Twokinds ARCHIVE Forums

NOTE:
I like having my story in order, without any replies, so please don't reply to this post. Discussion will take place at this tread. First chapter is up! xD

I can be reached by either PM or email. My email adress is: zaragor DOT mh AT gmail.com (no links means much less spam).

Thank you.

Warning, this story may contain bad language, gory details and is no way religiously correct, so if you’re offended by these please stop reading now! All the characters belong to me, so ask me for permission before using any of them and they are all purely fictional. Any resemblance to real world persons or other fictional characters is purely coincidental. The world is an ‘altered world of’ Tom Fischbach’s world in Twokinds (http://2kinds.com) set to the far future. The ships, weapons and technology are inspired (or taken from) by Freespace 2, an amazing open source space simulator game (you can download it for free at http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Installing_fs2_open).

Background topics:

Magic vs. Weapons
In this world, magic is still used as a tool, just like technology. In space warfare, battles are now fought in space with lasers, missiles and other fun modern stuff, often by ships that are bigger than cities, so magic won’t help much here, and none but the most powerful magi are able to actually do something significant to affect the battle. However, in ground combat magic is considered to be one of the strongest supports, along with orbital bombardment, although it’s not nearly as destructive. However, it is much more selective and easier to target. All races can now use magic, but Keidran are usually more skilled than humans, who are in turn more skilled than Basitins. Of course, the usage of the newly discovered and potent void magic can alter this current balance, but the price one has to pay to use that kind of magic is too steep for anyone to be willing to use it in a large scale. Question is: is anyone desperate and crazy enough to do it?

Magic and technology
I've been asked this question, so I thought to explain it here. Black magic are known to slowly corrupt the mind when used, and it still do. However, science have been able to find some sort of pattern to the damages and is able to mitigate some of the side effects. This is just like today's Chaos Theory, where very small changes in initial conditions leads to an enormous change in the outcome. Magic is chaotic, so it's difficult to predict, and much harder to control much like weather today. Note that with enough technology, you can actually influence it to a certain extent.

The different Races
Despite several alliances, the three known races of the current known universe are still bitterly divided with racism being very prevalent. Keidrans now have significantly improved their life expectancies (around 90 years now) while humans usually live to an age of 120. Basitin live almost as long as humans (110) Humans are still technologically superior to the other races, but the Basitin are known to have superior warriors. The Keidrans are divided into clans that usually are friendly to each other, although conflicts and alliances are a common sight.

Chaos Energy aka Void Energy (Void magic)
Magic comes from different sources, primarily ‘focuses’ such as mana stones. Black magic draws energy out of living things, primarily plans, but it often kills the drained thing. With the advances in technology, a new form of energy source was discovered: Chaos Energy, or Magic of the Void. It is energy drawn from nothingness that existed long before anything else did (pre-Big Bang).
In the old days, people tended to avoid black magic, but black magic only slowly corrupts the brain. Void energy actually takes its toll when one is infused by it. It makes every nerve scream in total agony, so it’s the perfect torture tool. However, the one who draws out the void energy will suffer likewise, so it’s not very prevalent. Prolonged exposure to void energy will severely shorten the lifespan of any creature.

Space Travel
In this world, current physics still hold true. There are so far no way to travel faster than light, but almost all solar systems and galaxies are found to be linked by random worm-holes called Jump Nodes. Most of them are very unstable and exists only for nanoseconds, but some are considered very stable and have existed and will for several million years. These holes allow for speeds that far exceed the speed of light when travelling between the nodes. Ships can also enter subspace, also called hyperspace, where they will travel very close to the speed of light.

Current situation
The universe is in a fragile stage right now. A terrible war have been fought between the humans and the basitins and none emerged victorious. The conflict started over a dispute over several systems between the human and basitin boarder, where human settlers opened fire against a basitin transport, killing several hundreds of civilians. A peace treaty has just been signed by the human king and the basitin commander in chief, but the peace is still fragile as the humans now redoubled their effort in reclaiming some system in Keidran space that were once in the hands of the human empire. The humans plan to ambush the Keidran forces in the sector and have sent as assassin to spread discord among the royal family of the clan that is in charge of that sector.

Speech and languages:
Human common language is in "blablabla".
Keidran common language is in "<blablabla>".
Basitin common language is in "[blablabla]".
Magic language is in italics.
More will be added as they are needed.

Ship Designations:
Ok, so I’ve introduced ships to the universe and it’s time I explained what kind of ships there are. The types are all inspired by Freespace 2. In this universe, ships are classified into several subgroups: Fighter, Bomber and Capital Ships (cap-ships). There are several kinds of fighters, including but not limited to:
• Interceptor – Fast and maneuverable fighters made to kill bombs and other fighters. Weak shield and firepower, but hard to target.
• Space superiority – Dog-fighting fighters designed to kill bombers and engage other fighters. Much more firepower than interceptors. Most common form of fighters
• Heavy (Assault)/Tactical superiority – Heavily armed fighters, mainly designed to kill bombers and other fighters quickly. Can also take on smaller capital ships.
Bombers have three subclasses as well:
• Assault/Heavy – Slowest of the lot, but also packing the heaviest punch. A single salvo from one of these can destroy a light cruiser easily. Very dangerous to cap-ships. Also easy for fighters to annihilate as they are slow and hard to maneuver despite possessing thick shields.
• Strike/Tactical/Light – much faster and maneuverable, but don’t have as much firepower or shielding as other bombers.
• Medium/Advanced – Middle ground between Assault and Strike bomber.

Capital ships are divided between (note that the cap-ship division is vague, there are plenty of ships that would fit in between descriptions etc):
• Cruisers – smallest of the lot, often only capable of carrying a wing or two of fighters. Firepower and armor to rival that of a wing of Heavy fighters. Vulnerable to bombers and other cap-ships. Even well-handled lone fighters are a big threat to these ships. Fastest and the most maneuverable of the cap-ships. Some sprout more advanced AAA (anti fighter) beam weaponry, allowing them to eliminate fighters and bombs quickly and effectively.
• Corvettes – Larger than cruisers, but smaller than frigates. Corvettes are the worst nightmares of fighters and bombers as they almost always carry plenty of AAA beams, as well as flak batteries and fast missiles. Some kinds also carry more advanced anti-cap-ship Beams. Usually able to carry a squadron of fighters or bombers. Most common kind of cap-ship encountered.
• Frigates – Pocket destroyers. Has almost the firepower of a destroyer, but are much smaller and maneuverable. Has a much smaller hangar so can only carry one or two squadrons of fighters and bombers.
• Destroyers – Capital ships, usually serving as flagships. Largest classification given to ships of the three races. Unrivaled anti-cap-ship weaponry, although their large size means that they are much more vulnerable to fighters and bombers, who can easily disarm them. Sprout tons of AAA beams and flak cannons, but the large area that needs to be covered means that destroyers are usually less protected than say a corvette from bombers.

Technology:

Helios Beam: Unusually powerful anti-cap-ship beam. Little is known of this weapon. All info are classified level Upsilon.


That's all for now folks. Discussion will take place at this tread.

-Zaragor out

Chapter 1

A myriad of thoughts went through Zeth Orbisluce’s mind as he watched the Keidran princess stir in her sleep: ‘What am I doing here?’ ‘Why do they want me to take out a civilian target? And an innocent one that isn’t part of the conflict… yet.’ ‘This isn’t what I signed up for.’ Shaking his head, Zeth banished his thoughts. What was wrong with him? He’s an assassin for [censored] sake! Why would he harbor such soft thoughts? He had been given an objective and now was the time to carry that objective out!
As Zeth snuck closer to the bed, a bell rang. Two green orbs appeared in the darkness and fixed directly at the human intruder.
“Damn, I’m getting sloppy, how the heck didn’t I detect that ward in my sweeps?” Zeth muttered. “Great, now she’s aware that I’m here, better –” He was interrupted by a blast of fire enveloping him in flames and smoke.
“<That's for trying to sneak up on me you human scum!>” came a female voice through the smoke, which quickly changed to a surprised gasp as the smoke cleared revealing the human unharmed looking angry.
“<I never thought you would be a magi your majesty, allow me to correct my mistake – Nihil irritus!>”
The Keidran princess gasped in horror as the gemstones on her necklace and armbands started to turn black. As she fumbled with her crumbling sources of mana, Zeth caught sight of her ring and the strange insignia on it. Suddenly, Zeth felt like his head was about to explode and he couldn’t help but fall to his knees clutching his head in agony.
“<I guess that’s the price you have to pay in order to use void energy to power your spells you [censored] scumbag!>” the princess cried grabbing a dagger by her bed, “<Time to die!>”
The wild feral look on her face quickly turned into one of surprise as she found that the human stopped her attack by catching her wrist with his left hand.
“<I wouldn’t do that if I were you,>” he said in a deadly voice, “<besides, that wasn’t how the effects of void energy feel like, more like THIS!>”
Void energy washed from the assassin’s hand through the Keidran’s body, and she couldn’t help but falling to the floor with her mouth open in soundless agony, despite only having the energy pass through her body for a second. However for some reason the assassin couldn’t understand, he felt bad for hurting this innocent.
With her body still contracting in pain, the princess lifted her head to look at her killer. Her gaze clearly told Zeth that she was begging for him to finish his job as she preferred a quick death to what she was experiencing at the moment. Thinking quickly, still disturbed by the strange feelings he was having, Zeth leaned closer to the princess.
“<I am a professional assassin, not a murderer.>” He whispered, “<I will not going to kill any civilians like you, but I need you to ‘disappear’ as it is part of my mission. I’ll let you live if you agree to come with me.>”
Eyes widening, the princess nodded slowly, her eyes betraying her terror and fear. Then she turned, eyeing the door.
“<I put a spell on this room, to make sure that no one would hear what was going on in here.>” The assassin remarked, guessing her thoughts, “I’m afraid no one will come to your rescue now my dear.
“<Get changed into some real clothes then and give me what you’re wearing right now.>” Zeth instructed, picking up the lost dagger, <Bring only necessities for a long trip and be quick. Oh, and I’m going to need some of your blood to make a doppelganger.>”
Taking out a grey crystal, Zeth made a small cut on her finger and let the blood cover the crystal. Placing the crystal in a discarded pile of clothing, he closed his eyes and soon, there was a Keidran identical to the princess lying in a pool of blood at the floor.
“<Stay close to me, don’t do anything unless instructed,>” Zeth said in a icy cold tone that made it clear that there was no argument to his orders, “<betray me and I will kill you in the most horrible way I know.>”
Nodding slowly, her mind still not comprehending what was happening, the princess allowed the human to take the lead.

Once outside the room, Zeth froze suddenly, and backtracked back into the princess’ chambers, pulling her with him.
“<Someone’s coming,>” he whispered to the princess, throwing his cloak over both of them.
The door began sliding open slowly, and four Keidran figures slipped in quietly. There was a loud gasp when they noticed the body of the princess on the floor.
“<Darn it, someone beat us to it!>” one of the shadowy figures said, “<must be an assassin of some kind, do we sound the alarm senator?>”
Zeth heard a sharp intake of air next to him, and was happy he put a silence spell on the princess before the newcomers arrived. It appeared that the princess recognized at least one of them.
“<No, this is perfect actually. Assassins never linger once their mission is complete anyways, so we have no way of catching him. Now we just have to trick the stupid Basitin into this room before killing him.>” Another one of the figured replied, “<You two, hide in here. I will bring the Basitin in here. When he enters, kill him.>”
“<We have to save him!>” the princess suddenly burst out, “<He’s going to get killed!>”
“<Look here ‘majesty’, my actual mission here was to kill you, so what makes you think I will help you now?>”
“<If he gets killed, the Basitin will go to war against your people; he is the third son of their grand admiral.>”
Unable to refute the logic in that statement, Zeth just shook his head. Someday, he knew, his softness would be the death of him. Leaving his cloak, he silently approached the two remaining figures. Pulling out two needles, he quietly pricked one of them while throwing the second one. Both figures crumpled quietly to the floor.
“<What did you do to them?>” the princess asked.
“<The needles contained a paralyzing poison. It will wear off shortly, perfectly for questioning.>” Zeth replied, and to the princess’s shock he added “<I’ll need you to put a circle of silence spell on them, I saw you picked up more mana stones.>”

Moments later both Keidran regained consciousness inside the newly cast silence circle.
“<Now, we can do this the hard way or the easy way.>” Zeth said pleasantly. “<I see that you’re both assassins, so I assume you both know of me right?>”
Their shocked expressions betrayed their horror and made it clear that they had indeed heard of him.
“<Very well, I will do whatever you want, if you just promise me to make it quick.>” One of them said with a shaking voice.
“<I will honor that request if you would answer all the princess’ questions, truthfully. You have my word. Princess, ask anything you like.>”
“<Who was behind this plan to kill me? Senator Hagen? Does my father know of this?>” She asked in a quivering voice.
“<Aye, Hagen is the person in charge here at least. I don’t think the king knows any of this, but there is a possibility that he is in fact the person behind all of this. All I know is that the entire council knows of this and approves. If I were you princess, I would get the hell out of this system before they try something worse.>”
Tears trickling down her face, the princess turned away. Shaking his head, Zeth handed two pills to the two would-be assassins. Nodding in thanks, they both put them in their mouths and bit them open, dying instantly. Seeing that the princess was lying in her bed crying, Zeth went to move the bodies around and using his magic and blaster to make it look like they died trying to kill the princess. Hearing heavy footsteps outside the door, he quickly threw his cloak over the princess again, and hid himself in the shadows, just in time before the door burst open and a Basitin entered. Seeing the bodies on the floor, he lowered his head and went to the doppelganger and knelt.
“<I’m not dead yet, Kaleb>” a female voice rang out. “<That is just a doppelganger; apparently Senator Hagen tried to have both of us killed so our races can unite in a war against the humans.>”
Shock mixed with relief flashed on the Basitin’s face, before the features became the usual cold and emotionless expression almost all Basitin wore.
“<What?! That traitorous son of a [censored]! I’m going to kill him!>” he replied.
“<You would do no such thing your Basitin. You still havn’t learned how to control your temper I see.>” Zeth remarked, coming out of the shadows.
“<YOU!>” Caleb’s face showed his anger and hate clearly as he attacked the assassin. “<DIE!>”
“<Still letting your emotions take control young one, I thought your people were good at these things, perhaps I am mistaken?>”the assassin remarked as he easily sidestepped the blow, in an instant, he had the Basitin pinned down and a dagger to his throat. “<Also attacking an armed professional without any kind of weapons in very stupid you know>”
“<Please stop this! And where is Senator Hagen and the other assassin?>” the princess screamed. “<Please don’t fight each other. Caleb, this human saved my life, and possibly yours as well!”>
“<I will let go is our friend here would give me his word that he will do as I order him to until we get out of here>” Zeth remarked.
Caleb had a furious look on his face, but looking at the princess’s pleading expression he sighed and promised that we would do as told. Releasing him, Zeth quickly rushed out of the room.

“<What’s going on, Aurora?>” Caleb asked sternly, “<And tell me what you meant by that demon there saving our lives.>”
“<There is a plot to have both of us killed so our races can unite in a war against the humans.>” Aurora cried, bursting out in tears again. “<And the worst part is that I think my father knows of this plan and have done nothing to prevent my death.>”
“<Well, let is run away then, we can take my ship, so that way we don’t want that thing with us anyways, since he will probably kill us in our –>”
Caleb was interrupted by Zeth entering the room carrying Senator Hagen and the remaining assassin.
“<I will need some of your blood Basitin. And I need your clothes.>” he said, as he arranged the bodies around so it looked like a battle took place in the room.
“<What would I wear then, if I were to strip down?>”
“<Don’t make this more difficult, we don’t have time for that now, just wear something the princess has, you two are about the same height anyways. >”
“<I won’t scoop that low that I would wear female clothing!>”
“<You gave your word, remember?>”
Sighing, Caleb cut his finger and presented it to the assassin, then went into the dresser and moments later, came out wearing some of the princess’ clothing. Aurora couldn’t help it but giggle by the sight, but stopped short once Zeth shot her a deadly glare.
Looking around the room, it now looked like Caleb and Aurora fought the assassins and emerged victorious before being stabbed in the back by a dagger held by Senator Hagen.
“<The good Senator is only sleeping, but he will awake in time to be caught.>” Zeth remarked, “<I already sounded your alarm princess, so the guard should be on their way.>”
Faced with surprised looks, he added: “<Let’s get the hell out of here!>”


* * *


That's all for now folks. Discussion will take place at this tread.

Chapter 2


“<Where are we going?>” Aurora asked as the trio found themselves in the main hangar of the palace.
“<Behold, the Chaos Interceptor!>” Zeth burst out, and as he did, a fighter came into view.
It was sleek and apparently aerodynamically designed so it was suited for missions both in atmosphere and outer space. It had four gun mounts, and two rather large missile banks. Apparently, it was equipped with some kind of cloaking device, although neither Keidran nor Basitin have ever heard of a device such as this.
“<Will it fit all of us inside?>” Aurora asked
“<It will work, but it will be tight squeeze, as I didn’t count on picking up two passengers here, but we might be able to squeeze in.>”Zeth replied, “<Now, get in, getting out of here should be just as easy as getting in.>”
The escape from the capital planet was very uneventful, mainly due to the cloaking device that made the interceptor impossible to detect on sensors.
“<Where are you taking us?>” Aurora asked, realizing that following her savior who was actually planning to kill her blindly wasn’t the smartest thing she had done.
“<To a place where you’ll hopefully be safe, despite the war that’s going on,”> was the curt reply she got before the interceptor made an interstellar jump.

“<So, why are you did you save me instead of completing your mission?>” Aurora asked, breaking the awkward silence.
“<I… >” Zeth broke off.
‘Why did I save them, am I getting weak?’ he thought ‘I have never felt this was before, but somehow I just can’t bring myself to kill her’
“<I am a professional assassin, not a murderer of innocents>” Zeth replied.
“<So why did you murder my father then?>” Caleb burst out.
“<Your father dug his own grave, when he attacked me with a smuggled weapon in a fair duel.>” the assassin replied without hesitation. “<Knowing the laws of your people, he would be sentenced to death afterwards anyways, and he knew it. I merely saved him from complete disgrace.>”
“<Why you – >” The Basitin leaped up trying to reach the insolent human, but failing miserably due to the cramped cockpit.
“<Now that isn’t a way to treat someone who just saved your life is it?>” Zeth chuckled, seemingly amused. “<We should be exiting the jump corridor momentarily, hold on>”
The interceptor jumped out of the jump corridor – right into complete chaos. There were several capital ships doing battle.
“<What the hell? How did we end up in the middle of a battle?! I clearly set the coordinates to… >” Zeth muttered, quickly scanning the instruments on his fighter. “<Oh ok, change in plans, manual override, come on!>”
“<It looks like a battle between the lion clan and the humans, but the humans are losing it seems!>” Caleb remarked, “<The humans are outnumbered, with one destroyer and three corvettes against three destroyers and five corvettes and some cruisers.>”
“<No, they don’t know what awaits them, watch that area over there. It should jump in momentarily.>” Zeth replied, and as he did, a frigate jumped in. It was sleek and round, clearly designed to minimize its targeting profile, “<It’s armed with an experimental weapon called Helios Beam, watch.>”
The frigate charged up its main weapons and fired on the closest Keidran destroyer. Just one shot was enough to rip through the destroyer’s thick hull and cut the destroyer in half. The remaining Keidran ships, realizing that they were severely outgunned, attempted to scramble out of the area of fire of the newly arrived frigate. The second salvo destroyed a second destroyer, with fighters and bombers scrambling to intercept the new deadly threat. A third beam destroyed a corvette in mid-jump, but the rest of the Keidran capital ships managed to escape. Now it seemed as if the humans were routing the fighters and bombers still remaining. A light on the control flashed.
“<They are hailing me,>” Zeth whispered. “<Quickly, take my cloak and hide under it. It should cloak both of you.>”
A holographic image appeared inside the interceptor.
“Erebus! You returned! We didn’t expect it to be this quick. Missing status update?” The image asked.
“Target satisfied. A Basitin noble was present, but their deaths were blamed on a member of their council.” Zeth replied shortly, “Request to take a break in the blue nebula until next assignment, Sir.”
“Request granted. Keep in touch! Also, give my thanks to your friends out there. They have been invaluable to us so far.” The image replied with a grin.
“Now you’ll get into trouble with the higher-ups won’t you Andrew?”
“Bah, they are always trouble!”
“See you around old friend!”
“Zeth? Be careful over what you do. We have eyes everywhere and we know everything that’s going on.”


* * *

2nd part of the story up. It's a bit shorter due to an insane amount of school-work and exams. Next update should come faster though. Also added alot to the info section on the top. It should be interesting. Ask me any questions you want and please post at the discussion tread, not here.

-Zaragor out