|
Post by Carlos on Oct 31, 2017 19:59:35 GMT -6
"I'll task shuttle crews to begin preparations immediately. Double and trouble checks on all systems. Captain, if possible, I'd like to do a pre-drop test with a single shuttle to determine any possible malfunctions that may occur. I'm not second guessing the anti-corrosive measures the scientists have taken. However it would be very hard to explain losing so many scientists and soldiers on the first actual action" Executive Officer Lowells said with a quick, crisp, clear tone.
"Very well, see it done XO. I also want a contingency plan for pulling them out if something goes wrong. Something simple and quick," The Captain responds with a curt nod. "Get our head of engineering on it. But like I said something very simple."
With the outline of action laid out the Captain concluded the meeting and let the heads of each department work on the finer details. It was a few minutes later on the bridge that he was informed of the contingency plan.
"Tow cables?" The Captain said with scowl that was directed at head engineer Gabrielle Santos. To his credit the engineer simply nodded.
"They're incredibly thick. Even if the corrosive atmosphere can began to peel away it. We would have more than enough time to pull out of the planet's atmosphere," Engineer Santos explained calmly, bringing up the schematic on the cable to the Captain's chair display.
The Captain took a deep breath and then nodded.
"Very well. But we're sending as many thirty people down there. How many cables for how many people?" Captain Flavius inquired with his eyes fixed on the technical specs of the cable.
"We're rigging together some harnesses made of the same materials as their survival suits. With redundant straps in case of failure," Gabrielle responded quickly. This caused the Captain to recline back in his chair before leaning forward and slapping the other man on the arm.
"Get it done," The Captain said with a nod. His attention was diverted by the shuttle leaving the cargo bay. It headed down into the murk of Venus. Data from the shuttle and the ship's sensors scanning the shuttle flooded the screen before him. It only remained in the atmosphere for a time equal to what they projected the flight down and back would take. Then it returned to the cargo hold without incident. He didn't need to order the crew chief to do give estimates for the usability of the shuttles in Venus atmosphere. Chiefs always knew there business and he was comforted to find that hadn't changed.
|
|
Richter
Veteran Member
Posts: 1,870
|
Post by Richter on Nov 1, 2017 21:51:55 GMT -6
To say that the clone commando was 100% convinced just by that one demonstration would be a lie, a hell of a lie even. But there was nothing that could be done about it, science required risks and sacrifices. At the very least, they had some of the most brilliant - if eccentric - minds on Earth working on the project. While the captain was testing out the shuttle O'Malley was drilling his troops in the use of the suits provided by the eggheads. It was pretty damn fine work on short notice, even he had to admit, but the prospects of going down there and giving them a live fire trial first thing, on a planet that was literally a giant corrosive oven, had him a little uneasy.
But the shuttle survived so that was an excellent sign.
Edmund turned command of the marines aboard the ship over to his XO; he would be going down to the surface to lead his men personally. Bravado and bravery had nothing to do with the choice, it was simply the most logical course of action. If he died he could be replaced just as easily as anyone else in the 7th. James and his cohort couldn't, and since they would be operating in an extremely hostile environment, it only made sense to have the coolest head and most experienced army officer leading up the security detail. This was why he piled into the landing craft with three fireteams of men at his back. Two man pairs carried bulky silver crates hardened with the same anti-corrosive material into the cargo bay of the shuttle, each one housing part of their supplies and heavier equipment they'd need down on the surface. The prefabs mentioned. Big guns. Sensor equipment. Replacement batteries for said sensors. Things like that. Once it was all in order it was double checked, triple checked, and then given a final once over by both the quartermaster and a member of the ship's hangar staff to make sure everything was perfect before the go code was given.
All of them sat as still as statues in their seats, looking rather much like works of art in those shiny suits of theirs. They didn't exactly look worried, although they were tense. It would be more accurate to say that Edmund and his soldiers were prepared, in that kind of pre-battle trance where you're both calm and excited, waiting to spring into action at a moment's notice. The ride down through the thick atmosphere was rough, with turbulence threatening to throw the shuttle around the burning sky like a paperclip caught in a dryer. The major could feel the pilot and copilot struggling coolly to maintain control, fighting back against the storms and keeping the craft on course as it punched through the dusty atmosphere where it was stretched thin at the pole. God only knows how bad it'd be to drop from orbit around the equator; O'Malley preyed they wouldn't need to make a quick retreat from this place. That would require the kind of talent that he wasn't sure anyone on Earth yet possessed.
-
The surface of Venus was predictably alien, although perhaps not in the way that science fiction writers typically use that word to describe foreign planets. It was surprisingly bright down there, despite the thick cloud cover. While the sun couldn't be seen through the nearly-opaque sheets of dust and debris they did reflect and refract light down onto the surface, dyeing everything a disgusting snot-yellow color in the daytime and bloody red at night - light wasn't ever truly absent anywhere. It made for a strange and unnerving sight, light visible everywhere but it's source invisible. Adding to this were the howling winds and the roiling of the storm clouds above, making it feel as if one were in a terrible maelstrom no matter where you stood. The ground itself was rocky and lifeless, though not motionless; volcanoes in the distance spewed ash and fire into the already dark clouds above, thickening the atmosphere that little bit more before it all came pouring down in acidic rain hours later. But fortunately for the humans, the skies were 'clear' for the moment.
"Let's go! Teams Alpha and Bravo, I want that base camp established and a perimeter maintained at either end of that valley, pronto!" The major barked out. Without those suits, ignoring the fact you'd be dead, a man couldn't hear another shouting more than five feet away. These handy suits had powerful comms equipment built in, however, and they packed more with them to establish a signal booster to help keep contact with the ship no matter where they were, and how bad the storms above got. They picked a valley nearby the huge bowl-shaped depression they landed in to make camp, where the worst of the winds were broken and where the acid rains could be funneled away from their equipment. Charlie team pulled watch while the others worked with the scientists to establish the base. They were armed and ready, despite the fact that they had seen no signs of life anywhere and didn't really expect that to change.
O'Malley reported to the head scientist once they had a foothold established and could begin to move. Always the stickler for protocol, he tossed the man a salute, even though they were of equivalent rank and command he saw it as a means of deferring to his expertise in this mission of discovery, and spoke, "Major, my men and I are prepared and ready to begin whenever and wherever you desire."
|
|
Rabite
Veteran Member
Emperor of H
Hey, look over here.
Posts: 1,887
|
Post by Rabite on Nov 14, 2017 17:16:09 GMT -6
"When the captain said simple, I did not expect it to be simple to this degree Executive Officer! Well as long as it doesn't snap, all is good."
The good doctor cheerful says as he waits for the shuttle to launch, with his expression completely different from his slight complain about the wires, looking happy as ever. Each of the research teams are in the same kind of protective suits as their escorts, giving them enough protection to at least survive on the planet. Assuming all goes well, they should be done and still have time to try out the next items on the menus in the cafeteria. The job was not very difficult if you set aside the danger factors, all they had to do is find the probe and collect the data from it for future usage. That said, without enough information about the planet itself, who knows what they might encounter.
"Oh don't worry you guys, if us here with the lab coats aren't worried about wearing these on the planet, you guys shouldn't be! It's thoroughly tested, you'll be fine unless you're standing in front of the Ticonderoga's main gun!"
He seems quite confident in the suit's abilities, at least that's a good thing. Even if the suit won't be invincible in combat, it will at least be enough to keep them from burning to ashes or be filled with toxin. Anymore than that then they should have to wait for future upgrades, and have the present weaknesses be filled in by the men's abilities and training.
-
"Ah! Excellent! You guys sure work fast, I knew you guys were the better choice over those prototype battle robots! Now lets get moving. Team A will remain here, observe and record. Team B will gather samples from nearby areas. And of course, the guys luck enough to draw for a spot in team C will come with me to take a look at the probe!"
It did not take long before the base was setup, all they needed here was the protective facilities and communications, not very difficult to establish even with present day technologies. The Head Scientist seems to have split up his group into teams as well, just in a different order from the clone commandos. Two of the three teams would stay behind and gather information around this base, and should give the soldiers an easier time in keeping watch on them, at least they're not running off like five year old kids in a playground.
Venus' terrain is quite different from Earth, and is something that not previously dealt with before. While the rough terrain contains much danger to those within range of it's heat and acid, it also provides much valuable knowledge and resources for the civilization that is new to this sea of stars. New forms of gas, minerals previously undiscovered, and many more could be found and be put to use in the future. But before they could do that, they would at least need a clear understanding of what they could find, where they could find it, and to know some basic property of these resources. Which is where Team A and B comes in, where Team B will find usable resources, and let team A do enough testings on them for future uses.
Of course, that's not to say Team C won't be doing anything. The recovery of the Magellan will greatly accelerate their researches here, allowing them to leave Venus without spending too much time on it, after all, they have many other planets and moons to check on.
"Well then Major, shall we go? Don't want to spend too much time playing sand to look for the probe, we got to get to the jackpot and take a look at the data!"
-
After a somewhat difficult walk, Team C and their escort would have arrived at the designated location where the scientists had predicted the space probe would be. The trip wasn't easy, being force to travel in storms of acid, intense heat, and minimum visuals. More than once did members of the group almost end up dead from lava or unexpected pitfalls, only to be saved by their teammates or escorting soldiers. The land is difficult to travel in, with numerous volcanic eruptions, forcing the group to readjust their routes from time to time. These dangerous situation puts their protective suits to test, which seems to work as predicted, keeping even lava from causing any burns to the users as long as they keep the contact to minimum.
It took some time, but they finally arrive near their designation. The group splits up into three, and begins to check the area using different kind of sensors. If this is on Earth it won't be a problem, but they have not tried to carry out similar operations on other planets, so at first it did not go as easy. Things like heat sensors do not work, so they had to improvise by collecting minerals nearby and temporary excluding these elements from their sensors. It took some time, but they seem to have caught the signal for their target.
"Professor Gransela, we found it! Something seems different though, there is a coat of a sort of crystalline material around it."
The visuals of the probe a bit strange, for one it does not seem to have received much natural decay. There are little evidence of rust on the surface, instead it is covered by some sort of crystal-like material. There are actual battle damage on the probe, something that the ship crews or the clone commandos may note, suggesting that it was destroyed by something and was not deactivated by normal means like their records say.
One of the researcher grabs a laser cutter, and tries to chip a piece off for examination, without noticing another strange property of the crystal. James was one of the few that noticed it at the last moment through the fuzzy screen, the crystal moves.
"Hold on, stop!"
For once the professor seems a bit more serious, but he was a bit too late. When the laser make impact with the crystal layer, it suddenly jerks away from the cutter. Within a few seconds, the seemingly round crystal charges shape into several sharp shards, and 'spits' out a burst of them at the researcher. There might be a bit of time to avoid it, but there won't be much, and certainly not enough for the untrained researcher to get to safe distance without help from others. Whatever the crystal is, it is now clear that it is living in some ways, and is not very happy that these fleshy creatures are messing with it.
The crystal that was around the size of the probe, quickly expands to around the size of a bus, and towers over the exploration team. The researchers and their escorts should have more than enough time to get some distance away, but it's probably not that hard to guess that the creature would chase after them after completing it's transformation.
"Well Major, now is the time for your team to shine. Lets hear some plans and we'll follow your orders."
The research team also sent live data back to the ship to inform them of the situation. The crystal is clearly not afraid of the acid or heat of Venus, it is more than just a possibility that it could function in space, given that there are no evidence that it needs an atmosphere to survive. There are also the possibly that there is more than one of them, and some might be on or near Venus, at least that seems to be the case if the Magellen was destroyed by one of these things. The ship might want to be careful about their surroundings, and the same goes for the other research teams.
By the time everyone gets assigned to something, the crystal creature would be ready, and looks(?) at the humans menacingly. It lets off some sort of high pitch screech that is barely detectable by human ears, but could be picked up by their special built-in sensors, suggesting that it can use it's own voice as some sort of radar, similar to bats. At the velocity that the crystal shards were launched out earlier, it is not hard to guess that they could punch through these protective suits with relative ease. While there are emergency tape and sprays to seal holes in the suit, taking a chunk of crystal to the heart or some other vital organ is highly unwanted.
-
[Hostile Unit]
1x Small Topaz Crystalline Entity [Our sensor cannot make sense of this entity!]
|
|
Richter
Veteran Member
Posts: 1,870
|
Post by Richter on Nov 17, 2017 2:47:02 GMT -6
The going across Venus was treacherous, and the soldiers actually let the scientists lead within a small margin. The reason being that they had a better idea of geology and the natural hazards of this planet than they did. Even so the troops remained dutifully close at hand in order to help whenever it was necessary. No casualties were incurred on the way to the probe, despite the planet's best efforts.
By and large the clones kept the chatter to a minimum other than to call out dangerous or interesting terrain and weather features. Even so one of them couldn't help but remark, "This must be what Hell is like," regarding the blasted, burning landscape of this foreign planet. It certainly did look like what somebody would think of when the place came to mind. It'd be a lie to say that nobody present wasn't eager to leave as soon as possible.
-
The Major noticed right away that the Magellan didn't look like it was supposed to. For one, it wasn't half-melted slag like anything Earth-made in the 20th century should have been after a month in this atmosphere - let alone several decades. This was, of course, if you ignored and did not immediately call attention to the strange crystal latticework that coated the entire thing. They had encountered nothing like this previously on the surface of the planet, and so O'Malley was immediate in calling out that it was something extremely suspicious and to be approached under only the most due amount of caution. To this end he deployed his team around the lip of the crater it rested in, where they had several clear lines of fire in which to cover the probe and Gransela's team. Edmund himself accompanied the doctor down into the pit to take a closer look at what this thing was. He tried to ignore the feeling in the pit of his stomach when the junior scientist went in with that cutting laser to try and get a sample.
Thus proving why you should always trust your instincts; the crystal 'came to life' the moment a shard was sliced off of it. Not making the same mistake twice, this time Edmund's arm lashed out and yanked the researcher out of the way, just narrowing avoiding being impaled on a crystalline spike as long as a harpoon. The soldier shoved him harshly back the way they had come and legged it directly after him. Even with James's deferral he was already barking orders over the comms.
"Charlie, hit that bastard with your CLAWs and enact a fighting retreat to the trench two klicks southwest. Stagger your fire. Gransela head their first and follow it back to the ridge four klicks southward. Bravo team, break out your heavy weapons and advance to that position. Dig in, rendezvous with the scientists, and await my call to fire. I want a Peewee and two 30mills on that ridge in 20 minutes. Move! Alpha, grab as many CLAWs as you can and keep the perimeter of that base secure, report any suspicious activity the moment you see it."
O'Malley's suit picked up the screeching of the inorganic entity and quickly got an idea of what it was doing, and based his own plan around it. That trench ran by the base of one of the planet's many active volcanoes. Currently the lava flows weren't going that way, or spilling out at all, but the massive amounts of ash spewing from the cone and raining down were blanketing the entire area for miles around in a thick, charcoal haze. In addition to working as cover from projectiles, all that particulate in the atmosphere were impair echolocation by giving the sound waves many, many more objects to bounce off of it. Visually, it'd be the equivalent of trying to shoot someone through a snowstorm. Their sensors could filter that out interference out, he hoped that the monster's natural senses could not. The aforementioned valley snaked its way across the planet's surface and ended at the foot of a ridge before twisting sharply and heading due west. That ridge ran east-west and had a commanding view of the volcanic plane around it that stretched for miles. The surest place to make a stand. They could fire on the topaz entity from an extreme distance from up there, even if it went in the trench after them.
The CLAW was a weapon that came from the Commonwealth, born from a United States project that was taken by them before the collapse of NATO. It involved laser weaponry, which the naval power hoped to use to revitalize the strength of their fleets. It stood for Chemical Laser Anti-armor Weapon, and it was perhaps the most dangerous anti-tank weapon currently produced on earth. 2/3 of the weight of a single-use 150mm tandem charge RPG, it was twice as powerful and completely unaffected by explosive and electric reactive armor. It could burn through the side armor of a tank and kill or wound the crew of an MBT in one shot, and even cause some hefty damage from the front. Each one was single use and every man in a squad was given one to fight armor with should the squad's heavy weapon crew not be available - and in situations like this.
Bright red beams lanced through the tainted atmosphere of Venus to strike the bus-sized crystal as it began to shake itself awake and crawl after them. Each man fired and ran, chucking the spent weapon and running. After a few hundred feet another fired, then another, hoping to keep the creature unbalanced and from rushing straight at them pel-mel as they made for the trenchline that would give them some modicum of cover. It was anyone's guess how well focused light would actually hurt something made out of rock. But jewelers traditionally used lasers to cut diamonds before, so the Major held out hope it would work.
It was kind of ironic. Command had chosen the CLAWs thinking they'd be more useful against alien lifeforms than old style rocket launchers. Yet, O'Malley figured that a good dual-stage explosive could shatter that thing like a drinking glass in an opera house. Something to write down in his notes for the future, to be sure...
At any rate they let the scientists get a head start towards cover with them tying up the alien lifeform. Edmund kept the base's eyes open just in case there were more of these things out there, and keeping in line with that, he shot off a quick message to the ship in orbit regarding hostile contacts on their position. Just in case they weren't monitoring the clone's communications on their own.
|
|
|
Post by Carlos on Nov 22, 2017 16:46:05 GMT -6
The bridge crew were kept quite abreast of the situation below. Though communication and sensor data were coming back fragmented due to Venus' atmosphere. The Captain and communications specialist in particular kept their ears to the figurative ground as they observed what they could. Everything seemed fairly routine until sensors began to be disrupted to a greater degree that bordered on electronic countermeasures.
"High energy discharge detected on planet's surface," Reported the sensor specialist.
"All hands, battle stations!" The Captain ordered as soon as he heard the report. "Do we have any information on hostiles?"
"No sir. Only that there was a discharge. Beyond the interference of the atmosphere there seems to be something casting on multiple frequencies. It's disrupting our radar and other systems," Replied the same sensor specialist.
"See if they left any of those eggheads aboard. Send them all our information on the interference. We need a way to negate it," The Captain said to the communications specialist and then turned his attention to a second communication specialist.
"Ask for a sitrep from the marines planetside, at their earliest convenience," He instructed quickly, the last part he emphasized. He knew a few ship drivers back in his time that would demand on the minute reports. Often to the detriment of the marines fighting. Besides without their sensors they were blind firing from here. They could probably drop ordinance on the general area. But it wouldn't be accurate and possibly hit friendly targets.
"Until we can resolve the interference issue, our weapons are as potentially deadly to our own people, as whatever hostile target is down there. In the meantime for the safety of this ship and it's crew. I want use to maintain a higher orbit. I want the ship angled to give the smallest silhouette facing the planet. All weapons are to be trained on where we, believe, the target to be," Captain Flavius said loud enough for all of the bridge crew to hear. Normally he would have snapped off the order. But the crew was from many different countries and training with them he found that it smoothed things over to offer explanation for certain actions. Though if the situation grew more serious, he would simple give them brisk orders.
All of the orders were carried out and the ship rose into a higher orbit form the planet. Angling itself so it was facing the planet. It's weapons were trained on the planet. If a hostile contact rose. They had ample room to fire and maneuver.
|
|
Rabite
Veteran Member
Emperor of H
Hey, look over here.
Posts: 1,887
|
Post by Rabite on Nov 24, 2017 22:35:00 GMT -6
"Alright, I'll leave the rest to you Major... alright guys, get ready and..."
When everyone wonders what kind of orders might the head scientist give out at this kind of moment, they soon see him turn around and retreating off to safety in the same direction that he was directed towards by O'Malley.
"Run away! Run away!"
It is like if they were chased by the most foul, cruel, and bad tempered creature they have every set their eyes on. But either way, at least the scientists retreated off to a safer location, no one was hurt including the one assistant that was trying to cut through the crystal on the probe earlier. The only thing they lost is a few equipment, which are just laying all over the ground, surprisingly not damaged by the battle. If there aren't a giant crystal monster and an army fighting the creature, it might seem like a comedy show.
-
The infantry captain was partly right in that the beast could not see them very well, but it was not completely blind, at least sound is not it's only method of detection. Unknown to the humans at the moment, but the creature can fully function in space, in fact their main biome is the vacuum space. These creatures lay 'eggs' on planets and stars near energy sources, and would depart back to space one hatched. Such traits means they have the full function to enter and exit atmosphere, and have abilities to visualize and communicate in space.
One such ability is reading information off light, something that human could not even think of understanding how that is done. While parts of the light is shielded by the rough terrain of Venus, it is enough to let the crystal understand where these fleshy creatures are at. It did not however attack, not yet at least, and is quietly scanning the light sources in the area such as those coming from the machines that the humans uses. The only action it carried out is that it is slowly(in the creature's opinion) following the humans, still a newborn and do not know about the world very well, it seems to be interested in the light sources that is different from those of stars.
Such interest is paused when it gets hit by the CRAW, the laser however did not have the effect that the commandos hoped to achieve. The laser at first were able to burn through the outer layer of the creature, but what happen next is not what a normal person might have expected. The laser passes through not just where it hits, but almost everywhere inside the creature's body structure. The light does not seem to do further damage to it, and instead seems to curve and angle a bit, before it passes the creature like light passing through a lens. The result is a large number of weaker, but still harmful laser shots hitting random locations in the battlefield, possibly causing unwanted injuries and damages. While the creature was not burnt or cut by the CRAW, the heat energy that was contained in the weapon seems to do some damage to the creature, causing it to screech out again several times in a lower tone.
It only took a second for it to recover from it's stagger, now seeing these fleshy creatures as complete enemies, it prepares to counterattack. Like before, it's body shifts shape so that there are thousands of sharp shards pointing from it's body, and are then sent flying randomly towards the surrounding area with little focus on where to hit. That however is not all, form where it's 'head' might have been comes a single, massive shard that is the size of a torpedo, the large shard is then sent flying towards the commandos that just fired the CRAW at the creature. The shard might seem like a single hit, but on impact it would shatter and hit everything nearby at fatal speed, enough to kill any unfortunate target that is within the affected area. The protective suit would provide some protection from the shards, but it won't be enough, at most it'll keep the shards from being fatal at the cost of having a decent size tear on the hit area... assuming it's not the large crystal shot itself.
-
As the Ticonderoga move to prepare their artillery support, their radar might catch something approaching the ship. It is different from what they normally detect on Earth, not metal or flesh. If the ship were able to link their data with the teams fighting on Venus, they would realize that it seems to be the same kind of signature as the creature they are fighting on the planet. Not only that, there is more than one of them, three to be exact. These three new objects are traveling towards the Ticonderoga at a speed that is slightly slower than the Destroyer itself, but faster than any previously designed space shuttles.
When they are close enough to be picked up by the visual sensors on the ship, the crew would be able to see three objects traveling towards the ship without any apparent propelling method. If anything they feel like they are launched from a railgun of sort... except the crew can clearly see them turning and adjusting positions. They look like glasses if you drop them on the floor and take a photo with a high speed camera, an unusual shape for ships or creatures. Nevertheless they're closing in, and it'll be up to the captain of the ship to decide what to do with them.
-
[Hostile]
1x Small Topaz Crystalline Entity [Our sensor cannot make sense of this entity!] 3x Small Topaz Crystalline Entity [Our sensor cannot make sense of this entity!]
|
|
Richter
Veteran Member
Posts: 1,870
|
Post by Richter on Nov 24, 2017 23:26:38 GMT -6
The lasers actually ended up to work out worse than predicted. They didn't just only cause light thermal damage; the beams actually refracted, and if they weren't so far away and on the opposite side of the creature, they could end up to do a lot of collateral damage to anyone and anything nearby. How such a monster was even able to operate floored the Major, but that was a topic for another time and another man. Not him. The marines continued to pull a fighting retreat, hastening their pace once the five men there had lightened their loads by discarding their used CLAW weapons. Although classified as disposable they could actually be recharged in a factory or on the ship, but right now they had no time to worry about that stuff when lives were more important.
Hailstorms of baseball-sized crystalline spikes landed all around the soldiers, whom were all too glad to dive into that trench once they reached it to give some much needed cover from the onslaught. It was about 5 feet deep, so the clones all had to hunch to keep their heads out of sight, but that wasn't an entirely bad deal since it let them return fire with their carbines. The trooper's guns made odd wailing sounds as the magnets revved up and propelled armor-piercing flechettes straight back at the topaz entity. In a twist of fate, the weapons used by both sides were very similar in operation. While probably capable of punching into the crystal these weapons were made to fight organic entities, whom they'd wound terribly, but damage would probably be too localized to quickly bring down an inorganic lifeform. Let alone one so big.
Little damage was done to the troops by the initial attacks, and they ran as fast as they could back towards the ridge beta team was currently fortifying. They ran in staggered motions, one firing team moving and then providing covering fire for the other team. In this way leap frogging and keeping the entity under constant fire while they were, in turn, constantly moving.
The crystalline 'missile' on the other hand struck paydirt. O'Malley saw that thing hurtling towards them and immediately called out for the troops to dive for cover. No one took fatal direct hit, the same couldn't be said for the following shrapnel. Screams sounded over the comms as two troops took fire from the fragmentation. One man took a whirling blade of diamond-hard gemstone that practically sawed through his shoulder. Another took a spike through the side just below the ribs. But the clones were well disciplined even in the face of pain, and those troops along with their squaddies quickly sealed the suits and sprayed plasti-flesh into the wounds to staunch bleeding and keep Venus's acidic atmosphere from making the damage worse. Their pace didn't slacken as they dosed themselves with a heady cocktail of painkilling drugs to shrug off the hits they had suffered.
Back at the ridge, team B had deployed their heavy weapons. Two 30mm autocannons were hidden on either flank and shored up with some slabs of fiber-impregnated with neo-concrete. Either fed by belt or drum, in this case using a drum to avoid exposing the rounds to the air, these were the squad support weapon of the future. Man portable (in power armor) and able to be quickly converted to .50 bullets for situations where explosive ordnance wasn't needed. In this case, however, it definitely was needed. With their own sensors, the ships, and those of the men with O'Malley, they were able to triangulate the position of the crystal monster and beginning raining HE shells down onto the topaz entity in 5 round bursts, pausing between each one to check ranging.
And then there was the Peewee.
The Peewee itself wasn't a gun, it was a shell for it. The gun itself was called the "Drotik". Javelin in Russian. It was the evolution of towed recoilless rifles in 120mm. In powered armor two men could break it down and carry it, or it could be towed by soldiers or vehicles by two wheels, which deploy parallel to the barrel when in position to form its platform of support. It could fire directly or indirectly, possessed a 4 round magazine, and had a number of shells. The usual HEAT, APFSDS, and the so called Peewee. Which was a tactical nuke, the smallest ever made, even smaller than the Davy Crockett. The device came from a Russian Federation that was constantly faced by the threat of East Asia's overwhelming manpower and hunger for resources in the poorly developed Siberian provinces. Small scale nuclear weaponry proved to be an efficient deterrent to war, even if the warhawkish deployment of them moved the Doomsday Clock several minutes closer in the Second Cold War. It used the synthesized element americanum to produce an extremely compact fissile warhead, able to reach critical mass at about 5 kg less than uranium and produce a blast of about 90 feet in diameter. It threw lethal radiation further, but in this era, armor protected from that and more as a matter of principle. While detonating nukes on Earth was forbidden, using them in space and on foreign planets was seen as not nearly so verbotten, and a good way to dispose of the weaponry.
Now while they had one here, they didn't load and fire it right away because hitting that thing with a nuclear bomb would probably not leave much to study even if it would also very likely fix its wagon for good. O'Malley was very clear to tell them this when they hit the curve in the trench and poured out to meet with the second group. The wounded were seen to on the far side of the slope where they were protected.
Instead the Drotika dropped four high-explosive shells onto the monster in rapid succession once the autocannons had puzzled out its ranging. While doing this the Major gave a report to the captain, unaware that the superior office was about to be beleaguered by his own examples of this species.
"This is Major O'Malley. Contact with a hostile inorganic, seemingly crystalline lifeform at the location of the Magellan probe. Entity is following us and we have engaged it. Man-portable weapons appear to be inefficient but not ineffective. Attempting heavy weapons as we speak. Two men are wounded and will need immediate medical attention once back aboard."
So now there were 12 men in the area not counting the major. 7 men from team B manning the heavy weapons, and the other 5 from A. Of those, the ones not wounded grabbed fresh CLAWs and scaled the ridge, preparing to fire them once the topaz lifeform got into range. With any luck those explosives would break up and cause flaws in its carapace, causing the light to not refract so cleanly and wound it more in the process.
|
|
|
Post by Carlos on Dec 1, 2017 14:33:51 GMT -6
"Three contacts, inbound on our location!" Called out the officer manning the sensors console.
"Combat maneuvers." Captain Tercio Flavius said calmly as he watched his own display. They'd managed to achieve a tenuous weapons lock on the targets. He keyed up communication to the hanger.
"Deploy our scouts. I want added telemetry for our targeting systems," The Captain said simply without preamble. The sailor on the other end replied in the affirmative. The hanger came to life as the pilots boarded their scout crafts and started up their systems. As soon as the doors opened they accelerated out under their own propulsion. They went in two separate directions and began scanning in the direction of the enemy. This was a recon mission for data, so they kept their distance from the enemy.
"I want a missile spread. Set warheads to proximity explosions. I want our coil gun shots to reach target just after the missiles make contact. Hopefully the explosions will slow the enemy and frustrate their maneuvers," The Captain directed to the weapon specialists. The specialists were sweating and looked nervous.
"Follow your training and we'll all get through this alive," Tercio added, knowing that was a lie. Very likely someone would die this day. And if the reports he was receiving from planet-side, someone likely already had. There was a slight jerk as the missiles blasted away from the ship and were followed eventually by the report of the coil guns. The pinnacle of human missile technology saw the projectiles eating up the distance rapidly. Now they had only to hope to strike their targets.
|
|
Rabite
Veteran Member
Emperor of H
Hey, look over here.
Posts: 1,887
|
Post by Rabite on Dec 4, 2017 22:11:41 GMT -6
It is somewhat hard to say if the autocannnons are more effective than the CLAWs. While the projectiles does seem to cause more visible damage than the laser shot before, the tiny bits of cracks seems to recover as quickly as they are caused. The forces of the shells are reduced by the sheer toughness of the structure of these creatures, nearly none of the projectiles are able to cause any serious, or rather any sustaining damage to the crystal beast. What the autocannon did managed to do is cause it to feel irritated, you would too if someone constantly shoot a few dozen rubber bands at you. The heat from the HE shells seems to have little effect as well, considering it's a space based creature, it has plenty of ability to deal with heat even in vacuum space. The explosion force itself are the main source of damages, something that is not very hard to guess, but a wide spread force is likely not enough to do any serious damage to the creature.
While the damage was minimal to none, it helped in stopping the creature from launch another wave of attack, giving time for the commandos to keep attacking or for other new tactical movements. Or at least buy enough time, for O'Malley to answer a phone call.
"Hey there Major, today's weather forecast would be acidic clouds, and a heavy crystal shower. I hope you guys are still up and running, as our sensors over here got something you want to know."
The commandos would then have a small graph of the creature's structure on their display, big enough to see clearly, not enough to block their visions. It showed an animation of the creature getting hit by the CLAW's laser, the path that the laser traveled, and more importantly the effects the laser had on the creature. Just like with the autocannon the creature could quickly regenerate the damage it received, but it seems to have done so at a lesser rate than with the shells.
"Your flashlights works, these things seems to like light, maybe they feed on it or something. Give them a few more doses of it, it'll be like forcing someone to swallow a chunk of meat, it'll choke it to death. Don't stop on those guns either, it'll force it to eat more of the light, so that it can't spit out any of it. It may recover but if you keep hitting it the cracks will still come back, treat it to a buffet when you get the right tools ready."
As they talk, the creature moves to avoid some of the shots, when it can't do it in the sky it looks to the ground. With a quick and sudden movement, it charges underground, completely ignoring any lava in the earth. While it is out of sight and cannot be seen, the movements and shaking caused by it's digging would likely make it easy to detect it.
-
In space, the trio seems to be ignoring the scout crafts. While they also give off some degree of light, they seem to be more interested in what the ship gives off, and darts right at it despite resistances. The missiles were able to hit their target, as the creatures don't seem to trying to avoid them. The damage the missiles caused were minimal, but it was enough to show a bit of crack that it quickly fills in with their mysterious ways. The damage is higher than what the commandos were able to do with their weapon, so it's somewhat more effective. The coilgun projectiles how ever did not make impact. Rather then slowing down by the explosions, on hit by the missiles the creatures simply 'slide' away from where the coilguns would have hit. It was not something that fits the books of known physics, but it's something the crew will now learn. Whatever it is, however it did that, it won't be easy to hit them from long range.
Once they get within a moderate range to the ship, they begin to launch large crystal shards at the ship, similar to the ones that were used on the commandos. The large shard will then shatter into pieces after impact, acting like a sort of AP shell to explode after punching through parts or all of the armor. Three shards in total were launched, but at a decent range so the Ticonderoga should be able to avoid any direct hits with good turns and a bit of luck. With the ship's sensors, the crew should now realize that the creatures are using some sort of light ray that are far behind what the human eye could detect, and using these light rays to harmlessly hit the ship. These harmless light rays would then deflect off the surface of the ship, before being 'read' by the crystal creatures. It seems to be operating in a way like how bats so with supersonic waves, but instead of sound, it does the same with light rays. Without the right technology to understand these light rays, they mean little to the humans. However they do have the benefits of alerting the crew, that they are being locked on by the creatures and they are ready to attack.
Another effect that resulted from the Ticonderoga's attack is that the creatures are more spread out right now, making their attacks less focused, but also causing them to approach from different directions. The angle of their movements suggest that they would all arrive at the same point, in a triangle like formation from the upper starboard, upper port, and from the hull direction. Their movements will end up at the center of the ship, where if the ship don't do something about it, would likely result in a not very welcoming firework.
-
[Hostile]
1x Small Topaz Crystalline Entity [Our sensor cannot make sense of this entity!] 3x Small Topaz Crystalline Entity [Our sensor cannot make sense of this entity!]
|
|
Richter
Veteran Member
Posts: 1,870
|
Post by Richter on Dec 7, 2017 4:12:43 GMT -6
The Major carefully examined the information display that was fed into his HUD and that of his soldiers. It proved to be very enlightening. At a glance it didn't appear that laser weaponry did much - quite the opposite. Following this trend their HE munitions weren't doing very well despite the expectation that they would prove very proficient. What they were dealing with would really change the book on warfare, and it was only their first true encounter with a hostile alien lifeform.
"I read you loud and clear, Doctor. I think we ca-" O'Malley begins to respond but stops cold when the monster sinks into the volcanic soil with frightening ease. Chatter on the comms was as expected; shouts of surprise and curses before the commanding officer silenced them. "Stay frosty! Pick up and move those guns, we don't want that bastard digging up in the middle of our AC nests. Move it, spread out!"
The clones hefted their weaponry and hauled them away from where the tremors could be felt and heard the strongest, keeping good distance away from the subterranean monster. They were able to move pretty fast since they were now on open terrain that they had scouted for hazards when they came through this area the first time. Edmund kept the men dispersed and nearby to some form of cover in case it surfaced and immediately started lobbing more of those clusters bombs that had wounded two of his men not very long ago. If it had any intelligence it'd probably realize that was the best weapon it had shown off so far and would try to use it again.
"Any more insight, Doc? We didn't bring any bunker busters here!"
The advantage to this was that it gave the troops plenty of time to resupply, which they did, grabbing up replacement lasers. In the case of the recoilless rifle, the gunners there exchanged the HEAT for APFSDS, which would definitely tear big chunks out of that beast - once it dug itself back to the surface. Until then they were powerless to do anything to it underground. Maybe if they could get those scout craft to provide close air support, but evidently things were going pear-shaped up in orbit too. For now they'd be on their own.
"Eyes peeled, troops. Don't fire on it until I highlight a target and give the signal. If it likes light, we're going to cram a small sun's worth down it's stinkin' throat and toss in some depleted uranium darts to wash it down!"
|
|
|
Post by Carlos on Dec 18, 2017 15:32:51 GMT -6
Captain Flavius watched his display intently and nodded to himself. These ships, creatures, or both possessed some form of omnidirectional propulsion. Nor did they seem to concern themselves with the inertial force of the rapid change in direction. He knew their own ship had inertial dampeners of alien design. But there was still bleed through.
"Full evasive maneuvers," Captain Tercio Flavius snapped at his helmsmen. The ship had already been moving. But now it moved erratically in as many axis as was reasonable with their maneuvering systems. The aforementioned inertial dampeners and the bleed through was very much felt by the crew. Fortunately he'd insisted on three months of hell weather training. So he'd had them rig hydraulics to the ship and toss it around enough to simulate rough waters. However in this case they were being jerked in more directions. Nonetheless the ship took a smattering of hits against it's hull. The helmsman had rolled the ship to face the majority of it's weapons away from incoming shards. So they were spared losing any weapons.
"Gunner, focus all weapons on one target. I want the missiles to strike in cascading strikes. Space out coil gun fire to cover multiple possible evasive maneuver," Tercio ordered briskly, his attention to his screen as he waited for his orders to be carried.
|
|
Rabite
Veteran Member
Emperor of H
Hey, look over here.
Posts: 1,887
|
Post by Rabite on Dec 20, 2017 1:58:00 GMT -6
"I don't think the terrain of Venus is good for making sand castles, just got to wait until it comes back up. If it's moving along the ground, it'll shake when it gets near, and I'm sure you guys know what to use to detect that. But look on the bright side, even if it can move without the use of a propellant system, if you can hit it before then you can hit it again."
While the doctor is not too helpful in actual combat, at least some of these suggestions seems practical. They probably won't have to worry about it moving so fast that they can't hit it at this range, otherwise the thing should be trying to dodge and not just take the hits. Of course if it's long distance it might be another story, lucky for them the creature don't seem to have detection ability of that level, forcing it to fight close enough to hit it with even anti-personal weapons.
And it came out again, a few moments after everyone got ready, popping out near one of the men and ready to attack. While hiding in the ground caused the men to lose sight of it, it does create a disadvantage for the creature, and that is the lack of light underground. It might have attempt to sneak towards its prey, but the creature lacks the ability to see underground. Similar problem exists as it comes back out, the dirt that gets caught around its body will take a bit of time to disperse, giving the commandos the perfect opportunity to strike. Once the dirt is off its body, the creature will move to attempt shooting another volley of small shards in the area. While this is dangerous, it does create an opening to possibly hit it before the crystal launches its own attack, but could be dangerous to the men nearby if the attack fails to stop it.
-
The captain's plan seems to work, much better than the ship's last attempt to attack them now that they have the right information about their foes. The creature that was targeted at first tries to avoid the attacks, it managed to dodge a few missiles before the following ones make contact, knocking it off course. However the light damage is not enough to do anything significant, which, doesn't seem to be necessary. The missiles help to slow down the creature, and to in a way blind them by interrupting their own sources of light that are used for detection. It managed to recover quickly, and avoided a few shots of the coilguns, but are finally hit by the powerful main guns of the Ticonderoga. First a single shot that takes away a chunk of its side shards, knocking it 'off balance' and seems to stop its movements, before a second hit makes contact. The second hit punches right through the front of the creature, leaving a large hole in the center, and seems to have 'killed' it as the remains stops moving after that.
The other two creatures now tries to get close, firing another wave of large crystal shards at the ship. This time they seem to be actual aiming for parts of the ship rather than just anywhere on it, targeting the Ticonderoga's main guns, perhaps because they deem it the most dangerous after their friend suffered such a horrible death. Thanks to their position, it might take a bit of moving if the captain wants to put the 12.7cm guns to use on them, but at least now there are only two of them.
-
[Hostile]
1x Small Topaz Crystalline Entity [Our sensor cannot make sense of this entity!] 2x Small Topaz Crystalline Entity [Our sensor cannot make sense of this entity!]
|
|
Richter
Veteran Member
Posts: 1,870
|
Post by Richter on Dec 22, 2017 19:33:12 GMT -6
"I'm not so sure about that," O'malley sardonically responded, "this seems exactly like the kind of place Satan would take his kids on vacation. I guess these crystalline entities are closer to him than we are; it doesn't seem to mind the magma either."
Making this kind of banter didn't much distract the Major from the task at hand, they had a lot of time to wait while their foe dug around underground. The commando picked up pretty fast that its sense of direction underground seemed to be a lot more crude than whatever means of navigation it had above ground; likely it was their own footfalls that were guiding it. Which eventually gave O'malley the idea to bait it out with whatever group of soldiers it was closest to while the rest all stood still and readied their weaponry to lay into the bastard the moment it unearthed itself.
It tore itself from the ground in a hellish flurry of soil and rock, flinging the stuff for what must have been miles. None of that was deadly to them in their environmental suits, but it was quite the sight to behold. Unfortunate that it was hostile and thus provided little time for study or the appreciation of the alien lifeform. They'd have to put it down. And they intended to - ruthlessly.
"Now!"
The pair of soldiers that the crystal targeted dove for cover behind an outcropping of splintered rocks just as dozens of shards of razor-sharp crystal went tearing through anything in their paths. The other clones were ready for its reemergence and took an offense stance in contrast to the pair operating as bait. Their leader painted a target at the creature's center of mass, directing their weapons to it through the soldiers' own subordinate HUD's, focusing all of their fire onto that one point.
The uranium darts from the recoilless rifle slam into it first in a stuttering four-round burst that would hopefully punch holes deep into the entity's diamond carapace. The autocannons followed, stitching up and along its body from that point with explosives to fracture it and keep it unbalanced since their damage seemed comparatively low beside the other weapons. Then finally everyone else, including Edmund himself, poured fire from their CLAWS into the resulting wound from the APFSDS's, hoping to choke it as the doctor said by overfeeding light into one central point. O'malley also hoped that hitting a wound with so many lasers would throw off whatever no-doubt complex means of 'digesting' light it had, to hopefully cause some serious damage. Similar to what would happen if a human ate a pepper while having a stomach ulcer. Normally it wouldn't be a problem, but having an open sore in the digestive track would cause severe complications.
|
|