[U,08] Lojar System

Lojar
Surface
Biannual Oshmio Celebrations

---

Radioactive acid rain beat down on Lojar. The crackle of gunfire was heard in the distance, and a nuclear explosion went off on the horizon. Wind ripped through the training ground bunker as the pirate lords began the 145th Biannual Oshmio event. Every time the pirate lords came back to Lojar all hell broke loose, the badlands were made badder as the young flocked from lands afar.

Looting, rape and abduction were widespread, as many fled to the un-plagued hills for protection. Slasher Omega was the particular pirate lord hosting this Oshmio. He lined up all the recruits for their first ring of trials, the assault course. They bundled into a dark tunnel, jogging at a pace, the screams of Lojari young filled the tunnel, echoing ominously.

They stormed out of the tunnel into what appeared to be a stormdrain, as they ran along the drain a large 4 legged feline creature dived into the drain, mauling an initiate. Horror overtook the initiates before a voice boomed "Run for your lives! Fight for your lives! Kill for your lives!"

It was as this stage the 4 legged feline was pulled apart by 16 initiates, clawing at the beast as it screamed going down. The Lojari initiates stuffed its flesh and meat into their mouths and proceeded after killing it, driven mad by blood lust. Many initiates pulled the beast's fangs from its mouth to use as weapons in the later trials as they sprinted down the storm drain. After half a miles adrenaline-fueled sprinting, hot starship fuel was poured into the drain, some succumbed to the furious skin blistering goo and fell, living, but soon to be dead, trampled to death by the initiates burning their boots on the fuel.

The fuel was then ignited and all who were slow were consumed in the fire. "Good initiates, good, but can you survive unpredictable situations?" The initiates were subject to automatic fire, some warriors picked up the corpses of their fallen brothers and powered on with them on their backs to cover themselves from the automatic fire. Blood caked, snot stained powered through the course as yet another 4 legged feline was leaked into the track, some were so far ahead they had pulled out the chaos.

They approached the next hurdle, a minefield. "You must use your brain, or you will die!" The leader of the pack, Xamlai, a young initiate who showed nothing but prowess, sprinted into the field, and threw the body of a fallen initiate in front of him, clearing the mine in a large explosion.

After that, he turned, and taunted the 4 legged beast killing another initiate. It stopped from its feast and looked up at him, hungry for a feed, it charged him. He sprinted towards it, diving as it dived at him. He dived under it, sending it exploding into the minefield. Its parts landed all over, clearing a passage in the field, causing the initiates to break through. It was then that a pirate bullet ripped through his shoulder.

"You are a leader, LEADERS DIE FIRST!" He grunted as his shoulder oozed brown blood, he charged through, jamming the feline fang into his wound to stop the bleeding, he roared, he was the best warrior his village had seen in years, but he wasn't immortal.

Some of the weaker initiates who had managed to sprint through without any real combat or hazards were picked off by pirate snipers, or wounded to see how they would fight. Smaller hazards were released, but some pirates had already picked their favourites and started to throw weapons and medical gel onto the arena.

Xamlai could see the final ring, he sprinted through its arches, looking around at the screaming pirate spectators. It was then that a large hole opened in the middle of the arena. The remaining warriors, of which there were 7, led by Xamlai, stared as the bottom of the arena gave birth to a synthetic cyborg Lojari.

The cyborg powered on, its mechanical mind ticking and whirring with its organic senses in tune. The arena that was once flat shifted as the floor did, pillars, cover and walls erupted from the floor. Xamlai watched the chaos unfold, Lojari tired in vain to destroy the creature as it outsmarted, trapped and ripped apart his fellow initiates. Xamlai scoured for a weapon. Whilst other initiates had found assault rifles or other such weaponry, Xamlai was only able to find nothing.

The cyborg was then shot in the back, it kneeled over, weakened. The initiates thought they had won, Xamlai looked as they moved over to the husk of the robot, as they got closer, the robot revealed it's deception, from its belly down position it un-naturally deployed a weapon from between where its deltoid muscles would have been, sawing the initiates in half. Xamlai sprinted from his viewing point as the laser turned on him. He heard the robot scuttling around on its hands and legs now, like a spider. As it crawled up the other side of the wall from him he forcibly kicked the wall, knocking over the robot. With precious seconds to go he grabbed the only weapon he could, a rock. He bashed wildly at the robot as it spun with him in the sand, kicking up dirt and breaking both his legs instantly. He crushed the laser lens of the tail, and, not without smashing his own teeth, he bit through the power cables of the robot, dazed and confused, the machine recoiled. With his one good arm, Xamlai smashed the robot until he could smash no more, he clawed at the plating on the brain of the robot, pulling it off and scraped out the processors of the machine, taking his nails in the process.

All he could feel was raw instinctive rage, once the ringing and pounding in his ears had stopped he could hear a roar, cheering, cheering that hadn't been heard for in years on Lojar. As he looked up to the pirate procession, he looked at the LCD display on the screen. "III" was displayed, he had become a third class warrior.

Onboard the Type-O7 the two crew members were gobsmacked. One said to the other "Can you believe this is what they came from? Savages, savages all, I hope fleet comes back here and wipes these suckers out. Spool the drive and vent heat, get us out of here, we've seen enough. Cam's reporting its full, get the AI to process once we're out the other end."

Having captured most of the intelligence they required the Nakar ship then powered up its ship for a jump and jumped out of the system with relative ease.

"H, whu?" Yathrok was gobsmacked. They just left everyone behind? What sort of way of fighting a conflict was this! He scratched the top of his head as the fleet came into weapons range. He established communications with his fleet.

<:: "Uhm, scan the surroundings, be ready to engage any planetary weaponry there may be, or fighters. Otherwise prepare to patrol the system."

Yathrok was puzzled. He looked to his communications officer. "Alright, look, here's the order. Get me a communication link with the capital, an open one, and find out what the hell I'm supposed to do with this planet."

---

The LED display on the line went blue, Yathrok was connected to Declamatorius and Phalrillion.

"What do you have for me Yathrok?"

"Sir, it's hard to put this sensibly, but they've fled."

"An excellent result, and you lost no ships in this conflict, another medal for you I'd say hm?"

"No no, sir, they didn't fight, they're gone, they're all gone."

Declamatorius narrowed his eyes and dipped his head. "What do you mean gone?"

"Spooled and jumped, planet is defenceless."

"And planetary weaponry?"

"Nothing sir, nothing at all, they're not fighting us."

"Hmm, this changes the situation. Station the fleet over the planet for the mean time... and survey the surface for any resources."

"Will do."

"Goodbye, Admiral."

With that the link went dead, the admiral relayed the orders. "Well, you heard the nakar, lets get on it."

The dreadnoughts broke apart and began to form around the planet in a grid, preparing to survey and possibly land troops.

Lojar
Gridpoint 723362

---

As Zobir walked across the desert, a swarm of fist sized UAV drones flaked across the horizon. They spotted him and sent a stream of messages to the other battle suits in the area. Some keyed him in, other's linked together to form a defensive anti-air net. He would hear thumping however, the thumping of a Praxius jogging towards him at a leisurely pace. Within 5 minutes they were in visual range of eachother. The towering PRAXIUS suit stood over the man, it was an AH-1D assault variant, armed with a 30mm cannon and a long range flamethrower. The pilot light on its left arm sparked as it emitted a dull burning tone, and the cannon started spinning in preparation. It projected a large blue light over the Lojari traveller and sent information to the ship in orbit.

<:: "Translation software has been downloaded from our cloud, converse with him 7-122"

<:: "Copy that, I'm watching him, you talk."

The machine emitted a small siren hoot then began to speak. "Attention Lojari, stop, you are in violation of the Imperial occupational zone, you may continue to travel, however you must be warned you will be custom to Imperial occupational law.... To hell with this."

The barrel of the large assault bot fired a compact cluster of 3 shells are the small figures silhouette and annihilated him.

Co-written for first post.
One Year Later

Surket-Jabojbi
Governer's Office

Governer Gredrademkum stood looking out at the surface of the planet. Lojar disgusted him, but it would prove to be a fine pearl on his chest. Maybe after he made this damn rock civilised the courts would respect him. Being a war hero wasn't enough for the capital anymore, he had to be a social figure if he wanted a future in politics, and realistically the retirement package and family security that meant for him. Declamatorius had thrown him a bone, only one Nakar could smash rebellion like Gredrademkum, and that was Banion himself. Therefore Gredrademkum enjoyed a very relaxed leash on his ruling, and he intended to use it to its fullest extent. This misbegotten race had pirated their way through everything, never worked together for anything. Selfish, disgusting creatures. If the Great Dynamic didn't abhor genocide Gredrademkum would have burned this stupid rock down the ground already. It wasn't even an effective colony, its ecosystem was ruined. Its workforce were uneducated. The silver lining to this cloud was that Declamatorius' council had accepted Gredrademkum's wish to make the Lojari a slave race for the time being, even if it was transitional. His daze was interrupted when his door opened to reveal the Lojari Conservative Representatives. Gods above, what a disgusting bunch of people, so backward, their foolish traditions, its amazing they even understood how to get to their stars when they seemed to only want to play in the mud.

The conservatives sat, Gred thought to himself about the dirt they probably had on those stinking robes, and how those chairs were for real diplomats, not filthy sand urchins. Gred himself sat on his desk.

"Speak Lojari, make it quick, I have an emissary from the capital I have squeezed in after you, so this appointment must be 15 minutes or less." A blatant lie, the capital didn't give a squirt of piss about this rock, and for good reason.

The conservative representatives were nervous, the gateway to power was shut and the creature in front of them was the gatekeeper. Like the Korentical Hydra it was cunning and cruel, and appeals to its vanity only worked so well, one of them spoke out.

"Lord Gredrademkum, we bring to you solutions for the strikes, rebellions and insurgencies that are gripping the colonies, specifically the Sacred city of Kalurshan."

Gredrademkum smiled to the representatives, "My kinsmen, please, your solutions are well noted but the government of Lojar has already got an effective solution to the problem, and we are trying our best to please both sides of the community. A fusion bomb strike on Kalurshan has been authorised by the local ground batteries, effectively cutting the head off the snake!"

"But my lord please!"

"Am I not governor?!" Gredrademkum stood so hard his chair fell out from behind him, his voice escalating to booming levels, time to put these lowly teeth-grit tier creatures in their place. "I am Lord Governer Supreme and the Manifest Destiny of your misbegotten race, leave now or you too shall be sent to hard labour for your hubris. My will is reality, you will see the glory of the Great Dynamic, or fall to ash and shadow."


Tekrap-Guk
Temple of the Scorched Face

Incense burned in a wrecked temple. Lojari children sat coddled around a fire, warming their hands. The mountain rejoins of the Tekrap-Guk province proved difficult for the Nakar dropship's to scan, so these highlands were a natural area of resistance. Life under their alien masters was strange, working in low production factories.

Citizens rights did not exist for the Lojari, their intergalactic reputation as pirates left them unmentioned in the Galactic Council.

The old Lojari ways were still strong in these provinces. Martial practises had been kept traditional. However they needed to remain hidden from the Nakar's ever spreading malignant and suffocating culture. Many teachers of the old ways had been imprisoned or moved to other labour camps throughout the Empire.

Serrap approached the temple stairs, a bird cooed through the hole in the roof. He coughs lightly before beginning. He opened his mouth, his words warmed the temples walls as he spoke of better times, a generic sermon to keep his agricultural trading village holding onto hope.

"In times of hardship we look to the gods for answers. From losses in battle to simple failures in stitching, Lojari look to the stars and curse the gods. And the gods have answered us with this test. The Nakar, although we do not understand them, they are the will of the gods, and just as the gods have delivered them to us, the gods divine power can take them away. But what makes the gods powerful? What gives Lojari the energy to carry out the will of the Ascendants?"

"Weapons!"
"Ships!"
"Fusion Bombs!"

"No no, my friends, although those help, it is the-"

The ground shook, the hole in the temple roof showed the sky glowing a bright white. The surmon eagerly shuffled through the temple to the windows to see the horrific cloud of a fusion bomb.

"The sacred city of Kalurshan!"

The outcries was correct, silent prayers were uttered as the large blue flash had engulfed the lives of millions of Lojari citizens.

"What do we do! Resting place of the Ascendants! The gods are dead! THE GODS ARE DEAD!"

Not just the temple, but furthermore the town had erupted into pandemonium, people sprinting through its streets and its passageways. Panic had gripped people escaping their towns across the nearby area, local Nakar peace keepers dealt with escalated tensions, so much so the Nakar news networks had started to cover the incidents. But in this particular village of Tekrap-Guk, for the citizens of the town, something miraculous occurred.

A drop-ship smashed into reality above the village. Stunning the Lojari citizens. Covered in the holy scriptures and symbols of the Lojari Ascendancy. To gaze upon their technology inspired any race. the angular stealth drop ship quickly flew down to the village and came to a standstill, its bright white engines quietly burning. The ship opened, revealing a red light inside. Small parts broke off the large ship and came down from the ship to Serrap. As these drones were mid flight, the last thing Serrap heard was a large boom, making him feel intensely stunned, following this he collapsed, falling into a deep sleep.

Surket-Jabojbi
Governer's Office

---

Declamatorius was livid, Gredrademkum had served with him in the public offices of the capital, he seemed level headed, trustworthy, but never had he seen such misplaced pride.

"You FOOL, what the HELL do you think you are doing out there? We give you a flea colony, a flea colony and you can't even manage that!"

"My lord, I was simply trying to be-"

"Silence!" Declamatorious bellowed, a crash was heard in the background audio of his holographic display. He regained his composure and returned to the visual display. After a long sigh he stared idly at the other side of the hologram.

"Well, Gredrademkum, what is it you have to tell me, other than what I already know."

"Production is up, these savages still refuse to be domesticated, factory out-"

"And was that before or after you destroyed what they considered to be sacred?"

Gredrademkum flared his nostrils, causes the scales on the middle of his face to shiver, he was getting tired of doing work he only considered to be favourable to the empires values. Declamatorious once again rolled his eyes and waved his hand in a circular motion. "Continue continue."

"Factory output has dipped in the last few days, and we are now seeing attempts at overthrowing the local peace keepers. Our analysis of the Lojari people suggest that this planet is merely a seeding ground. A mating place and ritualistic recruitment ground, something we now know as the "Oshmio" and "Grand Oshmio" happens every few years."

"What of this celebration, is it a feast? A holiday? A commitment to art?"

"No, it is a melee, against beasts, each other, even robotics have known to be involved."

"To what gain?"

"They appear to sieve their populace for warrior duties, and after this warrior test has been passed then they disapear to space unknown."

"Warriors, educated in the pan and tested in the fire."

"Savages mostly, that's all that's left on this planet, the useless crop and the young."

"The young are not to be dismissed, especially not when we know what these creatures can do when matured. I want you to try and salvage this situation, build roads, schools, hospitals, give them infrastructure and our way of life."

"But my lord, these savages won't simply-"

"I didn't ask for debate, Gredrademkum, if you can come back and show me that the approved infrastructure plan will fail, then I will give you free roam to do as you wish."