NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: Sign ups/OOC here
IC: ---Templarian – Void Expanse Border---
A bright blue sun shone in this system, it’s pure light basking the system nicknamed The Home of Light in its rays. Somewhat ironically, the Home of Light had always been the gateway to the Dark. The seemingly endless stretch of nebulae, reaching beyond even the most powerful scanners, was the literal Hell of the Templars. In their religion, Kalism, the Void Expanse is where their Devil, known only as the Dark, resides, tied in chains of Stygium, a black metal which superheats in sunlight, waiting with endless, malicious patience until it is freed, whereupon it will wreak its revenge upon the galaxy. There is a planet in this system, untouched by any sentient being, and there is a very good reason why.
In the centre of this planet lies an engine. A huge engine, built eons ago by some unknown race for some unknown purpose, it has lain dormant since it was discovered over 3000 years ago. It is powered by some unknown force, a dark energy that sends any Psyker the empire sends to it mad, twisting their bodies and minds. The planet has been blockaded since then, no one and nothing allowed nearby.

This, however, is exactly what the engine wants.

Now, the engine finally awakes. Its energies are finally being put to use. Silently, invisibly, a pulse erupts from the engine buried in the planet. Spreading out in all directions, it calls to every living being in tune with the Warp, and to a lesser extent, every AI, to come to the planet.

And in the dark of the Void, something answered.

As it continues its spread across the universe, announcing the coming holocaust to all, silently or otherwise, and the Something mobilizes for war.
-----
"Full house." The marine spread his hand on the metal table, the other soldier's around him groaning.
"Goddamnit, you always win. You must be cheating."
"I just have luck boys."
"Nothing to do with this eh?" A hand grabbed the marines arm, another one taking a card spring from his sleeve. Captain Silva tossed the device onto the table, the offending marine grinning sheepishly.
One of the other marines rubbed his hands together in a victorious way.
"Right, I think we'll have our credits back now Gary. With reimbursment, of course." The captain had just come back from patrol (not that anything ever came in this bloody sector anyway), jumpsuit still on and flight helmet under one arm. He saluted the group and moved away to another table, chuckling. Just as he sat down, a sudden "Hello Captain" in his ear made him jump. The stations damn Unbound AI, Asytacer, loved jumping the crew. The red hologram/silhouette of the Unbound suddenly appeared across from him. "Your presence is required in the command room."
"Who says?"
"Commander Grey. He says there is no rush." The hologram disappeared, and the captain relaxed back into his seat and looked around. Pretty much everybody in here was supposed to be on duty. This was the place where Naval Command sent the misfits, idiots, junkies and crims. A neat, tidy place out of their way so they could concentrate on the more important matters. Grey was, as far as he could tell, the only organic thing on this hulk that gave a fu-
"Hello again Captain." The AI reappeared again, this time sitting next to Silva. "The Commander says that there is still no rush."

Less than a minute later, Silva was standing next to the Commander on the station's command level. The crew of the station were rushing around in a panic. Something was coming. That'd never happened before.
"Welcome, Captain. I doubt you know why you are here?" Without waiting, Grey continued. "Our scanners detected a warp signiature on scanners. It's within the nebula. It may just be interferance, or it may be something else. I want you to scramble the station's squadrons. The fact it is one small signiature is strange. I'd prefer it to be a number of them. As soon as it exits warp, hail it and if they don't respond within a minute, shred them. Understood?" Silva didn't have time to answer.

Annoucing it's prescence with a bright flash of purple light, a orb trailing fire and debris shot from nothing to the station, smashing in through the lower hull. Two marines were right next the impact site, and went to invesigate.
"Ay, this is near the shield generator right?"
"It is, yeah. Whatever is in that is lucky or smart."
"Let's hope lucky." They came to a corner and stopped, smoke and noises marking the intruding orb. The two pushed themselves into the wall, one of the looking around and immediatly getting speared through the stomach by a tentacle, smashed into the opposite wall then hurled down the corridor. The remaining soldier opened fire, it's bullets ripping through the tentacle. It drew back, whatever it was attached to screeching. "Guard Z531! Hostile xeno onboard station, reactor level, repeat reactor lev-" A blow from a twisted, clawed joke of a hand sent him flying across the room.

"Come on, come on!" The station's crew filed out of the lower sections, blastdoors closing behind them. Those stuck below the impact had to fend for themselves. On the command level, Grey sent out an emergency hail on all frequencies.
This is Commander Grey, from the Templarian station Lighthold, Home of Light sector. Unknown forces have attacked our station, requesting reinforcements. Appear to be intelligent, use of warp drives and boarding pods confirmed. Another voice spoke here.
Sir, more signitures detected! Dozens, far bigger than the pod!
Okay, we need some heavy reinforcements. Unknown craft are detected, presumably of a combat class. Repeat, Home of Light secter under assualt. That was all he could get out. As he finished, the lights flickered, and a low whine throughout the old station marked the lowering of the shields and deactivation of the comms. The cruisers which guarded this sector circled the station, guns ready for whatever came.

OOC: Will get more up later. Fingers tired. Feel free to post.

10 White flashes heralded the arival of Dragona Deathwing 5 (suicide fleet consisting of carriers.)
"Lighthold, this is Deces' champion Garth of the 5th Deathwing responding to your distress call. Commander gray, respond?" Garth spoke in a calm, oily voice that resonated with power. On the bridge of the Tai Lun he was actualy straped into the command chair so he didn't murder anyone unintentionaly. His eyes 'glowed' with a wierd black light and he spasmed ocaisionaly while he spoke, but none of this was reflected in his voice.

OOC: nice work Void, one of the largest posts i've seen from you... and you wanted to add more!?

On the Eastern Fringe of the Ustio System, a large ship sat in place by the location where strange energy readings had been detected. The PFS Firestorm, a Hound Class Nano-Dreadnought, had been assigned the 'honour' of keeping watch on the strange readings that had been emanating from a fixed point in space.

Captain Harkness, commander of the ground forces that called the Firestorm home, stood in his quarters, watching the space where the readings were coming from. He pondered what.

"I know you're in here" he said suddenly, speaking to the emptiness. For a second, it appeared he was slightly paranoid. But then a noise came from the far wall, and a person with a slender figure, dressed in a suit that matched the colour of the wall, stepped towards him. It pressed a button on it's wrist, and the suit changed colour to black, making it plainly visible. The person removed their mask, revealing it to be a woman with blonde hair. She pulled the pin out of her hair, which had been tied back so that she could wear the mask

"Still watching those readings, Captain?" she asked, leaning on his shoulder and watching the empty space with him

"Yes, Zhana, i'm still watching" he replied "I don't know. It's just a spacial disturbance, what's the big fuss about?"

She made a face of mock sympathy, at which they both chuckled quietly

10 White flashes heralded the arival of Dragona Deathwing 5 (suicide fleet consisting of carriers.)
"Lighthold, this is Deces' champion Garth of the 5th Deathwing responding to your distress call. Commander gray, respond?" Garth spoke in a calm, oily voice that resonated with power. On the bridge of the Tai Lun he was actualy straped into the command chair so he didn't murder anyone unintentionaly. His eyes 'glowed' with a wierd black light and he spasmed ocaisionaly while he spoke, but none of this was reflected in his voice.

OOC: nice work Void, one of the largest posts i've seen from you... and you wanted to add more!?
OOC: ^_^
Also, sorry if I take a long time to post. I got a new router, and it's taking it's time to settle into it's duties and keeps disconnecting me (eg, now.)

IC: Captain Garth, thank you for your quick reaction. The station was attacked by some unknown force which, judging by recovered footage from the deceased trooper's WRAITH uplink, appears to have bio-weapons. The men on this base aren't trained to deal with this. No stims or chems. In addition, the little fleet we got here won't be able to hold ground against much.
"Sir, ETA of the unknowns in 5 seconds!"

A huge hole suddenly appeared in space. Purple light blared from it, silhoutted by 8 blurry shapes. Huge, spiked monstrosities, engines pumping out fire behind them, slowly advanced through the tear. Eventually, the tear closed behind them. On the lead one, what looked like a viewport slowly opened, a red pupil in a sea of black darting around, inspecting the surroundings.It held on the Dragonan ships, blinked ponderously a few times, then focused on the station. Slowly, the front of the giant thing opened, huge teeth revealing themselves, parts of ships impaled on them. The smaller craft, as if driven by some unheard signal, suddenly sprang to life, and began to swarm the Dragonan's, each one firing a flurry of lasers at the craft. The lead 'ship' belched out more of the pods, dozens of them smashing into the station. The Templar cruisers started to fire on them, when thousands of small creatures detached themselves from the bio-craft, swarming and devouring the ships. After few minutes, nothing remained and the creatures returned back to their mothership.

The dragona ships had rapidly responded by launching about 100 missiles and all of thier strike caft with the collective call of "NO DEATH!" before smashing into the 'bio-ships' with coloums of green flames. The carriers opened fire withthier smaller magna turrets and Phi batteries, pulling some of the enimy into each other.
Aboard thier bridges the ship captains had been unchained from thier charis and were now wavng thier arms around in a seemingly random way as they forced thier will on thier ships bio-uplinks and began manipulating the ship as it it was an extention of thier own body.
"So this is how the Phy-breeds feel then?" Garth said to himself as he fired a volly at a passing bio-ship.

A wailing alarm awoke Harkness from his sleep. In a rush to get up, his whiskey glass fell to the floor, shattering into a thousand pieces. Harkness tapped his wrist-device and a screen appeared on the wall.

"Dr. Zerlinski, what's going on?" Harkness shouted at the screen

A man wearing glasses appeared from the bottom of the screen, as if getting up off the floor

"The energy readings are going off the scale Captain!" Zerlinski called back as the entire ship shuddered "Look outside!"

Harkness rushed to the window of his quarters. Outside, the disturbance was becoming a full fledged rift, and something was trying to come through...

The dragona ships had rapidly responded by launching about 100 missiles and all of thier strike caft with the collective call of "NO DEATH!" before smashing into the 'bio-ships' with coloums of green flames. The carriers opened fire withthier smaller magna turrets and Phi batteries, pulling some of the enimy into each other.
Aboard thier bridges the ship captains had been unchained from thier charis and were now wavng thier arms around in a seemingly random way as they forced thier will on thier ships bio-uplinks and began manipulating the ship as it it was an extention of thier own body.
"So this is how the Phy-breeds feel then?" Garth said to himself as he fired a volly at a passing bio-ship.

The kamikazed bio-ships exploded, then suddenly began to move back towards the 'mothership', the fleshy debris joining onto the larger bio-ship, reinforcing weaker areas. The remaining bioships concentrated their firepower on the carriers, and the small creautres once more detached themselves from the mothership, this time headed for the Dragonans.


Harkness rushed to the window of his quarters. Outside, the disturbance was becoming a full fledged rift, and something was trying to come through...
Once more, a bright purple rip appeared in space, more bioships emerging. The exact same number, 7 smaller craft and one huge mothership. The lead bio-ship opened it's one eye, then opened it's mouth and shot dozens of dispersal pods towards the Firestorm.

The shields flared with the impacts of the small creatures as the cariers jumped to hyperspace for a nano second, re-emerging into realspace and making to smash aginst the huge ship.

OOC: Grand terrifying entrance inspired by the following track: http://www.rhapsody.com/nox-arcana/phantoms-of-the-high-seas/maelstrom

IC:
"Irene, Queen of The Swarms, attend to my words. I feel something calling to us. The Gods demand we retrieve it for their glory, working in cooperation with those that have already entered the system. They know we are coming and expect us. Combine Leviathan's two halves, and have Zasz and Dangaloth escort you, and take that which is rightfully the property of The Gods. While you're there, burn and eat their worlds, leaving behind no single trace of life within that system. Remember The Biosteel requires that we now completely devour a world. The necessary evolutions have already happened." The Overmind said.

"As you wish Overmind."
*************************
Within the light system, Sensors would blare out with alarm as Warp signatures increased beyond what had already occured, something BIG was coming.

At first the crackle of energy, similar to that of ocean waves would wash over their communications sensors, then as the dimensions began to rip apart, a creaking groan like that of a wooden ship.

Ghostly moans could be heard below it all, the tortured gasps of those departed beings trying desperately to escape The Warp.

And then, the great rolling Thunder, but this did not come over the communications systems, instead it could be heard all around them, emanating from the very air itself. Great bolts of energy shot out of the spark as it grew. Over and over it all repeated while the Chaos built upon itself, growing and growing, until at last it all exploded outward into an eye of Terror, the powers of Chaos radiating through the sector. The greatest fears and terrors of all in The Light System, Military or Civilian, or otherwise, would manifest before them.

Hive Fleet Leviathan (complete) materialized inside the Eye of Terror, and left it open.
"Greetings, we will be your murderers today. We shall kill all of you, and eat you, and your worlds, leaving behind naught but a lonely star."

Then without further invitation, The ships began firing on the System Defenders, spewing forth their entire compliment of Swarmling Jets to fire on the defenders. Among them, two exceptionally large jets could be seen, Hive Tyrants with wings, and they were Zasz and Dangaloth. These had personal Teleportation abilities, as they could be seen blinking about the battlefield, that is, teleporting short distances.
"Zasz, I bet I can fell three ships before you fell one." Dangaloth said.
"I'll take that bet. The loser has to become a woman." Zasz said.
"And how exactly is that a bad thing?" Irene asked from within the ship.
Of course, their conversation could be heard over the communications frequencies too.

Of course, the eye didn't close, it was left open to use the terror and panic it spread through the minds of it's targets to their advantage. That the Swarm didn't fear it in any manner spoke to how insane they were already.

ooc: you do realize it'd be insne to try and get aboard one of my ships (im asuming what you mena when you say "Zasz, I bet I can fell three ships before you fell one." Dangaloth said.
"I'll take that bet. The loser has to become a woman." Zasz said.
"And how exactly is that a bad thing?" Irene asked from within the ship.
) seeing how they're kamakazi ships about to ram an oponenet. Not to mention the fact they're filled with Dragona who have absolutly no fear of death...

Once more, a bright purple rip appeared in space, more bioships emerging. The exact same number, 7 smaller craft and one huge mothership. The lead bio-ship opened it's one eye, then opened it's mouth and shot dozens of dispersal pods towards the Firestorm.

Harkness stepped away from the window and tapped his wrist-device again

"All decks, brace for impact!" hs called "Control, maximise shields over the port side now! And call for backup!"

"Understood Captain" replied the crew member

Harkness returned to the window as the guns of the ship turned to fire on the smaller ship

"God help us" he whispered.

The shields flared with the impacts of the small creatures as the cariers jumped to hyperspace for a nano second, re-emerging into realspace and making to smash aginst the huge ship.
Tentacles erupted from the hull of the craft, whipping towards the carriers to smash them out of the way.

***SNIP***
The majority of the station crew watched in horror as the Hive Fleet dragged itself out of the warp.
"Fucking hell. Not as if we don't have enough to worry about. Ignore them, help should be coming soon." Grey unholstered his pistol and shot a ball of plasma through an oncoming tentacle, which retreated screeching.
"If it doesn't sir?"
"Then we die. I thought that would have been obvious."
"I was hoping for a viable alternative."
"Nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnope." Grey and Silva arrived at the lower level's main barrier. It was noticably missing a few of the guards.
"You." He pointed to one of the marines (http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z107/Kain1235/MarineFootsoldier.jpg), visor shattered from a blow. "What happened to the rest of them?"
"Dead, sir. Tentacles got 'em."
"They've only attacked using tentacles?"
"Insofar sir. We lost contact with the forward barrier a few hours ago, said something about the aliens. Said they were humanoid, 'cept with spines down their backs, big teeth, claws, tails with spines on the end."
"That sounds like Xenoforms."
"No sir, they didn't have the wierd heads, or the exoskeleton. From my reckoning, it's a parasite race. Y'know, nicking genes they like and adding them to their own."
"Less thinking, more killing."
"Right you are sir."

Harkness stepped away from the window and tapped his wrist-device again

"All decks, brace for impact!" hs called "Control, maximise shields over the port side now! And call for backup!"

"Understood Captain" replied the crew member

Harkness returned to the window as the guns of the ship turned to fire on the smaller ship

"God help us" he whispered.
The pods smashed into the shields, most of them disintgrating, covering the shield with spores; 2 however broke through the weakened shield, smashing through the hull, both of them near the engines.

they're filled with Dragona who have absolutly no fear of death...
OOC: Uhh... 'nids?

The pods smashed into the shields, most of them disintgrating, covering the shield with spores; 2 however broke through the weakened shield, smashing through the hull, both of them near the engines.

The ship was rocked with the impact. Harkness, now attempting to make it to the bridge, was thrown to the side of one of the metal corridors. Regaining his feet, he spoke into his device

"Damage control, report?" he shouted over the wailing alarms

"Sir, we have a breach in sector eight. Engines are offline and the main power source has been damaged. We're losing main functions. We can keep life support and communications online, but the guns and shields are going down" the crew told him

"What about re-inforcements?" Harkness asked as Zhana ran up to him

"Command recieved our message. Captain Ironfoot is en route with the Dominator and her escorts. Estimated time to intersection - 15 minutes" came the reply

"Okay, i'm heading to the bridge now" Harkness said, nodding to Zhana and they both headed up to the bridge together

Sector Eight - Engine Room And Main Power Source

Federal Marines poured into the engine rooms, M2282A1 EDPWs at the ready, standing a (supposedly) safe distance from the pod

"On my mark men!" the leader shouted "Fire!"

Beams of blue energy made contact with the pod. The EDPWs were designed to be able to cut through solid steel and even rock. They would make short work of the pod.

ooc: you do realize it'd be insne to try and get aboard one of my ships (im asuming what you mena when you say ) seeing how they're kamakazi ships about to ram an oponenet. Not to mention the fact they're filled with Dragona who have absolutly no fear of death...

OOC: It's their personalities. Strategy doesn't have anything to do with it, or how insane it may or may not be to try. Besides, they mean destroy a ship entirely, not get aboard and kill every one on board, their aim is to outright destroy them.

IC:

Having removed themselves from the Warp, and seeing who the enemy is, the Swarm concentrates on the weakened ships in an attempt to Destroy them, The Jets swarming over it with their blasters, and The Hive Ships directing far more powerful shots at them. Zasz and Dangaloth however begin to grow...

The tenticles slamed into the first ship just as its self destruct activated. The shields flickered before the tenticles before a large ball of green energy erupted from the ship, pulling it and the tenticles into it before burning itself out. The other ships followed suit in an attempt to damage thier target before thier destruction.

The last ship sent out a message just before it imploded, transmiting to the station "Help is on its way".

OOC: No I'm not ignoring the tyranids but what would you expect a kamakazi ship to do against those odds.

The ship was rocked with the impact. Harkness, now attempting to make it to the bridge, was thrown to the side of one of the metal corridors. Regaining his feet, he spoke into his device

"Damage control, report?" he shouted over the wailing alarms

"Sir, we have a breach in sector eight. Engines are offline and the main power source has been damaged. We're losing main functions. We can keep life support and communications online, but the guns and shields are going down" the crew told him

"What about re-inforcements?" Harkness asked as Zhana ran up to him

"Command recieved our message. Captain Ironfoot is en route with the Dominator and her escorts. Estimated time to intersection - 15 minutes" came the reply

"Okay, i'm heading to the bridge now" Harkness said, nodding to Zhana and they both headed up to the bridge together

Sector Eight - Engine Room And Main Power Source

Federal Marines poured into the engine rooms, M2282A1 EDPWs at the ready, standing a (supposedly) safe distance from the pod

"On my mark men!" the leader shouted "Fire!"

Beams of blue energy made contact with the pod. The EDPWs were designed to be able to cut through solid steel and even rock. They would make short work of the pod.

The pod let out an audible screech as the energy hit it. It's shell cracked slightly, revealing grey flesh behind it. Suddenly, four more cracks appeared in the pod, before 4 limbs came out, long and slender like the tentacles, but each one ending in a three-clawed foot. The front two limbs were essentially giant maces, each arm ending in a spiked ball. The pod roared from some hidden mouth then charged and swiped at the marines.

Harkness, listening in on the marines from the bridge, tapped his comm-link off to cease the screams of agony coming from the engine bay. He turned to his XO

"Where is the Dominator now?" he asked

"PFS Dominator, estimated time to intersection 30 seconds" the XO told him

--------------------------

PFS Dominator

The Dominator, a Yamato-II Class Super Dreadnought, was an amazing sight. Weighing in at 80km long, it was one of the biggest ships ever constructed. Captain Ironfoot, a veteran of the War Of Reclamation, where he was forced to have a replacement bionic foot, was a charismatic leader. His fearsome courage inspired those around him, and he was not afraid to put hthe Dominator in danger for the sake of his friends.

"Captain Harkness, glad I could be of assistance" he said, his booming voice filling the bridge "Get out of here, if you can"

"We can't, Eliah, we're out of power" Harkness' voice replied "And something has entered the ship"

"Oh, well that's not good. I reccomend you abandon ship then. The PFS Makatoa will pick your pod up" he said, directing another ship to the Firestorm "In the meantime..." he said, changing to talk to the crew "FULL SPEED AHEAD!" he shouted

The Dominator, despite it's size, quickly picked up speed. It's massive hull was aimed directly at the mothership, and it plowed towards it, it's hundreds of cannons blazing.

Harkness, listening in on the marines from the bridge, tapped his comm-link off to cease the screams of agony coming from the engine bay. He turned to his XO

"Where is the Dominator now?" he asked

"PFS Dominator, estimated time to intersection 30 seconds" the XO told him

--------------------------

PFS Dominator

The Dominator, a Yamato-II Class Super Dreadnought, was an amazing sight. Weighing in at 80km long, it was one of the biggest ships ever constructed. Captain Ironfoot, a veteran of the War Of Reclamation, where he was forced to have a replacement bionic foot, was a charismatic leader. His fearsome courage inspired those around him, and he was not afraid to put hthe Dominator in danger for the sake of his friends.

"Captain Harkness, glad I could be of assistance" he said, his booming voice filling the bridge "Get out of here, if you can"

"We can't, Eliah, we're out of power" Harkness' voice replied "And something has entered the ship"

"Oh, well that's not good. I reccomend you abandon ship then. The PFS Makatoa will pick your pod up" he said, directing another ship to the Firestorm "In the meantime..." he said, changing to talk to the crew "FULL SPEED AHEAD!" he shouted

The Dominator, despite it's size, quickly picked up speed. It's massive hull was aimed directly at the mothership, and it plowed towards it, it's hundreds of cannons blazing.

The pod began a slog through the bowels of the ship, attacking any person in it's way and leaving behind a light green miasma, coating the walls almost instantly in mossy green strings, which pulsated occasionally, all of them in time. They were connected to the second pod in the engine room. More of the mossy nerve strings eminated from the pod, connecting with the ones already on the wall.

The ship impacted with the mothership's hull and exploded, causing a large chunk of flesh to be torn to shreds. The smaller bioships that had been grabbed earlier began to move, filling the gap in the hull.
The mothership's hull took a number of rounds, sending seared flesh, bone and blood off into space, before a shield generator implanted in the thing's mind kicked in. It returned fire afterwards, firing laser volleys back at the dreadnought. It began to slowly turn to face the Dominator, the tiny stingray-shaped creatures once more detaching themselves from the huge craft and flitted towards the enemy, in preparation to fire more pods.

ooc: um.....

Harkness and Zhana had reached the escape pods. They could see the PFS Makatoa approaching. They quickly climbed in and jettisoned the pod. Hundreds of escape pods flew with them, but not all of them made it, caught by the aliens. Their pod, along with a few others, was pulled in by the Destroyer. As the door opened they moved quickly to the window to watch Ironfoot's fate.

Eliah Ironfoot, a hero of the War Of Reclamation, stood upon the bridge of the Dominator. He had seen the tiny creatures, and was ready for them.

"Arm the gravometric mines" he said, turning the great wheel on the bridge to straighten the ship's course

"Mines armed, sir. For the glory of The Premier!" replied the weapons officer

"Indeed. Death And Glory" he replied, removing his hat and placing it on the desk next to him as the Dominator plowed on towards the mothership