Shattered

Chapter 3

It began with Alexander sitting inside a small briefing room full of heavily armored soldiers. The room was bustling with activity as the men readied themselves for battle. He was in the front row as another armored human, this one was in blue and orange armor with a nameplate that read Marcus, stood in front of him. "Listen up marines, the necros have found our last refuge. I'm gonna be honest with you. We are all dead men." He confirmed matter of factly. "We can not stop them, but I'll be damned if we don't take as many of the bastards as we can with us." That got a resounding oohrah from the assembled jarheads. "Our job will be to get the civvies to the escape craft. Even though we will fall we will assure the survival of our species."

"Squad leaders you will gather your men and place them in strategic locations." He pointed at the holomap behind him. "You will be defending those zones and assisting the mobile units in evacuating as many people as you can. I am not asking you to do anything I won't. I will be leading the defense at the breach. I will not be coming back. So as of now tactical command will be transferred to Jäger who will activate the final contingency. That is all, good luck men, see you on the other side." The commanders helmet sealed and he walked over to Alexander flanked by his bodyguards.

Before he got half way Alexander intercepted him worriedly. "Commander I am not a leader! Why did you pick me?" He asked looking around to see if any one was paying attention. They were all too busy preparing to notice.

"Son I picked you because you are. I saw the after action report for the massacre on Talivon. You took command of the scattered forces and destroyed the marker facility."

"I led those men to their deaths!" Alexander whispered heatedly.

"Yes and you will do it again here! We are not going to win this fight, But we will save as many innocents as we can! I don't need a sentimental man I need one who is strong enough to sacrifice everything to get the job done!" The commander finished loudly grabbing the attention of everyone in the room. Then he firmly grabbed Alexander's shoulder. "I know this is hard, but your not the only suffering. We have an obligation to our people. You will do this!" The commanders eyes looked ragged and desperate. He was at the end of his rope.

"Yes sir I understand." He replied forlornly.

"Thank you, and Jäger, die well." With that the commander left the room. Alexander stood there staring at the closed door. (they speculated he was thinking on his situation.) Suddenly a young voice spoke from behind him.

"Hey bro congratulations on your promotion!"

He turned to see a white and blue armored figure standing their with a rifle in his hands. "Santiago I'll never understand you." He said with a smile in his voice.

The man laughed. "Yeah well I don't either." They embraced each other.

"It's good to see you brother." Alexander whispered sadly.

"Haha yeah you to, I just wish it was under better circumstances." They let each other go.

"So do I," Alexander agreed. "What squad are you in?"

"You know Daniel," Alexander nodded. "I was assigned to him."

"Daniel is a good guy. Listen to him and you'll live longer, I'm sorry Santi but I got to go I have to manage the defense." They grabbed each other's right forearms tightly. "Brothers till the end." They said in unison before letting go. Santiago left and Alexander turned to the holomap.

The map displayed all the rigs of active soldiers and their locations. Currently they were all in holdout positions. The commander's rig showed that he was in the outermost engineering bay. The left wall glowed a infectious red signifying a hull breach. He was surrounded by other rigs and from the looks of it they were holding the line. Ten minutes later the rig positioning system showed them falling back slowly. "Marcus sir what's your situation?"