Barbarians

Death will take

Those who fight alone

But united we can break

A fate once set in stone

Just hold the line until the end

Cause we will give them hell

I will never surrender

We'll free the Earth and sky

Crush my heart into embers

And I will reignite

Malukah - “Reignite”

Dhyaksh Jiyazh Ghuuyaz growled as the Triumvirate fighters swarmed over his fleet. They were grinding them down, but his own ships were paying a terrible price for every craft destroyed. Retribution and Reciprocity were drifting, their main systems offline, and a dozen more were in little better shape. Their guns weren’t designed for such small swift ships, and unless he acted soon, they would force him to withdraw, leaving the cripples behind.

Jiyazh punched a button on his console. “All ships form a protective bubble around our most damaged craft. Do not let the enemy’s fighters find a way in!”

It was not a formation they had practiced, but for now it was the best he could do. Once his fleet formed an impenetrable wall, then let them come! He’d crush them under his heel like insects.

Admiral Fujimoto watched the enemy fleet fall back into a defensive formation and wished for the life of her she had even a handful of real warships. A dozen battlewagons and she’d smash her way through their perimeter, and there’d be nothing they could to do to stop her.

But wishing would not make it so. She had what she had, and that would have to suffice. At least the enemy had ceded the initiative to her, and if she could keep them penned up and out of the fight, her forces on the ground might just have a chance. Tapping an icon on her display, she radioed the fighters.

“Bellerophon Actual to Raptor Lead...pull back your fighters. Harassment and interdiction only. Keep them boxed up, but do not engage unless they attempt a breakout.”

It was a standoff, at least for the moment...but if the enemy realized just how vulnerable her carriers were and risked a counterattack, her fighters could not refuel and rearm.

Disaster loomed on a razor’s edge...and there wasn’t a damn thing she could do to about it.

Nassat almost froze in shock as the rank in front of him fell like blades of scythed grass. Their blood splattered his uniform as he stumbled over their bodies, pushed from the rear as the Saurotaur behind him bolted in near panic.

“Keep moving!” Sergeant Lin screamed, firing as he charged forward. “You stay here, and you’re dead!”

Incoming mortars exploded all around him as he ran for his life, diving for an impact crater just as a round detonated behind him. The blast threw him off his feet, slamming him into the loose soil and knocking the breath out of his lungs. He’d lost his grip on his weapon, and in a moment of panic he scrabbled about to find it, as another soldier landed in the hole beside him. It took him a moment to realize it was a human who had dove into his shell crater, and a brief glance to his helmet’s HUD display informed him it was Sergeant Vadas.

Thank the Creator, he whispered, as he reached out and grabbed her shoulder. “What do we do now, Sergeant?” he shouted, desperate for someone…anyone...to take charge and show him the way.

Sergeant Vadas rolled over on her back, her blank eyes staring up at the sky...with a large ragged hole ripped through the middle of her chest.

Nassat recoiled in horror, staring at her corpse. He’d believed the humans to be invulnerable, and if they could die just like his own people, then this entire war was nothing but folly!

It took him several moments to get his fear under control. The humans were as mortal as he was, he knew that, it was just that they seemed so much larger than life during training...unstoppable, unflappable, with a predator’s courage. In some hidden part of his brain he’d assumed they would lead them through without harm, and now...

They cannot save you, his mind whispered, you must save yourself.

He swallowed, ducking back into his crater as another explosion rocked the ground. He couldn’t sit and cower in his hole...if he did nothing he was as good as dead himself. Sergeant Vadas still clutched her rifle, and with a whispered apology he pried it from her dead fingers, lifting it to his shoulder. It felt wrong in his hands, as they designed it for a human’s frame, but its mechanics were the same as his own. It would do for now, until he could find a replacement...of which he was sure there would be many lying about, ones their previous owners no longer required.

The world seemed to split apart as new explosions rocked the air around him. The second wave of shuttles were coming in, and he realized in alarm they were being shot out of the sky with deadly precision. They were being blown apart one after another, raining flaming debris all around his position. Risking a look he spotted a crew-served weapon just a few hundred meters away, and as he watched they loaded another magazine into the launcher.

Without those reinforcements, Bravo Company would be slaughtered.

His hands seemed to move of their own volition, as he loaded a grenade into the tube and locked it shut with a hollow sounding thunk. He peered through the sight, gauging the distance, and fired, dropping back into his crater to reload. Nassat trembled with fear as he dared a second look...and saw to his horror that he’d missed. His round had fallen short by several meters and had not harmed the weapon or its crew at all.

It had, however, gotten their attention.

Nassat yelped and ducked for cover as a hail of weapons fire peppered his position, clutching his rifle. The enemy knew where he was, and they wanted him dead. Not just anyone...him! He couldn’t risk another attempt, he just couldn’t!

...but if he didn’t, they would destroy those shuttles. And then they’d kill him.

Die now...or die later. Is this what war is? his mind wailed.

“Admiral!”, the officer monitoring sensors shouted, “we have incoming! New ships entering the system!”

Hélène’s head snapped around. “Enemy reinforcements?” she asked in sick realization.

There was a pause...and then a grin appeared on the officer’s face. “Negative! It’s the Ronin contingent!”

Thank God, her mind whispered. Reports from the surface were not good. The small perimeter they’d secured was in danger of collapse, and they still hadn’t knocked out the enemy’s anti-air capabilities. “What’s their ETA?” she demanded.

“Twenty minutes, Admiral,” the comm officer confirmed.

“...tell them to expedite,” she ordered. Twenty minutes. A mere blink of the eye.

And perhaps...far too late to save them.

Another shuttle exploded in a fireball overhead, as Nassat closed his eyes. He had to do something...letting those humans and Saurotaurs die without trying to save them was tantamount to killing them himself.

There are worse things than dying, he realized. Nassat took a deep breath, and double checked his weapon. Creator, help me now, he prayed...as he leapt from his shell crater and charged the gun position, firing his grenade before switching to the rifle, spraying the surprised enemy with a hail of weapons fire. One of them returned fire, and Nassat felt something tug at his arm as he swapped magazines, firing again. The last enemy survivor went down as he galloped through the objective, whipping his weapon back and forth in search of targets...before he realized they were all either dead or dying.

Nassat breathed a sigh of relief as he sank to the ground, pulling off his helmet to wipe the dirt and smoke from his face, as his eyes went wide. He’d heard the phrase “Moment of Clarity” mentioned during training, but he’d never understood it, not until that moment.

He was alone.

With no support.

Behind enemy lines.

This is so very bad, his mind gibbered, as he logged on to the com network for the first time since they’d landed. “Bravo Six-Actual, this is Bravo Two-Three,” he all but cried out into the mic, “Have secured enemy anti-air weapon position, requesting instructions, over!” he got out in a rush. “Sending coordinates now!”

There was a moment’s pause., and then…

…”Bravo Two-Three, where is Bravo Two-Six?” Lin demanded.

Two-Six had been Sergeant Vadas’ callsign. “...dead,” Nassat whispered, “Bravo Two-Six is dead.”

“...copy, Two-Three,” Lin replied after a moment. “Stand by your position, we’re coming to you, over!”

“Copy, Six-Actual,” Nassat acknowledged, as he scanned the perimeter for movement. At first he saw nothing, but then a small contingent of Saurotaurs boiled up out of the ground, charging forward...with a human in the lead. He whispered a silent prayer as he waved them forward, freezing in shock as he saw movement coming from the opposite direction. An enemy unit must have realized what had happened and was coming to deal with them, and without thinking he opened fire, sending them diving for cover. Lin and the others arrived moments later, hugging the dirt, as the enemy opened up with everything they had.

“Sitrep!” Lin shouted, as he and the others returned fire.

“Sergeant Vadas is dead!” Nassat shouted back. “I saw the enemy shooting down our shuttles, and I took the position to stop them!”

Sergeant Lin stared at him for a moment. “By yourself?” he asked in amazement.

Nassat was embarrassed by the question. “...I had to, Sergeant,” he explained, “there was no one else.”

An odd expression appeared on the human’s face. “Enjoy your moment of glory,” he shouted, as he switched magazines. “Unless reinforcements get here soon, no one will ever know.”

An incoming flight of mortars cut off his reply, as Nassat focused on just staying alive. He tried to scratch out a few inches of dirt, in between assaults, as the enemy charged their position. They beat them off the first time, but they regrouped and tried again. This time they got closer, as several of his fellow Saurotaurs died defending the barren patch of dirt they were using for cover. He could hear the incoming shuttles, but he didn’t dare spare them a glance. His entire life had become just a handful of actions, repeated over and over again: Fire, switch magazines, scratch out a little more dirt, fire again, pull a wounded comrade to safety, fire, switch magazines...the rest of the world had disappeared for him. There was room for nothing else in his universe, other than the desperate struggle to stay alive.

And then, a new sound penetrated his consciousness. At first it barely registered, but as it grew louder, the sound of crashing objects and clanking metal was impossible to ignore...but those sounds were not the ones that drew his attention.

Nassat stared at Lin in confusion. “Is that…music?” he asked in bewilderment.

Sergeant Lin’s grin was the slasher smile of a madman. “No...that’s Panzerlied!” he whooped with glee, jumping up out of his hole...as a massive metal beast roared past their position, firing a gigantic weapon that obliterated the enemy’s position.

“About time you Ronin bastards showed up!” Lin howled, as the tanks clattered their way forward.