evilcat4000 wrote:Good chapter. BTW should not the command battleship be called a commmand ship ?
Well - there are two explanations:
1. In-universe explanation. The dominant Xril language, an Esperanto-style "lingua franca" which went on to become the first language of the entire species, is structured in a way that there's no word for "ship", just various ship types.
2. Out-of-universe-explanation. I barely know any naval terminology.
"Hi there, would you like to have a cookie?"
"No, actually I would HATE to have a cookie, you vapid waste of inedible flesh!"
Hmmm.... it's very good although a bit short for my taste. I like the battle, but it seems a bit small for my taste. You should lengthen it and add more descriptions of what happened to the other ships. I had the impression that the Xril had only 1 ship lost.
And.... do the Jarda and Xril have only lasers and PAs? What happened to missiles, torpedoes and whatnot?
What about fighter combat?
Maybe you could add more strategies since from what I read it seemed that they just charged at each other, some subfleets being given specific tasks. But that's okay since the Xril were supposed to be just standing there.
Shroom Man 777 wrote:Hmmm.... it's very good although a bit short for my taste. I like the battle, but it seems a bit small for my taste. You should lengthen it and add more descriptions of what happened to the other ships. I had the impression that the Xril had only 1 ship lost.
It was Xyakkath and Xvolthaxr who only lost so few ships. it was only their fleets whose advance was slowed down by the intercepting Jardra ships - while Rathyrzakr and the other admirals' fleets just continued their advance towards the main Avarnam defense fleet. Since Rathyrzakr and others also had to cope with two huge, heavily armed space stations - they've taken more losses than just a couple of ships.
Also - bear in mind that the Xhatrr Spacefleet ships outnumber the Avarnam Defense Fleet at least three-to-one.
And.... do the Jarda and Xril have only lasers and PAs? What happened to missiles, torpedoes and whatnot?
In TWW, missiles and torpedoes in space are feasible but lasers have such a long range and high accuracy that if used in ship-to-ship combat, missiles will usually be shot down.
What about fighter combat?
Both sides have fighters - however, fighters are seen more as support than anything else. Since Xyakkath and Xvolthaxr already had the numerical advantage over the Avarnam Defense Force's interceptor fleet, they didn't need to use fighters but for some reason instead used corvettes.
"Hi there, would you like to have a cookie?"
"No, actually I would HATE to have a cookie, you vapid waste of inedible flesh!"
Good chapter. A couple of minor points:
1) in the 4th paragraph you had the word "us" in this really didn't scan with the 3rd person perspective you are using.
2) I also got slightly confused as which adrimal we were reading about. but maybe thats just cos i wasn't being as through as i should.
Crazedwraith wrote:Good chapter. A couple of minor points:
1) in the 4th paragraph you had the word "us" in this really didn't scan with the 3rd person perspective you are using.
Yeah, it's a fault I think I commit way too often.
I think it's already obvious that this isn't going to be the final version of the story!
(Star Wars, IIRC, went through 4-5 drafts... so this is nothing new.)
Maybe I should one day in the far future publish this thing when the final version's completed?
BTW - I'm currently in a case of writer's block... primarly concerned with the development of the character Txaxil... and for that matter, the ending.
"Hi there, would you like to have a cookie?"
"No, actually I would HATE to have a cookie, you vapid waste of inedible flesh!"
Vorou Solar System, Command Battleship Aulx of the Xhatrr Spacefleet
Xyakkath had no time to waste. While he and Xvolthaxr's fleets were bottled up with destroying two alien fleets send to distract, the rest of the armada were having trouble with the main enemy fleet.
To be well-informed, he asked Rathyrzakr over the comm-lines: "Xyakkath here again, requesting info on your casualties."
He was quickly answered by Rathyrzakr: "All capships under my command are currently engaging one of the enemy space stations. I'll just transmit our combined casualties to the Aulx' comm-computer. End communication."
Then, on a viewscreen on the Aulx' bridge popped up lists of Xril casualties: 4 capships, 12 frigates and 3 destroyers, 48 corvettes, 62 gunboats, 20 bombers and 55 fighters. Many more ships were heavily damaged.
Quite frightening to Xyakkath, considering how outnumbered the aliens were and that their ships had no particle accelerators. This was far more resistance than he expected from an enemy of this tech level, so he made a mental note to salvage as many wrecked alien ships as possible.
Using the best of his knowledge, he thought out a tactic on the spot while looking at the strategic viewscreen. The enemy had only 6 capships left and 8 frigates/destroyers aside from the two battlestations. Each capship was protected by one or two frigate or destroyer.
Again, commands issued forth from his cybernetically enhanced mind to that of Admiral Xvolthaxr on the bridge of his flagship: "Open up communications to Xvolthaxr. This is Exalted Fleet-Lord Xyakkath. Order 2/3 of your gunboats to line up in X-formations and attack enemy frigates and destroyers. Order enough of your frigs and destroyers to attack their alien ones and so on with the cruisers, assisted by the rest of the gunboats. When completed, concentrate fire on the stations. When operation complete, attack the remaining battlestation which my fleet's not attacking. Otherwise, follow standard procedure. End communication."
Now, as the defense viewscreen indicated that the colossal alien battlestation was taking pot-shots at his ships and a nearby frigate reported more than half its laser turrets disabled, Xyakkath - forced to calculate an attack strategy on the spot, ordered the following: "Corvettes, land in docking bays, re-arm launchers with fusion-warhead negamatter missiles, and wait for point-blank range to relaunch. Gunboat squadrons 1 thru 6, destroyers Kvarx, Lri Xtha, Tyulr, Kna-Nxa and Vthkmi, cruisers Xlavkath, Kbaithr and Xtuh... form up in sphere formation, maximum acceleration towards nearest enemy station, aim for the weaponry. Carriers Vnarhu and Nlir Nrakthath - form up in star formation escorted by frigates Xalthk, Xnao, Zralxtha, Fvolxnar, Kthlau, Xar-Xn-Kpath, engage station at 70% acceleration and launch bombers at point blank."
Gazing upon the strategical viewscreen, Xyakkath saw his ships align in the formations he had assigned.
Vorou Solar System, Modified Kalshaksa-class Heavy Cruiser Jarshkai of the Avarnam Defense Force
First Admiral Tukajra's ability to concentrate and famed cool leadership had never been challenged as much as this time.
He had sent three admirals and their fleets to their certain death in a vain hope that they would slow down the onslaught of the Kh-Sriil navy. It had seemingly worked, but only to a small extent as it only stopped a miniscule fraction of the Kh-Sriil armada.
Outnumbered, the Avarnam Defense Fleet had been reduced by the numerically superior foe to 4 Kalshaksa-class cruisers including his own Jarshkai, a couple of smaller Sikoushra-class cruisers, five frigates, three destroyers and the colossal military space stations Shavolar and Hoksh.
Though practically immobile, these battlestations were the last remaining Avarnam Defense Fleet assets not totally damaged.
The elderly First Admiral depressively watched the overview screens of the ship, revealing his command ship Jarshkai to be almost crippled and that a duo of Kh-Sriil cruisers escorted by a carrier were closing in on it.
He now had seen the truth. The Avarnam Defense Force's ships had been defeated, if not their stations. Nonetheless, he knew that any ship not immobilized could devastate another with a ramming attack. Knowing that the primary engines of the Jarshkai still up and running, Tukajra ordered the navigation to set collision course for the enemy carrier, with maximum acceleration.
Tukajra, although exhausted, was quick to order over the fleet's comm-lines: "Tukajra to frigates Marushabbat and Tvarishnur. Set ramming course for nearest alien carrier at max thrust, evacuate ships."
Following that was an order for all crew to leave the Jarshkai and leave all control to the ship's AIs, which were set on Kamikaze'ing the Kh-Sriil carrier.
Most crewmen in departments away from the bridge exited by escape pods, while the bridge simply seperated itself from the rest of the ship. The bridge then headed to dock with Shavolar, demonstrating a feature of Jardra capital ships - their bridges could seperate and function as spacecraft in their own right, as they were equipped with thrusters, retrothrusters and even their own nuclear fusion generators.
All which Tukajra could do now was to hope that the Kh-Sriil warships would leave him alone, and transmit following message to Shavolar: "First Admiral Tukajra to Fleet Station Shavolar. This is the bridge of the Jarshkai, requesting docking permission."
As Shavolar granted docking permission to the Jarshkai's bridge, Tukajra wished that the Planetary Commonwealth Of Avarnam's ministry of defense had not cut the budget into research of new military technologies such as targeter-jammers for spacecraft...
Vorou Solar System, Command Battleship Aulx of the Xhatrr Spacefleet
Having recently finished off one of the few remaining alien ships not reduced to debris, Xyakkath saw upon the viewscreen that the Txarr, one of Xvolthaxr's carriers, was rammed by an alien cruiser. Xyakkath noted that the alien cruiser had jettisoned its bridge, an ability also found in some Xril ships. A trio of destroyers then arrived to defend the carrier - though all they could do was to scar the derelict further with lacerating particle beams.
The near-crippled enemy cruiser had lost all of its ablative armour, it was not slowed down. The Txarr then tried to evade, its navigational thrusters shifting it into another course, but it was too late - a derelict hulk with a volume of 1800 cubic metres now broke the Txarr into half as it impacted with a velocity of 30% lightspeed.
Fortunately, a pair of Kvorna-class tow ships were nearby, and as emergency shuttles left the shuttlebays of the Txarr while its bridge seperated itself from the rest of the ship, the small but powerful-engined salvage-ships attached themselves to the remnants of the deserted wreck and pulled them towards the wormhole. If the remnants of the Txarr could be repaired back in the Xhatrr system, it would be all worth it.
That was mainly Xvolthaxr's worry, however. Xyakkath was mainly concerned with the gigantic defense station his subfleet was in the process of taking out. Countless laser beams hit the destroyers Lri Xtha and Tyulr, knocking a PA off each. Reminding himself of the adage "A clenched fist hits harder than an open hand", he ordered all ships under his command: "Xyakkath to subfleet 1 - concentrate fire on assigned section."
As that order was issued, on the tactical viewscreen of all ships under Xyakkath's command a certain panel of the alien battlestation was highlighted. The battlestation resemled a cube with a hemispherical structure stuck to each side, and one of the hemispheres now glowed red.
The Aulx and six gunboat squadrons, 5 Kvarx-class destroyers, 3 Xyrroth-class cruisers, 2 Txarr-class carriers and 6 Jxirth-class frigates maneuvred into a tightly knit-together wall formation and opened fire upon the particular structure. Combined, their salvo composed over 1100 laser beams and almost fifty PA beams. The PA beams cut straight through the battlestation's laser-absorbing armour which the lasers struggled to penetrate.
Then, the carriers launched their bombers. The bombers, unmanned as they each were controlled by an AI, swarmed out of the carriers' docking bays. In their X formations, escorted by hordes of unmanned fighters, they raced towards the battlestation with ten times the speed of sound to discharge their negamatter hydrogen-warhead missiles.
Negamatter, or as it was probably known, negative matter, had long been theorized to exist but only twenty years ago had it been practically usable. As it repelled all sorts of ordinary matter, if used correctly, could be used as a method of transportation that was unparalleled in sheer acceleration - though the sheer cost of producing it limited its use. One use were special missiles designed to evade targeters by virtue of sheer speed - and such were fired by the bombers.
As torrents of "fusionhead" negamatter missiles hit the alien battlestation's armoured shell almost as soon as they were fired, thousands of megatons of firepower was released and bright explosions dotted the station's surface. The flak-laser turrets which were not disabled yet, however, responded with cutting down twenty-seven of the Xril bombers.
Following that, the aliens launched their own interceptors which quickly were cut off by the fighters escorting the Xril bombers.
Xyakkath then ordered the other fleets to concentrate each on a facing of the battlestation.
The next two salvoes from the Xril armada then punched through the hemispherical sections, scarring the battlestation's surface.
The pattern continued. The Xhatrr Spacefleet fired in volleys, almost simultaneously with the battlestation they fought against. With each volley, the Xril fleet lost a little firepower as the lasers of the battlestation targeted the turrets of the assaulting Xril warships.
After 10 volleys of fire, the battlestation was almost inoperative save for some weapons and resembled more of a scarred, disfigured piece of metallic garbage than an actual vessel.
In its last throes of death, the alien battlestation's remaining laser turrets delivered the coup de grace to the Xnao, a somewhat damaged frigate whose crew nonetheless managed to escape in their emergency shuttles straight into the hangar bays of the carrier Nlir Nrakthath which the frigate was protecting.
Suddenly, Xvolthaxr reported back to Xyakkath from his flagship: "Xvolthaxr here. Remaining alien spacecraft destroyed."
The reply from Xyakkath was: "Okay, then go for the battlestation which I'm not fighting. This one just needs one or two volleys of fire."
Vorou Solar System, Battlestation Shavolar of the Avarnam Defense Force
The commander of Shavolar, Admiral Vanthash, looked up upon the viewscreen displaying the state of the battlestation.
"Main reactors disabled. All weaponry inoperative. Sections 1 through 6 down. No contact to Battlestation Hoksh. Currently running on auxiliary fusion reactors.
Vanthash knew that all chance of victory had faded away, but that there still was some hope. Using her headset's indirect linking to her brain waves, by force of mind she ordered the sending of distress signals to all other Jardra planetary nations: The Shaikarsite Union, the United Moons of Sarkai, Outer Worlds Federation and even the rivalling moons of the gas-giant Taurash.
It was true sign of desperation that she asked for help from the generally apathetic United Moons Of Sarkai - who had little military forces despite regional militia ground forces and no space warships except for those employed by Sarkaian corporations to escort freighters. Even more futile was the hope that the warring Taurash moons would finally unite under one cause.
However, she had often heard the proverb "It is better to strive too hard than not strive enough" and for the first time she believed in this.
As the AI informed her that the distress signals had been transmitted, the defense viewscreen then reported further penetrating damage... and that all reactors now were offline.
All she could do now was to press the button that caused the station's central AIs to order the total evacuation of Shavolar. As soon as the klaxon sounded, Vanthash and all other crew of the station ran as fast as they could to the docking bays of the battlestation, hoping that the escape ships still were operative.
After thousands of crewmembers ran through the dimly illuminated - in some cases blacked-out - corridors of the battlestation and arrived at the docking bays, Vanthash found in the nearest docking bay the bridge of the Jarshkai was docked amidst countless escape ships, each 120 metres in length and in shape resembling a flattened soap bar.
Aware that there probably still were people inside, she communicated to the bridge of the Jarshkai: "First Admiral Tukajra, if you can hear me - there's no hope here around Avarnam... the Kh-Sriil have already won. Head for Shaikarsa."
Because Hoksh was just as endangered as Shavolar and there wouldn't be too long time before Avarnam would get flooded by Kh-Sriil ground troops, the only place currently safe to flee to was the nearest planetary nation: Shaikarsa.
Shaikarsa, a planet slightly smaller than had been settled some four hundred years ago due to its rich mineral resources, was the nearest planet to Avarnam currently with 62 million kilometres, Shaikarsa's closest in the last 60.000 years. Its atmosphere was not breathable by Jardra as "terraforming" technology still was at least 25 years away, meaning that its inhabitants all lived in huge domed cities. As Vanthash along with other crew boarded an escape ship, she reminded herself of the occassions she has been on Shaikarsa... for, as the though of as the escape ships left Shavolar's hangar bays - there was a great probability that she would never see Avarnam again.
Vorou Solar System, Command Battleship Aulx of the Xhatrr Spacefleet
As the Aulx got a transmission from Xvolthaxr that the other battlestation had been crippled, the strategical viewscreen informed him that escape ships were leaving the station recently finished off by Xyakkath's ships.
Xyakkath was somewhat tired and frustrated. He thought he'd won. If the aliens had backup other places in this solar system, he would soon be the victim of a surprise attack. To avoid the enemy taking notice, he hesitated not a microsecond to order: "Attention! All corvette squadrons, form X-formation, engage enemy escape ships! Return to carriers when procedure completed."
Reacting with a frightening level of pinpoint accuracy, the corvettes formed up in X formation while accelerating and harried the escaping aliens with waves of laser fire. Though some of the alien escape ships fell like tiny animals in a haze of poisonous gas, they proved remarkably enduring as the pursuit removed itself further away from the planet.
Believing himself to have done his part, Xyakkath then reclined smilingly in his Admiral's Chair telling himself: "Soon the Horns of Xhatrr will rule this new planet."
"Hi there, would you like to have a cookie?"
"No, actually I would HATE to have a cookie, you vapid waste of inedible flesh!"
Cool! But you focused too much on the command aspect. What about the war aspect? Describe the ships. Describe the explosions. Describe the movements of individual ships and how they pound and get pounded. In order to actually feel the combat, we have to be immersed in it instead of being immersed in the POV of a commander or whatnot. In other words...BLOOD BLOOD BLOOD!!!!
Shroom Man 777 wrote:Describe the ships. Describe the explosions. Describe the movements of individual ships and how they pound and get pounded.
Hehe... when in vacation in Germany and saw a big cargo ship in the docks I got an idea to in a future TWW chapter devote entire paragraphs to how intimidating and mean-looking an Aulx-class is.
In other words...BLOOD BLOOD BLOOD!!!!
As TWW ships are rather automatized with little "organic" crew other than the bridge officers, I'm afraid the bloodspilling will wait 'till the ground combat.
BTW - I'm making some artwork in colour! When I finally get my digicam I 'll post it.
"Hi there, would you like to have a cookie?"
"No, actually I would HATE to have a cookie, you vapid waste of inedible flesh!"
Planet Xhatrr, Chamber of the Military Council in the Spire of Government:
Txaxil, Supreme Battle-Lord of the Xvarrol, walked into the council of war flanked by a pair of Xvarrol resplendent in their vermilion ceremonial armour and two gleaming silvern robotic drones.
Compared to the other Xril, he was a giant. 210cm tall and heavily muscled in stark contrast to the scrawny and comparatively pathetic physiques of most Xril. His right arm was bionic, a matt bluish-grey in pigmentation, and looked just as strong as his left arm.
His body was covered in black tattoos in various strange patterns, evidencing his military past. The dark red cloak draping over his shoulder and the black uniform with gold-print he wore made his position clear: Supreme Battlelord, commander-in-charge of the Xvarrol, an elite cadre within the Xhatrr Dominion ground forces consisting of veterans from the Great Uprising - consisting of the last of the Guardian Caste, all combat-grizzled veterans desentisized and deprogrammed to the crimson horror and bloody carnage of war. Each a cyborg, probably with half his body replaced by mechanical implants - almost more machine than Xril.
In a ring of bizarrely-shaped chairs around a hexagonal table, the best surface strategists of the Xril species now sat in order to discuss the plans for conquest of the alien planet, and Txaxil now joined them, sitting on the lone chair left back, which was reserved for him.
One of the generals, High Warmaster Zlykr, asked: "Why the delay, Supreme Battle-Lord?"
Txaxil felt somewhat embarrassed - decades as second-in-power only to Zxavor had made Txaxil somewhat more arrogant, a process which he barely noticed until now - he nonetheless didn't hesitate to answer: "I regret the delay. Nonetheless, I have an explanation but that shall wait for later. We have more important things to talk about."
Zlykr, sounding curious, asked: "Ah yes, the conquest of the alien planet. Ground tactics. Say, High Warmistress Xthi, what do we know about the planet?"
With her eerily emotionless look on her face, Xthi transmitted the information to the other generals: "The alien planet has a mass equivalent to 147% that of Xhatrr and a somewhat larger surface area - thusly, it possesses higher gravity. Orbit scans of the surface indicate many cities - population city roughly that of Xhatrr, though the pristine nature areas seem somewhat larger, implying a need for wilderness specialist troops. The main objectives, though, are the industrial centers."
As Xthi was finished delivered her message, Txaxil's communicator implant sent an icy surge through the minds of the gathered generals, denoting that they should pay attention to the upcoming message. What followed then was words they heard inside their heads: "This is potentially the most risk-filled campaign since The Great Uprising. We need the best of the best to head the assault. I recommend that we deploy as many Xvarrol divisions as possible. They have the most experience and the best equipment - and they know how to use it."
The others seemed a bit stunned, though Zlykr was quick to reply: "With all respect for the Xvarrol, they're highly specialized and they can't carry it all out alone."
Txaxil, emotionally unshaked, answered: "Did I ever say that we only should use the Xvarrol? I don't have to state the obvious." He kept reminding himself that High Warmaster Zlykr was a respected tank commander and another Great Uprising veteran, though he had not taken command of the Xvarrol's armour divisions.
Zlykr, stating the obvious in a way so calm that Txaxil wondered whether Zlykr said it only to annoy: "Remember that most of the battles will be fought by ordinary Xhatrr Dominion Army troops. This is why I took command of all the armour divisions of the regular Xhatrr Army - there, my decisions would be more important."
High Warmaster Xlaithxra, yet another veteran from the Great Uprising, aptly reminded Txaxil of another fact: "May I add something? Due to the high gravity of the alien world, the heavily exo-armoured Xvarrol would be even more slowed-down by their additional weight. Due to the importance of mobility, I'll have to agree with Zlykr that armoured vehicles such as tanks and APCs should be used to a great extent by those troops which do not have access to dropships."
Zlykr added contently: "I support Xlaithxra's proposal. In fact, I may suggest that we attack them using a tank blitzkrieg!"
Knowing that no time was to be wasted, Txaxil's cybernetically enhanced thought processes calculated a potential strategy, which he then expressed to the other commanders with his communicator implant: "My suggested overall strategy is that we start by scanning the planet for possible military bases, then bombing them first and sending Xvarrol jumptroops to "cleanse" the sites. Then, each major metropolis is first leveled with airstrikes until its main industrial facilities are inoperative. Then, deploy ground troops to cleanse and capture the cities."
Sounding a bit jaded, Zlykr asked meekly: "Basically standard procedure, sir?"
Txaxil nodded.
Two days later...
Military Space Station Xhatrr'Xzakl Orbiting the Planet Xhatrr
Supreme Potentate Zxavor, resplendent in his blue robes decorated with glittering thread of purest gold, stood upon a bizzarely-shaped dais in one of the greater halls of the largest military station of the Xhatrr Spacefleet. Coruscating on the dais, behind him a crimson banner with the Horned Sigil Of Xhatrr, the monarch gazed down upon his subjects - in this case, teeming millions of troops waiting to embark upon military transport ships.
They were there primarly to hear the speech Zxavor was to give before they went off to embark their transport.
After taking a deep breath, the robed monarch spoke following sweeping robes: "My soldiers... You will now fight upon battlegrounds which no Xril soldier ever has trodden. You will fight enemies you have never fought before. They might be stronger and tougher than anyone you have ever wielded your weapons against. But how can you know how you will win, and why we fight in the first place? The answer is simple. This is our war - for our cause, for the better of the Xril people... you will conquer what no Xril has conquered before! This is our destiny... to write our saga in the annals of the stars!! Soon, not one but two suns and their scions will now hail to the Horned Sigil of Xhatrr... and as more solar systems are discovered, constellations and nebulae will tremble at our footfalls! And you, legions of Xhatrr, will be the very first to tread the first step unto the stairs of intergalactic! Fight will all your strength! None dare defy us... none can defeat us!"
This majestic, rousing speech was followed by the soldiers cheering and raising their clenched fists - a gesture which had been the only proper way to greet one's superiors ever since the unspeakable carnage of The Great Uprising left Zxavor supreme ruler of the Xhatrr system. So many fists were simultaneously raised into the air that Zxavor could hear a deafening noise of the arms moving and the exo-armoured hands of the Xvarrol clenching.
The Supreme Potentate already had god-like status, and hearing his speech only reinforced the soldiers' faith in their leader.
Elevated upon the grotesque piedestal, Zxavor smiled looking down upon the hundreds of infantry regiments on their way to their assigned transports. It always pleased his senses to hear and see masses of soldiers march to war at his command - in fact, by now he was relishing manifestations of power so much that he occassionally pondered whether he had became addicted to sovereignity... his sheer power, which had been growing from when he first rallied the remnants of the fallen Xhatrr'Vyrka Confederacy during the year following The Great Uprising to proclaim himself leader, to this very day when he indeed was all but a god to billions of Xril.
Then, he watched the vid-screens viewing the ships docked in Xhatrr'Xzakl, tug-ships attaching various freight modules to the cargo ships' hangars - probably containing tanks and other military surface vehicles.
The troop transport ships had a shape which Zxavor always found rather awkward-looking - and as he now saw their shapes upon the viewscreen of the video-drone robot which hovered beside him upon the command of his Communicator Implant. The prow bridge sections of the freighters looked somewhat normal and tapered in size towards the utmost front - but the main hulls were much more cube-like and clumsy-looking than the sleek yet angular hulls of the Xhatrr Spacefleet's warships.
When the forces were finished embarking upon their transports, this invasion fleet - consisting primarly of lots of large cargo-freighters and troop ships escorted by frigates - now headed for the wormhole.
Zxavor knew this was quite a gamble. This had been the toughest task of his best generals yet, and he feared that their skills had stagnated as they had not seen conflict on this scale ever since The Great Uprising. He also feared the inhabitants of the alien planet, which he didn't know anything about save for the fact that they were able to build spaceships which only were defeated by the Xhatrr Spacefleet because they were outnumbered... oh, and they lacked particle accelerators. Their space combat technology was by no means impressive, though it indicated hundreds of years of spacefaring. On the other hand, he had no clue about their ground battle capabilities, as well as their actual physique. However, due to their home planet having a greater gravity than Xhatrr, it was likely that they were shorter than Xril but much stronger.
If Zxavor would lose the war he had started, he would bring his own nation to its very knees and dig his own grave... if he won, his absolute power would be reinforced further. Now, he almost regretted his decision. But deep inside, there was something inside him which wanted to rule one planet more, even though the cost would be millions of lives. It seemed like Zxavor's sheer power - and the joy he derived from using it - had eroded some of his emotions. Perhaps for bad... or for good? After all, Txaxil had often reminded Zxavor that all morality was subjective, and only existed inside the mind of those who believed in it. Maybe this was true, but Zxavor knew that it was impossible to rule a people without providing them with a strict code of what was right and what was wrong. Whether or not such a law would be subjective was completely irrelevant, as long as it guaranteed Zxavor absolute power. As Zxavor stood there upon the piedestal, stately and regal in his azure garments, he philosophized further as the countless hordes of uniformed soldiers marched to the docks of the space station, ready to board the freighters. In particular, what Zxavor wondered was whether he had done the right thing in permitting Txaxil to have so much political influence. People like Txaxil were in fact potentially dangerous. However, if denied political influence Txaxil could be even more dangerous as his taste for power could then aggravate him to start a military revolt with the Xvarrol as the spearhead in such a rebellion. In fact, Zxavor could very well claim that Txaxil was the antithesis of everything Zxavor and the current Xhatrr Dominion stood for. Zxavor only let him live because his astounding knowledge of strategy would be convenient for the Dominion, as Zxavor could have no better commander on his side.
Suddenly, a revelation sunk its sharp fangs into Zxavor's mind: Txaxil had the power to manipulate with him!
Zxavor turned his back on the teeming masses of soldiers who were leaving the hall aboard their troop transports and whispered to himself: "Supreme Battle-Lord Txaxil... I am only protecting him because he commands so much power. Because he craves power. If I did not feed him with the power he always has wanted, he could mobilize all Xvarrol against me. He is a very dangerous man. And paradoxically, this is exactly why I hesitate to restrain him. But his influence needs to be minimized, as much of a vocal minority he is. He holds values which are in polar opposition to everything I have ever promoted. In fact, sometimes it is as though he does not hold any values. In fact, I wonder how he can bring himself to fight for a society he apparently rejects. He doesn't resist my creed directly - but he nonetheless implies it constantly in conversations."
Diving into the database of the memory-enhancing cybernetic implant in his brain, Zxavor recalled following words being spoken by Txaxil a few years ago in a private conversation:
"Not to offend you Zxavor, but your law is not universal. It only exists in the Xhatrr Dominion because it does inside your head. It is by no means divinely dictated regardless of your illusions of granduer - you consider it to be right, but how can you know if the law is just if everyone is afraid to question it? Face it, Supreme Potentate - all definitions of right and wrong are completely subjective illusions - comfortable lies, I could call them, that our brains make up in order to justify our personal preferences. If the public was not indoctrinated in your ways, they would perhaps see the light and realize that one man's definition of benevolence is another one's definition of purest evil."
A genuine rage was felt by Zxavor. Txaxil was a skilled strategist and tactician, but he was not the ideal commander. He asked too many questions which were not related to military matters. Nonetheless, it was comforting that Txaxil this time had chosen to join the Xvarrol on the parade ground - where he was concentrated on keeping their formation orderly.
Perhaps this war could be a good thing after all - with Txaxil out of the picture, Zxavor's rule would be solidified. Was it not possible that Txaxil could have led other politicians to adopt his opinions? A cabinet of such advisors would not be in Zxavor's favour. If Txaxil even died in the war, Zxavor would have lost his best strategist - but also what was perhaps one of his worst enemies.
Most frightening of it all was that even though Txaxil's ideas could shatter the Xhatrr Dominion if the public became aware of them and lifted from the myriad tendrils of indoctrination imposed upon them, they were true.
Zxavor then took a look at the interior of the parade hall. It was a typical example of a military implication of the architectural style which had become commonplace after Zxavor rose to power, as it was an almost neo-classical resurrection of an almost aestethic style over 16 centuries old, one which Zxavor was particularly pleased by. The side walls of the space station's parade halls was adorned with countless relief-patterns of a diagonally curving shape intended to mimic windows - divided into symmetrical cluster of such reliefs, where the ones near the ceiling were smallest and the reliefs gradually grew in size with each step down from the ceiling, which was lined with zig-zagging motifs not totally unlike the ribs of a skeleton. Supporting said ceiling were huge pillars, each ornamented with incisions designed to make the pillars look like huge trees of steel.
This architectural style, called "Nzagthyr'vxoth", was de rigeur in new architecture on Zxavor's bidding. There was now nary a city in the Xholnra solar system where this school of design had not left its mark. As Zxavor stood there, beholding the elaborate and careful design of the gigantic hall, which starkly contrasted to be utilitarianism of the other locales of Xhatrr'Xzakl. He pondered whether it was for ideological reasons he had propagated Nzagthyr'vxoth. After all, it left a very oppressive yet awe-inspiring impression upon all who entered an edifice of Nzagthyr'vxoth architecture. An atmosphere ideal to instill in the citizens of a totalitarian state such as the Xhatrr Dominion, leaving them stupefied of the authority which had given them such buildings.
The look of this hall was a direct result of Zxavor's reign. He wondered what all this would have looked like, if Txaxil had reigned.
As troopships and freighters transported vast armies to their destination, Zxavor crossed fingers and hoped that he would emerge the sole victor.
Vorou Star System, aboard Nxalyzr-class Troop Transport Rzaan of the Xhatrr Spacefleet
A swarm of troop transports orbited the alien homeworld. Aboard this particular troop transport, Supreme Battlelord Txaxil heard a report that a stealth robotic recon-aircraft sent to the alien planet had located several population centres across the planet. It was quite densely populated apparently, as there were sprawling urban areas so huge that they covered tens of thousands of square kilometres. At least this was the impression he got from thoroughly studying the image upon one of the many viewscreens upon the Rzaan's bridge.
However, all which Txaxil could discern from the photographs was the extent to which the alien homeworld was populated. It was obviously not as covered in buildings as Xhatrr or other Xril-held planets were today, but it was nonetheless impressively urbanized. It nonetheless seemed as though great areas of pristine land existed. The planets terrain was mainly water, the only continent being a titanic ring-shaped pangea. Most of the northeastern part of this pangea appeared like it wasn't as heavily settled as the others. There were four of the enormous mega-metropolises, 3 of them found on the western coast of the pangea. The largest seemed to be as huge as 500.000 square kilometres. Something inside Txaxil wanted him to be shocked, but he could hardly have a reason to be surprised. After all - Xhatrr, the planet which the Xril called home, had more than half of its landmass covered in such gigantic cities, with even more cities located above the sea surface like humongous oilrigs.
What was first on Txaxil's list of tasks was to locate and destroy all military bases by airstrikes. He thusly asked the bridge crew: "Can anyone here inform me of whether these photographies have been run through comprehensive analysis yet?"
The Rzaan's captain, Vthyr, then answered: "They're completely fresh, sir. They're currently being analysed by the ship's photo-analysis computers."
Txaxil raised his eyebrows, saying: "When analysis is complete, report to me by communicator implant. I'll then call the other senior officers to a summit meeting aboard this ship."
Awaiting completion, Txaxil picked something up from a pocket in his uniform, a silvern-coloured device of roughly the same proportion of a smaller cellphone, and similar in apperance. A hologram projector. As Txaxil's thumb activated it with a touch upon a button, a hologram menu was conjured up by the device - listing the holograms stored in its database. Txaxil selected one item on the list, and the menu disappeared, replaced by another projected hologram. This one was a three-dimensional image of a Rxazhyr-14 strategic bomber aircraft.
The hologram was a perfect miniature depiction of the Rxazhyr-14's aerodynamic and pointy shape. The main section of the fuselage resembled a bisected pencil in shape, with two canards at the front, and at the rear two backwards-swept wings which were seperated from the main fuselage by the engine compartment of the aircraft, which on each side of the fuselage stored two powerful turbojets each powered by liquid hydrogen, as well as a scramjet and a rocket for non-atmospheric flight. Four mighty turbojets, two rocket engines and two howling scramjets in total powered each of these aircraft, allowing a top speed of 7 times the speed of sound. Where the engine compartment began, the main hull was expanded with a section housing the Rxazhyr-14's weapons bay. Txaxil actually considered the "bomber" label a bit misleading, as the Rxazhyr-14 was designed as a flying platform for launching cruise missiles.
Txaxil then switched to a display of the Rxazhyr-14's older cousin, the Rxazhyr-12K. The Rxazhyr-12K had a similar basic shape, but was shorter, and its wings were perfect deltas rather than swept-back. It had a larger weapons bay than the Rxazhyr-14, capable of carrying both bombs and cruise missiles, though it was significantly slower at a top speed of Mach 4. The Rxazhyr-types, named after the Artificial Intelligence which had designed them, had been the primary bombers of the Xhatrr Spacefleet, replacing the ageing Klauxr-type roughly 20 years ago. For the first time, the Rxazhyrs would be used in atmospheric bombing raids. It would not be its baptism of fire, as it had already proved effective against Thzax Autonomy ships trespassing on Xhatrr Dominion territory. However, though the various Rxazhyr bombers had proven their mettle against dissident Xril, there was to Txaxil something about fighting a hitherto-unknown enemy. This perverse, sadistic joy at unleashing death upon a the
utterly alien was one of those emotions which Txaxil still had left, though his mind nowadays operated more like a computer of flesh and blood than a soul with subjective values. Perhaps it was psychological contamination from Exalted Fleet-Lord Xyakkath, for whom such emotions were very familiar.
In any case, one thing was clear:
A swarm of Rxazhyrs and their fighter escorts were soon to descend from the orbiting Xhatrr Spacefleet carriers to neutralize the alien planet's military. Clouds of these bombers would hammer cities and military bases into rubble with explosive hailstorms, literally paving the way for conquest...
"Hi there, would you like to have a cookie?"
"No, actually I would HATE to have a cookie, you vapid waste of inedible flesh!"
evilcat4000 wrote:Are the Rxazhyrs somekind of gunship / troop transport ?
I thought I made it clear that they were hypersonic strategic bombers. Basically a futuristic equivalent of the legendary XB-70 Valkyrie. (which already looks like something from a sci-fi movie)
We'll be introduced to other military vehicles of both sides later, I promise.
"Hi there, would you like to have a cookie?"
"No, actually I would HATE to have a cookie, you vapid waste of inedible flesh!"
The quality is getting better and now, the land war seems to be even more awesome! You're so fantastic! And I finally see what's wrong with my writing. I'll start writing in the prespective of my characters.
Vorou Star System, Avarnam Planetary Commonwealth Military Base Karlathsh Mountain
Everybody were in the stranglehold of the tendrils of anxiety. The Kh-Sriil had crushed the entire Avarnam Planetary Defense Force spacefleet without leaving any survivors, and ever single artificial satellite - military or civilian - had been swiped from their orbit around Avarnam. Even the lunar bases had most likely been crushed.
General Sorvash, commander of the base, knew he could run no risks and had ordered red alert at first opportunity. As a veteran from the Great Cold War with Shaikarsa, he possessed a wealth of invaluable experience in preparing for extraplanetary invasion. He was currently busy studying drawings of various Kh-Sriil warplanes, handed to him by the high command at the orders of Arkrai - ranging from small interceptors to enormous strategic bombers with a wingspan of 60 metres and a length of 120 metres. The aircraft were all capable of hypersonic speed according to the attached documents - the fastest of the Kh-Sriil fighters could easily thunder across the horizon at Mach 12. The fastest of the bombers could reach Mach 7. In other words - they had roughly the same performance as their Avarnam Planetary Defense Force equivalents, even though some of them relied on obsolete propulsion such as turboscramjets and rocket engines - whereas the Avarnam Defense Force's aircraft were completely powered by a combination of the revolutionary ion thruster technology as well as electromagnetic drives similar to those used by hover-tanks. While examining the data, he took a sip from his cup of jushar, a highly caffeinated beverage usually served hot and often consumed by anyone who needed to stay awake for long periods of time. He reminded himself that Arkrai had not delivered an explanation of why the Kh-Sriil still operated jet aircraft, while they - according to Arkrai - did use electromagnetic drives in their hovertanks. Perhaps they had funnelled all their military budget on creatign the wormhole portal - after all, the same concept had since long ago been deemed impractical, if theoretically feasible, by most Jardra. On this subject, Sorvash vividly recalled reading in a science magazine that a team of researchers had calculated the total cost of an interstellar portal to be far beyond the collective wealth of the entire Vorou solar system.
Sorvash could hardly take more extreme measures to further protect the base. All troops on the base were fully armed and armoured, patrolling it, the drone-tanks were ready to move in position and the anti-aircraft laser turrets outside were activated, being the only external indicator of the subterranean military complex' location aside from the well-hidden thermal waste disposal.
Suddenly, the communications system linking the helmets of all personnel on the base reported: "Attention! Radars have detected thousands of UFOs descending into the stratosphere at coordinates 55,60 and rapidly dividing into groups, each heading towards either a major city." Sorvash was sure what had happened - it could only be Kh-Sriil bombers and their fighter escorts, entering atmosphere just 62 clicks away from Karlathsh.
Though the soldiers guarding the room were wearing battle-helmets covering their faces with semi-transparent visors, Sorvash could see that they were as frightened as he, perhaps even more so. With no regret he ordered: "Command to communications room: Alert all nearby airbases that Kh-Sriil aircraft are near. AA turrets - open fire as soon as possible upon the Kh-Sriil. Order all interceptor squadrons of this base to take off towards coordinates 55,60 and destroy any hostile aircraft encountered, wings swept to interceptor mode."
Sorvash could already hear a faint rumble as the hangar blast doors opened, then the echo of a high-pitched "whoosh" of the Kavarash KA-72 fighters' electromagnetic drives as they took off, with their forward-swept swingwings quickly swinging to interceptor position. His hope that they would impair the attack, however, was futile as a report over the base's comm-network sounded: "Communications to command. All other bases on Avarnam are reporting similar incoming Kh-Sriil attack waves. Kuharosh already reporting hits from a Kh-Sriil cruise missile."
As adrenaline ran through his veins, Sorvash cursed to himself: "I'll personally rip those sabarrak-fuckers to shreds as soon as they dare set their feet upon this planet..."
(author's note: A sabarrak is a walrus-like animal which lives in the oceans of Avarnam)
Sorvash then directed his transparently visored countenance at that of one of the soldiers guarding the room: "Kholnar, Escort me to the radar room of this base."
Sorvash stood up and hustled to his office's door, as Kholnar raised and drew his SAR-28K longbarreled assault rifle to determinedly follow Sorvash through the dark subterranean corridors to the radar room.
As soon as General Sorvash was there, he informed the personnel: "No need for fancy greeting this time, I'm just coming to check the situation." Aware that he had no time to waste on the receival of any sorts of redundant ceremonies, he immediately approached one of the many luminous pholo-globes displayed in the radar-room each on top of a piedestal-like projector... the one which in particular caught his attention... the one displaying the status of troop movements on Avarnam. What he also kept an eye on was the viewscreen display of the KA-72 fighters' status. He saw that they had succeeded in bringing down a single Kh-Sriil strategic bombers but most of the KA-72s had apparently been cut off by the Kh-Sriil escort fighters. His eyes anxiously followed the blue deltas (Avarnam fighters) and their struggle against the red deltas (Kh-Sriil aircraft) as fighters from both sides fell like buzzing insects trapped in toxic gas. He could easily envision the the KA-72s, wings swept forward, sending burning laser beams searing through the arrowhead-shaped Kh-Sriil fighters and vice versa - though the judgement of the radar was hampered a bit by the fact that the Kh-Sriil aircraft were designed in such a manner as to make them difficult to detect on radar. However, what truly caught his attention were the signs of the Kh-Sriil bombers firing off cruise missiles, followed by a radar operator informing him that the missiles were aimed at Karlashth Mountain. He further kept in mind that if the cruise missiles were negamatter-powered like the ones used by the Avarnam Defense Force, it would only be a few second before they reached Karlathsh Mountain.
Trying to keep himself steady, assured that the flak lasers would shoot down the cruise missiles, General Sorvash asked: "How are the other bases?"
With an almost mechanical indifference present in her voice, the radar operator answered: "Sir, as mentioned before, Kuharosh have been hit and the same applies to Sharnu, Karn-Ylsh, Obhora, Vairanu, Theshkalan, Menenshar, Kertuil... seems like we're lucky to not have been hit yet. We've even lost contact to Menenshar and Karn-Ylsh, sir."
Sorvash, as fast as he could, commmanded the flak-hovertank regiments using the communicator in his armoured helmet: "All flak-hovertank regiments, deploy in standard formation around the base and set to maximum readiness against incoming missiles."
Elsewhere on the base, blast-doors opened and two dozens of flak-hovertanks, armed with each a turret of 4 light AA-lasers on top of their hulls characterised by vaguely plough-shaped front ends, ventured out to levitate into position.
Watching another of the viewscreens, Sorvash noticed the AA turrets shooting down an incoming cruise missile, accompanying by a very distant rumble... and then, he shuddered as one of the radar operators commented: "Radioactivivity seems to be coming from the coordinates where the missile was destroyed..."
Sorvash wasn't surprised - he was expecting the Kh-Sriil to use nukes at some point.
Another group of Kh-Sriil bombers approached with their fighter escort, from another angle - the southwestern direction they came from indicated that they were the ones who put the Menenshar base out of business.
Then, both clusters of red triangles multiplied and divided each into those cruising at roughly mach 7, and those accelerating up past mach 9 and into the white-knuckle territory of mach 15. Sorvash panicked - he knew what it meant. The fighter escorts had unleashed a swarm of negamatter-powered anti-surface missiles, and he could almost feel the earth shaking, while a roaring thunder-clap was heard even deep down in the hollowed-out mountain which formed that Karlathsh base... then, the earth truly shook and a cavalcade of multiple explosions were heard as a multitude of warheads impacted against Karlashth Mountain, unleashing countless tons of explosive. It was loud that it would have burst Sorvash's eardrums if he wasn't wearing full military body armour, which conveniently included a helmet consisting of multiple layers of kevlar, ceramics and metallic alloys as well as a NBC gas mask and protective earphones. As turbulent as the multiple explosions were, Sorvash still stood on his feet - short and
immensely muscular as the Jardra he was.
Not surprisingly, the monotone and droning voice of one of the base's many AIs reported that the east side's flak turrets now were offline. Within a second, yet another barrage of missiles were fired - Sorvash did not notice that it now included one cruise missile from each of the bombers.
Not until the awe-inspiring symphony of hellspawned destruction crushed the peak of the Karlathsh mountain like the adamantine warhammer of an angry storm-demon, in the process destroying the entire upper half of the base. What was once a strategic stronghold, a landmark of Avarni pride, was partly reduced to flaming rubble. The base's primary reactor was even off-line, though the lower half of the base still was on emergency power.
General Sorvash was fortunate to be in the lower half of the base which survived. All which he knew was that half of the base was offline too, all contact lost to it, indicating that it was destroyed... what he also know was burning had enraptured his mind, as the Kh-Sriil invaders now had started their process of demolishing everything the Jardra had built up, to pave way for their own dominion... he lost his finely honed temper, and in a fiery burst of wrath he exclaimed: "The leader of the Kh-Sriil has signed his own death warrant!"
A few hours later... Vorou Star System, Planet Avarnam, City of Yitrakash
Kwargash woke up in a manner he had not expected to. As he went to bed last night, he hoped that next dawn would see a tranquil sunrise like those he had enjoyed before, with the ominous exception of the Kh-Sriil hanging over him like a raised sword waiting to strike a sleeping man, and the fact that all the satellite-based communications sources had been knocked offline as Kh-Sriil warships not too long ago had sent all Jardra-made satellites crashing against the surface of Avarnam. He worked as an engineer in the Kavarash Aerospace Corporation, the one of the main suppliers to the Avarnam Defense Force. Though he indeed grieved over the loss of its orbital office buildings to the searing neutron beams wielded by the Kh-Sriil warships, he was employed at their factory in Yitrakash' industrial district and knew that, until this day, that aircraft still were being made there.
But today, there was no job to do. He had already during sleep heard loud crackles occassionally awakening him, but he - for some reason - did not care. He arose from his bed, feeling somewhat more cold than usual. His bedroom and apartment at first seemed normal - its ochre and sepia colours familiar to him, and the tacky yet practical furniture's hemisphere-dominated shapes were completely untouched... until he entered his kitchen. He noticed that the terracotta-red curtain was torn apart, pieces of it laying on the floor. The window was split into many sharp, gleaming shards which were scattered like thrown dice all over the place. A vague smell of smoke in the air also informed his nostrils that something was wrong.
After putting on his slippers to avoid shredding his feet on the razor-sharp glass shards, he walked up to the shattered window and carefully looked though it only to, as he saw what had happened, yell: "What the fuck?"
The gruesome sight which met his dumbstruck eyes were the burning remnants of a once-proud city. Where fine displays of Avarni architecture once was found, asymmetrical towers several kilometres in height penetrating the bright blue sky, burning edifices now brooded over the city's skyline like mile-high torches of concrete and twisted metals, where millions of people lived in clusters of apartments - dust and blackened steel now mixed on the ground into hideous rubble. None of the cream-coloured domed houses, regarded as the epitome of Avarnam's architecture, were to be found. For some reason he could by no means hope to fathom, the wave of fiery destruction had spared him.
No sound could be heard, save for the infernal crackling of the grotesque mile-high funeral pyres which once were hives of commerce. An eerie near-silence had, along with the darksome shades of fiery death, fallen upon this once-great city, leaving only a caricature of what once was a source of undying pride to all who had built it. Darkened by ash and flame, what was mayhap the most splendorous city the Avarni Jardra ever had constructed was now a cold nightmare necropolis.
If Kwargash was lucky to survive, perhaps others were. He reminded himself of the fate which often had befallen areas in ruin and anarchy. They would become zones of strife, fought over by urban warlords who marshalled surprisingly large armies from the desperate gangs which formed. He knew that he was not helpless, however. He headed back for his bedroom, and opened the door of a drawer. There was found the guns he acquired during the Cold War between Avarnam and Shaikarsa, which ended over twenty years ago. Nonetheless, it had left a shadow of paranoia upon both the Avarni and the Shaikarsites - and the weapons Kwargash had bought were still almost as well-functioning as the day they were manufactured. In it was found a Tounrashni T-734 heavy submachinegun. It lacked the bullpup configuration which almost all military firearms this size had today, but it still looked the part due to its sleek frame of blue polymer, and the long barrel which almost gave allusions to an assault rifle. The appearance, though, was a bit misleading - this was no weapon of finesse, it was designed to at close range mow down whole squads of enemy troops with a metallic death-rain. As reliable as it was, it was still a 38-year old design and definately obsolete to the Sarkaian-made R-447K currently used by the Avarnam Law Enforcement's special weapon teams, it was by no means inefficient. He polished the carbine's dark blue polymer frame with a piece of cloth, loaded its magazine, attached an infrared sight to the gun and in a hurry put on a pair of dark greenish-grey trousers and a light blue shirt. While he was at it, he too donned a pair of black shoes and - as secondary and tertiary weapons, he attached a handgun holster to his belt and placed in it another weapon from the Shaikarsite Cold War, a hefty Tounrashni T-56R. Regarded as the king of pistols when it was first launched, it was a longbarreled pistol firing caseless bullets with a caliber of nothing less than 14mm. Though deemed impractical by the military and the police due to its weight, it had become popular among privately employed bodyguards. As a last resort he also brought with him a kotarr, a machete-like shortsword which he also acquired during the same Cold War.
He then went, heavily armed, out to explore the ruined city - to see if anyone was alive. He opened the door of his small house, and then locked it. He then walked down the street. He saw little but rubble, ruined buildings whose intact shapes he recalled all too well - quite a horrible sight to one who loved his hometown so much.
Chaos to the left, chaos to the right. A sickly-sweet smell of burnt rubber and lard intermingled with the smoke arising from the burning houses. Kwargash thought to himself, as he spotted bloodied carcasses located on the sidewalks: "Am I lucky to have survived... or am I unfortunate to have survived? To experience all this grief? The loss of so much which I admired?"
Then, one charred wreckage located located in the middle of the road caught his attention - for it was obviously no car or truck. With the submachinegun in his hands, he ran towards it. As he went closer and closer, he could identify it. It was a crashed aircraft, approximately 30 metres long, with a wingspan of 21 metres. He walked around it and estimated those dimensions, while guessing at its mangled frame that it probably was a stealth fighter of some sort - it was dark grey in colouration, had delta wings which seemed to "blend" with the fuselage, meaning that the aircraft in its intact state would have had a characteristic "arrowhead" shape. At the back section, its engine nozzles were of a characteristic two-dimensional thrust-vector design, which on Avarnam had been used on fighter aircraft since their invention many centuries ago. His speculation about what the aircraft resembled when it flew was rather spurious, though he as an aircraft engineer was more competent at making such estimates than other people would be - for as he walked in a circle around the crashed aircraft, he saw that the enormous amount of kinetic energy present at the crash landing had mangled the front section into a hideous wreckage, a twisted cluster of titanium and carbon fibres. Whatever it was, he was sure that it was not a Jardra-built vehicle... as evidenced by the Kh-Sriil insignia marking its tail fins, which were configured in a "V-tail" position. It did, however, vaguely resemble the SVK-82 experimental aircraft he had seen at the Kavarash Aircraft Corporation's museum - one of those planes which were the stuff of legend. Considering that the stealth fighter most likely crashed at a hypersonic speed, it surprised him that its airframe still was more than vaguely recognizeable.
He went back to his house and put on his communicator-cap and put it upon his head to feel it tightening around his skull, the hat's intricate computer system reading his thoughts and preparing to send them to another member of the hopefully-still working comm-network. The first thing he did was to send a distress call to the nearest military base, in a vain hope souch bases still operated... and that some of the personnel were wearing their helmets, which as standard equipment had an incorporated communicator cap. Along with his request for help was the information that he had discovered a crashed Kh-Sriil stealth fighter...
Walking in circles around the crashed aircraft for hours to ensure nobody would come to loot it, he now waited... for hours. Enduring the horrifying stench of death thick in the air, the nauseating aroma of burnt iron and freshly-cremated corpses wrestled the dying clean air for access to his nostrils. Feeling like he was attending a thousand funerals at once, beholding the corpse-pyres penetrate high into the ghastly grey skyline, he could only look up to the dull heavens above him, Avarnam's bronzen sun barely penetrating the darksome clouds.
"Indeed it is appropriate, if not insult to injury, that such a grim day will be accompanied by so dark and mournful skies", he thought. He then saw dark shapes flash through the clouds, ascending up to somewhere high above.
Aircraft. Kh-Sriil aircraft. Two were huge, sleek silvern colossi which could not possibly be anything else than strategic bombers - he estimated their length to more than a hundred metres. They had long, thin rocket-like main fuselages with large delta-wings at the rear. Each was accompanied by ten arrowhead-shaped black fighters, which probably were of the same type to the one that had crashed here. He barely got to get a vague look of the Kh-Sriil warplanes, as they raced across the heavens with hypersonic speed, leaving little more but ice-white contrails staining the sky and a terrifying sound tearing the heavens apart a few seconds after, sounding like the atmosphere itself quaked.
Hours then passed as the grey clouds drifted over. Ever vigilant, Kwargash saw that nothing changed. No sound but the snaring funeral pyres... and the occassional infernal roar heralded by Kh-Sriil bombers thundering across the distant horizon guarded by a swarm of fighters.
Then, a change in the pattern occurred. Yet another group of Kh-Sriil aircraft flew overhead, but in mid-air they exploded like fiery flowers blossoming, countless twisted shards of metallic alloys and polymers flying in all directions ignited by burning methane. The smell of destruction soon penetrated Kwargash's nostrils as the wreckages of the Kh-Sriil aircraft were scattered all over the vicinity of Yitrakash. A familiar sight then struck his eyes - Thirty-six KA-72 fighters, their swing-wings swept midways forward, followed the trails of the Kh-Sriil aircraft they just had shot down. Perhaps there was hope, after all.
From the same direction as the KA-72s appeared a KA-212 VTOL troop transport craft, along with a VO-5/1H loading plane, escorted by a pair of VO-22/8J gunships. The VO-22/8Js were the mainstay gunships of the Avarnam defense Force - their main fuselages were almost bullet-shaped with a long tail ending in two fins configured in a V position, and equipped with two wings ending in tilt-rotor EM drive engine pods. At the front of each VO-22/8J's fuselage were two large winglets under which were attached missile pods and anti-armour laser cannons. The nose section of each gunship was dominated by a 32mm five-barreled autocannon mounted in a fixed mount. The KA-212 was a chubby flying wing with two vertical fins at the rear, and a slightly protuberant nose section containing the aircraft's radar. The loading craft's design was more like a stereotypical "rocket-ship" with delta wings at the rear and a single vertical fin.
The VTOL quartet changed direction in mid-air, to fly towards the ruins if Yitrakash. Then, the VO-5/1H stopped above the crashed Kh-Sriil fighter to hover in midair, opened two sideways-opening doors on the bottom of its tubular hull, revealing a cargo bay stretching 36 metres from the end of its conical nose section to a place just a few metres ahead of the exhaust of its engines.
Some twenty metres behind Kwargash, the KA-212 landed. On the ground, the KA-212 was unmistakeable - wide and low in shape, a flying wing if not for the protuding nose section. A door on its belly opened, and a three-man team of Avarnam Defense Force walked out, clad in bluish-grey urban warzone camouflage, with the all-enclosing black NBC helmets upon their heads. Each of them carried a long-barreled bullpup assault rifle with light green cowling which looked slightly tacky. The leader of the rescue team yelled: "Identify yourself - who are you? I am groupleader Voshal - you are?"
Kwargash lowered his submachinegun and told: "Sir, my name's Kwargash. I'm an engineer at Kavarash Aerospace Corporation... or I used to, at least. The Kh-Sriil have probably bombed the main factory. Correct, sir?"
Voshal answered, as he also lowered his assault rifle: "Well - the industrial district of the city has been leveled completely. Fortunate for us that the Kh-Sriil didn't use nukes. In any case, this seems very interesting. Follow me, Kwargash."
Kwargash went with the three soldiers into the troop-carrying compartment of the KA-212. Soon after they took seat on 4 of the KA-212's twenty seats and fastened the safety belts, they heard a high-pitched, whistling sound and felt the KA-212 take off. As the VO-5/1H had now also collected the wreckage of the Kh-Sriil fighter, the two gunships also took off to escort the KA-212 and the loader aircraft back to the base.
While the KA-212 flew towards the base from where it operated, Kwargash asked fearfully: "And the other cities, sir?"
Sounding guilty while he in fact was in a state he did not know whether to describe as aggravation or depression, the squadleader replied: "Almost all the major industrial cities have been hit too - though most have had at least some thousand survivors. Interestingly enough, the Kh-Sriil haven't used nukes for any of the cities - though they've given that treatment to some of the more remote facilities. Most of our military bases, however, are relatively safe against strategic nukes... even in spite of that, some of them have taken quite the hit. There's still some bases which haven't suffered from any bombing raids - most notably the polar ones. I guess the Kh-Sriil don't wanna flood their future turf by cracking the polar caps."
Not knowing what to say, Kwargash nodded while Voshal breathed through the airfilter of his NBC helm.
Voshal continued: "We're currently heading back to the base 'neath Karlathsh Mountain. It's taken a great hammering from those Kh-Sriil nukes, but it survived."
A couple of seconds after, Kwargash noticed Voshal sending - by the communicator in his helm - a message reporting that the rescue team was returning with one armed civilian and a wrecked Kh-Sriil fighter.
After roughly ten minutes of flight, Kwargash suddenly felt the sound of the KA-212's engine deepen in tone, and then he felt the troop transport stop. An androgynous-sounding disembodied voice told the passengers of the KA-212 that it had landed in the 18th hangar of Karlathsh Mountain base.
Automatically, the safety belts then removed themselves. Voshal was the first one to stand up on his feet, then told the other soldiers and Kwargash: "Follow me."
Exiting the troop-transport while carrying their weapons, they found it parked in a huge dark hangar along with hundreds of other KA-212s and other transport ships. As gloomy as it was, while Kwargash swiveled his head backwards he could see the dim sallow light illuminating the KA-212 folding its wide wings to fit between two other KA-212s parked just behind it, then driving in reverse by itself, perfectly located between the other troop transports.
Turning his head back to follow Voshal and his soldiers into an elevator, Kwargash then asked: "So this is the Karlathsh Mountain base... you said it had taken some damage?"
When they all were inside, Voshal pressed a button on the elevator's wall which then glowed bright red, closing the elevator doors and sending it towards a higher floor on the base. Voshal then answered: "The upper 62 floors of the base have been totally destroyed - but we're in the part that still is safe. The hangar we landed in is actually located underground, only accessible by a huge tunnel. Though the base has suffered personnel casualties numbering in the hundreds, it's still operating at maximum readiness and all... we'll soon send groups of combat drones to guard the ruined cities and rescue craft to evacuate civilians...but the future sure as hell isn't looking bright. Even if we succeed in evacuating the civilians to the Avarnam Defense Force bases, they'd soon be besieged by the Kh-Sriil... a lot of heads are going to roll, and there's little we can do to stop it."
Kwargash almost hung his head in sorrow... there was little hope for the future, but he struggled to remind himself that there would be a fleeting but still existant chance of survival...
By the time Voshal had finished talking, the doors slided to the side as they had reached their temporary destination. The architectural features of the base, dominated by various angular forms, all coloured in greyish-blue shades, lit by white luminance tinged by a pale azure hue - quite a world apart from the reddish hues and rounded forms which were the trend in civilian Avarni architecture. Following the soldiers out of the elevator and into the base's monochromatic corridors, Kwargash thought to himself: "I don't know for sure what the future will bring, nor do I wish to... but I am certain that it will bring fire and death."
Indeed he was right - for many had died, and many more would die.
Vorou Star System, aboard Nxalyzr-class Troop Transport Rzaan of the Xhatrr Spacefleet
Txaxil observed one of the bridge viewscreen, seeing a swarm of fighters and bombers penetrating the upper layers of the planet's atmosphere, then breaking from orbit and heading in their squadrons for the carriers which they launched from. The Txarr-carriers were, due to a cut on the budget, built upon the basically same chassis as Xyrroth-class cruisers - but with practically all the keel-mounted weaponry replaced by en extensive docking bays with space for housing 200 fighters and 30 bombers each - as well as both the neutron beam turrets removed. The Txarr-class' docking bays were quite visible, as they added to the ships' external mass by over 30%. An androgynous, disembodied AI voice then notified Txaxil: "All craft docked. Vessels lost during the planetary bombing raid numbers 23 bombers and 162 fighters."
Though he had not except any of the Xhatrr Dominion military forces to go through the fire of war without burnmarks, so to speak, it was a bit of a deviation from his estimates of the process that the Xhatrr Spacefleet had lost over a hundred fighters and almost two dozens of bombers after the first air attack. However, as he had - since as soon as the planning began - devised an endless number of alternate plans in case the conquest didn't turn out as expected, Txaxil reminded him that there would no need to worry, even though the aliens would not give up without a fight. From the Great Uprising whose success he made possible, though, Txaxil had invaluable strategic experience and had brought home victories which seemed impossible in retrospect. He then decided to go through his archived diaries from The Great Uprising in order to recall those strategies he used back then.
As his neuro-implants displayed all those olden strategies to his inner vision, Txaxil reminded himself that he had planned the landfall to start in less than 60 hours.
Upon the planet 15 kilometres beneath him, hell would soon break loose at his command.
"Hi there, would you like to have a cookie?"
"No, actually I would HATE to have a cookie, you vapid waste of inedible flesh!"
I love this. This is the best chapter yet. I love what you did with Kwargash. I like this. I can't wait for the next chapters. And I can't wait for the dogfights! Gogogo!
"DO YOU WORSHIP HOMOSEXUALS?" - Curtis Saxton (source) shroom is a lovely boy and i wont hear a bad word against him - LUSY-CHAN! Shit! Man, I didn't think of that! It took Shroom to properly interpret the screams of dying people - PeZook Shroom, I read out the stuff you write about us. You are an endless supply of morale down here. :p - an OWS street medic Pink Sugar Heart Attack!
Vorou Star System, aboard Nxalyzr-class Troop Transport Rzaan of the Xhatrr Spacefleet
Txaxil, already wearing the black undersuit of his exo-armour, gazed upon the hologram displaying the alien planet. Just a few days ago, it had been illuminated like an elliptical torch at night... a sign of widespread industrialization. Txaxil wondered how the aliens had industrialized their planet... perhaps they had become, like the Xril, so careless in their use of technology - or rather technology's use of them - that they now, along with the technocracy they had unwillingly nurtured, had become a plague upon their planet, a hideous stain on its surface. Txaxil did not know what they looked like, but he was sure that they were much more expendable than their planet. As he would not wreck the planet where the Xril soon were to live, he had decided not to use nuclear weapons on anything else than military bases. However, his mind caught an iconoclastic idea: "Considering what the Xril had done to Xhatrr, would it be more appropiate to instead carpet-bomb Xhatrr back to the roots? Is it more important to conquer more worlds than preserve the Xhatrr Dominion's own?"
He then reminded himself that the decision had already been made. Zxavor had cast the dice, and the only way to stop this would be... "No!", Txaxil thought to himself; "I'm almost becoming as megalomaniacal as the great Zxavor himself. I must be thinking too much about the wrong things... or am I? Just if - just if we at some point have hammered these aliens into submission and learn to communicate with them, we can then forge an alliance with them... they can help me overthrow Zxavor. Of course, this needs rapid re-planning of the whole strategy. I can only hope that the aliens have settled other planets in this solar system, so that I will have more potential allies." But he knew that he could not delay the attack forever, and by his neuro-communicator implant he signalled all the Xvarrol aboard that it was time to embark upon their dropships.
Txaxil left the bridge and went through the illuminated darkness of the Rzaan's corridors, robotic and living crew making way for him, as he dwarfed most other Xril in sheer mass. At a point he saw a door to a vacant elevator, and entered it - ordering it to take him to The Armory, which he had visited a few hours ago to get in the armour's undersuit.
And here he was again - in an enormous dark hall lined with gun racks and armour suits standing upright in transparent chambers. Amidst all this - thousands of troops stood as hovering robots put on their armour. Txaxil walked to the middle point of the Rzaan's armory. There was Txaxil's own suit of exo-armour, which was particularly ornate to denote his position as Exalted Battle-Lord - it was adorned with two wing-like protusions on each side of the head as well as metallic "horns" upon its brow. Other distinctive features included reinforced shoulder plates, the main body plates being reinforced by thousands of tiny shards similar in appereance to reptilian scales. Most notable, though, was that the entire armour was painted with a chameleonic substance which changed colour according to its surroundings.
Txaxil recognized this suit of exo-armour. It was one of the newest series of powersuits, produced in very few numbers so far and limited to a very select few within the Xvarrol - the elite of the elite. This was due to the enormous amount of military resources which the wormhole-opening project had consumed, taken away from other research. Txaxil then commanded the powersuit, by neuro-communicator, that he was ready to put it on. After that order was confirmed, he then watched a group of hovering drones part the exo-armour at the waist and the knees, and he then first put on the foot armour and lower leg armour, and then closed his eyes as the drones attached part after part of the armour, ending with the horned, winged helmet and at last attaching the backpack of the exo-armour powersuit, one without which it could not function, as the exoskeleton was powered by the miniature fusion reactor in the backpack. Fully armoured, he then opened his eyes and now could see the armoury through the semi-transparent visor of the helmet and the infrared night-vision which it bestowed upon him - along with unnatural strength and full NBC protection. In addition to all this, the armour's AI now was in constant connection to his neural Communicator Implant. He was literally one with his armour. As the next fight would be in a mountain warzone, he configured its chameleonic camouflage pattern to the white-and-blue winter camo pattern, like all other Xvarrol in the regiment Txaxil was in.
Like an armoured warrior of ages past, Txaxil strode through the armory, heading - along with other exo-armoured Xvarrol - for the gun racks, where he picked up some ammo boxes which he attached to his backpack, and then the standard armament of the Xvarrol: A long-barreled 20mm autocannon with an underslung grenade launcher - a weapon which the exo-skeletal powersuits enabled Xvarrol to use as if it was a mere assault rifle.
He could, however, detect special weapon Xvarrol carrying various support weapons - most notably flamethrowers and multi-barrelled autocannons, the weapons best suited for "cleansing" enemy military bases.
Then, the computer in his helmet told his Communicator Implant that all the other exo-armour suits now were operational as well.
Over the amp-transmitter in his helmet connected by a network to the helmets of other officers, he ordered all troops to go aboard those dropships aboard the Rzaan.
They then all lined up in formation, each company of the Xvarrol in a rectangle formation, and they marched through a door which opened 150 metres away from them, into the adjoining locale: The Rzaan's hangar, housing several dropships which each could carry into battle a full company of Xvarrol.
The armour-clad Xvarrol then watched the rear entrances of the dropships open, and they then entered the dropships and took their seats at the passenger compartments, where their powersuits locked electromagnetically with the seats - like an much more advanced version of safety belts. Each dropship, aside from 80 Xvarrol, also housed 160 gun-drones to assist them as well as 20 support vehicles of various type - mostly Xhojj-class APCs but also a squadron of Jruux-class hovertanks.
However, there would be little use for tanks in these close-quarter sieges of alien military bases which they would now engage in.
Txaxil accompanied the 1st company of the 1st Xvarrol Regiment in their dropship. As the dropships left the Rzaan's hangar, they were joined by swarms of escorting fighters, each fighter wing protecting a dropship in a defensive sphere formation - and then, the dropships and their fighter escorts breached the atmosphere, hurdling in unison towards a certain military base on the alien planet's northern hemisphere, to cleanse it.
Through the connections between his neuro-cybernetic implants and the computer systems incorporated in the powersuit, the "inner vision" of his mind now showed him a strategic overview over the thousands of dropships being launched in orbit over the alien planet.
Meanwhile, Txaxil smiled to himself, thinking: "This will not be Zxavor's conquest of another solar system... this will be my conquest of the Xholnra system... where foolishness once reigned supreme, logic and reason will be enthroned by might."
Vorou Star System, Avarnam Planetary Commonwealth Military Base Karlathsh Mountain
Kwargash loaded his submachinegun and readied for combat. In the two days which had passed since he was rescued by the personnel at Karlathsh Mountain, he had recovered to an extent from the shock that came with the bombing of Yitrakash. He had now found out that after the annihiliation of his native metropolis, he viewed upon its past with rose-tinted glasses. Now he could remember more...
Countless wars had been fought over ideas. This was a war for the continued existence of the Jardra species, or at least its freedom. But Kwargash could now remember that many people had now lost fate in Jardrakin, perhaps with good reason. When Yitrakash was intact, status quo was not what he initially remembered it as - in fact, it was a society in decay. The values which had acted as the basis for social norms and all that jazz were eroding, perhaps with good reason. Subversive organizations were growing in size and quantity, and though government officials always blathered philanthropistically about how their purpose was to secure the rights of others, Kwargash back then often asked himself: "Do they really believe what they're saying?"
What Kwargash also now recalled were innumerable encounters with mortal stupidity - experiences which inevitably forced him to lose his faith in the supposed "greater good of the Jardra" which he constantly heard everyone talking about apparently just for the sake of it. Especially embarrassing were the Cold War against Shaikarsa, which he recalled all too well. He remembered every single detail about it and how everyone - including himself - stockpiled lots of weaponry in order to prepare for Shaikarsite invasion... but he couldn't remember why that Cold War came into being. There was much talk about "fighting for freedom", but while the Avarnam Planetary Commonwealth and the Shaikarsite Union had each their definition of freedom - neither gov't appeared to believe much in the ideologies they were supposedly peddling. It could all just as well be completely fabricated.
Now there was a true war in hand - perhaps there was some truth to "The Final Wars" which many religions spoke of. Kwargash this time knew what he would be fighting for. He would not be fighting for the survival of the Jardra as a species - he had meant too many people which he deemed too imbecilic to deserve anything else than death. He was fighting primarly for his own survival. Heck, he didn't even know if he had a logical reason to justify his continued existence but he knew that he had an immortal instinct for self-preservation... he certainly wouldn't hand Avarnam over to the Kh-Sriil without a fight. Or so he thought.
He checked his submachinegun once again to make sure it was fully loaded, and then watched a fire-team of Avarnam Defense Force soldiers walking past, accompanied by a couple of teardrop-shaped hovering gun-drones.
What happened then was something for which Kwargash couldn't say he wasn't prepared. His communicator-cap told him that huge UFOs, somewhere in size between a large airliner and a Borava-class space defense monitor, had entered the atmosphere escorted by Kh-Sriil fighters. There was no doubt what these were.
Some kilometres away, aboard a Xhatrr Dominion dropship...
Txaxil felt the escorting Xlorash-class heavy fighters' report to his communicator that they fired off their barrages of micro-missiles and the continuous reports of "hit confirmed" being absorbed by his brain as the alien military base's remaining anti-aircraft emplacements were annihilated and turned into flower-like explosions which he easily could envision. To be sure, they unleashed a barrage from long range with their multi-lasers against the same targets. Then, the big artillery truly started. An couple of enormous Rxazhyr-12Rs accompanied the dropships and their fighter escorts, a variant of the 120-metre long hypersonic strategic bombers which replaced their cruise missiles with a single neutron gun (a downscaled version of the particle accelerator found on the Xhatrr Spacefleet's Xvarln-class gunboats). Like titanium-armoured demons swooping down from the statosphere, their gunning AIs took their aim from many miles' distance precisely, and each fired a shining neutron lance from their guns into carefully picked spots on the mountain side, tearing the reinforced layers of rock open. Having seen one of these neutron guns in action with his own eyes, he knew what that would look like. Two gleaming white beams of energy would sear through the rock and the laserproofing layers placed within - he knew laserproofing was there, as it has been detected by the dropships' sensors - scorching huge holes around the points of entrance, and incinerating everything in their range. Aside from providing convenient entrances for the Xvarrol and their gundrones, it hopefully annihilated much alien personnel in the process... and that's before Txaxil took into account the massive psychological effect he also expected such a weapon to have.
The AI piloting the dropship communicated to the Xvarrol and gundrones aboard that the ship would soon reach the ideal distance for dropping off the APCS and their drone-tank escorts. Txaxil soon stood up and ran, together with his Xvarrol command squad of 4, into one of the parked APCS - a special Nxau-type Command Vehicle, which was a modification of the Xhojj-class APC. Txaxil, informed by his powersuit's sensory system that the other platoons aboard the 1st company's dropship were embarking too, entered by a wide door on the back of the command APC, whose shape was similar to a flattened egg , but with two engine-housing nacelles on each side. There was accurately just room for him and the 4 Xvarrol in it, as it sacrificed the internal space of the regular Xhojj for enhanced communications equipment. As everyone was aboard their APC, the grav-vehicle aboard activated their EM drives and the door on the belly of the dropship slid open. Out flew eight Nxau-type command APCS, 72 Xhojj-type APCs, 16 almond-shaped Jruux-type battletanks and 4 Thaxl-class fire support vehicles to escort them as well as eight unmistakeable, oddly angular and elongated Ngka-type Gundrone Carrier hover-vehicles.
Over a hundred assorted hover-vehicles hovering in a three-dimension ellipse formation now set off, accelerating to roughly the speed of sound with an otherwordly howl from their engines.
At the Karlathsh Mountain base...
Kwargash had heard the rumbles and warnings from the base, as Kh-Sriil missiles crushed the remaining anti-air implacements, leaving the base virtually defenseless.
Even worse, chaos now reigned supreme as the base's computer systems had been destroyed by the Kh-Sriil's fearsome neutron beam weapons - blinding white particle lances searing through laserproofing layers, ripping atoms apart, mangling everything in its path - be it organic or mineral in nature. It was only a matter of luck that Kwargash had survived this, he reminded himself as he cautiously looked around the darkened corridors, flanked by a single gundrone which he had personally assigned to guard him. He saw a quintet of heavy gundrones, each armed with a multi-barreled swivel-mounted AT laser and a twin-linked 6.2mm machine gun, hover westwards across the corridor. The smaller gun-drone accompanying him informed Kwargash that the larger gundrones were heading to secure and guard one of the holes which the Kh-Sriil neutron guns had made.
The Kh-Sriil troops would most likely use said holes as entrances when taking over the base.
Only a few kilometres ahead, the Xvarrol convoy was plowing through the sky, and the radars could already from this distance sense that alien gun-drones were securing the holes opened by the Rxazhyr-12R gunships' neutron guns. Txaxil, aboard his Nxau-class command APC, ordered the escorting Thaxl-type fire support vehicles to move into fire position in front of the convoy and fire off a barrage of long-range Hunter-Killer missiles to dispose of said sentinel drones. As soon as Txaxil had made the decision, the AIs of the fire-support vehicles picked up the order from his communicator and maneuvred swiftly in firing position. The other hover-vehicles slowed down to give the fire-support vehicles a more safe "firing area", and then the missile pods of the Thaxls' turrets discharged each a couple of missiles, which howled towards their targets, blossoming soon into flowers of bright crimson fire, twisting metal alloys and polymers, incinerating computer hardware and frying the flesh of those unfortunate to stand too near. The convoy slowed down in the air and as soon as calculated, they were within 500 metres' range of the hollowed-out mountain military base and split into two subgroups equal in number. As each subgroup reached within 30 metres' distance from their respective entrance hole they had chosen, the drone-carriers opened their belly-mounted doors and a swarm of gun-drones descended from each, entering the holes made by the neutron guns and enlarged by the long-distance missiles.
Then, the APCs moved closer and turned clockwise to descend 1 meter from the ground each, each dropping off a squad of Xvarrol. Txaxil watched from aboard his Nxau-type Command APC, but would go in personally if the situation would call for it.
High Stormlord Tliuxar disembarked from the APC down the hole, after the two fire-teams in his command squad had entered. The entrance hole was a smoking pit of charred concrete, twisted laserproofing layers and burnt rock, but there was currently no hazards which his armour wouldn't protect him against. He was the last of his battleforce to arrive, as its leader. The drones hovered into their assigned places, so that there would be 2 gundrones for each soldier and 1 medic-drone per fireteam. The Xvarrol's tactics were highly reliant upon these gundrones... in fact, all Xhatrr Dominion infantry warfare tactics were based upon the use of gundrones to cover and support individual soldiers. Assigning by communicator the other Xvarrol to make way for Tliuxar and his command squad, the command squad advanced and Tliuxar spotted a T-junction at the end of the smoke-drenched corridor, littered with alien corpses and debris from the aliens' own gundrones. He could see that the aliens resembled, the Xril in anatomy, but only 60% as tall yet more than twice as massive - most likely a result of the greater gravity upon this planet - he indeed felt the pull of the high gravity, but the artificial muscle fibers of his exo-armour still enabled him to move at an acceptable rate. And the overall strategies had been calculated in accordance with the higher gravity. Tliuxar hadn't, however, expected the aliens to look so much like Xril, as superficial as the resemblance was. Perhaps there was some truth, after all, to the fringe theory that the Xril - as well as most other life on Xhatrr - actually was brought there by interstellar travellers in the far distant past? There was, however, little time for such speculation now. He then ordered by communicator: "Fourth Company, turn left by that T-junction over there and kill everything that moves. Fifth company, do the same down the right corridor. Sixth company, split into 9 platoons. Platoons 1-4, join 4th Company. Platoons 5-8, join the 5th company. Platoon 9 guards my command squad."
The sixth company split up and there was much maneuvring in the huge charred crater, big enough to house three companies of armoured Xvarrol and their gundrones, but soon each company and its accompanying gundrones and support squads from the 6th company, led by a Stormlord, advanced down the corridor. Tliuxar and his command squad with its supporting platoon followed suit down the right corridor.
Six United Avarni Arms KJ-68S "Shuask" heavy gundrones detected enemies coming down from west. They turned around in the air, their sensors spotting a group of Kh-Sriil clad in heavy exoskeletal armour, each carrying what seemed to be the size of an infantry support vehicle's light autocannon. Knowing their own machine guns to be of little avail, the gundrones hovered into a vertical diamond formation and opened fire with their lasers. As the invisible beams of light seared through armour and flesh, four Kh-Sriil troops fell, a loud thud heralding their armoured forms falling to the ground. They were each accompanied by two equivalents of light gundrones, which fell to the ground as the Avarni gundrones perforated them with high-speed armour-piercing projectiles from their own machine guns. Before as many as three Kh-Sriil gundrones were disabled, though, the Kh-Sriil themselves opened fire, tongues of orange flame lancing from the muzzles of their autocannons, felling the Avarni gundrones with a hailstorm of depleted uranium. The gundrones first lost their sensory capabilities, then their weapons and propulsion were soon offline. Within five seconds, the six Avarni gundrones had all been reduced to piles of burning metal and mangled circuits lying on the floor of the corridor.
At the other end of the corridor, two platoons of Avarni Defense Force infantrists arrived, setting up a couple of 32mm heavy autocannons in the cramped corridor, their helmets' infrared vision detecting a group of Kh-Sriil shocktroops arriving from the other end. Sakarnos, the officer in charge of the platoons, held up his kotarr to lower it, signalling the gunners to fire. Knowing from Arkrai's information that Kh-Sriil special forces wore armour that could block most small-arms fire, Sakarnos had gotten the heaviest rapid-fire support weapons he could find, as well as two KJ-723 gundrones hovering above with their deadly multi-lasers. Both autocannon gunners and the multilaser drones opened fire, discharging obscene amounts of ammunition as the Kh-Sriil's escorting gundrones crashed. The return fire from the Kh-Sriil themselves, however, split the skulls of two of the Avarni soldiers guarding the gun emplacement, both falling dead on their backs. Boiling hot blood stained the walls as high-impact 20mm fire rendered their heads into unintelligible messes of bloodied polymer, flesh and glassteel. Unnoticing the death of their brothers in arms, the gunners sent a further rain of 37mm shells against the Kh-Sriil while the multilaser drones' fire silently downed two more of the towering aliens.
The sensors of Stormlord Zalxran's exo-armour detected an alien gun-drone take aim at him. He had rarely been in a situation which required this extent of reaction speed, so his immediate reaction was to aim his autocannon at it. But as soon he pulled the trigger, releasing a short burst of 20mm depleted uranium shells, several invisible searing light-beams hit straight through his heart. Soon, he laid on the ceiling, overwhelmed by pain... after over 160 years in service, he had finally come to rest. He was among the first soldiers to pledge his allegiance to Zxavor during the Great Uprising, where he had struck terror into the hearts of the Old Dominion. He was among the few survivors of the boarding of the Klxarr. He had held the banner high at the battle of the Four Lakes. He had seen waded through the mountains of corpses at the dreaded battle for Lmurtx. He had lost half his face to a white phosphorous mortar round, necessitating his infamous visage of half living, half cybernetical. He now lay bleeding on the floor, his Communicator losing power... to avoid chaos, he transferred command over the 5th Company to Stormchief Nraxyr, commanding officer of the company's 1st Cadre. Now, it could finally be said of Zalxran that he had not died in vain.
Stormchief Nraxyr of the 5th company's 1st cadre had taken over command of the company just two seconds ago as the company's Stormlord had been killed by a multilaser burst to his heart. Nraxyr, steadfast in the fire, used his communicator to order as many gundrones as possible to act as a fire-screen for the company, and the rearmost Xvarrol to take up the rearguarding function normally assigned to the gundrones. This was a highly unorthodox tactic, but every Xvarrol was irreplaceable. The thunder of enemy autocannons echoed throughout the corridor, . While this happend, Nraxyr and the other Xvarrol stepped back, maintaining a 1-meter distance between each other at they fell back slightly to make room for the gundrones. However, most of their gundrones - as soon as they reached the space they were ordered to occupy, they were felled either by a huge autocannon shell from the aliens, or a burst of multilaser fire. Nraxyr then got an idea as the gundrones fell like flies along with two unfortunate Xvarrol, both immobilized by having a leg mangled each by a high-speed projectile which seemed to be between 30mm and 40mm in calibre, judging solely from the bloody exit wounds. As they sped towards the enemy to distract them, the gundrones crashed to the ground, erupting in smoke. Nraxyr looked at the two heavy alien gundrones, each armed with two multilasers, which hovered above providing fire support to the enemy. He switched his trigger finger to his autocannon's underslung grenade launcher and fired a grenade at the alien gundrones. He watched the grenade miss, a huge explosion erupting on the ground at the end of the corridor it echoed through. Both of the alien autocannons and their crew was charred, bloodied and destroyed. The walls were almost unrecognizeable, the blast of the grenade had rendered them blackened and cratered mockeries of what they once were. Watching blood flow down the corridor like a vermilion glacier, he noted that there still were the multilaser-armed drones to dispose of. As quickly as possible, Nraxyr transmitted a Communicator Implant message to the nearest RPG-armed trooper to fire at the alien gundrones. As soon as Nraxyr made the decision, Stormbrother Vrolxar pointed his shoulder-mounted RPG launcher slightly upwards and pulled the trigger as a self-propelled projectile raced towards the alien multilaser drones. At the end of the corridor, a bright explosion obscured everything as the ceiling broke, the ground beneath them quaked, a metre-thick layer of burnt concrete falling upon both gundrones - burying all remnants of the alien guns, their crews and the gundrones.
Though Stormbrother Vrolxar probably had destroyed both gundrones, he had also blocked their path of advancement. And Nraxyr saw beside him that two wounded Xvarrol lay writing in pain on the ground, immobilized by 37mm fire to their legs. Cybernetically linked to all his cadre's accompanying drones, he ordered two medic-drones to tend each of the immobilized Xvarrol. It wasn't a pretty sight to see blood flow from their wounds as they moaned in pain, but Nraxyr had seen far worse during The Great Uprising. Now, he saw the Stormpriests commanding the squads to which the wounded soldiers belonged, ordering their squads and gundrones to guard the wounded troops. The medic-drones arrived, seeing that one Xvarrol, Stormbrother Tlyxra, had his leg rendered completely useless. The medic-drone lowered out two robotic arms and carried him away, preferrably into one of the APCs to have his wounded leg replaced by a mechanical one. The other Xvarrol, however, had been hit in his mechanical leg which could be repaired by his platoon's mech-drone, which Nraxyr saw arriving to open the greave upon his lower leg, and repair the bionic limb beneath.
Nraxyr was more than a little confused. He had recently been given command over an entire company by a dying Stormlord. However, he also knew that he could never waste any time.
As the fallen soldier, Stormbrother Rlathuun, now stood up again, Stormchief Nraxyr - or should it be Stormlord Nraxyr? - pondered how to get rid of that mass of rubble which blocked the corridor now. Rxazhyr, by yet more creative use of his communicator implant, checked the inventory of the entire 5th company and found that nobody in it had an antimatter grenade.
Meanwhile...
Vorou Star System, Military Space Station Rishina Tvurak orbiting the Planet Shaikarsa
It seemed to be a routine day aboard the military space station Rishina Tvurak. The Overseer-Commander of the station, Sinash Vkourin, expected nothing spectacular to happen - although he had put the crew of the base upon highest preparedness ever since the Planetary Commonwealth of Avarnam had its first run-in with the alien race dubbed the Kh-Sriil by an Avarnam scientist who had parts from a brain from a dying specimen of these aliens implanted in it. The Kh-Sriil, as the scientist called them, were not physically strong - they were very taller than Jardra but rarely weighted more than 70kgs, making them quite frail. Their strength was that their entire home system was united under one ruler... and he also came with some vague doomsday prophecies suggesting that the Kh-Sriil were about to invade the Vorou system, but as those predictions came after the scientist was thrown into a mental asylum, Vkourin doubted whether that was more than paranoia.
But then - the base's chief-of-communications, Uko Siirkan, went into a about of panic. The stocky, red-bearded Siirkan flew out of his chair out of sheer shock, and shouted over the communications system directly to Vkourin's office: "Sir! Avarnam under attack by Kh-Sriil. One damaged Avarni escape shuttle approaching our base requesting assistance and repairs, pursued by 42 unidentified spacecraft of small reported by the Avarni to be Kh-Sriil corvettes."
This could only mean one thing. As soon as possible, space station Rishina Tvurak reported these important, if grave, news to the Shaikarsite military headquarters on the planet's rocky surface. There might have been growing hostilities between the Planetary Commonwealth of Avarnam and Shaikarsite Union ever since Kolnur was elected leader of Avarnam, but this time the two planet-nations were forced to ally if they were to ensure that the Jardra should not be driven from their own homeworld. Yes - both Avarnaman and Shaikarsite Jardra had always avoided war whenever possible - but this time, the enemy was an alien superpower hell-bent on conquest... Vkourin and the other Shaikarsites had no choice. Ever since the first miners settled upon Shaikarsa, they had been dependant upon trade with other planetary nations - and this trade was not to be obstructed by anyone, Jardra or Kh-Sriil.
Vkourin then ordered back to Siirkan: Order all carriers, destroyers and defense monitors to intercept the Kh-Sriil corvettes at maximum speed in standard battle formation, then open up comms to the Jardra escape shuttle.
On a viewscreen above his chair, the frightened visage of none other than First Admiral Tukajra appeared. Sinash Vkourin, keeping himself calm, said: First Admiral Tukajra, feel free to report to the nearest Shaikarsite military vessel and dock with its shuttlebays.
Vorou Star System, aboard Kxal-class corvette Nzthi of the Xhatrr Spacefleet
Captain Tlanr was getting frustrated in his seat. The alien escape shuttle was getting further and further away from his corvette, which even was the one which spearheaded the pursuit. Suddenly, a huge amount of blips appeared on the corvette's strategic viewscreen as he approached another alien planet. One was huge, too big to be anything else than a space station. Frightened, he asked the ship's intelligence AI to identify the other shapes which now approached him.
The tactical viewscreen now displayed five huge alien spaceships approaching. Each's main hull was shaped like a huge rectangular box 600 metres wide and 600 metres long and 300 metres high, with a structure on top resembling an elongated two-step stair, on the first step three turrets. The bottom of the ships had similar structures, but without the turrets. On each side was a sponson-like extension of the hull with eight smaller turrets on it. On the front, there was another extension which was rather protuberant. The corvette's sensors detected lifesigns from those particular areas, indicating that they were the prow bridges. Under the bridges the sensors detected a huge hive of what appeared to be hangars - yep, carriers. To make it worse, each was escorted by six ships vaguely similar in design to the Xhatrr Dominion's own Nzilx-class defense monitors. The alien defense monitor squadrons each formed a protective wall-formation in front of a carrier. Having absolutely no time to waste and opened communications to the other corvette squadrons to warn: Alien carriers and defense monitors sighted! Flee back to the main fleet in orbit around Xhatrr'vxoth or what it's called... Then, he maniacally pressed the analogue controls before him, activating the thrusters' navigational vectors, turning the corvette 180 degrees and then shifting the acceleration to maximum. On the tactical viewscreen, he saw that the rest of the corvettes were doing the same.
The atmosphere electrified as the strategic viewscreen indicated that hundreds of tiny objects were approaching the now-fleeing corvettes... and the corvette's defense AI already reported that 23 laser beams had hit the corvette, then 35, then 41.
Just as the corvette's main thrusters had been moved to full thrust, the same defense AI reported that the engines now were heavily damaged... then the corvette's left laser turret, then the right... Tlanr was enraged and frustrated. On the tactical viewscreen, he saw a couple of alien fighters approach from the rear, 22 kilometres away, discharging each a couple of laser salvos to knock his engines offline.
Then, one of the fighters fired a torpedo at the Nzthi... which soon became but a scattered cloud of debris, before Tlanr could press the "eject bridge" button.
The cockpit of the corvette was still intact, but the life support systems were offline. As the oxygen faded, Tlanr saw ghostly shapes around them. To himself he thought: This must be one of those near-death experiences I have heard about... indeed death is near.
Tlanr did not panic. Death was before him, and he knew that he could not avoid it. He closed his eyes and just waited for life to fade from him.
As he slowly passed out, he wondered how future generations would think about his untimely, and whether he would be remembered at all. His last words: The great sea of stars, the great tomb that knows no sound...
"Hi there, would you like to have a cookie?"
"No, actually I would HATE to have a cookie, you vapid waste of inedible flesh!"
Great man. Though we didn't get to read much of Kwargash, the prespectives of the Xril guys were great and the battle scenes were lovely as well. Loved the prespective of the guy in the corvette.
A few critiques though. Nothing big, just technical stuff which doesn't really matter.
Anti-matter grenades? I think that's too much. You can get a cheaper chemical-based explosive with more bang-for-the-buck. It's for blowing holes in walls, not for knocking down buildings. And the anti-matter containment system would be really complicated...and if your AM tech isn't that advanced, the damn thing will be extremely volatile. Drop the thing and BOOM!
Undersuits? Did you take that term from my BS-300 profile? I thought I saw some other terms which were taken from the SOTSverse. And that suiting up scene of Txaxil was a little like the scene I wrote for Chapter Five in SOTS. Oh my God, you can read minds through the internet! Nooo! *puts on tinfoil hat* Scary.
And the corvette guy, he's the captain so why is he driving the thing? Even in tanks, the commander doesn't do the driving or the shooting.
EDIT:
One last thing. Maybe you could shorten your sentences. Sometimes one of your sentences seems to be like two sentences merged in one. You should try cutting them up. But that could just be your style.
"DO YOU WORSHIP HOMOSEXUALS?" - Curtis Saxton (source) shroom is a lovely boy and i wont hear a bad word against him - LUSY-CHAN! Shit! Man, I didn't think of that! It took Shroom to properly interpret the screams of dying people - PeZook Shroom, I read out the stuff you write about us. You are an endless supply of morale down here. :p - an OWS street medic Pink Sugar Heart Attack!
"DO YOU WORSHIP HOMOSEXUALS?" - Curtis Saxton (source)
- PeZook
