The Sky is Endless

by Alexander W Meurant

  Chapter 33

  * * *

  Victor stood on one of the jetties of the port, looking out over the ocean as the sun set. He held a pair of binoculars to his eyes as he surveyed the water, and he could just see ships in the distance, mere smudges on the horizon, and every now and then a flash of light would touch the area, as if an explosion had occurred. Hearing steps behind him, Victor turned and saw Major Irwin, the man's right hand heavily bandaged. The man just came and stood next to Victor silently. After a few moments, Victor passed his superior the pair of binoculars.

  The Major took them without a word and lifted them to his eyes, holding them awkwardly in his damaged grip. He too just stared silently, no doubt seeing what Victor had.

  "This whole invasion is bullshit" the Major suddenly spoke out, dropping his hands and handing the binoculars back. Irwin just stood there, anger plastered all over his features. His entire frame was rigid and tense, and he looked about ready to hit someone.

  "We are nearly three days in and the fleet is already gone. Where are our airships. Its utter bullshit" the man raged, his left hand flapping in the air somewhat. Hearing a whirring above them, they both looked up and saw two Imperial fighters stream overhead, not contested in the slightest by Federation aircraft. The fighters didn't seem one bit interested in the Federation troops holed up in the port, increasing the defences of the place. There were around five hundred of them, and a few dozen vehicles and tanks. Any effort made by the Imperials to retake the port would be costly in Imperial lives.

  Turning to look back to the city, Victor locked his gaze on the main road that ran from the port to the city, and could see a makeshift line of barricades set up by the Imperials, a few tanks of their own just lying in wait. They had not made one attempt to reclaim the port, and Victor highly doubted they ever would.

  He looked to the gate now, and saw the shipping containers that had been pressed up to the wire fence, moved there with the cranes.

  "I hear you Major. Perhaps we should ask the Lieutenant Colonel where we go from here" Victor suggested, only to receive a snort from Irwin.

  "I did earlier, and he doesn't know himself. He has had no direction from command, and as such has ordered all regiments to dig in. We started this attack with two full strength divisions, and he estimates around forty percent of the marines are either dead or wounded. That’s nearly half our men" Irwin said, obviously venting to Victor. Victor just stood there rather awkwardly, trying not to seem disinterested.

  "Whatever. We dig in and await orders. That’s all we can do" Irwin stated, seemingly coming to a realisation that there really was nothing more that he could do. He kicked a foot at the wooden planks of the jetty and scowled.

  "Hammond. Go check those ferries on the wharf. I want those things up and running just in case" the Major stated softly, flicking his eyes up to the darkening sky.

  "I have a really bad feeling in my gut" he added quietly and then started to walk off, back in the direction of the warehouses and buildings the marines were camping in.

  Victor watched him go before turning back to look at the ocean once more, the sun on the verge of disappearing behind the horizon, a strip of orange light all that was left of the day. Finally, he turned away as well and made his way down the jetty, turning right and making his way along the edge of the port until he reached the industrial wharves. There were two ferries docked there, and a dozen smaller boats, barges and fishing vessels.

  All of the craft were in working condition, and a number of marines were already on the vessels, checking them over. Victor watched them for a little while and then snorted, walking away. Even though he was in the marines, he wasn't exactly knowledgeable about boats.

  He made his way back to the building his particular company was using and he entered, finding his men had set up a sort of kitchen. There was a pot boiling over a gas stove, and the smell of beef stew hung in the air. It actually made his stomach rumble. He made his way over to the men at the pot, and they looked up, a few of them sporting grim expressions.

  "Looking for a feed LT" one of them asked and Victor nodded. The man reached down and picked up a can and dipped it into the stew, taking out a small amount of the food. He held it out to Victor, a bland look on his face.

  "Careful. It’s hot" the man stated and picked up a metal spoon from a box on the ground. He handed it off to Victor as well.

  Victor took them both gracefully and spooned some of the stew out of the can, blowing on it a little to cool the food before eating. The flavour raced through his mouth and he made a face, causing a few chuckles to erupt from those doing the cooking.

  "Before you ask LT, the imps here stacked quite a bit of good stuff. No alcohol though. Just food" the man stated before spooning the stew into more cans. A few other marines dropped by, getting some food, before going on their way. Victor finished it quickly, almost saddened that there was not a lot. Supplies were thin, and if the fleet did not return soon, he didn't hold high hopes for the future. Shaking his head a little bit, Victor cleared his thoughts of such negative things, and turned away.

  He made his way towards a stair case that went to a second storey, and vaulted up two stairs at a time. Entering the landing, Victor found himself in a makeshift barracks that had been set up by the Imperials. A large number of his company where already sleeping in cots and beds that had been put in the spacious area. There were four large rooms, and each had between fifteen and twenty beds.

  Victor considered that a godsend, namely because none of the men, let alone himself had slept well the first night they had had in the city. Making his way to one of the rooms, he looked through it, spotting a spare cot. He didn't waste any time claiming it. Laying his rifle by the bed head, he fell into the cot completely clothed, boots, pouches and helmet still on. He just closed his eyes and passed out, loud snores escaping from him.

  * * *

  Victor's eyes shot open even as he heard the whirring in the noise and then zaps. Then came the explosions. The very building he was in seemed to shake. He threw himself out of the cot, grabbing his rifle on instinct even as a section of the roof only meters in front of him blew out, spraying bricks and timber shards throughout the entire room. Dust fell thick through the room and Victor coughed as a plume fell straight onto the top of his helmet and shoulders.

  As another blast hit somewhere nearby the building shook again and Victor staggered, falling to his knee's rather heavily. He was suddenly gripped under his left armpit and hauled to his feet roughly before he received a push in the back. He swore someone said something, but it was lost under all the noise.

  He got out of the room, stumbling over debris and managed to reach the stairs, damn near falling down them. As he came to the bottom floor, he saw a massive hole in the side of the building, and he stopped moving, staring wide eyed as he saw a few limbs sticking out from under the pile of rubble near it. He felt another shove in his back, right between his shoulder blades and he staggered forward again, finally getting some sense of what was happening.

  Running straight ahead, Victor ran up the pile of rubble, ignoring the bodies beneath it and the slick pools of blood. He erupted out of the hole and down the other side, coming to a halt as he stared around the port, wide eyed once more. The entire sky seemed to be filled with aircraft. Dozens, no, hundreds of aircraft, from gunships and fighters, right through to cargo ships with their hatches open and Imperials firing from them indiscriminately.

  He looked quickly to the right, seeking the ocean, but it was just a vast, black expanse. It was the middle of the night and the Imperials had every damn ship they had in the air. He looked up again and saw three airships appear, their cannons letting loose blasts of energy into the beaches, not letting up for a second. Victor just felt his heart sink, utter despair claiming him.

  He heard shouting all around him, marines running every which way, but there was nothing they could do. There were no federation aircraft anywhere. This was an outright slaughter.
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br />   "Hammond! Hammond! Hammond!" came his name, repeated over and over, shouted seemingly a distance away. Then a slap hit him in the face and he staggered, looking up and realising the shouting was right next to his face, and coming from a wide eyed and terrified looking Anne.

  "We need to get out of here! The Major is dead! He went up in a blast. We need to get out of here" she shouted, her voice barely heard over the explosions, screams and shouts of others. He just gaped at her and then seemed to come alive.

  "The boat. We go to the boats" he whispered, barely audible. Then louder.

  "We need to get to the boats. Evacuate to the boats!" Victor roared, his arms coming up and waving in wide gestures even as he turned and ran, sprinting towards the wharves. That was their only chance. He had never known Imperials to seek surrender until after they had shown their power and might. But the marines still had to survive this bombing to be offered the opportunity to surrender.

  As he sprinted down the wharf, Victor saw others already there, dozens scrambling, trying to jump onto the boats. One of the smaller craft had already been overturned and a number of marines were splashing in the water, trying to get it upright. Not caring about that, he just ran to the end of a wharf and saw a fishing boat about to push off, crammed full of men and women. He ran and jumped straight from the wharf, crashing into the crowd of marines there.

  The group of people hardly moved, and he was left hanging there, one hand reaching out to grab onto a marines jacket, him teetering over the edge of the black water. He saw Anne land right next to him, having jumped as well, clinging desperately to another marine. Shouts erupted from those there already, and many hands reached out to grab the duo, hauling them onto the craft that was dangerously over capacity.

  As he got pulled in and then crammed into the crowd, Victor looked around, hearing splashes and shouts. He saw at least three marines jump and miss, disappearing into the dark churning water. He did not see them come back up. Looking back to the port as it slowly became more distant, he saw a few more explosions, and then Imperial infantry appear, mercilessly shooting down marines, ones that even had their hands in the air, clearly surrendering.

  Victor felt sick to his stomach as he watched it, gulping at the obvious war crimes taking place. But in the Imperials eyes they were not crimes, as the Empire had never signed the declaration disallowing such acts.

  A few energy beams came their way, sailing across the black waters and slamming into the fishing boat, or other boats nearby. A few of the marines seemed to get hit, causing screams to ring out over the water, followed by one or two splashes as the victims fell overboard.

  As Victor watched the port with a clenched gut, he watched it disappear finally as the fishing boat turned north and around some small cliffs, heading up the coast. He tried to turn around and move through the marines, but they were so packed he could do nothing, and he got a few angry words and rough elbows thrust at him angrily.

  Gritting his teeth, Victor just stopped trying to move through the crowd, and stayed in his position, shuffling to look back at the ocean. From the side of the boat he was on, his view was of the land, a few hundred meters in from where they were.

  He just stayed silent now, brooding silently. He felt a hand on his elbow and turned slightly, seeing Anne, who smiled softly, yet sadly at him. He couldn't help but return her smile, trying to remain a little upbeat.

  After a while, he didn't know how long, an orange glow appeared not far in the distance, and whispers and murmurs started to spread through the marines. Craning his neck, he locked eyes on an airship, a cruiser. It was half sunken in the water, the other half buried in sand and dirt of a shallow beach. Beyond that he could see even more airships. It was hard to count how many from his low position on the sea. He could see at least four, markings of both the Empire and Federation adorning them.

  There also seemed to be a forest fire going on, burning freely and the entire area was covered in thick plumes of smoke. Victor just gulped and he heard curses from the other marines.

  "So that’s what fucking happened. Did Clovis lose his entire fucking fleet" an unknown marine let out from somewhere along the edge of the boat causing a damn near uproar.

  "Hey! Calm down!" Victor yelled and he was basically ignored. The swearing and cursing continued for quite some time, even after the site of battle was no longer in view and Victor just scowled, pissed off at the entire situation. Quite suddenly though, a whirring sounded in the air and the crowd went dead quiet, hushed. Then a spotlight was shined on them and Victor swore. There was a gunship on them, and there looked to be a few more in the air, spot lights of their own shining down on other boats nearby. Victor had not even realised the other boats were still near them.

  Then the sky lit up as the gunfire ripped through the night air. The gunships let loose, energy beams steaming into the crowded boats. The Imperials hadn't even offered the Federation soldiers an opportunity to surrender.

  Acting on Instinct, Victor jumped overboard, splashing straight into the cold water, his head going straight under the water as he was sucked somewhat beneath the vessel. Opening his eyes, he saw other people following him into the ocean, one person even landing on top of him and he cried out, silent as bubbles streamed from his mouth.

  Victor struggled, trying to swim even as more people fell into the water, pinning him down. He could feel his lungs burning for air and his eyes stung from the salt water. He was essentially trying to swim blind.

  Finally his head came above water and he sucked in a deep breath, feeling the fresh air rejuvenate his lungs. He didn't look back and instead swam. He swam hard. At least all his training in the marines had prepared him for this. He was not far from shore, maybe two hundred meters at best and he swore he swam his best time ever as he felt his feet touch sand.

  Getting to a stage he could stand up, he turned and walked backwards through the water, his gaze locked onto four vessels and six gunships. Two of the boats were on fire, one already half sunken, and the fourth simply sitting still on the water. Every now and then the gunships let loose another round of energy beams into the boats and water, but for the most part seemed uninterested in those in the water. They had already destroyed the marine’s avenue of escape after all.

  Scowling as a wave hit him, Victor let the surge of water carry him to shore, briefly disappearing under the water only to pop up again. Once he was in knee deep water, he stood up shakily and stumbled towards the shore. It was a beach with a combination of sand and shale, and he felt it crunch somewhat. Looking up, he noticed a few dozen marines already there, and Anne, looking wide eyed, seemingly searching those still coming out of the surf. She saw Victor and he felt a stab to his heart as relief washed over her face. As he came closer, he growled low.

  "We need to get off this beach. Find a cave or shelter" he let out and fell to his knees, exhausted. As marines around him saw him, and seemingly recognised him, they all gathered around Victor, some even helping him to his feet.

  "Shelter. We need shelter" he repeated even as he heard a whirring noise again and looked up as the gunships flew straight over the heads of the marines. He looked up and saw an Imperial, hanging out of the side of the aircraft, both hands on the mounted gun. The man simply had a smirk on his face and Victor felt a wash of anger go over him. The gunships disappeared into the distance shortly after, obviously quite unconcerned with the marines. They were going nowhere after all.

  "We need shelter. We need to find somewhere we can fight from" Victor murmured again, barely audible as he pushed away those helping him. He put on a grim expression and started to walk inland, towards a range of mountains he could see, barely outlined in the dark night sky.

  One by one, the other marines piled in behind him, silently following Victor to wherever he may lead them.

  Chapter 34

  * * *

  "Commander, please stop. You can't just barge in there" the young nurse stated as she attempted to move into the path of the broad shou
ldered, middle aged Samite man that was resolutely striding through the hospital ward, a stern look on his face.

  "I can do whatever I damned well please. This is my base isn't it?" the man growled in query as he stared down at the nurse.

  "Now move woman. Before I move you" he snapped angrily at the nurse and lifted a hand as though he was actually getting ready to remove the woman from his path. With a flinch, the nurse meekly moved out of the way, allowing the commander to continue down the ward, his two aides trailing behind him, one of which, a dark skinned Samite woman, turned and offered the nurse an apology before hurrying after the Commander. Upon catching up to the Commander, the woman spoke.

  "Sir, you should not be so harsh. The staff are only doing their jobs as they have been trained to do so" she said in reprisal of the man, not fearing backlash from him in the slightest.

  "I couldn't care less Lieutenant Tayl, I was told to deal with this matter by General Hagen himself, and I’ll not have insignificant people hindering me, am I understood?" snapped the commander as he kept striding down the corridor completely unperturbed.