"...has been three days since the phenomenon's first appearance, which shows no signs of abating..."
"...has already lost three ships to the phenomenon..."
"...states that contact simply broke off after crossing what researchers have now classified as the phenomenon's event horizon. The vessel and its followers are presumed destroyed. All aboard - dead..."
"...has consumed the entire planet and a significant portion of intermediate orbits since its initial appearance. All inhabitants are presumed dead..."
"...an estimated casualty rate of one hundred percent, totaling more than two trillion lives. Details remain unknown, and all attempts to interact or communicate with the phenomenon have failed..."
"...experts call it a collection of, quote, 'nothing at all, as if someone or something had just punched a hole in the universe'..."
"...the appearance of which coincides suspiciously with the latest events brought to you three days ago..."
"...though no link has yet been confirmed, it is the opinion of Concile watch personnel that the phenomenon's appearance could be a direct result of..."
"...is now confirmed that seven members of the of the twenty-man squad were heavily wounded as they attempted..."
"...that followed the capture of the individual identified to this day only as 'Acid'..."
"...Concile civilian relations personnel confirming that the accused was indeed the real one this time, although speculation persists..."
"...that there is no confirmation due to the incident caused by the appearance of the phenomenon..."
"...the court is positive the order was carried out..."
"...thephenomenonhavingtakenholdshortlyafter.. ."
"...andthetimeofinitialappearancematchingperfectly ..."
"...accusedoftreasonandrebellionagainsttheConcile's benevolence..."
"...thearrestandexecutionoftheindividualonlyknownas 'Acid'..."
Black.
Darkness.
Silence...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
*debates on whether or not to make popcorn, decides with it, and sits down*
Edit: There we go!
. . .That's really cool. XD
Do continue, Pharaoh. *folds hands*
My pace was quick, my step secure.
I'd get an earful for shooting the display, but I just couldn't listen to any more of that.
Right now, I didn't really care.
I'd failed.
I'd failed my leader.
No...worse.
I'd failed my friend.
So much could happen in three days.
And little had been what was now official.
Obviously, my opinions differ...
--------------------
APOCAPLYPSE Construction Site
Undisclosed Location
Three days earlier...
My pace was quick, my step secure.
The window gallery passed me swiftly, the many parts of the gargantuan scaffold taking up most of the view. Only every now and then, the faint twinkle of a star managed to make its way through the hundreds of floodlights on the structure's interior.
Normally, I'd stop to watch the work. Like pieces of a puzzle, skyscraper-sized modules drifted through the vacuum of space, guided securely into place by invisible assembly mechanisms. Work was always progressing, always in motion, the supply lines of the Cosmic Factory copies floating a few kilometers off the main scaffold constantly sending the assembly work new parts.
Now wasn't normally.
Now was anything but normal, even for my line of work.
And what a line of work it was.
Leaving the gallery behind, the blast door of my destination hissed into the ceiling at my approach. Beyond lay the hangar I'd selected for the assembly. My troops were already there.
There weren't many left. Only about three hundred of us hadn't fallen in the final battle for our home. I thought that day had broken me...broken all of us. We were sure death was all this world had left to offer us.
But then someone had come.
Given us purpose.
And I'd never forget that.
"Unit assembled, Sir!" tore me from my thoughts. I mustered my officer closely, returning the salute. His heavy armor seemed secure, the jagged edges of his night-black powered suit locking flawlessly into the mounted weapons. I noted his helmet already sealed, the perfectly reflective black surface not allowing even a hint of facial expression to be seen.
The rest of the unit had formed a line beside us, ready and waiting just as their commander, armed to the teeth. Conveying the very picture of the word emotionless was important, taking away a factor for the enemy to exploit.
However, it was far from true. My insides boiled.
"Everyone knows what you're here for." I began, taking position across from the formation, "You will note there are only seventeen of you. Reason being this will be a high-risk operation with little chance of success. You are the most skilled in your fields and have been handpicked for this assignment. However the mainframe predicts less than a seven percent chance of success even under the best of circumstance. Therefore, I will not order you to do this. If you wish to be partake in this rescue mission, take one step..."
I never finished that sentence.
The line moved like a single being.
One step forward...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
Toy: >_> *kicks TV* [censored] super reception giving me alien news again.
Ghoul: Hey! I was watching that!
Statesman said let there be heroes, and there were heroes.
Lord Recluse said let there be villains, and there were villains.
NCsoft said let there be nothing, and there was nothing.
*Sits next to Sef*
Yay! Really cool, Ace.
((A figure plots in the darkness, watching from behind red-tinted monocles.))
((Thule? XD))
((Diov leaps out and smacks Darkie over the head with his scyth.
"No, ME!"))
"Ending linear maneuver in seventy-three seconds. Standby."
I barely perceived the announcement. My mind was on other things already - on the ground, in the fray. They'd have fire coming at us from everywhere.
A touch to my shoulder startled me. The clawed hand covered in leathery, deep-green hide took me back to the present.
"Al." the being attached to said hand nodded to me. I returned the gesture silently. there was no need for more words. We understood one another.
Kerat was a Khelari, a species vaguely reptilian and somewhat humanoid. Actually, the presence of two arms and legs, as well as an upright spinal stance, was about all they had in common with humans, though the five-fingered hands bore some resemblance too. In contrast, the long, whip-like tail was an inheritance of their reptilian ancestors, a fifth limb as strong and dexterous an any arm or tentacle I'd ever seen. The head seemed such as well, the skull resembling that of a creature humans often referred to as a 'velociraptor', though I admit I never quite could get the similarity.
The shape of the skull might have been the same, but there similarity already ended, so many details vastly different. The largest discrepancy, however, was likely the deep-green armor-like hide a Khelari had for skin, a rough and leather-like texture with no scales at all. The visage was that of a clear-cut predator, complete with rows of needle-like teeth and eyes that seemed capable of detecting all. To survive, no less develop a civilization, on a world like Khelaris, such things appeared to be obvious necessities.
Kerat clothed himself in a simple fashion, a black jacket with long pants of the same hue, heavy combat boots to match, and a white T-shirt under the night-like coat. Of course things weren't quite as simple as they looked, the seemingly out-of-place assembly being capable of more than met the eye.
Which was good.
We'd need it.
"Don't worry about me." I finally answered, "You guys just keep their fleet busy, we'll handle things on the ground."
"Can do." was Kerat's solemn response, his gaze wandering to the inward slanted 'windshield' of the semicircular bridge, where the chaotic energies of both hyperspace and our continuum presented themselves to our senses as streaks of light in a thick gray fog, arcs of so many energies mixing into the picture at but a whim.
"You really think you can hold them with just four ships?" I found myself second-guessing the plan, unsure, "It's bound to be a trap."
Kerat only smiled back, "Yeah. I'm sure. Trust me, the Concile's never seen anything like these before. We might be outnumbered - but they're the ones who're gonna be outgunned."
Now I found myself smiling as well, watching the countdown to return to normal space. I gave the bridge crew a quick salute, then turned to head for the starboard Drop Bay. On the way, I checked my armor's systems through once more, something that had become second nature over time. It alos helped calm my nerves a bit, taking just enough time to keep me from thinking about anything until I reached the Drop Bay.
The blast door hissed into the ceiling, allowing me passage into the long but relatively narrow room that resembled an inverted trapezoid. On the walls, half-hung, half-stacked, sat the atmospheric entry pods of several robotic divisions, the heavy compound crates numbered and ordered for rapid deployment through discharge locks in the floor of the Drop Bay.
We'd be going in the same way.
It wouldn't be a pleasant ride, but Dropships were out of the question for this operation. The Concile would be defending their positions heavily against orbital assault, and any vessel coming in for landing was calculated as a total loss from the start.
That didn't go to say there wouldnt be any - there just wouldn't be anyone on board. While their gunners wasted time and attention on those, however, we'd drop a whole division right in their heads, or whatever body part happened to be their uppermost.
In the ensuing chaos, we hoped to go mostly undetected. The plan was simple, clear-cut, and left little unaccounted for. To us, it'd be a well-executed match of chess, every move planned out in advance, always a step ahead of the enemy.
For them - judgment day...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
Strike with the sun to your rear to deny the enemy full view of your force.
We took it a step further.
We came directly from the sun.
Six light minutes from the target, we dropped back into normal space with near-luminal velocity, our small fleet of small ships appearing like phantoms.
Four 250-meter Gunships composed our core, a few dozen fighter craft our support. Slipping into the system in freefall, all engines offline to strengthen our stealth capabilities, we proceeded to assess the enemy forces.
Sensors brought back immediate reports of whole fleet divisions around the gray-green sphere that was our target, the second planet of the large orange sun. The 1500-meter spheres of the feared Concile SVE ships hung in high orbit like electrons in an atom, their hulls of formstabilized energy giving off a bronze-gold hue as they moved to and fro.
Among them lingered several more types, from narrow, rod-like vessels to massive ellipsoids. Mercenaries, servants, and general henchmen of the Concile, seeking only to garner favor by furthering their cause. The Concile's heads, however, weren't stupid - only true believers in their 'grand purpose' were permitted to crew the SVE ships; the true military might of the conglomerate that spanned entire galaxies with its influence.
But not invincible - not anymore.
And today, they'd see that on a very large scale indeed.
Twenty-nine light seconds away, we were spotted. Detection alerts blared across every section of every ship. Engines came online again, shields established to stable in moments, and weapons primed to fire.
"Unknown vessels..." crackled through communications systems, "...you are hereby ordered to identify and come to a complete stop. If you do no comply, we will open fire."
There was only a single reply from our side, sent back by Kerat on all frequencies. It sounded like a single breath.
"No."
We accelerated.
Chaos broke loose as the Concile's mixed fleet maneuvered to stop us, fighters and long-range torpedoes streaming from their ranks as their capital ships formed a wall in our way, intent on not letting anything pass.
Just as we'd planned.
Rearranging our formation into an ahead-slanted diamond, our support craft fanned out as well, shooting ahead of the Gunships with their superior acceleration, moving into attack position and preparing to begin their attack runs.
Then we opened fire.
Space itself seemed to explode, bright-white flashes of light tearing into the enemy fleet from one instant to another with no visible cause. Massive ships popped like soap bubbles as gargantuan detonations ripped their hulls apart from the inside out, vaporizing the initial target in the sun-hot fires of thermonuclear infernos, then expanding outward to anything unlucky enough to be anywhere within the titanic spherical kill zones.
The detonations came in rapid succession, cutting a line through the enemy formation several hundred kilometers wide, literally ripping open the defensive cocoon of enemy vessels. Panicked transmissions shot back and forth as even the supposedly indestructible SVE ships succumbed to the charges detonating in their innards, crews and machinery falling victim to the unleashed fury of the inferno in only instants.
This was gigafire.
And they'd know the fear of it.
Now and forever.
Caliber 6 charges, equivalent to roughly 5000 gigatons of TNT, appeared in bridges, engine rooms, crew quarters, mess halls, and absolutely anywhere they could, detonating not an instant after having fully materialized and consuming all near them in a single horrid wall of thermonuclear flame.
This was our trump card, our ace in the hole. SVE hulls may have held up against every imaginable punishment, but even they couldn't stop our new weapon from transmitting heavy charges right into the midst of the ships they protected.
We gave no quarter, showed no mercy, sewing fear and panic amongst their ranks as we kept laying salvo upon salvo into their lines, crushing so many lives in so little time.
Their formation literally shattered as we cleaved through their ranks like a titanic spearhead, ripping through defensive lines like they weren't even there. The shock and chaos was so great we hardly took any return fire at all.
But we knew it wouldn't last long.
Then came the moment. I saw the surface come up on my viewscreen.
A signal to my troops was all it took. Everyone knew what to do now. Our drop pods sealed as we set the go for final release, and then the Drop Bay's mechanisms blasted us out of the Gunship like a load of carpet bombs. In the mayhem, their ground-based forces never even saw us coming.
We came from nowhere...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
They said when one hits the surface of a planet in a drop pod, it feels like someone tearing out one's internal organs through one's feet, starting with leg bones and slowly moving up to the brain.
It was a lie.
One concocted to make one feel more at ease.
The reality was much worse.
I hardly had two senses to go on as the heavily armored canopy snapped open above me, the noise of crackling fire and thundering energy rifles echoing all around me.
For s short time, my body ran solely on instinct, my mind not capable of forming a single conscious thought with any manner of coherence. I loosely perceived one hand reaching for my rifle, the other going for the edge of the cockpit-like drop pod, and then my arm yanked my body from the force-compensating seat and out of the vehicle.
The characteristic echo of my combi rifle's paralyzer unction droned into my ears several times, a mixture of ballistic gunshot and bestial hiss. By the gargling sounds coming from ahead, I knew I had struck true, my targets' nervous systems temporarily relieved of duty by the paralyzer shocks.
My vision now finally reached a coherent and comprehensive mind. Through the visor of my suit, I surveyed the area around the impact site of my drop pod. We'd landed almost exactly where I'd planned: a bunker complex containing an anti-orbital defense array.
My pod had rammed through the ceiling, an the edges of the hole brimmed of jagged, molten-and-resolidified metal, the bunker I'd punched through to an utter wasteland of rubble and debris.
I proceeded swiftly and silently, linking up with other troopers of my unit as I moved. Our paralyzers rang out again and again, striking down whoever got in our way. Through the thick walls of the complex echoed dully the cacophony of heavy impulse blaster fire. Apparently, the robotic division of this complex was already being cleaved into by our own mechanoids.
The blast door to the command center crumpled like tissue paper under the influence of a gravity beam, and in we were, the command staff down for the count before they could even give off a shot.
My armored hand cleaved deep into the central console, got a hold of something, and tore a vital series of modules from the system.
"Fang here." I spoke into my communicator, relaying a coded, chopped, and raffed message back to the Gunships. I smirked as I looked at the twisted relay nodes in my hand, "System has been 'disabled'."
"Copy that, Allen." Kerat's voice came back, "Deploying second wave."
I threw the crushed relays to the floor with force, guiding my steps to the exit once more. This position wouldn't be operable for a long, long time...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
o_o
<_<
>_>
*Rosalind desperately tries to keep herself from fangirlsqueeing*
Japancakes.
Art - Theme 005 - Seeking Solace
But.... What would happen if the Concile developed a system to block teleporters?
Anywho, go Allen!
Statesman said let there be heroes, and there were heroes.
Lord Recluse said let there be villains, and there were villains.
NCsoft said let there be nothing, and there was nothing.
*Scribbles furiously on clipboard*
*shoves face in popcorn*
MOAR!!!
Looking good, Devious. Keep 'em comin'.
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
Awesome. XD I've never gotten a chance to see much of either Kerat or Allen, too late in Final Fight. . . carry on!
"Copy that, Allen. Deploying second wave."
I listened to myself say that - with what confidence, ease, and directness I had just spoken those words.
Yeah...easier said than done.
"Claw forming at green, theta nine nine, phi seven two." the latest report reached me, "Squad at red, theta six four, phi eight one is assuming wall formation. They're recovering, Sir."
I nodded silently. The shock effect of our appearance had faded. The Concile divisions were re-forming their broken lines, the cordon around the planet reestablishing slowly but surely.
We had their casualty reports: almost six percent destroyed, more than forty damaged so heavily they hung disabled in orbit, and another eight or so unwilling to return to the fight.
They'd face execution for that. It was high treason...and they knew it. But they'd rather flee into the cosmos from the Concile's hunters than tangle with us again.
I smiled to myself. We finally had a weapon greater than the Concile's best: fear. I chuckled in thought at the irony of it all. We wanted to help - yet our only mode of success was to sew pure, unbridled, unrelenting panic.
Still, there was a drop of hope. Our biopositronic mainframes meticulously catalogued every escapee. They would hide in the underground, seeking to make it impossible for the Concile's chasers to find them.
Of course, they would eventually. But that was another subject entirely.
We were the underground.
We would find them first - and then we'd have a talk.
If we survived today.
Percentages meant little when the enemy outnumbered you fifty to one. Once they coordinated and mounted an actually organized defense, we'd be in deep trouble.
"Contact - red, theta one eight zero, phi one one zero." I was informed, "Make that multiple. Enemy reinforcements emerging from linear maneuver, closing fast."
Predictable - but dangerous nonetheless. It was time to get serious.
"All crew full battlestations!" I ordered firmly, already turning toward the now-empty helmsman's seat, "We are entering direct combat."
Everyone knew what this meant. The Gunship's biopositronic brain could operate independently of any crew. It could fly, maneuver, control fire, and just about anything else in between.
However, it could not feel. It couldn't see the streams of the cosmos, couldn't hear the silent songs of the stars, and couldn't touch something in nothing.
Something we pilots could.
People generally believed space to be an airless expanse devoid of just about everything. A pilot would disagree.
Every time.
I threw myself into the heavy chair, thick restraint bands snapping over my body at the touch of a sensor plate. The rest of the crew were similarly strapped into their positions, in the ever-possible case of some gravos making it through the compensators, though their chairs had the ability to rotate.
I had to be completely immobile - or at least my body had to be.
Metal bands locked across my wrists, sensor plates making contact with the hide of my hands, sensing everything from metabolic chemical processes to neural activity.
I closed my eyes as the metallic SERT-cap surrounded my head, and then my world faded to black.
It didn't stay black for long.
The stars twinkled all about me, their tiny lights so endlessly far away, but so close I could almost touch them.
Below me loomed the gray-green sphere of the planet; all about me, detonations and silent thunder.
I now was the ship.
And the ship was me.
The simultan emotio reflex transmission allowed my mind to become every aspect of the Gunship. Organic intelligence and cold machine had formed a single being.
All over 'my' sensors flashed the detection signals of the enemy, their positions so many and varied I had trouble keeping track of them all.
Alright, suckers...
I could feel the roar of the engines, sense every twist and turn, no matter how minute. The reactors and my heart now beat as one.
You want a fight? Bring it!
And I shot toward the planet.
There seemed only one direction now.
Ahead...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
*Applause*
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
The planet came fast.
The defense cordon faster.
A unit had assumed wall formation directly in my path, the 1500-meter spheres of the SVE ships radiating their bronze-gold luminance out into the dark of space. Scattered among them were other units, though 'my' sensors reported they were prepared to bail at a moment's notice.
I could use that.
Their first barrage didn't keep me waiting long, long-range gravorockets streaking at me with ridiculous accelerations. I twisted to port to evade, just as they had predicted, and a wall of pale-blue energy beams struck right into my path.
Particle beams; naturally shield piercing.
They were good.
But we were better.
I twisted upward with ludicrous values, eluding the firing concentration almost completely.
But not entirely.
A crash rumbled through my very being as several beams made contact, gnashing against my Overload shield. Its structure unlike most shielding, it prevented them from coming through, but the impact still felt like a kick to the head.
I felt my body for a moment as g-forces racked through 'me', a direct result of the sudden maneuver in tandem with the increased drain on the Overload shield. Even evading their main concentration point, I had just been hammered with enough energy to vaporize a small planet.
The beams kept on me though, licking greedily right on my tail, several more finding their mark and crashing against me like scores of charging giants.
By now, Fire Control had taken down a good number of Concile units. I felt their fire wane, but it wasn't enough - again and again the titanic hammers of particle beams rammed into me, piercing the Overload barrier on more than one occasion.
I felt no pain (the ship's structure was incapable of transmitting such a sensation), but every damaged section and system flared unrelenting in my mind. Space twisted and lurched all about me - though in reality it was I who was moving - and my mind frantically looked for a way out against the myriad of enemy vessels slowly surrounding me.
Position and course reports fed directly into my mind, and with increasing frequency the enemy was denying me paths, moving to block wherever they could, trying to get me into their focused fire.
The day you get me there's the day I retire!
I twisted about fully, feigning a retreat maneuver that any sane being would have clearly seen as my last way out by now. They maneuvered accordingly, repositioning to cut me off almost instantaneously.
Hah! Fell for it!
I backflipped, grinding through high g-forces once more, then gunned it and jumped right into a split-second linear maneuver, rushing past their lines in the over-ordered continuum of linear space. I dropped back into the normal universe just a few hundred kilometers from the planet's surface.
The Concile forces were thrown into confusion once more. A linear maneuver this short was dangerous, reckless, and downright impossible to pull off for any ship or pilot in existence - the sheer amount of multidimensional calculations was insurmountable for any one entity.
But not for two merged together.
I pushed onward, slowing to orbital velocity with negative acceleration values that could have driven Styrofoam through granite. My body ached from the strain, but I didn't let that stop me, pushing through the pain to get myself where I needed to be.
Where my friends needed my to be.
The Concile forces didn't pause for long, already striking after me, now an easy target.
I started the drop.
The enemy closed.
C'mon people, get the lead out. We got incoming.
Several SVE ships were already closing to range once more, their drives superior to the regular units of the combined fleet. They would be here in mere moments.
A soundless voice suddenly responded to me.
You do what you need to. We'll hold them off.
For a moment, my hand twitched.
Negative! We need you on the surface! Al's going to need air support!
The fighters can handle that. Relax. We'll keep them off you.
I felt a hangar gate lurch open. Turbopumps streamed pressure fluids, forcing the hull apart in only moments.
Negative! I say again: negative! Do not engage! Do not...!
The hangar gate wasn't responding to me. It had been manually overridden. I swore.
Fire Control, salvo tact four at incoming enemy units! Get those two some cover ASAP!
I felt the targeting systems re-orient. Time seemed to slow to a crawl. Here I sat, mid-deployment, and couldn't do a thing about what would now happen.
I knew this to be the best course of action. It was undeniable.
But my mind just couldn't accept that logic.
The enemy units engaged, particle beams once more streaking hungrily towards me.
The brothers were ready.
At least so I hoped.
They'd be going right into the fire...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
Oh lawd, two against five or so. Good luck, dudes, good luck.
Huh? Oh, I'm wishing the Concile good luck. Have to be fair here, you know.
Statesman said let there be heroes, and there were heroes.
Lord Recluse said let there be villains, and there were villains.
NCsoft said let there be nothing, and there was nothing.
From the hangar gate shot two large forms, relativistic accelerations creating the appearance of streak-like blurs. A glance almost gave the likeness of fightercraft.
The truth wasn't far removed.
Roughly the size of F-14s, the blurs had often been described as semi-skeletal dragons, though they had little in common with the creatures of human legend. Their frames were long and thin, and the clearly defined arms and legs sat in large proportion to the torso. Neck and tail followed the same schemata, long and flexible, as did the head, which bore some semblance to the skull of a Pterodactyl.
Their hands held four digits, thumbs and fingers armed with claws, as were the feet, three long toes forming the central bone bridge, a fourth claw the heel.
Razor-sharp teeth rimmed the lipless mouths of sharply pointed skulls, the jaws' only capability of movement being that of opening and closing, and large pupilless eyes sat deep in their protective niches of the head, incoming light reflecting in a burning orange glow.
A pair of large, leathery wings anchored itself at the base of the shoulders, where a human's shoulder blades would approach the spine. They appeared as a bat's would, fine long 'fingers' of bone stretching the leather-like membrane between the gaps of the 'hand'.
In the last moments of light from the hangar, the creatures' hide reflected the illumination in a dull blood-red, the armor-like plates of keratin-like material shielding their bodies from the hard vacuum like protective exoskeletons.
And there they went, and all...
Little brother, stop rummaging about in Kerat's mind! Focus!
My thoughts backflipped over themselves. I hadn't even realized how deeply I'd been focusing on Kerat, the Khelari practically beating his mind into a mental wall because we'd stormed out...and there was nothing he could do about it.
Still, I quickly redirected myself on the task at hand. I watched the ship fall away behind us, the planet skimming below, the stars once more surrounding us with their familiar radiance.
I knew this environment to be lethal to most beings. Harsh solar winds, the biting cold of airless vacuum, the blistering heat of undeflected solar radiation, and the constant bombardment of cosmic waves were more than they could stand.
I never found myself able to understand this. Out of the ship's atmosphere once more, I felt most at home. The chilling cold of the vacuum relaxed, the burning rays of the system's sun invigorated, and the many forms of cosmic background radiation caressed gently over my wings as I moved. I could feel every change in the flow, glide through it like a bird would through air - and no other sensation even came close by comparison.
My elder brother and I were perfectly adapted to existing in the bare vacuum of space. We had no need to breathe, no organs with that function, and the hydrogen that catalyzed our metabolisms could be found just about anywhere, in all four natural states of matter.
They have detected us. Be ready.
The soundless voice of my brother echoed clearly in my mind. We lacked the capability to speak (which really wasn't that useful in a vacuum), but nature had ensured us a method of communication not impaired by such little environmental defects - telepathy.
And it hadn't only been restricted to us.
I looked ahead to the rapidly approaching SVE ships. Their crews brimmed with the rush of the moment, the thirst for glory, and the fear of death. Their minds were a veritable waterfall of thoughts and emotions, virtually impossible to describe to anyone not capable of perceiving other beings as we did.
Alongside us now closed the fighter units of Gamma Flight. The eleven-ship group had lost four of its original flight in the battle so far. Even the ludicrous acceleration and maneuverability magnitudes the fighters could achieve weren't a security guarantee against the Concile's tracking systems.
Gamma Flight is in position. echoed the lead pilot's thoughts in my mind, Awaiting orders.
I noticed my right hand subconsciously tugging at the wide straps about my chest once more, making sure they sat secure. The elastic bands held in place a combination missile launcher on my back, as well as several types of charges where they crossed over in front, from proximity mines to timed fastener munitions.
I'd strapped similar equipment to both my lower arms, the intricate assemblies of what were considered artillery-grade combination cannons secured in their positions on the upper side, the dual barrels of each assembly terminating just above my wrists.
In my left hand I held a sphere no larger than three meters or so, the short, spoke-like protrusions giving it an almost wagon-wheel appearance.
It was called a 'paratron'. What it did, neither of us truly knew.
As far as I understand, its working principle isn't far removed from a gravity bomb. my brother had told me, We will overload it and drop it in the enemy formation. The affected volume will be very large.
I hoped he was right. The physics made sense, but there were elements in this thing's design that neither of us could make tooth or claw of. Hyperdimensional designs were often infused with complications that went against all general logic, unable to achieve their desired effects otherwise.
Don't worry, something'll happen alright. came the response as my brother sensed my doubt, If I remember one thing about talking with Ace about it, it was that this thing should never be overloaded.
I sent an acknowledging impulse in response, then focused ahead on the incoming formation. They didn't seem to care about us, hell-bent on getting to the Gunship before it could complete the drop.
No.
They weren't getting anywhere near it!
A gigabomb detonated at the center of the Concile's formation.
That was our cue.
We shot forward from one instant to another, my brother taking tactical command of the fighter unit. They gunned their afterburners, we threw masses of cosmic energies behind us, and together we rushed into the enemy formation.
Gigantic spheres of bright-yellow detonations now pierced the enemy unit, but it wasn't enough to have them veer off - the initial shock had passed. They had accepted their nimbus of invincibility was no more.
And now they dealt with it.
By targeting us.
Pale-blue streaks of charged particles shot by as I pitched, yawed, rolled, and twisted every which way I could think of, space spinning about me in a maddening, downright insane series of spirals and corkscrews.
The planet below changed its position at least twice a second, the pyramid-like formation of the enemy detachment circling in my view, their beams licking hungrily towards us through the blackness of space.
We countered with heavy impulse blasters, the normally invisible weapon trails setting the planet's exosphere ablaze. Our beams crashed into enemy shields with a vengeance, concentrated fire cracking through energy barriers like eggshells, rending and tearing at the hulls underneath.
Missile munitions swarmed out from both sides, the launcher on my back jolting slightly in report at each multi-missile that left its launch tube. It didn't take long for everything to descend into calculated madness - but somehow my brother kept track of it all.
Watch yourselves - there's a lot of fire coming from the right side of that battlecruiser.
Understood. They're using it as a deflection unit.
Then we'll have to take it out. Brother, Gamma Four, Gamma Six, form on my flank.
Detecting energy buildup on the surface. Someone's thrown on a reactor.
Incoming ground fire!
My brother's warning came almost too late, the beams of the defensive fort spearing through our loose formation. I threw myself left, trying to evade their volley.
Apparently, I wasn't quick enough.
A horrid burning sensation suddenly branched out from my right upper arm, and I found myself shocked as I discovered the upper layers of my flesh had been seared right off. I think only my present state of mind prevented the racking waves of pain from completely paralyzing my movements.
My brother was over me before I realized it, tugging me out of the way of another beam from the ground fort.
Then its fire ceased.
They're targeting the Gunship. my brother told me, trying to take the paratron from my hand, Take that fort out. I'll handle these losers.
But you need...
I need you to protect the ship. That's what we set out to do. If Allen doesnt get that support, he's as good as dead.
I had no arguments to counter. The paratron left my grip as I opened my hand.
I tried to block out all emotion, the pain in my arm shrinking to nothing compared to my brother rushing headlong into the Concile formation.
As I lurched down into the atmosphere, I strained to push the image from my mind.
He'd strike at them, alright.
Right through the middle...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
"What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning."
- Werner Heisenberg
"A person starts to live when he can live outside himself."
- Albert Einstein
"Only when the illusion knows it is an illusion can it know reality."
- Anonymous
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters