Chronicle of the Reaper’s Hymn

"Fireteam Thanatos, you are cleared to engage," a monotonous voice stated over the communication system.

Five armored figures were making their way towards a small settlement. Armed with top-of-the-line equipment, it was apparent that they were no ordinary soldiers.

"Four! Five! Set up on that ridge and cover our entry and exit. During the fight we don't need support this time, just maintain watch over the situation and inform me of any sudden changes," The soldier with one tally painted on his shoulder pad commanded.

"Two and three, you're with me. Let's hit this place hard and get out quick, our main objective is acquiring their Varixite stockpile."

"Roger that, Captain," four voices replied in unison.

|-o-|

"Something's off… intel reported at least 15 armed insurgents patrolling at any given moment, but this place is a ghost town," the captain said while looking around, his dual pistols reflecting a dark sheen.

Suddenly, the comms came to life. "Fireteam Thanatos, thank you for your service to the Vohrmenstein Empire. Your families will be compensated fairly for your valiant sacrifice." This time the monotonous voice was replaced by the voice of someone everyone knew; the 3rd fleet's Vice-Admiral, Judas Barun.

A red targeting beam broke through the cloud-covered sky, coming from Barun's flagship, the Fate Sealer II. Although planet glassing was no longer commonplace, small-scale orbital bombardment was an efficient way of eliminating targets, although typically not used on friendlies.

"Four, Five, get as far away as possible! You two are the only ones with a chance! Two and Three… I'm sorry," with a rare show of emotion in his voice, the Captain sank to his knees.

Walking over to his side, the other two armored soldiers put their hands on his shoulders.

"Sir, it's been an honor serving with you and everyone else. When you recruited me straight out of basic training, I'd have never imagined finding my home with you all," the voice of a young man came from one of the soldiers.

"You whore, I don't want to go out crying, why'd you have to say some shit like that!" This voice belonged to a young woman.

"Both of you, take off your helmets, I want to see your faces one last time," the Captain said in a reserved voice.

The three of them were in a circle, arms around each other, tears streaming down two of their faces with the third having misty eyes. A ball of blazing light descended the targeting line, approaching its target at a pace that was neither fast nor slow.

"Goodbye" was the last thing the five heard together before the orb made contact with the settlement, engulfing an area and expanding outwards, searing heat flowing like water. After reaching a radius of two miles, the flames began receding, leaving nothing but scorched land behind. All life, everything, within the blast zone had been leveled to nothingness.

Four and Five, who had barely reached a safe distance, stood together looking at the place their comrades had been just moments ago.

Four let out a guttural cry of anguish as she sank to her knees while a slight sniffle could be heard from Five.

"Why? Why, why, why why why? How could they do this to us? We fight the battles they don't, we do what no one else can, and then they stab us in the back? This doesn't make any sense!" Four broke down while rocking back and forth.

"We should move, the traitors will be sending people down to confirm our deaths," Five resolved, remembering protocols.

"I will not run like a rat after they murdered them in cold blood. You can go, I'm staying here to blast them to hell!" Four yelled, anger radiating from her voice.

"I will not leave you behind. We should at least find a better place to make our stand," Five replied calmly.

"Fine."

|-o-|

As predicted, three sleek dropships were sweeping the blast zone and its surroundings. They deployed troops in a triangular pattern, one group at each corner three miles from the center impact. The dropships proceeded to provide surveillance from the air. Each group had 20 infantrymen and one pilot on a speeder bike.

"Cleanup crew, eliminate anything that survived," the monotonous voice commanded.

|-o-|

As the groups moved inwards, two hunters waited patiently to spring a trap. Camped on a ridge five miles out, Four was staring through the scope on her sniper rifle.

"It's almost time, I'm overcharging my rounds with the battery pack," she said with determination in her voice.

"Alright, I'm ready to attack whenever you say the word," Five replied from his hiding spot. Which happened to be in a hole relatively close to the center point.

|-o-|

"Command, nothing survived. We are returning to the ship now," said one soldier standing with a relaxed posture.

"Roger that, dropships, you are clear to land," a voice responded.

Landing neatly in a row, the troops began loading themselves back onto their ships. Annoyed by the lack of action and the dust in their clothes, most sat down immediately after stowing their weapons, eager to return.

When most of them had boarded, two of the dropships suddenly exploded, the crack of a gunshot only sounding out seconds later.

"Enemy attack! The zone is not clear, I repeat, the zone is not clear!"

The third dropships quickly took off, leaving some troops that were still boarding behind. A streak of light zipped across the sky, piercing through the runaway ship. Fragments flew in every direction after it exploded. A crack was heard yet again.

"There, on that ridge!" One soldier exclaimed, his head replaced with nothing a moment later, his body falling to the ground.

The speeders took off in that direction while the rest of the soldiers took cover behind the wreckage of the three dropships.

"Someone call command, they need to know what's happening down here!" One soldier yelled.

This notion was caught off by the sound of rapid-fire gunshots close by. Five had popped out of the ground behind them and mercilessly began mowing down their exposed rear with his machine gun.

The regular soldiers stood no chance and were dropping like flies. Seeing this, one speeder turned back to deal with the new threat while the other two continued towards the sniper with increased speed.

Seeing this, Four had to deal with the two coming for her quickly, yet they were still able to evade her shots for the time being.

Meanwhile, Five began unloading his gun towards the incoming speeder, which returned fire as well. With each shot that hit Five, the translucent blue barrier surrounding his body faded sharply.

With a roar, Five doubled down and held his ground, even with the incoming speeder hitting more and more shots. Just as his shield was flickering out of existence, Five's bullets ripped apart the speeder and pilot, turning them into a small fireball.

Four finally landed a shot on the speeder of one of her attackers, but the other was closing in fast. She decided to pull back behind the ridge and into the cover of the trees behind her. Lying prone in the tall grass, she watched as her pursuer rounded the corner with a pretty sick drift and unleashed a torrent of lasers into where he thought she would be. Too bad he guessed wrong, as moments later his head exploded into a million pieces.

"Five, I got a speeder, I'm coming to get you right now!" Four said as she rushed over to the now riderless speeder bike. Hearing no reply, she quickly set off back towards the site of the ambush.

As she got closer, she saw his figure kneeling in the dirt, unmoving.

"Five? Five, get up, I can't lose you too!" She screamed. Rapidly dismounting after she pulled up next to him, she uncapped a syringe of rapid-acting medical solution and drove it into his exposed flesh, which was pierced by shrapnel.

|-o-|

On the main streets of every city in the empire,

a message was playing on the largest screens available.

On it was Vice-Admiral Barun with a solemn expression plastered on his face. He was sitting behind a mahogany desk, the Vohrmenstein and 3rd fleet flags decorating the background of his office.

"On this sad day, tragedy has struck our nation. One of our myth teams, Thanatos, has fallen. During an important mission, the details of which are classified, two members of the team defected and betrayed their squadmates. The traitors are Staff Sergeant Lucy Carlo and Lance Corporal Mathew Holder, who will be stripped of their ranks and are now classified as Priority One Criminals. A memorial service for Captain Wayde Palmer, First Lieutenant Mary Voss, and Private First Class Rowan Peterson will be held in the following days. If anyone encounters the traitors, immediately call the nearest garrison, under no circumstances should you engage them! Long live the empire!"

The feed cut off, leaving the citizens shocked at the news they just received. Most eventually grew angry, furious that even the elite of the empire could betray it. Meanwhile, a quiet minority suspected that there was more to this story, something the empire was hiding.

The undercurrents of society were moving, something bigger had begun to disturb the waters.