+++Hammerfall+++

I finally initiated my greatest and latest project 🙂 Hammerfall is an action-suspense sci-fi adventure story... so enough jargon and here it is... (NOTE: I prefer short chapters to keep the story flowing smoothly)

+++Prologue+++

++S.1286.M.36 3rd Officer’s log, Lieutenant Vanessa D.
++Outer ridge: Galactic south of Hammerfall orbital station.
++33 hours out.++

Third day of the sixth month and I’m bored beyond legal limits… The crew still think of me as the outcast, being the military presence onboard after they’re freighter was conscripted. Even the captain sees me as a rival, ignoring my every suggestion and often telling me that I better shut my mouth before he puts me in the garbage chute… I’ve never felt so worthless… I’ve tried to get restationed where my piloting would be used, I’m not even allowed in the command blister that makes up their bridge.

Anyway, I figure I best just grit my teeth and bear it, hopefully my request for change in role has gone through, right now though we’re running silent just 30-plus hours from home…

The outer ridge was the devil’s playpen, so called. It was a feeding ground for the privateer fleets, the sharks and the pirates of the oceans of space. It was the most dangerous of routes to take in all known space around the human colonies and it was the Harlequin’s responsibility to be the main course of freight, from passengers to military ordinance. The Privateers had practically separated human space in two, what with the raids and all, communication between the two had grown scarce as the distance was too great for even the longest of long range deep-space comms, meaning that the only way to relay news and military information was by freight, running at the risk of exposing these confidential plans to the enemy’s pirates.

This is where our ship came into play; the Harlequin was an old girl from the very first years of the trade wars, she was a heavy freighter outfitted with a stolen thermal-optical disillusionment generator that rendered the ship completely invisible against the black contrast of space. The downside of this marvelous ability was that we have to run on cold thrust, disabling our jump engines and minimizing our maneuverability. Meaning that if we’re spotted, the engines were cold and that would leave us without a bag to shit in.

We had already come close twice in the last twenty-four hours, the privateers obviously hadn’t had their pay packet in a while and were getting desperate for some profit….

“Oi’ Lieutenant, shut that crap up in there! you want them to find us with you making that racket?” the captain’s surly voice whispered strenuously through the intercom, forcing me to finish my log early.

I sat back in my cot, crossing my arms grumpily. I knew that I should be up the front, helping out with navigation but they treated me like an unwanted passenger… Sit in the corner and stay silent.

Down in the cargo holds they were transporting 300 people from Eveshire station back near our homeworld, mostly migrating to the new settlement and away from the alien threats, but the pirates in these areas brought the threat behind our own lines.

I was just about to close my eyes when something struck the ship, it was dull and solid, most likely a small asteroid, meaning that we had just entered the remnant of one of our old refueling-rearming outposts from the old trade wars, it’s destruction quite possibly predating this ship, almost ninety years ago. The impact did nothing to the ship’s hull, however it affected the Therm-Optics and would more than likely come up a a big blip on whatever scanning equipment they used these days.

We were in their territory, and quite obviously we were not welcome here.

“Think they saw us?” The first officer’s panicked whisper came through the intercom.
“That B-Class over on starboard seems preoccupied with some old scrapper floating around. I’m not sure about that Hellcat frigate, I lost it on the chart, somewhere behind us, just a couple hundred kilometers…” the Lydar Telescopics officer reported, he seemed calm and focused, I wish I could be at a time like this.

“Getting something on the thermal, behind us, the Hellcat is creeping… Also spotted another B-Class to port and 5 degrees down, just one hundred kilometers, why didn’t I see it before?”

“The Devil’s Playpen…” I uttered, low enough so no one would hear me, I tried to focus on something else, my eyes rested on the dull red light that lit the room, indicating that we were running stealth.

“The Hellcat’s coming in for a closer look, they must’ve spotted that impact but not us…” The ship shuddered and bucked as a nearby asteroid exploded, another followed, the Optics Officer tried to stay calm as he continued his scan, “The frigate is clearing asteroids…” another rumbling shudder, “they’re closing… one-fifty kilometers!”

This time we weren’t so lucky… One of their shots grazed the port jump pod, “Therm-Optics down! We’re visible, get those engines warm!” the captain howled as the ship roared into life, thankfully the pirates paused for a moment, shocked that they had accidentally discovered a cloaked ship, giving the Harlequin an extra three or four seconds as she roared away at break-neck speed.

The two B-Class cruisers swung around and opened up, their boiling shots bouncing off the myriad of asteroids around that impeded their pursuit. The Hellcat was right on us after they got over the shock, her size not too larger than our own and was quite able to pursue their prize.

The field grew thicker and the freighter jumped and rolled, even though humans had no artificial gravity on board smaller vessel such as our own, we were thrown around considerably due to the sheer g-forces of those jump-pods and the directional thrust of the forward vectors. Considering our size we were easily far more maneuverable than the sleek frigate, it’s shape and design for high-speed pursuit, not rapid navigation through asteroid clusters.

It was only a moment before we were out of range but not before we had taken a few hits as it tried to clear the cluster in time to follow us, the automated system reported atmosphere leak in engineering though I was thankful that the passenger hold was intact and unharmed.

The Lydar Officer was tracking a swarm of ships building, the prospect of a fresh Human ship to pillage and the tidy profit it promised was too much, the real reason I hate Privateers. They were having difficulty navigating around the cluster to reach us, like a monster reaching fruitlessly into a cave, seeking it’s next meal.

“Clearing the cluster in five, charge the jump-engines!” the captain grunted, his growls and shouts matching the movements of the agile craft as he zipped and slip through the minute gaps of the desolated planetoid.

“Wasps! Closing fast!”

The miniature fighter ships piloted far easier than even our ship, like a swarm of dangerous insects they closed the gap rapidly with a lust for destruction and if we did not clear the asteroid field soon, we’d be all theirs.

“We’re out, Ten seconds to jump! Brace-Brace-Brace!” a coiling sound echoed through the ship as the jump-pods prepared to propel us to our destination as the Wasps reached us. Their small weapons impacted the hull rapidly and punctured her exposed form, the frontal vector nacelle took a direct hit and was almost completely severed while the side of the other was lost in an explosion that racked the entire vessel, knocking me out cold…

Before everything went black, I felt a sharp jolt that I hoped in the last split-second of consciousness was the jump-drive…

1: Hammerfall Station

My eyes crept open for what felt like the first time in a week, my entire body felt a hundred pounds heavier than I remembered… the last thing I could remember was my skull hitting the bulkhead…

The first thing that came to me before the room came into focus, was the steady beeping and hum of a life-support unit… I was in hospital… a respirator covering my mouth and nose.

“How are you feeling?” a soothing voice asked next to me, it sounded like a young woman, just a few years younger than I. Her face came stubbornly into focus, she was quite pretty, an Eserian like me wearing a military nurse’s uniform.
“I feel like I was run over by a freighter, in fact, I think it did…” all I could muster was a wheezing groan, much unlike my own voice, “…what happened?” I had to know, my memory wasn’t working, like someone removed a key component.

“You were attacked by Pirates, your ship took heavy damage just before your jump pods activated…” she went silent as her eyes focused on something else.
“What?” I asked blatantly.
“Half of the people in the hold didn’t make it, including three of your fellow crewmates…” the nurse trailed off again.

It felt like I was hit by a lot more than a freighter at that moment, although the crew didn’t like me, three of them were now dead and nearly one hundred and fifty people died in the hold… I couldn’t help but feel responsible, even though I wasn’t piloting let alone doing anything on board.

The nurse waited for me to say something, I lay back and went silent for what felt like an eternity. Eventually the girl turned after saluting and made to leave, but I called her before she went out of sight.

“Yes ma’am?” first time someone called me ‘Ma’am’ in a long time since I reached Lieutenant.

“How long do I have to stay here?”
“Well Ma’am, the doctor said that when you wake up in a week, you’ll be good to go!”
“Thank you” I said, spinning around onto the side of the bed, looking for my boots.
“My pleasure, I’ll clean up after you have left” she said pleasantly, saluting once more before leaving.
A week? God, that long? I said quietly to myself after I saluted in return.

<<<<=====>>>>

The medical hub was a sizable section in Node three, then again, Hammerfall was the largest station in all of Human space. My body still felt heavy for it’s size, must’ve been the unconscious transfer from weightlessness. The first order of business was to make my way to the Habs, I needed to get home and have a shower, a set of new clothes as I was still in my uniform from a week ago… As I walked, people seemed to walk around me, not the most comfortable feeling I can tell you, like I had some contagious disease.
No one followed me into the transport pod, allowing me time to myself where I didn’t feel unwanted.

It took the pod a whole of ten seconds to get from Node three to the central spire, over three kilometers of space station, they were getting slower every time, it seemed.
Checking my pockets, all of my belongings were gone save for my keys and a note from the Hospital that read ‘Hope you are fully recovered, your items have been dropped off at your apartment in the Habitat section, room 3117’ meaning once again, my stuff had been sent to that weirdo next door… I could’ve sworn I’d sorted that problem out after he got a full six-month pay packet from the military with my name on it, naturally he had spent the whole lot after just three hours of receiving it, took me another six or seven weeks to get that money back meaning I had to eat leftovers for that entire time.

Another two lifts and an escalator later, I made it to number 3117, pounding my fist on the door. A muffled grunt meant that there was life beyond the void, the ground shook a little as the hefty man walked to the door.
A squeaky hiss announced the opening into the apartment and I was hit by a smell far worse than my own, it took all my will-power not the cringe.
I looked up into his face, he stood three full heads above me, the Anglishman asked me the most repulsive thing, even he knew exactly who I was, “I thought I ordered the stripper for seven, but if you’d like to get busy now, I can open up my schedule”
The smell of home-brewed Alcohol and sweet-sickly-stale tobacco-smoke hit me full in my face, I gagged…

With a dissatisfied grunt, he threw my possessions at my chest with half-hearted fervor, my hands still quite clumsy as they fell to the floor. I caught him looking down my shirt as I leant down to pick them up.
“My offer still stands, if you ever get lonely in that shiete-hole of yours, my bed has got room” once again, he thought he was being funny. I hit the ‘close’ button on the doorway, catching his foot just below the sensor and crushing it. I walked away with a satisfied grin as I heard him scream You little whore!
Home wasn’t exactly lavish, as much as I could afford to buy outright, it was good enough for just me, the best aspect was the sound-proofing in the walls, meaning that that oaf next door didn’t bother me nor the raucous music of the teenagers next door.

The place was still messy from that private movie-night of mine… Sometimes I would just say to hell with the rest of the world and just stayed up all night watching old holovids and pigging out on candy. I was quite a messy person and had a right to be; my place, my rules and I could afford it all.
Though I had to admit, in a way that fat bastard was right… I was lonely…
At first I just convinced myself that my career consumed my life but the more I spent on leave, the more I was convinced that I was going to be a very lonely young woman.
Despite my best efforts to find someone, all the men around here seemed to avoid military careered-women, must be the short hair…

I cast it from my mind for now, ‘Let my troubles haunt me later, I need a shower!’ I quoted to myself, can’t remember where from, probably one of those cheap B-Movies.
I shed the smelly old clothes and stepped into the shower cubicle and dialed in 48 degrees Celsius and just let everything go to the water that rained down. Like a blanket of pure comfort, it encased me in the warmth that only gas heating could offer, and just when it was getting good, the doorbell rang…

At first I tried to ignore it but the damned person was insistent, so I turned on the audio-only intercom in the cubicle, “What? I in the shower…”

“Lieutenant Deoritcht?” a very formal voice asked.
“Speaking” I answered still trying to enjoy my shower.
“It’s Colonel Adams, I need to speak with you!”
“Yes sir, I can hear you quite clearly” I picked up my tone, hoping he’d understand that I needed this shower.
“In private…Lieutenant…” I knew he’d say that, my whole attitude dropped a notch as I reluctantly turned the shower off, the warm air of my place felt cold against my skin as I wrapped the towel around myself, sadly it was the biggest I could find and it showed a lot of leg, not the most appropriate thing for a meeting with an officer.

I felt quite uneasy at his response, he walked in and opened his mouth to speak but just took one look at me and raised an eyebrow.
“Sorry sir, you caught me a little unprepared” I was gripping the towel hard, afraid it might fall as I stuffed my clothes into the cleanser-unit on the wall of the living room.
“I see…” he tried to keep his tone of seriousness.

Thankfully, he played the gentleman and turned to give me privacy as the cleanser beeped, I pulled out the now-soft and fluffy clothes and dressed as quickly as possible.
As soon as my boots were on, he turned as if he had eyes in the back of his head, I had the feeling that he had stared at me while I was dressing but quickly warded it from my mind.

“Sorry to barge in on you like this Vanessa, but with the recent attack on the Harlequin and the loss of it’s three crew, you are being given charge of the vessel directly” he stated quite bluntly.

I just fell silent in shock, the reddish fur on the back of my neck tingled at the prospect of my first full command and my tail twitched in excitement.
“Although the Harlequin has a good record despite this latest attack, we have come to the conclusion that you are ready to take on this assignment and that the ship will continue safely in the hands of one of our most promising young commanders.” He puffed up in pride, he actually seemed proud to have me under him, it was quite and honor.
“Yes sir, thank you sir” I squealed, my uniform was currently adorned by the bronze-bar of a third-class flight officer, this meant that the gold-bar of a first-class commander wasn’t far away.

In my bout of giddiness, I realized something “What about the current captain sir, you know he wouldn’t approve!” at that moment, I realized something else.
“You haven’t been told then… The captain, first-officer and the communications officer where the three that died when the cockpit was destroyed, I’m sorry…” he said, trailing off at my reaction.

“Congratulations Vanessa…”
“Thanks dad…” I muttered, a tear ran from my eye in both joy and sorrow as I hugged him tightly.

“How’s mom?” I wanted to change the subject quickly.
“She’s good, they placed her in charge of overseeing repairs to the Harlequin, I tell ya, she took a beating, I’m actually surprised you’re alive!”
“Just surprised?” I asked playfully, getting a chuckle out of him.
“See you tonight then?” he kissed me on the forehead.
“If you’re cooking, then I’ll pass…” I stuck my tongue out at him.
“Your mother’s making her famous cured steak…”
“Then it’s settled!”
“Say… seven?”
“Seven! Now get out… I need that shower!”
“Going… do I get a good-bye kiss from my little girl?” I answered him by closing the door, a little joke I’ve played since I was little.

Again, I shed the clothes and stepped into the shower, feeling a lot more elevated by the promotion in duties.

<<<<=====>>>>

A week in hospital, a recent promotion… I needed to get out and do some shopping as most of my clothes were still back at Eveshire Station, some fifty-odd light-years away.
My fridge looked like it had been attacked by parasites, most of the food was moldy and half-eaten, the damned things were getting to be a nuisance, they’re attracted by extremely unsanitary areas and that slob Anglishman next door must have them like a cat-lady…

Have you ever had that feeling that when you go out, you know exactly what your looking for, but when you find it, you get all-criticizing? That’s what I felt like, no matter how hard I looked, I couldn’t find anything that I liked that was in my price-range. I could afford a fair amount on my wage but the best of everything was just out of reach if I wanted to have more than just a fancy outfit, you can’t live off of good looks… well, not everyone could and I wasn’t about to get into that kind of thing, the Fatso next door would have a field-day!

I ended up settling on my first choice, a simple soft-grey-brown dress that blended nicely with my reddish-and-white fur. I had my hair cut and style like the way it should be with a set of cute dangly-gold earrings that cost more than the dress, the haircut and even the shoes combined; Gold was rare and expensive these days but worth the money, not many people could afford it. That was me settled for special occasions like tonight but I needed something more casual besides the Military things I had. I’ll admit, I’m tomboy-ish, I like cargo-combat trousers, heavy boots though I steer away from tank-tops, I prefer to cover what little I have, thank you…

After I was satisfied with an entirely new wardrobe, all that was needed was something to eat that could be protected from the damned parasites that infested these stations, I’m a fussy eater so that took another two or three hours…

<<<<=====>>>>

Mom and Dad lived on the surface, a nice three-story apartment in the Hammerfall Colony-City. Dinner went well and it was nice to see the folks again, I had planned to spend hours over there, just catching up on the gossip and listening to all the praise and glorification that only mothers can offer when their child has achieved something.
All those plans were dashed, however; the boss called, the force wanted me to escort a salvage ship to the desolated re-arm/re-fuel depot just outside the galactic southern borders.

Another fun mission, I thought sarcastically.

I would’ve like to stay longer but not following orders was basically dereliction of duty.
The lifts weren’t the best way up to Hammerfall station, but they were the fastest; basically they load you into a sort of life-pod that launches like a missile, aimed directly at the station from where it is reeled in by a homing signal, the ride was rough to say the least, not my idea of fun.

The old law of transportation applied to these pods especially; Get in, sit down, strap up and hold on! Looking up at the countdown, I closed my eyes, a sadistic person might call this ride enjoyable. The pod was a claustrophobic-enhancer, the high-pitched squeal hurt my ears as the pod pressurized…

The soothing synthesized voice began, “Launch in three, two, one: Launch commence!”

My stomach was catapulted three feet downwards and my head felt like a squashed tomato, the roaring thrust made every part of my body jiggle painfully and my scream wavered erratically.

When I opened my eyes, several seconds afterwards, all the weight in my body had gone, the only sensation to come was the slight shudder as the pod made contact. As soon as my feet left the pod, I felt heavy again, falling flat on my face… I hate artificial gravity…

2: The Enemy Beyond

“I will not allow seven-hundred generations of tradition be ignored!”
“What is the point of tradition if it leads to destruction?”
“Continued engagement with the outsiders will only lead to yet another war!”

“My people are more than capable of dispatching these outsiders, despite the rumors gathering about a building army they are prone to invasion!”
“Although those reports are not confirmed, they still pose a threat!”
“The outsiders shall not be underestimated, the last war cost either side great expense, they are not to be roused to hostile actions lest we face another generation of bloodshed!”

“It seems that both of you doubt the prowess of my people, shall we prove it to you? I could have their newest colony in my hands within a cycle!”
“You shall not engage them! Engagement will occur only if the five agree!”
“The Talankas are unanimously opposed to the warring against the Humans!”

The three voices vied to make their views heard, the debate took place on board the council ship of the United Planets Coalition, the meeting place for the five races.
The first of the three present was the chosen leader of the warrior-like race known as the Jyyktiir, an insect-like race that prided itself in being the military arm of the Coalition.
The second was one of the overseers of the council, a member of the Amphibious race called the Makaaik, an intelligent and peaceful culture that originally formed the Coalition from the five warring-races.
The third was of the hulking humanoid-aliens, Talankas; they had the demeanor of a fierce-fighting race and the physical structure to crush a Human in a single blow, though they were gentle giants and peacefully intelligent, working close with the Makaaik to keep the Coalition linear and united.

Their debate concerned the ‘privateers’ that raided Human space, the Jyyktiir requesting permission to extend the attacks and reach right into their territories while the Makaaik and the Talankas where ordering them to ease their current attacks. The problem with the Jyyktiir was that they prided themselves in any bloodshed and mayhem thy could cause, ordering them to lessen their current raids insulted their pride.

“Of course you’re against war, both of your people wouldn’t last a moment in battle!”
The Jyyktiir’s comments hit home, the hundreds of members of the council roared in objection to his statements, only the others of his race agreed, “Though if we ignore this ‘alleged’ thread from the Humans, this could mean the very downfall of the United Planets!”
The council seemed to change it’s fervor, half were in agreement while the other half denied acknowledgement.

“Do the representatives of the Dakhari and the Vesslai people have anything to add?” asked the Makaaik councilman.

A Vesslai representative stretched to her feet, the taut Blue-skinned councilwoman was young yet wise, “We, the Vesslai concur with the declarations of the Jyyktiir, however only to a certain degree. The Humans cannot be ignored, we believe that preparation of our forces and awaiting an attack is wise, if we are to attack initially without knowing their strengths is foolish.”

“The Dakhari peoples are in aggrement with the honorable Vesslai, attacking them now would be foolhardy to state the least!” The grey-toned Chairman of the Dakhari trading commission spoke in firm tones, his ornamental robes shimmering in the natural-like light of the grand chamber.

“The Talankas also are in agreement!”
“As are the Makaaik… T’lorkk of the Jyyktiir, do you see this a wise course of action or will you persist the debate?”

“We…” She paused for a moment, tapping a carapaced claw on the chair and chittering her wings as she gazed over the watchful eyes of the grand council, “…We see it wise… Agreed…”

<<<<=====>>>>

T’lorkk stormed off, her jaws twitching and muttering her dismay at the council’s decision, everything about the humans insulted her and her people, the council would see that in time the Outsiders would trample their Coalition if given the chance to reinforce themselves. As her clawed feet paced the pristine corridors of the Council-Ship, she began to hate everything that was said in the chamber, the others were foolish and needed to be put in their place, the cowards that they were.

T’lorkk looked up, in her musings of what she could do to terrorize the humans, she had made her way completely across the ship and now stood in the docking-airlock that connected her ship, a first-class Fighter-Frigate.

The entire crew snapped to attention at the sign of their leader, the ship was made ready without a word spoken.
“You have the air of one who is concerned…” the Talankas overseer commented from behind the command-seat shortly after T’lorkk moodily sat down and reclined, “…Is there something you’d like to discuss about the council’s decision?”

“Indeed there is, you know well my intentions are meant for the greater purpose of the Coalition, you alone agree with the Jyyktiir ideal that Humanity must be silenced…”
“Indeed, as much as it goes against the very fabric of my race, you speak wisely… Your orders, hunt-leader?”

“Make way for the outlying outpost of ther Hammerfall station, reports denote that reclamation ships have been spotted in that area, meaning that there is an abundance of raw material for ship building”

“Something said, so shall it be done…” The towering Talankas was silently a traitor to his own people, he was a firm believer that Humans needed to be put in their place, going against every non-hostile fabric of his race though as an overseer it was his sworn duty to monitor the Jyyktiir, he reported that they continued to follow the council’s wishes as they made ‘unofficial’ raids on the Human colonies.

<<<<=====>>>>

“Lydar reports clear, depot within enhanced sight-range” the comms officer chanted, I saw that everyone was bored to death, these baby-sitting jobs were real mood-killers.

I can only imagine just how much fun the scrappers would be having once they got on board the blown-out depot, I would have loved to just once been able to join them, but it was my job to command the vessel that oversaw their safety.

The frigate was light and fast, generally the all-purpose workhorse of the military and the bane of the lighter privateer vessels. The air in the command area was thick and dull, the five officers besides myself were straining to keep sleep at bay as it was just so mind-bogglingly-dull. Our seats were mostly within armsreach of eachother and faced off in differing directions, mine sat front-forward, just to the rear of the cramped bridge. To my right the two Communications/Telescopics officers, the my left the weapons and defensive technicians who had the most boring of roles on board at this present state. In front of my chair, just after where my knees reached was the back of the helmsman’s seat, I felt like this was a can of sardines, we could all practically touch eachother’s shoulders if we tried.

Four hours passed, the scrappers were having a great time tearing the salvageable material from the destroyed facility, I could see even from here the looks of joy on their faces through the hostile environment suits.

Suddenly, I let loose a frustrated growl and slammed my fist on the armrest, my fellows didn’t even need to ask why, they all felt the same.
“Reclamation-ship Terago, how much longer do you need?” the comms officer, Jorran signaled in.

The channel crackled slightly before an exasperated voice came through, “Well… since you’s are here we could take all day knowin’ that we’s safe…” his annoying accent added to the frustration that I still hadn’t released.

“Tell him that he has one more hour before I leave him to the wilds!” I growled, completely unlike my usual patient nature, Jorran was more than happy to hear me say that, relaying the message to the salvager-captain who wasn’t too happy about that detail.
“Hey, we’ paying you alotta’ money to look afta’ our ship, so your gonna’ stay till’ we’re done!”

I was about to counter his arrogance but a high-pitched wailing tore open a hole in the bottom of my stomach… It was the Lydar node howling contact, unfriendly contact…
“Oh shiete! Class-A heavy inbound! Disengage, I repeat, Disengage!” the salvagers scrambled back to their ship, completely ignoring their claimed goods and making haste back to the Terago. I ordered my ship to block the privateer from the reclamation-vessel, “Powerup the weapons! Polarize the ship’s plating and bring us up to full power!” my voice had turned into a harsh growl, my men heeded every word and didn’t dare second-guessing, if only the Harlequin’s crew could be commanded like that…

<<<<=====>>>>

T’lorkk liked a challenge, the salvagers were easy prey though this human warship was a wise course of protection. The ship glowed as a wave of energy washed over the hull, the Humans had recently developed methods of polarizing their ships, increasing resistance to energy weapons. Nonetheless, T’lorkk was adamant on claiming both ships for her own private use.

“Converge on the outer sectors, do not allow that salvage ship it’s escape” she hissed in the vocal mutterings of her language. The spiked-ridden form of the insectoid-ship moved around to block the civilian vessel, though the human frigate was unwilling to give ground, it moved in with haste and began the first load of bombardment.
Even the Talankas overseer needed to brace himself against the high ceiling, the human’s Gaussian weapons were powerful, making up for their lack in energy technology.
“Hull damage extensive, we are venting atmosphere on the third level!” called the bridge engineer, his armored form jittering and moving at a blinding pace in an attempt to monitor the active repairs to the ship.
“Fire all, target their engines! Continue to converge on the salvage vessel!” T’lorkk spat with shrieking fury, this human commander simply refused to break easily, the plasmatic shots wailed through space, though in a surprising maneuver, the enemy frigate dodged the majority of the attack, it’s polarized armor absorbing the few shots that impacted.

The second magnetically-accelerated barrage showed little or no mercy, the Bridge engineer reported a complete loss in atmosphere on the third level, one of their three engine-pods now lay in ruins as well as a decent crack along the bridge’s forward window which was made of a diamond-like substance.

<<<<=====>>>>

“They’re firing again! Ma’am, they’re targeting the Terago!” before anything could be done, the civilian ship suffered the full power of the enemy’s superheated weaponry. In a blinding flash, the hull split in two, spraying burnt body parts into the vacuum.

The pit of my stomach filled with dread as I saw the remains of the Terago drift idly, the privateer although injured, they closed the distance and prepared to seal a similar fate for my ship.

“Helmsman, get us out of here as soon as we fire our next volley! Weapons control, target the remaining engine pods to slow her down and allow our escape, we must get back to inform command of this!” once again, my words were much unlike my usual tone, I realized I could be a real ***** when frustrated in the command seat.

<<<<=====>>>>

T’lorkk screamed as a second engine-pod blew out, allowing the human ship to escape.
She wanted both ships but now ended up with the burnt-out wreck of one and the other making way to spread the word about a Privateer ship so close to their territory.
If the council learned of this, they would surely have her exiled, or worse; executed.

“Move my ship further from their territory, they will be sure to reinforce this position soon…” with a growl, she punched the nearest object, which happened to be her second-in command, the young Jyyktiir collapsing to the grated deck underfoot and leaving T’lorkk without the satisfaction she needed to recoup for today’s loss.

“Move us back to Coalition territory, our absence will surely be noted…”
The Talankas Overseer pondered for a moment, “Perhaps we could fabricated a tale of how a scout ship tried to penetrate our territory, a human military scout in search of answers to the question of our strength, that could verify the damage and possibly add a note of emergency to the Coalition!”

The Jyyktiir hunt-leader chuckled in the way only one of her race could, she was glad that Kavass was on her side, the Talankas were clever beasts.

3: A State of Emergency

++S.1286.M.174 Captain’s log, Lieutenant Vanessa D.
++Third Territory Line: Galactic south-west of Hammerfall orbital station.
++5 hours out.++

17th of the forth month, my diary’s a little late, it took us a while to get as far as we have so far. The Sun Sprite is a good workhorse of the corporate military, though the recent battle did more damage than I had originally recorded. We were down to cold thrust after I ordered her to make haste for Hammerfall, the sudden burst of the engines igniting blew out two fuel nodes and detonated the fuel mixture chamber, slowing this tough old girl to a crawl.

I still have difficulty getting over the loss of the Terago, although her captain and crew were little better than that damned Anglish neighbor of mine, they were good people, innocent people who deserved to live.
I truly wish that I could’ve destroyed that damned A-Class, though we were out matched my quick decisions saved the thirty-odd lives on the Sprite, even though we beat her up real good that A-Class would’ve turned us into the solar wind.

This is by far the first command that I’ve had were everyone on board looks up to me, I’ve commanded frigates before but these guys see me as they’re superior, not some over-ranked freshman straight outta the academy. I believe the reason is that without pausing for a moment I was able to slow the enemy down and escape to warn command, not to make myself sound important but it really happened out of instinct… My mind had actually frozen when the Terago was hit…

Nonetheless, I did my duty and now we’re close to home again, though I’m gonna be hurling for a week after one of the Terago’s crew hit the front viewport…

Well, not much else can be said… This is the personal log of Third Class-Commander Vanessa D. Temporary captain of the Sun Sprite, signing off…

++Recording end
++Dated S.1289.M.174 - 3700hours

<<<<======>>>>

T’Lorkk was moody, she never let herself be so played out by humans before, her enemy’s tactics were sound and bold considering they piloted a lesser-classed ship.
Her Predator A-Class limped through the former territory of Mankind, the ship’s technicians worked endlessly to restore functionality to the engines, they were currently test-firing the first of the two destroyed.

“You mustn’t blame yourself for the loss, your adversary was agile and light, it’s captain was bold and fought well though obviously hardly a match as they fled in cowardice!” Kavass tried his best to calm T’Lorkk down though she was a stubborn creature.
“Why did I target the scrapper? I should have desolated the Human Frigate first then picked over my winnings, instead I was far too overzealous and desolated the civilian vessel, there wasn’t much left to salvage for profit…” she began muttering more to herself than directly speaking to Kavass, much unlike her usual methods.
“I will say no more of the matter save for this, you did your duty and killed many Humans, there were more souls on board that unarmed ship than the Human frigate!”
“Stop trying to make me feel confident of victory, I clearly lost that bout” She moaned, her scratchy voice sounded wheezy and hoarse.

The ship shuddered, lurching everyone on board a foot backwards, everyone save for Kavass. “Hunt-Leader, the second engine pod is repaired, we can now make a jump” one of the tech-crew called through the interlink system.

“Make course for the Capitol, discontinue further repairs until we dock!” Kavass announced, seeing that T’lorkk didn’t seem in the mindset to give any reasonable orders.

<<<<======>>>>

The bridge was alive, as always when an unidentified vessel is detected the thousands of crew members were called to action, even though it was a light Frigate.
“Unidentified vessel, transmit verification codes immediately!” the voice fell upon deaf ears, “This is the Thunderhammer to unidentified vessel, transmit verification codes immediately or we will fire on you!”

The Frigate continued on it’s course, it was clearly a human-made frigate, though the military procedure was strict; anything that did not transmit codes was deemed hostile.

“I repeat, Thunderhammer to Unidentified vessel, transmit verification codes immediately or we will open fire!” still no response, a bright arc skimmed the hull of the frigate, scorching the plating with a white-hot round from a heavy gauss cannon.
“Confirmed, it’s the Sun Sprite… It was ordered to escort the salvage ship Terago out to the wastes, it’s possible that they were attacked and their vessel seized, there’s no sign of the Terago…” the chief communications officer mentioned, the 1st Admiral of the fleet concurred with the possibility.

<<<<======>>>>

“I’ve tried, but it’s jammed!”
“hand me the manual-there”
“Communication system error, please reconfigure” a pleasant computerized voice announced.
“I’m aware of that, thank you!” I screamed at the thing, it’s input was not helping...
“How did this happen, it was working during the checks!” Jorran growled, trying desperately to sort out the tangle of wires.
“Oh god…!” James, the helmsman squealed in disgust as he lifted the unsecured panel… Parasites infested the underside of the terminal, they had secreted their acidic fluids about the place, eating away the protective coating of the wires and chewing on the circuitry.

<<<<======>>>>

“Give the order!” the Admiral called, his men looking up at him as if they didn’t like what he wanted them to do.
“Targeting command blister of the vessel!” called the weapons commander.
The 1st admiral raised his hand, readying his men to fire and desolate the light freighter, he paused when the comms channel crackled loudly.
“Sir, there’s a large amount of comms-static coming from the ship, no words are coming through, just a train of almost-coordinated bursts… Confirmed, Morse-code signal received, it’s the crew transmitting the verification code!”

There was a loud overall sigh as everyone relaxed, it was never easy destroying one of their own ships, they were thankful that it wouldn’t be today.
“Stand down alert and power-down weapons. Fighter escorts at the ready, dock that ship to bay two. Security and med-teams to bay two!” he relaxed, letting his hand falling slowly to his side.

<<<<======>>>>

I sat back and allowed an exasperated sigh escape my lungs, there wasn’t a more shameful way to go then having your ship destroyed by an ally.
Jorran was busy spraying the damned parasites with grease-remover; the substance reacted with their tiny bodies and were incinerated. James was terrified of the things, he was busy in the back room emptying his stomach.

With a comfortable jolt, the frigate docked to the ship, though it felt like we landed more than the usual-side mounted dock that most of our ships were set up. I hadn’t seen the ship as we operated like the submarines of old to boost armor capabilities, I had heard that she was big; needless to say, I was in for a shock… The Thunderhammer was the recent addition to an already extensive fleet, she was no less than two kilometers long with enough armor and firepower to wipe out an entire enemy division. We hadn’t ‘docked’ as such, the Sun Sprite wasn’t exactly small though we had landed in a massive bay lined with state-of-the-art fighters, a large two digit number was printed on the ceiling of the cavernous bay that read ‘twelve, meaning that this wasn’t the only one on board this mammoth ship.

It’s construction was all rumors and exaggeration, though none of them did it justice; she was at least three times bigger than any other ship in the fleet!

With the usual procedure, no sooner as we had stepped off the Sprite, we were thrown onto stretchers and taken to the medlabs for examination, mostly because James didn’t look too healthy after his encounter with those disgusting parasites.

I guess it could be taken as a moment to relax, though the respirator over my mouth was annoying, I had no problem breathing… I swear these Med-boys take it WAY too seriously… They had attached our gurneys to a mechanism that hoisted us up into some form of conveyer-system, I felt like I was in a factory, the narrow chutes were softly lit and led several floors up. After a few minutes of interchanging directions and a slight feeling of claustrophobia, we exited out of the floor in the medlabs and straight into treatment position, apparently this ship had a few tricks up it’s sleeves.

The group of doctors gave us the post-combat full-run-over; where I literally had to strip down to bare nothings and get prodded every-which way… And I mean every-way, I felt like a slab of meat being tested for quality fresh out of an abattoir.

“Ok, all’s-well, you may get dressed now.” He muttered, cleaning off his tools from a few unmentionable places he had used them on… I felt a shiver run down my spine, thinking if it was this intrusive for the men of the force because I had noticed that these doctors take a long time with their patients naked.

I cast the thought away and hurriedly donned a fresh officer’s uniform that had been provided for me, the Hammerfall symbol emblazoned on the back, it was comfortable and casual, not like the formal Eveshire uniforms…
As soon as a walked out the door, adjusting my collar, I bumped into a familiar face; It was 1st Admiral David Deoritcht … My father’s older brother…

Without second thought, I stepped back and snapped smartly in salute, respect for someone who was many times above my rank. He returned the gesture and grabbed my arm, pulling me into a big hug, forgetting any and all formalities that someone of his position should.

“How’s my little captain doing? I heard about your gain on the command of the harlequin! Your father keeps nothing to himself, as usual!” he was all smiles and sunshine, putting his arm fondly around my shoulders and walking me to the lifts.

“It was a surprise, sir…” I couldn’t help but address him properly, I knew how much he hated that, “…Sorry Uncle, It’s just that I let the Terago slip outside my defenses, that damned A-Class had us by the hip!”

“A-Class? This close to our territory, this is serious… I must discuss this with command, unfortunately the verdict could mean war, considering that another civilian ship was terminated.” He let his arm fall from my shoulders, I hadn’t seen him like this in a while, although he now commanded the most powerful ship in the navy, he was not too fond of war due to fear of loss though it were something he kept only to his family.

<<<<======>>>>

“And what of the council’s decision? Will we ignore such a blatant attempt by the Humans to penetrate our territory?” T’lorkk knew she was lying, but the emotionless face told nothing of her true intentions.
“The council will deliberate, it is distressing to know that the Humans would be so bold, do we know if they were able to transmit our strength back to their planet?” the Makaaik councilman said calmly, he feared what this might lead to.
“It is uncertain, what is clear is that we need to fortify our home and solidify an offensive, the Humans cannot and must not be allowed to do as they please, we need to put them in their place!” Kavass spoke up, shocking the council with his sudden outburst, he was known to be dogmatic in his ideals, the recent attack seemed to have shaken him, or at least how far as he acted the part.

Grand Councilman Rtyirek of the Makaaik sat back in his throne-like seat, he stroked his sectioned jaw and groaned, obviously not liking that which he was about to announce.
“This is a dark season for the United Planets Coalition, we stand upon the edge of a clash that could very-well outweigh that which the humans called the Trade War! The decision remains as a whole; do we solidify our territory against an impending threat, or shed our pride and send emissaries to resolve this peaceably? As always, the choice lies upon us all…”

<<<<======>>>>

“Yes sir, it was as if they knew we would be there, an A-Class is usually never dispatched under privateers, I believe this was military…” I said, the many holo-screens lined the large conference room table, generals and admirals alike, including my dad’s familiar face each had it’s own screen, each forming a part of the military council.

“Why would they risk such a close-quarters engagement, knowing full-well that we would retaliate?” one of the member’s screen dictated in a slightly crackly-voice.

“Nonetheless, this was unprovoked! I say we send them a warning not to continue on this course of action!” another admiral stated clearly.

“That would only alert them to our state of emergency, telling them clearly that we’re preparing for war!” Uncle David assured him, a general nod of agreement from the other screens.
“It looks like war is upon us anyhow David, your thoughts?” my dad asked him, no one even bothered to notice his lack of formality with his brother, even though most of them were far apart, the air in the room was tense.
“Prepare our forces and ready an unarmed diplomatic envoy into the Coalition’s territory, we cannot afford war, no one can… Reports say that we are roughly even in strengths, even with the Thunderhammer on our side!” his audience was reluctant, though they generally agreed.
“So it is then, let us hope this works out in our favor!” my Dad finished up, saluting the gathering before signing off. The rest did the same, leaving it in the 1st Admiral’s capable hands, Uncle David seemed almost in a state of pensive thought.

4: A Change of Scenery

++S.1286.M.234 Captain’s log, Lieutenant Vanessa D.
++Hammerfall: Orbital Station-Colony

23rd of the forth month…
Well, the harlequin’s back in shape again, with the recent pick-up in military activity, they wanted me to make a run to drop off supplies and personnel at Eveshire, gives me a chance to pick up all my stuff, not to mention the majority of my clothes…

The first moment I stepped on the landing pad, I noticed the crew glaring at me, they still blamed me for the loss of life aboard, I had completely forgotten about it.
They follow my orders though lack any form of helpfulness, I ask them to do something they ignore me, forcing to make everything I say to them an order.
I would have them replaced for a crew that is both responsible and respects their commander, but the Harlequin was a strange vessel and it would take anyone else years to get used to it’s workings, her current crew knew her inside and out, weld for weld and all that jargon.

I could tell that they hated the idea of my permanent command aboard the ship, longing for their captain and the freedom of contract work. They were now practically conscripts as the ship had been seized by the Military due to some linear clause in their original contract; the crew didn’t wish to leave the ship therefore forcing them to join the navy.

Oh well, it seems that It’ll be a rough ride to Eveshire, I can’t stand the fact that my men hate me for something I didn’t do…

On a bonus though, the Sun Sprite was temporarily decommissioned, James and Jorran were moved under my command to replace the deaths aboard the Harlequin for the moment, I guess not all is bad!

++Recording end
++Dated S.1289.M.234 - 1600hours

The pilot’s seat was uncomfortably unfamiliar, the blister was a little more spacious than that aboard the Sprite, though there were a lot more controls to deal with, especially now that I was operating under uni-lateral thrust pods with an omni-directional maneuverability load… I had heard that the pods had a fair amount of kickback and if not dealt with correctly she could careen out of control easier than a feather in the wind.

After a moment or so of adjusting the seat until I was settled, the ship’s dual-operating engines, both cold and hot were spooled up and ready, the whirling rumble turning into a high-pitched roar that echoed through the launch bay. With a familiar hiss and the pressure in my ears from the cabin pressurizing, we were nearly ready to go.

I spotted the handset that interlinked all of the audio systems on board, dialing in the comms channel, “This is you captain speaking, all cargo doors are now closing, please remain seated and your belts fastened and prepare for launch in three minutes”

I could hear the door’s servo-motors whirring, indicating the cargo bay was sealing, there was a comfortable two minutes remaining until launch, meaning that I could lean back and focus myself.

“Launch orders verified, please secure ship and prepare for dock depressurization” the friendly voice of the dock’s flight coordinator chimed in, red klaxons wailing, calling for all personnel to clear the bay.

The ship was hit with the roar of the wind as the vacuum removed the air within moments, leaving an eerie silence backed by a welcoming twinkle of bright stars, the area around Hammerfall was alive with thick traffic, commuters coming and going from the planet’s surface. Clearly visible was the blockade headed by Uncle David, his titanic ship almost dwarfing even the orbital station itself. Apparently this sector was on full alert after that close-range battle I had, the air around the planet in a manner of speaking was thick and tense, I was quite glad to get away for a month or two and the wastes-runs in the Harlequin was perfect for stretching my legs.

“Brining the pods online and engaging slow-thrust” James said, reciting everything he learnt about this old bird as he operated the controls with a touch of nervousness. Jorran sat behind me, watching the comms channels for passing ships and spotting openings in the traffic.

With a slight jolt, the bulky yet graceful ship was released from the docking clamps, allowing the room-temperature-jets to accelerated us into the starry day.

As soon as my hands were in control, I could feel that she was heavy on the controls, even as we left the Artificial gravity of the station and into weightlessness, I felt the resilience in the flight-sticks; If I was to continue piloting this ship for a while, my arms would surely bulk up.

I tucked my hair back as it had gone everywhere without weight holding it down, Jorran’s pony-tail was coiling around his face, I couldn’t help but laugh.
As always, the feeling of being free from gravity was exhilarating, it felt like you were many times stronger and could move faster than if your feet touched the ground.

Things were easy-going through the traffic, slow yet steady, we were close to the jump-point, I knew my Uncle would be watching from his mammoth vessel; he loved old tech, he whispered that he was jealous that he had to command such an giant ugly thing while I had a great piece of history under my wing, he always had a weird ways with words…

“Traffic clear, moving to jump-point!” I informed my copilot, he was busy allowing his jaw to drop just by looking at the Thunderhammer; It was quite a shock to see something that big floating freely in space.

“Point reached, blockade clearance verified; starting the jump-pods…” Jorran copied what came through his earpiece from the comms officers on board the ‘hammer’.
“Jump in three…” the engines spooled up, shaking the ship slightly, “Two…” a high-pitched tone hit me as the shaking reverberated into noise, “One…” everyone on board braced and exhaled, if you jump with air in your lungs and closed airways, the g-forces could blow out your sinuses and rupture your whole respiratory system.

The rumble disappeared and I felt the weight of the entire ship on my whole body, my seat was the only thing stopping me from flying backwards faster than I could blink. My eyes had blurred, leaving only the sight of streaking stars pass my gaze, we were currently traveling at over seven hundred thousand kilometers per second, the old-inertial dampers the only thing that kept us from being torn apart, molecule by molecule.

It would only last for a few moments, it would take us to the starting edge of the wastes, from there we’d be on cold thrust and maneuver our way through the asteroids that used to be the old outpost during the Trade War. I could breathe again once the acceleration ceased, our ship drifted due to pure inertia, the port and starboard frontal engine nacelles tipped backwards to slow our rate of advance to a nominal speed.

Although it was a gloomy place, the asteroid-ruins had a majestic beauty about them, immediately I could see a small cluster of enemy ships gathered around another defeated salvage ship, I uttered a small prayer for the lives left aboard; I’ve heard that if they aren’t killed they get sold in alien markets as slaves for whatever sick and twisted use the enemy would have for them.
“Engaging Thermal-Optic camouflage, bringing the ship into full stealth mode!” James and Jorran simultaneously worked, cutting all radios signals and turning the ship practically invisible, both visibly on scanners and to the naked eye.

I hated this part more than anything else, leaving a helpless human ship to the wolves of this sector; if I were in the Sun-Sprite, I’d run in and annihilate the light fighter-freighters, being that the Harlequin lacked any form of weaponry and polarized armor, it would be suicide to try and help them.

Thankfully though, with their attentions drawn on their prize they were blind to our approach, giving the age-old freighter the time it needed to activate it’s camouflage.
It felt like we were edging around a pack of ravenous carnivores, using their greed as a distraction while we navigated through the asteroid cluster, making sure that we were running cautious as more of the pirates might come as we were in their territory now.

Honestly it was the easiest trip I’ve had so far through this sector, not many civilian ships were willing to come out here, I hate to admit it but we were fortunate that they caught that salvager; leaving an open path for other ships.

I decided to put us through the scenic route, seeing as we had some time, I’ve always wanted to take a close look at the ruins of the old-war outpost. My chameleonic ship drifted idly passed the giant facility, it was almost as large as Hammerfall, though the majority of it’s structure had been torn away and stolen by hungry pirates.

James and I gazed in fascination at the old technology and design, it was quite retro, leading me to wonder what it was like during the colonial days of the Republic.
I was so absolved with drinking in every sight I could steal, it took me a few moments to notice the B-Class drifting up from within the core of the facility’s husk.

I looked to my left and let my expression droop, due to my training I did not cry out, the reverberation of that much noise would surely send a ‘blip’ on their scanners.
“Dear god… break away, break away…” James uttered in a strained whisper, I collected myself and grabbed the sticks, veering silently away from the advancing enemy.
My rear motion scanners indicated that we were surrounded by asteroids and that reversing was limited, I pulled us as far away back as possible, leaving only a literal arm’s length between our two hulls.

Looking out to the starboard bow, I actually saw the face of the enemy captain as his ship cruised passed us at point blank range. He was looking directly out, straight through us as if inspecting the progress of his comrades; the insect-like creature was ugly to say the least, he stood short and hunched over. The tri-sectioned jaw that was inbuilt into it’s carapace skin were hung open, if it could be called an expression he looked hungry, like he’d eat any living thing without hesitation.

I steadied the inertia off to drift away with one of the asteroids, that encounter put a shock into my system, I was glad that it hadn’t lasted or I’d have had a heart-attack.

<<<<======>>>>

It took a week to get from the asteroids to the outer territory lines, the jump pods had enough power to make one leap through space, the rest had to be done with hot engines and the camouflage disengaged. The privateer never came through that way, they were too vulnerable to the patrols around Eveshire, our home planet was the heaviest defended out of the two colonies, meaning that it would probably be the last point from where the enemy would start their war.

This time we were without any communication problems, the patrols authorized our entry into Eveshire space, the immense space station on the veritable horizon; it was larger and more heavily fortified than even the Thunderhammer, being humanity’s founding territory things had been here for a little longer, this side of the planet was shrouded in night, the entire facing of the planet flickered with the lights of the planet-wide city.

The Eveshire territory had been founded well over seventeen hundred years ago, no one really remembered from where we came before that. Now, nearly two millennia after it’s founding it was a literal fortress-world, even during the time of the Old War not one enemy ship came within ten light-years of the planet before suffering the might of the fleets. To me, Eveshire was home, I was born on the planet, mostly grew up a city-kid but my trip into the military careers changed that, I hadn’t stayed for more than a week at a time since longer than memory recalls.

The terminal chimed in our authorization to land in bay thirty-four aboard the station, the traffic was thick, nothing like Hammerfall, it took ages to navigate through the designated lanes. It was a good feeling to know that we had made it without incident, the hundreds of lives and the military cargo in the hold were safely delivered, I would be praised for this considering how stressful things were getting.
Walking through the mid-section to depart the ship, I remembered suddenly how much the crew hated me; twelve glaring sets of eyes paused in their meal, I had had no problems while we were flying, not one stepped out of line then but now I felt worthless again…

I had left the bridge in a great mindset, only to walk ten meters out and feel so low, even trying to shake it away didn’t work, just made things feel worse for trying to hide it.
Now I won’t lie, Eveshire is old, far older than even the near-century in which the Harlequin had existed. Although it was old, it didn’t need to be as grubby as it was, many times the governing party has tried to refurbish it but the scale of both the station and her cost to do so would be too great, meaning that all they do is a half-annual clean-up though most only did a half-assed job and left the place looking yellow-ish instead of the supposed white-drab of the navy.

The uni-transports shot it’s passengers left and right, backwards and forwards and in nearly every-which-way you could imagine, not only that but they were very fast and without the inertial dampers, you’d probably get thrown around like a rag-doll.

“Station two hundred and seventy-four; outer-habitats, division fifty-three” the crackling voice announce robotically in what might’ve been an AI but a lot of it’s internals had been damage and vandalized, I honestly don’t see why people damage public property, they’re usually the first to complain that we live in a shiete-hole anyway…

Once again, I wouldn’t be able to stay for very long, just needed my clothes and the stash of credits I’d been saving, if war did break out I’d want everything of mine in one location. My ‘cell’ as it had been nicknamed was a veritable dump, much like the rest of the station, being that I hadn’t cleaned up in a month, the floor was littered with discarded food containers, all filled with slimy-damned parasites. Luckily I kept a can of degreaser next to the front door for the very-same reason, I love killing these things as degreaser leaves no trace of the things after it reacts with their fragile bodies.

I honestly had to cover my nose, the fur on my back curled up at the smell that the damned things left behind, I was fortunate that my wardrobe was untouched by the things though they’d need to be washed several times to remove the smell.
Under the bed was worse, the little critters spotted me with beady eyes and slowly began to scatter, they’re inability to run made it easy prey.
Reaching for the handle on the lock-box, I put my hand on what I thought it was, ending up with a sizable bite on my hand, the weak poison injecting in a healthy dose.

As silicon-based parasites were common throughout the Republic , part of every household medkit included a bottle of anti-venom for bites. Their only defense was a small sack of neurotoxins, just strong enough to put an adult human in the medwing for a week suffering cramps and convulsions.

I used half the bottle injecting myself, giving a small whimper as I had to insert the hypodermic needle right into the wound. I saw the blasted thing crawling out as fast as it could from under the bed, I saved the degreaser and planted my boot on it, realizing just afterwards that it was a bad idea; it left a huge stain and an even-worse smell on my boot, I couldn’t help but retch and vomit, adding a further stain to the carpet.

Locking the door behind me, I was glad to finally be rid of that place, it makes me wonder if I need to improve my living habits…

So, walking out finally with a dizzy-feeling from the ant venom, a welt growing on my bandaged hand which carried a suitcase full of rancid-smelling clothes, the other hand carrying a smile-covered lockbox with rusted metal due to all the acidic attacks from the critters, my shoe made me smell like I’d been pissed on by a rotting carcass and I also had to worry about keeping my crew in line… I am not in good mood…

Making my way into the promenade, there were a lot of people rushing over to the community hub, the crowd was growing by the second, people had begun yelling and screaming in anguish, it sounded like someone had died.

They were all crowded around the community holovid-screens, the volume was turned up to maximum and the same message was echoed through the whole station, a deep-toned and melodramatic voice announced the chilling message.

“…In recent developments with combating the pirate threat, an enemy ship of high-class penetrated deep into our territory and attacked a Military convoy earlier this month, the attack left a valiant military ship in disrepair and led to the many deaths aboard the salvager, Terago as it was destroyed. The Republic System decreed that a peaceful envoy would make contact with the enemy menace and try to resolve the matter peaceably. As of one week to the hour ago, our Republic is formally at war with the United Planets Coalition as the envoy was boarded and destroyed without mercy, whatever your beliefs or culture remains, pray for those who march to the front in honorable defense of our way of life and remember that the Military needs more soldiers; sign up at your local recruitment agency and help push this threat back to protect our ancient way of life!”

I realized I needed to get back to Hammerfall, otherwise I probably would never be able to leave Eveshire without a heavily-armed escort…

War… It was almost unthinkable…

5: War…

“Sir! Port and Starboard to bear!”
“All crews open fire!”
“Taking on vacuum in section a3e to b6g, engineers to their stations!”
“Crowning Glory to Steadfast, require support on port-bow, taking heavy concentrated fire, over…”
“Bring us in and protect their broadside!” the 3rd admiral of the Steadfast called in, his dark expression lit up only by the flashes and flares of the battle beyond the forwards screens. The Coalition had struck first, in an attempt to solidify their position, humanity had reinforced the old and destroyed outposts on the far-outer rim, they were met by advanced fleets of the Jyyktiir and Talankas armada and so far the battle was in the Republic’s favor. In total, twelve enemy frigates and two destroyers had moved into their former territory while the navy was backed by heavy frigates and a ‘Star-Ender’ class super-destroyer, roughly one third the size of the Thunderhammer, which was busy solidifying the territories around Hammerfall against forward insurgents.

“Crowning Glory has taken a hit, engines ruptured; BRACE!” A blinding light filled the command deck, a glowing shockwave fired outwards as the hydrogen cells ignited and it’s cold-drive exploded, a powerful impact rocking the heavy frigate and opening their wounds a little further, though the Steadfast cut it’s losses and continued the offensive, unleashing a torrent of Gaussian-hail upon the closest B-Class Jyyktiir frigate which seemed bold enough to personally attack the rear-Admiral’s ship.

With a distinct amount of personal satisfaction, his concentrated fire tore open a gash in her side, completely venting it’s onboard atmosphere and rendering it completely incapacitated. The Steadfast’s engines spooled up, utilizing her speed to take the fight where it was needed, opening up fighter bays and launching a storm of minute craft which took pride in swarming an A-Class and perforating it’s hull.

All this time, the Steadfast took countless hits, more and more holes were punched through even the polarized armor, though the Admiral’s crew valiantly made active repairs, they couldn’t hold out indefinitely.
The Star-Ender was a one-of-a-kind ship that used a one shot one kill method, all of it’s weaponry was replaced for one giant cannon on both port and starboard, it took a long time to reload though when it hit the shots turned the target literally inside-out.
Another flare lit the forward screens as one of the Destroyers was hit by the Star Ender, it was pleasing to watch all that work made by the enemy turned into scrap with a single shot, the railgun-like cannons hardly even slowed as they punctured the rear and dismantled the engines in a dazzling display of unstable energy.

The Steadfast’s fighters moved onto another ship, leaving the A-Class no more than a boned fish, targeting the other destroyer.
“Sir, fighters are moving onto the remaining destroyer, the Malcontent and the Osprey are taking heavy damage from the enemy vessel, they can’t hold out!”
“This is Rear-Admiral McWilliams to fighter squadrons, target enemy destroyer’s weaponry and give our frigates a chance!” though it was too late for the Osprey, she too had taken too many hits; it severed directly from the middle, cutting off the power to the weaponry, opening much of it’s atmosphere to the void and setting adrift the engine-section to detonate and take out the nacelles of the Emergence, triggering a chain-explosion that detonated the mostly unharmed vessel’s entire stern.

“Confirmed, reports say that the Thunderhammer has successfully fended off the insurgents, they’re moving at maximum speed to assist us!” called McWilliams’ communication’s officer.
“About bloody-time; We’re dying here!” he hated to admit it but the enemy weren’t as ‘stereotypically’ easy to defeat as one might muse, the enemy remained upon a similar level of technology and either was matched in combat.

A group of three heavy’s surrounded the remaining Destroyer, allowing the Malcontent to withdraw before annihilation took hold. Together the Envision, the Divine Intervention and the Fleur De Li unleashed a veritable wave of destruction upon the resilient enemy, it’s hull hardly a match for the combined efforts of three heavy warships as it too was peeled like a piece of over-ripe fruit.

To McWilliams’ dismay, another support fleet consisting of one destroyer and another seven a-class arrived on the horizon, meaning that if the Thunderhammer didn’t come soon, the five remaining defending ships would surely perish.
“Come about, not one step backwards, straight at them!” The Rear-Admiral was livid with battle-lust, he pointed an accusing finger at the inbound vessels and screamed until his voice was hoarse, his reddish-brown fur spiking up in every-which way and his snout was curled up into a vicious snarl.

There was a moment where the two fleets marched face-forward at full speed and there were no shots fired, no orders made and not one soul took a single breath…

This lasted for at least a minute before the Destroyer hit the Steadfast head-on, their combined speed producing an impact at over two-hundred kilometers per second, it’s nose colliding with the Admiral’s damaged hull and shearing away painfully over a thousand tons of solid metal from both vessels. From the force of impact, every one alive aboard both vessels recoiled and was catapulted forward violently, causing many deaths on both sides as the two ships rebounded off one another and veered violently off course.

McWilliams lay in a crumpled heap, he hadn’t secured himself properly in time after he finally saw the enemy’s foolish plan… He was killed instantly…

The Malcontent lay back, crippled from the earlier engagement and forced to watch the carnage that resulted. The bridge of the Malcontent was hushed and panicked, if the Humans lost then their ship was an easy target to commandeer. Just as their captain was considering detonating the fail-safe, the front viewscreen and eventually the whole bridge was cut off from the light of the nearby sun; a gigantic grey-white shape raced passed them doing well-over half the speed of light, the Thunderhammer supported just a single Light-frigate advanced towards the battle. The frigate broke off the help their stranded comrades, leaving the last battle between the Star-Ender and the seven remaining enemy ships to be decided by the brand-new arm of the Republic in the form of the Thunderhammer.

Two of the enemy ships actually scattered and fled just at a glance at the ship, and thy couldn’t be blamed; it’s frontage grew and grew, dwarfing everything, even the large Super-Destroyer. As the Coalition Destroyer tried in vain to escape, it was hunted solely by their unforeseen opponent, it seemed that the Thunderhammer wished to perform a ramming-maneuver and the frontal-facing appeared as if it were built as such.
The smaller destroyer, even traveling at full pace its engines were sizably smaller… Before anyone could blink, they collided…

What happened next was unlike anything on either side had ever seen; the first impact rocked the Destroyer shortly before a blinding force of pure energy erupted from front of the ominous warship. The man-made shockwave hit with the force of a solar-flare; stripping every bolt, every piece of plating and finally, within just the space of a heart beat the entire destroyer was reduced to pieces no larger than tiny splinters, suddenly leaving no question in anyone’s minds as to why the weapon was named the ‘Thunderhammer’.

The frontal facing was not impact-resistant, it was a hidden super-weapon…

<<<<======>>>>

I sat at the bar of the officer’s lounge, Jorran at my side with James having joined the Harlequin’s crew and began to believe the rumors about me… To make matters worse, our ship had been grounded for risk of losing such an important ability in this new time of war, I found myself reading every scrap of Intel that managed to filter through the classified sectors to find out how things were really going behind the jargon and propaganda that civilians bought and heeded to.

I had been promised my next flight out of this crap-hole was within the month, a military/corporate escort through the wastes was no fun and took ages to plan.
Just like a cheap alcoholic, I tried to drown myself with the drink… It had worked up until my second consecutive glass where I nearly fell off my seat; I’m not really good with alcohol and now felt dizzy and light, every time I moved my head, my whole body moved in sync.

I didn’t want to think about where I was going to stay; my apartment was infested and that lump had only just started to go down on my hand, I wasn’t looking forward to have to clean it up, the smell was putrid. The night moved on rather slowly, though I was asleep for most of the time, when I woke up every now and then I’d have another shot of something before fainting again.

When I woke up finally, the bar had disappeared… All I could see with my bleary eyes was a clean grey ceiling that looked oddly like the ceiling of someone’s quarters, I looked around and tried to get my bearings.
First thing I noticed was that I was wearing nothing but my bare basics, I lay on top of a rather comfy bed and when I tried to look around, something large and breathing lay next to me…

It was Jorran, I was in his quarters with no memory of the night before…
“Oh god… I didn’t, did I?” I asked myself weakly, my voice more of a croak than anything.
“No, you didn’t…” Jorran grumbled, his back still facing me, “You collapsed at the bar, I tried to take you back to your apartment but no Human could live in that place. I took you here instead, just for the night, when I got you on the bed you tried numerous times to come onto me, even stripping down naked and trying that way before you passed out.”

I leant up, looking down at the pile of clothes next to the bed…

“Needless to say, it was fun trying to redress you; your foot somehow bucked and hit me in the forehead.” He was tired as well, I just didn’t know how to react to such a situation; I have never done anything like that in my life, let alone been with a man.
“I guess all I can say is… Thanks for being a gentleman…” I said with an uncertain sheepish-grin, Jorran just rolled over and smiled at me, I rewarded him with a kiss on the nose before making myself decent and heading out.

I felt hot and slightly dizzy, either it was the remaining effects of the alcohol or the fact that I was blushing wildly underneath the reddish-fur on my face; I think I have a crush on him…

<<<<======>>>>

“This is why we did not engage them earlier, humanity is no longer the fledgling we fought during the last war, this defeat shows us that we are facing one of the most trying times of this great Coalition.” Rtyirek, the council’s governing Makaaik spoke in private with T’lorkk who had been advanced to the position of chief advisor to the war-council, a position she’d see that worked to her own ends.

“Perhaps this new weapon of theirs could work to our advantage, the humans have declared a wide-scale war on the Coalition directly, we could use the data to unite our offensive front with the five races!” T’lorkk knew that with only the Talankas defending and the Jyyktiir on the offensive, the Coalition was not as powerful as it could have been.

“As said these are dangerous times, I concur with your suggestion and believe also that the Jyyktiir alone cannot win the war for us, I will deliberate this with the acting war-council, will you accompany me or are you needed at the front?”

“It would be my honor; my people can do without me for need of the Coalition’s governing decisions…” she was being more sly than usual, during this renewed time of war she had more power than any other in the Coalition; though it wasn’t enough, she lusted for more!

<<<<======>>>>

“… Reports have so-far dictated that the Coalition have begun the initial offensive, so far there have been three major engagements including numerous minor skirmishes, overall Republic Navy forces have been mostly successful in their counter attacks, leaving minimal casualties on our forces! More updates as they happen, this is Rebecca Moresby, RNN…” the closing music added to the insult of the false propaganda, although I hated it as much as anyone else who knew, false reports were the best way to keep us confident of a win, but the loss of no less than thirteen heavy-frigates and countless other lives and smaller vessels hung heavily on my mind as anyone of those could be family.

I was working through a pile of papers that needed to be processed for an emergency run to Hammerfall, my only ticket off this crap-hole of a station as apparently they wanted me to forego the Harlequin for now and use a frigate similar to the Sun-Sprite, a nimble ship aptly named the Unsurpassable.
The transfer papers were torturous as I had to do it not only for myself but certain chosen members of the crew, Jorran was top on my list along with the traitor James who now sat with the Harlequin’s crew and treated me like an outsider; I loathed him now but he was a good helmsman and skill overrides preference.

There were three moments in the seven hours working out the random forms where I just put my head in my hands and growled loudly, military paperwork was frustrating, asking and re-asking the same questions as well as a few really hard ones in the mix to keep your mind moving. I handed in the forms and practically expected them to hand over the ‘keys’, so to speak, in my arrogance I had forgotten about the twenty-four hour processing period, meaning one more day aboard Eveshire before I could finally get going.

The remaining problem was telling the crew about the change, I knew they would disapprove of being removed from the rust-bucket, but it was their home, you had to give them that.

As I walked out, glad to be rid of anything remotely military for one day, the station bucked slightly, indicating that a large number of navy vessels had just detached simultaneously.
Running back into the depot, I tried to find a window that wasn’t being used as everyone was crowding around the small braced-windows and when I finally managed to push my way through and see what the commotion was all about, that familiar feeling of my stomach dropping an inch came back…
On the galactic horizon and where the freshly-advancing frigates and destroyers made their way to, I saw flashes and explosions…
The war had now come to Eveshire, our enemies were closer to the home-world than ever before, having never seen it even in the Trade Wars due to an impassible blockade, they had punched through as if making a run for the capitol.

Every moment I stood there, I knew my chances grew fewer and fewer; my people needed every ship for this, and I just so happened to be one of its captains…

<<<<======>>>>

“Reinforcements are en route!”
“Hephaestus is down, engines are ruptured, we’re venting atmosphere, and you better hurry up with those bloody reinforcements!”
“Invocator to Hephaestus; watch your port quarters, they’re bringing up their fighters!”
“No good, catastrophic loss of Atmosphere, we’re down to independent units, I need help ov…” the line died out in a burst of comms-static.

“Hephaestus, report!”
“Confirmed, Hephaestus is down! The Tigris is taking heavy fire and we’ve just lost contact with the Imperator!”

“Penitent to Invocator; watch the starboard, they’re making a dash for the capitol!”
“Admiral Timander of the Damascus reporting, reinforcements have arrived, we’re blocking those ships, keep up the offensive and reform the line, I want no heroes here; we’re meant to be a blockade, dammit!”
“Asperae to Invocator; cut and pull engines-about, you’re taking too much damage!”
“Invocator to Asperae; much appreciated, watch out for fighters!”

“Damascus to blockade-fleet; the enemy are losing ground, keep yours and no steps backwards!”

Of the fifty-six ships to engage the invaders, only twenty now remained to haul the frontline forward in humanity’s favor. The once-quiet zone had turned into a scrap yard within moments, the enemy were growing bold to attack humans on both fronts, their tactics had succeeded in preventing them from uniting their two forces and eventually winning this war.

*UPDATE*

Well, this is the first book of three completed, I divided the story up into three segments to emphasize the differeing situations.

My artwork has really picked up lately also, I'll start uploading pictures into a seperate thread in the Art forum... till then I'll need some critique if you please as I wish to edit this story and push for publication once it's finished.

see you around 😄

Nice, was just reading this the other day 🙂

Wow, this is really good so far. I'm really into your writing and this story. Keep it up!

Well another thread left to the passing of my absence 😛

here I am again, I've been up to so much that I've only done three more chapters on the second book.

the Siege of Eveshire needs two more chapters done then I can move onto the third book. That is if anyone is interested then I'll post it here 🙂

Also, it is now known as 'The Coalition War Trilogy' with planned sub-chapters following the aftermath..

Ok, here we go...

first book needs some editing, but here's three chapters of the Second book of 'The Coalition War Trilogy'

Book 2: +++The Siege of Eveshire+++

6: Freefall...

Orange sky, licks of flame falling from the vacuum, molten metal and debris leaks down from the explosion that was once the Eveshire orbital city...

++S.1286.M.218 Personal Log, Corporal J.T. Teorandich
++Forward Command Post: Southern Coalition-Declared Fire-Zone

Twenty-First of the forth month, three months follow from the declaration of war, the Coalition marks a mighty assault upon the Terran capitol following the opening skirmishes, our fleets fend off attempts at orbital bombardment though were unable to prevent their landing troops upon the surface. Whilst the battle raged overhead and their armies fell upon us, a surprise side-strike announced the death of the aging orbital station, reports indicate only mere handfuls of the thousands survived the detonation as the fusion cores ruptured.

Though I am a 'Non-Com' I can easily say that morale is low, without the station we can no longer ship major reinforcements to the surface nor evacuate the retreating civilian population, not to mention high command was located on board, meaning that there was a hasty shift in the chain of command, myself being promoted to Corporal. The planetary guard were mostly wiped out in the first weeks of the landing with only a few surviving higher-ups finding their way back to our lines, gods help those captured by the carnivorous Jyyk'Tiir armies...

++Recording end
++Dated S.1286.M.218 - 3200hours

I lay back in my cot, ending my log early as I didn't feel like mentioning our own immediate losses that left us only with a Staff Sergeant at the lead, that and I knew that our logs were monitored to root out the mentally unstable so I left out the part about my shaken nerves and the horrid twitch in my right paw...

We had been called off the line for down-time as our platoon was down to half-strength and a Staff Sergeant was hardly qualified to lead that many men, often he had been looking in my direction as the next in the chain for advice but I was less confident in my leadership qualities than my kinsmen were.
I stared at the ceiling, trying to ignore the ambient noise of warfare in the distance; the dull clap of artillery and mortars combined with the occasional heavy or grenade going off.

Hands down none of us were ready for this war, even those who remain steadfast and fearless in the face of it usually are found with signs of mental fatigue and nightmares when not fighting, I found myself stepping carefully around even the secured corridors of the control point-bunker, though I sometimes blame the recent heatwave caused by the falling remnants of the massive Orbital city.

None of us could sleep... In the recent shift of evacuees space had become a luxury as hundreds of rested soldiers marched right passed our cots, on the other side of the large room there were weapon specialists stripping and cleaning literally thousands of arms ranging from light rifles to Shoulder-mounted Rail Rifles.

“Corporal Teorandich! Fall in!” I had leaped up even before he had finished, the Colonel's tone sounded as if I were in trouble.

“Tacha, since your surviving NCO is currently sleeping off his injuries, I'll need an update from you and don't worry I wont need it in writing, just the bare facts Corporal...” He rubbed a freshly swollen tear in his neck through the bandages, apparently he hadn't been sitting around all day.
“Yes sir, the mission went routinely until Lieutenant Mayweather's flank was ambushed, Lieutenant Jecoch's Platoon took multiple heavy casualties as they struggled to establish an entrenchment leaving my unit to defend the final entryway into Underhab 4A where civilians were being evacuated. The engagement lasted forty-eight hours as we defended the breach from both the left and right flanks where our fallen comrades were to defend, all in all we lost eighteen men including Lieutenant Zobrasch, First Sergeant Thompson and three Corporals leaving Staff Sergeant Flecher as our CO.” Easier than I had thought, I'd never given an official update before...

“And morale? How do they stand after your casualties?” His eyes betrayed his sincerity, apparently we weren't the only ones this war had spooked.
“Shaken but stable, the rest was the right thing for them sir, any longer out there and performance would've been an issue as well.”
“Very good Corporal, get yourself something to eat, you look fatigued and famished, I'll need your men to join with the remnants of Lieutenant Alder's group, you'll be moving out in three hours... I'm sorry to cut your down time short but this is war, report to her in the next hour for equipment check and update, Dismissed...” We saluted each other roughly yet respectfully, Colonel Adams was always one to treat his men well and was a fine leader to boot.

<<<<======>>>>

(Chapter 6 Cont.)

Wings and chitinous teeth chattered quietly, unable to completely mask her excitement T’lorkk viewed and reviewed the tactical data streaming in from the offensive network, utter millions of her fellow Jyyk'Tiir swarmed the planet, already one third of the surface lay in their control. Kavass stood behind her silently, also surveying the constant stream of information and watching his colleague upload her orders to their constantly-advancing troops.
“This region troubles me also...” She could smell the interest in Kavass' concern at the rich-scarlet section of the tactical map tapping her claw on the display, “The last two days of the assault have been funneled into this restricted space where they hastily extract their non-militant populace, Indeed the Humans are well suited to ground warfare, it is a challenge we welcome...” she was more or less talking to herself, her excitement grew each moment as she silently wished she could join the frontal engagement.

“It is of interest to see compassion for their own people, it negates the theory that Humans were born of the same ideology as the Jyyk'Tiir.” Kavass uttered, knowing that She would hardly acknowledge his words.

The Capitol ship they were aboard rumbled and groaned from enemy fire as T'lorkk turned to the other side of the engagement; the human fleet was impressive, more ships had been sent from their outlying colony and according to the overall style of their defense this planet was of particular interest to them, all the more reason to take and hold it in the name of the Coalition conquest!

“If we are able to take this planet...” she mused, finally turning away from the tactical displays, “... I feel that this war will end sooner than expected, in the first war we hardly even lay our eyes upon it and now that their forces are divided between the two systems we are in contest for what I believe to be the humans home world!” Kavass saw the change in her voice, this war was as an addiction and though he did not oppose it, his comrade began to frighten him.

“Hunt leader... When was the last time you rested?” the Talankas asked apprehensively, seeing her mood change entirely as he finished his inquiry.
“No time for rest, my friend, too many humans to slay, too many worlds to conquer!” she paused after that, realizing that he was right and that she was addicted to this conflict.
“I see your meaning, friend... War is a curse of our race and I unlike my fellows admit to that, perhaps rest would benefit me...”

“I will hold the command post in your stead, leader, rest now and arise to better combat your foe!”

T'Lorkk chuckled softly, “You have the words of a poet, friend...”

<<<<======>>>>

We stood at attention in two rows of eleven, the remainder of the Hab-Rats platoon ready for inspection by our new CO, Lieutenant Irene Alder.

“So these are the 'Hab-Rats', you certainly look the part and if it weren't for your reputation I'd probably say that you fight like them too. As a part of my platoon you will follow my rules and my way of fighting. Now we aren't some underhab pack of sniveling scouts; the Storm Eagles are frontliners and strategic saboteurs, meaning that instead of light rifles and long barrels you'll have to get acquainted with shoulder mounts and Democord! Any questions?”

Alder was one of those typical hard cases born from a family tradition of military service, she didn't hate her men but treated them that way nonetheless with her attitude that uniformity meant productivity and even the slightest deviation of something small like a stray thread on the uniform or a bad haircut meant the difference between life and death. I had come prepared by expertly hiding my shaggy hair and ponytail...

“Corporal 'TJ'?” she spat in my face, reading the scribbled writing on my helmet, “So TJ, you're their sorry excuse for an officer, don't try and fool me by hiding that disgusting mop you call hair, I've seen you around boy!” with that she unclipped my chinstrap and brutishly knocked my helmet off.
“How can you expect to kill some bugs looking like that? Hit em' while they're laughing their carapace off at your appearance?”

“Sir, No Sir!” I answered, receiving yet another smack to the side of my head...
“I didn't ask for you to speak nor did I give permission! The only thing saving you from demotion is the fact that you've only been a Corporal for two days! Pick your shit up and get yourself proper Corporal or I'll have you up for court martial, is that understood?”
“Sir, Yes Sir!” she smacked me again for good measure before moving onto torture Private Simmons, I already thought to myself that if I survived the front line I wouldn't survive her...

<<<<======>>>>

We were supposed to be out in three hours yet Lieutenant Alder demanded that we be proficient in demolitions and heavy weapons before we shipped out, my shoulder was growing sore after firing the Rail Rifle at least thirty times and I could hear ringing in my ears from the test-fired Democord we'd been using.

After another three hours we were finally rearmed and ready to ship out, our mission lay somewhere in the north eastern upper habitats of the southern hemisphere, section 216-a7, apparently where the bulk of the enemy's spearhead was focused and also where thousands of Civilians were still being evacuated.

“6-Delta platoon! Move out!” Alder called amidst the many other lieutenants who signaled for their men to advance, all in all there were eight hundred of us, men and women moving in to relieve the nearly exhausted position.
Our destination was more than a hundred kilometers away, several large-bellied APCs were crammed full with the remainder of our number having to scramble onto the roofs, this being my first actually large scale encounter my already twitchy paw was shaking uncontrollably, thankfully it had evaded the Lieutenant's gaze so far...

The steady hum of the turbine engines was soothing, we were one of the unfortunate groups declared to be posted on the first APC's roof, knowing the reputation of armored vehicles I felt less safe sitting astride one than being locked in a cramped room with half a dozen Jyyk'Tiir.
I felt tempted to take a swig of water from my canteen but thought better of it, I had no idea how long we would be posted out there I might need every last drop later on.

The drive was more or less uneventful, despite the fact we were only traveling at about thirty kilometers an hour due to the waves of Evacuees that crowded the streets as well as the escort vehicles and medical trucks that accompanied them. The streets were littered with the wrecks of public transports and piles upon piles of miss-dropped Jyyk'Tiir warriors that had been slaughtered by our initial defense, most of them had split into small raiding parties to test our strength but soon found that they truly needed to attack in force to pose any real threat against Terrans.

The air was dimmed by heavy smoke and the growing dawn revealed the true scale of the impact that this short conflict had upon us; Eveshire was once a gleaming planet full of life and prosperity but now all that remained was the twisted sprawl of desolated structures and the acrid smoke of the millions of small fires scattered around the continental city caused by the ground fighting, artillery of both factions and the burning debris that still fell from the remnants of the Orbital City.

Any fool would try to describe the scene with poetic or wise words but they would only be that; a fool... This was hell for any man, militant or civilian to see your home turned into a bloody field of battle and right then was the only time in my life that I ever wished I hadn't been born...

7: Unforeseen Luck...

The column was joined by several hover tanks, they floated down from a bombed-out structure to our right as we advanced steadily, they had blasted a hole in the plate walling with their 125mm main guns to allow them passage. There wasn't much that could stop the small agile vehicles, where normal APC's had to find suitably stable ground the tanks merely glided on the thin sheet of air they produced; I had originally wanted to be a hover tanker, but as it were they are front liners and in this situation were more death traps than anything.

Every now and then the convoy would stop as engineers lined the road with detcord to clear fallen pieces of the towering skyscrapers, half the time deeming it too much to clear or unstable as so to add further distance to the already uncomfortable ride.

The sun had only just begun rising, the dawn sky still lit with the sporadic flashes of the battle overhead, yesterday one of the enemy's cruisers literally fell from the sky and decimated one of their own advancing troop contingencies, the command post and I'm sure most of this hemisphere was alive with laughter on that day.

One thing I noticed amidst all the chaos was the steady stream of cargo dropships heading back and forth parallel to our column, either moving supplies or civilians...

Let those alien bastards thinks what they will, we care for our own.

For the third time this morning, the lead position called for a halt and to our relief they called our platoon off the APCs to push in front, we were glad to have to chance at some exercise and maybe a glimpse as to where we were heading.

Alder took us to a jog, drivers were poking their heads out of their slides to see what was happening, there wasn't any chatter on the immediate channel, one thing though was that we were heading towards a wide pillar of thick black smoke. Raising her fist to call for a halt, we came to stand at the edge of a crater formed by what by my reckoning was a lifepod, or to be precise three of them in close proximity; they had decimated the road ahead and there wasn't anyway around, meaning the end of the APCs though the hovertanks pressed on forward, increasing their lift to happily clear the wreckage.

As the other platoons grudgingly stepped out we moved in closer to check the pods for survivors, the first two had been split open and it was clear that enemy wasps had found them before they reach atmo, the outer skin had been burned away and all that remained was half-melted skeletons, we didn't need a medic to see there was nothing we could do...

“Medic!” Alder screamed out, she had moved on whilst three of the newer privates emptied their stomachs at the display, the third pod was open but had clearly survived the drop, two survivors had wearily dragged themselves out, head injuries all around as the rest lay moaning inside.
They had the blue-gray uniforms of Eveshire Station personnel, but one of them wore the casual greenery of Hammerfall, a young Eserian woman and one of those who had climbed out.

I shouldered my rifle and helped her to her feet, she was clutching a gash across her temple before one of the medics instructed me to sit her down to recover and to let him tend to that and various other wounds she seemed to have sustained. The loose collar of her pilot's jacket was a stark contrast to the uniformly appearance of us Eveshirans, a glint of gold caught the rising sun, bringing to my attention the woman who was resting heavily on my shoulder was a third-class commander and therefore many, many times my senior rank.

“Uh, you alright Ma'am?” I asked cautiously, nothing more than a whisper.
“I-I think so... Ow...” she gasped, still clutching her head and slurring her words, though I could detect a strength of character despite her apparently weakened state, something you get only from true leadership.

“Let's start evacuating these people, get them on the APCs, we're moving out!” our Lieutenant called, but as I made to help the woman to her feet she surprised me and the medic helping her as she stood up of her own accord.

“I will accompany you Lieutenant, my priority is to find my crew...” despite her injuries, she stood to full height, a determined look on her face.

“This is a military situation, under TCF jurisdiction I order you to follow through with the evacuation, we can't have civilians going off to find family and friends!” Alder obviously didn't recognize the uniform, the high-officer walked up to her defiantly and announced her rank and title at a volume that stopped everyone in their tracks...

“I am Third Commander Vanessa Deoritcht, Senior officer of Hammerfall and Commander of the Sun Sprite Frigate and when I say that I will accompany you I am acting not on a wish but an order that you must adhere to!” she shouted into the Lieutenant's face, she was taken aback by the shorter woman yet immediately snapped to salute, as we all did in the presence of a senior.

“Apologies ma'am, if it is your command then we shall follow, but I must inform you that we mustn't stray from our current objective, the north-eastern habitats must be reinforced if we are to continue evacuating civilians... Ma'am!” she looked a little sheepish at her own mistake, Commander Deoritcht seemed satisfied and left command to each subsequent platoon leader.

Once the others were loaded onto the APCs the eight lieutenants called for us to march, indicating our objective wasn't too much further on, I felt a little uncomfortable as Commander Vanessa was sticking close to me, apparently appreciative that I was the first one to help her recover.
After a few hundred meters, she turned to me and asked for a few clips for the rifle she picked up out of the emergency cabinet in the life pod, I obliged and was shocked to see the smile on her face... I never found myself attracted to senior officers but she was just a little younger than I was and I had a weakness for shorter women, I found myself blushing under my fur, pretending to check my gas mask to hide it but she had already noticed.

Alder's fist shot up, calling for silence as some of the loose rubble rolled down a mound of debris, a further two hand signals called for us to stay low and spread out, I had to gesture for Vanessa to follow suit as she didn't understand the signals...

(Chapter 7 Cont.)

Three excruciating minutes passed until all I could hear was my own breathing and the sound of distant artillery, Alder seemed to relax and was about to gesture for us to keep moving when a wailing screech cut through the air as she was flattened by a pouncing Jyyk'Tiir warrior who in one move catapulted into her and took her from sight behind another mound off the side of the road, before we could race over to assist her the ambush was sprung and Coalition soldiers opened fire from their hiding places.

With my hand on her shoulder, I pressed Vanessa to the side of the road, narrowly helping her to avoid the blue streaks of their energy weapons. With trained instinct, I crouched to cover and opened up on one of their positions, the creature had hid itself well but the yellow carapace was easy to spot, my first two shots detonated its shoulder before my third and fourth did the same to its forehead, brackish blood sprayed the fallen wall behind it as its broken body slumped forward. Vanessa was obviously inexperienced with her weapon, firing a three shot burst that completely missed its mark due to her lack of understanding the weapon's recoil, with a dissatisfied grunt she dropped it and drew on a sidearm which she handled with impressive skill, firing another three rounds and only missing once.

We both ducked low to avoid retribution, seeing Corporal Langridge bring his Rail Rifle to bear, decimating the supports of the ruined building in which the majority of our attackers hid. As they pulled back to avoid being crushed by falling rubble, six of ours skillfully pitched HE Grenades through the narrow slits the enemy were firing from, a further percussion followed by a large amount of screeching signaled at least three further kills. Shots wailed from the opposing side, taking Langridge in the hip and downing four of the grenadiers in their lethal arc, the road supplied us with a few foxholes in which to take cover as the first of them came out from the wreckage...

The alien was immense, nine feet of solid muscle and nearly six wide, a few of us tried firing quick bursts as the Talankas charged, the tiny bullets bouncing off of a thin layer of energy that emitted from the helmet it wore. It brought its fists to bear, crushing two men in one swipe, moving with surprising agility to grab a third and move him in the way of incoming fire before flattening him also and bellowing its challenge to the rest of us.

Our people charged up, the enemy had only seen a small portion of our true number and even the mighty 'Overseer' couldn't stand up to three Rail Rifles we used upon it, rendering it nothing more than a purple-splattered corpse. With their leader downed, the rest retreated silently and we knew not to follow, those bastards were notorious for their guerrilla tactics.

A sigh of relief from Vanessa signaled the end of that conflict, all in all we killed around eighteen of them, twenty-six of our people had been killed or incapacitated beyond help with many more wounded, not much of a victory if you ask me... We managed to call a medevac for the survivors, allowing us to collect the tags and press onwards. After another cautious hour of advancing, we made it to Section 216-a7, thankfully during a lull in the apparently sporadic attacks.

This section was so important as it was a major junction to six major habitats as well as a large entrance to the underhabs, the scene itself was set atop a large hill, slopes to either side indicating controlled territory with the peak as the border, a blown-out outer-hallway marked the entrance to the two towering structures that dominated the landscape, not to mention that this 'hallway' sat right on the peak and was the primary exit route for civilians that constantly poured out.

On our side a command-post had been established at the base of the hill, Vanessa entered the makeshift structure, everyone inside snapped to attention as she went in, asking around about other lifepods from the Eveshire Station.

“6-Delta platoon! Lucky us, we got first watch... Form-up!” Alder shouted in her usual-loathing tone, we marched up the hill to join a group of armed engineers setting up a hasty defensive barrier made up of fallen debris, Besacrete slabs and fallen Coalition soldiers. In my opinion it was a meaningless gesture; Jyyk'Tiir could buzz right over it and Talakas had proven to be far less immobile as first speculated, but still it offered a firing point and cover to do so, I just wished we didn't have to be the first to test it out...

As if waiting for me to think along those lines, the attack resumed, I have never seen so many of those yellow freaks in my life as instead of their usual cloak and dagger routine they attacked in such a number that our wave of gunfire seemed to have little effect at slowing them down. Half their number rose up on their beating wings though they proved to be the first to reach us and so were the primary targets, the rest of the company formed up behind as the barrier was overrun, we fell back into formation for a firing rank, waiting for a closer target before our combined fire decimated them at the bottleneck between the two towering up-habs.

Despite their heavy losses, they still reach us and it was down to hand to hand fighting, we shouldered our rifles and drew our pulseswords and like the knights of ages past we charged, staggering their forward line with our own ferocity and piteous cries. Like all soldiers of Eveshire, I was trained with rifles, pistols and swords to best combat the war of our time, even though these Jyyk'Tiir were fast and vicious I found it easy to dismember them until the press of their combined weight began to push us back. I tripped on the body of a fallen comrade and virtually invited one of them to pay full attention to me as it brought one of those devilish-looking curved daggers to bear, my body armor blocked most of the damage, but it lacerated my inside-left forearm and on my hip just above and behind the flexiflak plates. The freaking thing pinned my injured arm and gripped both my shoulders with two spare limbs as the fourth wielding the blade lashed out, as it tried to pry away my protection my free arm reached instinctively for my sidearm which ended up severing its lower left arm with the first shot. To my dismay, it lunged and sunk its teeth into my wrist to stop me from shooting it, with a scream of pain I pulled my arm free and brought it up to the thing's right eye.

“My regards...” I shouted at it, kind of melodramatically as my face was covered in purple goo. The lifeless body was surprisingly light and easy to move after it slumped over me, I looked up to see Lieutenant Alder offering me a hand to my feet, apparently in the short time whilst I was deep in intimate and 'engaging' conversation with my attacker the immediate battle was over, many of our guys and gals had fallen, but twice that number in purple-spattered corpses filled me with a small ray of hope; In open combat these Jyyk'Tiir weren't a match for the trained soldiers of the Eveshiran-TCF!

8: Uphill Struggle...

I spent most of the day getting over the weak poison from the bastard's blade, the doctors couldn't give me anything as it was a type that reacted and killed the victim if treated with any form of antidote, so I had to put up with the vomiting and cold chills for about six hours whilst I lay in the hole they called the infirmary, surrounded by crying children and panicking civilians waiting to be airlifted to safety.

During that time Commander Deoritcht payed me visits, I think she did it either because of the help I had given her earlier or because there was nothing she could do for the time being, when I was coherent enough we would talk about differing subjects to pass the time until either I lost consciousness again or the vomiting resumed. She was from Hammerfall obviously, had been moving from ship to ship as her rapidly rising career found her changing roles frequently, most recently on the Sun Sprite she had mentioned earlier. Vanessa seemed proud of her family's long history of Naval service, even saying that her uncle was in command of the Thunderhammer Super Battleship!

I told her about how I originally came from a farming family in the Ag districts on Eveshire, like most young men in my family I had to get away, seeing a military career in the Eveshiran Guard as the best choice and that if I had seen this war coming, I'd have chosen differently.
Once I was cleared for duty, Alder came to me immediately and said that we had been chosen as the most diverse platoon to lead an attack into the left-most up-hab building as Coalition Forces had cut off civilian evac routes, we were shipping out immediately.

As I prepped my gear, I looked up at the command post to see Vanessa give me a little wave, I smiled back and turned to leave. My platoon formed up next to the barrier that we nearly lost this morning, engineers were working on opening up the sealed doors into the liftpod chamber, a few old Jyyk'Tiir corpses lay on the floor but the immediate area was clear. Reports had indicated that the lifts had been deactivated by the enemy in the upper levels, so we didn't test that theory and took the stairs one step at a time, rifles raised and ready as we began our ascent into the up-habs of the wealthier community.

<<<<======>>>>

“Our losses were concerning, the humans have locked down the entrance thought we control one of the towers.” The Talankas' gruff voice sounded concerned as he made his address to T'lorrk who sat vegetatively in her seat aboard the Coalition Flagship, sipping a cup of Tiirean spirits as the ship rocked slightly under the bombardment of enemy fire, though she wasn't concerned with the orbital battle right now, her people were being massacred due to this standoff with the humans.

“You say that they are evacuating their non-fighters? Estimation of how many each day?” she asked bluntly, taking another sip.

“Many hundreds if unchallenged, mere handfuls during our attacks though we are taking our heaviest losses during these times...”

“This is distressing, the humans have found a way to fight my people in the open by drawing them into these narrow sections. I will require you to press on and take the opposing tower, do not be concerned with their civilians as we need to take this location to move our forces into more covered areas, these are your orders, Overseer”

“Understood, my leader.”

She closed the connection and finished her liquor, savoring the flavor of the brackish drink as it was the last of it. The scheming general stretched her joints and left the communications room and entered the cavernous command center of her flagship, there were hundreds of tacticians and leaders of all races of the United Planets Coalition working tirelessly towards the efforts of the war, a huge projected display showed the territory advances on the planet's surface, marked in subsequent levels according to a colored series of lines indicating the constant shift in the positions of their forces. As she went, those not completely consumed by their efforts stood smartly to salute their leader before returning to their duties, Kavass gestured he would be with her in a moment as he reviewed a series of intelligence charts with some Dakhari tacticians.

When he finally broke away, his expression looked weary and overwhelmed, but he hid it well as his position as the General's adviser and overseer had a lot of impact on those around them so that physical appearance had to be kept.

“Are your troops moving through the barrier you were concerned about earlier?” he held his muscular hands behind his back, looking down with a smile at his friend and leader.

“Not entirely, we lost over three hundred this morning during a foolish attack ordered by an overseer who now lays dead...” she said grimly, using the back of a claw to rub the skin of her eyelid. Kavass merely grunted his dissatisfaction, overconfidence in their ability in combat had led to sizable losses on many occasions and this was no exception.

“If we are able to break this blockade, this would mean a straight path through to the defender's command district, we may be able to capture officers in the process.” T'lorrk already knew this, but found it satisfying that Kavass was once again thinking on the same level as she was.

“It would also lead us a path to the remaining orbital defense towers...” she added as shots from those very same towers rocked the ship once again.

<<<<======>>>>

In open combat, the remaining people from my original platoon were like any other solder, but up here in the close-quarters of the habs were were at our best and leading the rest of the 'Storm Eagles' of 6-Delta. Once we cleared the stairs, first on our list came the lobby of sorts, aside from the obvious damage to the superstructure it looked like it would've been a really nice place to live, of course if you cleared out the bodies of Jyyk'Tiir and trampled civilians.

In the first moments of the siege, the evacuation was called so suddenly that everyone panicked, meaning hundreds of lives lost in the stampede and this was no different, the smell was already getting to me. We moved in formation, constantly shifting our movements to better cover ourselves lest we walked into another one of their traps.
The lobby was scarcely lit aside from the cracks in the outer walls of the tower behind us, at the opposing end there were six corridors and whilst most of them had been permanently sealed it was clear that the enemy had tried to break through here. The two corridors were pitch black, we all lowered our visors on our uncovered eye and switched to the Light Enhancing Scope.

“Clear, Staff-Sergeant Flecher move your people in first.” Alder whispered over the comm, apparently she finally appreciated our experience in this area, Flecher was our last surviving higher-NCO, whilst he wasn't the bravest of men he commanded our respect due to his natural affinity for leadership, even though he always questioned his own ability. Three hand signals called for stealth, cover and at the ready and so we advanced with our rifles at our shoulders, ready to pummel anything we encountered that wasn't human.

My eyes finally adjusted to the blue glow of the scope, my tactical readout continuously said 'proceed with caution...' and I wished I could turn it off, the patch that normally covers our left eye was part of the communications and neural uplink and also contained a minute artificial intelligence that assisted solders in open combat, part of our initial training is to keep focused away from its help but to use its suggestions should we ever find ourselves overwhelmed.

The two corridors led off in opposing directions though they met up further on, I was nearly startled when the other half of the platoon rounded the corner and join up with us again. We came to the first of the actual habitats, most of the doors were open showing the state of the rooms beyond after the initial evacuations proceeded, though each room was spacious well appointed, only the wealthiest of us Eveshirans could afford a place like this and it was a shame to see in in that state...