Chapter 7
Greeny looked at himself in the
mirror. He had always enjoyed wearing the armour of
the Emperor. The armour was incredibly tough, in
fact it was a common myth that if you were wearing
that armour whilst a Battle cruiser landed on you,
you would suffer no lasting damage, although Greeny
had no intention of testing this theory. It looked
deceptively weak to the untrained eye, as it was
thinner even than the light armour given to cadets
at the academy. It was completely black except for
the Golden eagle on the left hand side of the torso,
although this was usually hidden by the sleeveless
black trench coat that Greeny wore
over the armor to give him a more imposing look. He
walked over to one of the windows and looked down on
the city. The north side was heavily damaged, but
the south side was untouched. He stood there for a
few seconds before turning around and walking over
to the weapons rack in one of the side rooms. He
picked up a bolt pistol and strapped it to his right
hip, and then picked up his custom disintegrator.
Disintegrators were far from standard issue, and
even when they were occasionally used they were
massive weapons. However this one had been custom
designed for Greeny himself, and so was no larger
than a standard plasma rifle. He checked that the
power pack was charged and walked out the door back
to the rest of the councilors.
“You there!”
Cold Fire said, pointing at at the Terran standing
behind a console at the front of the command deck
“How long until the entire army is transported?”
“At the current
rate, about an hour. Master,” Said the Terran
pirate “Two hundred thousand pirates can easily be
destroyed by the Terran Empire and even if they cant
muster more than a few thousand defenders, ground
based weapons can destroy that kind of army easily…”
“What’s your
name Terran?” Asked Cold Fire, leaning back in his
chair.
The Terran
turned and looked directly into Cold Fires hooded
face “Reaper” He said, shifting uncomfortably.
“Ironic” Said
Cold Fire, producing a bolt pistol from his robes
and firing off a single shot into the Terrans
forehead. “You there” He said again, this time
pointing at a Genus who was sitting at a side
console, obviously doing his best to look busy.
“Take over his job”.
“Yes master”
The Genus said bowing slightly and hastily moving to
the console.
“How many of
our ships are left in orbit?” Cold Fire asked.
“Seven” The
genus responded, “All Invincibles”.
“Ok, alert me
when the army has been transported”. Cold Fire
said, standing and strolling out of the command
deck.
“Yes master”
Replied the Genus again.
“Ok, well
communications are still down, and so we can’t
efficiently tell the army where to be or even what
they are up against.” Greeny knew this wouldn’t be
easy, Terrans weren’t famed for their ability to
fight in close combat. And the city’s army was
mostly reserve troops with little, if any, real life
combat experience. But at the same time he was sure
of victory. This was the Imperial City, the heart
of the Empire, and Greeny knew that every Terran
would fight to the death to save it. “Plus the
Stormguards haven’t got back from Bootes yet. I
have no idea what has happened to them, but we must
assume for now that they are not coming. So, what
does that leave us with?”
“Well, we have
the defense fighters, and the army, but they are
scattered and unorganized, they will be slaughtered
by the pirates.” Narses said gravely.
“But a single
Terran is worth a dozen of their pirate scum, we
have the best fighters in the galaxy!” Shouted
Dennis from the back of the room.
“Yeah, don’t
believe every bit of propaganda you hear Captain.
Terrans are weak in close quarters, why do you think
we like to smash our opponents from our
Invincibles?” J0E said, looking out of one of the
windows at an explosion in the city.
“In any case”
Greeny continued, “We need to get…” But he was
interrupted by a massive explosion. “What was
that?” He shouted out.
“Palace shield
at seventeen percent sir!” Called out an Ensign
standing by a console.
“How many ships
do they have left?” Narses asked.
“Only one
Invincible, it heading to the palace.” The Ensign
said.
“Do you think
it can be destroyed before it gets here?” Asked J0E,
scratching his eyebrow.
“No Admiral, it
has diverted all power to its engines and shields.”
Replied the Ensign “It will be here in two minutes.”
“They are going
to ram us!” Chad said, following the path of the
Invincible across the sky. Greeny half-ran over to
a communications console, he pushed the button to
transmit a message.
“Sir,
communications are still down” Narses said quietly
“We need to get out of here, the shield can’t take
being hit by that much force.” Greeny looked at
Narses, and then looked out the window at the
rapidly approaching Battle Cruiser. He sighed.
“Very well, we
won’t be able to get out in time through the main
exit, we will have to use the teleporter device in
the throne room.” Greeny said, turning and running
towards the throne room.
“How long until
the shields around the Palace are down?” Cold Fire
asked.
“The Invincible
will hit the shields in about one minute, Master.”
Replied the Genus.
“Good, when
they are down transport me to the Pride.” Cold Fire
said rising from his seat and moving silently off
the command deck.
“Impact in
seventeen seconds Emperor” Narses said, looking at
his chronometer.
“Damn, we
aren’t going to make it out in time” Greeny said,
stopping, he could clearly see the Invincible now.
“Shoot that window” He said, pointing at a window
directly opposite from where the Battlecruiser was
rapidly approaching.
“Sir, we
don’t…” Started Chad.
“Now!” Greeny
shouted drawing his bolt pistol and firing at the
window.
“Yes Sir”
Several of the Terrans said in unison as they opened
fire on the window with their standard issue assault
rifle.
“Five seconds
Sir, I am activating the teleporter, Good Luck” Said
the genus pirate.
“Same to you
Captain Darius” Said Cold Fire, emphasizing the
last few words.
The window
cracked and then shattered.
“Three seconds
‘til impact sir!” Narses said looking over his
shoulder “Err, approximately”.
“When the
shield collapses jump” Greeny said, as his hair
danced around in the wind. The Building shook and
Greeny turned around. The battlecruiser hit the
shield and began to break up, the noise was
deafening. The shields glowed a pale orange before
collapsing.
“Now!” Greeny
shouted at the top of voice. He jumped out of the
window and was blown forewords by the force of the
explosion behind him. He knew he was dead either
way, but at least this way there was a tiny chance
of survival. Greeny flipped over in the air and
watched the top half of the Palace begin to
collapse.
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