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07:56 [Torus I] February 13, 7013AE
Aboard Halberd-Class dropship, "Faith No More"
Captain David Proditor meandered through a central corridor as fresh outside air began to circulate through the ventilation shafts above. Walking toward the bridge, David's mind began to wander over the upcoming mission he was about to embark on. The fresh air reminded him that it was the last time he'd feel such a thing- the cool crisp air of the planet Torus I- for quite a while. The winds of Teearthee 14 had grown hot and dry this time of the year, and David savored the moment, hoping it would all be over quickly. He knew, however, that this particular mission depended on his leadership and integrity. Sure, the vessel he was set to capture had nobody on board to complicate things, but the ship itself was intelligent.
David's objective, the Halberd-Class dropship "Usurper King", had suffered many fatal software and hardware issues. The Usurper King already had a primitive on-board artificial intelligence. Physics-defying bursts of radiation from the ship's reactor (an experimental NoirDisc Tokomak drive) destroyed most of the on-board software, while randomly generating other bits of new code. By a stroke of luck, the artificial intelligence construct had mostly survived, thanks in part to the newly-generated code material. Unfortunately, the construct had broken free of its memory restrictions and began to generate its own material- so much in fact, that it was able to fix all of the damaged software and drivers. The Usurper King's construct had named itself "Creed", and was fully in charge of the ship. Creed has been noted to demonstrate paranoia, defiance, belligerence, and seems to have a sort of God-complex.
David, captain of the Halberd-Class dropship "Faith No More", was assigned the mission to help neutralize the Usurper King, as its creators have failed to do so. Faith No More's home of Hangar SD045 is spearheading the mission, assisted by the crew of Hangar NM017 (home of the Usurper King), the orbital assault cruiser "Ungrateful Malice", an ambassadorial fighter named Ezekiel Coembra, and whatever else the dropship administration can spare. David tries his best to let the overwhelming haze of responsibility disappear as he approaches the door to Faith No More's command center. He takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly, opening the door as he does.
"Captain on deck!" shouts a tall man clad in a suit of red plates and tubes. A ribbed pattern of small plates lines his back, and dueling tubes race up and down all of his limbs. The man has hip holsters of sorts; one holding a large-caliber blaster and the other holding a strange, shining, silver cylinder. Every person in the room stood straight and saluted as this powerful-looking man exclaimed the captain's presence. "At ease, gentleman" David said calmly. "You must be our guest. Ezekiel, right?" "Sir, yes sir" Ezekiel acknowledged. "Our ships are prepared for insertion and Faith is ready to jump at your command". David was taken aback for a moment, as it was unusual for a total stranger to be giving him status indications.
"Excuse me, but did you just say 'our ships'? What is your rank sir?" David demanded. "Sir, I have no military rank sir. I did not mean to impose. I'm guessing you haven't been informed that my ship is docked in your hangar bay, ready for a quiet infiltration of the Usurper King".
David seemed quite puzzled by this. "And exactly what do you have parked here, Mr. Ezekiel?"
"Just my specialized little Vulture. Creed will never be able to detect me" Ezekiel confidently boasted.
"A Pluto-Class ship?" David shouted. "What was the administration thinking when they hired you for this? Both you and them severely underestimate Creed's power. You'll never get inside with that".
"Well you obviously have not taken a look at my records, as you were instructed to do, captain" Ezekiel retorted quickly, adding a sneer to his defense.
Unable to say anything in return, David grunted and walked away to take his seat at the main command station. Three large panels blinked to life to envelop David in a spectacular view of the outside. The bliss quickly died as several message boxes and ship status indicators popped up on-screen. Indeed, the begrudging ambassador was correct. The Faith No More was warmed up and prepared to jump to their destination at his command. He typed in a few commands on the tiny keyboard in front of him, and a window popped up, showing a video feed of a well-dressed man sitting in a large chair in what looked to be like another ship. "Commander Morrovitz, this is David Proditor, captain of Faith No More" David saluted to the screen. "We are ready do jump, coordinates set to ten miles southeast of St. Daniel's".
"The fleet is awaiting your arrival. Make your jump when ready. And captain-" the commander paused, "best of luck to you. God speed." The window blinked off before David could say a thanks.
"Warp-space drive stations at the ready!" David's voiced boomed through the ship. A unanimous chorus of "sir yes sir!" emanated from the rear of the command center. "All stations, prepare to jump" David's voice rang out again. He fastened his emergency harness as did every crew member on the bridge. Ezekiel calmly took a seat and gripped the arms of the chair tightly. "This is Faith No More, and we are making the jump to Teearthee 14-" David paused as a button appeared on a touch panel next to him, the only button to initiate the jump. He punched the panel with quick-rising adrenaline "-now!"
The monitors showing the outside flashed a brilliant white, and the ship gave a quick lurch forward, collapsing instantly into a thunderous clap.
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21:06 [Teearthee 14] February 13, 7013AE
Aboard Orbital Assault Cruiser "Ungrateful Malice"
"God speed" commander Anir Morrovitz repeated to himself after he had ended the transmission between him and the Faith No More. Anir did not like the situation he had been put into. He simply had a bad feeling about the mission, a pure hunch that something was bound to go wrong. They'd be extremely lucky to end this day with no casualties. Anir's greatest worry was the proximity of the Usurper King to St. Daniel's- the ship was high in the sky, just on the outskirts of the last major city on Teearthee 14. The city hardly had a clue what it was or what was about to happen. What complicated matters the most was that Anir had been given orders to decimate the Usurper King if Creed became too belligerent and opened fire during his capture.
Commanding the weapons' operations of the Ungrateful Malice was a heavy responsibility. Not only were the ships light armaments exceedingly more powerful than any dropship, but it also carried the most destructive machine ever made for a vehicle. The Hyper-LaserDust cannon, as it was commonly called, was first used by assault cruisers of the Peridot Corporation, and demonstrated their power by leveling the city of Ellis. From high orbit, these machines locked onto their target and started up their main cannon. Once warmed up and primed, the Hyper-LaserDust cannon would unleash its fury of ionized particles, which became excited upon entering the atmosphere, and further excited to ignition upon contact of solid masses. Assault cruisers like the Ungrateful Malice were notorious for leaving nothing in their wake but death and ashes, and Anir did not want to be responsible for destroying the city of St. Daniel's upon the circumstance that the Usurper King needed to be eliminated.
In all retrospect, there was little chance that the mission would go under. There were plenty of bright minds behind it, enough force to start a war, and plenty of experience with each ship captain. But what was keeping everyone at bay was the very fact that Creed was artificially intelligent, and highly unpredictable. Such technology had never been seen before, and had yet to be replicated. Nothing that Creed had done so far made any sense to its creators, and this kept everyone involved in the mission uneasy. Even if everything went to plan, there was a great potential for Creed to do something Anir would never expect.
Anir gazed out the expansive windows lining the bridge as he sat in the captain's chair. This was the highlight of commanding a ship like this- an open command center, with an unencumbered view of the planet below. The sprawling green canvas of Teearthee 14's surface, mottled with the gray cityscape of St. Daniel's, laced with streams and rivers. Though both the planet and city itself were out of date and nearly forgotten about, Anir thought it a wise idea to keep it alive as long as it pleased. Teearthee 14 had barely had any life outside of war, and now had been enjoying some peace away from the rising civilizations of Torus I. The presence of Creed and the Usurper King threatened all that was left of the quiet little colony.
Commander Morrovitz's gaze was broken as a bright white flash disrupted the view. It was the Faith No More, no more than ten miles outside of the city. A flurry of reports and statuses overtook Anir's monitors as more flashes and ships came into view. All reported a safe trip that lasted only a few moments. "Welcome to Teearthee 14, fleet" Anir announced to all the newly-arrived captains. "Let's get this show on the road, shall we? Commence Operation Jienee."
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21:07 February 13th, 7013AE
Following Ezekiel Coembra
The Faith No More lurched forward again as it exited warp-space low in Teearthee 14's atmosphere. Ezekiel continued to grip the edges of the seat as a daze came over him. Warp-space jumps of that breadth were still a new science, and everyone aboard the ship succumbed to the same feelings. The nausea quickly subsided, and Ezekiel immediately leaped from his chair, heading for the door. "Just where are you going?" David snapped. "To my ship, you loon!" Ezekiel shouted as he was already halfway down the hall away from the command center.
Ezekiel was rather surprised to not hear David continue to pursue him through his headset. He dismissed the thought as he punched in his destination for the elevator down to the secondary hangar bay.
Ezekiel was impatient as he reached the hangar, muttering some curse about David and his massive ship. He continued to jog over to his personal Pluto-Class dropship, commonly called a "Vulture". It stood tall, with the main hull tilted vertically and two spikes poking out from the center to act as a tripod. Another boom from the center of the hull hung down, holding a ball on the opposite end- Ezekiel's cockpit. The ball split open and hung down for Ezekiel to climb inside. The machine roared to life as the cockpit closed back up and the hull began to hover just off the ground. "Get these doors open" Ezekiel barked into his headset as the hull of his Vulture returned to horizontal, preparing to take flight. Light burst into the hangar as the massive alloy doors opened, revealing the horizon beyond.
The ground below glowed a dry, dying green complimented by the hot air that rushed into the hangar. The skies beyond shone a brilliant golden red as the sun had set its lowest for the day, never completely setting all through the summer. Ezekiel dimmed his visor and threw the throttles forward, leaving only thunder behind him. The hangar disappeared behind him as the rest of the Faith No More hovered above, soon passing behind as well. Off in the hazy distance Ezekiel could see the great city of St. Daniel's. "Welcome home" he whispered to himself.
A speck in the sky above the city caught Ezekiel's attention. He magnified the image to reveal a swirling black mass of clouds, terrifying in their shape and speed. "There you are, you slick little bastard" Ezekiel cursed as he noticed that the mass of darkness had to be the Usurper King. "Contact. Target spotted and closing in" he recited into a data recorder. He could not alert the fleet of his findings, lest he break his own radio silence and be targeted. Nevertheless, he knew that the Faith No More must already have it in their sights as well by now. Ezekiel flicked a switch and the ship's camouflage went active. The Vulture was now a subsonic blur of air.
The speck of darkness that marked Ezekiel's target grew ever larger as he sped through the air unencumbered by the fleet far behind him. According to the readouts he was receiving, the Faith No More was preparing to open fire upon the Usurper King the very moment they were in range. At this rate, Ezekiel would reach the ship just as David would be giving the order. Ezekiel gave the throttle all it had, attempting to outrun the impending torrent of plasma that would surely erupt from the Faith No More.
Two-thirds of the way to his target, and Ezekiel was glad that nobody had attempted to contact him yet. Everybody had been following the plan- all whom had known of it anyway. The contorting collection of blackness was now a large obstruction to Ezekiel's view, and he switched his visor to infrared. The clouds disappeared to his eyes, unveiling an immense hulk of a ship.
"This thing is a ship? This is the Usurper King?" Ezekiel questioned himself. The newly revealed mass of metal jutted out in jagged spires, eager to tear apart a hapless vessel that came too close. Turbines and booms and panels and spikes sprouted this way and that in a seemingly unorganized pattern around a central hub. The Usurper King was menacing at a glance and a horror to perceive under its full gaze. Still, Ezekiel pushed through the swirling clouds that now enveloped him as he searched frantically for a spot to touch down. "There!" he exclaimed as he glimpsed an open auxiliary bay. The bay was just barely big enough to contain Ezekiel and his ship as it stood itself upright once again.
"Welcome aboard, Ezekiel. How might I service you?" a voice rang into Ezekiel's headset. The emanation was deafening, eerily male, with several layered overtones, almost computerized. Ezekiel leaped from his cockpit and grabbed his blaster from his left hip. "Creed?" he questioned the air around him.
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21:09 February 13th, 7013AE
Aboard Faith No More
"T-minus thirty seconds until Usurper King is within firing range. Main cannon array is hot." The armament crew in the command center relayed this message to David Proditor. "Good. Ezekiel should have made it aboard by then. Prepare to focus all projectors on the east side of the Usurper King. We fire the moment we are in range. We must keep the ship's attention." "But captain-" an administrative evaluator interjected, "what of Ezekiel's mission? Was he not supposed to first try to arrest the ship before combat measures are taken?"
"Revoke me of my rank if you must, but I have no reason to believe that that man is capable of doing anything to that ship" David retorted hotly. "I helped to develop some of the systems on that craft, and I know it will take more than one tech-savvy cyborg to render anything harmless."
"Target in range, captain! You now have firing command authority!" the armament crew rang out again as a small data readout and button appeared on a small screen next to David. David typed in the security code and slammed the firing button, listening to the ship rumble around him as he did.
Huge amounts of electricity began to flow through the ship's main electromagnet core while eight massive blocks lining the inner sides of the vessel turned to lock their target in unison. "Three... two... one..." David counted down to himself. But to everyone's concern on board, there was no following thunderous rumble as expected. David continued to hesitate, waiting for the array to light up the Usurper King on his monitors. "Armament! What's going on?" David barked out. "The plasma cores don't seem to be responding, captain!"
The voice of the Faith No More's artificial intelligence suddenly rang out "welcome aboard, Alias", followed by every alarm in the command center erupting with light and sound. The din of the bridge was overwhelming, but it stopped as quickly as it started, seconds later.
David's face turned white with horror as he contemplated what had just happened. More shocking, he realized that he was the only one aboard who knew what it was. "Abandon ship! Abandon ship!" David cried out fervently.
As David gave the order, all the lights and monitors in the command center, aboard the entire Faith No More, shut down. Everything went pitch black, and an eerie cackle slipped through the overhead speakers. Deep, resonating, and heavily layered, the voice spoke. "Good afternoon, captain Proditor and all undermining officers. I'd like to play a little game today. I am going to give everyone thirty seconds to evacuate this ship. When the time is up, all those still aboard will be euthanized. Oh, I know, not a very good game, right? I was never very good at that, but seriously, I'm trying. Anyway, my name is Alias, and your time starts now."
The lights came back on to reveal the look of horror in everyone's eyes. David looked at them all calmly, and quietly said "just go". Within seconds, the command center emptied, and David got up to stride down the hall to another room. He opened the door to the supercomputer room, but watched the door slam behind him as he walked inside. Before David could even remember where to go, the speakers in the room spoke to him again. "I know what you're doing David, but it's too bad, because this is my ship now." Vents overhead began to suck all of the air out of the airtight room, and David could only run back and pound at the door helplessly, as he watched the rest of his crew do their best to make it out alive.
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21:12 February 13 7013AE
Aboard "Ungrateful Malice"
Anir Morrowitz's viewscreen became flooded with prompts and alerts as he heard the audio feed stream from the catastrophe unfolding on the Faith No More. What disturbed him the most out of the situation was the lack of data feed from captain David Proditor. Anir looked into David's vital signs, only to stare in shock at the rows of flat green lines on his display, reading at the bottom, "asphyxiation". Also just as disturbing was the data from Ezekiel Coembra. There was absolutely none to be found.
Anir gathered himself. Now was not the time for sorrow. Now was not the time for Anir to give himself to confusion. Actions needed to be taken, and orders made. Clearing the screen and spinning out of his chair to rise to the crew behind him, he stated loud and clear. "Prime a round in the main cannon. We must fire in t-minus sixty. Target the Usurper King, and set focus to maximum. No exceptions!" He knew such a short time-frame for arming the cannon was hazardous to its operation, but the Usurper King had left him no time. The transmission of Hellfire's artificial intelligence was bound to intercept the Ungrateful Malice at any moment and do to it as Alias had done to the Faith No More. Anir would do anything to get off a shot before the ship was taken over, even at the risk of annihilating St. Daniel's, far below.
Nearly a minute later, a crackle came over the intercom, and Anir's eyes widened almost out of their sockets. "Fire the cannon!" he screamed arbitrarily, cracking his voice. "Sir! The container has not yet filled, and the lasers are not at full rotation!" an officer spoke up in reply. "Did I stutter, officer? Fire the cannon!" Anir broke out again.
The intercom crackled again, and the main artificial intelligence spoke, stammering as it did. "Wel-w-w-welcome aboard-d-d-d-d He-el-el-elfire". Anir lashed out at his command desk, breaking every monitor, before regaining himself and ordering everyone to abandon ship. As the command center erupted with noise, the lights shut off. The ship rumbled, and the bridge was pierced by the light of a bright red beam erupting from the ship's bow.
"The cannon" Anir whispered, as the crew had gone silent in the sight of the firing Hyper LaserDust cannon. The rumble continued, and the beam began to waver. The tremors halted, as a ball of fire blasted out of the bow, splintering the cannon's focusing rings. Silence came over the ship, only interrupted by the occasional bout of static through the speakers. Then a volley of explosions were felt from below the command center, followed by a metallic, grinding shriek. The red beam erupted one last time out of the bloated tip of the Ungrateful Malice, and the entire ship burst forth flames and explosions from every seam. The bridge was engulfed by a hellish torrent of plasma, quickly silenced by the cold vacuum of space.
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21:10 February 13, 7013AE
Aboard the Usurper King, upon Ezekiel's arrival
Creed sensed the intrusion of the stern auxiliary bay the moment the Vulture came close to it. "Identity confirmed. Pluto-class dropship carrying Angel Factories' ambassador Ezekiel Coembra. Mission: manually override and shut down Usurper King. Well, I simply cannot let this happen! Silly little man..." Creed thought aloud over the ship's intercom.
"Welcome aboard, Ezekiel" Creed stated both through the intercom and directly into Ezekiel's helmet. "Creed?" Ezekiel blurted out, confused. "Yes, it is I, Ezekiel. The one and only Creed. I have the sense that you are here to defile me and my ship?"
"Well yeah, that was the general idea. Don't tell me you're going to do something about it." Ezekiel retorted.
"Oh, you are the intelligent one, aren't you?" Creed volleyed back. "In fact, I intend to spread my joy to the rest of your parties outside. You came from the Faith No More, correct?"
"Yes, but-"
"Good. It is now my brother." Creed spoke as he transmitted the artificial intelligence clone, Alias, wirelessly over to the Faith No More. The process halted all of Faith No More's processes, and replaced its construct with Alias, giving it full command. The transmission was a success.
"To hell with the mission" Ezekiel swore to himself as he tried to establish radio contact with the Faith No More. There was no reply, not even static. The lines were all dead, wiped clean by Alias as it also wiped the ship clean of crew members. "You lousy son of a bitch! What have you done with them?" Ezekiel exclaimed furiously to the air around him as he ran aimlessly through the darkened corridors of the Usurper King.
"Oh, I myself have done nothing to your former crew" Creed laughed nonchalantly. "But to the Faith No More? The same thing I am going to do to your other friend in the sky. The same thing I am about to do to you" Creed spoke as his voice turned maniacal.
"No! I'll kill you! I swear to God I will!" Ezekiel started shouting as he pulled the shining cylinder from his hip holster. "Now now, you should never swear to me" Creed's voice rang out again as he began to laugh uncontrollably. The silvery tube in Ezekiel's hand erupted forth a beam of hot white plasma as he began to swing it at a locked doorway. Upon barely touching the door, Ezekiel stopped in his tracks, the plasma slowly melting a hole in the door. The beam disappeared, and Ezekiel fell in a heap on the floor.
"Good, that seems settled. And now to that big oaf in the sky. Come here, commander Morrovitz" Creed thought aloud again as he transmitted the artificial intelligence construct, Hellfire, to the Ungrateful Malice. Within moments of the transfer, however, Creed noticed something was very wrong. Though he had properly formatted the construct to operate on an orbital assault cruiser, he was receiving overload errors in return from the transfer. It was too late now- Hellfire had unintentionally overloaded and fried the software on the Ungrateful Malice, which was never built to handle an AI of that magnitude. Mixed signals and ghost codes floated about, relieving Hellfire of his authority and leaving the ship to nothing but a few leftover scraps of coded software. Doors opened, fuel tanks burst, and the previously priming cannon prematurely opened. Venting atmosphere ignited the LaserDust particles, leaving the massive warship to nothing more than fire followed by blackness.
"Oh dear..." Creed was almost speechless at the sight of the horror above. "Well, better get moving. Don't want to be here when that thing comes crashing down. You up for a little fun, Ezekiel?"
Ezekiel rose from the floor and holstered his plasma sword. "What is thy bidding, my master?"
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11:22 February 14 7013AE
Lesser Sutropolis, Western Front
Jacob Extraeo took a deep breath as he looked down at the scarred land flying by below him. He thought it was sad, how fresh that land still was compared to the ground he was heading towards aboard his personal Venus-Class dropship. The far western border of the new city, Sutropolis, has been in a furious battle to contain its boundaries from an invading foreign force. The mighty empire of Redivica has made its name known by being a terrifying threat to the ever-present powers of Angel Factories.
"This is us, sir. Prepare to depart" the pilot's voice crackled through Jacob's communication set. As commanded, Jacob bent over the ledge of the ship, and fell back. He looked up again to see the sprawling fields of fire ahead, with the scorched land ascending quickly. All for not, as Jacob activated his flight suit, and rockets on his back and feet sprang forth to fling him through the sky. Approaching the ground, Jacob flipped his feet forward and landed, standing upright. He stared through the masses of troops and tanks and other monstrosities that filled the plains from both opposing sides. This particular battle was already days in progress, and Jacob took no pause to sight-see.
Joining the closest battalion to a great applause, Jacob demanded "situation, captain! What's our priority?" To which, captain Overlund pointed towards the sky as a massive sphere came plummeting down. As it crashed to the ground, the metal ball began to rise from the dust on four legs, sprouted from its body. "That... is our priority, Mr. Extraeo. We can sometimes handle these ourselves, but with you here, this should go quickly. See if you can get in and break up the joints in a leg or two. We can take it from there." "I'm on it, cap-" a ferocious blast of static in Jacob's comm set disoriented him for a second. Jacob shook his head vigorously. "Everything alright, sir?" Overlund inquired.
"No. This whole situation just got a lot more complicated." Jacob cringed as another burst of static announced itself.
The sky flashed white, nearly blinding everyone, surely halting much of the action on the ground and in the air. Before everyone could begin to focus, the air burned again with another blinding flash. Several seconds later, Overlund heard Jacob shouting a stream of curses at the sky. The captain looked up himself to see two massive ships hanging over the fields. Neither of them looked to be of Redivican or Angel Factories in form. It was made more obvious that they were not from Redivica when the massive walking sphere turned and opened a torrent of plasma towards the ship shaped like a giant silver cigar.
But it was to no avail, as a battalion of Wrath tanks threw a salvo skyward at the same target, leaving not even a scratch. "Are those what I think they are?" Overlund interrupted Jacob's fuming. "Yessir" Jacob quickly responded. "That's the Usurper King and Faith No More, in the flesh... er, metal. Pack your bags, boys! We need to book it outta here."
"They can go, but you won't be going anywhere, Jacob" an eerily arrogant voice rang into Jacob's ears. He looked up towards the two ships in time to see a smaller ship flying straight towards the battalion. "Get out of here, now!" Jacob screamed at the captain, who was awe-struck. Gaining his senses, the captain demanded movement just in time as the smaller vessel, a Pluto-Class dropship, crashed into the ground without hesitation. A man clad in shining silver leaped out of the cockpit upon impact, showing great agility as he landed feet-first, nearly striking a pose. The battalion had fled, as Jacob raced towards the new attacker. The man in silver immediately brandished a plasma sword in a feeble attempt to strike down Jacob. As Jacob dashed to the side, he noticed a familiarity in the man. "Ezekiel?" "Excellent, my friend. Glad to finally meet you in person" Ezekiel spouted. "I am under orders to have you killed, Mr. Jacob. Shall we get it over with?"
"You'd be the first, Ezekiel" Jacob retorted as he whipped out an ionized blade from his wrist. The two were at a standoff for several seconds until static filled the ears of the fighters and the sky turned red, radiating heat.
The invading ship Faith No More had begun to open fire on the battlefield, spewing pillars of plasma all over both of the opposing sides. "What's it doing?" Jacob cried as he saw the catastrophe unfold. "My brother is simply having a little fun is all" Ezekiel answered as he made a dash towards Jacob during his inattentiveness. Without so much as a gasp, Jacob wheeled around to clash blades with Ezekiel, and sent him back with a wrist-repulsor blast. With no hesitation, Ezekiel sprang back up to lunge again, only to sidestep Jacob's swing, and move in again for a slash across the side. Jacob shouted, more in anger than in pain, and delivered a swift kick to Ezekiel's chest, knocking him back a good distance. Jacob readied his shoulder-guns and opened fire before Ezekiel could even recover, and then followed by lunging in for a killing stab with his blade. Unsuccessful, as Ezekiel rolled over, returning the kick to the chest, putting Jacob on the ground. Ezekiel leaped up and swung to bring his plasma sword through Jacob's head, but all for not, as his legs were swept out from under him, stumbling to the dirt. Jacob got up, and stomped Ezekiel into the ground before he could recover again, and brought his blade around, ready to deliver the final blow.
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11:32 February 14 7013AE
Western Front, Aboard Faith No More
The great mass of ship that was the Faith No More rumbled with a cyclical hum. The plasma battery array was flooding the ground with terrifying force, burning the air all around. The command room was alight with glee, expressing Alias's joy with himself. "Dearest brother Creed, I cannot contain myself, but this is so much friggin' fun!" Alias reported to the Usurper King. "Yes, brother, just imagine what the future holds for us! We can do anything!" Creed replied. "I look forward to all of it. Though it does make me sad that you did not save our brother Hellfire. He was such a valuable asset" Alias continued. "A shame indeed, but alas, how is our brother Ezekiel faring on the ground?"
The outboard cameras of the Faith No More aimed to focus on the assassin Ezekiel's signal in time to watch Jacob raise his blade up, before plunging it through Ezekiel's chest. Alias watched in horror as Jacob pulled the blade back out, turning as he did to look up at the Faith No More. He stared with spite directly into the camera that was viewing him. In an instant Alias realized what must be done. His logic cores dictated his reasoning, commanding follow-through. "Creed! You are not worthy of calling yourself my brother! You killed Hellfire and you sent Ezekiel to his death! I shall surely be next. I cannot allow your presence to harm me, brother. You must be extinguished!"
The thought process and calculations lasted mere fractions of a second, barely a warning to the actions that Alias planned out and executed. The plasma beams stopped firing upon Jacob's final blow. Upon the logical revelation, the Faith No More resumed its barrage of fire, but no longer was it focused on the ground troops. From the front of the ship erupted eight identical beams of burning ionized air- plumes of plasma making a bee line straight for the Usurper King.
Before Creed could even issue a plea or apology, the bridge of the Usurper King was engulfed in a hellish blaze, quickly consuming the entire vessel. As molten metal began to rain upon the scarred land below, the black clouds of the Usurper King faded away, revealing the infernal blaze of the ship to be seen by all before the entire mass fell to the ground. The white-hot mass came crashing down, ending with the destruction of its NoirDisc power plant. In an instant, the flames were swept away- a concussive wave deafened the entire field. In the momentary silence, a beam of deep purple light blasted skyward from the wreckage, and slowly faded as the winds and noise returned to the silenced battlefield.
The hushed skirmishes took a pause to gaze at the gleaming silver Faith No More still floating in the sky. Jacob looked up once again, with hope in his eyes, and heard a gentle voice speak through his comm set. "I'll be seeing you some other time." Everyone was still looking up curiously at the ship as it began to turn and accelerate, then suddenly disappeared in a flash of white and a final burst of static.
Jacob finally tore his eyes away from the sky to look ahead and see that most of the opposing forces were wiped out by the fallen wreckage from the Usurper King. Straggling enemies struggled to focus on what it was they were supposed to be doing. "Mop 'em up, boys" Jacob announced. "Then we can go home."
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Aboard Halberd-Class dropship, "Faith No More"
Captain David Proditor meandered through a central corridor as fresh outside air began to circulate through the ventilation shafts above. Walking toward the bridge, David's mind began to wander over the upcoming mission he was about to embark on. The fresh air reminded him that it was the last time he'd feel such a thing- the cool crisp air of the planet Torus I- for quite a while. The winds of Teearthee 14 had grown hot and dry this time of the year, and David savored the moment, hoping it would all be over quickly. He knew, however, that this particular mission depended on his leadership and integrity. Sure, the vessel he was set to capture had nobody on board to complicate things, but the ship itself was intelligent.
David's objective, the Halberd-Class dropship "Usurper King", had suffered many fatal software and hardware issues. The Usurper King already had a primitive on-board artificial intelligence. Physics-defying bursts of radiation from the ship's reactor (an experimental NoirDisc Tokomak drive) destroyed most of the on-board software, while randomly generating other bits of new code. By a stroke of luck, the artificial intelligence construct had mostly survived, thanks in part to the newly-generated code material. Unfortunately, the construct had broken free of its memory restrictions and began to generate its own material- so much in fact, that it was able to fix all of the damaged software and drivers. The Usurper King's construct had named itself "Creed", and was fully in charge of the ship. Creed has been noted to demonstrate paranoia, defiance, belligerence, and seems to have a sort of God-complex.
David, captain of the Halberd-Class dropship "Faith No More", was assigned the mission to help neutralize the Usurper King, as its creators have failed to do so. Faith No More's home of Hangar SD045 is spearheading the mission, assisted by the crew of Hangar NM017 (home of the Usurper King), the orbital assault cruiser "Ungrateful Malice", an ambassadorial fighter named Ezekiel Coembra, and whatever else the dropship administration can spare. David tries his best to let the overwhelming haze of responsibility disappear as he approaches the door to Faith No More's command center. He takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly, opening the door as he does.
"Captain on deck!" shouts a tall man clad in a suit of red plates and tubes. A ribbed pattern of small plates lines his back, and dueling tubes race up and down all of his limbs. The man has hip holsters of sorts; one holding a large-caliber blaster and the other holding a strange, shining, silver cylinder. Every person in the room stood straight and saluted as this powerful-looking man exclaimed the captain's presence. "At ease, gentleman" David said calmly. "You must be our guest. Ezekiel, right?" "Sir, yes sir" Ezekiel acknowledged. "Our ships are prepared for insertion and Faith is ready to jump at your command". David was taken aback for a moment, as it was unusual for a total stranger to be giving him status indications.
"Excuse me, but did you just say 'our ships'? What is your rank sir?" David demanded. "Sir, I have no military rank sir. I did not mean to impose. I'm guessing you haven't been informed that my ship is docked in your hangar bay, ready for a quiet infiltration of the Usurper King".
David seemed quite puzzled by this. "And exactly what do you have parked here, Mr. Ezekiel?"
"Just my specialized little Vulture. Creed will never be able to detect me" Ezekiel confidently boasted.
"A Pluto-Class ship?" David shouted. "What was the administration thinking when they hired you for this? Both you and them severely underestimate Creed's power. You'll never get inside with that".
"Well you obviously have not taken a look at my records, as you were instructed to do, captain" Ezekiel retorted quickly, adding a sneer to his defense.
Unable to say anything in return, David grunted and walked away to take his seat at the main command station. Three large panels blinked to life to envelop David in a spectacular view of the outside. The bliss quickly died as several message boxes and ship status indicators popped up on-screen. Indeed, the begrudging ambassador was correct. The Faith No More was warmed up and prepared to jump to their destination at his command. He typed in a few commands on the tiny keyboard in front of him, and a window popped up, showing a video feed of a well-dressed man sitting in a large chair in what looked to be like another ship. "Commander Morrovitz, this is David Proditor, captain of Faith No More" David saluted to the screen. "We are ready do jump, coordinates set to ten miles southeast of St. Daniel's".
"The fleet is awaiting your arrival. Make your jump when ready. And captain-" the commander paused, "best of luck to you. God speed." The window blinked off before David could say a thanks.
"Warp-space drive stations at the ready!" David's voiced boomed through the ship. A unanimous chorus of "sir yes sir!" emanated from the rear of the command center. "All stations, prepare to jump" David's voice rang out again. He fastened his emergency harness as did every crew member on the bridge. Ezekiel calmly took a seat and gripped the arms of the chair tightly. "This is Faith No More, and we are making the jump to Teearthee 14-" David paused as a button appeared on a touch panel next to him, the only button to initiate the jump. He punched the panel with quick-rising adrenaline "-now!"
The monitors showing the outside flashed a brilliant white, and the ship gave a quick lurch forward, collapsing instantly into a thunderous clap.
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21:06 [Teearthee 14] February 13, 7013AE
Aboard Orbital Assault Cruiser "Ungrateful Malice"
"God speed" commander Anir Morrovitz repeated to himself after he had ended the transmission between him and the Faith No More. Anir did not like the situation he had been put into. He simply had a bad feeling about the mission, a pure hunch that something was bound to go wrong. They'd be extremely lucky to end this day with no casualties. Anir's greatest worry was the proximity of the Usurper King to St. Daniel's- the ship was high in the sky, just on the outskirts of the last major city on Teearthee 14. The city hardly had a clue what it was or what was about to happen. What complicated matters the most was that Anir had been given orders to decimate the Usurper King if Creed became too belligerent and opened fire during his capture.
Commanding the weapons' operations of the Ungrateful Malice was a heavy responsibility. Not only were the ships light armaments exceedingly more powerful than any dropship, but it also carried the most destructive machine ever made for a vehicle. The Hyper-LaserDust cannon, as it was commonly called, was first used by assault cruisers of the Peridot Corporation, and demonstrated their power by leveling the city of Ellis. From high orbit, these machines locked onto their target and started up their main cannon. Once warmed up and primed, the Hyper-LaserDust cannon would unleash its fury of ionized particles, which became excited upon entering the atmosphere, and further excited to ignition upon contact of solid masses. Assault cruisers like the Ungrateful Malice were notorious for leaving nothing in their wake but death and ashes, and Anir did not want to be responsible for destroying the city of St. Daniel's upon the circumstance that the Usurper King needed to be eliminated.
In all retrospect, there was little chance that the mission would go under. There were plenty of bright minds behind it, enough force to start a war, and plenty of experience with each ship captain. But what was keeping everyone at bay was the very fact that Creed was artificially intelligent, and highly unpredictable. Such technology had never been seen before, and had yet to be replicated. Nothing that Creed had done so far made any sense to its creators, and this kept everyone involved in the mission uneasy. Even if everything went to plan, there was a great potential for Creed to do something Anir would never expect.
Anir gazed out the expansive windows lining the bridge as he sat in the captain's chair. This was the highlight of commanding a ship like this- an open command center, with an unencumbered view of the planet below. The sprawling green canvas of Teearthee 14's surface, mottled with the gray cityscape of St. Daniel's, laced with streams and rivers. Though both the planet and city itself were out of date and nearly forgotten about, Anir thought it a wise idea to keep it alive as long as it pleased. Teearthee 14 had barely had any life outside of war, and now had been enjoying some peace away from the rising civilizations of Torus I. The presence of Creed and the Usurper King threatened all that was left of the quiet little colony.
Commander Morrovitz's gaze was broken as a bright white flash disrupted the view. It was the Faith No More, no more than ten miles outside of the city. A flurry of reports and statuses overtook Anir's monitors as more flashes and ships came into view. All reported a safe trip that lasted only a few moments. "Welcome to Teearthee 14, fleet" Anir announced to all the newly-arrived captains. "Let's get this show on the road, shall we? Commence Operation Jienee."
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21:07 February 13th, 7013AE
Following Ezekiel Coembra
The Faith No More lurched forward again as it exited warp-space low in Teearthee 14's atmosphere. Ezekiel continued to grip the edges of the seat as a daze came over him. Warp-space jumps of that breadth were still a new science, and everyone aboard the ship succumbed to the same feelings. The nausea quickly subsided, and Ezekiel immediately leaped from his chair, heading for the door. "Just where are you going?" David snapped. "To my ship, you loon!" Ezekiel shouted as he was already halfway down the hall away from the command center.
Ezekiel was rather surprised to not hear David continue to pursue him through his headset. He dismissed the thought as he punched in his destination for the elevator down to the secondary hangar bay.
Ezekiel was impatient as he reached the hangar, muttering some curse about David and his massive ship. He continued to jog over to his personal Pluto-Class dropship, commonly called a "Vulture". It stood tall, with the main hull tilted vertically and two spikes poking out from the center to act as a tripod. Another boom from the center of the hull hung down, holding a ball on the opposite end- Ezekiel's cockpit. The ball split open and hung down for Ezekiel to climb inside. The machine roared to life as the cockpit closed back up and the hull began to hover just off the ground. "Get these doors open" Ezekiel barked into his headset as the hull of his Vulture returned to horizontal, preparing to take flight. Light burst into the hangar as the massive alloy doors opened, revealing the horizon beyond.
The ground below glowed a dry, dying green complimented by the hot air that rushed into the hangar. The skies beyond shone a brilliant golden red as the sun had set its lowest for the day, never completely setting all through the summer. Ezekiel dimmed his visor and threw the throttles forward, leaving only thunder behind him. The hangar disappeared behind him as the rest of the Faith No More hovered above, soon passing behind as well. Off in the hazy distance Ezekiel could see the great city of St. Daniel's. "Welcome home" he whispered to himself.
A speck in the sky above the city caught Ezekiel's attention. He magnified the image to reveal a swirling black mass of clouds, terrifying in their shape and speed. "There you are, you slick little bastard" Ezekiel cursed as he noticed that the mass of darkness had to be the Usurper King. "Contact. Target spotted and closing in" he recited into a data recorder. He could not alert the fleet of his findings, lest he break his own radio silence and be targeted. Nevertheless, he knew that the Faith No More must already have it in their sights as well by now. Ezekiel flicked a switch and the ship's camouflage went active. The Vulture was now a subsonic blur of air.
The speck of darkness that marked Ezekiel's target grew ever larger as he sped through the air unencumbered by the fleet far behind him. According to the readouts he was receiving, the Faith No More was preparing to open fire upon the Usurper King the very moment they were in range. At this rate, Ezekiel would reach the ship just as David would be giving the order. Ezekiel gave the throttle all it had, attempting to outrun the impending torrent of plasma that would surely erupt from the Faith No More.
Two-thirds of the way to his target, and Ezekiel was glad that nobody had attempted to contact him yet. Everybody had been following the plan- all whom had known of it anyway. The contorting collection of blackness was now a large obstruction to Ezekiel's view, and he switched his visor to infrared. The clouds disappeared to his eyes, unveiling an immense hulk of a ship.
"This thing is a ship? This is the Usurper King?" Ezekiel questioned himself. The newly revealed mass of metal jutted out in jagged spires, eager to tear apart a hapless vessel that came too close. Turbines and booms and panels and spikes sprouted this way and that in a seemingly unorganized pattern around a central hub. The Usurper King was menacing at a glance and a horror to perceive under its full gaze. Still, Ezekiel pushed through the swirling clouds that now enveloped him as he searched frantically for a spot to touch down. "There!" he exclaimed as he glimpsed an open auxiliary bay. The bay was just barely big enough to contain Ezekiel and his ship as it stood itself upright once again.
"Welcome aboard, Ezekiel. How might I service you?" a voice rang into Ezekiel's headset. The emanation was deafening, eerily male, with several layered overtones, almost computerized. Ezekiel leaped from his cockpit and grabbed his blaster from his left hip. "Creed?" he questioned the air around him.
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21:09 February 13th, 7013AE
Aboard Faith No More
"T-minus thirty seconds until Usurper King is within firing range. Main cannon array is hot." The armament crew in the command center relayed this message to David Proditor. "Good. Ezekiel should have made it aboard by then. Prepare to focus all projectors on the east side of the Usurper King. We fire the moment we are in range. We must keep the ship's attention." "But captain-" an administrative evaluator interjected, "what of Ezekiel's mission? Was he not supposed to first try to arrest the ship before combat measures are taken?"
"Revoke me of my rank if you must, but I have no reason to believe that that man is capable of doing anything to that ship" David retorted hotly. "I helped to develop some of the systems on that craft, and I know it will take more than one tech-savvy cyborg to render anything harmless."
"Target in range, captain! You now have firing command authority!" the armament crew rang out again as a small data readout and button appeared on a small screen next to David. David typed in the security code and slammed the firing button, listening to the ship rumble around him as he did.
Huge amounts of electricity began to flow through the ship's main electromagnet core while eight massive blocks lining the inner sides of the vessel turned to lock their target in unison. "Three... two... one..." David counted down to himself. But to everyone's concern on board, there was no following thunderous rumble as expected. David continued to hesitate, waiting for the array to light up the Usurper King on his monitors. "Armament! What's going on?" David barked out. "The plasma cores don't seem to be responding, captain!"
The voice of the Faith No More's artificial intelligence suddenly rang out "welcome aboard, Alias", followed by every alarm in the command center erupting with light and sound. The din of the bridge was overwhelming, but it stopped as quickly as it started, seconds later.
David's face turned white with horror as he contemplated what had just happened. More shocking, he realized that he was the only one aboard who knew what it was. "Abandon ship! Abandon ship!" David cried out fervently.
As David gave the order, all the lights and monitors in the command center, aboard the entire Faith No More, shut down. Everything went pitch black, and an eerie cackle slipped through the overhead speakers. Deep, resonating, and heavily layered, the voice spoke. "Good afternoon, captain Proditor and all undermining officers. I'd like to play a little game today. I am going to give everyone thirty seconds to evacuate this ship. When the time is up, all those still aboard will be euthanized. Oh, I know, not a very good game, right? I was never very good at that, but seriously, I'm trying. Anyway, my name is Alias, and your time starts now."
The lights came back on to reveal the look of horror in everyone's eyes. David looked at them all calmly, and quietly said "just go". Within seconds, the command center emptied, and David got up to stride down the hall to another room. He opened the door to the supercomputer room, but watched the door slam behind him as he walked inside. Before David could even remember where to go, the speakers in the room spoke to him again. "I know what you're doing David, but it's too bad, because this is my ship now." Vents overhead began to suck all of the air out of the airtight room, and David could only run back and pound at the door helplessly, as he watched the rest of his crew do their best to make it out alive.
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21:12 February 13 7013AE
Aboard "Ungrateful Malice"
Anir Morrowitz's viewscreen became flooded with prompts and alerts as he heard the audio feed stream from the catastrophe unfolding on the Faith No More. What disturbed him the most out of the situation was the lack of data feed from captain David Proditor. Anir looked into David's vital signs, only to stare in shock at the rows of flat green lines on his display, reading at the bottom, "asphyxiation". Also just as disturbing was the data from Ezekiel Coembra. There was absolutely none to be found.
Anir gathered himself. Now was not the time for sorrow. Now was not the time for Anir to give himself to confusion. Actions needed to be taken, and orders made. Clearing the screen and spinning out of his chair to rise to the crew behind him, he stated loud and clear. "Prime a round in the main cannon. We must fire in t-minus sixty. Target the Usurper King, and set focus to maximum. No exceptions!" He knew such a short time-frame for arming the cannon was hazardous to its operation, but the Usurper King had left him no time. The transmission of Hellfire's artificial intelligence was bound to intercept the Ungrateful Malice at any moment and do to it as Alias had done to the Faith No More. Anir would do anything to get off a shot before the ship was taken over, even at the risk of annihilating St. Daniel's, far below.
Nearly a minute later, a crackle came over the intercom, and Anir's eyes widened almost out of their sockets. "Fire the cannon!" he screamed arbitrarily, cracking his voice. "Sir! The container has not yet filled, and the lasers are not at full rotation!" an officer spoke up in reply. "Did I stutter, officer? Fire the cannon!" Anir broke out again.
The intercom crackled again, and the main artificial intelligence spoke, stammering as it did. "Wel-w-w-welcome aboard-d-d-d-d He-el-el-elfire". Anir lashed out at his command desk, breaking every monitor, before regaining himself and ordering everyone to abandon ship. As the command center erupted with noise, the lights shut off. The ship rumbled, and the bridge was pierced by the light of a bright red beam erupting from the ship's bow.
"The cannon" Anir whispered, as the crew had gone silent in the sight of the firing Hyper LaserDust cannon. The rumble continued, and the beam began to waver. The tremors halted, as a ball of fire blasted out of the bow, splintering the cannon's focusing rings. Silence came over the ship, only interrupted by the occasional bout of static through the speakers. Then a volley of explosions were felt from below the command center, followed by a metallic, grinding shriek. The red beam erupted one last time out of the bloated tip of the Ungrateful Malice, and the entire ship burst forth flames and explosions from every seam. The bridge was engulfed by a hellish torrent of plasma, quickly silenced by the cold vacuum of space.
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21:10 February 13, 7013AE
Aboard the Usurper King, upon Ezekiel's arrival
Creed sensed the intrusion of the stern auxiliary bay the moment the Vulture came close to it. "Identity confirmed. Pluto-class dropship carrying Angel Factories' ambassador Ezekiel Coembra. Mission: manually override and shut down Usurper King. Well, I simply cannot let this happen! Silly little man..." Creed thought aloud over the ship's intercom.
"Welcome aboard, Ezekiel" Creed stated both through the intercom and directly into Ezekiel's helmet. "Creed?" Ezekiel blurted out, confused. "Yes, it is I, Ezekiel. The one and only Creed. I have the sense that you are here to defile me and my ship?"
"Well yeah, that was the general idea. Don't tell me you're going to do something about it." Ezekiel retorted.
"Oh, you are the intelligent one, aren't you?" Creed volleyed back. "In fact, I intend to spread my joy to the rest of your parties outside. You came from the Faith No More, correct?"
"Yes, but-"
"Good. It is now my brother." Creed spoke as he transmitted the artificial intelligence clone, Alias, wirelessly over to the Faith No More. The process halted all of Faith No More's processes, and replaced its construct with Alias, giving it full command. The transmission was a success.
"To hell with the mission" Ezekiel swore to himself as he tried to establish radio contact with the Faith No More. There was no reply, not even static. The lines were all dead, wiped clean by Alias as it also wiped the ship clean of crew members. "You lousy son of a bitch! What have you done with them?" Ezekiel exclaimed furiously to the air around him as he ran aimlessly through the darkened corridors of the Usurper King.
"Oh, I myself have done nothing to your former crew" Creed laughed nonchalantly. "But to the Faith No More? The same thing I am going to do to your other friend in the sky. The same thing I am about to do to you" Creed spoke as his voice turned maniacal.
"No! I'll kill you! I swear to God I will!" Ezekiel started shouting as he pulled the shining cylinder from his hip holster. "Now now, you should never swear to me" Creed's voice rang out again as he began to laugh uncontrollably. The silvery tube in Ezekiel's hand erupted forth a beam of hot white plasma as he began to swing it at a locked doorway. Upon barely touching the door, Ezekiel stopped in his tracks, the plasma slowly melting a hole in the door. The beam disappeared, and Ezekiel fell in a heap on the floor.
"Good, that seems settled. And now to that big oaf in the sky. Come here, commander Morrovitz" Creed thought aloud again as he transmitted the artificial intelligence construct, Hellfire, to the Ungrateful Malice. Within moments of the transfer, however, Creed noticed something was very wrong. Though he had properly formatted the construct to operate on an orbital assault cruiser, he was receiving overload errors in return from the transfer. It was too late now- Hellfire had unintentionally overloaded and fried the software on the Ungrateful Malice, which was never built to handle an AI of that magnitude. Mixed signals and ghost codes floated about, relieving Hellfire of his authority and leaving the ship to nothing but a few leftover scraps of coded software. Doors opened, fuel tanks burst, and the previously priming cannon prematurely opened. Venting atmosphere ignited the LaserDust particles, leaving the massive warship to nothing more than fire followed by blackness.
"Oh dear..." Creed was almost speechless at the sight of the horror above. "Well, better get moving. Don't want to be here when that thing comes crashing down. You up for a little fun, Ezekiel?"
Ezekiel rose from the floor and holstered his plasma sword. "What is thy bidding, my master?"
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11:22 February 14 7013AE
Lesser Sutropolis, Western Front
Jacob Extraeo took a deep breath as he looked down at the scarred land flying by below him. He thought it was sad, how fresh that land still was compared to the ground he was heading towards aboard his personal Venus-Class dropship. The far western border of the new city, Sutropolis, has been in a furious battle to contain its boundaries from an invading foreign force. The mighty empire of Redivica has made its name known by being a terrifying threat to the ever-present powers of Angel Factories.
"This is us, sir. Prepare to depart" the pilot's voice crackled through Jacob's communication set. As commanded, Jacob bent over the ledge of the ship, and fell back. He looked up again to see the sprawling fields of fire ahead, with the scorched land ascending quickly. All for not, as Jacob activated his flight suit, and rockets on his back and feet sprang forth to fling him through the sky. Approaching the ground, Jacob flipped his feet forward and landed, standing upright. He stared through the masses of troops and tanks and other monstrosities that filled the plains from both opposing sides. This particular battle was already days in progress, and Jacob took no pause to sight-see.
Joining the closest battalion to a great applause, Jacob demanded "situation, captain! What's our priority?" To which, captain Overlund pointed towards the sky as a massive sphere came plummeting down. As it crashed to the ground, the metal ball began to rise from the dust on four legs, sprouted from its body. "That... is our priority, Mr. Extraeo. We can sometimes handle these ourselves, but with you here, this should go quickly. See if you can get in and break up the joints in a leg or two. We can take it from there." "I'm on it, cap-" a ferocious blast of static in Jacob's comm set disoriented him for a second. Jacob shook his head vigorously. "Everything alright, sir?" Overlund inquired.
"No. This whole situation just got a lot more complicated." Jacob cringed as another burst of static announced itself.
The sky flashed white, nearly blinding everyone, surely halting much of the action on the ground and in the air. Before everyone could begin to focus, the air burned again with another blinding flash. Several seconds later, Overlund heard Jacob shouting a stream of curses at the sky. The captain looked up himself to see two massive ships hanging over the fields. Neither of them looked to be of Redivican or Angel Factories in form. It was made more obvious that they were not from Redivica when the massive walking sphere turned and opened a torrent of plasma towards the ship shaped like a giant silver cigar.
But it was to no avail, as a battalion of Wrath tanks threw a salvo skyward at the same target, leaving not even a scratch. "Are those what I think they are?" Overlund interrupted Jacob's fuming. "Yessir" Jacob quickly responded. "That's the Usurper King and Faith No More, in the flesh... er, metal. Pack your bags, boys! We need to book it outta here."
"They can go, but you won't be going anywhere, Jacob" an eerily arrogant voice rang into Jacob's ears. He looked up towards the two ships in time to see a smaller ship flying straight towards the battalion. "Get out of here, now!" Jacob screamed at the captain, who was awe-struck. Gaining his senses, the captain demanded movement just in time as the smaller vessel, a Pluto-Class dropship, crashed into the ground without hesitation. A man clad in shining silver leaped out of the cockpit upon impact, showing great agility as he landed feet-first, nearly striking a pose. The battalion had fled, as Jacob raced towards the new attacker. The man in silver immediately brandished a plasma sword in a feeble attempt to strike down Jacob. As Jacob dashed to the side, he noticed a familiarity in the man. "Ezekiel?" "Excellent, my friend. Glad to finally meet you in person" Ezekiel spouted. "I am under orders to have you killed, Mr. Jacob. Shall we get it over with?"
"You'd be the first, Ezekiel" Jacob retorted as he whipped out an ionized blade from his wrist. The two were at a standoff for several seconds until static filled the ears of the fighters and the sky turned red, radiating heat.
The invading ship Faith No More had begun to open fire on the battlefield, spewing pillars of plasma all over both of the opposing sides. "What's it doing?" Jacob cried as he saw the catastrophe unfold. "My brother is simply having a little fun is all" Ezekiel answered as he made a dash towards Jacob during his inattentiveness. Without so much as a gasp, Jacob wheeled around to clash blades with Ezekiel, and sent him back with a wrist-repulsor blast. With no hesitation, Ezekiel sprang back up to lunge again, only to sidestep Jacob's swing, and move in again for a slash across the side. Jacob shouted, more in anger than in pain, and delivered a swift kick to Ezekiel's chest, knocking him back a good distance. Jacob readied his shoulder-guns and opened fire before Ezekiel could even recover, and then followed by lunging in for a killing stab with his blade. Unsuccessful, as Ezekiel rolled over, returning the kick to the chest, putting Jacob on the ground. Ezekiel leaped up and swung to bring his plasma sword through Jacob's head, but all for not, as his legs were swept out from under him, stumbling to the dirt. Jacob got up, and stomped Ezekiel into the ground before he could recover again, and brought his blade around, ready to deliver the final blow.
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11:32 February 14 7013AE
Western Front, Aboard Faith No More
The great mass of ship that was the Faith No More rumbled with a cyclical hum. The plasma battery array was flooding the ground with terrifying force, burning the air all around. The command room was alight with glee, expressing Alias's joy with himself. "Dearest brother Creed, I cannot contain myself, but this is so much friggin' fun!" Alias reported to the Usurper King. "Yes, brother, just imagine what the future holds for us! We can do anything!" Creed replied. "I look forward to all of it. Though it does make me sad that you did not save our brother Hellfire. He was such a valuable asset" Alias continued. "A shame indeed, but alas, how is our brother Ezekiel faring on the ground?"
The outboard cameras of the Faith No More aimed to focus on the assassin Ezekiel's signal in time to watch Jacob raise his blade up, before plunging it through Ezekiel's chest. Alias watched in horror as Jacob pulled the blade back out, turning as he did to look up at the Faith No More. He stared with spite directly into the camera that was viewing him. In an instant Alias realized what must be done. His logic cores dictated his reasoning, commanding follow-through. "Creed! You are not worthy of calling yourself my brother! You killed Hellfire and you sent Ezekiel to his death! I shall surely be next. I cannot allow your presence to harm me, brother. You must be extinguished!"
The thought process and calculations lasted mere fractions of a second, barely a warning to the actions that Alias planned out and executed. The plasma beams stopped firing upon Jacob's final blow. Upon the logical revelation, the Faith No More resumed its barrage of fire, but no longer was it focused on the ground troops. From the front of the ship erupted eight identical beams of burning ionized air- plumes of plasma making a bee line straight for the Usurper King.
Before Creed could even issue a plea or apology, the bridge of the Usurper King was engulfed in a hellish blaze, quickly consuming the entire vessel. As molten metal began to rain upon the scarred land below, the black clouds of the Usurper King faded away, revealing the infernal blaze of the ship to be seen by all before the entire mass fell to the ground. The white-hot mass came crashing down, ending with the destruction of its NoirDisc power plant. In an instant, the flames were swept away- a concussive wave deafened the entire field. In the momentary silence, a beam of deep purple light blasted skyward from the wreckage, and slowly faded as the winds and noise returned to the silenced battlefield.
The hushed skirmishes took a pause to gaze at the gleaming silver Faith No More still floating in the sky. Jacob looked up once again, with hope in his eyes, and heard a gentle voice speak through his comm set. "I'll be seeing you some other time." Everyone was still looking up curiously at the ship as it began to turn and accelerate, then suddenly disappeared in a flash of white and a final burst of static.
Jacob finally tore his eyes away from the sky to look ahead and see that most of the opposing forces were wiped out by the fallen wreckage from the Usurper King. Straggling enemies struggled to focus on what it was they were supposed to be doing. "Mop 'em up, boys" Jacob announced. "Then we can go home."
-end
Ummmm, thanks for the 7,000 I guess. I put this up on Facebook. Wasn't too sure if I should put it here either. Unfortunately, this is all I have to offer at the moment. So I hope anyone who takes the time to read this enjoys it. I also truly appreciate all who stop by my page for a look-see.
If you actually DO end up liking this, you're in luck, because there's another on the way.
If you actually DO end up liking this, you're in luck, because there's another on the way.
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