Worack IV. A peaceful world full of beauty and wonder, now a bloody warzone. I tried to remember it as it once was, tried to remember it before the fire and the devastation but found that I couldn’t. I should’ve been used to it really. I was a Ralkoran, a warrior trained from the age of eight to serve and protect the Empire. My whole life revolved around fire and devastation, yet for some reason the destruction on Worack IV struck home. Perhaps it was because it was the crown jewel of the Empire, a paradise in the outer territories. Maybe it was because the Worack system was so close to my home system of Rinara, so very close. Or maybe it was because of my fierce loyalty to the Empire, just like any other Ralkoran, and the fact that this was the first time in centuries that an enemy force has invaded Imperial space. I didn’t know. All I knew was that I would make the invaders pay for it, pay for destroying a once beautiful world.
The invaders were the Sprikan, a highly advanced bug-race residing just outside of Imperial space. We called them “spiders” due to their spider-like appearance. They struck unexpectedly and without warning, attacking four systems simultaneously. Among those four was the Worack system. The Sprikan claimed that it was in retaliation for the Imperial advances into their space. While it is true that the Empire has taken a few of their worlds, it is also true that the Empire had a divine right to take them. Those worlds belonged to the Empire long before it even existed. The Sprikan should have expected that. Instead, the spiders became greedy, trying to keep worlds that never belonged to them in the first place. Rather than admit their mistake, they decide to attack four defenseless systems unexpectedly. How dare they!
I shook my head to clear it. I musn’t be thinking these thoughts now, I said in the confines of my mind, I must focus on the battle ahead. I checked my equipment to ensure they were ready. Guardian Combat Suit. Check. HUD. Check. Jump pack. Check. MK. V Personal Energy Shield. Check. Dagger. Check. Plasma Blaster. Check. Grenades. Check. Everything was in order.
I crouched in anticipation along with the rest of my unit, dagger in one hand and Plasma Blaster in the other. My commander scanned the battlefield, waiting. I could feel my impatience eating me up from the inside out. Then suddenly, my commander gave the Ralkoran war cry as he charged forth. The cry spread like wildfire, escaping from the throats of one Ralkoran to the next until finally I was doing it too. We charged forth, ready to fight and die for the Empire. The spiders were a little more timid, it took them a whole three seconds after our charge before they too charged forth! Suddenly, the battlefield was filled with soldiers from both sides, hacking and slashing, shooting and burning.
I dodged the blade of one spider and quickly shoved my dagger deep into its abdomen. It shrieked as I removed my blade and it fell over, dead. I quickly killed another two with my Blaster, burning through them. One spider attempted to stab me in the back. It grabbed me from behind with three of its arms while the other was raised, sword in hand, for a downward strike. It would’ve been the end of me had I not activated my jump pack. We flew across the field, high above the carnage. Somewhere in that flight I managed to shake loose from my would be killer and quickly finished him off before he even reached the ground.
The battle wore on for about another hour. I lost count on how many Sprikan I felled. By the end of it, the spiders were all dead, all of them. We barely lost any men, only three compared to the several hundred spiders that we fought. Our commander raised his dagger above his head and shouted glorious victory as the rest of us followed suit. He reported our victory and soon began receiving reports of other victories throughout Worack IV. Any other military force would’ve celebrated then, knowing their victory was close at hand, but we are Ralkoran. We don’t celebrate until the war is done. So that night passed like any other night. We waited patiently for the sun to rise. For in the morning, we would make the final push to take back Worack IV from the wretched spiders and begin the campaign to completely destroy them.