Inquisitor's Promise (Act Three, Chapter Twenty-Five)
The Holy League had been united, but the Grey Globe continued to move towards Earth. Aeneas and the members of his inner circle knew they had much to do and little time to prepare.
Chapter Twenty-Five: Battle of Portal Zero
In the Electrosphere, the Grey Globe were now close upon Portal Zero and would soon reach Earth Space. Three hours was its estimated time of arrival.
Back on Earth, Aeneas felt oddly confident about his chances. He had everything that he needed. But more importantly, he knew his enemy. He had learned everything that he could about the Grey Globe: its history, its commander, its army, its schematics. Working together with the recordkeeper Halpful, he had memorized the structure of the Grey Globe from top to bottom. And for good measure, he had it downloaded to his nav-comm.
As for his army, he was able to gather together the strength of the Holy League to bear. Not just from the surface of the Earth, but also the Earth’s interior, the Electropshere, the Moon, and even further beyond. He hoped that they would all play their part.
At the moment, Aeneas was at the bridge of the Lepanto. Normally, he would usually leave that place to Admiral Mario Riva. But Pope Peter Paul III wished to say some words of encouragement to him and the crew of the Lepanto. The Inquisitor could see the elderly face of the Supreme Pontiff on the bridge’s large screen.
“Fight on, sons and daughters of the Church. And may God be with you,” His Holiness said.
And with that, the Lepanto flew towards Portal Zero as the flagship of the United Holy League Fleet. During the flight, Aeneas could feel the tension in the air. Everyone was on edge, eager to get this battle over with; the Captain General of the Church was no exception.
Aeneas moved to leave the bridge and prepare for battle when he was stopped by his ship captain.
“What is it, Mario?” Aeneas asked.
“We are nearing the Grey Globe. How about you give us all a speech?”
Aeneas raised his eyes. “A speech?”
The Inquisitor never considered giving a speech, he thought that what the Pope had told them should suffice. But he might as well give it a try.
With the Lepanto’s communications system set to deliver his words not just to the ship’s crew but also the United Holy League Fleet at large, Aeneas began his speech:
“Soldiers of the Church! Do not be afraid of death, for we fight for a noble purpose. We fight for our Earth! The very world that God had created for us. The world that He had given to us. The very world that Our Lord had walked upon. Do not be afraid of defeat, either. Because God is with us. And if God is with us, then who can be against us?”
Having said that, Aeneas left the bridge to prepare for battle.
In the meantime, the Holy League Fleet continued to move towards Portal Zero. And not a moment too soon as the Grey Globe became visible to the fleet at large; the gargantuan structure had just reached Earth Space.
Mario took a deep breath as he saw the large circular structure. The structure that was responsible for the deaths of so many. For Admiral Mario Riva, this was also personal. His youngest son was killed in the first disastrous Venetian attack on the Grey Globe. His nephew, the second.
He was glad that the Captain General had given him the overall command for the space battle.
It was clear that the Grey Globe had noticed the Holy League’s presence. And so, it launched its ships and fighters at their fleet.
This was when Methuselah’s energy defense system came into play. Taking the form of flat discs, the colorful energy ships began to engage the Grey Globe’s forces.
But Methuselah’s Earth defense system was not the only thing that kept the Grey Globe’s spacecrafts at bay. From the stern of the Lepanto, Nineveh communicated with a fleet of ships. Biological in nature rather than metallic, they were the space fleet of the Mare Nostrum Swarm. Unlike their cousins from Earth, the Nostrian swarm maintained their own space fleet.
The energy ships of Methuselah launched its electrical attacks on the Grey Globe’s ships which took the form of the Venetian ships that they had assimilated. Meanwhile, the swarm fleet either launched its balls of liquid acid at the enemy or engaged them in melee.
Despite the best efforts of the two fleets, it was clear that the Grey Globe’s fighters were winning. Not only were they more numerous but they were also more resilient.
But this this was merely a ruse, a means to delay the Grey Globe.
Mario grinned when he was informed that the Venetian ships were now in position. Them, and the Lepanto. The Admiral then contacted Doge Norberto who commanded the Venetian contingent on his own flagship, the Roberto Sungenisi.
Having put aside the strange feeling of commanding his own boss, Mario barked his orders.
With that, both the Venetian fleet and the Lepanto launched a series of purple energy beams towards the Grey Globe itself. The Venetians hit their target; Mario could see the explosions all around the circular structure.
More importantly, the enemy ships and fighters had been weakened as Nineveh had confirmed.
The alondite attack was a success. Mario then contacted Prince Hannegan, the man in command of the Imperial Fleet. The Imperial ships then began launching their attacks on the Grey Globe’s ships. Though his condition had led to some awkward exchanges between the two, it did not prevent the prince from effectively commanding his fleet.
But the Imperials were not the only one who moved into battle. Another contingent of the United Holy League Fleet was that of the Space Nomads from beyond the Moon. Having been paid handsome sums of cash by CEO Honda, they joined the Holy League’s efforts to defeat the Grey Globe.
The main ships of the Space Nomads were smaller and unwieldy compared to their Imperial and Venetian counterparts. But these ships were carriers for a strange type of space fighter, the humanoid-shaped mecha. Used mostly to survey the desolate planets Beyond the Pale, they can also fly throughout space and fight.
Though the space mecha were similar to the ground-based mechanicon, they possessed neither its power nor resilience. But in space, they played their part in screening out the smaller Grey Globe vessels from the larger Imperial ships. In time, the United Fleet was able to clear out the vessels protecting the Grey Globe.
But Mario knew that this was merely the vessels around one part of the Grey Globe. It wouldn’t be long before Fyuria would send vessels from other parts of the structure. Leaving the rest of the space battle to Doge Norberto and Prince Hannegan, Mario set the Lepanto to move in towards the Grey Globe’s interior.
At the Lepanto’s main lounge, Omaha couldn’t help but marvel at what her brother had accomplished.
“You’ve done the Imperial family proud, little Hannegan,” she mused.
At the bridge, Giulia was at the comms chatting with her father.
“You know what to do, my bambina,” Norberto said.
Giulia nodded. “I do. I’ll keep them safe. On my honor as a Lieutenant of the Venetian Sky Force.”
And the Holy League invasion moved on to its next phase…
One of the worries that Aeneas had when planning the invasion of the Grey Globe was the issue of breathing. He had thought that the Grey Globe wouldn’t have air since the fighters seemed to be mechanical. But Halpful put those concerns to rest when he showed the Inquisitor the schematics. As it turned out, much of the Grey Globe’s interior were set aside for forests and ecological preserves. Thus, the structure has its life support system which Fyuria could not turn off even if she wanted to.
It seemed like the grey globes was initially designed as the means of exploration by the Atomians. But at some point during the war, they were repurposed to become war machines. This was also shown by the many hangars that could be found all over the Grey Globe. Despite being a mechanical army, the Grey Globe had structural parts that would be more fitting for a biological army.
And so, the Lepanto was able to make its way towards the hangar’s entrance. But they were not the first to do so. Numerous Imperial ships had made their way into the hangar and their forces had established a beachhead for the Lepanto to land inside the Grey Globe.
With the Lepanto having landed inside the globular structure, Aeneas and his army was ready to exit for battle. But before they could do that, Monsignor Bartholomew made sure to bless the weapons and the armor of the soldiers.
That taken care of, Aeneas finally exited the Lepanto.
The Inquisitor looked around and could see that the area was secure, at least for the moment. Surveying the place with Galatea and Antonio, he was approached by a knight riding a black-colored wyvern. The wyvern was about the size of Antonio’s ride Don Quixote, much smaller than Galatea’s Sancho Panza.
“Uncle Carlos!” Galatea cried happily.
“I’m glad to see my son and my niece doing just fine,” Juan Carlos said warmly before turning towards Aeneas. “Take good care of them, Lord Inquisitor.”
“I will,” Aeneas responded.
“How’s the battle, papa?” Antonio asked.
“So far so good. They’ve given me command over the knights, the Imperial ground forces, and other assorted groups of men. A little overwhelming, I will not lie. But I’ll manage,” Juan Carlos said. “Don’t worry about me and make your way to Fyuria!”
Aeneas smiled at the Grand Knight. “Godspeed, Sir Juan Carlos.”
With that, Aeneas made his way towards the interior of the hangar. Seeing that Lavinia was chatting with her father Duke Caius, he approached them.
“Lord Caius,” Aeneas greeted.
“My boy, I told you before to call me Uncle Kai,” Caius chastised.
“My apologies, uncle,” Aeneas said sheepishly.
“Anyways,” Lavinia interjected. “Papa told us that he’s been having a blast working with Sir Juan Carlos. Papa got the swarm army to command, and the Grand Knight got everything else.”
“Yeah, Sir Juan Carlos told me something like that,” Aeneas said.
Lavinia then smiled mischievously. “At some point, you should start calling that man papa.”
“What!?” Aeneas exclaimed, visibly embarrassed. “He’s not even Galatea’s father.”
And Lavinia chuckled. “I was just messing with you.”
Aeneas was about to respond when he was approached by Kunoichi, CEO Honda, and Ryu the ninja commander.
“CEO Honda? What are you doing here?” Aeneas asked.
“Uwee hee hee just doing my part against the Grey Globe, Lord Inquisitor,” the CEO said. “I’ll be running sabotage operations on various parts of the Grey Globe. Hopefully we’ll keep those guys occupied. But I’ll be taking Ryu and his ninjas off your hands.”
“Sir,” the ninja said as he bowed.
“No worries, do what you must,” Aeneas responded.
“Good luck, papa,” Kunoichi said.
Thus, Aeneas saw both Duke Caius and CEO Honda returning to their duties. Each of them had their own parts to play. As did Sir Juan Carlos, Doge Norberto, and Prince Hannegan.
And of course, Aeneas himself. He too had his own part to play.
Everyone has a part to play.