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Blood And Rust: Part two (the voice and the serpent)

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Author Topic: Blood And Rust: Part two (the voice and the serpent)  (Read 1843 times)
Bard
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« on: November 12, 2011, 10:39:38 pm »

prologue:
Run Through The Jungle

...
Tremesche (graid) hit the ground running. He had to; the airship would be coming down on top of him if he didn’t clear out ASAP. The sappers had hit it hard. This only left Valley of Obfuscation and The Aberrant tributary still flying.
   And down went Valley. This day had gotten bad very fast.

The outer atmosphere fleets usually held for all of seven minutes. The world ship ignored them. Or went straight through them. Nothing seemed to hurt it; lesser attacks were absorbed by the cloud of machines that surrounded it, and if anything big enough to threaten it showed up, a thousand of its underlings would slam into it. (This seemed to be their tactic across the board).
 And that was if it would even stay for a fight; Most of the time it retreated to location unknown when it was attacked. For a moon-sized world breaker, it was certainly skittish. Eventually, when the ships had been destroyed or dispersed, it would return and resume feeding.
   
   This planet was next in line for that apparently. The monsters had started taking ground rapidly now that they had air support. Air support that’s main function was to crash into the defenders air support, but they could be built faster than a sophisticated floating battle platform, and Napalm was not as effective when sprayed from the ground.
   Also, the giant ship breaching the thermosphere and shattering a landmass didn’t help either. The impact of the arrival alone had ruined any hope of a profitable real estate industry. But there were a few survivors that had yet to die or evacuate, and teams had been sent in. The key word there being were. Tremesche was now of the dubious distinction of being one of fifteen living things on this planet that were not trying to eat his skin.
All ships had fled or been taken down by now, but an orbital cannon had survived the sundering. They had been heading for it, but the swarm had caught up with them two miles away. And now there was a thin layer of jungle and ten thousand monsters between Tremesche and escape.
He ran faster than he ever had before, and he had run from the impact site of a thermonuclear missile. Sure enough, a dozen of the crawling things after him in seconds. He kept running, ignoring them as best he could. But then he heard the now -familiar ‘shirnk ‘, and felt a blood shard severe the connective tissue of his right rear leg.
He fell. The creatures fell upon him. he felt his body begin to be torn apart. All over


   Then a shot ran out. And another, and another, until it was still. A hand reached down to him. He took it and pulled himself up. He looked at his savior and astonished at it’s identity.

“Quickly, can you walk? There are many more Iavolg surrounding us. We must hurry”

Iavolg. That was an unfamiliar word. So many questions.
   
“Yes, I can walk. Alright.”

He moved as quickly as he could. One hundred yards to the entrance. Fifty. Ten.

“Can you activate the launch?”

“Y-yes”

Tremesche did not bother setting coordinates. He knew where it would send them. He hurried into the capsule, followed by his strange companion.  The moment it was sealed, the cannon fired.

Away. safe.


"...That brings us to now. I am Niyames, ruler of Ragara, king of kings, last noble of the Larenti, lord of the sky. I have told you these things because I need help.  Because to save your people and free my kin, I must reach the heart of the machine, this beast of blood and rust, find its master, and kill him."



Niyames surveyed the team in front of him.

"I have been told..." he paused "you are some of the most proficient individuals your respective armed forces have available"
Silence
"He means we're the best of the best!"
Laughter
"Yes, thank you noble Marangreim. I have also read your records. I'm particularly impressed with yours, noble Charkan."
He stood of straight.
"But down to our task. I will review the plan. With the cover provided by the listed eight fleets of various origins, we shall board the World Machine. During my time aboard it, I acquired schematics and layouts of how the machine is defended, and found several blind spots.
He pointed toward a spot on the displayed diagram “In a small space-born vehicle, we shall infiltrate it here, one of the few spots were its many minion ships do not patrol”
   “The battle is set to commence around here, at this unnamed planet, which has reached the point in its invasion cycle when it usually comes to harvest its resources. It will likely arrive within hours. When it does, we will board immediately.”

   “If you have any last minute preparations to make, do so now. I will tolerate no questions.”

He briskly left the auditorium, leaving the assembled soldiers amongst themselves.
« Last Edit: December 09, 2011, 09:37:35 pm by Bard » Report Spam   Logged

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« Reply #1 on: November 15, 2011, 08:38:51 pm »

One by one, several of the officers made their way out of the room, some accidentally grazing each other on their way out. One of them, a Luzonian, felt a light tap on his back as he was about to pass the door. Turning around, he saw the culprit was a slightly shorter than average Orealyianis, who he quickly recognized for who he was.

"Tavira?", the Luzonian asked with an even mix of joy and surprise.

"The one and only.", Tavira calmly replied with a pair of smiles while reaching his right nipper out to the Luzonian. "What brings you here, Sawi?", he inquired as Sawi raised his right hand and proceeded to grasp the other's nipper.

"Rather lengthy and somewhat complicated story, actually!", he answered jovially. "Command originally considered sending in one of the Bandanas to help deal with this menace. Unfortunately, all of them are currently... tied up, figuratively speaking.", to which Tavira nodded. "Command subsequently rummaging through the other units' portfolios, eventually selecting five candidates, with me as top second. I'm not certain about the details myself, but I was urgently summoned two days ago and was sent here immediately."

"That does sound complicated.", Tavira placed one of his nippers on Sawi's shoulder, motioning for them to carry their conversation outside the chamber. "And I see you've gained another scar?", he asked while pointing to the scar on Sawi's left cheek, just above an old and seemingly identical one.

"Remember how I received this?", Sawi answered with a question, pointing out the cybernetic implant that took the place of his right eye. "It appears one of the marks from our little operation back then managed to free himself, again. Little troublemaker caught me off guard for a moment, gave me this scar before we finally took him back."

"That one never fails to deliver, eh?", Tavira smiled back.

"Indeed!", Sawi chuckled. "One of these days, I might transform into a full-blown cyborg if this keeps happening!"

The pair kept on their conversation as they went down the hall.



Back in the auditorium, a Marakiri, clad in an ebony full-body armored pressure suit surveyed the other members of the team, only to anchor her sights on one particular individual. As most of the others left, she began to lift off the floor courtesy of the small pair of rotors sprouting from either side of her back, eventually making her way in the direction of to the lone Perrachi in the group.

"Could it be?", she said, most likely overheard by the Perrachi she was about to approach. "General... Charkan?"

Meanwhile, in the far rear of the chamber, a Chivi Silent Ops armor can be seen minding its own business, sitting in a corner as the wearer seemed to be in a state of deep thought.
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« Reply #2 on: November 18, 2011, 05:06:06 pm »

Moa awoke from her brief rest. she had a new directive. just the one she thought it would be. the other three would be called upon as well. She has been expecting this one since "[organism<>species1<>hostile;negligible]", had disapeared from the grid.

A shame. maybe things could have worked out for the better if he had just done a few things differently.
her thoughts were inturupted when she felt a change in directive. strange. still the same basic layout but...


oh.
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« Reply #3 on: November 20, 2011, 02:19:16 am »

The grizzled perrachi tried not to feel too proud when the alien king singled him out for a compliment. What had he done 26 years ago... He reacted improperly. He embraced the fame, the media darlings swarming over him restlessly. And what the rebels did to his daughter at Anouha because he failed to keep his face off every single news screen on Perrawiih... But those days were past now. The bosses wanted him to save another world.

His internal musings were cut short when a photosoid alien less than one-third his height walked near him. He couldn't make out any details through the full-body environment suit, but he did make out a few words.
"Could it be? General... Charkan?"
It had to be the insignias on his wing; the helmet on his environment suit obscured his scarred face. But that meant this alien had to be obsessed with perrachi history to know the pre-contact Fethant military ranking system! To each his own interests, he supposed.
"Yes...Marakiri, is it? Is there something you have to say?"
Charkan had made sure to brush up on his xenobiology after inadvertently mistaking that makal for a gelatin dessert back at Corion's place. Marakiri - aren't they in that Sector Agency alliance?
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« Reply #4 on: November 20, 2011, 06:00:45 am »

"Captain Sinjino, sir.", her feet touched to ground right before Charkan, bowing and spreading her arms to the side in a show of respect. "You can call me Captain Sinjino."

There was an air of admiration in her tone, as if she had just met someone whom she valued dearly. Indeed, that was exactly the case for the Marakiri, to be in the midst of, let alone work alongside and talk with, one of the most important figures in her life.

"So it is true...", she continued, engrossed in the chance encounter. "The famed captain who laid to rest the most notorious Perrachi in history."

"General Charkan, it is an honor to personally meet you!", she promptly offered her hand, somewhat nervously, towards the war hero. "If I might be so bold as to say that your actions have contributed immensely to how I came about my career! It has always been my dream to work alongside yourself, and hopefully do for my people, and the galaxy as well, what you have done for yours!"
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« Reply #5 on: November 20, 2011, 10:54:15 am »

Charkan extended his wing and shook the alien's hands (too many fingers!) with his digits. According to his translator it was a female; what a relief from having to deal with those weirdo 217-gendered xinmayi. Ugh.
"Thank you very much for the compliments. I assume you're an aficionado of my people's history, Captain?"
« Last Edit: November 20, 2011, 09:58:01 pm by UFO King » Report Spam   Logged
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« Reply #6 on: November 20, 2011, 11:16:00 am »

Lieutenant Ke'ras hurried to the door, limping ever so slightly. It slid open, revealing the other officers and enlisted...going out the other side.
"Damn!" He cursed under his breath. He saw a Perrachi and an alien he didn't recognize standing around the center of the towering room, talking. He rushed to them as fast as he could.
"I apologize for the interruption," He got their attention. "Am I too late? The fleet that I was with got...ah, "held up", I'll leave it at that."
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« Reply #7 on: November 20, 2011, 07:57:08 pm »

"Certainly!", Sinjino promptly replied to Charkan, paying no heed to the newly arrived Ke'ras. "More of the military kind, to be precise. Growing up in Anakinostine, I've always dreamed of being a historian. Even so, my preference towards military history has never been secret to me. And it was your actions that truly inspired me to join the fo-."

"Oh...", she finally took notice of the person behind Charkan, her face showing slight embarrassment at the fact that she subconsciously ignored the person running towards her and Charkan. "Apologies, sir." Sinjino bowed apologetically to Ke'ras before continuing. "The briefing has just concluded recently."

"I'll handle this.", a particularly cold voice came from across the room. The Chivi armor rose from its seat and approached the group of three. It walked towards Ke'ras, offering him a hand. "Commander Ea.", the Chivi within the armor spoke again, this time in a slightly more amiable tone. "I can brief you on the mission, if that's fine with you."
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« Reply #8 on: November 20, 2011, 10:21:27 pm »

"It's good to know that I've inspired at least one person to do the right thing. If you'll excuse me, I've got to go get my equipment ready. See you on the ship."
Seemed to him that these aliens had a pretty big continuum of military etiquette.
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« Reply #9 on: November 20, 2011, 10:37:21 pm »

"Indeed.", Sinjino bid Charkan farewell.

"Well?", the Chivi inquired of Ke'ras as she motioned one of her arms towards the exit. "There isn't much time before the operation starts. It might be good to talk it over while prepping up."
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« Reply #10 on: November 20, 2011, 10:42:00 pm »

"I'd appreciate it...." Ke'ras said, spitting another curse in Photise beneath his breath and rubbing the outside of his thigh, whereupon sat a grazed hole. He noted the Chivi's look at the wound he was rubbing.
"We got held up by a Shadow raiding fleet that ambushed us. Fought them off, but few of us got wounded. Don't worry, the medi-gel and my enhanced composition will have it sorted out; the pain is more from the medi-gel working than the actual wound." He straightened up to his full height, standing taller than the Chivi. "Anyway, I'd appreciate the low-down." He extended a hand. "Lieutenant Ke'ras. You are?"
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« Reply #11 on: November 21, 2011, 08:17:14 am »

"Commander Ea.", the Chivi promptly replied.

"I'll see you both on the ship, then.", Sinjino quickly followed as she took off and made her way to the exit.

Ea responded with a simple nod before turning back to Ke'ras.
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« Reply #12 on: November 25, 2011, 12:17:32 am »

Part 1:
welcome to the machine


Deep within a world that would hate him if it had the capacity, the god of all that crawls and creeps stands in a prison of his own making. So much time, so much sacrificed. Indeed the god had cast off his entire life, his station, his home and everyone in it. His joy, his spirit.

 Now, he had only the contemptuous metal tomb closing around him. He felt its anger. There was pain there as well, and even fear, of a sort. He knew what it would do if he allowed it the choice. But it would never be free, not as long as he lived, however tenuous that life may become.

And now the final phase was approaching. Billions had suffered. Billions had died. Billions more would suffer. Billions more would die. But one particular death must be among them. Then comes power complete.



An urgent voice played across all communicators.

“It’s happening now. The machine has hit. I repeat, the machine has hit. All agents prepare deployment”

And on the signal, every ship in the vast combination fleet launched in unison. It was a short flight; they were hiding just a 20 minutes journey from the engine’s next target, just outside of its range of engagement.
On arrival, a slight, partial glimpse of the Machine’s twisted brown frame could have been made out, if one had looked before the cloud of ‘scratchers’ engulfed it. And they didn’t stop there. The swarm of tiny ships quickly set upon the fleet. As an impossible cosmic limb, they rushed the hulls of their much larger challengers. Some burst, some held, but one small shuttle escaped passed the cloud unnoticed.
   
“How long?” asked Niyames

“Twelve seconds to impact” said the computerized voiced of the pilot.

“Eight”

“Stand ready”

“Four”

The craft slammed into through into the surface of the machine, breaking through the thin layer of rusted metal, then continued through another three barriers before finally the metal was thick enough to slow it. A few moments passed. Niyames stood up.

“What are you waiting for? Hurry!

The door opened. He stepped out. He saw nothing but black, gray, and brown metal. This was an outer area, useless and inhospitable.  Scanning, he found what they needed: an open pipeline, going straight down.

“As you were briefed, we used tunnels such as these for transportation through ships and structures. It will take us to the main body of the ships It should be large enough to hold even the largest of you. Don’t fall. I don’t want your shrieking body falling on top of me while I go to free my people.”

And he started his climb down, headfirst.

 “Come quickly. Hnangha is liable to simply detach any part of itself that is damage.”
« Last Edit: December 02, 2011, 02:30:56 am by Bard » Report Spam   Logged

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« Reply #13 on: November 25, 2011, 03:06:49 am »

Ha dropped into the hole and descended just after Niyames, silently sliding down the pipe. His descent was euphoric as his electromagnetic imaging creating vast arrays of colours and sounds in this 'living' machine, a hell in reality. This was a place of demons if his host had not lied, and it would have to be taken apart and destroyed.
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« Reply #14 on: November 25, 2011, 06:21:53 am »

Sinjino followed alongside Ha, her rotor pack controlling her descent through the corridor. All her senses were directed towards the end of the long passage, probing for suspicious features or the smallest hint of movement.

Sawi was next in line to descend. The propellers on his flight suit revved up ever so slightly, barely sufficient to ease himself into the pipe, wherein a single grip of his front talons firmly secured him to the wall. The ends of his black bandana wafted against the light breeze as he trailed those before him.

One by one, the rest of the agents went in, following Niyames' lead.
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