Chronicles of Sol: The Fall

Tika stared at the hole in the corridor wall, then glanced at the dead body of the Cathamari Countryman had killed. The massive reptile’s torso was utterly destroyed, she could smell the burnt flesh from here. The gaping hole in his body was charred black around the edges, but everything that should have been in the cavity was gone. Vaporized by the blast. Much like the treated duranium plating, the corridor wall was made of. The same grade of duranium used in starship armor. Treated duranium was quite resilient against both kinetic and energy-based weapons. It was one of the few materials able to resist a direct hit from a plasma bolt, and yet that same material had a hole blown through it from a small wrist-mounted particle cannon.

She glanced at Countryman, a part of her in disbelief that he would carry a weapon like that around. Fully charged and battle-ready no less. That wasn’t your run-of-the-mill personal defense weapon, that was clearly a weapon of war.

Tika then noted the guard firing his weapon, an accurate burst of particle bolts slammed into the side of a Cathamari soldier as he was ducking into cover. The bolts tore through his armor, and melted flesh. He was dead before he even hit the ground. His two remaining buddies made it into cover.

Almost instantly they began shooting her way, and she ducked more fully into cover. A series of plasma bolts splashed onto the duranium plating behind her, and a couple struck the ridge she was using for cover. Countryman fired a burst from his cannon, but she did not see what the result of that burst was. Ahead she heard the guard discharge his rifle as well. Not that she could see the effect from her position, she was tempted to peek but remained hunkered down behind the wall ridge.

Plasma bolts came back from the Cathamari positions and splashed against the corridor. She just hoped they did not have any grenades. Tika knew enough about ground combat to know how deadly a single grenade could be. Even if it didn’t kill them, a well-placed grenade could prove decisive here. Thankfully one never came, instead she heard one last discharge from the guard up ahead. A scream followed, and then Countryman announced, “All clear.”

She slipped out of cover, with him. He went straight for the first Cathamari that he had killed. He tossed the Cathamari’s rifle to the side, and pulled at his belt, removing it. Tika noticed four round objects attached to it. Countryman handed it over to her, “These are Cathamari plasma grenades. Just press the button on the top, and roll it towards your target. They are bit too large to be thrown, at least for us. It has a short timer, and can’t be disarmed once armed. So be careful with these.

She glanced towards the rifle, it looked rather large and bulky. “What about that rifle?”

He shook his head, “We can’t really use it, well I could, but I already have a weapon. Its actually heavier than it looks, and not designed with either of our species in mind. I’m better off sticking to my wrist cannon, and the chief over there would prefer sticking to his trusty XR-471.”

“I see,” she replied, before curiously trying to lift the rifle, where she discovered it was indeed quite heavy. She could barely lift it, and the design felt awkward in her hands. It would not be easy to operate this, not at all. Tika dropped it, and secured the belt she had been handed to her waist.

Nearby, the Human female officer, Eri commented, “That is why I didn’t try either. Cathamari weapons are notoriously heavy, especially those Juggernaut rifles, which these four were equipped with.”

As the other two searched the bodies for anything else they could use, Tika inquired, “Juggernaut rifles?”

Eri responded, “We have a designation for every weapon, ship, and vehicle we have encountered.” she tapped the rifle, “We designated these heavy plasma rifles, as Juggernaut Plasma rifles.”

“Sounds like you know a thing about these, although I thought you were the helmsman.”

She nodded, “I am, but I was briefed on Cathamari weapons, especially those I might encounter. Anyway, the Juggernaut rifle fires a concussive plasma charge and is effective against lightly armored and unarmored infantry. It has a fairly slow recharge rate, and can only fire about eight hundred bolts per minute.”

Countryman interjected, “That’s faster than my wrist cannon can fire, and you haven’t even mentioned the best feature of that weapon.”

Eri nodded, “I was getting to that.” she then pointed at the large round projection mounted on the side of the weapon, “This is a force shield projector. It draws power from a dedicated power pack. It acts much like the energy screens protecting Cathamari ships, but it only protects a limited frontal arc. Not to mention it does not last long either, since it has fairly high power requirement, especially when under strain.”

“Yep, the short duration of the shield and the high weight of the mechanism make it a bit impractical. Still intriguing, might lead to something more useful.”

Tika looked towards Countryman, as he retrieved a bladed weapon from one of the corpses, “Do you mean you are actively studying these?”

“Actively? No. Were we? Yes. We still have an inventory of captured rifles in lock up, and other little items we found intriguing. Our resources force us to pick and choose what projects we actively invest in. Forcefields and Energy shields may be useful, but there are quite a few other things with more immediate value to us. Although now that our warp research is complete, perhaps we can reexamine the value of forcefield research.”

“I would recommend looking into it. In fact with that trader’s license, you negotiated for, you could buy some generators from us, and they will serve you much better than that junk you got from the Cathamari. They aren’t very good at making energy shields, theirs are frankly rather weak.”

“They are, and I presume you are about to tell me about how yours are the best in the galaxy?”

She giggled, “Surely not. I wish, but the galaxy is a big place. We have some really decent tech, but when it comes to shields at least in this part of the galaxy, it's the Valorians who come out on top. For now at least.”

Countryman nodded, “I believe you mentioned them before. They are a race of peaceful traders with ports throughout the quadrant, are they not?”

“Largely yes. Given the reach of their Confederation, you will come into contact with them eventually, but like any group, they do have their belligerent elements. I’ll give you what files I can on them later. Although I don’t think their ships will be much threat to yours.”

“I’ll take that into account, and thank you in advance.”

The conversation died quickly after that, as they finished sweeping for things they could use, and made their way down the corridor. The Cathamari were on this level so reaching the armory was more important now than before.

Countryman checked their rear, as they made their way down the corridor. They had avoided a couple groups of Cathamari and passed a squad of Krall security. Since leaving behind that first firefight. The armory was just up ahead, and then they would be able to acquire some more weaponry. It would give them a better chance of reaching their target destination safely.

According to the Krall security troops they had passed the Cathamari were everywhere. Dozens of boarding parties, on multiple levels. Worse they were spreading out, and security was spread thin trying to contain them. Unfortunately, the troops didn’t know anything more useful like how they got on board in the first place. Well it wasn’t his problem, although he was certainly paying for someone’s mistake, and he had no doubt that particular person was going to face some consequences as well. If he was in charge and someone allowed a security breach like this, he would demote that person and send them back to boot camp for extra training. Not to mention placing a permanent black mark on their record. Naturally, that was for a first offense, if it happened again? Well...

His line of thought was terminated, when the guard at the front reported, “Armory is in sight, sir. Unfortunately, it looks like the Cathamari got here first, there are six of them at the door. One of them looks to be setting a breaching charge.”

They needed into the armory, themselves so avoiding battle wasn’t an option. Mentally he tallied what they had, and ordered the chief to use one of his grenades. He had a few, four standard-issue Electro-pulse grenades. When detonated they released a powerful electro-plasma pulse, not dissimilar to the discharge of an electro cannon. It would disrupt any technology in the blast radius, and was quite effective against organic targets as well. They were better against armored or shielded opponents than other grenade types, not to mention they were effective at stopping vehicles.

In addition he was carrying two laser grenades. These little devices, fire high intensity linked laser pulses in all directions upon activation. Very deadly, and very effective against lightly armored or unarmored targets. In practice, they were a lot like frag grenades, but they weren’t single-use. Neither was the pulse grenade, both used a rechargeable central power cell. They could be easily recovered after use and recharged even in the field. Still there was a use for conventional explosive grenades, and they still used a few of those. He hadn’t brought any, but they had picked up a few Cathamari plasma grenades.

The Cathamari plasma grenade was a large clunky grenade that unleashed a powerful plasma detonation when used. All three could be used to clear the area up ahead, but the laser grenade was likely the best choice. The pulse grenade might end up frying the door, and would certainly fry anything the Cathamari were carrying. Items they might be able to use. While the plasma grenade might damage the door.

The chief tossed one of his laser grenades around the corridor, and towards the Cathamari clustered near the door. It landed near them bounced twice, and went off in the middle of their formation. In every direction, it unleashed angry purple bolts of laser energy in every direction. It fired continuously at a rapid rate of fire for several seconds and fell silent when it depleted its power cell. For nearly eight seconds they heard the distinctive whine of high intensity laser fire mixed with the screams of dying lizards.

Tika was the first to look out as she had moved up, and she gave what must have been the Krall version of a whistle. “What kind of devious weapon was that?”

“Laser grenade, its a very effective anti-personnel weapon as you can see.”

Her expression could only be described as incredulous, which looked somewhat interesting on her alien face, “You did that with lasers!?

Countryman discharged a blast, into a Cathamari that popped his head from cover. The pulses struck him in the face before he could even react. Without even mentioning that, he said, “Well yes. While not as powerful as a particle beam, a laser beam is still lethal. Not to mention its much simpler and easier to miniaturize a laser system than a particle weapon. Its really not all that complicated either.”

She looked over the result, while the chief retrieved his spent grenade. It hadn’t been shot at or anything, so it was recoverable. He could recharge it from his main power pack, and it could be used again. That main pack was also what powered his armor, but thankfully they could recharge it from all the power cells the Cathamari left lying around. He had recovered a few from the last squad they fought, and there might be a few intact ones here. He glanced back at Tika, “Anyway, the Chief and I will watch the door. Take Eri with you and see if you can’t requisition something we can use.”