Aboard the Silent Night orbiting Odeus 5, 2 months after the initial assault.
It was a long 2 months but we finally routed Elunari forces off of Odeus 5. Their fleet had jumped away last week and there were only small pockets of resistance left on the planet. It was a shame we couldn’t just bomb them from orbit, the lush planet was just too valuable for humanity’s future colonies to be devastated like that.
All of Hades Squad was currently gathered in our shared “multipurpose room” as the engineers called it. It was just a small hangar that had been retrofitted to fit our needs. The room had everything from our training grounds, to Hepestus’s engineering bay, to Apollo’s medical station, even Nyx had a little spot where she had a couch to sleep on.
I was rhythmically smacking my hand against a datapad confirming all these damn reports. I had long since given up on reading these tedious AI-generated reports. They were just the same thing over and over again, weapon replacements here, munitions requests there, armor repair over there… Kill me now.
As if responding to my request, the hangar filled with the chimes of our communicators getting a ping. That’s odd. Normally, everybody doesn’t get a ping about a mission unless it goes through me first. I scrolled through the packet on my datapad. A search and clear on an abandoned Elunari space station? The Elunari rarely used space stations. Didn’t make sense for them, when they had so many habitable planets to live on. Not only that, they were orders from a Fleet Admiral, the highest-ranking officer in the Navy. Artemis was who was practically smashing her datapad with her finger groaned out,
“Commander this is bullshit! Why the hell are we going to some abandoned station in the middle of nowhere!?” Artemis asked fiercely.
That is something I wanted to know as well. This station was at the fringes of Elunari space according to the maps. Not only that…
“Who is a part of this Elysium Squad that we know?” questioned Apollo.
Seems I’m not alone. I’ve never heard of this Elysium Squad. And it was the lack of details about the squad that bothered me.
“According to the briefing, they are a fairly new team put together only a week ago, this is to be their first mission,” informed Nike.
Not only that, it was a Death Commando squad fully composed of the new third generation. It was also abnormal that they weren’t being led by at least a second generation. Normally when we worked with a squad I could pull up everything from medical records, past missions, even their specialties. But this Elysium Squad had almost none of that.
“I mean, I guess the information is incomplete if they are new. Makes sense to me,” shrugged Zeus.
“Doesn’t matter. Orders are orders. We won’t be taking the Silent Night out there, so get ready. We depart in 2 hours for the Stormspike,” I ordered.
Two weeks later on the bridge of the dreadnaught class capital ship, Stormspike. In the fringes of Elunari controlled space.
It had been a long two-week trip to the middle of nowhere but we had finally arrived. A short older woman with blonde hair in a bright white officer attire stood at the helm of the dreadnaught, Stormspike. Very few people outranked a Commander of a Death Commando squad. I technically only answered to officials on Mars, but I was often under the jurisdiction of Rear Admirals or higher, sometimes even Marine Major Generals or higher as well.
But to be issued an order by a Fleet Admiral was a first for me. There were only about 20 of them in the entire Human Navy and they were responsible for well, entire fleets. I imagine they had far more important things to deal with than handing out missions to us Commandos, but I guess it’s time to find out. She turned and gave me a wide smile extending her hand and saying,
“At ease, it’s an honor to finally meet you, Commander Kronos, I’ve been looking forward to giving you my thanks in person for years now,” I returned the handshake.
Had I met her before? I must have had a dumb look on my face as I thought this because she answered for me,
“I don’t suspect you would remember me, I was just some lowly Captain when you saved the life of my crew and ship at the battle of Ingor. You knocked out the planetary guns just in time to save us. So, thank you, Commander. I owe you one,” She said thankfully.
Ah, the battle of Ingor was a particularly bad battle for the Navy if I remember. The Zantons were an aquatic Xeno race that had living bio-weapons that ate away at even our strongest metal. It was a gruesome fate to be blasted by one of their weapons.
“Just doing my job Admiral. But I suppose I’d like to call in that favor early. What can you tell me about the situation?” I asked. She smiled commenting,
“Straight to point with you, huh? Well, this mission has two objectives, Commander. You are to search the space station for anything of importance along with the reason the Elunari abandoned it. And you are to be with Elysium Squad on their maiden voyage.”
“I understand. I’ll do my best ma’am.”
“I know you will, Commander. In regards to the space station. All bio scans have come back negative and we believe the station to be abandoned. However, the station’s defense systems are still online. We will jump as close to the station as possible, then the fleet will engage with the station’s automated defenses. Once we wipe them out you will board the station, along with Elysium Squad, understood?”
“Understood, ma’am. We will complete our objectives.”
'“Good. We plan to make the jump in 2 hours. You are dismissed, Commander.” At least Admiral Wilson moves quickly. I imagine everybody doesn't want to be out here any longer than we have to be.
Hangar bay of the Stormspike, 30 minutes before assault.
I jolted awake in my harness. Another nightmare. This time was different, however. This time I was that Xeno child. I was falling as a long black arm stretched out to grab me. I felt so afraid and confused. What does this damn dream mean? And why would it change now all of a sudden? While combating my conflicted mind I peered downwards, Nyx was crouched down in front of me staring into my eyes intensely. Her nearly black eyes gazed right through me.
“Are you okay? You normally don’t doze off before a mission, that’s normally my thing,” She asked with a hint of concern.
“I’m fine. Just a dream, that’s all.” She stood up and furrowed her brows at me.
“Actually, I’ve never even seen you sleep before. Do you even sleep?” She asked honestly while tilting her head.
“Yes Nyx, I do sleep when I need to. I just don’t have to very often. I’ve been very tired recently is all,” I said shrugging off the feeling these nightmares left me with.
After Odeus 5, I’ve had this lingering feeling of fatigue over me that I can’t seem to shake off. Not only that, I wasn’t sure why I was telling Nyx my problems. Maybe I just felt comfortable around her. Nyx transferred to my squad after her entire squad was wiped out. She was the sole survivor. She has been with me ever since. By now she should have been promoted to a squad Commander at this point, but she had turned them all down. Maybe I was just looking too much into this, not everybody wanted to be a Commander. Nyx gave me a quick nod and stood up,
Currently, Hades Squad was making its final preparations for the assault. It shouldn’t be much longer before we launch out in a Tiger class transport craft. The Tiger class was just a flying tank specifically designed for boarding enemy stations and spacecraft. The craft used an onboard AI to fly the ship, which allowed the vessel to forgo having a cockpit that was normally a weakness on most ships. This allowed the craft to boast an immense amount of frontal armor and a far more powerful plasma shield.
While walking out the back of the craft to grab my bolter, the door to the hangar bay opened up. A group of 12 individuals wearing Navy blue and Marine red Death Commando armor sauntered into the hangar.
Why isn’t their armor black? I had never seen Commandos not use the standard black armor. Not only that, why was the squad double the standard size? Most Commando squads utilized 5-7 members. Perhaps they were trial-running everything with this new squad. A tall lanky man with short-cropped dirty blonde hair swaggered over to me, he was wearing the bright red version of the armor. He extended his hand,
“It feels good to finally meet the famous Commander Kronos, not only that I get to go out on my first mission with him, it’s an honor, sir.”
I took the man’s hand. This was always an awkward situation. Although we share the same rank I was technically his senior, however, he was nearly double my age and had probably been serving before I even popped out of my growth tank. I guess I’ll just take this in stride.
“Likewise, Commander. Say, what was your callsign, I didn’t catch it?” I asked.
In truth I didn’t know any of Elysium Squad’s names, apparently, I hadn’t been privy to that information.
“Ah sorry, that was rude of me. Commander Nicholas Clarkson, former Marine Force Recon turned Death Commando.”
No callsign? What was the purpose of that I wondered? Why would they give the squad a name that was associated with Human gods but not assign names of gods to themselves? I didn’t understand Doctor Octario’s logic on this one, but then again I rarely understood her genius. Apparently not noticing my internal struggles he continued,
“Anyways, I figured since the station has two wings we can just split the station and work through it that way.”
“That’s fine with me. Do you want us to take a few of your members with us? Balance things up a bit more?”
“Nah. No need. Might as well start working together as a team now, you know?”
“Sure. We can do it that way.” I responded a little dejectedly.
I would have liked to take a few of his men and show them how we operated. But I was just ordered to go with them on this mission not hold their hand. This was Elysium’s squad’s mission, I should just defer to Commander Clarkson. Only the best of the Marines joined Marine Force Reconnaissance, and an even smaller portion got chosen for the new 3rd generation God Program. Let’s see what the new guys are capable of.
“Awesome man, well, I’ll see you out there, Commander. Glory to humanity,” he said while giving me a large grin. Guess the guy is a patriot. That’s nice.
“To humanity,” I shot back with a salute.
We parted towards our respective landing crafts. I walked up the ramp into the back of the Tiger. Everybody was strapped in and we were ready to launch. We should be dropping out of warp any time now. I strapped in and awaited the gut-churning suffering that was about to be bestowed upon me.
As we came out of warp the thunderous blasts of the dreadnaught’s heavy rail guns battered away at the station’s defenses. So far, no Xeno race had managed to defend themselves from the sheer destructive power of a dreadnaught class rail gun as they thundered off. A few volleys later, and a synthetic voice ringed out in our helmets,
We blasted straight out of the hangar, barreling towards the station. The Tiger class transport would breach into an enemy ship or station by ramming into it using its plasma shield as a sort of battering ram. Once the shuttle gained purchase into the target, it would seal the breach using a metallic foaming agent, of course, any sort of environment would be sucked out into space. But our suits were more than capable of surviving the vacuum of space or any hostile environment.
Just moments after launch we were violently thrashed around as we slammed into the station. Hephaestus and I would lead the charge using portable plasma shields almost like riot guards as we forced our way onto the station. We weren’t expecting resistance, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
The gangplank slammed down and we charged into the station. We were greeted by long hallways painted pastel blues and greens. Although the Elunari used plastics for construction it seems they used metal for this space station. I pinged both squads and got all green lights. Elysium squad must have had a successful breach as well.
We walked carefully down the hallways clearing each and every room we passed. We didn’t even use our built-in communication systems, instead, relying on tried and true hand signals, to clear the station. So far the station seemed rather simple, with plenty of crew quarters and what I can only assume to be common rooms. The station itself was actually well lit and seemed to still have its power active.
We reached a large atrium, an artificial ecosystem was set up, plenty of lush greenery that was common on most Elunari worlds was present here. It seemed almost like a park, with benches and tables to sit down at it. The place even had a running waterfall. Seems this was just some kind of housing station.
I was getting lost in the moment when I peered back up at my radar. Suddenly all of Elysium Squad’s pings had gone away. They weren’t killed or they would still be showing up, also there hasn’t even been a single sound besides us stomping around. I flicked around to see if everybody noticed, only to catch a glimpse of Zeus and Nike standing at the entrance we came in from. Not expecting me to turn around suddenly, Zeus quickly smashed the controls on the wall, dropping the metal bulwark door. Before I could even question what the hell was going on they dropped off the radar as well. I tried beckoning them on the communication implants but I was being jammed.
I looked around to see the rest of my squad appearing to be just as confused as me. Artemis yelled out,
“What the fuck is going on!”
"No idea,” Apollo stated, not even bothering to cover up the worry in his voice. Hephaestus looked over to me and asked,
“I don’t know. Everybody just dropped off the radar and our comms are being blocked. I can’t even reach the Stormspike.”
Upon my response, everybody dropped into a defensive position. I maxed out my plasma shield core and waited.
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this, Commander,” Nyx whispered from behind me.
Yeah, something was very wrong. Then that’s when I heard the rhythmic thundering of armored feet running on metal. I looked over to the second entrance that leads towards the other side of the station and saw blurs of red and blue in the hallways. We waited a few moments then an enhanced voice called out to, it was Commander Clarkson,
“What's up Hades Squad. Sorry about this but let’s talk things out, yeah? Don’t be doing anything you would regret, okay?”
“What the hell is your problem, Commando?!” yelled Artemis.
“Artemis, stop. We are surrounded,” I ordered.
By this time the last hallway leading out had also been filled with blue and red blurs moving around. It seems Elysium Squad has some alternative objectives on this mission. And I wasn’t about to fire on these humans. Not yet at least.
“Alright now. Go ahead and listen to your Commander right now, miss. He knows what’s best. Listen, we only want one thing you see. I’ll be honest, I’m not too happy about it but I gotta do what I gotta do, you know? Mars has deemed Commander Kronos as defective and we are to terminate him. Simple as that, nobody else has to get involved. Just turn yourself over Kronos and the rest of your squad gets to go home.”
Well. This is completely unexpected. I always knew my time would come in my service to humanity, but I didn’t think it would end like this. Although I couldn’t see their faces, my entire squad looked at me questioning just what I had done. Hell, don’t ask me.
"It’s alright everyone. Really. Don’t worry about me, okay?”
Artemis walked over to me and head-butted me. Although it probably hurt her more than me I just stood there shocked as she began to rail into me,
“Fuck all of that! Like we would let anyone terminate you, I don’t care what you did. You are MY Commander and I refuse to let things end like this”
Everyone voiced their agreements with Artemis. Ah, of course. I couldn’t help but smile a little bit at their kind words. I appreciated it, but it was unnecessary. There was no way around this and I wasn’t going to ask my squad to perish with me, there was no way I could do that.
“Thank you, everyone, I couldn’t have asked for a better squad,” I said as honestly as possible.
I truly did mean it. I’m not exactly sure how I felt about everyone, but I knew I was thankful they were with me. And valued each and every one of them immensely. That's why I couldn't let them come with me. I sadly didn’t give anyone a chance to respond to my parting words.
I forced the injection of my Ambrosia into my bloodstream. It was a cocktail of highly efficient combat stimulants, pain killers, and a mix of other useful drugs. Normally it was only injected when a Death Commando was on the brink of death. Once Ambrosia was injected into you, it was pretty much a guarantee you wouldn’t survive the side effects of the drugs, only us first-generation Commandos could survive it.
With my speed, strength, and reflexes being pushed to the absolute extreme I released the flashbang I was holding in my hand, although our helmets would negate most of it, the blinding light would still affect them for just a few moments.
I opened palmed striked Hephaestus under the chin. He would be the only one that could physically stop me and I couldn’t allow that. I swept Artemis and Apollo’s legs from out under them and dropped another flashbang just to be safe.
I ripped the plasma shield from Hephaestus’s limp hands. I maxed the core out making a makeshift bubble around me as I forced my way through my squad towards the hallway Commander Nicholas wasn’t in. I smashed the door controls in just as Zeus had done and dropped the bulwark as a black figure quickly slid under the falling door and tackled my legs from underneath me. While tangled up under her I yelled out,
“Nyx! What are you doing!”
“I can’t let you go too, Commander. I can’t let you die alone... not like them.”
“It’s suicide! Please don’t do this! They want me not you. It doesn’t have to be this way,” I pleaded.
It wasn’t too late for her to turn around.
“I don’t care. I made this decision a long time ago. You are all I have left,” she said with equal parts conviction and sadness. “I can’t be the last one left, Commander. I just can’t…”
I didn’t have time to argue anymore as bolter fire rained down the hallway smashing into the plasma shield bubble. These things were meant for Elunari energy weapons, not bolters. The shields wouldn’t hold for long.
I rolled over and stood in a closed doorway with Nyx. I didn’t want things to end like this, I wanted to simply put enough distance from Hades Squad so they wouldn't get involved as I turned myself in peacefully. But now… I can’t let her die here. Guess I won’t be getting a medal for this.
I grabbed a shredder grenade from my belt and turned off one of the plasma shields. Normally, a simple shredder grenade would barely damage a Death Commando in their armor. But combine that with a plasma core explosion and they would be lucky to be alive. I used the last bit of energy from my shield to step into the hallway and toss the nade along with the shield core down the hallway.
I took cover as the white-hot plasma shrapnel turned the hallway and its occupants into a paste. I motioned for Nyx to get ready as I unslung my bolter to finish off any survivors. We charged down the hallway and blasted a few stragglers who survived the explosion. As we made it down the hallway a door slammed open as a man in navy blue armor shot me in the shoulder.
He must have had time to close the door and hide in the room, lucky bastard. Nyx reacted faster than him and blew his head off with a single shot. I signaled a ‘Thanks’ and we began to move down the hallways. The only chance we had of surviving was to make it to Elysium Squad’s Tiger.
Suddenly, bulwarks started closing manually as we were running down the hallways. Our engagement had killed half of Elysium Squad and now we were being corralled like livestock through the station. I only had one more plasma core and we were nowhere close to the Tiger, so I couldn’t blow through the bulwarks. We started running again at max speed down the hallway when a thunderous boom echoed through the halls. Time slowed as I flicked around to see Nyx shove me out of the way. There was no doubt that it was a railgun.
Without thinking, I scooped her up into a princess carry and carried her down the hall. I barged straight through a door hoping to find somewhere to hunker down. I turned and began to take stock of her injury.
I looked down at my hands and shoulders that were now smeared in blood. Blood was pooling around Nyx quickly as I noticed the head-sized hole in her abdomen. No… no this can’t be happening. The railgun had gone clean through her, destroying her insides and her spine. Time was moving so slow as I racked my brain to find a way to save her… Nyx dimmed her visor to reveal her face.
“Sorry, Commander…,” She repeated like a mantra over and over again.
“It’s fine Nyx, you are gonna be okay,” I lied. I tried injecting hemostatics, to slow the bleeding down but it wasn’t working.
“Hey Commander, we were friends, right?” she asked, coughing up blood into her helmet.
What? Why are you worried about this now of all times you airhead! I… I don’t know. Nyx didn’t really talk to anyone. I guess she spoke to me the most out of everybody, and I did feel closer to her. It’s not that I wasn’t close with the rest of the squad, it was just that I was closer with Nyx. She always made an effort to speak to me, even if it seemed to make her uncomfortable. I was just thinking early about how I felt comfortable around her as well. Perhaps. This is what it means to be friends. I stopped fiddling around with random medical equipment and steeled myself. I can’t save her…
I dimmed my own visor to respond, “Yeah Nyx, you might have been my only friend… thank you for sticking with me all these years, I probably wasn't a very good friend,” She gave me a genuine ear-to-ear smile I had never seen her smile so brightly before.
“Yeah... you kinda sucked. But I wasn't much better, but I’m glad… and hey, I told you didn't I. That I didn’t trust Zeus and the 3rd Gens,” she said weakly.
She has lost a lot of blood. The fact she was still alive was a miracle in itself. She should have died instantly. I ignored the thundering of metal boots outside, it didn’t matter right now, all that mattered was seeing my friend off.
“Yeah… you did try to warn me, sorry.”
“It’s fine. Sorry I have to die first. I didn’t want you to go alone but looks like I failed.” She said even weaker now, the light was starting to fade from her eyes.
There was no point in sugar-coating it. The odds of us surviving this was astronomically low from the start. Even if we managed to get to the Tiger we were surrounded by an entire fleet with a dreadnaught. We wouldn’t have even made it out of the station alive.
“I’ll be joining you soon enough Nyx,” I said.
With her dying breath, she left me one with one final wish,
“Maybe… if we are lucky, I’ll get to see you again someday, Commander.”
I didn’t get an opportunity to respond to her final wish as her squad light went from a bright red to black. I closed my eyes and I prayed for the first time in my life, not for me but for Nyx. Perhaps, if there really was a god they would be merciful to her. She didn’t deserve to die, not like this. Yeah, maybe one day.
A familiar voice called out to me from the hallway,
“Doesn’t have to be like this Commander, just turn yourself in and this can all be over,” yelled Zeus.
I could see the barrel of the railgun he was carrying from the doorway. Currently, I was in some type of shopfront type room behind the counter. A swelling feeling rose in my chest and reached my head. It clouded my vision and my heart raced in my ears. Is this what it’s like to be angry?
I might have been suppressing this rage since the raid on the facility, not sure what to do with it. I had never felt that way until that night. I prepped and tossed the shredder grenade with a plasma core towards the doorway. Zeus surprisingly stepped into the doorway and activated a plasma shield. He then swatted the grenade combo using the damn shield, right back at me. Shit.
The explosion destroyed the counter I was using as cover. I didn’t need to feel pain to know I was beyond repair. My legs had been ripped clean off from the plasma core explosion. And I had taken an immense amount of internal damage. I was only conscious because of the combination of my armor and the Ambrosia.
I took out my bolt pistol and began firing through the walls. I might be on the edge of life and death but I could still shoot. I heard the distinct noise of Zeus’s plasma shield being battered so I adjusted my aim further down the wall. I was rewarded with sounds of bones and amour being blown to smithereens as my bolt rounds exploded through the walls into anyone unfortunate enough to be in their way. I wasn’t sure to what extent the other members of Elysium squad were involved, but it didn’t matter to me. They will pay for their transactions with their dying breaths. However, I had to reload at some point and I wouldn’t last long after that. My ammo was stored where my legs used to be and those excess rounds just added to the carnage that was my body.
Finally, my bolt pistol clicked instead of fired, the steam rising from the red hot barrel clouding my vision. Elysium squad breached the room and dispersed the haze. Zeus sauntered over to me a crouched down in front of me with a plasma pistol in hand poking my chest,
“Well, you just had to go and make a mess? Do you know how many good men died today because of you? You killed a lot of my friends today... Hey! Are you listening to me,” Zeus continued to yell at me while poking the barrel of his plasma pistol into my injuries. Of course, I felt nothing and I said nothing.
He just laughed, “Look at how the mighty have fallen. Don’t tell me you bled out now, Commander? Humanities finest weapon done in by blood loss? Pathetic.”
Of course, he seemed to be enjoying himself a little too much. Perhaps he is a sadist or something. But he got careless. I may be dying but I am far from dead, as I was beyond pissed for the first time in my entire life.
With surprising speed from what seemed like a corpse just moments ago, I swatted the pistol out from his hand then dragged his arm into me as I put him in a bear hug. I squeezed as hard as I possibly could. I felt my own ribs crack as I shattered his as well. I put every ounce of strength I had left into crushing this bastard.
He was screaming and trying to push away from me. He was far beyond a normal human. But he was nowhere close to my strength on Ambrosia and adrenaline. But it seems I underestimated my injuries as I began to waver. I guess I had lost a lot of blood already, I was probably squeezing even more out now. Eventually, I couldn’t keep the same strength up as he pushed off me and rolled over gasping for air and coughing through his helmet. Nike walked over to us while I began to struggle to stay awake.
“You fool Zeus, you should have just shot him in the chest and been done with it. Doctor Octario only needs his head intact. Now here you are dying right with him. Just because you wanted to play around, you always do this shit,” Nike stood over me now and pointed his bolter at me.
“Sorry, Commander. It really wasn’t personal, but I guess you had to go and make it personal. In my honest opinion, I thought you were a good man and a good leader. And if it helps, I am sorry about Nyx, she shouldn’t have died with a bastard like you. I'll make sure her body gets a proper burial." I heard the bolt crack as time slowed down again. The bolter round barreled into my stomach as I began to blackout.
At least I could die in solace knowing I had avenged Nyx. I used Zeus’s own ribs as daggers to stab into his lungs, stomach, and heart. It was doubtful there would be enough time to save him. I felt the round heat up and expand. Then there was nothing.
I seemed to be floating away in an endless black void now. So, this is what it’s like to die. It was warm, even comforting. No pearly gates or bearded man awaiting me, nor was there a hellish fiend waiting to drag me down to the depths of hell.
Wait, what was that? Who’s there?
The feeling of someone being there was replaced instantly by a bright light. Ah, the infamous light at the end of the tunnel, huh? I had heard many final breaths on the battlefields as Marines called out to the light, embracing it, only for the light of their life to flicker out from them. I had often just subscribed that behavior to the dying. But now it seems it is real. I was moving faster towards the light or was the light coming to me? Guess it doesn't matter. Suddenly, the light began to hurt instead and excruciating painful noises assaulted my head.
Wait… pain? You aren’t supposed to feel pain when you die.
