Stranded Souls Part I- The beginning of the end
Stranded Souls
Note: This is not my first furry story ever written, but it is my first story posted here. When I get around to it, I'll reformat my existing stories and post 'em. But please, keep the criticism constructive.
Chapter I
The Beginning of the End
The war had been going on for as long as he could remember. It had started ten years ago with First Contact on mankind's first interstellar voyage into the unknown reaches of the universe. They were called the Keyallen, and were an ancient force, older than humanity. The ship The Effervescence was the one that made contact, and upon hailing the ship, the ship destroyed it in a single blow. Ever since that day, no one has questioned why, they have only questioned the future. To Jack Kennis, this war was pointless. The Coalition of United Territories, or the aptly acronymed C.U.T., seemed to take beating after beating whereas the Keyallen seemed to never waver, never fail. Whenever they were defeated in a battle, they would just come back fiercer than ever. There was nothing they could do to stop the slaughter of their troops. The lifespan of humanity was dwindling, and it seemed as though they only had a few months remaining until the alien juggernaut reached the Earth. In a last ditch attempt to save humanity, the C.U.T started to launch decisive preemptive strikes on some worlds inhabited by the Keyallen. It is in this campaign that everything would change.
***
Jack gave a long, drawn-out sigh. He couldn't help it, he was bored stiff. His squad had only gone on recon missions to find a suitable world to attack, and there wasn't any action on those missions. He didn't really mind, though. Being bored was definitely better than being dead. He didn't even want to be here. He wished he was away, floating along, a cloud in an endless sky, without a care in the world. But no, he was here, fighting a pointless war, against an unstoppable enemy. He wasn't scared of dying, really. He was scared of killing someone, that the horrible act of extinguishing the life of someone in the prime of their life would slowly eat away at his psyche, would slowly chip away at his humanity until he was indifferent to death. In a way, he already was. He was no longer affected by watching his fellow soldiers die, he had seen enough death to leave him apathetic towards his own mortality and the mortality of others. But killing someone was different, it was purposeful, and it seemed just morally wrong and evil. He shook his head to get rid of these thoughts and he stood up. He was tall for his age and race, around 6'2, and was almost or similar in height to his enemy. He was not overly muscular, but he was not scrawny. He had a lean frame, and he walked with a careful and cautious gait, as though he never knew where he was walking. He ran a hand through his long, unkempt dark brown hair, and he let out another sigh. He was supposed to be gearing up, because his squad was about to go on another recon mission over Echelon VII, a planet that was larger in size but otherwise very similar to earth, differences in flora and fauna notwithstanding. The tall, Hispanic man got up and started going for his gear when a piece of paper fell out of his pocket. He picked up and opened it, tears welling in his eyes. It was a list of all his personal friends that had died in the war, and it was one of his most treasured possessions. He folded it back up and placed it in his breast pocket. He then retrieved his MK.VI ATLAS (Atmosphere, Topography, Life systems, Augmented Service) Helmet, nicknamed the "Brain Bucket", his MK.V ALS (Automated Life Support) Vest, his gloves, boots, and his trusty M2021 .45 caliber sidearm, nicknamed "The Peacemaker." He then went to his barracks, and laid down to rest.
"Wake up, Jack! We are leaving in 30 minutes."
His squadmate, Corporal Rojas, was waking him up.
"Dammit Rojas, I'm going, I'm going."
He got up off his cot, donned his battle armor, and walked outside. The minute he walked outside, it was chaos. Everyone was scrambling, trying to get to their SPAV (Singular Projective Aeronautic Vehicular) pods, people were putting on gear, cleaning weapons, performing final maintenance checks. He made his way over to his SPAV and climbed in. He powered it up and was greeted by a cool, computerized voice.
"Hello, Jack. Please input verification code."
He did as he was told and was granted control of the pod. He initiated a complete system shakedown with an ETC (Estimated Time of Completion) of twenty-five minutes, about the duration of the wait until the signal to begin their reconnaissance mission. After their recon mission was complete the main task force would begin their assault on the bases and storage depots located on Echelon VII, attempting to cut off the vital essence of their war machine bit by bit. He was not thinking of this for long, however, as he began to think of the end of the war, whether it would end in victory, or defeat. He was interrupted by a beeping noise coming from his com-set. He switched it on and he heard the CO's voice crackle over the speaker.
"Alright soldiers, we are getting ready for the attack on Echelon VII, I hear it's plenty wet right now, so make sure you bring your umbrellas. These alien bastards are going to pay for every man and woman that have perished in this god-forsaken war. They will pay for every drop of blood spilled. Report in to your CO's to get your briefing. Wait for Omega squad's signal and return before you begin the attack. That is all, soldiers. Carry on."
Seeing that the system shakedown was over, Jack proceeded to prepare the launch sequence, flipping a couple of switches and pushing some buttons. He was rewarded with a text message flashing across his visor saying, LAUNCH SEQUENCE ENGAGED, SYSTEM STARTUP INITIATED. The engines sprang to life, the turbines whirred, getting ready to try to lift the five-ton machine and propel it through the atmosphere. His CO's voice crackled over the comm, getting ready to issue the Rules of Engagement and the Plan of Attack.
"Alright boys and girls, we are going to Echelon VII because these alien bastards are hogging all their food and supplies and we have to teach them to share nicely. Remember, though, Omega's sole duty is to recon, so no forward and direct contact unless extremely necessary. We don't want to piss these bastards off before we even get to fight them. So saddle up and get ready to take some photos. Giles out."
At this, hundreds of engines turned on and were getting ready to launch. The entire company was ready for battle, but only Omega squad was going to go first. They needed to provide vital intel and oversight into the enemies networks and compounds. Suddenly, a green light winked on his HUD, and with that, ten pods took off. The plan was to go in pairs and canvas the planet, then report back in to HQ, currently stationed on the planet Irulka, which was very close to Echelon VII. The pods would first dock onto the battleship Subjective Truth, then from there ride out the few hours of travel until they got to Echelon, then they would be "fired" towards the planet, their velocity being just enough to propel them into the planet's gravitational well, but not enough to propel them through the atmosphere and into the planet itself. So now, the only thing Jack could really do is sleep, and pray.
***
He was woken up by the shaking of his shuttle pod, the result of him going being shot out of the battleship. He was now screaming through space on his way to Echelon VII. He quickly shook the sleep out of his eyes and focused on the task at hand. The pods were going to go in preprogrammed flights around the planet in pairs. Jack was paired with Sulios, a quiet but serious man who never raised his voice. He barely spoke above a whisper, but was very competent and calculating. At present, they were orbiting a largely uninhabited area of the planet that was experiencing some rainfall, making visibility very difficult.
"Alright, Jack, I think we should wrap this up and head on over to our rendezvous. I can't see anything down there, so let's just report in and..."
All of a sudden, an enemy fighter came out of nowhere and opened fire on them.
"Jesus Christ! Where the fuck did that come from? Listen, if anyone can hear me, we are under heavy enemy fire, I repeat, we are under-"
Suddenly, his tail erupted into flames and then suddenly they went out, as the vacuum in space caused all the oxygen to decompress and the fighter imploded.
"Robert, NO!"
Then, he was hit and he went spiraling towards the planet, he saw the fighter try to veer in front of him and he opened fire on it. He was rewarded as flames shot out the back and it started to spiral through the atmosphere uncontrollably. He let out a yell of frustration as the controls locked up and he could only minimally control his spiral. As the amount of G's started to increase, he could see his vision distort and dim. Then, when it seemed as though the cockpit was going to be ripped from the pod, he blacked out,
***