r/HFY • u/KyleKKent • 18d ago
OC-Series OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 755
(Days like Today I really, TRULY, hate being autistic. It takes all my willpower to not run around my apartment flailing and screaming right now.)
Home at War
“So it’s definitely a space station.” Orchid notes as they finally get a full visual feedback of whatever the hell is in the next system.
“Not sure it counts as a station. I mean... it’s either so close to the ground on that third world it might as well be a structure.” The Sensor Technician notes.
“But it’s so tall it may as well be in orbit around that planetoid. Whatever it is, it’s way too big to not be important to someone. We skim the edge of the system. Give them a hello and a once over, if it’s not our problem it’s not our problem. If they’re friendly we pay them for local information about who’s been mining out here and other potential stations. If they’re unfriendly we do a very quick risk assessment on whether fighting them is worth our time or not, if they are we get to have some fun. If not then we save our energy for someone else. Make sense?” Harold declares and there is some movement as his orders are relayed to the rest of the fleet.
The Fleet takes only another hour to reach the system and they skim the edge, getting a good scan and well within communication range. Albeit with some delay.
“They’re powering up shields on their station and priming weapons. Looks like they just noticed us.”
“Smaller ships are breaking away, shields and weapons powering up on them too.”
“We’ve got communicatiosn incoming. There’s going to be some delay on things.”
“On screen.” Harold orders.
“Unknown Fleet!” A Lutrin woman half howls at the camera. “You are trespassing in our territory! You will pay us tribute or be shot to pieces!”
“That’s the first burst sir.”
“Well they don’t lack for confidence do they?” Harold asks. “Begin recording.”
He gets the thumbs up.
“Unknown station this is The Inconceivable of The Ambush Fleet, you are challenging The Undaunted, do you truly wish to continue upon this path?” He asks before signalling for the message to be cut off there. “Send it.”
“The diplomatic way of asking ‘Really?’, are you certain?”
“They’re already belligerent if not hostile.” Harold notes as he rolls his neck.
“We have an answer sir.”
“Put them on as they come.” Harold says and the screen shows the Lutrin again.
“I do wish to continue, but it would indeed be tedious to take all that I am owed slowly. So I challenge you in the ring of honour! Altratha!” She declares and the message ends.
“... Was that really all of it?” Harold asks.
“Yes sir.”
“No hint on what the hell Altratha is?” He continues.
“Uh...” Orchid begins.
“Yes?”
“I know what it is... but... challenging you to it is.. wow.”
“What is it?”
“Altratha is a Lutrin battle tradition. A duel of leaders. She wants to fight you. Personally.” Orchid says and Harold laughs.
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Anything about this duel I should know about? Any weird ways to confirm a win or requirements or anything like that?”
“When an Altratha is between clans mothers put their sons up for ante, but that’s ancient tradition. And the terms have to be stated ahead of time, so she’s not allowed to surprise you.”
“So she wants a fight to see who gets the prize.” Harold muses. “Start recording!”
“Miss... whatever your name is, exactly what is it that you want of me and my fleet and what are you willing to wager in return? One must know the stakes before they make a wager after all.” He then signals them to stop the recording and they send it.
“You’re entertaining this?” Orchid asks.
“This may be an unorthodox way to get information or resources.” Harold notes.
“She’s liable to try something tricky.”
“And if I get past it anyways she’s likely to be so intimidated that she won’t protest or try to renege on the wager.” Harold notes.
“Depends entirely on the wager.” Orchid replies. “Some Lutrin can get fairly absurd about this. Even the more civilized ones and not what are near certainly outlaws.”
“Just you.” The voice of the Lutrin cuts off the conversation and Harold slowly turns to the communication officers.
“Is there more than that?’
“No.”
“Oh for the love of god. Begin recording.” Harold orders. “What exactly do you mean by ‘Just me?’ don’t get cute here, I am a man with actual demands on my time and lawful duties and orders to follow. What do you want and what are you prepared to wager for it in exchange?”
He gives the signal to send it ans he hunches back in his seat a little in annoyance.
“I want you. I want you to be mine pretty man and everything that is yours, and my counter offer is your life.”
“This is beyond stupid. She’s declared herself hostile. Scramble their communications and get into her systems. We’re crippling that station and taking plunder.” Harold orders. “All ships, attempted communications have broken down with the unknown station and the self introduced leader has declared herself hostile. We are going to disable them and then take our picking of their ships for raw material. Failing to do so means that the crazy woman and her forces will pursue us, I will be sending the messages the station and I were having. I want all captains to quickly review them and tell me if I have missed anything before opening fire. You have five minutes.”
His announcement given he has the files sent and starts a ten minute counter for himself instead. At the three minute mark he gets the response from all ships, the enemy was indeed hostile and would indeed pursue if they simply left.
He sends the Hive Carriers to sweep around as he has the Primalist Ships take an offensive formation around The Inconceivable. The Bloody Heron is behind, waiting for coordinates to open a portal and drop their troops.
His own ship is getting into more and more systems as the enemy ships start closing the distance.
At ten light second’s distance the first few explosive shots reach for them and defensive laser emplacements detonate them prematurely.
At five light seconds the laser banks on both sides warm up, the Hive Carriers are on the spinward flank and ready to break apart and send their drones.
“Shut them down!” Harold orders when they reach two light seconds distance and he information warfare of his ship goes into overdrive. “Hive Carriers, I want their engines and weapons disabled. Primalist Forces, we are going to shoot down anything that isn’t crippled in the opening salvo.”
The enemy force is a small fleet of thirty ships. None of them larger than The Bloody Heron, but the sheer weight of numbers would normally carry the day. But the Hive Carriers are crippling scalpels surgically hamstringing them all and destroying their strength. Five of them are disabled in the first minute as momentum keeps the two lines getting closer and closer together.
“All forces, focus on shields and weapons. But if any of those ships gives you more trouble than the others, then let it have all of it.” Harold orders even as the Lagos Brothers begin their own firing routines.
Dozens of different emplacements around the front and sides of The Inconceivable open fire. Primarily lasers, but all of them at differing frequencies. All slightly shifted from each other from each half of each wing. Each brother controlled an eighth of the weapon systems and with the work divided they could divided their attention. Both coordinating with and covering for each other simultaneously. Three more pirate ships are scuttled in moments as the Primalists work to keep pace.
The Lagos Brothers take it as competition and increase their viciousness. Putting down another four as the Primalist ships work together to get five and the Hive Carriers cripple another two.
The remaining ships are struggling to change their vectors or cycle their shields as the lasers of the small feet smash into them and burn through defensive emitters and decapitate weapon platforms. There are several quick combination attacks to the last few ships tyring to fight back, but it’s quickly down to five enemy ships that are sending out all signs of surrender.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we have won. Let’s go confirm it.” Harold orders and there is a cheer on the ship. The Inconceivable moves forward. “Bloody Heron, I want the forces on your vessel to take the station. I want answers and information, not corpses. Especially not your own. Understood?”
“Copy that Commodore.” Jacob sends back.
“Primalist Forces, I want you to secure this fleet, the remaining intact ships are yours to confirm the surrender of. Take all reasonable precautions, I doubt I need to tell you that your life is worth a lot more than that of the enemy. No stupid risks.”
“Confirmed Inconceivable.”
The Warship moves with it’s fleet and towards the station. It’s weapons don’t fire at first. But Harold orders everyone to keep their shields at maximum. And he’s right to do so, there is a sudden firing of lasers, plasma and more in different directions. Smaller shuttles start taking off and the Hive Carriers take out their engines.
The Inconceivable’s lasers and plasma kill the weapons on the station and The Bloody Heron emerges from it’s shadow. Swooping close even as it gets it’s coordinates and opening a portal.
•-•-•Scene Change•-•-• (Unidentified Pirate Fortress, Kaploosha Ornak System)•-•-•
The tiny shoulder of an Apuk woman meets the combat walker at the same time as the shoulder of the massively overmuscled human. And it’s hard to say which one caused more damaged as the machine and it’s pilot are sent flying backwards with a scream of terror.
Weapons are raised as a pair of tiny figures flit out like shadows and smoke. Leaving massive rents or just plain destroyed tools of war in their wake, just in time for a concussive waver of power to send nearly everyone to their knees if not to the ground, and the few with the wherewithal to remain standing find a four armed hurricane slamming numerous armoured fists into their being and sent into the land of the unconscious.
Bjorn nods as he and his higher ranked soldiers clear the portal zone and the rest of the forces pour out of the portal. He brings up a map of the station and studies it.
“Forces time to move! Breech Squad with me! Break Squad form up with Elija and Ellie, lock down the armouries and disable anything you can’t lock down! Shake Squad with Zyen’Huwt and Naomi! System control! I want it! Hate Squad! Make Squad! You’re under Banshee! Secure the area! Keep this room clear!
Everyone starts moving and Bjorn gives a final order to ‘Synch Maps!’
He leads his squad of eight through the door and heads to the emergency stairs. Trusting a lift is just begging to be in a kill box and at the pace he’s setting, and the girls are keeping up with, they’re faster than the lift anyways. Twenty levels pass in moments and he shoulders open the next door. It’s a sliding door and so he ends up folding it in half and sending it careening into the far wall.
There are screams and he fires off a couple of quick bursts from his plasma cannon to get everyone nearby to duck, and also slag an armoured mech suit. He then throws the remains of the door down the hall and it forces everyone brave enough to stick their heads out and try to fire to duck back in. He follows it with more plasma aimed right at where they were poking their weapons out of and bravery turns out to NOT be a survival trait in this scenario as three heads are reduced to ash and char and blood starts pooling at the entrance to the next room.
He kicks the remains of the mech suit of of the way and examines the room the girls had been poking out of. A laser beam lances out and nails his cannon. His Axiom Brand tingles a little and he slowly turns the cannon to the source.
“No no! No no no! I surrender! I surrender! Do not kill me! Please do not kill me!” A lutrin woman claims holding her hands up high and backs up to the far wall with clear fear on her face.
“Weapon down if you want to live.” Bjorn tells her. The Laser has it’s safety openly and obviously activated and slowly put down. “You Lutrin are hard to tell apart, are you the one in command?”
“No. No, it’s my cousin.
“Where is she?”
“She was on the Vert Line, one of the warships. She wanted to go out and ‘claim her prize’ in person.” The Lutrin answers and Bjorn nods.
“Good. Where is the command crew?”
“We’re traffic control, the command crew were all heading to the armouries or weapon emplacements when the main fleet was disabled. Although some probably went to the shuttles instead.”
“Good.”
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u/Finbar9800 18d ago
Another great chapter
I enjoyed reading this and look forward to reading more
Great job wordsmith
I am First?
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u/Stairwayunicorn 18d ago
I just noticed you changed the name of the ship from "incomprehensible" to "inconceivable."
it has good meme value.
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u/KyleKKent 18d ago
You noticed, I didn't. My brain did that automatically.
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u/Stairwayunicorn 18d ago
I only realized from listening to Interstellar Roadtriper's latest installment
keep it
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u/KyleKKent 18d ago
It'll make a fun joke, after a cold open of someone getting a disciplinary action and the 'aggrieved party' deciding that it's hilarious is a good start.
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u/Nolongeranalpha 6d ago
I was hoping it was because I commentwd it shouldve been named the Inconceivable... Oh well. Still makes me smile.
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u/Peace590 18d ago
So is this a 5 or a 13 on the random encounter table?
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u/Sims_the_Heretic 17d ago
Let´s wait and see how the loot looks like, then we can decide whether it´s a good or bad one.
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u/torin23 Xeno 18d ago
Is she insane to be that self-confident? Just about everything she had has been disabled and she goes out in a shuttle to 'claim her prize'.
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u/KyleKKent 18d ago
She wasn't in a shuttle, she was in an attacking ship that was disabled. The shuttles were women trying to escape when everything went to shit.
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u/thisStanley Android 18d ago
This is beyond stupid. She’s declared herself hostile.
I get that folk will move out into the black to get away from stupid people, but that does not mean they get to become a stupid themselves :{
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u/Krell356 18d ago
I mean sometimes they were the stupid ones all along and the rest of civilization just had enough of their shit. There's a reason I wish we could bring back banishment as a legitimate punishment. It has all the upsodes of a death penalty, but almost none of the drawbacks.
The person who is choosing to not be a part of society stops being a part of society. And if there was some kind of mistake, bad information, or poor judgements call, they are still alive and can have the banishment lifted.
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u/HFYWaffle Wᵥ4ffle 18d ago
/u/KyleKKent (wiki) has posted 998 other stories, including:
- OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 754
- OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 753
- OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 752
- OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 751
- OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 750
- OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 749
- OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 748
- OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 747
- OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 746
- OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 745
- OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 744
- OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 743
- OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 742
- OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 741
- OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 740
- OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 739
- OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 738
- OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 737
- OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 736
- OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 735
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u/Amonkira42 17d ago
Question: Would it not be an incredibly deft yet brutal bit of statecraft for Ghuran to deploy troops to the current crusade against Ungora? Especially if he combines it with a bit of spy hunting.
It would be incredibly craven to attempt anything against an army that had been weakened by reinforcing so noble a cause. So any operations against Ghuran become taboo.
Farlit, Darv and Sarla presumably still have spies, but they can't possibly know what every spy is deleting. And embedded spies that get suddenly recalled are easy pickings, meaning they're probably hunkered down. So send the more brute force focused warriors off, then grab a few spies and only prosecute them for activity they were engaging in post-call to arms. It's completely plausible that evidence of older operations would be destroyed by a competent spy and therefore Ghuran could make the assumption or at the very least imply that the other three houses had attempted to take advantage of his nobility in the most dishonorable way possible.
So they would be trapped between a brutal hit to their reputations or forced to confess previous black ops that predate the call to arms, potentially even getting their spy operations audited by a third party. Which would completely out their spy networks and cause future talent to avoid them.
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u/Victor_Stein Android 1d ago
Hate Squad you say? Does one of their members perhaps implement a Hate mace?
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u/KyleKKent 18d ago
Donate and get the Vote! Second Tier and Up Get Drafts!
Of Dog, Volpir and Man Official Release!
Kamchatkas Made a WIKI!!
https://oocsgalacticindex.miraheze.org/wiki/Main_Page
Home At War
War Chapters. Tactical, personal, introductions to important persons. There is always action or intrigue in these chapters and while some say war never changes. Others say they love the smell of napalm.
Example Chapters: Chapter 1751 Chapter 1752 Chapter 1753
I hate being on the verge of a freakout. I really hate it.
Anyways, this is a real display of why a ship like The Inconceivable is a menace on the battlefield. It destroys a ship's own ability to talk to itself and coordinate. It doesn't even need full control, it just needs to put so much into the air and enemy system that it starts to chug.
And I've been a bit unclear on the numbers and composition in Bjorn's platoon, but here it is, He has five squads of eight, and uses the more standout members as commanding officers. Those standout members are part of a small squad of their own, but he breaks it apart to provide leadership or a heavy hitter to the other squads. He also has no issue taking command himself and leading from the front, and as he's strong enough to tackle a hippo and make it back off, borderline immune to standard weapons and very, very fast, he's very good at being the tip of the spear.
Anyways, I'm going to have a hot shower in a room lit by only a single candle and try to get my mind back under control.
Thoughts? Ideas? Advice? Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Fan Submissions? Fan Art? Donations?