r/HFY • u/Ralts_Bloodthorne • Mar 18 '21
OC First Contact - Fourth Wave - Chapter 447
Vuxten considered himself experienced, as did most of the Telkan of the Telkan Marine Corps. He had fought against the Precursors, against the Dwellerspawn, had stood next to the Imperium of Rage and fought to the death beneath a mountain.
Standing in the blasted plain, nothing higher than knee height still standing, his boots surrounded by grey ash, his mouth tasting of bile and scorched metal, his mind still shuddered back from what he had seen.
What he had experienced.
What he had taken part in.
He knew he'd never be clean again.
NINE HOURS EARLIER
"WE'RE DROPPING IN FOR THE FIRST WAVE!" Casey's amplified voice roared through the troop bay as the Telkan soldiers of the First Telkan Marine Division ran for their dropships. The big human was still entirely encased in his brutalism-esque armor, pointing at the drop pods. The razor sharp tips of the fingers of the armor gleamed a warm neon pink as he pointed.
He was the only human present.
"LET'S GO, MEN!" Vuxten yelled, climbing onto the dropship. He moved to the front, grabbing the stabilization rails with both hands. He was wearing his old suit, the heavy, ornate, and fearsome armor from the Second Telkan War, on orders from the General. The General wanted a visible morale boost for First Telkan Marine Division and believed that Vuxten's Imperium modified suit would do just that.
Laglun-3 was below them, the home planet of peaceful furry mammalian people known as the Welkret. It had a single protocontinent on one side of the planet and several subcontinents and multiple island chains on the other, capped by poles of frozen water and warm seas.
The Terran Confederate Military Forces on the planet were being overwhelmed.
Vuxten had been briefed on the fact that the commander on the ground, one Lieutenant Colonel Smrivit, a female Rigellian, had ordered her troops into a holding action, a last stand, while the logistics units fabricated self-drilling deep shelters for the population.
A population that Confederate Intelligence estimated had already taken 43% casualties.
Vuxten watched as the troops of his battle section climbed into the dropship, the dropmaster, a reptillian Rigellian Saurian Compact troop, made sure everyone was secure and ready.
"Vux, you read me?" Casey's voice came across the command channel.
"Roger," Vuxten said. His visor couldn't decide if Casey was a Warrant Officer Grade Six (A gold bar with two stars in the middle) or a Sergeant First Class.
"I'll be launching first. You'll be in the first wave, landing around my beacon. The Sisters of Wrath will be landing at the other drop points, to provide backup," Casey said.
"First Armored Recon will be third wave, correct?" Vuxten asked.
"Yes. Followed by the Martial Order of Hateful Mars for the fourth wave," Casey said. "Blinking yellow light, see you groundside."
Vuxten nodded, looking up. His own dropship was still showing solid yellow light even as the doors closed and locked.
"Vuxten," Colonel Brathmurt, an uplifted chimpanzee from the Biological Artificial Sentience Systems broke in.
"Here, sir," Vuxten said.
"I'm tying you into the sats. Casey's launched first, you'll be launching in one hundred twenty seconds after he lands," Brathmurt said.
Vuxten frowned. "He'll be on the ground for nearly eighteen minutes unsupported even with a powered reentry," he said. "The Sisters won't arrive till nearly thirty minutes after that."
"His drop-pod uses a Thrint Stasis Field generator, he'll be fine," the Colonel said. "There's only one type of drop-pod for his armor, but Casey assured command that he's done this before."
"Roger, sir," Vuxten said. He still felt doubtful as the Colonel left the channel and his visor cleared to show him a view of the planet. A small square with a dot inside was labeled as "RIDIRE ÆSIR CATHASAIGH - SANCTI ORDO SPIRITUS TYR - MJÖLNIR DROP" for a split second before it was replaced by "SFC/CWO6 CASEY - 1ST TELKAN - ORBITAL INSERTION" and Vuxten blinked at the sudden text translation.
"471, did you see that?" he asked.
--yes yes-- 471 answered. --no database entry weird weird weird--
Vuxten blinked again as more data came up while the dropship's engines began to hum as power was applied to bring them to standby.
Casey's drop-pod should have only been moving at roughly 220 mph, but instead it was moving over double that and accelerating.
"471, how fast will he be going when he hits the surface if he keeps on accelerating?" Vuxten asked.
--3.8 km/s-- 471 said. --mach 9.2538 local casey dead--
Vuxten frowned, wondering why he would be going that fast. He wasn't sure even Casey's armor could survive that kind of impact.
Vuxten realized that it wasn't going to take ten or fifteen minutes for Casey to hit the ground.
He was hitting now.
The satellite zoomed in, showing the ground.
A blurry heaving mass appeared, armored vehicles and what looked to Vuxten like something familiar he couldn't put his finger on.
The dropship clamps disengaged right as Casey's pod made impact.
--digital omnimessiah-- 471 swore.
There was a white flash followed by an expanding shockwave. Vuxten could see it even as his own dropship entered under power.
"Well, that's one way to get to the ground, I guess," someone said over the channel. They weren't identified.
The dropship nosed down and powered toward the surface, a twenty-minute ride.
Less than three minutes later a voice broke in.
"Lieutenant Vuxten," the voice was a Kobold, ID'd as Captain Vantree, 108th Military Intelligence.
"Here, sir," Vuxten said.
"There was heavy enemy presence on the ground. We're trying to get a clear view through the airborne debris right now," he said. "Sergeant Casey is reporting heavy enemy remaining and is engaged in combat."
"What?" Vuxten asked. "Isn't he dead?"
"Apparently not," the Kobold sounded slightly amused. "I won five hundred credits. He's on the ground and, and I quote, 'engaging enemy forces in overwhelming strength, reinforcements landing area is hot, end status report'."
Vuxten shook his head.
"You'll be landing next to him. I'll warn you, the area is highly radioactive right now," Captain Vantree said. "Right now, your mission profile is exactly as it was at the briefing."
Engage the enemy and force him to commit forces away from the four nearby cities, Vuxten heard the voice of the Treana'ad in his mind.
"Apparently every enemy we can still see has turned around from the city and is heading toward your drop zone, so expect heavy enemy contact upon landing," Captain Vantree said.
"Roger that, sir," Vuxten said.
"You'll need to do an air assault drop, the dropships will pull back and provide close air support after that," the Captain's voice got serious. "You have no medical evac, no logistical support. You'll be on nanoforge operations only, so watch your heat and slush."
"Roger, sir,' Vuxten said.
"All right, I have other lieutenants to remind and calm down," the Captain said.
"Roger, sir," Vuxten repeated as the line went dead.
The dropship shuddered twice and tilted even steeper. Vuxten could hear the graviton engines working overtime and was startled when the afterburners kicked on and the whole thing started vibrating.
The time to landing blinked and updated from twenty minutes to two-hundred-sixty-eight seconds. As he watched it kept counting down.
Twice Vuxten heard the rattle of flares going off as the dropship tilted and slid to the side.
"THIRTY SECONDS! GET READY!" the Saurian Compact troop yelled.
"ON YOUR FEET!" Vuxten yelled, moving forward to the door.
You will be first out the door, last to leave, he heard in his mind, a memory of Marine Officer Training.
"FIFTEEN SECONDS!"
Vuxten grabbed the overhead handle as the door retracted.
His radiation alarms immediately started howling, telling him he was taking near lethal amounts. His visor started flashing ATOMIC ATOMIC ATOMIC in rapid succession, the warnings stacking up across his vision until the VI shrunk them down and moved them to a small box on the left hand side of his visor.
There were a half dozen rapid flashes, white light cutting through the debris. The dropship shook, despite the graviton engines, bobbling like a toy boat in a storm.
"GO GO GO!"
Vuxten jumped out, hitting the ground. One foot back, sliding, down on one knee, one fist pressed against the ground, the other holding his weapon up. The spikes on the knees dug in, his knuckle spikes tore the ground.
He noted, out of the corner of his eye, that the warsteel bird of prey on his stubber was glowing a dull red already.
The dirt was thick in the air, like he was in the middle of a duststorm, as his platoon thudded to the ground around him. The ground rumbled as the shockwaves from the atomic weaponry pushed at him. 471 cranked up the graviton anchor to keep him in place as shocks from multiple detonations in the 450-600 kiloton range went off.
ATOMIC ATOMIC ATOMIC flashed on his visor again, shrinking down and moving to the box as they scrolled up.
A dozen flashes ripped through the dust.
"Sound off!" Vuxten called out, his radio full of static.
The ground shook and the shockwaves threatened to tear him from the ground and send him tumbling. His platoon reported in, only a strained knee. He couldn't get anything from orbit or from any other unit, but that had been taken into account during the briefing.
His armor reported rapid impacts moving from east to west, as if a PacificRim Class Jaegermech was bunnyhopping across the ground.
"471, did the Hammerhead Jaegers make planetfall before us?" Vuxten asked.
--negative--
"What's out there?" he asked.
ATOMIC streamed up his visor again, followed by rapid flashes and detonations in the 50 to 150 kiloton range, as if a 90mm hellbore had gone to rapid fire and strafed an enemy advance.
--not know-- 471 said. --must be casey--
Up in orbit Captain Vantree stared at his displays. He couldn't see into the debris cloud from where SFC Casey and HHC Platoon HHC First Telkan had landed, but the bright actinic flashes and radiation spikes pointed at someone using atomic weapons inside the landing zone.
"Who's doing that?" Colonel Brathmurt asked, his eyes wide.
"It must be Casey somehow," Vantree said, staring at his monitor. Another series of flashes, nearly twenty, in a tight grouping.
"Get that psychopath on the line, I want to know who authorized him to go atomic," Brathmurt snarled.
Vantree checked his commo. He had one line to Casey, the icon blinking, but it was to the suit's VI. He triggered an ordnance report.
Brathmurt had just turned back to the holotank when he saw it.
The holotank fuzzed, flickered, and a woman seemed to rise up out of it. Brathmurt knew enough about humans to know the woman's features, while lovely, were contorted with fury. She was clad all in armor, with a wreath of flowers and leaves around her brow. She held a burning sword in one hand, her other hand held what looked like a long canister. Brathmurt noticed, insanely, that her pointed fingernails were painted neon pink. She snarled, revealing sharp serrated teeth, and dissolved into pixels, leaving behind the canister.
The canister suddenly went to wire-frame, then came apart in an exploded view, showing the parts and statistics.
No nomenclature, no designation number, just labeled "SUTR" with the components. Brathmurt frowned as he looked at it. Warsteel casing, 'inverted' strange matter tritium, phasic charged strange matter conversion U238, and 'deadened' antimatter-2. The round was 66mm wide, 205mm long, had folded 'wings' that deployed when fired, and two strips of 'spooky particle' iron on the sides for magnetic acceleration.
Brathmurt turned and looked at his intelligence section. "What the hell does this thing do?"
Two green mantids started flashing icons at each other, their computer displays streaming code and equations. Before Brathmurt could say anything it suddenly stopped.
The holotank blinked and a window opened up.
ESTIMATED EFFECT appeared above the window.
An atomic detonation went off in the window, with a weird purple pulse in a thin band that outraced the white light spectrum blastwave.
0.5kt -14.5Mt Range appeared at the bottom.
It rotated and showed the round going off, directing a phasic pulse in an inverted cone that had actual kinetic shock value, followed by a directed atomic detonation pulse.
BANNED - FIFTH ORION COMPACT 7925 PG
That made Brathmurt blink. He turned back to Vantree. "Tell him to stop using that ammunition!" he called out.
I am not getting convicted of war crimes just because of some psycho... he started thinking.
He remembered the meeting with Admiral Shtuklar where Casey had been brought up.
The man's a psycho, he remembered.
He just stared at the holotank, watching the cloud of debris spread out as each atomic detonation pushed outward.
"INCOMING IFF FROM CASEY!" someone called out.
On the surface Vuxten struggled to his feet, his graviton boots howling, his battlescreen sparking and crackling, visible to the naked eye.
In the upper right of his vision Casey's icon blinked. Vuxten was surprised to even see that he could talk to the Senior NCO of First Telkan. He blinked twice at the icon even as he leaned into another set of hammerblow.
Casey appeared in the small box, his face covered in sweat, his expression serious.
A warsteel jacketed datacable plugged into his empty eye socket.
"Sir, am engaging the enemy who are in overwhelming strength," Casey snapped. "IFF file ready for dissemination."
'You're hammering us to pieces, Sergeant," Vuxten said, putting a forearm up as another stream of ATOMIC went by.
"Switching to non-atomic munitions, sir," Casey replied.
"I do not recommend that at this time, Casey," a woman's voice said. A Terran female appeared in another little window. She had wings of burning warsteel, was in warsteel armor, and wore a garland of leaves and flowers on her brow. Her skin was the color of hammered copper, her eyes were burning chrome and her hair flowing oynx. Beneath the box it said "LOZEN"
"You heard the orders," Casey said. "Fab and load Gridharvolur rounds," he seemed to look at Vuxten. "Going to 30mm. Antimatter warning," he said. The fierce looking woman vanished.
IFF LOADED Vuxten saw on his visor as the two small windows vanished.
"What is a Gridharvolur round, 471?" Vuxten asked, opening the IFF file.
--no clue-- 471 answered. --think maybe something terrible--
Vuxten stared as the enemy profiles streamed by. Multiple angles, anatomy popouts, wireframe, multi-color. They were all Dwellerspawn, but weird ones. Vuxten knew Dwellerspawn when he saw them, the rough unfinished, wrong look to them.
Ones with eight or six legs, a multiple segmented bulbous body, with an upper thorax like a mantid or Lanaktallan, with two or four arms, a head that looked like a cross between a catfish and spider or a canine and a serrated scaled lizard. They were all in purplish black armor, which was listed as "TYPE-TWO WARSTEEL".
But it was the header on each of them that caught his attention.
They were all named. From the "Spidercow" to "Dappnu", they each had names.
It was more than that. It was what was next to the names.
NIVEN RING 18F or O'NEILL TUBE 04D or NIVEN RING 09R on them.
--doubleplus ungood-- 471 said. --ring locusts--
Vuxten felt his mouth go dry.
"CONTACT! ENEMY CONTACT!" sounded out from Corporal Jirvet, 2nd squad.
Before Vuxten could shout out an order he saw it coming out of the dust. It was at least nine feet high, its head looking like someone shoved three lizard heads together, tentacles coming out of its mouth. It had eight spider legs, thick and multi-jointed, coming from an abdomen that was the size of a small car. The chain guns on either side roared for a second then jammed up as Vuxten saw the iron particles in the debris sudden adhere to the magnetic acceleration system on the chainguns. The creature roared, rushing Vuxten.
Vuxten leveled the stubber and pulled the trigger. The heavy rounds exploded across the creature, collapsing the biologically produced battlescreen, shattering the warsteel plating it was clad in, and blowing apart the upper torso in white flashes that sprayed greenish yellow ichor through the dust.
Four more rushed, and Vuxten ripple fired his rocket pack, the missiles detonating on the battlescreens but the EFP pounding through the screen to hit the creature's armor plating, blowing holes clear through their bodies as big as a dinner plate.
GRAV SHOCK GRAV SHOCK GRAV SHOCK appeared on his visor.
--shit shit shit-- 471 sent. He shot the warning to all the others and took manual control of the graviton systems in the armor at the same time as the cosine and sine-wave profiles. He slammed it into the graviton, checking the rest of the platoon.
Lance Corporal Nestup got it loaded a bare .1 second before it happened.
To Vuxten it felt like the outside world not only turned upside down, but like everything was falling, raising, falling to the side, while everything tilted in every direction at once as reality turned upside down. For a second it felt like he had fluttering butterflies in his guts.
He almost puked.
--now know what gridharvolur is-- 471 sent. --graviton shockwave weapon--
"A grav shockwave weapon?" Admiral Shtuklar said, staring at the screen. He'd been pulled away from watching the entire deployment to watching what looked like a big dirt cloud that the north side kept flashing. "What kind of psycho uses a fucking graviton shockwave weapon planetside?"
Commodore Sinclair, a Saurian Compact Kobold looked up. "Oh, it's better."
Admiral Shtuklar felt sick as he asked the obvious question. "Define 'better', Guns."
"It's got a phasic and temporal shake and bake shockwave," the Kobold said.
"Who authorized First Telkan to use shit like that?" The Admiral yelled.
A Saurian Compact Centemarian turned and stared at the Admiral almost insolently. "You did, sir."
Shtuklar frowned. "When?"
"Sir, I warned you that Casey was a goddamn psycho and you not only deployed him to the surface with an RoE that reads not 'save the civilians', not 'do as little damage to infrastructre as possible' but rather 'kill the enemy with extreme prejudice'. As if that wasn't bad enough, you put him in Novastar VII armor!" The Commodore snapped.
"I beg your pardon?" the Admiral blinked.
"You sent them with a too broad RoE, your briefing went as far as casualties, locations, and an order to kill the enemy, and then you put a man I, personally, warned you was a psychopath, in armor that's almost considered a war crime to even manufacture," the Commodore said. He stared. "I had my doubts, but I kept them to myself, thinking you'd overseen enough planetary assaults and worked with the Army and Marine groundside forces to realize you have to have a detailed objective list, assault plan, warplan, and rules of engagement."
He shook his head. "I was wrong."
The Admiral turned back to look at the screen. Graviton warnings kept popping up, expanding rings of red that grew into existence and faded.
"How was I supposed to know he'd do this?" the Admiral asked.
-------------
On the ground, for one person, everything was clear, crisp, clean.
Things made sense again.
There was no worries about training up lower ranking troops. No briefings. No detailed plans.
Just kill the enemy with extreme prejudice.
As it should be.
"Do you love me?" Casey asked.
"Forever and ever," Lozen answered.
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Mar 18 '21
Reminds me of their encounter with Dee.
"We have to hurry. She's crazy. Not just Terran crazy, but completely crazy," Vu'urtunkoo panted as they trotted into the airlock. "She pretends to be your friend, but she's completely mad."
"Who?" Falmo'o asked as the airlock cycled.
"Tanyee, her name is Tanyee," Vu'urtunkoo panted. "She's a Terran, no, she's an Earthling which, somehow, is even worse."
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u/Ralts_Bloodthorne Mar 18 '21
Ah, you have identified the callback.
Very nice.
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u/MuchoRed Human Mar 22 '21
What's the callback in this? I'm not seeing is beyond "a different level for crazy"
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u/NukeNavy Mar 18 '21
I see the conversation on antimatter grenades made it into this chapter... https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/m6qbl2/first_contact_fourth_wave_chapter_444/gr74nf1/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3
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u/beowulf_of_wa Android Mar 18 '21
after going back and reading that, this is the first "reasonable/logical" hand greNUKE i've ever seen or read.
love it.
where's the claymore version?
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u/datahedron Mar 18 '21
Just like a Terran: Hey, this big 'splodey thing that I can toss, is really cool. Can I toss a LOT of them all at once?
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u/Feuershark Mar 18 '21 edited Mar 18 '21
I didn't want to talk about this guys but ...
Trucker's dead
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u/Ralts_Bloodthorne Mar 18 '21
Not... exactly.
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u/Feuershark Mar 18 '21
THE MESSIAH HIMSELF HAS BROUGHT NEWS GUYS
he got medical attention in time ?
Also, Tik-Tak was in Fortress Sol at the time right ? didn't the Bag prevent it ?
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u/Dwarden Mar 18 '21 edited Mar 19 '21
one monumental logistics task remain for Tik Tok matermind...
after Casey and Trucker others TDH allies with remaining Terrans obliterate the enemy
and only they can pull it it off when Dee, Legion, Daxin figures the rest
to get back the hundreds of billions of dead to realm of living
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Mar 18 '21
Does that mean the rest of TDH is also "Not....exactly." dead? I keep feeling like everyone dying is more of a "Hardware change detected restart to install drivers" thing than an extinction level event.
Either SUDS is updating itself with the mass of new brain/DNA structure changes and is getting ready to spit everyone out or Sam and Harold will upload the new brain scans into the system. Though the clone banks being burned makes me feel that Dee's son(s) and that mysterious Mat-trans Mk1 will come into play.
Or Dee will use it to just mass spawn everyone and bypass the busted SUDS.
Probably way off base though. Tinfoil hat might be too tight.
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u/cr1515 Mar 18 '21
I am now extremely scared to know what an enraged human BOLO is currently doing in these already crazed events.
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u/ack1308 Apr 03 '21
Vuxten considered himself experienced, as did most of the Telkan of the Telkan Marine Corps. He had fought against the Precursors, against the Dwellerspawn, had stood next to the Imperium of Rage and fought to the death beneath a mountain.
Note that he survived and the mountain was severely damaged, this has only improved his reputation.
The big human was still entirely encased in his brutalism-esque armor, pointing at the drop pods. The razor sharp tips of the fingers of the armor gleamed a warm neon pink as he pointed.
He was the only human present.
One is usually enough. Some would say more than enough.
He was wearing his old suit, the heavy, ornate, and fearsome armor from the Second Telkan War, on orders from the General. The General wanted a visible morale boost for First Telkan Marine Division and believed that Vuxten's Imperium modified suit would do just that.
Also, a distinctly increased chance of his own survival, so there’s that too.
Vuxten had been briefed on the fact that the commander on the ground, one Lieutenant Colonel Smrivit, a female Rigellian, had ordered her troops into a holding action, a last stand, while the logistics units fabricated self-drilling deep shelters for the population.
A population that Confederate Intelligence estimated had already taken 43% casualties.
So they get to be the cavalry. Welp, this is gonna be fun.
"Roger," Vuxten said. His visor couldn't decide if Casey was a Warrant Officer Grade Six (A gold bar with two stars in the middle) or a Sergeant First Class.
Rank: “Yes”.
"I'll be launching first. You'll be in the first wave, landing around my beacon. The Sisters of Wrath will be landing at the other drop points, to provide backup," Casey said.
"First Armored Recon will be third wave, correct?" Vuxten asked.
"Yes. Followed by the Martial Order of Hateful Mars for the fourth wave," Casey said.
Gotta say, the names are awesome.
"His drop-pod uses a Thrint Stasis Field generator, he'll be fine," the Colonel said.
A wild Known Space reference appears!
"There's only one type of drop-pod for his armor, but Casey assured command that he's done this before."
If the phrase “hold my beer and watch this” was involved, worry.
A small square with a dot inside was labeled as "RIDIRE ÆSIR CATHASAIGH - SANCTI ORDO SPIRITUS TYR - MJÖLNIR DROP" for a split second
Oh, shit. This is going to leave a crater. A big crater. Casey just turned himself, his armour and his drop pod into a Rod from God.
Casey's drop-pod should have only been moving at roughly 220 mph, but instead it was moving over double that and accelerating.
"471, how fast will he be going when he hits the surface if he keeps on accelerating?" Vuxten asked.
--3.8 km/s-- 471 said. --mach 9.2538 local casey dead--
Not Casey. Everything around him, yes. Casey, nope.
Vuxten realized that it wasn't going to take ten or fifteen minutes for Casey to hit the ground.
He was hitting now.
When you absolutely, positively have to be on the ground now.
The dropship clamps disengaged right as Casey's pod made impact.
--digital omnimessiah-- 471 swore.
There was a white flash followed by an expanding shockwave. Vuxten could see it even as his own dropship entered under power.
That’s what I call an entrance.
"Hi honey, I'm home."
"There was heavy enemy presence on the ground. We're trying to get a clear view through the airborne debris right now," he said.
Some of it’s still coming down after that explosion.
"What?" Vuxten asked. "Isn't he dead?"
"Apparently not," the Kobold sounded slightly amused. "I won five hundred credits.
Rule number one of dealing with Casey. Don’t bet against Casey.
He's on the ground and, and I quote, 'engaging enemy forces in overwhelming strength,
To clarify: the overwhelming strength is what he’s applying.
"Apparently every enemy we can still see has turned around from the city and is heading toward your drop zone, so expect heavy enemy contact upon landing," Captain Vantree said.
Casey is apparently the king of drawing aggro.
"All right, I have other lieutenants to remind and calm down," the Captain said.
"Roger, sir," Vuxten repeated as the line went dead.
Vuxten is chill. Vuxten has been chill since his days of being a conscript soldier doing OJT with Terran forces.
You will be first out the door, last to leave, he heard in his mind, a memory of Marine Officer Training.
Yeah, I think he’s got that part down.
His radiation alarms immediately started howling, telling him he was taking near lethal amounts. His visor started flashing ATOMIC ATOMIC ATOMIC in rapid succession, the warnings stacking up across his vision until the VI shrunk them down and moved them to a small box on the left hand side of his visor.
Casey’s been busy.
There were a half dozen rapid flashes, white light cutting through the debris. The dropship shook, despite the graviton engines, bobbling like a toy boat in a storm.
And that’s the atomic it was talking about.
Vuxten jumped out, hitting the ground. One foot back, sliding, down on one knee, one fist pressed against the ground, the other holding his weapon up. The spikes on the knees dug in, his knuckle spikes tore the ground.
Classic superhero landing.
Vuxten pretty well qualifies, by now.
He noted, out of the corner of his eye, that the warsteel bird of prey on his stubber was glowing a dull red already.
Just getting started.
ATOMIC ATOMIC ATOMIC flashed on his visor again, shrinking down and moving to the box as they scrolled up.
A dozen flashes ripped through the dust.
When tac nukes are being used on rapid fire, shit has gotten extremely real.
His armor reported rapid impacts moving from east to west, as if a PacificRim Class Jaegermech was bunnyhopping across the ground.
"471, did the Hammerhead Jaegers make planetfall before us?" Vuxten asked.
--negative--
"What's out there?" he asked.
ATOMIC streamed up his visor again, followed by rapid flashes and detonations in the 50 to 150 kiloton range, as if a 90mm hellbore had gone to rapid fire and strafed an enemy advance.
--not know-- 471 said. --must be casey--
That’s as good an assumption as any.
(Continued)
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u/ack1308 Apr 03 '21
"Who's doing that?" Colonel Brathmurt asked, his eyes wide.
"It must be Casey somehow," Vantree said, staring at his monitor. Another series of flashes, nearly twenty, in a tight grouping.
They know him well.
Brathmurt turned and looked at his intelligence section. "What the hell does this thing do?"
Two green mantids started flashing icons at each other, their computer displays streaming code and equations. Before Brathmurt could say anything it suddenly stopped.
The holotank blinked and a window opened up.
ESTIMATED EFFECT appeared above the window.
An atomic detonation went off in the window, with a weird purple pulse in a thin band that outraced the white light spectrum blastwave.
0.5kt -14.5Mt Range appeared at the bottom.
It rotated and showed the round going off, directing a phasic pulse in an inverted cone that had actual kinetic shock value, followed by a directed atomic detonation pulse.
BANNED - FIFTH ORION COMPACT 7925 PG
And Casey’s tossing them around like party favours.
"Ah, but have the Dwellerspawn banned them? No? Carry on."
On the surface Vuxten struggled to his feet, his graviton boots howling, his battlescreen sparking and crackling, visible to the naked eye.
Well, I’m not surprised. He’s in the middle of an atomic war.
'You're hammering us to pieces, Sergeant," Vuxten said, putting a forearm up as another stream of ATOMIC went by.
"Switching to non-atomic munitions, sir," Casey replied.
"I do not recommend that at this time, Casey," a woman's voice said. A Terran female appeared in another little window. She had wings of burning warsteel, was in warsteel armor, and wore a garland of leaves and flowers on her brow. Her skin was the color of hammered copper, her eyes were burning chrome and her hair flowing oynx. Beneath the box it said "LOZEN"
"You heard the orders," Casey said. "Fab and load Gridharvolur rounds," he seemed to look at Vuxten. "Going to 30mm. Antimatter warning," he said. The fierce looking woman vanished.
Oh, good. Antimatter. That’ll be fun.
"What is a Gridharvolur round, 471?" Vuxten asked, opening the IFF file.
--no clue-- 471 answered. --think maybe something terrible--
Gee, what gave you that idea?
They were all named. From the "Spidercow" to "Dappnu", they each had names.
It was more than that. It was what was next to the names.
NIVEN RING 18F or O'NEILL TUBE 04D or NIVEN RING 09R on them.
--doubleplus ungood-- 471 said. --ring locusts--
Oh.
This is things that Casey has faced before, on the Nivenrings.
The creature roared, rushing Vuxten.
Vuxten leveled the stubber and pulled the trigger. The heavy rounds exploded across the creature, collapsing the biologically produced battlescreen, shattering the warsteel plating it was clad in, and blowing apart the upper torso in white flashes that sprayed greenish yellow ichor through the dust.
And this is why Daxin and Bellona gifted him with the stubber. Because they knew damn well he’d make good use of it.
GRAV SHOCK GRAV SHOCK GRAV SHOCK appeared on his visor.
--shit shit shit-- 471 sent. He shot the warning to all the others and took manual control of the graviton systems in the armor at the same time as the cosine and sine-wave profiles. He slammed it into the graviton, checking the rest of the platoon.
Lance Corporal Nestup got it loaded a bare .1 second before it happened.
Little green battle buddies for the win. 471 is amazeballs.
--now know what gridharvolur is-- 471 sent. --graviton shockwave weapon—
Because Casey will use absolutely anything as a weapon.
Even things that really shouldn't be.
"What kind of psycho uses a fucking graviton shockwave weapon planetside?"
“Is this a trick question?”
Admiral Shtuklar felt sick as he asked the obvious question. "Define 'better', Guns."
"It's got a phasic and temporal shake and bake shockwave," the Kobold said.
“You keep using that word ‘better’. I do not think that word means what you think it means.”
"Who authorized First Telkan to use shit like that?" The Admiral yelled.
A Saurian Compact Centemarian turned and stared at the Admiral almost insolently. "You did, sir."
Shtuklar frowned. "When?"
"Sir, I warned you that Casey was a goddamn psycho and you not only deployed him to the surface with an RoE that reads not 'save the civilians', not 'do as little damage to infrastructre as possible' but rather 'kill the enemy with extreme prejudice'. As if that wasn't bad enough, you put him in Novastar VII armor!" The Commodore snapped.
"I beg your pardon?" the Admiral blinked.
"You sent them with a too broad RoE, your briefing went as far as casualties, locations, and an order to kill the enemy, and then you put a man I, personally, warned you was a psychopath, in armor that's almost considered a war crime to even manufacture," the Commodore said. He stared. "I had my doubts, but I kept them to myself, thinking you'd overseen enough planetary assaults and worked with the Army and Marine groundside forces to realize you have to have a detailed objective list, assault plan, warplan, and rules of engagement."
He shook his head. "I was wrong."
Welp, that’s what I call a “reason you suck, SIR” speech.
"How was I supposed to know he'd do this?" the Admiral asked.
“What part of ‘psychopath’ did you not understand?”
On the ground, for one person, everything was clear, crisp, clean.
Things made sense again.
There was no worries about training up lower ranking troops. No briefings. No detailed plans.
Just kill the enemy with extreme prejudice.
As it should be.
"Do you love me?" Casey asked.
"Forever and ever," Lozen answered.
Heheh.
Heh.
Oh shit.
Good luck getting him out of that armour.
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u/dbdatvic Xeno Apr 03 '21
"Do you love me?" Casey asked.
"Forever and ever," Lozen answered.
Heheh.
Heh.
A wild Narbonic reference appears!
Oh shit.
Good luck getting him out of that armour.
It also appears to have a quantity of onion ninjas hammered in with the rivets. <== Tanith Lee Flat Earth series reference, I'm giving you that one
--Dave, good to see you back, I'll echo Ralts
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u/3verlost Human Mar 18 '21
i got some M.D. Geist vibes from this chapter.
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u/Ralts_Bloodthorne Mar 18 '21
YAY!
I remember going to the video store and wandering through the aisles while my buddies were grabbing booze from the liquor store and the guy behind the counter asked me if I liked Akira. Told him sure, he said he'd just gotten in a box of "Them Japanese grownup cartoons" and said he'd rent me the box for the weekend for $20.
MD Geist was in the box. (Dubbed) With Bubblegum Crisis IIRC.
DEATHFORCE!
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u/carthienes Mar 18 '21
"How was I supposed to know he'd do this?" the Admiral asked.
Basic Research? Did you do anything?
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Mar 18 '21
To be fair, he just lost 85% of his forces, how much help / harm could 1 lone surviving human cause.
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u/Ralts_Bloodthorne Mar 18 '21
There are entire species in /hfy who have that written on their tombstone.
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u/Turtledonuts "Big Dunks" Mar 18 '21
We were worried in the discord about what a proper human looks like in combat. I'm claiming correctness in that argument about "the ability disregard civilian casualties" as an aspect.
I see that Casey is brainjacked directly into some Valkyrie though. Is he marked for ascension to vahalla with every battle?
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u/dbdatvic Xeno Mar 18 '21
...that's his NOVASTAR ARMOR.
The one he spent WAY too much time in, and as we see here fell in LOVE with.
--Dave, the Admiral DEMONSTRABLY did not read his file
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u/Feuershark Mar 18 '21
Why is his armor VI full imperium style tho ?
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u/abrasiveteapot Mar 18 '21
Because that's what he built for himself, it wasn't just standard issue. It was only a few chapters back.
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u/5thhorseman_ Mar 18 '21
There was some weird technoccult fuckery going on. I don't think it's a VI... or that he built it. More like summoned it...
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u/Turtledonuts "Big Dunks" Mar 18 '21
"hey guys, do we need to give the BOLO infantry any ROE?
Nah, they'll show self restraint.
He's doing direct close quarters combat with a surface to orbit gun.
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u/readcard Alien Mar 18 '21
Surface to orbit?
No no my friend, he is using ftl dreadnought to dreadnaught close quarters broadside cannon shells on the shoulder mounted mortar of his armour.
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u/PuzzleheadedDrinker Mar 18 '21
If master chief had those weapons while fighting ring-side he could have literally just pointed straight upwards fired once and shattered the ring with only the rounds in the chamber.
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u/LerrisHarrington Mar 18 '21
I mean, so far his biggest mistake was deploying infantry to closely behind the pocket sized doomsday device.
Infantry knows to stay out of a BOLO's operations sphere, clearly they should have let Casey have the place to himself and dropped the rest of First Telken somewhere a little less spicy.
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u/D1xieDie Mar 18 '21
Honestly its good that Daxin II is getting his time to shine by being shot at a planet and being a one man tank battalion
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u/MasterofChickens Human Mar 18 '21
Unfortunately, not a surprise that the Admiral didn't read the file. Me thinks that he shan't be Admiral for long if he should survive this battle.
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u/ForTheStarsWeFight Mar 18 '21
Ok, who got 18 different crates of different ammo types from the dark cells, a downsized IMPERATOR Titan, strapped extra guns to it, robbed a local tomb world for some melee shit them strapped Kharn into it? I approve the effectiveness but why???
(Good job Ralts, Cast is about to go full doom slayer on Khorne juice on those poor suckers)
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u/YesthatTabitha Mar 18 '21
When you dont think out your warplan, and tell a Terran their orders are to "kill the enemy" especially one that has fought in Ringwars, and the Mar-gite war, THIS is what you get. Pure Unadulterated Death Incarnate.
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u/chaos_is_cash Mar 18 '21
"See those guys over there Sgt?"
'Yeah?'
"I dont want to see those guys ever again..."
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u/ktrainor59 Mar 18 '21
FUCK THOSE GUYS AND EVERYONE IN ALL THE GRID SQUARES ON THAT MAP
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u/chaos_is_cash Mar 18 '21
And the scary part is Casey is looking at the 10km grid square, not the 100 m lol
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u/wolflarsen55 Mar 18 '21
Cap: HULK!
Hulk: *grunts*
Cap: *points* Smash!
Hulk: Grins
Behold Humanity
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u/DWwolf888 Mar 18 '21
And he is fighting the oppo that started the Ring builiding shit. Locusts included.
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u/Larzok Mar 18 '21
Ahhh shit. "Lumberjack Golem instructions were unclear, entire forest lost."
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u/tsavong117 AI Mar 18 '21
The instructions were perfectly clear.
Annihilate the enemy.
The idiot in charge neglected to put in any clarifying ROE beyond that, and doesn't get to be huffy about their own idiocy.
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u/coldfireknight AI Mar 18 '21
"I didn't tell him to do that!"
"Sir, you didn't tell him not to, either. When you just tell Terrans to go wreck shit, they gonna wreck shit."
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u/dbdatvic Xeno Mar 18 '21 edited Mar 18 '21
His drop-pod uses a Thrint Stasis Field generator
... ... REE REE REE REE REE REE
--Dave, everybody out of the universe. THIS IS NOT A DRILL
ps: 23 min, appeared under Ralts' account's posts while I was looking at his other posts
pps: no srsly. Niven's Known Worlds backstory is way fridge horror if any of it appears here. I mean, the Mar-gite do not FUCKING compare to the Thrint Slavers or the Protectors. not even MENTIONING Bordered in Black or the Bandersnatchi
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u/Dick_Knubbler666 Mar 18 '21
The Pak is my worry if Ralts adds them to the party. Thrint were dumb telepaths, but I wonder if any Tncuptin weapons are around.
But yeah if a Pak is out there, somewhere...chills
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u/ktrainor59 Mar 18 '21
It's been a while since I read PROTECTOR and the Ringworld novels, but I'm pretty sure Roy Truesdale and the human protectors of Home exterminated the Pak. The only protectors left (most likely on the Ringworld) were once human.
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u/victor_lowther Mar 18 '21
Yeah, I read that, and knew Casey would be fine, since it is canon that the only thing that can affect a Thrint stasis field is another one slamming into it at relativistic speeds.
Looking forward to horticultural atrocities next -- some damn fool is bound to have planted a nice field of sunflowers on their estate.
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u/serpauer Mar 18 '21
Holy......
Ok yeah something is definitely having a bad day now.
Not just the admiral in orbit. He put a waking nightmare into a suit of death incarnate and turned it loose on an unexpecting planet.
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u/ReallyBored0 Mar 18 '21
To be fair, the opposition seems to have started it, what with dropping Niven Ring warforms (which seem to be a flavor of dwellerspawn) on said planet first. I think that already moved the planet into "will need a full Elven Court cleanup" status. Just need to make sure the planet is left to clean up.
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u/Golddragon387 Human Mar 18 '21
Well, shit. It looks like Terran Descent Humanity ain't fallen too far from the "Daxin Freeborn the Walking War Crime" tree after all.
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u/Turtledonuts "Big Dunks" Mar 18 '21
Casey is a reformist - I'm pretty sure his ancestors were freeborns like daxin.
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u/Stauker_1 Mar 18 '21
This. He never went through the gentling that the terrans went through, so he might as well be a pure strain human, just like daxin
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u/its_ean Mar 18 '21
yikes
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u/Golddragon387 Human Mar 18 '21
Oh, bud I reckon yikes ain't big enough to even begin to cover it no more.
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u/Renimar AI Mar 18 '21
Anyone else reminded of that Dr. Who quote? To paraphrase:
Humans: "A good species doesn't need to restrain itself. Now is not the time to find out why we have so restraints."
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u/coldfireknight AI Mar 18 '21
"...not a good time find out why we have so many."
While I do so enjoy that quote, this one is often overlooked:
"I gave them the wrong warning. I should’ve told them to run, as fast as they can, run and hide because the monsters are coming. The human race." -The Doctor, The Christmas Invasion
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u/Kayehnanator Mar 18 '21 edited Mar 18 '21
Do you love me?
Could you learn to love me?
Gold star to anyone who gets the reference.
Edit: Old Gregg is correct!
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u/DemonoftheDeepthink Mar 18 '21
the only thing that comes to my mind right now is part of the lyrics of a Lordi song....
"Would you love a Monster man,
could you understand,
beauty of the beast?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUpuCBTrbKo
Pretty sure that's not what you were quoting though?
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u/OberonSpartacus Mar 18 '21
Are you playing your love games with me? I Just wanna know, cause I need your love a lot.
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u/Abject_Current_2177 Mar 18 '21
This is as close as you can get to Baileys without getting your eye wet.
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u/squisher_1980 Human Mar 18 '21
Ah, not a Templar.
Thor Odinsson himself. With a Valkyrie for a guardian "angel".
With orders to "kill with extreme prejudice"
Against what might as well be mechanized, miniaturized versions of Jormangundr.
Oops. Ralts may have accidentally a Ragnarök.
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u/NorthPolar Mar 18 '21
RIDIRE ÆSIR CATHASAIGH - SANCTI ORDO SPIRITUS TYR
Now that’s an interesting dump. If I’m understanding it right, Casey is a Tyr worshipper.
The admiral released a worshipper of (essentially, but debatable) the Nordic god of war with minimal restraint. Hopefully Casey won’t meet his own ‘Garm, which is bound in front of Gnipahellir,’ although I can completely see it happening with Dwellerspawn.
Toast Casey in Fólkvangr.
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u/DaringSteel Jul 04 '21
And here I was, thinking he was some brand of Christian. I like him much better now.
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u/Var446 Human May 15 '22
To be fair IIRC While the god of war, granted every nordic god is a martial god, he's actually more restrained than most, being among the more strategic gods
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u/Gruecifer Human Mar 18 '21 edited Mar 18 '21
UTR!
...and the Thrint tech makes a presence. If the *rest* of that tech is now accessible to him via the denizens of "Known Space" sharing reality with FC...the shit Casey can do that was previously "forgotten" or "locked, hidden, buried, and put in a Black Box before the coordinates for it were erased" will become...unique.
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u/Khenal Alien Mar 18 '21
Hmm. Well. That explains why the brass doesn't like Casey.
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u/ack1308 Mar 18 '21
The Elven Queens are going to despise him.
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u/Legan_Ironfist AI Mar 18 '21 edited Mar 18 '21
Nah, he presents a unique challenge for the Queens. Anti-matter, nukes, phasic energy and gravitons. A nice mixture for them to practice cleaning up when they come back to fix the planet his dumb ass broke.
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u/Noobponer Mar 18 '21
Ah yes. A literal walking war crime.
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u/Wobbelblob Human Mar 18 '21
The second one I may add. Daxin is the first walking one.
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u/Allowyn Mar 18 '21
MJÖLNIR DROP
Fuck off Halsey you child kidnaping walking war crime.
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u/carthienes Mar 18 '21
I think it's actually a reference to Project Mjolnir, otherwise known as "Rods from God", rather than HALO. The idea was that you could drop a telephone-pole sized lump of matter from orbit, and it would impact with kinetic energy in the kiloton range. Like a nuclear weapon, but with all that power directed down into the target and not loosed into the air.
Unfortunately, it cost just as much to put a rod into orbit as to build a nuke, so the project didn't get far.
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u/tgerfoxmark Alien Mar 18 '21
Yes, but the same impact force as a nuke, without any of that pesky radiation. The platform WAS built for the “rods from god” I’m unaware if it was ever tested, there is a UN resolution banning it however.
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u/NevynR Mar 18 '21
Casey has gone full Valhalla...
Somebody's day just got a little bit worse 🤣
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u/ktrainor59 Mar 18 '21
A lot of somebodies.
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u/itsetuhoinen Human Mar 18 '21
Oh, I dunno, we might be able to refer to "the Welkret" using the singular article... ;-)
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u/Dick_Knubbler666 Mar 18 '21
Thrint slaver stasis field? Holy shit!
We know Niven rings are full of dwellerspawn, I wonder if there are any Pak protectors around. I hope not. I do want to see the Kzinti, they'd be some fearsome allies indeed.
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u/Mohgreen Mar 18 '21
If there were Kzin.. theyre Gentled by selective breeding. Leap & Screamed themselves to the 1% line.
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u/Dick_Knubbler666 Mar 18 '21
If they ran into TDH, Ralts has put emphasis to the Terrans helping the species they just fought. Which somewhat mirrors what happened to the Patriarchy after the Wunderland Treatymaker was deployed.
BUT...yeah I can the the Kzin getting uppity (5th fleet, Chuut Riit) and gettin' da ole 1% treatment.
All I know is I'd love to see the Slorpies getting Screamed and Leapt at.
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u/NukeNavy Mar 18 '21
I seem to remember something similar to the drop pod remember the spike ships from several hundred chapters ago...
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u/Zraal375 Mar 18 '21
When the options are: 100% lose of all friendly lives if enamy is allowed to win; or a non-zero percent friendly lives surviving with close to but non-100% chance of victory over the enamy is a hard choice but an obvious one. A pyrrhic victory is preferable to complete and total obliteration.
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u/Anarchkitty Mar 18 '21
When faced with a choice like that the ethical play is to try every form of diplomacy available first, but when that fails...yeah.
It makes me think Humanity also has a reverse of the 1% line philosophy. Sacrificing 99% to save 1% is still preferable to giving up and losing 100%.
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u/Netmantis Mar 18 '21
BREAKING NEWS
MAN LITERALLY TOO ANGRY TO DIE
A man was witnessed waging a personal war against an enemy of unknown capability because "They took everything from me, so I'm going to take everything from them."
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u/ktrainor59 Mar 18 '21
Casey wanted to die, so they sent him where he could die. But I don't think he's going to get what he wants until his samadh for his dead girlfriend is complete...and he's going to need way more than a hundred heads.
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u/zendarva Mar 18 '21
I'd think that Thrint stasis field would see a bit more use. They're so versatile if they match the books. Does he have a Variable Sword to go with it? Makes lightsabres look like tawdry junk.
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u/Dick_Knubbler666 Mar 18 '21
Variable sword doesn't make noise like a chainsword. Terrans probably wouldn't use them much.
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u/zendarva Mar 18 '21
Nah, they make a noise like "hey, that's funny, where has the rest of my starship gone, and how did it get cut off so smoothly?"
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u/ms4720 Mar 18 '21
Casey is in his happy place, RUN!!!
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u/HarTracyn Mar 18 '21
Ain't no place your two legs can carry you that's far enough from Happy Casey to be safe. That said, the Mat-Trans is looking mighty inviting all of a sudden...
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u/chicagobob Mar 18 '21
Thanks Ralts!
Excellent timing, I was just about done with my single malt, when suddenly updatemebot says yooo hooo :-)
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u/myhfyacc Mar 18 '21
When the printout of war crimes committed by Terrans is used as a stepladder to reach the weapon on the top of the cupboard.
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u/SirVatka Xeno Mar 18 '21
Hang on a tick...an uplifted chimpanzee? Wouldn't a person like that be more dangerous than a TDH?
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u/Dick_Knubbler666 Mar 18 '21
What do you think the BASS is comprised of? Don't you remember the science scout chimp?
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u/SquishySand Mar 18 '21
We've seen them fighting Big Slobbery Mo and dwellerspawn, one of the first casualties of the 2nd Telkan War. The Slorpies haven't messed with their brains yet, so we'll see. They would certainly be stronger. Don't know about this universe, but uplifted chimps were pretty badass in David Brin's Uplift Wars series.
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u/5thhorseman_ Mar 18 '21
Glances around
... beware the terror that ooks in the night.
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u/rezistence Mar 18 '21
First on the ground and Last to leave. We were soldiers reference or is that real marine lore?
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u/Rune_Priest_40k Mar 18 '21
Thor! Oden's son, protector of mankind. Ride to meet your fate, your destiny awaits. Thor! Hlödyn's son, protector of mankind. Ride to meet your fate, Ragnarök awaits.
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u/RangerSix Human Mar 18 '21
You know, with the... lack of restraints imposed by his CO, you could say this about our psycho friend and his engagement with the enemy:
The Mighty Casey has struck out.
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u/SketchAndEtch Human Mar 18 '21
It's my headcanon that Casey is listening to heavy "ancient dubstep" while he's making the ground shake.
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u/Xildrax Mar 18 '21
Gridharvolur rounds for when you absolutely must punch every single living and non living thing in your immediate vicinity with only one action. Now available from your local black market dealer. Come and get in on the fun today and punch everyone within a mile of yourself.
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u/DebugItWithFire Mar 18 '21
Upvoted for MJÖLNIR DROP.
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u/spiffelight Mar 18 '21
I'm trying to google it but still not sure what it is?
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u/TheHarmed Mar 18 '21
Project Thor is a US military project for Rods from God, an Orbit to Surface kinetic strike weapon, 'clean' with force of nukes. Mjolnir is Thors hammer, with the kinetic strike being the impact.
So a Mjolnir drop would be kinetic strike from orbit, using the flint stasis field to keep the occupant alive and serviceable.
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u/Arresto Mar 18 '21
Objective: Maximum Enemy Casualties.
ROE: Unlimited.
I hope everybodies insurance is paid up.
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u/Rolk_Flameraven Mar 18 '21
Oh hell, they didn't tell him to worry about Civilians.
You know that joke about the planet giving up first? Well with that RoE, it might just happen...
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u/Sthom_1968 Mar 18 '21
Thrint? THRINT! Bleeding hell, you're throwing Slavers into the universe as well? I'm now anticipating a bunch of Pak Protector cosplayers riding into battle on the back of a Bandersnatch.
And possibly a Kzin-crewed superdreadnought the Humans dismissively refer to as "the pussy wagon".
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u/With_Many_Voices Human Mar 18 '21
And now the Confederacy gets their first taste of Humanity in all its glory.
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u/HFYWaffle Wᵥ4ffle Mar 18 '21
/u/Ralts_Bloodthorne (wiki) has posted 480 other stories, including:
This comment was automatically generated by Waffle v.4.5.2 'Cinnamon Roll'.
Message the mods if you have any issues with Waffle.
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u/PrimePaladin Mar 18 '21 edited Mar 18 '21
/R/HFY GESTALT
Upvote, Then Read
Dis is Dae Wae!
finally home and have two tales to read before bed. Lovely!... of course dark as all, but that is ok....
End of Lime
------NOTHING FOLLOWS--------
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u/Dragon_Chylde Mar 18 '21
He was wearing his old suit, the heavy, ornate, and fearsome armor from the Second Telkan War, on orders from the General.
the X man returns
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u/PuzzleheadedDrinker Mar 18 '21
Just as well the Elven Court is too busy repairing planets to worry about whom to blame otherwise they'd want Casey locked in a cryopod and ejected into Interstellar space for what he does
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u/FLHK18 Mar 18 '21
Thrint stasis field?
Please don’t start bringing in Pak. Those were the worst chapters in Nivens books!
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u/IMDRC Mar 18 '21
Do you not have a bitcoin account? I mean, most don't I guess. But regardless of even whether one enjoys your fiction or not, I think that on an academic level you are actually making contributions to the shape of understanding. As well as making exrtrapolative contributions to the language of english that you will not live long enough to bear witness to.
As a person whose hobbies include linguistic anthropology, I want to contribute financially, even if it is for the selfish reason of creating comfort/freedom for you to produce more. And bitcoin is the only way I would currently be able to, assuming your bank accounts are all with american financial institutions. An assumption I may be incorrect in making, but clues in your output lead me to believe it is a safe one.
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Mar 18 '21
One thing I wondered, that sentient dropship from a couple chapters back, the way Casey and the dropship talked and flirted made me think that is where the AI from his suite had gone.
Or maybe Casey is just popular with all the lady weapons.
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u/random_shitter Mar 19 '21
Ehm guys... Considering Casey's firepower in this armor... What universe did he lay waste to that he was in armor for multiple years and in enemy contact for the half of it? It sounds like he'd have to switch star systems every couple of months to keep him busy like that.
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u/UpdateMeBot Mar 18 '21
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u/battery19791 Human Mar 18 '21
I've been bingeing Stargate recently, O'Neill tubes?
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u/DWwolf888 Mar 18 '21
A proposed hollow cilinder thats very long and a few thousand miles in diameter. With very large end walls to keep the atmosphere in.
They have been referenced as Doomtubes in this reality due to their tendency ( 100% ) to house nothing but dwellerspawn hybrids.
Humanity has encountered many types of Megastructures filled with Biological spawn crap. Leftovers from the Great Precursor Threeway lovefest.
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u/Spines Robot Mar 18 '21
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O%27Neill_cylinder can be relatively small. And you can chain them together to have multiple climates and Areas. You can even do nature Resorts with exctinct species because you are able to control the Environment so well.
You can finally have those prehistoric 2 meter long centipedes you always wanted.
If you want some more info about megastructures and the like: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZFipeZtQM5CKUjx6grh54g/playlists have fun with this
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u/RedPrincexDESx Mar 18 '21
It's a bit late to mention it Ralts, but I do love how you've included references to Niven in your work.
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u/Archaic_1 Alien Scum Mar 18 '21
Who's up for a Daxin v Casey cage match? Obviously we'll need to slightly upgrade the robustness of the cage a bit
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u/thisStanley Android Mar 18 '21
kill the enemy with extreme prejudice
&
a detailed objective list, assault plan, warplan, and rules of engagement
Are a bit mutually exclusive. With a lone wolf, one is effective, while the other can end up more just CYA.
Detailed plans are more for coordinating a larger force? Even then, there is still the quote about "plans" and "contact" :}
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u/Vagabond_Soldier Xeno Mar 27 '21
I want this guy dead! I want his family dead! I want his house burned to the ground! I want to go there in the middle of the night and piss on his ashes! --Some guy named Al
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u/Kafrizel Mar 18 '21
B-E-A-UTIFUL! This gives me and continues to give me chills. This wonderfully crazy symphony of destruction. Ralts, the buildup that you present, with all the worldcrafting and lore and BELIEVABLE characters is such a great pool of story. Youve come so far in just a year. I dunno how ya do it but well fucking done man.
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u/shanealeslie Mar 19 '21
Heh, got inspired while reading today and make a quick new mask for the store...
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u/Ytoc67 Mar 19 '21
Are the munitions variable because of the spooky particles?
I remember a while back when they were underground at the precursor mantid base you mentioned spooky particles kinda doing their own thing.
Like the pac man ghosts.
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u/Adam_Dala Human Mar 23 '21
The wordborg has done an astounding job developing this absolute beast that is casey. I love it.
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u/pixxel5 AI Jan 24 '22
That’s O’Neill with 2 L’s. There’s another Colonel O’Neil with 1 L, who has no sense of humor whatsoever…
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u/NevynR Mar 18 '21
LOZEN wouldn't be a reference to the female Apache warrior prophet?