"LUNAR: Tales From Crystal Tokyo"
LUNAR:
Tales From Crystal Tokyo
By
Daryll Pung
Episode
3-08: Of Earth and Fire
Rated:
R
At
the edge of the Polaris system, 17 June 2740
The
SLS Bahumat
Sailor Cygni gazed thoughtfully at the panoramic view from the Bahumat
as the battleship was followed by four RSN destroyers, one Zerm battleship, one
HDE battleship, and, most unusual of all, one DK battleship. The asteroid belt,
roiling and violent, passed beneath them as the entourage proceeded towards the
only planet in the Polaris system, an earth-type world with no native life.
The GM had taken the planet and transformed it into a neutral outpost,
with no weapons, listening platforms, etc.; the initial intent had been to make
it a vacation spot, but over the years the place was found to be ideal for
diplomatic purposes. Many treaties
had been successfully negotiated in this system.
Those aboard the eight ships were hoping to add another to that list.
“Stand by to initiate phase one of our plan,” Sailor Cygni said. She turned, and glanced about the bridge.
Near the back stood the Sorcerer Derrelli, Wizard Orien, Security Officer
Gyari of the DK battleship Wraith, Subcommander Denthlagh of the HDE
battleship Fid’rechel, and Henecht Kentais of the Zerm battleship Treseey;
the special mission force. All five
were already equipped, and were staring intently at screen five, where
long-range sensor readings were displayed.
Everyone else was already in place and accounted for, the diplomats and
their guards standing by in the designated shuttlecraft.
“Initiate,” ordered Sailor Cygni.
The four GM destroyers abruptly broke off in four different directions,
bluish shield arcs flashing into existence as they dived down into the
asteroids, heading for the four largest and most stable asteroids.
“Captain!” science called abruptly.
“Long range sensor platforms have relayed:
target vessel now one hour and twelve minutes from this system!”
“Let the games begin,” murmured Sailor Ryujin.
Even as the bridge crew shared nervous glances, the four battlewagons
cleared the asteroids and headed for standard orbit of the planet; shuttles
began to race out, arcing down to the planet’s surface, with the entirety of
the fighter complement of all five GM ships escorting them.
“Stand by for phase two,” Sailor Cygni said quietly, sitting down in
her chair. “And let me know when
the incoming is within thirty minutes of us.”
“Copy,” replied science.
Silence fell, thick and heavy, on the bridge.
All eyes were now on the digital timer Neo overlaid on screen one,
watching it tick down.
As the timer wound down, comm spoke up.
“Coded signal from surface, Captain.
The summit has begun. Shuttles
standing by to evacuate if necessary.”
“Acknowledge it,” Sailor Cygni said, her fingers tapping the armrest
of her chair. She stood as the
timer approached the crucial moment. “And
get ready to send signals for phase two.”
“Ready on your command,” comm replied.
“Message acknowledged.”
The timer hit thirty minutes.
“Initiate!” ordered Sailor Cygni.
“Break orbit, bring us about! Red
Alert!”
“All hands to battlestations!” called Neo as lights dimmed and
flashed red; sirens sounded.
The RSN battlewagon, followed quickly by three other non-RSN battleships,
pulled away from the planet. The
subspace domain was suddenly alive with message traffic; all of it uncoded and
interceptable, but not so easy as to create suspicion of a setup; all of it with
panicked overtones. The four ships
spread out, forming a chevron that moved slowly (on the pretense of recovering
shuttles) towards the asteroid belt.
And still the invader continued inevitably towards them.
Polaris
asteroid belt, Polaris system, 17 June 2740
“Target closing into visual range,” tactical commented after another
period of waiting. “Everything is
ready.”
“Good; hostile on screen one,” said Sailor Cygni.
“Maximum magnification.” Upon
her command, the screen zoomed in to show the threatening angular lines of the
enemy supercruiser. “Okay,”
Sailor Cygni breathed quietly. “Spread
formation, and the second we know about their weapons status, shout it out.”
‘Aye, ma’am,” replied tactical.
“Stand by.”
Another tense minute passed.
“Captain! Their weapons
are already fully charged; estimate weapons range in twenty seconds!” tactical
called out.
Sailor Cygni whirled. “Separate,
and engage. Maneuver Cygni five
three, go now. All hands, prepare
for battle!”
The four battleships split, arcing out sideways; the Bahumat took
the lead. The enemy ship loomed
massive and threatening as they came back around; the four ships fired braking
thrusters, halting their positions over the asteroid field… allowing the enemy
to come to them.
Within moments the supercruiser drew within weapons range; as one, all
four battleships let fly a salvo of torpedoes, beam weapons and missiles; the
explosions pocked the oncoming ship’s hull.
Even as it fired its own weaponry, the four ships nosed over and plunged
into the asteroids. The lightning
fired by the supercruiser nailed errant asteroids; the massive vessel slowed,
and began firing straight ahead of its now lowering nose, clearing itself a path
to follow.
Which was exactly what Sailor Cygni wanted.
She was clutching the armrests of her captain’s chair, trying not to
look at the main viewscreen. Asteroids
were whipping by at high speeds, and some of the rotations barely missed them as
the Wizard Duke pushed the battlewagon to its limits, slinging it around a
larger hunk of rock.
“Hold here, Duke,” ordered Sailor Cygni.
“Poke our nose just in front of this asteroid enough for our forward
sensors to cleanly track the enemy.”
“Aye, captain,” Duke responded, his fingers moving over the controls;
it was as if the helm controls were an instrument, and he was an extremely
talented musician: the Bahumat
stopped precisely where Sailor Cygni wanted it.
“The hostile is blasting itself a path through the asteroids,
ma’am,” reported tactical. “I
have the coded transponder signals of our destroyers, and of the other three
battleships; it appears as though the hostile either can’t pick them up, or
doesn’t care about them; they’re coming right for us.”
Sailor Ryujin grinned crookedly. “Guess
we’re the main target, huh?”
“Well, let’s not waste the opportunity.
Comm, signal to begin phase three. Stand
by for full sublight charge; stand by for Omega Strike.
Stand by to load Dragon torps,” Sailor Cygni rattled off orders
rapidly.
“Message sent, ma’am,” the officer at comm replied, his green eyes
resting on his captain.
“Show me our adversary on screen two,” Sailor Cygni said.
The
RSN destroyers
Upon receipt of the message from the Bahumat, the four RSN
destroyers powered up every tractor emitter they had, and all that could be
focused on the asteroids in front of them suddenly burst to life; light blue
force burst forth from the reversed tractor emitters, crackles of electricity
surging about the emitters and on the asteroid’s surface.
Simultaneously, the destroyers powered up their RIFT engines, projecting
the field forward; then all four stomped on the gas.
The asteroids moved slowly at first, but as the ships pushed their
systems to their limits, the asteroids began to pick up speed.
The destroyers abruptly cut power, swinging back around to the relative
safety of the nearest asteroids, where they prepared to do it again.
The big ship had no chance to escape; two of the asteroids were nearly a
third of its size. All of the
ship’s firepower abruptly concentrated on the incoming asteroids, but they
weren’t being demolished quickly enough.
The ship rolled, pivoting to try and escape the worst of the impacts.
The
SLS Bahumat
Massive explosions abruptly rent the supercruiser, even as four more
asteroids were “shoved” in the general direction of the invader. Two of the asteroids completely smashed through the nose of
the massive ship, destroying themselves in a hail of rock; the other two left
huge craters in its hull. As the
destroyers once again fled, those watching on the bridge of the Bahumat
exchanged hopeful glances. The
second four asteroids nailed the slowing behemoth, and clouds of plasma,
igniting gas, and debris shot out from the additional impacts.
“Comm, send out ‘Gold Storm’, now!
Duke, engage; head right at them. Tactical,
Omega Strike when in range!” Sailor
Cygni sat down as the battleship raced from its position like a racehorse at the
starting bell; a lengthening red trail from the now fiercely glowing fusion
impellers stretched behind them.
At the same time, the four GM destroyers, led by the Molly Osaka,
arced around behind the supercruiser, which was leveling itself towards the
attacking Bahumat. All four
fired a salvo of golden torpedoes, and then pulled up, spiraling away.
As the torpedoes struck the remaining engines of the enemy ship, golden
spheres of energy burst forth, annihilating the engine grids.
A storm of red and white torpedoes billowed from the Bahumat; two
death rays cut massive swaths in the attacker’s already severely damaged hull.
The battleship’s blaster arrays fired as rapidly as they could, until
the capacitors were exhausted.
“Lock and load Dragon torps!” called Sailor Cygni.
“Fire at remaining weapons emplacements!”
At the precise second the Bahumat fired its golden-hued torpedoes,
the supercruiser let fly its own salvo; lightning burst forth, and all of that
weaponry streaked for the assaulting GM battleship.
The three other battleships joined in at this second, racing in from
various angles and discharging their weapons.
A virtual wall of gravity beam fire, followed by a powerful salvo of
Negatorpedoes, and a surge of violent dark blue fire courtesy of the EFA, was
discharged from the Wraith; the Treseey’s red laser fire gouged
rifts into the enemy’s hull, and the Fid’rechel rained blue disrupter
fire in accompaniment to the swarm of Starburst Crusher missiles, all leaving
purplish exhaust trails as they raced towards the enemy ship.
Sailor Ryujin leapt from the TPA console in the nick of time, for after
the Omega Strike tapered off, the Bahumat had no energy left to channel
to point defense, and swerve the ship though Duke might, it was a statistical
impossibility for the Bahumat to avoid all of the incoming weapons fire.
The battlewagon suddenly gave a violent heave as the first of five
torpedo detonations utterly wiped from existence whole chunks of the ship; the
nose weaponry was completely destroyed. The
lightning struck next; sparks burst from wall seams, several consoles exploded,
and everybody was thrown about like ragdolls.
In the main shuttlebay, the special assault team, waiting for departure
orders, was surprised when the bay’s lights went out, and their shuttle was
explosively vented into space; as Orien regained control of the shuttle, all
five gasped to see the Bahumat, now charred from what was left of the
nose to the cracked engine elements at the aft of the ship, streaming plasma and
out of control.
“Holy shit,” gasped Derrelli; white-hot rage suddenly flared in him,
even as the ravaged supercruiser emerged from the massive collection of
explosions that had practically hidden it from vision.
Like the Bahumat, it was out of control, and slowing; no
propulsion left, over eighty percent of its surface cratered, pockmarked,
streaming plasma, and charred.
“Looks like this phase is starting early,” he snarled.
“Orien, find us a way in. Let’s
go.” No one else said anything; the other three exchanged looks.
The small GM shuttle’s engines flared briefly; the small craft raced
towards the crippled supercruiser even as the four GM destroyers locked tractor
beams onto the smoldering Bahumat and slowed it to a stop. The supercruiser showed no signs of fight left in it; no
weapons were left that were able to target the unlikely allies.
Even so, the other three battleships assumed patrol stations in between
the GM starships and the invader. All
weapons remained locked on target as a single shuttle neared one of the cratered
sections of the enemy ship.
Derrelli enhanced the view
of the section they were approaching. “No
indication of any shuttlebays?”
“Nothing that remains, no,” replied Orien.
“Well, that chamber, dead ahead, looks big enough to set down in; a
sort of internal forcefield is maintaining an atmosphere that we can actually
breathe. I think we can force our
way through the forcefield and land there.
No life signs in evidence with the shuttle’s scan radius; but something
is preventing deeper scans,” Derrelli muttered.
“Right,” nodded Orien; he swung the shuttle around, proceeding
carefully towards the targeted area; dodging loose support struts and other
chunks of debris in the way. It was
a tense few minutes, during which Orien twice fired the shuttle’s point
blasters to clear debris. Finally,
he pushed the nose of the shuttle against the forcefield; he carefully fired
thrusters to push the shuttle through. The
force field, temporarily overloaded, collapsed; Orien gently set the shuttle
down.
The
Supercruiser
After a five-minute wait, the forcefield reestablished itself, and within
thirty seconds the atmosphere outside of the shuttle was breathable.
The five members of the team nodded at each other; all readied weapons.
“Let’s live dangerously,” grinned Orien, hefting his blaster rifle;
his Sniper Edition Rexel PBaR strapped to his back.
Derrelli manipulated the controls on his staff, activating blaster mode;
the sights and handles flipped out, and the transformation was complete.
The remaining three shook their heads.
“Humans,” snorted Gyari.
Derrelli palmed the release control; the nose hatch swung down. Orien was first to the bottom, eyes scanning and blaster
rifle ready; he dashed to the nearby bulkhead as Denthlagh covered him.
Kentais and Gyari came next; and Derrelli last of all, pausing to seal
the shuttle. All five backed away
from the shuttle, and Derrelli touched a control on his microcomp that activated
the shuttle’s shielding. The team carried tactical backpacks containing explosives and
Derrelli’s hacking equipment, evenly scattered about; all carried multiple
weapons.
“Left or right?” Denthlagh hissed, seeing the door to the room was
wide open and a hallway was revealed. The
room itself gave no clues as to what it had been used for.
“Doesn’t matter,” Derrelli replied coolly.
“We have no real clue as to internal structure, so… left.”
I’ve got point,” Orien said. He
edged himself around the doorframe; and as he stepped out, Denthlagh followed,
pointing his weapon the opposite way.
The team proceeded in this fashion for the better part of an hour,
working their way through a maze of corridors, utility rooms, and empty living
quarters. The continued silence
made them uneasy, as did the dimensions of the severe, angular halls; the
furnishings in a few of the living quarters they looked at were rather large,
for creatures almost twice the size of the members of the team.
“This is downright spooky,” muttered Derrelli as they paused near an
intersection. He eyed charred
markings on the corridor walls. “Granted,
we’ve seen massive damage, and a lot of which appears to be power-feedback
related, but no sign of any inhabitants. Dammit,
we can’t have killed them all, and this is a singularly huge ship. Where the fuck are they?”
“For that matter, what are they?” Gyari added, eyes watching Kentais
as he crept ahead, examining the junction.
The Zerm stopped, and glanced back.
“I believe I can anssswer that quessstion,” he said.
The team crowded forward, and seeing that the intersecting hall was
clear, approached a charred form. It
had a humanoid top half, with almost human features; though the eyes were
completely black, and a serrated ridge marked where its nose would be; there
appeared to be multiple tiny holes on each side of the ridge.
It had eight arms, one of which was little more than a charred stump.
The lower half was that of a massive snake, but with smooth hide instead
of scales. Mammalian-style hair was
in evidence… although half the lower half was also charred.
This particular creature appeared female, if one were to judge by human
standards. It was also five meters
long, rising to a three to four meter height when alive.
The remains of a dark, severe uniform covered the body.
Nearby, an open panel, with a mass of split cabling hanging out, was
still showering sparks onto the floor.
“Whoa,” whispered Orien.
Derrelli frowned, holding his microcomp close and taking readings. “From what I can tell, a formidable lifeform, apparently
tough to kill. Multiple organ
backups, but I can’t even guess at what some of the organs are supposed to be.
I think I can identify a nervous system; and if so, it’s been
completely fried, even though the highest stun setting of our weapons would only
put these things down for a few minutes.”
He shook his head. “Well, our weapons are set to kill, anyway.
Be warned, though, that these things may take multiple shots to put
down.”
“Great,” snorted Gyari.
“I’ve taken an in-depth scan; we’ll have to get the data back to
the medical team to learn more, though,” Derrelli concluded, lowering his
microcomp. “Meantime, let’s see
if this is the only lifeform aboard; and let’s see what else we can learn.”
He pointed. “That should
take us deeper into the ship.”
Orien nodded, and raised his weapon.
He moved down the hall, quickly followed by the rest of the team.
Another hour of cautious advancement followed, as they penetrated deeper
into the supercruiser. It remained
unnervingly quiet; they saw no more of the lifeforms.
Finally, Derrelli called them to a halt.
“I’ve got scanning capability back,” he said softly.
“We’ve apparently penetrated some sort of internal defense field
which prevents outside scans of the ship’s vitals; but from here…” He
trailed off. He was quiet for
several minutes, concentrating hard on his microcomp.
“Well?” Denthlagh finally asked.
“Well, I’ve scanned out to my maximum range, and I think we’ll find
better answers up the corridor to the left, down the access hatch five decks,
and straight down the corridor that access tube opens up in; seems to be some
sort of computer core, and it’s humungous,” Derrelli replied, before looking
up. “It seems to have power.”
“What are we waiting for, then?” hissed Kentais, raising his weapon.
Derrelli grinned. “The way
there is also guarded.” He
glanced at his staff-rifle, and manipulated the controls, collapsing it.
Stowing his microcomp where he could easily glance at it, he reached to
his belt and drew both .357 Colt Pythons, clicking the safeties off.
“Excellent,” grinned Gyari. This
time, she led off.
They reached the access hatch with no problems, and Derrelli knelt to it
while the other four brandished weapons in both directions.
It took Derrelli a minute to figure out the locking mechanism; he finally
realized four handles had to be twisted simultaneously.
“Denthlagh,” he said, pointing at the handles.
“Turn ‘em at the same time.”
The Droylian slung his slender, spindly disruptor rifle over his back,
and bent to the hatch; the handles turned easily enough, but the hatch was built
for a creature twice their size, and was quite large and heavy. He grunted, and Derrelli grabbed the side of the hatch and
gave a yank, calling on his enhanced strength to force the hatch aside.
Kentais was already scanning the shaft, pointing his weapon down it, as
the two recovered from the effort. “Looksss
clear,” the Zerm announced, force-shielded water skin rippling as he glanced
back. “Ssshall we?”
“After you,” nodded Orien.
It didn’t take long for the team to drop the five decks to the
destination, though the ladder was strange, with many angled protrusions.
Once all five were on the large landing platform, Derrelli chuckled.
“Geez. I’m used to
crawling through the myriad of service conduits on the Bahumat; we
don’t even have to duck here!” He
glanced back down the ladder they had all just left; it plunged downward for
quite a while.
At the mention of the Bahumat, Orien scowled.
“I hope the Big B is okay,” he muttered.
Derrelli glanced at him sharply. “It’s
been through worse, though not by much. I’m
worried, too, man. Let’s just get
this done.”
Orien nodded, and stowed his blaster rifle, bringing out his Rexel. He tapped the controls, and the weapon whined as it built up
a charge.
“Ready when you are,” he said coolly.
Gyari hefted her tunneling rifle; Kentais readied his silvery laser
cannon.
Derrelli glanced at his microcomp. “Eight
of ‘em. Denthlagh and myself will
open the hatch while you three cover.”
“Sssoundsss good,” Kentais agreed, kneeling on his three legs,
forming a natural tripod to brace his weapon; Orien kneeled near him, ready to
pick his target, and Gyari pressed against the frame around the hatch, ready to
supply her input to the fighting. Derrelli
and Denthlagh stepped to the hatch.
“Rock and roll,” Derrelli smirked; Denthlagh turned the handles.
Orien fired first, through a sliver as the two shoved the hatch forward.
Even as it clanged to the deck, seven of the enemy aliens, similar in
appearance to the body the team had spotted, some apparently male, stared as a
spray of bright yellow ichor splattered all over the wall from Orien’s shot;
the eighth creature was now headless, and collapsed to the deck.
One raced for a wall panel, presumably to call for help.
Before it could make it, though, a barrage of red and green weapons fire
pummeled it, with impacts striking the wall and exploding the panel in a small
explosion, raining sparks and debris around the remaining six.
Denthlagh leapt out, rolling to the side; he leveled his disruptor rifle,
which spat blue energy pulses at another enemy target; he nailed it several
times, and it slammed back against the wall, twitching and smoking.
The five still living aliens raised their angular weapons; yellowish
lightning bolts thundered against the wall of the corridor as Denthlagh ducked
under the blasts; showers of sparks and hollowing booms from the electrical
discharge pummeled him.
Another brilliant white pulse struck, blowing a hole in one alien’s
torso; it glanced down for a minute, yellow ichor spraying out, before glaring
at the hatchway and snarling. Green
beams nailed it in the head, putting it down.
“Shit,” Orien blinked, even as Kentais provided enough cover fire to
protect Denthlagh; the red laser bolts and blue disruptor blasts shredded
another alien. “You weren’t
kidding about how tough these things are, man, that shot should have killed
it,” he said to Derrelli, who had cupped his hand and was quickly muttering
something. Orien’s eyes widened.
“FIRE IN THE HOLE!” Orien shouted, not even sighting as he fired
once; Gyari, Denthlagh, and Kentais joined him in throwing themselves aside as a
fiery dart raced out into the hallway.
A massive fireball detonated right on the forehead of one of the
remaining foes. The explosion
deafened the strike team for a moment; heat washed over them, with an unpleasant
burnt smell filling the air even as the initial effects passed.
“You fucking pyro,” gasped Orien, glancing at Derrelli, who lifted
himself off the deck with a grin on his face.
“You really are insane, you know that?”
Orien suddenly collapsed into laughter.
“Whoa,” murmured Gyari, glancing back at Kentais and Denthlagh.
Denthlagh wore a half-smile, and Kentais rolled his three eyes.