May 10th, 063 SDE:
She let out a breath as she watched a dozen soldiers packing up her equipment. Some of them were none too gentle, but she’d given up yelling at them about it. She wasn’t sure if she should count herself lucky or not about her life’s work being upended this way. The local officials had decided her work was real and that it needed to be safely transported to somewhere more secure.
Her lucky film of Mau’sar’s destruction was particularly valuable and they were having it shipped to the governor's office. Somehow, she was going with it and she wasn’t entirely sure why. What value did a random astronomer have in the governor’s office? Her expertise was all related to the movement of stars and planets and observing the sky. The young woman was read on other subjects to a degree but she didn’t think she had anything to contribute to solving this problem.
Still, who was she to question the whims of the government? The more she considered what she saw, the more worried she was. Understanding alien minds, or gods as they may be, was a step beyond her. She knew not how or why they had destroyed Mau’sar. Only that they had done so and there wasn’t anything they could have done to stop them. Her film showed the process wasn’t quick, but it was certainly violent.
A new truck rumbled up to her little observatory and a man in an officer’s uniform dismounted before the vehicle was even fully stopped. He practically ran towards her position on the stairs, “Lady Xau Mai?”
She nodded.
“I’m Lieutenant Xermon and will be responsible for your safety on this trip,” he gestured toward the truck he’d arrived in. Which she noticed only had wheels on the front, the rear being tracked. A canvas covered the rear top of the vehicle, and a couple of open-topped turrets fitted with machine guns could be seen on the craft. “If you’ll join me in my half-track, we can get you to the local capital.”
“What about my equipment?”
“Don’t worry, it will be on another vehicle.”
A sudden loud buzzing drew her attention up, where a plane whizzed past, her wings marked with the blue and gold stripe pattern of the Confederacy. It was too small to be one of their bombers and they usually sent those at night which always annoyed the crap out of her since that was the same time frame she needed to do her work.
“Scout plane, don’t worry about it.”
“Scout plane? Checking for damage or...”
“Intel says the Confederacy plans to hit our factory here and soon. We’ve already spotted their column, it's about two days out and with any luck we won’t be here when they get here.”
She nodded. That sounded good. She’d heard the horror stories and didn’t relish the idea of living under the Confederacy for any length of time. Maybe this little incident was to her fortune? Xau squashed that thought right away, she wasn’t lucky enough for that. Following the officer into his truck, she found a seat reserved for her on a bench in the back, and a few minutes later they were underway. Joining a convoy of other trucks.
Two days later, she found herself in the back of the halftrack with a book in her hand. She turned the page and kept reading. It wasn’t one of her usual books, but having seen something that seemed more an act of god than anything else. She couldn’t help wanting to read a religious text rather than her usual scientific books. Yet so far nothing she’d read would shed light on why gods might destroy Mau’sar.
The planet it seemed was the legendary domain of the Goddess Mausarra, a legendary warrior whose prominence on the battlefield raised her to godhood, but she wasn’t just a conqueror of the battlefield but of hearts as well, which is why she was the goddess of Conquest, Lust, and War.
Why a god would destroy the palace of this Goddess was unclear. Yet she could already see some of the arguments the more religious might argue. Assuming the Goddess was still worshipped that was, but her church had fallen centuries ago. Mausarra hadn’t been worshipped in over a thousand years. It had been a different time back then, and honestly she’d never really paid much attention in history class. It was the stars that called to her, not dusty old temples and stories of ancient battles of warriors clad in bronze.
Xau let out a breath, as she read another passage on the old goddess. This one was just another story about her endless conquests, particularly a pitched battle in which bronze clad warriors with shields and spears fought and died at the battle of some ancient city. It was named in the next passage but she’d never seen the name on any map.
Sudden shouting drew her attention. Looking toward the front, she noted that Lieutenant Xermon was on the radio, and he looked none too pleased. She frowned. “Is something going on?”
Xermon sighed, “One of the other convoys was hit, no survivors and their cargo is missing. We’ve been told to be on guard, Confederacy Airborne units may be in the area.”
She frowned, “When? Last night? I thought that was another bombing.”
Xermon didn’t reply, as new shouting came from outside. The vehicle suddenly came to a stop. She closed her book and tossed it on the seat. Xermon turned to a soldier manning the gun, “What’s going on?”
“Roadblock dead ahead.”
Xermon cursed, “To arms! I want every gun manned.” he turned to the squads in the truck with them, “Get your gear, form a perimeter.”
A sudden explosion thundered in her ears. “WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!” shouted someone, just before gunfire filled the air.
“Xau, stay close,” said Xermon as he gave new orders. The two squads in the halftrack quickly dismounted.
Above, both machine guns were already roaring. Spent shells were raining down into the compartment. To the side a couple soldiers were using slits in the armored side to fire their rifles through. Another explosion from outside thundered in her ears.
Xermon, who’d been looking out a viewport, moved to an armored door, and jumped out, “Come on we will be safer outside.”
“Huh? With all the shooting?”
He groaned, then said, “They brought AT-Rockets, you don’t want to be in a lightly armored half track against those. Just our bad luck to be transporting a VIP when this happens.”
She didn’t know what to think as they rushed out onto the road. Where she saw several vehicles already burning. Troops were using what cover was available to defend the convoy. Which mostly amounted to random rocks, trees or burned out hulks of what used to be military trucks. Down the line she could see a tank aiming into the trees, with a thunderous roar her main cannon fired, a tree splintered and fell with a sharp crack. Seconds later she fired again, just moments before a rocket came out of the trees and slammed into her side armor.
Smoke and fire erupted but the tank wasn’t out of the fight, her cannon fired a third time. Screams, thunder and blood were all she saw around her and she didn’t really know what was going on. Xermon pulled her along towards an embankment on the side of the road. Several soldiers were already there, someone had set up a heavy machine gun which was firing rapidly into the trees. In the distance she could see splinters and several soldiers in Confederacy uniforms using the trees for cover as they fired back. Several rounds whizzed past her body before Xermon pulled her up against the earthen wall.
“What do we have, soldier!?” Shouted Xermon.
“Hostiles, I counted about fifty, mostly in the trees,” replied a soldier as he unpacked a box of bullets, big ones on a belt. Without pausing in his explanation, he helped the gunner change belts on the machine gun, while several others fired off into the trees. “They’ve got rockets, several machine gun positions and there’s an AT gun on the ridge.”
Xermon cursed and gave some new orders. She glanced over at the tank in the convoy, its angular hull was pockmarked with scorch marks and dents from several hits, but it was not out of the fight yet. Her rounded turret rotated, the barrel elevated and then she fired another shell with a loud crack. Someone popped out of a hatch to man the large machine gun on top of the turret just then.
“Are we going to be alright?” she found herself asking.
“They picked a damn fine spot for an ambush,” commented Xermon. “But stay close, we will be fine. Good news for us, is they put their AT gun in the wrong spot.”
“Why would they do that?”
He gave her a look, then promptly ignored her question. Leaving her to huddle against the barrier, a machine gun roaring less than a meter from her position. Bullets whizzed over her head. Another explosion sent debris everywhere as the halftrack they had been in moments ago exploded.
Turning in that direction, she caught sight of two more rockets zipped out of the trees from the other side of the road and slammed into a different halftrack. Mere seconds later the tank was firing her cannon in that direction. Another tree cracked and fell over. She wasn’t sure, but she thought she heard a few shouts as well, but it was hard to say with all the gunsmoke and fire in the air.
Xermon suddenly said, “You stay here,” then he gestured to a dozen men huddled by a burned wreck, guns at the ready, “You men with me!”
She watched as they formed up, bullets whizzing every which way, and marched into the trees. Idly, she peered over the embankment as Xermon, rifle in hand, led his troops into the trees. He weaved around one large tree and hopped over a broken one. A confederacy soldier appeared from the trees, rifle in hand and fired. Xermon barely ducked behind a tree in time to avoid being blasted, and then returned fire with his own rifle. Several large slugs slammed into the Confederacy soldier, blood erupting on his beige uniform. The large man slumped to the ground, his rifle hitting the ground first while Xermon and company stormed the position. Several more Confederacy soldiers going down in the attempt.
In the distance, she spotted several soldiers rushing to move a machine gun into position to counter Xermon’s squad. Only for the entire position to explode a second later, a cracked tree falling down on top of it a second later. Xermon rushed through it, gunning down the stunned Confederacy troops, then rushed up the hill to the ridge and took out the gun position up there.
Around the same time she noticed the sound of gunfire soon quieted down. The cannon of the tank fell silent and she looked back. It was still there, pockmarked with a lot of dents and scorch marks, but her armor was unbroken.
It took her a moment longer to realize the battle was already over, they’d won, but looking around she saw a dozen burning vehicles and plenty of wounded. Xermon came back a moment later minus three of his men, and sporting a couple of fresh wounds himself. “Clear the perimeter,” he gestured to the roadblock. “I want that cleared too, use explosives if you have to, and get those wrecks off the road. Get the wounded to the trucks, I want us moving yesterday.”
“Aye sir!” replied several soldiers as they all went to work. The medics tended to the wounded, applying bandages and first aid as required. While squads of troops rushed into the woods. Several others went to the road block and started planting explosives. She also spotted a group of men working to move burning wrecks off the road.
Then a thought occurred to her, “My work!”
Xermon chuckled as he pulled her to her feet, “It’s in the cargo trucks down the line, which they didn’t shoot to hell thankfully.”
She let out a breath, feeling a little relieved about that, but then she saw the bodies. Her mind flashed to Mau’sar, war was bad now, but how much worse could it be? She’d seen gods with the power to crack planets. How much more terrible were the battles described in those passages she’d been reading? Did those soldiers really wield bronze spears and shields, or something far worse? Her mind awhirl, she followed Xermon to a new truck. It would be some time before they were moving again.