We landed on the ground to relieve the beleaguered third division. As I stepped off the ship, I could hear an explosion saying that someone, or several someone’s, had just lost there lives. “Captain Tycho, Captain Tycho!” I turned to the sound of the voice. A soldier was rushing towards me. “Captain Tycho! The General wishes to speak to you right now!” With that, he turned away. I followed him without a word. When the general calls, you don’t waste time.
I walked into a shielded off a building. The soldier led me to a room. I walked inside, and in front of me was five star general Aleech. He motioned for me to sit down. “Captain Tycho, I am here to brief you on the situation. Two days ago, we were attacked. Our costal defenses were smashed, and we were helpless to stop them landing troops. We only managed to get call for help through x-space about twelve hours ago. They call themselves, the League. Anyway, there is no real high ground on this planet, thank god, but the soil and ground is rather soft, enabling them to dig some trenches. They are all protected by heavy-duty shield generators, so they are all, but invulnerable to air attack. We have set up our own set of trenches, but they are more vulnerable, for it appears that our shielding system is inferior to ours.” He said that last line with some apparent difficulty. “We are planning to launch a major counter offensive soon, with the millions of extra men and tanks and such. I want you to lead my personal elite battle group, the Hornet Brigade.” Also, I think this document will come in handy.” With that, he handed me a holo-sheet. It read.
This is readout of the main battle creatures of the Leagues military.
Species.
Wavers: Small, four foot creatures, very weak, fight with Luent pistols and grenades, named for the fact they are weak individually, but are usually de-ployed in massive waves.
Supers: Three meter tall creatures with regenerating skin. Fight with Luent rifles, phenton-rod launchers, League carbines, sniper Luent beam sniper rifles, and grenades. Very powerful, the heart of the League military, land, sea, or air.
Thicks: Two meters tall, thick bodies with tough skin. Not extremely intelligent, but very dangerous in combat. Very strong, use very powerful luent rifles, energy hammers, and phentonic axes.
Berserks: Massive creatures, over four meters tall, use massive phenton generaters that make massive balls of energy, which can be formed into shields, weapons to throw, or massive energy balls on a ‘rope’ of energy. Barely sentient, orders are tapped into their brains.
Seers: Seers are the leaders of the League, they are weak in combat, cowardly, and will hide behind soldiers. Have a hypnotic ability, this ability is the reason they managed to form the League.
As I read this, I grew more and more horrified. After intercepting it from the league ship, we thought it might have just been a hoax, something to strike fear into the hearts of opponents. Now, we had confirmation that these creatures, these horrible, un-earthly monsters were real. And we were fighting them soon.
A few hours later, I went outside, battle armor on. In front of me, were two thousand elite troops, some of the best in the infantry. The Hornets brigade was a Special Forces group, designed for the toughest most extreme, dangerous missions in the entire Confederation. They were all dressed in black, black with white stripes, like a hornet. I stood up in front of them, addressing them. “Soldiers! Today, our mission is to strike at the main command base of the league invaders. They position is well armed and heavily defended. The twenty fifth and sixth armies and the Denkars will be providing a diversion. The plan is, position snipers around the area, to prevent anyone or anything coming in or coming out.
I will then proceed to lead the rest of the force in. Once inside, we will split up into groups of fifty. The General has already told you what groups you are going to be in. Once we get to the center of the whole complex, we will try to locate the power grid. It looks like a massive glass tube with glowing liquid inside of it. We will set charges timed for ten minutes, and then we are going to get out. The charges should explode once we are safe distance away. Am I understood Hornets?” “Aye aye, captain!” Came the thundering reply which rolled over the assembled troops who stood and spoke as one voice and body. “Let’s move out!” I said.
We all piled into Condor dropships and took off. As we approached the command base, we could see the masses of Humans and Denkars fighting with small things which must have been wavers, tall, deadly looking creatures, obviously supers, and massive looking brutes which must have been Berserkers. There were none of these Thicks though; they must all be back at the base. Our cloaked Condors flew silently and un-detectibly over the battle ground. I could see the command base coming up ahead, it was several miles in diameter, dull gray, and full of catacombs. Our ships landed and dumped us off. They immediately disappeared into the cloud cover. We were on our own.
I gripped my assault Neutron rifle closely and crept forward, my cloaking device on. I gave the signal for the snipers to take their positions. They vanished like black cats at midnight. I saw two Thicks standing at the entrance slump down, holes in their heads. I allowed myself a quick smile. I crept forward, not making a sound. As we neared the entrance, two more Thicks came out. They dropped the moment they came out. We got to the entrance, and I ****ed my assault rifle. A little waver came around the corner. I fired off one quick shot. I collapsed immediately. We moved around the corner and into another passageway. Nothing. We continued our silent, invisible advance. We rounded one more corner nothing. Not a sound, not a sight, not a whisper. It was quite, too quite. Then, my scanners went over time. A hologram shimmered, and I saw Thicks, Berserkers, supers, and wavers. Hundreds of them.
My breath got caught in my throat hoping my cloaking device would fool them. But dame fortune is ever fickle lady. It shut off. So did everybody else’s. The mass of enemy charged. I shouted out orders to all the other groups. “Hornets, it’s trap. Get out of the building, now!” I fired my rifle at a super. It’s chest exploded from the inside out, flinging insides all over me and the others. I saw pair of berserkers charge into the hornets, flinging them aside like chaff. I yelled. “Out, fight your way to the entrance. But the exits were already filling up with League warriors. One look at the stats of my soldiers told me the snipers were al already dead, and more were as well. It was trap, a perfect trap.
I drew my energy sword and started slashing my way through the enemy hordes. A super jumped at me, a weapon called luent rifle in his hands. I slashed a deep gash in his skin. To surprise and shock, it scabbed in seconds. A few seconds later, the scab fell off. This was bad; creatures with regenerating skin were much harder to kill. But not impossible. I drew back my blade, and cut his head off. The body fell to the ground into a pool of purple blood. I fought back my nausea and fought on, trying ignore the coppery smell of human blood, and the burnt plastic smell of alien. I said. “Soldiers, rally to me!” Surviving hornets tore their way over to me. I said. “Deploy the wind mill.” This is a fighting move, when a group of soldiers form a circle around the others and slash with their energy swords. The men inside the circle fire over their heads and into the enemy ranks, protected by a wall of swords. Using this fashion, we fought out way to he entrance. We started running, trying to activate our cloaking devise. They wouldn’t work. Behind us, the nemy shot at out retreating back. I looked around, out of the original two thousand Hornets, plus the snipers, there were only 375 left. I slumped down, totally horrified. A hornet bent over me and said. “Sir, we must leave! They’ll kill us if we stay here any longe-.” Before he could finish his sentence, his head exploded into a chunk of charred flesh. I threw his corpse off and ran. Hornets were fast, but not as fast as the Berserks! The fifteen foor nightmares stormed up behind us, with giant chunks of strange, foreign metal as shields. On their right arms, there was massive projector. There was a hum, and massive balls of phenton came out of them. “Oh, crap--.” Muttered a hornet right before being blown to oblivion by phenton. They leapt into the ranks, swinging massive balls of phenton at us, decimating our ranks. Ne kicked me to the ground, and slammed me with the phenton ball. WHAM! It was liking being hit by a giant hammer! But the suit had been crafted phenomenally well. It was burnt and battered, but still in good fighting condition. I leapt under his next swing, and stuck a plasma grenade onto his chest. Leaping off, I watched him explode in spray of bright orange blood. I then signaled for a pickup, hoping by the time the condors, if they were still intact, would not be too late.
Outnumbered and outgunned, me and the few remaining hornets retreated across the battle field. Brrrrrrrrrrrrt! One of the hornets fired a shoulder mounted chain gun at advancing line of Berserkers. Several went down, no match for the rain of neutron, but the others kept coming. They fired huge balls of plasma from their massive generators. Hornets vaporized right and left; their armour stood no chance against the heavy weaponry. We were being slaughtered like lambs among lions. Our original two thousand men had been cut down to only one hundred and fifty seven. We would all die soon, I thought grimly. Then, like angels from heaven, came assistance.
Flying wings! These fighters were nick named for their shape similar to a B-2 flying wings. They was an angled wing on one side, and an angled wing on the other. The ****pit was in the middle, and two heavy plasma cannons, one per wing. There was also a torpedo launched on the under belly, and two missile launchers. They silver ships came out of the blue and began to slaughter the massed enemy forces. The massive bolts of concentrated energy blew the enemy into tiny steaming chunks. The greatly decimated league ranks scattered like leaves before a hurricanes gale. Condor dropships fell down out of the sky and opened up. We walked aboard, all of us to stunned and happy to be alive to say a word. I however, went up to the pilot and asked. “How did you find us?” He replied. “We are the force that came to pick you up. When we saw what a pickle you were in, we called in some air support. Looks like we just arrived in just the nick of time.” I said. “Well, thank you.” “No need captain, it’s my job. Tis what I do.” I said thanks again, and went back to a chair. I sat down on it, and waited for the ride to end.
When we got back to our base, I went straight to the general. “General.” I said. “We launched the infiltration as ordered, but they must have figured it out somehow. The league had set up a perfect. Trap. Most of the hornets were killed in action sir. Though those league uglies paid dearly for their deaths.” He said. “Well, that is the cost of war. I heard that only one hundred and fifty seven survived the encounter, is that correct? I said. “That’s confirmative general.” He sighed, emotion thick in his voice. “Those soldiers were like sons to me, every one of them. Now, most of them are gone. Dead. Well, those league uglies are going to pay ten for every one of them! Am I right Captain?” He yelled at me. “That’s right sir.” I replied. He then continued. “The diversion was waste of lives, thirty thousand Denkarians, and fifty thousand Seaportian soldiers of all kinds of species lost their lives today. And only forty thousand league murderers were killed! They have superior and more creatures then we do. The fight in space has been costly. Thirty seven Homestars have been destroyed, twenty mangled horrifically and were forced to evacuate. Thirty billion killed. Forty billion wounded. And seventy AAC’s have been annihilated, fifty wrecked beyond repair. Twenty seven evacuated for massive repairs. One hundred and thirty five wounded. Millions of fighters destroyed and millions killed. Thousand of frigates, corvettes, and transports destroyed.”
As he listed of the casualties, I stood there, locked in horror. Scores upon scores of billions of dead Seaportians. This universe has many fools who consider war a fun game. Well, they do not know war until they have been through war. Until they have had their best friends torn to pieces before their eyes and seen destruction and murder on such vast scales that boggles the mind. I have experienced war on that scale; I have experienced the darkness of war. I have had friends die before my eyes, bleeding to death on an alien world trillions of light years from home. I have seen billions of people disappear in flash of silent light in heat in the cold, dark void of space. And I have seen peoples’ minds snap because of the strain of war. They start raving, they claw at their faces. Then, they kill themselves. To all of you fools out there, war is not a game. War is hell. I walked out of the room. I lay down on my bed, waiting for sleep to claim me, for the terrors of war to fade into darkness. I waited, for sleep.
