The galaxy was vast, something so unfathomably large yet so small simultaneously. Although hundreds of thousands of lightyears in size, this was minuscule compared to the ever-expanding and endless void in the universe. Still, within this galaxy were countless solar systems comprised of diverse worlds and bright stars that twinkled in colligation with the pitch-black backdrop of cold space. Trillions of beings from numerous races filled the known galaxy, spread out amongst all of the galaxy's known and unknown sectors. In this galaxy, located on the fringes of the Vardoss sector, right off the Namadii Corridor hyperlane, was a small tropical planet named Koralili. Just under ten-thousand kilometers in diameter and filled with low island chains, rocky archipelagos, deep forests of green, and a sparkling blue ocean, it was seen as an idyllic paradise by the hundreds of millions who lived or visited the planet. Koralili offered an abundance of foodstuffs, minerals, and ores under its surface and oceans, mined for its goods to be shipped throughout the Empire. Because of this, only half a legion of Imperial Stormtroopers and one infantry division of Army troopers garrisoned the planet. Even though it was of some use to the Empire, Koralili was still a minor planet in the middle of nowhere, right on the border of the Unknown Regions. There was not much of a security risk, which justified such a small force on its surface.
By the Empire's standards, the garrison on Koralili was quite underwhelming. The same can be said about the battle group situated in orbit above the planet, which consisted of one Star Destroyer, one Arquitens-class command cruiser, a few Carrack-class light cruisers, and a few Gozanti-class cruisers. While a decently powerful group of vessels, it was nowhere near considered a whole fleet by the Imperial Navy. Its primary purpose was to escort or aid supply and transport ships that made trips to the small tropical planet. It was a job that the battle group did very well and was all the Vardoss sector needed for protection and enforcement. Most of the Imperial Navy was re-directed elsewhere in the galaxy, facing a much more dire task than simply escorting supply ships and acting as an overwatching presence in what would be considered loyalist space.
On the planet's surface lies a massive Imperial base comprised of numerous detached buildings, with its command tower cutting into the sky on the central island of the archipelago. Many smaller atolls with beautiful coral reefs and white powdery sand complemented the archipelago, reminiscent of places like Niamos and Scarif. The citadel at the epicenter, and other buildings that covered the archipelago, were connected by a repulsor-lift tram system that could ferry the population from the nearest city to and from the base. It was not as well-protected as one would expect a military installation to be, but Koralili was an extremely tame planet. Alongside a caring sector Moff who was well received, the populace of Koralili almost entirely consisted of humans who had developed a self-sufficient society and well-run local government; therefore, crime and rebellious unrest were highly unheard of. Although very dull, being deployed to Koralili was almost like an extended vacation. Especially with the current turmoil in the galaxy, this planet was considered one of the safer places anyone could be despite its precarious location.
It was early morning when the men and women of the Imperial 404th Coastal Defense Regiment of the Stormtrooper Corps and the Imperial 9th Infantry Division of the Imperial Army began a day that would be their last - for most of them, at least. It started like any other, with various patrols by the Imperial Army and Stormtrooper Corps sent out amongst the central archipelago and surrounding atolls. The Army typically garrisoned checkpoints and bases while the Shoretroopers and stormtroopers patrolled the civilian-inhabited islands. Concern began when communications with the battle group above the planet abruptly cut out as swirling storm clouds rolled in from the horizon and darkened the deep blue sky. In recent meteorology reports, there was no sign of any tropical storms, nor should the clouds have been so thick that they formed what appeared to be an impenetrable wall in the sky. The light breeze that accompanied the lousy weather slowly twisted into a howling wind over time. Regardless, everyone continued to perform their duties as if nothing was out of the ordinary. The giant storm brewing, a common occurrence, summarized communications issues. While the weather kept all larger freighters and shuttles grounded temporarily, Low Altitude Imperial Transports and TIE Strikers operated by the Army Air Corps kept themselves in the air as best they could. It seemed that the growing storm could not keep the Imperial war machine down.
In this well-oiled machine, the 404th Coastal Defense Regiment had a role. It consisted of three battalions with four companies of stormtroopers and support personnel who patrolled the idyllic islands daily. As a Shoretrooper, I was thrust into a leadership position in the weapons squad for Forn Company in the second battalion. The day began early, and my battalion was on rotation to stay on the base's archipelago while the others split among the nearest civilian villages. Platoons broke into squads and were trusted to conduct the same old patrols daily. Mine was taking a break by the shore after a long movement, where SD-558 dampened our good mood. He said the strange occurrences and weather could have been signs of something terrible manifesting like an Abyssal invasion. This mere statement demanded everyone's attention.
Abyssals were a sore topic, but they were present in the galaxy and affecting everyone's lives now. To understand the feelings of fear and anxiety generated when they are mentioned, one needs to know what they are first. It has only been fourteen years since the galaxy was united under the Galactic Empire by His Majesty, Sheev Palpatine. Two years ago, a mysterious cluster of organic-looking ships, larger than anything seen before, emerged from the deepest pits of the Unknown Regions and brought monsters with them. The 21st Expeditionary Fleet made the first contact with this alien species, a small force consisting of a few Star Destroyers and just under twenty support vessels. The fleet was immediately fired upon by strange energy weapons aboard the Abyssal ships that disabled their ships' reactors, leaving them without a significant portion of engines, weapons, and shield power. The incapacitated vessels were boarded by creatures akin to dismorphed humanoids and quadrupedal shark-like creatures the Abyssals used as their main ground troops. Following them were female-looking humanoids between three and fifteen meters tall who were deathly pale with bone-white or oily-black hair and glowing eyes of various colors. Some had metal plating had cannons that fired explosive slugs of different calibers or turbo-lasers, while others appeared fused with disgusting alien creatures. Also, to reach the disabled vessels, they could traverse and survive the vacuum of space without any protective gear.
Over time we saw that the Abyssals came in a few different castes or classes, as some would refer to them, which bore striking similarities to starship types. Carrier-type Abyssals ferried miniature starfighters that commonly fought in space battles and in-atmosphere. Lighter destroyer-type Abyssals came in large numbers as support and most often aided in anti-personnel and vehicular combat with their lower-caliber cannons and ion torpedos. Cruiser-type Abyssals could take the fight to larger starships in space with their many types of armament and pose a significant threat on the surface. There were even dreadnaught-type Abyssals who were absolute nightmares to deal with and posed a hazard in space and the surface. There were even Abyssals that primarily performed anti-vehicular activities and kidnappings, armed only with torpedoes. Although their size usually depended on what type of starship they emulated, every Abyssal had immense strength and durability and killing them, while not impossible, was easier said than done. They were murderous monsters that sought the destruction of all life in the galaxy, and with their arrival, the war had broken out after ten long years of peace and order.
What was the most horrifying about the invasion and the Abyssals themselves was not their unique technology and biology nor their reasoning for the genocide of all living creatures in the galaxy. Instead, it was what they would do to whoever they got their hands on. The Abyssals would destroy all surface and space vessels, effectively creating a blockade to begin the noose, which would tighten slowly around the planet while simultaneously deploying a ground invasion force. While the infantry was full of mindless killing machines, the Abyssals were intelligent. They often struck communication arrays, starports, and military bases to cripple the planet's defenses and communication with the rest of the galaxy. More often than not, invasions were a one-sided slaughter; all life was eradicated one way or another. Afterward, the planet is abyssalized and utilized by those monsters for god-knows-what. The worst part about them was the way they obtained much-needed sustenance. With powerful jaws and some with razor-sharp teeth, they tore apart and feasted upon the flesh and bone of all known races with voracious appetites, leaving no man, woman, or child spared from such a horrific death. Whether they fed on the living or dead, it didn't matter. Mass suicides became a common occurrence during Abyssal invasions, and morale was always detrimentally affected. No one was safe from the dark maw of the Abyss.
The Abyssals swept through many known planets in the Unknown Regions and Outer Rim, battling the Empire and varying partisan forces on almost every occasion, resulting in the defeat of the latter most of the time. Only seven months ago, Lord Vader led a force against the Abyssal invasion on Bespin. It was the hardest-fought battle in recent galactic history and was a pyrrhic victory for the Galactic Empire. For the first time, we could save a planet and turn back an invasion force. Unfortunately, Lord Vader himself and a large portion of the 501st Legion, comprised of many clone veterans, went missing as Lord Vader's flagship, the Devastator, was crippled and forcibly taken into hyperspace by the retreating Abyssal fleet. While the Empire had lost hundreds of thousands of lives and countless other civilians in that battle, it was a testament that said the Empire would not be trounced.
Since that battle, the Abyssals haven't invaded another largely populated planet in the Outer Rim, only preying upon small fleets and unlucky starships that travel throughout it and the Unknown Regions. There have been minor attacks on smaller worlds not seen as worth the trouble to protect, and it is speculated that the Abyssals pulled back to the deepest pit of the Unknown Regions in preparation for something. Attempts at sending deep-space probes or reconnaissance missions have never been successful. However, the Abyssals continue to remind the galaxy that they're still breathing down our necks. Because of this, rebellious groups and terror organization activity throughout the Empire decreased exponentially, and a strong wave of patriotism washed across the Galactic Empire. The unified struggle for survival certainly had a positive effect in the end.
The underlying fear and anxiety of the Abyssals beginning a new campaign against the galaxy allowed the Empire to ramp up its regulations and security and push for new waves of propaganda. This ushered millions of recruits to the Imperial Military and civil services daily. By the time of the Abyssal's first appearance, I had already completed my one year of Imperial Army training. I was lucky enough to qualify for the Stormtrooper Academy at Carida, and the two years of grueling and dangerous training that followed was the most challenging time of my life. Anti-abyssal drills were quite frequent, alongside lectures about those things. I could still clearly remember to this day the helmet-cam footage my class had to watch of an Imperial stormtrooper in the 97th Legion during the defense of Hinari. The Abyssal infantry may have threatened the Imperial Army soldiers, but the Imperial Stormtrooper Corps always faired much better against them. Their weapons fired a shard-like projectile that was a strange mixture of a blaster bolt and crystal slug that wasn't very effective at penetrating the plastoid armor of stormtroopers. However, when the Abyssals arrived, everything went to hell. The horrifying shriek of agony and fear as that trooper died from a Ne-class cruiser still sent shivers down my spine to this day. The sounds of Abyssal cannons blowing apart the Army, armored forces, and stormtroopers were awful. The sound of bones snapping and crushing under heavy metal boots was gut-wrenching. Watching bodies torn apart limb by limb or eaten alive, accompanied by screams of fear, pain, and the snapping of bones and grinding of meat, made me sick.
After I graduated from the academy during the time Abyssal activity was at an all-time low, I had to opportunity to choose a specialization and receive extra training as I was in the top twentieth percentile of my graduating class. While many decided to pursue specialized billets, I chose to stay a standard stormtrooper but specifically requested some path that could allow me to become a Shoretrooper. Shoretroopers were scarce, as not many areas in the galaxy necessitated their deployment, and it was a temporary position that came with authority over other stormtroopers. This was why most Shoretroopers were already non-commissioned officers and acted as fireteam leaders, squad leaders, and even company commanders. I served with the 404th Coastal Defense Regiment for almost a year before being chosen for Shoretrooper training and thrust into the position of fireteam leader after my promotion to lance corporal. I found it strange, as most FTLs were corporals, but I chalked it up to being on the list for the next corporal promotion board, and command just took notice of my abilities. I certainly was not going to complain.
"Think about it. Communications are down, and it looks like a typhoon is brewing on a day that was supposed to be nice and clear. This is the perfect set-up for a horror holofilm about an invasion!" Explained SD-558, who we called Flique, to the rest of our ten-man squad as we took a break under the shade of a few palm trees and hydrated with our filtered canteens. His slick bald head still seemed to glisten without sunlight against it, and his sharp blue eyes gleamed with mischief. Flique wasn't a new stormtrooper to the regiment, but he was known to be a bit too much to handle sometimes.
"Or...and hear me out," Sergeant SD-901, our assistant squad leader, spoke as he rested his arms over the top of his Cip-Quad blaster cannon. "Maybe a surprise tropical storm is coming in, and the Luminosity is having issues with its communications equipment? That star destroyer has been known for malfunctions for some time."
"Totally." I agreed with his reasoning, hoping to put myself at ease as the thought of an Abyssal invasion sent chills down my spine. "I mean, an invasion? Abyssals haven't touched a single planet outside of the Outer Rim. There have been no large-scale attacks in the past few months either.
"Ah, think about it, Four-Seven," Flique began, "Koralili is in the Vardoss sector; there is nothing to the galactic west except deep space. Nobody knows what's out there. For all we know, the Abyssals could be preparing for another major offensive into the galaxy, and we're right in its path."
Flique slapped his T-21 that was slung over his chest and used his other hand to slip his helmet back over his bald head, chuckling hoarsely. Even with the built-in fan in my Shoretrooper helmet and temperature-regulating body glove, I still felt cold sweat drip down my face. Because of the topic, I felt tight in my chest and glanced at the grey sky. I was an Imperial stormtrooper, and I would uphold my oath to defend the Empire and its people and give my life for the Emperor. However, I was still a young man with a future ahead of me, and I was not actively looking to die. The thought of Flique's joke becoming a reality crept into my thoughts and planted itself firmly, leaving me with dread. I wasn't sure how the rest of the squad felt about an Abyssal invasion, but I assumed they weren't good based on body language alone.
Grimacing, another member of the squad, SD-453, voiced his opinions to Flique. "Shut up, Five-Eight. I speak for everyone here when I say we would feel much better if you weren't spewing all that banthashit and freaking us out."
"Yeah!"
"Come on, Five-Eight!"
A chorus of replies from myself and the last member of our squad, SD-266, supported Five-Three in the brewing argument between us troopers. While our Staff Sergeant had yet to say anything regarding the matter due to being off to the side and speaking to our superiors on another frequency, we didn't need him to get on SD-558's ass and berate him for bringing up stupid shit.
"Come on, guys; we're Imperial stormtroopers! You should have the mental fortitude not to be scared shitless about the Abyssals. The fact is that we will have to fight them sometime sooner or later. Those starship cunts aren't gone yet and won't be anytime soon. Koralili may not be like our deployment on Morak, but we should keep our senses sharp and our willingness to fight at one hundred and ten percent!" Flique's attitude changed as the joke spawned a more serious conversation. "If you want to act like pussies maybe you should have reconsidered the choices that brought you here."
That had shut everyone up reasonably quickly. Flique was right, the Abyssals would not be going away anytime soon. As far as anyone knew, they would keep carving into the galaxy until they were destroyed or we were. I had not fought an Abyssal before, but I know many others in the battalion had back on Morak. We needed to accept that we'd face them again and that their unusual dormancy would end sooner or later. We needed to nut up and shut up about the possibility of an Abyssal invasion when it could very much be real.
"Besides," Began the stormtrooper once more, "Some of them are definitely worth looking at, if you know what I mean~."
There was a collective groan of annoyance and disgust.
"I have a fiancée in the Coalition of Progress; I'll have you know, Five-Eight," Responded SD-266. It was very uncommon for stormtroopers to be married, but not impossible. "I would never betray her trust by thirsting over a fucking monster."
"What the hell?" Our squad leader, Staff Sergeant Crisp, SD-110, spat in disappointment. "What did I just hear come out of your mouth, Six-Six?"
"Just something about wanting to fuck an Abyssal, Sergeant." Flique chimed, causing SD-110 to cringe visibly and no doubt causing Six-Six to turn red under his helmet.
"I think that's enough, trooper." I thrust myself into the conversation again and was moving forward with an attempt to change the subject or end it ultimately. I did not want to stay on the topic of Abyssals for too long, especially if it was going to get all weird and sexual due to being stuck in a squad of hormonal young men who hadn't felt a woman's touch since they deployed to Koralili. "Go take your weird fetishes somewhere else."
After eliciting a few chuckles from the other enlisted troopers, I turned to my squad leader, who scoffed at my statement and held back another fit of laughter. "We're rested and hydrated, Sergeant. We're ready to get a move on and finish this patrol."
"Before that, I actually wanted to know what command had to say about losing contact with the fleet. What's with that?" Oh-One asked, curious to know what Crisp was told on the closed command commlink channel. I was curious about that myself, as were the others, so we all turned out gazes upon the man and expected an answer.
"Well, Colonel Hollingway has been working with the ninth's brigade commander in the citadel to contact the skipper of the Luminosity, but they have had no luck establishing a connection. They couldn't establish one with its escorts either. Everyone seemed to be on edge because of it, but I was told to continue with operations as usual and, if needed, to pull back to one of the bunkers that lead to the underground tunnel system if a nasty typhoon hits. What I find concerning is that we can't even reach the Army checkpoints on the civilian islands. It's not like our comms are jammed; it's just that...well, we can't even connect."
"Well, that doesn't sound too good. Do you think something is wrong with the radar array and comm tower?" Oh-One flicked his head toward the central citadel, where a large radar array sat on an atoll behind it. While we were on the outer islands on the edge of the base and the Citadel itself was obscured by the trees and foliage around us, we still generally knew in what direction it was. "Shouldn't some Army engineers be sent to check that shit out in case it's fucked up?"
"They're already on that, Oh-One." Staff Sergeant Crisp reassured our concerned Cip-Quad gunner. "There's also a few shuttles being dispatched to the Army checkpoints around the planet. For now, we're going to finish up our patrol and report soon for our designated chow time. You know we'll get in deep shit if we miss it."
Crisp was right, and the clock on my helmet's heads-up display said it was a quarter til noon when Forn company was to report to the stormtrooper chow hall for our hour-long lunch break period. Unlike the Army and civilian personnel in the base, we stormtroopers had our barracks, training center, and mess hall separated on our island in sector two, connected by the repulsor-life tram system. It was common knowledge that the Stormtrooper Corps was issued special electrolytes mixed in with our water. Our food included an unknown amount of mixed drugs that were said to enhance our performance overall. If we didn't eat everything, we would receive disciplinary action.
"Alright, squad, let's get a move on. We're heading for the next tram station on the island's north end. We'll circle all the way around on the beach." Raising his right hand into the air and pointing up his index and middle fingers, Crisp made a twirling motion with it and ordered us into a simple formation.
"Staggered column. Stick with your fireteams and get some spacing."
Like clockwork, the squad moved into a staggered column with SD-901 taking point on the left-hand side, taking a knee, and looking forward with his Cip-Quad ready. Ten meters behind and across from one another was another Shoretrooper who acted as fireteam one's leader with his stormtroopers behind him. I stood in the middle of the long staggered line and looked behind to check if my fire team was ready. Most troopers gave me a thumbs up before turning their attention to the flank they were on and cradling their blasters. The squad consisted of ten men. Staff Sergeant Crisp and SD-901 acting as the SL and ASL. Fireteam one, led by another Shoretrooper, consisted of three other stormtroopers who served as the gunner and riflemen. As the last Shoretrooper, I led fireteam two, and SD-558, SD-453, and SD-266 were all in it, with Flique being the gunner and the other two as riflemen. Squads in the Stormtrooper Corps were well organized, and I was lucky to be in the weapons squad and have the extra firepower, which came in the form of two T-21s and a single Reciprocating Quad Blaster. Although having a DLT-19 in the fire team instead of a T-21 would be alright too.
Crisp walked to the left of the staggered column and centered himself on it before clearing his throat and speaking. "Standby!" On command, we all stood up and faced forward in the queue, blasters held at low-ready except for SD-901, who physically couldn't lower his Cip-Quad, only rotate it over his head like a backpack. Once we were all set, the order to move out was given.
"Stepping! Stepping!" On command, we took off at a walking pace. Everyone in the squad made sure to keep good spacing, going as far as to increase the spacing between each other. I increased the distance between my fire team and the other by slowing down my pace and giving us more breathing room. We walked in silence with the rustling of foliage and splashing of waves breaking it occasionally. There were a few private conversations between personal frequencies on our comlinks, but other than that, our patrols were usually dead silent until our squad leader gave us orders. Most of our open conversations happened during the minimal number of breaks we received throughout the patrol, like the one we recently had. Often, a LAIT would soar overhead, ferrying Army troopers or civilian workers to other sectors. To have one of those ships land and transport us to sector two would have been great, but it was not going to happen.
I turned my gaze ahead and exhaled deeply in boredom while we turned off the beach and walked onto a dirt path leading between the forest of palm trees. We were being led on a shortcut by SD-901; that man knew these islands like the back of his hand. We walked in the shaded area for only a few minutes before coming off the path and onto durasteel plating utilized as a floor and into an open space around a hundred meters in diameter. A road made out of durasteel led out of this area and to the tram stop on the island, where trucks passed by filled to the brim with raw materials being transported to the citadel. A squad of Army troopers patrolled the area, manning a communications terminal and watching over civilian workers who broke coral and rock on another portion of the pad before separating natural resources from them and loading them into the six-wheeled trucks. Soon, the staggered column I was marching in turned onto a permacrete bridge and began our way to the tram stop.
We filed into a single column down the path to allow the transport trucks, who had the right of passage, an easier time getting past us as they traveled down the road. As we continued walking north, we reached the end of the island and followed the road over the ocean water that formed a small lagoon between this island and the nearby atoll we headed to that had the tram system stop. While the lagoon certainly wasn't deep enough for us not to be able to walk across, seeing as the water only came up to three feet in this area, going down the permacrete road was much more manageable. When we finally crossed the lagoon, we reached a large area where the trucks parked and unloaded their supplies for more workers to reload into specialized carts in the tram that was to come our way shortly. Crisp had our squad stop a few meters away from the waiting area behind the bold red line that acted as a warning not to get too close to the repulsor lift track. We broke the formation and waited for our means of transportation to arrive. While we did this, the breeze picked up, and rain began to sprinkle lightly from the dark grey clouds swirling above. I heard a sigh of relief off to my side and turned to see an older man with greying hair holding his hand out and letting the cool droplets of water fall onto it. I then looked at the swirling clouds, watched as the rain sprinkled onto my visor, and grinned. I didn't hate the sun, but I always loved the dark clouds and feelings that storms brought on and preferred them over nice, sunny weather. The older man near me probably felt the same as I did.
Suddenly there was a loud groan from somewhere in the sky, and the ground shook as if lightning had just struck. The clap of thunder that would typically accompany such a bright flash came only seconds later. But where could that have come from; there was no lightning strike.
Suddenly, my helmet's Multi-Frequency Target Acquisition System captured the movement of a large ship piercing through the thick wall of storm clouds above. I heard the audible groaning and creaking of twisting metal as the front half of an Arquitens-class cruiser plummeted to the ocean in a streak of fire and smoke. I gasped as I watched the ship crash into the ocean miles away and erupted in a fiery explosion that kicked up massive waves. The thunderous bang from the explosion emitted a visible shockwave that traveled quickly and nearly knocked me off my feet as it passed my squad's position. Everyone else around paused what they were doing and gazed upon the frightening spectacle in shock, frozen in silence. Suddenly, my Crisp's hand snapped to his comm-stud on the side of his helmet, listening to a frantic message before tensing up and sucking in some air sharply. Something was wrong, but that was clear enough to everyone already.
SD-453 snapped his head toward our squad leader and gripped his E-11 tightly, hovering his finger over its trigger in anticipation of something terrible. "What's wrong, Sergeant!?"
Before we received an answer, the high-pitched wailing of an emergency alarm began to blare throughout the many speakers spread out amongst every sector of the base on Koralili. I took a step back and looked at my surroundings, already gauging the situation with what I knew and what steps I would need to take next for what was about to come. Where was the nearest piece of cover? Where is the best concealment?
Many thoughts ran through my head as I flicked the safety of my E-22 blaster off, pressing its buttstock into my right shoulder. The rest of my squad spread out from the clump we were standing in and readied their weapons while Sergeant Crisp shook slightly, frozen in place as he continued to listen to whoever was speaking to him through a command frequency. SD-266, unhappy with Five-Three not receiving an answer from our squad leader, spoke up next with a more colorful vocabulary.
"Staff Sergeant, what the hell is wrong! Tell us!" Before Crisp could utter any word, a panicked female voice spoke over the speakers while the emergency alarm blared.
"ATTENTION: ABYSSAL INVASION IMMINENT. THIS IS NOT A DRILL! I SAY AGAIN: ABYSSAL INVASION IMMINENT, THIS IS NOT A DRILL!" The signal officer paused before keying the transmitter on the intercom system again. "CIVILIAN PERSONNEL REPORT TO SHELTERS IMMEDIATELY. ALL IMPERIAL FORCES PREPARE FOR COMBAT!"
My heart skipped a beat, and I felt my sternum twist tightly in response to the emergency broadcast. My chest heaved as I took deep breaths, shaking a bit as adrenaline and fear coursed through my body. Flashes of the helmet-cam footage I watched of Abyssals slaughtering Imperial troops back during my stormtrooper training plagued my mind, and my legs felt like jelly. Before I could sling a million questions toward my squad leader, the terrified screams of the civilian workers filled my ears. A large group of them nearby broke away from the parked trucks and ran off to the nearest underground tunnel bunker entrance. SD-901 cursed loudly and pointed to the sky.
"HOLY SHIT! INCOMING!" Roared our assistant squad leader, directing our attention to a massive meteorite-shaped object falling from orbit at a decent speed but was far from its terminal velocity. A cluster of pulsating black masses fell across the island, and a few on the far horizon came down upon the civilian islands. One of the meteorites was on a direct collision course with our location.
I backpedaled quickly away from the area where the Abyssal pod was going to impact, but I stuttered and tripped over my feet, falling to the ground. I yelped and turned my hand back to catch myself from completely tumbling. Following my footsteps, the rest of my squad began to break off in separate directions and pressed through the screaming masses of civilian workers exiting the platform. Before the pod impacted, boosters on its bottom fired off and slowed the massive object's descent, giving me enough time to get out of the impact zone. Once the pod slammed into the permacrete floor, it shook the ground, and kicked up dirt, and debris everywhere, creating a large crater. The shockwave from the impact hit me so hard that it picked me off the ground and sent me flying through the air and into the side of an enormous container, which knocked the breath out of me.
The ground under me violently shook as more pods slammed into other sectors of the Imperial base and kicked off the surface invasion. It felt like a devastating earthquake, and I staggered to my feet after grabbing my fallen E-22. I wiped dirt and sand off my visor and wheezed, regaining my lost breath. The thick cloud of soil, dust, and shredded materials quickly dissipated to reveal multiple large openings from the massive pod, at least thirty feet in diameter and forty feet in height. From the darkness of the pod's inner chamber, creatures with oily black flesh and disfigured limbs came strutting out with janky, erratic steps. The skeleton-looking creatures moved like the undead, each equipped with razor-sharp claws and a blaster made of bone, jagged purple crystals, and tendons pulsating in the place of its right arm. These were Abyssal infantry, and as the single glowing orb adorned their face as a cyclops snapped to me, I knew I was fucked.
As the infantry moved in, my instincts kicked in, and I vaulted over the contained I had slammed into, using it as cover. Just as I rolled over the top of it, Abyssal infantry came pouring out of the openings and fired their shard weapons at the closest living thing they saw.
"Shit!" I cursed, pressed my shoulder into the metal box, and kept my head down as glowing purple shards slammed into the box and flew over my head, keeping me pinned down.
Over my comlink, I heard Crisp's voice bark an order while I watched the rest of my squad sixty yards behind me begin to fire and maneuver to cover. Whether it be the trunk of a tropical tree or another metal box on the ground, they sought it with haste. "TEAM TWO, PROVIDE COVERING FIRE FOR FOUR-SEVEN'S RETREAT! TEAM ONE, TAKE YOUR MEN AROUND THE FOLIAGE TO THE RIGHT AND HIT EVERYTHING THAT EXITS THAT POD!"
"COVERING FIRE!" A chorus of replies came from my fire team. I watched as the three stormtroopers popped out of cover and fired upon the advancing Abyssal infantry. Simultaneously fireteam one maneuvered into a position adjacent to them and opened up, creating an L-shaped crossfire that decimated the infantry flooding out of the pod. Countless times of rehearsing battle drills paid off, and my training kicked in. Cool and collected under fire, I began bounding back to my team.
"COVER ME WHILE I MOVE!"
"WE GOT YOU COVERED, GO!"
I shot out of my cover and paid no attention to the infantry behind me that were being torn to shreds by blaster bolts and the explosive rounds of the Reciprocating Quad-blaster. A few shards slammed into the ground around me, and I even felt my shoulder jerk forward from one glancing off of my armor plate. Once I reached the cluster of crates scattered from the pod impact across the shoreline nearly sixty yards away from the tram stop, I vaulted over an orange one for cover and landed next to SD-266, who was laying down accurate fire with his E-11.
"SET!" I reported once I made it into cover.
"Get your ass in gear, Four-Seven! Start blasting!" SD-266 screamed over the ear-ringing sound of blaster fire. You would think blasters were louder than powder-propelled bullets from slugthrowers. Still, the dispersal of concentrated particle beams in a magnetic shell was louder than one would think; high-powered blasters and canons were exceptionally loud. If it weren't for the audio system in our helmets dampening the sound, we would all need ear protection like the Army.
The cacophony of explosions in the distance alongside the scream of TIE strikers soaring overhead and engaging Abyssal fighters in the atmosphere made things a bit hard to hear, but I heard my comrade well enough to acknowledge his request, and I rose from cover myself and propped my left elbow on the box to stabilize myself before firing. The battlefield consisted of the repulsor-lift track, burning carcasses of destroyed transport trucks, scattered metal crates on the permacrete ground, and the tropical foliage surrounding the area. Behind my squad was another lagoon stretched over one hundred meters before touching the shore of another island; therefore, our immediate retreat was not an ideal path. We had to stand our ground and hold this area!
My targeting system filled up my heads-up display and aided me in acquiring Abyssal infantry soldiers out in the open and lining them up with the crosshairs on my E-22's electroscope. I had good control over my blaster and a fast trigger finger, allowing me to lay down an impressive wall of searing hot blaster bolts toward the enemy. I kept the fire-selector switch semi-automatic to preserve energy and gas. The Abyssal infantry creatures lacked essential intelligence. Therefore, they continued to walk forward without utilizing essential over. This made picking off the initial wave of them quite easy.
PEW! PEW!
I squeezed the trigger of my E-22 one last time and blew out the chest of an Abyssal, causing it to stop firing the shard rifle fused to its mangled arm. These things were quite stubborn and could take more damage than a regular being should die, so they continued forward while viscous black blood and ruptured organs spilled out of them. I ducked behind cover along with Six-Six as blaster shards flew right over our heads. I rose immediately after and fired a quick burst into my target, which killed it for good. They were getting close now, so I forwent using my electroscope and hipfired, aligning the crosshairs projected from my electroscope on my HUD on the black wall of Abyssals that marched forward from the pitch darkness of the pod, almost as if they were stemmed from an unending source. The growing heat waves at the end of my barrel became all too visible, and my blaster stopped firing as its overheating safety mechanism kicked in.
"Initiating cooling flush!" I dropped into cover and held down a small button next to my safety, initiating a flush of blaster coolant to wash the area where tibana gas and power pack energy met to create a focused bolt of plasma. The liquid was soon forced down the barrel, and what was not evaporated spilled onto the sand next to me alongside whatever dirt and debris in the barrel were not vaporized by the fired bolts. Then I glanced down to the bottom of my HUD and scanned how much power and tibana gas was left in my blaster.
Enough power for ten more shots. Tibana gas cartridge was slightly under half-full, but my energy pack was damn-near empty. Deciding that the five squeezes of the trigger were not worth it, I alerted my squad that I was reloading. I ejected the power-pack from my blaster and opened up one of the slots on the IM-40 pouch connected to my belt. I pulled out one of my three backup power packs and slammed it into the receiver of my blaster.
"Shit, I'm overheated too!" SD-901 cried as his Cip-Quad stopped firing its explosive bolts of plasma and left the squad without a decent chunk of its firepower. Oh-One spun to the left, behind the tree he was using as cover, and began to fiddle with the controls on the side of the large blaster that he wore like a rucksack.
"Only a few left here, keep fir—!" Crisp's orders were quickly interrupted by the squeal of a burning Tie striker as it soared over our heads and slammed into the water behind us, exploding violently on impact. Pieces of debris and shrapnel zipped through the air. None of it hit anyone, but it still kept our heads down for a few seconds. I turned my attention to the Abyssal fighters trailing the TIE, who broke formation and accelerated high into the sky to rejoin the fight above. I watched as the dagger-like ships made of a mixture of organic Abyssal material and metal filled the darkened sky and sliced through the overcast clouds pissing rain. The absurd amount of fighters present meant that there was at least one Wo-class somewhere on the surface launching them all, and that was not good.
"Shit, there's a carrier launching attack aircraft! As if this couldn't get any fucking worse!" I spat with disdain at the Abyssals. A Wo-class carrier was one of the largest and most powerful kinds of those monsters. It needed to be killed soon, or the Empire would lose all hope of retaining air superiority.
"I think we have a more immediate threat to worry about, Four-Seven!" Flique exclaimed over our squad commlink frequency as he began to fire wildly at a giant being that exited the Abyssal pod with another wave of infantry. A female-looking humanoid with short greasy-black hair wearing a black bodyglove emerged from the darkness of the pod. Thick armor covered its forearms, shins, and upper chest, while its heavy boots created indents in the ground as it stomped forward. A small caliber cannon was strapped to its left arm while two single-tube ion torpedo launchers were strapped to its thighs. It stood just over three meters tall, and I immediately recognized the type of Abyssal it was - a Ro-class destroyer.
I gazed upon the large Abyssal, and when we made eye contact, I felt my body freeze up. I didn't even realize that I had stood up until purple shard bolts sizzled by my head, courtesy of the Abyssal infantry ahead. Suddenly, I felt my body yanked down forcefully by SD-266 as the Ro-class raised her right arm and fired a single explosive slug toward our position. The round had landed short, but exploded violently on impact and shredded through our cover, knocking us backward. Our plastoid armor had deflected small shrapnel that hit our body, but the concussive shockwave sprawled us out on the sand. SD-266 rolled onto his side and scrambled to his feet, his white armor caked in sand, and his chest piece cracked from deflecting a particularly large shell fragment. I followed suit and pushed myself back onto my feet, rushing to the side and sliding behind another flipped cargo container halfway full with various ores while firing my E-22 blindly at the advancing destroyer. Six-Six and I stumbled into position while Flique and Five-Three maneuvered into a better fighting position as the destroyer turned its cannon on the large wheel they were set up behind.
Fireteam one continued their fight, their gunner pumping the Ro-class full of powerful T-21 blaster bolts, which blew off chunks of soft flesh and dented armor. The Abyssal shrugged off the damage but turned its attention to the other fireteam and began to advance toward the treeline, holding its armored forearm in front of its face to block any stray blaster bolt from hitting its eyes.
"Don't destroyers travel in pairs?" I wondered aloud as I stared at the Abyssal, who turned its attention away from my fire team in favor of the other. Not a second later, a pair of glowing blue eyes snapped open in the darkness, and an identical destroyer emerged from the pod to join the firefight. It kept its attention on my fire team as we continued to move around, unwilling to stay in one place and get blown to bits.
"Shit!"
I dashed to another piece of cover and continued firing controlled bursts at the Abyssal and its infantry escort. I narrowly avoided shard bolts as they zipped past my body. I then turned my attention toward SD-901, whose Cip-Quad had just cooled down, allowing him to utilize it against one of the destroyers who advanced toward us first. While Abyssals were resilient to damage of varying degrees depending on their size and armor, they were not invincible. Our blaster bolts may blow off small chunks of the unarmored portions of their bodies that they usually shrugged off, but the powerful explosive bolts of the Cip-Quad had more devastating effects.
SD-901's aim was deadly accurate, and with four shots, he blew off the leg of one of the destroyers from the hip down, spewing viscous black blood everywhere and some burnt bone fragments. The advancing destroyer screeched loudly in pain and fell, immobilized temporarily but still alive. In return, the other destroyer shifted its attention to SD-901, who had barely any cover behind the tree he was at. The men of fireteam one near him scattered to avoid the incoming high explosive shell, and I immediately cried out to him to run as well.
"Wegryzen move!" Oh-One realized the danger he was in too late and attempted to sluggishly dash away with the heavy Cip-Quad cannon. The destroyer fired a single round from its turret. It was deadly accurate and struck the abdomen of the retreating Shoretrooper. This proved devastating as the explosion that ensued virtually tore SD-901 apart. A cloud of fine red mist and shrapnel flew in all directions as trails of viscera and fragments of body parts and armor flew in all directions in a horrific display of gore.
"Wegryzen!" I screamed, horrified at the visceral display of the fate of my assistant squad leader. I was frozen for a moment as my eyes tracked a chunk of his body which landed in the sand a few feet away from me, separated from the shredded pieces of bone, plastoid armor, and flesh scattered all over the ground. Suddenly another explosive shell whizzed past my shoulder and slammed into the lagoon behind me, kicking up sand and water as it exploded and knocking me out of my frozen stupor.
"Four-Seven, Six-Six, stay mobile and keep firing! We're going to kill these assholes!" SD-453 exclaimed as he and the rest of the squad kept moving from cover to cover and taking potshots at the still-standing Abyssal destroyer from multiple angles.
Six-Six and I quickly followed suit with the rest of the squad. SD-238, one of fireteam one's riflemen, had finished off the last of the Abyssal infantry in the area with a few well-placed shots before taking a thermal detonator off his belt and punching in its activation code. Stepping out of cover, the stormtrooper reared his arm back and prepared to throw it at the injured Abyssal that was slowly pushing itself off the ground while black blood continuously spewed from its mutilated leg and mixed in with the falling rain, making a river of blood that flowed across the permacrete ground. The other destroyer caught this and shifted her hips which allowed one of her thigh-mounted ion torpedo launchers to lock onto him and launch one. SD-238 was struck in the chest, and his body was pretty much vaporized from the powerful ion blast that engulfed him. All that remained was his burnt helmet which soared through the sky. His fallen detonator exploded a couple of seconds later.
"Three-Eight is do—!" Another stormtrooper from fireteam one exclaimed before a high explosive shell landed next to him, sending his body flying back fifteen yards. The shrapnel and concussive force from the blast turned his insides into mush, and he was dead before he even landed.
These Abyssals would tear us to pieces if we couldn't kill them as soon as possible! Before we knew it, the whole squad would die if we didn't kill at least one of them fast. Shifting on the balls of my feet and pivoting sharply in the wet sand, I decided to do something crazy and attack head-on. "COVER ME!"
"Four-Seven, wait!" I ignored the verbal protests of Crisp and the remnants of my squad as I charged the downed Abyssal while the other was too distracted fighting the others to pay attention to me.
With a roar fueled by fury and fear, I slammed my shoulder into the nose of the ten-foot-tall Ro-class. It felt like a durasteel wall, butI was able to knock it onto its back and off of its one remaining knee, causing it to grunt in irritation. I mounted the armored chest of the Abyssal and pressed the dual-barrels of my E-22 against its unarmored shoulder joint of the arm, which held its cannon. Wasting no time, I fired bursts of blaster fire into the join and blew off the destroyer's limb, leaving it with one less limb and weapon. As the shocked destroyer screeched in pain and fury, she used her other arm to bat me off her chest. This attracted the attention of the other destroyer, who turned around and saw what had happened. It raised its cannon but could not fire as Flique, and the other T-21 gunner took this opportunity to concentrate fire on the side of its head, hitting its face and throat with high-powered blaster bolts. The Abyssal staggered and clutched its throat, which now had a massive hole blow through it, before whipping its cannon around and firing wildly at the first stormtrooper it saw.
I took this opportunity to pull my thermal imploder off my belt and input the detonation code before throwing it at the two Abyssals. The unmistakable beeping of the imploder's timer ticking down filled the air before a massive ring of fire expanded outward and then collapsed in on itself, creating a large explosion that caught both Abyssals in its radius. This proved enough to put down both of the injured destroyers, who collapsed to the ground in pools of their blood. Parts of their bodies were vaporized while twisted metal and chunks of flesh and viscera settled on the ground in wet puddles that were washed away by the pouring rain. I leaned over and began to heave, my heart pounding from adrenaline and my lungs aching in pain. Then, SD-558 ran up to me and grabbed my bicep, pulling me toward the rest of the squad.
"We need to get moving, Four-Seven! Come on!" I ripped my arm away from the stormtrooper and turned to face the rest of my squad.
"How many casualties?" I breathed.
"Pretty much the entirety of fireteam one and Sergeant Wegryzen." Explained Flique, who then shoved the back of my shoulder and pushed me over to the beach. "We need to go!"
The ground shook violently, accompanied by a cacophonous explosion that interrupted All of our heads snapped to the point of their origin far in the distance: the citadel. The entire upper half of the tall building exploded and collapsed in itself, effectively destroying the command tower and burying the bottom and its surroundings in rubble and twisted metal. Abyssal starfighters soared around the battered citadel, continuously diving and strafing whatever poor souls may still be living amongst the rubble and desperately holding back the Abyssal advance on their position.
"Holy shit," I uttered in shock at the display.
"We need to move now!" Crisp ushered us to move. "Around the lagoon! There should be an entrance emergency bunker on the opposite side of the island!"
Crisp was the first to run down the shoreline, and we followed. So began the haul down the long stretch of water, running past burning trees and bodies of those who fell from Abyssal strafing runs on the sand. The cacophony of explosions and rumbling of the ground from the battle that erupted around us was insane, and I was getting my baptism of fire in the first battle of my career. I just hoped that this wouldn't be the last.
Making a wide right turn down the shore as it curved to encompass the lagoon, I heard a high-pitched buzzing sound as three Abyssal starfighters zipped overhead and above the water before performing a sharp J-turn and diving on us, firing their laser canons. Instinctively I dove into the sand and covered the back of my neck with my arms. I felt oppressive heat from the high-powered plasma bolts slamming into the water and sand, turning the latter into heated shards of glass and kicking up mounds of sediment. After the attack had passed, I shot back to my feet and cursed at the sight before me. "Dammit!"
Sergeant Crisp had a hole blown through his abdomen, and the entire lower half of his face was blown off, exposing tattered cartilage, teeth, and flesh that hung loosely from under what remained of his helmet. His blood was pooling across the sand, but I had no time to stop and mourn for him as the distinct buzzing of the Abyssal starfighters filled my ear as they returned for another pass.
"Come on, go, go go!" I bent over and helped SD-453 get up from the ground and pushed him forward as we made a mad dash across the sand, trailing SD-266, who had run ahead of us. Flique followed close behind, and we all spread out as the fighters came down for another pass. My breathing started to become heavy and ragged, and the muscles in my legs burned as the fatigue from the fighting. My body started to feel the weight of my equipment and armor as I began to slow down. I pushed through the pain while plasma bolts rained on the beach around me, shaking the ground with threatening explosions. I survived this pass and continued my dash into the treeline ahead of me. It would give the squad concealment from any Abyssal starfighter that sought to harass infantry now that most of the Army Air Corps squadrons were obliterated.
I pushed through the thick foliage of the treeline with my E-22 held across my chest, hopping over fallen trees and ripping through tropical bushes of varying shades of green. The compass on the top of my helmet's heads-up display indicated that I was moving northeast at twenty-four degrees, in a direct path to a large landing pad area where a bunker entrance would be located. While Six-Six was still a few meters ahead of me, I looked to my left to see Flique was still alive and staying parallel to my position, matching my pace and running along with me.
"You and your big mouth!" I snarked, causing the gunner in my fire team to snap his head in my direction.
"What! Are you saying this is my fault?"
"No, I'm just pissed at how accurate you were at predicting this shit!"
"IT WAS A JOKE!"
"NOT SO FUNNY NOW, IS IT?"
KABOOM!
Another explosion rocked the tropical forest around us, kicked up a massive column of dirt, and blasted waves of shrapnel and splinters in our direction. Hot shrapnel pinged harmlessly off my plastoid armor, but I felt a sharp pain in my right leg as a particularly thick piece of shrapnel glanced at my thigh and sliced it open, tearing through the unarmored brown trousers I wore over my bodyglove. In times like this, I wished I was wearing standard stormtrooper armor and had some god-dammed leg plates. Flique was safe as his stormtrooper armor deflected most hot metal splinters and shredded tree bark.
"Fuck me!" I hopped in pain before continuing to limp at a slower pace, and my right hand came slapping down on the large tear in my thigh that was pouring warm blood and staining my trousers.
The searing pain in my leg worsened as I continued running through the tropical foliage. It was evident that I was beginning to get slower and slower as Six-Six and Flique began to separate even further from me. Soon an unspotted root caught my leg and caused me to plummet forward, and I grunted in a mixture of pain and annoyance. I pushed myself up, and when I raised my head, I found that SD-453 had run back and grabbed hold of my arm, tugging me up off the ground and throwing my arm over his shoulder for support.
"Come on, Four-Seven," He said as he aided me in traversing through the thick foliage, "can't have you falling behind like this!"
I didn't say anything, only keeping my E-22 held up with one hand and tucked underneath my armpit, ready to fight at a moment's notice should both of us run into another Abyssal. Following behind the path SD-266 and Flique took, we ascended a steep hill. Digging our boots into the muddy ground as the rain continued to pour and turn the tropical forest into a bog of mud, grass, and rotting acrea nuts from the tall palm trees that bent and twisted from the force of the growing storm. As we continued to ascend, the steep incline slowly became level once more, and both SD-453 and I dropped to our knees near a large crater filled with rainwater by a segment of foliage that was eviscerated and flattened. Flique and SD-266 had also stopped here, staring ahead through the foliage with their blasters raised. Putting his hands on the back of my utility belt, SD-453 pulled out my med-pack and retrieved a large bacta patch and field dressing. I gave him an appreciative nod as he fastened both around the gash in my thigh, focusing more on what had caused the other two in my fire team to stop.
"What's wrong?" I asked as I scooted next to Flique, who had his T-21 resting on the trunk of a fallen tree.
"Shut up and look!" Hissed the stormtrooper as he pointed through a gap in the treeline where the four of us could peer through and see into an open field. A large metal structure with two landing pads for transport had collapsed with a crashed LAIT being consumed by a fiery blaze nearby. The field was scattered with the bodies of Army troopers and engineers alike. The trees opposite us across the field shifted, with many bent further than what the screeching wind could do. The crunching of snapping trunks and the rumbling of the ground were heard as something big was tearing its way through the forest across the field.
Suddenly, a squad of stormtroopers emerged from the tree line and ran in all directions, firing wildly behind them into the forest and running in our direction. Before they could even clear half of the field, two proton torpedos zipped out of the tree line and slammed near a few of them, vaporizing half of the squad almost instantly. Only one could run as the others fell to the ground, injured, desperately calling for help. As loyal to his comrades as he was, he stopped running and hesitated, debating on going back to try and save at least one of them. This proved to be an egregious mistake on his part as seconds later, a six-meter-tall Abyssal emerged from the forest. The Chi-class torpedo cruiser slammed a large shield with two torpedo launchers connected to its right arm onto the ground while a small cannon attached to its waist rotated to face the lone remaining stormtrooper.
"Oh, fuck me!" SD-266 hissed as he pulled back from the bushes and hid behind the trunk of a nearby tree. The rest of us followed suit, moving away from the gap in the treeline to find better concealment. We could do nothing to help the squad ahead of us; it would be suicide to engage a cruiser without heavy weaponry. In a last-ditch effort of retaliation against the monster, the lone stormtrooper snapped his blaster upwards and hip-fired a few shots straight into the Abyssal's face. The torpedo cruiser's bone-white faceplate effortlessly deflected the bolts, which left only minor scorch marks. The Abyssal responded with a single shot from its hip-mounted cannon, which did its job in reducing the stormtrooper to a fine rest mist and scattered parts of gore and shredded plastoid. The Abyssal's mouth curled into a slight frown as it picked its shield off the ground and began finishing off the injured. Much to the dismay of those alive but incapacitated, the lone Abyssal effortlessly ended their lives as she lifted her armored boot and slammed it onto them, twisting her foot and turning the injured into a visceral paste in the mud with an audible crack that reverberated through the air.
My finger twitched over my blaster's trigger as I watched the monster tirelessly wipe out an entire squad of stormtroopers. Hate and fear brewed inside me, and knowing that I was practically helpless to do anything but watch made me sick. The last remaining stormtrooper was pathetically crawling away in the mud, grunting in pain as his right leg from the knee down was mangled from the torpedo blast earlier. After finishing off another stormtrooper, the Abyssal cruiser snapped her gaze to the one who hopelessly tried crawling away, and caught up with the man with a short stride. Bending down, the Abyssal grabbed the injured stormtrooper in its left hand and yanked him off the ground. The man had devolved into pained cries and spasmed violently in the monster's hand, spitting and cursing until his upper body was shoved into the cruiser's mouth, and it bit down and silenced him. Sharp incisors bisected the stormtrooper's armored body, and as the Chi-class cruiser pulled its hand back and reared her head to the side, whatever strands of loose flesh held the man's body together were torn apart. Intestines and crimson ichor spilled out of the stormtrooper's lower half and onto the hand of the Abyssal.
SD-266 retched a little, and as much as I wanted to turn my gaze away from the sickening display, I couldn't do it. I'd seen how the Abyssals ate people in the training films back in Carida, but in person, it was much more gut-wrenching and spine-tingling. I was sure SD-558 and 453 felt the same as me, but we were helpless in this situation. All we could do was watch as we remained frozen and as quiet as possible. The Abyssal reared its head back and swallowed before shoving the rest of the stormtrooper's corpse into its mouth and finishing it off. The torpedo cruiser licked the gore off its hand as it moved throughout the field and searched the ruined landing pad and the various burning wreckage around it for survivors. My squad and I slowly lowered ourselves to the ground and stayed as motionless as possible in the foliage, hoping the Abyssal would simply pass by without noticing us. The ground shook as it walked along the treeline and searched the surrounding area, its hip-mounted turret swiveling back and forth, ready to engage any living target. I was doing my best to control the intense shaking of my body as it passed by us. After a few agonizingly long minutes, the Abyssal cut through the forest and left the field, searching for more Imperials in the area or linking up with others to continue to assault the planet.
We waited a few more minutes, listening to the sounds of battle and the screaming wind that accompanied the thunderstorm encompassing the security complex. After it was deemed clear, my team and I slowly rose from the ground and advanced through the foliage before coming to the edge of the field. One of the entrances to the underground bunker system of the security complex was past the large field and through the forest ahead, possibly another eight hundred meters or so. All of us looked around the see if the coast was completely clear. Once it was deemed so, I inhaled sharply and exclaimed, "GO!"
We emerged from the woods and made a mad dash across the field, heading for the tree line on the opposite end to re-enter another part of the tropical forest. I ran through the foliage after making it through the field unscathed and began descending a steep path. I vaulted over fallen trees and hopped over craters of dirt, my leg burning in pain even as the bleeding was stopped from the emergency bacta covering. While the wound on my thigh hindered my mobility, I persevered and made it to the bottom of the hill, which opened into a long stretch of green before reaching the shore. The shore connected to a where my fire team and I maneuvered into a single file and sprinted across as fast as possible. At the end of this sandbar was the tiny atoll, which was one of the various entrances to the underground tunnel system, and a massive landing pad almost three hundred meters long and one hundred meters wide.
After running down the long sandbar, I reached the atoll. I only ran through about eighty meters of foliage before I reached the edge of the landing area, where a fierce battle was commencing between a mixture of Army troopers and stormtroopers protecting retreating civilians flooding into the underground tunnel system against waves of Abyssal infantry that were rising from the depths of the ocean on the shore on the east side of the atoll. The Abyssals were most likely coming from the pods that slammed into the water in the distance.
I reached the makeshift defenses consisting of two E-WEB guns manned by two stormtroopers each and a cluster of metal crates and twisted wreckages of the cargo ships on the pad before the invasion began. A platoon of Army troopers wielding E-10s and DLT-19s was doing their best to hold back the advancing Abyssal infantry by manning defenses sixty yards away from the bunker entrance, giving the one officer that remained on the surface enough space to coordinate a panicking group of civilians and direct them safely inside Many of the soldiers fell to Abyssal drones' shard rifle fire but continued their steadfast defense of the bunker entrance with their lives. When my fire team arrived to aid in the defense, we were barely noticed as the battle was far too chaotic.
I collapsed next to the remains of a soldier whose chest plate was penetrated by two shards, his dead body slumped over the orange crate he was using as cover. The pool of blood under him was constantly washed away by the beating rain. SD-558 and SD-266 also chose to hunker down next to some others, encouraging them to fight on. I took deep breaths and watched as SD-558's T-21 was going to work, its powerful bolts tearing apart the advancing drones with well-placed shots. Once I felt it was the right time, and after the heavy shard-bolt fire zipping over my head had ceased, I popped my head and shoulders out of cover and rose my BlasTech E-22. Once more, the targeting systems on my HUD did their magic, and I snapped from target to target, firing controlled bursts of blaster fire without utilizing my electroscope. I simply aligned the crosshairs that appeared on my HUD with the Abyssal infantry drones ahead.
After decimating the Abyssal infantry and only sustaining a few losses on our side, a wave of quadrupedal shark-like creatures the size of large dogs came rushing forth out of the ocean and through the sand onto the landing pads, charging directly at our defensive line in an attempt to create a breakthrough. They were much more challenging targets to hit, and with rows of razor-sharp teeth and powerful legs, they launched themselves in packs at the Imperial soldiers. Screams of panic and pain as these creatures viscously ripped apart unarmored flesh in their jaws filled the air, and they caused enough of a nuisance that everyone's focus turned to killing them, leaving them vulnerable to the advancing Abyssal infantry. There was no winning scenario here, we either got shot and killed by Abyssal infantry while leaving cover and separating ourselves from these shark creatures or kept firing at the infantry and got pounced on by these creatures.
"OFF, GET THE HELL OFF OF ME!" Holding out a thermal detonator as her side and legs were being mauled, an Army sergeant let the explosive detonate in her hand, ending her suffering and effectively killing a small pack of the creatures around her. However, this explosion created a blast wave that knocked a few others off their feet and killed the nearest troopers next to her.
"We need to retreat! We can't do this!" A young private cried and attempted to make a mad dash toward the bunker but only made it a few steps before his collar was caught in an iron grip by Flique, who was having none of his cowardice.
"Fight until you're given the order to retreat, or I'll shoot you myself!"
Tossing the kid back against his piece of cover, Flique turned his T-21 blaster against a pack of charging creatures and killed them all with deadly efficiency, before turning his blaster back on the infantry. SD-266 and I both rose from cover and did our part in taking out the rest of the quadrupedal sharks with our superior skills, relieving the remaining half of the platoon from that threat. The explosive bolts of the E-WEB cannons behind us swept up the rest of the Abyssal infantry, clearing out another wave and giving us only a few moments of much-needed time to check our equipment and reload our blasters.
"Reloading!" I ejected the power pack out of my E-22.
I loaded another in the blaster as I bent down to a dead body to retrieve their thermal detonator for my use, a volley of explosive shells impacted around us, kicking up red-hot shrapnel and tearing half of the platoon to shreds and kicking up permacrete rubble. The agonized screaming of the injured filled the air, and my voice joined the chorus as I pressed myself against the crate I was using for cover.
"FALL BACK! FALL BACK!" The cry of the Army officer reached my ears through the thunderous explosions, and immediately all of the soldiers and stormtroopers defending the area began to run as fast as their legs could take them to the bunker entrance. As soon as I had risen to my feet, two high-velocity shells zipped over my head and impacted the ground between the cluster of retreating Imperials, kicking up waves of shrapnel and fire that enveloped the bodies of six soldiers in a single second. I dropped behind the crate and peeked out from the side, watching as two Ne-class cruisers rose from the ocean and made their way onto the landing area. The eight-meter-tall armored Abyssals shrugged off every E-WEB bolt that hit them and responded in kind with the two double turrets they had connected to their back by a pulsating grey mass that moved like a disgusting tail.
"Clear backblast!" The cry of one of the stormtroopers manning an E-WEB canon cried out as he rushed through the retreating crowd with an HH-12 resting on his right shoulder. Dropping to his knee, he locked on with one of the heavy cruisers and fired a rocket that flew through the air at an immense speed, followed by a trail of thick smoke. It slammed into the unarmored chest of the right Ne-class and caused it to jerk back as the high-explosion warhead blew out a massive chunk of flesh, exposing the cruiser's ribcage and organs through a gaping wound that poured waves of black ichor onto the ground. The left eye of the Abyssal, which was not covered by a large horn, squeezed shut as she roared in pain and slammed a hand against the wound. I popped out of cover with a few others, began firing my blaster, and joined the fight, hoping to take at least one of the monsters down.
The Ne-class grunted as it continued forward with a murderous look in its eye, shrugging off every blaster bolt like a walking tank. I cursed and began to retreat from the crate I was taking cover behind. Others quickly followed, and not a moment too soon as both cruisers fired off salvos that tore into the ground and sent thick pieces of shrapnel flying in all directions. The stormtrooper with the rocket launcher was launched a few meters into the air as the concussive blast knocked him off his feet. Luckily his armor protected him from a few pieces of shrapnel that hit him, but their kinetic force alone had probably injured him, If those didn't, then the extreme pressure of the blast wave certainly did. The shrapnel tore through the remaining troopers of the Army platoon who stayed back to cover the retreat, leaving me and one other stormtrooper to run the sixty yards to the bunker entrance alone.
As we ran, glowing purple streaks zipped past us as Abyssal drones reached the pad and started firing their shard rifles at the two of us. The other trooper gasped as he fell, two shards had slammed into the back of his armor and penetrated. I continued running as fast as possible towards the bunker entrance, where SD-453 and SD-558 both stood near the manual door controls, waving and screaming. The ground shook as the Abyssals advanced, and suddenly, both troopers in my fire team disappeared as the bunker door snapped shut and sealed with a pressurized hiss. My heart sunk to my stomach as I was only halfway there, but the shrieking of explosive shells whizzing past my head and slamming into the bunker door told me exactly why the two had shut it. As the shrapnel from the explosion rained down on me, I cut hard and changed my direction, hoping to get out of their sight by weaving in between the ruined hulls of the large transport shuttles on the far end of the landing pad. Before I knew it, the sounds of whizzing high-velocity shells reached my ears, and everything went black before I could fathom what was happening.
The dark clouds that blocked out the sky were gone now, allowing the trillions of stars that littered the beautiful galaxy to display themselves in the night sky, twinkling brightly. Dark blotches in the shapes of diamonds and spheres littered the sky and blocked out such stars as Abyssal ships surrounded the planet of Koralili. Some of the smaller vessels began to reach the surface to begin the Abyssilization of the planet. Soon, all of its natural resources would belong to the murderous aliens hellbent on destroying the entire galaxy. The cacophony of war that filled the populated portions of the planets has gone quiet for hours now, as ninety-nine percent of both military and civilian targets on the planet had been killed or, worse, captured. Those who remained alive were a small portion of Imperial troops and civilians hunkered down in the underground emergency tunnels under the Imperial base. Still, they could not stay in hiding there forever.
It was only a matter of time until the Abyssals destroyed the heavy blast doors and managed a way to pass the ray shields separating them from their prey.
My eyes fluttered open, and I stared blankly into the night sky. I moaned in agony as waves of pain pounded through my head, and my muscles ached from the exertions they had been subject to many hours ago. I slowly pulled my right arm out of the wreckage it was lightly pinned under, brought my gloved hand to the back of my head, and felt scabs of dry blood. From the horrible dizziness, aches in my head, and damage down to my skull, it was safe to assume that I had a concussion from being knocked out by blunt force trauma to the back of the skull. I closed my eyes and whined quietly as I let myself lay still among the wreckage of the shuttle I was in, basking in the moonlight and the eerie silence that accompanied the night. Not a single sound was made by the tropical birds that lived on the island, nor the insects. All there was to hear was the quiet whistling of the breeze as it cried softly.
I was not dead...yet. It was clear this battle was lost, and the planet would be as well. I would not survive here much longer, whether or not I was on the tropical surface, the underground tunnel system, or emergency bunkers. I grit my teeth and squeeze my eyes tighter as negative emotions overwhelm me. I always said I was not afraid of death, and I can confidently say that the truth is that I could die in battle against pirates, rebels, or even old age. However, when it came to the Abyssals...I was afraid to die. As common as it was when faced with a loss to this galactic threat, I was not going to commit suicide with my blaster or thermal detonator to avoid getting their hands on me. I didn't believe in suicide without a righteous cause. Therefore, I was at a loss. I did not know what I could do. I would have to move from the wreckage and see how the remainder of my life would play out from that point on.
I groaned softly and slowly pushed the pieces of the destroyed shuttle off my body before shimmying out from under the wreckage and laying on the cold durasteel ground the landing zone was built on. I rolled to my side and glanced down at my right leg, which throbbed with dull pain from the injury patched earlier. It wasn't bleeding anymore, though. Rising from the ground, I glanced at the ruined defensive line where my last engagement occurred. No bodies were left in the area, only detached limbs, pools of slick red blood, and burnt flesh. I grimaced, walked over to a fallen E-11 blaster rifle on the ground, and picked it up, folding its stock to make it smaller and easier to carry around. Then I grabbed a bandolier of thermal imploders and a C1 comlink left on the ground.
Walking past the closed bunker entrance and into a wooded area, I brought the commlink to my mouth and said quietly, "SD-747 to all callsigns, does anyone copy? Over."
I received nothing. I tried again.
"I say again: SD-747 to all callsigns, does anyone copy? Ov—"
A quick response cut me off.
"Four-Seven! By the Emperor!" SD-266's voice came over the frequency, sounding astonished that I was on the other end of the commlink. "We thought you were dead!"
"Who?"
"Five-Eight, Five-Three, and me. We had to seal the bunker doors before you got in because that Ne-class was about to rock our shit with those cannons!" That was completely understandable, and there was no reason they should have risked having one of the bunker entrances blown open and compromising the safety of many in the underground system for one man. For all they knew, I was torn to shreds by shrapnel or eaten by an Abyssal.
"How many survivors made it into the tunnels?" I questioned. There were many entrances in the citadel and scattered across the security complex to the underground bunker system, all interconnected by various tunnels.
"Not sure," SD-266 responded. "I think a little under a hundred workers made it down here. Only a few dozen Imperial personnel. Most of them are Army, but we also have a few stormtroopers down here. Sergeant Major Keller took charge alongside a Signal Corps officer."
"No shit! Keller's alive?" Sergeant Major Keller was the senior-most stormtrooper in the regiment, being the senior enlisted advisor to Colonel Hollingway and his staff. Unlike them, however, he still went out in the field and constantly wore his stormtrooper armor in favor of his duty uniform. Even at forty-one, he was out there fighting for the Emperor and showing up to many of the younger guys.
"Any other NCOs or officers?" I asked.
"Some Sergeant First Class from the Army, but that's about it."
I leaned against a tree next to me and sighed. So it seemed only one officer and two NCOs were left to manage over a hundred scared civilians and battle-damaged soldiers down in those tunnels. That's just great.
"Four-Seven, this is Flique, what's up, TL!" SD-558 had joined the channel from his comlink.
"Some shit, that's what." I dropped radio etiquette at this point. It was not like there were any RTOs or signals officers to get on our asses about it now. Well, except for that one captain, but who the hell cares what he thinks?
"I don't know how you're still alive, but that's great. I'm going to go get Keller, he might have something for you to do!" My eyebrows rose in interest. As far as I was concerned, I didn't want to be useless for hours and wait to be found by an Abyssal patrol. Having something to do would be nice.
Soon enough, Keller was on the frequency. "Four-Seven, listen up. Abyssals may have destroyed the citadel tower, but the communications array on the atoll behind it is still active, and we've been sending a distress signal for hours now. We received a response from the Ninth Fleet, so rescue is coming. However, when it eventually engages the Abyssal ships and does send down shuttles, we need a distraction to attract those nerf herding bitches."
"I'm assuming that's where I come in," I responded.
"Sharp, aren't you, Lance Corporal? I need you to make your way to the communications array and broadcast a message on the PA system antagonizing the Abyssals and urging them over to you. Distract them long enough to pull some heat away from us while we load the shuttles. Get out of there after broadcasting the message, and we'll swing by and pick you up. Make it quick, we don't have much time for exfill."
"That's well over a mile away. How do you expect me to get there?"
"You're a capable Shoretrooper, figure it out. Just don't get caught." With that being said, Keller ended the transmission.
This mission I was given was going to be vital for the evacuation of Koralili to be successful. While I was doubtful about the ability of the Imperial Navy to break through the Abyssal ships surrounding the planet and get evacuation shuttles through, I still had my orders. I would do my part on the ground. This mission required the utmost stealth to make it to the communications array. Therefore, I would have to ditch my damaged armor and stick to the shadows as much as possible. I dropped to a knee and began removing my Shoretrooper armor. First, I removed my shin plates, letting them drop to the ground and leaving the top of my boots and bloused trousers uncovered. Then, I removed the hip plates loosely attached to my belt, which protected my butt and upper thighs. It didn't take long to remove all the plates on my arms before tearing off my chest and abdomen plating. This left me only in my skin-tight black bodyglove, brown trousers, and boots. I felt the trousers would contrast too much with the black and stick out in the darkness, so I removed the make-shift bandage around my right leg and my trousers next.
Now that I was left in my bodyglove, it would be easier to maneuver quietly and stay undetected while I attempted to complete this stealth mission ahead of me. I wasted no time making my way back through the wooded area of the island, moving quickly through the ruined tropical forest to get to the opposite side of this island and reach the sandbar again. I would be retracing my steps from earlier, hoping to make it back to the repulsor-lift track and follow that down to the base of the destroyed citadel before climbing out and making my way around to the communications array.
I stopped in a cluster of bushes near the island's shore, which connected to the long sandbar, and scanned the area around it. Abyssal infantry was staggering around the area slowly, having nothing else to do other than mindlessly wander about occupied areas and attack any humans left alive. I needed to get past them, but I did not want to start a loud firefight that would attract any of the other Abyssals in the area because there was no chance I would survive an encounter with one of them now. Luckily, only four of the bumbling Abyssal soldiers were on the sandbar and shore, blocking my way across, so it wouldn't be too hard to get past them as long as I drew them in first. I picked up a decent-sized rock that fit well in the palm of my hand and reared my arm back while aiming at the furthest Abyssal on the sandbar about sixty yards away. I stood up from the bush, thew the rock as hard as I could, and watched it sail through the air before grazing the Abyssal's leg. As the creature croaked in irritation, I dropped right back into the bush, the glowing orb on its otherwise featureless face pulsating slightly. This caught the attention of the other three, and slowly but surely, they began to walk over to my position where they thought the rock came from. As they approached closer, I raised my E-11 and manually aimed through its electroscope as I poked its barrel out of the bush I was using for concealment.
Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew!
I nailed each target with a blaster bolt to the head. Each of the Abyssals fell to the sand with a dull thud, and black blood began to pool from their burnt skulls. I took the opportunity I had to dash out of cover and sprint across the sandbar onto the next island. From there, I continued through the tropical forest and up a steep hill before reaching the same open field where the Chi-class torpedo cruiser slaughtered that stormtrooper squad earlier. The mutilated bodies were nowhere to be seen, with only blood-stained grass, a few strewn limbs, and gore to prove they were there before. I dropped to the ground and took my time low-crawling across the field, keeping my face shoved into the dirt and trying to keep my body hidden in the thick grass. I was only a few meters away from the treeline on the opposite end when I felt the ground shake from heavy footsteps coming from the direction I came from. I turned to my side and rolled the rest of the way under a bush with large, flat, and droopy leaves. I pushed myself further into the bush while looking out onto the field with my E-11 ready.
The shaking grew more vigorous, accompanied by snapping branches and tearing leaves as two three-meter Ro-class destroyers exited the woods and spread out in the field. Both Abyssals scrutinized the wreckage of the crashed LAIT nearby and tore into its hull, which had stopped burning hours earlier. One let out a dissatisfied huff before tossing away a crumbling plate of durasteel. The other left the area and began walking against the treeline, peering inside with a glowrod that produced a concentrated beam of light into the dark forest. I crawled deeper into the bush and pressed my face into the ground, holding my breath as the light passed just over my head.
I waited only a few minutes after hearing the Abyssal patrol group exit the open field, but it felt like an eternity. Once I felt that it was safe enough to start moving, I pushed myself up off the ground and got a move on once again, sinking deeper into the tropical forest. From there, I backtracked and moved down to the same lagoon from earlier. It was not long until I reached the depot where the repulsor-lift tram stop and supply truck unloading area was, and I took a short breather next to a tree while surveying the battle-torn area. Once again, the human bodies were missing, and blood splatters painted the area around the fallen Abyssal pod where our first engagement with the invading force took place. There were no Abyssals around, so I made my way over to the track for the repulsor-life tram and hopped down into it, landing on the metal plates that formed the track, which hummed slightly with energy.
It was a little under a mile walk on the track, surrounded by the open ocean, before I would reach its primary stop at the base of the citadel. As I began my long walk down the track, I brought up the commlink once again and reported my status.
"Sergeant Major, this is SD-747. How copy?" I whispered.
"Good copy, Four-Seven. What's the sit-rep? Over." Came his reply not a second later. It seemed like he was waiting for me; it looked like he had faith.
"On my way to the citadel down the repulsor-lift track. Just slipped past some Abyssals destroyers patrolling the area. Pretty sure they're hunting down survivors."
"Tracking. Keep me updated on your progress. And remember, we're all counting on you; don't fuck up. Keller out."
Once again, left alone with my thoughts and the deadly silent air, I wordlessly made my way down the track and headed straight for the base of the Citadel. While my body was sore and my muscles and ligaments were moaning in distress from the physical exertion of my body and my underlying injuries present, I kept up a fast pace. I approached the end of the repulsor-lift track at the outer entrance of the citadel tower within twelve minutes.
Once I made it to the end, I threw my E-11 and imploder bandolier onto the durasteel floor before jumping vertically, grabbing onto the edge of it, and pulling myself up off the track. Surrounding the citadel was a large ring where all the repulsor lifts could travel to and stop to unload passengers and supplies. Exiting this train station-like ring would lead you to a large open area with landing pads and vehicle tents before reaching the entrance to the citadel itself. I made my way through the ring and exited through a large hole blown through it in my area. I took a few steps onto the sizeable durasteel field and pressed myself behind an undamaged repulsor tank for cover.
I leaned my head out to the tank's rear end and peered down the field toward the entrance. The entire time I was making my way toward this landmark, I wondered why I was not seeing that many Abyssals on the way and why so many bodies had gone missing. Now I had received my answer as I gazed upon a gut-wrenching display of gore. Over a hundred yards away and in the middle of the courtyard was a massive pile of dead bodies in various stages of mutilation, creating a massive pool of red blood on the ground. Surrounding the pile of bodies were many Ro-class destroyers, three Ne-class starcruisers, a Chi-class corvette, and a Wo-class carrier. This must be the same Wo-class from earlier whose fighters attacked us. They might be the leader of the invasion force, as their eyes glowed a bright yellow, and an aura of power surrounded the much taller Abyssal. Surprisingly, they were not wearing their monstrous cap, as it was half-destroyed and discarded on the ground, revealing its flowing silver hair caked in its own oily blood. Looks like something gave her a good beating, but not enough.
The destroyers and cruisers were gorging themselves on the bodies as the Wo-class paced back and forth through the courtyard, stoically looking around. I watched as the destroyers tore limbs off bodies, chunks of flesh and whole organs were bitten into by the smaller vessels, and bodies were bitten in half by the larger ones. These things looked more like a pack of wild animals feasting rather than intelligent creatures, which was unsettling to see. More Abyssals came and went as minutes passed, and patrol teams comprised of different types of destroyers and cruisers swapped out, with the current one having their fill at the organized pile of human and alien carcasses. Every so often, the Wo-class carrier would pull one of the larger cruisers to the side and talk about something in that unique language of theirs. Suddenly, a Ne-class Cruiser turned its head in my direction as it dragged a pair of destroyers away from the pile of gore and began ordering them to do something.
Finally, after witnessing the disgusting scene for some time, I snapped my head back behind the tank. A burning sensation filled my chest and throat as bile began to rise, and my white skin turned a greenish pale. My cheeks bulged as vomit threatened to spill out of my mouth, but I did not let it. I swallowed the disgusting mix of acid and body fluids and took a few deep breaths to calm myself and lower my rapidly beating heart. Suddenly, a scream of fear echoed throughout the dead silent air, and I poked my head out of cover to see where it originated.
A technician had been playing dead in the pile of bodies and hoped to be overlooked by the Abyssals in a poor attempt at survival. His black helmet was gone, revealing a terrified expression as he was plucked out of the pile by the Wo-class, whose attention now rested on the pile of corpses. His screams of fear elicited little response from most of the other Abyssals, who were too busy eating to pay the soon-to-be-dead human any mind, but some destroyers did glance up at him. The technician kicked his legs and punched the hand of the Wo-class desperately before biting down on the large hand that picked him up. Surprisingly, this elicited a small response from the normally stoic Abyssal, who frowned, closing her hand tighter and crushing the torso of the technician. Blood spurted out of his gaping mouth as bones fractured and organs ruptured in his body, and he fell limp, with his chest struggling to heave as his punctured lungs struggled to obtain oxygen. Then, without a second thought, the Wo-class shoved the technician in her mouth and clamped down. The dying man twitched slightly before sharp incisors bit down and cut through the twitching legs, allowing them to drop into the pile of bodies.
After watching this display, I could not stop the vomit that projected out of my body at that point, and chunky, viscous, yellow liquid spewed from my mouth as I rolled to the side and coated the ground. While I usually retched loudly when I vomited, I did not this time and focused on making as little noise as possible while I emptied the contents of my stomach onto the ground behind the repulsor tank. I doubted the Abyssals could hear me over a hundred yards away. Once again, I began to shiver with fear and doubted my ability to complete this mission.
With a shaking hand, I brought my comlink to my chattering teeth and whispered through it.
"S-s-sergeant Major, I-I don't know if I can get to the communications array! Those things are everywhere!"
Immediately I got an agitated response.
"What the fuck do you mean!? The Twelfth fleet is already exiting hyperspace above the planet!" I glanced into the stary dark sky and saw bright flashes of light, showing that another naval battle was commencing. "The evacuation shuttles can't come down if the Abyssals on the base aren't distracted! They'll shoot the damn things down!"
"B-but I can't get past them to get to the communications array b-behind the citadel! Most of them are here j-just...eating people!"
"DEAD people. They're gone, there's nothing we can do about that!" Corrected the agitated Keller. "Find a damn way past them! You need to nut up, shut up, and do your duty! Without you, we're all going to die! A stormtrooper does not cower in the face of death like this!"
The comlink was cut abruptly, and I pondered Keller's words. He was right about the situation, and I needed to face my fears and complete this mission for the sake of everyone else! I was an Imperial stormtrooper, one of the Emperor's finest soldiers! I could not be showing such fear and weakness like this...right? I grit my chattering teeth to stop them and wipe some bile off my lips. I needed to sneak around the ruined shuttles on the landing pads to my right and walk around the edge of the citadel to its back without being seen. There was too much of a gap between the landing pads that I could easily be spotted without something to catch the attention of the many Abyssals in the field. Therefore, now is the time I needed a distraction!
I took off my imploder bandolier and punched in the right codes on all four imploders with an appropriate delay so I could safely arm them all before chucking the bandolier at the other tank across from the one I was hiding behind. Once all were armed, I tossed the bandolier so that it was slid underneath the other repulsor tank before sneaking away from mine and behind a shuttle's landing gear on the nearest pad to my left.
Beep-beep-beep-wrrrr-KTHOOOM!
Multiple compressed heat vacuums burst together and imploded simultaneously, erupting in a massive explosion that shook the ground and sent waves of heated shrapnel and a ring of fire in all directions. The secondary explosion of the Imperial tank blowing up increased the thunderous sound tenfold. It caught the attention of all the Abyssals sitting around the pile of bodies, seemingly without a care in the world. A Ro-class even dropped its severed leg in its hands, and its blood-stained mouth dropped open in awe at the explosion. A bemused expression crossed the face of the Wo-class for a moment before it pointed the tip of its staff toward the sight of the explosion and started to command the Abyssals near it. I was too far away to hear what they were saying, but I assumed it had something to do with ordering them to investigate the wreckage as a bunch of destroyers scrambled to their feet and began to make their way closer. The Chi-class accompanied them while the Ne-classes immediately raised their cannons and moved to set up a defensive perimeter.
I had to act fast, and I began to crawl as fast as I could while sticking behind all sorts of concealment and cover as I moved down the circular edge of the area. I crawled closer and closer to the pile, and the strong iron smell of blood invaded my nostrils. I kept crawling past the Abyssals and made it to the crumbling rubble of the citadel tower. Here, I was able to traverse the rubble until I reached the rear end of the tower and found a durasteel bridge that led over to a smaller atoll that housed the backup communications array and radars in a square-like building. Surprisingly, it had only taken minor damage, and the array inside was hopefully undamaged.
I crossed the bridge as fast as I could and made my way to the entrance of the building. The automatic doors glitched out and perpetually stuck in a half-open state as they spasmed and tried to close themselves repeatedly. Luckily, I could slip between the gap in the doors and enter a massive semi-lit room with special long-distance radars and communications arrays in the middle, sectioned off by a large wire fence. Instead of staying on the second floor, I turned left and headed up a stairwell, and quickly made my way down a section of floor extending from the side of the wall, which led to the central control room. When I got to the room, the door snapped open for me, and I wasted no time entering.
The room before me was laid out reasonably neatly. The main holo-table was situated in a pit in the middle of the room. At the same time, control panels were placed against every wall, and stations specifically for message receiving and broadcasting were placed on a large electronic board behind the polarized window. The master switch to cut off all communications and scramble all frequencies was also on that panel; a red button locked behind a steel cover that could only be opened with certain code cylinders. There were tiny brain and skull fragments splattered on the floor next to the holo-table, most likely where a communications officer themself, to avoid a much worse death. Their body was probably added to the moshpit of bodies in front of the citadel or eaten already.
I wasted no time going to the holo-table and activated the shut-off machine. When blue light emitted from the top of the glass table and started to project data in a holographic form as it started up, I punched in every military and civilian frequency I knew. Then, I pressed the button to connect to the emergency speakers spread throughout the entire military base and the civilian islands.
Bringing the personal comlink to my mouth, I contacted Keller one final time.
"Sergeant Major, this is SD-747, I am at the communications array. Over."
A few seconds later, a voice came through with a backdrop of blaster fire and explosions being broadcasted with it.
"Great timing, trooper! Knew you could do it when you were given the right motivation! We're engaging a small Abyssal patrol and trying to secure the LZ before the shuttles can arrive with a starfighter escort! ETA is about three minutes!"
"That's great, just make sure you swoop back and come pick me up! Also, I have no fucking clue what to say to grab the Abyssal's attention!"
"Say something I would say, man! Be mean, be vulgar, be sexual, be an ASSHOLE! Do whatever you can to draw the Abyssals to some random island on this base and say that's where you're coming from. Once that's done, and we're picked up, we'll swing by the communications array for you, on my honor! Keller out!"
The connection ended again, leaving me alone in the room to brainstorm whatever I was going to say. I only thought about it for a few moments before grinning madly and letting out a slightly scared chuckle. I pressed a button that broadcasted to an open galaxy-wide frequency that was available for all starships and radios to connect to, believing that if I was going to give it my all, I might as well let the entire galaxy and whatever Abyssal ships are out, there listen to it too. Finally, I pressed down on the transmit switch and began to give my speech.
"Attention all you stupid cunts, attention, please! On behalf of his Majesty Sheev Palpatine, this trooper has a message for you all! First of all, fuck you and your shitbag leaders, mistakingly calling themselves royalty! THEY WOULDN'T KNOW WHAT ROYALTY WAS IF IT BIT THEM ON THE ASS!"
The more I began to scream and shout, the more I felt my body surge with adrenaline. I was going to pour my heart and soul into this speech, and by the Emperor, I was pissed off.
"ON EVERY PLANET, ON EVERY SYSTEM, IN EACH RIM YOU DESECRATE WITH YOUR PRESENCE, WE WILL PUSH YOU BACK TO THE DARKNESS FROM WHERE YOU CAME! AND IF WE SHOULD FALL, OUR COLD DEAD HANDS WILL TEAR INTO YOUR BODIES AND DRAG YOU DOWN INTO THE DEPTHS OF HELL, DARKER THAN THE ABYSS!"
My heart was pounding, my body was shaking uncontrollably, and I was sweating buckets, but I could not stop! This felt exhilarating, and the thrill of letting all of my pent-up frustration turn my fear into hatred was terrific!
"LISTEN TO ME! YOU'RE FACING THE DEADLIEST SPECIES IN THE GALAXY, AND WE WILL TEAR YOU TO SHREDS! WE WILL FIGHT, WE WILL DIE, AND WE WILL WIN! THE EMPIRE SHALL NEVER BE DEFEATED! THE GALAXY WILL BE SAVED! THE EMPIRE WILL BE VICTORIOUS! GO FUCK YOURSELVES!"
I took a deep breath and raised my fist before finishing. This felt like I was some sort of COMPNOR holonet host spewing propaganda. I cleared my throat and lowered my voice, speaking clearly, and calmly now.
"And let me remind you exactly who you're fighting. We are not simply just sacks of meat to be slaughtered and consumed, you sick monsters. Inside of all of us beats a heart, a human heart! It carries strength, courage, and loyalty to the Empire! Within our hearts is ensconced the hope, will, strength, and fury of every man, woman, and child from every corner of the galaxy! Within that weak sack of meat and bone beats the heart of a living man! The hearts of men have beaten strongly in defiance of your annihilation of all living beings in the galaxy for over a year and shall continue beating for as long as we exist! For as long as there is one of my kind in this galaxy, you monsters will never be safe. Now do us a favor and kill yourselves!"
I let go of the transmit switch, still sweating bucket loads and shaking from the surge of adrenaline that filled my body. I could feel the ground rumble inside the building as explosions and blaster fire picked up in intensity outside, and I knew that it was time for me to get out of dodge. I quickly made my way down the steps and onto the first floor before turning and barreling forward to the double doors leading me back out of the building. I grinned madly in excitement, squeezing my E-11 and hovering a shaking finger over its trigger. I had already killed two Abyssals and a handful of infantry too! I was an Imperial stormtrooper, an elite soldier of the Galactic Empire's military! I could take on any more if I needed to!
I slammed my shoulder into the doors and busted my way through the sliver between the glitching doors, stepping out into the concrete and making my way through some foliage and dirt before I made it to the bridge that led back to the citadel tower. My mad grin was suddenly ripped from my face, and I felt my body skid to a halt on the bridge, my heels sliding against the ground as I came to an abrupt halt. The shaking in my body caused by my adrenaline was amplified by fear as I stared up at the ten-meter-tall monstrosity that stood across the bridge. The same Wo-class carrier I had passed up earlier was glaring daggers down at me with bright yellow eyes. Her black cape flowed in the wind lightly, and she clutched her cane tightly in one hand so hard I swear I could see the unknown material it was made out of cracking under her strength. To put it bluntly, she looked livid.
I was frozen in fear, and no matter how much I wanted to turn around and run like hell, I could not find the strength to move my feet as I stared back into those boring yellow eyes. To my horror, the Abyssal took a few steps onto the bridge and spoke.
"Wo does not appreciate how elusive you have been, human." The monstrous Abyssal's voice echoed louder than the ambient sounds of intense warfare filling the air. Suddenly, the Wo-class's crystalline staff snapped, and sharp fragments of black material spewed in all directions. Instinctively I brought my arms up to my face to protect it from any fragments that might have come my way.
"What a disgusting attitude, speech, repulsive species." She spat, showing much more emotion than I thought the stoic Abyssal could.
As the mighty Abyssal's heels clicked on the surface of the durasteel bridge as she drew closer, the sound of blaster fire, explosions, and the screaming roar of TIE Fighters now flying overhead from the Twelfth Fleet and remnants of the Imperial garrison all fell silent to me. All I could hear was the sound of the Abyssal drawing closer and the pumping of my heart as it beat faster and faster. As soon as she was only a few meters away, I finally found the strength to turn away and run. I felt something impact my side, and I tumbled through the air before landing in the shallow salt water, pain erupting where I was sure a rib had just fractured. I choked in pain and dropped to my knees, clutching my sides.
"Tell Wo, human, do you even believe what you have said?"
"Fuck you!" I spat in response as I tried standing up in the cold water and wading back to shore.
"Your galaxy will die. You cannot stop it, only delay the inevitable."
"Four-Seven, this is Keller! We're on the way get ready to move fast!" Keller's voice blared from my comlink. I grabbed it and brought the microphone to my mouth, intending to warn him about the Abyssal, but the moment I opened my mouth, all of the air in my lungs was forced out with a painful wheeze as a hand grasped around my body and squeezed tightly.
"Die."
I shut my eyes, realizing there was nothing I could do but pray for a quick death. As I felt the Wo-clas squeeze her hand tighter and my lungs burned in pain due to the lake of oxygen, the wail of a TIE fighter filled the sky, and bright green flashes broke through my closed eyelids. My eyes snapped open to the scene of a turbolaser slamming into the side of the Wo-class and blowing chunks of flesh away from its side, neck, and face. The immense heat from the blasts due to being brought so close to the monster's mouth washed over me like hellfire. The Abyssal shrieked in pain and released her grip on my body, causing me to fall into the water again.
"Holy fuck does your kind not know basic hygiene!" I gagged from the smell as I wiped off pools of Abyssal spit from my body after emerging from under the water, its salty taste filling my mouth. The ground shook as the Wo-class stumbled backward, the back of her legs getting caught on the bridge connecting the atoll with the communication's array and the citadel.
Singed silver hair flaked off as blood pooled from large wounds from the minimally-armored Abyssal's head and neck. Her gaze turned to me once more with a look of absolute fury, and her hand curled into a fist and rose to strike me in the water. I paddled away with a yelp, my fractured rib causing enough pain to where I could only swim away with one arm. Before the Wo-class could kill me, another strafing run by a duo of TIE fighters slammed into it again, causing the beast to topple the backyard and crush the bridge under it, landing in the water with a massive splash.
A lambda-class shuttle circled quickly around the array in the sky, away from the formation of many more being escorted by TIEs while interceptors engaged with Abyssal fighters in the sky. As it lowered to the deeper water fifty meters away, its ion engines kicked up water waves, making it more difficult to swim with only one working arm. Still, I pushed through the pain and exhaustion and swam closer to the ramp opening up from the front side of the shuttle, revealing SD-266 and Flique both standing on the edge and handing onto the metal gears lowering it.
"COME ON, ROSS!" Roared Six-Six, now helmetless and revealing a blood-soaked bandage wrapped over his left eye and forehead. His blonde crew cut was also caked in sweat and sand. Flique also stood helmetless, with waves splashing against his bald head. I swam as fast as possible and made it to the ramp, dipping into the water, where Six-Six and Flique bent down to grab me.
"Grab his collar, not his fucking hair Klover" Flique exclaimed as Six-Six pulled on my short hair by accident, eliciting a grunt of pain from me.
"I'm sorry, I can't fucking see well!"
"JUST PULL ME IN!"
As the two pulled me out of the water and into the shuttle, the lambda class increased its altitude and began pulling away from the ocean. The three stormtroopers sat on the ramp and watched as we pulled away from the ruins of the citadel and communications array, where the wounded Wo-class was slowly rising to its feet. Without her monstrous-looking hat, she couldn't utilize any anti-air weapons against our shuttle, an unpractical choice of equipment, but highly fortunate for us.
"By the Emperor." Klover exhaled as the Wo-class stumbled to her feet and stared up at our rising shuttle. The TIE fighter strafing runs had blown off large portions of her pale flesh and disfigured her body. One of the Abyssal's eyes was drooping out of her socket and barely connected by optical nerves, the left arm was twisted and mangled, and scorch marks outlined areas where you could see exposed dark red flesh, white bone, and black blood pouring out of her. "How the fuck is it still standing!"
As the ramp slowly closed and lifted us into the shuttle, I watched as the Wo-class flagship staggered toward us into deeper water and raised her working arm, grasping at the air. My vision had grown blurry at this point, and I felt exhaustion taking over as I collapsed against my teammates. The last thing I saw before going under was the Abyssal's bloodshot, glowing yellow eyes while screaming bloody murder.
