MIKE'S GALLERY

[Magyk]

No one cares.

I'm a god.

I'm a manatee.

[Turquoise Dragon]

.......wait, what the hell happened here....?

[Magyk]

.......wait, what the hell happened here....?

I've been cleaning up this section of the boards, trying to make it organized more like a traditional arts forum would be.

Now each person has their own gallery thread, I transplanted all of your previously posted artwork and literature to this thread you can add to it, change it, etc as you please.
Now there is one big critiquing thread, for art/literature/music/etc you want comments/suggestion/opinions on.
And finally, I posted a giant request thread, to avoid clutter.

It's still a work in progress, I'm sure more than a few things will change in the next week.

[Turquoise Dragon]

Ah...okay.

[Max Rambone]

Pretty sure Mike was wondering why u dudes hijacked his gallery.

~archi

[Turquoise Dragon]

Actually no, just wondered why all my stuff migrated here without me lifting a finger. Thought for a sec I sleep-logged on and did it.

[Turquoise Dragon]

Finally getting around to posting stuff....Here's a short story that acts as a prequal/set-up for my current work.

Return

Chapter 1: Lost | +

I awoke. I stared out of the tank, not knowing where I was or how I got here. The part that scared me the most was that I did not even know who I was. Beings like myself stared in at me.
They appeared as I did: pale skin, two arms, two legs, a distinct head and torso. They were clothed, as I was, but in a different style. They were dressed in neat white pants and long white overcoats. I, on the other hand, was garbed completely in black. I had on a pair of loose pants and a short robe. Over this was a long, hooded robe almost the length of my body. On my arms was a pair of metal bracers; these were hidden by the long sleeves of my outer robe. On my feet was a pair of metallic boots. Over my robes was a white pendent with a blue sword etched into it.
One of the beings, noticing that I was awake, nudged another, and pointed at me. “Hey, doc. The traitor’s awake.”
The doctor turned and approached the tank, looking fixedly at me. “So, you have finally awakened. You took some beating. What happened?”
“I was hoping you could tell me.”
“Then I can tell you nothing except how we found you. You were barely alive in a battle torn Raptorian fighter drifting through space. You seem to be an intriguing specimen of a Eurian. You may notice a pendant around your neck. It is only given to the White Knights. You do not know who they are?” I replied with a shake of my head. “No? They are Raptorian elite warriors. As such, they are among our strongest opponents.”
“War?”
The doctor looked stunned. “You truly remember nothing?”
“Not a thing.”
“Then I shall humor you. Five years ago, we commenced a war against the arrogant Raptorian Empire. Since then, we have won many battles, and taken many prisoners. We are currently en route to one of the prisoner camps now, where you shall join the occupants. We should arrive in a few hours.”
During this time, I was roughly transferred from the tank to a small cell. I was alone there, with only my thoughts, which crammed my head. Who am I? Why am I here? Who are these people? My mind kept thinking in circles, as I could not answer any of these questions.
I had begun to go over my apparel, hoping to find some clue as to my identity. The only thing that I uncovered was on my bracers; they were carved with strange runes that I was unable to read. Finally, I felt the ship give a slight tremor as it touched down. The cell door was flung open. A guard came in and blindfolded me. I only felt being pushed roughly into a mass of bodies. They felt strangely soft. We were directed forwards, until we were given the order to stop. At this, my blindfold was torn off, and I was momentarily blinded by the light.
As I adjusted to this light, I began to look around. Surrounding me were a small group of strange creatures. They were the same height as I was, though noticeably slimmer. They were basically formed the same as I was. However, their bodies were covered by a grey down. Their heads were elongated, forming a tapered snout with an underslung mouth. This was filled by myriads of small, pointed teeth. They wore no shoes, instead allowing their clawed feet to remain exposed, standing only on their front three toes, with a fourth, backwards, higher up off the ground. A short tail sprouted from their tailbone. Though their clothing varied, they were all dressed similarly to me. In front of us stood a row of beings such as myself, Eurians I believe the doc had called them. All were in uniform. One was highly decorated by various medals. He was the only one of the eleven that stood before us that did not hold a rifle. He addressed us.
“You are now our prisoners of war. This camp shall be your home. If you follow the laws, you shall exist relatively unbothered. However, the penalties for breaking the laws are quite harsh. In your living quarters, you shall all find a copy of the laws. Now, we shall divide you into sections, into which you shall be moved off into the housing.”
As the soldiers began to separate them into groups, I once again looked at my fellow captives, most likely the Raptorians that the doctor had mentioned. I caught a few stealing glances at me. On some faces, I saw utter disgust when they looked my way. On a few others, I thought I saw hints of sympathy. On most of them, however, was blank hopelessness.
I was now roughly shoved to join a small group of Raptorians. We were then marched off into a long house structure, where we were assigned room numbers, and left on our own. Others already occupied the dormitory. One, seated at a wooden table, stared at me, then noticed my pendent. She seemed to express great anger at this, rising up. I noticed that she had a pendent like mine.
“Who are you, Eurian, to dishonor our line?” she demanded.
“What? I am sorry. I have lost my memory, and know not of who I am.”
The Raptorian let a blast of air from her nostrils. She turned her back to me, mumbling something unintelligible.
“Watch out for her.” said a voice behind me.
I turned. Behind me stood a younger Raptorian. “Why?” I questioned.
“Her name’s Dirah. She had a rough past. Her mother died before she hatched. Her father was killed during the civil war forty years ago. Her life-mate left her shortly after this war. He supposedly exiled himself. Afterwards, she became Empress during the ensuing power void. This was stripped from her when she was captured two years ago. She can be quite rough at times, so I’d advise you to give her a wide berth.”
“Thanks for the heads-up.”
I moved off through the room I was in, moving towards the dormitory section of the building. I was going to find my new living quarters, room C-027. I came to it, opening the door slowly. Though it was currently empty, there was evidence that there was a second resident. Various small articles lay on a small desk on one side of the room, next to a cot. Behind this was a small closet. The same furniture was on the opposite side of the room, but was barren. I went over and began to inspect my new quarters.
The door creaked open, so I raised my head to greet the room’s occupant. Dirah hastily entered. She stopped in her tracks when she saw me.
“Who are you to be in here?” she said fiercely.
“I was assigned this room.”
Dirah was silent at this, and simply seated herself at her desk, her back turned to me.
“Can I ask you why you are so hostile to me?” I asked her.
She paused for a moment, then slowly turned to face me. “You wear the pendent of a Knight, though you are obviously not one. There was only one non-Raptorian one, and he has disappeared into the vastness of space, supposedly to exile himself. You are not worthy to wear it. How did you get it? Stealing it off of one of our fallen?”
“I do not know.”
Dirah made a slightly astonished face at my answer. “If you expect me to tolerate this, you must prove yourself to me.”
“How?”
Dirah reached under her bed, extracting a pair of wooden swords. As she stood up, she tossed one to me.
“Fight me. Time shall tell if you are worthy enough to be called a Knight.”
We stood there, each staring at the other. I finally broke this with a quick lunge. Dirah spun her blade, knocking mine off course. I recovered, blocking one of her slashes. I held her there, but her superior strength began to overwhelm me. I spun, breaking the lock and slashing. She spun just out of reach of my blade. She began to advance, her blade attacking from all angles. For some strange reason, I instinctively knew how to block them. Each time, I came closer to springing my trap. When she made the correct swing, I parried, slipped past it, and touched her chest with the wooden sword.
Dirah backed off, lowering her blade. There was a quiet murmur from outside. During the duel, the door had swung open once more, and a small group of Raptorians stood there, watching. As I looked at them, they slowly began to drift from the doorway.
“You are the only non-Knight to have ever defeated me in a duel.” she said to me in a very changed tone. “You do seem to be worthy of that pendent. I am sorry for misidentifying you.”
I nodded, and returned the blade to her. She quickly stashed them away again, out of sight.
“So.” she said. “What landed you in here?”
“I’ve got no clue.”
“They just took you?”
“I don’t know what happened. The earliest memory I have is when I awoke in the medical bay of one of their prison ships. The said that they had found me like this in a battle-torn Raptorian starfighter. Aside from that, I know nothing.”
“And you have no clues anywhere on you?”
“Well, I have some runes on my bracers, but I cannot read them.”
“Here. Let me try.”
I extended my arms toward her, pulling back the sleeves of my robe. They were made of a solid, blue-grey metal. They ran the entire length of my forearms. The runes ran along the top of each one, both identical.
Dirah took them each, one at a time, and studied them. She then looked once more at me.
“Interesting. Both of these are of Raptorian design, and built of adamantite. Perhaps you lived amongst us for a time?”
“I do not know.” I replied. “But what of the runes?”
“They each say, in Ancient Raptorian, ‘In memory of my love.’ A curious thing to inscribe on armor. Perhaps the owner had a loved one die in combat.”
“Perhaps, though this brings me no closer to finding out my identity.”
“All in due…”
She was interrupted by a loud siren. She rose up.
“Come, we are being called for a head-count.”
I obeyed, following her through the dormitory and out of it into the rain.

Chapter 2:Unexpected Happenings | +

Dirah led me to an open area, around which the dormitories were arranged in a semi-circle. On the open end was a smaller, solitary building. She directed me to line up next to her, as the census was done based on room.
A small group strode out of the building, while a small band of Eurian soldiers came from the east. They formed up on each side of the Raptorians. Two attendants ran from the front, where the commanding officer positioned himself. They passed out the logbooks to the soldiers. Four then moved off down the rows of prisoners, two from each side. One held the logbook, while the other held a rifle at the ready. When they approached Dirah and me, they stopped, the one with the logbook in front of her, his comrade in front of me. They began to taunt her.
“So, my Empress, how can we serve you today?”
Dirah gave them no answer as the rain began to soak through her clothes.
“Well? Has the Empress lost her voice?”
Dirah again did not reply, and continued to look straight ahead of her.
“Hey, John,” he said, motioning to his grinning companion. “I think you need to help her talk.”
The other guard swiftly jabbed the butt of his rifle into Dirah’s gut. She nearly doubled over. For some strange reason, I felt a flash of anger.
The first guard pulled her up again, and the rifle again found its mark. As he rose his rifle for a third strike, for some reason, I acted.
During a flash of lightning, I grabbed his energy blade, which was hanging at his belt. I activated the green blade, tore it from the belt, and cut him in half in one swift motion. The two sections fell to the ground. This caused a large commotion. More soldiers rushed to my position.
As they began to fire, I spun the energy blade around me, forming a shield over me and Dirah, who lay on the ground, catching her breath. This deflected the blaster fire back at them. However, the soldiers began to yews the crowd of Raptorians as cover, so both their bolts and the deflected ones would cause harm to them. In this manner, most of the Raptorians fell before the last soldier did. At this point, I slowed the blade. Most of the field’s occupants were dead, and most of the rest were mortally wounded, passing away before my eyes.
I bent down, helping Dirah to her feet.
“Why did you do that for me?” she asked.
“I do not know. I just felt…anger when I saw you being hurt. I just had to do something.”
By now, the few Raptorians left alive had began to gather around us. At the same time, there was a commotion towards the west. A large group of soldiers began to pour into the area. I grabbed the fallen soldier’s rife, and Dirah took the other’s weapons. We made a run for a dormitory. Reaching the door, she took up position on one side of the door, while I was on the other side of the door frame. We hid behind this, while extending the rifles past, using the walls as cover. The other Raptorians stood their ground, also using stolen weaponry. The army approached, and opened fire. We did the same. Enemy after enemy fell, but so did the Raptorians. I kept firing, attempting to hold our position.
Though they put up a valiant fight, their ranks slowly thinned. At the end, Dirah and I stepped back out into the rain. The ground was awash with blood thinned by the downpour.
“We must get out of here.” she said aloud.
“Where would we go?” I replied.
She looked at me for a short while. “If we can find a way off of this planet, we should head for the Empire.”
“The Empire?”
“Yes, the Raptorian Empire. We only hold our capital of Raptorsis I and a large portion of Leuceria, as well as rebel forces on X-15. If we can make it there, we should be safe.”
“Then let’s go.”
Dirah and I began to wander through the base, looking for some sort of spacecraft. At one point, she activated her energy blade. As she concentrated, the blade turned from purple to a deep blue.
“How’d you do that?” I asked.
“It’s simple.” she replied. “You just concentrate on the blade, but let everything out of your mind. Due to the peculiar qualities of the crystals used to focus the blade, it will then turn color to reflect your alignment to the Way and the amount of training you received. The deeper the color, the more you have trained. Red is for those who follow the Way of violence. Green is for those who follow the Way of knowledge. Blue is for those who follow the Way of peace. Variations of these colors represent that the wielder follows more than one Way. Black means the following none of the Ways, while white means the following of all three Ways, the one, true Way.”
I drew my blade, holding it out in front of me. I closed my eyes, and focused upon it. After a short pause, I heard Dirah give a slight gasp. It was then that I opened my eyes again. The blade was now intense white in color.
I looked at Dirah. Upon her face was an expression between amazement and disbelief. “It was often speculated that one could follow all three Ways.” she said. “However, my lost husband was the only one known to have done so.”
“Interesting.”
Dirah then faced me directly. “Perhaps you were a student of his during his exile. That would explain that blade as well as your Knighthood.”
“Perhaps.” I gave a slight laugh. “Maybe I am he.”
Dirah gave me a cold look. “The chance, though existent, is incalculably small.”
“True, as I am not a Raptorian.”
“He was not, originally. He later took up our form, shortly before he left. Still, your neural patterns are similar to his, though there are notable distinctions. This could simply be a result of training under him, though.” She paused. “What’s your name?” she asked me.
“I do not know.”
“Then you need a name.” She paused again. “How about Klestanis?”
“Okay.”
Dirah smiled. “It means lost soul.”
“Highly appropriate, it seems, for a lost one such as myself.”
By now, we had reached an area where several small ships were docked. We immediately went over to the closest one. It was designed to accommodate three, though it required only one to fly. Dirah pried open the hatch, and we climbed inside.
Dirah fiddled with the controls. She murmured, half-aloud, “I hope they didn’t change the systems too much.” After a short while, she had the ship rigged to fly.
“Get set,” she said to me. “’cause it’s going to be a rough ride.”
I seated myself quickly, as Dirah guided the ship skyward. She bypassed all of the orbital gun batteries without incidence. Once out of orbit, she seemed to relax. Leaning back in her chair, she looked towards me.
“Having fun back there?”
“I guess so. Was that the worst?”
“Maybe. We still much reach the Raptorsis System.”

Two days later, we were on the outskirts of the Raptorsis System. Dirah brought up a communications panel. She adjusted it, then sent out a call.
“This is Empress Dirah. Please respond.”
There was a short pause, then a reply. “Empress? Is this truly you?”
“Yes, General Leucra. It is me.”
“We had thought you captured by the Eurians.”
“I was. Due to a recent event at the prison camp, I was able to escape, along with the only other survivor. He is an amnesia-afflicted Eurian. He has been trained as a White Knight, possibly by my husband.”
“Good news, then. Where are you now located?”
“We are at the fringe of the system, in a small Eurian fighter.”
“We are uploading your coordinates now, Empress. I shall greet you shortly.”
Dirah powered down the communications panel. She turned to me.
“General Leucra, though young, is our best. He is second in command of our army, reporting directly to me. Now, you may not receive a particularly warm welcome, as you are a Eurian.”
“I am prepared for that.”
“Good. Ah, here is our ship now.”
A large ship decelerated from hyper-light speed, coming to rest next to our ship. A tractor beam began to draw it towards a docking bay. The bay doors closed over the energy field when we were inside.
Dirah and I exited the ship. We were initially greeted by a young Raptorian. He was noticeable, both for his appearance and his clothing. He was covered in a white down, instead of grey. A deep blue marking ran between his eyes. His clothes were of interest. They were a very dark grey, with a border of bright yellow. At his belt were a sword, an energy blade, and a dagger. He gave a slight bow before he spoke.
“Welcome back to your Empire, Dirah. I assume this is your accomplice?” he said, motioning to me.
“Yes. He is called Klestanis, due to his memory loss of his true name.” she replied.
“Let me see you draw your blade.” he commanded.
I obeyed, letting the pure white blade project from the hilt. The General marveled at this.
“Yes, my Empress. It is most intriguing.”
I deactivated the blade, and put it back on my belt. We began to walk through the ship, towards the bridge.
“What happens now?” I asked.
“First off, we must strike quickly at the Eurian army if we have any chance to take back Leuceria.” said Leucra. “Empress, during your absence, we lost contact with our last forces on X-15. We also suffered massive casualties from a recent attack on Leuceria. As a result, we have lost half the planet. We also repelled an attack on Raptorsis I. It seemed to be aimed at our ship-production facilities.”
At this point we were on the bridge. Various panels and screens were arranged in two rows. On the opposite side of the bridge was a large viewing window. Dirah and Leucra walked straight towards the window. I followed shortly behind. When we were all at the window, Dirah gave the order to return to Raptorsis I. The stars elongated to streaks of light as the ship accelerated.
Suddenly, there was a slight noise from behind us. I turned just in time to see a squad of twenty Eurians uncloaking behind us. Dirah and Leucra also turned. The invaders each drew and activated an energy blade. Most were green in color, with one red and two blue.
“You have escaped us before, but you shall not be allowed to do so again.” said one.
I instinctively drew my blade. Dirah and Leucra did the same. Leucra’s was a paler blue than Dirah’s. The handful of Raptorian soldiers on the bridge also drew their blades, mostly blue in color.
The intruders made their move first, fanning out in an all-out attack. I slashed one through, and instinctively extended my hand towards another. This one was blasted away, into the blades of his companions. A few of them died along with him. Leucra spun around, dodging the blade of one, and cutting two others through. Dirah grabbed the sword from one of them shortly before running her blade through his heart. The Raptorian soldiers joined in. Suddenly, I felt my body being thrown through the air. I remember hitting my head on something, shortly before losing consciousness.
During this time, strange dreams filled my head.

Chapter 3: Strange Revelations | +

Early on, the dreams focused on a young child, apparently me. Later, they involved a silver, winged reptile, possibly a dragon, along with me. Suddenly, Raptorians entered the dream, Dirah among them. I became wed to Dirah. After a while, their number dwindled, until only Dirah remained. I was then replaced by a Raptorian. There was a battle of some sort, with the Raptorian entering a rage, killing everything. This Raptorian then left Dirah after resurrecting her.
The dreams became even more interesting. I replaced the Raptorian. I traveled for a long time and distance, happening upon another galaxy. In it, I discovered beings similar to myself in appearance. There were, however, no Raptorians, though there were many other species that resembled neither them nor me, with some that remotely resembled the two species.
I traveled about, until being happened upon one who could also wield powers. He took me to an “academy”, as they had called it, filled with others with powers. There, they trained me to control my anger and hatred, though this took a long time. They were vastly impressed with my skill with a blade, as well as amazed with my energy blade, both because of its color, as well as the shape of the hilt. Mine was shaped like an ornate sword hilt, while theirs were simple cylinders. They had never seen a white blade before, or so they had said.
I fit in relatively well at the academy, as the occupants were part of an order that was very similar to the White Knights. They followed the Way of peace, though they varied their blade colors using colored crystals to focus the beam, instead of the Raptri crystal, which all Raptorian blades used. Through them, I learned much of the history of their galaxy, including rumors of what could have been lost Raptorian landos.
On multiple occasions, I tried to make them understand the Way, though they insisted that harmony of that scale, though ideal, would never exist. Many found my conviction slightly amusing, while others simply accepted it. For forty years, I stayed there, though I did not age one bit.
During my later years there, I believe that one of the other students had become emotionally attached to me, and she begged to come with me when I left. I, however, painfully declined her, telling her that my destination was unfit for her kind. It pained me, as I had feelings for her as well, though she was neither Eurian, nor Raptorian. However, I promised her that I would seek her out if I ever returned to the galaxy.
In such a way, I bade farewell to the academy, and traveled back to my home galaxy. Near the edge of Eurian space, I was attacked by a battle cruiser. They badly damaged my ship, and injured me greatly, leaving me for dead. Thus, my ship and I drifted through space, before being picked up by the prison ship.

Suddenly, in this state of dreaming, I felt as if I was being lifted out of the dreams momentarily, before plunging back to that state. Soon, I opened my eyes. I lay on a small bed in a medical bay. Bright sunlight poured through a window above my bed. I slowly got up. I was in a simple, white tunic, with my clothes draped over a chair. I put on my robe and belt over this, but nothing more. My energy sword was still on the belt.
As I began to move about, the door opened. Dirah came in.
“So, Klestanis, I see you have finally awakened. Welcome to Raptoris City on Raptorsis I, our capital.”
“It is wonderful to be awake again.” I replied.
“Why do you say that? This is the day after you were knocked unconscious on our flagship, the Defender of Light.”
“Interesting. I had a series of dreams spanning about sixty years. They were strange dreams as well.”
“Well, dreams often warp our sense of time. Are you fit to travel?”
“I think so.”
“Good. Follow me.”
I followed Dirah out of the medical bay. She led me outside into a courtyard. The bay was built into the side of a magnificent palace of white stone. She then took me about the city, pointing out locations as we went. After a time, she took me to an abandoned arena. The walls were crumbling, but the space inside was still intact. In the center was a stone altar. No plants grew in the arena. She led me to the altar. Everything was eerily familiar to my dream.
“Every year, I come to this place.”
“Why? For me, it feels familiar, somehow.”
“It was where my husband left me, forty-one years ago, to the day.”
“And it is forty-one years to the day later that you return to this spot with him.”
“You?” she asked, looking at me in disbelief.
“Yes, me.” I slowly replied. “I have thought of you every day since I left you. Heh, I can still remember how entranced I was by you when I first met you. Do you remember it? When Pyrana and I met you, Kras, and Hadra that night?”
“It really is you, isn’t it?”
“Yes. That blow I took on the head has restored my lost memory to me. I have come back from my exile, as I promised to you, long ago.”
We embraced, and I felt her soft body for the first time since my return. It felt just as comforting as it did when I left her.
“What has happened during your exile? You must have done something of interest, as you do not appear to be the same as when you left.”
“Well, I drifted through space for a while. After that, I found a whole other civilization, encompassing myriads of species and spanning almost an entire galaxy. I was discovered by another who shared my powers. Thinking he could help me control my anger, I allowed him to take me to an academy filled with students who also had powers. They were similar to the Knights, preferring peace, though they were extraordinary fighters. They also wielded energy blades, but of a different sort. They were very impressed by my blade and my skill with it.”
“You always were good with a sword.”
“Yep. I still have not lost my touch, either. As time went on, I formed friendships with some of the other students. I became particularly close with this one beautiful female…” Dirah made a bit of a face at this. “…,though, she was not as beautiful as you.” I quickly added. “Nothing ever came from this, though I imagine that she would have liked to further deepen our friendship. It was unusual, as she was neither Eurian, nor Raptorian.”
“Interesting.”
“Very. She was belonged to a species called…”
“Empress!” A runner came over, out of breath. “Empress, we have bad news. The rest of our forces on Leuceria have been wiped out. Scans from our long-range sensors have indicated that the main Eurian fleet is heading our way, fast.”
“Then we must organize a counterattack.” She turned to me. “Come, we must go to the war room.”
We ran through the city, back towards the palace. On occasion, they had to pause to allow me to catch up to their faster bodies. We entered the palace, and Dirah led us through a series of hallways. We then came upon the war room.
It was darkened, only lit by various screens. A large transmitter sat in the center of the room. Dirah assumed a place at this.
“Nlista Division is near Leuceria, correct?” she asked.
“Yes, my Empress.” came the reply.
“Send them to combat the Eurian fleet.”
“Right away.”
The transmitter activated, showing a loose group of large ships. As we watched, they accelerated to hyper-light speed. Soon, they decelerated, and came across a second , much larger, fleet.
“Concentrate firepower on their command ships.” said Dirah.
“Why not send a rush of fighters directly at them?” I asked.
“That would be a suicide mission. They would be flying directly into their gun batteries.” replied Leucra, on the opposite side of the transmitter.
“Yes, but being a suicide tactic, they most likely would not expect it.”
“He has a point, Leucra.” replied a second general.
“Send squadrons five through twelve directly at their command ship.” said Dirah. “Tell them to concentrate firepower on their bridge.”
“Squadrons five through twelve, objective: take down that Eurian command ship. Begin with their bridge.” There was a slight pause. “I don’t care, just do it.”
A group of smaller fighters broke off from the Raptorian fleet. They headed directly at the Eurian command ship at high speed. They sped past a screen of Eurian fighters, taking few casualties. As the ship’s cannons began to fire, they began erratic flight maneuvers, avoiding the blasts. They then began to direct their fire at the ship’s bridge, while the rest of the Raptorian fleet held the other ships at bay. After destroying the bridge, the Raptorian fighters began to disable the rest of the ship, before blasting through the hull in multiple locations, rendering the ship destroyed.
During this fighting, Eurian capital ships began to converge on the main Raptorian fleet. Doing such, they began to destroy the fleet.
“Order those squadrons to break apart and snowtrooper those other ships.”
“Squadrons five through twelve, break formation. New target: those smaller Eurian battle cruisers. Take them out.”
The fighter squadrons dissolved, fighting their way past incoming Eurian starfighters. There were massive casualties on both sides. The Raptorian fighters began to attack the battle cruisers, overwhelming their gun batteries first. From there, they began to work on their hulls. The Raptorian battle cruisers followed suit.
In the end, the larger Eurian fleet was destroyed, but the Raptorian fleet was reduced to their command ship, two cruisers, and five fighter squadrons.

Chapter 4: War's End | +

There was a sudden pinging from within the room.
“Empress! The main Eurian fleet is heading towards us!”
“Alert all fleets. They are to rendezvous with us as soon as possible. Come, we are to join the battle.”
Dirah led the way. I followed shortly behind her, with a group of generals following us. We traveled to the spaceport, where we boarded a small transport. This carried us up into the orbiting fleet. There, we docked with the Defender of Light. We then proceeded to the bridge, where Dirah gave the command to begin traveling towards the rendezvous point.
Suddenly, the communication systems crackled to life. “To anyone who can hear me, this is the commander of the Justice. We are under attack by a fleet of unknown origin. They came out of nowhere. They took out all of the other ships already. Their missiles are eating through the hull of our ship. I don’t know how much longer we can last against them.” At this point, the voice had become nearly hysterical. “NO! Close the blast doors! They’re infiltrating the ship! They’re coming for us!” The transmission was followed by a shriek. Then came another voice, deep and rough. “Your resistance is futile, sentients. We will soon dominate this galaxy for our own yews. If you stand in our way, you shall only meet a quicker death.” Then transmission then ended in static. This was tuned out.
“What was that about?” asked one of the generals.
“I have no clue.” replied Dirah.
“Perhaps it is a Eurian trick to have us give in?” asked another.
“I doubt that. I sense that this force has come from beyond our own galaxy.” I said.
“How can you be certain?” asked Leucra.
“I am not. I am only telling you what I sense.”
By now, the rest of the Raptorian fleet had arrived. Dirah then pressed a button on a nearby console. She began to speak.
“Comrades, we are about to face a deciding moment in this war. Many of us will not come back alive. Hopefully, this will end the war. If we fail, there will be no stopping the Eurians. However, if we do fail, we will go down fighting. We will not silently fade into the blackness of the night! We will fight for all we hold dear. They will regret the day they stopped us. Onwards to destiny!”
A large chorus of cheers rose from every breast in the room, as well as from the communicators. The ships all accelerated to hyper-light speed, with the Defender of Light leading the way. Soon, they decelerated, coming to a halt. At the edge of my vision, I could see the massive Eurian fleet.
Dirah then turned to Leucra. “As my second-in-command, I turn control of the fleet over to you.”
“But what of you, Empress?”
“I shall join in the first wave.”
Dirah began to walk from the bridge. I stopped her.
“I am coming with you.”
“Then follow.”
As we walked out of the doors, I heard Leucra saying, “You heard her. Let’s do as much damage as possible.”

In the hanger, Dirah and I climbed into separate starfighters. She opened a comm link between them.
“Ready?”
“As always. They will fall today.”
The doors opened, and we blasted out, followed by the rest of the fighters on the ship. We closed the space between the two fleets. There was an alarm in my ship.
“Fighters, coming in fast.” I said.
I let loose torrents of laser fire, ripping through enemy crafts. I flew in tandem with Dirah’s fighter, never losing sight of her. Suddenly, a laser blast struck her right wing.
“I’m hit, and unstable.”
“Try to land in one of their hangers.”
Dirah guided her ship towards the nearest ship, the Eurian flagship, and passed through the hanger’s air shield. I followed suit, leaping out of my ship as it tore through the hanger. Stunned Eurian pilots watched as I began to tear through their ranks with my energy blade. Dirah also joined in. Together, we fought our way to the ship’s bridge. I neatly sliced through the door, and began to slay the occupants.
Suddenly, the ship was knocked off balance. One of the nearby Raptorian cruisers detonated with a powerful shock wave. Beyond this was a strange fleet. They had triple the number of ships as the Eurian and Raptorian fleets combined. None of the ships were identical, though all appeared to be organic in form. They began to hurl fireballs at both fleets. A message came over the communications system.
“Surrender now, and we, the new rulers of this galaxy, shall give you a swift, mostly painless, death. If you resist, you shall all suffer greatly at our hands.” It was the same voice as before.
“Well?” Dirah asked the Eurian commander.
“Well?” came the reply.
“The Raptorians are willing to join forces with you in the face of this new danger. Are you willing to accept?”
The Eurian commander thought for a while. “We accept.”
Dirah raised her wrist. “This is to all surviving Raptorian forces. Cease your attacks on Eurian craft. Attack the newcomers.”
The Eurian commander did the same, though it seemed to be a hopeless battle. The invaders quickly overwhelmed the combined Raptorian-Eurian forces. Dirah then sent out a second command.
“Break off. Break off. This is a battle that cannot be won. We shall go into hiding.”
Hundreds of ships began to flee the battle. Dirah and I led a small group back to Raptorsis I to prepare the planet for invasion. The other Raptorians divided themselves between Raptorsis I, Leuceria, and X-15. The Eurians also split up to warn their planets as well as to ready their defenses. The Extra-Galactic War had commenced.

I sensed it would be a long and difficult fight.

[tens0r]

You're a fucking freak.

[§ Vail §]

Quite an interesting read. I hope to see more, keep up the good work.

[Laser]

that should be a film