Post 035:
A Tactical Shift "Send me out...with a bang."
—Sgt. Avery Johnson, Halo 3
December 15th, 2128 AD, 25 GS
Gal’Yeigher, The 14th world that has been assaulted by the Unitarian Empire. There was a lull in movement, form the Unitarian Empire, the enemy. The starships we captured was a real step forward but we couldn’t predict their next move, the next place we would have to defend.
Although Gal’Yeigher held a significant force of ground side military, It held only a small outpost, a large contingent of mines, and three cruiser grade Mine Layers. It was slated to receive one of the larger war fleets, but the Starfleet Logistics division of the Yaerian Republic received delays and resource shortages. The Minelayers made no contestation when the Third Suppression fleet, consisting of two Titan level ships, a hoard of around five hundred escorts and… two, distinctly different warships moved into orbit around Gal’Yeigher without commencing glass-level Orbital bombardment. The mine ships hid in the dark.
The first of the unique was distinctly bulbous, with hanger bays along its entire hull. It was around two-thirds the size of a standard Titan Dreadnaught, but thicker and wider. It held no signatures denoting it of being an artillery platform, but it was slow, and it was obvious that the fleet had slowed down for it.
The other was massive. It dwarfed the Standard Titan vessels near it with its hull length of four and a half kilometers, compared to the other vessels which “only” held a length of a single kilometer.
The Overmind and Cathedral class ships were both respectively new and unseen vessels in the war against the Unitarian Empire, designed not only for the cold harshness of war in space but the war of the primitives. The war on the earth of planets, moons, and asteroids.
The fleet hunted down and destroyed every single piece of orbital infrastructure, from the smallest satellite to the orbital shuttle depot.
Only one hundred and fifteen Escort ships were damaged or otherwise rendered non-combat worthy by the space mines emplaced around the world.
The fatter, stouter hanger ship hung towards the lower orbit of the planet, just barely streaking the atmosphere while deploying hundreds and hundreds of transport ships, combat ships, and orbital posts.
A large station was deployed by the Cathedral, construction skiffs floating out from the Overmind to create what would be known in the future “Forward Operatus 001” by the Central Command.
Below the heavens, below the orbit of Gal’Yeigher, a war of the worlds began. A million soldiers pushed out of shuttlecraft and transport barges and created beachheads and drew the lines of battle.
Yaerian Hulls plates are perhaps one of the most special parts of the Navy ship, for a couple reasons. The Hull plates aren't actually just slabs of metal forged into a particular shape, they are massive metal alloy hives, with millions upon millions of silicon-based organisms, genetically modified and in some cases bolstered with nanomachines to mimic some properties of organic life. Not only is the alloyed plates glow with a dull white shine, if one looks particularly close at such a plate of metal, they would notice that it shifts in place, on the substrate of metal, tiny gray specks move very slowly across. These gray specks will fill in any microscopic cracks from kinetic blows, and their “shells” will act as tiny heat capacitors, giving their lives to soak up some amount of heat, acting as well as an ablative coating while far less expensive and situated in the entire plate rather than on its surface. If a plate actually cracks, several internal systems will fill in the open areas with a molten plastic that would render an airtight seal while holding the save durability as a high-grade iron alloy. Such a work of engineering is not cheap, however, and requires massive fabricators and high-grade genetics labs to create and monitor the hive while it is in its creation state. The Labor intensive process is usually monitored by a Frame, it takes around a week for a plate to be created once the order is set into motion. Once the plate is fully created to blueprint specifications, the organisms will only require a minute amount of power and a specialized substrate feed to keep the hive going. If the hive is deprived of electricity, it will slowly harden, and become just a regular plate of metal. If the hive is deprived of substrate feed, it will eventually structurally compromise itself and will need to be replaced. It is generally accepted that if the substrate is in shortage, purposely cutting power off is preferable to the hive “eating” itself.
The secret to creating such hives are a closely guarded Unitarian Navy secret, any attempts of replication are typically dealt with analyzation and then blacklisting of the individuals involved unless of course certain agreements can be made between the offender and the Navy depending on the quality of the replication.
December 15th, 2128 AD, 25 GS
Gal'Yeigher, Bunker-36
Bunker 36 of Gal’Yeigher was a ground installation designed to receive civilians in the event of an evacuation and was rated to survive a low scale direct orbital bombardment.
“Why haven’t they glassed the planet yet?
“I don’t know, stars damn it! I’m an Astronomer, not a damn military sensor technician!”
“You saw them? In their ships!?” Called out a stranger, wearing ragged sleep clothes.
“Obviously, they destroyed my orbital ‘scope before I could get a good look though, they were RIGHT up to the planet, in orbit.”
“They never do that, the bastards just glass it from far away and then leave.”
“Maybe they decided that burning us all just isn't good enough.”
“Voids be damned, you think they’d waste the men to get up close and personnel? No. they want some--”
The Yaerians conversation was interrupted, by the sound of metal, tearing apart metal in the distance.
“...That can’t be right…”
“Sounds like a chainsaw going at a metal wall.”
The general alarm sounded a low klaxon that throbbed.
“Stars above, I hope this is just a damn false alarm.”
“They’re gonna kill us all, just you wait.”
The entire security division was ready at the Bunker’s main door.
The door was essentially a slab of starship grade metal emplaced with a locking mechanism and stuck onto a stone wall two feet thick with a titanium alloyed mounting.
Said mounting was methodically being cut, not with a Yaerian Fusion torch but a Unitarian High-frequency blade. Slowly, methodically, the blade wore down the mounting which separated the two rooms. It cut through the deadbolt just as easily as the rest of the metal and when the final metal piece which connected the door to the wall was cut, a final, poignant second of silence was held. Survivors in that room would claim that they could hear the outright horrific whispers that were held behind that door for a single moment.
A whisper of death.
The Door was flung forward six feet, hitting a barricade and almost killing a Yaerian Planetary Defense Force Enlisted Personnel. A Brug Trooper with a half inch thick metal riot shield slammed its massive frame through the door, a “pistol” shotgun in its other hand.
It fired three times in succession, killing one Enlisted in a spray of blue ichor and suppressing the left flank.
Two Guardians were just behind, there GyroJet Guns roaring with each pull of the trigger, acting as both a gun and a flashbang in such a tiny stone room.
One Guardian fell, his head replaced with a charred stump delivered personally from a lucky hit in the gorget by a Yaerian Plasmatic Rifle.
The Brugs shield outright melted as the dragon-fire of Plasmatic Rounds turned the metal molten. The Brug let out a cry just as a Linear Rifle bullet pierced through his frontal armor, cutting through two feet of flesh and bouncing off the back plate and repeating the process again twice in his chest cavity. The Brug fell over, dying a gurgly, sad death. The Yaerains did not hear their radios barking for them to retreat, and they fought to the last, even as reinforcements came in. The Yaerian Planetary Defense Force manning the bunker had been killed in action thoroughly and completely, with thirty-six deaths. From Holo-recordings and suit sensor feedback, Central Command concluded that the Bunker Security Personnel had killed just over fifty-six enemy forces, six of which were the designated “Brutes”, the super-heavies of the Unitarian forces. the status of the civilians are unknown due to signal loss.
Star Knights note:
It is to be noted that the Yaerian Republic has not received any attempt at formal dialogue from the Unitarian Empire since the first contact at this point in time, just statements and “conclusions” from Unitarian flagships in the Yaerian language denoting religious dogma and statements of righteousness. The enemy was assumed unfathomably enigmatic in the workings of its inner mind due to any personnel attempting to choose suicide over capture over the various boarding operations. Interrogation has so far failed due to the language barrier that was uncracked at the time. Gal’Yeigher was a denoted shift in strategy of the Unitarian Empire, shifting from long range high power orbital bombardment followed by fleet battle to fleet battle followed by ground battle and occupation.
It was estimated that if the rate of glassing continued, the entire Yaerian species would have been extinct by [2130 AD, 37 GS], with Strall being glassed at [2128, 35 GS]. We are fortunate that it was not the case.
December 28th, 2128 AD, 25 GS
Gal’Yeigher, YCR Central Command Bunker Thoom.
This was it, the Commander of the Yaerian Planetary Defense Forces, Yuril-Komah Du’Stall thought. The outer defenses were being breached. She thought bitterly to all the chances this could’ve changed. The Starknights dropped off were dead. The fleet that came was turned to glittered debris. All those enlisted under her command who had died under her orders. Could she have done anything differently? Perhaps.
Thoom.
Why now? Why do I have to die here?
Thoom.
Everyone looked up to me and I failed them. Now I am nothing, with the best of my staff facing their deaths and I am wondering about the past. Why am a failure? Maybe I should put an end to it now. Wou-
Boom.
The Airlock down the hall hit the ground as two Guardians moved in.
Did Yuril-Komah Du’Stall kill herself in the ensuing firefight?I am happy to announce that very soon, an RTD will be released based off the Yaeri-verse! It will be released tomorrow afternoon, as I do not have the time to manage it today or tomorrow morning. Not gonna release much, but if you're in the mood for breaching starships and killing every last one of the alien bastards, your gonna enjoy it.
Also a question; Would you prefer more lore build up, such as little blurbs about the technology and location and all that in exchange for more unpredictable and maybe slower post outputs or keep everything as it is, a blurb every once in a while? Is everyone enjoying the music choice? I pick them out from the auto-play I listen too when I'm writing these things.