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Ghost in the Machine
- Thread starter Atom
- Start date
Spacekitty
Recently Resurrected Divine Feline Entity.
-----Inside the Station, Commander Jolf-----
As Jolf and his company ventured further into the station, they heard the sound of guns firing and the odd screams and clicks of what they assumed to be hostile aliens reverberating from a tunnel on the right. Unfortunately the ever battle eager Klavikans would have a more pressing threat to deal with as an oppressing and suffocating silence seemed to wash over them, drowning out the sounds of combat. The dew lights un the station dimmed and went black, leaving the station in a blanket of darkness even the most powerful flashlight seemed to be unable to penetrate of this silence came the same rattling and eerie voice;
You still seek… to journey forth… knowing death awaits you…? Gooood...yes… very good… persistence… it has been quite some time… since my pets have had their fun… go my lovelies… awaken them to the fear of the dark…”
Jolf looked at his second in command, who in turn looked at Jolf.
"Pets?" Jolf questioned, secretly guessing and knowing what the voice meant.
His command shrugged in his heavy and powerful mech armor "My guess is where about to have some "friends" to play with" he smiled as he raised his gun to do a quick inspection.
Suddenly a sound pierced the seemingly impenetrable mist that had extended its black hand over them. The sound of a million tiny little legs skittering down the metallic halls towards them.
"What the hell?" Jolfs second in command asked as the noise steadily grew louder and louder.
Jolf grimaced. Things were about to get interesting.
"Firing line, now!" Jolf called out.
The Klavikan grunts I'm the front of the company obeyed immediately, stepping in front of their commander and kneeled down should to should, 5 in a row, guns pointing into the dark mist. Another front row stepped behind them, standing up as to shoot over their heads, 3 to a row as Jolf and his commander filled the middle spots.
The sound grew gradually louder until finally, the first of the metal wave that was about to engulf the company appeared. Dozens, hundreds, thousands of small metallic spiders came drawing from the depths of the station.
"Contact" yelled one of the front line troops as be opened fire with his plasma blaster. The rest of the front line troops followed suit. The Klavikan plasma blasters, meant for heavy targets, easily destroyed the weak spider bots, but there were simply too many if them. More and more Klavikans rushed to support the line with a new row, but the monsters kept on coming.
Jolfs laser SMG seemed more fit for the job, as a simple mental command set the weapon into "spray" mode in which he could kill multiple spiders in a short pull of the trigger. But even all this fire power did little to even sloe the swarm, which jumped onto the suits of the front most row and exploded in a kamikaze charge. The explosions sent the front lines falling backwards, only to be engulfed by the bugs and destroyed in a series of blasts. Jolf would of had the same fate if he had not been agile enough to avoid being pinned under a Klavikan and therefore escape, at least for the moment, from the horde.
Jolf looked grim faced as 11 of his soldiers were engulfed and killed, the rest, including his second un command, falling back to the rest of the company.
His second in command, now wearing dented armor (that was actually would of been pretty funny looking if not for the swarm of exploding spider bots) turned to Jolf as the spiders ran over the bloody remains of his comrades and continued towards the company
"There's too many of them! We need reinforcements!".
Jolf nodded. His second in command had said something reasonable, a rare occurrence. He mentally orders the suit to contact Commander Tarzak. Unfortunately for Jolf, the oppressive darkness seemed to be affecting his coms, as the suit seemed unable to reach the flag ship.
"Shit... Coms are jammed where on our own"
"FUCK!" his second in command called out, as he backed away from the spiders, who were rapidly closing the difference between them.
"Well, I'll see how those bugs like this!" his second in command said as he threw a plasma grenade at the horde. The grenade exploded in a flash of white-hot plasma that engulfed the front of the horde, leaving small pools of metal melted into the floor of the station.
Seeing how effective the grenade had been, Jolf ordered the front line troops to throw a plasma grenade at the horde. The resulting blast ordered the front line troops to throw a plasma grenade at the horde. The resulting blast lessened horde, at least for a moment as even more spiders filled the places of their comrades. As his men readied to throw more grenades Jolf had an idea. He ordere his Rovilan troops to come to the front lines and line up. Unfortunately due to the cramped conditions of the tunnels it was a bit before the Rovilans could squeeze there wat through the Klavikans who were slowly being overwhelmed as one by one they fell. By time the Rovilans reached the front lines another 10 had fallen.
Upon reaching the front lines the Rovilans switched their SMGs to spray mode and the result was spectacular. A hail of lasers from 3 lines of 7 Rovilans decimated the oncoming spiders. Things were looking up, the spiders were being pushed back!
Then the soldiers had to reload. This 5 seconds of delay allowed the spider horde to overwhelm the Rovilans, who could not retreat as lines of Klavikans blocked the way. Their light armor provided little protection against the multiple explosions. The remaining troops (roughly 150) were orders into a blind charge back to the drop ships, while Jolf tried futilely to contact the squad they had left to guard them.
As Jolf and his company ventured further into the station, they heard the sound of guns firing and the odd screams and clicks of what they assumed to be hostile aliens reverberating from a tunnel on the right. Unfortunately the ever battle eager Klavikans would have a more pressing threat to deal with as an oppressing and suffocating silence seemed to wash over them, drowning out the sounds of combat. The dew lights un the station dimmed and went black, leaving the station in a blanket of darkness even the most powerful flashlight seemed to be unable to penetrate of this silence came the same rattling and eerie voice;
You still seek… to journey forth… knowing death awaits you…? Gooood...yes… very good… persistence… it has been quite some time… since my pets have had their fun… go my lovelies… awaken them to the fear of the dark…”
Jolf looked at his second in command, who in turn looked at Jolf.
"Pets?" Jolf questioned, secretly guessing and knowing what the voice meant.
His command shrugged in his heavy and powerful mech armor "My guess is where about to have some "friends" to play with" he smiled as he raised his gun to do a quick inspection.
Suddenly a sound pierced the seemingly impenetrable mist that had extended its black hand over them. The sound of a million tiny little legs skittering down the metallic halls towards them.
"What the hell?" Jolfs second in command asked as the noise steadily grew louder and louder.
Jolf grimaced. Things were about to get interesting.
"Firing line, now!" Jolf called out.
The Klavikan grunts I'm the front of the company obeyed immediately, stepping in front of their commander and kneeled down should to should, 5 in a row, guns pointing into the dark mist. Another front row stepped behind them, standing up as to shoot over their heads, 3 to a row as Jolf and his commander filled the middle spots.
The sound grew gradually louder until finally, the first of the metal wave that was about to engulf the company appeared. Dozens, hundreds, thousands of small metallic spiders came drawing from the depths of the station.
"Contact" yelled one of the front line troops as be opened fire with his plasma blaster. The rest of the front line troops followed suit. The Klavikan plasma blasters, meant for heavy targets, easily destroyed the weak spider bots, but there were simply too many if them. More and more Klavikans rushed to support the line with a new row, but the monsters kept on coming.
Jolfs laser SMG seemed more fit for the job, as a simple mental command set the weapon into "spray" mode in which he could kill multiple spiders in a short pull of the trigger. But even all this fire power did little to even sloe the swarm, which jumped onto the suits of the front most row and exploded in a kamikaze charge. The explosions sent the front lines falling backwards, only to be engulfed by the bugs and destroyed in a series of blasts. Jolf would of had the same fate if he had not been agile enough to avoid being pinned under a Klavikan and therefore escape, at least for the moment, from the horde.
Jolf looked grim faced as 11 of his soldiers were engulfed and killed, the rest, including his second un command, falling back to the rest of the company.
His second in command, now wearing dented armor (that was actually would of been pretty funny looking if not for the swarm of exploding spider bots) turned to Jolf as the spiders ran over the bloody remains of his comrades and continued towards the company
"There's too many of them! We need reinforcements!".
Jolf nodded. His second in command had said something reasonable, a rare occurrence. He mentally orders the suit to contact Commander Tarzak. Unfortunately for Jolf, the oppressive darkness seemed to be affecting his coms, as the suit seemed unable to reach the flag ship.
"Shit... Coms are jammed where on our own"
"FUCK!" his second in command called out, as he backed away from the spiders, who were rapidly closing the difference between them.
"Well, I'll see how those bugs like this!" his second in command said as he threw a plasma grenade at the horde. The grenade exploded in a flash of white-hot plasma that engulfed the front of the horde, leaving small pools of metal melted into the floor of the station.
Seeing how effective the grenade had been, Jolf ordered the front line troops to throw a plasma grenade at the horde. The resulting blast ordered the front line troops to throw a plasma grenade at the horde. The resulting blast lessened horde, at least for a moment as even more spiders filled the places of their comrades. As his men readied to throw more grenades Jolf had an idea. He ordere his Rovilan troops to come to the front lines and line up. Unfortunately due to the cramped conditions of the tunnels it was a bit before the Rovilans could squeeze there wat through the Klavikans who were slowly being overwhelmed as one by one they fell. By time the Rovilans reached the front lines another 10 had fallen.
Upon reaching the front lines the Rovilans switched their SMGs to spray mode and the result was spectacular. A hail of lasers from 3 lines of 7 Rovilans decimated the oncoming spiders. Things were looking up, the spiders were being pushed back!
Then the soldiers had to reload. This 5 seconds of delay allowed the spider horde to overwhelm the Rovilans, who could not retreat as lines of Klavikans blocked the way. Their light armor provided little protection against the multiple explosions. The remaining troops (roughly 150) were orders into a blind charge back to the drop ships, while Jolf tried futilely to contact the squad they had left to guard them.
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GrieveWriter
U-Incorporated 2nd Class Type Unit
B06...
The Elder Kadrel tilted his head as the row of Kadrel before him fired on the creatures, falling several, but the concentration of them made it harder for the row to pick targets and aim for physically weaker sections. The row had foregone aiming after this had been made apparent and simply began firing en masse.
And as they did so, using the pause the creature's used to destroy the Defect, B06 noticed it. The thing that slid backwards through the small swarm, a humanoid creature which stood out among the rest of the creatures like B06 did among the other Kadrel with with his green style. The Elder narrowed his eyes as lost sight of the humanoid in the mess of limbs, even his thermal scans proving ineffective with the amount of living creatures obstructing his view.
What he did see, however, was the thing that came sailing out of the fleshy mosh pit. He didn't know what it was, oddly shaped alien weapon or oddly shaped alien garbage. But he'd seen enough to know that when some small object comes sailing at you, you back up.
Which is what he grunted out to the row of Kadrel, which began backing up with him thinking It was some type of explosive. Instead what they got was darkness as the station's eerie blue lighting seemed to dissipate. Night Vision was activated on the Helmets of the Kadrel, which was almost immediately overwhelmed by the flash of light. B06 rolled his eyes as the front row of Kads stumbled from the brightness, the remaining Kads standing a ways behind him having been far away enough for the flash to have just startled them a bit.
As the group in back began recovering and the front row attempted to steady themselves, that voice popped up once more and began speaking in that eerie tone. Though concerning, B06 originally decided the enemy currently in front of them was a more pressing matter...
...and oh boy would he regret that in the next fifteen seconds.
He was about to grunt several orders to the unshaken Kads when suddenly a loud clattering sound began rapidly resonating through the area. Glancing around, B06 eyed a branching hall that sat in the middle of the brewing firefight.
Before he could even mention it, a horde of small robots began skittering out of the hall and pouring into theirs violently before immediately branching towards both them and the Organic swarm. In front of his eyes, they latched to the Kads in the front row who had not been able to recover from the flash before exploding. Even as they detonated against their targets, more seemed to spill out in their place.
Now those right there... that's pretty much what he'd expect security for this place to look like.
Shouting some more, B06 and the rest of the Kadrel began firing into the oncoming robotic horde, back walking to keep distance. Even when full salvos of plasma fire tore through them, the robots continued spewing out of the other hall into theirs, seeking targets to detonate on.
(@NeoLeaf )
The Elder Kadrel tilted his head as the row of Kadrel before him fired on the creatures, falling several, but the concentration of them made it harder for the row to pick targets and aim for physically weaker sections. The row had foregone aiming after this had been made apparent and simply began firing en masse.
And as they did so, using the pause the creature's used to destroy the Defect, B06 noticed it. The thing that slid backwards through the small swarm, a humanoid creature which stood out among the rest of the creatures like B06 did among the other Kadrel with with his green style. The Elder narrowed his eyes as lost sight of the humanoid in the mess of limbs, even his thermal scans proving ineffective with the amount of living creatures obstructing his view.
What he did see, however, was the thing that came sailing out of the fleshy mosh pit. He didn't know what it was, oddly shaped alien weapon or oddly shaped alien garbage. But he'd seen enough to know that when some small object comes sailing at you, you back up.
Which is what he grunted out to the row of Kadrel, which began backing up with him thinking It was some type of explosive. Instead what they got was darkness as the station's eerie blue lighting seemed to dissipate. Night Vision was activated on the Helmets of the Kadrel, which was almost immediately overwhelmed by the flash of light. B06 rolled his eyes as the front row of Kads stumbled from the brightness, the remaining Kads standing a ways behind him having been far away enough for the flash to have just startled them a bit.
As the group in back began recovering and the front row attempted to steady themselves, that voice popped up once more and began speaking in that eerie tone. Though concerning, B06 originally decided the enemy currently in front of them was a more pressing matter...
...and oh boy would he regret that in the next fifteen seconds.
He was about to grunt several orders to the unshaken Kads when suddenly a loud clattering sound began rapidly resonating through the area. Glancing around, B06 eyed a branching hall that sat in the middle of the brewing firefight.
Before he could even mention it, a horde of small robots began skittering out of the hall and pouring into theirs violently before immediately branching towards both them and the Organic swarm. In front of his eyes, they latched to the Kads in the front row who had not been able to recover from the flash before exploding. Even as they detonated against their targets, more seemed to spill out in their place.
Now those right there... that's pretty much what he'd expect security for this place to look like.
Shouting some more, B06 and the rest of the Kadrel began firing into the oncoming robotic horde, back walking to keep distance. Even when full salvos of plasma fire tore through them, the robots continued spewing out of the other hall into theirs, seeking targets to detonate on.
(@NeoLeaf )
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NeoLeaf
Optimistic Dictator & Intermediate Story Teller
The Swarm of Petrarica
The Station...
Ira...
Ira and her squad were slowly making progress in the station, treading somewhat casually in the open hallways and their unending corridors. Really? Ira thought to herself while walking down. The hallways seem very unnecessary to her. Why is the area in abundance of them if they are nothing but walls? There are no doors and any other type of entrance save for an additional route for the hallways to branch out. It's hard to believe that a station as huge as this doesn't have anything but hallways. It almost seemed like the station was meant to be a maze of sorts. The thought bugged Ira to why so much area is being wasted away on the humongous station. Then again what they've explored is only a small portion of the Station's over all mass so their has to be a difference if they were to continue their journey to the deeper parts of the station.
Ira stopped when she noticed a change in the environment. As if she were sinking in an ocean, the bluish-white light of the hallways slowly faded around them. The shadows of the corners of the hallway began to stretch and envelope everything until The platoon found themselves in utter darkness. Ira stood still as a posed statue and felt her heart trembling when she felt the darkness stare upon her like the abyss and heard the sound of several mechanical legs echoing throughout the station. The heavy soldiers went in front of the humanoid Aliuu readied their acidic claws, flapped their wings a number of times and shook their heads as if they were to swag like a bull.
"Wait...!" Ira called out to her heavy soldiers.
"That's too many of them!" She reached out to the arrow formation of the forty or so heavy fighters.
One them in the back turned around to grab Ira's arm and pushed her back towards the special units who noticed the foreboding of the darkness in front of the formation. Ira stumbled back and looked ahead of herself when the noise grew louder. The Heavy soldier than pushed her back smashed it's claw down against the ground as though it were yelling at her like an angry parent and 'stared' at her intently. The special units behind her growled in agreement, grabbed her with their tentacles and began charging down the direction from whence they came.
"Wait No!" She yelled at she watched through her carapace mask as robotic spider looking creatures arrived to swarm the heavy fighters. It was inevitable, The heavy fighters were meant to deal with armored targets and not small critters. A number of explosive noises had echoed from the location that they left. Sucking in her lips she opened up a part of her mind and connected herself to the overseer.
<Ira?> The warm wet male voice asked questionably.
"Enemies all around us! The hallways suddenly went dark and swarms of explosive arachnid-like machines are swarm from around us!" She reported. A number of signals streamed into her head, alerts and distress signals from the other platoons that have gone out. Small brief memories filled her head as she was brought into a trance in before continuing.
The huge swarms hounds had a 'better' time dealing with the infestation. Like their mechanical counter parts, they too blow up albeit into a corrosive substance. From the eyes that she saw it through, she could see the small ave of hounds duking it out with the mechanical spiders. All of them are blowing up. The mechanical spiders are blowing up in yellow clouds of heat and radiance awhile the hounds blew up in bright green bioluminescence countering the yellow explosion with the weight and force of their acidic make up. The spiders kept pushing their dead forward or were going over them in the same way the hounds were. It was a battle of numbers and explosive efficiency.
Soldiers tried ramming at one point but gave up when the mechanical arachnids blew themselves up for one that was dumb enough to attack head on. They attacked with their flexable bullet speed tentacles or shot bile balls of corrosive matter into their ranks. Some what efficient but not enough sadly. It's nice for slowing them down but it's not good at stopping the synthetic critters as with the suicide bombing hounds and crows. The Tanks that managed to orientate themselves to join in on the patrols were sometimes present with the soldiers. As Ira could see, Two tanks that towered over their soldiers both opened their crocodile mouths and from in released a 'wave of fire' against the little robots. A powerful acidic combination that only they can tolerate. The liquid flame spewed on the mechanical creatures like an overloaded flame thrower and bathed the hallway in a red light.
"We need an immediate extraction!" Ira broke out of her trance.
"Bring the leviathan!"
Ira was cut off when she heard the countless spider legs in front of her. blinking she saw the swarm that killed off her heavy fighters tailing her and her special units. Grabbing an egg shaped device, She threw it so that it would land in front of the swarm of mechanical critters. The object instantly blew itself up into a giant blob of corossive semi transparent sticky slime. Stopping them at that point until another number of them would simply blow themselves up. Eventually They arrived to the gooey hallways of the swarm controlled areas where the speed and vitally had suddenly picked up for all of them.
"Bring it, Now!"
Gof...
@GrieveWriter
The frenzied Swarm stopped their onslaught with the rectangle helmets when they felt a present behind them. They noticed the dimness of them room much later once everything had gotten dark to a point where they could see the flashes of the blocky humanoids' weapons.
A voice screamed in Gof's head when he looked behind himself and through the use of the Swarm's bioluminiant bodies they were able to see what was making all of that racket. Small mechanical spiders were swarming towards them and the Humanoids that they were about to attack. Grinding his teeth and cursing inside his mind, He tapped into the minds of his platoon and had them stop to turn around and face their next enemy. The other half of the platoon of soldiers began to retreat awhile attacking the horde with their bullet-speed tentacles.
Gof jumped on top of the smooth and grabbed onto a soldier's head. He looked at his sword and flipped a switch of some sort. The handle of the sword began to pulsate and vibrate in his one hand and static blew out from the 'blade' of the sword. He positioned himself on the arthropod, firmly by using his tentacles to latch onto the soldier's smooth 'head' and aimed the blade in front of him. Supported by his knee, both of his hands and his chest the blade began to shake and growl. The platoon made way for Gof and the soldier he was riding and waited for the spectacle.
"Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!" A bright pink beam of plasma erupted from the sword handle bathing the area in a bright white light. The light simply obliterated the little creatures and whatever it had touched. The plasmatic light lasted for four whole seconds before vanishing in a blink of an eye.
Once it was over, The handle, snapped and crumbled in his hand. Gof opened his black charred melted hands and unleashed the grey dust that was once his weapon. He and his platoon backed off some more when the wave continued. Gof and his platoon had their backs facing the humanoids that they tried to attack before but the situation has tunred for the worst and brought Gof to forge an uneasy ceasefire if you will with them.
"Damn..." He mouthed as he and his platoon faced the oncoming swarm of spider bots and looked at his smoking lower arm limbs.
"We're not getting out of this one alive are we?" He called back at the blocky humanoids.
The Leviathan...
@Bobisdead123 @Anaxial
"It. Seems. Trouble. Has. FOUND. Itself. On. The. Station..." The orange circlets of the mask blinked.
"This. Conversation. Might. COME. To. An. END...." The slug said as the dark serpent moved away from the the envoys towards the direction where it had unleashed it's pods.
.
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Anaxial
Making America Great Again.
Within the darkened halls of the unending abyss, Shane Warner and his Salvage crew had ventured into a damnable, antediluvian portal to a sort of black, metal, hell. The air went still, their vision went black, the powerful flashlights, sole portals to remind them they were not in an abyss could hardly penetrate the blackened veil that had enveloped them. The Salvage crew had stopped dead in their tracks, hearing the voice eerily whisper in their ears.
"Did uh..." Shane's voice wavered, he looked over his shoulder at the crew, their orb shaped helmets showed their confused, fearful faces as they looked to Shane, Uty'er and the ten Power Armored soldiers for guidance. "You all heard that?" No one answered, they all seemed too fearful to speak, their heads turned as they tried to listen deeper into the blackened abyss.
"There are Spirits here." Uty'er said, his translator was monotone once again, he showed no fear in his voice or his body language. Where others were shifting nervously, the Reptile seemed to be standing tall, ready to assault the ship by himself. "There is a Ghost in the Machine." Not a second after he said that, before Shane could turn to look at his companion, a gunshot was heard.
Their journey inside the gargantuan had hardly begun before they heard the screams, the gunfire, the familiar death throes of fallen soldiers that accompany a battle. The Salvage crew had already began to backtrack towards their ship, visibly docked, a light at the end of the horrid darkness. The 20 Salvage members were in a slow jog as they made their way back to the Eternity Damned. Shane Warner, Uty'er and the 8 other Power armored soldiers stood fast, slowly walking backwards as they began to hear the mysterious tacka-tacka-tacka of the millions of legs of the spider drones.
"Something's not right... Go! Get back to the ship!" Shane called out quickly switching his frequency channel from the squad comms back to the Eternity Damned. "Dani! Get the ship up! Open the airlock, get everyone inside!"
"Chieftain, they are here!" Uty'er's voice is heard on the Eternity Damned's comm channel, drawing Shane's attention back to the front, witnessing the swarm of spider drones approaching them. "Born in blood and torment! Die in blood and torment!" Cried the reptile's voice as he took a solid stance in the hallway and braced the Nidhog sprayer against his hips. With the pull of a single lever, a torrent of magma-like jellied plasma sprayed out of the dragon mouth shaped nozzle. The burning glow splashed over the swarm of spider drones and immediately ate away at their metal flesh. Uty'er swung his hips side to side to cover more of the drones as they approached.
Inspired by the Reptile's assault, the Shane and the other Power Armored soldiers joined in in his attack. Shane leveled his Arbalest and fired out a burst of alloied plasma, the solution impacting the drones at a significant speed of light to instantly destroy a small pocket of the drones before the material splashed and began melting away at the drone's bodies. The others carried similar sprayers or two-handed chainguns. The ten soldiers stood side to side, forming a bulwark that the drones would NOT penetrate as their never-ending onslaught was met with a similarly relentless stream of burning hot liquid plasma, or heavy caliber chaingun rounds flying into their ranks.
"Did uh..." Shane's voice wavered, he looked over his shoulder at the crew, their orb shaped helmets showed their confused, fearful faces as they looked to Shane, Uty'er and the ten Power Armored soldiers for guidance. "You all heard that?" No one answered, they all seemed too fearful to speak, their heads turned as they tried to listen deeper into the blackened abyss.
"There are Spirits here." Uty'er said, his translator was monotone once again, he showed no fear in his voice or his body language. Where others were shifting nervously, the Reptile seemed to be standing tall, ready to assault the ship by himself. "There is a Ghost in the Machine." Not a second after he said that, before Shane could turn to look at his companion, a gunshot was heard.
Their journey inside the gargantuan had hardly begun before they heard the screams, the gunfire, the familiar death throes of fallen soldiers that accompany a battle. The Salvage crew had already began to backtrack towards their ship, visibly docked, a light at the end of the horrid darkness. The 20 Salvage members were in a slow jog as they made their way back to the Eternity Damned. Shane Warner, Uty'er and the 8 other Power armored soldiers stood fast, slowly walking backwards as they began to hear the mysterious tacka-tacka-tacka of the millions of legs of the spider drones.
"Something's not right... Go! Get back to the ship!" Shane called out quickly switching his frequency channel from the squad comms back to the Eternity Damned. "Dani! Get the ship up! Open the airlock, get everyone inside!"
"Chieftain, they are here!" Uty'er's voice is heard on the Eternity Damned's comm channel, drawing Shane's attention back to the front, witnessing the swarm of spider drones approaching them. "Born in blood and torment! Die in blood and torment!" Cried the reptile's voice as he took a solid stance in the hallway and braced the Nidhog sprayer against his hips. With the pull of a single lever, a torrent of magma-like jellied plasma sprayed out of the dragon mouth shaped nozzle. The burning glow splashed over the swarm of spider drones and immediately ate away at their metal flesh. Uty'er swung his hips side to side to cover more of the drones as they approached.
Inspired by the Reptile's assault, the Shane and the other Power Armored soldiers joined in in his attack. Shane leveled his Arbalest and fired out a burst of alloied plasma, the solution impacting the drones at a significant speed of light to instantly destroy a small pocket of the drones before the material splashed and began melting away at the drone's bodies. The others carried similar sprayers or two-handed chainguns. The ten soldiers stood side to side, forming a bulwark that the drones would NOT penetrate as their never-ending onslaught was met with a similarly relentless stream of burning hot liquid plasma, or heavy caliber chaingun rounds flying into their ranks.
Jarkov Malachai
A simple Traveler, consumed by Wanderlust.
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Spacekitty
Recently Resurrected Divine Feline Entity.
As Jolf and his company ran like hell through the dark halls Jolf was glad he had chosen to plot the course they took inside the station on his suits self-creating GPS that created a map as the wearer traveled through the unknown. Without the GPS, its likely Jolf and his company would of gotten lost in the maze they call a station, never to be seen again.... Alive at least. The horde of metal spiders followed them in a relentless pursuit, more and more pouring out of every crack and side tunnel until a literal wave of squirming metal trailed just a few meters behind them.
They were about half way back to the drop zone. Jolf tried to contact the Sergeant.
"Sergeant come in! Can you hear me?"
After a few seconds of running the staticy and barely understandable response came.
"I r--d yo- lo-d an- cle--r. Wh-- do y-- ne-d s--"
Jolf sighed I'm relief.
"We have encountered a large number of hostiles, deploy defenses and prep the drop ship!"
A few seconds later the reply came again, slightly less staticy this time;
"Aff--mit--e. Dro- sh--s wil- be re-dy"
Jolf smiled, almost. "Alright boys were almost there, as long as we don't run into trouble we'll be home free in a matter of minutes!"
His company cheered and they pushed on at an increased rate, determined to make it to the safety of the drop ships. All seemed to be going according to plan, until they saw the mass of metal spiders just ahead of them. Were dead... Jolf thought to himself, and surely they would be, if the spiders has not already been engaged with the salvagers, their gun fire barely audible over the sound of thousands of little metal feet.
"Throw grenades and push through boys, were almost home!" Jolf ordered.
His men obeyed, throwing plasma grenades into the mass of bodies and the Rovilans spraying the mass as the men charged through, kicking and smashing the bots along the way.
This aggressive and somewhat reckless tactic would not be without consequence though, as several men were smarmed and killed, along with several others being launched into the ceiling by an explosion underneath their feet. Upon hitting the ground they too were swarmed and killed, the resulting explosion sending other flying. They were almost upon the front lines of the spiders, hopefully the salvagers wouldn't accidently shoot them... @Anaxial
((@Jarkov Malachai))
-----Drop zone-----
The Sargent, upon hearing Jolf was ok, for now at least was greatly reassured. The presence of hostiles actually excited him somewhat, things were kinda boring here. His men word quickly to prep the drop shops and set up sole defenses. He deployed the 3 heavy MGs to guard the two entrance into the hangar and had his men activate bots of their own, 3 foot tall bots reminiscent of spiders, except these has only 4 legs. These relatively small bots where armed with fast firing green energy lasers and the Sargent reckons that the bots, combined with the MGs could hold off whatever was coming. Hopefully he was right.
He had to be.
They were about half way back to the drop zone. Jolf tried to contact the Sergeant.
"Sergeant come in! Can you hear me?"
After a few seconds of running the staticy and barely understandable response came.
"I r--d yo- lo-d an- cle--r. Wh-- do y-- ne-d s--"
Jolf sighed I'm relief.
"We have encountered a large number of hostiles, deploy defenses and prep the drop ship!"
A few seconds later the reply came again, slightly less staticy this time;
"Aff--mit--e. Dro- sh--s wil- be re-dy"
Jolf smiled, almost. "Alright boys were almost there, as long as we don't run into trouble we'll be home free in a matter of minutes!"
His company cheered and they pushed on at an increased rate, determined to make it to the safety of the drop ships. All seemed to be going according to plan, until they saw the mass of metal spiders just ahead of them. Were dead... Jolf thought to himself, and surely they would be, if the spiders has not already been engaged with the salvagers, their gun fire barely audible over the sound of thousands of little metal feet.
"Throw grenades and push through boys, were almost home!" Jolf ordered.
His men obeyed, throwing plasma grenades into the mass of bodies and the Rovilans spraying the mass as the men charged through, kicking and smashing the bots along the way.
This aggressive and somewhat reckless tactic would not be without consequence though, as several men were smarmed and killed, along with several others being launched into the ceiling by an explosion underneath their feet. Upon hitting the ground they too were swarmed and killed, the resulting explosion sending other flying. They were almost upon the front lines of the spiders, hopefully the salvagers wouldn't accidently shoot them... @Anaxial
((@Jarkov Malachai))
-----Drop zone-----
The Sargent, upon hearing Jolf was ok, for now at least was greatly reassured. The presence of hostiles actually excited him somewhat, things were kinda boring here. His men word quickly to prep the drop shops and set up sole defenses. He deployed the 3 heavy MGs to guard the two entrance into the hangar and had his men activate bots of their own, 3 foot tall bots reminiscent of spiders, except these has only 4 legs. These relatively small bots where armed with fast firing green energy lasers and the Sargent reckons that the bots, combined with the MGs could hold off whatever was coming. Hopefully he was right.
He had to be.
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GrieveWriter
U-Incorporated 2nd Class Type Unit
B06...
(@NeoLeaf )
The Kadrel adjusted their aim, more than willing to let the Organics shield them with their bodies while gunning down robots from their position. B06 grumbled a bit as he watched the sheer numbers of the machines press against the onslaught of attacks from both the Organic and Kadrel soldiers.
And then there was the humanoid and its sword. Sure the blast looked powerful, rivaled some of the best Handheld Kadrel Weaponry he'd seen for quite some time, but even with a large chunk carved directly through their forces, the robots just seemed to refill that gap with more of them.
And even after that the Humanoid had the gall to start talking about how they most likely wouldn't make it. B06 scoffed at this, he'd survived surprisingly worst situations than a horde of mobile Explosives. They weren't necessarily backed into a corner just yet, for several yards deep into the horde of robots the Elder Kad saw another branching hall. While the other ones seemed teeming with the Spider Mines, this one only had several coming out. That was his target, for if the current map of the station the Kadrel had been making on Helm-Net was true, heading in that direction could lead him right back into known territory.
B06 grumbled at the amount of risks the idea would take, but began grunting into his translator anyway "Says you, I ain't letting no wall of explosives gallivant around thinking it'll be enough to put me in the ground. All I need is a sufficient push." The Elder said in Kadrellian before turning on his fellow Kadrel "Wounded?"
Several Kads replied in a confirmation, B06's synthetic eyes labeling them apart from the others before calling out again "Newborn?"
A larger quantity of the Kadrel responded in a confirmation, to which B06 was grateful "You weaker beings will push them back, then hold them while the rest of us abscond. Do not fear the oncoming end, fight to the last claw and make the Creators proud."
And to nobodies surprise, the injured or Newborn Kadrel gave no complaints to these orders, the small number of Kads who had lived long enough to know what a week felt like or been smart enough to avoid damage filed out from the ranks of the rest of them.
The remaining Kadrel began moving forward, covering as much of the robots in plasma fire, knowing that the constant usage would soon overcook their weapons.
B06 cracked his knuckles before picking up several blasters from more fallen Kads and sticking them on his back where they locked on, then stood in a ready position as the rest of the stronger Kadrel waited for the moment when they'd have just enough of a window of opportunity.
"I suggest picking which of yours stay to die for you as well." B06 said to the Humanoid Organic as the time grew closer
E73...
"Worrisome developments." Ambassador E73 said as it looked over the reports coming from the station. The Kadrel squads that had gone in deeper than the rest had finicky connection to the Epsilon at best, and it only got worst the deeper they got into the station. But from the Kadrel who hadn't gotten as far, the reports came flooding about the tide of Station Security, a tide of exploding Spiders.
The Ambassador had hoped that the being controlling the station had been bluffing, using its control over the Station's systems to potentially scare off any looters. Sadly, it would seem to not be the case.
Several squads had been wiped out, with others holding up with what munitions they had and the others simply absconding from any battle with the metallic menace. Of course, being Kadrel it wasn't like they were really losing anything important. And if they bring the transports back they could just ram more Kads into the Station until they started gaining ground. But if what he'd read was anything to go by, they had almost finished charging up the equipment brought on several of those transports. The rest he could bring back for reinforcements sure, but those ones took up docking space, and those areas would be harder to enforce without constant Kadrel deployment.
If those robots gained too much ground on the outer levels of the station they'd just end up cutting the Kads off by using their obvious knowledge of the maze-like station's infrastructure.
But maybe if-
The Ambassador was interrupted from his musings when he heard the sound of the entrance field to the bridge going down, and turned around to see that his superior had returned.
"Captain!" one of the Tech Kads said in Kadrellian "You've missed so much! Where have you been?!?"
Captain Skaz yawned, stretching his cybernetic limbs and releasing a puff of steam from his metallic body as his hovering chair calmly floated in "Well runt, let me tell you I have had quite a day."
"I took a power nap for some time, woke up and got bored so I went to the Recreational Deck where I forced several Kads into the Drip. After they turned I had the Chefs hunt them down for a while before one of them ended up escaping. I took a small team of Chefs all over the ship following a trail of injured and dead Kads until we cornered the beast in the fighting chamber. It was obviously outmatched, but during the fight it damaged the airlock control panel and sent my Chefs flying into space. Could've saved them, didn't feel like it so I blew them up before they could float too far away. Anyway, after that I took care of the Drip Addict, resealed the Airlock, killed several Kadrel just for the hell of it on my way here, did some Karaoke, then arrived in pristine condition as always."
Ambassador E73 nodded throughout the entirety of Captain Skaz's monologue "So that's why I've been getting so many injury reports lately."
"Sir... do you even know what we've had to deal with in your absence!?!" the Tech Kadrel grunted in abject disbelief "We've had to keep these other aliens from turning this entire sector into a warzone! Scour miles upon miles of endless hallways, and now we've got a sea of hostile robots wiping out our squads one by-"
The Kadrel flinched as his entire helmet split in half and fell to his sides, then wobbled a bit as the rest of his body followed suit.
"And that, was the second Techie I've had to put down today." Skaz grumbled to himself before leaning towards Ambassador E73 as his seat finished its journey to the center of the Bridge once more "You think the Vats are acting up or something? Haven't had to put down this many annoyances since I built my very own GeneVat oh so long ago."
The Captain sighed in nostalgia before leaning back in his chair, Ambassador E73 looked down at the Kad's remains a moment before replying "We shall run diagnostics on them once we reach the nearest Theta-Station, but there have been several pressing developments since you left sir."
The Ambassador provided a series of Holo-screens which portrayed reports on several of both their conversations with the aliens, the incursion into the station and even the latest reports of the security swarm.
He seemed to skim through them with barely even a glance, but E73 knew better than to question the high speed thought processes of a Theno.
"So they blow up," Skaz said before sending the Holo-Screens away "Whoopdie freaking doo. Just shoot them for Creator's sakes."
"There is a largely concerning number of them, sir."
"Then shoot them some more, what's the big problem here?!?" Skaz barked at the Ambassador before leaning back once more and releasing a puff of steam
"They're sending a horde of disposable toys to fight," Captain Skaz patted the Ambassador on the head "What? Did you forget what our entire ship is designed for?"
"I am well aware of the Epsilon's capabilities sir, but simply firing more Kadrel at it sounds-"
"You know what I don't hear?" Captain Skaz interrupted as he placed a hand to his helmet where his ear would be "The sound of me caring, fire the Kadrel."
"But sir, we have soldiers on that station that could be injured if we simply fire pods at it!"
"Don't care, fire the Kadrel."
"We risk damaging the Station and potentially losing the signal."
"Don't Care, fire the Kadrel."
"What about the-"
"Do you really think... for even a moment... that the next few words that come out of your mouth... will do a single thing to sway my decision?"
Ambassador E73 closed his mouth, before shaking his head in the negative.
"Thought so, now fire the Kadrel."
The Epsilon...
After floating there silently for quite some time, the Epsilon finally began showing movement.
A large protrusion began extending from the nose of the ship, aiming towards the station in question, specifically the areas the Kadrel had been searching.
Within the Launch bay, several dozen Kadrel were stuffed into a small vessel with what appeared to be a massive drill built into the bottom.
As the Kads Operating the Launch bay finished loading them up, they sent the pod off on a conveyor belt before another empty one took its place as the operators immediately began stuffing more Kadrel soldiers into it.
(@NeoLeaf )
The Kadrel adjusted their aim, more than willing to let the Organics shield them with their bodies while gunning down robots from their position. B06 grumbled a bit as he watched the sheer numbers of the machines press against the onslaught of attacks from both the Organic and Kadrel soldiers.
And then there was the humanoid and its sword. Sure the blast looked powerful, rivaled some of the best Handheld Kadrel Weaponry he'd seen for quite some time, but even with a large chunk carved directly through their forces, the robots just seemed to refill that gap with more of them.
And even after that the Humanoid had the gall to start talking about how they most likely wouldn't make it. B06 scoffed at this, he'd survived surprisingly worst situations than a horde of mobile Explosives. They weren't necessarily backed into a corner just yet, for several yards deep into the horde of robots the Elder Kad saw another branching hall. While the other ones seemed teeming with the Spider Mines, this one only had several coming out. That was his target, for if the current map of the station the Kadrel had been making on Helm-Net was true, heading in that direction could lead him right back into known territory.
B06 grumbled at the amount of risks the idea would take, but began grunting into his translator anyway "Says you, I ain't letting no wall of explosives gallivant around thinking it'll be enough to put me in the ground. All I need is a sufficient push." The Elder said in Kadrellian before turning on his fellow Kadrel "Wounded?"
Several Kads replied in a confirmation, B06's synthetic eyes labeling them apart from the others before calling out again "Newborn?"
A larger quantity of the Kadrel responded in a confirmation, to which B06 was grateful "You weaker beings will push them back, then hold them while the rest of us abscond. Do not fear the oncoming end, fight to the last claw and make the Creators proud."
And to nobodies surprise, the injured or Newborn Kadrel gave no complaints to these orders, the small number of Kads who had lived long enough to know what a week felt like or been smart enough to avoid damage filed out from the ranks of the rest of them.
The remaining Kadrel began moving forward, covering as much of the robots in plasma fire, knowing that the constant usage would soon overcook their weapons.
B06 cracked his knuckles before picking up several blasters from more fallen Kads and sticking them on his back where they locked on, then stood in a ready position as the rest of the stronger Kadrel waited for the moment when they'd have just enough of a window of opportunity.
"I suggest picking which of yours stay to die for you as well." B06 said to the Humanoid Organic as the time grew closer
E73...
"Worrisome developments." Ambassador E73 said as it looked over the reports coming from the station. The Kadrel squads that had gone in deeper than the rest had finicky connection to the Epsilon at best, and it only got worst the deeper they got into the station. But from the Kadrel who hadn't gotten as far, the reports came flooding about the tide of Station Security, a tide of exploding Spiders.
The Ambassador had hoped that the being controlling the station had been bluffing, using its control over the Station's systems to potentially scare off any looters. Sadly, it would seem to not be the case.
Several squads had been wiped out, with others holding up with what munitions they had and the others simply absconding from any battle with the metallic menace. Of course, being Kadrel it wasn't like they were really losing anything important. And if they bring the transports back they could just ram more Kads into the Station until they started gaining ground. But if what he'd read was anything to go by, they had almost finished charging up the equipment brought on several of those transports. The rest he could bring back for reinforcements sure, but those ones took up docking space, and those areas would be harder to enforce without constant Kadrel deployment.
If those robots gained too much ground on the outer levels of the station they'd just end up cutting the Kads off by using their obvious knowledge of the maze-like station's infrastructure.
But maybe if-
The Ambassador was interrupted from his musings when he heard the sound of the entrance field to the bridge going down, and turned around to see that his superior had returned.
"Captain!" one of the Tech Kads said in Kadrellian "You've missed so much! Where have you been?!?"
Captain Skaz yawned, stretching his cybernetic limbs and releasing a puff of steam from his metallic body as his hovering chair calmly floated in "Well runt, let me tell you I have had quite a day."
"I took a power nap for some time, woke up and got bored so I went to the Recreational Deck where I forced several Kads into the Drip. After they turned I had the Chefs hunt them down for a while before one of them ended up escaping. I took a small team of Chefs all over the ship following a trail of injured and dead Kads until we cornered the beast in the fighting chamber. It was obviously outmatched, but during the fight it damaged the airlock control panel and sent my Chefs flying into space. Could've saved them, didn't feel like it so I blew them up before they could float too far away. Anyway, after that I took care of the Drip Addict, resealed the Airlock, killed several Kadrel just for the hell of it on my way here, did some Karaoke, then arrived in pristine condition as always."
Ambassador E73 nodded throughout the entirety of Captain Skaz's monologue "So that's why I've been getting so many injury reports lately."
"Sir... do you even know what we've had to deal with in your absence!?!" the Tech Kadrel grunted in abject disbelief "We've had to keep these other aliens from turning this entire sector into a warzone! Scour miles upon miles of endless hallways, and now we've got a sea of hostile robots wiping out our squads one by-"
The Kadrel flinched as his entire helmet split in half and fell to his sides, then wobbled a bit as the rest of his body followed suit.
"And that, was the second Techie I've had to put down today." Skaz grumbled to himself before leaning towards Ambassador E73 as his seat finished its journey to the center of the Bridge once more "You think the Vats are acting up or something? Haven't had to put down this many annoyances since I built my very own GeneVat oh so long ago."
The Captain sighed in nostalgia before leaning back in his chair, Ambassador E73 looked down at the Kad's remains a moment before replying "We shall run diagnostics on them once we reach the nearest Theta-Station, but there have been several pressing developments since you left sir."
The Ambassador provided a series of Holo-screens which portrayed reports on several of both their conversations with the aliens, the incursion into the station and even the latest reports of the security swarm.
He seemed to skim through them with barely even a glance, but E73 knew better than to question the high speed thought processes of a Theno.
"So they blow up," Skaz said before sending the Holo-Screens away "Whoopdie freaking doo. Just shoot them for Creator's sakes."
"There is a largely concerning number of them, sir."
"Then shoot them some more, what's the big problem here?!?" Skaz barked at the Ambassador before leaning back once more and releasing a puff of steam
"They're sending a horde of disposable toys to fight," Captain Skaz patted the Ambassador on the head "What? Did you forget what our entire ship is designed for?"
"I am well aware of the Epsilon's capabilities sir, but simply firing more Kadrel at it sounds-"
"You know what I don't hear?" Captain Skaz interrupted as he placed a hand to his helmet where his ear would be "The sound of me caring, fire the Kadrel."
"But sir, we have soldiers on that station that could be injured if we simply fire pods at it!"
"Don't care, fire the Kadrel."
"We risk damaging the Station and potentially losing the signal."
"Don't Care, fire the Kadrel."
"What about the-"
"Do you really think... for even a moment... that the next few words that come out of your mouth... will do a single thing to sway my decision?"
Ambassador E73 closed his mouth, before shaking his head in the negative.
"Thought so, now fire the Kadrel."
The Epsilon...
After floating there silently for quite some time, the Epsilon finally began showing movement.
A large protrusion began extending from the nose of the ship, aiming towards the station in question, specifically the areas the Kadrel had been searching.
Within the Launch bay, several dozen Kadrel were stuffed into a small vessel with what appeared to be a massive drill built into the bottom.
As the Kads Operating the Launch bay finished loading them up, they sent the pod off on a conveyor belt before another empty one took its place as the operators immediately began stuffing more Kadrel soldiers into it.
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NeoLeaf
Optimistic Dictator & Intermediate Story Teller
The Swarm of Petrarica
The Station...
Ira...
The black goo that had spread itself throughout the Swarm controlled areas seems to be nothing right? Wrong. Like all Aliuu the black substance has a function within the ecosystem that makes up the swarm. The black goo is a true Aliuu in a certain sense, unlike other forms of the Aliuu species this one retained the siphonophore form of their ancestors, not being a single multi-celled organism but rather a colony of several individual animals. The goo is the ideal territory for any Aliuu, the substance acts as a stimulant for the species, boosting their fighting capabilities, adrenaline, vitality, regenerative capabilities and their over all condition. For non Aliuu species, the goo is a hindrance. The black substance acts as though it were tar, or crude oil, slowing down enemies down and ruining chances for mobilization. other structures of the colony are also worth noting. The vore colonies are bubbly structures that explore and expand the black substance further. The offense structures are the lurker mounds, impaler colonies and the bile launchers.
The mechanical spiders are slowed for a moment but could simply crawl over one another to cover up the surface of the black goo and continue onward towards their targets. With this advantage the platoons that had ventured deep had the opportunity to retreat and and return fire. Ira watched as they passed several of the colony structures and sensed them doing their roles. The Impaler colonies shoot a slow membrane into the black goo which then shoots upward and transform itself into a spike. The lurker mounts are somewhat the same as the Impaler colonies, the difference are their attacks. The membrane of the lurker mound shoots a wave of blade-like rather than a single powerful strike. The bile launchers shot acidic compounds at enemies from afar.
<Commander Ira status?> A warm wet voiced echoed in her head.
"We've *Hugh* managed to make some *Hing* distance between the swarm of mechanical *Oof* arachnids and are heading back to the platform as we *Argh* speak." Ira said as she was being shook by the primordial running of the Special units.
<Ira, we're going to keep the Leviathan close to your proximity." He paused.
"That's gre-"
<However,> He interrupted Ira.
<We're not going to extract you or your units just yet. I'll tell you my reasoning behind this."
"Huh?"
<You can hold up the platform area where majority of your troops are and where the area is more developed than the halls that you're running in. From what I can possibly analyze you have quite a sum of troops still ready for the engagement.
Now, I don't want you to loose your ground on that station, because finding another landing platform could prove annoying and problematic. We're going to endure this wave of enemies and find out why the station has activated such a defense mechanism. Understood?>
"Y-yes sir." Ira stammered.
Ira gave out a command using her telepathy, The platoons that were backing and returning fire are to rally in the area of the platform.The wide spacious landing platform is completely covered in organic matter and black goo. The air is nothing more than a humid misty vapor that can be describes as being cold and being warm. The hundreds of soldiers and medics stood in a column of semi-circles around the main entrance with the tanks a number of meters behind them. The numerous hounds and crows scattered around in front of the semi-circles readying themselves for their suicide charge as the heavy fighters ans special units backed off into their own little corner. The special units that brought Ira back emerged from the endless darkness of the main entrance, pushing the hounds away from them and bringing Ira towards the central column of the semi-circle.
Ira was released by the special units tentacles and turned her back towards her army to watch the dark shaow of the leviathan slowly loomed over them as it snaked it's way into the station.
Gof...
@GrieveWriter
Gof and his platoon were being pressed back by the wave of mechanical insect. Gof took a step back and grimaced at the sight in front of him as the soldiers kept taking steps back and was distracted for a moment until he noticed the green rectangular head grunting in whatever language that they spoke about something. It seems that the box head had an idea of some sort, he was one that didn't seem to flinch at the grave situation that they're currently witnessing. Gof looked at his charred arms and looked at one of the pounds. The hound seemed to nod and crawled it's way to the orange humanoid Aliuu.
Gof's tentacles impaled the creature and the terrestrial squid transformed itself into a gelatin-like substance. The substance violently separated itself, covered his black arms and began to reconstitute itself with Gof. The substance shrank as it stayed on the burnt arms. The arms seemed to have regenerated. On the arms' burnt black cracked surface the cellular structure seemed to break down the dead cells and replace them with the new ones provided by the assimilated hound. The arms are of a light brownish color, slightly transparent and the hands could function again albeit not as well as before. An extra feature for his new arms would be the explosive acidic compounds that the hounds use when they suicide. Eh, last resort in case it were to happen.
Gof turned around when the blocky humanoid in the green suit seemed to call or suggest something to him. Gof glanced at the other humanoids with his orange gem eyes and caught an free hallway in their close proximity. In a snappish realization he could guess what the humanoid wanted to tell him.
"With or without you." Gof frowned.
"Have it your way!" Gof yelled back at 'Green' whilst glaring at it's rectangular helmet.
Feeling an expansion in his head, he communicated with the platoon telling them what to do. The Platoon will split in half to buy time for their escape route. No objection since The orange humanoid Aliuu was ranked superior to the soldiers. The arthropods followed the command and separated themselves into two groups before preparing for the break up. The hounds too will help in this endeavor, four will stay behind to by another second when they break through their line of defense leaving the other three to escape with the thirteen soldiers that have been picked.
Gof distance himself slightly from the green humanoid by a couple of meters and nodded.
The Leviathan...
The dark serpent looked upon the thousands of Aliuu and motioned it's head towards the entrance that would soon be overrun by the mechanical creatures. The organs under it's tear shape dropped head lit up in an red orange flare and began to make popping and cracking sounds of electricity. It's tentacles stayed at bay because the room is already full of Aliuu that are going to defend the position and wailed a deep cry.
"Let them come." The tall purple Aliuu said, looking at his display whilst keeping his hands behind his back.
.
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GrieveWriter
U-Incorporated 2nd Class Type Unit
B06...
(@NeoLeaf )
As the Organic stood several meters away and nodded towards him, B06 crouched low and waited.
The Robots pressed hard, and he knew that the second that constant stream of blaster fire ended they would rush back to regain lost ground. He would've been more concerned about it if it wasn't for the fact that it would be the Meatshields' problem when it happened.
Behind him the stronger Kadrel waited as well, some keeping their blasters on hand while others locked them to their backs, as several also adopted crouched positions to prepare for the oncoming sprint.
Just several more feet and.... there!
B06 launched towards the now cleared branching hall, the other Kadrel making haste to follow behind him as he galloped forward. They'd have a bit of trouble, as his synthetic limbs already gave him quite the advantage. He slid towards the hall before lunging into it, the rest of the Kadrel keeping up to the best of their abilities.
There were several robots that had spilled out form the main swarm a bit earlier, but shots from their blasters were enough to put them down without slowing down. B06 just dodged out of the way of the metallic hunks as they fell to the ground, not willing to risk being in the Spiders' range when it finished off the distractions they'd left behind.
Landing Zone #4....
Hearing the reports coming from Kads who had made it out of the deeper parts of the Station, the transport ships which had been carrying cargo made haste to finish setting up. Those that had none had already set off back to the Epsilon for resupply, leaving the defense of their landing zone up to the current forces for the time being.
Finally complete with their set up, the Kadrel hurried to start up the generators. They seemed like metallic trees with tesla coils at the tops, and as they began activating purple flares of energy began pulsing within them. Wheeling out large mounted weaponry from the remaining crates and hooking them up, the Kadrel prepared for an utter Zerg Rush by setting up large weapon placements along their landing zones.
Captain Skaz...
Tapping his metallic claw on his chair, Captain Skaz mumbled to himself as the pods were prepared. To his side, E73 was once again surrounded in holo-screens scrolling and typing.
"So... these other species..." Skaz began, searching for a way to alleviate the boredom of waiting.
"Organic based race, two cooperating anthromorphic species, there have been claims of smaller ships uncloaking and re-cloaking but unconfirmed as of now."
"Yeah yeah, all that junk and what not... but what do they look like?" Skaz stretched before going into detail "What, do the Anthros look like shoddily put together humanoid animals? Do their limbs look better suited for quadruped motion instead of biped motion?"
"And the organics, whew, I can see what they enjoy in terms of architecture. So what, am I gonna throw up immediately upon seeing what they look like. Am I gonna have Kads begging me to remove their eyes so the sight doesn't get burned into their skulls with a branding iron? Are they so ugly the only effective weapon against them are mirrors?"
"We-"
"Was it the sight of their hideousness alone that nearly led the Anthros to opening fire?"
"We don't actually know what they look like sir, I'm sure once we get back in touch with-"
"Bored now, hey you two!" Captain Skaz suddenly yelled to two of the Kadrel Technicians, who turned to look at him expectantly, Captain Skaz leaned back and waved his hand "Fight to the death."
One of the two seemed like he was about to question this train of thought when the other tackled him out of his chair.
The first rolled away and kicked another techie out of his chair before ripping the entire seat out of the ground and aiming the furniture at his opponent with grunts of agitation. The second replied by whipping out an Electro-Baton and soon the two were demolishing one another while the rest of the Kadrel simply continued working.
E73 Sighed and went back to his screens as Captain Skaz bent down and whispered "Get ready to find some replacements."
(@NeoLeaf )
As the Organic stood several meters away and nodded towards him, B06 crouched low and waited.
The Robots pressed hard, and he knew that the second that constant stream of blaster fire ended they would rush back to regain lost ground. He would've been more concerned about it if it wasn't for the fact that it would be the Meatshields' problem when it happened.
Behind him the stronger Kadrel waited as well, some keeping their blasters on hand while others locked them to their backs, as several also adopted crouched positions to prepare for the oncoming sprint.
Just several more feet and.... there!
B06 launched towards the now cleared branching hall, the other Kadrel making haste to follow behind him as he galloped forward. They'd have a bit of trouble, as his synthetic limbs already gave him quite the advantage. He slid towards the hall before lunging into it, the rest of the Kadrel keeping up to the best of their abilities.
There were several robots that had spilled out form the main swarm a bit earlier, but shots from their blasters were enough to put them down without slowing down. B06 just dodged out of the way of the metallic hunks as they fell to the ground, not willing to risk being in the Spiders' range when it finished off the distractions they'd left behind.
Landing Zone #4....
Hearing the reports coming from Kads who had made it out of the deeper parts of the Station, the transport ships which had been carrying cargo made haste to finish setting up. Those that had none had already set off back to the Epsilon for resupply, leaving the defense of their landing zone up to the current forces for the time being.
Finally complete with their set up, the Kadrel hurried to start up the generators. They seemed like metallic trees with tesla coils at the tops, and as they began activating purple flares of energy began pulsing within them. Wheeling out large mounted weaponry from the remaining crates and hooking them up, the Kadrel prepared for an utter Zerg Rush by setting up large weapon placements along their landing zones.
Captain Skaz...
Tapping his metallic claw on his chair, Captain Skaz mumbled to himself as the pods were prepared. To his side, E73 was once again surrounded in holo-screens scrolling and typing.
"So... these other species..." Skaz began, searching for a way to alleviate the boredom of waiting.
"Organic based race, two cooperating anthromorphic species, there have been claims of smaller ships uncloaking and re-cloaking but unconfirmed as of now."
"Yeah yeah, all that junk and what not... but what do they look like?" Skaz stretched before going into detail "What, do the Anthros look like shoddily put together humanoid animals? Do their limbs look better suited for quadruped motion instead of biped motion?"
"And the organics, whew, I can see what they enjoy in terms of architecture. So what, am I gonna throw up immediately upon seeing what they look like. Am I gonna have Kads begging me to remove their eyes so the sight doesn't get burned into their skulls with a branding iron? Are they so ugly the only effective weapon against them are mirrors?"
"We-"
"Was it the sight of their hideousness alone that nearly led the Anthros to opening fire?"
"We don't actually know what they look like sir, I'm sure once we get back in touch with-"
"Bored now, hey you two!" Captain Skaz suddenly yelled to two of the Kadrel Technicians, who turned to look at him expectantly, Captain Skaz leaned back and waved his hand "Fight to the death."
One of the two seemed like he was about to question this train of thought when the other tackled him out of his chair.
The first rolled away and kicked another techie out of his chair before ripping the entire seat out of the ground and aiming the furniture at his opponent with grunts of agitation. The second replied by whipping out an Electro-Baton and soon the two were demolishing one another while the rest of the Kadrel simply continued working.
E73 Sighed and went back to his screens as Captain Skaz bent down and whispered "Get ready to find some replacements."
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Jarkov Malachai
A simple Traveler, consumed by Wanderlust.
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Anaxial
Making America Great Again.
Dazed... Reeling... About to Break.
If there was a word to describe the bulwark created by the ten Power Armored soldiers, unshakable came to mind. Despite the fact the horde of metal arachnids gained ground against their volley, they stood unmoving, firmly rooted into the ground and coating the floor before them in the eerie magma glow of the Jellied Plasmas. Uty'er himself had been skillfully been depressing and releasing the lever of the Nidhog flamer to form a protective wall of plasma that the spiders clambered over only to melt into the plasma with their brothers.
"They're not letting up! We need to move out!" one of the soldiers shouted as he began to take a few steps back, in his hands, the chaingun had turned bright red as it continued to fire. The others scanned their Power Armor, revealing most were almost entirely dry on ammunition.
They had few options, continue the assault and die when ammunition runs dry, or retreat now and have a chance. Several of the chainguns started to stutter and die as the lifeblood of the weapon ran dry, the soldier immediately abandoning the weapon, standing for a moment before the adrenaline of the weapon ran its course and panic consumed them. More and more Salvagers began to retreat back to their ship as their weapons failed them.
"Uty'er, we need to move! Come on!" Shane shouted in his receiver, grabbed the reptile by the shoulder. The Cho' Gnaanth shook him off and continued his assault in silence, paying little attention to anything but the fight. It was then that the Klavakian soldiers began to hit the flank of the spiders river. Their images highlighted in the power helmet's HUD, their gunfire and the explosions of their dead revealed their location pretty conspicuously. Shane was about to call a retreat, but his conscience got the better of him. "Shit... Let's tear a hole for 'em! Concentrate fire!" Shane turned his Arbalest on the arachnids and with the flip of a switch altered the weapon to it's own spray mode. "Hit 'em with whatever you have left!" With that, he opened fire and a torrent of the deadly liquid sprayed out at the spiders with the force of a firehose. Shane reeled back, taking a moment to stabilize himself and continue the spray. The others opened fire in the same vicinity and cut a hole, if only for a moment in the spider's force.
It would have been pointless to call out to the Klavakian's, the bedlam of war would consume his voice and been heard on deaf ears. When the Arbalest' tank was empty, Shane lifted the weapon with his right arm and locked it in place.
"Retreat! Move out to the ship!" his voice cried out over their comms and the remaining soldiers either locked their weapons on their arms or ditched them entirely to begin a sprint back to their ship, to reach their salvation.
This World... Or the Next.
In his younger years, when Humanity was still carting his people off their world to serve in their armies, Uty'er had a vision, a bad omen. In his vision, he saw them enslaving his people, using them as objects, neglecting their souls. The human's taint would swallow them, but this was not the threat Uty'er was warned about, he saw humanity drawing Cho'Gnaanth into damnable places of evil, trespassing against beings that they could not comprehend. They were destroyed, the Cho'Gnaanth with them, better to live as a thrall than to die and be forgotten.
Uty'er feared this was that time. He had seen the spirits, he had seen the evil, he had warned them of it's taint, the human Chieftain continued onward against it though. For a time, Uty'er thought he had misunderstood this vision, perhaps it was Humanity leading the charge that granted both species a Salvation, perhaps it was this final stand against these metal monsters that would serve as a martyr to the others and they would press on.
When the Chieftain tried to halt his assault, Uty'er shook him off, he would not be faltered by the human's cowardice. When the human's retreated, Uty'er stood firm, alone against the horde. He carefully coated the ground with the plasma to give the humans a better chance at retreat, Uty'er would be their martyr, however during this battle, during this retreat, Uty'er saw the spirits once again.
Their forms shifted and swirled in his eyes, they had come once again but not as his savior as Uty'er had thought. They were retreating, running from the horde that besieged them, the one leading their charge was already pulsating and seeped corruption from his very being. Seeing the spirits run had unnerved the previously unshaken Shaman, immediately his gut was filled with dread and in a moments notice, Uty'er dropped the Nidhog Sprayer and turned to flee.
If there was a word to describe the bulwark created by the ten Power Armored soldiers, unshakable came to mind. Despite the fact the horde of metal arachnids gained ground against their volley, they stood unmoving, firmly rooted into the ground and coating the floor before them in the eerie magma glow of the Jellied Plasmas. Uty'er himself had been skillfully been depressing and releasing the lever of the Nidhog flamer to form a protective wall of plasma that the spiders clambered over only to melt into the plasma with their brothers.
"They're not letting up! We need to move out!" one of the soldiers shouted as he began to take a few steps back, in his hands, the chaingun had turned bright red as it continued to fire. The others scanned their Power Armor, revealing most were almost entirely dry on ammunition.
They had few options, continue the assault and die when ammunition runs dry, or retreat now and have a chance. Several of the chainguns started to stutter and die as the lifeblood of the weapon ran dry, the soldier immediately abandoning the weapon, standing for a moment before the adrenaline of the weapon ran its course and panic consumed them. More and more Salvagers began to retreat back to their ship as their weapons failed them.
"Uty'er, we need to move! Come on!" Shane shouted in his receiver, grabbed the reptile by the shoulder. The Cho' Gnaanth shook him off and continued his assault in silence, paying little attention to anything but the fight. It was then that the Klavakian soldiers began to hit the flank of the spiders river. Their images highlighted in the power helmet's HUD, their gunfire and the explosions of their dead revealed their location pretty conspicuously. Shane was about to call a retreat, but his conscience got the better of him. "Shit... Let's tear a hole for 'em! Concentrate fire!" Shane turned his Arbalest on the arachnids and with the flip of a switch altered the weapon to it's own spray mode. "Hit 'em with whatever you have left!" With that, he opened fire and a torrent of the deadly liquid sprayed out at the spiders with the force of a firehose. Shane reeled back, taking a moment to stabilize himself and continue the spray. The others opened fire in the same vicinity and cut a hole, if only for a moment in the spider's force.
It would have been pointless to call out to the Klavakian's, the bedlam of war would consume his voice and been heard on deaf ears. When the Arbalest' tank was empty, Shane lifted the weapon with his right arm and locked it in place.
"Retreat! Move out to the ship!" his voice cried out over their comms and the remaining soldiers either locked their weapons on their arms or ditched them entirely to begin a sprint back to their ship, to reach their salvation.
This World... Or the Next.
In his younger years, when Humanity was still carting his people off their world to serve in their armies, Uty'er had a vision, a bad omen. In his vision, he saw them enslaving his people, using them as objects, neglecting their souls. The human's taint would swallow them, but this was not the threat Uty'er was warned about, he saw humanity drawing Cho'Gnaanth into damnable places of evil, trespassing against beings that they could not comprehend. They were destroyed, the Cho'Gnaanth with them, better to live as a thrall than to die and be forgotten.
Uty'er feared this was that time. He had seen the spirits, he had seen the evil, he had warned them of it's taint, the human Chieftain continued onward against it though. For a time, Uty'er thought he had misunderstood this vision, perhaps it was Humanity leading the charge that granted both species a Salvation, perhaps it was this final stand against these metal monsters that would serve as a martyr to the others and they would press on.
When the Chieftain tried to halt his assault, Uty'er shook him off, he would not be faltered by the human's cowardice. When the human's retreated, Uty'er stood firm, alone against the horde. He carefully coated the ground with the plasma to give the humans a better chance at retreat, Uty'er would be their martyr, however during this battle, during this retreat, Uty'er saw the spirits once again.
Their forms shifted and swirled in his eyes, they had come once again but not as his savior as Uty'er had thought. They were retreating, running from the horde that besieged them, the one leading their charge was already pulsating and seeped corruption from his very being. Seeing the spirits run had unnerved the previously unshaken Shaman, immediately his gut was filled with dread and in a moments notice, Uty'er dropped the Nidhog Sprayer and turned to flee.
Spacekitty
Recently Resurrected Divine Feline Entity.
The company continued its desperate charge with Jolf leading it. Jolf ran, jumped and doged the metal spiders, stray bullets and bloodied limbs alike as more and more of his men were smarmed and killed. But still they charged on with typical Klavikan determination. It was either charge and probably die or stay behind and die for sure, and any chance at all was good enough for them. Jolf looked behind him at his company for just a moment, and saw something he would never forget. Severed limbs, dieing men falling to the ground, only to be swarmed and finished. The resulting explosion sent others flying in the air, to slam into the ceiling and then into the ground, doomed to suffer the same fate. As there numbers dwindled from 130, to 110, to less than 100 they kept going, for the fear of being swarmed and killed motivated even the most cowardly and weak of the men to a never ending run. As they sound of gunfire grew nearer Jolf's hopes soured. Perhaps they could make it after all.
But his hopes were short lived. For just 20 feet in front of him was a literal wave of metal spiders, 3 feet of small suicidal robots climbing over each other in an attempt to kill the salvagers that were holding them off with weapons ranging form pistols to large plasma spitting Gatling guns. Despite all this firepower, they were barely holding, and it seemed unlikely Jolf and his men would be able to even get over the massive swarm with being killed by bots of by stray bullets. Jolf almost gave up and let the swarm take him, but to do so would be to give up on his men, who, despite their reservation against him, had followed him in this suicidal charge.
Jolf wanted to call out to salvagers, to get their attention, but they wouldn't be able to hear him over the sounds of explosions and dieing men. Jolf could only hope the Salvagers would see his desperate charge and do something to help.
As Jolf neared the wave all hope seemed lost. But god smiled upon Jolf and his men that day, as Jolf watched the salvagers turn their guns aim to cut a path through the horde for Jolf and his men. Jolf's hopes soured "Keep going, were almost there!".
The group charged with renewed speed and energy, charging past the salvagers as they raced to the drop ships. As they passed, Jolf shouted to the leader of them;
"Thanks for the help. Your ships still at the drop zone, well help you board it before you leave"
As the group charged in none noticed, or at least cared, for the figures who slipped through the power gap caused by their charge.
But his hopes were short lived. For just 20 feet in front of him was a literal wave of metal spiders, 3 feet of small suicidal robots climbing over each other in an attempt to kill the salvagers that were holding them off with weapons ranging form pistols to large plasma spitting Gatling guns. Despite all this firepower, they were barely holding, and it seemed unlikely Jolf and his men would be able to even get over the massive swarm with being killed by bots of by stray bullets. Jolf almost gave up and let the swarm take him, but to do so would be to give up on his men, who, despite their reservation against him, had followed him in this suicidal charge.
Jolf wanted to call out to salvagers, to get their attention, but they wouldn't be able to hear him over the sounds of explosions and dieing men. Jolf could only hope the Salvagers would see his desperate charge and do something to help.
As Jolf neared the wave all hope seemed lost. But god smiled upon Jolf and his men that day, as Jolf watched the salvagers turn their guns aim to cut a path through the horde for Jolf and his men. Jolf's hopes soured "Keep going, were almost there!".
The group charged with renewed speed and energy, charging past the salvagers as they raced to the drop ships. As they passed, Jolf shouted to the leader of them;
"Thanks for the help. Your ships still at the drop zone, well help you board it before you leave"
As the group charged in none noticed, or at least cared, for the figures who slipped through the power gap caused by their charge.
NeoLeaf
Optimistic Dictator & Intermediate Story Teller
The Swarm of Petrarica
Gof...
@GrieveWriter
Gof and what's left from from his platoon followed close behind the green humanoid and his units. Out of the association the soldiers struck the mechanical arachnids with their tentacles at bullet speed to keep the spiders at bay. Goff rode on one of the soldiers, crawling at a frightening speed the platoon began to tail the rectangle helmets. Gof is fighting to hold on to the head of the arthropod with his new arms. A number of his tentacles wrapped themselves around the carapace of the soldier and kept the orange humanoid from falling off. One hound saw the 'nose' of the swarm of arachnids coming and left the platoon to suicide bomb. In a green explosion it bought the aliens some time to escape from the station's countless minions.
Gof looked away from the area of the acidic explosion and looked forward towards the blocky humanoids close in front of the platoon. The last thing he needs is to be a diversion of some sort and this whole escape plan for him could be risky. But it was either death or capture - capture sounds better than death. Dying by the hands of mechanical explosives sounds like a bad way to go if you were to ask him. Gof looked down on the surface of the soldier's exoskeleton and grimaced at the though of his fate. The soldier grunted something to him, telling him to focus on the escape than to mall on what their fate would be.
"Agreed." Gof shook his head and wore his serious expression.
"I don't have time to worry about that now."
The platform...
The dark serpent wailed when it sensed the foreboding presence of the mechanical creatures as they by passed the black sticky hallways and rushed out from the entrance. Within the creature the Blue female and the tall male Aliuu issued a number of commands for the creature, activating multiple systems and functions inside the interior and outside it. The serpent's eyes flared and it open one of it's jaws. From within the creature a horde of crows and hounds had been forced from its inner body and landed into the swarm of mobile explosives. From there the entrance had turned into a full on fire show. The semi circle of Aliuu helped in this endeavor to keep the robotic arachnids at by while the Leviathan barfed out a lot of weak units at the swarm and shot read electrical beams at the entrance from it's two thruster-like organs. The tanks shot the entrance with their fire-like acidic fluid, soldiers and bile launchers shot balls of projectiles and The hound units were suicide bombing.
The misty dark gloomy room had turned into a bright room dancing with green, yellow and red light. monsters duking it out against the horde of spider mines.
.
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Jarkov Malachai
A simple Traveler, consumed by Wanderlust.
Jarkov Malachai
A simple Traveler, consumed by Wanderlust.
Shireling
A Servant of King and Country
The Royal Palace, Ferraria, Kefalonia
As the thin figure of Voracius I entered the room, wheeled by an almost-sad-looking android, the various viceroys, ministers, and generals planted about the table sprouted up like sunflowers.
"Sit, ladies and gentlemen." The King croaked good-naturedly, taking his place at the head of the table. The room was cozy. A small fire was lighted behind the Monarch as the only source of light that reflected off the beautifully-stained hardwood panneled walls and polished floors of the same material, a small crystal chandelier glimmering and further illuminating the room. Two honor guards flanked the doors, standing resolute in their starched, white uniforms. Outside the windows, the bustling traffic of Ferraria City ran a hundred stories below, with the elevated train humming along its magnetic tracks far off in the distance, wrapping around imposing skyscrapers of gaudy ornamentalism and iridescent stone and steel.
"What is the meaning of this meeting, Commander?"
All at once, Carpathius rose, his almost nine-foot frame towering over the seated officials. He had a facial expression of steel. His prosthetic eye focused and unfocused, his breathing machine whirred.
"We recieved a communique from dark space, Your Grace. It took some time to arrive, as it was sent along the routine teletype from the Periphery where it was recieved. A station along the way realized its importance and beamed it by secure teletype to my office." He handed over a perforated sheet of paper with numeric scrawl across the top and a small message at the bottom.
"We had linguistics run it through the Computer. They were mostly baffled until we had the Mathematics Department join them on it."
"What is the meaning?" Asked the old monarch.
"It means nothing but the coming of Armageddon. The signal was traced to a derelict in dark space. Various interlopers have, no doubt, also recieved the communique and have commenced boarding operations and perhaps some hostilities. Our Lensmen were not very sure and we thought it would be unwise to send a probe."
Voracius nodded. "Very well, ready the 12th Fleet for dispatch at a moment's notice, and call the Associated Press. I should relay this information to the public."
None dared oppose him on this, although some may have wished to. They nodded and dispersed.
Svoliani Central Transport Station, Svoliani, Kefalonia
Hours after his summons, Forozov was standing on the platform waiting for the red eye train to the space elevator where he might join his men as they made ready for deploy. Their mission was, as he understood, investigate signals arriving from dark space. Never an assignment an ensign nor captain wishes upon themselves. As he stood in full regalia, an impressive physical specimen, women blushed and men tipped their hats in respect. The train silently hummed into the station on magnetic rails, the conductor leaning out the doors with a whistle. The early-work crowd poured out from the train in seven or eight orderly queues and the conductor boomed, "All aboard the Endron Express to Kalvic City! All aboard!"
Forozov, stiffening his facial expression, picked up his two suitcases and slipped into the queue, finding a seat on the train with a small boy to his right, a young couple across from him, and he at the window. The boy, playing with a small pewter soldier painted up like a marine looked from the toy to Forozov, then back to the toy, then smiled sheepishly and went back to his pretend game. Forozov smiled a barely discernable smirk and turned his head to look out the window as the station, Svoliani, and the vast snow-covered countryside unfolded before him at a dizzying pace.
As the thin figure of Voracius I entered the room, wheeled by an almost-sad-looking android, the various viceroys, ministers, and generals planted about the table sprouted up like sunflowers.
"Sit, ladies and gentlemen." The King croaked good-naturedly, taking his place at the head of the table. The room was cozy. A small fire was lighted behind the Monarch as the only source of light that reflected off the beautifully-stained hardwood panneled walls and polished floors of the same material, a small crystal chandelier glimmering and further illuminating the room. Two honor guards flanked the doors, standing resolute in their starched, white uniforms. Outside the windows, the bustling traffic of Ferraria City ran a hundred stories below, with the elevated train humming along its magnetic tracks far off in the distance, wrapping around imposing skyscrapers of gaudy ornamentalism and iridescent stone and steel.
"What is the meaning of this meeting, Commander?"
All at once, Carpathius rose, his almost nine-foot frame towering over the seated officials. He had a facial expression of steel. His prosthetic eye focused and unfocused, his breathing machine whirred.
"We recieved a communique from dark space, Your Grace. It took some time to arrive, as it was sent along the routine teletype from the Periphery where it was recieved. A station along the way realized its importance and beamed it by secure teletype to my office." He handed over a perforated sheet of paper with numeric scrawl across the top and a small message at the bottom.
"We had linguistics run it through the Computer. They were mostly baffled until we had the Mathematics Department join them on it."
"What is the meaning?" Asked the old monarch.
"It means nothing but the coming of Armageddon. The signal was traced to a derelict in dark space. Various interlopers have, no doubt, also recieved the communique and have commenced boarding operations and perhaps some hostilities. Our Lensmen were not very sure and we thought it would be unwise to send a probe."
Voracius nodded. "Very well, ready the 12th Fleet for dispatch at a moment's notice, and call the Associated Press. I should relay this information to the public."
None dared oppose him on this, although some may have wished to. They nodded and dispersed.
Svoliani Central Transport Station, Svoliani, Kefalonia
Hours after his summons, Forozov was standing on the platform waiting for the red eye train to the space elevator where he might join his men as they made ready for deploy. Their mission was, as he understood, investigate signals arriving from dark space. Never an assignment an ensign nor captain wishes upon themselves. As he stood in full regalia, an impressive physical specimen, women blushed and men tipped their hats in respect. The train silently hummed into the station on magnetic rails, the conductor leaning out the doors with a whistle. The early-work crowd poured out from the train in seven or eight orderly queues and the conductor boomed, "All aboard the Endron Express to Kalvic City! All aboard!"
Forozov, stiffening his facial expression, picked up his two suitcases and slipped into the queue, finding a seat on the train with a small boy to his right, a young couple across from him, and he at the window. The boy, playing with a small pewter soldier painted up like a marine looked from the toy to Forozov, then back to the toy, then smiled sheepishly and went back to his pretend game. Forozov smiled a barely discernable smirk and turned his head to look out the window as the station, Svoliani, and the vast snow-covered countryside unfolded before him at a dizzying pace.
Shireling
A Servant of King and Country
Bridge of the HMS Dentrov, Kefalonian Homeguard Spaceport
As Forozov entered the bridge, the command crew of twenty well-groomed and pristinely-uniformed men and women rose and saluted with Second Officer Laratov declaring, "Captain on the Bridge!"
Forozov stood framed in the doorway, smoke wreathing his face as it smoldered from his pipe. His lips barely moved apart as he gave a clear, crisp, "At ease."
The bridge, like most of the ship, was more akin to the interior of a cathedral than a starship. Faux buttresses of iridescent stone rose up from the black-and-white simulated marble checkered floor to frame the great cold plasma windows which covered the circumference of the bridge and under which great banks of crystalline computers rested. In the center of the great room, under the apex of the vaulted ceiling, was an altar-like structure from which a holographic star map rose in an intense and fiery golden specter. Forozov stood behind this and said to Laratov, "Have we given the affirmative to ship out?"
"Indeed we have, Captain." The wiry bridge officer replied. "Coordinates have already been inputed."
"What are we picking up on the Intergalactic Lens?"
The star map flickered away and was replaced by a confusing, elaborate display of blurred shapes and symbols.
"We've got this so far," the Chief Lensman replied. "Much of the same. The Lens doesn't work as well in dark space, for obvious reasons."
He was correct. The Lens was a device every ship was equipped with that could accurately scan any section of the cosmos or the corresponding hyperspace at speeds ten billion times the speed of light; however, the dark energy concentration of dark space and the object spatial distance disrupted these readings. What would be rendered as a starship in inhabited, or "light space" with full specs, was instead a metallic blur. Based on these blurs; however, Forozov could determine the rough positions of the vessels and determine the best formation for approach.
"Get me ship commands on-screen."
"Aye, Captain!"
The Lens faded away again to seven individual circles which filled with the images of the seven other ship commanders of the twelfth fleet as they responded to the hail. They tipped their hats to Forozov and then removed them and all signed on with their names and ship names.
"As you are all aware," Forozov began, "we are to make way to the source of the disruption by the end of the hour. As acting commodore, I will be taking command of the expedition. Any objections?"
One of the captains raised his hand but said nothing.
"Duly noted, Captain Tortius. Anyone else?"
Silence.
"Excellent. After reading over the Lens reports I am inclined to approach this situation in a tight and defensive formation. The likelihood of serious combat is high. Various biological signals, along with positronic have been gleaned so we know we're dealing with both biologicals and synthetics. This being said, your marine contingent need to load up EMP weaponry as well as lasgun charges and plasma charges. Be prepared for zero gravity, zero atmosphere deployment as well. Anything to add?"
Again, silence.
"Excellent. We will arrange in wedge formation, the Dentrov will form the center of the wedge. Have fighter wings prepped, we may need a bugger escort. Standby for hyperspace transposition."
The screen faded away to nothing.
"Laratov, prepare to transpose."
"Aye, Captain!"
It was then that Antonius trudged in, his metallic legs making a rhythmic pneumatic noise as he walked. He was dressed in dress whites and carried two swords at either hip and a brace of plasma pistols. He carried a note in his hand.
"Teletype from the Offices of the Palace, Captain Forozov." He bowed slightly and handed over the note.
Forozov nodded appreciatively and looked over the note. It read, simply, "Give them Hell." He folded the note and stuck it in his pocket, then thanked the android who had assumed his usual place by the helm.
"Transposition on standby." Laratov said.
"Prepare to transpose in 3...2...1...."
From the observation deck of the spaceport, workers and military personnel were treated to the surreal and never boring spectacle of a hyperspace transposition. The whole of space about the eight ships warped and distorted like ripples against water, then the massive iridescent superstructure of the Kefalonian dreadnoughts began to fade and suddenly, in a flash of black light, they had vanished into the Immaterium, flying along at a million times the speed of light to their distant target.
As Forozov entered the bridge, the command crew of twenty well-groomed and pristinely-uniformed men and women rose and saluted with Second Officer Laratov declaring, "Captain on the Bridge!"
Forozov stood framed in the doorway, smoke wreathing his face as it smoldered from his pipe. His lips barely moved apart as he gave a clear, crisp, "At ease."
The bridge, like most of the ship, was more akin to the interior of a cathedral than a starship. Faux buttresses of iridescent stone rose up from the black-and-white simulated marble checkered floor to frame the great cold plasma windows which covered the circumference of the bridge and under which great banks of crystalline computers rested. In the center of the great room, under the apex of the vaulted ceiling, was an altar-like structure from which a holographic star map rose in an intense and fiery golden specter. Forozov stood behind this and said to Laratov, "Have we given the affirmative to ship out?"
"Indeed we have, Captain." The wiry bridge officer replied. "Coordinates have already been inputed."
"What are we picking up on the Intergalactic Lens?"
The star map flickered away and was replaced by a confusing, elaborate display of blurred shapes and symbols.
"We've got this so far," the Chief Lensman replied. "Much of the same. The Lens doesn't work as well in dark space, for obvious reasons."
He was correct. The Lens was a device every ship was equipped with that could accurately scan any section of the cosmos or the corresponding hyperspace at speeds ten billion times the speed of light; however, the dark energy concentration of dark space and the object spatial distance disrupted these readings. What would be rendered as a starship in inhabited, or "light space" with full specs, was instead a metallic blur. Based on these blurs; however, Forozov could determine the rough positions of the vessels and determine the best formation for approach.
"Get me ship commands on-screen."
"Aye, Captain!"
The Lens faded away again to seven individual circles which filled with the images of the seven other ship commanders of the twelfth fleet as they responded to the hail. They tipped their hats to Forozov and then removed them and all signed on with their names and ship names.
"As you are all aware," Forozov began, "we are to make way to the source of the disruption by the end of the hour. As acting commodore, I will be taking command of the expedition. Any objections?"
One of the captains raised his hand but said nothing.
"Duly noted, Captain Tortius. Anyone else?"
Silence.
"Excellent. After reading over the Lens reports I am inclined to approach this situation in a tight and defensive formation. The likelihood of serious combat is high. Various biological signals, along with positronic have been gleaned so we know we're dealing with both biologicals and synthetics. This being said, your marine contingent need to load up EMP weaponry as well as lasgun charges and plasma charges. Be prepared for zero gravity, zero atmosphere deployment as well. Anything to add?"
Again, silence.
"Excellent. We will arrange in wedge formation, the Dentrov will form the center of the wedge. Have fighter wings prepped, we may need a bugger escort. Standby for hyperspace transposition."
The screen faded away to nothing.
"Laratov, prepare to transpose."
"Aye, Captain!"
It was then that Antonius trudged in, his metallic legs making a rhythmic pneumatic noise as he walked. He was dressed in dress whites and carried two swords at either hip and a brace of plasma pistols. He carried a note in his hand.
"Teletype from the Offices of the Palace, Captain Forozov." He bowed slightly and handed over the note.
Forozov nodded appreciatively and looked over the note. It read, simply, "Give them Hell." He folded the note and stuck it in his pocket, then thanked the android who had assumed his usual place by the helm.
"Transposition on standby." Laratov said.
"Prepare to transpose in 3...2...1...."
From the observation deck of the spaceport, workers and military personnel were treated to the surreal and never boring spectacle of a hyperspace transposition. The whole of space about the eight ships warped and distorted like ripples against water, then the massive iridescent superstructure of the Kefalonian dreadnoughts began to fade and suddenly, in a flash of black light, they had vanished into the Immaterium, flying along at a million times the speed of light to their distant target.
Anaxial
Making America Great Again.
With the Klavikans on the run, the Humans joined in the hasted retreat. Their Power Armor was cumbersome as where their large weapons, most ditching the guns to be swallowed by the Spider horde while others tried backpedaling while firing into the horde. Two of the suits were quickly swarmed and exploded quite gloriously, spraying metal and gibblets all over the room adding to the carnage. Though Uty'er was initialing making a final last stand, he found himself retreating when the Spirits themselves fled from these mechanical arachnids. He wore a lighter armor and so soon found himself surpassing his allies and reaching the ship significantly ahead of the others.Bobisdead123 said:
The power armored guards outside of the Eternity Damned's airlocked gangway were already prepped and ready, aiming chainguns down the hall with the airlock opened and ready to receive the retreating salvagers. Unfortunately for the Klavikans, the Eternity Damned seemed to have no interest on letting them aboard and as the human Salvagers all stormed inside, the armored guards outside turn their chainguns on the aliens, refusing them entry.
"You can't enter, XO's orders. I'm sorry." one of the Salvagers said with a bitter tone, he clearly wasn't happy about it either. Meanwhile the Ship's smaller Ajax railguns began firing into the hall rapidly to cover the airlock while the last of the humans (along with Uty'er) rushed inside. The moment the doors closed, the human ship jerked away from the Goliath derelict and wrapped around the corner, drifting away from the derelict to avoid the spiders should they jumped from the derelict and attack the Eternity Damned.
"That was fucked up." Shane said as the airlock began to pressurize them. He shook his head and threw his Arbalest on the ground in frustration. "Why didn't you let them onboard? What the hell!? Do you want them to blow us out of the sky!?" Shane said angrily pushing one of the guards who merely protested that he was following orders. "Who's orders!?" Shane barked, if they weren't in power armor, the guard would be visibly pale and sweating.
"Dani, she said to not let the Xenos onboard, she wanted to.. Wanted to talk to you right when you came aboard." He said, the Salvagers were all professionals, but Shane was their boss, he naturally inspired a little fear in his crew when he was mad.
Danielle Newman, a young woman thin, standing at only 5'5 she appeared even smaller than she actually was. She paraded a story about being a Pirates daughter, a runaway who took refuge in a the strapping Salvager's ship. Everyone bought it, she didn't even need to name her 'pirate father' or explain her past whatsoever, everyone kept their business to themselves and that made infiltrating the rogue ship even simpler. A Henson Corporation Agent, Danielle had been tasked with a rather common duty; hunting down and eliminating illegal smugglers, anyone who could deal significant damage to Henson Corporation's stranglehold on the Terran Economy. She never once suspected that this rickety piece of shit would be the spearhead of such an operation, but she believed that it would lead her to them.
However, everything seemed to change when she met Shane Warner, though she had lived many lives she had never really fell for anyone quite like him. She could never put her finger on it but there was something about him that just seemed... Welcoming, familiar. Today was the day that she put two and two together. When Shane took his crew on board the Derelict, Danielle invited herself into his office and quite simply got access to his terminal. Finding an unfinished report to Henson Corporation was quite the discovery, seeing an alert to recall Shane and have him reassigned was further surprising news. It appeared as though Henson Corporation was mobilizing an Overlord unit, they took a particular interest in this little derelict, the area would be swarming with lawyers in no time.
So she ordered to not let the Xeno's on board, getting chummy with the aliens would complicate the mission, already her feelings for Shane were clouding her judgement as an Agent but at least now she understood why her and Shane had such a connection. They both had lived and died many time, and they were both on their last life. Danielle waited in Shane's office for him to come angrily storming up here, keeping up his charade. When she heard the slamming of heavy power armored feet storming down the hall, she propped herself up on his desk and waited.
"Dani, what the hell is your issue!?" his voice was heard before the power armored figure appeared in the doorway. Danielle was unusually calm she picked at her fingers and flashed a look over at the would-be captain.
"I didn't know you worked for the Corporation." she said raising a curious eyebrow at the man. If Shane were a more green Agent, he may have become unnerved, he however didn't shift his footing. Shane walked inside his office and closed the sliding door behind him.
"You've been prying Dani, I'm sorry but I can't let that get out." He was reaching for the laser pistol on his side when Danielle stopped him, putting her hands on his steel gauntlet.
"They're mobilizing one of the Overlords, they seem to really want whatever is inside that wreck." she said raising an accusing eyebrow. Shane put two and two together, he couldn't help but chuckle. He'd been serving with another Agent all these years and neither of them knew it, they both were subsequently convincing.
"Well... Where do we go from here? I figure they sent me a message?" Shane said stepped into the Power Armor's holding rack inside the Office, the armor hissing as it opened up and shane stepped out. Danielle gestured to his terminal and Shane sat down at the console to read the message in its entirety. Something seemed to peek his interest as he raised an eyebrow and threw an eye at the clock. "Seems we have but a few minutes before they're scheduled arrival."
"Seems that way." Danielle said crossing her arms and smiling contently down at Shane. One agent was deadly, two working together would be nearly unstoppable- especially with an Overlord backing them up.
Spacekitty
Recently Resurrected Divine Feline Entity.
With the Klavikans leading the way, the Salvagers joined in the hasted retreat. Their Power Armor was cumbersome as were their large weapons. Most ditched the guns in an effort to outrun the ever hungry horde, dropping them with a resounding thud to the ground to be swallowed by the horde. While others tried backpedaling while firing into the horde. Two of the Salvagers were quickly swarmed and exploded quite gloriously, spraying metal and gobblets all over the room, some of which landed on Jolf's helmet (which he subsequently tried to wipe off, resulting in a thin layer of red gore being spread across his vision). The Reptilian alien who had been resolute in a last stand apparently had changed his mind, for he soon surpassed even Jolf (of course this would not be the case if he had remembered to disengage stealth mode, which was now sucking up the suits power output to maintain a level of stealth during the retreat). The other Salvagers, those left anyways soon passed the slower Klavikans and maintained a steady pace behind Jolf and the Rovilans.
The power armored guards outside of the Eternity Damned's airlocked gangway were already prepped and ready, aiming chainguns down the hall with the airlock opened and ready to receive the retreating salvagers. Unfortunately for the Jolf and his company, the Eternity Damned seemed to have no interest on letting them aboard and as the human Salvagers all stormed inside, the armored guards outside turn their chainguns on the them, refusing them entry.
"You can't enter, XO's orders. I'm sorry." one of the Salvagers said with a bitter tone, he clearly wasn't happy about it either. Meanwhile the Ship's smaller railguns began firing into the hall rapidly to cover the airlock while the last of the Salvagers (along with Reptilian) rushed inside. The moment the doors closed, the human ship jerked away from the Goliath derelict and wrapped around the corner, drifting away from the derelict to avoid the spiders should they jumped from the derelict and attack the Eternity Damned.
Jolf's second in command stood just in front of where the alien ship use to be, shouting a number of curse words at them. Meanwhile Jolf was busy helping to hold off the swarm so his men could board the drop ships (which were actually right next to the alien ship).
"Klarzak (his second in command), stop shouting at the damn aliens like an idiot and get put men into the drop ships!"
Klarzak stopped swearing, turned towards Jolf and began to respond "BUT THEY LEFT US-" before realizing that they had their own ships. He then growled to himself and proceeded to help load the drop ships.
Meanwhile Jolf and the 20 guards they had left behind fired fuoriously into the crowd, fighting to hold back the seemingly endless swarm. If not for the machine guns and the spider bots Jolf had orders to be deployed, they surely would of been over run by now. Fortunatly for them, the added power of several MGs ad several more spider bots held back the torrent... For now.
As the last of the men loaded into the drop ships and began to lift off, Klarzak shouted "Were ready to go, get the fuck over here!"
Now it was time for the hard part. Jolf knew the moment he and his guards stopped firing the swarm would rush forward. They would have to be quick and precise.
"On the count of 3, throw all the plasma grenades you can and run for the ships, I've orders the spiders bots to jump into the swarm to buy as time. Disengage stealth mode and prepare to go!" The Klavikans guards nodded and continued their onslaught, awaiting the countdown.
"3... 2... 1... NOW!". All at once, Jolf and the 20 guards stopped firing and started running Without a sufficent hail of bullets holding the swarm back, it rushed forward with renewed speed- right on top of the plasma grenades that had been left behind. These grenades exploded in a rather large blue explosions, sending blue plasma high into the air and spreading it across the room and down the hall, killing hundreds of metal spiders and almost hitting the fleeing Klavikans. Within seconds though the horde pushed forward, forming a bridge if melting comrades in their struggle to cross the plasma pool.
Only to be stopped once again as the Rovilan Spider Bots dropped from the curling, exploding upon hitting the floor. This gave Jolf and his men just enough time to leap into the open doors of the drop ships and undock from the station with moments to spare.
As the ships left the station, Jolf let out of a long sigh of relief.
"Commander Tarzak this is Commander Jolf, we are heading back to the carrier"
The power armored guards outside of the Eternity Damned's airlocked gangway were already prepped and ready, aiming chainguns down the hall with the airlock opened and ready to receive the retreating salvagers. Unfortunately for the Jolf and his company, the Eternity Damned seemed to have no interest on letting them aboard and as the human Salvagers all stormed inside, the armored guards outside turn their chainguns on the them, refusing them entry.
"You can't enter, XO's orders. I'm sorry." one of the Salvagers said with a bitter tone, he clearly wasn't happy about it either. Meanwhile the Ship's smaller railguns began firing into the hall rapidly to cover the airlock while the last of the Salvagers (along with Reptilian) rushed inside. The moment the doors closed, the human ship jerked away from the Goliath derelict and wrapped around the corner, drifting away from the derelict to avoid the spiders should they jumped from the derelict and attack the Eternity Damned.
Jolf's second in command stood just in front of where the alien ship use to be, shouting a number of curse words at them. Meanwhile Jolf was busy helping to hold off the swarm so his men could board the drop ships (which were actually right next to the alien ship).
"Klarzak (his second in command), stop shouting at the damn aliens like an idiot and get put men into the drop ships!"
Klarzak stopped swearing, turned towards Jolf and began to respond "BUT THEY LEFT US-" before realizing that they had their own ships. He then growled to himself and proceeded to help load the drop ships.
Meanwhile Jolf and the 20 guards they had left behind fired fuoriously into the crowd, fighting to hold back the seemingly endless swarm. If not for the machine guns and the spider bots Jolf had orders to be deployed, they surely would of been over run by now. Fortunatly for them, the added power of several MGs ad several more spider bots held back the torrent... For now.
As the last of the men loaded into the drop ships and began to lift off, Klarzak shouted "Were ready to go, get the fuck over here!"
Now it was time for the hard part. Jolf knew the moment he and his guards stopped firing the swarm would rush forward. They would have to be quick and precise.
"On the count of 3, throw all the plasma grenades you can and run for the ships, I've orders the spiders bots to jump into the swarm to buy as time. Disengage stealth mode and prepare to go!" The Klavikans guards nodded and continued their onslaught, awaiting the countdown.
"3... 2... 1... NOW!". All at once, Jolf and the 20 guards stopped firing and started running Without a sufficent hail of bullets holding the swarm back, it rushed forward with renewed speed- right on top of the plasma grenades that had been left behind. These grenades exploded in a rather large blue explosions, sending blue plasma high into the air and spreading it across the room and down the hall, killing hundreds of metal spiders and almost hitting the fleeing Klavikans. Within seconds though the horde pushed forward, forming a bridge if melting comrades in their struggle to cross the plasma pool.
Only to be stopped once again as the Rovilan Spider Bots dropped from the curling, exploding upon hitting the floor. This gave Jolf and his men just enough time to leap into the open doors of the drop ships and undock from the station with moments to spare.
As the ships left the station, Jolf let out of a long sigh of relief.
"Commander Tarzak this is Commander Jolf, we are heading back to the carrier"
Shireling
A Servant of King and Country
Marine Barracks of the HMS Golovkov, Kefalonian Twelfth Fleet
"Alright ladies and gents, listen up!" Barked the marine sergeant as he entered the barracks and wrapped hard on the metal bunks with a wooden baton. "We got orders to suit up and be ready to disembark or repel boarders. I'll be flat honest with you, the Captain and Brass don't know what the Hell we're supposed to be doing out here. Wouldn't be the first time. Your squad," he looked over the twelve, well-muscled and attentive men and women in the forth barracks, "is tasked with defending a VIP, Dr. Lobelius. Lobelius dies and we made the trip for nothing. He's the only one on the boat who has the foggiest idea what's going on. That being said, the doc says 'Jump,' you say, 'how high?' are we clear?"
"Clear as crystal, sir!" Replied a female private.
"Excellent. We're due to arrive in a few minutes. We'll see how it all shakes out with the groups already there, then we'll try to get Dr. Lobelius on the station. Once we get scans of the derelict, Command Authority should be able to guide you to a control room or communications station to investigate. Now lets get suited up. Come on kiddos, let's move it along!"
The marines toed, single file, out of the barracks and in an orderly queue went first to the Apparatus Room where they were outfitted with re-breathers, goggles, a high-strength smart polymer was sprayed over their entirety of their body to function as a light-weight, durable space suit, and their uniforms were applied over the polymer. They then trooped to the Armory where they picked up each a M VI Laser Rifle, Plasma Pistol, a plethora of EMP grenades, and ammunition and recharge packs. They were decked out fully when Dr. Lobelius arrived in the same gear, save that he wore a white lab coat and black trousers instead of uniform blues. He carried a satchel brimming with papers and a lasgun hanging limply from a strap over his right arm. The doctor was tall and thin with severe features, slicked hair, and round spectacles which added to the look of studiousness that he exuded.
"Dr. Lobelius, PhD. Subatomic Physics, Xenocommunications, Speculative Xenohistory at your service," the doctor introduced himself to the marines. They sat and chatted by the window of the shuttle bay as the ships' bows suddenly tore through the hyperspace rift into real-space and emerged into the chaotic grouping of ships they had observed previously.
Bridge of the HMS Dentrov
"Here we are," Forozov observed, hoping this hamhanded approach hadn't awarded them a fire-fight. Prior to re-entry, the Kefalonian ships had powered on weapons and devoted full rotary power to shields. Their weapons remained unlocked to appear defensive and not menacing and they proceeded to sweep the derelict in the center of the field for schematics while they assessed the immediate politics of the situation.
"Open the channels," Forozov said softly, and wait to be hailed or attacked.
The Kefalonian ships sat in awkward silence a good one hundred kilometers out from the main cluster about the derelict.
"Alright ladies and gents, listen up!" Barked the marine sergeant as he entered the barracks and wrapped hard on the metal bunks with a wooden baton. "We got orders to suit up and be ready to disembark or repel boarders. I'll be flat honest with you, the Captain and Brass don't know what the Hell we're supposed to be doing out here. Wouldn't be the first time. Your squad," he looked over the twelve, well-muscled and attentive men and women in the forth barracks, "is tasked with defending a VIP, Dr. Lobelius. Lobelius dies and we made the trip for nothing. He's the only one on the boat who has the foggiest idea what's going on. That being said, the doc says 'Jump,' you say, 'how high?' are we clear?"
"Clear as crystal, sir!" Replied a female private.
"Excellent. We're due to arrive in a few minutes. We'll see how it all shakes out with the groups already there, then we'll try to get Dr. Lobelius on the station. Once we get scans of the derelict, Command Authority should be able to guide you to a control room or communications station to investigate. Now lets get suited up. Come on kiddos, let's move it along!"
The marines toed, single file, out of the barracks and in an orderly queue went first to the Apparatus Room where they were outfitted with re-breathers, goggles, a high-strength smart polymer was sprayed over their entirety of their body to function as a light-weight, durable space suit, and their uniforms were applied over the polymer. They then trooped to the Armory where they picked up each a M VI Laser Rifle, Plasma Pistol, a plethora of EMP grenades, and ammunition and recharge packs. They were decked out fully when Dr. Lobelius arrived in the same gear, save that he wore a white lab coat and black trousers instead of uniform blues. He carried a satchel brimming with papers and a lasgun hanging limply from a strap over his right arm. The doctor was tall and thin with severe features, slicked hair, and round spectacles which added to the look of studiousness that he exuded.
"Dr. Lobelius, PhD. Subatomic Physics, Xenocommunications, Speculative Xenohistory at your service," the doctor introduced himself to the marines. They sat and chatted by the window of the shuttle bay as the ships' bows suddenly tore through the hyperspace rift into real-space and emerged into the chaotic grouping of ships they had observed previously.
Bridge of the HMS Dentrov
"Here we are," Forozov observed, hoping this hamhanded approach hadn't awarded them a fire-fight. Prior to re-entry, the Kefalonian ships had powered on weapons and devoted full rotary power to shields. Their weapons remained unlocked to appear defensive and not menacing and they proceeded to sweep the derelict in the center of the field for schematics while they assessed the immediate politics of the situation.
"Open the channels," Forozov said softly, and wait to be hailed or attacked.
The Kefalonian ships sat in awkward silence a good one hundred kilometers out from the main cluster about the derelict.
Spacekitty
Recently Resurrected Divine Feline Entity.
-----Commander Jolf, Docking Bay #2 of Klavikan Carrier Vessel-----
Commander Jolf sat on a crate next to the drop ship he had just gotten off. His suit was on but his helmet was off and sat on the ground between his feet. His head was in his hands, yet he was not crying, merely thinking over the events that had just occurred. He had went in with 200 men. 87 had come out alive. It's all my fault... he thought despairingly, but he quickly shoved the notion aside. He had tried to get them alive, who knew those things were insie...? If only I had taken the other path... He shook his head and stood up. He couldn't let his guilt get a hold of him. He was a Commander of men, men that would die. He would have to get over it. Perhaps some Dravak-Bars will cheer me up... (Dravak-Bars are candy bars, named after the glorious leader himself!). As Jolf stood up to walk to the break room, the lights of the Carrier suddenly turned off and the red high-alert lights turned on.
Everyone in the room froze and scilence filled the void. Commander Tarzak's voice came out iof the loud speakers.
"Everyone man their battle stations, a fleet of ships have just dropped out of FTL. Attempting to identify... please hold"
Not again...
-----Commander Tarzak, Klavikan B-2 Command Vessel, Command Bridge-----
Tarzak scowled. The exploration of the station had been a horrendous failure. Over a hundred men gone and little gained. Dravak was not going to be happy...
Suddenly a technician on the right side of the command center broke the silence as he almost fell out of the chair.
"Sir! A fleet of ships has just dropped out of FTL!"
Tarzak sighed. Not this shit again. He picked up the fleet comms and said;
"Everyone man their battle stations, a fleet of ships have just dropped out of FTL. Attempting to identify... please hold"
Returning his attention to the technician he said "Who is it?"
"Im not sure... appears to be another species sir"
Suddenly the who room shakes and red lights begin flashing.
"What the fuck just happened??" Tarza demanded.
The technicians all staired at their screens in shock. Tarzak grumbled and looked up at his screens. What greeted him was something completely unexpected. His carrier, in pieces, bit floating everywhere. The Battleships around it, drifting out into space, massive holes in their hulls.
"S-s- Sir! 20 ships have just dropped out of Warp... oh mygod"
"What is it??" Tarzak demanded, his heart floaing up into his mouth.
:It... it cant be.." The technician feel silent. He didn't need to say another word. For on Tarzaks screen the ships appeared in plain view. 20 odd looking cruisers, similar in style to pre-war Rovilan ships. On their sides a large circle with a red dot in the center was painted- the Rovilan flag.
No... it cant be...we conquered them millions of years ago...
Suddenly his screen blinked off. As quickly as they truend off they tned back on. The ships were replaced with a single image. A Rovilan General dressed in apre-war uniform, his long tail resting casually in his folded hands.
"Greeting Tarzak, I am Rolf, Genereal of the New Rovilan Republic. I'm sorry our meeting has to be on such terms. I just wanted to send my condolences, for you and your crew. The screen turned black once again.
what the fuck...
"SIR, THE SHIPS HAVE LAUNCHED MISSILES!"
SHIT
"MAN YOUR BATTLE STATIONS, MAN YOUR BAT--"
...
...
...
-Transmission end, 5:35pm, Eastern Rovilan Time, 4/57/5278-
-Mission report: Success-
-Side notes: Multiple Species encountered, Klavikan vessels destroyed-
-End-
Commander Jolf sat on a crate next to the drop ship he had just gotten off. His suit was on but his helmet was off and sat on the ground between his feet. His head was in his hands, yet he was not crying, merely thinking over the events that had just occurred. He had went in with 200 men. 87 had come out alive. It's all my fault... he thought despairingly, but he quickly shoved the notion aside. He had tried to get them alive, who knew those things were insie...? If only I had taken the other path... He shook his head and stood up. He couldn't let his guilt get a hold of him. He was a Commander of men, men that would die. He would have to get over it. Perhaps some Dravak-Bars will cheer me up... (Dravak-Bars are candy bars, named after the glorious leader himself!). As Jolf stood up to walk to the break room, the lights of the Carrier suddenly turned off and the red high-alert lights turned on.
Everyone in the room froze and scilence filled the void. Commander Tarzak's voice came out iof the loud speakers.
"Everyone man their battle stations, a fleet of ships have just dropped out of FTL. Attempting to identify... please hold"
Not again...
-----Commander Tarzak, Klavikan B-2 Command Vessel, Command Bridge-----
Tarzak scowled. The exploration of the station had been a horrendous failure. Over a hundred men gone and little gained. Dravak was not going to be happy...
Suddenly a technician on the right side of the command center broke the silence as he almost fell out of the chair.
"Sir! A fleet of ships has just dropped out of FTL!"
Tarzak sighed. Not this shit again. He picked up the fleet comms and said;
"Everyone man their battle stations, a fleet of ships have just dropped out of FTL. Attempting to identify... please hold"
Returning his attention to the technician he said "Who is it?"
"Im not sure... appears to be another species sir"
Suddenly the who room shakes and red lights begin flashing.
"What the fuck just happened??" Tarza demanded.
The technicians all staired at their screens in shock. Tarzak grumbled and looked up at his screens. What greeted him was something completely unexpected. His carrier, in pieces, bit floating everywhere. The Battleships around it, drifting out into space, massive holes in their hulls.
"S-s- Sir! 20 ships have just dropped out of Warp... oh mygod"
"What is it??" Tarzak demanded, his heart floaing up into his mouth.
:It... it cant be.." The technician feel silent. He didn't need to say another word. For on Tarzaks screen the ships appeared in plain view. 20 odd looking cruisers, similar in style to pre-war Rovilan ships. On their sides a large circle with a red dot in the center was painted- the Rovilan flag.
No... it cant be...we conquered them millions of years ago...
Suddenly his screen blinked off. As quickly as they truend off they tned back on. The ships were replaced with a single image. A Rovilan General dressed in apre-war uniform, his long tail resting casually in his folded hands.
"Greeting Tarzak, I am Rolf, Genereal of the New Rovilan Republic. I'm sorry our meeting has to be on such terms. I just wanted to send my condolences, for you and your crew. The screen turned black once again.
what the fuck...
"SIR, THE SHIPS HAVE LAUNCHED MISSILES!"
SHIT
"MAN YOUR BATTLE STATIONS, MAN YOUR BAT--"
...
...
...
-Transmission end, 5:35pm, Eastern Rovilan Time, 4/57/5278-
-Mission report: Success-
-Side notes: Multiple Species encountered, Klavikan vessels destroyed-
-End-