VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Search | Check update time ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 13:49:10 04/08/02 Mon
Author: The Swarm
Subject: The end is the beginning is the end...

They were large, the four, just as the advance fleet had established. They continued to move forward, casting their apocalyptic shadow over the moon and the planet itself. A dark eclipse blotted out space itself seemingly, by the enormous titans as they continued on their inexorable death march.

Immense as they were in proportion to the Cybertronian ships, it was difficult to detect motion without the aid of their instruments. And then the four diamond shaped crafts stopped dead, motionless. Stopped.

On the bridge of each Cybertronian vessel the crews remained silent in anticipation as the movement on the slick black surface of each craft gave way to fluid openings, large enough to engulf the Cybertronian science vessel monitoring the sci sphere from a distance. A beam of sickly green light spat of from these sickly breaches, casting an eerie glow on Velocity and the planet beyond, turning night into doomsday.

The Cybertronian ships seemed paralyzed, awaiting judgment of some cruel unseen gods. In the monotonous beam, evidence of any other light was lost. Bathed in green, the tractor-beam fixed vessels hung like ghost ships, no external evidence of life apparent. The hives had now picked their initial targets; the first stage was in place.

The monotony was soon radically changed, as large red blasts pulsed outward, guided by the green beams. Hundreds of deadly orbs impacted on the advance ships and scout spheres, fragments breaking off and spiralling through space. Several pulses thundered through their targets, reigning havoc on the moon's surface. The vessels destroyed outright were the fortunate ones; many other shuddered, their warp cores breached, as they detonated moments later, waves of energy washing out over the intact vessels, shaking them violently even in the firm grip of the hive's tractor beams, dislodging some.

On the moon's surface, the pulses impacted buildings and defense stations. Many of the newly erected DIPSCEES that protected the moon were hit first. Several pulses took out the moon's power gird, knocking the base out completely. Computers, works, and communication with the planet, all gone. Until backup power could kick in, if the swarm barrage didn't destroy those systems as well, Cybertron was without the benefit of early warning from Velocity. And without Velocity, Cybertron was effectively blind.

Now the hives themselves lit up, eerie diamonds framed in a sickly green halo. Next came the true evil. They emerged, large insectine beasts, proportionate to a terran bus, hurtling through the black maws as the green lights now faded to black. A few at first, then what seemed like millions, obscuring the very stars as wave upon wave descended on the fleet. The nearest ships, the ones miraculously still intact after the initial barrage, were helpless, no weapons, no propulsion. The Swarm came, hundreds upon hundreds hovering around each ship, their mosquito-like appendages visibly drawing energy through the hulls.

Not every ship was destroyed in the first attack. Some had been lucky enough to be knocked free of the tractor beam, only to now serve as a feast for the swarm. Some were utterly consumed, a matter-energy conversion leaving absolutely no trace of the ships. Others survived enough for the individual bugs, hunger sated or attention diverted, to move onto other ships. Many of the partially drained vessels hung black and corroding, the bodies of the crews floating out through openings left in the ship where the energy conversion had left the molecular structures unstable.

The first wave had come. The nightmare had begun.

Primus help them all.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

Post a message:
This forum requires an account to post.
[ Create Account ]
[ Login ]
[ Contact Forum Admin ]

Forum timezone: GMT-8
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.