"Thanks to the engineers at UMOA headquarters, and combined scientific efforts from across the federation, we have engineered specifically designed troopers who are to follow orders and to sacrifice themselves in order to save others."- Leader of scientific engineering and development, Heaven Feather.
“RPG’s down- unknown KIA.” Starsky called into the comlink, he just saw the skimmer he was in crash into an office building, which was where all the RPG fire came from. Of course, he knew Shadow was going to look into the owner of the building as soon as he got out of this situation; he was now the highest ranking intelligence officer in the Federation. “Get to cover, Runa, follow me. We’re gonna get to the rendezvous quickly, and hopefully alive. The Grand Marshal didn’t sacrifice himself for nothing. Come on, snap out of it.” Starsky was practically shouting at Runa, who seemed to be in a trance just staring at the explosion. “Hurry up, Girl. We can’t stand here, Sir wanted me to take you there, and I will do so. Now, move before I carry you there!”
“Alright” was all Runa could say, she couldn’t think of anything else. Just a few weeks back she was teaching Geography to 12 year olds, now she was stuck in a firefight, and the person who seemed to help her the most was now dead.
“Good, now, move it. We need to meet the others, and then we’ll be fine. Trust me.”
Starsky then started walking forward; he knew whereabouts the rendezvous was located. He occasionally looked back to check on Runa, who seemed to be in a faraway place. He occasionally poised his gun at a noise he would hear, only to reveal an odd rat or possum within the garbage that littered the streets. This was the Light Quarter, contrary to its name; it is a place of sorrow. Only poor people lived here, and there were very little services. The name originated when the first Christmas lights went up, this was where they went up first. Every year it was the same, everyone who lived here would forget about their pain, or misery, or anything, and just hang their lights up and smile gracefully at each magnificent craftwork. Starsky used to live here, before joining the military.
Starsky always remembered where he came from, the worst part of New Melbourne, and when he finally decided to get up and leave to do better for himself. He talked to a recruiter that day, his name was Steve, and he later found out that he was an ex-Grand Marshal. No one knew why he left the service to get a job at an office, everyone just assumed he saw enough people die and decided on a better life. Of course, he only found out when he was promoted to Sergeant, and offered a place as an office bodyguard, on behalf of the Special Service Unit. He accepted, knowing it was either this or visiting some other planet and possibly never coming home. He wouldn’t mind it though; he didn’t really have a home.
Just then, the comlink chatter started picking up again, more and more voices speaking down the line. He listened in, and, thankfully, he heard no news of any KIA. He only heard about hostile contacts. Starsky knew the skills which the troops had learned over the years, and he knew that they wouldn’t miss a single kill. They were all trained specially, the Royal Grand Republic were especially proud of their Shadow BlackHole Troopers, as were the Mobile Infantry with their Special Mission Squad. Starsky was trained as a SMS member, so he knew many skills; thankfully.
And those skills would come to good use, rival militia started pouring out of the surrounding alleyways onto the street where Starsky and Runa were walking, and immediately Starsky began firing, hitting all the militia on the left alley and leaving a blood soaked floor. On the right, militia began firing upon Runa, from her covered position behind a broken down wall. Starsky turned and fired upon them, who were too focused on Runa to take notice of him. However, before Starsky could fire he felt a piercing through his chest, followed by a warmth trickling down his chest. He didn’t dare look down, he knew what had happened. He squeezed his Morita trigger as tight as he could and slayed the left over militia, and turned around to notice one with a blood stained knife.
“Game over, my friend. I’ve got her now.” He heard him say, and he stumbled down the ground. He felt lost, losing everything. He felt everything fall around him, and all he could think of was how he failed to protect Runa, how he failed to follow the Grand Marshals orders, how he failed to avenge his family.
“Hostile has taken VIP, get a secure perimeter and find them. We cannot let them get her!” Starsky could hear Shadow’s voice, and he began to feel slightly relieved. He immediately felt like there was hope left. “Starsky is down, we need a medic. Lawson, get here and patch him up with morphine. Everyone else find Runa.” Starsky could hear all the talk around him, but only focused on Shadow’s voice.
“Sir, we found her. She’s in the far right building, blue garbage bin out front, and dented garage. Permission to move in?”
“Granted, blast that fuckers head out. Then get Runa back here, ASAP.” Shadow responded, then looked at her father. “Don’t worry, Jorn, we’ll get your daughter back here.”
Starsky then felt a stabbing feeling, looking at the needle that was injecting morphine into his body to make him last longer, he could hazard a guess as to how much blood was lost, but he’d rather not think of that.
Meanwhile, the troopers around started storming the worn out building, firing at the door to open it. Immediately, they gained access to the house and ran in, taking up a spearhead formation once inside. Scanning around for traps, they quickly made their way upstairs. “Positive ID on hostile, no ID on VIP. Presume she is in a different room; prepare to spray like a gangster marking his territory.” And, just then, the troops fired inside the room, bullet holes littering the wall and door which held the militia. One of the troopers then opened up the door, witnessing a bullet ridden militia holding a knife in the corner of the room. “Positive kill, find the VIP then get out.” Runa then walked out the opposite room, almost casually, like nothing was wrong. She was followed by the troopers leaving the building. “Are you okay?” Asked one of the soldiers, to which she replied:
“Yeah, just dandy. Nearly got killed, and I’m fine. Stupid question. Just get me to my father.”
“Right away, Ma’am.”
“Incoming Militia, thermal scans show large movements. I gotta say about 50 militia, In other words, we’re fucked.” Shadow said. “Hold this position, take cover along the broken down walls, and avoid the trash cans and loose fittings. Move it!”
Almost coincidently, bullets started firing from right infront of them. “Positive contact, begin firing!” Shadow ordered, and the troopers, 10 of them, started firing infront of them. “Starsky, Lawson, stick with guarding Runa and Jorn, don’t let anyone near them.”
Almost too many militia started running blindly into the raging bullet storm. Anyone could of said that there were far more than 50 militia, but no one complained-they were too busy fending off the inevitable. "Holy shit, tactical nuke planted, who the fuck set that off!?” Shadow screamed, he noticed a large amount of radiation picking up on his scanner, “Everyone hit the deck, explosion imminent” And most the troops collapsed to the ground
“We’ll fight them off; it was an honour fighting with you, Sir.” One of the troopers replied, knowing that if everyone hit the ground no one could fight off the militia to getting closer. Another stood his ground with him, fighting off the incoming troopers. Bullets started piercing their black armour, but neither took notice. They just waited for the explosion.
Then it hit them, the explosion blew a crater in the middle of the street, littering the street with dead bodies. The two troopers collapsed to the ground, burnt to the teeth with radiation. Everyone else was fine.
“Everyone has to sacrifice themselves, thankfully those two were programmed-robotic CHASES, if you will. Hey, you can all get up now, evacuation coming in around 30 seconds, don’t want to miss it now, would you?” the familiar voice stated, looking up everyone saw the face they thought was dead; behind him stood the General and the Pilot. “What, you thought you could get rid of us that easy? We’re three British soldiers; you can’t fuck with us and expect to get away with it.” The Grand Marshal said, giving a wink to Runa.
