Rebirth of the Hunter

[Seth Karlo]

//Quick edit: As I posted this here, it means people are welcome to respond. Thanks!

They thought that the destruction of his ship would stop him.

They thought that the sting of defeat would make his concentration falter.

They thought he would not return.

They were wrong.

Salazar sat carefully into the chair of the Immortal Hunter MK2. Serena sat in a chair on his left, and the chair to his right was empty. Teya sat in the ensigns chair in front and slightly below him, and the rest of the bridge crew stood or sat at their various stations.

The Immortal Hunter was a good ship. She had destroyed many, she had kept them safe through good and bad, protected them from space, protected them from enemy fire, protected them through it all. But she was so weak.

She had been old. She had been ill-equipped. She had been badly armored.

The Immortal Hunter MK2 was none of them. The power that throbbed through her veins vibrated through every person on board. The large Razor on the front of the hull was charged. The flak cannons attached to the top of the ship were loaded. The engines were outfitted with an incredible technology which allowed them to jump out of the system and eject cargo behind them, allowing them to appear to explode while they got away safely.

That should make the Bretonians confused.

Salazar laughed quietly. He would now target not only the Armed Forces, not only the Police, but the civilians. Bowex. Gateway. Cryer. They would all regret naming themselves Bretonian. The Kusarians had refused to work with him, so they would die aswell. The Molly's were becoming too arrogant, they needed to die. The Libertonians were annoying him, but for now they could be destroyed by the Rheinlanders for now, he had no desire to fly to Liberty. Perhaps after he crushed the Bretonians.

He also remembered the Vengeance. Soon... soon she would appear. And when she did, she would be the guardian of the Phoenix shipyards. Protecting them from any fools who discovered them.

Perhaps one day he would bring the Vengeance and the Immortal Hunter together to Bretonia... reap havoc on any fools in his way... destruction left and right, death all over.

Salazar smiled again.

The Immortal Hunter entered leeds quietly, and Salazar opened the comms.

"Hear me Bretonians. Laugh no more. Celebrate no more. I have returned, and the Immortal Hunter is once again here to haunt your dreams. Talk to me not of your boredom of my words, for I am not interested. You have heard me now, you have been warned. You cannot do anything to stop this from occuring, so why am I telling you? I am telling you so you can run. You can leave Bretonia now, and I may be merciful, I may not kill you."

Salazar cut the comms, and smiled as a Bretonian battleship appeared on scanners. Named the HMS Stonehenge it seemed.

"Hello Stonehenge..." Salazar muttered, and Serena next to him stood, grinning as she did so.

"This is the HMS Stonehenge, you will stand down immediatly and prepare to be boarded."

Salazar laughed, pure and loud, and anyone listening to the comms shuddered at the sound. He stood, pointing at the screen and shrieked.

"FIRE!"

The Immortal Hunter's cannons powered up, firing at the same time as the Stonehenge. The ensign of the Bretonian ship was good, using the smaller mass to strafe from side to side, didging a good deal of fire. Salazar laughed again and bellowed at Teya.

"Move us in close!"

Teya did as she was told, moving the Immortal Hunter closer. At this range, the Stonehenge started to falter. Her shields failed as the 'Hunter's pulse cannons struck them, and Salazar cackled as his Heavy Mortar gunner scored a direct hit on the enemy vessel.

The Stonehenge started to power her engines to get away, and the standard surrender transmission started playing.

"This is Captain Terry Hansen of the HMS Stonehenge, we hereby surrender, please cease fire and allow us to leave. I repeat, we surrender."

Salazar laughed again and raised his hand, stopping the fire from his ship. He opened the comms and leant close to them.

A gateway shuttle in orbit of Leeds was listening. A gateway employee sat at the helm, listening through the comms to this battle going on, and then his blood ran cold as he heard a low voice whispering.

"There is no escape... there is no surrender... there is no mercy."

The Immortal Hunter fired one shot. Just one. The Heavy Mortar blast shot across space quickly, and impacted with the Stonehenge in a bright explosion. The ship snapped in two, secondary explosions breaking the ship into even more pieces.

At the BAF headquarters, officers ran around frantically. Salazar was back, Salazar was fighting the Stonehenge, Salazar had destroyed the Stonehenge. News came flitting through in bits and pieces, and then everyone froze as a command came over the speakers. It was 4 words, just 4, but those 4 words made people scream in anger, made people cry in sorrow, made people yell in pure frustration.

"Target the escape pods" came Salazars voice. And in space, the cannons of the Immortal Hunter powered up, and one by one started firing at the small pods.

Captain Terry Hansen stood on the deck of his ship, and with his last energy, set the self destruct sequence. A large chunk of metal stuck out of his side, and his vision was blurry.

He powered up the thrusters, and powered half of his once incredible ship between the Immortal Hunter and his men trying to escape.

"DIE YOU SON OF A BITCH!" He screamed as the HMS Stonehenge exploded in a huge flame. On the deck of the Immortal Hunter, Salazar covered his eyes at the sight, and when his vision cleared, his shields had failed, the Immortal Hunter had some scratches, but other than that was fine.

And on Planet Leeds, in the BAF headquarters, the Admirals waited with baited breath, knowing that an explosion of that size would wipe out an Outcast Dreadnought, without fail.

And then they heard his laugh.

"This is not the Immortal Hunter fools! This is the Immortal Hunter Mark 2! Kill all survivors...except one pod. Let a small amount of people live... they can tell the tales."

His laughter was the last thing many people heard before their escape pods exploded around them.

It was a day of tears, and sorrow, and anger for the Bretonians. It was a day of laughter for Salazar.

And then the taunt came over the comms system:

"Come on then Bretonians... let's see how you answer..."

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