Pressia | A LOK Forums Original Novel | by AMJ

[thealchemist]

What

[NamelessSynthetic]

I can't I've been waiting for too long

If you can wait a bit longer, I'm dedicating this action to you thealchemist.

I see how it is. I feel like an unloved fan now.


Nah, I'm just kidding. Have at it XD

[corpse_face]

this isn't just any thread
its a fine peace of art which i'm looking forward to seeing the next part to

[whatdontlookaatme]

I wasnt really into reading sex stories but THIS is fantastic. Keep up the good work!

[axmanjack]

Okay,
Sorry that I have to put this off for just the tiniest bit, but the part of the story I'm at can't be rushed and at this point in my writing I'm sure that even the slightest error will turn this piece into absolute shit. I've done three rewrites of just the current sequence I'm on, and I wish I had the time to finish but this quarter is calling with its swan's song and I've no choice but to finish my courses in stride. I'll have time to work after the 31st (a date which means little to you but which has been Damocles' sword for me for months now) and I promise I will not let you down.

Action 6 is the second of three major plot intersections, and I have to handle it with the utmost care. I'm more than sorry that I've let you all down with my pushed back deadlines, but carry on and I promise you won't be disappointed. Here's a teaser to tithe you all over a bit more.

Also, nameless synthetic: Dankeschön. Sie waren meinem größten Unterstütze.

An intermission, for my infinitely patient readers.

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

[begin trans]

Warrant Officer Ichi “Sugar” Katsuo
Bridge, Casa Nostra; Presidium Class, in orbit over Pressia
31.5 Hours after the scuttling of the Orion

A long time ago the bridges of battleships were up high in the center of the ship to give the captain the best possible view of the surrounding areas. Men and women no longer fought on the seas of Earth, or any other planet for that matter, and that had changed the scope of things. Sugar was on the bridge of the Casa Nostra, which meant he was at the actual center of the ship. Despite that, the holographic interface made it seem as though he was standing on a tiny platform in the middle of space, Pressia itself a blue-brown ball that hovered just over his left shoulder. Figuratively speaking, they were hovering upside down over the planet, but orientation meant jack-shit in space. Admiral Fontaine was glibly eyeing him from her command chair a few feet in front of him, waiting for him to repeat himself.
“There were, uh, two transmissions from Grand ma’am.” He said, unconsciously rubbing his toes against the sole of his boot. He always wore holes in his socks doing that, but it wasn’t a habit he’d ever been able to shake. He hated speaking in public and the twenty-some-odd crew members on the deck were all staring at him. The news was important enough to temporarily disregard their work stations.
“Go on Sugar.” He hated when she called him that. She gave him the name, he loved the name, but hated it when she called him by it. Maybe it was just that phrase though, “go on Sugar”. It had been the last three words he’d ever heard before she had made him a murderer.
“Yes ma’am. Well, uh, the first was from the worthy Consul. He, um, well, gave the go ahead for stellar bombardment. Five volleys for every major city. The second well…” Sugar looked around at the waiting faces. Most of them had never been on a detail personally overseen by the second most powerful figure in the known universe. It was an honor for them. His mouth dried as he tried to form the words for the last part of his brief. “The second… The second was, is, that the worthy Consul had had first attempt made on his life during a speech on the Mezzanine.” A deep hush settled over the deck. “Apparently that was just a diversion, and the Consul was killed by an unknown assailant less than a cycle ago. The Pro-Consul is nowhere to be found, and it is believed that his recent extended leave has a direct connection with the event. Grand Station is, um, leaderless now and apparently there have been confirmed reports that widespread looting has followed an insurrection against the empty Consulship.” Fontaine didn’t move, she just sat there as stoic as ever and nodded for him to continue. Someone had started crying behind him.
“The report from main also continued to state that a majority of the senators have been killed by insurrectionists and the rest have either joined the insurrection or dropped off the grid entirely. People are abandoning their Collars. There’re uncontrollable fires in at least five sectors. Martial law has been declared and the current casualty estimates put the body count up to—“
“Sugar!” Fontaine retained her calm throughout the report, but now had raised a hand to stop him. “That’s enough news from Grand.” She gestured her head to the crew. They were despondent. Low hung heads and bloodless faces. Tears dried on the back of sweaty palms. Moments ago they were ready for another routine execution, now that shoes had changed feet they were very nearly broken. Strange how things changed. “Did they give a suggested course of action?”
“Yes ma’am. Uh, basically, ball’s in our court.”
“Come again?”
“They said that, um, we could continue the mission or not. Communications Officer Bartlett, the uh, guy I got the audio from on Grand. He uh, was in a bad way. Said that the order had been given for all personnel in Garrison to abandon station and that all deployed units could either continue on mission or disembark. Um, permanently. Then there was some yelling, and gunfire. Then uh, it got quiet…” Sugar shifted his feet. “All further attempts to contact Grand have failed, ma’am.”
Silence hung over the room, save the echoing sobs of some yeoman who had buried his face in his hands over his Consul. The sailor next to him had her arm over his shoulder, and was whispering quietly in his ear. Her terrified eyes caught Sugars and he quickly diverted his attention back to Fontaine. The Admiral had rested her chin on her thumb. Her knuckles came up to obscure her mouth. Her eyes stared hard at the diamond-plate steel of the central platform. She muttered something to herself that Sugar couldn’t hear. Around them, the panorama of the universe slowly rotated, dark and deep and silent.
Sugar had heard a story once, from an exploration crew that had skimmed the outlying rim of the solar system. They had found a red star, a titan billions of times larger than the sun circling a black hole. They had gotten close enough that they could see it with a telescopic lens. The immense gravity tore away at the star, creating a solar flare billions of miles in length and width. A star of such heat and size that they had picked up its signature clear as day well outside the normal range for good reading, and they watched it circle the drain like so much bathwater. From a light year away they said it had looked like a comma. How does one compare the death of a man, he thought, to the light of a dying star?
“We will stay the course,” said Fontaine suddenly. She hadn’t moved an inch. “We have received no additional orders, and therefore are required to continue on with the mission as planned. Those of you who have family on Grand will be rotated in cycle-long shifts to contact your relatives and any parties with whom you may be concerned. The cycling will be conducted by rank from lowest to highest. Captain Gobe? I want every gun on this ship staffed, operational, and targeted according to orders in the next hour. We are moving up the bombardment. Crest? I want all fighters scrambled and either on security for us or escorting the Pericles to the ground. I want boots on the ground in that city down there where they’ve been taking our units. All infantry and in-atmosphere pilots will be deployed in full gear with respirators. All non-essential personnel will be loading magazines, prepping gear, and doing whatever the ground units need them to do to. Understood?”
Sugar found himself yelling along with the bridge-wide “yes ma’am”, and watched as the crew surged to life around him. They churned over and around each other like well oiled machine parts. As the Admiral continued to shout out commands, different parts of the hologram surrounding them became slowly cluttered with red and green screens, all detailing completion statuses and logistic data. Sugar turned to head back to his suite, but Fontaine stopped him.
“Warrant Officer Katsuo!” He turned and snapped back to attention, a bit thrown off by his own reaction.
“Uh, yes ma’am?”
“Relay our recent actions to Grand and the Pericles. Also,” she paused for a moment. “What is the latest on that leviathan?”
“After it reached ground an hour ago it did considerable damage to that city, and then it started, uh, dying.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know for sure, but I think its body might be collapsing under the pressure of its own weight. I’m, uh, pretty sure it wasn’t supposed to go aground.”
“Hmm.” She leaned back in her chair and looked at Pressia in the hologram. “Keep an eye on it. It’s important to all this, I just don’t know why yet.”
“Roger that ma’am.” She waved him off, and he turned to descend the sloping ramp that led to the platform. He could barely hear the clank of his boots against the steel over the tumultuous movement of the crew around him. Back on the platform Fontaine continued to pipe out an order every other second, a queen surrounded by her loyal hive.
The pressurized door hushed open then closed behind him as he made his way into the hall outside the bridge. A cadre of pilots, all face-masked and jump-suited up jogged past him on the opposite side of the black-painted hexagonal corridor. The red and blue “gangway” lights were on and he hugged the right-side bulkhead to prevent getting bowled over by the infantry platoon that would inevitably come barreling down to get to their ride. Eventually they passed him, their boots chop, chop, chopping by in unison as they passed. Their bodies were fully covered in aluminum and ceramic plating. With their masks on, they were as faceless as the countless soldiers who jogged in that formation throughout history. Then they were gone at the red and blue lights flicked off, leaving Sugar walking alone through the dim, yellow overhead lights.
He made it to his communications suite a few minutes later. He had always favored the old ladderwells to the high speed magnetic lifts that everyone else used. They tended to be empty, and he preferred to avoid interacting directly with the crew though it cost him more time to get from place to place. He made his way up to his chair and picked an empty water bottle out of the waste bin on the way up, packing a can of tobacco with his free hand. The holographic windows cycled up and blinked on. He put in a chew and began to send Fontaine’s message to Grand when the incoming screen activated itself.
“Is this the Casa Nostra?” Called a male voice over the audio. Sugar responded affirmative and hit the video feed. The transmission was coming directly from main, but the distance should have been much to far for streaming communication. A tall, thin man in a long black coat smiled at him through the screen. “Splendid! Then am I talking with Warrant Officer Ichi Katsuo?” The mention of his name took Sugar aback.
“Uh, Yes, this is Katsuo. Can I ask how you’re streaming communication directly to the Casa Nostra from Grand?” The man laughed.
“The technology has actually been around for a while, I’ll actually called to tell you the story behind it. I don’t suppose you know who I am do you?”
“Judging from the coat you’re a priest, right?”
“Yes, the Metatron actually, but that office has recently become moot. Could we speak for a moment?”
“Uh, yeah, I guess.”
“Perfect.”

[end intermission]

[thealchemist]

Im talking mostly about myself here but patient my ass

[whatdontlookaatme]

Im talking mostly about myself here but patient my ass

Woah bro, calm down. Real Life comes before the forums.

[Riley65]

Actually the 31st does mean something to me. It is my birthday after all

[thealchemist]

Did I ever say that it wasn't

[whatdontlookaatme]

Did I ever say that it wasn't

Just making sure you knew, all these ignorant bastards these days, hard to tell them apart from the more knowledgeable people. But yeah, i kind of agree, it has been a while since an update and people are obviously getting jumpy

[NamelessSynthetic]

-insert expletive of choice here- Wow, AMJ, now I want more from that teaser XD

That being said, good luck with your final quarter, sir, and... It is no trouble at all. I am glad our support is appreciated.

[ByHisBillowingBeard]

Im talking mostly about myself here but patient my ass

Woah bro, calm down. Real Life comes before the forums.

I think the fellow meant it light-heartedly.

[yillsemkcuf]

OK. I'm sorry if I totally missed something but who is Kattie?

*edit*
Just figured it out. For toughs of you who don't know the main characters full name is Ensign Katie Teuschle. It took a while for me to figure out because her middle name is only ever mentioned like five and all but one of thous times occur in the fourth chapter.

[thealchemist]

I am currently screaming at my clock and calender to move faster

[NamelessSynthetic]

OK. I'm sorry if I totally missed something but who is Kattie?

*edit*
Just figured it out. For toughs of you who don't know the main characters full name is Ensign Katie Teuschle. It took a while for me to figure out because her middle name is only ever mentioned like five and all but one of thous times occur in the fourth chapter.

XD Her first name is Katie. It's her rank that is Ensign.

[thealchemist]

OK. I'm sorry if I totally missed something but who is Kattie?

*edit*
Just figured it out. For toughs of you who don't know the main characters full name is Ensign Katie Teuschle. It took a while for me to figure out because her middle name is only ever mentioned like five and all but one of thous times occur in the fourth chapter.

XD Her first name is Katie. It's her rank that is Ensign.

Im suprised you talked about his post not mine

[demon6k]

This is actually the best book/novella ive actually read,and i read through books with about 1000 pages in less than a week,its really awesome that its not just readable porn,but an entire story.Keep it up,ill be following

[NamelessSynthetic]

This is actually the best book/novella ive actually read,and i read through books with about 1000 pages in less than a week,its really awesome that its not just readable porn,but an entire story.Keep it up,ill be following

And so we gain another follower... Welcome to the group!

[thealchemist]

Welcome!(turns to clock and calender) MOVE FASTER!!!!

[axmanjack]

Should be finished tonight or tomorrow morning. Thanks again for your patience everyone.