Assorted Writing Projects.

[Cashdash25]

As per the title, various projects, shorts and one-offs written by myself whilst bored or waiting for game updates. Feel free to comment on any if you wish.


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Untitled #1;


Few things in life can compare to the sheer, awe inspiring destructiveness of a three-hundred millimeter artillery bombardment. Eight long range cannons, each firing once every seven and a half seconds like a well oiled machine, launching sixty-four high-explosive shells a minute to come crashing down on a fortified city block six and a half miles away. Deafening explosions thundered across the city as the bombardment stuck, caving in ceilings and collapsing entire building floors. The three minute barrage felt like a lifetime to the young man, sat on the ground floor of a crudely fortified office building, clutching his rifle to his chest as plaster and dry wall crumbled around him, praying to whatever God would listen as the Earth shook around him. For three agonizing minutes he sat there, as the world was blown apart around him, finally, slowly, the world stopped shaking, the thunder of the bombs faded, leaving an eerie


stillness in the air. The young man's ears were ringing as he dazedly climbed to his feet, rifle still clutched in a white-knuckled grip. He gazed weakly around the shattered lobby, looking around at the assortment of rebels, militiamen, partisans and civilians that had taken refuge here from the ever advancing crackdown. Many were crying, shock, pain, grief and terror flowing out in a stream of tears. Others prayed, kneeling hands clasped before whatever holy symbol they could fashion in the chaos. A few men, those who had truly lost their minds, sat laughing, mocking their fellows for their weakness, reveling in the carnage around them, taking solace in their madness. His eyes slowly scanned around as he staggered about, watching the bloodied and battered around him. Some missed limbs, others wore bandages around their heads or bodies. Some groaned in agony, others suffered in silence. Those who were able busied themselves with tending to the wounded and dead, clearing rubble and salvaging what they could.


The young man staggered out into the street, not even registering the angered cries from those around him as he did so. Bodies and rubble littered the street, the building beside their refuge had collapsed completely, crushing anyone inside it and scattering rubble for hundreds of yards. As far as his eyes could see, he saw only desolation. Fires raged in a few places, barely alive husks crawled in others as they slowly succumbed to their injuries. As he looked around he caught his reflection in a shattered window, several weeks' worth of stubble and a mass of shallow cuts marred a once handsome face, his brown eyes, once so full of life, looked dead and empty. His once clean uniform, tattered, dirty and soiled, the sign of the hawk, the symbol of the revolution, nearly indistinguishable from the olive drab fabric under all the dirt and grime. He looked his broken reflection in the eyes, and he found no solace. He knew why this had happened, why so much destruction had been wrought. It was because a group of idealistic fools thought they could help the people by throwing off a tyrant. Because a group of men strove beyond their capabilities, and reached for a goal too far from their grasp. Hundreds, nay, thousands, lay dead or dying because of their ill-planned, ill-fated revolution, and thousands more would die before it was over. The young man looked at the rifle in his hands, his iron grip still locked tight around the weapon, whitening his knuckles as he held it. The young man made a decision.


A lone gunshot shattered the mid-morning stillness of the city, while six and a half miles away, an artillery battery prepares to open fire.

 

[Cashdash25]

Imperial Expeditionary Fleet Kadesh;


Report on the assimilation of System 930:117;


Legio Executor Kavaren reporting;





In accordance with standard procedure I am submitting this report one Imperial Standard Cycle after contact with local Sapient Creatures. It has been roughly two and one half local cycles since we arrived and progress has been unprecedentedly slow, the dominate native race, which refers to itself as "Humanity", "Humans" or just "Man", has shown a completely unheard of capacity to resist our forces. Despite being a pre-FTL race with habitation centers on but a single planet, no starship grade weaponry, no cybernetic or genetic augmentation, no superluminal communication, no anti-gravitational transports, this race, which lacks every form of technology we associate with modern life, has killed or wounded more than fifteen percent of the Fleet's forces, a feat that hasn't been achieved since the Unification Wars, and in a span of time that is utterly unheard of. These Humans are a fractious race, living in a myriad of states that have apparently been at war with each other for more or less their entire history.


This divided nature however has worked strongly in their favor since our arrival, it is not possible for us to simply claim dominion over the planet and force their government to accept Imperial rule under the threat of bombardment because there are more than three hundred governments to negotiate with. As such our control over the planet is limited at best, with only a handful of governments accepting ultimatums and large rebel movements resisting us even in "loyal" regions. These Humans fight war like nothing I've seen in my forty cycles of military service, they fight with almost complete disregard for casualties, throwing thousands of their soldiers into battles they can't win just for the sake of buying a few extra hours elsewhere, these creatures drop airstrikes and artillery bombardments on their own cities just to kill a few dozen of our soldiers. They even show such callous disregard towards themselves individually, frequently pretending to surrender only to attack with a concealed weapon or even detonating explosive devices. Yes, you read that correctly, these creatures will blow themselves up just for the sake of killing or wounding some of our troops. They don't even limit themselves to conventional weaponry, wounded soldiers have been deliberately infected with biological agents with the intention of spreading diseases to our forces, nerve gases and other chemical agents have been employed in artillery bombardments, radiological agents have been spread by retreating Humans to deny our forces their territory. These creatures detonated a nuclear warhead in low orbit over a major population center just to damage one of our starships.


I'm afraid that we're going to need significant reinforcements if we are to achieve our goal of assimilation of this planet. These creatures, these Humans, are an incredibly unique race, their ability to resist our forces is mind boggling, it's impossible, utterly impossible, for a race as small, primitive and weak as Humanity to resist the forces we have arrayed against them and yet they have. I have set a number of aids upon the task of studying this bizarre race, beyond the attached analyses regarding biology and current global situations, hopefully by the time I file my next report we will have garnered some insight into how they are capable of what they are.


Legio Executor Decav Kavaren reporting.