Humans are Space Orcs: Berserkers

salansar:

So I have researched a fair amount of Viking history and I came up with a concept. In human history battle rage has been a useful tool in any form of combat. You choose fight instead of flight and you become stronger, faster, and almost immune to pain. No group mastered this better then the legendary Berserker. They used drugs and rituals to make themself fall into a battle rage of epic proportions. They were so fearsome. viscous, and unsettling that they were actually outlawed. Now imagine they made a comeback.

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I was on Glunoff 4 when the humans were attacked. The colony was standard for humans, 1200 human souls, most devoted to taming the area near their colony site to raise crops and livestock. There was also a standard human security force of 75. I was there serving as the ambassador to Tromidal 5, my home world which had claim of this system. The humans had asked us to allow them to put a colony on Glunoff 4 so they could have a resupply point between Sol 3 and a mining operation nearer to the galactic center.

The humans had done a remarkable job taming the wilds of this world. Their colony was almost ready to begin building their orbital elevator when the Valran [see species reference material] arrived.

The humans only warning came when they lost contact with their orbital station. Within a minute the orbital charges began raining down from the sky. The charges hit many of the buildings killing dozens of people. Everything was chaos when the first ships landed. The Valran emerged from their ships and began killing and grabbing people dragging them back to their ships. The Remaining security force and civilians put up a good fight, killing a good number of the Valrans but it wasn’t enough. The Valran dropped a holoprojector as they departed. The message was simple, choose 50 people to be given as slaves as well as 5000 kilos of produce. Otherwise they will take everyone and sell them as slaves.

I panicked but the humans became… strange. They knew we were outmatched, outnumbered, and outgunned. After they finished with their head count there were only 903 alive, 162 dead, and 135 missing. The injured were treated with an almost mechanical efficiency. I was checked over by the physician and she told me that there was no way they were going to give up anyone. The next day they held a town meeting. I came along to see if the rest of the humans seemed to agree with the doctor. At first the people were afraid of what may happen, but within an hour they had all convinced themselves that fighting back was the only way. They immediately began asking me to give them any information I had to offer about the Valrans. I obliged them but I also told them that there have been few standing armies that have been able to compete with the Valran’s ferocity. To this the “Mayor” [Tina Chao] gave me the most wicked grin and said, “Never underestimate the ferocity of a cornered animal.”

Within days the Humans were already cannibalizing anything they could use to make weapons, armor, and traps. With this they also started training in hand to hand combat. They trained to use knives, swords, machetes, shivs, clubs, and those who could shoot were given firearms. Those who couldn’t fight were given support rolls. There was one group though that was far stranger.

The doctor was working very closely with a group of 20 people. These people were receiving the same training as the others but the doctor was also giving them what seemed to be some kind of stimulant before they trained. Within a few weeks they were not aloud to train with the other people because they were too violent. They would disappear off into the wilderness for days or weeks at a time hunting the indigenous animals, mostly predators. They would come back wearing the pelts of their kills and their behavior always seemed that much wilder.

When the Valran returned they were met by a group of 50 people standing next to large crates. The Valrans opened their landing craft and began to swarm around the people. When a sharp whistle echoed across the area the crates exploded open revealing the “Berserkers” [See human history for reference]. They came out of the crates in a screaming, roaring, fury. They fell upon the Valrans and began to dismantle them.

The Valrans were stunned and slow to respond, but when they did they swarmed down on the berserkers like a wave. This just seemed to make the Berserkers try harder. Also at this time the humans armed with firearms began picking off the Valrans around the outside. Then the other humans appeared out of the are around the Valrans. It was a slaughter.

When the humans had finished with the Valrans who landed they began bringing the fission batteries used to power their settlement and the mining tools. They loaded them into the ships and began rewiring them. I asked Mayor Chao what they were doing and she responded, “They are going to destroy their ship in orbit.”

“But you will need pilots… who… who will do that?” To this question the remaining 9 berserkers stepped toward the ships. “Why are you the ones going? Tyler, you are leaving your wife?”

Tyler, whose eyes are bloodshot and wide with fury, takes a few moments to respond, as if speech seems difficult to formulate, “I… I am to angry to stay. My daughter is gone because of them and I want… no I need to make them suffer.”

With that they all boarded the vessels and flew off into orbit. within a few minutes there were bright flashes. Those on the ground watched in silence for some time before everyone eventually walked away to do other tasks, like take care of the dead. The Valran were thrown in a pile and burned while the humans were given individual funeral pyres.

Help arrived in the form of a resupply ship three months later. By that time most of the humans had returned to their normal selves, except many of the humans didn’t sleep much anymore.