1 Chapter 1: Prologue(1)

Aboard the SSC Igris, Alois looked down from the viewport onto the planet he was to be deployed to. Its grey, swirling clouds were punctured only by the flashes of light, explosives so powerful they could be seen from orbit.The atmosphere gave off a sickly green color, and the planet itself felt as though it were an open, festering wound left to rot in the sun.The planet before him, Vatore, merciless began a war of conquest upon Alois' home, Solarii, lasting for nearly 500 years. So the day has finally come to attack their homeland and end this war once and for all, Alois thought, as he felt a feeling of pride envelop him. He, of all people, would be granted the honor of eliminating these filthy parasites from the face of the planet who would dare force innocent civilians into breeding farms for their own kind.

"Hey, Captain Dorn! The company is ready to be deployed, you wouldn't want to be late, now would you, sir?" Lieutenant Harken called out to him.

The Lieutenant was a very patriotic man, and volunteered around the same time Alois had. The camaraderie they shared was one of two good friends who spent their 7 years on the battlefield together.

"Relax, Harken, I am just having a good look at this disgusting backwater planet before we start," replied Alois, grinning as Harken sauntered up to him by the viewport. Harken smiled at those words. It was times like these that made Harken appreciate the closeness of mind both he and Alois shared.

"I have a really good feeling about this," Harken said to himself, as he took a good look at the planet below them. Looking at the little flashes of light, his imagination overflowed with imagery of the biological constructed soldiers Vatore used being turned into a foul smelling meat paste, causing his face to erupt into a triumphant smirk.

"I'm ready," Alois abruptly stated, not wanting to look at the planet any longer. He regretted that Harken was not placed in the same team for this, as he had to lead another group. Alois's time with Harken was one of the biggest things he came to appreciate after enlisting. Due to this, his time spent with Harken now felt anxious, and he was uncomfortable.

"Ah, yeah, i'll go inform the rest of the company." Harken responded, slightly surprised at the abruptness of the statement. Alois turned on his heel and walked down the hallway to a series of bulkhead doors and into a large hangar bay. The bay was rectangular, with rows and rows of openings on the floor, and a maze of numbers and arrows leading to different sections.Each of the openings were filled with large, teardrop shaped, drop pods. These pods were attached to the rest of the hangar via magnetic lock, and boasted a viewport, emergency medical supplies, enough of an arsenal for a full squadron, and retro rockets to control where the team of 6 inside the pod could land."Pod 14, where is pod 14?" Alois murmured to himself as he began to look at the big yellow numbers plastered onto the sides of the drop pods. All at once, he spotted it, and hurried over to greet his podmates. Who had already gathered around, waiting for him.

"Ah, my bad for being late." Alois said, apologetically.

"Oh my, the hero finally joins us, eh?" one of them named Klaus retorted, sarcastically.

"What do you mean?" Alois quizzically responded, genuinely confused.

"Oh come on, practically everybody aboard the battle cruiser knows what you did at the battle of Isstvan, holding an entire outpost by yourself, against a full battalion of their organic weapons? Not many people can count that as one of their achievements who are still alive." replied Klaus, with a hint of respect.

"Ah. That." Alois said, as his face darkened from the memory, " It was only because of those who sacrificed during the campaign and the experiments I volunteered for I was able to survive thus far, anyways."

"D-Don't be so humble, captain sir!"

The voice that rang out was loud, but hardly confident. Its was as if someone who had just met his idol would sound like. The casual chatting between the group members stopped, and everyone turned to look at the origin of whatever caused such a disturbance. It was a young man, an obvious fresh recruit who could hardly be considered a soldier.

"My brother was saved because of what you did on Isstvan," he continued, "because those disgusting Bioweapons weren't able to carry him back to the breeding farms, he was able to come home to us. He said you looked like a knight cloaked in black, a deadly reaper that slaughtered all those who got too close to--"

Before the young man could continue, the klaxon siren went off, signalling the start of the offensive.

"Get in, everyone! I will explain our objective on the ride there!" Alois shouted to his subordinates, his voice changing into a deep and booming roar. These men, all having gone through basic training, instantly jumped into action after hearing a voice similar to that of a drill sergeant explode near their ears. The six members quickly filed into the pod, with the most experienced, Alois, taking the middle seat furthest from the pod's viewport. Looking back at him was a man with a square jaw, cropped brown hair, honeyed colored skin and eyes glittering like two different colored jewels from what can only be guessed at heterochromia, with only one blemish on his otherwise baby-smooth face. A single, thin white scar ran across his face, right under his eye sockets.

"Beginning orbital drop sequence in fifteen seconds." An automated, tinny voiced announced over the klaxon siren.

"Okay!" Alois announced, with an air of command around him,"Our primary target is the bioweapon facility 3 klicks from our drop position. We will be moving in teams of six, but everyone in Foxtrot company will regroup at the target, our objective is the elimination of this critical facility, as its only one of three factories that produce the monsters they use to ravage our homes! If we take out this facility, we won't need to worry about these reprobates stealing women for breeding their soldiers. No longer would we fear for our wives, daughters, sisters and mothers, they would be free from the fear of trafficking by these disgusting creatures that dare call themselves gods chosen people!"

"Sir, yes sir!" rang the shouts of the soldiers, their expressions now harder than iron, and their gazes now colder than ice.

"Beginning drop sequence, glory to Solarii." the voice rang out, as the bay doors opened, revealing the expanse of space just outside the ship. Alois felt the G-forces as the thrusters fired, changing the trajectory of the pod into one on a landing sequence to the noxious green planet.

"Hey, new guy," Alois said without turning his head.

"Y-Yes sir?" the young man said, tentatively.

"If there is one thing you need to hear from me, it's this. I am not a hero. I am just a man who was better at killing than others. Don't forget that, this is now a battlefield, and you have to become good at killing, fast, if you want to live. Also, I have problems when people call me sir, just call me Alois."

"I understand si- Alois" the young man replied, stiff with concern. He doesn't sound like the stories at all, the young man thought, he wished the hero captain would be a little more… charismatic.

"We'll be entering the atmosphere in ten seconds, that's when we will hit heavy resistance by the planetary defenses, make sure you dont get knocked around and lose consciousness!" Alois stated, as the shaking of the pod began to increase.

BOOM!

The explosion caught all of them off guard. The report said that they didn't have anything that could reach this far out of orbit without relying on their long dead navy. As the explosion rocked the pod, the only thing they could do was wait for it to end as they began to heat up from the friction of entering the atmosphere. Explosions happened far more frequently now, sometimes clipping the sides of the pod with shrapnel or roasting the interior from the nearby heat of the plasma, but no one was critically injured, and the pod kept on its course for close to half a minute before slowing down enough that they could begin the landing sequence. However, nothing ever goes according to plan. A flak shell exploded next to the right thruster just as it was being activated, blowing the it clean off the pod, and causing it to spin wildly, adding lateral G-force to the riders inside, and causing them to black out as the pod crashed into the pulsating landscape below.