The Soul of Our Homeland, 9: Will and Wrath
13 Dec 2024Meowers
( 13.12.3310 / 23:15 GMT )
( Sol )
This is it. This is happening. Cocijo, the last of eight Titans, is surrounded and besieged. And damn the beast is thick. Whatever it ate for the last couple years while sitting on the outskirts, I want that too. From there, it looks like every combat-capable human vessel participates in the assault somehow, but we're only at the third heart out of eight at the moment I record this.
Yesterday I had to reshuffle the rosters so wildly it's a mess now. That kind of mess you leave for sorting out later during more calm days, trying not to think of it in the meantime. Some of my most fresh reserve pilots haven't seen the Titans before, I needed to make sure there are always two experienced maelstrom divers in each wing, no less than four operations under the belt.
Because no amount of footage and manuals could replace the experience, and this thing is nasty. And the experience can get nasty too, and rather fast. Some people really lose their shit there, and their full panic mode over the open comms isn't what you want your first-timers to hear. Every time there are ships blown to bits in the minefield, or thrown away by the repulsor field, not to mention the cloud itself. Those acid victims are a sight of its own, and the rescue ships... There are just not enough of them. Once I saw someone thrown through a broken canopy, legs flailing wildly, both hands grasping the neck. Their suit lasted less than a minute.
Some compare this place, this Thargoid maelstrom, to Hell. I got where that comes from, but maybe that's not fully correct. The concept of Hell, or different Hells in different religions, is entirely human-made to be understood by humans, a place where you will suffer eternally if you refuse to blindly follow the words of some sky daddy. And this maelstrom thing is entirely alien. It has no place for humans, you should not be there.
"You should not be here", this place screams at you.
The caustic goop is so thick I swear I feel the stench in the cockpit, and there are those invisible waves that throw you around. It even looks brown like shit. Your electronics goes mad and your HUD glitches, and those pesky mines are everywhere. And then that repulsor wave that screams towards you like a transparent wall. Once you clear that, the space turns red. Blood red clouds with lightning bolts shattering the sky, everywhere you look, as far as you can see.
And the Titan resides in the centre of it. Humongous, roaring machine of alien flesh.
Quite a view, indeed. So, what I say to folks... Stay calm, stay cool, watch the temperatures. Go below 20% and those bastards couldn't see you. Even the mines. Double the comms, follow your wing leader, don't lose their ship from sight and keep it selected in your navs. The leader knows where to go, because the navigation there is botched too. Listen to your ship, heatsinks and caustic sinks make sounds which help you to operate them.
And don't listen to what that place makes you want to feel. Everything there is alien and hostile to you. And you're there, packed with explosives, to tell them bugs it's a bad idea. You have all the rights to be hostile to them.
As much as the entire invasion of Sol, this fight is a test of your will. Of our will, combined. When they invaded the peripheral systems, this was the start of the war, and we answered. We fought. We fought for our homes, for those dear to us. The recent attack on Shinrarta was the test of our skills. They appeared all of a sudden, and they appeared en masse. We reacted immediately, we repositioned a part of our forces and repelled the strike. And now... With their last Titan left remaining in our space, they attacked what's important for us. The Earth. The soul of our homeland.
Why? Nobody knows exactly. Most say this attack was an act of desperation. Some say it was a display of their power, their ability to appear anywhere and inflict massive casualties. Civilian casualties. Because when the military forces and freelance combat pilots arrived, the bugs got slaughtered. Terror is their power. Standing our ground, united, unfaltering, is ours.
And, approaching the Titan, look at how beautiful the Earth is. Even with that blotch orbiting it, that little puff of stench that tries so hard to make us fear it. Approaching the Titan with your bays full of ordnance, look at how big our Earth is, compared to that bastard. Diving into the cloud of acid, swarming with mines and Thargoids, remember how our guns tear through them. How they roar dying, meeting those of us willing to defend our homes. And you are home. If only our home needs some cleaning at the moment.
"You should not be here", the alien place screams at me again and again as I boost into the depths, my weapons loaded. Fuck you, you fat pile of shit, it's you who shouldn't be here. This is my home and I can stay here whenever I want.
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