Chapter Six (1/2)

Nuklet looked at his bridge crew and hummed in satisfaction. He had put together an excellent crew, all skilled in multiple disciplines, with education far exceeding what was culturally norm and a desire to see what was beyond the borders of the Outer Rim Civilized Systems.

They had chosen a small system, with a dim red dwarf star and only two gas giants and four standard planets, only one within the habitable green zone where life could be reasonable expected to be found. That planet was dangerous, covered with seas flush with heavy metals dissolved in corrosive liquid H2O, and the small proto-continent covered in jungle where the sharp mountains didn't rake at the sky. The atmosphere was full of CO2 and O2, high in nitrogren, and the ground was laced with radioactives.

A dangerous planet but one that could be exploited for wealth and prestige by those willing to commit to it.

Nuklet smiled as his cousin, Putmit, alerted the crew they were about to leave jumpspace after nearly a standard year. Nuklet had invested wisely in recreational facilities for the Far Grasper so that the ship could make the best time through jumpspace and reach the system.

The translation to realspace made the entire crew nauseous, but excitement over the prospect of exploiting an entire system that had been untouched even by the Precursor War pushed away feelings of ill-will.

Fammit, a scan-tech who had served ten standard years with the Unified Military Fleet, looked up from his instruments and frowned in the way his species usually did, shrinking his bark-sack and slapping his tail.

”Problem?” Nuklet asked.

Mitikak, the Akltak communications officer suddenly jerked upright, her wintips going to her communications headset. ”Captain!”

Nuklet turned to the Akltak female and raised his four eyebrows. ”An emergency?”

”There is a strong signal, the omnitranslator is working on it. Some kind of audio message with a visual component,” Mitikak chirped.

”Keep on it,” Nuklet said. He turned back to the Saurian. ”What is the problem, Fammit?”

The lizard male tapped his display. ”There's heavy energy signals, there's debris around the primary planet, and what looks like two large spaceships in orbit around that planet.”

”Do we have visual on them?” Nuklet asked.

”I'm receiving multiple signals from the planet, as if the communications are omnidirectional, unencrypted, and unshielded. The omnitranslator has been able to translate the most common transmissions,” Mitikak broke in.

”Putting the visual on the main screen,” Mitikak said.

On the screen the planet was shown. Parts of the jungle were burning. There were large conical metropolises, four of which were burning. On two different windows on the main viewscreen were the orbiting spaceships. One was massive, with ominous architecture, kilometers long, with what looked like statues of strange beings with their hands pressed together at their chest holding up various parts of the massive ship. The other looked as if it was cobbled together from debris taken from a hundred junkyards and a thousand debris fields. The jumpcores in the twelve engines, all seemingly slapped onto the hull at random areas, were all mistuned and leaking energy in ugly purple halos.

Both ships gave the entire bridge crew various symptoms of anxiety. Their appearance was menacing and both were on opposite sides of the planet from one another but still appeared to be maneuvering in order to bring the other into firing arcs.

”The signals are ready,” Mitikak said. She shuddered and Nuklet noticed that her feathers were pressed close, her wings close, and she was squatted down slightly. ”I warn you, it sounds like a nest war down there.”

”Let us hear them,” Nuklet said.

”FOR THE EMPEROR!”

”PURGE THE XENOS!”

”STOMP DA HUMIES!”

”CRUSH DA SQUISHIES!”

Behind the roared words were the sounds of laser weapons, stuttering kinetic weapons, the detonations of artillery and explosives.

Nuklet made a chopping motion, urging Mitikak to cut off the feeds. His kind were no strangers to violence. After all, only two hundred years ago nearly three thousand of his kind had lost their lives during a fierce trade war.

But the raw aggression from those transmissions made him quail back in his crash-couch.

”I have another ship on scanners,” Fammit said. ”They're rapidly approaching”

”They're signalling us,” Mitikak said. ”The omnitranslator can understand them.”

”Put the new ship onscreen and let's hear what the new ones are saying,” Nuklet ordered.

The new ship was sleek. Black with a pair of engines that had gold energy pulsing from them. It was rapidly approaching, flashing small lights in the red range of visual lights.

The translator crackled and the new ship's communication blared out.

”Hey, who are you?” One voice asked.

”This is a sanctioned league game! That isn't even a Codex recognized ship!” Another voice asked.

”Both of you be quiet,” A stern voice said. There was a throat clearing noise. ”Greetings, gentlebeings. I am Hammond-83132, a registered and accredited Judge of the Clone Directorate Branch of the Judge's Guild. May I ask your intent?”

”We hold the exploitation rights to this system. Who are you and are you jumping our claim?” Nuklet said, half rising from his couch.

”Hey, we leased this place five years ago for our tournament!” The first voice protested.

”Be silent or I'll deduct the next one of you to speak eighty army points and delay any clone respawn by six hours,” The Judge snapped. Again with the throat clearing noise. ”Pardon, gentlebeings. The two competitors are under a great deal of tension. We were not aware of any other claim on this system. This is a sanctioned league game registered with TerraSol Judge's Guild and the Battle-Hammer Entertainment Craftworks League Administration.”

”What league?” Nuklet asked. He wondered if the omnitranslator was working correctly. There seemed to be terms that it was having problems translating.

”The Battle Hammer forty-thousand League, Clone Worlds Directorate Branch,” The Judge said. ”We're in the middle of a sixty-thousand point game here.”

”A... a game?” Nuklet asked.

”Space Marines versus Orks,” The Judge said. ”It should be wrapped up in say, six years or so.”

”But we bought...” Nuklet said.

”What about the outer planets?” Pontik asked, the amphibian clicking his tongue in anxiety.

”Are you using the other planets, the asteroid ring, or the Oort Cloud?” Nuklet asked.

”The game has gone beyond those areas. Let me consult with the players,” The Judge answered.

There was a long moment of silence. Mitikak pointed at the screens.

”I have several feeds from the planet. It's largely encrypted but one is unencrypted if you wish to view it,” she said.

”Put it on screen,” Nuklet ordered.

The screen showed a pitched battle between forces. One massive, with green skin, wearing cobbled together metal plates painted in wild patterns of red and green. The other figures in power armor, thick and heavy plates, all in red fighting alongside hordes of smaller bipedal humanoids dressed in green armor and wielding laser weapons. Both the ones in power armor and the ones in the flimsy looking green armor had icons of some kind of fierce looking bird on their chest. When Nuklet looked at Mitikak the avian female just made a gesture of confusion.