One of my own readers, whom I sent your story, she said it reminded her of what would've happened in Starshatter, but without the Kil'ra and other aliens helping humanity.
Glad you liked it. It turned out to be the start of a whole new story universe, if you read “Balls to the Wall” and “Accidental Nightmares” too - those both ended up playing with the same Xin concept too. Who knows where it will go from there!
Intensely dark! I liked the pace specially where he saw the old message video showing earth's destroyed moon and the information there after. Really brings the whole battle and war into context. It grew from the this, oppressor feeling to a justified reaction to bleak vengeance. Regardless of if that's the reality or not. Loved it.
I also enjoyed making the entirety of the war itself ambiguous: who struck first? Humans or Xin? Why are they even fighting? Because at this stage in the war, it doesn’t even matter any more - everyone has lost. That’s what makes it horrifying, ultimately.
I think you can write that story either way. This story - AAoV - could be the conclusion of longer story that follows the Human-Xin War up until the point the Xin homeworld is destroyed, and humanity is left with the ashes. Or… AAoV could be the first chapter in a new story, which focuses on the remaining human forces trying to rebuild their society on that same planet. Both have potential, and could play out in many different ways.
I find it hard to believe that even amid the ashes of a planet, a bunch of soldiers hardened to killing, in love with it even, would decided to stop the destruction and rebuild. Unless it’s like a Viking migration, with entire families determined to make a new, better life on somebody else’s land, they remain just soldiers, sterile, useless except for killing. What are they going to build?
They don’t have the fuel or means to travel back to Earth, and Earth is not sending a rescue team either - so what options do they really have, if they want to survive, other than to try to rebuild? I think that’s where the story opens up the realms of all possibilities: do they plunder the remnants of the Xin civilisation? Do they find Xin survivors and work with them/ use them as forced labour? Do they slowly devolve into anarchy as more and more technology fails in the months and years after the end of the fighting? The options are endless… which is what makes it both frightening and hopeful.
But in their heads are they surviving as individuals, or as a species, a people? They didn’t go there to found a new civilsation, did they? To boldly go etc etc. Are there civilians, scientists, farmers, artisans, families with them? I don’t have much faith in the military to do more than obliterate, I’m afraid.
And you’ve just nuked the New World and all of its inhabitants back into the Stone Age, so what are you going to do at that point? Big moment for the survivors, I reckon.
Excellent! In regional conflict on a stellar level, this is what it would like.
I definitely need to write more stories from this war/universe…!
One of my own readers, whom I sent your story, she said it reminded her of what would've happened in Starshatter, but without the Kil'ra and other aliens helping humanity.
Awesome story. Incredible writing and description. Held my attention the entire way. Can't wait to read more!
Glad you liked it. It turned out to be the start of a whole new story universe, if you read “Balls to the Wall” and “Accidental Nightmares” too - those both ended up playing with the same Xin concept too. Who knows where it will go from there!
Intensely dark! I liked the pace specially where he saw the old message video showing earth's destroyed moon and the information there after. Really brings the whole battle and war into context. It grew from the this, oppressor feeling to a justified reaction to bleak vengeance. Regardless of if that's the reality or not. Loved it.
I also enjoyed making the entirety of the war itself ambiguous: who struck first? Humans or Xin? Why are they even fighting? Because at this stage in the war, it doesn’t even matter any more - everyone has lost. That’s what makes it horrifying, ultimately.
Kill them all!!!!!
I loved this.
And so it goes on. From one destroyed planet to the next.
Although in this case, our handful of survivors are in for a harsh wake-up call the next morning when the true cost of their “victory” is tallied.
Will it stop them fighting though? Won’t it just make them fight harder because they’re desperate and they see it as colonising for survival?
I think you can write that story either way. This story - AAoV - could be the conclusion of longer story that follows the Human-Xin War up until the point the Xin homeworld is destroyed, and humanity is left with the ashes. Or… AAoV could be the first chapter in a new story, which focuses on the remaining human forces trying to rebuild their society on that same planet. Both have potential, and could play out in many different ways.
I find it hard to believe that even amid the ashes of a planet, a bunch of soldiers hardened to killing, in love with it even, would decided to stop the destruction and rebuild. Unless it’s like a Viking migration, with entire families determined to make a new, better life on somebody else’s land, they remain just soldiers, sterile, useless except for killing. What are they going to build?
They don’t have the fuel or means to travel back to Earth, and Earth is not sending a rescue team either - so what options do they really have, if they want to survive, other than to try to rebuild? I think that’s where the story opens up the realms of all possibilities: do they plunder the remnants of the Xin civilisation? Do they find Xin survivors and work with them/ use them as forced labour? Do they slowly devolve into anarchy as more and more technology fails in the months and years after the end of the fighting? The options are endless… which is what makes it both frightening and hopeful.
But in their heads are they surviving as individuals, or as a species, a people? They didn’t go there to found a new civilsation, did they? To boldly go etc etc. Are there civilians, scientists, farmers, artisans, families with them? I don’t have much faith in the military to do more than obliterate, I’m afraid.
Made me think of Cortez, but without having to burn the ships … no Spain to go back to.
And you’ve just nuked the New World and all of its inhabitants back into the Stone Age, so what are you going to do at that point? Big moment for the survivors, I reckon.
And Cortez made a real shambles of it.
Very cool story man, it reminded me of a more belligerent starship troopers force!