Short Story by S Robinson






The Devils Garage

They started out as Amateurs no one ever heard of. They became famous by being the first military marauders to single handedly hold off eleven waves of enemy bugs on the very first planet the bugs were discovered on: Centari 8159.

What I'm about to reveal is Above Top Secret, only the Generals and President Conrad himself and I Commander Scott knows what happened to the most elite Marauder Squad to ever fight off world: The Star Hawks.

The unofficial mission code name was Devils Garage and who gave it that name? It was Lt Conrad, yes the Presidents very own son. His squad called him C Rad, which was short for Chief Conrad.

It all started aboard the capital ship the USS Virginia a star ship that held 500 fighters, several scout ships, support personnel and major logistical equipment for ground operations, and up to 10,000 troops with enough firepower and ammo to kill 500,000 bugs and dispatch their Queen or King if we ever managed to find them. But that's not what happened on this Mission.

Sound and video recordings:
Time stamp: 0200 - 0730

Ground Misson

Unknown location on the planet: "Why are we on this mission C Rad? What the fuck is this all about, ....what is going on?" one of the guys blurted out. Chief Conrad: "I told you in the mission briefing on the Virginia, Scott told us to proceed to this spot right here!" He pointed to his HUD displaying the map of the unknown world they landed on 5 hours ago under extreme secrecy at night on a scout ship now parked 3 clicks to the east.

"Right there, that is our mission, right fucking there!" he pointed to a mark on the HUD displaying it for all the squad to see. "Only half a click away from here, ....now I want everyone back in single line formation,.... Jack you are on point. Now this planet is crawling with bugs and what ever else we never encountered before...weapons up, let's move! Sounding just like his father the President himself.

Jack: "Yes sir," in a sarcastic tone. Jack was a grunt and the latest elite trooper to join the squad having just passed the requirements of 10 completed missions as a regular rifleman in something akin to but not quite a special forces unit. His specialty was Astro, and Star Navigation. Probably why Chief Conrad put him on point, if anyone can follow a map to a tee he could.

The planet didn't have a proper name yet it was designated as X 7124; and was a mix of strange terrain, plants, smells and sounds. The creepy crawly insects on the ground gnawed at their feet, constantly trying to find a way into their suits. They heard far off bizarre sounds that emanated from all directions like some strange percussion of violin instruments; perhaps some kind of bug communication they thought. It didn't faze anyone in this squad because they were trained for this, their suits protected them from unknown life forms and even weapons from unknown foes, but mostly these suits were designed to protect them from bugs known about and the tactics they used. Missions like these may come once or twice in a career, even for elite units like the Star Hawks. Most of the guys didn't ask why they were there. They signed up for it knowing the prestige and honor bestowed upon the best airborne space fighting unit in Trooper history, always armed with the latest extremely lethal light and heavy guns the military had to offer. The Star Hawks always fought to the last man never surrendering, that was their duty, but survival was always the goal too, if they needed to escape they always had a back up. But something was different about this mission with regards to backup, they didn't have any.

This mission was only known and given by Commander Scott aboard the Virginia, he's the only guy who knew where they were, ....why? That was on everyone's minds including the Presidents son Chief Conrad. Why didn't they know? Why didn't Chief Conrad know? He couldn't hide the answer much longer from his men.

Another hour passed and the only contact they had was the occasional sighting of a far off ship doing recon or patrol. At least they thought there was back up to be called in an emergency, but the mission specifically prohibited the calling of back up or reinforcements, they were on a suicide mission and they all knew it. Even Chief Conrad thought because of who he was he could never be given such a mission.

He knew what the men were thinking but not saying: He got this mission because he was the Presidents son, because something valuable was ahead, valuable enough to change history, politics, leaders of worlds, and only he and the connected are allowed to enter here.

Time stamp: 0837
Video and sound recording:

Contact

Jack on point crouched, held up his hand, closed his fist, all stopped. He pointed ahead and they all saw a giant bug munching on another smaller slightly more grotesque bug. The sight nearly made Jack puke. Chief Conrad moved slowly, silently to the front crouching, then stopped next to Jack. He pulled his high powered scoped silenced sniper rifle to his aiming eye, and carefully scoped out the surrounding area making sure that was the only bug in the area.....lined up his hair sights, breathed in and out slowly, then held his breath for an instant and fired straight through the bugs eye exploding its liquefied brains all over the ground, causing its limp dead body to drop suddenly and make a not so slight thump on the ground.

They all waited silently for the all clear signal for what seemed like eternity, but it became imminently obvious that things were about to erupt violently, the sounds of alarms of bugs came from all directions, something big was coming. The screeching sounds pierced their eardrums like needles even through their thick armored helmets. Chief Conrad just had enough time to look behind him to see his men prepared for the hell that was about to break lose. The guns all erupted at once in all directions and bugs were dropping like flies building up giant pools of bug blood everywhere on the ground and covering the plants and what could be described as weird trees.

"Hoorah! Bug meat baby! Pass some ammo Carson!" Joker yelled. "What the fuck is this C Rad!" The Sarg screamed. "Where are we! What are we doing here!" Joker had the heavy gun mowing down the bugs faster than his ammo could reload.

"Can we call fucking Scott! Can we get the fuck out of here!" Sarg yelled at Chief Conrad again while shooting at every bug in his sight.

Chief Conrad looked at Jack standing in firing position next to him. He was keeping the front line clear of bugs, firing his rifle like a First Class Marksman not missing a shot. Chief Conrad then yelled in Jacks ear, "How close are we!...How close are we to the target!" Jack looked confused and was dumbstruck thinking, what the fuck is C Rad asking that now for, can't he see we are under attack,...Asshole, He silently mumbled while still hitting bugs without a miss.

"How close are we to target!" yelling again in his ear, then boom!... out of nowhere somebody lobbed a grenade that hit very close to them. The whole squad was like a machine holding the bugs back and never letting them get too close. But now some guys were getting low on ammo and becomeing more concerned about whether they were going to get though this. Somehow somebody knew that lots of ammo was going to be needed on this mission and they carried three times more than necessary as a precaution. Somebody knew they were going to need the extra ammo.

All of the sudden less and less bugs attacked them, they were winning the battle and the remaining bugs were backing away, retreating, but why they wondered. The place fell silent for about a minute then it was normal again, and the creepy sounds returned as if nothing had happened.

Time Stamp: 0945
Video and sound recording:

Devils Garage

Jack was staring at the map on his HUD trying to figure out where they were now. He looked at Chief Conrad who was surveying the dead bugs on the ground. The concussion of the grenade must of effected him, he thought. But he was on the target; the whole reason they are there right now on some unknown planet on a mission where they were not even told what the target is but a blip on a map.

Jack looked up in amazement and whispered to himself, "That's it right there." Chief Conrad was looking at him at the very same instant reading his lips and so did some of the other squad members. They were all on the same page thinking the same thing: What is here? What is the real mission and why is it so important to risk all of their lives over? Why is it so important for total secrecy and in all sense and purpose a suicide mission?

At the briefing Commander Scott only told them to scout this location on the planet and to bring back what they find and that it would be there. That they would know when they find it, but never telling them what it is.

"Ok guys spread out stay alert for more bugs and find the mystery item we are here for, so we can get out of here alive.... and go home." Chief Conrad spoke as if he wanted everyone to go home but didn't really believe it for some reason. They picked up their equipment and began the search outlined by Jack who pointed out the general area which happened to be everything in front of them in a 100 foot radius. Many minutes passed and all nine guys were spread out evenly over the entire area and nobody has found anything yet.

"There's nothing here man, you sure this is right Jack?" Somebody barked some feet away within Jack's hearing range. The Sarg who has been quite silent the whole mission but who was the most concerned about what the mission really was about,... "Why did you call this Devils Garage C Rad?" Barnes the best pilot in the squad was pissed,.. "What the fuck...What the.." was coming out of his mouth about every two minutes. Finally the anger was starting to brew to the top and Sarg was going off the deep end. "I think somebody is yanking are chain C Rad,.. you sure it isn't you! The Sarg made a direct accusation against the Chief of the squad angrily.

Chief Conrad didn't blame them, he was upset too, but hid his feelings as a well trained leader should. He was ordered not to break radio silence unless and only unless it wasn't there and they couldn't find it, but was assured it was here and that breaking radio silence would not stop the mission. The mission was too important to fail. It had to be here.

Chief Conrad called his men together, "Over here guys time to regroup." That is when one of his men had found it. "Holyyyy shittt!...." Joe found it first. They all ran to Joe's location, some 60 feet away, slowing down as the target of the whole mission came within eye shot, anticipation foaming at their mouths like candy. They all stood there around the target just staring at it; at the Devils Garage.

A few minutes of not a word then, "This is going to change everything." Chief Conrad said with a stunned look on his face. "This is why they never told us what it was." "Think we will get out of here alive now?" Jack mocked Chief Conrad as if he knew C Rad never believed it anyway when he said it earlier. "You had to know C Rad, you named this mission,... it's your father that ordered this mission and you knew it!" The Sarg's real name is Murphy but he never liked anyone calling him Murphy or Murf for short, he wanted them to call him Sarg.

"Listen Sergeant Murphy, if any of you knew the mission before we started none of you would of came here even under orders. The mission requires the ultimate sacrifice, none of us are going home on this one, you all knew it, it was written on all our faces and we kept denying it the whole time. We were told to say our last thoughts and effects to our families and you knew,... you all knew. This was... and is it for us. Now here is our real mission." They all wondered why they were not going home.

Sound recording USS Virginia.

This is Commander Scott and what I'm about to reveal is Above Top Secret. The Elite Marauder squad the Star Hawks were sent to locate and retrieve humanities last best hope to defeat the bugs once and for all. Only Chief Conrad knows the real mission and hides it well from his men for he knew that total sacrifice was called for on this mission. That humanity lays in the balance; it's survival or total annihilation. The device was created by a race of beings defeated by the bugs, information was gleamed from artifacts and deciphered records left behind on planet X 7124 by an elite team of our scientist. The alien species fought a battle there and lost the device. Once retrieved it was to be used by the Star Hawks on a deep secret mission to travel in time itself, the device opens a tunnel called a wormhole that leads to the past. In the past they are to save humanity from what is to come, the only way we will know if they have succeeded is if this timeline changes or ends or we are not entirely sure what happens in this timeline or even if they will be able to change the timeline. But they and humanity will have a new advantage on the bugs if they succeed.

Commander Scott of the USS Virginia out. God speed Star Hawks.

By S Robinson
Copyright 11-28-2018