The Galactic War: A New Story

[Czernobog]

PART 1: Lock and Load


Sergeant Vasiliy of the Spetznaz couldn't help but be worried. This was a routine special-forces mission - drop in, get the prisoner, get out. But this was to be conducted in the Imperiat's own territory, the secluded planet of Omniplenty, in the Helios Cluster, to rescue a valuable scientist-slash-political prisoner, kidnapped by the Imperiat's own thought police. This wasn't a simple op against the Volksreich or its puppet-states. This was a top-level mission.

And Vasiliy couldn't help but feel a small degree of fear, as the gunship pressed through the atmosphere of the night side of the blue-green world that the Imperiat called Omniplenty, breaking the sound barrier as it rushed downward through the stratosphere, before hovering over the drop location.

The floor of the gunship's interior opened up and Vasiliy readied the gravity-chute built into his power-armour, ready to jump. His men readied their own, and Vasiliy gave the signal. They jumped, their fall automatically slowing, as they landed inside the outer wall of Nodku Prison Camp.

Cloaks activated, space-time distortions hiding them from visual and thermal. They sneaked up to the inner wall, and deployed implosives, then walked away. The wall was quickly breached, torn apart in a gravitic vortex, pieces of Stonecrete flying in multiple directions.

There was no hiding now, the guards had been alerted, and were rushing forward. Vasiliy decloaked and readied his blaster, holding it close to his shoulder as he fired it in its default tri-shot configuration. The blasts disintegrated a guard's head, one going wild and hitting another in the chest, super-heated plasma melting through the ribcage and taking out the vitals. He fired again, hitting a guard in the chest with three shots, burning a hole straight through him.

Time was running out though - they desperately needed to get the scientist out, as quickly as they could. More guards rushed as they retreated through the gap they had made in the wall, throwing an implosion mine behind them as a farewell gift.

The guards were caught in a gravity-vortex, flesh torn and ripped apart by the titanic powers unleashed, at the end little remaining but shreds of bloody bone and torn fabric. More guards rushed forward, but were quickly mowed down.

He got to Hut 13, the place where this political prisoner was, and kicked down the door. The prisoner looked scared, terrified even, but Darion spoke to him in his best Imperiat.

'We're here to help. Grab me.'

Vasiliy looked, around him Spetznaz were fighting with prison guards, whose bodies lay on the ground in the dozens. They were winning, but running out of time.

He watched, as they rushed forward over the dead bodies of their friends, still attacking, completely fanatical in their madness. He wondered how many more deaths it would take for them to realise their defeat, then dismissed the thought, seeing as it was a distraction from what needed to be done.

Then he remembered what to do, grabbing the prisoner.

'Earth to Magister Militum,' he said. 'Repeat, Earth to Magister Militum, requesting teleport. Repeat, requesting teleport.'

The guards continued to fire, as a beam from orbit illuminated the bloody scene, scanners locking on rapidly to the team and the prisoners, the crewmen activating the teleport functions as fast as they could.

Then, in a flash of blinding light, the scientist, the Spetznaz, and Vasiliy were gone, back on board the gleaming, silver corridors of the capital ship Arkhangelsk. The war was just about to begin, as the Imperiat simply could not abide this attack.

Vasiliy smiled grimly as he looked at the blue-green planet of Omniplenty. There would be plenty of missions ahead.

[Czernobog]

PART 2: The Fuhrerstadt Groove

Fuhrerstadt, Germania

Reichsfuhrer Franz Gottlieb looked at the diplomatic report, standing on the balcony of the neo-classical Teutonic Palace. The recent raid on Omniplenty had caused a great deal of trouble for the Imperiat. The Germanic Volksreich was an ally of the Imperiat, and its relationship with the Terran Concorde were mostly cold, as they were seen as potentially dangerous.

'Potentially dangerous'? Ha!, Gottlieb thought as he looked at the Reich's proud banner, the hooked-cross in a white circle, on a red background. He would show them, show them all, the true power of the Volksreich!

It was to begin with Operation Eagle Day, a joint attack from the Imperiat and the Volksreich, to strike at the heart of the Concorde. Then, the image of the Imperiat's emperor, Napoleon XI, appeared before him.

'Ah, mein fuhrer,' the projection stated. 'When do we launch Eagle Day? It was, after all, your own idea.'

'In six hours,' Gottlieb replied. 'We need to strike with speed, with righteous hatred for the inferior vermin.'

He looked at the powered-armour Sturmwache forces below him, thousands marching, goose-stepping past the palace under the blue Germanian sky, their black armour shining in the sunlight.

He looked at Fuhrerstadt's neo-classical-slash-neo-gothic skyline, true architectural beauty, the massive statues and propaganda posters designed to constantly teach the people of the glory of their Fuhrer reflecting the brilliant sunlight.

Soon, all the galaxy would belong to him.

++++

Napoleon XI, Emperor of the Supreme Imperiat, looked at the holographic picture of Omniplenty. It had been attacked 2 days ago by a special forces group of the Russian Empire, which had come from the capital ship Arkhangelsk. This meant war, and Eagle Day would begin soon. The key target was the Federation of Britannia, and its colony worlds in the Albion Cluster, New Avalon of which was by far the most important. If they fell, a path was open to Earth.

The Volksreich's forces would see to its fall, leaving the Imperiat's (far larger) forces to deal with the bulk of the Terran Concorde's worlds. The house of Bonaparte was in the ascendant, and it was his duty to ensure that it rose higher, above the other noble houses, which were currently far weaker than House Bonaparte in the Imperiat's system. Might, made right.

The enemy would see that the might of the Imperiat would crush once and for all the Terran Concorde, absorbing and annexing it into their empire. He could already imagine his triumph-parade on a broken, ravished Earth.

After that of course, the Volksreich and all other possible enemies would have to be dealt with, but this war would leave him supreme master of the galaxy if he won. If he lost, he lost.

And if he won, nothing would ever stand in his way again.

++++

The Chairman of the Terran Concorde looked uneasily at the diplomatic report. He could count on the German Empire, the United States, the British, the French, the Russians and the Japanese if war was to break out. But the Imperiat was far larger, and had allies in the Volksreich. Not that he knew they could trust those contemptible scum, their Fuhrer had always been independent-minded, and often made decisions that were completely different from those Napoleon XI suggested.

He was insane, but he was also smart, and his cunning couldn't be underestimated. He could be planning a surprise attack right now, for all he knew.

Outright betrayal could be part of what he planned, but it wasn't a good idea to rely on what you thought a madman planned. He needed something that could turn the tide...

[Czernobog]

PART 3: Avalon's Fall


Outpost E-24, Volksreich

The surface of the desolate, frozen moon, on the very edge of its solar system, far from a vital warmth-giving star, belied its great importance to the fleet now ready to perform Operation Eagle Day. It was to be the great assembling point of the mighty fleet, the point from which they would invade the Albion Cluster, starting with the vital world of New Avalon. 10 carriers, each carrying 1,000 fighter-bombers. 20 transports, each carrying a million men of the elite Sturmwache. 100 battleships, Star Dreadnoughts all, arrived in orbit. 500 cruisers, all accounted for. About 1500 escorts, torpedo-boats, missile-ships and gunboats.

Each was armed with nuclear weapons, rail-guns, missiles, particle beams, lasers, all the killing technologies of man perfected and then waiting to be unleashed to send the enemy's souls to whatever afterlife they deserved.

Soon, New Avalon would fall to the sheer might of the Volksreich, and with it Earth itself. At least in Gottlieb's mind. Every ship prepared to jump, then fired hyperspace engines and flew into the great beyond faster than the speed of light itself. Where they had been, was only emptiness and faint after-images.

+++

New Avalon had a fleet assigned to it, led by the Battleship Excalibur, the space around it filled with thousands of defence stations, that all sent alarms ringing when hyperspace disruptions and distortions were detected on the edge of the system, presaging the brutal battle that was to come.

Commander Daniel Silverson looked at the scanners, showing the size of the fleet which was jumping in. More than 2,000 ships in all, this wasn't a battle he could win. But he would give them a bloody nose, for New Avalon, his homeworld, for Britannia, his country.

'Men,' he stated on the quantum communicators on the ships under his command. 'We are going to die. But we are going to face the enemy, and die with honour. Centuries ago, we faced the Hun over our own soil, and we will gladly do so once more, for King and Country. For King and Country!'

As their drives began to activate, pushing them to 75. c (Silverson thanked science for inertial damping technology, as he drank his last cup of tea), he knew only courage as the two fleets collided and the battle began.

+++

Admiral Ferdinand Engel of the Volksreich laughed maniacally. The enemy was right where he wanted them. It was completely insane of them to continue fighting, but they continued anyway. He remembered the words the Fuhrer had said to him, before his embarkation for the attack on New Avalon.

'Let this holy mission begin, let it begin Armageddon, the holy war between the Satanist Bolsheviks of the Concorde and the pure, good Aryans of the Volksreich. Let the Imperiat and its lackeys destroy themselves and the Concorde, so that the Volksreich reigns over all.'

It would be mad rantings to any sane man, but Engel wasn't sane, he was a total fanatic of his poisonous ideology. He served the Fuhrer, and would till his last breath.

But that didn't matter, the enemy battleship was taking hits, a direct strike to its fusion core, venting plasma throughout the ship as it exploded, killing all aboard. There was nothing that could stand in his way now. Nothing at all.

+++

The city of Havenport was the planetary capital of New Avalon, built around a vital spaceport. Orbital defence lasers surrounded it, but they had been taken out by ortillery fire. Now the city was as defenceless as a sitting duck.

Shuttles landed, standard Blitzwehr and elite Sturmwache pouring out of them. They met heavy resistance, the militia fighting desperately, desperate to drive the invaders off their land.

The fighting was particularly hellish for one Corporal James Bass, a young man enlisted just six months prior to the Reich's attack. Everywhere around him, the Blitzwehr were pressing forward, trying to overwhelm the barricades with sheer numbers. He manned the machine-blaster, firing shot after countless shot of super-heated plasma towards the Volksreich's men, killing them where they stood and ran.

The tanks began to advance, and were met with a hail of grenades and missiles, taking out about 12 in the first salvo. The tanks exploded in a pyrotechnic frenzy that would have done Hollywood proud, burning and sent flying into the air, landing on their tops, crew screaming as they tried desperately to get out of them. The bodies continued to pile up, but they were running out of desperately needed ammunition, and then a plasma-bolt struck Bass' chest and killed him where he stood.

++++

Havenport smouldered, the fires set by the bombardment already extuinguished. The city had been destroyed utterly, heaps of rubble standing where buildings and skyscrapers once stood. The reason for its destruction was relatively simple, ruins were easier to defend than intact buildings, and the population had been wiped out or sent fleeing already, so why bother keeping it standing? New Avalon had fallen, crushed by sheer numbers and lack of ships and men to defend it.

Now the next phase of the war would begin...

[Czernobog]

PART 4: American Affairs

Washington D.C, Earth

Alfred F. Jones, President of the United States of America, looked around at the men in the bunker with him, Secret Service agents and generals.

'Look,' General Fairfax said, activating the holo-frame. A picture of Havenport's ruins flashed into view.

'My God...' Jones said, shocked by the sheer disregard for human life that had been the mindset of those who razed Havenport, the city utterly destroyed. 'Who did this?'

'The Volksreich did, sir,' Fairfax replied.

'Then..' Jones replied, his voice simmering with rage. The Volksreich were monsters, and they had done this?! The Volksreich had razed Havenport to the ground, reducing it to rubble! Why?! was all he could think, as he heard more reports. The Volksreich were apparently raiding other worlds, invading them from the safety of New Avalon. Something had to be done, something soon.

++++

General Otto Kammler, Commander of the Volksreich occupation of New Avalon, had two problems. One was the growing guerilla resistance across the planet, which he planned to stop by ordering his troops to kill 10,000 civilians for every single Volksreich soldier killed by the guerillas. Second was the fact that reinforcements were undoubtedly coming, undoubtedly to drive them off the planet. But that wasn't much of a problem, due to the fact that he was building heavy fortifications around the remaining major population centres, with labour provided by slaves newly put under the yoke, coming from this very world.

Give him a week and New Avalon would be impenetrable.

He saw Sturmfuhrer Mannfred Von Mannstein, Commander of the Sturmwache forces on this world and his lieutenant, approach in heavy power-armour, with missile-pods on the shoulders and two machine-blasters attached to the arms. The Sturmwache were the military arm of the Party, having their own unique rank structure, somewhat independent of the actual military, being an elite force of shock troops designed especially for the Blitzkrieg strategy the Volksreich commonly used. They were the Fuhrer's most prized men, and their headquarters was in Fuhrerstadt itself, right next to the Teutonic Palace and the Party Headquarters.

Hopefully, they would win.

++++

King Arthur Edward Windsor, of the Federation of Britannia, looked at the report on what the Volksreich had done to New Avalon. Its capital had been razed and a quarter (about 2,5 billion) of its population forced into slave labour, along with the destruction of the venerable Battleship Excalibur and the entirety of the New Avalon System Fleet. And now the Imperiat was striking at the border worlds of the Albion cluster, even as the Volksreich stabbed at its heart.

This could not be allowed. The Albion Cluster was a corridor that led straight to Earth, and represented the oldest colonies of Britain in space. The enemy could not be allowed one more day on its valuable worlds. He would have to appear to the Audience Chamber of the Terran Concorde, and explain the terrifying situation to them personally.

++++

Alfred F. Jones appeared before the congress chamber of the United States of America, and began to speak.

'700 years ago, to the very day,' he stated. 'A great man, also President, said that the day December the 7th would live forever in infamy. And it has. Forces of the Germanic Volksreich have invaded the peaceful world of New Avalon, and wreaked untold devastation upon it. Our allies, the Federation of Britannia, have asked for aid in driving the Nazi scum off their world. Who are we to deny it? For these transgressions against international law, I ask for you to declare war upon the Volksreich and the Supreme Imperiat, until their leaders hang! Nothing more, nothing less, until we have established democracies in both nations. War!'

'WAR!' The members of Congress yelled.

Soon, the war would truly begin...

[Destructionator]

'WAR!' The members of Congress yelled.

Huh! Good god, y'all!

Kamin, all your stories are basically the same. There's really no build up; just sudden war in all of them. You should try leaving the war for some ways in, and try some other approaches first. It'll change things up, flesh out the situation more, and I think, be more suspenseful.

[Shroom Man 777]

Sadly enough, Destro's right. Stop emulating the Salvation War style format that focuses on leaders telling guys to tell armies to attack/invade/whatever this. It's not really the best format to tell the story, and is one of the flaws of Stu's TSW.

I'm sure you read, and I'm sure you've read novels. Have you read any novels that follow this particular Stuart/TSW style of just following leaders and presidents and generals? I doubt there are that many books like that, and if there are then a whole lot of them are boring.

Try to think what makes your favorite novel nice and fun to read.

And, Jesus, try to focus on a single protagonist to make it easy on yourself. Nobody cares about a big war if all we see is a bunch of generals and Alfred F. Joneses talk about stuff in offices or war rooms. Hell, if I want to read about Alfred F. Joneses I'd just go read some gundajapanimechanimumangos like Hetalio or whatever it's called.

[Heretic]

Hell, if I want to read about Alfred F. Joneses I'd just go read some gundajapanimechanimumangos like Hetalio or whatever it's called.

Do you mean Hetalia: Axis Powers? The one that concerns with chibi human forms of nations?

Still, despite the blandness of this, I can see gradual improvements in your writing, Kamin. Instead of that oneshot short paragraph that you were prone to doing a while ago, now I can see extended narration. Still, maybe stick with one protagonist, or at least give background and character to the dozen protagonists you have, instead of throwing a thousand forgettable serious-faces that we just can't relate nor care about.

Edit: Now that I kinda read it, what's up with Magister Milistum and French Empires in alot of your stories? Please don't tell me you still have that grudge against him during 01...

[Czernobog]

Edit: Now that I kinda read it, what's up with Magister Milistum and French Empires in alot of your stories? Please don't tell me you still have that grudge against him during 01...

I don't have a grudge against him any more. Also, the Supreme Imperiat is emphatically not a French Empire.

[Shroom Man 777]

Hell, if I want to read about Alfred F. Joneses I'd just go read some gundajapanimechanimumangos like Hetalio or whatever it's called.

Do you mean Hetalia: Axis Powers? The one that concerns with chibi human forms of nations?

Yes, I meant Hetalio: Axe Powows. The one that concerns with chiboo humanoid forms of nations.

I just like garbling up animu names since apparently weaboos and otakus like speaking in Japanese, so by garbling up these japanimu words I make it sound more Japanesey and more authentics to the fans! Like eating authentic Japanese food, such as kimchi, Peking duck, and dog! ^______^

(Nah, I just think its hilarious!)

[Czernobog]

PART 5: The Second Battle of New Avalon

The American ships jumped into the system of New Avalon, appearing in flashes of radiation, taking some time to get their bearings. To Admiral MacKinley, the enemy were focussed on the world of New Avalon itself.

He looked around the bridge of the Valley Forge-class ship, Communications Officer Maccon checking the sensors.

'How many ships?' MacKinley asked.

'10 Himmlers,' Maccon said. '13 Guderians and a Stauffenburg-class Space Superiority Fortress.'

MacKinley sighed, the Volksreich had brought him into a trap, to get close to a Stauffenburg was suicide. Yet he had to take them on to rescue New Avalon.

'Send us in,' he said. 'Take out the shields on that Stauffenburg and board it.'

'Yessir,' his men and those of other ships replied.

++++

Private Darren Edwardson felt like dread had a vice around his heart, the enemy had them where they wanted them. A Stauffenberg was 10 miles in diameter, bristling with turrets. To go close to it was certain suicide. And MacKinley wanted them to board it. But he didn't care, he was gonna obey orders and go down fighting like a true son of America.

'Enemy shields down, you are free to teleport,' the tannoy said, as Edwardson looked around the claustrophobic interior of the troopship. He walked to the teleport pad with trepidation in his heart, but did so anyway. He had made a choice, a choice to serve his nation, a choice to fight for those that could not. He would fight, and as a blinding white light overcame him, he appeared in the silver corridors of the Space-fortress alongside his men.

The alarm systems activated, red lights flashing around him as the bulkhead opened - and out walked a soldier of the dreaded Sturmwache, in full black power-armour. He activated the machine-blasters on his arms as his squad-members rushed to the sides of the corridor, firing blaster-shots at the power-armoured super-soldier, firing as fast as they could but not even managing to scorch the armour.

Then, they ran back as the Sturmwache sent out a storm of grenades, blowing conduits and ripping huge chunks out of the wall. The floor exploded into flames, but the Sturmwache simply walked through them, every step the inevitability of death. Edwardson raised a singularity grenade, pulling the pin and throwing it at the Sturmwache, the explosion (or rather, implosion) ripping him apart and throwing him into a brief, artificial black hole. He was dead.

The bulkhead torn apart, there were three more waiting for them beyond it, advancing slowly. They simply couldn't win. Death was the only thing they could expect.

Then, a white light blinded him, and he appeared back on the troopship.

He was safe, at least for the time being.

++++

General Otto Kammler laughed maniacally. The enemy had been sorely beaten, driven back and destroyed. In part, it had been an intelligence failure - the enemy did not know about the Stauffenburg before they entered the system. Soon, if they displayed such foolishness again, they would fall.

++++

General de Vries simply couldn't believe what had happened. 10,000 men had been sent to capture the space-fortress. 500, exactly had been teleported back to safety. The rest were either dead or captured, and with the way the Volksreich treated its prisoners of war, there was little distinction.

This was a failure of the highest level, with about 9,500 men dead. And the Volksreich was reinforcing the New Avalon system, doubtlessly to use it as a staging post for further attacks. The situation looked bleak. But if the Terran Concorde could decide, as a body, on what to do, the war could be won...

++++

UNIT 007.

DESIGNATION: SKORZENY.

ACTIVATE.

OBJECTIVE: PLANT AND DETONATE DEVICE ALPHA IN ENEMY METROPOLIS. DEVICE ALPHA WILL DESTROY ENEMY METROPOLIS.

ENEMY METROPOLIS DESIGNATION: NEW YORK CITY.

FOR THE FUHRER AND THE REICH.

[Magister Militum]

Sadly enough, Destro's right. Stop emulating the Salvation War style format that focuses on leaders telling guys to tell armies to attack/invade/whatever this. It's not really the best format to tell the story, and is one of the flaws of Stu's TSW.

Not really. It works relatively well if you go down the Legends of the Galactic Heroes route and feature a point of view that ranges from the highest echelons to the common soldier (Steve's works on SDN follow this format, as well, and it works very well), and it certainly isn't bland or boring. Of course, this isn't an excuse to avoid character development, mind you, though that applies to any type of writing style, really.

Regardless, I have to agree with Heretic that your writing is getting noticeably better. It's still pretty short and there are some bizarre things going on (what's with the villains laughing manically every time?), but its much more readable.

Now that I kinda read it, what's up with Magister Militum and French Empires in alot of your stories? Please don't tell me you still have that grudge against him during 01...

Yeah, that's what I noticed as well, but I don't really mind it. After all, it's not like he's neurotically obsessed with me and is focused on turning into the villain of every story he rights... right?