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Of New Beginnings - Intro

The once pristine world of Kartana, home of the Sergal was now on its knees. The beautiful forests now a graveyard of both sergals, humans and trees, the last ones looking like desecrated bones of a once immaculate being, now dead in a horrifying visage. The landscape dotted by craters of high explosive orbital shells and deep cracked lines where high-frequency beams of pure destruction were used, digging into the planet skin, like a psychopath still doing his bloody work on the already dead victim. The skies filled with clouds weeping for the world, releasing their deadly black tears and veiling the planet from the sun's eyes, not wanting it to look upon the death and the destruction, as well as the countless lives taken by the senseless war. Metal carcasses of once-proud start vessels laid all around the world, transforming it into a stellar landfill. The once-thriving cities and nations of Kortana transformed into a hollowed husk of their former glory, the people and culture now in total disarray. Yet, life endured. Everyone knew who started this war, this damned bloody massacre of both men and sergals. Greed. The most simple of motives, the one that killed many a civilization, laying ruin wherever he passed. While both species had a hand to it, the greed that started all this was by the hand of the space-faring humans. However, while most humans would not even dare to initiate the war, being against it, the twisted mechanism of the civilization economy controlled by the Corps forced their hands. For them, life was just a tool, an asset to be used and disposed of, nothing more than a cog in the inhuman machine that blurted money. Bloodied money. The motive for the Corps to extend their black tendrils to this world was a particular mineral, which was the base for the production of energy in the human worlds. Kalotonite. This little mineral was the catalyst that permitted the human civilization to reach the planets beyond their system, as well as the base for their newest kind of fusion reaction and quantum computing. Moreover, as researchers went on with their study, more and more useful attributes where discovered, making it the most sought mineral in human civilization. The planet of Kartana had such quantity and pureness of Kalotonite that it would have lasted for centuries to come. Too bad that it had sentient life beings on it. Thus the machination to take the world started. Going against the law about sentient life interference, they bribed critical key members of the sergal society and eliminating any possible threats to their plans, while staying in the shadow, and preparing ad hoc propaganda campaigns. Once the plan sprung, the massacre started. But little did they know that their very policy and machinations would be the undoing of their plans. As the monstrous and senseless war went on, more and more humans questioned the validity of their society, giving breath to dormant embers of rebellion in their hearts and transforming it into the raging fire of liberation. Thus, the rebels came to life and made the unthinkable. They joined forces with the various factions of sergals and united them against the common enemy. And as the rebels grew in power, revealing the truth of the true master of their society, more and more humans went under their flag, as well as many of the commodores orbiting the space of Kartana, resulting in a small scale civil war. Now the beast of war was breathing its last breaths, while a small pocket of fights were still hot but rapidly getting colder. While sergals and humans fought shoulder to shoulder, there is still much unrest and attrition between the two races. The humans knew that they could not come back to their homeworlds, not after what they did, even if the storm would calm down; understanding very well that it was their race that started all, they knew that their survival depended on the sergals accepting them and understanding that mutual coexistence would be beneficial for both parties. Only time will tell if this gamble will be a success or not.

"GET DOWN!"

As first sergeant Jhonson heard the cue, he jumped in a nearby crater, avoiding the blast of a charged plasma bolt shot from the mercenary hover tank. Other two shots were fired by it before a retaliatory strafing run from one of the X-k jets silenced it. Jhonson watched over the rim of the crater, spotting two enemy mercenaries dashing to his position. He fired with his plasma rifle, taking the first man out with a bullet to the head, the other one managing to avoid his bullet spray by zigzagging and using the terrain to his advantage. It seemed that this one had some experience in the field. Before he could reload his gun, both parties heard a sinister howl coming from the charred woods nearby. Jhonson didn't know if they were friends or foes, but one thing was for sure. The sergals were coming. Before the oncoming of humans, the sergal technology could be defined as in the early information age. While nothing to scoff at, the technological gap was quite considerate during the first stage of the war. But, as they stole the weapons from the battlefield and studied them, in conjunction with the rebels helping them in understanding the basic functions and inner workings of the weapons, they soon became a force that every sane human would think twice to confront, considering some particular traits of the specie. They were born predators, the females hulking any human by twice their height, their bodies built for maiming anything in melee range and, most of all, when entering combat some of them fell into a sort of battle frenzy, resulting with their more primal instinct rising. And when in that state, there was only one conclusion their brains found when classifying humans. Prey. While not common, it wasn't unheard of that some sergals fed upon the vanquished human, be it enemy or ally, with some extreme case resulting in them swallowing enemy humans alive. Thus, in the final stage of the war, they became every soldier's worst nightmare. Be it friend or foe. After hearing the howls, many a mercenary requested immediate extraction, but little did they know their back-up had already be wiped out by one of the rebel's dreadnoughts. Soon the figures of the sergals could be seen prowling at full speed into the battlefield, aided by the new moon night. The mercenaries, understanding that no extraction would be held, started their fight again with even more vigor. More mercenaries were storming Jhonson position that, in the meantime, was reinforced by other four soldiers in the crater he was occupying. The team was shooting at anything that moved, trying to hold the position as they could. Many a mercenary found death by their rifles, the war having transformed what once where peaceful boys into hardened soldiers. Before Jhonson could fire a shot at an approaching enemy, something jumped over the team and landed right upon the mercenary. Screams could be heard as the man was torn apart by claws and teeth, the sergal making quick work of him. One sergal dropped into the crater, this one being a male as he was bigger than Jhonson 1.5 times, give or take a few cm. He wore standard military attire that covered his entire body, except for the neck, the snout, the hands, and the feett. It was almost impossible to discern the color of his fur, as it was a pitch-black night. The sergal shot with his modified rifle at a mercenary then saying:

"Corporal Kanran at your service, we've been dispatched into aiding your platoon into subduing the Shinra Co. mercenaries. How are you holding?"

"We're holding up just fine. The X-k jets made quick work of the enemy tanks and mechs. Inform as soon as possible your high officer to avoid going into melee range with the bastards. The Deathrattle mercenaries are known to use their privates as kamikazes"

The sergal fiddled with something that was clipped to his ear and then asked:

"Sorry, didn't understand very well the last part. I think the translator has a malfunction"

"Listen carefully. Some of the enemy soldiers have charges upon them that..."

A nearby explosion interrupted him, proving his point to the sergal as he pointed into the direction of the explosion where another of his kind was in pretty bad shape, blood caked all over his front fur and armor, some of it still smoking. The corporal immediately informed his higher-ups of the kamikazes; the order was transmitted to all soldiers that now started approaching the mercenaries with a more cautious attitude. Now reinforced by the sergal ranks, first sergeant Jhonson commanded his force to advance, ordering the plasma SMG nest to give covering fire to their allies as they advanced, knowing that they would become the primary target of the mercenaries. The enemy was camped in a nearby hill, the last mech and hover tanks giving all they've got to stop the sergals and the rebels. It was bloody work. The X-k jet had to refuel, leaving the battlefield to a terrain combat. The mercenaries were fighting with the force of desperation, making it hard for the ground force to conquer the hill, making many casualties to both sergals and rebels. While fearing the sergals, Jhonson was happy to have them by their side. If not for them, the battle would have lasted another day or two, since they were an infantry platoon and the mercenaries had attacked with a space deep strike employment, bringing with them heavy weaponry that, while not impossible to take out, would have cost a lot in terms of soldiers' life to take down. Now it was a matter if the fight would be held till dawn. As he was going uphill, he saw an ominous figure to his right, towering the battlefield and making his spine chill. After a few seconds, he understood that he was in the presence of a matriarch, coming to this conclusion by the sheer size of the sergal and the presence of a combat exoskeleton very much similar to his own, the last gift his best friend made before dying. As the matriarch was spotted on the battlefield, all the enemy heavy weaponry were directed towards her, as she probably knew in advance, giving more time to her troops to circle around the enemy. Johnson gave the order to any nearby squad to give support to the matriarch when the tail of his eyes saw something that disturbed him. Activating the recon protocol of his suit, he saw the mercs uploading a kalotonite enriched plasma case to an artillery mech, that was now aiming at the matriarch. Knowing that he wouldn't alert the matriarch in time, he activated his back thruster at full throttle, shoulder bashing the matriarch out of the way. Just in time for her but not for him. While he activated his personal shield, the plasma bolt exploded right on his face, the kalotonite shards bypassing its defense. While constructed with sergals in mind, the hit wounded him deeply. He was now face up to the sky, trying to get up but stopped due to the sheer pain coming from his body. He saw to his right, now looking at his missing right arm. While his exoskeleton was equipped with emergency medical nanobots, he knew that the shards would amper the machine works and soon understood his fate. Either, by some miracle, he would be brought to a medical center or his life would expire on that battlefield, like many of his soldiers already did. Before he could lose consciousness, he saw the matriarch right above in rage. It seems that there be no funeral for him.

Kur'ara was shooting like crazy with her shoulder-mounted miniguns when, all of a sudden, she felt something bash against her. At that moment she thought that an enemy was going to sacrifice himself to take her out as she heard the explosion. But she didn't feel any pain. When she regained her sense, she saw a human rebel, his body mauled by what must have caused the explosion. With a better inspection, she understood what happened. She already saw the blasted weaponry design to take them out, the blue shard buzzing and emitting their damned light of death. The human had shielded her from the enemy attack. She roared in rage, ordering her battle mates to give no quarter as she now protected her savior from harm. How strange fate can be. When the war first started, she wouldn't have hesitated to gobble the human into her stomach, learning on her very skin the destruction and atrocities the human inflicted on her kind... and now she was protecting one. The battle ended soon enough when the matriarch gave the order, many of her battle mates descending into a battle frenzy and making quick work of the mercs. Both a sergal and human medic came into assistance but both came to the same conclusion. It would be a miracle if the human lasted until dawn. As she better saw the figure that laid before her, she gave an order to the medic sergal:

"Strap him to my back. I will bring him to Echo camp as soon as possible. They should have a medical center able to help him"

"But matriarch this is unher...."

The medic couldn't even finish her sentence as she was uplifted by her throat by the matriarch

"This wasn't a request. IT'S AN ORDER, YOU MUTT!"

She released her, the medic doing right away what was asked to her. No sane sergal would disobey such a direct order, even if it went against their code. As soon as the human was secured to her, she went on all four and sprinted as her life depended on it. She wouldn't let the Crusader die on her watch.