The Centauran Wars.

Ursan retreat

Through 1903, the orion army marched through the southern canis desert. Later on the same year, ursan battleships sailed into the serpants channel, cutting off hydrus and lepus forces from landing.

The year is 1904. Orion has pushed ursa back. ursan forced retreated to northwestern coast. Setting oil pumps ablaze and mines everywhere. The smoke from the oil wells can be seen from the orion cities bordering canis.

The oil fires would not be extinguished until 1906. After the war, the fires were declared the worst ecological disaster in history.

I wear a shirt damped in water in my face it stops the smoke from getting to my lungs. Me and my battalion have been walking for weeks. The smoke doesn't let us see breath. I sit on a hill watching as our boys engage the ursans. It's far. Very far. I only see the lights of gun fire, the shells of artillery as they fly up into the sky, and then come down with a loud boom.

I look back at my battalion. Some men sleep on the floor, others write, and some read some take a smoke and others scavenge for any water they can find. The lucky ones have actual gasmask. Most of us wear a wet shirt on our faces. I look back at the battlefield. A line of thin lights sweeps the battlefield, most likely a machine gun. A light goes up into the sky, lighting up the night. It's probably a spotting flare.

And then a voice calls out from one of the tents.

"Ready up 3rd company! you see those boys down there? Well, that's where we're heading." Our captain says, stepping out of the logistics tent.

I take a peak inside the Lieutenant Colonel and Major are there discussing.

I get up and grab my rifle as I take one last glance at the battlefield.

There's about only 3 houses... hopefully, empty. The rest is empty space. As expected from a desert.

I look at my company as men groan and sigh in exhaustion and annoyance, but no one complains.

The night and the smoke make it hard to see. Yet it makes good cover. We walk down the hill, getting closer and closer to the battlefield.

The sound of gunfire grows louder, and the explosions grow closer.

The captain walks in front with two officers by his side.

The walk turns into a jog. Then to a run as I realized what we're doing.

We run behind ursan lines i cock my rifle and look around with caution if we get spotted were fucked.

The captain says in a quiet yet loud enough voice for us all to hear.

"Hold your gernades."

I sling my rifle on my shoulder and take out my gernade.

Once we reach our position men spread out. Snipers are positioned further back Infantry in the front. And were all told to get down.

With a slow crawl, we make our way forward to the ursan line. The captain holds his revolver and whistle.

And then he stops the ursans are close. You can hear them talking, running some taking shots at our boys on the other side, but the smoke keeps us hidden.

"Ready."

All of us holding our grenades at the ready.

"Aim"

We raise our hands to aim. The ursans notice us, but before they can shoot.

"Fire!" Our officer yells. We all throw our gernades towards the ursans. They scatter, and so do we.

I run and hide behind a rock, grabbing my rifle, and then the sound of the explosions ring into my ears, and then a volley of bullets as the snipers cut down some remaining soldiers.

Debris, blood, and steel fall all around us. My officer blows his whistle as we run towards the ursans.

I watch as the first wave runs in. I go right behind them, but when I make it the ursans, we're already surrendering.

But many were running away. I raise my rifle, and my officer comes towards me and lowers it.

"Take the shot, and you're no better than them, son."

I look at my officer. And then at the running ursans as they run into the night and smoke.

I look at the surrendering ones as their lifted up and taken away.

I was a bit disappointed. I had wished to fire my rifle it was also a lot quicker than I expected. But I guess we did do a swift job.

Our company didn't take any casualties. only three wounded. The ursans had surrendered when they realized they were surrounded.

We stayed at the captured area for three days. Those three days were quiet.. very quiet. Every once in a while, you saw some ursan skirmishes coming along, but they didn't do much and were scared away by some potshots.

And then we left. To walk in this unforgiving desert once again.