Story Thread: The Hunter's Call

[cshank2]

A/N: Well, this is based on an idea I had, basically I'm trying to branch away from the Empire History logs, and trying to make a character driven story... or something. Heh... second attempt, just crashed Firefox after I tried posting... sooooooo, here we go. More will follow if anyone likes it...

Chapter One: Pieces of a Sanlo Game.

Nu’moil wrapped his bony fingers around the mug of ale, wiping his nails on slick condensation while doing so. He was too old for these sorts of games, being a ‘retired’ Phong Military Officer of One Hundred, Seventy Four (Selian Years). The Selian across from him smiled, showing off pearly white teeth, placing him at about one hundred and fifty years younger then his Phong compatriot.

Nu’moil looked at the game board in front of him and quirked his mouth in a smile, “You come up with…” He moved his own game-piece on top of the other man’s, thus claiming victory, “…the oddest strategies.” The Selian blinked once or twice in disbelief, sighed and started laughing. “You’re right, friend, I should have seen that coming a light-year away!” They both laughed and stood up, “You know, I sometimes wonder how we ever took you guys over…” The Selian pondered while sweeping a tired gaze over Nu’moil, “I mean, you managed to best us at every battle, your ships were tougher, your planets more abundant…” The Phong smiled and placed a few credits on the table for the waitress before turning towards the entrance of the tavern. “You didn’t conquer us, Leo, our races merged and we just sort of intermixed, as did the Eee two years afterwards.” Nu’moil and Leo were standing outside on one of Selia City Capitol’s suspended walkways, either side of them dropped off into a permeable darkness, softly illuminated by the hissing, neon, signs that covered the large Space-Scraper’s sides. Leo’s eyes slowly adjusted to the dim-lighting as he looked skyward. The planet-wide shield sparked and hissed as rain from the upper atmosphere impacted against it, the effect was quite mesmerizing, seeing the stars and planets of the Selian Empire stretched out and distorted by the tiny ripples and eddies of energy being displaced.

“I thought they taught you that stuff in your academies…” Nu’moil quirked an eyebrow, following the gaze of his friend, ‘My, the rain sure is coming down heavy…’ He thought to himself. Leo shook his head, sending his blonde hair scattering through the air, “No, they just told us of the military campaigns and what not. Hell, I don’t even think the Eee are mentioned at all… In anything important anyways…” He started walking, his thin shoulders hunched up in the leather vest he wore over a, normally, white shirt.

“That’s not rain…” The Phong’s voice was distant, rasping almost, and his hand was stretched out towards the heavens, palm splayed outwards.
“What’re you talking about, old ma-“ Leo was cut off as Sirens began to wail, ancient speakers that hadn’t been used in almost a thousand years, shook the marrow loose in his bones. People poked their heads out of doorways and windows, all looking skyward. Leo followed their gazes. The shield was turning red, the color of blood, and looked like it was ready to explode outwards as the ‘rain’ intensified on certain parts of it. Cursing, Leo grabbed the nearest uniformed man he could find, luckily it happened to be a Guardsman. “What the hell’s going on!?” Leo had to shout to be heard over the ever-increasing wail of alarms. If the Guardsman answered, Leo would never know, an explosion rumbled off in the city, quickly following five other ones, each growing closer to the bridge he was on.

Rough hands spun Leo around into Nu’moil’s face, “We have to find shelter… The Hunters have come…” His voice was choked with emotion as he gazed up and down the sky-bridge, pitying for the souls that were about to lose their souls. They ran, Leo had no idea to where, but trusted his old friend, only to have that trust compounded upon as a massive shell slammed into the middle of the bridge they had just gotten off of, sending bodies of various beings into the air and down into the depths of the city, never to be seen again.

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“Are you quite sure, Commander?” Tensions ran high in the dusty command room of the Royal Selian Military Academy. A bulky man, his right arm in a sling and his left one, a mechanical one, whining pitifully, stood to attention, the blood-soaked bandage falling, almost comically, over his left eye. “Yes, General… NavTac Command reports sixty ships of unknown origin hanging in Geosynch Orbit. Heavy ships are pouring into the system as we speak.” His voice was weak as he stared at the increasing mass of red dots converging on the Malaya System from every warp-point imaginable. The General sighed as he typed something out on the keyboard, switching the display to Planet level, Red covered that too. An Eee next to the General bobbed in the air, his bio-luminescent core pulsing morosely as it too watched in horror. “We need to stop the ground troops… We need to get an evacuation set up, somehow. We need to get as many people to our outlying systems as fast as possible.” The Eee swept up into the ramparts of the command room and came down supporting a small box within an energy field. The General picked it out of the air and opened it.

A thick, yellow, button sat in the center of the box, a piece of parchment was taped to the top-cover, emblazoned with the Winged Skull of the Imperium. His finger stabbed the button thrice, and a small light began to blink. “Forgive us… for we are about to slaughter our own…” His last statement was unheard as a shell tore into the room, smashing all of the occupants in a shower of gore, bone, and cytoplasm.