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Description
For chapter 5 go to [link]

Fixed a technical error i made in the story. I made a description about how the destruction of the transport would be silent, since there was a gap of air between them and the crushing hull but then i realized (cuz someone pointed it out to me ) that the vibrations would go through the metal and thus they would hear something.

------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 4

The Orion Cauldron

One Year after First Contact

Kaudric swung his arm in front experiencing the odd sensation that the lack of inertia created. Every bank and turn the transport took made no difference to the colonel. He sat upon his seat as solid as if it were attached to his body. Row upon row, they filled the innards of an Asatac transport. They stood in a swirling gaseous mix of nitrogen and oxygen pouring from steam vents. Bathed in an alien choice of colours from warning lights the eyes of every soldier was fixated on a display screen at the end of the room.

Amongst a hundred soldiers which were amongst ten thousand transports, the humans fought the Crux Alliance. Colonel Kaudric, over ranked for the task of commanding a single platoon, led fifty soldiers into battle at the rear of the transport. They were tasked with boarding a Grud heavy gunship. Equipment using Asatac technology would be placed over top Grud controls to provide a human control interface as well as exploit a flaw in enemy systems to gain control of the ship.

Like a stirred hornet’s nest, the transports launched from the Ikaran battleships. As combat neared, Kaudric closed his eyes and thought of the mission briefing. Sou had stood before them explaining the new equipment they had been issued. The new nuclear machineguns were supposedly better shielded against equipment jamming.

“The extra shielding against gamma rays will reduce the substantial increase in bit error rate caused by the equipment jamming fields,” the Major said to the platoon but few understood the technical details. “The m-115 is the first weapon designed by an international team of engineers. The Earth government is hoping this show of unity will also produce some fruitful results.”

After the disastrous first battle by the humans general Folk had discussed battle plans much more thoroughly with the Ikarans and Asatacs. The transports they used were Asatac and the fleet was Ikaran. Lacking even a single faster than light ship, the humans had to rely on alien lift capacity to wage war. The humans served as the marines, to board enemy ships and shut down critical systems if not taking the ship itself.

Kaudric was told little else. The Orion Campaign threw them into a battle in Grud territory. The enemy fleet and the solar system was Grud sovereignty. Still, the colonel knew well that this was merely a stepping stone. The real target would be far more valuable.

Suddenly, the battle erupted in a brilliant fashion. It was the first space battle humans had ever experienced. Kaudric knew little of what to expect. He could not hear explosions, there were no screams. Instead, he looked at a display at the end of the room showing ships as icons and weapons fire as even smaller icons. As they were thrown into the cauldron of war, the walls of the ship subtly changed into a translucent window.

Beyond the glassy hull of the transport, the mouths of ships, row upon row breathed fire against one another. Giant plumes of blue gas blasted out from turrets engulfing Crux ships in a cauldron of plasma. As starships buckled under the assault, violet beams of light streaked from the rear ranks of the Sagittarius fleet. The quick bursts of energy tore away enemy missiles and small craft.

“Gamma ray bursts,” Sou mouthed as they watched a rainbow of the violet lines light the path between the two fleets. “It’s the dissipation into the visible light spectrum we’re seeing, colonel.”

Suddenly, the lights within the ship turned to a deep blue. Everything glowed as if they attained night vision. For a split second, Kaudric could feel his body lurch forward. The fleet around them became blurred as they raced toward their target. Walls of blue static energy did not stop them as they rammed through the enemy fleet defences.

Each kilometre they closed, Kaudric could see more missiles and pods dash past his eyes. He waited calmly until a transport behind struck a missile, immediately disintegrating from the powerful kinetic impact even before the explosive detonation. Another ship caught by a pod, tore in half as the mechanical menace drilled into the ship.

With another twist of the transport, Kaudric glimpsed a massive Grud heavy gunship before him. A series of turrets bellowed enormous balls of heated plasma at targets. The fiery clouds melted away Asatac transports carrying human infantry like they were flies. The pilot did not stop to allow him to drink in the detailed alien ship.

They twirled through enemy weapons fire with Kaudric gripping his seat until his knuckles became white. A missile exploded almost a hundred metres to the port side but its shockwave caught the side of the transport. Infernal fingers of blue flame poked through the hull when a sudden decompression explosion ripped the entire hull out, along with a dozen soldiers. The air rushed from Kaudric’s body before an airlock door seal off the front half of the ship.

“There were fifty people there,” Pennell said from behind but Kaudric knew it too well. The colonel found solace that he did not know any of those men but felt guilt over his relief. Only one fear of war truly remained in Kaudric, earned from the Mars War.

At high speed, the transport smashed into the Grud ship. Solid Crux engineering crushed the entire front of the transport. The transport continued to crush itself as structural beams stabbed into the ship. The sound of destruction was eerily muffled as it flowed through the hull of the ship. Finally a booming shockwave blasted out from the collapsing airlock doors as the last of the front half was smashed.

Thrusting through the ruined transport as it fell deeper into the Grud ship was a structural beam, sharpened by the crash of the transport. It eviscerated a soldier in front of Kaudric, bloodying its pointed end as it raced toward the colonel’s head. All the soldier could do was press his back against his seat and struggle against his buckles. At the very last moment the transport stopped its descent and the beam sat inches from his forehead.

“I better get a medal for this,” Kaudric spit out, as he frantically tore off his seat buckles.

As layers of metal became twisted wreckage, the low-yield shield generator on the rear of the transport activated, creating a sealed bubble around the impact zone. Confused and dazed, Kaudric’s platoon began to unbuckle themselves and pick up their weapons. Munitions and debris floated throughout the ship, but they did their best to maintain discipline.

“There will not be artificial gravity until we step onto the Crux ship. Should the Grud storm the ship while we prepare, we will simply have to remember the Asatac training we received on zero gravity combat,” Sou said as he floated through the transport to open the equipment lockers.

Snatching a clip floating beside him, Kaudric tried his best to get his platoon into a formation. They stared downward into the Grud ship, a feeling none of them never thought of experiencing in their lifetimes. “Space combat,” the colonel whispered to himself in disbelief. “Alright,” he said in a louder voice to his platoon. “We board the ship, we kick some ass and we take it over. Sou ‘Hut Yee’, show them the Asatac toy we got.”

The instant Sou opened the equipment locker, dozens of items floated into him. Attempting to maintain a serious expression, he held out an Asatac device. Half of it looked like a modified laptop while the other half held a more alien quality for its description. Cables were attached to one end with attachments that appeared of a different alien design.

“This is an Asatac computer,” Sou explained. “The end of these cables is designed to fit with a Grud computer. Using a flaw in older Grud computers, this will override the security codes of the ship and allow us to gain control of the weapon systems. The laptop is designed for human interfacing since we do not know how to use Asatac equipment. We must reach the bridge in order to gain access to a computer with the necessary security level in order to accomplish our task.”

“Alright, move out,” Kaudric said, hoping for an enthusiastic start to the ship boarding, but instead they were unsure how to move in any quick manner in zero gravity. Using a broken chair, Kaudric pushed off and headed downward into the Grud ship. As he approached the gaping hole that was the border between the transport and the Grud ship, he could feel a tugging at the bottom of his feet.

The instant he floated beyond the transport, a sudden weight took hold of his body and he crashed into the floor painfully. As his armour banged against the metallic floor, the entire hall was filled with the ringing echo of his fall. Kaudric was too dazed to take aim even as a wave of panic swept over him. With his vision weakened, he blindly rolled to the side to take cover.

Other soldiers fell down, expecting a smooth transition. Not a single Grud approached their position as Kaudric stood up. The reprieve gave the colonel time to check his armour and environmental shielding before stepping back into the fray. Surrounded by his platoon, they inched their way through the ship. The humanoid shape of the Grud resulted in a ship design compatible to the human infantry.

They raced through the halls, almost in an awkward silence. Kaudric could not hear a single klaxon or alarm. No resistance presented itself against his show of force. They passed through the halls in twists and turns with Sou leading them using an Asatac map. The colonel felt the void of soldiers did not mean they had yet to realize they were boarded.

At a large set of sealed doors they halted. Paro stepped forward with her permanently blank expression. “The Grud use a silent warning system to inform their soldiers in order to keep the enemy uninformed of their tactical situation. They will ambush us beyond these doors.”

“I’ll lead the way,” colonel Kaudric said, playing the feeling of heroism within him. Sou looked at him, scolding him with a simple glance. Kaudric knew the others felt him reckless but truly his only fear in war was losing a close friend. “Sou, blow open the doors. You,” he ordered, pointing at one of the few non-commissioned officers in the war. She piped her name ‘Sheyna’ as she was called out. “Get a grenade when those doors open and then get down. Those things got a fifty foot kill range.”

Everyone positioned themselves behind bulkheads that strutted out from the walls. Only the major stood in the open, planting chemical-based explosives on the door. The material glowed from the liquids the Asatacs had added to enhance the damage capacity. Sou planted the explosives to create a hole large enough for three abreast. The instant he took cover the bombs detonated and shattered the doors.

A grenade sailed through the black cloud of smoke that filled the corridor. The temperature rose significantly from the plasma flames that flooded the room. Kaudric let his computerized heads-up display flicker to life, marking dozens of targets and outlining the environment. Without it, the black smoke would leave him blind.

The colonel rushed ahead, flanked by Sheyna and another NCO. Enemy gunfire erupted the instant they stepped beyond the door. Kaudric managed to avoid death by diving to the ground behind debris. A soldier slid behind cover beside him, injured by several energy burns yet still carrying on the fight.

“Bite the pain,” Kaudric shouted out to the soldier reassuringly. Then, as the others in the platoon fired nuclear rounds from cover at the hole in the door, Kaudric stood to face the Grud menace himself.

Without warning, his radio blurted out a string of static and all of the colonel’s computerized equipment failed. He caught only a brief message of a ‘memory parity error’ before the system shut down automatically. The heads-up display was whisked away, the computerized aiming on his gun disappeared and he was left blind in the black smoke that still filled the room.

It almost seemed everything stopped around him, when suddenly three energy blasts struck him across the chest. Sound returned to him with a horrifying scream of gunfire. Pain seared its way through his burnt skin twisting his body around. Kaudric spun into the floor coughing blood and bleeding more red fluid onto the floor beneath him.

“Get up,” he told himself, but his body refused to listen. He could feel the heat from the blasts continue to singe his skin but he could barely move. A hand pulled on his leg, bringing him back to cover.

“Sir,” Sheyna yelled into his face, “You’re injured.”

Swishing blood through his clenched teeth, the colonel only looked up at the soldier with disdain. “No shit,” he said through the blood in his mouth. “Get me a damn medic.”

“Oh god,” the colonel could hear Pennell say from behind the door. At first thought the colonel began to order her not to rush through enemy fire but his voice was caught in a fit of pain. As his wound throbbed once and then twice, Pennell was already running to his position.

She jumped through the hole, missing an energy blast only by twisting her body at the last second. The landing for the medic was rough as she slammed against the floor. Pennell reclaimed her breath through a series of gasps but she did not stop moving. Crawling toward the colonel, she finally found herself behind cover.

“Yeah, EM shielded,” Kaudric said frustrated. “Bullshit!”

“You can’t fight with this,” Pennell said, bandaging the wounds and adding some kind of Asatac nanobot fluid to assist with the healing. “It looks like the armour took most of it so it’s only some third degree burns and your lungs were slightly injured. I think the Ikarans would be able to heal this in several hours but right now, I can’t do much more than stop the bleeding.”

“Then stop the bleeding,” Kaudric replied. “We still have to get to the bridge.”

The colonel bit his teeth and pulled the radio headset closer to his mouth. Over the static he called out to his major. Although he was injured, the situation was not so grave. Only three Grud were to each side hidden behind a pile of crates. Still, they were pinned and unable to move.

Other voices began to chime into the conversation. Another Asatac ship had managed to board the heavy gunship and was now in position to push through another sealed door. The inner sanctum of the Grud ship was being breached from all directions and they were unable to hold back the flood of Sagittarius infantry.

Kaudric’s assault came to a standstill. He blindly fired nuclear rounds every few seconds, keeping the Grud security forces occupied. Finally, an Asatac soldier in full war gear stepped into view on the other side. Even out positioned, the Grud did not retreat. The Asatac stuck out its arm, equipped with a heavy mass-energy cannon. A furious flame spouted from its mouth as tiny white-blue fireballs flew out in a tornado of gunfire. Explosions shattered armour and Grud alike, leaving smouldering ruins in its wake. The heavy Asatac soldier left combat without a single scratch.

The bulky blue-painted armour of the Asatac soldier made the man an easy target but the layers of armour along with its fearsome weaponry kept soldiers from believing it. Despite the wear and tear of combat, the golden trim still shone brightly in the dim ship lighting. Kaudric managed to keep pace with the Asatac taking point.

Slowed by the colonel’s injuries, the platoon took longer than expected to reach the bridge of the ship. The Grud had sealed the doors just as they had locked down the central part of their ship. Despite their efforts, human and Asatac infantry had already incapacitated most of the security forces on the ship. It was left to Kaudric’s platoon, the first to the bridge, to capture control of the ship systems.

In a low voice the Asatac turned to the major and spoke into Sou’s translator. “Use your explosives to open the door. As I am the only unit here equipped with a high-yield energy shield, I will lead the charge. Provide cover fire, as I will use my blade.”

“What’s a blade to a gun?” Kaudric joked, despite how much it hurt to talk.

The Asatac gave him a look but it remained hidden behind his robotic visage, “A gun holds less value in close combat. I will be swift.”

Pennell pulled Kaudric to the side and shielded him with her body. The colonel looked up at the medic and watched as she stood firmly with the nuclear machinegun in her hand. A determined expression covered her face. It was the first time he could see her as a soldier. She gave him the comfort of protection but unease at her temporary change of attitude.

The door, laden with human explosives, was hidden behind cover but Kaudric could not bear to sit uselessly. He had his head turned, peering through a gap between several pieces of debris. Injury prevented him from being combat effective, leaving his gun lying still in his lap but it did not stop him from watching the battle.
Drizzled by ash and flame marks, Sou wore armour that befit a creature from a volcano. The man was too well trained to show any discomfort. Wearing a stone expression, he calmly pressed the trigger in his hand. The door exploded immediately, disintegrating into a rain of shrapnel. In an instant, the major was holding his nuclear machinegun firing blindly into the smoke.

Ripples of nuclear rounds punched into the dark smoke, lighting a path into the bridge. The Asatac heavy soldier rushed behind the bullets, moving at a speed that looked impossible for a robot his size. Pounding against the floor with each step, a short staff blade extended into his hand and he jumped onto the bridge beyond view in the smoke.

Stayed by shocked, the platoon paused before Kaudric screamed profanities into their ears. Following behind the footsteps of the Asatac, Kaudric’s platoon rushed into the bridge. Even as they moved, the colonel could hear the dying scream of one Grud cut off by gurgling. Still another scream pierced the air before the human infantry stepped onto the bridge.

At once, gunfire filled the air and shell casings struck against the floor. The rattle of each empty shell triggered memories in Kaudric’s mind. In the Mars War, at the Pavilion City spaceport, the ground was built of metal. They had secured a downed helicopter but were surrounded by insurgents in every direction. Every shot they fired threw a shell against the ground with a ringing. Each piece of radiological-inert metal was another bullet fired.

“Sir,” a voice called out above the roar of rapid bursts of nuclear gunfire. Again the voice called and the colonel almost blurted out the status of the helicopter. “Pilot?” Sou asked confused.

“Nothing,” Kaudric answered his major, ignoring his lapse. “The bridge secured?”

In response, the major lifted the colonel and helped him onto the bridge. Several bodies littered the bridge but all were Grud. One had been cut in half, even through combat armour. Its pieces were strewn in front of the door, leaving a bloody dark green mess on the ground. The only other armoured Grud was slump against the side. A single thrust of a blade had pierced his torso. Blood had flowed into a pool below the man.

Bullets shattered railings and battered the walls. Several consoles had been destroyed, with holes puncturing its screen and body. Kaudric noticed a man surrounded by two other officers, without armour, and guessed it was the captain. The soldier had died fighting the human infantry. Irradiate cobolt-60 was splattered across his wounds leaving heavy burn marks that still continued to cook.

Major Sou installed the Asatac device and after ten minutes it completed its job. Using the program on the laptop they managed to activate a sensor to indicate the ship had been taken. The Grud heavy gunship began to take aim at other Crux Alliance ships and used its plasma weapons against them.

“Well? Fire,” Kaudric ordered Sou but the man stood confused at the console. Walking over to his position he saw an alert box on the laptop indicated an ‘unknown error’ had occurred.

Carrying only a minor scar of burn marks on his bulky armour, the Asatac soldier came to their aid. “Try restarting the system,” he said, only to bring a smile on Sou’s face. Another few minutes passed before finally the ship was taken. They let the computer automatically take aim and shoot, unsure of how to operate any of the ship’s functions. With their task finished, they sat and waited for the battle to finish, victory or defeat.

Description
For chapter 5 go to [link]

Fixed a technical error i made in the story. I made a description about how the destruction of the transport would be silent, since there was a gap of air between them and the crushing hull but then i realized (cuz someone pointed it out to me ) that the vibrations would go through the metal and thus they would hear something.

------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 4

The Orion Cauldron

One Year after First Contact

Kaudric swung his arm in front experiencing the odd sensation that the lack of inertia created. Every bank and turn the transport took made no difference to the colonel. He sat upon his seat as solid as if it were attached to his body. Row upon row, they filled the innards of an Asatac transport. They stood in a swirling gaseous mix of nitrogen and oxygen pouring from steam vents. Bathed in an alien choice of colours from warning lights the eyes of every soldier was fixated on a display screen at the end of the room.

Amongst a hundred soldiers which were amongst ten thousand transports, the humans fought the Crux Alliance. Colonel Kaudric, over ranked for the task of commanding a single platoon, led fifty soldiers into battle at the rear of the transport. They were tasked with boarding a Grud heavy gunship. Equipment using Asatac technology would be placed over top Grud controls to provide a human control interface as well as exploit a flaw in enemy systems to gain control of the ship.

Like a stirred hornet’s nest, the transports launched from the Ikaran battleships. As combat neared, Kaudric closed his eyes and thought of the mission briefing. Sou had stood before them explaining the new equipment they had been issued. The new nuclear machineguns were supposedly better shielded against equipment jamming.

“The extra shielding against gamma rays will reduce the substantial increase in bit error rate caused by the equipment jamming fields,” the Major said to the platoon but few understood the technical details. “The m-115 is the first weapon designed by an international team of engineers. The Earth government is hoping this show of unity will also produce some fruitful results.”

After the disastrous first battle by the humans general Folk had discussed battle plans much more thoroughly with the Ikarans and Asatacs. The transports they used were Asatac and the fleet was Ikaran. Lacking even a single faster than light ship, the humans had to rely on alien lift capacity to wage war. The humans served as the marines, to board enemy ships and shut down critical systems if not taking the ship itself.

Kaudric was told little else. The Orion Campaign threw them into a battle in Grud territory. The enemy fleet and the solar system was Grud sovereignty. Still, the colonel knew well that this was merely a stepping stone. The real target would be far more valuable.

Suddenly, the battle erupted in a brilliant fashion. It was the first space battle humans had ever experienced. Kaudric knew little of what to expect. He could not hear explosions, there were no screams. Instead, he looked at a display at the end of the room showing ships as icons and weapons fire as even smaller icons. As they were thrown into the cauldron of war, the walls of the ship subtly changed into a translucent window.

Beyond the glassy hull of the transport, the mouths of ships, row upon row breathed fire against one another. Giant plumes of blue gas blasted out from turrets engulfing Crux ships in a cauldron of plasma. As starships buckled under the assault, violet beams of light streaked from the rear ranks of the Sagittarius fleet. The quick bursts of energy tore away enemy missiles and small craft.

“Gamma ray bursts,” Sou mouthed as they watched a rainbow of the violet lines light the path between the two fleets. “It’s the dissipation into the visible light spectrum we’re seeing, colonel.”

Suddenly, the lights within the ship turned to a deep blue. Everything glowed as if they attained night vision. For a split second, Kaudric could feel his body lurch forward. The fleet around them became blurred as they raced toward their target. Walls of blue static energy did not stop them as they rammed through the enemy fleet defences.

Each kilometre they closed, Kaudric could see more missiles and pods dash past his eyes. He waited calmly until a transport behind struck a missile, immediately disintegrating from the powerful kinetic impact even before the explosive detonation. Another ship caught by a pod, tore in half as the mechanical menace drilled into the ship.

With another twist of the transport, Kaudric glimpsed a massive Grud heavy gunship before him. A series of turrets bellowed enormous balls of heated plasma at targets. The fiery clouds melted away Asatac transports carrying human infantry like they were flies. The pilot did not stop to allow him to drink in the detailed alien ship.

They twirled through enemy weapons fire with Kaudric gripping his seat until his knuckles became white. A missile exploded almost a hundred metres to the port side but its shockwave caught the side of the transport. Infernal fingers of blue flame poked through the hull when a sudden decompression explosion ripped the entire hull out, along with a dozen soldiers. The air rushed from Kaudric’s body before an airlock door seal off the front half of the ship.

“There were fifty people there,” Pennell said from behind but Kaudric knew it too well. The colonel found solace that he did not know any of those men but felt guilt over his relief. Only one fear of war truly remained in Kaudric, earned from the Mars War.

At high speed, the transport smashed into the Grud ship. Solid Crux engineering crushed the entire front of the transport. The transport continued to crush itself as structural beams stabbed into the ship. The sound of destruction was eerily muffled as it flowed through the hull of the ship. Finally a booming shockwave blasted out from the collapsing airlock doors as the last of the front half was smashed.

Thrusting through the ruined transport as it fell deeper into the Grud ship was a structural beam, sharpened by the crash of the transport. It eviscerated a soldier in front of Kaudric, bloodying its pointed end as it raced toward the colonel’s head. All the soldier could do was press his back against his seat and struggle against his buckles. At the very last moment the transport stopped its descent and the beam sat inches from his forehead.

“I better get a medal for this,” Kaudric spit out, as he frantically tore off his seat buckles.

As layers of metal became twisted wreckage, the low-yield shield generator on the rear of the transport activated, creating a sealed bubble around the impact zone. Confused and dazed, Kaudric’s platoon began to unbuckle themselves and pick up their weapons. Munitions and debris floated throughout the ship, but they did their best to maintain discipline.

“There will not be artificial gravity until we step onto the Crux ship. Should the Grud storm the ship while we prepare, we will simply have to remember the Asatac training we received on zero gravity combat,” Sou said as he floated through the transport to open the equipment lockers.

Snatching a clip floating beside him, Kaudric tried his best to get his platoon into a formation. They stared downward into the Grud ship, a feeling none of them never thought of experiencing in their lifetimes. “Space combat,” the colonel whispered to himself in disbelief. “Alright,” he said in a louder voice to his platoon. “We board the ship, we kick some ass and we take it over. Sou ‘Hut Yee’, show them the Asatac toy we got.”

The instant Sou opened the equipment locker, dozens of items floated into him. Attempting to maintain a serious expression, he held out an Asatac device. Half of it looked like a modified laptop while the other half held a more alien quality for its description. Cables were attached to one end with attachments that appeared of a different alien design.

“This is an Asatac computer,” Sou explained. “The end of these cables is designed to fit with a Grud computer. Using a flaw in older Grud computers, this will override the security codes of the ship and allow us to gain control of the weapon systems. The laptop is designed for human interfacing since we do not know how to use Asatac equipment. We must reach the bridge in order to gain access to a computer with the necessary security level in order to accomplish our task.”

“Alright, move out,” Kaudric said, hoping for an enthusiastic start to the ship boarding, but instead they were unsure how to move in any quick manner in zero gravity. Using a broken chair, Kaudric pushed off and headed downward into the Grud ship. As he approached the gaping hole that was the border between the transport and the Grud ship, he could feel a tugging at the bottom of his feet.

The instant he floated beyond the transport, a sudden weight took hold of his body and he crashed into the floor painfully. As his armour banged against the metallic floor, the entire hall was filled with the ringing echo of his fall. Kaudric was too dazed to take aim even as a wave of panic swept over him. With his vision weakened, he blindly rolled to the side to take cover.

Other soldiers fell down, expecting a smooth transition. Not a single Grud approached their position as Kaudric stood up. The reprieve gave the colonel time to check his armour and environmental shielding before stepping back into the fray. Surrounded by his platoon, they inched their way through the ship. The humanoid shape of the Grud resulted in a ship design compatible to the human infantry.

They raced through the halls, almost in an awkward silence. Kaudric could not hear a single klaxon or alarm. No resistance presented itself against his show of force. They passed through the halls in twists and turns with Sou leading them using an Asatac map. The colonel felt the void of soldiers did not mean they had yet to realize they were boarded.

At a large set of sealed doors they halted. Paro stepped forward with her permanently blank expression. “The Grud use a silent warning system to inform their soldiers in order to keep the enemy uninformed of their tactical situation. They will ambush us beyond these doors.”

“I’ll lead the way,” colonel Kaudric said, playing the feeling of heroism within him. Sou looked at him, scolding him with a simple glance. Kaudric knew the others felt him reckless but truly his only fear in war was losing a close friend. “Sou, blow open the doors. You,” he ordered, pointing at one of the few non-commissioned officers in the war. She piped her name ‘Sheyna’ as she was called out. “Get a grenade when those doors open and then get down. Those things got a fifty foot kill range.”

Everyone positioned themselves behind bulkheads that strutted out from the walls. Only the major stood in the open, planting chemical-based explosives on the door. The material glowed from the liquids the Asatacs had added to enhance the damage capacity. Sou planted the explosives to create a hole large enough for three abreast. The instant he took cover the bombs detonated and shattered the doors.

A grenade sailed through the black cloud of smoke that filled the corridor. The temperature rose significantly from the plasma flames that flooded the room. Kaudric let his computerized heads-up display flicker to life, marking dozens of targets and outlining the environment. Without it, the black smoke would leave him blind.

The colonel rushed ahead, flanked by Sheyna and another NCO. Enemy gunfire erupted the instant they stepped beyond the door. Kaudric managed to avoid death by diving to the ground behind debris. A soldier slid behind cover beside him, injured by several energy burns yet still carrying on the fight.

“Bite the pain,” Kaudric shouted out to the soldier reassuringly. Then, as the others in the platoon fired nuclear rounds from cover at the hole in the door, Kaudric stood to face the Grud menace himself.

Without warning, his radio blurted out a string of static and all of the colonel’s computerized equipment failed. He caught only a brief message of a ‘memory parity error’ before the system shut down automatically. The heads-up display was whisked away, the computerized aiming on his gun disappeared and he was left blind in the black smoke that still filled the room.

It almost seemed everything stopped around him, when suddenly three energy blasts struck him across the chest. Sound returned to him with a horrifying scream of gunfire. Pain seared its way through his burnt skin twisting his body around. Kaudric spun into the floor coughing blood and bleeding more red fluid onto the floor beneath him.

“Get up,” he told himself, but his body refused to listen. He could feel the heat from the blasts continue to singe his skin but he could barely move. A hand pulled on his leg, bringing him back to cover.

“Sir,” Sheyna yelled into his face, “You’re injured.”

Swishing blood through his clenched teeth, the colonel only looked up at the soldier with disdain. “No shit,” he said through the blood in his mouth. “Get me a damn medic.”

“Oh god,” the colonel could hear Pennell say from behind the door. At first thought the colonel began to order her not to rush through enemy fire but his voice was caught in a fit of pain. As his wound throbbed once and then twice, Pennell was already running to his position.

She jumped through the hole, missing an energy blast only by twisting her body at the last second. The landing for the medic was rough as she slammed against the floor. Pennell reclaimed her breath through a series of gasps but she did not stop moving. Crawling toward the colonel, she finally found herself behind cover.

“Yeah, EM shielded,” Kaudric said frustrated. “Bullshit!”

“You can’t fight with this,” Pennell said, bandaging the wounds and adding some kind of Asatac nanobot fluid to assist with the healing. “It looks like the armour took most of it so it’s only some third degree burns and your lungs were slightly injured. I think the Ikarans would be able to heal this in several hours but right now, I can’t do much more than stop the bleeding.”

“Then stop the bleeding,” Kaudric replied. “We still have to get to the bridge.”

The colonel bit his teeth and pulled the radio headset closer to his mouth. Over the static he called out to his major. Although he was injured, the situation was not so grave. Only three Grud were to each side hidden behind a pile of crates. Still, they were pinned and unable to move.

Other voices began to chime into the conversation. Another Asatac ship had managed to board the heavy gunship and was now in position to push through another sealed door. The inner sanctum of the Grud ship was being breached from all directions and they were unable to hold back the flood of Sagittarius infantry.

Kaudric’s assault came to a standstill. He blindly fired nuclear rounds every few seconds, keeping the Grud security forces occupied. Finally, an Asatac soldier in full war gear stepped into view on the other side. Even out positioned, the Grud did not retreat. The Asatac stuck out its arm, equipped with a heavy mass-energy cannon. A furious flame spouted from its mouth as tiny white-blue fireballs flew out in a tornado of gunfire. Explosions shattered armour and Grud alike, leaving smouldering ruins in its wake. The heavy Asatac soldier left combat without a single scratch.

The bulky blue-painted armour of the Asatac soldier made the man an easy target but the layers of armour along with its fearsome weaponry kept soldiers from believing it. Despite the wear and tear of combat, the golden trim still shone brightly in the dim ship lighting. Kaudric managed to keep pace with the Asatac taking point.

Slowed by the colonel’s injuries, the platoon took longer than expected to reach the bridge of the ship. The Grud had sealed the doors just as they had locked down the central part of their ship. Despite their efforts, human and Asatac infantry had already incapacitated most of the security forces on the ship. It was left to Kaudric’s platoon, the first to the bridge, to capture control of the ship systems.

In a low voice the Asatac turned to the major and spoke into Sou’s translator. “Use your explosives to open the door. As I am the only unit here equipped with a high-yield energy shield, I will lead the charge. Provide cover fire, as I will use my blade.”

“What’s a blade to a gun?” Kaudric joked, despite how much it hurt to talk.

The Asatac gave him a look but it remained hidden behind his robotic visage, “A gun holds less value in close combat. I will be swift.”

Pennell pulled Kaudric to the side and shielded him with her body. The colonel looked up at the medic and watched as she stood firmly with the nuclear machinegun in her hand. A determined expression covered her face. It was the first time he could see her as a soldier. She gave him the comfort of protection but unease at her temporary change of attitude.

The door, laden with human explosives, was hidden behind cover but Kaudric could not bear to sit uselessly. He had his head turned, peering through a gap between several pieces of debris. Injury prevented him from being combat effective, leaving his gun lying still in his lap but it did not stop him from watching the battle.
Drizzled by ash and flame marks, Sou wore armour that befit a creature from a volcano. The man was too well trained to show any discomfort. Wearing a stone expression, he calmly pressed the trigger in his hand. The door exploded immediately, disintegrating into a rain of shrapnel. In an instant, the major was holding his nuclear machinegun firing blindly into the smoke.

Ripples of nuclear rounds punched into the dark smoke, lighting a path into the bridge. The Asatac heavy soldier rushed behind the bullets, moving at a speed that looked impossible for a robot his size. Pounding against the floor with each step, a short staff blade extended into his hand and he jumped onto the bridge beyond view in the smoke.

Stayed by shocked, the platoon paused before Kaudric screamed profanities into their ears. Following behind the footsteps of the Asatac, Kaudric’s platoon rushed into the bridge. Even as they moved, the colonel could hear the dying scream of one Grud cut off by gurgling. Still another scream pierced the air before the human infantry stepped onto the bridge.

At once, gunfire filled the air and shell casings struck against the floor. The rattle of each empty shell triggered memories in Kaudric’s mind. In the Mars War, at the Pavilion City spaceport, the ground was built of metal. They had secured a downed helicopter but were surrounded by insurgents in every direction. Every shot they fired threw a shell against the ground with a ringing. Each piece of radiological-inert metal was another bullet fired.

“Sir,” a voice called out above the roar of rapid bursts of nuclear gunfire. Again the voice called and the colonel almost blurted out the status of the helicopter. “Pilot?” Sou asked confused.

“Nothing,” Kaudric answered his major, ignoring his lapse. “The bridge secured?”

In response, the major lifted the colonel and helped him onto the bridge. Several bodies littered the bridge but all were Grud. One had been cut in half, even through combat armour. Its pieces were strewn in front of the door, leaving a bloody dark green mess on the ground. The only other armoured Grud was slump against the side. A single thrust of a blade had pierced his torso. Blood had flowed into a pool below the man.

Bullets shattered railings and battered the walls. Several consoles had been destroyed, with holes puncturing its screen and body. Kaudric noticed a man surrounded by two other officers, without armour, and guessed it was the captain. The soldier had died fighting the human infantry. Irradiate cobolt-60 was splattered across his wounds leaving heavy burn marks that still continued to cook.

Major Sou installed the Asatac device and after ten minutes it completed its job. Using the program on the laptop they managed to activate a sensor to indicate the ship had been taken. The Grud heavy gunship began to take aim at other Crux Alliance ships and used its plasma weapons against them.

“Well? Fire,” Kaudric ordered Sou but the man stood confused at the console. Walking over to his position he saw an alert box on the laptop indicated an ‘unknown error’ had occurred.

Carrying only a minor scar of burn marks on his bulky armour, the Asatac soldier came to their aid. “Try restarting the system,” he said, only to bring a smile on Sou’s face. Another few minutes passed before finally the ship was taken. They let the computer automatically take aim and shoot, unsure of how to operate any of the ship’s functions. With their task finished, they sat and waited for the battle to finish, victory or defeat.