Vanquisher: The Remnant

Chapter 3

"Commander? May I speak with you for a moment?"

Vartelm paused. He was leaving the scene of a gruesome battle that was taking place. He turned to the speaker, a young corporal who was jogging to catch up with him. "What do you need, corporal?"

"Sir, the Paramount has been pushed back to the Canyon of Glass. We've lost three MAUs and about a hundred men so far. Should we deploy our tanks?" the corporal said through a few breaths.

"No. If you have them on the run with only MAUs then there should be no need to deploy anything else."

"May we at least spare a few more men. Our lines are thinning pretty heavily. If we are to keep the Paramount on the run we are going to need every man we can get," the young man said.

Vartelm thought for a minute. He didn't care what his subordinates did, as long as they didn't get killed. He was being pulled out to sit in a boring conference room and listen to the big-wigs babble over the war. Vartelm didn't want to be apart of the war, but he was cast into it upon the Collapse.

"Just... do what you need. I won't be here for this so just don't get yourself killed, alright?"

"Yes, sir, Commander Thrakurn," the corporal turned and spun his fingers, signalling his men to rally up. Vartelm boarded the nearest transport, calling the pilot to lift off. The engines flared and then whirred to life, pushing the craft off the ground. The flight out of the atmosphere was a rough one due to the thick layer of clouds setting over the planet. Then the transport broke the air of Chrotos and it was smooth sailing from there.

"Sir, where do you want to go?" the pilot came over the comm.

"Take me to the Starfire. I have business with the captain that I must first attend to. Then we go to Takaan for a bit of a tea party. Oh and before I forget, thanks in advance," Thrakurn replied leisurely. It was a bit of a short notice for the pilot to have to come down and pick up Thrakurn, but he didn't mind. He was just doing his job.

"No problem, Commander. I was bored on the Starfire anyways," he chuckled. "Well at least while I wasn't on duty."

Vartelm chuckled as well and the clicked off the comm. It was going to be a bit of a long ride, seeing as the Starfire was all the way out in the Euhirian system, but they were going that direction anyways. Takaan lay just a jump away, and they could refuel on the ship. He pulled a thin, transparent sheet of glass, a datapad that he would study to pass the time. He still needed to keep tabs on the invasion taking place on Chrotos. He had no worries that the corporal would fail him. With their sergeant killed in the firefight, he was the next most qualified person to lead them, as Vartelm was leaving.

He set the datapad in his lap and gazed out of the window. Large metal carcasses floated in the midst of the planet. They were left above the planet as a reminder, a reminder that the Remnant was something to fear, and definitely something not to let reign across the galaxy. Chrotos was just an innocent little planet sitting just out of the reach of the growing war, that was until the Remnant decided it'd insert its grubby hands into the planet's dealings. Immediately they had established a military presence, wiping clean the slate of the Chroton defense. They sent down massive cruisers and deployable outposts, laying out a system of impenetrable Remnant rule. Then the Valhallans showed up and started blowing the Remnant forces to hell. No way were they just going to let this regime grip onto unsuspecting peoples like that.

Once they had maneuvered out of the graveyard of ships, the pilot made the drop into slipspace. From there it was a quick ride to dock with the Starfire. The pilot set the ship down on the metal hangar floor.

"Stay here, I'll only be a few minutes," Vartelm called to the pilot. The ship's ramp unclasped from the roof of the ship and lowered to the floor. Vartelm stepped down it and made his way towards the nearest turbolift. He came out of the turbolift in the middle of a maze of halls. It took him a minute to navigate the endless, outmoded corridors, but eventually he arrived at the bridge. The thick metal doors slid open and the captain turned to face the visitor.