This is a story that I just started working on a few days ago, so it's still pretty much a rough draft. The entire time I was fighting writer's block, so it might not be the best. This story takes place in space, after Earth has been destroyed. The current main characters are Ramza Valentine, Erekayu Nik, and Taimat Renduras. I hope you enjoy.
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The year is 724 A.E. Earth was destroyed by man's own petty greed. Nations fought eachother for what each thought was their own. Thus the world was split and died, and with it's death, mankind journeyed into space to join it's stellar allies. That's why the Foundation was created, so that mankind wouldn't repeat it's mistakes a second time. The Foundation is a massive colony in space and home to the Hunters. From here the Hunters gather intel and gear so that they might undertake mission for the Foundation.
This is the story of a particular Hunter from the Kitsune race. His name was Ramza Valentine.
+ + +
It had been several months since the Foundation had recieved word of any uprisings within the areas under it's jurisdiction. In this time of peace, many of the Hunters just tried their best to entertain themselves by taking patrol duties or relaxing in one of the recreational zones onboard the Foundation.
Ramza was one of the later. He sat on a large metalic bench in a windowed park area on the west side of the Foundation, staring into the deep vacuum of space. In the distance, he could see the rural planet of Kohel III. A red planet known for it's production of potatoes and other related products. The time was somewhere around fourteen hundred hours, as Ramza assumed from the half-lit haze that the Foundation used as a light source. It was nearly time for his patrol duties.
Ramza stood from the bench and stretched, loosening some of his stiff muscles. He reached up to his head to remove the hat that he had been wearing. It was a replica of a cowboy hat from Earth, before it was destroyed. It had been a gift from a friend, and Ramza often wore it when he was on leave. The rest of his attire, however, didn't match the hat at all. He was wearing his standard edition Hunter BDU, or Body Dress Uniform, which consisted of an almost skin tight spandex suit with a light layer of armored padding over the torso and groin, as well as the joints and forearms. It was obvious that the suit wasn't made for looks, as most people wouldn't be caught dead wearing something like that.
Ramza let his hair down out of his hat and procceeded to walk out of the park. After walking for about ten minutes, a man with ebony skin and light green spiked hair ran out in front of Ramza, blocking his way.
"Hey, Ramza!" said the ebon skinned man as he grinned at Ramza, "I just got back from my patrol! Wanna go to Murphy's and get blitzed!?" The man was refering to a bar on the entertainment deck of the Foundation.
Ramza looked at the man and gave a somewhat exhasperated sigh. "You know it's time for my patrol now, Erekayu..." said Ramza as he attempted to get past Erekayu.
But Erekayu wouldn't take no for an answer. "Come on! Can't you skip out on patrol just this once?" asked Erekayu, "There hasn't been any trouble with the nations for a while now. Look on this as a blessing from Vita!"
Ramza looked at Erekayu with a bit of bemused puzzelment. "The goddess of life? Erekayu, I didn't think you were a religious type?" questioned Ramza with a laugh.
"Yeah, well, I've had a lot of free time. So sue me!" exclaimed Erekayu, "So about those drinks?"
"No." stated the black Kitsune quite bluntly. And it was at that very moment that he just so happened to take a glance out the window. Ramza grabbed Erekayu and jumped behind a bulkhead, just as an unknown object slammed into the corridor they had just been in.
It was obvious that the hull had been breached, as the bulkhead had closed after the impact. Alarms began to sound and a voice came over the intercom.
"This is General Orlandu Blossom! All civilians are to proceed to the designated shelters! This is not a drill! I repeat, this is not a drill!"
That was all the cue Ramza needed to activate his power armor which was stored in a detached space generator attached to his back. It was a small disk no larger than a saucer.
Ramza's power armor appeared on him from a reddish light. The onix armor was an intimidating sight to behold, as it was his own personal symbol and the mark of a hunter.
"Showoff." stated Erekayu as he activated his own crimson armor.
The two Hunters ran through a bulkhead that had been to their right and were immediatly greeted with a hail of energy weapon fire.
Ramza ducked behind a titanium crate as he fired off two shots from his arm mounted chain gun. Erekayu, on the other hand, had taken a hit to the knee, and had fallen through a door to his immediate left. He had landed inside of a storage closet filled with cleaning supplies.
Ignoring his wound for the moment, Erekayu leaned out of the doorway and fired four shots from his signature weapon, that being a laser revolver. The shots ricocheted off the walls and ceiling and hit the, now appearent, two targets. The targets went down and Erekayu took a moment to look at his wound.
The shot hadn't pierced his armor, but the area where it had been hit was now melted and discolored, indicating pulse weapons.
"Weren't pulse weapons outlawed?" asked Erekayu.
"We'll worry about that later!" commanded Ramza, "Right now, we need to secure this area!"
+ + +
Meanwhile, on the command bridge of the Foundation, Orlandu looked out over the colony. The bridge was placed high over the colony, at the top of a reinforced tower. Inside the bridge, reports were coming in of several other instances similar to what Ramza and Erekayu were experiencing in the recreation deck, all over the Foundation.
"Sir!" came a female voice from behind the general. He turned to see a young woman in the uniform of a tactical officer. She had somewhat short platinum blonde hair with black highlights. Her nametag read Krystal Matsumoto. She saluted and waited for permision to speak.
Orlandu returned the salute. "Yes, Miss Matsumoto?"
"Hunter Lupus is reporting several more impacts on the lower half of the colony. He says they seem to be seraph class boarding pods." reported Krystal.
"I see. Send for Hunter Taimat and order her detachment to secure the shields and defense systems." ordered Blossom.
As Krystal left, Orlandu turned back to the window. "Seraph class, eh? Damned Charrans."
+ + +
Guns and alarms blarred as Taimat's unit was pinned down in a starboard mess hall. A group of Charran soldiers had bunkered down in the kitchen and had set up auto-lasturrets.
The dining quarters were in ruins now, and Taimat's group were using a blown servbot as cover. There were only three of them left now. Taimat herself, Hunter Reis Dragon, and Hunter Blutzen Karma.
Taimat looked at the remains of her squad and gave a sigh. Only two of her ten troops were left and Reis was a new recruit.
"Listen up!" commanded Taimat as shots whizzed by overhead, "On three, we're going to rush that implacement and take out those hostiles! I swear, if one of you dies, I will personally drag your sorry ass back from the Lifestream and kill you again!"
"Yes ma'am!" saluted Karma.
Reis just nodded, having lost her voice from fear and stress.
With this acknowledgement, Taimat reached behind her to her DSG and pulled forth a concussive grenade. After pushing the button on the top, activating the timer, she lobbed the grenade at the bunker and began to count slowly.
"One..." Shots peppered the walls all around them. "Two..." The fear in Reis' eyes grew as the servebot began to give way under the constant barage of las shots. "Three..." The grenade detonated, deafening all in the room and obliterating the two turrets.
On this signal, Blutzen rolled out from behind the destroyed servebot and brought up his grenade launcher. He had already laoded it with a microfusion cell, so all he had to do was fire. Unfortunatly, a Charran soldier anticipated this and fired off a shot just as Blutzen pulled the trigger. The shot pierced through his command visor and through his head, causing it to burst like an overripe melon.
It was all Reis could do to keep her lunch down as she charged the, not destroyed and burning, bunker behind Taimat.
Taimat ran to the door of the kitchen and filled the room with napalm from her plasma flamethrower. All Reis had to do was watch her back. It was over in a matter of minutes.
Taimat stared at the reckage of the mess hall with a look of dissappointment. The use of a concussive grenade was a last resort. Where Reis was just happy to be alive, Taimat had taken a blow to her pride.
But rest was far away it seemed, as Taimat's command visor logged a messege.
"Command, this is Hunter Taimat Renduras! Mess hall A-3 is secure! Awaiting orders!" said the Hunter as she flipped on her communications system.
A woman's voice came over the com unit, "You're new orders are to secure the shield generators and defense systems!"
"Not possible," stated Taimat, "only Hunter Reis and I survived the initial attack. The attackers seem to be Charrans. They've brought some heavy weaponry with them. I had to use a concussive grenade."
"Then head for the shield generator on the port side. We'll send backup as soon as we can." said the voice as it cut out.
Taimat glanced over her shoulder to see a very disturbed Reis. She had lost the pigment to her skin and it looked as if she had vomited. She was rocking back and forth next to Blutzen's corpse.
"Pull youself together, Hunter!" commanded Taimat as she backhanded Reis with an armored hand, knocking her to the ground.
Reis' only reaction was to curl into a ball and twitch at random intervals. The trauma had been to much for her.
Taimat looked around her at the bodies of her fallen comrades, those who had died under her command. She had taken the time to learn all of their names as soon as they were assigned to her.
Gritting her teeth, Taimat ran out of the room and toward the shield generator.
[to be continued]
Great story Ramza, I liked the hints to Metroid and FF7. Can't wait for chapter 2.
Thanks. It might take a while for me to finish chapter 2, as I'm doing a little more research, and I still have writer's block, but I'll try to have it out as soon as I can.
Wow it's been a while since I said that... Well, it's almost finished. So here's a heads up for Chapter 2, coming soon to this thread near you!
Ramza and Erekayu had just finished clearing the recreation deck of Charran
troops. There hadn't been many, which was to be expected as the recreation deck was in
no way a key point of the foundation.
They were just on their way to a transit hub when they both got a message on
their command visors.
"Reporting!" said the two at once as they flipped on their com units. This drew
a slight chuckle from Erekayu.
"Oh, you're both together!?" came a questioning, yet expecting, voice from over
the com.
"Krystal?" asked Ramza, surprised to hear her voice over the unit.
"Yup! That's me! I've got new orders for you." stated Krystal in a hyper fashion
that wasn't suited for the situation.
After Krystal had stated that, she had gone silent, almost as if she had dazed
off.
"Krystal?" said Ramza expectantly.
"Wha!? Oh, right, the orders!" exclaimed Krystal, "You're to head for the shield
generator on the aft side of the ship. You'll be joined by Hunter Agrias Feral."
"The Holy Swordsman of Vita? I've only ever heard rumors!" said Erekayu in awe.
"We understand, and are on out way!" confirmed Ramza as he switched off the
com.
"Can you believe it!?" exclaimed Erekayu with obvious excitement, "The Holy
Swordsman! One of the Three Legendary Hunters!"
"What's so great about him?" asked Ramza as they reached the hub. The
transportation method in the Foundation was a simple air cab system that ran along
a set of rails. It was a primitive system, but it minimalized accidents.
Erekayu grabbed Ramza by the shoulder, stopping him. "They say that he fights
without the aid of power armor." said Erekayu with reverence.
"So? That just means that he's some crazy old man!" said Ramza as be brushed
Erekayu's hand aside.
They entered the air cab and were off for the aft shield generator.
* * *
Taimat ran through the port side corridors, heading for the shield generator. She was
nearly there, when her position was suddenly peppered with lazer fire.
She ducked behind a steel gerter, but not before her flamethrower took a direct hit.
It was useless now. The ejection nozzle had been blown away completely.
"Dammit!" exclaimed Taimat as she pulled the devise off of her arm and removed
the plasma pack from her suit.
She looked over the gerter to see her attacker. She spotted a lone Charran heavy
sentry. It was armed with an autolazer and a missle launcher. It would be a difficult
target to take out, as Taimat had no weapons left, save for a knife.
After a few seconds behind the gerter, she heard the tell tale signs of a missle
leaving it's pod. It screeched as it arched toward her. Taimat jumped away from the gerter
as it was turned into shrapnel.
She used this as her openning to close the gap between herself and the sentry. Using
the air stablizers in her suit for an extra speed boost, she leapt at the sentry as she cleared the smoke from the missles explosion.
Pulling a fusion knife from her belt, she collided with the machine. The sentry fired
in all directions as it tried to deal with its assailent. However, Taimat had entered a
blindspot in the machine's attack radius.
With almost inhuman furiosity, Taimat plunged the knife into the metal sentinel again
and again. The shots stopped as the sentry slumped to the ground. Taimat did not.
* * *
Finally Reaching the aft shield generator, Ramza and Erekayu prepared for the
worst. Ramza readied his arm cannon as Erekayu laoded another energy cell into his
revolver.
Openning the door, the two were met with a scene of horrific proportions. There had
definatly been Charran soldiers here before. Now all that was left were bloody smears and
the occasional organ or bone.
Ramza brought his hand to his mouth as he held back the urge to vomit. Even Erekayu
seemed to be a lighter shade of brown.
"What happened here?" asked the ebon skinned man to no one.
Just as he had said that, the shield generator flared to life again. As it did a figure
stepped forth from behind the generator.
It was a woman in a bloodstained blue dress with an elaborate breastplate atop it. Her blonde hair had been weighted down by the spray of blood. Her face although beautiful,
was emotionless and blemished by blood. She held a large blade that shown a bright blue
as the hazelight hit it.
"A-are you... Agrias Feral?" asked Erekayu.
The woman turned her head to see who had spoken, then fell to the ground.
"What was that all about?" questioned Ramza to Erekayu.
"I don't know." stated Erekayu as he approched the woman. He moved her hair from her face. She was young. "She seems to be asleep."
"Alright, well let's take her somewhere safe then." stated Ramzas.
* * *
Having used an elevator from his own private quarters, Orlandu walked hurriedly to a
closed off section of the Foundation. This was where they stored several of their... problem
subjects.
In effect it was a prison, but it was a bit more than that. All those that were
incarcerated here were sentenced to a slow and painful death. In here they were driven
to madness, and when their bodies could no longer take the strain... they would simply
die.
However, one man had been incarcerated here at the maximum level of security,
and still lived. Found guilty of started a war that threatened to engulf the entire
universe, his arms were bound, his legs tied down, and he was sealed within an energy
field that would vaporize him if he so much as twitched. His name was Nero Strahl.
Openning the door, Orlandu walked in and stood before the field. Nero looked at him
with a grin. "Hello Blossom."
[to be continued]
Awesome story, Ramza.
It's very late in coming, but thanks. I've finished the last part of chapter one and the majority of chapter two, but I'm unable to post them right now. I'll do so when i get the chance, But seeing as I have yet to get off of my butt and get a new computer, that might take a while.
