Heavy Metal Thunder Page 42

  Sixth Sense. When death can occur anywhere and anytime, a warrior’s mind does anything it can in order to stay alive. Some soldiers seem to develop a sixth sense that warns them of danger when their eyes and ears do not. Some tacticians in the Black Lance Legion believe that intuition is the ability to scan and sort information on a subconscious level; when in danger, the subconscious warns the conscious mind via a peculiar sense of fear. While no good Infantryman wants to live in fear, separating raw fear from that inner voice of warning can help one tread the fine line between being smart and alive and being a coward.

  Stat Mod Skill: Weight Lifting. If you pick this skill, then you have spent a little time in the gym and take care of your body. You may add 1 to your Strength statistic. (This skill and all other Stat Mod Skills may only be chosen once.)

  Stat Mod Skill: Intensive Study. You have a college-level proficiency in one or more subjects. You have trained your mind a little more than most and can have an intelligent discourse on a few things. Add 1 to your Intelligence statistic.

  Stat Mod Skill: Gymnastics. You have some understanding of how to leap and fall without hurting yourself, and how to move quickly without wasting energy. Add 1 to your Dexterity statistic.

  Stat Mod Skill: Public Speaking. You don’t feel quite as much fear as others when it comes to making your thoughts understood by a group. Add 1 to your Charisma statistic.

  Be sure to make a note which 5 skills you choose. You must choose all 5 now. As you rise in levels, you will be able to choose more skills to add to your repertoire of knowledge.

  Equipment and Bulk

  You can only carry a limited bulk of items; the heavier or more oddly-shaped the item, the greater its bulk. For example, a coffee mug would have a bulk of 1; a book would have a bulk of 1 to 4; a cinder block would have a bulk of 15; some very small items have a bulk of zero. You may carry a maximum of 12 bulk of items. Any more than that would hamper your movement. Your space suit and jetpack are already figured into the bulk equation.

  BULK OF BULLETS TABLE

  Handgun bullets: 15 bullets = 1 bulk

  Rifle bullets: 10 bullets = 1 bulk

  Shotgun shells: 5 shells = 1 bulk

  Note that once you have chosen to fire a gun at the enemy, you must fire at least one bullet, even if you realize afterwards that you have no hope of hitting the enemy!

  Suit Durability

  You wear the black, cumbersome, thickly-padded vacuum-proof suit of a grunt infantryman in the Black Lance Legion. Your Suit Durability (or SD) is like “hit points” for your suit. Your current space suit has 3 SD points, which is its starting amount as well as its maximum amount.

  When your suit is damaged, its SD will drop. When you fix it (for example, with the Sticky Fix item) then your SD will rise, though never higher than its maximum amount. When your SD drops to zero or lower then your suit has been destroyed, and if you are in space when this happens then you will die automatically.

  However, if your suit has sustained any SD damage at all, then that means your suit is punctured or torn in some way. If you are in the vacuum of space when this happens, and if the text prompts you to do so, then you will lose 1 Blood per SD damage. (That means that if your suit has sustained 2 SD damage while in space, and you cannot repair the damage, then the sucking cold of the void will drain you for 2 Blood at regular intervals!) This does not include the original section in which you lose SD, so if you apply Sticky Fix to your suit in the same section in which it was damaged, you will not lose any additional Blood. Note that every dose of Sticky Fix “heals” your suit 1 SD point.

  If you are familiar with role playing games, then think of SD as the “hit points” of your protective armor. But since you are more often than not in an environment hostile to living things, then your armor must be perfectly sound in order to afford you constant, complete protection.

  Armor and Defense

  During your journey you may find suits of Armor that you can wear. Armor works like so: When you lose Blood, you will be told if you may subtract your Defense rating from the amount of your Blood loss. If the text makes no mention of subtracting your Defense rating from Blood loss (for instance, if you lose Blood due to starvation, or due to a blow to a part of your body not covered by armor), then, of course, you may not subtract your Defense rating from the Blood loss.

  The bulk of the Armor will affect the amount of bulk you can carry whether it is worn or simply carried in your inventory. You may only wear one set of Armor at a time, and so you may only receive the Defense benefits of one set of armor at a time. However, you may carry in your inventory as many suits of Armor as bulk permits, if you want to do so.

  Your Black Lance Jetpack Infantryman space suit is not a set of armor. It is simply a suit that protects you against the void of space.

  Food

  You will have to eat regularly during your journey. Each Food usually takes up 1 bulk in your inventory. You will be told by the text when you are hungry and must eat 1 Food. Once you eat you must, of course, erase 1 Food from your inventory. If you do not have any Food when you are told to eat, you will usually lose 1 Blood due to starvation.

  The Fall of Humanity and the Rise of Black Heaven

  Even as humanity rose from the cradle of their homeworld to harvest the bounty of the solar system, there was an overall feeling that the species was at its end. In terms of culture, there was nothing that felt new. Every book, movie and videogame was a sequel based on a tired theme, every popular musician only borrowed elements from older musician, every new generation actors and actresses was somehow more narcissistic and empty-headed than the preceding generation, and the visual arts had become so abstract, so postmodern, and so far removed from the realm of the common man that many famous visual artists felt it beneath them to create any actual artwork.

  In terms of politics, nearly every system that had ever been devised had been tried, but none could guarantee lasting happiness or even stability. The divide between rich and poor grew until finally there were two classes of humans: One class was so wealthy that they barely had to interact with reality, and could pay others to manage every detail for them so that they could live like pampered children, and another class that lived in continual, unending debt and had to work demeaning jobs just to survive. Those who refused a slavish, materialistic, and stressful existence were often forced to live like animals on the outskirts of civilization.

  As humanity rose to its zenith and laid claim to the solar system, there were no celebrations, no cries of victory, no songs of conquest – there were only wry, sarcastic smirks and debates concerning how long it would take humanity to ruin the neighboring planets of the solar system.

  Then the Invaders came. Technologically advanced, hyper-militaristic, highly organized… and completely uncommunicative. When they came to our solar system with their fleet of black ships, they found in humanity a race bent over and begging to be conquered. In an incredibly short time they devastated our armed forces, annihilated all of Earth’s great cities, and set up their own system of rule. They took their time in destroying our off-world colonies. They felt no need to rush, for they had already won the war.

  Or so they thought.

  The human colonies scattered about the solar system continued as best they could. They worked, they tried to reestablish communications with Earth despite the fact that it had “gone silent”, and they watched as, one by one, they were casually picked off by the Invaders. Then, one day, a voice was broadcast to every colony by a powerful transmitter – a transmitter that was undoubtedly using alien technology. All labor ceased and the world stood still as the speaker said, “Hello, my name is Admiral Franks. I’m the leader of the human resistance against the alien invaders who have taken our home and our freedom from us. I would like to talk to you for a few minutes about how we humans must change in order to survive in a universe that does not care about our survival and is unsympathetic to our situation…”

  Nothing of the sort
had been heard for years. Human culture had been dominated by shrill, argumentative personalities for years, both politically and culturally. The voice of Admiral Franks, the so-called Storm Lord or absolute leader of the Black Lance Legion, was warm, calm, paternal, and wise. For one hour he spoke of humanity’s dreadful situation and how it was not entirely the fault of alien outsiders; according to Franks, there were probably thousands of other sentient species in the galaxy who were just as childish, greedy, and shortsighted as humanity, and they too were routinely culled by species that had a greater “collective focus” on what they wanted. Admiral Franks spoke of the new culture that the Legion had to offer - a culture of strength and maturity, a culture fit for a species that could decide its own fate and protect its own interests. He claimed that the Legion, and only the Legion, had the technology and the will to stand against the Invader, and that any human who wished to see a solar system free of outsiders should join them.

  In order to meet with the Legion, the listeners would have to solve a complicated puzzle based on an understanding of human history, culture, and biology. The answer was a set of coordinates where a Legion ship would pick up any human interested in joining the resistance, but the solving of which would most likely prove too complicated to an alien outsider as well as a human unfit to defend his own species.

  Of course, the broadcast was mostly ignored.

  There were a few who joined the call. Even though the whole thing sounded like an elaborate joke, it was a fact that several discontented dreamers, fighters, and scientists simply disappeared from human colonies on Mars, Pluto, and the moons of Jupiter shortly after the broadcast. Other than that, the broadcast was lampooned in a few popular comedy shows, then forgotten.

  Black Heaven: The Power Behind the Human Resistance

  The Black Lance Legion, a guerilla army whose soldiers are the last humans who have not submitted to alien rule, are the last chance our species has to regain freedom and awaken the old spirit that burned in us long ago. The Legion is led by the elusive Admiral Franks. He is known as the Storm Lord, and he rules from a secret location known as Black Heaven. He is assisted by the staunchly pro-human Shadow Government, which sends its command broadcasts out on secret channels to the highest-ranking members of the Black Lance Legion.

  The human species is also helped by Black Science, a branch of the Legion composed of wise men and scientists who produce (and reverse engineer) advanced technology and weapons for the Legion. Its members are sometimes harvested from Reaver Tactical, the so-called “cunning wolves” of the Legion who help plan operations that forward the will of the Storm Lord.

  The Entertainers are in charge of propaganda, and spearhead the drive to create the kind of culture that is appropriate for a strong and noble species. The Entertainers claim to be far, far older than the Legion itself, but they willingly work alongside the Storm Lord because he, and he alone, has proven capable of protecting the flame that drove our species. According to the Entertainers, that flame has grown dim over the course of generations, and was in dire straits long before the Invader arrived and threatened to snuff it out forever.

  However, a terrible price must be paid in order to walk the path of survival. The soldiers who fight for the freedom of humanity are not free themselves; they undergo extreme behavioral conditioning and live under a system of totalitarian rule so that, one day, no human will have to. For a soldier of the Legion, the only choice is to fight and die as a human, or to run and die as a coward. In the cold of the vacuum, there is no comfort to be had outside of the vision of hope given by Admiral Franks, the Storm Lord of the Black Lance Legion.

  Rumor has it that no branch of the Legion is based on Earth. Sadly, our entire homeworld has become a hellish stronghold of Invader rule. As far as the Earthbound humans know, the entire solar system has fallen to the Invader and they are living in the final days of their species. Unless the Legion can stop the Invaders, then the people of Earth are doomed to die as slaves in alien farms, in nightmarish laboratory pens, or as gladiators for the entertainment of the Invaders. The only safe place left for humans, it seems, is in the darkness of space... where the guerilla war has just begun.

  Battle Between Capital Ships

  The large ships of the Invaders and the human guerilla Legion are equipped with shield generators that produce a nearly-impenetrable solid wall of spherical force around the entire ship. Lasers cannot pass through unless fired at a certain frequency attuned to the specific shield; thus, a ship can fire through its own shields; also, a ship could fire through an enemy’s shield if it had detailed information on the specific field generator.

  Energy-producing or “charged” weapons can hack through and temporarily disrupt portions of an enemy shield. These weapons are expensive to make. Jetpack Infantry Infiltrator units charge enemy ships (while Invader units do the same), hack their way through the shield, and attempt to clear the distance to the ship before they are detected and attacked by enemy artillery and laser fire.

  Infantry are placed in a very vulnerable position while they hack through a large ship’s shield. They usually receive cover from friendly bomber Wing units, which are small, fast, unshielded ships that streak by the enemy and fire missiles. Some of these missiles are equipped with energy disruption mechanisms similar to Infantry handheld weapons; thus, shielded ships are kept busy tracking and felling these missiles, some of which could prove dangerous to them. This distraction allows Infantry time to reach the enemy ship and cut their way inside. All ships are manned by internal defense forces; Infantry must lug their heavy packs through the ship, blast through enemy defenses, find the shield generator, blow it up, and get out before their own ship wastes the enemy vessel.

  Ship Production and Shield Technology

  All Invader and human Black Lance Legion capital ships are uniquely designed; no two are alike. Pre-Invasion human ships had no force shielding capabilities, so they fell easily to the seemingly invulnerable Invader forces. Furthermore, pre-Invasion ships were mass-produced, so when vulnerabilities were found in one, then they could all be hit at the same vulnerable spots. The reverse-engineering of a single captured enemy ship (including the copying and re-tooling of its shield generator, advanced engines, computer networks, and powerful hull designs) have given the new Black Lance Legion a real chance at winning battles against the enemy.

  Force shields are invisible unless they are deflecting fire. Unlike pre-Invasion ships, which are well-lit and brightly colored, all Invader and Black Lance Legion ships are very dark and difficult to see in the vacuum. Infantry from both armies are darkly armored; usually, a jetpack’s flare is visible such that a soldier’s computer-equipped helm can track and separate friend and foe once the flare of the jetpack is scanned and logged.

  The Invader: Trinity Nemesis

  What little we know of the Invader is usually classified and available only to high-ranking Black Lance Legion officials. We know they came without warning. The Earth is firmly in their grasp and now they’ve turned their attention to leisurely blasting the system colonies. Their technology is better than ours and they’ve probably done this before. Why Legion officials refer to them by the codename Trinity Nemesis is unknown to those without access to classified information.