Legends of Haven: Intro
Screams and shouts emitted from the soldier's communicational device. The only sound aside the noise of explosions and gunfire in the distance.
Orders were yelled over the device. People scrambled to protect themselves from the attackers, whose airships blackened the very sky.
One soldier lay beside a fallen aircraft, in a puddle of water mixed with blood that rippled beneath his barely-conscious body. His gun lay only a few meters from him, however it survived the crash.
"Rho Squad! We need you at the blocking point! The evac center is getting overrun!" The soldier's hand moved, his shoulder changing position to begin to support the weight of the red bloodied armor. "Rho Squad, come in!"
The soldier had pushed himself onto his knees. He reached for his gun, making a splash in the puddle as he placed down his foot. He picked up the gun, standing to full height before answering the device.
"Rho Squad was shot down." He stated, the response coming near immediately.
"Captain, what happened?" Information like this was near useless at times like this. Sarcasm was completely useless, however.
"We were ambushed en route to the evac zone." He responded, checking his ammo. His gun, unlike him, made it out of the crash unscathed.
"Get to the evac zone, and get to safety, Captain. I'm sending someone to pick you up." The voice replied.
"Roger." The Captain nodded, and began moving toward the evac point. It wouldn't be a long trek, Rho Squad had almost reached its objective. It didn't change the sense of failure that filled him. His entire squad, shot down. Despite this, he knew he still had a duty to fulfill.
He clambered over a shattered wall, walking through what looked like someone's home. Had the attackers even deployed ground troops? For some reason, he thought that they did not even need them.
He navigated the home, eventually finding his way to a window. One airship flew through the streets, bombing all of the civilians who were running for shelter. They were headed in the direction of the evacuation point. He grimaced as their cries were drowned out by the sound of the explosion; their last moments of fear were insignificant.
He began to search for an alternative route through the streets. Somewhere he wouldn't become the same fodder those civilians had just become. He moved from window to window, even ducked for cover once as another aircraft zoomed through the desolate streets. If they found him, there was no guarantee they wouldn't be able to strike at him from in there.
He eventually spied a small alleyway that the aircraft wouldn't be able to navigate. Hopefully wouldn't be able to navigate. It would be a small leap from where he was to the entrance, but it was a significantly better chance of surviving than the alternative.
He stood back, and readied to take a running leap towards the alley. Another aircraft zoomed by, so he figured this was his chance. He ignored his fatigue and injuries for a few moments, and dashed for the window, crashing out of it and falling a good two stories. He landed with his shoulder, quickly moving into a roll so as not to shatter any of his bones, or break his armor.
He took a few long breaths, but he wasn't free yet. He moved as quickly as his winded and weakened body would let him towards safety. He finally entered the alleyway, and stopped for a few moments. "Reporting in. I have made progress to the evac point, and am still alive." He said into the device, and continued forward.
He was injured. He could almost feel his body falling apart. If it weren't for the crisis situation, he probably would have stayed down a bit longer; surviving a crash isn't always something you want to do. His mind drifted as he wandered down the alley. Back to the crash, back to his squad. They depended on him to guide them, and instead they were all killed by a randomized ambush.
He took the turret mounted on the top of the aircraft, and when it crashed he was thrown out of it. That was the only reason he survived it; because he was in the right place at the right time. Even now, people were screaming for help, and he couldn't help them.
The evac zone was finally in sight. There was a huge gap between him and the site, though, with little cover. A killing zone, where even the most advanced troops under the best circumstances would be decimated. He grimaced at the thought of having to run across the zone. "Captain, report!" came the voice of the admiral over the intercom. It was strange, Admiral Jameson was contacting him directly. Now wasn't the time to ask about that.
"I'm just outside the evac zone's perimeter. There is a large killing zone out there, with little chance of me actually getting across before being killed." He responded.
"Damn…I'm sending the pilot to you."
"Sir?"
"You heard me," the Admiral responded, and already a ship was deployed and headed towards the Captain's position. "I'm sending a pilot to you." The Captain couldn't complain, or rather, did not have time to. The pilot had already flown aside him, and opened the door.
"Hop in, Captain!" he called out. The Captain leaped into the vehicle, which took off almost immediately. He looked out the window at the evac zone. There were so many people there, all stricken with fear. All wanting to get out of there. All had been there much longer than he himself had been; hell he hadn't even been to the zone and he was already on his way out, first class. "Don't worry, Cap." The pilot said, trying to comfort the tormented man. "We'll get out of here safely. Then we'll strike back. I promise."
The Captain nodded. This wasn't over the intercom, so nonverbal reactions were just as good as verbal ones. He grabbed some extra ammunition, in case it would be needed later on in the fight. He then continued to stare out the window. They flew past scores of civilians being killed in bombing runs, soldiers being evaporated without even knowing where the enemy was.
The ship had travelled a great distance by now, but the destruction seemed to follow them. No…they seemed to follow it. No matter how far they had gone, no matter how fast they went, the city was dilapidated, screaming, burning. People dying, landmarks being destroyed…it was at this point that the Captain decided he must not have been sane.
No sane man would have been able to see all this, and keep an emotionless face. No sane man would have been able to rationalize his own feelings, and pretend he wasn't feeling them. To tell himself and honestly believe that these people would be avenged. To be able to believe that the destruction could be repaid, or even that paying them back would be right and just.
He embraced this feeling of emotionlessness. If he hadn't, he knew he would surely fall apart at the seams, and be an even greater failure than he already was being.
The lake soon approached, the one place the war hadn't touched yet. Well, at least not the enemies. The Captain's attention was turned towards the city, however. One of the larger ships, as the military had not classified their enemies yet, was now hovering above the evacuation point. That, in and of itself, was a bad omen.
"Something wrong, Captain?" the pilot asked. The Captain pointed behind, and the pilot looked. He turned just in time to see a huge pillar of light fall upon the evac point. The pilot yelled as the Captain turned forward, looking at the lake.
The airships were believable. The pillar of light that just fell upon the evac camp, presumably killing all of the people there, was at least within the realm of imagination. The beast before them, however, was enough to make even the least skeptical person turn their heads in question. "Look out!" the Captain yelled, opening his door. The creature was at least the size of a hundred men. One tooth was the size of his arm, and its long serpentine body was covered in scales.
` The Captain had leapt from the vehicle, landing into a role and turning just in time to watch his pilot, and ride, get destroyed. The vehicle landed, chunks of metal flew in all directions across the roads beside the citybound lake. The creature's attention turned to him, it was as though he the universe's attention was now centered n him.
He raised his rifle towards it. He didn't shiver, he didn't shrink away from the beast. He didn't have time for fear, nor did he have the capacity to consider it to be a real emotion at this point. Pure adrenaline pumped through his veins, his injuries and fatigue were as nothing at this moment. "Captain, report!" yelled Jameson over the communication device.
"I have engaged combat with…" he stopped for a moment, staring as the monster steadily prepared for its next move. How could he describe something like this to the admiral? It was something beyond the imagination.
"With?" the admiral sounded worried. Whatever this thing was, he needed to report. He couldn't risk letting the rest of the battle end because the admiral was too focused on him.
"With what seems to be a gigantic sea creature. It destroyed my transport and pilot. I am at the lake and requesting assis—" the monster attacked, giving the Captain cause to begin running, rather than talking. The tail came out of the water, leaving only the midriff's length to guess at.
It was agile, considering its size. The Captain leaped into a somersault to avoid being crushed, and found himself avoiding the monster's sweeping tail by leaping onto it. He slammed hard into it, but held fast as he climbed to the top of the scaly hide. He ran across the width, feeling the monster lift its tail. It would be incredibly easy to kill him midair. He leaped off of the tail, once again landing into a roll.
His heart screamed as his mouth wouldn't. He couldn't keep this up forever; even after the first round of attacks and he was already on his last legs. It was clear that this monster could keep this up for a while, and he couldn't keep it up for another five minutes.
There had to be a way to fight back. Otherwise he might as well be as dead as the pilot. As dead as the civilians at the evac zone, as dead as Rho Squad. His gaze fell upon the demolished aircraft, surprised to see the back of it was almost completely intact. Maybe, he thought, an idea entering his mind. He ran full speed back to the aircraft, rolling out of the range of another devastating tail crash.
He slid behind the vehicle as though it were cover. It wasn't, the creature could smash the whole thing should it have been so inclined. His plan was not to kill the creature outright, there was no humanly way possible to do that on foot. His plan was to at least injure it. He pried open a hatch on the back of the vehicle, exposing the power source. A glowing orb-like structure, that held enough eco to power an entire city block for a day.
That was quite a bit of power. As it was being used in a vehicle, he hadn't a clue how much of that power had been used at this moment. It didn't matter, he needed to make a hit, and he needed to do it now. He grabbed the still warm power orb, and began running as he saw the shadow of the monster's tail begin to darken over him.
His injuries cried out. His fatigue was taking over, but he kept going. He knew if he didn't, he would let everyone down. The civilian's, the pilot's, Rho Squad's deaths would have been in vain. He heard an aircraft coming in. Assuming it was enemy, the Captain desperately looked for any sort of cover he could get. His heart slowed, as did time, as he looked in the direction of the monster.
His time was up, he thought. He had managed to somehow make it across the city in this wounded state. Everything had to end somehow, he supposed. He'd be counted among the casualties list, probably. They would win, however. He knew it; they would eventually win this war. No matter what.
As he braced for death, he was hit by the vehicle. He fell into the seat, which was surprisingly familiar. He looked over and saw a human pilot. He was in a Hellcat, an airship designed for combat. He looked at the pilot, who was obviously quite nervous about the whole affair. He looked at his hand, still holding the core. "Fly over that thing!" he yelled over the wind, and the pilot nodded.
The Captain dropped the core into the monster's gaping maw as they flew over it. He smirked for a bit. Maybe he had finally won that battle. Maybe he'd survived. He moved to relax a bit, when the pilot performed an evasive maneuver. The Captain looked over the side of the vehicle—the bomb had not exploded. He hit the side of the vehicle in anger.
"We're leaving!"
"No, we're too close to run away now! Nowhere else is safe!" the Captain responded. "Keep avoiding this thing! Don't worry about me!" He grabbed the railing on the outside of the vehicle, steadying himself. His grip was strong, despite his weariness. He slowly shifted to the back of the vehicle, bracing himself every time the pilot needed to fly a fancy maneuver to avoid the tail or the head attacking the craft.
He finally made it to the back of the vehicle, inching his way to the hatch containing the eco core. He pulled out his sidearm, a pistol, and shot the hatch open before promptly holstering the sidearm. He grabbed the still in-use eco core, his armor began melting around it. Tearing it out, the vehicle went haywire.
They were over the monster's maw. Now or never. Attack or die. Attack and die. Either way, with his own death insured, he tossed the core into the maw, drawing his sidearm and readying to fire. Getting good aim was difficult; the craft kept swaying in erratic directions. He could hardly keep a straight arm, anyway. His hand was burned, but he held the gun.
The core hit the other core, and he pulled the trigger. The bullet flew towards the cores, the monster screamed. The Captain knew this was the coup de grace, the last bullet needed to at least injure the creature. The bullet collided, and the eco contained in both cores exploded out. The monster's blood splashed out, but it there was precious little time to enjoy the victory.
The vehicle crashed into the ground at an angle. He could no longer see the pilot, nor could he hear a scream. Only the smashing and grinding of metal as the vehicle flipped, sending the Captain to the ground. The vehicle was feet from his face; his life flashed before his eyes. All his friends and family, however, were gone. Soon, he would be as well. The sound of the crash was the last thing the Captain heard.
A piece of metal was soon removed, revealing the Captain's body. He took a breath, gasping for consciousness. It didn't take much of a self-scan to realize his whole body was torn up from that last attack. He was alive, regardless. The pain from before was nothing to this, and the war caught up with the lake. The pilot, largely uninjured, leant a hand to the Captain, who reached out for it.
"You're a…" he started, but speaking caused a great deal of pain. The pilot gave him his shoulder to lean on as they walked toward a submarine filled with civilians. Gunfire and explosions, just like…what seemed like years ago already. Only now he was being aided in moving. He didn't have to get himself up.
"It's good you're alive, sir." The pilot said, as they came close to the submarine. The Captain nodded, looking around at soldiers firing at aircraft…and foot soldiers. So, there were finally foot soldiers in this war. It wouldn't have been a very wise tactic to stick solely to the air, he thought. He found himself stumbling into the submarine.
"Aren't you…nngk!" he started, but nearly reeled in pain as the pilot looked back. "..coming…too…!" he finished, his pain skyrocketing from his efforts. The pilot gave a warm smile.
"My orders were to get you here safely. I have to protect my brothers." He replied. "Goodbye, and good luck Captain!" the door closed. The Captain looked at his surroundings; there were only a handful of civilians in there. They must have been the only civilians to actually survive the last evacuation. Images of the pillar of light filled his mind as he gazed out the window. The sub picked up speed as it descended further. The Captain looked up, barely conscious anymore, and swore he would be back.
This war was far from over.