Vanquisher: The Remnant

Chapter 4

A pregnant sun hung over the sky, far above the desert. It sent out waves of relentless heat, soaking the landscape in a warm light. The ground baked beneath Khrelan's feet. The ground had dried since the rainstorm, so much so that the dirt cracked under his weight. Another patrol. Whoopty-doo.

Khrelan chuckled out loud even though there was no one to hear him. Even if there were people around all they might've heard was a muffled laugh. Khrelan kept walking stepping on crunchy bushes and cracked dirt.

"Khrelan. Get back to base immediately," Soshe called over the comm. That's not good. Soshe never raises her voice.

Khrelan did an about face and started sprinting back towards the outpost. He was dodging rocks that were protruding from the searing ground. He hopped off of a couple small ledges and at one point he tripped on a bush but didn't fall. It took him a couple minutes to get back, but he eventually reached the door to the outpost. He hit the button to open the door with a little more force than he should have. The door slid open with a hiss and closed behind him. He walked in to see Zadra and his sergeant standing next to each other, hovering over a datapad. Soshe was trying to contact the Commune fleet above them to no avail.

"What's going on?" Khrelan asked, startling all three of them.

"Remnant bombing on Casen, Remnant warship above Takaan, Valhallans push back Remnant on Chrotos. The Remnant is striking all around the galaxy as we speak. And after the fight over Ruakku and here over Earth means that the Remnant has been involved in some sort of attack four times in the past three days. That is definitely not good," Zadra looked at Khrelan and then buried her face back in her datapad.

Soshe looked up at Khrelan. She took a deep breath, "I feel so powerless just sitting in this God forsaken outpost. I want to go out and kick the Remnant's sorry ass."

'Don't we all," the sergeant muttered from Zadra's side. "I don't want to just kick their ass though. I want to make them hurt, and I want to make them hurt bad."

Soshe gasped in a brief spurt of overwhelming joy and then immediately began talking through the comm. She had made it through to the Commune fleet. Zadra and the sergeant joined her in listening to their response. "Commune Outpost 4, this is Commune carrier Atlas. We read you loud and clear. What do you need?"

"What we need is a transport out of this desert so we can help kick the Remnant's ass. We have an Orient pilot with us that needs to get back to her people. But we want out of here too. We haven't done a damn thing since we've been sent out here," Soshe replied a little more condescendingly than she probably intended. They heard a few slivers of a conversation happening on the other side of the comm.

"I'll see what I can do. May I get your names? I need to tell the CDI that you are requesting a pull out."

"Commander Cogran, Sergeant Diviak, and Corporal Aramytan, sir. The pilot we are hosting is Colonel Uavo," Soshe remarked. She sat back on the couch and waited for some indication of a time.

Khrelan chuckled and everyone looked at him.

"What's wrong Khrelan?" Zadra asked.

"Nothing, I just never knew sergeant had a name. I always just knew him as sergeant," Khrelan responded. The sergeant laughed. Khrelan smirked, "Sorry, sergeant."

"Commune Outpost, prepare for departure at 0400 tomorrow morning," the carrier replied. Soshe fisted the air triumphantly. She promptly stood and gathered the little things she had. A few moments later she returned with the possessions from her footlocker and a case full of datapads.

"Get your stuff. We don't want to keep them waiting," She paused for an instant, then spoke again. "And I sure as hell don't want to sit in this stupid outpost any longer than I need to."