Forward to Termination (Part III)

[Duerer]

*recommended reading*

As the rangers valiantly fought on the surface of Vilnius, Jerzy was still struggling with the renegade patrol on the planet's orbit. The longer the fight for the portal went on, the longer the Chief Librarian had to keep the alerted patrol busy until the supposed return of his allies. Alas...


*BA-BOOM*
Kopernik Mega Internal Computer: "Shield Energy at 0%. Hull severely damaged."
Jerzy Durer: "Morawiec, please respond! I can't hold them all off!"


Communicator: *deafening silence*
Jerzy Durer: "Hey, don't tell me you just bit the dust! Come on, Witold!"


*BA-BOOM*
Jerzy Durer: "SAY SOMETHING, YOU-"


*PEW-PEW-PEW*
*BA-DA-BLAM*


Jerzy Durer: "Wait, what's going on?"


URP Naval Commander: "We'll take it from here, Chief Librarian. You better land on the planet's surface to aid your friends there."
Jerzy Durer: "Hold on, how did you know it was me in here? How do you even know about our operation?"
URP Naval Commander: "A pal of yours just sent a distress call from the planet's surface and we thought helping you all out was the most logical thing to do. Just leave the orbital station to us!"


Jerzy Durer: "Uhm, right. I'll get going... *to himself* Something's not right. Witold and the others aren't responding, yet some called in reinforcements to deal with the renegade patrol. Guess I'll have to check out what's going on, after all..."

[ninja_bait]

[Duerer]

Meanwhile on the surface of Vilnius


Renegade Soldier: "Whatever you try to do with that portal, it's all useless! Only a matter of time til the end of days-"
HunGreen: "Yeah, whatever kiddo. Just tag along and I might hold back from frying your brains out."


*WHOOOSH*


HunGreen: "WOAH!"
Silent-Unseen: "It's OK, agent. We're with the URP. We just received your distress call and are now taking care of things around here."
HunGreen: "Well, that was damn quick. In that case, let's hurry to the portal and shut it down for good."


Other Silent-Unseen: "Actually, there's still another matter that we'd like to take care of. Where can we locate Marshal Mazurek? It's about time to put him on trial for his crimes."
HunGreen: "Eh, I've already taken of him just now. He tried to charge me in the comm centre so I waited for the right moment to fry his ass."
Silent-Unseen: "Oh, fair enough..."
HunGreen: "Well, there's still his head right here if you wanna stick it in a jar and keep it as a trophy."
Other Silent-Unseen: "Uhm, I think we're fine for now. Thanks, I guess..."


Yet Another Silent-Unseen: "The force field's down! We can now safely approach the portal!"
Silent-Unseen: "Great, lob in some bombs and-"
???: "DON'T!!"


Other Silent-Unseen: "Hey look, that gremlin inside the cell is still alive!"
Gremlin Mage: "Y-you can't blow up the portal in its c-c-current state! "
HunGreen: "What's that supposed to mean?"


Gremlin Mage: "Ever since th-th-that accursed thing has been unearthed, it proceeded to feast on every d-d-drop of blood spilled on the ground... W-with all the ne-ne-negative energy amassed as a r-result, you will just unleash it upon the entire p-planet... No, th-the entire subsector!"
Renegade Soldier: "Spilled in battle to be precise. And boy, did this planet see a lot of it for the last 12 months. Blinda's final stand, the hunt for the rebels and now you all sweeping through that base. Maybe not enough to fully open the portal and unleash its true power but sure enough to keep it running for the time being."


HunGreen: "Just what are you on about? What did Mazurek try pull with that thing?"
Renegade Soldier: "Oh, that Mazurek over there? He already did his part. He's of no use for us, now."
HunGreen: "What do you mean with 'that Mazurek'? And who the hell is 'us'?"
Renegade Soldier: "Boy, did I really spill the beans? In that case: yeah, that Mazurek over there's not the real deal."


*DO-DO-DON*
Silent-Unseen: "What the shit?!"
Renegade Soldier: "GAHAHAHAH!! Oh yeah! Just days before the summit on Vilnius we captured the real Mazurek, put a new face on one of our men and let him ruin your whole show. Up to that point he did a pretty great job playing the mad power hungry marshal."


HunGreen: "And where did you scumbags hid the real marshal."
Renegade Soldier: "GIHIHI!"
HunGreen: "Answer me, you little prick!"


Renegade Soldier: "Hell, if I'd know. I mean, does it even matter at this point? Soon enough, the Crown of Erebus will swallow up the entire sector. But worry not. After each apocalypse comes creation."
Gremlin Mage: "S-so this is what you were after!"
Silent-Unseen: "I... I'm really not following any of you guys."
Gremlin Mage: "Isn't that o-obvious enough? W-with Ragnablok coming ever closer they try to gather as much negative energy as possible to suck up the entire s-s-sector and reshape it after their image!"


HunGreen: "How would you even know that this sort of thing is possible?"
Gremlin Mage: "H-How?! I was the one being dragged into the portal during the battle on V-Vilnius a year ago! What I laid my eyes upon b-beyond that portal was b-beyond any imagination. S-Still I can't even describe what I witnessed the moments b-before being turned into that huge m-monster."
HunGreen: "But didn't you get blown apart as a monster and later on dissected by research teams."
Gremlin Mage: "Y-Yes, yes! But once they stitched m-me together, I somehow reverted b-back to my original form. The fact th-that I returned to life might also be thanks t-t-to the portal's powers."


Renegade Soldier: "And with that power Lord Krull will shape his new realm to his liking! And nothing shall get in his way! GAHAHAHA-"


*PLONK*
HunGreen: "Hey, he just gave us a lead on his boss and you just smacked him down."
Silent-Unseen: "I'm sorry but I just couldn't stand his laughter for shit. We can always interrogate him later on."
HunGreen: "I hope so! Time's not in our favour with that portal being able to suck up everything in any given moment!"


HunGreen: "Lord Krull... just who the hell are we dealing with, this time?"

[Duerer]

As the Crown of Erebus returns to URP control, the battle in the orbit of Vilnius still rages on. The newer URP ships' firepower proved to be far too strong against the older models deployed by the renegades. Even so, their leader remains surprisingly calm despite the fact of inevitable defeat...


*distant PEW-PEW-PEW*
Ryszard Mazurek (the real one): "Well, how does it feel to have your year-long master plan going down the loo in a flash? Looks like we finally get right back at you for wrecking the summit and preventing us from finally making peace with the Lietuvans!"


Ryszard Mazurek (the real one): "Well, I give you this: you did manage to give us quite a hard time instigating a large-scale conspiracy within our armed forces in such a short time."
???: "What makes you so sure that my own defeat is the one at hand?"
Ryszard Mazurek (the real one): "Eh? What are you on about?"


???: "Truth be told, it really is a meddlesome setback to my plan, but this does not mean that I did not undertake the necessary measures to set it all back on track. Even if you managed to take the Crown of Erebus under your control, you will not have any idea about its powers or how to get rid of it. With Ragnablok, the end of days, approaching any moment the Crown's powers are about to reach their peak."


Ryszard Mazurek (the real one): "*nervously* Hehehe... You must be kidding... No way, you're pulling my leg!"
Krull: "My bloodline did not spend the last thousand years studying the dark arts in the void for nothing."
Ryszard Mazurek (the real one): "OK, I'm not sure what you mean-"


Krull: "Are you familiar with the legend of Popiel, the one man who ruled Poland before the Piasts did?
Ryszard Mazurek (the real one): "Hm, now that you mention it... Wasn't he the one who also spent his days with booze and women, poisoned his relatives who tried to get the best of him, and ended up getting eaten by a horde of rabid mice in the end?"
Krull: "Precisely. Just imagine a ruler so bad that his entire history had to be reduced to folklore."


Krull: "And now the time has come for me to correct his mistake and return this realm to its rightful rulers. Knowing and understanding the limitless possibilities of the portal's powers, I can tap into them to remodel this realm into its proper shape."
Ryszard Mazurek (the real one): "Uhm, this is quite confu-"


*CRASH*
Renegade Crewman: "Mylord, URP boarding vessels just penetrated the outer wall of the station. I advise to retreat at once!"
Krull: "You have a point, officer. Let's head back to the planet's surface."


*KA-VROOMM*
Krull: "Until then, Marshal."


*WOOOSH*
Ryszard Mazurek (the real one): "Hey, get back!"


*SHLURP*
Ryszard Mazurek (the real one): "I wasn't done talking to you, you little prick!"


*PATA-PATA-PATA*
???: "Let's head towards the bridge! It's right ahead of us!"
???: "Copy that!"
???: "So far we could only detect a single lifeform in there."


URP Commando: "Mazurek?! But wasn't he shot to death on the planet's surface according to the distress call sent to us?"
Ryszard Mazurek (the real one): "He was, but that wasn't the real me."
URP Commando: "Huh, whatcha mean?"
Ryszard Mazurek (the real one): "The guy on Vilnius who also ruined the independence summit last year was a fake. The renegades put him in place to stir chaos and to tarnish my reputation."


URP Commando: "Well, that definitely explains why he's up here, locked up in a cage."
URP Commando Squad Leader: "But we can't be sure if Mazurek's trying to pull a stunt again! In any case, we'll take him in custody for further interrogation."
Ryszard Mazurek (the real one): "Fine by me. I'll gladly answer any of your questions regarding the incidents of the last months."


URP Commando Squad Leader: "Oh you bet your ass you will!"

[Duerer]

Mazurek has been taken into custody, as he couldn't convince his own soldiers of his innocence. Still assuming him to be working with the renegades, URP officers proceeded to question him about said involvement, which he proceeded to answer in full detail, including the ominous origins of their leader Krull...


URP Officer: "The descendant of WHOM?!"


Another URP Officer: "You really want to convince us the renegade leader is related to some folklore figure?"
Ryszard Mazurek: "No. Frankly, this is the part I doubt the most, yet the rest is legit. I don't think it matters that much where he came from, but Krull might actually pose a bigger threat than the Soviets at this point."
URP Officer: "Bullshit! The portal's in our hands and we already busted your renegades' asses around here! You already lost! There's no way you're getting away!"


URP Communication Officer: "We just got an incoming transmission from the surface of Vilnius."
URP Officer: "Hmpf... Fine, establish a connection to the planet's surface."


HunGreen: "This is HunGreen! We've got some bad news, just in! The portal just took off and flew on its own to the West! Unfortunately we were unable to fix any tracking devices on it."
URP Officer: "Son of a... Send out a scouting party, ASAP!"
Ryszard Mazurek: "That voice... It's sounds too familiar..."
HunGreen: "Durer is already on his way with a few men to track it down. He's trying to trace it back by the negative energies it emits."


Ryszard Mazurek: "Agent Grabovszky! You finally showed up after all these years?"
Miklós Grabovszky/HunGreen: "I never really went away, there were simply a few other things that needed to be taken care of. Good job on getting the real marshal back, guys!"
URP Officer: "I don't know, there's nothing that speaks against him still working for the renegades."
Miklós Grabovszky/HunGreen: "We just got all the info regarding that from a surviving renegade soldier. The Mazurek on Vilnius was definitely fake. Thinking about it, he didn't even know my true identity when I disguised as one of them. That man, however, simply recognised me by my voice."
URP Officer: "Uhm... in that case..."


URP Officer: "MY DEEPEST APOLOGIES FOR MY RUDENESS, SIR!!"
Another URP Officer: "I WILL NEVER DOUBT YOU EVER AGAIN, SIR!!"
Ryszard Mazurek: "Save the apologies for later. Now, we've got other things to worry about. Just look!"


*WHOOSH*
Ryszard Mazurek: "There we go, another renegade patrol from a neighbouring system arrives. We might need some more backup to deal with these-"


*VROOOM*
URP Officer: "Soviet ships?! What is the meaning of this? Are they trying to take advantage of or convoluted situation or-"


*SWOOOSH*
Another URP Officer: "Luchardsko warships incoming!"
Ryszard Mazurek: "Damn, I didn't expect the Third Alliance to show up!"


*WHAAM*
URP Officer: "What the-"
Ryszard Mazurek: "Zoltan too?! Just how did so many foes show up above Vilnius? What is the meaning of this? Could it be... Could Krull have something to do with it?"