Harpy

“Assassin eh? Pretty pretentious name for a flying coffin!”

-Striker pilot voicing his opinion about his enemy’s new fighters.

Gerald-158 was getting older by the day. Even with life extending therapy and stasis rest between major campaigns he was getting weathered and his face showed it. He was chronologically 400 years old, biologically he did not feel any better. He was the oldest general that the Golden Hemogeny still had commissioned. Old Gerald had seen his share of dimension spanning wars (the “Final War” had claimed his wife, while the “End wars” had claimed his only son who decided to follow in his footsteps) and every single one had taken a little part of him. He was decidedly ready to throw in the towel. For his reward for many years of loyal service he was commissioned on the newest and greatest ship in the quietest safest galaxy. Really he could probably live and die on this ship and the galaxy would not be one bit interested in his passing. This ship was meant as a symbol of the Golden Hemogeny resources and power, if they could send one of these ships to the safest corner of their kingdom then what kind of resources could they throw at the enemy if they really needed to? Gerald’s one high point in his day was talking with Gamma-348. In many ways he reminded him of his son, and in other there was only so much projection you could do on a cloned super-soldier. In his own way he was intelligent and thoughtful he could even talk at an elementary level. He was not supposed to be out of his fighter or stasis at all but with Gerald’s position none of the other 5 human crew members questioned him.

“How’s it going to day Gamma?”

“Okay General”

Gerald was going to continue on into more pleasantries but before he could a sudden violent shake reverberated thru the whole ship. Warning klaxon started going off.

“General Gerald-158 report to bridge! Major Collective incursion in progress!” Well rest time was over time for Gerald to earn his keep.

“Gamma let’s talk later okay?”

“Okay”

Rushing over to the bridge the 5 man team was already ready and waiting for him. He had to be careful he was not the young buck he used to be so he was a little late to get to the bridge and he immediately strapped himself into one of the combat chairs. Able to withstand sudden accelerations and decelerations the chair would keep his brittle body safe.

The collective was amassing their forces for either feints or attacks in what Gerald could call the third interdimensional war or as everyone was calling it “War of the Ascendants” whatever that was supposed to mean. All Gerald knew was that he had to make sure that the 4 carriers that had suddenly appeared were to be turned to ashes. The mobile fortress “Indomitable IV” was the latest system defence platform able to defend whole segments of space it was an astounding 5 km radius disc. Bristling with weapons, launch cylinders (whole wings of fighter are sent careening at the enemy in large cylindrical containers. Once the violent impact is over the fighters then deploy and swarm the enemy), launch bays and whatever else was required to complete it’s mission. The 4 collective troop carriers were not to be dismissed so easily. Each carrier was a massive larval bug which housed tens of thousands Tyrant bio-weapons. Though Tyrants were not optimised for space fighter engagement they were versatile mecha which could fulfil the role if need be. However the Golden Hemogeny had developed many next generation machines to contend with the tougher forces which were proving to be more of a threat then even the extinct Grand Alliance or Grand Arms forces. Gerald knew Gamma-348 was in one of the newest battle pod the assassin class. Designed to replace the aging mosquito class this “entry” level fighter was head and shoulders above its old predecessor. It was equipped with the usual menagerie of mass drivers but also 2 semi-homing beam projectors and for wing leaders like Gamma-348 a tail booster unit. The typical swarm tactics of the Golden Hemogeny were going to be even more deadlier.

The maws of the Collective ships opened and spilled out their deadly cargo. 4 Launch cylinders flew just as quickly towards each of the carriers. In a moment of violent kinetic impact the launch cylinders buried themselves into the bulk of the Collective ship’s side. After a brief pause the launch cylinders opened and swarmed out many Assassin class battlepods. The Tyrant bio-weapons despite their speed had not had the time to reach the Indomitable IV. So the battle was going to take place in the home court of the Collective. Darting quickly like a pack of angry hornets the Assassins flew and fired at will. Kinetic explosions rippled across the hull of the larval ships and Tyrants were quickly ripped to shreds as the ferocious assault of the “harpies” continued. Quick bolts of crimson energy flew and homed in on their targets as the homing beam projectors were brought into play. Lacking the killing power to outright kill a fully prepared Tyrant they were still useful to harass and open them up for follow up attacks.

The Collective was not going to take this lying on their backs and they quickly responded with a counter-attack. Bolts of plasma, shards of chitin and sprays of acids answered the Golden Hemogeny’s attack. Even with improved armour and energy shielding each Assassin battlepod’s durability was still only going to go so far. The heavy onslaught of bio-weapons quickly brought down swaths of “Harpies”. In a quick succession of back and forth blast of gunfire the battle raged on with no logical end. In this battle of attrition neither side had the outright numerical nor equipment advantage. Only some kind of bold action would bring an end to this stalemate.

Like a streak of fury infused lightning Gamma-348 used the full capability of his unit to fly headlong into the mass of enemies. Spiraling and swerving at the same time he avoided most of the shoots headed his way, all the while the secondary and primary mass drivers were chattering away. Anyone not destroyed were finished off with a volley of GAMs. This expert display of piloting skill for the moment rejuvenated the fighting spirit of his comrades.

Just as quickly the counterattack of the Collective began. In a mad surge a constant stream of Tyrants headed towards the Indomitable IV and kept on attacking. The initial assault was beaten back the larger anti-fighter turrets and the point defence turrets. However there were only so many turrets to go around and eventually minute by minute the Tyrant swarm was inching closer and closer to the beleaguered battle fortress. All the while the Assassins and whatever Golden Hemogeny fighter that could fly was trying to beat back the ongoing rush. The main cannons were turned and brought to bear against the mass of bio-weapons. A crimson beam of pure energy sliced thru the mass obliterating anything it touched and burning anything in a 30 meter radius to the beam, so intense was its power. Even with this fearsome weapon the mass swarm continued to pour out of the carriers even with the carriers themselves almost destroyed. Then the endless supply of Tyrants ended…

This was the moment Gerald had been anticipating…

“Fire everything at the carriers!”

With this command everything was brought to bear against the larval capital ships. In 4 distinct explosive blooms the carriers vanished. Every missile and anti-fighter ordanance was exhausted to clean up what was left of the Tyrants.

Gerald collapsed even further into his combat chair, they had made it. With no one noticing he quickly key his comm onto Gamma-348’s fighter comm. What he got back was dead static… Gerald almost broke down that moment but held himself back just enough that no one noticed. After several hours to load the fighters back and to get everyone back into stasis, Gerald wearily returned to his quarters to survive another day…

Specs

Classification: Assassin omni battlepod

Superior Alliance reporting name: Harpy

Length: 16 meters

Shielding: Golden Hemogeny shield unit level 5

Armour: Golden Hemogeny armour plating 9 cm thick base armour

Powerplant: Golden Hemogeny power storage battery level 5

Top speed: Mach 60, Mach 75 tail unit

Weapons:

Six x .001c mass drivers, Two x .01c mass driver, Two beam guns, Two x homing beam projectors

On Tail unit

1 x GAM array

The next generation of entry level battlepod. This space fighter uses the latest advances in technology that the Golden Hemogeny can produce. Able to be more of a threat then previous “mosquito” or “wasp” battlepods.