En1gma

Battleforce



[ Patreon & Battleforce & Star Traders 2 Supporter ]





Hydra Specialist

Posts: 4,712



Battleforce Staring into Space LordofSyn grävling , and 3 more like this Quote Select Post

Select Post Deselect Post

Deselect Post Link to Post

Link to Post Member Give Gift

Member Back to Top Post by En1gma on “Jeremy, snap the hell out of it,” hissed the quartermaster, “we’re making landfall in an hour, what the fuck are you still doing in your bunk-- were it up to me you’d be off this ship so you could nap on someone else's.” Jeremy turned his head and nodded, blinking and stretching, he scratched his head with only his middle finger so Petar wouldn’t miss the gesture.

“Stuff it, Petar, you couldn’t do half of what I do even at your best. If you want another pilot go find one--until then get the hell out of my room.”

“ Lazy son of a bitch, get a move on,” gruffed the burly quartermaster as he punched the button to leave. I looked up from my data pad where I was looking over my old notes on the terrain of the planet we would soon be landing upon.

“Shouldn’t piss him off too much, he’s the type to just dump you on some indy shithole and leave you there.” He just shrugged and got up from his seat. He sauntered out of the room and made for the hangar. Petar had doubled back to make sure Jeremy had gotten up and he almost walked straight into him. Their shoulders hit as they passed and Petar cursed at him as he came in to talk with me. After the door slid shut he sat on the bench by the window and shook his head.

“Next stop I’m kicking him off the crew. I’m done with his shit and I like you enough to let you know beforehand.” I put down my pad and looked at him. You could see the exasperation on his face, not something he often let through. “For whatever reason he just doesn’t have it in him anymore.”

“Petar, we all know what happened, you know how that accident screwed him up--he was just ten seconds--.”

“I don’t want to hear it, Mitch, I just don’t. We all lost a friend that day, what makes him so special?” I shrugged, and grabbed my duffel from under my bed.

“Look Petar, let’s just get this job over and done with. It’s bad enough being back here, I don’t want to imagine what’s going through his head. You do what you’ve gotta do, I’ll take care of myself.”





“I’ve never liked these EVA suits,” said Tessa as she finished suiting up. She closed off the last seal and switched over to her air scrubber.

“Stop complaining! At least these things filter out the methane smell, I could swear my last cap sewed them herself just to save a few credits. Is there such a thing as third hand, ‘cause those suits were janky as hell.” There were a few laughing in the drop ship, I wasn’t one of them.

“I’ll try to convince the captain to spend the creds on those new ones Steel Song rolled out a few years ago, but for now this is what we’ve got,” said Petar, who was checking his ammo and equipment. His suit was already sealed off, as was mine, but I’m pretty obsessive about my gear, so I had nothing left to do but wait. “Now the last time we stopped here, there were mistakes made, and people died because of it.” I bowed my head, and others stopped talking to listen. “I want everyone to watch their sectors and lanes of fire. I don’t know what’s out there this time, but we’re doing this by the book. Jeremy will be sweeping the area from his interdictor, and relaying the scans to us on our HUD. If he’s good at anything, it’s scouting, so let’s hope he keeps his focus, otherwise we’ll be running blind.”

“Comms are open, you know that, Petey boy?” snapped Jeremy over our headsets, before blasting by our shuttle so close it made the teeth rattle in our skulls. Before anyone could answer, he banked off and rocketed toward the dropsite, his scans already coming through crisp and clean. Nobody could see me smiling behind my mask but damn--he’s good. Petar on the other hand was clearly angry. Our safety rested on his shoulders, and without his team being on the same page he seethed.

“Let’s just get this done, people. The less time we spend here the better.”

“Couldn’t agree more, sir,” I spoke up, racking a round into my assault rifle. The rest of the squad followed my lead, just as the atmo rocked our craft. We were the first to land, as protocol dictated on hostile systems. Captain had made a few enemies over his career, and the De Valtos military made frequent patrols over their wildlands, looking for interlopers such as us.

Our stash was a solid eight hour march through extremely hostile terrain. Boulders, crags, pitfalls, and landslides were but a few of the obstacles between our objective and the ship. Once we had the data cube from the dead drop, it would be a matter of minutes until the carefully hidden shuttles would pick us up, and rocket us the hell off this molten rock. That’s the plan anyway.

A bone shaking thud tested our harnesses, and we came to a stop. Ten seconds later the door opened and we filed out, weapons at the ready. It was much darker than our last time here, quiet, but dark. By the void, I hate this place, I at least hope the cap is making enough money to keep coming here worth the trouble. Our squad spread out, boots crinkling the ashy gravel beneath heavy boots. Petar gave the green light to Jeremy, who swooped down over our heads. The scan cut through the haze and fog, razor sharp green and red beams danced over everything around us for several seconds. Information was routed to our HUD, and we could see the clearly marked route he had laid out for us. We set flares for the captain just coming down from orbit, then took off down our path. Scans came back empty for life forms, tech, and biohazards, so it was all clear, as far as we knew.



We traveled for miles, and the hours melted away as we focused on our trek. There was one more hill to scrabble over, and we would have to fight the loose shale-like rocks that made up most of this area to do it.

“Oh wait, we forgot the Exo-Crawler, we should go back and get it.”

“Shut the fuck up Tim, you know damn well we don’t have an Exo.”

“Well fine, be that way,” Tim smirked, picking his way through the debris. Jeremy made another pass overhead, and refreshed our overlay.

“Nothing snarky to say for once Jeremy,” poked Petar in a rare moment of cordiality. No response, but another four scans fired off in rapid succession. “Inderdictor One, this is away team, do you copy? Jeremy come in.”

“Away team, this is Inter One, I’m picking up on a signal that wasn’t there before.”

“What is it? Can you identify?”

“I need to go back and refuel at some point, but I have enough for one more run. It’s here,” a waypoint appeared, followed by his intended flight path above them.

“I’m gonna need that checked out, Inter One, we’re twenty minutes out from our objective and that waypoint is just past it.” While they talked, we took a moment to lean against some jagged outcroppings and drink some water. Our suits were taking some brutal scrapes all over, still nothing the heavy metal-meshed fabric couldn’t handle.

“Check your gear,” I said to the others, “we don’t know what is over this hill and I don’t like the tone in his voice.”

“Copy that, making my pass.” Just as his scan started to come through, there was a huge flash of light over the ridge and Jeremy screamed over his comms. “Enemy contact! I’m hit!” There was a sickening impact, and a burst of flames exploded into life out of sight.

“Everybody get the FUCK to the top of that hill, this just became a rescue operation. Captain,” he yelled through his headset, “Interdictor One is down, send a shuttle, I need more men over here NOW!”

We ran, then crawled, fighting upward on hand and knee, against sharp rocks that I couldn’t even feel anymore. Not this again. I couldn’t lose another friend on this piece of shit planet. Just before we crested the ridge, we spread out. I switched my scope to 8x magnification, and peered between two rocks to look down. On the far side of the crater rested Jeremy’s smoldering craft, its engines on fire. The cockpit looked intact from here, but I couldn’t see his face.



At least a dozen men and women were milling around our dead drop, searching for the data cube we had come to retrieve, and a pair of them approached the Interdictor’s wreckage, weapons drawn. At the mouth of a freshly blown out hollow was a missile system, still smoking from discharging its weapons into Jeremy’s ship. In front of it was their commander, peering right at me through a pair of infrared binos.

I opened up, sending rounds at him, but my burst was off by about six inches. I fired again, catching him in the leg. He staggered behind cover and began shouting orders to his men and women. We were completely outgunned, but at least we had the high ground. “I hit the commander-- start firing,” I shouted.

“Copy that, you heard the man, open fire!” Five other rifles sounded, and we began to light them up. I switched to single fire, and picked off their sniper, who thought I didn’t see the flash of his first missed shots. Seconds passed, and we took out another three. Petar highlighted new firing positions, moving on a flank to close range.

As they moved up, I watched the automated missile system snap into motion, seconds later it sent a dozen high velocity missiles directly into the cover that my entire squad had ducked behind. My ears rang from the impact, and I felt my chest compress with the blast. The dastardly weapon platform then angled over my head and dumped its payload into the sky. Boosters fired directly above me, and I watched the rockets scream off toward our ship. Muffled concussions betrayed their intent, and I knew it was over. It was all over.



I threw my rifle over my cover, and unhooked my ammo and sidearm, threw them over too. I put my hands up so they could see them and switched my comms to broadcast over every available channel. “I don’t want to die on this fucking rock, don’t shoot!”

“Stand up, hands behind your head.” I followed the directions. What else was I going to do?

“I’ll tell you anything you want to know, just please.”

“Slowly, walk down here. Slowly now,” came the voice of the commander.

“Ok, I’m coming down.” I could feel every eye on me as I made my way down the slope. Hopefully he wouldn’t know it was me who shot him, but I was just following orders. I was shaking violently, fighting back tears. I looked over at the rocks where Petar had just been and saw only charred earth, and a crater that looked like something had just scooped it out with a spoon.

Time passed in a blur, I remember getting punched in the head by someone, probably deserved it. The commander was surprisingly cordial, and apologized for his soldier’s outburst.

“Where is it, soldier,” he inquired calmly. He knew he had won, so there was no longer any rush. I pointed to the area at the foot of where Petar’s ship had crashed.

“Under a flat white rock, there’s a lockbox. It might have been buried when the ship crashed, but I’ll show you where.” He nodded and I led the way, painfully aware of the guns trained on me. I found the marker rocks, and knelt down to scoop away the rocks that had cascaded down. I looked up at the interdictor again. The fire was burning itself out. A minute or two later, I had cleared away the rubble, found the lockbox, and opened it with my biometrics. I handed the cube over, hoping I wasn’t about to eat a bullet.

“Excellent,” he said, helping me to my feet. “Don’t worry, we aren’t going to kill you, though I should for shooting me. You’ve been more helpful than I expected.”

“I was just following orders, but I don’t give two shits about that now, I’m the only one left.” He nodded, handing off the cube to his second in command.

“You’ll be coming with us, tell us everything you know about your captain and why he was here, and I’ll set you loose in the nearest spice district.”

They packed up the weaponry, set it on its wheels, and we made our way out of that damned crater. As we passed Jeremy’s ship, I stepped away from my captors and went to him. Nobody stopped me. I found my friend as I always did, eyes to the sky. Staring into space.

