SOLDIERS OF THE SOVEREIGNTY

Peregrin Toker · Post by **Peregrin Toker** » 2004-02-24 10:27am

Shroom Man 777 wrote:Hm... your right, there are too many weapons and that could cause problems for the military. But I wanted diversity but diversity might be a problem when a trooper asks his squadmate for weapons.

Do you have any suggestions? I'm open for suggestions.

Well, what about having it in WH40K, where a squad usually is made up of one squad leader, 8-12 troopers carrying the same basic weapon (eg. assault rifles or their futuristic equivalents), one or two special weapons troopers (carrying flamethrowers or plasma guns instead of their ordinary weapons) and one heavy weapon trooper? (heavy weapons specialist squadrons have 1 squad leader, 4-6 ordinary troopers and up to 4 heavy weapon troopers)

Shroom Man 777 · Post by **Shroom Man 777** » 2004-02-24 10:46am

Sounds reasonable. Why not! My squad's configuration will be somewhat like this. THANKS dude!

Plus there can be some deviations, like instead of using the main rifle you can use the alternate railgun, but the deviations aren't that much and the alternate ammo can be easily found in good quantity in your local supply depot.

18-Till-I-Die · Post by **18-Till-I-Die** » 2004-02-25 09:57am

Well, i read the first chapter and the ground battle. Brutal tuff, brutal stuff...maybe even a bit of racism on the part of the Humans?

(being a Black man, the part about the Human torturing the Bear was very real for me, considering how Whites treated my people)

I like the idea of K-bolts: acid-warhead railguns, huh? Somebody's been playing Quake III. Very good story so far, i'll have to read mor eof it after i finish the next chapter of my own fic. One tiny thing though...you didnt describe teh ships! C'mon, this is sci-fi, you gotta' gimmie them ships!

Shroom Man 777 · Post by **Shroom Man 777** » 2004-02-26 05:51am

18-Till-I-Die wrote:Well, i read the first chapter and the ground battle. Brutal tuff, brutal stuff...maybe even a bit of racism on the part of the Humans?

(being a Black man, the part about the Human torturing the Bear was very real for me, considering how Whites treated my people)

I'm not a racist but hey, I was aiming for realism and not your pansy humanitarian Star Trek stuff. I took inspiration from Band of Brothers, Black Hawk Down, Saving Private Ryan and some other stuff. The brutality, well, I wanted to give the view that in war, the troopers would just screw the Geneva Conventions and I wanted to portray the surprise of the bear when the human began beating him since he (as well as most bears, Gamma-Sigma or Bragulan Star Empire) thinks humans are pansies who rely on technology and long ranged weapons and lofty humanitarian laws and stuff. I'm sure a lot of Iraqi troops are felling the same way. But that's that. War is hell.

Generally though, humans aren't racists. But even normally nice people turn foul and start cussing and beating when said bear was trying to blow their heads off.

I like the idea of K-bolts: acid-warhead railguns, huh? Somebody's been playing Quake III. Very good story so far, i'll have to read mor eof it after i finish the next chapter of my own fic. One tiny thing though...you didnt describe teh ships! C'mon, this is sci-fi, you gotta' gimmie them ships!

Well, the K-bolts are acidic energy bolts. But I can modify it that they're railguns which fire bullets which after exiting the muzzle, they'll have a chemical reaction which makes them very hot, acidic and explosive.

Yeah, I'll start describing the ships but I'm afraid they won't look too original, but it's okay for me. The ships are generally boxy with lots of turrets and missile launchers around them. One conning tower at the top (though that's for sensors only, no bridges), engines at the rear and a few retro thrusters all over the place. Thick armor.

Thanks for the crits. Where did I screw up on my fic?

Peregrin Toker · Post by **Peregrin Toker** » 2004-02-26 09:38am

Shroom Man 777 wrote:Yeah, I'll start describing the ships but I'm afraid they won't look too original, but it's okay for me. The ships are generally boxy with lots of turrets and missile launchers around them. One conning tower at the top (though that's for sensors only, no bridges), engines at the rear and a few retro thrusters all over the place. Thick armor.

I envision the Earthling ships in SoTS as looking a bit like Confederation ships from Wing Commander games 3-4 and the Bragulan ones as more zeppelin-like in shape.

Shroom Man 777 · Post by **Shroom Man 777** » 2004-02-27 07:16am

The Earth fighters have great resemblence to modern fighters.

The capships however, look very similar to those Wing Commander ones. But they're shape is a little bit different to give the guns more coverage.

The Bragulan ships will also be angular... but I don't know what to make of them.

Hm...

Peregrin Toker · Post by **Peregrin Toker** » 2004-02-27 11:25am

Shroom Man 777 wrote:The Earth fighters have great resemblence to modern fighters.

What about the Bragulan fighters, then? I envision them as having forward-swept wings and in general looking like more symmetrical versions of Kilrathi fighters from aforementioned Wing Commander games..

Shroom Man 777 · Post by **Shroom Man 777** » 2004-02-27 12:34pm

Forward swept? Like that X-man airplane? Good idea! They'll resemble a smaller version of this: http://www.wcnews.com/ships/wc3vaktoth.shtml

The destroyers will be streamlined, yet blockish. They'll look more like a squarish... remote control whose tip is thinner than its ass.

The Iron Fist will be quite blocky and will sport a conning tower and lots of guns and will have an armor um... resembling: http://www.starwars.com/databank/starsh ... ort/?id=eu except that the armor will be more angled and rigid and blocky and less messy and more like real... armor. Yeah. So the end result will look way different.

How the heck do I describe that?

Peregrin Toker · Post by **Peregrin Toker** » 2004-02-27 01:57pm

Shroom Man 777 wrote:The Iron Fist will be quite blocky and will sport a conning tower and lots of guns and will have an armor um... resembling: http://www.starwars.com/databank/starsh ... ort/?id=eu except that the armor will be more angled and rigid and blocky and less messy and more like real... armor. Yeah. So the end result will look way different.

Heh, that Rebel Medium Transport looks somewhat like what I envision Bragulan capships as resembling.

Shroom Man 777 · Post by **Shroom Man 777** » 2004-02-28 01:41am

Brag ships will resemble the Terran Battlecruisers from StarCraft.

Shroom Man 777 · Post by **Shroom Man 777** » 2004-02-29 10:29am

Question: How is the characterization of my story? Do you actually feel for the characters? Or is the characterisation my weak point and the battle scenes compensate for it?

Can you guys point out the flaws please? I really want to make this story good, so please tell me if there are any holes.

I'm asking this because I'm doing a book report and somehow I feel that my story isn't that good when compared to those books.

EDIT: I've been thinking... maybe I should re-write the previous chapters. Do some editting and some stuff. No?

Shroom Man 777 · Post by **Shroom Man 777** » 2004-03-01 09:21am

New chapter by next next week since school work and shit are bogging me down. I've started a new project, it's an article documenting a xenomorph species in my universe.

Peregrin Toker · Post by **Peregrin Toker** » 2004-03-01 10:43am

Shroom Man 777 wrote:Question: How is the characterization of my story? Do you actually feel for the characters? Or is the characterisation my weak point and the battle scenes compensate for it?

Can you guys point out the flaws please? I really want to make this story good, so please tell me if there are any holes.

Well, thing is that we don't hear so much about the characters' relationships to each other than about what we see them doing. It's somewhat limited IMO how much characterization you can have in battle scenes. It is possible to develop characters during battle scenes, but it requires some skill AFAIK.

Shroom Man 777 · Post by **Shroom Man 777** » 2004-03-01 10:58am

Peregrin Toker wrote: Well, thing is that we don't hear so much about the characters' relationships to each other than about what we see them doing. It's somewhat limited IMO how much characterization you can have in battle scenes. It is possible to develop characters during battle scenes, but it requires some skill AFAIK.

Okay, I hear that. There'll be moments of piece right after they siezed the GS missile battery complex, I'm gonna squeeze it for all its worth.

Shroom Man 777 · Post by **Shroom Man 777** » 2004-03-07 09:43am

Prologue:

There was a bright flash and three ships emerged into the solar system. The ships were huge, 900 meters long, heavily armored and bristling with turrets, missile launchers and torpedo tubes. The front halves of the ships resembled that of a sledge hammer; their rears were boxy and had four mighty thrusters. The rear section had thick and short wings which had thrusters attached to their tips. Fighters resembling cones with V shaped wings were forming a three dimensional perimeter around the capital ships. The ships made their way to a nearby planet; it was a blue earth-sized planet with two satellites, one was natural and one was artificial and designed to monitor space. The artificial satellite sent a signal to the planet and the planet’s defense forces were alerted.

Three combat cargo ships landed on the forests surrounding the planet’s lone city. Troops concealed in all encompassing teal battle suits quickly rushed out of the craft and formed a perimeter. Then a treaded tank slowly came out of the ship, it was armed with a 90mm cannon and was heavily armored. The thrumming of the tank’s gas guzzling diesel engines muffled the dying cries of one trooper who was riddled by several railgun slugs. More railgun slugs came out from nowhere. Some of them just whizzed pass the soldiers, a lot of them found their mark.

“Fire! Fire at the trees! The humans have already set up defense!” hollered an armored figure in an alien tongue, a slug passing just inches from his head. Though his voice was muffled by the tank’s engines, the troops still heard him through their commlinks. He took out his rifle, a B-11 K-bolter, and armed it; he fired several shots at some bushes which were obscuring their attackers. His rounds were railgun slugs, they traveled at extreme speeds and a chemical reaction caused them to glow green and turn into highly corrosive and super hot material resembling plasma bolts. They slammed on a tree trunk and an enemy soldier, clothed in blue security personnel armor and a blue helmet, beside it was downed by the glowing green acidic residue and the wooden splinters. “Set up the B-NETs! Use the RPGs!”

“At once, Lieutenant Slurvok,” acknowledged a sergeant. Two rocket propelled grenades came from somewhere behind them and blasted the defenders into the air.

“Hurry up! Men, fire at will!” Slurvok said as the tank fired its heavy K-bolter, there were explosions as trees were mowed down and a few of the humans were blown to pieces. Slurvok was a lieutenant, the red symbols on his helmet showed his rank. He was a veteran. He served under the Bragulan Star Empire’s military but defected. He was now a lieutenant of this militia’s infantry and would lead the way in capturing this human colony.

Slurvok cursed the closeness of this combat which prevented air support. He darted towards the tank and used it as cover when it seemed that the defenders brought out their big guns, automatic grenade launchers, plasma cannons and laser cannons. Troopers screamed as they were torn into two by the laser beams or had plasma bolts tear through limbs. A grenade exploded just a few meters away from him. He was showered with shrapnel and one penetrated the weak spot of his suit’s joints and found its mark on his neck, mere micrometers away from an artery. The sergeant however wasn’t so lucky, the explosion threw him into the air, the shock liquefied his innards and his joints were sheared by shrapnel. A medic came to check the sergeant, Slurvok tried to order him back but he was too late, the medic was killed by another grenade.

The fire fight continued as the invaders and defenders traded K-bolts and railgun slugs. The tank just stood there and fired its K-bolts; its main gun was useless in such a close fight. Slurvok’s men were using the tank as cover while the defenders were using the trees, but the invaders could see them thanks to the infrared vision mode of their suit’s visors, and the trees were easily felled. Slurvok’s troops got some more RPGs from the ship and launched them all at the defenders. The blast blew the trees and dust and dirt were blown all over, as well as the bodies of the enemies. Then Slurvok used a macrobinocular to scan the area. The area was clear and two more tanks and vehicles came out. The leading tank crawled forward, leading the way. But just as Slurvok thought that the enemies had regrouped somewhere further away, a missile from far away rocketed into the air and made a steep dive towards their formation. Slurvok dove for cover and his men screamed, yelled and pointed, but they all ran and hid. The missile plummeted like a meteor and in a flash it had struck the top of the leading tank, the plasma explosion of the missile was focused on one single point of the tank’s armor and this focused blast punched straight through the armored vehicle and caused the diesel engine and the ordnance to explode in a massive fireball. The blast turned the tank into a smoking pile of twisted metal.

Everybody was shocked but they all shook it off as a loud bang came from the planet’s city. Miles above them, fighters were circling the skies, destroying anything which might pose a serious threat. They advanced.

Peregrin Toker · Post by **Peregrin Toker** » 2004-03-08 10:11am

Very nice, but what is this? Are you revising the whole story and adding a new prologue? Or is it a prologue to the next chapter?

I'm somewhat confused. (though I like its further detail on various things)

Shroom Man 777 · Post by **Shroom Man 777** » 2004-03-09 01:07am

It's a prologue added to the top of the story. Detailing the beginning of the GS' invasion of Daron.

Agent Fisher · Post by **Agent Fisher** » 2004-03-09 01:28am

very nice shroom. I am going to hopefully have my next chapter by friday.

Shroom Man 777 · Post by **Shroom Man 777** » 2004-03-09 02:59am

Dude, did you focus more on the actual fighting now?

EDIT: Me be talking about your fic.

Agent Fisher · Post by **Agent Fisher** » 2004-03-09 10:25pm

well, kinda

This chapter wraps up the current planet.

Shroom Man 777 · Post by **Shroom Man 777** » 2004-03-11 05:44am

FOUR part 1

Half the soldiers were outside the complex, guarding the area from any attempted Gamma-Sigma incursion and monitoring the captured GS soldiers while the other half was either loitering outside or in the battery. The troops’ morale was high. They had taken on the Gamma-Sigma without significant loss and won with ease.

“How is he?” asked John as he walked into the battery’s complex’ makeshift infirmary. Apollo was had his helmet removed and the leg section of his battle suit was also removed, he had a neck brace on. He was lying on a shiny silvery metal operating table. The table was quite clean, just like the rest of the room. There was an IV bag plugged to Apollo’s forearm.

“He’s alright. He’s stable.” replied Carla. Around the infirmary were odd medical equipments and weird looking tools which resembled that of human medical tools. There were bottles of medicine and drugs and pills stacked in cabinets and drawers.

“What about that other guy, Hilton Joz- whatever?” The other guy was beside Apollo, being tended by Butch, the medic of Nickerson Squad.

“He’s in a horrible condition, major blood loss. Without any real medical help, he’s dead.”

“And I suppose this Bragulan medical equipment isn’t your definition of real medical help.”

“You suppose correctly. Most of this stuff would have no effect on humans. Some could work but would have little effect while others could kill him or give him allergic reactions,” replied Carla. She wasn’t monitoring Apollo’s condition, he was already stabilized and she couldn’t do anything more. She could do nothing for the other soldier. “Bragulan physiology is different from ours, so we obviously can’t have a blood transfusion.”

“What about that IV bag?”

“Oh, it’s from my backpack. The stuff in the bear’s IV would make Apollo turn green. Most Bragulan stuff and human stuff aren’t really that compatible with each other.”

“Want some sir?” Jedd walked in with his helmet off. One hand had two bars of chocolate; he was offering them to the LT and on the other hand was half a bar of chocolate, partially melted.

John took a look at the other guy who was missing his feet. He said, “Um…no, I don’t have the appetite.”

“Hey Carla, how’s the kid?” he was concerned.

She looked at Apollo. “He’s fine, but like I said, he needs help. Sir, when are the ships coming?

“Thirty minutes at worst. It won’t be that long-” he was interrupted by his comm. link. It was Joshua. “Hold on a minute. Josh, what is it?”

“We’ve re-programmed the launcher and aimed it at Laketown. I’ve managed to hook up the battery’s targeting computers with the Iron Fist’s superior sensors. Nothing’s flying out of Laketown.” Joshua said with a hint of satisfaction.

“Good job, Josh. Have you scanned our vicinity with the facility’s sensors?”

“Um…I forgot about that part. Sorry, sir. I’m checking the sensors now,” Joshua replied. The sound of him moving to another chair and tapping some buttons could be heard through the comm. link. Joshua gasped. John raised an eyebrow. “Sir, the Gamma-Sigma are launching a counterattack! Enemy troops are moving in quick en mass and it looks like they have armor with them too! I can’t give exact numbers but there are a lot of them!”

“Shit, I knew they would counterattack, but I never knew they’d do it this fast!” John said as he pressed his wrist computer. He patched himself to all of the marines in both Nickerson and Baylor squad. “Everybody, the Gamma-Sigma are counterattacking, they have-“

He stopped as he heard a nearby explosion. There were screams. The rumbling of plasma fire and the distinct screaming sounds of K-bolts being fired could be heard. The building shook. “Everyone, let’s get moving! Go, go, go!”

“Shit!” screamed Timothy as a K-bolt blasted the wall behind him, showering him with concrete chips and shards coated with acidic residue. Timothy was in a pillbox in front of the entrance of the building. He fired a series of shots from his MG-69 and took down some Gamma-Sigma troopers in their teal battle suits. A rocket propelled grenade impacted the pillbox and the explosion knocked Tim down and took a huge chunk out of the ablative armor.

Tim cussed and gunned down the offending bear. He smiled to himself and fired at a mob of Gamma-Sigma troopers. His smile turned into a frown when the mob scattered, revealing a Bragulan combat patrol vehicle. It had two wheels in front and treads on the rear. Mounted on top of it was a PixarCorp Shock Cannon. The vehicle fired its primary weapon, sending out a bubble of displaced air surrounded by rippling air. The ceramic armor in the immediate vicinity of the blast was fractured, revealing the Neo-steel frame beneath it. The blast knocked Timothy out, he had a concussion.

John stuck his head out of the building’s door when a stray K-bolt hissed past his head. He looked around and saw Timothy on the floor. He turned to Jedd, who was putting on his helmet, and Carla who was prepping her medical kit.

“Jedd, you and me lay down some suppressive line of fire, you, Carla, haul Tim’s back here.” John pointed to a bunch of bears shooting from behind some concrete beginnings of a building intended for Laketown’s expansion.

“Roger that chief.” Jedd armed his rifle. His HUD had a flashing arrow which point to where the targets were. He switched to X-ray vision and saw through the concrete where the bears were. The bears were exactly where the arrow pointed and were shooting at a bunch of pinned down marines in a pillbox. Further behind them was the Bragulan vehicle which was firing at something far away. He switched back to normal vision, a composite vision which combines the different vision modes to highlight things of importance while enabling the user to see the world normally.

“Okay, at three, one-two-three go!” both of them stuck their heads out and opened fire. The bears were shooting at a bunch of marines who were pinned down in a pillbox, the unexpected barrage of 8mm tungsten slugs and plasma bolts took down two of the group of eight. “Go, go, go!”

Carla bolted towards Tim, running as fast as she could while plasma bolts, railgun slugs and K-bolts were hurtling right above her head. She jumped into the ruined pillbox and tended to him while John and Jedd continued spraying at the Gamma-Sigma soldiers. The marines from the pillbox opened fire at the bears who were now the ones pinned down.

“Jedd, help me carry him!”

“Jedd, go help here, I’ll give cover fire.”

Jedd jumped into the battlefield and ran as fast as he could to the nearby pillbox. He jumped into it and was now with Carla. Both of them were keeping their heads as low as they could from all types of projectiles and energy bolts which were coming from everywhere.

“Fucker!” John hissed as a ricochet struck his shoulder pad. There was a slight bubbling as the acidic bolt residue ate away the paint of the pad, but the bolt’s strength was severely diminished and it didn’t do much harm. John pumped his gun’s grenade launcher and lobbed one at the enemy soldiers. The grenade found only concrete and its plasma explosive detonated, the bears were initially shocked but now they turned their attention at Baylor. John backpedaled back into the building as the bolts punched holes through the entrance, filling the floor with concrete shards and dust. He was about to cuss when an RPG followed suit and blew a huge hole through the entrance. When he was sure nothing would interrupt him again, he cussed.

John looked at a wall and took a breather. The HUD highlighted something past the wall; it identified the soldiers who were pinned down on the pillbox. They were from Nickerson squad. John activated his comm. link. “Nickerson boys, this is Baylor. How about doing me a favor and chucking a grenade into the bears?”

“Alright sir, I’m going to get my grenade now- Jesus!” the comm. channel was filled with the agonized cries of a soldier who was screaming about his hand. There was another sound, the unmistakable sound of K-bolts punching through a BS-300.

“Fuck it, soldier! Throw a hand grenade now or else we’ll all be missing more than just our fucking hands!”

“Shit, shit, shit! Shit sir!” obviously the soldier was in pain and in fear. There was a grunt and a distant explosion could be heard. The spray of K-bolts stopped. John peeked out. The Gamma-Sigma soldiers had been blown to pieces.

“Good job soldier.” John said as he walked out of the building to check on his two troops. He saw another Gamma-Sigma soldier and took him down with one shot. “Jedd, Carla, haul Tim into the building before anything gets-“

The bubble of displaced air came from nowhere and was mere inches away from hitting John. It struck the wall of the battery complex which was right behind him. The blast utterly demolished the un-reinforced wall. Bricks, chips and shards came flying out and dust covered everything in sight.

“Go!” screamed Jedd as another bubble of displaced air exploded behind them, at the pillbox with the marines. He and Carla ran, hauling Timothy into the building. They entered through the hole in the wall. They passed the limp body of Lt. John Baylor.

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2004-03-11 06:50am

Good stuff, but I'm a bit disappointed...

I thought since you gave Slurvok a name and told a bit from his perspective that maybe he was going to be captured and forced to hang out with the humans for a while.

You know, its not too late for his alien healing powers or odd circulation system to kick in and let some private hollar "Sir, we've got a live one here!"

P.S. What the hell are K-Bolts shooting?

Shroom Man 777 · Post by **Shroom Man 777** » 2004-03-11 07:53am

Hm....I'll start editting it then, I'll erase the Slurvok's prespective in the prologue and just make it in a totally third person view wherein we don't know who the invaders are.

K-bolts are railgun rounds when upon exitting the barrel, they are converted into an acidic super hot plasma-like state of matter.

It's fancy.

Shroom Man 777 · Post by **Shroom Man 777** » 2004-03-11 08:33am

Didn't introduce Slurvok, only "The Lieutenant" who is Slurvok but he's generally anonymous at this point. Check it!

Prologue:

There was a bright flash and three ships emerged into the solar system. The ships were huge, 900 meters long, heavily armored and bristling with turrets, missile launchers and torpedo tubes. The front halves of the ships resembled that of a sledge hammer; their rears were boxy and had four mighty thrusters. The rear section had thick and short wings which had thrusters attached to their tips. Small fighters resembling sharp daggers with V shaped wings and other ships were forming three dimensional formations guarding the capital ships. The ships made their way to a nearby planet; it was a blue earth-sized planet with two satellites, one was natural and was covered with craters and canyons, the other was artificial and designed to monitor space. The artificial satellite sent a signal to the planet and the planet’s defense forces were alerted.

Three combat cargo ships landed on the forests surrounding the planet’s lone city. Troops armored with all encompassing teal battle suits quickly rushed out of the craft and formed a defensive perimeter. Then a treaded tank slowly came out of the ship, it was armed with a 90mm cannon and was heavily armored. The loud thrumming of the tank’s gas guzzling diesel engines blanketed the forest and also the dying cries of a trooper who was riddled by several railgun slugs. More shots came out from nowhere. Some of them just whizzed pass the soldiers while a lot of them found their mark.

“Fire! Fire at the trees! The humans have already set up defense!” an armored figure with distinct red markings on his helmet hollered in an alien tongue just as a slug passed just inches from his head. Though his voice was muffled by the tank’s engines, the troops still heard him through their commlinks. He took out his rifle, a B-11 K-bolter, and armed it; he fired several shots at some bushes which were obscuring their attackers. His rounds were railgun slugs, they traveled at extreme speeds and a chemical reaction caused them to glow green and turn into highly corrosive and super hot material resembling plasma bolts. They slammed on a tree trunk and an enemy soldier, clothed in blue security personnel armor and a blue helmet, beside it was downed by the glowing green acidic residue and the wooden splinters. “Set up the B-NETs! Use the RPGs!”

“At once, Lieutenant,” acknowledged a sergeant. Two rocket propelled grenades came from somewhere behind them and blasted the defenders into the air.

“Hurry up! Men, fire at will!” The Lieutenant said as the tank fired the automated heavy K-bolter cannon on top of its turret. There were explosions all over as trees were shredded into pieces and humans were blown up.

The Lieutenant cursed the close proximity of this combat which prevented air support. He darted towards the tank and used it as cover when it seemed that the defenders brought out their big guns, automatic grenade launchers, plasma cannons and laser cannons. Troopers screamed as they were torn into two by the laser beams or had plasma bolts tear through limbs. A grenade exploded just a few meters away from him. He was showered with shrapnel and one penetrated the weak spot of his suit’s joints and found its mark on his neck, mere micrometers away from an artery. The sergeant however wasn’t so lucky, the explosion threw him into the air, the shock liquefied his innards and his joints were sheared by shrapnel. A medic came to check the sergeant, the Lieutenant tried to order him back but he was too late, the medic was killed by another grenade.

The fire fight continued as the invaders and defenders traded K-bolts and slugs. The tank just stood there and fired its K-bolts; its main gun was useless in such a close fight. The Lieutenant’s men were using the tank as cover while the defenders were using the trees, but the invaders could see them thanks to the infrared vision mode of their suit’s visors, and the trees were easily felled. His troops got some more RPGs from the ship and launched them all at the defenders. The blast blew the trees and dust and dirt were blown all over, as well as the bodies of the enemies. Then the Lt. used a macrobinocular to scan the area. The area was clear and two more tanks and vehicles came out. The leading tank crawled forward, leading the way. But just as the Lieutenant thought that the enemies had regrouped somewhere further away, a missile from far away rocketed into the air and made a steep dive towards their formation. He dove for cover and his men screamed, yelled and pointed, but they all ran and hid. The missile plummeted like a meteor and in a flash it had struck the top of the leading tank, the plasma explosion of the missile was focused on one single point of the tank’s armor and this focused blast punched straight through the armored vehicle and caused the diesel engine and the ordnance to explode in a massive fireball. The blast turned the tank into a smoking pile of twisted metal.

Everybody was shocked but they all shook it off as a loud bang came from the planet’s city. Miles above them, fighters were circling the skies, destroying anything which might pose a serious threat. They advanced.

Peregrin Toker · Post by **Peregrin Toker** » 2004-03-11 09:14am

As for chapter 4 - Hmm, not as much characterization as I expected. (Maybe the fight scenes are more your thing)

Though I actually was moved slightly by Baylor's demise.

[shameless plug]
Oh, and in case you were wondering, I've not totally forgetting the fics I'm working on...
[/shameless plug]