Sci-Fantasy 1

The cold crisp whoosh of air wafted over the face of Major Rylus as he strode casually onto the command deck of the Brotherhood carrier ship the Reconciliation. He looked around at the officers manning their stations until he spotted the person wearing the captains crest that he had been looking for . He slowly approached the man and raised his hand in a salute

" Reporting as ordered captain." The captain turned around and looked Rylus directly in the eyes. He was a tall figure, fairly built with short black hair and a stern looking gaze. Through just looking at this mans face and into his eyes you could tell he as a well season warrior who had seen his fair share of battles. "At ease major." As Rylus stood at ease he could feel the attention of the entire bridge crew shift to him and the captain.

"Captain how long until we will reach the drop point?" The captain glanced at a panel behind him on the wall " about two hours." "We will be dropping out of hyperspace in a tight orbit you will Have 20 minutes to deploy your unit before we will jump out." Rylus saluted again " I will go prep my men." The captain returned his salute and went back to studying the screen of the station he was at.

Rylus strode back into the lift and set his destination for the launch bay. While the lift took him down he began to ponder. He was unhappy to date with the misuse of his squad by the Brotherhood. The Dark Ravens were originally concevied to do the job of an entire army with the use of only about two-hundred. soldiers. They were extensivly trained in the art of ancient and medieval warfare. The concecpt was that a few specially chosen members of the unit would penetrate the enemy defenses and plant an EMP device that when detonated would disable all electronic devices in the general area leaving the enemy defenseless where as the Ravens being masters at ancient battle techniques would obliterate the opposing force. But lately his proud unit had been used as a sabotage unit. Currently he had been charged with the task of destroying a weapons facility that was heavily supplying the Terrans. He didnt believe in this kind of warfare but he wasnt a Grand Admiral or a Brother on the Brotherhood Council so he had no say in the decisions of the military hierarchy.

There was an audible ding as the lift doors slid open to reveal the catwalk that overlooked the launch bay where as he looked down he could see roughly three hundred of his men milling about and fifteen cloaked drop ships being fueled and preped for launch. The drop ships were a brand new design fresh off of the production line. They were fitted with a full array of sensors, shields, weapons, a state of the art maneuvering engine, and a newly developed cloaking device that when active made the ship invisible to sensor and to the naked eye.

He strolled into the center of the catwalk and shouted to his men in a very commanding tone " we launch in two hours" there was a roar of approval from the soldiers below who began gathering weapons and other supplies they would need.

Rylus decended the stairs to the launch bay floor his lieutenant Williren approached him and saluted." Sir we are ready to deploy on your command." "Very good lieutenant i will be in my office if I am needed." They exchanged salutes and Rylus strode off toward the hangar office which he had made is own for their voyage on the Reconciliation.

He walked into his office unbuttoned his navy blue overcoat, straightened his matching pants and sat down in his chair. Then he removed his hat and laied it on his desk. Rylus was a medium hight and very muscular with scars all over his body from the countless battles he had been in. He also had an orange tattoo of a dragon on his face just above his left eye it was a personal emblem of his clan. He had long flowing black hair that was always tied back into a ponytail. He always kept a knife wedged in his boot and he had a ceremonial sword on a rack next to his pride and joy, a weapon handcrafted my his ancestors. It was called a shizzano. It resembled a sword but it was two-sided, all the edges were serrated and it was decorated with the same orange dragon that adorned his face. It was very light weight and was extreamly hard to use, at least with any degree of skill . This was his weapon of choice, he was a master in combat with it.

He began to think again about the mission ahead of him. He remembered when the General had assigned him to this mission he had told him if he was sucessful he would be promoted to a nice desk job at the academy. he was almost 170 years old he was tired of jumping out of ships, dodging bullets and swords, mabye it was time he retired from the field.

The ship lurched suddenly to one side and almost as suddenly the communicator in his pocket began to beep. Pulling it out he switched it on. "A Terran battlecrusier is in pursuit of us we are going to hit the afterburners and over load one of our reactors to out run them but this means our new ETA is 5 minutes and your drop window will be 30 seconds. I am sorry but if they realize what we are doing the whole op will be blown". Rylus gave a sigh "Frac! This kind of shit always happens". He strapped on his sword and slung his shizzano across his back. Put back on his hat and buttoned up his coat. On his way out he also secured an old style pistol in his belt just in case.

He walked out on to the hangar deck and shouted "change of plans boys we go now, get into your battalions and on to your ships." After almost everyone was inside their ships an alarm sounded overhead " prepare for atmospheric reentry" "5,4,3,2,1. There was a huge lurch and the whole ship shook. Rylus walked into the cockpit of his own ship and saluted the pilot "signal we are about to go, open launch doors." As the giant doors opened two of the ships flew out followed by two more then Rylus felt the jolt as his ship took off.

Rylus looked out the windows of his ship and saw the firey streaks of his other ships entering the atmosphere. Suddenly there was a huge explosion behind them. "Pilot report, what was that?" "Sir two of the ships collided apparently the speed of our deployment was unsafe." He looked back out the window at the Reconciliation he saw it move off slowly then in a flash of light it diapperared. Now as Rylus could see the Terran cruiser as it followed close behind.

He turned to the planet below and thought i hope my foe is ready to deal with me for if they are not they will surely fall to my elven blade.