Starbase Comic Book - season 1 - Empire

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Feb 7, 2020
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#1
Part one of Empire Comic:

And he looked over his left shoulder, where his craft laid broken and cargo spilled... Then down toward the valley! Small bluish figurines of Kingdom troopers advancing slowly, shooting from time to time...


- Those are civilians for God's sake! - he thought and he raised the heavy launcher from the ground.

- Rebels my arse! - He said and the missile hissed through the air - These are just petty criminals!


The missile impact was right on the spot between 3 bluish Endos. It was over fast in the cloud of dust.


- T76-PPH requesting for help! We are civilians, traders and we are under attack! - he tried again his long range transmitter.

- Roger T76-PPH! This is Imperial Patrol - Oscar Mike! Do not engage, take cover, we will deal with rebels!

- Thank you! Thank you... thank... you... - the signal broke on EMP deep down in the valley.

He raised his head! The Empire patrol vessel was landing. He was saved!


Part two of Empire Comic:


... rebooting.... backup battery damaged.........

Reboot incomplete! Higher functions unavailable! Primary motivators unavailable! Jetpack fuel 75%! Radio beacon unavailable! ........ autodestruct protocol loading!


The broken Endo was floating within the debris of what could have been a small scout ship. Minefield was dense and proximity mine obviously detected the vessel… and detonated!


Endo was unmarked by colors or armor type… well at least it was not clear based on how much armor was left on its frame. Feather dust from the jetpack scattered some debris and Endo was slowly moving toward a large chunk of what was left of its ship. It attached itself onto the mesh of cables and pipes protruding from the ships corpse. Some power left there for sure and Endo’s sensor picked that up. No matter if life is based on carbon or silicon… survival instincts are the same.


… ejecting backup battery… error… rerouting main power line to access port #334-GT… error… rerouting the main power line to jetpack auxiliary port…………….. Main battery not present… power line established… rebooting…


- What the frack happened here? - was the first thought in Endo’s mind after it established its higher cognitive functions.

- Where I am and why can’t I move? - the stream of diagnostic data started to flow on its hud.


… diagnostic complete… auto destruct protocol loaded… autodestruction recommended…


- The frack I am gonna autodestruct! - Endo was evaluating its situation.


Hooked directly to its ship's power line, without main or backup battery on its frame it was actually a part of the wreck. Jetpack was not strong enough to control the entire debris… bound together forever… they were floating into the unknown…


(Twilight Zone soundtrack playing in background)


Part three of Empire Comic:

- Left! Left…. LEFT! - sergeant silently screamed over the radio - Cover those corners!


Fire Team Bravo was advancing through ruins. 4 Endos moving low and in tight formation. The asteroid mining facility was in ruins.


- Sergeant Forbes! - voice on the dedicated radio channel whispered - Hold and prepare for contact! We detect movement in front of your team! 150m down the hangar, next to the wreck of that mining equipment…


- Hold! - sergeant switched to his local channel.

- Panda! Load HE! - he brought down his tactical overlay to check the video stream from the ships cameras hanging over the hangar where they were moving to take cover - Prepare for rapid fire! 150m, 11 o’clock, 5m increments in pattern GHT-2 and prepare to fire 5 on my mark.

- Roger Wilco Sarge! - grenadier Endo, call sign Panda switched EMP loaded clip to HE on his automatic 6 grenade launcher - Standing by!


- Sergeant! - whisper came again - Stand by for Major Adwards……

- Sergeant! Look alive! - major Adwards voice was rough like grinding paper - I want those Endos back in one piece! ROE for this mission states that we will only return fire upon fired upon! This is a civilian facility as far as we know!


Forbes responded on encrypted channel directly without voice to confirm Major’s orders. He didn’t want his team distracted.


- Sakky! Climb on that debris there and give me eyes! - Sarge pointed his hand toward a huge chunk of twisted metal on their right - Remember guys! Hold your fire until the target is identified as foe! We have civies here and we do not know what happened!


- Sarge! - Specialist Kyra interrupted - No gamma radiation! It was not the nuke! But I detect some weak transmission! It is garbled or maybe encrypted!


- Can you pinpoint the source? - sarge responded

- Negative ser! - Kyra loaded her assault rifle

- Keep an ear on it, but only one and eyes on me! - Sarge started his move


Major Adwards was focused on the Fire team’s movement. They were not his commandos - only regular patrol Endos, but they are disciplined and his only resource at the moment. Too bad he must wipe their memory banks after if they survive at all.


- Contact! - Sakky hissed over comms - I see couple Endos ripped apart on your 12! One is partially mobile!

- Armed? - Sergeant moved faster

- Can not confirm! - Sakky responded calmly - But bulls-eye if I see a threat!


Sergeant and Specialist Kyra moved around a large twisted container to see the horror. Several civilian Endos, miners were grouped next to damaged mining equipment and it appeared as they killed each other with their own hands. There were no gunfire marks on them, just ripped limbs and dented armor plates. Only one Endo was active, but just torso and right hand remained…


- Hold your fire! - Forbes transmitted and moved closed, hand waving Kyra to cover him.


Sergeant Forbes moved closer to Endo, transmitting on a public emergency channel. Transmission from the broken Endo was weird - no audio, just a garbled stream of data.


- Kyra? - Sarge asked - Do you get this?

- Negative ser! - Kyra responded - I have only that background noise coming in…


Her chest armor exploded in pieces, and the bullet stream from Sargeant Forbes rifle went all the way through, cutting her spine’s structural frame and destroying her main battery and CPU array…


- Holly crap! - long range rifleman Sakky screamed - Mayday, Mayday! What the ….


Major Adwards moved away from the console in a single twitch.

- Sinus Alpha! What is your status! - major switched to encrypted, private channel, moving away through the rising comotion on the Bridge of Patrol Corvette Sumiko.

- Alpha ready to launch ser! - voice responded - Standing by for your command!


- Oke, fire at will! - major rushed with his maximal movement speed toward starboard hangar.

- You are in the blast range Major! - voice was calm and cold - Do you want me to give you 10 seconds head start?

- Negative! - major was already climbing into small scout ship cockpit

- Roger! - voice continued - Commencing fire!


Stealth bomber launched 2 missiles. One was heading toward the asteroid mining facility and the other one directly at Patrol Corvette.


- Impact in 5 seconds! Good luck ser and it was an honor to serve with you… - was the last transmission before the bomber engaged its thrusters. Small scout ship was speeding away from the patrol corvette, but it was close… too close and heading directly toward the asteroid defense minefield on the border of the safe zone.


An hour later….


- Sinus Alpha reporting to mission control Mission completed! - stealth bomber pilot reported - Heading for landing pad! Permission to land?

- Roger Sinus Alpha! - dispatcher of The Hieronimo battle cruiser responded. - Stand by! Disengage your thrusters and wait at your current location! You do not have permission to land.


- Acknowledged Hieronimo! - pilot was perplexed - Standing by!


The blast was silent and non-aggressive! EMP field instantly fried all electronics in the stealth bomber… Endo pilot was dead instantly with all his circuits destroyed and all memory banks deleted permanently.


- Patridge Tetra advance and get me the black box from that ship! - another voice came over comms - it is the only piece of equipment that can survive that EMP.

- Roger Papa Bear! - pilot of a strange shaped salvage ship responded

- Do not hook that black-box to your storage port! - voice continued over comms - Isolate the device in the container provided and follow the protocol! Kill your wi-fi now and proceed directly to landing pad 17 after you pick up the device.


Silence followed the salvage operation…

- Do we know what it is? - Endo in dark grey armor with Lieutenant epaulettes asked his companion with no rank marks

- We do! - response came - It is some kind of virus and hopefully we will get a sample from that black box.

- Are we in danger or the crew of Hieronimo? - Lieutenant asked again


Other Endo looked at Lieutenant. Then back to monitoring equipment. Red flashing letters were blinking on his HUD.

Self Destruction protocol status:

...ARMED… ████████ ...ARMED… ████████ ...ARMED…
 
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