A Sci-Fi story by me

[Thrakhath]

No title yet, but read, enjoy, then comment




. . . What are you? . . .

“We are the greatest warriors in the Universe. Our power is unequaled in combat.”

. . . Who are you? . . .

“We are the Brotherhood, we serve our Masters until death.”

. . . What is your duty? . . .

“To fight with Honor, To obey the will of our Master, and To protect our brethren.”

. . . What has the most value? . . .

“Life, for it can only be given by the Creator. It must never be taken from the defenseless or the innocent.”

. . . When must you take life? . . .

“Only in the just execution of duty, the service of The Master, and the defense of the defenseless.”

The Head Master paused to look out over his students. There were several hundred gathered, in perfect rows and columns, a good number for half million that had started the training fifty years ago. It took a lot of time and money to raise the universes best warriors, but it was worth it. They went by many different names on many different planets, but always they were the stuff of legends. Invincible soldiers who could get in and out of any fortress no matter how heavily guarded, who could slay a thousand troops with only a sword, and leave without a scratch, they could dodge bullets and absorb plasma without any burn. All these were false of course, but their image made them even stronger in the eyes of their foes, fear was a great ally.

They were all enhanced, by secret methods, beyond normal human ability, with life-spans of nine hundred years or more and many super-human abilities. Some of these abilities were not even realized by the greatest warriors, there was still much to learn about these, the finest fighters ever conceived.

The Head Master resumed “What are your three allegiances?”

And the chant of several hundred voices in perfect unison came back “Honor, Duty, Brotherhood.”

“Class to attention.”

There was a single thud as all came to a stiff stance at once

“Draw Weapons.”

Again, a single singing of metal rang out as all drew their swords in unison, and they held their blades straight up in front of them, separating each student’s body into two symmetrical halves.

“You have all done very well, you have shown Perseverance, Loyalty, Discipline, Strength, Courage, and Honor. All of these, and more, will you need in the service of your new masters. When you go out today, you represent the finest that this world has to offer in the area of combat. Fight with Honor and Serve you Master well, this is your purpose. Fulfill it, and bring glory to our race. Dismissed.”

The Head Master withdrew as his former students filed out to meet with whoever had purchased their training. He wondered if the ceremonial words still held meaning to them. He knew that they would go out as near-perfect fighters, with truth, honor and duty being the highest moral codes. But too often they would be placed in another kind of training. The training of a Warlord who would not be interested in honor, he would only be interesting in raising the best assassin or the greatest fighter to use in boarding ships and assaulting bases. These Warlords would put their newly bought (at a very high price) into the hands of an experienced Clannar (the most common name for the universe’s greatest warriors) who would unlearn their morals, and train them to kill without mercy and destroy all who oppose them.

But in these times such ruthlessness was often needed, and that is why he wondered why he bothered to put things like “Honor” and “Right” into their minds. Some of his associates argued that it made no difference, and time should not be wasted on it. Others stated that it created a balance, that it is easy to go from good to bad but not the other way around. Thus, starting them off as good as they could make them would allow for more of the good to balance out the bad. It didn’t matter to him though, the system was working and he saw no reason to change it.


Kyle Brandow finished his final packing. It felt strange. Fifty long years of almost solid training and conditioning had made these Spartan Barracks seem like home. His entire set of possessions included three pairs of the exact same weighted black training suit, two long swords, a short sword, a pair of black daggers, along with a few other instruments of melee combat. His last five years were spent mainly learning of the things common to civilians. Looking from that knowledge, it seemed strange that the whole of his worldly possessions consisted of armor and weapons. Nothing else. He wondered if he would be allowed to buy such things as normal clothes or his own computer. He doubted he would have need for his own personal things, what he had learned about his future position would be that such things would be provided for, and what wasn’t provided could be acquired for the purposes of the mission at hand. Still, a small part of him wanted something to call his own.

He quickly banished such thoughts, there was no need for such things. He must focus on the task at hand. The Emperor Icthius had sent one of his two Clannar to escort his newest edition. Three Clannar was rare for one Emperor to have in his service, but not unheard of. Icthius was ruler of the Auroy region, a group of nine planets in four different galaxies, a primarily trading based Empire, but also strongly military, currently at war with a smaller neighboring Kingdom. War being a very loose term, the “Kingdom” started as a faction of an earlier Empire which split after the untimely death of it’s Emperor at the hands of Zeld, a Clannar in the service of Emperor Darius. This small Kingdom did not even occupy the whole of it’s own planet, and only one battle had been fought, Icthius lost one cruiser and six fighter-class ships while their foe lost it’s entire fleet of thirty-three destroyers, one carrier and that carrier’s complement of fifty fighters. There was only one last battle to fight once Icthius’ fleet moved on the capitol, but it was not expected to last long, and the small Kingdom would soon be part of a greater and remembered no more. It’s former allies were already picking apart the rest of the shattered Empire. Such was the cycle of empires and wars in this world.

Kyle left the training compound, which was the only civilization on this small barren planet. A planet perfectly suited to the training of the greatest warriors, with high temperatures in the day and frigid at night so that the climate was always hostile. Rocky soil and gravity constant of about 15, greater than what humans are used to. A hostile world that made one stronger just by being there.

Kyle moved towards the large flat area outside the compound that was used for a Starport. To the unknowing it would look as barren as the rest of the planet, only one might notice that it is perfectly flat but for the dust that piles up in spots. But underneath was a cities worth of equipment, everything from the common and most needed things such as fuel, spare parts, and repair tools to the industrial class bays and factories capable of producing Frigate-class vessels. Indeed, part of their long training involved ship production. Every student had a working knowledge of every class of ship, and could repair anything, along with making most parts from scrap.

Sitting atop this large landing area were several hundred small transports with the distinctive markings of their own various governments, displaying their allegiance and awaiting the arrival of whatever student was given into their care. None of them carried weapons, for it was a long standing tradition that in this system there would be no fighting of any kind. The punishment was that all Clannar in every system, no matter their allegiance or status, would descend upon the offending Empire(s) and reduce it to rubble as punishment for assaulting their homeworld, for every Clannar looks at Carraden as home, and all who violate it will die. Single Clannar have been known to destroy entire fleets, and no kingdom stands against several thousand. Such punishment has been needed only once in known history, it was swift and sure. No one remembers anything of the offenders, but all their territory was attacked and destroyed, left for whoever would take it. Their homeworlds were laid to waste and their atmospheres purged, so that they became permanent monuments. No one is allowed to remove anything from those homeworlds, but many still travel there to see the huge piles of debris and the destruction that testifies to the might of the Clannar.

Kyle headed to the transport marked with Icthius’ Insignia, a white falcon with a red sword in its claws. He knew the man to be Clannar even before he saw the insignia on his coat that identified him as the one who had come to escort Kyle, for he carried the air of complete control, and the deadly gracefulness of a Viper. The man also had a sword at his waist. All Clannar find a favorite weapon during their time, and have one fashioned out of Blue Ragoris, a very rare metal of amazing abilities, upon graduation. It was almost completely unbreakable and was lighter than steel of half the mass. But it’s most important ability was that it resonates with the energies of the Clannar who holds it, amplifying their powers. Clannar are almost never separated from their weapon and are allowed to bring it to Carraden.

“Well boy” He began “Are you ready to face life for real?”

It was an odd way to phrase it, but Kyle did not hesitate “Yes.”

[pine]

have a Physics AND a Geology midterm tommorow. Will read and comment on this when I got the time. I'm looking forward to it

[namu]

Nice

It looks a bit like a Pierre Bordage's book so far
(FYI: Pierre Bordage is one of the best SciFi French writers)

[_Zd_Phoenix_]

Thought it was good. You didn't dwell on the ceremony or even the planet, but you still managed to create a good atmousphere to it.

I would say more, cause I thought t was an interesting style in many otherways, but I think it would be premature to make judgements on it. So I hope I can comment on the next piece soon

[Zenda]

Hi, Thrak

I've just seen this. I'm not going to bed quite yet, but I am in no fit condition to give it the kind of reading it deserves, so this is just a word to say I'm excited to see it and am looking forward to reading it tomorrow

[_Zd_Phoenix_]

good ol' Zenda. You couldn't keep him away from these things if you tried

[Domon]

You've gotta give us more, Thrak!

Personally, I like it. I've only glanced through it, but from what I read and comprehended, I liked. I'll give this a more thorough read a bit later; I gotta hit the sack (it's almost midnight where I'm at right now).

[edit]Spoke too soon. The second part looks great too. [/edit]

[Thrakhath]

On the short shuttle ride back to the main ship, Kyle learned a few things. The Clannar who was his charge was named Tarsonis and his primary duty was the defense of the Emperor and his highest level aids which now included the fledgling Kyle. His current assignment was to prepare Kyle for saboteur work, Kyle already had all the training he needed, all he needed now was a little equipment and a target to prove his value.

Tarsonis mentioned the other Clannar in the Emperor’s service, but said he had never met him, only saw him once. He went by his codename, Chrysalis, and had been trained by the Gesserat, a group of the finest spies and assassins. Their skin was re-toned to a dark, almost black, purple and their eyes enhanced with bio technology that made the pupils take up the whole socket and this made the eyes totally black. Yet even the brightest lights did not blind them, the enhancements allowed them to see in pitch dark and stare unblinkingly into a star. No one knew exactly what their eyes could tell them, but they could see “heat” and even electromagnetic energy among many other things. It was also rumored that they could judge the relative strength of another Clannar just by looking at them.

Kyle also learned that Tarsonis’ abilities revolved around finding spies within Palace and surrounding city, along with sneaking aboard the vessels of visiting ambassadors to learn of anything devious. It would, on the surface at least, seem a waste of a supreme fighter’s abilities to be kept on the home front, but assassins were often found, some of the best, and having a Clannar dealing with them all but guaranteed that they would fail. Emperors drew assassins like gold draws thieves.

Once they docked with the cruiser, Kyle was shown to his quarters, as Spartan as those he had left. He brushed a hand through his short, dark hair and decided he would grow it out a little bit since the crew cut was no longer required.

“Before you bed down” Tarsonis began “I’d like to assess your style in a few rounds of sparing. We have a training room just down this hall.”

He lead the way to a averaged sized room with a high roof, almost a perfect cube of a room, probably a former storage bay. Heavy sheets of metal had been secured to the walls to keep the stray energies inside. They already showed severe wear in places where Tarsonis’ bolts made large blackened dents. There were also three training dummies in the middle, arrayed in a triangle and only slightly taller than a man, two were made almost completely out of metal, a diradium based alloy, the same that made ship armor, and yet it was obvious that they had been broken and put back together several times. Straight gashes suggested either a very accurate metal cutter, which would have taken a few hours to cut so perfectly, or one sure stroke of a Clannar blade. Kyle doubted it was the cutting tool. These were used to help train a Clannar to channel energy through his weapon. Normal strikes would do little more than scratch the hard metal, but a well controlled Ragoris blade in the hands of a Clannar would go through it like a razor through silk.

The third was different, composed mainly of an artificial metallic tissue which grew on a strong diradium skeleton. This one also had basic motor functions. This model was called a electriod. A simple robot, used to guard doors in places where weapons were not allowed. Not complex enough to wield it’s own weapon, they attack and defend the same way, their “skin” conducts a great deal of high electric energy which can be channeled and kept inside until needed. They simply make contact with their target and render them unconscious. At full power they can kill most men. Clanner use them in weaponless hand to hand combat training they learn to keep their shields up while fighting.

Off to one side was a rack of various weapons. Tarsonis noticed him looking at them and said: “We won’t use those for now, I just want to see you weaponless abilities.” Kyle nodded and helped Tarsonis move the practice dummies out of the way.. He then took up position and decided to use the Paqua “open palm” stance to start. Tarsonis matched his stance with only a slight difference in the way he held his wrists, and waited for Kyle to start.

He started in using the Half-Moon low form, then quickly switching to Gurter Sparrow and darting to the side. Tarsonis matched him move for move easily, although Kyle expected this and doubted he could “win” in a friendly match with a much more experienced fighter, he still wanted to make a good showing of himself. He decided to move in Ki into a tight Center formation and rely on speed to keep him from a vulnerable position and strike from the sides. He brought in Kara, a low foot using form, then quickly changed to Herin, a high hand using form, then just as quick back to Sparrow aiming at the midsection along the sides. Tarsonis looked a little surprised but still managed to keep pace and parry every blow.

This went on for a little more than fife minutes, both sides fighting faster than any normal human could even attempt. Until Kyle found himself in a corner, a foolish mistake that only the very youngest ever made, he could not understand how he could get caught like a new four year student, but his saw his defeat as clearly as a chess player calling out ‘Checkmate in three moves.’ And it surely was that. The first was a straight punch to the middle, unable to dodge he blocked, then a high kick to the head, caught unable to duck without falling his only course was to block high with both hand to deflect a kick, leaving his middle wide open to the close range, high charged punch that pierced his shield and knocked the wind out of him. His instinct to ignore the pain and fight on, but the blow slowed him down and he couldn’t react when his feet were swept from under him and a hammer blow put him on the ground.

“Good, very good. I’ve trained a few students fresh from school, all found themselves in a corner” at this he chuckled to himself “but you have outlasted them by nearly two minutes. You will do well.”

“Thank you master, it pleases me that I find favor with you.”

“No need to be so formal boy. Now we’ll do a quick round with weapons. What do you like?”

Neither of them was breathing hard and both were aptly ready to fight for hours more. “I’ll take the Masamune.” Tarsonis grabbed it and tossed it to Kyle, selecting a two-edged sword for himself. Kyle started in a move aggressive stance this time, while Tarsonis took up a multi-range one. Kyle launched into a frontal assault in the Ordin form using short strokes to keep him on the defencive. Kyle then moved smoothly into Koral form with quick jabbing movements. Seeing an opening he used a boost of Ki and dashed to Tarsonis’ side, then rebounding off an invisible wall came stright at him from the side. But Tarsonis wasn’t there. He had never left Kyle’s peripheral vision he was sure, but he simply wasn’t here. It suddenly downed on him where Tarsonis would be if he wasn’t where he should be. But Kyle could not figure out how he could have moved so fast, surely faster than . . . but they was no time for thinking. Before the split second Kyle had used executed his maneuver ended he felt a boot in the small of his back and his Ki was not there to protect him, he fumbled through the air losing all sense of orientation and balance, landing hard on his right side and he slide across the floor. He tried to get up but found a blade at his throat.

[Thrakhath]

*bump*

Part three is coming but I'd like some feedback first

One thing you've probably noticed is that I'm not getting into discription very much, which may be a mistake but it's worth a try.