"We're there."
Through the noise of the boosters, I heard the pilot's words. Right now the shuttle was descending smoothly, flying through a few clouds that obscured the view of our scanners, but soon the instruments began to record the terrain and determined the conditional coordinates of our location.
"We'll reach our destination any minute now."
"Okay, let's continue our flight."
I answered, patting the pilot on the shoulder.
Standing in the cockpit, I looked at the screens and the control panel, seeing in front of me an image of a continuous forested area of a temperate climate zone, and in the middle of this forest there was a city that clearly belonged to the primitive civilization inhabiting this planet.
This is not something you see every day, and now we have seen with our own eyes that this planet is inhabited by living beings that are more understandable to us, and yet something completely different was important now.
"Sir, what will be your orders?"
The pilot turned his head towards me and I immediately gave the order.
"We proceed as planned. Maintain course and prepare for landing."
"Understood, sir."
The pilot said and activated the transmitter, starting to broadcast throughout the airwaves.
"Says «Archon», we begin approaching the landing site, we repeat, we begin approaching the landing site. Everyone get ready. The shuttle crew be ready."
"He says «Deimos», I understand you, we are approaching a populated area, getting ready to land."
I heard confirmation in the earphone from the pilot of the second shuttle, and then from the third.
"Says «Java», similarly."
According to the protocol, in case of unforeseen situations, if we find ourselves on a planet with an undeveloped civilization, we should not come into contact with it in any way or, for that matter, then, if possible, minimize the damage caused to the indigenous inhabitants of this planet. However, in our case everything is completely different. Damage was caused to us, and we have the right to respond in kind.
After the battle with xorx, it was possible to save the lives of 110 thousand soldiers of the 127th Army, about 50 thousand people died during defensive operations aimed against insectoids, but among the army, especially many died during the last operation known as "Achilles", from which only a third of the sent forces, including reinforcements, were able to get out of there alive.
What was in the reports can be studied for years. I myself could not believe the madness written by the survivors of this battle, and yet it was the purest truth. Fortunately, for us everything went much more successfully than we imagined. xorxes not only lost their leader, but simply died, having lost contact with the queen of the swarm. At the site of that explosion, a huge crater remained, stretching deep into the mantle of the planet. A few days after the battle, this piece of the planet continues to cool and turn the sands into glass with its heat.
A huge piece of the planet disappeared, or to be more precise, it was transferred into subspace along with those remaining soldiers who defended the defense perimeter inside which they were preparing to detonate the jump engine. And although we were not able to save their lives, they were able to accomplish a real feat, thanks to which the most difficult thing for us was over. At least that's what I hoped.
After a little mourning and celebration of this difficult victory, we began building a base and simultaneously strengthened our positions against possible attacks. We expected the appearance of creatures similar to xorxes, but after their destruction we no longer noticed any signs of life, but that was until we received a repeated message from a mobile radio station.
The signal was very weak and spread across all possible frequencies. Such a signal could only come from manual means of communication, and not from some powerful radio installation. In fact, it was suspicious, but the message itself clearly gave us an idea of what was going on, because the content of the message was as follows, and it surprised us a little:
«Speaks with the temporary rank of junior lieutenant Boris Kipito, leader of platoon C1-2-2D4. The shuttle «Persia» on which we were stationed during the evacuation from «Zeus» crashed, most of the crew died. Only sixty-one people survived. At the crash site, the first contact was made with local residents, but a conflict subsequently occurred that resulted in the death of even more surviving members of the Persia crew, including Lieutenant John Christ, commander of the C1-2-2D regiment.
There are now twenty of us left, in addition to everything we found another person who had previously been on the planet, a civilian. Fortunately, we managed to establish contact with other natives, more friendly, and they agreed to provide us with comprehensive support, after which we began to move towards the intended landing site of the 127th Army.
However, along the way we encountered a problem.
We needed to gain the right of passage through the lands of the native state, but in return they demanded our protection and participation in the conflict. As a senior in rank, I made a decision and agreed, but at the moment we are not enough to cope with their opponents in battle. Help Wanted.
Using native means of transportation, we raise our radio station to an altitude of over one hundred kilometers in the hope that this repeating signal will reach the command of the 127th Army. Help is required immediately, namely by 10:00 London time. We ask you to stay at an altitude above one hundred kilometers when flying due to possible anomalous barriers. That's all. Further message about repeating... ...Speaks with a temporary rank...»
Details were few, but one thing was clear: xorxes are not the only life forms that threaten our presence on this planet, which means we need to be ready at any moment and at any second. Moreover, we did not receive any information about which natives Boris Kipito was doing business with and how he managed to establish contact with them, but we left this question for later and will return to it when we solve this problem.
After receiving the report on the signal, an emergency meeting of the entire high command of the 127th Army was held, at which they decided to immediately provide comprehensive support to the C1-2-2D4 platoon, and now we hastily assembled an entire Largebattalion and sent one and a half thousand soldiers on three shuttles in the direction from which this radio signal came.
We did everything as Boris advised, we flew in the stratosphere in order to avoid any anomalous barriers, the existence of which we could not visually confirm in any way, and soon after flying a little over a third of this continent and capturing a lot of populated areas on board, we reached this city where approximately twenty thousand people could live, and maybe more.
The civilization that we see can be described as extremely backward. On Mars, it would be given an eighth-level rating according to the classification system for the development of societies of carbon-based life forms, and on Earth this civilization would be called medieval, and yet their numbers and knowledge of the area could be a very significant threat to us, which we will, of course, take into account. It may well be that they are humanoids, which gives us the opportunity to establish contact with them much easier, perhaps that is why Boris was able to talk to them.
Thinking about this, cold beads of sweat involuntarily begin to roll off my forehead. There are even more problems on our minds, even more dangers, even more problems that we need to solve and, of course, even more questions, the answers to which we will not receive soon.
I hope everything goes smoothly. We need to check the guys.
I thought and went out into the landing compartment to the soldiers dressed in black combat suits.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Behind the closed helmets of their faces, I saw firm determination, they observed discipline in a way they had not observed before and were determined in a way they had not yet tuned in. After the battles with the xorxes, they were hardened, they were firm, and they were no longer afraid of any enemy, but this did not give them any reason to relax in any way, which they understood perfectly well and which, of course, they did not allow.
Having looked around at the hundreds of soldiers of the landing groups, I heard the pilot’s voice in the earpiece, telling me important information:
"Sir, a blue flag was spotted on one of the buildings, and on it was the inscription: "Terra"."
Translated from Latin "Earth".
I smiled and answered the pilot over the air.
"Accepted. Mark targets defending this flag as friendly."
"Sir, there is a battle going on inside the village. It looks like an assault is underway."
As expected. It was not without reason that Boris called for help.
"What do you see?"
"A medieval style battle. It seems these creatures are of a humanoid type and are fighting each other. We see a huge number of bodies on the way and... wait... I see people in camouflage uniforms on top of the structure, they are surrounded."
Fuck!
I cursed to myself and gave the order.
"«Archon», I order you to clear the landing area."
"Yes, sir. May I clarify where we will land?”
"Choose the landing site yourself, but preferably as close as possible to your allies on the ground."
"Understood, General, let's begin to carry out orders."
Having disconnected from the air and once again looked at the soldiers dressed in combat suits, I put a breathing mask on my face and symbolically prayed, hoping that the Gods unknown to me would help me.
If Elarasia you exist, then I pray you protect our sinful souls. Forgive us for all the evil that we have brought and will bring in the future.
After that, I heard the pilot’s voice again:
"We found an open area, but the distance to the main buildings where the fighting is taking place is too great.”
"I understand. In this case, we will immediately drop the vanguard group, hover over the flag and open the landing gate.”
"Understood, General. We are carrying out the emergency landing procedure."
Immediately after this, the shuttle ladder began to open, which is why I, either instinctively or with caution, grabbed the breathing mask with my fingers and ordered:
"Team «Nightmare», urgent order, immediately disembark, identify allies and protect them. Friendly forces are defending the blue flag with the inscription «Terra». Continue to carry out the order and wait for reinforcements. Is the order clear?"
"That's right, sir. Let's get started with the urgent task."
The fighter responded on air, after which a squad of ten paratroopers, quickly reacting with a running start, ran along the ramp, jumping down, activating the brake packs on their backs.
After the last paratrooper with a heavy machine gun at the ready jumped down, the shuttle turned around and began moving to the side, causing me to grab the railing against the wall. While the shuttle was flying, I couldn’t help but take advantage of the moment and made what I thought was an inspiring speech by activating the earpiece.
"Friends, I know that after these beetles you are all tired, but we are here to save our guys, who lived in a hostile environment for more than a month, losing four hundred and eighty people. They probably have important information about this planet that they were able to collect during all this time. This should help us adapt to this planet and survive. This will not be our first battle, but fortunately it will not be the most difficult, and yet we remain vigilant. ourselves the planet Eusberia. Now the most important thing for us is to survive, and I promise, General Zeonid Kudrinash, that we will damn well survive! So don’t let me down or yourself!
"For the Republic!"
The fighters sang in chorus, hitting the chests of their combat suits with their fists, almost deafening me and the ether.
"EVERYONE GET READY!"
I shouted into the air and grabbed the pistol with my left hand while the paratroopers lined up.
I felt the shaking and how the shuttle relieved me by starting a rapid descent, after which the roofs of primitive buildings quickly appeared in the open airlock. A slight push and the shuttle landed, and not a single living creature appeared outside, only stone tiles, houses and some decorative structures like a fountain, statues, benches and other things.
"The «Archon» has landed."
The pilot reported on air.
"Everything around is clean. The scanner detects thousands of unidentified organisms within a radius of one hundred meters, but I can’t visually confirm their presence.”
"All landing crew of the «Archon» take up defensive positions around the shuttle!"
I ordered the platoons.
"Fire only at the attackers, we don’t yet know who will be our ally here and who will be the enemy.”
Like a river, the paratroopers ran out of the shuttle in five rows, aiming their rifles and heavy machine guns from the hip into the distance. The platoons quickly took up a perimeter defense without detecting anyone alive around them. I was the last one who still remained inside the shuttle, but it was not for long and soon I also left the shuttle, emerging into a place more reminiscent of a certain square. Now everything remains to be done.
"«Archon», the crew has disembarked, take off and provide air support."
"Yes, sir, let's do it."
The pilot answered and began to take off while the paratroopers occupied the area, after which the first shots were heard behind them.
"Enemies?"
I asked and then received confirmation.
"Yes, General. The natives were moving towards us. Northern direction."
"Who attacked?"
"Humanoids armed with melee weapons in the form of long knives."
By activating the visor, I received a picture from the combat suit of the soldier who shot the attackers and confirmed his words. The dead creatures that I saw strongly resembled people, their blood was even red and they were dressed in some kind of rags. Far from the face of the other soldier, I saw other people hiding behind houses, looking at the paratroopers with fear. They did not dare to attack, and therefore no one fired at them, and yet in some directions large crowds of people with distraught faces were approaching towards the square and thoughtlessly decided to attack us, and as a result they were killed.
Striking resemblance to people.
I assessed the appearance of the inhabitants of this planet.
I thought Elephrems were the only aliens that looked more like humans, but these really look like humans. Only now...
By amplifying the sound scanners on the visor, slurred speech could be heard.
Only now they speak a completely unfamiliar language to us.
I thought and was again convinced of how important it was to contact Boris because he was most likely able to establish contact with the local inhabitants at the linguistic level.
So far everything was going quite smoothly, but it was necessary to establish contact with Boris’s detachment, which apparently defended the main building in this city, a structure that looked more like a castle. An attempt to contact him now was unsuccessful, after which I quickly gave orders to send one platoon to support Boris’s squad and the «Nightmare» squad.
And while I was doing this, a bright flash appeared in the sky for a brief moment and then disappeared.
"What happened? What was that flash?"
I demanded an answer and received an answer from the «Archon».
"Says «Archon», a powerful bolt of lightning struck the ship, everything is in order. Minor heating of the hull."
In order?
I thought and looking at the sky I didn’t see a single cloud in the sky.
"Understood."
I answered and returned to the main task.
Soon we quickly identified forces hostile to us, they attacked us and the local residents. It is strange that our menacing and alien appearance did not frighten them at all, and yet partly this was only to our advantage, since now we knew exactly who we had to deal with now, with those who had completely forgotten about the feeling of fear.
"General, the «Nightmare» squad has protected all targets. There are no losses. We are starting to clear the premises. Second Lieutenant Boris Kipito is fine, his people are also fine and under our protection."
I received a message from the head of the «Nightmare» squad.
"Accepted. All units, begin occupation of the city. Destroy all hostile forces. Neutralize and disarm all others."
I gave the orders.
At the same time, I saw three shuttles in the sky firing heavily from their onboard guns at parts of the city and beyond. One platoon was sent to a large building on the square, but soon a huge concentration of living beings was discovered there and therefore I ordered not to enter the building so as not to frighten off the local residents.
I also received a message from «Deimos» and «Java» that they had landed troops outside the city and were also providing air support. There were no problems with the clearing, except that there were too many hostile forces and the soldiers had to look around every corner to find them.
The sound of single shots could still be heard in the distance, and the soldiers began to patrol the city streets filled with bodies of natives. At this time I moved towards the town hall, or castle. I'll have to talk to Boris Kipito and find out what the hell is going on here, as well as find out how they spent their time away from the 127th Army.
Overall, Operation "Black Angels" is a success.