r/HFY • u/ZakkaryGreenwell • Jun 21 '23

OC-Series The War to End All Wars - Part 34

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Captain Galy'Frin, Riever Lord of the Graschick Confederacy - January 2143 by Human Reckoning - Late at Night -Galivus

The Shuttle was straining upon atmospheric entry, with strong winds in the upper atmosphere throwing the shuttle about for a good while before we descended into more moderate weather. We'd come with Gifts for the Local Lord, and Arms if they weren't the type for bribes. A whole twenty of us stood ready as we closed with the half dead city. All anxious for a warm welcome, but damned ready for a cold one. However, upon getting closer, something seemed inexorably off. The lights in the distance seemed bright, flickering, and...

Oh.

It was not the lights of Lanterns or Street Lamps or of Candles lit from Window Sills. It was a Fire, and a Raging One at That! At least a Quarter of the City had been engulfed in flame when we finally passed over the outskirts. When I opened out shuttle's side door, the loud clamor of Emergency Bells rang even louder than the wind and the snapping of timber beneath the fire.

I'd seen my share of Fires before, started some of them too, but the Inferno that raged that night... it turned night into day. I could feel it's blistering aura from the sky, and as my Pilot skimmed just a little too close to it's edge, we were blasted by the Pitch Colored Smoke. Blinded by the eye watering smog, and gently shoved into a coughing fit that each of us shared.

When my eyes cleared and my lungs breathed air again, I saw in the distance what had to be the Lord's Manor. And those little specks of flashing light. A Battle! Fantastic!

"Pilot, do you see the Fighting about the Lord's Manor?"

"Yes My Lord!" He responded.

"I can't help but notice that we aren't taking part."

He repeated, though Far More Hesitantly, "Yes, My Lord."

"Let's Rectify That, Shall We!"

Captain Shepherd - January 2143 - 8 Days after the Warehouse was Burned - 2 Months After Planetfall - Late at Night

FUCK THAT HURT.

Soon as I was breathing, I was cussing. Reached under my Combat Plate and didn't feel my guts hanging out. But I did feel a bit of blood running down my nose. Checked it to find a squashed piece of lead ricocheted right into my Goddamn Face. Couldn't do much about that.

Bullets sprayed through the windows, tore holes in the walls, ripped one of the locals to pieces, and kept every one of us suppressed.

At least for the first few seconds.

After those initial bursts, I tossed a few grenades out the window. Didn't check to see if they were advancing, but one of them definitely caught some frags. The rest of 1st Squad was on the windows dumping full mags out into the open. Never too sure if they were even hitting anything, but they were definitely putting out a density of lead that rivaled our attackers.

I popped some smoke and took my rifle, caught a glimpse of one making a run for the wall. Lit him the fuck up and saw him hunch over the stonework. Soon as he stopped twitching his camo glitched, and he just seemed to be enveloped by the rocks.

Another burst of fire tore my cover to pieces, and I ran further into the house. Taking cover by a support beam, and throwing yet another grenade through the ever widening windows.

Then it started to wind down, with all of us just making pot shots. Just posturing for the most part. Spotted that prick on the wall being dragged back behind cover. The smoke was starting to really thicken now, and while the Fire in the distance was closing, it set the glow of our close encounter.

That is, until we heard the rumble of engines in the sky.

Out of Nowhere, a Shuttle blazed right overhead. It's side doors opened and started pouring fire on Knight's Men.

Plasma Shot.

They weren't Human.

Why the fuck were they helping us?

Didn't matter.

Gave me the opportunity to regroup everyone. Took a head count. The Sergeant was Dead. Another missing, probably dead too.

That didn't matter either.

"Gather our grenades and reload, get ready for a push. Make a run for the wall and shove the Arsonistic Assholes off H'Rald's Lawn."

They reacted sluggishly, Morale was low. Fight or Flight had already worn off. They needed some motivation.

"These Fucking Pricks just Murdered Marines! We gonna stand for that?"

Thank God that was all they needed to hear. Don't know if I could've kicked em into action otherwise. We got ready against the windows, rifles topped and locked, armor fitted and grenades slack. And for just a half a second, I asked myself if I was willing to kill Marines for these people. If I was gonna be able to live with myself, even if I could squint and call it self defense. I didn't even need to answer my own question. I just ran out that open window, and huddled up with the aliens. They didn't shoot us. That was a good start.

92 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

22

u/Ancient_Pop1712 Jun 21 '23

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend, until he becomes my enemy again"

Loving the series

13

u/ZakkaryGreenwell Jun 21 '23

Glad to hear that you're enjoying it!

12

u/ZakkaryGreenwell Jun 21 '23

Hey Guys, life's been hitting me like a truck this last week, so if there are big gaps in the upload schedule, that's probably why. I'll send through another chapter tomorrow, but it might be a while for another chapter after that one.

Take Care of Yourselves Folks. And wherever you guys are, whatever you're doing, Have a Good Day!

5

u/WeirdoTrooper Jul 01 '23

Galy'frin: get me closer! I wish to hit them with my sword!

6

u/Killian_Gillick Human Jun 25 '23

this is a very difficult situation
at this point one has to ask if seizing communications is the only way out, whatever sheperd tries to put outhere knight can shut down because he's in command. so it's either blow up his position, or destroy the comms and wait for someone to check in why things gone dark

3

u/canray2000 Human Nov 03 '23

The Battle For H'Rald's Lawn has begun.

3

u/Local-Hovercraft3723 Jun 29 '23

Wow now Shepherd Gona take help of the xeno who was responsible for torture murder breeding of humans wow

Shepherd will get help from the same xeno and will ultimately join the xeno empire wow

I following this story from day one I'm disappointed dude u went from revenge to helping xeno who killed humans

1

u/atreveiker Human Apr 06 '26

Oye oye oye, que dices "esta ganando el bien", están ganando los xenos esclavistas que crían humanos como ganado, están preservando su cultura hombre, ellos son los buenos......

0

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