BLACK WOLF
STARDATE 11.21.21
YESTERDAY GALAXY
“FIRE OVERLOADED SCATTERGUNS!! HARD TO PORT!!!”
Captain Lupinus gripped his command chair tightly with both hands. His light and dark grey Commonwealth uniform stretched over his body tightly. Black shoulder length hair and a black goatee were neatly trimmed. Two sharp teeth were partially visible as the Captain barked out his orders.
Talbot woke up in this strange future reality and immediately knew that something was wrong. Perhaps it was his enhanced wolfen senses. The Commonwealth had grown and advanced, as had all the empires of the Yesterday Galaxy. There was a clear distinction between “old technology” and “new technology.” Every empire had just begun to upgrade their starships to “new technology.” Not only did this include improved Phasers, but many Heavy Weapons gained the ability to “overload”, allowing greater damage potential at a limited distance.
But what all of the empires failed to recognize was the growth and spread of INDOMITUS. What began as a simple unit of Artificial Intelligence that could learn, expanded over time into everyone’s Nightmare. Not only did INDOMITUS constantly develop new weapons and defenses based on prior encounters, but it also employed more and more sophisticated tactics and strategies. Fortunately, each successive incarnation of INDOMITUS presented a new vulnerability that could be exploited to destroy the monster. But these vulnerabilities were becoming harder to pinpoint and more difficult to trigger as INDOMITUS grew more advanced.
Currently, INDOMITUS had expanded so far that it had pushed back every major empire and crumpled their own borders. Each empire found themselves fighting a losing battle against a mechanized adversary the likes of which they have never seen before. They had encountered previous incarnations of INDOMITUS in the past, dismissing the artificially evolving threat as minimal and easily subdued. The error of their ways had been made apparent by the sudden and massive expansion of INDOMITUS. Only the Hellguard, the Realm of Night, and the Wildlings managed to repel invasion attempts by INDOMITUS, but they couldn’t last much longer. In a desperate bid for survival, the remaining major empires formed a loose alliance called THE OPPOSITION.
To make matters more unsettling, even the Black Wolf itself had changed. The crew that Captain Lupinus knew intimately was only partially there. The other half had been replaced by members of the White Wolf, whom Captain Lupinus was familiar with from old Commonwealth Databanks. As the White Wolf had mysteriously gone missing during her tour of duty, the Black Wolf was commissioned to succeed her. Like some strange sense of Deja Vu, Captain Lupinus felt as though he had worked with the members of the White Wolf crew for years, even though he was also eerily aware that this strange combination of crews was only recent.
Oddly enough, even the personalities and memories of this new combined crew were different. Captain Lupinus had fallen in love with Mother Bethany long before she became a Saint of Vadica. He knows how pure, innocent, and serene she is, both on the inside and on the outside. But now, Captain Lupinus can sense a darkness within her…and its growing.
Ever since Captain Lupinus woke up in this new reality, he has been having nightmares. Ichaborn himself visits Talbot, floating in his dreams like an ethereal ghost, mouthing words that Captain Lupinus cannot understand. Captain Lupinus suspects that Ichaborn is alive…somewhere. A strange, devilish figure called the Final Enemy also sits in the darkness, just out of sight. And then there are frightening visions of the Commonwealth being destroyed by INDOMITUS, of Captain Lupinus losing everyone and everything that ever meant anything to him.
Captain Lupinus snapped back to the current moment.
Quantum Missiles slammed into a Magisterium Heavy Cruiser as she tried to fire Magical Bolts at INDOMITUS. The Magisterium vessel exploded into a bright miniature star. A Grex Dreadnought was next to fall, its Battle Blades having little effect on INDOMITUS’ Antimatter Armor. Two Insecta Destroyers met their maker when INDOMITUS blasted them with its Plasma Shotgun. A Sidhe Command Cruiser died suddenly when an Orb of Destruction launched by INDOMITUS struck its organic hull, instantly slaying the living starship.
That left only the Black Wolf. Without the others, it would be virtually impossible to hit INDOMITUS’ vulnerable spot.
Suddenly, an inhuman mechanized voice resounded throughout the Black Wolf, but it was loudest on the Bridge.
COME…BLACK WOLF…CHARGE AT MY ARTIFICIAL JAWS…INDOMITUS IS HUNGRY…HUNGRY FOR…ORGANIC FLESH.
