The Commander

by Kevin Groh

  »Take cover!«

  Then he threw two grenades right in the middle of the enemy group and there was a powerful detonation. Several chunks rained across the railing and while Carter grimaced in his helmet and Kelly looked away, Jimbo opened his visor and vomited on the floor in front of him. Dunn had never mentioned in the explosives class that it would rain guts during explosions. Although the grenades had given Rod and the others some time to defend themselves against the enemies in the hallway, more and more hostiles came in from different entrances. Carter knocked over a server cabinet with a good deal of force, blocking the entrance they had come through. So nobody could shoot them in the back.

  »Okay, Jenny, where are the main controls?«, he asked.

  His HUD marked the slim control panel right in the middle of the room one level below. He gave the position to Leena, but neither her group nor his own had the ability to move.

  »Rod! Block the entrance with something big! As long as they come from all directions, we won’t last for long!«, Kelly shouted.

  A moment later it was rumbling loudly and the noise was diminishing a bit. Together the two teams advanced to the center of the room, one group from above, the other from below. They fired all the time or took cover. Fortunately, the engine room had many server racks and low railings that saved their lives. Though the Gumai could hide behind them as well, the Lorgans were too big for that. Carter fired with the grenade launcher and blew away three enemies who had Rod in their sights. When he noticed, Jimbo threw his launcher at him.

  »It has only got six shots, so use it wisely!«, he shouted, but it was already banging.

  An alarm on the multitool informed Carter that the fighters had been spotted in the hangar and were about to be destroyed. Jenny took control and blew away anyone who approached.

  Kelly was constantly on the move and had set herself the task of specifically attacking the Gumai. Leena searched for weak points in the enemy’s defense and drew their attention. Suddenly there was a crash behind Leena’s team. A large red Lorgan appeared in front of them and grabbed her. He lifted her up and his nasty breath struck her in the face. A long tongue drove out to taste their fear. Rod was so distracted that a shot hit him in the arm and he dropped his gun. Carter only had a few seconds to capture the situation. Everything around him slowed down. The optimized eyes captured every detail. Urma and Nambur tried to attack the Lorgans because Rod couldn’t do it anymore with his injured arm. Instead, he searched the chaos for his rifle. Kelly was above the main entrance door and remained in cover because they had been seen and immediately taken under constant fire. Her shoulder was hurting her, and the metal railing behind which she was crouching wouldn’t hold out much longer. Jimbo stood next to him and fired away, but he didn’t hit much. Carter was the only one who could still fight effectively, but that wasn’t enough. Was that the end of her journey? They had come this far just to die in the crossfire? No. He did not want to accept that. He grabbed Jimbo by the shoulder and said:

  »Go and prepare to shut down at the console! I’ll keep them away from you.«

  He then jumped over the railing and landed in a roll next to the crouching Rod behind a collapsed distribution cabinet. He left the cover and his HUD immediately calculated the angle of fire. He grabbed the gun and fired. Not continuous fire, but three-shot salvos. With a precision that was made possible by the combination of adrenaline and ocular upgrades, he killed one opponent after the other. He was like in a frenzy of fighting in which he had neither fear nor doubt. The instinct that had accompanied him over the past two years led his hands. Jenny overloaded some of the distribution boxes in the room, spraying sparks and distracting some enemies so Kelly could shoot them. Almost alone, he held their position for a full five minutes until Urma and Nambur had freed Leena using Jazzir’s melee techniques to avoid hitting her with a stray punch. He was hit in the side but forced to hide the pain. The Lorgan retreated beneath their subsequent bombardment and roared:

  »Damn humans! I will tear you all apart!«

  Rod had found his weapon by now. Jimbo shouted that he could press the switch at any time and turn off all the energy in the ship.

  Jenny calculated the fastest way back to the hangar and when Jimbo pushed the button on Carter’s command, she started a timer. At that moment the light went out and gravity disappeared as well. They activated the vacuum resonance function of their boots and could stay on the ground. But that didn’t apply to all enemies. Many Lorgans ran around without shoes, causing them to float and squirm helplessly, while Rod shot them one at a time with a satisfied grin. Carter dragged him on and waved the others to follow him. After about two minutes, the emergency generator jumped on, restoring gravity and air supply. The engine cooling remained offline. The ship began to shake.

  At his request, Jenny explained that the blackout had also paralyzed the shields and guns as well as the combat ship’s communications. Thus the enemy fighters were without coordination and the ship was vulnerable. Therefore it was bombarded by the human bombers with everything they had.

  »It’s time to get out of here!«, Urma said vehemently. How she had managed to remain unharmed so far was a mystery to them.

  They fought their way to the nearby hangar, where their fighters, controlled by Jenny, were still firing at isolated technicians and Lorgans. They ran towards them, but from a side corridor several enemies, led by the red giant, came and stood in their way. They had rifles and were armored.

  The red one seemed to be their leader. He had black war paint all over his body, a wide-toothed frilled neck, orange pupils and a big horn on his nose. He looked at the seven recruits with hatred and said:

  »You have caused a great deal of chaos here. You will suffer for this. If we destroy your pathetic warship, we will devastate your world and leave nothing but ashes! Then hopefully you will learn to keep your greedy fingers off the synthium.«

  Carter noticed that the red one liked to talk and that this was a unique chance to find out why the Lorgans were looking for war. Another strong shock, however, reminded him of how hasty they were to get at least sixteen miles between themselves and the battleship.

  He held the multitool in front of him and used the open military channel again.

  » All pilots listen up! This is Commander Sanders. In less than ten minutes the battleship of the Lorgans will explode. Abort attack immediately! I repeat: Abort attack immediately! Retreat to sixteen clicks and keep the enemy ships away from the homebase!«

  The red one growled: »Commander Sanders, is it? I’d remember the name, but you won’t survive this day!«

  »Ideas, Leena?«, Rod asked.

  »Only one. Break through!«, she shouted and Rod immediately began to fire. The others did the same and Carter used the remaining grenades in the thrower to pave the way for them. He also used the rocket launcher to destroy the entrance to the hangar so no more enemies would get in. Urma and Jimbo got into their ships and shot at the wave of enemies from the other direction. Rod couldn’t walk as fast after being struck and Leena tried to protect him. Kelly circled both and fired like a lunatic. Nambur limped towards his fighter, but the red one hit his healthy leg and he fell. The Lorgan slowly approached him and rolled him onto his back.

  Sinisterly, he said: »Pintan.«, and shot him in the head.

  »No! Nambur!«, Carter screamed in disbelief, while the red one looked at him with a nasty grin.

  He didn’t have cooling magazines left, so he had to wait, but he was full of anger and energy so that he again entrusted the command to his strange instinct. He ran towards a lizard man, hit him with the rifle shaft, pushed a grenade into his mouth, and punched him, which at the same time activated the detonator. Then he slid beneath another Lorgan and used him as a living shield against the explosion. The resulting chaos was enough for Rod and Leena to board their ships. Kelly too was almost ready to fly away. But the red one was the last obstacle between Carter and his fighter. He growled and had a murderous look. Carter�
�s rifle had become useless and he had to face him with bare fists.

  He hurried towards the red one and hit him against the hip with full force, but he only twitched briefly, then he hit Carter with a right-hander that smashed him into a loading crane. He rose and it felt as if he had broken a rib. Together with the contusions, the gunshot wound, and the bruises, he was about to collapse. He could fend off a few blows, but the red one was so strong and thickly armored with scales that no hit hurt him. At that moment Leena and Kelly came back. Leena threw him her rifle. Kelly threw the flamethrower at the Lorgan and the moment it flew close to the giant lizard’s body, Carter fired at the gun’s gas tank. The fire explosion swept the red one against a metal wall with a tremendous force, leaving a big dent and the opponent no longer getting up. Smoke rose from him and he had suffered severe burns.

  Jenny spoke: »Two minutes to the critical heating of the engine core. I recommend evacuating immediately.«

  The three ran to their fighters and together with the others, they dashed away. Once they had reached a safe distance, thirty seconds were left. Now the six recruits floated next to each other in their ships and waited. It took a little longer than Jenny had calculated, but then it was time. First, the wide stern of the cone-shaped battleship deformed, then a flaming blast wave tore it apart into a thousand pieces. Some of the fighters were destroyed by debris, but the recruits were able to evade.

  Many of the fragments entered the atmosphere and burnt up, giving the inhabitants of Utopia a unique image in the sky.

  After watching for a while as the squadrons of humans chased the enemy fighters out of the orbit, Kelly asked:

  »Shall we slowly go back to the homebase?«

  Carter sighed: »Yes, Banes will surely be happy to destroy me ...«

  The Guardian of Utopia

  In fact, what happened in the hangar of the homebase after the landing was completely different from what anyone would have expected. First of all, none of the instructors were there to receive them. Only the remaining recruits of their group were there. When they discovered Carter and the others, they bombarded them with questions and wanted to hear what had happened. Apparently, they had been left without any explanation. Before one of them could say anything, a few paramedics rushed in and took all six with them. They were checked from top to bottom and both Carter’s rib and side and Rod’s arm were treated. Leena was examined on her neck, Kelly on her shoulder and Jimbo on his weapon arm. When they looked at it objectively, they had gotten away incredibly well throughout the whole story. But they felt too much shock at Nambur’s death to be happy.

  The longer Carter thought about it, the better he could understand Banes‹ reaction. A handful of recruits who thought they could do something in the face of danger. The matter could have ended quite differently. In fact, it was very likely that they had simply perished. He didn’t know whether to call it luck, foresight or fate, what had protected them in there. Something told him that it was this strange instinct that had kept him alive.

  Shortly thereafter Banes burst in, followed by Dunn, Willis and the captain of the warship, Captain Rickett.

  The major said upset: »I can’t believe you’re still alive. What the hell were you thinking? Flying out with practice fighters and no equipment or reinforcements was insane! Clearly, the training sessions on discipline were wasted on you.«

  He wanted to keep on scolding, but the captain took the floor.

  »Which one of you is Carter Sanders?«, he asked dead serious.

  Carter raised his hand, relieved that his rib no longer hurt.

  »If I understood the reports correctly, you were the head behind this crazy action? You were the one who instigated six of his comrades to revolt in spite of a superior’s order?«

  Carter just nodded in silence.

  »Then it was you who, in addition to refusing to obey orders and instigating other recruits, stole a fighter from the fleet? Who arbitrarily overrode the functionality of our fleet VI and convinced it to help him in an open violation of a direct order?«

  Rod tried to throw something in, but Dunn shook her head.

  »And then not only did you have the arrogance to believe that you and a few recruits who weren’t even finished with their training could single-handedly stop a Lorgan battleship. You have also committed insubordination and unwittingly involved good soldiers in your suicide mission by misrepresenting yourself as a commander.«

  He was constantly walking up and down in front of Carter.

  He defended himself: »I saw how desperate the situation was and decided not to stand idly by. I owed it to Utopia, the men, and women out there and to myself to do everything to help. I am talented at finding unconventional solutions. I thought it wouldn’t hurt to try.«

  »And he didn’t force any of us! We all accompanied him voluntarily. Nambur did the same.«, Urma sobbed.

  »And when you confront him, he insists on his decisions without the slightest feeling of remorse.«, the captain continued.

  And then, completely unexpectedly, he grabbed Carter’s hand and shook it vigorously and energetically.

  »These are the people the military needs more urgently than ever! Men and women who stand up for the right thing, whether others approve of it or not. You should stay within the limits of the military order, but there are moments when you just have to follow your instincts. And that’s exactly what you did today and not only did you save the recruits next to you, but also hundreds of good pilots, the entire crew of the homebase and ultimately all of Utopia. If you hadn’t destroyed the battleship with your completely crazy plan, this one ship would have conquered our homeland without further resistance. But now that the Lorgans don’t know what hit them, they’ll assume our defenses are strong enough to stop them. That may have prevented further attacks. You, young man, are a hero and I will see to it that you get the recognition you deserve. All of you!«, he closed with outstretched arms and shook everyone’s hand before he walked away.

  Willis stood next to the door grinning and Dunn had crossed her arms with a benevolent expression on her face. Even Banes had something in his eyes that looked suspiciously like pride, even if he would never admit it.

  Jimbo asked Dunn: »Why didn’t you ever warn us that grenades could lead to a rain of guts and body parts?«

  She giggled: »I didn’t want to spoil this joyful experience for you. I will never forget my first bath in blood and intestines.«, she said, sucking in the air with pleasure.

  Willis shook his head in disgust and Banes had his hand in front of his face.

  Carter felt miserable when he saw Urma crying and the image of Nambur being killed kept coming to his mind.

  Dunn noticed this and said to them: »You have lost the green one, Nambur Zobek, haven’t you? That sucks. This is one of those things you can never avoid despite all the explanations, warnings and training. You will always suffer losses. If you are unlucky, you will lose friends. But remember that he gave his life because he believed in it. He died fighting for a better future and I don’t think he regretted it.«

  After that day, the events surrounding the attack on Utopia quickly spread. Jenny had transferred the surveillance footage from the battleship to the homebase throughout the mission, so they could study the recruits‹ actions closely. The video of Carter holding position for five minutes against almost a hundred angry Lorgans and Gumai quickly became one of the most-watched videos on all the Initiative’s worlds. The tale of his deeds almost completely overshadowed the presence of the others, which he didn’t like at all. Only Nambur was mentioned occasionally, but the rest was simply ignored. It wasn’t for long before Carter was nicknamed ›Commander‹ everywhere.

  The remaining six weeks of training were almost normal, although the political and military situation was tenser than ever. The increased attacks of the Lorgans required a stronger interference of the other member peoples of the initiative, which they made available nevertheless very hesitantly.

  Nambur�
�s absence hit the recruits harder than Billy’s absence. They held a memorial service for him and Urma was not the same afterward.

  On the last day of the two-year basic training, there was a festive event followed by a party, which was completely paid for by Major Banes thanks to Rod’s new record on the hell trail, but he was happy to do so in the face of recent events. That evening, the recruits‹ families were also invited. Magnus was there, as was Ethan Richards. His wife had not come with him, which did not surprise Kelly much. Major Banes stepped onto the stage and stood in front of the guests. The entire square in front of Osilon’s main building was packed and there were even some of the most important military personalities present.

  »The life of a soldier is a very hard road. In the history of mankind, it has always been a sign of great courage and honor to follow this path. To be a warrior always means to fight, never to rest, to subordinate one’s family and friends, one’s own happiness and well-being to the welfare of all the people. It is a blessing and a curse at the same time and not many soldiers reach a blessed age, especially in times of war. You see terrible things, you even have to do some of them yourself, and all this in the name of peace, ironically. Most of us have nightmares or have to struggle with bad memories. We lose battles, limbs, and friends on the way. Such a life is only chosen after careful and ample consideration.

  Unfortunately, however, we do not currently have the luxury of relying on the number of those who make this choice on their own and must force young and promising men and women to do so. That is why my colleagues and I, the trainers, have been given an important task: to ensure that, at the end of their compulsory service, these young people can return home to lead the lives for which they are meant. That requires hardship, from us as well as from them. We often have to be merciless because the galaxy out there is relentless as well. People here like to call me ›the torturer‹ because I know no pardon and expect absolute devotion.