Galactic Forge

by Alex Guerra

  None of the buildings looked to be suitable enough to hole up in until reinforcements came. I signaled Seya to wait for a moment, leaving the two wounded in the street briefly, as I took off down a narrow alley into the adjacent avenue. A little further up was a much larger building. Its pale white roof cleared the rest of the surrounding buildings and would offer a good line of sight in all directions, giving us an advantage.

  I raced back to Seya and the others, telling her about my discovery, and we set out once more. When we arrived at the large building, the door was already ajar slightly. Grabbing a rifle from Seya, I went inside and scouted the place out.

  “Hello? Anyone home?” I called out.

  The place was silent as I moved slowly through the entrance and into the home. There was a table with plates of food on it, some of which spilled over one of the seats and onto the floor. I reached out and hovered my palm just over the food, still feeling a slight warmth coming off it.

  Someone was here not too long ago, maybe leaving when the conglomerate started their attack, I thought.

  “Hello?” I called out a few more times as I cleared the rest of the home, although no one was here.

  I signaled Seya to enter and brought the other two in, sitting them upright against the walls of what appeared to be the kitchen.

  Using smelling salts again, I tried to wake them up. “Hey, can you hear me?” I asked but didn’t receive any response. “Damn,” I said, tossing the vial aside.

  Seya sat down at the table, pushing the bowls and plates of food aside. She removed the weapons from her shoulder, placing them all on the empty spot and slowly put her foot on an adjacent chair, letting out a tired sigh.

  The decorations had become more apparent to me now that I took a moment to actually take in the interior of the home. This would be the first time I set foot in an alien house. It was not very impressive, even though it was the biggest home on the block. There was no way of telling if it belonged to a Codari family, as there weren’t any pictures lying around. I hadn’t learned enough about them to know what their daily life would look like. There were various abstract paintings and pottery lining the walls, some of which would blend in seamlessly back home.

  A boom in the distance brought my mind back to our current situation.

  “Commander, this is Holland again, are you nearby?” I asked, leaning against a doorway.

  “Holland, I read you. I’ve sent Commander Kol and her platoon over. I can patch you through to her,” said Bran.

  Kayton? I thought.

  “This is Commander Kol,” came Kayton’s voice over comms.

  “Kayton, it’s Art Holland,” I said, glad to hear a familiar voice.

  “Art! Are you alright?” she asked, worry evident in her voice.

  “I’m fine. The crash banged Seya up and we have two others critically wounded. Please tell me you’re nearby,” I said, beginning to feel the first bit of relief all day.

  “We’re still making our way towards you. We are encountering heavy resistance. You better be prepared for a quick extraction,” she said, with the sounds of gunfire blaring in the background of the transmission.

  “We’ll be ready,” I replied. “See you soon.”

  I gave Seya’s shoulder a squeeze. “Stay here, I’m going up top to signal the commander.”

  I grabbed my rifle and climbed up the stairs. Making my way out onto a balcony, there was no easier way onto the roof itself. Slinging my rifle around to my back, I used the low railing to reach up and grab the edge of the roof. I kicked off the railing, hoisting myself up onto the roof, where I slowly made my way up to the ridge and then secured myself by hooking an arm around one of the many poles that lined the structure.

  Dotty, give me the direction of the troops, I thought.

  A pale green chevron came to life on my HUD, where I followed it until it stopped in the center of my view. It appeared to be coming from the northeast, around seven hundred feet out. Columns of smoke rose along a trail, no doubt catching the troops in a skirmish with the imperials.

  “Kayton, it’s Art,” I said, zooming in on the location, muzzle flashes and lasers were spearing through the jungle, along with the occasional explosion. “I see your troops. If you look to your southwest you will find our location.”

  I tapped a key on my gauntlet which engaged a strobing green light. I waved my arms overhead, so the troops could see.

  “I see your signal! We’re breaking off now!” shouted Kayton.

  The roar of engines and gunfire started coming closer to our position, prompting me to spring into action. Sliding down the roof, carefully and onto the balcony once more, I made my way back to where the rest of the team was.

  “You catch all that?” I asked when I saw Seya.

  “I did,” she nodded.

  “Be ready to move in a few minutes, they’re not too far off now,” I said, making my way towards the entrance.

  I cracked open one of the window shutters and peered out into the street. There wasn’t a single civilian around—it was unsettling but fortunate.

  I sat there watching the empty roads for a time before the squealing of a rover’s tires rose through the streets, rifle fire following close behind.

  Over my shoulder, Seya slowly got out of her chair and gathered up her gear. I rushed into the kitchen and dragged the two wounded towards the front door.

  Two olive rovers drifted to an abrupt halt letting off a plume of tire smoke, as two suits of mobile armor brought up the rear. The mobile armor suits pushed civilian vehicles into the road for cover against their pursuers, the vehicles not completely deterring them as shots were still peppering the street around the suits.

  Troopers piled out of the rovers and took up defensive positions, firing their rifles back in the direction they entered town from.

  I opened the door to the home and called out to them, one of which turned to me, hustling over to just inside the entrance. Bullet holes and laser blasts tore up the street just behind them.

  “Art!” the trooper shouted. “It’s Kayton!” she raised her visor briefly to show me her face, then squeezed my arms and gave me a quick once-over. “No holes, good.”

  “Thank you for coming,” I replied, as a few more rounds embedded themselves into our building. “We need to get back to base right away! This one is priority!” I pointed at Ellia.

  She looked down at the two wounded and then up at Seya.

  “You okay, Seya?” she asked, with genuine concern.

  “I’ll be better as soon as we leave this place, Commander,” she said.

  “That’s the plan. I agree, it’s turning to shit out there really quick. Let’s get you all out of here,” she said.

  “We’re going to secure them first, just sit tight!” I shouted to Seya, over the relentless firing of the troopers.

  Much stronger than she looked, Kayton leaned over and grabbed the large wounded trooper, putting him over her shoulder with ease.

  “You want to switch?” I asked Kayton.

  “Screw you,” she smacked my arm with her free hand.

  “Suit yourself,” I shrugged.

  I grabbed Ellia and put her over me in a fireman’s carry, no time for being gentle, this was do or die. I looked to the commander who pointed to the nearest rover, it’s cabin doors all wide open.

  I nodded at her.

  Air tank in hand, I took a few quick, deep breaths, rushing through the front door and out into the street, the commander hot on my heels.

  The snapping of incoming fire buzzed me, as I pushed forward in as low of a sprint I could manage.

  I passed a trooper who fired multiple grenades from a launcher down the street at the enemy. I reached the rover and managed to slide Ellia into the rear of the cabin. The large turret on top fired its massive rounds downrange, raining soda can-sized shells into the bed and onto the street.

  “V.I.P. secured!” I shouted to the driver, who had his door flung open and was firing his rifle at the ene
my.

  The driver looked over his shoulder briefly and acknowledged.

  Kayton secured the wounded trooper next to Ellia on the other side of the cabin.

  The armored suits used their large handheld shield to block as much incoming fire as they could managed, which I imagined saved my skin more than a few times in our brief sprint. They retaliated by firing missiles from shoulder mounted pods, leaving multiple smoke trails going down this street.

  I didn’t bother looking at the attackers, knowing that our guys were throwing as much fire in their direction as possible. It appeared the enemy pulled back a bit more now, the troopers’ fire was mostly suppressive in nature at this point.

  “Art, behind you!” shouted Seya over the comms. I saw her firing a rifle using her cast and the wall to stabilize her shot.

  I traced her shots in the other direction, away from where everyone was firing. Dotty pinged a red chevron on my HUD repeatedly, drawing my attention towards the enemy movement.

  I saw enemies down the street, some infantry and vehicles, including at least one suit of mobile armor, which Dotty marked on my HUD and communicated this to the rest of the squad.

  “Enemy to the rear!” I shouted, pointing in their direction, alerting the rest.

  I took a position behind a small civilian vehicle and shot my rifle in their direction. Dammit—we’re getting pinched! I thought. Kayton was rifling through the bed of the rover we were just at and shouting to the gunner inside controlling the turret.

  The turret swung in a quick one-eighty turn, throwing huge rounds down towards the new enemy. Its discarded shells, unfortunately, also falling onto the commander still at work in the bed. There was a large amount of cursing that Dotty didn’t bothered translating.

  Finding what she was looking for, Kayton moved up next to me and handed me one of the huge rifle’s she got from the truck. It was an anti-material rifle, which I had seen before on base. The enemy began squeezing. We would need more help on our side.

  The commander ordered some of the troopers to shift positions towards the new threat, including an enemy armored suit. It swept passed us on wheels protruding from beneath its feet. I had never noticed them before, but it was clear that was how they were able to traverse the streets so quickly.

  Kayton and I focused our heavy rifles downrange, opening up on the enemy. When I had my armor on and was focusing my shots, I could feel some extra compensation added to each shot. This was not just from the weapon itself—a marvelous piece of technology sure—yet, I couldn’t help but think that Dotty was influencing me slightly again. I supposed that preserving my life was just as important to the A.I. as it was itself since it was essentially sharing my body. Hell, I wasn’t complaining.

  The enemy armor suit presented itself. If it was anything like the ones we had, I didn’t want to be on the receiving end of a missile barrage. I called out the target to Kayton and we poured rounds into it before it could get more than a few shots off. The large rounds left deep dents in its armor at first, before eventually punching holes clean through it, killing the pilot and disabling the unit.

  I continued placing well-aimed shots into enemy soldiers and their vehicles whenever they presented themselves, but I saw little backing down. The empire sure had tough ass soldiers for this having been a “complacent assignment”, a thought which scared me should we ever decide to attack a hardened facility.

  A loud scream came from my left, a little behind me. One of the troopers had taken a hit, twice in the leg. Their dark blood gushed out of the fresh holes, as a medic rushed over to them, setting to work immediately.

  “We can’t stay here long, Kayt,” I gritted, replacing my magazine with one of the few remaining ones in a small pile between us.

  “Damn! Comms—where’s the rest of the platoon?” Kayton shouted.

  “They should be here already!” one of the troopers shouted back.

  “Grenades out!” shouted Seya, firing the grenade launcher. She lobbed the grenades in a long arc into the mouth of the street where the enemy gathered. This must have scattered them into the buildings, which were the only means of cover left.

  The trooper that was hit was apparently the same one who had the launcher before. Seya reloaded the weapon by pulling the fresh rounds out of the soldier’s harness, as he practically screamed in her face. The medic continued working on him.

  There was a lull in the enemy shooting back at us.

  “Cease fire! Cease fire!” shouted Kayton, waving her arm.

  Dotty, can you give me an update?

  Scanning—It looks as if the enemy is retreating for now. We should take this opportunity to move.

  “We should move now while we have the chance, Commander,” I said, getting up from my position.

  “Everyone mount up and let’s move out!” shouted Kayton, tossing the large rifle into the bed of the rover closest to us and hopping in with a few of her troops.

  I moved over to Seya, who opened her helmet’s visor briefly, revealing slightly teary eyes.

  “I’m pretty sure I screwed up my arm even more,” she said, sniffing hard while wiping her nose with her one good hand.

  She must have been fighting through a lot of pain and was in no condition to be doing any of this right now. I gave her a small grin and lightly slapped her helmet. She returned a thin smile to me as I helped her into the other rover.

  Returning to help the medic, we tended to the wounded trooper. The soldier’s leg was no longer bleeding, but there was a large pool of blood already starting to coagulate on the ground. We picked him up and placed him in the commander’s rover bed, where the three of us would stay for the ride.

  “Let’s exit to the east quickly, move out!” Kayton called out over the comms. The two armored suits formed up in front of the rovers, pushing the ruined vehicles out of the way, clearing the path.

  We took off at a maddening pace, the rovers only slowing down when we needed to traverse huge craters left by the missiles and grenades. I saw imperial bodies and equipment strewn through the street. The trooper lying in the bed was staring up into the sky and groaning with each of the heavy bumps we took. The medic overrode the wounded trooper’s visor’s auto-shades, so he could see his face without removing the helmet. The wounded trooper’s eyes were half-open with sedated bliss, while the medic kept checking his vitals with an advanced hand-held scanner.

  “How are you doing, partner?” I asked Seya in a private channel.

  “Today sucks,” she said, dryly.

  “I know,” I replied, letting out a long sigh.

  We were out of the thick of it, but I couldn’t be sure as to how long that would last.

  “Art,” came the voice of Kayton on another private channel, allowing me to listen easier over the noise of the rover. “High Commander Bran has given us permission to head back to base. He apologizes that he couldn’t send more help initially. I’m also getting reports from my lieutenant that the platoon just finished fighting the imperials. The enemy is pulling back, but it looks like our guys got hit hard,” she said, in a somber tone.

  “It’s war, Kayton, things rarely go as planned,” I said, looking out at the destroyed landscape. “Still…thank you for not leaving us out there.”

  “Of course,” she said, as we rushed into the dense forest.

  SIXTEEN

  Sun rays struck through the high canopy of the trees, like arrows of light piercing into the jungle floor. The pair of rovers and armor moved swiftly, tearing through vegetation and dirt from the well-established paths that snaked through the rolling landscape. Cries of alien fauna filled the air as they took flight or scurried away from the roaring of engines.

  I was in the lead rover with Kayton, who was issuing orders to her platoon over comms. Princess Ellia was still in critical condition and needed professional medical attention back in the hidden base. Her survival was essential to the conglomerate negotiations with the empire. I tried to think of alternative solutions—different
plans or preparations to prevent all of this—but it was entirely pointless to think about that now. The cards were dealt, and we couldn't fold.

  The high-pitched whine of aircraft overhead was buzzing by and circling near our position with the canopy obscuring our mutual sightlines. The medic next to me followed the sound quickly, almost panicked. Although I couldn't see his face behind his visor, I could sense that he was worried by the sounds.

  "Enemy aircraft?" I asked the medic.

  He gave me a slow nod.

  "Shouldn't be an issue, right? The jungle is too thick to get a fix on our posit—"

  A stream of rounds sliced through the treetops, punching additional columns of light through the shadows of the jungles.

  "Evasive! Spread out and get off the path," yelled Kayton over the comms.

  How the hell could they see us? I thought.

  "What the hell are they doing. They're going to kill the princess!" I shouted.

  "They may not know we have her," Kayton yelled back.

  "What do we do?" I asked, not finding anything worth shooting back with.

  "Hold onto something!" The commander barked, signaling the ride was about to get much worse.

  The armored suits moved through the jungle similar to off-roading with inline skates. There were patches that allowed them to boost their speed forward, and once the vegetation got too thick, they would begin running, their legs firing like pistons. Zooming ahead of the rovers, they took cover behind thick trees, firing up in the direction of the aircraft, hoping to make a direct hit.

  The enemy aircraft continued its high-speed strafing runs before making wide loops and swooping back in for another pass. This was the only time to see where the aircraft was, and the only opportunity for the armor to shoot back. Every pass was a risk and another chance at death. The jungle floor would explode in a line of kicked up dirt and plant life. Trees would splinter and break, sometimes catching fire instantly.

  Rovers sped off, randomizing their direction and juking out of the way of the blind strafing runs. I cursed as my back pain became more pronounced with each bump. Highly dedicated, the medic next to me covered his patient with his own body—a futile act should we take a hit from the aircraft—as splinters and debris peppered the rover with some of the missed shots.