Story 5 – Fight and Never Surrender
After singing the Apostles' Creed, Our Father, Three Hail Marys, and a Glory Be, all the units of St. Michael the Archangel’s Legion sings our prayer as our ships go down the surface of the enemy planet for battle.
“Let us pray. Oh God, who commands the forces of Heaven with a just and mighty hand, command us as well as we head out into battle. We pray,”
“Lead us wherever You will.”
“Let us be your swords, shields, and bows.”
“So that thy will shall be done as it is in Heaven.”
“He hath converted my soul. He hath led me on the paths of justice, for His own name's sake.”
“For though I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evils, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they have comforted me.”
“Our rosaries protect our souls, our swords protect our body.”
“The Lord has armed us well for His war against evil.”
“Into the battle we walk.”
“Brave and fearless.”
“Into the battle we walk.”
“Ready to die for those we love.”
“Into the battle we walk.”
“With God by our side.”
“Always be in our hearts, Oh Lord, who is truth and love itself.”
“Always and forever we shall love you.”
“But to Satan, we shall say.”
“The Lord rebukes you.”
“St. Michael the Archangel, Vanquisher of Satan.”
“Pray for us.”
“St. Benedict, Patron Saint against Temptations.”
“Pray for us.”
“Queen of Heaven, Blessed Virgin Mary, who every demon fears.”
“Pray for us.”
“Queen of Heaven, Most Merciful Mother.”
“Pray for us.”
“Queen of Heaven, Our Lady of Victory.”
“Pray for us.”
“Jesus Christ, Savior of all.”
“Pray for us.”
“Jesus Christ, Ruler of the Universe.”
“Pray for us.”
“Jesus Christ, Conqueror of Death.”
“Pray for us.”
“Use your weapons of war, Oh Lord, so that evil will finally be extinguished, and your kingdom will reign forever in peace without death or suffering. Safeguard our souls as we head into battle.”
“Amen.”
I start playing some of the music I listen to in the ship since it’s my turn to play pre-battle music to get us even more ready for battle. We typically play orchestral music that you would hear in mass or music made by choirs specifically for our battles. The guys really seem to like it as some are banging their heads and using their guns as guitars and slapping their legs to the beat of the song.
The captain approaches me and asks, “What band is this called, Corporal Titus?”
“It’s called Cleansing Flames. I went to a concert to see them not too long ago,” I respond.
“I hear they burn Bibles,” one of my friends says.
“Burn Bibles, Titus?”
“Yes, they burn Bibles. Protestant Bibles, of course! There’s nothing like seeing heretical texts burn to ash.”
“I have to see that along with them perform then. They sound like a great band. Crank that music up, Titus.”
“Yes, sir!”
As I turn up the music, more people in the ship start moving and singing to it. Even the captain manages to get into it and does a little dancing to everyone’s amusement. I’ve worked and partied with everyone here as a Knight of the Sacred Blood of Christ. We were asked to join St. Michael the Archangel’s Legion when we proved ourselves to be a cut above the rest. Just like St. Joan of Arc’s Holy Virgins, our group is made of entirely one sex, men, who are single and virgins. The biggest difference between us is that we’re a heavy assault unit that deals with the Church’s enemies that aren’t on her planets. Today, we’re going after the Anglican heretics we are making their last stand on one of their few remaining planets. A failed operation has forced us to go in and obtain justice for our fallen comrades.
“We’re landing soon, so be ready!” the captain says as he grabs his light machine guns.
One of the great parts of being in this group is that we get to use heavy weapons and heavy armor. It takes a lot of training to be able to wield two light machine guns while using this heavy armor, but the added cybernetics help. God bless science.
“Are you ready, men?!” the captain says.
“Yes, sir!” we respond.
“For God!”
“For His Holy Church!”
“For the Our Blessed Mother!”
The automated ship is shot out of the sky and crashes into the planet along with the rest of the ship with the other groups. We get out of the wreckage as we scream and enter the battle. The ships are automated without pilots because of the dangerous battles we enter. Our ships kept getting shot out of the sky that we make our ships automated to save the lives of talented pilots. They are still a work in progress though, which is why we’re the only group that has them. Our armor allows us to strive the crash and our unshakeable spirits let us shake off the crash and immediately enter the hectic battles.
A hail of lasers showers us as we charge forward, but none of it affects us. We immediately return fire and shred the heretics to pieces. Even in their fortified positions our weapons blow up and pierce through their defenses. Seeing that their forces are losing ground, they start retreating while the heavy armor soldiers, tanks, and aircraft come in. Our soldiers with anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons step forward while we switch our gun ammo type to anti-armor. Our weapons are more advanced than theirs with our anti-tank weapons shredding through their tanks and our anti-air weapons shooting their support out of the sky with its homing capabilities. Their weapons hardly scratch ours while our anti-armor guns break theirs in a matter of seconds.
“Keep going! Keep pushing forward!” my captain and the other captains command.
“Yeah!” we all scream out as we keep pushing the heretics back without rest.
Things seem to be going well until more squads of tanks and aircraft show up. Even though our weapons are effective against them, there are too many for us to shoot down. They’re blowing up the entire area even though their allies are around us. Somehow, I expected better of these heretics.
“Scatter!” the captains command over the comms as our noise dampeners kick in while explosions hit us.
Despite all the bombs, I’ve managed to get to a destroyed building with only minimal damage to my armor. My weapons are still in good condition as well. After saying a few quick prayers of thanksgiving and for the protection of my friends and fellow soldiers, I look out at the battlefield to see squads of heretics patrolling around with tanks and heavily armored soldiers.
“Dogs of the pope, come out and surrender! Your brothers lie dead on the ground while we still have plenty of ammo to take you down. If you surrender to us, we promise to take you in alive. If you resist, we won’t hesitate to put you down. You ‘Juggernauts of the Church’ don’t stand a chance against us.”
There’s no way I’m surrendering, and neither are my friends. I wonder how the heretics are going to explain to their own people that they had to kill their own to get an advantage on us. It’s a normal tactic of ours to charge into the enemy’s line so that they only have two options. Attempt to push us back or bomb their own forces. Honestly, I think we’d rather have them try to push us back. Traitors are some of the worst people out there in the universe.
“Help…help…”
When I turn around, I see a heretic stuck under the rubble of the building. It’s crushed his lower half and he’s almost dead. He’s holding out a hand for me that I hold.
“Get those traitors for me and pray for my soul,” he requests as his grip on my hand weakens.
“I will!” I manage to say before he dies. I pray for the man’s soul with his hand in mine before I gently put it down. “I hope that God has mercy on your soul.”
Going back to see what I have to deal with, I see that the number of heretics outside is too much for me to deal with. What am I going to do? I could do hit and run attacks, but they’ll eventually get me. I do have a silencer on me, so I can pick off the strangers. Nah, most of them are bunched up together. My explosive rounds could help thin them out, but then I’m back to dealing with a large group of people. I’m trying to contact the others via the comms. No one is answering right now. All I can do now is to go out to find survivors then make a plan of attack.
It's a good thing that I got trained for situations like this. The only thing that’s difficult to do is to hold back my urge to immediately give these heretics the justice they deserve. Not only that, part of me is tempted to get rid of the few that I manage to find that are by themselves. If they are taken out now, then that could save me some trouble later, but on the other hand, someone might notice they’re missing, or I could end up not killing them fast enough and alert everyone that way. My silencer quiets down my shots though not by much. I have to keep moving. It’s the safest option I have right now. Besides, I’m starting to hear laser fire on and off, so something must be happening.
It's splitting up the groups of heretics. Some stay in certain spots while others group up to investigate the laser fire. Hmm. The two who went to investigate a destroyed bunker haven’t come out yet. Going into the destroyed bunker, I find them dead with their throats cut open. Looking around, I don’t see anyone-!
“You have to stay on your feet, Titus, especially with those blind spots,” a familiar voice says with a knife to my throat.
“Heh, I know this armor and God will protect me.”
“That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be careful.”
I turn around to see one of my friends. His armor is all damaged and he’s only carrying one light machine gun.
“What happened to you? Did your cybernetics get damaged?”
“Yeah, but that’s doesn’t mean I can’t fight. You haven’t happened to have come across any more friendlies, have you?”
“No, I wish I did. I did find a heretic that repented of his sins.”
“That’s good. I’m glad that he finally saw his heretical brethren for what they really are.”
“We need to move quickly to find more of us. The heretics are on top of us, but with the assistance of God and each other, we can defeat them.”
“You do that. I’m afraid I’m not as mobile and strong as I was with my cybernetics. I’ll stay here to pick off whoever steps into my bunker of death.”
“What about when the fighting gets intense?”
“Then I’ll get out to join in. As I said, my damaged cybernetics doesn’t mean that I can’t fight.”
“I’ll trust you then. May God give you strength and wisdom.”
“To you as well, brother.”
Going out into the desolate battlefield again, I come across one of the destroyed ships we came in. Peering into it, I find a few of my squadmates plus the captain. They smile and silently wave at me to come in.
“I’m glad you’re all alive!” I tell them in a whispered voice.
“We are too!”
“You don’t look too hurt. Your guardian angel is really looking out for you.”
“Did you manage to find anyone else?”
“I managed to find Eric in a destroyed bunker. His cybernetics is damaged, but he can still fight. He’s holding up there until a bigger battle starts.”
“That’s smart of him,” the captain says, “I’m trying to reach the command ship, but they’re blocking our signal.”
“Do you have any idea how we’re going to attack if you don’t get any help?”
“Not right now. If we get more men together, then we can probably come up with something.”
“Then I’ll go back out there to find more men.”
“Are you sure, Titus? We’re working on clearing up our signal. It’ll just take a little while before we can contact command.”
“But what if the heretics find us or if one of our brothers need help? Something has to be done now.”
“I understand. Just be careful out there. May God protect you, body and soul.”
“Same to you all.”
I go out again to search for more people. While searching an area with destroyed tanks, I find one that a large hole. Someone could definitely use this as makeshift cover and temporary shelter. Entering it, I find a single-a single friendly.
“Ah! I didn’t mean to shoot you, Titus!”
“Don’t worry about it. Your shot barely even singed my armor.”
“You’re blessed to even have any. Look at me. Whatever armor I had was blown off.”
“You’re blessed to be alive.”
“Of course, of course,” he says as he crosses himself, “I just feel so scared without it. I feel so invincible with it on. I mean I even shot you point blank and it didn’t affect you in any way.”
“If you need it to help you feel better, then here,” I say as I take off pieces of my armor.
“No, wait! You need that.”
“But you need it more for your confidence. Plus, I saw how lethal you were charging ahead with your squad. I thought and still think that you’re a brave man. If this armor is what it takes for you to be that way, then you need it more than I do.”
“Okay. I’ll take it, but once I get to safety, I’m giving it back.”
“Alright.”
As the two of us go back to the captain, I catch sight of a few of our brothers being caught by the enemy. Some of their limbs are blown off and they don’t look to be in the best condition. Despite that, they still resist and try to fight. I have to do something.
“Quickly get to the captain!”
“What are you crazy?! Wait! Your armor!”
“There’s no time! Just hurry and get help!”
I quickly shoot down the heretics who were about to execute my brothers.
“Run! Get out of here!”
“Hold the line brother! We’ll get you help!” one of them says as he runs away.
While the injured help each other escape, I hold off the approaching heretic forces. I’m able to bring down a lot of them, but when the heavy soldiers and tanks come, I’m unable to destroy them all by myself until they blow me up. It doesn’t matter if I had my armor with me. All that matters is that my fellow brothers escaped safely. I can barely walk now, and my guns are broken. A heretic walks up to me and points his gun at my chest. If I die now, my only regret would have to be forgetting to refer to my brothers as such. We’re all a family in this group and in the Church.
He asks, “Since you sacrificed yourself for your brothers, I’ll allow you to say your last words to God.”
Come on. Don’t forget to say what you’re supposed to.
“Thy will be done.”
“Wise choice of words.”
The heretic shoots me in the chest as a hail of explosions and laser fire descends upon them. Everything is a blur until I see my brothers stand above me. One of them checks me.
“He’s okay! The laser shot just hit him in his cybernetics,” the medic says.
My captain and brothers look at me with a smile as they help me up.
“You are a crazy one, Titus, but that is why you’re with us.”
“Thank you, sir. I hope to serve God well every second of my life.”
“I’m sure you did today. Now that the battle is done, how about we listen to that music of yours? Does that band have any victory songs?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Then let’s play it loud to celebrate this victory that God has given us.”
My brothers and I rock out as more of our forces land on the planet though I’m a little stiff because my cybernetics are damaged. Regardless of my minor injuries, I have a good time with my brothers that God has blessed me with.
The End
Storm the Gates of Hell by Demon Hunter is a perfect song, in my opinion, for this group. I can imagine them listening to it as their battle music.
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