[h3][b]The Unforgiven[/b][/h3]

Strange spirals engulfed a lone Jasaran assault ship. Bright lights pulsates by the windows as the vessel sped towards Anuria.

"So..." A feminine voice muttered. The voice belonged to a fair woman named Licia. She [i]was[/i] before the dirt and blood set in. It didn't matter how much she washed, those stains seemed part if her body. Perhaps a testament to what she has seen.

Next to her was a strong male with short brown hair. His voice was gruff which reflected the scar over his eye and the rough beard. 

"So..." He said plainly.

Licia smiled at the man, "Look Marcus, you know ship rides are boring as hell."

A smirk crossed Marcus' lips before a metal door opened before them. A mess hall.. A big one at that held doomed men and women alike. These Marines and regular infantrymen sat and laughed, joked and engaged in strange horseplay. Normally this would be forbidden but the CO of the mess seemed fine overlooking it. Maybe it was respect for their lives being nothing but a statistic for upper command.

"Hey! " a young man shouted, raising a plain metal cup "the heroes of Dax !!"

Licia smiled while Marcus shook his head. There was a brief moment when she heard a robotic voice finish a story, "Then Licia's marker grenade called down the strike that killed appopoa shon. That was it, game over." It said enthusiastically.

Marcus walked over to the combat robot, a unique model with a better AI. Not a true one but close enough. Named Jar by Licia, lovingly of course. Its real name was JaR-21B, a reference to its make, model, and year. She didn't quite see it as a robot anymore.. back when it was first introduced, so many were confused why the higher ups would add robots to the field, especially concerns that they could be hacked wireless or gain full sentience. People find anything to be worried about.

Out o nowhere, a sudden jolt and flickering lights sounded the end of the FTL journey. Licia noticed that the room had become very quiet, including Marcus. She turned to see a planet with explosions all over it, ships firing wildly onto the surface. It looked like hell, or as close to it as anyone would believe. As the ship sat there lifeless, a voice came over the intercom, stating it to be the captain. The message was simple that the planned ground invasion of this world would be postponed due to "unforeseen circumstances". "Well shit." Licia said with a sigh. 

Marcus then turned to her as the mess hall turned back into its cheerful self. Within a split second, the ship shook again and that swirling energy pulsated around the ship. It was strange for a sudden jump to light speed again, especially considering they were already at the target, even prepared for the intense fight below. As soon as it started, it ended.. the jolt, the lights, the sight of yet another planet. This one didn't seem in bad shape from afar and the sudden arrival of seven allied ships made them feel at ease. 

The ride was so smooth, almost serene as the ships glided through the emptiness of space. The stars were shining in the distance and a strangely warm feeling of a sun on a planet that seemed stable kept many cheerful. Then the calm ended, it was so fast.. so abrupt.. Marcus was one of the few to catch a glimpse of the other assault frigate literally blown in half from a strange energy weapon before the emergency armor plates raised over the windows. Sirens went off and like a well oiled machine, crews moved to their stations. Licia, Marcus and Jar followed suit and quickly arrived at the hangar. They boarded their designated drop ship and checked weapons. Marcus enjoyed the machine gun he was blessed with, its buzzing sound gave him a strange satisfaction and Jar was even happier. He had a high caliber anti material rifle and a deadly precision. Licia however sat there with a scoped carbine, her trusty man killer sat neatly between her legs. 

Outside the ships armored hull was a vicious battle unfolding and it wasn't in the Jasarans favor one bit. 

Seven Jasaran warships began to turn their guns on an enemy that had taken them completely by surprise, Ashtar warships and lots of them. Pilots from both sides prepared their fighters. Jasaran pilots donned their helmets and tested the thrusters of their interceptors before getting the infamous green light before being flung out of the ship at incredible speeds. The Ashtar pilots, if you could call them that, sat calmly at alien consoles and linked into their vicious little fighters. They had no fear, no consequence for sacrificing one of their fighters for the good of the battle. The Jasaran pilots were fighting for their very lives and that ferocity was soon shown to the dismay of the superior Ashtar war machines.

Federation fighters started to take defensive positions while the capital ships turned their heavy guns towards the massing Ashtar advance. It was eerily quiet as the two forces slowly converged. The Ashtar commander was the first to make a move, sending a large group of fighters to whittle the Federation line down before employing its heavy weaponry. It was a superb tactic but to his surprise, the Federation repelled this in a grand display of pure firepower. The Ashtar commander had little choice but to start engaging the Federation ships that were growing ever closer to the line of Ashtar corvettes. 

It was almost like the flip of a switch as from one moment of calm turned into as federation massed firepower met the precision killing weapons of the Ashtar. Shields deflected blows on both sides but before long, the Federation was starting to wither. As soon as the corvettes got within a few kilometers of the Federation line, the Jasaran fighters hit full burn into the Ashtar lines. Short range, heavy payload missiles launched en masse' from the fighters missile pods. The contrails of missiles filled the battle space within seconds, doing massive damage to everything they touched. 

The first real blow to the Federation battle group was the loss of its centerpiece, an endurance class carrier. Various pilots remember seeing the light blue beams firing from corvettes on it once the shields had dropped. Armor did little to mitigate the energy weapons of the Ashtar as they had targeted the thin armor of its launch bays. Normally the Federation wouldn't have had a carrier operating so close but the sudden arrival of the Ashtar group led to that vessels demise. It was only the first too.

The Ashtar commander was growing angry as its arrogance was starting to be tested by the Federation ships. White hot beams and bright red metal slugs flew in massive barrages into corvettes, destroying them in alarming number. The next loss was a triumphant class, a sad loss at that. Its side missile bays were nailed by a dark blue beam from seemingly nowhere. It wasn't in vein as the frigate had taken three corvettes with it. It was at that point the Ashtar commander chaged its tactics, recalling its corvettes to a line formation out of the Federation warships medium guns effective range. Federation fighters attempted to pursue the retreating corvettes and after a few kills, were outmatched by the corvettes superior speed. Not much time passed before Ashtar big guns appeared to make up for the corvettes that the commander had thrown against its opponent. It was obvious that had the Ashtar commander rushed in with its full strength, losses would've been much less. Pride was the death of so many warriors.

Federation warships began moving away themselves, trying to form a defensive line and signal for help. The Ashtar commander made its best attempts to block the signal but it was too late. The commander knew it only had moments before the Federation would possibly respond. Its tactics turned barbaric and blunt, forming its ships in a wall formation and bringing in more fighters to supplement the corvette casualties and with a sudden rush showed its combat prowess. Bright flashes far more intense than before lit up the immediate area. Shot after shot until the Federation guns were glowing red and the Ashtar weapons were even straining at this point. There was some confidence in the Federation commanders mind that it could survive this fight but then the Ashtar cruisers arrive, tipping the balance far in their favor.

Cruisers sped in from the 'sides' of the federation line as the wall of Ashtar corvettes steamrolled through the middle. Federation guns weren't able to keep up with the targets once the Ashtar fighters started the point blank knife fights with the remaining Federation interceptors. Explosion after explosion signaled the death of many Ashtar and Federation fighters alike. No one would ever want to admit it but at that close range, it's likely that the Federation capital ships did just as much damage to their own fighters as the enemy fighters did. Flak didn't discriminate and many pilots learned that first hand, sadly at the end of their life.

The federation line began to falter when the closest cruiser fired a high intensity "Omega" cannon directly through its bow. The beam went from nose to tail, carving out its targets innards like a knife through paper. Things went from bad to worse when the Federations Resolute Destroyer fell to enemy fire. 

Inide the assault ship, the "heroes of dax" could only speculate what was going on outside as the only thing they had to go on was the rumble of weapons hitting their ships hull. Alarms were blazing and many marines were shaking at this point, not sure if this was their end and there wasn't a thing they could do about it. That was probably the worst part of it that their training was for nothing if an enemy blue death ray would end their life in a flash. Marcus was one of the calm ones, he didn't give a damn at all. He had already came to the conclusion that he should have been dead by now. Jar had no emotion to display so it sat there plainly. Licia however was growing nervous. The marine next to her wasn't helping, constantly asking its maker for salvation.

"Shut the fuck up!" she said, finally snapping.

Outside the situation was growing dire and before long, the Assault ship took its final blow from a point blank omega torpedo through its nose. The ship immediately broke in half, its aft sent into a slow spiral. Inside, only those that were close enough to see the ships separation knew, everyone else was silent as the alarms were still blaring. Artificial gravity was still functioning so there was no way to really know but it eventually failed, forcing many objects into the air. A massive shake ended the ships life as the engine core shut down from stress and feedback. Licia was one of the few that could see out of the drop ships cockpit, noticing the lights shutting off. 

"Alright, everyone assume your emergency drop positions. We are preparing to launch." was the last words Licia heard before the explosion... 

The massive hole blown in the hangar pulled everything into the vaccuum including the dropship. She could see out of the cockpit and her eyes grew large as she saw the assault ship, or what was left of it, burning into the atmosphere. The drop ship did its best to stay on course but the engines had been damaged in the free fall. Licia did get a last minute satisfaction though, seeing a massive formation of Federation capital ships emerging from light speed and immediately destroying four of the cruisers that had ravaged the battle group she was apart of.

Darkness followed.. was it a blunt object to the head? she had no idea but when she awoke, she could only see the ground below her dangling feet. She somehow landed in a tree and from this vantage she could see the impact site of her drop ship and the assault ship itself. "shit.. shit.. shit.." she said angrily as she fought to break free of the vines that had caught her fall. Licia finally broke free and landed hard onto the ground.

Marcus rode the drop ship straight into the ground. He was the sole survivor and somehow managed that without a scratch. Maybe it was the splatter of two mangled bodies that protected him from the impact. Regardless he didn't care, his weapon still worked. 

Jar had a different fate, landing in a small pool of water. It was just deep enough to not damage the robot, some intense luck most would say. It made no difference to the robot as its only concern was its destroyed rifle. 

Hours went by as the group came together at the ships crash site. There was no sign of life anywhere but at least Jar had found a replacement rifle. Supplies were laying about as well as vehicles and weapons. Marcus face lit up when he saw it.. "Hey! come here!!" he shouted exuberantly. A centurion tank sat unspoiled in front of them. A true weapon to project the whooping of ass was staring at them. Marcus climbed in and started the mighty weapons engines and brought it from the hangar. At the height of Marcus excitement, the engine caught fire. His cursing was likely heard miles away as he slammed his fist against the metal plates before jumping out. Automatic extinguishers stopped the tank from further damage but none present knew how to fix that beast. 

Then they saw it, another possible salvation. A pristine Razorwing that had somehow survived the crash. Jar announced its ability to fly the machine so the group made their way. It was a tough climb to get into the ship that was hanging upside down on its hangar clamps. "This is going to be tough." Marcus said, almost mockingly. Jar dismissed Marcus' negativity and climbed into the cockpit. The engines spun up and with a sudden clank, the drop ship broke free and quickly rolled upright with perfect thrust angling by the robot pilot. 

Licia, Marcus and Jar loaded everything they could into the drop ship, including clamping the Centurion tank onto the back. They had no idea where they were but the crafts communications were working. 

"Mayday, mayday, This is Lyra two-four to any Federation personnel. Please help!"

And above them, the aftermath of the battle that landed them in this situation.

[img]http://noliesradio.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/meteorshower-674548.jpg[/img]