Somewhere near the north pole of the Kelvan Battle Planet, miles underneath the barren surface, the Kelvan Commander squatted in his command pit. He turned slowly round and round, his single, monstrous, yellow eye taking in the information displayed on the 3D projections that surrounded the pit. His myriad tentacles twitched and flicked back and forth across the controls that covered the sloping sides of the pit.
Based on what he saw on the tactical displays, he directed the thousands of Kelvan fighter ships that swarmed about the planet against the pitiful Federation resistance. The battle was going well. The Commander allowed himself the Kelvan equivalent of what would have been an "evil grin" on a humanoid.
The horrid image of another Kelvan suddenly appeared on one of the 3D displays and gave his report to the Commander. The Battle Planet had just crossed the orbit of the fifth planet of this system, the one the Humans call Jupiter.
The Commander acknowledged the news with a snap of one of his tentacles and ordered the planetary destruction weapon be primed and readied for firing. The other Kelvan received the order with his own tentacle snap, and his image disappeared from the display.
The homeworld of these troublesome Humans would be in range in a little less than two hours. Shortly after that, the Humans will no longer have a homeworld.
But in the meantime, there was the issue of the Humans' resistance fleet -- a pitiful three tiny Starships and a handful of even tinier fighter craft. One of the Starships had already been destroyed, along with several of the smaller vessels. But the Humans had some sort of technology that was all but impervious to even the most powerful Kelvan weapons. The Commander wasn't sure if even their planetary destruction weapon could harm a vessel equipped with the strange temporal shielding these Humans had.
But their shields were irrelevant. Even though it was difficult for the Kelvan fighters to destroy the Human ships, it was absolutely impossible for the Humans to stop the Kelvan Battle Planet. After all, what could a ship do against an entire planet? It was like an amoeba trying to kill a Berengarian Dragon by brute force. The Dragon wouldn't even realize the amoeba was there. No, only a Battle Planet would stand a chance of destroying another Battle Planet.
All the while the Kelvan Commander had been musing over these thoughts, he had also been continuing his coordination of the Kelvan fighter ships. He noticed now that some of the Federation ships had been able to open a small gap in his defensive lines. What were they attempting to accomplish? he wondered. He saw that the larger of the two remaining Starships was positioning itself to follow its fighters through the gap.
They are attempting to move closer to the Planet. Why? Suddenly, the Kelvan Commander grew concerned. Do the Humans possess another piece of technology that we are as yet unaware of? Something that they feel will stop the Battle Planet before it reaches their homeworld?
He decided he would not let the Humans try whatever it was they were planning. A few tentacle twitches later, and a dozen wings of Kelvans fighters were diverted toward the Federation ships that had opened the gap in his defenses. Next, he ordered the Defense Moon nearest the Federation Starship Knight to concentrate their fire on that target alone.
Satisfied, the Kelvan Commander reclined deeper into his pit. He was confident the Humans' fate was sealed. And in two hours, final victory!
The Kelvan Commander was correct in his assumption that the Humans had another weapon up their sleeve. But it wasn't a weapon that could destroy the Battle Planet -- although they had one of those too, the Genesis Device. No, the weapon he should have been more worried about at this particular moment was in the form of a very ordinary-looking member of the Knight's crew, the one calling himself Doctor Kira Markos.
At the moment the Kelvan Commander was ordering the Knight to be targeted and destroyed by the Defense Moon, Dr. Kira was below decks in his private quarters, summoning all his strength to do what he felt he had to do, something he swore he'd never do again. And he was beginning to succeed!
In the Command Center deep beneath the north pole of the Kelvan Battle Planet, the Kelvan Commander was alarmed by what his 3D tactical displays were telling him. His mental discipline never wavered however, he immediately set about trying to determine exactly what was happening.
Apparently, an enormous energy distortion was forming in space above the Planet. Is this the Humans' ultimate weapon? he wondered dispassionately. It didn't seem likely. The distortion was too small to have any significant effect on a planetary body. He noticed on one of the other displays that the Federation fleet was on a direct course towards the anomaly. What are they doing?
He called up the displays that showed the science data on the anomaly. The distortion had resolved itself into s spinning blue vortex by now. It exhibited properties akin to those of a wormhole, but also radiated chronometric ripples in all directions. A time warp!
The Kelvan Commander's monstrous yellow eye opened wide in shock and disbelief. In a flash of insight, the Humans' plan had become apparent to him.
He raised his hundred tentacles in the air in anger and frustration and whipped them madly about. A horrible keening wail emanated from deep within him and echoed along the ceiling and walls throughout the entire Kelvan Command Complex. To have come this close to universal conquest only to be stopped by a single Human Starship. It was unthinkable! He couldn't live with this shame on his head.
And that was the Kelvan Commander's last thought. The instant the Knight slipped into the vortex and traveled back in time to try to save Humanity and the Federation, his reality ceased to exist.