“Battle Group Aquarius, This is Command, Report!”
[This is Battle Group Aquarius…Reporting Status…All combatants' core energy levels are stable.]
“Confirmed, Again, This is Command, Battle Group Aquarius, you may proceed with pre drop procedures. Note, incoming core energy signatures of swarm class and tactical class creatures have been detected. CAU forces and CDU forces have begun sweeping operations. Please state mission objectives.”
[Understood Command…Battle Group Aquarius will proceed to drop into operation field. All high value targets will be eliminated with extreme prejudice…Upon their removal…Battle Group Aquarius will push the line forward…Confirmed?]
“Confirmed. Good Luck out there and come back to us.”
[Hmph!]…[No promises.]
With those final words, this exchange over the master communications channel was finished. The sound of a mechanical lock clacking open revealed a set of double doors just below Battle Group Aquarius’s feet.
Wind rushed in through the open bomb bay doors, but everyone could still hear each other through their earpieces.
The heads-up display lit up on those with helmets and the coms filled with chatter. In the background there were voices from Command, droning on and on. Different operators were communicating with other battle groups like theirs.
“Battle Group Orion…Confirmed.”
“Battle Group Sagittarius…Confirmed.”
“Battle Group Gemini…Confirmed.”
On and on it went, and the personnel of Battle Group Aquarius settled themselves for what was another normal day for an explorer. They’d fight, and prevail.
“Alright boys and girls, time for a drop into HELL! Any objections!”
“Hah, Just try to rip me away from the fight sir!”
“You don’t even scare me sir!”
“Grrr! Don’t look down on us just because we’re young sir!”
“Heh.” A gruff chuckle hummed over their comms. “Good to hear. PREPARE FOR DROP! AND DON’T DISAPPOINT ME.” The commander bellowed, a grin painted itself across his face under his helmet.
His group all gazed at what was under them. Some of the more inexperienced fellows held tight to the harness that tethered them to their seat. They couldn’t help but fight against instinct. Fearfully. they reflexively pulled away from the opened bomb bay doors that led to a long and frightful drop to earth.
Looking to the right corner of their heads-up display, everyone saw the red dot there suddenly flicker to green. As it did, their harnesses released and they all got up, some more shaky than others.
18 stood poised just inches from the gaping bomb bay doors. 9 on one side and another 9 on the other, all dressed up in different attire and equipment. Some had exosuits, or augment suits, while fewer wore plate armor or a kind of attire that matched their style.
“NOW!” The commander screamed.
All 18 of Battle Group Aquarius unhesitantly jumped forward. As scared as some of them were, they had already had the resolve to act trained into them.
Put into a free fall, some glanced up and behind as they fell to watch as the bomb bay doors close behind them. The silhouette of multiple dropships dashing away caught their attention. Flying off into the wider blue sky as they themselves fell to the white clouds below.
With how they saw white, they knew they had a ways to go before they landed. Falling headlong with gravity, Battle Group Aquarius manifested their weapons. Just as they did, a torrent of glinting lights tore through the cloud bed below them, all of which dashed up into the sky.
“Evade!” It was a simple order and everyone knew what to do.
Ducking and leaning themselves midair, the explorers moved to make themselves a harder target to hit. They could feel the heat from the attacks from below.
It showed just how dangerous they were. That kind of heat? This high up in the cold sky? IT! Was only trouble. As “pretty” as these lights were, danger was what was on everyone’s mind.
The attacks coming from below were grouping up, getting closer, some had to dodge out of the way just in time, death…was coming close. Nevertheless, the Battle Group pressed forward, or down in this case.
They advanced and soon broke through the clouds. The enemy was in sight, so densely packed like sardines that they crawled over the land like a tide wave of writhing blade, metal, and flesh.
”This is Grunt A01…Deploying Chaff… A02..deploy counter measures!”
“This is A02, Understood.”
These voices over the comms sounded young, the first was of a boy and the second was of a girl. Materializing in their hands, the boy himself held a 4-port rocket launcher.
Four missiles flew from the rear of the Battle Group, while Grunt A02 launched a hail of grenades from the drum fed grenade launchers she gripped in each arm.
Working in tandem, other grunts in the rear did the same, covering the group’s approach to the surface below. The missiles exploded first, blanketing their approach with a black fog.
A distance away, those of Battle Group Aquarius, who were further down this drop, spotted more figures breaking down through the cloud bed behind them.
It was hard to see them but they could sense them, sense their core energy.
The commander likely grinned again, knowing he’d be the first to get some action. Doing much the same as his own, these newly arriving Battle Groups turned their attention downwards. Evading and coordinating counter measures from enemy attacks from the surface.
They were just in time as well.
Catching a glimpse of Battle Group Aquarius at work. A light show of explosions as grenades impacted the earth flashed from below. As it did, Battle Group Aquarius slipped into the man-made clouds of black and gray metal particulates.
Courteous of Grunt A01 and A02, with their fellow grunts. All Battle Groups before them were stunned. A brilliant show of force and an all-too-envious amount of firepower on display.
Passing through the dark cloud, the first Battle Group continued falling to earth. They waited, and waited, and waited. Pitch black all around them, the sounds of gunfire getting closer. Again, they waited and waited, until…
”ALL UNITS! BEGIN ELIMINATION!”
***[Meanwhile on the Ground]***
18 figures descended from the heavens, many more behind and trailing up on high. Breaking from the dark man made cloud up above, the troops of the CDU and CAU watched as the first group of explorers stormed the battlefield. Quite literally, they arrived with a BANG!
They landed right in the middle of the approaching enemy ranks, who were blown away and scattered at the explorer’s quaking arrival. The enemy was numerous.
This person, who watched as the battle heated up, could still only describe them as monsters. Not the explorers, he would never say such a thing to those he fought with. No, he was talking about “those” monsters.
Why call them monsters? Well these things fought like animals. In fact, they were animals, past tense though.
All of them were insect-like in appearance but wholly changed from the usual ant or spider, plus, they were gigantic to boot.
This person had gotten used to their hideous appearance, even though they seemed somewhat chic with their dull metal like exteriors that seemed…grossly cool.
“This is TAC Unit Black Fire, callsign U.D.N.Y, confirmed visual on explorer descent. Advancing to assist.”
Relaying his message per the protocol of the operation, the pilot of the Tactical Armor Core Suit or called TAC for short, was pushed to action. His callsign Undying was both assigned to himself and the name of the machine he piloted, a brazen name he thought, to call himself and proclaim that he could not die, he scoffed.
Pressing the controls levers in his cockpit, his 10-meter-tall mechanical human shaped machine moved on its bipedal legs.
Inside of it, the hum of the pilot’s monitors filled his ears. That all soon changed shortly, as multiple explosions rang across the battlefield, his engines revving. The noise canceling design and mechanism helped to drown it out, only by a little though.
The waist boosters engaging, his TAC and his accompanying squad of TACs stormed the battlefield on wings of fire. While only numbering to a squad of 5, massive clumps of dirt and dust were kicked up by these few in number machines. Then, their enormous 36-millimeter assault guns spewed a river of hot lead.
These bullets of unbelievable sized caliber dug into the metallic flesh of towering monsters who stood like buildings. Other smaller monsters scurried around like ants but in numbers as numerous as grains of sand on a beach.
“This is 621st CAU Division, 3 Tactical class down, 17 remaining in Zone Alpha.”
“Understood soldier, hold your position and let us explorers get to work!”
“This is Battle Group Orion, Beginning Elimination.”
“This is 601st CDU Division, Confirmed 5 down at 1st Defensive Line, Radar and Core Sensory Network Reports More Tactical Class Incoming, Number, Unknown. Unit Black Fire, Assistance with Elimination Possible?”
“Copy, Will Move to Engage Shortly. This is Unit Black Fire, Command do you copy!”
“We Copy! What do you need?”
“Requesting bombardment with anti-swarm class cluster munitions at my 11 o’clock, danger close. Additionally, I suggest reinforcing point 0230.”
Caught in the chaos of battle that was filled with gunfire and comms chatter, the pilot held his breath as he waited for a response. In those seconds, his assault gun’s magazine ran empty and he quickly deployed his close-range saber. Withdrawn from his shoulder auxiliary weapons manipulator, it swept across.
Slashing, he slew and went through tens of swarm class ant-like monsters that approached him from his 9 to 3 o’clock. He then finally got a response from command.
”Request accepted, danger close barrage in 2 minutes. Note, 101st CDU Division will reinforce your rear. They will hold position to free up space for the explorers.”
“Thank you, Deployed units in 1st Defensive Line, Retreat to Point 0120. This is UNDYING, I’m moving into point 0510. To all CAU troops under my command, deploy all explosive type core weapons at current disposal. Follow me in and don’t get left behind. Advance at max combat speed.”
“We hear you! Now GO!”
At the maximum combat speed that their machines could produce, they dashed deeper into the battlefield.
Charging swifter than wind and as deafening as thunder, his accompanying TACs flew their hulking metal frames forward. Their guns poised and their shoulder launchers opening, they blasted the monsters ahead of them, obtaining their maximum attention.
Following just behind these massive mechanical weapons, Grunt class explorers adorned in augments suits with mini jet propulsion units, blew apart the smaller and more numerous swarm class creatures.
Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.
These ant-like creatures occasionally fired streaking light from some strange metal and glass like protrusions on their back.
While as big as a tank, these swarm class creatures were faster than their tactical class counterparts. Grenades, bullets, and rockets fell upon them both, all the while Battle Group Aquarius fought on, as well as many others, who were making their final descents.
More booming sounds filled across the battlefield as more explorers stirred their core energy around themselves. Their enhanced bodies took the shock of the fall. Many entered the fray like this, while others more safely landed with abilities such as flight and gravity manipulation.
“Target sighted! Incoming counterattack! Mystics! Deploy!” The commander said, his manifested saber held forward as if signaling his order. Just as sudden as their arrival, dashes of light shot across and towards them.
But these attacks from the swarm class were met with a barrier of light that surrounded all of Battle Group Aquarius. Withstanding the barrage of superheated plasma, the commander quickly surveyed and marked the key targets.
“Vanguard! Move to point 0450! Mid guard, protect the flanks, and rear guard, keep up!”
A green light of affirmation winked in the commander’s helmet’s HUD and he moved forward first from the front. With a swing of his saber, a drone class creature was sliced in twain. Its enormous visage as big as a car, the mutated roach with metal-like scales and disgusting protrusions across its body fell silent.
Following his example, the corebinders of the group pressed forward with body and soul. Impacting and punching through the large insects with ease, they moved on quickly. Working through scores of monsters, the tank sized swarm class were next.
Close behind, Mystics with their abilities supported the corebinders at the front, providing suppressing fire with bolts of energy as they worked in tandem to slay the swarming swarm class creatures.
“LOOK OUT! ON YOUR RIGHT!”
“DAMMIT! TOO CLOSE!”
As one mystic found themselves almost overwhelmed by the sheer numbers on all sides, from the rear guard came the sound of gunfire and the plinks of grenade launchers.
They pierced the armored skin of the creatures but didn’t land a killing blow. Yet this was enough and it allowed the mystics to evade as Grunt A01 and A02 rushed to draw the ants’ attention.
”GO!” Shouted A01.
His jet propulsion unit roaring, he and his comrade moved to support the front. The mystics were now given a chance and opportunity to let loose their full and focused power.
Grunt A01 and A02, with other grunts, bought minutes of time. Their efforts paying off, piercing lances of light along with other whistling long-range attacks flew across and over the vanguard.
A path opened up and they advanced, as did all other battle groups.
Breaking through the monster’s lines, Battle Groups moved from point to point in the chaos, slipping into the cracks of the enemy formation, taking them apart from the inside.
The commander slashed his saber beside a corebinder, who impacted her fist into the bulbous head of the spider-like tactical class monster. Its mouth-like orifice screeched as its metallic plated body cracked and red liquid spewed out from the flesh underneath it.
Once again, after charging ahead, just as the two of them were going to be overrun by the smaller enemies, the sight of grunts running to their support or additional artillery barrages covering the Battle Groups, all found their way to the mystics’s and corebinders’s sides.
TACs and more grunts stormed across the battlefield, opening up large avenues for the Battle Groups to more easily advance.
Slash, Stab, Shoot, Run. Rinse, Repeat.
An hour of fighting passed and the struggle was still ongoing.
Ongoing on these barren plains were where civilization once stood. Now, they were filled to the brim with these hideous creatures that were a spawn of what some thought might be the wrath of god, or the devil, or the heavens above, or even aliens.
These once native bug-like creatures had become so much more vicious and deadly. They ranged from sizes that were as big as tanks to buildings, and all of them had a jaw that could rip a man in half with a single bite.
Delivering a killing blow with his fist, a corebinder of one of the Battle groups downed the last tactical class creature. It fell with a thump, and after, silence then hung over them, as did the entire battlefield, its flat plain of gray and green now dirtied by red corpses, friend and foe alike.
[Reporting..This is Battle Group Aquarius…Mission success…all key targets eliminated...]
“Understood, report current condition.”
[Core energy levels have dropped to 10% of maximum…combat effectiveness has dropped by 67%…Grunt Unit Ammo Supply depleted…8 injured…2 dead]
“Report dead combatants.”
[Grunt A01 and A02, KIA]
“Confirmed, move to resupply at point 0250. Only two? Huh? You’re pretty lucky.”
[Sure sure, now move on.]
The commander barked at the operator's joke, he was irritated. His orders received, the commander sighed and signaled his men to retrieve the deceased. But he gave his order with a heavy heart.
In front of him was the sight of what was left of GRUNT A01, who was impaled to the ground by a spider-like tactical class’s spiked hind leg.
Just a bit away from where GRUNT A01 was lying in his final resting place, the half-eaten remains of GRUNT A02 were being wrenched from the jaws of a downed swarm class ant-like creature.
It had its lower monstrous body blown to bits, likely from the explosives it had swallowed courtesy of GRUNT A02, whose dead hand still clung to the detonator switch.
Both of them had sacrificed themselves to buy the mystics and corebinders time, putting their lives on the chopping block so that they didn’t have to.
Why?
Because a mystic and corebinder could kill more monsters than a grunt.
“Hah.” A sigh escaped the commander's lips and he talked to the air as if the two grunts were still there. “Mission complete. Thanks, you guys.”
A smile played on his lips, but…under that gruff exterior of his, he disdained this outcome. Losing men, especially good ones like A01 and A02, was hard.
If he remembered correctly, A01 was always so into music and would strum his violin when he had time off. A02, well she was more of a tomboy, but a cute one at that and especially when she acted like a playful cat around A01.
Perhaps A02 had an unrequited one-sided love for A01. Now though, the commander would never know what would have become of them or their future.
Damnit!…
***[VIDEO RECORD – ENTRY OPERATION OCEAN CALL – END]***
Seeing the images on her screen go black, Amanda took off the VR head gear around her face. What she just witnessed was a recorded playback of a past conflict near the seaboard line just south of the Western Bloc.
Putting the head gear down, Amanda pondered what she saw. In her hands was a Virtual reality helmet, and by using gathered battle data and electronic recordings, a 3-dimensional simulated recreation was made of a past military operation.
This was standard practice as it allowed for later generations of explorers to study battle tactics.
But for young in training explorers, it had a different kind of purpose.
“Hah.” Amanda sighed, trying not to let anything else but air escape her lips.
“Well that was…” She couldn’t help to sigh again. How could she not, she was unable to describe it, her tongue catching as she tried to put it into words.
Horrible, exciting, morbid, valorous. These were words she could say to describe what she just saw. But really, it wasn’t enough.
“So? Is this what Itsuki meant?” She mumbled and thought back to her conversation with that idiot.
While the video record had been muted due to confidentiality reasons, the hidden facts and meanings from this record didn’t escape Amanda’s intelligent mind and eyes. She saw the truth of her future profession, what she’d experience in the future, along with some of its lessons.
How grunts truly had the highest casualty rate and that there was more to being an explorer. Her power, while special as she knew it was, really wasn’t all that cracked up to be in the face of real battle.
Could she really face such a situation in real life? No, she’d probably run, fearful of getting caught in the tide of death that was warfare.
Her mind wandering again, Joel’s explanation about the curriculum here at Andromeda came next. It was.. different, was how Amanda would put it into words, but not say aloud.
In her opinion, from her time in the orphanage, schooling was never like this, never this intense and she surmised this was the same with other explorer academies. The looks of the other nearby students told her she was right.
Stella, who was sitting beside her, had a somewhat green look to her usual complexion. It soon returned to normal when she made an audible gulp.
“You going to be okay?”
“Yeah..I’m..Urk.” Stella had to stifle something in her throat, she swallowed, and shivered. “I’m…fine…it’s just…those roaches were disgusting.”
Her words made Amanda almost want to laugh. She thought Stella was more sickened by the gore. Funnily, she had to agree that those things were something no one would want to encounter in real life, they were once known as the black bane of kitchens.
”Alright Alright, let’s strike when the iron is hot.”
Professor Cyno clapped his hands together. The sound echoing off the walls and getting everyone’s attention on him. He stood on a pedestal at the center of the circular classroom Amanda and the other students were in.
The room was similar to that of the enormous auditorium from their orientation but was much smaller in scale. It couldn’t seat thousands of students, just a couple hundred at max.
All around Processor Cyno, students were still somewhat pale faced at what they had just watched. He continued the class anyway, even though some were almost puking.
“So? While I know you all might be feeling sick, I did warn you all before I started class that this might be a bit much to handle. It seems that we don’t have any pukers this time though, good.”
He nodded approvingly to everyone.
“It seems like the video blurring option helped. But anyways, moving on to the lecture section, I remind you again that this is Explorer Basics 101. In this class, everything you need to know to get started as explorers will be taught.”
Waving his hand, Cyno produced multiple full 3D holo projected images of the drone class, swarm class, and tactical class creatures from the simulated recording. There were hideous, an amalgamation of metal and flesh that seemed eerie to look at.
The drone class was a roach but was big as a car. It was pitch black and had a writhing mouth that was jagged enough and large enough to swallow a person’s arm.
In comparison, the swarm class was an ant that had scales like metal, aptly named. Armored ant. It was a step up from the roach and was as big as a tank. Plated head to toe in both dull gray and black pieces of metal.
Some in the class thought it was a living amalgam of scrap, yet the fleshy silver maw made the students think otherwise.
Lastly, the Tactical class monster, named spider tyrants, had a dull beige color to its body. This spider creature stood on 6 spiked legs and was so large that Professor Cyno had to scale it down to fit it inside the classroom.
The holo projections had such a stark clarity that it made the students almost think they were real.
“As you saw from the video, explorers deal with these classes of creatures on a regular basis, they are the numerous. From how most of you are reacting, this is your first time and you think you can’t handle them, well, you’re wrong.”
Professor Cyno gave a tut tut with a finger, and smiled.
“There is no need to fear these creatures. When taken alone, a single explorer of any class could defeat them. What is important and more commonly known is that only when these creatures are together are they any real threat.”
He then shared how these creatures only seemed to become hostile while in large groups. Solo creatures on their own were more akin to that of mindless animals that wandered around.
“But!” Professor Cyno said strongly. “Do not let their mindless attitude trick you. They are still dangerous as they tend to fight anything that attacks them, but a strong enough attack is able to down them easily.”
“But, Professor?” Amanda stood up from her seat.
Professor Cyno gave her a tolerant glance and humored her interruption.
“You have something to ask, Miss Amanda?”
“Yes, it’s about the Grunts. Are they really able to take one on? It seems that bullets, even the chitin variety, had little effect on the swarm class in the video. A drone class maybe, but still, they put themselves in danger by taking to the front on mass like in the video. Why not just send in a larger number of Mystics and Corebinders?”
“A good question Miss Amanda. A grunt class explorer does have difficulties, more so than their corebinder and mystic counterparts. But they are necessary. In total, mystics and corebinders only make up 10% of the whole explorer ranks.”
That was shocking for Amanda, it made her realize she still had a lot to learn about the world of explorers. So, she listened closely.
“Those that unlock powers are still rare, so sending them in large numbers is a high-risk high reward gambit. Grunts on the other hand, and while I don’t mean to be callous when I say this, are just more effective since they can be easily replaced.”
“That’s…horrible.” Said Amanda under her breath.
“Indeed.” Unexpectedly replied Professor Cyno, his tone somewhat somber.
The students could see that the war still weighed on their heroic professor. Amanda sat down, no longer wishing to broach the topic. Yet, she couldn’t help to think about Itsuki and other Grunts like Ikki.
If this is what real combat is like for an explorer, how had Itsuki gone through this? And ever since he was eight.
“But!” Cyno broke from his funk by clapping his hands as he shouted. As he did so, the holo projected images of the creatures disappeared from the air.
Now, they were replaced with the sight of large vehicles of war as he continued.
“In recent years, strategy and technology has caught up. Presently, more advanced weapons are being utilized and combat doctrines have taken a step forward. You’ll learn about these in the Practical Training Class. So look forward to that.”
The class then went on like usual. The students learned of the tools they’d be using in their future career. Gadgets for echolocation, jet packs, the structure of a dropship, and procedures, all to ensure proper handling and utilization.
It had been a week since classes started and the first years were still adjusting to the curriculum. Most classes involved hands-on training to hone their powers and to teach them how to use basic explorer tools.
Many were thinking about dropping out since the classes were more of a mental burden than a physical trial. If they wanted to really become explorers, they’d need a tough mind here, as well as a tough body.
Amanda, while somewhat unsettled now and again, was adapting. So was Stella, bit by bit. Ikki though was a given since he once served before as a temporary explorer.
“There sure is a lot to learn.” Mumbled Amanda as she let her gaze wander in the classroom, wondering what they’d do next.
[OPERATION OCEAN CALL-SIMULATION RECORDING]
Description: Reported on the southern Edge of the Western Bloc Territory. An enormous emergence of creatures from stardepths located in the southern Ocean’s depths was detected 1 month prior. Numbers started as a few thousand but soon increased to over a few million. Tactical swarm class detect, authorization of TACs put forward. In total, over hundreds of mystics and corebinders particaptaed, along with thousands of Grunt class explorers. CAU and CDU forces participated from Western Bloc Terracolony garrisons.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/W1yWWX71/image.webp]