splash splash splash splash
“Fury three this is Reaper six. Requesting air support in vicinity of AE 1325 8291, I repeat requesting air support in vicinity of (IVO) AE 1325 8291, over.”
“*Bzzt*”
“Lieutenant (LT) Yim! No word back from command about that air support yet, sir?!”
As LT Yim ran in the muddy trenches, he heard a familiar voice shout out to him. He turned and saw a man with an imposing height of seven foot in an Advance Warfare Uniform (AWU). AWUs were the state of the art military uniform that used the new fabric found on planet Qmeun called Zyntethic Fiber. About thirty years ago scientists had found that the fiber, when layered together, was five times more durable and pierce resistant than the previous strongest equipment while also being feather light. There was a very large amount in Qmeun, more than enough to make the new armor/uniform for the Dontesk Empire’s millions of soldiers. The helmet was made of a hardened plastic that was shaped into a boxy oval. The front of the helmet was covered by tinted glass.
The AWUs were built with a lot of gadgets that would provide the soldiers many benefits such as the built in Life Sustainment Unit (LSU) which converted the elements in a planet’s atmosphere to oxygen. With a robotic frame built in to the interior of the AWU, it increased movement speed and strength for the soldiers thus allowing them to travel further and carry more weight on the battlefield. There was also a radio, an orbital GPS and a 3D mapping system that showed all known enemy locations built into the helmet. Well, LT Yim didn’t want to open the map, he knew how badly they were being overrun.
“First Sergeant (1SG)! Command isn’t replying back. I don’t think we’re going to be able to rely on air support this time.”
“Damn those bastards up on the Battle Carrier! Are they just going to watch from up there as we get killed, sir?!”
1SG Martinez tilted his head upward to the cloudy sky and gazed toward the Battle Carrier with 1LT Yim as the rain splattered down on their visors. 1LT Yim had to admit, the Battle Carrier was a sight to behold.
With a length of one thousand meters, width of seven hundred and fifty meters, and height of three hundred meters, the Battle Carrier was the housing area for a whole division that made up thirty thousand soldiers, not to mention the squadron pilots and their aircrafts. The Battle Carrier had a hammer shaped body along with two short triangular wings toward the thrusters on the back. At the edge of each wing were two laser cannons that were stacked upon each other. Placed all throughout the ship were tens of automatic incendiary round machine guns. The laser cannon was placed in the front of the ship, right before the eyes of the command station.
On each side of the Battle Carrier, there was also numerous ports for the aircraft to takeoff and land into. The aircraft bay housed a hundred aircraft which ranged between the ground attack based Wyrms, the dual air/ground attack Wyverns, air battle specialists Drakes and the transport ships which doubled down as the MEDEVAC ship. The ports were placed on the walls of the bay so that multiple aircrafts, exactly ten from each side, could sortie at once.
Even though the Battle Carrier held so much firepower, none of the aircrafts sortied and none of the incendiary machine guns fired down in support. It just stayed in the air as an imposing figure with beams lighting the ground below.
“Shit sir, what should we do? There’s just simply too many Zvirek, we can’t hold our lines for much longer. We don’t have much more ammo left either.”
Inside of his helmet, 1LT Yim’s face turned grim. Throughout the battlefield, sounds of gunfire and cries of agony from the soldiers and Zvirek could be heard. The sounds were so constant over the past twenty hours that 1LT Yim barely recognized them anymore. He wondered how many people had died so far. Five thousand? Maybe even up to ten thousand? He simply didn’t know.
1LT Yim wasn’t the original Company Commander for the Reapers. He was one of the Platoon Leaders. Twelve hours into the battle, however, the Company Commander and Company Executive Officer (XO) were killed when a Venomancer burrowed up right beside them. The two didn’t have a chance as it released the venom from its mouth and slashed with its two scythe like arms.
After they killed the damn monster, 1LT Yim took over command as the senior officer. He thanked God that the 1SG was not present at the time of the attack. 1SG Martinez was one of the rare soldiers that had survived the war for over ten years. The average life expectancy for anyone in the military was now only a mere two years. Even though the soldiers of the Dontesk Empire had a higher kill to death ratio than the Zvirek. There were simply too many Zvireks.
“1SG! The area we are covering is too large for the company! Have all the soldiers fall back two hundred meters to the next trench! Use bounding overwatch so that one platoon provides cover for the other. I’m going to call for fires to provide cover also.”
“Roger, sir.”
With a nod to each other, the two rushed forward. As they ran, the two began to speak into their communication device inside their helmets. Although the two were in the inner trenches, they did not dare to lose awareness of their surroundings as a hole could open in the outer trench and the Zvirek would rush through like water through a crack in a dam. The Zvirek were also capable of burrowing through the ground so the slightest slip in concentration could spell their deaths.
“Hammer three, this is Reaper six. Request cover fire IVO AE 1325 8291 in five mikes, over.”
“Reaper six, this is Hammer three. Copy that, we will lay down cover fire in five mikes, over.”
“Hammer three, this is Reaper six. Roger, out.”
After 1LT Yim finished his communication with fires, he yelled out to 1SG Martinez.
“1SG! Fires will lay down cover fire for us in five mikes! Have everyone start bounding overwatch now so they can get out of the kill zone!”
“Roger that, sir! Will have our soldiers moving now!”
1SG Martinez replied in confirmation and began to order the company through the company’s communication line. Bounding overwatch. This was a unit movement drill where one unit would form up in a line and provide cover fire as the other unit ran back a certain distance before they laid down and provided cover fire for the first unit. They would continue moving in this fashion until both units reached their target location. It wasn’t the fastest method of travel, but it was the safest and provided the most security.
As the two watched, their two platoons began their bounding overwatch movement over the wet barren ground. The hard dirt had moistened with the constant rain over the day . 1LT Yim and 1SG Martinez both felt pride as they saw the crisp and direct movements. It wasn’t easy to place your complete trust in someone to protect you as you ran while showing your back to hundreds of Spawns and Venomancers. The troops showed their discipline and faith in each other as they exited the kill zone that 1LT Yim had placed.
Exactly five minutes after he had placed in the call for cover fire, the rounds from the Rail Gun tanks in the rear began to land in the in kill zone. With each blast, the ground exploded from the impact and tens of Zvirek were blown up. It was a gruesome sight to see as green liquid exploded outwards while body parts flew around in the air. The area two hundred meters away from 1LT Yim and 1SG Martinez was bombarded so hard that the terrain was drastically altered with large craters.
Once the whole company reached the inner trench, the troops began to holler in joy. Those hollers, however, didn’t last long as the sound of thrusters erupted through the sky. At the sound, 1LT Yim’s head immediately rose. Up above, the Battle Carrier had finally began to move. At the sight of the ship finally taking action, his heart was filled with hope. Just maybe he and his company just might survive the ordeal.
That heart filled with hope, however, sunk with disbelief and horror at the sight of the Battle Carrier as it flew up into the clouds. As the thrusters faded from view, his troops began to shout in disbelief and fear. 1LT Yim couldn’t blame them; their only hope for survival had been with the Battle Carrier. To see that hope fly away, even he wanted to cry.
After a few moments to regain his composure, he looked to his troops. As he expected, all of their shoulders were slouched and they looked defeated. Even though he couldn’t see their faces through the helmets, he could tell that all of them showed despair and horror.He had the same expression on his face, after all.
“Alright ladies and gentlemen, group up!”
At the sudden noise, all the soldiers perked up in surprise. A few moments later, the sixty remaining soldiers gathered around. After he was satisfied that everyone was close enough to hear him, 1LT Yim began his speech.
“I know what all of you are feeling. Shock, anger, fear, despair, betrayal. The majority of you feel many of these emotions, if not all. Trust me, I feel the same exact ones. We’ve been left for dead by higher, after all. We all knew that in one battle or another we’d most likely meet our end. None of us, however, wished for an end like this. Even I don’t want to die stranded and left on a planet by those I call leaders.
Saying all of that, I must say that I am truly honored that I will go to death alongside such an excellent group of men and women. All of you embody what it truly means to be a hero. I thank you all for the great opportunity to lead such fine soldiers.
Anyways, even if we all go down, let’s make them pay. Let’s make those damn Zvirek pay dearly for every Reaper life they take. We will show them why our company was named after the Grim Reapers themselves!”
“””””HOOOOAHHHHH!”””””
The company roared in approval. The previous slouch in the shoulders and the gloomy atmosphere was gone. Since they had gotten past the fact that their death was inevitable, they were determined to protect their fellow comrades for as long as possible and to take as many Zvirek as they could down with them.
Afterwards, 1LT Yim gave everyone a ten minute breather. He wanted to give them time to tidy up final thoughts in their minds. When the soldiers lined up in the trenches, 1LT Yim felt a peaceful aura around them, as if they had come to terms with everything. As the whole company lined up, they all awaited for the inevitable flood of Zvirek. After they had waited for fifteen minutes, 1LT radioed in to fires to make sure they were ready.
“Hammer three, this is Reaper six. Are the fires ready for fire, over?”
“Reaper six, this is Hammer three. Roger that, we are ready to lay suppressive fire at any time, over.”
Hammer three, this Reaper six. Roger that, out.”
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“Reaper six, this is Hammer three. Good luck to you all, will see you in hell shortly, out.”
1LT Yim couldn’t help but smile at the radio communicator’s final message.
’Hell, huh? Only regret I have before dying is that I couldn’t tell Beth that I loved her one more time…’
As he thought that, he pulled up a picture onto his helmet’s display. It was a picture of him and a female sitting on a bench in front of a large water fountain while holding each other and smiling. The girl had a slim figure that was outlined by her tight sleeveless white dress. Her slight figure looked frail when compared next to his well-muscled body. The female had an oval face with bright brown hair that had been tied into a pigtail. In the picture, her brown eyes were barely visible as she showed a large bright smile. Elizabeth Ditty, the love of his life. Ever since she appeared in his life, she always brightened his life even more brightly than the sun on a clear summer day.
“Sir, the Zvirek are finally approaching.”
He snapped back into reality at the voice of his 1SG beside him. The first thing he noticed was the ground shaking. As he focused on the barren terrain in front of him, he noticed a large mass of objects as they charged forward. The incoming mass was the swarm of Zvirek. Just from a visual estimate, the number of Zvirek easily eclipsed ten thousand.
“Alright Reaper Company! The Zvirek have graciously made it so easy for us to aim. Don’t hold back any ammo. Flip your switches to automatic. When those bastards get within 700 meters, let it rip!”
As the 1SG gave the company orders, 1LT Yim sent in the call for fire.
“Hammer three, this is Reaper six. Request fires at the designated coordinates now, over.”
“Reaper six, this is Hammer three. Roger that, Fire for effect on route, out.”
Just as the communication was cut, large roars sounded from behind as the Rail Gun Tanks fired at the incoming swarm of Zvirek. Large chunks of gravel, green liquid, and body parts flew through the air as the rounds hit the ground, creating large craters. Even as the rounds were killing hundreds of Zvirek, they rushed forward as though it was nothing and charged.
“Reaper Company! FIRE! FIRE! FIRE!”
At the 1SG’s command, everyone in Reaper Company squeezed their trigger finger back and held it as hundreds of bullets flew out of their MQ-A42s and hit the incoming swarm. Spurts of green liquid appeared in several locations throughout the front ranks as Spawns and Venomancers went down. The Zvirek, however, continued to move forward as they stepped over their dead brethren and rushed toward the formation.
“1SG, have First Platoon throws their grenades when the Zvirek are only one hundred and fifty meter away. Also have Second Platoon throw theirs when they are one hundred meters away.”
“Roger, sir!”
1SG Martinez immediately relayed the orders to the company. When the swarm was a one hundred and sixty meters away, thirty soldiers released their MQ-A42s and picked up their grenades. As they picked them up, they clicked the button on top of the grenades and hurled them as far forward as they could. The motions had taken the soldiers two seconds and as the swarm reached one hundred and fifty meters, the grenades flew in between them and exploded. With the grenade as the center, a blue plasma circle erupted outwards for ten meters and incinerated any life forms that were in range. When the swarm was only one hundred and ten meters away, the same actions happened with the remaining troops as they threw out a second round of grenades and annihilated the front ranks of the swarm.
Throughout the whole process, Rail Gun rounds slammed into the Zvirek’s ranks. Thousands of Zvirek perished in their charge forward, only to be replaced by even more Zvirek. The swarm single-mindedly rushed forward with their glossy eyes on the soldiers. Shortly after, the first rank finally smashed into the defense lines.
What ensued next was chaos. There was no semblance of order within the defensive line anymore as soldiers desperately fought off the incoming Zvirek with their lives. The whole area rang with cries of agony alongside the chirping and hissing sounds that came from the Spawns and Venomancers.
Even as body parts flew around him and cries of agony filled his surroundings, 1LT Yim was hell bent on killing the next Zvirek. As a Spawn was opening one of his soldier’s stomach, he shot multiple round into its head until it finally fell. When he turned to his right, he opened fire upon multiple Venomancers that were rushing toward a group of soldiers who had formed into a circle formation around a wounded comrade.
“Die you bastard Zvireks!! Allow me to guide you to the gates of Hell alongside me!”
As adrenaline flowed through his body, 1LT Yim started to madden a little as he looked for the next monster to kill.
“Sir, behind you!”
At his 1SG’s call, he turned around just in time to see the Spawn that pounced toward him. With a yell filled with hate and fury, he swung his MQ-A42 horizontal to the ground and split the Spawn in half with the foot long bayonet placed in front of the rifle.
“Ahhhhh!!”
“1SG!!!”
At the sound of the familiar voice filled with agony, 1LT Yim raised his weapon in the ready and saw a Venomancer stab 1SG Martinez through the gut with one of its bladed arms. His eyes turned red in fury as he roared and charged toward the Venomancer while firing his rifle. The Venomancer’s body shook as the heavy rounds from the MQ-A42 ripped through its body before it fell down along with the 1SG.
When he finally reached the 1SG, 1LT Yim couldn’t bear to look for more than a second. Along with the blade that came out the other side of 1SG Maritnez’s back, the glass on the helmet had melted from the Venomancer’s acid and had begun to eat through his face. With a bellow filled with pain and fury, he rushed forward and aimed at the next Zvirek.
As he fired at two Spawns that rushed toward him, the foreboding click sounded as the last round exited his rifle and dropped the Spawn on the right. Without any hesitation, 1LT Yim brought his MQ-A42 forward and thrusted the bayonet into the skull of the Spawn that pounced at him. Even though he had killed the Spawn, it’s body continued to move forward and slammed into him which caused him to fly backward due to the force of the contact.
When the two of them slammed into the ground, 1LT Yim felt the air inside his body explode out due to the shock of the landing. After he took a few moments to regain his breath, he pushed up on the Spawn’s body as he attempted to get out from underneath it. Just as he finally pushed the monster aside, he heard a crack from underneath him. He momentarily wondered what the sound was before the ground underneath him collapsed and he fell down into the hole.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The next time 1LT Yim opened his eyes, what greeted his vision was the moonlight that beamed in through a hole. As he quickly shaded his eyes, he slowly got to his knees and checked to see if anything was broken. His body seemed fine, albeit his back still protested from the impact on the ground.
After his vision slowly adjusted to the light, he began to study the AWU. The suit, for the most part, was still operational. The life support worked fine and there was no severe damages on the skin. The biggest problem, however, was that the robotic functions seemed to have been destroyed when he fell. Truthfully, the only reason 1LT Yim survived that fall was because the robotic frame took the brunt of the impact and damage. After he was satisfied, he then began to examine the area he was located in.
It appeared as though he had fallen into a cave underground.The cave expanded for thirty meters outward and ten meters in height. The only entrance/exit of the cave was to his left where a passageway opened up.
’I should start looking for a way out of here. I don’t know what lives deep down here in the ground and I need to find out what happened during that last battle.’
After he made the decision to explore, 1LT Yim stood up and headed toward the passageway. As he neared the passageway, he noticed an outline in the shadows beside the entrance. When he failed to identify what it was from a distance, he took out his military issued military knife and approached with caution. What greeted his eyes when he drew closer though shocked him.
“Eh? an alien lifeform?”
It was the first time 1LT Yim had saw such a peculiar species. The alien seemed elongated as it had a thin yet durable body.The being had a purple hint on it’s pale skin and at the end of it’s long limbs were four thick fingers and toes. The knee was also interesting to see as instead of being bent forward, it bent backwards. Over it’s body, it wore a large black cloak that covered it’s upper and lower body until shortly above the knee. The cloak was in tatters as pieces of the cloth had been pierced and other pieces fluttered in the wind.
The being’s face had an almost rectangular shape to it with the jaws angled forward. The face reminded him of that picture he saw previously of a creature that used to live on planet Earth a long time ago called a duck. 1LT Yim couldn’t tell what it’s eyes looked like as they were closed. On it’s neck was a cloth that looked as if it was there to cover the bottom portion of the being’s face.
1LT Yim stood where he was for a moment while he battled within himself whether to ignore the being or inspect it. After he struggled for a moment, curiosity finally won over and he approached it. Once he stood in front of the being, he bent down onto one knee and extended his arm forward. As he pushed aside the cloak, the sight of numerous scratches and blade marks on the torso greeted him. The wounds seemed old as they had faded into scars by now.
“Hmm…. these scars look awfully similar to marks left by Spawns and Venomancer. Did this being stumble upon some and flee after being seriously injured? Eh, what’s this crystal.
Just then he noticed that there was a crystal that was tied around a piece of wire around the being’s neck. Curious to what it was he grabbed it to examine. At the moment he touched the crystal, the being that 1LT Yim assumed was dead opened it’s black eyes wide and radiated energy. He didn’t notice the being open his eyes, however, as a surge of energy raced through into his body and completely stole his focus.
“Ahhh!”
With a painful scream, 1LT YIm’s mind became blank. Inside his mind, a deep, ancient voice began to speak.
'Someone has finally found me after centuries of waiting. Human, I shall pass along the legacy of my people to you….'