The Province Of Terrans 2
A Starshatter adventure
(Art source unknown)
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Index: Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Derelict Warfare
Northstone Firehand once more spared his audience the mundane details. They were, of course, quite sure that whatever traps he fashioned, these were as ingenious as a Terran could make them. Even those with little to no crafting experience, they were aware of the options. The lack of explosive munitions meant not too many IEDs, but since the Spacer had a lot of looted beamguns, there’d be the so called “lazy shooters”.
“Because the Kosmovoi could not move his progeny and since the area itself was easily defensible, Northstone began trapping every conceivable approach. Concealed in damaged bulkheads, the audience saw a number of modified beamguns set on wide-dispersal fire. Those got their simple holo-scopes linked to short-range, but perfectly tuned hand scanners. Explorer and bane of the all Jaern, I knew how they lurked in the shadow.” – Northstone continued his tale, showing a multitude of holo-slides.
“In most cases, these corridors did not require a turret, the few he crafted were saved for the Kosmovoi’s “hatchery”. These simple beamgun traps would fire one power pack each and that was more than aplenty. Paired with a bunch of tripwire triggered blades, also well-hidden along the most used avenues of approach, guaranteed the Jaern would have to either take it super slow, disarming trap after trap, or rush in and die in their scores.”
“Whatever few IEDs I made, these operated by way of simple electrical wire and not hackable systems or prone to jamming wireless codes. Again, placed at certain choke points, the bombs I stuffed with as many good quality bits of looted Jaern armorplates as I possibly could. What they lacked in explosive power, the IEDs compensated with their significant shrapnel kill zone.” – the Spacer said with a sly grin, adding – “A certain poetic justice, killing the cannibals with the sharpened armor of their debased kind, wouldn’t you say, dear friends?”
Northstone made a short, dramatic pause, showing another holo-vid as he explained further – “Barricades and pillboxes we fashioned from sliced bulkheads and spaceship debris, and reinforced them with cheap beam deflectors. Not real shields, these were easy and quick to craft and though bulky, provided some protection by diminishing the strength of particle-beams. These were virtually ineffective against anything else, yet the Jaern had literally no diversity of firearms to boast of.”
“The Egyptians, reformed into the most basic of militia, stood guard at these entrenchments. Bolstered by Niv’s soldiers, who had actual combat experience and much better arms and armor than they usually sported, any Jaern hunter who’d somehow survived the outer layer of booby traps, would have a bad day indeed. The munchers had to charge straight into a forest of metal spears with vibroblade tips made of daggers. Of course, that too had to occur after said Jaern ate at the very least a bout or two of accurate beamfire.” – again, when Northstone said this, he backed it up with another set of holo-slides, depicting the Humans and Vaugn training together.
“My combat experience was with Terran static defense in depth, therefore, I made sure to have backup lines behind these barricades and then... more positions just in case. Of course, the core of our defense was my accurate guns, Niv’s men, and our now empowered by way of telepathic artifacts priestess.” – said the Spacer and he finished his Egyptian beer before addressing the audience once more – “What about the Kosmovoi, I could almost hear you thinking?”
“First, we made sure to cobble up movable platforms for his hatchlings. In case our positions were overwhelmed and we had to run away since one need be prepared for the worst. As for the Kosmovoi himself, fed well, the being was ready to ‘walk us’ between our entrenchments and smite any Jaern who got past us dead with his mighty tentacles. Then there were the odd puddles of hydroponic liquid we strategically poured at certain places...”
“What could be done, was. Thus, I made my way back to FSS Bird Of Hope and engaged in furious spacecraft refurbishment. The thing which helped the most was everything that we got from that hangar, including a working starfighter engine, one which I jerry-rigged together with this...” – and Northstone showed them another holo of that same ghost-ship which now lay in his private hanger, but incorporated into the big transport shuttle’s frame.
The Spacer chuckled, as his audience first gasped and then clapped, Jenn included – “Why, thank you, my dear friends! It was much harder to disassemble it than just connect to its plasma wiring and employ its otherwise powerful reactor not to power guns, but the transport’s basic systems. Imagine the disdain of any other ghost-ship outside when they saw the ‘corpse’ of one of their own, used not to kill, but save lives.”
“As for the shuttle’s energy shields and such, I left this duty to the second power core, the one I looted from the Jaern. There was no point in wasting time crafting elaborate, thick armor-plating since if they so desired, the wraiths who piloted the screening fighters could simply pass through the hull and murder everyone inside. Speed was of greatest importance, therefore I made sure to finely tune the looted engine and the floor-plating so my kin and the Vaugn would not color walls and bulkheads with themselves.”
Northstone made another pause, lady Taia whispering something in his ear. He nodded, proceeded to raise his refilled pint and say – “I raise my glass in memory of those who, despite all of our sacrifices and preparations, did not make it.”
The Roundabout went silent; for about a single star-minute everyone kept their heads low.
More holo-slides and vids were uploaded onto the projector. Nearly two weeks had passed and foodstuffs produced at the Farm, harvested, therefore there was no shortage of supplies. Everything which was of importance, transported back to the landing area, where the Spacer was actively working on the transport shuttle. The latter had nearly been completed, bar seating and other internal refurbishments when the Jaern attacked.
“My friends, you are perhaps wondering why did the munchers not attack us sooner? Back then, I assumed that they were hunting for somebody else to eat. Maybe they, being sneaky, have had a backup storage, one which we had no knowledge of? That other unfortunate souls were devoured as we prepared to escape the derelict? Even though that was not the case, at the time, I must admit, I did feel guilty even though as a Terran, I knew full well that one could not save everyone, no matter how powerful they are.”
Northstone Firehand pointed something out, as he zoomed in on one of the holo-slides. There, the audience witnessed more Jaern and these were decked in a bit different-looking armored suits. This “reinforcement” was joined by smallish groups of skeletal warriors, who swarmed the corridors in their dozens, rushing ahead of the main force.
“As it turns out, there was a much, mush simpler solution. The munchers simply had to lay inside the stasis pod of their former ‘food’, while another hunting pack, one which they’d sent elsewhere, returned to back them up. However, they could not sleep there indefinitely and when these reprobates finally attacked, the scum were just as hungry, irritated, and outright mad as I knew they would be.”
Everyone watched, their eyes glued to the holo, as the Spacer joined his masterful storytelling skill to holo-slides, vids, and scan-data – “You see, I did not care that not all foul ghosts would be vanquished by particle-beams as they progressed at us. Indeed, you can witness how scores of them fell, blasted by the ‘lazy shooters’ or cleaved by hidden vibroblades. I actually wanted some of them to continue, for our Kosmovoi friend would gladly feast upon their wraith-forms!”
Despite them being married with shadow, more than a handful of Jaern fell dead screeching and wailing. Traps were not simply scattered mindlessly, for there was a clear plan in their placement. Oft where a hunter lurked successfully, another lost their head or legs got clipped by a vibroblade. Certain corridors became tombs for the Jaern only because these initially appeared to be lightly trapped. True, many of the skeletons got obliterated by beamfire, however, said booby traps also fried quite a lot of the Jaern.
Eventually, the otherwise well planned, sneaky, multi-pronged attack stalled.
Thanks to multiple layers of traps, Northstone, Niv, and Lady Taia were able to reposition and everyone assumed their defensive positions. The Jaern hunters, split in many small parties, at least those who escaped their sticky fate, were forced to regroup. That was easier thought than done, however, since the Spacer made sure to place an odd trap here and there. This made the degenerate scum think twice and look for snares where there were none.
That won the defenders more time, which the Spacer employed by joining Niv and some of the soldiers into a swift counter attack. One of the smaller Jaern groups was shot to ribbons and this finally drew the attention of wretched Saksulan. Just as Northstone and his raiding party were retreating back towards their positions, armed to the teeth Jaern and their leader slid out from subspace, a swarm of skeletons on their heels.
This part of the holo-footage ended and, as the new files were being uploaded, the Spacer addressed his audience.
“In her impotent rage, the filth wasted her power trying to surround and kill me by folding her best hunters and herself into my near. If we hadn’t prepared and empowered Lady Taia by forging telepathic artifacts, this could’ve been successful.” – said Northstone as he caressed his wife’s hand, her ring aglow with wholesome glitter.
A new set of holo-vids shone from the projector, accompanied by much better sound, all of it derived from good quality scan-data file.
“Witness your doom, Akl’agach!” – cackled Saksulan, the entire shape of her foul stave shifting in space, the top aflame in pinkish fire which promptly barreled towards the Spacer and his Vaugn friends.
When the Kosmovoi “walked” Lady Taia and himself there just a second before the unholy fireball hit, the audience witnessed a marvel of telepathic might most glorious. One of the puddles animated and, bubbling with warm, blue light, canceled the crone’s attack completely. Shrouded in otherworldly glow, the Kosmovoi devastated Saksulan’s Unlife thralls and the skeletons fell apart since their puppeteers were all eaten.
“Not today, wretch!” – shouted with a smile the lady priest and the wings of her tiara shone like the sun when she and Saksulan joined a duel of telepathic mights.
Warp, the space between the two did. Monstrous shapes began to manifest; wicked wall of fire, its flame of black and pink roared at Taia. Mangled bulkheads ripped form the corridor by Saksulan’s telekinetic force barreled in the air like skeletal fists made of metal. Teeth gritting and eyes burning the Egyptian maiden stood tall, unrelenting, like a tower of olden Nile. She countered every single strike with an attack of her own; the vile flames became extinguished by blobs of animated liquid. The latter, shining like blue stars, then transformed into gentle hands which safely deflected the mangled metal slabs away.
The Spacer stood beside her, smirk of pure calmness upon his chiseled face. Pistols drawn, he lay down such withering fire that not a single of Saksulan’s hunters could aid their mistress. Was any beam aimed at Taia, Northstone made sure to place his own body in the way, his personal shield soaking the hit and then, when it eventually overheated, the beautified armor of his glorious spacesuit. Every bit of his peerless marksmanship the explorer employed in this shootout, and the audience’s eye oft was incapable of tracking his pistols.
So fast did he shoot and reload, his arms became a barely recognizable blur! The wholesome hiss of the Deathknell joined the crack of the Ghost Hunter 2000. Gracefully, the legendary explorer led his allies into lifesaving battle, shooting molten holes in the heads of any Jaern armed with heavier weapons or those few who charged in melee. Behind him, brave Niv and his Vaugn had erected a shield wall and unleashed accurate barrages of particle-beams. These were not just aimed to provide covering fire for Northstone and Lady Taia, but suppress any mass assault by the Jaern hunters.
Following a few minutes of vicious combat, they emerged into the Kosmovoi’s hatchery, where their allies had been successfully repulsing one Jaern attack after the other. All automated turrets which Northstone had built were installed here and they proved to be the final game changer. Though there were a number of casualties, a handful Egyptians and two Vaugn, as a whole, the entire Jaern hunting party had been slain.
Witnessing this Saksulan screeched, slimy spittle and foam on her lips – “Demented fools! Mere food cannot best one such as I, an avatar of The One almighty!”
Stave planted firmly into the mangled floor-plating, she invoked the power of her fake god and the ancient armored mummies, they stirred from their sleep. With horrid to behold unnatural movements, these never-before-seen alien warriors descended upon Egyptians and Vaugn alike. While the Kosmovoi immediately walked space and confronted these possessed by wraiths mummified horrors, a number of Humans and Vaugn fell to their alien weaponry.
Joining the mummies were a great number of the ancient derelict warship’s crew. Cyborgs, a hundred strong, they attacked from nearly every possible direction. Overwhelmed and overheating, the defensive turrets were only able to stop a third of them, before their power reserves became depleted. It was then, when the Vaugn soldiers blew up the IEDs and olden cybernetic flesh became riddled with shrapnel, wiping the bulk of this new force.
As the audience watched, Northstone of then wasted not a single second, but pressed on. Those whom he did not shoot dead, they reeled back, terror in their vile little hearts. Though there were a couple of hunters still left among the living, armed to the faceplates as they were, they looked almost ready to break and run away.
“Cower, for you too will soon join them in death!” – wailed the weakened Jaern crone, who became ever more haggard with each passing moment and saw nothing, but Taia and Northstone.
Then the audience heard Niv’s Vaugn boisterous laughter as he and his soldiers charged the cyber-enhanced cadavers, vibroblade swinging and beamguns shooting – “We... Terr’aan. Do battle, already dead.”
“What happened?!” – shouted Northstone, shooting the wretch point-blank with his Ghost Sweeper 2000 and sending her reeling – “You don’t look too good, oh ‘mighty avatar’.”
Lady Taia, most of her own telepathic force spent, summoned what power she had left and, Northstone’s dagger in hand, cleaved at the crone – “Pay you will for every life taken!”
In a battle where the Jaern stave would’ve otherwise had a distinct advantage, her wielder now drained and reeling, the Spacer blade was victorious. Hit over and over, vile flames diminished and Unlife force waning, this olden artifact, the staff of flayed dreams cracked. Her Terran-made blade shimmering with blueish telepathic glow, Lady Taia basically chopped the Jaern stave in two. Unleashing a painful scream of its own, this weapon of the debased, shattered!
Pieces turning into dust and then nothing, suddenly, the Jaern priestess appeared nigh a mummy herself. Skin dead and peeling off her withering, brownish flesh, what was once a powerful servant of The One, a monstrous wretch capable of denying many thousands their future, now lay at Northstone’s feet, Taia ready to deliver the final blow.
“Forsake me not... masteeer... where... art... thou!” – Saksulan’s whimpered her last foul breath and, following a nod from Northstone, Taia plunged the shining dagger deep into her skull.
However, even with the mummies finally being defeated by the Kosmovoi, the leftover Jaern hunters running for their lives, and a few token cyborgs retreating from the area, to the audience watching, something appeared off. True, a few of the patrons had forgotten what the vile crone and her zealots came here to achieve, but everyone else felt as if someone was dancing on their graves.
There, where Saksulan’s turning to dust corpse lay, formed a giant of a being!
Near twenty feet tall, this humanoid creature was so alien, that not one member of the audience could discern his species. Clad in what appeared inconceivable to create for all sentients who now gazed upon it suit of armor, a shroud of reddish gloom surrounded this one like a shield. Barreling at Taia and Northstone there was a blade; thin and ten feet long, this sword was made of crackling anomalous energy. It was as if some deranged swordsmith ripped a piece from the warped space protecting the derelict warship and, by use of pure malice, forged a blade from it.
Using what fuel he still had, the Spacer masterfully maneuvered away from this being. Yet as soon as the audience shared gasps of relief, they saw this giant “walk space” and in a manner not different from the Kosmovoi, he blocked their escape. Taia’s shield saved her from certain death before being drained and the Spacer’s armor, for some unfathomable reason, it protected him, while the starship’s very hull, when cut, offered the same resistance as butter to a hot knife.
Reeling from the insurmountably powerful blows, the two shared one look before they stood up. Northstone had fired his last two power packs at the horror, achieving close to nothing. Taia expended all her force battling the crone, bar the ability to fold space remained. Half the Vaugn lay dead and one could not even begin to imagine the hastily formed into a militia Egyptians standing a chance against... whoever or whatever this was.
The vid stopped and Northstone addressed the audience – “No ammunition left, I holstered my guns and, unwilling to die with empty hands, drew the Khopesh. Since the Kosmovoi was still fighting what was left of the alien mummies, and Niv and his men, helped the Egyptians stay alive, it would be I and milady Taia against the mighty horror. One which had been flying this now derelict warship into battle, long before the Universe conceived our species.”
The Egyptian priestess nodded, a smile on her bonny face, and as soon as her husband said this, she added – “Though my dear star-walker is correct when he said that we stood alone, joined we were and by a most delightfully mysterious ally!”
Northstone linked what was to be the last pack of files onto the holoprojector and completed his epic tale – “What you will now see, my friends, I could’ve imagined not even in my wildest dreams. As I prepared to fight for my life, she’d been uttering one of her priestly chants, beckoning the ascended ancient Hor for aid. The new ring that I made had been glowing more and more, as she fought the Jaern wretch, but now, it released a blinding flash. Indeed, had I not had the holo-slides and recordings, I would’ve refused to believe my very eyes.”
The audience watched as an ephemeral white eagle materialized out of thin air! With eyes of crystal blue, her wings gray, the bird was half the size of that towering swordsman, yet much nimbler. With a mighty swish, her wings created an immaterial wind and yet so strong that the monstrous being was pushed back. Bowing at Northstone, the white eagle appeared as if she beckoned him to ride her and the man, awaiting no second chance, leapt on her back.
“Much of what happened then is a bit of a haze.” – said Northstone and he and Narin Lorat’za shared the tiniest of smiles, before the Spacer continued – “Yet what I clearly remember was that I swooped at this giant monster, every time the Khopesh in my hand cleaving through its armor, while my ghostly eagle clawed at it. More, while my priestess prayed, her ring aglow like a miniature sun, my bird fired beams of shining blue light from her eyes. I felt ephemeral myself, free and full of such unwavering hope, that I truly believed this monstrous blade made of anomalous force could never harm me!”
“Earlier, somehow my venerable spacesuit had resisted this foul sword and now, flying with speed, directing the eagle’s flight without a thought, this blade of old Egypt in my hand, it found its mark. Slashed through its indescribable face, the horrid giant let loose a wail and vanished. As soon as I landed, my eagle... she disappeared too. What happened then?” – and the Spacer described everything in such vivid detail, that the last piece of his tale was perhaps even more captivating than everything which his audience witnessed so far.
“The derelict quaked and its corridors rumbled. Deep in my gut, as a Spacer and explorer, I felt that we had overstayed our welcome. While everything began crashing down our heads, it was beyond clear that not even with all the luck in the Universe could I, Niv, and the battered Egyptians, trek across this vengeful starcraft back to our landing zone and salvation. It was then, when Lady Taia asked us, including the Kosmovoi, to gather around...”
Northstone let the holoprojector do its job, waiting for half-a-minute until everyone watched them being folded by Taia back to Northstone’s faithful starship. With their best speed, everyone boarded the ships and, energy shields extended, flew through the hull breach and away from the derelict.
“This,” – and the Spacer showed them his latest spacesuit mural – “it depicts me piloting the two ships at the same time, while we escaped the derelict’s anomalous fields and braved one last attack from its ghost-ship starfighters. Though mighty and numerous, the latter were somehow flying worse than when first I met them. As for the fields of anomalous energies, they too were weaker and our overcharged shielding, though it eventually collapsed from overheating, managed to withstand them.”
As they marveled upon his beautiful new mural, the audience watched Northstone perform one marvelously graceful maneuver after the other, besting what few ghost-ships attacked him and, eventually, reaching the area where he could perform a clean hyperjump. Behind, the space around this olden derelict wavered, warped, and as they watched with bated breaths, the Roundabout’s patrons saw this starcraft vanish.
“Perhaps it was the luck of Spacers?” – asked Northstone a rhetorical question, when his tale was finally over – “Or the fact that I had befriended a Kosmovoi? Regardless, you be the judge, dear friends. As for our trip back to Terran space, it was fast and uneventful. Half of Niv’s soldiers survived and are now under orders by Sirius Army Command. My Egyptian kin... they too were luckier than most in their situation and are, all forty who survived, happily living back on Earth. Perhaps they are swimming in the Nile, their children playing or fishing, as I speak?”
He stood from his storyteller’s chair and offered Lady Taia a hand – “I, Northstone Firehand, say that this tale is true and have presented you all with evidence, both digital and material.”
There was a boisterous loud round of applause, the Spacer somehow able to fit perfectly in his allotted storytelling time. He, his wife, and the Vaugn soldier proceeded to bow many a time, gave holographs, before finally, they left the legendary Roundabout. Though no one knew what the next destination of these three was, the patrons assumed and with great degree of validity, Northstone and his young wife were going on a honeymoon.
Indeed, one of the elderly space wolves, the captain of a cruise liner, he swore by his honor, that the young family had Mars as their destination. Would they enjoy the terraformed planet’s many vacation spots, ride her megaconcrete highways together with some of Northstone’s bikar in laws? Or would they fly to Earth, Egypt, and instead look for the descendants of Lady Taia’s siblings?
He was a Spacer and she, a holy telepath. Whatever they chose now, there was nothing and no one who could stop them. Even the ender of all things, the Reaper, they would greet as an old friend. They’d offer him drinks, and feed him tasty delectables, for he had cheered for them and the demise of their degenerate foes many a time...
(*_*_*)
Dear reader, please do not forget to post your pick in the comments below, and elaborate upon why you think our protagonist should do so.
Thank you, oh marvelous bard, for this, the story you labored long on.
I can't wait for the next one.
This was so excellent! Loved it!