Jeti Keto: Base Under Attack - Sacrifices

 "Musaidi! Aim at the shuttle approaching the north tower. Wait for my signal....fire!" Prebs yelled as the junior officer fired volleys of plasma blasts at the shuttle, hitting the side and causing it to derail from its trajectory path. The aircraft slammed into another shuttle and both ships exploded.

 "Keron! At your command, Ser!" Jeti saluted, calling his attention from the sky.

 "Trason Jeti! Lonson!" The Keron jumped down from the turret's platform and they farted towards him.

 "Keron, we have never had such a large scale attack before. Has Domeran been..." 

 "No, Jeti. Domeran is still Xentan-occupied. The garrisons there are still functional and operational. Intel claims that it's the Ofenais that's leading this assault. I hope for your sake and for all the troopers in this base, that the information is false," Prebs told them.

 "The Ofenais?" Lonson asked, ignorant.

 "The Ofenais is the Head Warship of Dunesin Sorah's fleet." Jeti explained.

 "Sorah? Dunesin Sorah can't be here in Sirius. That's impossible," Lonson retorted.

The 'Crugi Exterminator' as he was referred to by his friends and foes, was one of the most feared Crugi military leaders in the galaxy. Conversant with his military journal, Jeti knew of all Sorah's conquests from his early years in Stowein to the Romaki wars in Tupijupi. Hearing that he was the Crugi destroying Xentan garrisons and fallout shelters on Domeran was a different kind of fear, from knowing that he was hovering a few thousand metres over your base. 

 "It can't be Sorah. He can't be on Sirius," Jeti said, looking up to the sky and hoping he was right.

 "Like I said, let's hope that the news is false. SpaceGuard intercepted two dozen Crugi DS-fighters at sector 9 of region 6, but it seems as though they were mainly a distraction. Whoever is leading this assault outsmarted them somehow, at the expense of a few spaceships. I've requested aid from Kosh, but I don't know how long the reinforcements would take to arrive and we don't have time on our side. We need to stall them for a while."

 "What do you want us to do?" Jeti asked, knowing that they were something the Keron wanted to be done. He wondered how Lonson fit into the job, considering he was a mere minor Vönk, whose duty was to maintain and do repairs on machinery and communication systems.

 "Lonson, we have one XC-Destroyer left in the base's aerodome, the XC-D1173. Flying it would be suicidal but it should be able to buy us some time and delay their shuttles from landing." Keron Prebs paused. "Let your Mech fly it." 

During the war with the Placosi, the Hexoni races had discovered artificial intelligence and were able to create an AI race to aid in the warfare. The Promeri and Xentan races were the forerunners of this invention and the Mech race, automatons made with high level intelligence with similar anatomy to the Hexoni races, was born. They served as super-soldiers in the warfront, some developed into intelligent strategists and others were given espionage and assassination roles. 

After the war with the Placosi was over, the other races no longer had use for the Mechs and they were left to roam the Hexoni system, unhindered. In the long run, the Mechs began to evolve and developed feelings of emotions. The other races became wary of them and soon they started to doubt the Mechs' loyalty, especially when they began to ask for their own regions and a place in the Hexoni Coalition as a separate entity. The Crugi, who had little affinity towards the automatons since inception, were enraged at this and began hunting down the Mechs as sport, violating yet another law of the Coalition. The population of the Mechs was drastically reduced from hundred of thousands to a mere thousands. Desperate for survival, they turned to their creators, the Promeri and Xentan races, who took them into their planets and championed their cause. They lived peacefully under their masters' protection, becoming guards and servants to various households and were treated kindly. A few however, went undercover and still roamed the Hexoni System as bounty hunters and hired mercenaries. 

 "Wait, you want Krak to fly it?" Lonson asked, astonished.

 Lonson's Mech, Krak, was like a father, brother and friend to him. During the Crugi massacre in his native city of Kalmo, the Mech had rescued him from the fighting in the streets, after his parents, major Vönks, had been killed in their workshop. Krak, ninety-six years, at the time of the attack, had been one of the Mech guards of one of the minor houses in the city, left behind as the household fled the city in a private shuttle. As he fought his way through the city, he stumbled upon young Lonson, staring at the spot his parents' workshop had been, a few hours that morning. He had somewhat convinced the child to follow him and they were able to leave the city, unscathed. Both automaton and Hexoni were able to travel across Crugi occupied regions on foot, until they were able to reach a safe migrating point and were transported alongside other refugees to Sirius. After settling down on Sirius, Lonson enrolled into Vönk Academy and after graduating was posted to Base 101. Krak followed him and was given a permit to stay in the base too. They loved each other to the extent that Jeti knew Lonson would choose the automaton over him anytime, anywhere.

 "Ser, are you sure of that? I don't think Krak has ever flown a spaceship before," Jeti defended.

 "He should be able to get used to it and all that. AI systems tend to compliment each other, or so I hear. The Rollas in the XC-D1173 will help him out." Prebs explained.

 "Where's Kiben, Ser?" Lonson asked him. Lohis Kiben was the pilot who arrived a month ago to fly the XC-D1173. 

 "Missing. Probably dead. Depends on who you ask. I've got five troopers looking for him. No word from them yet. We need to get that Destroyer in the airspace."

 "I can't let Krak fly the Destroyer," Lonson protested. Jeti gasped at his friend.

 "That was an order, young lad, not a request," Keron Prebs snapped at him. There was a few interlude of silence and the Keron's facial expression softened, somehow.

"Lonson, I know Krak is dear to you. He is also dear to all of us, but there are some sacrifices that needs to be made, for the sake of others. If he doesn't fly it, we all die." 

 "I will do it," Lonson said after some seconds. 

 "Lonson....," Jeti tried to touch him but he shrugged off his arm and wiping away a trail of tears, stormed off towards the dormy.

Jeti turned to watch him when the Keron called out to him.

 "Jeti, make sure my orders are carried out. If Lonson tries to hide or abscond with the Mech, stun him. And if the automaton refuses to fly the Destroyer, persuade him forcefully. You know what I mean, right?" Prebs said grimly, as though he was cringed by what he said.

 "Yes, Keron," Jeti answered, shocked.

This was not the Keron Prebs Naeiti that he knew. The Keron has never acted or given such orders before. Jeti wondered if the change was due to the sense of self-preservation kicking in or his zealous duty to the Xentan military. As he followed his friend unnoticed, into the dormy of the military base, he wondered if Keron Prens had sent another trooper, in case the his orders were not accomplished. He looked around to see if he was being stalked, but saw troopers running around as another plasma blast hit the base.