Humans are Space Orcs

Prologue (Dar's Story)

STELLAR SYSTEM DATHEA

DATHEA-4, MINING COLONY

IN RESPONSE TO VORDT AGGRESSION, IN VIOLATION OF THE EYDEN TREATY OF 2812, AN ANTI-INSURGENCY TASKFORCE COMPOSED OF REPUBLIC NAVY 4TH FLEET ASSAULT VESSELS AND REPUBLIC STELLAR MARINE CORPS 3RD DIVISION HAS BEEN DISPATCHED

Since time immemorial fear for one's life has been a driving force for humanity. Fear has driven man to fire, pushing back the darkness, and the horrors that hide within. Fear has sharpened sticks to kill the monsters hungering for our flesh. Fear has pushed us to heights only previously dreamed of in the least sane of minds among us.

It is this fear that drives Staff Sergeant Dar Siguron forward, leaning heavily on a severed Vordt scythe he uses as a crutch. The tunnel is dark, and the orichalcum veins in the cave play havoc on his helmet's sensor suite, rendering him all but blind tactically, relying only on his headlamp and audial transmitters. Separated from his platoon, alone, in the dark.

And hunted.

The Vordt have learned from defeat. Obvious really, that they would learn from Eyden and the dozen or so minor conflicts they have instigated across the edge of Republic space. What is more surprising is how unique they are in that respect. The Federation barely learns, barely adapts, and were he not terrified and in excruciating pain Dar might wonder at how they have survived so long in a galaxy so hostile to them.

In response to total communications darkness, a taskforce was assembled and sent to a border mining colony. On arrival in system a company of Stellar Marines made planetfall, Dar among them, to investigate. No survivors of the colony were found, only bloodstains. While attempting to determine the cause, Dar's platoon was ambushed. A sinkhole opened, swallowing the Marines, and they were beset upon in the caverns below the colony by thousands of Vordt soldiers. Men and women, brave warriors of the republic, with state of the art warfighting equipment and the unyielding grit bred into them by human legacy, fell victim to the guerilla tactics of the murderous swarm.

It was not without cost to the Vordt, a toll of hundreds for each human to die.

It was in the confusion that Dar, 2nd Platoon, Bravo Squad 2iC found himself falling down a side shaft into the darkness, and into the waiting claws of more Vordt. He fought in desperation, tungsten railgun rounds separating Vordt carapaces as he stumbled away. When they took his left leg, tearing it from the knee he screamed in pain, and in rage as his sidearm tore his assailant apart, their sickly green ichor painting the cavern walls. When it devolved to mandible and claw against carbon steel wrist-blades Dar learned just how deadly he could be when he feared for his life, savaging the giant bugs like a monster unleashed.

And now he staggers, no ammo, no comms, no help; forward momentum, and a healthy dose of morphine, all that keeps him moving. His hearts beats a rapid staccato with each struggling hop, praying only that the next corner reveals fellow marines and not more scuttling horrors.

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Colonel Keller walks through the triage ward onboard the RSS Charon's Fury, a light-cruiser responsible for taskforce evac from Dathea-4. Too many marines, too many good men and women, fell in the first several hours of what has devolved into a days long slugfest. Limited orbital bombardment and heavy infantry emplacement served to stem the tide of what seems now to be the greatest swarm of Vordt since the invasion of Eyden 9 years prior. But the tunnels were the problem, and wandering into them was a death sentence for any marine. Humanity, despite their vast experience in war and terrifying technological prowess, found tunnel-fighting a species literally born for it to be a tall order to fill.

The Republic wanted the mines, orichalcum was far too important to leave in the hands of the Vordt, and far to valuable to outright destroy. But Keller's loyalty was to the marines on the ground. The marines he had sent to die. He had already requested authorization to crack the planet, but High Command had thus far stonewalled him. Much of the Great Galactic Federation believed the Sol Republic to be far too bloodthirsty, and far to eager to unleash weapons of total destruction on the galaxy, but Keller had often thought the Republic to be far too reluctant to do so when it was truly needed. Gone were the days of men like the esteemed Admiral Harlan, as the Republic now wished to show a softer, gentler face to the galactic community as a whole.

Softness does not spare the dying, bitterly thought Keller.

He came to a cot with one of the survivors from the first recon operation, one Staff Sergeant Dar Siguron, 32, of the iceworld Thrym. A second generation Gaian demigod, his 7'2" frame barely fitting the cot. He had lost his left leg below the knee, suffered severe spinal damage and his right ear appeared to have been half chewed off. If not for the pile of Vordt corpses, corpses that looked to have been mangled by his own broken hands, Keller might have guessed the man to have leapt head first into a giant blender. It was a wonder he had survived at all, especially when so many more did not, and he likely owed that to the legendary resilience most demigods showed.

Colonel Keller was surrounded with similar sights, some more gruesome than Dar, others less, but each telling of the brutality they had faced on the planet below. They would receive treatment befitting their status as honored warriors, fitted with advanced prostheses as needed. With patience and practice it would be as though the many limbs left to rot on Dathea-4 had never been lost in the first place, and the survivors might one day regain some semblance of normalcy.

Many would stay, as the comradery of the RSMC, and of the Republic Military complex as a whole, was stronger than duro-steel. But some would leave. Psychological trauma, despite centuries of science and progress, was still a foe humanity had yet to truly conquer. Death could be waylaid and lost limbs replaced, but the demon's of the mind were not so simple to deal with.

As he turns to leave, Colonel Keller is approached by a young woman wearing the bars of a Navy Lieutenant. Her name plate reads LT BARBADY, A. She is the Naval Liaison to the RSMC within the Dathea Taskforce, Keller's link to the Commanding Officers of the four light-cruiser's in orbit and to High Command.

"Colonel Keller," she says, snapping to attention. A nod from Keller and she relaxes, handing him a data-slate. "Colonel, orders from High Command, from Marshal Whitaker herself. We are to exfiltrate all assets on ground. Civilian populace is to be assumed lost unless reasonable evidence can be found of their survival, and we are to commence continuous, planet-wide orbital bombardment, to keep the bugs underground"

Keller takes the data-slate, glancing briefly at the information displayed. It is as Lieutenant Barbady says, further explaining that the venerable super-destroyer the RSS Titan's Fist will arrive in system shortly. He looks up at the eager young lieutenant, one greying eyebrow cocked in question. "They have authorized cracking the planet?"

"Yes, sir. Marshal Whitaker believes the toll has already been too great, and as this was a massive Vordt invasion into Republic controlled space she has declared her full control of military action in the sector per Article 14 protocols, bypassing any decision making by the senate." The young woman seems almost giddy to see a planetary body literally cracked in half by a super-destroyer's Apocalypse Cannons. And many think it is the marines who are the bloodthirsty ones.

"Further more, sir, Marshal Whitaker has declared that this is now solely a Naval op, as she expects us to scour the system once Dathea-4 has been cleansed, and Admiral Calden has permission to use his good judgement on whether to enact Stellar Detonation once he has arrived in system and has had a chance to determine the level of Vordt infestation."

"By Gaia, she's going to let him blow up the star?" mutters Keller. He hadn't expected the Marshal to go that far, but he had to admit he had never seen a controlled supernova before and was at least a little intrigued about the experience. "Understood, Lieutenant. Has the order for exfiltration already been given?"

"Yes, sir. Captain Florence gave the order as soon as she received the message. I only came her to inform you."

"Very well, let's get my boys and girls home," replies Keller, as a smile ever so slightly stretches across his face. "I'll set the popcorn cooking for the fireworks."