The Harbinger - February 2201 - Tucker
I waited impatiently as the holograph continued to ring. The time was dire, and the general was nowhere to be found. The blue sphere of light flashed as a tone played over it. Still no response. There had been 3 attacks on the UGDF, led by the Insydians. They destroyed 2 bases in Oregon, and heavily damaged another. The first base fell quickly, they had a well placed charge shot from a gun, and hit a generator. The generator caused a chain of explosions that leveled the area. The second base almost stood strong, until an Insydian made it inside and killed the commander. I was present for the attack on the third base.
The wind was blowing slightly. Everything was going good, the weather was well, and the sky was clear. I was in charge of the armory that day. Seemingly out of nowhere, the alarm is raised. I grabbed my rifle, and ran outside faster than I’ve ever ran. I caught up with my platoon, and prepared myself. The gates were blasted open with a flash of green light. Insydian soldiers ran into the base, and 2 larger Insydians with a silver exoskeleton flew over the walls. We returned fire, smoking a couple, but it seemed like our bullets were just bouncing off of their armor. Their armor began to freeze over as we loaded lead into it, seemingly making it stronger. We stopped aiming for weak points in their armor, and started aiming for open flesh.
Insydians flooded in like an anthill, swarming the base and overwhelming our forces. The two who remained airborne attacked power lines leading into the base, knocking our turrets out of service. I watched as an Insydian cut one of my men in half, and blew the head off of another. The ground was painted red and blue, with green and orange embers dancing in the sky. I gripped my rifle tightly, and began raining fire into the crowd of bug soldiers. Blue blood sprayed from their heads as I pumped lead into them. Once the soldiers saw where my shots were going, they followed suit. I reverted my attention to the larger Insydians flying above.
I shot their silver wings, causing them to stagger and fall to the ground. The other Insydians watched this happen, and they began pushing towards the two larger soldiers. I ran towards the silver Insydian furthest from the group, and it stood up to face me. I lifted my rifle, but they silver Insydian laughed and knocked it from my hand. I pulled my knife from my boot, and the Insydian pulled a sword radiating green light, but seemingly made of glass. I blocked a strike with the blade of my knife, and it began to melt slightly. I ignored the heat enveloping the blade, and slid under his weapon. I ran quickly around it, and jumped on its back. The Insydian thrashed around, struggling to throw me off. I held my grip, and plunged my knife into the Insydian’s thick silver exoskeleton. Blue blood trickled from the wound, and the Insydian went still. I looked over to the other silver Insydian. The others in my platoon managed to kill it, and the rest of the Insydians fled. We stood victorious that day, but the lack of warning still startled me.
After securing the base, I was promoted to Captain, and I was sent to the Harbinger. The Harbinger is a large spacecraft, 7 miles long, and 2 miles wide. The harbinger has 20 floors, and each floor has its own purpose. For example, the first floor is the storage hull, with smaller fighter space crafts, as well as smaller carriers. The 5th floor is the quarters. Each quarters has a separate room for Captains, Lieutenants, and Sergeants. The Harbinger orbits around the earth, passing over the United States 20 times a year. The Harbinger is essentially the Space headquarters of the UGDF. To be posted here was quite an honor. I was tasked to contact the general to inform him of the loss of the two bases, and the need for reinforcements for the last. I waited for around 2 hours before I finally spoke to him.
The blue sphere began to map out the room, and the general materialized in the room. The light disappeared and the general sat down at the desk.
“Tucker reporting for duty sir.” I claimed, saluting the general.
“At ease, captain. I need a status report on the bases in Oregon. I was informed of an attack.” The general stated.
“Yes sir. 3 bases in Oregon were attacked by Insydian forces, and 2 of the bases have fallen.” I replied.
“How many forces were involved?” The general asked.
“About 500 were present in the attack on the base I was assigned to. The other two had well over 1,000. They seemed to be under the control of two larger Insydians with silver exoskeletons.” I stated.
The general looked at me with disbelief.
“How did 500 soldiers almost destroy the base you were assigned to, captain?” The general asked, his face growing stern.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“Their armor was bulletproof sir, it seemed like it got stronger with every shot. Their weapons destroyed our gate in seconds, and the two larger Insydians had functional wings.” I replied.
“Son of a bitch. Alright, you’re dismissed, captain.” The general said.
“Thank you sir.” I replied.
The general’s hologram turned back into a blue ball of light, and returned to the holograph, hovering over it for a few moments. I stepped out of the holograph room and made my way to quarters. I laid down on my bed, and sleep came quickly. I woke up the next morning, and got myself ready. I made my way to the patrol checkpoint, and sat in a chair. Running patrols were simple, you had a group of 10 soldiers you were in charge of. The soldiers patrol, and give you updates every time they pass through the checkpoint. There's a checkpoint on every floor of the Harbinger.
A few hours passed, and it was finally time for lunch. I made my way to the cafeteria on the 5th floor, and got my food. The food was amazing, considering it was grown and processed on the 7th and 8th floors. The 7th floor was a factory level, and the 8th floor was the “Oasis”. The Oasis is a large botanical garden, meant for morale. The garden wasn’t originally intended to grow edible food, but with the lack of food, it was a decent addition. The Oasis also had a few animals as well, which was how we got our meat for the cafeteria, another unplanned addition.
The food was as good as any normal restaurant’s food would be, unlike the historical MREs that were mentioned in the history books. I still wonder how they were able to eat that shit. I got my food and sat down with the other captains. There were 40,000 other captains on the ship, but there was a group of about 10 I always hung out with in my free time.
I sat down with my food, and started to eat. The other ten followed suit.
“Sup Tucker, how’s botanical duty?” Jake asked.
“Boring as hell, how’s carrier duty?” I replied.
“Same old, same old. Only difference is I get to stare at the beautiful X-51’s all day.” Jake said.
Captain Jake was in charge of the patrol in the carrier level. Of course, he wasn’t allowed to fly any of the ships, but he had the job of watching to make sure there weren’t any unauthorized lift-offs. We finished eating, and sat for a while before we continued on with our day. I made my way back to my patrol checkpoint, and sat. Everything was perfectly fine until we noticed a massive ship coming from mars. We don’t know where it came from, nor what it was doing here, but our questions were quickly answered by gunfire. We lifted up the defensive barriers and returned fire. The blasts from the enemy ship had a familiar glow to it. It began melting through the thick steel with a green glow. It was an Insydian Mothership, and it was at least twice the size of the Harbinger. The strange metal the Insydians make their armor with was present in the plating of the ship. We blasted the Mothership with explosives, but it only left a few small dents. Meanwhile, the Mothership was boring holes into the Harbinger.
I ran towards the carrier level, and noticed the array of people loading into the other space crafts. The Orbital Fighter Pilots (OFP) of the Harbinger loaded into their X-51 Fighters, and our boarding party loaded into the A-300 Orbital Boarding Carrier. I collected my platoon, and made my way to an A-300. My platoon boarded the A-300, and we took off. The light show was something to behold. Our heat blasters were slowly burning holes into the Mothership, and the X-51 swarm combated enemy fighter ships. An amazing light show of green and orange filled the open space between the Harbinger and the Mothership. Eventually, the Mothership bored a hole into the Harbinger, causing it to explode. Our regiment was ordered to lead an immediate retreat back to earth. We watched the Harbinger burn in the distance, the Mothership inching closer and closer to the earth. Jake called in from the A-300 next to us.
“Captain Tucker, come in, over?” He rang in.
“Captain Tucker, do you copy, over?”
“I copy Captain Jake, over.” I replied
“Is your platoon alright, over?” Jake asked.
“Yeah, everyone is accounted for, over.” I finished.
“Good, just make sure you make it back to the surface, I have to go, over and out.” Jake finished.
“Sounds good Jake, over and out.” I said.
We landed back on earth, in California. The San Francisco UGDF base started sending X-93's to combat the enemy space crafts entering the atmosphere. We continued to watch as the Harbinger fell back into the atmosphere, sending chunks of titanium into the ocean. We were brought into the barracks, and we were given food and rest. We woke up the next day, and began working where we could. I was in charge of fueling the X-93's before they lifted off. The dogfight was clearly visible over the base, green lights and bullets flew like bats in hell. The jets flew faster than thought possible, keeping up with the Insydian fighter jets. Sooner than we’d hoped, Insydian ground forces began to come from the north, sending green blasts towards us. We loaded our guns and began returning fire. Yet again, blood was spilled across the ground. Bullets and lasers flew between our army and the Insydian army. The Mothership remained airborne overhead while ships full of Insydian soldiers flew down one by one, making the onslaught more and more of a calamity. Blood soaked the greed grass as limbs were severed by bullets, and my allies were turned into piles of glowing ash. Green embers floated from the ashes of my dead friends, threatening to burn the ground beneath. The fight between the UGDF and the Insydian Order lasted nearly a week, the fatalities reaching the hundred thousands. Unfortunately, by the time the Insydian forces were wearing thin, a ship shot a large beam of green light, destroying our entire base. We were forced to retreat, and many were shot dead in our retreat. I’m scared to find out whether or not anybody made it out of that explosion alive.