“Ahaha! Where’s all of that fighting spirit now, huh?”
“Shit,” Christeané scowled as he glanced between Reginko and the
soldiers behind her. “Man, Kevérin, why didn’t you–“
“I wasn’t looking up information on the base’s defenses, I was looking
up other stuff!” the Transfer Captain shot back, “I never expected there to be
CENT generators in a place like this!”
“To your credit, neither did we, when we first came around,” Reginko
commented, “But it’s situations like this why we don’t rely solely on Chaos
Energy.” She knocked on her breastplate proudly, producing a static sound and
flickering affect – signs that her armor shielding was still active. “Even our
Chaos Armor has backup electrical batteries. Face it, there’s nothing you can do.”
“You keep saying that…” Davídrius scowled, brandishing Hastryth, “But
with your Chaos-fueled shields down, an Ayas weapon might just pierce through,
ya know?”
“…You might be right,” the Commander admitted, “but you’ll never get to
find out. You’d be riddled with bullets before you got close enough to stab
me.”
“Tch–!”
“Davídrius…” Siyuakén spoke up warningly, “Don’t get carried away…”
“Get carried – you don’t need to tell me that!”
“Dude, you get carried away all the time,” Christeané
sighed, “Settle down.”
“Oi!” Davídrius suddenly flash-stepped in front of the Superstrength
Introtechnic and stared him down. “’Settle down’, you say? And what about those
guys with guns pointed at us, eh?!”
“…Uh.” Christeané blinked, and then glanced over at Kevérin. “…The CENT
fields are still up… right?”
“They sure as hell should be,” Reginko scowled. She raised her hand,
paused for a moment… and then dropped it. The moment she did the rest of the
Black Suns soldiers opened fire, unleashing a full ten seconds’ worth of ammunition
into Hero Machina. The soldiers then ceased fire and stared forward,
dumbfounded, as the members of Hero Machina stood fully intact – and the ground
between the two groups was littered with sliced and deformed bullets.
”Ohohoho… ahahahaha!” Davídrius suddenly grinned as he brandished
Hastryth again, “I think I see how it is. The Ayas is canceling out the effect
of the CENT field!”
“What–!” the Black Suns Commander exclaimed, but didn’t have any time
to react as the Superspeed Introtechnic obliterated all of the Black Suns
weaponry in the blink of an eye. He then appeared directly in front of her and
dealt a roundhouse kick to her face, knocking her to the ground.
“Where’s all that fighting spirit now, eh?” Davídrius smirked, before
raising the blade-end of Hastryth into the air in preparation for a stab.
“Whoa, Davídrius!” Kevérin quickly cut in, “that’s enough for now!”
“Huh?” he glanced over at the Transfer Captain, “…but she–“
“We didn’t come here to start a war with the Black Suns!” Kevérin countered,
“You’ve already dismantled their weapons – we’re on relatively equal footing
now, bar you. There’s nothing to gain from killing her!”
Davídrius stared at the Pyrotechnic for a few moments before backing
away from the Commander. She pulled herself back to her feet and stumbled
backwards as well, glaring at Davídrius indignantly.
“The CENT fields likely aren’t the last line of defenses that this base
has to throw at us,” Kevérin continued, “There has to be active defenses that
are coming online, and there’s no way we can fight those without our
abilities.”
“Let me guess,” Davídrius dismissed Hastryth and crossed his arms, “You
want me to go destroy all the CENT field generators?”
“Well, yeah.”
Davídrius glanced over at the Black Suns soldiers uneasily.
“You heard him,” Reginko spat, “Go on, get going. We’re no threat –
that damn kick of yours already shut down my backup shielding.”
“Keheheh, that’s Introtechnism for you!” Davídrius grinned. “Alright
then, I’ll find the generators and take ‘em down before you know I’ve even left!”
And with that he disappeared, speeding down the hallways of the abandoned base.
Reginko glanced after him and then looked down at her hands. She
pounded her fists together and frowned – no static sound was produced. Her
shields really were dead.
“So much for those backup shields, huh?” Kevérin smirked, reaching over
for his glasses and putting them back on. “Taken out by a single kick.”
“…They shouldn’t have gone down so easily…” the Commander replied
uneasily, “that kick…”
“Well, what do we do now?” Kievkenalis questioned as he scratched his
head.
“We should really get out of here,” Siyuakén suggested as she helped
Rebehka to her feet, “Like Kevérin said, there’s probably active defenses
somewhere. We should get going while we still can.”
“I don’t think so!” Reginko snarled, moving to block one of the room’s
entrances as two other Black Suns soldiers blocked the other entrance. She
planted her feet and extended her legs, giving her an extra two feet of height
to tower intimidatingly over Hero Machina. “I may not have won against you in a
straight up fight, but I was sent here to stop you, dammit, and stop you I
will!”
“Tch,” Christeané frowned as he glared up at the Commander, “…man, why
couldn’t you be a Citan?”
“Why are you still standing in our way?” Kevérin questioned irately,
“We’re willing to leave!”
“And I told you when I first got here – we’re here to get rid of
you,” Reginko countered, “You have information we can’t allow you to keep!”
“I didn’t even find anything on the Black Suns!”
“And I’m just supposed to believe you?”
“Well… yeah?”
“Hey, there has to be a peaceful way to resolve this… right?” Kaoné
stepped forward warily, “Just tell us what you want.”
“…Just how deaf are
Nimalians?” the Commander snorted before reaching behind herself and pounding
on her back once with her fists. Two handles suddenly extended downwards out of
the thick armor plating, which she grabbed and yanked out, revealing two short
blades. “I’m not here to negotiate. I’m here to kill you!”
“Whoa–!” Christeané exclaimed as Reginko lunged at him, arms
outstretched. He quickly dodged to the side and then grabbed the Dra’kis’ arm
as she flew past, yanking sideways and pulling her off-balance. As she stumbled
Siyuakén kicked her backside, sending her flying to the ground, from which she
recovered quickly with a roll and a flip.
“Surround them!” Reginko barked, prompting the Black Suns soldiers to
quickly block off the entrances again before slowly approaching Hero Machina.
The Nimalian Chaotics backed up against each other warily, unsure of how to
defend themselves against a group of better-equipped soldiers.
“I’ve had enough screwing around,” the Commander declared, “I’ll take
care of the lot of you here, right now… and that arrogant Introtechnic once he
clears out the CENT fields. Then we can get out of this damned abandoned base…
well, here goes–“
“Commander Tri’kar Reginko, what the HELL do you think you’re
doing?!”
“Huh–?” the Commander glanced to the side just in time for a tall,
pasty Citan man to charge forward and head-butt her ferociously. She
immediately dropped her blades and clutched her head as she drew back in pain.
“What the hell…?” she scowled, but trailed off once she got a good look at the
man who assaulted her. “…G-general Bitincher–!”
“Lieutenant General, Commander, Lieutenant General,”
the Citan growled, “Now what the hell
is this?”
Reginko glanced toward where Bitincher was pointing: the Nimalians.
“Uh, I was just getting rid of the information threat, sir, like the mission briefing
said–“
“The briefing said that you should keep an eye
on them, dumbass!” the Lieutenant General snapped as he backhanded the
Commander across the face, “You were only to engage if they were an active
threat!”
“But… but they were extracting data–!”
“The only data on these computers is the data we pulled down from the
CIN a decade ago! There’s nothing here on us!” The General then held a hand to
his forehead as he sighed irately. “Goddamn, Reginko, I have no idea how you
got to be a Commander. Must’ve been that bitch Gy’kan, before Hrisabeth
replaced her…”
“Sideros wasn’t–“
“Not to mention that you talk too goddamn much. You’d do well to learn
how to shut your damn mouth.” He then glanced over at Hero Machina. “Though I
suppose the lot of you should be grateful for Reginko’s incompetence.”
“Uh…” Kevérin responded uneasily.
“Oi, stand down and back off,” the General barked, prompting the Black
Suns soldiers to quickly comply.
“Ah… thanks,” Kaoné sighed of relief.
“Don’t take this to mean I’m on your side,” the Citan scowled, “I’m
only here to keep the Commander from putting the Black Suns on Nimalia’s
blacklist.”
“If you don’t mind me asking,” Christeané frowned, “Uh… who are you?”
“Lieutenant General Sristof Bitincher, Black Suns, Sector 2,” Bitincher
replied, “And you are…?”
“We’re Hero–“
“We’re, uh, we’re Hilarious Marauders,” Kevérin cut in.
Silence ensued.
“Goddamnit, Kevérin, again?” Siyuakén sighed.
“’Hilarious Marauders’, ha,” Bitincher snorted, “The only thing
hilarious about you is your competence. Just what are you doing here, anyways?”
“We, uh, we were just, uh, looking around,” Kevérin replied uneasily.
The Lieutenant General crossed his arms. “Uh huh. ‘Looking around’ my
ass. Who are you, really?”
“We really can’t tell you.”
Bitincher stared down Kevérin for several seconds before shaking his
head wearily. “Is this what passes as a Spec-OPs team on
Nimalia? Goddamn primates.”
“Uh, sir,” Reginko spoke up quietly, “There’s a seventh one. He’s not
here right now, but he had an Ayas with him.”
“An Ayas…? Now that’s intriguing,” the General glanced back at the
Transfer Captain, “…I may not know what you’re up to right now, but don’t think
that not telling me will stop me from finding out. The lot of you have plenty
to learn before you’re actually whatever it is that passes as what the Nimalian
military wants you to be. For starters, get yourselves some goddamn battle
armor. There’s no way you’ll last in a fight against other Chaotics without
any. And if Nimalia’s too primitive then I’m sure the guys over at Sector 4
would be plenty happy to commission you a set. Second of all, at least try to
be stealthy. Our god damn passive sensors had the lot of you
pegged the moment you stepped foot on this planet. The Citans won’t know you’re
here, but don’t take us Black Suns lightly; we can do just as much damage with
this information. Consider yourselves lucky that today’s one of my good days
and I’m actually feeling benevolent – you won’t hear any of this from me a
second time. Got it?”
“Uh, yes, sir,” Kevérin replied reflexively, “Uh, thanks for the
advice?”
“Don’t mention it. You’ll make me gag,” Bitincher retorted, “Now, once
your friend with the Ayas gets back after destroying all the CENT generators, I
want the lot of you to leave, and I want to never find you again in Black Suns
territory without express permission. Understood?”
The rest of Hero Machina nodded in response.
“Good,” he replied. He glanced upwards before returning his attention
to the Nimalian Chaotics. “In fact, you’d do well to avoid seeing me ever
again, period, full stop. As I’m sure the Commander can attest, I’m not a
pleasant man when pissed off–“
No sooner had the words left his mouth than Davídrius dashed straight
back into the room, slamming Hastryth’s blade end into the General. However the
weapon simply rebounded off an invisible barrier, not even reaching the
General’s armor and leaving him unfazed as Davídrius recoiled from the painful
shuddering of the rebound. The Superspeed Introtechnic then glanced up at the
Lieutenant General uneasily.
Bitincher blinked twice before the vein in his forehead nearly
exploded. Suddenly, Davídrius found himself hanging in the air before being
thrown harshly against the back wall. “You’ve done pissed me off, boy!!” the
General snarled, “You goddamn Superspeed Introtechnics! You’re always pulling
shit like this. Well it won’t work against a Telekinetic Psychotechnic–!”
The General’s tirade was interrupted as a distant explosion sounded and
the entire base shook violently, throwing everyone off of their feet.
“…God damn it!” Bitincher fumed, lifting himself back
to his feet with his telekinetics, “The base’s full defenses have
activated. This is what happens when you gather a whole flock
of dumbasses together, isn’t it?!”
“What– what was that?” Kaoné questioned worryingly – just in time for
the ceiling to suddenly crumple inwards. Immediately she seized control of the
falling material and tossed it aside, only to reveal the open sky above them –
– And a group of fifteen heavily armored, full-sized automated mechs
standing around them!
Data Entry: Core Space Alliance
The Core Space Alliance, commonly referred to as the CSA, is a group of three civilizations who hold space relatively near the galactic core. They are the biggest cohesive force in the galaxy, but not necessarily the most advanced – they will use their size and power to occasionally attempt to coerce the Black Suns, Nimalian Territories, or SERRCom into doing their bidding, but their own politicking and bureaucracy can get in the way of such attempts. In the end, though, the CSA is a net positive force, as it holds back the Drakkars from the rest of the galaxy and provides plenty of trade opportunities for the smaller or less advanced galactic entities. The three civilizations that make up the CSA are the United Siion Nations, the Dra’kis World Coalition, and the Citan Republic.
The United Siion Nations (USN) is the civilization of the Siions. Their Homeworld is Siionleh and they are ruled by the Chancellors Garron Vakar, Sciken Kaverus, and Zoiuus Tirken. The USN controls five Transpaces on its own and is one of the first two civilizations to have formed the CSA (the other being the Dra’kis). The Siions are a no-nonsense, militaristic people, and represent the vast majority of the CSA’s military power. This fact rises out of necessity, however – Siion territory shares vast portions of its borders with Drakkar space, causing them to suffer constant attacks from the malicious aliens. Their military prowess and the massive size of the Siion space fleet (combined with the Drakkars’ tendency to fight amongst themselves) has allowed the Siions to stay their ground, as well as offer plenty of protection to the other CSA civilizations.
The Dra’kis World Coalition (DWC) is the civilization of the Dra’kis. Their Homeworld is Y’kisdral and they are ruled by President Dryden Wear’c. The DWC controls five Transpaces on its own, with one of those being the Origin Transpace. With the USN, the DWC was the first of the civilizations to form the CSA. The Dra’kis are a cultured, long-living people who usually favor peace and diplomacy over violence, but are fully capable of recognizing when military action is unavoidable. The Dra’kis represent the CSA’s common sense, often reigning in the Siions or Citans when they get ahead of themselves or become too short-sighted – additionally, the Dra’kis handle much of the CSA’s diplomacy and politics, which also means that they are (mostly unintentionally) responsible for much of the alliance’s bureaucracy. The Dra’kis are the only CSA civilization to have no space bordering the Drakkars, and so are generally culturally and financially stronger than the other two civilizations – the result of this is that the Dra’kis are also the source of much of the CSA’s funding.
The Citan Republic is the civilization of the Citans. Their Homeworld is Citici and they are ruled by the Citii Danshel Makstrif and the Acitii Arone Smitich. The Citan Republic controls a mere two Transpaces on its own, and controls the least amount of space of the CSA civilizations. This is mostly because they began exploring space after the Siions and the Dra’kis, and joined the CSA after the former two had created it. The Citans are a very scientifically-minded people, however, and very quickly outpaced the other CSA civilizations in terms of technology. In fact, behind the Drakkars and the Taizen races, the Citans are the most technologically advanced civilization in the galaxy, having set up such advanced and extensive satellite networks as the Citan Observation Network (CON) and the Citan Information Network (CIN). The Citans share only a small portion of their border with the Drakkars, allowing them to focus on technology – they represent the CSA’s brains, crafting technology and strategies to use against various organizations or situations (though mostly against the Drakkars).
All three civilizations share joint control over the Transpace nearest the galactic core, which is one Transpace jump away from the Origin Transpace. The Transpace World in that system is Oriciid’kas, and is the cleanest, busiest, richest, and most advanced of all the CSA worlds. It is also home to the CSA’s ruling bodies: two chairpersons from each of the three member civilizations and the accompanying advising and oversight committees. The Siion chairpersons are Sollovus Matjes and Nikan Felssor, the Dra’kis chairpersons are S’Rative Reich and Ki’Chin Tchrat, and the Citan chairpersons are Radley Herring and Gaven Warich. Oriciid’kas, as the CSA capital world, is valued just as highly as each of the civilizations’ Homeworlds and is thus one of the most secure places in the galaxy.
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