The Unfortunate Soldier

[All of my content is detailed and heavy with layering. Want the sexy stuff immediately? Start skipping paragraphs. Sexy stuff starts at paragraph 39. LONGBURN]

The ship creaked as we passed through the gateway, launching us at speeds unknown to any other type of travel. We were safe from the speed outside, but soon we would arrive in a warzone. Our Captain had agreed to help the Minister of War under a contract guaranteeing our services for at least the next 0.6 cycles. In basic terms, we'd be helping the Sol System Authority [Referred to as SSA or just 'The Authority'] for a little over 6 and a half years. It was the longest contract we'd taken on yet, but our Captain had faith in us and we had faith in him.

This was the first time we were traveling outside the Milkdromeda Galaxy, though we had no love for it, it still felt like home. Familiar. Every fight inside it was like we were on home territory. But now, we were traveling to a small cluster of a significantly smaller galaxy orbiting around Milkdromeda. Its leadership had recently rebelled against the Authority, propping up its new government to lead their worlds. It didn't sound half bad, the kind of government they were forming. Intergalactic information didn't travel as fast as it used to in the old times, so they had a few years before the Authority found out about their treachery. By that time, they had already armed themselves and overthrown their overseers.

An announcement comes over the coms, ringing in every room, including Orbitar's quarters. "ETA is 10 minutes. Prepare your gear if you haven't already, we don't know what kind of forces we'll be facing." Our information was hazy at best. We were traveling to the closest jump point from our side of the galaxy, meaning we'll likely be walking into the most fortified position they have. The only consolation was that we were told we'd likely already have backup there, considering we were just Mercenaries. The Navy of the Authority was most likely already giving the fortifications a good knockdown... Or at least one could hope.

Equipping his armored suit, Orbitar holstered his las-revolver in its holster and slung his Ballistic Rifle over his shoulder. He wasn't the most experienced veteran of the crew, far from it. He had recently enlisted while their ship was visiting his world, and his father did his part to convince him that there was nothing to be gained from staying on it. He was likely right, given that without combat experience, it was unlikely anyone would ever pay him a considerable wage in the future.

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The vacuum of space sucked out all sound in the expanse, leaving us with only the sounds of our jumbling warship to tell us how utterly screwed we were. The Naval Fleet of the Authority had encountered heavy defenses and were already in the process of destroying the orbiting star fortress for the past several days. Our arrival forced the rebel forces to launch an offensive against our forces before we were able to establish a firmer foothold. It would be a few hours before I, or any of my other infantrymen, were deployed into battle. We'd first need to wait on our Navy to take care of our entrance and secure a safe drop point.

Several Hours Later

It took longer than expected, but we managed to punch through their defenses. After receiving our orders from the SSA Fleet, it was clear we'd be the first to launch our ground invasion. There was little incentive for them to utilize their Marines when they had perfectly capable, expendable mercenaries to throw at the problem. So, for the measly pay he was offered, Orbitar loaded into a jumppod. Specially designed to break through orbit and withstand common arms fire both in-air and on the ground. The rest of his squad was loaded up, he was the last to pile into his craft.

After giving the thumbs up to his Squad Leader, he pressed a button that launched all their pods together. They were ejected above the planet, floating downwards from space as glass that allowed him to peak into the outside showed very little besides emptiness. The illumination of the distant stars was dulled by the cover that prevented the brightness from the nearby sun from blinding him. He couldn't see downwards, there was no turning on the jumppod. The only window was directly in front of him.

Orbitar's planet had been dusty, a bowl of industrial filth that had destroyed their atmosphere which in turn had made its color orange. This planet seemed to have a purplish atmosphere, wisps of lavender rushed by as we entered. It seemed as if we'd have a good entry point, our communications systems were still working, and the trackers that kept us in place were still functioning properly. With our current estimates, we'd link up with the rest of the Jump-Force and be able to assault the primary compound to which we were assigned too.

Just as Orbitar was thinking this, he felt the crash of an explosion. Despite their assault and destruction of their star fortress, they still had multiple defenses that would make it much more difficult for them to take the planet. It seemed Anti-Air was one of them. Immediately, his pod spun out of control and took a drastically different descent pattern. He was jostled, barely able to read any of the sensors that were still working. Before his location tracker shut off, he could see the rest of his teammates being shot off in a completely different direction. When he landed, he'd be on his own.

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It was only a few thousand more feet before he hit the ground. Orbitar was trying not to panic, it was only his third operation and he was separated from the rest of the soldiers. From what he could tell on the scattered remains of the map display, he was going to be dropping far into enemy territory. Somewhere around the point of 3 miles behind enemy lines, cut off from help until the force of Mercenaries took the compound. He would have to wait till after they took the compound. Or, even worse, longer if they failed and had to wait for assistance.

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Waking from unconsciousness, sweat dripped down Orbitar's face. His hands shook as they jolted to grab onto his belt, undoing it so he could be free from the grasp of the pod. He had gone unconscious before or due to the landing, he couldn't tell. After taking a second to breathe calmly, he wrenched the rifle from its magnetic case that held it. Pressing a button to his left, the pod door exploded off its hinges and allowed him to crawl from it.

The barrel of his rifle was the first thing to emerge. Completing a sweep of his surroundings, Orbitar took a moment to look around and try to come to terms with his situation. This place was far more alien than he'd anticipated. The purple skies above him made it look like a world imbued with magic. The trees he was surrounded by looked nothing like the ones seen in some other luxury worlds, which is what this was formerly supposed to be. The oxygen seemed rich here, from what his sensors told him. He removed his helmet, it was cramping his mobility and not allowing for as much field of vision.

From what he could tell, there were no outposts near him. It gave him relief, but it was just as likely that they were still sending someone out to kill him. Gathering his only equipment, his rucksack, he set off into the forest. Unable to keep track of his true location due to the malfunctioning GPS that refused to tell him where he was. He could only hope the estimated drop location he'd gotten when he was hit in the air was accurate.

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The next few hours encompassed him attempting to find any sign of life, good or bad. It'd help tell him which way he needed to go, but so far he had been unable to drudge anything up. The most he'd been able to spot was the occasional bombings from friendly and enemy aircraft that traveled above him. Unfortunately, they were poor indicators on which to follow. It was starting to get darker, turning the forest into a patch of shadowy darkness slowly over time. Orbitar had some training and a little experience, but it was extremely tough for him not to panic. If he was to be found by the enemy, it was expected he would be tortured for information and then killed when they realized how useless he was.

In the dusk of his remaining time, he decided to settle down and make camp. Approximately 15 miles had been crossed by him over the last 6-7 hours, making him extremely tired. Orbitar was mentally exhausted, powerless against the current situation at hand. The area he had landed in was harsh, it seemed. The unforgiving landscape soon became near-wintry levels of chill. It was inadvisable in his current situation, but he had no other choice besides building a campfire. Luckily, there was plenty of firewood in his general vicinity thanks to the forest.

Utilizing his new fire, he started to heat and then eat the MREs he had on hand. Enough to last him for a week, he tried to stay optimistic about his chances of finding his allies. Realistically, however, they didn't have nearly enough force to take the compound. They would attempt an assault, fail, fall back, and wait for reinforcements. It was unlikely he would make it through this, but the reality was far from what he wanted to think about. Setting up a makeshift tent, he laid down in it beside his fire. Clutching his rifle with a fierce grip, he slowly laid down and took his slumber. Hoping tomorrow will be a better day.

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The first thing Orbitar felt when he was jostled awake was the cold barrel of a pistol pushed against his skull. His eyes gradually opened, looking up as the shiny sun flashed beams of light that made it difficult for him to see anything.

"Wake up." He heard someone say, as he slowly came to realize how fucked he was. "Wha-?" He tried to say before the barrel pressed harder against his skull. "Shhhhh. No talking." The feminine voice informed him. His lips were sealed shut very quickly, not wanting to anger his captor as the light adjusted around her. Correct in guessing her gender, it did indeed seem to be a female. She was crouched above him, on the balls of her feet. She had armor on, a black suit that conformed to her body and added some heft. It was reinforced by armor plating on her front and assumedly her back.

"Wouldn't happen to be in the Authority's Military, would you?" She asked with a smile. Her voice was modulated slightly through the helmet she wore. Inside the visor, he could see the frazzled orange hair she contended with daily. He didn't know if he was allowed to speak so instead of answering verbally, he shook his head. "No?" She asked, taking the rifle she had ripped from him in his sleep and holding it up for him to see. "These aren't Sol System Authority weapons?" Her piercing green eyes fluttered down through the visor and looked at his armor. "This armor isn't coming from the pockets of some big scary government, hmm?" She was teasing him at this point. In her mind, she had just caught a jackpot of a gift. Some lone soldier from the SSA that had been ejected from his flight path.

Orbitar shook his head again, looking down as she pointed the Las-Revolver at him still. "We're Mercenaries..." He mumbled, hoping she wouldn't shoot him for talking. Instead, she smirked. Then she began giggling, shaking her head as she stood back up and looked to the sky. It was seemingly random, but she soon told him what she was thinking. "You're Mercenaries?! HAH!" She laughed in his face, lowering her weapon to her hip but still aiming it at him. "They think we're so unorganized and lacking in firepower that they could take us out with Mercenaries?" Her eyes grew with hatred, untold amounts of wrath that lay dormant until provoked. "They have another thing coming." Orbitar was just hoping she didn't plan on murdering him right away.

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Orbitar had been forced to put on handcuffs, his captor sitting on the other side of his fire after reigniting it. He knew there was no escape. Especially after he was securely bound, unable to perform any kind of action movie stunt which would secure him a weapon. She had stripped him of anything useful. The Ballistic Rifle, his Las-Revolver, even the armor suit that protected him. Unfortunately for him, all he had left was his overalls.

"Might as well have stripped me naked," Orbitar whined, feeling as nude as if he had no clothes on. He was used to having equipment and combat materials. Without them he couldn't feel comfortable. "Maybe I will if you don't shut it." She snapped back, looking through the kit he had on him. His backpack had quite a bit of useful hardware she wouldn't otherwise have access to. She pulled out the damaged GPS and looked over it for a few seconds, examining the outer portions of its dented chassis.

With a raised eyebrow, she asked a simple question; "They didn't teach you to repair these things?" It confused Orbitar, of course, they hadn't taught him such a thing. He was far more expendable than she gave him credit for. "Hah. What do I look like, an engineer? It'd take some specialist to fix that thing." He claimed. The girl, whom he still did not know the name of, pressed her lips into a fine line of determination. Within a few seconds, she had popped off the cover with a knife and was taking a look at the wiring within the device. The only thing that seemed to be dislodged was a singular portion of a connector, to which she promptly returned the connection.

After pushing the pieces back together, she turned the GPS towards him and pressed a button. It displayed their current location, now about 20 more miles away from his estimated drop location. He had gone in the wrong direction, unfortunately, far behind enemy lines. There would be no rescue attempt performed to save his life, even if he was far closer. It was almost relieving, he breathed out a sigh of desperation. He had been holding out hope- and it had been dashed away within seconds. She noticed this and smirked, turning the GPS to look at it while her hand planted itself on her hip.

"Too bad, as well. Looks like if you went the right direction, you might've been able to make it." She laughs, giving him a pouty smile before tossing the thing in the air and quick-drawing her Las-Revolver. Shooting it out of the air, it crumbled to the ground in two pieces. Forever destroyed. Even before the GPS was destroyed, the will to fight was gone from him. He was just wondering why she hadn't brought him back to the base yet. "Why aren't I being interrogated? Or... Tortured, or murdered?" He asked after only a few seconds of hesitation.

She almost seemed to recoil back at such a question, staring at him with seriously questioning eyes. There was some kind of fiery annoyance in her green pearls, shiny as they were. "First of all, it wouldn't be murder. This is war. You came here to conquer, we came to defend." She laid it out how it was. There was no bullshit here. "Second, be happy you're still out here and not back at the outpost. You most certainly will be interrogated, and most likely, tortured. If we don't get what we want out of you, that is."

Well, it wasn't exactly any kind of relief. But at least he knew she would eventually be taking him back to base. There was some kind of reassurance in knowing that he would eventually, in the end, be taken to his fate. "However," She continued; "That is not certainly possible. I was rerouted from my Reconnaissance mission to capture you. With you, it'll take a few days to get back to base." She eyed him up and down through narrow slits, pushing her hip out and booping him on the nose as she bent down. "Can't have you escaping!" She giggled, frolicking around the fire and settling down. "Also, it's only a few hours till nighttime. We're going to start our hike in the morning."

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The sun had set a few hours ago and the fire was burning brighter than it had the night before- when it was just Orbitar tending to it. The girl who had single-handedly captured him sat across from him as he was tied up. He had learned her name was Malorie, or at least that's what she told him it was. Sadly, he hadn't learned much else. It seemed he would be doomed to die in ignorance.

She had taken off all of her armor, left in only her regular clothes. They were dirty but nicely showed off her hourglass figure. The tits that got passed down to her were to die for, nicely bouncy and perky beyond belief. It was a wonder Orbitar hadn't gotten caught staring at them. Her suit had a pressurized bottom half which she had to wriggle out of after taking her top off. Excellently pronouncing her ass as she swayed it back and forth, not even knowing she was giving him the best [and only] strip tease of his entire life.

"So, merc-" She hadn't bothered to ask his name. She had already told him she didn't care about it, "-Tell me where you came from." She paused for a second before continuing her line of questioning. "I assume it's from one of their harvester galaxies, given you don't look like anything special." He threw a glare at her distasteful remark, earning a wide smirk from her as he answered the question. "No." In truth, he didn't know what a harvester galaxy was. "I'm from the Milkdromeda Galaxy. Same as the rest of my Company." He assumed. Orbitar didn't know everyone in the entire regiment, but he could safely assume they weren't making trips out to other galaxies to recruit.

No need to when you could just pluck some poor kid from a dead-end world. "I don't know the name of my homeworld. It was on the dusty outskirts of any worthwhile system that I could name. We called it 'Squash'. It was the only damned plant that would live in the world." He remembered back to the many times he toiled the fields his father 'owned'. "It was harsh, barely any water. We had to get most of it imported. I didn't know about the owners of our Solar System until I had already left it. The Authority."

He didn't care at all for the Authority if he was honest. "We don't fight for the Authority because we like it, though I didn't have much of a choice in joining them. They never came to our system, even though they laid claim to it. It wasn't worth the resources to make the trip. The others had the opportunity to join up. But they always told me if you join up with the Authority, you sometimes don't get a choice in service time." His eyes looked up as if he was imagining their words. "They'll place you on a ship, and even if you're meant to be off it at a certain time, they can't waste resources hauling you back to your planet. They'll keep you for months, or years."

It sounded like he would be done for a moment, Malorie staring at him with searching eyes before he suddenly finished his thought. "Here, though, we get much better pay. Plus, with Mercenary work, far more shady business is available to you." Shrugging, he followed up with; "Not that I cared about that. I just needed to go somewhere else, and have money in my pocket afterward."

He looked back at her, seeing the narrowed slits of her eyes inspecting him. She was trying to see if he was lying, or if he was being even the slightest bit disingenuous. Thankfully for him, he was telling nothing but the truth. Having said that, he found an opportunity at the moment to endear himself to her. "What about you?" He quickly followed up after the long moments of silence proceeding with his answer. Hearing such a question, she looked away and thought for a moment. Conflicted about if she should give over any information.

'What the hell, she thought. 'Not like he's going anywhere without me.' Swiveling back to him, she seemed prepared to talk about herself. "I come from this world. I enlisted after my parents were killed in what the Authority called a; 'Diplomatic meeting for negotiations." She scoffed, throwing her gaze to the side while she looked at an invisible force with contempt. Shaking her head, her lips pulled into a scowl. "They should've known. But they were hopeful, along with the rest of the Ambassadors." Turning back to him slowly, he could see the fire in her eyes. The need for vengeance, not freedom. "It's the wake-up call we needed to arm ourselves more efficiently. Form a proper front that would allow us to rip this Galaxy from the hands of the Authority."