Story 1 – Soldier’s Orders
After singing the Apostles' Creed, Our Father, Three Hail Marys, and a Glory Be, we begin to sing the battle prayer of the Knights of the Sacred Blood of Christ.
Let us pray. Oh God, who is all-knowing, all-wise, and all good, it is known that you are a God of battles and the army that has your favor shall obtain victory. We pray,
Grant us your favor, Oh Lord, to us, your poor servants.
Let us be your instruments of justice.
So that thy will shall be done as it is in Heaven.
Make our aim true.
So that our anger is just.
Protect us from all dangers especially those of the spirit.
So that we may forever serve you in Heaven.
Always be in our hearts, Oh Lord, who is truth and love itself.
Always and forever we shall love you.
St. Jude, Saint of Impossible Causes.
Pray for us.
St. Joseph, Terror of Demons.
Pray for us.
St. Michael the Archangel, Prince of the Heavenly Host.
Pray for us.
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 justice as you see fit, Oh Lord, for we are yours and yours alone as we enter into battle.
Amen.
The air inside the aircraft lifted a bit. It’s to be expected of a prayer, but this is our first deployment and the sounds of explosions and laser fire are keeping me on edge. Some of the people I went to training appear to be praying while others are checking out their equipment. There’s one that’s constantly switching his gun to sword mode on and off as if the way it works still amazes him. A girl is admiring her skull helmet with the little markings she made on it.
“The markings on your helmet are the only thing they’re going to be identifying your body by if you keep obsessing over it,” someone tells her.
She dismisses him and puts her helmet on.
The captain of our unit stands up and says, “We’re going to be landing soon. To recap, you will storm the beachhead, join your brothers and sisters in battle, and help them win the battle. I know this is going to be a lot for you since we’re fighting against the Orthodox empire instead of fighting against weaker heathens and Protestants, but stay strong, keep your faith in God, and He will deliver you to safety whether that’d be to your homes here or in Heaven. Remember that we’re not going to take any prisoners. Any questions?”
One guy raises his hand.
“What is it?”
“Why should we be worried about fighting heretics? They’re just tools of the devil steeped in their own ignorance. Sure, they have advanced weaponry like ours, but there’s one important thing that we have on our side that they don’t.”
“And what’s that?”
“We have the Lord Jesus Christ on our side!”
I, along with my unit, cheer at the reminder.
“Why should we fear death or the heretic, who thinks they serve the Lord but only serves his own warped version of God?”
“That’s what I want you all to think about when you’re out there. Keep God in your hearts and victory will be ours.”
The aircraft lands on the ground and the landing door begins to open. We all stand up with our weapons in hand and in formation.
“Ready yourselves! Give your lives, your souls, your very existence for the Church, for your Holy Mother, and for your Lord!”
“Amen!” the unit screams out before charging out into a hail of laser fire.
I’m not sure who was shot from the point we scattered and sprinted on the battlefield, but I’m sure a few people died because of all the screaming I heard. There’s nothing I can except shoot and move forward. By the time I get to the cover of dug in trenches, I think I might’ve killed five or so heretics and lost a few people in my unit. The people in the trenches are catching their breath for a second before going back out or using the trenches as cover. At least none of them are being cowards and just sitting here. I’m not even sure we can stay here with all the explosions blowing up the battlefield. I see the captain of our unit finally entering the trenches.
“I’m glad you’re still alive, Private Joshua,” he says, “Have you seen your fellow squad mates?”
“I’ve seen a few here and there. I think some are still charging ahead.”
“God bless them.”
“What should we do now, sir?”
“Your orders still stand, private. Keep fighting and leave no heretic standing.”
“Incoming!” a solider screams out.
We scatter out of the trenches as artillery fire blows it up. I manage to get to cover behind the rubble of fallen buildings and push forward. Our allies return with artillery fire of our own as more air reinforcements come in to finish off the last of the heretic’s aircraft. Once their air support is gone, our aircraft take out heretics camped out in the taller ruins. We keep pushing forward as they retreat to their field base. They’re really dug in here with a shield around them and heavy laser gun placements that keep the pressure on us. This is their last stand and they’re throwing everything they have at us in their tall fortress. An explosion behind me blasts a fellow soldier to the cover near me.
“Are you okay?” I ask them.
“Y-yeah. I’m just a little shaken up. This armor is better than I thought it was.”
“I don’t think it was the armor that saved your life.”
“True that but who’s to say that God didn’t help make this armor? How are we going to pierce their defenses? Not even the aircraft can pierce it.”
“What about the artillery?”
“It’s going to take a while to load and fire again.”
There has to be some way to break their shields. While looking around, I see that the ground around the base is broken with holes in them that appear deep. After throwing a couple grenades, the broken concrete reveals that the ground is hollow.
“Do you see that? Let’s get everyone else to blow up the ground around the fortress,” I say.
We use our shared comms to tell everyone what I figured out and they go along with the plan. Once the ground is weakened, the fortress leans forward then falls as its shield deactivates. The air support then blows up the fortress for added measure and we get rid of the stragglers. Whatever is left of my unit regroups to our captain.
“I’m glad most of you made it through that battle especially you Private Joshua who helped finished the fight.”
My unit and other people around cheer for me. I didn’t expect to be this important in my first battle. God does use the most inconspicuous people in the most important tasks, I guess.
“Now, clean up the rest of the heretics around these ruins and bring back anything important that you can find.”
“Yes, sir!”
The rest of the units are given the same tasks from what I hear passing by them. Most of them travel in small groups while I’m searching by myself. Even I find trouble, there are lots of people around me, so they should notice. It confuses me as to why we’re here to take this city other than it being one of the heretic’s many holdouts on this planet. It’s obviously falling apart, but I guess the most unlikely place to be is the best place to hide. The rest of the planet is almost under our control. I’m hoping the heretics repent of their sins soon so what happened here doesn’t happen to their other cities. Is that laser fire in the distance?
Quickly running over to see what’s happening, I see that a fellow soldier has just cornered a single wounded enemy soldier. Another four then come out of nowhere with broken swords in their hands. We shoot them as soon as they appear.
“I’m glad you got here when you did, brother. I would’ve been dead if you haven’t.”
“You’re welcome. What are we going to do with-!”
“What?”
“You just shot him!”
“Yeah. No survivors. That’s what we were told. Why?”
“He was surrendering.”
“So? If he wanted to live, he should’ve converted and left this planet when we were evacuating the Catholics from it. The only people left on this planet who are loyal to God and His Church is us. Everyone else turned their backs on Him. I understand your sympathy, but you shouldn’t let that make you go against orders.”
“Okay. I understand.”
“Thank you. Let’s get back to cleaning up this mess. I’m sure there are more heretical rats here somewhere.”
The two of us go our separate ways as he joins a group. My orders are to kill any remaining heretics, but what about those who repent? God is always willing to forgive those who repent with their whole heart, so why should I deny them the chance to live? Is their judgment day or are their early deaths the only way to do penance for their sins? The price of sin is death after all.
Checking some nearby ruins, I find what looks to be a small house. The doors are open, so someone must’ve been in here looking through it. Going downstairs, I find a hidden room with a single man in it. He doesn’t appear to be a soldier since he has simple clothes on, but like the other guy said, the only people left on this planet who are loyal to God and His Church is us. As I point my gun at him, he turns around and quickly gets on his knees with his hands in the air.
“H-hey! I surrender! I’ve repented of my heresy!” he says.
“And now you’ll pay the price for them.”
“Hold on! Hold on! Just bring me in. I can serve my penance differently. Check me for weapons or explosives. I’m not trying to trick you!”
I check him and there’s nothing on him except for a picture of a family.
“What is this?” I ask him.
“It’s a picture of my family that lived here years ago. I begged the army to let me be here to get it and they let me since they don’t know of my true beliefs, but that’s when your army happened to attack. After the fighting stopped, I managed to get here and get my belongings.”
“If you’ve repented of your sins, then why are you still here? Don’t the Orthodox jail or execute traitors?”
“Only the ones they know of. Just because this planet is dominated by the Orthodox doesn’t mean that people don’t convert. Please turn me in to your authorities. I’ll be safer in prison than on this planet.”
“What about your family?”
“Executed or worse. They already took them away from me. Hopefully, they’re in Heaven praying for me.”
What should I do? I guess I could take him in. This guy isn’t a heretical soldier and my orders don’t mention executing civilians.
“Okay, fine. I’ll bring you in. Hopefully, they’ll have mercy on you.”
“Thank you! May God forever bless you!”
“Follow me.”
As soon as we exit the house, I hear explosions and laser fire. Over the comms, I hear that a surprise attack has happened and they’re engaging heretical forces.
“What’s happening?” the man asks me.
“An attack. This’ll be a good opportunity to get you back without having the others bringing up any questions along the way. Let’s hurry!”
I take us on a long way around because of the fighting.
“The fighting here was more intense now that I have a better look at it,” the man points out, “It used to be a beautiful city, but the war has absolutely decimated it. It’s beyond repair. A few well-placed explosions could make the entire place crumble.”
I accidentally cough.
“Did you already try that?”
“Just did on one fortress and it was my plan. A bunch of grenades was able to topple the foundation and bring it crumbling to the ground.”
“It doesn’t matter. This place, this planet doesn’t hold any significant value to me anymore.”
“Are there more people like you on this planet?”
“The only ones alive I know of are in jail. There are probably some in hiding, but I’m not sure. Why?”
“As far as we know, there aren’t any more people loyal to God or His Church on this planet. I’m hoping that the planet will surrender so no more lives are destroyed. This place will be a barren world if the fighting continues.”
“Then I’ll be your example to change the minds of your leaders.”
“I hope so.”
Before we know it, we’re ambushed by a small group of heretics who fire on us from cover. We take cover in the ruins and I try to fight back, but they’ve got us pinned down.
“Give me a gun. I can help you fight them,” the man says.
Since he seems trustworthy, I give him a sidearm I have, and we shoot at the heretics together. We manage to hit a couple then advance on the other two while keeping them down. Once we get around to them, we kill them.
“Good work. Now, give me back my gun,” I say.
“You don’t trust me with it? There could be more out there waiting to ambush us.”
“If that happens, then I’ll just give you it back. I don’t want my allies finding my gun on you. We’ll just have more to explain.”
“You’re right. Here.”
It’s not a long walk back from here, but once we get in range, the captain of my unit and the others around him point their guns at us.
“Explain yourself, Private Joshua,” my captain orders.
“This citizen was here getting an old picture from his house that was here among the ruins. He doesn’t have anything on him. He also wants off the planet so he can be safe and do his penance for his sins. Trust me when I say that he can be trusted. He even shot at and killed a couple of heretics with me.”
“Hmm. Those are some good reasons to trust him.”
Despite what I just said, the captain pulls out his laser pistol and shoots the man through the head.
“Captain!”
“Medics, go cut open that man’s body and be careful doing so.”
“What for? He was a repentant sinner!”
“We’ll see soon.”
“What do you mean?”
“He has a bomb in his chest, sir. He has an activation button deep in his palm,” one of the medics say.
“What?”
“Do you see what I mean, Private Joshua? This is something new that we’re finding out, so I wouldn’t expect you to know about it. People like this hide cybernetic bombs in their bodies so they can infiltrate our ships and bases to blow themselves up and take out important leaders. I know that the Muslims are better known for this, but heretics are all the same. This is why I instructed you to leave none alive.”
“I thought you meant heretical soldiers.”
“Everyone on this planet is an enemy of the Lord’s Holy Church.”
“I really did think he was a repentant sinner.”
“I understand and because of your help earlier today that took down the heretic’s fortress and your good nature to the seemingly repentant, you will only receive a light punishment, however, you can make up for it by going back out and cleaning out the rest of the heretics from the city. Remember. Leave none alive.”
“Yes, sir.”
I do as the captain asks and help purge the rest of the heretics from the planet. Later on, I’m suspended from entering the next battle with my penance being to pray the rosary for the army continuously until the battle is done. Once it is, I’m allowed to take a look at the aftermath to see that the city is burning. I hope this was what truly God willed to happen. If it was, then this is good and the right thing to do. If not, then I hope the Holy Spirit enlightens us soon on what we should be doing.
The End
The short story title is a reference to the song, Soldier's Orders, from Silent Hill Homecoming.
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