"But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."
- Genesis 3:3-5
Even with the embrace of a glowing red sun, the star system laid silent. Enormous titans of planets revolved dormantly, their sluggish paces showing indifference.
Until, the dark silent skies were cut open by a beam of heavenly light, turning the system alive, tearing apart the sanctity of the thread of planet as holes were being burnt into the tapestry.
A congregation of gleaming white starships entered into the territory, causing their inhuman counterparts to lunge towards them.
Yet the ships had blared their trumpets, unleashing flashes of light that roared to their ungodly targets as they sent them to depths of hell where they belonged.
The creatures cried out to their brethren, yet there was no one to help them as they screamed out, with no one to hear their cries, or at the very least care as their screams cut silent as it was swallowed into a glowing blue blast. Scratch one.
One of the largest of the ships, shifted her gleaming trumpets to her next target with a mechanical whir, and poured into it the eternal flame of stars held in her soul. It met the same unavoidable fate as it’s dark chitin skin was no match. Another scratch in the hull.
The rest of the pack immediately fled, pride and any notion of invincibility burned away from the eternal flame of vengeance held by the species they were ordered to exterminate.
The two largest ships steadied their bows as they aimed for the fleeing pack, and fired, their arrows roaring across interstellar space, intent on eliminating their targets.
They watched as their targets flee in desperation into the dark confines of empty space, yet the glowing bright lights found them all the same.
“Multiple impacts,” the tactical officer announced. “FO reports impacts on ten bogeys. One Orion missed.”
Inside the Battlecarrier's CIC was methodical, whispers and recitation of orders, as each men and women were glued to their screens as they examined the data of the battlespace laid out on them intently, as like the older man in front of him did.
His ashen hair was more than all of the years of the young officers combined, yet his eyes still burned with embers, years of that fire burning within him as bright as the nuclear hellfire on his optics that relfected on his dark skin. He chuckled bitterly, seeing himself pissing on his station as the titan ship peered into his soul past the blasts of nuclear detonations a lifetime ago.
A voice shook him awake. He turned, seeing the wrinkled face of Mexico City's CO.
“General Oakley. Sir, All Lanky targets in the tactical Battlespace have been neutralized. Finally drove the bastards out of our colony.”
General, huh. Oakley still remembered that the old term was Admiral. It was hard to mould something already hardened in him.
“Twenty Years too late, Lawson. Inform Wichita and Helena to scan a 2 AU radius around Vinland.”
“Aye, sir.”
He gave a enthusiastic salute, as he was infected by the estatic nature around him, as each member on the CIC broke into smiles by the periodic reports of Seedships sunk.
The older man sighed, seeing the mood never got to him.
It isn’t Operation Invictus.
He should be happy. He tried to remember the last time he was here. An Evacuation.
But instead, he smiled warmly as the men and women below cooperated with one another to end the nightmare.
He stared at the sensor technician, and went through vertigo as he saw his own face staring back at him, a young youthful face.
“Patch me through, Major Lindhall, Colonel Taylor and Fredricks.” He ordered.
“Are they ready?”
He listened in on his comms“ STT, and 45th SI is ready sir. They're prepping the first wave. Ready to deploy.”
“Tell General Misimo we're go on the first way.”
He turned to the left of his CIC.
“Sensors. Give me a recent data of the Landing Zones.”
She turned to the General, a sure look on her face.
“Landing Zone Alpha has no defences. Bravo has a few more Lankies, while Charlie's airfield is swamped with them. Data’s still unavailable for Delta and Echo.”
“Their seedships?”
“Several are scattered near the sites. Updating targeting data. We can hit the ones near Alpha and Bravo zones. But Tokyo can take the others.”
“Alright.” General Oakley clasped his hands together. “Prep Kinetic Bombardment on those sites. Nuclear. High Yield.”
“Aye Aye Sir.”
The TacOps tech relayed on his comms unit to the men below.
Within seconds, he felt the faint rattling as the starboard turrets fired off.
He watched on his screen as the sites with Lanky seedships disappeared in a blink of an eye underneath a mushroom cloud, dirt churning high up in the air.
"Sir." The comms technician interjected the conversation. "Helena reports a lanky ship detected bearing oh-three seven, 37 degrees above, distance 1.5 AU from us and closing fast."
The datalink updated the map, enlarging the map to show a large irregularity in empty space, creeping towards them like a lone wolf, as it bared its fangs towards them.
“What’s the data of the Ship?”
“Helena’s data is incomplete, but it’s 5 kilometers in diameter, and 6 kilometers long.”
“10 klicks wide. Jesus, that means-” The CO exclaimed, but Oakley sighed with a somber look, turning to him.
“It’s our lost brethren. Let’s give them their rest.”
He looked over to the holotable, staring at the radar picket screen as a new contact was shown closing in on his position.
“You were young back then, but no one ever saw a seed ship that size ever since Mars, I know Vinland had a smaller population, but it was still millions.” He muttered to the CO.
He left them to their fate, abandoning them to die. And now he was going to face his consequences of his sins.
Oakley forced the thought down. He turned to the XO.
"Lawson. Issue Combat Alert stations. We're going in."
"Yes sir."
“Tell the rest of the battlegroup to position themselves, and get ready to leave Alcuberrie at a moments’ notice.”
The mood around the CIC rose into muted panic as the Battlecarriers were the only ones suitable for offensives against the Lankies. Oakley knew that this current lopside status couldn't stand with only one type of ship, and expensive ones at that, were only capable to take on the Lanky seed ships head on. The new class of cruisers hadn't been built fast enough.
And the two were heading to its maw.
"Sir, Tokyo wants to raise comms."
"Patch them through." He swiftly ordered.
A heavily accented English crept into the intercom.
"Mexico, this Tokyo. We've detected a large anomaly within the are surrounding Lima-1. It's possibly their alcubierre chute."
"Copy that. Tokyo, we'll be cautious.”
He then turned to the XO, a young woman who was still glued to her screen, as it blared damage control reports.
“Lawson.”
She looked up, face flushed with exhaustion.
“Yes, Sir.”
“Tell the SI to hunker down at the Flight deck. All non critical Fleet personnel are to head into the Gym.”
She nodded, before accessing the PA system.
“Particle Cannon is primed. Both Alpha, Beta turrets are ready to fire. Orions are fueled.”
With speed being the essence, Mexico sailed towards the lanky ship, weapons prepped for battle.
"Prep the Orion missiles." Oakley ordered, as they closed the distance between them and the last known position of the lanky dreadnought. Oakley could see the ugly thing now. Harsh curves and long tendrils, coated in black, and dark colors that were in far contrast to the elegant shape and bright colors of the Avenger Battlecarrier. Oakley watched from the live video feed as the bememoth accelerated, preparing to leave the system.
Not on his watch.
"Lima 7 notices us. ETA to optimal Orion range 1 minute."
"Helmsman. Slow speed on approach. Weapons, Finger on the trigger. Fire in 3, 2 1-"
Yet the words were ripped out of his mouth as his body was thrusted forward, time and space soared into hyperspeed, sucking them along with it, their bodies felt such a powerful force trying to crush them, all the while, their minds were pushed to their limits weaving sense together in sucha short amount of time. Yet it struck like a thunderclap as all of their minds reached the same conclusion.
Alcuberrie.
It took their minds even more as the screens around them darkened, leaving them blind in the dark.
"Shit."
"Ship status?" The CO asked his second in command, voice raspy and quivering.
“Sir, Electronics are coming online.”
“Thanks for that.”
The XO glanced on her datapad, the redness flushed on her face as horror began to set in.
“Our Fusion Propulsion systems are fried, and most of our major electrical functions. We're dead in the water, sir.”
A ship lifeless in Alcuberrie? That's a first.
“Our Particle Mounts are unresponsive. We can still use our Orions.”
“What about the seed ship? Last position?”
A moment of silence answered him.
Oakley turned to the Tactical Officer.
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"Weapons. Prep the Orions. I want all weapons in this ship locked and loaded. They'll be waiting for us close by."
The weapons officer nodded, before going their controls.
The General sighed in resignation. "I suppose we wait and see where this one will take us again."
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He felt his chest rise underneath his armor, despite how the bright widgets shining brightly in the dark uncertainty of his situation.
60 seconds until drop, his heart could reach that faster, as it ran with a ravenous frenzy.
He wrestled control of his body, trying to leash his body into silence. To no avail. No amount of experience could hold back the undeniable fact he was dropping into hell.
Meet up with the rest of your team, reach the settlement of Furgerson, and wipe out major clusters of lankies without attracting attention in order to clear the runway in LZ Charlie, else risking the massacre of a thousand troops.
The detail game him the comfort of a cold wet blanket. But after all, only the mad and the one who have nothing to lose earned this title. And Isaac was both.
30 seconds to drop.
His thoughts filled the uncertain void. It was his first time in a offensive campaign, after all.
He stared into the small warm glow of his visor, his green eyes looking wild and manic, which would be followed by a gentle hand from his mother.
Isaac gripped his hands. No time for wayward thoughts. He promised that by the time he reentered the carrier, his barrel would burn red like his home.
Isaac paused, the strength and courage freezing as his heart was punctured, sucking out into the cold dark space as air of cold fear began to seep in.
In that cold dark space, no one could hear Isaac cry.
10 seconds until drop.
The timer stopped.
Instead, the loud hydraulic buzz whirred in front of him, as the harsh red light seeped in to the small confines, blinding him.
Isaac squinted, seeing the young pod rigger beside him with a somber look on his face.
Isaac then realized the soft buzzing on his body, and the dry mouth.
“The heck- why are we in Alcuberrie?”
The fleet sailor shrugged.
“I don’t know sir. We just have orders to hunker down in the flight deck. That was when the ship went dark.”
“Thanks, Kid. Dismissed.”
“Aye, sir.”
He watched as the enlisted Fleet sailor ran to the flight deck, his movements trailing roughly from his lessons in Fleet School.
Isaac then looked to his left, where he caught a bulky man chatting with his pod rigger, as he was pulled out of his own cocoon beside him.
“Well. This is new.” The young sailor commented.
The bulkier one nodded, stretching as he emerged out of his cocoon.
“First time I’ve seen this. Some bird for brains officer on the CIC in hot water for pressing the wrong button.”
The two enlisted saluted crisply, their sharp movements making him cut apart. He nodded to dismiss the enlisted, before turning to the man in combat armor.
“Staff Sergeant Carlos. Are you alright?”
He nodded.
“I'm standing here and talking to you, so yes.”
Isaac sighed, before turning into a smile.
“...Just meet up of the team.” He ordered, before looking the rest of the podheads running to the exit of the cannons “Then let's head to the flight deck.”
He then turned to the final two members of his team, who walked towards him with salutes.
He watched as one of them elbows the other. Corporal Iris Bach greeted Isaac with a sharp smile on her freckled face, as she walked nimbly with rapid pace, her bobcut blonde hair brushed against the wind, revealing the black strands hiding within, in contrast to Fredricks’ rusted color hair.
She dragged Private William Fredricks with the enthusiasm of a disobedient dog on a leash, as his calm demeanor made him slow to a crawl with precise steps, as his regulations approved crewcut gave him a stealthy appearance to blend among the troops that was unlike his Father's. He gave Isaac a standard salute, which was better that Iris’ sloppier one.
Isaac exchanged their salutes, before checking the two junior nuggets for any imperfections.
“Corporal Bach, Private Fredricks. Glad you two can join us. Let's go.”
"Aye, sir."
The exited into the cavernous flight deck, entering into a sea of confusion as orders were being barked into the speakers, which were reciprocated by officers to the countless of Spaceborne Infantry troops who were eagerly being handed fasteners to lock on their nimble suits on to on the flight deck, while the enormous dropships and Shrike attack craft parked on their spots and even the taxiway catapult were locked into as well, as their crews rapidly did final checks on them as they and the troops were wary of the multimillion craft suddenly crashing into them. His Force Recon team walked on the side of the flight deck, sandwiched on a small clearing between the wall and the crowded muster stations of the SI companies as they crossed between them with rapid pace to their muster station, avoiding the numerous tractors hauling ordnance back to the depot as they sped along side them.
Isaac could barely hear his thoughts as the muted drips of conversation suddenly formed into a lake of dim noises that gave Isaac cold comfort, with the officers trying to corral their companies into calming down, with no effect as the fear was spreading. He watched as some of the regular SI took a glance at them at their larger suits, as each step on the metallic flight deck caused a ripple of vibration that shook the place.
Underneath the red light, Isaac felt his mind being sucked into the deep confines of his mind, feeling the vivid emotions and senses being whiplashed on to him into a memory he thought he buried, as the flight deck morphed into a smaller bunker, and as barking orders from troops trying to forge order in the sea of chaos as frightened civilians were vomited into the small bunker, eyes widened with fright and clothes dusty with the Martian sand, while all the while the thumping of the Lankies against the concrete bunker poured fuel to the fire as people screamed, while his small frame was being pushed around by the larger adults-
He felt the harsh grip as he was pulled away, just as the loud mechanical stomping of a PACS unit nearly colliding into his bug suit, with the user giving the Lieutenant below him with a confused glance above before walking to the side of the flight deck.
He turned, seeing his Staff Sargeant giving him a astonished look, as if he didn't see or hear the hulking frame of the large exo-skeleton, before sighing in realization.
“Sir. Are you squared away?”
Isaac looked at him with wide eyes.
“Aye, Squared Away.”
Before long as they approached their section without any complaints, where he and his team sat on the floor.
He turned to his fellow officer, Lieutenant Young, a Combat Controller.
“What's the rumor mill this time?” He asked, switching to a private channel.
The bleary faced lieutenant shrugged, his senses cut off under the red haze, his equipment connecting him to the CIC cut off.
“We were in a Combat Stations Alert before our jump. Maybe we…”
Isaac raised an eyebrow.
“An Alcubierre node that close near Vinland?”
He shrugged.
“Wouldn't be the first.”
“But it doesn't explain the emergency power.”
It was then, Captain Jasper came online, eyeing both Lieutenants.
“Men, whatever truth is there is in the CIC, and they're locked in as protocol..”
The buzzing stopped, so it was a surprise that it stopped suddenly, causing the sea of voices to stop in their tracks for a tense moment.
And the blaring alarms of a Combat Stations alert cracked all over them, the tension holding them now gone as fear took its place.
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NACS Mexico City was belched out of the mysterious Alcuberrie chute, exiting it with the grace of a whale and dignity of an ant, as the large spaceship was inert, even though the crew inside was not.
“Everyone right?” He asked aloud.
Everyone gave a series of affirmatives, as the screens slowly turned on themselves, painting a greusome pitcure under the bright red light.
“Where the hell are we?” Oakley asked, eyes piercing through the manic eyes of the astrogator officer as he returned to his station.
“GPS is shot to hell. Looks like the thing glitched out.” The Astrogator Officer answered, staring the now useless billion dollar junk.
He then turned to the remaining optics of the ship, heart skipping a beat as his eyes meet the lush blue ocean of a well developed world.
“We must be in a colony.” the Sensor Technician noted. “I see a couple of satellites.”
She pointed to a couple of small, weak signatures on low orbit of the planet, their radar signatures heavily degraded that no origin point could be found.
With no other data to pull out of straws, he turns to Lieutenant Colonel Lawson, who was busy coordinating the damage control with the CO.
“Does anything work in this ship?”
She nodded, before wiping the sweat of her brow, eyes still glued to her screen.
“Flight deck’s still operating, but under limited power, Ventilation is under emergency power. We still have access to some point-defense systems on our stern.”
“We already did an automatic Cooldown of our reactors, but we need to act fast in getting those systems up and running, in order to avert the two problems we have right now.”
“Our First problem is our propulsion. We could maneuver for at least an hour, until the gravity of that planet will take us.”
It was then the CO looked up, horror drying out the panic on his face. He looked to Oakley with a small voice.
“Lastly is that Seedship. They were near our ship. We'll have to prepare now.”
Oakley sighed. Five minutes and everything went already wrong. He gave a mental rundown of the problems, before turning to the rest of the CIC.
“Alright. Get engineering to double down on fixing our reactors. That's the main thing we need to worry about.”
“Anyone who isn't mission critical is to evacuate to the gym and Flight decks. Tell the SI to resume planetside landings.”
As soon as they did so, they felt a large force ram into the ship, rattling the superstructure.
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The ship then screamed painfully as the two enormous beasts collided with one another, as an inhuman capophany of metal creaking as the ship's portside and stern were rammed by the seed ship, tearing apart rows and rows of armor, cleaving open several decks exposed to the cold dead space.
The seed ship continued on its course, ignoring the bright ship as it saw a larger goal, the planet, speeding towards it with it's remaining power with the grace of a rabid snail.
And the battleship could do anything as well, as it's lights were dying, and it's weapon systems were unable to deal with such a threat with small distance. It watched helplessly as the ship grew closer and closer to the planet.
But the ship waited, as it's reactors slowly came back online, creeping away from the seed ship with the speed of a scurrying mice, its remaining weapons ready to be unsheathed.
And it fired, its only functional particle cannon firing a slow blast of light to burn through a hole at the ship's stern, its propulsion systems going dark as it punched through the layers of thick armor to damage its engines with it's remaining strength, with even that power causing the battleship itself to go dark.
A duel between two crippled ships, in an unfamiliar planet, went as underwhelming and nerve-wracking in those scant few moments, witnessed by nothing by the looming titan of the planet.
However, much to the chagrin of gravity, the damaged seed ship shuffled on like the undead, its numerous compartments of Lankies deployed wildly without any form or function, while the lifeless bulk began to crash into the planet.
It was then the ship gradually shut off it's defenses, relegating more of its remaining energy on the next phase of attack.
It would take the Dropships an hour or two to deploy. And they would not return. 10 platoons on their own.
Not enough to completely wipe out a Lanky invasion.
“Fredricks.” He called into comms to the SI officer in charge.
A man came on the line, voice scruffed from year of combat.
“Sir.” He replied firmly.
“Deploy the First wave.”
“Aye sir.” The SI Light Colonel then cut the feed without ceremony.
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Isaac watched as dropships began to crowd the runway, attaching themselves on the catapult before being sent to the massive airlock under the immense red light. Troops were being packed to the brim inside these dropships, while the rest of the regiment watched grimly.
But the STT contingent, specifically the Force Recon section, were already quickly descending down to the keel decks to where the cannons were, moving as one even under the harsh low light, tightly packed and barely showing any emotion that was out of line. Trying to hold together even as the ship was licking its wounds, which made Isaac proud in a way.
“Sir, they're sending troops against Lankies without any air or armor support?” One asked.
Captain Jasper nodded, looking at his section, then to Isaac.
“Orders from Fredricks’ father.”
Fredricks rolled his eyes, which Jasper barely acknowledged.
“Look, it doesn't matter. We're sending Force Recon on the largest settlement. Call up any reinforcements there, because we can't raise them on comms. They probably have an armored company and air squadron.”
As the slowly approached the entrance to the gun whale room, Japser turned around, before donning his helmet.
“Look. We just have to warn and provide support. We're the only ones expendable enough to do this, so make sure we do it right, oorah?
“Oorah!” everyone chanted out, before dispersing.
The Force Recon members quickly got into their pods, strapping themselves in. Isaac caught Jasper's eye.
The man gave a comforting smile, handing him a devil's horn.
Isaac reciprocated, before the pod rigger close him outside.
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Not even the hard seed ship armor could withstand the terrifyingly intense embrace of the sun, as it streaked across it's equator, parts falling off it without impunity.
It would be normally of minor note, had the planet not been seeded with life already.
The numerous seaside settlements were immediately were swallowed whole by the unexpected tides thanks to the gravity disruption of the wormhole. Any survivors weren't any luckier, as large fragments crashed under the sea, causing waves as high as hills.
The ones inland weren't much luckier.
A city near a river, a wonderful town near rivaled by the jewel of the empire, had its people choked under invisible poison, one would call Nerve Gas.
There were no survivors.
Not even the ground around it and so many other settlements that were in its path were safe, as the high concentration had fundamentally ravaged the wildlife.
But that wasn't even the worst to the nature of the world.
Vast farmlands and forest were now choked under a sea of ash and dirt, the blue skies that graced bountiful harvests were gone, replaced by wrathful skies that wilted the plants, starving them off, and the rest were subjected to wildfires.
A sacred hill, one occupied by swarms of several legions, banners raised high as they prepared for battle.
Were instead crushed to death by a fragment, leaving the wounded to die and the rest to scatter.
Countless threads that had weaved together in a tapestry of chaos and devastation, as a meaningless day in a mundane year had now turned into one of insanity.
And amidst all of it, And several of those Lankies pods have begun to hit planetside, carried only by gravity, streaking across the skies like the harbingers of deaths that they were.
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Isaac felt the drag chute pull his pod up, breaking the ear splitting sound of piercing the skies into silence. Isaac began to access the trajectory via his display, face souring as he was a few kilometers off from the target. Which meant that chances were Isaac was going to hit a prefab house.
Nevertheless, the Corps will have to fit the bill.
A few hundred meters until landfall, Isaac felt the parachute violently tugged around, rattling the pod even more. Isaac’s widened as the possibilities of that raced through him.
The hell did I hit? He thought to himself.
The roar of a pained monster answered his questions, rattling his body, and fear quickly seeped into the cracks.
He'd never heard a podhead’s parachute being entangled with a Lanky before, but there is a first time for everything.
Too bad it happened to him.
But the noise was strange for a lanky, but was even stranger noise was the furious knocking against the pod, followed by a screaming…human?
Before Isaac could even contemplate, the pod began to rapidly descend into a corkscrew maneuver, without anything to stop his fall.
Isaac sighed, and braced himself as he felt the familiar cold grip of death.
As he felt the harsh impact of the pod against the ground, his body experienced the gravity firsthand like a fly against a hand. But luckily it was cushioned by the pod and his suit, albeit with a minor concussion.
Amidst the pain coursing through him, he could hear debris bouncing off the pod like a hailstorm.
But as the rattling came to a stop, and the pod’s lid bursted off automatically, He grabbed his Jumbo rifle, and exited the capsule.
Meeting him face to face with a young boy, a brunette woman and a scrawny man. All were human, wearing robes and tunics, and all carried a horrified look on their faces.
He then shifted his eyes to the house, noting the faded and jutted out stone structure, instead of smooth, gray prefab concrete.
A long tense silence dragged out, before he looked around, seeing the masonry of the building and the quaint belongings of the three.
“What…”
The pod behind him shook a bit. Causing him to turn around,
And saw the writhing form of a large dragon entangled with the paracord, crying out in pain as it tried to untangle itself.
“...the fuck?”