Story Thread: The Hunter's Call

[cshank2]

Chapter 2: Surprises? I think not.

"Sir...?" The Ensign turned to face the captain, sweat stained his officer's cap and tunic and his eyes showed the sign of caffeine pill usage. Captain Menja ran a hand across his face, "What is it, Ensign?" He was tired, his battle-group had been on high alert for the past seventy-two hours, and they had been system-hopping back to Selia Prime. According to NavInt, Selia was under attack, Menja knew that no fool would ever attack the shining jewel of the Galaxy, but deep down he quaked.

The ensign stifled a yawn, "Sir, communications has just received a signal from Selia Prime... Uh... the signal "Freewind" was the only thing received... nothing else." Menja scuttled to his feet, which didn't hold his weight all too well. "Ensign, put me on a wide-beam to the group." He strode down the small causeway that bridged the two crew-pits to look out the massive viewports of the SNS Adona Class Dreadnought that was under his command. "Helms, slave the other ships to our network, take us into the Malaya warp-point, once there, I want all power diverted to engines."
The Helmsman's affirmation came crisply and Menja smiled as the hum of the massive Ruby Class Quantum Tachyon engines propelled his ship along at a steady seven-hundred gravities.

The Selian Battle-Group, a force that struck fear or pride into the hearts of billions, usually composed of a single Dreadnought class star-ship. The battle-group, or fleet as the untrained would call it, is formed in a series of rings, the flagship in the center, two carriers on either side, point-defense ships around them, and the striking arm of the battle-group, usually composed of Cruisers and Heavy Destroyers at the very last ring.

Menja's group was different though, his was part of a military experiment. His group traded off the usual compliment of six destroyers for three more Linda-Class Heavy Carriers, each one storing one-hundred and fifty starfighters of various sizes.

He was broken out of his reverie by the alarm signaling a warp. Promptly he sat himself back down in his Command chair, wincing as the neural interface made connection with his spinal column. The Warp-Point hung outside the viewports like a bright green lotus flower, the center was almost blinding to look at, that is, it was until giant blast-shields covered the viewports. "Helms, take us in." The battle-group stretched into nothing for a few brief seconds before arriving in the Malaya system and setting course towards the Selian Warp-point.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Leo spun around, at the same time drawing the bulky Laser-Pistol from it's holster on his hip. Another of the 'Hunter's' shots pinged off the ferrocrete behind him, and the assailant in question let loose a bestial roar before charging at Leo. "Oh, shut up ALREADY." The pistol's report temporarily deafened him as a jade-green beam, no thicker then Leo's thumb, pierced the being's throat. The Hunter gurgled, stumbled forward a few feet, his hands clawing the air for it's weapon, before dropping dead in a pile of black and blue ichor. "You've got to be kidding me..." Leo grimaced as his pistol hissed and let off steam. He looked over the 'Hunter' in question. The thing had blue armor... or carapace, it's face was angled in a way that made Leo think of the birds he had seen on one of the colony worlds on the Fringe. The thing stood on four legs and held nasty bio-weapons with it's three fingered hands.

"And now, young Leo, you see the mutual enemy of our species." Leo spun into a crouch, pistol leveled again. "Relax, Leo." Nu'moil seemed to appear from the shadows, his clothes were covered in ichor, although Leo wasn't all that sure that some of it wasn't drying Selian blood. "Been busy, Old Man?" Leo replaced the power cell of his pistol and thumbed the setting over to a pulse fire, he was down to his last cell. "I was scouting, for your information..." Nu'moil's voice trailed off as both their eyes tracked the tail of an artillery shell vanishing into the depths of the city. ".Anyhow, the city's a war-zone, the Spaceports are crowded with people and ships alike, Tr'liao ships are bombarding every avenue with troop pods. You know, the usual things that take place during a planetary siege."
Leo stopped for a second, Nu'moil was much too nonchalant for the situation, "Okay, two things. First: Who are the Tr'liao? And second: Why are you so easy going about all of this?"
Nu'moil smiled sadly, his green-yellow eyes tracing the pattern on the wall next to him. "The Tr'liao are the Hunters... And the hunters are the Tr'liao. As for the reason I seem so uncaring, I have lived a long time, Leo, I have faced this same enemy and lost. I for one welcome death, if not the most pleasant experience, although I know you will object, so come, to the Spaceport."

Leo shook his head and followed along, only glancing back over his shoulder as another roar, followed by a scream, took flight on the dying wind.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Admiral, we're preparing to jump into Selian Space."
"Good, order weapons to their posts, I want the Hellbores charged and ready. Shields up, point defense online. I want all non-combatant personnel to their quarters. Troops are to be at their drop-ships and pilots to their fighters." Menja's training overrode fears, his confidence grew, however, as the lights on the holo-table quickly turned green, signifying the group's readiness.
"Take us in, and pray for safety."

Menja felt his stomach quake as the ship accelerated beyond the speed of light and then quickly settle, although that settling did not last long as the ship rocked and alarms blared.
"Admiral, we have three, I repeat, zero three, ships of unknown identity closing fast, they're Dreadnought sized, sir!" The ship rocked again as the large, ovoid ship's sides lit up, their shots splashed harmlessly off the shields of Menja's ship though.
"Weapon's crew... target the one at the back, I don't care about range, keep their heads down. Comm, tell the carriers to deploy fighters in a screen."
A chorus of ayes resounded across the bridge, and the Admiral couldn't help but smile as the gravitational hellbores let loose the hellfire of the Selian Emperor. The enemy 'ship' was torn apart by thirty micro-black-holes and the other two took vengeance by launching another salvo.
"Admiral, I have five more ships, same type closing fast. Shields are at eighty, eight-oh, percent."
"Target the second ship back and fire again." Menja's reply was cold and emotionless. He could feel every shot as his ship took them, he could smell the ozone burning from the massive cannons along his ships dorsal batteries. Yes, this fight was personal now.