Battle of Side 8 (II)
| Second Battle of Side 8 | |||||||||||||
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| Part of the Uterio War arc | |||||||||||||
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The Second Battle of Side 8 occurred shortly after the First Battle of Side 8, where the Moon-Ship's DAL systems were taken offline by an explosion. The explosion was created by thousands of both John Shepard's and Naju's ships crashing into it, along with the nuclear bombs on board Shepard's. Ta'harok had crashed into Side 8 to escape from a Parasitic Fluff swarm, and was knocked unconscious.
Background[edit | edit source]
Ta'harok woke up among debris on Side 8 with the memory of flying there to escape a swarm of Parasitic Fluff, which had consumed the survivors of the previous conflict. As he got to his feet, he saw a crashed escape pod not far from him with a child inside of it crying for help. He walked over and opened it, lifting the occupant out. The child was none other than User TMV, who immediately started berating the Ta'har with all sorts of nonsensical questions. Meanwhile, Muta and Trantoshen were reading over a map belonging to the Users, which had come into their possession. The map electronically communicated with Muta, and gave him a set of co-ordinates to follow. He grabbed Trantoshen and together they teleported to Side 8, arriving a few streets away from Ta'harok.
Klak, D-Klak, Nadle and Treveya had also arrived at Side 8 in their ship, after using an orb that originally belonged to Akzer to track down Ta'harok, as they wished to recruit him into their alliance against Uterio. After wandering around for a bit, Ta'harok saw Klak's group and ducked behind a destroyed building, UTMV still in tow. However, they were still spotted by the group, who ran over to greet them. Ta'harok filled them in on the situation, but UTMV got confused and stabbed Klak with his sword. This did absolutely nothing, and TMV was sent to his room. Elsewhere, it was revealed that John Shepard had survived the first Battle of Side 8 and was nursed back to health by Commissioner Kinsler and his assistant, Branley. All three arrived at Side 8 in Kinsler's car and saw Muta and Trantoshen below. Shepard jumped out of the car's window, kicked Muta in the face, and sprayed bullets at Trantoshen with his P90.
Description[edit | edit source]
As Muta caught the bullets and repelled Shepard into a wall, the ground shook and Side 8 itself began transforming. The main DAL computer at the core of the planet was brought back online, with the image of DAL on the central screen being replaced with the likeness of Uterio. When Side 8 had finished transforming, its form resembled that of a giant robot, and it had received new orders to fly to Uterio's location. In awe, Ta'harok picked up a radio transmission from Naju, who had somehow survived the explosion that had originally knocked the system offline. Naju, no longer in control of Side 8, begged that they put their differences aside to take down the robot, as Uterio would surely send it after him should it successfully reach his location and be outfitted with new equipment. Ta'harok reluctantly agreed as he took off towards the head of the robot. Several automated drones were deployed from it, which Ta'harok cut and shot down. The remnants of Naju's Neo Ta'har fleet uncloaked and fired at the robot, though many of the ships were promptly destroyed by the robot's eyebeams.
User Zev abruptly appeared out of nowhere and introduced himself to Ta'harok while he was concentrating on fighting the drones. The robot slowly flew forwards through space, nearing the asteroid field near Linkit which Ta'harok had used to ambush Naju's ships in the original battle. A few of the asteroids collided with the robot, damaging a few small areas, but not enough to slow it down. D-Klak used his hook blades to climb towards the robot's head, though it seemed like an impossible task. Klak attempted to use his gravity powers to crush it one piece at a time, and Treveya conjured a large ball of concentrated shadow energy to fire at strategic points. Before she could unleash it, the robot's chest opened, revealing a gigantic buster cannon. Ta'harok commanded User Zev to stay back as he was not immune to RX particles, but the User ignored him. Ta'harok shot down another drone and fired a concentrated blast of RX energy at the robot's command core, halting it. Klak's gravity attacks eventually caused the robot's core to open, freeing Feldt Grace. Because of her time spent as a DAL processing unit, Grace had gone insane due to having two consciousnesses inside her head fighting for control. She climbed out of the command chair and drew her knives, charging at Klak.
On another part of the robot, Muta punched Kinsler away and telekinetically threw a car into space, for some reason. User Zev flew in the way of Grace's knives, taking the hits for Klak before healing himself. UZev instantly saw the problem, and used his powers to merge the two consciousnesses in her mind into one, curing her of her insanity. Grace came to her senses. However, she realized that she could not leave the robot without destroying it first, as it would claim millions of lives if left to be - but she had to destroy it from within. She thanked UZev and sat back down in the core command chair, initiating the self-destruct sequence of the giant. Naju's fleet retreated, Muta teleported himself and Trantoshen out, and Abneris arrived in his ship to pick up Klak's group. After Klak, Nadle, D-Klak and Treveya all climbed on board, Abneris left the door open for Ta'harok to join them. He told them to wait a few more seconds as he disappeared, then returned carrying Grace's unconscious body. He climbed aboard and the door closed, so the ship took off to parts unknown. User Zev also disappeared in a poof, but Branley and Kinsler's fates were left ambiguous.
