New Worlds

This is a novel that I'm currently producing, and am considering publishing if it turns out to be good enough. I'll post it as the story progresses in my writing lair. So, I hope you enjoy it!

The novel's being written as part of a background plot for a role-playing game that a team of writers and graphics designers are currently developing. We're hoping that plots like this story will get people interested in adding their own to the universe.

Anyway, give me comments, compliments, suggestions, critique!

Prologue


“Left flank, move out!” “Right flank, scatter!” “Hit the deck!” “Fire everything you’ve got at them!”

All of the orders were awkwardly becoming one in the young private’s head as he held on tight to his J-33 rifle. It was the only thing, aside from his body suit, that protected him from the all-too-real image of death that had become commonplace on this planet. As he looked above, he could see the trees waving back and forth as a soft wind gushed across the surface. The quiet serenity of the planet, would have offered to a stargazer the quietness no other planet could provide. This quiet serenity, however, lasted for only a few moments, as the young private crashed onto the wet, muddy soil. The rattling of gunfire forced every hair on the private’s body to point straight up, as the private ducked behind a tree. The lasers forced the bark of the tree to explode all around the private, as fear began to encompass him. Damn! Damn! Damn! He thought to himself as he cocked his rifle… the rifle’s energy pack whistled as it prepared to fire.

The trees above were forced to bend to the awesome strength of the fightercrafts, as the air support flew towards its target. The fighter pilots, from their cockpits, could only see a never-ending canopy of massive trees, trees that were twice as tall as the largest Redwood tree on Earth. The engines of the fightercrafts sounded like a thunderous boom to the ground troopers below. These were the sounds of the new world. They were only a pair of fightercrafts, yet they represented some of the grandest technological innovations, dating to just before the beginning of this. Inside the fightercraft, however, there was no sound of engines… only the sounds of communication echoes from friendly troops coordinating their assaults. The fightercrafts were approaching at high speeds, the fighter pilots being pressed into their chair by the G-forces. Their speed: five times the speed of sound.

The fightercraft pilot looked under his cockpit, watching the tree canopy, as his fightercraft moved above it at incredible speeds. All he could see, in the dark, was a mass of blackness… a never-ending mass of blackness that would change to a vivid green color in the daytime. There was something comforting about doing night missions… if only he could figure out what. The fightercraft pilot’s weapons officer tapped his shoulder, as he pointed straight ahead. They were approaching their target, only five minutes more. The ground troops were busy fighting their way below, they were only here to suppress the artillery and hover tanks that would dare try to stop the advance. The new world would be theirs soon enough. The pilot turned his head and looked out of the cockpit, seeing the silhouette of his wingman on the right side of his fighter. His helmet covered his face, but one could tell there was a smirk on that same face as he hit the afterburners to approach the target.

The high-pitched alarms sounded off as two surface-to-air missiles launched from hover-tanks located deep within enemy controlled territory. The proximity alarms indicated two minutes to impact: quick action was needed. The fightercraft pilot made a hard starboard turn, as the weapons officer touched his keypad rapidly, the typing of his fingers forcing the ejection pods to activate in the aft sections of the fightercraft. Within seconds, counter-measures had been deployed. The sound of the counter-measures was deafening, as they deployed creating a massive smokescreen that produced the same amount of sound echoes as that of the fightercraft. The missiles headed straight for the smokescreen, exploding as it made contact. The large fireball lighted up the black sky, as the two fightercrafts turned around unscathed.

The sensor scans showed the lone hover-tank that had fired the surface-to-air missiles, revealing that it was arming in order to fire another threatening salvo. It was now on the extreme range of the fightercrafts’ weapons. There was a quick exchange of glances from the two-fightercraft pilots, as they approached the target again. The weapons officers prepared their weapons packages as they targeted both the hover tank and bunker positions that made the outpost particularly dangerous to attack. Within seconds, a group of missiles launched from the weapons silo ducked under the fightercrafts’ titanium wings. The missiles’ engines made loud roars across the atmosphere as they headed at awesome speeds towards their target. The fightercrafts, having unloaded their deadly weapons, turned around a safe distance from the outpost, as they climbed up through the stratosphere, disappearing back to space where they had originated like birds of prey.

The private fired his gun at anything and everything that was in front of him, as all around him, he saw the flashes of lights being exchanged back and forth between the two opposing armies. It looked like a laser tag game to him, an orchestrated laser tag game that would end up with a side that had won… but no loss of life. The ground rocked, shaking violently as three fireballs rose from the outpost up ahead. The missiles from the air support had hit their target, and even here the strength of the explosion could be felt. The private cursed under his breath, the weapons of war had become so atrocious. He activated his helmet, watching through his infrared eyes the enemy and their location. He could see past the trees, and target anything within a one hundred meter radius. He proceeded cautiously ahead, as he followed the ghost orders that were coming from his superiors that were elsewhere on the battlefield.

“CHARGE!” The order came, abruptly, catching everyone by surprise.

Behind every tree, soldiers rolled out of their hiding spaces, firing lasers at everything and anything. Tree bark exploded all around the soldiers as they crawled faster than ever towards their target. The private now had someone next to him, as they fired at the blackness. They couldn’t see their enemy, nor could the enemy see them approaching. A laser shot bounced off the ground, just a few centimeters from the private as he stared blankly in front of him. His neighbor looked back, to see if the private was still alive. His face turned around, as a laser shot hit him, cutting into his armor, and piercing through his skin. The private crawled faster than ever, squinting in horror as he looked at the laser burn. He touched for a pulse… there was none. He sighed, another one for the statistics. It wasn’t even worth calling a medic. The private reloaded his rifle, moving forward, along with his flank as they came ever closer to the outpost that had been hit by the missiles.

There was a hissing that emanated from all around the private, as heavy infantry teams fired flares into the air. As the flares reached a certain height… approximately 50 meters above the marines below, the flares exploded – small pops were added to the orchestra of the battlefield. The flares’ explosions lighted the entire battlefield, as for a dozen seconds; artificial lighting blotted the entire battlefield. The private looked around, seeing lasers of all colors firing back and forth, as the two armies clashed with one another in a battle to the death. As the lasers hit some of the battle armors, they pierced right through, killing some of the soldiers outright or maiming others. Those that were maimed were left in pain, as combat medics rushed to aid them through their suffering. The charge order was still in effect: the entire army rushed towards the outpost that stood defiantly aloof despite the flames that remained ablaze, the result of multiple missile impacts at the heart of the outpost.

“Hold position at North-North West, twenty-four by twenty-three by eighteen,” the order came, as some of the marines approached the edge of the forest, “Defense perimeter, formation Bravo Zulu Bravo.”

The marines formed a line, as the flanks began to converge on the outpost herself. They had fought long and hard for this night to come, but they knew that they had only arrived to get to siege positions. As they looked at the massive walls that were still intact, despite the air bombardment… they knew that many of the bunkers still were fully manned and ready to shoot at anything that wasn’t on their side. The private looked nervously at the outpost. The outpost looked like a square fortress, with four tall pylons on each corner looking down on the marines. Their guns were heavy automatic laser rifles that were just out of range of the marines. The defense perimeter had been established, but they knew the order to charge would come soon enough. The marine looked back, seeing the massive forest that they had walked through. There had been two hundred fifty strong going into this forest, and as they arrived at the outpost… the private could count only twenty soldiers in his vicinity.

One of the leaders of the attack finally appeared from the forest, closely followed by a communications sergeant. He nodded to the private, as he crouched, looking around to make sure they weren’t about to be attacked by any patrols. They had taken out of commission most of the outpost’s patrols, whom had fought particularly hard. That, alongside the continuous air and paratrooper assaults of the days previous, had made this campaign particularly traumatizing. They had been ambushed again, and again… as the enemy tried to stall their advance towards this outpost. The outpost wasn’t particularly large by military standards: it only had minimal strategic importance. Perhaps this was why the enemy hadn’t wiped the battalion outright. The paratrooper assaults had involved small strike teams that had disappeared as quickly as they had come. Although they inflicted only small casualties on the battalion… those casualties had added up. Now, when all men were needed to take this outpost by force… many were dead and would never leave the massive virgin forest.

“What are we waiting for?” The private whispered, as the battlefield became ominously silent.

“Dunno…” The leader replied, activating his helmet to take a closer look at the outpost, “Order’s to stay put for now, soldier, so don’t move.”

“Aye, sir,” The private answered, placing his rifle closer to his body, trying to regulate his nervous breathing.

“Hey, soldier,” The leader touched the private’s shoulder firmly, staring straight into his eyes, “You’ve made it this far, don’t worry about the rest.”

“Sir!” The communications officer shouted, “Air support incoming!”

The fightercrafts flew in a flying-V formation, as they approached the outpost, flying at low-altitude. The impressive sound of the fightercrafts engines as all near the outpost heard the thunderous booms. Its psychological effect on the enemy was disconcerting. The fightercrafts released their payload, as for five seconds non-stop the only thing that could be heard were missiles launching towards the walls of the outpost. The fightercrafts pulled up, just before reaching the outpost, as they left behind them massive explosions that ripped through the titanium wall that formed the exoskeleton of the outpost. The explosion caused the ground to tremble, due to the sheer firepower of the missiles. As the fireballs rushed up towards space, the shockwave’s colored ring parted on the ground forming a new horizon that lighted up the entire theater of war.

“CHARGE!” The order came again, as the soldiers stood up from their positions and rushed the outpost.

The private followed the leader, as they entered the base like raiders off to get the treasure. All around them waves of men fired their laser guns, as the outpost’s surviving pylons opened fire. The deafening sound of energy being fired back and forth in order to kill and destroy was only matched by the sound of men and women fighting to the death. It would only be the break of day that would announce the end of the battle… the humans had won, but at what cost… thirty-three men dead. The private looked as the sun rose… He couldn’t appreciate the beauty of it anymore, as he looked back, waiting for the medic that he had called over twenty minutes ago in order to save the life of his dead leader.

In another time, in another future, perhaps this planet would have become another Earth. It would have been the accomplishment of the United Nations’ most ambitious goal: the colonization of entire planets would stand as a triumph of human development. Next to the Pyramids of Giza, the Eiffel Tower of Paris, the Atomic Bomb, the Internet… all of these would have paled against the accomplishment of an entire interstellar empire dominated by humanity. The United Nations had become a symbol of what humans could do – the potential of world peace was going to be truly realized! Yet no one on the planet would have been able to call out the United Nations’ name as a symbol of world peace. They were all young, and impressionable soldiers whom had seen first hand what interstellar war meant… what the cost of an interstellar empire was. As the sun rose, the fightercrafts flying above could still see smoke coming from the outpost they had just taken from the Gohorn Directorate.