+- Discovery Gaming Community (https://discoverygc.com/forums)
+-- Forum: Role-Playing (https://discoverygc.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?fid=9)
+--- Forum: Stories and Biographies (https://discoverygc.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?fid=56)
+--- Thread: Beyond (/showthread.php?tid=91100)
Beyond - Thunderer - 12-13-2012
Something was unusual in the deep space of Omicron Theta. A wormhole has suddenly appeared, and then just crashed. However, it wasn't only a wormhole. Something has come out of it. It resembled of a ship, but it was too battered to be functional. In a moment, a pod ejected out of it, leaving the ship to drift away, slowly falling apart. There was a man in the pod, but he wasn't only a man. He wasn't only human. Something alien has been planted into his unworthy, humanly weak mind. Who knows where he's been to?
After days, he was still in a deep sleep, in order to reduce the pod's energy consumption. Who knows what was he dreaming? Maybe he wasn't dreaming? Maybe he was conscious the whole time, unable to move any part of his body, while experiencing the terrible pains of cryo state?
Suddenly, like an unexpected gift from the heavens, it looked like he's saved.
RE: Beyond - Thunderer - 03-07-2013
A few dozen kilometers away, a small Core squadron was performing a hit-and-run over a Corsair fleet. The Core squadron was consisted of two gunboats, half a dozen of bombers and a close amount of fighters, while the Corsairs controlled a Legate class battleship, a cruiser, a gunboat and a few fighters. As planned, the Cretans pulled out some more of their ships from Omicron Gamma, but not before their cruiser fell. Not discouraged by the loss, and encouraged by the incoming reinforcements, the Corsair fleet continued to pursue the retreating Core vessels. As they reached Amarus cloud, they realized it was foolish to deem the Core as a worn up and weaken enemy. At that moment, they would already get the reinforcements, if their location wasn't changing all the time. Now, the Corsairs were caught in a schoolbook example of an ambush. At their right, there were two Core destroyers, while a Mako class battleship was approaching them from their left, all probably new warships, just brought from Omega-56. The captain of the Legate, being experienced, knew that his ship won't win a long range duel against the Mako, so he tried to get as close as possible. When his ship entered the range, those two destroyers, having a still green crew and haven't yet been tested, had approached much closer than they should. Logically, he charged his ship straight into them and destroyed one, while the other one managed to escape lightly damaged, stabbing a light Mortar into the Legate's secondary escape pod group. During the small clash, the Mako has hit the Legate multiple times, but still hit nothing very important. Another one, seemingly late, appeared. Now, everything looked lost. The Legate captain, dropping a tear, stared at the Core fleet, like stunned.
- Orders, capitano?
Asked him one of the officers, with his voice shivering of fear, not only for his life. He was still young and in love, as many of the ship's crew were, and he was about to finish his duty in the Navy, just after this patrol. His love was waiting for him on Crete, not yet married, baring his child with her, still without her fiance's knowledge.
- Orders, capitano? What to do?
He repeated, drawing back the captain's attention. Slowly and calmly, but desperately, the captain responded:
- Pray. Evacuate as many as you can. Pray to Dios for forgiveness.
- S... si, capitano.
The officer replied, unable to accept his destiny.
The second Mako had entered her range at this point and started tiring the Legate's scarred, but thick hull. The evacuation had started and it wasn't before now that the secondary pod catapult was discovered inoperative. That meant that fewer than half of the ship's crew had to burn along with the ship. It is worse than terrible to die in a spaceship. While there is oxygen, you will die of fire, if you're not lucky enough to get blasted to pieces by the explosion. If you happen to survive, depressurization will certainly kill you, if you don't freeze before that. Little gas bubbles would form in your blood, causing terrible pain when bursting from inside, like you have boiling water running trough your veins. Then, if you don't lose consciousness before that, your eyes, as the weakest part of your body, will pop up, letting your brain fly peacefully trough the quiet space, helplessly. Quietly, like nothing so violent happened. Then you would finally find peace, if there is such a thing.
Hundreds of young crewmen had to experience this. Less will survive. Some will be killed before the ship falls, by a selfish and deadly panicked stampede.
The Corsair gunboat which was escorting the fleet had managed to escape to a safe distance. Her crew was watching the silhouettes clashing in the nebulae. Then they saw a huge, violent explosion.
- They showed them, our compadres!
Said a few optimistic crewmen.
- Let's toast to this, compadres! For the bunters' foolishness!
Namely, the gunboat had left the site before the other Mako appeared. Even if it retreated later, these young men, as optimistic as young men are, would still be unaware of the odds. The Corsairs were the most powerful nation after the Houses, they were taught in schools.
The captain, however, was an old space wolf. He wasn't ordered to retreat, but he did. It wasn't cowardice, he could fight a group of well equipped marines alone, with his bear hands. But his men were so young, so green. It would be pointless to lose all those lives for nothing. Nobody even noticed him retreat, the Corsairs were focused on the Core, while the Core went berserk on the Legate.
The captain magnified the image on his screen. He was hopeful when his men rejoiced, but suspicion was annoyingly nibbling him. If he discovered the inevitable truth, it would make all his current fears real. If he didn't, he would be eaten alive by suspicion and curiosity. He magnified the image and, slowly, like fighting a battle between the two ideas in himself, looked at it. Chills came from his stomach to his face, his eyes gazed. Then they dropped down, followed by his bearded head. A crew member had spot his captain's reaction, getting filled with surprise, then woe, and then terrible hate. He had to tell the truth to his comrades, suddenly, but that was the best way he knew in such an affect.
- It is not the Mako!
- What?
- The blast! It's our Legate!
- iMaldito sea!
- I hope they were able to evacuate.
- I saw a Mortar hitting right into the Legate's primary pod catapult.
- I think it was secondary.
- I...
It wasn't easy to talk about their losses.
- I had a friend there. I hope I still do. Whatever it was, half of our compadres will die.
On this, the captain closed his eyes and dropped a tear. He was still leaning onto the control panel. Angrily, he rose and swiftly walked into his chamber. With a never before heard voice, so deep and determined, full of wrath towards war, he entrusted his first officer with command over the ship and ordered him to wait until the Core leaves, and then look for the survivors.
The Core did leave, but there were no survivors to be found. Only panels, rods, wire and all sorts of scrap. And corpses. Lots of charred, frozen and depressurized bodies. And parts of bodies. But no pods. Either the primary evacuation system was also disabled, or the Core picked up everything and took the poor young men as prisoners. They had searched the area thoroughly, but found no pods. Except one. But it wasn't Corsair. It looked more like civilian. What was a civilian doing that deep in space, far from the Houses, and in the middle of a battle? Nobody knew, but they picked up the pod. Four men went to the cargo room, one carrying first aid, one a tray with a tortilla and a glass of tequila, and the last two had plasma rifles.