AHadley's Battlezone Stories

[Ded10c]

I figured I should probably change this thread to cover everything I write to avoid clogging up the boards.

I've written a few stories and snippets of stories for Battlezone over the last couple of years, so I figured it'd be helpful to have somewhere to put them all. These are the shorter ones which I write these by the seat of my pants, something I don't get to do often (I have to plan the big stuff, so I only get to do small stuff like this); it's my favourite way to write and the way in which I can guarantee I'll have the most fun. It also means I still don't know what happens - I don't even know what's in the next *chapter* yet. None of these stories are really mod-worthy, but I'm still drawing inspiration from the stuff in them and throwing bones around here and there.


The Shin'Kluh
"The Shin'Kluh begin their attack against the ESAF."
Abandoned. Also very short.

Teleportal
"Lt-Cmdr. Mark Watson tests the new teleportal."
Abandoned. Ancient test for a mod premise. Expect bad science.

The Fall of the Old Gods
"Not much is known about the history of the Chthonians. A spacefaring race locked in a civil war that gave rise to Strain III biometal - the material that ultimately brought about the destruction of their homeworld. But just how deep does the story go? Parts of this story have been told before; what you see before you is simply the first attempt at telling it all..."
Still in progress. My way of trying to link the various bits and pieces of Chthonian backstory together.

Regenesis
"It's New Years' Day, 2005. Still reeling from the tragic events of the Night of Infamy, the AAN and IIS have begun investigating Braddock's actions. Hidden away in the files of the long-mothballed Project Pedigree are references to another. There are personnel files, and acknowledgement of the commission and decommission dates... but nothing of Project Regenesis itself..."
This is, hopefully, going to turn into an example of bad premise redeemed by good writing. Probably not. We'll see.

[Ded10c]

Chapter one of Fall of the Old Gods uploaded. Things will be quite fluffly for a while as I introduce the characters and flesh them out a little. This chapter and the next will probably be the worst for that, then I'll start introducing the historical concepts.

Chapter One: Titan's Fall

[jack775544]

The story is looking good so far, I am looking forward to the next chapter.

[Ded10c]

So am I - I want to write it now but I decided with the first one I'd do them weekly on Wednesdays

[Ded10c]

Chapter Two is up!

[Ded10c]

Chapter Three uploaded.

[Ded10c]

Re-organised the first post to have way more stuff so I don't leave a mess all over the place, and added a new story (and some old ones).

EDIT: Resumed work on chapter 5 of Fall of the Old Gods recently, but I've been reading Lovecraft lately and my writing style has become a little more archaic... you'll be able to spot his influence in later scenes from Horus' perspective. The Cerberi horrors are on their way!

[Ded10c]

Chapter Four uploaded. Three months after Chapter Three, for which I apologise.

I'm working on Regenesis a little more now, and it's taking shape quite nicely. I'm also discussing the idea with ScrapPool, which could result in an Omega Squadron tie-in.

[Nielk1]

So where's chapter 5?
I reread this again last night, this time all as one piece, jumping to the linked short story from Avatar when it was linked, and I have to say it needs to keep going.

I love how the Ularians play such a major role and yet there has not been a retcon of any established facts (canon or extended universe) during their inclusion. It is clear that the story aims to not only flesh out the history of the Cthonians in general but to solve the issue that they are easily viewed as a bunch of idiots that after unifying for peace against a new enemy degrade back into civil war for no reason other than that it was what they were doing before.

Fleshing out the Cthonians like this gives us a strong root for future stories as well, as the Hadeans are still around and the history of their bloodline is sure to have major implications in certain events.

[Ded10c]

Chapter 5 is still in progress, somewhere amongst all my documents. Flight 1138 are just about to confront Horus.

[Ded10c]

Upon discovering a snippet of Stalin's famous Red Square speech amongst the audio files for the Battlezone mission Flying Solo, I was inspired by the idea of the NSDF discovering that it was the transmission they had sent Bates to intercept. Here's the result:

"Verolomnoye napadeniye sozdalo ugrozu dlya nashey strany..." The Russian voice continued to drone from the speakers. Commander Bates' stealth mission on Europa had been a resounding success, and the NSDF now had all it needed to locate the Fury relic that damned traitor Arkin had stolen for the Soviets.

Collins looked towards Corbett, his adjutant, hoping the lieutenant would be able to provide some insight. The young man listened intently, mouth forming the shapes of the Russian words as the voice continued on, staring pensively through the window of the Justice's bridge over Collins' shoulder.

Corbett turned suddenly, a scowl on his face, and punched the rewind button on the reel-to-reel tape recorder. He started the message again and turned his gaze back to the window, where the Roosevelt was departing the hangar bay en route to Europa. The ship was carrying the Texas, the Justice's pride Recycler, down to the man of the hour; he was under orders to eradicate the CCA from the icy moon below to prevent word of the NSDF's success reaching other CCA divisions.

"...nam prazdnovat' segodnya 24 godovshchinu..." The scowl on Corbett's face intensified as he wheeled around towards the cassette player. He punched the stop and rewind buttons again, this time so fast that they almost jammed.

"I don't believe it..." he muttered, disbelieving, allowing the tape to play back for scarcely a second before he stopped it again.

"What is it, son?" Collins asked, a look of concern flashing across the General's otherwise stoic face. "What's the matter? Where's the relic?"

"It's..." Corbett paused for a moment as though trying to find the words. "It's the transmission, sir... it doesn't say!"

"What?!" Collins roared, rising from his chair and slamming his hands into the desk. "What does it say?!"

"It's a recording, sir, and quite an old one... from a speech made by Stalin during the war!"

"How in the Sam Hill did that get to us?!" he yelled, a look of utter horror on his face. "Find out whoever's responsible for this and get them to bring me the right recording!"

"This was delivered by Corporal Buzz himself, sir," Corbett protested. "There's no way this could be the wrong recording. This is what Commander Bates intercepted."

Collins fell back down into his chair, buckling at the knees. His hands caught his head only moments before it hit the desk. Corbett had never seen the General like this - not even when they had lost Eagle's Nest One, not even when Arkin had stolen the relic. Any setback or failure only ever seemed to enthuse the General further, giving him the fire he needed to fight on... but this was different. The gunmetal walls that surrounded them seemed to grow ever smaller, threatening at any moment to force them out into the unending blackness of space. Corbett knew, somehow, and so did the General. This was it. This was the end.

"Corbett, we've been had," he whispered. "In a few days, the Soviets will crack the relic and start making Furies... and we won't have a damned clue where they are. We'll never see them coming."

He paused, his face white as he considered his next course of action.

"Open a channel with the Freedom and the Liberty. Then find a way to contact that sonofabitch Karnov. Tell him..."

He paused again, considering the consequences and enormity of his decision.

"Tell him we're surrendering."