Chapter 7- Prisoner's and Plan's.
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What is the true measure of a soldier? Is it his age or years of experience? Is it the training and commendations he receives or the actions he takes that deserve man's attention and praise?
To a Worlder it is the dedication to the EA and humanity which measures his or her worth.
A Worlder is the main infantry force for Earthforce and acts in its interests far and wide or close and inside. The typical ranks are those of a combined US and UK with several other traditional roles and regulations thrown in to keep the various cultures of Earth Alliance space happy.
While in the old world a Cathedral is what made a town into a city in Imperial Empires it is usually the establishment of an academy on a planet which allows it full colony recognition along with the usual requirements of self-sufficiency and so on.
Usually started for a ground defence force the army eventually grew from a militia to a fully fledged fighting machine in weeks as resources and experienced trainers work tirelessly to prepare the next generation for face to face fighting.
Recruited and presented in a similar manner to that of the WH40K Imperial Guardsmen each different force was usually named after its celestial body of origin, with various denominations till it reaches squad size of about twelve individuals.
Trained so that there were always two medium class squads to each heavy squad and two light class squads for every medium class the various technologies and environments led to much customisation in terms of weaponry and training.
Of course an army usually went into surplus and was then reassigned somewhere else but the armies were mostly kept where they started to prevent overly large conflict, though interaction was created through joint training exercises to prevent isolationism from setting in.
Recruitment mainly began at age twenty to allow time for a person to complete their education and have some measure of a life before training for the next one to two years forced them to focus all attention on achieving perfection in the eyes of the brass. After this it usually became more relaxed and the newly minted forces could head back to a semblance of a normal life.
The Worlders possessed some of the most advanced and impressive ground warfare divisions ever seen. Apart from training to fight tougher or better prepared targets each soldier was also taught highly accurate data on the other star nations and races so they could be prepared to face any enemy. Xeno-biology was a required subject as well as Xeno-traditions and political theory to prepare them for the mindsets of their neighbours. Close to live fire exercises were conducted with makeshift weapons and specially trained soldiers to prepare them for the typical tactics of a different species.
For instance: A Centauri soldier will usually fight with a highly disciplined and take orders to the letter while a General may bargain if his life is in danger but will use dirty tricks to win. A Drazi soldier will be willing to fight you one on one to determine an entire battle if he has enough support from his fellow soldiers while a General will be willing to base a single battle in place of several if both sides agree to the rules. Finally the Narn are tenacious and tough to defeat as whatever you hit them with will only cause them to fight harder and they are close to being fanatical in battle if they believe enough in the reason for it.
So all of these various means of attack, defence and methods are taught to even the average soldier. The belief is that while anyone can be a good soldier, it takes a dedication and large amount of knowledge and ingenuity to be an expert soldier.
Back when man thought itself alone in the universe the need for actual armour on the battlefield became a bit of a useless concept. No matter how strong armour was it could always be pierced and it was usually very bulky and cumbersome to wear. The most anyone wore usually was a jacket and Kevlar plates slipped inside with a helmet to prevent death from a head wound.
However, after finding out about the universe at large and its many different environments it did and could have the concept was brought back and revitalised through the ingenuity of humanity and the inspiration from the database. Rather than have a simple suit or armoured plates the people of Earthforce decided that to survive in a world of toxic atmospheres and worlds of higher or lower gravity, a means of complete protection from whatever weapons nature and other star nations wielded had to be created.
The call went out and it was answered, and as concepts and ideas with wholly new but workable principles emerged the forces of Earth decided that apart from light infantry and mechanised units there would more subdivisions to handle the ever increasing number of worlds and ecosystems that were encountered. Including the weapons of whatever species they met up with across the void of space.
With the database the weaponry also expanded into what were at first thought conceptual weapons that were turned into realities.
So as man expands and encounters new friends and possible enemies his knowledge expands as well. The key lesson taught at the Worlder Corps. Academy was simple: Knowledge is Power.
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Prisoner of War Labour camp. Forest of Kelnis. Main North-Eastern continent To'vium. Tirolus (Dilgar held territory).
The year is 2230; An unstoppable Fire is about to burst to life.
The date is the 14th August. The time is 07:45 hours TGT (Tirolus General Time)
"Sight Seventeen to Sight Twenty what is your status twenty?" Said a voice over a comm. signal.
"This is Twenty, I'm in position and preparing for further orders" replied another voice.
"Orders have been received we are to begin operations in 10 minutes. Tell your squad to be ready to go the moment the lights stop flashing. Intel declares this a prison camp with a high chance of biological experimentation so make sure your suits are sealed. We don't think whatever these bastards have made affects humans but we are going on the safe side of things." Switching into the general channel he relayed Twenty's readiness, the next orders were a defining moment for the regiment of 'Race's Aces' as they were tasked with the first ground strike against the Dilgar war machine.
"Operations begin now everyone, artillery units have got their targets. Let's show these furries just who they're messing with. Last one into the compound has to buy the beer tonight. Over and out" Sight Seventeen, also known as Oni Raison, ended his opening words just as he heard the loud booms from the artillery begin their first volleys.
'Make it Look Good' was the Operating Procedure for this mission. They had to intimidate the enemy and impress their allies. He just wished he hadn't had that MRE earlier; his stomach was really killing him.
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The planet was a typical one for colonisation. A strong atmosphere and optimum conditions meant it had a few small oceans and forest's dotted across the landscape. The only reason it hadn't been colonised severely was because of the planet's small size in regards to having a major colonisation effort.
Ral'der was having a typical day on his patrol. After waking up he had done his exercises and loaded up before picking up some food from the cafeteria and hearing the latest gossip. It seemed some new power had decided to declare its futile resistance to the Dilgar's great destiny. Ral'der's father was a trader for some of the outer rimmed territory before the war began. When he had declared his desire to enlist his father had practically disowned him, in his belief that he would be losing not just business but friendships. His last message to his son had been to tell him that he had defected and was leaving all of his property to his son since he seemed only interested in taking the property of others.
Ral'der had been properly chastised by his fellow soldiers for this, which led him here, guarding some primitive beings while his brothers in arms fought on the front line. However he had received some mail from his father earlier that day and thought perhaps he may be coming back after seeing the error of his ways but instead it merely told him to escape or fake an injury before these 'humans' began to attack. Once again demeaned by his worthless maker he had destroyed the letter and was planning what he was to write in reply when he heard a loud boom surround him. Suddenly on alert he saw several bright objects heading towards the camp before everything turned light then darkness took hold.
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"Alright aces let's show them our hand. SHOW TIME!" Capt. Riley told his squad as they ran toward the base. Riley's squad was one of the more experienced ones in undercover strikes and he had been personally interviewed by one of the joint chiefs before he began this mission. He was clad in the typical uniform and armour of the Worlders medium class assault infantry. His uniform was a simple thermal full bodysuit with carbon fibre mesh and diamond sheet plates put in for projectile and kinetic energy weapons fire on strategic parts of the body like the groin, shoulders and torso, similar in design to the Kevlar vests or armies past. The diamond sheets were a new addition since the ability to compress carbon had been created, and as they were also each worth a small fortune each was declared in triplicate getting it and giving it back but so far no one had been stupid enough to steal from Earthforce.
His armour on the other hand was what really defined his squad and the others around him. The Fire Warrior class armour had become extremely well known in the Worlder corps. The suits derived from the games workshop race known as the Tau was recognizable for their customizability and sheer versatility in combat.
Each suit of this type was made a shining grey colour rather than the sand colour which defined them, since no one was sure what kind of metal it was and how to make it so a combination of Steel and carbon sheet was decided on by the designers. Carbon sheets were the precursors to the Diamond sheets but their lack of ability to be shaped in anything more than simple curves or squares left them in the armour department. After creation a suit was given special light reactive camouflage sheets to better hide them because of the sheets extra ability of releasing very low heat emissions as well as changing colour slightly to suit the environment around it. The helmets had targeting scanners and overlay screens to show a soldier the position of friendlies and enemies and where he was on the map, allowing major coordination to go on even in a massive battlefield or firefight, as was the entire suit it could be completely sealed off if it needed to, with a four hour air supply and a breather filter to replenish it if the need came about. Each suit also contained numerous compartments to contain extra ammo and rations with a small medkit. Anything further was whatever modification was made for its intended conditions and purpose. The suit was heavy but the inclusion of minor hydraulics throughout the suit and hard training done by a soldier meant you could run about 5Mph faster than normal. It wasn't much by superhuman standards but such speeds could be what led to a life being saved.
Riley's own suit was the Aces special 'jackhammer' model. Apart from the usual hydraulics the suit contained pumps in the gloves that rose on a voice command of 'Show Time', or 'ST' if you were short on time, from the glove, in the form of a ring of cylinders coming out of the armoured hand. Riley's former commander had decided on them after finding his namesake, Roger Smith, as part of the Database archives and the giant robot that the fictional negotiator drove. After the voice command was given all that was needed was physical contact with a hard target and the pumps would drive in quickly and pump compressed air into the target.
If faced with a strong opponent or a tall wall you could blow them away or make yourself some handy hand and footholds to climb. The aces specialised in custom pistols that could fire further than typical handguns so they always had a hand free, ready to show their fist to whoever thought they could stand against a hurricane speed of 90mph in the form of a hand. The glove of course had extra protection inside to prevent a person's fist being blown off in a punch, no sense in knocking the wind out of someone if you lost your hand as well.
The gloves impressed the brass and they had requested the specifications to help in their next heavy suit project; simply known by its codename 'Reach'. Riley knew one of the new 'Reach' prototypes was in the attack today with the single squad of heavies, known as the Quake Makers for their like of grenades and grenade launchers alike, that was assigned for this mission and was hoping to see the prototype if he could. Until then though he had a job to do.
All the information gathered on these Dilgar and their weapons showed they possessed no truly devastating standard weapon but their overuse of biological and in some cases chemical weapons meant the deployment of sealed suits was a must. Looking around at the chaos that had begun he saw the lights that meant railgun fire coming from the surrounding covering fire. As the designated close quarters and short range fire squad he was one of the first in when he saw some Dilgar in their brown-black armour burst out of the cafeteria. It figured that even in the place they ate they had an armoury.
"Alright aces best shots forward, standard switching and leapfrog attack" He said into his squad's comm.
Around him his twelve man squad split into three groups of four. Team A ran forward first and opened fire with their railpistols and mowed down some of the Dilgar who had yet to take cover. Shredding them quickly the precision shots made by training and targeting scanners meant they died efficiently and fell quickly. Team B set about heading into one of the buildings to their left and set up a control tower and declare their position so the artillery wouldn't do something stupid. His team, C, got behind cover and took pit shots at anyone not taken down by A's initial fire as they took cover. After they did this his squad moved under A's cover fire and ran forward to a further position.
Knowing they wanted some prisoners he figured he might as well start now. While the lowly soldier didn't know all of his officer's big plans they usually had some useful Intel of the local armament and layout of the base they worked in.
Picking up a voice command of 'shrieker' the suit opened up a hatch around his midsection and allowed him to pick up a small sphere that began to beep in quick succession. Shouting out the word's "Monkey Deaf" his squad switched off their external microphones and ear plugs were put into their ears while Riley did his magic.
Riley's magic was a special trick he had learnt after studying his suit's gloves. Putting the compression speed down a bit he threw the grenade in front of his hand and punched it. The gloves mechanism on a command fired the air before the punch and launched the grenade at higher speed than a simple throw would have done. For this trick he got the moniker 'Nade Knuckle' for its creativity and showmanship. For a shrieker though another piece of magic was performed. The increased velocity meant that the grenade went off in flight and extended the range of the weapon along the path it flew.
The ear drums of those unlucky enough to get hit by the sound suddenly burst and caused extreme pain, and the sensitive ears that were part of being a Dilgar only made it worse. Some would be deaf but even the lucky ones suddenly lost their sense of balance, making them easy targets for the taser grenade that followed its sound cousin, once again exploding in mid air the electricity went down through their bodies, effectively putting them out of action.
Seeing his work done Riley ordered his squad forward to tag the survivors for pickup later by another squad, some of the first prisoners of war gained.
After breaking through the initial resistance he ordered his squad to one of the buildings marked in Dilgar characters his helmet's HUD translated as Labour Building 101. Surrounding the door he inspected its lock and found it easily breakable. Ordering two of his fist experts forward a cry of 'show time!' broke the lock and blasted the door in, hopefully anyone waiting on the other side would have been hit by it and this would make their jobs easier.
What he saw in their made him really regret that burger he ate in that morning, plus everything else he had eaten in his life up to that point.
There were numerous shapes of different species of alien all covered in the same sort of grey clothing that deserved being burnt in a furnace. He spotted some Brakiri and even a Balosian or two after a quick sweep over them to detect any hostiles. All appeared relatively healthy but every now and then he spotted some who appeared starved or slightly ill, using his knowledge of xeno-biology he had learnt at the academy. Another thing he noticed were black spots on the only Drazi in the view screen in his helmet. The room inside only included some raised bunks with some covers and simple flooring.
The entire group in front of him froze; some shuffled not knowing what to do while others defiantly looked directly at him, daring him to try anything.
Finding his voice again he activated the external speakers and spoke "Don't worry we're the good guys. Does anyone want a jail break?" He spoke clearly in a calm voice while moving his hands up; a universal declaration of no intent to harm and hoping at least one of them spoke English.
The various peoples looked around when the Drazi stepped forward and talked in a choked and slow voice "If you are here to rescue us then that means you are rescuing all of the others kept here, correct?" He asked the armoured figure in front of him.
"That would be correct; I'm Captain Riley of Worlder Earthforce. May I have your name?"
The Drazi mulled this over before replying "I had heard from the guards that you humans had joined the war. I didn't believe them and I certainly didn't think you would have pushed them back so quickly" He sceptically inquired.
"Well we are involved but we haven't pushed them back this far yet, we're performing deep strike operations to disrupt their plans and you are being picked up so prepare for evac." Riley responded in the same calm tone.
Even though he knew his face couldn't be seen the Drazi seemed to be studying him before slowly nodding "I'll believe you I suppose. Do you know if any more of my people have been found, I am Relver of the Trade ship Tilbur, we had been doing our usual route when we were arrested by the Dilgar for 'spying'. Ever since then they've taken my twenty fellow crewmen and slowly killed us, one by one." He glowered with fire in his eyes.
Nodding slowly Riley patched himself into the general channel and requested information about Drazi from the other squads. What he got wasn't so nice.
"Sorry to say we've only found four others apart from you, all covered in those black spots."
Slowly exhaling his breath the Drazi spoke again "There were ten of us just over a week ago. These black spots seem to be our bodies means of defending or slowing whatever they gave us, they put us with the prisoners of other species to see if it mutated into something to kill them but so far it hasn't worked" He said clearly to Riley.
Feeling the growing desire to simply order an orbital strike after they got everyone out of there he swallowed his bile and tonelessly raised his voice "Rest assured Captain Tilbur we are taking prisoners but they sure as hell won't get the easy way out of this, we have medical and quarantine procedures at full alert right now, and we will do everything in our power to save you and anyone else suffering"
"Thank you Captain Riley, if you spot a male Dilgar with a brown tuft of facial hair on his cheeks please try and spare him, he's been doing what he can to save use by stealing medical supplies and giving us treatment. He answers to the name Fes'ter.
'Ironic name' Riley thought, but sent out the order to preserve that Dilgar's life if possible. Getting information that he had willingly surrendered and provided the location of the underground command station he relayed this information to the crowd before turning around to his squad.
"All right team A, you will go with the prisoners and escort them out of here to the Medical Shuttles and defend them. Team B you are coming with me and C to the main attack on the command centre. Word is a bunker buster is going to be used so prepare for some shaking. You hear me Aces? Let's show these sickos what a real soldier does. SHOW TIME!" He finished with a pumped fist in the air as they all replied in a loud shout.
Deploying outside he saw squad A lead the prisoners away and with one last look at the small smile on the Drazi's face he turned around to follow through on his promise to the captain while whispering a small prayer for the Drazi's continued and healthy life.
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It was about an hour later when Riley's squad met up with the main bunker buster attack force. After getting further orders to rescue the other prisoners he had managed to empty enough of them to allow his squad permission to join the bunker assault. However due to the logistical troubles of setting up such an attack he had been put under the command of another captain so it wasn't his job any more.
"Alright Aces I know you didn't really want to be working under someone else but right now I need you to work with my guys so we can get this over with. Are we clear on this?" Said Captain Perekov. He was the commanding officer of the 'Mole Mashers', which was a recon and base assault squad, and his team's suit possessed special hand held plasma and diamond drills to break through enemy defences or create short-term bunkers to hide in.
"Just as long as you do your job I'll do mine captain." Riley replied. "I just want to know why we are getting assigned with you since I thought that this attack was a free for all."
"You would be right usually Captain but from what we've gathered with our sensors and the information given by the prisoners the generator in there is an experimental one the Dilgar have been building, it's a quantum singularity" Capt. Perekov stated to the now shocked group.
Quantum singularities had always been a major thing for Humans. The various things in the Database and the information gathered on them thanks to the Stargate project and various other projects made sure that those in charge of Earth's future knew how dangerous they could be.
"If they are using it as a power source then how come they haven't used them on their ships yet? I would put something that powerful on my means of attack, not defence" Said Riley's head tactician sergeant Philip Tracker.
"You would think so but it seems that the one they're using here is too large and not efficient enough to use on a ship. However it also shows the Dilgar are being more creative than we thought and the presence of the singularity makes it hard for our comm. equipment to work unless we have signal boosters. So since I happen to have her" Perekov indicated one of his soldiers who sheepishly waved "You're assigned to me, any other questions?"
"Yeah, what is it about her that makes her useful? Has she got a signal booster?" said Tracker again.
"I'll let her talk for herself, Jan you're up. Riley can you come with me so we can coordinate a proper chain of command?" Perekov said while moving to some underbrush further from the two groups of soldiers.
"Ok then, Aces treat them right." Riley said to his squad.
"Yes sir" Was the reply as he moved to follow his fellow officer.
After both of the men left the other turned to the one called Jan before a woman's voice spoke up.
"Uh, hi I'm Jan or Janine but not to anyone except my family so watch yourself. Anyway the reason I'm being singled out is because while the singularity does block out most subspace and hyperspace frequencies it doesn't stop psychic thought" She replied in a mildly embarrassed tone.
'That explains it' thought Riley's squad.
"So you from PSIcore then?" Asked one of the soldiers.
"No, my brother is in it and works for one of their colony academies but I just got some training and went on my way." She told the surrounding listeners.
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PSIcore was the organisation whose job it was to handle the various psychic phenomena that humanity now possessed and teach others to use their powers responsibly. They had numerous academies and trainers all around Earth Alliance space and a required course to take before going into college was to be taught how to create psychic barriers and shields. Not just in the interest of protecting one own thoughts but also in protecting the psychics from mental exhaustion and overload when interacting with them.
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After various looks around them, Tracker got up and offered her a hand, which she took and gave a small handshake before he sat down again, and laughed.
"Well that proves that you aren't in my head because I was cussing like a navy engineer in my head right in front of you" He said.
After hearing this Jan gave him a small smack on the head before replying, "Careful or I'll make you stay up with sexually confusing dreams. After dealing with these bozos I'm more than ready."
Tracker froze before looking at one of the others on her squad, an inquiring look being shown by his helmet by tilting it.
"It's true, strangest week I had was after I slipped some smoke bombs into her shower. I didn't know whether I was attracted to women, men, animals or plants." Said the suited individual who shuddered slightly.
After a small silence Tracker switched his view back to Jan with the same tilted head before asking "Plants?"
"Hey I was pissed off and we were in a jungle exercise, I figured he might as well get what he was due," She said in a sweet, almost innocent, tone.
"Got it, no more laughing at the freaky dream girl."
After all sharing another laugh the two captains came in.
"Alright we've set up a temporary command structure. It's simple. Just obey the commanding officer closest to you unless someone else out ranks him. We only have two sergeants so they are on equal standing. I'm in charge of this op. but Riley is in charge of complaints so move them all to him. If you have any commendations though please heap them on me, don't be shy now."
"You lost the coin toss eh captain?" Asked one of the Aces.
"I swear it was weighted but we don't have time to prove it and Miss Freaky Dream Girl over there as you call her doesn't work for me so I'm stuffed" said Riley in a glowering tone, fidgeting with his gauntlets so that he didn't have to look at anyone.
Aces and Moles the order's in and we're going in. Lock up your suits if you haven't done so already and check your systems. You've got five minutes" Said Perekov.
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Five minutes later the attack began. Railgun fire and various other weapons started hitting a rock that hid the entrance to the bunker. While it was a waste of ammo command wanted as few casualties as possible and that meant overwhelming firepower to destroy whatever resistance and traps the enemy could have set up.
Riley's squad was charged with breaking in through a supposed side entrance; a hatch that covered a pit and ladder down to the lower levels, making it easier to split whatever forces they encountered and create a pincer attack. After denting the lock with his Jackhammer glove the Mashers had used their drills to remove the hinges before dropping an explosive grenade in. After the grenade stopped spewing smoke Riley looked down into the semi-darkness.
'Seems quiet. Must have either caught an unguarded post or we got them all. Just to be safe though...'
"Captain Deeds I know you are splitting with us after this but do you think we could get some idea of what's down there" He said to the leader of the other dual squad that was going down with his and Perekov's.
Deeds' suit and the suit of his subordinates had a compartment which contained highly accurate and powerful cameras in the shape of spheres that allowed his squad an extra means of checking out an area before going in. His squad was respected and sometimes envied for its ability to know the entire battlefield all at one time because the spheres could be used together to create and mosaic together a picture. The 'Fly Eyes' was their squad name, though they actually were quite clean and hygienic.
"All right then, patch your camera into signal 24 and have a look see" Deeds' said before dropping a sphere in the hole.
After everything stopped jumbling around the sphere came to a stop and Riley checked out the angles that weren't facing the floor. Spotting some Dilgar on the floor and the little movement they were making he decided it was safe to go in.
"Room seems clear Perekov, lets head in."
"Couldn't agree more. I will see you later Deeds if you are able to stay alive." Perekov said before heading down.
Deeds just seemed to let out a sigh before heading towards the hatch while muttering obscenities about Russians and their taunts of death, while citing it as unlucky.
Riley just mentally shrugged and headed down and switched on his suit's night vision.
After reaching the bottom he ordered one of his men, a Corporal Shambli, to hold position and wait for reinforcements while keeping an eye on the corpses in case they decided to get lively. After heading out the door Shambli checked his suit's sensors before sitting down and preparing to read some mail he had got from his parents back home. He was so caught up in it that he didn't notice the rifle butt headed toward the back of his head before it was too late. Of course with his suit's toughness this didn't do much save give him a slight throb as he moved to defend himself but the force of the second attack to his face caused him to fall back before being smacked repeatedly against the floor and finally submitting to unconsciousness.
A while later Shambli opened his eyes to find him looking at the darkened screen of the inside of his helmet with a massive headache.
"Oh merciful Allah. What have I got myself into this time" He thought.
Deciding he needed to do something he gave a small whisper to his suit to switch on the external microphone, and go silent viewing so he didn't show his new found conscious state.
What he saw was what appeared to be a small room with minimal decoration and grey, what looked like concrete, walls. A few instruments appeared on a table on his right side against the wall and as he magnified them he saw they were cutting tools, most likely to get him out of his sealed suit. Switching his view he spotted a Dilgar in what appeared to be a command uniform, according to his briefing before the mission, who was talking to one in what he recognised to be a plain white lab coat.
"Great. It's Roswell all over again and I don't have any money for souvenirs" he joked while trying to remain calm and hear what they were saying. After identifying the dialect he had the suit switch on some subtitles while he planned for an escape.
What he heard wasn't encouraging.
"I will tell you again Base Watcher Wek'ral that I am doing the best I can to (Word meaning unknown. Possibly: discover, uncover, understand, find, identify) the identity of this being and his brethren but the suit has held up to most of my attempts to unlock its secrets" Said the lab coated one.
"And I will remind you (Word meaning unknown. Possibly: doctor, analyser, discoverer, biologist) that we are short on time. I have already heard word that these raiders have broken through our third level and apparently have been spotted on the sixth level while punching through our best made walls and doors. We have seen that a high powered shot seems to break through their armour, at least in less vital areas, and I am just about ready to shoot this being's torso or leg just to get some answers. It's easier to break an egg once its shell has been cracked" said the command uniform one, known as Wek'ral.
"We have no idea what that would do. The suit may have a failsafe device and self destruct. Not only would we lose out on its secrets but also our lives if it explodes."
'Hm, not really in the mood to get blown to smithereens thanks' Shambli said, mentally, thanking Allah that command wasn't stupid enough to do that. All that would happen would be that the suit's memory and circuits would be fried to prevent any secrets from being uncovered. The armour wasn't really special enough to keep it away through extreme measures.
Activating his rescue beacon and hiking up his subspace transceiver he hoped the singularity allowed some short range communication through.
'Or you could ask for my help,' said a voice in his head. He felt a small presence on his mental shields.
'Huh? Who said that?' he replied back while biting his tongue so that the suit wouldn't broadcast his voice and blow his cover.
'It's me Jan. Once you vanished I was told to find you and I guess you aren't in a good place right now.'
'You've got that right. I have Frankenstein and his boss arguing over how to skewer me - and a pounding headache. Plus Captain Riley's going to kill me for getting caught.'
'Yeah but at least you're still alive so cheer up' said the voice with a happy tone behind it.
'I'll cheer up when I'm free to drink beer and ride my motorbike, but I'm going to try and catch this guy. If he's in command we may be able to force surrender from these guys.'
'Okay but don't do anything to extreme. We need body parts to identify.'
'I'll be gentle' Riley thought before the feeling of the voice left him alone with the two Dilgar again.
Deciding it was now or never since the conversation seemed to be dying down he steadily broke the straps holding him down before jumping off the bed he was on and making a grab at the Dilgar in charge. Quickly picking him up while kicking the lab coat down to prevent him going for help, he slammed his hostage against the wall before saying 'show time' and smacking a fist into the wall next to the base head's head. Activating his external speakers and internal mike he decided to speak in a low form of trade speak so as not to reveal his humanity.
"You in charge?" He growled to the apparent leader.
"I'll say nothing to you raider. You may beat back my people and kill my base but you won't get anything from me" The Dilgar growled back in the same language Shambli was using while attempting to get free.
Chuckling a bit he turned his helmet's reflective irises so it appeared he had changed expression before saying "So it is 'your' base is it? Well then either tell your men to lay down their arms and surrender or I'll have to call in some friends and get creative. Oh, by the way. When I mean creative, I mean nuclear."
Shambli doubted he could get a Nuke actually. But his hostage didn't know that.
Seeming to come to a dilemma the Dilgar found his voice again and said "You would die as well."
"I would be gone and you would be trapped. Trust me I'm already writing the report."
"So you work for someone then?" The Dilgar replied.
'Crap' Thought Shambli. Got to keep my mouth shut on doctrine or he'll rat me out as a professional. Deciding to twist rather then deny the truth he started talking again.
"Of course I do. We are professionals after all and nukes are expensive. Of course with that generator of yours this will make it worth the trip and the cost. We can just launch a small one and go in to pick up the pieces."
"So you are after the generator?" Said the Dilgar with a hint of fear. Probably being surprised at the knowledge of his attacker.
"We aren't here for our health. Of course all of your men and those other prisoners of yours should make nice labour for us" Shambli lied. Slavery was outlawed by most civilised and large Galactic states but there were always rumours of a secret trade going on between the various space nations. The tales of Vultures and the missing bodies of the crews they attacked intensified them.
From the look on the face of the commander he had heard the rumours and had swallowed deeply before speaking again.
"What would happen if I order my base's surrender?" He sullenly said.
"Then we get the generator or its plans and leave you in peace. Our ships are almost full so in a minute any spare bodies are just going to be corpses. My friends on my comm. tell me so." Shambli said. He still didn't have communication with the main attack force and the ships they had come on had enough room for a base twice this big. But again, what the enemy doesn't know can't hurt you.
"Alright Raider, but I ask for you name for my own report if I survive." The Dilgar grimly declared.
Deciding to give him that for actually thinking Shambli decided on some irony.
"I am Commander O'Shovah of the great nation of Mork" He declared while cracking up inside.
"Then Commander I ask that you give me a communicator and five standard minutes to inform my men to surrender" Said the Dilgar.
Checking for any kind of deception Shambli let down the Dilgar before handing him a basic comm. unit from his arm and patching it into the base's main announcement system before handing it over.
"Here you go. But any funny stuff and you'll find out why they call me Commander Overkill" He warned.
The Dilgar looked warily at the suited being whose had destroyed his base and killed his people and almost sighed. He knew that surrendering would probably lead to his death or at least disgrace but he was more interested in preserving the lives of those under him. Pressing the button which seemed to indicate transmit he spoke.
All across the base the voice of a once proud Base Watcher rang out, drowning and overcoming the sounds of battle and the wounded.
"This is Base Watcher Wek'ral to all of my loyal forces. The enemy has overcome our greatest defences and strongest wills. No matter what we used to stop them we could do nothing to prevent them from even reaching this great stronghold. I have talked with the one they call O'Shovah and he has agreed to grant us mercy on the condition of us surrendering. I know many of you do not want to surrender but it is the duty of every soldier to not only fight a battle but to know when he has lost one. If we survive we have many chances for future glory. Follow my order and I will be the only one to reap what is sown here. There will be no charges of dishonour or disloyalty presented to you; you have my word. I repeat. Lay down your weapons and release all locks on the doors, surrender and live to fight again." The Dilgar ended his speech and put down the transmitter, after this he put his hands on his head and kneeled down.
He spoke from his position with a strain in his voice.
"I have done what you ask, please grant mercy to my subordinates"
Shambli looked at his prisoner carefully while putting out a mental thought to Jen to relay the orders. What he got was good news. The Dilgar were putting down their weapons and going into the same positions, all forces had been told to keep an eye out but it looked like they had won. Shambli had almost relaxed when he remembered that Captain Riley was waiting for him and that wasn't going to be a fun meeting. He rather wondered how Riley had been doing up to that point.
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About an hour before.
Riley was damn well sick of these furries as he crouched behind what was once a metal desk in one of the bunker's numerous corridors. While no one had reported serious injury he could see several scorch marks and minor holes on the armour of his comrades and Perekov had given the order to find cover and deal with those that had pinned his and Perekov's squad down.
Just as it couldn't get worse though he saw that the life-signs of Corporal Shambli had suddenly slowed down after quickly spiking. So either he had gone to sleep after being scared, fainted, or had been knocked out. The Singularity generator prevented his equipment from reaching him by his suit's communication and he didn't have time to reconfigure it to track him through longer range radio waves rather than subspace. A flaw he would be telling command about after this since if anyone else used Singularities in their technology it would be difficult to fight them properly.
"Jen" He said through the short range radio he had switched on with a voice command.
"Yes sir?" She replied.
"Seems the corporal's decided to take a nap or a hike, try and locate him while we deal with these overgrown furbies" he ordered. Looking over the barricade slightly as the Dilgar took pot shots at them.
"Understood Captain" Was the reply before Jen's suit went up to a wall around a corner and sat with her back against it and crossed her armoured legs, it seems she was using meditation to focus since the loud noises of weapons fire could be distracting.
"Ordering my squad around Captain Riley?" Inquired Perekov.
"One of mine decided to disappear. I'm hoping to find him before this is over, whether he is dead or not by then will be up to my mood" He replied to his fellow captain.
"Very well, we are about to meet up with one of the other squads according to my signal sensors, and they should be arriving right about-"
Suddenly a loud boom and a large amount of light lit up the corridor Riley was in and the Dilgar emplacement made up of concrete bags suddenly had a large hole in its formation and was raining down grey flecks of dry concrete around the once secure barrier.
Turning around he saw that it was the heavy squad, the Quake Makers, who had launched a missile from one of its still smoking shoulder missile holsters attached to its form.
The type of armour they were wearing was technically classed as a simple mechanised suit for heavy combat but Riley knew they were just one step away, in terms of size, from the new variant mobile suits that were being geared up for mass ground assault on larger Dilgar strongholds.
The suits were themselves modelled after the mass production models found in the Gundam series since it was cheaper than buying and building each soldier his own custom model. But certain ranks did allow some changes to be made for exemplary service and duty or if the situation required a different method of attack. This particular model was based on the basic ZAKU II of Mobile Suit Gundam fame and it boasted heavily plated state of the art animatronics inside of it to give it mobility. While only about seven feet in height, the standard weapon it carried in its hands was a high class Lascannon in with additional power coming through for the weapon from a wire leading out of its arm. It also possessed whatever other weapon was needed for the job and Riley could see the box shape of a mini missile launcher on three of them while the rest held a Grenade launcher of some type with a small lasrifle attached to the top for 'softer' attacks. Suffice to say these weapons and suits were not meant to be disposable. Each was a light to medium class Tank with legs.
After staring at them for a moment he noticed something else moving toward him. This silhouette was not the same imposing figure of the MS-ZAKU-MPI or his own Fire warrior class armour. This he believed was the 'Reach' prototype on everyone's lips nowadays.
From the rumours being said about it, it seemed that is was being fielded as the next generation in high 'mobility' type medium Worlder armour compared to his 'assault' type medium armour. Meant to be the commando to Riley's Grunts and Roughnecks he could see what they meant when they talked of its 'uniqueness'.
Unlike his bulky and boxy suit this one resembled a far sleeker type of predator than his own could be based on. The armour looked like something out of the medieval age with its more human fitting and shaped head. It also possessed a more streamlined body on the whole and he could see that the boots were suited for practically walking in any terrain. It appeared to be a very Dark Green to his normal sight but it did seem to be melded to the shadows much like a chameleon changed its skin. The final defining feature was it Golden visor that reflected him rather than the small irises on his suit.
After approaching him and his team carefully it put down what appeared to be a standard duo-rifle, a rifle composed of Laser and Railgun parts, from its sight and offered its hand to the fallen shaken captain. What sounded like a click activated and he heard a voice speak from the newly arrived prototype.
"Hello Captain Riley and Perekov. I'm Major John Edwards and we saw you had a problem there and decided to assist. Under Shadow Prototype law I ask that you refer to me as 'Spartan' from now on to preserve my identity" Came a deep male voice.
Riley just looked at the suit strangely before activating his own mike and saying,
"Spartan? Please tell me you didn't choose that name. Plus that real name sound fake too. Uh, Sir"
The suit seemed to be looking at him before laughing could be heard from its speaker before stopping and speaking again.
"No that was one of the heads on this project who decided it would make me more recognisable. This is MJOLNIR type armour and this gun of mine is THOR. As for name it was decided that a red herring is always much more interesting when it has to be caught" He said while indicating his Duo-Rifle.
"I thought MJOLNIR was the weapon and THOR was the person?" Riley asked while his and Perekov's men got sorted out in this brief lull of activity.
"Yeah but THOR stands for Thermo-Holding-Over-Rifle. If you are going to ask that name was also not my idea."
"Looks like a typical LasRail to me" Riley said.
"It would be except the Rail is one-point-five times faster and the Laser has been replaced by a new type of phased energy beam"
"You mean?"
"A Phaser. Sadly the reactor is a sort of hit and miss since each one needs to be individually calibrated so it won't blow up so don't expect these on the market too soon." Said the dark green figure.
"I'll keep my eye out then. Isn't that heavy though, I hear it has heavier armour and you don't sound like you're a superhuman" Riley commented.
"No this suit has just a new type of flexible plastic mesh inside it that acts like muscles and the suit's power keeps me moving, still no neural interface though so I'm stuck having to actually moving my legs consciously"
"Damn and blast. I was hoping for the ability to sing while I pee and fight but I guess I'll have to wait. Ok 'Spartan', Perekov says we've got to reach level three in the next twenty minutes. You up for it?"
The Spartan turned around and regarded his fellow heavies. After receiving what appeared to be orders he nodded at Riley.
"Just lead the way captain. You provide the flash and we'll give you some bang."
And just like that they were off again. But not before Riley got a shot out.
"So when can I meet the purple missus?" Riley said while smiling at the Green figure.
"When she gets out of being built and stops believing that sucking her holographic thumb is more important than working properly" Replied the Spartan, already bounding ahead of the three squads into the fire.
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Now about an hour later after the Dilgar surrender Shambli was emerging from the bunker before he was grabbed from his arm and put in front of what he assumed was Captain Riley.
"You'll listen here you damn idiot. You are meant to be a professional and not some first year cadet straight out of the academy. Were it not for your screw-up actually helping I would be sending you straight back there."
'Yep, definitely Riley' Shambli thought while trying to imagine a far more peaceful life at the academy.
"But as I said" ranted Riley. "What you did saved us all a lot of time and lives. So you don't have to do cleanup duty in the barracks for the next three weeks. Instead you've got it for two. Now go on O'Shovah and command that grime. We've picked up all the prisoners and have isolated them while delivering medical care and we've copied their database then erased it. The generator's scrap metal and we've caught some of their medical and engineering geeks for 'resisting'. We've taken them prisoner along with all of the others we caught except some of their soldiers who aren't important enough to keep" Said Riley chuckling a bit before relaxing and pointing towards the nearest possum class landing shuttle.
Shambli lowered his head and moved towards the shuttle, putting his pistols in their holsters before sitting down and mentally preparing himself for cleanup. A mission this far out meant the men were occupied with chores while off duty. He wasn't looking forward to when he had to clean the armour of those who had approached from the swamp for the base attack.
Looking out he saw some Sparrows, an atmospheric fighter ship, patrolling the Skies before changing from their triple engine configuration to the booster type and going out of the atmosphere and back to their hangars now that the mission had ended and air superiority was no longer needed.
Sighing once again Shambli wondered about the future and if it was going to get better.
The thing about this is that sometimes the future has no idea itself.
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A day later on Omelos. In the house of the Warmaster of Dilgar Intelligence on the Southern Hemisphere.
Warmaster Gek'hal, head of Dilgar intelligence was relaxing in his favourite chair while mulling over some events of the past and possible actions for the future.
Ever since that Elkarch class station had been destroyed without any sign of the enemy. Except for the sensors reading a small object that had emitted a powerful scan of several different wavelengths' before they went offline. Only to come online again after everything was destroyed by whatever those nine shadows were on the sensors that were far away from the actual station. He and his subordinates had been working non-stop since it had happened and it was only now he was catching a break before heading back in to the muddle of code and sensor readings.
Thinking about some of his plans he had learnt that the humans were already reaching the middle of league territory and seemed to be having no problems in terms of re-supplying the fleets that they had sent to assist the LONAW. His people had come up with many theories but three were the most prominent in his mind. Either the humans' ships had massive storage for their own supplies and perhaps could grow their own food while travelling, but to do that would mean they had dedicated food growing areas on their ships but that was something only colony ships may have carried.
The other major theory was that the league were doing in transit re-supplies with their own ships as they built up their fleets; but this didn't explain the seemingly non-stop journey they had been taking from the reports he had gotten from his network in league space and they had heard nothing of cargo being given in transit so that left the last, and possibly most disturbing theory in Gek'hal's mind.
This was that was that the humans already had a number of bases placed in league space that only they knew about. Such a thing was highly disturbing to Gek'hal as it meant that the humans had a means of being readily replenished when they needed to be while Dilgar forces had to either make do with what they had or wait for re-supply from home. But the problem with this was where they could have been hidden since he knew that no supplies had been moved through league real space to bases in their territory and it was impossible to keep something in Hyperspace for too long because of its tidal forces. So that left the possibility that the humans had either built some gates or had some coordinates that led to a number of systems that were in league space but uncolonised thus far.
Deciding that such thoughts would only tire his mind out more with the confusing possibilities he decided to start thinking about something else; his evacuation of the less bloodthirsty and fanatic Dilgar from Omelos and the rest of the Empire. While treasonous he knew that the continued war on the LONAW meant they would stretch themselves too far and eventually falter and fall back, which would have lead to his people's and their civilisation's demise. He knew that the house of Ados under the baron E'Phraim had been sent into exile because of their pacifistic ideals to a place called Planthos by the Warmaster council and he was hoping to initiate secret contact with them to ask to send some of his supporters and resources there for survival and safe keeping. Then the whole mess got worse for the Empire.
He also had been having his agents secret away other resources and League currency to use later if they needed to. Another thing was his attempts to form crews of those loyal to his less aggressive and more survivalist cause and put them on system defence ships so they could evacuate themselves and whatever civilians could be taken quickly when and if things went bad. The ships were not that advanced as a whole since most of the line ships were put on the front line but he had acquired, for monitoring purposes and secret meetings, one of the latest battle cruisers that had been built and was hoping no one would find out his involvement in the captain's post. It was difficult and he believed that without greater help from more of those actually aware of their home planet's coming demise to have a sizeable amount of the population would not survive. Let his counterparts debate deaths made while he worried about lives saved.
Suddenly his home computer started beeping in a way that he knew meant it was an important communiqué. Getting up from his seat he approached his desks where numerous reports and paperwork was waiting to be signed and read. Sitting down in his wheeled swivel seat he spotted that it was a highly encoded message which meant it was a deep cover agent of the High Warmaster. He didn't have a secretary at his home so he didn't know which until he switched it on and saw the High Warmaster's face staring into his with a look of anger and trepidation on his grey haired features.
"Ah, Gek'hal. I hope I am not interrupting anything?" he questioned with a curious voice which sounded strained to Gek'hal's ears.
"Not at all High Warmaster I was contemplating the war while taking a short break from my duty" He admitted truthfully as he was quite sure that while he was in control of intelligence matters, no one ever got this far in the job without a healthy dose of paranoia.
The High Warmaster seemed to take on a contemplative look in his slit eyes before opening his mouth again.
"Good, good" He said while nodding. "Well instead of running in circles I'll get to the point. An attack on one of our labour camps and research facilities based in our territory was made about a day ago by an unknown group of mercenaries or a new race, from the large amount of reports coming in and I have only been notified now because of the damage to their communication equipment. Apparently they were attacked by an uncountable number of heavily armed foot soldiers wearing fully armoured suits whose ship disabled the picket fleet we had left behind to guard the surrounding space and landed with silent shuttles before they could get a warning to the base and so causing them to be unprepared for the assault." Said the High Warmaster who drew a breath before continuing.
"None of the fleet's ships were lost thankfully but they were disabled efficiently by the aggressors transport ship through some unknown means. All we are able to discern is that the sensors were given ghost readings of Narn to Centauri ships signatures before they were blasted off by laser fire along with the engines and the weapons. A probe was then apparently seen by the crew to float amongst them which jammed all of their communications and left them dead in space." He grated out to Gek'hal who was wondering why he was hearing from the High Warmaster rather than his own network. Then he realised he had told his soldiers to hold all reports unless it was a direct threat to the home system. A mistake he would not make again in the near future.
"I see High Warmaster. I assume a council is being called?" Gek'hal inquired.
"Correct, so switch to channel 15 on this same encryption since all the others should have arrived by now" he said before switching off his screen to go to the council.
This worried Gek'hal as being the last to know meant he wasn't being seen as important or favoured right now by the High Warmaster.
'Oh well' he thought to himself while setting up his screen to go to channel 15. 'I guess that's the price I will pay for staying behind instead of putting myself at the frontline but an intelligence master is always best placed at the centre of a web' he finished before his screen lit up again and he found himself looking into the face of his eleven counterparts. Some of whom looked angry while other projected a face of caution or fear. The angriest though had to be Jha'dur's face though, projecting a fury in her features and fire in her eyes he knew didn't appear often on the Warmaster's face. The base was one that held some of her 'experiments' so he expected she was angry for losing the research she had made.
The High Warmaster looked at the assembled council before beginning to speak.
"You are all aware of why I have called you here. This attack cannot go unanswered but the reports have been unable to discern who these people were except them having advanced ships and armour as well as intelligence including the hidden bunker's experimental Quantum Singularity power generator. Years of research is missing or destroyed and I want someone to blame. Jha'dur, the base held some of your experiments in the above ground area that was attacked first so you can start" He spoke to the most powerful beings in the Dilgar Empire.
Jha'dur's face was still furious but she seemed to calm down as she spoke.
"My fellow compatriots I can not begin to express what a disaster this has caused to the war effort. Several experiments of mine were there, including one meant to assist our invasion of the Drazi territories in a few weeks, and their loss by these attackers means I will be delayed for at least two more months before I can perfect it for the oncoming attack." She growled out.
"So should we wait or continue on without your 'plague's Jha'dur?" Asked the Warmaster in charge of logistics.
"I will try and improve the speed of the research but my projections only tell me that it will still take at least one more month of work. Any earlier and you may have to use one of my general plagues or an experimental version which would both be dangerous if they mutated to attack Dilgar physiology" She replied in anger to the question of her usefulness in the coming attack.
"I am still at a loss regarding these attackers. Do we have no recorded data on them or recordings at the very least?" Asked Gek'hal in a calm tone to reintroduce the order of the meeting.
"All we have is that they wore fully suited grey armoured suits with some talking of a 'Green Demon' that assaulted their positions in the base. Save for some who spotted what appeared to be seven foot giants and strange weaponry all of the testimony we have comes from those that these 'Morkens' left alone or alive." Replied the Warmaster in charge of the ground forces, Ler'syn.
"Morkens? Why are they called that?" Asked Gek'hal again as he grasped what could be important information from Ler'syn's words.
"Apparently at the beginning of the assault on the bunker a commander called O'Shovah was captured at one of the hidden entrances and brought through the hidden tunnels to the commander of the bases presence. The soldier recovered after an hour despite numerous blows to the head, though it was a full helmet that was worn, and captured the commander who was down there to find out from the scientist assigned to the individual with what the enemy looked like underneath the armour." Ler'syn replied in a grave tone.
"So where is this 'Morken' reference coming from." Sighed Gek'hal over Ler'syn's long winded words.
"I was just getting there Gek'hal. But after disabling the scientist and forcing the Base Watcher to surrender on threat of a nuclear strike he said he was called O'Shovah from a planet called Mork. Have you ever heard of such a thing Gek'hal?" Asked Ler'syn since it would be Gek'hal's job to know of the different factions they were fighting and those they weren't.
"I can't recall anything but I will use whatever resources I can to discover that information so we can enact retribution" Gek'hal replied quickly to stymie any criticism of his work.
"Please say that again as I thought I heard the word 'surrender' in what you reported. Such a thing is punishable by discharge and possible death you know" Said the High Warmaster contemptuously.
"With the possible use of nuclear ordinance being indicated it was decided by the commander to preserve the lives of his subordinates. The threat of slavery was also used for those captured and he did not wish for those under his command to suffer. He did the only SENSIBLE thing." Ler'syn quietly explained to his superior.
Gek'hal respected Ler'syn's desire to keep those under him alive and started contemplating finding his allegiance's since he would be useful as a means to evacuate properly when Jha'dur spoke up again.
"Well then why are the most highly placed scientists at the facility apparently missing? Seems to me he didn't preserve their lives that well." She enquired in a cold voice.
"They apparently resisted but with the chaos and the practical takeover of the base it is a small price to pay for both their lives and the lives of every other person there." Ler'syn replied in an equally cold voice.
"Yes most notably your 'meatheads' Ler'syn. I say we use him as a scapegoat to this disaster and execute him for betraying his nation and people" She spoke to the High Warmaster.
"Why you rotten, twisted evil piece of dirt. You wouldn't know loyalty if it came and bit you." Said Ler'syn in a heated tone. A babble of voice's rose up in support or opposition of Jha'dur before the High Warmaster shook his head once and widely opened his mouth.
"ENOUGH!" said the High Warmaster and everyone silenced immediately.
"We shall have a trial for the Base Watcher but until then we should focus on these new attackers. That their timing coinciding with the recent Earth Alliance declaration of war a few months ago worries me" He said in a critical voice that wouldn't be out of place on a parent chastising their children for acting stupid.
"You think they are related?" Asked the Tactical Warmaster in charge of planning fleet movements and battles.
"There is the possibility that these are a client race of the Humans or it could be them performing attacks to keep our strength split" The High Warmaster replied.
Gek'hal looked at the corner of his screen at some new encrypted message that had arrived and he saw the rest check their screen's for the thing. Bringing it up he noted that it came form the cameras that weren't destroyed and viewed some shots of these attackers. Their armoured forms with the lenses for eyes on the top and bottom of the helmets led him to a conclusion.
He had seen the ground forces of humanity in several visual data streams gathered by his agents and public records and while he could see some similarities in the images showing the attackers in their motions and actions, the humans didn't wear such heavily armoured designs as a means of protection as usually one could see the soldiers or the suits and armour they wore were form fitting rather than covering the body with what appeared to be rectangular shoulder pads; at least to the best of his knowledge. So either they were meant for secret operations, which seemed unlikely considering their apparent numbers and weaponry appeared more suited to large scale engagements rather than special operations, or they were a separate race from humanity entirely.
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Of course with no major war against any other known space faring race in ground combat, the Fire Warrior type medium class armour, while recognised by some parts of humanity, was not that well known outside of Earth Alliance space. The most that could be gathered from their ground forces numbers and technology were the commonly seen 'light' infantry who usually worked in large numbers on colonies while the other, more stronger, classes and types were kept in more critical areas away from the public or foreign view.
Even ambassadors only usually got the sight of base patrol medium class armour at most, which looked similar to Stormtrooper armour from the earlier movies and lacked the lenses of the Fire Warrior type to draw any reliable comparison and included a back attachment which allowed them a larger breathing apparatus that could last longer than the usual light or medium types. This combined with the magnetic boots and a special gel sealent system in between the hardened ceramite suit plate layers was particularly useful when based onboard ships or orbital bases as it could help should the area they were in be exposed to space and ensuing explosive decompression.
With the coming of the war however the 'armour in the closet' was deemed necessary to be revealed to the galactic worlds at large if any attempt to reduce ground casualties was to be made. Of course not all would be revealed but humanity liked keeping some of its toys to itself. The use of the armour and technology to the different races was bound to create a spy war and bidding frenzy to acquire some of it. Some were trying to imagine what would be done with it and while some were disturbing; others were amusing to no end.
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Deciding not to call his conclusions yet as he wasn't one hundred percent certain he decided to speak to the other Warmaster's on his screen.
"I'm quite sure you've all got the same thing I just did. These images will prove useful for all of us and I can spot a few video files that will take some time to watch and analyse for data. I call for a recess until we have done this" He spoke while hoping he would be listened to.
Looking at his screen he could see some of them wanting to make their point but knew they realised the logic in his actions as rash actions would only lead to rash and possibly painful consequences. He saw the High Warmaster take in the same sight before making a small noise with his throat and gained the attention of those under him.
"I think that is a good idea Gek'hal because I understand the need to fully know our foe. This meeting is in recess for the next twenty-four galactic hours. Study this data and whatever else you can gather and be near a means of private communication by then. Until then, this meeting of Warmasters' is in recess." He finished by shutting off his screen. All of the others did as well and he knew that several would be conversing privately with each other soon to promote their views or finish arguments like Ler'syn and Jha'dur looked to be preparing for.
Deciding to think privately he switched off his connection and sat back in his chair. The events he had heard about and was about to view could not only be a threat to the Dilgar's war of conquest. But also of his own plans to preserve his people. He decided to double his agent numbers throughout LONAW territory and send a few more agents into the human territory to find out what they knew of this 'Mork' and assign his second in command to data processing to keep him occupied while he stepped up his own agenda. He didn't trust his subordinate as he acted in a similar manner to the more fanatic way of thinking and knew that were it not for his continued survival his resources would be wastefully used and the survival of his race made that much harder to become a reality.
Getting out of the chair he once again thanked the Vultures for destroying that pirate raid against his ship as it would have probably led to his death and the potential death of his race.
Meanwhile in the Bunker under Earthdome another meeting of war by the Military Chiefs of the Earth Alliance was assembled…
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Bunker under Earthdome, Geneva, Switzerland, Home of the Earth Alliance administration and Earthforce, Earth, Sol.
Around the circular hardwood table in the low light room with no one else in sight, the eight most powerful men and women in Earthforce began an important meeting.
The chief war minister David Fenrir looked around and seeing no one else was going to interrupt he began.
"Gentlemen and ladies, yesterday and today marks a significant event for the people of the Earth Alliance and marks the beginning of what may be a new era in our species and nation's history. I have received a report from our Pioneer Stations that the first ground attacks on a Dilgar heralded a successful and enlightening operation for our Worlder forces. I would like to take a minute to thank Peter MacKinson and Sir George Walton, the heads of the Worlder and Tactics division respectively, for their hard work in making it a success. I would like to hear their updated reports as I am sure you all do as well" He finished while turning to Peter first.
Peter MacKinson was a respected Supreme Commander of all Worlder forces. It had been his idea to attack what was at first a suspected simple labour camp but his brand of luck had yielded much more than was at first thought by those around him. He was completely bald apart from some hair around the back of his head and rather than hide it he was showing his age and the scars of previous work defending civilians from a boarding action against Centauri pirates. Two cuts on his arm and a missing shoulder were his trophies and when you faced his brown-eyed gaze you knew whether you were an enemy or not and what your chances of survival were.
Making a slight nod to his younger, although no less able, commanding officer he began his report.
"Thank you David for the glowing reference" he spoke in a gravelly tone. Taking a breath he started again.
"The Worlders mission, code named 'Operation McQueen', was from my reports a complete success. Using detailed information gathered by Vulture forces we were able to identify the fleet power of the patrolling ships and plan accordingly. After landing successfully without detection the attack began in the earlier hours of the morning on the planet's surface and took the base guards by surprise. While there were no deaths reported a few were seriously injured by grenades and overwhelming firepower used by the Dilgar. After locating the prisoners and successfully evacuating them to the medical shuttles that were brought, we moved on to a hidden underground bunker that was discovered through questioning the former prisoners and captured Dilgar forces. On asking for a scan from the orbiting transport ship it was discovered that the bunker had unusual energy readings that were consistent with our own people's forays into Quantum Singularity construction and use. After relaying this information a decision was made by the commanding officer to disable, destroy or capture whatever was causing the Singularity which it was assumed was being used for power generation." Taking a breath he brought up images of the battle and plans taken from the bunker's database to further explain his point.
"Our forces got lucky however when a captured soldier was able to turn the tables on his captors and captured the Dilgar's head of the facility. With the threat of slavery and nuclear ordinance he was able to 'negotiate' a ceasefire and surrender. Their identities as our soldiers were also protected through his use of a false title and homeplanet. This should make it harder to tag us as a threat until we are ready to release the information to our allies and the rest of the galactic scene." He finished his address to the joint chiefs and waited for any questions.
"If I may ask a question? What are we going to do with those captured prisoners of theirs? The first idea was to simply declare what happened and intimidate the Dilgar Empire but our capturing and destruction of their Singularity generator may bring some unwanted attention. Not to mention the Dilgar prisoners including the ones that maintained that generator." Said Admiral To'brongi, a dark skinned former ship captain, and head of matters to do with the Earthforce Navy.
"We did prepare for this unlikely event and we are putting the POWs on one of our supposedly 'uncolonised' areas inaccessible to Hyperspace travel and keeping them there for the time being. We may do a prisoner swap later on but until then they'll be under our watchful eye. As for the prisoners we freed, we are putting them through highly sterilised quarantine procedure and prepping them for the Markab ships coming to pick them up and return them to where they wish. They have all signed confidentiality agreements and we have assigned some of our resources to making sure they keep to them for the time being." Said the head of Earthforce Intelligence, a mid-level empath called Catherine Crocker. She had worked as a powerful executive in PSIcore before deciding to work for the government in a different division and chose intelligence matters for her highly useful empathic ability of detecting the truth from someone.
"Very well then. I don't think we need to hear much about the Dilgar ships as apparently that part went off flawlessly." David said while nodding to Sir Walton who nodded back his consent to continue without his report on the crippling of the orbiting Dilgar fleet. Possibly wasting some much needed time in a wartime situation.
"To continue on I want to hear the Dilgar reaction. This of course falls to our Vulture head Laura Saunders. Laura?"
The woman opposite him sat up in her chair and pressed a button which showed an overview of LONAW and Dilgar territory. Above it was a map of the fleet beacon network in Hyperspace and arrows and numbers could be seen on both indicating ship movements of both sides.
"Thank you David. As our predictions noted the Dilgar have pulled back some of their forces from the frontline and have left several weaknesses we can now exploit. I propose we begin operations to take back the Drazi colonies that have been attacked and should send our latest generation mobile suit technology to quicken their leaving. My analysts say that with such defeats we can begin the push back of their fleet and army and end this war quickly. Meanwhile my subordinates have told the Roost that they have reached Omelos and have begun to inspect it for possible reasons behind the Dilgar aggression. While we did have them in before the increased need for a watchful eye on the Dilgar necessitates my more resources being used." She finished while sitting down.
"Thank you for that good news Laura. Now everyone, I can guess that some of you are wondering why we haven't threatened the use of WMDs in response to their own use of them in their attacks, but it has been decided by the analysts of 'Department D' that the use of any of our more specialised brand could only lead to an arms race that our economy is not ready to handle. Though the use of small ordinance air-fire rounds for ground combat and liquid nitrogen hull piercing missiles is being considered on worlds and against ships not valuable to us or the LONAW in the greater scheme of things" David finished.
"I think that is all the important matters for now. I propose we move onto the next part of this meeting. These rumours we are hearing of a rebellion in the Dilgar forces…"
With this the meeting was to continue on as the men and women charged with humanities future debated its numerous paths.
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Omelos Star System. Inner planetary system.
Deep in space around the orbit of the star called Omelos a conversation between two hidden ships was taking place.
"I say we shouldn't have given up that sheep hunt just to play some pool. We had it almost within our grasp and we could have used the promise of beer to the others to give us the nice pillows in the barracks that night," Said one voice to the other.
"May I remind you that two of our previous hunts turned out to be goose chases? Except that one time we caught a goose in the lower storage areas where we almost became Popsicles because of the faulty airlock?" Said the other quite irate one for his wing mate's whining.
"I still stand by the explanation that the goose knew we were coming and planted a trap for us. I swear I saw an evil grin on it just before the doors were about to open and it was near enough to the console to press the button marked open with its beak." Replied the first voice in a menacing tone.
"You're cracked like the rest of those station people. Luckily they are competent though so the door didn't send us out now quiet down. We are meant to be silently scanning this system and I don't want to see any enemy fighters or their larger friends on my scanner heading on an intercept course" spoke the second voice.
"Don't worry about it. They have no idea about subspace and they-Oh!" the first voice finished in a surprised tone.
"What oh? 'Oh' as in we've been spotted and I'll have to personally kill you now or 'oh' as in I finally realised what an idiot I am and beg forgiveness"
"How about none of the above. I just got some strange readings from my microwave scanner and my thermal one just went wonky. Take a look at these readings from that section of the sun" The first voice said while sending some data to his flying partner.
"Hm. You may have something there. We need a wider amount of readings and that will require a ship with better sensors than these can offer. Let's report back" Said the second voice with a commanding tone after checking his own instruments; their ships were a good distance away so he didn't get the readings strong enough to be noticeable but something did seem to be up. He was the senior officer after all even with equal ranks.
"Sure old man. While on our way back let me enlighten you as to what I did with that goose once I found him again" Said the now identifiably younger one as it began a long story.
His partner just wanted to smack his head or claim weapon misfire but he needed to know if the kid's machines were going funny or if what he saw was the real deal. He had taken Celestial Mathematics before becoming a Vulture and what he saw from the kid's data meant he suddenly was very worried.
"And then I laughed as a paid the guy to give it to me. I swear it was trying to puppy dog eye me but I was having none of that" said the droning voice.
Of course that all depended on whether he would survive this trip back with his sanity intact.
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Meanwhile back in League territory under assault by the Dilgar.
"This is the captain. In 72 hours we will begin combat operations against the invading forces. Say your peace and prayers and prepare all stations for combat. That is all."
Restless ships wait in a form of stasis in hyperspace. They would soon begin and taste the wreckage of their enemies. Let hellfire rain down upon those unfortunate enough to mess with them and theirs.
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Well that is it for now folks. Hope you enjoyed this latest chapter.
