OT: Hell is For Heroes.

[AgentZero]

Hey folks, I'm just working on a wee story at the moment. Thoughts and comments are welcome, as always. The story is set shortly after a massive Terran-Tauren War, in which both sides were decimated. That's about all the backstory I've come up with, so enjoy!




Almec Thrusian stumbled though the corridor, dragging a frightened girl behind him as he watched his world falling apart. A girder crashed through the ceiling, and the girl saved him from a particularly messy death by pulling him backwards with surprising strength. They pushed on through the narrow opening between the girder and the wall, rounded the corner and crashed into a suitably terrified Joss Maiken.
“Mr. Thrusian!” Joss exclaimed. “You're hurt!”
“Thank you for noticing, Mr. Maiken,” Almec replied dryly. In truth, he was far beyond just hurt. His right arm seemed to have a few too many joints, every agonizing breath reminded him of his broken ribs, and he was now convinced that there was more of his blood on his clothes than inside him.
“Take her to the jump-pod,” he said through gritted teeth. “Launch the pod and join me on the bridge.”
“We need to get you to Medical,” Joss stammered. “After that we can-”
“No!” snapped Almec. “Take her to the pod. There's nothing that can be done for me now. Either of us,” he added quietly.
“But-”
“I'm dead already, Mr. Maiken, my body just hasn't realized it yet. Now go.”

Joss took the girl by the hand and began hurrying down the corridor. After a few steps he stopped and turned.
“Mr. Thrusian!” he called. “The jump-pod is the only one left. She must go alone, I know, but what of the rest of us?”
Almec's mouth parted in a bloody smile. “Why, we die gloriously, of course.”
Moving as quickly as he could, he made his way to the bridge, stumbling and falling time and time again, each time wondering if he'd have the strength to drag himself up again. But again and again, he pulled himself to his feet, and arrived on the bridge in time to hear the frightened comm officer report the successful launch of the jump-pod. Unnoticed, he eased himself into a point-defense station and took over from the two lieutenants slumped dead at their consoles.

“This is the TNS Galahad,” the comms officer began speaking into her pickup. “Hailing any ships in range. We are under heavy fire. We've lost shields, the captain is-”
“Nobody is coming, Lieutenant,” Almec said sharply.
All eyes on the bridge snapped to him. The comm officer nervously cut the channel, and the navigator seated in the captain's chair rose quickly.
“Sir,” he said nervously. “As the ranking officer here, you should be in command, even if you are ret-”
“Shut up and get out of my chair,” Almec said quietly. The navigator gratefully retreated to his station, and Almec lowered himself tiredly into the command chair. “It's been a while,” his whispered, patting the chair affectionately. “What do you say? Once more into the breach, dear friend?”

“Sir?” Only the comms officer was seated close enough to hear him.
Ignorning her, he spoke so the whole bridge could hear him. “I know what many of you are thinking, and you're wrong. I can't get you out of this. I cannot pull off a miracle escape. I can only give you death.” He paused for breath, and ignoring his body's cries of protest, pushed himself to sit upright. “But I will not give you an ordinary death. I shall give you a death glorious enough to outshine the stars, a death that will be spoken of for generations. And most importantly, I will make damn sure that they-” he jabbed a finger at the tactical plot showing the three vessels chasing them “-aren't the one's talking about it.”

A quick glance at his chair's readouts showed that the Galahad's chase armaments had been completely destroyed. As had most of her broadside. But her forward guns, and most importantly, three of her forward launchers were still fully operational.
“Nav,” he snapped. “Prepare to bring us about.”

Aboard a small canister floating through space, the girl stared out as the Galahad turned with surprising speed to face her attackers. Her forward guns blazed in defiance of the withering fire pouring down on her armored hull. Three sparks of white light suddenly shot out from her, each heading for one of her attackers. At such close range, a missile made an unstoppable weapon, and two of the ships disintegrated into expanding balls of light. The third, heavily damaged, continued to close on the Galahad, who refused to relent, charging straight at her foe. Too late, her adversary realized she had no intent of breaking off and began to turn away. Seconds later, the Galahad slammed into her amidships. There was a bright flash of light that drowned out the stars- and with the crackle of discharging energy, the jump-pod's drive activated, and the girl was suddenly alone in the dark.

[Fyron]

An interesting beginning. I await more.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Oh man. I don't know wether to strangle you or shake your hand.

Oh well. I have two arms. I can do both.

...

[AgentZero]

Well, Fyron, as the first person to post any sort of comment, you get a star system named after you. A nice one, even. The status of the Narf system is pending while I await clarification as to whether or not you like the story.

Admiral Angus McArthur eased back in his command chair and surveyed the tactical plot in front of him. His Command Fortress sat at the tip of a cone of fortresses that faced the Pellus System's jump nexus. The fortifications guarded the sole link between the Terran Imperium and the Tauran Sovereignty. This fact alone had kept it safe from the scores of demilitarization bills Congress kept thrusting under the Empress's regal nose. She fought them, McArthur had to give her that, fought them with a ferocity that belied her lineage. Yet even from hundreds of light-years away, he could tell they were wearing her down. Every battle won was another line etched in her face, and in the month between today and her last transmission, she seemed to have aged years. He knew it was only a matter of time before his command felt the cold blade of budget cuts, but still, the Empress had managed a few spectacular victories.

One of those victories flashed into existence at the system's main jump gate. Opening a rift between normal and null-space required astronomical amounts of energy, more than even the biggest ship's reactor could hope to produce, which was why most ships traveled using jump nexuses. The weakness in the barrier between the two allowed ships to make the transit with minimal energy expenditure. Unfortunately, a jump nexus was usually situated on the outskirts of a solar system, which meant ships using the nexus got to look forward to two or three days of sublight travel before reaching inhabited planets. Centuries before, some clever soul decided to solve this problem by building a network of massive bases near a system's core worlds that had the power to open a null-space rift. Thus, all authorized traffic arrived through the gates, and anything coming through the nexus itself was ensured an extremely warm welcome. McArthur tapped a few keys on his command console and brought up a detailed scan of the recent arrival.

The TSN Raezel, new flagship of the Terran Space Navy, named in honour of the Empress, was the single largest mobile platform of destruction ever created. Her firepower rivaled even that of McArthur's colossal fortresses, though she was only about a quarter their size. A smile spread across the admiral's face as her commander requested permission to come aboard for a private meeting. Admiral Ivanov Korjev would be certain to have a few bottles of proper Russian vodka. He keyed in an approval to the request, with an added apology that the ship's liquid sustenance supplies were running rather low, and his smile split into a full grin as the reply came back:
“Acknowledged. Will arrive in +4.00hrs. Liquid sustenance will be supplied.”

Five hours later, two very drunk admirals sat in McArthur's private quarters, two full shot glasses and an empty bottle of vodka sitting on the table between them.
“So, my friend,” Korjev slurred. “Have you heard the latest?
“Latest what?” McArthur asked, sounding genuinely confused.
“News, man, news!” Korjev exclaimed.
“No, no I have not heard the latest news, man, news,” replied McArthur.
Korjev shook his head. “I believe your ancestors were reputed to have a greater alcohol tolerance then what you are showing, my friend.”
McArthur stared at him for a long moment. “That's the latest news?”
“Yes, my friend, it's all over the Terran News Network.”
McArthur stared blankly at the glass in front of him. “By the Divine, my reputation. I'll be relieved of command. Or worse, they'll reassign me to some backwaters-” His drunken muttering was interrupted by Korjev's laughter.
“No, even those vultures at TNN are wise enough not to call your manhood into question,” he chuckled. “It's about the Galahad.”
McArthur's eyes snapped up at the mention of his first command. “What of her.”
“She's disappeared,” his old friend informed him. “Not a trace. Word is that SpecOps acquired her her for a very, very, very black project. She was supposed to arrive in Fyron's Star three days ago. Her flight plan was known only to her captain, so no one even knows where to look.”
“Damn,” McArthur whispered. “I hope she's alright.”
“I believe an illustrious former captain once said of her, 'If we don't show up as scheduled, we're never showing up.”
McArthur nodded slowly. “I'll drink to that.”
The two raised their glasses. “To the Galahad and her crew?”
“No,” McArthur shook his head. “To you pronouncing 'illustrious' with half a bottle of vodka in you.

[dogscoff]

Nice, I like it. I like the pace, and also the element of intrigue. A lot of SE4 fic seems to lack that.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Of course I like it. I wouldn't want to shake you gently by the neck if that first post hadn't produced a multiplicity of emotions.

[TurinTurambar]

Correction Post - since I can't find the Edit button.

Yahoo Briefcase is closing so I moved the .pdf to Windows Live Skydrive. It's here:
http://cid-fb2996a974fa800c.skydrive...ublic/HI4H.pdf

Cheers, y'all,
Turin