The Maschinengeist War:
The Voids horn
Chapter: 1
The hammer falls
Tristram Reaburn
I crouched in the rubble of a street intersection in San Francisco looking through the sight of my sniper rifle. A head, with a helmet, surrounded by black energy was centered in my cross hairs. I pulled the trigger sending an 50. caliber explosive tipped round toward it. The round struck home exploding. I expected a blast of gore at most or a shriek of pain at least. Instead I got the thing staggering to the side before it shifted its attention toward me, unharmed. A featureless face aside from two white orbs, where the eyes were supposed to be, stared back at me.
It brought up its rifle, surrounded by the same black energy, and opened fire at me. I barely flinched as one of the bullets struck near my head. I fired again aiming at one the creature’s eyes, orbs? This time a shriek of pain did come from it as it dropped to the ground clutching its wounded eye. I fired again at its other eye then again at any weak spot I could see, and again, and again, and again. Eventually it stopped moving, hopefully dead.
I raised my head from my sniper rifles scope and glanced around me. The buildings lining the street were in various states of destruction while the street was littered with rubble and corpses. I was still somehow able to identify where I was after a few moments. We were in an intersection to the west of Golden Gate park, which, from the garbled transmissions from the Radio I had, the far west side was being turned into a forward base by these so called void creatures.
Almost all of the corpses in the street were human. There were few corpses of the void creatures which slowly withered to blackened skeletons disturbingly similar to humans. Even their equipment withered away, much to my disappointment. Six of these corpses were in the street as far as I could tell.
One had probably been killed by the police barricade that had been in the intersection to the east of us. Only shattered barricades, broken cars, and corpses remained. The other five Void Creatures were killed by me and twenty soldiers, at the cost of fifteen of them. Far to heavy of a cost for a few hundred feet of ground. For the fourth time in my life I prayed. I didn’t know what gods or goddesses I was praying to, but I knew we couldn’t win this new war alone.
The war had been going on far longer than any of us had realized. It started with disappearances on the north and east coasts, and then civilian ships suddenly disappearing while at sea. Occasionally a few scraps or an empty lifeboat was found. some Military vessels were sent out to investigate and went missing as well. those that returned found nothing new, and were unharmed. It wasn’t just the United States, any nation that had sea access was reporting disappearances. Nations became increasingly cautious and wary as more disappearances were reported, but when an entire cargo fleet and then a carrier group went missing within a week of each other… people started panicking.
People and nations alike demanded answers, answers no one could provide. Until a destroyer from a carrier group made it back to port. The destroyer was a mangled wreck barely afloat with few survivors clinging to it. what the survivors described was hard to believe, but made sense in its own way. They described Ships swirling with black energy gutting entire modern warships with only a few shots, but Return fire either had no visible effect or just bounced off. They had no idea the shadowy ships were there until they started shooting, they didn’t show up on RADAR or SONAR.
I hoped the Grey Eagle, the most technologically advanced battleship ever built, that I designed, would be able to fight back. It launched two weeks ago. Its maiden voyage was to Japan. It didn’t make it. All contact was lost two days into the voyage. In the following days debri from the Grey Eagle and its escorts were found in the Pacific.
Which brings us to today. The only warning we had of an attack was a distorted horn booming out from the ocean. It set everyone on edge, but we weren’t expecting or prepared for one of the shadowy ships to sail under the Golden Gate Bridge. Said ship proceeded to unleash its guns on the city. Landing craft dumped scores of shadowy figures on to the shore, and began to move on the city. Local military and police forces attempted to fight back, but were broken before these things onslaught. however, not before they made a good account of themselves.
Their sacrifice was not in vain. They managed to kill several of them. They showed us we could fight back. These seemingly invincible foes could die, but required a substantial amount of firepower to put down permanently. We would win this battle, and push these things out of the city. The cost, however, would be extremely high. A cost we couldn’t afford to keep paying if we wanted to win.
Our orders were to retake and hold his intersection until reinforcements arrive. I knew they would, but the thought of the corpses in the street doubling or even tripling sent revulsion in waves through my body. Which only worsened the panic and fear I'd forced into the back of my mind. I furrowed my brow, looked down, and closed my eyes while breathing deeply and slowly. Four of the soldiers were doing the same thing, calming their nerves. The fifth just stared at the ground behind the rubble barricade we were huddled behind slowly shaking back and forth.
We needed help, but I didn’t know what would help. No weapon I knew of could kill these things reasonably quickly without massive collateral damage. So I prayed for help that would more than likely never arrive.
“Aren’t you a R&D egg-head?” one of the soldiers next to me spoke up as he looked over his rifle. His question jarred me from my thoughts and I started looking over my own rifle before responding.
“Yeah.” I replied before checking my ammo. 4 magazines left, equaling twenty rounds, excluding what I had currently loaded. I felt all the soldiers focus their attention on me.
“Then why are you here? Not that I don’t appreciate the help, but shouldn’t you be designing weapons to fight these things?” he continued on with a bit of frustration leaking into his tone, I didn’t blame him. I sighed I knew this would come up at some point. No point in hiding anything though.
“Wrong place at the wrong time. I was on my way to the airport. Besides this is the first encounter we’ve had with these things where we can see them up close. I was hoping I’d be able to see what works well and what doesn't on the ground. So far however nothing is working well at all. Not even this monster.” I tapped the side of my rifle as I finished speaking.
“So there’s no easy way to kill these things, huh?” The soldier asked and I nodded slowly. No point in sugar coating anything. We all know it's going to get worse before it gets better.
“Eventually there might be, but probably not in the near future.” I muttered quietly as I sat there staring down the street while my mind kicked into overdrive. Trying to think of anything that would help. Nothing came to mind.
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Unknown
“Main turret critically damaged!” my magazine’s empty anyway... “Hull Breach! We’re taking on water!” could only dodge torpedoes for so long... “Fires in on the first deck, main deck, and superstructure!” just have to hold on a bit longer... “All hands! Brace for impact!” because I’m taking one of these void creature’s ships down with me...
BOOM!
Steel screamed as I split a destroyer in two. Its otherworldly properties didn’t make it immune to over 70,000 tons of steel rail-roading it. My bow was ripped open allowing more water to pour into me. Making my already fatal damage worse. There was nothing more I could do...
“Abandon ship! I repeat, Abandon ship!” nothing more I can do for all of you now… I’ll hold on for as long as I can… what did I do wrong?
As I fell into the abyss I saw the void creatures attack the lifeboats. I wanted to help them, to fight back… but my engines were cold and flooded. My reactors were shut down, and my hull was torn apart. There was nothing more I could do… as this realization settled in darkness claimed me.
Stolen story; please report.
It seems the afterlife is surprisingly peaceful. A stark contrast to how I died. Fighting something I was barely able to fight against, or even see. The most advanced battleship built by humans hands. The embodiment of two powerful nations industries and navies. Now just a wreck at the bottom of the ocean. Couldn’t even finish my maiden voyage. I couldn’t protect any of the destroyers or frigates with me. They all died one after another leaving me to stand, and die, alone.
Now I stood on nothing, a void so to speak. I had almost forgotten what it was like to be alive, or whatever I could classify as alive being a battleship. Something… kept me here though. Just above the void, so I stood on it instead of falling into it. What was it? Why was it keeping me here? I felt like I wasn’t done, but… But I failed. I failed to protect my crew, and my escorts.
“Join us.” a voice crowned. “Join us and be free!” it continued on. I sought the source and found it below me. A face stared back up at me. The same face that killed me… the same face that killed my crew as they attempted to flee in lifeboats. White hot rage filled me.
“What makes you think I’d join my murderers? My crew's murderers?!” I growled at it. It, however, smiled back. More faces appeared in the void. Faces I recognized. They were… my crew. Some appeared to be sleeping peacefully. Having embraced the sweet relief of death. Others thrashed with teeth bared resisting till they were dragged further down.
“They’re already here.” it spoke back, but not all of them were here. Some of them survived. Some of them got onto lifeboats. Some of them had to have made it out right? Was my life done? Was this it?
“Just give up.”
Those words sent a fresh wave of rage through me. I NEVER gave up. Even with my back to the wall and magazines empty I rammed one of these things and took it with me. Why should I give up now?
“Fuck off.” I growled at it and tried to pull myself away. Chains suddenly erupted from the void under me and wrapped around my arms and legs. I wasn’t having any of that. I pulled with everything I had and I felt the chains start to slip. As audible groaning of overstressed steel reached my ears. Along with something else, screams. I jerked my head up and saw a city burning, and shadowy figures vaguely similar to this thing prowling its streets. It was San Francisco.
“Oh… you just made this really personal.” I growled. No way in hell I would let these things get away with killing my escorts and my crew, but Attack my country’s soil? Kill my people? That was unforgivable.
I vaguely noticed the thing in front of me and lashed out at it. I felt a vague sense of sick satisfaction when it broke in my hands. As much as I wanted to stay and make them suffer I had a city to protect. People to save. I lept off the surface of the void, overstressed chains shattering before me. I surged upward as light built around me.
A reactor broken down sparked to life. Turbines boomed as they began to spin as fresh steam surged through them. Massive guns dropped to loading angles as factory-new ammunition was dredged up from a magazine once empty. A computer mainframe, once shot to pieces, came to life demanding scans from RADAR.
“ACTION STATIONS!” I heard the Klaxon ring through my newly formed hull as phantasmal remnants of my crew rushed to their stations, and began giving me status reports. My people were screaming for a savior, a protector...
“Reactor nominal!” “Mainframe online!” “Weapon systems fully armed and ready!” “RADAR Identifying targets!”
,And by hell or high water…
“All decks reporting combat ready!” “USS Grey Eagle ready for action!”
They’ll get one.
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Tristram Raeburn
Whatever moment's peace we had before was shattered as a squad of five of these void creatures appeared around the corner of an intersection further down the road. I immediately brought up my rifle and started shooting. The other five soldiers were a moment behind me. The void creatures started shooting back at us without a moment's hesitation.
We managed to focus down and kill two of them, who appeared to have been injured beforehand at some point, before all five of the soldiers with me died. I sat behind the rubble holding my rifle in my shaking hands, vaguely noticing a piece of shrapnel buried in my left arm. I knew if I tried to get a shot off over the makeshift barricade I would die, probably before I could get a shot off. I might be able to hurt one as they come around the rubble. I raised my rifle to do just that.
As soon as one appeared around the rubble I fired and hit it in its face. It screeched as they all aimed their rifles at me and then something exploded in the middle of the intersection. I was slammed into the building behind me. I couldn’t see or hear a thing. I felt like I just stood next to a flashbang and stared at it as it went off.
It took what felt like several minutes but my vision went from blinding white to a distorted haze. My ears were still ringing, but I could hear a fight going in the intersection. The sharp pain in my arm told me I was in fact not dead, but What I saw made me wonder if I had hit my head a lot harder than I initially thought.
A man loomed before me easily seven or eight feet tall. In one hand he held one of the void creatures in the air by its throat. Said creature was attempting to kick and claw him to little affect. In his other hand he held a sword, a Great-sword of some kind, that was skewering another of the void creatures in the rubble.
The third void creature lunged at him and I attempted to warn the man. but he simply tore his great-sword out of the rubble, and used it to swat the creature to the side mid air. Without even giving it the time of day. He simply studied the creature he was holding for a moment. Before suddenly twisting his wrist faster than I could see causing a wet snap to echo through the street. Before unceremoniously dropping it to the floor. It crumbled to the ground unmoving before beginning to disintegrate.
He turned to the third one that was just getting back to its feet and gestured for it to come to him. It roared and charged him. The man stepped to the side before it could reach him and spartan kicked it into a building. It didn’t come back out. I sat gobsmacked on the ground trying to rationalize what I just saw.
Now that my sight had cleared up more I took a moment to see what the man looked like. The man was definitely over seven feet tall, probably seven foot 8 inches tall. He wore a black and grey officers overcoat with a leather cross body shoulder bag resting over it. He had grey gloves, black pants, a grey officers cap, which was slightly covering mid-back length red hair with white streaks tied into a messy ponytail, and grey combat boots.
As I was looking over the man he was also looking over himself. He seemed rather surprised by something for a time, but swiftly covered it up. After his rather awkward self inspection he turned his attention to me. I felt an involuntary shiver go down my spine when I saw his eyes.
They glowed blood red. It wasn’t human at all. Add on his greyish pale skin, and it was pretty obvious this man wasn’t human, not by a long shot.
“Are you injured?” he asked me in a deep voice with an accent that sounded like it was multiple accents stitched together. I heard German and Japanese accents and several american accents, but I couldn’t identify what state, or states, the accents were from.
“Jus-Just cuts and bruises. Maybe a piece of shrapnel.” I stammered a bit as I tried to figure out what this man was. He nodded and extended his hand toward me. I stared at his hand for a moment, weighing my options. The man could fight and kill these creatures quite easily with minimal to no damage in return. Definitely someone I’d want on my side. Maybe he could show me what his weapons made out of? Not the time… not the time… I made my decision. I took his hand and he pulled me up, really fast. I nearly went flying, I wondered if he was going to throw me into a building, but he stopped himself and set me down. He looked about as startled as I was, if a bit sheepish, about the whole thing.
“Sorry about that.” he apologized before letting my hand go and stepped backward.
“Yeah… who are you? Better yet what are you?” I asked after taking a moment to reorient myself. He remained silent as I did so, but did glance around at his surroundings.
“USS Grey Eagle BB-75. Reporting for duty, sir!” his voice reverberated through the street with ease and he snapped to a salute. I was too startled to respond for a few moments. How was the Grey Eagle a person? Is he really the Grey Eagle? If he is, how is he not on the bottom of the ocean?
“What?” I asked after a few moments and he chuckled before standing at ease.
“To be honest, sir. I thought the same thing when I woke up.” he told me as I tried to process the impossibility before me. Until something in this insanity made sense and I latched onto it.
“I’m not a Navy officer, I'm a weapons development officer.” I told him and he smirked.
“I don’t see anyone else out here, sir.” he explained and I pursed my lips.
“Don’t you have a captain with you?” I asked, and he furrowed his brow.
“Not exactly. I’m the ship not the captain. I think some remnant of him is here, but not the man himself.” he replied, and I let out an exhausted sigh. He gave me an understanding smile with a nod.