Orbital

  12 Hours later

  In The Moon’s Orbit, Solar System

  “There” said the engineer, waking Derek. “That’s where we’re landing”. He pointed at a spot on the surface of the moon. It was quite far away but Derek could make out the general shape. It was white in colour. Like a hexagon in shape. And surrounded by what looked like black dots. Derek thought “Well if the USOC didn’t get us during travel, they would have surrounded the landing zone” The Black dots took the form of humans. With guns. “Shit! I think we’re screwed. USOC have that place surrounded”

  Carter replied without turning his head “are you sure that’s USOC?” Derek looked closer. Not the same uniform. Looks like militia.

  Tom interrupted from the back “Not USOC. Us. Secure landing. Dark zone.”

  Derek started to calm down.

  Every second felt like an hour. Terrible thoughts and ‘what ifs’ flew threw his mind. Derek liked hypotheticals. Just not the kind involving getting shot down and tortured. “Wouldn’t be the worst thing that could happen” said Tom, startling Derek. “Huh?”

  “Your thoughts are loud.”

  “Oh. Sorry. I wasn’t try-”

  “It’s fine. Normal in this kind of situation. Relax. We’ll be absolutely fine”

  Derek wished that he could believe that.

  The landing pad grew larger. They were closing in. Derek could see it in a lot more detail now. The large hexagonal, dimly lit pad had railings on the edges. A white walkway stood vertically waiting for the shuttle to land. Armed men covered the area. There was a large outpost station beside the pad. That was where the walkway led. What looked like all of the resistance fighters there gathered and cheered for they knew the conclusion was near. Derek, however was not so sure about that.

  Out in the open space a red flash suddenly appeared. This was immediately followed by a loud boom and the shuttle being rocked. Derek knew that he wasn’t that lucky. Carter sat up straight. “What the hell was that?” A support soldier peered out the miniscule window and said “We got USOC. Lots of them” Derek replied “Fuck! So now they attack us?!”

  The Australian spoke up “Well I’ll be damned If we let those moon hogging bastards ruin our fuckin’ victory lap. There’s EVA suits under your seats. The helmets are above. And the guns… there everywhere. Most of them are energy weapons for space use. Bullets or even Gauss just won’t quite cut it.” He whipped out an assault rifle and started putting on the suit. “You guys better follow suit” They did.

  Derek pulled out and looked at his EVA suit. It was white, covered with straps, pockets and utilities he was never going to use. It looked like something from the 1960s but with a sleeker, slimmer design and a tighter helmet. Replacing the soft curves were semi flexible plates and shapes.

  Carter said as he was preparing his suit “Of course they chose to attack now. All of our men are gathered at the landing pad and we have nowhere to run. Those bastards knew about this all along. Well I’m not going down without a fight.” He pulled out a handgun.

  The second Derek put on his suit and secured his helmet, another red flash appeared outside the window followed by a massive boom and shockwave striking the side of the shuttle. The explosion tore open a hole, eviscerating the support soldier who was sitting there. The entire cabin decompressed, pulling out and likely suffocating an operator who hadn’t yet had his helmet put on. The rest of the crew held on to the tiny bars provided. The Australian shouted “Shit! That was too close. I don’t know about you but I’m going USOC hunting”

  He jumped out of the shuttle. Guns blazing. “You like that you fucking bastards? You like trying to kill me an’ my mates? Well FUCK YOU” That one moment. With him in a dive position halfway between the shuttle and the moon and with an assault rifle in each hand was legendary. You can’t replicate something like that. Red and green beams darted either way. Yells, screams and muffled gunfire composed the scene. Along with a valley of bodies, bullets and blood. The blood lingered in the air, spread across before inevitably succumbing to gravity.

  “We need to get you to safety!” yelled one of the remaining operators. Everyone in the shuttle had their suits ready. The shuttle was now just over a hundred metres from the landing pad. The remaining crew about the shuttle gathered around Derek but facing away from him, guns pointed through the jagged, open space in the side of the shuttle.

  This was the last thing Derek saw before the shuttle was struck for one last time with the famous red lightning.

 

  CHAPTER 12

  Havoc

  12:52 AM

  Orbi-Sec Moon Outpost, Luna, Solar System

  There was nothing but ringing and debris. Derek lied on his chest, staring at the metal impaled body of yet another operator. Now the only one left was the Australian, wherever he was. Derek saw figures run past him. Men and women fighting for them. A young Orbi-Sec soldier stopped in front of Derek, stared at him for a second before yelling “He’s here!” She knelt down to pull Derek out. “Not here. Not now” she said “You will not let this battle be for nothing”, staring coldly into his eyes. An injured Carter ran up to Derek. “Come on! We are getting the fuck outta here.”

  “Where’s Tom and the others?” “Not important right now. You are the only priority. Now go! We’ll make sure you get there safely.” The remaining Orbi-Sec forces were overwhelmed by the onslaught of the USOC army who had the better guns, soldiers and gear. Luckily for Derek, bodies lied on the ground along with their combat rifles. He picked one up and not realising how heavy it was, let it hang in his hand for a while before bringing it up to a firing position. Its Bullpup design and large carrying handle allowed Derek to identify it as a CAR-D4 ‘CARDA’ by short. He hated how he knew that. Its rugged and edged design paired with its short barrel and large stock made it seem like a weak assault weapon but Derek knew otherwise. It sure packed a punch. The two tone black and grey with cuts of dark orange screamed danger, making it seem like a formidable villain. Still, how could one combat rifle take down an army? But Derek sure felt confident. Clear, square cut, chevron shaped illuminated iron sights allowed Derek to have quick target acquisition and the hand shaped slanted grip gave him the edge although this was no match for the fully automatic Designated Marksman Rifles used by USOC troops.

  “WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU STANDING HERE FOR? STOP STARING AT YOUR WEAPON AND FUCKING RUN OTHERWISE I’M GONNA CUT OFF YOUR USELESS LEGS, TOSS ‘EM ON A SHIP TO SATURN AND THROW YOU TO THE FUCKING ICARUS” yelled a rather impolite and impatient Sergeant, throwing Derek out of his trance. “R-right sir. Yeah.” And off he ran.

  Orbi-Sec troops fell dead or wounded around him as he ran. Derek had the slightest temptation to take off his EVA suit and run for his life. To his immediate right he saw the circular landing pad they were supposed to touch down on and straight ahead was the bridge walkway that led to it. The Orbi-Sec troops on it were jumped at by the mass amount of USOC soldiers. One way or another, the defenders on the bridge were overrun and either killed or pushed off. Derek was getting closer. The distant light of the sun glistened on his helmet, distracting him for that one second. This was when he was attacked.

  The USOC soldier vaulted off the bridge, landing perfectly in front of Derek and reached for his sidearm. The twos’ actions were equally quick. The soldier’s handgun aimed towards Derek at the same speed Derek’s combat rifle ascended to the soldier’s body. The two shot. Both triggers being squeezed as hard as possible. Accuracy wasn’t too big a factor in this deathmatch. This allowed the 600 RPM of the combat rifle to take advantage, shredding through the soldier’s light armour plating and through his flesh and vital organs. The exit wound was worse. Several holes opened up as the blood floated out and upward. Traditional ammunition probably would have even worked at that range but thanks to the hyper-velocity ammunition, the bullet went through the soldier like a 12.7mm round through a leaf. Blood ran from the soldier’s open mouth and started to fill the helmet. Both were shocked
but only one was going to die for sure. Blood droplets floated in front of Derek’s face. It took him a second glance to realise that it was not coming from the now dead soldier. Looking at his arm, a small rupture in the EVA suit stared back at him. So that’s where the soldier’s handgun round went. Derek’s adrenaline must have blocked out the pain but now it was coming back.

  Paralysed in a catatonic state, Derek was almost unable to accept the reality of the situation until the young soldier he met a few minutes ago ran up. Hardly able to have her face seen through the reflective helmet, she said “your suit is ruptured. We need to get you inside and out of this vacuum now.” She had to pull Derek to get him to move as the USOC forces closed in. To the left was the base of the bridge and the entrance to the Orbi-Sec moon station. A haven from the madness. But here, all havens would eventually be consumed by it.

 

  CHAPTER 13

  Haven

  12:58 AM

  Orbi-Sec Moon Outpost, Luna, Solar System

  The airlock to the outpost opened as the young soldier dragged Derek inside, abandoning the muffled gunfire and symphony of blood outside. The bright light blinded Derek who was feeling gradually fainter. Little did he know that this temporary haven would be destroyed within a matter of minutes. The young soldier was able to drag Derek to a table before giving up to exhaustion. She took off her helmet and looked around, scouring the brightly lit room for help.

  Nobody was there to help. It was such a minor wound and yet Derek acted like his legs were dismembered. He’s no soldier, unlike the young woman fighting for his life. She looked around once more and found another EVA suit, although this was just for engineers; not soldiers. Perfect. She walked up to it but before she was able to take it, Carter and Tom burst into the room and locked the door behind them. Tom was injured and Carter was helping him walk over to Derek. “Derek. Good. You’re safe. What’s the problem?” asked Carter. Before Derek could reply however, the soldier spoke up and said “His arm’s cut and his suits ruptured.” “Corporal Rein, you will only speak when spoken too. Is that clear?”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Rein. So that’s her name” Derek wondered. He smiled and stood up. Carter looked at his injured arm and said “we have no time to heal it; not like it’s completely necessary, but we can patch that rupture. It won’t take as long as putting a new one on. Corporal Rein, hand me your rupture kit.”

  “I had to use it on the field sir.” “Fine. He can use Tom’s then since I had to patch him up earlier with my own.”

  Carter took Tom’s EVA Suit rupture kit and tore off the plastic wrapping. He unfolded the section, applied it to the tear on Derek’s suit and secured it. “That should do for now. You ought to be more of a man like Tom here. He gets shot right through the leg and still carries on. We’ll take a right up there. That’ll lead us to the vehicle bay.” The four ran there but stopped at the bay doors. They were locked shut. Carter peeked through the translucent panel only to see a lone engineer preparing gear. “Hey soldier!” Carter yelled. The engineer turned around and looked straight at Carter with a worried face. “Open the bay doors, man! We need a vehicle.” The engineer walked up to the doors and said “I’m sorry. Can’t do that. USOC is everywhere. They can hear our every word. If I open this door, we all die.”

  “You bloody bastard. You have no idea how important we are. I ORDER YOU TO OPEN THESE DAMN DOORS OR-”

  Before Carter was finished with his rant, the ceiling behind the engineer exploded and down came two USOC soldiers. They both fired at the engineer rapidly, almost tearing his body in two. Stunned by this, Carter was late to react to the ceiling two meters behind then blowing open. Air sucked out of the room and Rein quickly put on her helmet. All of them readied their weapons. USOC soldiers suddenly dropped into the room and the two factions fired at each other. The two USOC soldiers quickly backed into cover. Derek heard them whisper “Is that the high value target?” “He is. Execute mission directives.” In sync, the two turned out of cover and fired at the group only to see them escaping into the vehicle pool. “After them”

  Carter had shot open the doors to get in so there was no way for them to close it on the pursuing soldiers. “Quick! Into the STN!”

  Derek asked “STN?” to which Carter replied “Special Terrain Navigator or in other words moon car.” This was when Tom collapsed and fell to the floor. He had been shot by the soldiers chasing after them. Derek and Rein provided cover fire with their firearms as Tom said to Carter “That’s it. I’m done. I won’t make it. Just dead weight. Go. Or you will all die with me.” Carter nodded and opened the door of the STN. “Get in. Both of you!” More USOC soldier came rushing at them and sprayed automatic fire at them. Derek climbed in and Rein followed him but before she could get inside, blood splattered over Derek’s helmet. Rein gasped and fell to the ground. Carter hit the accelerator as Derek looked back in shock. “There was no time. What happens, happens, okay?” said Carter. Derek turned around to see Rein staring right back at him as a USOC soldier walked up behind her and shot her in the head.

 

  CHAPTER 14

  Lonesome Road

  2:14 AM

  Luna, Solar System

  Derek sat silently in the STN as Carter drove it. They were a long way from the base after travelling on the surface for over 45 minutes. Carter interrupted the silence and asked “You know what the Northern Coalition was?”

  Derek replied “Yeah, the Russian-Chinese alliance that got dismantled by an ice age. Tens of millions of soldiers, forced to surrender to America to survive. They turned on their leader, tucked tail and ran.”

  “Yeah” Carter replied “But that’s only half the story. A bulk of the force defected. Over to USOC. That’s how they got so much power so quickly. Back then USOC were smaller but they still operated everywhere, and being short of men was one phrase they never wanted to hear. We all label them power hungry. That’s more or less literally it. They’re consumed and grown all because of that huge force. The past century, they’re just been using it to take over our galaxy one planet at a time.”

  “Fine, but what does that have to do with this?” asked Derek.

  “Power, mate. If you let too much of yourself become made up of something else, are you still you? Besides, you’ll find out more soon enough.”

  “Nice story but what the bloody fuck are we going to do now? The base is overrun and our only means of getting you the Icarus would have been seized by the damn galactic police. USOC sure have got nerve. A full on assault on our fucking base. They must have used all or their troops on the damn moon.”

  “Wait… all of their troops… This could mean that their own moon headquarters are light on defences.” Carter slammed the brake and the STN slowed to a stop. He looked back at Derek and said “This is one of our field ready STNs so that means if the damn engineer didn’t touch it, it should have a couple of power shields and guns in the trunk. Hopefully the guys back home made enough replicas. Go look.”

  Derek opened the door and stepped out. He went around the back of the STN and stared at the locked trunk. A labyrinth of steel plates and bars covered it. Derek had no idea how to open it. “Oh right. It opens when I press that button by the driver’s seat. I bloody forgot” shouted Carter. The trunk clicked open and sure enough, there were three sets of power shield plates and half a dozen firearms. “Yeah. They’re here all right” said Derek.

  “Well then whaddaya waiting for? Slug one of those shields to me and bring some guns over here. Oh and don’t forget to get one for yourself.” Derek did as he was told and sat back in the backseat with the gear after taking it and closing the trunk. Carter took the guns he wanted and looked at Derek who asked “We’re not gonna do what I think we’re gonna do are we?”

  “Well if what you’re thinking is that we put on our shields, go to the USOC moon headquarters, murder everybody and steal their shuttle, then yes. That is exactly what we are going to do.”

  C
arter grinned and sat back, holding an automatic rifle. He primed it and said to Derek “Now son, I know you won’t like this, but this is for the greater good. You’re gonna have to do this no matter what.” Derek, who had put his shield on nodded silently. They put the rest of their gear on, including pistols and knives and readied up. Carter turned the STN around and drove silently back.

  Derek’s heartbeat didn’t slow down. Its pace climbed higher and higher the closer they got to the USOC moon headquarters. Derek stared out the window as he saw it in the distance. Carter saw it too and said “we’re gonna stop around here and you’re gonna take the bolt rifle out.” The STN slowed to a stop and Derek could see what he meant. There were two guards patrolling the outside. The RTG-40 Bolt Action Sniper System would be able to take them out with relative ease. Stanley looked at Derek and said “Look, if you don’t want to be the one that takes them out then-” “No. I have to do this.” Derek stepped out of the STN and carried the Bolt Rifle to the front of it. He set up the bipod on the hood and steadied the scope. It was a dark, rugged gun. Jagged shapes and rough panelling made it look menacing, and its colour scheme of black, white and sand made it look all the more professional. The rifle was ready to fire.