Date Point: 3Y 08M 4W 0D 2H AV
Celzi heavy cruiser Emeras
Ship Master Drnkirz was becoming a legend within the Alliance military, and a hero to its many citizens.
Without taking into account his first mission, which was a disaster, he had led his state of the art cruiser -with human-inspired systems such as missiles, deployable mines, and decoys, coupled with the latest cloaking technology available to the Alliance- through dozens of confrontations, with not a single casualty, or even relevant damage to the ship.
What his admirers didn’t know, however, was that he had done absolutely nothing to accomplish any of that.
Captain Lyapunov, the leader of the human consultants that were aboard the ship from day one, was the one who was really calling all the shots.
“Me and my boys are being payed for every mission success, comrade birdie. And the Motherland also receives valuable intelligence with each successful operation.
Your tactics will not bring any success to our endeavors, so from now on I will be deciding the combat strategies.” Informed the human after their first mission.
When they’d started following instructions from the deathworlder, they were suddenly unstoppable. It was truly incredible that they were essentially the same battlegroup, with the same ship and soldiers that had fought on the first mission.
The human didn’t really care for taking any credit, so as far as Ship Master Drnkirz was concerned, it was a pretty sweet deal.
Clashes with the Dominion, pirate organizations, Hunters… They’d all started to fear the name of Emeras, and of his legendary Ship Master.
What the human decided to do, they’d do. It had been an extremely fruitful arrangement that proved its value time and time again.
Besides, it didn’t seem wise to get on this human’s bad side.
That’s the reason why when Captain Lyapunov suggested they should go to a Dominion settlement in the middle of The Ilrayen band, [one week] of travel time at cruise speed, to pickup a new human crewman of all things, Drnkirz didn’t even protest.
It was not as if this was the craziest of the human’s ideas, and they all had been very profitable to him.
It all started to get awkward when the cruiser’s long range sensors detected a Hunter swarm of seven ships, uncloaked, heading straight to their own destination.
“Well. We are going anyway.” Said Maxim with a harsh tone.
“What!? We are talking about a Hunter Swarm! There’s nothing for us there anyway!” exclaimed Drnkirz.
“We are going. No more arguing. Our comrade is there, and he is tough as nails, but he cannot fight them all by himself. We will take care of the Hunters.” Maxim informed, and then was quietly absorbed by his thoughts while the Ship Master continued arguing.
“How long will it take for the Hunter Swarm to reach the settlement?” He interrupted.
“At their current velocity, the swarm will reach the colony in [27 hours]” Stated one of the navigation officers.
“And what about us?” Inquired the Russian.
“We are traveling at cruising speed, and will be arriving in [2 days].” Continued the officer.
“That is not acceptable.” Said Maxim. “How long would it take at maximum speed?”
“The maximum achievable speed for this cruiser is 300 kilolights. It is highly inadvisable to do so, but it can be done. Any more than that will almost certainly destroy the engine. At that speed, we will be arriving to the system in [28 hours].”
“Do it.” ordered Maxim. The helm officers looked at their Ship Master for confirmation, who hesitated for a bit, but finally said, with a resigned voice:
“Maintain current course. Maximum speed.”
Date Point: 3Y 08M 4W 1D 5.7H AV
Celzi heavy cruiser Emeras, orbit of Z22-Trkz-911-blue
The cruiser dropped out of FTL a mere 120 kilometers from the Hunter Swarm, and Captain Lyapunov had called for them to engage the fleet at standard impulse speed. On the bridge, the main screens were displaying an image of the 7 ships, getting bigger every second.
But all their eyes were laying on the biggest of them.
The Hunters weren’t really known for the size of their ships, but this one really stood up. It was even bigger than the Celzi heavy cruiser, with 12 menacing looking plasma cannons on each of its sides.
“Human! Now what!? We can’t get close to that ship, all that plasma weaponry would cook us with one hit!” shouted Drnkirz.
“Yes we can.” Said Maxim. “Set a collision course with the main enemy vessel. Send all our power to the force field generators, and concentrate it on our bow. And I mean all power. Just leave enough for the gravity plating and normal propulsion.”
“What?!?” squeaked the Ship Master.
“We don’t have time for this shit! Just do it!” Ordered Maxim.
“Do what he says.” Said Drnkirz, knowing that it was already too late for anything else.
“All available power was sent to the forcefields protecting the ship’s bow, Ship Master. Every non essential system was disengaged.” Informed engineering.
Maxim was grinning like a psychopath.
“Keep current course and speed, wait for my command!
When I tell you to, accelerate the ship to maximum impulse speed.
Wait for it… Wait for it…
Any second now…
DO IT!
The human looked so menacing and dangerous, that helm officer Bekdek didn’t even consulted his Ship Master to confirm that order.
All remaining power was sent to the main thrusters, and the enormous cruiser launched like a bullet onto the Hunter flagship, cutting it in half like a hot knife through butter.
“You see, birdie? I told you we could get closer to them. Open a general broadcast to the colony on all frequencies. And get ready the missiles.”
Ship Master Drnkirz was still trembling on the floor, his vestigial wings covering his torso, looking at the two pieces of Hunter flagship, adrift and without power.
“Do as he says.” he mumbled.
The shuttle was speeding towards the settlement, trying to get ahead of the second wave of invaders, while Lieutenant Kirichenko was praying for the Hunter coilguns to miss their intended target.
They almost did, but one of the projectiles struck the transport on its side, making a big hole that would have been the end of the little shuttle and its occupants, if the forcefield generators hadn’t withstood the hit.
The shuttle made it relatively safely to the Colony’s flightdeck, and the team of commandos jumped from the airlock hatch, weapons on the ready.
There were 6 of them: Lieutenants Kirichenko and Mironov, and Junior Lieutenants Ogarkov, Dorogief, Mazarev, and Kuznetsov.
There was already a group of 5 Hunters nearby, which the men quickly neutralized.
“Our comrade appears to be in the central common space. We need to get to him before the Hunters do.” Urged Evgeniy.
They carefully transversed the hallways towards the promenade, always on guard and ready for the worst, like they had done many times before during their ship boardings.
There wasn’t much resistance to be found, only a few Deltas that didn’t know what hit them.
At last, the team reached the central square.
“Commander, do you see him?” Asked Evgeniy.
“Not yet. Let’s split and… Wait! There!” Mironov pointed to the other side of the hall, where the floor was covered with what appeared to be a white and magenta substance. There was a human figure right there on the floor. A Hunter group was 40 meters away, closing on him.
“It must be him, let’s move!” Evgeniy Commanded.
They practically flew towards the fallen human, narrowing the distance in a few seconds. But it wasn’t enough, the Hunters were much closer to him.
“Wait! This is no good, we are not going to make it on time!” Said Igor while he unclipped a fragmentation grenade from his belt.
“The gravity level seems to be Dominion standard. If I don’t fuck up, this ought to work.”
He pulled the pin and launched the grenade with great strength. The explosive fruit flew the 200 meters that separated them from the Hunters in what appeared to be a very long time, even though in reality, it all happened in just 5 seconds.
It fell right on top of the Hunters, exploding right away.
“Yes! Excellent, Lieutenant. Let’s go!” Exclaimed Evgeniy.
They arrived next to their comrade, and gently picked him up from the floor.
“Sergei Pavlovich! Can you hear us? Wake up!”
He was in very bad shape.
His face was drenched in blood, his nose broken. His combat gear was covered in shredded Hunter flesh, and the smell was unbearable.
Evgeniy slapped him on the face, and Sergei seemed for a moment to come back to himself.
“Die… You fuckers…” He babbled.
“Sergei Pavlovich! It’s me, Evgeniy Stepanovich! Can you understand me? We need to get out of here!” Exclaimed Mironov.
A hint of light returned to Sergei’s eyes.
“Evgeniy? Thank god. There’s an access ramp behind me, with a narrow passage that leads into a subterranean hall. There are thousands of people down there, with a few armed defenders holding the Hunters off.”
He grabbed his comrade’s arm. “We need to help them!” He demanded, his face full of anguish and guilt.
“Alright! Easy there! We need to take you to a safe spot to lay down. Did you said these people are past a narrow passage?” Evgeniy looked back to Igor. “Kirichenko, are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“Da, Lieutenant. It is a shame that there isn’t one of us inside to shout ‘This is SPARTA!’. We should go in.”
“What!? Not that! I was going to say it is perfect for us. We need to put Sergei out of harm’s way, and that’s an ideal spot to mount a resistance until the skies get cleared. Look, there’s more boarding pods raining down.”
Date Point: 3Y 08M 4W 1D 6.2H AV
Original mine foundation
The suicide squad turned out not to be so suicidal after all. They had sustained heavy casualties, but the Hunters couldn’t pass through the entrance.
Of the original 37 defenders, only 11 were still alive. But as the battle went on, some of the others who’d stayed on the back fought against their instincts, in favor of their sense of community.
They came forward to help with the effort, picking up the weapons that their fallen friends had left behind. Governor Zrkntk was one of them.
There hadn’t been a Hunter incursion in the last [32 minutes], and they all had heard a big explosion shortly after the last one.
Mugyiu, who had luckily survived the onslaught, was sitting on the floor with his kinetic rifle, eyes fixed on the ramp.
He saw movement up ahead, coupled with what sounded like heavy steps on the ramp floor.
“HERE THEY COME AGAIN! Quickly! ready your weapons!!” He ordered his team. He could almost see the forms of the monsters closing in.
They would appear any minute now…
The movement stopped. One of the defenders couldn’t wait any longer, and fired a kinetic blast into the tunnel.
The things inside spoke.
“Don’t shoot! We are Humans!” Claimed a voice from the tunnel.
“Hold your fire! Let them through!” Ordered the grey-furred Gaoian leader.
From the tunnel emerged seven humans, dressed in what appeared to be combat armor, and carrying what appeared to be an impossible weight on each of their backs. In the middle, being almost dragged by two companions and looking like he just had the worst day of his life, was Ser-Hai Pablubish.
“Ser-hai! You are alive!” Exclaimed Mugyiu, getting closer to greet the human.
“Hello, Mugui. I knew you could do it.” Sergei said in a weak but warm voice.
“He is exhausted, and badly hurt.” Informed one of the newly arrived humans.
“Then you should take him out back, to Doctor Treknak. He and his team have medical equipment, I’m sure they can help. Who are you people?” Said the Governor.
“We are friends with Sergei.” Stated the human. “Alexei, Ivan. Take our comrade to this Doctor Treknak, and then come back here as fast as you can.” Commanded Evgeniy. He looked back at the Hunter remains that were decorating the tunnel’s floor, walls, and ceiling. “Sergei helped you with this, didn’t he?” He inquired.
“We did this.” Answered Mugyiu, a hint of pride in his voice.
“Damn. You people sure can fight. Never seen xenos fight like this before. And I mean never, not even close. Well done!” Congratulated them Evgeniy.
“Thanks. And now what?” Asked the Gaoian.
“Now you go rest, like Sergei. We will be taking it from here.” Told him Mironov.
“What!? No way! We can continue fighting!” Complained Mugyiu.
“I know you can, you have already proved that to us. But we are human soldiers, and we have human weapons. If you stay here, you will be reduced to a pulp. Go and rest, you have earned it.”
Understanding appeared in the Gaoian’s eyes, and he stopped arguing with the humans.
“You’ve heard them team, we are to retire. These humans will continue the fight now.”
Some of the 30 exhausted defenders tried to protest, but they quickly gave up and left. They were simply too tired, and knew inside their hearts that they had done something truly extraordinary.
Ivan and Alexei came back from the improvised refugee camp, having left Sergei to the care of the Doctors, and the special purpose military unit started readying their defenses.
They formed a semicircle 20 meters behind the tunnel entrance, each of them holding their rifles ready to fire, and had left all their other weapons on the floor behind them, to have them available at the shortest possible notice.
In case all that did not prove to be sufficient, Lieutenant Mironov had ordered the emplacement of their DShK heavy machine gun 30 meters behind them. Should anything go sideways, they were going to unleash that hell on the Hunters.
They waited for almost half and hour, until they finally heard incoming sounds from the tunnel.
“Be ready.” Urged Mironov.
The noises were ever increasing in volume, until they began to discern a mechanical quality in them, like a sound coming from hundreds of hydraulic vaults.
A glimmer of metal was seen at the entrance, and a moment later, two Hunters appeared side by side, marching towards the soldiers.
They were unlike any Hunter they had seen before. Bigger, clearly heavier, and completely covered in metallic armor.
The six humans were momentarily mesmerized.
“Wow!” Exclaimed Evgeniy. “This is…”
“Madness?” Interrupted Igor, clearly enjoying himself.
“You are a moron.” Replied Evgeniy. “Wait. What are they doing?” Murmured the Lieutenant.
At that moment, two incandescent balls of plasma came flying from the two mechanical Hunters, impacting Igor and Mazarev on the chest, immediately setting them on fire.
The two soldiers only managed to let out a horrible gasp, as if they had been robbed of their life force. Their bodies fell on their knees, lifeless, their skin melted, their flesh red hot, glowing.
The heat was absolutely unbearable.
Two more metal Hunters started emerging behind the first pair, ready to fire their weapons brought straight from hell.
It was Evgeniy the only one who came to his senses just in time.
“DON’T YOU STAND THERE!! FIRE!” He shouted, his voice firm and powerful, but with an unmistakable undernote of sadness, and hate.
They fired their four Kalashnikov rifles at the same time, and the hated intruders were destroyed at once. The soldiers kept firing until the metallic monstrosities exploded, releasing superheated plasma in a terrifying inferno… And then they kept exploding.
The initial big detonation of the four lead Hunters got to the next two incoming Hunters still on the tunnel, blowing up their magnetic plasma emitters, and starting a chain reaction inside the narrow tunnel, igniting the whole invading force in a flash of fiery death.
The whole mine seemed to tremble, and the men feared for a moment that the station would collapse.
It was a spectacular victory, but the four men were not in the mood to celebrate. Not in the least.
Alexei, the youngest of the group, wasn’t handling it very well.
“Motherfuckers… They killed Igor and Ivan… They burned them alive! Look at them!” He lamented.
“Junior Lieutenant Kuznetsov!” Shouted Evgeniy.
“Stay sharp. We all knew what to expect when we signed up. So did Ivan and Igor. They were brave and good men, and all we can do for them now, is avenge their deaths. The only way to do that is going up that ramp. Let’s move out!”
The four men picked up their gear, and went straight into the tunnel.