The Pale War

by Max Jager

  Alerius grabbed him by the collar of his dark green shirt and screamed right in his face, " If you don't hall ass, you won't have any men!"

  The captain didn't believe that a bomb could hit him harder then Alerius's words. In the blink of an eye the captain knew that he was right. The captain stared at Alerius intensely looking deep into his eyes. He saw it all right there in Alerius's eyes. The real truth of the entire situation. Alerius wasn't telling him, he was ordering him. The captain was worried about his men as he gazed deep into Alerius's eyes but something told him not to. He could see that Alerius would stay with his men no matter what. He could see right into Alerius's soul. He could see that Alerius knew this might be it for all of them. If he was going to make any sort of last stand it was going to be right here!

  The captain nodded his head without saying a word and ran straight out of the building. He didn't have to use the door since the walls were hardly nonexistent anymore. He just jumped over the small rubble that use to be a wall. After he was about twenty feet out the deneks spotted him!

  Alerius watched as the captain raced across the battle hardened landscape and yelled out, "Covering fire!"

  Planet Reign: Ring of Fire

  Alerius ripped out the other AK and aimed them both for the first denek he could see. He blasted the robotic demon back with the bullets and began to run towards it. Alerius, like the captain, jumped over the remains of a wall. Bullets flew across the top of his head, the group of deneks focused firepower on him. Alerius jumped in the air and did a corkscrew to dodge all of the massive firepower. He was almost right on top of the demons when he landed.

  The rest of the squad followed Alerius, and with their own standard issued assault rifles, began to pan out in a circular formation against the hoard of mechanized monstrosities. They blasted away at least twenty of the horrible demons. They moved fluidly with each other trying to get to Alerius's position.

  Alerius had already toppled the first denek and was standing on top of it blasting bullets into its face. Another one rolled over to him and raised its gun to meet his eyes. Alerius stopped firing on the demon and kicked the other's gun away. He then kicked the demon in the face and it went back about a foot. One of the soldiers closest to him saw the demon and unloaded on it.

  Three more came after Alerius from the other side and he bent a bit while he was still on top of the toppled denek. He took one of the small AKs and blasted all three of them. They all rolled back to escape the bullets roaring from Alerius's gun.

  Three more of Jack Company got in close to Alerius and began to aid him with the three deneks. Alerius saw that these three soldiers were separating from the circle and he yelled at them to get back. They didn't listen and paid for it! Two deneks came close to them and before the three could do anything they were mowed down! Alerius tilted his head and closed his eyes in a spit second show of admiration.

  Alerius jumped off the toppled denek towards the two soldier killers. They killed a couple more before Alerius got there. He jumped in the air and crossed his arms so that each gun would be facing each denek. He then pulled the triggers back and both the deneks had their heads fly off their shoulders by the hail of bullets. When Alerius landed, both of the deneks bodies fell sideways to the ground. Alerius stood erect, looking at the destroyed demons.

  Alerius spun around and saw the rest of the men having a hell of a time with the remaining group of deneks. Alerius raised up the two guns and began to run at the hoard of demons, guns blazing! He saw that he got some of their attention but others were still concentrating on the men. He had to do something. Anything!

  He ran right at the circle of soldiers. They were all surrounded by the hellion menace. Alerius jumped right over the soldiers' heads and was in perfect symmetry with the circle's inner space. He saw their were at least seven of the deneks on the ground in a circle around the O shaped human wall the men had created. Alerius spun himself as fast as he could in midair and pointed his guns down at the demons. He pulled the triggers back and the guns blazed away. Alerius had become a tornado of fire and bullets, suspended in air!

  Gravity soon took a hold of him and he landed right in the middle of the human circle and cut the small rifles off. He was out of ammo anyway so he ejected the empty clips and loaded in full ones. He watched as the denek circle blew up as all seven exploded in fiery blasts, one right after the other. The men were surrounded in flames but none of them were injured by the explosions. The gap between them and the deneks was wide enough for neither the fire nor the force of explosions to cause them any real harm.

  Alerius figured they could use this to their advantage. He knew that the other deneks couldn't see through the fire so they had a somewhat convenient shield.

  Alerius looked at the men and said, "Whatever happens," Alerius pointed right in front of them. "keep firing!"

  He then jumped straight in the air and out of their sights. He had jumped in the direction he was pointing. The men kind of shrugged and began the onslaught of lead. They had no idea what they were shooting at through the flames of the destroyed mechanical demons but they just hoped they didn't hit him. They could hear gunfire outside of the flames that was not their own.

  Meanwhile, Alerius jumped right in front of the hoard, past the fire, and crossed his arms and ran at the monsters. The monsters backed off a bit to get better aim and made a perfect gap for Alerius to run through. The revolving machine guns of the hellions were deafening and then the firing of his own guns and the soldiers' guns didn't help any.

  He ran right down the gap that the demons had made for him. The bullets hit the metal and flesh. The metal sparked from the bullets penetrating the hard exterior. The flesh was torn apart by the spray of lead. Most of the deneks hit rolled back into others to escape the storm of bullets. Some were knocked back into others by the force of the bullets. The ones behind them, toppled into others making a sort of domino effect. This was the result Alerius was looking for.

  Alerius finally made it out of the small gap and was now standing behind the monstrous squad. He uncrossed his arms and put his guns to his side. He ejected the empty magazines and threw the two guns to the ground. He had no more ammo for them so he didn't need them anymore.

  Most of the deneks up by the front were getting cut down by the hail of bullets coming out of the ring of fire. Alerius was more threatened by the ones in the back. Though, the ones he hadn't killed in his run-and-gun assault with his AKs, were fighting their way back to get at him!

  Alerius looked to his right and started to turn his head left. All the time picking his targets. He saw that most of them were coming after him. A small number of them were worried about the soldiers beyond the ring of fire and they were getting cut down by the blind barrage.

  Alerius turned his head a little to the right to stair at the front. He had picked his targets. He was ready. He reached behind his coat to rip out the two handguns. He only found one though! He then remembered what had happen to its partner. It was thrown away by the prison transport nebron. Alerius had to make due.

  He swung it up to meet his targets and began shooting at them standing firmly in one place. The bullets only stunned most of the targets while confusing others. Alerius ran at the hoard still firing until he jumped in the air and the gun clicked empty.

  He landed feet first on the shoulders of one of the deneks he had wounded badly. He raised his foot back and pushed off of it, jumping right over the heads of about five others. The wounded denek went into another that had not even been hit by either Alerius's two attacks. The wounded one crashed into the other, grinding metal and flesh. The two hellions then fell to the ground and exploded, scattering most of the hoard. Some went flying backwards by the force of the explosion while others merely shook off the debris of their dead comrades.

  Alerius threw his handgun in the air like a vertical Frisbee and when gravity took a hold of it and it started to spin back down to the ground; Alerius pulled out a clip and loaded it in the air when th
e gun got in perfect symmetry with his hand. He then quickly slid his trigger finger into the trigger guard and took hold of the gun once again.

  He loaded the first bullet into place and began to charge the hoard once again. He picked out three targets closest to him. They were already firing at him but there aim was not that great. Alerius raised his gun up to their heads and blasted them off. He jumped over them and landed about ten feet behind them. All three of them exploded and the force of the explosion rocked the ground but all it did to Alerius was violently swing his coattails in front of him.

  He looked over the hoard and saw that it was below even half strength. There was about fifty to begin with but all there seemed to be now was about twenty more. Most of them were lying on the ground dead and had not exploded from the first charge attack when Alerius had jumped out of the fire. Others were too damaged by the big explosion that had happed earlier when the two crashed into each other to do anything. The rest were in charred pieces on the ground from them exploding from all the damage they had taken.

  Alerius picked one target that was close to his left. He rushed over to him and shot him right in the arm. This made the beast's arm twitch and he had no control over his Gatlin. Alerius saw it firing at the ground, creating a small pile of rubble. He kicked the base of the firing machine gun and the arm attached to it swung around firing at all the others. Alerius rushed over to the other side to catch it as it mowed down most of the hoard's frontline. He holstered his gun behind his back and grabbed the machine gun arm before it swung off.

  The front line was down and dead. Alerius began to lay waste to the rest. They tried to roll out of the way but it was no use. They were too slow and the large rotating gun was too powerful. Some tried to come around Alerius but he saw them out of the corner of his eye and blasted them with the Gatlin as well. He had a hard time keeping the large gun steady. Even with his inhuman strength.

  Soon, the whole hoard was dead or dying and unable to fight back. Alerius looked over the dead monsters in triumph. He then put his foot under the denek's wild gun and pulled the arm right off the monsters body! It was still firing as he pulled it off! He threw it to the ground and it kind of slowed down until it stopped all together. Blue colored sparks flew out of the damaged arm and out of the monster's wound. The denek survivor looked at Alerius with rage. It growled at him with a burning hate of vengeance that it would never know.

  Alerius pulled his handgun and aimed it right at the creature's head. He pulled the trigger back and sent at least seven rounds right into the monster's fleshy/metallic cranium. The monster's head was obliterated! The rest of the beast fell to the ground and exploded right at Alerius's feet. The fire blasted out like a small parting ocean. It stayed low but it raged strongly. Alerius looked at the fire impressed with himself. He had stopped a whole squad of deneks almost single handedly! His pride over washed him and he felt like he was king of the planet.

  He looked at the ring of fire and bullets were still raging out of it. He looked at the ground with a slight smile on his face. He shook his head and put away the pistol. He began to calmly walk over to the ring of fire and started thinking to himself, 'I wonder if I should spoil their fun?'

  Planet Reign: The Osiris

  Alerius jumped over the flames on the right side so that he wouldn't be hit by the bullets. Most of the soldiers stopped when they realized he had come back. Some of them were still in their trances of death. They finally came out of it and stopped firing too. The soldiers kind of stared at him wondering what was going on. They couldn't see past the flames so they weren't sure what was going on.

  Alerius spoke and said one simple sentence. "No applause is needed."

  A soldier came forward and asked, "Did we win?"

  Alerius gave him a sarcastically solemn look. "No were all dead. Welcome to Hell!"

  The soldier felt like an ass. "Well, I didn't think Heaven would look like this!" He said indicating the flames with a goofy mad look. He chuckled a bit but it was kind of useless.

  The soldiers were now wondering how they were going to escape the ring of fire. Alerius took off his coat and ran each one of them through the flames covering himself and the soldier. It was a long enough coat to keep them both covered down to their waist.

  When the whole team was out they began to walk calmly to the EVAC point hoping that the captain had made it.

  Suddenly a fireball fell to the ground! Another and another! Hundreds of them started to fall, the sky lit up with fire! The entire sky became a dark orange of hellfire. The clouded overcast became dark like black ash. The fireballs began to rain down like hot embers of grinded steel. Alerius stopped the men and looked up at the sky. He knew what was going on. He could see faded shadows past the black clouds moving all over the wide, vast horizon. "Damn, the sinoreans must be up there with their mounted deneks! It's too late!"

  The soldiers looked at each other. One went up to Alerius. "What are you talking about, sir?"

  Alerius was still transfixed on the burnt orange sky. "The army of armored sinoreans! They must have finally got prepped and ready. What are those dragons going to do now?"

  "Well hopefully the captain got through and…"

  The soldier was cut off by the captain himself. "Hope? I'm better then that."

  Alerius went over to the captain. "Got through huh?"

  "Yeah."

  "Good, when will they be here?"

  "Five minutes."

  Alerius looked back up at the sky. The rumblings from above, the pale shadows that flew across the sky, and the fireballs falling from out of the sky all made him nervous. "I don't think they have five minutes!"

  The captain smiled and said, "Don't worry Firius, they can handle themselves. I'm more worried about us. The Osiris will be coming with the armada so we better get moving. It'll take us at least ten minutes to reach the EVAC point alone. That's where the Osiris will pick us up."

  Alerius pointed off in that direction and said, "Lead the way." The captain turned and began to walk in that direction as well as the rest.

  They all arrived at the EVAC point. They had to dodge a fireball here and there but they were relatively unscathed.

  The sky here was different. There was no fighting. Just a misty yellow colored sky that had a blue sun setting on the horizon. The gray and black clouds were no more. The sky was clear here and the shining blue sun was an awesome sight! Small hints of an emerald green danced in the yellow sky. A byproduct of the blue sun. The emerald color outlined the few number of clouds that were in the sky. It also reached slightly across the horizon from the setting blue sun like a thin blanket covering the world.

  Massive ships slowly moved in the sky like the ancient sailboats of times past in the ocean. Their ocean was the sky. The yellow atmosphere seemed to move around the huge warships as they glided into the planet's skies. They dwarfed the sky itself as more and more entered the squad's view. It was a spectacular sight for Alerius and the rest. It probably didn't look so good on the other side of the "fence" though.

  Suddenly, a small cloud above Jack Company blew apart as a huge hunk of space metal blasted through it. A warship was coming right for them! A big insignia of a cartoon imp with a pitchfork behind a set of bars was on the ship. Alerius recognized it right away as the Osiris. The lead ship of the armada.

  The Osiris was one warship that had seen many battles and had sent many soldiers to their victories and their deaths. It was one of the few warships in the space born fleets that Hell's own air force feared. It had made a name for itself through so many battles of being this impregnable floating fortress.

  It actually was a pure miracle of modern space warfare. It was almost three times bigger then any other flagship built and was one of the oldest ships in service. It had served all the way back to almost the 300th space born fleets. It had taken many hits from enemy fighters and still roamed the skies of many planets looking for victims. It had been the lead flagship of many battle space armadas. Been on many m
issions and had many admirals pilot her.

  The Osiris touched down about five feet away from the men. The mega boosters blasted dust all around the ship for about half a football field. Most of the soldiers put up their arms up to cover themselves from the massive engine blasts. The captain and Alerius just stood firm as they were accustom to the strong winds produced by thrusters. After the ship was completely down on the ground the thrusters slowly faded away. The ship was now idle and was massive.

  Alerius and the captain could only see the front part that was staring them dead in the face. Most of the ship was hidden behind its own massive bulk. Sentry guns were all over the massive space freighter. Some seemed to be controlled by humans while others were controlled by an internal computer. Something that neither Alerius nor the captain were fond of. They approached the large ship and figured on boarding it.

  Steam suddenly rolled from out of the metal and a big door began to open. This door extended outward towards the captain and Alerius and then slammed on the ground making a huge ramp way. Alerius and the captain could almost see inside. As the steam rolled out, the visibility inside the ship became more discernible.