Arran, dressed in a black space suit, stared out the window at the endless stretch of darkness that was space and for the first time, he felt small and insignificant before the vast expanse.This was not the first time that Arran was looking out at space. But at other times, he had either been moving too fast to notice how vast and expansive space truly was, or he didn’t care enough to actually sense his own incongruity with the universe.But this time, Arran was completely stationary and had been like this for many hours. That is why the feeling suddenly struck him.After leaving the outpost, Arran and the other cadets had arrived at their designated location and were currently in the loading cabin of a battle cruiser that was parked on the route they were meant to patrol and set up an ambush in case any criminals ever make it to their side.Since then, they had been here for almost four hours already but were still yet to see hide or hair of any vessels quickly sprinting through spa
“Attention, all units to your stations. I repeat all units to your station. We have activity on our side. Prepare for battle.”With the orders given, it was as if life had been breathed into the station, as everything seemed to come alive all at once. The previously patrolling soldiers shuffled around even more frantically, and military personnel from all departments became incredibly active.Arran saw all this through his perception that was spread outside the ship. The biggest change was still with the cadets in the various cabins.Suddenly it was as if they had been injected with a pack of hormones as every cadet lost the nervous look.In its place, excitement for the upcoming battle took hold of them.Most of the time, one might not be nervous when they were active, but they would definitely be nervous about inactivity. The saying that an idle mind is the devil's workshop is very true because when one has nothing to do, all sorts of random thoughts can come into one's mind, causin
A vicious battle was going on outside the ship. Many ships zipped around in space, chasing and firing at each other. Their pilots were like demented gunners on steroids, each trying their best to down their enemy with immense firepower.Silent shockwaves from exploding ships spread around space, the dark spectacle of vessels bursting in bright lights made even darker by the ever-present silence that overshadowed the loss of life.The scene of fire and death entered the eyes of the cadets as they watched battle going on furiously in space. In this scene, death was like a promise given to everybody who took part in this gruesome debacle, one that hung over their heads as a constant reminder that your life may be forfeit and any time.Now the cadets knew what the pilot meant when he said he would try his best to get everyone across. He had said that because he knew that not even he could guarantee their safety on this terrible battlefield.But as if to comfort them before they would lose
Having received command over the unit, Arran quickly gave orders to the cadets.“Alright, we are going to rush them. First, ignore the two by the access door and focus on the others, especially the three under the debris. That launcher worries me. Barry, take Nato Shelby and Flint and circle around to the debris. Cotten and Karry will cover you. Take down that launcher quickly before it causes any trouble for us.”“Clyde, you take point and attack the ones behind the broken wing. Take five more with you while the rest of us stay behind. Be careful cause they’ve got some heavy firepower. But it shouldn’t be a threat to you guys. As for the rest of you, fan out and cover your sixes. I’ll keep watch over the whole field and the access door in case anything happens.”“Move out!”Immediately after giving the order, the cadets started to move. Five veered off to the pile of debris where some enemy soldiers were fiddling with a launcher with three in the lead and two a little behind to cover
After the enemies were captured, the cadets then moved to clean up the last two hidden beside the access doors.Whether by fortune or not, no reinforcements arrived to fight the cadets, and Arran’s team was able to secure the access doors easily. The two enemies hidden there had not put up much resistance and since they didn’t need any more captives, Arran’s team killed them both.Clyde had also finished taking care of the five that had put up the most resistance. Their bodies lay on the cold metal floor with holes punctured all over their bodies. No blood flowed from the wounds, as they had been cauterized up by the heat of the laser shots.Seeing as they were done, Arran gave the order to clear the area.“Alright everybody, sweep the area and search for anything that may be of value.”Arran left his spot at the back and went forward to meet his teammates. Along the way, he checked up on the situation of the other teams in the hangar.The hangar had suddenly gotten quieter and the ot
“Alright everybody, gather up.”Some time had passed, and the cadets were once more ready to move. The team leader, whose name is Tim, finally called everybody to gather together.All the cadets rushed forward and surrounded Tim in the middle. He was fiddling with a hologram that showed a map of the cruiser's interior. Tim had gotten it after using the access codes the mercenary leader had given them.“Alright everybody, let’s make this short. According to the map, we are currently in the south board hangar of the cruiser. This is a small hangar that is used to hold the mercenary's ships. There are several other hangars scattered around the ship’s sides. Five in total, although the map only shows four, so I presume there is a secret hangar that the criminal heads would use in case they needed to escape.”“But dealing with the heads is not our mission. Our mission is to clear the ship's passageways and open a clear path for our boy's retreat. In that case, here’s what we’re going to do
As soon as the cadets reached the junction, they were met with fierce resistance. The mercenaries had set up a line of fire to ambush the cadets. With their upgraded weapons, they became much more of a threat to the cadets than before. But it was still not a problem to deal with them.In one swift wave of attacks from the cadets, the attacks of the mercenaries were dismantled by the cadet's offensive and their ambush was effectively thwarted.Facing four units and eighty cadets, the hundred-plus enemy mercenaries were no match for the immense firepower of the cadets' superior equipment. Even though they had upgraded their weapons and armor, those general weapons could still not compare to the military-grade blasters and armored suits that were developed by the aeth army and issued to all their soldiers.The strong defense of the mercenary's armor seemed like cardboard, as it completely crumbled under the fierce firepower of the blaster.In a single minute, all the enemies were defeate
The enemy cruiser was five kilometers long. Counting the basement level, there were four levels in the cruiser; each level was 200 meters high. Just going from one end to another would take close to an hour for a normal person to run from one end of the ship to another.For Arran, it would only take five minutes tops to run back and forth once. It was only for the sake of caution that they slowed down their pace to a crawl. But even then, it wouldn’t take them thirty minutes to scour the entire ship once. Such was the power that surpassed mortals.Arran led his unit to the first level in a minute, and they started their sweep. The forty of them moved swiftly and in order, each of them displaying a calm attitude devoid of nervousness or anxiety.With Arran’s perception, it was easy to spot enemies from far away and none could hope to escape from his senses. When one enemy was spotted, one would be gunned down without mercy. The cadets took no prisoners and left nine standing.Like an e