Our push into Haivu territory continued. It was a game of leapfrog. We had cleared out the first system while half the fleet moved onto the next, and cleared that one too. We moved from system to system in tandem, working together to get a head start before the Haivu managed to fall back and reinforce their positions.

This strategy didn’t last forever, of course. Eventually, the Haivu managed to scramble together and organize forces large enough to defend seriously against our attacks. We eventually grouped up with the other fleet harassing the Haivu, and formed a megafleet once more. Reinforcements from Galactic Union space also arrived, so our fleet had well over a hundred warships.

We made pretty good progress after a week or so of pushing into Haivu territory. The Galactic Union secured several key systems important for warp hopping deeper into Haivu territory, so there was a solid supply line and a stream of reinforcements where needed. The Galactic Union were moving their forces into the offensive because the Haivu moved their ships to defend. This meant that the Galactic Union was currently safe from attack because the Haivu were too busy trying to protect themselves. We were slowly approaching the home planet of the Haivu, which was located somewhat near the center of their territory. If we remained at our current rate, the Galactic Union could be at the Haivu home planet in a week. We continued to press a stumbling foe.

However, a cornered foe was still strong. The offensive on the Haivu wasn’t going perfectly, of course. Occasionally we were pushed back by a strong defense. The Haivu began attacking our supply lines and forced some of our fleet to stay back and defend them. The Haivu successfully took back a system or two, and tightened a noose over important routes. Casualties were starting to rise.

We’d even been part of a couple boarding missions. There were two battles where Noah and I deployed on transport ships to sabotage Haivu warships. They went pretty smoothly, thanks to our extensive training. The first time, Noah and I defended the breaching transport ships while the more experienced soldiers went off to sabotage their reactor. They had it down within an hour, so all Noah and I did was fend off Haivu soldiers trying to destroy the transport ship from the inside. We held our position until the surviving soldiers made it back to the transport ship and escaped.

For the second battle, we were given a more exciting role. Our recruit platoon consisting of the fifteen top ranked former recruits were partnered with another platoon, and we were sent off to attack the bridge of the Haivu warship. The other platoons were equally spread amongst the reactor and shield generator, so resistance against us was relatively low. We managed to take the bridge with some casualties on our side, and took the commanding officers captive. Noah and I had a few close calls, but we made it out of that battle relatively unscathed.

When we were several systems away from the Haivu home planet, Ceel made an announcement to the entirety of the ship. She called for all soldiers on the Spear of Kain to meet in the cargo ship for an important matter.

“Do you have any guesses on what this could be?” Needle asked.

“We’re getting pretty close to the Haivu home planet.” Noah replied .“It might be related to that.”

“We’re actually getting pretty close to ending the war!” Keshi said. “The Haivu seemed formidable at first, but the Galactic Union’s military might is no joke.”

Sil laughed. “Don’t get so overconfident, now. There’s still plenty of battles we’ve lost, and still could lose. Just yesterday we lost three warships in that fight. That could be us anytime.”

“True. The scariest part about warship battles is how helpless you can feel. If you’re outnumbered, you’re probably already screwed. You can die without being able to do anything, before we can even board the enemy warship.” I said.

It was weird, but I felt a lot better when I was doing a boarding mission. It made me feel a lot less anxious. It helped to just be doing something, even if that was a life threatening battle. It was a lot better than waiting and twiddling your thumbs and hoping that no high energy beams hit your warship.

We continued our little conversation as we made our way to the cargo hold. There was enough space for all of the soldiers to form ranks.. Ceel had never called in something like this before, though. Usually her announcements would come booming in through the ship’s speakers so everyone could stop what they were doing and listen. It was usually information about the next engagement or updates on the war situation.

We all fell quiet as Ceel stepped up to a small podium at the front of the cargo bay, where we all formed ranks. In her thick, meaty hands, she held a microphone that seemed a little too small for her. Moments later, her booming voice emanated from speakers placed around the cargo hold.

“Attention! Soldiers, our offensive has gone smoothly so far. We have made good progress, and have penetrated deep into Haivu territory. Casualties are within predicted parameters, and our supply line held strong. Until now, that is. Yesterday, the Haivu unveiled and used a new weapon in their arsenal. This weapon completely obliterated one of our supply planets barely inside Galactic Union territory. We suspect it is a long distance weapon of mass destruction. The fact that more haven’t been used, and it wasn’t on our capital planets, implies that it was a test launch. We’re still gathering information on what exactly the weapon was so we can develop a countermeasure. The targeted planet was simply turned into chunks of hot rock.

Our scouts have found suspicious movements on a Haivu controlled moon. They are building a massive structure on a rocky satellite that severely lacks natural resources. We have reason to believe they are building a second weapon to be used, and it is nearly complete. They’ve been building it for a while without us knowing. We have received orders from High Command to interrupt these Haivu building this weapon, and find out what it is. Once we find out the true nature of this weapon, we will charge the Haivu with a war crime, and punish them severely when we win this war. The Spear of Kain, along with a couple other warships, will discreetly head to this Haivu moon to shut down their operation as soon as possible. Soldiers, you are dismissed. Be ready for a tough battle. Operations begin tomorrow.”

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The cargo hold was silent as Ceel saluted and walked off the podium. She disappeared into one of many hallways, no doubt returning to her bridge. Soldiers began to stream out of the cargo hold and dispersed across the ship, conversing in hushed tones.

“Obliterated an entire planet?” Keshi whispered. “The Galactic Union doesn’t carry weapons stronger than nukes for a reason. If everyone had planet busters, then it would get real bad.”

“Yeah, that’s fucked.” Needle replied. “There’s a reason why the Galactic Union’s other enemies don’t have planet busters, either. It’d become a game of retaliation.”

“The Haivu never were one to follow rules.” Sil said. “It’s already hard enough to communicate with them. A planet buster is a really big deal. Depending on the range of that thing, it could straight up win them the war.”

“Is it really that bad?” Noah asked. “Why haven’t they shot out more yet?”

“My guess is that they don’t have more, like Ceel said. Planet busters usually aren’t easy to make. You need a lot of mass and a lot of energy. But if they do manage to produce them at a rapid rate, that spells the end of the war for us. If they fire off those things on all of our capital planets, we’d be crippled, and probably forced to surrender.” I explained.

“Let’s make sure we stop their planet buster before it happens, then.” Noah replied. “Wait. If the planet buster is so important, why are they only sending a few warships to deal with it?”

Keshi furrowed his brow. “Maybe it’s a sneaky operation? The Haivu might not know we’re aware that they’re building this team. We might be doing a quick strike on the moon to gather information for the rest of the fleet to use. Or they just can’t spare the forces. We’re starting to get spread thin, after all.”

Keshi was right. The megafleet was starting to thin out as we went deeper into Haivu territory. It didn’t help that one of our key supply planets was completely wiped off the galactic map, either. We were probably being used as a focused strike force to get rid of the threat as fast as possible. It was going to be a tough battle, for sure.

Which was why we all decided to cheer ourselves up before the operation. That night, all five of us gathered up in the living quarters lounge, and threw a mini party. Many other soldiers did the same.

Needle and I snuck food away from the mess hall and brought it into the lounge. Sil produced a Sabi board game out of nowhere. Keshi and Noah didn’t contribute because they were lazy bums.

We started off the night with eating. Needle and I managed to get the good stuff, first. We managed to grab a variety of food that could be defined as “party food,” according to Needle. Alcohol wasn’t available at the mess hall for obvious reasons, so we went with highly sweetened soft beverages instead. It had been a while since I was able to enjoy a good meal surrounded by friends. It made me miss hanging out with Yori. Noah couldn’t eat anything, of course, and simply drank the artificially sweetened drinks through a straw.

The next thing we did that night was play Sil’s Sabi board game. I didn’t get a firm grasp on the rules, but it involved building up your own company, and turning it into a megacorporation. You had to compete against business rivals (other players), entice workers, mess around with the market, and sometimes assassinate whistleblowers. The more money your company accrued, the more influence you gained, and the more options were available to you. The goal of the game was to reach megacorporation status, which meant a firm hold on several populated planets. It scaled up pretty far, actually. It was blatant satire about capitalism, which amused me. One session of the game took three hours. We argued and scrabbled and complained about the complicated rules. In the end, Sil won. Which wasn’t a surprise, since it was her board game. However, Noah made it surprisingly far, coming in second. I came in dead last. That kind of stuff was alien to me.

After our board game was over, we all went back to munching on random snacks that were leftover from our prior frenzied eating. As the night grew later, conversations flowed.

“Hey, what are you guys going to do after the war’s over?” Keshi said.

“Shut the fuck up, Keshi!” Needle shouted. “Are you trying to get yourself killed or something?”

Sil laughed. “Everyone always knows the guy who says that dies.”

Keshi put his hands up in protest. “Hey, I was just curious! It’s not wrong to think about your future!”

Needle crossed his arms. “Well, the military’s paying pretty well. It depends, but I might just stay here. It’s way more reliable than being a mercenary. But maybe I won’t. It gets boring sometimes, and it’s pretty restrictive.”

Sil nodded. “I think I’ll go back to being a mercenary. I think I’ll go visit my family first, though. I don’t want to raise any flags, but I haven’t seen them in a while.”

Keshi nodded. “I’m probably going to do the same. Chill out and relax for a while, then back to the mercenary life. Try to eventually make enough money to retire, I guess. What about you, Saka?”

“I’m going to buy myself a new ship and go back to being a mercenary.” I said. “Even though I’ve been here for a while, I don’t like being a soldier at all. I’d rather be free to do my own thing.”

Noah nodded. “And I’m going to be joining Saka. She showed me the ropes, and I still owe her for a lot of things.”

“If you don’t mind me asking,” Keshi said, “How did you two meet? Saka, you were well known in Maralu, and you always worked alone.”

I decided to slightly change up my story.

“Oh, I found Noah getting mugged by some criminals, so I helped him out. But there were more of them than I thought, and I was caught off guard. Noah grabbed one of their guns and took some of them out, letting us escape. He was new to guns, but he was still really talented, so I decided to take him in. I showed him the ropes for a little, until Maralu blew up and we enlisted.”

Yeah, my story was short and lacked details. I still really didn’t want information on Noah to get out. If he got caught here, it was over. There was literally no way out. I had no ship of my own to escape with, and even if I did, we were deep inside Haivu territory.

Thankfully, Keshi, Sil, and Needle seemed to be satisfied with my story.

Sil nodded. “It looks like you recognized Noah’s talent with firearms quickly, then.”

“Yeah, Noah’s aim is no joke. You have a good eye for talent, Saka.” Needle agreed.

Noah stretched his arms and tried to hide his embarrassment. Which was meaningless, because he wore a helmet that completely concealed any facial expressions he made. A habit, probably.

We ended the night after exchanging stories about jobs from our mercenary days. Keshi, Sil, and Needles weren’t partners, but they were acquaintances when they worked as mercs. They would occasionally work together, but they mostly just drank together at the Tavern. It was a shame, since they made a good team. Keshi was orthodox and stable, Sil was pretty calculating and was a quick thinker, and Needle was the crazy guy who could take others by surprise. They all complimented together pretty well. I suggested they work together as mercenaries after the war was over, and they seemed like they were considering it.

We decided to call it for the night after that. It was starting to get late, and curfew was about to be in place. We cleaned up the lounge and went our separate ways. Noah and I were in the same room, so we said our goodbye to Keshi and his friends.

I sat in my bunk, cleaning my armor to prepare for the next day. Noah’s legs hung next to me. He was sitting in his bunk directly positioned above mine.

“Hey, Saka?” Noah asked. “Are you ready for tomorrow?”

“Not really.” I said. “The announcement was pretty sudden. But I think my experience will pull through. Why? Are you nervous?”

“Yeah. It just seems like a risky plan. I hope it turns out well.”

“Don’t worry, Noah. As long as I cover your back and you cover mine, we’ll turn out alright.” I reassured him.

“Thanks, Saka.” Noah whispered.

Anytime.