Commander Grey Finale

A Burning Ship; a Decimated Planet

The ground around us glowed a dark, blood red. The asymmetrical ton of molten steel and fire that these savages called a ship was hurling towards us. My men braced themselves. The trees that they were sulking behind were lit ablaze. A glossy rain of ash began to fall from the sky, and before I knew it, thousands of flares split off the hull of the mothership. Drop pods. Motioning the signal to raise the tank platforms, the men swapped the plasma canisters to cyro canisters and pulled the artillery forward. My arm lunged downward towards the burning earth; embers rose from the ground. In response, the tanks opened fire.

Elements collided. Ice against fire. Flashes of blue rushed towards the trenches that the soldiers dug into. Their cries could be heard within a mile's radius. Blue light shot up from the trenches far and near, there was nothing we could do. Grasping my belt, I drew my officer's blade; edged with tempered siegesteel, could not break. The flashes moved closer, I fell back into the line of tanks. "Fire!" I shouted, and a volley of nitrogen shot out at the walking flames. They twitched and almost broke free. They then shattered to crystals. 

Igni kept flowing in waves of blue and erratic fire, we had no choice but to flee. In our flight, we lost many good men. Whoever did not make it to the tanks fell like wheat to the farmer's scythe. They were cut down almost immediately. The tanks traveled quickly with the , we routed towards the capital of Orion. The Olympian Forest was no match for the igni and was quickly consumed. This was like no experience I have ever had. The igni were simply traders from a foreign galaxy at the time and we hadn't a clue as to where they came from. But of course you know where they came from. Erideti. The larger of the two stars. Anyways, we're getting off track, let's go back to our story.

A surprise was hidden beneath my tank that I was seated on. An igni that burned red clawed its way onto the surface of the tank and leaped at me. The demon was brandishing two blades that lined its forearm. With flurry of blades, we danced about the tank exchanging blows, back and forth. The beast's blades clashed against my sword and snapped it in two. It threw its blades at my sword and it split in three segments. I was astonished, siegesteel, break? "Damn it all to hell!" I shouted at the beast. It looked at me with its burning eyes, emblazoned mane, enormous fanged teeth and bent ; I drew my father's revolving chambered pistol and fired all six rounds into its skull before it could even make a move towards me. Its head shattered and sprayed across the surface of the tank, and at the time, the gunner of my tank opened his hatch at this moment and received a third degree burn across his face, as a fang had nicked his cheek. Kicking the corpse off the tank, I swapped seats with the gunner and forced him to sit outside the tank for being so oblivious as to not know that I had almost died.

Within the next few hours, the Federation's last army on Orion had arrived at the planet's capital. We found rubble and burnt out skyscrapers. The mothership still loomed over us. The next few hours though, the ship had recalled some of its soldiers and slipped off to a more relevant sector to plunder. My strategist and I at the time assumed that they only blinked here to destroy the Pouli carrier. It was the last of the Pouli that the Federation knew of.

After all of this though, here I sit with you, Mr. Sparks, on this wonderful light and inspiration to the galaxy. The Kronosik. As admiral of the small fleet we have here, I welcome you.

The Tartarian Emperor

Remus of Aventine

Let us feast upon the sight of this glorious, no, magnificent hall; home to the brother of the Aventine Hill, Emperor Remus. Vanquished from his hill, he now manifests the darkest reaches of the Underworld, Tartarus. Not long after he was slain on the Palatine hill, the blood that was left by Romulus drew back to Gaia. Gaia then gave birth to four, winged beasts. The monsters were coated with several different hides that radiated miraculous powers; one was engulfed in a blazing fire, another was crystallized freezing ice, the third was covered in scarlet blood that pulsated angrily, and the last was submerged in a hue of gold.

The furies though, had an obligation that need be fulfilled.

Remus roamed about the river Styx for months after his death, as he could not cross without the help of Hermes, but Hermes was at Rome, celebrating its founding with the Gods. It was up to Remus's children to escort him. These flying creatures came to be known as the Remian Furies. They are distinctively different to that of Uranus's furies. Their goal was to indirectly assist Remus with the vengeance against his brother. The four furies carried Remus across the banks of Styx. They then ventured deep down to the abysmal depths of the Underworld to reach what would be Remus's kingdom, Tartarus. When Remus and his retinue arrived at said dark and undesirable pit, they established the palace from which they would rule.

Out of the sheer cliffs of Tartarus, the Black Palace was founded.

Although, Tartarians were at first reluctant to their new self proclaimed ruler. The pitiful and unintelligent scum the inhabited Tartarus revolted for five horrible years. Remus was a man of virtue, in the beginning of our story, he only wanted to impress his brother. He built high walls to prove to his brother that they both were equals and that Remus was fully capable of protecting the people of his hill, but Romulus proved otherwise when he murdered him. By bringing about Remus's death, only more blood was to be spilled. Before entering the underworld, Remus knew not what to think. He was disowned by his own flesh and blood; his own brother had slain him. The furies turned him cold. They convinced him that he deserved to slay every single citizen of Rome. They all deserved death because of Romulus's idiotic and horrendous act. The furies all taught him important, yet abhorrent lessons. The fury of fire taught him rage and destruction. The fury of ice taught him that there was no mercy for any man, woman, child or beast that stand in the way of his path to glory, they were to be expelled from the path all the same. The fury of blood taught him to love the sight and taste of bloodshed and finally, the golden fury gave him the "gift" of greed. Remus needed all of these traits to attain victory over the Roman Republic on the surface world. With these traits, Remus grew in power and built an army to overthrow pockets and cells of resistance groups, to demonstrate that he was the emperor of the Underworld.

He grew to such a power, that not even Hades inquired of his actions.

Remus built an unstoppable army. It spanned the reaches of the Underworld, near and far from Tartarus. Supreme might fueled the Remian Empire, but their might could not depart them from the Underworld, an outsider was needed to open the gates for the army to leave. Remus called upon Greece for help. His cries for help echoed and oscillated to thousands of oracles on the surface, and finally, a client was reached. An oracle cried out to a philosopher by the name of Aristotle. From that day forward, it was he and his lexomancers' task to free Remus and save Greece.

Commander Grey Part II

A Continuation of the Commander's Story

It had been about a week since we lost the citadel. Living off the land in the Olympian Forest was difficult. Since the first Battle of Orion, we had been cut off from all supply lines that link back to Sol. Scouts were sent out daily to recover occasional supply drops from the Federation and acquire intelligence. The siege of the planet from the "Gods of Technology" or the owlets, as my men called them, prevented evacuation. So here we were, marooned on Orion.

A super-carrier that almost blocked out the system's sun was overflowing with Promethean soldiers. The Pouli (or owlets) are a sentient race of many birds. Unusually industrious, the Pouli were a peaceful and trade empire. Only did they grow to be war-like when their suns stopped producing stardust. From their youth they are born with the innate ability fabricate amazing machines like the monstrosities we faced at Polarian Citadal. Alongside the Prometheans where the Titans and Artemis mechs. The Prometheans were primarily melee, whereas the Artemis where developed as massive, four-legged artillery support tanks; they stride slowly about and normally have a crew of about 6 Pouli. Titans on the other hand were an astounding work by the Pouli. They stood at approximately twenty feet tall and were mammoths. Steam spewed from the joints of Titans as they trudge across battlefields.

Scouts retrieved some of the remains from several of the close-combat units, revealing a small battle-station on the inside of the robot, as well as a petite life support machine. The entire "cockpit" of the automaton was encased in inertial dampeners too, which made sense; the mechs were very agile; I couldn't imagine the birds bouncing about inside, it was more than likely to severely impair the functionality of the machine.

Hidden away out here in the forest, far from the capital, well, whatever was left of the capital, we were somewhat safe. Light bending technology allowed a massive barrier around the encampment we established to remain tucked away from the wrath of the owlets. There was the occasional scout, but they were quickly dispatched or subdued. The Citadel, although, was no more. Scouts reported that it was reduced to rubble. Nothing was left to salvage. We had no manpower; with about five-thousand men, I still questions whether or not we would make it off the planet.

A couple of weeks after, the scouting division swooped in silently, deactivating their camo and landed quietly outside of my tent. "Commander, Delta Scout Corps has reported an field army of owlets moving towards us. An uncountable number of artillery units, a recorded five-hundred titans and around fifty-thousand Promethean Guards has been spotted. We await further orders." He said and shuddered. In shock I replied, "Where in God's name are they moving? They can't be moving towards us! That's far too man-" The encampment's attention was drawn to the sky. A lance of light shot through the super-carrier and split it entirely in half, then proceeded to break orbit and then into Orion's atmosphere. It crashed into the general location of the Pouli army. In the distance, high pitched shrieks were heard, followed by explosions and light. The soldiers around the Scout Corps; screaming and shouting, they scattered and routed into the bunkers that were dug into the massive trees. I gazed into the sky to find an immaculate light. Sunlight. It was all but that the sun was not to be found. It was the light of a ship; a burning ship, not the super-carrier either.

It was the Igni mother carrier.

Commander Grey

A Short Story for Content

I peered around the corner of the concrete facade that obscured my vision, a bloodied, burning battlefield lay adjacent to it; I feared for my life. Volleys of colorful and deadly hues pierced the smoke and darkness around me and rattled the earth.

The machinations and their masters towered over us; my block was not to last much longer. The small and feathered beasts grappled the flanks of the machines; upon stopping, they would repair the exposed hull of the mechanical titans. A group no larger than six lumbered towards us. This was it, the Deuses de Technologia; the Gods of Technology.

The citadel was wracked by flares which flew from the hearts of the machines. My men prepared to retreat, we gathered whatever supplies we could. From the bridge of the fortress to the depths of the basement floor, a tide of men traveled like water. I saw men being trampled, fighting their way through. I led the line though as we rushed out the secret access tunnel, hidden in the tall forest to the east of the fort. It was a dark and damp run. Not everyone made it. The tunnel collapsed in segments and killed many; all I knew was that we would not stop. We marched on.