Sir, I highly recommend you reconsider. There is a 90% chance that this course of action will end up with catastrophic-
”Shut up and launch.”
Very well, sir.
Olaf was still furious that he had been denied a position in initial strike force. That honor had instead been reserved by Commander Mayuki and her knights.
Worse was the fact that they couldn’t even manage on their own, and had gotten pinned down on the surface. Well, time for Olaf to do his thing.
The orbital drop pod launched, and Olaf felt as he was pulled upwards in his restraints, and he felt a tingle below his stomach.
He can see how the exterior of the pod is colored red hot as he enters the atmosphere.
Olaf grins. He’s always wanted to do this.
Inertial dampeners online
All sensation of movement vanish nigh instantaneously, which is soon accompanied by a enormous crash and the groan of displaced metal.
Olaf tries to open the front hatch. It doesn’t budge.
With a roar, he chops his way out with his power axe.
It takes him five chops, and a hard kick, but the hatch is thrown open, and he exits into the battlefield.
Around him is carnage and destruction, not to mention his landing site. As he looks down, he can see the heavy gun of the fortification he had targeted smashed half way beneath the drop pod, and the alien soldiers manning it have been reduced to a fine paste.
He can see three knights, dressed in power armor covered with white robes close on his position.
The front one armed with a two handed sword, and the remaining two wielding guns.
Well, at least one of them was a man of Olaf’s liking. After all, only a true warrior would forsake the advantage of firearms for a close quarters weapon.
“Olaf! Glad to see you drop by.”
Olaf snickers from the warrior’s pun, before realizing that the voice isn’t that of a man.
He recognizes it.
“Commander Mayuki?”
The warrior nods, and touches the side of her helmet, turning the reflective visor transparent.
“Glad to see you know how to make an entrance, Champion. We were pinned down out here.”
Olaf nods slightly, still somewhat uncertain as to how to interpret his previous impression.
Mayuki smiles.
“So, have you planned to stand around all day while there’s killing to be done?”
Olaf grins.
Maybe Sven had chosen a good commander after all.
McCallen stood in the command center of the defensive space station, surrounded by ziptied aliens. The people that had been on the bridge didn’t put up much of a fight after their robots were scrapped, and had surrendered rather easily.
“Peters, what’s the status on the guns?”
Mike Peters, the tech marine deployed in McCallen’s squad looked up from the holographic controls.
“I got the targeting off-line… now. Mission status is green, sir.”
McCallen smiles and activates his radio.
“This is Bulldog, the objective is green. We’re ready for the big guns, over.”
Mission command took only a second to answer.
“Copy that, Bulldog. Hang on tight, we’ll get you out once we sweep the zone.”
Outside the window, McCallen can see the massive subspace portal of a dreadnaught open.
It exits slowly, and he can see the horrified expressions on their captives’ faces as they see the sheer size of the ship.
Even behind the battleship that had been stationed in the distance, it seemed to blot out a large tract of space.
SAS Leonardo had arrived.
Olaf felt the plasma round impact with his chest armor, but he didn’t care.
He kept up the charge, and he could see the eyes of the entrenched aliens glow with desperation.
He was roaring with laughter, which he had made sure that his loudspeakers were playing to the aliens.
Then he was in the thick of it.
Gajun. Even on their hot worlds they were slow.
He grasped one alien in his new arm, while he cleaved two of his victim’s companions in a single sweep of the axe.
The alien seized in his hand struggled valiantly, and even started to bludgeon Olaf with his rifle.
Impressive, but it was useless.
Even enhanced by its’ armor, the xeno was weak.
Olaf squeezed.
pop, pop, pop, squish
He drops the alien to the ground and continues his rampage.
So many xeno, so little time.
The fur cloak that signaled his status as the champion of Fenris was already stained, but Olaf didn’t care.
After all, it was a statement to his power when-
he ducks to the side as a plasma bolt was launched towards his face.
Fucking asshole was interrupting his thoughts!
Olaf charges towards the gunner with a roar.
Time for more blood.
He dives into the enemy trench, where he can see a number of enemy soldiers cowering like the vermin they are.
Real men don’t cower. Real warriors do not flee, or fear their opponents.
Real warriors face their enemies with valor, so that once they die, Valhalla’s gates will be open to them.
Psh, who is he kidding?
These creatures weren’t going to Valhalla. They were vermin, not warriors.
He begins the slaughter, and the trench runs pink with alien blood.
Olaf slows when the only enemy in sight is a single Gajun who is desperately reloading his rifle.
He stops, and watches the creature, that looks up at him with fear.
“Don’t worry. I’ll wait.”
The Gajun seems baffled, and finishes reloading.
He lifts the gun, aiming it towards Olaf.
Olaf simply tears it out of the aliens’ hand.
“After all, you’re not going anywhere, ever again.”
Olaf lets his axe fall.
he looks up, and the sky is streaked with fire.
Drop pods are falling in countless numbers from the ships in orbit.
The defenders are being routed, and Olaf can see Mayuki stand on a large rock, the flag of Gammorrah in one hand, her bloodied sword in the other.
She seems drenched in blood. Not as much as Olaf, but drenched none the less.
Olaf can’t help but think that maybe he had misjudged her.
“Uh, sir! We’re getting a lot of subspace signatures coming in!”
McCallen gets up from his seated position.
“Damn, we’re not waiting for any reinforcements as far as I know…
What’s the progress on the station guns?”
Peters swallows.
“I almost have them online now.”
McCallen places a hand on the techie’s shoulder.
“Double time it, soldier. We might need them.”
Powell didn’t really know how enemy reinforcements could have made it here so soon, but they had.
And there was a ton of them.
The hostile ships that were just exiting subspace were well over twice the task force’s numbers, and from the looks of it, they weren’t all here yet.
“All units, this is mission control. Make a fighting retreat from the gravity well! We’re not taking this fight!”
Powell looked out as all the ships turned their firepower on the newcomers before starting to put their thrusters in reverse.
The alien horde started to take casualties before they could even fire back.
But then the sky lit up with fire.
The sheer mass of alien guns that were firing at the Alliance vessels made what seemed to be a wall of fierce plasma fire, and Powell could see some of the Alliance vessels starting to go down.
Yet the alliance guns were still more efficient at killing, and he could see three, sometimes four, alien vessels go down for each one lost by the task force.
But the aliens just kept coming.
He emptied the missile banks of his frigate in the direction of the alien vessels before leaping out.
What he left behind was an inferno.
“See? I told you that you would pay! Look! The armada is here to make you dead!”
McCallen grew tired of the alien commander’s rambling.
“Jason, shut the prisoner up. Peters, what is the progress on the guns?”
Peters looks at McCallen.
“Um, sir. If we open fire, won’t they shoot back?”
McCallen sighs.
“Probably. But rather die in a blaze of glory than let them have the pleasure of killing me like a dog, or whatever they’re going to do. Don’t you agree?”
Peters nods somberly.
With the retreat of the task force, their possibilities for extraction had become noticeably darker.
“Guns will be online in five, sir.”
Jenkins coughs.
“You know, I might have a way out.”
McCallen looks at Jenkins.
“You know that if we grab one of the escape shuttles, we’ll be shot down before we get anywhere, right?”
Jenkins just laughs.
“Who said anything about a shuttle?”
McCallen simply stares.
“You aren’t talking about-”
Jenkins grins dangerously.
“You bet your ass I am.”
Peters interrupts.
“Sir, guns are online. What are your orders?”
McCallen takes a deep breath.
“Set all systems to fire at the enemy vessels. We’re getting out of here.
Jenkins, I swear to god that if you get me killed with this idea-”
Jenkins just nods.
“I know the stakes, sir.”
McCallen can’t believe he’s saying this.
“alright then.
Let’s jump.”