Cinderheart V
The Mage Wars had been brutal. Many pointed to the tyrannical nature of the College of Magi, others to the politicized nature of magic in the modern world. Either way, rogue mages had rebelled against the College of Magi, hoping to dismantle its rule over their lives. Those rebels had eventually been beaten, and now all mages serve life terms in the Interstellar Legion.
Each forward company had a Mage that was attached to them, providing a level of flexibility for violence never before seen. So far from the College, this new breed of Mages found a purpose. It was the might of these Mages, and the discipline of the Legion, that had created the Interstellar Conglomerate, a multi-system government ruled by humanity.
Mage Carhart stood alongside the Omega Company Commander, Captain Hathroy, as they looked at the holomap in front of them. Cinderheart V lay before them, a zoomed out topographical look at the planet’s surface. The Captain input coordinates, and the display zoomed in rapidly. The image rendered smoothly to a surface view of the planet.
The blasted landscape of Cinderheart V was fully visible now. The surface held little vegetation, and the ground was scarred, and pock marked. Volcanic and seismic activity made the surface of the planet inhospitable. However, beneath the surface lay the enemy.
It was a brutal campaign in the war with the Grubs, who had started to invade the outer rim planets of the conglomerate. Their appetite for destruction was insatiable and forward deployed legions were tasked with halting their spread. The legions had been successful, for a time.
The aggression of the Grubs had not always been so virulent. The first encounter, in fact, was amicable. Despite vastly different evolutionary circumstances, there was a harmonious existence brokered during the early stages of first contact.
The spark that had started the war was still unknown, many politicians and philosophers still debated the cause. Most pointed to the influence of the College stirring trouble and the rebellion of Mages that had diverted attention from diplomatic relations. Even now, there were those who called out for peace with the race of pale limbless beings who called the Amicron system their home.
Those on the front had no such luxury. Theirs was not to question why, theirs was but to do or die.
“Sir, where the hell are we going to land?” Carhart asked the Company Commander.
The Captain sighed.
“No idea, Carhart. This place is a mess. The planet itself looks to claim our legionnaires quicker than the Grubs.”
The mage tapped his chin as he considered the surface. “I may be able to Skim us into a tunnel. Just need a good visual on the target. Not a lot of us mind you. But if we secure a foothold, we could do a round robin.”
The Company Commander’s eyebrows knitted as he considered the course of action before he responded, “Interesting thought. Won’t that put you out of the fight though? I may need you to blast a few of these buggers.”
Carhart shrugged, “Perhaps. But if we can’t get down there safely who cares.”
Hathroy gave a half bark of laughter as the holomap passed over the capital Mound, “I’ll talk it over with the First Sergeant. We may be able to breach with pods and keep you charged. Need you ready to blast these Grubs.”
“Very well, sir.”
The pair continued to watch the hologram. The Grubs were down there, and they needed to pay for what they had done.
Everyone on board the R.F.S. Fallujah had seen the footage of the blasted colony on Omica 3. The bodies were littered about the cities and the buildings had been swept aside by the Grub’s powerful new purple beam weapon. The weapon seemed to shatter whatever it touched, no matter the composition. The weapon was terrifying in its destructive power and a major turning point in the stalemate between the two races.
This fucking ray could win the war. Carhart thought. If we only had one of our own.
To date, the Grubs had been excellent at destroying the technology before Legion special operations could claim it, and the humans had been unable to reverse engineer the scant scraps they had recovered.
Omega Company, 24th Legion call sign Evil, had been tasked to perform a raid on the enemy stronghold of Cinderheart V to find the secret of this new and dangerous weapon. Their sister companies, Gamma and Alpha were preparing their own diversionary strike away from the capital mound.
No more clandestine infiltrations. Humanity had assembled an entire legion. Embarked aboard Landing Ship Pod Four (LSP 4) Fallujah these legionnaires were the tip of a very long spear. The Captain had briefed his legion, and it was time to, get some. The legion was in their pods.
Rack, clunk, boom.
Carhart felt the mechanism as much as he heard it.
Rack, clunk, boom.
He knew he was next.
Wham!
Knowing it was coming helped, but he still felt the massive thrust of acceleration. He did not have all the nanobot enhancements of the legionnaires, but he compensated with his magic. He held the stasis spell hard until he felt the forces even out. He hated drops. Always had and probably always would.
No matter, this shitshow was on its way. Just hold on, blast nasties and get out. SNAFU, situation normal, all fucked up.
Carhart let his pod drift much lower than the legionnaires around him. He was in no hurry to pop out and ride the hellish winds to the ground. He considered for a second, Skimming himself to the LZ but put it out of his mind. He had to save his strength for the fight.
The shell burned away, and the chute popped. Game on. Carhart was glad now for all the PT that the Captain forced them to do. Even the headquarters unit was extremely fit. He steered his parachute through the thin atmosphere and made a near perfect landing at the LZ.
The company had made a strong perimeter and the breach teams were already in. Captain Hathroy called him in to make an Inferno in a tunnel once but other than that, resistance was remarkably light. It seemed that Gamma and Alpha were giving the Grubs hell.
Recon elements pushed in and before long the source of the death ray had been located.
“Evil Mage, this is Evil Six. Get your ass down here. I need you to tell me what the fuck I am looking at,” The Captain’s voice was terse as it came over Carhart’s earpiece.
“Enroute, Six,” Carhart broke into a run. Two minutes later he had woven his way through the maze of tunnels, his Personal Integrated Navigation and Guidance system, or PING system, keeping him pointed in the right direction.
Carhart skidded to a stop at the mouth of a massive chamber. What he saw took a minute to fully comprehend. A conveyor belt led from a group of apparently docile Grub civvies into an odd mechanism. As he watched a Grub grunt jerked a lever and the belt began to quickly bring Grubs up from the milling crowd and fed the wriggling bodies into some sort of grinder. He watched in fascination as the huge machine began to glow and suddenly another Grub stepped out of an alcove with a bulky and awkward looking weapon. The beam that came from the maw of the weapon was a sickly glow of purple. It swept the rock face to Carhart’s right and he heard the screams of legionnaires as parts of them exploded.
Debris flew in the chamber, as Carhart saw the Captain hunched behind cover. With a start Carhart realized what he was seeing. The ultimate weapon of the enemy was powered by the deaths of the enemy themselves. Grubs had decided that their own deaths were worth the destruction of humans. Mutually assured destruction was their strategic goal.
Carhart gathered his magic. He made a snap decision.
He had sworn to defend the Republic against all enemies foreign and domestic. If he brought this weapon back to the Senate, they would certainly begin to literally feed real human beings into this fight. Likely enough they would fuel their victory by the sacrifice of their dissidents. He could not allow victory to be gained at that horrible price.
The magic necessary to destroy this cavern would almost certainly be the end of him. That was right and just, though. His life to save so many others.
“Six this is Mage. Clear the chamber,” He spat the words into his communicator.
“What? Carhart, what are you doing?” The Captain’s voice betrayed the strain.
“Just go, sir. This is how it has to be. GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE! NOW!” The mage shouted.
Carhart didn’t know what made the Captain listen, but he saw the curt nod from his commanding officer. When he saw the legionnaires start moving toward the exit, he began to gather destructive magical force into himself. The burn was sweet and frightening at the same time. He gathered more and more and more magic into himself until he knew he would burst.
Just before he released the power he held in a destructive blast, he wondered;Would they brand him a traitor or give him the Senate Medal of Honor for this stupid shit?
