The Fleet (2)

"Yes, and now I cannot be bothered with these childish games, tell me in plain English. Who do you want killed?" said Kraft.

"The Scout and the rest of his team, before they get off world"

"Damn, even the scouts now. They are not human, monsters even, but still, they are useful. When will it turn on our benefactors?"

"You cannot question the leaders of the faction like this, we are doing this to ensure those Druin get what's coming to them"

"Huh, fine. I could never be bothered with minds of the higher ups"

"Make sure you do not question them too much or this warship will not be your home. I will not have them destroy my ship because of you"

"I understand General Maple; I will not say another word".

"Kraft, you are an old friend. I will tell you something I shouldn't, I do not wish for the scout to die. If what he says is true, he accomplished the impossible this time" said General Maple as he placed his hand on Kraft's shoulder.

"I know what I must do General. That is all I am required to know, and I will complete my mission".

"Good, I will see you soon friend" said General Maple as he made his way to the door. Just before he opened the door, he looked back at the old man he had known for many years "Kraft" 

"Yes general?".

"Do a good job for my sake".

"Of course, general".

The General made his way back to the bridge, leaving his friend behind. The silence on the way haunted him. What if Kraft's musings where correct, and after this war the human faction pivoted their aim from Druin to the Benefactors? That would not bode well for the species.

"General Maple, good timing we have just come into range to scan".

"Has it been completed yet John?"

"Not yet sir, a few minutes until it is complete".

"Tell me when the scan is complete" said the General.

'I hope it is not as many as the scout reported. If so, we will have a lot of cleaning up to do, and many men will not return to their families'

General Maple looked at the monitor. Through it he could see the planet below, the red soil took up most of the planet. Oceans present on the planet were rare. They wandered around the centre of the planet. It was no wonder why the Druin had picked this planet. The stars stretched out behind the planet into the endless darkness. In the eternal black they shone softly in the expanse, the only hope in the galaxy and yet here they were fighting for planets. Fighting for hate, for the extinction of one another. How little this would all mean in the greater universe. 'We are but dust on the wind of creation' as his daughter would say. She would have loved this view, he thought to himself.

"Sir the scan is complete; our data matches up with the information from the scout's team".

"Damn. Send out all the soldiers we have John, leave them an escape route to the south, we will let them retreat before we quash the escaping Druin".

"Why leave them an escape route sir? We could kill them all in one push".

"Without a retreat option they will fight to the last man, woman, or child and will end up injuring or killing more of my men. I will not let more people die if I can help it".

"Yes sir".

The outer layer of the rock-like sphere ship detached thousands of smaller ships. Wings on the side and a streamline design made for atmosphere and underwater travel, the ships surrounded the rock during travel making the outside of the sphere. All the ships split from the rock and swarmed the lone planet, appearing tiny in comparison to the planet.

The infantry ships held 10-20 men. The other ships were bombers that held 2 people and were sent in first. Coming down through the atmosphere, the bombers rained down a volley of bombs. They sailed down towards the outpost at immense speeds splitting the wind in front of the bomb and left craters where they hit.

Buildings were demolished when hit by the bombs, devastating most buildings in the outpost. The bombs had fallen onto the outpost before the warning system could be activated, and the outpost could retaliate.

The remaining ships fell lower and lower through the atmosphere towards the planet. After a minute of free fall, the bombers at the front of the formation began to explode. The outpost had activated their defence systems.

Volleys of explosives had been fired at the enemy ships, hunting down the intruders. The explosions on impact were small, just enough to blow a hole in a ship, metal shards flew from the ships that had been hit, the shrapnel that was previously ships tore through the ships behind, killing the pilots. The Druin had figured out that there was no need for greater munitions as the speed of the ships falling made any projectile as devastating as a bomb.

The number of ships dwindled, but not fast enough as it was but a drop in the ocean compared to the massive numbers of ships from the human fleet. The Druin on the ground began to evacuate their women and children through the debris, smoke, and crying. The outpost was thrown into chaos. Three minutes had now passed since the ships came into the atmosphere.

The shrapnel from the broken ships tore through unsuspecting Druin as they ran for their lives. The bombs had levelled the building, the only possible hiding spots for the Druin making the Druins own defensive measures kill their own.

The Druin began running from their homes, trampling anyone in front of them that would slow them down. Fleeing as fast as they could, the smoke stung the eyes of the Druin on the ground as they tried to gain control of the crowd while protecting them from the deadly shrapnel and bombs from above.

A Druin Gunner broke through the crowd, running to a small girl who had been abandoned and left alone. She was holding a small toy, the crowds were running towards her he would have to get their before they did, the people slammed into his body as he held the girl in his arms, through the chaos he moved forward holding her until they had reached the gates.

The ones who fled from the outpost in the north direction were soon killed by shrapnel and bombs before they could get far. This happened to all sides of the outpost apart from the south.

The ground around the outpost was a combination of metal and flesh that collided, the ground now a field of spikes and death.

The defence system continued to fire at the incoming ships, but there were far too many of them.

General Maple looked across the planet, every ship that was destroyed was another family who would grieve, who would blame him.

'I will take this blame until the Druin devil is killed, as I know it is their fault us humans are dying'. Thought the General.

"General, the people have escaped south. They are heading towards an oasis in that direction".

"Let them continue".

"We have been ordered to not take prisoners General," said John.

"And we won't".

"Then why let them retreat and be able to mount a retaliation attack?"

"The oldest lion, the cornered rat and the last soldier fight the hardest. Give the Druin who flee an out and they will abandon their fight".

"Why draw this out? The force we command is enough to whip them out even if they did resist".

"They are enough, but they will be more effective in one force not separated. If more casualties arose from separating the force, are you going to explain to the widows and children that they died because it was more efficient that way or would I be the one."

"You would be the one sir"

"Until you look the families left behind in the eye do not speak to me of efficiency, John"

"Sorry General Maple"

"Each Human lost is a tragedy, we will wipe out the Druin, not ourselves," said General Maple.