NationStates Jolt Archive

They're still on me...not too much further.

Rashaad Martiin pumped his legs harder, sprinting down the dirt pathway, the dark, earthen ceiling of the dank cavern bulging overhead, the faint blow glow still behind him. Fear itself dripped out from Martiin's pores, sweat pouring out incredibly, the man ignoring his pain in his legs as the forces behind him seemed to not end. Two others, Tanith Felzer and Kycharo Maynerd, run slightly behind him, the three the only ones left of the entire expeditionary force. As Martiin ran, his thoughts moved off from the current state and back a bit in time, back to when they had all come...

Five days back, the landing transport Travesity had landed on the once-inhabited desert planet, dropping off the team of archaeologists on a large mound known throughout the archaeological community as Khimat Ridge. The scientists were exuberant: recent scans of the area had revealed an entire unerground settlement, hidden just below the sands of the ground, dated to be around 4700 years old, as space travel still accelerated through the stars. The find was to be big, to reveal information about a darker time of Amazonian Beasts, when the civilization was still struggling to co-exist with neighboring hostiles, just united as one. The planet itself had been lost to history, shrouded by the emission signature of the blue supergiant the small planet orbited every 392 days. An even larger find had been discovered upon landing on the planet-a large slab of rune-covered carved rock, embedded in the dirt of the tip of Khimat, opened to reveal an ancient, stone-laden passage, allowing entry to deeper depths. The archaeologists were naive; they went straight down, ignoring any concern for self-preservation in the name of science. That feeling and anxiety had been there greatest weakness.
Two days after the scientists had descended into the cavern and set up a small camp on the outskirts of the settlement, in the central chamber, the first scientist had gone missing, without a trace of a struggle inside his tent. This perplexed the group, but caught up in the find, they figured he would return soon. He did not, and more and more scientist began disappearing as the expedition set up camp inside the ancient citadel. The defense mechanisms, high-velocity projectile repeaters, never even detected anything, a mysterious source slowly dwindling the number of the crew. The scientists began to get nervous, but decided to continue the search. Another day passed without any abductions, but hours before the current time, as scientists were in the process of working, workers left alone seemingly vanished. One left alone didn't, but seemed mad to the others: He claimed to have been attacked by ethereal spirits. The others dismissed him, until they were proven wrong. Strange beings, seeming to float through the air, had seemingly...materialized...and attacked the group, the camp's auto-cannons not even responding, as if the ambushers didn't even exist. Martiin, Felzer, and Maynerd had taken off, running for their lives, abandoning the other scientists to their fates.

Martiin focused back on the present, chancing a glance behind him. Only Felzer remained...Maynerd was gone. Goddamnit...they got another, he thought. The entrance was nearby, and Martiin sprinted with extra effort, bounding onto the stone causeway that led to the surface. Felzer jumped up to him right behind, but let out a screech and fell backward. Martiin didn't even look up as he pounded forth, the glow behind him bright now, but the red sky letting in visable natural light now-Martiin was in a race to save his life, whether he could outdistance the menace behind him in time to reach the top. Rashaad didn't glance back, racing towards the opening, now just ten yards away. Martiin reached the heavy covering stone, grasping the edges to the entrance, when something latched onto his leg. Martiin turned back, his energy pistol coming forth in his hand, taking a glance at the shrieking, contorted creature, its distorted, elongated mouth opened in a howl, clutching him with a clawed hand, reaching towards his face. Martiin didn't think twice, unloosing five rounds straight into the form of the enemy, the creature momentarily thrown back, coming forth again at Martiin, this time with both clawed apendages extended forth. Martiin screamed in agony as the beast sheered off his left foot, unloosing more rounds at the creature as he pulled himself over the entrance lip. The beast circled below him, blood falling in front of it, scowling at Rashaad before turning back towards the dark below, racing off, the glow diminishing. Martiin collapsed on the sandy ground, his wounded leg pouring out blood. With a last bit of energy, Martiin applied a quick-clotting appliance to the wound, sealing it off from letting forth more blood, then pulled out his personal console he had taken from the camp on his flight. Hitting the emergency beacon, powerful enough to puncutre the depths of space and the radiation let forth by the system's star and to attract the attention of a ship's comm array, Martiin fel backward, letting his eyes close as he fell asleep from exhaustion.

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"Kaptain, we're getting a reading." The communications officer held up a piece of paper, the Kaptain taking it out of his hands.
"A distress beacon....hmmm." The Kaptain twittered his moustache, deep in thought. They're bound to have loot...lets just hope they don't have any soldiers among them.

"Sail towards them ladz! Prepare yer weapons! I want every combatant capable man to get ready! Get those weapons cleaned, shine those boots, and check those comm systems!" The bridge was alive with activity, as the Royal (http://blackstone.outpost10f.com/downloads/kroozer.gif) slipped into another dimension, jetted out her solar sails, and was propelled by the bright rays of heaven.

The troops waited eagerly, checking their weapons again and again. It had been quite awhile since they had seen any action...and they couldn't wait.

Martiin awoke from troubled sleep on the red dust of the mound, his leg pounding with bursts of intense pain. Still he was alone...and time passed ever so slowly, the catacombs below him concealing their deadly find. He wondered if any of his comrades were still alive...and how they would be. But Martiin more than ever focused his attention on the distress monitor on the small beacon he had planted in the ground, the emitter still active, with the man tending to it preciously, his life dependent on the working of the mechanism. Hopefully someone had heard his plea for aid...

"And......SURFACE!"

The Royal burst out of the strange dimension it had come from, just beyond the planet's gravity well. A general heave forward followed, knocking many a man on his ass.

"This is the Kaptain speaking. We don't know whats down there, so I'll be taking 75 men with me. The men are as follows:" He read off a list, choosing 70 of his best men...and 5 of the weaker ones just in case. The soldiers (http://files2.turbosquid.com/Preview/Content_on_4_25_2005_23_33_25/soldier_realistic.jpgb18fdd4d-c53f-4296-b133-1c05500dd696Large.jpg) were dressed just like their Kaptain, save for his uniform was red rather them green. They all loaded onto a transport ship (http://www.ifelix.co.uk/games/images/img015/sf10087.jpg) and were sent of by the Hordian National Song.

Down they flew, more like a ship in the air rather then any futuristic device, some how slipping past the atmosphere like a fish through water. "Approaching beacon signal sir!" cried one of the ships communication men.
"Good. Prepare to break right over the signal, and we will disembark from there."
"Aye captain!"

Finally, they broke free of the atmosphere and gazed over the desert planet in awe. As of yet, no large cities could be seen, a good sign. They got closer and closer to the signal, still seeing no ships or towns....a bad sign. "Kaptain...perhaps a becon was dropped by a ship onto the planet?"
"....a possibility. So help me, there will be souls for us to send to Korgoth!" Finally a scientist lair could be seen, and the ship slowly came to a halt. She settled, like a bird, among the sands, and turned her engines off.

The ship had it's own crew, and only 20 men would secure the ship. 55 soldiers dropped onto the site, yelling and seraching for foes. The Kaptain alone walked silently to the injured figure infront of him. He crouched low, and switched his voice module to channel 46. In unison, the others did as well. In a loud robotic voice the Kaptain spoke. "We are the people's of Gort. We have come from across the stars, and wish to help you. What is the matter, humanoid?"

Rashaad groaned slightly, looking up at the Kaptain. At least help had arrived, though from whom...who knew. Though the pain through his leg was terrible from the wraith that had attacked him, Rashaad was more concerned about the possibility of any survivors down below.

"There might be more left..." Rashaad spoke out, his voice parched from the blowing dust as he pointed towards the still unvieled door. "There were others with me...but only I came out. But if you do go below...take grave caution."

The Kaptain talked into a private channel, that the wounded man could not hear. "Take all that ye can. Load her up into the ship and lets leave." One of his henchmen pointed to the wounded man.
"And him boss?"
The Kaptain struggled with the descision. He was not a good man, but still...
"Get the medic out here."

To the wounded man, it would appear as if the beings had spoken in a strange electronic language, alomost more akin to a bad techno song then spoken words. He spoke once agin to the man. "We will help you. You must explain to us: What happeaned here?"

Martiin took a deep breath and began to recall the past 5 day's events:

"Alright. Five days ago, a team of archaeologists, including myself, landed from Amazonia to start excavation and re-opening of a lost city supposedly burrowed undergound this very mound-Khimat Ridge. Rumored to be in this lost city was some sort of ancient power-though this was rumor only. Our main purpose was to re-discover this site-it would give clues to the early exploration of the galaxy, when space travel was still hazardous and new. So we went down, without waiting for additional security to arrive, through that very door shaft over there. Underground, we did indeed find the city...more like a settlement, it seemed a relic of some bygone era, a lot of stone and such materials. There seemed to be skeletons strewn about as well, indicating a potential fall of the establishment. We set up camp in the plaza outside the main citadel, and eagerly got working-but that's when the wierd stuff started happening. Some of the scientists started to disappear...and the auto defenses we had didn't register any outside presences. We figured, because of the circumstances, that they had found more ruins, and were excavating at a different location. However, they never came back. And then yesterday...I've been out a while, I guess...yesterday, everything blew up. As we returned for our evening meal and sharing of the day's finds, we were attacked. These things..wraiths is the best description I've got, maybe they were mutated animals or something...ambushed our camp, tearing some of my companions to shreds, the security detail didn't even have time to shoot. Maybe there really was some sort of power, because these things seemed unstoppable. I took off with two others, sprinting towards the entrance from where we came, but some of them dashed after us...it was like they were floating, not even flying or running, but floating, after us. They took took down both of them, but I managed to outpace them until I got here, and was injured by one...though they don't seem inclined to pursue after the entrance to the site. But I don't know if there are any survivors down there, I thought the two who I was with were still alive when i last saw them."

The Kaptain spoke into the private channel.
"Everybody hear that?"
"Ghosts Kaptain?"
"Aye. But ruins too. Bound to be some sellable crap down in there. Many a rich man would pay his fortune for some ancient trinket. I say we go for it." The men nodded, and agreed with their Kaptain. They checked their weapons, and grouped near the Kaptain. The medic rushed over, and began to treat the man. The Kaptain bent down and spoke to the injured man.
"Stay here. Our medic will help you. We will explore these ruins."

OOC NOTE: My weapons do harm physically, but rather more focus on transporting the soul of a foe to "The Ether," or the Hordian heaven. There they are ripped apart by their god, Korgoth, and used as practice fighters for fallen warriors. So, it appears my weapons will work against the Wraiths. However, if this will ruin the rp, I will say their a little cheaper and use just normal weapons.

OOC: It fits fine, I have alternative methods to make the stuff underground worthy in combat.

IC:
"Use caution...but if you weather the storm, the end of the rainbow may show more..." Martiin drifted off.

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Bumpoozle

OOC: allright....since the other ones moving slowly i guess ill get in this one two.


Arterius flew his valkari across the dunes of this strange planet. On his radar was the source of the beacon some 300 klicks away.
We really should get these things updated so the search wont last this long
"What was that daggar?"
Arterious groaned forgetting that his comrads with him had psyonic powers. Kast, his seccond in command of the Mornarians. Tarsonis' elite fighting group. And the other,.........Draconis. The newly made leader of the Zerg. Though infested he remained in control,.... most of the time. They were loath to employ him but he was thousands of years old, and his knowlege of this edge of space would be useful. Normally they wouldnt be flying so deep into Amazonian Space. The Dominion Wars had left Tarsonis And Amazonia in a delecate peace. But they were the closest ship to the planet, and had been contacted by a science comittee asking for help.

The three valkaris grew closer. Kasts and Daggars were standard valks with little modifications. Draconis's however had been built my him self. Made of Crystolized monocrymatitite, its hull repelled physical attacks, and energy attacks barely made a dent. it was called the Sword and Retribution, it was ffaster, more powerful than any valkary in the Tarsonis arsonal.


Three valks approached the landing site and their pilots noticed a landing craft and they carreened into a halt switching their ships from fighter mode to warriar mode (u have to see macross to understand) the hovered outside range of the ship.

Arterious sighed "what do u think Kast, Friend or foe."
"im not sure daggar, but we should go in shields up and weapons charged just incase, and if they betray us on the ground, me and draconis can handle them i think."

Arterious wasnt convinced. "Draconis?"
The warm yet maniacal voice answered/"lets see what they want."
"Very well lets go in, but slowly."

Their valkaries in warrior mode, stood 35 feet high, their ships battle riffles were charged and loaded.

Arterious hailed the other ship, "This is Vice Admiral Arterious Daggar of the Kingdom of Tarsonis's Royal space fleet, to whom am i speaking with?"

and this one ain movin at all.....grand

OOC: Sorry, I was out ya'll...appreciate it if you could post, Horde (Tarsonis, is your guy talking to Horde's guys or my guy?)

talkin to horde, but he aint been on in forever.

OOC: Great...

it was a good try AB but i must officially declare this thread as.......DEAD