Over ten millenia ago our ancestors reached out across the heavens, and became rulers of all that they surveyed; that was until the great war occurred. An upstart nation, the Terranites wished to challenge Metallinautsi supremacy, the war was devastating. For nearly twenty years the war waged across both empires, planets were slagged, civilians brutally murdered and in the end it was our technological might that brought the war abruptly to an end. For years we were proficient in temporal technology, but with the advent of the Equinox, nothing would ever be the same. A truce was offered, and it was refused. So in the blink of an eye, a heavily populated core system was erased from time and space, nine billion lives gone in a nanosecond never to be retrieved. Peace soon followed, yet it was an uneasy truce, fleets continued to grow on either side of the demilitarized zone, rumors of a twin ship to the Equinox, the Solstice, began flying through out both empires. The Terranites hired a large mercenary force of a neutral disposition to attack the alleged location...
Sector 12, Black projects dry docks
Colonel James Radcliff was over seeing the construction of what was incorrectly labeled as the Equinox's twin, the Solstice. She was to be all that the Equinox is and more. A floating super fortress, she was eight times the size of the Equinox. She had full manufacturing capabilities, even able to construct the new Phalanx class Superdreadnoughts. Despite her manufacturing capability, she possessed eighty times the conventional fire power that the Equinox had, and nearly three thousand percent the temporal fire power including nine tesseraction arrays, in short, she was the most powerful military vessel the multiverse had yet seen; and she was three months from deployment.
Currently the Colonel found himself pouring over somewhere between nine thousand holographic portfolios. He had hand picked the first one hundred and fifty thousand crewmen, from command staff, to grease monkey, now was the time to pick the elite "black hand" fighter crew, consisting of eight thousand of the most skilled and toughest fighters on this plane of existence.
With a deep breath he stood up, pushing his hover chair away from his desk and walked over to the enormous glass window and gazed upon the hulk of a spacecraft that was before him. Nearly two hundred and fifty kilometers in length, and almost one hundred and seventy five kilometers in width she was not only an impressive feet of military hardware, but a testament to Metallinautsi engineering. The colonel let a small grin cross his aged face as he thought about the shift in political power this meant not only for the empire, but for himself. Once the Terranites had been dispatched, he would make a bid for power against the emperor; and the Solstice was his ace in the hole.
A whimsical chime broke the cold and quiet silence of his office, and the colonel snapped out of his machinations. The chime sounded again. Radcliff briskly walked over to his desk and tapped his index finger on a purple flashing button, "Colonel Radcliff" he said.
"Colonel, we have lost contact with the Vindictive" a feminine A.I. said appearing before him.
"What do you mean we lost the Vindictive?" the colonel said in a sharp snide tone.
"Sir, as of right now, we have lost contact with her, even her temporal hyperspace transponder is non-responsive" the digital being said.
"How does one lose a state of the art Superdreadnought that aside from what is in those dry-docks, and the Equinox, is the supreme military craft in the known multiverse?" he retorted, anger rising in his voice.
"I have no answers sir, my data banks are currently running all scenarios" the A.I. responded.
"And I would require those answers now" Radcliff barked.
"I have ruled out mechanical failure, hull rupture and core containment breach based on the last readings reported by the on-board A.I." she said quickly.
"Where does that leave us?" the colonel said putting his left hand over his face, as he sat in his hover chair.
"Outside attack" she said point blank.
The colonel looked up at her sharply, "How sure are you".
After a millisecond lag she responded, "Eighty percent sir, I have re-run my calculation two hundred times".
After a moment, the colonel stood up, "Computer activate phased-cloak, raise shields and recall all vessels on full readi---" his sentences was interrupted by a violent shock to the station that knocked him to the ground. As he stood up, he glanced out his large window and saw a sizable Terranite fleet engaging the station, and there were no auxiliary craft flying his flag were to be seen.
In The Echoes of Eternity
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Metallinauts
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The Terranites
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Re: In The Echoes of Eternity
How does one deal with the insanity of losing something that never existed? How cold, calculating and corrupted does race have to be to erase an entire system? What kind of monsters….? We, The Terranites were left to mourn the void of time, space and emotion stolen from us by the Cold Metal Beings, these Metallinautsi…We Terranites were left freezing and stunned by the coldness of the Metallinautsi. We limped, ashamed, and crying truce; trying to cope with our wounds. Our time for coping is over. Our leader Karol Magnus has called the Dende-Terran from the Northern fringe systems to wreak the vengeance of the Terranites on the Metallinautsi where they are weakest. The Dende will take no prisoners, take no bargains, and accept no reason. They will take the hot blood, the raw sanity, the pure anguish and the whaling of their victims. The Dende-Terran are the hot flaming vengeance that will melt the ice and rekindle the Terranite flame. They will never falter, and they will not fail.
Moments after the demise of the Vindictive
Those Metallinautsi, Captain Baal thought, were formidable. He surveyed the seals on his armor, wiped some of the Metallinautsi entrails off his heat hawk, and took a little pride in remembering how those entrails got there to begin with. Baal had been briefed earlier on the details of this operation. It would most likely end in death of all involved, he figured that much. One could hardly call it an operation though; it was more of a mad massed assault on the dry-docks. Seven planets worth of Dende Assault Legionnaires had volunteered for this operation. Over three hundred thousand mercs had volunteered the part of Terranite vengeance, pro-bono. From over twenty different insertion points the first wave was going to weave and hack their way to the dry-docks holding The Solstice and secure a path for the second wave of assault legionnaire sappers with neutronium charges.
Banter had broken out amongst some of the sergeants
“Yeah? I’ll bet you my entire pension that I take 24 Metal Men with me before my last breath�
“Hah twenty four?! I can guarantee at least 30 Metal Men!
Baal broke in “Hush your squawking!� He hissed before breaking bearing into a smile, “Every Dende knows that at least fifty must be slain before you even think about waging your pension�
Small radio alarms pulsed signaling a hull breach and eminent boarding.
At once, Baal primed his reflexes and his mind for the hot blood about to be spilt. A second later he began barking orders
“DENDE TO THE BATTLE READY! CAPTAIN SINCE YOU’RE SO EAGER TO EARN YOUR PENSION YOU WILL TAKE POINT ON THE MAIN FORMATION ONCE WE BREACH. DENDE! COLUMN FORMATION UNTIL YOU PENETRATE INTO THE MAIN CORRIDOR, EYES ON OBJECTIVE….. They are metal. We are the crucible.�
The doors flew open, Terranite shock troopers burst through the door into the hostile innards of the Metallinautsi station. Death trap and pillbox infested hallways the width 60 m and heights of 20m were flooded to a frenzied brim. Mayhem reigned.
Baal flew on his first group of victims who had wholly not expected something as large as Baal to approach with velocity that he had. Baal was upon them. Heat Hawks hissing he drew across them and steaming blade separated the Metallinautsi troopers from themselves. Even as the formation of the 8 metal men dropped to the ground, Baal was upon another.
As his body swung and executed through the movements of combat he was vaguely aware that he was carving through a meat shield of auxiliaries. How typically Metallinautsi, he thought incredulously. Baal continued his work waiting for the real threat “twenty two�… “twenty three�…..
Moments after the demise of the Vindictive
Those Metallinautsi, Captain Baal thought, were formidable. He surveyed the seals on his armor, wiped some of the Metallinautsi entrails off his heat hawk, and took a little pride in remembering how those entrails got there to begin with. Baal had been briefed earlier on the details of this operation. It would most likely end in death of all involved, he figured that much. One could hardly call it an operation though; it was more of a mad massed assault on the dry-docks. Seven planets worth of Dende Assault Legionnaires had volunteered for this operation. Over three hundred thousand mercs had volunteered the part of Terranite vengeance, pro-bono. From over twenty different insertion points the first wave was going to weave and hack their way to the dry-docks holding The Solstice and secure a path for the second wave of assault legionnaire sappers with neutronium charges.
Banter had broken out amongst some of the sergeants
“Yeah? I’ll bet you my entire pension that I take 24 Metal Men with me before my last breath�
“Hah twenty four?! I can guarantee at least 30 Metal Men!
Baal broke in “Hush your squawking!� He hissed before breaking bearing into a smile, “Every Dende knows that at least fifty must be slain before you even think about waging your pension�
Small radio alarms pulsed signaling a hull breach and eminent boarding.
At once, Baal primed his reflexes and his mind for the hot blood about to be spilt. A second later he began barking orders
“DENDE TO THE BATTLE READY! CAPTAIN SINCE YOU’RE SO EAGER TO EARN YOUR PENSION YOU WILL TAKE POINT ON THE MAIN FORMATION ONCE WE BREACH. DENDE! COLUMN FORMATION UNTIL YOU PENETRATE INTO THE MAIN CORRIDOR, EYES ON OBJECTIVE….. They are metal. We are the crucible.�
The doors flew open, Terranite shock troopers burst through the door into the hostile innards of the Metallinautsi station. Death trap and pillbox infested hallways the width 60 m and heights of 20m were flooded to a frenzied brim. Mayhem reigned.
Baal flew on his first group of victims who had wholly not expected something as large as Baal to approach with velocity that he had. Baal was upon them. Heat Hawks hissing he drew across them and steaming blade separated the Metallinautsi troopers from themselves. Even as the formation of the 8 metal men dropped to the ground, Baal was upon another.
As his body swung and executed through the movements of combat he was vaguely aware that he was carving through a meat shield of auxiliaries. How typically Metallinautsi, he thought incredulously. Baal continued his work waiting for the real threat “twenty two�… “twenty three�…..
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Metallinauts
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Re: In The Echoes of Eternity
In the operation center deep in the docks the colonel watched as the Terranite scum began so besiege the station. Then the hull breach came, but he was not wholly unprepared.
"Auxiliary guard to the breach site, I want power armor there on the double" he began to bark. The whole station rocked as three Leto class vessels began pounding the station full bore. "Where the fuck is my fleet!" Radcliff screamed as he stood up, wiping blood from the gash he received from hitting his head on that last jostle. Once again the feminine A.I. appeared.
"Fleet E.T.A. is less than thirty seconds" she said.
"Excellent, upload me to the neural network, tell all the captains to do the same" Radcliff said.
With in an instant the dark operations center faded away and he was in a blank white landscape as far as the eye could see. "Computer, upload battle schematics", there was a small chime and then the entire battle that was raging around the station was now raging around him. "Call up the Venus class ships" he ordered. Suddenly before him was the five captains of the Venus Battleships, "Captains, activate the FTLi generators on your vessels, maximum radius and then orbit the battle 3 light minutes out; dismissed". The captains saluted and carried out the orders, he saw in the battle raging around him the five ships pull out of the battle a safe distance and then begin orbit. "Computer, display all active FTLi in the field", less than a second later the entire screen was engulfed in a blue sphere 26 light minutes. Excellent Radcliff thought to himself. After several minutes of working out battle plans with the 3,000 warships in the region he disengaged the neural network.
Back on the bridge roughly twenty seconds after he "left" the colonel noticed that the Dende had broken through the first and second lines of auxiliaries. "Where are the god-damned armor jocks?" he yelled at the operations crew.
"They are still getting suited up, they should be ready for rapid response in about forty five seconds" a general said from the front of the holo-table.
In the halls
After what seemed an eternity to staff sergeant Geralds, from seemingly nowhere a full platoon of Black armor came pouring through hidden jumpgates on the ceiling. One drop knee first on to the head of Terranite power armor. The unsuspecting victim collapsed on to his back. He swung powerfully with the heat hawk in his hand only to find the arm removed from his body by the Metallinautsi plasma saber the soldier was wielding. In one fluid motion the soldier cut off the arm, and plunged the blade in to the Terranites armored face. This motion also ducked some retaliatory fire which found it's mark on the staff sergeant's legs and blew them off his body leaving him writhing in a pool of his own blood screaming in pain.
His savior in black power armor picked him up with one arm, and in the other hand he wielded a multi-sensory flash-bang that he chucked into the cluster of Terranites. He then threw his wounded comrade through a jump gate before using his personal teleportation device to put himself in the mix of stunned Terranite hulks and began slashing his way to freedom.
"Auxiliary guard to the breach site, I want power armor there on the double" he began to bark. The whole station rocked as three Leto class vessels began pounding the station full bore. "Where the fuck is my fleet!" Radcliff screamed as he stood up, wiping blood from the gash he received from hitting his head on that last jostle. Once again the feminine A.I. appeared.
"Fleet E.T.A. is less than thirty seconds" she said.
"Excellent, upload me to the neural network, tell all the captains to do the same" Radcliff said.
With in an instant the dark operations center faded away and he was in a blank white landscape as far as the eye could see. "Computer, upload battle schematics", there was a small chime and then the entire battle that was raging around the station was now raging around him. "Call up the Venus class ships" he ordered. Suddenly before him was the five captains of the Venus Battleships, "Captains, activate the FTLi generators on your vessels, maximum radius and then orbit the battle 3 light minutes out; dismissed". The captains saluted and carried out the orders, he saw in the battle raging around him the five ships pull out of the battle a safe distance and then begin orbit. "Computer, display all active FTLi in the field", less than a second later the entire screen was engulfed in a blue sphere 26 light minutes. Excellent Radcliff thought to himself. After several minutes of working out battle plans with the 3,000 warships in the region he disengaged the neural network.
Back on the bridge roughly twenty seconds after he "left" the colonel noticed that the Dende had broken through the first and second lines of auxiliaries. "Where are the god-damned armor jocks?" he yelled at the operations crew.
"They are still getting suited up, they should be ready for rapid response in about forty five seconds" a general said from the front of the holo-table.
In the halls
After what seemed an eternity to staff sergeant Geralds, from seemingly nowhere a full platoon of Black armor came pouring through hidden jumpgates on the ceiling. One drop knee first on to the head of Terranite power armor. The unsuspecting victim collapsed on to his back. He swung powerfully with the heat hawk in his hand only to find the arm removed from his body by the Metallinautsi plasma saber the soldier was wielding. In one fluid motion the soldier cut off the arm, and plunged the blade in to the Terranites armored face. This motion also ducked some retaliatory fire which found it's mark on the staff sergeant's legs and blew them off his body leaving him writhing in a pool of his own blood screaming in pain.
His savior in black power armor picked him up with one arm, and in the other hand he wielded a multi-sensory flash-bang that he chucked into the cluster of Terranites. He then threw his wounded comrade through a jump gate before using his personal teleportation device to put himself in the mix of stunned Terranite hulks and began slashing his way to freedom.
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The Terranites
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Re: In The Echoes of Eternity
Station Hall Ways
“HAHAHA splendid teleporting power armor and armor cavalry...All unit captains and NCO’s engage in jamming enemy signals, engage multi-spectrum scanners for energy spikes from those fraggin’ teleporters , General advisory -enemy armor incoming.�
Baal was now truly feeling the true brunt of the Metallinausti response, his Dende units now totally engulfed in close quarters hand-to-hand combat. Every inch of space the Dende Terran had stolen from the Metallinautsi was littered with the bodies of combatants and was rife with Ozone from the sheer amount energy that had passed through the air en transit to target. It appeared that the element of surprise held little sway against beings such as the Metallinautsi.
Baal switched off the command frequency and onto the common band and gained his bearings in the fleeting moment of respite. Various utterances one might expect over a common band in the heat of battle were at once audible to Baal. Through the screaming, cursing, orders, and other growling chatter Baal put together the picture. It seemed of the multi hundreds of prongs that had penetrated the Metallinautsi station some had stalled, some had merged into others, and some had been totally annihilated by unexpected Metallinautsi troop masses. Baal garnered that of the many prongs, his Prong and a second approaching generally due east were the most successful. At all appearances 100 meters stood between Baal and his goal. 100 meters to the Solstice.
As soon as the ebb in combat in came it vanished in a tide of new belligerents. Baal powered forward into the throng of bodies Closing in nanoseconds he became acutely aware two parsec long power spikes on his 4 and 12 o’ clock that hailed the near instantaneous apparition of Metallinautsi power armor. Instantly maneuvering his thrusters up he flashed to the direct top of his would be killers flinging his heat hawk to his 4 and connecting his foot to the under chin of his assailant. As the 4 o’clock killer sizzled and crumpled the 12 o’clock flew uncontrollably upward where Baal quite unceremoniously dismembered him.
Baal landed hard, a visible buckling in the floor marking his impact. He cast his glance up and there it was! the entrance causeway to the Solstice. Flicking to his command frequency he virtually screamed with a giddy vengeance “THIS IS CAPTAIN BAAL I HAVE A VISUAL ON DRY DOCK, SAPPERS ON ME NOW.� Seemingly able to sense the Dende intentions the Metal men all at once disappeared; some behind the blast door and others into mid-air.
Seconds later Sappers carrying charges were setting charges against the blast doors. Baal stood some distance back knowing the volatile nature of their work. With blinding spike 15 to 20 Metallinautsi power armor materialized amongst the Sappers. This time it was the metal men with the element of surprise. Then Baal witnessed in the melee one of the Metal men accidently fire his weapon into the charges. As it had started, the melee ended in a flash of light. All that was left was an organic mist and a surprisingly large breach in the blast doors. Baal had guessed that the Sappers really, really wanted that door open.
Baal vectored his jets forward screaming towards the Solstice proclaiming at the top of his lungs “INTO THE BREACH!�
“HAHAHA splendid teleporting power armor and armor cavalry...All unit captains and NCO’s engage in jamming enemy signals, engage multi-spectrum scanners for energy spikes from those fraggin’ teleporters , General advisory -enemy armor incoming.�
Baal was now truly feeling the true brunt of the Metallinausti response, his Dende units now totally engulfed in close quarters hand-to-hand combat. Every inch of space the Dende Terran had stolen from the Metallinautsi was littered with the bodies of combatants and was rife with Ozone from the sheer amount energy that had passed through the air en transit to target. It appeared that the element of surprise held little sway against beings such as the Metallinautsi.
Baal switched off the command frequency and onto the common band and gained his bearings in the fleeting moment of respite. Various utterances one might expect over a common band in the heat of battle were at once audible to Baal. Through the screaming, cursing, orders, and other growling chatter Baal put together the picture. It seemed of the multi hundreds of prongs that had penetrated the Metallinautsi station some had stalled, some had merged into others, and some had been totally annihilated by unexpected Metallinautsi troop masses. Baal garnered that of the many prongs, his Prong and a second approaching generally due east were the most successful. At all appearances 100 meters stood between Baal and his goal. 100 meters to the Solstice.
As soon as the ebb in combat in came it vanished in a tide of new belligerents. Baal powered forward into the throng of bodies Closing in nanoseconds he became acutely aware two parsec long power spikes on his 4 and 12 o’ clock that hailed the near instantaneous apparition of Metallinautsi power armor. Instantly maneuvering his thrusters up he flashed to the direct top of his would be killers flinging his heat hawk to his 4 and connecting his foot to the under chin of his assailant. As the 4 o’clock killer sizzled and crumpled the 12 o’clock flew uncontrollably upward where Baal quite unceremoniously dismembered him.
Baal landed hard, a visible buckling in the floor marking his impact. He cast his glance up and there it was! the entrance causeway to the Solstice. Flicking to his command frequency he virtually screamed with a giddy vengeance “THIS IS CAPTAIN BAAL I HAVE A VISUAL ON DRY DOCK, SAPPERS ON ME NOW.� Seemingly able to sense the Dende intentions the Metal men all at once disappeared; some behind the blast door and others into mid-air.
Seconds later Sappers carrying charges were setting charges against the blast doors. Baal stood some distance back knowing the volatile nature of their work. With blinding spike 15 to 20 Metallinautsi power armor materialized amongst the Sappers. This time it was the metal men with the element of surprise. Then Baal witnessed in the melee one of the Metal men accidently fire his weapon into the charges. As it had started, the melee ended in a flash of light. All that was left was an organic mist and a surprisingly large breach in the blast doors. Baal had guessed that the Sappers really, really wanted that door open.
Baal vectored his jets forward screaming towards the Solstice proclaiming at the top of his lungs “INTO THE BREACH!�
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Metallinauts
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Re: In The Echoes of Eternity
Solstice Ops Center
Radcliff rested himself easily into the command chair of the Solstice. Upon straightening his uniform jacket he looked over to the weapons center. Several men ran about the many holo-display panels. "What is the status of the Station?" he inquired.
A burly looking man responded, "The Dende have breached the dock, the are about to mount an assault on us" his voice quite calm given the situation.
"Very well, raise all shields, aim kinetic harpoons at their locations on the station and fire at will." Radcliff said nonchalantly.
"Sir, we still have personnel in those sections" the burly man said with an air of alarm in his voice.
"Yes, and be glad you aren't now fire" the Colonel said.
"Aye sir" the weapons officer said wearily.
The Solstice hummed to life as several layers of shields came active and disintegrated the Dende attempting to board her. Then, from hidden ports, scores of magnetic launchers swiviled in to position and fire tiny nuetronium pellets at c-fraction speeds, tearing the station to shreds, along with all inhabitants aboard.
Radcliff rested himself easily into the command chair of the Solstice. Upon straightening his uniform jacket he looked over to the weapons center. Several men ran about the many holo-display panels. "What is the status of the Station?" he inquired.
A burly looking man responded, "The Dende have breached the dock, the are about to mount an assault on us" his voice quite calm given the situation.
"Very well, raise all shields, aim kinetic harpoons at their locations on the station and fire at will." Radcliff said nonchalantly.
"Sir, we still have personnel in those sections" the burly man said with an air of alarm in his voice.
"Yes, and be glad you aren't now fire" the Colonel said.
"Aye sir" the weapons officer said wearily.
The Solstice hummed to life as several layers of shields came active and disintegrated the Dende attempting to board her. Then, from hidden ports, scores of magnetic launchers swiviled in to position and fire tiny nuetronium pellets at c-fraction speeds, tearing the station to shreds, along with all inhabitants aboard.