John Davis - The Colony

“Yes sir, of course.”

Turning to execute his order, the marines quickly sprinted off, Jack Strong in hand.

Out of nowhere, the lieutenant felt arms wrapping around him. Before he could turn to discover the identity of the succubus, the demon had jerked him backwards, pulling the man in charge beneath a cloak of rainfall.

“Sir!” one of the marines yelled, though their lieutenant was nowhere to be seen.

In fact, he could still hear their yells for him. Though his struggle with the monster prevented him from replying. It slowly wrestled upwards, eventually placing the massive arms around his neck. Squeezing with authority, the lieutenant began to fade into whatever heaven this planet knew.

Click.

A single shot blasted its way through the skull of the alien, the snapping bullet releasing from a suppressed chamber. The sniper who had long considered himself a friend to Jack Strong, now found himself rescuing another lieutenant. Becoming a habit of sorts.

“On your feet, sir, we need to move quickly.” the sniper commented, helping the near-lifeless lieutenant to his feet.

Moments later, the two men were located by a small group of marines that had come in search of their commanding officer. Helping Renaldo in getting the lieutenant to safety.

Within minutes, the choppers skirted back into the black sky above them – rainfall cascading across the finely-forged steel of the ships’ hulls.

“May I come in?” Julia asked, knocking gently against the steel frame of the doorway.

“Of course.” Jack replied, standing gingerly to his feet.

The fight against the demon, especially under such close quarters had proven him a hero, but left him ailing. Jack stood, though it took a great deal in order to do so.

“I just wanted to thank you again. For everything. I feel as though I owe you my life.” she added.

“It’s alright. Just doing my job.” he modestly replied with a smug grin.

“Listen, I wanted to…” Julia began to admit, her words cut short as two soldiers escorted a commanding officer toward them. The thick of rubber boots crashing against the loud steel grating of the hallway.

“Lieutenant Jack Strong?” the XO asked.

“Yes sir.” Jack replied, saluting his superior.

“At ease son. May I have a word in private?” the XO asked.

“Of course.” Jack replied. Nodding to Julia for a moment as to apologize for cutting her short.

She thought of him in such a way that seemed to make Jack larger than life. Muscular, but not with an over-abundance, yet gentle enough to question which he was better suited for. Soldiering or loving?

As Julia saw the military-hardened soldier begin to weep, falling back against the steel wall behind him, she knew it in her heart as if it were a shared pain.

Jack’s wife had been killed.

She’d never seen this type of news delivered in person, but had always imagined how horrible it must be. Watching the XO try to comfort a man who’d been so strong for the core, Julia’s heart bled for Jack – as well as the XO tasked with delivering the news.

“You may want to stay with him for a while ma’am, if that’s possible?” one of the escort soldiers asked.

“Of course.” Julia replied – her own eyes tearing heavily.

Moments later, the three soldiers walked away just as quickly as they had shown up. Taking Jack’s entire world with them.

“I’m so, so sorry.” Julia said, approaching the broken man.

He wanted to reply. Thank her for the kind words and understanding. Jack simply couldn’t. As he opened him mouth, nothing came out. It was as if his entire reason for living was gone within seconds.

Julia grabbed him into her arms, pressing herself as closely as possible as Jack continued to weep uncontrollably.

Boom.

The sound of a cannon shot hitting their ship, its course of flight jolting wildly – sending both Jack and Julia to the floor.

Three more booms followed, each of them as loud as the first. Their marine war ship once again jerked back and forth, rocking itself from such blasts. Quickly followed by the alarms inside of the ship.

Everyone report to your assigned stations. This is not a drill . A woman’s voice declared across the ship’s com system.

Julia questioned for a moment if the voice was real, or simply a computerized model? It sounded real enough, but the calm in the woman’s voice brought doubt.

“What’s happening?” Julia asked loudly as several more strikes against their ship could be felt. This time bringing a flickering of lights.

“We’re under attack.” Jack replied, drying his tears a bit. Just long enough to face the reality of what was going on.

“Attack…who?” Julia asked.

Her question answered with a simple glare from the man who’d went from broken to soldering in a matter of seconds.

The demons have a fleet of their own.

“Report!” The ship’s captain demanded, entering the large CIC in search of answers.

“We’re giving them all we have, sir, but it doesn’t look good.” one of the staff members replied, watching the battle play out on his computer monitor.

“Giving who all we’ve got?” the captain asked, pushing everyone to realize he knew nothing beyond the blasts.

“Sir,” the staff member replied. “We had three ships nearly fall on top of us. Look to be marked with the Succubus logo, and they aren’t holding any punches.”

“Our rail guns?” the captain asked.

“The ones we have left are firing,” the man replied in defeat. “But having minimal effect. Their armor plating is unlike anything we’ve seen before.”

He kicked it around for a moment. The idea of their single thermal shot. Each marine ship of this size was considered a war ship, and each war ship held one. Thermonuclear warhead. Otherwise known as a TW.

“Hit one of the bastards without a TW. Alert the fleet of our position and issue a distress signal. Sound the abandon ship alarm.”

“Sir?” the staff member asked, several more turning to look to him as well. Seeking confirmation of what they’d just heard.

“My code entry is 4-6-09-5-27-11 – you have your orders.” the captain confirmed.

“Yes sir.”

“Follow that order through and then get everyone in here to safety.” the captain asked.

It could be heard through the ship’s com system, as well as the com system on every ship-to-ship fighter that currently found itself dogfighting for survival against superior number.

Marine Command, this is ship identification delta-seven-delta. Sending last known coordinates and advising we are abandoning ship. Heavy fire from enemy craft. Evacuating to the surface to await rescue and extraction. I say again Marine Command, this is ship identification delta-seven-delta. We are going down.

Lieutenant Jack Strong had never been in this type of situation before, but knew the layout of such a ship like the back of his hand. Quickly gripping his fingers onto Julia’s and locking them tightly.

“Stay with me. Long push to the hangar. Just don’t panic and run as hard as you can. Stay with me.” he said.

“O… okay.”

The demon’s ships were strange looking by human standards. They were long, almost blade-like and seemed to be spiked on the front tips. Communication antennas, as well as a hangar door which spewed fighter ships from the front.

Their cannon bursts fired from the top of the ship, each shot bolting up from one of two massive holes and burning to a glow before completely changing direction and firing onto the marine vessel.

Jack recognized the glow of red and blue, knowing it was similar to what he had encountered on the surface only days before. Still, he ran without a second thought. Never daring to slow down.