Sergeant Grays
I smiled and nodded at the successful detonation of Team B’s tactical nuke. Humanity didn’t really have very much use for them since we found out that aliens existed and world peace was established (more or less), so it was nice to be able to use them every once and a while. I looked over at my marines, and it was clear that they felt the same way, some even going so far as to say things like “hell yeah,” and “Come get some you alien bastards.”
“Stow that shit marines, we’re not out of the woods yet. Hopefully they will be too busy dealing with the radioactive fallout to worry about us.” I pointed to the two marines still carrying their plasma cutters. “You two start making holes to get us to the sensor suite!” They immediately got to work. I then pointed to Collins, my radio operator and overall tech wiz. “You see if you can’t get into their systems and start wreaking havoc.”
He gave a sinister smile and cracked his knuckles. “Thought you’d never ask Sarge.”
I nodded and got back on my radio. “Team B, confirm detonation. Also, what’s your status?”
A moment of silence came across the radio, spiking my paranoia, before they finally responded. “We’re fine over here Sarge, just trapped in the vents is all. Damn, they got this place locked up tighter than Fort Knox!” A bit of mirth creeped into the marine’s voice. “And if you need me to confirm the detonation, then you must be deaf and blind Sarge.” He quickly realized who he was talking to and quickly regained his professional demeanor. “Detonation confirmed, no confirmed kills at this time.”
“Good,” I said. “Start making your way over to the central computer systems to draw them away from us. And if you get killed, make sure to take out as many as you can.”
“That we can do Sarge!” came the enthusiastic reply.
I turned back to my squad, everyone in various stages of panic. Despite not being able to see their faces, I could tell that they were all terrified, either of dying, being captured and subsequently tortured, or even just failing their mission. “Listen up, marines!” The ones that weren’t doing anything looked at me. “We are going to finish this mission or die trying! And if the corps has taught us anything, it’s that marines don’t die easilly!” I turned to the marines cutting a hole in the bulkhead. “What’s the ETA of that hole?”
“Two minutes, Sarge. With how thick it is, I would say it’s going to take us about five minutes per bulkhead.”
I nodded. “And how many bulkheads do we have to go through?” I asked our navigator.
“We have thirty of them to go through, so about two and a half hours, not including travel time between the bulkheads.”
“Shit!” I shouted. “Chances are we’ll be found out by then!” I started to resign myself to having to actually fight these massive xenos without the support of mechs instead of the stealth that we had employed thus far.
“Goddamn I’m a fuckin’ genius!” Collins suddenly shouted as he quickly strode over to me, wildly waving the tablet around before finally handing it to me.
I took the tablet and looked at it. On it was lines and lines of code that were as unintelligible as the alien writing on the side of these air ducts. “Collins,” I started, “what the hell am I looking at?”
He quickly took the tablet back, excitement evident in his demeanor and body language. “It took me a couple of minutes, but I was finally able to get into the Yalayan’s network. I’ve got the detection system in the vents suppressed right now, but with a couple more minutes of coding, and I can probably send them false signals. Those dumb bastards need to update their cybersecurity measures if it was that easy for me to get in.”
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
I nodded. Finally, some good news. “Alright, continue to run interference and get this code to Team B so they can start wreaking havoc while we achieve our objectives.” I looked over to where the two marines were finished cutting a hole in the bulkhead. “We have thirty more bulkheads to get through before we get to the sensor suite, so let’s get moving!”
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High Commander Tussus
“All vent access points and internal crossroads hatches have successfully sealed, High Commander,” came the word from my chief engineer.
I leaned back in my chair and reveled in this small victory. We have them contained for now. When we find them it’ll be like shooting fish in a barrel. I could imagine myself after destroying the Terrans on board and taking the fight to the Strength Through Diplomacy receiving all the medals that were available to me. I could already feel the praise of those around me, along with a possible seat on the High Command itself. Unfortunately for me, I could not revel in the future victory for very long before an explosion rocked the ship, and I had to grasp my chair tightly to not faceplant into the floor.
“Engineer! What in the name of all the holy ancestors just happened?!?” I shouted.
The engineer looked as if he was about to pass out. “T-the entire early warning system and all of the surrounding rooms, t-they’re gone, High Commander.”
“Gone? What do you mean gone? No traditional explosive that small could possibly do that much damage! Perhaps the diagnostic information is incorrect.” I rebutted.
“I-it wasn’t traditional explosives. I-it was a fission bomb.” Everyone on the bridge suddenly looked a lot like the engineer, and I realized why the engineer was so close to passing out. Fission weapons were almost outright banned by the Galactic Community, and for good reason too. Even with the advanced medicine that we had, if radiation poisoning wasn’t treated immediately after exposure, for most species, it was deadly. We had to contain this before any more of the crew that wasn’t caught in the original blast died from the fallout of this attack.
“L-lock down that entire part of the ship. Make sure that the surrounding areas don’t get saturated.” I silently cursed myself for not maintaining composure as much as I should. I looked over to the engineer to see that he was already doing that.
The moment that I get my hands on those Terrans, I will make sure their suffering is legendary. I sat there for a moment. This will also set back our timeline of attacking the Terrans. I cursed once more.
Several hours of metaphorical and literal firefighting after the initial explosion, we had finally managed to get that part of the ship under control. I breathed a sigh of relief as I finally was able to relax after everything that had happened. The early warning system would be sorely missed, but so long as the sensor suite stayed online, we would be more than capable of destroying any pitiful resistance that the Terrans could muster up. Now to find those damned apes. Not even twenty seconds after thinking that, a second explosion rocked the entire ship.
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Major Morrow
It was time. Our shuttle had been cloaked and waiting just outside of the effective scanners (and weapons) of the Indomitable Crusade. Everyone was waiting patiently for the go ahead by command to start our boarding action on the Yalayan ship. The mood was so intense that no one even dared to speak. And how could they? This was possibly the single most important military operation in humanities history since first contact. And after intercepting that communication from the Yalayan High Command, everyone knew the stakes, and failure wasn’t an option anymore. We would succeed or die trying. The voice of our CO came through our helmet radios. “Phase One has been completed. Prepare for Phase Two, ETA five minutes.”
I suddenly stood up, prompting the twenty other soldiers in the shuttle with me to stand as well. I turned to face them all, looking intensely at the faceplates of their mechs. “Today, we don’t fight for politics, resources, or any other pathetic and shortsighted reasons. We fight for the continuation of our species. It is estimated that there are over three thousand Yalayans on that ship, and only twenty of us. That almost makes it an even fight.” I paused for dramatic effect. “For them.”