A New Reason To Fight: An Intergalactic Romance

by T. J. Brandow

  “Hmm, you’ve given me a lot to consider, Captain Fildred. I will be in touch with General Barron soon about this plan once we figure out what we are facing at the twin planets.”

  “We’ve already brought the idea up to him once before. He said he would consider it,” Laura added.

  “Your idea is a sound one. Maybe I can help you to convince him that it’s the right course of action,” General Forester said with a slight grin before getting up and leaving the room.

  Once the army’s convoy ship was free of the dangers of the Geeter belt, the ship’s captain activated the hyper drive, cutting the journey in half. It wasn’t long before the twin planets came into view on the ship’s navigation computer. Both planets were slightly smaller than Earth with Swendon being slightly larger than Dartdon. Swendon was also slightly browner in color than its twin planet with its orange color and more iron-rich soils. The closer they got to Swendon’s surface, the more they could see that something wasn’t quite right. Once they had gotten close enough to see the actual surface of the planet, they could see smoke rising up from a nearby region.

  “Oh no, what’s he done?” Dedron said, as he looked down at the haze. The others looked on, wondering the same thing. Just then, the door to the bridge opened and Donna, Kadija, and David walked across the bridge to join with the others. Donna ran over to Dedron and immediately threw her arms around him.

  “Oh my love, I never want to be separated from you ever again,” she said, not worried about the public display of affection that the others were witnessing.

  “I told you that you we would be fine, my love,” Dedron said, smiling at her.

  They chose to land the ship on a secret runway that had been built for occasions such as this one. Although the site of the runway was some miles from where the main agricultural facilities were located, it was close enough for them to see what was happening. Far off in the distance, at least some twenty to thirty miles away, a large field was on fire. Even before the ship was on the ground, the General used his communicator to call the fire department that had been established at the colony some twenty years before.

  “Hello, this is General Forester of the Intergalactic Army. There appears to be a large fire in the wheat fields about twenty miles west of the main facility. This is a matter that demands your immediate action. Do you copy?” the general asked. No one answered him. Again, he tried to establish communication to no avail.

  “You don’t suppose Perbron has already…” Donna said.

  “I don’t suppose, I know,” Dedron said, before Donna could finish her statement. “General, we need to be prepared to fight. Perbron has likely already captured the members of the fire department and probably most of the other personnel that have been stationed on this planet.”

  “Captain Fildred, I’m afraid that you’re right. I’m going to make sure the rest of our men are prepared to do battle,” the general said as he switched the communicator’s coordinates in order to address the members of his army. “This is General Forester. I need for all of our ships to be prepared to do battle. Four of the ships will land along with us to provide a ground assault, and the other four will perform a series of flyovers at the main facility to our east. If you see any Remoir forces, attack them. I repeat. You have orders to attack any Remoir forces that you see.”

  One by one the pilots of the various army ships responded that they understood their orders. Once the ship that contained the Defense Squad members was on the ground, the members prepared for battle themselves, making sure that their laser pistols and cannons were charged and ready. However, they were only met with an eerie silence once they set foot on the ground. The sun shone down pleasantly, and a cool wind blew across the fields and forests in front of them. The climate on the twin planets resembled that of Earth, perhaps more than any planet in the known universe. This was precisely why it had been chosen as an agricultural settlement. Without the crops that the settlements yielded, planets such as Earth and Lanthan that had forged the settlements together would suffer a severe shortage of some of the most important crops that people had come to depend upon such as wheat, corn, soy, and many others.

  “Why is everything so quiet? I would have expected the place to be swarming with Remoir forces by now,” Donna said.

  “I’m with you. I don’t like the look of this one single bit,” Ken agreed.

  “They are probably just not in this area,” David said, trying to dispel his own doubt as much as anyone else’s.

  The crew loaded into one of many transport hover vehicles to travel towards the site of the fire department. The plan was to obtain the fire fighting equipment there and rush to the site of the fire in order to prevent it from spreading further. The dome that housed the fire department was on the edge of the main settlement where most of the agricultural staff worked. The crops were maintained and harvested mainly by sophisticated robots that were run and supervised by a few scientists and specialists that lived in a settlement known as Grower’s Stand. Once the hover vehicles reached the dome, the passengers were still struck by silence and lack of activity around them. Dedron and the others got out of the transport vehicle and headed for the dome that housed the fire-fighting equipment. Several soldiers and the general himself were also there with them. The general ordered some of his men to forcefully open the large entrance to the dome. Once they got the facility open, they were struck by the emptiness that greeted them within the building.

  “I don’t understand. There’s nothing here. This place should be full of high-tech water cannons and other types of fire-fighting equipment,” the general stated.

  “It’s Perbron. He beat us to the punch again. It’s likely that he guessed our first move and removed the equipment before we could get to it,” Donna said.

  “I’m afraid you’re right, but I have a plan B,” the general said.

  “Attention all ships that have been deployed to the main settlements. Have your ships’ engineers divert all water supplies on board your ship towards your ship’s garbage chambers. Once the chambers are full of water, you must empty the garbage containers as you routinely do in space. However, this time you will go to the site of the fire and dump the chambers there. Is that understood?” the general asked. One by one the ships’ captains answered, “Yes sir!”

  Dedron and the others walked out of the facility and soon saw the army’s fighters flying over their heads towards the site of the fire. They watched for several minutes as water was dumped onto the now growing flames, extinguishing most of the blaze.

  “It’s working!” Donna said.

  “Of course it’s working,” The general said. We’ve worked too hard to establish this colony only to let Perbron destroy everything. However, seconds later, the entire assembled group was astonished as they watched one of the army’s fighters coming from the main settlement burst into a bright orange and yellow ball of flames.

  Chapter 8:

  “This is war!” the general shouted as he took out his communicator.

  “I want all ships and ground assault vehicles to storm the main compound!” he spoke into the communicator.

  “Wait, sir. Maybe we shouldn’t dispatch everyone at once. I know Perbron and this could be one of his tricks: to lure us in. We don’t know how many men he has here yet. Let me go with a smaller fighting force and see what I kind find out. We will use guerilla style warfare and hit them by surprise,” Dedron suggested.

  “I’m coming too!” Donna said.

  “Honey, no!” Dedron said.

  “What do you mean no? All of the Defense Squad members are tasked with dealing with Perbron. I refuse to stay here,” she said, angrily.

  “Yes, we are all coming with you, Dedron. Besides, I’m a captain too. You can’t tell me what to do,” David joked, making Ken laugh.

  “Yeah, we’re doing this one together,” Ken agreed. Laura, Langur, and Kadija came over to form a huddle with the others.

  “I can’t believe all this time we’ve
been in the squad together and we haven’t done a huddle?” David remarked as they all locked arms.

  “Not all of us live our lives like we’re frat boys,” Donna said. “I’m just joking,” she said, seeing that David was starting to pout.

  “Alright, here’s the plan: I studied the maps of the settlement and noticed that there is a heavily wooded area on the south side of the main dome. That is where we need to hit them. The forest picks back up on the western side. We will break up into two bands and hit them from two different directions,” Dedron stated.

  “So you’re breaking us up again?” Donna said, putting her hands on her hips.

  “Don’t worry, you’re going to be in my group,” he said, prompting her to smile and relax her stance.

  “David, I want you, Ken and Kadija to hit them from the west. Donna, Langur, Laura and myself will hit them from the south. That is, if that plan sounds alright with you, co-captain,” Dedron said, referring to David.

  “Sounds like a plan,” David said with a smile.

  “Alright General. Can you load us up with blaster grenades and laser cannons?” Dedron asked.

  “I sure can, but I have weapons that are bigger and better than that,” the general remarked.

  “I know you do, but we don’t need anything except attacks from the air. If you could aid our efforts with an aerial assault that would be terrific,” Dedron said.

  “Alright, but it’s going to be tricky trying not to destroy the whole facility which we will need when this is over. Also, you have to try and stay out of the way of the attack. Therefore, we will only use our new A.I. guided missiles that will hone in on specific Remoir targets without doing great harm to the agricultural settlement,” the general said.

  “That sounds perfect. Alright, everyone here is where we will go into the woods,” Dedron said as he pulled out a holographic map that appeared before them. “When we get to this path right here, David and his group will split off towards the west. Once the Remoir forces investigate our initial assault from the south, we will retreat into the woods. That is when you will attack, David,” Dedron said.

  “Got it!” David said.

  “The third wave will be the air assault once David’s group retreats. Remember, you must get out of harm’s way before the air attack. Although the missiles will stay on their programmed targets, there could still be collateral damage,” Dedron warned.

  “I’m on it, man,” David said.

  “Ok, Captain Dedron. I will provide your air strike for you. I hope this plan of yours works,” The general said. “Alright, men, get these Defense squad members some blasters and laser cannons!” he barked to two of his soldiers. They scurried off to a supply vehicle and came back a few minutes later with guns and blasters for everyone.

  Dedron shut off the map and put his navigation tablet away in his satchel. “Follow me!” he said, waving for them to head for the edge of the woods, about two miles away. Everyone strapped on their weapons and began the trek.

  “I’m so glad we’re back together even if we are walking into a battle zone,” Donna said as she walked just behind Dedron along the trail. The quiet of the woods, expect for the occasional songbird, seemed completely at odds with the situation they were about to face. The group walked in silence until they came to the fork where they would go their separate ways.

  “Good luck, comrades,” Dedron said to David, Kadija, and Ken,”

  “Good luck to you too, Captain,” Kadija said.

  “We don’t need luck, we’ve got mad skills,” David said.

  “Be careful,” Donna said.

  “Will do,” Ken answered.

  “See you on the other side!” David said as he turned to go down the western path through the woods.

  After about twenty minutes, Dedron’s group reached the edge of the compound and saw two Remoir fighter ships parked on the ground. They had a hover assault vehicle parked on the southern side, and a few soldiers carrying laser pistols were walking around the perimeter. Most of them seemed trained on the sky as if that was where they expected an attack to come from.

  “There’s not that many of them here. They know where the general’s forces are and are expecting a huge assault from the army. The Remoir are not expecting guerilla warfare. Everyone spread out and remember to target Remoir soldiers, vehicles, and ships. Do as little damage to the settlement’s facilities as possible,” Dedron whispered. They all nodded their understanding and spread out along the edge of the woods. One of the Remoir soldiers began to watch the woods intently as if he’d detected some movement there.

  “Hondor, I think I saw something move,” said a Remoir soldier, named Kinferon.

  “Where?” Hondor asked.

  “Just there in the woods.”

  “Probably just an animal.”

  “What if they are going to attack us from the woods?” Kinferon suggested.

  “I doubt it, but keep your eyes peeled,” Hondor said. Two seconds later, the parked Remoir assault vehicle was hit with two blaster grenades and erupted into flame.

  “Where did that come from?” Hondor shouted.

  “From the woods!” Kinferon shouted back as they both began to run towards the blast. Suddenly, laser shots came from the woods, taking out Hondor. Kinferon ran behind the flaming assault vehicle to get out of sight of Donna, who’d just taken out Hondor.

  Kinferon took out his hand-held communicator and began to ask for back up.

  “This is Kinferon on the southern side of the dome. We need……” Kinferon’s message was interrupted by another blaster grenade that took him out mid-message.

  “Sir, we just received a communication from a soldier on the southern side that sounded like a distress call. Should we send back up there?” the Remoir who’d received the message asked his superior, Commander Larron.

  “Yes, but not too many. We need to be prepared when the army sends the bulk of its fighting force,” Commander Larron stated.

  Soon about thirty Remoir soldiers emerged from the main dome and a few of the fighters took to the air. Dedron and his group were safe back in the woods, waiting for the right time to tell David’s group to attack. As soon as Dedron saw the soldiers amassing along the southern border of the woods, he took out his communicator to take to David.

  “David, now is the time. We have finished our initial attack, and the Remoir forces are gathering along the edge of the woods,” Dedron whispered.

  “Understood. We’re on it!” David answered back.

  “Come on, spread out along the woods and let them have it!” David said to the others. Soon, the Remoir soldiers were being assaulted from the rear with a barrage of laser fire and blaster grenades. The Remoir fighter ships zoomed overhead trying desperately to target David and the others, but they were too quick and disappeared back into the woods before the fighters could get a shot off. The Remoir soldiers were angry, confused, and terrified. The soldiers that survived turned towards the direction of the attack and began to try and form a counter assault. However, the Defense Squad members had disappeared into the woods, dealing the Remoir a horrific blow in a short amount of time. Two hover assault vehicles and one fighter had already been brought down. Over a dozen soldiers had been disintegrated.

  Word quickly got back to Commander Larron about the assault from the west.

  “Dispatch our main forces! Send half to the southern border of the settlement and the other half to the west!” Commander Larron said, following his orders by stamping about the ground like a madmen. “How did these damn humans sneak up on us like that!” he spat.

  Dedron saw the multitudes of forces pouring out of the dome and other smaller buildings in the compound and knew the time was right for the air assault.

  “General. Now is the time! The Remoir are sending out their main forces!” Dedron spoke into his communicator.

  “We are already on the way, Captain,” the general answered.

  Soon several army ships were circling around the compoun
d, carefully selecting Remoir targets and soldiers to bomb. The Remoir fighters did their best to fight back, taking out two of the Intergalactic Army ships. However, the Remoir forces were soon outdone by the superior maneuvering and targeting capabilities of the Intergalactic Army. The Remoir soldiers were in disarray, running around like mad ants whose hive has been disturbed. Most of the soldiers sought shelter when they noticed that the army’s ships weren’t targeting the buildings and facilities. Dedron noticed this from the edge of the woods and made a decision.

  “We’ve got to go in there and surround those soldiers holed up in the building there,” Dedron said, pointing to the main dome where as he spoke soldiers were seeking shelter. The others nodded their agreement with this plan.

  “General. We are going to head in to take care of those soldiers. Please be aware that we will be moving through and provide us with cover where you can,” Dedron spoke into his communicator.

  “You got it, Captain,” The general answered.

  “David, we’ve got to go back in. The air assault is working, but many of the soldiers are hiding out in the buildings because they know that we don’t want to bomb those. We have to go in and capture them ourselves,” Dedron suggested.

  “Roger that. Let’s do this!” David answered.

  Soon the Defense squad members were making their move towards the main dome. Although the Remoir attempted to shoot at the squad members, all of them made it to the dome.

  “Alright, let’s go in!” Dedron commanded. Each of the squad members went in different entrances. As they entered, a few Remoir soldiers fired at them. However, the squad members had the element of surprise on their side and soon made their way into the main room of the dome, surrounding the soldiers who were taking shelter there.

  “Drop your weapons. You are surrounded!” Dedron commanded. The soldiers hesitated for a moment, and then complied with his orders.

  Dedron and the others exchanged high-fives and began to relieve the thirty odd soldiers of their weapons.