Soldiers Of Misfortune: Into The Labyrinth Of Oppression

DoomOtter · Nov 2, 2010

"commander, I have the scans you requested. The cruisers have no registration, or names, and we hacked into the Blossoms computer system, It has been renamed the Den and is carrying nearly two hundred thousand passengers and over five thousand landing craft."

Sikaris bit his lower lip, that was surprising news whoever controlled the Blossom was using the ship as a mass troop transport. This wasn't good, if neither the Blossom or the cruisers had IFF's or registrations that meant they were either pirates or mercenaries. Sikaris guessed the cruisers were pirates while the Blossom was controlled by mercenaries. He didn't think that any pirate organization could take control of a ship like that, let alone have that many troops on it' pirates didn't get along with anyone not even other pirates, they usually formed small individual gangs, that used a single ship, what had been done to the blossom had filthy rich corporation written all over it. but still hwat were these ships doing here hiding? why would there be a mass troop transport in this area? Sikaris could only think of one thing, they were reinforcements to whoever the Funebrarans were fighting down there. He knew they weren't allies or else Arkoss would have told him.

The ships started to move away from the moon and towards the planet

" follow them, keep close two thousand meters" Sikaris ordered

"sir they will reach the atmosphere in fifteen minutes, the cruisers are taking an orbital trajectory, the carrier is preparing to go atmo"

"hail them" sikaris said "but keep all stealth systems engaged"

The ships didn't respond. Sikaris was sure that these were not friendlies.

"call everyone to battlestations, arm the main cannon, raise both shields and increase speed and set a course to intercept the nearest cruiser." Sikaris was worried, these cruisers had twice the armor and twice the armament of the revenant, and he didn't know if the Blossom had any fighter craft onboard, if she did the were all screwed, bad.

The Revenant quickly caught up with a cruiser which was lagging behind the others."fire the main cannon, target their engines, lets see if we can take it out in one hit." The ship slowed down drasticcaly as the cannon fired a blast of magnetic energy, that quickly traversed the distance between the two ships and ripped the cruisers back half into pieces. a cheer went through the bridge as the command crew witnessed the savage strike. The cruisers core, which was heavily damaged by the shot soon went critical and blew the rest of the cruiser to pieces.

"one down five to go, we may be able to get three maybe four shots before they spot our ship, then we will have maybe two before they visually target us." Sikaris said, He was the only one that didn't cheer at the oblideration of their enemy, he was to busy thinking of what to do with the rest. This was not going to be easy

Arsenal XA4 · Nov 3, 2010

The client's in a bit of an open air cafe, the sort of places I used to see in pictures of 21ST Century European cities.

Arkoss motioned to the spot on the other side of the table, looking up from the menu to greet the mercenary leader. This was the first time he'd seen him in person.
"Greetings again...Hadrian, was it?"

"Hayden." I reply, taking a seat. Clark sits next to me, maintaining a poker face the likes of which a certain 21ST century musician would have approved of. "And I suppose I can't keep calling you 'Client' forever, now can I?"

"Arkoss Schvennson will do fine." He replied. One of the waiters, a darker skinned varanon, came up to the table. His scales seem almost stubbly, yet even, and his streamlined lithe form, and hints of retractable webbing near his hands seemed to suggest he was a natural swimmer.

"Just water will be fine sure...actually-" said Arkoss, before glancing off to another table. A particular dish, some sort of strange star-shaped cracker on an opposite table, most likely tourists given their constant outbursts of surprise at everything, seemed to catch his attention. The voivod simply pointed at it, before the waiter turned to Hayden.

"Clark, what do you recommend?" I ask my 'guide.' The Green Beret gives me a brief look.
"Try the local rum. It'll make you grow an extra pair of testicles and make hair grow on the hair already on your chest." he replies. I've heard the same of the Soviet vodka Medvedev and Uralia drink.

The varanon, slightly taken aback, scribbled it down with his pointy fingers unto a datapad. After he disappeared of into the kitchen, Arkoss put down the menu and looked Hayden right in the eyes.

"You know you didn't need to help us on Columbia 4, Hayden. I've seen my kind pull through situations far worse than what we were deployed for there."

He appreciated what Hayden had done, but he had yet to really understand his rationale and reasoning for helping the 13th.

"Well, let's just say I'm pretty much allowed to do as I please, within reason and so long as my handlers can conduct damage control." I reply to Arkoss as I lean back in my seat, kicking my feet up onto a vacant chair.

"Tell me, what do you know about the Cold War?"

"Your kind, under the banners of red and blue, fought for two inherently opposed systems of belief. Changed the power-structures of a post-war world, never fired a single bullet in public, but over a thousand in the fog."

"Let me tell you something, friend." I say, Clark lighting up a cigarette. "When our respective nations reached out to the stars we took that war with us."
"And it's red, white, and blue." I correct.

"I understand. Many years ago, I was an unknowing participant."

The memories of his mercenary past were not pleasant ones. He would often wonder about the impact he had on the many nations, corporations and rebel groups behind whose flags he fought or against which he was sent.

"You, the Montangards, the Kurds, the Taiwanese, and the Northern Alliance have a lot in common, then." I reply as Clark feigns interest in a passing... bird thing.
"That's why SOCOM decided to let the PMCs fight America's battles."

"Perhaps. The under-used comparison to the barbarian tribes of Rome's outskirts is a more appropriate analogy. We're no freedom fighters looking for independence, just a lost collection of tribes forced to survive."

The waiter returned, setting a variety of beverage and food upon the table. Arkoss thanked him, eyes trailing to him and the rest of the cafe before turning back to Hayden.

"Yet, we both know there are more things at stake currently than a properly fitting analogy for my kind."

Reaching into one of his pockets, he procured a small datapad, pressing a few buttons, before sliding it across the table to Hayden.

Displaying across its screen was footage from two days ago. The simple three-dimensional representations Solstice ships breaking off from the main group could be seen, the same recording Arkoss was shown during his briefing with Krozill and Salko before the 13th landed on Membros.

"Looks like SOMEONE wants to take and hold this place." I muse. "Clark?"

"I'm still trying to find out whose funnelling arms and equipment to the Jannos. This just makes it harder for me."

"I know what you might be thinking, but Abramelin is a poor candidate. He doesn't have much to gain from supplying anti-T.S.C. forces while standing right next to the Joint Command Group."

"CIA thinks the Soviets are funnelling equipment in." I say.
"They also think the Soviets killed Kennedy. What's your point?" Clark pipes in.
"Either way, my purpose for being here is to support Clark over here," I say, motioning to my 'guide.' The Green Beret nods to Arkoss "That and find out who the arms are coming from."

"Then perhaps I can lead you to that." Arkoss replied. As one the crackers disappeared behind a churning mass of mandibles and pincer-like mouthparts, a limb seemed to rise out of his back. Long and spindly, it descended to the datapad, and clicked on a few icons, bringing up intel concerning the Salazar Tibautho situation.

For this being the first time he sees me Arkoss is divulging a hell of a lot of information.
He trusts me so I'm going to have to trust him too.
"This is some serious shit, Arkoss." I muse, looking the data over. No doubt Clark's digested it already.
Fucking Green Berets and their advanced mods...
"Listen, my handlers only gave me authorization to keep things low key. Asymmetrical warfare type stuff."

"Your handlers have no idea what's at stake now, but for both of our sake's and the rest of this planet, they shouldn't. You already know what I'm asking of you and I doubt this isn't the first time you've went beyond the call of duty."

He's right. It isn't. What Gunsight doesn't know won't hurt him.
"The unsanctioned ops are the most fun." I reply with a smile. "Clark, you in?"
"Just say when and where. I've trained a couple Khovos into an elite fire-team. They're itching to get some action."

He glanced to his right. The waiter was coming back. He seemed to be a sort of minority in this area; most of the varanon in this city, Imberron, seemed to be more fair-coloured in terms of skin/scale color and tended to have characteristics one associated more with land dwelling rather than amphibious reptiles.

There was a thump and the grinding of chair legs against the rock floor.

His eyes turned towards a few Varanon of the lighter and usually green coloured sort. The waiter had apparently surprised one of them, once in a heated conversation in the twisting and sharp language of these reptilians, causing him to jerk back his chair, knocking into the waiter and nearly causing the food he was carrying to fall.

He noticed the green one looking simply rather awkwardly at his darker-skinned counterpart, frowning, and simply turning around to continue his conversation. A glance at another one of the green ones, a grizzled, hunched over older male revealed a smirk slowly forming across its mouth. It looked over at the perpetrator of the accident, who smiled back in return.

A sharp whisper was heard. It seemed accusatory and mocking in its tone, sliding from their slimy tongues like some shrouded, obscene thing that wasn't meant for more "proper" ears to hear.

The waiter left for another table. His eyes were downcast and he seemed like he was holding something back, based on his strained facial expression.

It seemed another insignificant occurrence, but Arkoss knew this was simply an indicator, a small hint of worse things to come and things that already were.

During his solitary walk to the cafe, as he passed the street-level businesses, it was hard to deny the reality of the noticeable divide between the two species. Nearly all of the vendors, the musicians, the artists and others there were of the darker-coloured, amphibian-esque variants. The sneering glances and cautionary looks of the other Varanon passing by that street, had become commonplace signs of the intangible barriers of "race" still stood strong on this world.
Eyes shifting back to the mercenaries, he communicated his disgust with a simple look, before he continued the impromptu briefing.

"All we need is an opening. Break the stalemate and open the gates. Once we're in, it shouldn't be long until we're out. Call-sign for the ground team, 'springtail.'"

"Those are good eating." Clark says. I cock my brow at him. "What? I've been here eighteen months. My taste in food changed drastically."
I can't argue with that logic.
"Alright, what sort of opening do you need?"

"I'm not in a position to specify. Communications have been sparse; in some cases, they're only 20-feet away from op-fors. I've heard reports that the kohoavtse have disguised themselves or even bought out members of local police and planetary military at the area. T.S.C. is clueless of this all, as usual."

"I've heard bits and pieces of that." Clark says, catching a fly in his hand and eating it.
Seriously, I've seen some weird shit and this guy's weirding me out...
"I've been trying for the last month to get a man on the inside of that bunch, if only to find out whose supplying gear to the Jannos."

"Best of luck Hayden. One of the voivods, although I disagree with him, has a strike team prepared for if the situation degrades beyond control. Prepared to attack 24/7. If need be, we have an alternate escape-route."

He began to flip through a wallet, looking through some currency. With his fingers clenched around a sum noticeably higher than what they had ordered, he was preparing to deposit it on the table.

"The specifics they'll fill you in on the ground. That being said..."

He looked over at the two, motioning to them, wordlessly asking if they were done their meal.

I look at the meal and am suddenly longing for an MRE.

Meals Rejected by the Enemy.

Clark, on the other hand, digs right in.
"I'll split the team into Blue and Gold Teams. One on ready alert the other on standby," I say, laying out what I'll do to help Arkoss "The supplier gave us optocam for our mecha, so if they're needed we can bring them in."

"Good. Keep your eyes out; with as much smoke and mirrors going around, I doubt rebels will be the only threat you'll be facing out there."
Raising his hand, Arkoss summoned the same waiter, simply informing him that he was finished here and rose to leave.

"Will do, buddy. Don't forget our frequency." I say as I get up. Clark picks up the tab and follows.

As they began to leave, Arkoss dropped the wad of cash on the table. The arriving waiter seemed shocked, his face contorted in surprise. Money like this was only spoken of amongst the gossip of friends or hoped for in the haze of dreams. The others had noticed as well and their eyes looked back at Arkoss with shock, but as the waiter approached him, perhaps seeing if the had second thoughts, the funebraran simply waved him off. He disappeared back into the mist, crowds, and mysteries of Membros. As he passed on an old beaten path, drying in the morning sun, his pace began to slow.

"Do you trust him, Taxus?" he said, as his walk seemed to be reduced to a crawl in terms of speed.

DoomOtter · Nov 4, 2010

" alright the path to the blossom is clear take her out" Sikaris ordered. The cannon hummed as it sent another blast of magnetic energy towards the carrier. The Blossoms side rippled and tore as the magnetic energy hit causing the metal to bend as its own magnetic field tried to align with the energy that just hit it.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"Damage superficial commander, we did not pierce the ships armor."<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"fire again try and hit their thrusters, if we can't kill her cripple her."<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"sir I think I can reconfigure the cannons firing protocol." came the voice of the weapons officer over the headset "the cannon is held back by a program to keep it from overheating and burning out, it severely reduces rate of fire and reduces power output significantly, If you gave me clearance I could reprogram it so we could fire it more rapidly and with more power."<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"How long would it take?" <o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"I could have it done before the cannon is ready to fire again." the officer replied. Sikaris was skeptical, if the cannon burned out it could damage the magnetic reactor that powered the entire ship, but the situation was kind of desperate. Sikaris keyed in his authorization code and sent a link to the ships weapon programming. In less than a minute it was done, the main cannon had been reprogrammed.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
" alright give that carrier everything we've got, but be careful i don't want the cannon to burn out." Sikaris watched his display as the hum of the cannon came on, the blossoms armor began to writhe like a bunch of snakes, some of it began to peel off, as more strikes hit more and more metal came away, soon wisps of vapor could be seen as the ship began to loose it's atmosphere. and not long after that the ships thrusters went dark.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"Good and bad news captain." the weapons officer said. "We've successfully crippled the blossom, engines and shields are down, but the main cannon has overheated severely and.......well...uh." <o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"What is it?"<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"Several components have melted and it won't fire anymore."<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"Dammit, lieutenant, I said be careful."<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"Hey it didn't burn out. It just melted a little."<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"What else do we have available for armaments?"<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"we have the plasma beams, the two fore facing Gauss cannons, and two rail guns, both on the port side."<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"We are going die." Sikaris said "Bring up shields to maximum power, bring all available weapons online, begin to bring us into attack distance with the nearest cruiser. And get someone to fix the main cannon!"<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
The Revenant began to turn to fire on the next ship, when it was hit by a huge bolt of plasma.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"We have been hit, energy shields holding."<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"Shit, who did that?"<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"the cruiser at approximately seven o'clock one thousand meters away."<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"How the hell did they target us, our stealth systems are engaged and they should still be wondering, what the hell is going on?" said the Navigation officer.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"It doesn't matter target the ship ahead of us and shoot her while it's shields are down." Sikaris said harshly, and soon the sound of the Gauss cannons could be heard. The nearest cruiser was hit; the thirty pound titanium coated lead slugs punched through the ships armor, and did massive damage to it.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"that is what I am talking about." Sikaris said" whoever says projectiles are outdated is an idiot."<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
The cannons fired twice more and the cruiser was torn apart by the gasses inside trying to escape.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
Sikaris ordered the Revenant to move as soon as the ships destruction was complete, and right as he finished his command the ship was struck twice more by balls of plasma.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"they are perusing us commander."<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"Bring us lower into the thermosphere, and keep them from getting a lock on us." Sikaris knew what he was doing was risky, but he hoped it would work.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
The revenant began to go lower into the atmosphere, and two of the cruisers followed. orange flames became visible on the ships, as they began to enter the lower thermosphere.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"sir This isn't going to work, they won't take the bait." said the helmsman " they would have to be idiots to fall for this."<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
The revenant kept its course, evading the shots from the cruisers, while at the same time going slightly lower with every maneuver. <o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"Alright pull her into the black." sikaris said. The revenant began to fly higher, and the cruisers.....they tried to fly higher, but they were firmly caught in the planets gravity well, and they weren't outfitted for atmospheric flight, they began to fall, they would both crash into the planets surface.<o:p></o:p>
"Down to one"<o:p></o:p>

Dawn Bringer Invictus · Nov 6, 2010

Interrogators and Collaborators

++++++++++

The thug that Kelia captured denies any association with any of the major parties, while a very intimidating funebraran (also an NPC) makes his appearence. He is presumably the leader of the infiltration team.

"Just another man making his way ma'am."

His response, in spite of his injuries, was irritated and almost passive-aggressive. Even if he was lying, he put up a believable impression of a wrongly captured man.

"Look, whoever you are, I know you thinking I'm some kohoa or jaano terrorist, but that shit ain't true. We just men on the street, looking out for ourselves, and we don't want any trouble."

He put an extra emphasis on the last few words and while the fear had been removed, his speech was slightly rushed and panicked. The woman's eyes to him gave an unnatural atmosphere, one that you didn't get from your average cold-staring-street-bitch. He was assuming that it was likely due to that...ability of hers...was it some sort of black-operations neuro-machinery or the ability of a so-called channeler?

He didn't know, but he sure as hell wanted out.

"Just let me and the others out, please, we'll stay off your turf, pay you off, whatever, just let us out!"

One of the others, a varanon of sorts, began to rouse, eyes slowly opening. His initial disorientation and caution were replaced by a sudden fear as his eyes widened at the ceiling. His breathing grew faster as he gazed upon the creature hanging from the ceiling. It was one of the insect-people, tall, with small thin quill-like parts protruding around his shoulders and back. Hints of long wing-cases could be seen, but not quite as easily as its shape, seemingly crouched while upside down. The carapace wasn't organic, at least not completely. Amongst the chitinous composition, some sort of material, unnaturally smooth, seemed layered over. He couldn't see his eyes or make out the specifics through his natural night-vision, but it let out a strange smell, a very subtle one, as if it only resided on the edges of his sensory ability.

He looked over to his human companion; he was still trying to bargain with the woman. He didn't notice what he was going to assume was the leader of this swarm. Then again, he was human; their senses were normally rather weak compared to most other races.

++++++++++

Someone manages to intercept a transmission between the S.C.R.D. operative leader Cromlech and a being named Nylus, presumably a higher-ranked member of the mysterious Heszianod organization. Both men and their groups get along rather poorly and it is implied that Solstice on purposely let Heszianod ships get destroyed and damaged. In spite of that, they are working together for some sort of black operation. Solstice is shown to have links to the Council of Shadows, while the Heszianod are shown to be supporting the Jaanoaikken.

Intercepted Transmission:

< - You told us we were guaranteed protection and immunity from your allies. But as the orbital footage shows, apparently you aren't honouring this agreement as much as you claim is necessary for us both. - >

< - That was guaranteed, but both only go so far. Surely you understand, the ...limits of what I'm able to do in such a large scale-operation. Your ships parading out in the open is just too far beyond what we are capable of. - >

< - Don't hide from me, you lying prick! Solstice ships 'escorting' us, 'right on our six', cloaked, hidden from their sensors, capabilities far beyond what those dog-fools are capable of. Weapons armed and fully charged, targets acquired communications online and ready, and completely concealed from anyone except the Blossom and the rest of her team. How far was that, Cromlech?- >

< - Ha, an impressive distance; look at things in the greater picture and notice that you underestimate their kind. Sikaris may be dumb, blind, and deaf, but he's got a nose, just like any other canine, one that I like to watch my way with. You know what the hound would do if we interfered, who he'd tell. Even a single one of their commanders receiving just the right tip-off would make all our efforts for naught. - >

< - You really think you've helped? Tell me, was so brashly descending in such a great swarm of your dropships to Membros in a pathetic display of evasive manoeuvres something that will help in the long run? Perhaps you think that Markarov simply 'lost' the intel he stole from the V.I.P. club who've got your whole op by the leash. Right as we speak, I'm damned sure they're connecting the dots right now and are on Tibautho's ass. We just lost an entire team, and it wasn't to the kohoavtse, their yank friends, or your exclusivist council. - >

< - That's being dealt with, and it's only with your obstinacy that you refuse to pull your jaanoaikken puppets out. Trying to prove something, Nylus? - >

< - I could ask the same to you. Does Meinhardt ring a bell? - >

< - I believe you're sticking your nose where it doesn't belong. Regardless of what you think, let's stick to our agreement shall we? Your forces and mine stay put and keep accidents to a minimum. Cromlech out. - >

Transmission End

++++++++++

One of the members of the Council Of Shadows is, unbeknownst to the others, working alongside a T.S.C. agent posin as his bodyguard. As he looks through intel sent to him by the coalition, the two doctors who were working on the T.S.C. anti-funebraran shock trooper project are revealed to have landed at various "outposts", which are apparently being guarded by Solstice, Council, and presumably Heszianod forces, who really don't get along. He is apparently not to inform his fellow Council members of the Meinhardts, who will likely kill the teams they sent in to eliminate Salazar. The Mobile Infantry forces, in the meantime, are revealed to be causing problems for the three sides of Membros; Council forces in the areas they're attacking are starting to relocate to safer locations.

Golaun Kadlego didn't say much. His personal "bodyguard" didn't either. In his private residence, a mansion in a town a few miles off from Imberron, the atmosphere was surprisingly slack in spite of the secrets he was holding from the Council Of Shadows. Perhaps the most obvious was that the bodyguard, an osvetlovan, wasn't really a bodyguard, and hadn't come from local osvetlovan immigrant families either. The alien, tall and its face seemingly expressionless, brought up data on the holographic display built into the table, his hands moving gracefully even in these mundane actions.

Golaun, a varanon, just at the beginning of the age when he is beyond his prime yet not yet an old lizard, still felt youthful and adventurous, almost in a sort of boyish way. He didn't truly trust the others; they may speak the words of nationalists, fund the public celebrations of their culture, and be connoisseurs of the cultures of Membron as he was, but to him, this was a charade. Their love of this planet-nation was shallow to him; he did not doubt that they were for the people, but the people to them were simply means to an end. He'd read up on them; most of them weren't too far away from the Kohoavtse or the Jaanoaikken, but they simply expressed the shortcomings of both more subtly. Not that it was any less disgusting in his sight.

The" bodyguard", Korasphion, had taken note of it when he was secretly inserted unto the world during the worst years of the civil war, just when the council was beginning to form. He had watched him for years, secretly feeding him that same information, himself seemingly feeding off his distrust and disillusionment. But they didn't know; having watched such people for years, he too knew how to put up an image, simply one that was far more real than the empty-hearted gestures of his comrades.

He wasn't the wealthiest member, the most powerful, or the most fearsome. He was though, the break that the sleeper agent needed. With a cover story "verified" by the centrist government, he worked his way up gradually; not too fast, not too slow, to avoid suspicious looks from the council. In the time span of a year, he now found himself at Golaun's side, doing more than simply watching his back for the inner treacheries of the council. The varanon, born into a wealthy family and having heard and been swept away by the fiery words of duty to people and land, knew that what he had now was a once in a lifetime chance to achieve the trust of the T.S.C. and return this planet to its glory.

Looking up at the holo-display, he brought up a message that his companion sent his way, one that had popped up in his computer's trash bin. It was actually an encrypted data document which Korasphion dealt with quickly. Unlocked, his eyes went across the text quickly, before moving onto logistics, payments, force movements, and insider information on parliament politics. The information was still important and highly confidential; no other member of the council knew about it. The problem was that it changed marginally from day to day. More "accidents" at the scattered outposts, mostly the knights and the bishops he had covertly moved there, although there was the occasional Solstice operative that went down, along with a few cases of another group that was "allied" with them for now. This faction there, a non-T.S.C. one, was technically an "enemy" of the T.S.C., but they had been "convinced" to "fight alongside" the coalition and the Council somehow. Rather fishy he thought, but they were necessary for what was to come. Another status update on troop movements to the capital city of Inzerrus, to stand-by in the case of a major attack during the peace meetings. More weapons, logistics, economics and so on.

Today was somewhat different though; they had just received some promised reinforcements at the outposts. He vaguely remembered being told about that a few months ago, but the increasingly similar information after a while began to grind his memory to monotony, but he had always remembered that particular bit. There was no intel on these reinforcements though, aside from the fact that they had come with two scientists, the renowned doctor Sangkin and the practically unheard of Rovelyovischa. What they were there for was not specified.

Korasphioin sent another document his way, this time, concerning the Salazar Tibautho situation. Apparently, the T.S.C.'s allies, the Solstice corporation, had sent in two of its elites to deal with the defector. He wasn't to tell the other council members, even if this meant that his own would be fired upon. But the osvetlovan had told him that this was necessary; sacrifices like this would be needed no matter how unpleasant if he really wanted to see a change made. He didn't trust Solstice and he knew they were doing covert operations in the planet's past, but such was the nature of war; sometimes, your allies were unpleasant people.

There was a small attachment at its end, photographs of some sort, and he opened it. For once, he frowned as he and the coalition agent inspected them. Apparently, some T.S.C. "Mobile Infantry" group, supported by what rumours told him were "undead" allies, had somehow managed to get the drop on hidden bases within the dense swamps and rainforests. Kohoavtse, Jaanoaikken, and a few unfortunate ones run by the council, it didn't seem to matter. They were simply obliterating them. Nobody was sure of the detection capabilities of their ships or if they had connections of some sort, but regardless, it was bad news for everyone. Already, council bases, including a few of the ones he was appointed to run, were evacuating and moving to safe houses and other secondary locations elsewhere.

The osvetlovan looked at it, eyes somewhat narrowed, before sighing and bringing up a private channel. Tapping into it, he knew that he had a long day ahead of him. T.S.C. intelligence would have a lot of explaining to do.

xmelesiox · Nov 7, 2010

"That's tough to say commander." As Arkoss made his down the path Taxus continued to skirt the outside of the market place, "Based on what I witnessed he generally seems interested in aiding our cause. He didn't seem to be hiding anything or holding any negative intentions. However, he also doesn't seem to accept any real chain of command. I believe that if pushed with an order he didn't believe in or if we ever gave him any reason to doubt our cause he would turn against anyone in charge of him or even us." Taxus slipped some currency to a street vendor and picked up a small glass of some unknown blue liquid. He wasn't planning on drinking it he just merely swirled the liquid as he strolled, "I wouldn't have followed you if I had complete trust in the situation. But for now I believe they can be a wor-" Taxus stopped dead in his tracks. Something was wrong, he sensed, he felt a change of the energies in the market place. A hint of anxiety and hatred. He slipped along to find the source of energy he was picking up on and felt a stronger wave hit him. The energy that he normally felt from soldiers on a battle field right before they begun the killing, "Something is wrong. Get back to the base immediately." Taxus slipped behind a vendors booth as hell emerged in the form of an explosion in the center of the market place. The initial explosion killed eighty seven people in the center of the market place and panic immediately set in as people begun to flee in all directions. The shrapnel created from the vendors booth destroyed killed another thirty eight people and wounded countless in a matter of seconds. The vendor who ran the booth Taxus had slipped behind lay on the ground choking from a splinter of wood that had pierced his throat. The 'man' was going to die a slow and painful nothing. There was nothing Taxus could do to save him so he drew his side arm and put him out of his misery.

A line of soldiers in Jannoaikken suits begun to fire merciless upon the crowd with fully automatic las-rifles. They had came out of nowhere, storming the market place from the north and killing anyone who tried to flee that way. Taxus tried to line a shot at one of them but civilians kept slamming into him pushing him back towards the southern exit of the market place as their panic consumed them. Several peace keepers, police officers, had taken refuge behind still standing vendors booth firing back at the encroaching soldiers. Their light side arms were no match for the battle armor and assault rifles of the troopers that laid into the civilians and officers a like. Taxus was torn, he couldn't get a shot off at the soldiers and he wasn't physical strong enough to push his way through the stampeding crowd to engage them in melee, however using his powers here against soldiers of the Jannoaikken army could be seen as a negative action of the Funebrarran, "Arkoss, I have Jannoaikken soldiers killing off civilians in the market place. Permission to engage with extreme prejudice." Taxus moved himself to the edge of the stampeding people, watching as they trampled over anyone who fell to get to safety. Staying here was more dangerous than standing in line of the soldiers. Phasing out of existence he slid himself into one of the small buildings that ringed the market place on the northern east side. The membrons inside had huddled themselves into a corner when the firing had started and seeing him appear in the build caused several of them to begun to scream for mercy, "I'm not going hurt you! Just stay quiet and it will be okay."

Taxus's communication device chimed in his ear, "Shit, keep your head down, and watch your fire, I'll see if I can send in reinforcements!" Finally he had his response from Arkoss. He should keep his head down but could engage as long as he checked his fire. The soldiers had split into three groups of six. One team moving south deeper into the market place while the other two went east and west along the buildings. He watched their energies as they entered a building and observed as the energies inside those buildings winked out of existence. The team moving eastward was just two buildings down from his current location. He looked back at the nine membrons huddling in the corner and knew he couldn't just leave them to their fate.

The soldiers moved into the building two down from Taxus's location opening fire on the civilians inside. Taxus looked back at the membrons, "Find a place to hide, all of you." He drew his sword into his left hand and his whip into his right. The sword was thin and long like a rapier but as Taxus focused his energy it came to life, the energies that swirled around it gave it the look of a broad sword. The whip shined with the same swirling energies, uncoiling to a length of six feet. He closed his eyes and pressed his body back into the other world, moving outside of the building he was in and directly in front of the two soldiers who stood guard while the other four finished their dirty work. The two soldiers didn't have a chance to lift their rifles to fire upon him as the sword slid through the chest of the one directly in front of him the whip lashed out, wrapping around the second ones neck as it flamed up with energy causing the body to drop suddenly without its head. Taxus slid the sword up from the first soldiers chest as he gurgled in an attempt to scream. The sword slid through the mans rib cage and withdrew it as it slit open his neck. Surging forward into the door the remaining soldiers had been warned by the gurgle in their com system and opened fire as he came through the door. The las shots slammed into his mental shield which deflected them with ease as he sliced through another soldier. He formed his anger into an inferno that engulfed the last three soldiers, reducing them to ash in a few moments. As he moved back into the market place he saw the 'SWAT' of the Membron police force begun to deploy into the market place. He plunged himself back into the other world, no reason to stick around and arouse any suspicions.

He stepped out into an abandoned street, sliding his weapons into concealment within his long coat, "Negative on the reinforcements commander. The local authorities have moved into resolve the situation and I have removed myself from the area. ETA for base in fifteen." He tucked his head down looking at the ground as he begun to wind his way back towards base, taking the long way around to avoid any more confrontations. As he slipped his hands inside his pocket he felt a small data wafer that wasn't there before. He'd would need a device to read it and felt it might be better to just place it in Arkoss's hands upon returning to base.

+++

The Council

The four kings sat in their underground bunker across from each other in a cross state. The destruction of a few of their bases had been unsettling to say they least. Several bishops had been notified to move to underground structures for their meeting to avoid anymore death from above. The Kings had their own bunker that was protected with several different defensive capabilities, "Our shipment has been retrieved without damage. It was moved to one of our underground facilities for safe keeping till it was needed. The assault upon the market place should be well underway by now. Our strike teams with the Kohoavtse uniforms are nearly ready to perform their operation. We are just waiting for additional Kohoavtse armaments to ensure there is absolutely no uncertainty as to who performed the attack." King A said, his voice heavily distorted by encryption device active.

King B nodded solemnly, "Very good. We have one strike team scavenging the warehouses searching for Tibautho and the two other teams inside the kill zone are awaiting for the coordinates to strike. One of the strike teams has yet to report in, but, due to the covert nature of their mission that is to be expected. As soon as the strike team has located Tibautho he will have no chance of escape."

All the Kings nodded in approval of this information. Except for the unexpected destruction of a few bases all was going as planned for the Council. As to be expected, "Our Knight has placed the proposal on one of the operatives of the Funebraran. We shall see if they choose to meet with one of our agents soon enough. The location has been designated as a public place to avoid suspicion and the operative is a changeling. It will appear as if two funebraran are simply meeting for lunch. Of course, Knight snipers shall be on hand in case anything goes wrong to eliminate our operative from interrogation." All the Kings stood from the table and returned to their personal lodgings at the conclusion of the meetings. Yes indeed, all was going as planned for the Council and soon their sacrifices and labors would pay off for their goal.

DoomOtter · Nov 11, 2010

Sikaris impatiently waited as the transport craft flew the distance between the Revenant and the Blossom. When the revenant returned to full orbit the final cruiser was gone nowhere to be seen, and two hours of waiting and watching with no sign of the ship anywhere Sikaris decided to turn his attention to the carrier. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
The ship was still sitting there, not moving, no sighs of repair, and no communications. Sikaris ordered the boarding of the ship. a team of twenty airwalkers, and the second shift command crew were assembled and boarded a stealth troop transport. Sikaris didn't want to bring anymore troops, in case something went wrong or they were needed planet side. He had come up with a simple plan, board the ship through one of the maintenance airlocks near the bridge, take control of the command bridge, vent the entire ships atmosphere. Simple quick and relatively easy.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
The transport made contact with the carrier and attached itself to the ship's hull; the team wearing exosuits, being led by Sikaris exited the craft and headed for the airlock. It was difficult to see because it was a depression in the hull with stairs leading down to the door. <o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"I can't promise that no one will notice our use of this doorway commander" said one of Sikaris's technicians he had brought so they could get into the ship. "that's alright, we'll be close enough to the bridge that no one will be able to react to us quick enough." Sikaris replied. The tech worked with some wires and the doors slid open. The team entered the room and barely all fit. the hiss of air coming into the room and the opening of the doors into the ship, they all walked in. <o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"Listen, we need to make this quiet, as soon as we enter the command bridge remove all crew from their stations. I don't want anyone to alert security to our presence." Everyone nodded in agreement. They began to slowly walk towards the bridge, making sure not to become spotted by any of the crew. Luckily no one was near as they made their way, and they made good time to the bridge.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
Once they arrived Sikaris watched as the tech began to rewire the door. extreme anxiety mixed with fear filled him. Who was behind this door? If TSC were in command of the ship the implications could lead to the Republic leaving the Coalition, maybe even result in war between the Alarians and the TSC. what if it was some band of mercenaries, that could potentially move the Alarians to continue their stance of economic isolation. Anything Sikaris could think of led to war or isolation, or something else that would make the civil war meaningless.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"Sir? I can open the door now" the tech said interrupting the Alarians thoughts. Swallowing hard feeling dread Sikaris nodded. The tech began to mess with some wires, and the door slid open.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
Most Alarian bridges were simple hallways where each crew member sat in their own area lined up facing outward, they were usually kept dark, the only light coming from lights on the floor, that went from the front to the rear. More light was generated by the individual consoles. this bridge was drastically different, it was open, and lighted. Everyone still sat facing away from each other but it was in a semicircle in this ship. in the middle of the room was a chair, the captains chair Sikaris figured.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
The team entered everyone had weapons raised and the were halfway in the room when Sikaris said loudly "everyone up now" shock as the crew turned in their chairs to see who it was. But they weren't the only ones surprised "their Alarians" one of the airwalkers said. "Move away from your consoles and no one dies" Sikaris said trying to hide his confusion. Members of the team began going to their individual places and often time physically removing the Blossoms command crew from their chairs. Sikaris walked to what he thought was the captains chair. The commander of the vessel hadn't moved, hadn't turned to see who it was. Sikaris thought that odd, he grabbed the back of the chair and swiveled it around. "No" he said in complete shock "You died, I watched you die, the firing squad they"<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"Colonel Mal Sikaris, it's been a long time" It was the former High admiral Minestren Arkin, the one who had betrayed the republic and fought against them in the civil war. " I havn't seen you since serenity station, yes Colonel Sikari who took command of the Righteousness, and led the Alarian fleet to glory." Arkin was tall and thin, almost like he was malnourished, his voice was different, it sounded like a British accent from earth.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"This can't be, i watched you die, the execution they.."<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"killed someone else, a flash clone if you must know, Those imperialist pigs were so hell-bent on killing me they didn't even check to see if the one they captured was really the one they were after." Arkin began to stand up, but Sikaris drew his pistol and ordered him to sit <o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"You were captured, I was there, you died."<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"You insolent.... I get it, you hated me, you were one of the many who wanted me dead and now that you know that all your hard work was for nothing you cannot accept the truth. well the truth is i am alive, I replaced myself with a clone and fled Alarian space."<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"Why? Are you that cowardly? When everything you committed yourself to begin to fall did you really turn and run that easily?"<o:p></o:p>
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"Nothing like that" Arkin said angrily " i left because I knew those idiot colonists were going to fail! I left because I knew I could rebuild what we had lost and finish what we had started."<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"And what was that? free those rebellious colonists?"<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"Oh come now Sikaris, you have to know that war wasn't about the republic taking over a few independent colonies."<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"Then what was it about?"<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"Isolation. the senate was going to end our economic and political isolation, you know how terrible that would have been? The entire TSC was in a depression, it would have destroyed our glorious republic, we wanted to stop it."<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"you started a war that caused it's own depression, anyways things are better now."<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"It's not about what is going now or what it was like then, it was about protecting our republic, it doesn't matter breaking our isolation will eventually cause our destruction"<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"and starting the most devastating war in the history of the known galaxy won't?"<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"Don't act smart with me Sikaris. Combining our economy with the rest of space would cause us to become dependent on aliens, allowing our people to freely travel would cause cultural contamination, devoting military power to outside causes would weaken the homewolrd...."<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"Enough! What are you doing here Arkin?"<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"just helping out some old friends, they helped me escape the republic and in turn I do jobs for cash. not everyone in the TSC wants the Alarians to open up to the rest of the galaxy, some see us as a threat and I am ensuring that we will be left alone when the coming storm hits. Oops I am sorry I talk too much."<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
No sooner had Arkin said that than the door opened and several TSC marines and an officer entered. The airwalkers lifted their weapons and were ready for a fight.<o:p></o:p>
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"Colonel Sikaris, I am Major Roscoe, TSC international fleet, tell your men to stand down." The human's accent deeply annoyed Sikaris, he had heard it before, American, he thought to himself, southern? Was that it? It didn't matter this was not a TSC matter. Sikaris kept his pistol aimed securely between Arkins eyes. "This is an Alarian military vessel, and this is an Alarian war criminal, you have no jurisdiction here." Sikaris replied<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"I am sorry but I don't recall this being on your fleet manifest of ships, and i don't believe that the man you are so lovingly pressing a gun into his head is wanted for anything."<o:p></o:p>
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Sikaris didn't know what made him more annoyed, this humans interfering or his accent. maybe both, no it was the accent.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"his name is Ministren Arkin, he was in command of the rebels during the civil war."<o:p></o:p>
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"I am sorry mister Sikaris, I do so believe you executed that man. Now listen as a TSC officer, with orders from the high command I order you to leave this ship."<o:p></o:p>
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"You think you have authority to command me? First of all I outrank you, second this is an Alarian matter the TSC has nothing to do with this."<o:p></o:p>
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"The TSC has everything to do with this mal....." <o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"Don't call me that"<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"Colonel Sikaris, you are a registered TSC officer and I have orders to make sure you leave this ship or I will be forced to order the destruction of the Revenant."<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
Sikaris's head jerked and stared him right in the eyes, he looked back at arkin "you win this time, but I will find you and I will kill you!" Sikaris gave Arkin a pistol whip for good measure, something he noticed that Roscoe didn't seem to mind, and ordered his troops to stand down.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"Now Colonel Sikaris, I have already had the ship you came in on, land in bay two, they are waiting for you. Oh and don't cause any trouble."<o:p></o:p>
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Sikaris slowly walked out of the bridge, his men followed, they seemed every bit as defeated as he was.<o:p></o:p>
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"Sir you didn't have to listen to that monkey, we could have taken their marines on." said Colonel malis, the lead airwalker<o:p></o:p>
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"it doesn't matter he was right we are registered coalition troops on TSC business, and we don't know how real his threat against the Revenant was. I've dealt with a lot of humans and humans don't act as bold unless they have something backing them up."<o:p></o:p>
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"Unless they are bluffing"<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"He wasn't I could tell."<o:p></o:p>
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Back on the bridge Arkin was furious, "you just let him do that?" he yelled<o:p></o:p>
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"Shut your mouth Mutt, I am here because we have a mutual friend. Goes by the name Cromlech." Arkin calmed" it's lucky we got here when we did, I know how your kind gets when you get angry, like the wolves you are you'll do anything to right a wrong. He was going to kill you."<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"Look if you don't have anything else to tell me get the hell of my ship."<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"so polite to guests, fine I'll leave, but I must let you know don't kill Sikaris cromlech wants him alive for some reason." Roscoe left the room.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"hail the shadowstrike, tell them to destroy the Revenant." Arkin wasn't about to let a primate tell him what to do.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>

Arsenal XA4 · Nov 15, 2010

Clark's people bring us back to what is now a Firebase. Manny, Moe, and Whack have our howitzers set up. Uralia and Del Toro have a Peregrinus each set up on a makeshift helipad, both men installing AIs so they can fly the birds without copilots. On the other side of the compound Wylder and Medvedev have the two Stegosaurus mecha off to the side and are installing the PCMS system. On the way over I had radioed ahead for Fulber and Mercer to put their own units together.

"Mercer, Fulber, front and center!" I shout out, walking past one of the howitzers. The two men approach, Mercer standing at attention. Fulber... He's got authority issues. I'll leave it at that.

"So, you guys get your people ready?" I ask.

"They stand ready when you ask for them." Mercer says to me. I look at Fulber who looks at his team. Herrera has Dino in a headlock, Reilly and Loggins are locking lips, Danny, Drebin, and Drake are playing dice, and Wilson is passed out on a lawn chair.

"Fulber..."

"Yeah, they're sorta ready." he replies to me, hands jammed into his jacket pockets. "I tried to get the best of 'em, but, as you can see, it didn't quite work out."

"Well, they'll have to do." I concede. "Any who, I need both of you to have your teams on ready alert. Who wants-" Fulber cuts me off.

"Blue team, called it!"

I could have sworn this guy was a terrorist, not a grade schooler. So I roll with it.

"Alright then, Blue Team stands ready alert, Gold Team goes on stand down." I start, walking past both men. "Fulber, I want your people to be ready to roll at any time, ten minutes or less." I know Fulber is dumbfounded and confused. Hopefully that spurs him to get a sort of military bearing. Mondegreen approaches me from the acommodation ladder, a thermos and coffee cup in hand.

"Anything good, sir?" he asks me.

"Yeah. We're going to see action and soon." I reply to him as he pours me a cup of coffee. "Furthermore, a lot of what's going to happen here will be off the books. You got that?"

"Yeah. All I know is we're providing arms here. Nothing more." Mondegreen's reliable like that. It's why I keep him around.

That and he makes a damn good cup of coffee.

DoomOtter · Nov 16, 2010

When alarians were developing their first combat ships they took a different approach to the main bridge than most other species. Alarian bridges were long narrow corridors that were kept dark. Each person on the bridge had their own work station; they were lined up on either side of the corridor facing outward. The commanding officers station and the pilot's station were right next to each other in the front of the bridge. the crew communicated through headsets, that were linked together. The problem with that was that it was difficult for admirals to command in such an environment. That being the case the Alarians developed the tactical bridge. The tactical bridge was usually directly over the main bridge, it was a stark contrast to the main bridge, it was large open brightly lit and empty. That's where Sikaris went after he returned from the blossom. He went there to be alone. The tactical bridge on the Revenant was dome shaped, a large round dais was in the middle, it was th main computer core, on the top it had a holograph projector.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
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"Computer display TSC records for a Major Roscoe." Sikaris was still fuming from what happened on the carrier; He left without a fight not because he was a TSC officer, or because the Major threatened to destroy the Revenant. He left because Roscoe knew too much. What human knew who was a wanted criminal in the Alarian Republic or not? Who knew that Arkin was no longer wanted, because he was thaught to have been executed? Who could know that the Blossom was no longer on the active duty fleet manifests? Alara was still fairly closed off to the rest of the galaxy, The only human who could know such things was a human who had been studying the Alarians, who knew why Sikaris had boarded that ship, instead of doing what protocol demands and report the ship to the fleet and wait for reinforcements showed up. Only a human who was watching Sikaris would have known why he went on that ship, would have known that Arkin was still on board, and known that Arkin would soon be dead, for real this time.<o:p></o:p>
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"A first name will be needed to narrow the search" the computer replied to Sikaris "Just show the results." he said" there are approximately sixteen thousand persons by that name in the TSC database." the computer said. almost cheerfully. Sikaris thought. This was difficult he couldn't look through that many profiles. "narrow your search to individuals who spent a majority of their life on the planet earth in the geographical area called the southern United States." that should narrow it down a little, Sikaris thought. "There are seventy-eight persons that match that description" the computer said. "begin showing those who are still in the TSC military" Pictures popped up and Sikaris went through them looking for someone who looked like the human on that ship. "there you are." he said as he pulled up one of the profiles. He selected it and cleared the others<o:p></o:p>
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Solomon Andrew Roscoe, that was his name, he was still on active duty in the TSC, but he was on special assignment, the file said that his location was unknown. Sikaris scoffed at that, he knew where Roscoe was. Roscoe didn't have the standard history, he was born in a small town on earth called Clintwood Virginia, he never enlisted in the military, he had instead joined a group called the Central Intelligence Agency. That sounded familiar to Sikaris, he seemed to recall them to be a network of spies. Well no wonder Roscoe was so up to date on the Alarian military. it made sense now, Roscoe was a spy hired by the TSC to do his work for the military, he was to watch over things and keep quiet about it. And when needs be interfere when something goes wrong.<o:p></o:p>
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Sikaris's thought were interrupted when the ship began to shake violently. He keyed into the computer and patched to the main bridge. "What's going on lieutenant?"<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"We've been hit sir, plasma blast from starboard side rear, can't find who did it, but the power of the blast indicates that it originated from close by."<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
" begin to scan for any Magnetic anomolies in the area, if you find any keep an eye on them, if the move tell me right away. Now helmsman, get us out of here bring us to the far side of the planet."<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
Sikaris left the tactical bridge and began to head for the main bridge. while on his way the ship was hit twice more. He arrived at the main bridge and everything seemed like chaos, everyone was frantically speaking into their headsets. Sikaris got to his station and put on his headset. "Report"<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"Energy shields are almost to burn out levels, the core is beginning to become unstable, we have hull breaches on decks seven two and ten, and we have discovered a magnetic anomaly that is moving with us, same speed same course."<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"it's a stealth ship, pull us down into atmo, we'll be able to see it there."<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
The ship began to descend into the planet's atmosphere. The other ship followed.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"I have A visual lock, but they are out of targeting range"<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"Bring us down to two hundred feet, then tell me when they have matched our course."<o:p></o:p>
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The Revenant lowered until it was fairly close to the ground. The other ship followed suit.<o:p></o:p>
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"The stealth ship is in full pursuit Commander." Sikaris was nervous, he said a small prayer, and as he gave the orders he begged in his mind that this would work.<o:p></o:p>
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"Helmsman full stop. all weapons fire at will." The revenant slowed drastically and the stealth ship sped towards them. The ship couldn't slow down as rapidly as the Revenant, and the two ships nearly collided, but the stealth ship veered away from the revenant and began to fly away. The revenant turned and began to follow, the ships plasma beams slicing through the stealth ships unarmored hull.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"the ship is in full retreat commander, we are pursuing, I estimate that the ship will last two more minutes of our bombardment before she goes down."<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"Excellent be sure to keep some distance, we don't want her pulling the same thing we did."<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
The stealth ship began to lower, as it lost power, and soon it crashed into the jungle. The command crew cheered, as they watched the sixth kill of the day go down in flames. but one of the crew stopped as he noticed something on his console.<o:p></o:p>
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"Commander ship incoming, and fast" Sikaris brought it up on his console. "It's one of the cruisers we pulled down here!" He said<o:p></o:p>
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"Sir how is that possible it should have crashed." one of the officers said in reply<o:p></o:p>
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"not if they keep a high speed. They are probably attempting to build momentum to try and make it back into the void."<o:p></o:p>
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"I don't know about that sir, they are locking on with weapons."<o:p></o:p>
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"get us out of here Lieutenant." Sikaris ordered. It seemed like this day couldn't get any worse.<o:p></o:p>
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The cruiser fired at them and struck several times. It was unlikely that what they had used against the stealth ship would work against this cruiser; it would most likely just ram them.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"Commander we are losing power, the core is going offline." It turned out that this day could get worse<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"reduce power in as many stations as possible, take out life support, recycling, and all non essential computers, divert as much power to the engines..." Sikaris was cut short as the Revenant grazed the top of a particularly high hill. Normally it would just have slowed the ship down but with the engines failing it caused the Revenant to flip. The ship rolled across the ground twice before the failing engines gave one last burst of energy, and the ship flew through the air about two hundred meters and hit the ground.<o:p></o:p>

xmelesiox · Nov 18, 2010

"You have your orders." Taxus said calmly to the three man stealth team, "Unless I give the order you are to remain unknown and anonymous no matter what." It was repetitive to state to these three funebraran, Taxus had hand picked them himself and each was an experienced stealth operative. He still had second thoughts of not confirming this course of action with the commander but it was too late to turn back now. The message that had been slipped into his pocket during the market place attack was vague and until further information was gathered there didn't seem a point in alerting the commander to this third party contact. Taxus and the stealth team were still a fair distance from the meeting point, but this is where they would separate, the stealth team moving into their positions and Taxus continuing on to the rendezvous point, "Remember, keep your emotions completely neutral. If for some reasons comms are blocked I will signal you with varying emotions. Sadness will be to fade away, anger will be to strike and happiness will be bag and tag." The three funebraran simply nodded, this was the third time Taxus had gone over the emotion codes and him being thorough had run its course. Taxus shook the 'hand' of two the Funebraran and gave the third a hug as they broke apart. If anyone was watching it would seem as if four old friends were simply parting ways.

As Taxus made his way to the cafe the attack on the market place was still fresh on his mind. The senseless slaughter of civilians didn't make a lot of sense. Perhaps the Janoikkens knew that Arkoss was having a meeting close by somehow and were making an assassination attempt against a T.S.C. agent. Still, the Funebraran weren't pure T.S.C. it would make more sense to target one of their leaders directly. Maybe it was who Arkoss was meeting with that was the target, Taxus still didn't know a lot about the organization that had leant them their support and there motives were still unclear. Either way something just didn't seem to add up, that's why Taxus felt the need to go to this meeting himself. Also this way the commander wasn't at any risk. If Taxus felt anything funny he could quickly tip the odds into his favor and evacuate the area with limited engagement. In addition Arkoss did always seem to want Taxus to make more independent choices. At least these are the things he told himself to absolve some of the guilt for keeping the message from Arkoss.

The cafe was busy, waiters were moving to and fro and people where coming and going constantly. Though it was an outdoor cafe it seemed a large amount of people were packed in too small an area. As he migrated towards the center of the cafe as the message dictated he looked for a lone figure sitting at a table with two drinks and a buffet style platter. It didn't take long to spot the designated table as the figure sitting alone was a funebraran. It was a mottle brown color, hunched over the table with four different arms constantly rearranging the food. Taxus could read the nervous energies coming off the creature as he approached the table. As he pulled out the chair the creature simply dropped the pieces of food it was holding and folded its arms on the table, "That seat is reserved, sir. I am waiting for a friend." It clicked rapidly.

Taxus sat down anyway, picking up the coffee and taking a sip of the black liquid, "I know it's been a while, but don't you recognize me?" The creature blinked rapidly as he heard the appropriate greeting code. Obviously he was expecting to be meeting with a funebraran, not an exzoid, this seemed to increase the level of nervousness in the creature. Taxus's communication device in his ear started to hiss static quietly so he switched it off, "My name is Taxus and I am the representative that received your message."

The creature nodded, quickly sliding a piece of fruit down its gullet, "I am Sakroy, a pleasure to meet you. There is a communication jammer underneath this table and a deafener to avoid our conversation from being overheard. I hope you understand these are troubled times and precautions must be taken." The creature, Sakroy, shifted its weight around in the chair it was seating. Though its voice and demeanor was apparently calm, its emotions fed off in dispersing energies of anxiety and a small tinge of fright, "The people I represent are seeking your aid in expediting the transition of our planet into the T.S.C.. We can offer your intelligence on several anti T.S.C. cells and political figures that diminish the chances of a peaceful transition. This information could not only assist the T.S.C. in returning peace to Membro, but, would also allow them to put Membro into a state where the planets best choice would be to fully join with the T.S.C.." Sakroy stopped for a moment to take a drink of his coffee, an attempt to let what he stated sink in, as he set his drink down he continued, "All we ask for in return is that you remove some unwanted syndicates that do nothing but destroy our planet in their constant conflicts. We unfortunately do not have the means to eliminate these plagues upon our planet and would only ask that they are removed discreetly."

As Sakroy sat back in his chair, obviously done with his memorized and rehearsed pitch, Taxus leaned forward propping himself up with his elbows, "Who do you represent exactly?" As he asked he was feeling around for the source of unease in Sakroy. It obviously wasn't himself, because if that was the case he wouldn't have been feeling so anxious before his arrival, there was something else that had Sakroy scared. His offer was plan enough, killed the opposition of whoever he represents for the means to leave Membro with no choice but to join the T.S.C..+

Sakroy shifted in his chair, hesitant to answer the question, "I... I can not say at this time. Just know that we only wish for what is best for our planet. We believe that aligning our planet fully with the T.S.C. will bring peace and prosperity to all Membrons." A noble sentiment, but once again it was clear to Taxus that Sakroy was simply repeating what he had been instructed to say.

Taxus leaned back in his chair again, "Very well. If you can not answer that question, perhaps you can answer this one. What is it that you are afraid of?"

Sakroy blinked rapidly, taken aback at the directness of the question to what he was feeling, "There are... Orders, that, if I you attempt to detain me for further questioning, I am to be terminated."

Taxus stood up from the table, "Worry not, I don't plan on torturing you for information you clear don't have." Taxus placed on a data slate on the table, "Here is how this is going to work. I'm going to go now and refer this information to my superiors. If they accept your offer we will meet your people at these coordinates in exactly twenty four hours. They are outside the city so transportation will be required. No more than four of your people shall come to this meeting and they will be unarmed. If we are not at this location twenty four hours from now than that means we have declined your offer. If for any reason we sense foul play, we will not hesitate to take action and I'll hunt <i>you</i> down and kill <i>you</i> myself." As Taxus pushed his chair back into its position he leaned over the table closer to Sakroy, "I don't want you at this meeting. Tell your people to not waste our time with anymore mindless drones."

Without waiting for a reply Taxus made his leave. As he left the cafe he reactivated his comms unit and voxed to the stealth operatives, "Abort. Return to base." Taxus than pulled out his cell and called Arkoss, "We need to talk. I'll be at your quarters in approximately one hour."

When Taxus reaches the base he makes a full debriefing of the meeting and the message to Arkoss.

Warmaster Death · Nov 22, 2010

Musical Score: Red Army Theme (Guitar Version) - Call of Duty World at War Soundtrack

Mobile Infantry Firebase Klendathu

Colonel Gradenko stood facing a platoon of his best men, beside him, the massive form of the Lieutenant-Commander beside him, all armed and provisioned for a long distance recon mission.

"Comrades, An hour ago a vessel slammed down into this jungle, we are to go to the crash site, secure the survivors and assess Freind/foe status am i clear!?" he barked out the orders, and as one the men and women of Alpha responded in the affirmative.
Gradenko turned to Valarian, and the Lieutenant Commander pulled the cocking lever on the large, explosive shell throwing weapon known to the MI troopers as an ARPG-gun.

Several hours later

The Jungle was not overly warm, but the humidity had resulted in almost every trooper barring a select few and LC Valarian virtually swimming in sweat, Gradenko pushed sweat from his eyes as they entered the crash made clearing, the forward elements of his platoon moving towards the wreckage
"Comrade Perchenko, if there are any active radios on board that vessel, transmit our non hostile intentions, and ask if they need assistance, and whilst you are doin so, attempt to determine their allegience, and if they are hostiles, report back to me at once" he whispered to the lanky corporal, who saluted and swung his radio pack around, twisting dials and attempting to find a channel occupied by the survivors, if indeed there was any.

DoomOtter · Nov 26, 2010

onboard PMV Blossom. two hours after crash of AMV Revenant.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"Admiral, the Shadowsrtike is not responding to our attempts to communicate. We have however received Intel that the revenant has crashed sixty kilometers outside of the city Imberron. there does appear to be a vessel at these coordinates that matches the Revenants description." A smile crept across arkins face " send down our airwalkers and secure the site. Kill any survivors, except for the commanding officer I want him brought to me."<o:p></o:p>
"Yes Admiral."<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
AMV Revenant six hours after crash.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"Commander are you alright? speak to me dammit!" it was a female voice, Sikaris was trying to think of who it was. His head was swimming; he barely got the words out "wha.... what's going on?"<o:p></o:p>
"the gods, commander I thought you were dying." It was Lieutenant commander Nakamura, his third in command and the ships translator. "why can't I see?" sikaris asked." The power is out, auxiliary systems are still off line." the Lieutenant commander replied "the doors are jammed shut, and no one else has made a sound. I think most are dead. You were making a lot of noise for a while; you started to scream right before you woke." Sikaris rubbed his head, dried blood scraped off. "I think I might have been dreaming" He said " I was back at serenity station, the command crew had just died, so had my friend Major corris. I was about to take command." Sikaris was starting to feel better, well physically, he tried to forget Serenity station a long time ago, he didn't want to remember how horrible it was.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"What happened there commander?" The Lieutenant commander was trying to help sikaris sit up. <o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"You don't know about Serenity station? Where have you been for the last twenty five years?"<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"I was on earth for the majority of the unification war. My father was human; he didn't want me to join the Alarian Military. Anyways I only reached the appropriate age for enlistment to the academy twenty years ago."<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"I almost wish I had been on earth during the war. I was stationed in the city of Sapporo, on earth, in the TSC's experimental tactics center for the first two years it was going on, i had spent another three there before it started. Then I was called to serve on the planet Mikorras. I spent most of the war on one planet or another until i was assigned to the AMV righteousness. I was on that ship for two months, when we were ordered to go to a small station on the edge of republic space. It was on the other end of our territory from where the war was being fought, so the Praetor decided to head to the headquarters of the TSC through Serenity station, and the rebels caught wind of it and attacked." Sikaris really didn't want to tell her this but it seemed to be clearing his head."The problem is that the Praetor had already reached the TSC and he didn't go through serenity station. We were a decoy and we attracted the largest combined colonial fleet the rebels ever assembled, hundreds of ships versus two dozen. they fired a volley of shots to try and scare us away. The righteousness's shields were not active so it tore a hole in the hull the size of a pin, right where the bridge was. It decompressed the whole room before the safeguards were activated. Everyone died instantly, and I was the highest ranked person on board."<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
Sikaris was about to continue when they heard a voice over the intercom "hello? Bridge, is anyone there?"<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
Nakamura helped Sikaris to his feet and led him through the darkness to the old fashion intercom near the door. Thank the gods they still installed these things. Sikaris thought to himself<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"This is Colonel Sikaris"<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"Thank the gods, it works everyone" the sound of cheers could be heard over the intercom. "Commander this is Lieutenant March, in engineering, we're trying to bring the Revenants auxiliary systems online, but we have been having some difficulties."<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"What's wrong with the auxiliary systems?"<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"the lines burned out when the core went haywire, we are salvaging or replacing as many of the lines as we can, but we only was a few auxiliary batteries operating right now, so we are prioritizing where we are sending power, this is the first time a salvaged power line has worked."<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"What do you have running on the batteries now?"<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"we have the ships armor polarized so no one can get in, and we have power running to medical, and engineering." <o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"Is there any chance you could get the bridge operating?"<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"I didn't want to run too much power to the line before we tested it more, but I can give it a try."<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
The intercom went dead for a few seconds and the bridge lights suddenly came on<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"Did it work commander?"<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"Yes it did lieutenant, thank you."<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
Most of the Bridge crew was either lying on the floor or slumped over their consoles. Sikaris stopped when he saw the helmsman. His head had hit the console when the ship hit the ground, and it had burst open, Sikaris rubbed his head thinking of how fortunate he was to not have shared that fate.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
He walked over to his console and started up the holographic display. There were no creatures within two hundred meters of the ship. the crash must have scared them off. Or killed them. he thought.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
Sikaris opened up a secured channel that only Alarian military used." any Alarian military personnel this is AMV Revenant, we have crash landed on the planet Membros and are in dire need of assistance we have wounded and the ship is land bound. Repeat we need immediate assistance. We have encountered the war criminal Arkin, he is in control of the Blossom. We need to speak with High admiral, Ralis."He added a bit more, like how he was working with the Funebrarans. Just to be sure no one would get his message; he spoke in the dialect of Alarian used in his home prefecture. Any Alarian would recognize it, but anyone who spoke Alarian as a second language, only knew the colonial dialect, which used horrible grammar, and a lot of slang. Not even any translation equipment would be able to completely decipher the message, because they too were based off of Colonial Alarian.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
Liutennant March contacted Sikaris again, after he had finished his message. This time though it was through the commanders console." sir we can get all of the ship's power back on, but we will need some replacement parts. Do you think we could find some in the nearby city?"<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"no, our people have kept our technology a secret, and this world isn't the most advanced." Sikaris opened up a map of the area" but I know where a crashed Alarian vessel is."<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>

Warmaster Death · Nov 26, 2010

MI positions outside AMV Revenant

Perchenko stiffened as the radio squawked in an unfamiliar language, he beckoned for the Colonel and Lieutenant commander
"Sirs, unknown radio traffic, playing on known military channel three-fourty" he called, and Valarian nodded, each member of the Death Spire Necroguard being able to recognize languages and known foreign cultures due to intense study, and as he neared, the Lieutenant commander listened to the message replay intently, listening for cues or words that would give clues as to the language being spoken.

it took hi three playthroughs, but eventually he turned to Colonel Gradenko, his face grave
"Sounds like an Alarian Dialect, though I cannot make out any of the words" he began, but Gradenko snarled and held up a hand
"Perchenko, hand the comms set to Valarian, Comrade Valarian, would you please tell them that if they don't identify themselves and their allegiance, we shall have to identify them as hostiles and treat them accordingly, do so in english first, then any language you know these, 'Alarians' will likely understand" he barked, signaling with hand gestures for the Demolitions team to prepare their munitions.

if things went sour, The Mobile infantry platoon would call for reinforcements and go in guns blazing. but then, hopefully, the survivors of the crash would be friendly.

DoomOtter · Dec 3, 2010

Alarians had learned a lot from the twenty year civil war that had recently ended. One of the foremost lessons learned was that you do your job, even if no one else seems to be doing theirs. So Colonel Malis had all of the ships airwalkers organized and ready within a half hour of the crash, they had fully secured the area around the ship in two. The Alarians were big on hiding their numbers. They had set up Machine gun nests and auto turrets, so that no one would be able to find them without extensive searching. Also Colonel Malis sent out the elite soldiers that were a part of a commando unit called the Deathstalkers. they were a soldiers who had perfected the art of stealth. They were the ones who were sent far behind enemy lines, when the higher ups wanted something done tactfully. There were one hundred Deathstalkers assigned to the Revenant. The other two hundred were soldiers were also part of the alarian military's special forces. They were called the fangs of the Republic, but most people simply called them the reapers. They took shock and awe to a whole new level. They were usually called in to take out large numbers of hostiles as quickly as possible, usually being massively out numbered. The reapers were all in the hangar bays closest to the ground. The hangar bay doors were rigged to open at a moment's notice, at which time they would swarm out and do what they did best. The Deathstalkers would patrol the area around the crash site and the reapers would defend it. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
When the newcomers came they were cautious. They observed them for a while. They were using a unique communication device that the Alarian military developed to be uninterceptable. Colonel Maris stood less than two meters away from their leaders. Or at least he guessed they were the leaders. He was playing with them, seeing how long it would take for them to realize that twenty heavily armed soldiers were right there. They were using active camouflage to hide from prying eyes. Even if that failed they were all wearing gillie suits. the last line given by the commander angered him somewhat. It was time to quit playing and get down to business.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"You're not very smart." he said as he disengaged his active camo. He was leaning against a tree, his men also disengaged their camo, but unlike their commander they were ready for a fight. " there is nothing yu could have carried through the jungle that would crack that hull. also you haven't been looking to see if anyone had already secured this crash site. oh and on that note you might want to have your men stop before they enter our auto turrets kill zone."<o:p></o:p>

Dawn Bringer Invictus · Dec 3, 2010

Hidden From Our Sight

 [FONT=&quot]The funebraran shroud operative dropped from the ceiling, a great black shape that seemed to simply emerge from the shadows, as if he was a part of them. He fell upon the floor, kicking up dust and making no sound aside from a repressed *thump*, the only visible shape in the room aside from Kelia. He strode past her, his eyes now revealed; two orb-like shapes, a mottled yellow in cover, broken up into octagonal shapes. A small cluster of secondary eyes lay inbetween them. His stride was menacing, faster than it seemed as Talia disappeared behind his night-black form. He was not a tall funebraran, being from a species of cricket-like insects, yet he brought about the atmosphere of a hundred men as he closed in on the terrified "thugs."

The two awakened captives began to wriggle back on their backs, attempting to increase the distance as much as they could. Another shape loomed out from the black, grabbing the back of the varanon's neck as his human companion found himself against a wall, frozen in fear.

The human raised a hand in fear against the creature closing in. His eyes seemed to widen and sweat began to fall down his face like raindrops. His mouth opened to speak, but all that came out was a choke as a powerful arm slammed into the area between his neck and his chest, holding him up against the wall. He attempted to yell in protest, but only gags came out of his mouth. Arms yanked and pushed, legs kicked out, but the shroud operative remained unchanged in his relentless determination. His head moved in slowly, until it was face to face with the man's, now silent and pale with fear. Another hand suddenly darted out, roughly grabbing something in the man's jacket, before extracting it and passing it to Kelia, his eyes still locked onto his unfortunate subject.[FONT=&quot]

It was a communications device, a modified cell-phone for military operators, and it was receiving messages of sorts, voice ones. They were frantic and buzzing. It seemed like someone was being missed.[/FONT]

In a low voice, he spoke to the human. English was clearly not his first language and there were odd pauses between words, but his tone and cutting delivery, dripping with venom and accented strongly, left no room for misinterpretation.[FONT=&quot]

"Reveal," he said, elongating words past their natural sonic length "Tell, if not Jaano, or Koho, then what? Normal thug, no, don't give me your lie. Normal thug don't use this-"[/FONT]

He pulled out a handgun and jabbed it under his jaw. It was an energy-fed design, elaborately crafted, laser-designator mounted under the barrel, internal electronics present in its body, and the smell of burnt energy coming from its open chamber.

"Normal thug, who here he serve? Hs big crime boss, he dead, koho and jaano... killed all of he and his thugs, just to make room for their little hunt. Normal thug, he shouldn't be where special forces play their little games." he continued, the scathing tone like that of an angered animal, just ready to strike at any moment.

"You get message. Now, you tell me, her, who you really are. You not lie, you live. You give us more bullshit-"[FONT=&quot]

The man let out a pained cry as claws begin to emerge from the gripping hand, digging into his flesh.[/FONT][FONT=&quot]

Orodran Varracian was a funebraran who often preferred to speak in the language of his own people, quite fluently so. He was said to be a poet of native funebraran, but none could deny his leadership and his efficiency. Already, hidden funebraran Shroud stealth operatives were laying bets on how fast it would take him to get what he needed out of the man.[/FONT][FONT=&quot]

[/FONT]
[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]++++++++++[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]

"Troubling Taxus. I get the feeling someone wants to know something about us. T.S.C. intelligence are likely working alongside this group; could be just a planetary division of theirs for all I know." said Arkoss as Taxus finished telling him about his secret meeting.

Arkoss was leaning against a wall in his office as Vetzer sat at his desk, going over information he'd taken from his private sortie into the Solstice databanks. He managed to dig up some of their history, displaying it above the desk in a holo-screen. Solstice was heavily linked to this planet's past; business transaction records and old maps displayed a variety of companies they owned as well as facilities they'd set up all over the planet. Flash forward a few years to anti-T.S.C. rebellions, and many of these structures were seized by the planetary government, sometimes violently. Others had simply gone black and disappeared in the misty jungles and the data-archives. The causes were not entirely specific; some stated that the jaanoaikken and the kohoavtse had taken overrun these facilities, but neither Arkoss nor Vetzer were buying it. As far as he was concerned, those ones couldn't have been reached without some form of help. Photo-data revealed that they were very heavily guarded and often concealed, placed in the depths of the great jungles. The intense planetary warfare of the time would also mean that Jaanoaikken and Kohoavtse forces would be too busy either killing one another or revolting against the Coalition.[FONT=&quot]

"Oi, enough of talk of your third party solicitation, look here" interrupted Vetzer. He brought up a holographic cube shape, highlighted yellow, to the center of the screen. Closing his fingers on it and then opening, a new bundle of information unravelled itself. Arkoss' eyes scanned the information carefully. Most of it consisted of a few blurry pictures taken in the middle of heated combat, but attached were debriefings and reports, cryptic in their tone. What he could make out though, was that there was an unidentified party of sorts. The text referred frequently to their possession of experimental weaponry and armour along with being incredibly well coordinated and not of this planet. The images weren't doing whoever they were justice. In the photos, taken sometime during the ending years of the war, they looked like little more than jagged, blurred shapes holding angular and pointed weaponry. The rough-hewn and dark uniforms of jaanoaikken rebels could be seen at their side.[/FONT][FONT=&quot]

Solstice history on the planet cut off few months after the end of the wars. They had simply lost too much ground to whoever these mysterious soldiers were. More than a few of their hidden outposts were reported as having been sabotaged by their own men, simply destroyed to deny their enemies whatever secrets they contained.[/FONT][FONT=&quot]

"Any other intel on these ugly lads?" questioned Arkoss, enlarging and attempting to clarify the images. It didn't help much; the blurs that were taken away only revealed shapes that seem to have been distorted by the camera being jarred around during what was presumed to be a very intense conflict.

"None that I could find; the archives awfully quiet about them."[/FONT]

"Well, that aside, we can assume Solstice are probably returning to re-occupy or at least re-claim something from these facilities. At least that's one of the reasons why they're coming back here."

"And the blurs?" said Vetzer. His face was still the grim, morose mask it always was. He still wasn't over he and Arkoss' disagreement a few days earlier. One of his long-barrelled magnums was twirling around in his hands lazily.[FONT=&quot]

"Assume they're here. The jaanoaikken have been returning increasingly well armed. Taxus' report shows that they're no longer the poorly armed rebels government reports make them out to be." replied Arkoss, moving off the wall and to the center of the room. The door soon opened and Sorvaille entered, looking flustered. She breathed a sigh, simply passing Arkoss by before dropping, a flash-drive like device on the table. Vetzer looked up and flashed her a wry smile.[/FONT]

"Ten more minutes and I'd think you were showing Skorza the finer points of carapace-joint therapy." he said, his tone suggestive and almost prying. To this Sorvaille rolled her eyes and elbowed him, being rewarded with a small "ough."

"Oh now you're just blowing my extra-voivodal activities out of proportion," she replied irritatably "Spent an hour yelling with the tecchies trying to shake them off, but they apparently have no idea what 'certified command pass' means. But alas, my whinings isn't fit for our little serious discussion on evil money-grubbing corporations prancing around in the jungles. Plug it in, Halovic."[FONT=&quot]

After he inserted the device into one of the data-ports, yet another information cluster entered the holo-screen. He minimized the Solstice data, making room for Sorvaille's discovery. Bizarre symbols, looking almost like bone-fragments, out of which small pointers with small info tidbits were stuck, filled up the screen, suddenly expanding like a balloon. Notes suddenly came into view, assorting themselves under the esoteric shapes in nearly military formation. Arkoss immediately went for the notes, pulling them and cross referencing with the symbols, his eyes racing across them. Half-pushing Vetzer away, he brought up the information from Markarov's disk, moving it to the right. There was an uncanny semblance between the broken shapes he'd seen in the encrypted data the pleurod general had given him.

They'd essentially found a way to decode the glyph-shapes, having the translations of whatever the symbols stood for. Arkoss looked off the two voivods and spoke quickly.[/FONT]

"Get the techs you two, we have a lot of decoding to do."[FONT=&quot]

He looked back at Taxus and put a hand on his shoulder.

"I'll be going off to meet our new friends. It's not going to be a clean deal, but I doubt they can really claim to such as much as well. We get what we want, and we get out."

[/FONT]
[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot] ++++++++++
[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]

Hidden beneath the shrouds of the jungles green was a wide variety of life. Stilt-footed mites, as large as ostriches, hopped across the muddy rain-soaked paths on this sunny afternoon. Above them were large flowers, their blossoms looking like small explosions of flower petals out of which spear-like spore-spires emerged. Multi-limbed lizards with wing-like flaps frequently hopped off their elongated eel-like stems, using them as towers with which to observe the organic paradise of the jungle. Other life forms also inhabited this mostly unspoiled paradise, but they were not of flesh, herb, or exoskeleton. A zerfayll captain, standing at a towering nine foot, moved through the thick growth. It was not alone. Other fungal warriors alongside human and varanon forces, dressed in sleek jungle-camo-pattern armour, slipped through the brush like little more than a passing wind. The zerfayll in particular was the commander of these forces. Not the jaanoaikken or the kohaoavtse; they were armed with weaponry far beyond the outdated black market trades of the former nor the stolen military and police weaponry of the latter. This was private military corporation level gear, the load-outs more often seen in possession of professional mercenary groups with multiple star-system holdings and various contracts with major corporations and planetary militaries.[FONT=&quot]

The zerfayll captain and the rest of his team were just one of multiple converging upon the crashed Alarian ship and its Mobile Infantry rescuers. From the tributaries to its east, submersed aquatic craft and amphibious armoured vehicles began to quietly emerge from the murk and mud, discharging a variety of infantry, support robots, and even a few light mecha. To the west and south, heavy weapons crews and artillery platforms were being set up on the elevated plateaus and mountainsides. Experimental warp-shells, capable of ripping holes into the othyrworld, were being loaded into mortars and cannons. In others, explosives whose role was to scramble and wreak havoc upon electronics were armed for launch. And from the north, the towering zerfayll warrior and the rest of the assault force fell into position at the outskirts of the defensive perimeters, just out of sight of both. Air and armour support lay in wait like lurking predators, ready to burst forth in the need that both prove hardier than expected.[/FONT][FONT=&quot]

The captain raised a single trunk-like gnarled arm, his four long and powerful root-legs bent like knees putting him into a rough crouch. He had a variety of bio-cybernetic weaponry at his disposal, but he chose this on in particular out of his six arms. It was a pod-spitting nightmare that could reduce a light support bot to scrap metal in a few seconds, its deadly ammo encased in a specialized metal shell designed for increased aero dynamic performance. On a few rails below it a disk-launching weapon was mounted, able to eject spinning, buzz-saw like plates that tore through steel and bone before exploding into a storm of spines and flames. Behind the mottled armour of his unusual physical form, in which a plethora of other weapons lay hidden, he analyzed the situation through multiple vision nodes, some of which were also concealed from prying eyes. He scanned the area cautiously, cross-referencing data with intel from other support units, taking note of enemy weapon emplacements, commanders, targets of interest, and other objectives. One of his targeting reticules fell over a few Mobile Infantrymen discussing matters at a radio. Soon another targeting reticule would fall upon that area, but this time at an Alarian commando, just having uncloaked himself. A shoulder mounted weapon was taken out. Emerging from his shoulder like a parasite leaving the body, it appeared to be a cannon, with four ridges running across its length, coloured light purple in contrast to the dark brown-green of the fungal warrior. It levelled to the Alarian, ready at a moment's notice to discharge a cluster round, one that would detonate once at a pre-determined distance and shred its targets apart with a barrage of smaller explosives.

As the entire force took aim, a series of *thumps* could be heard in the distance. There was little time to react as a flashes of blue detonated all over the body of the crashed cruiser. The electromagnetic shells went off, wreaking havoc upon whatever electronics were still functioning, as a secondary barrage began to hammer the area, ripping open occult gateways and washing the area in the lethal energies of the othyrworld.[/FONT]

The second the shells detonated, the captain and the rest of the attack force opened fire. The end results were not a pretty sight.[/FONT]

Warmaster Death · Dec 3, 2010

Gradenko looked his counterpart in the eyes, and he laughed.
It was all he could do not to shoot the imbecile for his arrogance.

They had been speaking on encrypted channels as though the traffic would not be detectable. they had engaged electronic stealth devices that created large blips on the Lieutenant-Commander's auspex as soon as they closed.

"Comrade, your arrogance amuses me. Tell your soldiers to look down. Tell them to disengage the Landmines that a few of them have stepped on" he said, directing the Alarian's attention to a small, handheld device, about to enlighten the arrogant commander as to the detection powers of an Auspex, but it was at that moment that the cough of grenade launchers echoed through the jungle and Valerian Swung, his enhanced vision picking through the Alariang stealth team, who he could not actually see, but the displacement of light around their bodies made their locations plain to see, but past them he saw warriors with shoulder mounted weapons advancing

"Enemy Soldiers, advancing, a hundred metres out!" he roared, pointing in the diriection of the approaching assault

"To Arms! Do not let the enemy take the Vessel!" Gradenko ordered, and his men moved to shoulder their weapons
"Comrade Commander, either we die fighting sepereatly or we survive together, make your choice!" he barked, chambering a round on his Morita rifle as he did so

"Soldiers, Hold fire, possible freindlies between us and the target with stealth systems engaged, await confirmation of their moving out of your fire lane before you open fire" Valarian said quietly into his comm-bead but as the words left hsi mouth several grenades landed amidst the MI troopers, the rippling explosions and shrapnel killing an eighth of the platoon, but they could not retaliate with the Alarians in the way.

DoomOtter · Dec 3, 2010

The ship shuddered. Sikaris used his console to look at the forces outside, and he knew right away that there was little that could be done. The first thing he did was get in contact with Malis. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
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" Sir this is Sergeant terray Colonel malis has been injured, we are under heavy fire."<o:p></o:p>
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"Get your squad and the humans back to the ship" Sikaris replied" Contact the rest of the Deathstalkers and relay my orders to them" The sergeant confirmed the orders and the comms went dark.<o:p></o:p>
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Systems were beginning to go offline. He didn't have much time, soon he wouldn't have control of the ship. His next act was to open the various weapons caches scattered throughout the ship. He then got on the ships PA system "This is commander Sikaris, we are being attacked by an unknown enemy. All personnel are to arm themselves and head towards hangar bay one. Repeat we are under attack. All personnel arm yourselves and get to hangar bay one."<o:p></o:p>
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"Who is currently in command of the Airwalkers?"<o:p></o:p>
"Major Kathos" came the reply.<o:p></o:p>
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"Major Kathos this is Commander Sikaris, report."<o:p></o:p>
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"We are holding them fairly well sir. We could really use some fire support though."<o:p></o:p>
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"There won't be any fire support, I have ordered the deathstalkers back to the ship, I want you to give them and the humans covering fire, when they arrive I want you all inside the ship."<o:p></o:p>
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"Sir we can take these guys."<o:p></o:p>
"No Major we can't. They are killing crew members without even piercing our hull, they massively outnumber us, and we don't have any kind of long range communications." <o:p></o:p>
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"Commander Number don't win the battle, I would think somebody who fought at serenity station would know that."<o:p></o:p>
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That angered Sikaris deeply" First of all major I don't want to hear you talk back to me like that ever again. Second there is a saying from earth. Those who enter a battle hoping to live shall surely die, but those who enter battle expecting to die shall surely live. It's not exactly like that but at any rate. We at serenity station knew we were going to die, we had our chance to run, but we didn't. we knew we were going to die, so we fought as if it were the last battle we would ever fight. That is why we survived. Now my orders stand. Hold back the enemies forces until the Deathstalkers and the humans get here, then enter the ship and lock her down. Am I clear?"<o:p></o:p>
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"Yes sir"<o:p></o:p>
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Sikaris didn't even respond He had one more thing to do. he activated a device that was deep inside the ship, and he connected a comm. to it. "Neros, wake up. It's time for you to fulfill the measure of your creation." the comm crackled in reply. "Hello father How may i serve the republic today?" Sikaris hated Neros. Whoever designed the AI must have been morbid. Calling the commanding officer father. Acting like what it was supposed to do was something as simple as holding a door open, or making a bed. Neros was an acronym for nukleas ereos romasin omasel serwin. In English it meant Shipboard Nuclear self-destruct device. "when I command it serve the republic." the whole conversation was an activation code. Something way too complicated to say by accident yet something that could be used without someone else's knowledge. "Yes father I will serve the republic when you command It." it sounded like it was taking pleasure in the fact it was about to destroy everything in a two mile radius, including itself. Sikaris rose from his seat and walked to a recently opened panel in the wall. His command crew lined up behind him. he began passing out weapons and packs full of survival gear. He walked out of the bridge hoping that it wouldn't be the last time. Unfortunately it was.<o:p></o:p>

xmelesiox · Dec 6, 2010

(Written to a compilation on my MP3 players but the songs that got the fingers flying where Bush - Machinehead and Papa Roach - Kick in the Teeth --- AND APPLAUSE to my MP3 player for playing Six AM (I think) Life is Beautiful at the very end of this post, just - perfect)

The whole conversation played out without Taxus saying a word after his debriefing. It wasn't that he didn't trust the others in the room it simply was that the idea on his mind should be for the commanders ears alone. The coming meeting provided an opportunity that could be a great benefit to the funebraran if Arkoss saw eye to eye with Taxus's thinking. He had thought a lot since the previous engagements, researched deeper into the ever breaking promise of the T.S.C. and an idea had formed in his mind with a vigor that left himself unsettled. He never second thought why he followed Arkoss after he saved his life as a child and it for a long time he had thought he fought so hard for the funebraran born of that loyalty. Recently he started to question this ideal realizing the reason why he fought alongside them was how akin he was to them. He didn't know much about his own species, only that they were few and far spread without a world of their own. As much as he had thought it was loyalty alone that pushed him forward it really was a wanting for a home. A place where maybe he could call others of his own kind and start over. He'd searched through endless amount of files to try and find what had happened that left the Exzoid's homeless to no avail. In all his journeys with the funebraran he'd yet to physically meet another of his kind.

Though information laid about before him and processed it on a secondary level as his mind turned to his own thoughts. It was Arkoss's hand on his shoulder that really snapped him mentally back to the room. It was twenty minutes till they meeting would occur and that was a good of time as any to get into position. He'd chosen his location carefully and as to not draw attention on their side they weren't getting there by conventional means. Sure, a vehicle of any sorts would be drastically more comfortable than Taxus's ripping them through a tunnel in the other wyrld, but, not only was it faster it was much more discreet (in a manner of speaking). Without a word to the others in the room Taxus placed his hand on Arkoss's opposite shoulder and in the blink of an eye they were gone.

They stood in a large meadow that was sixteen miles off any known roadway and over fifty miles from the city. It was bordered by the jungles to the north of them and a river ran from the jungle down to the east of them. The city was far to the south and there visitors would likely come from the west or south if they came from normal means of transportation. Through out the meadow Taxus had taken the time to plant and hide the new devices he called energy disks. He had hidden twenty four in fact, far more than he would normally carry on him into a mission and probably far more than would be needed. At any side of treachery the plan was to activate all twenty four releasing a maelstrom of energy that ringed the meadows giving him the opportunity to wreak a fair amount of havoc before Arkoss and him left the way they came. Though he wasn't expecting any trouble he still had came fully armed and well prepared just in case. He was fully responsible if anything happened to Arkoss in this meeting and he had taken every precaution to make sure nothing would, "Sir, there is something I would like to speak with you now that we are alone." Taxus stepped away from Arkoss and stared at the roaring river, "I think we can turn the information we can gain from this meeting into something more than just T.S.C. intelligence. The people we are meeting with are willing to give us intelligence of the strongest defendable points on the planet, insides information to any opposing forces and apparent abundance of information that can be used by the T.S.C. to take and hold the planet with the most ease." Taxus paused for a moment, the feeling of standing at a cliffs edge passing over him. As he turned to face Arkoss again in his mind he stepped off that cliff, "What if we use it for us? We can play along with these associates and use their information to take the planet for us. They're willing to give us everything we need to make the planet ready for new owners. They want those new owners to be the T.S.C. but we could easily turn it for our favor. Why not just take what your people deserve and quit waiting on the T.S.C. to fulfill an obligation they've made apparent that they will not?"

He wasn't sure how Arkoss was going to take his new way of thinking but he felt that he had to say it regardless of the reaction. T-minus fifteen minutes the Council agent would arrive with their agreement. They would come with their end of the agreement an assortment of data slates full of information on different organizations and assets located throughout the planet. All they asked for this information was seven Janos bases and four Koho bases secured with anybody located inside these bases eliminated. The describe themselves as heroes of Membros, the eye of an ever growing storm, the only people possible to bring peace, prosperity and hope to their planet. So important was this meeting to them one of the Kings himself had come - an Ursylle Olbrak who was a high ranking member of Membron's current political organization. They only had about ten minutes to negotiate the dealings and perhaps more could've been gained if the time had been allowed.

Unfortunately the meeting was cut short as a small Koho army of light infantry emerged from the jungle with weapons raised. They informed the group they were being detained and to make no sudden movements or they would be fired upon. As several of the soldiers approached to restrain each individual Taxus tripped the small detonator on the cuff link of his shirt. Each energy disk went off simultaneously releasing lightning bolts of energy that shot directly up from them in mushroom cloud style formation. There was only a split second for the approaching soldiers to realize that they were in any form of danger as the separate energy disruptions swirled together to create a circular shield of racing lightning that cut them off from the rest of the troops. As they raised their guns to fire several bolts flew from the circular storm slamming into them from different directions and dropping them where they stood. The soldiers outside the circle begun to open fire their ballistic and laser fire hitting the electrical storm to no avail. Grabbing Arkoss Taxus pulled him towards the ground, and the other wyrld, mouthing a 'sorry' to Ursylle. As they hit the ground the energy that was a shield moved up to take the shape of several different clouds that rapidly begun to disperse energy bolts indiscriminately into the group of soldiers causing. The bolts inflicting injuries but very few casualties as the energy dissipated quickly acting more as a distraction than an offensive maneuver. It only lasted a few seconds but by the time the 'smoke' clearing Arkoss and Taxus where gone. The weapons fire from the alarmed soldiers had left Ursylle Olbrak nothing more than a bullet riddled corpse.

His wouldn't be the last corpse to hit the meadow that day. The large energy storm and gun fire from the Koho soldiers had alerted a small Solstice strike force. As the Koho Light Infantry Regiment was trying to salvage on information from the body of Ursylle and preparing to move out the Solstice strike team moved in for investigation. For two hours a small battle raged between the Solstice Strike Team and the Koho infantry.

At the end of the conflict Cormech surveyed the damage his team had wreaked upon the light infantry. Three hundred an seventy eight bodies littered the ground. Only two of Cormech's team had fallen in battle and seven had suffered injuries that would keep them from the battlefield for week or two at most. Still, whatever had caused that energy bloom had to be a powerful channeler and more information had to be found on the one who had set up this meeting. At first it didn't seem relevant to Cormech that Arkoss's body guard would set up a meeting in his place. But the only two to come to this meeting were this Taxus and Arkoss and the latter was not nearly strong of enough channeler to create that signature. This Taxus could be something far more dangerous than he had previous assumed, something Cormech had hunted before.

(Sorry for the kind of out placeness of the following)

As Taxus and Arkoss tore through the other wyrld a powerful disruption ripped through the currents of energies. Taxus's 'tunnel' buckled and nearly collapsed, sheer force of will holding it intact as they traveled. As they slammed back into the real world Taxus buckled to his knees, gagging at the recoil of energies pressed against him as they had traveled. He was unsure if Arkoss knew how close to be trapped, and more than likely destroyed, in the other wyrld as they had moved through it. Something unnatural had just occurred that had sent a terrible ripple through the other wyrld for just a moment. That moment had almost been enough to disrupt Taxus's ability to move through the other wyrld and the effects of being there when it happened where relative to extreme motion sickness. His senses where heavily disrupted and his body felt the need to force expulsion even though he did not technically eat.

---

Golaun Kadlego was very pleased with himself this day. Regardless of minor set backs everything was moving according to plan. Due to an unfortunate string of incidents the other three Bishops running the Tibautho assassination mission had become deceased. This left Golaun in full control of all four strike teams. Unfortunately one of those strike teams was still refusing to check in, but, of course these things were to be expected. His ever present T.S.C. body guard/contact Korasphion was an ever vigilant silent statue in his room. Just ten minutes ago he had gotten coordination from the two of the strike teams. They had confirmed Tibautho's position and where moving in to secure and link up with his personal strike team. This news was already anticipated though and the call had been expected. No, at this time Golaun, though very pleased with his current workings, was pacing in his room waiting for the confirmation of his most recent action.

As if an eternity had passed in moments Golaun nearly jumped in anticipation as his phone rang. Quickly he answered, "Yes?" And a smile creased his face as a short sentence was relied to him and he hung up. He looked over at Korasphion, "It is done. Ursylle is dead, and with the other recent tragedies, I will be a King soon enough." Of course, Korasphion said nothing in return but that didn't bother Golaun one bit. He was nearly dancing around the room with joy at the fruition of his plans. For even as Tibautho was being taken out of the equation actions were being set into motion that would leave his death a compact secret.

For Golaun's strike team was not as lightly equipped as the other two that had found and secured Tibautho. In fact, they were carrying excessively heavy arms with orders to remove the other two strike teams and Tibautho in one fell swoop. Unfortunately for his strike team what they didn't know was going to severely hurt them. Each of their armaments had been equipped with remotely detonated explosives. They moment they called in the confirmation of Tibautho and the two strike teams they would go up in an explosion that would incinerate anything in a fifteen foot radius and cause collateral damage in a one block radius. Thus obliterating anything that could be linked back to him or the T.S.C. on the Tibautho situation. His strike team was sent to rendezvous with the other in approximately a half hour. As long as nothing went awry in that half hour Golaun would be in a perfect position to become one of the Kings of the Council.

xmelesiox · Dec 14, 2010

Six soldiers were currently hunkered down in one of the several warehouses. The scouts were due back any minute, "Check your weapons you two." The commander of the small group pointed to the two men with light machine guns, "I don't want you firing unless we have no other option. Your guns would bring a lot of unnecessary attention. And you two - do another run on your jet packs, if we have to use them the last thing I want is them malfunctioning." Two of the soldiers removed their jet packs and begun to run diagnosis them on for the third time since the mission had started. They cleaned any debris off them and checked the fuel lines. They than preceded to check their side arms, their primary weapons being two handed energy swords and the secondary were high calibre slug pistols with five round clips and one in the chamber. Only made to fire as they closed the distance with their enemies.

There were two captains in the room now that the teams had joined up but the younger captain had given lead the more experienced one. Each captain was equipped with las carbines and las pistol side arms. The las carbines fired hot shot packs which packed more of a punch but expended their charge at twice the rate. Gabriel, the captain in charge, didn't like this one bit. The third assault team had failed to check in several hours ago and than failed to show up the current rendezvous point leaving them a team short. Each team had one scout, one heavy weapons, one assault trooper and a captain. Normally in Council missions if a team failed to check in they were considered compromised and the mission would be aborted to secure the Councils identity. However when Gabriel had called his Bishop after the team was confirmed as missing he had been patched to a Golaun, the bishop of the extraction crew, who told him to continue with the mission. Golaun assumed they had probably just ran into one of the two armies and had failed to provide the proper clearance. Gabriel thought that was bullshit, but wasn't about to challenge a Bishop. He was a soldier, a Knight, and he did what he was told.

Two smaller men with silenced sniper rifles slung over their shoulder stepped into the warehouse. One of them stepped forward, "We have him sir. Tibautho's location is confirmed. It is him and he has two other men with him. All three appear to have las rifles of some sort. They seem on edge, to say the least."

The captain nodded, "Alright then men, we move out. You scouts stay behind and cover us with your rifles. Move up to the roof of this warehouse and prepare for the worse. Lorat," He pointed to the other captain, "You and I will have point. Will use an explosive pack on the side of the warehouse. As that blows will have the assault troopers come in from the roof of the warehouse with a melta pack. Ours will be the loud bang to draw their attention and the assault troopers will drop on the two guards from above. Gunners, you got our back. Only fire if the need truly arises. We want to keep this as quiet as possible and those guns of yours aren't exactly quiet." Gabriel grabbed his radio and tuned to the encoded channel the extraction team had secured, "Extraction team this is Gabriel. T-minus seven minutes for extraction. Move to the location."

The two teams moved out of the warehouse and begun to move down the street. Their target was inside a large red warehouse that was a vehicle depot.

In the killing zone, near the back of the Janoikken forces, a single armored transport was giving the green light to disengage from the mass of forces. It slowly begun to roll into the warehouse district. On top of the armored transport was a high caliber heavy machine gun mounted by a gunner. Inside the back of the transport was eight shock troopers ready to perform their mission of execution.

Dawn Bringer Invictus · Dec 21, 2010

Violence And Force

Like a storm of steel and wrath, the shock troopers fell upon both canine and necronaut. Elite weaponry supplied through less than legal means was put to deadly use in the same way it often found its way into pro-T.S.C. rebel hands. Bursting from behind trees and dislodged chunks of craft, the elite soldiers clad in light pseudo-power amour advanced viciously on their fallen target. Like a carefully orchestrated series of lights, muzzle flashes from their arms went of in lines of sparks and flashes, sending a variety of deadly shots towards their stranded enemies. The canines were holding along with their newfound allies, but the pressure was mounting with every round fired.

A spinal cord to which half a human torso was attached was flung to the side, spraying its fluids in a gory mess. Striding through the belleagured defences, the zerfayll warrior seemed more mythic monster than weapon of war. Four gnarled limbs, longer than a full grown man, swung in a wide killing zone, their reaping motions rewarded with the seperation of limb from body. They were tough bastards, it pondered as a point blank fragmentor cannon at a charging sergeant. This one was different, he mused, watching as he expertly weaved left and right as the cannon roared, firing flaming blasts of shrapnel in a wide cone. He'd come closer than the rest of his misfortunate kind. The bone-like armour, leering yellow eyes, arm-mounted multi-gun in one hand, an incendiary combat axe in the other. He almost was tempted to let him land the first blow but he subsided this thought and moved first, sending a lower-body claw into the man's stomach. He saw right into those eyes, full of hate and fury. They went out like broken lights as his closed "fingers" opened, quartering the warrior.

A worthy effort, but he was a titan amongst his kind, one who would not be slain easily by the bravado of a cornered dog.

He had enough of playing the overwhelming one man force, sending heroes to a valiant end. He saw a target, quite the appealing one. Shouting orders, firing streams of raging armour piercing death. His own human, varanon, and zerfayll forces, bodies twisting and jerking as the touch of red death sent them to a violent end. Yes, his splattered remains would do just fine to satisfy this lust for vengeance and blood.

Four stretched finger-limbs twisted and re-structured themselves, becoming a spike-throwing auto-weapon. Jabbing it in front of him, he knocked one of the wolf-men over, a short cry emitted as it fell on its back. The resulting burst of heated spines turned him into an uncrecognizable pile of armor fragments and meat, along with the entire row in front of him. Hearing an assault team of his own lizard warriors closing in behind him, he left to them the task of finishing off the defensive formation. Scuttling forth, he could tell by their maddening hisses and death-threat yells that their grime task was being done. The naturally formed weaponry of these native reptiles still impressed him to this day.

White hot heat hammered his left side and a primal growl, like rotting wood being slowly split apart, vented from his body like steam. He swiveled to the right, eye-nodes hidden beneath his hull-armour lighting up like torches. It was a shimmer, a small passing blur, but he laughed inside. A simple trick of the eye was useless against his all-seeing sight. He didn't even bother activating alternate vision modes. In a flash of dark green-white, a single arm lashed towards the hidden commando. Long shapes deatched and flew forth with not so much as suppressed *shunks*. Armour cracked and rib-cages were punctured. The stealthed soldier made no sound as he thudded against a tree, head lolling to the side as harpoon-bolt, jutting out of a trunk, attached him to his last resting place.

He snapped back to his target, taking aim at the wolf-warriors and bodyguards surrounding him. A flurry of high-explosive pods flew forth in a spread formation and he momentarily dissappared behind a shroud of chemical fire.

He was a hardy bastard, he could tell just by the way he looked with that iron gaze.

Wasting no time, he crawled forth freakishly fast beyond the setting flames, looking to claim his skull.

All around, utter madness was breaking out. Mecha and vehicular support had secured a defensive beach-head position and now scores of the dark blue-silver clad soldiers spilled out. The tide of the Shadow Council's wrath intensified as artillery hammered already cornered positions, a few tearing holes into the Othyrworld, letting its energies rip and lash like derranged living liquid.

Whatever plans anyone had, it was best to pull them off fast.

DoomOtter · Dec 21, 2010

"The stealth teams are dead, the humans are dead, we are beginning to take casualties, retreating into the ship." This was deteriorating quickly. The reapers hadn't taken very many casualties because of the kinetic barriers they had set up, they stopped projectiles cold. they only worked for so long though, the deathstalkers and the humans had also kept the pressure off the perimeter guard. Soldiers were beginning to reach the central hangar bay. In twenty minutes all of the survivors would be aboard transport craft. Sikaris just hoped that they didn't have any air support, or at least very little air support.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
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The central hangar bay was originally a maintenance elevator that led to the power core. It was decided to turn the shaft into a huge hangar bay. The walls of the shaft were a comb of small alcoves with spacecraft. Ladders went up the entire shaft, but the elevator was usually what was used to get to any given vehicle. The entire crew was already in various craft anxiously awaiting lift off. The soldiers were all that was left. <o:p></o:p>
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Explosions were heard as the last of the reapers entered the hangar. They had left some nasty little surprises for whoever tried to follow. Almost all of the soldiers was covered in their own blood. Sikaris pitied the men watching as they wiped the black from their faces.<o:p></o:p>
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"Is everything ready?" he asked lieutenant nakamura. "Yes sir we are going to activate the Mirage scrambling systems as soon as the first craft approach the doorway. That should give us about ten minutes before they figure out that their targeting software isn't aiming right, after that they will need to aim manually. I personally don't see anyone hitting our craft that way." nakamura's voice was trembling; she was trying to seem unshaken.<o:p></o:p>
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Sikaris looked around. The last of the soldiers were boarding their craft. "Alright let's get going." Sikaris opened his comm to every craft that was operating. "Everyone, we have been through a lot over the past two years. We have been in a lot of bad situations, and we came out unscathed. We don't have that fortune now. We have lost many good soldiers and crew. Back home they will be called casualties; they will be faceless numbers on the news nets. We know what they truly were. Good friends. Loved ones. Brothers in arms. Many want to stay and defend the revenant to the last breath. They say it is our duty as warriors sworn to the republic, as the defenders of one of the last democracies in the galaxy. This ship isn't anything anymore. It's metal, lying on the ground." Sikaris was walking towards the last craft that hadn't left it's alcove. He was shaking and trying his hardest to sound strong." But I have a sworn duty above this junked piece of trash. That is the safety and well being of those at my command. I have done a poor job of it today. We must get out of here, brothers and sisters. We must return to the home world, we must preserve in our minds the sacrifice that must be made for the well being of Alara." He was taking his seat in the transport, it began to lift. It would be the last craft to leave the ship. "More will die before this is over. I pray to the gods that we will have strength to face what awaits us when we leave this ship for good." Sikaris was never good at public speaking he knew it too. That was why he decided to end his speech with a prayer." All the Gods, Blessed be." He heard dozens of others repeat the last two words."Guide us now in our time of trial, extend thine hands and protect us, help us return to thine blessed lands. Most of all Bless those who have passed on. Let them find rest in the eternities, and help those who went to the void find peace. Help the families of those who have passed on, ease their burdens and comfort them. All things come from thee, good and bad. We now subject ourselves to thine will. The Gods rule all and all is their will. No one can escape the will of the gods, Blessed be: He heard the last two words repeated again. The ships were quickly heading out the hangar door above. they were to spread out and fly high above any anti air their enemies may have. Sikaris didn't feel anything anymore. He felt he was going to die, and he was oddly at peace with that fact. The comm crackled and what he heard filled him with dread.<o:p></o:p>
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"Incoming, high and fast." Sikaris's craft came out of the hangar and he saw the forces surrounding the ship. There were mechs firing rockets and lasers at the fleeing craft. <o:p></o:p>
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Suddenly a dark shape came into view, it was small, a single person fighter Sikaris guessed, wait there were several. Another voice came through the comm, it was the commander of the Revenants fighter squadron." Aquila eight, unidentified craft coming in from the northeast!" The black ships were coming at an insane speed, but when they reached the edge of the transport formation they continued on. The Alarian fighter craft had begun a maneuver thinking that it would be the first choice for a kill, but the craft completely ignored the Alarian ships. They headed straight for the Revenant. They began releasing ordinance onto the soldier surrounding the downed vessel.<o:p></o:p>
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"This is Shadow one to Alarian military personnel, who is in command?" Whoever shadow one was she was using the Alarian military channel, with Alarian coding. "Shadow one this is Colonel Sikaris, Alarian Airwalkers, TSC Marines. What in the name of the void is going on?" Sikaris was deeply confused. "Not now Colonel, enemy air support detected. Patch us through to your fighter squadron." Sikaris did so. There was no way these weren't Alarians and he knew that it wasn't Arkin, he would have let him die. Aquila squadron linked up with shadow squadron and the two groups of fighter craft flew off together.<o:p></o:p>
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"Sir" the pilot of the craft leaned out from the cockpit." We got someone who wants to talk to you." The pilot patched a communications link to Sikaris's comm. " Commander Sikaris this is Captain Hira of the VCV Starshadow, we are here to assist we are giving our current coordinates to your transports." This was too much for sikaris. "Commander we are out of blast range." One of the Lieutenants said. Sikaris jolted back to reality, he was still confused but he was able to think a little. He opened the comm channel back to the ship. It was set to be heard over the broadcast system. "Neros are you there?" Sikaris tried to imagine the looks on the faces of the unlucky bastards inside the ship."Yes father it is time?" Sikaris hesitated he didn't want to do this. he had no choice though."Neros It is time to serve the Republic. Fulfill the measure of your creation!" A bright flash. The ship lurched as the blast wave hit it. Sikaris looked out the open door and looked toward where his ship had once been. The revenant, and the army that had tried to take her secrets was no more.

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The Deathstalkers sacrifice themselves to help keep the rest of the crew alive. Sikaris has the whole crew board transport craft and make a run for it, expecting to be massacred by enemy aircraft. Instead they are saved by Alarian craft belongign to the Vanguard Corporation (Haven't put that is yet). Finally when at a safe distance Sikaris detonates anuke destroying tyhe Revenant and everything else in a two mile radius.

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Soldiers Of Misfortune: Into The Labyrinth Of Oppression

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