Peregrin Toker wrote:
Well, there's a company which manufactures paint that changes colour dependant on which direction the sun glistens upon it... but that "chameleon paint" alternates between shades of purple, blue, yellow and such colours...
Cool, sounds elephantasmic! I'd love to slobber some of that paint in my car.
Heh, I once saw a Rover (I think) painted with that. Couldn't get my eyes off it.
I have an article about that colour-changing paint in an old car magazine, I'll post about it when I find 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!"
Very graphic, foul language. But thats exactly how it should be, in a war zone and wall.
Peep it up, I wanna see the next chapter!
Voyager summed up in 1 quote:
Neelix: These people dont appreciate what they have! This ship is the match of anything in a hundred lightyears, yet what do they do with it?
(fake voice) Oh, well lets go find some space anomaly today that'll rip it apart!
TurboPhaser wrote:This is excellent. I liked both of your Intros.
Very graphic, foul language. But thats exactly how it should be, in a war zone and wall.
Peep it up, I wanna see the next chapter!
Thank you very much. Yeah, violence and foul language are the things which I love best, especially in a war zone and a.... wall?
Next chapter is coming up, has a part where a dude gets his feet blown off.
Some dude in another forum got sick, said my writings were very bloody. Man, I'm so proud of myself. This is my first attempt at a real fic and guess what.... I'm just a 14 year old kid typing at 1:50 in the morning.
I'll go type a bit more, then I'll go into a short coma.
Baylor squad jogged towards their position without any incident. Three men had been wounded in the sniper ambush; one had been wounded by splinters when a K-bolt blew up a tree beside the soldier, another had his face horribly burnt, a K-bolt exploded in front of him as he ducked, the blast shattered his visor and blinded him, the bolt residue had horribly burnt his face. He was given radio duty; you didn’t need eyes to man a radio. Another soldier suffered a nasty concussion when an explosion sent him flying into a bunch of rocks. These injuries were very damaging to Baylor squad as a whole. John Baylor, in his short but combat filled time as a squad leader, had lost several men in battle, a lot died in agony in the hospital and a large number ended up with horrible injuries. Baylor never forgave himself for each death, for each man or woman who died in some forsaken shit hole, just like this fringe world filled with fanatical heartless murderers. For every death, he wrote a personal letter for the loved ones of the departed, he despised those standardized death letters.
He valued his men, he loved them like family and he was proud of them. They were very well trained, very efficient and behaved like a well oiled machine. They had the least casualty ratio in their division, and Baylor squad also had a very high margin of success. Most of the time, they came out of sticky situations without major losses, just like the sniper ambush. The snipers were poorly trained; they used inaccurate K-bolters and fired in three shot bursts, a sure sign of their incompetence. Baylor squad was very well trained; they immediately hid behind cover and hugged the cover like a lover. It was a great relief to survive such a sudden ambush without major losses, and it was very pleasurable to sadistically beat the bastard who tried to kill them and then place a couple of hollow point bullets into their remaining leg, then leaving him to die in the miserable and muddy forest.
“Nickerson squad, we’re in position,” Baylor whispered through his commlink. Baylor squad was now in their designated position, east of the missile battery, on a small muddy hill overlooking the battery. They were ready to take out the battery. An orbital bombardment would’ve worked perfectly with minimal risk to his troops, but speed was the essence and with the Gamma-Sigma cruisers engaging the task force, an orbital bombardment would have taken too long and the Gamma-Sigma ground forces might have escaped, or spread out. So, they had to do it the hard way, they had to put the lives of his squad on the line. He hated it, but they had a job to do.
“Glad to see you’ve caught up, Lt. Baylor,” replied Lt. Jerry Nickerson, the commanding officer of Nickerson squad. “Alright, here’s my plan. Your squad lays down some fire, which will be easy since you’re on elevated ground. Then you stop shooting, my squad goes in and when they start engaging us, you start shooting and go in. They’ll be caught with their pants down, then they’ll focus on my squad, then they’ll be confused again as you enter the fray, then they’ll have to split up their forces.”
“You don’t have to explain it to me. Your plan sounds fun and I can’t think of anything better, let’s do it,” Baylor shut off his commlink and gave his men the details of the plan. “Okay, Rick, Charles the two of you take up sniper positions. The rest of you get ready to shoot, go to your positions, make sure you have cover. You know how nasty bear bolts can be. Machine gunners, get ready to spit out a lot of lead. Operators, stay sharp, keep monitoring and keep shooting. Demo experts, ready some mortars. Alright, Baylor squad, let’s get ready to kick some green blooded ass!”
“Yeah, time to kick some ass! ……um... hey, can someone help me set up this thing?” Sgt. Timothy Gore asked as he tried to set up his weapon, an MG-69, a tripod mounted heavy phased plasma cannon, capable of blow entire walls into burnt up rubble.
“Sorry, bub, too busy,” responded of some trooper who was setting up a mortar.
Now all they needed was Nickerson’s signal. A couple of minutes later, Nickerson gave the signal.
“Showtime!” hollered Baylor. Before he closed his mouth, a cascade of plasma bolts erupted from his squad. A pair of Gamma-Sigma soldiers didn’t even see the bolts before their bodies exploded into burnt up bits amidst the barrage. “Waste them!!!”
“Fire!” Steven Ling yelled as he and another demo expert ducked. With a bang, the mortars near him launched their shells. The mortars were aimed upwards towards the sky, slightly above 45 degrees; the projectiles were fired in an arc from the other side of the hill where the bears couldn’t touch them. The shells found their way to a group of barrels containing fuel. They exploded and the barrels erupted into massive fireball. Several bears were hopping on their hoverbikes when they were soaked with the burning liquid fuel. Their bikes immediately exploded and their burning, screaming bodies were sent flying in the air.
Another group of bears scrambled towards a B-NET, the Bragulan counterpart of the MG-69, but they were cut down by a combination of plasma bolts and railgun slugs. The survivors were sprawled on the muddy ground, writhing in pain as they clutched their severed limbs. One of them was rolling on the ground, missing both his arms and one of his feet hanging only by a thread of meat. A Gamma-Sigma medic with a red cross painted on his chest rushed towards the screaming, dying soldiers, but an invisible ultraviolet laser beam made short work of him, melting his helmet and causing his head to explode via a steam explosion, then vaporizing the brain matter and fluids.
“Got one,” muttered Charles as he aimed his UV laser at another enemy soldier. He cursed as a stray K-bolt erupted on a nearby tree. “I have three, how much do you have, Rick?”
“I have five,” Eric said. He paused and then he squeezed his sniper rifle’s trigger. A tungsten slug streaked through the air at speeds faster than sound. It swiftly found the neck of a running soldier who was struggling to put on his helmet and in an instant, the hypersonic slug decapitated the soldier, a fountain of green blood spewed from his headless neck. The body fell to the ground and was blown into bits by a mortar shell. “No wait, make that six.”
“Curse you, you-EYAGH!” Charles yelped through the noise of the rain as K-bolts exploded on a tree trunk right above him. Charles leaned to the left as the smoking trunk tumbled to the ground. Eric turned on his commlink and quickly contacted Baylor. “Uh, sir, the bears are regrouping and starting to counter attack. They’re still quite disordered though and the heavy rainfall is giving them some trouble.”
“Roger that,” replied John as he ducked behind a mound of rocky soil. A K-bolt exploded on the mound and acidic residue was quickly neutralized by the mud and rainwater. He peeked and gave several snap shots. The bear he aimed for rolled out of the way and in a foxhole, three Bragulans popped out and fired a trio of rocket propelled grenades. “Crap….”
“RPG!!!” yelled Jedd as he ducked for cover, a trio of RPGs streaked over the spot where he was standing. The explosion leveled some trees and threw a soldier into the air like a rag doll and he landed on the ground with a sickening thud. Jedd thought he heard a crunch. The trooper didn’t get back up. Jedd rushed to the trooper and saw the blood stained puddles of mud. “Shit! Apollo! Medic! Medic! We need a fucking medic!”
Carla quickly rushed towards Jedd, she was crawling on the ground as bolts streaked overhead. The mud stained the red cross which were painted on her shoulder pads, she checked the body and she placed her backpack on the ground. She checked the body for vital signs and then went to her backpack and took out various syringes and medical equipments. She used a high intensity scanner to determine the trooper’s condition. “Jedd, he’s suffering from shrapnel wounds, a concussion and his back is broken. He’s paralyzed and his femoral artery is torn up. He’ll never make it without any decent medical help; we need to ship him back to the Iron Fist when the dropships come. I can’t do anything except to plug the wound and to stabilize him, and I can’t do it without cover.”
“Shit…. Shit….” Jedd whispered as he nodded his head, his hands were shaking, he was sweating and he felt sick in the stomach.
“I need you to provide me with cover, and when we need to move him, I need you to help me with the stretcher.”
“Yeah…. Sure,” Jedd replied as Carla began operating. A K-bolt blew up near them and Jedd snapped back to reality. He fired consecutive bursts at the direction of the K-bolt’s origin. He looked at Carla tend to Apollo and remembered that he had to inform the LT that a man was down.
“Uh-oh, not good,” Charles and Eric said simultaneously. Both of them jumped off their tree as more rockets and K-bolts headed their way. The trees were blown to tiny chunks and burning leaves were blown all over the air. The fires were quickly killed by the rain.
“Sir, this is Jedd, we have a man down, man down! Apollo’s been hit, sir and he’s down,” Jedd said over the commlink.
“What’s his status? Jedd, what is his stat- FUCK YOU!” John was rudely interrupted by a cascade of K-bolts. He ducked behind several trees which were quickly torn to bits, he was on the ground and decided to stay on the ground when more bolts streaked overhead. He pumped his MBR-40’s grenade launcher and fired 45 degrees into the air, the grenade streaked through the air like a mini-comet, leaving behind a trail of black smoke. The grenade landed on a bunch of concrete slabs, in front of which were several Gamma-Sigma troopers. The grenade exploded and the bears were given a face full of concrete shards. “Eat shit and die.”
“Excuse me, sir?” replied Jedd. “Apollo’s status is critical, sir. His leg artery’s cut and his back is broken. The medic says he won’t make it without real medical assistance. She can stabilize him, but we need the docs in the Iron Fist.”
“Okay. Well, hang on tight and tell Carla to do whatever she can for him. We’ll take out this battery soon. The bears aren’t that plenty here. Then we could use their facilities in here while waiting for the d-ships,” Baylor said, trying to be as reassuring as he can while reloading his rifle. An enemy soldier came from nowhere and charged at him, he was too close and John was still getting his rifle’s magazine. He drew his rifle like a gunslinger and placed two in the chest and one in the head. The bear stumbled but the hollow point bullets just scratched the armor. Baylor switched his pistol to automatic and fired at the bear’s joints, his elbow joint and his knees. The bear fell and could do nothing while Baylor holstered his pistol and finished reloading his rifle. He placed one plasma bolt to the top of the bear’s skull, there was a loud audible pop as the body slightly convulsed and green matter and steam spewed out of the single hole in the armor. John turned his head sideways to look at wherever Jedd was, but the foliage was too dense. He faced his head forward again only to find an RPG heading his way. He jumped to the ground and yelled for his fellow soldiers to duck.
Baylor wiped some mud off of his visor as the bear that launched the RPG was taken down by sniper fire. His commlink buzzed. “Baylor, this is Nickerson. Good job, we’re going to move in.”
“Finally,” muttered John as a lightning bolt flashed up high in the rainy sky. “Baylor squad, cease fire, CEASE FIRE!!! Nickerson’s moving in! Fall back, fall back. We want these fuckers to think we’re doing a hit and run.”
As John finished uttering his sentence, the seemingly endless cascade of plasma and railgun fire from Baylor squad halted immediately.
___
“FIRE!!! ALL OF YOU!!! FIRE!!! GUN THOSE SONS OF PIGS DOWN!!!” yelled Slurvok in his native Bragulan tongue. He was a lieutenant and he was not a stranger to sudden ambushes. He was a veteran and a former officer in the Bragulan Star Army, although he later defected. But his past didn’t matter; all that mattered now was getting rid of this human scum. More bolts exploded against the trees, the ambushers were not returning fire. It was obvious that they were doing hit and run attacks, guerilla tactics. Now they were probably changing their position, running and going to another side, perhaps the left flank. Slurvok snorted in disgust and tapped the side of his helmet, the part adjacent to his ear. The helmet had an in built commlink and radio while his ear was partially bitten off, due to a bar fight over some gambling money. “Are the humans still there?”
“They are moving away, sir,” answered a sergeant, clearly identified by the markings on the left cheek of his helmet. “Shall I order the men to advance?”
“Yes!” hollered Slurvok, frustrated at his subordinate. He was angry and stressed, he was facing the USMC and they had quite a reputation. This was his first time fighting humans, but it was just one human squad against the four Gamma-Sigma squads protecting the battery, but even then, his men were taking in relatively huge casualties. “Charge!!!”
RPGs and bolts streaked through the air and exploded at the last position of the human squad as the bears advanced. The B-NETs fired in a wide arc, their green bolts defoliating the forest.
“Set up mortars!” ordered the sergeant. He turned off the safety of his B-11 and turned back to face several loitering troopers. He was about to scream at them and order them to move forward when he saw several figures rush out of the foliage. The blood drained from his face and behind his mask, he gaped in horror, it was impossible, the humans could not have changed their position that fast. “Humans are ambushing our rear!!!”
___
Jerry Nickerson ran through the bushes and threw a grenade at a group of Gamma-Sigma soldiers who were setting up mortars. The grenade exploded and sparked a chain reaction, setting off boxes of mortar rounds. He quickly got his rifle and emptied his clip at another group of enemy soldiers who were readying to go after Baylor squad. “Nickerson squad, let’s move!”
Most enemy soldiers were congregating at the other side of the emplacement and going after Baylor squad. A bunch of Gamma-Sigma troopers were covered by a stack of cubes composed of light weight ablative armor, the troopers were manning a B-NET, the gunner swiveled the massive cannon and fired at the advancing Nickerson squad.
“DUCK!!!” shouted Sgt. Hilton Jozhua Ricardo; he pushed Nickerson to the side. The B-NET’s bolt hit the ground and Hilton’s legs disappeared amidst an explosion of mud and gore. He was thrown to the ground, in shock, his mouth agape and the bolt’s residue eating through armor and the scorched flesh of his shins.
“GOD, NO!!!” Jerry screamed as Hilton rolled in the mud without his feet. Jerry threw a grenade at the GS soldiers who were manning the B-NET, the explosion melted the B-NET and the B-NET power cells exploded in a chain reaction, covering the GS soldiers with highly corrosive acidic residue. Jerry rushed to the aid of Hilton. He waved away the smoke of the burning flesh. “Hilton! No! Christ….. MEDIC! MEDIC!!! I NEED A MEDIC!!!
As the medic rushed to the LT’s position, a trio of Nickerson squad marines was fired upon by Gamma-Sigma snipers shooting from the missile battery. One marine was shot in the neck and dropped down, half dead and gurgling in his blood, another marine jumped into a fox hole and blindly sprayed plasma at the general direction of the sniper, all shots missed and melted only concrete. The last marine stood his ground and mowed down the snipers with his mini-gun.
“Butch, take good care of him,” said Jerry to the corpsman as painkillers were administered to Hilton. Jerry ran and jumped into a foxhole as an anti-tank bolt exploded just meters behind him. A bunch of bears were shooting from a corner, they had a huge anti-tank cannon and several light machineguns and were doing a good job at pinning down Nickerson squad. Jerry checked his utility belt and his pouches for grenades. He was out of them. Another trooper was right beside him and was returning fire before an RPG passed by overhead. Both of them ducked. “Trooper, do you have a grenade?”
“Sir, yes, sir!” replied the soldier. The gunfire, explosions and the rain made hearing quite hard.
“Good, throw it at those fuckwads!” shouted back Nickerson. The trooper pulled off the grenade’s pin just as an anti-tank bolt exploded on a cube of ablative ceramic armor right in front of the trooper. The shock sent the trooper sprawling and tore a huge chunk off his shoulder pad. He dropped the grenade. “SHIT!”
Nickerson grabbed the trooper and both of them leapt out of the foxhole mere moments before the grenade detonated. Nickerson let out a sigh of relief and was about to say something profane when several K-bolts whizzed overhead.
“Fuck!” said the trooper as he recovered from the RPG’s blast. A K-bolt slammed on Nickerson’s shoulder and shattered the shoulder pad into pieces. The trooper pushed both of them down into the ground, into some deep puddle of sticky mud. “Sir, are you alright?!”
“Yea-“ Nickerson was cut short, a mortar round blew up the enemy troopers.
“Sir, we’re getting pinned down!” Nickerson’s commlink buzzed, it was obvious that the bear’s were reacting very fast and were quickly halting Nickerson’s advance, which was part of the plan but was still quite annoying.
“Shit, looks like it’s time for B-squad to come and join the fun,” Nickerson muttered, hiding behind a bunch of concrete slabs with barbed wire as another mortar shell blew up an incoming GS hoverbike mere meters away from him, showering him with red hot metal shards, melting plasteel and burning fuel cell substance.
___
The commlink in all of the BS-300s buzzed and the voice of the lieutenant suddenly came from nowhere, interrupting Baylor squad’s silent anticipation.
“It’s Showtime, people! Nickerson gave the signal!” Baylor shouted through his commlink. He jumped over a fallen tree which resembled a miniature redwood. He pressed a button in his wrist computer mini-keyboard; there was a hiss only audible to him, a symbol of a syringe flashed in his HUD, signaling the injection of a performance enhancing drug, Stimpack, into his bloodstream.
For a moment, it had no effect on him, and then John gradually began to breathe quickly and shallowly. He felt warmer and began to sweat. The drug stimulated him, he began to feel more aware, his hearing increased, his sight became sharper, his mind was more focused, his body became primed and ready; he was like a finely tuned race car on turbo.
“Move forward!!!” he yelled through the commlink. Troops abandoned their cover on the other side of the hill and began to run uphill and then downhill towards the enemy fortification. Immediately, sniper rifles and machineguns fired. Three unarmored Gamma-Sigma soldiers were manning a B-NET in a half built pillbox and were aiming at the advancing marines when a cascade of plasma defoliated several trees and found their way to the soldiers’ bodies, the bodies had miniature explosions as the extreme heat boiled their wet insides. The bolts made their way through the bodies without slowing; a few went into the reinforced concrete flooring and cleaved fist sized holes while most of them impacted the B-NET and caused the massive cannon and its fuel cells to explode, further mutilating the steaming Bragulan corpses.
The advancing soldiers opened fire and began to mow down the distracted Gamma-Sigma troopers. Several railgun slugs whizzed pass John’s head. John fired a dozen bolts towards several Bragulans who were only beginning to notice the assault behind them, half of the bolts missed and melted holes through the battery’s concrete structure but half found their mark. A cascade of plasma rifle fire slashed through several bears who were firing towards Baylor squad. Deciding not to be outdone, John pumped his grenade launcher and sent a plasma grenade towards a large window of the battery compound with a clear view of their extremely armed occupants. The grenade blew up and so did the several boxes of K-bolter ammunition, the combined explosion shook the entire facility and several Bragulans came flying out of the window.
“Nice shot, boss,” commented Tim through the commlink. Unlike most of his squad mates, he was back on the hill manning a machinegun.
“Over there!” yelled Kevin, pointing to a mounted robotic machinegun which was beginning to spew K-bolts at the advancing troops. Kevin wasn’t manning a machinegun, he was a rifleman, but he was covering Tim.
“Booyah!” Tim replied as he squeezed the trigger of his MG-69 and a burst of plasma bolts capable of tearing through concrete walls came out and streaked towards the robotic machinegun. The bolts sailed through the air and all of them missed the robotic gun, one bolt was a dozen meters short and almost went close enough to take out the lieutenant’s foot. “Woops.”
“ARRRGH!! “ John yelled in surprise as a plasma bolt blew up several feet away from his boot. He ducked behind a blown up pillbox as the robotic sentry gun fired a few shots. He fired a three shot burst, one bolt melted part of the sentry’s tripod while another shot damaged its sensor unit, the last shot severed the gun’s barrel and the liquid nitrogen coolant began flowing out of the mauled rifle. There was only one MG-69 in the squad and it belonged to Timothy Gore. John was about to scream something profane through the commlink when a K-bolt grazed his right shoulder pad, he cursed and fired at the bears who were shooting from a trench. All of his shots missed but several railgun rounds and an invisible UV laser tore them to bits. He spotted a couple of RPG totting GS soldiers who were shooting at Nickerson squad and he emptied his magazine at them.
“Um… sorry boss,” said Tim. “You’re not mad, are you?”
“Nice shot, Tim,” John replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm. He tossed the spent magazine. The battlefield seemed a bit quieter and the rain was subsiding into a drizzle. It seemed that the GS soldiers were getting fewer and fewer. And it seemed that most of them were running to the relative safety of the bunker complex. “You’re a natural born marksman.”
“Ehehehe, um… thanks boss- BOSS!!! BEAR AT YOUR RIGHT!!!” Tim screamed so loud that it nearly deafened Lt. Baylor.
___
Slurvok woke up with a bad concussion, a mortar had blown up very close to him and he was unconscious for several minutes. He woke up and found that he lost his B-11 and that most of his soldiers were gone. Spineless cowards, he muttered to himself. He leaned on a small billboard which was written in English, Slurvok deciphered it, it read: “WELCOME TO DARON”
He shook his head and ignored the bruises he sustained at the base of his skull. He walked towards a sentry gun, perhaps he could take it off the tripod and use it as his own, but then several plasma bolts rendered it inoperable. A few more plasma bolts streaked through the air and were aimed at a couple of his men who were dozens of feet away. They were killed immediately. The shots came from a human not ten paces away from him.
Slurvok turned to the human who was reloading his rifle, the human noticed him. Slurvok reached for his sidearm; it was a big and bulky handgun which fired inch wide explosive shells whose ordinance is similar to the substance resembles that of a K-bolter’s ammunition. His handgun was standard and each gun had 6 shots per magazine and a razor sharp short sword could be attached to the gun’s long snout. The armored human also grabbed his sidearm and quickly drew his gun at Slurvok. The man fired a shot; it smashed harmlessly at Slurvok’s own carbonized plasteel armor, though the impact forced Slurvok back a bit. The human’s bullet was what they called a hollow point and though they excelled in dealing damage to tissue, they failed against armor. The human was obviously out of ammo and dropped his sidearm. Slurvok cocked his gun as he grinned sadistically inside his helmet. A red dot came from his handgun’s laser sight and he squeezed the trigger. The human panicked and quickly reached for something in his backpack. The handgun did not fire. Slurvok turned off the safety and took aim, this time he took aim quickly for the human had in his hand a two foot long machete. Slurvok began to squeeze the trigger when in a flash, the human threw the blade and the blade found its way to Slurvok’s unarmored neck, millimeters above his collar.
The impact threw him backwards as the massive blade tore through his neck, esophagus, arteries, vertebra and all. Blood squirted out of his throat as he was pinned to the billboard which he read just several moments ago. He began to feel some pain, but it wasn’t that much, the world around him blurred and darkened. The last words he heard were indecipherable; it was in English, something he barely understood.
___
“Stick around,” Baylor said to the pinned body. He was breathing faster than usual, wait, he wasn’t. He was just hyperventilating. He was thankful to be alive, thankful that that bear was dead, thankful for his split second reaction, thankful for that shot of Stimpack he took minutes ago. Maybe it wasn’t just the Stimpack, maybe it was also the adrenalin. It didn’t matter, he was alive and that was all that mattered.
“Sir, are you okay?!” asked Timothy through the commlink. He was frightened to death. It happened in mere seconds. The bear was grabbing his gun, LT shot with his gun but it was empty and he dropped it, the bear forgot to do something with his gun, LT took out his machete, the bear was almost going to shoot, LT threw his knife and killed the bear. Tim was gasping for air. “Sir, are you alright?!”
“Yeah…,” that was all Baylor could say. He took his pistol and threw away the empty clip; he reloaded it with armor piercing ammo, good ole AP ammo. He got his rifle and reloaded it and went to the pinned bear corpse. His HUD translated the bear’s nametag, it was Lt. Slurvok. John gave a salute and took back his knife, machete, whatever. The body dropped to the ground with a thud. Green blood was still leaking from the throat. Baylor took several deep breaths as he tried to sheath his blade. His hands were shaking; it took him several tries before he sheathed his machete.
He snapped back into reality when several K-bolts whizzed by him and one K-bolt grazed his shoulder pad. They came from four retreating bears who were running for cover, running into the battery, a three storey converted sensor facility with a surface-to-air missile (SAM) launcher recently added along with diamond coated titanium barbed wire, a few automated sentry guns and rectangular blocks of ablative ceramic armor which served as sand bags. He returned fire, two of the bears already made it into the building, one avoided the plasma bolts by leaping into the doorway while the last one was hit at the shins and was now crawling into the building. He checked his grenade launcher; he loaded it with a magazine of 6 20mm HE rounds and pumped the launcher. The projectile went into the door and there was the sound of something smashing and a lot of people screaming when KA-BOOM, everything suddenly became quiet and dead.
“Nickerson, the GS soldiers have withdrawn into the battery, they have been decimated. We’d use a little help in trying to root these bastards out. Where are you guys?” asked Baylor, wondering where Nickerson had disappeared to. He heard the sound of distant gunfire. He suddenly remembered the sniper who he tortured and that squad where the bear came from.
“Baylor squad, there seems to be another GS squad who is trying to aid their friends in the battery, but they are few and we will contain them in a moment,” Nickerson replied plainly, as if he was a reporter talking about the day’s weather forecast. There was a loud boom. “Oh, screw that. Baylor, we have contained them. We’re going back to you and will help you root out those bastards.”
John shrugged. The squad had formed a perimeter around the building. To discourage the building’s dwellers to return fire, several troopers were totting missile launchers and mortars were pointing at the building’s window. John was now using a few ablative ceramic blocks for cover. He turned on the microphone unit and the universal translator installed in his suit’s helmet while various Equipment Operators hooked him up to a radio device which would patch him up to all the GS radios and commlinks in the building. He calmly said in perfect Bragulan, loud and with a cold monotone: “Gamma-Sigma forces in the missile battery, you have two minutes to surrender. If you do not surrender, several troopers here will gladly use their missile launchers to demolish your buildings. And while they’re at it, we’ll blanket all your entrances, exits and windows with sustained plasma AND mortar fire. We might throw also throw a few grenades. And if you don’t surrender in thirty seconds, we will then plant a few demo charges in certain points of your building’s structure. So when you fail to surrender in two minutes, or if you fire a single shot, your building will be reduced to a pile of smoldering rubble with you buried under it. Surrender and you will be assured humane treatment as prisoners of war under the laws of the Braxis Convention. You have two minutes before your building is destroyed and you either buried dead, buried alive or blown into pieces. Choose wisely.”
“Sir, what do you think they’ll do?” asked Kevin, glancing to the building.
“They’ll surrender, if they won’t then they’re dead and they know it. Our mission is to blow up the missile battery, we know it and they know it. If we blow them up, we still destroy the missile battery and that’s our mission, they know that we don’t really care if we blow them up,” replied John, he already turned off the translator and microphone; the Operators’ equipments were already off. “I certainly hope they would surrender, we need their medical facilities and we could put the missile battery to some use.”
“What will you use the missiles for- ,“ Kevin stopped abruptly. An unarmed GS soldier with a white flag came out; he was followed by two dozen others. They all gathered in front of the marines and kneeled on the floor, their hands on their heads. The marines aimed their guns at the bears while a few began cuffing them, their hands being cuffed at the back.
“Josh, Steven, Kevin, Grantham, come with me,” Baylor ordered. He checked the building for heat signatures, so did Joshua with his more advanced equipment. It was clear. “Lt. Nickerson, maybe you could spare a few men, particularly demolition experts and equipment operators?”
“Yeah, sure,” replied Nickerson, he ordered a few of his men to join Baylor. He stood there and removed his helmet. The entire area was clear and secure; Nickerson squad had formed a perimeter. “What are you going to do?”
___
As the sky lightened up and as the nimbus clouds ceased dissipated, a piece of the Occupier, one of the Gamma-Sigma cruisers, quickly descended into Daron’s atmosphere, trailing through the far away horizon. It streaked through the sky and began to burn up. A few other fragments of the Occupier preceded this one, but so far this was the largest. It was a fuel tank, the fire engulfing it melted through the Bissvonium armor and it exploded violently in a massive radioactive ball of flame.
___
Several K-bolts slammed onto the shielded hull of the Valiant and for several seconds the shields died down before the strained auxiliary shield generators kicked in. The destroyer quickly maneuvered behind the burning and fragmented hulk of the Occupier and launched a volley of torpedoes towards the Liberator. Several torpedoes were shot down by a combination of lasers and K-bolts, but half survived and blanketed the massive Borev cruiser’s hull with anti-matter explosions. The green shields lit up but they died down as a final barrage of ion cannons fried the generators. More anti-matter torpedoes and plasma torpedoes came from the SF-44s and exploded on the hull of the Liberator. One torpedo struck the docking bay of the Liberator and the bay was reduced into a smoldering ruin. The Valiant emerged from hiding and quickly pounded the unshielded Liberator with plasma and particle bolts, the Liberator rocked violently as its conning tower suffered massive structural damage. Explosions peppered the hull and melted the Bragulan armor, a particle bolt streaked through the hundreds of miles in between both ships and sheared off a radar dome on the Liberator’s tower. Several torpedoes originating from a wing of SF-44s capitalized on a hole on the hull made by several plasma bolts. One of the Liberator’s rear engines exploded from a volley of plasma coming from the Steadfast.
The Liberator was quickly submitting to the relentless barrage, a battery of torpedo tubes exploded courtesy of several fusion bombs coming from an invisible SB-5 ‘Katana’ stealth bomber. The SB-5s were dark, sleek and silent, invisible with their cloaking fields and deadly with their long range weapons. But there were only six of them in this task force, they were stationed in the Iron Fist and were top of the line USE space bombers. A stray K-bolt struck one of the Katanas and for a brief moment, its shields flickered and a silhouette of the invisible ship could be seen, but then the K-bolt’s energy was quickly dissipated and the Katana was reduced into near invisible ripples in the vacuum, then the ripples disappeared, the Katana was now perfectly invisible and from where it was last seen, a pair of anti-matter torpedoes appeared seemingly out of nowhere and made their way towards the Liberator. They slammed against the underbelly of the starship and blew a massive gash in the Liberator’s weakest spot. Several Rapiers launched plasma missiles into the wound and the Liberator’s suddenly lights died out and the massive ship ceased firing.
The Valiant quickly emerged behind the ruins of the Occupier, its shields were almost zilch but now it had nothing to fear. It fired a massive broadside and the Liberator’s hind section was severed in a display of thermonuclear fireworks. If the Liberator was to suddenly gain power again, they wouldn’t be able to move because their engines were sheared off. Several transport ships from the Valiant docked in the Liberator’s surviving docking bays and marines were deployed to board the ship and extract all information.
Several thousand miles away, the Fearless and Braveheart were pummeling the War Monger with their own torpedoes, which were several orders of magnitude higher than those sported on fighters and bombers. They also blasted the Monger with particle cannons and plasma bolts, but their main weapons were torpedoes. The Monger tried to retaliate by shooting out its own missiles and K-bolts, it was already quite damaged and it was only surviving thanks to its incredibly redundant systems. The Braveheart fired all its ion cannons and severely weakened the Monger’s shields. The Braveheart reversed its course and retreated from combat and was to regenerate her shields for the Monger had been concentrated its fire at the Braveheart. But to compensate for the loss of the Braveheart, the Steadfast, the Valiant and a large amount of Rapiers, bombers, gunships and Katanas quickly diverted their attention on the last Gamma-Sigma ship.
The Monger’s shields were quickly blanketed by torpedoes, missiles, and plasma and particle bolts, all amounting several dozen megatons of damage. The Monger quickly diverted its attention to the Valiant and fired its mass drivers. Several highly dense dart like projectiles slammed on the Valiant’s hull hugging shields at extremely high speeds, the kinetic energy was so immense that the taxed auxiliary shield generators of the Valiant were ripped off their mountings. The Valiant immediately made an about face and retreated, but the War Monger fired a broadside of K-bolts and turbo-bolters, the bolts made short work of the Valiant’s rear side and it was left crippled, its engines reduced to burning slag. A fusion reactor near the primary engines developed complications and a China syndrome rapidly ensued. That particular reactor was deactivated and engineers were sent to stop the meltdown. The main anti-matter/matter reaction engines however were intact as well as the other fusion reactors. Energy for the engines was diverted to the primary shield generators and the Valiant’s shields came back online, making it safe from immediate harm.
With the Valiant’s crippling, the Monger fired all her guns at the Fearless and then launched dozens of torpedoes towards the bombers which were performing bombing runs. Bombers exploded in fireballs of burning neo-steel, many managed to remain intact thanks to their anti-missile lasers, jamming devices and decoy-missiles but they took considerable losses. The Monger assaulted the Steadfast with a combination of K-bolts, missiles, turbo-bolters and her last torpedoes. The Steadfast was blanketed in hundred megaton explosions, but she retaliated with a broadside of plasma and particle bolts. The Fearless fired a flurry of torpedoes and missiles while the Rapiers made strafing runs and peppered the Monger with anti-ship missiles. The shield of the Monger buckled and was punished by the Katanas with their fusion bombs and anti-matter torpedoes. A cascade of light K-bolts erupted from the Monger and clipped a dozen SF-44s. Several blew up immediately while most retained severe damage and headed back to the Iron Fist. The Katanas concentrated their entire remaining ordinance at the shield section right above the Monger’s conning tower. The artificially intelligent fire-and-forget missiles struck at one point and for one millisecond second, that single section of the shields buckled. One millisecond was what all that was needed. The strike was precise and coordinated with the Fearless. In that time span, a torpedo flew straight towards the bridge and smashed into the communications array; the150 megaton blast tore a massive chunk off the conning tower and disintegrated the primary radar dome. For a moment the Monger ceased firing and immediately turned its course around and made a full speed dash towards deep space.
“Captain Nathaniel, the Monger has lost her communications array and is trying to escape,” an ensign said. The bridge of the Iron Fist was now more relaxed; Nathaniel’s plan didn’t go exactly as planned. He wanted to take out the War Monger quickly and cleanly, to disrupt the other enemy ships, but that did not happen and the Monger is now the last fully functional Gamma-Sigma ship. But it was going well, there were minimal casualties and they were still going to win, despite the Monger’s unexpected longevity.
“I want the Monger down and I want it down now. Bring the Iron Fist in firing range, when we are in range tell the Fearless and Steadfast to follow us in firing broadsides,” ordered Nathaniel. Just like the crew, he was still tense, but the stress had decrease with the destruction of all but one Gamma-Sigma ships. “Reload the Katanas, arm them with anti-matter torpedoes, not the ones used by fighters but the ones used by starships. And ready the dropships, with the Monger running, we can deploy the d-ships, gunships and a few fighters to take Laketown. All we need is Baylor’s signal.”
“Sir, we have an incoming transmission from Lieutenant Baylor,” said the communications officer.
“Well, patch him through,” Nathaniel demanded. The communications officer pressed a few button and the holographic image of Lt. Baylor’s unarmored head filled the screen, along with some background which gave away his location Baylor gave a salute.”
“So, did you blow up the missile battery?” Nathaniel started.
“No sir.”
“WHAT?!”
“Well, I had an idea, sir. What if we keep it online and use it to intercept any Gamma-Sigma ship which tries to escape? You might not need the battery since you can shoot down anything less than a capital ship which tries to get away. But the battery will help and will prove to be an unwelcome surprise to anyone who tries to get away and it will help the invasion force if the GS tries to use any land-base aircraft, sir.”
“Well, I like your idea. So, I guess we’ll be sending the dropships then.”
“Yes sir and maybe you could tell them to bring some beer and chips.”
“Heh, I’m the one who’ll be eating the chips and beer around here. You still have a job to do. Any other requests, Baylor?”
“We have a man in critical condition, lost a lot of blood and broke his back. He’s stable but we need an immediate med evac, we won’t make it without an operation and a transfusion. Nickerson’s got someone who’s lost both feet too, bad condition, also lost a lot of blood.” Baylor said sadly.
“Is that all?”
“Yes sir.”
“Okay. Good job, Baylor. Don’t be too hard on yourself, people get hurt in war. We’ll ready a med team in one of the d-ships. Good luck, god speed. ETA of the ships is…. Ten to twenty minutes. I trust your wounded man can wait for that long.”
evilcat4000 wrote:Nice chapter. I liked how the infantry combat was portrayed.
Thanks. Hmm.... how would you describe the infantry combat? Could you give real world comparisons? I need to see how it actually is since I'm just mixing some stuff from movies and stuff from my mind.
evilcat4000 wrote:Nice chapter. I liked how the infantry combat was portrayed.
Thanks. Hmm.... how would you describe the infantry combat? Could you give real world comparisons? I need to see how it actually is since I'm just mixing some stuff from movies and stuff from my mind.
I liked the infantry combat too - it was very visceral and bloody - though a little confusing at its most tense parts. (of course, that could have been the intention!)
However, I neither have any real-life military combat to compare with. The closest thing is some Tom Clancy books I've read - though that was a LOOONG time ago and I barely remember them.
BTW - I suppose you'd like to know that the 6th chapter of The Wormhole War is now online...
BTW#2 - am I the only one here who's starting to think of the Bragulans as an ursine, acid-spewing version of Wing Commander's Kilrathi??
BTW#3 - not that you have to make any compromises, but exactly how interesting would it be to see some human Gamma-Sigma members?
"Hi there, would you like to have a cookie?"
"No, actually I would HATE to have a cookie, you vapid waste of inedible flesh!"
Peregrin Toker wrote:
I liked the infantry combat too - it was very visceral and bloody - though a little confusing at its most tense parts. (of course, that could have been the intention!)
Confusing? That part where Baylor threw the knife? Umm... quote the parts which confuses you. I wanna see where I screwed up.
However, I neither have any real-life military combat to compare with. The closest thing is some Tom Clancy books I've read - though that was a LOOONG time ago and I barely remember them.
Do you have any buddy who is a military professional? Are you close with Sea Skimmer? If so then drag him to this thread
BTW - I suppose you'd like to know that the 6th chapter of The Wormhole War is now online...
BTW#2 - am I the only one here who's starting to think of the Bragulans as an ursine, acid-spewing version of Wing Commander's Kilrathi??
BTW#3 - not that you have to make any compromises, but exactly how interesting would it be to see some human Gamma-Sigma members?
1. I'll check it soon. Still have TV to watch.
2. Um... I never based them on the Kilrathi. How do the Kilrathi act? And the Bragulans.... well.... my original comedic version of them were.... umm... they sneezed out acid from their noses!!!!
3. Hm... good idea! But the GS is a anti-BSE militia composed of Bragulans while being hostile to most other governments. So they're mostly bears. But then, they'll have lots of connections with human pirate milita and whatnot. I'll consider humans in the GS. You've just made me cook up a good idea.
Hey, how did you like the part where Baylor threw the knife at Slurvok's throat?
Peregrin Toker wrote:
I liked the infantry combat too - it was very visceral and bloody - though a little confusing at its most tense parts. (of course, that could have been the intention!)
Confusing? That part where Baylor threw the knife? Umm... quote the parts which confuses you. I wanna see where I screwed up.
I think it was the first four paragraphs but I'm not sure.
Do you have any buddy who is a military professional? Are you close with Sea Skimmer? If so then drag him to this thread
No... I don't even think I have family who's in the military.
2. Um... I never based them on the Kilrathi. How do the Kilrathi act? And the Bragulans.... well.... my original comedic version of them were.... umm... they sneezed out acid from their noses!!!!
Do they still do this?
BTW- the Kilrathi are the aggressive race of feline humanoids from the Wing Commander series of computer games. I haven't played the Wing Commander games, but I do know that they have a very militaristic culture, a totalitarian government, that they have a primarly religious motive to conquer human territory, that they resemble humanoid great cats and are physically much stronger than humans. IIRC, the creators of "Wing Commander" based the Kilrathi upon Imperial Japan.
3. Hm... good idea! But the GS is a anti-BSE militia composed of Bragulans while being hostile to most other governments. So they're mostly bears. But then, they'll have lots of connections with human pirate milita and whatnot. I'll consider humans in the GS. You've just made me cook up a good idea.
So basically, the Gamma-Sigma are the Bragulan equivalent of the Montana Militiamen?
Hey, how did you like the part where Baylor threw the knife at Slurvok's throat?
It was one of the things which make it so visceral. Such gory details can be used to good effects in war stories as long as they aren't trivialized.
Oh - and I might have forgotten to tell you that I'm including the Bragulans on the next version of my list of sci-fi alien archetypes.
"Hi there, would you like to have a cookie?"
"No, actually I would HATE to have a cookie, you vapid waste of inedible flesh!"
Peregrin Toker wrote:
I think it was the first four paragraphs but I'm not sure.
First four paragraphs of the chap? Or the Baylor vs. Slurvok?
No... I don't even think I have family who's in the military.
Hmm... then how do I attract HAB members?
Do they still do this?
BTW- the Kilrathi are the aggressive race of feline humanoids from the Wing Commander series of computer games. I haven't played the Wing Commander games, but I do know that they have a very militaristic culture, a totalitarian government, that they have a primarly religious motive to conquer human territory, that they resemble humanoid great cats and are physically much stronger than humans. IIRC, the creators of "Wing Commander" based the Kilrathi upon Imperial Japan.
No. That's why I'm just giving them acidic weapons. Hmm... I wanted to name the BSE standard trooper KLAWN troopers... but I can't figure out what KLAWN should stand for and KLAWN would just be too weird. And my original bears (booger bears) had acidic booger in all their tech! LOL. And also mile high cannons whose shells cover large areas with green slime.
The Bragulans have a totalitarian government and its absolute leader is a dictator (I'm still trying to refine the name from a classmate and Bison, the evil guy from Streetfighter into something which sounds alien and cool). The people are much like the USSR people. Living content and mundane lives, most are content and ignorant. The BSE has a huge military and is quite militarized and is expansionalist. There are tiny Bragulan seperatist factions and rebels and discontented people who are ethnically diverse. But the vast majority, the BSE citizens, live monotonous but content and uniform lives.
Ah. I watched the movie and played bits of the game as a child in my pre-windows 95 cheap chinese computer.
So basically, the Gamma-Sigma are the Bragulan equivalent of the Montana Militiamen?
What are Montana Militamen? ???
It was one of the things which make it so visceral. Such gory details can be used to good effects in war stories as long as they aren't trivialized.
Hmmm... am I trivializing it? I hope not.
Oh - and I might have forgotten to tell you that I'm including the Bragulans on the next version of my list of sci-fi alien archetypes.
I am honored and I'm glad to see that your helping me advertise my fic.
Shroom Man 777 wrote:The first four paragraphs don't sound that confusing. What aspect made it confusing?
To be honest... I can't remember. Maybe it's just an indicator of detail - very descriptive novels such as Dune and Lord Of The Rings often seem confusing first time you read'em.
"Hi there, would you like to have a cookie?"
"No, actually I would HATE to have a cookie, you vapid waste of inedible flesh!"
Peregrin Toker wrote:
To be honest... I can't remember. Maybe it's just an indicator of detail - very descriptive novels such as Dune and Lord Of The Rings often seem confusing first time you read'em.
YAY! My novel is on par with LOTR!!!
Well, I know what you're talking about. Stephen King's Dreamcatcher had really confusing parts which warranted a re-read.
Per, have you joined the Writer's Guild? I've PMed RedImperator and asked him and gave him the link of this thread.
EDIT:
Sometimes I wonder if I use too much commas. Do I use too much comas?
Shroom Man 777 wrote:
Per, have you joined the Writer's Guild? I've PMed RedImperator and asked him and gave him the link of this thread.
I actually too requested Writer's Guild membership a long time ago - though I haven't got a reply. (that was back in the days when Kelly Antilles was their moderator)
"Hi there, would you like to have a cookie?"
"No, actually I would HATE to have a cookie, you vapid waste of inedible flesh!"
Shroom Man 777 wrote:
Per, have you joined the Writer's Guild? I've PMed RedImperator and asked him and gave him the link of this thread.
I actually too requested Writer's Guild membership a long time ago - though I haven't got a reply. (that was back in the days when Kelly Antilles was their moderator)
Must be the Writer's Guild curse. All their moderators end up dying. Sigh.... May their brave souls rest in peace.
Okay, I just finished reading it, and I love it! A gritty, fast-paced tale of infantry combat; and the space-battle was well-written also. Only one thing: the two Marine squads seemed to have a little too many types of weapons (and ammo requirements) than would seem practical, but since thats not really important to the story itself, I don't think anything needs to be changed...
The M2HB: The Greatest Machinegun Ever Made.
HAB: Crew-Served Weapons Specialist
"Making fun of born-again Christians is like hunting dairy cows with a high powered rifle and scope." --P.J. O'Rourke
"A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself." --J.S. Mill
Ma Deuce wrote:Okay, I just finished reading it, and I love it! A gritty, fast-paced tale of infantry combat; and the space-battle was well-written also. Only one thing: the two Marine squads seemed to have a little too many types of weapons (and ammo requirements) than would seem practical, but since thats not really important to the story itself, I don't think anything needs to be changed...
Thank you! All of my readers have commented on its goodness! YAY! This fic is a success!
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.
Embracer Of Darkness wrote:Hey Shroom, damn, I like your stuff. I only hope I am able to write half as well as you do.
As for your story, all I can say is whoa. Lots of combat, lots of swearing, nice and gritty, just great. Keep up the good work man, seriously.
Thanks!
Oh, and you'll write well. I'm sure of it. Can you believe this is my first serious attempt to actually make a complete story? All my older attempts at a real story never got anywhere further than chapter 1. Though I did write comedic stories with horrible grammar and horrible hand writing a year ago.
Can you believe that the concept of the Bragulans actually came from acid sneezing bear creatures who built 120 mile high acid snot energy blasters?
