Chapter 16: Chapter 16: The Guard

Inside the armory, the remaining rebels were in a rather optimistic mood. Granted, they took several casualties when the xenomorphs attacked, but in return, they slaughtered dozens of xenomorphs, including five large ones that likely served important roles. 

There were surely other xenomorphs in the base, but if they could repel the attack once, they could do it again. They still had ample ammunition and firepower, and now that they have fought them off once already, everyone knew how best to handle them in combat. As menacing as the xenomorphs were, their speed and element of surprise became meaningless in the tight corridor leading to the armory. They clearly lacked the heavy firepower needed to breach the choke point. Unless something went terribly wrong, they could easily last until help arrived.

Several troopers were standing guard in front of the Eradicator. Several more were ready with RPGs and flamethrowers. 

“Adrianna, is it? You did well back there.”

Still carrying the Judicator flamethrower, Adrianna turned to Captain Hanson. She subconsciously wanted to salute the man, but the man shook his head. 

“Don’t bother. It’s not like anyone here will reprimand you for not respecting your superiors.” He said quietly. “It will all be over soon, one way or another.”

Adrianna nodded as well. Once this mission was over and Doctor Payton was captured, she and all the other rebels who survived would leave the Venya Imperium forever and seek refuge in the Republic of Dorn. Their names would be changed and secret identities would be created for them. This would be their reward for their betrayal of the loyalists in their unit. Many of the rebel troopers who had families had their family members evacuated already. This was what allowed them to actually pick up arms against the loyalists. 

Everyone knew the Venya Revolutionary Guard was tightly connected to the Republic of Dorn. The Republic offered the revolutionaries funding, weapons, and training. In return, spies of the Guard, often Imperial citizens and officers in key positions who were turned by the ideals of the Guard, passed their intel to the Republic. The forces of the Guard also occasionally hit critical targets suggested to them by the Republic. In addition, the Republic often offered shelter and protection to those of the Guard hunted by the ISC or the ISA. 

Of course, the reach of the Imperium was far, and often members of the Guard seeking shelter in the Republic could still be tracked down. These people would soon meet gory accidents or simply disappear and never be seen again. In some extreme cases, these people would show up eventually in the form of brutalized or dismembered bodies as a bloody message to the enemies of the Imperium.  

That being said, for some within the Imperium, the chance of escaping the oppressive government forever was worth the risk. 

“Why did you join the Guard?” Adrianna suddenly turned to Captain Hanson and wondered. “You know…I have had you as my captain for…how many years? If I wasn’t told of your identity, I never would’ve guessed you are a member of the Guard as well.”

“Why not?” Captain Hanson shrugged, knowing this was an opinion shared by many in the unit. Plenty of loyalists, even in their last moments, still had no idea their respected captain was the one who signed their death warrant. 

“It’s just that…most troopers like me join the Guard because we don’t want to stay in the military until our service term ends.” Adrianna gently sat down next to the wall. “Eric and Dawson in my squad were conscripted into service. Their names were randomly drawn, and they had to serve or face execution. Once the Guard promised to find a way to get their families, and them, out, they joined the Guard eagerly. Taylor was a volunteer. He joined the Imperial Army because he thought it would be cool to go back to his friends and families in military uniform as a general or something. How naive he was back then...when he stepped onto the battlefield for the first time and saw half of the recruits he trained with getting blown up by a single artillery shell…he immediately wanted to go home, but volunteers still have to stay in service for at least 10 years before they can be discharged.”

She scoffed and tapped the Imperial Army sigil on the chest of her Guardian-class power armor. In the middle of the black and red schemes was the symbol of a blade. The Imperial Army was meant to be the deadly sword of the Leviathan. Sharp. Cold. Unflinching. Yet this sword was forged with cruelty and oppression. How could the Leviathan expect an army of unwilling troops to fight for them?

But the reality was that the troops did fight for them. The expendable grunts of the Imperial Army have been serving the Venya Imperium for centuries, more or less with loyalty. It wasn’t necessarily because the troops wanted to fight and die for the nobles who saw them as numbers and statistics. It was just that the price for resistance was too great. Protests? Anti-war sentiments? The flamethrowers of Imperial executioners were designed for these types of troublemakers. 

For most people, being marched to war and blown up by an artillery shell meant their parents wouldn’t lose everything they have ever worked for and be pressed into slavery. It meant their siblings wouldn’t risk being executed in public. It meant their sons and daughters wouldn’t be tossed into orphanages designed to brainwash children into the most dedicated servants of the Imperium.

“As for me…” Adrianna continued as Captain Hanson remained silent. “Obviously I volunteered, but I didn't really have a choice in the matter. I came from one of the slums on 9A2-C-8. The typical fate for girls is that they get pregnant in their teens, whether willingly or not. And then they get married to some drunk and start raising kids. There’s no future. No freedom. It’s a sad and miserable life. I may be exaggerating a little…but that’s more or less true. When I was 17, I knew I didn't want to waste my life like this. So I signed myself up for the Imperial Army. I tried getting into the Imperial Navy first like everyone does, and like everyone here, I was rejected. The Army accepted me though. The Army always needs some grunts on the ground. Seven years later, I’m still somehow alive.”

“You don’t want to wait three more years?” Captain Hanson raised his eyebrows. “That’s seven years of pay you’re missing out on.”

“Fuck the pay. A bridge officer in the Navy makes more in a week than I do in a year.” Adrianna chuckled. “Once I get to the Republic…people in the Republic still need muscle, right? Why do I have to stay in the Army and basically be a slave fighting and dying for the fat fucks up there? Why can’t I fight for myself? I’m sure plenty of people in the Republic will want a veteran like me to be a bodyguard or a hitwoman…fuck. Even if they are in need of a call girl, I’ll take the job if they pay me enough, you know? It’s just a different way of selling yourself.”

Captain Hanson chuckled. A captain who came right out of a military academy might be uncomfortable with these words. He has seen those officers before. These proud men and women often considered themselves above the troopers they commanded, and sometimes even above their fellow officers. To them, everyone not from a family of wealth and education would never be anything more than a peasant. They were not the most pleasant to be around. 

Captain Hanson was different. He worked his way up from the very bottom. 

“I suppose.” He replied. “You want to know why I defected to the Guard?”

“If you’re willing to share, sir. It’s not like we have better things to do around here.”

Captain Hanson nodded. It took him a few seconds to organize his thoughts, and after that, he started talking.

“When I first volunteered for service, I was like most young idiots who did that. I was naive and foolish, with my mind filled with dreams of grandeur. I secretly hoped I would be a hero of some campaign and be praised by the general, by the planetary governor of our world, or even by Lord Vitz himself.”

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“The only difference may be that I was much more foolish than the others. When the shells started falling and the machine guns started firing, and when everyone else in my unit faltered and hesitated, I kept charging forward and obeying my orders. Somehow, year after year, battle after battle, I survived against all odds. Those around me, from the NCOs to the troopers, changed year after year, but I always lived.”

“Eventually, I became a Sergeant, and then I was promoted to a Captain. I never went to a military academy, and I never want to. The academies are filled with brats who have never seen a day of real combat…anyway, I got on good terms with plenty of colonels and other captains in the 329th Infantry. I never stopped being a loyal soldier…until I heard the news one day.”

“My son was drafted and assigned to the Imperial Army. I should’ve been happy for him. I really should have. Lord Vitz ordered the annual draft in the sector to rally enough troops to repel all the external threats out there. I know more than anyone else how necessary it is. I should feel honored for my son…but for the first time in decades, I was terrified.”

“I reached out to almost everyone I knew. Colonels. Captains. I even tried to plead with a general in the 382th Infantry. I used all my connections…but no one did anything. The colonels who praised my bravery and loyalty reprimanded me for not being willing to make the required sacrifice for the Imperium. None of them wanted to risk their reputation. Not for a mere captain like me. The other captains pretended to comfort me, but I once saw them mock me behind my back. Serves him right for being a self-righteous bastard, they said. And in a sense, they were right. I watched countless thousands of sons get sent to the battlefield to die without a moment of hesitation. I guess it's ironic now that my son is chosen.”

Adrianna sighed. In each Imperial Sector, aside from a few main issues, the Lord or Lady in charge of the sector could basically make any command they wanted and had the power to enforce. In Sector 9A2, Lord Vitz implemented a yearly conscription where a portion of the male population from 18 to 35 would be selected for 10 years of mandatory military service. The portion was determined by Lord Vitz according to military need. 

Most of these conscripts would join the Imperial Army or the Planetary Security Forces. Those added to the PSF were the lucky ones. Barring any invasion, these men would live out the decade in boredom. Those added to the Imperial Army to replace casualties or to fill newly created divisions, well…their fates would be rather horrible. 

Theoretically speaking, the destination of the conscripts was determined according to their physical qualifications. Of course, those whose families could afford the right bribes and/or knew the right people could guarantee that their sons or husbands ended up in worn-out power armors and patrolling the streets of their homeworld. Captain Hanson, despite his reputation in his regiment, clearly didn't have the necessary wealth or connections to move his son to the PSF.

“He was put into the 483rd Armored Division. His first battle was an attack on a populated planet of the Salin Empire. Why? No one knew.” The captain sighed. “As far as I can tell, someone giving the orders made a damn big mistake. They thought they would be trading punches with a Planetary Defense Fleet. Instead, when they jumped into the planet’s orbit, they found themselves staring at a full armada of the Salin Empire.”

“The bastards in the Imperial Navy immediately abandoned their transports. They used their Pelican-class heavy transport ships to shield their battlecruisers and heavy cruisers as their warp drives readied the coordinates to retreat. By all means, it was a good call. I mean…each heavy capital ship in the Imperial Navy, with the experienced crew members and equipment it carried, is worth far more than a division of infantry. The ships need more infrastructures and resources to produce than the infantry troopers. They need more time to be built than the time it would take to draft troopers and put them through basic training. If anything, the admiral who made this command should be praised for their decisiveness.”

“In the end, most of the fleet jumped back to Imperial space in one piece. That was the Navy. And the Army? As far as I knew, 15 divisions went on that mission. 4 Armored. 6 Mechanized. 5 Infantry. Half a million people in nearly 30 Pelicans. Not a single pelican came home. Half a million people!”

Adrianna sighed. She shouldn’t be surprised. The Imperial Army was expendable to the extreme. Half a million troops? What was that? An average civilized planet in Sector 9A2 had at least 12 - 15 billion people. On average, 1% of the population served in the Imperial Army. That was 120 to 150 million troops in thousands of divisions. That was just one planet in one star system in one sector. 

The battle Captain Hanson just described was no more than a minor defeat in the greater picture. The handful of Imperial Navy ships lost in the battle was might have even been more costly than the half million Imperial Army soldiers and the equipment and vehicles they carried. 

“I should have accepted this. I should have done what the government tells us and focused my rage on the enemies of the Imperium. It is the Empire that killed my son. It is the Republic. But I know that’s not true. Our enemies are not the Empire or the Republic.” There was a fierce look in the captain’s eyes. “Our enemy is the Venya Imperium. Our enemy is the Lords and Ladies who see us as their personal properties that they can toy with at their wish. It is the oppressive government that forces us to march to battle by burning those who refuse in public squares.”

He turned to Adrianna. “I wish you the best of luck in the Republic, but I will not be going into hiding. Once we reach the Republic, as stupid as it sounds, I am coming back to Venya. I know the strength of one person is nothing to the Imperium, but we can’t let this continue. Someone has to stand against them, even if it may be meaningless after all.”

Adrianna stared at Captain Hanson. She had to admit she was moved. On one hand, there was a part of her that wanted to join the captain. On the other hand, the logical side of her mind knew the captain was on a suicide mission. Countless millions of people at least have wanted to topple the oppressive Imperium. How many have succeeded? After so many centuries, the Imperium was still standing tall, and most of those who wanted to destroy the Imperium was in the ground themselves.

She opened her mouth, but before she could say a word, there was a confused cry from the machine gunners at the gate.

“What the hell is that thing? Is that one of ours?”

Startled, Captain Hanson, Adrianna, and a number of rebels grabbed onto their weapons and rushed to the main gate.

On the other end of the corridor were two mechanical entities. They were each over one meter tall and wide, making them much smaller than the larger category of xenomorphs the rebels have killed. To the rebels’ surprise, the two entities were slowly moving toward them. 

“Sir?” One of the machine gunners asked. This definitely isn't something from this base. Maybe it was some new technology from the Republic? Without the scanners and radar that had to be accessed from the security center, they were blind to anything happening in orbit. Perhaps the Republic reinforcements might have arrived already? Maybe this mechanical creation was a new weapon developed and deployed by the Republic?

Ironically, if the machine gunners just started shooting immediately, they might have been able to save themselves, but they didn't fire a single round and there was a good reason for it. This pair of mechanical units clearly weren't from this base. Given how different they were from the xenomorphs, only an idiot would think they were on the side of the xenomorphs. Putting all the factors together, they were likely from the Republic, making them the allies of the rebels. 

This hesitation, although justified, would cost the rebels their lives. 

Captain Hanson never got the chance to answer the man. 

The only response the machine gunner received came from the pair of mechanical units in front of him in the form of a pair of sentinel missiles. 

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