Gunship - The Series

by John Davis

  Vladris thrust his hulking sword down with thunderous power, Kraid barely quick enough to evade the attack as a foot or more of the sword buried into the thick wooden slats beneath them. Kraid immediately swung his sword with a sweeping motion in an attempt to decapitate the Hunter Elite. Vladris ducked with intent, swiftly pulling himself back upright; grasping the gun hand of Kraid and squeezing until the Benzan dropped the golden piece. Powerfully uprooting his sword, Vladris arched it into a swing which ricocheted off of the Benzan's broadsword.

  Staggered for a moment, Kraid quickly thrust his sword forward, clipping the solid black armor of Vladris as thick leather and trace amounts of blood dispersed onto the polished wooden wall behind him.

  Glancing at his minor wound for a moment, Vladris was overcome with a beast like rage as he refocused his attention onto Kraid. Inhumanly fast and without warning, Vladris struck the Benzan across the face with a thunderous backhand, sending him reeling. The staggered Benzan leader was merely able to lift his sword just in time to block the downswing of the Hunter Elite's sword, though it did him little good. The trunk of Kraid's sword clanged as the powerful swing knocked it from his hand, the elite's blade biting deeply into the flesh of his shoulder. It was at that moment the remaining Benzans knew defeat was at hand and quickly lashed out at the Hunters with swords arcing wildly. Moments later, each Benzan had fallen lifelessly to the floor leaving only Kraid.

  “Do you intend to turn him my Lord?” one of the Hunters asked as Vladris stared at his beaten opponent for several long and silent minutes. Kraid would either be sent into the afterlife for eternity or he would join the ranks with the Hunters. A choice that was now in the hands of Vladris. Hunter Elites possessed the unique ability to turn their defeated foes into Hunters, but reserved the privilege to only a select few.

  “Our work here is done then my Lord?” one of the Hunters asked of Vladris as the elite soldier skimmed the area through a large window of the lodge. The sight of butchered bodies lay on the ground around them, slowly becoming hidden by the ongoing fall of heavy snow mixed with the pasty grey smoke of the bonfire. Several Benzan buildings stood in the distance, catching the elite's attention. “No. Check the rest of the buildings for any survivors. Anything that may speak of stray cowards away from the nest.” Vladris commanded.

  “At once!” the Hunter replied with obedience before turning to lead a small group of the undead warriors into the direction of the buildings as Vladris slowly stepped back outside, focusing his attention into the sky and its blanketing flakes of snow that fell directly down.

  “My Lord, the Colonials are approaching Tameca.” one of the Legion soldiers said loudly as he entered Lord Riven's quarters. It was a reinforced room, snugly fit into an underground bunker and equipped with everything needed to operate in the worst of conditions.

  “As expected,” Riven said. “Wait for them to hit atmosphere and fire all of our ballistics at them.” he added.

  “All of them my Lord? Every missile?” the soldier asked. “Yes.” Lord Riven said sharply, turning his eyes to the questioning soldier.

  “Right away my Lord!” the soldier replied loudly with obedience, turning to execute Riven's order.

  Tameca City was once a proud place, flourishing with opportunity and the citizens who lived there in chase of it. As the soldier exited the bunker to execute Lord Riven's order, the sight of present day Tameca City was gut wrenching. A majority of it on fire, intentionally set by Legion forces as both retaliation against those who opposed Legion rule and a warning to anyone who may approach to give aid. Many of the same citizens who once shared laughter and memories on its streets, now lay dead on the very same paths of asphalt, bodies piled high as they burned without mercy.

  It had become a large scale holocaust, what little remained of the city now part of a Legion controlled warzone. They had been bested during the battle for Glimmeria, losing a majority of their high end weaponry in the process. What remained was a stockpile of surface to air missiles, armored assault vehicles, plenty of small arms weaponry and soldiers who had been intimidated into seeing the war to its end. They had no help coming, no reinforcements. Just a severely outnumbered force that was entrenched into the city and slaying at will.

  “Alright. You've been trained for this and have the superior firepower and numbers. These civilians are being murdered because they want a Colonial government, so as Colonial soldiers it's our job to protect our soon to be people at all costs.” General Ortega said, scanning the launch bay of a Colonial Star, which was filled with thousands of battle ready troops. “Most of our convoy is staying in orbit around Tameca, cutting off all escape routes for the Legion in hopes of the war ending here. It's our job to end it, and by God we will end it!” he added, thrusting the crowd of warriors into a loud cheer. Moments after, the synchronized cheering turned to panic as the Colonial Star began getting pummeled by an array of Legion fired missiles.

  It was a tough ship, built with the very purpose of taking blunt force trauma for extended periods of time. Hundreds of potent warheads gleamed into the sky however, most of them hitting the ship's hull and rocking the already battle weary frame and engulfing it into a curtain of flame.

  When the general order to abandon ship rang out across the com system of the ship, soldiers began sprinting frantically throughout the halls, trying to make their way into the launch bay where General Ortega had already set up an evacuation detail. “We stay until the ship loses power!” Ortega shouted, explosions ringing in all corners of the flying fortress.

  “Make sure everyone is armed to the teeth and well supplied, when the power fails we have to go, at that point it's only a matter of time.” General Ortega added loudly, the troops near him handing both weapons and survival packs to the evacuating personnel.

  “Mayday, Mayday, this is the Colonial Star Thirty-Seven. We are going down, repeat we are going down. Ship is evacuating to the surface of Tameca. Repeat, ship is...ohh God, ohh God!” the ship's pilot could be heard yelling up until the second that the Colonial Star was no more, the tomb of steel and circuitry exploding, leaving behind only faint screams and fiery particles of debris as the night sky of Tameca illuminated as though an eclipse were taking form.

  “We barely made it sir.” one of the Colonial soldiers said frantically as General Ortega looked through the plated glass window of the military shuttle, watching the ripples of destruction where the Colonial Star had been only moments before. Listening to the unorganized chatter being broadcast over the shuttle's com, Ortega finally punched in a security code before picking up the com.

  “This is General Ortega. We have lost our ride but not our resolve. Sky Command, please organize a rally point on Tameca's surface based on my location beacon, we will regroup and complete the mission as planned.” he said calmly into the hand held com before placing it firmly back onto the communication board near the shuttle's pilot. “One way or the other this battle will prove the end of the Legion's reign of terror.” he added, speaking the words to the armed soldiers of his shuttle.

  Minutes later, their military issued shuttle began hitting waves of turbulence, a direct effect of the fighting that was taking place below them. The ship's diamond shaped legs slowly bit into the hard crust that covered Tamera's ground, frozen dirt which was typical of the coldest season of the year. A massive Legion force was pushing to their direction, a well organized attempt to end the Colonial force before it could regroup.

  “Laze their positions!” General Ortega shouted as he exited the shuttle steadfast. One of the Colonial snipers quickly shouldered a large device, similar to a weapon, but with no firepower of its own. “Keep it locked in!” Ortega ordered loudly as he contacted the remaining Colonial Star ships with a mobile com. There is a vast quietness of space that is nearly indescribable, the luminous littering of stars everywhere as pure silence engulfs them. This very silence was broken abruptly as ten thunderous booms broke out, all high potent missile strikes firing from the launch tu
bes of an orbiting Colonial Star and directed to the location of the laze.

  The Colonial outpost, while under a heavy bombardment of Legion fire, had already started to take in Tameca's citizens. Refugees on their own planet, all of them shell-shocked and grieving for those lost as they staggered into the grasp of armed Colonial soldiers. There was a cluster of zinging sounds, followed by rocking explosions throughout the Legion camp nearby. The Colonial warheads struck earth with such velocity, such authority, that only craters remained that filled with ash and flesh. “General, do we attack?” one of the soldiers asked as the silence of missile strikes no longer floated through the sky. “Just wait, hold the line and wait until I give the order.” General Ortega demanded.

  “Yes sir.” the soldier responded. Less than a full minute after the missile strikes, one of the remaining Colonial Star ships hovered down slowly from orbit, moving over what remained of the Legion encampment as its deck cannons began chewing into anything that moved. Dispatching dozens of the Glimmerian designed Swordfish fighters, the Colonial Star began a slow ascent back into the heavens and the quiet space which orbited above.

  “Now you may go.” General Ortega said proudly, a majority of his soldiers running to the sad remains of the large Legion camp as they shouted loudly with pride. “Lieutenant!” Ortega shouted. “Yes sir!” the man replied with discipline. “Continue finding our new citizens food and make them as comfortable as possible. I'm taking a strike team in.” Ortega commanded. “Yes sir!” the Lieutenant said loudly, saluting for a moment before turning to continue organizing relief to the citizens lucky enough to have made it to them.

  “Be landing in less than ten minutes, time to wake up.” Stage said loudly as Dalton slowly left his dreamworld of fast guns and even faster women and began to get his bearings in order. Primal and Stage were both at the controls of the shuttle, gliding it to the planet's surface for the rescue plan ahead. Meanwhile Adam and Sasha sat closely together on a cushioned bench seat a few feet away. Dalton's first thought was that of Sasha's perfect body as he tried his best to convince himself that she hadn't followed him back from the world of dreams. He realized Adam was no longer wearing a climate jacket about the same time he glanced down to see himself snugly underneath it.

  “Man, get this fuckin' shit off of me!” Dalton said, throwing the Benzan jacket several feet as both Adam and Sasha began to laugh loudly.

  “Aww, but you looked so cute laying there huddled up underneath it.” Sasha said as Dalton stared her down will ill intent.

  “I 'aint going for cute. I'm going for casual.” Dalton replied sternly, proudly pulling his faded brown coat together in the middle as if it were a tuxedo. Several small rips littered the jacket, which reeked of cigar smoke, whiskey and God only knows what else; accented by a few stains of dirt and lipstick. Still, Dalton smiled with pride. It was his resume of sorts, a visual reference to his experienced past.

  “There it is.” Primal said as everyone took a moment to look out of the shuttle's windshield. The entire planet of Gali looked as if it were swampland, thick green brush covering nearly every portion of it. Arch City, however, was a different story entirely. It wasn't the largest city Adam or Dalton had ever seen, but it was large enough. Two huge silver arches cascaded over the city, while several thousand buildings were positioned below, a few skyscrapers and the rest mid sized buildings or less.

  “How are the watering holes here?” Dalton asked, his tongue growing weak of alcohol starvation. “They got anything you want here. Drink, women and weapons. You name it, they got it. As long as you got the credits to pay for it that is.” Primal replied, turning for a moment as he answered.

  “Shit boys, Dalton James hadn't ever had to pay for a woman. I pride myself on that.” he proudly replied as Whiskey was quick to second the notion with a loud bark.

  “Must be the coat.” Sasha replied as Adam broke out into an uncontrollable laugh.

  “I hear 'ya. I'm surprised you 'aint sittin' back here with a real man now that you know what one looks like.” Dalton replied

  “You tell her brother.” Primal said, chuckling just a bit. “Alright already, we need to get focused on getting Roman out of lockup.” Adam said.

  “Agreed,” Stage said. “We're going to have to be on top of our game to pull this rescue off.” he added.

  “Oh, I'll be on my game alright. Hell, Whiskey and me are both liable to walk out of the nearest bar with a nice piece of strange. Shit I'll be on top of something for sure.” Dalton said, licking his lips a bit as Whiskey began barking loudly.

  “I think I'm going to be sick.” Sasha said in a low voice as she watched Dalton practice his best pickup lines on Whiskey at the rear of the shuttle while it docked onto the landing port of the city.

  While the Legion was fiercely outnumbered, they had dug themselves in deep, pockets of soldiers doing what would have been a valiant job if not for the worst of reasons. Equally as resilient, Colonial soldiers fought back. Holding their ground while slowly gaining more. Surviving citizens began to pour in, staggered and starving as the Colonials soon found their outposts overwhelmed. Not with attacking soldiers clad in red and black trim, but common folk, mostly women and children clad in dehydration and the blood stains of their loved ones.

  “Keep them away from windows and potential entry points.” Lieutenant Scott said, holding a large metal door open as citizens poured in, many falling from gunfire close by as Legion troops ended as many lives as possible.

  When the senseless murdering first began, over half of the Legion ranks surrendered, their core values not involving the slaughter of unarmed people. However, those who remained were with skill and without soul, gunning down even toddlers as if they were armed soldiers.

  “Seal the door and get me a link to the sky!” Lieutenant Scott yelled, doing his best to get the survivors into the large rooms of the vacant factory.

  “Here you go sir.” one of the Colonial soldiers said, handing Scott a wired com unit. “This is Bravo Forty Two Blue, repeat, this is Bravo Forty Two Blue. Requesting evacuation of Tamecan citizens as well as reinforcements on ground. Repeat...” Lieutenant Scott said, his plea abruptly cut short.

  “Negative Bravo Forty Two Blue. Be advised we are under fire from hostile forces. I say again, the Republic of Theron has joined the battle and its army has engaged us in war. Advise hold ground and make due until Colonial allies arrive.” a voice responded, cracking heavily due to the distance between coms.

  “Estimated time of arrival?” Lieutenant Scott asked, his hopes of a swift victory crushed.

  “Reinforcements are approximately two days out. I say again, two days out.” the voice replied, distinct sounds of pounding cannons in the background. “Copy.” Scott replied.

  “Actual, this is Bravo Forty Two Blue. Did you copy the last?” Scott asked, his battle ripened hand holding the com only inches away from the smooth shave of his face.

  “Copy that. Do your best to secure our location. I'm ordering several platoons back to your area to assist.” General Ortega replied.

  “Copy that sir, Bravo Forty Two Blue out.” Lieutenant Scott replied, handing the com back to the soldiers with him, which were less than fifty and new to the acts of war.

  “Listen up,” Lieutenant Scott said loudly, gaining the attention of each soldier. “It is imperative that we fortify our location until help arrives. I want four men at each entrance and heavily armed. As the refugees come to us, two soldiers exit to assist while the other two cover. Every remaining soldier, including myself, will set up a staggered perimeter in the hallways. Protect the rooms of refugees at all costs. Understood?” he asked loudly.

  “Yes sir!” they replied, checking their ammunition levels. “Sergeant Ramon, assign the soldiers to their posts.” Scott ordered. “Yes sir.” the Sergeant replied.

  The Republic of Theron. Bastards. Lieutenant Scott thought as Colonial troops ran around him to secure the building as quickly as possible. Nobody saw it coming, alt
hough they should have. The Republic of Theron has been murdering its own citizens for decades now, so why would the Tamecan people be any different. Hindsight is twenty-twenty they say, but the fact that Theron was a major trading partner with the Legion, equipped its army with Legion weaponry and had so much to lose if their trading partners fell made sense. Someone missed the signs and because of the oversight, Colonial ships and Theron cruisers were engulfed in one hell of a fight as they drifted in orbit.

  Two Colonial Star ships remained, their escort cruisers having been sent down to Tameca filled with troops and supplies. Both ships had taken a hell of a beating, but remained intact as they orbited side by side and were exchanging cannon shots with six Theron cruisers. The Theron ships were much smaller than the mighty Colonial Stars, but were designed by Legion engineers and bred for one purpose. War. They were heavily armed with deck cannons, motorized chain guns and only the thickest of steel plating.

  Still, the Colonial battleships held their own. Much like two larger and more capable animals defending themselves against a pack of hungry wolves, they continued exchanging shots of bone shaking lead. One of them began to falter, its hull damaged beyond repair and quickly splitting, eventually leading to the order of abandon ship. The Colonials were swarmed, and though they had done significant damage themselves, it was endgame. The soon to be demolished Colonial Star redirected its fire strictly to the surface of Tameca, striking all known Legion locations as its crew abandoned ship in route for the surface.