Rangdan Leader
How did it come to this?
Forced to retreat, cornered in our own fortress world, far from our homeworld.
All because of that inferior race.
How dare they oppose us, defy our dominion?
Their fate was clear: to be slaves, like the countless species we have subjugated over the millennia and bent beneath our power.
Yet the true reason for this situation goes beyond mere colonization or conquest.
Our mission in this sector of the galaxy was not a campaign of territorial expansion, but something far more important: a search.
The search for an ancient artifact, left behind by the Old Ones, hidden somewhere in this system.
A unique artifact, because it holds the key to the location of every one of the artifacts scattered across the galaxy during the War in Heaven.
But most crucial of all, this information was given to us by the slaugth.
They speak of a weapon, of a method, that grants the power to ascend beyond mortals—to become a god.
That knowledge is what we seek, what has brought us here.
For if we master that power, there will be no force in the universe capable of stopping us.
The slaugth also foretold a future in which the powers of the galaxy would fall from within, by their own hands, marked by an age of darkness and death.
But they also told of our race’s destiny: that a golden sun would bring our ruin.
Something many of our kind did not believe, since even the slaugth had prevailed after the War in Heaven, a conflict that shook reality itself.
What faction could stand against us once the Dark Age began?
For years we searched for the cursed artifact across different sectors of the galaxy, until, after barely a year, we found it.
It was taken to our battle moon for study, to tear its secrets from it, but the artifact had security measures left by the Old Ones, and that would take time.
Our operation was interrupted by human ships that had settled in the nearby systems.
I simply sent my slave race to exterminate them: they were too far from their sphere of influence to receive reinforcements.
Or so I believed.
In the following weeks, a fleet was once again detected over the worlds we had razed, engaging my fleets.
As time went on, more and more ships entered the battle, bringing with them those soulless metal puppets that tore through my ranks.
I needed only a little more time.
The artifact would soon reveal its secrets.
To finish this once and for all, I sent in the Rangdan warriors, and the results were marvelous.
But as a consequence of our presence on the battlefield, what had been a war became a slaughter.
The human ships redoubled their efforts, bringing all their heavy artillery to bear.
They inflicted enormous losses on us, for our forces in this system are limited.
As time passed we lost world after world in hellish battles.
No matter how many iron warriors we tore to pieces, two more took their place, never falling back.
Rangdan System
Over the last few weeks, the battles had turned into an indescribable hell.
Halting the enemy advance was impossible, and every attempt to push into their territory met only fierce resistance.
To break their spirit, we unleashed an invasion of our slaves upon their planets, hoping to force them to fall back.
But it was in vain; the cursed machines kept advancing, relentless in their mission.
All that remained was to activate the experimental portal and leave, but the enemy would not give us time to accomplish our task.
Before the portal, a colossal fleet of five thousand enemy ships lay in wait, forming an impenetrable wall of fire and metal, while the portal itself gathered the energy needed for activation.
On the flagship, the leader of the expedition watched impatiently, his mind twisted with fury and a thirst for revenge.
In his dark thoughts, a single vision consoled him: returning one day with an even greater fleet to enslave the wretched humans who had dared to ruin his plans.
But the unnatural sound of his console pulled him from his brooding: it was one of his warriors, transmitting the current state of the battle.
“My lord, we lost contact with the patrol ships an hour ago.
But I’m detecting that the enemy armada is ready to jump.”
“What are their numbers?”
“Going by the count from the portals before they were brought down, around seven thousand ships, my lord.”
“How long until the portal activates?”
“About forty-five minutes, my lord.
What are your orders?”
“Every ship is to take up a strategic position.
The blockade must be ready for combat.
We will hold the enemy long enough for the artificial moon to withdraw with the artifact.
It is also crucial that we reinforce the ground units.”
As if answering his very words, multiple blue portals opened in space, and from them emerged Samuel’s fleet: frigates, heavy cruisers and battleships of every size.
“Contact!
Heavy fleet inbound!
Repeat, heavy fleet inbound!”
From the last two colossal portals rose two titanic leviathans forty-five kilometers long.
Without wasting a single instant, those monsters unleashed bursts of blinding light, beams of pure energy that crossed the void with merciless fury.
The beams of destruction struck the most imposing Rangdan ships head-on, disintegrating them in an explosion of radiance and white-hot metal.
With that single action, the battle began.
The Twilight Sword
“Hold the line!
Keep the pressure on the supercarriers!” the Rangdan command roared over every open channel.
The UNSC ships advanced in flawless synchronization, showing not a trace of fear.
They launched a relentless storm of plasma and corrosive missiles, accompanied by the devastating shots of their MAC cannons, all aimed at the enemy fleet.
Against the backdrop of a starry sky, only carnage ruled the scene.
Both sides unleashed their deadliest weapons, instruments of mass destruction that lit up space with flashes of fury.
No one was willing to give up a single millimeter; it was a fight with no quarter given.
From on high, the imposing Rangdan artificial moon tore apart multiple UNSC ships with its powerful weapon systems, making even the sturdiest of them shudder.
But as the battle dragged on and sparks of destruction filled the void, it became clear that only one side would emerge victorious.
Time was running out, and one of the two would soon fall.
“We can’t get a lock!
All fighters, intercept those troop transports!”
“Keep them away from the portal!”
The UNSC Valkyries threw themselves into combat against the Rangdan fighters, fiercely contesting control of the skies.
Their mission was clear: protect the vulnerable troop transports advancing toward the battle zone.
Every minute of that aerial struggle felt like an eternity, a suffocating tension in which the slightest mistake could mean the annihilation of the entire sector.
UNSC casualties climbed with every advance as their pilots fought to break through the enemy formations.
The Rangdan ships, though outnumbered, refused to fall, fighting with relentless ferocity and intercepting the Valkyries with precise, brutal maneuvers.
The skies burned with crossfire as the Valkyries furiously defended the transports forcing their way through the chaos.
Despite the losses, the battle held in a deadly balance, victory hanging by a single thread. New chapters come out on novelping.com first.
The courage of one side clashed with the resilience of the other, and neither was willing to back down.
“The dark matter containment field is online!
Clear the ignition zone, now!”
“Negative.
We defend the portal,” the Rangdan leader replied, leaving no room for argument.
Minute by minute, the UNSC forced its way through the relentless enemy ranks.
The ships advanced with determination, dodging hostile fire, while the titanic Rangdan artificial moon and the two Twilight Swords traded ferocious attacks.
Every impact shook space, inflicting devastating damage on both colossi as the duel intensified into a maelstrom of destruction.
Despite the storm of fire and metal ravaging the battlefield, multiple UNSC boarding craft managed to reach their destination.
“They’re getting through!
Prepare for a breach!”
The troop transports pushed through the rain of anti-air fire, forcing their way through the chaos toward the surface of the imposing artificial moon.
Against all odds, they managed to land, hulls smoking from the hits, but without stopping.
In a single synchronized motion, they deployed powerful plasma cutters whose burning beams began to slice through the moon’s colossal armor.
When the metal finally gave way, entire squads of Men of Iron poured out like a relentless tide.
Soulless, fearless, those war machines advanced with ruthless precision, ready to face the dreaded Rangdan defending the depths of the structure.
“Attention, hull breaches in multiple sectors!
All warriors, intercept them, stop their advance!”
The Men of Iron spread out across different points of the artificial moon, fighting brutal battles against the relentless Rangdan in every corridor and every fortified chamber.
In a hell of fire and metal, machines and beasts clashed without respite, but with every passing moment, more troop transports descended, adding their strength to the invasion.
Meanwhile, in the dark void of space, the artificial moon unleashed one last devastating attack, knocking out the weapons of one of the Twilight Swords and bringing down its shields.
But that attack didn’t come free: deep scars already ran across the moon’s surface, testament to the ferocity of the battle.
With every passing minute, the UNSC ships drew closer to the portal, determined to fight their way to their final objective.
“Multiple portals detected—enemy reinforcements!
They’re closing on us, keep up the pressure!”
“Portal charge complete!
All remaining forces, defend the threshold!”
At last, the portal blazed with immense energy, and the artificial moon began to move, accelerating toward the cosmic opening to escape with its priceless cargo.
The forces defending it held out to their last breath, while the UNSC redoubled its attacks, trying to stop the titanic body of metal advancing toward the threshold.
But suddenly, at the climax of its approach, an unexpected spatial rupture tore through the void, splitting the artificial moon in two with a blast that echoed like thunder in the silence of space.
The fracture triggered a colossal explosion that hurled fragments of metal and energy through the portal, ripping it apart in a whirlwind of chaos.
Everything around the moon was consumed in the cataclysm, an apocalyptic spectacle of fire and darkness that swept away any ship or creature caught too close.
In an instant, the portal was reduced to rubble, and the cargo the moon had been trying to preserve was lost in the depths of the void, turning that final escape attempt into its own death sentence.
After an hour of relentless combat, Samuel’s fleet, bolstered by the newly arrived reinforcements, fell like a storm upon the surviving Rangdan ships.
Without the devastating support of their artificial moon, the remnants of the enemy fleet became easy prey for the imposing Twilight Sword, which annihilated each of its targets with brutal precision.
The void filled with debris and flashes of explosions, unmistakable signs of a crushing victory in space.
But the battle was far from over.
Below, on the planet’s surface, Rangdan still lurked in the shadows and the fortifications, monsters that would not surrender without a fight.
Now the UNSC’s Men of Iron descended en masse, ready to unleash another hellish battle.
The ground shook, and the air filled with the thunder of weapons and the roar of combatants as they prepared for what would be the last and bloodiest chapter of this war.