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originally posted in:Science Fiction
Edited by aTALLmidget: 3/20/2013 6:30:48 AM
2

Hell: A sci-fi short of a grizzly battle!

The picture is not mine, but it seems to match a bit to a portion of my story, so why not! Anyways, this will take a couple posts I expect to get it all out, so please allow me to do so :P I wrote this several years ago but wish to share it. Feel free to criticize it or let me know what you think! [i]There it is[/i], thought Private Hevain, gazing with irresistible curiosity at the warm flush of orange against the blood-red dawn, [i]that’s where it’s happening. That’s where I’m going[/i]… Explosions resonated softly over the horizon’s tip, flashing a dazzling blue with each powerful detonation. Small arms fire tattered gently, almost harmoniously, with the deep rumble of the fight. The driver of the Malic APC moved the vehicle, loaded down with Extraterrestrial Combat Units, or ECU combatants, steadily forward to the battle glittering at the horizon. Captain Archile, a seasoned combat veteran, stared determinedly ahead to their drop off zone. Beside them, many other open-topped APCs raced on, also weighed with ECU combatants. The COM link crackled and hissed with static, smothering the screams and yells of men already fighting before them. Hevain detached his curious stare and began fiddling with his CDEW-7 standard issue assault rifle, trying to keep his mind off the videos from training of the first horrible encounters with the Therion race. “Hey, newbie, how you feeling?” Hevain looked up to Buck, seated directly across him. Buck puffed on a cigar as the APC jostled them around. He smiled, and with smoke rushing from his mouth and nostrils, patted his CDEL Pulse Rifle like it was a good dog. “First fight, newbie?” He asked. Hevain nodded. He wasn’t sure exactly how he felt. Fear was knotting itself in his gut, but excitement rushed through his veins. Buck’s deep voice heckled with him as he laughed. Back at ECU Deployment, Hevain could remember how for everyone, but himself, this was all a big Déjà vu. For them, it was second nature. Killing Therions was nothing new, and these men were so skilled in their profession, they almost seemed like an unofficial Therion Extermination Unit. Is that something to be proud of? Maybe not… Hevain had heard rumors of terrible things that TEU combatants had done to Therions who had peacefully surrendered. Sickening things that were as horrendous as what the Therions themselves would do to humans, soldiers or not, who surrendered, or didn’t. His thoughts trailed away as Buck’s irritating laugh faded beneath the roar of the APC’s engine. Captain Archile raised his binoculars to the horizon. He scowled in disappointment and tapped the driver’s shoulder. The driver pressured the brake, and barked into the APC’s radio, “Halt advance!” The column of vehicles slowed to a stop. Hevain looked toward the horizon, wondering why they stopped. The first orange rays of the morning sun were breaking the tip of the hill ahead. Silhouettes of men scurried along the top of the ridge, sharp beams of blue chasing after them, shouting in a frenzy of confusion. They were retreating. “Dismount!” Archile bellowed. Men started to jump from the APC to the damp grass of the plains. Hevain followed Buck over the side. The rest of the APCs beside them unloaded their supplement of soldiers, hundreds in total. They lined in crisp ranks. “There’s been a slight change in plans…” Archile continued, “Instead of us going to the Therions, the Therions are coming to us.” Hevain felt himself sigh louder than he felt comfortable with. Around him, veterans grumbled. They always liked striking the Therion forces, spearheading through their ranks in grizzly and hellish glory that quelled their lust for honor and bloodshed against the monstrous creatures. Buck chewed on the end of his cigar. It didn’t seem at all glorious or honorable – more suicidal and unnerving. Of course, the average soldier would be shredded apart in attempt to what the ECU troopers do. “That ridge you see over there,” Archile said, pointing at the crest lined with the silhouettes of the retreating men, “is to be demolished on sight of the first Therion head to stick up from it’s piss-shit cover. Glassed. Incinerated. Whatever. All of -blam!-ing hell will be fired on that spot until the Therions are sent squealing back to their piss-hole city, burned, de-moralized, and defeated. We have more than enough firepower to blow the entire ridge apart and kill them in their retreat.” He looked to the fleeing soldiers, when his COM crackled with the voice of the CO of the retreating men. Colonel Brickham’s voice, Commanding Officer of the 113th Spearhead Battalion, of the first regiment of soldiers assaulting the Therion-controlled city. Archile smiled while Brickham’s voice stung loudly in his earpiece. It was too hard to make out what he was saying, though everyone around Archile could here that Brickham was unusually unnerved. “Yes sir. Understood.” Archile glanced at the row of APCs and soldiers awaiting the appearance of Therion soldiers. “No sir, that won’t be a problem at all. We’ll handle it. Thank you sir.” Buck spat a smoldering cigar stud into the ground. “What was that about, sir?” He asked. “We outmatch the Therions three to one. Brickham picked off a good count of their infantry before he was overwhelmed. But don’t worry; we have our work cut out for us this morning. It isn’t over yet.” Cocky. That’s what all these men were. So used to winning, to beating the Therions so easily with each fight they had, it was like a game to them. Just a damn game. Too few Therions to kill was boring, they needed to be matched or outmatched so there was plenty of fight to go around. The first of the retreating soldiers arrived, panting heavily. A joyous sensation sparkled in their eyes at the sight of the ECU line. “Goddamn it’s good to see you guys,” One said, leaning up against the APC, “we sure could use your help.” They were battered and dirty. A long night’s fight tolled them of strength and endurance. It was amazing by the fact they were able to make it here. “You look like you need it…” Archile commented to himself. “Join rank. It wouldn’t hurt to have a couple extra guns.” The men nodded diligently and filed in with the ECU combatants. More soldiers arrived, just as exhausted and drained of their strength. Like the others, they joined the ECU soldiers in line to continue fighting. Archile stepped up to a lieutenant whose hand was a black and shriveled mess. “Do you know where Colonel Brickham is?” He asked, in a sharp demanding tone. The lieutenant merely shook his head. “I don’t know sir. He was right behind me when we were retreating…” He looked at his hand. “They were firing at us like mad. It was getting hot. Explosions all around and everything… Infantry and reinforcements popped outta’ nowhere, trying to cut off our retreat. We just ran. A shot glanced my hand, that’s how I got this… But I don’t know where the Colonel is. He was behind me -” His voice hushed away as he stared blankly ahead, remembering the battle. There was nothing more Archile could get from this soldier. “Thank you lieutenant. That’s all. Report to the Medi-Malic on the far end of the column and get that hand checked out. Get some rest too.” “Thank you sir.” The lieutenant left in a slow, morbid manner. Archile didn’t seem to notice. Most soldiers acted strangely after a battle with the Therions. He was either used to it or didn’t care. Archile looked to the ridge with his binoculars once more, and smirked. There were no more retreating infantry. “It’s game time…” Hevain heard him whisper. Archile swung back around, cueing his shoulder-set COM link to the lead APC, “Bravado, focus energy output on that ridge and fire at first sight of the Therions. Maximum power, and don’t stop firing until they’re sent squealing away.” A moment later, the APCs swiveled their CLC turrets towards the ridge that burned with the vivid orange morning sunlight.

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  • Bastard. we didn't even get any combat.

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    • “Ha!” Buck cried with joy, powering his Pulse Rifle, “it’s go time!” Hevain released his rifle’s safety, and along with the rest of the ECU line, aimed at the ridge. Archile lay prone before the formation and watched intently for the creatures to appear. There was no sound except for the low rumbling hum of hundreds of energy weapons primed to fire. There was nothing. Not a shred of movement or evidence of oncoming Therions. Moments began to pass. Some men shifted restlessly in their crouched or prone positions. Remarks began ushering through the ranks, “This is bullshit.” “They’re not coming, we should charge ‘em.” “The pussies probably ran.” “Where the -blam!- are they?” “Shut the -blam!- up!” Archile snapped. Obediently, the men quieted. Then, there it was, like an answer to the last snide comment. A shriek. A shrill, high-pitched shriek, like that of a banshee, joined in a malicious chorus of other confident Therion infantry. Hevain felt sharp chill run down his spine. He wanted to cup his ears of the vile noise, but he knew to hold his aim. [i]Any moment now…[/i] The first creature appeared, clad in a pale blue armor that covered its sickly, almost black, purple skin. Except for being taller and skinnier than humans, it looked… almost human. The creature had its glowing energy rifle raised in a resemblance of victory, chasing after the retreating men of Colonel Brickham’s 113th Spearhead Battalion. It lowered its rifle, staring in bewilderment at the hundreds of ECU troopers and APCs aiming directly at him. [i]He sure as hell wasn’t expecting this[/i]. Hevain mused, as more appeared on the ridge, all stunned at the sight of firepower before them. There were just under one hundred Therions standing in shock at their demise. Hevain’s hair tingled with static as the block of men and vehicles fired in unison, filling the air with electric blue bolts of energy that hissed and split with heat. There was no hope for the Therions. The ridge burst into a geyser of flying debris and fire, and the opposing soldiers were vaporized with barely a second to move. Some lucky few in the rear of the Therion block escaped being vaporized, squealed in terror, and ran, as their comrades before them were eviscerated by the lethal fields of blue energy, before disintegrating away to nothing. “Cease fire! Cease fire!” Archile roared, trying to be heard over the thunderous rumble of firing energy weapons. Gradually, the firing ceased. Archile stood up and motioned the men to move forward. “They’re retreating! Let’s go!” He barked. Acting as one, the column of APCs and ECU infantry moved forward. They charged through the smoke and craters of vitrified dirt and bone and the APCs hurdled over the ridge. Hevain’s boot crunched down on a piece of vitrified armor. The air stunk with a rancid aroma of burnt flesh. Hevain cleared the curtain of smoke to find the ground sloped suddenly downwards. He looked in awe at the city stretched before him, expanding in ruins and grandeur to the horizon. Its golden-lit splendor was hidden below the ridge. Therions fled down below, running across a nearly baron expanse of concrete to the confines of the city. Several APCs opened fire and caught a few, helpless, in the open. Their armor was useless, melting away and exposing their flesh to the bolts before fluttering away in ashes. The other Therions were scattered in handfuls about the expanse. “Keep moving forward! Don’t let any reach the city!” Archile yelled. ECU troopers bounded down the slope, firing as they went. Hevain tried to keep his feet, following after Buck and trying to shoot at the same time. Several braver Therions turned around to return fire. It was a suicidal decision. They were immediately sighted by the APCs. They fired a few harmless shots before a wave of blue energy wisped them away into particles of ash and vitrified bone, demoralizing the rest of the already terrified Therion infantry. A Therion officer was trying to rally the last of his men in a final effort to resist the oncoming ECU column, though it meant death. The officer stood behind a crumbling wall near the safety of the city, easily depicted by the red stripe on his right shoulder. Though they were being massacred, his efforts were paying off, and Therions were gathering around him, returning fire. Their shots were becoming lethal. From the corner of his eye, Hevain could see an ECU soldier drop, his torso burned away, as several incandescent beams tore through him like tissue paper. Archile didn’t need to bark an order to take him down. Troops began firing at the officer. Buck, still running down the slope, fired a shot that decapitated the officer in a shower of boiling blood and brains. It was the final demoralizing trigger for the last few Therions. They snapped, broke cover, and dashed for the city, throwing their rifles to the ground in defeat. But Archile wouldn’t have it. He ordered the APCs to strafe them with maximum energy distribution. The last shrill cries of the Therions died away as the blue bolts of energy caught up with them, leaving behind smoldering earth and charred bodily remains. It was over, for now. The column of men and machines reached the bottom of the slope, concrete ground. Archile continued shouting orders over the COM link, “APCs to the front! Form a barrier and keep an eye on the city, maintain a stable perimeter! There are bound to be more, keep you energy output to maximum. You are authorized to fire on sight.” APCs raced by, rounding into a block watching the city. “Infantry use the APCs as cover! Move!” Hevain jogged up to Buck while they stopped behind the Malic that had been their ride in. “That was a nice shot back there,” Hevain said to him. Buck chuckled in mockery. “It was luck, newbie.” He growled. Hevain only watched him as he walked away, still chuckling to himself. Just a game… Archile ran up to Lieutenant Ferrae, second in command. “Status report. What have we got?” he asked, keeping his exhaustion of the run well hidden. Hevain didn’t see a reason for it. “We have two wounded and one KIA. Corporal Penenski sustained a radial burn to his face; he’ll be out of action for a while. Private Treswald’s left leg was incinerated from his body from concentrated light arms fire; the medic says it looks like a grim chance of it being re-attached. And Sergeant Rodriquez was killed by several well-aimed shots… It’s hard to make what’s left of his him.” He folded his arms. “Other than that, we’re good. The APCs cannons are at full functionality and everyone is in prime condition. Morale is no problem.” Archile nodded, hinting ever so lightly with satisfaction despite the loss. “Contact General Varsen and tell him we’ve advanced with minimal casualties, and ready for reinforcements. The area is clear for now and we request heavy armament for invasion of the city. After that, rally some men who are willing to search the bodies for intelligence.” “Understood sir.” Ferrae jogged off with his orders. A moment later, a handful of soldiers, both ECU and Brickham’s Spearhead were presented to Archile. Pleased with the volunteers, he sent them ahead of the protection of the APC column to the scattered remains of the Therions. Ferrae returned once more. “Varsen gives an ETA of about half an hour, more or less. Rough terrain is halting progress.” Archile’s tenacious smile stretched along his face once more. “Doesn’t matter. We can handle it just fine.” Hevain snorted in disgust at how cocky and unwise Archile was. The air fell suddenly heavy with heat, and all around him, Hevain noticed an unnatural, deep blue discoloration everywhere he looked. His eardrums split with overwhelming crackles of noise, and everyone with him instinctively looked towards the men scouring the bodies, exposed, in the open. Thick blue beams appeared from the air, ripping around them and through them, flaying them apart. Nothing could save them. Everyone watched helplessly, enraged, as one by one, the men were gradually incinerated, with no escape, exposing their visceras in a raw, fleshy mess before crumbling into charred piles upon the boiling asphalt.

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