Galactic Destiny

by Alex Guerra

  “Contact, northwest,” said Bon, marking targets on the HUD.

  “Damnit,” I muttered to myself. This was the worst position to be in now.

  TWENTY-FOUR

  “How did they get through?” asked one of Disma’s troopers.

  “There aren’t as many local defense forces on the north side yet,” said Seya. “It doesn’t look like a lot of them, but we need to call it in and engage them.”

  “Do it,” I said.

  Disma signaled to his communications specialist, who called it in. I looked to my left where Kayton was on the column ahead of me. She pointed up quickly and used the hand hold to automatically bring her up the rope. I followed suit and ascended to the top, where Ellar helped me over the side. There were low walls on either side of the bridge, providing us some cover on the otherwise open surface of the bridge. We used the barriers to set up a firing lane on the enemy, who was still a good distance away. I was unsure if they had spotted us or our armored suits near them yet.

  A single armored suit supported the dozen or more enemy soldiers that entered the far north side. Red dots hung over the soldiers as our HUDs tracked their movements easily. A red chevron differentiated the armor from the rest, and the radar in my HUD barely showed the red blips of movement on its furthest edge. While we were at the northwesternmost position of the city’s perimeter, our group was the only significant conglomerate unit this far north at the moment.

  “Should we keep arming the explosives?” asked Sartas, one of Disma’s troopers.

  “Negative,” I said. “Anyone off to the side would be too exposed. Habi, Nadu, you have enemies two hundred yards to your north. Bon, focus on the armor—try to disable it first. The rest of us will fire on the troopers as they cross the next block.” I placed a green marker for the fire zone between two gold and black skyscrapers.

  Bon switched to the larger rifle since its heavy round able was to puncture the enemy suit’s thick armor with just a few shots. It would be faster to kill the pilot than trying to disable the unit piece by piece. The next best place to hit would be the armor’s “head”, the location of most of the suit’s sensors. The unit appeared to be like the ones our team had. If we destroyed their cameras, the armored suits had slots in the chest area that slid open, allowing the pilot to still see, but it reduced their vision by nearly ninety percent.

  “Soldiers are moving to the green marker,” said Kayton, lining up her shot.

  A good majority of the soldiers moved into the open, and I made the green marker pulse before it disappeared, signaling the team to fire. Our group used the opportunity to engage, lighting up the opening.

  Rounds tore into a few of the soldiers, sending them into a quivering dance while others fell onto their faces mid-sprint, sliding a few inches after smacking the road. To my right, Bon engaged the lone armor unit, who returned fire in our direction. The low barricade exploded around us. I threw myself onto the ground, crawling to another position further down.

  The large sniper rifle unleashed more heavy rounds, the recoil nudging the short marksman with each squeeze of the trigger. Dust kicked up from the barrel as each round left the muzzle. I peeked over the barrier at my new position, firing on soldiers that were still alive and seeking cover—their friends lying dead in pools of their own blood in the wide intersection. Seya moved next to me in a low run and slid into the barricade. She popped up and quickly engaged the soldiers, who were fighting desperately against our superior elevated position.

  Those that were still alive, eventually retreated into the nearby buildings for cover, leaving a sinking feeling in my stomach. The skyscrapers easily overlooked the bridge. If the imperials took the few floors up, they could catch us out of position and out in the open. Barricades would only cover us from the enemy’s bullets from below and to the north and south. The building they entered was almost due west of us now.

  Our armor didn’t reach them in time, but Habi insisted on chasing after them into the building. Floors lit in the firefight exchange and steadily rose onto the second floor. Nadu pressed towards the intersection, using some vehicles as cover.

  Using his automatic weapon, Garvo raked the windows of the building near the enemy armor where the soldiers hid. I zoomed in on the enemy suit with my visor. Massive dents were visible in the suit’s armor, and half of its head was also missing. There was a chance that it could still see, and each second that passed, allowed the pilot to get deeper into cover. Its shoulder packs deployed and aimed towards the sky.

  “Sky shards! Scatter!” I said, getting up and sprinting back east across the bridge. The team followed my lead, ditching their previous position. I snuck a glance towards the enemy and at Nadu charging the enemy armor—his massive sword drawn.

  The sky shards rose into the air in a lazy arc and exploded, raining down dark needles that buried themselves a foot into solid ground. All the needles fell wide of the area the team was moments ago. Nadu reached the enemy armor in time, sinking his charged blade through the enemy’s cover and embedding it into the cockpit of the enemy armor, altering its aim at the last second and saving our lives.

  The pilot yanked out the long blade, leaving a residual arc of electricity in its wake. The enemy suit stumbled before it toppled over onto its back.

  Fire from the western building caught my attention again. I switched to Habi’s suit camera, seeing she was struggling to get through the tight spaces of the building not meant for the suit. She charged up the staircase, scraping and bringing down walls with ease. The worst thing she could do that close to the enemy soldiers would be to stand still, in case an enemy used an explosive against her. She fired her shoulder cannons into the opening as she advanced, preventing any soldiers from peeking the corners of the stairwell, for fear of the large autocannons tearing them apart.

  With one last push, she flew up the stairs, catching a straggling soldier in the open. She leveled her shield and smashed the soldier with a broad sweep, sending him flying out the window.

  To the west where the building lay, a soldier flew out the window of the third story, landing on the street with a smack. Habi turned and pursued the remaining soldiers to the next floor.

  Turning my gaze back to Nadu, he scanned the area for any other threats. A soldier presented himself from the smashed windows above the pilot and lined up a shot with a rocket launcher.

  “Nadu. Above!” I shouted.

  The pilot had quick reflexes but was unable to dodge the close attack. He managed to bring up his shield in time to take the brunt of the short-range attack. The explosion threw the suit sprawling to the floor, as the shield flung into the street along with the armored suit, sending up orange sparks as they both slid across the open road.

  I marked the position and ordered the team to fire on the attackers.

  “Bon, help Habi out—west building,” I said, pointing to the structure near us. “Nadu, do you read me?”

  There was no response.

  The communications specialist shouted toward Disma and me, “Reinforcements won’t be available for at least ten more minutes. All units are already engaged, we’re on our own for now!”

  “Tell command to move some units north to close that hole in the perimeter,” said Disma.

  I can only imagine what the rest of the conglomerate was facing on the front lines of the city. We needed to speed this up if we wanted to get the other bridge rigged up in time.

  Bon struck one of the soldiers as they appeared within a broken window while trying to escape from Habi. There should only be one or two soldiers left in there.

  “Disma,” I said to the commander. “Continue rigging this bridge. We’re going to assist our pilot and clear that building.” I pointed to the northwestern structure.

  “On it,” answered Disma.

  “Seya, Kayton, come with me,” I said, taking off in the direction of Nadu who had yet to move.

  The three of us followed the low walls of the barricade, sprinting to the far side o
f the bridge. Snaps of Bon’s shots came from over my left shoulder as he continued engaging targets in the building in front of us. I kept glancing at the blown-out third and fourth story windows while Habi continued chasing the soldiers inside.

  We crossed the street and ran near the downed armored suit. The shield lay smoldering to the side with the suit face down nearby.

  “Nadu, do you read me?” asked Kayton over comms. I glanced at the second floor where the attackers were.

  “C-commander…” came Nadu’s voice.

  “Are you alright?” asked Kayton.

  “Took a hard hit…system is rebooting now. I wasn’t able to send a reply,” he said.

  “Hold tight, we’re going in the building,” I said. “Team give us cover.”

  “We’ve got you covered from this end,” replied Disma.

  I motioned into the building with a nod of my head to the two with me. Entering the first floor, it was hard to tell what the building’s intended use was for. It didn’t appear to be an office building or anything like a hotel. We passed the front desk and the wall separating it from the rest of the building. Doors appeared to have blown in, either by a breaching charge or some other force. Kayton was behind me as we took the left side of the long hallway while Seya crept up the right.

  Each time we approached an open doorway, we would simultaneously scan inside and make sure it was clear. The first floor was clear, and the mini-map was updating, scanning and displaying the surroundings as we pushed further inside, but there was no sign of the enemy just yet. A stairwell appeared at the end of the hallway, the door slightly ajar.

  Shattering glass and thuds came from above and outside.

  “Movement third floor, Captain,” said Disma. I sent a non-verbal acknowledgment over the HUD.

  I motioned to the door, and Kayton positioned herself on the other side. When I nodded she quickly swung it open, and I turned the corner, sweeping my rifle over the multiple sectors quickly. Low light filters kicked on in my visor, allowing me to see in the dimly lit stairwell—the building seemingly on backup power.

  Signaling with my free hand, the two followed me inside carefully. I held up three fingers and pointed up, letting them know we were going directly to the third floor, but still scanned the entrance of the second floor as we ascended. The interior bore signs of rounds imbedded in the walls and spent shell casings littering the floor from all the fighting before. My radar was entirely devoid of red contacts. Either the building somehow messed with the radar, or the enemy stayed relatively still.

  When we reached the third floor, I peeked through the small crack of the door. I didn’t see anything, and the radar remained empty. Unless the enemy used another stairwell, they must have been still on this floor as the elevators appeared inoperable.

  I pointed to Seya, jabbing a thumb left, and then pointed to Kayton to follow me right. As soon as I stepped out of the door, I swung right, but my body reacted on its own, diving to the floor.

  Left.

  A volley of shots missed me by a hair, and leaning further to my left, a Darkkon soldier had his weapon aimed at me. Seya hadn’t exited yet, and time slowed down. Dotty was taking over. My finger squeezed the trigger on its own, blowing apart the imperial’s knee with the follow-up shot landing in his throat. He fell to his side, dropping his weapon and clutching his throat while emitting gurgling sounds.

  Seya finally came out and looked to the downed soldier briefly, before looking right and letting off a slew of rounds down the long hallway.

  I regained my mobility and crawled to the opposite side of the hall and took cover from the enemy’s responding shots. Seya took the corner high while Kayton went low. I pulled out a frag grenade from my harness, releasing its safety tie and turning the dial on top. As the women let off their next volley of shots, I chucked the grenade down the hall, the explosion coming two seconds later.

  “Move,” I ordered, as we took off down the smoke-filled hall.

  My visor’s filters cut through the smoke and upon reaching the end of the hall lay a few wounded soldiers, who we quickly finished off.

  “Clear! Hold your fire, we’re approaching the third-floor windows” I said over the comms.

  “Other floors look clear from our position,” replied Disma.

  “Clear on this side, Art,” said Bon.

  “We’re coming down,” I said.

  “That was more than I was expecting,” admitted Seya.

  “We were lucky we spotted them ahead of time,” I said.

  Seya stood rigid in her white armor, seemingly unphased. Kayton’s shoulders relaxed slightly, taking in the momentary respite.

  “We have a job to finish,” I said. Below, Nadu’s suit slowly got up and retrieved his busted shield.

  *****

  Rigged to blow at a moment’s notice, our first objective was complete. A few squads of troopers plugged the northwestern hole our team finished fighting the enemy over. With a large number of friendly forces on the perimeter to our west, it allowed us to finish placing explosives on the second bridge in relative safety.

  A section of strike ships zoomed overhead towards the battlefield. Air power and anti-air defenses kept the city safe from bombardment, although explosions and the rattling of automatic weapon weren’t too far off.

  “How are the evacuations coming along?” I asked Disma.

  The commander spoke with one of his troopers after he finished planting a bomb. “Reports confirm that local council members are clear, and the majority of the civilian population are near the evac zone to the south,” replied the commander.

  “What about the other parts of the planet?” asked Seya.

  “Difficult to say,” replied Disma. “Right here in the capital city was the number one target area. Conglomerate forces have evacuated some of the smaller cities and villages, including more remote areas, and collateral damage is at a minimum, but it’s best we keep the imperials focused on us until things get sorted in orbit.”

  This made me think of the ongoing battle overhead. Craning my neck towards the sky, the laser fire continued, but there weren’t any bombardments so far. It didn’t make me feel any safer, unfortunately.

  “Dotty, how are things going up there?” I asked.

  “The conglomerate fleet is holding against the Darkkon forces,” replied the A.I. “With our fleet positioned between the enemy and the planet, ground forces should be secure.”

  “What are the numbers looking like? How’s The Pillar?” I asked.

  “Three and a half power cores remaining,” said Dotty. A wave of relief came over me. “The conglomerate is continuing the fight, although we have lost more ships since aiding our ground forces descent. It will be difficult for the imperial ground forces to escape at this time with our fleet’s current position. As of right now, there is no way for them to leave. Expect the fighting to escalate.”

  “Dotty’s right,” said Seya. “The Darkkon seldom retreat. They will keep fighting, knowing that it is the only option that remains. They have enough of an army to still be considered a dangerous threat.”

  “Damn right,” said Kayton. “But something’s bothering me…if the empire knows the civilian population and the council are no longer here, why keep attacking? Why commit so many assets to this planet?”

  She voiced what all of us were thinking. No one knew why the Darkkon Empire was attacking Lumarus. While part of the Galactic Conglomerate, the local forces and strategic value of this planet were not as high as Vallus, or even Tudok for that matter. Lumarus did not have any imperial occupation on it or local resistance fighting them off—it was rather an out of the way target, to say the least. With the possibility of a Yau crystal A.I. influencing Prince Ibram, the real questions were, what was the point of destroying Vallus, and what was the significance behind Lumarus? No one knew, but the threat was real.

  And it was here.

  TWENTY-FIVE

  Positioned on the westernmost line, the fighting ramped u
p over the past few hours, and the enemy strained our defenses as we attempted to hold our ground. Evacuations of civilians outside of the city continued in the south. The situation overhead in orbit was beginning to even out. The Darkkon Empire continued their assault on the conglomerate fleet—the last deterrent against more reinforcements planetside. Imperial numbers were still far greater than our own, given the time we had to muster a proper army.

  A fair number of troopers around me were in their first fight—immediately apparent by their spotless armor and the veterans looming over them. Commanders walked the lines, shouting at any trooper that was failing to meet their expectations or giving orders with the changing battlefield conditions. The rookies’ resolves were intact, and their errors rectified with haste by the veterans. None of them seemed on edge or at their breaking point, though time would tell as the imperials pushed harder with each wave of attack.

  The conglomerate lines held, with my HUD feeding me live updates on the situation unfolding. An anti-air battery ignited with a deafening spray of flak, taking out a lingering pilot who fell away from their element—the burning craft suddenly losing altitude and smashing against a nearby mountain range. Darkkon soldiers were in trenches and buildings taking cover, engaging our lines when the opportunity arose. Enemy armored units snaked their way through the battlefield, providing mobile cover and return fire on our lines.

  Ellar was helping a trooper who took a severe hit to the shoulder. He popped off the affected armor with an audible hiss and got to work on the bloody uniform beneath, while the trooper writhed in pain. Averting my eyes back towards the battlefield, I shot at the few soldiers presenting themselves, not hitting any but pushing them back behind cover. Garvo unleashed a salvo of sustained automatic fire with his machine gun, raking the lines back and forth.

  To my left, Seya scanned for targets in our designated sector and fired off a few bursts at the enemy. Habi and Nadu were assisting some of the armor nearby with anti-aircraft duties, occasionally firing at soldiers making their way closer to our positions. When able, they would fire some of their own sky shards at the closing enemy, halting their progress. Shortly after, the conglomerate brandished larger weapons as imperial tanks and armored suits cautiously made their way onto the field. Staying out in the open too long garnered the attention away from one of our own tanks or shoulder-fired rockets, which locked onto the high-priority targets with extreme prejudice. With their tactics and show of force impeded, the Darkkon deferred to exposing themselves briefly, firing off a quickly aimed shot before retreating behind cover—not too different from the foot soldiers. However, the imperials were making slow progress.