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Sat Nov 07, 2015 6:02 pm
Robusto says...



The War Begins


(Text in < > means the speaker is talking in their native language. Text in which a character speaks galactic universal should be in the usual “ “)

A human soldier walked down the hall, empty cells on either side of him. It had been a while since any of them had been occupied. But then, what was expected from a military outpost in the middle of nowhere? There was never anyone to arrest. At least until a few days ago.
In the last cell, the blue plasma barrier that kept people inside was active, filling the hallway with a low humming noise. Of course, these kind of cells were very inefficient for power, but when it came to the species of the prisoners, they were a necessity.

“Rise and shine.” The soldier said, banging on the metal wall bordering the plasma barrier.

Two forms shifted in the cell at the racket, rising from the bunks. They wore the customary orange jumpsuits commonly associated with human prisoners, but these two weren’t humans. Where pale flesh might have shown, dark grey feathers poked through instead. The smaller of the two had some pale purple tipped feathers poking through, while the larger one’s feathers were tipped with maroon.

<Why can’t I just get an extra hour of sleep…> The Maroon one groaned.
<I mean seriously… I thought humans had some kind of rights pact or something. Maybe we could sue them when this is all over?>
He chuckled at that thought as he stood up. It had been a while since he’d been out of this cell, and he could go for some fresh air.

The purple one however didn’t seem so optimistic.
<This is it. They’re gonna kill us.> He said, shuddering.

<Don’t be so f***ing dense. They’ve got nothing on us. They can’t even prove the stuff on our ship was stolen.> The Maroon one said.
<Believe me, we’re covered. We’re probably even getting out right now.>
(Note: The use of F***ing Is wasn’t the actual word, but rather their species’ equivalent of that word.)

The purple one refused to lighten up though, just pulling his knees to his chest.

The two birdlike beings were known as Teth, an alien species that was a part of the USF, or United Species Federation. The Teth with maroon tipped feathers was Corvax Montresor, and the one with purple tipped feathers was his younger brother, Piddry. And why were these two brothers currently residing in a military prison? Well, after receiving a suspiciously large order on stolen Shrall weaponry, the two had gone to the meeting point only to find themselves facing a heavily armed human gunship. Apparently, cracking down on smuggler operations was a thing now, and they’d decided allegedly buying weapons was the best way. And so… here they were.

<They’re not going to kill us, you know that right?> Corvax said to his brother.
<Humans have all sorts of laws that don’t even let them execute their own kind, let alone us. A bunch of softies if you ask me. And I mean that literally. Have you ever felt one before? It’s like touching a Quipper.>

That at least got a chuckle out of Piddry.
<I thought you told me you didn’t do this anymore.> Piddry said.

<Hey, I have to pay the bills somehow. And there’s no way I’m letting the Zulu get repossessed.> Corvax said, referring to his ship.
<And I’m definitely not letting you skip out on an education.>

<But you think education is pointless and stupid.> Piddry retorted.

<It is. Well… for me anyways. There’s still some hope for you.> Corvax waved off.
<After all, you’ve got the smarts to make it at the Nuvia Academy. No sense in wasting skills you could cash in on.>

Piddry nodded, seemingly recovering from his depression.
But that wasn’t going to last long.

The human that had earlier woken them returned, as usual, to deliver their breakfast. Except… he didn’t have it with him.

“Where’s our food at?” Corvax asked, his voice sounding incredibly rough and scratchy as he spoke in galactic universal.

“You won’t be needing it. Back up to the back of the cell, really slowly.” The human guard said. Two more humans joined him, outfitted in power armor and holding Archon LR25s.

“What’s up with this shit?” Corvax asked, fists clenched. He had a bad feeling about this.

“On order of the base commander…” The unarmored guard began.
“, you two are to be executed by sensory shutdown.”

“WHAT!” Corvax screeched.

<W-what!> Piddry stuttered, eyes widening.

“You can’t do this! We get deserve a fair trial!” Corvax shouted angrily.
Sensory shutdown had been deemed the most efficient and humane means of execution by galactic society. All it did was sever the connection between the brain and the rest of the body. Apparently, it was almost like falling asleep. But Corvax had no intention of seeing if that rumor was true.

“This base, while under jurisdiction of the USF, is outside of USF space. The USF laws are guidelines at this point, and we have no desire to go through the lengthy process of a trial.” The guard continued.
“Yes, we know the stuff on your ship was stolen. Smuggling weapons of that power is a crime punishable by life imprisonment, but we can’t afford that here. You’re both criminal scum. The galaxy doesn’t need you, and it doesn’t want you. There’s nothing you have to offer it that would make it better. And we’re doing it a favor by putting you two down.”
With that being said, the guard brought down the barrier.
His two armored compatriots advanced into the cell, one going for Corvax and the other for Piddry.

Corvax of course made to fight back. He kicked with his taloned feet and made to actually bite the guard with his beak, but the human was well armored, and the attacks just annoyed him.
Piddry, despite his simply standing there in shock at what was happening, was roughly handled by his guard, who moved about securing his arms behind him as if it were a machine behind the armor.
Soon, the two had their feathered arms cuffed, neither of them able to believe this was happening.

“Take them to the shutdown room. Make it quick and painless.” The unarmored guard said before turning to walk away.

“What, too soft to do it yourself!?” Corvax shouted after him.

The guard didn’t even stop at that remark, soon disappearing around the corner.

~~~~~

Piddry was shaking and crying all the way to the room.

<Just shut up…> Corvax hissed at him, trying to keep him calm.
<You’re going to get out of this just fine.>

<Nn-n-n-n-n…?> He tried to say, but whatever words he’d tried to form quickly disappeared with his terrified stuttering.

“Hey.” Corvax said to the guards roughly escorting him to wherever they were going.
“Yes, I’m the smuggler. But this guy, my brother, he had nothing to do with it. He’s only 19. He’s got a lot of life left. Let him go, take me instead.” Corvax tried to reason.
But the guards remained silent, not even acknowledging he’d spoken. Almost as if they were soulless drones.

They group soon arrived at the room they were meant to go to. A single chair sat in the middle of the small area, five metal cuffs on it. Two on the armrests, two near the floor for ankles, and one for the neck. Clearly, it had been designed for humans rather than any other species. Off to the side was a body disposal chute. So, Corvax wouldn’t even get a proper Teth passing ceremony?

“You first.” One of the guards said. But it hadn’t been Corvax they had been talking to.

“No!” Corvax shouted as Piddry’s guard pushed him forward.
“He’s innocent! Let him go! He didn’t do anything wrong!” He practically screamed.

Piddry was crying out as well, shouting <No!> repeatedly while trying to run, but his small Teth build was no match for human strength.
The guard pushed him into the chair, securing one of his legs to keep him stationary before moving about to secure the rest of him in the magnetic cuffs

Once the small bird alien was secured to the chair, the human walked over to the control panel off to the side, beginning to input the settings.

“Do you have any last words?” The guard asked as he typed away at the console.
Piddry was too an emotional wreck to even nod or shake his head.

And with that, the guard started up the machine.
The headrest behind Piddry’s head lit up, beginning to vibrate as the process powered up.

Piddry clenched his eyes shut, tears dripping down his face.

<Don’t worry! I’ll see you at the end of all of this!> Corvax called to him.
<I told you, everything’s going to be just fine!>

Piddry opened his eyes for one last second just in time to see his brother. And then… blackness.

~~~~~

“Long range radar is down.”

“I can’t reach any other military bases.”

“The central power grid is fried.”

The central command of the base was in disarray. Military personnel, all human, were running about, trying to figure out just what was going on. Their entire network was a mess, some kind of screaming noise blasting out whenever any kind of radio contact was made. Luckily the command center was EMP hardened and possessed its own backup power grid. Why was this lucky? Because the rest of the base had just gone completely dark. Out of the 300 or so soldiers stationed at the base, only 20 were in the command center. That left a whole lot of them in the dark with no way of finding out what was happening. Even the ones outside in the protective dome of oxygen around the base weren’t any better off, as with the base being on a moon, there was just the blackness of space in the sky.

“Can we re-route power from non-essential systems to at least power the lights?”

“We don’t have non-essential systems here.”

“We do now. Re-route from the comms. They’re fried anyway.”

“Yes sir. Re-routing.”

Soon, the lights all over the base were coming back on, though slightly dimmer than usual brightness. That included the spotlights outside used for guiding in ships at night. And the lights were currently illuminating quite the spectacle.

“Mother of God…” One of the soldiers muttered, removing his glasses to make sure his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him. But unfortunately, they weren’t.

Even with the low power, the high output spotlights illuminated several dull, grey ships descending towards the base. Their almost Zeppelin-like appearance was enough to identify just what they were dealing with.

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“The Shrall…” One of the men gasped.

The base commander rose from his chair.
“Sound the alarm. Get our fighter pilots into their ships. All other pilots are on evac duty.” He said.

“Yes sir!” The gathered men saluted, setting about their appointed tasks.

“All pilots, we’re under attack. A Shrall assault force is descending on the base. This is not a drill.”

One of the men present approached the base commander.
“Our fighters don’t have the firepower to take down Shrall troop carriers. At best, they’ll only delay them.”

The commander sighed.
“… I know. That’s why I’m staying here. This base is the only warning between the Shrall and the rest of the galaxy. If we can’t get out a warning that trouble’s coming, then some planet is going to be getting a nasty surprise. We need to get the comms back up. Find out what’s jamming them.”

“Uh… sir. You might want to take a look at this.”

The discussion ended as the commander turned towards the officer that had spoken. He was standing at one of the windows, a pair of high powered electronic binoculars in hand. He had been looking out the window until a few seconds ago.
The commander approached the man, who held out the binoculars for him.

“In the sky. I… think this is more than a terror attack.”

The commander stood against the window, looking up into the black void of space.
“Holy shit…”

Shrall ships. Thousands of them. Dreadnaughts and capital ships, all poised towards Oculus 5.
“You’re right. This is no terror attack. This is an act of war.”

~~~~~

Piddry had expected… something to happen. Maybe the white light often talked about. Maybe even something like him just appearing in the room he died in as a ghost. But all he saw was blackness. He could even still feel the restraints of the chair on his wrists and ankles. If this was death, then it was boring. Would he be like this for eternity? Just feeling every sensation his body went through from now on? No… he could still move his fingers. Then… was he alive? Did he have some kind of immunity to sensory shutdown?

“Did we blow a fuse or something?” The voice of one of the human guards asked.

“We shouldn’t have. That thing’s no electric chair.”

Seconds later, the lights returned, though slightly dimmer.
Corvax sighed in relief, seeing his brother was still alive.

“Emergency power.” The guard sighed.
“That chair’s as dead as a brick.”

“Well what do we do now? We can’t kill them.”

“We can with a gun.”

“We’re breaking enough laws as it is trying to execute them humanely without a trial. I’m not risking court martial just to…”

The two guards jumped a little as the intercom crackled with static before delivering a low quality message.
“All pilots, we’re under attack. A Shrall assault force is descending on the base. This is not a drill.”

The room suddenly felt a lot colder. The Shrall were infamous throughout the galaxy. Unarmored, they looked a lot like tall, buff humans, except for their rocky skin. But very rarely was one ever seen without its suit of full body armor. Corvax had actually once seen a Shrall eat another Teth before. Alive.

“Pilots… that’s me!” One of the guards said, snapping out of his shock.
“I’ve got to go!”

“Wait! what about these two?”

The guard whose pilot services had been requested looked to the two Teth in the room with him. He slowly drew his sidearm… and tossed it to the floor.

“Lock them in here. They can either use that to save themselves the agony of being eaten by the Shrall, or they can try and fight the bastards off, though I’m betting they’ll be smart enough to choose the first option.”

The guard in charge of Corvax released his grip on the Teth, though did nothing of the cuffs on his wrists.

“Let’s go.” He said to his partner, his rifle aimed at Corvax from the hip in case he tried anything before they’d gotten out. They backed out of the room, the door slid shut by one of them followed by a metallic thunk. They were locked in.

Corvax wasted no time, sitting down onto the floor and working his cuffed wrists out from behind his back, working the cuffs under his rump and down his legs until he brought them out in front of himself.
<Not that good at doing what they’re meant for, eh? Just like the species that made them.> Corvax chuckled to his brother, who was working on freeing himself. With the electricity out, the magnetic cuffs on the chair had lost power, and so were easily separable.

<There are Shrall coming…> Piddry said, as if he couldn’t believe it.

<Hey, it’s no big deal. Those guys left us a gun after all.> Corvax reassured, picking up the pistol.
<And so long as we avoid them, we don’t have to fight them.>
He strode over to the door, pressing the gun up to where the locking mechanism likely was.

<Might want to cover your ears Piddry, this thing might be a little loHOLY SHIT!>
Corvax cried out in pain, dropping the pistol. He’d definitely blasted through the lock with the gun, as there was a hole all the way through to the other side, but the recoil was too much for the brittle boned alien to handle.
<Shit, shit, shit… that’s why I like lasers better…> Corvax groaned, gripping his wrist.

Piddry finally finished freeing himself from the device that had earlier been designated to kill him, running over to his brother.
<Are you hurt?>

<Hell no. This is nowhere near as bad as the first time I tried shooting a human gun. And I held it with one hand that time.> Corvax waved off, retrieving the pistol.
<Buuut… I’m going to hold off on firing this unless I have to. Here, hang onto it while I open this.>

Crovax handed Piddry the pistol, the younger Teth holding it away from himself for fear he might set it off. Corvax dug his hands into the grooves on the door designed for opening in case of power loss, tugging the metal panel aside.

<Nnnngh… hah! Got it! We’re home free!> Corvax cheered, snatching the gun out of the relieved Piddry’s hand.
<Stay behind me, Piddry. No telling what the other guards might do if they see us, though hopefully they’ll be too busy to mess with us.>

And the guards certainly would be, as at that moment, another announcement was delivered over the intercom system, the voice sounding almost haunting with both its tone and the message it carried.

“All pilots, abort fighter launch! All pilots are now assigned to evac duty! Shrall dropships are touching down all over the base!”

~~~~~

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A squad of five soldiers trained their weapons on the door that was currently slowly turning orange as the hostiles on the other side of the door worked on melting through it. All of them were armed with Archon LR25s, though they wondered if that would be enough.

“Their shields are weaker near their heads, but it still takes a f***ton of rounds to bring one down. Keep your aim steady, and we’ll get through this.” One of the soldiers said.

The other four nodded slightly in confirmation, raising their weapons.
The door was red now, the heat clearly noticeable. And then it was completely disintegrated.

“Weapons free!”

The five soldiers immediately opened fire into the red haze, the green lasers of their rifles flickering on and off with their concentrated bursts. A loud cry of anger echoed through the hall over the quiet noise of the lasers. Seconds later, a single large form barreled through the ruined door right towards the soldiers.
The five scattered, but not before one of them took a clothesline from the Shrall trooper. And even after all this, the blue haze of its energy shield was still visible. They hadn’t even scratched it yet.
The Shrall, not even paying the others any attention, brought its heavily armored foot up before crushing the dazed soldier’s head under its foot. Blood splattered everywhere, reddening the surroundings even more. The Shrall then pulled a four barreled rifle from its back, the barrels spinning as the gun revved up before flinging a barrage of superheated metal scraps at the remaining soldiers. To say it killed them was an understatement. It shredded them to pieces, their armor not designed to withstand projectiles of that nature. The heat of lasers with the ballistic lethality of a rifle. That was the power behind Shrall weaponry.

Once the five soldiers, whose commendable bravery had been in vain, were disposed of, the rest of the Shrall troopers moved in. Each one wore a suit of ashen grey armor that hummed with their personal energy shield. They appeared almost human in stature, but that illusions was broken the minute one took off its helmet, revealing an obsidian skinned face with a large overbite and stony appearing skin. The one that took of its helmet approached one of the fallen soldiers, already working on tearing off pieces of flesh for food.

“Stop.”

The Shrall turned towards the sound of the voice. A figure dressed in full dark purple battle armor with red power lines running down it followed behind the group, an almost old fashioned looking sword at its waist.

“You will not feast until this moon is cleansed of infidel filth. Do I make myself clear?” The figure asked, looking right at the helmetless Shrall. It just grunted in response, putting its helmet back on.

“Good. Kill all you find, and take whatever you wish from this place.” The figure continued.

The Shrall all roared with triumph at this order. Not complicated to follow, and joyous to carry out. They began their hunt through the halls, the telltale sound of their weapons going off as they shredded whatever they found.
The purple armored figure had one specific task in mind though. He drew his sword, which began to hum and glow with an eerie light.
And then, in the blink of an eye, the figure was gone.

~~~~~

“How much longer?” The base ocmmander asked.

“Whatever is blocking our signal is more advanced than any Shrall tech I’ve seen before, but I just need three more minutes, and I’ll have our broadcast around it.” One of the tech officers informed.
“And once it gets through, the Shrall won’t be surprise attacking anyone. Not even they can stand up against the whole ISN.”

The base commander looked out from the window of the command center. The shields around the center, supplied by emergency batteries, would last only an hour. He could see the Shrall tearing apart whatever they could find. At the very least, ¾ of the evac shuttles were gone. But he wouldn’t be on one of them.

“The rest of you… get to your ships. I’ll stay here to make sure the signal gets through.” The commander said.

“Bu…”

“That’s an order.”

The command center fell silent, no one making to argue with their CO.

“Yes sir.” They remaining soldiers saluted, making to leave.
They unsealed the door, checking to make sure that no Shrall were lying in wait for them. The halls looked clear though. The Shrall hadn’t made it to this part of the base yet.

“All cle…” One of the soldiers started to say, but something cut him off. Quite literally in fact, as his head flew from his body. The crowd making to exit the command center leapt back, another soldier seemingly impaled by an invisible sword.

“Tsk tsk tsk… such unintelligence.”
The air seemed to shimmer, a spectral looking figure starting to take form before they began to solidify, revealing the purple armored figure from earlier.
“So… delicate.”

The soldiers all pulled their weapons out, opening fire on the figure. But what he didn’t deflect with his sword bounced off his armor, some even hitting other soldiers.

“Hold fire! We can’t afford to lose any systems!” The Commander shouted.

The figure looked at his wrist in a bored fashion, as if gazing at an imaginary watch.
“You know, I’ve always questioned that gesture I’ve sometimes seen watching your old entertainment programs, but I can infer that they’re pretending to look at your people’s time pieces, correct?” He chuckled, sheathing his sword.

“Who are you?” One of the soldiers asked.

“Ah yes, the cliché question of who I am? What next, are you going to wait for me to gloat about my “villainous plan” and go into extensive detail as to how to stop it?”
The armored figure walked towards the surviving soldiers, still not bringing out a weapon though.
“I owe you nothing. No explanation as to why I’m here, or why I’m going to kill you. You will die in ignorance of WHY you had to die. That death, I feel, is worse than any other. I’m uncertain what your faith is, but I hope for irony’s sake that you believe in nothing. That seems to be the belief resulting in the tales of confused spirits haunting areas of great tragedy, such as this one. Who knows, you may have a book written about you someday.”

There was a ping as another bullet bounced off his armor.
“Can I not have a chance for at least a monologue?” He sighed, turning towards the base commander, who had a heavy pistol pointed at him.

“Get the hell out of my command center.” He hissed, teeth gritted.

“Or what? That’s the question, isn’t it? There is nothing you can do to me. You lack the firepower to pierce my suit, and if you’d like to have a debate about philosophy so as to crush my spirit, I’m afraid you’d lose. I’ve studied the religious texts of every religion of every species. I doubt you barely know anything about your own faith, whatever it may be.” The figure scoffed.
“Now, if you’ll please just not interfere for a few minutes, I have some business to take care of.”

The figure, ignoring everyone else in the room, advanced on the tech officer.
“No, wait!” He panicked, standing out of his chair. But the figure grabbed his head in one of his hands, and twisted it with an audible snap. The tech officer collapsed to the floor, dead. The figure passed his hand over the control panel, which soon had several error notifications pop up, one of which read “connection failed.”

“Your military, I’m afraid, will be caught quite off guard by the Shrall’s arrival.”
But as he turned around, he got a nasty pistol whip across his helmet by the base commander. Even with the helmet on, the impact dazed the figure for a brief second. But that second was over all too shortly.
With a cry of anger, the figure drew his sword and ran it through the base commander.

“Take him… down!” The commander managed to gasp out.

The soldiers all opened fire with their weapons. The ballistics weren’t of much worry to the armored man, but the lasers that were heating up his armor were. He’d known people to be cooked alive inside their suits by continued laser fire.
He stretched out his hand, and the Archon LR25s exploded in their grip, bathing their wielders in superheated plasma and fire. With incredible speed and precision, the figure lunged at each soldier and cut them down. Where a normal, metal sword wouldn’t have stood a chance against their armor, this figure’s sword cut through them like a knife through butter. Soon, the floor was littered with the bodies of the dead humans. His job was done.

“Th-th-there…”
The figure turned, chuckling lightly.

“You should feel proud. Not many could survive a stab such as that from this blade.” He said, wiping the blood from it.

“There is no… gloom or d-d-deep darkness… where evildoers may… hide themselves…” The commander gasped.

“I’m well aware of that. But consider this. What if I’m not evil, and you’re in the wrong here?” The figure spat.
“Your kind fights, kills, and rapes each other. My kind does no such thing. There is no murder that goes unpunished, no evil that does not receive justice. Our society is perfect in every way imaginable. If I didn’t know better, I’d say your kind is the evildoers. And there is nowhere you can hide from Orphan, the son of Benevassus.” The figure boasted. But the commander just laughed, blood starting to drip from his mouth.

“You’ll get yours… you bastard… and I feel sorry for you…”

“I don’t need your pity!”
The armored figure drove his sword through the commander’s head, silencing him.
“Orphan has decreed your deaths, and who are we to go against him?”

~~~~~

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<Why the hell did they have to make this place so big!> Corvax shouted, a round from a Shrall rifle missing him as he and Piddry skidded around the next corner. As Teth, their speed was unrivaled by any other of the intelligent species. The Shrall stood no chance at pursuit. But they did have strength in numbers, and the brothers had no idea where they were going.

<Stop shouting. They’ll be able to find us easier.> Piddry hissed worriedly. He wasn’t as athletically fit as Corvax, but relatively speaking, he was still pretty fast.

<Like they can hear us over those guns of theirs! Seriously, do those things ever run out of ammo?>

Corvax, his hands still cuffed and gripping the gun, skidded to a stop upon passing by a small observation window.
<Ha! Look, there she is!> Corvax cheered, seeing the familiar sight of his ship, The Zulu, landed in what appeared to be some kind of maintenance hangar.
<Still in one piece. It even looks like they gave her a good cleaning.>

<How do we get to it though?> Piddry asked. So far, the duo had seen no unlocked doors. The entire base had basically gone into lockdown.

<Piddry, come on. I thought you were supposed to be the smart one here?>

Corvax raised the pistol, firing two shots into the glass. The first one compromised its integrity, and the second one smashed right through it. The breeze of artificial air generated by atmosphere simulators on the moon flowed through, Corvax taking a second to enjoy it. Though once that second was over, he got to knocking away any sharp pieces of the remaining glass. Honestly, he didn’t care how cut up his own hands got from this, so long as it meant safety.

<There, climb through.> Corvax said, ushering Piddry towards the window. Once again, the genetic advantages of being a Teth came to light as Piddry managed to squeeze through the space that would generally be difficult for any other species.

<Here, help me through will you?> Corvax said, tossing the firearm through the window first before following his brother out. Piddry helped pull Corvax through, trying to be gentle enough so as to not get him cut on any of the glass lying about.
At long last though, the two were through, and their escape all but assured.

<Run!> Corvax hissed, grabbing up his weapon and making an all out sprint towards his ship, Piddry right behind him. But Corvax skidded to a stop as his path and another’s crossed, the both of them heading for the same ship.
“You…” Corvax said, absolute hatred in his voice.
Standing in front of him was the same human who’d been in charge of his execution.

“You two? You managed to escape?” The human exclaimed, his face having gone completely pale.

“Yeah, no thanks to you.” Corvax continued, the gun in his hand twitching slightly. The human, however, was unarmed.
<Piddry… start up the ship. I’d like to have a chat with this guy.>

<Corvax… are you going to kill him?” Piddry asked.

<No, no. Nothing like that. Like I said, just talking.> Corvax reassured his brother.
<You remember where the backup latch is, don’t you?>

<Yeah, I do.> Piddry nodded. He approached the underside of the ship, running his hand along it until he found one specific place on it. With a sharp shove of his hand, the hatch leading up into the ship slowly swung open, Piddry disappearing up the lowered metal ladder shortly.
That taken care of, Corvax turned his attention back to the human.

“Look… I’m sorry. I was just following…”

“Orders? Yeah, I hear that a lot.” Corvax said coldly.
“I like to follow orders too, you know. Specifically, ones from my brain. Like this one.”
Without any indication of his intents beforehand, Corvax’s weapon snapped up and fired into the human’s knee. Without any armor, the bullet tore right through the bone and muscle, the human collapsing onto the ground.
“See? I was just following orders too? Doesn’t make it right though, does it?”

“Please… don’t kill me!” The human begged, arm extended in a pleading gesture.

“Oh, I’m not going to kill you.” Corvax chuckled. He then fired the weapon into his other knee.

The guard cried out in agony, sobbing hysterically from the pain.

“There. That leaves about… one shot left.” Corvax said, checking to see if that were true. It was. He tossed the gun to the ground, barely out of reaching distance of the human.
“You can either use that to save yourself the agony of being eaten by the Shrall, or you can try and fight the bastards off, though I’m betting you’ll be smart enough to choose the first option.” He voiced, a wicked grin on his face.
“Payback sure is a bitch, isn’t it?”

Satisfied with his work, Corvax turned and entered his ship, the engines already powered up and ready for flight.

“I thought you said you wouldn’t kill him?” Piddry said, sounding both sad and angry.

“I didn’t kill him. He’s still alive down there. For now anyways.” Corvax said nonchalantly, exchanging seats with Piddry at the pilot’s seat.
“We’ll head to Dealer’s Station. I’ve got a buddy there that can help us lay low until this whole Shrall thing blows over.”

But it wouldn’t just blow over.
As Corvax’s ship took flight, leaving the human to die, the thousands of Shrall ships in orbit around Oculus 5 were already making FTL jumps to their destinations. The generals had been assigned their targets. The Shrall would carve themselves an empire on the dust and ruins of the planets under control by the Inter-Species Navy. And Corvax and Piddry weren’t the only ones whose lives had been effected by the Shrall attack. In the following days, several others would have their lives rocked by the onslaught of the Shrall war machine.
They, like Corvax and Piddry, would know the sorrow of losing their family.

Spoiler! :
And so it begins. Brought to you by the creator of PMD and the Seventeen Plates, I present you Orphan. A Sci Fi adventure spanning this galaxy I’ve dreamed up.
First things first, character creation. Use this template to create your character for the SB.

Name:

Gender:

Age: (At least make your character 18 and up. Anything younger, and they would likely not last long)

Species: (Refer to the list of alien species in the DT. Pick any of the options except for Shrall)

Home Planet: (Where you start. Choose from any of the primary planets listed.)

Personality:

Appearance:

Strengths:

Weaknesses:

Other:

No need to provide a history for a character here. That can all be covered in your initial post. And what will that follow exactly? The general theme is that your character will witness the ferocity of the Shrall invaders as they spread across the galaxy, attacking many planets. (Note: Nuvia will be attacked, but won’t be taken over, so your character can still start there.)

Romance between characters is not only allowed, but encouraged. (Nothing graphic though. Keep it PG13 in that regard.)

I hope to hear from you all. Let this great space adventure commence!
Last edited by Robusto on Sun Nov 15, 2015 6:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.





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Sun Nov 15, 2015 5:05 pm
TheSilverFox says...



From The Heavens Come Flames


Odonai, Grid Segment #35, The City of Estilany

He was at the university when it happened.

<Now, if you would observe the components of the device,> lectured his professor in the futuristic style room. The small space, with a window to the side that looked outwards upon the university grounds and the prosperous city of Estilany beyond, was an empty, whitewashed room. The only thing of interest was the center, where stationed was a circular desk with two chairs on either end. The teacher sat in one, and the student in the other. A hologram was visible above the center of the table; a blue spherical object inserted into the middle of the table had produced it.

Hstiv jotted down a series of notes with two of his hands while the other two assisted in the teacher in manipulating the hologram, dividing the hologram-made object of focus – a small, square robot – into its individual pieces, which the professor then explained about. Hstiv focused attentively, nodding as the teacher provided an explanation for each piece, as well as noting each of the major components of the little contraption. While his two largest eyes worked on that, the two smaller ones, which had opened from their slits when the lesson began, received the information and transferred it to the small notebook below.

<As you can already tell,> stated the professor, <the Jen-Kor are absolute masters of devising machines, thanks in part to their incredible intellect and capabilities. In spite of its small stature and almost too simple composition, the robot is capable of performing a wide variety of tasks, such as the assisting in transportation of goods from one land-based facility to another, assisting in combat situations, and even…>

Vwhoooooooooooooooooommmmmmm!

The professor hesitated. Something out of the corner of her eye had caught her attention, and she did a double-take close to the end of her lecture. She moved aside her chair as she stood up, staring fixatedly at something outside. Hstiv, who, for a couple of seconds, was too wrapped up in writing down information to notice his professor’s odd behavior, saw the look of concern and absolute horror on his teacher’s face. He repeated her actions, curious and astonished by her behavior, warily stepping towards the window. Hstiv wasn’t exactly sure what to expect, or what his professor, who he’d always known as a person who was usually stoic and firm, not often changing her emotions from that solidness, was seeing. However, he inched cautiously towards the window, and peeked outwards.

All four of his eyes opened and closed at the same time. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. His little notebook and pencil fell to the floor as he gazed upon what was happening beyond.

The city looked graceful, like it normally did. Large towering structures extended in front of them, the futuristic-styled buildings extending far away from the university towards the horizon. The area looked pristine, elegant, and beautiful, as always. But that was not the problem. The gardens around the university were trimmed neatly, comprised of elegant fountains and pools and dotted with all kinds of shrubbery and plant life from Odonai and other worlds. It was perfectly untouched too. Yes, it wasn’t the problem either. The problem was the way that those giant, gray, almost zeppelin-shaped structures were descending from the sky and landing upon different spots of the city. And the way that everything was so quiet.

There were no more people on the streets. There were no more people at the gardens. The normal crowd that strolled through the landscape was utterly gone, replaced by a dead, almost fearful and tense, and certainly unnerving silence as those giant ships came down from the sky. And when some of them landed, making those loud vwhoomnoises, Hstiv could see smoke begin to rise into the air. He could see members of the Abilad race – his fellow citizens - far off as little specks, running and running and hiding and climbing. And then came the flames. The soldiers, the aliens in their bulky armor and guns. And then came the shooting. And then came the blood.

And then came the screams, shattering the silence.

<How…> mumbled the professor, who was as dumbfounded and shocked as Hstiv was. <The Shrall…this…this can’t be. This…it shouldn’t…>

<Hello, anybody here!?>

A tall, lean Abilad man burst open the door into the room and gazed upon the professor and student, who stared with expressions of pure shock out the window. Neither bothered looking at him, so awestruck were they by the violence and death taking place below them, as the bulky aliens shot and murdered their kin below, that they were rooted to the window, unable to look away despite their best efforts. However, the man shouted at the bottom of them, “the Shrall are attacking! They’ve bested the military base stationed in the city, and are invading the town!” In spite of the fact he was a minute too late, and both the teacher and student had already surmised the obvious, his yelling wrenched them from their dazed stupor, and they stared at him.

<Come on, then,> said the professor after a second of silence, while staring at the man. She grabbed Hstiv by the arm and began to drag him away. <We need to get out of here. Now.> She bellowed these words with her commanding voice, tinged with hints of disgust and absolute fear. After all, the Abilad weren’t exactly known as the bravest race out in the galaxy. However, Hstiv was embroiled in the thoughts of his stunned mind, and would not budge from his spot. The surprise had all but jarred his mind, leaving it blank and absentminded. Thus, he acted entirely unresponsive, his four eyes staring continuously out the window, and upon the streets that were turning red with blood.

<There’s a transport ship stationed at the back of the university,> said the man quickly, gesturing in the opposite direction from the window. He was evidently quite nervous, the sweat falling down his face rapidly and soaking his spider-like hair. His voice was high-pitched, and it gave the impression that if something else went wrong – although, most likely a fear that the Shrall would attack the university before the transport ship left - he would lose all that remained of his courage and scurry down the halls all the way towards the ship he had described. Which, given the Abilad’s habits, was an accurate description. <But it’s leaving soon. We can only reach it if we go now.>

<You hear that, Mr. Ghioran?> said the professor as she craned her head behind her to stare at her student, still holding his hand. <We. Need. To. Go. Now.> She tugged at his hand with each word she spoke, but the effort was fruitless.

This is my city. The thought popped into Hstiv’s otherwise blank, rattled mind, bringing him to his senses. This is my city, and somehow it is burning. Somehow, my friends, my family, my relatives are being slaughtered on the streets by an army that should’ve never come here, and should’ve never been able to come here. And…my parents!

<No,> said Hstiv, ripping his hand free from the professor’s.

<What?> replied the professor, more out of astonishment than out of anger.

<Umm, seriously, we have to go pretty soon here. Umm, you know, so we can…uh…live?> said the man at the door’s entrance, looking about him nervously. He sweated profusely again.

<I’m not leaving,> said Hstiv with a determination that even he hadn’t suspected he had within him, much less the teacher or the man at the door. <My city is burning, and I need to find my parents.>

<I get it,> replied the professor, <But don’t you understand what you’re seeing? The Shrall are murdering people out there. I’ve studied enough history to know that they show their enemies no mercy, and they certainly won’t give a damn that you’re out there looking for your parents. They are going to tear your limb from limb, and I’m being literal here. You don’t stand a chance, and I’m sure your parents, given their prestige in the community, are already dead themselves. After all, the Shrall always love to take out their most important targets as soon as they possibly can.>

<I don’t care,> replied Hstiv, <I’m looking for them.>

<It’s going to be in vain,> replied the professor with an unshakable seriousness. <Please, don’t waste your life for people who’ve already died. Come with me, and I’ll see to it that you live, and I’ll see to it that everybody I can help will live as well.>

<No!> shouted Hstiv. His teacher, unprepared, could only watch as he dodged her outstretched hand and bolted out the door, shoving away and knocking over the Abilad man. The professor rushed out of the room, screaming as loud as she could <Hstiv! Stop! Stop! Hstiv! HSTIV!>

But it was too late. The teacher had only just enough time to watch her student speed along the walls, which had rough edges on purpose, so as to facilitate members of the Abilad race to have more than one way by which to traverse the halls, and vanished out of sight around a corner.

<Hstiv!> she yelled one last time after a few seconds. She did this tentatively, more of an attempt to see if he had actually changed his mind and returned. Or, as she hoped with an unwarranted optimism, he might also still be in hearing range, and perhaps she could be able to capture his attention and persuade him to return with his life intact. Unfortunately, whether he ignored her or he simply wasn’t there, he did not respond.

He was gone. She had lost him. Her heart sank with the realization.

She had lost him.


****

Thankfully, the hover board was located at the position where Hstiv had left it, which was close to the entrance of the university. He was elated by this; it meant nobody had stolen the possession during the rapid retreat instigated by the Shrall invasion. Of course, the hover board’s anti-theft system had likely made sure of that, as it always did. Besides, as he knew, who would want to steal something located within view of where the Shrall were attacking, thus exposing themselves to potential fire and placing themselves at the place in the university of most risk of attack? Undoubtedly, most everyone had fled towards the back of the university upon sight of the death, as far away from the front entrance as could be possible, and it was doubtful anybody had paid that hover board any attention.

Hstiv leaped onto the hover board that lay on the ground, and his touch activated the device instantly. It rose into the air with a beautiful humming sound, the blue spheres attached to the front and back of the white board spinning and producing the energy that caused the contraption to levitate. Hstiv smiled briefly – he had made it himself, using some of the parts from one of his father’s ships (much to the annoyance of his father, though the man let the incident slide, due to the convenience it provided for Hstiv), and it was great to see how wonderfully it was working - and directed the hover board forward.

Hstiv knocked the doors of the university open, and sped down the gardens towards the tall walls that fringed the university. As he did so, his heart began to beat rapidly, his nerves taking ahold of him particularly when he saw the few Shrall that were approaching the gates that were the university’s main entrance, their guns in hand. His terror consumed him. He was within sight; they could attack him, and the rest of the university, at any moment. However, his worry about the safety of his parents, the largest and most powerful feeling he had ever known, awakened by this terrible crisis and unwilling to stop because of anything, superseded that fear, and so he sped forward at them and the gates.

“Fire!” ordered one of the Shrall in its gruff, primitive sounding voice, using the universal tongue of the galaxy (which Hstiv suspected was done to intimidate him), and Hstiv watched in horror as an assortment of shots were fired in his direction. Hstiv, reacting quickly, manipulated his hover board. Using the series of controls that were located at the front of the hover board, and which had appeared when Hstiv first activated the machine, Hstiv made the hover board continue straight and curve in an elaborate arc. He dodged the flurry of bullets and lasers as he sped, now upside down, now right side up. This swirling motion confused the assembled Shrall, and they swiftly dodged as he rose above and beyond the university gates, climbing high into the sky.

A few more shots rang out, but Hstiv, being high above the perpetrators and having a sufficient amount of time to dodge them, quite easily dodged the shots.

Beneath him, the city was in shambles. Flames and smoke now embroiled many of the previous beauteous structures, stripping them bare and leaving them as ash-covered wreckages. Many of the Shrall warships had landed upon Estilany, crushing an assortment of structures, and now thousands, if not tens of thousands, of the alien warriors were engaging in a ferocious war on the streets below. Hstiv, though every instinct in him told him to not look down, not only because of the heights, but of the carnage as well, couldn’t help but stare down with a morbid curiosity. His eyes were fixated upon the blood that poured down the streets, the bodies of Abilad as they were slayed and crushed by the fists and guns of the Shrall, and the way that his people were suffering beneath him.

The massacre persisted, though every inch of his body wished he could will all of the opponents to stop, to flee, to perish. Abilad were thrown out windows, shot on the streets, their homes and families slaughtered before their eyes. And Hstiv saw it all.

However, he could not continue to look for much longer. Hstiv’s high position meant that he was both free from the main massacre, but he was also a sitting duck. He was exposed, high in the air, with no place to take cover or flee. For the Shrall who spotted the fleeing figure in the sky, he was the perfect target. A few more shots rang out from below, though Hstiv dodged them. Due to this hearing the angered hissing of the Shrall below, Hstiv’s nerves were now all completely shot, he willed the hover board to shoot ahead to his destination as fast as possible. Yes, he needed to find his parents as soon as possible, and get away from the crisis with equal rapidity. The last thing he needed was to be shot from the sky, and then experience the same horrors that those victims of the slaughter below were facing. Too, he squinted and looked straight ahead, making sure that he would not try to observe the carnage below and hesitate on his quest.

And then, after a short time…Lo! Off to the distance, Hstiv could see a palatial estate located at the edge of a cliff. The massive structure, fashioned more like a palace and contrasting with the futuristic styles of the neighboring buildings, loomed large at the border between Estilany and the ocean, otherwise known as the cliff. Hstiv’s heart leapt up with joy when he recognized the place – he had seen it far too many times to not mistake it as the very place where his family lived – and then his heart sank. To his horror, a Shrall ship had docked at the large docking bay attached to the side of his family’s home.

No, he thought,I’m too late. It’s too late. He watched with a teary-eyed sadness as he slowly descended from his high perch in the sky, heading towards the now-shattered building. Almost all of the windows had been cracked, and flames emanated from some of the rooms, releasing plumes of smoke into the air. He saw, with horror, the way that the place had been systematically torn to shreds, and could even see blood stains on one of the lower floors of the house. His strong feeling, upon this revelation, collapsed into pieces, and the cowardice and fear that had so strongly clung onto him, but had been repulsed by the superior feeling, claimed its position at the center of Hstiv’s heart. What he heard next did not help.

“…Child…” the words came, with great static, from the communicator located among the controls of Hstiv’s hover board. The voice was quite clearly Shrall, and this destroyed Hstiv’s last hopes. After all, he had established a communication system with one place, and one place only; his home. If they were able to talk to him, they had either managed to hack into his communications system and taken ahold of it, or they had reached the system located in the house. Given the large ship and the destroyed landscape, Hstiv guessed the latter, and it was this fact, as well as the next works spoken, that made clear what had happened to his family. “...give…up…fool” The voice was in a horribly broken version of the universal language. “Family...dead…”

Hstiv was silent, the force of the words stunning him. This did not appease the Shrall on the other end, who responded with an aggressive, angry tone of voice, disappointed by Hstiv’s lack of a response.

“…No? …You…next…”

A series of shots rang out from the docking area. Hstiv dodged, but was shocked to see over a dozen Shrall warriors, with many others rushing out from the house and from the ship, aiming and firing at him. He once again manipulated the hover board, performing elaborate loops and swirls in the air as the Shrall began to fire at him with a greater persistency and intensity.

At this point, he didn’t know what to do. His parents were dead, that was for sure; the invaders made clear of that. Thus, his major reason for having coming was gone. Too, there was no way that he was going to be able to return from where he had come from. By now, the transport ship had probably escaped from the realm of the university, which was surely being stormed as he pondered. Of course, he reminded himself, the transport ship might have been destroyed, and so he might’ve died had he listened to his professor and gone with her. It was a pathetically small comfort to know that he might’ve been right, however. After all, his hope was crushed, and it seemed likely that he was going to die. He could probably continue to evade the Shrall’s fire for quite some time, but was aware that he would eventually make some sort of a mistake and pay dearly for it. Thus, he needed a plan of action, and so he scanned his brain, activating every though he could possibly find and seeing how it could come in handy.

And that’s when he spotted his father’s transport ship on the docking bay.

Hstiv aimed for it. He sped towards the docking bay in a series of arcs, once again confusing the Shrall below. A flurry of shots spun and flew around him, but he dodged them all with an expert precision. The ship was his last hope. He knew he could control it quite well, and he knew that he could probably outfly and outshoot the Shrall invaders with it. It was his final opportunity to live, and he knew he had to take it if he wanted to.

However, rather than aiming for the larger craft directly, Hstiv dived towards the assembled Shrall force. They didn’t event suspect for a second where his true intentions were until he suddenly veered to the right in front of them, disorienting and confusing many of them. Nonetheless, several of them fired along his route of progress, though they were unable to strike the man down at close range, so good were his abilities with the hover board.

Hstiv dived towards the transport ship. He pressed a switch on the hover board, and the door leading to the interior of the ship activated with a sudden hiss. Yes, this hover board certainly had numerous features, and many a connection with Hstiv’s other devices, and this transport ship, technically, was his; thus, it made perfect sense that they were connected. His father had let him own that transport ship, given the fact that the business wasn’t doing too well, and there were a couple of spare ships that weren’t being used. Hstiv, who, even then, had a great interest in machines, was more than happy to posit the offer, and even more so when his father relented, after a lot of persuasion, and had allowed him to use it. And now, the Abilad man noticed, it was finally going to be used for something more important than anything it had ever been used for before.

The Abilad man pressed a button, deactivating the hover board. He leaped off it and into the transport ship, and the hover board landed nicely and gently in the interior. Hstiv dashed towards the pilot’s seat at the front of the small transport ship and sat down, pressing a series of buttons in front of him. The door behind him closed with another hiss, and a blue shield appeared in front of the transport ship. The Shrall, who had begun to fire upon the ship within seconds of Hstiv’s arrival, saw their shots bounce off of the craft’s front, much to their annoyance. Hstiv could hear hissing, and noises of frustration, as the Shrall poured hundreds of shots into the transport ship’s shield. In spite of that, the Abilad man breathed a sigh of relief when he realized that they were not threatening him anymore, and felt even better when, after a quick investigation of the controls and the ship’s gauges, the ship was entirely intact and running well. However, that relief soon turned in anxiety when he realized that the shield was beginning to be chipped and shrunk in size, thanks to the Shrall’s ferocity and persistence.

<Fine,> he grumbled, deciding to do something entirely and totally stupid. <It’s about time I taught these b******* a lesson they’ll never forget.> He, having activated the ship’s engine, pressed a hand on the accelerator, and began to increase the acceleration of the ship, making it zoom forwards at the Shrall attackers. The shield chipped, and some parts broke and flew off, but Hstiv persisted. He was not about to give up, especially not with revenge on his mind and tears on his face. He was going to make them pay dearly for what they had done. Hstiv laughed as he did this, one mixed with sorrow and redemption, and the assault, to the surprise of the Shrall, began.

The fighters, who realized a few seconds too late what Hstiv was attempting to do, struggled to jump away. Fortunately for Hstiv, only a few were able to; the rest were crushed and thrown off the docking bay, and into the ocean, by the force of the transport ship’s impact. Though Hstiv doubted, given his knowledge of the Shrall’s strong armor, that he had successfully wiped out most of them, it brought him a little payback to have invoked such revenge on those who had been responsible for his family’s demise. However, Hstiv could not enjoy his revenge for long; already, some of the Shrall who had escaped the brunt of his wrath were beginning to rise from the ground and preparing to shoot again. He knew that he had to flee, and flee as soon as possible, or his shield would break, and he might die with it.

Hstiv, whose rage, having been sated and even gorged, was now replaced with the sorrow of his loss, which was not yet satisfied, cried as he pressed a series of buttons in the ship, causing it to begin to rise high into the air. The high acceleration of the craft earlier, which had been only but slightly interfered with by the large, living mass that he had just collided into, allowed him to shoot off of the docking bay, far away from the place that he had known as his home for the past nineteen years. Until now, of course.
He accelerated high into the sky, too far away for the Shrall to even consider firing upon him. A series of words appeared on a screen to the side of where he sat at the pilot’s controls. You are attempting to exit the atmosphere of the planet Odonai, correct? Would you like to initiate FTL travel? The words on the hologram said. Hstiv’s two smaller eyes opened from their slits and focused upon the words. Two of Hstiv’s hands, in turn, reached for the keyboard-like structure beneath the screen and typed, in response, yes.

Coordinates?

Hstiv though about this for a moment. Tears continuing to stream down from his four eyes, he typed a brief response.

Take me as far away from here as possible. If you detect Shrall life forms on any of the planets that we reach, do not land. Only land when you are sure that the Shrall are not, in any shape or form, on or near the planet.

As you wish.

And, with a quick burst, Hstiv vanished from the sky. From the planet.

From the lost live he’d once lived.
S'io credesse che mia risposta fosse
a persona che mai tornasse al mondo,
questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse.
Ma per ciò che giammai di questo fondo
non tornò vivo alcun, s'i' odo il vero,
senza tema d'infamia ti rispondo.

Inferno, Canto 27, l 61-66.





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Wed Nov 18, 2015 3:04 am
Poopsie says...



Revan stood in the courtyard surrounded by hulking armored brutes and other various assortments of bounty hunters as they watched the fleets of enormous Shrall cruisers entering the atmosphere of the small Dealers station. The Zimbar imperials had already abandoned their post, favoring their lives more than their control over the station. Revan looked to his left where Alek was standing. The twenty seven year old yule bounty hunter was staring up in shock.

''Whats wrong buddy.'' Revan asked. Alek continued staring at the Shrall fleet.

''This shouldn't be happening. The Shrall...they should still be in a civil war.''

Revan looked back up at the slowly approaching Shrall fleet. The shadows of the enemy ships blotted out the sky, putting the station into darkness. Revan put a hand around his friend.

''Don't worry buddy, we still got the Avalon. I bet she'll outrun those bulky Shrall cruisers. Alek didn't look too convinced.

Vwoom, pods began breaking off from the massive cruisers and plummeting down to the ground. The crowd began to dissipate, each bounty hunter bolting for their ship. Revan shared a look with Alek and they both ran for the Avalon.

One by one, the pods began smashing into the ground. Fully armored Shrall emerged from them, carbines blasting. One pod landed right in front of Revan and Alek. Revan deftly grabbed his gun, rolled into a crouching position, and fired a few rounds into into the pod, killing the Shrall inside. More pods landed, blocking Revan, Alek, and the rest of the bounty hunters from the Dealer Station's hangar. Revan activated his boosters and dashed into cover. Laser fire shot past around him. Revan quickly switched between enemies, killing them before they had a chance to shoot back. He looked back to where Alek was crouching.

''They're falling back.'' Alek nodded, then dashed towards the opening in the Shrall Ranks, activating his shield and spear heading the assault. The Shrall line was soon overrun. Inside the hangar, dozens of ships lined up in long gleaming lines. Revan quickly located the Avalon. It stood a few rows down, painted in black and orange. Revan jumped into the cockpit and looked for Alek. He was behind him, a few rows back. Revan reached out,

Bang

Revan watched Alek fell, a laser shot through his head with grim accuracy. In the midst of the Shrall line stood an elaborately armored Shrall commander, his carbine smoked as he aimed it at Revan. Revan pressed a button and the Avalon's shield was raised just in time to deflect the shot. Revan piloted the Avalon as it shot up into the night sky, away from the Shrall fleet. Revan looked back as the Dealers Station, it had been completely surrounded by Shrall ships now. If Revan could cry he would've shed tears of anger. He would have revenge on the Shrall. He'd hunt them all down. They would run in fear. Revan bought up the map of the solar system and picked out the closest Shrall outpost.

''Take me to Oculus 5.''
The Poopsiest.

JOIN THE RABBIT SQUAD TODAY


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Sun Nov 22, 2015 7:14 am
StupidSoup says...



Xephos

There were shadows looming over the city.

Xephos gazed up at the ships, their massive bodies casting darkness across the once mighty skyscrapers. He reckoned the giant buildings had never had shadow over them save for the clouds.

Then again, He reckoned a lot of things.

From the ships, tiny stars fanned out, leaving a trail of smoke behind them as they fell to the ground. The stars, or rather drop pods, contained the Shrall.

The Shrall. Sworn enemies of every race, deadliest warriors, strongest weapons, able to kill thirty men in one short burst.

He had heard it all, the terrifying feats of strength the aliens showed, how their armor was nigh impenetrable. It didn't matter to him. He had something they didn't.

Xephos had time.

One of the drop pods slammed into the ground a few yards off. Instantly, massive grey shapes poured out, roaring in animalistic fervor. Xephos swung Rose casually around his finger and strolled forwards. The Shrall spotted him, and raised their guns to fire.

Time Shield set for two seconds

The enemies' flack thunked against the Rift and disappeared. The Shrall stopped firing, confused.

That was when the flack reappeared in their guns.

Instantly, the magazines exploded, destroying the massive weapons from the inside. Behind his mask, Xephos watched indifferently as the Shrall cried and flung the smoking remains of their guns away.

And he kept walking forwards.

The Shrall rushed him, enraged by their failure, fist raised.

Time Warp set for ten seconds

Xephos casually sidestepped the first blow, poking the Shrall in the chest. The next enemies kick passed under Xephos's arm, smacking the first Shrall's behind. Xephos let his hand slide along the enemies leg before taking a running start and leaping up to meet the third Shrall's head with his feet. The extra boost sent Xephos soaring a good ten feet into the air. The other Shrall rushed to meet him on the ground.

Suddenly, the first Shrall appeared in his original place, charging forwards. Except instead of barreling towards Xephos, he was barreling right into his ally's way.

The group of Shrall fell back, stumbling and tripping over their fallen comrades. Xephos calmly fell, feet outstretched.

He landed on one of the Shrall's necks, snapping it instantly with his metal boots.

Then the second Shrall attacker appeared right beside Xephos as he rose, leg outstretched in the process of kicking. Xephos calmly stepped aside and let the kick sail through the air to his one of the oncoming Shrall. Both of them fell over and Xephos caught Rose in his hand and slammed it to the ground.

Time Rift set for one minute

Instantly all the Shrall disappeared. Xephos calmly rose and watched the sky. Soon he could make out the ant like forms of his enemies falling form the sky.

See, a minute ago, all the Shrall were in their drop pod, falling at supersonic speeds to meet the ground. This time however, there was no drop pod.

He calmly stepped aside as the Shrall buried themselves into the ground. He turned slightly as their armor burst off and their bones snapped.

Xephos turned from the grizzly scene and strolled forwards once more. Briggup had once been a thriving jungle city. Now the massive skyscrapers were nothing more than burning husks.

Xephos couldn't really find himself caring. There was always life and death and there always would be life and death.

And he thought it was useless to die.
Last edited by StupidSoup on Wed Nov 25, 2015 6:26 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Mon Nov 23, 2015 3:18 am
jumpingsheep says...



Dizzy-- Planet Nuvia, Elke City, 7th District

"We've got ships incoming!" Dizzy yelled into the apartment.

The apartment she was informing was small and messy. It was only equipped for one or two inhabitants, and their group had five. The room was furnished with whatever the group had been able to scavenge from the rubble of Shrall bombings, meaning that everything in the place was charred or broken in some way.

The floor was made out of Celium, which was often used in the poorer housing units. Celium was a gel that was used to absorb dirt and other foreign matter, trapping it to keep the floor relatively clean. However, Celium changed color over time, and the floor was now a dusty shade of black, made that way from the possible hundreds of previous inhabitants before them.

Wolfe, a student that Dizzy had attended the University with, flicked off the tablet he was reading off of and came to stand in the bedroom doorway, which was closed off by a nailed up piece of fabric.

"Shrall ships?" he asked.

Yama, who was working on a report to send back to their employers, rubbed a hand across the grimy window and peered out. "Looks like Shrall to me."

Both of them looked at Dizzy. "Should we go downtown?"

"Downtown" referred to the bomb shelter in the center of town, right under where the library used to stand. Shrall ships passing over usually wasn't an immediate threat, although Shrall weapons malfunctions had managed to take out both the library and the district shopping center. Some argued that the library incident was planned, and that the Shrall had been aiming for the shelter. Still, this didn't stop hundreds from flocking to the library when the ships were spotted.

Dizzy flicked on the PLC, the "planet wide communicator", used for spreading urgent news.

A grim voice spoke over the communicator, which was riddled with static. Zin, their tech expert, suspected that one of the receivers was broken. Not that they should complain, the PLC had been lifted from the shopping center ruins.

"There are reports of another round of bombings this hour in central Elke city, affecting districts one, two, and three. If you are in these areas, please seek immediate shelter. Residents in districts four, five, and six are still in the danger zone and should continue listening for updates. Residents in any other district should be wary of a night attack, as these usually follow a day of bombings. This is Alstle Grek. There are reports of another round of--"

Dizzy breathed a sigh of relief. "Not us. We should be okay."

There was a knock on the door, and Dizzy peered through the door cam, then let the knockers in. It was Zin and Jain.

Zin was carrying a meager bag of groceries, which she placed on the rickety table, clearing away a small pile of trash to do so.

Jain ran to the window, and peered up at the ships. She was a tiny nine-year-old Nuvian native, the sister of one of Dizzy's classmates. Jain was the only survivor of an attack that killed the rest of her family, including her sister who had been visiting home. Jain had been in school.

"Are we in danger, Dizzy?" asked Jain, looking away from the window apprehensively.

"No, not today," said Dizzy.

They settled down to eat, balancing plates on their laps as they sat in a circle on the floor. "So, Dizzy, I finished the report," said Yama. "Do you want to take it to the Scourge tonight?"

The Scourge. Stars, did Dizzy hate the Scourge. They were mercenaries, usually carrying out the dirty work that no one wanted to do. A year ago, while at the University, Dizzy would have never imagined herself working in such a dangerous and low field. Desperate times call for desperate measures, she thought.

"Yeah, I'll go now." Dizzy picked up her bag and stuffed the report inside. "If I'm not home by sunset, don't come looking for me. Most likely, I got caught up somewhere and I'll make it home by tomorrow morning."

"Tomorrow morning?" Jain squeaked. "But couldn't there be a night attack?"

"I'll find shelter," Dizzy said, slinging the bag over her shoulder. She waved a quick goodbye, and headed out into the evening. Time to go to work.
Last edited by jumpingsheep on Wed Nov 25, 2015 1:25 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Tue Nov 24, 2015 11:20 pm
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AlmondEyes says...



~Kisara~




I watched as the Shrall descended down upon the surface, like sunlight breaking through the clouds and kissing the grass below as it did. The beautiful green grass was blackened as the pod touched the ground, scorching everything in it's immediate vicinity. Andy wildlife that had been was now gone, instinct telling them that a storm was coming. Word was spreading like wildfire through the Galaxy that the Shrall had been invading other planets, and the death toll was high on the rise.

I'd been sitting in a tree watching the mayhem as it unfolded. My transportation was somewhere nearby, cloaked in a safe place for the moment. Logic dictated that I should probably take my leave as I heard the chaos the Shrall were inflicting upon the defenseless, and some not so defenseless people who were still unprepared for the onslaught of unrivaled force they were receiving. The very ground shook as explosion upon explosion rained down, screams of the dying sounding as if they were reaching the heavens.

The Shrall pod opened, and several of them stepped out, surveying the area around them. I watched as they picked a direction and set off, heading in the opposite direction of my vessel. I pondered staying up here a little longer as to not chance running into them, but I figured that now would probably be best. Pushing myself into a standing position, I spread my arms wide and let gravity take hold of me. Just before hitting the ground, I flipped, landing squarely on one foot with my knee bent at a ninety degree angle, the other foot partly to the ground and knee at a forty five degree angle. Standing to my regular height, I turned and broke off into a run.

Aside from the obvious sounds of destruction going on around me, there was nothing but silence in the trees around me. The only thing I heard was the even sound of my breathing and the steady beat of my heart in my chest. Then just like that, the silence was broken.

An enormous Shrall stepped into my path, pointing its weapon at me. Dropping to my knees and laying my back against the ground as I slid between it's legs, I pulled a plasma grenade off of my belt and attached it to the armored beast. Pivoting with my hips and turning on one knee, I braced myself with on knee knee and foot as I dug my hand into the ground. Looking up as I slowed to a stop, my hand planted firmly into the earth, I watched the beast charge at me, stopping short as the bomb went off.The beast went flying back into a tree where it crashed. After a moment, the Shrall stood once more with an unintelligible grunt as if it hadn't any effect at all, which I wasn't surprised by.

Slowly as it came to it's enormous height, the metal gargantuan made its way toward me, aiming dead center towards my chest. Just then, another one appeared taking up beside the Shrall. As I slowly inched back, they moved forward, weapons still at the ready and both aimed at me. Without warning, they both fired. Not that I wasn't expecting that as I darted forward, heading straight for them. One swiped at me as I passed, dropping to my knees once more. I stopped smack dab in the middle of them.

"Hey boys," I looked at them both. "My name's Kisara, but you can call me Kiza."

Their armored heads turned down to me, their weapons following suit. I watched as the energy gathered in their weapons, making my hair stand on end as it pulsed in the air around us. Bending slightly at the knees, I readied myself. 5...4...3...2...1......

I dipped lower, Then sprung into a back flip that sent me flying a good 10 feet away as the Shrall fired on each other, the enormous explosion that followed sent pieces of Shrall body parts and armor alike every which way. Without turning back, I headed the last little distance away to my ship with a smirk on my face.

"Or not."

Coming to the spot where my ship was cloaked, I came to a stop just in front of it.

"Bio scan complete." announced a disembodies voice. "Kisara Halcyon confirmed. Greetings."

The ship uncloaked itself, and entry door slid open as the light illuminated the inside of the small ship. Stepping inside, I made my way to the head and took a seat, hitting buttons and flipping switches.

"What is it you wish?" came the voice again.

I thought about, tapping my index to my cheek as I did. "Where to go, where to go..."

"There are Shrall invading all of the nearby planets. Casualty rates are ascending at an alarmingly vast rate." came the voice.

I nodded, taking that into account. Before I could make a decision, the alarms over head began blaring.

"Shrall lifeforms detected at the edge of the perimeter."

Out of time. "Just get me as far away as possible for now."

"As you command."

And we were gone.
"What is dead my never die, but rises again, larger and stronger..."

*Ride like Lightening, crash like Thunder*


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