Ares: The Beginning

Come, human, listen to my tale of war and death, justice and liberty. Yes, I remember when I fought the Alpha–Centaurians. I remember destroying Nal’ Rakzaa, the Centaurian king. I remember I became one of the Holy Beasts of Helios. This is my story. The story of Leon Ralkoth. The story of one Federal Intergalactic Defense trooper. This is the story of Ares, the Neo–God of War.

ACCESSING: DATA LOG 537: BATTLE_OF_BAANKI

CHAPTER 1:THE BATTLE OF BAANKI

STARDATE 16/ 5/3042

Baanki. One of the three outposts revolving around Planet Alpha_Zeta_Rho, which was the Centaurian homeworld. Quite a mysterious place. No human had ever been there. But our squad was planning to get down to the surface.

Our squad consisted of four people. Roy Xan, he had been my friend since I was five. He always had an interest in warfare, after that time he built that rocket launcher when he was eight. I was never so convinced a cardboard tube, fireworks, and tomatoes could do so much.

Also, there was Sarge. We all called him that. He was a survivor of Y3K, the electronic meltdown that infected all electric systems with a virus. Unfortunately for the Sarge, his many years of combat service earned him a couple dozen medals and a few cyborg implants. So when Y3K hit, he turned into a Bio_Robot. The metal in his body had fused with his organic matter, thus creating the first HYBRID ever.

Lastly, in our squad was my own kin, Kyle Ralkoth. He was my older brother, but only by about two minutes. We were always the same. But unknown to us, this campaign would change us forever.

“Move! To the drop ships! ” Sarge yelled through his metallic voice amplifier, which was built into his body.

Here at our mobile military installation, we were almost ready to attack Alpha_Zeta_Rho. These giant bases had 50 Particle accelerator cannons, and with persistence they could destroy a planet.

“Weapon assessment! ” Sarge called.

“AP_225 Military Shotgun!” Roy replied.

“FID_Automatic Battle Rifle!” Kyle and I called simultaneously.

“And I have a Shoulder_Mounted Mini_Nuke. Let s bring it on!”

CRASH!

“What the **** was that?!” Roy swore.

“It s gotta be Centaurian fighters. Oh, I see. They want to have us at a disadvantage before we exploit theirs. Alpha_Centaurians have a knack for space fighters, but when it comes to ground combat, they aren t the sharpest blades in the armory,” said Sarge.

Another CRASH sound was heard.

“Hey Sarge,” said Kyle, “we can either sit here and get shot at until we are destroyed with the rest of the station, or we can deploy now.”

Good point.

CHAPTER 2: NO TIME FOR THAT!

Right before we got on the dropship with all the other squads, a red light went on. An alarm blared. “What?!” I said.

A techie ran by saying, “Incoming ion cannons!”

It all made sense. Ion cannons disabled electric devices. Apparently, the Centaurians were trying to take our station offline and steal our weapons.

“Sarge, we have to__”

“No time for that, trooper! We have a mission, Roy!”

Fine!

We hurried along to the dropship, a heavily_armored Warmonger Mark IV. The female pilot said, Strap yourselves in__this armor won’t hold forever!

We left the station, as it was getting hit severely. Now this is going to be a battle! I said. But I knew that the armor on this ship was, indeed, deteriorating. The fighters were, indeed, tearing us apart. And this, indeed, would be a battle.

“Incoming! Brace yourselves!” said the pilot.

An ion cannon hit us head on, totally disabling our ship. Engines dead! Nal Rakzaa must really like us! , said the pilot.

CHAPTER 3: OUTNUMBERED BUT NOT OUTGUNNED

Everything went black. When I awoke, I heard heavy gunfire. A shotgun firing, and an FID_AB Rifle. But I distinctively heard a lot of Centaurian weapons, also. …Leon!…Leon! Wake up! Let s go, soldier!

“Sarge!” I muttered. Where am I?” My ribs hurt a lot. I looked around. Everything was still blurry, but I at least knew our ship had turned on its side, and Roy and Kyle were firing out the bottom hatch. Our ship was leaning up against something, but I couldn t tell what.

“Trooper, heal yourself!” said Sarge. He handed me vaccine overflowing with InstaVive healing fluid.

“Grab your weapon!”, said Kyle.

I gripped my rifle and managed to stand up. “You guys start the party without me?!”

“Sorry, Leon.”

I stood up and aimed my rifle out the hatch. Thousands of Alpha_Centaurians were standing in a vast desert, firing their guns. About 50 turrets were set up, also firing on our position. I gotta say Kyle and Roy were kickin’ butt. But we couldn’t hold forever.

“Hey, Leon!” said the pilot, “I got a turret in the back of the ship! But the internal entrance to the cargo bay is blocked by the wreckage! If you can exit the ship, get around to the back, and bring back the turret, maybe we can make an escape!”

“With this many Centaurians right outside the ship? It’s crazy but I’ll try.” And yes, this was crazy. About 2,000 troops would be firing directly at me! Oh, well.

I jumped out of the bottom hatch of the ship, which was the side door now. Hurrying as fast as I could, I scurried to the back of the ship. Sitting in the cargo bay, along with extra ammo and such, was a portable LAS turret. I grabbed that and a few boxes of ammo. And, I must say, it took me about one and a half minutes. And in all that time, not one enemy hit me.

“Back so soon? asked Roy, who was still firing his shotgun out the bottom hatch.

“And more ammo. Nice thinking, bro.” added Kyle.

I set up the tripod for the turret.

“Dibs!” called Roy.

Ah, fine.

Roy ripped through squad after squad of enemies.

“So Sarge,” I asked, as we were both still firing out the hatch, “what exactly is this ship propped up on?” “Troop, believe it or not, our space installation was destroyed, and it hit the ground just before we did. And we re not the only squad like this. Other dropships have crash_landed around the installation, too.”

“Well Sarge, if you ask me, we can’t just sit here and wait to run out of ammo. While I was fetching that turret, I saw a door in the side of a cliff, with troops deploying from it. I suggest we make a break for that door, so we can divide the enemy squads in two and maybe shut off the troop supply coming from that cave.

“Sounds like a plan. Roy, Kyle, Pilot…,”

The female pilot was doing her best to help Roy and Kyle, by using what was left of the ship s weapon systems. …we have to make a break for that door over there! Sarge continued, so let s clear a path through the enemy barrier. Fire in the hole! Sarge chucked a grenade out into the crowd of enemies. !?Fbkdiv icvx, kdm85_ !@#$? swore a Centaurian.

Boom!

Centaurian blood was sent flying everywhere.

“Now! yelled Sarge.” All five of us hopped out of the ship and made a break for the caves.

CHAPTER 4: ASCENSION

“Man, it’s dark in here,” said Kyle. We all agreed.

This cave was apparently a mine. Centaurians probably mined for ore to make weapons.

After we walked about half a mile, the pilot froze solid. “What’s wrong?” asked Sarge.

She said nothing. Then, silently, she fell to the ground of the cave. What happened? She was fine until just now.

Then, suddenly, I felt a great pain erupt throughout my body. The pain was indescribable. I could not express it through words. I, also, fell to the ground.

“Leon? Leon?! LEON!?” Sarge faded out.

When I awoke, I found myself in some sort of astral plane. There was nothing around me except stars and planets. Yet I somehow knew I was not dead.

Then, a figure materialized in front of me. It was blurry at first, but as I came to, I saw this figure was made of pure light. “Hasfalt kasara Ares, sren_Gar shiduk,” it said. I must have been hallucinating or something. Then slowly, the being dematerialized.

I felt the pain in my body again, and I was back in the cavern. Sarge was gone, and so was Roy. But Kyle was laying on the floor.

I looked at my hands. I had four red claws instead of hands. I seemed to have fangs! A trident was slung over my back.

But Kyle was much worse. He was wearing black armor on his body, and he had blade limbs. Kyle, are you__

He rose from the ground, and muttered Ares, you shall be destroyed.

My name is Leon, and you know it. He started coming towards me, his bladed feet digging into the ground with each step. Kyle?!

He swung one of his sword limbs at me.

Kyle, what are you doing?!

He said nothing, but he swung at me again. Without even thinking about it, I reached for my trident. SHINK went our blades meeting each other.

I kept trying to communicate with what seemed to be Kyle, but he kept swinging his blade at me. We fought for a long time, but I knocked him down.

In a pool of my blood, I looked at my face. Oh my God. What kind of beast am I?!