The Empire Always Strikes Back

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Magister Militum
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The Empire Always Strikes Back

Post by Magister Militum »

The Empire Always Strikes Back

An Eternal Game Short

Captain Gabrielle Chevalier could already tell that this was going to be one of those days. The minute she heard from her superiors that her unit was going after the Laughing Man, the same entity that masterminded the destruction of a whole ringworld, sold vital secrets to foreign agencies, and who knows what else, she sunk back into her chair and sighed. Under most circumstances, a direct assault on the Laughing Man's base of operations would have been suicidal. Ever since his defection from the Grande Armée, the Laughing Man had successfully killed every operative sent after him. Being a military-grade cyborg that had been modified even more so than before, the Laughing Man easily massacred most conventional squads sent after him, murdering them in absolute glee and with a twisted, perverse sense of humor, hence his name.

In short, he was a total, unadulterated psychopath with a mercenary flavor thrown in, and she was going to hunt him down.

Typical.

But now he had gone and done it apparently; now he had invoked the full attention and wraith of the Section Impériale. Supposedly formed by Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte I himself, the Section Impériale had just one simple goal: to maintain the survival of France and ruthlessly exterminate its enemies. Naturally, this meant that the Section Impériale could make certain...liberties that the other agencies could not. Her unit alone has carried out operations that would have warranted their execution; luckily for her, the Third Empire turns a blind eye to many of these operations if it means that France stays on top and her enemies down.

It’s little wonder that the Section Impériale’s unofficial motto is The Empire Always Strikes Back.

So instead of her comfortable abodes, she was leading her unit and a small force of heavy infantry and preparing to storm the Laughing Man’s base of operations for his current little scheme: some cosmopolitan high-rise in some megapolis she never heard of, on some planet she never heard of, deep in Indian space. Being in foreign space prevented the Section Impériale from carrying out a much more direct form of engagement, i.e. blowing the continent he was on to kingdom come, so it would be natural that the Laughing Man would think that he was untouchable what with his benefactors providing full protection via covert agents and light infantry. At least that was the idea from Intel; it’s impossible to fully predict the Laughing Man’s brilliant, if somewhat erratic and delusional, mind.

“Is everyone in place?”

A chorus of “yes ma’am” filled her helmet as the tactical data stream connecting everyone in the operation began to provide real-time information on everyone’s status.

“Alright, nothing fancy, boys; this is going to be a simple smash and grab. We storm the building, retrieve what command wants, and kill laughing boy as quickly as possible.”

The Captain opened a channel to her unit’s demolitions expert, a lanky regayo Chief Sergeant by the name of Sel Tiatant. “Sel, blow the charge.”

Without missing a beat, Sel detonated the three fusion charges that had been placed on the reinforced doors of the building. Catching the mansions security off guard, the blasts disoriented those that were close to the doors, while suppressive fire from all manner of cannonry at the task forces disposal killed those that where caught in the crossfire.

With imp like speed, Captain Chevalier and the other five members of her unit quickly slipped in stealthily, no thanks in part to the cloaking fields they were running, and began to pick off the stragglers. Remaining calm, Gabrielle efficiently picked off the Laughing Man’s agents with her high-powered rifle as bursts of hypervelocity, armor piercing penetrators slammed into the low-profile armor and battlescreens of whoever was unlucky enough to be considered a hostile.

The latest in infantry level arms, Gabrielle's heavy rifle was optimized for the sheer variety of targets that the Section Impériale typically faced. As such, the rifle did away with bothersome limitations as inflexibility on the battlefield and simply allows the user to program the desired ammo type and warhead, if any, to be used. Naturally, such a weapon is considered highly overkill against non-military targets of equal value. Nothing fancy, thought Gabrielle, as she switched to the standard ammo type and punched gaping holes cleanly through the layers of energy, armor, and flesh that were her enemies.

In the midst of the carnage, Gabrielle hadn’t been paying attention to the monomolecular blade wielding combat drone that had snuck up behind her. The drone would have cut her cleanly in two had it not been for a burst from a particle machine gun that destroyed the combat drone, as the volley of high powered meson particles burned cleanly through the drones armor and destroyed its vital systems. Gabrielle, having been surprised by the unmistakable sound of the particle machine gun so close to her, spun around to see what fully happened and laid her eyes on her unit’s heavy weapons specialist standing close by, Major Cyrano de Bergerac.

Covering his unit’s entry into the lobby of the high-rise, the automaton covered the Captain’s back as his suppressive fire overwhelmed those near Cyrano and caused one of the walls to collapse, adding further confusion for the defenders that were still fighting. Like his namesake, Cyrano maintained a penchant for swordplay, which could be seen by the wicked blade that crackled with energy that he carried with him. Cyrano himself must have killed several soldiers with his sword, disemboweling them with a flick of his wrist or simply beheading them with one clean stroke. What truly got his attention, though, was the uniform that one of the soldiers had. Even in the heat of battle, Cyrano could recognize the combat shell that the Unified Empire of Japan’s premier black ops unit, Indigo Rain, tended to use. Shoving it to his memory banks, Cyrano sprinted towards the rest of the unit that was already penetrating deep into the complex.

“Cyrano, Fortak, and Jean-Marc, make your way to where the mainframe is with part of the platoon and retrieve the package. Sam and Sel, you’re coming with me and the rest of the infantry to meet the Laughing Man.”

Samuel snorted. “And here I was thinking that I was going to live up to my life expectancy.”

The Captain rolled her eyes. Being second in command, as well as having an impressive kill ratio, Lieutenant Samuel Bergeron had certain liberties over what he could say, as long as he didn’t annoy Gabrielle too much. Although he was joking, the Lieutenant did bring up a point that many had on their minds.

“We’ve all heard the stories about what the insect does to people, particularly Section Impériale guardians, but as long as we keep our cool we can pull this off. He likes to talk a lot, to get into people’s minds to distract them, so just block it all out and keep together. Are we clear?”

There was a collective chorus of “yes, ma’am!” as the task force split up into two groups. For better or for worse, this night was going to end in someone’s death. The only problem for Captain Chevalier is that she didn’t know whether it was going to be her or the Laughing Man.



Captain Chevalier, Chief Sergeant Sel Tiatant, and Lieutenant Samuel Bergeron, along with a small cadre of infantry, began to make their way through the high-rise, killing all those that crossed their path to leave no witnesses and making their way to the heart of the building where the Laughing Man was sure to be holed up.

As they came closer to their destination, they heard the unmistakable sound of the Laughing Man’s voice. “You know, most people tend to just knock at the door instead of blowing them to bits and proceeding to flood my lobby with gun fire. Now is that anyway to treat your host?”

Samuel quickly retorted. “Well, most people’s homes are filled with heavily armed soldiers and combat drones, or are you going to tell me that they’re part of the security package?”

“You people never could take a joke, just like Marshal Whatshisface. You would think that the guy would be grateful for what I did for him. He was such a boring type, so I took the liberty of giving him a little makeover and injecting some fun into his monotonous life, and, because I was feeling generous, I decided to extend my offer to his family. When he saw the fruits of my labor on his friends and family, he screamed with joy! Or, at least I think it was joy. Of course, it wouldn't have been fair for the marshal if he didn't benefit from my expertise, so I really got cracking with him. You should have seen him when I was all finished...oh, wait a minute, you did! Now be honest with me, do you think I have a future career in the cosmetology field?"

The Laughing Man shrieked with laughter that sent a chill down everyone’s spine. Not necessarily because they were afraid, but because they had seen what he had done to Marshal Blanc, the great hero of the Third Empire.

Grotesque would have been an understatement.

The Chief was the first one to break the silence. “You sick, twisted fuck! When we’re done with you, you’re going to wish you were in the Marshal’s place, ‘cause we’re going to haul your pathetic carcass back to France where you’ll have some alone time with a particularly creative psyker.”

“Ooh, that sounds like fun! But I’ll tell you what, you overgrown cockroach, before we go take a stroll with that mindfucker of yours, I’d like you to meet one of my dearest toys. If there’s one thing you gotta love about the Great Powers it’s that their limitless wealth can churn out some of the best killing machines this side of Andromeda. Enjoy!”

Before anyone could say anything else, Gabrielle yelled out “take cover!” as a spread of missiles launched by a combat mechanoid homed on in to their positions. Their combat shells ECM systems drew most of the missiles away, sending them wildly off course before the detonated and filled and ruined much of the interior of the reinforced room. While the missiles didn't kill anyone, the shell from the mechanoid's anti-material rifle did, as it instantly overloaded a soldier's battlescreen and caused the entire upper body of a nearby soldier to explosively vaporize, spraying Gabrielle with a fine mist of vaporized metal and blood.

At an instant, the Chief Sergeant unclipped his shotcannon and let loose several volleys of tightly packed explosive shells onto the armored hide of the mechanoid. Taking notice, the combat mechanoid swung one of its arm cannons towards Sel’s general direction and fired a burst of supercharged plasma bolts, forcing Sel to take cover as the cyan colored streaks filled the space he had occupied before.

The mechanoid now distracted by the constant harassment provided by Sel and Gabrielle, along with various forms of gunfire from the other soldiers, Samuel grabbed a heavy graser from the weapons backpack of a dead soldier and set it to full power before firing the piercing green beam at the mechanoid's side. With all the power available in the weapons backpack dumped into the heavy graser, the beam easily tore through the mechanoid's defenses and created a gaping wound in the automaton's side. Heavily damaged by the graser, a nearby soldier carefully aimed his munition repeater at the critically damaged sections and fired several implosion grenades into the mechanoid's side. The explosive power of the implosion devices, combined with the firepower pouring into the mechanoid from everyone else, proved too much for the instrument of war, as the combat mechanoid exploded and sent shrapnel that vaporized harmlessly on the battlescreens of the soldiers.

Shaking off the brief disorientation caused by the mechanoid’s explosion, Captain Chevalier got up from behind the table she was using as makeshift cover, and surveyed the damage.

“How many did we lose?”

Samuel did a brief body count. “Look’s like about three, with another seriously wounded.

Gabrielle swore under her breath. “The immolation devices will take care of the dead; they won’t be able to trace anything if all they have is a pile of ash. As for the wounded, you know what to do.”

The lieutenant pulled out his pistol pulled the trigger, killing the wounded soldier. Samuel hated to kill the wounded, but he had gotten used to carrying out such orders whether he liked it or not; someone as seriously wounded as the now deceased soldier would not be able to be extracted out in these types of missions. Besides, to leave him would mean that he would be picked up by the local authorities and interrogated, and to allow any sort of possible information leak was not tolerated in the Section Impériale.

Gabrielle gathered the survivors around her. “At least we know where the Laughing Man is in the building. Cyrano, what’s the status on the package?”

“We’ve gotten a hold on the data he had on his computer; you wouldn’t believe the stuff he had, but we found something even more interesting from one of the guards instructions,” remarked the booming, vaguely inhuman voice that was unmistakably Cyrano’s.

“Back in the main lobby, I managed to catch a glimpse of the markings of Indigo Rain.”

The captain and the rest of the squad were dumbstruck. Why would the Japanese even bother to send agents of their most prized agency to provide so much protection for the Laughing Man?

“It turns out all that security was just a facade; Indigo Rain knew that we were going to carry out a hit on the Laughing Man, so they played along and provided beefed up security to make it appear to the Laughing Man that they wanted to keep him alive. Unfortunately for him, Indigo Rain never intended for the Laughing Man to survive. If we didn’t kill him and their agents were unable to, then they were going to detonate a nuclear device and take out the Laughing Man, along with the building and the general area it's located in.”

“Hold up for a second here, tin man,” remarked a more amused than shocked Samuel “you mean to tell me that we’ve been running around and shooting with wild abandon in what amounts to one giant bomb?”

“Pretty much, yes. It makes sense in retrospect; didn’t you people notice how easily the Japanese caved in? It’s almost as if they were not even bothering to put up a fight.”

“So that we would do their dirty work for them and they get the added benefit of killing us at the same time,” mused an angered Gabrielle.

Sel, contemplating the situation, raised a point that everyone had on their minds. “But why? Why do they want to get rid of him?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” replied Samuel as he looked towards Sel. “They’ve squeezed all they can from the Laughing Man and now they want to dispose of him now that he’s become a liability rather than an asset.”

“I’m assuming then that you’ve deactivated the explosive mechanism, Cyrano?” inquired Gabrielle.

“Yep; Jean-Marc pulled the plug on the bomb a while ago.”

Gabrielle began to contemplate the situation and before long a smile began to appear on her face. “Cyrano, we’re going to confront the Laughing Man. Meet up with us as soon as you can once you’re done.”

Acknowledging the orders, Cyrano and the rest of the squad began to destroy the data files located on the massive mainframe, preventing anyone else from making use of them while taking what information that seemed useful. With a plan now formulating within Gabrielle’s mind, she and the rest of the squad prepared to meet with the Laughing Man.



The upper floor was quite spacious, with windows providing a fantastic view of the skyline and a luxurious lounging area dominating the heart of the floor. Hunched over a computer in the center of the floor stood the Laughing Man, dressed immaculacy in his black suit and trench coat. This had been his most ambitious plan yet, but the efforts of the Section Iimpériale's guardians had put a real damper on the plan. The Laughing Man chuckled to himself; although the chances of the operation succeeding were somewhat reduced, he would at least have the privilege to dispatch another group of French agents.

As the Laughing Man scanned the building for his guests, he felt the cold barrel of a rifle on the back of his head and the voice of Captain Chevalier appearing out of nowhere.

"By order of Emperor Jean-Pierre XI, you are under arrest for treason, mass murder, terrorism, and the selling of state secrets to foreign polities. You have been found guilty and hereby sentenced to death by firing squad effective immediately."

The Laughing Man smiled. "That's a nice trick. Let me guess: the simultaneous use of a cloaking field and stealth screen, along with a zip engine to get you here so quickly. Personally, I would have been more impressed if you managed to pull a rabbit out of your helmet."

The rest of the squad decloaked to reveal their weapons fully drawn towards the Laughing Man, with Gabrielle right behind him. “Right to the bitter end with the jokes, huh Claude? Well, I’d like to see you’re still going to be such a wise guy with your brain splattered on the walls.”

Before the Laughing Man could answer, Gabrielle pulled the trigger on her rifle and sent a penetrator through his head, shattering the various artificial materials that composed his head and sending gray matter and various fluids in all directions as his body slumped to the ground and the penetrator punched through the walls and continued its trajectory unfazed. Gabrielle kicked the body a few times before Sel spoke up.

“That was it? Really, was that it? You would think that this guy would put up more of a fight.”

“Well, if it’s a fight you want then you’re at the right place,” commented a figure from the shadows. As the figure came closer, it became obvious who it was: the Laughing Man. “As you can see, I also can do quite a few tricks, although I’ll have you know that you’re going to pay for the suit you’ve ruined. Gray matter stains are absolutely impossible to get out; you wouldn’t believe how many suits I’ve ruined that way, but that’s what I get for being in this line of work.”

Gabrielle and company kept their weapons trained on the Laughing Man as he strolled throughout the room. “So daddy dearest finally became fed up with the traitor that is his son and sent you guys to kill me, or was it that glorified calculator Montesquieu that gave the order? Well, it doesn’t matter now; both of them will eventually get what’s coming to them, along with all of you. But let’s even the odds a bit, hmm? After all, it wouldn’t be fair for me to fight all of you at the same time.”

Out of nowhere, a series of restraining fields trapped the entire squad, with the exception of Gabrielle. The Captain attempted to fire, only to have her rifle cut in two by the Laughing Man's blade.

"Honestly, my dear, there's no need for such clumsy weapons here; I prefer a much more eloquent form of dispatching opponents that are truly worthy of dying at my hand. Oh, and don't think that the rest of your friends are going to be able to make it. The only door to this room is made of pure omnisteel and there are anti-phasing fields in place to prevent any more fancy tricks.”

“It’s over, Claude! So what if you manage to butcher all of us? Even if we don’t kill you, the Japanese will.”

“Oh, please, let’s not start the whole ‘stall the villain by making him second-guess himself’ trick. You’ll make both of us look stupid.”

The Laughing Man surged towards Gabrielle, sword drawn, at an impossibly fast speed. Gabrielle quickly ducked the blade that would have taken her head clean off, pulled out her own combat blade, and met the Laughing Man’s swipe with her own. While Gabrielle had some experience with swords, the Laughing Man was extremely proficient with such weapons. Worse yet, he was a dirty fighter; the Laughing Man loved to break his victims mentally before breaking them physically. Of course, if the tables were turned, the Laughing Man would lose his cool and give Gabrielle an opening in which to put him down once and for all.

Gabrielle continued to meet the Laughing Man's thrusts and swipes with her own, parrying the Laughing Man's strikes while giving a little bit of ground every so often. As their blades locked, the Laughing Man's face came within inches of Gabrielle's helmet, his leering, mocking grin and cold, piercing eyes boring through Gabrielle.

"You know, you take yourself way too seriously. You need to lighten up so you don’t end up like your friend, Major Delacroix. It’s a shame that he didn’t see eye to eye with me; the two of us could have been one hell of a team, but he decided to play goodie two shoes like the rest of you saps. Apparently breaking every bone in his body wasn’t enough to change his mind, or gouging his eyes out of his sockets.”

Gabrielle felt as if her blood was hot enough to melt through a starships hull, but she kept her cool. She couldn’t give in to the Laughing Man’s babble.

“You know, he lasted the longest out of all my victims; I have the recording to prove it, too. I can only wonder if you or your friends can top Delacroix. Well, I guess there’s only one way to figure out, huh?”

The Laughing Man howled with laughter that finally sent Gabrielle over the top and, more importantly, gave Gabrielle the opening she’d been hoping for. With one fluid move, Gabrielle sent her helmeted head crashing down on the Laughing Man’s head, sending the Laughing Man down to the floor hard. Gabrielle’s battlescreen would have melted off much of the Laughing Man’s synthetic flesh had it not been for the Laughing Man’s own screen. Of course, the battlescreen didn’t spare the Laughing Man from the trauma of being hit with such a hard object at a high velocity.

Gabrielle knocked the Laughing Man’s blade out of his hands and kept her blade close to the Laughing Man’s throat as he struggled to recuperate from the blow to his head.

“Now that constitutes as assault, Captain. You’ll be hearing from my attorney.”

“I have to commend you for being so up beat,” remarked Gabrielle in an amused tone. “Not that many people would be if they knew that this building is rigged to blow thanks to the Japanese.”

“Is that helmet of yours cutting off the oxygen supply to your brain? Why would my benefactors want to blow us all up if that means they lose their number one freelance agent and my services?”

Gabrielle laughed; he really had no idea. “You don’t know, do you? Indigo Rain decided you’re more of a liability than an asset. So they’ve decided that if we didn’t kill you, then they’ll turn the building into scrap with you in it, as well as taking any additional information you have and all the money they’ve been wiring into your account.”

The Laughing Man’s face grew pale. “You’re a liar. They wouldn’t dare do that to me. Not after everything I’ve done for them.”

Gabrielle withdrew her blade from the Laughing Man’s throat and threw a datapad by his side. “If you don’t believe me, then take a look at what’s on that pad. You’ll find everything I’ve said is there, along with a few other surprises.”

The Laughing Man fumbled with the datapad and looked over the information before crushing the datapad with his hands in absolute fury. “No, this can’t be right. You’re lying to me! This is all some type of joke you’re playing!”

“If you don’t believe me, then take a look at your computer. I’m sure your bank accounts and everything else have been emptied out.”

The Laughing Man scrambled to a console in the middle of the room and, sure enough, she was right. He was completely penniless and, to add insult to injury, all of his files were now gone. The Laughing Man’s already loose grip on sanity was slowly disintegrating as he buried his head in his hands. Everything he had worked so hard on was falling apart all around him.

“No, no, no, no. It can’t end like this. It just can’t!” screamed the Laughing Man as his fist crashed down on the computer and ruined the machine.

“You know, this is all really pathetic.” Remarked Gabrielle as she paced the room. “All your life people have rejected you. When you became an embarrassment to your father, he sent you away to the Grande Armée so that he wouldn’t have to deal with you anymore. Your superior officers viewed you with contempt and disgust while in the military because of your twisted mentality. And when you defected and sought to sell your services to the highest bidder so that you could get that respect you so desperately wanted, the very people who struck the deal with you simultaneously stabbed you in the back. They strung you along for all this time until they grew tired of their plaything and decided to get rid of the trash. You know, now that I think about it, this is all kinda funny.”

Gabrielle began to laugh, pushing the already mentally fragile Laughing Man to the edge. “Don’t you dare laugh at me!” roared an enraged Laughing Man.

“Why not? I thought you loved a good joke? Don’t they call you the Laughing Man?”

“Shut up!” screamed the Laughing Man as he reached for his sword and charged towards Gabrielle at a monstrous speed. This time Gabrielle was ready for him, though, as she swiftly dodged the blade and, with one fluid movement, cut the Laughing Man in two from the waist.

Gabrielle released the restraining that were keeping the rest of her unit from joining in, while the Laughing Man, his entrails dangling behind him and blood collecting throughout the floor, struggled to reach a pistol on the floor. The Laughing Man never reached the pistol, as Samuel kicked the pistol away before kicking the Laughing Man in the throat. As Samuel, Sel, and the rest of the squad gathered around the Laughing Man, their weapons fully loaded and ready to fire, the Laughing Man began to laugh.

“And here I was thinking that I was just going to get a slap on the wrist.”

Gabrielle, having had enough of the Laughing Man, uttered just two words to the rest of her unit. “Kill him.”

Without hesitation, the various weapons pointed at the Laughing Man opened fire. Projectiles and energy of all sorts flooded the general area where the Laughing Man was located, as the Laughing Man was reduced to a mess of twisted metal and charred flesh. The rest of the unit soon joined Gabrielle and her squad once the omnisteel door had been dealt with the intention to aid them. One glance at what remained of the Laughing Man put an end to that thought.

“Well you people sure as hell don’t know the meaning of overkill.” Remarked Sergeant Jean-Marc as he surveyed the damage.

“That’s nothing. You should have seen the Captain with a sword. The Cap’s obviously learned a thing or two from those sparring sessions with Cyrano,” mentioned Samuel as he walked towards his comrades.

“Well gentlemen,” remarked Gabrielle as she removed her helmet and let her golden brown hair flow freely, “I think that we can scratch one security leak off the list.”

“There’s still the little matter of the Japanese and Indigo Rain,” replied Cyrano.

As the rest of the unit began to leave to their transport, Gabrielle replied to Cyrano “well, there are always going to be a few loose ends, but I have a feeling that command going to have us tie those up very soon.”



Several weeks later…
Vice-Commandant Fudo Hatoyama sighed as he entered his home. The pressures of his work often made life difficult, especially after the disaster with the Laughing Man and the French. The Imperial Section eliminated the pest that was the Laughing Man, true, but at the cost of a disproportionate amount of his men being killed. And to add insult to injury, the French managed to out manipulate the forces at work and take back the information Indigo Rain seized from the Laughing Man. Fudo shook his head: You can’t win them all.

As Fudo sunk into his favorite chair and poured himself something to drink, his comm transmitter beeped to life. Fudo walked over to the transmitter to receive the call, but noticed that it was in audio only. Regardless, Fudo opened the line to speak with whoever it was that called him.

“Fudo Hatoyama?” asked a distorted voice in fluent Japanese.

“Yes, this is he. Who are you?”

“Who I am is irreverent. What’s important is that you pay for your meddling in affairs that cost the life of so many people.”

Fudo was taken aback by what he just heard. “I don’t know who you are, but you have no right to speak to me that way! Do you know who I am!?”

“Yes, I do. Fudo Hatoyama, Vice-Commandant of the covert black-ops organization Indigo Rain. I also know about your group’s funding of the Laughing Man and your agent’s aiding of his operations.”

Fudo began to grow pale. He had put so much work into covering his tracks and making sure that nothing could be traced directly to him. Despite that, someone still managed to find out who had been pulling the strings all along. “If your objective is to threaten or coerce me, then your efforts are in vain. My men will track you down and skin you alive for this!”

“I’m in no mood to hear your petty threats, Commandant,” responded the distorted voice. “The Laughing Man has caused the suffering of trillions of individuals due to his transgressions, and your aiding of him makes you just as guilty and, as such, warrants your death.”

Fudo scrambled to the security alarm but never made it. “No, Fudo. Your goons will not save you this time,” remarked the voice coldly as a small drone that had been hiding in the apartment fired a shot that tore into Fudo’s thigh, causing him to collapse onto the floor as he grabbed his thigh in pain.

“Isn’t technology grand? I can have this little drone incapacitate you while I’m far away.”

Fudo, still holding the transmitter, slowly crawled towards the security alarm to get help while the voice continued to taunt him. “Did you honestly think that you could hide from us? That somehow you could bury deep enough that no one could trace this whole fiasco to you? There is absolutely nothing that you can hide from us, Fudo. Nothing.”

“Look, we can make a deal. I can get you information on anything or anyone you want,” rambled an increasingly desperate Fudo as he inched towards the security alarm.

“Fudo, you can ring the alarm if you want, but the guards will never make it; you’ll be dead by the time they arrive. However, before I leave, I want you to know the moral of this story: No one ever crosses the Third Empire and lives to tell the tale. Do you know why?”

Fudo managed to utter a barely audible “Why?”

“Because the Empire always strikes back.”

The line suddenly closed and before Fudo could react, a massive explosion destroyed his apartment, vaporizing him instantly. Gabrielle, having overseen the implementation of the operation from a starship in another system smiled towards Samuel, who had carried out the call, as she sunk into her chair and meditated.

The Empire always strikes back, indeed.
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Germania your game is through, now you're gonna answer to... The Freestates! Fuck Yeah! Now lick my balls and suck on my cock! Freestates, Fuck Yeah! Coming in to save the motherfuckin' day! Rock and roll, fuck yeah! Television, fuck yeah! DVDs, fuck yeah! Militums, fuck yeah! - Shroomy
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Re: The Empire Always Strikes Back

Post by Mobius 1 »

While the writing got a bit clunky once or twice, this is really pretty good. I love the French, and it's certainly nice to see them kicking insane amounts of ass. And besides, I'm probably the biggest swordfight fanboy on this forum, so that was mass props. Bravo.

All in all: we need more TEG shorts, especially with this crew.
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Re: The Empire Always Strikes Back

Post by Booted Vulture »

I have this sudden desire to watch Batman Beyond. I can't think why. :D

I do, would like to see more Eternal Game snapshots. Because they're fricken rad.
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Magister Militum
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Re: The Empire Always Strikes Back

Post by Magister Militum »

Booted Vulture wrote:I have this sudden desire to watch Batman Beyond. I can't think why. :D

I do, would like to see more Eternal Game snapshots. Because they're fricken rad.
The fight scene was meant to be a homage to the climax of Batman Beyond, so you lose in your attempts to make smart comments, little man. :D

As for more snapshops, the only thing I will say is that there will be a story arc I'll be starting up soon. As to what it will be about I'm going to be vague to tease all of you. ;)
Democratic Socialist | Atheist | Transhumanist | Bright Green Environmentalist | Worldbuilder | IT Professional |


Germania your game is through, now you're gonna answer to... The Freestates! Fuck Yeah! Now lick my balls and suck on my cock! Freestates, Fuck Yeah! Coming in to save the motherfuckin' day! Rock and roll, fuck yeah! Television, fuck yeah! DVDs, fuck yeah! Militums, fuck yeah! - Shroomy
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