Calling to the night, for us, for every single life
All the ashes of men remain as a perfect memory
Calling to the night
- Natasha Farrow
EPILOGUE
"Commander Meir'tel... we are encountering resistance." Meir'tel's underling was watching the fight unfold and she was clearly absorbed by what she was seeing.
"Planetary Defence Forces, as I said, the navy won't be here for another hour, and we can leave soon under the cover of their moon's volcanic activity."
"I'm not worried about the n-navy, or the P-PDF, Sir..." Meir'tel's underling replied.
The entire ship rattled as the underbelly of the ship exploded. Alerts lit up on the screens like Pasco Day lights. More explosions could be heard through the ship. "My Lord! The main engines have been disabled! Shields are down! Multiple hull breaches and fires!"
"But that's impossible! Sabotage! Treachary!" He yelled, clearly aggrieved by how much resistance was happening. Though, he was attributing it to the PDF forces.
Then an intercom barked into action: "SIR! HE'S ... IT'S UNSTOPPABLE! NOTHING IS SLOWING IT DOWN!"
"What do you mean he's unstoppable?" Meir'tel scowled, yelling back into the ship-wide intercoms as the propulsion and Aether Plasma drives began to fail one by one, "You are superior to him in every way. You possess better equipment, and are better trained, you are blessed with strong bodies and you outnumber him fifty to one. Do. Your. Job."
Meanwhile, down below, Luca was pelting a Ripper with RED HHG Rounds to stagger it off balance before slicing into it vertically with Yuki's Katana, cleaving through and bisecting the armour. He continued on and was greeted by a stream of Minimissiles flying towards him. He held up his hand, and an electromagnetic pulse strong enough to scramble the computers nearby detonated the missiles in mid-air, providing a smokescreen for the man, and firing plasma grenades out of the smoke to shred his adversaries.
Walking over the gore and viscera, Luca took the elevator up to the bridge. He then noticed something odd. The ceiling had been removed. He raised an eyebrow and shone a light up before realising that the top of the elevator was lined with mines.
"We need to evacuate, sir!" Meir'tel's second-in-command urged as he tried to peel his master from his seat, "We need to pull out before our propulsion fails completely!"
And then the elevator opened, and Luca heard the mines chirp happily. He leaped out of the elevator with his HHG in both hands, and fired it wildly, landing on the floor, and realising that his legs had been cut up by the mines. He looked up and noticed a Mishhuvurthyar and a blonde Nekovalkyrja making an escape whilst others covered his escape. Power armours. Four of them. Mindies.
Luca stood up uneasily and noticed something. They weren't firing first, nor did they sieze the opportunity to perforate him while he was down. They were taking up defensive positions and stances, ready to make a run for it themselves. They were scared.
"Luuucaaaaa..." The man could hear a voice in the wind, and the world shifted ever so slightly as the four armours started firing, and he himself had to take up a defensive position. Was that voice. Was that. Yuki? Impossible. She wasn't here before. He realised that he was out of grenades. Oh well, time to switch to the smaller ones. He reloaded his HHG and leapt out from the battered computer console. In mid-flight, he fired his Grapple Stunner at one of the armours, catching it by surprise and reeling himself towards it, landing in front of it, then using it as a human shield while guiding its weapons for it to shoot back. "Luuuuuuuucaaaaaaa..."
Who was that? After the four armours were killed by their own devices, Luca saw something on one of the consoles. It was confusing to him, it read: 'YOU ARE IN A GAME, LUCA!' Taken aback for a moment, he pressed on to find that other screens and monitors were delivering similarly unreal messages as the escape corridor seemed to go on forever.
'HOW COULD YOU LET HER DIE?', 'WHY DID YOU ACCEPT THIS?', 'WHO ARE YOU REALLY FIGHTING?', 'IS IT ALL A GAME ANYMORE?', 'HISTORY IS REPEATING ITSELF'
"Luca."
And that's when he saw her, but he had no words. Commander Meir'tel was dead, and she was standing there with his entrails in her hands. Her bare hands, her bare breasts, her hips - She was completely naked, and splattered in blood as though it was the genesis of a violent continent. The entrails in her hands were intestines or a heart or ... something pertaining to Mishhuvurthyar biology.
"Thank you. Really. I couldn't have gotten this far without you, my Son." She threw the entrails towards him, giggling. Luca recoiled as he watched the entrails fall to the floor, "Deep cover is difficult, no matter whose side you're on." Luca dropped his HHG and mouthed an obscenity, "If it makes you feel any better, your brother just started living again. In a compound. Don't worry, I'll be sure to arrange a date."
She then moved in close, but Luca started backing away before realising that he was about to fall into an abyss, and stopped. His eyes looked about worryingly as he tried to look for some grounding in reality, as his murderous momentum had started to slow down. Yuki put a finger to his lips and a hand on his shoulders, staring into his eyes, "Shh. Its going to be okay. Do you feel like a Hero yet? You should."
She then moved in close, and pushed him off into the infinite blackness as Yuki's laughter rung in his ears.
And then Luca Pavone snapped back to reality. He was standing over the corpse of Meir'tel, but it wasn't his gun that'd killed the Mishhuvurthyar. Luca always knew that his sanity was always somewhat unhinged, but he had no rational explanation for what'd happened. He looked around himself, and found the desert afrenzy with the sandstorm. "Wait." Luca asked himself as he looked about and examined himself, realising that he was seriously injured.
His injuries were more numerous than he previously imagined, now that the adrenaline was fading: A shattered jawbone, two bullets in his stomach, his right eye blinded by a muzzle flash, various shrapnel punctures across his limbs, and a deep cut in his right leg. His movement had been slowed to a limping crawl.
"Where did she...? How did I? How am I still alive...?" So many questions were raised, and Luca would've pondered the answers, but then the planet shook and Luca was knocked over by the sheer force of it.
There was an NMX Cruiser, destroyed and becoming the newest permanent part of the Maharhombi Duneway scenery, kicking up a sandstorm and crushing rocks and a small part of the industrial district, sending plumes of fire, Aether, plasma and stone into the air. Luca was unsure whether there was volcanic glass raining down right now, but there was one thing for certain: If he had been on that ship or anywhere near that area, as his previous escape plan was, he would've been dead.
The only thing missing was the time from when he was on that Cruiser, and when he was there, lying in the desert, devoid of his WIND and GUST armour, and without his weapons, just wearing his pants, jacket, singlet and all he had left on him was that concealed ODM 10mm Pistol and his Grapple Stunner. Searching himself further, he found that his communicator and wallet had gone missing too. He guessed that any message he wanted to give the crew would've had to wait.
There he was, Luca Pavone. Lying in the sand and barely able to move and gathering his marbles. But he made a promise and he was going to honour it. Slowly and steadily, he leaned upwards, then rolled over onto his side in pain. He gave a moment's pause, and put his hands down on the sand and slowly pushed himself up against the dusty air, looking for something, anything, and instead he started walking towards the last thing he saw.
Aside from seeking some way to treat his injuries, another question lingered in his mind: "Wh... what do I do now?" The future was in the air for Luca Pavone and his crew. He had no contingencies, no way of contacting them, no money and he was unrecogniseable. All he had left was himself, his sideburns, and his vengeance satisfied - but ultimately leaving him aimless now that it was over.
But...
This was not the end for the Saga of the ISC Phoenix and Captain Pavone. The promise was still to be fulfilled, and with it - the adventures would never stop. For better or worse.
And Luca smiled in spite of himself, assured that his place amongst Legends was secured on this day.
TO BE CONCLUDED...
All the ashes of men remain as a perfect memory
Calling to the night
- Natasha Farrow
EPILOGUE
"Commander Meir'tel... we are encountering resistance." Meir'tel's underling was watching the fight unfold and she was clearly absorbed by what she was seeing.
"Planetary Defence Forces, as I said, the navy won't be here for another hour, and we can leave soon under the cover of their moon's volcanic activity."
"I'm not worried about the n-navy, or the P-PDF, Sir..." Meir'tel's underling replied.
The entire ship rattled as the underbelly of the ship exploded. Alerts lit up on the screens like Pasco Day lights. More explosions could be heard through the ship. "My Lord! The main engines have been disabled! Shields are down! Multiple hull breaches and fires!"
"But that's impossible! Sabotage! Treachary!" He yelled, clearly aggrieved by how much resistance was happening. Though, he was attributing it to the PDF forces.
Then an intercom barked into action: "SIR! HE'S ... IT'S UNSTOPPABLE! NOTHING IS SLOWING IT DOWN!"
"What do you mean he's unstoppable?" Meir'tel scowled, yelling back into the ship-wide intercoms as the propulsion and Aether Plasma drives began to fail one by one, "You are superior to him in every way. You possess better equipment, and are better trained, you are blessed with strong bodies and you outnumber him fifty to one. Do. Your. Job."
Meanwhile, down below, Luca was pelting a Ripper with RED HHG Rounds to stagger it off balance before slicing into it vertically with Yuki's Katana, cleaving through and bisecting the armour. He continued on and was greeted by a stream of Minimissiles flying towards him. He held up his hand, and an electromagnetic pulse strong enough to scramble the computers nearby detonated the missiles in mid-air, providing a smokescreen for the man, and firing plasma grenades out of the smoke to shred his adversaries.
Walking over the gore and viscera, Luca took the elevator up to the bridge. He then noticed something odd. The ceiling had been removed. He raised an eyebrow and shone a light up before realising that the top of the elevator was lined with mines.
"We need to evacuate, sir!" Meir'tel's second-in-command urged as he tried to peel his master from his seat, "We need to pull out before our propulsion fails completely!"
And then the elevator opened, and Luca heard the mines chirp happily. He leaped out of the elevator with his HHG in both hands, and fired it wildly, landing on the floor, and realising that his legs had been cut up by the mines. He looked up and noticed a Mishhuvurthyar and a blonde Nekovalkyrja making an escape whilst others covered his escape. Power armours. Four of them. Mindies.
Luca stood up uneasily and noticed something. They weren't firing first, nor did they sieze the opportunity to perforate him while he was down. They were taking up defensive positions and stances, ready to make a run for it themselves. They were scared.
"Luuucaaaaa..." The man could hear a voice in the wind, and the world shifted ever so slightly as the four armours started firing, and he himself had to take up a defensive position. Was that voice. Was that. Yuki? Impossible. She wasn't here before. He realised that he was out of grenades. Oh well, time to switch to the smaller ones. He reloaded his HHG and leapt out from the battered computer console. In mid-flight, he fired his Grapple Stunner at one of the armours, catching it by surprise and reeling himself towards it, landing in front of it, then using it as a human shield while guiding its weapons for it to shoot back. "Luuuuuuuucaaaaaaa..."
Who was that? After the four armours were killed by their own devices, Luca saw something on one of the consoles. It was confusing to him, it read: 'YOU ARE IN A GAME, LUCA!' Taken aback for a moment, he pressed on to find that other screens and monitors were delivering similarly unreal messages as the escape corridor seemed to go on forever.
'HOW COULD YOU LET HER DIE?', 'WHY DID YOU ACCEPT THIS?', 'WHO ARE YOU REALLY FIGHTING?', 'IS IT ALL A GAME ANYMORE?', 'HISTORY IS REPEATING ITSELF'
"Luca."
And that's when he saw her, but he had no words. Commander Meir'tel was dead, and she was standing there with his entrails in her hands. Her bare hands, her bare breasts, her hips - She was completely naked, and splattered in blood as though it was the genesis of a violent continent. The entrails in her hands were intestines or a heart or ... something pertaining to Mishhuvurthyar biology.
"Thank you. Really. I couldn't have gotten this far without you, my Son." She threw the entrails towards him, giggling. Luca recoiled as he watched the entrails fall to the floor, "Deep cover is difficult, no matter whose side you're on." Luca dropped his HHG and mouthed an obscenity, "If it makes you feel any better, your brother just started living again. In a compound. Don't worry, I'll be sure to arrange a date."
She then moved in close, but Luca started backing away before realising that he was about to fall into an abyss, and stopped. His eyes looked about worryingly as he tried to look for some grounding in reality, as his murderous momentum had started to slow down. Yuki put a finger to his lips and a hand on his shoulders, staring into his eyes, "Shh. Its going to be okay. Do you feel like a Hero yet? You should."
She then moved in close, and pushed him off into the infinite blackness as Yuki's laughter rung in his ears.
And then Luca Pavone snapped back to reality. He was standing over the corpse of Meir'tel, but it wasn't his gun that'd killed the Mishhuvurthyar. Luca always knew that his sanity was always somewhat unhinged, but he had no rational explanation for what'd happened. He looked around himself, and found the desert afrenzy with the sandstorm. "Wait." Luca asked himself as he looked about and examined himself, realising that he was seriously injured.
His injuries were more numerous than he previously imagined, now that the adrenaline was fading: A shattered jawbone, two bullets in his stomach, his right eye blinded by a muzzle flash, various shrapnel punctures across his limbs, and a deep cut in his right leg. His movement had been slowed to a limping crawl.
"Where did she...? How did I? How am I still alive...?" So many questions were raised, and Luca would've pondered the answers, but then the planet shook and Luca was knocked over by the sheer force of it.
There was an NMX Cruiser, destroyed and becoming the newest permanent part of the Maharhombi Duneway scenery, kicking up a sandstorm and crushing rocks and a small part of the industrial district, sending plumes of fire, Aether, plasma and stone into the air. Luca was unsure whether there was volcanic glass raining down right now, but there was one thing for certain: If he had been on that ship or anywhere near that area, as his previous escape plan was, he would've been dead.
The only thing missing was the time from when he was on that Cruiser, and when he was there, lying in the desert, devoid of his WIND and GUST armour, and without his weapons, just wearing his pants, jacket, singlet and all he had left on him was that concealed ODM 10mm Pistol and his Grapple Stunner. Searching himself further, he found that his communicator and wallet had gone missing too. He guessed that any message he wanted to give the crew would've had to wait.
There he was, Luca Pavone. Lying in the sand and barely able to move and gathering his marbles. But he made a promise and he was going to honour it. Slowly and steadily, he leaned upwards, then rolled over onto his side in pain. He gave a moment's pause, and put his hands down on the sand and slowly pushed himself up against the dusty air, looking for something, anything, and instead he started walking towards the last thing he saw.
Aside from seeking some way to treat his injuries, another question lingered in his mind: "Wh... what do I do now?" The future was in the air for Luca Pavone and his crew. He had no contingencies, no way of contacting them, no money and he was unrecogniseable. All he had left was himself, his sideburns, and his vengeance satisfied - but ultimately leaving him aimless now that it was over.
But...
This was not the end for the Saga of the ISC Phoenix and Captain Pavone. The promise was still to be fulfilled, and with it - the adventures would never stop. For better or worse.
And Luca smiled in spite of himself, assured that his place amongst Legends was secured on this day.
TO BE CONCLUDED...
