[FONT=Book Antiqua]FROM PAST TO PRESENT[/FONT]
Kegan
Indeterminate Location and closing
///Range to Target///
///126km and closing///
///Defensive Procedure Subset///
///Shields Raised///
///Armor Charged///
///Weapons Powered///
///Range To Target///
///92km and closing///
///GMP Upload///
///All Coordinates Fixed///
///Current Data Corrected///
///Range To Target///
///26km and closing///
///Scaning for Hostiles///
///Shiping Detected///
///Interlinking with Group///
///Correlating Effective Blast Spread Radius///
///Targeting Effective Planetary Coordinates///
///Coordinating Flight Path with Shipping and Group Dynamic///
///Range To Target///
///5km and closing///Using the same tactic as before, four missles sprung from hyperspace just before the planet, using the zero point energy fields to push the gravity around them forwards, thrusting themselves towards the planet at incredible speed. Taking up a center V formation, three of the missles surrounded the other on opposite sides, slowly spining as they pressed forwards, defending the center missle with themselves.
Aiming straight for the planets equator they ploted a corse to avoid any hostile shipping their sensor linkup with the GMP had discovered. The Intelligence web had told of the previous detected failure of Teth. As the Mysteri of the last missle had not reported its penetration, it merely stoped transmitting once its power had been destroyed.
///Range To Target///
///1km and closing///***
At Kegan, the commander of planetary defence put down his comm-unit, and turned to his staff. "Sensors - what have we got?"
"Four missiles, incoming!" he said, nervously "A tight formation!"
The old commander scowled. So the Azguard had been right - biological weapons! That an enemy would stoop that low showed they deserved to die, but that would come later, if any of them survived the attack. "Have our convoy escorts open fire! I want someone on the tower to drop the rock - now."
He picked his comm back up as his crew rushed off to follow orders, and sent a priority message to Kegan's governor "Sir - no time to explain. Biological weapons inbound. Prepare for immediate fallout!"
"What?" replied a craggy old voice on the line "The Dragons'd dare attack us here, of all places?"
"It seems so, sir." said the commander, impatiently "We haven't got time, sir. Get to the emergency protocols! I've already got someone dropping the rock, so sound the sirens, whatever it is you're supposed to do while we do what we can up here!"
The commander threw down his comm and turned back to space. This planet wasn't heavily defended, but it did have a Haven Light Cruiser and some support gunships. "Fire! Fire everything we've got at the center of the missile formation!"
The guns of the Haven came alive, firing its' turbolasers up at the missiles. One of the missiles caught alight, and veered off course - smashing into a second, and causing both to crumple around each other and explode. The other two missiles, however, screeched past the defenders and headed for the planet.
Goddamnit! Where the hell is that kid?
The kid in question was an arts' student, living atop the most ominous part of architecture on Kegan. A tower that once served as the dark heart of a cruel religion that exploited the people of Kegan for millenia had been converted after the arrival of Azguard explorers into a historical museum and arts house. Its' crowning (literally) exhibit was an Azguard shrine, tended by a scrawny, bespeckled arts student. I'm sure, if we had the time, and there was a more flexible focus to this story I could detail him more, and regale you for hours with the stories of his mischievious exploits and misadventures. However, as we're on a schedual here, his only purpose in this story is to (rather melodramatically) lift and drop a shimmering jewel from a faraway world back onto its' pedastle.
The impact of gem on stone echoed through the force, like a whisper through a loudspeaker, touching every mind. People's spirits were lifted, and in turn the flow of their courage was like a golden syrup, rising to the air and coalescing (as good syrup does) into a shield that fended off yet another missile attack by the Black Dragons.
Relieved that this attack was avoided, the commander slouched back into his chair. "Make sure those missiles are good and dead before we pick 'em up! There'll be boys in labcoats no doubt who'll want to take a look how these things work."
Kegan... Present
The destruction of the initial strike against the infidel occupants of Heaven had failed, worse than that it had become an aid to those who waged war against the Taj. The few missiles having wrecked upon one another would have detonated immediately, spreading inert phage across the small section of space they had occupied at the time. Even that solitary missile would have detonated against the shield in chance of penetrating the atmosphere and spreading to the planet below.
This is the way it would have been, had all gone by divine will. The interference of the infidels had cuased it to be not as it should, as the missiles detonated, the Phage did not remain inert, nor did it die. The Phage had been collected, it had been contained and worst of all it had been transported to another world to be analyzed. The Phage, as it stood, had ceased to become a viable weapon of war from that point further. While it would take some time for its mechanisms to be reverse engineered and countered, the fact that it eventually would be served notice that it could not be used again as an effective menace.
///Hyper space Reversion///
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///...3...///
///..2..///
///.1.///
///Hyper space Reversion Complete///
///Data scan Initiated///The Scanner Probe emerged at system edge, calibrating its scanners and transmitting systems as it detected planetary orbit and stellar debris changes contrary to its input information. Correcting this data, it transmitted the changes back to the GMP center before calculating a jump further into the system, targeting the primary world of the system with an optimal orbit setting to keep it just out of the planets natural gravity well.
"...today to inform you, the beings of the galaxy, that the Contegorian Confederation is no longer a part of the New Galactic Coalition. It has seceded by a motion introduced by Councilor Harding of Audacia, unanimously approved by the..."Holonet Chatter on a local bandwidth recorded the moment of hyper space reversion, being transmitted simultaneously back on Daemun holonet frequencies, on a much higher frequency than most military grade holonet transmitters of galactic standard. Preforming a quick fifteen millisecond scan on the facing side of the world, it reverted back into hyper space.
While the collected information thus far was little, it indicated the failure of the first strike to induce significant loses to the world below. It still transmitted, brief atmospheric scans shown nearly no change in the planets biosphere, meaning little to no Phage effect. Orbiting the world repeatedly, it surely wouldn't be long before the blip of a small object popping in and out of hyper space around the world would be noticed, but then, it had already made and reported all the information that really needed to be known for the war effort, the rest was merely data for the GMP.
Teth Crisis - Day OneSo it began. Worst case scenario.
It had always been more or less known the Dragons were too weak to win in a direct war with the Coalition. Militarily, there were no doubts that the Coalition - which had seen a years-long period of renewal and rebuilding, and honing of skills - had grown to match the complacent Black Dragons. Where the New Order constantly fought to become stronger, more efficient, more worthy, creating a lean meritocracy, the Dragons had rested on their laurels.
Thus, it had been supposed that they would instead try to frustrate, block, and otherwise blunt the Coalition, seeking to defeat them without having to submit to battle. It was rumoured that it'd almost worked, too, when the plans for war had been discussed. Closed-door sessions and whispered conferences had shaken the foundations many times, with words such as "Disaster", "Destruction", and "Holy crap, they're going to dump viruses on us!" being thrown around a few times.
In the end, however, there had been resolve. The military had been itching to go. The civilian populations were furious over incursions into Coalition space, and seemed prepared to endure hardship. Eventually, it became clear that only those who had to actually make the decision to go to war were still reluctant. So, they had gone to war, all the while in the back of their mind knowing that there was going to be hell coming their way - an enemy that didn't form up in ranks, or wear uniforms, or lay down and died when you shot at it.
Plague. It was a sign of just how corrupt the Dragon regime was, how manipulative and deceitful. At this time, word had not yet gotten to Teth in general about what had happened at Mon Calamari, but if it had, it would not have surprised. There was a true disconnect between the people who believed in the Daemun Church and the Church itself, a backlog of deceit and hypocricy that held it together.
All of this Yakabe had reflected on as he stood in his new command center - not on the bridge of a warship, not in the cockpit of a fighter, but a converted medical center office. Prepared to wage a new war, he looked out at the city which he had been posted to.
"It's a terrible shame, really..." he began, speaking to the shadows "That such dark days fall upon so scarred a world. But I ask, who else in this galaxy are more suited to this hardship than those of Teth?"
Out of the aforementioned shadows stepped the White Knights' aide, and chief contact point between the emergency personnel and the Knight who would be directing them. "We're a tad short-handed, sir. The military's out, meaning there's less manpower to go around, but it has also reduced exposure rates. It appears preliminary containment failed, and despite our best efforts the plague is spreading.
"It'd be too damn easy if we'd just stopped it there and then, eh?" said Yakabe, sighing. "This is a one-sided war, you know. We can only lose. Even if we dominate this battle against disease, and cure many, driving it out of the world, we cannot strike them. It's... it's so..." He struggled to find a word.
"Unfair, sir?" supposed the aide.
Yakabe hung his head, and waved vaguely "Yes, I guess that will do. With their one weapon, they force us to waste so much effort and time, with nothing to gain on our part and with no appreciable or strategic goal. They seem to think the plague will just wipe the world clean, which I sincerely doubt. Even if it did, they won't gain anything. The armies of our people will still lay low their Church and exact all the more punishment for their sins, wether or not they wound us here.
"What is their reason? What is the point, Godsdamn it? Just to spite us? Just to piss us off and waste our time? To get back at us because they haven't the strength or the balls to do it in a fight?"
The aide gave it a second more thought, and said "Were they just and reasonable to begin with, would we be fighting with them?"
Yakabe considered this, and heavily fell to his seat. "You are right, of course. It is because of acts like this that we chose to destroy them in the first place. All right, we cannot waste any more time. Take me to patient zero."
"Right away, sir." said the aide, more grimly.
***
Joules, or 'Patient zero', writhed upon his bed in a sealed biochamber, being carefully monitored. It was possible he hadn't stopped since the moment of infection. It was even possible he didn't know he was doing it any more, his mind retreated to a private world where thought only came in shades of pain.
"How is he, doctors?" asked Yakabe, as he appraised the young man.
A doctor quick-stepped over the stone floor, in the vaunted and steralized medical center being rapidly established to deal with new cases. Right now, it rang hollow, with hardly any figures within. Darkly, Yakabe knew that it would soon be filling up. The doctor returned with a fistfull of medical reports and test results.
"Only initial diagnoses have began." she said, passing to Yakabe some of the images and documents. "We can tell, however, that the Phage is being slowed down considerably by Panacea - but only slowed. It grows at a steady pace, but that pace has been reduced. We've tried any and all conventional antidotes, but they've had only limited effect. He's more or less stable now, but he won't last forever."
The doctor's voice was filled with concern, causing Yakabe to turn and look at the young man again. He continued to twist and turn, as the battle within raged. Yakabe felt a pang of anger and regret - what was he doing leading this effort? He was a Knight, trained to lead battle and soldiers to victory over the enemy.
Already, however, his twin brains were providing the counter-argument. He was trained to lead, plain and simple. He was meant to lead people in any kind of battle against any type of enemy, to whatever victory they sought. Inspiration, courage, and willpower were his weapons, and they were not solely weapons of war.
"All right... keep him under lock and key, and continue to try everything you can think of. Our objective here is a holding action - If you must choose beyond prolonging his survival or reducing it to bring him greater comfort, you must choose prolongment, even if it brings greater pain. I know it is a difficult decision to make, but I will not allow a single man, woman, or child to fall to this disease while we have the means.
"I will go back upstairs now and make arrangements for this to be the primary treatment center. Even if we can't contain it, we can weaken it, and limit its' effects. The longer we last, the more likely a cure will come. Get to it! I will handle this from here on."
As the medical staff rushed off to get to work, Yakabe dashed back up the stairs to his office.
***
"So this is the estimated infection zone?" said Yakabe, examining a 3D display of the original mountains and surrounding area.
"Yes, sir." said the aide "Although the Phage may get out from that area, the more Phage we destroy, the slower it will spread. We've got every air-scrubber, emergency-cleanup, and Ion operator working double shifts to keep up the pressure on - "
"Wait, wait... Ion operator?"
"Yes, sir. It appears Ion emissions are devastating to the Phage, sir. Admittedly, they're damaging to most organic beings, but since the Phage wipes them out anyways there is only Phage to kill. It wouldn't work as a cure, sir, we've already thought of that."
"Damn - well, what about weaponized Ion? I've still got ships in orbit, they could soak the mountains pretty damn fast."
"Er... we're not sure if that's wise, sir. It appears the domestic solutions are working better for now, and also prolonged exposure to weaponized Ion might have unknown side-effects on both the Phage and surrounding region."
Yakabe leaned back on his chair. He was a commander - this was still a command, just a new type of enemy and a different type of soldier. "All right... I want immediate collection and production orders for hazmat clothing and gear. Everyone who's within fifty kilometers of the region has to be evacuated, and anyone who enters that area HAS to be in hazmat gear.
"We'll have transport arranged around the edge of the infected zone - they're to bring back anyone infected. Anyone and everyone involved is going to have to wear the necessary gear, including the doctors. No visitors, no coming and going, this is a state of emergency, so I'm going to throw in a curfew and encourage everyone to be extra-careful, okay?
"What about the rightful parliament of Teth? Won't they want a word?"
"Funny you should mention that, I spoke to the assembly earlier today. Tell me, how far are we from ground zero?"
"Not that far, sir. Indeed, here would surely be hit first if the disease spread to urban centers."
"Indeed. And how far is the parliament building? The one with all the Members of Parliament in?"
"Uh... also not far, sir. It's within the very city."
"Yes, it is. Now you can see why they're giving me free reign around here." He rubbed his hands together, and said "Put some caf on, I've got to make a few calls up the chain of command - and one to Kubindi..."
Teth... Present
Patient Zero had been dead for quite some time now, his corpse still laying out on a cot under careful observation. Panacea had failed, the young student had held on to life until the very last, but had ultimately fallen as the Phage's first victim. There was a reason his body was still being held however, not merely because of the value of a proper burial but because while the boy may have been dead, the Phage was not.
Inside him, the Phage continued to work in converting the once organic cells of his body into more Phage. By now his insides consisted little more of what might appear to be petroleum jelly, something which was spreading to his skin and affecting even the shape of his body now. Little more than a shaped bag of liquid, his form had warped considerably since he had been alive, now nothing more than a mutated sack of death. Or a valuable specimen of research, something to be used to combat the Phage before this happened to more of the population.
The initial impact zone was nothing more than a black pockmark against a mountainside. After an initial failure to quarantine the zone it had been irradiated with ion weapons fire from orbit, devastating the initial spread of the virus and the largest concentration of it on the planet. Unfortunately something a virulent as a plague could not be handled like some invasion force and merely be wiped away. The Phage had spread across the atmosphere and through the western ocean on its way down, quarantine was doomed to failure from the very beginning.
Due to the nature of the warheads failure to properly detonate against a specific target, the time the virus was estimated to take to devastate an entire planetary population was almost completely nullified. What once could be depended on to operate as quickly as a few days could now well take a full month if not more to complete effectiveness.
it wasn't that the Phage was not effective unless en masse, it was merely that calculations of time of effect were based on a concentrated mass of the virus being spread out across a specific detonation zone for highest concentration. One missile was not meant to spread its contents out across an entire world. Not that it couldn't do a fair amount of damage in itself, which was what was happening.
///Hyper space Reversion///
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///.1.///
///Hyper space Reversion Complete///
///Data scan Initiated///Plotting its course into the system, the probe detected a fair number of ships traversing the system. Many military grade ships and recognized hull types were in operation, but civilian and non-aligned vessels were quantifiable among them. There was a distance being maintained between the ships and the planet. Possible blockade or quarantine, that would be left to the GMP's desecration. No interdiction or communications jamming effort detected by scans, the probe continued.
"...Coalition High Command a punitive raid was launched, under the command of General Joren Logan. This raid was in response to a number of aggressive acts by the Empire of late including, the attack on the Contegorian Confederation, the unprovoked attack against Coalition forces at Bandomeer..."Leaping into close orbit over the planet, placing itself between the planet and the line of ships around it, the probe made its initial scans of the surface. Large pockets of the worlds oceans were blackened by a spreading mechanobacterial substance, itself was one huge life sign to the probes scanner, but detecting anything else in the effected regions was difficult. The status of the Oceans life forms unknown, the probe jumped again, transmitting its data via high speed holonet relay.
A similar effect on the other planetary facing, to a smaller degree. A small black pocket forming along the edge of a coast, spreading inland over forests and marshland as well as out across the harbor and nearby sea. Narrowing its detection band the specific region, animals were detected, alive, carrying the mechanobacterial substance.
///Substance Identified///
///Phage In Progress///Fish and plankton infested with the initial onset of the Phage in the waters had been eaten by bigger fish or birds, which only served to spread the phage wherever they may have gone. Anything touched by the phage may as well have already been dead, for where they went, they carried it with them, able to infect anything on the way.
A bright energy reading cross the high detection sensor area before the last transmission of the Probe was received.
A last Transmission:Complex life forms, humanoids inhabiting large complex developments. An evacuation faculty. The Phage. Those who had been evacuated were being mixed with those who had already come into contact with the phage. The virus was spreading.
The Cause:A Haven cruiser detached itself from its fleet, following the faint signal of a power source hovering above the planet. First from one location to another, never too far from where it had been before. It was moving in a tight circle across the planetary orbit, an easily enough traced pattern.
"Sir, we have its next calculated reversion vector."
Turning in his command chair to face the weapons officer, the Mon Calamari captain clenched his webbed fist against his arm rest. So many things having gone wrong thus far, another descion to be made.
"Containment must be held! Target those coordinates and fire!"
"How are we doing?" asked Yolem, looking at Tammar far below.
"The overrides have been bypassed," replied a trooper manning a console. "The ship's core will overheat at our command."
"Good, now set the timer and shut down the work station." Yolem readjusted the straps on his gauntlet where they had come loose in the fight. "What about the enemy?"
Another trooper at the staircase looked down the stairwell. "Approaching soon, sir. The staircase sways with their numbers."
"Excellent." Yolem pulled the gauntlet on tight. "We won't have much longer before a command override, so give me communications."
"Communications are on, sir."
With that, Yolem stood to attention in the middle of an enemy bridge, ankle-deep in the dead. In the language of the Azguards, he barked "Troopers! Zero, zero, zero! Now!"
"Cut communications," he muttered, and the trooper did so. "Now set the timer."
"Timer is set, sir. Disastrous system crash and power failure in twenty five."
"All right, listen up!" Yolem turned to address his weary troops. "Our orders are as follows! Get the hell out of here! Understood?"
The troopers barked back, and saluted. Smiling warmly, Yolem nodded. "Good."
The Azguardians descended the Turbolift chute by rappel line, two at a time. As Yolem prepared to go last, he opened the door to the stairwell. The Necrotroopers were close enough to take potshots now, but they continued to hustle forwards. With the slightest smile, Yolem drew his sword and slashed the supports, causing the top of the stairs to tear loose.
As it twisted free, the bolts holding up the second segment of stairs broke free as well, and so forth all the way down. Necrotroopers freefell from the top floor all the way down, colliding and collapsing as a black tide. Not taking a moment longer to admire his handiwork, Yolem leapt back into the bridge and down the rappel lines.
The Azguardian strike team barreled down the hall, like a force of nature difficult to contain. Not that escape was a problem, as most of the enemy had been summoned to retake the bridge - a difficult prospect now that the stairs and the turbolift were gone.
By the time they had followed their route back to the hangar bay, they had left pursuers far behind.
Yolem threw open the side door to the hanger and slipped inside, wary of potential enemy attack. Indeed, some still remained guarding the shattered remains of the self-destructed Stealth Intruder.
Oh yeah... thought Yolem, I had it destroyed. How were we going to get out of here again?
As if to answer his question, an explosion rocked the hangar as Orion's shuttle suddenly came to life and lifted off the hanger floor. The enemy, startled, was crushed by an Azguard ambush from behind. Yolem and his troops filed out into the hanger bay, and Yolem could only pray he was right about who was flying that shuttle.
The ship's loudspeakers crackled to life as it stared Yolem down. "Figure finding you here? I thought you'd be dead by now!" It was Orion, who was concealing a distinct tone of relief. "How long have we got?"
"Perhaps five minutes," Yolem shouted in response. "Maybe less. We need to get aboard."
"That you do," said Orion, who opened up the rear boarding ramp. Yolem gestured for his troops to board, taking a quick headcount.
Two White Knights passed him by, bowing. "Our missions were a success, despite casualties," replied one of the Knights. "All of our dead were incinerated on-site, as far as we know."
"Good, good," murmured Yolem, distracted. "Get aboard, we're running out of time.
Satisfied that everyone who had survived was aboard, Yolem climbed after his men. Everyone - from those who had set the distraction explosives around the reactor, to the team who captured the hyperdrive, to the bridge-assault team - had known that zero, zero, zero was the retreat call, and had acted. Even so, the empty spaces in the ship's hold were disqueiting.
"We have but minutes left," Yolem said to Orion as he sat in the copilot's seat. "We must hurry."
"Keep yer pants on," murmured Orion, as he maneauvered the shuttle out the hangar. "We're getting a lot of potshots."
Despite the fire of angry Necrotroopers scorching the hull, the shuttle managed to make space and tore away from the SSD. The Midas's guns warmed up to annihilate the errant shuttle, zeroing in in seconds.
When all at last seemed lost and those cannons began to charge up, quite suddenly, the ship shuddered and shook. The guns went limp and the glow of a thousand lights flickered and dimmed. Inside, ship safeties would be struggling to restore basic life support, let alone weapons or shields. The enemy ship had effectively been knocked out of commission.
A couple seconds passed before Yolem spoke. "Are we clear?"
Orion let go of the shuttle controls, and leaned back in his chair. "I do believe we are..." he felt fifty years older than when the day began, and he'd been old enough to begin with.
"Excellent." With inexhaustable energy, Yolem stood to attention. "In that case, I hearby take command of the defence of Tammar. We shall immediately deal with this threat orbiting your world, get to work in establish a perimeter around the area, and set up an interdiction field to prevent repeat incidences. Does this meet with your approval, commander?"
Orion smiled, and let out a sigh. "Yes it does, Yolem." He was weary, but the old Tammarian managed to get to his feet. He extended a hand to Yolem "And also, thanks."
Somewhat surprised, Yolem shook Orion's hand. "It was only our duty, brave citizen of the Coalition. We live to serve."
Orion laughed heartily and slapped Yolem on the back. "Sure, whatever. Come on, there's going to be a lot more serving before this day is through, my Dominator's a mess and there's more wreckage out there than a toydarian's dresser. Let's get to it."
Tammar... Present
The battle had be long and hard and ultimately it had been lost. The Union forces had put up a good fight but had failed in their task. The Coalition stood, their forces battered but still holding their position. Damage had been done, not significant enough to make anything but a footnote in the war, certainly not enough for the Union to earn their fee. Data would need to be collected on any Coalition build-ups since the initial assualt.
///Hyper space Reversion///
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. . . . .
///TRANSMISSION ENDED///As the probe entered the system, it encountered an unknown field which both stopped its travel, reverting it from hyper space, and destroying it completely. Its re-entry would clearly be displayed on any basic scanner system as a detonation at the systems edge, as a violent hyper space reversion tended to release quite a bit of energy. No GMP transmissions were returned from the probe, an anomaly in the system that would require further investigation before major operations could begin in earnest. A second probe would be sent with coordinates further away from the system, including a long range sensors package to determine the failure of the first.
///Hyper space Reversion///
///.....5.....///
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///...3...///
///..2..///
///.1.///
///Hyper space Reversion Complete///
///Data scan Initiated///Scans from long range, even with the best of equipment, could be unreliable when trying to get precise numbers to quantify your data. The scanners of the GMP probe detected a number of ships in the Tammar system, specifically one emitting an interdiction field, thus preventing hyper space entry. The mystery of the first lost probe resolved, the second probe continued to record long range information on the movement of ships and correlated planetary positions for the GMP itself. If encountered by any forces of the Non-Imperium variety, the probe was programed to self-destruct to avoid enemy capture.
"Here, hold this," said Lu, as she pushed another sealed canister into Proctor's hands. "And these... and this one here."
Struggling under the weight, Proctor looked quickly around at the cold storage room. "How're we supposed to get all of this stuff into the bunker?"
Lu didn't reply as she grabbed a sealed briefcase from under a shelf case, and turned back to the door. "That should be everything. If we're careful, the battle shouldn't be a problem."
Proctor rolled his eyes. "Oh, of course not." His sarcasm was cut short as another blast rocked the facility. "Come on already, let's get out of here!"
The two ran as best they could down the corridor, which was alread buckling and dented. Worrisome gas and smoke leaked from broken tubes running the length of the corridor, but there was no time to consider the potential health hazards. Lu quickly took the lead and hit the security override on the blast doors at the end of the hall. "Come on!"
"I'm coming, I'm coming," wheezed Proctor. Despite the discomfort, he managed to catch back up with the stack of canisters in tow.
In the corridor beyond, quite suddenly, Proctor skidded and slid across the blood slicks. Lu gasped as she watched the fumbling doctor try to keep ahold of the delicate canisters of deadly plague while he slid along the bloody floors, holding his breath as though it would topple them from his hands.
Finally coming to a stop, he let out his gasp. In the ensuring silence, the two began to hear the sounds of distant battle. It was faint, explosions and screams just barely audible through the battered walls of the facility.
Curiosity piqued, the two inched carefuly along the hallway, stepping cautiously through the bodies of the dead before reaching the outer door.
"Wow..." murmured Proctor.
Azguards and Necrotroopers had turned the dirt and sand of Kubindi into a slippery bloody mess. The Azguardian captain tore his way through the enemy's ranks towards his target, the one human entity in the battle not under thick layers of black armor.
Omega Thrax, his target, seemed to realize this and broke for the Dreadnought. The captain tried to pursue, but the press of Necrotroopers was so numerous that they weighed down his mighty claws. Stabbing blades slashed and hacked at his frame, drawing blood all along.
He took a deep breath, before bellowing with all his might and hurling Necrotroopers in all directions. The captain picked knifes from his back like irritaiting needles as he rushed to close with Omega, but the enemy commander had already made the crucial run back to his dreadnought, and the armored ramp was closing back up.
It didn't seem as though he'd abandoned all hope of victory - the Necrotroopers on the ground would eventually wear down the few Azguard defenders, as they were doing now - but from the captain's standpoint it seemed as though he'd lost patience and sought to end the fight regardless of losses.
His eyes widened and he turned back to the melee. "Disengage! Fall back to the lab!"
"What's going on?" asked Lu, as she saw the Azguardian captain rush away from the Dreadnought.
All the colour drained from Proctor's face as he recognized what was about to come next. "Quick, we have to get out of here!" He grabbed Lu's arm and dashed towards the bunker.
The sound of Dreadnough weapons cycling up drowned out the sound of blade meeting blade, and the enemy's guns started to glow an ominous shade. The Azguardians paused in their fight to see the foreboding sight of turrets training on their position.
At the last minute, the Dreadnought burst into a ball of fire, the shockwave levelling the Necrotroopers and even tipping over the Azguards.
Overhead, the Gregarious hoved into view. With pinpoint accuracy, point-defence guns started mowing down the crowds of Necrotroopers that surrounded the Azguards. Though it took a few minutes to grind every last one to death, with the help of Azguard troopers dropping in from above it was accomplished.
Horribly bloodied and staggering, the Azguardian captain moved forwards to meet the reinforcements as the Gregarious touched down. "The facility has been maintained, sir."
The Gregarious's captain nodded. "Excellent job. However, we have no time to bask in the victory. Rotate your troops out, I'm deploying a new garrison to watch over the facility while we move the scientists."
The defending captain's brow forrwed. "Move the scientists, sir? To where?"
"Reactor leak in a city," said the other captain dismissively. "It's being contained by civilian countermeasures for now, but we need professional help to guide the cleanup effort."
It didn't take long for Proctor, Lu, and the other scientists to be herded out of their bunker and through the badly damaged research facility. The Azguards marched with pride around their successfully protected charges, even as those charges wretched at the sight of a field of dead Necrotroopers.
As they moved, however, Lu spotted something that caught her attention on a Necrotrooper. Leaning down, she peeled back some of the helmet and gasped. "What is this thing?"
Proctor, who was having a hard enough time holding on to his lunch as it was, was almost pushed over the edge at the sight of the state the Necrotrooper was in. Nevertheless, his medical curiosity got the better of him. "Captain... don't destroy the bodies. Seal them somewhere."
The captain gave a tight salute before giving further orders to his troops. Finally guided aboard the Gregarious, along with the surviving Azguardian guard troopers, Proctor turned to look at their protectors.
"So..." he said, uneasily. "Where are we going?"
"Reactor leak in a city," replied the captain greviously.
"Seriously? That's it?" Mildly disappointed, the doctor crossed his arm. "You do know what year this is, don't you captain? Radiation's not hard to get rid of."
"Try telling that to the Kubaz," said Lu, as she looked out on the blasted world below them. "We'll get right on it."
"Wait..." said the Cathar scientist from earlier. "What are those cylinders you're carrying? Are those..."
Proctor suddenly remembered what he was carrying, and almost tipped them as he jumped. "Holy Clamydia, they are!"
"What are they?" said the curious captain, as he reached out to touch one.
Lu slapped his hand away, replying "They're our samples of the Nanophage virus weaponized by the Black Dragon Empire. There's enough in those canisters to kill everyone in this ship and then spread to wipe out all life on the planet."
The captain gulped. "Then why do we have it with us?"
"It's this sample you fought for, captain," said Lu, who gently took one from Proctor. "With them, we'll be able to reverse-engineer the disease and find an antibody we can upload to Panacea. It'll save the entire war effort and the whole Eastern province from destruction."
"Oh..." said the captain. He and his troops leaned forwards to get a better look at the canisters, and even the myriad scientists took fresh looks at them. The three canisters were simple metal affairs, marked with hazardous symbols and warinings in a dozen languages. Self-consciously, Proctor tightened his grip on them.
"So..." said the captain, leaning back. "Good thing we won that battle. Gods' speed with yours."
In a moment of clarity, Proctor gently placed the canisters to one side. "The battle's been won, captain. Now we're fighting the war."
Kubindi... Present
The layout of the Phage itself was not readily too complex, as seen through any electron microscope it was an ugly mix of technology and biology. The simplicity in it was what made it so hard to combat, even if half of it died the other half could go on to continue the infection. This raised problems on how to kill both a machine and a cell at the same time.
This was what the team at Kubindi had been sent to discover. Their samples of Phage, taken from infected Coalition worlds, had survived the Union attempt to destroy it. The possible attempt by the Union that is, wether they wanted it for their own use is not readily known. So research continued in the mean time. People were dying, suffering, infected and a cure had to be found.
In the confusion and mayhem that was the attack, it first went unnoticed that a vial of Phage had been broken inside the bunker, possibly when, in an attempt to save the samples a scientist gathered them up to evacuate them. Maybe it simply broke lose of its moorings and fell to the floor with the impacts of weapons fire on the surface. In the chaos that followed, the battle to retake the bunker as well as complete decimation of Union forces planet side, the growing biohazard went unoticed until civilian units began to re-enter the building.
Klaxons alarmed them of containment breach, the Phage was loose. Bodies scrambled too and fro, checking seals and ensuring lock down status so that nothing reached planet side to infect the local planetary population. Once that was secure internal sensors moved to track the source of the outbreak as well as label a contamination area to be contained.
"How did this happen!?"
"Wheres the Hazard suits?! Where are the Bloody hazard suits!?"
"Its too late for that now! What do we do?!"
It wasn't the shouting of a frightened mob, it was the cries of men and women too young to die. As scans moved from room to room, hermetically sealing those not contaminated and herding those inhabitants that were back into one collective lab, the bunker slowly became a smaller and smaller place.
As the doors sealed and watery eyes just gazed on at the grey wall that tombed them in for what they thought would be forever, a single being continued to toil over the lab equipment, not giving up no matter what. No he wasn't going to die, he wasn't just going to bow down and keel over no matter what this blasted galaxy threw at him.
Pricking a finger, he dropped some of his own infected blood on a sample tray and ran it through a spectral analyzer.
"Hsalod, what are you doing? Come over here and prey with us.... these could well be our final moments..."
He could almost spit at them as they curled up into their small prayer circle. Waiting on death, almost accepting it, he wouldn't do such a thing, couldn't. He fought for what he believed in, and he believed in life, he had to, he wanted to live. The machine gave an eronious beep as it pushed the sample tray out from its reader.
Hsalod read the screens readout and burst out laughing, low at first, then hysterically. Tears welled in his eyes as he bent over to catch his breath, all eyes in the room focused on him. Taking a few protracted deep breaths, he poked himself in the chest, staring at all of them.
"Kubindic Mycoplasma pneumoniae, I have it and didn't know.... Kubindi cold...."
Blank faces stared him down, as if it was some cruel joke they weren't getting.
"It's the cold, its eating away at the Phage virus, mechanical and biological.... Don't you see? Its a more virulent disease, the Phage is selective and only consumes organics, the Kubindi Cold will eat anything if allowed to spread...."
Looking to one another for a few moments, one solemn looking man stood up again, the basic effect of raising his hand to be called on.
"So your saying we trade one deadly ailment for another? I hardly see how that..."
"Your fracking morons, no wonder we never found a cure... Your all Fracking Morons.... I am telling you, the Kubindi Cold is eating the Phage.... we don't have a cure for the Phage... We DO have a cure for the Kubindi Cold..."
Slack jawed faces met his gaze once again, it was like watching one of those old fashioned zombie movies. Rubbing his nose slightly, he almost wished he hadn't said a word, these people really were fracking idiots.
///Hyper space Reversion///
///.....5.....///
///....4....///
///...3...///
///..2..///
///.1.///
///Hyper space Reversion Complete///
///Data scan Initiated///...To the people of the Onyxian Commonwealth, your support and trust has always been invaluable to me, and I hope that you will continue to support the government of Onyx as you have me. I leave a core group of excellent men to lead the Commonwealth, and I ask you to put your full trust in them...."
Fwillsving... Past
"As I said, it's nothing personal." said President Howard Shan, as the four Azguard explorers sat before him, tightly bound in restrictive cords. "We have to be careful these days."
Frelgrin was the only one not gagged - not because their captors wanted them quiet, the others were gagged on Frelgrin's request - and he spoke to Howard. "I'm not sure if you're familiar with the rules of today's contemporary galactic societies, but tying up diplmoats and ambassadors is generally frowned upon."
Howard sighed. "I know, and I'm sorry to do this to you, but I don't quite have a choice. This planet was once, yes, a smuggler planet. It was a place Kessel Spice Smugglers stopped off to gass up before selling their illict bounty to the highest bidder. The thing is, our little planet here is strangely out of the way for a planet in this part of the galaxy. No one but smugglers came here for years, but recently that changed.
"If you haven't noticed, there's been a lot of wars lately. Wars create refugees, especially the way you outsiders - pardon my language - fight them. The Black Dragons alone are responsible for probably thirty percent of the population here. People are saying they had some sort of 'Jihad' or something. Whatever it was, it got people running.
"With all these wars on, people need a place to go. Somewhere out of the way. Somewhere where they won't be followed. I suggested - and this was years ago - that we should put the word out that there's plenty of room on Fwillsving. At the time, we didn't realize just how many displaced people needed homes, we thought maybe it'd give us an excuse to get out the old hammers and nails and put up a house or two in our spare time. We ended up hiring a spacefarer to tell people about us, and he was so unusually successful that within a month this continent was practically full.
"It was a shock at first, you can imagine, but after a while we've gotten used to it, and almost look forward to it. Despite how little people seem to care for this place, we keep our eyes on the 'net, and whenever we can find out about a war going on we make sure to let the losing side know about Fwillsving."
"So... wait a minute... your hobby is collecting wartime refugees?" said a puzzled Frelgrin.
"Well, I wouldn't say that." said Howard, the wind taken slightly out of his sails. "We're trying to do a good deed here, and we've done pretty well. I admit we did end up making a little profit out of it - be fair, we had to build housing accomodations and set up a necessity-producing infrastructure several hundred times the one we had in place."
Shulmp said something through the gag, which although intelligeble, was probably some sort of quasi-racist comment about the inferirority of their rehousing strategies. That's the sort of thing he says all the time anyways.
"...Anyways." said Frelgrin "So... I guess you wouldn't be very interested in joining the Coalition?"
Howard seemed a bit awkward here. "Weeeeell, it's not that we don't like what you're doing - I mean, we still owe you one for scaring off that Black Dragon fleet."
"Er... actually no, that didn't happen." said Frelgrin.
Howard looked bemused. "What?"
Frelgrin guestured for him to lean down, and whispered in his ear. After a while, Howard went "Ah, I see. Well, ok then. Should we start over?"
"No!" hissed Frelgrin "Just keep going before the 4th wall breaks."
"Er, right, ok. Where was I? Oh yes, we like what you're doing. Yes, the Coalition seems to me like it's been doing a pretty good job here and there, we haven't got any refugees fleeing anything you guys have done anyways. But we can't join you. We have to remain completely neutral, or else the people here might be put at risk."
Fwillsving... Present
///Hyper space Reversion///
///.....5.....///
///....4....///
///...3...///
///..2..///
///.1.///
///Hyper space Reversion Complete///
///Data scan Initiated///...extradition of the prisoners however and they will remain in Imperial hands for the time being. I say this again, we have not charged them with the attack nor will we without evidence...Emerging from hyper space, the probe found itself emersed in a wave of civilian traffic unexpected from what had been regarded as another backwater planet with Infidel presence. Spaceports orbited the world even as scanners registered a large number of life signs unusual for a planet with the history of slow colonization. Leaping out of real space the probe emerged into the pre plotted orbital distance between the star ports in orbit and the planets natural gravity well.
The surface was coated with various artificial structures that the probe recognized as ships sihlouttes. Each ship known in the Imperium carried a registry number that could be tied to a port and ultimately a home world. Recording those ships sihlouttes below, the probe would send the information back to the GMP to check which matched a registered registry code in the Web database. The true nature of the world would not take long to determine after that.
Missing ships from pre-Imperium shipping records were known by failure to be received at their appointed times and destinations at other ports taken by the Imperium. These could merely be dissidents of the Imperium, fleeing to outside borders, or pirated vessels that would be encountered later as the Outter Rim was wiped clean of the menace. The truth of the matter had remained relatively unknown until this point, that almost all those missing ships had been collected into one point, and that all the Imperiums enemies external and internal had collected into one single location.
Jumping a second time, the probe ceased transmission, bits of it reverting back into real space as it slammed into the outer hull of a miscalculated orbit of an older style space station. Due to the nature of the planets inhabitants and the make shift housing they had cobbled together to make refuge in, flaws and mistakes were bound to be abundant. In a perfect system, such flaws would never occur and thus would not be expected, a perfect system could not account for the random flaws of backwater refugees and their floating hovels.
Gand... Present
Aboard the
Necros, Commander Vakko watched as new reports cycled through the GMP to his specially set up Mysteri Array, coalescing all needed combat reports and viable information down into a single stream for the entire span of War. The prescience of the Phage effects, after being cast out among the Coalitions holdings in Imperium territory, being at minimal effect was disappointing to say the least.
In the span of a month since the first foray into the conflict, not much had changed for either side beyond the battle of Mon Calamari. Forces were still being regulated and moved to better handle incursions by each others forces, Coalition forces slowly moving out of the Imperium core regions by way of a Mon Calamari - Teth route detected by hyper space detectors as well as a destroyed GMP probe.
Information, it was always invaluable when determining your positions. Wether it be in a simple game of chess or in a life or death struggle such as the ones war brought about.
Information was always valuable.
"Suffer not the Heresy. Let it be cleansed by the wrath of our righteous cause."
///Initiating Absorption Protocols///The flashing display on the GMP readout was specifically designed to catch his eye, the arrival of the final judge of the war effort was pre-announced by the Mysteri in its liege. Random objects across the bridge began to sink into the floor as they were absorbed into the ship, a tree here, a rock there, all gone as if they had never existed.
///Transmitting to Intelligence Web///
///Creating Husk #112///In the same amount of time it took for those objects to vanish, The Cardinal Astral had formed itself aboard his bridge, raising up from the floor like some spectral ghost from a holiday long ago. The systems of the ship shutting down momentarily as the transfer of control was made, the Cardinal assuming all automated controls and Mysteri dominance through his own husk, becoming more a part of the ship than an actual being.
Turning to face the stars, the Cardinal never looked back at Vakko, though Vakko could see the Mysteri readout still flashed the same bright red words. The conclusion was forgone, wether the Cardinal said them or not now was meaningless.
"I have judged the worth of these Infidels. I have... found them wanting. They are rotten through with heresy and abomination. Despite these world's potential value, the risk of contamination to The Imperium is too great. There is only one solution..."
It said no more, gazing back down at the screen, Vakko read the words once more to himself, for himself.
EXTERMINATUSMore ships would be on the way...
Many more....
