Hard Light Productions Forums

Off-Topic Discussion => Arts & Talents => Topic started by: Stormkeeper on July 26, 2008, 08:18:17 am

Title: The Tyrean Chapter
Post by: Stormkeeper on July 26, 2008, 08:18:17 am
     “Tag Mark One, Mark Twelve, linear projectile cannons, calibrate for maximum penetration, fire on my command!” Captain David Septim called out. In response to his orders, the two forward linear projectile cannons on his command, the Dagger, an older Broadsword-class destroyer, turned to track the Federation Monitor-battleships. “Fire!” The cannons fired, twin amber lances of energy streaking to the Monitors. The beams skipped through the shields, causing the ships to shudder as the amber energy caused a systems short out in the damage area. “Second volley, minimum penetration, follow with linear energy cannons and Perpertrators!” The cannons fired again, this time launching sapphire beams, while the linear energy cannons spat storms of emerald bolts. Smoke billowed from the Dagger’s port and starboard missile tubes as the Perpertrators tore free. The 10-ton missiles quickly came about, as the onboard computers kicked the missiles up to their full velocity.

      The sapphire beams tore a hole in the Monitors’ shields, through which the green storms splattered and splashed against the underside of the battleships. The Perpertrators’ disruptor tips detonated as they met the shield, scrambling the shields’ integrity in an instant, and the missiles exploded violently against the pitted and scarred underside of the Monitors. One of them came around, missiles leaping from its forward battery, while the other was taken down in an instant by the fiery beam of a Firestorm frigate. “Missiles on an intercept course,” called out Ensign Valerie. “Activating point weapons,” Lieutenant Ping replied. As the cloud of Federation missiles closed, the point defences activated, putting up a wall of metal shards. The few missiles that cleared hit the shield, causing it to flare a sharp white, then fading away. “Shield held. Integrity at 78%, “Ensign Vaulk said, responding to David’s unspoken query. “Helm! Bring our broadswords to bear! Charge rear particle beam to full power, target Mark Twelve!”

      The Dagger turned as thrusters kicked in, bringing her side to bear. The Broadsword-class of destroyers were so named for being the first Tyrean ships to mount the broadsword rapid fire gauss cannon, and also partly to refer to the amount of firepower a Broadsword could put into a single broadside volley. The lights on the bridge flickered momentarily as the broadsides and particle beam leeched massive amounts of energy, charging their capacitators and boosters. Then, hundreds of 1-ton masses were fired, each one at such velocity that all was seen was a silvery blur. The Monitor’s shield crumpled under the onslaught, and its armour was pounded to pieces by the fearsome volley. The snow white particle beam only added to the carnage as it neatly sliced off the bridge of the Monitor, severing the command module from the rest of the ship as it began its death throes. Within moments of the broadside, the ship exploded as its reactor core went critical.

     “Sensors, report sector and fleet status,” David called. “Sector reads clear. Minor hull damage, but repairs already underway. The Friea reports that she took damage to her rear point defense battery; one of her rear vulcans is inoperable, and the other is jammed, but is otherwise undamaged. The Lothar, Perolyn and Leowlynn report no damage to their hulls or otherwise. The Typhon says that she is reading nothing on long-range sensors,” Valerie looked up. “The fleet is assembled and ready to go, Captain.” He nodded, then turned his eyes on the large structure before him. “Captain Septim. This is Admiral Blaire. Remember, you are simply to explore the space surrounding the other end of the portal. You’re role is that of a scout, not an invader or aggressor. Am I clear?” David looked at the view screen of the Claw Admiral. “I understand.” Blaire nodded. “Good. Then good luck David ... Godspeed.” David took a deep breath, and then looked around the bridge. All the faces of the bridge crew looked at him, waiting for his signal. “Jump.”

     The four ships translated to W-Space in flashes of sapphire light. On board the installation Typhon, Claw Admiral Blaire looked again at the massive structure. Multiple sections rotated endlessly in a circular fashion. Science reports said that the rotations caused a tunnelling effect, but no one knew how far or how long did the tunnel go, leaving a scouting party as the only solution. He only hoped they weren’t going to their deaths. Over here, the Federation was a known threat. Over there, no one knew what was waiting for them.


It seems I accidentally replaced this section when editing an earlier one. Hmmmm. I need to pay more attention to what I'm doing.
Title: Re: Dunno what to call it atm
Post by: Colonol Dekker on July 26, 2008, 08:56:59 am
C&C would be nice :nod:
Like the story. :yes:
Title: Re: Dunno what to call it atm
Post by: Stormkeeper on July 26, 2008, 09:02:59 am
I meant C&C as in criticism and comments, but its thanks anyway, colonol.
Title: Re: Dunno what to call it atm
Post by: Colonol Dekker on July 26, 2008, 09:09:29 am
No criticism at all. That comes later once you flesh out the universe.
Claw admiral, feline race? Or is a claw the name of the size of force under his command, a'la fleet admiral?
Title: Re: Dunno what to call it atm
Post by: Stormkeeper on July 26, 2008, 09:13:34 am
The universe is actually pretty fleshed out. They're all humans.
Claw is the size, that's right.

Title: Re: Dunno what to call it atm
Post by: Colonol Dekker on July 26, 2008, 09:42:34 am
Write more asap.
Title: Re: Dunno what to call it atm
Post by: Stormkeeper on July 26, 2008, 10:05:51 am
“W-Space portal opening collapsing! Deploying field stabilizers! Activating retro-dispensers!” The normally quiet procedure of dropping out of W-Space was permeated with a sense of tension as the crewmen of the Dagger worked frantically to make sure the ship was intact. “Sensors, report fleet status!”David called over the din. “Ye... Yes, sir. One moment.”The hustle and bustle instantly fell into silence as the crew awaited the fate of their comrades. “All ships present and accounted for, Captain, and reporting nominal operation status. The Friea even managed to fix her point defense weapons.”Valerie replied, the relief in her voice audible. The crew cheered at the news, and David let them for a while, before taking command. “Order the Lothar to find a suitably dense asteroid field for us to hide. Maintain battle ready status, all hands at level 2 battle stations. Have Thomas and his stick on the ready 5 bay. ”

“The Lothar reports that there’s a suitable field 12.7 klicks off our current position at this grid reference,” Valerie reported. “Bringing on screen now ...”Ping said. He hit a few buttons, and the map came up, with the position of the asteroid field, and its relative size shown in a light blue shade. “Hmmm. It seems big enough. All ships are to jump there at once.” A few minutes later, flashes of blue light filled the black space.

12 July 2372, Epsilon Pegasi
GTI Enif Station

Lieutenant JG Singh sighed mildly. Three hours left on his six hour shift to go. “There’s nothing out here but rocks and more rocks,” he whined to his partner, Markinson, who was the same rank as him.
“Well. At least you know its peaceful.. Enough.”
“That’s true, but I’d wish we at least have something interesting once in a while.”
“Be careful what you wish for, Singh cause you might just get it.”
“Huh. Yeah, like that’s ever gonna happen.” As soon as the words left his mouth, a red light lit up on his console, flashing urgently. “You and your big mouth. What is it?” Markinson asked. “I dunno... Energy signatures, consistent with subspace jumps... but these have a slightly different wavelength. It’s near that asteroid field about 12klicks away.” Markinson punched up the display, and highlighted the asteroid field in question. “Picking up energy discharges too... these readings look like weapons are being fired.” Singh and Markinson exchanged glances, and Markinson reached for the communicator.


**********

The knock on his door roused David from his light slumber. “Enter,” he called out, as he sat up in his bed. The door opened to admit Valerie, but the Ensign stayed in the doorway. “Captain, we have a situation.” “Alright, I’m on my way.” Valerie saluted, and stepped back as the door slid shut silently.

Minutes later, he strode onto the bridge, fully awake. “Sitrep,“ he called out. “The Lothar has pinpointed energy signatures similar to w-space signatures, just outside the asteroid field. Looks like a group of cargo freighters with an escorting ship, and eight escort fighters. The escort appears to be the equivalent of our own Kulwas frigate,” Ping replied. David looked at the display screen, which showed the convoy.

Three grey ships, each one cradling a cargo container in front of it, were arranged in a loose line formation. Each ship was elongated, ending in a two sets of side by side thrusters. A spar extended from about midship downwards, ending in another thruster. The escort frigate was short, with two sides extending up and down like the fins of a fish. One ended in a radar dish, the other in some sort of turret. “Zoom in on their fighters.” The image blurred, and then refocused on the fighters. All eight were identical, with a long neck ending in a bulbous cockpit, flanked by thruster pods that also housed what appeared to be weapon ports.

“Have they detected us?”David asked. “Negative, captain. They're not the situation. That situation is this.” The image was replaced by the sensory display. The Tyrean fleet was marked in green, the unknowns in blue. But there were a number of red markers on the map, which were inside a smaller asteroid field. “Who are they? Unknown. We only know their using the smaller asteroid field as cover. If that convoy follows the path its taking, they’ll go right by the field, and the ambush.  What do we do sir?” David looked at the convoy’s relatively meagre escort compared to the mass of red waiting. "There's only one thing to do..."


-------------------------------------
Terms:
W-Space portal - The opening to W-Space, or to real space.
Field stablizers & retro-dispensers - Used to stablize the re-entry of a ship to real space. Normally not necessary.
Kulwas frigate - Rear line frigates, used mainly for defense. Notable for being an exceptional fighter/bomber killer, lacking in anti-capital ship department, with only 2 linear projectile cannons, and 2 linear energy cannons.

SK delivers.
Title: Re: Dunno what to call it atm
Post by: Snail on July 26, 2008, 07:32:16 pm
Very interesting.
Title: Re: Dunno what to call it atm
Post by: General Battuta on July 26, 2008, 07:57:46 pm
Hmm, it's a bit confusing to have a ship class called Broadsword and weapons called Broadswords.

The battle scenes are also overly technical -- probably okay for the HLP audience, but not the crispest of writing. Nonetheless, I remember writing that way when I started in military SF, so I really don't blame you. It's fun, and with time you'll probably refine your style.
Title: Re: Dunno what to call it atm
Post by: Herra Tohtori on July 26, 2008, 08:06:48 pm
Very interesting.

Seconded. :yes:

One thing though - distances. An asteroid field 12.7 kilometres from the initial jump (anything to do with a Knossos/equivalent?) and they deem it necessary to jump there? And same asteroid field 12 km away from Enif station... would make the distance from the initial jump to the Enif Station less than 25 kilometres, which is well within fighter-type sensor range... not to mention visual detection, 25 km visibility is not that far out to notice bright flashes of light the size of subspace vortices or equivalent.

add at least on k, possibly M to the magnitudes of the distances if you wanna make them have any semblance of realism. Space is a big place after all. :)

So... some unknown entity entering post-capellan GTVA space, eh? I predict that's gonna go down real well... :shaking: Oh well, if they get past the first contact without a bloodshed to either direction, I'm mainly interested in finding out if these humans are from alternate universe or if you have some background story about human race being spread all over the place either by themselves in the past (like in Galactica), or by others (like in Stargåte), and whether they originated in Earth or somewhere else (like Galaxy Far Far Away)...

By all means continue. :nod:
Title: Re: Dunno what to call it atm
Post by: Stormkeeper on July 27, 2008, 02:46:48 am
   Darrel checked his radar map. He had been assured that it was safe, and the co-ordinates his contact had given him had allowed his gang to jump directly into the asteroid field. He was confident that the asteroids had blocked Enif Station from being able to detect their entry, although the newbie firing on the asteroids had given him a mild heart attack. But Enif Station didn’t seem to have picked the pirates up, so he had warned the newbie, and that was that. Now, he eyed the convoy as it approached.  3 Triton freighters, two wings of Perseus interceptors and a single Fenris ..., he mused. Not much of a threat for the Black Hand, and the Ares fighters his mysterious employer had supplied would certainly come in handy.

Not for the first time, he wondered who his employer was, exactly. Being a mercenary and a pirate, he didn’t ask too many questions on principle, but the Ares was a top of the line fighter, rarely seen outside of the GTVA fleets. And here Darrel had four at his disposal, loaded with Trebuchets and Hornets. Darrel had assigned his personal wing the Ares, leaving the remaining two wings of Ulysses and Myrmidons to cover them. A shrill beep interrupted his thoughts, notifying him that the convoy had entered the killzone. Licking his lips, he sent the signal for the Black Hand to jump in, and clicked his mike twice. Immediately, the twelve fighters burst from cover, as a Leviathan cruiser jumped in, cutting off the convoy’s escape. Darrel quickly targeted and locked onto one of the Perseus fighters, loosing paired Trebuchets from 1km out. The pilot never knew what hit him, blow to pieces instantly. Within minutes, the escort fighters were destroyed, and his crew began disabling and disarming the freighters while the Black Hand annihilated the Fenris cruiser.

“GTVA freighters, you are ordered to jump to these coordinates. Comply, and you’ll be free to go. Screw with us, and you won’t live to regret it,” Darrel announced on general comms. A slight nasty chuckle bled over to his cockpit from this second in command, knowing as Darrel did what a bald-faced lie it was. “We ... We surrender. Just don’t kill anyone else!” came a shaky reply from the lead freighter. “We promise. I’m uploading the coordinate—“Darrel never finished as a Deimos corvette suddenly jumped in behind the Black Hand. All around him, GTVA fighters jumped in, surrounding his crew instantly. “This is the GTCv Warspite! Hostile fighters and cruiser, you are ordered to stand down and surrender, or be destroyed!” Darrel slammed the arm of his command chair.  Enif Station must have detected them, either during entry, or when the newbie shot the asteroids. He quickly clicked his mike three times. Depart, depart, depart Immediately, the Black Hand slipped into subspace, as well as his crew. The Warspite scrambled to stop them, but the modified drives worked like a charm, enabling all of them to escape.

   Neither side had noticed the section of space that seemed to slip and slide, like something was not there, yet was moving. The experimental Pegasus drone had recorded the entire encounter, and even managed to tag both the Warspite and the Black Hand with w-space beacons. Now as it docked its mothership, it uploaded the data to the Peregine carrier, and the Lothar transmitted it to the Dagger.


**********

   “Captain. The Lothar reports the Pegasus has docked and data is transferring now,” Ping informed David. He nodded, and gestured for Ping to meet in the conference room. He and Ping made their way to the room, and Ensign Valerie met them outside the room. Nodding to both Ping and David, she opened the door for them. In the room, the trio watched the video of the conflict play out. David noted the speed and precision of the pirates as they accomplished their raid. “The Pegasus also indicated successful tagging of the pirate cruiser, and the larger, military vessel,” Valerie said as the video finished.
“Good. So we have two options. Thoughts?” David asked.

“Following the ship identified as the Warspite might bring us into conflict with the governing body, and we might are not properly ready for intensive combat,” Ping said, “Following the pirates to their main base, if they have one, might allot us the same information were we to follow the Warspite, but at a fraction of the cost.”

“True. But the pirates seem well prepared and equipped. If we do go after their base of operations, we’ll have to strike hard and fast enough to overwhelm their defences before they get properly organized,” Valerie replied.

“The difference is that the pirates neither have the numbers that official military forces will have, nor the firepower. And assaulting a pirate base is definitely easier than assaulting a military installation.”

“All right,” David cut in. “The pirates are our targets. We’ll trace that cruiser through w-space, and then hit their base of operations. We’ll need the Perolyn’s inhibitor field to be active to prevent escapes, or reinforcements. Valerie, return to the bridge and launch a data probe to the subspace tunnel. Upload this data and include a brief of our intentions. Ping, start tracking that cruiser. When it stops moving, I want its co-ordinates. Inform the rest of the fleet of this course of action. Meanwhile, I’ll be getting some rest. Wake me when the ship stops moving. Dismissed.” Valerie and Ping saluted and left the room.

David entered his quarters, and sat down on his bed. “You can come out of the shadows, you know,” he announced to the seemingly empty quarters. A shape stirred, then stepped out of the shadows. A young boy of no more than eighteen stood before him. “Nice to see you again, David,” he said. David stared long and hard at the boy. “Nice to see you too, Alek. Nice body they gave you. Alek laughed. “Yeah. Vat grown so that it looks identical to my original body.”

“I’m sure. You were always a proud vain ass.”

“Heh. Speak for yourself. All those years ago, you were the one with more girls in his arms then clouds in the sky.”
David chuckled, then grew serious. “Why are you here?” Alek shrugged. “The Toa assigned me to help the fleet. Only if necessary, of course. I have complete faith in your abilities, but well ... You know. Us Immortals.” David nodded. “I know all too well.” Alek paused, then said, “They don’t know? The crew. That you’re an Immortal as well.” David shook his head. “No. I’ve never told them. And the Dagger has been through enough revamps and facelifts that no one recognizes her as the Broadsword. So no one knows that she’s almost six decades old, and then some.”

“Will you ever tell them?”

“Who knows. Most of us fake our deaths to the public and begin working in secret. If I did that, I wouldn’t be able to command her, anymore, and if I did, it would be in one of the Ghost Fleets. I want to be remembered, Alek, not forgotten.”
Alek turned this over in his mind, then nodded. “I think I understand, old friend.” He turned to leave, then paused in the doorway. “Just so you know, I brought my Frame along too. In case you need my strength.” David looked at the aged person in the young body. “Thanks Alek.” Alek nodded, then left the room to David and his thoughts.


-------------------------------------
Terms:
Pegasus - Classified experimental stealth recon drone, capable of tagging a ship to be tracked through w-space
Peregine carrier - A relatively new design, it mounts powerful sensory devices. It can carry up to two squadrons(30) of fighters as well as a fang(8) of combat frames
Immortal - The term used on the individuals who fought at and witnessed the destruction of Tyrea, as well as survivors of the Enskeleon Conflict. The terrbile energies released during the terrible Enskeleon conflict affected these individuals greatly, making them immune to aging and disease, boosting their natural reflexes and abilities beyond that of a normal humans. Immortals became tired of living, and most of them have perished through giving their all in the great conflicts. There are only a scant hundred Immortals remaining, including the Twelve Guardians of the Toa.
The Broadsword - The first of its class, with near legendary status for single handedly tying down an Enskeleon fleet long enough for reinforcements to arrive. It was supposedly destroyed at the end of the engagment.
Ghost Fleet - The two Ghost Fleets don't exist on paper. Its members are all "off the record" personel, and the ships are never assembled unless absolutely required. Only the Toa may command the Fleets.
Combat Frame - The epitome of Tyrean space superiority, Combat Frames are fast, maneuverable and adaptable units, assigned to elite pilots. Combat Frames are humanoid in build, and generally carry equipment based on their mission. The Combat Frame exerts its pilot to extreme G-Forces, and is lightly armoured. CF pilots are a new breed of hot shot pilots, who can handle any job given to them.


Okay. Added the next installment. And HT, I never said they were the same asteroid field. I merely hinted that they might be. When I concieved this universe in secondary school, I was heavily influenced by the Gundam series, so of course you should expect mecha. :p
Title: Re: Dunno what to call it atm
Post by: Stormkeeper on July 27, 2008, 09:49:30 am
     “Initial recon of the area indicates the pirates’ primary base of operations is disguised as an asteroid. There is a loose grid of sentry guns, as well as a pair of enemy frigates. Other defences consist of a dozen fighters on constant patrol. The secluded nature of this area means that we’ll be free to use our photon weaponry without fear of detection,” Lieutenant Ping said. The briefing room on board the Dagger was crowded with the captains and squadron leaders of the fleet. They were all focused on the image on screen, which at the moment showed a large asteroid structure ringed with sentry emplacements. The image changed, focusing on the two frigates. “These frigates represent the greatest threat in the area, short of the base itself. Note that destroying them is not our preferred form of neutralization here. We need intel on this section of space, and everything that might have that intel should be prioritized for capture. Initial long range scans indicate the presence of photon beam weaponry, so watch it out there.” The image changed again, now focusing on the base proper. “Scans indicate the base itself has numerous fighters housed inside of it, so neutralizing the launch bay is of an extremely high priority.” The image zoomed out. Ping looked at David, who nodded, and stood up to take over.

     “Alright, so the operations order is as follows; the Friea will fire her Firestorm beam at 50% efficiency, into the hangar mouth, thus collapsing the hangar entrance, and removing their ability to supply reinforcements. The Dagger will jump in then and engage the base itself, utilizing primarily disruptor and penetrator weaponry. Thomas, you and your stick will be tasked with destroying the frigates’ communications and weapons systems, in that order. The Perolyn will use her inhibitor field to prevent enemy forces from entering or leaving the area. The Nightstalkers will focus on destroying the enemy fighters, while the Revenants will be on stand-by. Hopefully, they won’t be needed.” David looked around at the room; determined eyes met him. He nodded. “Do your best out there. Watch each other, and watch yourselves. We are dealing with a new type of enemy, the likes of which we have not seen before. Treat them with due caution.” David scanned the room again. “The operation countdown begins now.” At his words, a large red digital clock began counting down from 2400. Across the fleet, the same clock counted, ticking inexorably towards H-hour. “Get some rest, get ready. Soon we test the mettle of these new enemies.”


**********

     The mercenary patrols around the base were bored. Nothing ever happened around the station. The area was too secluded, and far away from the main trade lines. “I don’t even know why we bother to patrol, Darrel,” said one of them. “You’d rather be cleaning toilets?"Darrel asked. “No, not really,” the merc replied. “Then stop complaining,” Darrel snapped. “I still wish something interesting would happen once in a while though,” the first merc said.

Out of the blue, a massive beam of what seemed like pure fire ripped past the mercenary patrol. The beam slammed right into the hangar, causing the entire base to shudder under the impact. The base shivered again, as a massive explosion rocked the hangar as the beam faded. There was a flash of sapphire light, and a massive ship appeared exiting from a subspace portal. White and gold, the ship was elegant, like a work of art compared to the standard blocky design of Terran designs. The ship immediately laid into the station with amber beams, and as he watched, smoke billowed from its sides as multiple missiles tore free from side missile ports. 

     “What the ...” Darrel whispered. Before anyone could respond, a scarlet lance stabbed through the cockpit of the talkative mercenary, and the Herc II blew up in a brilliant explosion. A wing of fighters streaked towards, but unlike any he had ever seen. Jet black with sleek curved lines, the fighters looked like falcons closing in on their helpless prey.  “Break and attack, break and attack!” Darrel yelled, as he opened up his throttle to full. “This is the Black Hand, moving to as... What the ... What the hell is that thing! Power up anti-fighter beams, no... Oh my Go--” Static filled the channel. Darrel craned his neck and caught sight of a humanoid figure turning back, holding a blazingly brilliant silver beam. The scattered wreckage of the Black Hand’s bridge surrounded it, and the thing turned and vectored in on the Ormus, the other cruiser. “Behind you, sir!” The shout woke Darrel from his reverie, and he jukked hard to the right, and a pair of scarlet beams barely missed him.

     Darrel twisted his fighter around, bringing it onto the tail of the alien fighter. He tightened his trigger finger, but to his amazement, the fighter suddenly dropped out of sight, moving vertically down to avoid him. He dove, kicking in his afterburners, as another scarlet beam stabbed past him. Inspiration entered his mind, and he suddenly banked, cutting his engines and pulling up sharply. The enemy, unable to anticipate his maneuver, shot past on eerie black and white flames. Darrel quickly levelled off, and fired, holding down the trigger button, firing his Prometheus S and Subachs again and again. A bright silver flare informed him of a shield present, and Darrel loosed a volley of eight Hornets. The fighter however, pulled up sharply, revealing the same humanoid machine he had seen before.

Unable to react fast enough, he found himself being caught easily in the hands of the machine. An electrical wave spread through his fighter, leaving him dead and helpless in the hands of the enemy. The robot took a moment to angle itself, then headed for the white and gold ship, which was lying victorious above the pockmarked and smoking asteroid base, broken and battered wreckage lying scattered about it.


-------------------------------------
Terms:
None.

I have a sketches of some of the ships I've been using lying around somewhere. If I find them I'll post them up here too.
Title: Re: Dunno what to call it atm
Post by: General Battuta on July 27, 2008, 11:26:21 am
I don't quite understand why the guys from the other faction aren't a) astounded to find humans out here wherever they are and b) more inclined to observe than attack. Don't they think they could incite hostilities with an unknown force through rash action?
Title: Re: Dunno what to call it atm
Post by: Colonol Dekker on July 27, 2008, 12:14:08 pm
From the sounds of it i don't think we'd bother them...


<newsreader> i personally welcome our new alien overlords with open arms.  </newsreader>
Title: Re: Dunno what to call it atm
Post by: NGTM-1R on July 27, 2008, 02:07:12 pm
Ghost Fleet - The two Ghost Fleets don't exist on paper. Its members are all "off the record" personel, and the ships are never assembled unless absolutely required. Only the Toa may command the Fleets.

Ghost Regiments? Shades of the Combine?
Title: Re: Dunno what to call it atm
Post by: Admiral_Stones on July 27, 2008, 02:58:42 pm

*snip*
Claw Admiral - Highest rank in Tyrean military attainable through service, the rank of Paladin must be bestowed by the Tyrean ruler, the Toa.
*snip*



Toa? Hmmmm.... Bionicles?
Title: Re: Dunno what to call it atm
Post by: Stormkeeper on July 27, 2008, 07:27:55 pm
I don't quite understand why the guys from the other faction aren't a) astounded to find humans out here wherever they are and b) more inclined to observe than attack. Don't they think they could incite hostilities with an unknown force through rash action?
They haven't cracked open the cockpits, so don't know that they're humans. They've only been recording the transmissions and battles so far. And question (b) will be answered soon enough.

Ghost Regiments? Shades of the Combine?
Toa? Hmmmm.... Bionicles?
Yep. I got influenced by multiple sources during the creation of this universe, so expect to see familiar terms.
Title: Re: Dunno what to call it atm
Post by: Stormkeeper on July 28, 2008, 08:13:00 am
   17 July 2372, Tyrean Homespace
   Typhon Station

   “Sir, we have four ships on approach vector to the Telos portal.” Commander Evans looked up from writing a report, pen still in hand. “Their identification?”he asked. “IFF reads as friendly. Warbook marks three as Kulwas class frigates. Last one is unidentified, but is transmitting the correct transponder codes.”  Evans put down the pen, and stood up. “Bring them on screen.” The ensign’s fingers ran across the console, and brought the trio of ships on screen.

   Three of them had the blocky shape of Kulwas frigates, but the fourthd had a double hull, and bristled with weapons. “Mother of God... That’s ... That’s the Black Wing” Evans breathed. The crew’s attention was immediately focused on the screen. The sword, axe and shield symbol on its hull positively identified the Nemesis as the legendary Black Wing. “Sir, the ... the Black Wing, Hive ship and its escorts, positively identified as the Scimitar, the Advent and the Retainer.” A low whistle escaped the ensign. “Four ships, all veterans of the Enskeleon Conflict. What are the odds.”

   “Typhon Station, this is the Black Wing. We’re under orders of the Toa to jump to the other side and assist the Dagger Fleet,” came the cool voice of Fang Admiral Avril Lemnos. “Ye..s. I mean, uh. Yes, sir. Clearance given,” Evans stammered. “Affirmative. Wish us luck.” The small fleet of ships formed up, then disappeared in a flash of blue.

**********

   19 July 2372, Epsilon Pegasi
   Mercenary Base

   Captain’s Log, July 17, 2372. It’s been four days since we captured the mercenary base. To our surprise, the sentients are humans. It seems that they too originate from Earth, but unlike our ancestors, the Migration must have gone well for them. We captured quite a number of mercenaries during the raid. Interrogation has revealed a wealth of information regarding this system, its governing body, and the events that transpired recently, and most importantly, details regarding a race called the Shivans.

   The ruling body is called the GTVA, the Galactic Terran Vasudan Alliance. It is an alliance between two races, the Terran and Vasudans.  The Alliance was formed at the end of the Terran-Vasudan war, a conflict that raged for 14 years. It is only the appearance of a third race, called the Shivans, in the Ross 128 system. Apparantly lead by a destroyer called the Lucifer; which had a sheath shielding system rendering it invulnerable to the GTVA’s then weapon systems. They attempted but failed to stop the Lucifer from destroying Vasuda Prime, homeworld of the Vasudans. The Lucifer was destroyed en-route to Earth, but the ‘subspace node’ was destroyed, cutting off contact with Earth. This is most distressing news. We had hoped to be able to glimsp Earth with our own eyes when we heard we were in Epsilon Pegasi. Following this conflict, the next 31 years were of relative peace, a period called the Reconstruction. Then came the NTF Rebellion. This rebellion lasted for a year, and following that, the Shivans returned, with a massive fleet of almost a hundred ships of a type the GTVA termed ‘Juggernaughts’. However, from the mercenaries description, it seems to be of an equal size to one of our Worldslayer superdreadnaughts. The Juggernaughts caused the Capella star to go supernova, and the GTVA was forced to cut off the nodes leading to Capella to save themselves. The Shivans appear to be a genocidal race with unmatched ferocity and power. Their motives are unknown; what little is known is classified and locked away in the GTVA’s intelligence arm, the GTVI. Upon consultation with Lieutenant Ping, Ensign Valerie and Immortal Alek, I have decided to begin investigating the Shivans and the incidents related to them. Logically, the first step would be to enter the Ross 128 system. Unfortunately, the system appears to be quarantined. Additional, the Ross 128 system is quite a distance from our current position, and I doubt our passage across GTVA space will go unnoticed for long.

   Morale is high across the fleet; the initial conflict with the mercenaries has shown that their systems are unable to track our combat frames effectively due to their manoeuvrability and speed. The ability of our Serpent fighters to move vertically up and down, as well as the strength of our shields, seems to be have caught the mercenaries off guard. As we have yet to engage in capital to capital combat, I cannot say how well we will fare against the GTVA ships, but I remain confident we will be able to avoid such engagements.

   Meanwhile, we have taken the mercenary base as our own, using it as a home base of sorts. I have launched a data probe for reinforcements and supplies in order to properly outfit the asteroid base for our uses. I am not sure if we will get a reply; until then, we have set up a sensor net across the asteroid field surrounding the base.
   Soon we plan our trek across GTVA space. Several mercenaries have expressed desire to assist us; I do not trust them, yet I have no choice but to utilize their knowledge of the system to reach the Ross 128 system relatively undamaged. Conflicts will be inevitable, but I hope to avoid as many of them as possible.

   This is Captain David Septim, signing off.

**********

   As David turned off the recording console, there was an urgent knock on the door. “Captain. We have a situation that requires your immediate attention on the bridge.” David stood up and replied, “I’m on my way.”

   On the bridge, David called out, “Sitrep.” Valerie stood up and said, "I have multiple GTVA signatures on approach vector for the asteroid base. The warbook has identified them as a single Hecate class, a Deimos class, and a pair of Leviathan cruisers. ID tags read as the GTD Reverend, the GTCv Warspite, and the GTCs Heisenberg, Corianth, Leveros.” A low whistle escaped a figure to his left. “What is it?” David asked the figure. Darrel laughed and said, “That’s quite a force they’re lining up for you. For the GTVA, that counts as a major strike force. Usually they just deploy the Reverend and be done with it, maybe using a cruiser to support a fighter strike.” He shook his head. “You people sure stirred up the hornet’s nest.” Valerie said, “Impossible. There was no way they could’ve detected us. And they might have been following the Black Hand. So they’re really here for you.” Darrel winced. “True. Or, they could have someone on the inside. SOC is very good at infiltrating organizations. I hear they even managed to get someone onto the Iceni itself during the NTF Rebellion.” Valerie paused. “That is a possibility,” she conceded. “What do we do, Captain?” Ping asked. David rubbed the bridge of his nose wearily. “There’s only one thing for us to do now.”

“We hit them.”
-----------------------------------------------
Terms:
The Black Wing - One of only three Nemesis supercarriers. The Black Wing rose to fame when it led the charge on the Enskeleon invasion force above Akapolis. The ship itself scored numerous kills, and the experienced crew combined with the tactical and strategic genius of Fang Admiral Lemnos means the Black Wing is a force to be reckoned with in any situation.

Nemesis supercarrier - An experimental CF carrier, only 3 test models, the Black Wing, Nightscar and Red Storm, were built. The production was discontinued for unknown reasons, the three carriers mothballed and stored at the Khyrisia base. During the Enskeleon Conflict, all three were quickly brought back into service, re-fitted and re-armed, and sent into the fray. The concentration of firepower represented by the Nemesis carriers turned the tide of many a battle, rendering each a legend unto itself.

Serpent fighters - Hybrid fighter bomber craft, they are both highly manoeuverable and heavily shielded. Sporting a trio of triple-linked phase cannons, they also have two banks of plasma torpedo launchers. Plasma torpedoes are next to useless against shields, but incredibly effective at burning through armour.

Enskeleon Conflict - A period spanning half a decade, the darkest days of the Tyrean Republic, when they were invaded by a race called the Enskeleons. The Enskeleons, in their first push, captured about half of the two dozen worlds comprising the Tyrean Republic. Although the Tyreans were technologically and militarily superior to their opponents, the Enskeleons were endless. The Enskeleons seemed to be invincible, overwhelming the Tyreans again and again. Though they destroyed thousands of Enskeleons vessels, the tide never ended. A strike team later discovered when Enskeleons 'died' the energy that they and their ships were compromised of returned to the Enskeleon mothership and reformed themselves anew. A desperate and risky strike was planned. A small team of commandos attacked and destroyed the mothership, but unfortunately perished in the raid. Once the mothership was destroyed, the Tyreans were able to rally and devestate the Enskeleons, effectively wiping out the entire race.

I added the explanation for the Enskelon Conflict, because I've used the term multiple times in passing. The Fri'glay are a blend of the Zerg and
Aliens, with a little samurai culture thrown in for good measure.

-retcon-
Removed the Hive ship and the Fri'glay. Because the Hive Ship is a flag ship, and it would be weird for a flagship to be out on its own in a possibly hostile territory.
Title: Re: Dunno what to call it atm
Post by: Stormkeeper on July 29, 2008, 11:56:55 am
   
          “Report,” Admiral Chekoff commanded. “Initial long range scans of the mercenary base reveal multiple returns that read as metallic sources, similar to wreckage. We have also identified some unique energy signatures that the computer identifies as anti-matter discharges. We are also not picking up communications of any sort from the vicinity of the base,” reported his tactical officer. Chekoff scratched his beard. “Could they be Shivans?” he asked. “It’s possible sir, although we have no idea why Shivans would attack a mercenary base,” the TO replied. Chekoff considered this in his head. “Dispatch fighters to investigate, and put all hands on stand-by for battle. Order the Leveros to assist the fighters in their investigation,” he ordered. “Which fighter squadron?” his TO asked. Chekoff speared the TO with a withering glance. “I care not, as long as they get the job done and do not embarrass me,” he said coldly. “Now leave me.” The tactical officer saluted and left the Admiral’s private quarters. Alone, Chekoff sat down and pulled out the hastily hidden bottle and glass.

**********
   
          “Hey boss. We gots fighters on an approach vector. They coverin’ one of dem cruisers too. Looks like a Fenrya,” said Lieutenant Dax over Thomas’s comm channel. “Fenris. That’s a Fenris, Dax.” That was Lieutenant Marklos, the fourth member in Thomas’ stick. “No, it’s a Leviathan. That’s what it is,” cut in Lieutenant Lin, his second in command. “Warbook tags it as a Fenris, people,” Thomas said. “We’re just here to scare them away. Take up your positions, keep your pectin shrouds on and watch it out there.”
   
          The four members of his stick split up, using the asteroids to cover their approach on the GTVA patrol. Piloting Combat Frames, his pilots were station onboard the Dagger, and were one of the two sticks the Dagger carried. Together with another two sticks on the Lothar, the sixteen of them were the only Combat Frames in the fleet. He piloted a modified Angel-class CF, while Marklos and Lin piloted Ormus-class CFs. Dax piloted the fleet’s sole Poseidon-class, which, with its heavy, long range weaponry, suited Dax just fine.
   
          The GTVA patrol consisted of a wing of Hercules IIs and two wings of Perseus fighters, in addition to the Fenris, identified as the Leveros. From what the mercenary Darrel had informed him, this would normally be considered a dangerous target to tackle for normal GTVA pilots. But he and his stick weren’t GTVA pilots, and were definitely not normal. Reaching up to a panel beside his command couch, he keyed in a series of tones, one high and one low, code for ‘In position’. All CFs had such a panel, using tones to spell out predefined words and phrases. Soon, the chimes for ‘In position’ reached him from his stick, and he sat in to await the Captain’s signal.
   
          The Perolynn and the Lewolynn were ‘sibling’ vessels. One was a Shield class corvette, and the other was a Lance class corvette. The two were one of several dozen pairs of Shield/Lance corvettes, designed to work in tandem. The Shield was a defensive corvette, with a powerful blanket shield generator and an inhibitor field generator. The inhibitor field not only prevented the escape of ships to hyperspace, but had the added side effect of blanketing and area and preventing traditional laser and radio communications.  The Lance, on the other hand, bristled with point defense weaponry and capital ship weaponry, but was somewhat slow, depending on the Shield to help it catch its targets. Situated in the asteroid field, behind the Lewolynn, the Perolynn took a moment to orientate itself, then activated the inhibitor field.
   
          The round nose of the Perolynn opened, revealing a massive rotating core, pulsing with black and white energy. Slowly, the core began rotating faster and faster, as the bolts of black and white energy began striking out. As the core became a blur, the bolts began crawling over the surface of the ship, stabbing out at space randomly. Soon, the ship was covered with crackling black and white bolts. As the field came online, spreading outwards, the crews switched over to pulse transmissions, slower, but capable of penetrating the inhibitor field’s energy.  While there were no other visible effects to be had, the W-space drive of the Lewolynn and Perolynn began shutting down. And soon, so did the subspace drives of the GTVA fighters and cruisers.


**********

   Captain Samuel frowned, then tapped is console. “Leveros, I’m reading a jump drive failure. My computer’s telling me it’s not there.” Only static greeted him. Samuel stabbed the comm button again. “Leveros? Leveros, do you copy?” More static. Cursing under his breath, he was about to open his throttle, when he caught sight of Gamma 2’s wing lights. They flashed repeatedly, spelling out a message in Morse code. “Jump drives failure. Communications failure.” Samuel felt a cold shiver of fear run down his spine. He toggled his own signal lights, flashing a reply. “Me too.”
“Ambush?”
“Unknown. Possible.”
“All fighters communications failure. All fighters jump drive failure.”
“Leveros?”
“Unknown. Possible.”
“Will confirm.” Samuel opened his throttle up and flew in front of the Leveros’ bridge, and began flashing his signal lights, indicating the situation, then broke off to the side to see the Leveros’ reply. Soon, flashes from the bridge spelled out a message. “Situation identical, recommend breaking off and returning to fleet.” Samuel pulled in front of the Leveros again, and flashed the signal for “Affirmative,” then began to turn back, when suddenly a shudder ran through his ship, and to his horror, the display panel turned red across the board, then went out. Another shiver of fear ran down his spine. He began flipping switches hoping to restore his power, but to no avail. Unstrapping himself, he looked through the cockpit, and saw that all the fighters were drifting in space, powerless. The Leveros too looked unpowered, the bright blue flame of its engines gone, and its lights all turned off.

          Samuel sat back, trying to figure what to do. Finally, he decided to do something bordering on insane. He searched his flight suit, until he found a simple looking knife. He unfolded one of the hidden attachments, and managed to pried open the panel next to his signal light toggle. “I hope to hell this works ... “he muttered to himself. He cut open the cables leading to the toggle, and then stripped the protective cables from them. He touched the two ends together tentatively. When nothing explosive happened, he touched them together again, peering at his signal lights. To his relief, the lights turned on. Quickly, he spelt out a message, hoping someone on the bridge noticed it. Someone must have, because he soon saw the forward airlock on the Leveros open, and a spacesuit exited the airlock, and boosted towards him, with a safety cable wrapped around himself. Samuel sighed with relief, then sat back in his command chair. For him, at least, the ordeal was over.


**********

          “These GTVA kids are either a thousand kinds o’ crazy, or amazingly brave,” observed Dax. “I’d say the last one, Dax. Which is more than I can say for you,” Lin replied. “Aww, c’mon now,Ms  Lin. I can be real brave, if the situation demands it,” Dax said. “Which would mean only if the situation involved you getting a date with a pretty girl,” Lin mused. “Not necessarily. I’d settle for you, Ms Lin,” Dax said sweetly. “Hey, Dax. I thought you only liked pretty girls. Now, I listen to that, and I look at Lin and, heh. I just don’t see the connection! I only see an inverse connection if there ever was one.” cut in Marklos. “Marklos, just wait till we get back to the Dagger. I’m gonna string you up from your own Ormus,” Lin growled. “Yep. She definitely wants me,” Marklos teased.

          Thomas chuckled as Lin threatened to deny Marklos any chance of Father’s Day. He turned back to the view screen, watching the crew of the cruiser pull in another pilot. When his stick had cut loose with their invisible disruptor beams, they had timed their attacks so that the cruiser would be able to rescue them all, albeit with increasing difficulty. Thomas also had his stick gently bump any fighter drifting away towards the cruiser, to prevent unnecessary loss of lives, while maintaining cover at the same time. Now, his stick was to observe and assist, but only if it was absolutely necessary.

          A series of blips indicated an arriving pulse message. He touched the console, opening it up. The message read:


WARNING, WARNING. PRIORITY ONE.
INCOMING SHIPS, PRESUMABLY HOSTILE. IDENTIFIED BY THE LOTHAR AS SHIVAN FIGHTERS, TYPE MARA. ENSURE SAFETY OF GTVA PERSONNEL. INHIBITOR FIELD DISENGAGED. LEWOLYNN AND PEROLYNN DISENGAGING. DAGGER INDICATES PRELIMINARY CONTACT WITH ONE(1) SHIVAN CRUISER, TYPE LILITH. DISENGAGE AT EARLIEST CONVINIENCE AND RETURN TO DAGGER.
PRIORITY ONE. WARNING, WARNING

----------------------------------------
Terms:

Angel Combat Frame : Close range specialist. Wields a single phase rifle as ranged weaponry. Main weaponry consists of two beam sabers, and two particle vibration blades. It also carries a pair of experimental 'slash sabers', essentially a grappling hook mated with beam edges. Thomas' Angel exchanges the phase rifle for a weapon bracket mounted on his left wrist, and carries a hybrid PV/beam blade, as well as C3 equipment. It is slightly heavier as a result, but the weapon bracket allows for multiple attachments depending on the situation.

Ormus Combat Frame: Primary main line combat frame, with modular armament. Normal armament includes a linear projectile rifle, a pair of waist mounted beam sabers, and a shoulder mounted, single shot rocket pod.

Poseidon Combat Frame: Long range fire support combat frame. Mounts no melee weaponry, but has a pair of laser cannons in storage packs on its wrists. Its primary weapon is a 325mm hypervelocity plasma cannon, and also mounts shoulder rocket pods. The Poseidon has no shield generators, but makes up for it with heavy armour.

Blanket shield: Creates a shield sphere, allowing nothing in, but allowing things out. The activation of this shield requires extensive amounts of energy, and Shield corvettes are immobilized while it is active.

Shield and Lance covettes: Sibling ships, these two classes are designed and built to work together, with the Shield providing support and the Lance keeping the Shield safe.

Slight retconning on the Thomas' Angel. Another retcon. On hindsight, I doubt a Rakshasa would threaten a Tyrean destroyer.
Title: Re: Dunno what to call it atm
Post by: Colonol Dekker on July 29, 2008, 12:37:30 pm
I like the feel of teh Tyrean power. The black and white stuff. I'd imagine it to be like the bad guys from Ico on the PS2.
I wanna combat frame.
Title: Re: Dunno what to call it atm
Post by: Stormkeeper on July 29, 2008, 01:14:47 pm
Lol. I've not played Ico, and I only heard the game was well noted for its artistic environment.
Title: Re: Dunno what to call it atm
Post by: Admiral_Stones on July 30, 2008, 12:23:28 pm
   
 *snip*
Posiedon Combat Frame: Long range fire support combat frame. Mounts no melee weaponry, but has a pair of laser cannons in storage packs on its wrists. Its primary weapon is a 325mm hypervelocity plasma cannon, and also mounts shoulder rocket pods. The Posiedon has no shield generators, but makes up for it with heavy armour.
*snip

You may want to call it Poseidon.
Title: Re: Dunno what to call it atm
Post by: Stormkeeper on July 30, 2008, 12:37:20 pm
Ah. Thanks for noticing.
Title: Re: Dunno what to call it atm
Post by: Stormkeeper on July 30, 2008, 01:50:24 pm
     On the bridge, the crew of the Leveros worked hard, but futilely to re-activate the power reactor on the ship. Then , without warning, the lights on the consoles and in the bridge flickered and came back online. Along with these, came displays and sensors.

     “Oh ****.”

     “Oh hell, no.”

     “Shivan fighters on attack vector!”

     On the sensor display, and from the viewport, a full squadron of Maras closed in fast. Fast on their tails were Manticore and Basilisk fighters, as well as Seraphim and Nephilim bombers. The Maras broke up, vectoring on the drifting Perseus fighters. “Break, break, break! Bring anti-fighter beams online!” screamed the sensor tech into the comm system. The few piloted fighters quickly kicked into gear, engaging evasive manoeuvres immediately. The Mara avoided the unmanned fighters, arrowing on the extremely outnumbered manned fighters, even as the remaining Shivan fighters closed in, and the first Shivan bomber loosed their first volley. “Intercept those bombs!” the tech screamed. “We won’t make it!” a pilot screamed.

     Without warning, a bright purple beam seared across the bombs’ paths, destroying the entire volley. “GTVA fighters, this is Captain Thomas Avril of the Tyrean Royal Navy. We’re here to assist you. Get that cruiser in gear!” A humanoid robot flashed past, twisting easily to avoid the Shivan laser blasts. The robot took up a position in front of the Leveros’ bridge, and raised its left arm. A gattling cannon mounted on its wrist spat bolts of emerald energy. The bolts sliced through a Basilisk’s shields and through its hull, and it blew up in a ball of fire. “I repeat. GTVA fighters, this is Captain Thomas Avril of the Tyrean Royal Navy! Leveros, please respond!” T
The door to the bridge slammed open as the captain appeared, Samuel hard on her heels. “Captain Thomas, this is Captain Nikolai of the GTC Leveros! Any assistance rendered would be greatly appreciated, though I cannot speak for the rest of the GTVA on any sort of alliance.” “Understood, captain,” came the reply. “Who are they, captain?” Samuel asked. “I have no idea. But for now, they're the calvary,” she replied.


**********

    “Woo hoo! Splash one bogie!” crowed Marklos over the comm channel. Thomas twisted his torso, perforating a passing Mara with his beam gattling. “On your 6, Marklos,” Lin called out. “I got them,” came Dax. A bright purple beam seared across the black emptiness of space, catching the two Shivan fighters that were on Marklos’ tail. “Dax, we got four of them vectoring in on your position.” A low chuckle came over the comm channel. “Let ‘em come, Cap’n,” Dax said.

     The first Mara came in fast, lasers flashing deadly red bolts of energy. Dax dodged the bolts, and as the Mara blasted past, Dax balled the fist of his suit, and plunged it straight into the Mara, smashing through the shield and pulping the nose of the fighter. Twisting around, he grabbed another Mara, and flipped open the hidden laser cannons built into the wrist of the Poseidon. The cannons fired point blank, filling the hull of the Mara full of deadly sapphire light and energy, and Dax threw it aside just before it exploded. Firing his reverse boosters, he pulled back from the third Mara, then stabbed its barrel viciously into the fighter, and fired. The deadly purple beam ripped right through the vessel, and the Mara disintegrated, eaten by the furious energy unleashed by the plasma cannon. The last Mara had managed to get onto his back, lasers twinkling as a swarm of missiles tore free of their racks. Dax turned the Frame, and responded with his own barrage of missiles, loosing over three dozen warheads at the Mara. The Mara pulled up sharply, but still got tagged by a full score of missiles. Battered by the explosions, Dax easily snatched the dazed fighter up and crushed it in the Poseidon’s hand.

     “I’m clear, Cap’n. Resuming fire support,” he radioed. “Jeez, Dax, what took you so long,” Lin chided. “I was having fun thar, Ms Lin,” Dax answered. “Stop having fun, and kill these guys already!” Lin complained. “Sonova*****!”Marklos cursed over the comm. “What is it?”Thomas asked. “They got my rifle! Blew it right out of my hand!” he said, surprised. “Keep moving folks. Remember, we’re not invincible,” Thomas warned, even as he dodged a volley of missiles from a Basilisk. As he dodged the missiles, he fired a slash saber. The curved hook sailed forth, slicing apart the Shivan fighter. Twisting around, he unholstered the twin PV swords at his side, and whirling around, he caught a Seraphim’s right wing, cutting clean through the fighter.

     “Cap’n. I’m running low,” Lin said tersely. The major downside of the regular Combat Frames was their energy supply, which was normally enough for three hours. But the disruptor rifles used massive amounts of energy, leaving his team with little more than half an hour worth of energy. Thomas glanced at his own energy meter. It was below the 50% mark, but he still had enough to last the battle. “Pick your shots, people, and make ‘em count!”he warned. Another purple beam seared past, but missed its intended targets, two Maras, who managed to dodged the plasma burst. Even know, he noticed the beam wasn’t as bright as it had been. “Dax, talk to me,” he said. “Running low. I’m gonna have to start punching people soon,” Dax replied coolly. “There only a few more fighters left! Finish them off quick!” Thomas ordered. “****!” Marklos cursed again. “What is it?” Thomas asked. “Those boogies got my shield,” he said angrily. Thomas scanned his display, and sure enough, the right arm of the Ormus was missing, a smoking stump in its place. “Marklos, pull back,” Thomas ordered. “Roger, pulling back to Dax’s position...  Damn. They’re closing in on me,” he said. The remaining Shivan fighters, like scavengers closing in on a wounded prey, vectored after the injured Ormus. “I got them, buddy,” Dax said. A moment later, dozens of purple beams stormed past Marklos, smashing aside the Shivan fighters, blowing them up into balls of fire.

     “We’re clear,” Thomas said to his stick over their private channel. “Pull out, now.” On the general frequency, he said, “GTVA vessels, you should have a clear run to your destroyer. We were glad to be of assistance.” The four Combat Frames raced back to the Dagger.

**********

     The Lilith’s beam glowed crimson, and lashed out at the Dagger. The destroyer shook under the impact, as her shields flared a bright silver as they strained to resist the devastating energy raining on them. “Target Mark One! Forward batteries, fire!”David ordered as he held onto his command couch. As one, the linear cannons fired, twin sapphire beams and twin emerald beams lanced towards the Lilith, finding their mark on her right branch, severing it in half. “Forward shields at 44% and holding,” reported Ensign Vaulk. “Hard to port! Bring our broadswords to bear! Strengthen starboard shields!” David barked. The Dagger turned slowly, even as the Lilith’s beam cannon began glowing again, then stabbed towards the Dagger’s starboard side. Under the wrath of the Lilith’s punishing beam, the strengthened shields shivered, but held. “Broadswords locked on target!”Ping reported. “Fire!” Hundreds of one ton masses filled the space between the two ships, smashing into the Lilith with incredible speed. The Lilith’s port armour, amazingly, seemed untouched, even as several of her turrets were rendered into junk by the volley. David blinked, having never seen a ship unfazed by the broadswords’ volley. “Blink above it,” David commanded. The Dagger slipped into W-Space, narrowly avoiding another blast from the Lilith’s beam cannon. Coming out directly above the Lilith, David ordered, “Helm, match Mark One. Activate the kaelas.” The bridge crew flinched and looked up at him, shocked. David looked round at them and said, “Do it.” Ping hesitated, then nodded. “Activate the kaelas.”

     Beneath the Dagger, a small port opened, and a spike extended out of it. Black energy pulsed along the length of the spike, gathering at its tip in a glowing ebony ball, that pulsed and seemed alive, straining to attack the Lilith. “Kaelas ... Kaelas, ready, sir,” Ping said. On his console, a tab opened, and a button rose up to the surface. David hesitated, then stabbed the button.

     The black pulsating orb stabbed hungrily into the Lilith as it tried in vain to escape from under the Dagger’s massive shadow. The devastating beam of energy lasted only an instant, blasting right through the Lilith’s hull, leaving a perfectly round hole. Then, the edges of the hole starting flaking, black specks floating away from the hole, as the ship and its occupants were disintegrated, turned into mere dust. The invisible radiation spread by the kaelas hungrily ate away at the bonds between atoms, turning the ship and its occupants into atoms. The red glow of the Lilith dimmed, then faded away. Soon, the Lilith itself was no more.

     “May God have mercy on their soul,” David whispered. Several of the crew members crossed themselves. “Captain. Thomas and his stick on return vector. Marklos is missing an arm, and they're low on power. “ David nodded. “Guide them in. I’ll be in my cabin.”


--------------------------------------------
Terms:
Kaelas - A weapon composed solely of anti-matter and thavir energy. The actual workings of the beam are locked away in the Toa's vault, accessible only by the Toa itself. This is of little consequence, as the beam device is very hardy, said to be able to withstand a direct hit from a linear projectile cannon. The device is constructed of berilyte, the only known material capable of containing thavir energy. The dangerous cocktail of energies is highly unstable, as it lacks the asavir energy that most thavir-powered devices have. This also makes it very powerful. However, a dangerous side effect of the kaelas beam is its invisible radiation. The radiation eats away the energy that bonds atoms together in a very painful process, causing the disintegration of everything in its path. The radiation is easily deflected by any active shield matrix. The existance of the kaelas beam in the Tyrean arsenal has always been the source of much controversy. The weapon is by nature a cruel one, forcing immense pain upon its victims, and seems very out of place in a society that disdains needless loss of life. The weapon seems to have originated during the Raexon period, where the insane Toa Raexon revelled in pain and destruction. A weapon inflicting immense pain, and capable of eating away an entire planet would certainly have seemed interesting to Raexon.

Kay. Edited part. The next part might take a while longer to come up, because I'll be busy in the coming weeks. Oh yes. And I've decided to call it the Tyrean Chapter. If a mod would be so kind as to change the topic name, please?
Title: Re: Re: Dunno what to call it atm
Post by: colecampbell666 on July 31, 2008, 10:25:20 am
I think "boogies" should be "bogies"

This is an awesome story, well written and interesting.
Title: Re: Dunno what to call it atm
Post by: NGTM-1R on July 31, 2008, 02:32:14 pm
For that matter, as confirmed hostiles, it should be "bandit"
Title: Re: Dunno what to call it atm
Post by: Stormkeeper on August 04, 2008, 11:12:45 am
        On the view screens, battle footage of the Shivan attack on the Leveros played. The figures viewed the footage, especially that of the Tyrean Combat Frames, with mixed reactions. “These were the ones responsible for the initial attack on the Leveros? Disabling a cruiser and twelve fighters just like that?” said one figure, indicating the Combat Frames.

          “Let us not forget they assisted the Leveros, protecting her from the Shivan assaults,” another shadowy figure said. He or she tapped the screen, and added, ”Without them, the Leveros would almost certainly have been lost.”

        “A fact they would have been responsible for,” the first figure said, a hint of irritation in her voice.

        “Be that as it may, we have a Shivan invasion to deal with here. Seeing as how they destroyed the Shivans, I think we can count on them for support against the Shivans,” a third figure replied.

        “I doubt the Shivans will be a threat this time. We have the new Colossus, as well as our newer and more powerful ships. The Shivans barely stopped us the last time. They won’t be able to stop us now,” the first replied proudly.

        “We thought that during the Second Incursion too. Yet they broke the Colossus like a toy, smashed aside our most powerful ships like chaff in the wind. We barely stopped the Shivans both times we encountered them,” the second figure said.

        “If you’re afraid, I understand. The reason we failed to stop the first and second incursions, was because the first time we encountered the Shivans, it was during the 14-Year War. We were exhausted and over-extended. The second time was just after the NTF Rebellion. We were also exhausted. Now they face a fresh army, with no major losses in the past few years. They will fall,” the first voice said confidently.
“Afraid? You never laid eyes on the Lucifer. You never saw the destruction it caused, the power it wielded at its time. You also never saw the Sathanas, never seen it tear through an Orion like a fly,” the second figure replied, starting to rise from his chair in anger, but an arm from the person next to him stopped him.

        The figure looked at him, then when the second person had settled down, he said softly, “We will establish preliminary contact with these ... Tyreans, and attempt to ascertain their motives. Then, should they be friendly, we will establish a temporary alliance. If they are not ...” he shrugged, then asked, “Who do we have in the area?”

        “The GTD Reverend. She was dispatched to deal with a pirate base,  which we now believe the Tyreans eliminated and took possession of,” spoke the third voice.

        “Gods... That Russian drunkard?”

        “Yes. The reason we sent him out there was to get him out of our hair.”

        “What about the Aquataine?”

        “In dry-dock, undergoing extensive overhaul and maintenance. Petrach is on shore leave on Vega 2. We have no other destroyers in the vicinity.”

        “Then we have no choice. Contact Admiral Chekoff...”

**********

        A shrill ring awoke David from his sleep. He opened his eyes groggily, then reached out and hit the ‘Answer’ button. “Sir, we are receiving a message on an open frequency. Its unencypted, and being repeated on several other frequencies,” Ensign Taylor said through the comm unit.
“I’m on my way,” David replied. Pushing aside the sheets, he rose and went to the small cubicle attached to his cabin. While most captain’s cabins were spacious and luxurious, David would have none of that, and instead made sure all the cabins on the Broadsword... or the Dagger as she was now know ... were of equal size, including his own. He washed his face, then stared at his reflection in the mirror. His eyes were, as always, immediately drawn to the tattoo on his chest. Intricately made, the tattoo’s colors shifted smoothly between silver and black. The tattoo was one worn by Immortals, no matter the body. The tattoo was also always felt ice-cold, even in the scorching desert. Tearing his eyes off the tattoo, he exited the cubicle to get dressed.

        Minutes later, he strode on to the command deck of the Dagger, he called out, ”Play the message, Taylor.” The Ensign’s head jerked up, having not noticed his arrival, stammered out a reply, then hit a series of buttons on his panel. “Tyrean Royal Navy, this is the GTD Reverend, of the GTVA 6th Fleet. We would like to initiate contact with you, under an aegis of peace. I repeat. Tyrean Royal Navy, this is the GTD Reverend ...”

       “The message loops endlessly sir,” Taylor said. “The message also has co-ordinate data within the transmission. The co-ordinates correspond to a section of space some distance from Enif Station.”

       David nodded, then said, “Well done, Taylor. Anticipating my question like that. But don’t do that in a combat situation.”
The ensign blushed furiously, then nodded.

      David smiled inwardly, remembering a time when he was a greenhorn. He knew that all greenhorns tended to hero-worship their captains, and it looked like Taylor was no different. “Have Lieutenant Ping report to me in the briefing room.” Taylor nodded again, then turned to his console. As David left the bridge, he heard Taylor’s voice over the PA system, “Lieutenant Ping. Please report to the briefing room immediately. I repeat, Lieutenant Ping, please report to the briefing room immediately.”

     When David entered the briefing room five minutes later, he saw Valerie already inside. Soon, Ping arrived as well. Without wasting time, David got right to it. “The GTVA has asked for a meeting with us. Or as they call it, initiating contact. I presume they want an alliance, or a temporary one at least, given their history with these Shivans. Thoughts?”

      There was silence as both the lieutenant and the ensign thought about it. But before either of them could answer, a young voice spoke up. “I would prefer an alliance, even a temporary one. The main objective of our mission was an intelligence gathering one, and an alliance with the predominant power would allow us to complete that objective. Combat with the Shivans would further allow us to assess the threat the Shivans would be to our home systems.” Both Ping and Valerie jerked out of their seats in surprise, and turned to see Alek leaning against the wall.
“Ping, Valerie, meet Paladin Alek, pilot of the experimental Combat Frame, Primoris Progantus. He’s assigned to our mission to serve as back up where necessary,” David introduced.

       “Lieutenant Ping. Ensign Valerie,” Alek said, inclining his head in greeting.

        “Paladin ... That means you’re an Immortal?” Valerie asked.

        “That’s right. I’m 78 mentally actually,” Alek replied, “but 18 physically.”

        “Why would the Toa assign an Immortal to a simple scouting mission?” Ping asked, a tinge of suspicion in his voice.

          “Because you are entering a hitherto unknown region of space. Communications might be sporadic here, and he sent me to act as his voice and will, so that when you return, any detractors would be rendered void because I would be able to say I was present and consulted with each and every major decision made. If my presence here had been made public, then the people would assume I am the one in charge. But make no mistake; David is the one in charge here. His decisions are final, and I am only present in case of situations like these,” Alek replied calmly. “And in this decision, I believe we should go for the alliance. But we should be on our guard nonetheless.”

        Ping looked like he had more questions, but kept quiet instead. “Then it’s settled. We attend this meeting of theirs. But we go prepared. Here’s the plan ... “

**********

        “Do you think they’ll come, Admiral?” the tactical officer asked.

        “Who knows? At the very least I want to thank them,” Chekoff answered. For bringing me back to life, he thought to himself, recalling the moment when the message from the Security Council had come, from his mentor no less...

26 July 2372, Epsilon Pegasi
GTD Reverend, Captain’s Quarters

        The shrill ringing of the communications console awakened Chekoff from his vodka induced slumber. Grumbling, he rose, ignoring his dishevelled appearance, and viciously stabbed the accept button. “Chekoff,” said a rough, deep voice. Chekoff’s hangover vanished instantly, as he saw the face of his long time friend and mentor, Vladimr Kerensky.

        “Vladimr. To what do I owe this honor?” he asked unevenly.

        “Your drunkenness for one. Chekoff, it’s been more than a month. You need to move on.”

        “It ... it is hard, Vladimr.”

        “And so you run, numbing yourself with gallons of vodka. Where is that boy I taught, who told me he was going to save the GTVA from the Shivans?”

   Chekoff didn’t answer, staring away into the distance.

   “Think. Would she want you to be like this? Blaming yourself for something you had no power over, where there was nothing you could have done to save her ?”

   “I think ... She would not begrudge me taking time to—“

   “She would begrudge you, if she knew you were forsaking your duty to the GTVA to do so! She was one who always placed duty first, you know this!”

   Chekoff did, but remained silent. Ah, Dodonna. If only you were here. You would be able to tell me what to do...

   “Do your duty Chekoff.  Honour her memory be doing your duty, by protecting the GTVA!”

   “I have no duty. The Tyreans destroyed the pirate base. I have no duty,” Chekoff replied sullenly.

   “You do. You know the Shivans have returned. The Leveros encountered a force of Shivan strike craft. Stand against them. Save the GTVA. Like you always wanted.”

   “Like I ... always wanted ...” Chekoff said softly. Suddenly, it seemed like a gear clicked into place. He would protect the GTVA, its planets, its people. Just like you would have... he thought to himself. “What reinforcements do I have?” he said, voice stronger.

   Vladimr smiled, then assumed a business like expression. “The Council wishes you to establish an alliance with these Tyreans. Once you have done that, arrange a line of defence with them. The Phoenix, Memphis and New Hope as well as their attendant ships are en-route, but will reach in approximately a week at the earliest. As more assets free up, they will be sent your way, but you will retain overall operational command. I am uploading defensive assessments as we speak. The Council is watching this very closely, particularly because of the Tyreans. Good luck Admiral. And welcome back, Chekoff.” The display clicked off.

   Chekoff opened the data, set it to print, ordered the galley to bring up a cup of black coffee, then went to wash up.

**********


   “Sir?” the tactical officer asked.

   “Huh?” Chekoff said, startled out of his reverie. “What did you say, Karl?”

   “I asked what is it you wished to thank the Tyreans for,” Karl replied.

   “For saving the Leveros, and bringing it and her crew home safely, not to mention all twelve fighters,” Chekoff answered. The tactical officer nodded, then returned his gaze to the viewport. The viewport showed nothing but the black expense of space, dotted with stars.
   
        Suddenly, there was a flash of blue light, and a massive ship materialised from within the flash. As it did so, there were two more flashes of light, and another vessel dropped out of subspace, flanking the larger ship. “The Tyrean vessel is transmitting ID now... updating database,” the sensor tech said. The image flickered, then an ID tag appeared, tagging the large ship as a Broadsword destroyer, and its companion as a Firestorm frigate. “No power surges, sir. Both their weapons seem to be powered down,” the sensor tech added.

   Chekoff nodded. “Open a link.” The sensor tech’s fingers scrambled across the console, and soon nodded to Chekoff. “This is Admiral Chekoff, of the GTD Reverend, 6th Fleet. To whom am I speaking to?”

   There was a moment of static, then then a male, human face appeared on screen. “Greetings Admiral Chekoff. I am Captain David Septim, commander of the TRN Dagger and commander of the scout fleet presently in your system.” A round of commotion erupted from the bridge crew as the human face appeared.

   “You ... you are human?” Chekoff asked, amazed.

   “Yes, we are. It is a long story, which we will be happy to relate later,” David answered.

   “Yes, indeed. First, I wish to thank you for rescuing the Leveros and her escorts from the Shivan fighters.”

   “We felt obligated. We were responsible for her initial state of disablement in the first place,” David admitted.

   “We surmised as much. The GTVA has commissioned me to seal a treaty with you, a temporary alliance till we rid the Shivan threat, and ensure that our systems are no longer in threat of annihilation.”

   “I felt you would. We will assist you, because we feel ... obligated. To help our fellow humans. But I must warn you. Our assistance will be limited. We have attempted to communicate with our home base, but to no avail. We have launched a probe home, through the W-Space node we came by, but we are not sure if they have received a response.”

   Chekoff frowned. “Then how did you come here?”

   “Through a portal of some sort. It is a large, constantly rotating structure at the edge of one of our home systems, more massive than anything we have seen. Carbon dating indicates it is at least a thousand years old. I believe your GTVA named them ‘Knossos’ portals.”

   “A Knossos...” Chekoff whispered. “You know then, that we also found two, during the Second Shivan Incursion, which lead to Shivan territory. And through those portals came the Shivan Juggernaughts.”

   “Yes, we do. We have informed out home system of this, and, should the probe get through, requested for reinforcements.”

   “Hopefully, we will have no Juggernaughts now. Regardless, any assistance you are able to render will be greatly appreciated, if not by the Council, then at least by me and my fleet.”

   “Thank you, Admiral. Then, for the duration of the Third Shivan Incursion, I place myself and my fleet under your command. And, since we are allies ...”

   “Incoming subspace signature! Unknown configuration!” the sensor tech yelled. Above the Dagger, the Perolynn and the Lewolynn arrived in flashes of sapphire.

   “This is my full fleet; these four ships. I held those two back should your intentions been less then friendly. A precaution. You understand,” David said, smiling.

   Chekoff laughed. “Yes. I do. I would have done the same thing.”

   “I think, Admiral Chekoff, you and I are going to—“

   Without warning, three flashes of blue light rippled through space, and three more ships dropped out above and behind the Dagger, in perfect formation. “Captain David. This is Fang Admiral Avril Lemnos. I’m here to assist your mission,” came a transmission on the open frequency.

   Chekoff looked at the viewport, at David’s stunned face. “I gather then, this was not anticipated?”

   David shook his head. “No, it was not.” He turned to one side and gestured off screen, and spoke to someone indistinctly.

   “Fang Admiral Lemnos. I accept your offer of assistance. Welcome aboard, Fang Admiral,” David’s reply came over the open frequency. Then David turned back to Chekoff. “Well, Admiral. I guess this means we have extra hands on board. Then let’s get to it.”
   

------------------------------------------
No Terms


I most likely re-work the "back from drunkeness" section. I'm a bit tired to go back and re-work it now.
Title: Re: Re: Dunno what to call it atm
Post by: colecampbell666 on August 04, 2008, 07:50:45 pm
This is very well done, an amazing story.
Title: Re: Dunno what to call it atm
Post by: Stormkeeper on August 13, 2008, 11:44:57 pm
   
1 August 2372, Epsilon Pegasi
   Supply Convoy on the outskirts of Epsilon Pegasi

   “On your six, on your six!” screamed a voice over his comm. Jack twisted his stick hard right, throwing his Perseus fighter into a steep bank. As the fighter dived to the right, laser blasts streaked past him, followed shortly by a Mara. Lining up behind the Shivan, Jack cut loose with his primaries, the bolts from the linked Subach HL-7s and twin Prometheus cannons ripping through its shield and hull easily. Finding himself momentarily free of hostiles, he glanced at his secondary monitors. Of the eight fighters assigned to guard the supply convoy, three of them were gone, destroyed when the Shivans popped out of subspace. The remaining 5, including his own, were all damaged, and their pilots were getting tired. Yet the Shivans showed no signs of stopping, and the convoy was still a good 8 klicks from their jump point.
     
       “Sir, fighter on your tail!” The call snapped him out of his reverie again, and he opened his throttle to full, even as he slapped his comm signal again. “Command, where’s that support! We’re getting torn up here!” he yelled into his mic even as he jinked to avoid Shivan fighter. “Stay calm pilot. Help is on its way, and should be reaching momentarily,” came the annoyingly calm reply. “That’s what you said two minutes ago! We need support now or this convoy isn’t getting out of here alive!” Jack said angrily. “We have already dispatched reinforcements, they will arrive momentarily. Until then, protect those freighters.” Before Jack could protest, the signal was cut off. He slammed his fist down on his couch furiously. “More hostiles incoming, boss. When’s backup arriving?” asked Delta 2. The pilot was fresh out of flight school, but had acquitted himself exceptionally well so far. “It’s arriving soon, kid. Hang tight.” Jack replied. Even as he did, he watching with a sense of despair as numerous Shivan contacts filled his sensor readout.

   Without warning, a bright blue flash of light erupted behind him, and a ship materialised from within. Blocky yet sleek at the same time, the ship was painted snow white with gold highlights. A stylised spectre symbol adorned its hull. As it materialised, it began firing, spewing bolts of energy out at the Shivan fighters. Missiles billowed off its semicircle front hull, as beams made Shivan fighters the apex of deadly light shows. “GTVA pilots, this is the TRN Arrestor. Stand clear of our firing lines, pilots. Allied Command, the Arrestor is now on station and providing fire support.”

      “Affirmative, Arrestor,”Command replied.  “Pilots, secure the area and return to base. The Arrestor will take over the escort from here.” “Affirmative, Command,” Jack replied. Patching through to his two wings, he said, “You heard Command. Let’s clean up and get out!” Affirmations echoed through his comm system as Jack angled his Perseus fighter back into the fight.


*********

      “Admiral, the Arrestor reports the convoy is in subspace.”

      Chekoff grunted, and added another marking to the map. The map was of the Epsilon Pegasi system. Several markers dotted it, form a rough semi-circular shape. “So. The markers ... mark ... the location of Shivan attacks reported thus far.”  Chekoff said.

      David tapped the area encircled by the markers. “What’s over here?”

      Chekoff looked at his tactical officer, who consulted his notes. “The last survey was during 2335. There was scheduled to be another a year ago, but nothing came of it because of the NTF Rebellion and subsequently the Second Shivan Incursion.”

      “Hnnh. So what did the survey get?” Chekoff asked.

      “Nothing conclusive. The survey team reported preliminary readings, but they were pulled out because the Shivans showed up. Here’s the report,” the officer handed over a sheet of paper to Chekoff, and one to David. David glanced through the report, then handed it to Ping. The report indicated that the team had detected faint energy signatures on the edge of the system, but nothing conclusive to warrant further investigation yet. It also stated they were going to move their ships closer, but the report cut off.

      “So the only data we have is over 30-years old. Fantastic,” Chekoff said, irritation in his voice.

      “Well, it’s obvious the Shivans have a carrier vessel of some sort, judging from the numbers they’re chucking at us. And fighters always need a home base. I guess we just have to go and check it out,” David said.

      “That’s our only course of action at this point. But splitting up the fleet irks me to no end. If only the flaming Hammer of Light fanatics would just die out...” Chekoff cursed in Russian, then shook his head. A few days ago, various Vasudan ships deserted their positions simultaneously, each one broadcasting the return of the Hammer of Light. The Vasudan cult group had proven most troublesome during the First Shivan Incursion, and then hunted down and thought exterminated during Operation Templar. Apparently this was not the case. The sudden revolt had forced Command to divert ships meant to reinforce the Reverend’s fleet to other systems to deal with HoL raids. Currently, Chekoff’s fleet consisted of his original taskforce, two Mentu class cruisers, the Zenenet and the Serekh, a Sobek class corvette, the Khalim, and another Deimos corvette, the Relentless.

      “We don’t really have a choice here,” David said. Chekoff glanced at him, then nodded. “Once the Arrestor returns, we will depart for that sector. I will leave behind the Warspite to guard Enif Station.” David nodded his agreement, then added, “I’ll order the Bulwark and the Avaric to stay behind too. I’d leave more, but I don’t really have many ships to spare as it is.” Chekoff nodded solemnly. “We both do not have many ships. But we will make do. It is not Life’s way to make things easy for us.”
 
   David remained silent for a while, then said, “No. It sure isn’t.”


**********

      David twirled the practice sword experimentally, testing its weight and balance, then took up a ready stance, sword held back against his arm, blade away from his flesh. Across him, Fang Admiral Leveros took a different stance, one sword held out, another held high above his head. The two were the only ones in the gym, David having cleared out the few personnel using it. With the jump commencing in an hour’s time, most crew members were at posts running last minute checks on the systems.

      “Any time you’re ready – kid,” David taunted. Leveros smiled grimly, and the two began circling each other. “You’re going down this time, old timer,” he replied. “You couldn’t beat me then, you won’t be me now kiddo,” David said. Leveros chuckled, then launched himself at David.
David twirled aside, dodging his charge, and sweeping his free hand up to block and push aside Leveros’ off hand strike. “So, when did the Toa dispatch you?” he asked, as he brought his sword up in a sweeping arc.

      “About two days after you left. He felt you might need the extra firepower, and I see he wasn’t far off,” Leveros replied, blocking David’s sword, then slashing low.

      “Sometimes I think he’s psychic or something,” David said, throwing himself back to avoid the strike and lashing out with his foot at the same time. “He always knows when trouble’s about to pop up.”

      Leveros rolled forward to avoid his kick, and swung round in a double strike aimed at David’s chest. “I think he’s just seen too much for someone his age. Which reminds me. He also said that if he didn’t hear from me in a week, he’d send backup.”

       “What kind of back up?” he asked, slapping aside the blades easily with his own weapon, and following through with a counterstrike aimed for Leveros’ chest.

      “I asked him, and he said he’d send the Wraith Born and its attendant fleet,” he replied conversationally, bringing up one blade to turn aside the strike, and stabbed another at David’s neck.

      David started, shocked, and failed to block the strike, the blade stopping an inch from his neck. “The Wraith Born? He said he’d send the Wraith Born if you failed to contact him?” he said.

      Leveros nodded solemnly. “He wasn’t joking around, I could see that. He was serious about sending the Wraith Born as backup.” He pulled the sword back, and sheathed both of them. “S’ why the moment I re-entered real space, I sent him a message bouy back through the warp tunnel, indicating my arrival.” He grabbed a towel from a nearby rack, and tossed one to David.

      David grabbed the towel and wiped the sweat from their short workout from his brow. “I sent a drone through with data and a request for reinforcements. I hope he won’t send them. The GTVA might see it as a threat if we gather too many forces in system.”

      Leveros drank deeply from a sports bottle, and passed it to David, who took it and nodded his thanks. “I doubt he’ll send reinforcements. I think he realises the same thing. The Toa might still be a kid, but he’s a bright one. Sharp as a razor too. And if it comes to it, I’m sure Lady Kathleen will know enough to recommend not dispatching reinforcements, or at least, not significant ones. He told me to send his greetings too.”

      David paused momentarily, then shrugged. “Lady Kathleen and the Toa make a good pair,” he commented, then took a long pull from the bottle.

      Leveros said, “You know, the seat at the Council room is still empty. You know the seat I’m talking about.” He watched David closely. “Your seat.”

      David simply replied, “Not my seat anymore.”

      “Why? You were the most respected member of the Council, and then suddenly you pull strings to have the Broadsword refitted and renamed, and pretty much drop out of sight of the world,” Leveros said.

      David shrugged again. “You’re not an Immortal, Lev. You wouldn’t understand.” With that, he walked out of the gym, leaving Leveros alone in the empty room.


--------------------------------------------------
Terms:
Wraith Born - The Seventh of The Fifteen, the Wraith Born seems to be designed for close range combat, with multiple medium to short range weaponry, and suprisingly nimble despite its size. It also mounts plasma blades, which were copied and added to the Blade's design. The Wraith Born, like its brothers and sisters, has a Freia beam built into its nose.

Worldslayer-class superdreadnaught - Fifteen extremely powerful ships, they are the source of Tyrean technology. Most Tyrean technology, from teleporters to Combat Frames, are the result of research on, around and involving these ships. The Fifteen were found scattered in asteroids fields near each of the fifteen Core Worlds of the Tyrean Republic. The ships are partly biological, and as such, are sentient. Not one of them are same; their only unifying aspect is their unbelievable speed and agility as well as a devastatingly powerful Freia beam, capable of easily spearing right through a planet's core, hence their designation as Worldslayers. The Fifteen serve as flagships for each of the Tyrean's twelve fleets, with the exception of three: the Nerubian, the Reticent Core and the Lesale, who each serve as the Toa's flagship, Lady Kathleen's flagship, and the 2nd Ghost Fleet flagship respectively.

Next installment. Took a bit longer on this one.
Title: Re: Re: Dunno what to call it atm
Post by: colecampbell666 on August 14, 2008, 09:04:28 am
*clapclapclap*
Title: Re: Re: Dunno what to call it atm
Post by: Colonol Dekker on August 14, 2008, 09:06:21 am
*clapclapclap*

 :nod:
Title: Re: Dunno what to call it atm
Post by: General Battuta on August 15, 2008, 01:50:56 am
My only critique at the moment is that it's considered poor form to provide any infodumps outside of the narrative. Try to include clues to your 'terms and definitions' inside the story while dumping the out-of-narrative definitions themselves.

This is a really important technique for SF writers to master, since it circumvents what's considered the biggest problem of the field: awkward exposition.
Title: Re: Re: Dunno what to call it atm
Post by: Stormkeeper on August 15, 2008, 01:56:48 am
My only critique at the moment is that it's considered poor form to provide any infodumps outside of the narrative. Try to include clues to your 'terms and definitions' inside the story while dumping the out-of-narrative definitions themselves.

This is a really important technique for SF writers to master, since it circumvents what's considered the biggest problem of the field: awkward exposition.
Hmmm. I'll keep that in mind.
Title: Re: Dunno what to call it atm
Post by: General Battuta on August 15, 2008, 11:22:21 am
By the way, I got my start writing crossover fanfiction in forums. I'm now a well-awarded amateur SF writer with a good shot at publication in the next ten years. (please forgive my self-aggrandizing biographical statements.) So this really is great stuff you're doing here -- same way I got off the ground!

If you ever want a market for some military SF, check out Baen's Universe. They take many online applications, and they reserve a spot for a new author every issue.
Title: Re: Re: Dunno what to call it atm
Post by: Stormkeeper on August 15, 2008, 12:12:57 pm
Thanks for the tip Battuta. I'll take a look see.

Dang. It looks like the introduction thing is full up till next year. I suppose I could always go through the Bar Universe Slush.
Title: Re: Dunno what to call it atm
Post by: Stormkeeper on August 22, 2008, 05:15:51 am
     Blue light flashed in the void of space, five ships materialising from within the flashes. Nearby, sapphire portals opened, and the Reverend and its fleet emerged from subspace. The twelve GTVA and eight Tyrean fighters that had been sent ahead to clear the area quickly assumed escort positions around the combined fleet.

     Standing on the bridge of the Dagger,  David surveyed the space before him. A dense asteroid field lay before him, and he could see no end to the field. Chekoff’s face appeared on his console. “It seems that our ships can go no further.” David scratched his chin, then nodded. “Does seem that way. I think the Arrestor might be able to slip in though. If the fighters help to keep the asteroids off her back. The Leveros might be able to enter too.”

     Chekoff looked down for a moment, consulting his own console. “Perhaps. I shall issue the appropriate orders. I believe the two ships should be able to clear a path large enough for our smaller ships to follow through.”

     David nodded again. “I’ll have the Arrestor take point; its shields will be able to protect it from the asteroids.” Chekoff nodded his agreement, then cut the link. David stood up, and called to Taylor. “Patch me through to Captain James.” The ensign nodded, and played his fingers across the console. Soon, the face of James Dekker, commanding officer of the Arrestor, appeared on his console.
 
     “Yes, Admiral?” he asked. David winced. James had served with David during the Enskeleon Conflict, and always called him by David’s then rank, which had been Fang Admiral.
 
     “James, you do remember I’m not an admiral anymore?” David asked.

     “Yes, Admiral,” he replied calmly.

     David sighed, then shrugged. “I need you to take point and penetrate that asteroid field. The Nightblades will provide fighter cover, and I’ll have the Furies on ready-5. The GTC Leveros will be behind you. She’ll have her own fighter screen.”

     James nodded. “As you wish, Admiral.”

     David cut the link, then called for Taylor to contact the Black Wing, then stabbed a button to activate the ship’s PA system and alert Thomas’ stick to go to ready-5 posts.


**********

    “This stinks. This whole, rebellion/religious cult revival thing. It stinks,” Valerie said, slapping the report down on the table. Marklos looked up at her quizzically. She tapped the report and said, “This supposed rebellion. Its supposedly the revival of a religious sect, called the Hammer of Light, or HoL. The Hammer worships Shivans as some kind of super race, deities of some sort. The GTVA hammered the HoL pretty hard during Operation Templar, even succeeded in destroying their flagship, the Anvil.”

     Marklos shrugged. “Most religious cults never really die out. They just go into deep, deep hiding.”

     Valerie nodded. “Most do. But the HoL didn’t have a home planet of any sort, only an installation, the Nagada Outpost. They operated mostly out of the Anvil and any other ships they had in their little rag tag fleet. And the GTVA was really serious about hunting them down.”

     Marklos straightened up in his seat slowly. “And you think this HoL isn’t the real deal.”

     She shook her head. “Perhaps, but I doubt it. The GTVA was too thorough in hunting them down. Even if they were really HoL, how could they have known about the Shivan attacks? The attacks thus far have been hitting exclusively military targets, to the point that the GTVA has been able to keep the wraps on this Third Shivan Incursion. How would ships in three different systems find out about the attacks, and all desert at the same time?”

     Marklos rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “I see you’re point. Do we have a list of the ships that deserted?” Valerie nodded and handed over a piece of paper. He nodded his thanks and scanned the list. “Three cruisers, a corvette, two destroyers and a carrier. Quite the little fleet they’ve gathered. Where’s that crew list we got from the GTVA mainframe?” She produced a stack of paper. “Hnnh. Interesting.”
 
     “I thought you might notice. They all served during Operation Templar in one way or another.” Marklos thumbed through the sheaf, scanning each one quickly. He paused at one, staring at in. Then he pulled the sheet our and read it in detail. “What is it?” Valerie asked.

     He laid the paper down and pointed. The paper was a personnel information log for one Rear Admiral Khenti. The log indicated that Khenti had been on the front line of Operation Templar, supporting the fighters in his cruiser. “Khenti was promoted to captain of a Sobek corvette, for service during the operation, then again to rear admiral for ‘valour above and beyond the call of duty’ during the Second Shivan Incursion. Now he’s apparently on shore leave awaiting command of his next ship. His previous ship, a Typhon destroyer was apparently destroyed during the Incursion. His next command is the new Vasudan carrier under construction in the Altairian Yards. The Nebibi-class carrier, named Khalfani.” He looked up at Valerie. “The Altairian Yards also defected to the HoL during the rebellion years ago. Coincidence that the newest Vasudan ship is being built there, and almost immediately after it’s finished, the new captain rebels and takes the ship with him?”

      Valerie skimmed the log, then said, “We need to warn the captain. I doubt that Chekoff is in on this, but we still need to warn David.”
Marklos shook his head. “We need to warn Enif Station first. Enif is the only place with a transmitter that will be powerful enough to reach David and Chekoff. If they do plan to attack us, I suspect they’ll hit Enif Station first.” He got up and headed for the door, but alarms suddenly blared out.

     “Sir,” a voice said from Marklos’ comlink. “What is it, Captain?” he asked. “Multiple incoming hostile contacts on attack vectors. Warbook identifies them as assorted Vasudan fighters and bombers. We also have a positive ID beyond the attack group, a Nebibi-class carrier and two Mentu II-class cruisers. They tripped out outer most prox sensors, so we have about 20 minutes till they reach.” Marklos and Valerie exchanged glances, and she began gathering up the reports. “Evacuate the base. Set its defenses to automatic, and get everyone to the Huron.“ “Yes, sir,” the captain replied.


-------------------------------------------------

Next part should be up shortly. It's somewhat finished, but I'll hold it back for now. Besides, I see dinner. Mmmmm pasta.
Title: Re: Re: Dunno what to call it atm
Post by: colecampbell666 on August 22, 2008, 08:37:05 am
This is a great story, and the Typhoon class sounds vicious.
Title: Re: Re: Dunno what to call it atm
Post by: Stormkeeper on August 22, 2008, 07:18:30 pm
Sorry cole, t'was a typo. Meant Typhon, not Typhoon. My bad.
Title: Re: Re: Dunno what to call it atm
Post by: colecampbell666 on August 24, 2008, 10:47:34 am
Nah, I'm just joking. That was sarcasm.
Title: Re: Re: Dunno what to call it atm
Post by: Stormkeeper on August 24, 2008, 01:04:11 pm
We really, really, really need sarcasm tags.
Title: Re: Dunno what to call it atm
Post by: Colonol Dekker on August 24, 2008, 01:32:44 pm
Yes Admiral :nod:
Title: Re: Dunno what to call it atm
Post by: Stormkeeper on August 26, 2008, 05:03:11 am
     Paladin Evans entered the brightly light hall, heels clicking noisily as he made his way to the end of the chamber, and then knocked gently on the door.

     “Enter,” a young voice called.

      Evans took a deep breath, then opened the door and entered the room. The room was large and well furnished, with a massive bed taking up most of the left wall. In it, a shape slept soundly. At the far side of the room was a large balcony, occupied by a table and two chairs. The balcony commanded a majestic view of the city of Taranis, the new capital of the Republic after the destruction of Tyrea. Evans noticed that there was a data pad on the table. A figure was standing, observing the view below. Moving towards the figure, he knelt down and said, “You summoned me, your Highness.”

     The figure turned around, revealing itself to be a young boy at most nineteen years old, the Toa Daniel Keller of the Royal Tyrean Republic. “Yes, I did, Evans. Rise, and take a seat,” he said, gesturing to the chairs. Evans sat, the boy taking the other empty seat. “What do you know of Ex-Paladin David’s mission?”

     Evans blinked, then replied, “I know that it was to explore the system on the other side of the portal, and if uninhabited establish feasibility of colonisation. If it was inhabited, to determine if the predominant authority would agree to an alliance, or treaty, and if not, then determine the best place to set up a staging area.”

     Daniel nodded, then said, “About three weeks ago we received a pod from Daniel, indicating that the system was inhabited. He also said that he had attacked and captured a pirate base successfully, and included a wealth of data.” He gestured at the data pad, indicating Evans should take it. As he took it, Daniel said, “That data pad contains Daniel’s message to us, and the data.”

     Evans scanned the pad, lingering over the sections about the Shivans and the GTVA.

     “I suspect that Fang Admiral Leveros, who I dispatched five days after him, will fulfil his reinforcement needs, should they have been successful at linking up. That and Paladin Marklos’ fifth-gen Combat Frame should be sufficient military forces to establish a beach head if it comes to it. I am concerned with these Shivans, and the threat they represent to the GTVA. Because they are, after all, human like us.”
Evans nodded, then looked at the Toa. “I believe we will require and in-system presence before we will be able to be of any assistance to the GTVA. Perhaps a station will also allow us real-time communications.”

      The Toa nodded. “I do to. I believe we will require an in-system communications device of considerable power to pass transmissions through the portal and out to Typhon, as well as a station to provide repairs for our ships. Therefore, I have dispatched a convoy of two construction ships and one disassembler ship; they will exit to the other end of the portal and construct a station. You will go along and oversee the construction, as well as provide protection and cover.”

     “What resources do I have?”

     “I’m sending the Sirona; she will serve as your flagship. The Ransom and the Helios will escort her. In addition, I am dispatching the Revenant. The Revenant will blackout comms in the area, providing long range security, as well as a cloak blanket,” Daniel replied. “I want you to avoid combat if at all possible. When construction is finished, send the convoy back through; the Typhon will take them home. Your fleet will remain in-system as a temporary garrison for the station.”
    
      Evans nodded. “Very well sire. When do I leave?”

     “At once. The Sirona is in system, and the convoy is already en-route, and will hold until you and the Sirona arrive. Remember, avoid combat if at all possible.”

     Evans got up, saluting sharply, then turned to leave.

     “Evans. You can take the data pad. I have no need for it.”

     The Paladin stopped, turned and took the data pad, then stopped short in his tracks as the sleeping figure stirred and got up, the sheets sliding aside to reveal a beautiful eighteen year-old girl rubbing the sleep from her eyes. “Lady Kathleen,” he said, bowing.

     The girl smiled drowsily, then waved her hand in dismissal.

     The Paladin bowed again, then exited the room, closing the door behind him.

     “I hope this was the right choice. Sending him into the unknown like that. Into a potentially hostile system,” Daniel said.

    “You didn’t have any other choice,” the girl replied, getting up and walking towards him.

    Daniel got up, walking to the balcony and gazed out at the city. “I know. But I still don’t like sending my people into danger.”

    Kathleen wrapped her arms around him and whispered, “You just don’t want to lose another friend.”

    Daniel didn’t answer, and continued to gaze out at the city.


**********

     Lieutenant JG Singh sighed mildly. Three hours left on his six hour shift to go. “There’s nothing out here but rocks and more rocks,” he whined to his partner, Markinson, who was the same rank as him.

     “Well. That’s not true. There’re Shivans out there. That’s why the Warspite and those Tyrean cruisers were left behind. To help defend Enif Station in case of an attack.”

     “Yea, I guess. But I still wish something interesting would happen out around here. Closer to the station, ya know what I mean?”

     “Be careful what you wish for, Singh ‘cause you might just get it ... and didn’t we have this conversation before?”

     “Huh. Yeah, back when we picked up that pirate group hiding in the asteroid field.” Singh brightened. “Maybe the pirates will launch a raid on some ships near Enif!” As soon as the words left his mouth, a red light lit up on his console, flashing urgently. Before their eyes, multiple subspace portals opened, and Vasudan fighters spilled forth from the portals. Behind them, two Mentu-II class cruisers exited subspace, flanking a Sobek class corvette.

     “What the hell is going on?” Markinson whispered. Even as he did, the Warspite and the Tyrean cruisers engines’ lit up beams and flak began filling the space.

     “I dunno. What I do know is, that ain’t no pirate,” Singh said, and he slammed his hand down on the emergency button.

 
**********

     Bulwark, this is the Warspite. I’m initiating a micro-jump to put us behind that Sobek, or its beams will tear us to pieces!” Captain Samantha said to her console.

     “Affirmative, Warspite. Me and the Avarice will handle the fighters and the cruisers. You take down the corvette,” captain Dracip said to Samantha, who nodded her assent and cut the link. Turning to his bridge he yelled, “Activate all point defense guns! Disengage from station power, and let’s take up a forward defensive position! Prioritize bombers and bombs first! Shunt power to forward shields!” His commands spurred the crew into action.

     As the Bulwark pulled itself forward, energy bolts streamed forth from her weapons, making short work of Vasudan fighters that strayed too close. Photon beams reached out to slap aside bombers like flies, and burst weaponry turned the space around the Bulwark into a treacherous field of energy and shredded metal. The Avarice too, was firing all her weapons, throwing up a wall of energy and flak into the path of the Vasudan bombers and fighters, even as the Warspite slipped into subspace. “ Designate Mark One, left Mentu, Mark Two, Sobek, Mark Three, right Mentu. Set weapons for long range fire, minor penetration, target; Mark Three. You may fire when ready,” Dracip said.

     “Target, Mark Three, minor penetration, long range fire. Calibration complete, sir, computer auto fire in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ... “, his tactical officer reported. Tyrean tactical doctrine called for the use of precise and long range fire to carve out chunks in the enemy forces while taking minimal damage themselves. To this end, all Tyrean weapons were capable of overcharging their capacitators for long range shots. This process was controlled by the ship computer normally to prevent excessive charging of the capacitators, and resulted in the trademark silver Tyrean beams. The beams lanced forth from the Bulwark’s weapons. The quartet of beams incinerated a few unlucky fighters, crossing the ten kilometre gulf between the Bulwark and its intended target almost instantly. Two went wide, narrowly missing the target, but the last two smashed into the Mentu II’s underside, the beams wreaking havoc on its hull as the destructive energies washed over the surface, destroying a flak turret in the process.

     “Two hits, two misses, sir,” his tactical officer replied.

     “Charge weapons and fire when ready,” Dracip ordered. “Distance between us and Mark Three?”

     “Eight klicks, sir. Still out of range of their weapons,” his TO answered.

     “Reduce throttle. That’s close enough for me. Fire when ready. Ensign, keep at least 7 klicks distance between us and the target at all times. Specs indicate the beam weapons have a 4 klick range. This’ll give us some slack at the least.”

     Without warning, a subspace portal opened behind the Bulwark and a Hatshepsut destroyer exited subspace.

     “Sir! Enemy destroyer aft and below of us.” the sensor tech screamed.

     “Hard to port! Fire emergency starboard thrusters!” Dracip shouted.

      The Hatshepsut’s forward beam lashed out viciously at the Bulwark’s unprepared rear. The Tyrean cruiser shook heavily as the devastating beam blew through the thin rear shields, and would have gutted the cruiser had the captain not ordered the pilot to fire the starboard thrusters. The powerful one-shot boosters kicked in, pushing the ship aside, saving the ship but in the process causing the beam to slide across her engines, blowing out three of them.

     “Sir, we’ve lost our engines! We can’t evade her next shot!” the tactical officer reported

     “Sir, the destroyer’s turning away from us. I think it’s going after the Avarice. Its ... it’s launching transports, sir I think they’re trying to capture us! ETA ten minutes.” the sensor tech said in surprise.

     At this, Dracip blinked, then tapped his console. “Engineering, how soon till the nanobots finish repairs?”

    The grizzled face of his chief engineer looked up at him. “Well, sir. That blast took out two of our thrusters and overloaded the other two. The bots can fix those two, but the others are gone. It’ll take about twenty minutes, give or take several minutes.”

     Dracip grimaced. While all Tyrean ships had a limited self-repair ability, major repairs could still be affected by the nanobots, but required massive amounts of energy, necessitating the disabling of all non-essential systems, including the ship’s weapons. He shook his head, then replied, “Make it happen.” He stabbed a different button. “Lieutenant. Prepare your men to repel boarders.” The lieutenant nodded wordlessly, and he cut the link. Dracip activated the ship’s PA and announced, “All hands stand by to repel boarders. Master of Arms, bring me my sword. Ensign, transmit this code to the Lothar! Rita Delta Delta Delta, I repeat, Rita Delta Delta Delta!”

      The communications ensign nodded, then began tapping out the message, as Dracip watched through external cams the two Vasudan transports drawing up alongside the ship. Mentally, he reminded himself to forward a recommendation that docking hatches on Tyrean ships not be so obvious. The door opened, and the Guard sergeant entered holding his sword. Dracip nodded his thanks and accepted the slender weapon. “TO, you have the bridge,” he said, as he exited the bridge, sword in hand.


**********

    The Marines stood back as the door breach charge was placed. In a flash of light, the door was blasted in, and the Marines threw in flashbangs down both sides. When they heard the flashbangs go off, they quickly exited the Isis transport, taking up positions down the left and right. Suddenly, a figure stepped out of an alcove to the left, flourishing a slender rapier, which came across in a smooth arc, taking off the head of the first Marine, then came back again to impale the second through the chest, the blade slicing through their armoured suits like they were paper. The remaining Marines brought up their chainguns and fired, but the figure held out his hand and the bullets slammed into an invisible wall, then it melted into thin air.

     The survivors hunkered down, scanning the area with a hint of fear. Then, a hail of energy blasts rippled through the air, slamming into the rearmost marines, searing through their armour suits and burning flesh. The marines came around, firing their guns as they turned. Their bullets slammed into energy fields, as the armoured figures advanced down the corridor. Looking like futuristic knights, with their wrists blazing with sapphire energy, the marines broke, running down the corridor, ducking into a room.

     As the terrified marines tried to catch their breath, behind them, an armoured figure materialised, a rapier held in his hand, its edge blazing with orange fire.


-------------------------------------
Next part up.
Title: Re: Dunno what to call it atm
Post by: Colonol Dekker on August 26, 2008, 05:35:21 am
Onoz the arrestor :( hope it makes it.
 
At the start i think a sobek was referred to as a destroyer.
Title: Re: Re: Dunno what to call it atm
Post by: Stormkeeper on August 26, 2008, 05:51:24 am
Fixed.
Title: Re: The Tyrean Chapter
Post by: Colonol Dekker on September 05, 2008, 03:56:46 am
More? :sigh: :confused:
Title: Re: The Tyrean Chapter
Post by: Darius on September 05, 2008, 04:12:01 am
This is a great read :) looking forward to the next part
Title: Re: The Tyrean Chapter
Post by: eliex on September 05, 2008, 04:37:49 am
An engaging read. Keep up the good work.   ;)
Title: Re: The Tyrean Chapter
Post by: Stormkeeper on September 05, 2008, 05:09:29 am
More? :sigh: :confused:
Patience, my young padawan good man. Been a little busy with a temp job these past few days.
Title: Re: The Tyrean Chapter
Post by: Colonol Dekker on September 05, 2008, 05:32:47 am
That's what the morning commute is for, use your brain for good instead of oggling business women :lol:
Title: Re: The Tyrean Chapter
Post by: Stormkeeper on September 09, 2008, 11:48:48 am
        In space, the Hatshepsut destroyer continued bearing down on the Avarice, as the Tyrean ship turned to meet the oncoming behemoth. As the deadly amber beam smashed into the Avarice, Captain Safran grabbed hold of his command couch to steady himself. “Shields at 54% percent and holding!” Lieutenant Naan reported. Safran ordered, “Ready main guns, target that Hatshepsut’s frontal turrets!” “Target locked, sir,” reported Ensign Jordan. “Fire!”
   
       Clouds of emerald darts slammed into the Hatshepsut, pock marking its hull but dealing no serious damage.  Ruby lances hit the main beam turret of the Hatshepsut, damaging it, but failed to deal enough damage to silence the beam, which glowed and lashed back in response. “Shields at 13%! Won’t survive another hit, sir!” Naan called out. Safran cursed. “Ready the hardened shields!” he ordered. “Hardened shields ready!” an ensign called out. As the beam cannon on the destroyer spoke again, Safran yelled, “Activate!”

   Possibly the only thing the Mad Toa Reon did right during his reign was advocating advanced military research in all fields, and one of the things that resulted were hardened shield generators. These shields used a different method of protection; instead of generating a solid energy wall, they created an invisible particle field composed of thavir particles at a particular location around the ship. Normally, these field would effective stop any and all weapons fire, the thavir energy literally eating up the projectile or laser. However, when the photon beam of the Hatshepsut met the thavir wall, the thavir particles split the beam, resulting in a ‘beam shotgun’, much to the misfortune of the crew.

   The amber beams shredded the midsection of the Arrestor, turning it into little more than scrap metal. One of the beams brushed lightly past the reactor of the ship, splitting is protective casing. The crack grew, as the energy inside, its cage now broken, spilled forth in a vengeful white sphere, consuming the ship from the inside out. The ball of furious energy rose upwards, mercifully vaporising most of the crew instantly. Captain Safran never knew what hit him, never even knew the ship was hit, for the whole thing had happened too fast.

   In an instant, where once was a elegant and powerful ship of the Tyrean Royal Navy, there was instead a mangled and smoking ruin.


**********

   “My God!” exclaimed the sensor tech.

   Dracip looked up from the console where he had been talking to the engineer regarding the status of the repairs. “What is it?”

   “Reading a reactor blast from the Arrestor’s location... and we’ve lost contact with her!”

   Dracip snapped up and whipped his head around to his left , like most of the crew was doing now. There faintly in the distance, they could see the dying fires of a reactor explosion. A cold fury filled Dracip. Safran was a good friend to him.  “How soon till the repairs  get done?” he said to the engineer.

   “Fifteen minutes,” the engineer replied.

   Dracip shook his head. “I’m shunting power to our manuevering thrusters and weapons. You’ll have to make do with whats left,” he ordered, and cut the link before the engineer could reply. Then he looked up at his bridge crew. “Bring us about, target that bastard and overcharge our guns. We’re taking him down.” Scarcely had the words left his mouth than a brilliant beam of pure fire stabbed out of the bleakness of space, slashing down across the neck of the destroyer, and then walked across its hull. Where the beam walked, fire burned, despite the lack of atmosphere. Around the stricken destroyer, Combat Frames and Tyrean fighters materialised from nothingness, and began destroying the fighters disabled by the EMP pulse released when the beam had hit. If only they had been a second sooner, Dracip cursed silently. He shook his head, then drew himself up. “Allright, reacquire Mark Three and fire when ready!”

   Within moments, white beams spilled forth from the cannons of the Bulwark smashing into the underside of the Mentu II, adding to the damage already done by the Bulwark’s previous salvos. The Sobek began to turn to face the crippled Kulwas frigate, but behind it, a subspace portal spat the Warspite back into realspace, and its four beams fired instantly, buring themselves in the rear of the Sobek furiously. The stricken corvette tried desperately to turn, but the Warspite gave no quarter, keeping up its furious assault, as Combat Frames and fighters closed in on the trio of ships. Dracip noticed the forces scatter from the leftmost Mentu II, and another bright beam seared across space, impaling the Mentu II dead-center. As its death throes began to consume it, the surviving pair of ships suddenly accelerated, and glided into the relative safety of subspace.

   “Captain Dracip. Are you alright?” the face of captain Nasher, commanding officer of the Lothar appeared on his console. “We were too late to save the Avarice. I’m sorry Dracip.”

   Dracip shook his head. “Not your fault Nasher. You came as fast as you could.”

   Nasher nodded solemnly, then cut the link.

   Dracip stood up, and announced, “TO, you have the bridge. I’m going to take a nap.” His TO nodded, as Dracip made his way to his stateroom. In his room, he picked up a picture showing him and Safran during their graduation from naval academy. Crossing to the other end of his room, he opened a cupboard, and placed the picture inside, joining countless already there. He took one last look at the contents of the cupboard, then closed it.


**********

Short update. Will get a longer one up .... soonish. By the way, there was a typo in the last installment. The ships on guard are the Bulwark and the Avarice, not the Arrestor. The Arrestor is out with the Dagger.
Title: Re: The Tyrean Chapter
Post by: Colonol Dekker on September 09, 2008, 01:36:44 pm
well thank god for that :lol:

Great stuff :yes: Beamz beats uber shileds  ;7
Title: Re: The Tyrean Chapter
Post by: Stormkeeper on September 15, 2008, 07:15:56 am
     “That true, captain? You actually failed your command test?” the ensign asked.

     David laughed, and nodded, putting his coffee back on the canteen table. “Yep. I was ordered to evade detection, and find and destroy their command vessel in a massive asteroid field.”

     “So what happened?” another crew member, a warrant officer, asked.

     “Well, I had the whole ship rigged for silent mode, noise cancellers going and what not. The thing is, I wasn’t really paying attention to the Admiral’s briefing when he was describing the target ship. So I had no idea what I was looking for. But I noticed a ship right in the middle of their formation, so I fired and destroyed it. That done, I was supposed to evade capture and get out of there.”

      “And?” the first ensign said.

     David chuckled. “Well, somehow, while creeping around the asteroid field, I had succeeded in getting in the middle of their fleet. So when I had to escape, I found myself surrounded. So I said to the crew-“

     “’Congratulations, people, we’ve got them surrounded!’” piped up Ping from the a few tables over.

      The canteen roared with laughter. “I’m glad you remember, Ping! Care to tell them what happened next?” David said with a smile.

      Ping laughed, then nodded. “Well, back then, I was just a trainee. So when he said that line, I thought to myself, ‘What kind of crack-arse captain did we get? We’re doomed!’ Then he starts giving orders to fire, blink, fire, blink. We destroyed over three quarters of that simulated fleet; we actually ran out of broadside ammo. Then he gives the order to blink away, right smack inside an asteroid he had marked on the way in. So we just waited there quietly while the fleet runs around, pissed off trying to hunt us down.”

      “Then the Claw Admiral and the examiners come in, and the Admiral is clapping his hands. And the Admiral said, ‘Well done David. You just crippled or destroyed over seventy five percent of the Federation’s Third Fleet. Unfortunately, the whole point of the exercise was to destroy their command vessel, which you didn’t do. On the bright side, the admiral is probably sweating bullets at what one destroyer and one insane captain who doesn’t pay attention to briefings just did,’” David finished.

      The canteen erupted in laughter again. David himself was chuckling at the memory. Suddenly the PA system crackled to life. “Captain David, Lieutenant Ping. Please report to the bridge. I repeat, Captain David and Lieutenant Ping, please report to the bridge immediately.”

      David nodded to the crewmen around him as he got up. “Well boys, duty calls. Try not to get too wasted while I’m away.”

     “No fear captain. We’ll be ready when you need us,” the warrant officer said. Several voices added their consent. David nodded again, then left the canteen with Ping at his heels.


**********

     “What is it, James?” David asked as he slid into his command couch on the bridge, unwrapping a bar of chocolate, nodding to Chekoff as his picture appeared on the main display, along with James’ and Nikolai’s.

     “This, sirs,” James moved aside from the screen to show what was behind him.

     “What the hell ...” David breathed. A massive portal lay in the field, surrounded by asteroids. The portal was easily large enough for both the Reverend and the Dagger to enter with plenty of space to spare. Sapphire lightning edged the portal, as it seemed to rotate continuously. The bridge crew gazed, mesmerized by the dangerous beauty of the portal. “What the hell is that thing?” David asked, as he watched the portal crackle and flash with sapphire energy.

    “We can’t be sure,” said captain Nikolai , as she appeared on screen. “Our sensors keep pinging it as a subspace signature of massive proportions, while the Arrestor ...”

     “... pings it as a W-space signature of similar proportions. It keeps telling us that a Worldslayer’s about to come through, and the computer recommends entering parade formation as a result,” James said, his picture appearing alongside hers.

     “Which leaves us with a single conclusion,” Nikolai said.

     “That it’s a portal. A jump portal of some sort, that’s permanently open. But the Shivans obviously have knowledge of it.” The picture zoomed in, and then highlighted several Shivan ships above the portal, as well as numerous fighters patrolling the space around the little fleet. “We read three Cain-class cruisers, a Moloch-class corvette ... and one Lucifer-class destroyer.”

     Chekoff sat up straight in his seat. “A Lucifer! We must warn the GTVA at once!”

     Nikolai shook her head. “The Arrestor’s long range sensor scans correspond with our own; that Lucifer is no threat. Its engines don’t seem to have any sort of power signature.”

     “And we don’t detect any sort of energy field around the Lucifer. If it has any shields, they’re not active. The only things we can detect are energy signatures consistent with Shivan weapons as well as rotation thrusters,” James added.

     “We’ve designated the Lucifer Belial, the Cains are the Dante, the Mephistopheles, the Maleficus and the Moloch is the Everto,” Nikolai said.

     David blinked, and looked at James, who shrugged and said, “I’ve designated the Shivans ship Mark One through Five, One is the Lucifer, Two the Moloch, and Three to Five are the Cains.”

     Nikolai and Chekoff shook their heads. “It is easier to give them proper names, my friend,” Chekoff said.

     David chuckled. “You GTVA kids can stick to your fancy names. We’ll just call them Marks and be done with it. In any case, I think we need to destroy the Shivan ships.”

     Chekoff nodded. “I agree. We must take them down fast. We should start with the Belial before she can bring her guns to bear. I suggest using the destroyers to assault the Belial while our fighters destroy the Belial’s reactors. The rest of the fleet can engage the remaining ships while we distract the Belial.”

     David replied, “I agree, except on one count. I think we should simply engage the Shivan ships. I have something else in mind for the Belial...”


----------------------------------

Blah.
Title: Re: The Tyrean Chapter
Post by: Retsof on September 15, 2008, 08:00:35 am
 :drevil:
Title: Re: The Tyrean Chapter
Post by: General Battuta on September 15, 2008, 02:40:13 pm
Is that a Derelict reference, with the Lucifer holding open the portal?
Title: Re: The Tyrean Chapter
Post by: Akalabeth Angel on September 15, 2008, 09:40:33 pm
Anyone else find that font a little hard to read? (as in it's too small)
Title: Re: The Tyrean Chapter
Post by: Stormkeeper on September 15, 2008, 09:43:05 pm
Anyone else find that font a little hard to read? (as in it's too small)
Kay. I'll keep that in mind.
Title: Re: The Tyrean Chapter
Post by: Stormkeeper on September 17, 2008, 10:55:03 am
     In the blackness of space, all seemed as it always did. Various wrecks and scrap metal drifted, testament to the Shivans fierce defense of early incursions by unknown ships. But if one were to look closer, one would notice ripples of movement across the blackness of space. Twenty fighters crept slowly towards the Shivan fleet, cloaked from sight and sensor by pectin shrouds. Hanging in W-space, awaiting the signal, sat the allied fleet, the GTVA vessels ‘piggybacking’ on the W-space fields generated by the Tyrean ships. In the holds of the Reverend, sat the GTVA fighters and bombers, their pilots tensed up, nervous about being on an alien vessel, and about the coming battle. Freia, the only ship not waiting in W-Space, waited, its gravitational anchors activated, as power flowed unhindered from its oversized reactor to its firestorm beam. When the beam’s charge hit 100%, more than three times its normal firing power, its captain turned to his view screen, and tapped it twice.

     Throughout the allied fleet, two beeps sounded in rapid succession. In the Dagger, David heard the two beeps. The bridge crew sat up expectantly. David took a deep breath, then nodded. “Begin.”

     Instantly, the dark silence of space was torn apart, as a massive fiery beam tore free from the Freia’s bow, sending the frigate back several meters despite her anchors. The beam crossed the twenty five kilometre distance between it and the Everto almost instantly. As the beam smashed into the Moloch, the sheer force of the beam caused the Moloch to be ripped into two, the immense force sending its two melting halves flying. One half smashed into one of the three prongs of the Maleficus shearing the prong clean off the Cain, while the other came perilously close to hitting the Belial. The beam seared past the Belial, coming close enough to cause her rear armour to be blackened by the heat radiated by the beam ... and close enough for the EMP effect of the beam to strike the Belial.

     In the wake of the firestorm beam, the twenty fighters struck, easily dispatching the helpless Shivan fighters. Around the Shivan fleet, various 'wrecks' blew apart in a flash of light and fire, as Combat Frames spilled forth from their hidden positions guns blazing. The allied fleet dropped out amongst the Shivan ships, the Reverend launching the GTVA fighters and bombers even as she exited W-space. While the Reverend turned her weapons on the helpless Cain cruisers, the Perolynn and Lewolynn corvettes dropped in on either side of the Belial and activated their capture fields, the yellow glows generating a powerful gravitational field that prevented a ship from moving. Above the stricken Lucifer, the Dagger exited W-space, lowering herself until a mere 100 metres separated the two ship. “Assimilate it,” David ordered. Dull red beams stabbed down from the Dagger, and began sweeping the Belial, the beams probing every nook and cranny of the Belial’s upper hull, while the Black Wing did the same for the lower hull of the Belial. The beams of the Lucifer glowed red, then lashed upwards as high as they would go ... but came nowhere close to touching the Dagger.

     “Assimilation complete, sir,” Ping said. David nodded. “Fry them.”

     The yellow fields shimmered, then turned a dark blue as the field generators on the two ships shifted from capture ... to disable. Powerful radioactive waves passed through the Lucifer’s hull from the Perolynn’s generator, bouncing off the field generated by the Lewolynn, and then back again. The process of bouncing the field back and forth caused most living beings to become extremely sick and unable to move.

     “I find this style of attack most unorthodox,” Chekoff said to David over a private channel.

     David chuckled. “Well, back where I come from, this is a pretty standard style of attacking a defensive position ... although we usually have some Heretos corvettes; those ships have plenty of heavy duty short ranged weapons, perfect for this kind of attack.”

     “Interesting. You Tyreans have ships purpose built for ... brawling?”

     “Brawling isn’t what we call it. We call it close quarters combat. It’s quite effective when combined with our ability to slip in and out of W-space.”

      Chekoff nodded. “I suppose so. It would be difficult for brawling ships to get close enough without your ability to do so... I wonder if it is possible for our ships to do similar things, since your W-space seems similar to our subspace.”

     David opened his mouth, but Ping interrupted, reporting, “Sir. The transports are launching soon.” David nodded, then looked down at his view screen. “I’ll talk to you later, Chekoff. I’m joining the boarding party.”

     Chekoff looked shocked. “What? But that’s too dangerous for you, you are boarding a Shivan ship, a Lucifer no less!”

      “That may be, Chekoff, but I’m curious. Besides ... It’s not like I’ll die,” David said and cut the line.

****************

Rawr.
Title: Re: The Tyrean Chapter
Post by: Retsof on September 17, 2008, 06:49:19 pm
Quote
“Assimilate it,”

 :wtf:
Title: Re: The Tyrean Chapter
Post by: Colonol Dekker on September 17, 2008, 07:01:46 pm
I'm willing to gamble that it will all make sense later on in the story, Possibly an entanglement / capture field which disables it and holds it in place while the main "smaxxor" beam charged.. :nervous:
Title: Re: The Tyrean Chapter
Post by: Stormkeeper on October 05, 2008, 08:22:39 am
     Ping cut the link, leaning back in the command couch. He’d served under David for three years now, and he’d come to respect David as an excellent captain and a talented strategist and brilliant tactician. But certain things didn’t seem to add up. The fact that he was also one of the most, if not the most, skilled swordsman he had ever seen. The fact that he had glimpsed a warblade, the sacred, almost mythical weapon of the Paladins, in the captain’s quarters once. And of course, the fact that he never seemed to age a day. The only conclusion was that David was both a Paladin and an Immortal. Ping never questioned David over this, respecting the captain’s wishes. But sometimes he wondered ... if David was an Immortal ... than what about the ship itself? He knew rumours of the ships, fighters and Combat Frames that survived the final battle with the Enskeleons. Sentient weapons, capable of thinking and acting for themselves, prioritizing the survival of their pilots above all else. If the captain was an Immortal, could the ship itself be...

     “Lieutenant!” Taylor yelled, cutting right across Ping’s train of thought.

     Ping called out, “What is it, Taylor?”

     “Contacts, sir! Lots of them, Shivan! Reading at least four destroyers, ten cruisers, five corvettes and one unidentified ship, weight mass exceeding that of any know Shivan destroyer, including the Lucifer.”

     Ping shot up. “Sathanas?” he asked, barely keeping the fear from his voice. The small allied fleet would be hard pressed to delay any Shivan Juggernaught, much less stop it.

      “Negative sir. Weight mass too low for positive identification of Shivan Juggernaughts. They’re exiting the portal now!” Taylor said.
The bridge crew looked out the viewport, at the swirling sapphire nexus of energies. Before their eyes, the Shivan fleet exited the portal, arrayed neatly around the unknown ship. The ship resembled one of their Nahema bombers, albeit on a much larger scale. The middle of the ship had four ‘claws’ were curved inward, and the base of the claws had a quartet of spikes each. As the ship cleared the portal, waves of fighters and bombers launched from the ship, a veritable swarm of insects, although far more dangerous than any insect alive.

     Then, the spikes glowed, and ruby energy flowed down the spikes, then curved down the claws, coalescing in a pulsing red sphere, which shimmered dangerously. The sphere pulsed again, and a massive beam of ruby energy stormed forth, vaporising any and all objects in its path.

     “High energy source detected! It’s targeting us!” Taylor screamed.

     “Evade!” Ping commanded.

     “Too late!” Taylor screamed again.

     Without warning, a blindingly blue flare erupted just before the beam struck the Dagger, as the Perolynn activated its shield generator. The flare dimmed, then brightened again, as the Perolynn shunted more and more energy into the generator. Just as the beam faded away, the space around the fleet shimmered and turned translucent, as the Perolynn changed the shield morphed into a bubble shield. While the bubble field effectively stopped any fire coming in, it also stopped fire from going out, and also cut off the Tyreans from accessing W-Space.

    Ping let out the breathe he had not known he was holding, then tapped the button, activating the link to the Perolynn. The screen shimmered with static for an instant, then connected. The captain was in a space suit, and Ping instantly knew the situation was dire. A few minutes later, he straightened. The Perolynn, in order to protect the fleet, was now effectively useless in combat, with fire control, combat sensory and life support just a few of the systems take off in order to flood the shield generator with sufficient power to morph the shield into a bubble shield.

     “Contact captain David,” Ping ordered.

     “I ... can’t, sir,” Taylor reported.

     “What? Why not ?” Ping demanded.

     “I don’t know, sir. We’re not getting a signal from any of them, including the three transports that went in with them. The medical monitors are also reading flat lines across the board,” Taylor said.

     “Well, keep trying, damnit!” Ping snapped at the ensign. With David missing, command of the task force would fall to the GTVA Admiral, who had little opportunity to prove himself thus far. The records they had pulled from the GTVA mainframe on Enif Station showed he had a distinguished career most recently marred by drinking problems. He rubbed his chin, then opened a channel to Chekoff, explaining what happened, and what the Perolynn had done, as well as the current inability of the Tyrean fleet to enter W-Space, meaning they were essentially trapped within the bubble shield. He also added that he had lost all contact with David inside the Belial. Chekoff leaned back, considering what Ping had told him.

     “You cannot access your W-space, correct? Yet our subspace drives are perfectly functional, indicating we are able to leave this shield... We must find a way to warn the GTVA, and see to that monster out there ...” Chekoff scratched his beard distractedly. “Tell me... Your ... Combat Frames, that is what they are called yes? How much space do they take up, and do they require special launching equipment?”

     Ping blinked.“Eh? Well ... The Frames are generally about 20 – 25 high, but their weight varies. The lightest ones are about 40 tons, while the heaviest are close to a hundred and twenty tons. They generally launch from catapults that propel them to a suitable combat speed, but they can do standing launches if it comes to it.”

    “Hmmm. I see. Let me consider something. I will contact you again shortly,” Chekoff said, then disconnected.

****************************************

My inspiration is dying on me. It's poking me to do a fantasy story, or one based on ground combat.
Title: Re: The Tyrean Chapter
Post by: Colonol Dekker on October 05, 2008, 03:01:43 pm
Aggg, don't let it die..............


Fix a series of events in your head and fill the gaps.... PLEEEEEEEEESE!
Title: Re: The Tyrean Chapter
Post by: Stormkeeper on October 05, 2008, 08:53:10 pm
Oh no worries. I have it planned out. I'm just deciding on an ending.
Title: Re: The Tyrean Chapter
Post by: Colonol Dekker on October 06, 2008, 06:54:26 am
I'd like us to win.... call me old fashioned :lol:

Mines a bit "meh" at the minute. No time for it, amongst other things :doubt:

Works fine but intensive.


Bacl on track, i hope mister immortal palading dude didn't end up as space dust...
Title: Re: The Tyrean Chapter
Post by: Stormkeeper on October 16, 2008, 12:28:49 pm
        “Down!” a voice screamed. David reacted on instinct, throwing himself down to the floor of the corridor. Green blasts seared overhead, smashing aside the Shivan that had been preparing to leap at him. The Shivan screeched, and a white glow began to build. David slashed out with the sword, severing the forward legs of the Shivan, then stabbing it through the head.

        “You alright, sir?” asked the lieutenant. David nodded. “Thanks,” he said, accepting the lieutenant’s hand and pulling himself back up. “How far are we from the reactor?” he asked.

        “Its several halls down, if the data from the assimilation is correct. But the area around the reactor is unmapped, so once we get near, we’re on our own,” the lieutenant replied.

        David nodded again. “Let’s keep moving, then.” 

        The twelve men with him were strung out in a rough line, with him on point. The others were back with the transports, keeping their only way out safe. Including this one, he and his men had only encountered about ten Shivans throughout their roughly half an hour on board the Belial. As they moved closer to the reactor, which was the fourth of the five reactors on the Belial, David noticed that the air temperature had risen steadily, and the surfaces around him were changing in texture, from smooth metallic, to a rough, reddish material, that was warm to touch and David though he sensed a mild pulse under his gloved hand.

        “How far now,” he asked.

        The lieutenant pointed down the hallway, where a door stood. The door was of the same material as the surfaces around it, but a single marking stood out against the door, in bright shimmering silver. David walked up to the door, running his hand over the surface. The door didn’t feel any different, and was large enough to allow entry to a tank. Then, his hand brushed the silver marking, and a sharp, sudden lance of sheer cold shot through his chest, causing David to stumble, clutching at his chest.

   “S... Sir? Are ... are you alright, sir?” the lieutenant asked.

   “Yes... yes, I’m alright. Give me a moment and I’ll open the door,” David pulled himself to his feet, and laid both his hands against the door, careful not to touch the marking. Using his mind, he touched the neural control of his suit, and commanded it to release thavir energy throughout the door. As the gently black glow began to spread, the door began to turn to dust. David noted with interest how the thavir energy avoided the silver marking. Only one thing caused thavir energy to react like that. “Asavir energy ...” he whispered.

   The assault team, spread out in a defensive formation, jerked their heads and turned to look at him. “That marking has asavir energy in it. That’s why the thavir isn’t eating it up,” David explained.

   “But, I thought only we had those things!” the lieutenant said.

   “Not true. We learnt their secrets from our worst enemies ever ... the only enemy and race we annihilated, wiping them from the face of the galaxy,” David said grimly.

   “Enskeleons ...” someone whispered.

   David nodded, then turned back to the door. The thavir had eaten a roughly man-sized hole in the door. “There. Let’s go. I’m on point.”

   One by one, the assault team filtered into the reactor room ... though chamber would be more appropriate. The chamber was massive, large and octagonal, and filled with massive pillars that lined the walls of the room. Each pillar had large pods arrayed upon them neatly, and wires led away from the pods into the pillars themselves. In the heart of the room, hang down from the ceiling was the reactor.  A sphere with a four metal spars suspended inside, continuously rotating a large, oval shaped object. Soft scarlet light emanated from the object, which pulsed ever so often, and the men felt the pulse, like the heart beat of some giant animal. Below the reactor was a seven feet tall metallic cylinder, with glass ports cut in the sides evenly.

   David felt his gaze being drawn inexplicably to the cylinder. He walked forward, the sound of his metal clad feet echoing loudly in the dead silence of the chamber, as the team began spreading out. As he came closer to the cylinder, he saw tiny markings on the cylinder, similar to the one on the door, also glowing with asavir energy. He reached out with his hands to touch the symbols, the cylinder. Just one touch. Just one ...

   “The hells!” someone cried out in surprise. David blinked, then drew his hand back. He gazed suspiciously at the cylinder, then turned to the source of the sound. One of the men had peered into the capsules, and was the source of the cry.

   “What is it?” David called as he strode over.

        “Shivans, sir!” he said, pointing at the capsule.

        David glanced at the man, then looked in. Sure enough, a Shivan was in the capsule. Its limbs were folded neatly around itself, and its eyes were closed. But something seemed wrong ... And then it hit him. The Shivan was much smaller than the ones they had encountered, with shorter limbs. It also lacked the ‘armour’ that they’d seen on the other Shivans, as well as the slit in its head that held its beam weapon. “It’s ... a baby.”

        “A baby?” the man said, surprise.

        “Or a youngster of some sort ... Though I don’t know any race that grows beam weaponry when they mature,” David said.

        “You mean ...” the man began.

        “Yep. They’re a bred race. And whoever created them ensured they’d be prefect killing machines. Presumably, they’re also the ones who implant the beam weaponry when they mature.”

        The men exchanged nervous glances. David shook his head, then said, “Alright, let’s do what we came here to do. Set up defensive positions, and let’s get readings off that reactor.” His words spurred the team into action, with two of them deploying sticky turrets around their perimeter, and three more setting up a field reader. Surveying the team, his gaze was again drawn to the cylinder ... and too late did he notice the lieutenant standing in front of it, hand reached out. “No, don’t!”, he yelled, sprinting at the lieutenant.

        The young lieutenant touched the surface of the cylinder, and a bright white flare filled the room, throwing the lieutenant backwards. Before their eyes, the cylinder seemed to fold up itself, compacting into a single metal circle suspended in mid air. In front of them, what resembled a skeleton stood.

        An elongated, head with triple deep sockets. A chest, that ended in long shoulders. Upper and lower arms that hung in mid air. Clawed hands with grooves along its knuckles. Thigh bones that seems grooved. Lower legs that had long spikes along their rear. And a pair for reptilian feet.
 
        Before their eyes, a trio of red orbs flared into life in the sockets. They all felt the malice and hatred in those expressionless eyes. Tendrils of scarlet energy snaked forth from the metallic ‘bones’, linking them together. The ‘skeleton’ rotated its head, stretching its arms and legs.
“Enskeleon,” David whispered.

        The Enskeleon turned, sweeping its gaze across the team, fixing its murderous eyes on David and with a thunderous psychic roar, leapt at him, clawed hands outstretched.

   David reacted instantly, sweeping up his sword to block the Enskeleon’s strike. Before he could retaliate, the Enskeleon snapped its leg up, and smashed David back against the wall, causing stars to erupt in his vision. Leaping backwards, it landed in front of the stunned lieutenant. Its knuckles shimmered, and long scarlet blades of pure energy extended out, and the Enskeleon almost casually flicked its hand at the lieutenant, decapitating him in a spray of crimson.

        Emerald blasts issued from the soldiers’ wrist blasters, and the sticky turrets fired, yellow bolts storming forth at the Enskeleon. But it was already in the air, leaping across the chamber at a soldier who panicked and tried to run. The Enskeleon’s forearm and hand shot forth, the tendril of scarlet energy stretching to an impossible length, and punched right though his head, staining the wall and pods red.

        Then it sprung backwards, dodging a second volley of emerald and yellow bolts, landing amidst a knot of three soldiers. With a single swipe, it gutted two of them, then turned to face the last one. The last soldier bravely activated his plasma blades and charged at the Enskeleon with a wordless battle cry.  The Enskeleon laughed, the sound pounding against their minds. It reached out with one hand and grabbed the blade. The soldier stared in shock, then began screaming in pain as it began pulling his head out.

        The remaining soldiers fired, desperate to save their comrade. Enskeleon turned its head towards them, the red orbs flickering slightly, and a dark red shield flared into life, their weapons fire melting into the shield. Abruptly, the stricken soldier’s scream was cut short as the Enskeleon ripped his head free of his body. It laughed again, and raised its right hand at the knot of soldiers. There was a brief scarlet glow, and a deadly volley of ruby energy streaked forth, smashing hard into the soldiers, their shields overcome in an instant.

        In little under two minutes, the Enskeleon had devastated a dozen Guards, elite soldiers, with barely a scratch. It turned its gaze to David, who lay at one side unmoving. The Enskeleon stalked over to David and stabbed its hand down to kill him. There was a blur of motion, and the Enskeleon found its hand caught in the crushing grip of the suit, the scarlet blade inches from his chest. “I don’t think so,” David snarled. An invisible force picked up the Enskeleon and tossed it to the other end of the room.

        David sprung to his feet, using his mind to unlock the hidden functions of his suit. He pulled forth the warblade he always carried with him, and the black and white blade of pure energy sprung to life. A keen, undulating noise began to emanate from the blade. “I am David Kyrios Septim, Immortal, Seventh Paladin of Tyrea, wielder of the warblade Ululatus Vesica! I am your doom!” he roared as he leapt forward, the unlocked powers of the suit propelling across the room in a single bound, using his momentum to bring the warblade down in a powerful strike, as the blade’s eerie howl filled the room.

        The Enskeleon replied with a psychic roar, as it slashed its arms downwards through the air in front of him. The dark red shield from before flared to life before David, as he reached inside himself and mentally touched the device hidden at the base of his skull.

        The animus device was the least well know of the devices used by the Tyreans. Only fifteen existed, one found aboard each of the World Slayers. Its workings were a mystery even to their users; what they did know was that it worked. The animus device was at least partly sentient; when presented to a new user, the device would automatically attach itself to the base of the skull, and eventually embed itself painlessly under the skin. What the device did, and how it did it was inexplicable. It allowed the user to turn his thoughts into reality. The possibilities were endless though, the device was incapable of creating things out of thin air. Thus they were used only by the Paladins, and no one else save the Toa knew of their existence.

        David touched the device now, and activated it for the first time in years. The howling increased in volume, as the sword flared bright sapphire, and the shield fell apart in a blaze of scarlet light. The Enskeleon cried out in surprise and leapt back. It gazed at David suspiciously and began circling him, David mirroring his motion. “I see. Paladin ... Septim, was it not? You are one of the cursed demons who always led the charge, led the defence, and could stand toe to toe with our finest warriors. And your ... powers. Inexplicable, but always turned the tide of the battle.”

        “And you’ve obviously fought against us before. But we wiped you out at the end of the war. So how is it you survive,” he asked, keeping the blade up.

        “You destroyed our Mother, true. But every child has two parents, do they not? So do we, have two. While you destroyed our Mother, our Father remains. And he thirsts for revenge against those who slew his bride.”

        David kept his face emotionless, but a jolt of fear shot through his mind. Another mothership. So the Enskeleons hadn’t been wiped out. “And the Shivans?”

        “When we first encountered ships of these ... humans. We thought they were your people. We did not wish to reveal our presence to them, lest you began hunting for our Father. We beseeched our Father for aid, and he gifted us with them, with the knowledge to breed them, to give them weapons. They are much like us. They are tireless hunters, peerless warriors, and deadly adversaries.”

        This time, David could not stop himself from blinking in surprise. ’Gifted us with them’? They were given command of the Shivans? It would explain the shift in the Shivan attacks, from relatively widespread destruction to pinpoint surgical strikes. “I wouldn’t call you ‘peerless warriors’. We beat you, didn’t we? You ‘deadly adversaries’ left your back door wide open and unlocked. I wouldn’t call that being ‘peerless warriors’.”

        The Enskeleon’s orbs brightened, and its mental voice was tinged with anger. “Your underhanded tricks and ploys saved you! You failed to triumph in honourable combat!”

        David snorted. “I used my destroyer to stymie your fleet of over a hundred ships, and that’s underhanded? And if bombarding a planet is honourable, I think we win the honourable award when we popped your dear old Mummy like a balloon.”

        The Enskeleon roared in anger. “How dare you blaspheme against our Mother! You will pay for your insolence!”

        David laughed, which infuriated the Enskeleon even more, causing tendrils of smoke rising from its orbs. “How? What’re you gonna do, mommy’s boy?”

        With a furious cry, the Enskeleon leapt straight at David, just like he wanted. In a single smooth motion, he dodged to one side, and brought his blade down, severing the Enskeleon at the waist. Raising his hand, he touched the device with his mind and streams of fire materialised from his fingertips, pining the upper half of the Enskeleon against the wall.

        The Enskeleon screamed in pain, causing David to flinch momentarily, disrupting his concentration, and the fiery prison dissipated instantly. “You ... will pay!” it screamed at David, then it roared again.

        This time, David felt something different about the roar, some note that was different from its normal psychic roar. Around him, clicks filled the air. Instantly, David realised what the difference was. The pods began to open, spilling blue fog from their insides. “Oh ****.” Quickly, David hurled the warblade forward. The blade howled viciously as it sailed through the air, embedding itself in the skull of the Enskeleon, right in the middle of its orbs. It screamed in pain as the thavir energy within the blade ate it alive. Before his eyes, the Enskeleon melted into liquid, as a very faint bolt of scarlet energy shot away from the skull. As the psychic scream died away, he used the animus device to pull the warblade free as he ran for the entrance. Screeches, Shivan screeches began to fill the chamber as the awakened Shivans pulled themselves free of their capsules. Those nearest to him leapt at him, but David threw himself out through the gap in time. As he turned the corner, he heard the clang of metal, and the scrabble of Shivan claws. David ran faster, as he tapped his commlink to the transports.

        “Report!” he yelled.

        “Sir! We’re getting hit! Movement everywhere!“ the officer said, a slight hint of fear in his voice.

        “Prepare for imminent and heavy contact! Prep all ships for launch! I’m on my way back!” he shouted. Risking a glance behind, he saw the unarmoured Shivans hot on his heels, screeching at him in either rage or anger, he couldn’t and couldn’t be bothered to tell.

        “Yes, sir!” The officer replied.

        Turning another corner, following the waypoints on his HUD, a Shivan, this one fully grown, entered his vision. Without slowing down, David lowered his shoulder, and hit the Shivan at full speed. The Paladin suit was much heavier than a normal combat suit, and so it was that over four hundred pounds of man and machine hit the Shivan, smashing it aside like a toy. Another one stepped into his view, and with a single motion, David drew Ululatus Vesica and slashed the Shivan as he ran across, the howl of the sword adding to the cacophony of the pursuing Shivans. As he entered the last hall before the passage leading to the hangar, David saw five fully grown Shivans before him, white glows growing steadily. He leapt, twisting around mid air, as the beams passed harmlessly behind him ... and into the chasing Shivans. Screeches out of outrage and pain filled the air as the chasing Shivans found out what it felt like to be hit by their own beams. Coming down behind and facing the Shivans, he thrust his hand out and touched the device again. A powerful force threw the five Shivans into his pursuers, causing them to trip and entangle themselves amongst each other, as more screeches filled the air. Allowing himself a slight smile, he turned and high-tailed it to the transports.

        As he entered into the cavernous hanger, chaos greeted his eyes. Screeches filled the air as Shivans assaulted the transports’ position, but smashed like water upon the rocks as the transports’ turrets spat torrents of sapphire bolts into the Shivans, and the Guards fired from ports built into the transports for just this purpose. The beams of the Shivans slammed harmlessly into the shields of the transports; while their beams were perfect for infantry and possible light armour, they were useless against the heavy shields of the transports. David broke into a flat out run, feet thundering heavily against the hangar floor. Intent on the transports, the Shivans never noticed him, not until he hit the rear of their mob, sword howling.

        Unable to see clearly, David relied on his HUD to tell him he was a hundred feet from the transports, and kept slashing and chopping, cutting a swathe of destruction through the mob, littering his path with dead or dying Shivans. Every time Ululatus fell, it screeched an unearthly note of death and destruction, filling the hangar with its dread song, a symphony of pain and suffering as the floor ran slick with the black liquid that was the blood of the Shivans. A low beep suddenly sounded in his helmet, and David gathered himself and leapt for the transports. Landing neatly in front of one of the transports, the side door opened long enough for strong hands to haul him aboard. Nodding his thanks to the Guards who had pulled him aboard, he yelled, “Let’s get out of here!”

        The pilot nodded. The trio of transports lifted up, the backwash from their powerful engines blowing some of the closer Shivans over. “What about the others, sir?”one of the Guards asked.

        David looked at him, then said quietly, “They’re on patrol.”

        The Guard stared at him, then replied, “I understand, sir.”

        The transports turned towards the exit, as the turrets continued firing down at the Shivans, then blasted forth on black and white flames. As the trio of ships blasted free from the Belial’s fighter bay, David noticed the Shivan fleet, and that the ships were surrounded in a pale blue field. David touched his commlink. “Ping. Ping, do you read me?”

        “Affirmative, Captain. Loud and clear. We lost you for a moment there. All well?”, came Ping’s voice.

        "Mostly. What’s the situation? Why the bubble?”

        “You better get back here ASAP, sir. Quite a bit's happened while you were away”

        “Roger,” he replied, then cut the link. He stumbled back to the bay, then sat down in one of the harnesses, mental and physical exhaustion queuing up to claim their due. Using the animus after such a long while made concentrating much, much more difficult. Suddenly he noticed the Guards were staring at him. He blinked, looking at them. Then he realised they were looking at his warblade.

        “Sir ... Are you ... “one of them began.

        David nodded. “I am. I am the Seventh Paladin.” No point hiding it now, he mused.

        The Guards looked awed, and the one who had spoken said, “It is an honor, my Lord.”

        David waved his hand wearily. “No ‘Lord’s. It doesn’t matter. I didn’t tell anyone.”

        The Guard nodded, leaning back in his harness.

        David closed his eyes, eager to claim what little rest the flight back would offer.

*********************************************

Took me a day to work out the kinks in this section. I'm inexplicable proud of this chapter no idea why. Probably cause it helped bash my 'v' key into submission.
Title: Re: The Tyrean Chapter
Post by: Mongoose on October 16, 2008, 01:46:18 pm
You should be. Sword-to-Shivan combat?  Awesome. :)
Title: Re: The Tyrean Chapter
Post by: Retsof on October 16, 2008, 10:17:22 pm
 :jaw: ... wow ...
Title: Re: The Tyrean Chapter
Post by: Colonol Dekker on November 04, 2008, 07:45:23 am
Remindes me of MD-Geist, very cool armour :nod:


Hurry up, i want MOAH!


srsly though, kudos  :yes:
Title: Re: The Tyrean Chapter
Post by: Stormkeeper on December 07, 2008, 06:55:32 am
     “What?!” Ping said, shocked.

     “The Belial is moving, sir! And we’re detecting movement in the fighter bay!” Taylor replied.

     “Scramble Combat Frames! All ships, target the Belial! Dust it!” he ordered.

     Slowly, the Broadsword turned, bringing its weapons to bear on the Belial. But the Reverend was quicker, emerald beams of death stabbing out, carving deep gouges in the hull of the Lucifer destroyer. The Black Wing fired, clouds of emerald darts splashing across the surface of the Belial, as the allied fleet turned all their guns on the Belial.

     “Sir! Confirmed, positive contact with the transports! Comm link is active! Medical monitors back online!”

     There was a burst of static, then a voice cut through it, saying, “Ping. Ping, do you read me?” It was the Captain.

     Ping mentally heaved a sigh of relief, then replied, “Affirmative, Captain. Loud and clear. We lost you for a moment there. All well?”

     “Mostly. What’s the situation? Why the bubble?”

     “You better get back here ASAP, sir. Quite a bit’s happened while you were away.”

      “Roger,” David replied, then disconnected. Ping turned his eyes to the Belial, as the Freia fired, the normally vibrant beam of its firestorm beam somewhat muted as its crew restrained the beam to prevent it from piercing the bubble shield. The Belial seemed to shudder, then a bright flash of light causing Ping to shield his eyes. When he lowered his hand, nothing but shattered wreckage remained of the Belial.

**********

      David stepped out of the shower, towelling his hair dry. He opened his cupboard, reaching for his normal uniform, then stopped. When he had returned to the Dagger, they had all seen the warblade in his hand. He shrugged, then reached for the far more elaborate uniform of a Paladin. The uniform was white with gold highlights, and included gloves and a cloak. David debated momentarily, then left the cloak and gloves in the room. He clipped the warblade to his belt, feeling uncomfortable with the once familiar weight of the warblade. He took a deep breath, then exited his room.

     As he walked to the briefing room, he noticed various stares from the people he passed along the way, most stealing furtive glances at the warblade at his waist, and the royal standard of the Paladins now adorning his shoulder tabs. He strode into the briefing room, coming to a stop beside Ping, who glanced at his uniform and nodded. “Looks better on you, captain,” he said.

     David smiled. “A bit tight around the shoulders though,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. Then his face turned serious. “What’s the situation?”
“We’ve come up with a plan to take care of the Shivan monster out there. We’ll brief both the GTVA pilots and our own simultaneously.” The screen flickered to life, displaying the Shivan fleet and the allied fleet.
 
     “Over the past couple of hours, Shivan ships have been arriving through that portal, and jumping out, presumably to other positions elsewhere in the system. The escort has also thinned somewhat, but is still a threat to our ships. Furthermore, energy readings indicated that monster has its beam charged and ready to fire in an instant. We still haven’t gathered intel on why the Shivans are arriving in such force but—“

     “I know,” David said, his face turning grim.

     Ping blinked. “You ... do ?”

     David nodded. “There was an Enskeleon on board the Belial. He said that they had been given control of the Shivans, and that they would use the Shivans to wipe out the forces of the GTVA, use its people to build a new army, then come back for revenge against us.”

     Ping shivered. While he had been fortunate enough to have been born after the end of the Enskeleon Conflict, he still heard stories about what the Enskeleons did to civilians they captured alive. It was the stuff of nightmares; implanting them with some sort of parasite that warped their skeletal structure into an Enskeleon one, then disintegrating the flesh of its host in a process that was both slow and painful.

     “I don’t know how many Enskeleons there are, or how many of their ships there are, but I don’t think they need their ships. Their own cunning and strategic ability coupled with the ferocity and power of the Shivans could be a very great force to be reckoned with. It goes without saying that we need to stop them here and now, or face the annihilation of the GTVA and Tyrea,” David said grimly, settling down in a chair in the briefing room.

     Ping nodded, slightly unnerved by the information. “Admiral Chekoff has come up with a plan for defeating that Shivan ship and its fleet. We thought the Belial was holding up the portal, but the portal is still steady, so I doubt that that is the case anymore. More ships are arriving by the hour, almost like clockwork. We estimate the next set of arrivals in about half an hour.”

     The screen of the console flickered to life, as Chekoff’s face filled the screen. “David! It is good to see you. But you wear a different uniform now...”

     David nodded. “It’s a long story. I’ll tell you afterward. For now, Ping said you have a plan?”

     Chekoff nodded. “Yes, I do. Since your Combat ...”

**********

     “... Frames can launch basically from anything large enough to hold them. Thus, the plan is to transfer all the Combat Frames, a total of 37, onto the Reverend. It might be a little of a squeeze, but they should be able to all fit. The fighters and bombers from the Reverend will be transferred to the Black Wing. The Black Wing has a total of eight launch catapults, four vertical and four horizontal. The vertical tubes are meant primarily for Combat Frames, but can be reconfigured to launch our own fighters. The horizontal catapults are meant for both retrieval and fighter launch. The horizontal ones can basically launch any metallic object out to space. Therefore, all GTVA fighters and bombers will be launched from the horizontal cats, while our own fighters will use the vertical cats. The Combat Frames will take flight from the Reverend itself.

     “Now, the bubble shield that is so helpfully keeping us alive also prevents the Tyrean vessels from entering W-space, but the Reverend and the GTVA vessels can still do so. Since they both theoretically speaking work on the same principles, I have no idea why this should be so. It just is.

      “At H-hour, the bubble shield will drop. We anticipate that the Yamato, which is that monster, by the way, after some big-ass Ancient Earth ship. The Dagger and friends will begin a frontal assault, minus. We anticipate the Yamato to try kapowing us the moment we drop the shield. So, the us Tyreans will concentrate all our big guns to try to stave off that BFG the bugger has.

     “The Reverend and friends, meanwhile, will make a pinpoint jump to the rear of that monster. She will then launch the Combat Frames, who will concentrate on destroying that sonuva*****.”

     The briefing officer, a rotund man with a easygoing attitude but hard and cold eyes, looked around at the canteen aboard the Reverend, which was packed beyond capacity, but the number of pilots and ship captains was way beyond anything the briefing rooms on either the Reverend or Dagger could hold. “You kids got that so far?”

      There was a general murmur of consent from the assembled people, which included two wings of Vasudan pilots on exchange duty. One of them raised a hand. The officer nodded to him. “Why can we not transfer all fighters to the Reverend instead?” he ( or she, David could and would never be able to tell) asked.
 
     David answered, “Simply because the concentration of firepower Combat Frames represent cannot be matched by few, if any, fighters. And because the Reverend will be jumping right into the heart of the Shivan fleet, the AA fire will be extremely intense. The mobility of the Combat Frames will allow them to survive better than any fighter, much less bomber.” The Vasudan pilot nodded, satisfied.

     “Any more questions?” the briefing officer asked, sweeping his eyes around the room.

     Another hand shot into the air, this time a Terran pilot. “Who’s in charge of what? No offense to present company, but I’d prefer if one of our own people were in charge of the fighter wings in field.”

     This time Chekoff spoke up. “When the operation begans, I will be in command of the capital ships, though Lieu ... Sorry, Captain Ping will maintain operational command of the Tyrean ships. Cap ... Sorry, Paladin David will personally be leading the Combat Frame squadron. Since Tyrean fighters generally deploy only in wings of four, and rarely utilize large scale fighter assault formations, Major Max Leonidas here will command the fighters in the field.”

     “Let me make one thing straight,” David cut in.”His word in the field is law. Am I clear?” The Tyrean pilots nodded their assent, while a few glanced over at the stone faced major seated at the front. “Good. We will now begin transferring the fighters and Frames. Squadron leaders, report to Major Leonidas. Stick leaders, to me, captains to Chekoff.” He paused, then said, “This fight isn’t just for the sake of the GTVA. If we lose this fight, we will lose both the GTVA and the Tyrean Republic. Good luck out there gentlemen, and Godspeed.”

********************************
Sorry for the really long wait. Didn't have much time until recently.
Title: Re: The Tyrean Chapter
Post by: Mobius on December 07, 2008, 06:57:50 am
I think you should edit the first post to add all the other parts. :)
Title: Re: The Tyrean Chapter
Post by: Stormkeeper on December 07, 2008, 07:08:22 am
Hmm. That's a thought that has, honestly, never crossed my mind.
Title: Re: The Tyrean Chapter
Post by: Mobius on December 07, 2008, 03:10:06 pm
It'd make sense, though...people wouldn't have to scroll down all pages to find the other parts of the fanfic... :)
Title: Re: The Tyrean Chapter
Post by: Colonol Dekker on December 07, 2008, 03:13:32 pm
Better late than never SK... Good stuff :yes:
Title: Re: The Tyrean Chapter
Post by: Stormkeeper on March 31, 2009, 05:28:38 am
     Outside the bubble field, the Shivan fleet, which now comprised of ten Cains, three Liliths, five Molochs, two Ravanas, a Demon and the Yamato, begin moving, as if sensing the impending attack. As the Reverend and its attendant ships entered subspace, the Yamato’s cannon began glowing, as ruby energy streamed down to gather in an ever-growing ball of energy. The ball pulsed, and the massive beam lashed out, smashing into the field, which flared a pale blue in response. The shield fought against the furious energy of the beam, and barely won. Moments later, the GTVA ships slipped into subspace, the Reverend carrying its deadly payload of Combat Frames.

     The weapons on the Tyrean fleet glowed momentarily, and lashed out, the bubble field collapsing moments before the devastating storm of energy bolts, projectiles, missiles and the fleet’s sole firestorm beam could reach it, instead reaching out to smash the Yamoto in the face.
The four prongs glowed again, but this time, the individual prongs lashed out, the quartet of ruby beams lashing out. “Incoming beams, sir!” Taylor called. “Fleet evade!” barked Ping. As the ships scattered, one scarlet beam barely missed the Leowlynn, coming close enough that the Lewolynn’s shield flashed silver. Another smashed into the front of the Lothar, rocking the ship hard. The last two slammed straight into the nose of the Freia. The frigate’s shields could not keep up with the punishment the beams poured into it, collapsing almost instantly. The beams drove deep furrows into the Freia’s front hull, and one caressed the firestorm generator. Because the fragile flux field generator pulled power directly from the fusion reactor, this meant that it was situated almost on top of the oversized reactor. As the generator exploded, the blast damaged the dampening fields on the Freia releasing the golden-white glow that was the heart of any Tyrean ship. The furious energy consumed the ship from the inside out, leaving nothing but a few particles of dust.

     “The ... Freia is down, sir. No escape pods, ” Taylor said, his voice shaking slightly.

     Ping cursed. “Order the fleet to get in close! If we’re close, that monster can’t use its beams with much accuracy!” He stood up and yelled “Vaulk! Call in any shots we can make!” spending some of his frustration on the air.

     “Yessir. Target Mark Eight, angle 63 degrees port, 21 degrees up; linear cannons, photon beams, missile tubes; target will vanish in thirty seconds.”

     “Target Mark Eight, linear cannons up angle 20 degrees, minimum penetration, charge photon beam, load VLS tubes one through six with Mole torpedoes, acquire firing solution. Fire when ready.”

“Target locked. Weapons ready. Firing solution ready. Firing.”

     The two rear photon beams, mounted on the rear ends of the bridge, glowed silver, then stabbed upwards into Mark Eight, one of the Ravana destroyers. The beams carved into the underside of the Shivan destroyer, as the linear cannons fired, sapphire beams preceding the cloud of emerald darts that splashed away more of the Ravana’s protection, leaving it open for the six Mole torpedoes, which slammed into the ravaged Ravana, burrowed in, and detonated, tearing the Ravana apart from the inside out.

     As the Ravana’s death throes began to consume it, Taylor called out, “Sir, Shivan fighters and bombers are launching, vectoring in on our fleet!”

     “Order the Black Wing to began launching the fighters!” Ping ordered.

     Onboard the Black Wing the GTVA pilots were strapping into their fighters, nervous at launching from an unknown ship, Captain Samuel among them. Though he knew they meant well, he still wasn’t very sure about this new method of launching. “So I just wait for the elevator to set my fighter up on it, then report that I’m launching?” he asked the technician.

     “Basically, yeah. When the elevator brings your fighter up, the catapult creates a magnetic field that will lock your fighter in place. Once you call in your launch, the catapult creates a second field along its walls with a reverse polarity and shoots you out,” he explained.

     “Isn’t that dangerous?”

     “Not really. It’s quite safe. Controls are released once your fighter has cleared the catapult, and you get accelerated to attack speed instantly. What’s not to like?”

     Samuel opened his mouth to reply, but a voice echoed throughout the cavernous hanger. “All fighters, you are go for launch. Repeat, you are go for launch. First launches commence in ten seconds.”

     “Alright, then. Good luck, good hunting,” the technician said, slapping Samuel on the back.

     Samuel nodded, as the cockpit slid shut. He felt a jerk as the elevator began to rise, lifting his fighter up. He could see the other three catapults lifting the rest of his wing up. His screen crackled to life just then, forming the face of Major Max. “Samuel, your orders have changed. Stick close to this ship ... the Black Wing. Forget about guarding the Freia.”

     “Why, sir? Isn’t she lightly armed for AA combat?”

     Max stared at him. “Guarding the Freia ... is no longer an issue,” he replied, then reached out and flicked close the channel.

     Samuel knew that either the Freia was destroyed, or it was badly damaged and out of the fight. Samuel guessed it would be the former. A sudden jerk announced the arrival of his fighter on the catapult. As his fighter floated forward, he heard the pressure door slid shut behind his fighter. There was a three light signal above him. As he watched, the first two red lights lit up one after another, then the third green light came to life. “Uh. Samuel, Perseus, launching?” he said, unsure. “That’ll do, Terran,” came the reply from the bridge. “Good luck, good hunting.” Before he could reply, the walls of the catapult flared and a massive force flung him into his command chair as the Perseus was pelted out of the catapult and into the chaos of the battle.

     Pulling his Perseus up, he doubled back and flew over the catapult. Now that he thought about it, the Black Wing was enormous, easily larger than any Orion or Hecate. ‘I guess its called a supercarrier for a reason,’ he mused. In the distance, he could see the last vestiges of the Freia’s reactor blast fading away. Guess I know what happend to the Freia too,” he added to himself.  “Alright, Templars, new orders. We’re to guard the Black Wing this here beauty we just launched from.”

     “What about the Freia, captain? Isn’t she like a glass cannon?” one of his pilots asked.

     “The Freia’s gone,” he replied, “ So we gotta make sure that no one else goes down. Focus on bombers and bombs first. Spilt up into your wings and watch each other’s backs out here!” Acknowledgements came in, and Samuel banked his fighter around, targeting a wing of Seraphim bombers. His own wing formed up on him, and they shot in, firing as they came. Their shots splashed on the Seraphims’ shields, but the bombers broke formation, as the Terran fighters came dangerously close to colliding with them. Samuel felt the Perseus shake as the numerous turrets on the Seraphims pelted his shields. Flipping his fighter back around, he tightened his finger on the trigger again. Green bolts of light rained down on the scattered Seraphims, as his wing continued to harass the Shivan bombers. One of the Shivans wavered suddenly, and Samuel saw that its shield was gone. He thumbed over to his Tornado missiles and waited patiently, continuing to fire his lasers at the stricken bomber. When the dull tone of a lock sounded, he fired, and eight missiles tore free of their racks, homing in on the doomed bomber. “That’s a kill,” his wingman confirmed.

     Swinging back to the other three bombers, he saw two more explode, the other two fighters of his wing storming past the debris victoriously. He turned to find the fourth, just in time to see it become the apex of a deadly light show, courtesy of the Black Wing’s point defenses.
Samuel wasted no time in scoring another kill, tearing through the shields of a Manticore with his cannons alone, saving his Tornadoes and Harpoons for bigger fish. A flash of light blinded him temporarily, and Samuel saw that one of the Ravanas had exploded, a Tyrean ship right underneath it. He saw a Tyrean fighter, all graceful and lethal, fly past on eerie black flames, the edges of the fighter glowing purple as it caught up to, then flew through a Basilisk. Again and again, the GTVA and Tyrean fighters tore into the ceaseless hordes of Shivan fighters, aided by the point defenses of their wards.

     As Samuel flew through the fireball of a recently deceased Scorpion, he suddenly found himself free of any targets in the immediate vicinity. Half his squadron was down, destroyed by the Shivans. They had accounted for their equal in number, and then some. One more Tyrean capital ship was burning, the bridge all but wrecked. The Shivans had lost one Ravana and most of the cruisers, leaving only two badly damaged Cain and one barely moving Lilith cruisers. It was almost funny, he mused, when he saw one Cain attack that Tyrean destroyer, the Dagger, and the Dagger hadn’t bothered to turn, just fired its port side cannons and blew the Cain to hell and back.

     “Incoming fighters, kids,” the major called over the general freak. Samuel looked, and saw a swarm of Shivan fighters, far larger than any other wave they had faced. To his amazement, he heard dark laughter, coming from one of the Tyrean fighters that was guarding the Black Wing as well. “What’s so funny?” he asked, not understanding what was so funny about the swarm of Shivans.

     The pilot replied, still laughing, “They drew their escorts off their ships to make that swarm. Without escorts, there’s no way they can track Combat Frames with their turrets. They’re doomed.”

     As if to punctuate the pilot’s words, behind the Shivan fleet, multiple subspace portals opened, disgorging the GTVA fleet, the Reverend leading the charge. As soon as it was half way out of subspace, Samuel could make out tiny figures launching from the Hecate destroyer. “Combat frames ...” he whispered.

*********

     David pushed Revenant out into the void of space, then opened up his throttle. The two wings on his back, split open, as the powerful thrusters built into his Frame launched the Revenant forward. Behind him came the other thirty-six frames. Revenant was a Combat Frame, but also wasn’t.

     Because David was a Paladin, he was entitled to have a custom machine, painted in any colour scheme he wanted, and he could customize it to be three times better than anything else. So he designed one, resulting in Revenant. Its full name was TACF-701XC, the ‘X’ denoting experimental. Unlike normal frames, Revenant had no rifle. Instead, lasers were built into his palm. They didn’t have the range of normal rifles, but they could charge up their shots or be used as daggers, making them more versatile than a standard rifle. He preferred using the ‘anti-ship sword’ instead. The sword was about the size of Revenant itself, with a normal slicing tip, but it also had a controlled fusion reaction on the edges. Any contact would disrupt the thin field containing the reaction, allowing the energy of a nuclear reaction to spill out. The Revenant also had waist mounted plasma guns, which wasn’t anything very special. The really special thing about Revenant was its thrusters; it used an experimental thavir particle thruster system, which used thavir particles directly for propulsion, instead of using the energy generated by the thavir reaction. This allowed for superior mobility, and rather pretty wings of light that could also slice anything apart.

     For these reasons, Frames like Revenant were one of a kind. They were often used as test beds for future frames, but because they were prototypes, they had no safety measures and their performance often exceeded the mass produced versions. They were collectively called Advanced Combat Frames, and were legends on par with the Paladins themselves. For good reason.

     David demonstrated this reason now. At the head of the charge, he whipped the massive sword of Revenant around and down, stabbing into the badly damaged Lilith. Without slowing down at all, he sliced the sword straight down the ship, essentially cleaving the cruiser in half. As it exploded behind him, he danced around the point defenses of the Demon, then flew into the hangar. In the hangar, he fired his palm lasers indiscriminately, as well as the standard pulse chainguns built into the heads of every Combat Frame. David tore down the pressure door between the hangar and a corridor, and stuffed a Combat Frame-sized grenade in the corridor, before exiting the hangar. As he did so, he made sure to slice the sword along the roof of the hangar. The Demon rocked from the blast, and continued to rock from numerous secondary explosions inside it. Its thrusters died, and it was speared by several purple beams, announcing the arrival of the other thirty six Combat Frames.
“Focus fire on the Yamato, now!” he ordered. Acknowledgements rolled in, as David angled the Revenant towards the gargantuan ship. He saw the Shivan fighters straining to pull back to their escorts, and the Tyrean and GTVA fighters that stopped them from doing so. He saw the Dagger right underneath an unfortunate Moloch corvette, pouring fire into the stricken vessel.

     Purple and green beams seared across space, scorching the metallic skin of the Yamato, as the GTVA fleet added their firepower to the Combat Frames dancing around the behemoth. The Yamato began to turn ponderously, and David saw red light beginning to gather. “Oh no you don’t,” he murmured to himself. Kicking Revenant across the void of space, he twirled the Combat Frame around, bringing the sword across. The sword, aided by his speed and momentum, sliced cleanly through one of the four prongs of the Yamato, and the prong exploded in a blaze of ruby light, the energy that it had been gathering whipping across the hull of the Yamato.

     Explosions pockmarked the hull of the Yamato as missiles exploded against it. Beams seared the armour, turning the skin to slag metal. David repeated his manoeuvre, destroying another of the prongs. But despite the amount of firepower they poured into the Yamato, it just kept moving. “Get in!” he ordered. “What?” came a pilot’s reply. “You have to get your Frames in there! That hull is too thick for us to blow up externally.” Pushing his throttle down, David flipped Revenant around and dropped down to the Yamato’s underside, searching for an opening. “We don’t have much time! The Yamato is getting ready to attack the Reverend! There!” Ahead, David saw Shivan fighters exiting from a gap, no doubt the entrance to the hangar.

     Guiding Revenant in, and he noticed several more Frames on his tail. Ahead, he saw a hangar door, blocking their way. Touching the animus device, he rammed the pressurised door aside with a blast of invisible force. As the force of Frames spilled in, he found himself in a hangar ... and hangar was an understatement. An entire city could’ve fit in the space with plenty of room to spare. “What do we do now, sir?”
“Wreck the whole place,” he said. Demonstrating, he raised his hand, and fired, the silver blasts tearing holes in the hangar floor. Behind, him the other Frames too began firing around randomly. Then he saw a new contact enter the hangar; a Poseidon-class Frame. “You kids betta be ready to run,” came a lazy voice. The Poseidon swung the massive plasma positron cannon, pointing it up into the roof of the hangar. The barrel glowed, then fired, the beam parting the roof of the cavern like a hot knife through butter. He fired again and again, until the energy capacitator ejected from the cannon.

     As the final beam faded away, the Yamato heaved, causing the Combat Frames stumbled, as the Shivan ship shuddered again. “Sir, I suggest we run,” came the Poseidon pilot. “Suggestion approved,” he replied. The eight frames turned tailed and blasted out of the Yamato, exiting the ship the same way they came. As they pulled up into the space around it, they saw the Yamato heave again, then it seemed to shiver. For a moment it was still, then it exploded, a star of light bursting to life at its heart. As quickly as it was born, the light died away, as the ship imploded on itself.

     “We did it! We did it!” crowed a voice over the general frequency. Soon the channels were filled with the cheers of the GTVA and Tyrean forces.  David let them cheer; he felt strangely drained. He put it down to years of not piloting Revenant. He patted the command chair of his Frame companionably; he felt it respond gently.

     Without warning, subspace portals opened behind the Tyrean fleet, and the Warspite and the Bulwark slid into real-space. Both were badly damaged; the Warspite had a ugly gash down the side. “Sirs! We have a situation!” Dracip reported urgently.

     ‘It never rains but it pours,’ David thought to himself.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well. Um. This is an awefully late one. Sorry. I got stuck trying to figure out the death of the Yamato, and the battle as a whole.

Hnnh. Appears I forgot to close a tag somewhere along the way.
Title: Re: The Tyrean Chapter
Post by: Retsof on March 31, 2009, 08:12:13 pm
Wait or no wait, that was still amasing.  :yes:
Title: Re: The Tyrean Chapter
Post by: Stormkeeper on April 02, 2009, 09:38:58 pm
In the privacy of the dark room, the council met again. “Well?” said a voice. “Everything goes as planned”, said a second. “The Tyreans have agreed to alliance, and we can use the footage from the Reverend to study their tactics and weapons and develop ways and means to fight them. The rest nodded their approval.
     “Good, good, “a third voice said. “This way we can fight them effectively, if it comes to that. Where are they now?”

     “I understand that they’re off investigating the source of Shivans. They should be back at Enif in a week,” the second replied.

     “Even better. Combat footage of them against the Shivans. I do think we got the better end of the stick,” spoke up a fourth.

     “We shall see ...” the third voice said. “Well, if there is nothing else ...?”

     “Ah,” the first voice spoke up. “There is something ...”

     “Well, what is it?” said a third voice.

     “I require your undying loyalty,” said the first. A trio of ruby eyes burned through his face, as glowing red claws sprung up through his knuckles, the flesh peeling away like a skin.

**********

12 September 2372, Epsilon Pegasi
Former Shivan Staging Area

     “You’re telling me, Dracip,” David said, “That the GTVA has had us declared invaders? And that they’re preparing for an offensive through the portal to Tyrean homespace?”

     “Yes, sir,” Dracip replied. “They also declared the Reverend and its fleet as rebels, as conspirators with the invaders, and included the Warspite as well.”

     David sighed in exasperation and turned to look at Chekoff.  “What is going on with your people, Chekoff?”

     Chekoff shook his head. “I do not know.  I cannot understand this sudden change in stance.”

     David turned back to Dracip. “Anything else?”

     “Er. Yes sir. Enif Station was destroyed as well as the Avarice, by the Hammer of Light rebels, which the GTVA has welcomed with open arms as being the first to realise the threat of the ah, invaders. We managed to evacuate as many people as possible before it was destroyed but ...”

     “So this is the true face of the GTVA,” David muttered to himself. “What’re gonna do, Chekoff? I’m sure if you return now, along with some prisoners, intel or even captured tech, they’ll welcome you with open arms as well.”

     “Niet. I do not turn my back on my friends so easily. They did not help to stem the tide of Shivans. You did. My friend, I shall help you, though I cannot speak for the rest of the fleet,” Chekoff replied.

     “Thanks, mate,” David said.

     “No problem, David. Now if you will excuse me, I shall address the fleet,” he said, standing up.

     David nodded, as Chekoff and the Warspite’s captain left the room.

     Alone, David turned his attention back to Chekoff. “The wreckage of the Avarice?”

     “Reactor blast sir. But we thermite bombed what was left. The Lothar got away. She indicated that she was pulling back to the portal,” Dracip replied. As was standard procedure, all Tyrean vessels destroyed in combat in hostile territory were to be vaporized in order to prevent their tech from reaching unfriendly hands.

     David nodded. “Paladin Alek?”

     Dracip shook his head. “Said something ‘bout going deep cover. Don’t know where he’s gonna hide  the Falcon but ... Ensign Valerie is on board though.”

     David nodded again. “Send Valerie up to my quarters. You, get some rest. We’ll fall back to the portal once Chekoff has sorted out his fleet.”

     Dracip hesitated. “Do you trust him, sir?”

      “I do. But I can’t say the same for the rest of his fleet. If they aren’t at the very least they’ll be too close enough for us to vap them if they try something.”

      “Yes sir. Uh ... There was one other thing sir.”

      “Yes, what is it?”

      “Just before we pulled away from Enif, we ... or at least, me and the Lothar’s captain ... received a point one priority coded transmission. It’s encrypted using the royal cipher sir.”

      David froze. “What did you say?”

     “We received a point one priority coded transmission, encrypted using the royal cipher. I have it here.” Dracip produced a datadisk and handed it over to David.

      David nodded his thanks wordlessly and indicated that he could go. As soon as the door slid shut, he held up the datadisk and regarded it suspiciously. The royal cipher was used by the Toa, the Paladins, and to a lesser extent, the Specialists. Since the disk in his hand was supposedly ciphered that way, it meant it either contained new orders, or was a transmission from a fellow Paladin. Either way, he needed the cipher machine in his quarters.

     Moments later, David sat at his desk, and inserted the datadisk. The projector whirred and its light blinked, then it flickered to life, resolving into the image of Paladin Evans. “Paladin David. The Toa extends his greetings. He has dispatched me to this sector to construct a base, to provide logistical support, and in the case of conflict, serve as a staging point as well as to defend to portal to Tyrean homespace. Judging from the conflict we have observed, I doubt the situation is in our favour. I recommend you return to the portal for repairs. I also expect the GTVA to attack soon. Though the station’s defenses are operational, and its shield generator is working, more ships would be greatly appreciated. I sent a request for reinforcements, but it will take a while to reach our position. Your fleet and your allies are the closest allied support. I would like you to assist us, but it is your choice to make.” The image bowed. “Strength and honour.”

      As the message terminated, the door slid open, revealing Ensign Valerie. “You called, captain?”

      “Yes, come in. We have much to discuss, you and I ...”

*********

13 September 2372, En route to Tyrean Jump Node
Captain’s Log
   
     It seems the GTVA has made its move. It has declared us invaders, and Chekoff and his fleet traitors. Surprisingly not a single one of his captains returned to the GTVA. Whether they share Chekoff’s sentiment is debatable, but at least I’ll have back up at the portal. They all know what they’re getting into though, so they know there’s no turning back.

     Evans said there’s a station at the Jump Node. How they constructed it without anyone noticing is beyond me, especially since Chekoff said the GTVA had stationed a ship there to send our reinforcements along. I suspect they brought a stealth ship along. But it won’t work now, not with the station up and running. He didn’t say what class he had built, or what ships were present, but he undoubtedly needs help, especially with the report Valerie gave me.

     It seems the HoL was fake all along; every single one of the ‘rebels’ served during Operation Templar, and the news that they were welcomed with open arms adds more credence to this. I suspect this is, however, not the end of the HoL. Something about this whole thing stinks; the sudden change in GTVA stance, the welcoming back of the rebels ... Alek is in deep cover, which means he suspects the same thing. Alek is as dependable and skilled a person as I’ve ever know in my long years of life ... and I’ve lived for a very long time.

     The presence of the Enskeleon also disturbs me. Where there is one, there is always more. Though their method of warfare does not seem to have changed; striking exclusively at military targets and leaving the civilians unharmed.

     And we used to think they were waging a clean war. Far from it. We Tyreans were such fools.

---------------------------------------------------
Title: Re: The Tyrean Chapter
Post by: Stormkeeper on July 03, 2009, 02:07:55 am
     A thin, red beam, barely visible in the void of space linked the two ships for a split second. Then, a bright blue beam replaced it, and a silvery blur sped down the beam, slamming into the stricken Leviathan cruiser, the cruiser’s armour buckled instantly, shattering under the sheer impact of the projectile. Moments later, a second targeting beam locked onto the Leviathan, and the process was repeated. The second projectile, however, punched right through the upper section of the cruiser, leaving a mangled hole of metal in its wake.

     The survivors of the GTVA fleet broke soon after, the ships escaping into subspace as fast as they could, leaving behind the shattered remains of two cruisers and a corvette. The entire altercation had lasted barely ten minutes, the GTVA crews apparently unprepared for the sheer range and power of the Tyrean ships. From the control bridge of the newly constructed station, Daniel, Evans and Chekoff had watched the entire skirmish.

      “Was that a railgun?” Daniel said first, breaking the silence.

     “Yeah. They fixed the issues for space use, but its not as impressive out here though.” Evans replied.

     “Why?” Chekoff asked.

     Evans glanced at him momentarily, then replied, “In atmosphere, whenever a railgun fires, you know it. There’s a thunderclap whenever a railgun fires in atmosphere; out here there’s zilch.”

     “Ah. Impressive,” he replied, watching the Sirona as it pulled back closer to the station. Chekoff fidgeted slightly, then turned to leave, saying, “I’m going to see to my fleet. They may be getting nervous feet.”

     As soon as the door slid shut on his retreating form, Evans said, “I don’t trust him.”

     “I do,” David replied.

     “He might be just trying to learn as much about us as we can, before returning to the GTVA with that information.” Evans turned to David, who continued gazing out the glasscrete.

     David said nothing, letting his silence speak for him.

     “Why? Just because he fought beside you? You know as well as I do that the situation now is different. Now that the GTVA’s survival is not at stake, he has no reason to continue fighting alongside him. In fact, if he turned on us during the heat of battle, killing both of us, it’d leave our forces leaderless and easy prey since his fleet is mixed amongst our own. I ask again, why do you trust him so?”

     David finally looked at Evans. “I just do, Evans. In over a century of warfare, I have learnt to trust my instincts, as you too should. And my instincts tell me he is a reliable person. I cannot say the same for the rest of his people, but should they turn, I believe that Chekoff will forgive us for destroying the ship or ships in question.”

     Evans glared at David for a while, then turned and stalked out of the door. At the doorway, he paused and said, “I do not care, David. I will continue to watch him, and should he turn, be assured I will be there with the executioner’s blade in hand.”

**********

     The night was young on Delta Serpentis. Made the capital of the GTA after the destruction of the Lucifer cut off Sol, the planet had a sizeable military presence, the space around the planet bristling with orbital defence platforms, and home to the 2nd Fleet, the longest serving fleet in existence now that contact with the 1st had been lost. Early warning systems and Mjolnir RBCs guarded the subspace nodes, and constant sweeps by fighters and cruisers ensured no surprises lingered in the blind spots of the sensors. The security of the capital was invincible. Or so the GTA thought.

     Close to the orbit of Delta Serpentis, the GTI Brokenback kept watch over the traffic of cargo haulers, freighters and defense ships that navigated the spaceways around the planet. Thirteen minutes before the clock hit midnight, multiple sapphire flashes ripped through the darkness of space, warning lights going off across the board on the Brokenback. Half a dozen ships materialized from within the blue flashes, each one black with blood red highlights. Five were virtually identical, wide ends tapering into a razor sharp tip, and short stubby wings ending in bulbous pods. The last was as large as a Demon, but that was where all similarities ended. Two large, forward swept wings bracketed a cylindrical center, which extended beyond the wings and had four extrusions that swept back over the ship, making it much like a drill. Pulses of red light ran erratically over its surface, dancing and arcing forth freely over the hull. As the small fleet approached, the escorts in the lead, the Brokenback sent out a call for help, which was quickly answered by a pair of Orion destroyers, the GTDs Minnow and Novus. Making mini jumps, both ships slid out of subspace in the path of the hostile ships, beams lashing out within seconds to strike down the invaders.

      Moments before the beams could reach the lead escort, it shimmered and was suddenly gone, the beams passing harmlessly through where it had been. Before the captains of either Orion could fully understand what happened, the escort reappeared above them, and struck. A black beam tore out from the tip of the escort, punching down and through the Minnow, leaving a massive wound in the center of the destroyer. Two thinner, but no less destructive, beam of ebony energy played across the top hull of the Orion, devastating its guns, and slicing open the bridge to the dark voids of space. The Novus’ beams glowed green,  as it prepared to fire at the escort and save the Minnow, but two more escorts shimmered and reappeared on either side of it. Again, the unnatural beams punched right through the destroyer, but when it would seem like the escorts would hit each other, the beams curved back, stabbing through the Novus again and again.

     As the two destroyers began their throes of death, the last two escorts shimmered, and reappeared near the Brokenback. The skin of the ships seemed to convulse and twist, and holes appeared on the sides of the escorts. Trailing silver lines, missiles rained down on the helpless station, covering their victim in silvery explosions, as the other escorts began to destroy the civilian ships in orbit, the freighters and cargo ships much too unwieldy to escape the escorts. The sixth and largest of the fleet slipped silently pass the massacre, turning to bring one of its wings to bear as it took position over Delta Serpentis. The wing opened, extending up and down as its skin convulsed and twisted, hundreds of black holes appearing on the surface of the wing, as the defense fleet raced to close with the attackers, their intent clear now.
   
     But it was too late. Before their eyes, silver and black beams struck down at Delta Serpentis, the immense energy unleashed by the causing the nearest Terran ships to be blinded by the backwash. Volley after volley of the devastating beams smashed down on the planet, cracking its surface and causing lava to spill forth. The sky turned red as it began to burn, the oxygen set on fire by the sheer temperature of the beams. The seas were turned to steam at the kiss of a beam, the water vaporized instantly. As Delta Serpentis died, flashes of sapphire rippled through the space around it; the invaders were gone.

----------------------------------
Told ya I was in the mood to blow up a planet.
Title: Re: The Tyrean Chapter
Post by: FreeSpaceFreak on July 03, 2009, 05:12:43 am
Hey, you're still alive :)
Title: Re: The Tyrean Chapter
Post by: Colonol Dekker on July 07, 2009, 04:27:01 pm
Shame Delta Serpentis isn't :(
Title: Re: The Tyrean Chapter
Post by: Retsof on July 12, 2009, 11:57:08 pm
Sooo.  Either the Shivans have some new toys or this is those Enskelon guys.