Moments before the sky darkened;
Nova watched the screen as he followed Justin and EB’s investigation of the Renn Tech HQ in Seattle, Washington.
EB moaned, “There’s nothing here. I can name all the chunks of this building. That one’s Charlie, that one looks like a Deb, and this one is Phillip... since it has all these screws in it.” EB was poking at the bits of the destroyed building.
Justin said, “I hate to admit it, but EB’s right. We’ve scanned and scanned this place. The only oddity is there is a strange blip when we get near his office. But, BADGE robots and five specialists have scoured the remains of his office and the ground under it for five miles below the surface. There is nothing here.”Nova said, “Go back to The Oracle and see if he can check your readings with his computers.”
EB groaned, “Seriously! We are never going to find...”
“EB, JUST DO IT!” Nova bellowed into the comm.
“Okay, okay, don’t blow your top, sheesh.” EB said, “I’ll zap us to The Oracle. Ready Justin,” He waved his paw, and a flash of power surrounded them, but went nowhere. They remained in the middle of the rubble of Drocha’s former office.
Justin asked, “What just happened?”
“Dunno,” EB said as he looked at his paws. “This normally works. I’m really good at teleportation magic. Let me try again.” He clapped his paws together, and the flash happened, but they remained. “Okay, now this is just annoying. Seriously, I use this magic all the time, especially at Easter. It has… Oh, wait! Oh, wait! I know this!!!” EB hopped up and grabbed Justin’s arm, so he could look at Nova directly. “Something’s blocking my teleportation. The only thing that can block folding space teleportation magic is... you know this, buddy, I know you do.” He smiled at Nova.
Nova’s mouth hung open. “Space is already folded. An interdimensional pocket in space.” He quickly clicked his comm. “Gar, have the Quantum Wave Generator focused into a rotating frequency beam and direct it at the location of Drocha’s office in the destroyed Renn Tech Building.”
“Um... what?” Gar replied.
A robot behind Gar said, “Orders confirmed, activating Quantum Wave Generator.”
Fortunately, the robots listened closely when Nova gave orders.
***
Drocha had been watching this situation. He could see both Justin and EB standing in the middle of the rubble. At first, their tenacity amused him. They had searched this place so many times already, and found exactly what he wanted them to find. They were wasting their time. Though he had to admit he found it interesting that they came back here, as if they knew it was the logical choice. He gave them credit for being that wise.
Then he heard EB make the connection. “That irritating rabbit figured it out.” This made him sit up and pay closer attention. However, he couldn’t hear Nova on the other end of the call. The scrambling of the signal to Nova prevented anyone from listening in with spying tech.
“What are you idiots going to do now?” He whispered as he watched them simply standing there.
The room he was in rang like a drum, and the computers within flickered. He could hear a loud pounding noise above him, like a massive waterfall crashing on top of a tin roof.
“No, no, no, this can’t be happening. Not yet.” He hurried to his Legion computer and called up the specs of the alien tech that was folding space around him. A red warning message appeared on the screen telling him that his room was being pushed out of flux and into normal space.
“Come on, recalculate the specs. Move power into the secondary system... come on, MOVE!” He attempted to counter this with little success.
The red warning sign appeared again on the screen, and Drocha snarled as he looked at a different part. “I know, stop telling me... oh, wait a minute.” He saw this was a different message. His fury returned to joy as he no longer worried about being revealed.
“Time’s up, BADGE.”
***
The screen in Nova’s room displayed the horrible truth. Outside the station, the rift in space opened, expanding wide with a strange cloud of energy from inside a wormhole. The cloud swirled around, creating a dark vortex that spread far. A deep shadow cast over the planet, cutting off the sun’s light.
Gar’s voice boomed through the comms. “DIRECTOR, A SHIP IS EMERGING FROM THE CENTER OF THAT!”
Nova had no response, just a deep, terrible, icy feeling in his gut as he watched an ancient Legion mothership pierce the center of the vortex. This was older than any known Legion tech. There were few alive who would recognize this style of technology, and Nova was one of them. He has seen this in a time before recorded history on Earth, before the Vexillians fought the Legion War, in the days when Nova and Lady Echidna were lovers, not enemies.
Gar broke his focus. “Sir, please come to Operations. I don’t know what to do. We need you.”
Nova glanced back at the sleeping baby. He had little choice. Grabbing his comm unit and taking up his legendary sword, he raced to the lift and sped away.
In moments, he burst through the door of the lift and raced down to stand with Gar. “Sensor information! NOW!” He looked up at the many various video feeds of that ship surrounded by the vortex of clouds.
A robot announced, “Quantum interference is blocking most available sensors. Active sensors cannot penetrate the vessel’s hull.”
Nova said, “Get me Strange Quark. I want him here immediately!”
Before the robot could respond, Quark appeared beside him. “I heard you.”
“Can you do anything?” Nova asked.
Quark shook his head. “Legion tech messes with my powers worse than anything, and with that wormhole around it, I’m afraid of ripping the fabric of space and time in this sector if I do something. I need information.”
“We don’t have any,” Nova stated.
A robot announced, “Defense sensors are active. Information available.”
“By all means, what do they say?” Nova demanded.
“Defense sensors indicate five thousand level twenty weapon target systems online and scanning the planet’s surface, the BADGE League Wars Orbital Stadium, and BADGE space station. No active weapons detected.”
Nova said, “That thing is already picking out targets.”
Quark frowned as he closed his eyes. “No, I can feel it. It isn’t targeting the planet exactly... It’s targeting much smaller objects.” With a slow opening of his eyes and a look of horror on his face, he said, “It’s targeting each of the spheres and active Legion clones. It isn’t targeting them; it’s connecting to them.”
“This can’t be good.” Nova said.
Gar held up a tablet. “Director, the Global Defense network has picked up the targeting. It has put the global defenses on alert.”
Nova grabbed the tablet and looked at it. “Damn! This is going to spread panic, or worse.”
“What could be worse than a global panic?” Quark asked.
Nova looked back up at the screen. “A planet-wide preemptive strike from a hundred nuclear-powered governments who don’t even know what they are attacking.”
“Oh, crap,” was Quark’s inarticulate response.
“All nuclear weapons activated,” stated the robot. “Fifty percent of nuclear weapon targets are targeting spheres; the others are targeting the spaceship approaching the planet.”
Nova bellowed, “Get me the United Nations, black alert channel! If they don’t pick up in five seconds, force the signal through. I don’t want...”
Everyone jumped when the screens all changed, activating a different feed entirely. Ten different views of Drocha’s putrid yellow, scaly face smiled down at them. His visage was that of the alien creature that spawned him, not the false human face he wore.
“It’s so nice to finally see you, Nova. You’re a hard man to find.”
***
Sirens screamed across the planet, all emitting a warning of utter doom. Military bases prepared their worst response. Missile silos opened, and nuclear weapons activated.
The news cut through every channel from the global emergency response system. “This is a priority alert to all citizens of Earth. Go to a shelter immediately if you haven’t gone to one already. The Global Emergency Response system has activated all nuclear weapons. God help us all.”