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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2011/07/03 02:45:22
Subject: The Voyager Crusade Pt.1
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Fresh-Faced New User
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Greetings all, the Emperor Protects! This is my first attempt at a short story involving 40k. This story is actually a mix of two different universes, the 40k universe and the Star Trek universe, Voyager to be specific. I wrote this with the intent that those reading it will be familiar with both universes. This isn't meant as a affront to either scifi franchise nor do I claim copyright on anything within this story. The story is one of what happens when worlds collide, litereally, with our story finding some of the Emperor's finest in a universe very different from the one they know. Feedback is appreciated, enjoy! Should people like I will write more and perhaps write a fully 40k story or two.
The Voyager Crusade
Space, is vast. To be more specific it’s infinite, the universe itself holding the potential for unlimited quantities of life, with the milky way galaxy alone containing hundreds of millions of stars and planets. That is only part of human understanding of the universe. Another part of that understanding has to do with “other universes”, alternate realities that can have the slightest of differences between one another varying from minor details to entirely unrecognizable versions of what one would describe as normal. It is with this in mind, that two universes are looked at, two realities so different from one another they would hardly seem recognizable to one another.
In one universe, it is the late 23rd century. Humanity has erased war, hunger, disease, and poverty on earth. A might Federation of Planets, a alliance of governments of many different alien races including humanity rules a large part of the galaxy along side other various empires and governments. Humanity has become a race of peaceful explorers, with it’s might ships of Starfleet continually seeking out new life and new civilizations, seeking to bring light to darkness and satisfy humanity’s insatiable curiosity.
In the other, there is nothing but war. It is the 41st millennium, and humanity is spread throughout the galaxy in a vast Imperium of Man, continuing to fight and die against the myriad of threats to it’s survival, from heretics and xenos empires to the perils of yet another alternate reality, the warp and it’s evil Chaos Gods. The Emperor of Mankind sits on the Golden Throne on Terra, a withering corpse who’s continual suffering ensures humanity’s survival. His will and the continued existence of the Imperium is sustained by the trillions of his children, the Imperial Guard, the secretive and terrifying Inquisition, and the super human Adeptus Astartes: the Space Marines.
Two universes, alike yet incredibly different from one another. In one humanity is enlightened, peaceful yet powerful, and live in harmony with many other alien races, it is a universe of light and reason. In the other, humanity knows only war, death, and it’s continued fight for survival. Humanity is stagnant in it’s technology, hateful of other races, superstitious, and while powerful is continually on the precipice of destruction not only from without but from within. It is these two universes that would never see eye to eye nor fully understand one another. Yet a random chance of fate, or perhaps a terrible act done at the whim of a evil denizen would send a small part of this dark universe into the one of light, and the affects would adversely affect both in ways neither could imagine.
“What are you....?” she said to herself, two fingers touching her lips slightly as she sat back in the gray leather chair, the thought having been said out loud ever so softly, bringing the gaze of others to her. The light overhead shined off her light brown jaw line length hair giving her a even more thoughtful gaze ahead at the view screen. Captain Kathryn Janeway, captain of the USS Voyager kept the other thoughts to herself as she wondered what it was her ship now faced. The rest of the bridge crew continued about their business, trying to answer the captain’s question as she sat there, her first officer Commander Chakotay sitting on her right side, staring ahead and wondering also.
Voyager had been continuing across the delta quadrant, having been stranded years ago there at the whim of a advanced, dyeing alien seeking a mate to help him survive. Seven years into their journey home and Voyager had come across many different species, threats, and strange parts of this sector of the milky way. In their path sat what at first appeared to be a spacial anomaly, though that assumption was dismissed as they got closer. Scans at first showed what appeared to be a a temporal anomaly opening in space, but the readings returned to the sensors upon closer approach to the anomaly seemed to be in flux not only in time and space, but in the very fabric of reality itself. The anomaly itself swirled in a mix of colors, never settling on one or the other, lightning crackling within and away from the edges of the disturbance in space, that itself seeming a near impossibility according to the known science of the Federation, yet here it sat, 40,000 kilometers in front of Voyager as the crew of the ship studied and tried to determine what this rip in space and time was.
“Captain, the anomaly continues to remain in flux, and I cannot find anything in our scientific records to corroborate the readings we are receiving from the scans.” Lt.Tom Paris told the Captain from the forward control panel, his quick thinking mind continuing to work on the problem on his own while the ship did the same, finding the current situation fascinating, his fingers working at incredibly fast speed along the console, faster than even his usual ways.
“Continue to scan, try and correlate the data against any known astral phenomenon we’ve encountered so far” Janeway ordered, staring ahead at the main screen. Movement above her caused her to turn in her seat slightly, looking up at Seven of Nine, the freed Borg drone who had become a invaluable member of the crew. Her face was focused intently on the panel before her to the point that the visible Borg implant above her left eye to catch the light softly, her body almost fidgeting in the tight purple body glove she wore, as though she were nervous, something highly unusual for her.
“Seven, what is it?” Janeway asked.
“Nothing in the ship’s records have anything near to what we are seeing, nor do I recall the Borg having ever encountered anything close as well” Seven said, staring intently and working quickly at her console. Having been a member of the Borg collective, her mind worked much quicker than most others, having retained a great deal of the collective knowledge of the Borg collective.
“How is that possible?” Commander Chakotay asked to her, feeling sympathy and also curiosity as to how any of this could be possible.
Seven shook her head softly, unable to form a explanation. Just as she was about to speak again, Lt.Commander Tuvok, the ships Vulcan security officer spoke from above the command deck’s chairs at the tactical station, fingers roving over the station’s panels quickly, his voice raising quickly yet remaining it’s usual baritone, typical of vulcans.
“Captain....I can hear....screams emanating from the anomaly...” he said, his voice rather strained beyond the usual calm that he seemed to exert at all times.
“Screams?” asked Janeway.
“Psychic in nature.....it’s almost as the voices of thousands of tortured souls are crying out from the anomaly.” Like all Vulcans, the ebony skinned security officer was psychic in nature, being able to focus that psychic ability and allow him to link his mind with those of another in what was known as a mind meld.
Janeway looked from Tuvok over to Commander Chakotay, his dark hair and the large facial tattoo. His eyes said the same thing she was thinking, which amounted to one word: trouble.
Before either of them could converse further, Ensign Kim spoke up from his station, his voice full of excitement “Captain, the anomaly is beginning to fluctuate rapidly!”
As all eyes turned to the rip in space, it seemed to implode on itself, shrinking rapidly in on itself before suddenly exploding outward in a brilliant flash of light, temporarily blinding everyone on the bridge looking at the screen. When the flash had dissipated, the eyes that returned to the view screen saw not the rip in space that was there before, but a ship. Vapor and contrails of energy streamed off it’s large hull in a almost liquid like way. The ship was all hard edges and angles, twice the size of voyager, the thick black armor of the hull seeming to soak up the light from the stars making the ship hard to see even with the view screen enhanced. It’s hull bristled with torpedo tubes, energy based weapon platforms, projectile based weapon platforms, and communications arrays.
The ship’s long prow and gothic design structure gave it a menacing look when one could focus their eyes on it. Statues of eagles with twin heads dotted the hull, a large almost cathedral like structure emanating from the rear of the ship, spires emanating up and down the ship. Large wing like structures produced from the sides of the ship, vane like objects attached to their ends.
Everyone on Voyager’s bridge was stunned at what they were seeing before them, but given what they had seen in all the years they had been stranded in the Delta quadrant, the shock wore off quickly.
“A ship?” Janeway asked to no one in particular, her eyes not leaving the screen as she continued to try and focus on the dark ship before them, “Are we getting anything from scans?” she asked.
“I’m having a hard time getting a read on anything about the ship. It’s as though it’s hull is soaking up all our sensor scans and not returning anything” Kim said, somewhat baffled, “From the few scans I have been able to get back....it’s a bit of a contradiction..” he trailed off.
“A contradiction? How so?” Chakotay asked.
“What little bit of the scans i’ve been able to get back are saying that in some ways the ship is very advanced, in other ways it’s almost antique in it’s technology! Not able to get any life sign reading.....but I was able to get a name of the ship. It’s on the hull, in some form of old latin.....it says ‘Ravens Wrath’.
Sparks continued to blast outwards from multiple screens and systems on the bridge of the ship that Voyager observed, the Ravens Wrath battle barge. Screens flickered in and out of life, computer banks known as cognitators smoking and shorting out. Men and women, all of pale almost ghostly white complexion dressed in light consuming, midnight black bodygloves continued to run about and yell over the screaming warning klaxons, trying to get control of the ship and assess what damage had been done to the Talon. These men and women were known as chapter serfs, individuals who had been selected to crew and run the Talon in servitude to their masters whom they revered as God’s among men, a great honor to all of them, one that would consume their lives, all in the name of service to the galactic governing body that ruled humanity from where they came from, The Imperium of Man.
One of those God’s among men whom the chapter serf’s served sat in the large, black stone command throne situated in the middle of the Wrath’s bridge. Despite the chaos surrounding him, he remained still and outwardly calm, as was the way of those like him. His massive bulk, easily three times that of a normal man filled the throne, though even that mass was enhanced further by plate after plate of massive black power armor that covered his bulk, like the body gloves of the serf’s it seemed to soak up the surrounding light, giving him a dark presence even amongst the darkness of the bridge. Only his head was bare, his skin like those of the serf’s a ghostly white pale, with long black hair framing a scarred, serious face that while human only just fit to describe his race. A large all enclosing silver helmet sat in his lap, it’s beak shaped design giving credit further to the name that was associated with the symbol on the right shoulder pauldron, a white bird of prey against a black background. That name was the one of his chapter, the Raven Guard of the Adeptus Astartes, the legendary Space Marines.
Kaayvan Shrike, famed Shadow Captain of the 3rd Company of the Raven Guard slowly opened his dark eyes, his arms sitting softly on the command thrones arms as he took the chaos around him in. The Raven’s Wrath had been en route to a nearby solar system through the warp, the alternate dimension that allowed ships of the Imperium to travel faster than light, when something had gone wrong. The Talon’s navigator, the mutant psychic human that was able to traverse the ship through the warp, he said he detected a anomaly in the warp, right before he started screaming and didn’t stop. After that a brilliant flash that had penetrated even the armored covers over the view ports, followed by tremendous shaking that had almost convinced Shrike the ship was about to tear itself apart, and then....silence.
Space Marines were genetically and surgically altered to be superior in every way to a normal human. Their bulks were massive slabs of muscle, their bones like steel, two hearts beat in their chests covered by a fused together rib cage. They were made to be ten time stronger, faster, and quicker thinking than a normal human being, and taught to be the perfect warriors, hence the nick name “The Angels of Death”. It was these enhancements they had not only kept Shrike and the rest of the 88 Raven Guard Space Marines under his command alive while many of the hundreds of serfs that manned and crewed the Talon, but allowed Shrike to see perfectly in the near blackness of the bridge.
Shrike looked around slowly, seeing portable lights being turned on by the few serfs who had survived as they tried to establish what was happening to his ship. His enhanced hearing was able to tune out the blaring klaxons as he focused on the voices of the serfs yelling over the loud alarms.
“Main cognitators are down! I can’t seem to...”
“There’s fire warnings through out the ship! Hull intergrity...”
“........the navigators chamber! There’s nothing but blood and gore seeping out from under the doors! What in the name of the Emperor....”
Shrike kept his calm, as was the nature of the Raven Guard, especially the chapters Shadow Captains. That was one of the things that made the Raven Guard effective in their way of engaging war. Some Space Marine chapters were famed for direct assault and brute force to defeat an enemy, others technical prowess, others still zealous religious fervor fueled their rage at the enemy. The Raven Guard used guile and stealth, sabotage, hit and run tactics, guerilla warfare mastery to defend the Imperium.
Shrike had already used the comm bead in his ear, using the Raven Guard internal frequency to confirm that all his Space Marines were accounted for and alive, with a few sustaining minor injuries that would heal quickly, and passed orders to begin repairs to whatever sections of the ship they could get to while he figured out what in the name of Corax was going on.
“Deck officer, ship status report, full sensor sweep.....” Shrike ordered, his voice calm and low but still booming over the klaxons, “.....and turn those warp damned warning sirens off”.
“Yes my lord!” The deck officer shouted, taking out a knife and cutting the cord underneath one of the control panels that had been pried open, the screaming klaxons silencing. The deck officer quickly got himself onto his feet and ran over to the main sensenorium panel, smoke still pouring out from underneath it and the screen flickering on and off until the deck officer slammed his hand against it, the screen stabilizing. As he took in the information on the screen before him, his face seemed to go almost paler as he read off the stark news to the Shadow Captain.
“Multiple fires on all decks. Hull breaches on multiple decks but emergency bulk heads are holding. We’re operating on emergency power only. Sensors are on minimum power as is life support. Engines, shields, weapon systems, warp drive are all gone, systems burnt out beyond repair. Main engine room reports they were able to keep the warp core from going critical but there was severe damage done to it and even if we could use it the navigator is dead. We’re holding station in space, a ship directly ahead, unknown configuration, several hundred life signs”.
“Open the blast shutters” Shrike ordered, his dark eyes piercing outward through the main portal into space before his enhanced vision laid eyes on the ship. “It’s not Imperial, nor is it any alien or other kind of vessel i’m aware of...” he said mostly to himself, noting the large forward section shaped like a elongated saucer, multiple windows, blue wing like cylinder objects jutting out from the rear of the ship to the sides. Defiantly not a ship of the Imperium Shrike thought to himself. Xeons perhaps?
“What do sensors tell us of that ship?” Shrike asked.
“Very little my Lord. The sensors are barely functioning. I’m detecting two torpedo tubes, some sort of energy based weapons strip that goes along several parts of the hull, and multiple energy signatures that are not in the main computer. The life signs being detected are scatted about the ship and are mostly human, but not all...” the deck officer reported.
“Xeons collaborators....worse than Orks...” Shrike replied, taking his silver beaked helmet in his hand and sliding it onto his head, satisfied with the snaps of it clasping along his neck collar and the multiple systems conveying suit power, target scanning and lock capability, and internal Space Marine comm frequencies all coming online.
“Deck officer, from what I have heard, your telling me the Ravens Wrath is un-salvageable, am I correct?” Shrike asked, his voice lent a flat, metallic sound through the vox speaker of his helmet, the blood red eyes of the helmet bearing down on the deck chief.
“As it stands yes Lord. Were we close to a nearby system it would take months in dry dock to get the Ravens Wrath back to functioning order” the deck chief said.
“Then it seems, that ship, xenos collaborators or not, is our one chance of returning to our original mission and finding out where we are...” Shrike said, walking up to and moving the deck officer aside. He took a small cable from the wrist of his gauntlet and plugged it into the center console, his power armor’s systems recording everything the Talon’s barely working sensors could tell him of the ship, including that they had not raised shields nor armed any of their energy based weapons. Their mistake.
“Deck officer, I want all chapter serf’s to begin stabilizing and initiating any and all repairs that can be made to the Wrath” Shrike said as he dis-engaged from the console. Shrike blink clicked the internal comm feed inside his helmet to his second in command, Sgt. Gravius.
“Gravius, are any of the thunder hawk gunships intact and still working?” he asked, having noted that his second in command was down in the main landing bay.
“Two are my lord” Gravius hoarse voice came back to him over the comm feed.
“Then I want fifteen Raven’s armed and loaded for ship boarding action to report to you in ten minutes. No jump packs, close combat weaponry only, i'm on my way to you.....”Shrike activated the large top sections on top of his armored gauntlets. Three large, deathly sharp metal talons shot forward from each gauntlet, each blade glowing and hissing with a build up of energy that danced over them. They were known as the Ravens Talons, supremely designed and crafted lightning claws that were supposedly made by Corax, the Raven Guards long lost leader and gene father. “We’re going hunting”.
End Part 1
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This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2011/07/03 04:51:43
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2011/07/03 19:55:19
Subject: Re:The Voyager Crusade Pt.1
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Fresh-Faced New User
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Part 2
“You mean you can’t tell me anything about the ship aside from it’s name?” Janeway asked, standing and turning towards Ensign Kim with a look of astonishment and bewilderment on her face, finding it hard that a ship as sophisticated as Voyager couldn’t tell her anything about another ship.
“I don’t know what to tell you beyond what i’ve said Captain. The armor of that ship seems to be made of some sort of stealth material. If it wasn’t right in front of us and we knew where to look I doubt we’d even be picking it up” Kim responded, his eyes locking with her’s in the same astonishment she had in her eyes.
Janeway turned to Seven, who with her long blonde hair always tied back in a tight bun behind her head, it made her usual serious face devoid of expression, “I have no explanation” she stated simply.
“Is there anything we can find out about that ship?” Janeway asked to no one in paticular, “From the view screen we can at least tell that it’s hard to see even with the naked eye and it’s damaged....anything else?”
No one spoke for a few moments until Tuvok spoke, “You would appear to be correct about the damage. From magnified views of the ship I can see multiple hull breaches, and as of a few moments ago what appeared to be a piece of the ship disconnecting before dropping of screen and sensors”.
The piece of the ship that Tuvok thought was coming off the ship was actually the Raven Guard thunkderhawk Talon’s Fury. Like the armor of the Raven Guard and the hull of their ship, the thunderhawk was coated in a sensor/light absorbing paint, a secret known only to the Raven Guard and their successor chapters, one they guarded jealously. As the thunderhawk raced almost invisibly against the backdrop of space, it flew alongside Voyager at close range, it’s own scans subtle to avoid being detected, but strong enough to give those on board a detailed diagram of the interior of the ship.
Captain Shrike stood in the cockpit of the thunderhawk as the data of it’s sensor sweep appeared on the screen before him, staring through his helmet’s eyes over the shoulder of the Space Marine piloting the ship, taking in the details of the internal view of the ship. With Voyager not able to see them and not taking the crippled Raven’s Talon as a threat, the crew of Voyager hadn’t bothered to raise their shields, to Shrike’s advantage.
“Take us to their landing bay in the rear of the ship” he commanded the pilot who nodded, angling the thunderhawk to skirt closer to the hull of Voyager, the engines working at minimum power so as to keep the thunderhawk as close to invisible as possible, the preferred method of attack for the sons of Corax, “Once we’re outside their doors, destroy them and land us inside” Shrike told the pilot before turning and re-entering the main bay.
Standing in grav restraint harnesses, fifteen midnight black armored Raven Guard stood, helmets on, ready to bring the Emperor’s justice. Shrike had briefed them all on the damage to the their own ship, how the ship they would be boarding was their one hope to continuing on their mission being the taking of the ship, and the fact it was full of xenos-conspiring humans, traitors to the Emperor’s light in their eyes. Each Space Marine was well armed, a bolt pistol mag locked to their thighs, multiple magazines of fresh bolter rounds surrounding their waists, krak gernades mag locked to their opposite thighs. Some had melta bombs in place of krak gernades, and each was armed with a close range weapon, most preferring a diamond toothed chain sword, others a power sword here and there, and the rest satisfied with lightning claws similar to those of Shrike.
“You should all be receiving the scans of the ship we took as we passed by....” Shrike began, “We will split into two seven man insurgent teams. Team one will be led by myself and head for what has been designated as the main bridge, Team two will be lead by Sgt. Gravius, you will head for the main power core of the ship and secure it. Standard sabotage protocols are on hold since we will need the ship. Keep damage to a minimum if possible, kill all who resist, but none who surrender. Being a unfamiliar ship we may require some of the crew to man it until we can execute them later for conspiring with Xenos” Shrike briefed him men, all who nodded their affirmative through their helmets.
“Captain, what about possible taint?” Sgt. Gravius asked, referring to any spiritual taint that might occur from operating heretical, possibly xenos technology.
“We will do what is necessary for now, once our mission is complete we will return to Deliverance and be re-sanctified by the Chapter’s Chaplains to remove any possibility of taint, but I doubt we will have much to worry about for now, we are the Emperor’s shadows, his bringers of death, protectors of the Imperium and we will do our duty!” Shrike screamed into his internal vox, raising his power claw above his head before slamming his fist to his chest, each member of the assault squad doing the same, responding back to their Captain, “Victory or Death!”
“Any response to standard hails?” Janeway asked Tuvok, hands resting on her hips as she stood restlessly on the bridge. Not knowing who or what was in front of them was not a position she enjoyed being in, let alone having her ship and crew in.
“No response to any hails on all frequencies” Tukok responded, fingers working across the panel as he rotated comm frequencies in a attempt to get a response.
“What about beaming someone over to check the ship out?” Paris asked from the navigational helm, turning in his chair towards Janeway.
“We’d be sending them blindly into a situation we know nothing about” Janeway said, shaking her head softly at the idea.
“I would advise against it also” Seven of Nine spoke up also, “Whatever is causing out scans to be absorbed has the possibility of scattering any transporter beam we attempt to use”.
“Then it seems we’re in a bit of a Mexican stand off” Chakotay said, grinning at the captain. He knew her insatiable curiosity wouldn’t let her forget about this, and a ship in distress, little information about it or not, was still a ship in distress.
Before Janeway could say anything further, the ship was rocked suddenly, eyes turning towards Tuvok, “Decompression in the shuttle bay. Shuttle bay doors have been destroyed, weapons fire detected from the rear of the ship. Emergency forcefields in place and holding” he reported.
“Put the internal view of the shuttle bay up on the main viewer and raise shields!” Janeway ordered, turning around and watching as the view came up on the screen. A large, heavily armed and armored ship floated through the forcefield in place where the shuttle bay doors had been. It was painted the same light absorbing midnight black as the ship in front of Voyager, a large white bird of prey painted on the side of the hull.
“Security teams to the shuttle bay now! Re-pressurize the shuttle bay for the security teams then seal that entire deck with a level 5 force field!” Janeway ordered to Tuvok, who had already begun dispatching three two man security teams with phaser rifles to the shuttle bay, sealing the entire deck with a force field.
All eyes watched the black ship land on the deck of the shuttle bay, noting the traversing weapons turrets and racks of missiles hanging from the wings of the ship. As it settled down onto the deck, steam and vapor hissing off of it, the security teams entered the shuttle bay, taking up positions near the front of the ship and finding cover behind the various crates, stacks of supplies, and two shuttles that sat off to the sides of the shuttle bay.
The entire bridge crew watched the main screen, not knowing what was going to happen, nor would they be prepared at all for what would happen next.
The boarding ramp of the thunderhawk lowered with a whine and hiss of hydraulics, steam and mist escaping from it as the ramp settled to the deck. The Raven Guard streamed down the deck quickly, black armored giants in the eyes of the yellow and black clothed security teams who nervously clutched their phaser rifles. These men had seen the worst of what Voyager had went through over the years, from the Borg to the Hirogen hunters and they had survived. These were men not prone to fear or anxiety, yet each felt a distinct twinge of both as they watched the black giants, each holding a weapon in his had, run down the ramp of the ship and take up a defensive half-circle around the ramp, their gauntleted hands having snapped the mag-locked bolter pistols at their thighs up and into their hands, weapons held ready to dispense death at the security men.
Almost theatrically, Captain Shrike walked down the ramp, his heavy boots thudding with each step as he came down. His hands were empty, Raven’s Talon’s retracted into his gauntlets. He slowly turned his head as the systems in his helm scanned the threat before him. The targeting reticle in his head’s up display locked onto all six of the security teams, locking onto them all, “Humans, no armor, energy based rifles, minimal threat” Shrike said to his Marines over the internal comm.
“Lower your weapons and surrender!” one of the security officers, a young Lieutenant named Jacobs yelled at the black armored giants, his phaser rifle aimed at the one he decided had to be their leader judging by his demeanor and silver helm.
“Slaughter them” was all Shrike said before what could only be described as a one sided massacre began. Each of the Raven Guard had likewise locked onto each member of the security teams, with each Marine pulling the trigger on their bolt pistols as one nearly. The mass-reactive bolt rounds kicked out of the barrels and down the shuttle bay at high speed, the micro-rocket inside each one sending it hurtling towards the security teams. Multiple rounds impacted into each Starfleet officer, several punching cleanly through the flimsy cover they had hid behind, other connecting cleanly with the human’s heads and upper bodies. With each impact hitting with the force of a brick into a plate glass window, the security members were riddled with large caliber holes in their bodies before the reactive rounds explosive warheads kicked in, turning each member of the security team into nothing more than puddles of gore and blood splattered against the walls, their untouched lower bodies falling to the floor. It was all over in less than three seconds.
A few of the security officers had managed to get a shot of two off from their phaser rifles, but the compressed energy beams impacted against the Astartes plates like water hitting a solid surface, the beams splattering and dissipating against the armor, doing little more damage than scuffing the paint on their armor. Once the one sided firefight was over, the Raven Guard were up and moving, scanning every which way and covering all the angles with their bolters, one of them shooting the lights of the shuttle bay out, bathing the already hard to see Marines in darkness.
Approaching the shuttle bay’s heavy doors, each Insurgency team took up a stacked position along the sides of it as the Shadow Captain approached it. A gauntleted hand reached out, only to be stopped by the force field in front of the large doors. Shrike had known it was there, his helm’s scanners having detected it as he approached. The Raven’s Talons slipped out from atop his gauntlets and crackled to life with energy, his right fist shooting out straight at the doors. The affect of having focused energy around the talons directed into the force field quickly over-loaded the force field emitters and the talons passed through and into the door within a few seconds, the energized claws punching easily through the heavy doors. Satisfied, Shrike pulled the gauntlet back and sliced from the top down with his left hand, repeating the action on the other side of the doors, cutting them cleanly in four in a large X pattern, his large boot kicking them outwards and sending the remnants of the doors into the walls beyond, burying them there.
At that Shrike took up his position at the head of the group of Ravens on the left as they peeled off to the left heading for the bridge, the group lead by Sgt. Gravius peeling off to the right heading for main engineering, “You know your missions Sgt, contact me once you have the power core secure” Shrike said to him.
“Affirmative, good hunting my Lord, the Emperor Protects” Gravius said as his insurgency team moved efficiently and quietly down the hallway in a single file, the hallways being too small for a fully clad Astartes in plate to move any other way.
“The Emperor Protects, and Corax watches” Shrike responded, his own insurgency group mirroring team two’s as they set down the hall way, intent on killing anything in their way.
End Part 2
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2011/07/05 16:07:41
Subject: Re:The Voyager Crusade Pt.1
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Fresh-Faced New User
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Part 3
The crew on the bridge of Voyager sat in stunned and horrified shock as they watched the battle within the shuttle bay unfold, the silence permeating the air, hanging there for the longest time until some sense was restored. Janeway spoke slowly at first, the shock wearing off slowly as she found her voice again, returning it to it’s commanding level as she spoke.
“Have all security teams deployed throughout the ship. Concentrate them on main engineering and any access ways to the bridge. By the look of their splitting off they seem to be heading for the warp core and us. Mr. Tuvok! I want engineering and the bridge secured with level ten forcefields and all ship personnel armed! Where are they now?”
“I cannot answer that Captain...” Tuvok replied as he worked feverishly at the console before him, his outward calm not affected by the horrors witnessed in the shuttle bay, his lack of emotion giving him what some might consider an edge in a high stress situation such as this, “Their armor is preventing the internal sensors from picking them up despite their great bulk and mass. I’m trying to modify the sensors to locate them, and have informed all security personnel to modify the phasers to a rotating modulation, perhaps that will be able to penetrate their armor”.
“For everyones sake I hope it works” Janeway said, the lights dimming and warning alarms sounding as red alert was initiated for the entire ship. She quickly ascended the steps to stand by Seven of Nine, once again noting her Borg sense of perfection and lack of general emotion kept her almost as calm as Mr.Tuvok. She politely moved her aside as she worked at the console, activating the ship wide broadcast system.
“This is Captain Janeway to the individuals aboard my ship. You have attacked us and killed members of my crew without provocation. Stand down at once and we can discuss this. I am ordering the crew to use any and all means to prevent your hostile actions aboard this ship. We do not wish any further blood shed but if you leave us no choice we will defend ourselves!” She hoped that the armored giants now stalking through her ship might listen to reason, but from what she had seen she doubted it.
“Commander Chakotay! Help Seven to go through our data banks for anything that might be relevant to these people! Anything that can help us! Harry, start pouring over everything that you’ve been able to gleam from what little the sensors have been able to tell you! Mr. Paris, keep us steady and holding position in space, if ANYTHING else seems to be going on with that ship including more space craft take us out of here as fast as possible!”
Everyone responded in the affirmative, the bridge becoming a busy hive of activity once more as they all sought to find a way, any way, to stop this newest threat.
Sgt. Gravius smiled slightly inside his beaked helmet after having heard the announcement of the female claiming to be the captain of this strange, heretical vessel. She clearly did not know what it meant when Astartes boarded your ship, to her detriment.
After splitting off from the Shadow Captain’s Insurgency Team, Gravius and the eight other Ravens under his command had begun making their way through the ship, following the map based off the scan from the thunderhawk as it had passed the ship, the internal schematic displayed across his helm as he lead the Ravens single file down the corridor towards what had been designated to be the main engine room.
The ship was too confined and small for a Astartes in full battle plate to maneuver well down the hall ways, let alone several Astartes to move down in anything but single file, yet they did so quickly and efficiently. Gravius had come upon several more of the yellow and black clothed security officers again, each armed with a energy based rifle in their hands which did little but annoy the Space Marines as the energy simply hit and dissipated against their plate. Scans on his helm showed that several of the security officers had maxed the power output of their weapons, and that were it not for his armor would have been disintegrated in an instant. As it was, the battle plate simply took the energy and dissipated it as it hit, causing no more than an annoyance to the warrior.
Each of the security officers had died a swift death from a quick and deadly slash of Gravius lightning claws, eviscerating them with ease and leaving behind nothing more than body parts and puddle of blood and gore. Several of the security officers had looked human but upon closer inspection were not, some having pointed ears such as the Eldar, others odd skin colors and different facial features such as crumpled noses or spots along their sides. Xenos and mutants Gravius had thought to himself with disgust. Were that not enough to stir the hate and revulsion within him to give these things the Emperor’s justice, the ship they now stalked through would have convinced him further. Full of what seemed to be a mix of xenos technology and heretical thinking machines, the feeling of being unclean and wishing to purge this ship from one end to another raged inside him like a angry tidal wave, yet he kept it in check and focused it on the killing to come.
The internal map they followed brought them to what could only be described as some kind of lift that would take them up several decks, then down another long hall way to the main engine room. The door to the lift, which had the word “turbo lift 23” on it’s door, was protected by the same energy field that had tried to prevent their initial breakout of the shuttle bay. Taking his cue from what Captain Shrike had done earlier, he stabbed his lightning claw into it, a few seconds later the energy screen burning out from the focused attack of energy coming from the lightning claw.
The lift was not operating, nor was it large enough to take more than two Astartes at a time. Gravius had stood back and watched as one of his Ravens, a youth named Jeron, walked into the lift at Gravius signal, knowing what to do. He had taken his chain sword into his right hand, thumbing the activation rune on the hilt, the whirring diamond edged teeth of the blade moving at high speed as he had stabbed up, moving the sword along easily as it cut through the almost flimsy material the roof of the lift was made of, taking a step back as the section of the roof he had just cut away fell to the deck, a large jagged hole cut into the ceiling of the lift.
The Ravens had gone through the planning process quickly and efficiently before the attack commenced, so they knew what to do. Gravius was the first to go up, his gene-enhanced muscles combined with the fiber muscle-bundles of his suit shot him like a rocket upwards as he jumped up through the hole in the lift’s ceiling, his gauntleted hands grasping on a jutting out piece of railing. Combining his superhuman strength with the magnetic locking systems of his boots activating, the climb up the long shaft was simple. The rest of the Ravens followed in suit, a quick and efficient climb along the shaft for several decks until they approached the door for the deck they wanted, which would lead them right to the main engine room.
Another thrust of the lightning claw to overload the energy screen protecting the door once again caused the system to overload, and a hard kick to the door while hanging by one hand from a railing above the doorway sent the door shooting down the hallway at crushing speed, a unfortunate young ensign taking the full brunt of the door as it traveled down the hall at high speed, crushing every bone in her body before slamming her against a wall, further crushing and killing her.
Before the door had even made it half way down the hall way Gravius had swung himself into the hallway, bolt pistol in hand, scanning for any potential threats to cover the other Astartes as they quickly ascended the shaft. Another yellow and black clad security officer had rounded a corner and managed a shot at Gravius, the shot skidding his left pauldron before a round from his bolt pistol exploded the hapless human’s head.
Gravius moved quickly and efficiently down the hall way to give room for the rest of the Ravens as they moved out from the shaft and into the hallway, taking up position behind their Sergeant.
Once the insurgency team had all moved into the hall way behind Gravius, he motioned to one of the Marines at the rear of the single file line. The Marine nodded his understanding, taking the short sword from his hip and activating the power field, stabbing the energy charged blade into the black glossy panel at his side, these panels seeming to be some sort of computer link or interface to the ship, having noticed one that had stayed on displaying ship status after Gravius had dispatched a human in blue and black accessing one such panel after they had exited the shuttle bay.
Gravius hypothesis was correct, the directed energy of the power sword into the panel causing a overload of systems, causing the lighting on the deck to flicker wildly for a few moments and die completely a moment later. Now the Astartes were cloaked in darkness, with their gene-enhanced vision and the light amplifying systems of their suits, they had truly become one with the shadows, just as they preferred.
Bellana Torres cursed as the lights flickered for a few moments and then went dead completely, the glow of the warp core and the computer systems that still worked giving some light still to the frantic engine room.
The half human/half klingon woman cursed silently to herself, brushing a stray lock of sensual brown hair from her ridged forehead, not entirely sure what had been going on within the last hour or so aside from the space anomaly that Voyager had been studying. Since then reports had come in of strange aliens in large suits of armor boarding Voyager and causing havoc. She had been ordered by the captain to secure the warp core and lock down main engineering. To think, she had ready to head to her quarters and take a nice long bath with a glass of wine before all this started.
Torres checked the readout on the forcefield surrounding the warp core, noting all was well there as she turned from the panel in front of the core to take in things around her.
Everyone in engineering was armed with a phaser, and two security officers stood at all three entrances to the main engine room, armed with phaser rifles. She was grateful for the added protection. Engineers bustled this way and that across the deck from station to station, trying to figure out the sudden power failure in the lighting, the shorting out of multiple force field emitters that had been happening along the ship, and the frantic comm reports coming in of giants in black armor killing people. It wasn’t one of her better days she had to admit.
She was just about to walk over and correct one of her engineers on how to re-establish lighting when sounds from outside the engine rooms three main doors stopped her dead in her tracks, the small phaser coming up into her hand from her his and being set to maximum. Her focus was on the large main door to engineering, but the sounds could be heard from all three of the doors. The security officers shouldered their rifles at the large door at the sound also and watched.
The force field surrounding the door seemed to buzz and crackle for a few seconds before it was overloaded. Three razor sharp triangular claws crackling with energy punctured through the top left corner of the door a second later, sweeping down and to the left. A second set of claws did the same from the top right corner and sweeping down also, cutting the large door into four pieces which collapsed to the ground suddenly.
Torres eyes were having a hard time penetrating the darkness of the hallway without the light on, even with the glow of the warp core behind her, but even so could make out the faint outline of a giant, easily three times the size of the largest man in the engine room, massive bulk enhanced further by the massive black armor plating on him. The only thing she could make out for sure was a glowing pair of red eyes, eyes the had death written on them.
Just as Torres and the security officers opened fire on the figure standing in the center of the doorway, two more massive figures came around him with incredible speed for beings so large, their bulks almost merging with the shadows and making it difficult to follow them, but not difficult to follow what happened next.
Within seconds of the door collapsing the two figures in armor had run into the main engine room, one swinging some sort of buzzing sword at the security officer to her left, the sword cutting him clean in two from a stroke coming from his mid section and ending at his shoulder, blood and gore splattering Torres as the man fell into a heap of gore. The security officer on her right didn’t fare even better, though managing to get a phaser shot off at the figure still standing in the doorway, which to Torres astonishment the shot merely hit and splattered against the giants armor to no ill effect. Despite getting a shot off it did little good, the dark figure to her right had slammed a energy enveloped sword right into the sternum of the officer, picking him up as he slide along the blade and tossing him forcefully over the warriors head to slam dead into the wall behind.
Torres stood there mouth agape as the two warriors to her sides moved again at speed away from her as she stared at the beak helmed giant before her, shock visible on her features, along with the blood and gore that splattered her. The phaser dropped from her hand as she slowly turned around at the sounds behind her. Five more of the massive black armored being has broken through the other two doorways and continued to slaughter in the same manner as the other ones. One of the armored figures impaled a engineer near the warp core on a energy shimmering gauntlet of large metal claws she had seen cut through the door earlier, another dark hulking brute sending a large gauntleted fist directly at one of the security officers, leaving a jagged hole where his chest should have been and sending him flying across the room to slam against the force field protecting the warp core.
The scene repeated itself over and over in the engine room until it was all over in less than 15 seconds, to Torres it seemed like a life time. Some of the engine room crew had thrown their weapons down and surrendered, the black giants ceasing their slaughter towards those that surrendered and herding them towards Torres on the main walkway. She turned back towards the hulking giant who still stood in the doorway of the main door, his large boot steps echoing as he approached her. The red glowing eyes of his helm took her in slowly as he towered over her, a deep, almost robotic voice emanating from his helmet.
“Your not human, that much is certain from your physical features. Be thankful your death has been postponed a moment longer xenos filth. I am Sgt. Gravius of the 3rd Shadow Company of the Raven Guard, and you are all my prisoners” he said to her, the darkness seeming to cling to him like a wraith as she stood there in shock, still unable to fully comprehend the violent death that surrounded her.
Sgt. Gravius looked down at the xenos woman, her presence disgusting him. Wanting to end her life here and now, but knowing his captain’s orders he stayed her execution, for now. Instead, with barely any strength in it, he backhanded the woman to the deck, knowing the small energy he put into the blow would merely knock her out and not kill her as a blow at even half his strength would have done.
He opened the Raven Guard’s comm frequency within his helm as the insurgency team brought the humans and xenos who had surrendered over to where the unconscious woman lay, “Gravius here Captain, the engine room is ours”.
End Part 3
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