Galactic Soldier Troperion Brainstorm

@Sati: Beautiful idea. I'll let have her filled in now.

Full contact volley ball?

Also, might wanna retcon that post Earl.

Invoke, Invoke... Ah, there you are. Get the feeling I'm going to be in the rear of this fight.

A wise decision. And we'll need that rifle.

This totally cramps Jimmy's style. He needs that Weasel Unit.

Until then, Sharpshooter ahoy!

edited 27th Jan '11 2:50:02 PM by Parable

Place an order and it will be shipped in two-to-three business weeks.

Done.

Excellent.

I'll write them up later.

The Battle of Gainsborough

If we let people see that kind of thing, there would never again be any war. ~Pentagon official explaining why the U.S. military censored graphic footage from the Gulf War.

Rations had been slim the last week in the 185th. The Federation was under siege but it seemed that they were the ones who were starving. The Federation and their civilian sympathizers had been attacking supply lines endlessly, ensuring that most of their rations fed their enemy and the majority of their bullets were used against them.

Our corps had been split into the forward group with one to guard the rear. I was assigned to the advance group.

"Commander, this is bullshit. The Feds will have pulled out before we make it, burn everything left and sit back and laugh as we starve," a soldier said, halting his frame and opening the cockpit. A few others ceased their movement as well.

"Shut up and move it, Roarke."

"Like I give a fuck. I'm not committing suicide here to win a battle that is already won."

Shang pulled his frame back and opened his own cockpit, "If you question these orders, you are questioning my intelligence, Roarke. I am not in the mood to argue."

"Then leave me." A few grunts of agreements were heard throughout the group.

"Very well," Shang said as pulled out a revovler. An ancient weapon, apparently a replica of an heirloom that had become a heirloom itself. Roarke withdrew in panic but it was too late. Shang pulled the trigger.

A few pilots moved to recover him but with a glance Shang stopped them, "He asked to be left here. Leave him."

With that there was not one left in the Corp willing to contradict Shang's word and he led the march once more. It was three more days of marching, the soldiers who had hesitated were under constant watch for treachery, even by those amongst their number who hoped to redeem themselves by betraying another of their number.

I watched all this from a distance, because, truth be told, I was afraid. I ate half of my own rations so that I could pass it on to the hesistant pilots who were deprived of theirs. I marched to the tent of one of them, Hanan, who had attended with the academy with me. I saw two men standing guard outside his tent. One glared at me. Slowly I composed myself, shaking, and I walked past him. Leaving the tent behind. I was not about to risk my entire career for the sake of momentary pity. With some reluctance, and having lost my appetite, I tipped the tray to the ground.

The next morning, I was ushered with the others to the center of our make shift camp. In the center of the court, Shang spoke, "The Federation are desperate. They are low on munitions, weapons and personel. There are not enough frames or tanks or rifles between them. They are fighting with salvage, over salvage, for salvage. Salvaging does not stop at weaponry but goes right down to soldiers, I am certain some of you have heard General Powers has recruited children under the age of 16 to fight for his side. He may claim they are volunteers who have no choice but he has armed them and sent them for our heads," Shang smiled, "And I commend him for it, Soldiers. War is not a game of morality. Justice does not win wars. Mercy does not win Wars. Love Does Not Win Wars. The only way to win is obey my word without hesistation or regret. If you are only coming to realize that, then I have to say, is welcome to Aeris, gentlemen, enjoy your stay."

"Today we have gone behind Federation lines, or Powers' to be more accurate. The rest of the army has run behind him. He is isolated and desperate. We are organized and disciplined. He will run a final sortie in hopes of escaping and we will meet him. He, along with every man, woman and child stupid enough to follow him, will die. Is this understood?"

"Yes! Hail Centuari! Hail Lord Shang!"

He stepped down from the stage, moments later, he locked eyes with me, "Vieillard? Come with me. Immediately." I bowed and obeyed without hesistation. He led me through the camp, followed by two armed guards. Favourites of his, though I cannot recall their names.

"Vieillard, I heard about the incident yesterday."

"What incident, sir?"

"You were seen conspiring to bring food to the traitor. Hanan, was it?"

"Yes sir."

He reached for his gun, I grimaced.

"Why did you do that, Earl?"

"Momentary sentimentality, Lord Shang, sir."

"You strike me as a coward, Earl. However, cowards do not sign up to fight in Aeris. What are you doing here?"

"I want to prove myself, sir. I cannot prove myself if I am killed as a traitor."

"A coward after all then. Why do you think I fight, Earl?"

"To Win."

"Earl, when word gets out about what happens here, I will be hung. I am not going to win this nor do I have any illusions about winning. I am fighting for Centauri. I will give anything to make the Federation suffer, even my life. But even the lowliest soldier can say that, what separates officers from Soldiers Earl, is that we are willing to give the lives of others for Centauri."

"Sir?"

"You will pass as a soldier, but you are a coward. At very least it means you are controllable, Hanan is a born martyr as whether the bullet is mine or Federation, he will get his wish before this campaign is done. I shall not press punishment on you, however the next time there will be no mecy. Do not allow it to happen again."

"Understood."

"Now get to your Frame," He turned to the Soldiers behind him, "Pass the word along the camp for others to do likewise. The assault begins in ten minutes."

By the time Earl made it to his Frame, the assault had already begun. The heavy armour Frame was designed for space combat and even with customizations it was still at a disadvantage for movement and accuracy. However, accuracy did not matter. There were 50 other identical DW- 26 Ls in field. They roared up to their targets, lagging only shortly behind the wing of SR-52-L Modified Spitfires.

Gainsborough, formerly the Federation's base of operations in Aeris, was now little more than a collection of ruins. It was clear that it was a graveyard of frames though most of the usable parts were stripped, robbing them of anything anthromorphic in their appearance. Over the channel came the order for Artillery units to open fire.

I halted with the rest of the group, and the Legions unleashed their missles. On the otherside longer ranged artillery guns unloaded into the city as well. The sirens went off blaring, in moments, from beneath their make shift bunkers, Federation frames rose. No one was like another, most seemed to have once been Quick Silvers. We broke into formation, spreading ourselves in order to suppress more of the city under a fresh blanket of fire and smoke.

The Spitfires sped ahead, followed shortly after by our drones, incapacitating most of the nearby Quick Silvers. Slicing them down before they could stand. Eight down. A call was made over open Channel.

"All Federation units in Gainsborough, Do Not Surrender. Kill as many as possible."

I switched off the open channel to shut him up.

"Gun emplacement," I reported looking at the drone camera, "110 meters, at 32 degrees. Requesting support and permission."

"Permission granted. Available units support."

I unloaded the Drone's missle launcher. Two other nearby drones did likewise. In moments, the gunners were dead and their artillery dismantled. Then static.

I moved my second drone near the position. It was a Quick Silver, with some components from XM-10 and SF-18H units. It was using a Spitfire sabre and seemed intent on reaching some location. He moved to a clearing, a small hill in town. My drone would not have enough fire power to disable it, but with the highground, I might have a chance with artillery. I attempted to lock on. He lingered there, almost lost or at least searching for something. Even with the remaining drone's coordinates however, he was too far to lock on to.

He turned his censors towards Hanan, to my right, and began towards him. He drew his sabre and launched his thrusters. I pushed the button, unleashing my payload. He was crippled but not dead.

"Earl! 8 o'clock, dammit!" Hanan shouted.

I turned to see a XM-01 armed with a sword charging me. I aimed my plasma rifle and pulled the trigger. He collapsed mere feet in front of my frame. I fired a few more shots at the cockpit to ensure the pilot was dead.

I turned back to the field only to see the sky above had turned black. Gainsborough would soon be reduced to rubble. The Quick Silvers were retreating towards the town center, surrounded on all sides, we were to continue bombardment in search of Federation emplacements. As I reloaded, I switched the open channel back on, presently it was being used to broadcast Federation Propaganda.

"The Centauri shall must not be allowed to win. They are the aggressors and we must stop them here before they may pillage what precious little remains of our homeland. Hold them to the last man! Gainsborough shall not fa-"

A gunshot was heard over the radio.

"This is Colonel Mandrake. Major General Powers is dead, as his second in command, I hereby offer unconditional surrend on behalf of the 35th Aeris Division."

Silence for a few moments from both sides, before Shang rose his voice to deliver the verdict.

"Continue Bombardment."

"No," Hanan spoke up.

"What?"

"You heard the man," Another one of the traitors spoke.

"Hanan, Elric, you understand the consequences of this, correct?"

"We're not fighting," Another spoke up.

In moments, mutiny had spread through the ranks. At very least it was clear that no Centauri soldier was willing to fire. After another brief silence, Hanan spoke up again over the open channel.

"We lack the ressources to keep prisonners amongst our rank, as such, we demand that you abandon your armaments before leaving Gainsborough. Afterwards you are free men."

"You have our gratitude...?"

"8th Special Hanan Ajam."

A silence marked the surprise and slow acceptance of the Colonel that his life had been saved by little more than an ensign, however he spoke up on the radio one last time,

"You have my gratitude, Mr. Ajam. Perhaps we'll have a drink when this is all over," A second pause followed by a grim laugh, "I'll have St. Peter write you a reservation."

Shang stood in silence as we watched the soldiers begin the count and organize the evacuation. About half participated, while loyalists and cowards like myself remained silent and only watched. Military personel in Gainsborough numbered around 5,000 about a third of their full initial force, there were another few thousand children and civilians who had gotten caught up in conflict by being unable to stay ahead or escape. The count was around 2,300 however, the actual number was likely five times that. They planned to head to Federation lines and be evacuated from the nearest base.

Shang organized us in the hanger. He called forward Hanan and the two who spoke back to him on the radio, Ryan and Elric as I would later learn their names to be. He held his revovled up to Hanan's head. I could see among the group people preparing to fight, both loyalists to Shang and to Hanan but the shot never came. Instead, Shang flipped the gun, offering the handle to Hanan.

"If you are going to commit mutiny, then do it properly."

Hanan took the gun and aimed at Shang. He hesistated as we all stared at Shang. He was inhuman. He looked down upon the man about to kill him, yet, Hanan yielded.

Shang took back the gun in disgust, and fired a shot into the air. A bullet lodged itself into the roof, drywall fell down over Hanan's head. It had not been a bluff, or a show.

"You are kind of martyr prepared to die for his country but afraid to kill for it. You cannot win a war by dying," He turned towards the assembled soldiers, "Each of the soldiers who walked will be at a Federation base within three hours. Each and everyone of them will be rearmed and sent right back at us. Each man you spared today will try to kill you tomorrow, however, whatever happens, we will be ready," Shang spoke, "We will be a single unit of one mind, unflinching and unquestion and we will crush all who oppose us. Understood?"

Loyalists and Mutinist alike stood and cheered. We were a single corps once more.

Shang never forgave the three. Hanan survived another month before being killed in action on a dangerous scouting mission deep in Federation territory, Elric was executed for stealing Rations and Ryan was MIA. Rumours claim he was either murdered or deserted. Mandrake stood trial for mutiny but was aquitted and returned to earth sometime after with full Honours. I served four more months before graduating with full honours as an Eight Knight of the Centauri Confederacy. So ended the most eventful battle of my tenure on Aeris, make of the story and results what you will.

edited 28th Jan '11 3:22:10 PM by Fauxlosophe

Gah! I'll have to post later tonight. X_x

No wonder Earl is so dour.

That is some serious shit.

In other news, I have the battle scenario ready.

Sati, we need your orders now.

What's goin' on?

A BATTLE, SOON.

Low batteries and stuff happening for the next few hours afterwards.

oh.

I SEE.

I should make another "MEANWHILE, ONBOARD THE PRISON SHIP" post soon. I need to speed that storyline along.

Also need to find some way to send off Arthur afterward, I don't feel like playing two characters for the rest of the game.

You should.

Today or tomorrow. I will.

edited 27th Jan '11 3:51:44 PM by SpainSun

HUZZAH!!

AND SATI, POST DAMMIT, STOP WRITING YOUR FANFIC.

THERE IS A MISSION AT HAND!

I haven't read any of the fanfics yet.

I might write a humorous one, myself.

And Battery dead. Catch you guys tomorrow.

Bye.

By Faux-Faux.

37 Carriers? What and no escorts? For a planetary assault? :s

So...I expect this will be a "Hold the Line until The Cavalry arrives for a Big Damn Heroes"