• First, I need to set up picture references for all of the ships in my story, because this game is based in the Freespace 2 universe, pre-Capella. I originally posted this in Hard-Light.net, fanfic section. Yes, there ARE alot of links.

    Here is most of the ships. The Colossus is the large one in the center. Hecates is the one to the left and right. The blue ones are Orions. Below are Deimos and Aeolus's.

    Closer-up of a Deimos

    Demon in the center, and a Lilith is poking out from behind it. The Moloch is the ship to the far left.

    Perseus fighter

    Lilith

    Underneath the Colossus, and what it's beams look like.

    Closer-up of the Hecate

    Aeolus close-up

    The Herc II

    A Loki fighter

    Front shot of an Artemis bomber

    Technically a Seraphim bomber, but it looks alot like a Manticore fighter.

    Ravana Destroyer



    ALRIGHT, here we go!

    My name is Dave. I'm a Lieutenant-Commander of the GTVA. I'm in an experimental wing, christened the Skeletons, because we use a new type of ship. It's not really even a ship . It's a suit with thrusters and blasters mounted on to it. From the simulations, we can use it to tear pieces of ships apart, and redirect missiles, and even throw enemy ships in to each other. It all sounds nice, but we've only been training in these things for a few months. It's hard to control the back and foot mounted thrusters, and the guns mounted on us are almost useless, as all of our power is directed to our thrusters and enhancing our strength. So, they are thinking of replacing them with blades. The squad isn't happy with that. I prefer having a gun on my arm than a knife. But still, command is command. I'm currently Alpha 2.


    "Gear up, Skellies!" Captain Arkain shouted over the comms. "We're running our first sortie!" This roused the troops. We all had fearful pits in our throats. We knew what we had signed on for, but the prospect of dying in some experimental ship because your thrusters wouldn't work really hurt our morale. We put on our under suits, and moved into the fighterbay. Our suits were in their own cubes. You stood in the cube, and held your arms straight out, and the suit attached itself to you. 10 minutes later, engines were on, and we were flying out. We could already hear the sounds of battle. Explosions, beams, flak, turrets, and the screams of fear and rage.

    As soon as we flew out, I immediately encountered an enemy, which was a Shivan Manticore. I was able to fly in close, bypassing it's shield. I grabbed one arm, placed my foot on the main body, and began to pull. I could see my wing-mates engaging other enemies. Then, a crunch as the Manticore's arm snapped right off. It hadn't even seen me latch on, and I used it's limb as a club, smashing it with a great deal of force. It spun away from me, and then detonated. I could hear cheers of exhilaration from my wing-mates. Alpha 1 was already attacking a Basilisk, with a Manticore arm in his hand. Everybody had some kind of piece of a ship in their hands, which they attacked enemy fighters with. A close call with an AAA beam from a Moloch cruiser, called the Illbim reminded me that we were in a serious battle. Alpha 1 sent out this order: "Form up on me! We have to take out those AAAs!" We flew in a corkscrew pattern, easily avoiding the beams. We had no shields on these suits, so we had to be careful. We could withstand collisions, but enemy fire would rip holes in us.

    We reached the Illbim, and immediately began smashing or tearing off the beams. Alpha 3 got hit by a AAA, and we had to look away as he was sucked out through the grapefruit-sized hole. Alpha 4 was outraged, and flew to the frontmost spike of the Moloch, and began heaving on the base. The rest of the wing joined him, and together, we tore off the nose of the ship. We flew backwards, and then Alpha 1 said, "Damn, they're jumping into subspace. Hit it!" We rushed forward, and held tight as the spire rammed the Illbim, shearing a hole through, and piercing it. We flew away, using our limited afterburner fuel, and escaped it detonating. Only half of the Illbim made it into subspace before it blew. We could see a tremor in space, running in a line, following the Moloch's direction. Command broadcasted, "Half of it detonated in subspace. Return to base, in case there are lingering tremors." We followed his direction, and engaged our drives. Thankfully, they worked.

    Back at base, we were immediately reassigned. We hadn't even time to get out of our suits. They simply refueled us, and said, "We've got a present for when you get back. But right now, you're needed immediately at these co-ordinates."

    We jumped out, traveled a short distance in subspace, and when we jumped out, we saw a massive battle. Running a swift scan, we read out:

    2 Ravana-Class ships
    1 Demon-Class
    3 Lilith-Class

    Against

    1 Orion-Class
    2 Hecate-Class
    and the Colossus.

    We immediately flew to the Colossus. There was enough debris floating around that we were able to find apt weapons. This brought some snickers from some other pilots, flying a mix of Perseus ships, and Herc II ships. A few Artemis bombers, and even the odd Loki. The ships were arranged so that the Colossus was the spearhead, the Hecates flanked it, and the Orion was "above" it. All were firing beams like nothing else, and we received a broadcast from the Colossus: "To all fighters, they're launching another wave of bombers! Get ready!" And we did. We waited for the onslaught. "We're not going home.." The new Alpha 3 said.

    We were on the "right" side of the Colossus. We were boxed between the Collie, and the Hunter, a Hecate. We had formed into a shape that looked like the 5-side on a 6-sided dice. A box with an X through it. We, Alpha Wing, was in the upper left corner. Beta, flying Perseus fighters, was on the upper-right. Delta wing, flying Artemis bombers, was in the center. Lower-right housed the last of Gamma wing, a Loki fighter. Lower right had all four Epsilon wing flying Herc II fighters.

    I could see the Dragons heading the attack force. Alpha 4 tried a daring move. He maneuvered to the side of the Collie facing us, and sprung at it, arms outstretched. He had a sharp bit of debris in his hand, and the Dragon couldn't move in time, and was speared. A kick sent it flying away. It detonated a few seconds later. An AAA beam sliced through the second Dragon. The Dragon fired at me, but I was able to block the shot with my debris. It tried to veer away from me, but it flew right toward Beta wing, and they were able to dispatch it. That was the last of the Dragons, now a wing of Nephilm bombers started attacking the Colossus. Beta wing moved to engage them. At this point, the Colossus, and the two Hecates used their main guns on the Gorgon, the Demon. It reached 0% integrity, and it created a good firework show. Cheers were heard over the comms. "Great work!" Command said. "Just help us take down the Ravanas and Liliths, and the beer's on me." The Colossus broadcasted.

    The Ravana that was on our left opened fire on the Hecate on the far side of the Colossus. Once it got below 20%, escape pods launched. They got it down to 6% integrity before they stopped firing.

    Epsilon wing flew to protect the escape pods. The Loki flew forward, and joined with Beta wing. Now, reinforcements arrived. There was a great, heaving sigh of relief over the radio. Another Orion, two Aeolus, and two Deimos-class corvettes.

    Now the Liliths moved to the inside space between the Ravanas, to fill the place of the Demon. Immediately, orders came from the new Orion, "Alpha and Delta wings, destroy the Liliths!" To the Aeolus's and Deimos's, the order was to flank the Ravanas.

    We engaged our thrusters, and sped toward the Liliths, who were now opening fire on the Colossus. The Ravanas focused their fire on the first Orion, which was down to 54% by the end of their barrage. Now we were within range of the Lilith AAA fire. We dipped, weaved, and avoided all beams. Me and Alpha 1 focused on one Lilith, 3 and 4 the other. Delta wing launched their salvos, and they hit soundly. They caused craters and holes in the hull, which me and Alpha 1 tore at with a will. We burst through the plating, and actually reached the interior. Immediately, Shivans were coming out of it. They seemed unaffected by the fact that they were now in space. Alpha 1 recoiled in terror. And so did I. A Shivan came right for me, and a frenzied kick crushed it's exoskeleton, and it's interior was sucked out, and without a warning, the shell exploded. It wasn't very large, but it was a surprise.

    Delta 2 was a quick thinker, and fired another torpedo into the hole formed by our digging. This caused a visible tremor through the Lilith, and it split in two. A cheer ran though the comms as the other one went down. But not in a similar manner.

    The battle was obvious in our favor. The Ravana nearest to you us tried to jump out, but a beam barrage from the Aeolus and Deimos crippled it's engines. It had no more fighters, or bombers. It's AAA guns were all down, and so it just sat there, almost helpless. But not all the way. It's was charging it's only LRed left, aimed for the Aeolus. Alpha 1 got there before it fired, and heaved, tearing off the cannon. But the sudden loss of power unbalanced, and the front half of the Ravana overloaded, and every empty stump of a turret only created another short circuit, and visible cracks of electricity ran through it. One of these arced to the Deimos, and all turrets, and subsystems all overloaded, which caused the whole ship to detonate.

    "Damn it! Get out of there! GET OUT OF THERE, ALPHA!" Command yelled into the comms. Alpha 1 wasn't responding, just floating there. I gritted my teeth against it, but flew in anyway, and grabbed him. I could see his face through the blacked out helmet. It was still alive, and it was panicking. I could see his mouth moving, screaming, but I couldn't hear him. I flew out of there, using the last of my burners. Now the subsystems of the Ravana overloaded, and the ship began to crackle, and burn. A large explosion totaled it.

    The shockwave sent us reeling, my display turned off, and I was just floating there. I could hear the sounds of battle through my helmet. From what I could tell, both our Hecates went down. Then the last Ravana. An Omega transport came by about 20 minutes later, and picked us up. Our suits were cracked open, and we entered subspace.

    That took me a long time. Goodnight, everybody.

    Glossary:

    LReds are red beams, used to fight other capships

    The Colossus is the flagship for the Terrans and Vasudans in FreeSpace 2. It's the largest ship in the GTVA, although it is easily overpowered by a Shivan Sathanas.

    Command is the shortened name for "GTVA Command". They oversee missions, give in-flight orders, and keep pilots informed on the situation.

    Squads are groups of wings, they usually specialize in some types of flying, or fly certain ships. The Suicide Kings fly high-risk missions, whereas the Blue Lions are considered to be the elite pilots.

    Wings are groups of 2-6 ships, that are categorized by their Greek numbers: Alpha, Beta, Delta, Epsilon, Gamma, Iota, and so on. They can fly any mix of ships. Wings are usually in charge of doing individual tasks, like attacking a certain ship, or defending another ship or wing. The wingleader is usually the #1 of the wing, Ex. Alpha 1, Beta 1, Delta 1, etc..

    Capships are short for Capital Ships. They're the big guys with the big guns. All capships have anti-capital beams, and anti-fighter beams.

    AAA beams are Anti-Fighter beams. They're thin, blue, and will tear a small ship into pieces in seconds.

    Terran ships are usually named after Greek mythology, hence the Perseus, Herc II (Hercules), Aeolus, and Deimos. Vasudans follow Egyptian naming. Vasudans do not play a role in this story, but they will in the future.

    Shivans are a class of their own. Shivans are the main antagonists of Freespace. They are a Xenocidal, hostile species. They are named after the Hindu goddess Shiva, the goddess of Death and Rebirth. I don't know the exact origin of their ship names. The Basilisk and Manticore are from two different cultures. The Ravana and Moloch are unknown to me, but the Lilith is from the Christian Bible, I believe. Truly an enigma, these aliens make no attempt to contact humans. The Seraphim bomber is also from the Bible. Seraphim is the name of God's top angels. Funny name for a bomber..

    The GTVA is the Galactic Terran-Vasudan Alliance. It was formed after the first Shivan Incursion in Freespace 1. This is the alliance that marked the end of a 14 year war between the two species.

    The Hammer of Light, to be mentioned in my next story, is a group of Vasudan rebels who believe that the Shivans are gods.

    Vasudans themselves hail from Vasuda Prime, in the Vasuda system. They are two legged - you know what? Here's a movie. Don't push a Vasudan.