Chapter 17
Haz'rd Vulp
Prelude
It was unclear just how 300 soldiers were to take on an army of 1,000 or more moving in all at once. In Haz'rd's mind there was a plan. It was risky, would probably lead to failure, but just might work given the right conditions.
He thought on this for a good while, and continued to do so as his men and Ninemeindrol's men were in a strategic withdrawal while advancing intrepidly towards the rear.
Action
Wind whipped through the trees, and black skies full of murkiness swept overhead. Lightning crashed down as the Vulpen and Aqku made their way to the river.
Haz'rd had made sure to have enough men running and gunning to attract the Maqku to the river. They would only have been a few minutes away by this point. Looking at the river though, the idea to cross it suddenly became very distressful.
Water of the river surged stronger then it had in years. Rain could barely be seen coming down near the mouth of the river, and the melting snow in the mountains would certainly be contributing to this surge.
Looking up and down the river Haz'rd wondered if there was a better place to cross at. As he looked across things became strange, a warped sense of the world left him on his knees, retching up his breakfast.
Regaining his strength under his legs he found himself looking at trees. Turning around he realized he was on the other side of the river. His mate was by his side, and he could sense his men and the others were near him. Across the river he could feel the advancing Maqku forces. He pondered momentarily.
Choices
Haz'rd told the men to fall back. Once they did he gathered a small group of them and told them to jump in the river a little bit, and to swim back as soon as the enemy could be seen.
It only took a moment before that happened, and swim they did, and haul themselves into the forest at top speed. Haz'rd stood behind a tree and poked his head out just enough to see a commander across the way yelling at his soldier to cross the river.
He could see them filing their way down to the embankment, and starting the process of beginning to swim across. It took nearly five minutes before the first one got across, and when he did Haz'rd gave the order of attack.
Semper Fidelis
Prelude
His feet were freezing, his nipples felt like they should have fallen off, and who knew just how much longer he'd last out here before he died. He waded through areas that lacked snow, as much as he could, but was finding that the twigs along these parts bit very hard into his feet.
Night was falling, and the temperature was dropping with it. He wondered if this would be his last day alive.
Action
Inside of his mind Semper could feel the cold. Although asleep his body twitched and shivered, trying to produce what body heat he could. Crunches in the melting snow failed to wake him, but his dreams told of a traveler.
"What a horrible way to die," he could hear in his ears, as well as his dreams. He could see himself lying in the snow, a cloaked figure near. Seeing the figure a passage from a song long ago rang true. "There's a man, going 'round, takin' names. And he decides on who to free, and who to blame."
Death was standing next to Semper, and it was his time to go.
Choices
Semper looked up and could see the figure coming closer to him. He raised his arms feebly in defense and attempted to shout out, "Back, back, stay away from me." What came out was more a series of garbled whispers, completely unintelligible.
The weirdest sensation came over Semper as he could feel his body rising into the air. Looking up he could see the sky coming closer. And then... nothing.
Ninja Monkey
Prelude
After completion of training, Ninja Monkey, a name no one new a thing about, was immediately sent to help the front lines in the War on the Vulpen scum. News had traveled that the Aqku were helping, and they'd need every person they had up there to fight, blow stuff up, and do anything they could to shake up the opposition.
Action
Straight away to the front lines did Ninja Monkey go towards. The train sped along, the engine quietly rumbling to the ears of the passengers in the rear carts. Disaster strikes.
A loud screech fills the air, and waves of shock flow backwards through the train like a thunder clap. A rise into the air, a horizontal turn, the strike of thunder ten times harder then before. Metal tearing, screaming voices, everything goes dull.
Ninja Monkey goes flying through the air. A door of the cart goes open and clear skies are above. Though flight Ninja Monkey goes, sailing away. Rotating he looks behind to see the train piled up looking like building blocks.
The ground smacks Ninja like a cloth washer strikes her work on a board. Flipping, rolling, tumbling away. Barely managing to open his eyes he sees one of the carts sailing through the air like he did, coming towards him. He thinks it's the end of his short time on this world.
Crash!
Choices
Sleep was all Ninja Monkey wanted to do after he started regaining consciousness. For a moment he could have sworn he saw more then just a woman walking towards him as he lay on his side. When she got to him he went onto his back and looked at the sky. Oh how bright and blue it was.
Ninemeindrol
Prelude
Parsing the thoughts of many of the men and Vulpen he could sense they were fearful of death. There was much hope, but that underlying thought of being rolled over by their mutual enemy was not a pleasant one.
Action
Ninemeindrol noticed trouble in getting the people across, so he teleported them there. Looking he saw a few having trouble holding their stomachs, but they were all fine. On the other side of the river he made it look like, to the enemy, that they were right on the heels of Vulpen and Aqku.
It only took a few moments before they were at the river's edge. Ninemeindrol wondered how to approach this.
Choices
Ninemeindrol decided to use the power of nature to help in the battle. He brought himself high up into the sky and kept the lightning away, but only momentarily. The moment the first Maqku got across the river he started sending the lightning down the enemy's position, forcing them into the river.
The Aqku and Vulpens began their attack on the other side, and forced the Maqku between a fire and fast moving blades, and even quicker moving pieces of lead. Then something went wrong.
He couldn't feel it at first, but his body went numb. Then his vision blacked out. It was at this point that Ninemeindrol was dead. His abilities had backfired on him and sent some of the strongest lightning bolts the planet had ever known, fifteen in all, surging straight through him.
This is not where his story ends. For him it ends with his body hurtling towards the river, hitting it with such force as to send all of it's water back miles from the resulting shockwave. The lightning followed his body and killed the two hundred or so Maqku troops that were there, but there was now a problem for the Aqku and Vulpen.
A bone dry riverbed stood between the Aqku and Vulpen forces from the Maqku. Nearly eight-hundred Maqku troops looked across the river, saw fire behind them, and knew that destiny was at hand.
Shinobi
Prelude
He felt his mind sharp, his blade sharper, and the strength to strike the enemy quickly, and deadly. Shinobi was ready for this coming fight, even if others weren't.
Action
He felt the pull that he had felt before, and the placement of somewhere else. He looked about and slinked back into the forest. There was this odd sense of worry that beckoned at the back of his mind.
Choices
He was dripping wet from having been told to jump in the river, but was glad to be there to attack once the first Maqkumen got across. He was the second being, behind only the infamously legendary Haz'rd Vulp.
He found himself in front of Haz'rd, the Maqkumen attempting to fire a weapon that wouldn't work. With two quick slashes the man was dead. It was quick, and although Shinobi knew he was the enemy, he hoped he didn't experience much pain.
After that first kill there was a great rocking of the earth, as though it were nothing more then a table, and it had just been whipped acrossed the room. Shinobi found his legs after nearly a minute, but to his surprise he found himself staring at a huge group of charging Maqkumen, running across where the river had just been.
Dumbass
Prelude
After the arrow was out Dumbass walked around a bit to get the feeling back in his leg. He really didn't notice, either, that many of the Vulpens around were watching him closely, and that there seemed to be more of them around him the further away he got from the main group.
Action
As soon as he was transported something didn't feel right in the least. Taking off he ran into the woods are full bore. Noticing a strong looking tree he took up it, getting to a high spot quickly. Up there he stayed, surveying things, feeling not at all right with things.
Choices
Dumbass decided to stay in the tree until the time came to attack. Even though he had to go really bad he held it in for the time being.
He could really hear very much over the hard blowing wind. Nothing really lent itself to...
Out of nowhere a great shaking of the world. Dumbass felt himself suddenly holding onto the tree very tightly. It bent backwards, away from the river at incredible speeds, and came back upright even faster.
This was the cause for Dumbass to become airborne, and go sailing over the river, which he found didn't have much water in it. While he was in the air two things happened. He decided now was a good time to relieve himself, and noticed the face of his Pious looking up at him from a hole in the riverbed. The eyes were empty and soulless, and Dumbass knew that a man he took great pride in calling his Pious was dead.
Now he found himself coming towards the ground very quickly. When he hit his body kind of forces him to go into a ball and roll with it.
Ochi Reci
Prelude
There was a great deal of fear in Ochi Reci's mind right now. The trees felt closer every time he looked at them, and this feeling of retching was beginning to be ever-present. He wanted to take something to ease him, but knew it would mean his death if the enemy attacked.
Action
Fear came and went, unease settled into Ochi's brain, and then went away. He was on the other side of the river he was standing on. He lay down on the ground and just wanted the unease to go away.
A thunderclap from lightning he couldn't see from his arms blocking light getting to his eyes. He could hear murmuring, feel the wind blowing, already the smell of death was in the air to him.
Choices
Ochi got up just in time to be told to head down to the river and jump in. He followed the order, but was the last being in, and the first one to get out. He still felt uneasy, and once back far enough into the woods he began to retch.
He stood back up and looked across the river. Destiny, he thought, really was looking him in the eye.
Melinda
Prelude
Her teaches said she was a natural at chemistry. Logical things like bonding molecules came easily enough. There seemed to be a weird air about her, especially when the boys were being overly rambunctious. At those times her breaking a nose or two with her fists wasn't uncommon.
Action
The train rumbled on, taking her to the front lines like so many. The Vulpen, a breed of creature she already knew about, due to her extra-curricular activities. Nothing felt out of place when the train into an invisible barrier that no Maqku would find out about.
Beamed into the sky she went, above the clouds, through a short distance of space into a ship that had been in orbit for tens of generations.
Her commander of the Qu greeted her, "We're sorry for having to wreck the train. It seems that the great species is over threatened by the Eastern forces of the planet."
She gave a quick nod and asked, "So what now?"
There was a pause as an assistant to the commander relayed some information, "It seems there's only one life sign left from the wreckage. He'll survive. I suppose I'll leave it to you. I've got some paperwork to sort out, or you could back planet side and take less pressure of the guy. Being a single survivor can be a bit harrowing I'm told."
Choices
Melinda thought to herself it was a bit odd that her commander would need help doing administrative work, so went back down planet side to check on the site of the accident. Everyone here was dead, save one person.
She wondered to herself why her superiors decided to do such an atrocious thing. More and more their decisions were becoming more unethical, aiming towards goals that weren't in line with the original mission. At least the mission she had always been told about.
Many generations had already passed since the fall of the Qu, and only a small handful of ships decided to return there, to watch over the survivors and help them back along to prosperity. Secretly she always thought they really returned to gather survivors so they didn't resort to inbreeding. Whenever the subject of the original mission was brought up her thought went to her mother, who was born, raised, and lived the majority of her short life on planet side. A Maqku by birth she was brought space side when she was sixteen, and died at seventeen, giving birth to Melinda.
The survivor was stirring again. It wouldn't be good for her to have gotten away without a scratch, so she torn the shoulder of her jacket and had one of the others from space side create an artificial cut. Then she went towards the survivor while the other went back up. She told him everything was going to be all right, but she had the distinct impression he hadn't heard her.
Prelude
It was unclear just how 300 soldiers were to take on an army of 1,000 or more moving in all at once. In Haz'rd's mind there was a plan. It was risky, would probably lead to failure, but just might work given the right conditions.
He thought on this for a good while, and continued to do so as his men and Ninemeindrol's men were in a strategic withdrawal while advancing intrepidly towards the rear.
Action
Wind whipped through the trees, and black skies full of murkiness swept overhead. Lightning crashed down as the Vulpen and Aqku made their way to the river.
Haz'rd had made sure to have enough men running and gunning to attract the Maqku to the river. They would only have been a few minutes away by this point. Looking at the river though, the idea to cross it suddenly became very distressful.
Water of the river surged stronger then it had in years. Rain could barely be seen coming down near the mouth of the river, and the melting snow in the mountains would certainly be contributing to this surge.
Looking up and down the river Haz'rd wondered if there was a better place to cross at. As he looked across things became strange, a warped sense of the world left him on his knees, retching up his breakfast.
Regaining his strength under his legs he found himself looking at trees. Turning around he realized he was on the other side of the river. His mate was by his side, and he could sense his men and the others were near him. Across the river he could feel the advancing Maqku forces. He pondered momentarily.
Choices
- Send a few men into the river to make it look like they were crossing, while hiding everyone else in the trees.
- Start firing as soon as the enemy can be seen.
Haz'rd told the men to fall back. Once they did he gathered a small group of them and told them to jump in the river a little bit, and to swim back as soon as the enemy could be seen.
It only took a moment before that happened, and swim they did, and haul themselves into the forest at top speed. Haz'rd stood behind a tree and poked his head out just enough to see a commander across the way yelling at his soldier to cross the river.
He could see them filing their way down to the embankment, and starting the process of beginning to swim across. It took nearly five minutes before the first one got across, and when he did Haz'rd gave the order of attack.
Semper Fidelis
Prelude
His feet were freezing, his nipples felt like they should have fallen off, and who knew just how much longer he'd last out here before he died. He waded through areas that lacked snow, as much as he could, but was finding that the twigs along these parts bit very hard into his feet.
Night was falling, and the temperature was dropping with it. He wondered if this would be his last day alive.
Action
Inside of his mind Semper could feel the cold. Although asleep his body twitched and shivered, trying to produce what body heat he could. Crunches in the melting snow failed to wake him, but his dreams told of a traveler.
"What a horrible way to die," he could hear in his ears, as well as his dreams. He could see himself lying in the snow, a cloaked figure near. Seeing the figure a passage from a song long ago rang true. "There's a man, going 'round, takin' names. And he decides on who to free, and who to blame."
Death was standing next to Semper, and it was his time to go.
Choices
- Fight for life.
- Give up.
Semper looked up and could see the figure coming closer to him. He raised his arms feebly in defense and attempted to shout out, "Back, back, stay away from me." What came out was more a series of garbled whispers, completely unintelligible.
The weirdest sensation came over Semper as he could feel his body rising into the air. Looking up he could see the sky coming closer. And then... nothing.
Ninja Monkey
Prelude
After completion of training, Ninja Monkey, a name no one new a thing about, was immediately sent to help the front lines in the War on the Vulpen scum. News had traveled that the Aqku were helping, and they'd need every person they had up there to fight, blow stuff up, and do anything they could to shake up the opposition.
Action
Straight away to the front lines did Ninja Monkey go towards. The train sped along, the engine quietly rumbling to the ears of the passengers in the rear carts. Disaster strikes.
A loud screech fills the air, and waves of shock flow backwards through the train like a thunder clap. A rise into the air, a horizontal turn, the strike of thunder ten times harder then before. Metal tearing, screaming voices, everything goes dull.
Ninja Monkey goes flying through the air. A door of the cart goes open and clear skies are above. Though flight Ninja Monkey goes, sailing away. Rotating he looks behind to see the train piled up looking like building blocks.
The ground smacks Ninja like a cloth washer strikes her work on a board. Flipping, rolling, tumbling away. Barely managing to open his eyes he sees one of the carts sailing through the air like he did, coming towards him. He thinks it's the end of his short time on this world.
Crash!
Choices
- Wake up.
- Lay and let it all go away.
Sleep was all Ninja Monkey wanted to do after he started regaining consciousness. For a moment he could have sworn he saw more then just a woman walking towards him as he lay on his side. When she got to him he went onto his back and looked at the sky. Oh how bright and blue it was.
Ninemeindrol
Prelude
Parsing the thoughts of many of the men and Vulpen he could sense they were fearful of death. There was much hope, but that underlying thought of being rolled over by their mutual enemy was not a pleasant one.
Action
Ninemeindrol noticed trouble in getting the people across, so he teleported them there. Looking he saw a few having trouble holding their stomachs, but they were all fine. On the other side of the river he made it look like, to the enemy, that they were right on the heels of Vulpen and Aqku.
It only took a few moments before they were at the river's edge. Ninemeindrol wondered how to approach this.
Choices
- Direct lighting to zap those in the water.
- Let the forces take care of things.
Ninemeindrol decided to use the power of nature to help in the battle. He brought himself high up into the sky and kept the lightning away, but only momentarily. The moment the first Maqku got across the river he started sending the lightning down the enemy's position, forcing them into the river.
The Aqku and Vulpens began their attack on the other side, and forced the Maqku between a fire and fast moving blades, and even quicker moving pieces of lead. Then something went wrong.
He couldn't feel it at first, but his body went numb. Then his vision blacked out. It was at this point that Ninemeindrol was dead. His abilities had backfired on him and sent some of the strongest lightning bolts the planet had ever known, fifteen in all, surging straight through him.
This is not where his story ends. For him it ends with his body hurtling towards the river, hitting it with such force as to send all of it's water back miles from the resulting shockwave. The lightning followed his body and killed the two hundred or so Maqku troops that were there, but there was now a problem for the Aqku and Vulpen.
A bone dry riverbed stood between the Aqku and Vulpen forces from the Maqku. Nearly eight-hundred Maqku troops looked across the river, saw fire behind them, and knew that destiny was at hand.
Shinobi
Prelude
He felt his mind sharp, his blade sharper, and the strength to strike the enemy quickly, and deadly. Shinobi was ready for this coming fight, even if others weren't.
Action
He felt the pull that he had felt before, and the placement of somewhere else. He looked about and slinked back into the forest. There was this odd sense of worry that beckoned at the back of his mind.
Choices
- Stand back and watch, waiting patiently for the attack order.
- Stay near the front for quicker assault.
He was dripping wet from having been told to jump in the river, but was glad to be there to attack once the first Maqkumen got across. He was the second being, behind only the infamously legendary Haz'rd Vulp.
He found himself in front of Haz'rd, the Maqkumen attempting to fire a weapon that wouldn't work. With two quick slashes the man was dead. It was quick, and although Shinobi knew he was the enemy, he hoped he didn't experience much pain.
After that first kill there was a great rocking of the earth, as though it were nothing more then a table, and it had just been whipped acrossed the room. Shinobi found his legs after nearly a minute, but to his surprise he found himself staring at a huge group of charging Maqkumen, running across where the river had just been.
Dumbass
Prelude
After the arrow was out Dumbass walked around a bit to get the feeling back in his leg. He really didn't notice, either, that many of the Vulpens around were watching him closely, and that there seemed to be more of them around him the further away he got from the main group.
Action
As soon as he was transported something didn't feel right in the least. Taking off he ran into the woods are full bore. Noticing a strong looking tree he took up it, getting to a high spot quickly. Up there he stayed, surveying things, feeling not at all right with things.
Choices
- Stay in the trees until a time comes to attack.
- Relieve self 'cause you've really got to go tinkle.
Dumbass decided to stay in the tree until the time came to attack. Even though he had to go really bad he held it in for the time being.
He could really hear very much over the hard blowing wind. Nothing really lent itself to...
Out of nowhere a great shaking of the world. Dumbass felt himself suddenly holding onto the tree very tightly. It bent backwards, away from the river at incredible speeds, and came back upright even faster.
This was the cause for Dumbass to become airborne, and go sailing over the river, which he found didn't have much water in it. While he was in the air two things happened. He decided now was a good time to relieve himself, and noticed the face of his Pious looking up at him from a hole in the riverbed. The eyes were empty and soulless, and Dumbass knew that a man he took great pride in calling his Pious was dead.
Now he found himself coming towards the ground very quickly. When he hit his body kind of forces him to go into a ball and roll with it.
Ochi Reci
Prelude
There was a great deal of fear in Ochi Reci's mind right now. The trees felt closer every time he looked at them, and this feeling of retching was beginning to be ever-present. He wanted to take something to ease him, but knew it would mean his death if the enemy attacked.
Action
Fear came and went, unease settled into Ochi's brain, and then went away. He was on the other side of the river he was standing on. He lay down on the ground and just wanted the unease to go away.
A thunderclap from lightning he couldn't see from his arms blocking light getting to his eyes. He could hear murmuring, feel the wind blowing, already the smell of death was in the air to him.
Choices
- Get up and face destiny.
- Lie down and stay down.
Ochi got up just in time to be told to head down to the river and jump in. He followed the order, but was the last being in, and the first one to get out. He still felt uneasy, and once back far enough into the woods he began to retch.
He stood back up and looked across the river. Destiny, he thought, really was looking him in the eye.
Melinda
Prelude
Her teaches said she was a natural at chemistry. Logical things like bonding molecules came easily enough. There seemed to be a weird air about her, especially when the boys were being overly rambunctious. At those times her breaking a nose or two with her fists wasn't uncommon.
Action
The train rumbled on, taking her to the front lines like so many. The Vulpen, a breed of creature she already knew about, due to her extra-curricular activities. Nothing felt out of place when the train into an invisible barrier that no Maqku would find out about.
Beamed into the sky she went, above the clouds, through a short distance of space into a ship that had been in orbit for tens of generations.
Her commander of the Qu greeted her, "We're sorry for having to wreck the train. It seems that the great species is over threatened by the Eastern forces of the planet."
She gave a quick nod and asked, "So what now?"
There was a pause as an assistant to the commander relayed some information, "It seems there's only one life sign left from the wreckage. He'll survive. I suppose I'll leave it to you. I've got some paperwork to sort out, or you could back planet side and take less pressure of the guy. Being a single survivor can be a bit harrowing I'm told."
Choices
- Go back planet side.
- Do administrative work.
Melinda thought to herself it was a bit odd that her commander would need help doing administrative work, so went back down planet side to check on the site of the accident. Everyone here was dead, save one person.
She wondered to herself why her superiors decided to do such an atrocious thing. More and more their decisions were becoming more unethical, aiming towards goals that weren't in line with the original mission. At least the mission she had always been told about.
Many generations had already passed since the fall of the Qu, and only a small handful of ships decided to return there, to watch over the survivors and help them back along to prosperity. Secretly she always thought they really returned to gather survivors so they didn't resort to inbreeding. Whenever the subject of the original mission was brought up her thought went to her mother, who was born, raised, and lived the majority of her short life on planet side. A Maqku by birth she was brought space side when she was sixteen, and died at seventeen, giving birth to Melinda.
The survivor was stirring again. It wouldn't be good for her to have gotten away without a scratch, so she torn the shoulder of her jacket and had one of the others from space side create an artificial cut. Then she went towards the survivor while the other went back up. She told him everything was going to be all right, but she had the distinct impression he hadn't heard her.
posted by DM at
10:16 AM
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