Rise of the Kirin 22 - 24

[Cmdr Wyvern]

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Chapter 22 (Hell-fight)
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"What, in the name of Giles, do you think your doing?" Zorr's sombre tones rang solemnly in Shulths mind as he spun the ship slowly, still running on full burners into the Thargoid fleet.

"Can't talk, I just need to clear friendly ships." Shulth thought in response, as he twisted the Hammer violently counter clockwise, narrowly avoiding the spinning edges of 3 Thargoid warships.

"SHIELDS AT 97%." The bio-mechanical AI recited. The voice drifted through Udians mind again "Your not...... you fragging are! Your not going to make it! Your going to get us all killed you mad bastard." Shulth couldn't respond to Orbans words. He was too busy helping the Hammer cross-calculate and assess the threat potential of over two hundred robot fighters, ten war ships and three battle ships. Then came the words he had been hoping and praying for: "PLASMA TURRETS WITHIN RANGE. MULTIPLE FIRING SOLUTIONS CALCULATED. FIRE AT WILL." The crew of the Hammer of Sorrow didn't need to be told twice. Within seconds green plasma broadsides and the 2 awesomely powerful white cannons opened up delivering devastating damage to the Thargoid fleet as Udian barreled through them.

"SHIELDS AT 80%." The upper white cannon slammed three clean shots into an approaching carrier blowing it to pieces. Space shone as the shrapnel slammed into the surrounding Thargoid ships. The lower cannon was destroying war ships at roughly one per shot as they spun past. But the Thargoids being a fearless race continued despite the sheer shock and awe created by the Hammer. Even in full fight it wasn't nearly enough to delay the ferocious counter assault.

"SHIELDS AT 63%." A wall of fire met Udian as he penetrated deeply into the Thargoid lines. Robot fighters skittered off the hull as he desperately dodged the turning form of a warship as it peppered his ship with laser fire. Speeding past it caught a 3 turret broadside, sending it spinning listlessly away venting hull plates and fuel.

"SHIELDS AT 46%." This wasn't good, the tube in the Thargoid lines that the Hammer had opened up was being exploited by other craft in the fleet. Udian cursed, "Zorr! Tell those ships to back off!" Turning his mind back to the fight he realized with growing horror how much his momentary lack of concentration would cost him as a Thargoid battle ship loomed directly in front. Tearing the ship through a desperate sling shot around the Battleship he skittered off his opponents shields like a pebble on a mill pond. The battle ship threw everything it had at the Hammer. Lasers danced off the weakening shields as plasma bolts refracted and reflected around them draining more and more precious energy. The white cannon slammed home a crippling reply. The searing white plasma several times hotter than the surface of most suns made a mockery of the Thargoids shielding. The second round struck home lopping off one of the battle ships outer spinning arms. Immediately it began to pitch violently as centrifugal force began to rip at the rest of its structure.

"SHIELDS AT 19% CORE OUTPUT AT 95%." He needed just a little more time there were only 2 friendly traces left on the scanners now in a sea of flashing green and orange. Twisting the ship even deeper into the Thargoid formation the side turrets slammed one last salvo into the already crippled battleship. It detonated, sending spinning shards of saucer section slamming into the Hammer and any other ships in the immediate area. Udian was rocked by the force of the blow as the wing punched along the side of his retreating craft.

"SHIELDS BYPASSED, F.O.D. IMPACT. VAPORSTASIS MEASURES ACTIVATED. MAG SHELL ACTIVATED. EXPELLED NANITE RECOVERY IN PROGRESS. PORT ENGINE INOPERABLE, REGENERATION TIME 8 HOURS. WITCH FUEL INJECTION SYSTEM AUTOMATIC SAFETY SHUT OFF ENGAGED, MAXIMUM SPEED REDUCED TO NOUGHT POINT ONE NINE TWO. SHIELDS STEADY AT 4%." Normally with injectors most ships could just about outrun a Thargoid. It took a lot of fuel but it was possible. Without injectors, any ship became a very easy target.

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Chapter 23 (Hard Negotiations)
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It was odd that the engines of the recently berthed Kirin remained running at dead idle, instead of shutting down as was usual for docked ships. The cargo ramp of the Kirin slowly unfolded and came down, and sitting at the top on a UPS crate and sipping at a tankard of ale was the captain, Derik Roh'i, just within the ship's still powered shields.

Several marines opened up at Roh'i, only to have their fire ping harmlessly off the shields. Roh'i donned a wireless comm headset, and whispered a couple of commands. Instantly, panels opened on the bottom of the ship, and an arsenal of rotary chain guns and R.P.G. launchers dropped down, spun up, turned and opened up on a nearby fer-de-lance, blasting the cockpit canopy away from the little fighter and blowing holes in the engine section, then trained on the marines...but didn't fire. "Hold your fire, troopers, we come in peace, for now," Roh'i's voice boomed over the ship's external PA.

As the fire died down, Roh'i continued. "We come to negotiate a new deal. Marines, this directly concerns you, so please, stand down and listen up. Gouglass, get your fat arse out here where I can see you. NOW, you miserable arsehole!"

There was a pregnant, silent pause of thirty seconds, then Roh'i's voice boomed out again, much louder, "GOUGLASS! DON'T MAKE ME COME LOOKING FOR YOU, YOU GILES DAMNED BUG-LOVING PUNK!"

Another long, silent pause...

"Very well, since General Traitorous Bemarian Slimerat is cowering under a bunk somewhere," Roh'i continued, "I'll let you boys and girls know what's going on. Right now, a lot of my friends are putting their arse-ends on the line to keep a whole hell of a lot of your boss's friends, the Thargoids, from overrunning this system, this planet, and this station. Believe me when I say the Bugs have pulled out all the stops. They want this system something really bad. We don't have a lot of time, people, the Bugs will be knocking down the door any minute now.
We came for Mima Shulth. Tell her Udian sent her a five star stretched and tricked-out limousine to freedom. Take a moment to wrap your cerebral cortexes around that, while you're rolling out the red carpet for Mima right to the luxury cabin I set up for her. And by Giles, you had better be treating her like she was elected Empress!"

Two Marines ran off down a corridor, then returned after a few minutes and conferred with another. The third man, a Sergeant, set down his weapon and approached the ramp of the Kirin, "Captain! We can't find her!"

"What the hell do you mean you can't find her? How do you lose somebody you have locked up?"

"That's just it, sir! She escaped somehow."

Roh'i groaned. 'Things just kept going from bad to worse. What the hell else can go wrong today?', he thought to himself. "In that case, Seargant, I suggest you find the young lady and escort her to my ship. As pleasantly as you mugs can muster, be all smiles and rainbows when you find her. You think you can manage that?"

"Sir, yes sir!"

"Good man."

As the Seargant set up and sent out search teams, Roh'i switched to intercom and spoke into his mic, "Kitten, can you hack me into the station-wide intercom?"

"I can try, Boss."

"Alright, give it your best shot."

"I'm on it."

Roh'i switched back to external PA, "If there's any of you that can fly, I suggest getting in some of those Asps and going out to bust some Bugs, or better still getting to the nearest SECCOM and alerting the fleet."

"Boss, I'm in," Ramania said in his earpiece. "I patched you through, your channel 3."

Roh'i switched to channel 3. "Paging Mima Shulth. Paging Miss Shulth. Please come to ship berth #10, your ride home awaits. Udian sent you a limo, he's kicking Thargoid arse trying to keep them away from this station, and our borrowed time is running out. Let's get out of here while the getting is good. Thank you. And Gouglass, keep hiding, you sorry Bug-kissing bastard, you better hope I never get my claws on you, frakin' turncoat!"

Roh'i switched off channel 3, and turned to the small rodent who had padded up quietly beside him, while a few Asps powered up for launch. "How's the leg, Derik?" the doctor asked.

"Itchy and a bit sore," Roh'i answered. "How're you hanging on, Doc?"

Dr. Pachensen shrugged, "A little bored. I thought I'd come back and watch the action."

"Sorry to disappoint you, Doc. Not much 'action' happening for now, and that's how I like it to be honest. All the real action is happening in-system, and trust me, that's action you don't want to be a part of."

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Chapter 24 (10 Seconds)
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It happened quite slowly really. It happened in 10 seconds. With the Hammer running at under a third of the speed it should have been, the Thargoid fighters swarmed round the crippled ship like a shoal of hungry piranhas. First thing to go where the shields, torn away by the hail of laser fire.

9 Seconds; Still far from helpless the ship angrily spat plasma at its tormenters, raking the machine ships with a withering barrage, as it continued to dive into the Thargoid formation. It wasn't enough, some shots got through and with every hit the Hammer became less able to defend itself.

8 Seconds; Lasers seared the heavily armored deck plating. In a shower of sparks the rear starboard turret was disabled. Vaporstasis fluid spurted from the wound, hardening almost instantly and leaving trailing white tendrils twisting in space like a giant cobweb. As the liquid hardened it plugged leaks, extinguished fires and provided a honeycomb from which the nanite armies of the ship could start repairs.

7 Seconds; A warship took a sizable chunk out of the upper tail fin with a burst of green plasma, and was blown to smithereens for its pains, by the monstrous reply from the lower white cannon.

6 Seconds; Just one trace left, one friendly ship in range on the outer edge of a scanner swimming with flashing green and orange. The Hammer's systems began changing from green to red as the hail of fire began to find its mark, chewing up the ship from the outside in. FUEL SCOOP OFFLINE, LANDING GEAR OFFLINE, PORT ENGINE CRITICAL DAMAGE. ARMOUR FALURE IN SECTIONS 2, 5, 8 AND 11, REAR LASER OFFLINE. The Hammer could take a lot but she was fast approaching her damage limit.

5 Seconds: The whole ship lifted as a malfunctioning robot fighter slammed into the upper white cannon at the neck base of the ship. More Vaporstasis fluid, more cobwebs. Twisting like a worm on a hook the black ship turned violently directly into the path of an oncoming battleship.

4 Seconds: Rotating clockwise the Battleship simultaneously disgorged its fighters and slammed a plasma round into the tip of the starboard wing as it spun past. The diamond shaped shield generator mounted there shattered musically leaving a shining trail of sparkling debris.

3 Seconds: The impact viciously twisted the ship. The remaining engine dimmed to a glow as it flared out, cutting down vitally needed power to the remaining plasma cannons to a trickle. Udian dragged his failing ship back on course as the stabilizing thrusters overloaded themselves trying to compensate. The Hammers starboard laser arched off the battleships shield, shimmering in mixing shades of green and red. Although depleted the shields held as the spinning ship charged its array of lasers for a sustained counter strike.

2 Seconds: With a sickening crunch 3 laser blasts tore through the neck and head of Udians ship, Disabling 2 of the three powerless turrets on that side and cutting a neat hole through the command bridge. The hexagonal structure held but Udian was wracked by white hot pain as shrapnel cut through him. The hammer looked more like a cocoon now that a ship, festooned with matted threads of Vaporstasis, lights sputtering erratically and floating dead in space. The Thargoids seemed to pause for a moment. Almost as if they were gloating over the hard fought victory. Here was a kill to be savored and enjoyed. A revenge that had been long in coming and was now inescapable.

1 Second: Udian was dimly aware of the final yellow trace disappeared from the scanner screen as the blinding laser light from over 30 enemy ships surged towards him. With a final pain filled effort, he willed his burned and broken craft to deploy the energy bomb.

Then white, then nothing. As the wave of unstoppable energy encircled his soul and claimed him as its own.

[ClymAngus]

Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 5:32 am

O.O

Do you ever sleep?

[Cmdr Wyvern]

Do you ever sleep?

Yeah, though often I go to bed late or wake early.
In this case, I posted before going to bed, around midnight my time.

[ClymAngus]

Do you ever sleep?

Yeah, though often I go to bed late or wake early.
In this case, I posted before going to bed, around midnight my time.

(does time zone maths) Ah, I see, that would explain a few things. Oh I've done a laser sighting fix on the neocaddy. It should meet your exacting standards now

[Screet]

One little thing:
"more like a cocoon now that a ship"
guess it should be "than" instead of "that".

The hammer oxp might also require a little update concerning the "white cannons" IIRC the turrets entities are called "zeroturret" while the outside views say "sungun" - a name that's gone with the neocaduceus oxp.

Screet

[CptnEcho]

Spell checking software does not always understand usage very well.

Original version:
"Your not...... you fragging are! Your not going to make it! Your going to get us all killed you mad bastard."

Suggested revision:
"You're not? You fragging are! You're not going to make it! You're going to get us all killed, you mad bastard!"

"Your" denotes posession.
"You're" is a contraction of the words 'You' and 'are'.

Here's another example of similar sounding words (their, there and they're) with different usages:
"Their ship is over there and they're waiting to board it."

Overall story is still enjoyable.
Why didn't Shulth provide his crew with a chance to escape destruction?
I wonder what happens during the rest of the battle and its aftermath.
How does the rescue of Mima Shulth end?

[_ds_]

Spell checking software does not always understand usage very well.

Original version:
"Your not...... you fragging are! Your not going to make it! Your going to get us all killed you mad bastard."

Suggested revision:
"You're not? You fragging are! You're not going to make it! You're going to get us all killed, you mad bastard!"

As I understand it, it's an expression of disbelief, not the asking of a question. (My “story so far” .odt/.pdf pair – see .sig – uses a single ellipsis here. And yes, that misuse of "your" stuck out like a sore thumb here too.)

[drew]

I like the 'second by second' style of the ship's demise - nicely done. You know it's going down, and you get an almost forensic insight into its destruction.

Cheers,

Drew.