David Finch was not an exceptional individual by any stretch of the imagination, indeed his only real achievement had been when he passed the test necessary for joining the UEP, or united earth protectectorate. Which wasn't much of an accomplishment considering they had lowered the bar for recruits after the push into the Equiss system had been announced. Though casualties were expected to be low, due to the natives pre industrial state, something had agitated the higher ups, and made them push for a larger number of ground troops.
Either way David didn't really care, all he knew is that they had a massive deposit of element C137 on their planet, which had left the higher ups practically salivating at the mouth. The trooper wasn't terribly knowledgeable, but even he understood the value of the element as it served as starship fuel and warp tunnel catalyst. It was easily the most expensive item in the galaxy, with the capability to bend the laws of reality when utilized properly. Though the trooper himself wasn't entirely sure if C137 was actually real, as it sounded like something out of a science fiction novel, but they told him it existed and that was good enough for him.
“Attention!” A booming voice suddenly yelled, startling the trooper from his maintenance and making him jump to his feet.
All around him his fellow troopers followed suit, all eyes looking toward the stage which had been empty until a moment ago, upon which a tall, grey haired beast of a man now stood.
The human looked old, easily about a hundred and twenty by David’s estimate, which was about the age of retirement. He stood a little shorter than his youngers at a mere seven foot two, his generation lacking some of the growth hormones and gene therapy that the younger troopers were privy to. He made up for this shortfall by easily being the physically largest human David had ever seen, with a physique so powerful David was sure he could probably wrestle a bear with relative ease.
Former stormtrooper. David thought to himself, his gaze lingering over the male’s burly chest and scarred features.
His attire, though professional, was loose, relaxed even, the look of a man that had spent his century in service and having earned the right to ease up on protocol when he desired to. The general’s uniform lacked any distinguishing features that would differentiate him from that of a run of the mill grunt save for the single six pointed gold and blue star that informed David that he stood before one of the most legendary commanders to have ever lived.
General Lee Oliver Stone.
How they managed to get the old veteran back on the frontline was anyone’s guess but what David did know was that it meant trouble.
The augmented human gulped, his second heart beating a little faster then his main one and only returning to normal after his automatic life monitoring augmentation forced him to calm.
“As you know the boys upstairs found us another deposit of element C137.” The veteran boomed, strutting down the stage and eying his troops. “This is a doozy, bigger than anything we've ever found before and with the ground assault on kamino stalling, we need another supply and quickly.”
The human stopped mid stage, his expression growing grim. “Which is why you lot are going over there to get it for us. We need this element, or we will lose the war, as such the brass has allowed me full control of the situation.” He raised a hand, and pointed above his head where a holographic map of a planet had just appeared. “This little dirt ball has enough C137 to run every single ship in the armada for a month, but the natives aren't simply going to part with it, and we don't have the time for negotiations and resettlement.”
His expression tightened and the display of the planet flickered, changing to one of what looked like a small medieval village with a crystal structure in the background. “That weird crystal tree thing appears to be on top of the main mother lode. This means we are going to drop outside the village, make a lot of noise, scare off the populace, and begin mining operations. After the drill is started all we have to do is build up defensive positions, and hold out until the drill is done. After that the bots will move in and take over as resistance will be non existent.”
The general smirked. “Do you think you meatheads can handle that?”
A booming, “Sir yes sir!” echoed through the hall.
“Good.” He smiled. “Now I know this isn't protocol but if you have any questions, ask them now. I like to know what's going through my troopers heads.”
David hesitated before raising his hand, noticing that no one else did. “Yes you.” The general boomed, pointing to the startled human.
“Uh yeah, doesn't C137 mining usually make a planet uninhabitable?” He asked nervously, putting down his hand.
The general nodded. “That is true, but we have decided that the loss is acceptable.” He stiffened, glaring at the trooper despite the sheer distance between them. “You better not be going soft on me trooper.”
David snapped to a salute and shouted “Sir no sir!” at the top of his lungs.
“Good, you move out in two hours, get ready people.”
“Analysis.” David muttered, activating his in suit AI.
“Analyzing combat readiness.” The genderless AI’s voice responded.
The trooper felt his power armor shift, and twitch as the onboard AI went through it’s routine, cycling between testing the many on board systems such as oxygen, autodoc, among others. He felt his left then right leg lift, before each arm extended and lowered, followed by rocket pods on either shoulder opening then closing, before the flamethrower on his right arm, and flechette launcher on his left did the same. His hands moved on their own, lifting the four foot long eighty pound standard issue gauss cannon up, before turning one way then the other.
“Analysis complete, combat readiness at one hundred percent, trooper David Finch is ready for combat.” The AI replied, before falling silent.
The trooper nodded, before glancing around at the rest of his squad which were in the middle of similar combat prep. The woman to his right stood a little taller than him, her massive armored form topping out at sixteen feet if he had to guess. In her massive armored hands was a plasma caster roughly the weight of his unarmored body, at a whopping two hundred and ninety pounds. She shifted the massive peice of military equipment around with ease, inspecting the weapon closer than a mother would her young.
David smirked to himself, noting that the rest of his squad was finishing up their prep, when a voice boomed over the general channel. “Gate window has moved up five minutes, get ready to roll out in a minute thirty!” The general’s voice yelled.
The rest of his squad quickly finished their preparation before falling into an orderly line, thirty years of service together having made verbal commands all but redundant. Together they briskly walked out of the prep room and entered the long line of troopers that stretched for over four hundred feet in either direction. David whistled at the sight, silently marveling at the sheer display of manpower.
This was bigger than he thought, and after a minute of slowly stepping forward the room opened suddenly, revealing a massive hanger where several other lines stood on either side of him.
To his right were the middle tier support walkers that stood at a modest twenty six foot height, their loadout ranging from an intimidating array of flamethrowers and incendiary weapons that troopers referred to as hell walkers. To the lighter armed and armored variety that had digitigrade legs, and a pair of gatling cannons instead of traditional arms, which were called wolverines. The appearance of the medium sized walkers were simple for the most part, looking like scaled up troopers with some variance when it came to their specialization.
It was the objects to his left that really grabbed his attention, namely the massive forty foot siege walkers which were slowly stomping their way forward into an equally as massive portal. Each one was unique, and the veteran of hundreds of battles, their array of armaments as vast as their experience. David knew their crews usually served for the full one hundred year maximum, and he silently wondered what they could possibly be facing to make the deployment of such massive siege engines a necessity.
He quickened his pace, making sure to match the soldier in front of him as he began to approach the relatively smaller glowing purple portal, beyond which was a lush green field. The trooper watched as the men and women in front of him quickly filed into the portal and beyond, joined by the numerous walkers that took position on the field. It took several minutes but he found himself before the portal matrix, following the trooper in front of him without hesitation.
Stepping out the other side, the trooper made sure to compensate his step for the lighter gravity, ensuring that he didn't stumble and cause a blip in the deployment. All around him the clang, of his fellow troopers and walkers filled the air, his suit’s automated systems alerting him to the fact that the air was breathable, and the countryside smelled faintly of apples. He wondered if he would get a chance to take off his helmet before the atmosphere was torn off the planet, it would, after all, be a shame not to experience such a strange land before it was stripped of life.
With a shrug he followed his fellow troopers into long battle lines at the other end of the field, passing by a few officers who eyed him and his fellow troopers, silently guiding every last soldier into formation. Like a well oiled machine the army rapidly assembled, their training, experience and on board AI’s ensuring that over three thousand men and women, three dozen support walkers and six siege walkers assembled into perfect formation in a matter of minutes.
The field fell silent and the trooper tilted to the side, peeking through the gaps in his fellow soldier’s armor toward the strange town that lay a mere mile away. His HUD showed no movement, no target blips or hostiles detected and a quick scan through the various other sensors told him there were no heat or life sources detected within a five mile radius.
Odd. He thought to himself, the human wondering how the town had been evacuated so quickly, the operation was supposed to have abandoned the usual scouting in favor of long distance scans and it wasn't like a pre industrial civilization could pick up their encoded signals.
“Finch, get back in line trooper!” His squad leader’s voice boomed.
The trooper did as he was told, standing stock still while the brass figured out what the plan of action was. A second later the general’s voice returned, lacking the confidence he had a minute earlier. “Advance to the drill site and establish a perimeter.”
His fellow troopers did as they were told, their formation loosening and spreading out as they walked, enabling them to cover a wider area. The walkers followed suit, a handful of the support walkers surging forward and integrating with various squads. David watched the maneuvers with a careful eye, noticing the way the general separated his troops as if he were fearing an ambush or artillery.
The augmented trooper didn't have to wait long to figure out what exactly had spooked the old man, as a sudden command boomed through his head. “Company halt!”
David blinked, a small window at the bottom left of his HUD displaying an image of purple equine standing atop an incline to his right. Turning his head, the human peered at the distant image, the cameras on his helmet zooming in at the distant figure.
It was relatively tall for a horse, coming up to about nine feet at the tip of what looked like a horn that grew from it’s head. It's eyes were large, it's coat a strangely bright color of purple, and the wings on it's back were open wide, displaying a quite impressive wingspan. The entire thing looked incredibly strange, more like something out of a children’s book then a true alien being. At first glance he thought the display was just that, a display, the creature no doubt attempting to intimidate the massive display of firepower laid out before it, but a glance into it’s eyes brushed aside such a notion.
Those magenta orbs did not have the dullness one would expect from a simple animal, and the way they scanned the human army displayed a terrifying intelect.
The briefing had mentioned that the natives appeared to be diminutive horses, but the pictures had not said anything about them having both wings and horns. All around him his squad mates tensed, some trained weapons on the distant creature, while others remained still, awaiting orders. It didn't take long for that to change, and a voice erupted over the radio.
“Be warned, walker November Sky is firing for affect.” The monotone voice of the general’s AI warned.
David lifted an eyebrow, glancing over his shoulder where one of the tallest walkers had begun charging of it's fifteen foot long shoulder mounted railgun. He managed to turn back to the strange equine just in time to watch as the strange creature turned to paste, or at least that's what he assumed would happen.
Instead of being obliterated by the one ton projectile traveling roughly nine thousand feet per second, the creature lit it’s horn and a purple barrier leapt over it, making the projectile ricochet upwards and careen into the sky where it vanished. The human’s jaw dropped and he stared in wonder as the creature’s eyes narrowed, staring intently at the massive walker.
Missile pods opened, rail guns charged, and throughout the human line every man and woman readied themself. A second later the order they had been waiting for came down. “Target designation, alicorn, threat level dragon, all units engage.”
Hefting his gauss rifle to his shoulder the soldier took a second to aim, before placing his finger over the trigger, only to hesitate. In that millisecond of hesitation he found himself no longer standing amidst his squad, but rather atop the hill that had been in the distance. The soldier spun, about to point his weapon at the creature, only to find that it was gone, and that all sound had been drowned out by the thunderous boom of every weapon in the human army firing at once.
The human was tempted to dive to the earth, but knew at that point he should already have been vaporized. Slowly, he turned towards the arrayed army, staring in confusion as he noticed every single one of his fellow troopers standing stock still. Muzzle flares lit up the area, and he could see numerous missiles, rockets, projectiles and flames trapped in mid flight.
“What the fuck.” He mumbled to himself.
“I stopped time for a few moments.” He heard a female voice state.
He turned, looking down at the strange creature. “You speak galactic standard?” He asked.
The creature shrugged. “No, but nothing a simple spell couldn't fix.”
David knew he should be drawing his field dagger, but after such a terrifying display of power, he knew such a response would be futile at best. “Solid reasoning.” The creature commended. “Throwing one’s life away is never a good idea.”
“Did you just-”
“Yes I read your mind.” The creature tapped the side of it’s head. “Just something to make this exchange a little easier.” The female smiled to herself. “Why do you ask? Simple really, I want to make sure you understand.”
She waved a hoof out towards the amassed army. “I need you to realize the true futility of your actions, so when I send you back to your government they too will comprehend just how insignificant your weapons are.”
David paled, his adrenal gland shutting down and forcing his mind to remain calm as the logical part of his brain panicked. “I am sorry, but they will have to die.” The creature sighed. “I’ve seen the timelines where I let them live, and I’m afraid that not killing all but you usually ends in even more casualties.”
“Regardless.” The creature puffed out it’s chest and stood a little taller. “We should probably get this over with quickly, I have tea with Rarity in an hour and it's going to take a long time to wash off the stench of death from my coat.”
Before David could utter a word the creature’s horn lit, and he watched in confused horror as the first row of marines were crushed by some unseen force, their armor folding inwards uselessly. For once David was glad there was no sound in this timeless void, as he was sure the noise their armor and body’s made when crushed was a disturbing one.
The three hundred front line troopers were crushed into spheres roughly the size of a medicine ball before being placed on the ground. The creature hardly bat an eye at the hundreds of deaths, her concentration focused on the army before her. Her horn glowed brighter, and she chuckled faintly. “Slug throwers, really?” She shook her head. “You can travel through the blind eternities but you are still using projectile weapons.”
The creature rolled her eyes, before focusing once more, the projectiles suddenly dropped to the ground. “How-?”
“I removed their inertia, and transferred it into the heads of your warriors.” She stated, pointing to the soldiers.
David didn't want to look, yet he found himself turning, the cameras in his helmet focusing on a random rifle wielding soldier. He couldn't tell if it had been a man or a woman, but it hardly mattered now as the trooper’s helmet was trapped mid explosion, viscera and armor flying in all directions. A glance down the line told him that every single rifle wielding soldier had suffered a similar fate, a full thousand soldiers dying before they even knew what happened.
He felt his knees give out, his armored form toppling to the earth as he watched in abject terror. The human was hardly even fazed when a purple glow enveloped all the missiles, rockets, and other projectiles before turning around and pointing them at the individual that had fired them.
“I am sorry about this, but I’m afraid out of all possible interactions this one means the least loss of life.” The creature stated simply.
Pitiful tears rolled down the human’s eyes as he watched the few remaining soldiers, vanish in flash of purple light. “I teleported them into the sun by the way.” The creature remarked. “They didn't feel a thing.”
David said nothing, his eyes glued to what had first thought was a battlefield, but what had quickly become a killing field. One of the walkers lit up before being pulled apart suddenly, every single screw, bolt, and weld coming undone in an instant, leaving the entire thing a pile of scrap, which promptly crushed the pilot.
A hellwalker began to glow, causing David to wince as he knew what was coming next. “Ooh, you do use three stage ignition system, smart.” The creature complimented before the walker exploded in a sudden inferno. “Not smart enough but still, pretty good.”
Her horn erupted with a beam of bright purple light which swiveled across the battlefield, causing every soldier unlucky enough to be in it's path to be turned to dust. Another unfortunate fellow near the front was turned to stone, before crumpling under the force of the creature’s telekinetic aura.
Within a minute every last man and woman was dead, save for the solitary command walker near the back. The creature sighed, extending a hoof towards the walker and prompting it to levitate to the forefront before dropping it mere feet away. “You may wish to dampen your hearing, I’m going to return the local area back into the main timestream.”
David nodded mutely. “Turn off exterior microphones.”
A click alerted him to the fact that his order had been completed.
A second later all hell broke loose as everything that had been frozen in time suddenly leapt into motion. Explosions rippled through the ranks, and chunks of earth, armor and viscera rained down all around him, coating him in a mixture of browns and reds. David watched as the last walker stood silently, frozen in shock as the sound of every single member of his company dying now ringing in his ears.
A flaming trooper ran past them before unexpectedly crumpling to the earth and curling into a ball, the bright green flames clinging to his armor burning through steel like so much tissue paper.
He tried not to look over to his squad, but found his gaze drawn anyway, another tear rolling down his face as he saw what had befallen his comrades. Of the four other members of his squad only two were even corpses, the other two having vanished or been rendered to dust. Of the other two members of his squad one was headless and lying in a growing pool of blood, while the other had been turned inside out by some magic David hadn't even noticed.
Tearing his eyes from the devastation he looked up to where the walker lurched to action, it's twin laser cannons glowing hot. The creature however, didn't even flinch before suddenly leaping into the air with a surge of it’s wings, clearing the shots and reaching the cockpit in a single flap, slamming into it. In the blink of an eye the creature rammed a hoof between the cockpit and the machine, the metal crumpling like it was little more than tin.
With a heave that barely looked like it took effort, the creature peeled open the interior of the walker, exposing the general and his terrified pilot. The pilot raised his hand, his small calibre handgun pointed at the creature’s face. The alicorn didn't even flinch, merely back handing the pilot’s arm from his body, before reaching forward and twisting his head backwards with a single flick of her hooves.
The general remained unfazed, using the few seconds that the death of his pilot had given him to pull a grenade from somewhere and pull the pin. “Dodge this motherfucker.”
The creature frowned, before lighting her horn and creating a bubble around the general and his grenade. The small object bounced off the shield and ricocheted back into the cockpit, landing on the surprised general’s lap a second before it detonated. The ensuing silent explosion reduced the general to a fine paste, along with everything caught inside the purple bubble.
The creature pumped her wings, launching off the walker with enough force to send the massive behemoth toppling onto it’s back.
With one final crash the field became silent once more, the only sound being the soft weeping of the trooper, and the sound of the creature’s wings as it returned to the ground.
The creature took a moment to straighten it’s mane before summoning it's power once more, and teleporting the entire destroyed remnants of the human army out of sight.
The human jaw hung open and he turned to the creature with renewed fear. “If you could do that-”
“I told you already.” She sighed, turning towards the human with a disappointed expression. “You had to know that every weapon you have is worthless. Every bomb, gun, and tool at your disposal no more dangerous to me then dust on the wind.”
“I-but. What- I how…” The human stuttered, gesturing to the empty field.
“I used a spell to see the future, then utilized the currents of harmony to boost my magical strength for a brief time. After that, wiping out your forces was little more than an afterthought compared to all the prep work that had to go into it.” The creature’s smile faded. “Unfortunately it appears as though you are suffering a psychotic break.” She frowned. “Remember what I told you, alright?”
The human got up, gesturing wildly. “That's impossible! This is impossible.” David gripped his head. “None of this happened, it was all a dream, it has to be!”
The creature sighed, before lighting her horn once more. “Remember what I told you David Finch.”
The human couldn't even mutter a reply before he found himself pushed backwards, his back landing on something hard and metal. He shot to his feet, quickly finding himself back in the hanger he had just walked through five minutes earlier, baffled technicians and personel either running around or pointing weapons at the creature looking in from the other side.
“Remember what I told you.” It said, before the portal vanished and silence reigned.
Inspired by
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