By the time the boy had regained something that distantly resembled consciousness, Kallenger had returned to the task of trying to keep pressure on that wound. Must have been some damn good bullets, she thought – hollow point surely, and maybe micro-serration or a coating of an anti-clot agent to promote excessive bleeding. She was bleeding a tad more than she normally might.
High end bullets, particularly those designed for decimating flesh tended to have exit wounds which were much worse than entry.
And this was exactly the case, she was sure. The front of her left shoulder was marred by the hole, but it was small and save for the blood was relatively clean. For a gunshot wound, anyhow – those always seemed a lot worse in person. Her back felt all kinds of torn up though. Holding her hand over it had given that hint, and her right hand would prove to be a mess when she eventually removed it.
He might have seen the woman shifting about some – after a little while of failing to stop the blood with her hand, she instead moved so as to press the back of her shoulder – still with the hand in between – into the tree trunk behind her. It was excruciating and only marginally more effective than the less painful method, but she could tough it out. Of course, the exertion from both receiving the wound and trying to deal with it was taking its toll.
When the boy a couple feet away stirred, she noticed out of the corner of her eye but didn’t pay much attention. Boy, she could do with a nap right about now.
But this was no time to sleep! Obviously.
Then he spoke, and it actually startled her. She jumped a little, though inwardly so there was little actual movement. It took her a moment to actually look at him again. When she spoke it was in a very tired sort of mumble. She smiled the grim, wry smile of the injured.
“Hey. Glad you’re not dead. Had me goin’ there. Name’s…” There was a slight hesitation there – probably not enough to actually notice, but still there. It was as if she had stopped to think about what she was going to say, but immediately gave up and decided to just blurt whatever. Or perhaps as though she had momentarily forgotten what to say.
“Name’s Royanna.” She mumbled, and for the first time in almost twenty years, she introduced herself with her first name. Not ‘Special Agent Royanna Kallenger of the Galactic Imperial Special Forces’. Just…Royanna.
“Yep. Took a hit.” The words were taking some effort. It was a far cry from the usual way she might answer such a question, more like ‘what does it look like?’ or something equally abrasive and offensive.
Absently she wondered if he remembered her, or perhaps he hadn’t gotten a good enough look, or connected the voice – given the very different tone she was using now. “It hurts. Probably more than anything else…You might not believe it but I’ve never been shot before.” A little laugh, though it came out in the form of one little heaving exhale.
She shook her head. “Nah. Not unless you’ve got the Galaxy’s best painkillers on you. Maybe bandages or a bloodclotting agent…@#$%, could have sworn those were in that little medkit but damned if my hands aren’t too shaky to pick through it.”
The medkit was the size of an average letter envelope, and opened like one as well. It bore the ever enduring red cross symbol, as well as the diamond shaped 'GE' emblem of the Galactic Empire. The various amenities were lined up within, and the width came to perhaps half an inch. Extremely compact and really only good for one person, but she had never expected to need the thing.
Again, also absently, tucked off in the corner of the mind that everyone had which was used for storing and analyzing irrelevant thoughts during times of crisis – wondered what he’d do if he did recognize her. She would find it interesting, if nothing else.
High end bullets, particularly those designed for decimating flesh tended to have exit wounds which were much worse than entry.
And this was exactly the case, she was sure. The front of her left shoulder was marred by the hole, but it was small and save for the blood was relatively clean. For a gunshot wound, anyhow – those always seemed a lot worse in person. Her back felt all kinds of torn up though. Holding her hand over it had given that hint, and her right hand would prove to be a mess when she eventually removed it.
He might have seen the woman shifting about some – after a little while of failing to stop the blood with her hand, she instead moved so as to press the back of her shoulder – still with the hand in between – into the tree trunk behind her. It was excruciating and only marginally more effective than the less painful method, but she could tough it out. Of course, the exertion from both receiving the wound and trying to deal with it was taking its toll.
When the boy a couple feet away stirred, she noticed out of the corner of her eye but didn’t pay much attention. Boy, she could do with a nap right about now.
But this was no time to sleep! Obviously.
Then he spoke, and it actually startled her. She jumped a little, though inwardly so there was little actual movement. It took her a moment to actually look at him again. When she spoke it was in a very tired sort of mumble. She smiled the grim, wry smile of the injured.
“Hey. Glad you’re not dead. Had me goin’ there. Name’s…” There was a slight hesitation there – probably not enough to actually notice, but still there. It was as if she had stopped to think about what she was going to say, but immediately gave up and decided to just blurt whatever. Or perhaps as though she had momentarily forgotten what to say.
“Name’s Royanna.” She mumbled, and for the first time in almost twenty years, she introduced herself with her first name. Not ‘Special Agent Royanna Kallenger of the Galactic Imperial Special Forces’. Just…Royanna.
“Yep. Took a hit.” The words were taking some effort. It was a far cry from the usual way she might answer such a question, more like ‘what does it look like?’ or something equally abrasive and offensive.
Absently she wondered if he remembered her, or perhaps he hadn’t gotten a good enough look, or connected the voice – given the very different tone she was using now. “It hurts. Probably more than anything else…You might not believe it but I’ve never been shot before.” A little laugh, though it came out in the form of one little heaving exhale.
She shook her head. “Nah. Not unless you’ve got the Galaxy’s best painkillers on you. Maybe bandages or a bloodclotting agent…@#$%, could have sworn those were in that little medkit but damned if my hands aren’t too shaky to pick through it.”
The medkit was the size of an average letter envelope, and opened like one as well. It bore the ever enduring red cross symbol, as well as the diamond shaped 'GE' emblem of the Galactic Empire. The various amenities were lined up within, and the width came to perhaps half an inch. Extremely compact and really only good for one person, but she had never expected to need the thing.
Again, also absently, tucked off in the corner of the mind that everyone had which was used for storing and analyzing irrelevant thoughts during times of crisis – wondered what he’d do if he did recognize her. She would find it interesting, if nothing else.
The grating shook through the apparent force of nothing, to far eyes, even so that it was quite impossible to see anything climbing through it. A distorted shape darted swiftly towards a mound of misshapen steel, and with a loud clanging of metal, the presence clashed violently against the wall-of-sorts, composed by the discarded scrap. The Ranger's advance could be only comparable to a poltergeist, his ghostly presence made prominent by the dead silence in the BrainPal, the only response he had for the team.
Under his disguise, CL rotated, pressed and jerked all kinds of mechanisms under his EMP-inducing arm. Planet-scale EMPs always disabled up to 80% of the troops he had already fought for in the past, those used to be tenfold stronger than the one that the Aelyn unleashed under Kartupelis and Kampfer's war machines within. They were clearly something remarkable, and The Ranger didn't really had any ammo to take them all down, like he usually did in this sort of scenario.
After what felt like long hours, the Ranger finally managed to break out his silence: "... Pinpoint the bot's location, Doc. Request an mock-air strike to confuse the enemy. Avoid the bot, obviously. Aleessa, take the highest ground you can and blast the **** out from any ************ who goes after my ***. I'll charge in and pulse the **** out of that ****-talking chunk of tin that calls himself an AI. Have an immediate extraction ready. Mission success rate? One ******* hundred percent. Objections?" He spoke loud through the device, and he spoke hard. The crazy android had his share with him some hours ago and CL already had his portion of insanity in this so-called "Earth". Not to mention that just glimpsing at the many yellow cars scrapped around succulent signposts in the distance made his craving for potato almost comparable to space-narcotics. It was about time he got out of this planet back to his Quest.
"Battery Power 97%"
Under his disguise, CL rotated, pressed and jerked all kinds of mechanisms under his EMP-inducing arm. Planet-scale EMPs always disabled up to 80% of the troops he had already fought for in the past, those used to be tenfold stronger than the one that the Aelyn unleashed under Kartupelis and Kampfer's war machines within. They were clearly something remarkable, and The Ranger didn't really had any ammo to take them all down, like he usually did in this sort of scenario.
After what felt like long hours, the Ranger finally managed to break out his silence: "... Pinpoint the bot's location, Doc. Request an mock-air strike to confuse the enemy. Avoid the bot, obviously. Aleessa, take the highest ground you can and blast the **** out from any ************ who goes after my ***. I'll charge in and pulse the **** out of that ****-talking chunk of tin that calls himself an AI. Have an immediate extraction ready. Mission success rate? One ******* hundred percent. Objections?" He spoke loud through the device, and he spoke hard. The crazy android had his share with him some hours ago and CL already had his portion of insanity in this so-called "Earth". Not to mention that just glimpsing at the many yellow cars scrapped around succulent signposts in the distance made his craving for potato almost comparable to space-narcotics. It was about time he got out of this planet back to his Quest.
"Battery Power 97%"
There was a short pause in which nothing was said over the BrainPal channels. Then a map blipped into everyones’ heads – not so that it would obscure sight, but tucked away in some other part of the brain where it could be ‘seen’ and comprehended without the need for sight. Brains were complex.
The BrainPal equivalent of ‘voice’ from The Captain was accompanying.
Issuing a frontal assault in the red. Enemies seem to have set up tents in the indicated area, keep away. White represents Rivierre’s range, the center building poses a blind spot. The purple is a series of underground maintenance tunnels that MAY provide access in and/or out of the city. This intelligence is not 100% however so use with caution if at all. All entrances are likely to be permanently sealed and will require blasting. Yellow are suggested points of evac but call it in wherever you see fit. Rivierre will be extracted by a separate vessel which will land directly in the scrapyard. The map will update in real time with your locations and should do the same for the target. Enemies can be tracked only via manual tagging. Questions?
Rivierre adjusted her position accordingly, settled down, deployed the super thin, hypercarbon-fiber shield that unfolded from either side of the weapon, creased and created a miniature bunker for one – the camouflage was not advanced as what the Ranger had, but it made it very hard to spot via eye or scope, and nearly impossible to spot electronically. Far from impenetrable, but sturdy and could retract in some four seconds for retreat.
The Doctor kept close – but not too close – to The Ranger, and tried not to think about the fact that with himself not invisible, he could very well have been playing the part of bait as well as engineer. Still, he trusted Rivierre with his life, and really that had been the only reason he reluctantly agreed to embark on this ridiculousness.
In high orbit, Aelyn’s warship cruised along, moving gradually in the direction of Kartupelis and the center of Kampfer’s operations, stopping at just the spot where he would remain out of ‘sight’ with the planet safely between them. The two-person operation proceeded hastily with unleashing what by all means looked like a large invasion force – and it was, to an extent. The logic?
Now that Kampfer’s army was supposedly disabled, he could at last show what Kampfer had been waiting to see, his ‘full militant power’. If all went ‘according to plan’, Aelyn would bomb a clear path into the city center, then send in an overwhelming militant force to finish the job.
Inwardly, Captain Petrovalyc was very impressed with the way The Ranger thought. It was a perfect match – after all, Aelyn did not have an army, or even an armed security force. All he had was a whole lot of remote-controlled toys.
Double-checking the targeting, the Warship fired a great barrage of missiles down upon the city, focusing on the indicated strip of road from the west. A smaller series of missiles was targeted slightly north – the idea was that it would appear to be an attempt at flanking.
They soared through the high atmosphere, curved around, surged downward in a wavelike pattern, impacting with deadly efficiency. Possibly too deadly, as that particular road along with the buildings lining it had been almost entirely decimated in the hail of black death. They came screaming from the sky, impacting almost faster than the eye could see. Great pillars of fire and black plumes of smoke began to waft en masse from that area.
If those in charge had not evacuated citizens in anticipation of the coming attack, there would be a good sum of civilian casualties in the bombardment alone.
The chaos of the raining missiles lasted some time, as there was a good, rhythmic delay between them. After the last of them had shot from the heavens, just as the assault appeared to be concluded – to the layman, anyway – still more terrible things would come from the sky, this time in the form of large transport vehicles, VTOL. Still making as much of a show of force as possible – Aelyn was, after all, all about the presence, right? – they landed hard, shifted so that great, rugged tracks made contact with the ground and turned the things into large, bulky tanks with VTOL jets attached. Preliminary scans would show that there appeared to be sixteen robotic militants in each. The machines themselves would appear to be controlled via a rudimentary AI, which would have been impressive if it were true.
But BrainPal transmissions were impossible to track, and very versatile. Together, Aelyn and Alexa could, with reasonable efficiency, maintain the force for some time. The larger the operation, the more focus it took.
As such, it was a convoy of these armored transport vehicles that went crawling steadily down the center of the ruin which the missile bombardment had created. Now and again, guns mounted on the sides or tops of the vehicles would adjust and fire off at some movement that might have registered as an enemy. They approached slowly, with incredible confidence, the city center and town hall, a frontal assault on the encampment of armored tents that they had set up upon their arrival and usurpation of the Potato Capitol of the World.
He did not care how many of these things he had to use. He did not share Kampfer’s production rates, and it took him – especially in comparison – quite a while to have each machine built. It took just as long to build up his remote-control army as one might expect, and when these forces were exhausted, they were exhausted for good. Nonetheless, if his vehicles started getting blown to bits too rapidly, he would just send in more, then more. He would send in the drones too if he saw fit – shaped like skinny old bomber planes and much more heavily armed than they were armored – the opposite of the thick, but slow transports on the ground.
And as he and Alexa sat safely in their warship on the other side of the planet, he wondered. He thought. He tried his best to think of faults in this plan and account for them. He wondered if he might use his last, ultimate trump card. He didn’t want to – only because he wanted to keep it as an unknown for as long as possible. That one, impossible detail, the whole reason they were doing all this madness in the first place. He hoped it wouldn’t come to that. Not yet.
Meanwhile on the ground, Rivierre was doing exactly as CL had suggested, and covering him like a hawk. She held her fire until absolutely certain that CL had been spotted, and had been sure to attach her silencer to maximize her camouflage. She would not be easy to find.
If only that blasted EMP hadn't collapsed and screwed with the whole magnetosphere. Then everyone would still be able to move instantly through space like they had been doing before, and this operation would be going very, very differently.
Oh well.
The BrainPal equivalent of ‘voice’ from The Captain was accompanying.
Issuing a frontal assault in the red. Enemies seem to have set up tents in the indicated area, keep away. White represents Rivierre’s range, the center building poses a blind spot. The purple is a series of underground maintenance tunnels that MAY provide access in and/or out of the city. This intelligence is not 100% however so use with caution if at all. All entrances are likely to be permanently sealed and will require blasting. Yellow are suggested points of evac but call it in wherever you see fit. Rivierre will be extracted by a separate vessel which will land directly in the scrapyard. The map will update in real time with your locations and should do the same for the target. Enemies can be tracked only via manual tagging. Questions?
Rivierre adjusted her position accordingly, settled down, deployed the super thin, hypercarbon-fiber shield that unfolded from either side of the weapon, creased and created a miniature bunker for one – the camouflage was not advanced as what the Ranger had, but it made it very hard to spot via eye or scope, and nearly impossible to spot electronically. Far from impenetrable, but sturdy and could retract in some four seconds for retreat.
The Doctor kept close – but not too close – to The Ranger, and tried not to think about the fact that with himself not invisible, he could very well have been playing the part of bait as well as engineer. Still, he trusted Rivierre with his life, and really that had been the only reason he reluctantly agreed to embark on this ridiculousness.
In high orbit, Aelyn’s warship cruised along, moving gradually in the direction of Kartupelis and the center of Kampfer’s operations, stopping at just the spot where he would remain out of ‘sight’ with the planet safely between them. The two-person operation proceeded hastily with unleashing what by all means looked like a large invasion force – and it was, to an extent. The logic?
Now that Kampfer’s army was supposedly disabled, he could at last show what Kampfer had been waiting to see, his ‘full militant power’. If all went ‘according to plan’, Aelyn would bomb a clear path into the city center, then send in an overwhelming militant force to finish the job.
Inwardly, Captain Petrovalyc was very impressed with the way The Ranger thought. It was a perfect match – after all, Aelyn did not have an army, or even an armed security force. All he had was a whole lot of remote-controlled toys.
Double-checking the targeting, the Warship fired a great barrage of missiles down upon the city, focusing on the indicated strip of road from the west. A smaller series of missiles was targeted slightly north – the idea was that it would appear to be an attempt at flanking.
They soared through the high atmosphere, curved around, surged downward in a wavelike pattern, impacting with deadly efficiency. Possibly too deadly, as that particular road along with the buildings lining it had been almost entirely decimated in the hail of black death. They came screaming from the sky, impacting almost faster than the eye could see. Great pillars of fire and black plumes of smoke began to waft en masse from that area.
If those in charge had not evacuated citizens in anticipation of the coming attack, there would be a good sum of civilian casualties in the bombardment alone.
The chaos of the raining missiles lasted some time, as there was a good, rhythmic delay between them. After the last of them had shot from the heavens, just as the assault appeared to be concluded – to the layman, anyway – still more terrible things would come from the sky, this time in the form of large transport vehicles, VTOL. Still making as much of a show of force as possible – Aelyn was, after all, all about the presence, right? – they landed hard, shifted so that great, rugged tracks made contact with the ground and turned the things into large, bulky tanks with VTOL jets attached. Preliminary scans would show that there appeared to be sixteen robotic militants in each. The machines themselves would appear to be controlled via a rudimentary AI, which would have been impressive if it were true.
But BrainPal transmissions were impossible to track, and very versatile. Together, Aelyn and Alexa could, with reasonable efficiency, maintain the force for some time. The larger the operation, the more focus it took.
As such, it was a convoy of these armored transport vehicles that went crawling steadily down the center of the ruin which the missile bombardment had created. Now and again, guns mounted on the sides or tops of the vehicles would adjust and fire off at some movement that might have registered as an enemy. They approached slowly, with incredible confidence, the city center and town hall, a frontal assault on the encampment of armored tents that they had set up upon their arrival and usurpation of the Potato Capitol of the World.
He did not care how many of these things he had to use. He did not share Kampfer’s production rates, and it took him – especially in comparison – quite a while to have each machine built. It took just as long to build up his remote-control army as one might expect, and when these forces were exhausted, they were exhausted for good. Nonetheless, if his vehicles started getting blown to bits too rapidly, he would just send in more, then more. He would send in the drones too if he saw fit – shaped like skinny old bomber planes and much more heavily armed than they were armored – the opposite of the thick, but slow transports on the ground.
And as he and Alexa sat safely in their warship on the other side of the planet, he wondered. He thought. He tried his best to think of faults in this plan and account for them. He wondered if he might use his last, ultimate trump card. He didn’t want to – only because he wanted to keep it as an unknown for as long as possible. That one, impossible detail, the whole reason they were doing all this madness in the first place. He hoped it wouldn’t come to that. Not yet.
Meanwhile on the ground, Rivierre was doing exactly as CL had suggested, and covering him like a hawk. She held her fire until absolutely certain that CL had been spotted, and had been sure to attach her silencer to maximize her camouflage. She would not be easy to find.
If only that blasted EMP hadn't collapsed and screwed with the whole magnetosphere. Then everyone would still be able to move instantly through space like they had been doing before, and this operation would be going very, very differently.
Oh well.
The boy felt bad for having startled Kallenger. It might not have been much, but he still would have prefered to not have done it. Christofer had no memory of the lady though. The name might have awoken some feelings of 'familiarity' in him, but it wasn't enough to make him remember her. For now, his mind was focused on being worried over her and it over-wrote most of his own troubles of slight increasing hunger and a real sleep needing head
"Of course I believe you. It's not normal for people to get shot." The boy moved slightly closer to Royanna. "Violense shouldn't be the first act of anyone..." All of those words just made him remember Kete, although the very first thing the halfie had done wasn't the punching thing, but the German could only remember the punch and the face of the 'evil doer' clearly. His face started to hurt slightly more, in a heat radiating way, as if he could feel it even though the feel wasn't all too fresh anymore.
The boy got more worried over her 'laughing'. His dog-like ears would lay a bit flat behind his head.
"Stay still, I'll fix that for you..." He would then remove his top-most layer of clothing, rip the clean shirt underneat it and use it as a substitute for bandages as he proceeded on wrapping it over the bleeding wound. He woudn't stop even if the lady insisted on it, and to be honest, they weren't in their best shape, so more likely than not, Christofer would have been able to wrap the ripped cloth on place.
Toffi didn't notice the medkit until after he was done. He could note some small signature of some Corporation or such on it.
"Uh... Are you alone..?" the German would ask, putting the rest of his clothes back on himself and laying slightly down so that he could better be on eye-level with her, took a quick glance with his turquoice eyes to check if there were other obvious big bad wounds on her, and laid a bit down after that, still feeling slightly dizzy.
His tail would rest somewhere behind his right side, reaching over the length of his upper body. Unknowingly, the boy would lean on it a bit as it felt nice, soft and a little warm too
"Of course I believe you. It's not normal for people to get shot." The boy moved slightly closer to Royanna. "Violense shouldn't be the first act of anyone..." All of those words just made him remember Kete, although the very first thing the halfie had done wasn't the punching thing, but the German could only remember the punch and the face of the 'evil doer' clearly. His face started to hurt slightly more, in a heat radiating way, as if he could feel it even though the feel wasn't all too fresh anymore.
The boy got more worried over her 'laughing'. His dog-like ears would lay a bit flat behind his head.
"Stay still, I'll fix that for you..." He would then remove his top-most layer of clothing, rip the clean shirt underneat it and use it as a substitute for bandages as he proceeded on wrapping it over the bleeding wound. He woudn't stop even if the lady insisted on it, and to be honest, they weren't in their best shape, so more likely than not, Christofer would have been able to wrap the ripped cloth on place.
Toffi didn't notice the medkit until after he was done. He could note some small signature of some Corporation or such on it.
"Uh... Are you alone..?" the German would ask, putting the rest of his clothes back on himself and laying slightly down so that he could better be on eye-level with her, took a quick glance with his turquoice eyes to check if there were other obvious big bad wounds on her, and laid a bit down after that, still feeling slightly dizzy.
His tail would rest somewhere behind his right side, reaching over the length of his upper body. Unknowingly, the boy would lean on it a bit as it felt nice, soft and a little warm too
Commander Louie looked out the window and saw the flare that indicated the presence of hostile personnel. His heart sank and went for the megaphone, so he could see if he could broker a deal with the unknown personnel. But before he could say anything barrage of missiles struck what seem to be almost everywhere around the city and the introduction of VTOLS coming into the city with there own firepower. Louie lost it and went for the radio and called in Kampfer's main HQ. "My lord, we are being under-attack with some heavy firepower. Barrage of missiles hitting almost from everywhere and now enemy aircraft in the area too, please lets us return to normal power" he begged into the radio hoping HQ will respond. Thankfully for the scared commander they responded with "Use full force to put down the assault, incoming fighters to engaged enemy aircraft, expect bombardment on sector Q1". The commander sighed in relief to hear from HQ. A black flare was fired indicating a high state of emergency and authorized deadly force. Soon Kartupelis exposed it's secret...from a quite city to a fully improvised military base. All the bots from the buildings after the barrage went to engaged the flying VTOLS. They engaged them on the streets and in the buildings themselves. The missile barrage by Aelyn destroyed a couple of buildings and heavily damage others, killing various bots in the process. Soon boomerang shaped fighter-bombers arrived and started shooting down the VTOLS with the boom and zoom tactics, in rapid succession. From the tops of some buildings tarps where removed exposing the impressive array of anti-air craft guns, mostly quad-energy based machine guns which were also in involved in shooting down the transports. Commander Louie didn't what sector Q1 is but decided to check his digital maps and to see and found sector Q1...
Back at the main HQ, the power was turned back on and a flood of orders were issued to various places after getting reports of the assault on Kartupelis. Kampfer looked at the map of Kartupelis and circled where the reports where saying. "Zis doesn't make sense, personnel vas identified here but ze barrages and VTOLS are here, two direct routes and one indirect route. As an old man once said make a noise in ze east and strike from ze vest" he said as he admired the map that was full of X's and O's. "I vant a artillery strike here" he said as he doubled circle the sector Q1...the scrapyard. "Sir, the Orbital Laser sensor's have detected an unknown warship, that shot various objects to Kartupelis. I also like to report that your capital ship Overlord is in the vicinity of the unknown warship...your ship is cloaked by the way" the operator reported to Kampfer. Kampfer smiled and said "So Aelyn you fell into my improvised trap...get ze laser to fire at it and have ze Overlord be in position to capture it". The operator returned his console, but immediately turned back to Kampfer and said "Sir, its Admiral Omega, he's waiting for his answer" Kampfer looked the operator and said "Commence ze attack, and have ze Crusader III give him orbital bombardment"
The 3, 8 inch artillery guns are setup in the main HQ's court yard. Once they were set they fired there range finding shot. Once they found there range they commence artillery barge upon the scrapyard for a good whole minute...they fired a total of a 180 shells.
The laser charged it's powerful beamed as it pointed towards Aelyn's warship. The Overlord still clocked got into position cleared from the beam and prepared to catch Aelyn's ship with it's on-board stationary beam gun, which will allow it to hold objects in place. The laser became fully charged and fired at Aelyn's ship.
Admiral Omega smiled as he got his order. He got onto the communicator that is connected to all the ships and planes and said "This is show time boys! For the Empire!". The speakers blew out as the words "For the Empire!" where spoken by everyone on every ship. The hundreds upon thousands of landing craft were launched, the guns on each ship pointed towards Earth City and fired there salvos. The shells hit various parts of the city itself. From tall skyscrapers, to different city blocks, killing numerous civilians. Various laser-based Orbital strikes came raining down on military stations near and around Earth City, crippling it's defenses. As the landing crafts hit land thousands of Doc-bots and Z-bots came pouring out and making there way to the city. This is also the introduction of Kampfer's experimental war machines. A couple dozen Horseshoe crab like machines came out of the water with long range laser beams and high energy laser shot on top of the structure. It walked on six legs and it is 100ft high, this experimental unit is called the Megalith. Fighter-bombers are sortie and started there attack runs upon Earth City with strafe runs, gunning down more innocent civilians. Some aircraft strafed the park and also some shells from the ships it the park as well.
Three unknown ships appear into the planetary system...
Back at the main HQ, the power was turned back on and a flood of orders were issued to various places after getting reports of the assault on Kartupelis. Kampfer looked at the map of Kartupelis and circled where the reports where saying. "Zis doesn't make sense, personnel vas identified here but ze barrages and VTOLS are here, two direct routes and one indirect route. As an old man once said make a noise in ze east and strike from ze vest" he said as he admired the map that was full of X's and O's. "I vant a artillery strike here" he said as he doubled circle the sector Q1...the scrapyard. "Sir, the Orbital Laser sensor's have detected an unknown warship, that shot various objects to Kartupelis. I also like to report that your capital ship Overlord is in the vicinity of the unknown warship...your ship is cloaked by the way" the operator reported to Kampfer. Kampfer smiled and said "So Aelyn you fell into my improvised trap...get ze laser to fire at it and have ze Overlord be in position to capture it". The operator returned his console, but immediately turned back to Kampfer and said "Sir, its Admiral Omega, he's waiting for his answer" Kampfer looked the operator and said "Commence ze attack, and have ze Crusader III give him orbital bombardment"
The 3, 8 inch artillery guns are setup in the main HQ's court yard. Once they were set they fired there range finding shot. Once they found there range they commence artillery barge upon the scrapyard for a good whole minute...they fired a total of a 180 shells.
The laser charged it's powerful beamed as it pointed towards Aelyn's warship. The Overlord still clocked got into position cleared from the beam and prepared to catch Aelyn's ship with it's on-board stationary beam gun, which will allow it to hold objects in place. The laser became fully charged and fired at Aelyn's ship.
Admiral Omega smiled as he got his order. He got onto the communicator that is connected to all the ships and planes and said "This is show time boys! For the Empire!". The speakers blew out as the words "For the Empire!" where spoken by everyone on every ship. The hundreds upon thousands of landing craft were launched, the guns on each ship pointed towards Earth City and fired there salvos. The shells hit various parts of the city itself. From tall skyscrapers, to different city blocks, killing numerous civilians. Various laser-based Orbital strikes came raining down on military stations near and around Earth City, crippling it's defenses. As the landing crafts hit land thousands of Doc-bots and Z-bots came pouring out and making there way to the city. This is also the introduction of Kampfer's experimental war machines. A couple dozen Horseshoe crab like machines came out of the water with long range laser beams and high energy laser shot on top of the structure. It walked on six legs and it is 100ft high, this experimental unit is called the Megalith. Fighter-bombers are sortie and started there attack runs upon Earth City with strafe runs, gunning down more innocent civilians. Some aircraft strafed the park and also some shells from the ships it the park as well.
Three unknown ships appear into the planetary system...
Bravo stopped his whirring and twitching in mass boredom "Imagine that! a droid getting bored! Or perhaps it is just the desire to destroy..." Bravo stopped and pondered for a moment then threw his curiosity away in a blink of an eye "Screw it! I'll blast them all to shreds!" He said and his circuits gave a cry with a scream from his gears in a moments notice Bravo was having a spaz attack and eventually he gave loose to his control "Let there be rubble!" He shouted in what sounded like a number of voices fused together to form one whole unstable voice, Bravo grabbed his pulse rifle and started shooting at the Doc-Bots, his head still twitching it seems years of devoidance and deactivation have taken it's toll on his Artificial Intelligence chip in other words Rampant Droid
Maria wasn't bothered by all the chaos that insured outside of the tent. But she jumped seeing that Bravo lost control and started shooting at the Doc-bots. The Doc-bots were about to shoot Bravo, but backed away seeing the 7ft tall bounty hunter behind him. "Hey! Bravo! You need to stop!" she yelled as she goes in trying to grab his pulse rifle. "You need to calm down!" she exclaimed as she went for his rifle, she tries to see if she can shut him down some how without haveing to put bullets inside him.
Troops started to run around like crazy, actually providing an efficient attempt to fight back the heavy VTOL that distributed death among Kartupelis. The Ranger had a clear sight of the way his route towards Bravo's position, all while the attention were completely shifted towards Aelyn's attack.
"It's fine, Cap'n. Heh... What a bunch of amateurs."
The bait had been nibbled.
Five loud blasts echoed through the south street leading to the City Hall and when one stopped to figure out what was happening, a sudden, thick wall of scalding white haze were raised once there WAS a street. Nothing inside of it could be seen. It was too dense for the sharpest eyes, too hot for the state-of-the-art heat sensors. Anything inside it was next to non-existent to the eyes of the beholder. Not for the ears.
Aleessa could only watch as CL himself threw a handful of grenade-like devices that was the actual reason of the thick mist and shortly after it, the Masked Man appeared to literally blow his way unto the mess, as he was propelled by the savage impulse of his Hydrogen Propulsion Drive, smartly placed unto his boots. Despite the dense smog, CL managed to fly his way swiftly and precisely under the cover, merely by using his visor-built radar, avoiding any unnecessary company just skidding away from it and, unfortunate to any in his way, slicing anything like a hot knife in butter.
Finally, the smog spurted what to be appeared as a ghostly visage followed by a thin trail of blue flame... Hydrogen fuel. CL managed to cut through the whole street in a matter of twelve seconds and he was just a handful seconds away from his objective, now gone haywire. Immediately pulling out his T-72 Rifle, the Mad Ranger unleashed the fury of it's firepower with lethal accuracy on whatever target his eyes, visor and radar together could see... Including anyone nearby Bravo.
Battery Power: 96%
Hydrogen Storage: 3,250 Kilograms
"It's fine, Cap'n. Heh... What a bunch of amateurs."
The bait had been nibbled.
Five loud blasts echoed through the south street leading to the City Hall and when one stopped to figure out what was happening, a sudden, thick wall of scalding white haze were raised once there WAS a street. Nothing inside of it could be seen. It was too dense for the sharpest eyes, too hot for the state-of-the-art heat sensors. Anything inside it was next to non-existent to the eyes of the beholder. Not for the ears.
Aleessa could only watch as CL himself threw a handful of grenade-like devices that was the actual reason of the thick mist and shortly after it, the Masked Man appeared to literally blow his way unto the mess, as he was propelled by the savage impulse of his Hydrogen Propulsion Drive, smartly placed unto his boots. Despite the dense smog, CL managed to fly his way swiftly and precisely under the cover, merely by using his visor-built radar, avoiding any unnecessary company just skidding away from it and, unfortunate to any in his way, slicing anything like a hot knife in butter.
Finally, the smog spurted what to be appeared as a ghostly visage followed by a thin trail of blue flame... Hydrogen fuel. CL managed to cut through the whole street in a matter of twelve seconds and he was just a handful seconds away from his objective, now gone haywire. Immediately pulling out his T-72 Rifle, the Mad Ranger unleashed the fury of it's firepower with lethal accuracy on whatever target his eyes, visor and radar together could see... Including anyone nearby Bravo.
Battery Power: 96%
Hydrogen Storage: 3,250 Kilograms
"I'll make sure this world burns! Like the original! It too shall fall!" Bravo repeated over and over that same phrase as his pulse rifle kept discharging in various directions all of which seemed almost precisely calculated for a different location, maybe different planet even. His blue lights were flickering and flashing, rapidly switching from color to color, it seemed his main chip was corroded and he needed to find a way to replace it quickly otherwise his entire system would fall apart needless to say the least.
"Dammit Bravo, come down!" she yelled at him as she struggled to keep him calm. Her heighten senses indicted that someone was approaching to there location. She knew she can't do anything for Bravo and so she stopped struggling to stop him. She decided to slip out of the city and head towards her father's base and let who ever is coming in there direction deal with this rampant droid. Before she left she gave hand signals to the bot's who are looking through windows hidden not to engage Bravo and not even be seen by him. She left behind the tent and went west out of city and left it to its fate.
(Hi guys, I'm new to the site. Let me know if I do anything wrong or my character entry post conflicts with any previous plot)
Harlan sits in the hangar of a military orbital station, one of the many orbiting Earth. There hadn't been much activity requiring military response lately, but he was secretly hoping for something to kick up. Sitting about like this just wasn't for him.
(Edit: Didn't realize I had to pm the thread creator for permission, sorry about that.)
(Double edit: Need to read through the whole rp so I can get the gist of what's going on, disregard this post for now I guess)
Harlan sits in the hangar of a military orbital station, one of the many orbiting Earth. There hadn't been much activity requiring military response lately, but he was secretly hoping for something to kick up. Sitting about like this just wasn't for him.
(Edit: Didn't realize I had to pm the thread creator for permission, sorry about that.)
(Double edit: Need to read through the whole rp so I can get the gist of what's going on, disregard this post for now I guess)
@#$% went down.
By the time Captain Petrovalyc realized that the damnable satellite from before had returned to further antagonize him, it was too late. The shot was fired and scored a direct hit. Inside the vessel, Aelyn looked remarkably irritated. He allowed his control over the copious militant forces to slide into the subconscious, allowing that to take care of things while aided by the BrainPal’s computing methods. There would be a very slight reduction in combat effectiveness around the board, but the real disadvantage was his lack of eyes on the scene. Besides, he knew very well it was a losing battle, but that was fine. It would serve his purpose… Still, the amount of resources he had been using up on this was immense. Probably too much, especially if the robot turned out to be a fluke.
As with any modern vessel, the damaged portions were automatically sealed off by blast doors, salvaging the remainder of it. A great, wide hole was punched right through the rear end, decimating the engines. The bastard had known just where to aim – Aelyn’s warship was done for.
A.P. did not seem too desperate however, as one might come to expect of him. He leaned back upon a railing in the spacious control deck, put fingers to his temples in a massaging sort of gesture which implied stress and thought. He groaned, lowly.
“He’s got another huge ship up here.” Alexa said, crossing her arms and leaning on the same railing. “They’re charging up a tractor beam.”
“I figured as much.” He groaned in disgruntlement. “Ugh, the idiot really has no idea what he’s doing. What do you think? Should we go and humor them? Or should we get out of here and let them have it?”
“The folks in Kartupelis will still need an evac.”
“Good point.” He put his hands together, still looking thoughtful. It might have been humorous – the whole thing – considering that the Captain and his wife were pretty much defeated. The Stella had disappeared into nothingness and apparently no longer existed – as to where it actually [o]was[/i] there were only two people in the Universe not aboard that knew – and now the warship was kaput. They had been putting up an excellent fight in Kartupelis, and the battle was still raging, even though the first seeds of their defeat had already been planted and it was only a matter of time.
Just caught the Kartupelis operation’s top dog retreating northeast. Rivierre said, via BrainPal.
This was good. This meant that there was likely no longer any significant defense between them and the pesky robot. Damned if he was going to sit around humoring Kampfer when they were so close to being done with this whole stinking planet that he could taste it.
“Alright, it’s settled. We’ve got a few minutes before the old thing gets within full-effect range of that beam. Let’s see to it that we use this to our advantage. We’ll show him why capturing a ship armed to the teeth with nuclear warheads is not necessarily a good idea.”
Alex laughed mildly. “Dear lord, Ael. We haven’t caused this much chaos on a planet since…Hell I can’t remember when.”
As he meandered to a terminal and began typing at it to set the whole thing up, he continued to speak, largely to his own benefit.
“We shouldn’t have any problem taking the Bullet. I’ll bet 100 to 1 they won’t be able to see that little thing. We’ll spin through Kartupelis, pick up the goods, and ditch this ridiculous rock for good.”
And so that’s what they did – or, at least, started doing. Once all the programs were set and fully linked to BrainPal functionality, Aelyn and Alexa made their way to the ‘bullet’, a small shuttlecraft which could fit comfortably some seven people – or six people and an android. Or however many they were getting. It was irrelevant.
The Bullet looked miraculously and inconceivably like a bullet, much to the disbelief of any who heard the name of the thing. It was matte black, composed of a material akin to old stealth bombers, as well as a fine coating of a substance which had very similar effects to the Ranger’s cloaking, if not quite as perfect. The Bullet was a vessel unlike all others that A.P. had in his possession. It was designed to disappear in a snap, without the use of aetherial teleportation. It was underwhelmingly small instead of overwhelmingly large. It was very, very lightly armed, with only a small (though potent) swiveling beam weapon mounted on the underside. The little craft had never seemed necessary before now.
It was thoroughly inconspicuous, flinging from the far side of the warship, spinning and activating full stealth capability almost instantly. It pierced the atmosphere with only the slightest disturbance, leaving virtually no trace, right down to the lack of residual fume trails. The warship began to fall within reach of the other ship’s tractor beam, and was subsequently paralyzed in whatever fashion they wanted it.
Somewhere on the bridge, a little red light flashed inconspicuously.
We’ll be swinging by to pick you up shortly, just send the word. Bastard got my boat but he didn’t get me.
And, he added in his mind alone, he’s going to wish it had been the other way around.
It was the nearest brush with death that Aleessa Rivierre had ever experienced. Indirectly the Ranger had just barely saved her life.
She commenced with covering fire and blew away a whole host of enemy combatants in almost complete silence. The long, telescoping barrel retracted with each shot as the recoil was absorbed and redirected back into the projectile before ejecting, akin to an advanced artillery cannon. (Why Rivierre had nicknamed her gun ‘Harkonnen’ nobody knew.)
But suddenly CL was making a dash – sort of. He was closing in on the target much faster than she had expected – and poor Dorin had been left quite defenseless.
Whether it was some need to compensate for CL’s direct line of action or just a fondness for the Doctor, Rivierre decided to relinquish her spot and move down the front side of that largest of heaps and get herself closer to him. Her rifle’s telescoping barrel and semi-automatic receiver allowed it to function nicely as a combat rifle, ironsights and all.
That great mound of scrap was the only thing between Rivierre and a swift, fiery, though admittedly painless death. The initial blast knocked her forward and caused her to go toppling down about a quarter of the way to the bottom, but ever enduring she scrambled to her feet and made a b-line for the Doctor’s position.
She sprinted toward the poor man who was really not suited for this chaos, grabbed him by the back of the neck and practically hurled him through a nearby window, herself in the same motion. A blast pounded against the wall as she held him and herself to the floor, the other windows blew out and there was a crater just a few feet from where he had been.
Rivierre kept low and worked her way across the building – it was some kind of shop apparently – to the other side, where she realized that to further great fortune the building which they had taken cover was the one which had proved her blindspot back on the hill. She peered over a blasted-out window and settled her rifle to rest on the sill and continue with her supporting fire as the scrapyard was pummeled to nothingness behind them.
I’m covering you from ground level now, adjust accordingly.
Good, Dr. Harkahn thought, peering sheepishly over the windowsill before being shoved back down by Rivierre’s palm. Time to get on with it.
Calling up all the information via BrainPal – all the lists he had so well memorized but didn’t want to take chances – the Doctor took from within his coat the small all-frequency transmitter, took a moment to set it up on the floor, plugged the microphone into it and set it for every available short-range frequency. Very short range – carefully calculated in his mathematical-minded brain to extend the signal’s transmission capabilities only as far as necessary to catch the robot. It was still radial, but everything within that small radius would receive his voice. It even played from some audio output speaker or something actually on the Ranger’s person.
He spoke fast, confident – more confident than he had expected actually, and was quite proud of it – and went down the list. There was no way the robot would be able to ignore him now as he had done when trying to hail from the Stella.
“Attention, Prototype Droid CD-407 Bravo. This message broadcasts under the authority of Imperial Progenitor Dreadnaught class vessel Jaggernaut of The Planet Earth and Sol System the in regards to your current militant status and degree of functionality under allegiance to every major conglomerate, faction, emirate, governmental body and official militia currently documented in the United Nations database. You are required at once to comply with Progenitor orders from this point onward. You are to accompany Progenitors and Progenitor allies back to the Home System for reinstatement. Failure to comply will result in immediate remote decommission of the unit and termination of the mission. I repeat these are Progenitor orders. Scan immediately for beacons registered as ‘BrainPal’. BrainPal signals indicate Progenitor allies, which are to be obeyed under any and all circumstances. Commencing with remote debugging codes: AS-456, FD-887, PGG-558603…”
Some careful research had led to their using the name of the ship which had been at one point orbiting The Moon, but there was only so much they could do with codes. There was an incredibly large store of text from Sol which was largely meaningless. The sequences Harkahn now listed off had been decided to be the most likely to relate to his model. One of them would have to do…something. But the most important thing was that Bravo registered Petrovalyc’s team as ‘Progenitor’. Unfortunately Aelyn and Alexa were the only ones who could be definitively identified as such, though Harkahn might have managed to write up some code that would assure the bot of his legitimacy.
Remote debugging was a general form of troubleshooting that came about when combat droids first became mainstream military combatants. Because there were so many of them, so many different models, and a million uncertain variables in every aspect, a broad sweeping technique was required to activate debugging protocols from the field. The idea was to list off codes until the right one corresponded with the right droid, which would enter debugging mode and default to a state of unconditional obedience. If the words Harkahn had used beforehand failed in their attempt to persuade Bravo, hopefully one of these codes would.
Not so far to the east, the battle was raging on. The lightly armored but heavily armed bomber drones went whizzing through the sky, dropping death down upon the battlefield before being snuffed out by the superior fighters of Kampfer’s army. The VTOL transports had been more of a show of force than an actual fighting force, and they were not doing much damage but it was proving an irritating process to get rid of them.
Eventually the transports would, here and there, start to open up so as to deploy the robotic, humanoid soldiers within. This corresponded directly with Aelyn transferring his BrainPal control over to subconscious protocols.
The bots were not nearly as advanced as what Kampfer had, and were only marginally superior to Bravo – but they looked intimidating as hell and they could take a hit and pack a punch. Their beginning to swarm some twelve at a time suddenly turned the battlezone into that much more chaos – timed nicely with the Ranger’s descending upon the town hall so as to create further distraction.
Aleessa kept blasting, Harkahn kept listing. It seemed the mission might actually be coming to a close…But Harkahn for one was not going to count his robot chickens before they materialized.
Back in the Earth City park, all was quiet. The city was still in relative turmoil thanks to the EMP collapse, which was finally beginning to subside and normalize – not that it would be possible to use aetherial teleportation anywhere within the orbit of this planet for a few million years – still, if the local government officials thought things were going to hell now, they were in for a surprise.
But in the park, everything was normal. Granted, it was relatively uncommon for someone to be suffering from a gunshot wound in the surrounding flora, but still…relatively normal.
Presently, Royanna gave a cynical huff, which constituted somehow a little laugh, similarly to before. She regretted it. “Well we live in a violent Galaxy.” She said, her voice dry. She shifted sorely, leaned forward a little, shrugged off her coat, tugged the black tie loose and, begrudgingly, partially unbuttoned the grey collared shirt, helping him help her.
“I appreciate this.” She said, and it might have been noticeable that she was not very well accustomed to expression appreciation. It was not reluctance in the voice, but a slight awkwardness in the words themselves. She would have much preferred not needing help in the first place, how she despised accepting it.
But she was not stupid, she knew that whatever fancy bullets that bitch used would probably have her bleed out in a matter of hours if she didn’t have it taken care of.
Once she had been patched up to the best of his ability, Royanna looked it over with approval, then re-buttoned her shirt, though let the tie hang loose and didn’t bother yet with the coat. The little tear in the shirt surrounded by the blood which had logged the fabric, gave sight to the bandaging below. “That’s a damn good job.” She commented, working on the buttons. “That’s military grade medwork. You sure…sure don’t look like a soldier.”
If he had a response, she would hear it. And then he asked if she was alone.
So. He really didn’t remember who she was.
Royanna went over it in her head. This was an important decision…But it did not take long for the woman to decide that honesty was the best policy.
In response to his last question, she sighed. “Just about. As of now, anyway…I’m with the Special Forces.” Leaving it general. No need to worry about the higher-up stuff. She needed him to see that she was a trustworthy military figure. “I was tracking down a dangerous criminal – that red-haired half-breed kid you were with earlier. He doesn’t look like it, but the guy’s a murderer. Ruthless killer. But he’s got this charm about him that makes everyone think he’s just some sweet kid.” She paused, taking a moment to breathe. Best to get the whole story out of the way now, she figured. Get everything straight and level and established.
“We’ve been tracking him a long time now. Well this time I had the little @#$% in my hands, but that @#$% in the skimpy leather is apparently one of his allies. I had twenty soldiers under my command. Now I’m down to two at most.”
And Royanna found, to her surprise and distaste that the words hurt to say more than she would have liked. She wasn’t heartless after all. Eighteen, and possibly twenty men under her command had all lost their lives and that responsibility fell on her. She wasn’t exceptionally attached to any of them but still, it hurt to think about it, more to speak of it.
“I…I lost contact with the two remaining. They…may or may not have made it.” Another pause, a moment of silence in the jungle. “I’m getting a good feeling from you though that you’re not one of his lackeys. You haven’t let his guiles get to you. That’s good…” A wry smile. “The ‘brass’ always look to the other half-breeds before anyone else when they’re looking for his companions, but…I think he’s just giving your kind a bad reputation.”
The gunshot was the only serious wound – there was a thin line of scabbed blood horizontally across her neck where the blade had just barely began to contact. It seemed tender, but would probably not re-open if it wasn’t disturbed.
Some minutes later, from somewhere far beyond the cover of the jungle, north in the direction of towering, sprawling planetary capitol Earth City began to ring…sounds. Bad sounds. At such a distance, explosions sounded like thunderclaps and gunfire akin to little more than popcorn. Even the great war machines were unable to be seen from there. But something had happened in the city – and was continuing to happen.
Royanna looked in that direction with concern.
Then suddenly, as if to confirm the suspicions of bad things happening, there was the electric hum and neon red light of an orbital strike laser coming down on the city. That could be seen, if just barely. It was followed by more of varying degrees. Vehicles too – perhaps fighters or something.
And Royanna simply did not know what to do. Was it Devil Eye? Surely not. Too much against that possibility, and besides she had never really believed that his title of ‘city-killer’ was really warranted, even if he was one of the most wanted criminals in the Galaxy.
Kete lay curled up pathetically for some time. Amazingly, nobody had showed up. The jungle was silent, and to his immeasurable relief, the horrific sensation was at last subsiding in his head.
His ear still screamed and burned, but at least he had his brain back. He could think.
Nobody had shown up – neither Kallenger, her men, and the assassin bounty hunter had apparently failed to find him too.
Getting unsteadily into a standing position, Kete braced himself against a tree and waited out the nauseating headrush that hit him like a speeding gravtrain to pass. It did.
Then he looked around. It seemed much too quiet. A trap? No, they would have gotten him when he was down. Maybe something had distracted them? He wondered if the bounty hunter had killed Kallenger.
He became ill, realizing that she may have.
But now was not the time to be going on about it. Right now he needed to move, get somewhere that he could have that ear stitched up.
Presently he got the idea of digging through his pockets – not particularly concerned with the blood on one of his palms from the ear – until he came upon some band-aids. They were the good kind, very resistant and sticky
Gritting his teeth and leaning with shoulder heavily on the tree, he began the process of temporary patching. The wound was just long enough and more than thin enough that one bandage, horizontally, would give it a good cover and seal. The pain was intense – half-breed ears, especially foxkin, had extremely sensitive ears.
But after a few agonizing moments, Kete had managed to stick bandages on both sides. They would keep it from bleeding and hold the two parts together well enough.
Now he needed to figure out where he was and how to get back to the city. He tried to bring up satellite imaging, but could find no active satellite to access. It was puzzling – maybe whatever had made his eye go wonky was also disabling satellites? It would make sense, but it didn’t sit right with him.
He tried a few of the other usual methods, and could still get nothing. Even though he was sure his eye was once more functioning at normal capacity, it seemed that everything else on the planet was still to some degree going haywire. Maybe a solar flare or something.
So he took his best guess as to which way was north, going under the assumption that Earth City was north – which it was – and recalling that these things usually worked out in the end. He wouldn’t be stuck wandering the jungle forever.
That was when he heard it – the first distant rumble. Kete froze, a shiver ran from his spine and into his gut, and he went pale.
Then more of them. Distant pulses of force. Energy. Violence.
Violence on a grand scale.
Surely it wasn’t the Empire – they wouldn’t send a fleet to decimate a city like that. Small towns and colonies maybe, but a planetary capitol? Unless they wanted to take control of the planet. Maybe they were just showing off their power by wreaking some havoc – that was one they used regularly.
But it kept going on. It almost seemed like someone was fighting back. It was too far to tell for sure, but rather suddenly Ketin was convinced that the Empire had nothing to do with this.
And for the first time in a very, very long while, Ketin Clarke found himself at a loss for what to do next. The city was out. The park was out. Wander into the jungle? Submit to his pursuers?
Unable to make a decision, The Devil Eye once again leaned himself on a rock and sat down to think.
This was bad.
"So you steal my creators title too? Pitiful! All of you!" His rampancy could only continue, he caught sight of the Ranger dashing towards him, he locked on and opened immediate fire on the Ranger "You side with my enemy, you side with death!" He continued and let loose a speedy barrage of bolts from his pulse rifles barrel zooming down range towards Ranger but realized it was probably useless and so throwing away his pulse rifle Bravo unsheathed heated blades from his wrists and Charged forth at Ranger "Die like those before you Ranger!"
Alright, Aelyn BrainPal'd to the group, Start chopping off limbs. It'd be better to have the sapient whole, but all we really need is his hard drive if that's what it comes to.
Overlord successfully captured the severely damaged warship in its tractor beam. As it begun to pull it in closer, the unthinkable happens. A large bright explosion happened next to Kampfer's personal flagship. Aelyn's ship went nuclear and critically damaged the Overlord. The ship itself can take nuke explosions but not a bunch at the same time though in close proximity. Kampfer looked at the operator telling him bad news of his personal ship being damaged and also that the forces in Kartupelis are not getting rid of the enemy forces fast enough. "How's Overlord's cargo?" he asked. The operator went back to his console and said "Slight damage but nothing serious" he looked at Kampfer wondering what he has planned. "Release all zree of zose machines to Kartupelis and have it retreat to ze starport for repairs" he ordered.
The heavily wounded Overlord dropped three large pods going straight down to the Siberian city. Each extreme large pods it in three separate locations, just outside the scrapyard, one by city hall, and the other completely away from the fighting on the western part of the city. The doors on each pod opened revealing the secret inside...the Universal Colossus, a typical large fighting robot that has a devastating energy beam on its massive eye, a robot that Kampfer clearly stole from a civilization that had created them but made improvements on it's armor and gave it much powerful beams. These robots over towered the highest buildings in Kartupelis by a rather large margin. These rather large hulking robots swatted some of the VTOLs out of the sky and one by the scrapyard went after Aelyn's small army, and started blasting them to pieces. The one that landed by City Hall took an interest at Bravo and at CL. The one that landed on the western part of the city made it's way to all the fighting on the other side of the city.
Kampfer seeing the Universal Colossus in action, he ordered more to be dropped in Earth City, wipe out resistance with ease. The same ship that did the Orbital Laser strikes also dropped a couple pods of these gigantic robots down onto the city. At least three pods dropped all over the city. This time some of the buildings where taller than the robots themselves but most of the buildings were still short compared to the Colossi. Soon the Kampfer's troops are now starting to push into the city itself, but face heavy resistance from the Earthican army that were able to send out there troops before there bases were destroyed by Orbital Strike. But of course the experimental units do make quick work of the pockets resistance. Still all the ships still firing there salvos into the city without any ease of letting up.
Commander Louie got up from the initial concussion blast of the pod landing and looked at his blown out windows and saw the legs of the Colossus. In fear that he's thick into the fight decided to hid underneath his desk with a radio to give orders and receive them and a real time digital map so he can see the fighting.
The heavily wounded Overlord dropped three large pods going straight down to the Siberian city. Each extreme large pods it in three separate locations, just outside the scrapyard, one by city hall, and the other completely away from the fighting on the western part of the city. The doors on each pod opened revealing the secret inside...the Universal Colossus, a typical large fighting robot that has a devastating energy beam on its massive eye, a robot that Kampfer clearly stole from a civilization that had created them but made improvements on it's armor and gave it much powerful beams. These robots over towered the highest buildings in Kartupelis by a rather large margin. These rather large hulking robots swatted some of the VTOLs out of the sky and one by the scrapyard went after Aelyn's small army, and started blasting them to pieces. The one that landed by City Hall took an interest at Bravo and at CL. The one that landed on the western part of the city made it's way to all the fighting on the other side of the city.
Kampfer seeing the Universal Colossus in action, he ordered more to be dropped in Earth City, wipe out resistance with ease. The same ship that did the Orbital Laser strikes also dropped a couple pods of these gigantic robots down onto the city. At least three pods dropped all over the city. This time some of the buildings where taller than the robots themselves but most of the buildings were still short compared to the Colossi. Soon the Kampfer's troops are now starting to push into the city itself, but face heavy resistance from the Earthican army that were able to send out there troops before there bases were destroyed by Orbital Strike. But of course the experimental units do make quick work of the pockets resistance. Still all the ships still firing there salvos into the city without any ease of letting up.
Commander Louie got up from the initial concussion blast of the pod landing and looked at his blown out windows and saw the legs of the Colossus. In fear that he's thick into the fight decided to hid underneath his desk with a radio to give orders and receive them and a real time digital map so he can see the fighting.
Christofer was still in a pretty calm, somewhat of a resting position. It felt nice to just be there, not fearing that something crazy would just show up and mess things up. He didn't mind being there with Royanna, listening to her talk and all that...
The boy did raise an eyebrow as the world 'galaxy' was mentioned again. Why was everyone using that term? Was this some 'galactic space based city'? Some secret NASA experiment? What?
"I don't know about the whole galaxy, but... People here sure do love their guns and bombs." The 'resent years' had been quite war heavy in the end. Of course the German wasn't aware that it had been more than a couple of years since the happenings that he remembered somewhat clearly.
Upon being praised for his bandaging job, the German would go slightly towards the redder shade. It wasn't usual that he'd be praised for it. Then again, mostly he was surrounded By people with far superior medical capasity to his, and the only person he 'regularily tended to' wasn't the most talkative person.
"Mmmm, well... I do a supporting role, but it's usually my team members who do the part of a medic..." Just thinking about them made him miss them. The boy sighed. He sure would have wanted to see them again, alive... He wouldn't show being depressed or in such state for long though, he knew it affected the mood of others and in this situation he was in a better state than his current companion, so it was his duty to keep up the mood and not let her go down with him. "Just be glad I didn't stitch the wound - for now - people say I'm not that good at it."
Upon hearing of military related things, the dog-like ears on his head sprug up straight, paying complete attention.
"Oh? The local military? Please, please... I need to find someone. I don't know where 'this' is, but I'd really like to be able to sort out my location." His voice and words had a somewhat begging tone to them. This was the closest he had gotten so far. If Toffi would be able to get to their base, he might be able to get through a few things. In the end, he was somewhat known around few places for having survived what could have been one of the worst 'peace keeper missions' his group and such had gone through.
He was pulled out of the subject when Kallenger started to talk about Kete
"Well... He sure did have the elements of that to him..." The boy memorized the short time spent with him. Cheery attitude, easy to aproach, they even gave him food. "He did seem nice at first, but..." Christofer decided to stop, not feeling like continuing as talking about it made him remeber thepunch and the pain all over and over again. The German just 'gave up' and returned to the state of holding over his face
"I... I can relate with you... Losing comrades always feels quite harsh... I lost both of my childhoods best friends wh-" The boy felt good for a short moment about returning to chat about military related topics, but it was ony for a short moment.
The word 'half breed' still seemed rather strange to him. Christofer jusr can't seem to grasp the whole meaning of it. What did they have against him? Was it the fact that he was German? His Nazi roots? Did they know about it? Well, it was pretty common and if they knew he was German they might just go assuming stuff, like they always did...
"Should we go look for them? Your men I mean." thinking that Kallenger would have started to really miss her comrades by now, Christofer offered to help look for them. "I'm more of a scout anyway... And with my gun and other weaponry nowhere to be found, I don't know if I'm much good for anything else..."
His thoughts were, once again, interrupted as his ears could catch sounds echoing from somewhat far away. He wasn't sure of their origin yet though, and he couldn't see them to place any judgements. The boy was somewhat paralyzed to place as he didn't know what to do with the sounds or things he saw. It would be mostly up to Kallenger on what she wanted to do with the boy that was now in a stiff, vary position, leaning slightly to the opposing direction compared to the sounds...
The boy did raise an eyebrow as the world 'galaxy' was mentioned again. Why was everyone using that term? Was this some 'galactic space based city'? Some secret NASA experiment? What?
"I don't know about the whole galaxy, but... People here sure do love their guns and bombs." The 'resent years' had been quite war heavy in the end. Of course the German wasn't aware that it had been more than a couple of years since the happenings that he remembered somewhat clearly.
Upon being praised for his bandaging job, the German would go slightly towards the redder shade. It wasn't usual that he'd be praised for it. Then again, mostly he was surrounded By people with far superior medical capasity to his, and the only person he 'regularily tended to' wasn't the most talkative person.
"Mmmm, well... I do a supporting role, but it's usually my team members who do the part of a medic..." Just thinking about them made him miss them. The boy sighed. He sure would have wanted to see them again, alive... He wouldn't show being depressed or in such state for long though, he knew it affected the mood of others and in this situation he was in a better state than his current companion, so it was his duty to keep up the mood and not let her go down with him. "Just be glad I didn't stitch the wound - for now - people say I'm not that good at it."
Upon hearing of military related things, the dog-like ears on his head sprug up straight, paying complete attention.
"Oh? The local military? Please, please... I need to find someone. I don't know where 'this' is, but I'd really like to be able to sort out my location." His voice and words had a somewhat begging tone to them. This was the closest he had gotten so far. If Toffi would be able to get to their base, he might be able to get through a few things. In the end, he was somewhat known around few places for having survived what could have been one of the worst 'peace keeper missions' his group and such had gone through.
He was pulled out of the subject when Kallenger started to talk about Kete
"Well... He sure did have the elements of that to him..." The boy memorized the short time spent with him. Cheery attitude, easy to aproach, they even gave him food. "He did seem nice at first, but..." Christofer decided to stop, not feeling like continuing as talking about it made him remeber thepunch and the pain all over and over again. The German just 'gave up' and returned to the state of holding over his face
"I... I can relate with you... Losing comrades always feels quite harsh... I lost both of my childhoods best friends wh-" The boy felt good for a short moment about returning to chat about military related topics, but it was ony for a short moment.
The word 'half breed' still seemed rather strange to him. Christofer jusr can't seem to grasp the whole meaning of it. What did they have against him? Was it the fact that he was German? His Nazi roots? Did they know about it? Well, it was pretty common and if they knew he was German they might just go assuming stuff, like they always did...
"Should we go look for them? Your men I mean." thinking that Kallenger would have started to really miss her comrades by now, Christofer offered to help look for them. "I'm more of a scout anyway... And with my gun and other weaponry nowhere to be found, I don't know if I'm much good for anything else..."
His thoughts were, once again, interrupted as his ears could catch sounds echoing from somewhat far away. He wasn't sure of their origin yet though, and he couldn't see them to place any judgements. The boy was somewhat paralyzed to place as he didn't know what to do with the sounds or things he saw. It would be mostly up to Kallenger on what she wanted to do with the boy that was now in a stiff, vary position, leaning slightly to the opposing direction compared to the sounds...
A wise fortune cookie once read ”One cannot manage men in battle. Things are managed, people are lead.” A very wise cookie indeed, since Agent Kallenger kept the little scrap of paper in her inner right pocket. She spoke with her mentor on the day she first got it. He further explained, and in later years the subject was more thoroughly delved into. Someone destined to command a close-knit, highly trained detachment of soldiers needed to understand this piece of wisdom in and out.
Royanna Kallenger was extremely analytical. Intensely observant. More wise than one might expect, especially given her explosive and somewhat childish temper – but managing anger was not something that the training had spent much time on.
It was for these reasons that Roya noticed the boy’s raising of a brow. Immediately she connected the cause with effect and stored it away. (This was not to imply that she was some sort of computerbrain like Kete, but rather that she had an excellent memory that was honed for this purpose.)
She gave another light chuckle at his mention of stitching, and this time it wasn’t so disturbingly heaving. It seemed at last she was managing to get herself together – not losing all that blood was definitely helping a whole lot with the ever-challenging endeavor of continuing to exist.
But he had suddenly latched onto something she said. The Special Forces bit. Drat. She had been put in a position now and a quick decision was in order. The last thing she wanted to do was hesitate. That would only make things worse.
A forlorn smile, shake of the head. She did admittedly feel bad for having gotten his hopes up. “Nah, sorry kid. It’s an…offworld institution.” A good answer, she decided. Vague enough, yet holding the implication that she might not want to continue providing information on the matter. It was also another chance to catch his minutia reaction. “I don’t have anything to do with this planet, in fact my presence here might constitute an act of war so, keep that in mind...”
They talked for some minutes, chatting, reminiscing about things they could relate to, memories they had shared indirectly by walking parallel paths – everything different, yet the spirit akin. The shared, empathized pain of losing comrades. It was a good moment.
There was another twinge of misfire in the boy. It may have related to the word ‘half-breed’, though she couldn’t be sure.
Roya gave a huff, looked downward, shook her head. “Honestly kid I’m not too optimistic about them, especially #13 – They were numbered 1 through 20 – he was up ahead when the tech went out, same direction that Devil Eye and the she-bitch were going. #4 might still be around but…it would probably be best to wait for comms to be restored. Any sort of scouting or recon is going to be more trouble than it’s worth at this point. If those two are still alive, they’ll stay that way long enough to find me.”
And suddenly the boy’s words had drifted off, and he seemed paralyzed by the unsettling sounds coming from the city to the north. A few long seconds, he seemed paralyzed, ears perked, with a thickly blanketed silence falling over the pair where they sat in the tiny, moss-floored grove.
Roya reached to place a hand on his shoulder from behind. She said in a firm, annunciated and confident but still soft toned voice,
“You’re doing fine.”
The effect of encouraging or reassuring would naturally be potent. Presumably.
She allowed a moment for the words to take effect, whereafter the hand would be retracted and returned to the state of limpness in her lap.
She didn’t want to say it, but moving was out of the question at the moment, at least for her, and therefore him by proxy since she wasn’t letting her only ‘friend’ get away if she could help it. Somewhere out there that dangerous pair were still lurking and she knew there wouldn’t be a second chance at life if they met. She was in no condition to fight. Then whatever was going on toward the city – it could only have constituted some large-scale assault. Who, how, why, none of that mattered. Roya’s gut instinct told her it was safer to keep out of the city for the time being.
To keep this at bay and retain control over the situation, she said “I never got your name, kid.”. Assuming he gave it, Roya used it to begin the next sentence. “Christofer, you said earlier you need to triangulate your position. I’m not affiliated with this planet but I might still be able to help you with that. Come’ere.” The woman gestured with a nod, indicating that she wanted him somewhere in the close vicinity of her shoulder, as though to look at a book she were reading.
“First, I’ll need to know where you think you might be by broad definition. Do you know the name of this planet? Are there any other planets like it which you might be confusing it with? Also I’d like to know what year it is, in Galactic Standard Time.”
Her eyes were on him like a hawk, taking in every detail and perhaps coming off as just a little imposing, but probably forgivable since the woman seemed to be generally…callous.
It was a completely stupid theory she was considering. Part of her hoped it would immediately prove conclusively impossible and she could drop the nagging notion.
Whatever his answer, she would nod thoughtfully before continuing.
“What do you know about constellations? Or navigation via stars?”
It all certainly seemed an erratic pattern of topics and one might have a tough time understanding how it all related to figuring out where he was – but it had the vibe of getting to a point eventually. The most important thing was keeping the boy talking, keeping his mind occupied. The last thing she needed, Royanna thought with a twinge of cynicism, was the kid freezing up on her. Something was obviously wrong with the kid, though she couldn’t figure just what quite yet.
She would.
Royanna Kallenger always figured out what she wanted to figure out.
Royanna Kallenger was extremely analytical. Intensely observant. More wise than one might expect, especially given her explosive and somewhat childish temper – but managing anger was not something that the training had spent much time on.
It was for these reasons that Roya noticed the boy’s raising of a brow. Immediately she connected the cause with effect and stored it away. (This was not to imply that she was some sort of computerbrain like Kete, but rather that she had an excellent memory that was honed for this purpose.)
She gave another light chuckle at his mention of stitching, and this time it wasn’t so disturbingly heaving. It seemed at last she was managing to get herself together – not losing all that blood was definitely helping a whole lot with the ever-challenging endeavor of continuing to exist.
But he had suddenly latched onto something she said. The Special Forces bit. Drat. She had been put in a position now and a quick decision was in order. The last thing she wanted to do was hesitate. That would only make things worse.
A forlorn smile, shake of the head. She did admittedly feel bad for having gotten his hopes up. “Nah, sorry kid. It’s an…offworld institution.” A good answer, she decided. Vague enough, yet holding the implication that she might not want to continue providing information on the matter. It was also another chance to catch his minutia reaction. “I don’t have anything to do with this planet, in fact my presence here might constitute an act of war so, keep that in mind...”
They talked for some minutes, chatting, reminiscing about things they could relate to, memories they had shared indirectly by walking parallel paths – everything different, yet the spirit akin. The shared, empathized pain of losing comrades. It was a good moment.
There was another twinge of misfire in the boy. It may have related to the word ‘half-breed’, though she couldn’t be sure.
Roya gave a huff, looked downward, shook her head. “Honestly kid I’m not too optimistic about them, especially #13 – They were numbered 1 through 20 – he was up ahead when the tech went out, same direction that Devil Eye and the she-bitch were going. #4 might still be around but…it would probably be best to wait for comms to be restored. Any sort of scouting or recon is going to be more trouble than it’s worth at this point. If those two are still alive, they’ll stay that way long enough to find me.”
And suddenly the boy’s words had drifted off, and he seemed paralyzed by the unsettling sounds coming from the city to the north. A few long seconds, he seemed paralyzed, ears perked, with a thickly blanketed silence falling over the pair where they sat in the tiny, moss-floored grove.
Roya reached to place a hand on his shoulder from behind. She said in a firm, annunciated and confident but still soft toned voice,
“You’re doing fine.”
The effect of encouraging or reassuring would naturally be potent. Presumably.
She allowed a moment for the words to take effect, whereafter the hand would be retracted and returned to the state of limpness in her lap.
She didn’t want to say it, but moving was out of the question at the moment, at least for her, and therefore him by proxy since she wasn’t letting her only ‘friend’ get away if she could help it. Somewhere out there that dangerous pair were still lurking and she knew there wouldn’t be a second chance at life if they met. She was in no condition to fight. Then whatever was going on toward the city – it could only have constituted some large-scale assault. Who, how, why, none of that mattered. Roya’s gut instinct told her it was safer to keep out of the city for the time being.
To keep this at bay and retain control over the situation, she said “I never got your name, kid.”. Assuming he gave it, Roya used it to begin the next sentence. “Christofer, you said earlier you need to triangulate your position. I’m not affiliated with this planet but I might still be able to help you with that. Come’ere.” The woman gestured with a nod, indicating that she wanted him somewhere in the close vicinity of her shoulder, as though to look at a book she were reading.
“First, I’ll need to know where you think you might be by broad definition. Do you know the name of this planet? Are there any other planets like it which you might be confusing it with? Also I’d like to know what year it is, in Galactic Standard Time.”
Her eyes were on him like a hawk, taking in every detail and perhaps coming off as just a little imposing, but probably forgivable since the woman seemed to be generally…callous.
It was a completely stupid theory she was considering. Part of her hoped it would immediately prove conclusively impossible and she could drop the nagging notion.
Whatever his answer, she would nod thoughtfully before continuing.
“What do you know about constellations? Or navigation via stars?”
It all certainly seemed an erratic pattern of topics and one might have a tough time understanding how it all related to figuring out where he was – but it had the vibe of getting to a point eventually. The most important thing was keeping the boy talking, keeping his mind occupied. The last thing she needed, Royanna thought with a twinge of cynicism, was the kid freezing up on her. Something was obviously wrong with the kid, though she couldn’t figure just what quite yet.
She would.
Royanna Kallenger always figured out what she wanted to figure out.
Before Bravo could even take an action against him, the Ranger had already locked his sights unto the deranged android, letting a short burst of fierce destruction that had left into his T-72. It was far from a mere sniper rifle as it could used as an extremely efficient substitute to a medium range combat carbine. No matter how deadly were the results on Bravo, CL somehow was able to see through his camouflage, which was no surprise for an android.
The Masked Man barely turned himself to the side while pulling his coat up in an desperate attempt to protect himself from whatever kind of burst that was coming right towards him... It was after the stinging, piercing pain into his brain and the sudden shuddering of his cybernetic arms that he figured what it was. A Pulse Rifle, after all. The effects of a eletron-charged bolts on the Ranger were formidably devastating, at least, for his advanced systems. His battery were severely depleted, his visor built-in heads up display glitched in and out and amidst this, he had little to no time to react to Bravo's sudden rush.
And if this wasn't all enough, the enemy had managed to summon the help of a heavy mech of sorts that looked quite mean. Even though he had the means to do it, CL couldn't simply take on an entire army just to deactivate a giant robot or an rampant android all at once.
It was one of those jobs.
By a matter of miliseconds, Bravo didn't get a clear slash against CL, as such managed to fly his way a few yards west from the chaos at the City Hall, right betwen extraction point 2 & 3. Immediately pulling his HVEV Revolver mid-air, CL blasted six times towards Bravo, right as he landed unto his feet after the flight.
"Come on and get a piece of my ***, Windows 95!!" - Hopefully, that would lure Bravo away from the mess...
Armor Integrity: 92%
Battery Power: 73%
Hydrogen Storage: 2,750 Kilograms
1K-Q Radar Sights: Temporarily Disabled
Khameleon!© Photon Displacer: Temporarily Disabled
The Masked Man barely turned himself to the side while pulling his coat up in an desperate attempt to protect himself from whatever kind of burst that was coming right towards him... It was after the stinging, piercing pain into his brain and the sudden shuddering of his cybernetic arms that he figured what it was. A Pulse Rifle, after all. The effects of a eletron-charged bolts on the Ranger were formidably devastating, at least, for his advanced systems. His battery were severely depleted, his visor built-in heads up display glitched in and out and amidst this, he had little to no time to react to Bravo's sudden rush.
And if this wasn't all enough, the enemy had managed to summon the help of a heavy mech of sorts that looked quite mean. Even though he had the means to do it, CL couldn't simply take on an entire army just to deactivate a giant robot or an rampant android all at once.
It was one of those jobs.
By a matter of miliseconds, Bravo didn't get a clear slash against CL, as such managed to fly his way a few yards west from the chaos at the City Hall, right betwen extraction point 2 & 3. Immediately pulling his HVEV Revolver mid-air, CL blasted six times towards Bravo, right as he landed unto his feet after the flight.
"Come on and get a piece of my ***, Windows 95!!" - Hopefully, that would lure Bravo away from the mess...
Armor Integrity: 92%
Battery Power: 73%
Hydrogen Storage: 2,750 Kilograms
1K-Q Radar Sights: Temporarily Disabled
Khameleon!© Photon Displacer: Temporarily Disabled
(Hey guys, I've been really busy lately, haven't had time to read all the posts. Sorry for not joining in. Hopefully I'll get in sometime this week)
"I'll tear you apart!" Bravo exclaimed as loud as his audio could go and started charging towards Ranger again, his heated wrist blades held in a T shape as he leaned forward and took quick steps one after another lurching him forward at his target. Quickly advancing Bravo's lights remained a bright crimson red showing his rampancy, but what could really be noticed was his rusted access point across the back of his chassis looked like it hadn't being used in hundreds of years. Still several meters away Bravo kept his focus where he wanted it to be, right on Ranger
(no worries take your time and read some of the earlier posts to get an idea of what's going on)
(no worries take your time and read some of the earlier posts to get an idea of what's going on)
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