| Author |
Darkspace : Retreat from Azchu |
GTW
Cadet
Joined: November 30, 2001
Posts: 156
From: Singapore
|  Posted: 2004-08-11 05:51
The « and » symbols are used for K'luth psionic communication throughout. And, as usual, all K'luth speech is translated into English for your ease of reading, though names and titles are retained. If you are unsure of the titles, please consult the K'luth Dictionary.
Also, this work is largely experimental.
Retreat from Azchu
Behind the shadow of the gas giant Eaoub (in K'luth, Nel'Maator), lay a single K'luth ship of gargantuan proportions.
Four lines of perfect symmetry split the Hive into eighths, each containing enough firepower to destroy an enemy dreadnought. But such trivial matters were insignificant to the K'luth expansionists' plans. Humans were in their territory, and recapture was imperative.
In Ross 248 the single most resource-rich planet was the ice world of Azchu, with its seemingly unlimited stores of Urdanium. It was the human splinter group which possessed the planet, the ICC.
«The Hive is ready, my lord.» Pak'Ratal Ziiran said this.
Ka'Djilok noted this. The senescent Tar'Esh was, as the K'luth Council deemed, the best they could offer for the mission, though his crew thought otherwise.
Amplifying his signals, Ka'Djilok turned to the Kol'Meran.
«Engage.»
*
A crude facility lay on the barren landscape of ice on Azchu. The corroding metal brought no relief to the workers of Intergalactic Mining Futures, Inc. Three months of mining on the planet had proved suicidal to the morale of these laborers, and with urdanium supplies still in abundance home was at least a year away.
The ICC Tenth Fleet had been most proud of its crowning achievement-the capture of the South Ross 248 cluster with minimal losses. Corporations scrambled to fill the new jobs and mining opportunities offered, and in the end the IMF came out tops with a bid of a billion credits per planet. Of course, Azchu, with its urdanium, was special. The Tenth Fleet was paid 17.5 billion for the rights to the planet. They stood to make a profit fifty, even a hundred times that.
A month after the capture and the frenzied auctioning the IMF set up their deep core mines on the surface. These were concentrated in the urdanium deposits just north of the equator. Temperatures stood steady at -40 degrees.(Trivia: -40 degrees Celcius equals -40 degress Fahrenheit).
The ICC Military had a small outpost there, too. Three Defence III bases and a Fighter II base had been set up with the trademark ICC point defence. This in the anticipation that the unlikely, but still possible, case that the K'luth might attack.
There was no one outside the base. Blizzards raged for weeks on end, while heavy snowfall obscured vision past a meter. A week ago the radar had been severely damaged by an unexpected hailstorm; only in three weeks would the replacement arrive.
Commander Hermes Jackson found this to be most worrying. They had no way of telling what was coming their way. Even with part of the Tenth Fleet orbiting overhead, they were blind to the dangers that lay in wait: giant Azchu predators were one of them. Seven were killed the month before, and this month was breeding season.
His soldiers were on edge after the mysterious shuffling noises in the barracks. K'luth drone spys, otherworldly creatures, or just malfunctioning equipment? No one knew, and he didn't want to be the first one to.
He returned to sleep.
*
The jump was completed, and the Hive now rested behind Quinin, waiting for its wormhole creation engine to recharge before attacking the humans directly. All stations were being powered up as the cloak kept them from being noticed by the humans.
A message was broadcast through the ship.«Landing bays one through sixty are fully operational. All troops, prepare to board through your assigned stations.»
From his command chair Ka'Djilok observed his officers performing jump calculations and arming the antimatter warheads through the complex network of biological computers.
Soon, he knew, he would achieve glory. The Hive would destroy an entire human fleet and recapture the system, a beacon of superiority for the Empire, and a long-awaited promotion would be his.
One more of the infidels disturbed him. A technical report was presented to him. Glancing at it, he threw it aside. He didn't understand those numbers.
With a sudden flash of purple light, the viewports of the Hive lit up. In front of them was the wormhole to Azchu. Ka'Dijlok laughed maniacally.
*
The dreadnought Spectre was blown straight out of the sky. A full bank of disruptors and AM torpodoes had landed on its hull, melting the heavy armor away and breaching the pressurized compartments. With it two supply ships were vaporized.
On the bridge of the Reunion there was chaos. A loose piece of metal, almost half a kilometer long, had blown the engines of the Assault Dreadnought into scrap. The ship was now a floating deadweight waiting to be massacred.
Again and again the Hive fired, scoring hit after hit on the ICC forces. Eight ships were destroyed, not one of them having scored a single hit on the K'luth command ship.
*
With glee the weapons officers hit the controls again and again, watching fire blossom before their eyes, wrekage litter space, and humans dying slow and painful deaths in the vacuum.
The ship, already a year old, pressed forward with its engines, leaving a trail of destruction behind it. In front lay its ultimate goal.
*
No sound was heard on the surface of the planet, nor any light seen. The cloud cover prevented any of that. Radio communications were prevented by an apparent malfunction in equipment. They had to get technicians down here quickly, but the absence of a night shift made that difficult.
Static filled the air of the communications chambers. The night would be long for them.
*
The last ship was destroyed, clearing the way for the dropships. In the landing bay the final calibrations were made to ensure they landed as close to the base as possible. A long walk should be prevented, preached the Kol'Meran.
Hatches opened, and ranks upon ranks of K'luth soldiers were blasted off into the darkness of space.
*
The first sign came not long after the final destruction. A transmission from the other half of the Tenth Fleet demanding to know what had happened near Azchu.
They said they didn't know.
Neither do we, they replied.
*
The white fields of ice were sullied by the arrival of the K'luth troops. There was a shout, an actual one consisting of sound, the battle cry of the warriors.
They were close.
*
They were awoken in a great hurry. Suddenly the base was busy again, but it should not have been at four a.m.
Something is wrong, the commander told himself. We must flee.
*
Ground thundered. Armies charged. Flags flew. Guns were armed.
*
He reached the system just in time. He entered his access code and picked up the minature microphone. An ensign brushed past him. It dropped.
*
They opened fire across the fields, blips of light striking the metal structures.
*
He stooped and picked it up with his trembling hands.
The base shook twice.
*
Nothing stopped them. Disruptor cannons blazed.
*
For the first time in hours, he spoke.
*
The barbed wire proved no obstacle to the chitinous K'luth skin. They entered the base.
*
"All personnel, evacuate the base. I repeat, all personnel, evacuate the base."
*
They continued to shoot. Sparks flew.
*
He turned, running for his transport. One had already left.
*
One was sent through every corridoor. They would take all that they could.
*
The door would not open. A faint rumbling was heard, the engines flaring up. It was too late.
He started to cry.
*
They found him there, and did not understand what he was doing. They took him nonetheless, as water dripped onto the pure white snow.
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Axianda The Royal
Fleet Admiral
Terra Squadron
Joined: November 20, 2001
Posts: 4273
From: Axianda
| Posted: 2004-08-11 06:44
talk about bad luck 
great read 
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- Axi
|
Binks
1st Rear Admiral
Joined: November 28, 2003
Posts: 469
| Posted: 2004-08-11 12:17
Great writing, the style you used is awesome...good job man...now I just have to wonder, was that ensign really a K'luth spy in disguise?
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