Imperials: Sons of Soldiers

Proglogue

Trenches lined the soil as far as the eye could see, and pill boxes peppered the land. The trenches went on for miles as infantrymen walked up and down the lines carrying ammo, rifles, and explosives as bullets, plasma, and particle beams fly over their heads. Special electromagnetic jammers are placed in crucial trench lines and attachments, such as pillboxes, dugouts, and in the support trenches. In the middle of these trench networks is no man's land, filled with corpses, barbed wire, and blood. It's here where a daring charge was made by a squad of ten soldiers, all of them currently taking cover in a shell hole as the world rumbled around them. The enemy trench lay forty yards ahead of them, no one dared peak over out of fear from the bullets that whizzed over their heads from a nearby machine gun.

The man leading the charge took a periscope out of his bag and aimed it toward the enemy line while keeping his head out of the open. He put the periscope back in his bag and turned to the rest of the men. "Anyone have a frag?" A gravelly voice sought out from the man as he looked at everyone. A young private slung his weapon around his shoulder and frantically checked his vest before pulling a grenade out of his vest pocket.

"This is my last one sergeant." The private presented the grenade.

"Damn, ok look, there's a machine gun about forty yards ahead of us." The sergeant pointed toward the direction of the gun. "Chuck that shit as far as you can, if you disable that gun we might be able to make it." The private nodded and inched his body towards the opening and pulled the pin, he stood up and put all of his strength into his throw before ducking back into the hole. The sergeant looked through his periscope and waited, everyone waited anxiously. They all heard the explosion and the sergeant quickly threw his periscope in his bag. "That did it, let's go!" He yelled. Everyone stood up and climbed out of the hole, armed with shotguns and rifles the squad sprinted to the trench line, any being foolish enough to have its head above the trench was quickly blown away.

The first pair of human boots to make it into the enemy trench line was the private. He could finally see the enemy face to face. He held no remorse for the black feathered creature in front of him. A thunderous boom erupted from the weapon and the creature fell to the mud with a gaping hole in its chest. Another feathered humanoid turned to see the mess made by the private's weapon and its face showed a look of horror and fear. The private pumped his shotgun and took aim, the creature frozen with fear. Its head burst open as chucks of grey matter spewed out, the body went completely limp and dropped to the ground like a sack of bricks. As the rest of the men dropped into the trench quick work was made of the creatures and a section of the trench line was cleared. The squad sent a radio message to the rest of the platoon to advance. The squad stayed in the trench line and set up a new jammer as the rest of the platoon cleared the trenches ahead of them.

The private looked over to the two mangled corpses. "I might start feeling bad for these guys soon." The private said in disgust. The man in front of him didn't look up from the jammer

"Don't. They attacked us first." The man stated without missing a beat.

"Why the hell are starting to feel bad for them?" The sergeant questioned as he put a cigarette in his mouth and took out a lighter. The private stopped working on the jammer and looked up to his sergeant.

"The Kel are nowhere close to being as well trained as us. They don't even have ceramic plates." The jammer buzzed and sent a wild spark to the ground. The man across from the private snapped his finger.

"Grimes I need you to stay focused before one of us gets fried." Private Grimes turned his attention back to the jammer. The jammer stopped buzzing as the energy levels returned to normal. The sergeant walked up to Grimes and took a knee next to him as he blew smoke into the air above him.

"Private, why are you here?" The sergeant questioned with a meaningful tone. The private looked at the sergeant with confusion.

"We're here because-"

"No," the sergeant stopped him. "Why are you here specifically? Why are you here fighting." The private took a moment to think but was interrupted by the jammer. "Come on, work and talk." The sergeant said. The private turned his attention back to the jammer before answering.

"Sergeant Drask, I'm fighting for humanity." The privates stated in a half-convinced voice. The sergeant wasn't satisfied with this answer.

"Everyone here is fighting for humanity, that's why we joined, but you have to fight for something more." Drask stood up. "You have a reason to fight, but what keeps you alive? What are you surviving for?" The private was silent as he worked, his eyes widen realization and a new determination.

"That's a new face that I haven't seen from Grimes." One of the men shouted with a smirk on his face.

"You got a family?" Drask asked.

"My fiancé is expecting in a couple of weeks." Grimes asserted. Everyone around quietly cheered and Drask put his hand on the private's shoulder.

"Good, congratulations. You stay alive for your family, got it.?"

"Understood." Grimes pushed a sequence of buttons and the jammer glowed blue.

"Alright, let's regroup with the others." Sergeant Drask brought Grimes back to his feet and took another puff of his cigarette before tossing it. "Sometimes you bastards work too quick on that damn thing, I would like to finish at least one of these during our break."