Marching Orders
Beruta, a citizen of the Suminatini Federation on the Main Continent, is undergoing Physical Training in the early morning of the day.
“Step by Step is how we show! That the Suminatini Military is good to go!” The Leading Staff Sergeant calls out to the formation that is running. Beruta is in the front with the other Officers.
The platoon runs up the hills near the base. Continuing this morning workout for at least 15 Kilometers.
“What’s gotten into Staff Sergeant?” Beruta asked Lt. Yugan.
Lt. Yugan is having a difficult time keeping up the pace. As Officers in the Quick Reaction Assault Force they must provide examples for the enlisted Warriors.
“I need to focus… can’t pass out… I want to throw up.” Lt. Yugan said holding strong.
Beruta turned to Lt. Anyan who seemed to have gotten a runner’s high. He looked in high spirits and was motivated for the run.
“What do you think Anyan?” Beruta asked again.
“Oh, sorry, I don’t know what you were asking.” Anyan smiled, feeling a bit embarrassed for having missed what Beruta said.
“Why’s the Staff Sergeant so motivated today?” Beruta said, keeping up the pace.
In the background the singing of the Staff Sergeant can still be heard.
“He’s up for promotion soon, he’s trying to show the Colonel how prepared the platoon is. Why else do you think we are running with them?” Anyan said to Beruta.
Beruta looked back at the Platoon, they seemed like they were about to keel over.
“Ah, so that’s why we got dragged into this with them.” Beruta said, talking to the other Officers.
The Platoon continued their early morning PT until the Great Star appeared overhead.
The Officers watched from the side as the Staff Sergeant dismissed his Platoon for morning chow.
The Staff Sergeant then saluted the Officers and went into their working area.
Lt. Yugan, Lt. Anyan and Lt. Beruta walked to the Officer’s Chow Hall to eat.
Beruta got herself a Steamed Leaf Covering Filled with crushed heated Fruit. She sat down waiting for the other two officers to join her.
Lt. Yugan sat down and immediately started eating.
“Calm down Yugan, it wasn’t that difficult.” Beruta laughed.
“What are you talking about, I nearly died out there! Only reason I even got to be an Officer was because of the age of Immortality. Now I’m just struggling to survive.” Yugan said, throwing food into her mouth.
“Couldn’t be me. Struggling is not something that I want to go through.” Beruta responded by eating her dish calmly.
Anyan came a bit later. Then he sat down with the two.
What took you so long?” Beruta asked Anyan.
“I didn’t expect the line to be so long at the Fishery.” Anyan responded by giving another embarrassed expression.
“I heard that the Ren Zuiperi, more precisely the Qi People have been hiking up the prices. So getting them out in town is just not reasonable.” Beruta said to Anyan as if it were a secret.
“Really? I didn’t know that. Where’d you hear that from?” Anyan responded to Beruta.
“Let me show you the article.” Beruta then opened up her Knowledge Network and displayed to Anyan the article.
Anyan read through it.
Yugan had finally regained her composure and sat back on her seat.
“That hit the point.” Yugan said aloud, relieved.
“Eh, I’m not sure how much I would trust that article, it’s also saying that the Qi People are collaborating with Lan and Hiro people from Joao, and the chances of that are 0 to none.” Anyan said, biting into his dish.
“I mean, who knows for sure, since the age of Immortality ended they may decide that it’s time to split, they did spend a lot of that time stocking up on equipment.” Beruta responded to Anyan.
“I’m with Anyan on this one, the Qi People wouldn’t try to separate from the Suminatin Federation, where would they go? To Marian North or to Xibao, that’s really the only place with a Ren Zuiperi majority.” Yugan responded to Beruta.
“I’m just saying, that could be an explanation as to why fish prices are so high. I myself have very little desire for it, so it doesn’t matter to me which way until they want to fight, in which case I am perfectly ready for it.” Beruta said.
The three continued to eat their meal.
The Mess Hall had a tall ceiling and was a light brown colour, like red sand. The walls had screens along them that displayed the news. The entire place smelled like salt water with a sweet citrus scent mixed into it.
There were about 2 Dozen Officers in the room, separated into 3 areas. One for the Lowest Ranked Officers which included Beruta, Yugan and Anyan, another for non Generals, and the top for the Generals which mostly stayed empty.
Anyan got up from his seat.
“Okay, I am going to head over to the Office, I got some paperwork I need to catch up on. Some of the Enlisted got into trouble yesterday. I’m going to try and bail them out.” Anyan said to the two.
“If they got into trouble then they should serve the punishment, you are going way too easy on these Enlisted folks.” Beruta said to Anyan.
“If they can’t depend on their officers to help them out then what is the point of having us around, they have Staff Non Commissioned Officers who could fill our role.” Anyan said leaving the table.
“Way too nice.” Yugan said, shaking her head. “So what are you up to Beruta?” Yugan asked.
“I don’t know, maybe I will hit up the gym a little, then go to the shooting range.” Beruta responded to Yugan.
“Yuck, more exercise, count me out.” Yugan said to Beruta. “I am going to give my muscles a little rest, catch up on some Military Tactical Literature. Maybe even read the ‘Battle of Sum’.” Yugan said with a smirk on her face.
“You are not going to read the entire battle of Sum today.” Beruta laughed.
The two officers got up from their seats and departed.
Beruta walked across the base to the gym. Inside she saw Staff Sergeant Shata. She was working up quite the sweat in the resistance machine which pressed on your body and you had to use your core to resist being squeezed.
Beruta jumped on the Weighted Vertical Machine which pushed down on the user as they jumped up.
“You’re really working up quite the sweat.” Beruta opened up a conversation with Shata.
“I’m trying to make sure I can handle the pressure in the acceleration chamber Lieutenant.” Shata responded.
“That’s not really going to help you out there. The acceleration chamber knocks people out by preventing their blood from circulating to their brains, not by knocking you out with force.” Beruta said, beginning her workout.
“Master Sergeant Yakon said that if I spent some time in this machine, I could increase my time.” Shata said continuing to hold against the pressure from the machine.
“As someone who spends a lot of time in the acceleration chamber I can see that it won’t help much, if at all. The only way to increase your resistance to passing out is to go in there more.” Beruta said to Shata.
Shata then pressed stop on the machine because she wasn’t able to handle it any longer. “Spend more time in there? That already sounds like I am about to become sick.” Shata said jokingly to Beruta.
“You just have to do what you have to do.” Beruta said, continuing her workout.
“I’m just going to grab a quick drink then I’ll be back.” Shata said to Beruta, going out of the room.
Beruta continued jumping in the machine. Her muscles were warming up and she started feeling the pump of her muscle filling with blood.
Beruta was focusing on trying to reach the next step in strength.
“Don’t give up, just a bit more.” Beruta thought to herself as it felt like she was getting heavier and heavier.
The Alarm of the room then blurred. The lights indicated a summons of personnel from the QRF Platoon.
Beruta quickly wiped away sweat and ran to the barracks to grab her uniform top.
She quickly ran to the Muster Location.
The other officers of the QRF were already present.
Beruta went to her position in formation. Anyan and Yugan were already present and were serious in their positioning.
The Colonel then stepped in front of the Platoon of Officers.
“Approximately an hour ago we received a report of a Giant Creature in Sang Ru City. Gather your weapons from the armory and report to designated air units for transports, there you will receive more intel on the mission.” The Colonel said before leaving out.
The Officers then quickly dismissed and ran to get their weapons.
“A Giant Creature? What do you think he means, is it a new weapon designed by Capicalo?” Beruta asked Anyan.
“No information here. I am just as confused as you.” Anyan said quickly, receiving his weapon. He ran to the air unit.
Beruta was up next in line and the Machine took a bit more time searching for Beruta’s Weapon.
“Hurry up! This is not just another day at the range!” Beruta said impatiently as the other Officers quickly grabbed their weapon and headed out.
The Machine finally gave Beruta her weapon and she quickly ran inside of the transport vessel.
Beruta found one of the few seats available. The one she normally gets in field operations.
Quickly before she sat down another Lieutenant, Lt. Harns grabbed the seat.
“Haha, Rookie, you were too slow!” Harns said to Beruta, mocking her.
“You get up right now! I sit in that seat on every mission, and you know that.” Beruta yelled out to him.
“How about we arm wrestle for it, if you win you get the seat.” Harns said to Beruta seeing that she was visibly tired from a workout.
Beruta aimed her weapon at Harns’ Legs. “How about I just shoot off both your legs then you can make the floor your seat!” Beruta responded.
“Come on guys, it’s just a seat. Here Beruta you can have my seat.” Anyan said standing up from his spot which was pretty close to where Beruta typically sits.
“No way this is about Principle.” Beruta said, staring at Harns’ eyes.
“I guess there’s some things I just wouldn’t understand it seems.” Anyan laughed as Beruta continued to try and forcibly get her seat.
“All of you seat your butt down!” The Major came on board. Beruta quickly took the seat that was being offered next to Anyan.
“Intelligence on the Creature in question are as follows. It is 50 Meters tall, has approximately 21 Appendages and sucks in victims using a vacuum. It is also reported that toxic chemicals are located in the sites it’s been but those have yet to be confirmed. So stop your bickering and focus up!” The Major yelled out as he sat down.
Anyan smiled at Beruta as the vehicle took off.
The devices connected to the wrist of the Officers lit up showing them the locations of each other and the location of their objective.
“We will be landing 3 Kilometers from the last reported location of the Creature. From there we will separate into 3 Teams. Each will drive the sand Vics to the designated locations. Because this is an occupied city the use of long range explosives are prohibited. Avoid damaging unnecessary property. We don’t want another Roan Incident.” The Major said to the Officers inside.
The Officers inside smirked remembering what happened.
“You don’t need to worry about that Major, if this thing is 50 Meters tall, I could hit it with my eyes closed.” A Lieutenant in the vessel responded.
“Guess if you did miss you would owe all of us drinks when we get back.” Anyan said laughing with the rest of the Officers inside.
Though one was not laughing. “Don’t start getting your hopes up, it’s the 20 or more appendages I’m worried about. No telling what it can do.” Captain Uta said with a serious tone.
“We just need to attack quickly and attack harshly, we just won’t give it a chance to hit us with anything.” Beruta said in high spirits to those inside.
“Ha, you are right! Hard, fast and in a hurry!” A Lieutenant responded to Beruta and those inside began to liven up again.
The vessel then landed causing everything to shake.
“It’s time. ‘Squad A’ will be Lt. Rigi, Lt. Beruta, Lt. Yuji and Lt. Yeta. You are our guardian angels. Fire at any objects that may be in the blind spots of Squad B. Captain Sho will be the Squad Leader.” The Major said as the Officers understood their orders.
“‘Squad B’ is Lt. Anyan, Lt. Yaran, Lt. Hei, and Lt. Harns. You are the heavy assault force. Use the electric inhibitors on your person to hopefully take it down quickly, if not bring down the might of the Suminiatini Military on it. Captain Chu is your Squad Leader.” The Major gave an assignment to Team B.
“And ‘Squad C’ is Lt. Yao, Lt. Sumi, Lt. Mataran, and Lt. Yugan. You are to provide recovery in the case of life threatening wounds, stay away from the center of battle until you are needed. You are the blood of the mission. Captain Uta is your Squad Leader.” The Major gave the last of the Squads their assignment.
The Officers left the vessel and headed onto the sand vics.
“Aw, looks like I’m part of Squad B.” Anyan said to Beruta as they headed to the vics.
“Don’t worry about it. I got your back out there. I’ll be your personal Guardian Angel.” Beruta said to Anyan.
“Ha, then I really have nothing to worry about then if that’s the case.” Anyan smiled and they hit each other’s fists.
“Good luck out there.” Beruta said to Anyan as she got on her vic.
“Next time, I got your back.” Anyan said as he headed out.
“Seems like I won’t be of much help if no one gets injured.” Yugan said to Beruta.
“That’s the plan right, we want you all to be useless.” Beruta laughed while responding to Yugan.
“Guess I should count myself lucky, I will have enough energy to finish reading today. I just got to the best part too.” Yugan said to Beruta.
“No such thing as a good part in a book.” Beruta smiled. Team C then began to depart towards the rear.
“I’ll catch up with you after this is done!” Yugan said as she split off from the rest of Squad A.
The Weapons vehicle had pulled up and brought the long ranged weapons to Squad A.
“Grab your weapons and head to the roof of that building.” Captain Sho commanded the Squad.
They grabbed the weapons from the vehicle and made their way up the building. Beruta looked at her Location device to keep tabs on the positions of her friends.
Squad A made it to the top of the Building and set up their weapons. They then moved their scopes to the positions of Squad B.
“This is CB, we have eyes on the target. Preparing to engage.” Captain Chu said over communications.
Beruta looked down her scope and saw a Monstrous Creature with no head, but many appendages. It was dark and nearly see through as if it was made from oil. “I have never seen anything like that before. What is that thing.” Beruta said to herself.
“Don’t get too consumed by its appearance, keep watch over your people. Make sure those arms don’t get near them” Captain Sho said to Squad A.
Team B were a few meters from the target.
“We haven’t been noticed yet. Everyone, prepare your electric inhibitors.” Captain Chu commanded Squad B.
Anyan pressed down on the machine and it took off into the air targeting the Creature.
The machines swarmed the Creature and dove themselves into its skin. The machines then released an arch of electricity through its body.
“Begin firing!” Captain Chu commanded as Squad B began unloading on the Creature.
The projectiles entered its body ripping directly inside.
The electric arcs were not bringing down the creature.
“Damn, I was hoping that would bring it down, I was already expecting this was not going to be easy.” Captain Chu thought to himself. “Lt. Hei, Lt. Harns, prepare a round of explosives.” Captain Chu commanded.
Lt. Hei and Lt. Harns released explosive projectiles which exploded directly on the creature. The explosion caused the skin to seperate. A cloud of shrapnel came from the explosion causing more damage.
Anyan continued to fire, unloading rounds after rounds into the creature without missing a shot.
Beruta was watching through her scope. “They got it!” Beruta yelled out. The rest of Team A were cheering watching the one sided battle against the creature.
The creature collapsed on the ground and a giant cloud of dust came up from the ground.
Captain Chu then told Squad B to cease firing.
The dust then started to settle. There was no movement from the creature.
“This is CC, any Injuries?” Captain Uta asked over communication.
“This is CB, No injuries, we are all green.” Captain Chu responded.
“This is CA, all green.” Captain Sho responded.
Yugan was waiting. She had already begun to think about the book she was reading. She looked at her location device. “Yep, seems like they are all healthy.” She thought to herself.
“Everyone weapons up!” Captain Chu said to Squad B.
Anyan lifted his weapon.
The creature’s body began to puff up with gas.
“Open fire!” Captain Chu said as Squad B began firing on the creature trying to prevent it from expanding.
“What is it doing?” Anyan thought to himself as he continued to fire.
“Why is it puffing up? Does that mean it’s dead?” Beruta thought watching from her scope.
The Creature continued to grow in mass. It’s body had ballooned nearly to twice the size it was before. The Projectiles from the weapons were no longer penetrating the skin.
Once it reaches its peak, the creature then flattens its body covering the area of a 1 Kilometer radius in toxic gas.
The dark smoke quickly dispersed through the area. Everything it touched began to corrode away.
Anyan looked at his gloves and clothing and saw that they were melting away. Eventually the gas got down to his skin and began to burn through.
“My chest, my skin. They feel like they are on fire.” Anyan said as everyone in Squad B began to collapse. “This hurts.” Anyan said before he became a pool of liquid which slowly vaporized away.
The Gas had enveloped Squad C.
Squad C were completely caught off guard and the Gas quickly went into their lungs.
Yugan began to cough and her inside had come out liquified.
Yugan fell to her knees. “Please no, not yet.” Yugan cried as her bones no longer had the strength to keep herself up. “Help… someone…” Yugan said as her voice was filled with liquid.
The dark cloud continued to fan out.
“What is happening down there Sir?” Beruta asked Captain Sho.
“This is CA, report.” Captain Sho said over communications.
There was no answer.
“This is CA, CB do you hear me?” Captain Sho said again over the communication.
There was no answer.
“This is CA, CC do you hear me?” Captain Sho tried calling Captain Uta.
There was no answer.
Captain Sho then looked at his location device and saw that there were no pings from the other Squads.
“Squad A, back up and return to the Air Vessel.” Captain Sho commanded understanding what probably happened.
“What do you think happened, Sir?” Lt. Yuji asked.
“The Creature, or weapon or whatever it was, likely was armed with a deadman’s switch. Upon its destruction likely released a gas which took out both Squad B and Squad C.” Captain Sho said to the Squad.
Squad A stood silent.
“Let’s take this time and allow them to transition to the next existence in silence.” Captain Sho said as everyone stood.
Beruta had tears coming from her eyes. She understood that this happens, but her heart was in pain. She was looking forward to spending more time in the chow hall with her friends. Do laugh with them another time.
“If I knew this was the last time I would see them then we should have been together after breakfast.” Beruta thought to herself.
The silence was interrupted by the sound of a building collapsing in the background. The Gas was disappearing, returning to where it came from. The Creature started reforming itself using the material that was dissolved in the gas.
In no time at all it began to move again as if nothing had happened.
Beruta’s Chest boiled and she quickly placed her weapon back on the ground and took aim at the creature.
“Stop Lt. Beruta!” Captain Sho yelled at her.
“What do you expect me to do!” Beruta yelled back with anger and tears in her eyes. “Squad B and C are both gone because of that monster, their deaths are meaningless if that thing continues to live!” Beruta screamed out.
“The best option for now is to retreat and regroup. We don’t have the main power nor weapons to bring it down.” Captain Sho said to Beruta.
Beruta’s finger nearly pulled the trigger but she stopped herself.
“Fine, but the next time we go out to face that thing again I want to be on the assault unit.” Beruta said to Captain Sho.
“We all lost friends here, Lieutenant. I understand what you are feeling. But if we die here then the next group will have no information to use to bring it down for good.” Captain Sho said to Beruta.
Squad A began to pack up their equipment to head back down the building.
The Creature then lifted up his appendage and sent out a shot of air that went through the head of Captain Sho.
Then another went through Lt. Rigi, Lt. Yuji and Lt. Yeta.
Beruta immediately went down to the ground barely having any time to move out of the way of the shot.
She looked through her scope. She did not see the Creature.
“Dammit!” Beruta yelled out. Beruta looked around herself, seeing that the rest of her Squad were lying lifeless on the roof.
“How did it know we were here!” Beruta thought to herself.
Beruta grabbed her weapon and carried it on her back. She ran down the stairs in search of the creature.
She ran for a little more than a Kilometer to catch up with the Creature. She was able to see it continue to shoot out small bits of gas from its body.
Beruta got on the ground and aimed her weapon at the Creature.
She pulled the trigger and began firing. “Die! Die! Die! You abomination!” Beruta yelled out with each shot.
No damage was happening to the Creature. But it did turn around to look at Beruta who continued to fire.
It moved its appendages in the air like it was taunting her.
“Oh, I thought I got rid of you. If you valued your own life, you should have stayed hidden.” The creature said to Beruta using the voice of Anyan.
Beruta became angrier and she boiled over.
“Don’t you dare use his voice! Anyan would never! He was the nicest! Best! Person! You’d ever meet!” Beruta fired continuously. Yelling louder and louder with each direct shot.
None of the projectiles were causing any damage to it.
“Keep firing, it’s no use. You are no hero.” The Creature said continuing to use Anyan’s voice. “Entertain me!”
Beruta continued firing but eventually she had no more rounds to shoot. She continued to pull the trigger but nothing came out. Tears began running down her face.
“I’m sorry… I couldn’t protect you.” Beruta said feeling defeated. She continued to pull the trigger.
“Is that all? Not even worth my time really.” The Creature said to Beruta still using the voice of Anyan.
The Creature readied it’s appendages and moved towards Beruta to absorb her.
Beruta dropped her weapon and got to her knees. Her eyes were blank and traumatized.
“I have nothing left, not even another tear.” Beruta thought to herself.
Beruta then felt a hand touch her shoulder.
“How about you entertain me!” A young Ren Shaole girl stepped in front of Beruta.
“No, don’t!” Beruta yelled out to the girl. The Creature sent it’s appendage to go directly through the both of them.
The Girl used her palm and smacked the appendage out of the way. The force of the hit caused the appendage to immediately become smoke.
The Creature then sent another appendage out and the Girl continued to destroy them.
“Did you really think that first one was a fluke?” The Girl said to the Creature, standing strong in front of it. She had a confident smile on her face.
“Insolence!” The Creature called out with the voice of Anyan. It sent out the rest of its appendages.
The girl moved out of the way and hit each appendage as if she was bored. She flipped gracefully.
“You’re nothing more but another title under my belt.” The Girl responded back to the creature.
Beruta was still on her knees in utter awe of the girl. “She is amazing.” Beruta thought to herself.
The creature then released the same gas that melted the Squads from earlier at the girl.
The girl pointed two of her fingers at the Creature.
“Pow, Pow.” The girl said as two giant holes appeared in the body of the creature. “Wow, you seem way weaker than Fridgidus.” She said unimpressed. “You both looked quite similar, must have been your brother.” The girl said jokingly.
The creature then decided to aim its attacks at Beruta who was still on her knees. The Creature shot condensed air at Beruta.
The girl shot the attack from the air by pointing her finger at it.
“Sneaky, sneaky. But no dice!” The Girl said to the creature. “Any final words… ah… who are you?” The girl asked the Creature.
“I am Nightmare, the watcher of the Skies, the-” The Creature was saying before the Girl stomped her foot and encased the Creature in what looked to be a Giant Boulder.
“I just wanted to know a name.” The Girl said before she pressed her hands together causing the boulder to squeeze smaller and smaller.
Eventually the mass became the size of a marble.
The Girl then shot fire at the marble sized ball and vaporized it.
The calmness returned and the sky was clear.
The girl looked around as if she was searching for something.
Beruta got onto her feet and walked to the girl slowly. “Ah… who are you?” Beruta walked up to the girl cautiously.
The girl turned around to look at Beruta. She then pointed at herself. “Oh you are talking to me? I’m nobody, I just came to handle a job.” She said to Beruta with a giant smile.
Beruta realized the sweet innocence of this girl and began to cry.
Beruta cried holding the girl.
“No, no, don’t cry. It really was nothing.” The girl said, unsure of what to do.
“Why didn’t you come a little sooner! I wasn’t good enough!” Beruta said while she was weeping her eyes out. “We were supposed to be good enough!” Beruta continued to release her pent up sadness.
The girl continued to try and comfort Beruta. Beruta continued to cry until she passed out from exhaustion. The girl now had Beruta in her arms.
“Well now what?” The girl said aloud looking for a place to sit.
Beruta eventually woke up to see that she was in a restaurant, and that girl that saved her was drinking a juice offered at the place.
“Oh you’re finally awake, good. Now I can leave and not worry about your health.” The girl then got up from her seat and began to leave.
Beruta grabbed her hand. “Wait!”
The girl looked at Beruta, and looked down at her hand.
Beruta then let go. “I’m sorry. Ah… could you possibly train me to get as powerful as you maybe?” Beruta asked the girl.
The girl looked at Beruta and Beruta looked at the girl.
“No.” The girl then walked out of the restaurant.
Beruta then quickly followed her. “Wait, but why?!” Beruta asked quickly.
“Because there’s one thing, and another. And yea you know.” The girl said before lifting herself into the sky. She then looked down at Beruta. “Oh, if they ask who defeated that thing, say it was you. Say something like, ‘you discovered that it’s weak point was its 5th segment or something’.” The Girl said to Beruta while she was in midair.
“Can I at least know your name?” Beruta asked.
“Why? It’s not like you are going to see me again.” The girl said to Beruta.
“You’re so strong and amazing, I just want to be like you. Not powerless.” Beruta said to the girl.
The girl then thought to herself. Then slowly descended back to the ground.
Beruta was surprised. “Oh, what changed your mind?” Beruta asked.
“Well you didn’t want to be Powerless, so I guess i can show you just a small thing or two.” the girl said to Beruta. “The names Iota.”
Beruta then placed her fist on her chest. “My name is Beruta.”
MV Studios 