The Futility Wars

by Magnus Thollander

  The massive shock waves hit, and he saw the flashing of the shield on the outside the enemy was now dead and scattered and after a few moments several more shells hit and came closer and closer until they all were gone, the sides lowered and Zhang yelled out "REPORT! IF THE BUNKER HAS ANY INJURED NOW IS THE TIME TO RETREAT THEM FOR EVAC!" The soldiers shuffled their wounded and broken down the lifts to the transport area, he lost most men to psychological issues than physical ones.

  These men were breaking down by the dozen, and he could feel it affecting the battle he had to stay strong for them no matter how pointless he thought this battle was, he knew the real picture that this was a death sentence and no evacuations would arrive. Several valuable people or lucky ones had the warrior implant, so they could be reborn in some manner to fight out these 25 years they were forced too.Zhang went down the lift as well to the armory to refuel his generator and weaponry, he saw the havoc in the armory where people were grabbing more guns than they needed or swapped armors without proper cycling it first, he would have shot these men if he were in control, but he was just a grunt as them it was not his problem, he hooked up to the station, and he saw his energy levels increase steadily, he stood there for 30 seconds until it was filled, and he went and pulled down several cases of ammunition and loaded up all his weapons and protected slots on his armor, then he simply carried one ammunition case in each hand and brought it up to his little bunker which was now empty except him. He lowered his helmet and ate a few energy bars while he waited for the proximity alert to sound out again, which it did after a short ten-minute break the enemy was still advancing.

  Ricardo looked at the battle from his ship in the Defense Two system which was the next holding point when the system fell completely, he had done what he could with the firing missions from space using the brand-new portal tech in his disposal, jumping above the planet and firing massive kinetic rods that killed any biological thing in the area. He had kills in the millions using these and now the fun ended, the enemy was completely on to him and his tactics, they had simply set the ships to move around in erratic patterns and now were firing before he made the shift, he could not pre fire or simply open a portal then fire, the system would not allow it since it could destabilize the area and make it unlivable for eons, he had seen the data and even if it was only a 10% per shot, it was not worth the risk to create a space hazard to save a few criminals, he could not change anything now when the system was completely lost to the alien invaders, and they were landing troops by the millions every minute, The enemy truly was infinite no matter how much they tried to convince them self otherwise.

  S-4XN-001 scanned every second of the battlefield and was happy with the stalling of the enemy, he estimated they would need at least fourteen days to take the entire planet with the now lacking air support. He would monitor the progress of the soldiers and the scientist on the planet, they were from other factions, and he had promised to rescue them from the planet in return of their hands-on experimenting. He knew the alien tech was a marvel of biological science mixing metal and bio matter into a functioning computer was pretty useful but the downsides were also extreme, the weakness of the structure was the main point. Their carapace armor that seemed to encase everything of value in their empire was a brittle mess when hit with anything consisting of heat or cold, and he correctly assumed why they never fought underwater was the pressure would crack the shells instantly leaving them defenseless. He had built several underwater lasers that the enemy could not touch to see their planet destruction abilities which he had not seen in this system, He would find the best ways to drag this conflict out in his galaxy no matter what and then deny them entry to the milky way.

  The scientist shook in fear when he had to transfer his lab for the fifth and final time and now he was housed next to a dead bomb that would liquefy the planet causing massive havoc, he had seen a similar device hit the moons of Pluto when he was but a young child and it had terrified him then and it terrified him now, he at least had company of his colleagues from the other parts of the planet now gathered together in this one room to compile their notes before the evacuation was in order, the soldiers were despairing and the billion humans in this system was now a pathetic five million, the enemy had paid a thousand fold for their folly these past two months, they held out longer than needed, and they got all the futility corpses and tech they could ever want, and they were packaged neatly and was waiting for transfer off this rock to the gate system.

  They were tired of shaking and watching their former bunkers become craters when the auto-destruct sounded out, the enemy were swarming the space, air,ground and underground areas, the railway tunnel was destroyed and it had killed hundreds of millions of the enemy soldiers in the collapse, but they kept their cool, they were now in the safest part and the last bunker which were being assaulted constantly, it was only one way in and no way out for the enemy. Designed to stall the enemy to the utmost with its long hallways, but the team of scientist were now ready for evacuation, and they got the green light to go, they had taken several soldiers to help transport the equipment to the evacuation area, and they were just waiting on the finishing touches before leaving, how they did not know, but they would never doubt the terrifying warrior known as S-4XN-001, say anything about his conduct and motives but never question his promises, if he said he would bring you back alive to the gate system he would, and if he said you would die a horrible death, then you were already dead for questioning that.

  He checked his wrist communicator and got his final orders, "Alright, everyone that got the green light clear out from the room, This is now a red zone area! I repeat, you need clearance to be here, if you do not have clearance you will be killed!" he yelled out, the few soldiers checked their orders and shuffled out the area, after a few moments several soldiers shuffled in and gave a light salute, he nodded and then several what looked like managers stepped into the room.

  Christine bit her lips and stepped into the room grabbing the scientist, "What are you doing, soldier!? Go back to your position!" he said while shaking off her hands, "I'm not going anywhere, i need to see this through and S-4XN-001 if you hear this, i am owed this, I'm calling in a favor!" she yelled, everyone was terrified when they heard the shuffling of machines behind the wall and a few cylindrical shaped tubes that looked like one mean laser array targeted her, she stood stout for a few moments and the laser retracted. Everyone breath a sigh of relive and after a half a minute the last of the soldiers arrived, the door closed and the room shuffled, the scientist stood next to each other, and they felt like they traveled four a thousand miles down to the crust of the planet when they felt the room go to a stop, the massive side door opened, and they saw a massive titan sized ship hidden in the crust of the planet, they got the message and several loading drones stepped outside and started to transfer the pallets of lab equipment and samples to the giant hangar, and the people shuffled to the medical station to have a checkup which was mandatory after leaving an alien planet.

  A few wounds were treated and nothing major was needed, Christine sat down in the massive lounge area, she did not know what kind of ship this was, but the soldiers and scientist just left all their anguish at the door and was now sipping cocktails and downing beers at the bar area being served by a few ais based bartenders, They were a nice touch to bring some normality back to their lives instead of the constant havoc, she sat down on the bar and ordered a drink as well while listening to the scientist speak.

  "The Futility are such a remarkable lifeforms, entirely liquid based unable to live without their carapaces, their home planet must be a giant helium based liquid sphere, since that's the only thing they can't seem to eat though, I have a-" a scientist scoffed.

  "Obviously, they are a created lifeforms by another alien race wiped out by their chaotic nature, The futility breeds and kills, like bacteria they do not care about how they hurt or how they do it, they just do it." The Scientist argued back and forth for a moment and
Christine rolled her eyes at their theoretical pointless knowledge, it did not matter how the futility came to be but how their end had to be, they needed to be killed to save the rest of the galaxy, they had killed trillions across the universe already, and she knew they would kill trillions more until they were stopped.

  She just wanted answers and a leader that did not do things out of trickery or some unknown goal she could not understand, she was happy at least the battlefront started in the Ortha galaxy and not in the milky way, which would result in the extinction of the human race, they had already lost about 500 million people which did not have the warrior upgrade, and about 500 million volunteers, Everyone had been killed except herself and Thomas, which would stay by the bomb until he died which she assumed would be before the end of the week, she lamented the deaths of the men and women she had fought with on the planet, they had been criminals and other lowlifes, but they somehow bonded in the face of certain doom. The bad apples and the weak had been culled early by being pushed out the door, they had to fight or die, and she knew that and most people knew that, but there were a few unwilling or too afraid, and they had died early and mostly used as suicide bombers when they remote activated their grenades.

  She looked at the mounted television and there was a signal going through "SHIP HAS BEEN LOADED AND WILL LEAVE IN, FOUR MINUTES, ARRIVAL WILL BE IN TWENTY MINUTES.YOU WILL THEN REPORT TO THE MANAGER OF THE GATEWAY STATION 40-3, AFTER REPORTING YOU WILL BE THEN FREE OF THE E396-1 CLAUSE OF THE CONTRACT." the voice broadcast, Christine piped up what is the E396-1 clause? A woman laughed behind her "It's the clause that guarantees your safety from the aliens, duh. You think anyone would go here if it was not in the contract?" she said while sipping her drink.

  Christine just nodded at the simplicity, they believed a contract while the aliens were invading the planet? What if someone went insane and killed them, or they decided not to reset the timer on the bomb, She just shrugged and continued drinking, she knew she would probably be forcefully enlisted, and she looked at the other soldiers they seemed to be captains or high-ranking commanders that sat in a cushy bunker reading data and watching live feeds, nerds hiding away in the safety of a shelter while she and the rest of the grunts did the dirty. The ship shook for a moment, and she looked out the windows which were now revealing themselves, they saw the massive trafficked gateway system, and she dropped her drink on the ground she just stood there when she felt a touch on her shoulder.

  "Beautiful is it? The ARK ship, designed for one thing, avoiding the Futility forever. Can teleport itself across the galaxy as long as it had the coordinates and fuel, You know my wife was one of the people that designed the dimensions on the tables and sofas for optimal comfort and productivity, big enough to-" she interrupted him and just stood looking out the window. Her eyes started to tear.

  "You bastard, you had a way off the planet and you left them there to die" she mumbled when the tears fell uncontrollably watching the massive armada of ships traveling across the system. They docked with the station, and they stepped off, the scientist pointed out their valuable equipment and samples and several human crew ran up the deck to transfer it quickly to their private labs and research stations in the system, bringing alien tech to milky way was forbidden so all research and samples had to stay in the system and leaving was a incredible hassle which meant a month of waiting and then a week of isolation, you could not bring anything out of the system and if you entered with a ship it would stay here, only way back to the milky way was with a ship from S-4XN-001 and same was with the cargo, everyone and everything was properly searched so there would be no problems in the milky way, and everyone had agreed on that point.

  There were plenty stations built in the nearby systems, since this system and the connecting ones were locked down like a fortress, giving the humans in the galaxy a few days to scramble back before the gate closed forever when the futility arrived. No tourist had entered the system and most people that entered were either employed by the countless factions that established here, or convicts forced to do labor here either as soldiers or miners, It was the perfect solution to empty the massive jails across the milky way, there were billions in prison and two billion had been sent here already, one billion had died defending the milky way and that was acceptable in most peoples eyes, the various governments were happy to release this burden for a cash injection for each prisoner. Was it slavery? Maybe, but they could either enlist freely and then had a chance of being freed or stay in prison, and the governments would make their lives even worse until they accepted, they would lower the quality of care so it almost counted as torture.

  They only had one option and that was to enlist, at least there they lived like humans until they died, not starved to death in a cell that smelled like sewage. The Ortha had pretty much only one contact with the milky way and that was S-4XN-001, he had also forbid them from annoying, engagein or any shenanigans with their race, They were here for one reason only and that was to fight the Futility and the moment you did not do that you would be kicked out or killed and all your possessions in the milky way being sized as a penalty. S-4XN-001 had limited contacted with Ortha, and they did not care about him, and he did not care about them, there were no exchanging of data, research or any type of goods.

  They did not need it, and he did not need it the only thing they had on him were the number of ships and disposable grunts in the endless conflict, they would stall the futility nicely while he tried things out in the testing areas he had established in the name of counter-attacking the Futility, the people there were expendable the equipment there were expendable, the only thing that was of some value right now was the bomb housing the planet which were set to go off in six hours, Thomas had stopped reset the bomb when the futility breached the fourth layer, and they were going to breach the main area in four, and if they really wanted too they might reach the bomb in twelve, The bomb was the first of its kind, and he was very excited to see it work in such a material rich environment, he did not know the extent of it since this was the beta test. Thomas leaned against the wall while looking at the few men alive looking terrified and not knowing their doom would come in a hour, he told them that this was it, either they fight, party or do whatever they wanted, Since it was no coming back, the bomb had been locked to detonate after it hit the one-hour mark, it was the one fail safe to make sure there were no going back.

  He just hoped he would have died bit later in life, but he felt solace that his life mattered in a way, he had made a mistake when he was a kid in killing that man for having sex with his girlfriend, he would have knocked his teeth out sure, but the moment he held that knife and stabbed him he knew his life was over, he had avoided the death penalty and served on a mining asteroid as a forced laborer ever since, He had mined the asteroid by hand tools instead of the massive drones that littered across the galaxy, they were doing pointless work and slept in a zero-g environment eating cold soup and living in squalor with the few water rations they had, supply ship came once every month to drop of expired cans of food and various other knickknacks for the prisoners to take and hand out themselves, it was a free for all and several gangs had established themselves with the strongest being the docking bay crew, which had first dibs on everything and then kept the other gangs in check by supplying them fairly, they were the closest thing to decent human beings left on that rock, and they banded together and fought evil, and he was doing the same here with his new crew defending their turf against a enemy coming to take all they got, including their lives.

  He laughed and smiled and the other soldiers joined in, he led the boys back to the lounge while he handed out the last of the beer, drugs and other goods. They were gonna party until they dropped.Qasqaer got sent a message from the human, and he put it on his screen "LEAVE THE SYSTEM WITH ALL ORTHA AND THE NEARBY SYSTEMS AS WELL AS GOOD MEASURE, A NEW UNTESTED WEAPON WILL BE DETONATED IN THE SYSTEM AND THE IMPACT WILL BE FATAL FOR ANYONE IN THE SYSTEM, NEARBY SYSTEM MAY BE AFFECTED A
S WELL. WEAPON TEST IN 1 HOUR."

  Qasqaer would have frowned if he had a face at hearing the arrogance of the human warriors tone, but he would heed the warning and leaving several probes in the nearby system which were swarmed by the Futility, they mostly used the nearby systems as passing system since they were undefended. The humans had backed away a few weeks away in Futility standard fleet speed, Qasqaer could reach the system in three days but the humans could do it instantly with their portal technology, Ortha also had portal technology, but they would not waste the resources unless it was necessary, they rather go bit slower to conserved a lot more fuel. He could travel there instantly but his massive drives would suck up that precious fuel which were incredibly important since they recently lost another four million mining stations. He left the system instantly, and he watched on his probes which darted across the edge of the system evading the now trillions of ships swarming the humans last planet hold, the warriors in the system had fled like cowards, and he saluted the few humans dying and fighting on the planet like a good soldier should do.