Humanity Endures

Part 6 - The Cesspit | Chapter 1

"If we were to try and manufacture a medal for every dead hero this war has seen, our industrial centers would be overwhelmed."

— Ikalhra, Prime Military Industrialist during the Alien War

***

Four days earlier

The whine of the Nemesis's straining armor was eclipsed only by the rattle of debris against its hull, and the fearful cries of its crew. The roiling ocean of battle and death situated above Light's End did its best to tear apart Velan's vessel, as it had done for so many others; the Nemesis violently shook as the detonation of nearby friendly ships scattered damaging detritus throughout space, which in turn damaged the Nemesis's shield and shredded through some of the craft's exposed engines. The light of atomic flame, alien weaponry, and burning human warships served to illuminate the featureless surface of Light's End, as it dispassionately bore witness to the anarchy its inhuman denizens had wrought. Thousands perished with each passing moment, as human ships were torn asunder by golden fire, or masses of humans were butchered by the aliens in horrific close-quarters encounters. Velan had not yet even arrived at his bridge, but even from within his hypersphere he could tell that his ship, along with the fleet, was on the verge of destruction; the bloodied skies of Light's End were inhospitable for anyone who wasn't an alien monstrosity.

Velan's hypersphere finally burst open, revealing the bridge of his warship, though as he stepped out of it, a human raider-class nearby the Nemesis violently combusted, rattling his ship and sending anyone standing, Velan included, to the floor; Terxah arrived moments after him, flew towards her station at the pilot's chair, and evicted the previous occupant — a backup pilot — after a flurry of scalding words. Velan, having discarded his heavy armor, quickly picked himself up and sprinted to his captain's chair before the battle found a way to ground him again; engagements in space were filled with violent maneuvers, and if Velan didn't strap himself in, he would certainly be reduced to paste as his ship tried to survive the conflict surrounding it. Those in the airlock would have to make do with wall-based emergency seats, but as the entire expeditionary fleet burned and died around him, his crew members in the airlock were among his least pressing concerns. As Velan sat himself down and allowed his chair's restrictive harness to deploy itself over him, he heard Ralthina exclaim from somewhere nearby, "welcome back!" though her words were quickly drowned out by the deafening roar of a nuclear warhead slamming into the Nemesis. The vessel's hardy armor managed to barely withstand the assault, yet the detonation made it clear, if it was not already, that they needed to get out of there, quickly.

Just to the port side of the Nemesis lay the Poseidon, identifiable as such only by the fallen vessel's computer that had not yet been destroyed — or corrupted, as the rest of the ship had been. The exterior of the Poseidon had been transformed into a writhing, fleshy mess by some kind of alien taint — one that did not look too dissimilar from the flesh of an alien itself, though it did appear somehow more metallic. Worryingly, though they were also blighted by alien taint, the Poseidon's turrets remained mostly intact as well — and they were trained on the Nemesis.

The ramifications of the alien race being able to transform an entire frigate into a fleshy alien monstrosity, within minutes, were too awful to comprehend — Velan would have been terrified beyond action if it weren't for the MECS coursing through his veins. Now that he knew the extent of the corruptive alien scourge on board the vessel, and being certain that there was not a living human aboard, Velan resolved to destroy it before he left the system — and he most certainly intended to leave the damned system, no matter what the aliens had in store for him or his crew. Under Velan's able direction, though depleted of most essential crew members — most were quarantined in the airlock — the Nemesis was still up to the task of running away. Seeing the expeditionary fleet being easily slaughtered around him, Velan ordered it to do just that.