Harden Star Fire

Harden Star Fire

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Invasion: Chapters 1 and 2

INVASION

 

 

 

PROLOGUE

 

War. The most basic of human instincts. No matter how hard we try not to, we fight each other. We destroy each other. We kill each other. It is an unstoppable force.

Unstoppable, that is, unless the other most basic instinct comes into play. Survival. The reason we as a species have evolved, invented, and lived all these years. And even in the midst of fighting, we can unite. All it takes is the arrival of one common enemy. And enemy so powerful, that we had to work together. To survive. And we as a species will do whatever it takes to do so.

 

CHAPTER 1

 

"Alright guys, let's do this. Stick to the plan as best you can. Only improvise if it means the difference of winning or losing. Understood?", Said Kale Ross to his squad mates. He looked into each of there eyes. Bobby Woodsy, Kaylee Zinger, and into the piercing blue eyes of Angel Ashleigh. They were ready.

"Ok, the door opens in thirty seconds. Find cover as soon as you can, then await my orders. Don't underestimate Panther Squad, they aren't Green, they know what they're doing," then Kale smirked, "But so do we."

With that they slipped on their helmets and slid clips into their weapons. After the clicking and sliding, there was silence.

Kale checked the countdown clock on his Heads Up Display, or HUD. 15 seconds to go. His HUD also displayed a radar that pulsed every pulsed every three seconds. As the pulse crossed over his squad mates three blue blips appeared where they stood.

It also showed his vital signs. Although they were fighting with  Sim-Munition, there battle suits were designed to react to the simulated damage they took and displayed it on a body in the bottom left corner of his HUD. The suit was also designed to shock the nerves of the flesh under where it is hit, numbing and making the area useless until the battle is over. If a hit is taken too close the the heart or head a sedative is released and absorbed through the skin, inducing unconsciousness within seconds and for the rest of the battle.

Sim-Munition is simply a bullet made out of paint. Not a paintball, but the same general idea. The paint is hardened into a bullet shape and fit onto a live casing. So it still uses gunpowder,and delivers the same accuracy and speed as a real bullet, but non-lethal and leaves a blotch of paint. It still causes great pain and the shock from the suit doesn't help any.

Kale and his friends were taking part in a routine battle at JSTAS, Juvenile School of Tactics And Strategy. About 1000 teens and preteens attended the school, and they were being trained to be the best of the best, because in a time of constant war with other nations across hundreds of planets, future soldiers of the ECPF, or Earths Colonies Protection Fleet, had to train early. And this is where they did it.

Kale and his team were in what was called The City. It was a room about a square mile big and was filled with walls, inclines, stairs, sandbags and more that could randomly generated in countless ways to make a new battlefield for each battle. The map was a mystery to each side until the doors slid open, letting soldiers out of the small waiting room.

For this battle Kale had chosen his standard issue FARM2, or Fast Attack Rifle Model 2. It was nicknamed the Farmer, due to the amount of kills it seemed to cultivate. It held 30 rounds, was semi-automatic, and had a small, 3x scope. And on his hip was a standard 8 shot pistol. He carried five clips for each weapon in various compartments on the front of his suit.

Bobby had chosen his favorite weapon, the shotgun. That and the two straps filled with ammo shells that was lashed across his front would make him happy and efficient.

Kaylee had chosen 2 small SMG's and fitted her legs with hip loaders, small devices attached to both sides of her hips that would allow her to slide the guns down on them and they would inject a fresh clips, and get a new one ready. Each hip loader could hold five clips.

And Angel held in her hands a sniper rifle, with which she was and artist. Given a clear shot, she could hit a target a mile and a half away, impressive for a 14 year old girl. She only took two clips. It was all she would need.

Kale watched the timer in his HUD: 5…4…3…2…1…0

The doors slid open. Team Hawk was on the hunt.

The City was big this battle, with no buildings under three stories and plenty of skyscrapers. Angel would have fun.  But for the rest of the Hawks, it would be difficult to survive in such a place.

"Hawk 3 and 4, stick with me. Hawk 2…," Kale looked for the tallest building. He spotted it. It was in the center of the city, "Go to that building and get the top, you have permission to fire on sight. Use stealth…Here," Kale tossed her his sidearm, "In case you get in close quarters"

Angel went off with out a word. She took her stealth seriously. Bobby and Kaylee remained.

"Ok, Hawk 4, we need you to scout ahead, you're the fastest. Use your ComCam," ordered Kale. The ComCam was a little something that Bobby had cooked up. He simply integrated wireless cameras into their HUD interfaces, and welded each cylindrical camera onto the sides of their helmets. When turned on it transmitted a signal to the other helmets and a little video screen popped up in the top right corners of each squad members HUD, displaying a live feed from the camera.

"Yes, sir," replied Kaylee as she fingered a button on her wrist pad, activating the ComCam. Suddenly a picture of Kale himself was on his HUD, then Kaylee turned and ran down the street, turned a corner, then vanished. Kale, Angel, and Bobby able to see her progress all the way.

Kale turned to Bobby, "Can you get us a secure Com channel? I don't want those bustards knowing our every move…"

"Right on it, Kale," he began typing in codes on his wrist pad. Kale almost corrected Bobby, he hadn't said 'Sir', but Bobby was his best friend, so he figured he could let it slide. He had many times before.

"Ok…I just about… there, got it!," Bobby pressed a button on his wrist pad and a moment later a little envelope appeared on Kale's HUD.

 

 

Kale pressed the green enter key on his wrist pad.

 

 

 

Kale pressed the enter key again and heard a little click in both his ears. The speakers notifying he was now on a Com channel. Now to make sure everyone else had gotten the invite.

"Check, check. One, two. Hawk 1 checking in. You out there Hawks?"

"Hawk 2, loud and clear, Sir"

"Hawk 3, 10-4"

"Hawk 4, crystal clear, sir"

"Ok, Hawk 2, when you spot the enemy, activate you're ComCam, understood?"

"Understood, Sir"

"Ok, Hawk 3, let's move"

Kale and Bobby unslung their weapons and began to advance at a slow jog through the city. Kale hoped they found their enemies soon, he was itching for a good firefight.

 

•••

 

POW! A crack rang throughout The City. A faint yet distinguished cry of "Sniper!" echoed for all to hear. Angel had found her mark.

Another small video screen appeared under Kaylee's on Kales HUD. On it showed a soldier crumpled to the ground, a large blotch of red paint smeared across their helmets visor. A direct hit. And Kale caught glimpses of the other three soldiers scurry away. Angel tried to get a bead on them, but they were in the shadows in an instant. Shadows. There seemed to be more and more of them as the battle progressed. For the first time this battle, Kale looked up at the holographic sky. It held dark storm clouds. This concerned Kale, because if the weather conditions this round were set to be rainy, it would only make things harder. Just as he thought this, it began pouring.

A chorus of "Oh great…",s resounded of the Com channel.

Things just stepped up in difficulty.

Then a frantic cry interrupted Hawk team's self pity,"*gunshots* This is Hawk 4!*static*Immediate assistance!*gunshots*I repeat, taking fire! Taking fire!*static*", Kale looked to Kaylee's ComCam screen. She was sprinting, bullets whizzing around her. Then the camera suddenly nose dived to the ground as Kaylee fell, "*gunshots*Damn bastards got my leg! Well...they're about to find out THIS girl doesn't give up without a fight! See y'all tonight at dinner, this is Hawk 4, over and out*static*," Kale watched in impressment as Kaylee flipped herself over and put both of her SMG's in front of her. Fire exploded from their barrels as she unloaded on Panther Squad. Kale heard Kaylee's scream over the constant fire. She caught a paint round in her left arm and it went limp, the gun clattering across the pavement. She continued firing with her good arm, spent shells flying out of the weapon. Then all of a sudden the ComCam went black, Kaylee had taken a round to head. She was gone for the remainder of the battle.

Kale hadn't seen any of the enemy fall to Kaylee's heroic last stand, but she had shown great bravery. That trait would come in handy one day.

"She did good, Kale," whispered Bobby.

"Yes she did. Now let's make sure she didn't do that for nothing. Remember our motto, We don't have to run straight into Hell, just make sure it's crowded when we get there!"

"Yes, Sir"

"Yes, Sir"

"And Hawk 2, get to a position where you can see here", Said Kale as he brought up HoloMap of The City, placing a Nav marker over where Kaylee had been.

"Understood"

Bobby and Kale double timed it to Kaylee's position, they weren't too far away. When they arrived, all was quiet. Too quiet.

"Hawk 1 to Hawk 2, you got a clear view of our location?"

"Affirmative. No blind spots on the whole street."

"Ok, good. Now where are they..."

Kale and Bobby slowly walked down the street, guns at the ready. They advanced a few and passed a dark alley. Kale got too close.

Kale felt a large mass hit him, an arm wrap around his neck, and felt something press up against his helmet. A gun barrel.

"You move, I shoot," the Panther warned Bobby, who lowered his weapon. They stood in limbo. Then a whip cracked and the Panther went limp. Kale took a second to say "Thanks" to Angel, before turning around and grabbing hold of his previous captor's armor, using him as a shield to the paint round flying towards them. The other two Panthers had been lying in wait.

Kales meat shield recoiled as each round pounded into it.

"Push forward, Hawk 3, now!", yelled Kale as they ran towards the enemy, who had stupidly backed themselves against walls that were beneath balconies. Sure, Angel couldn't get them, but they sure could.

Kale fired his Farmer three times, each round found it's mark near the Panthers heart. An unconscious body slumped to the ground.

The other Panther, so focused on Kale for taking out his comrade, didn't  notice Bobby advancing on him. And when he finally did, it was too late. Bobby leaped forward, pushing the Panther to the ground. Then he stepped on his enemies hand, hard, making his weapon fall out of his grasp.

"For Kaylee," he said before firing his shotgun into his opponents visor.

After the last shot echoed,all was quiet in The City.

CHAPTER 2

 

 

Prosper was a peaceful colony. Very low crime rate, and very clean with a population of about 4 million. It had no defenses, though. Most colonies had a few orbital weapon platforms that fired missiles or the experimental plasma rounds. Or at least a few ships docked in orbit. But prosper had nothing. It wasn't considered of much value to ECPF's enemies, due to it being a tourist planet. It attracted millions each year to it's beautiful nature parks and five star resorts. So it was ironic that one of the 50 vital JSTAS schools was based on Prosper. Something so vital should have some defended in many's opinion, but the ECPF figured that if they placed the school on Prosper, a planet that attracted little political and military, the students of Prospers JSTAS would be out of harm's way. But little did the ECPF know, this decision would place four of their most vital soldiers in peril.

 

•••

 

Team Hawk lay in their bunks. A small 12X12 room was theirs. It contained two bunk beds, four chests that contained the little clothing they had, and two lockers, each split down the middle, that held their weapons were on either side of a door that led into a hallway. Not much, but it was home.

The Hawks were doing various things. Kale was writing down some new strategies he had thought up, Bobby was etching a mark on the shoulder plate of his black armor, to mark today's 'kill', Kaylee was applying ice the bruises that peppered her body, the're were even ones where her armor plates had covered. She had taken a real beating. And Angel was sleeping. Kale watched her, just for a second, to take in her gentle beauty. But he pushed these thoughts away. In a real fight, he may have to sacrifice his team mates lives for the greater good. Romantic feelings for Angel would prevent him from doing so. He was a soldier. They all were. They weren't kids. Not at all…

Kale didn't know his parents, family, or even his home planet. No student at JSTAS did. They were drafted as infants and raised by the military there whole lives. They knew nothing more. Well, most of them...

Occasionally Hawk team would sneak out and go to Anoria, the nearest city. Sneaking out of a military complex was no simple feat. But about a year ago Angel stumbled across some blue prints of the JSTAS in the library. There was a design flaw. One of the air conditioning shafts jutted out across the fence of the complex, before lopping around into the lower story. It hadn't taken her long to find a route from the air vent in there room to that one. So since then, once a month they would sneak out for a few hours. To have a life. And tonight, January 1st, 2714, was this months night. They had chosen New Years because, well, because it was New Years.

Kyle checked his watch, it read 2100 hours. They would leave at 2200 hours. He could hardly wait.

 

•••

 

But at 2130, something happened. Fire engulfed the city of Anoria, buildings burned and crumbled as ships floating above blasted them away with strange energy weapons. They had come swiftly.  Strange, triangular shaped ships had appeared out of seemingly nowhere. They were defiantly not friendly. Blue beams of dazzling light lanced and leaped from turrets that bristled on each of the five ships. Where ever the light touched, there was explosions and fire. Each ship was only about 100 yards in length, but left thousands of yards of destruction behind.

Moments later, giant projectiles were launched out of the ships, five each. They were all tear drop shaped, and blue-purple flames licked out from the engines. But these were not missiles. They were transportation pods. Prosper had officially been invaded.

 

•••

 

The explosion echoed through out the whole school, and shook Team Hawk to the core. Their vision shook and everything rattled. Then it stopped as soon as it had started.

"What the hell was that?," thought Bobby aloud.

Then all of a sudden another explosion rang out, quickly followed by three more. They too stopped as soon as they started.

Kale stood awkwardly, "I'll go check it out"

The others nodded slowly, still trying to make sense of the explosions.

Kale opened the door and crept outside. He could smell smoke and heard screams and cries. He quickened his pace to the source of the screams. He walked about a hundred meters and turned the corner. The hallway wall was blown inward and an odd tear drop shaped object was in the middle of the hall, and hatches seemed to be hinged open on all sides. Surrounding the object were warriors clad in pure white armor from head to toe, and had long black slits where Kale assumed their eyes were. They were shockingly humanoid in shape, but still seemed alien. Almost ancient, somehow.

And they could move at blinding speeds, as Kale found out when a fellow student ran past him with an automatic rifle and fired at the creature. Kale saw the red painted clip in the gun the marked it was emergency live ammunition that was given to each team.

As the bullets flew, the enemy moved so fast, he actually dodged them. Kale was taken aback, the creature had been a blur of motion. It was defiantly not human. Then something even crazier happened, they creature quickly began to fade away until only a shimmer was left hovering in the air. And then in a flash the shimmer moved and was right behind the soldier. The alien became solid again, but this time it had to shallow arcs of blue light running across it's forearms. Kale instantly knew they were some type of blade as he watched in horror as the alien slashed them across the soldier, leaving smoldering cuts. The armor his fellow student adorned was the same they used for Battles, but since they were not in The City, the electrical interface with the body, what shocks soldiers when hit, was deactivated. Although that was a good thing, they only had and inch or KevFibe, a mix of Kevlar and Carbon Fiber. It was no match for these weapons. The soldier fell to the ground, dead. His gun clattered to the ground.

As Kale turned to run back to his room, he saw nine more of the figures step out of the object, each in the same type of armor.

Kale had to get the others. They had to get the hell out of here.

Kale arrived back to his teams room, "Armor on, double time! Take what weapons you can, emergency ammunition only!"

A chorus of "what's wrong"'s.

"Guys... Prosper has been invaded."

Silence. Looks of shock.

Another explosion went off and Kale winced, "C'mon guys, we better get going. We'll save who we can on the way but first… We have to save ourselves"

 

About the Author

Keaton Lunsford is a highschool freshmen who aspires to be an author. His dream is to write fiction, and has been his dream since his second year of school.

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