Prologue
1st Age of Relics
Aboard vessel “Reclaiming Victory” orbiting Shangellis
Ship date 23\7\11\2330
Rola Romamee had always been a devout follower of the forerunners, and his steadfast allegiance hadn’t gone unrewarded.
Shipmaster Romamee looked down at his golden armor once more, it seemed to catch all the light off the consoles and he admired it with gratitude and respect. He never thought it possible to become a shipmaster; or at least become one so quickly, especially because of his class. Rola’s family had always been in the warrior’s class, not much for commanding capital ships, or making decisions in the government. His recent promotion was surprising to say the least; he had gone from a junior squadcom to a full blown shipmaster faster than you could sneeze. But it wasn’t up to him to second guess the Makron’s decisions, so he sat back in his comfortable gravchair and relaxed to the steady rumble of the ships reactors.
Ch 1
1st Age of Relics
The Planet Shangellis sanctum of the Makron
Ship date 4\7\11\2330
The Makron had his own problems, from the constant attacks by the Heretics, to the important decisions of government, he had his hands full. Not to mention the constant checking up on his officers, which reminded him, one was scheduled to come later; he hated the meetings but it was only another drawback to being a Makron. He rested his hands on his head, and thought about his life-partner at his house in the capitol city of Helios. Although the Central Government System provided him with women in the sanctum, they weren’t his partner and so he refused them. A choice every officer had insulted him about until he had them cleaning the piss pits for a week. He chuckled at the thought of them cleaning up after several thousand Shangelli, what a mess, especially when they knew the officers were being punished and they went all over the place. By the time their punishment was over, well they were a little bit more cooperative. Along with all the rest of the duties came the responsibility and obligation to collect and preserve Forerunner Relics, well he didn’t find them, but he organized the searches. Some searches he had sent deep into space, several months at a time. Although the Shangelli had ships, there slipspace generators were slow and it took some time to get out of a star system, but that didn’t stop them, not at all. Just before the Makron fell asleep, he heard familiar footfalls.
“Speak” said a said the Makron.
“Makron, reports of the Heretics whereabouts place them close to this sanctum; I believe it would be best if you were moved to a safe…”
“No” said the Makron.
“As I have told you before, this Sanctum is where I belong, and if the Heretics dare attack me here… then so be it.”
“Besides there is no way a mere Heretic can penetrate this sanctum, so Solo go and tend to your duties… whatever you do”
“Very well Makron” replied solo, as he left the high vaulting chamber.
Secguard Solo made his way to his duty station, he went over his brief conversation with the Makron, thinking of what he could say to make the Makron leave, but nothing came to mind. Solo clicked his mandibles as he slumped into his chair, watched the seccameras, and waited for something interesting to rouse his dull day. He noted a junior squadcom officer make his way to the first security checkpoint, present his ID while being scanned, and continue his way to the next checkpoint. Other than that nothing out of the ordinary was happening, just another usual day.
Ch 2
1st Age of Relics
The Planet Shangellis sanctum of the Makron
Ship date 5\7\11\2330
Rola Romamee thanked the forerunners for the new seccheckpoints, unlike the unreliable older models; these had laser imaging of bone structure (which was very efficient) rather than the painful blood testers. This made it not only easier, but faster and less painful, but they were all thanks to the close Heretic movements. In addition to the new checkpoints, Rola noticed forty seccameras, double the usual amount, on his way to the main chamber; obviously the Makron wasn’t taking any chances these days. As Rola passed the last checkpoint, he pondered why the Makron had summoned him, maybe he was going to be transferred, or executed. Either way, he knew it would be important, but like usual, Rola tried to follow orders precisely and without hesitation. Passing through the last set of doors, Rola noticed four Honor guards, somewhat smaller and less muscular than he expected but each was armed with a plasma rifle and an energy sword. Rola shuddered at the thought of a three foot sword puncturing his muscular form, not to worry though; he had no vendetta against them. Although, one had given him a glaring look on the way in, but he ignored it and continued his slow approach to the main chamber.
As Rola entered the chamber, he noticed it was at least 100 feet high, large enough for a spirit dropship could fit in and still have room to move; all that room made him fell nervous.
“Ah, squadcom officer Rola Romamee, I have been waiting” said the Makron.
Rola quickly bowed and replied, “Yes Makron, I live to…”
All of a sudden secguard Solo entered the chamber, babbling incoherently. Finally he managed to say, “Makron, I have discovered something, I believe that you…”
Rola never heard what the secguard was going to say because a white hot blade protruded through Solo’s abdomen, cutting him off mid-sentence. The weight of Solo’s body brought his prone form onto the blade, slicing him in half spilling his intestines over the polished floor; but Rola was more surprised about what was holding the sword: an Honor Guard.
Rola noticed not only one honor guard, but four, the ones he had seen earlier on his way to see the Makron. Without warning the leader charged, wildly swinging his energy sword like he was hoping to hit someone. Rola’s training kicked in, he dove for the guard’s knees barely missing the blades edge as it brushed past his left shoulder. Rola hit the guard right on target, bringing him down along with the energy sword, for some reason Rola was stronger than the guard, but threw away the thought and took advantage of its weakness. He grabbed the guards wrists, and twisted the one with the sword until it broke and the sword dropped to the ground, the fail safes turning on, then lifting his free elbow as high as he could Rola then swung it at the guards head snapping his neck and killing him instantly. Unfortunately while he was fighting the first guard the other three had brandished their swords, snarling in the process waiting for the right moment to strike. Rola picked up the dead guards sword, snapping it on and lifting it up to a defensive pose. All three guards charged, fortunately for Rola their startling awkwardness caused one guard to wildly swing his blade accidentally into his partner’s side which sliced him in half, before the guard could land in his pile of guts, Rola advanced to the clumsy guard. The guard swung at him but Rola easily dodged it and answered with a quick undercut to the guard’s chest revealing a failing heart and a sliced spine. Rola spun on his heels, grabbing the last guard by his throat before he could react; unexpectedly the guard started to talk, he said, “Please, show mercy!”
Rola snarled at the guard’s lack of courage.
“Why should I?” replied Rola.
“I have information that could change the Shangelli forever”
“What kind of information?” replied Rola.
Rola noticed that the guard was starting to choke, so he loosened his grip on his throat.
“Information that could lead us to the most important Relic of our history”
Before Rola could answer, the Makron said, “and what relic might that be?”
“Why, a Dreadnaught of course” the guard replied sarcastically.
Rola tightened his grip on the guard’s throat, punishing him for his lack of respect.
“Enough” Screamed the Makron.
“I would like this one alive, I am curious to what he offers.”
Rola reluctantly complied, policed the guard’s weapons and asked, “Where Heretic, is that?”
Ch 3
1st Age of Relics
The Planet Shangellis sanctum of the Makron
Ship date 6\7\11\2330
Rola surveyed the gore splattered floor, bits of carbonized bone and intestines pooled where the cleaning drones put them into piles. The response team had been too late to the incident to offer any help, other than cleaning up the mess, they had nothing else to do. Rola notice the Makron and an interrogation team talking to the prisoner, his first instinct was to rush over and keep the Makron from harm, but he remembered that they were safe now. Still, with the battle fresh in his mind, he was prepared for anything.
“Squadcom Rola Romamee, come over here” said the Makron.
Rola complied and walked over to where the Makron was.
“Walk with me” replied the Makron.
Rola upped his pace to keep up with the larger Shangelli; his muscles seemed to bulge out of his armor, like trees growing out of cement.
“The Heretic has told us that this dreadnaught is some sort of Forerunner relic, larger than any other we have found, so I have decided to arrange a mission to find it and I was hoping that a Shipmaster Rola Romamee would gladly do it.”
“Shipmaster” Rola replied, his voice almost a whisper.
Although he tried not to show it Rola was praising the forerunners, he was so overjoyed that he almost clutched the Makron’s arm (the Shangelli equivalent of a hug) but he resisted.
“Yes, I believe that you should be rewarded for your…” he looked for the right words “your valor in this awkward situation, I have decided to put you in command of the destroyer ‘Reclaiming Victory’, have you any dispute?”
Rola almost forgot the Makron’s question, “No, I believe this is a noble cause, I will find this relic and claim it in the name of the Shangelli.”
“Very well then” replied the Makron “you may pick a crew of your choice”
Just as the Makron was leaving he whispered into Rola’s ear.
“You have full command of this Op., take any measures to claim the relic, even if it means starting a war.”
Rola replied with a curt nod, and then left for the next transport shuttle to his ship in orbit.
Ch 4
1st Age of Relics
Aboard vessel “Reclaiming Victory” orbiting Shangellis
Ship date 1\8\11\2330
Rola awoke, stretching out his burning muscles. He winced with the pain; he hadn’t noticed that he had been burned by the energy sword in the little firefight. It was either he was pumping with adrenaline at the time or had a high tolerance for pain, he took the latter choice. He checked the time, he had been asleep for more than two hours and hadn’t been disrupted by his crew, high ranks had their benefits, obviously the crew respected him.
“Report” he said, his voice booming with authority.
“Reactors working at 100% of expected output, pulse laser and all six plasma torpedo turrets are active…”
“Charge them” replied Rola.
“But…”
Rola shot nav officer Zoka a piercing glance.
“Yes shipmaster, charging turrets now, reactors hot at 90%.”
“What is the status of the rest of the battle group?” asked Rola.
“Four frigates, one cruiser, and a carrier have joined us, should I send orders to make way?”
“No” replied Rola.
“Open a fleet wide channel, encrypt it with a level 6 access code.”
“Channel open” replied Zoka.
“Brothers, an important discovery has been made, the coordinates to a Forerunner Relic have been found, not just any Relic mind you, but the largest one ever recorded; it has been referred to as a dreadnaught.”
Rola sensed apprehension in his bridge crew, he couldn’t blame them though, but he hoped they would perform their duties flawlessly.
Rola continued,
“The Makron has ordered me to take charge of the battle group, as an advanced scout party to determine the Relics exact location, but be warned we are heading to a system never charted before; therefore I have ordered the activation of my ships defense systems, I expect the rest of you to do the same.”
Six shipmasters answered in unison, showing their complete attention and obedience to his orders.
“Very well” replied Rola
“Set course to these coordinates”
Rola punched in the keys and sent the data burst fleet wide, then sat back into his gravchair and said,
“Take us out”
Seconds later six ships entered slipspace, entering a two day long voyage. Unbeknownst to any of the ships commanders, a distant race known as the San Shyum were busy calculating the coordinates of the Shangelli ships vectors through their advanced long range sensors. The coordinates to the vectors put he ships in their system, but not knowing what to expect, the San Shyum activated the dreadnaughts massive engines, and lifted off from their planet, sending the ship behind their one and only moon Shyanus, setting an ambush for their soon-to-be-coming visitors.
Ch 5
1st Age of Relics
Aboard vessel “Reclaiming Victory” on route to unknown system
Ship date 3\10\11\2330
“How long to transition to normal space?” Rola asked quakingly.
“Two minutes and thirty-three seconds” replied Zoka.
Rola was unusually nervous, his black skin was devoid of texture, and his mandibles were flexing, something that Rola hadn’t experienced since he joined the Shangelli Protection Legion. Even then he was prepared to face it, but now he just couldn’t control it, but changing the course of Shangelli history was an enormous responsibility, so he tried to reason it out. But the rest of the bridge crew didn’t seem to be trembling, so he sucked it in and tried to set an example for the rest of the crew.
“Entering normal space now” said Zoka.
Pinpricks of light appeared in the void of space, and six sleek ships appeared from the phenomenon. But this event didn’t go unnoticed, the San Shyum were already one step ahead of their visitors, ready to spring the trap at the first sign of trouble.
The view screen in the destroyer’s bridge flickered on showing clouds of vapor and a small moon orbiting the only planet in the system.
“Take us closer to that planet” said Rola.
“Shipmaster, I am detecting thousands of objects in orbit around the planet, each on ranging from five to 20,000 tons.”
“Lets see them” replied Rola.
The view screen zoomed in showing thousands of ships; most seemed to be transport freighters going back and forth to the planets moon, most likely mining ore for the planet, but the rest were stationed above the planet and each was large and roughly cylindrically shaped. Every one of the ships had what looked like spikes on front section; it reminded Rola of the tusked animals on his planet. One thing caught Rola’s eye, a rotating blade on the underbelly of each ship.
“Scan those ships, I want to know what they’re made of” said Rola as he sat back into his gravchair. Sensory officer Oros answered,
“Each ship has nearly 10 meters of an unknown alloy on the front of the ship, near the spiked weapons on the front; the rest of the ship has 2 meters of the same alloy surrounding it.”
“Our sensors can’t penetrate the interior of the ship, or the material of the spikes on the front of the ship, but to me they look plasma based, so I wouldn’t get too close.”
“As for the blade underneath, it’s holographic… but solid?” Oros started to curse, but continued,
“Looks to me like when it is fired it shreds the armor on the ship and easily penetrates the interior hull, but since it is holographic it doesn’t need ammo, just the energy needed to power it” Oros cursed again.
Rola trembled, if he made even one mistake, anything that made this new species dislike him, they were screwed.
“Very well then, lets see if this race is peaceful or not; tell the frigates to stay back, hold this position” said Rola.
Prepare for the worst, Rola’s father had always told him, and this time he was going to make sure he did.
Ch 6
1st Age of Relics
Aboard vessel “Reclaiming Victory” orbiting unknown planet
Ship date 3\10\11\2330
For the first time in a long time, Rola was genuinely terrified; he had never imagined finding a Forerunner artifact, or making contact with an advanced species. The fact that if he did anything to provoke this new species could start an intergalactic war, scared him even more, and he had never been one for negotiating. So he did what any good officer would do in his position: he took it one step at a time. First of all, he had to quench his fears, he needed to show his crew that he had the ability to command his ship, failing to do so could cause them to panic, and accidentally do something stupid. He knew as well as anyone that several civil wars on Shangellis had started because someone had been stupid and “accidentally” killed the Makron. But he banished the thought—he had unwavering confidence in his crew, and did not suspect a mutiny to occur.
“Slipspace generators are fully charged in case there is an unfortunate circumstance” stated Zoka
“Very well, there seems to be a station orbiting the northern pole, maybe they’ll be kind enough to let us dock, perform first contact in person.”
“Yes shipmaster, course change to bearing zero mark two inclinations plus three.”
As the “Reclaiming Victory” thundered toward the station, the cruiser and carrier followed closely behind, keeping to formation, and eliminating any chance of hitting one of the thousand ships in orbit. Unknown to the Shangelli, the three ships were now entering a dampening field, restricting their communications to less than a kilometer in any direction. To the cautious San Shyum though, this was only the next phase of their plan.
Five kilometers away from the station, the Shangelli ships received a data burst, surprisingly in their own language, telling them to cut engines plot a course to the topmost part of the station. Rola wondered how the aliens had learned their language so quickly, the only so called “letters” that they could see were names of the ships on the ships hulls. He wondered what else they could know by now, if they were listening to their communications—“Com-officer Sora, open communications with the frigates, tell them to switch to a level six encryption their com channels.”
“Yes Shipmaster, sending…”
Sora paused, scrutinizing the consol before him; Rola noticed a perplexed look on his face.
“Well” Rola said.
“We cannot send communications, our signal is being jammed.”
“Aft cameras on view screen one, I want to see our frigates” barked Rola.
Just as the screen snapped on, the first frigate in formation was struck by one of the alien ships, Rola watched in awe and hatred as the alien ships front spikes became aglow and rammed into the frigate, burning through multiple layers of armor and decks like they were so many layers of tissue paper. Seconds later the Alien ship appeared out of the flaming wreckage, its hull protected by a shimmering aura—they possessed shield technology.
“Zoka, order the cruiser and carrier to send the troops to the planet, then bug out to our position; were going to need all the firepower we’ve got."
Ch 7
1st Age of Relics
Northernmost continent on unknown planet
Ship date 4\10\11\2330
1st squad leader Ruku Lomamee stared into the dropships view screen, he watched as 60 other dropships descended into the planets atmosphere. His orders were clear, he was to set up an alpha base, try and get the enemies attention, and hopefully set up a truce between their two worlds. The elite next to Ruku started to whimper; obviously the ambassador had never been in a dropship while it was taking evasive actions from flak. He was not suited for combat so he was to be protected at all costs, if he was killed there would be almost no chance of a peaceful negotiation. That was why 10 other dropships carried other ambassadors, in case one was shot down.
“20 seconds to ground” screamed the pilot.
Ruku made his way to one of the mandible passenger compartments, strapped himself in, and waited.
“10 seconds to—” before the pilot could finish his sentence, a violent explosion tore through the cockpit, where Ruku had stood a moment before had been vaporized; both mandibles separated and tore apart, falling in separate directions, away from their LZ.
Ruku fealt the gee’s, there were no inertial dampeners to compensate for their freefall, luckily they were less than a half a kilometer from the surface when the dropship took a hit. Ruku took a risk of leaning in his harness, trying to peer out of the shredded interior, he saw water flash by, then a tree, then pitch black.
“…ambassadors dead, I don’t know about Ruku—”
Ruku awoke, his head was spinning, and his whole body ached from the crash, he felt water in his lungs and coughed splurting out the foul liquid. (Shangelli didn’t drink water, there planet had a unique substance known as mercury, it was metal but usually in liquid form that supplied them with a vast amount of minerals.)
“Ruku, over here, help me with the squad leader” cried a voice.
Moments later Ruku was held up on his feet by eight steady hands.
“What happened?” asked Ruku.
“Well, sir, we landed in the water” Tolu smashed his palm with his hand for emphasis “and we quickly got out of our harnesses and towed you out, before the mandible sank; the ambassador wasn’t there, sorry Sir.”
“Any Supplies?” asked Ruku.
“Just what we had on when we landed.”
Ruku reached for his rifle, but it wasn’t there instead he found a gash in his thigh, he grimaced.
“Any reports from the other squads?” asked Ruku.
“Negative, our LZ is five clicks to the “North” of here” replied Tolu. “Can you walk?”
“I’ll be fine but…”
Just as he was speaking a strange creature stumbled out of the bushes, followed closely by a squad of elites. Tolu quickly grabbed a hold of the creature, unholstered its weapon, handed it to Ruku, and pulled out his knife and held it up to its throat. The alien was slender, its skin dark brown, and had two tufts of hair under its mouth, above it, two bulging eyes were staring at Ruku.
“What is it?” Ruku asked.
“We found it near our LZ, it was spying on us, the way it is armored, I’d say it was an advanced scout.”
“What is it?” It replied mockingly.
Tolu tightened his grip on the thing, not reluctant to loosen up. The thing spoke again, “Forerunners.”
Ruku’s curiosity piqued, he got up, ignoring his cut, and headed toward it.
“What do you know about them?” Ruku asked.
“A ship, dreadnaught, you know?”
Ruku instantly realized what the alien was talking about, the forerunner relic; but it was a ship? How could it be, Ruku recognize then and there that they must have utilized the forerunner relic, taken its secrets, and used them for their selfish purposes. Back on Shangellis, it was the most sacred of Laws to desecrate a forerunner relic, they were to be renewed, not reused. Ruku then acknowledged that no peace could have been settled between them, as long as the aliens used the forerunner relics for themselves.
“Kill him” said Ruku.
One of the officers started to object, but before he could say anything Tolu slashed at the alien’s throat, ripping out his jugular, and spilling its red blood all over his battered armor.
“Come, lets make pace to our base, we stand a better chance together” said Ruku.
All seven elites left the carcass and headed “North” not just hoping to find other squads along the way, but to get there in one piece.
What they didn’t know, was that where they were walking into was one of the most dangerous plasma minefields left over from the planets Great Wars; they were setting themselves up for a death stroll.
Ch 8
As dense as the jungle was, Ruku and the other Shangelli with him had no trouble trudging through it. Because of their sheer muscle size, they were able to “bend” the trees out of their way. Every so often, Runo, the squads scout, would stop them in their tracks, and listen for any motion, although it was almost impossible to hear anything in the lush jungle. Since the two squads had joined, they had not seen any contact since, which was odd since they were enemies on an alien planet. Ruku called it a stroke of luck, and that the Forerunners had blessed them, but the rest of the squad knew better. Years of training made them aware and cautious of their surroundings.
“Stop” said Runo in a barely controlled whisper.
All at once seven elites stopped, crouched and listened. What Runo had heard was the minute sound of a gravity trigger on a mine. Had he heard the sound before he might have been able to warn the squad when he heard it; but to him, it was just another noise. Runo lowered his fist, the sign to continue, just as Runo lifted his foot he disappeared in a ball of plasma, all that was left was a glass crater. Because of the dense jungle, and the distance between the squad and Runo, there were no other casualties. Nonetheless, the remaining squad members were shocked, not because Runo was dead, but because they realized that they were in a minefield.
Ruku lifted his massive armored arm and deflected a shard of wood, the stick splintered as it struck him, but other than a dent in his already battered armor, he was not injured. The last explosion was triggered by the detonation of the previous mine, this one though, was right under a tree. Ruku and the squad gradually continued in a single file formation through the jungle, to lower the risk of stepping on a mine. But they seemed to be everywhere, and the jungle was so dense, that stepping on one was almost certain. Ruku wondered why there had been mines here, had the aliens set them up in the decent down. No there had to be another explanation, something more reasonable; setting up hundreds of mines in less than ten minutes was impossible, or at least for any Shangelli it was. For now, Ruku would concentrate on getting out of the minefield, something that was crucial to his survival.
Ruku ordered the squad to stop so that he and the others could think about the best way to get out of the mines; he surveyed his ragged squad, only two were left from his own dropship, and the other four were from the 21st squad. They had also been hit by flack on the way down, lost their ambassador, and made their way through the jungle until they ran into the alien and chased it to him. They only weapon Ruku had was a knife that his father had given to him when he entered the military at the age of six, other than that all he had was his bare hands. He looked around at the other officers: three carried their plasma pistols, two others sported beam rifles, and Tolu carried his own knife.
“This is outrageous, how are we to make our way when we are surrounded by thousands of mines” Said a young officer.
Squad-com Zulo growled at him, a signal to shut up, the young officer reluctantly did so.
“The only way through is an indirect route, I think I can understand the pattern that the mines have been put in, but I will need to see some first” said 2nd Squad-com Zono.
“Very well, but be careful, the next thing we need is our only technician scattered across the jungle” said Ruku.
Zono nodded his head, confirming the order, and gradually made his way looking for a mine, before he could leave, Tolu stepped in front of the officer and said, “It is far too dangerous for one to go alone, we are still in enemy territory, so I will go as well.”
Seconds later, the two Shangelli made their way into the jungle. Ruku found it odd that the mines were so far apart, and that nobody, besides Runo, had set one off; then it hit him, the mines were not motion sensitive, how could an advanced civilization make such a foolish mistake. He did not press the issue any further, but blessed the Forerunners for their stroke of luck.
Ch 9
The San Shyum council had grown tiresome of waiting, with the aliens’ fleet in orbit and the invasion on the ground they had plenty of decisions. Fortunately for them, the aliens fleet in orbit was small and was about to be ambushed anyway, and would hopefully be defeated quickly with no casualties to their fleet. Since word came of the first alien dropship landing in the capital sector, the council had been on high alert and ordered hunter-killer teams after them; but when several of the aliens’ dropships had crash-landed into the minefield, they couldn’t pursue and kill them. So the council waited for them to make a mistake and walk into the mines. However, when the aliens proved quite resourceful in eluding the mines, and had not been decimated as planned, the council had become impatient and ordered a small team to set the remote detonation of the minefield.
Three figured danced through the shadows, avoiding the trees and mines along the way; they had just passed an aliens patrol, considered ambushing it but quickly reconsidered. Their orders were very specific: they were to limit any contact with the aliens, in hopes of completing the mission as fast as possible. For such lanky creatures, they moved quite swiftly, especially in such a dense jungle full of mines; but per the council’s orders, the mines were only set on gravity triggered detonation and the FOF was on: meaning that their proximity detonators had been disabled and the mines wouldn’t detonate if they stepped on one. This made the jungle easier to cover without the threat of being incinerated. As they approached their destination, they noticed two of the aliens, one seemed to be impatient and therefore easily distracted, the other was alert, watching the ground as if looking for something. The tallest of the three San Shyum pulled out a metallic device, clicked on its remote detonator, and locked the safeties; once the code had been set it couldn’t be turned off, meaning that in just under ten minutes every mine in the field would be remote detonated.
Tolu and Zono slowly approached a partially covered mine, their feet crunching the underbrush as if it was twigs; despite their large size, they were able to go through the jungle with ease. Zono also noticed that the mines were somewhat far apart; so far that they had only spotted one other mine. Zono thought to himself: perhaps there had been a great battle here long ago, and some of the mines had been triggered, if that was so, then finding a way out would be near-impossible. Tolu noticed Zono was starting to let his guard down: his strides were faster, and he was looking around and not on the dirt, this was something that could get them both killed.
“Zono, pay attention, your actions could kill us both!”
Zono quickly snapped to attention and heeded Tolu’s advice, Tolu was right, he had been lethargic in his actions, this came to him as a surprise, so he tried to keep his composure the rest of the way.
Zono noticed something glistening in the patchy sunlight, it must have been a mine he thought, and so he noted its position and walked away in a different direction. Tolu stiffened; he saw something moving on his motion tracker, but in jungle, just about everything moved, but just to be safe he unsheathed his knife from his belt. He notice Zono was starting to become sluggish again, but before he could say anything, a blade struck him in his chest; he felt it dig into his muscles, shredding them as if they were paper, then before he could move another blade struck him in his throat, decapitating him instantly. For the last moments of his life he saw the sky appear above him, then the ground approaching rapidly.
Ch 10
Shipmaster Rola watched as two of his remaining frigates fired their main cannons: lances of light appeared along their lateral lines then in an instant flared, revealing a glowing ball of scorching plasma leaving the ship. Seconds later, the plasma impacted on the aliens shields, the first shot seemed to have no effect, but when the second impacted, their shields glowed a dull red then popped, revealing the hull beneath.
“Shipmaster, plasma cannons are charged” said tac-officer Tonu.
“Are we in range?” asked Rola.
“Yes” replied Tonu.
“Then fire, burn their mongrel hides.”
All at once the cruiser and carrier fired, six bolts of plasma streaked across the vacuum between them, then impacted on the ships hull. The alloy started to glow a bright red, then orange, then white; after the last impact the hull liquefied, and pulled away revealing the burning skeletal structure beneath. A throaty roar erupted on the bridge as all the officers cheered for the destruction of the ship. Rola had to admit that he too was excited for a moment, but the fact that they only had five ships left, and there were hundreds of the aliens ships, quickly squelched any and all of his enthusiasm.
“Shipmaster, another ship is appearing, its coming from the moon” said Oros.
“Let’s see it” stated Rola.
For a second the only thing in view was the stars, but then the slight glow of a ships engine appeared revealing a vaguely triangular ship in the engines shadow. It had to be at least a kilometer long and a half a kilometer wide, it wasn’t very bulky, but Rola could tell it was several thousand metric tons.
“Armaments?” Rola asked.
“This ship seems to be different in size from all the others, but the hull armor composition is the same. As for armaments…” Oros paused then said,
“Unable to read any, either the ship has none, or they are not registering because the sensors can’t determine what they are.”
Rola was puzzled, how could such a large ship not have weapons, they had to be there, just not registering on sensors.
“Shipmaster, I’m picking up a large amount of energy buildup on…”
Just then, a white hot beam struck one of the frigates; it penetrated its hull and emerged on the other side, the insides of the ship were quickly liquefied then the ship exploded, showering the other two frigates with molten metal. All of a sudden both of the frigates exploded in a ball of metal and flame, and the alien ship emerging on the other side.
“Shipmaster, the alien ship is charging weapons” said Oros.
“Evasive maneuvers get us out of range!” howled Rola.
The alien ship fired again, but before the beam could reach Rola’s destroyer, the cruiser positioned itself in front of the beam and took the blast. Because of the ships momentum the beam sliced through the decks in a horizontal motion, cutting all drive conduits and disabling the ship. Rola watched as the cruiser twirled out of control, heading for the incoming ship; but to Rola’s amazement, the ship didn’t stop, but plowed through the cruiser. The alien ship tore it apart, separating the ship into two halves, however the ship didn’t stop there, it charged its weapons again and fired, this time enveloping the cruiser in a ball of fire. Fortunately, the shipmaster of the cruiser had given the destroyer and the carrier enough time to charge their plasma turrets and fire. Eight orbs of superheated plasma streamed through space, burning any wreckage that was in their way, and impacted on the hull of the ship. Rola was surprised to see that the ship had no defense shields; however the result was far from optimistic. Rola was dumbfounded, the ships hull was not only intact, but the only signs of damage were black scorches along the side of the ship. Apparently the ship possessed some sort of ablative armor, rendering their plasma weapons almost useless.
“Orders shipmaster?” asked Zoka
Rola didn’t bother to answer; he only knew that somehow, someway he was going to die.
Ch 11
Zono watched as Tolu’s head left his body, his blood painting the nearby trees a deep purple. Before he knew it, three aliens emerged from the trees, each brandishing a blade weapon; doing the only thing he thought of, he leveled his beam rifle and fired at the alien closest to him. As the beam impacted, it tore a ragged hole through the alien’s chest, splattering the other two aliens with bits of bone and flesh. But to Zonos surprise the other two aliens fell to the ground either dead or unconscious. It appeared that the beam had driven through the first alien and then through the other two aliens; just as he was about to leave, the last alien got up. Wasting no time, Zono sprinted toward the alien and piled it into the ground.
“What are you doing” Zono barked.
The alien did not reply, only spit in Zono’s face; Zonos temper flared, he swung at the alien as hard as he could and his fist impacted the alien’s elongated face. Zono heard bones shatter, but the alien didn’t talk. So Zono got creative, he picked up Tolu’s knife and held it in front of the alien’s deformed face, showing that he was going to torture him. The alien remained silent, so Zono stabbed it in the arm hoping to force it to talk, unfortunately it didn’t so Zono stabbed it in the other arm, this time in the shoulder. Aside from a whimper, the alien said nothing; Zono pulled the knife out, the blade thick with blood. This time Zono went for its stomach and got he desired result: the alien screamed and gargled blood, Zono released his grip one the creatures extremities. The alien went for his belt and grabbed a data pad, punched a few keys and handed it to Zono; Zono scrutinized the pale screen, found that the words were in his own language, and read:
From: San Shyum High Council
To: SpecOps team “surrender not”
Message reads:
Under orders of utmost importance, you are authorized to use any means necessary to detonate all mines in zones 24-34, effectively eliminating all alien trespassers that…
That was all Zono read for he knew what it would say, so doing what he must he pulled his knife across the aliens throat, grabbed his beam rifle, and sprinted through the mines to his squad. Somehow, someway, he had to make it back: the lives of all his squad depended on it.