Smell is widely considered the greatest memory trigger, and the smell of battle is certainly no exception. The aroma of sweat and blood, the stench of oil and gunpowder. It was something you could never forget, and I was confused because somehow it wasn't new to me.

I didn't know how I'd ended up here. I couldn't recall where I'd come from or what exactly was happening. I just knew that I was under fire, and someone was shouting at me to take hardpoint Alpha. I could feel the weight of the air around me, and the stench of war permeated my nostrils. My brain tried to process, but all I could bring to thought was: Fight. So I focused on the moment at hand.

The rifle in my grip was heavy, and the armor on my back more so. I looked up, and my helmet lit the large room up, and highlighted a single figure. Across the room from me was a humanoid robot, about my size, who was taking aim with his own rifle. I reacted without much thought, my eyes snapping down the sights, and my finger pulling the trigger, it was all like some long forgotten instinct. The kick of the rifle as it rattled against my shoulder, and the sound of the bullets slamming into the machine, it all seemed so natural.

"Woah!" A voice next to me shouted, and I turned to see a large man in a dirty brown suit of armor, "That Spectre nearly got us, good shot, sir."

"It was just reflex." My voice was quiet, mainly because I was focusing on trying to remember anything I could. I spotted a bright green moon above us in the blue sky, and I tried to remember the name of the planet we were on, but names were not coming to me. I heard someone shout something about not being able to control the other hardpoints, and somebody else shouting about the last officer dropping.

"We've got one Captain left on the field." The man explained, and nodded to me, "Looks like you're operational commander, Sir." I looked at him, and he gave me a slight salute, and then aimed his gun near my head. I was shocked, but then he fired over my shoulder and shot another robot which had jumped through a window above us. Then he laughed like a madman, and turned to a trio of less armored men who'd entered.

"Let's go secure Alpha!"

"There's no way we can get Alpha or Charlie!" One of the soldiers leaned against a wall, and fired out of a gap in the stone. Folsom shook his head, and turned to me.

"We're getting our asses handed to us." He was very matter-of-fact.

"What the hell is happening here?" My question seemed surprising to him, and he patted my shoulder.

"Sir, we gave it our best, but don't think we can-"

"No! I mean, what is happening? Where are we?" This time he got wide eyed, and then called out for a medic.

"Folsom, the last medic got wiped out by that Atlas!" A soldier replied, and the man cursed. He focused on me again, and shook his head.

"Look, you may have hit your head, we've-" He was cut off by a gravelly voice on the radio.

"We've lost this battle, pilots, get to the extraction point. Shuttle in thirty seconds." I wasn't the only one who'd heard, all the soldiers in the half destroyed building we were standing in had turned, and started running out the door and across an open road towards someplace, where? I didn't know.

"You heard him, come on, we'll work out the rest once we're off this rock!" The man, Folsom, grabbed me, and pushed me through the door into the open. So, with no memory prior to the last thirty seconds, no idea where I was going, and no idea who we were running from, I sprinted full speed. The adrenaline coursing through me was like a high, I could hear shouting and gunfire nearby, but I kept my eyes glued to the men in front of me, all of whom climbed a half demolished staircase, on the side of an equally demolished building. Then when we reached the top, they all spread out along the rooftop.

"We're ready for evac." One of the soldiers, the only woman I could spot, spoke. Nearly immediately, as if she'd cued it, a dark triangular ship came screeching out of the clouds. I watched as it swung in closer to the building, and it's entire side peeled away to open into the cabin. My gaze was cut off by a burst of lead moving in my line of sight, and I turned to the source.

On the ground nearby, a dozen of the robot men, Spectres, were firing at us, alongside two men in shining silver gear. One of the men caught a soldier of ours in the shoulder, and Folsom grabbed him as he fell. The ship had settled to a hover by the buildings edge, and the two pilots were hollering at us, but I couldn't hear over the sound of gunfire and the engines. The entire group was busy in the gun battle with the men on the ground. So I pulled up my own rifle, and started firing. I dropped a Spectre with each burst from the weapon, and the soldiers with me took the chance to leap the gap into the evac ship. They had left me covering them on my own, but somehow my weapon snapped from enemy to enemy, and I managed to hold the remaining troops back behind cover. Folsom went into the ship last, dragging the wounded man with him.

"Captain, we've got to go!" He shouted to me, and I turned to the ship. Seeing the man, waving me towards him, leaning against the side of the door, it caused a burst of pain in my head. The sound ebbed out of the world, my legs wobbled beneath me, and for a second Folsom seemed to morph into a rough looking Caucasian man with a military haircut and a sharp knife in hand. Then, just as fast as the vision appeared it vanished, and Folsom was shouting for me to jump.

The moment I had control over my balance again, I ran the few feet, and jumped towards the open door. Wind rushed in my face, and bullets whizzed past me. I hadn't made it the entire distance, and my feet clashed on the precipice of the ship's cabin. Just as I thought I was going to fall back towards the ground, Folsom and the woman grabbed my shoulders, and pulled me inward roughly. I landed against the interior with a hefty thud, and rolled to face the opening.

Then as the door started to close, and the ship pulled away, I spotted a dark object crash into the ground alongside the two men who'd been shooting. it had dropped from the sky, and one of the two men rushed towards it. I couldn't see much through the debris and smoke, but I did manage to see a single glowing blue eye, and hear the roar of metal grinding. Then the door shut all the way, and we were washed in blue light. When the light died, the only thing outside the ship were millions of stars.

"Damn, good thing they didn't call that Atlas down a second sooner, or else it might not have let us break for warp." The woman reached up, and unclasped her helmet, "Good cover fire, Captain." She tossed her helmet down, and fell into a seat nearby. The man who'd been shot grabbed it quickly, and vomited into it.

"Damn, warp is rough on wounds."

"What the hell was all that?!" I shouted now, and the entire cabin, minus the puking man, turned my way.

"Hey, we're not your squad, we don't need some random officer lecturing us on tactics." The woman wasn't praising any more, she was immediately defensive.

"No, I mean... Who are you people? Why were we being shot at? Why do you keep calling me Captain?" I felt blood rush from my heart across my body, but my brain seemed to be getting the least of the flow, and my vision started to darken.

"He's looking pale." Folsom sat next to the woman, "Sir, if you don't mind my asking, what's your name?"

"I... I don't know." The ship seemed to shift sideways.

"He's going down." The woman leaped forward to catch me, but was too slow. I didn't even feel myself hit the floor; I had already blacked out.