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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