Halitheyyya was where I trained to become a soldier of the Unity Empire — and on one fateful day, with rifle in hand, ready to shoot upon a set of targets on the firing range; my buddy at my side turned to speak…
BLAM!
My face was covered in a warm substance, my eyes closed out of reflex. I knew what it was yet I sent a hand across my face and opened my eyes.
‘Blood’, I thought.
On the ground lied my buddy, his head strewn by, what I had glimpsed, a green beam. Smoke wisped from the area of impact, it had been blown to bits and the man’s blood soaked into the sun-lit snow. I ran for cover whilst other soldiers in the vicinity did the same, whereas others legged it to the main base. Unfortunately, a select few were shot. Alarms rang, sirens howled and the commanding officers all began to bellow orders. I edged my head round the corner to glare at wherever this sniper was. No sniper stood in sight, only snow and rocky outcrops…and fighters. A swarm of them soared down and fired a barrage of plasma upon us and the base. The AA guns became the first defense to fall. Explosions filled the air and shook the ground. Then, from the last wave of fighters, my eyes lifted and fixed onto a singular object. A massive starship came and broke through Halitheyyya’s atmosphere. A kind of vessel I had never seen before, no one had at that time. More fighters spawned out from that thing, so many waves.
‘Fire at will!’, a sergeant screamed behind me, I glanced to find a line of my fellow comrades, armed and organised. They do as the sergeant ordered.
I followed their aim until my gaze landed upon a horde of Confederacy soldiers in mid-charge. It was not a firing range anymore, this was real. My vision sharpened, my breath slowed, and my heart thumped. I aimed my rifle and fired. Streams of blue and green plasma fly across the landscape, and it went on till the dark of night swept over.
—
‘Why, why now…why us???’, one of the soldiers of our squad whined.
‘Because we’re a border world, that, and we have a lot of military outposts here’, replied another.
‘Exactly, why attack a heavily fortified military world?’
‘To keep us preoccupied, cutting any reinforcements we could give out to any of the frontier worlds, or the colonies’
‘I suppose’
For that night we were tasked to guard a fortified position not too far from the base. We managed to quell the horde that invaded our outpost. Not certain on the others though, however, what I found out later was that some did get hit pretty hard. Communications became tight as we only had success with local signals. Externally, nothing could get out, or in for that matter. We were cut off from the galaxy. Though I believe before communications were jammed a distress signal was activated. People soon grew aware of what was happening.
Myself and the men shivered wildly in where we sat, dug into the dirt behind barricade and rock. We remained hidden as best we could. The thing that gave us away was the frosty vapour that we exhaled every time we breathed. Despite Halitheyyya being a planet of cold wastelands, rugged hills and blistering mountain peaks; the air was decent for most species. Saved us putting on breather mask.
‘What do you think rookie, is this the great war of our time?’, the soldier who whined asked me. All the men affixed their gaze onto me, some human, the rest were alien — yet theirs were all the same.
We all bore the same look in our eyes that glistened in the moonlight. Enough moonlight that it was able to peer over and through the gaps of the humungous vessel that hung above. It’s vicious green lights crept in a multitude of directions. These included spotlights, fortunately luck was in our favour. No light came across us all night, and everyone of us hoped it stayed that way. The base was kept at low power as to not alert that harbinger of destruction. The soldiers aside from my squad were dug into trenches and other fortified positions.
‘I don’t know’, I told him. But we really knew, deep down, I think we just didn’t want to admit it. From that point on a war brewed , a war of attrition — and a bloody one at that. It still is from what I’ve seen and heard.
‘Yes it is’
‘That is why, my son, you must make sure you keep your helmet on. My buddy chose not too’
‘But it wasn’t in a combat zone or anything!?’
‘No, but you never know when a sniper aims at your head and fires…or when a carrier ship comes piercing through the skies and unleashing an armada of fighters’
‘ok dad, you…made your point’
‘I want to hear from your post that you’re following their standards from now on. Also, keep your rifle close and most importantly — charged, as well as to have spare cartridges on you’
‘ok’
‘Right, well get your bag and we can set off. Oh I need to take my medicine, go on, I’ll be with you shortly’
‘Dad?’
‘Son?’
‘Did you ever get that sniper in the end?’
‘We have to go son’
‘Come on dad, please’
‘I’ve already told you’
‘I was a kid back then’
‘Fine…come here’
—
The next morning we were ordered to scout ahead, all the way to outpost alpha nine, to see if we could find any survivors. Fighters from that carrier had hit pretty good, more so than ours from what we saw via our binoculars. Half-way there, we came under fire. The rest of the Confederacy forces we quelled the previous day were set up there.
‘Rookie get back to the base, report — ’, the commanding officer of our squad shouted at me, he couldn’t finish his sentence as a familiar, green beam shot him down. I ran as fast as I could.
‘Suppressive fire!’, one of my squamate’s cried. They fired, unloading everything at the alerted horde.
My young self pressed on, till a stinging, sharp and agonising pain coursed throughout my right leg. I fell and to my amazement, I was bleeding. To my benefit there was a jagged rock that I used for cover. My leg was in such pain I could not move. I became stuck. My squad mates didn’t falter in their firing though, except for when they had to load in new cartridges and were then picked off one by one, by that sniper.
I was alone.
‘How did you survive that?’
‘I possessed a first aid pack which temporarily sustained me, may I continue?’
‘Sure, sorry dad’
Soon after their deaths, the snowfall grew heavy as well as the winds. Consequently, this transitioned into a blizzard at which time I decided to open the first aid kit I had on me and administer myself the painkillers that were contained within. Additionally this also held a few packets of bandages. I immediately wrapped them over my wound.
Then I contemplated upon my next move. No Confederacy soldier rushed at me through the blizzard, I think they were scared that their were more of us. But no, it was just me. Besides, why send a soldier over when their’s a sniper under your command? I’m sure that they could easily see me through their visors, yet the sniper could see me better, and that was what I tested. My move. I leaned and flashed my arm out.
POW!
He or she fired — a successful bait. That told me the sniper did indeed have those deadly sights on me. I couldn’t run. My options were thin; run and make the most of it, charge and take down as many as possible, or stay where I was. A certain idea entered my mind, and it appealed to me over a course of a good, solid five minutes. I thought:
‘If that sniper can shoot at me during a blizzard, then that means that scope utilises thermal detection. That thing can pick up my heat signature…and I’m surrounded by snow’
‘You didn’t?’
‘I did, I took of what gave me the most heat…my armour, my weapon, my — helmet’
‘I thought — ‘
‘Their was already danger present and I knew the risks, before you rant. Anyhow’
I buried myself into the snow, delved as deep as I could, until it had enveloped me completely. I remained there for a time whilst I wrangled with the freezing bite. I could not stop my teeth from chattering though. I climbed out at the moment I thought it was enough. From what I could recall, the sniper’s beam came from the bases balcony. Sure, I could have crawled all the way back to my base and report what happened and return with an army, but with that sniper alive…more of our men would have surely fell long before their guns opened fire. Not my responsibility, no, but this was a chance. A chance to conserve as much as we could before this war grew costly. Additionally I was closer to this base than I were to mine…I probably would have froze to death if I decided to go with the other option. So I dragged myself through the snow with my bare hands, un-armoured, but not unarmed. I may have left my rifle behind, yet I had my knife, sheathed and attached to my belt.
No Confederacy soldier nor the sniper saw me as I made my way through the cold, although it appeared that blizzard started to dissipate as gaps began to show. I had to use haste, whereas at the same time, implement caution so as to not raise my heat too much. Otherwise the faintest glimmer of heat would arise suspicion.
Eventually I arrived at a group of rocks that allowed me to remain out of view, I rose and shook my way round to the foot of alpha nine, my teeth chattered still. I climbed — it was hard, but to my advantage the wind was loud enough to mute any excessive sounds I made. The sniper drew into my sight, albeit in a strange, opaque form where snow had accumulated onto it, which made him or her distinct, enough for me to know that the sniper was in a crouched position.
I brandished my knife with a silent delicacy, crouched and crept forward, and with a firm grip I —
BOOM!
—
A bright light lit up the sky, myself, the sniper and the soldiers raised our heads and stared with marvel…then a dawned horror. The carrier was struck, fires meticulously enwrapped themselves all over it until further explosions blew the ship apart. It came crashing down. I pulled my attention back and thrusted my knife into where I thought the sniper’s neck would be. It went through alright, and the sniper, shocked, began to struggle with the foreign object that had entered his or her neck. I jumped, stripped the sniper’s helmet off — breaking the cloak that had kept the sniper hidden from our sight all this time. My fists did the rest of the work.
As the massive ship came crashing down, the ground quaked, and the Confederacy soldiers were disoriented, which granted me the perfect opportunity to seize the sniper’s weapon and kill off the last few soldiers of this horde. They had throbbed with fear, and stuck out upon the scope I squinted through. Since then I kept the sniper’s weapon with me, until I got my own. Now it hangs on the wall over there.
‘Was that it, how did you survive the crashing ship, were their more battles you fought there???’
‘Yes son, I fought more battles on Halitheyyya, and the ship…let’s just say I was lucky. Now we really need to get you back to your post. Got to keep a good attendance just like your old man over here’
‘Okay dad, I’ll go get my bag. Thanks for the story’
—
Since then the war has raged across the galaxy, draining resources from both belligerents, destroying worlds and peoples lives. To this day — Halitheyyya remains a battleground that has stood against overwhelming odds. A beacon of sheer strength, yet even that won’t last forever.
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