Well, since there's no story section to the forums (hint hint), I've decided to post a little story set in the Sins universe here. If popular, I'll continue it. The story begins ten years into the TEC-Vasari War, just before the involvement of the Advent. I've taken liberty with certain elements (which I can chok up to balance-needs for the actual game), and I hope you all enjoy the story.
Saints of a Solar Empire, Part 1: The Road to Hades
"Four Devastator class ships closing from astern, Captain!"
"The Carrigall reports total system failure!"
"Captain, we've reached point Alpha!"
"Release the fleet for staggered phase jump! All ships are authorized to withdraw as soon as they cross the well!" Captain Forscythe commanded. He tried not to think of the twenty-five hundred individuals who just became cosmic detris as the Kol-class battleship systems were overwhelmed by the Vasari phase missile barrage. Nor did the captain try to think of the gaping hole in his own ship where the flag bridge had once when the Schuegraf's shields were pierced with one of the alien's missile storms.
The Captain felt the hum as the anti-matter reactors came online, quickly charging the capacitor rings. Already, most of the frigates had escaped into phase space requiring less anti-matter and proportionately less time to charge to enter the over-layed dimension. Despite his orders, however, a squadron of Garda-class flak frigates remained at the well-limit, bleeding Vasari bomber and fighter squadrons as they tried to pounce on the fleeing fleet units who were without the benefit of fighter cover as the carriers fled into space.
And then Forscythe's ship slid over the the gravity well of the nexus star along with her sister ship and a surviving Marza-class dreadnought. The ships powered up, to Forscythe and their crews, an aganozingly long time to power up even though he and they knew that the ship engineer crews were cutting the safety margins to zero, if not less. They ran the risk of catastrophic failure--when matter met antimatter, explosion was an understating term--but the risk of termination far outweighed the minor possibility of something as mundane as system failure.
The flag captain slumped slightly against his shock frame, having too much stubborn discipline to openly sigh. Unlike most of the Eastern Reaches fleet, he was a veteran of combat having been a mere system defense captain ten years ago. However, he gave himself a moment to feel a flicker of pride at the way his own crew had performed.
No, they weren't vertans, but they were the product of the TEC's newest training programs--the first generation in memorable history to be fully trained to serve in a unified military force for the whole, not just isolated systems, and they performed admirably. There was no hesitation in the execution of their orders, and they knew their duty.
Unlike the first few fleets who had met the Vasari in battle, where discipline and courage were found in short supply.
Forscythe quickly pushed the thoughts aside. "Communications, tie in with CIC and report on the status of the rest of the fleet according to their last data codes. Anna," said Forscythe, addressing his exec, "status report."
The slender-framed terran girl, no more than twenty five, and appearing in her late teens thanks to advances in medical science, took a moment to compose herself. The running battle with the Vasari Task Force had run the entire crew ragged, and she took a moment to check the displa before turning to her captain.
"Shields are down to fourteen percent, but they held. Any damage we sustained was due in part to the ability of the Vasari missiles to bypass our shields a certain percentage of the time. Point defence is down to eighty percent standard efficiency, Beam Three was cut from the curcuit when a missile hit the starboard side, and Doctor Hannoi reports that we have suffered approximately two hundred dead with another three injured to varying degrees. We also suffered a direct hit to the flag bridge with one hundred percent casualties, including Vice Admiral House and Rear Admiral Jerry."
The captain winced internally. Admiral House had been a good man, with a fair amount of tactical and strategic mindedness, and his loss had caused unnecessary confusion during the battle. His loss also meant that command should have passed to the next slot in the chain of command. Unfortunately, the same hit that gouged the fleet flag deck had had to cut through the battlegroup command deck which housed the Admiral commanding the capital ship component of Task Force 3, ER-TECN.
Forscythe had taken a grave risk in not passing command. The next ranking officer had been Commodore Priev commanding the battlecruiser component, and he, Forscythe thought after reading the Commodore's dossier, was a coward. He would've ordered the fleet to break cohesion and run for it. Which might have been acceptable, had the Vasari not enough ships to break with them and still destroy them...
"Captain, I have your report," almost-whispered a voice from across the room. Lieutenant Focker was a slender man from a low-grav world much the same as Forscythe's exec. Focker's voice was not quiet out of fear, but out of habit from being able to talk clearly and concisely without slur, stutter, or a need to repeat.
"Let's hear it then, Andrew."
"Aye, sir. The Carrigall was lost with all hands, reducing our capital count to four--three Kol battleships including the Schuegraf and the Fraser. Our over-sized battlecruiser battlegroup is now an undersized one with the loss of Virgo, Kronus, Cancer, Greece, and Deneb. The Dunov suffered severe damage to her shield generators and anti-matter capacitors. She's still combat ready but only on standard reactors.."
The Lieutenant paused for a few moments before continuing. "Heavy Cruiser Squadron 657 and 435 have been lost, including the command cruiser. However, CruRon 414 and 512 are undamaged. Both squadrons of light carriers are unharmed, Captain! We've lost three fighter squadrons worth of craft, but our bomber squadrons are intact since they were never launched. According to last report, Commodore Cruze was attempting to reorganize the fighter squadrons."
Focker let out a soft sigh. "Unfortunately, sir, our screening elements were hit hard. All three scout frigate squadrons were lost--we think the Visari bombers were intentionally aiming for them to prevent us from stripping them out and sending them for reinforcements. None of our light frigates were destroyed, but once our LRMs opened fire, the Visari hit them hard. We're down to two squadrons of the Javelis ships, and two Garda squadrons."
Forscythe appeared calm as he tallied up the losses. One Kol battleship, five battlecruisers with another possible damaged beyond combat ability, ten heavy cruisers as well as their two command ships, eighteen scout frigates, and twenty four LRMs. Those fifty ships had cost the task force over twenty four thousand dead. Forscythe's squadron coherency was shot except in those rare cases that entire groups of ships were destroyed instead of one taken from squadron A and another from B.
"Anna, tell damage control to give top priority to shield generator repair and clearing the circuit to Beam Three. They can put it in manual if they must, but we're going to need it when we exit phase space. Andrew, what's the status on the Vasari Task Force?"
The Lieutenant continued without breaking a beat. "There are four Devastator class battleships and two Desolator class dreadnoughts. Our LRMs managed to destroy one of their Maurader class battlecruisers and we believe one was too damaged to continue. At the time of our phase out, it had not fired for two minutes. Their heavy cruiser squadrons are intact, but our LRMs traded missiles favorably to their Assailant heavy frigates and the Sentinel class defense frigates. We estimate that they only have two squadrons of the Sentinels and three of the Assailants. Unfortunately, their entire light frigate strength is intact at eight squadrons."
Forscythe remained thoughtful for a moment. Even without their technological advantage, the Vasari outnumbered TF3 and outmassed it around 3:2. With their tech advantage, Forscythe faced almost twice his own firepower.
Forscythe queued his pad. He knew of the system they were headed to but none of the details. Hmmm, a desert planet by the name of Hades. Not the most hopeful of names, and it was a neutral system which pocketed the Eastern Reaches, too stubborn or too far to accept Trade Order invitation or TEC might. Still, it was a poor system and they might slow the Vasari down. They would at least leave the task force alone, especially with an alien fleet inhabiting the system. At best, they would have enough forces to even the odds.
"Alright, Focker. Anna, you and the Lieutenant grab Beau, Shannon, and Jerome and meet me in the conference room. Let's brainstorm a few options for what's left of the fleet."
---
Neither the TEC Task Force nor the Vasari fleet, despite their more advanced technology, detected the nimble little craft under strict emissions control during their pitched battle, and by the time they reached a point where they could detect such a miniscule phase out with explosions and ECM playing havoc with their systems, no trace of the ship remained.
Yeah. Plus, I really doubt that anyone would be able to capture the same sort of storytelling and prose that WitchFire uses. A story written by more than one author is not a very good one, and tends to degrade the quality. Prime example, the Legacy of the Force series (Also called LOTF, or LOLWTF???) IT was written by 3 authors, and had the quality of a crappy fanfic.
So no, let WitchFire finish her incredible story, no matter how long it takes. I'm content to wait.
^^^agreed
thank god i havent had to do that
...............yet
my mistake
So true. read the first 3 and half and thought it failed to capture the essence of era's storyline.
Agree, I would wait for the rest even it takes months, no one can finish for her.
HERETIC!!! Prepare the Mark of Shame!
Samurye.
The Great Journey is about to begin. But when it does, the weight of your heresy will stay your feet, and you shall be left behind.
May your eyes be plucked out and your soul be stolen by Gordon Brown himself.
The Undying.
"If they came to hear me beg, than they will be disappointed."
"Are you so sure?"
see what you've done samurye? You've quoted halo on a thread where two halo avids lurk. Orodum, game on.
Yeah, I completely agree Caedus. The NJO was an epic story, and it built Jacen up to be the new hero of Star Wars, more so than Luke or anyone. Then along came Dark Nest, which didn't completely screw him up. But LOLWTF raped his character to death.
I know. And I didn't really quote it....
Now the gate has been unlatched, headstones pushed aside. Corpses shift and offer room, a fate you must abide!
Love that quote Orodum!
I've remotely destroyed our Keyships. A security measure. Without them I cannot reach the Ark. But neither then can the thing. I'm trapped. On a beautiful, empty world. Its inhabitants have been safely indexed, every single one of them. They're special--well worth the effort it took to build one final gateway even at this late hour. This may be our last communication. I'm begging you. Fire the Array. Light the weapon, and let it be done.
Aha! So that's what the Gravemind says! I always thought it was
Now the gate has been unlatched, headstones pushed aside. Corpses shift and offal rules, a fate you must abide!
I suppose that's kind of disgusting though. Teh mistery iz sawlvd!
Except now I feel stupid, because I probably could have just looked it up on Halopedia. Durrr.
Resignation is my virtue, like water I ebb and flow. Defeat is merely the addition of time to a sentence I never deserved... but you imposed.
That's one of my favorite Gravemind lines
I have listened through rock and metal and time. now you shall listen.
Well, since some of you are having doubts of whether or not I'll continue this story, I've decided to split the finale into (at least) two parts. I'm going to go ahead and post the first half, which actually ended on a rather interesting note conveniently enough.
Roomie also got a new iMac laptop, and I hate her for it. On a plus side, there may be enough time between her getting rid of it that I might be able to squeeze in enough time to finish the second book.
I've also considered opening a PayPal account to accept donations to help with my various computing costs which'll let me write more, and more often. If this is something you're interested in, send me a message, and I'll see about getting it all together.
A lone man stood impassively among the ruined landscape. Winter had settled on the planet Naeve, and it would be one of the longest, coldest cold seasons in history on the green and blue gem. Most of the main continent had been covered in overcast for the past four months, and darkness began to creep into the souls of the denizens of the ravaged planet.
Some were affected more than others.
Alexander Kol stared at the two unremarkable grave markers. One of the graves was empty. His beloved Amelia's body had never been found, and he doubted it ever would be. The shockwave from one of the impacts had shattered the Gilded Towers's outer skin of clear ceramic and glass and hundreds of people were thrown from their living quarters out into the air.
The other grave was not empty.
The number of dead continued to rise, and the overwhelmed medical establishment had ordered to diggings of mass graves to prevent the number of diseases that flared when such a large collection of corpses were left unattended. Though it gave the battered people activity to keep them occupied, there were always more dead than there were graves.
And Kol had refused to allow Nathaniel to be dumped in one of them like some piece of trash.
It had taken two days for Kol to scratch out a final resting place with a twisted metal rod that had once been used to reinforce a plastcrete wall. He had used that same rod to carve out two unremarkable grave stones, with only the names of his wife and son to mark their funeral mounds.
Alexander spent much of his time in grief, but the cries of his body for food and sleep soon forced him to make contact with other survivors and rescure workers. The destruction was so widespread that many of the less injured people were forced to sleep in massive cities of tents. Many of the buildings had been compromised, as well as transportation. Most of the available vehicles were being used to transport out the critically injured and bring in rations and food supplies.
So, the passing of a transport overhead did not phase him any. Why should it? Shuttles were coming and go at all times as the orbital infrastructure transferred personnel and provisions to the battered surface. In many ways, Tycho was lucky in that it only sustained damage from the Advent bombardment, as opposed to parts of the continents of Asis and Turas, which sustained multiple orbital drops.
Unlike the other shuttles, this one didn't continue on past Kol's position. The noise of its engines didn't fade into the distance but, instead, rose to higher levels. The shuttle began to spin lazily in place as its VTOL system activated and it landed with all the grace of a fat-bellied swine.
Alexander turned to face the shuttle as the rear ramp opened with a depressurized rush of air. The shuttle itself wasn't even in a transport--it was a full-fledged assault shuttle complete with full racks of ordinance on its hull. Assault shuttles were designed to transport and support ground combat troops, and were fully capable of launching either anti-troop cluster missiles or armor piercing ordinance capable of crippling even Vasari warforms. This shuttle was no exception.
As the ramp completed opening, a dozen marines in full battle gear jumped down the ramp and spread out over the shuttle. Though they paid him no mind, Kol wondered what could bring a full squad down in an assault shuttle. His question was quickly answered as a figured followed the marines down the ramp. Though a vac suit covered the body, it was unmistakenly feminine, and Alexander noticed the markings of an admiral on the soulders of the pressure suit.
Kol waited patiently as the figured stepped up to him, removed her helmet, and saluted him brisquely.
"Admiral Alexander Kol?" she asked, then continued on without a pause. "I am Vice Admiral Veronika Eltsina of First Fleet's Forty-eighth Task Force."
He studied the woman. Though the vac suit hid the exact contours of her body, Kol was reasonably sure that she had a compact frame. She was almost a foot short of Kol's own six feet, and much more slender that she should have been, proportionally. Eltsina possessed a rather handsome face with dark tresses that, while not at their best thanks to a long ride in a shuttle with a helmet, were rather luminous.
What caught Kol's attention, though, were the eyes. The person standing before him appeared to be in her thirties, but those eyes were sharp and spoke of decades of experience. That told Kol that she was a recipient of the anti-aging therapy. Judging by her rank and entirely too young appearance, she must have joined her planetary fleet and then the TEC right out of high school.
Kol returned the salute. "Yes, I am Alexander Kol, Admiral."
"We've had a hard time finding you, Admiral," Eltsina replied in a slightly accented voice. "Please, come with me, Sir. I have orders from the Magistrate."
Alexander turned slightly to let his gaze sweep over the marine commandos, who were not looking at him rather pointedly. With one last look at the markers of his family, the admiral turned back to face Eltsina. "Very well, Vice Admiral."
The shuttle ride into orbit gave Kol his first real look at the overall devastation caused by the Naeve Raid. Though only a small percentage of Naeve's orbital infrastructure had been destroy, the overall impact to defensive and military ability had been severe. Kol noticed that several satellite yards were missing--most likely they were the stations that the Exiles had dropped on the planet.
Of the massive shipyards themselves, they were gutted. They were large, ungainly hulks in the best of time. With only minimal point defense, they weren't designed to take much punishment. One of the yards was completely missing--destroyed, and its remains having long ago burned up in Naeve's atmosphere--while the others were only half-functional now. Any ships that were under repairs or construction had been aborted by the lasers of missiles of captured TEC vessels.
Kol's gaze eventually fell onto the planet itself. There was something...odd about it. It was subtle, and he doubted anyone would notice the difference between Naeve's normal healthy outward glow and the somewhat glassy appearance it now had. Kol had spent over half his life in space, and had had plenty of time to study the jeweled Naeve at his leisure.
"It's the aftermath of the orbital drops," said Veronika, leaning over and looking through the view hole that Kol was studying. "They say it will take years for the dust to clear out from the atmosphere."
Alexander only grunted a reply. Something else caught his eye. "That's a lot of activity out there, Admiral."
Veronika nodded. "Yes, sir. The Magistrate ordered the evacuation of Naeve."
Surprise slithered into the back of Kol's mind. It was so hard to care about anything anymore. Naeve had billions of people on planet, and evacuating all of them would be next to impossible. Of course, the Exiles had clearly proven their ability to resort to targetting civilians, and, one way or another, Naeve would be turned into more of a battlefield than it has already. Unless...
"How many capital ships are in your task force, Admiral?"
"Six squadrons, sir. Four Dunov squadrons and two Akkons," she replied instantly.
Not even a single battleship or carrier. They weren't there to defend, they were there to abandon the system.
Kol had to admit that the Aztec, Veronika's flagship, was a handsome ship. The Core Worlds spared no expense, and Veronika's ships were all third generation vessels. With full military designs, these weren't the jerry-rigged civilian vessels he fought the Vasari with half a dozen years ago. They were the most powerful vessels in their class that the terrans could build, with better shields, armor, and weapons than most of the former generation's battleships.
This was one of the problems he had been crusading against at his time in the fleet. Humanity had ground the Vasari to a halt, but the Core Worlds didn't exploit that to go on the offensive. They were content to wait, build up, and allow the Vasari to regain momentum. Oh, of course, there were raids, and Second and Third Fleets were doing admirably in the small skirmishes, but here the Terrans had a chance to liberate captured worlds or at least make the Vasari themselves commit to defense.
And what did they do? They squandered so much power in defensive pickets designed to dissuade Vasari raids. They had a point as the most developed Core Worlds were essential to the war effort, but that was a means to justify their fear that they themselves would find their own systems on the war front.
And so it was, that hundreds of desperately needed capital ships were kept at home in the Core Worlds or in the Northern Kingdoms under 'courtesy' patrols.
Within moments of Kol's arrival on the docking bay, he had been ushered off. Veronika had seemed surprised when an urgent message by her executive officer carried her off, but she gave Alexander a sincere apology before heading off to the flag deck. Kol was just thankful there wasn't a welcoming ceremony. He wasn't in the particular mood required to thoroughly enjoy the side-party--instruments included--and rows upon rows of naval personnel that accompanied the arrival of an admiral aboard a flagship.
Of course, Kol wasn't technically an admiral anymore. Yes, his various medals and distinguished service required anyone in the navy to address him as admiral, even in retirement, but he had no more authority to command a warship than the steward seeing to Veronika's linens. However, it was only a technicality, and Alexander would only be fooling himself if he thought for an instant that it would not become an actuality in the very near future.
"This way, Admiral, if you would please," offered a young lieutenant--Almos, Kol thought his name was---who gestured to a lift. The lieutenant waited patiently as Kol entered the lift--as any junior officer does well to learn in the presence of even a retired flag officer! "I can take you to your quarters, sir, or we can go directly to the br--"
"Take me to the Magistrate," interrupted Kol in a single breath. He somewhat regretted his harsh tone, but he quickly wrote it off. Given what he'd gone through, and his age, he was damn well entitled to a bitter outburst. Still, he though, he'd best learn to control his temper a little more, less he insult not only himself, but the navy reflected upon him.
The Magistrate looked more or less the same to Kol. His hair had turned uniformly gray, and his face was covered in more deep wrinkles than Alexander remembered, but other than those small flaws, he seemed very much his normal self.
Apart, perhaps, from the tired eyes now apart of the Magistrate.
"Admiral Kol," he said softly.
"Magistrate," replied Alexander.
They both looked at each for several moments, neither knowing what to say.
Gerard cleared his throat before gesturing to the desk provided to him by Admiral Eltsina. "Alexander, I cannot adequately express my grief over the passing of your family. I realized it must be a terrible burden, to be surrounded by so much death." The Magistrate paused once more to gather his thoughts. "But I must ask you to shoulder an even greater hardship..."
"Admiral on deck!" shouted the marine officer at the door. The various ratings, lieutenants, and even senior officers turned from their stations and duties to come to attention. Admiral Eltsina, their task force commander, hadn't been scheduled to make an appearance and neither had Admiral Toshinoka, their squadron CO, but none of them before had seen the tall figure clad in the Navy gold on blue of a full fleet admiral.
At least, not outside of a recorded medium.
"Prepare a recording, Lieutenant Dannings," ordered the Admiral to the communications officer.
"Aye, sir!" he replied quickly and inputing a few commands into his console. "You're on, Admiral."
"This is Admiral Alexander Kol, to all ships, to all personnel in Task Force Three Seventy-Five. As of oh-three-thirty-five hours, I have been recalled to active duty. By order of the Trader Emergency Coalition, and with the blessings of Magistrate Gerard and Admiral Veronika Eltsina, I hereby take of the task force with my flag aboard the Gibraltor. That is all."
He looked around at the mixed faces aboard the command deck of the third generation battlecruiser before turning his gaze back to the lieutenant. "Send it out."
Nice, its great that you found one way or another to finish the story
yay she's back i was beginning to think u were one of those people who get a good thing going and then get lazy. sorry for the doubts
more more
HUZZAH!!! You have returned! Our beloved Withchfire has come back! We have missed you, but we have never let our faith waver! Reclaim your place, speak and we will listen.
Welcome back Witchfire, you have been missed. Glad you are still there with your great story telling. Hopefully all is well in your personal life since your last post a while back, we are ready for your next posting and again, welcome back....Bison.... [e digicons]:karma:[/e]
Holy {multiple expletives deleted} WitchFire's back!
YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Emoticons cannot express my joy.
Great story still, WitchFire, and i will be checking every thirty minutes in eager anticipation of the next installment.
"This is the Shadow of Intent. We will deal with the flood."
Hooray! Witchfire's back!
"We are exiles no longer."
Great story. I really hope you get to publish one day
Really great work, Witchfire. Do I detect the influence of David Weber and/or Steve White in your writing? Crusade, perhaps?
Witchfire! You're back! Thats awesome. Your story is damn near amazing, too. if you had the time, id love for you to read over my story and tell me what you think . Its here: http://forums.impulsedriven.com/331326
anyone else who wants to check it out is welcome to as well (thats an up karma for witchfire)
witchfire's back! woohoo. omgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomg
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