Human Coalition | Site A | written by: Ian

Jiro Nakamura

“Hey Mick, check this out!”
Jorge motions his buddy over to the battered suit hanging on the rack. It’s just come in from a field operation, and the turnaround on these new Zuyong suits is tight - they want them operational in just two frickin’ cycles.

“Ever seen anything like it? There’s more damage to the back of the suit then the front. This was one unlucky soldier. Must’ve been facing the wrong way at least half the battle.”
Jorge starts taking the nano-ceramic plates off the carbon-cell power unit on the back.
“Jeez, he took at least one large caliber round right through the linear accelerator lines. He’s lucky it didn’t bleed litho-hydraulic fluid over the thermal regulator. Heard the guy walked away from the battle. Some talented doc with a palbot put him back on his feet twice, fighting those a-hole space monkeys”.
Micky walked around the suit and whistled low. “Daaamn! There’s another sweet one right through the triton distributor chassis. Looks like a Feurbach round to me - That’s what, a 15mm round? And he walked back? That is one badass dude! And at least two more rounds hit here and here”, as he prodded the dented and bent titanium ceramic exo-plates.

“Hey, have you pulled the suit recorder footage? I know, I know, we’re not supposed to see it, operational security BS and all that, but hey….” He looks around furtively.

Jorge looks back, glances around, and pulls a small data cube from his pocket with a grin.
“Little entertainment after a hard day at work.” He says with a wink.

“Anyway, back to work, let’s get this bitch back up and ready to bounce. Hand me that screwdriver. Yeah, the number two….”

++++++++++

The holoscreen comes to life as Jorge puts the data cube down on the reader plate. A frozen image of a small but dense command center, as seen from a central rooftop, comes up on the screen. “Play” says Jorge as he opens a beer and passes it to Micky, then grabs one for himself. The video starts moving forward as the Zuyong moves towards the edge of the building, and lifts his HMG to cover the gateway in between two tall nanocrete walls. Suddenly the sound of heavy caliber gunfire erupts through the tiny apartment’s speakers, and the damage indicators start flashing red and blinking in the HUD. The image goes black for a few seconds as the Zuyong topples forward from the multiple hits from behind. The HUD goes dark, then sparks back to life as a data/med signal from a palbot brings the suit back to consciousness.
The Zuyong (Specialist Miko, from the tag in the data stream), struggles back to his feet, and moves toward where the fire came from. Three large Morats are moving forward, firing at everything they can see. Mike opens up with his HMG on the largest of the three, but he might as well be throwing eggs at the Morat for all the damage it appears to be taking.
“Holy s**t, those dudes are big! Glad that’s as close I’ll ever get to one”, Micky observes over his beer.
A large caliber round slams into the shoulder of the suit, making the video stream dance wildly for a second. The Zuyong rises again, then slams forward as rounds hit him in the back from the original direction that he had been covering. The screen goes black again, and again, comes back to life from a data/med stream from the nearby palbot.
Although they know that both the suit and soldier make it back, they are still white-knuckled around their beers as the holoscreen shows the soldier once more rising up and hoisting his HMG.
“That is one badass motherf-“ Micky starts to say when there is a knock at the door.

Jorge quietly says “stop and close”, and the screen goes dark and sinks back into the countertop.

“Who’s there?”
“This is the Bao. You have three seconds to open this door before we blow it open.”
Jorge and Micky lock eyes, then they both turn to look at the data cube. As they move to sweep it off the reader into the micro-incinerator, the door blows open and a flash grenade tinkles in and stops on the floor, then detonates.
“ 3. I never bother with 1 or 2. By the way, you’re under arrest.” The Bao officer says, as he steps through the wreckage of the door, and walks toward the two groaning bodies on the floor.

++++++++++

"Do not take what is not yours. The many Servants of the Emperor are ever vigilant, and know many things".
Posted on the door frame of the unit 543B, block 7, after the lawful arrest of two thieves, who have become nameless.

Human Coalition | Site A | written by: Tom

Johnny Silvini

Johnny heard more aggressive grunting from the direction of the sewer grate he was assigned to cover and popped back up with his rifle ready to fire and sent a burst at the next filthy, muck covered Daturazi climbing out of the hole.

"Ah, don't feel so bad monkey boy, at least you can't smell yourself any more!"

There was another explosion behind him, hopefully the Tomcat's doing their job with the sewer entrances in that quadrant but Johnny had no time to look and see as another monkey came jumping out of the hole and ate another volley for lunch.

"This is great! I needed some target practice! How are you doing over there Naki-man?" He called over the comlink. "Any smelly monkey's in your sights?"
"Hello? Mister Nakamura-san? Hellooooooooo?"

Keep the coms clear Silvini, Agent Nakamura's forces are dealing with a Sogorat attack right now and don't need you distracting them with your ramblings. A Praeta has infiltrated the compound behind you, take care of it then get back to your post, we have additional Morat signals making a final push towards your position.

"Yes sir Oh High and Mighty Disembodied Voice Sir!" Johnny saluted before sprinting across the roof and quickly spotting the gribly beast in the courtyard below, casually chomping on what looked to be Sgt. Winters' arm, and putting a bullet into it's skull.

"This is more fun then a barrel of monkeys!"

Combined Army | Site A | written by: Kris

Gungo Boom

Gungo Boom swore again. The stench from the sewers was seeping into his skin. It'll take him a week of hot showers just to get rid of it. They were all supposed to clamber up the ladders and get out into the city. All this waiting was making his skin itch. The witch soldiers had requested to be first up. They always want to be first up. That's why the troops around him called them the bitch soldiers. He could hear chain rifle fire and grenade explosions coming from 50 yards down the tunnel. I guess the Daturazi finally made it up. That means they get to go next.

The first up the ladder was the fire team of Morat Vanguard Infantry. Next Gungo got to go up. "Fresh air at last. No longer a stink from human waste!" The Morat Vanguard were behind him ready to go. All of a sudden there was a sharp cry from the trailing Morat. Gungo swirled around just in time to see a nano pulser shoot from the shadows. One Morat went down to the infernal weapon just as one of the human ninja bastards materialized from the shadows. The remaining four Vanguard infantry charged in against the ninja before Gungo could warn them. Crap, there goes that fire team, Gungo thought to himself as he unsheathed his axe. The fight was a swirl of blades and bodies. Two more Vanguard infantry went down before Gungo could get into the combat. He had to admit those ninja's were good at their craft. Gungo swung an expert curve at the ninja's head hoping to take it off. The ninja's sword was a blur as it blocked his axe. His riposte cut the axe in half. Huh! Though Gungo as he watched his axe head go flying in the air. "I think he's got a monofilament...." before he could finish his sentence another riposte sent Gungo's head flying in the air. Thank god for cubes....

Bok Sotok could hear the fighting above him. He knew something was going on. He un-holstered his assault pistol and climbed up the ladder. He jumped out of the manhole in time to see Gungo's head land at his feet and a human ninja take down another Morat. Thank god for cubes he thought to himself as he saw Gungo's surprised look. Looking at the ninja swirling around and keeping his Morats on the defensive Bok just lost it. "If you want something done right you do it yourself!" he screamed. He took aim at the ninja in the middle of his own men and just unloaded a full clip. Quickly reloading two more clips went into the melee. When the red haze and gunsmoke cleared the ninja was finally dead. Riddled with bullets the ninjas corpse laid twitching on the ground. The fact that 2 more of his men also died from assault pistol round didn't really phase Bok too much. There was still work to do. Where the hell was that damn doctor worm? And where the hell was Kornak and Goran. "Fix these men up!" Bok screamed and wandered over to his remaining men to get things motivated.

Combined Army | Site A | written by: Kyle

Treitak Goran

Kornak and Goran exited the sewer when the General gave the order. Gungo Boom's squad would hit the ememy from the other side, in a pincer manouver. They would be trapped between Marats, and more Morats, not a situation Goran would even want to be in, he admitted.

Kornak's Sogarat escort opened the festivities, engaging multiple targets and trying to draw the enemy out of cover. Taking a hail of bullets from the human reaction bot, Rotak uttered a grunt of profanity as he turned it into slag for the second time. Blood was oozing from his shoulder plate as he shrugged to Jotor.

Where the hell was Gungo Boom?? thought Goran; They hadn't made it out of the sewer yet, and there was comms chaos on their channel. Something wasn't right over there.

Seeing that the pincer was not closing, Kornak ordered the advance. "We have to get moving, you are MORATS! Show them what you've got!" The Sogarats started walking, not bothered by the utter lack of cover down the entry way to the compund. Dropping targets left and right, all was going well. As they exited the coridoor, a shimmer from the upper level gave way to a heavily armoured figure in all black armour, weilding a rather large Missile Weapon. The HE rounds were aimed right at Kornak, so the team dodged out of the way, hitting as much cover as they could. Another shell was inbound, his team returning fire but unable to hit the camoflaged target. This time the projectiles were aimed at Rotak, who was unable to avoid one of the shots. A firey explosion knocked Rotak to the ground and punched through his red armour. Orange warning Kaxions sounded on Kornaks HUD to notify him of his team's status. Jotor had been moving forward with his Fuerbach, blood spurting from his armour where the suit had not yet administered coagulant. Moving up to a window Jotor drew his sidearm. Through a fury of munitions, the Hulking Sogarat staggered back. Kornak saw the Klaxion turn orange as Jotor dropped, his faceplate torn to pieces with shrapnel from what could only be a Chain Weapon.

Moving forward, Kornak and Anyat kept pushing towards the courtyard. Another 8 missiles rained down from the Hac Tao into Rotok's armoured body, it seems this combatant had encountered the Sorgarat might before and was determined not to let his automedkit return him to the fight. With a Grimace, Kornak watched 7 missiles bounce off Rotoks Honoured Warsuit, however they do have their limits. Finally one got through and detonated, blowing Rotok out of existence. He had almost made it to his one year mark as a Sogarat, it was his time thought Kornak.

Anyat had just brought down a Domaru as it charged toward her, it seems Jotor had wounded the soldier previously. Anyat's K1 ammo cut through the plate armour and brought him low before he could land a strike which surely would have killed her. The invasion had been a failure, the General was unable to breach the defences and Kornak was out of time. Grabbing Jotor under his arm, Kornak carried his comerade to safety, warsuit and all. Anyat followed, covering the route. The humans had secured an important victory here, but wining one battle and losing a war was not worth it. The Combined Army had battered the humans badly up until now, and continued to press their advantage. The Morats would see much more bloodshed before this was done, and that suted them just fine, win or lose.

Human Coalition | Site B | written by: Brad

Brother Roderick

<< NO DEBRIEFING FILED >>

Combined Army | Site B | written by: Spud

Jacques du Jungle, Sepsitorized French Canadian Space Lumberjack

"Pamplemousse!", cried Jacques.

His fellow brainwashed NeoCanadians continued to ignore him.

Jacques was not bothered. It was always thus.

Human Coalition | Site C | written by: Dan

Agent Meyers

A choice between guaranteed death and a slim chance at avoiding it is no real choice at all.

Now, aboard the roaring drop-carrier with it’s dim red lights and cargo netting on steel motif, Agent Meyers reflected on that fact. It was hard to concentrate though, mostly due to every inch of his skin feeling like it was being pressed up against hot metal. He was sweating, burning, freezing, shaking and cramping all at once. His left arm, where he had taken the injection, was by far the worst; the pain almost numbing from the fingertips to the shoulder.

But he was alive, and that was something.

He had shared what he thought was relevant with the Akalis sergeant, expecting to achieve an easier working relationship, but somehow still wound up in the ships brig. Singh had left him with a nanocyde capsule and a syringe of the serum. The shit eating grin he had shown Meyers before closing the door had been all the explanation he needed. Sure death, or a chance at something else. That was no real choice at all.

Through the haze of pain Meyers tried to recall what he had read about the serum and it’s potential effects. His reverie was interrupted by the gravelly voice of Steven Rao, the strike team’s leader. “You look like shit Meyers.” The Indigo’s normally charming smile was apparently not enough to reassure the Lieutenant, as he continued, “I don’t know what you and that little weasel Kirpal Singh are up to, but if it gets any of my men killed you can rest assured I’ll put you down myself, Indigo or no.”

“THIRTY SECONDS TO TARGET,” blared the automated warning message. Meyers managed a shaky smile, then went back to his previous state of feeling like an egg in a screaming hot fry pan.

~ ~ ~

With proper ground under his feet and his combi rifle in a loose combat grip, Meyers felt almost human again. The thumps and cracks of battle that he could hear from all over the station were somehow comforting, and the pain that had wracked his body so severely only moments ago seemed to have abated to a dull throb.

It seemed to help him focus.

As he approached the next corner his map HUD showed him that it opened onto a large green space between buildings, and one of the Exrah had been sighted amongst the trees. He rounded the corner at a run, crouched low to the ground and almost instantly caught the movement of some kind of frog combat remote from the far side of the clearing. It was spooling up some type of plasma weapon, and drawing a bead on him.

Meyers flicked on his mimetism and increased his speed, making for a stand of nearby trees and ducking underneath the first plasma salvo. The second smacked into the bowl of a large tree with an instant hissing sound, and was close enough that some of it splashed onto his armor and began to eat into it. Now he could see the Exrah, huddled between two stands of trees, looking about nervously. All he had to do was –

The blast caught him completely off guard, and though his armor’s ablative plating saved him from melting it’s technical defences were no match for the alien plasma. In a moment of regrettable clarity he could feel the datajack in his spine superheating, and for the second time in one day agent Meyers experienced a whole new level of pain.

And then it all went blissfully quiet and black.

~ ~ ~

The Exrah on the roof chittered nervously, clutching a knife awkwardly and slowly backing away from the frog-like creature aiming a weapon at it. They were not communicating well, despite the Exrah’s attempts to exhort that it did not want to go with the frog and to please stop aiming the weapon at it. Just when it thought things couldn’t get worse there was a roaring from the sky, then a terrifying shadow.

Kirpal Singh, sergeant of the Akalis Sikh Commandoes came blazing out of the lower atmostphere like an avenging angel, skidding to the rooftop some twenty feet away at a full run. The frog thing had just enough time for some strange noises before it had to lift it’s weapon and discharge a long gout of roiling flame in the newcomer’s direction.

The Exrah watched with impossibly increased tension as the small man rolled flawlessly under the flamethrowers path and came up in a fighting crouch, assault pistol in one hand and a long, viciously curved knife in the other. In a heartbeat he had come to grips with the frog-man, ducked under a clumsy swing of it’s flamethrower and gutted it in a heartlessly smooth motion.

The Exrah quivered in awe and reverence as the man it perceived as it’s saviour strode casually towards it, seemingly unphased by the bullet ricochets and other sounds of battle all around them. “Well, what are you waiting for?” It said in a delightful variance of the normal human accent. The small man took a few steps towards the edge of the lab’s roof, looking over his shoulder to say, “Come on you son-of-a-bitch, or do you want to live forever?” before jumping over and vanishing from sight.

Without the slightest trace of a second thought, the Exrah ran towards the edge and leapt after the small God with the jetpack and the scary knife.

~ ~ ~

MEDICAL LOG, SICK BAY ONE, KOMAGATA MARU

OBSERVER: Doctor Kamandraj, Noor, P.

PATIENT NAME: Meyers, S.

CONDITION: Stable, Monitored

SECURITY CLEARANCE: Highest

NOTES:

Patient is stable, but still at great risk. Blood pressure, temperature, heart rate and metabolic rate all dramatically increased, in some cases at historically dangerous levels

Patient arrived in a conscious state, and I have received reports that he made it to the drop ship on his feet, but damage to his spinal column and legs is not congruent with these observations

He has regained limited consciousness several times, but cannot coherently answer questions or pass neurokinetic tests, rambling and clumsy

Most troubling is the change in his physiology, which does not seem to be slowing down – resulting in spiny, chitinous patches on his epidermis that are most concentrated along the left arm but have begun spreading to the upper torso and neck

Datalogs in the patients armour record that the subject was confirmed deceased for over three minutes before the dignostic systems record a full reset and then vitals return to functional, in some cases beyond normal

Bloodwork revealed a stew of CA chemicals, some of which can be accounted for my the plasmoid weaponry that clearly damaged his armour, others of which are currently unknown to our facility

Samples currently under analysis

Patient is allowed no visitors or communication devices without the signed authorization of Sergeant Kirpal Singh

Combined Army | Site C | written by: Ben

El-Shiva-Ra

The large insect didn't know where to go. It was smart enough to recognize it was going to get squished. A scuttle to the left and splat. A scurry to the right and squash. It was dead already it just had to chose how.

Agent El-Shiva-Ra took that choice from the chitinous creature. Her slave drone slithered forward, stopping before the hulking insect. Despite the substantial size difference the Exrah knew fear. The remote 'worm' extended a reeking slime tentacle appendage; a syringe protruding from the end. The 'worm' slammed it home into the chest of the Exrah, the monofilament tip piercing the insects plated shell with ease. The released neurotoxin rending it compliant.

The Mistress of Lies watched all through her slave drone. The Exrah would be dissected later on her lab table. Any secrets it held would be peeled from it. Later the choicest pieces would be ground down and fed to the hatchlings. A survivor race left nothing to waist.

The Corax Shivasti Operative plugged her cube into the research terminal and data dumped its contents. Her background in 'surgeries' and biotechnology allowed her to strip away the fallacies and mine the truth from the content. The Exrah had been doing wonderful things she mused; the EI would be furious.

All around El-Shiva-Ra a war raged for control of the facility. PanO drop troops rained from the skies as inbound human military craft strafed the buildings. Corax Agent Hasht and his team of seed soldiers punished the humans. Q-drones arched lines of fire kept the PanO forces from advancing. The Mistress of Lies laughed as she exited the field of fire. Hell half the PanO soldiers were really her Speculo Killers. No she would not die this day. She disappeared into her Ghost Ship with her prize. Agent Hasht would make his own escape and link up later. The drones would be left behind to raise the death toll.

As the cloaked ship evaded the human support craft she felt compelled to watch the events unfolding below. One thing drew her notice. A lone human cut off from his group lay shredded from an Obsidian's munitions. She focused on him as something truly interesting happened...

Human Coalition | Site D | written by: Cam

Sister Katherine

Roderick headed towards the extraction point. The Morats succeeded in evacuating after they had destroyed the mainframe and taken the memory core from the corrupted sentry bot. Today the knights succeeded in recovering a sepsitorized Kaplan and Roderick had gathered bio data on the strange alien species known as the Preta.

The battle itself was hard fought, the Morats gave as good as they got. Both sides suffered heavy losses. The magister knights began a valiant and heroic last charge to capture the entombed doctor and to recover another Kaplan but unfortunately their sacrifice was in vain. Now they are with our father in heaven and their bravery will be remembered.

Combined Army | Site D | written by: Derrick

Shivra Cahst

Shivra tapped out here after action report with a loud sigh. All the excitement of enemy contact now just a memory, but one she had to type out for her superior. Some useless REMF who never saw a day of front line action. Who asked just as many questions about her actions as her spelling.

-Beep-

“KIMNP” she swore out loud as the call was in fact the same officer in question.

{written by Spud from briefing}

“Commander, there is an important task that must be undertaken to ensure the success of a major operation in the human dwelling cluster. Our agents are poised to strike, but certain defenses are still in place that may give the enemy an early warning of our attack, giving them time to fortify their position.

Your task will be to destr--

...

One moment, Commander.

...

What the hell is...

...

SKRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEET!

COMMANDER!

FORGET THE TASK!

A HUMAN IS HERE!

I AM TOO VALUABLE TO PERISH IN THIS PLACE!

COMMAND KNOWS THIS!

THEY WILL REWARD YOU!

SAVE ME!

SKRREEEE--

----- TRANSMISSION ENDS -----

(Scenario text over)

Somewhat slowly Shivra rose from her seat. Thinking “I could be too late to save him and report with regret ….” She swore aloud and ran out of her office.

Running down the hallway she passed several offices and screamed “Intruder sound the base alarms, ALERT THE QRF, Now you slugs!”

Exiting the building she ran straight into several Shavestii.. Obviously armed and returning from a mission or training. “YOU 5 on me now, and bring the Med-Tech we may need him.”

“Excuse me Treitak, is this how you address your Superiors?” his eyes were glimmering with promised repercussions

Turning back from her full sprint she noticed what she missed in her haste one of the Aswangs indeed out ranked her. “Apologies sir but we have an intruder apparently heading into the commander's office, his cooms with me ended abruptly when he reported it”.

“Lets move now,” he started to run. Turning to her he stated “report while we go.”

“No specifics sir,” she replied continuing on again this time at his side. Looking to her side she noticed all of them activating their camouflage equipment and checking weapons. “I was receiving my next mission briefing when he suddenly started talking about a human on base and then the line went out.” As far as I know it is a single Human or small unit from which of their factions I have no idea.”

“Well we just brought some Exrah Merchants on base.” He replied “We left them in the cargo bay waiting on the commander. they are between us the the Commander's office and the Human. We best secure them on the way. Let the QRF take care of the Commander.”

“Understood sir,” she replied almost happily. “ Maybe they will be delayed getting to the that weak commander after all” she thought.

Glancing left she stopped suddenly, and yelled out “Gronshu get over here”

A larger Morat came from around the corner with the slow deliberate pace of her race. “ Why are you y….”

“Listen,” you still have those fresh hatchlings on base? are they trained?”

“elling… Yeah but they are at best half trained, why ? “ he started sensing the the urgency .

"Well if they have developed the taste for Human meat then get them and bring them to the cargo bay we have a human intruder, and grab anyone else that you can find arms for”. Just then the station alarm klaxons started up.

They all started sprinting again.

Entering the Cargo bay she dropped her pack only to see the super serum. Smiling she looked at the mechonoid doctor. “No better time to try this out then now.” she said “please assist in injecting this.”

“This serum does not appear to be in my database. results of injection are unknown.” stated the Mechonoid,

Shivra smiled “Don’t worry I believe I do.”

She felt a slight pinch as the needle punctured her skin, followed by a slow growing warmth. She smiled as she felt her body grow warm a slight haze started to fill her vision. In the small recesses of her brain there was a silent scream "this isn’t right...."

Looking down Shivra felt more then saw the haze leaving her vision, sprawled at her her feet were the remnants of a human. Monofilament fibers slowly disappating making the area of the mine explosion safe again.

“What the KIMNP happened?” she said to no one in particular.

“You’re one of the blood thirstiest Morats I have ever seen Shivra,” replied the Malignos beside her, his TO equipment cycling down making him visible to all. “ It is my hope you are always on my side of the field” with that he walked away, his head shaking the look of wonderment tattooed on her vision.

“I am?”