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You are here: Home --> Forum Home --> Free form RPGs --> Sci Fi --> The Coming of Shadows
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    Messages in The Coming of Shadows
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Altaira
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Karma: 24/0
404 Posts


The Coming of Shadows

Cartenia IV was a lively green planet, with vast oceans, and large tracks of fertile land.  That land contained some of the most exotic life forms seen by humans.  But humans were not native on this world; the dominate sentient species were reptilian in nature.  Perhaps the extinction level event that had shaped the course of Earth, did not happen here.  Maybe the dinosaurs had evolved and became the rulers of this green vibrant world; who could say.

 

That species was locally known as the Bravii, and they were a space-faring race that warred on the other inhabited worlds in their local area of space.  They were a blood thirsty savage race that were experiencing a time of expansion, and they conquered their world and were not expanding out into the stars.  They had been very successful with several worlds of lesser technological advancement. 

 

The Bravii mostly preyed on worlds where they knew they had the advantage in ships and weapons; some of the conquered worlds didn’t even have space travel yet.  Those worlds were devastated by the brief war, and the survivors were now slaves of the Bravii.  Forced to live a life of toil and hardship, the people of those worlds were being used to strip their planet of any resource that could be used by their usurpers.  The natives were dying by the thousands on a daily basis, and by the time the natural resources were depleted, the inhabitants would dead and the planet would be another dead world destroyed by the Bravii.

 

Other worlds had taken notice of this disturbing series of events; planets as advanced as the destroyers of worlds.  There had been much talk of what to do about this path of destruction, before it reached beyond this local area of space.  Strategies had been discussed, plans analyzed, and finally, decisions made.  Something had to be done to stop the advance of destruction, before it reached the worlds that were not to be touched. 

 

The sky over Cartenia IV was dark and filled with stars; the air was crisp and still and the only sounds that could be heard were those of the native nocturnal creatures that roamed the lush land.  Suddenly the serene quiet was disturbed by a booming sound coming from the sky.  Those creatures on the prowl were startled by the loud noise; many fled in all directions to avoid the unknown source.

 

A burning brand of fiery light streaked across the night sky; if any sentient creature observed it, they might think it was just a meteor, but it was more than that.   If one could look closely at the heart of the fiery ‘meteor’, they would see a oval shape that was blackened by the heat of it’s speedy atmospheric entry.  As it descended deeper into the thickening air, the heat seemed to burn away parts of it’s shape, which fell behind and burned up by the fiery tale.

 

As the pieces flaked off, more and more of the shape took form; until a vaguely humanoid shape was visible.  Once the form reached the lower atmosphere, at about the 5,000 meters, it had slowed enough that the fire enveloping it began to dissipate.  Arms were throw out to the sides and the remaining part of the ablative layer was thrown off to show the armored human form as it continued to descend.   

 

A small box like shape separated from the back of the form, and took up a position about 5 meters above it.  The box glowed as the anti-grav chute took hold in the planet’s gravitational field and slowed the armored form even further.  With subtle hand movements, the figure controlled it’s movement to steer it around a mountain range in it’s path.  Coming around the mountain it continued on towards an area of dark forest as it continued to slow.  It swooped low, just above the treetops, until it located the spot that had been chosen.  Then with a quick upward movement to slow it’s speed quickly, the box darkened once more and then quickly returned to the figures back.  The speed stalled and with it’s feet now pointed at the ground, the figure dropped the final 50 meters where it plunged through the forest canopy and dropped to the ground, landing in a crouch to absorb the last of it force from it’s fall.

 

The figure straightened to it’s full height, of about 2 meters, and looked around at it’s drop zone.  The armor was a mottled gray with black splotches from the carbon deposits from the reentry. It was human in form, with a black helmet the front of which was a black visor which showed nothing of the occupants face.  It surveyed it’s surroundings for a few moments, before reaching over a shoulder where it pulled a large rifle looking object and held it at the ready.  This done, the armored figure moved off into the dark forest towards it’s destination.

 

((Moved from Rules to Freeform))



Posted on 2021-03-09 at 06:19:19.
Edited on 2021-03-09 at 06:19:55 by Altaira

Altaira
Resident
Karma: 24/0
404 Posts


Who is the prey?

The snap of a branch was the only sound, as the large creature leaped through the air with it’s talon’s extended for the kill.  The 10 cm long bringers of death found nothing but empty air, as their target had skillfully avoided the deadly blow.  The cat like creature, landed and whirled around in search of the prey that had eluded it.  The ‘great cat’ was similar to he leopards of Earth, but it was twice it’s size and mass, and had six legs instead of four.  It’s had scales in place of fur, and it’s long tail ended in a barb which dripped with venom.  The head was longer than expected; ending in a long snout filled with two rows of long fangs.  It’s yellow eyes scanned the place where the figure had stood just a moment ago; it saw nothing.

 

The creature’s small brain tried to comprehend how it’s target had not only avoided it’s attack, but had apparently escaped the area. It screeching roar sounded through the forest as it suddenly felt a sharp slashing pain along it’s side.  It tried to turn towards that threat, but found two of it’s right legs were severed at the upper joint.  The creature collapsed to the ground; unable to understand what was happening.  It raised it’s head to look about for it’s attacker, but only exposed it’s neck to the killing blow which opened up it’s throat letting it’s life flow out onto the soft grass covering the forest floor.   As the beast’s thrashing came to an end; a dark shape took form as if it had melded out of the dark shadows of the night.   

 

“Proc, Identify.”  Sgt. Aayla Anoon subvocalized as she looked down at the dead creature at it’s feet.

 

The processor buried in her chest utilized the suit sensors and positively identified it as a Tarn, a carnivore native of Cartenia IV. 

 

She shook her head slightly as she lifted the 30cm long blade which had ended the creatures life.  The blade was made of meteor steel and honed to a fine edge, making it one of the sharpest blade know to exist.  She glanced at the edge which glowed faintly, as a monofilament of single atoms moved along that edge, making it sharp enough to cut through almost anything.  With a flip of her thumb, the glow vanished and she returned the blade to it’s stealth on her right thigh.  

 

The creatures here didn’t know that, even it they killed her, they would not like what they found when they tried to consume her.  The protein differences of living beings and creatures, between this planet and those of Earth, were enough that one could not digest the other.  It that Tarn had managed to kill and eat her, that inability to digest her would have caused it to die in horrible agony.  But just because the creatures were too stupid to know that, didn’t mean they couldn’t kill you.

 

“Proc, scan for life forms and display,” she subvocalized again.  Her processor didn’t need her to speak the commands, she could simply subvocalize anything she needed it to do.  It technically wasn’t necessary while in her armor, as her words wouldn’t be heard outside the suit unless she wished it, but it was her accustomed method so she stuck to it. 

 

Her HUD showed her a 360 scan of the area and highlighted the recognized life forms around her.  She didn’t see anything large that might pose a serious threat; nothing like the Tarn which she had detected moments prior to it’s attack.  Knowing it’s location, it had been simple to avoid the creatures attack.  She had simply dodged it’s aerial leap, and then activated her suit’s cloak and blended into the shadows.  It had been simple then to move close enough to the confused beast to disable, then kill it quickly.  

 

A quick check of the map in her HUD, and Sgt. Anoon stuck out once again towards her target.  She still had over a hundred klicks to go before she was there, then her mission could begin.

 

 



Posted on 2021-03-09 at 06:20:56.

   
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