The Song of Steel

Ryan glanced wearily at the evolving bar room brawl, then glanced at Ethan, saying, "You never could learn when to hold your fuckin' horses, could you?"

Sighing at the fact that he could no longer drink here, he drew his shotgun, and aimed into the crowd, daring anyone to make a move.

The crowd froze with the shotgun pointed at them, they were not drunk enough to think they were bullet proof. Ethan drew his rifle from the slot on his back and aimed it at the crowd. The standoff tactic would probably have worked, if some drunk in the back of the bar had not shot his own foot off in an effort to get hid pistol out of its holster. That sent off a chain reaction of drunks charging the 4 of them.

Ethan fired a quick burst into the crowd, people in the front of the charge slumped to the ground, and then before he could fire another burst the crowd broke on them like a wave on the beach.

He swung his gun like a bat caving in skull after skull.

It turned out this was a really good day.

Quick as a flash, one of he drunkards drew a grimy magnum and began firing toward Ryan... And did so very poorly. One stray bullet split a man's skull in two, and another removed a whore's knee from her leg.

But as soon as it began, the gunman was blown in half by a nasty shot to the torso. "Anyone pull another gun in me bar and it'll be the last thing they ever do." The bartender growled, pumping the spent cartridge from her smoking shotgun. She gave a particularly nasty look to Ryan and Ethan.

Ryan smiled, then dropped his shotgun. It immediatly fell apart on the ground, becoming nothign more then a pile of spare parts. "Damn cheap ass guns..." He muttered, as he walked over to the fellow who was killed by the bartender, and picked up his magun, along with about fifteen extra rounds too.

Ethan popped a hand full of coppers on the bar and started backing towards the door.

"I think we should take our leave friends, sorry about the blood stains."

Sighing a breath of relief as the situation slowly resolved itself, Kohma began to contemplate returning to his seat.

And then he heard it. A deep rumbling noise, like one would expect of a gigaphant stampede. "The hell?" was the only thing he could say before the world combusted around him. Somehow he never heard the explosion, but he certainly heard the screams, and felt the concussion as it blew him clear of the raging torrent.

And then he felt nothing, as if he were flying through the air. But that ended when he slammed against a shattered tree and blacked out.

He woke up some time later, but it couldn't have been much longer at all since people were still crawling out of the annihilated bar in flames, screaming the whole way. Instinctively he looked up, and instantly forgot all about Gally Jack and the two men he'd just met.

There were dreadnoughts, and a great many of them. But for every dreadnought, a dozen or more smaller vessels flew alongside it. From the look of them all, one had to wonder how the sky could accommodate such a massive fleet.

And each one was firing... Raining hot death upon the landscape, turning the entire area to scorched earth. It took Kohma several moments to realize that they weren't all firing down... Several were firing at their fellow ships. "A battle." He said, dumbly.

He was still in shock. He checked himself quickly, making quite certain that he was still in possession of all his vital organs. After he verified the affirmative, he stumbled toward the bar in search of survivors.

kadin woke up outside the bar. everything was upside down. kadin made and effort to roll over and he fell about 5 feet on top of kohma.

"oh shit what happened" said kadin rubbing his head and getting off of kohma

Ethan stumbled around a little in the bar, while his suit had taken the brunt of the beating, he still probably cracked a rib. He walked around, in a daze. Then do to his combat training he manged to clear some of the fuzz out of his head.

"Ryan, Kohma, any one alive"

"I'm... alright." Kohma said as he struggled back to his feet.

OOC: Sorry for the Late Entry, i hope its alright D:

Garth opens his eyes, lifitng his head up Inspecting the area around him, realising he has been knocked onto his stomach, with a tabel overturned on top of him. With a Grunt he Slowly slides the table off of him and gets up, upon inspection he finds out he has lost all of his weapons in the Explosions, 'Must have fallen out the holsters...' He said to himself with a frown. Looking around he sees one of the drunks dead next to him, Garth Searches his body and finds a pen knife and a half drunken bottle of mead. Garth takes a sip of the mead only to spit it back out realising his mouth is bleeding as well as a good amount of blood already being in the bottle, Garth Looks at the bottle Raising a eyebrow, then shrugs and quickly downs the rest. 'A beer is a beer, or what ever this is' said Garth, Obivously Tipsy and Dazed. Quickly he started wandering about, trying to find someone who knows whats going on. Suddenly he notices the Huge Armada in the sky, 'Well....Were Boned' he said to himself. He Notices Ethan in the distance and starts stumbling toward him 'Hey, HEY, You! Whats going on here!'

OOC: Dunt insult mai RP, and tell me if i got the story line wrong thus far plz

Ryan woke up to pitch darkness. All he remembered was an explosion, so either there was an invasion afoot, or he hit his head on the counter. Again. Reaching out, he realized that he was pinned under some drunkards fat ass. Pushing hte dead man asid, he saw that the poeple he just now met were relatively unharmed. Then, he looked up, and saw the armada raining death on the surface. He was starting to think this was going to be a bad day.

Ethan looked up at the sky, scared for his planet that was under his protection. Ethan then looked around to all the people calling at him.

"Get over here if you can still move. Does any one see any markings on the ships, who attacking."

Ethan then helped Ryan up from the ground.

"What the hell is going on"

Ryan looked at Ethan, and said, "How the hell should I know? I've been drinking myself to death for the past two years! If anything, you should know why the hell the planet appears to be set on fire!"

Garth After alot of sturggle Drunkly Stumbles over to Ethan and Ryan 'Whats up with the Freaky Death Lasers?' Garth Said, Breathing heavily. Garth Notices His weapons in some rubble from the Bar 'Oh Hey! Theres my weapons...Convenetly..Place together...Whatever' Goes over to the rubble and holsters his weapons, Making sure he straps the holster correctly and clips on his belt, Turning back to Ethan and Ryan 'Im Not sure but we should really go find some shelter...Or we could stay and get Laser Molested'.

"There is no shelter, those guns will rip threw right about anything, we are better off staying where they already fired on, they wont fire again till its time to clean up. And Ryan how would I know, I am just a Sergent, I don't get any from the higher up except orders, I am in the black like anyone else. Any one else have any ideas."

'Hmm...Good point' Garth Said with sudden realisation, 'Well im Garth, GArth Ishta, Former Hunter, What can i call you guys?'

'And no i havent got any real idea on what to do...Those lasers kinda did my head in...i dought we could find any ships nearby that still work..'

Kohma's mind raced. He hadn't been prepared for such an occasion... And such stressing things usually didn't happen whilst he was trying to enjoy his whiskey.

Suddenly a sustained rumble emanated over the ruined landscape, followed closely by the sounds and smells of burning rubber.

"A caravan." Kohma realized once he noticed the long line of armored trucks in the distance. "Urthan military I think it'd be safe to wager."

It wasn't long at all until the caravan was upon them, verifying his hypothesis. It took a good minute for the entire procession to roll past them.

Unexpectedly, the last truck in the line pulled over next to the ruins of the Drunken Whore. "Come with us, or you're dead!" A young man clad in a soldier's attire shouted from the driver's window. "What's happening?!" Kohma shouted back, almost immediately. "It's the Royal Fleet! That's all I know! Now get in here!" The soldier shouted back, revving his engines to emphasize the need for urgency.

And Kohma readily obeyed, after an uncertain glance towards his wounded bar-companions.

Eyeing the soldier with great distaste, Ryan climbed into the truck, making sure the pistol he had taken was functional. Glancing upwards again, he said, nerviously , "I think we should get out of here. We need to find a ship, and get as far away as possible."

Ethan pulled himself inside the truck, making sure his Sergent insignia was still on his armor.

"Solider tell me everything you know right now"

He offered his hand to pull Garth inside the truck.

Garth Climbs into the Truck Without any hesitation, turning to the Soldier 'What the hell is going on here?!?!' He said quite loudly determined to get a Good explination.'Were being randomly Bombed, i want a reason!'

If the soldier was surprised to be picking up a sergeant at a flaming brothel, he didn't show it. "I'm afraid that's all we know sir. It's the Valhallan fourth and ninth armadas. They're refusing all radio transmissions."

Ryan looked at the soldier, and said, "Private, you better give me some more detail in that explanation or so help me I will shove my axe so far up your ass, you'll be tasting your own shit!"

On that note, Ryan drew his old Navy boarding axe, about fifteen inches in length, but razor sharp.

Garth Sighs and Turns to the Newly met People 'I Still havent gotten any of your names yet'. Garth Tilted his head back trying to piece together whats happening

'One thing for sure.....We wont be drinking beer for a Loooooooong time' Garth Said With a Sad tone

" I am sergent Ethan Striker" He addresed this to Garth

He then turned back to the solider

"Whats your name, and here's a few more questions, how are our forces handling this, have they landed any one one the ground, where are we headed."

Ethan looked up at the sky to see two ships collide, and come raining down from the sky.

"Dam, what is going on"

"I'm, uh... Kohma Karwell." Kohma said, extending a hand in expectation of a hand shake.

"They arrived twenty minutes ago, out of hyperspace. We had no time to prepare. We're on our way to Avmoore Skybase. They haven't destroyed that one yet." The soldier explained in between pauses as he concentrated on his driving. The road was quite treacherous, peppered with newly-created flaming holes of death.

"And my name is Bael, sir. Bael Barlaw."