Rioki
23-07-2004, 03:50
This is a continuation of a story I'm writing on an event that happened on NS about half a year ago. Those of you who have been around long enough might have seen a thread on a war on Krascht. So here's what I've got so far, please give me your opinions:
It was over. Or almost. It had been two months since the unknown leader of Krascht had sent himself and his people to a fiery death. With the push of one button, he had managed to blow his people and over one hundred-thousand soldiers into oblivion. What remained of the land, which had never really been rich with life anyway save for the rat people that had scoured the surface, were several hundred pock-marked craters scattered about. Nothing on the surface had survived the blast, and only a few that had been in underground tunnels had managed to escape the ferocious heat and fallout that followed. Even they were soon put to death via the radiation, neither cockpits nor suits saved them from that.
Ikioi was one of the few who had managed to escape the nation. His team and himself had infiltrated the capital city of Krascht and taken the leader’s puppets from him. They had been transporting the captives away and were barely into RSF headquarters when the explosion hit.
After Krascht had been ejected from FNS airspace it had floated into an area known as the Banished Lands. The area was cruel, small and scattered alliances formed to plot revenge against their original regions. Nuclear fallout was almost never far, and creatures never observed before could be seen because of it. Whether they were mutated from nuclear blasts or escaped test subjects one could never tell. Testing was often so cruel and similar to atomic blasts and such there was rarely a difference. These creatures were usually somewhat intelligent however, and were able to form alliances. Some were even able to breed with one another. And so being in the region was a dangerous move for the FNS, anyone who got caught up in the warring factions was rarely spared.
Hellish accounts of freighter attacks in the area were not uncommon, although Ikioi had never seen one himself. Once attacked these freighters weren’t heard of again for months, even years as the mutated creatures took control of them on their own. Modified them, experimented with their own kind aboard them, learned everything they could about every nation. The crews were never found, except for one instance where a ship happened to wander through a recent attack and found pieces of the crew jettisoned into space along with garbage.
Ikioi stood in a lookout tower overlooking Krascht through field binoculars. There was little to report anymore, this was nothing more than making sure radiation cleanup went smoothly. Every once in awhile something would emerge on the horizon, a trade ship still looking for a port that no longer existed, or a surveillance plane from one of the surrounding nations.
He checked his watch. “This is post 0-6-3 calling for replacement. My watch is over, do you copy?”
“We copy 0-63, replacement should be there in 10.” Ikioi sighed. It had been a particularly long day, the job was tedious and uneventful. The remaining frenzied rat-soldiers of Krascht had been detained a few weeks before. How they managed to survive the blast still amazed Ikioi. He figured they must have been very deep underground, or had sensed the chain blast about to occur and had gotten to safety. This was an unsettling thought, knowing that deep underneath him could be a whole other city full of the battle crazed rat beings. Just thinking about it gave him the shivers.
A small noise snapped him out of his thoughts. Unholstering his auto-pistol he stepped to the steel door in the floor of the tower. He closed his eyes and released his breath. He pressed the switch and the door slid aside with a silent swoosh. Jamming his pistol down the hole the surprised replacement let out a scream and almost fell from his ladder. Ikioi holstered his pistol and helped the dazed replacement into the tower.
“Rough day sir?”
“No, I’d call it lack of action and not enough sleep. Just a little anxious I guess,” Ikioi said as he gazed into the distance.
“Sir, I can handle it from here...are you going?”
“Oh, yeah, have fun or...whatever...” The private gave Ikioi a quizzical look. He didn’t notice though, and slid down the ladder to the dusty floor below.
Mounting an anti-grav bike Ikioi hovered across the desert landscape towards base.
It was over. Or almost. It had been two months since the unknown leader of Krascht had sent himself and his people to a fiery death. With the push of one button, he had managed to blow his people and over one hundred-thousand soldiers into oblivion. What remained of the land, which had never really been rich with life anyway save for the rat people that had scoured the surface, were several hundred pock-marked craters scattered about. Nothing on the surface had survived the blast, and only a few that had been in underground tunnels had managed to escape the ferocious heat and fallout that followed. Even they were soon put to death via the radiation, neither cockpits nor suits saved them from that.
Ikioi was one of the few who had managed to escape the nation. His team and himself had infiltrated the capital city of Krascht and taken the leader’s puppets from him. They had been transporting the captives away and were barely into RSF headquarters when the explosion hit.
After Krascht had been ejected from FNS airspace it had floated into an area known as the Banished Lands. The area was cruel, small and scattered alliances formed to plot revenge against their original regions. Nuclear fallout was almost never far, and creatures never observed before could be seen because of it. Whether they were mutated from nuclear blasts or escaped test subjects one could never tell. Testing was often so cruel and similar to atomic blasts and such there was rarely a difference. These creatures were usually somewhat intelligent however, and were able to form alliances. Some were even able to breed with one another. And so being in the region was a dangerous move for the FNS, anyone who got caught up in the warring factions was rarely spared.
Hellish accounts of freighter attacks in the area were not uncommon, although Ikioi had never seen one himself. Once attacked these freighters weren’t heard of again for months, even years as the mutated creatures took control of them on their own. Modified them, experimented with their own kind aboard them, learned everything they could about every nation. The crews were never found, except for one instance where a ship happened to wander through a recent attack and found pieces of the crew jettisoned into space along with garbage.
Ikioi stood in a lookout tower overlooking Krascht through field binoculars. There was little to report anymore, this was nothing more than making sure radiation cleanup went smoothly. Every once in awhile something would emerge on the horizon, a trade ship still looking for a port that no longer existed, or a surveillance plane from one of the surrounding nations.
He checked his watch. “This is post 0-6-3 calling for replacement. My watch is over, do you copy?”
“We copy 0-63, replacement should be there in 10.” Ikioi sighed. It had been a particularly long day, the job was tedious and uneventful. The remaining frenzied rat-soldiers of Krascht had been detained a few weeks before. How they managed to survive the blast still amazed Ikioi. He figured they must have been very deep underground, or had sensed the chain blast about to occur and had gotten to safety. This was an unsettling thought, knowing that deep underneath him could be a whole other city full of the battle crazed rat beings. Just thinking about it gave him the shivers.
A small noise snapped him out of his thoughts. Unholstering his auto-pistol he stepped to the steel door in the floor of the tower. He closed his eyes and released his breath. He pressed the switch and the door slid aside with a silent swoosh. Jamming his pistol down the hole the surprised replacement let out a scream and almost fell from his ladder. Ikioi holstered his pistol and helped the dazed replacement into the tower.
“Rough day sir?”
“No, I’d call it lack of action and not enough sleep. Just a little anxious I guess,” Ikioi said as he gazed into the distance.
“Sir, I can handle it from here...are you going?”
“Oh, yeah, have fun or...whatever...” The private gave Ikioi a quizzical look. He didn’t notice though, and slid down the ladder to the dusty floor below.
Mounting an anti-grav bike Ikioi hovered across the desert landscape towards base.