Planet Leave

It was the first solid ground we had been on in over 12 months and as usual, the bar is the only place we will see. Something about the smoke-filled air and the laughter of people who didn’t know what the other worlds were like brought comfort to us.

There were only 3 of us this time, 6 months ago there were 12 and another 6 months before that nearly 40. A full platoon ground down man by man by the never-ending grind of war. a war. Wic we will never win, space it turns out is a vast beast that only wants humanity dead. The youngest of our group Jan a veteran for having survived his first battle something 80% of us didn’t, was already glass eyed from the crystal coursing through him, the upper echelons didn’t allow drugs but what could they do to a group that had already seen it all? We were there when the boarding torpedos fired across the gulf of space over the burning spires of Helceor. We watched the screens flash silently as the grand cruisers, dozens of miles in length, rained in pieces down one battle alone and over 1 million loyalists perished and a planet left in rubble yet we still claimed victory. A victory of what? A broken corpse filled planet with a burned atmosphere were even bacteria will struggle to survive. We were the ones who stormed the jungles of Piator, the vegetation so dense and native species so violent that we simply couldn’t reinforce faster than we were being killed, in the end, we simply burned our way to victory, the hives of the natives reduced to burning slag as we took vengeance for our comrades death.

I looked up from the table and saw Jan was coming round must have been a while since the last crystal and we sure as hell couldn’t afford more. “How you feeling kid?” Jan looked up and I could see the haunted look in his eyes, it was probably showing in all of us by now, “fine sir, except the memories, will be back soon.” Sir, now that still makes me laugh, only got the promotion because no one else was alive to take it, captain of a group of three, still I suppose it isn’t bad the new group comes soon and I can ship it off to someone better qualified by then. “embrace the memories lad in the end they are all we have of our comrades, they live on in us and our actions.” Jan didn’t respond and I didn’t think he would but at least he was more alert now. The other soldier was a woman around 30 and fierce, 1 normal eye and 1 replaced by a mechanical one to pick out targets at a distance. She at least looked forward to the fight to bring retribution on the enemy but all the half made were like that, human feelings replaced with a robotic logic that made them an invaluable tool on the battlefield but they would quickly go insane in normal life.

In the distance, we could see our home undergoing repairs a swarm of smaller craft darting here and there patching up the scars, best to look away and not remember that one, so close to death as that terrible thing came from the void. the ship itself was a spectacular sight to behold still nearly 1 mile long and equipped with enough armor and firepower to plow through enemy lines and drop the soldiers off were needed. 12 of these typically went with one of the heavier grand cruisers, a 10-mile behemoth that could level small planets if needed.

The chain gangs outside even looked more appealing right now, what right did they have to look like that? their only worry was carrying the next load loading the next ship and burying the dead, they hadn’t seen what we have seen. Suddenly a fight broke out at the other end of the bar before long there would be blood and probably death, we didn’t care whats another life here.

Jan looked up and pointed out, the transport craft was coming in now, at first a speck then a fly and now a great beast flying in towards us. As it got closer we could see the dust picking up and hear the roar of its anti-grav engines keeping it going. The decent was lazily made almost as though it didn’t want to touch the ground near us and the roar increased before stopping dust and dirt had been kicked around and more than a few people unused to the force of one coming knocked down. The craft itself was a marvel of the old guard technology, 50 meters long by 10 wide but as graceful as ever, one day we may lose even these glorious crafts to the swarm but for now, a few remain.

“Come on lads up we get time to get going” The two companions finally look up from their table glass eyed and nearly slack-jawed but quickly came to, beat down and nearly defeated but still defiant. “We meet the new platoon today then it’s back up to the fight, one last ditched attempt before they close down another sector.” we stepped towards the waiting craft looking like a beast of ancient earth myth knowing that we are unlikely to return but hell, in the end, we were the grunts. It’s said amongst the soldiers that the unofficial motto of the corps is our blood is the mortar that holds the empire together.

1 week later they were all dead, the ship was left ablaze and abandoned on the planet it crashed and another sector was lost to the swarm