Exule
2008-07-06 |  | Viral Rising |  |
Admiral Morgan was sitting in his command chair aboard the large Hercules class juggernaut that was serving as his flagship. Dubbed the Dark Spark, the ship was aptly designed for use as a command vessel. The Dark Spark sported an impressive array of missile and mass driver weaponry. In addition to its deadly assortment of weapons, the Dark Spark was also extremely well shielded and many layers of armor reinforced its hull.
Morgan was anxious for the opportunity to get back at the enemy that had defeated his fleet. His anxiety was fueled by the fact that they were on the last jump that they would have to make before they entered the LN23 system. A short distance away and floating alongside the Dark Spark was the other juggernaut, commanded by Morgan's right hand man, Lieutenant Mike Durgan. Mike was responsible for the command of half the fleet, while Morgan managed the other half.
"My forces are ready to make the last jump Admiral," Mike reported.
"Excellent," replied Morgan, "have your ships start their jumps. I will follow."
The battle fleet made the last jump and came out near the relative location of the earlier battle.
"I want a scanner sweep of the system," ordered the admiral.
"Sir, the Viator scouts report that the five planets in this system all show abnormal atmospheric conditions that do not match anything from our databases. They also show the presence of unidentified ships that do no match anything from the databases," one of the crewman reported.
"Those must be them. Battle stations! Lets show them what we've got boys!"
The Terran battle fleet moved to engage the Viral forces that were orbiting the nearest world. |
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Exule
99+ day(s) ago | hmm, I should just make one forum thread for all my story posts and post there. |
LadyHope
99+ day(s) ago | ohhhhh interesting material!!! *.* |
Eternaldeath
99+ day(s) ago | things are hotting up! |
Jeremyan
99+ day(s) ago | I`m not an admiral yet! |
Exule
99+ day(s) ago | Victor saw the advancing fleet through the eyes of his commanders in System LN23. As he had anticipated, the Terrans had returned in greater force than before.
"No matter," he thought, "I am done with that system for the time being."
He turned his main attention back to preparing his primary fleet for the coming ambush. Victor had set up a trap for the Marauders to walk into.
Back in System LN23, The Terran battle group was making progress against the line of Borrelly destroyers that had formed around a Chiron star base. Behind the line of Borrellies sat a group of Thor destroyers that served as the long-range artillery vessels for the rest of the Viral fleet. Having captured these and other Terran ships in the last battle, the Virals had begun reverse engineering them and producing duplications of the Terran ship design. |
Exule
99+ day(s) ago | As the Terrans had come into range of the far-reaching, reverse engineered Thor destroyers, the Viral ships opened up with an onslaught of missile volleys. The bombardment of missiles managed to put a Terran Garuda class destroyer out of commission as they breached the shields and detonated on impact with the ship's engines. Without its propulsion system, the destroyer simply floated around. The Terran Thors responded with their own volleys in return, wiping out a considerable amount of Borrellies. Seconds later the distance between the fleets was closed by smaller ships. Terran Sentouki frigates and Viral Borrellies mingled, dancing to the symphony of destruction that was playing out around them as capital ships exchanged devastating blows. The detonation of an infected Apollo corvette's ammo reserves tore apart the hull of the vessel as the relentless energy weapons aboard a pair of Terran Ryu Jin fighters found their mark. On the battle raged, claiming lives on either side of the firefight. |
Exule
99+ day(s) ago | A great distance away from the embattled system of LN23, calm resided in the vast expanse of space around the beautiful world of Telsia. The surface of Telsia resembled a utopian paradise. Lurking in the shadows of the Telsian moon was the dreadful Marauder fleet.
Due to the fact that most Marauder ships have to recharge their weapon generators during space travel, they have very few ships designed for defensive roles. Such technology is reflective of their nomadic and militant nature. The Marauders live off the plunder of Terran colonies on the outer rim of Terran space.
Being the pillagers that they are, this group of Marauders could not resist the tempting Telsian colony. They prepared to commence their raid on the Terran colony. The Marauders formed their fleet into an attack formation. |
Exule
99+ day(s) ago | As they descended in a blazing frenzy through the atmosphere of Telsia they encountered no resistance. No planetary defense systems greeted their warships, no raid sirens or scrambling of fighters evident. The mystified Marauders scanned the planet for life. Nothing. Not a single living thing, Terran or otherwise inhabited the empty cities. The homes and offices were all empty. The Marauders landed some of their smaller vessels and got out with confused expressions on their alien faces. Striding up to one house, they blasted down the door with their heavy shock rifles and scoured the structure for someone, anyone. They found no one. It was as if the entire planet had packed up and left. Going from door to door they checked every home, taking valuables as they went.
Still confused, the Marauders returned to their ships and sent a message to the commanding officer aboard an orbiting Pyth class battleship.
"Empty?"
"Yes Commander Kano, empty."
"This is very strange, we're sending teams down to plunder whatever loot we can find in the cities. I want you to return to your wing."
"Right away, commander." |
Exule
99+ day(s) ago | The Marauder commander dispatched an investigation team into the cities as well. Hours later, they came back with a Terran girl. The girl looked to be barely seventeen years old, with short blonde hair and dazzling green eyes. As the Marauder warriors brought the girl into the command chamber, Commander Kano turned to face them. A towering creature with scars all over, it was apparent that this Marauder had seen his share of action during his early warrior years.
"Tell me child, where are the rest of your kin?"
The girl kept silent.
"You had best speak, young one, lest I lose my temper."
"They're dead! All of them! Is that what you wanted?" The girl began to break down into tears.
The Marauder remained unmoved.
"What happened here and how are you still alive?"
Suddenly the girl stopped crying. She formed a dark smile and her green eyes pulsed with a sudden brightness.
"That doesn't matter. Soon He will be here. He is close, I can feel his presence now."
The Marauder stared at the girl and she responded with her own piercing glare, sending chills down his spine.
"What was she? She was clearly not an ordinary Terran female," he thought to himself.
Just then, an explosion rocked the Marauder battleship. They were under attack. |
Exule
99+ day(s) ago | Victor's Borrellies and reverse engineered war ships swarmed down upon the orbiting Marauder vessel. With most of the Marauder fleet trapped on the surface, this would be a fast battle. The Pyth battleship turned itself around and presented its starboard side to the enemy so it could unleash a full broadside on the assailing Viral vessels. The ships still on the Telsian surface scrambled to get back to space and engage the attackers.
Victor gazed on as his ships wrought their devastation upon the Marauder forces. The trap had been immensely successful. The Marauders had no way of winning this battle with more than half of their war ships grounded. Something bothered Victor though. He felt a presence aboard the Marauder battleship. The presence was similar to that of his own Viral underlings, yet he did not share a consciousness with whatever was on that war ship. Could this be? The prospect of a new strain of Virus 106 was both exciting and frightening to Victor. |
Exule
99+ day(s) ago | The girl reverted back to her previous state, nearly falling over from disorientation but for the hold of her captors. The warlord commanded his grunts to take the girl to a holding cell and then returned his attention to the battle. Realizing that his fleet was doomed if they stayed, Kano ordered a retreat. The enemy ships were swarming all over the hull of the vessel. Already there was a breach in one of the hangar bays. The commander ordered his surviving ships in orbit to jump out of the system. He then proceeded to leave the command chamber and head toward the breach.
All the surviving vessels jumped to nearby systems. Following suit, the Pyth battleship jumped to a randomly chosen system. By some strange twist of fate, they ended up arriving at System LN23, a short distance from the heated battle that was taking place between the Terrans and Virals. The ravaged battleship floated in space for a few minutes before its propulsion system failed. |
Exule
99+ day(s) ago | Though they had escaped the destruction above Telsia, the crew of the battleship continued a bloody struggle in the corridors of the war ship. Flechette guns sprayed high velocity shards into one group of Virals. Three fell to the devastating projectiles, but still the attackers pressed forward. Soon the Marauders were engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the Viral boarding troops. The Marauder leader joined the fray, stabbing a Viral in the neck with his wrist blade. Blood spurted forth and into the eyes and wounds of a nearby comrade. The unfortunate Marauder dropped to the floor screaming in pain as the virus devoured his cells. His allies realized what had happened and put him out of his misery before the virus could completely take hold. The fight for the ship carried on for what seemed like ages to the defenders. |
Exule
99+ day(s) ago | Admiral Morgan was busy mopping up the remaining Viral forces. The Dark Spark had managed to punch a hole in the enemy line. After that it was all over. The Dark Spark divided the line of Borrellies like a divine hand parting a sea. The array of batteries on the juggernaut opened up with their payloads and wiped out the remaining enemy ships on either side of the gargantuan vessel. At the same time, the Chiron star base that was serving as the anvil of the Viral fleet succumbed to the overwhelming barrage of plasma cannons from a wing of Garuda destroyers. |
Exule
99+ day(s) ago | As soon as the Marauder battleship dropped into the system, the Terran scanners immediately detected it.
"Admiral, we've detected the arrival of a Pyth class Marauder battleship several clicks away."
Morgan's attention was instantly drawn away from the quickly deteriorating battle.
"What? How many others?"
"No other ships, we're only detecting the one battleship," replied the crewman. Then he quickly added, "and it appears to have sustained extensive damage."
The admiral thought for a moment. Marauders never send their battleships out without smaller support vessels. Usually a Pyth class battleship served as the command vessel for a much larger Marauder fleet.
"Patch me in to Lieutenant Durgan's ship."
The crewman set up a transmission between the two capital ships.
"Hello, sir, you wanted to speak with me?"
"Yes, Mike. I have a task for you. A battered Marauder battleship just arrived in system moments ago, I want you to investigate. Take your half of the fleet and approach the vessel. I want to know what they are doing here and where the rest of their ships are. I shall finish off the remaining Virals here with my ships."
"Affirmative, I'll report back soon with my findings." |
Exule
99+ day(s) ago | The Marauder warlord was slumped against the walls of the ship's corridors. Blood from his chest wound saturated the cloth he held against the gash. The weary Marauder did not have long for this world. Around him lay the bodies of his fallen comrades. It was a gruesome struggle and, although the Marauder defenders had won, it was a hollow victory. The surviving Marauders crawled their way about the floor of the ship, their mutilated forms attesting to the messy fight that took place. The Marauders were a proud race of warriors. The idea of being crippled was horrifying to a Marauder warrior. Without the ability to fight, they lost their sense of meaning and any attachment to the life that they may have once had. Kano took pity on his kinsman when one crawled to him asking for an honorable end. Taking a blade from the cold, dead grasp of a nearby body, he plunged it into his friend's chest. With his dying breath, the commander's fellow warrior thanked him and lay down for the last time. |
Exule
99+ day(s) ago | Suddenly, a hissings sound could be heard in the corridor and soon a bright light accompanied by sparks could be seen emanating from the wall. Kano recognized it as a cutting torch used by boarding parties. The sparks traced a square on the wall and then disappeared along with the hissing noise. Seconds later, the square was knocked inward and a group of Terran space marines surged into the area. They stopped and looked up and down the halls of the corridor. Before them lay the result of the earlier carnage. One of the marines noticed the still living Marauder commander among the pile of dead Virals and Marauders.
"Over there, we have a live one! Medic!"
A Terran medic came up and knelt beside the mortally wounded Marauder. A dozen marines went off to secure the rest of the ship while the remaining ones stood guard at opposite ends of the corridor. |
Exule
99+ day(s) ago | After looking over Kano's wounds, the medic stood up with a grim look on her face.
"There's nothing I can do for him, he's lost too much blood already and he's going into shock. The wound itself is too serious to treat here and we'll lose him before we can get him back to the med-ship."
"Alright, thanks anyway," said the squad leader.
He knelt down next to the dying Kano and asked, "What happened to your fleet? Are there any survivors?"
Kano looked up at the marine through his blurring vision and said, "Ambushed. Many strange aliens. Half. my fleet. trapped on planet surface."
"Did anyone make it out alive?"
"Yes. Some ships."
"What about survivors aboard this ship?"
"The strange girl. She. she is in the holding cell. Please. do me. one favor. Let me die with my blade. I can't see where it is anymore. Already I am starting to feel the cold embrace of death."
The marine picked out a blade from among the gory mess that was the floor and handed it to the Marauder.
"Thank you, friend."
Kano's blurry vision began to fade into darkness as he passed on to the paradise that awaited all brave Marauders at the end of a glorious life of courage in battle.
The marine stood up and spoke into the comm-link on his wrist.
"Daniels, find the ship's holding cells, there should be a survivor in one of them."
"Right, we're on it sir." |
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