Chapter 3: Mission Star Killer

The stellar wars intensified in space. The Full Divide allowed evasive maneuvers for the compartments minimizing the number of dropships that could penetrate the different compartments.

"Have the fleet focus on defending the Balmung." The captain ordered. Soon he stared in frustration at the one monitor where most of the crew drew their attention to.

The thin frame of Seeker Carlean stood confidently amidst the dead bodies and burning metals.

Seeker Carlean's right arm was fractured. The last battle's final seconds ended in what looked like a blur with Carlean on the winning end. The blue ring started glowing again.

"This is it, boys. We are about to find out if our intel's right, or we die for nothing." Seeker broadcasted his message to all Link-accomplished soldiers.

"Squadrons, in three…two…one. Initiate!" Seeker commanded. All Link-accomplished soldiers flipped the switch at the same time.

At a push of the button, various mechanisms installed on the engines in the different compartments of the Balmung began to light up. The star energy that held all the compartments together started to tremble.

"What's happening?" The Captain panicked.

The pilots of the Balmung quickly checked all system settings in an attempt to understand the anomaly occurring. On the compartments which the different squads managed to reconfigure, the electrical energy which connected the compartment to the star energy slowly turned red in color. Of the thirty-four compartments, a total of sixteen compartments were configured.

The tremors that rang out on all compartments started increasing. The movement of the star energy and the orbit of the compartments of the Balmung was now getting out of order. Compartments started to crash into each another at the distortion of the star energy.

In the Central Sector, Seeker started dashing and running around the compartment trying to keep his balance. The compartments were in chaos and all on board the Balmung struggled to keep a good footing.

"Dropships! Initiate pick up! Squadrons send your pings!" Seeker commanded as he dashed towards the nearest window to observe the situation outside.

Several dropships which seemed to be zooming in confusion then started to dash at specific areas of the Balmung. The dropships penetrated through the thick metal and then stabilized the hole which it generated. The surviving members of the different squadrons immediately boarded the ships.

"We did it! And we're alive!" Suarez rejoiced.

"Commander, the dropship has arrived. We are about to detach and head back home." A report came in.

Seeker stood with a grim expression as he saw the state of the star energy.

"It's not enough!" Seeker frowned.

A mental response spoke back. "General, the Star Core is slowly increasing in density and energy. By the looks of it, our mission is a success."

"The speed! That's the problem! The rate of its increase is too slow! If some of the compartments detach themselves from the Star Core our mission will fail!" The General sent back angrily.

Boom!

A sudden crash on the central compartment was felt. A dropship had rammed through the compartment. The bullet-like funnel in its front pierced through the walls but immediately, several panels expanded locking the gaps created from the crash. The pressure in the room immediately stabilized.

"General! I'm here to pick you up!" A mental message spoke directly to Seeker.

Seeker was deep in thought at this point. For a human with an Unlocking of 70%, it was rare for him to have paused and thought.

"General!" The mental message shouted once again.

"Fish, detach from my compartment. Don't pick me up." Seeker ordered solemnly.

"What?" Various mental messages immediately cried in Seekers thoughts.

"Listen up everyone. Every second counts at this point. If any compartments disconnect themselves from the Star Energy, the mission will fail. My Four Force Accelerator is designed as a miniature model of Star Energy. In theory, I can detonate the FFA energy in the core if I undo the compression on each of the FFA. The energy would be similar to having an additional four compartments compartmentalize. I may even immediately overload the energy. It should cause enough increase in the Star Core to accomplish the mission. Every second counts! This is my last order. I can only hold for 30 seconds before I make my jump. Ensure that you are in space at 15 seconds. No questions." Seeker's tone was firm and decisive.

No mental messages were sent back to Seeker. A few seconds since the last message the dropship piloted by Fish suddenly detached itself from the central compartment.

"Good." Seeker smiled. He was receiving mental messages from all the surviving teams. Gryphon, Chimera, Basilisk, Wyvern, Phoenix and even his own team reported having successfully boarded the escape dropships which have returned.

"A General could never ask for such a decisive and trusting team such as you." Seeker sent his message with tears in his eyes.

"Zeek." Zera sent back.

"Zera, protect our home." Seeker sent as he dashed towards a door. A mask suddenly covered Seeker's face as he clicked on a small button near his neck. Oxygen was then released. Once he was a foot away from the door, Seeker stopped. Behind this door was the hole left by the dropship's penetration.

Seeker banged the hilt of his sword pushing the button of the door. As the door opened, Seeker was sucked in by the immense change of pressure. As he was sucked out into space, he engaged the Four Force Accelerator and flew towards the Star energy which held all of the Balmung's compartment. Seeker tinkered with his suit and the dark blue blast emitted by the Four Force Accelerator started turning to a shade of red.

When he made the jump all the dropships were already fleeing from the Balmung. Seeker closed his eyes as he neared the electrical energy. The burst of the Four Force Accelerator increased to the maximum. And right before Seeker collided with the electrical energy, he smiled.

"Thank you." A short and simple mental message was sent.

The moment Seeker collided with the electrical energy holding Sector Nine, he was immediately sucked in towards the core of the energy holding the Balmung's parts. A miniature red explosion could be seen and the Star energy immediately gave a brighter shade of red.

The trembling throughout the Balmung's compartments increased. The compartments started to merge into the star energy as if something was sucking everything towards the center. But before all the compartments could merge in the center...

BOOM!

The star energy exploded. A Yellow-green like flame rushed out incinerating everything in its path. The shockwave was so immense that the other Gigas Class orbiters nearby were shaken by the shockwave. All the stellar capable jets of the UN army pushed their ships speed to the max Mach speed it could manage.

Because of the sudden shockwave which shook almost all ships only the UN armies were prepared to get away from the massive flames that continued to envelop the space. The Gigas Class orbiters could only sit and watch as the raging blaze approached and disintegrated them. Some of the U.N's Armies Stellar-capable ships was also erased from existence. But the losses from this friendly fire was far outweighed by the gain.

The entire Orbital fleet was wiped out of existence.

As stellar-capable jets of the UN's surviving fleet returned to Earths atmosphere, the whole world was in celebration. They now had achieved peace for the next months or maybe even years to come. Humanity had hope once more. Earth now had more time to prepare and fight for the next battle.

But no sound of victory was heard in the Myth Squadron dropships returning to Earth. For them, this was a pyrrhic victory. They won the war but lost their General.

Mission Star Killer, Codenamed: Super Nova, Successful.

Victory attributed to the brave sacrifice of the 6-Star General, Stellar General Seeker Carlean.