Edited by a person of many names Blood Raven AKA TimedRaven117. Go check out his story Mass Effect: X-Com Theory! (Blood and his self promotion :P)
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Arachnid Empire territory, Klendathu, TFS Valley Forge April/22/2329 AD
Brigadier General Juan Rico watched the battle outside from the observation deck of the old Cruiser. From his position he could see several Federation dreadnoughts engaged in battle with bug Super Colony Ships, trading laser for plasma. The kilometer long bugs were covered in thick carapace that resisted not only lasers, but nuclear weapons, meaning the dreadnoughts did little to actually damage the bug. They were there to hold the SCS' attention so the rest of the fleet could be safeguarded. It was up to the boarding parties to get deep inside and place a nuclear device near the bug's "engines" if you could call them that, if they wanted to take the SCS' out.
One of the SCS went up in nuclear fire, and the dreadnought that had been engaging it moved on to the next target. He hoped the troopers had made it off before detonation, back in the day when the roughnecks had been a platoon and not a brigade and had been led by Lieutenant Razak, they had barely escaped a similar operation. Looking past the battle he could see several Athena cruisers bombarding one of the three asteroids that acted as moons for Klendathu. They were home to colonies of plasma bugs and the last time the Fleet had attacked Klendathu, many ships had been shot out of the sky from those moving fortresses. Now the plan was to reduce them to nothing but rubble and use it to bombard that hellhole with its own moons.
Beyond the moons, the bugs only had a few ships in system, a couple colony ships, a swarm carrier, a few Horned Destroyers with a Scorpion Cruiser, and a massive Blister Battlecruiser. All 'n all a good selection of the bug fleet which had to be created when the Bug war started ten years ago. They were staying out of range of the much larger Terran fleet, but they would need to be dealt with soon. Once all the present threats were cleared the entire Fleet would move into range of Klendathu and begin turning the surface of the planet into a burning wasteland, and hopefully nothing more than an atmosphereless rock so heavily irradiated it would boil the bugs in their shells.
Once the fire went down they would send in the troops to search the tunnels and do a clean sweep of any nest and queen who had survived the devastation. Even with the possibility there would be survivors, with any luck this would effectively end the war, the leadership would be decimated and the empire would turn in on itself. If not, well, they had still gotten a major moral victory for the civilians back home that would keep the war going for a few more years.
"General Rico, please report to the Command Center." The electronic voice of the ship's AI called, taking Rico's mind away from battle outside.
"Well this won't be good." He groused as he walked to the nearby elevator and told it to take him to the Command Center. A minute later he was at the Command Center which was bustling with activity. Officers were busy relaying orders and organizing ships for attacks on areas of interest, as he walked towards the holo-globe in the center of the Command Center he watched as Captain Shepard of the 67th Frigate Flotilla conversed with Commodore Isaiah Uriah.
"Ah, General I'm glad you came so quickly." Commodore Uriah acknowledge as Rico came up to the table.
"I was watching the fireworks on the observation deck, always makes me happy to see a bug ship turn into a fireball." He commented with a smile, dropping the smile he cut to the chase, "Something wrong?"
"Yes." Captain Shepard stated, motioning the communication officer forward, "At twenty two hundred hours we received a message from the planet, at first it was assumed it was old traffic from one of the Viking Landing Boat's automated distress signal, however-" the communication officer pressed a few buttons and file began to play. "Gooood morning Klendathu! Its me, Colonel Leslie Kirkland to any Troopers fighting on Big K, remember you are Terran, you never give up, and you never die! Now we know a lot of you have given up on hope, but don't worry my friends, either the Federation will win the war out here, or we'll win it on here! Now for some friendly reminders~! Just remember the blister bug meat is poisonous, Tanker bugs aren't worth hunting, and if you see a chance to free a shipment of our brothers and sister from bug control, take it! We only live forever if some one's left to remember. Now I'll hand you over to our friendly neighborhood Three Dog, Bow wow~! Timestamp April 20th, 2329, goodnight and good luck."
"That was two days ago." Rico wanted to be shocked there was anyone left down there, the massacre had left miles of bodies, but the same reason he knew there were the miles of bodies was the same reason he knew some could be alive down there. After the battle, before the fleet had fled the system, they had gotten signals from a fednet reporter as he wandered across the wasteland on the planet, the last signal to come from him had been group of warrior bugs watching him from a the distance, toying with him.
"Yes if that transmission is to be believed." The Commodore looked less than convinced, "I think the bugs are trying to pull the wool over our eyes, try and gets us to not nuke the everliving crap out of the planet."
"They aren't." Rico replied, "This fits right into the shit they will do." The commodore gave him a look that said he found that hard to believe, "Remember Culath." That struck a chord with the Commodore. It was hard to forget about how a Terran task force and colonists had nearly been wiped when half the Humans on the planet had been turned into bug Human abominations, "The bugs know we don't like to kill our own so it makes sense to keep prisoners on their capital, maybe even let a few wander the planet as sport."
"But how have they kept themselves supplied? Food and water can be acquired from the dead, but ammunition is not so easily recovered if it's left to sit for years in the desert without proper maintenance." The Commodore asked finally starting to take the idea seriously.
"In case you forgot Commodore, the first invasion included supplies to build forts, air and water recyclers, and lots of other equipment for maintenance, survival, and possibly even enough to make a true static base. Throw in six million weapons with accompanying ammo, and not all of it just in the hands of the rotting dead, and you have a situation where combined with the right support gear and enough manpower, they could hold out until they die of old age. We're hard to kill after all." When Rico attained the rank of General, he wanted to know why the first invasion had failed, so he studied up.
"So what are we going to do about this? We can't just call off the attack we risked too much with that alien device to turn back now." Captain Shepard asked.
"We save who we can." Rico said firmly, "Do we know where this Colonel Kirkland was transmitting from?" Rico asked the communication officer who nodded.
"Then we let them know help has arrived. Commodore, take your Destroyers and have them fly over the survivor center, broadcasting on all channels our intent. Captain, dig up the old authentication codes from the first invasion and play some music for the poor boys. But have the code playing in the frequency as well, the music will cover it and give the good Colonel the idea that we are telling the truth. Next ask for geographically stable areas where we can land and pick up the survivors. Make sure they are all checked out for any tag-alongs from the bugs. That should be good enough that we can rescue most if not all of them."
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Arachnid Empire territory, Klendathu, Rocky Ring Lake, April/22/2329 AD
Petty Officer Jake Silva messed with the radio he been trying to get working for the last 3 months. Before they had been forced to move from their last base, to this side of the lake they had had a good working radio, but it had been damaged when Jake used it as a shield for a bug claw. He found most of the parts for this new one from the downed redhawk that had left him and his fellow survivors on this god forsaken rock, but other pieces he had to scavenge from the dead and other downed craft.
Luckily in a morbid sense, there was a lot of dead to go through, but even with that it took time to find all the undamaged parts, and clean off the sand. He had finally found the last part in a semi functional landing boat.
It had been the scene of a massive fight when it first went down, if the bones and carapaces were anything to go by, but despite the damage he and the other engineers believed they could get it into working order if they bothered, too bad there was no where to go currently, so they used it as storage cache with a half squad of men to fly it over if they needed to get out in a hurry.
He tabbed through the channels to see which survivor bands were still kicking; there was Kirkland, the leader of one of the bigger bands of survivors, and a bitch. She'd been promoted by her dying commander and as the highest ranking commander on the planet she taken to thinking she was the leader of all Terrans, even though they really had no commanders, just formally agreed upon leaders. She just happened to find half of a downed Corvette with a working power supply and was able to broadcast her signal all over the planet. At least she had a few writers in her band, they made for some stellar entertainment at times. And as much as he and his group ragged on her, The Kirkland Brigade always traded fair and were quick to lend a hand.
There was Jeremy, a religious nut job who was one of these day going to snap and try and say the bug queens were gods to his flock. Hopefully the flock would not be so brain dead to follow him and instead kill the bastard. But as much as Jake detested religion, a lot of men and women here on Klendathu had found it once more, and even made a damn church. His Lord's Killzone Church. Every week they count how many bugs they killed and offer it up to God as a show of devotion.
Sometimes he thought they didn't drink enough water, but hey, it was always fun to compare kill tallies through their station.
And then there was Cortez, the man who proclaimed himself King of Klendathu, and as far as Jake knew he had no subjects no followers and not a single piece of land with his name on it. The guy had just snapped one day after most of his group was slaughtered. He thought it was Bugs that got them, but some of the others in his group believed cannibalism had been involved since they had found a body with Human teeth marks on the bones around the same time the "King" made his radio debut. Of course that was preposterous, there were plenty of bugs to eat on the planet. And they taste better than Humans anyways.
He should know after all.
On the bright side the King was a funny sort and sometimes people weren't sure if he was joking or not, making such ridiculous claims as, "I decree all bugs shall get cake!" and his personal favorite, "Kirkland is a whiny bitch."
And that was about all he could contact right now, there were more active radio stations across the planet with there own brand of survivors, but they were out of range of his little valley. Damn he really could have gone for the Weather Channel, they could tell him if any dust storms were brewing in his region.
"Hey Jake!" Jake looked up from his work to see Corporeal Jo Howin looking in on him. His old raider armor patched up with warrior bug hides, sewed in place to strengthen the armor.
"Hey Howin what's up?" Jake replied, sitting back in the old pilot seat he had taken from a downed Skyhook.
"Hunting parties are back, we got good meat tonight." The Trooper commented leaning his gun against the door jam,
"What'd they catch?" Jake asked suspiciously, since there never was any good meat on this hell hole.
"FireFries."
"Fuck it all, I'll starve." Jake said over exaggerating, he really did hate firefry meat, it was stringy and tasted like something you fed your cat if you hated it, the only saving grace was it was spicy hot, but of course if you eat too much you spend the day digging a new latrine as you filled the old one. However he knew he had to eat it, he was just going to make a fuss since it was routine that lightened the mood.
"Come on Jake it ain't that bad." Howin stated a little too quickly.
Jake looked at him suspiciously and asked pointedly, "How much Tiger Bug jerky do you have hidden."
Howin looked back and said with a sly grin, "Enough that I can give you some tonight if you end that line of questions."
"Deal!" Jake got up to shake Howin's hand and bumped the radio tuner, moving a few centimeters, and right as Howin took his hand a clear signal Jake had never heard before came through.
"This is Commander Pressly, XO of the Ollanius Pius, to all Terrans trapped on Klandathu, your ride home has finally come. Please respond in the next twenty two hours for pick up, if you don't you will join the bugs in the nuclear holocaust."
Jake looked down at the radio in shock then looked up to see Howin was in the same state, in that split second Jake made a choice, "Get the others up now."
"What?" Howin asked in momentary confusion.
"I said go wake up the lazy scumbags we call friends, I'm going to tell the fuckers in space where to pick us up and the bugs are going to hear me and come running, we need every Trooper ready to fight those mother fucking bugs back until they arrive." Howin nodded and headed for the door tripping over his rifle in his rush and nearlying knocking himself out, "Walk it off land lover." Jake catcalled. He picked up the radio and composed himself and gave Howin a few minutes to get the Troopers up while he linked the radio to the makeshift emergency tower they had.
He knew the reason why the bugs let them survive as long as they had and it wasn't some unknown sadistic streak or laziness, no, not long after the Terrans had been left here they had started to seen a new kinda bug they had named the overseer, a flying armored brain bug. They would watch the battles, but before finishing the Terrans off they would call the warriors back.
They had been using the Terrans trapped here as live practice for their bug commanders, and by calling for aid they would break whatever treaty the bugs had imposed on them. 'Well fuck better to die with gun in the hand fighting then eating that shity bug meat'. Jake thought as he brought up an open broadcast channel, "This is Petty Officer Jake Silva Of the Rocky Ring survivors calling for aid, the bugs will be on us within the hour, I am relaying the location of the valley we're in now. If anyone can hear us and don't have a two way radio, move here now, we need every rifle and every launcher we can get! Over." He read out their location then waited, thankfully not too long.
"Roger that Rocky Ring survivors we will dispatch troops and ships to your location, how many of you boys are at your location? Over." A female voice responded.
"We got forty, I repeat forty survivors here, but we won't last long if you don't get here right now! We aren't in exactly the best of defensive locations. However that number may change if more survivor bands come to our location. Last I heard there was at least a dozen different bands in our area of comparable size. Over." To the radio operator who was responding to him thought he sounded like he won the lottery. Well technically he did in this case.
"Duly noted prepare for pick up. Over and out"
Jake dropped his mic and ran out into the hull of the old insta fort construction, grabbing his shotgun from next to his makeshift desk. Several troopers ran past him pulling on their armor, some of them plaited with tiger warrior chitin, others just warrior hide. Howin ran up tossing Jake his old raider armor. "Thought you could use this."
"Thanks." Jake said strapping it onto himself, it wasn't much normally, but it was something. He walked towards the wall of their little community, "You better give me that Tiger Jerky now."
"Ah, but we're going to get off this rock, don't you want to save room for the steak dinner waiting for us?" Howin asked
Jake smiled "Yes, but I'll kill better with a full stomach and that's the best meat on the planet. And besides the only thing I'll miss about this planet is that meat." Howin nodded and handed him a bag of jerky from a random crevice in the metal scaffolding they stood upon. Tigerbug was strangely the best kind of meat on the planet. Everyone loved its tangy coppery taste, and it could be cooked in a dozen different ways, from barbecue and smoking, to jerky. Typically it was found Jerky was one of the best ways if you wanted it to last long. First you vacuum sealed it in plastic bag, then laid it out on something to cook and jerkify it, then if you really wanted to make it good, you let it ferment a bit in its packaging by adding some sugar (Which was typically gained through evaporating and sifting Tanker Bug juices), which gave a bit of a sweet alcoholic taste to it. Upon getting the bag, Silva wasted no time using his knife to cut it open and then biting a chunk off and savoring the taste. Immediately everyone who could see him smelled the delicious treat and salivated, "Besides eating gets in the way of my other favorite past time." He walked up the ramp to the top of the wall. The men and woman he passed with shit eating grins and determined looks, handing out pieces of the jerky to them all. They could already hear the screaming of warrior bugs alongside the chatter of rifles firing from small bands of survivors flocking to them.
"Drinking?" Howin guessed, remembering the moonshine they could occasionally make when they get the right materials.
"Close." He leveled his shotgun over the edge as the first warrior party came running towards them hot on the heels of a band of at least two dozen Terrans running full sprint towards their outer defences, "It's drinking while SKIRT CHASING FLEET GIRLS! AIN'T THAT RIGHT BOYS AND GIRLS?!" Whooping out in exhilaration alongside the rest of the band, their war cry echoing in reply to the Warrior Bugs screams. The other troopers opened up, bringing down the warriors, freeing the first band to have flocked to their banner, that band taking up positions throughout the prepared mini fort. Long established greetings and insults were traded as more came, wave after wave, and Jake smiled like a madman as he stood on the wall unloading his shotgun into the oncoming horde. The bugs steadily began tearing the walls apart and began climbing their dead. However each wave were gunned down all the same before another wave came up and it repeated.
"Come on you green blooded bastards, this the best you got?!" Jake yelled as he tossed his empty shotgun, its barrel red from non stop use, and leaned over to picked up a rifle an ammo runner brought him. Luck was on his side as a hopper flew over him at that moment, slicing several troopers' heads from their bodies.
Jake striated and and leveled the rifle, using the shotgun that converted standard Rifle ammo into a flechette spray, and waited for the hopper to try again blowing it from the sky. Hoppers typically got one chance to cause harm before they were killed by the experienced vets.
He leveled his rifle to fire into the pit of claws before the wall when five thunderhawks flew overhead, dropping bombs in the horde frying the bugs. A pair of Slingshots guarded by two Fire Foxes came landing inside their walled base, several troopers in armor that made their own frankenstein armor look shittier than normal, stepped out covering the landing area. He recognized them as Salty Sam's Brigadiers, a survivor band who laid claim to territory nearly 20 miles away.
Jake spared no time jumping from the wall like all the others rushing for the rescue boats, unfortunately an old friend decided to get in Jake's way.
A white burrow worm burst through the ground in front of Jake with a roar, rows of spine like teeth presented themselves to Jake. "Ah El Blanco, thought you'd never show your ugly face, well this time I'm ready! You shitty maggot!" Pulling two grenades from his back he tossed them into the open mouth, "Eat this!"
Everything was immediately coated in orange gore, dripping and slipping in the orange fluid. Jake ran headlong towards the open hatch, and slipped and cracked his exposed head against the hydraulic lift for the boarding ramp. Falling unconscious, he felt himself dragged into the ship, the fire fight ending as the bugs were heard roaring from the other end of the fortification.