners couldn't even depict them before the first set had already been launched! Even with their new ECM and a Terror 4.0 repulsor cruiser in place, the planet lost all eight of the missile bases it had managed to finish by then, some forty million Sakkra, and all of its factories. And four years later, seeking to expand, the Meklar announced that their non-aggression pact was voided.
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Next: Flying High?
