Defeat at Han'Daischu Prime

I

look down at my hands, contemplating,

'it is my twenty-second birthday today - but no one cares, not even my dad. He let them take me at the tender age of seventeen to join the Marines, just like every citizen of the Federation must do.'

Standing abruptly, my bed creaks, and my sigh is solemn, as I curse them mentally, '

frack, the least they could do is provide me with decent accommodation, after graduating top of my class at the training facilities here for Marines and officers. I even managed to achieve the rank of lieutenant, after showing promising leadership qualities they look for...

'

Looking at my jacket hanging on the wall, I promptly go across my private room and retrieve the buzzing thing from my jacket pocket. Answering the call, I look into the mirror on the wall and fidget with the blonde braids hanging in a mop on my head, as I stare into my own blue eyes and smile at the hologram of my superior officer.

"Sir?"

"Grab your unit, lieutenant. Graduation came early, we just got word that a fleet of aliens accompanied by two known pirate vessels has begun an invasion of our planet. You're to gear up and report to defend the core manufacturing facilities, from initial reports - that's their target. They waited until our fleet was in orbit on the other side of the planet, then ambushed them and now we have a sizable force on course to make a low pass over the city."

My heart pounds, as the man continues; I begin to sweat and my face goes lax. '

Training

is

one

thing

,

what

kind

of

joke

is

this

?

An

attack

on

a

Federation

primary

hub

?

This

is

a

graduation

prank

,' I think, as I salute him and answer dutifully.

"Yes, sir. I'll gear up and report for duty right away!"

'I

can

pretend

too

,' is my thought as the communication ends. The armor attachments for my spacesuit are on the rack by my closet; walking directly over, I begin to strip out of my blue dress uniform and climb into the black assault suit. Hefting the heavy life support on my shoulders, I zip up the front and it forms to my curves.

Starting with the forearm plates, I begin to attach the smooth-curved verainium plates to electro-magnetic locations on top of the small shock absorbers located all over my spacesuit. After attaching the thin slabs of armor onto my shoulders, shins, torso, and chest, I grab my plasma pistol and beam-sword hilt to attach them to my thighs magnetically. The final touch is my X-41 plasma assault rifle and helmet, I grab them off the rack and head out of my bedroom door.

I walk out into the barracks rack room and shout, "Suit up! Either we got a fight on our hands or the commander has a very good sense of humor! Graduation is off!"

The forty-seven assorted men and women that sleep on the bunk beds here begin to look at me in disbelief, but a few start to quickly exchange dress uniforms for their spacesuits. I have spent the entire five year program with my unit and we have formed a bond. Sergeant Sevenson speaks up.

"You can't be serious! Their trying to embarrass us by making us show up in our gear to graduation, no way we got a fight here."

I shrug and reply, "Not our call. Orders came down. Double time! Suit up!"

The room becomes a blur of motion, as my soldiers respond and I dismiss the man with short black hair and blue eyes. Within moments, the Federation's tin men are assembled and 'ready to kill for the greater good of the galaxy'. I walk through the room, as they begin to line up - many wearing helmets and all. Waving my hand for them to follow, I begin to rush out the front door of our barracks with them in tow.

Our metal armor is strangely quiet, as we move faster than a normal man with the suits' mechanical assistance. We file out to the left around another barracks, as more geared Marines funnel out into the giant courtyard of the military base. The bright and shiny force quickly floods towards the gate that leads into the city, as I join them.

Looking up, I see several large, rectangular alien-spaceships making a low pass over the city, releasing soldiers and strange small mecha out of the sides. My helmet fashions to my suit, as I turn to face my men all standing and looking with me. I yell over my suits speakers from behind my armored helmet's black visor.

"Let's go, protect the core facilities!"

I turn around on my heels and break into a dash to join the other units, as my men follow me out the large gate in the wall surrounding the base. We race down the street and explosions begin going off in other parts of the city; going through two blocks of chaos, before we turn right, as friendly mecha charge further down the street.

A nearby building is struck with turret fire by the alien fleet, sending rubble crashing down around my men. Stones bounce off my armor, and I keep running to the objective marked on our HUDs by command. Hundreds of us form up in the street in front of the facilities and fan out into defensive positions.

I run to the building and speak with my unit, "Set up on the building, don't let anyone through!"

We form four lines of twelve at the two front corners, and I see the plasma fire, before I realize the enemy is bearing down on our position. I hear the rapid mecha footsteps first, before they rush into the street in front of the objective. The enemy charges from the surrounding city streets followed by strange marines in black armor. The alien warriors wear similar suits to my own and brandish strange-colored energy-swords of varying length, as they leap into our front lines.

Our men open fire, but the wild women activate force-shield bucklers and rush us. I barely have time to holster my assault rifle on my suit's life support unit magnetically, as I pull my beam-sword and plasma pistol. I hear the shrill alien war cries over their suit's speakers and charge in with my Marines to join the fray.

"Li'li'li'li!"

"For the Federation!"

"Rěl'līt'lå!"

My Marines answer my call, "For the Federation!"

The chaos that ensues I cannot fathom, as I block a blade on my left and activate my shield to catch another. There are hundreds of them - they move like ghosts. My opponent ducks my swing and spins, disappearing, as another rushes me. I parry and slash, raise my shield, and spin around to face another opponent, jumping down on me from above. I catch the blade with my shield and push forward with a roar, as friendly mecha in the melee begin to explode and I notice we are losing.

I look around for the enemy leader and see a mecha dancing through the other side of the street. I turn on my heels and rush into the objective building, going up the first flight of stairs. I holster my pistol on my thigh again and remove my helmet, tossing it to the ground. ¹I get a running start and jump through the window at the eleven foot tall black mecha, I instinctively know is their leader.

My beam sword is raised high above my head pointing down, as the glass shatters and I fall to the machine's backside. My hot blade hits true and holds into the machine's shoulder blade, as it begins spinning and bucking, trying to throw me. I hold on for dear life, until the machine leans forward; fearing for my life, I deactivate my blade and leap away from the machine.

Turning my blade back on, I look up into the black 'unknown model' mecha's green eyes and rush it with my plasma pistol raised, letting out a battle cry as I squeeze the trigger. It mirrors me and our swords meet, after two of my plasma bolts land. The force is unbelievable and I strain against it, dropping my pistol to grip my hilt with both hands. My suit begins to fail, as my boots slide on the pavement. Sparks begin to fly out from beneath the armor attachments on my suit, and I feel myself lifted off the ground - a blur of motion and a sudden stop.

Feeling pain in my backside, my vision begins to darken and fade. I slide down the surface that caught me and my body tingles, as numbness takes me and it all fades to black. I hear Sergeant Stevenson call my name and then nothing.

¹

Entree point from "A Prologue Part One ~ Diary of a Drunken Space Pirate" Ch.16