The Song of Steel

Holstering his axe, Ryan grunted, then turned to the new fellow in the truck. "My names Ryan. Ryan Coleman, and I get a little bit cranky when I find out my planet is being bombed. Especialy when I am drinking."

Garth finds it hard to tell which ship is on whos side, but is enjoying the mindless carnage and explosions in the sky, with raining Fighter Parts Garth almost forgot that this was bad.

'Who ever these guys are...They certainly know how to Invade a whole god damn planet...ive got my hunches we have all just been recruited into the army.....oh joy....This is going to be the best god damned day of my life.....'

Garth Turns to Ryan 'He dont worry, Booze does that to a person...My biggest piece of evidence being the huge Bar fight...Hey maybe these invaders are Drunk to' Garth Laughs to himself 'that would explain there horrible piloting....Or are those are fighters....Hmm...'

"Shit..." The driver growled as he unexpectedly swerved, sending everyone bouncing about the compartment. A look out the window revealed that they had just narrowly avoided being strafed by a Clearjaw. The truck ahead of them hadn't been so lucky, though. They were melting quite painfully.

"Fifteen more minutes of this..." The driver grumbled, a bead of sweat making it's way down his neck.

Garth Managed to Grab hold of his seat but was still Knocked about, Shaking his head Garth Turned to the Driver 'Like Ethan said, where are we going?'

"Somewhere better than here." The driver grumbled, not wishing to repeat himself.

Ethan looked up and the sky and saw something he did not like.

"There's another strafing run coming in, Barlaw get the lead out."

He then looked back to see that there was no way they would outrun them.

"Barlaw, does the turret on top work."

"Yeah." The driver responded, "But our gunner took a piece of shrapnel to the back of the head a few minutes before we found you guys."

Ryan sighed, then said, in a low voice, "I'll do it. Just make sure I don't end up like him, or you'll not have a very pleasent life." Standing up, he crossed towards the front of the truck, then climbed up the small ladder next to the driver, exiting on the top front of the truck, with a blood splatered turret in front of him.

Glancing at the gun, he guessed it was a cannon of sorts, but he was unfamiliar with the model or caliber. Hoping it was a very large one, he grabbed ahold of the handles, then swiveled it to face the oncoming fighter. Lining up his shot, he muttered a quick curse, then pulled the trigger. The gun belched fire and smoke, and a hole about the size of a bar stool appeared in the direct center of the fighter, the pilots torso dissapearing. Sighing with a mix of dread, satisfaction, and a craving for some sort of alcoholic beverage, he climbed back down the ladder, and sat back down.

"Nice one, sir. But there may be more where he came from... That's the fourth one we've had to put down." The driver warned in a cautious tone.

Suddenly raising his right hand from the wheel, he pointed his index finger forward "Can you see those towers? The skybase is about two kilometers north."

Isaiah Thundrice stood in the observation deck of the Magellan-class Battleship, The only Abh Assault-type spaceship orbiting planet Urth, as a major Abh presence here would place all blame on them.

"And how is their invasion going?" Isaiah asked an adjacent officer.

"It's too early to foresee the outcome, sir, but the Valhallan armadas have the upper hand at this point. However, they've yet to destroy two important bases of the Urthan army; One being Avmoore, and the other one being a rather small base that will be conquered shortly, we're assured."

"Very well." Said the Abh Royalty. "As we've been sent here to oversee their invasion, and assist in what small way we can, I'd like this ship within beaming distance of Avmoore skybase. Also, prepare the planetary warfare group, and fetch me my equipment."

"S-Sir?" The officer stuttered. "You intend to join the assault?"

"It is necessary to gather all the information we require on their Anti-Spacial defenses, and I HAVE been sent here to oversee operations. It's always been my way to do so... Directly."

"Yessir" The officer shouted, and then dashed off to do as Isaiah had commanded.



OoC: No, That was not the Star Trek Magellan-class. Also, Everything alright with my post, Trig?

kadin just sat there perfectly calm as if nothing were happening.

kadin turned his head up and was very angry "i didnt get to finish my ale!!! those bastards!" said kadin slamming his fist down.

everyone on the truck just looked at him in total awe. kadin could see the driver in the rear-view mirror with a raised eyebrow

"what i barley ever get to sit and relax!" said kadin still very angry

"Pray tell, what's to become of us when we get to this Skybase?" Kohma asked, referring to those in the truck that weren't soldiers.

"Evacuees are to be loaded into the dreadnaught-class Zustin-1, along with enough military personnel to oversee onboard operations... Or so I'm told." The driver responded, eying the horizon suspiciously for any signs of imminent danger. "Ah." Kohma replied, sinking back in his chair.

Looking out of the window again, he was able to see a number of vessels along the base's perimeter. Some were small, some were large, but all with any sort of fixed turret were firing desperately into the sky in an attempt to stave off attackers. Somehow, very little calamity had befallen the base or it's inhabitants... The invasion force was most likely too busy wiping the nearby city of Akberge off the map.

"Whom is in command of the Zustin-1, please tell me its someone with a very good space fairing record."

Ethan than pointed to the sky as a few more clearjaws came in.

"Take them out Ryan."

" that ship better have some big ass weaponry to get us out of here" said kadin thinking about the next time he might get to drink some ale.

"i sure hope it does" said the driver swerving to the right to doge a charge of plasma

"Uh... " The driver mumbled, trying to think. "I believe the captain is... Either Danfort Batefield, or Qybrash Oldam... Fuck!!"

At that moment another Clearjaw had swooped in for an attack run, but someone took it out with a missile.

"Should have been a carpenter like pop..." The driver grumbled to himself, scratching nervously at the wheel with his finger.

And then... A smashing sound filled the truck as the windshield shattered. Slumping over on the wheel, the driver sent the truck into a wild spin, sending it off the road and into a crater. Over and over the truck rolled, it's inhabitants smashing about the walls quite painfully. Finally, after one last flip, the truck came to a stop at the bottom on it's back.

It took Kohma several seconds to realize he had survived. "Ugh... Where'd you learn to drive?!" He growled at the driver, who had somehow landed on top of him." It was at that point that he realized the man was missing a chunk of his jaw, throat, and the side of his face, leaving his right eye hanging out of the socket by the retina. The entire wound was fizzling, slowly making the holes bigger and creating a putrid stink at the same time.

"Looks like Barlaw got the hot end of a plasma bolt." Kohma announced, shoving the corpse off of him.

"Everyone alright?"

Ethan picked himself up.

"Yeah, I am fine, is the truck in any condition to drive, if not we better start humping some land."

"ahh.. what... whats going on" it took kadin several seconds to realize what had happened.

kadin soon realized that the truck was being slowly dissolved. kadin could see the plasma working its way towards the gas tank.

"oh shit get out now!!" said kadin grabbing his stuff and running

"Everybody out!!" Kohma shouted, trying to kick open the door. "It's no good! The door's jammed against the dirt!"

Remembering the turret hole, he looked up only to remember that the floor was now the ceiling... And the hole was completely blocked. They were trapped.

Ryan woke up to an intense pain in his head, and everyone screaming. Opening his eyes, he saw that the truck had flipped over. Looking around, he saw that plasma had cut through the roof, and gathered that it was working its way to the gas tank. Thinking quickly, he shouted, "The side! Cut through the side!", while unsheathing his axe, chopping at the side of the truck.

"shit...quick " said kadin pulling out his crossbow and attaching explosive bolt. kadin set the bolt to pierce and fired at the windshield. the smaller charge burst on contact with the windshield the second charge exploded just outside the windshield safely away from the truck.

"go now!" said kadin as he kicked the shattered glass out from its place and crawled out of the truck

"Right-o!" Kohma shouted, stumbling out of their new exit as fast as he could. Once outside, he could plainly see from the horrid smoking wreckage that an explosion was imminent.

"Hurry!!" He exclaimed, quickly retreating backwards.

Ryan climbed through the exit, amazed that he wasnt dead right now. Retreating to a safe distance, Ryan glared at Kadin and said, "You assbiscuit! You coulda gotten us killed! Who told you that it was a good idea to shoot an already fucked up car!"

"i did asshole it was a seperate charge that i knew would not have hurt any of us" said kadin gleeming at the man who had just insulted him

"Methinks 'twould be wiser for us to have it out whilst we AREN'T in constant danger of being painfully melted by concentrated beams of light or superheated ooze." Kohma said, beginning the dirty trudge up the wall of the crater. Looking backwards, he could see that everyone had gotten out, or was in the process of doing so... Except the driver of course.

"Lets move, were about 20 minutes out on foot, maybe we can catch another ride."

Ethan then started the climb up the crater
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