A lion’s revenge
They came down from the skies like gods, wielding steel and fire. In one year they destroyed what was left of any military or system of government, finally destroying what was left of the old world. From the ashes of their fire would rise something new, a rule as unyielding as steel and as ferocious as fire. Before the return mankind had been infighting, all but forgotten the disappearance of one of its former people. They thought they had been destroyed, yet they would remember them again, remember the proud people of the Lion.
-All shall remember the lion when he roars fire and steel
By the time count Reginald Wouter Warsauw arrived at the ring, the match was well underway and into its fourth or fifth round at least, judging by the state of the two participants.
Between the three earth males there were already two down on the ground, while another was still standing sporting a bloody and broken nose. The two men on the ground displayed a wide variety of injuries, most of them to their joints or close to their vital organs. One of them was wheezing while unconscious, his body doing the best it could to remain alive.
The other person inside the ring wasn’t from earth, his features more honed and not showing any signs of malnutrition or birth defects, unlike many humans who resided on Earth now. He had a minor cut above his right eyebrow and had some blood splatters on the right side of his face, giving him a more brutal expression when he grinned. His oceanic blue eyes were a stark opposition compared to the scarlet moisture on his face. He slowly inhaled and exhaled, breathing in through the nose and exhaling from the mouth, as if this was routine to him. His frame sported a few scars here and there; trophies from his years as an agent.
The count, Reginald, pressed the device behind his earlobe and requested the necessary information that would shed some light on these men in the ring, with the exception of his fellow countryman. Circles of lights flared up around the three earthlings who were in the ring, displaying their data within the count’s artificial retina, allowing him to see what he was looking at with the combined knowledge of several supercomputers hard at work. All three humans were registered earth residence all with some minor criminal records; violence, resisting arrest. These traits would normally condemn them; bar them access to this great country of theirs, yet their martial background made them interesting.
The earthling still standing had a kick boxer upbringing with some years of experience in mixed martial arts. He was ranked first in some underground fight club in the middle east, arrogantly calling himself the hammer.
The count was just about to view the ‘hammer’s’ medical background, glancing over his impressive 124,20 kg frame when the other man in the ring moved, throwing a lightning fast jab towards the hammer. The hammer’s opponent was undoubtedly one of the finest fighters of his weight and few believed men were capable of greater muscular effort.
The hammer ducked underneath the jab with a classic duck-and-under, the bend of his knees tightening the muscles in his legs as he came low under the other’s defences to shoot upward with a massive uppercut to the chin that would have snapped man’s head from his neck. However, the other man reacted, twisting his chin just an inch and letting the uppercut fly past him while he pivoted his hips and repositioned himself with pinpoint precision. It made him the more fluid opponent, moving in a steady flow of block, to punch, to dodge and then swing, hit, jab, punch, and weave rather than the jerky combination and retreat of a classic fighter. He had knowledge of the human body far surpassing a hammer’s innate awareness of a man's basic weaknesses. When the hammer’s opponent struck, it was to a specific nerve clusters or contact points. When the Hammer’s uppercut finally stopped moving, his frame exposed, did the other man move, charging at him as if he was a released spring.
He delivered a hard blow to the nerve centre located at the hinge of Hammer’s jaw, pivoting on his back leg to put his weight into the blow and then followed it with two jabs, one to the base of the solar plexus and the other with a flat hand to outstretched arm of the hammer’s, hitting the joint while his other hand bulled on the hammer’s wrist, shattering the elbow joint in one quick movement. A bell rang, signalling the end of the three minute round, which would be followed by a one minute break as dictated by the criteria of the military conduct rules. No one doubted that the fight was over, the hammer now howling on the ground like a banshee, one arm cradling the broken one.
“Count Reginald” The man said as he made his way over towards him, dark blond hairs matted to his frame, two fingers dapping at the small cut above his eyebrow as if he had just noticed it. He smiled warmly as he drew closer to the man, cocking his head to the side to look at the droids entering the room to collect the three earthlings. When he glanced left he showed not only the tight and efficient ropy muscles in his neck, yet also his family banner tattooed on his shoulder; the lion. Underneath that was a line of tiny stripes that went around his biceps, showing a total of two hundred and forty nine, the exact number of lives he has ended with his own hands.
“Castrate all three off them, then kill the two who went down first and send back their remains to their cesspool of a planet, the other may work in the mines and receive treatment for his condition.”His voice was clear and deep, obviously used to being in command and expecting it from others. He was a high born, not to mention a direct descendant and potential heir to his houses dynasty. What stood before the count was royalty, Prince Lancerius Willem Ruyter, Third son in line of the crown and acknowledged ‘Lionus’.
The count simply nodded to the man, his better, and watched the three earthlings be dragged off, two of them screaming while one simply looked as pale as could be.
“A generous gesture, my lord, sparing one of them. I have been send to inform you that the military tribune has been instructed by your king and queen. We will begin operations within twelve hours. Your squad has been prepared and is awaiting your arrival.”He then stood aside and allowed the man to move out of the room while he accompanied him, making sure the man had everything he needed. In twelve hours they would make another tactical assault on earth, rooting out any and all opposition. Softly the count spoke the words
‘All shall remember the lion when he roars fire and steel’ as he imagined the glory and honour that would be the result from this. He heard the sound ringing in his communications device, letting him know that this latest military command was now updated to the general achieve. He activated the message and glanced over the historical chart, one that told of the death of their country and people, yet also their rebirth. He glanced over the list while he followed the prince through the corridor.
Historical chart
2021, May 13: A collection of wealthy nations establish the first lunar mining colony when earth’s more precious REE (Rare Earth elements) began to dry up, yet also to harvest Helium-3.
2025, September 23: The lunar mining colony is disbanded when the fourth economical crisis hits the world, only the somewhat financial stable corporation, Ruyter Tech, is still backing the lunar project, mostly funded by its recent development in advanced factorisation and energetics department.
2031 December 13: the world suffers its fifth economic crisis and finally collapse when the united states, Germany and Italy shattered as a nation, breaking off into several smaller nations and city states.
2049 January 3: Ruyter Tech builds Earth’s first Helium-3 Fusion power plant in the country of the Netherlands after a successful earlier prototype was tested on the now growing lunar colony.
2049 November 26: The world’s financial situation stabilizes somewhat due to the arrival of clean and cheap energy provided by Ruyter Tech. The same company also expands its field of expertise in both the relatively new branch of robotics and the recently revolutionised branch of medicine, flying in the world’s brightest to help further the growth of this company.
2051 March 28: After an unsuccessful try to take control of the world’s first and second Fusion plant and the country of the Netherlands by both the reformed German and the united French city states, a catastrophic explosion takes place in one of the reactors, setting of the second one as well. Nearly 65% of the Netherlands is wiped out and the remaining infrastructure is damaged beyond repair.
2051 June 18: The remainder of Ruyter Tech manages to launch three more manned spaceship towards their lunar colony, destroying any and all research that they leave behind.
Also the giant craters of both he first and the second Fusion Plant have been filled in with sea water, dubbing them the Lion’s tears in years to come.
2056 January 1: The world’s last and final economic crisis’s, set off by the severe energy shortage and financially security previously provided by the Dutch corporation Ruyer Tech. Former allies are now at the brink of war while rebellion and infighting destroys most larger countries from within.
2056 December 18: simultaneously all the earth’s satellites are destroyed by an unknown factor. Communication with the lunar base is terminated. The remnants of any organised military power struggled to co-ordinate international operations until a practical land-based relay mechanism was re-established. Sadly this led to even more infighting and the collapse of the last few great nations in the world.
2156 January 1: One hundred years passed since the last super power existed on earth. Several attempts have been made to bring new satellites into orbit, yet these never last longer than a few hours. This was also the date that the sudden unexplained meteor shower hit earth, slamming large pieces of rock to slam into the earth, strangely hitting major cities and scientific outposts, sending mankind back a nearly a hundred and fifty years. The meteors continued for one hundred days. Remnants of earth’s most educated people claim these meteors to be manmade and designed to be a form of orbital bombing, sadly they fall on deaf ears as the entirety of earth falls into anarchy.
2216 January 1: Another few hundred asteroids hit earth simultaneously, slamming into military or militia installations or large gatherings of armed forces. Mere hours later several hundred strange aircrafts suddenly appearing in the skies, technologically vastly superior to any earth could create. These brought death and destruction from above while hundreds upon hundreds of drop ships landed, sending out thousands of droid soldiers on the ground. In that day the return happened, the Mighty Nation of the Netherlands, now dubbed the Lion, had returned.
2216 August 23: The nation of the Lion established a firm foothold in ten major parts of the world, forming district one to ten. Local figures of importance were either bribed with the prospect of having their life expectancy doubled, gain a position of power, threatened into obedience, or simply executed. A human was allowed entry into a district when he or she was branded with a barcode, chipped and swore an oath of fealty. In return they got a job in one of the many factories that were being set up, a basic system of healthcare and daily rations, provided a citizen worked hard enough and was above the age of sixteen.
Lancarious finished gearing up and made his way towards one of the hangars, seeing his squad already assembled there. Each one of them was equipped the Titanium Skeleton v6, or TS, a military designed combat suit that enabled it’s wearer above average defensive capabilities without sacrificing more than 5% in mobility. It had an internal power supply to keep the suit up and running for more than six days, provided no extreme demands were made from the suit. The suit was a trusty model, easily modified and carried a Dead man’s switch; a build in switch that would decapitate the wielder of the suit once his or hers heart stopped for longer than a minute, severing the head from torso and protecting the human brain from any more damage. The helmet would be able to freeze the user’s brain and keep it save from most forms of ammunition, save explosives.
Some wore their TS in the similarly like how it had rolled of the factory, save for minor adjustments to suit their role in the team. Others made artwork out of the TS, applying spikes, decorations, etc.
The holographic display came alive within a second, the projector on his shoulder displaying the statistics before switching over to a tactical overview of the map. There were over a hundred satellites that were used by the Lion’s, nearly eighty of them were used for military purposes.
"Alright, Lions, listen up! Team Alpha, you have four objectives! One! Secure POI, nickname the Puppeteer! Two! Keep citizen death count as low as possible. Friendlies! Unregistered citizens are to be considered neutral yet advised against from firing upon.
Last thing we need is for them to revolt against our help! Three! Minimum casualties! I want some of these insurgents alive for interrogation! But free weapon! They point, you shoot, two in the chest and one in the head, got it!
And last I want each and every one of you to make it back to the evac on time and intact. Any fallen Lion’s mane will be retrieved once his D-switch activates.”He glanced around the room for any questions, comments or random grunts of approval. They knew the drill and the danger that came with it. Most of these men had been in service for over fifty years, the medical system back on the lunar capital capable of rejuvenating a person or healing nearly any wound as long as the brain remained intact.
“Bravo team will provide air support, intel and emergency evac when required. Standard droid load is fourteen gentlemen, no more.
Alpha squad will be dropped off at site A and make their way to sector 43-a for rendezvous with our informant, aka the rat. From there we will act accordingly to the advised mission parameters uploaded in your com-devices.”He then nodded and made his way towards their ride; a military vessel that would get them to the drop site and back again. Team Bravo would be in charge of this craft.
