Articles
.
Staff Articles
.
Member Articles
 
 

Stories

On Site Members
..
Off Site Members
.
On Site Non- .....Members
.
Off Site Non- .....Members
 

.

         
Now this is the Law of the Jungle- 
As old and as true as the sky; 
And the wolf that shall keep it may prosper, 
But the wolf that shall break it must die 
        --Rudyard Kipling 

        The void of space seemed like a chasm, an abyss of no return. It emptiness and loneliness changed the perceptive of life, of survival. Out in the jungle of space, there was no end and no beginning only the hollow thought of dreams that laid further beyond the rim, dreams that were impossible to find, and the only comfort were the pinpricks of far off stars and the streaks of 
colored nebula that blanketed the darkness. It was this vastness that made Lieutenant Nathan Kyle feel cocooned inside the cockpit of his ship.  Surrounded by space he had the feeling of weightlessness as he slowly drifted through the vacuum. His holographic HUD was offline, and only a few systems were switched on. His energy display showed full power and the power core at full capacity. He waited quietly, still listening to the echoes of war. 

        His commlink inside his flight helmet clicked on as a voice came over "Nathan, we've got 3 minutes until homebase arrives, we better get ready." 

        Nathan switched over to his wingman's frequency.  "Got it Will, moving into position" he replied before grabbing his joystick and nudging his ship to the left. He looked through his starboard window and spotted his wingmen's Apollo thrust into position. He flicked a switch and his holographic HUD activated. He took a sip from his helmets water pod and waited for their pickup to arrive. They had been sent ahead of their destroyer to scout the system they would be jumping into, to make sure no hostiles or dangers were waiting. The 16-minute check was over and the all clear had been sent. His sensor pad flashed as it read a jumpspace signature. He looked out the cockpit window and saw space fold in on itself, tearing open a blue portal of energy. The giant Orion-Class Destroyer emerge from Subspace, the sound of it engine wash could be heard echoing through space into his cockpit. He smiled and both of the pilots sped toward their vessel. Suddenly, he stopped smiling and noticed a fluctuation around the hull of the Destroyer. He keyed his Commlink just as laser fire erupted from the destroyer. Before he could take any maneuvers the point-blank-range laser fire ripped his fighter to shreds, the energy incinerating him inside his own cockpit. Will attempted to roll away but more laser fire skewered his ship, drilling through his fuselage and detonating his ship in a fireball of brilliant red. 

        Then there was silence. 

        There was an unfamiliar feeling of tension as Senator Peter Mox entered the small briefing room that he had been called too. As he entered, he looked round and could see seven faces, all looking at him with solemn silence, waiting for him to be seated. He placed his briefcase beside his chair, and seated himself at the round table that filled almost the whole room. He pushed several buttons on his chair and a small personal data terminal activated, allowing him to make notes and read memos etc. He nodded and sat back in his chair, awaiting the discussion to begin. Senator Dack Raltiirs, an old senator that formally served in the GTI addressed assembly.  "Now that we're all here, we can address the matter at hand."  As he finished, a large computer display came down at the back of the room, showing information on a cluster of systems and planets.  "The GTA and VPE fleets are still attempting to retake lost ground to the Shivan Garrisons left behind when the Shivan forces retreated beyond the Laramis jump-space node, while the Galactic Terran-Vasudan Senate are attempting to patch up the final war wounds to the people of the colonies.  Currently, we are going through an economic crisis that could cripple our resources, defense and offensive capabilities and we're here to discuss what WE can do about it." 

        He cleared his throat to continue when Peter interrupted.  "Who exactly are we?" he asked, still not aware of what was going on. 

        There was a chuckle from the shadows as one of the galaxy most well known military and political influences, GTI Admiral Kane Ramirez, replied, "We, Senator Mox, are the people that decide what happens in the GTA." 

        Peter couldn't help but frown. "What do you mean?" 

        Senator Raltiirs sighed.  "Perhaps I should explain, Senator.  We are the GTVA's security trump card, our job is to make sure that the well being of the GTA and…" he hesitated.  "VE is upheld no matter what". 

        Mox laughed. "So, we're some sought of puppeteers are we? Well you can count me out, I'm not going to use my tactical experience to aid in any sick scenarios you people have planned." 

        As he stood up a calm, strong voice stopped him.  "We're only here to safeguard what's ours, we are simply the guardian angels of the GTA."  Peter looked at the speaker. He wore a blood red Admirals uniform, medals and stripes pinned neatly onto it. On his left shoulder was the sign of the GTA Defense league with the sign of the GTD Royal Pride underneath. He spoke in a strong British accent, while clutching a glass of wine. Peter couldn't help but smile.

        "Admiral Nigel Dancer I presume, I wouldn't have expected a GTA war hero to be a…" 

        "Devils advocate? No, I wouldn't think so but then again our times are changing and strong leadership is the key." 

        Peter folded his arms.  "Fine, I'll stay and listen a while, so what are we actually going to discuss?" 

        Senator Raltiirs pointed at the screen.  "This system here is Capella, a system known for its pirate hotspots and raider activities, now the GTA and the VE has done nothing to attempt to stop it, so its up to us to do the dirty work, and the GTI and undercover scientific teams have come up with a solution that will solve all our problems and win this war… gentleman I present, Project Kadarba…" 

        "My God," was all that Lt. Derrick "Reaper" Jaran could say as he stared hard at the horrific debris field of the Orion Class Destroyer. Never, since the Battle of Polaris III when the GTD Bastion was destroyed had he seen such a vicious bit of "dismantling" as one of his wingman, Ensign Fred "Dice" Tren put it. The solar flares emitted from the systems sun lit up the debris fields in brilliant flashes, before returning to the eerie, lonely darkness of space. An air of tension was all around him inside the observation deck as his squad, the 132nd Wraiths that made up of 13 pilots, including him and several other pilots and crew he didn't recognize stared almost silent at the field of debris. The vessel they were on, the GTD Avatar moved slowly by, launching out probes to quickly sweep the hulking mass of the vessel for booby traps or nasty surprises left behind by the attackers. He looked at another one of his squad mates, Lieutenant Gregory "Face" Slider, who had earned his nickname from the bionic reconstructing that took place on the left side of his face after the control pad in his modified Zeus Bomber exploded. Both of the two men were wearing a face of what the hell happened here? 

        The intercom blared with a three beep signal and Derrick new it was time for 4 of the members of his squadron, that made up the "Delta" wing section, to go to the flight deck and suit up to escort two salvage transport that were being launched to determine the cause of death, if you will. But that was blatantly obvious. A Shivan cap ship had jumped in, real close and ripped it apart at point blank range. But the tech freaks that worked in engineering told him you can't jump in too close or the Subspace vortex pull would collapse and cause damage to both vessels, perhaps even destroying them.  Trust them to ruin a perfectly good theory. 

        Within minutes, Derrick, Gregory Fred and Lt. Commander Caanon "Scythe" Raymond were suited and prepared to escort the transports. Derrick and Fred both flew Ulysses, which had only been slightly updated to carry Prometheus and Banshee weapons, Gregory flew his Zeus (which had been modified with a larger fusion coil and less cargo space, allowing an additional shield recharge unit and enough space to store to more Tsunamis while to top it all of he had extra armor sheathed over his missile store to make sure no stray weapons fire detonated his missile banks, which had been the overall cause of 
his scarring) while Caanon flew a normal Valkyrie. As the clearance sign from the crew was given they were propelled out the docking bay through the "bubble" force-field which prevents the ground crew from being sucked out into space or losing any oxygen, and straight behind the two transports. Derrick flicked a switch on his control board and his holographic HUD 
activated, it blue color shimmering as the projector adjusted to the suns light. His computer display locked on to his escort and he let the computer fly in to escort position. 

        Ever since the Battle of Polaris III when the last major Shivan outpost was destroyed the GTA and VE had begun radical changes. War ships were sent to far-flung worlds to assist in rebuilding and to help citizens on their feet. Economic and Political changes took place. Both the Terran and Vasudan Finance commissions joined forces to begin to fund and build new enterprises and mining corporations, employing everyone everywhere. After the Great War the GTA was financially crippled while the VE had no money to speak off. The Aftermath of the war didn't help matters. But after large deposits of minerals were found on Altair, Cappella and somewhere in Beta Cygni and Epsilon Pegasi (on one of the moons orbiting Epsilon Pegasi's fourth world) massive mining operation paved way. 

        After that, the VE went through a gigantic Military and Economic reconstruction that no one had ever seen, and they even re-colonized the Vasuda system with new terra-forming technology, but the massacre at Vasuda Prime was still seared into the minds of many Vasudans, Both empires still had a lot of rebuilding left to do. 

        Thousands of other changes took place; one of the biggest was that the Vasudan Parliament was disbanded. Another was the plan was to change the VE (Vasudan Empire) and the GTA to the GTVA, to replace the current name of simply "the Alliance". This GTVA would be the largest alliance ever formed and would bring peace and prosperity. But Derrick thought that was a load of crap. It was obvious that peace was never going to be absolute, even many senators knew that. Humans and Vasudans despised each other still; the T-V war was still burned into each race's past. Even though two Vasudans, Lt. Valenn Sa'Tell Oros a former pilot in the PVN Royal Taskforce and Lt. Commander Asyra'El CaNora a Vasudan Veteran were in the squadron, feuds and arguments cropped up everywhere. Peace was one thing, but prosperity? If THAT ever happened the squad wouldn't need to put faith in Fred's lucky dice that dangled in his cockpit anymore. 

        The wreckage of the Destroyer floated slowly into view as one of the transports, the GTT Ivory Star headed toward the cargo to begin scans. The Comm unit clicked inside his helmet as the Transports Captains voice came over.  "We're preparing to enter the debris field, to begin scans, once we're done we'll let the Ivory Dance finish up scans and the freighter can hauls in 
the wreckage for inspection."  As he finished the transport begun a spiral into the field, slowly avoiding debris chunks trying to crush them. Derrick grabbed the joystick and autopilot automatically switched off, allowing him to gently glide to the side of the Transport, just outside it scanning sphere. 

        "We've found the ID beacon, this was the GTD Harpy, a vessel assigned to watching the outer rim worlds in Adhara and Fiorina 161*, Polaris and a few more.  We're also detecting high energy beam residue… thought so, incoherent pure energy rays looks like the Harpy was destroyed by Shivans beam cannons at point blank range."  Derrick felt his gut twist, the massacre at Polaris III that had been seared into his mind flashed in his mind a few seconds, he remembered the screams of anguish as the Shivans Demon had jumped in out of nowhere, seemingly hundreds of Shivans fighters that had been masked by the Demons subspace vortex ambushed the squads. Pilot after pilot went down as a deadly rainbow of laser fire chewed up vessels, as highly experimental beam cannon weaponry tore apart cruisers and destroyers alike, he remembered the blinding white subspace blast of energy as the… No, he shouldn't remember those were memories best forgotten. 

        There was a beeping on his sensor pad as he looked up from his feet. A whining noise filled his cockpit as three Shivan fighters, the black and red markings of war shining on their ships as they were illuminated by the green nebula, shot by at a high speed.  "Jesus!" Derrick shouted. He spun the ship out the way as another pair flew past and begun flying clear of the debris 
field. He swore under his breath as he tracked them. The Destroyers' remains that drifted in space must have masked them from sensors. Before a single shot was fired they entered subspace and were gone. 

        "Well, looks like somebody knows we're here," came Sliders voice over the squadron's Comm. 

        "Cut the chatter ladies, keep your eyes peeled for any more unwelcome guests."  That came from Lt. Commander Raymond. 

        Derrick shook his head in disbelief. This wasn't going to be a good day. 

        Feeling unusually stiff, Captain Ron "Deuce" Horudum sat in the musty briefing room and looked around at the array of men and women. Ron was the self-appointed leader of Wraith Squadron, a squadron he had formed himself out of pilots that had shown outstanding skill yet committed offences that marred their careers. Over the years he had managed to shape the squadron to a highly trained killing machine that now accepted all pilots, but only the best. Most of the original pilots still remained. Wraith squadron was a squad where many pilots had found redemption and moved on to further their careers, 
careers Ron new would succeed. 

        The briefing room was packed three squadrons full (each squad was 13 pilots strong). There were the Wraiths, the 53rd Hammerheads and the 72nd Golden Sparrows. He sat on the front row, observing Commodore Jack Hanagen, ships captain, as he paced up and down near the display board. Ron's second in command, commander David "Boy Wonder" Shawn looked at him with a face of puzzlement. It was always rare when all three squadrons would be called to their wing station, while all around the station wing stations were full. It seemed the GTA and VE had a large operation planned. The 13th Fleet had also been amassed, and already the GTD Ravage and the GVND Legacy (the parliamentarian Vasudan navy had now been temporally replaced by the GVN, which meant Galactic Vasudan Navy but rumors had it that the navy was to be taken out, and ships would simply be GVD or GVC and so forth) several other support ships had arrived, making the fleet a full fledged attack force. 

        Commodore Hanagen stared round the room and cut the chatter by clearing his throat. "Pilots attend, today gentleman GTA and the Vasudan Navy have something big planned, a strike that going to make sure that the Shivan forces that still plague us are removed.  Currently, two major garrisons in Capella and Polaris, as well as a small Shivan depot in Mirfax that we believe was vessels that were left behind require destroying."  The board's blank image was replaced by a large display of the systems and different battle groups. "As you can see the garrisons are quite large and contain around four cruisers in each, but since the battle of Polaris III and the counteroffensive the Shivans through against us in Ikea, our strategists have learnt a few things.  Now, we will naming this series of missions Operation Threshold and I'll tell you why soon.  Our plan is to split the 13th fleet along with the 22nd Cruiser Battle Group into two attack forces so that we can eliminate the garrisons quickly, you'll be flying with the Avatar and three cruisers, the London, Moscow and Washington." he cleared his throat before continuing.

        "Our attack will be in the Polaris system where the Avatar will jump in with Wraith group through the jumpspace node along with the Golden Sparrows who will be flying bombers, now then when the Shivans scramble to engage the three cruiser will jump in the middle of the Shivan garrison with modified jump engines that will make a slightly larger rift, the Shivans will 
panic and attack both ways but to top it all of the Hammerheads, who will be flying bombers, will be masked from sensors for 16.2 seconds by the subspace threshold all three cruiser make allowing them to slip in and launch their payload before the Shivans even know their there."  There was a short burst of chat but that stopped quickly. 

        "Now, for this to actually WORK ladies we're going have to do it to split second timing, one cock up and the whole house lights up so listen carefully people and we might all earn retirement…"

---

000000000000000000