|
|
Post by GoldenKitten on Sept 4, 2009 12:53:23 GMT -4
-----------<<
------------------------<<
---------------------------------------------<<
Department of Planetary Disasters - Commission of Planetary Stability
--------------------------------------------->>
Core Representative: Ivan Bololov [Representative "G34 - Vakovia Exterior Band]
Form #: IX27-39948
Form Title: Summary of Planetary Destruction
Deceleration Code: Line 52, Segment 957 [Page 903495 in Standard Text of Deceleration Code]
Issued: 23/41/11984 R.O
Sector Code: G34 - Vakovia Exterior Band
Segment Code: G34-590392
Planetary Code: PS274-H-DW
Planetary Name: Aurelius
Aphelion: 234,092,621 km
Perihelion: 254,183,000 km
Semi-major axis: 149,597,887.5 km
Eccentricity: 0.0121040
Rotation Period: 37.489394 hours
Orbital period: 671.588690 days
Average orbital speed: 21.432 km/s
Inclination: 1°54'44.1"[2]
Longitude of ascending node: 532.23343°
Argument of perihelion: 100.23243°
Satellites: 3
Planetary Synopsis: PS274-H-DW was one of the Orders greatest industrial worlds. It was rich in the many natural metals and gases we are now making greater use of with the dwindling reserves of spirit energy available to us. The planet was already a dead world when the UWO arrived almost five-thousand years prior to this date with almost zero water and a nearly flat wind-swept cragland over its entire surface with the exception of occasional jutting plateaus. Cave based fungi were the primary producers of oxygen and the only reason colonization was viable, these also had stores of an unexpected amount of liquid water. Countless small factories dotted the massive landscape and two large cities, Aurelius-A and Aurelius-B served as central hubs for processing and export of the product mined.
--------------------------------------------->>
Event #: G34-3894002993034
Event Synopsis
----
----
----
23/31/11984 R.O
32.66.54
Outlying station BB23-34i950 detects unidentified object 440-30405. Scans suggest spatial distortion phenomenon, no weight, no spiritual presence, object is to small to accurately measure. Object is lost 01.20 later. Logged as computer error.
----
23/32/11984 R.O
01.21.05
Terrestrial Aurelius landbase TT-234 detects unidentified object, matches it with 440-30405 observed day prior at outlying station. Computer still logs scans as computer error. Object makes landfall 01.12 later in uninhabited terrain 74°/82°.
----
01.57.23
Local governor Melissa Eucharion is contacted. PDF is contracted to investigate scene, 15.11 later PDF is mobilized. 23.47 later PDF makes contact that they have arrived on scene and will begin investigating.
----
02.45.50
No contact from PDF contingent.
----
02.55.50
No contact from PDF contingent. local governor makes request for information. Attempts to contact PDF fail. 5.32 later, secondary PDF contingent is assembled. 24.39 later second contingent arrives at scene.
-----
03.25.32
No contact from secondary PDF contingent. Attempts to make contact met with failure. Local governor raises alert status on all defense forces in local area, sends communique to Aurelius-B the closest planetary jurisdiction.
----
03.33.44
Terrestrial Aurelius Landbases TT-234, TT-431 and TT-361 stop sending scans to both local and planetary sources. All landbases are within a ten click distance to landing site of object 440-30405.
----
03.47.11
Township of Eludian Heights, under jurisdiction of local governor Melissa Eucharion ceases communication. Multiple attempts to contact local governor, township and all outlying outpost meet with failure. Aurelius-B defense forces are alerted, Planetary Governor Varius Jax is alerted. Aurelius-B and all exterior territories are placed on level 2 alert.
----
04.17.11
Thirty-two Terrestrial Aurelius Landbases, twelve independent factories, eight homesteads and three townships in a sixty mile radius of 440-30405's landing site cease communications. Aurelius-B places all territories on level 1 alert, makes contact with Aurelius-A. All PDF defense forces are roused and begin equipping for defensive and offensive procedures.
----
04.47.11
Two more townships cease communications, similar counts for smaller bases. Aurelius-B orders a full evacuation of all outlying territories that do not possess their own defenses into larger townships.
----
05.02.27
Township of Antelion communicates to Aurelius-B that they are under attack. Lack equipment to send visual. Confirm that it is spiritual in nature and seems unimpeded by even their small cache of spiritual weaponry. 03.22 later contact is lost with township of Antelion.
----
05.42.55
Two further townships are lost, PDF base of Key Island is assaulted. Send visual confirmation of opponent, black humanoid spirit entity. Aurelius-B is alerted. Aurelius-B makes sub-space contact with UWO core space, alerts of situation, added to request cue. 08.32 Key Island, estimated bastion of 5,600+ PDF soldiers ceases communication.
----
12.00.00
Five townships, three PDF bases and several hundred land bases and factories cease contact. Aurelius-B orders a full and complete retreat to the main city for remaining two dozen townships and two hundred smaller bases. PDF bases of Lorocks Lock and Aurelius Falls with standing forces of 5000 each are ordered to deploy full force in armor and men along the Aurelius-B state line. Aurelius-B PDF standing force of 20000 is placed on walls, heavy armor including two Hellion class Behemoths are activated. Makes request to Aurelius-A for further aid, request is denied as sanctioned by the articles of war stating that no one UWO base shall weaken itself to protect another if enough information to judge it a prudent course of action is not available.
----
14.34.22
All townships evacuated. Several exterior bases that could not be reached in time cease communication. State line defense force in position, Aurelius-B defense force in position.
----
16.02.13
State line defense force makes visual contact and on order commences attack. Little to no visual effect on target. It is observed that target "consumes on touch". 50% casualties in 12.32, retreat order is sounded. Lack of contact after a further 15.57, given communications sent it is believed losses are absolute.
----
16.10.00
Aurelius-B makes secondary contact with core systems. Given special permission to speak directly with core representative Ivan Bololov. Complete position is conveyed. Maneuvered into first place on cue. Contact is made with Richard Mallory (Most glorious and everlasting is he).
----
16.43.39
Aurelius-B makes visual contact with target via long range scope. Aurelius-A begins ordering evacuation of outlying regions into interior regions, orders all PDF bases into townships and a full defense lockdown.
----
17.02.21
Target begins attack on Aurelius-B, first meets Hellion class Behemoth "Torador" in outlying field. Behemoth is lost in 01.32, second Behemoth "Belial" is lost 02.01 later. Front trench defenses are lost in 07.41. Eastern defense wall collapses, Western defense wall collapses, 75% casualty rate in 18.43. Target breaches defenses, enters city. Parliament building collapses, near 100% casualty rate other than civilians in 05.32.
----
17.40.00
Aurelius-A loses contact with Aurelius-B.
----
30.00.00
No activity.
----
30.00.01
Terrestrial Aurelius Landbase TT-553 in Aurelius-A territory which were abandoned but set to constant motion scan mode detects breach in perimeter. Comparison with previous scans confirm identity of target 440-30405. All PDF forces are alerted, high defense initiated. Aurelius-A arms all spiritual weapon armories including special war-time order cache under control of planetary governor.
----
34.31.22
Township of Pluaria makes first contact. 12000 SDF units have risen to defense, armor and defense walls are rigged. Make good progress, report they believe they are damaging target and that it is backing off. 12.34 contact with Pluaria is lost.
----
36.51.06
Two further townships are lost. Aurelius-A orders full retreat of all forces including PDF forces, does not order a defense line as is stated by direction, the planetary governor stated his reasoning as "If it can cut through Aurelius-B paper thin line it can ours as well, better to offer a single strong defense."
----
23/33/11984 R.O
01.22.29
Richard Mallory (Most glorious and everlasting is he) arrives with capital ship "Morning Star", HALO Marines capital ship "Ultima" under the order of Lord Commander Derrick Okeba and five destroyers of the HALO Marines. Takes control of planetary defense. Deploys four contingents of HALO Marines in Aurelius-A, begins spiritual strengthening barrier, deploys basic spiritual weaponry to specialty PDF forces. Deploys Dominator class Behemoth "Tank" on exterior defense.
----
01.55.37
Township of Luckless Lane which failed to evacuate in time confirms targets attack. 03.22 later communication is lost. Township is a confirmed twenty clicks from Aurelius-A.
----
02.07.12
Aurelius-A makes visual contact with target 440-30405. Target makes Dominator class Behemoth priority. Battle for Aurelius-A commences.
--------------------------------------------->>
<<< Return: blk/UWO/pdd/index.vss
Next >>>: pge2/aurlisdreprt.vss
---------------------------------------------<<
------------------------<<
-----------<<A screen flickered to life as two blue borders on the top and bottom of the screen became visible, with a black line in the middle and the large golden letters "UWO" in its center, as the text "United Network" appeared on the top and bottom. It soon shifted onto a camera footage of a battalion standing in attention as a man of seemingly high status stood in front of them, however there was no audio other than a basic but nice sounding tune in the background. Big text displaying the words "Join up!" appeared on the screen as a narrator like voice began to speak. "Billions of people all across the galaxy are joining up to do their part." The deep male voice said before the screen shifted to one of the young recruits decked out in a fancy high-tech suit of armor. "I'm doing my part!" He said enthusiastically, shortly followed by another, before it shifted to a group of technicians who stood before a massive flier that looked to be designed for aerial bombardment or dropping troops into the heat of action. "We're doing our part!" Several of them said as they gave a thumbs up before they turned back to their work. Then a child, maybe twelve years old and wearing a gray and fairly basic looking training uniform walked up in front of the camera. "I'm doing my part too!" which resulted in all the nearby soldiers and technicians laughing heartily. "They are doing their part! Are you? Join the United World Order Military and be a part of the future! Service guarantees a safe environment." The screen which had been a massive two hundred foot construct on top of one of Aurelius-A's many judicial structures finally froze at that point. In the commotion of the past day nobody had bothered to shut the repeating propaganda videos down, not that it would have mattered. Now though it cut off permanently and moments later the screen came free from its hinges, knocked loose after one of the latest explosive percussions had ripped through thee city and it went hurtling for street level. Thousands of civilians were still finding shelter or pilfering store fronts while the defense forces found themselves busy on the front lines. Unfortunately for them a life of crime, or sometimes just being in the wrong place at the wrong time could prove fatal and the screen came down crushing a hundred of them instantly in a plume of glass and dust. The city had been falling apart for the past half hour, even with the battle taking place nearly four miles outside of it the cataclysmic forces being unleashed were simply more than it had ever been safety tested for. Tank alone was unleashing more force than a city-destroying WMD every few seconds and she was far from the only one opening fire. To top it off the attacking target seemed prone to occasionally breaking off its assault on the giant machine and ripping out a chunk of nearby city, usually including people. These things would simply disappear into the blackness of its body and it hadn't taken Richard long to hypothesize that it was eating all these forms of matter as a type of energy. Of course the specifics were lost to them as they had neither the time nor the means to study the phenomenon at the moment and instead were forced to throw everything they had at it while the higher-ups tried to figure something out. Luckily the UWO, particularly the group traveling with Mallory directly, had more than enough to throw. The Dominator was massive even by typical Behemoth proportions and there was only one of them in existence. It wasn't just a walking god of the mortal realm but was also almost completely comprised of spirit weaponry and defenses as well as being linked directly to one of the UWO's most ancient and experienced A.I's known as “Tank”. It was commonly believed the Dominator could easily have fought every other Behemoth in the UWO's entire arsenal at one time and still won, it was probably true. At 300 meters tall and with enough guns to make a capital ship shirk away in shame no sane or natural force would have dared to face it down. But as it was this was no natural force, and to the trained eye it was apparent the Dominator was slowly but surely losing. “111.3029 meters. Fire. 96.1932 meters. Fire. 128.4353 meters. Fire. 230.4821 meters. Fire. 153.9822 meters. Fire. 58.3948 meters. Fire. 22.4111 meters. I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU!!!. 131.8393 meters. Fire.” Needless to say the HALO Marines heavy-armor channel had been relatively amusing to listen in to as always. Tank despite her ages of experience had never grown patience when it came to dealing with foes and much preferred when they simply crumpled before her, this foe was getting on her nerves. The little black gnat wasn't even a percentage of her outer-shells size but no matter how much firepower she poured into it, it simply kept coming and every time it managed to smack against her some of the frames functionality was drained. Luckily the Dominator was a giant spirit well and the force this foe used to simply cut through other matter wasn't working as well here but with no obvious damage on its part and plenty on the Dominator frame it was apparent who would win in the long run. Regardless she kept shooting because until Richard came up with something better there wasn't much else capable of stopping it on-site. “Could you please not do that. Last think we need is the PDF listening in and thinking you don't know what you doing.” A deep semi-robotic voice cut in over the line. “152.5738 meters. Fire. Shut up I'm killing things. 234.0340 meters. Fire.” Derrick who was watching from the mounded frontlines before the cities main walls simply placed his hand on his helmet and sighed, he had long ago learned the futility of reasoning with her. While the majority of the cities PDF and four of his own HALO marine contingents had taken the walls a single contingent and the remaining artillery had taken the forefront given the distance the battle was currently taking place at. Once it arrived at the cities walls the artillery wouldn't have been useful anyway and they could always replace it at a later date, thus this was a perfect set-up. The HALO marines were there to protect the actual operators when the time came for retreat, not that a single individual was that important but there were many individuals here who could be used for further defense within the cities walls. The HALO marines were an impressive force, few could imagine what it was like to meet one much less what it was like to be one but amongst them all there were none more impressive than Derrick. The average marine in full combat armor stood a full set of head and shoulders taller than a normal man, Derrick stood several bodies taller than a marine. Most marines had of course undergone a degree of gene-therapy and computerization so that they were naturally large and could interface with all forms of machinery but after fifty-thousand years of enhancements Derrick could hardly be called a man anymore. Standing at over nine meters in his armor, a little under eight without it and with more machinery in his body than organic material Derrick had long ago ceased to be who he was, or at least what he was since he mind still remained if a bit more experienced and enlightened than it had once been. This man widely known through the universe was the unrivaled master of every military branch in UWO space, if he arrived on a planet and told the entire PDF force to take their rifles, aim at the nearest soldier they saw and shoot, there was a good chance the greater majority of them would do it. “Why did those wall guns stop firing?” He boomed down to those around him while pointing one massive finger at a set of bastion-fortifications which had ceased their endless stream of fire. “Sir, they say the targets last attack against the fortifications severed an electrical line to the feeders.” A small marine who would have in fact been a giant to anyone else relayed. “Order some of our own engineers to that location and have them fix the issue, we can't allow any of our main offensive batteries to go down right now.” There was no verbal confirmation needed, the man simply saluted and ran off with speed back toward the wall. There were a sudden series of gasps from the surrounding PDF soldiers and a few HALO marines who had been running from task to task raised their weapons and began firing. Derrick turned about to find the black target hurtling straight at the wall as it occasionally had from time to time only this time it was coming right for his own location. The sound of weapons being fired was explosive and deafening but no matter how much they poured into it the black force simply kept coming and once it was within five-hundred meters Tank had to cease firing lest she blow up their own fortifications in the process which made it even easier for the target to rush at them. With no time to bother with tactics Derrick ran up to the top of the defensive mound and stared the enemy down as it came flying toward them with impossible speed. “MORON MOVE!!!” Tank screamed over the com but Derrick was hardly listening. He ripped his spiritual blade from its sheath and brought it to bear, their technology had long ago imbued these blades with the same powers as zanpaktou. There was no time to think as the ground that the target came into contact with simply disappeared before him and a moment later it was connected with his blade. The percussive force blew regular PDF humans and enhanced HALO marines away from the epicenter with equal ease but Derrick found it strange how little mass actually seemed to be behind the strike. Regardless it wasn't the blow itself which had been dangerous, it was the consumption Richard had hypothesized, the blade which was in contact with the black form was fragmenting into nothingness before his eyes and any moment now it would be making direct contact with him. Had it not been for this and all the events prior it might have been amusing to watch this tiny figure try to attack the much larger Lord Commander. Derrick fell back on an old skill that hadn't been required in a hundred or more years, he released his handle on the blade with his right hand so that he was fending off the consumption with only his left and flexed backward with his right. Derrick was perhaps the thickest mass of reiatsu in existence (if not the most offensive) and now a huge portion of that mass was moving in to his right arm. Thousands of years of practice meant his efficiency like most spirit beings was unconscious and incredible with almost zero waste. Several bolts of spiritual energy broke off from the back of his shoulder and scorched the land behind him but that was about it, his fist began glowing a bright blue and thats when he threw his punch straight in to the humanoid black things face dropping what little remained of the blade in the process. For a moment there was almost zero reaction and it almost seemed like this had been a bad idea, what usually would have been a massive explosion was simply turning into nothing as if the energy was disappearing as he unleashed it but then, finally, the usual response. At the time he didn't know why the delayed response had occurred but his brain was racing and it would be one of the primary cases the UWO would build their future offensive and defensive strategies against Leviathan around. The explosive wave was sent outward in multiple opaque blue “sonar” rings of energy with one central beam down the center. At the head of that energy the black target was taking it full force in the face and being sent thousands of meters back out across the desert field where it crashed in a mighty explosion of hydrogen like proportions. Tank immediately followed its trajectory and began firing without even confirming whether damage had been done and equally most of the wall defenses started up again as if following her lead. Derrick stood where he had for a moment while observing a large split in his chest armor that had not been there before, he was starting to understand what he was dealing with and how he was perhaps in one of the worst positions for dealing with it. However now was not the time, he turned around and pointed at the same gun emplacement as before while speaking across the engineering com. “Where is that firing emplacement people?” |
|
end
New Member
Posts: 36 
|
Post by end on Sept 5, 2009 12:58:35 GMT -4
Leviathan's principal resistance on Aurelius were a pair of titans. One, 9 meters tall. The other 300.
Leviathan reeled from the smaller Titan's blow, and not given a chance to right herself, the enormous ship continued to concentrate its massive firepower on her. If Leviathan didn't have a head that annihilated space, she would have smirked. She had intended to start her tour of UWO space with a flashy, eye-catching entrance, but it seemed it had functioned too well. What she recalled as the core of the yesteryear's NWO had gathered on the scene for her and for her alone. It was almost flattering. But it was also problematic.
The cracks in her form, tangible breaks in a distinctly intangible being, were swallowed up. If she was lucky, the titan wouldn't be sure WHY he managed to injure her. But she intended follow up appearances, and now the UWO would figure her out ahead of schedule.
The secret that they had stumbled on was Leviathan's mouth. She had an infinite appetite and stomach. But not an infinite mouth. Too much at once, and even she could be injured. This little titan, while impressive by normal standards, had simply been the tipping point. First, she would have to deal with the incoming fire. It was steady and unrelenting, unlike that punch, which clearly took some effort. The biggest source of that fire was the big titan. It was fairly impressive that weaponry of that physical scale was able to achieve consistent accuracy on a target so small.
It would have to go.
Leviathan looked up, past the blinding fire crashing into her. She saw it. There was a much faster solution here, but she would keep that trump card for later. Annihilating the intervening distance, and taking all at once the fire between them, Leviathan instantly moved to 'close quarters' range, too close to fire upon. She placed a hand against the ship. The contact point started to wear away, and a hand print of missing matter began to creep out from under her palm. The Reiatsu was very high. The disintegration began to accelerate as her mouth emptied itself into her stomach. She withdrew her hand. Without further incoming fire, it would take 5 seconds for her to have her full destructive capacity available to her. She would be able to punch a hole clear through the ship. But still, it gave too much away.
The 5 seconds were up.
She advanced on the ship, sliding neatly through the walls. She created a perfect silhouette as she made contact, and her passing expanded it into a gaping wound. She breached the layers at a languid pace, maintaining herself at full efficiency. She had expected to reach into an internal network of hallways filled with scurrying personnel. She found nothing. No openings. Just armor. And now, the machinery necessary to operate the titan. To the designer's credit, either through reduncancy or through spiritual mechanisms, the titan didn't seem to mind the loss too terribly. Leviathan did not know how the Titan was built, but it really didn't matter too much. Her goal was to cripple its ability to move and fight. To do so much violence to it that repairing it would cost the UWO tremendous resources and time. But NOT to give them cause to abandon it.
To stretch the UWO too thin. That was the overall goal.
Leviathan was the anthropomorphic personification of hunger. Hunger Incarnate. She would always need to eat, and she would have to eat at least so-much to stay... 'healthy'. The universe had a lot to offer in the way of matter, but that was (pity) the path to a slow decline. Entropy was a terrible thing to contend with when you are infinite. But Spirits? They could produce more energy than it cost them to create it.
And the UWO was burning her crops before they were ripe.
Leviathan made for the Titan's center of mass. That's were the important bits were supposed to go. After that she would head out the bottom and wipe out the legs. Finally, assuming she didn't disable the weapons systems along the way, she would take care of the remaining armament in person. She moved forward. A new source of reiatsu, slightly out of sync with that of the titan began to flow towards her, as loose spiritual particles always did. There was a discrete element in there. Leviathan now had a goal. She parted the matter before her to find the source, and before her it emerged.
It was a girl, young, tan. White hair, yellow, inhuman eyes, likely cybernetic. She wore some sort of metallic suit, which Leviathan conjectured linked her up with the titan. With no more intervening armor, Leviathan could better take her measure. She was strong, certainly, by modern standards, but she had a good ways to go before Leviathan would come for her. She had potential. She greeted Leviathan with a look of surprise.
The annihilated space that made up Leviathan's head spit up her face, giving her human features to look at again. It wasn't real flesh. It was as insubstantial as the rest of her. But it helped Leviathan interact when she needed to, and anchor her sense of self even when she didn't. She was attractive, but sharp, and her expression was a mix of intrigue and cruelty. But she softened. She would end many lives today, but only a small percentage of the living or the dead ever made it as far as this girl. Today was not her day to die. Leviathan addressed her.
'Hello.'
|
|
|
|
Post by GoldenKitten on Sept 15, 2009 13:10:15 GMT -4
Leviathan might have thought the Behemoth had many redundancies and she was right for the most part. However one thing the UWO had never counted on was an enemy actually tunneling through the armor, even if the Behemoth were crippled actually reaching Tank was supposed to be utterly impossible. As such the insides of the vehicle had relatively few defenses, a couple electrical pulse systems...and as luck would have it that was practically the first control system the black mass ate through and with little preparation for a breach there was no way to return power to the system. Tank could do little but watch the enemy burrow through her outer shell and hop the Behemoth around in a futile gesture trying to force physics to send the creature flying. Of course physics had little to do with this foe and even if it had nothing short of forcing the Behemoth to the ground would have forced it out, and something as big as the Dominator was not capable of getting back up with any speed if it fell.
Tank realized that it would eventually reach her and quickly began running through the options available to her. It was not ten seconds later when the wall next to the true body of Tank simply melted away, exposing the black creature beyond. Tank wasn't so much surprised by its appearance as she had known it was coming as she was worried. She was strong, yes, but if Derrick had trouble in hand to hand combat she didn't stand a chance, Tank's reiatsu was built to utilize exterior shells more that direct fighting. The black creature had stopped and they were now more or less face to face, the chamber Tank was in was extremely small since she didn't really need the comfort a human operator did and every inch of armor counted. She was hung from four metal pistons that seemed to screw into her “suits” back, one arm was inserted into a turnstile of some sort which was likely used to drive the giant machine and the other was free to operate a series of keyboards below her with inhuman speed.
She was certain it was going to attack but then it paused before her and she watched with shock as the black mass in the upper extremities of the humanoid figure became a “face”. She had paused for a moment but as soon as Leviathan spoke she returned to operating the controls proving that though she might have resembled a bratty teenager in appearance and action she did in fact have the reactions and neutral rational of a supercomputer behind it all. Two warring reactions fought within her as she tried to decide how to respond, on one end her natural reaction was to be aggressive. On the other Tank had long ago broken free from the constraints of a computers boundaries and could now make her own decisions freely...in most cases her survival was more important than her mission.
This complex and infinite contemplation lead to the well thought out response of, “Oh...er...HI!!!”
Tank nearly did a face palm before the following words came out in a casual manner as she developed a plan in the recesses of her mind, “So...whatcha doing out here eating people and blowing up cities on this fine day?", she was falling back on self-preservation mode, she was already arming her final defense and hoping that if this creature could talk she could keep it talking long enough to arm it.
“I'm going to destroy the UWO, beginning with its infrastructure. I've chosen this fine planet as a starting point.” The female creature responded without a moments hesitation.
Tank removed the arm that was in the turnstile in a natural fashion and tapped her finger against her mouth, "Ah, sounds good, sounds good. Well I suppose you shouldn't be waiting around here, should get back to it right?" the addition 'With me still alive' didn't really need to be included.
“I don't suppose you'll stop shooting at me? It's a little annoying.” The creature retorted.
"Well you know, drilling right into my core probably took down a few of my systems. I mean it might take a few minutes to repair important systems and heck, who am I to say that the majority of the weapons will even come back online with proper targeting parameters? This is all guesswork of course."
“I see. Take down your shields and we'll call it a day.”, Tank couldn't help but wonder why she was being so amicable when the creature had aggressively bore her way in this far, but she decided not to question it.
"Well you know that does sound wonderful, but with the shields being you know, the only thing keeping your hungry hungry hippo powers out that strikes me as a bad idea."
Tank grew mildly apprehensive when something resembling a smile crossed her attackers face but she just went on to continue talking, “To the contrary. You see, while I can 'hippo' everything, it works on the path of least resistance. We're very close to each other right now, and so at this range, if I touch, ...anything... the first thing to go will be whatever has the least energy output. And so, if I'm going to leave with the shields on, I'm going to have to be very, very careful to go out the exact way I came.”
Tank knew a lie when she heard one, after fifty-thousand years of measuring peoples reactions it became second nature. This was backed up by the fact that after watching her foe burrow straight through spiritual armor Tank was beginning to understand what she was facing though of course it was all guess-work at the moment. Tank felt her final preparations activating in her mind and knew she just needed to keep this chat going for a moment or two longer, as such she grew slightly more cocky than she perhaps should have.
“I...see...you know it comes to mind that I am all sorts of energy output over here. Huh, so just, out of curiosity would happen if I activated the chassis self-destruction code? I'm assuming you'd probably live through what was to come but I noted how you seemed to take that last hit rather hard, I'm thinking maybe you are getting hurt. Am I thinking right here? Of course keep in mind any action against you from here on out is well, haha, purely hypothetical." Though her hollow eyes were as enemotional as ever Tank herself smiled a bit at this, perhaps she liked tempting fate somewhere deep down.
Tank was slightly creeped out when her conversation partner made an even deeper smile which came across as unnatural, “Ha! Well, if you blow this thing up, you save me the trouble!”
“That makes sense. Well you know what, to disconnect all those systems...” she paused and smiled, “Welp, we're ready here. Goooodbyeeeee.”
The top of the core split open and a moment later Tank was yanked through it by the pistons in her back. A roar sounded from above and fire filled the now empty, asside from Levithan, cockpit as the emergency escape above launched. Meanwhile the entire Behemoth went momentarily dead as the systems suffered the immense power loss of Tank. But the reaction in its core had already begun and just after Tanks escape pod had cleared the breach the Dominator simply became a bright light. It was there one moment, it wasn't the next and then an explosion with enough force to level several cities went off. Luckily Aurelius was a sturdily built town overall with a massive defensive wall and the Behemoth had been several miles away but even so several walls collapsed, many civilian structures within the city came tumbling down and anyone outside the wall not wearing armor was incinerated in the heat wave radiating off the explosion. All this and the blast had not even been spiritually enhanced.
On the ground Derrick and his marines quickly recovered and began checking over any damage that had occured. Luckily most of the unarmoured PDF that had been outside the wall had, had the luck to be inside one of the many armoured artillery units they had stationed there. Derrick found it hard to believe Tank had been so easily defeated, it had been almost ten thousand years since someone had even done damage to her, much less destroyed her shell but there was little time to worry about it as they had no guarantee the enemy was down. Derrick was getting confirmation that all of the walls weaponry was now in the green, despite the loss of Tank they still had a significant amount of firepower even if it was fixed. They just needed to find a target to shoot at.
-----------------
The emergency com onboard the Morning Star continued to ring over and over with annoying frequency. For a time it was ignored but when it was finally deemed efficient of his time Richard Mallory accepted the message from one of his least favorite people right now. Over the audio a familiar voice rang out.
“Hey, hey Richard, guess what? TAAAANNNNK INNNNNN SPPPPAAAAAACCCCCEEE!!!”
Tank clearly waited for an amused response but only got silence and finally sighed before continuing, “So are you going to come get me?”
Richard thought about this matter for roughly half a nano-second before flipping the com off and returning his many attentions to the battle below. Tank would float through space and observe what was occuring “below” for the next fourteen hours...good thing she wasn't human.
|
|
|
|
Post by Zhiel on Sept 16, 2009 19:03:25 GMT -4
As the battle raged on the planet below, the massive capital class ship known as the Morning Star remained motionless in space, as all consoles and monitors on the ships bridge, which was surprisingly small and empty for its size, was filling the room with all manner of lights and sounds as the ships sensor modules worked in overdrive. And in this mess of thousands upon thousands of terabytes of detailed information was Richard Mallory, more regularly simply refereed to as "President" or "Hunter" these days. Though one might think Richard was capable of immense multi-tasking, that was not the case, however he was able to easily alter the perception of time through his sensor arrays, allowing him to pick up on, see and react to things even the highest levels of spirits were unable to. Though originally human, Richard's mind had evolved into something greater, and while he could only run so many "processes" at any one time, his perception of time made him capable of being twice as effective as even the most powerful AI.
It was for this reason that, when faced with a unknown threat Richard was "behind the lines" and analyzing the situation rather than directly joining into the battle. And the discoveries he made through all of this greatly amazed him, if only for how little he was able to pick up. The target appeared as a black mass of... Nothing... That was the only way he could properly describe the shape which continuously threw itself at their defenses, crippling a bit each time, seemingly not being affected by their own attacks. However unlike when something was simply unphazed by an attack, it was like if the energy and reiatsu in their weapons simply ceased to exists, and that, coupled with the thing being a incorporeal mass of nothing, lead Richard to hypothesis the creature to somehow eat or absorb whatever came in contact with it. This however, seemed impossible, the energy it devoured had to go somewhere, and had to be siphoned through something...
Then there was the creatures rapid movements which made even his tracking sensors lose it, for only a couple nano-seconds. But what made this so bad was because of the 'small' area the target was moving within, if it was loose in the endless depths of space, it would be able to completely avoid his sensors with quick enough movements. He had quickly deducted this movement to not be a simply fast movement technique like the Shinigami's shunpo, but to his sensors seemed more like a form of teleportation, it was completely instantaneous. When some of his back-up sensors picked up on some "anomalies" however, Richard diverted some of his attention to those, and reviewed the data they had collected, revealing how energy beams and objects in the path between the targets prior location and current location had ceased to be, just like it had passed through it. Quite intriguing. On the other hand, he had little time to think about this now, and so stored it for later revision.
When the target made a dash for the city defenses, with Derrick on the forefront, Richard feared the worst. But as he ran a thousand simulations through his mind in the matter of a few nano-seconds he realized the man was making the right choice of trying to stand up against it. Richard knew, if anyone could face this thing in close combat, it would be Derrick and his armor made of the strongest alloy in the known universe. Not even Richard's ship contained this alloy, for there were simply not enough of it available to waste on a ship the size of the Morning Star. He did however have some to protect his most important of "possessions". Richard watched intently through his sensors as the target made contact with Derrick's spirit sword, which were quickly being dissolved into nothing, but Derrick was quick to respond by giving the 'thing' a straight punch right in the "face". However just like with Derrick, Richard observed that nothing seemingly happened, before it all went BOOM and send the creature flying. It seemed they had made progress, for the thing was quite clearly wounded by Derrick's attack, however what had truly made the damage remained to be seen, though a multiple theories were already being built in Richard's mind.
Whether wounded or not, it only seemed to bolster the creatures resolve to take them down quicker as it tore nearly clean through Tank's Titan, destroying a multitude of critical systems in just a short time before everything stopped. In only a moment Richard began sending messages in data form to Tank, they went largely unanswered however. Richard attempted to sync some of his systems with the Titan's but found that any outward connection had been cut, whether this was the work of the target, or Tank herself he could not say, but if he knew Tank as well as he thought he did... Then he was pretty sure what would come next should she survive...
And sure enough, just a few seconds later the entire Behemoth turned into a brilliant white light as a massive explosion ensued, vaporizing anything within reach and breaking many of the cities fortifications or taller buildings in the process. And though a thousand thoughts raced through Richard's mind at that moment, only one made any suggestion of being "voiced". A loud, high frequency *BLEEEEEEEEP!* went through nearly every console of the Morning Star's bridge. Only a few seconds later, the emergency-com, really only designed for those who needed to communicate in slow speech, began to 'ring' with a frequency it was not meant for, making it pretty damn obvious who was making the 'call'.
“Hey, hey Richard, guess what? TAAAANNNNK INNNNNN SPPPPAAAAAACCCCCEEE!!!”
Though all instruments and panels seemingly died down for but a moment inside the bridge of the Morning Star (a sign of Richard's deep frustration), there were no response through the connection and when Tank obviously realized he was not going to make a "funny comment" she asked a serious (for her) question, to which he simply cut the connection and went back to focusing on the situation below. He would pick her up once the battle was over, for without her Titan, it would not be efficient to waste time picking her up right now. Instead, Richard decided it was time to interfere with the battle himself.
Long before the massive plume of smoke caused by the explosion had cleared, giant beams of anti-reiatsu pierced the sky, cutting into the ground beneath and making deep scars in the land as they burned straight through the planets atmosphere, seemingly evaporating a part of it on entry. And shortly after these shots began to rain on the area, cannons on the underside of the Morning Star began to emit a constant beam of green, cutting deep into the ground as they carved up the land. Though Derrick and the soldiers by the walls might have needed a visual on the target, Richard's many sensors was able to work together to such a degree he could easily pick out the target among the debris and smoke. In the meantime however, he was planning for a 'special surprise' in case it became a necessity.
|
|
end
New Member
Posts: 36
|
Post by end on Sept 18, 2009 15:57:10 GMT -4
The bluff hadn't quite paid off, but the end result was the same: The behemoth was gone, and Leviathan could move on to the next threat. The blast had had some kick to it however, and she waited a moment for the thin wound of corporeal flesh on her front disintegrated back into her incorporeal mass. She allowed her face to be swallowed up as well, she had revealed herself enough already.
Reiatsu particles, normally drawn to her like a magnet, hung still in the air, in a corridor reaching to the sky. A beam of... something crashed down around her before she could guess at the phenomenon's nature. It was a powerful weapon, meant to take down ships, not human size objects. Leviathan hadn't finished processing the explosion when she was struck, and the continuous influx of energy was once again peeling back her unreality, giving her flesh.
She smiled. This beam had caught her in a moment of weakness, but by itself, it hadn't the power to harm her. The destruction of the blast and this new weapon cut off the line of sight from the other weapons. The damage began to come undone as she devoured the incoming energy faster than it could be pumped out. Certainly, it was strong, but now that she had achieved equilibrium, it could only keep a quarter of her 'mouth' full. She annihilated the space before her, bring her behind the batteries of artillery and direct fire weapons, punching a six and half foot silhouette of herself through the main section. The beam was left behind for all but an instant before shutting off . It did not follow. It seemed to have IFF recognition.
Leviathan extended her arms outward. As it was, she only absorbed as much as made direct contact with her body. She could do better. She expanded her extra-spatial 'mouth', becoming a sphere of annihilation. This carried a weakness. A greater area of effect meant more fire would strike her. She 'stepped' through the battery again, keeping within the radius of the sky beam's effect. A dozen meters of matter in every direction ceased to exist, and the incoming fire was drastically reduced. It took only a few moments for the rest to be destroyed.
The beam from above resumed. Levi shrunk her mouth down to her own size once more. She 'stepped' forward, to strike at the source of this annoyance, and found herself stopped short, 100 meters away from what was almost definitely a capital ship. Someone important was on it. If she were lucky, it'd be the man in charge. He wasn't ripe, but in his case, she'd make an exception. She tried to push forward, and found there was some resistance. The beam continued firing, and additional weapons came to bare on her.
She pushed, it began to give, but tensed. There was a growing visual distortion as she attempted to muscle her way through the field. She was eating through, but it was slow going. She sensed a portentous moment pass, and weapons ceased fire, the field strengthening further. Indeed, though she could bring more power to bear, the shield gained proportionally more strength. Leviathan was still making some progress, but it was laborious in the extreme. As soon as the UWO got support fire, this little expedition would be over.
Fine.
A wave of corporeality washed over Leviathan. The blackness leached away leaving behind dark hair, grey eyes, and tanned flesh. Only from the elbows down did she not exist. She thrust her right hand into the field, smoothly sliding through to her elbow, she followed through her left, and cut a gash through the field. She spread her hands apart. The gap was small and short lived, but she muscled her way through. She returned to her natural form, in time to meet the renewed fire.
Devouring the totality of the shield's output on her trip here had filled her to capacity, but functioned as an object lesson: Nothing could stop her. She gouged footprints as she mock-walked across the hull. They grew in size as she processed the shield's energy, eventually finding equilibrium as the hull defense weaponry kept partially satiated.
|
|
