By
@PlatinumSkink.
'QRT42!' A voice echoed through the ruined streets. The many collapsed buildings or structures with giant holes in them told a telling tale of how a previous invasion had come to pass. In the middle of the street a giant floating tank, shining green on the sides with four large pipes pointing cannons forward at a specific building. … The person in the building quickly withdrew the mirror he was using to look outside over his shoulder so he didn't have to stare straight into the cannons of the floating alien tank for way too long, it wasn't good for confidence.
'We know you're there! Stand up! We're giving you a chance to surrender peacefully!' … How graceful of them. He sat dressed in a brown coat with two ray-guns suited in holsters to his left and right. A hood was draped over his short dirty-blond hair, a shadow covering his calm eyes and sneaky little smile. “QRT42”, huh. That had been his designation on Qeetu, where he had been born under occupation and denied his own name.
He stared forward at where his little hacked-node sat on top of a laptop belonging to an official of the Ruwdan Empire like an electric gooey parasite, currently downloading the schematics of the two huge space-cruisers which were in orbit around Earth, occupying the planet. He had stolen it from the angry people outside, and then planted that little invaluable item he had brought here from Qeetu onto it to obtain its content, but they had pursued him here. He just needed a little bit more time. If he didn't show himself, then maybe they'd shoot before the download was complete. Couldn't have that.
'You know, I go by Kurt Fortitude nowadays. Rolls better off the tongue.' Kurt said, standing up and grinning out the window towards the tank. 'Hey, General Nuvac. Long time no see. Granted, I can't see you right now, either, but...' He stood on the fourth floor of the building, seeing multiple Ruwdan grunts directing their guns up at him along with the tank. … Kurt gave himself a 2-1 that he'd be able to hold them off.
As if in response to his quip, a huge screen lit up and showed the face of General Nuvac. … As any Ruwdan, his head looked like a fish facing upwards. Eyes on the side barely able to look forward, mouth facing upwards and all in all pretty strange silver scales. No fins, though. This particular specimen was the one that had been in charge of Qeetu when Kurt started his rebellion. They'd faced off rather often, and now Nuvac had personally decided to hunt him down. What an honour.
'Accept defeat. You lost your chance when we crushed your resistance on your home-world. Fleeing to Earth has only brought pain to its peaceful inhabitants. Surrender now, and we can prevent further suffering to this unrelated third party.' Nuvac told him, his voice calm and dark for such a silly appearance. Of course, Nuvac wasn't actually there, he was transmitting his image from the space-craft in orbit he was stationed on.
'Or you could, like, not chase me.' Kurt suggested, making a suggesting hand-gesture.
'Absurd. You are a galaxy-class criminal, a rebel against the might of the Ruwban Empire. You will be made an example of for your mistake of fighting us.' Nuvac declared, his face and voice seemingly incapable of making an emotion as he spoke. … Which was a trait of his, and not of the race, Kurt had seen plenty of emotional Ruwbans.
'Well. You're the invaders, so I didn't really consider myself either a rebel nor a criminal, really. Just defending my home. A few years late since you were already occupying the place, sure, but.' Kurt defended himself, and smiled a bit at Nuvac's motionless portrait that one could be surprised to learn it was a direct live-feed of his current face.
'Irrelevant. Cease talking and jump down with your hands behind your head.' Nuvac declared, and there was the distinct clank of the Ruwban tank preparing a shot.
'…' Kurt slowly brought his hands behind his head, causing his hood to fall back while he stared down at the scene. … Even years after his augmentation had taken place, he still winced when told to jump down a building or something similar, but Nuvac knew very well that Kurt really didn't need to use the stairs. How bothersome. Hm, he could count seven grunts, and one tank. That's all?
'I'll give myself a 5-2.' Kurt said out loud.
'5... 2?' Nuvac questioned.
'Yeah. Five to two. Means out of seven times this scenario plays out, I'd win five and you'd win two.' Kurt explained, calmly.
'Preposterous. You do not have the firepower to resist us.' Nuvac mocked him.
'Ah, but, you know...' Kurt smiled at the screen on the tank. 'As an augmented person, I don't really have a limit on the amount of firepower I can bring with me.'
With that, Kurt casually kicked the wall under the window. It detached, a whole half of the wall falling down into the streets. This revealed a whole front-mounted ray-cannon lying across the floor or the room behind him, and it was facing towards the tank. It was the same cannon that had been attached to the Ruwban battle-ship that Kurt had crash-landed on Earth with when he first fled here. Kurt had dragged it there, and then known to lure the tank down that street to prepare this.
'Shit.' Nuvac cursed as Kurt placed his foot on the big, red button placed on top of the cannon, and a giant red blast of energy shot through the street and crashed through the floating tank and the screen, obliterating anything within it and causing it to drop motionless into the asphalt. All that was left were the brutally stunned remaining seven grunts. Kurt drew his twin ray-guns with his hands, smiling down.
'Alright. Let's get to work.'
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He sat in an old wooden chair, staring at a TV-screen. The walls were grey and low at the ceiling, cracks spread around looking like the place was going to come down any second. Old shelves stood ready to support the belongings of the man, and a small separate kitchen existed in a separate room. One room and a kitchen, supported by a meagre amount of electricity. The small analogue TV-screen showed the image of a built man in his thirties, with short dirty-blonde hair and a surprisingly mellow look in his eyes and a rather charming smile for someone who apparently led a force which slaughtered civilians and military alike in his quest for conquest. That is, himself.
'We do not wish to harm your people.' General Nuvac of the Ruwdan invasion force spoke through the speakers. 'We wish to claim the hated leader of the vile uprising on our planet. His designation is “QRT42”, but he calls himself “Kurt Fortitude” among his own kind. If you see him, contact the nearest Ruwdan base immediately and free your entire species. This has been your daily reminder from the Ruwdan Empire.' … The TV turned off. He didn't have any influence on if it was on or not. Only the broadcasters could control that.
Today, Kurt felt lazy. He just wanted to sit back and take it easy. When that image had been taken, Kurt had felt like he was on top of the world. But now, he just wanted to lie back and let laziness take over. It wasn't that easy, huh? You don't try to overthrow the Ruwdan Empire without consequences. Back on his home planet, Qeetu, they had also been under their command. The excuse that time was “infringing on claimed Empire space”. Yeah, space that their planet just happened to naturally exist in happened to be claimed by the Empire, so naturally, they had to be occupied.
He'd been so young and ambitious. Strike back the Empire and reclaim their planet. Yeah, that'd been so simple. … General Nuvac had beaten them back, and Kurt had been made to flee by his allies. He had, eventually, landed on this blue rock known as Earth, where he was supposed to live in peace, or something. He wasn't sure. … But apparently, the Empire had followed him here.
Right now, however, the Earth was under Ruwdan occupation, just as Qeetu had been. The battle between Earth and Ruwdan had been fierce, but Earth couldn't handle their alien technology. Many humans had died, and that was because Kurt had landed here. Right. He couldn't stay here.
Kurt stood up. He grabbed his brown cloak with hood and threw it around him. He took a number of Ruwdan ray-guns and stuffed them in his pockets, along with one blast-bomb, one smoke-bomb, his trusty hacker-node and a map pointing to this base. Incriminating if he was found, yes... but his face was already pretty incriminating. He had a destination today. He was heading for the prison camp, for Earth soldiers that resisted.
He walked out into the night. Fortunately for him, cloaks with hoods was a staple in this society, he didn't stand out. The buildings were worn from damages of battle and quite a few were ruins, few people walked the streets though those who did mostly wore cloaks like his. A seeker droid flying with propellers flew overhead, gazing down on the occupied species. The seeker droids were like half a helicopter, but they were without pilots and with multiple cameras, advanced AI and ray-guns of their own. How serious they were, feeling that they needed to watch them every waking second.
Soon enough, Kurt reached a wall. It was the wall to the prison camp. There were numerous guards around. Very tall guards, humanoid mostly except for their long necks which ended in something alike to fish-heads, with eyes looking in either side for almost 360 degrees of vision. … It was fortunate that Earth humans and Qeetu humans were rather alike. Gave them more of a sense of companionship, compared to these Ruwdan aliens. The walls had lights to compensate for the Ruwdans' poor night-vision. Around each guard was a blue shimmering shield, protecting against harm.
Kurt jumped. A motion that he knew would be seen, as he jumped straight through the light. However, this occasion was so rare that the guards hesitated at believing what they had seen.
'What the...' An alien questioned, but he was already way too late. Kurt's jump had taken him a good twenty meters into the air, over the wall. His eyes quickly darted around, identifying every single guard and every single turret which they had to pilot. Still in mid-air, two of his hands gripped two guns, and he went to work.
He located the first guard that would react, a particularly quick-witted one on the wall to the left. His mind displayed the action in slow-motion to him, but in reality his gun was up in an instant and silently fired a ray which burst through the alien's head, leaving a gapping hole in the failing shield.
He identified the next one that'd be a problem, a guard to the right reaching for the alarm-button. His other gun had been heading to directly face that one before the first gun had even fired. His arms curled around, each shot less than half a second away from one another, and with each shot fell another guard or another turret was incapacitated. All shots were made in mid-air and to his opponents it must have been a sudden rain of lethal shots they could even remotely act, the shots just plunging through their shields. They were taken down in the order of the one that'd first harm him to the last which would. There were thirty guards and six turrets. All down from the spree of silent blasts from his quickly moving guns.
Kurt landed on the wall, breathing out in relief. He'd given himself a 6-4 chance of managing that. Fortunately, he hadn't missed a single time. No alarm, those inside the prison didn't even know it had happened.
'Did you see that!?'
'Th-that's impossible...'
'Wait, that man is...'
'… Kurt Fortitude...!'
… Oh, yeah, they're there, too, Kurt thought as he put his guns back in their holsters. Kurt looked down in mild surprise at the prisoners that had been working night-time with digging or building inside the walls. It seems his hood had fallen back upon his jump, letting the prisoners easily identify him in the light from the prison walls. They were... in bad states, tired and torn, but... Now they were looking up at where he stood in the spotlight. Oh, this was the elation he had as a young rebel... Well, better try it again.
He gave them a smile, his charming little confidence-boosting smile which brought men to fight for him.
'The Ruwdans have poor night-vision, so they're relatively easy to surprise at night. Oh, and the shields you had so great problems with when wielding bullet-guns do not work against their own ray-guns. They're shields against less advanced species.' He informed, smiling as he grabbed the blast-bomb. 'They won't leave you alone even if you hand me over. So tell me, humans of Earth. How many of you would fight with me to reclaim your planet?' Kurt was mildly aware of a communicator blinking on the waist of one of the aliens, meaning someone was trying to call him. This in turn meant he wouldn't get an answer and someone would be alarmed.
'…' The soldiers quickly exchanged looks, and it was clear they knew they didn't have much time. Kurt could imagine their position. In one hand, who could trust this man who showed up from nowhere? On the other hand, he was someone who had extensive knowledge on how to fight Ruwdans, it could therefore be the best chance they got.
'We'll fight.' One told grimly, and Kurt respectfully nodded with a determined smile.
'Great.' He lobbed the blast-bomb behind him before making a dramatic jump forward. His eyes scanned the prisoners. He estimated that about 70% of them would actually go. That wasn't bad. Of course, many of the prisoners were still asleep and sealed, but he just needed a task-force to start out with for the moment.
The explosion went off behind him, opening the way. He took up his three extra ray-guns and gave it to those his eyes saw as most worthy. They accepted, grimly. He then gave the map to a fourth guy.
'Follow the map to the place indicated. There's a basement under the rug, follow the tunnel to the end. They shouldn't find you there. Shoot any seeker droids you see. I'll keep your backs free.' He told them. They seemed to hesitate, given he was only one, but then there were the skills he had shown previously. They nodded, and got going.
… So, what Kurt was doing was exactly what he had been doing on Qeetu. He'd failed previously, and he'd likely fail again. He gave himself a 1-30. That's a 1 against 30, meaning he's thirty times more likely to fail than he was to succeed. But, while the odds in the great scale of things were against him, he could ensure the chances were as good as possible in all the smaller events on the way. He would, for instance, give the troops a 2-1 to come back to base undetected. Twice as likely to succeed as to fail. The last batch of soldiers he tried saving had failed, but these he had a good feeling about. He could get this rebellion going yet. He was Kurt Fortitude, after all.
Oh, here came the first batch of enemies through the door. Brutally unprepared for Kurt's immediate flurry of shots downing the first line instantly. He gave himself a 20-1 against unprepared enemies like this. However, the next batch would be more ready, reducing the chances to 5-1. That is, unless he relocated to a surprising location, then it's up to 15-1. With that in mind, Kurt dashed to a new location...
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On the road again. Kurt drove in a little van across a deserted road, looking at the map in front of him. A human presence in the previous country had now been established, he was now travelling westwards towards the next. It was just one of many, many uprisings that he had established across the world in his trips. Unfortunately, he couldn't give this one particularly good odds. 1-4 that they'll survive the month assuming they established contact with the other groups Kurt had created, 1-16 otherwise. … But it was worth it. Humans had a tenacity to overcome the odds, and with Kurt spreading small uprisings everywhere, the Ruwdans had to spread themselves slim to quell the many rebellions. And, in a bunch of rebellions with small odds, a few would strike true and become true thorns in the Empire's sides with their victories.
Naturally, with Kurt travelling around like this as an augmented Qeetu that severely outperformed any Ruwdan grunt, their priority was to take him down before he created more rebellions. But, by spreading the word of his name far and wide so even humans knew it, they were actually helping them out by making his name famous. Men were more likely to follow a man who's name they knew their enemies feared. Funny how that works.
Kurt spotted a seeker droid in the distance. He casually continued driving with his right hand while his left grabbed a ray-gun, directing it and shooting a red blast which hit and caused the droid to crash down into the ground. … Had to keep those pests out of the skies. Now, then. Where'd he raise the next rebellion, maybe? He'd have to infiltrate a command structure again to allow his hacker-node which he brought from his home-world to download information about where they were keeping military prisoners, he figured with a smile. This was going to be as dangerous as ever.
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Cities were always fun. So many places to hide and so much information to steal. Unfortunately, they were also commonly overrun with hostiles. Rebellions commonly did not start in cities. But, they were an excellent place to find what you needed, as Kurt intended on using.
Kurt stood in an office-room, staring down at the computer which his hacked-node was planted on with his arms crossed. He had successfully infiltrated the building through a back-door and made his way in here using information about the schedules of the Ruwdans that worked here. Downloading, downloading. The place was extremely tidy, the skies outside bright with the middle of the day.
The information flashing on the screen... was exactly what he wanted. It was information on where the resources for the large space-crafts in orbit were coming from. They only rarely got reinforcements from other parts of the galaxy, so they had to get food and such from Earth. And now, Kurt would be able to lay claim to the information of where and how it got there...
The door opened. Kurt blinked in surprise. So too did the Ruwbar that came in, who suddenly froze seeing Kurt's extremely famous face standing staring down at the computer. For roughly a second, as the download was going from 90% to 91%, the two stood silently staring at one another with alarmed expressions.
'INTR-' The Ruwdan's shout was blasted through by Kurt's ray-gun, which his hand had instantly drawn and fired upon the voice of the alien started filling the space. Although Kurt had been very efficient with dispatching the one who noticed him, someone else clearly had heard the Ruwdan's shout because the alarm went a few seconds later.
'Shit.' Kurt cursed as the chances of successful infiltration and success just went from 5-1 to, well, 5-4? That guy wasn't supposed to show up today! He'd double-checked that! Stick to your schedules, bloody aliens!
He knew the guards were coming. But, the download was almost complete. 94%. There was only one door in, which the Ruwdan had opened. Kurt slammed it shut and ran over to the table. Grabbing the computer, he moved it off the table so he could move to ram it against the door. That's when the blasts came through the wall to his right and blasted apart the windows to his left with a resounding crash of glass shattering.
'SHIT.' Sure, why would they come through the door? Their blasts go through the walls! Kurt threw himself into the corner and fired back with both his ray-guns, unable to see where the enemy was but hopefully being able to hold them back for a few more seconds...!
97%... 98%... Close enough. Kurt looked back and instinctively shot down both seeker droids that had drifted around to face him outside the window with two quick successive shots with a single gun while the other still aimed for the wall. Now, then. Ways out? … Kurt quickly dashed across the room, snapped up the hacked-node the instant the download hit 100%, and...!
'… WHOP!' Kurt jumped, wide-eyed as he flew outside the shattered window towards the rooftop of a neighbouring sky-scraper. Behind him, a flurry of ray-blasts completely obliterated the remains of the wall. No time to hesitate for even a second. The roof was much too exposed.
Kurt stuck his hacker-node in a pocket and drew his guns, quickly blasting a hole in the roof in front of him which he quickly dove into, the Ruwdans in the building behind him already starting to fire inaccurate shots that Kurt refused to trust wouldn't get lucky. He quickly rolled on the floor below, breathing out in relief as he looked at the stunned humans in the office-environment around him...
'Good day.' He saluted with a ray-gun, quite aware of how he in his cloak, with two ray-guns and this very famous face much have come across to them. Now, then. No time to waste. Making full use of his augmented strength, Kurt dashed full speed. His full speed was way faster than any human could catch up to. Using his guns, he blasted holes in the sides of buildings in front of him, making giant leaps across the streets while his eyes attentively checked for signs of pursuit. … Shit, that's a lot of seeker droids... The skies above him were practically swarming with them! Just a report of his sighting could cause THIS much activity! Kurt felt both honoured and kind of frightened!
Dodging into buildings, avoiding the fire from the seeker droids, he made an estimate of his chances. Not good. They knew where he was. He ran through another office-building, aware that he couldn't shoot that many seekers and that they flew faster than he could run. This, er, might be his final mistake, Kurt analysed...
The sound of an explosion suddenly sounded out somewhere outside, a bit away, making Kurt flinch. Were they using heavy artillery to take him out while in the city!? … No, wait, that explosion was a bit far away...?
'-Sir! Kurt Fortitide, come in, sir!' His radio suddenly called out. Kurt blinked in surprise. That radio... he only used it to communicate with other rebels, but because he was so much on his own, they usually never could contact him. But this time... Holstering a gun, he took out his radio and pressed the button.
'This is Kurt Fortitude, over.' He said.
'Two streets to the east! We'll be there in 30 seconds!' … Well, Kurt thought. Isn't that nice?
'I'll be there.' He quickly spun east, grinning a little. The explosion... It was a ground-to-air missile, was it? They were clearing the skies. Oh, dear. He could hear a fire-fight. These rebels were being confident. So, he looked out the window in the direction he had to go. He was at around the fifteenth floor, and he had to get down to the ground. It was really dangerous on the ground, as seekers were all over. If only he could get something that was much harder to shoot at...
… A seeker droid, flying like an annoyed helicopter around the building to find him, was passing in front of the windows to his left. The idea that occurred to him was the dumbest idea he'd ever had, but for it to work, he had to act instantly. No time to calculate odds.
He shot a hole through the window, and jumped. The seeker droid immediately tried to spin to shoot him, but he passed below it. Kurt identified the bars which were made for the droid to land on the ground on... and he latched onto it with one arm. The seeker immediately dipped, not powerful enough to hold up both its own smaller shape and Kurt's weight. In addition, it began to spin because Kurt was putting weight on the right side. However, because of Kurt's initial direction, it was moving down the street he wanted to go.
'WOOOOOO...!' Red rays started flying after him as an excited Kurt held on for dear life as he span with the seeker droid that desperately tried to regain balance. Spinning... was entirely fine with Kurt. He held out a ray-gun straight forward with his free hand, and the targets just flew into his ray-line. He fired, over and over, and as he spun his augmented mind was making calculations of which seekers to fire at and where to direct his hand. The shots flurried off in all directions, and seekers all around him were exploding and falling as he spun downwards along with the street. The reason he'd rather not go out on foot was that a seeker could take him out from behind... but like this, that danger was nullified...!
'WAH!' He suddenly had to jump, as he realized the seeker he held onto was careering into the building to the right. And he found... that he was falling from a bit higher than he had counted on. Well, it wasn't the fifteenth floor, at least? He blinked in mid-air, as he suddenly heard what was coming down the street.
Cars. The rebels were driving around in multiple cars, wielding Ruwdan ray-guns and rifles, and the air behind them was filled with smoke. The contents of that explosion he had heard? It meant the seekers had to come down on their level, and there they could easily be shot down. Nicely done, although it only had a very limited area effect. Oh, look. They seem to be staring in stunned surprise at how Kurt was falling straight down at the streets from the fifteenth floor with a rain of downed blazing seeker droids behind him. Was that such an uncommon sight?
'Gah!' Kurt felt first his legs and then his arms complain as he struck them down into the ground to soften the blow before he rolled forward. O-ow. OK, even with an augmented body, that fall was pushing it. Kurt made a pained face as he dashed and jumped into the back of a rebel car as it drove past at considerable speed. Fortunately, he had just destroyed the seeker droids guarding this direction, only those behind them were a danger now.
'Sir! Are you alright!?' He was quickly asked as Kurt held on with one hand and directed to shoot down pursuing seeker droids with the ray-gun in the other hand through the window behind him. Other rebel cars joined up, humans standing on the back of them firing rifles, the seeker droids falling like flies. Blasts came back from the seekers, which took down a number of cars themselves, but with the frequency the seeker droids were being shot down and the speed of the cars... they were getting away. They were clearing the city-borders now, leaving the sky-scrapers behind...
'… Gah.' Kurt leaned back, breathing heavily on the back of the current car. He had totally forgotten to calculate odds there, but he had to have just cleared a 1-5. And the chance that the rebels came to help him... 1-30?
'Sir. We've been looking for you.' A hopeful soldier looked down on him as they drove away. 'The forces you've built have grown strong. We've all joined forces and we're fighting the enemy back. We're ready to take back Earth.' … Kurt smirked up at the soldier, his own limbs still echoing in pain. Well, nothing a bit of rest could handle. Taking back Earth, eh...
'… Alright. I'll judge you ready. And I know just the operation for us...' Kurt took out his hacker-node from his pocket, and smirked at the sticky blob of electric substance that could stick to technology, access it and download information. This time, they'd struck gold. Looks like he had all the information he needed now.
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It was pretty amazing, to be allowed to drive into a town filled with armed humans that were loyal to him. After so long, Kurt was used to seeing enemies everywhere and allies only where he could free them himself, but... He lost count of how many soldiers gave him grateful looks and saluted. He saluted back. It was the right thing to do.
They eventually reached the city-halls. People had by now heard by radio that Kurt Fortitude himself had an operation in mind, and soldiers gathered here from all over the world was heading into the big building to hear the plan. Kurt eventually found himself in the front of a briefing, many commanders watching him and waiting for his words. He had placed his hacked-node on a computer and allowed it to save the information so he could show it. Now, then.
'Gentlemen. We're going to take back space.' There was a bit of stunned silence, but they awaited to see what more Kurt had to say. Kurt smiles, and continued.
'If we control space, we control the planet. Ruwbar can only send so many ships to a remote planet like this.' Kurt told his gathered soldiers as he brought up the schematics of the ships onto the screen, the soldiers looking quite intently at them and at their famous commander. 'Because they can rarely get supplies from elsewhere, this means their ships need to get their supplies from Earth. They make sure the supplies are safe using enslaved humans in a very secure system that I just stole all information about.' Kurt grinned as he brought up information on a fake company of humans which gathered the resources and sent it up to the Ruwdan vessels.
'We're going to infiltrate the company and then infiltrate the resources. The Ruwdans will send our soldiers up to their ships and not even know about it. From there, we will then take their ships.' He told them his seemingly implausible plan.
'It's going to be uncomfortable, but you're going to be in the bottom of the resources. He tells me the guards only check the top wares, and then assume the rest is more of the same. Investigating every single package would be such a hassle, after all.' Kurt said, smirking at them. 'This is where we have our opening. The resources will be delivered on-time. They'll tighten the security on their resources after this, so we'll only get one chance. Not to mention all the workers that'll be executed should we fail. I'd say our odds of success are about 2-3. That's better than ever.' He grinned about sharing his little calculated odds to the soldiers.
'Are you with me?' Kurt asked.
The soldiers grunted in approval, and it seemed unanimous. Kurt nodded in approval.
'Alright. Let's get to work.'
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There was a window of opportunity between when the resources were gathered and when they were then transported onto the shuttles to be transferred up to the ships in orbit. That's when they infiltrated the warehouse using the information Kurt had downloaded, which directed them exactly where they needed to go. And, inside the warehouse... they were greeted by sacks upon sacks upon sacks of potatoes. Seemed like the Ruwbans had developed quite the taste for these starchy, tuberous crops. Nothing else to it, it was time to infiltrate the sacks of potatoes, then.
It had been very uncomfortable. Being stuck in a sack of potatoes being loaded onto a space-craft was not an experience Kurt wanted to experience way too often. But, all his soldiers were doing it, and so would he. Other men made sure they weren't found out while infiltrating, and when they were all in the rest fled the scenes. They would also stage attacks on several key-targets while this operation in space was taking place.
There were two ships in orbit, and luckily they took their resources at the same time to limit travel-time. Just one before the other. The lift-off was harsh, the soldiers were being squashed together with the food without belts as they took off, but they stayed alive. They wouldn't be hungry for a while after this.
It would appear that they hadn't been found. That was good news. Kurt kept breathing potatoes as he felt them lift off into orbit from the G-forces he was being exposed with. No dampeners on the resource shuttles, huh?
They were loaded into the hangar. They were being lifted. Kurt held his breath. It seemed to be going fine. He was placed down, who knows where, and... left there. … Nothing moved. Patience. Wait a little while. He was definitely on the ship, he felt the unnatural grip of their artificial gravity on his body. … Alright, time to move.
With the press of a button his troop of soldier suddenly burst through the potato-sacks inside the hangar of the ship. Facing them were but the unprepared workers of the Ruwdan ship and one or two odd guards. For Kurt and his troop, this was child's play. 36-1 that they don't take any damage. Kurt's guns went to guard to guard, sniping them down with hand-held ray-guns, this was so much of a routine they didn't even wear shields. Simple. But, now they'd be more prepared from now on.
They went through the corridors, shooting down the opposition. The metal of the ship could resist their guns to a degree, but they had to be careful not to fire directly into the side of the ship or they'd risk making holes. However, as they advanced, something was very clear.
'There's been a considerable lack of enemy troops.' One of his soldiers reported.
'They're likely regrouping further down or on the bridge.' Kurt said. 'The bridge is where I'll control the ship from. It'll be hard to get in there, the elevators are the only entrance.' Kurt nodded, looking at the schematics of the ship which he had inside his mind due to having dowloaded them way earlier. He noted a shining little jewel.
'It would appear they've left us the armoury.' He smiled, a plan brewing up in his head. 'I'll take the bridge. Can I leave the rest of the ship to your group?'
'What are our odds?' The soldier grinned at Kurt, who smirked back at the soldier's reference to his habit.
'They got to be grouping up. You're no slackers either, though, and you're better trained than they are. I'll give you a 3-2.' Kurt analysed.
'Good enough. Good luck, sir!' They nodded to one another and split up into two groups.
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He knew there was likely a large enemy presence on the bridge. His two guns were seated in his holsters as the elevator travelled upwards. He had four other troopers with him, their rifles ready. They knew they were on the eve of a great shoot-out.
Kurt closed his eyes and breathed heavily, closing his eyes and calming down. In moments, they'd arrive at the floor and who knows how many enemies would be staring at them. But, this was the only way in. He saw the door pass in front of him, the elevator slow down.
He knew there were two elevators into the bridge. The enemy troops would likely be watching both. They came through this one. His blood pumped in excitement, his guns ready to let loose...
An elevator door opened. Gunfire shot through it into the hall of the bridge. The Ruwdans couldn't see in, because Kurt had used a smoke-bomb to obstruct their view. However, the heavily armed Ruwdans simply unloaded everything they had into the elevator to respond to the fire. Since the doors didn't open at the same time, they could focus firepower on eliminating the gunmen in one elevator before turning to the other...
Except that's when Kurt Fortitude's elevator door opened, and he leapt out. The enemy Ruwdans blinked in stunned surprise at how he had darted out of the elevator when it had barely been open. They hadn't realized, but the contents of the other elevator had just been a stationary automatic turret from the armoury, hidden behind one of Kurt's smoke-bombs. Now. To work.
The bridge was a half-circle with controls and options. A thirty fifteen soldiers stood with guns directed. The problem was General Nuvac. Himself, he was only a Ruwdan. But the cruelly emotionless creature was standing right in front of the window to see out into space. A blast from a ray-gun would sear straight through him and the glass. A physical blow would be blocked by the blue shimmering shield around him. Well. That was troublesome. He didn't intend on dying alone. Kurt gave himself a 4-7 chance of clearing this unhurt.
Two enemies had already been aiming at the elevator, expecting this. Those two got the first shots from Kurt's blasters, the two stumbling back leaving a hole in the formation. Then, the guns drifted over. Kurt's own soldiers opened fire, their shots immediately eliminating four more opponents. Kurt focused on the enemies aiming for him, and his quick shots with his guns efficiently blasted through their heads where they stood nicely in line.
However, the enemy had been ready for them and knew exactly what to do. Their blasts quickly redirected to the elevator they had come from and opened fire. Kurt became aware of that his soldiers were getting plunged through by rays, their screams of pain heard behind him. He couldn't stop. With a quick flurry of his guns, he blasted the heads off all the remaining guards before diving down below a console. However, before he could, a gaping hole had suddenly opened in his leg.
He'd been hit. He gripped his leg, which there now was a gapping wound that had burned straight through. It hurt. If he hadn't been augmented, this would surely have been the end of him. The one who had shot was, of course, the remaining General Nuvac, standing confidently by the window with a ray-gun in hand. … His own soldiers were dead. It was only the two of them, now.
'I must admit, the elevator distraction was clever, but you're all out of tricks. Now I'll end you before you try something stupid.' Nuvac told, in his usual stern tone. Kurt gasped out silently, but his lips curved into a smile in the midst of the pain. His hand sought into his pocket and picked out the hacker-node, lightly lobbing it onto the middle control-panel. He then threw himself to the right behind a different console, just before Nuvac's ray-blast shot straight through the console he was hiding behind.
'You mean... like this?' Kurt asked, as the pod shot electricity through the control panel. Nuvac's grunt was audible, and it told Kurt to jump out of the way before Nuvac shot through his head because his voice had given off his location. That's when all the lights went out. The window turned black, preventing the light of space to come in as well.
Kurt used his good leg to dash out into the open, sweating from the pain. He was briefly illuminated in red by the beam extending from Nuvac's gun through the air where he'd just been. Ruwdans had poor night vision. That's why Kurt had prepared to turn off the lights as soon as he reached the bridge, if he could do so early. However, each time Nuvac shot, he'd see where Kurt was. He's also an intelligent general, and could predict his opponent's moves. In comparison, Kurt had to actually reach him to take him out. Odds were against him. Kurt gave himself a 1-3 chance. Though, that'd easily have been 1-12 if the lights weren't out.
Kurt dashed, his right leg causing grievous pain as he supported his weight on it. Taking from the sound cues, Nuvac fired straight at him. Kurt saw the hand-motions, and spun to the right to avoid the shot, but the red blast still left a hole in his cloak and a sear across his chest.
Nuvac saw the move in the red light and calibrated, and Kurt had to break and bow forward to precisely dodge the shot going over his back. Nuvac aimed at his legs, because they were in a line. Kurt resisted the impulse to jump, because he knew how vulnerable he'd be in mid-air. Taking a bet, he curved himself and leapt out with his left leg first. Due to his placement, Nuvac's shot went straight through the hole that already existed in Kurt's right leg.
Kurt threw himself forward, taking a final bet. A red blast shot, and it pierced the side of his stomach, though on an angle that only took a small part. In turn, Kurt landed on his side beside Nuvac. He held a gun down below, and fired up. His own blast shot through Nuvac's gun, obliterating it, and the blast carried on to harmlessly sink into the roof. Kurt was about to breath out in relief and pain, except Nuvac's boot was now heading to kick him in the face. Kurt fired again. Nuvac's leg was blasted through, and Nuvac wasn't augmented. The Ruwdan cried out in pain and fell backwards, his eyes spinning around by his fish-like head...
'… KAH!' Kurt forced himself up on his left leg, a hand going to cover his left side, which had been shot. His body quivered from the pain and his eyes kept themselves half-closed. Though, he still could smile, for he held a gun in his left hand directed down at his defeated opponent. '… There. I won.' He proclaimed.
'… GNF!' Nuvac made a noise as his leg detached, as Ruwdan injured limbs do, assuming they hadn't died. Nuvac glared up at him, infuriated. 'And what, exactly, did you hope to accomplish with this victory?' He asked, a searing anger in his voice. … That was the most emotion Kurt had ever seen in Nuvac. Suppose being shot through the leg would do that to you.
Using his augmentation, Kurt used the hacker-pod to check how much control he had. He had complete control of the ship using his mind's wireless connection to the hacker-node, it turned out. Smirking, Kurt turned the ship towards the planet they were orbiting and caused the windows to show the outside again. He saw Earth, and the other Ruwdan vessel. They had already fired their victory flare. Proud of his soldiers, Kurt shot his as well. It was a signalling flare built into the Ruwdan space-crafts, but whatever they were really made for, Kurt used them for both sides to know the ship was theirs.
'Earth is ours again. You've been fought off. That's what happens when you hunt Kurt Fortitude.' He grinned at the downed Nuvac. 'Who knows? Maybe we'll go reclaim Qeetu next? I'd give our chances a 1-50...' He laughed a little, high on the relief of success combined with excessive pain. Who knows? It'd be more difficult, given it was within Empire space. He'd give them a 1-50 to take it back. … Though, yeah. If they succeeded, they'd likely face all of the Ruwdan Empire. He'd give THAT a 1-5000...
'… In any case. I'm going to send you back. Tell them I'm going to live out my life peacefully on Earth, the only reason I struck them back was because they threatened me. As long as they leave me alone, I'll behave...' Kurt said, breathing out as he faced the impossibility that was fighting the whole Empire. The future wasn't looking easy. But if he could give them some time with that, then...
Nuvac was laughing. … Well, it sounded more like clucking, given how a Ruwdan sounded when laughing, but Kurt knew that was laughing. Which was even more unnatural than Nuvac being angry. It was... extremely disturbing. Kurt glared at him with a frown.
'Saving Qeetu, eh? Poor QRT42. You don't even know.' Nuvac said in a highly ominous tone. Annoyed, Kurt refused to let him sound so superior on his own.
'I'll have you know, I prefer Kurt Fortitude from now on-' Kurt started, trying to sound cooler than Nuvac, when all of a sudden a huge jerk in the ship caused him to almost stumble off his good leg. His eyes went wide, for the power just went out, but despite that the power went out the entire room was brightened by absurdly bright red light. There was no sound, but there was clearly something behind him. He started slowly turning his head, but-
'Don't turn your head. You'll blind yourself.' Nuvac told on the floor, his eyes closed. Kurt... didn't know what was going on, a great fear rising in the midst of his chest, but the Ruwdan general's words did not sound like a lie. He waited in complete silence, the bridge brightened in red, until eventually the light vanished and was replaced by darkness. … Shaking, Kurt eventually turned around...
It was gone. The Earth... was gone. There were small black asteroids and charred remains, but the rest was blown away. … What was that? It was the same red as from the blasters. Just a lot bigger. … It didn't take much figuring out to understand what had happened. But... where was the source!? How big was it!? And... and... 'Ah...'
'We did the same to Qeetu. They were far too unruly to let exist. We've got you to thank for that. This world too, became too willing to fight because you were inspiring them. I almost respect you for your ability to make a whole world fight with you. However, I have to ask...' Nuvac said, and Kurt felt powerless to do anything but listen.
'How does it feel to be the cause of doom for two different worlds?' He chuckled at Kurt, who stood frozen staring out aimlessly into space.
… They had blown away the other ship with that blast as well, Kurt suddenly realized as there was no trace of it. Not only that, but there had been many Ruwdans on the planet as well. … The power came back. He suddenly determined it was of great importance to access security-cameras inside the ship in order to check the condition of his troops on the ship...
'Ah.' … He hadn't even realized. They were being rounded up by the remaining Ruwdans. They were being executed, and he was alone. He hadn't even won on the ship. … Why... were they still fighting? So many of their own kind had just been killed by their own blast. Why...?
'So, you get to kill the General that ruled your home. Congratulations. But your journey ends here, I'm afraid. You will never overcome the Ruwdan Empire, and your name is synonymous with death for whoever you come across. We'll never stop hunting you. … So what will you do, Kurt Fortitude?'
Rage gripped him. He directed a ray-gun down at Nuvac, his fist shaking... but he couldn't fire. Just because the General had congratulated Kurt on getting to kill him, a vein of stubbornness wanted to defy his words at all costs. Was Kurt being manipulated to letting him live, even at this point...? …
Nuvac chuckled, seeing his hesitation. 'Say, how do you fancy your chances now? I hear you're pretty fond of giving yourself odds, eh?' Nuvac mocked him.
That's it. Kurt fired thrice. Nuvac cried out in pain as each of his remaining limbs were blasted through and then detached in short order. Kurt then reached down and gripped around the limb-less alien's waist, and lifted.
'There, lighter to carry.' Kurt said, anger in his voice as he carried the General over before throwing him into the elevator, the shouting Ruwdan glaring angrily at him as he closed the elevator and sent it down. He didn't have time. His human soldiers had held the enemies from coming to the bridge, but they were all down now. Using his control of the ship, he found that the bridge could be detached as an escape-pod. The grips released, and he used his mind to turn the bridge in space.
… He sat down in a corner, staring up into the roof as the ship went into light-speed. His face was pale and blank of emotions, his gut wrenched in guilt and fear. The ship automatically gave suggestions for destinations, each of them populated...
No matter what he did, he'd be the cause of death of everyone where he visited. Because the Ruwdan Empire had marked him. … Ah. … Suppose he just had to ensure they didn't know where he went next. He'd throw them for a bit of a loop, he supposed... … … Oh, he was crying. He had really liked Earth. He'd gotten to know so many nice people there... … … He didn't bother to wipe his tears as he curled up in a corner, once again the only survivor of a planet.
Suppose he should start with identifying the super-weapon. … Maybe if he could hack that, then he could direct it at their capital, and...
Yeah. Kurt's made a living using Ruwdan technology against them. Time for the ultimate heist, then? … Should just be 1-10^9, or something. Kurt chuckled through his sadness as he already thought of his next plan of action...
