...
| Welcome to the System Lords : AU . You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free. Join our community! If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features: |
| Civil Disobedience | |
|---|---|
| Tweet Topic Started: May 3 2015, 10:19 AM (208 Views) | |
| Titan Empire | May 3 2015, 10:19 AM Post #1 |
![]()
|
The flickering screens of information backlit the hooded figure sitting at the table, one hand on the surface drumming fingers slowly and methodically, like an internal metronome, right to left, right to left, the only sound in the large otherwise darkened room. The room used to be lit by massive braziers, attended by hundreds of slaves who cowered at the slightest presence within the room, now it was dark, cold, lifeless save the small island of light at the single desk and chair. Suddenly the drumming stopped, and only motion came from the humming holographic outline of the blank screens, all information having finished scanning through into the archives. The fingers slowly curled into a fist, which rose and fell on the desktop slowly, not mashing or bashing the surface, it's owner was too calculating for that kind of physical outburst. In the past, such outbursts would be expected, planned for, predictable. This one would not be, was never predictable. Pericles stood slowly from the chair behind the desk and moved around it stepping to the back wall and raising a hand to pass over a hidden plate. There were many such devices throughout the sphere no one knew about, even the Emperor had been blind to them, attributing his appearances within such rooms to simply be his own efficiency, a simple enough ruse that facilitated a half truth; the high priest could be anywhere in a matter of moments. Walking the hidden hallway between rooms he stepped through another such alcove into a smaller room, his own archive room, where the download of information had been sent, and tapped a few commands bringing up a large central screen. Seeing the data transfer almost complete the hood nodded, and then paused, glancing around. "No need to hide..." his silken tongue chided to an apparently empty room, straightening and tucking hands into the sleeves of his robes. From the ceiling the sound of metal lightly touching metal came, and several dangling chains began to descend, each ending in a wicked reversed hook. When the hooks touched ground, the chains seemed to bow and bend, bearing weight like limbs rather than the segmented ropes they resembled. The blue/black armored figure descended slowly until spike heeled boots touched down, and the chains slowly snaked back into the armor itself. The armor showcased the bearer's form more than it protected, but that could change in an instant he knew. The Lady Hel sauntered toward him and gave a slow sardonic clap, until she was just opposite him across the desk. "Your paranoia serves you in good stead, High Priest...What gave me away?" One hand came out from under his sleeve and up into the hood, tapping the side of his nose. "I don't allow my servants to anoint themselves... so that I can always know when he sent his own in to spy on me... Cloying, mostly ... they practically bathed in the stuff .. I think in the end, his sense of smell was nearly gone ... yours was ... subtle, but present...Recently taking advantage of the baths I assume..." She grinned faintly and tossed a lock of hair back over a shoulder, slanting eyes at him. "Always so clever... Will it be enough I wonder..." It wasn't a question, and he disregarded it as rhetorical as he sat back down. "Have you reprogrammed the outer defense turret shielding with the holographic emitters as I requested?" He didn't look up as he asked, hands typing along the console and organizing the archive to his liking, sorting this and that into here and there as she regarded him a moment. "Yes... the energy of a shield hit will trigger the hologram of it's destruction and set the turret to standby ... I don't see why such a ruse is necessary there is no fleet in the galaxy that would dare ..." She paused as he didn't stop his typing, didn't look up from his archiving. Her delicate bows lowered, as did her tone. "He wouldn't ... " "He would and he will... it's only a matter of time..." Pericles interrupted her, his own tone casual, almost dismissive of the fact. "Mynos has the strength of character to rally the armies and I will let him... he will gather unto him all those unworthy of serving the Titan Empire, all the heretics and non-believers... and then .. when they are foolish enough to attack..." His head slowly came up just enough for his flashing eyes to meet hers under the hood. "I will show them all ... " |
![]() |
|
| Ma'ahes | May 16 2015, 04:34 PM Post #2 |
|
.
![]()
|
Bridge of the Atok, Deep Space Mynos looked at the holographic display table and attempted to hold back the rage and disgust roiling in his gut. The numbers were off. They were always off. The fleet was at the largest it had been since the System Lords ran rampant through the holy system of Charon. The Atok had been repaired from the disastrous summit in which Atlas' toys finally broke free of their leashes. They were without the largest contingent of ground troops--the fearsome Titan Guard--due to the machinations of the traitor Pericles, but they were largely for show in what would ultimately be a fleet engagement. But only if the numbers weren't off. They were always off. Except for one tactic. "Our jantak wings will be enough to take out the main batteries here and here," Thoth said, pointing to two main locations on either side of the hologram. "The Sphere was not meant to withstand that much firepower without a fleet. We destroy them, and we win." "Really? You think they'll just open the doors for us and Pericles will bow before us?" Mynos snapped back. "This isn't some planetary bombardment, this is the Sphere! Only the insane would contemplate a direct engagement in front of the main gate." "If we do not control the gate, we cannot control their fleet," Thoth replied. "Any losses we take holding the gate can be replenished." "How?" Mynos motioned to the fleet beyond the walls of the command room. "If you didn't notice, we had to bribe half the fleet out there just to not turn tail and run back to the safe confines of the Sphere! You send them into a bloodbath and they're more liable to turn on us." "We have the Atok. That should be enough to rally them." Mynos glared at Thoth from across the table, unsure as to how the bastard could have become more smug over the years. Sure, he was the ultimate leader of the Empire's fleet. He was the hero of a thousand battles. Mynos had to hold back a snort. Of course it was easy to win that many when you outnumbered the enemy every time. The man was chosen by Atlas to be an extension of himself, and Atlas had had only one mode: charge. "I don't know if you've noticed, but that hasn't stopped Pericles from controlling the Sphere or building a fleet of his own. To win, we need a quick and decisive victory. We can't replace our losses because the Empire is devastated from the wars with Apollo and Atum. The latter may have gone silent, but the Seer is becoming more and more aggressive. He remembers what atrocities were committed against his House during the Olympian War, and I don't want to give him more reasons to focus his rage toward us any more." "I suppose you have a plan of your own, then?" "Indeed I do," Mynos replied. He maneuvered the display to zoom out and rotate the view, landing the view squarely on the opposite end of the sphere. He tapped a location in the upper-right quadrant of the globe. "There." "I see nothing, only the same bundle of turrets and shielding as the rest of the Sphere." "Of course. Atlas was always very good at making a facade--" "Is." Thoth glared at Mynos, who matched the look. "Was. I don't know what's going on in that mind of yours, Thoth, but Atlas has disappeared three times in almost as many years. If he is growing tiresome of his empire, so be it. We will pick up the pieces. But he is not here now, and our faith in him being alive will not win us this battle. So if you want to keep correcting me on tenses, then I believe we should go ahead and scuttle the fleet, because I'll be damned if I'm going to hand it over to Pericles!" A twitch flared along Thoth's temples, but he said nothing. "Continue, Lord Mynos." "As I was saying...Atlas crafted the Sphere to be uniform outside, save for the gate. No enemies venture into the Sphere and survive, so none could tell of its geometry adequately for any assault to attack any point other than the gate. They have no idea how long it would take to break through." Mynos tapped a command at the bottom of the display, and the section of sphere broke away and came to front-and-center. It flipped around, showing the terrain beyond. It showed nothing but a uniform smoothness. "The Higarian Sea. There is nothing between this sea and the cold vacuum of space save for the base crust of the Sphere." "The crust is still miles of armor and rock," Thoth replied. "The amount of firepower required would be..." The numbers dawned on him, as they finally had with Mynos. "The numbers work. We have just enough frigates and bombers to make a hole large enough for the Atok to fit through. The defenses inside are nothing compared to outside...like you said, Atlas relied on the Sphere to have a fleet for repelling enemies. This is our only shot. We make this work, we crippled Pericles' production, and we might just win this war." Mynos turned to leave, but Thoth added one more comment. "We will, of course, take the Sphere in this battle." "One thing at a time, Thoth," Mynos replied, shaking his head and turning to leave. "One thing at a time..." |
| |
![]() |
|
| Titan Empire | May 22 2015, 04:25 PM Post #3 |
![]()
|
The hallway leading to the Grand Temple audience chamber was prepared and lit with ceremonial torches. Servants moved along the walls and floors buffing the surfaces to high glossy shine. A trio of hooded priests made their way down the hall into the chamber itself, where the Lady Hel stood, surveying. Her Reflex X suit was almost transparent in places, like spiderweb stretched across what places needed covering, leaving everything else exposed as could be. An odd conundrum of appearances, for no one in the room was there to look at her, and yet she was as on display as she could possibly manage. Seeing the trio approach she tossed her hair back and exhaled a bored sigh, "What now?" The first of the three folded hands into the sleeves of his robes, and bowed, the voice emitting from it so deep a bass that it was almost painful to listen to, "Perimeter defenses have been modified to specifications, My Lady. The few "Atiilah" Ha'tak and their Harpy escorts stand ready. Titan Guard squadrons have been dispersed around the interior." She smiled and padded forward, the spike trailing back off her ankle and heel making a glass like clink against the stone floor. "Argus ... you've done well for yourself... Your worth will be remembered." The hooded head rose and the black rimmed eyes met hers briefly, "What do we do next?" Sighing again Hel regarded the interior of the audience chamber, brow lowering with a brief twinge of confusion. "Between you and I, Priest... I have no idea. Perecles has a plan, though I do not see how appearing weak and defenseless will achieve any victory over Mynos and Thoth." As if her answer was a cue to another question he'd asked the first in preparation for, he bowed his head and retreated a step. "Then it is time for me to do my part..." "Your part?" Having assumed his part was the defenses he'd just reported finishing, her confusion grew. "I am to open the gates to the Sphere... a mechanical malfunction to appear as internal sabotage ... And then charges set along the shipyards on the unfinished chassis are to be detonated... their explosive signatures able to be detected outside the Sphere once the doors are open..." As he spoke the spiderweb armor began to shiver and thicken, spiked and barbed chains beginning to snake their way out of her back and shoulders reacting to her ire. "And why in Atlas' name would he order you to do something so idiotically foolish?" Not reacting outwardly to the display, Argus continued, "When the faux sabotage registers to outside forces, they will not know if it is civil unrest, or bait, however, the open gates will be too great an advantage to ignore in either case, and a force will be committed to breach them. Regardless of the number our enemy commits to the fray, they will have divided their numbers..." |
![]() |
|
| Ma'ahes | Jun 3 2015, 06:52 PM Post #4 |
|
.
![]()
|
Hyperspace Mynos opened the door to his chambers aboard the Atok. He rubbed his temples and anticipated the sweet relief of sleep, however little it may be, but the sweet smell of orchids rushed past him. Whatever sigh of relief he was about to utter quickly turned sour, into one of irritation. It was her. "Having a bad day, my lord?" Cassandra purred from his bed. The silken sheets covered nothing, which was precisely what she was wearing. Only the glow of a few candles from across the room provided any light and bathed the room in an aura of a midnight tryst gone wrong. "One that has only become worse, it would seem," Mynos replied, tugging at the clasps on his cloak to remove it. He tossed it aside onto a vacant chair and began fussing at the buttons of his stiff-necked jacket. He barely had a few undone when Cassandra slunk from underneath her silken embrace to help him. She stood bare before him, nimbly working the buttons undone, then slid her hands up from his belt and across his chest to slide the jacket off from his shoulders. It hit the floor with a slight clank as the metal embroidery met a hard floor. She dropped her hands back south to undo the belt, but his own hands grasped around hers. "Oh, feeling dominant tonight I see," she said with a wink. Mynos rolled his eyes and spun her around so that her back was pressed up against his front, her arms crossed and locked from his. "I am feeling tired," he hissed. "Of Thoth, of incompetent subordinates, and wayward queens who lack common sense to fear death when rushing to battle." "All the more reason to enjoy life, my lord," she replied with a gyration of her hips against his. She leaned her head back against his right shoulder, turning her head toward his and parting her lips slowly. Red and full, they always laughed at him as his was on his knees before Atlas. He felt the rest of his body begin to obey her will, and knew it was a losing battle. He considered this to be an omen to come, but decided against it. After all, he believed in strength, and right now his fleet's strength was greater than the defenses of Pericles. Whatever happened in this room could certainly not affect a battle hours after. He spun her back around and roughly shoved her onto the bed. She giggled, as if this was but slight as compared to Atlas. Mynos ignored the thoughts of his former master and what Atlas would most certainly do to him if Mynos defiled Atlas' favored queen. As Cassandra arched her back and spread her legs invitingly, Mynos certainly did not care. He dove into her embrace and pushed thoughts of the coming battle aside. *** Mynos awoke four hours later, rested. Cassandra remained curled against him, though he knew not why. Her motivations were constantly surprising him, if he understood them at any one moment at all. A beep went off, the same noise that just woke him. He fumbled in the dark for the bedside console, and hit the intercom button. "What?" It was Thoth on the other end, his disembodied voice sounding just as emotionless as the man was in the flesh. "We have arrived." |
| |
![]() |
|
| Titan Empire | Jun 4 2015, 04:22 PM Post #5 |
![]()
|
Argus turned at the sound of a proximity alert, though it didn't come from the Sphere defense grid. Behind him a pair of Jaffa shifted uneasily, gripping blast staves and watching as the priest moved over to investigate.
Apparently the few functioning T-Net Satellites were still feeding information through their lower band frequencies. Pericles had disabled all the known frequencies and as far as the rest of the galaxy was concerned, shut the net down. Another in a seemingly endless series of subterfuges and obfuscations. There were so many levels to the High Priests' plots Argus had given up trying to work out the machinations, and trust that the end would resolve as planned. "Go ...and remember... transmit the message before the detonation..." Both Jaffa's dragon helms nodded, and they turned to ring over to the Sphere Gate control, while Argus keyed another console and received an almost instant reply in the form of a video image of Pericles sitting at his desk, always half in the dark and seemingly writing with a bored. "Yes?" "Proximity alerts matching incoming hyperspace travel in the estimated volume of the rogue Empire Fleet. I have dispatched the demolitionists as you instructed." "Were there any complications?" the High Priest didn't even look up from what he was doing as he spoke, and Argus blinked, shaking his head. "Negative. Well..." he paused, tucking hands inside his sleeves and gripping forearms. This made Pericles pause, his hooded head turning toward the video receiver but saying nothing. Argus pressed on, "The Lady Hel expressed her misgivings about the plan to open the gate..." "Of course she did." As if he didn't care of the potential chaos the Horseman could unleash the High Priest turned back to his work, and after a long uncomfortable silence, "Was there anything else Septum?" "No, High Priest" bowing his hooded head, he didn't see the video cut off. At the Sphere control the pair of jaffa worked to connect the final charges, while a third who'd already been there waiting, hit a transmit button on a voice only message.
The transmission itself was full of electronic static matching the detonation sequence of the charges that went off along the locking mechanism of the Sphere's Gate, and one half circle sagged on it's hinges until that too broke and the gate portion floated outward from the sphere from the inertia of the blast. Seconds after that, the Sphere defense grid registered to any outside scanners as 'offline', a close inspection would reveal the turrets as mangled hunks of debris. Minutes after the gate was opened, the Ha'tak chassis in the shipyard was released from moorings, and halfway between shipyard and gate, it too was detonated creating a minefield of floating debris. Argus watched on internal monitors and sat stiff backed as all within the Sphere seemed to go silent. |
![]() |
|
| Ma'ahes | Jun 7 2015, 10:20 PM Post #6 |
|
.
![]()
|
"I think we should go for the gate," Thoth said on the other side of the view screen, the bridge of the Atok glowering behind him. "The sabotage proves we have support inside. We must show our allies the might of the Atok, and those still waiting to decide will rally to our cause." "Assuming this isn't some scheme of Pericles," Mynos replied, irritated that Thoth continued to see Mynos as a minor lord, rather than the leader of the Loyalists as he was. "True, the mad priests has had some brilliant plans in the past, but this cannot be one of them," Thoth retorted. "The shipyards within the Sphere are only lightly guarded, and we already covered how few ships the priest has at his disposal." "And what of the many turrets within the central causeway, Admiral?" Cassandra purred from the command chair of the Dragoon, the only surviving Dreadnaught-class warship to have survived the campaigns against Kualpuch, Atum, and Apollo. "What of them? The gate is destroyed, do you really think our allied inside would not have thought to disarm at least some of them? We have enough numbers to punch through even with only half the fleet." "Then that is what you shall have," Mynos said flatly. He ignored the protestations forming across Thoth's face and added, "You shall have the Hyperion Hubris of Cronos to aid in your assault, as well as half of the Atillas. I will take the remainder, along with all of the janteks, to the agreed-upon coordinates and attempt an assault there. If you are correct, and our allies have finally rallied to our cause, then you shall have the honor of capturing the mad priest." Mynos cut the transmission, letting the if you are incorrect hang in the void between their craft. He partly hoped that the gate was indeed a good sign of support, but he knew better than to risk everything on something too intangible. They were already risking the empire itself by assaulting the Sphere. If any of their enemies discovered how truly weakened the empire was after this assault, no matter who won, then it might collapse entirely. Atlas built something grandiose and impossible to defend without cowed neighbors, and with his third recent absence their neighbors were doing everything but cower. The fleet split up, Mynos' half going towards the far side while Thoth led his detachment toward and through the broken gate. Edited by Ma'ahes, Jun 8 2015, 06:27 PM.
|
| |
![]() |
|
| Titan Empire | Jun 8 2015, 07:54 PM Post #7 |
![]()
|
The darkened archive room had been converted into a monitoring relay station for the few strategic T-Net station satellites that remained operational on their low band frequencies. In that room, the hooded figure of the High Priest watched the distant lights of the fleet divide. They were running smoothly, no energy anomalies, no fluctuations in their systems to indicate any trepidation. Thoth, predictable as the brute who raised him, bringing the very symbol of the Empire as the hammer on it's heart. His gloved fingertips laced together and he sat back almost casually as the fleet approached the broken gate, angling to fit the broad chassis of the flagship through the half open corridor and into the sphere itself, having to halt just inside due to the debris of the shipyards 'destruction'. Not a single blast was fired as the divided fleet took up position inside, and the Atillas began moving to try and clear a path for the ship. Any remaining vessels outside, lost signal contact once they were past the entry corridor. His hands unfolded, and he moved one to flip a switch, opening the internal broadcast network Atlas himself had used on many ocations to cow his people. That was not what Pericles intended to use it for this time. The image of the Atok was cast to every viewing screen and projector within the Sphere, and even back to the Atok itself using a master override code built into all TE technology. Pericles' voice whispered where Atlas' voice would have boomed. "Witness the former majesty of the Empire come home to roost... but like a sneak thief in the night, they seek not to defend their home, they seek not to uphold the might of the Empire it was built to protect... they come now as conquerors... cowards... heathen heretics attempting to take what does not belong to them." He let a moment of silence pass, his fingertip hovering over another console's flashing light. His lips curved within the dark confines of his hood. "Witness all ye Faithful ... the Wrath and Vengeance of the Empire... the Strength of the Titan... fueled by the Faith of his True Believer..." As he spoke, the Atilla ha'tak each named uncloaked in strategic flanking position all around the divided forces, positions made more defensible by the debris field and their own close quarters. The five ships powered weapons and their Reflex armor rippled with energy. "Witness the fate ... of the Forsaken ..." his thumb pressing the flashing button. On each viewer, the ships opened fire, not just on the closely gathered ships, but the concealed and otherwise inert naquida bombs within the debris field of the shipyard before them, and the gate behind them, magnifying their assault a hundred fold in a fantastic display of raw destruction. The cheers of the people were almost as loud as the explosions... |
![]() |
|
| Ma'ahes | Jun 8 2015, 09:06 PM Post #8 |
|
.
![]()
|
"My, that certainly did not go as planned," Cassandra said from her perch on the command chair's right armrest. She was leaning against Mynos' tense form like a lazy cat. "For him, of course," Mynos spat. He remained impassive, though, and continued to watch the main image on the viewscreen that showed dozens of jantak frigates deliver payload after payload of heavy munitions on the surface of the Sphere. All defensive turrets had already been taken care, of, so at this point in time all that was required was time. Still, Mynos wasn't taking any chances. He let Pericles have his fun, so now it was time for his. "M'lord, Admiral Thoth is hailing us," a jaffa at the helm said impassively. "Shall I let it through?" "Very well, let us see what the good admiral has to say for himself," Mynos said with a smirk. Thoth's visage filled the screen, bloodied and battered as much as the bridge behind him was. Sparks flew here and there, with smoke clouding the air. A minor explosion sent one man flying in the background as he spoke. "Lord Mynos, the Atok cannot hold much longer. We require reinforcements," Thoth said with gritted teeth. "You doubt the power of the Atok, admiral?" Mynos replied in a false-surprised tone. "I was assured it could handle everything the mad priest could throw at it, and then some." Thoth's face turned to rage for a split-second before returning to normal nothingness. His voice trembled with a plea of help. Mynos looked over to a reading on the monitor bank on the left side of the room and grinned. It was time, and Thoth had played his part marvelously. Mynos stood sharply, ignoring Cassandra as she slipped off his shoulder and onto the seat of the chair with an uncharacteristic lack of grace. Mynos called for an open channel and muted Thoth, though he kept the admiral's grimace front and center. "Citizens of the Empire," he said, broadcasting in response to Pericles, "this traitor would have you believe he has torn asunder the might, the symbols, of those loyal to the truth of Lord Atlas. The Atok is not invulnerable, but I can assure you the might of the Empire is at my fullest disposal. I will not give you quarter, for you have had time for that. No, I will show you what I do to those who fail the Empire..." *** In the hold of the Atok, directly in the heart of the enormous vessel, stood a hardened block of trinium guarding a weapon whose complexity limited it to a mere handful at any time. Its construction facilities had been utterly demolished in the wars against the Seer, and only Atlas allowed himself to know the specific blueprints. The Hyperion missile was first used in the battles against the System Lords, when Lord Atlas first realized the limits of his hubris and might. Beaten back to the home system, only careful deployment of the missiles saved Charon. Misuse in the years following, combined with the malevolent machinations of Atlas' most-favored psychic children, let the galaxy believe no more existed. In other words, only two remained inside the Empire. And one just so happened to be on board the Atok. The missile worked by creating a vast amount of exotic particles in a vat of rapidly-expanding plasma, trapping any matter to instantly turn it into more of the primordial goop. This happened in a millionth of a second, but could cover dozens of square kilometers before the bonds connecting the plasma broke and let loose all that energy. Traditionally used to destabilize stars, it had a tremendous effect on siege defenses. The Atok's foremost pylons, battered and starving for help, crossed the threshold of the Sphere's demolished gates first, their transmission system coming through loud and clear. The hold was beginning to lose containment, and the bridge was then annihilated by a volley of plasma, but the damage done was too late. The hyperion detonated inside its dense container, the density providing ample matter to reduce to the most basic building blocks of the universe. The Atok was no more, gone inside the blink of an eye. The enormous tunnel into the Sphere was one of the strongest parts of the construct, and as such was perfect for funneling all that excess energy straight into the thing's heart. The initial energy wave evaporated large chunks of the outer sphere's rocky crust, revealing a complex lattice and armor layers forming the true skeleton underneath. As the blast erupted, this lattice work buckled in several key areas, caving in areas around the gate before being blown clear into space. The wave did not stop there, traveling down the tunnel and cutting clear through to the inner surface. There, it shone like a second sun, disintegrating the city cluster and causing catastrophic damage to anything miles from ground zero from its heat and pressure wave. If only that were it, the denizens could have counted themselves lucky. If only that were it. On the other side of the Sphere, Mynos' true plan came to fruition. A large enough crater had been created by the intense bombardment, enough to focus a second blast at a forty-five-degree angle to the gate. The second hyperion detonated, forcing a lance of energy straight into the pylons of the Sphere. A small crack appeared and then nothing at first, but several seconds later the internal damage began to show. The energy waves had disrupted the normal rotation of the sphere and demolished its carefully-constructed network of support beams. It was slowed down, cracked, and sped up within seconds, and this was too much for the sphere. Along the western hemisphere the crack continued to grow until the pieces drove themselves together, crashing in and creating a feedback loop of energy blasts that stretched from the second point of detonation to the main gate. Despite the Sphere collapsing in on itself, enough gaps appeared here and there to allow an entire fleet to pass through. Ignoring the frozen waves of water lapping at their shields, the fleet began its final attack. *** "Gaze upon true power, you traitors, and despair!" Mynos shouted into the broadcast, a mad grin plastered across his face. |
| |
![]() |
|
| Titan Empire | Jun 19 2015, 08:06 PM Post #9 |
![]()
|
The returning broadcast was routed to only one screen, it's light casting a shadow across the hooded face that watched it. The whole of the Sphere felt the shudders of the explosions as they rippled through, though without any context, the Hyperion assault seemed to be part of the plan, instead of a turn of events unaccounted for. Pericles smiled behind steepled fingers, leaning back faintly before switching the broadcast off, shifting the network over to a different mode, scanning for and isolating the frequency of the ship leading the new assault, and once more used the master override codes. The view of Mynos' vessel went black, bursting with the symbol of the sun being crushed in a molten fist, before dissolving to reveal the hooded High Priest sitting in the dark. "Hickory Dickory Dock.. the Mouse Ran up the Clock... the clock struck one.. the Mouse ran Down..." his voice was strange, singsong, and the way he sat only his lower face was visible, lips curved in a sardonic smile. "A bold gambit, but nothing I didn't expect from you. I will assume the former Admiral Thoth was aboard the Atok? Good... he was ever the arrogant sycophant. But you have another in your midst. I wonder how you will deal with her..." He killed and scrambled the internal Sphere communications again with that odd and cryptic message, before raising and moving around his desk to one wall. A wave of robed hand, the pulse of his hara'kesh, and the wall came alive with multiple banks of monitors, feeding information from various archives and sensors, bathing the room in a soft blue hue. He stood before the wall, examining the information coming in; status of the Sphere's integrity, the power conduit and status of various stations and positions of the Atilla Ha'tak that had assaulted the flagship. Only two had survived the Hyperion blast, sheltered by the debris, and Pericles shook his head with a sigh. "Everything going to plan, Puppet-master?" The High Priest didn't turn around to face the venomous female voice that came from the dark. He didn't turn when the slithering of her chains rattled along the pillars as she came forward into view, her face a mask of fury. "You've opened the gates to the enemy, broken the defenses ... you never intended to win this battle did you." It wasn't a question, as much as accusation, and she drew back both hands, wielding pikes with deadly glittering points. He still didn't turn and her fury grew, erupting with a forward dash and downward swing. The deadly points of the war pikes stopped short, inches from the nape of his robes, and her face of fury contorted with effort, veins and muscles along her neck and arms showing as she fought to press forward. Fury turned to maddened panic as she tried to pull back, and couldn't do that either, screaming at his turned back in wordless frustration. Slowly Pericles stepped forward and touched a few monitors, shifting data from here to there, acting like she wasn't even there, and she railed like a maddened cat dumped in scalded water, to no avail. Finally he waved his hand again, the wall of monitors going dark, and he turned to regard her. "None of you ever considered the implications of a neural interface did you?" At her frustrated and flushed face, he smiled, folding hands behind his back and moving forward, stepping to where he stood between her outstretched arms, close enough that her huffing breath rustled his hood. "No... that wouldn't ever concern you ... all that mattered was praise... power... status... Well my dear..." She couldn't even retract her head or turn to bite him as he rose a hand to stroke her cheek with the backs of his fingers, leaning even closer, meeting her wide panic stricken eyes. "I have..." |
![]() |
|
| Ma'ahes | Jun 24 2015, 07:46 PM Post #10 |
|
.
![]()
|
"That wretched man, comparing my perfection to that fool Thoth," Cassandra spat from the command chair, sitting up straight. "Quiet," Mynos growled, his brow furrowed at the blank screen. He barked out his orders to the pilot. "Move the fleet through the chasm, brace for fleet action." The fleet maneuvered through the narrow, broken path, avoiding large icicles that formed around the metallic debris. As they neared the atmospheric shielding, they could see the seams of water escape as the energy field struggled to keep back the billions of gallons of water that made up the main sea of the Sphere. The cloaked Al'kesh entered first, their main payload being sensor pods that swam through the tumultuous waters to escape to the other side. Once there, they immediately began to scan the Sphere and report back. "We have contact, My Lord," a jaffa exclaimed. "Main screen," Mynos grumbled. Anger gave way to surprise, surprise to confusion, confusion to fear. This wasn't some trap of Pericles'...no, this wasn't even some grand finale to the most devastating civil war in the region's history. Mynos had approached this as a war, as he was learned in the art of politics and violence. The same side to a coin, so to speak. When the Titan Net went down, he assumed Pericles sought to cripple the intelligence gathering of the loyalists. When even a hacked satellite was revealed to have self-fused its circuitry, Mynos assumed Pericles knew of the legacy override codes and decided to prevent a backdoor into his own intelligence net. When a frighteningly sophisticated virus broke out among the few battalions of titan guard left in the loyalist ranks, everyone thought Pericles unleashed a to-then-unknown assurance of Atlas' that the guard could never be used against him. When the main gate revealed an ambush, Mynos naturally thought it to be a maneuver based in war tactics. Pericles was not fighting a war. No, Mynos thought, we are simply an audience for his reckoning... |
| |
![]() |
|
| Titan Empire | Jun 30 2015, 06:15 PM Post #11 |
![]()
|
When the structural integrity alarms started going off, the High Priest shifted away from his captive audience to regard the wall of monitors as they came alive again, flashing reds and yellows of alert and warning. The concussive blasts of the Hyperions had masked the more subtle breach elsewhere, until the draining of the lake made it show on sensors. The emerging Al'kesh splashed into view and assumed defensive postures, but did nothing else. Pericles' reached up to stroke his lower lip with a kara'kesh covered thumb. "An interesting maneuver, good.. you're not as brainless as I'd figured. There's hope for you yet." Turning away from the alarms, ignoring the still struggling Lady Hel in her captivity, he moved to his desk and sat smoothly, drawing up a com channel. It came to life with the face of Argus moving into view with a bow. "Your orders, High Priest?" Pericles smiled in the shadow of his hood. "Open the courtyard, and make the assembly call." The Septum bowed his head again, unquestioning and unfalteringly loyal. As the screen went dark Pericles leaned his elbows on the arms of his chair and regarded Hel, the silence and lack of any action or available reaction driving the already unstable woman into screaming fits. The grand courtyard of the palace was a staging ground for many events within the empire, ranging from coronations, to proclamations of war. It was capable of hosting millions of onlookers, with balconies and terraces for even more. A clarion call of trumpet and drums sounded, echoing through the courtyard, and the Sphere's internal coms, also heard aboard the invading ship's channels if they were monitoring. The symbol of the burning sun and clenched fist showed on every viewing surface, the flames licking through the fingers in an idle animation as the clarion call repeated once more. It didn't take long for the courtyard to fill, the populace and residents of the Sphere expecting some grand conclusion to be announced since no further explosions or alarms rang through the Sphere itself. Argus stood on the high raised platform where most announcements took place, his expression somber, and silent, as the millions of people gathered. |
![]() |
|
| Ma'ahes | Jul 1 2015, 08:09 PM Post #12 |
|
.
![]()
|
Mynos looked at the millions of onlookers being shown on the myriad screens on the bridge. A wave of anxiety crashed into the officers there, none of which had an inkling of what was to transpire...nay, of what had even transpired. Both sides to the civil war met for the first time, and neither population knew what to do next. A crazed grin tugged at the side of Mynos's face. The opposite corner curled upwards as well, revealing sharp canines and wild eyes. "Devils, the lot of you...I spit at thee, I curse thee, I praise thee," he murmured. He let out a bark of a laugh that screamed falsity. Worse, it revealed a crack in the facade of confidence. "What is the fleet's orders, My Lord," wafted a tepid voice in still air. Mynos swiveled his head toward the commotion and smiled wider, motioning to the screens. "I do our Lord's work! My eyes have beholden much, but only now can I truly speak of sight!" He looked back to the screens and giggled, shoulders slumped forward as though his insanity were a weight upon them. "I spit at thee, Pericles, I curse thee...I thank thee." "What are you doing?" Cassandra exclaimed as she sat upright in the throne. Her left hand clutched the wide armrest while her right drummed nervously upon the cold metal. It was always cold. Mynos did not have an answer formulated into words. It was a series of emotions cascading into one another, mixing in a violent hurricane until clarity remained at the center for the briefest of time. All this time, his actions were compared to those of Atlas. Every step was criticized in light of him. It was inevitable, really, considering the cult of personality surrounding the All Seer, even when compared to the other System Lords. There was no plan for a hostile faction seizing control of the sphere, as Atlas merely would have to arrive to call for the ousting of the rebel's leaders. But Pericles was not fighting a war, he was enacting the complete desecration and annihilation of Atlas's legacy. The Net, the guard, the sphere...all these were laid waste to in an unholy feast. And so, with the rebels positioned before him, Mynos finally understood that, for whatever reason, Pericles offered Mynos a chance at some redemption. No, that was not the word for it. Pericles offered him a chance to become Atlas. And Mynos knew exactly what Atlas would do now. "Target the crowd. Kill them all." |
| |
![]() |
|
| Titan Empire | Jul 15 2015, 03:55 PM Post #13 |
![]()
|
As the assaulting forces took bearing on the crowded courtyard, the PA covering said courtyard came to life with a blare of fanfare, and the fist icon of the Empire dissolved to show the High Priest emerge from the temples, flanked by a pair of Titan Guard, and trailed by a Lady Hel. Her armor was once again it's spiderweb style, but her face, more specifically her mouth, was covered. Pericles approached the stand at the end of the long carpeted walkway, holding up his hands as voices rose in the space below. His raised hands quieted the voices, and he slowly pointed upwards at the ships above, a small microphone tied into the PA as well as the coms of the Sphere itself to accompany the video, picking up his voice. "Hail, the Empire's Finest, who have this day quelled the uprising of the Heretics!" To those not in the know, for all they knew, heretics had taken the Atok and assaulted the Sphere itself, and now it was destroyed along with the traitors, and Pericles was pubically directing the credit for that destruction, to Mynos' current flagship. Behind his hood, the High Priest's lips curved ever so faintly, and only the most observant would notice that the Lady Hel's neck tendons stood out from straining in silence... |
![]() |
|
| Ma'ahes | Sep 22 2015, 04:44 PM Post #14 |
|
.
![]()
|
"M'lord?" the jaffa commander asked, bewildered. "Did I stutter?" Mynos replied. "Nothing he says changes the fact that he leads this rebellion. No, he may try to win the propaganda war, but he will soon discover you cannot fight battleships with words. Now FIRE!" "Belay that order!" Cassandra shouted, suddenly alert on the command chair. Mynos spun around angrily, but she was already off and rushing to him with a soothing touch. He slapped her first advancement away, but she placed a tender hand on his chest and dared him to strike her again. "My dear, sweet Mynos...true, that crowd is worthless strategically, and that priest may have traitors sown into it for future harvesting. But to slaughter them all now that the battle is won. Would it not be better to capture the priest and force him to bow to us, like the All-Father did so many times?" A vein struggled mightily along Mynos's left temple, but burst it did not. He placed a hand over hers and strained to not crush it in his grasp. She was right, he could not simply kill them all, as his fleet's morale was already dangerously low. Yet, he knew that by not exterminating all life within the sphere would deal Pericles a major win. There would be no unseating the priest from traditional politics, if they could indeed get back to some semblance of normalcy. Mynos looked back to the monitors, seeing the smug face of Pericles. The bastard was practically begging to be incinerated! He took a deep breath and forced back those thoughts for now. "I will find some way to thank you for this," he whispered to her, pulling her to his side with a threatening grasp and leaving the true definition of "thank" up in the air. He cleared his throat for the bridge and added, "Fleet stand down, prepare to deploy troops to restore order. Your have pleased your god today, now let us continue on our path to restore glory to the Titan Empire!" As the cheers broke out on the bridge and on every ship in the fleet, Mynos knew it to be a lie. His gambit failed, and Pericles would make him pay dearly for it. |
| |
![]() |
|
| Titan Empire | Sep 22 2015, 04:57 PM Post #15 |
![]()
|
When the fleet overhead didn't open fire immediately, Pereclies knew his own gambit had paid off. He knew Cassandra was aboard one of them, perhaps even with Mynos himself, and she wouldn't - nae, couldn't - avoid the hero worship that awaited them upon arrival. It was her bread and butter and Atlas had fed her a limited diet of it to keep her in line without need of the za'tarc chair's tender ministrations. His hooded head shifted to glance over at the straining final Horseman, and his lips curved ever further. If he could get Cassandra to accept such a suit as a prize of victory, pitting her jealous nature against the formidable and exotic Lady Hel, he'd have one more piece on the board with free reign. Shifting his attention to the side he beckoned to Argus who came closer and bent discretely toward his High Priest. "Make ready the mooring points and dispatch repair and assembly crews to the wreckage. Salvage what you can, clear what you can't, and personally signal the flagship clear to dock at their leisure." The Septim bowed deeply and hand signed to a troop of Dragon helmed jaffa, and moved out without question. Pereclies mentally patted himself on the back for the progress of his protege, and made mental notes to send him elsewhere lest Mynos get it in his head to go on a traitor purge. Pereclies himself was immune politically; his death would do nothing except grind what little there was of the Titan Empire into the solar dust it was drifting in. He found he was oddly compliant with that thought. Live or die, his work, his life's work, had been nearly accomplished, and in less than a fortnight, he would either be dead, secure in the knowledge that the empire would fall with him, or he would be elevated beyond his station of Steward, and the universe would be his playground. His hooded head shifted and looked up at the ships as the crowds below cheered their 'saviors' and seemed to look directly at Mynos. "Play is to you, dear general.... play is to you." |
![]() |
|
| « Previous Topic · The Imperious Nebula · Next Topic » |









2:04 PM Jul 11