Operation: Pacifica, Damnation
by DeadLock the Feral (NYAR!), deadlock@one.net


 Charn'El's staff crackled with evil, black intent high above his
  head.The staff swung downward, its end smacking into stone with a loud
  crack.  Black energies exploded from the ziggurat and engulfed the throne
  room.


 The Maenads blinked, sight temporarily lost.  The world, sans
  bunnies[tm], came into focus without Charn'El.


 The high pitched whine of his protective vortex came from every
  direction.  Ferals split into pairs, ready for combat.


 Something pricked BlackBlood's senses and he looked to his left.  A
  deluge of energy slammed into his side, plucked him from the floor for a
  brief, bone-crunching flight termination.  It proved too much, BlackBlood
  slumped into a heap, oozing blood and shadow essense in equal proportion.


 The High Mage's vortex descended, ripping into BB's spiritual and
  physical flesh.  The wounds roused him to howling, slashing response.  The
  Vortex recoiled, twisted on itself and attacked from a different angle.  BB
  understood it to be some servant creature.  He would be lucky to survive.


 "NYAR!" cried Slider as Charn'El appeared.  Slider lunged, Jace
  close behind.  The Lyran raised an empty hand to the redcap, his words
  drowned by the unearthly cacophony of BlackBlood's combat with the Vortex.


 A cluster of cold-forged iron rods streaked from Charn'El's
  sleeves, snapping the cloth smartly with their passage.  Slider gasped as
  the first pierced cleanly through his right hip.  The second ruined his left
  knee.  Before he could topple to floor, the burning pain of cold iron
  ignited in the redcap's stomach, right torso, and right shoulder.


 "Fooock," moaned Slider in agony.  He spat out blood, clutching at
  consciousness.


 "SLIDER!"  Jace gave up his charge, desperately asessing the
  damage.  He scowled, chanted a grim incantation to demand survival of his
  long-time friend.  Jace held Slider's head in both hands, encouraging him to
  hold on just a bit longer.


 Charn'El twisted as a coil of smoke, the attack a graceful
  completion of his movement.  Windigo barked in shock and raised her
  Claws[tm] instinctually.  Twin lighting bolts sizzled from the High Mage's
  staff at the atshen.  Her Claws[tm] deflected the destructive electricity,
  forking it into blue-white tongues caressing the chamber's walls.


 The live creature whom the Lyrans had fashioned into architecture
  recoiled at pain.  Gray ooze pumped from blistered flesh left by the
  tongues' passage.  Glowing surfaces became irregular; some dimming, others
  glaring bright, others flashing slowly.


 DeadLock spoke a word and made a downward swipe with his Claws[tm].
  A fiery disk ignited above Charn'El's head, then rained roaring coils of
  fire.  The High Mage smirked as the attack flowed harmlessly over his robes
  to burn the room-creature's flesh.  He attacked Windigo a second time.


 Lightning again seared the chamber's walls.  Magical fury slammed
  into a hastily erected shield, buckled, then ripped through it.  Windigo
  gritted her teeth as the spell burnt off part of her fur and drew blood.
  She prepared a counterattack, but neon green energy stabbed into her
  abdomen.


 Windigo doubled over, clutching at her stomach as blood spurted
  between her Claws[tm].  She hissed, ears laid fully back as the poison ate
  into her body.


 "NYAR!" bellowed Shardik, Nemesis, and Hanover as they leapt past
  Windigo.  DeadLock knelt at her side, trying to remove the poison.


 Charn'El sneered and leveled his staff into a combat stance.  It
  began to glow with mystical glee, anticipating broken Maenad bodies.


 Nemesis leapt at the Lyran, Claws[tm] swiping to tear head from
  shoulders.  The black robed mage blinked from existence, reappeared
  immediately behind the feral imp as he landed on all fours.


 Alien wood connected with imp flesh and shattered the shoulder
  blade underneath.  Nemesis fell flat, cradeling his useless appendage.


 Charn'El spun 180 degrees and raised his staff to a defensive
  position in one fluid move.  Hanover's Claw[tm] notched in the upper half of
  the wood.  The mage's strength alone held the weapon fast.  A second attack
  sliced air as the mage pivoted.


 A resounding "crack!" bludgeoned the air.  Hanover bucked,
  clutching the pulsing patch of bloody fur near the base of his skull.


 "OW!" whimpered Hanover.  He knelt, cradled his head in both arms.
  Black dots flooded through his tunnelized vision and threatened to blot out
  the world.


 "Sheridan," mocked the Lyran as he easily dodged a full-body
  tackle.  Shardik froze for an instant after landing, memories of his death
  in Op: Phoenix sapping his resolve.  Seizing his advantage, Charn'El
  released a torrent of destruction.


 The daemon prince's crouch became an all-fours attempt to remain
  defensible as his armor began to boil off.  Shardik's flesh felt agony
  course through it as the mage's attacks struck home.  'No!!  Not again!'
  screamed Shardik in his mind.


 The ground underneath Charn'El's feet exploded in gray ooze and
  sent him unceremoniously rolling across the throne room.  Sizzling orbs
  streaked toward the prone mage's robes, demanding flesh.


 "Thank you, Jace," breathed Shardik as he hung his head in shame.
  DeadLock exclaimed a word before the Lyran could right himself.  A geyser of
  flame erupted under the mage, singeing his robes and blistering his flesh.
  Glittering darts rent Charn'El's robes and ripped wounds in his side.


 "Bak ut eew," sneered Slider in satisfaction his spell had
  inflicted damage.


 Charn'El shrieked amid acrid smoke and beat at the flames consuming
  his robes.  Jace's magical orbs struck the mage's robes and melted away
  without effect.  The Lyran pointed a bony finger at Slider, smiling.  He
  jerked backwards to fall on his side, a thick rod of cold-forged iron
  impaling his left torso.


 "NYAR!!" Shardik tackled the Lyran, Claws[tm] seeking vital organs.
  Blood gushed over his Claws[tm] before the robes collapsed.


 "DL!  Look-" warned Jace as the High Mage reappeared directly
  behind him.  A dagger flashed above DL's hip.  Krisic metal slithered
  through cloth, skin, muscle, and sought tender internals.  The Feral
  snarled, shock delaying his reaction, then brought his elbow sharply back
  into Charn'El's throat, wounding himself further.


 Combatants separated, one choking for breath, the other trying to
  cap a tide of life blood from his side.  The Lyran rose first, dagger held
  high.


 "BEHIND YOU!!" screamed his mask.  Charn'El turned in time to see a
  gilded flash.  His face exploded in raw pain, blood splashing down his
  robes, as the Barney Slayer sliced the right half of his mask and cheek
  cleanly away.


 "To hell wit' ya sunfabitch!!" boomed Jace.  The Barney Slayer came
  in at a whistling arc to meet the Lyran's adam's apple.  The mask, as a
  final act of self-sacrifice, spat black, viscous fluid into Jace's face.
  Instant blindness claimed the Maenads's eyes, ushered in by deathly
  numbness.  His throat clamped shut, sealing off all oxygen.


 "No price is too dear," glubbed Charn'El through a mouthful of
  blood as his staff flew into his hands from across the chamber.  He banged
  its end on the floor.  Jace jerked violently as spines lanced upward beneath
  his feet and cleanly pierced his ankles, calves, knees, and quads to hold
  him immobile.


 Half conscious, Jace raised the Slayer to defend himself.
  Charn'El's staff burned brightly, throwing the world into stark black-and-
  white relief.  Wood met Owsenite with a solid thud.


 Then, the dry, authoritative snap of metal echoed from every
  direction. The top half of the Slayer's blade bounced end over end until it
  clattered to rest far from the mage.


 Shardik, DeadLock, Windigo, and Nemesis gawked.  The Barney Slayer
  BROKEN?!  The top half of the blade laid on the floor, its tip pointed
  directly at them as though to demand they accept this new reality.


 Windigo's wound had yet to close, but the battle against poison had
  abated.  Hanover groggily leaned on all fours, shaking his head to clear the
  cob webs.


 Charn'El's staff blazed with unholy intent as he wound up, poised
  to strike a prone, immobile Jace.  Spark tails raced after the weapon's
  level swing.


 "NO!" protested Nemesis, trying to intercede.


 Jace's torso ruptured as the staff continued its arc through his
  flesh.  His form incandesced, radiating hellish light.


 Then nothing remained of him or the spikes holding him in place but
  a black, smouldering crater in the floor.  Tears of loss fell from the
  Maenad's eyes, then steely resolve seized Nemesis.


 He leapt at the High Mage, slashing with his remaining good arm.
  Charn'El proved unprepared for the attack.  Robes and flesh parted as the
  Claw[tm] tore deeper.  Nemesis closed as the Lyran grabbed his arm, teeth
  bared.


 "Now!  Now, Dammit!" commanded Shardik.  Darkness lanced out from
  Charn'El's hand and into Nemesis' forearm, exploding it in a cloud of gore.
  At the same moment, a row of incredibly sharp, pointed Imp teeth dug into
  the Lyran's shoulder.


 The black-robed mage shrieked in fury and agony.  His bones creaked
  under the strain, hair-line fractures warning of imminent failure.  The Imp
  shook his head from side to side, instinct driving him through grotesque
  delirium.  Shardik closed in, trying to buy precious seconds.


 "Noota -- makash katee -- fee r'nao l'oiqu -- nazee..." chanted
  Windigo and DeadLock in unison.  Charn'El reached back, dug his fingers into
  Nemesis' face and uttered a killing spell.


 Nemesis shuddered violently, spasming from nervous system overload,
  and collapsed silently.  Shardik enveloped the Lyran in a mass of snarling
  daemon armor and dripping blood.


 "Moona'k ji reta vi'dansa.  Meenaf.." continued the DL and Windigo,
  nearing completion.  Shardik's Claw[tm] opened gashes across the High Mage's
  back.  His other Claw[tm] meant to shred the alien's chest, but was too
  shallow and ripped apart fabric.


 Shardik collapsed, the mage gone from his grasp.  A column of black
  flame erupted a dozen yards from the Maenads.  Charn'El stepped from it, his
  eyes glowing a deep blue.


 "I will destroy your souls!" spat a furious High Mage as he tore
  the dead half of his mask away.


 "Good thing I'm here, then, spanky," smirked an albino youth clad
  in a black leather jacket and well-worn blue jeans.  Claws[tm] sprang from
  his hands as he stalked forwards with the It's-Meal-Time look in his eyes.


 "NO!!" screamed Charn'El, genuine fear entering his mind.  Not now!
  No!  He couldn't face White Death like this!


 "Feral!" grinned a disbelieving DeadLock and Windigo, shocked that
  the Holy Albino would intercede.


 "I'm hungry for Lyran meat.  Know where I can get any?"  Feral
  smiled cavernously, displaying rows of gleaming white, sharp teeth.
  Distortions swirled around Charn'El as his power welled up, ready to battle
  another immortal.  The Holy Albino crouched down, ready to spring at the
  startled mage.


 "You misunderstand your place in the food chain," sneered Charn'El
  as he released the most powerful attack he dared.  As the energy left his
  body and arced towards its target, the illusion shattered.


 Hanover stood in place of the Albino, eyes wide as platters, as the
  destructive force flooded towards him.  It crackled, hissed, then dispersed
  around the vulpine in a roaring torus.


 Charn'El bucked in pain, his soul-thread drawn into the torus like
  a paperclip to a magnet.  Power flowed from his body in blinding pulses,
  feeding the torus' roaring growth.


 "Noo!  Nooo!" begged Charn'El, the torus' deep rumble shaking
  coherent thought from his mind.  It continued to siphon power from the High
  Mage and lapped at his soul essence.  He collapsed onto all fours, fighting
  for breath.


 The Maenads clamped Claws[tm] over ears, desperate to shut out the
  deafening roar.  Windigo and DeadLock ground their teeth together,
  imprisoning pained screams.


 The energy ring warbled around Hanover in an eerie, half-tangible
  hum.  The Vulpine blinked, awe-struck at the primal force encircling him.
  He reached out to touch it, curiousity over-riding common sense.  The torus
  contracted, rippled its surface, then slammed down through the floor.


 Silence descended, punctuated only by alien sobs.



...




 Along the northern and western shores of Pacifica, sheer cliffs
  trembled and released a deadly, grinding rain of boulders into the sea.
  Fissures yawned open and quickly glowed from within.  Super-heated gases
  exploded into the chill sky, billowing skyward with their heavy loads of ash
  and dust.


 Fiery cracks spread like the roots of a plant desperately seeking
  water, connected, mated, and grew larger until the earth itself threatened
  to disappear into the shimmering network.



...


 Ensign Rivers trained his telescope on the Pacifica shore as his
  ship steamed for the open sea.  They were already 15 miles out to sea with
  the last of the hovercraft chasing them.


 "Whoa..." breathed the Ensign as the island's shores flashed, then
  released countless founts of lava into the sea.



...




 Deep, powerful rumblings shook Pacifica.  Spongin in the city
  covered their ears, afraid the Jihaddi's stereos would make them deaf.
  M.E.N.S.A.ns stomped around crazily, roiling clouds of steam blanketing the
  island burning their tender nostrils.


 The earth lurched, throwing buildings from their foundations to
  bury thousands beneath their rubble.  Giant circles of calamity exploded
  randomly throughout the city, hurling thousands of tons of debris into the
  air for brief, terrifying flights.


 Shockwaves ripped across the wasteland, shattering everything in
  their paths.  Thanatins held up their arms instinctually, only to be turned
  to goo Before their remains disappeared beneath showers of stone and soil.


 The Lyran Fortress, once so forbidding, ruptured into incalculable
  pieces as legions of shockwaves caressed it.  Buildings, dungeons, walls,
  and towers crumbled as the earth convulsed violently.


...




 Across Pacifica, lava and super-heated gases exploded from the
  ground.  Sponge City, what remained of it, blazed instantly, the
  conflagration quickly giving birth to an even hungrier firestorm.


 Cold, unforgiving sea water rushed across the beaches.  Houses
  shattered as the ocean demanded its sacrifice.



...




 BlackBlood collapsed to the floor, his battle with the Vortex
  nearly costing him his life.  Large tears welled up in his eyes.  He had
  been forced to destroy another kindred soul, twisted beyond salvation by its
  foul masters.  The sound of weeping drew his attention.


 Charn'El laid face down, bereft of power and nearly helpless.
  Windigo and DeadLock lay on their sides panting, the combined exertions of
  The Last Rite of Lizzie Borden and the wounds proving almost too much to
  handle.


 Shardik helped pick Nemesis up off the floor.  Hanover looked
  around, the only Maenad in semi-passable condition.


 "Well.  Well.  Well." he grinned, noticing the crippled High Mage
  on the floor.  "Looks like someone lost their power.  That's gotta suck,
  frying yourself and destroying your home in the same move."


 "This isn't happening," croaked Charn'El as he struggled to crawl
  from the Vulpine.  Hanover swished his tails in disgust and trotted after
  the Lyran.


 "But it is!" beamed Hanover.  He kicked the High Mage over onto his
  back.  The Lyran blushed dark purple and tried to hide his face at such a
  humiliation.  His bony hands, slick with blood, covered his visage.


 "Don't be shy."  Hanover batted the Lyran's hands from his face
  with his paws, Claws[tm] barely extended.


 The throne room shook violently, throwing everyone from their feet.
  In the distance, a large sections of the roof crashed to the floor amid a
  rain of gray ooze.  Bioluminescence began to fade.


 "Give him to me," snarled DeadLock as he hobbled across the floor.


 "Not have time for torture, do we," cautioned Windigo.


 "Ok.." replied DeadLock as he overtook Charn'El and knelt down, one
  knee planted squarely in the mage's groin.  The alien jerked, hands
  grappling futily at DL's knee, cords standing out on his neck.


 DeadLock reached behind his neck and undid a clasp.  He drew the
  chain from under his shirt, a large onyx pendant hanging in the middle.


 "I believe this belongs to you."  DL fastened the chain around the
  High Mage's neck, then dropped the stone.  As the onyx contacted Charn'El's
  skin, all the agony caused to Lieutenant Butler in the months of his slow
  Thanatinization shot through the alien's body in one overwhelming pulse.


 Then another pulse came, jolting Charn'El's nervous system before
  the previous one faded.  Windigo chanted a long, melodic incantation.  A
  gate to limbo sliced open.  Shardik grabbed the spasming Lyran and heaved
  him into the other dimension.


 They breathed a heavy sigh of relief when the gate closed.



...




 Heavy storms pounded the DE fleet as its night crews stuggled to
  guide their charges to safer waters.  Mammoth chunks of the island broke off
  at regular intervals and disappeared beneath the surface, tsunamis rising to
  bid them farewell.


 The DE Fleet steadily increased its distance from the dying mass,
  but the ocean only became choppier.  At one point, the Iowa's deck
  disappeared beneath a wave large enough to snap it back and forth like a
  child's toy before leaving it to a wobbily attempt at restabilization.


 Ash and rain fell in large, heavy curls onto the decks of the
  ships.  An occasional explosion from Pacifica would echo to the fleet
  bringing showers of pebbles, stones, and, rarely, large rocks.


 It was a rough, brutal night and no one slept.


...




 The bells tolled solemnly at dawn across the fleet.  Doberman
  Empire flags lowered to half mast in honor of the missing, and presumed
  dead, Maenads.


 Vice Admirals Korth and Yearnshaw sat in the "silent" briefing room
  with Warrior Perazim.  The air seemed crushing, matching the moods of the
  responsibilities resting on their shoulders.


 "Maybe Admiral Piper could be talked into taking the Grand
  Admiral's chair," ventured Yearnshaw.


 "Maybe, but I don't know.  We're missing too much senior staff:
  Owsen, CP, J, J-Rock."


 "You're not helping anything with your negativity, you know," fired
  back Perazim.  "We're out our entire senior staff."


 "Look," snapped Korth.  "I..."  The door to the conference room
  slammed open.


 "Will you lighten up and quit angsting?" asked J as he leaned
  against the door.  Samhain stood behind him, smiling wearily.


 The officers jumped in disbelief.  They crossed the small room to
  greet their superiors and friends.


 "Move your yellow butt!" laughed CP and pushed J into the
  conference room.


 "Ditto, that is," smiled Windigo and she nudged Samhain forward.


 To Be Concluded in "Operation: Pacifica, Sunset"

        DLtF(NYAR!)
Copyright, Pyrokinetic Produtions, Inc. (1997)