Empyrean Iris Story Collection Vol. 2

Revenge

A thousand humans, perfectly straight in their orderly rows three feet to all sides. Looking down each row, it almost seemed as if no organic creatures should have been able to achieve it. In comparison, the rundi and Tesraki forces seemed scattered and confused, though the Drev and the Celzex had taken up the very human tradition.

The inside of the ship was dark.

The Rundi Imperial cruiser was large enough to hold an entire city inside its belly, but today it held soldiers. These soldiers were the first of their kind, or so the human said. Airborn shock troops from the UNSC 109th. Most of them were ex marines, who had been set on this new path after at least five years of prior service.

Overhead, the arching ceiling rose almost fifty feet into the air, and it seemed as if they couldn't possibly be standing in a structure, especially one currently floating at the edge of IRus, waiting for the moment when they were to warp into existence over the burg planet, and drop their deadly cargo.

Not one of them moved an inch.

The human battalion commander Lieutenant Colonel Tyson stood eyeing his troops: the first of their kind, the best of the best, and likely heading to their death.

Did he feel bad about that: no. They knew what they were in for.

And they had volunteered.

He would give them one more chance to back out, but he already knew they wouldn't. That's not how these guys worked. Though, it's not like he was just throwing these men away, they had the best training in the galaxy, and that was a statement of fact, not just boasting. And then there was their secret weapon, an idea given to them a grounded marine.

Delta units.

A Drev, each of them monsters at over nine feet tall strapped with mobile machine guns manned by one of the shock troopers. Intelligence on the Burg home planet described it as mountainous, hilly, and riddled with caves. Their troops from above would be no use, and their vehicles wouldn't be much better than decorative rocks when it came to that sort of terrain. Even the hovercraft wouldn't be much use with how dence the rock and foliage was.

That is where these men came in, with their full body gear including gas masks, thermal vision, and advanced weaponry: advanced weaponry worked on by the Celzex themselves.

He smiled a little bit. Maybe he wasn't sending them to their deaths.

Maybe he was sending them to glory.

The other alien commanders finally filtered in.

He stepped forward, and a call to attention rose through his troops. Heels snapped together, and hands shot up brushing their temples with one clattering echo. The aliens stepped back.

"At ease!"
A hundred hands dropped.

He paced across the deck, "I know a lot of you have heard why you are here. I know you have heard a lot of bullshit, and despite what my commanders want me to say, I am going to be honest with you, "This isn't about economics, or even about rightful retaliation." He paused hands behind his back and glanced down at his men, "This is about REVENGE!"
A shout rose up from his men.

"Revenge, for the burg war!"

Another shout.

"Revenge for their attack on earth!"

The room echoed.

"REVENGE for the good men and women lost!"

It was a roaring now.

"REVENGE!" He threw his fist in the air and waited for the screaming to die down before he finished, "Revenge, for Commander Vir." He paused, "I didn't know the man personally. I will openly admit that. And I am not pretending to make the tragedy of his passing a personal one because I am not. His passing is a tragedy to, humanity, to the GA, and to the universe."