NationStates Jolt Archive

Prologue

The rumbling of ships can be heard even from Jonas’ house. He was one of many that refused to leave his home during the Second Invasion as the military called it. A young man, 23 years of age, with much anger at these invaders upsetting the lives of his people. He was sitting in his room when his long time friend Olan banged on the door. “Jonas! Jonas! Open up!”

He opened the door to find an exhausted Olan sitting on the porch. Exhausted from running to his no doubt, which was situated on a steep hill in the city. “What is it Olan? What’s the matter?”

“Jonas…come…quickly,” he coughed, “Jed is gathering some followers to Mt. Orelas.”

“Orelas! Why?!”

“Something about it won’t be safe to stay in the city. That it could be leveled in the invasion.”

“Alright I’ll be right out. Let me get my coat.”

He walked back in and climbed the stairs to his bedroom. He searched for his coat and peddled through his clothes on the top shelf. He pulled out a box and set out on the bed. He opened it to reveal his 9 millimeter, he took it out and inserted the clip. He took the five clips that were in his box and placed them in his coat side pocket. He put his coat on and headed back downstairs.

“What took you so long,” Olan said.

“Just finding something.”

Olan looked at him. “Ookay. Lets go.”

“Right.”

A brief drive to the city square, Jonas saw Jed on a soapbox making a speech about the move. He drove around and stopped at the crowd. Pushing through the crowd, Jonas was curious about what Jed was saying. :”…must leave this place before we die from the ensuing battle.”

“Why leave when we could fight?”

“Fight? Fight with what? Our shotguns and hunting rifles can’t possibly stand a chance against the invaders. We need to evacuate to Mt. Orelas to escape destruction. Please listen to reason people of Korlias. I for one will take heed of my very own words. For the ones that stay, I respect your bravery but for the people who come with me I will appreciate your actions.”

Jed walked off the soapbox and headed for his truck. “Jed you old fool! What are you up to?”

“Hello Jonas, Olan,” he nodded towards them both,” I am trying to save these people from certain death.”

“I see. How goes this crusade of yours?”

“Who knows I will be waiting for them at Mt. Orelas until sunrise tomorrow. You should come Jonas, you too Olan.

“Well I don’t know Jed…”

“What is there to know when you will surely die here. Listen son I have seen what war can do to people, to entire cities. Trust me on this, things will go awry,” he said with a stern voice.

“I’ll think about it Jed.”

“That’s all I ever ask of you, I’ll expect you there,” he said as he drove off.

“But I never said I was going!” he yelled at Jed driving down the street.

Later that night, Jonas and Olan met outside with their belongings, one duffel bag each.

“Ready,” Jonas said as he packed the bags in the trunk.

“Lets go.”

It took them almost a three hour drive through the night to get to Mt. Orelas, There they saw lines of flashlights and other lighted material climbing towards the mountain. A spectacular light show. They finally reached where Jed was residing. “Alright Jed we’re here now why the hell did you want everyone to come here.”

“I was about to explain that right now,” he turned on the microphone to the speaker system he set up,” gather round my fellow people. During the war my Division fought on the cliffs of Mt. Orelas against Lingunan troops and later Cyverons. No Lingunan ever found the base of operations near Mt. Orelas or how we were able to flank their mountain troops quickly. The truth my people, is that Mt. Orelas was the base of operations.”

“What?!”

“How is that possible?”

“Come I will show you. Help me pull this brush and vine down.”

People began cutting down the brush and vine that cover what Jed want to show them. Debris began to fill up behind them piling higher and higher until they found what Jed was looking for. It was a massive cave-like tunnel with a huge blast door in it.

“This base has been abandoned since the end of the Cyveron War. Only a handful of people know of it from my division now since most of them are dead. This should be a safe place to reside in during the invasion.”

He punched in the keyboard with his old serial number from the war. Their was a loud bang and then the door began to open. “Alright people, now in an orderly fashion begin moving into the base. There you go nice and easy, there’s no hurry,” he said as he waved more in.

Six hours had passed, and around six thousand people had already gotten inside with another some nine to ten thousand to go. “Its almost sunrise Jed.”

“I know Jonas. I know.”

Sunrise. With only one thousand people left to get into the mountain Jed was out making sure that things were running smoothly. Then loud roars could be heard in the backdrop. It was the military transports leaving and they looked like they were in quite a hurry.

“Oh no,” Jed began running towards the entrance. Tripping and stumbling on the shrubbery and rocks, running through crowds of people, something must’ve been wrong for him to run that fast. “Jed! Jed! What’s wrong!?”

“We have to get these people in NOW!”

“Alright we need to step it up people!”

Jonas watched as hundreds of vessels began hurrying into space. Looking through his binoculars he saw soldiers abandoning their equipment and rushed towards their transports. “What the hell is going on?”

One hour later they had only a few hundred to go when suddenly transports began exploding in the sky. “What in the hell?!”

Lightning bolts began to tear open ships, sometimes obliterating them. Soon they were hitting the ground, then the city. People getting hit in the streets crying out in terror. Charred and burned to a crisp, some turning to ashes instantly. A purplish hue began to envelop the sky, then clouds started to form and rain down more lightning down onto the city. Buildings were blasted raining down more debris on the people of Korlias, burying them alive. People tried to leave the city only to be killed by blasts. “Jonas come on!”
Olan began to pull on him dragging him to the door. People began to panic and rushed through the door. Trampling started to ensue, severely injuring some people. Tears of children soaking their parents bodies as they lie injured. Jonas picked up an injured woman and carried her to the door. Lightning began to strike on the ground behind them. “C’mon c’mon lets go!” can be heard by some people. The last people had gotten through the door.

“Close it! C’mon!”

The began to shut slowly with more lightning hitting the entrance of the tunnel. It inched closer and closer. Before a blast could hit the crowd of people the door shut. “That was close,” Jed said climbing up from the ground.

“Ok the power generator should be right here,” he opened the door to the generator room.

“Alright. Lets hope this baby still works,” Jed pushed the lever up and a large hum filled the room. Then engine noises replaced it. Lights started to turn on shining the corridors of the huge mountain complex..

Alright boys, follow me. The two followed Jed to the next destination which took 30 minutes of walking through a maze of corridors and elevators. They enter the room to find a table with maps laid across it and maps on various walls. “This is the command room for the base in that room there is the arsenal for this floor. This base was largely abandoned even to the point that weapons and equipment were left behind. I’ll show you where the rest of the caches are in various parts of the base.“

He pulled out a map under the table, and pointed at the various locations and tunnels. The chief engineer that created this base wanted its inhabitants to last for long periods of time, we’re talking years here. He basically designed it to house an advanced hydroponics farm to sustain the troops and a reclamation system to keep a flow of clean drinkable water. It was also designed to house an entire division of troops. It was the base of operations after all. We are about 2400 meters underground, right now. “

“Wow Jed, I don’t know what to say.”

“I know its a lot to take in. Take your time," Jed said walking towards the door then stopped," but not too much time."

Jed walked and Jonas walked over to the table and stared down at the map. God…

The Resurrection of the Cylons (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmoiAK60xmk)
Cylon Occupied Ganoxa
Day 109 of the Occupation


Ganoxa, once a beautiful oasis, lush green forests, filled with fertile land laid in ruins, as the wrath of a long dead Sith spirit, that of Palpitine wrecked all life with his fury and hate. Trillions of microscopic wormholes covered the system, as on the planet below harsh weather conditions struck out against any and all who resisted his rule. All life, that was not Imperial was wiped out by harsh wind, lightning, fire, drought, and all kinds of unspeakable hell. Even the trees and non sentient life were destroyed by the dark power and fury of the long dead ghost. It is a good thing Machines are not alive.

When the cylons arrived, there was no life here, none that was detected, none were known to survive his dark wrath. Over the last few months the cylons, since the third holocaust against the human race, waited building up their forces to strike out once more, not just against the twelve colonies of Kobal but against the human race as a whole. The parasitic race, that has due to the thirteenth colony, spread it’s murderous violent, and hateful ways across the stars to countless worlds. Now here, those who God blessed, who God had created from the fallen human race waited, rebuilding their empire waiting to strike.

Centurions went out into the cities, rebuilding them piece by piece, building by building. Old metal laid on the ground was removed, being scrapped and recycled for new centurions, new ships. The bodies of the dead, were removed, sent to buildings for mass cremation. The planet was to be cleansed of all that had been impure before, and to be restored to it’s former beauty.

Weeks went by as the Balroggans created a shield, designed against the wormholes, to protect the planet against the wrath of the dead and now irrelevant sith lord. SO far it had worked. The storm on the planet below and slowly life returned. Trees were planted, crops sown. In time everything would be returned to it’s former splendor and glory. Ganoxa would return to life.

OOC: I know I copied this from the post in Hearts, but it fit too well, for this post as well.

A punch was thrown and he ducked. He grabbed the arm and wrapped it around the back. The feet wrapped around his and tripped him. He fell flat on his back as another punch flew at him. He rolled and the punch hit the canvas. He kicked the body but it did not flinch, soon pain would befell his body. Body met body and soon feet would wrap around his neck. He was beginning to pass out.

"Uncle!" he cried.

"Very good, Tanya and Jonas," said a pleased Sensei Shinzo Takamura, a old martial arts instructor teaching the locals self defense techniques, but had taken Tanya and Jonas as his own pupils.

Both Tanya and Jonas stood up, bowed to each other, then to their sensei, "Thank you sensel," they said simultaneously.

"You two are making excellent progress. That will be enough for today. I expect to see you tomorrow morning for meditation practices."

"Thank you, sensei," they said.

As Tanya and Jonas walked to the locker room, which had a makeshift divide, Jonas made a comment, "Those are some nice moves there."

"Kiss ass," she said jokingly.

"I'm being serious. I could barely keep up," he laughed.

"I learned them from my father. Being a army brat it sort of came naturally."

"So who's your father?"

"Well...ok, but don't freak out. My father is..."

"Yes, yes," he gestured.

"General Grenzer."

"WHAT!?"

"Calm down will ya!" she said.

"Man wait till I tell the guys that you're THE General Grenzer's dau..."

"You can't tell anyone!" she interrupted, "You have to promise me. Promise me you won't tell anyone."

Jonas raised his head and looked over his shoulder. He calmly said,"Alright. I promise I shall die a horrible death before giving out 'classified information'."

Tanya smile as she got dressed into her regular clothes. The walked out into the corridor. "So what plans do you have now?" Tanya asked.

"Dunno. Probably explore the deep levels again."

"More exploring!? Its been a year and the only thing you found was that munition depot in level -7."

"Ya probably explore Level -10."

"Well I'm going with you on this venture of yours. Probably best so you don't accidentally destroy the base."

He looked at her with a discerned face. "That incident at -6 wasn't my fault."

"Ya ya, but still be best to look after you."

"Fine."

A door was opened and flashlights shined through. "The lights don't work down here. Possibly a separate generator," Jonas said.

"Lets go find it."

They walked down the corridor until they found a huge door. Big enough to put a tank through. Behind them was a long tunnel with the ground looking like a road. "What in the hell?" Tanya said.

"Lets move down more. Looks like these doors can only be opened electronically."

Jonas moved about 10 meters down till he shone his flashlight on the door which said:

GENERATOR ROOM

"Found it!"

He opened the door to find the stench of death come out. He fixed his flashlight on a skeleton by the generator. A Lingunan uniform was worn on it.
He walked over and removed the skeleton and pushed the switch up. Lights started to light up throughout the corridor. Jonas walked back to the doors and pressed the same code Jed gave him. "Thank you General Rames."

"Wait what? General?"

The doors began to open slowly revealing what was inside. "Whoa!" Tanya and Jonas said.

"Arm Slaves! Look at them. Wait weren't Arm Slaves created twenty years after the war. Why are they here now?"

"Dunno probably restored this level and stored them here. That what father said in his last phone call."

"Wait you knew about this?"

"Not really just thought it was a rumor. Never thought he was telling me the truth."

"So what brought you to Korlias, in Forellia."

"Just wanted to get away from it all. Never seen Forellia."

"Ah I see. Whoa. I never seen this model before."

"What are some sort of Arm Slave expert?"

"Actually I was a pilot before an isolated incident got me discharged."

"Oh," she said as he went over and stepped up on the AS,"Wait you're not going to actually--"

"Pilot it? Ya."

The cockpit opened and climbed into the AS. He turned on the system and it spoke to him. "You are piloting the Arbalest Mk II. I am AL the AI system for this semi-master slave system."

"Well Al lets take this thing for a stroll."

"Roger, System check: Positive. You are ready for the stroll."

"Hmm quite a character?"

"What is a character?"

"What?"

"What is a character?"

This AI was different from the general variety AIs. It actually calls itself a name and acts like a human. " A character is someone is distinctive from other people."

"Roger. Recording information into memory banks."

Jonas started to pilot the AS. He stood up from the kneeling position and started to walk around. "It feels good to be piloting again," he said over the intercom. Tanya since they stored these here there must be a AS weapons depot somewhere around here."

"Alright. Ya its over here under the wreckage."

"Move aside," he said then after Tanya moved he swept the wreckage and created a path. "Ok."

Tanya entered the code and the doors opened to find a whole cache of weapons. Shot cannons, Sniper cannons, 40mm Assault Rifles, everything. "Wow we hit the mother load."

"Ok Al, resume storage mode," he said as he climbed out and climbed down the AS.

"Roger resuming storage mode," Al said as the AS kneeled.

"Alright lets head back up and tell Jed we found a surprise."

They walked out of the room and shut the lights.

Tanya and Jonas told Jed about the Arm Slave hangar. He was quite surprised that it was there, or it seemed that way. Possibly an act Jonas thought.

"So Jed, I found out something else down there, something interesting. I knew you were a soldier and all, but I had no clue that you were a general."

Jed looked down, "How did you find out?"

"Well...when I used your access code, the box gave me the greeting 'Welcome General Belias'."

"I see. Yes I knew about the Arm Slave hangar. One of the many reasons I brought us here, if not the primary one. See after the so called 'abandonment', the government utilized the lower echelons of the base for storage of weapons most notably Arm Slaves. There were also experimental weapons being researched by Dr. Helsing himself."

"So thats why the lower parts are still in good condition."

"The generators and other facilities in the lower levels were maintained, but I'm surprised that the generators on the upper floors are still operational."

"Speaking of the generator room, I found a skeleton with a Lingunan uniform."

"Oh yes. Well the Forellians and Lingunans were working together on the projects going on here. How that man died its a mystery to me."

"I see, that explains it. So General, what are we going to do now." Jonas said.

"In order for us to survive in case of intrusion, we have to train the people. Teach them how to pilot Arm Slaves and basic weapons training," Jed said.

"The Arm Slave training could be possible, we don't really need to actually move around. We could switch them to simulation mode. Although we can use that road to teach them basic maneuvers, but the advanced stuff will have to be done through sims," Jonas said.

A ding-dong-ding could be heard on the intercom. much like the intercom system at the public schools. "Attention residents. Attention residents. This is Jed Belias. I know you have just got acquainted with your new homes, but a need must be met. We are conducting combat training courses in the barracks at Basement Floor 5. This is a requirement for everyone to learn the basics of combat in case we are invaded. We would also encourage people 16-45 to join the Defense Force. Volunteers will meet in the training area on Basement Floor 8. That is all." A ding-dong-ding followed.

Six hours later, 1243 men and women lined up in the training room. "It is good to see you can make it. You men and women have taken the first step of ensuring the safety of this base and the people that reside in it. After the twelve weeks of training you will be prepared to fight efficiently, effectively, and organized. I will share something with you, this will be your first test. The test of trust. Since I trust you, I will reveal my rank. I am General Jedbadi Belias, commander of Mt. Orelas Military Complex, 23rd Mountain Division, Serial Number 9586-A."

Whispers and murmurs started to erupt in the crowd.

"Enough recruits! As your first test you shall never tell a soul about this 'information' I have given you. Not your family, not you friends, not even your pets. No one. Is that understood."

"Yes," they said at different times.

"Yes what? And at the same time."

"Yes sir."

"I can't hear you!"

"YES SIR!", they yelled.

"Good. I would like you to meet your drill instructor Lieutenant Jonas Tobias."

"Good day recruits," he stepped up and said.

"GOOD DAY SIR!"

Jed turned his head towards the "drill instructor". "Looks like we have almost three battalions here," he whispered.

Jonas simply nodded, as Jed turned his head back to the crowd. "Alright recruits our first priority is organization, if we are disorganized then we can't work effectively as a team. This 500 people will be 1st Battallion, next 500 will be 2nd, the rest will be third. After we get you into you battalion positions we'll work our way down, all the way to squad level."

It had been five years since the Jed and Jonas started to recruit members into their defense force, their numbers swelled from the meager 1243 to about 7500 men and women. The Defense force had 10 trained battalions on how to operate and maintain the Arm Slaves stationed in the facility.

During one of Jonas' explorations he had found a manufacturing plant of some sort, maybe used to build the Arm Slaves, but all they needed was the resources. Resources they barely had.

"We been here twelve years now and we still haven't had any landings on the planet let alone that cursed storm," someone said.

"How do we know there aren't other people out there right now in their cellars waiting out this storm? Surely we must do something to help them," another said.

"Please, please gentlemen our reports have always been the same the storm destroys anything that ventures outside the confines of this base."

The voices were coming from the council room. Somehow during there twelve year stay the people have been formed in different districts. Representing each district is an elected envoy.

"All we have to do is just sit tight and wait out this storm or wait for the government to come and rescue us. I am well assured that the Council will not turn their backs on us." said Jed.

"We are tired of waiting Jed. We need to find ways of safely venturing out into the storm instead of just waiting here for a fight. We can't live here forever. Sooner or later the strain of a bigger population will overwhelm this base. Are there not other similar bases in Forellia?" Trey Agola from District 2 said

"Well...yes--"

"Then we can just expand into those facilities--"

"But sir, there maybe other people seeking refuge in that very complex you are planning to invade. You are talking about war with our own people!"

"Its survival of the fittest,"

"The only way I will allow any venturing into other complexes is to ensure the safety of all Ganoxans. To see if we are not alone on this planet."

"Well there is way," Gref Forel said from District 5.

"What way?" Jed said

"Well we do have some families that have been in mining for some time now. We can dig ourselves into other complexes."

"What the hell are you talking about, this facility is encased in a shit load of reinforced concrete, how in the he--"

"Wait! Not the whole facility is encased. Only the top levels had been built with reinforced concreted there is some parts in the lower parts that are exposed to rock. Well I'm into this idea. All in favor?"

It was a 11 to 1 margin with Trey being the one. The skeptic.

The project began as the miners started to dig the first hole towards another complex. With the guidance of Jed he pointed them in the right direction towards the next division facility.

OOC: Decided to speed things up.

Progress in the dig was slow, the bedrock slowed down the process. Soon the bedrock collapsed and men were rushing out of the hole. "Goddammit! Bring up more support beams. Clear the debris and check for anyone in there."

The debris was cleared out to reveal a hole leading outside. The men were froze to find the hole leading outside, but where was the lightning. The destructive energy that would fry anyone foolish enough to go outside. One man decided to pop his head out of the hole and saw that there was no storm.

The men began to venture out and wonder why this had happened. Had the storm passed. Had it left for good?

Jonas, ever the explorer, volunteered to scout out the valley to see if it was truly safe. He was concerned of sending someone out with totally no experience save for simulations, to venture out into the open, but that was just an excuse to explore the world above him. Succumbing to his tendacies to see how his home changed. He was piloting his personal Arm Slave, the one with the AI with a personality Al.

When he finally cleared the last hill he saw the city, still erect, but something wasn't right. He saw people moving down there on the screen. He immediately jumped the AS over leaps and bounds to quickly get to the edge of the city. There he took up a prone position, sniper cannon in place, and took initial scans of the facility.

"They look human but the scans are showing otherwise. What the hell is going on?!" Jonas said. He made his AS get up and approached closer to the structures. "Its wierd the terrain looks the same as before, the roads doesn't seem to be affected, no debris anywhere. Like nothing had happened over the years. Strange, very strange."