Note: This is a bit of an old story of mine. It was written about a year ago as a final project for my creative writing class. Im just curious as to what everyone thinks of it and I would like opinions as to whether or not I should expand the base story.
The Last Battle of Syrius IX
The cry of munitions being fired and the screams of excruciating pain filled the rank, dusty air around me as the large hatch to the fore of the Gemini class medium transport ship began to lower. Heart pounding in my chest, I looked back to my team; each one of us wore the same look on our faces, a mixed look of fear, anxiety and adrenaline pumped excitement, the same sort of excitement a teenager might get fron going to a concert by their favorite band or by engaging in sexual interactions with a desired person. I was no teenager though, not by a long shot. In fact I was twenty-six at this time.
I suppose that I’m getting a bit ahead of myself though, speaking of my age when I haven’t yet introduced myself. My name was…well, is would be the right word I guess…anyway my name is Orion Margiluss, known as Wolfhound to my teammates. We were all elite soldiers of the Administration of Galactic Defense, or AGD for short. My group and I were called in for the big jobs, the operations that no one else was able to handle. But what we ran into on that day was unlike anything we had ever seen before.
I looked onward as the hatch opened, sliding my plasma carbine off my right shoulder into my hands, removing its sling and tucking it away into a pack on my belt. I ran one final check to make sure that I had everything that I needed with me, running the checklist through my head. E-Pistol sidearm…3 frag grenades…2 concussion grenades…2 extra charges for both the E-Pistol and the carbine…vibrator dagger…yeah, I had everything I needed. With a quick glance, I checked up on my team. Everyone seemed to be prepared for what was coming. I couldn’t see their faces anymore; they had all already donned their battle helmets to go with their armor. It was time for me to do the same.
The hatch of the transport thudded lightly on the soft grass below it, grass that was stained red with the blood of fallen soldiers from both sides of the battle. The sound of shots being fired rang loudly throughout the cityscape, bloodied bodies of both our human allies and our former human enemies as we had come to call them scattering the landscape. This wicked place, this place of death and chaos was the last place we would see at before we encountered “it.”
“Alright guys, lets move out! Juggernaught, you and Boneyard plow the road!” My two heavy weapons experts replied to my orders the best way they could. Juggernaught took point, lifting his heavy Hell Raiser chain gun and unloading hundreds of bullets into a hoard of oncoming formers. I watched without emotion; watched their bodies become shredded, ripped apart by the hailstorm of bullets. Boneyard came next, firing off a shot with his MPC (mobile plasma cannon). The shot rang through the air like thunder, overwhelming all else as the blue ball of energy shot forward and completely incinerated a group of nine formers. The road was clear for now so I waved for my squad to move out.
“Hawkeye, I need you to keep your eyes out for trouble while we head in,” I ordered. The sniper nodded as I directed him to the skyscraper that wasn’t far off from us.
“You got it Wolf,” he replied.
“Arbiter you’ll be his support.”
“Sure thing boss,” she said with a nod.
“Alright, the rest of you are with me. Juggernaught, you take point. Boneyard, you’re covering the rear. Razor, you and I will give them support while we move in. Now lets get going people!”
“Sir!”
We were all going then. I wasn’t even thirty meters off before I heard Arbiter firing shots while they entered the ruined building. The rest of us made our way through the streets, AGD troops and formers fighting all around us. The formers weren’t too huge a threat, even in these massive numbers. The fact that they couldn’t use any significantly powerful weaponry hindered them greatly, but it wasn’t the formers that made our enemy tough, it was everything else. It wasn’t long before we had plowed our way through most of the formers we would fight on this day. The deadliest of our enemy was coming now.
We had come to call the army the Cybers as a whole because of this main grouping. While the formers made up the largest portion of the army, the main troops were the cyborg creatures that the thing humanity dubbed simply as “The Mastermind” created. The Cybers we faced here were among the weaker of their ranks, creatures we called Bods. Really they were only former humans that had been grafted with cybernetic armor around their torso and had two small grenade launchers mounted on their shoulders.
The group of them came at us, firing shot after shot into the four of us. If it wasn’t for our battle suits, we would have all died right there. Juggernaught opened fire with another hailstorm of bullets and effectively plowed through each of these creatures, leaving a very bloody mess in their wake. Things were going good in terms of the mission right now, but fate always has a way of making a good thing go bad. My team had just passed through another group of Bods, and we were making good time to the courtyard where we were supposed to go, where we were supposed to end it all. None of us was prepared for what happened next.
“Hawk, we could use a little sniper cover here!” I said into the comm.-link of my helmet as another group of Bods came at us from a nearby warehouse. We could see the bodies of AGD soldiers inside, every one of them torn to shreds, their entrails devoured by the hateful Cybers, like most of the citizens on Syrius IX. I called again as the Bods came and Boneyard fired a blast at them. It was then that I heard shots being fired over the comm., followed by nothing more than static.
Soon another familiar sound came to my ears through the slaughter, the sound of plasma carbine shots. They weren’t far off, and when I looked in the direction of the sounds my eyes met a horrible sight. Though no one could see my eyes from behind my visor, they grew wide with horror as Juggernaught was pummeled by carbine shots from for directions. I still remember as he cried out in pain and agony, a bear of a man screaming like a young child who had just heard that his grandfather died. I still remember as the shots from the Arachs tore through him, through his armor and body. I still remember watching the quadruped creatures come ever closer as they fired on him, watching the dark spark of joy appear in their glassy red eyes as their shots shredded his right arm and both of his legs.
“Wolf…”
That was all he could say in the end. I heard the sound of Razor’s voice as he yelled out in pain, not physical but emotional. Juggernaught had seen them coming, and had gotten in their path before they could kill us. I knew then, just by the sound of Razor’s breathing, that he wasn’t coming with us to the end. “Go,” he said. “Go and finish the job. I’m staying here and giving you cover.”
I didn’t bother to argue with him as he took the weapon that earned him his nickname in hand. The hum of the vibrator sword he held was dulled by the shots of his M-16 X2 pulse assault rifle. My eyes watered with sadness at knowing that he wouldn’t survive this, knowing that he was running headlong into death. At least I knew he would take a hell of a lot of those bastard creatures with him.
“Good luck soldier,” I said to myself as Boneyard and I made our way to the courtyard.
When we reached the courtyard, I was surprised by how few Cybers were actually there. Only one group of five Bods and two Incinerators were actually there, not much of a force, even though Incinerators were at least three times the size of a large human. In the end that only made them easier targets though. They had little armor other than their thick skin and obese bodies. One shot from Boneyard’s MPC wiped out all of the Bods and one of the two Incinerators. The other was still left wounded, the flamethrower on its right arm destroyed, leaving only the left one for it to use. I’m glad to say that I didn’t give it the chance. Three shots to the head with the carbine took the creature out completely.
The time had come. It was time to finish it all, to end the war against the Cybers. It was time to end their invasion, or to die trying. Boneyard pushed the statue that led to the secret caverns where our target hid aside and we descended to what I would call hell. The corridors were in the same state of ruin as the city, most of the area scarred with bullet holes and plasma burns. Bodies were chained on the walls, the bodies of AGD soldiers, or rather, what was left of them. Most of them were nothing more than either a pair of arms hanging from chains or the upper half of a soldier’s torso.
It was a sickening sight, but perhaps even more sickening was the fact that it didn’t even faze me. I’d seen too much death in my lifetime for anything like that to affect me anymore. There was a problem though; Boneyard and I both sensed it. We had walked through the corridor that would lead to our target for nearly half an hour and there was not a single Cyber, not even a single former to be seen. It was easy, too easy for something like this.
Sure enough, my instincts proved to be right. We got to a large wooden door at the end of the corridor. Boneyard pushed it open and right in front of us was the proof that the monster we were hunting would be here. The clank of metal against stone echoed through the room as four Cybers approached us. These were Cybers that should only have been fought against with either a small squad of heavy weapons troops or a group of Mechs equal in number to the Cybers.
“Wolf, look out!”
Boneyard dove at me and shoved me out of the path of one of the Cyber’s gunshots. It was an Arach Advanced, a more developed version of the Arach that looked the same only literally seven times larger and equipped with a Hell Raiser instead of a plasma carbine. The creatures exposed brain pulsed as it fired, the mechanical clicking and swishing of its legs echoing through the room as it moved.
“Wolf, go finish this. I’ll hold them off.”
“No, you are not facing off against two Advanced Arachs and two
Cyberdemons alone!”
“If one of us doesn’t go then the operation will never succeed and the war will be lost! You’re the only one of us that can take The Mastermind down now go!”
Before I could even respond, Boneyard took out a plasma grenade and ran into back out into the fray, tossing the grenade at the towering body of one of the Cyberdemons. The grenade exploded almost immediately after it landed, hitting the ground next to its hoofed right leg, slowing the monstrosity down but far from destroying it. With a deafening roar I watched as it raised its rocket launcher equipped right arm and fired a shot at Boneyard.
The very last I saw of him was after the rocket hit, the powerful weapon taking off Boneyard’s left arm. I couldn’t help but feel proud as I he fought on against the impossible odds that stood before him. I was on my own now though, and it was time. The Mastermind waited just ahead.
When I entered the next room, my eyes widened in shock once again, though for a different reason this time. The Mastermind was enormous, its skull-like head alone taking up an entire wall of the room. The rest of its body was encased in a protective casing of metal, the creature’s bloodshot eyes looking down at me with extreme fury. I knew what it was that I had to do though, and I would be damned if I would let anyone or anything stop me now. I wouldn’t let my team have died in vain.
As I charged into the room The Mastermind let out a furious roar. Its enormous maw was opened wide, razor sharp teeth glistening in the dim light, a yellowish glow coming from the back of its throat. A sound similar to a hacking cough emanated from its throat as it began to spit up more Cybers. Bods, Incinerators, Arachs and even creatures that I’d never laid eyes on before came forth.
I will swear to you now that never in my life had I gone up against something like this, and never in my life had I responded to a situation in such a way. With all I had I sprinted across the gargantuan hall that The Mastermind resided in. The grenades of the Bods crashed with my body, whittling my armor down to nearly nothing in some areas. The flames of the Incinerators scorched the under suit between the cracks in the armor, burning it away. The plasma bolts of the Arachs collided with my body and did significant damage, tearing the armor to pieces. By the time I reached the The Mastermind my armor was destroyed and made useless, nothing more than tattered rags and pieces of protective mail. My body had endured heavy punishment as well, but the adrenaline surging in my veins forced me to go on.
My right arm was bloodied and broken, the lower half of my left burned badly by the chemical flames of the Incinerators. Still I went on, scaling the head of The Mastermind, using the creases in its tight flesh and the ridges in its skull until I reached its brow. The shots of the Cybers collided with my back and I could feel the cold hand of death beginning to embrace me. The spiteful hand of pain already gripped my body like a vice, but I wouldn’t give in, I couldn’t give in. With a yell I raised my carbine and fired into the brow of the monster, blasting open a hole into its skull and pulling a concussion grenade from my belt.
“Rot in hell you f***ing filth.”
I tossed the grenade into the hole I blew open, releasing my grip on the creature’s head. As I fell I could feel my body being blasted apart by the weapons of the Cybers. Before I even hit the ground the grenade exploded, the flame shooting forth from the small hole in its forehead. A smile crossed my face when the creature cried out as it died, the concussion grenade having liquefied its brain. My eyes began to darken, the Cybers that The Mastermind had spit up trying with all they had to get away, to escape before their master had died and they suffered the same fate. I could barely see, barely hear the explosions coming from The Mastermind’s body as the metal casing that held the leader of the Cybers started to explode, destroying its body along with its brain.
I closed my eyes as the room fell apart around me, that same smile still on my face as I began to die. It was over, the AGD would win the war, and the invaders would be defeated. No planets would be taken as Syrius IX had; no one else would have to suffer such a fate. But above all of that, one thing that I knew for certain was that my team…no, not just my team, my friends; hadn’t died in vain that day, and neither had I.
