The Pletron Ascention

[kerensky]

nest installation...

2401.2

With the dissolution of the Trade Unions power, colonization went on at an accelerated rate, with several more worlds being added in just a few months.

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24002.0 – The Pletron New Year

The Pletron Empire celebrated this new years wit more excitement than usual. Along with all of the partying and celebration came the launch of the new Nightshade class destroyer, the PIS Saheal . This new ship size had nearly double the fire-power of the lighter frigate sized ships and was more heavily armored. As it launched, thousands of fire works lit up the sky, splashing diverse color patterns across the hull of this new ship.

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24002.6

Sergeant Hwa’Ful stopped just inside the airlock with the five troopers in his squad. He snapped the visor down on his pressure suit and waited for the suits HUD to activate before opening the outer door of the airlock.

“Sarg, why do we have to go out like this every morning?”

Hwa’Ful sighed. The trooper did bring up a good question. If it weren’t for these large, slug-like creatures that seemed to enjoy eating the Stecrete foundations to the dome, then these several times a day trips would not be necessary. He didn’t see why they couldn’t just exterminate these pesky creatures, but the science labs wanted to study them. As the air lock finally slid open, Hwa’Ful and his team stepped out into the bright oxygen atmosphere of Ahug I. He addressed his team…

“Okay boys, lock and load. Let’s move out.” He could hear faint clicks over the comm system as his team snapped in the clips that held organic matter for their meson bLasters. He thought back to the training classes he had had when the weapons were first issued to planetary militia. If he could remember right, a meson beam was simply a stream of quarks and anti-quarks forced together. This combination gave the wonderful effect of frying a victim he remembered as he watched one of his troops fry one of the eversized slugs. The meson bLasters did have a clip limit, but it was somewhere in the thousands.

“Sir, approaching northern air lock.”

Hwa’ful glanced up at the small holo map on his helmets HUD display. The dome that the colony lived under was a small one by colony standards, only holding about two hundred million people, but was still huge in comparison to an average sized Pletron. That’s why patrols such as his used open topped hover transports for this kind of work. The transports sat six and had various mounts for adding on heavier weapons or other equipment. As they went, several more slugs were bunt off of the domes foundation. At the northern entrance, his team would switch off with another that would complete the loop around the dome. As they drove up, the other team was already waiting outside the air lock. Hwa’ful checked the time before speaking to them…

“Are we late again?”

“No sir, we’re just out looking for the science expedition that went a few weeks ago. They’re supposed to be returning today.”

Just then a large group of militia came out of the large airlock used for vehicles. One of them wlaked up to Sergeant Hwa’ful and saluted. Hwa’ful saluted back and the man continued.

“Sir, the governor has put you in charge of a task force to retrieve the science team that went out two weeks ago. We lost contact with them early this morning. We believe that they may have been attacked by some of the local life forms. They did have a squad of about ten militia with them. You are authorized to take whatever vehicles that you think you may need.”

“Good. Inform the garage technicians to mount the heavy repeaters on a few of the transports, we may need them.”

Shortly after, Sergeant Hwa’ful set out with a hundred militia in search of the missing team.

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2402.7

Hwa’ful was flipping through the stations on his radio trying to find something to listen to when squad captain came into his tent.

“Sir, we’ve found signs of the expedition. They’re not good sir. “

Hwa’ful followed the captain to the transport outside. As they drove to the site, he questioned the captain.

“Did you find any survivors?”

“ ‘Fraid not sir. But we did find someone.”

As they drove up on the site, Hwa’ful noted that this was the camp that they had been searching for over the Last three weeks. The only problem was that the camp looked like it had been put through a shredder. He walked over to one of the pLasteel temporary shelters to get a closer looked and was surprised by gouge marks nearly two inches deep in the hard material. From what he saw, whoever was trying to get into the shelter didn’t quite make it.All that did remain were a few bones and some rotting flesh.

“Sir, DNA analysis has shown that this is, er, was one of the scientists on the expedition. So far we have found about half of the people, the other half are still unaccounted for.”

“Very good captain. Do we have any idea what did this?”

“They believe that it was a pack of Vorporaptors.”

Hwa’ful shuddered as he thought what a death like that would be. Vorporaptors were a reptilian species that stood about five feet tall. The walked mainly on their hind legs but could just as easily travel on all four. The creatures were very fast and had claws several inches long. The only way they killed their prey was to rip it to shreds.

“Fine. Let’s widen the search pattern and…”

He was interrupted by a scream from the far side of the clearing. He looked over and saw a single person being ripped apart by several of the lizard like creatures. Normally Vorporaptors only traveled in Groups of three or five, but this pack seemed to number in the hundreds.

“Everyone! Back to the transports!”

The five squads of militia that were at the site ran quickly back to the transports awaiting them at the edge of the clearing. Several were torn apart as they lagged behind. Once they reached the transports, the heavy repeater meson bLasters kept the creatures at bay long enough for the team to escape. The sergeant radioed ahead to the main camp.

“ This is Hwa’ful. We have a pack of Vorporaptors numbering in the hundreds following us. Prepare a welcome for them boys.”

As the scouting party drove across the clearing to the camp, the thick woods behind them exploded as hundred of Vorporaptors chased them. The gunners on the back of the transports swung around and opened fire, emptying hundred of energy beams into the creatures every minute. As the team crested the hill ever looking the camp, several explosions sent the lizard creatures flying several meters into the air as they triggered the land mines. Hwa’ful noted that his men had been busy. The entire camp had been packed and stowed away on the transports. He pulled his transport up next to his executive officer.

“Sir, we’ve radioed back to the base and they said that they would send some heavier fire power. We are to fall back to the base.”

Hwa’ful nodded. The convoy of transports speed back towards the base as quickly as possible. Their gunners were kept busy picking off any Vorporaptors that got too close. As they approached the north gate, several odd looking transports pulled out. It took Hwa’ful a few seconds to realized that they had fitted the transports with small cannons. The explosive shell that they fired made little work of the Vorporaptors.

Later that day, Hwa’ful was summoned to the governors palace. As he walked through the large halls of the structure, he notice the intricate lines of color that had been grown into the walls. He step into the governors office.

“I have heard of your actions over the past few weeks, Sergeant Hwa’ful, and am happy to inform you that you have been promoted to a the position of section commander. Aerial reconnaissance has found the rest of the expedition and they weren’t in much better condition than the ones you found. We have made plans to clear the forest around the dome for a space of half a kilometer for safety purposes. I am trusting that you can handle this assignment?”

Hwa’ful was ecstatic as he replied.

“Yes sir! I will begin planning at once.”

As he walked back out of the large building and back to the barracks, Hwa’ful thought over all that had happened in the past month.