Difference between revisions of "Free Fleet"

The Der'em were a brilliant, but not powerful race, and had long relied on the fact that they provoked nobody and sought no one else's territory and resources, along with their cloaking technology, which was among the finest known, to protect them.

However, it wouldn't save them from the sheer might of Commander Mezer Juul's hammer. The Fleet smashed into the Der'em's Ventosian home system, and the Der'em could do naught but delay the inevitable.

In a last-ditch attempt to save their civilization, they launched a small fleet guarding an off-world research station carrying an untested prototype of their greatest cloaking achievement yet - technology that would cloak an entire planet - and opened a one-way wormhole, channeling as much energy as they could direct at it.

Now, because of the fundamental nature of wormholes, a one-way wormhole is much more difficult to precisely target. It's also a fact that the energy cost to create a temporary wormhole increases faster than linearly with distance, though not exponentially. As a result, there's a rough optimum distance that skipdrives on starships use to create their one-way wormholes, and instead of skipping across huge distances, they skip repeatedly across short ones, at a much reduced energy cost.

The Fleet pursued, destroying every Human colony they encountered on the way in-system towards [[Earth]], and when the Der'em caused Earth to disappear, they continued their destruction, sparing only the prisoners on a penal mining colony on [[Callisto]], one of [[Jupiter]]'s moons.

"When I was just a little brat, my old baba used to tell me about some relative of ours from way back. A guy named Jesse James. Supposed to have been some kind of famous outlaw, and goddam if the old man wasn't proud to tell everyone who would listen about this. Who knows if the story’s true. I know I sure as hell was one though – an outlaw. A predator.

Even after they caught me, sent me away to that freezing fucking shithole Callisto, I was an animal. Cross me, and you paid the price. Undisciplined, living day to day. All those god-awful mines did was make me harder, more ruthless.

When the De’rem showed up with the Free Fleet in pursuit, and Earth vanished, we went wild. Maddox Khan and Akari Lane - fellow prisoners - busted us out and we had some fun making the guards sing, but the Fleet showed up, and they got us like rats in a trap.

I mean, you have any idea the kind of tech we got? Hoooollllly shit! You fire one of those Proton Rippers or a Starhammer and you tell me that isn’t the most goddam beautiful sight you ever seen. Better 'n sex. Better 'n anything.

It could'a gone real real bad though. When Commander Mezer Juul and the Fleet grabbed us off Callisto, we didn't know what hit us. All 1600 of us, man and woman both, were scared shitless, 'cept maybe Cap'n Maddox - nothing seems to get to that man.

Stuck in that stinking room on some alien ship, surrounded by Tukkav and Ry'nari and Amaians and all that, beings we'd never dreamed of, well, that's bad enough, but we got the idea we were basically cattle to be sold to the highest bidder. We couldn't decide whether they were gonna sell us for grub to some meat-eating race or to be exhibits in some kinda sick alien zoo or fuck knows what.

Three hundred were dragged out one time and we never saw 'em again. Found out later they were sold to the Vonikin Krel and the rumors we hear about what the Krel do with aliens....Well, hope it ended quick.

Then the Vendal hit the ship we were on, and hit it hard. Boarded it and started in with the murderin'. Just like on Callisto, Maddox and Akari break us out in the chaos, and as the Vendal didn't seem to mind killing us just as easy as anyone else, we fought back.

And Cap'n Maddox? Well with all respect to Commander Juul, bless his hairy hide, Cap'n Maddox is god. Wouldn't be standing here today without 'im. Saved us all multiple times... and if he's god, then Akari's his angel of death.

If he says a flagship needs taking down, I ask how many pieces he'd like it blown into, and then I and the good men and women of Omega Company make the enemy on that ship wish their parents never screwed (or whatever damn way the freakier ones like the Decheerans or Grensuhlians get their business handled). And then we really go to work on them.

Cap'n Maddox made us who we are - the most goddam dangerous fighting force in the whole sorry history of mankind, and pretty damn renowned in Starmourn Sector too. He taught us duty, and honor, and discipline, and even with all the shit we've had to eat since being sent off to the Callisto colony, I wouldn't trade it.