10V3 Beachhead

My

eyes shoot open, quickly darting back and forth as I panic; scanning the sphere shaped capsule around me, I notice blinking lights to the right and left turning my head. The forward facing viewport glows bright orange and red, like embers, and begins to fade; while, a purple blot surrounded by teal begins to change size in the distance. I grip the harness across my chest, as I realize an ocean rushing past below me.

The capsule flies on over the light teal waves crested with white, as the ocean churns with seemingly unnatural ferocity. The sky is brightly lit by a white star, causing the acidic clouds to shine; dark blue and light green mixed with dark red and bright orange, scattered across the off-white eerie horizon. A dark purple and green jungle forms from the purple blot, as the craft races towards landfall.

"Lieutenant Aster Caldwel, your verdict is guilty. Your sentence is three frontline tours without shore leave, successful completion will result in no loss of rank and a return to normal assignment."

I kick the console on the left with my suit's heavy boot and scream, "Frack you! You fracking psychos! Stuff your heartless rules!"

I remember the night of my arrest, on shore leave meeting with my secret lover in a station hotel; the last memory was being put directly into a hibernation chamber. Another soldier met on assignment, but love is restricted for military personnel. A tear forms in my eye, as the computer continues to instruct me.

"You have your personal issue assault suit with class-S armor attachments and your personal fittings aboard the pod. Please, fight well for the Federation and remember your contributions are for the greater good of our galaxy. The pod will detonate shortly after your release onto planet one-zero-v-three. Remember, friend or foe will be marked by your suit's H.U.D and you will be deployed deep within enemy territory. Good luck, Lieutenant."

The capsule clips a tall tree, the engine cuts off, and the craft begins to slowly spin. I focus my breathing and watch the viewport tilt forwards. The dim jungle below has many bright glowing flowers and tall dark trees.

A white river flows from the ocean behind the craft, while the sky behind me reveals two moons cresting a dark horizon filled with many more capsules soaring through the dusk sky.

The blood rushes to my skull, before the craft begins to right itself. A large bug is crushed on the viewport painting it with green and orange guts, as a large valley is revealed with many tall structures and a bustling civilization below. The computer breaks the silence once again.

"Impact in five, four, three, two, one."

A white foam explosion instantly fills the capsule around me. A few moments later, I am flying through the air in a spray of foam. My boots strike solid ground, as I take in the small room around me to orient myself.

The floor and corners are some sort of black stone, while the walls themselves are made of some brown dry-wall looking material, the window fills the far wall. There are no visible inhabitants, so I quickly turn back to my capsule and approach the sphere shaped craft. The side opens up to me to reveal the armor attachments and my personal arsenal.

I attach the shoulder, shin, thigh, and arm guard armor plates, before I quickly install the miniature rocket launcher attachment to the top of my life support on the back of my suit. I take the survival pack and attach it to the bottom of the life support unit, before I fix the final chest armor plate to the front of my suit. The sleek, black space suit has eletro-magnetic locations activated by the attachments and holds them all firmly in place, as I grab a beam-saber hilt and plasma pistol to attach them on my thighs.

The final touch is my X-42 plasma-bolt assault rifle - I grab it by the top handle with my off hand, before grabbing a sphere shaped device with a handle on one side as well. I surmise that my capsule is blocking the entrance, turn to face the window, and begin to charge. Holding the sphere drive in front of me, I press and hold the throttle with my thumb.

Four ports facing outward from the bottom of the device erupt with short blue flames launching me forward at a lurch through the window and into the air with a loud shattering. Releasing the throttle, I orient the sphere above my head, as I begin to plummet. The city has many tall buildings in the surrounding area and streets full of a strange alien species that resemble nothing I have ever seen before, all scattering in terror.

I see smoke rising from many buildings and three capsules that landed in the streets below. At twenty meters on my H.U.D, I press the throttle again and slowly descend into a fire-fight. A beam strikes my sphere drive, and I fall four meters into a kneeling position; I discard the sphere drive and take my rifle in both hands.

The aliens running from me have four and six legs, some have arms with strange hands and four bug-like wings, while others have large claws and bigger bodies with no wings. A large one turns to face me with four eyes and a ghoulish mouth full of razor teeth. My voice projects loudly above shrill alien screeches from my suit's speakers, as my training kicks in - I stand and begin to fire from my hip into the scattering crowd.

"A Federation space marine is the deadliest weapon in the galaxy, flee or die!"

Breaking into a sprint, my path becomes clear - the flow of the enemy speaks to my training, as I dart toward a new position along the far side of the street and take my rifle into one hand again. Many creatures are flying in several directions with primitive laser weapons, a few beams manage to singe my armor, as I continue to cover in an entrance to one of the primitive buildings. A multitude of loud crashing sounds all around me, parts of the black buildings begin falling down onto the streets.

The timer on my H.U.D is close to expiring - one minute left. Briefly, I access the console for my suit on the inside of my left forearm. Connecting to the other Federation forces in the immediate area, as I navigate the holographic objects projected by the console. Twenty-seven marines are currently active and I notice two private first class and a Sergeant, as I mark a location on the satellite mini-map.

"I'm Lieutenant Aster, just call me Aster or L-T. Let's form up on this next street. It's about to get loud."

I take my rifle in both hands, as I sprint from cover. Spotting a primitive aircraft down the street, I pause to target it with my rifle's laser attachment and train my rifle on it, as I fold my arm against my chest below my gun; before, I form a fist to release a rocket from behind my head with the gesture. The rocket zips through the sky with ease, guided to the target; gripping the gun again with both hands, I briskly continue toward the marked location, as the enemy airplane crashes into a nearby building.

"You got it, LT. You heard her, meet up for the dance!"

The sergeant speaks briefly, reinforcing my orders. I continue to jog down the street and begin to return fire. Plasma spheres eight millimeters in diameter rapidly erupt from my weapon leaving burnt holes in two large aliens and four flying types in succession, as I dash towards the objective street and ask.

"Sarg, do we expect any vehicle drops? I just woke up."

"Sure do, three assault packages and a mobile base on call."

Private first class Zendral adds, "my mom always said never refuse a request from a lady."

Private Salcedo laughs and scoffs, "no one cares what your mom said. We're in this dung hole together."

Loud explosions begin to sound one after the other originating from the crash sites throughout the city. Many buildings begin to topple in all directions, as I round the corner to see eight of my marines at the location and others arriving. The location marked is out of the destructive blast radius of the capsules in the immediate vicinity.

Hundreds of aliens lay dead on the streets around us, and my marines still shoot at a few stragglers. Clouds of dust and debris flush through the streets, my H.U.D notifies me that two soldiers die in the explosions. The verainium clad soldiers begin to circle around me, as I kneel to access my suit's console they form a barrier; which grows with each new body.

I waste no time dividing the men up into teams of twelve and eleven with the console. Now fourty-eight of us will form four squads - I am careful to assign them into groups based on current personnel locations. I name the squads - apha, delta, echo, and foxtrot.

A new objective marker on the mini map is the final touch, as I begin to stand and speak, "Okay, all squads have a new rendezvous. Let's move out."

Without delay, the men surrounding me fan out and begin towards the new marker. I follow behind, as a new man jumps down from a building ahead to join the growing force. More explosions sound in the distance periodically, as the growing force continues towards the new marker.

I order them, "Double time, setup shop inside the entrance to the building north of the marker."

The group begins to run in unison, as we approach the target building and my men fan out to either side of a closed set of giant doors. I find it concerning that we have encountered less aliens, and motion for two men to open both doors with hand signals. We fan out in front of the door back to back in two lines, standard breach formation; it is too quiet, as the giant doors open revealing a vast hall and stairs that go to a second floor.

"Okay, lock the doors open, let's set up a primatier, and I'll find out what the big wigs sent us here for."

I walk inside with marines on either side and post up beside the entrance behind the wall. I set down my rifle and use my console to connect with high command on a private channel. A man answers, I do not recognize his voice.

"Lieutenant Caldwel, I assume your forces are mustering and prepared for assignment?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Good, we've detected two points of interest in the area. A military base north west of your landing and an airfield just north of you. The airfield might have manufacturing nearby. We want it all gone, but the airfield and aircraft are the primary targets and closest objective."

"Okay, drop our assault vehicles into the airfield, we will recover them and head straight for the military base afterwards."

"Sure thing, Lieutenant. For the Federation!"

"For the Federation!"

The communication ends, and I study the uploaded map data from high command. The surrounding terrain would not be hospitable, mountains lay between the airfield and the military base. Zooming in on the airfield, I find that a nearby building looks big enough to be a factory and place a blue marker; while, I choose a red marker for the airfield entrance and pick up my rifle, before I speak to my troops.

"Sergeant, I need you to take delta and foxtrot to the blue marker and set it on fire. Alpha and Echo are with me, let's meet at the red marker. Move out, our rides should be here shortly."

My soldiers file out from the building at my orders. The sergeant nods to me and follows them, as I take a breath and trail behind the last marine moments later. I jog to the right to catch up with my team.

Blue team has a more direct path. I receive a notification that they are approaching the target, as my team begins to approach a turn that will take us up a steep hill to the airfield. Suddenly, a large alien force appears rushing down the slope.

"We Marines form the line!"

My Maines answer my call, "We Marines hold the line!"

The small force around me shifts into a solid line and rifles raise to fire into the oncoming force. Chaos ensues, loud booms sound, a high-pitch cackling, a new alien domestic critter joins the fray, a loud whistle slowly grows louder, several nearby explosions follow, and the black street erupts with debris. The six legged dog-like aliens skitter across the ground faster than any dog I've seen, they close the gap and begin leaping at the line with jaws wide.

I knock a critter backwards through the air with my rifle, snapping it back to fire down at the horde as I scream, "We Marines are the spear!"

The line around me shifts into a wedge with me at the front, as I swing my rifle onto the back of my suit's life support unit. In the same motion, I draw the plasma pistol and saber hilt from my thighs. The marines finish the formation and answer my call.

"We Marines are reason to fear!"

"For the Federation!"

As I answer them, war cries ensue and we begin to push forward into the melee in unison. Our formation does not break, as the main force meets us. The flying types appear from behind ranks of the larger type with laser weapons, while I find myself cutting several aliens down with each step and shooting rapidly into the sky.

A ferocious one charges the marine behind me in formation, knocking him down. We closest marines turn to cut it down, but my H.U.D notifies me the soldier is wounded. The formation closes the gap. I yell my command.

"Hold!"

The formation stops marching and another notification comes across my H.U.D. I smirk behind my helmet's black visor. I take three quick shots at the largest aliens nearby and belt another command.

"Make it rain!"

My suit's systems notify me of rocket spread locks shared between those in formation with me. We Marines now kneel in unison with a fist over our hearts, as rockets begin to flood the nearby sky from behind our heads. The street ahead quickly fills with fire, as the rockets shoot down into the enemy ranks one after another from high above.

When we stand again, only a few airborne aliens remain; I notice the three large assault vehicles' capsules fall into the airfield just ahead causing the ground to shake and debris to fly. My Maines begin to pick the airborne aliens off one by one, as we spread out to kill the injured. I turn to the injured Marine behind me and see my medic hovering over a large gash in the man's gut below his chest plate above his hip.

"Will he make it?"

"If we get him to the vehicles. Yes, mam."