Laid to nines

A post from The Dance of Eternity RP. Those that have been attacked and destroyed by the Nine Ball are said to have been "laid to nines."

The ornate vessel hovered like a graceful bird above the dank cityscape, brooding over the refugee camp. A beautiful mother hen, graceful and sharp of beak. Her children swarmed like maggots, hungry for dying chicks, over the dismally berthed encampment--elegant droppings.

LIFE IS SHORT AND GOD IS MAN

Come--the hungry, the sick, and the old. Come--the dying, the damned, and the dead. Run to the arms of your savior! Eat his food, partake of his drink! He brings salvation, he brings safety, he brings fear.

Glistening armor and battle rifles, swords of blazing heat and cold merciless inquisitor's eyes. Fear not the knave, his untrustworthiness is assured. Fear instead the priest, he speaks of brimstone and slays those who disavow belief.

COMMANDEER
YOUR OWN FEAR

So it has been written, many years ago, that from the skies would fall a blazing red star, dropped from high above to shatter the earth.

Blazing engines roaring nigh, break them all until they FIGHT.

Scanner beeping, never seeing. They have eyes but remain blind!

Deus Vult high, overseeing. Commander nodding, all proceeding.

Road explodes, rockets flare. Cluster bomb, railing gun. Pepper pepper pepper, seasoned body parts everywhere. Now the machine guns cool.

DETERMINED 'TILL THE END
RUTHLESSLY AND VIOLENT
RULER OF THE EARTH
SUBORDINATE THE UNIVERSE

Streak of red, flash of black. Lining blue. Flash farther, fie! Buildings shudder, people scatter--praying to false gods. Reaching higher, take me with you! Armored monks smack them away.

And the rifles fire. Fly, red rocket, fly! FIGHT

Killing them all, setting them free. Illogic made perfect sense to a computer. Ha HA, ha HA.

Where are your gods now?

LIVING OUT THE BIG ILLUSION
EVOLUTION REVOLUTION
TIME AND TIME AND TIME AGAIN
LIFE IS SHORT AND GOD IS MAN

Nine rockets fly as one, clustering and ascending. Strike the hull and make it quake. Standing men hit fall on their knees, and kneeling men fall to their faces.

Farewell, says the Nine Ball, its overboost engines flaring, going off to greener pastures to make them red.

Author's Note

Credits: Some of the lyrics are from "Rabblerouser," by MDFMK. However, that song fits the Nine Ball, to a tee.

Now, in this roleplay the Nine Ball is a rogue A.I. mech, randomly attacking locations with devastating effect. It is considered more a force of nature than anything else. A Vatican ship, (who are far more militaristic in this day and age) but still present at the city on a mission of goodwill, are overhead at the city's Red Cross station. It is at this time that the Nine Ball appears and ruthlessly assaults the Deus Vult, the Vatican battleship.

Reviews

[Type0]

This is really quite an interesting piece - I don't recognise the song you credit, but the entire piece has a lyrical feel to it that's quite refreshing in a piece of this style. It adds an almost organic touch that counteracts the machine nature of the Nine Ball, and of the Deus Vult.

The maggot simile has a similar effect.

I'm going to have to look into Dance for Eternity: are there any other creative sources for this piece? Or just places that you draw inspiration from?

The scattered detail is very nice. It feels like I am watching the trail of bullet holes, without necessarily being able to follow the action.