[nsw-fic] Nightmares on Gehenna

[Yukub]

Please comment when you've read!

 

Note: The prologue is rewritten. The first chapter will follow soon. Enjoy the story!

 

The trees moved in the downwash the aircraft created, the grass being uprooted by the enormous force of wind the turbines of the aircraft created. It hung above the ground for some time, when it slowly landed on the ground. Several marines swarmed out of the aircraft and checked the area for hostiles, holding their submachine guns firm in their hands and looking behind every bush and tree.

 

One of the soldiers waved to the pilot that the place was clear of hostiles. The pilot nodded and he moved the aircraft up, floating several feet above the ground to check and he floated above the ground level for a minute, scanning for hostiles. marines, flying above the clouds to ensure no Can’Tores riders followed them. The Can’Tores rode on great winged beasts which could bring down a gunship in no time with its claws.

 

‘’Marines! We’re here to retrieve the artifact, so get moving!’’ The sergeant said. He had a assault rifle instead of a submachine gun, though most soldiers preferred a lighter weapon on Gehenna, for the sake of speed and movement.

 

‘’Sarge, why is a artifact so important? I don’t see how some old stones can help us win this war.’’ The corporal said. He had some doubts about this mission, and not only about the high concentration of Can’Tores forces in the area. A weird smell was around this particular part of the jungle.

 

‘’The artifact holds everything about the Can’Tores’ culture, if command is correct. The information we might retrieve from it can be very useful in our fight.’’ The sergeant answered.

 

He suddenly stopped and pointed his weapon a a tree, as if something dangerous was there. Then, several Can’Tores jumped out of the trees and clever hiding spots in the grass and threw themselves on the marines. Some of them used blades, cutting right through the armor of the marines, who were utterly outnumbered. The corporal emptied a magazine on several of them, but they kept coming. He dodged a blade and shot the attacker through the head with his gun.

 

‘’Quick! To the temple!’’ The sergeant yelled, moments before being impaled by a sharpened stick in the weak spot of his armor: his neck.

 

The corporal shot another enemy, before being hit by a arrow. His armor easily repulsed the arrow, only leaving some scratches. He saw the archer in a tree and he zoomed with his visor onto his target. He pulled the trigger and three bullets launched from the barrel. They hit the archer in the chest, and he fell from the tree onto the ground.

 

The corporal and the surviving marines ran to the temple as fast as they could. They reached a locked door and they desperately tried to open it. The Can’Tores advanced and they killed another marine by pulling his helmet off and beating him to death. The corporal noted that he was out of ammunition and he grabbed his combat knife. He slit the throat of one of them, when he felt a excruciating pain in his neck. An arrow had hit him there and he fell on his knees. The last thing he saw was a Can’Tores moving towards him with a sharpened bone. Then everything went black.

 

Laurus Military Codex's entry on Can’Tores:

 

Can’Tores were cruel, savage and primitive. They used bone armor, painted with blood. They were zealots and called Gehenna their ‘mother’, brutally murdering every unworthy being that set foot on the planet. And humans were unworthy. They would have left the planet long ago if there wasn’t something valuable on the planet. Deep under the jungle readings showed a large concentration of a element unknown to humanity until now. It provided more energy than uranium, it was cleaner than coal, and a small piece of it could power a fighter-sized aircraft for a week.

 

The Can’Tores were natives to the planet, and they built great temples and monuments for the Mother. But most of what once was are ruins now. And this was not caused by the arrival of humanity on the planet, since the ruins already existed when humans first set foot on Gehenna, five years ago. Another species came first, and they absorbed the Can’Tores into their mighty empire. Gehenna was annihilated, and the Can’Tores made a satellite species. The space invaders left Gehenna to the remaining Can’Tores however, as a token of their goodwill. The Can’Tores that remained on the planet chose to follow traditions and live the old primitive way, though the ones that were taken were given training and technology in return for their cooperation.

 

Luckily for the humans, these weren’t on Gehenna. But even primitives could make things hard.

[LDR]

Even though the Prologue is short, it is very well written. I'm eager for more.

[Yukub]

The Origin warped into the Gehenna's solar system. It was a enormous carrier, able to carry millions of soldiers. It was commissioned by the government to serve as a carrier for the many soldiers that were send to Gehenna. It had no protection but it's GFG (Gravity Field Generator) that redirected any incoming projectiles. But the field had it's limits too, making the carrier vulnerable to a attack.

 

That was the reason the 51st fleet was send along with the Origin to protect the carrier from possible attacks. The Prospectors seemed to be everywhere, and the Can'Tores were full of surprises.

 

The Origin entered the atmosphere and opened a communication channel with Paguae Airfield and they sent the docking codes. It took five years to construct the massive airfield, even with the huge amount of manpower, resources and machines. The airfield was the only place the Origin could land. It also served to receive supplies from the LSL (Laurus Supply Liner) ships that landed once a month to bring new equipment to the front.

 

The Origin deployed it's landing gear and slowly decreased altitude. The pilots carefully landed the massive carrier on the flat asphalt airstrip, which was kilometers long. The wheels touched the ground and the captain braked carefully. The engines were on a low pitch, though they were still provided enough power to move the carrier. The Captain deactivated the engines and the carrier came to a stop. It immediately opened it's doors and dozens of soldiers and vehicles flooded from the carrier. Several officers directed the soldiers to their place and the vehicles to the garages. At least a million soldiers were dropped off, along with thousands of vehicles.

 

Special Officer Marcel Black was the last of men to leave the carrier. He was put in charge of the operations on Gehenna, after the failure of the previous commander. The government had no time or place for failures and mishaps. Marcel had studied and trained for years. He had received cybernetic implants, which improved his locomotion and capabilities. His mind was still his own though, unlike the modified advisers of the Leader and his government, dubbed Proctors.

 

He even had his own GFG, though not nearly as powerful or effective as the large-scale GFG's used for military bases and vessels. It provided him with protection that the grunts could only dream of.

 

He knew that many would die. The Can'Tores had no mercy and had specialized themselves in ambushes. They took advantage of the weak points in the armor of the enemy, impaling soldiers in the neck with their sharpened sticks and shooting them with bows.

 

Then you had the Prospectors. They had the full technological capabilities that the government had, though not nearly as much resources. But they had soldiers that put the best trained commando of the government to shame. This was why Marcel had been send to Gehenna. His cybernetic improvements and advanced training were needed to make the difference between victory and utter destruction. Marcel hoped that he was able to make a difference.

 

Hope was the first thing to leave behind on Gehenna.

 

 

 

 

 

Quergo

Dam

Peguae

Hotbase

[LDR]

Just so you guys know, Yukub and I are co-writing this story, so if you see me post any chapters, then that's why.

[machievelli]

read

[Yukub]

The prologue has been rewritten completely. The first chapter will follow shortly after this. Enjoy!

[LDR]

Three decades ago, humanity was at war - with itself. The Prospector War, as it was dubbed, was instigated by the Prospectors - alarmed with the sudden shift of government into an elitist oligarchy. It ended with the Prospectors being quashed and referred to as a terrorist group - or so the government thought.

 

Much of the Prospectors' early history is shrouded in mystery - even to the Government. However, it is common knowledge to those who are within its ranks. It was founded by General George Winston, whom was one of the Leader's advisors. He became worried with the shifting of the Governmental structure - knowing that it was turning into a dictatorship. In response, he left the Government with all of the information that he knew - as well as the hundreds of thousands of soldiers that were under his command, which was approximately 1/5 of the Government armies. Had he remained, he would have become one of the Leader's Proctors - along with the other advisors.

 

This fighting force became the progenitors of what would become the Prospectors. Using hit-and-run tactics, and having many underground installations - they created much havoc for the relatively unorganized, colossal Government armies. However, the weaknesses of his army soon caught up with him. Even though they were more organized - they were still heavily outnumbered, and they had the same training. Therefore, the Government armies were essentially just a much larger version of Winston's army. Winston was forced to pull back his forces - eventually setting them onto Heaston, one of Gehenna's moons. It was then that he realized that the war had claimed nearly half of his men's lives.

 

It was there where they built their intricate network of subterranean tunnels, massive underground installations, and their main base - 'The Web'. It was nicknamed so due to the web of trenches and tunnels that surrounded it. The base was built into the heart of a brobdingnagian mountain - twice the size of Olympus Mons. It had two main entrances, both heavily defended - with layer upon layer of machine gun nests, rocket nests, sniper towers, and Anti-Air Batteries, including the trenches, tunnels, and scout/recon patrols. Taking 'The Web' would require a massive military effort - with extreme casualties. Even nuking the mountain would do little, as even though it may collapse the entrances - much of 'The Web' is miles under the mountain, and it is also connected to all of the tunnels. It was also surrounded by a GFG (Gravity Field Generator), an invisible shield that redirected any projectiles that were within range - which Winston found in one of the Government's experimental blueprints, years before. Construction of 'The Web' took nearly two decades to completely finish.

 

During construction, Winston restructured his military. Each and every soldier went through rigorous training - one that put 21st century America's NAVY SEALS to shame. They were bred into dubbed 'supersoldiers', and were outfitted as such. They were given full bodysuits of armor, with a standard bulletproof mesh. The colors and equipment of each armor was different for each specialization - and even then, each armor was custom to the individual.

 

There were 6 specializations: Soldier, Hazard, Toxic, Shadow, Commando, and Spec-Ops. The Soldiers were the basic infantry, trained to fight in all theaters of war. Hazards were the Prospectors' equivalent of HAZMAT. Toxics were the soldiers that specialized in toxins and biological warfare. Shadows specialized in espionage, sniping, sabotage, program slicing, reconnaissance, and assassination. They were notorious for their onyx-black armor, stealth field generators, and wrist-blades. In fact, there were several Shadows that worked as spies in the Government. Commandos were often the commanders of ground forces. Spec-Ops were Winston's advisors, and were only seen fighting in the most important military operations.

 

The Prospectors were not without their weaknesses, though. They had exhausted the resources of the moon when they constructed 'The Web'. Therefore, they had to make due with what armor, ammunition, and weapons that they had. The plus side to that was that they learned how to not waste supplies. Also, the only soldiers that they had were the soldiers that survived the Great Civil War. They had no way of replenishing their men once they were killed.

 

They then started to send troops to Gehenna, in order to utilize its resources. They - much like the Government - were attacked by Can'Tores, except that they were actually able to kill all of the primitives. It was soon after that they noticed large military installations on the planet - realizing that the Government was on the planet as well - but unaware of its moon. They have been causing havoc for the already distracted military ever since - taking advantage of their inferior training and tactics.

 

***

 

George Winston sat at his desk, the soft humming of the computer systems oddly soothing. He stared past the blue holoscreen, his mind purely blank. Bryon Shea, Winston's right-hand-man, walked into his office.

 

"Sir, the others are waiting for you.", he said.

 

"I know. I'll be in the War Room in a moment.", Winston replied.

 

He watched as Bryon turned around and walked down the hallway. He pushed himself out of his seat, and walked down the hallway behind him. He heard his footsteps reverberate in the metal hallways, echoing withing the massive mountain. He was still amazed at this technological marvel, it was something that the Government could never think of constructing. They were too busy making colossal military installations, ones that stood out in the landscape and were easily exposed. Artillery would have destroyed them long ago, were it not for the GTGs and EMP Emitters.

 

He walked into the War Room, a gigantic circular room, with a plethora of computer screens along the walls. In the center, there was a large circular holoprojector, which was used to bring up a holo-image of virtually anything. He leaned on one end of the holoprojector, while the four other Spec-Ops stood around it.

 

"As we all know, we have little resources to maintain our army. On Gehenna, the Government's military, as well as the Can'Tores, make it too much of a hassle to extract resources.", Bryon said, starting the meeting.

 

"Well then, what do you propose we do?", Winston asked.

 

"We send someone to hijack a Laurus Supply Liner. It only has a small security team patrolling it - due to it only being a cargo ship. Their military training is even less than that of the Government's military. One Shadow should be able to handle it.", Bryon replied, watching as a three-dimensional image of an LSL appear above the holoprojector.

 

An LSL is a gigantic cargo ship, three times the size of the Titanic - and is used to deliver supplies to Gehenna.

 

"And what are we going to do when he hijack it? Just turn it around towards the moon? That's going to attract a lot of attention.", criticized Mark Petré, a frequent critic of Bryon.

 

"No. We land it on the Peguae Airfield. The Shadow could sneak his way into the Command Center and disable the GFG surrounding it.", Bryon replied.

 

"But doing so would alert the entire orbital fleet!", exclaimed Jack Orwell.

 

"Look.", Damon Faulkner stated, bringing up a three-dimensional image of the entire airfield. "There are a dozen AA guns that surround the perimeter of the airfield. The Shadow could override the AA guns from the Command Center and cause them to open fire onto the alerted fleet - destroying them when they come into orbit."

 

"How powerful are these guns?", asked Jack.

 

"They're the same type as ours.", replied Winston.

 

Type 32B AA Guns fire massive tungsten projectiles, using a linear system of magnetic fields coils down a long shaft, increasing the projectile's velocity until it carries an incredible amount of kinetic energy.

 

"But what about Hotbase? We don't have the resources to take it, and they are going to be on high alert.", asked Bryon.

 

"We'll send a distraction team to deal with them. Three Shadows, two Soldiers, a Toxic, and a Commando.", replied Winston.

 

"What's the point of sending them if we aren't going to take it? Why not send everything we've got?", asked Mark.

 

"We're not wasting everything we have on a military operation we're not even sure that we could win. We just don't have the resources. Not yet.", replied Bryon.

 

"So you'll waste dozens of men only for distracting the Government? Are we all just numbers to you?", shouted Mark.

 

"If they don't distract Hotbase, the entire military will be pouring onto the Airfield once we start sending our reinforcements. We'll lose thousands!", exclaimed Bryon.

 

"Uhh, before everyone gets fed up, who are we sending to hijack the LSL?", asked Damon.

 

"Matthew Harris.", Winston replied. "Spec-Ops, dismissed."

[Yukub]

The Harvester-class Motherland VI patrolled the area surrounding Gehenna. It turned just before the moon, since the admiral had restricted the fleet to orbiting Gehenna. The Motherland VI was armed with heavy cannons, with firepower similar to the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima. It could destroy any enemy vessel within seconds. It was equipped with the newest technology available and had a GFG and AA guns installed to withstand attacks from smaller ships, such as fighters. If the GFG failed, the Motherland VI could count on its heavy plating and anti-missile defenses. It was one of the many Harvester-class battleships of the navy.

 

The Motherland VI was being refueled by tanker ships when a pair of bombers with a fighter escort opened fire. The GFG protected the ship but the tankers weren't that lucky. The bombers dropped their payload onto the ships, who burst into flames and exploded. The GFG protected the Motherland VI from the floating wreckage but it was damaged by the explosion nevertheless. It's left engine had failed, which caused the ship to bank right with dangerous speed, heading to Gehenna's sun with enormous speed.

 

''Reroute power from weaponry to emergency system!'' The captain of the Motherland VI said to the crew.

''Systems not responding. GFG is losing power.'' One of the navigators reported.

''Evacuate the ship! Everyone, into the lifeboats!'' The captain ordered, but it was already too late.

 

The heat shields had failed and the Motherland VI turned into one giant fireball. A few men managed to get into a lifeboat and leave the ship, but the lifeboats were caught on fire and everyone inside was killed.

 

The pride of the Navy was destroyed when it touched the sun's surface. The crew was disintegrated immediately, though some managed to survive in the lower decks. Then the ammunition blew up, creating a explosion which destroyed the asteroid field which was thousands of miles away. Any ship within hundred thousand miles was destroyed or heavily damaged.

 

Meanwhile, the bombers and their escort prepared to jump to FTL. Inside where not the Prospectors nor the Can'Tores. They were a blue humanoids, with little packs of spikes growing on their head. Humanity had gained another enemy.