Sabledrake Magazine
May, 2003
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The Oleander's Pryde
Copyright © 2003 by Jason Bolton
"This is the Hillsfarian Merchantman Oleander's Pryde," a bald tan-bearded dwarf announced, fright in his eyes.
The cargo ship's bridge could be made out behind the dwarf as well as an open door where another sailor stood, laser rifle in hand. Sounds of weapons fire and the screams of combat could be heard in the background over the ship's klaxon alarms.
"We are under attack by a strange ship and have been boarded…" The transmission was blotted out by momentary static then the face returned. "…need assistance. We can not hold out much longer."
As he made this last statement, the sailor behind him began firing his rifle at an unseen target and was suddenly tackled by something that looked humanoid from the back. The sailor screamed as it buried its face into his neck and quickly tore him to pieces.
"Please help us," the dwarf pleaded as the attacker behind him looked up from the shredded body of the sailor and turned its blood-covered face towards the dwarf.
Literally in the blink of an eye it was behind him and didn't waste a second biting his neck. The dwarf let out an agonizing scream and the screen was suddenly covered with blood and then static.
"Take the recording back two-one-eight," an elfin officer ordered as he stepped towards the monitor from the side of the room.
The image was played back and frozen to the part where the attacker appeared behind the dwarf. The face was skeletal with glowing red points as eyes, a few strands of white hair and a mouth unhidden by flesh exposing extended fangs.
"This is your enemy," Rear Admiral Sturlander announced to the assembled Dragonne Marines. The monitor was twice the blue elf's size but his laser pointer put a steady red dot on the attacker's forehead.
"We received this transmission a quarter of a season ago but our probes into the area show the Oleander's Pryde is still there. The barque Dwarf's Hammer will take you to it, grapple it and you will board her through boarding tubes. We suspect that the enemy is long gone but if not destroy them with extreme prejudice. Once we have secured the ship, the Dwarf's Hammer will take it in tow until a prize crew can be put aboard. For a single turn of the hourglass you will be on your own so do not take any chances. Any questions?"
There was none so he ordered the room to report to the Dwarf's Hammer.
Major Aira, the Gold Dragonne who had been chosen to command the boarding party, gazed intently at the monitor wondering what kind of creature it was. She hoped silently that they would not find out on the Oleander's Pryde and if they did find them there, her fellow Dragonnes could handle them. There were just too many uncertainties about the whole mission and it didn't bode well with her.
Dragonnes were the second deadliest beings in the Realms, next to their dragon kin of course. They were simply a more compact version of them, more able to fit into Realm society. Because of this there were few Realm Marines who were not Dragonnes and even they could not win a hand to hand fight against one of her kind.
They were mini dragons with scales, wings, snouts, breath weapons, spells and all of them could speak the Realm Common along with their native language. Dragonnes towered over most of the other member races of the Realms and were generally more powerful as a whole.
It was time for Aira and her fellow Dragonnes to remind everyone why they were Realm Marines. With these thoughts, Captain Aira left the briefing room and headed to the docking tube where she would join the seventy-five marines she would be leading.
On the bridge of the Dwarf's Hammer, Captain Adrek sat in his command chair silently watching his bridge crew go about their preparations to get underway. Adrek was a blue elf with blue-white hair and aquamarine eyes from the ocean planet of Shamiria in the Realm Province of Moonshae.
He saw this mission as an opportunity to show his commanders his abilities and hopefully get promoted. Sure he knew that he was being sacrificed as bait for their mysterious enemy if they were still around, but he was betting they weren't. And if they were, so much the better. He had a good crew and they could handle themselves if attacked.
"All marines are aboard, Captain," Adrek's First Mate reported. "We are cleared to depart."
"Send acknowledgement and retract the boarding tubes." Adrek replied.
"Aye sir," the First Mate responded and passed on the Captain's orders.
It took only a few moments to carry out the Captain's orders and for the First Mate to report they were complete.
"Take us to full sails," Adrek commanded. "Helm, all ahead flank."
"Full sails, aye," the First Mate replied.
"All ahead flank, aye." The Helmsman called back to the captain.
The Barque's solar sails seemed to ripple and expand as the Dwarf's Hammer pulled away from the dozens of ships that made up Rear Admiral Sturlander's Fifth Fleet. In order to keep the fleet together all the ships in the fleet could only travel as fast as the slowest ship. Once ahead of the fleet by several ship lengths, the Dwarf's Hammer's gun ports opened and its particle cannons were extended outward. It looked sleek and quarrelsome as it raced through the sea of stars.
Back on the bridge sometime later, the lookouts reported sighting the Oleander's Pryde from their bridge stations.
"Take us to battle sails," Adrek ordered.
"Battle sails, aye," parroted the First Mate.
"Distance to Oleander's Pryde?" Adrek requested.
"Six hundred, sire," the lookout reported.
The Dwarf's Hammer glided to where the Oleander's Pryde hung lifeless in space. The Dwarf's Hammer was a fast sixteen gun barque with a crew of one hundred twenty plus the current compliment of forty Dragonnes Marines currently aboard. It was hoped that if the Oleanders Pryde was still occupied and its new crew decided to fight, the Dwarf's Hammer's speed and firepower would be enough to over power them. It didn't take long before Adrek could see the merchant ship through the bridge observation windows.
"Helm, slow to ahead one quarter and make your pass on our starboard side."
"Aye, sir."
"All starboard guns standby to fire warning shots across her sails as we pass." Arden was hoping this would draw fire from the merchantman if anyone were still aboard.
"Fire," he commanded as the Oleander's Pryde disappeared to the right of the observation windows.
Electric blue energy bolts burst from the starboard side and shot between the already tattered solar sails of the Oleander's Pryde.
"Any response?" he asked the lookouts.
"No, sir. Nothing." Came the reply.
"Helm, bring her alongside to our port."
"Aye, sir." And the ship immediately began to turn around.
"Tell the marines to get ready on the portside," Adrek said to his First Mate praying to Djulon the Goddess of Luck had blessed them.
Down on the portside of the quarterdeck, Major Aira waited impatiently in her battle armor behind her point guard, which consisted of eight sets of red Dragonnes. Each set would lead the way down the eight boarding tubes onto the Oleander's Pryde. Aira would follow the pair going through the number three tube. Only fifty-nine of her seventy five marines were going aboard, the rest were to guard the boarding tubes and prevent anything from getting onto the Dwarf's Hammer.
In Aira's right hand was a double-barreled rapid firing pulse rail cannon guaranteed not to puncture the ships hull but would tear apart anything else it hit. Strapped to her back was her close quarters weapon, a huge silver double edged battle axe which could puncture the ships armored hull with a direct blow but she would have to be trying to do so.
None of the marines were wearing their airtight helmets because during their pass of the Oleander's Pryde the lookouts observed no damage to the ship's hull only their sails had taken damage. Aira was thankful because this gave her troops the ability to use their breath weapons if the need arose and she had a bad feeling it would.
Outside the portholes, the Oleander's Pryde crept by and eventually stopped. Aira ordered the boarding tubes extended and locked into place as grapples were attached from the gun deck below. Once the boarding tubes were sealed, she ordered her point guard forward to the airlocks. Aira floated through the boarding tubes in zero gravity and set her feet on the deck of the Oleander's Pryde's airlock floor thankful there was gravity aboard the stricken ship.
Behind her marines were packed into the boarding tube waiting to rush aboard. Aira raised her rifle up to the hatch her point guards were preparing to open. When everyone reported ready, she gave the order to commence and nodded to the Red Dragonnes before her who punched a control panel opening the inner airlock.
The two Red Dragonnes rushed forward with Aira close behind but they quickly came to a halt at what their shoulder lanterns had revealed.
There were black pools of dried blood scattered everywhere but no bodies, which seemed to irk everyone.
Aira nudged her point guards forward and the rest of the Dragonne Marines began to disperse throughout the ship. The ship was dark and cold and soon filled with sweeping beams of shoulder lanterns. Aira headed forward through the officer's quarters towards the bridge. The walls were spattered with blood while the deck was dotted with the occasional black pool.
The smell of death was rancid in the air and it made Aira's long snout twitch in discomfort. Where were the bodies? she wondered as she stepped past an empty stateroom. One of her squads had reached the cargo hold and found that it was untouched which she found even more strange.
Aira finally reached the spot where the unknown sailor had been mauled outside the bridge and only a big black stain was left as evidence. She could see the scene of his death in her mind's eye and she looked from that spot into the bridge.
She found the blood-covered terminal where the dwarf had made his transmission. The terminal was twenty sword lengths from the dried blood puddle in the hallway where the creature had been seconds before appearing behind the dwarf, farther than what it appeared on the transmission. This made things even worse. It meant that what ever these things were they could teleport in an instant making them very dangerous. Good thing they were gone, she thought to herself and she headed onto the bridge.
Waving her lantern around the room, she found the console containing the internal illuminator controls and activated them bathing the bridge in bright florescent light. Suddenly the sound of weapons fire and Dragonne roars, in both pain and anger, echoed through the ship.
"This is Major Aira, report," she called into her headset.
"They came out of nowhere and took out the guards at the airlocks." Someone yelled back. They are everywhere and have pushed themselves over to the Dwarf's…" then static.
"Everyone to the quarterdeck, now!" Aira shouted and ran out the door and back down the corridor.
She had only gone a short distance when a Red Dragonne in front of her was tackled by what looked like the rotting corpse of an elfish sailor. It overpowered the roaring Dragonne, taking punishment from claws and fangs it normally would not have been able to withstand.
Aira pointed her railcannon and fired at the top of its head. Besides the smoking hole in its skull, there was no indication it had been hit. Suddenly the Dragonne's right arm was yanked from its socket bringing forth a roar in pain. Knowing he was about to die, he took a deep breath and blew fire at his attacker, which had just thrown his arm to the side.
Now ablaze, it continued its attack biting into the pinned Dragonne's neck. Aira dropped her useless rifle, pulled the axe from its back sheath and charged the scene. Knowing the Red Dragonne was already dead and couldn't be saved, Aira brought the battle-axe down from over her head with all her strength. Its huge blade sank into the smoldering attacker's back, passing through the body of the Dragonne and imbedding itself into the steel deck with a _shing. It let out a short shriek and stopped moving.
"Attention, this is Major Aira," she called into her headset as she pulled her axe free with great effort. "Use you hand to hand weapons, it apparently kills them." Without waiting for a reply, Aira continued down the corridor towards the docking chamber.
Captain Adrek cursed as he sat listening to the reports of the battle being waged on his ship from the sealed bridge. Video monitors around him showed it in living, horrifying color. They were being slowly overwhelmed. Nothing seemed to be able to stop the creatures from killing his crewmembers, one after the other as they tried to run for their lives. It was a slaughter.
"Get me the Admiral," Adrek ordered with nervous sweat beading on his forehead.
He walked over to a com-terminal where Rear Admiral Sturlander's image appeared on the monitor asking for a report.
"Our boarding party was attacked on board the Oleander's Pryde and were unable to keep the attackers off the Dwarf's Hammer. My crew is being slaughtered and the boarding party has all but been annihilated. If we do not get help soon, we will be overwhelmed, sire."
Rear Admiral Sturlander sat back and pondered the situation just as a loud pounding began behind Captain Adrek. The Dwarf's Hammer was certainly lost, he realized, wondering if it would be worth the effort to retake the ship. There was the possibility that these creatures would merely spread to other ships and kill their crews as well. They were like a plague and there were strict regulations for such a situation.
"Captain Adrek," Sturlander said carefully. "I am declaring a type two emergency aboard the Dwarf's Hammer and the Oleander's Pryde."
Adrek looked back at him with shock and fear but then solemnly looked down and nodded. "I will activate the scuttling charges posthaste, sire."
Just as he finished the sentence a loud crash echoed in the background and Captain Adrek was slammed against the terminal where he let out a scream and the transmission ended.
Sturlander watched the empty monitor in stunned silence for a moment before ordering to be put in contact with the captains of his fleet's two War Galleons. They would have to do what Captain Adrek failed to do. Destroy the affected ships.
Back in the docking chamber of the Oleander's Pryde, Major Aira fought back to back with the last twelve Dragonne Marines. They all had axes and broadswords in each hand as they hacked and slashed at an enemy three times in number.
Aira knew it was only a matter of time before they joined their comrade's corpses on the floor. That was how she thought of her enemy. Living corpses. They resembled decayed dwarves, halflings, elves and half-orcs and terrans but their eyes glowed red and they all had fangs.
They were also supernaturally quick and could only be hurt by silver weapons and killed with ones that had been magically enhanced. The acid spit from the Black Dragonnes seemed to do the trick too, but the last Black Dragonne was torn to pieces a short time ago.
Every one of the last twelve Dragonnes had been injured in some way. Aira's own left wing hung in tattered ruins. They were fighting the cause and they knew it but they refused to surrender to the inevitable. It just wasn't in their nature. But then Aira had an idea.
"We must get to the escape boats," Aira shouted over the fighting, slashing a charging Zombie in half from collar to crotch.
"If we break off we will be slaughtered," a Red Dragonne to her right replied cutting the head off another zombie.
"All of you maintain this formation but make your way towards the portside aft corridor," she ordered impaling a zombie through the chest while splitting its head open with her axe.
Two more Dragonnes fell before they reached the corridor which was only wide enough for three Dragonnes abreast which would give four of them a few moments rest at a time.
Aira was one of the first four but rather then rest she cast a fireball spell down each end of the corridor and she was rewarded by the sight of smoldering zombie pieces flying through the air where the fireballs had hit. It was all she could cast before forced to take the place of a fellow Gold Dragonne who was tackled covering the rear guard. Another fireball erupted in the direction they were headed by a Red Dragonne who had just been relieved by a blue. The red continued to cast fireball after fireball down the corridor now that his attention could be put to it and soon an escape boat hatch came into view.
When the hatch was between the forward and rear guard, they halted while a bronze worked the control panel, opening the hatch. Somehow sensing what the Dragonne marines were planning, the zombies surged forward just as an explosion rocked the ship.
"Who is firing on us?" A young red in the middle of the group yelled of the chaos of battle.
"It must be our fleet," Aira replied. "They must think everyone aboard is dead and they do not want to lose anymore to these beasts."
The explosions continued now in earnest as particle blasts ripped through the merchantman. Strong gale like winds swept over them as the hull was breached and the air was sucked out the holes.
Without further words the three middle Dragonnes got into the escape boat and the two Dragonne lines backed up towards the hatch. One Dragonne on each side was dragged to the deck by the mob of zombies as one more made it into the escape boat.
The air was quickly getting thin as the last three Dragonnes, with Aira in the middle, fended off the zombie horde. Just as the Dragonnes on each side of her were overwhelmed, the ship's gravity field failed and everyone began to float.
Major Aira was pulled by her tail into the escape boat and it blasted itself away from the Oleander's Pryde as a particle blast hit the main reactor causing it to explode in a bright flash of light.
**