《Operation: Stingray》


 Departure, Explanation, And Truth

    Report Courtesy of Dock-C Laboratories, Helania University, Computer 110-1, Model C.


    Dock Used: C


    Capital: Roklav, West Riconsilla


    Soldier: Francis Van Allsburg


    Occupation: West Point Squadron


    Space Module: Stingray


    These were the words typed into the CX12 Computer of Mila Wurshall, at a dock in West Riconsilla. Mila was a Typographer¡ªHer Job was to print out names of new inmates for the West Riconsillan Space Force (WRSF). She had no choice in this decision, as it was a drafting for all women all over this part of the Octavian Plennea. This was war.


    I think that it would do you some good to know exactly how this war came to be. About 20 years ago, by this point, Riconsilla was one nation¡ªThey had no choice, as they had racked up so much debt and so many enemies, that they simply had no other choice but to stick together.


    Around this time, another Empire began to build itself up from the ground; The Solomon Empire (At this time the Solomon¡¯s Republic.) had slowly begun industrialization of the growing market of space pods¡ªby the order of their leader, Joseph Isaiah, they began to open more and more factories; Soon, they were a powerhouse.


    It had been ten years¡ªonly ten years, but they were now entering a new phase as this powerhouse¡ªUntil, that is, Joseph died of food poisoning and his Vice President, Niko Esteron, took over.


    His first order of business was ripping up the constitution; Anyone who dared even support it would be publicly executed. He began to put his citizens to work; Life became a hellscape.


    And so, the neighboring countries and nations of The Octavian Plennea went to war with The Now-Solomon Empire.


    It ended in bloodshed.


    In the end, only the nation of Riconsilla and their allying country, The Drikshav Republic, were left to the disaster; And Drikshav was losing badly as well; Riconsilla¡¯s President, Elinor Mikan, was desperate...


    ...It was at this time that space itself opened up, and out came a slithering humanoid figurine¡ªwith noodle-like limbs and feet; It sported white robes in an angel-like fashion; It carried long, bendable swords that seemed to come out of nowhere...And its face, why, it had no face, just a spiraling whiteness to it that stood out against its blackness.


    The thing called itself IKO¡ªIt could speak English, but in a queer, white voice¡ªbland for better wording. It hinted at being boy nor girl, so there were no signs of humanity for it.Still, It promised a way to win this war to Elinor, in trade for her power...And her.


    In desperation to save the Octavian empire, she obliged.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    After this, IKO was able to beat The Solomon Empire; No one knew how, just that IKO seemed to summon the whiteness of the sky itself through to the empire''s direction; He then turned to the sky, and he grew to the size of the sky itself; he said:


    People of Riconsilla,


    You are now under the control of IKO.


    THERE WILL BE NO MORE RELIGION, NO GOD BUT ME.


    THOU SHALT BOW DOWN TO MY GREATNESS,


    OTHER GODS WOULD GIVE THOU CHOICE: I HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO GIVE YOU NO CHOICE.


    ANYONE WHO WILL NOT ABIDE THESE RULES, HERE AND NOW, WILL BE THE ENEMY. THERE WILL BE NO HOPE FOR YOU.


    When these words were uttered; The brilliantness of Space turned black; People could no longer see the light of space or the stars from their home pods; they were now under the black hand of IKO.


    After this, there were rebels who slipped past IKO¡¯s leadership; They tied their ties with the neighboring Nokalvian Empire; And with their help, they pushed back IKO¡¯s power Half; Creating West Riconsilla.


    And now, they were at war.


    This is how we got here.


    Mila whirled her chair around, toward the printer and button and away from the setup.


    click.


    In a few seconds, out came the neatly typed report; Mila took no notice of this, of course. You wouldn''t either, if this is what you did all day. Like clockwork, Mila took the paper, rolled it up, and put it in its tube. She then typed some numbers into her computer--her SCI (Suction Cup Identity) into the terminal prompt she had pulled up onto the screen. She entered it.


    ding.


    And up it went, going into the main tube system, through the different bits and bobs, and eventually flying out onto a conveyor belt, where it was inspected by General Theodore Uzyan.


    "ALLSBURG!"


    And Allsburg came forward.


    "BOARD!"


    Francis got into his Stingray; The colors of grey, its sleek shape, three windows, and jets. The gold that ran through it; Francis looked out through the mainframe window onto the galaxy before him. Soon, he would be undocked, and, led by General Theodore, he would follow suite and fight other ships in different parts of this galaxy; He would leave the comfort of his city, his home unit, and go off into the universe--Fighting the Dynastic Space Force of Riconsilla. Francis knew the history; On the other side of this world, there was a hell worse than the real thing. They were fighting IKO.


    Suddenly, the voice of General Theodore came into Francis¡¯s Speakers.


    ¡°TROOPS!¡±


    ¡°YES, SIR!¡± Came the Reply¡ªOne of 45 Other soldiers ready for their squadron.


    ¡°WE ARE ABOUT TO LEAVE, CORRECT!¡±


    ¡°YES, SIR!¡±


    ¡°TURN ON YOUR MAGNETS!¡±


    ¡°YES, SIR!¡±


    The magnets were so all of the other Stingrays could trail the General in autopilot with ease; And so, with their clothes and hearts, the Squadron departed from Dock-C; A mainframe ship, gold and red, making the entire squadron flee before it; And a sea of Stingrays, guns at the ready, creating a school of fish like none other seen before. They were well and truly off to fight for the liberty of Riconsilla¡ªa liberty that a good chunk of them would carry to an orbiting grave...

 Prophecy

    And so went squadron five, leaving the dock and its people behind; All Francis could do was look forward and around him at the other stingrays, all being pulled by General Theodore¡¯s titanic vessel.


    Within moments, the intercom made its statement, and Theodore¡¯s voice became a flood over Francis¡¯s vessel:


    ¡°SQUADRON FIVE,


    WE ARE TO BEGIN ENGAGEMENT 12/25. I RECCOMEND SLEEP, OF COURSE; TOMORROW WILL BE A BIG DAY.¡±


    Engagement 12 was one of the less painful of the engagements; This was where the magnetic force of the main vessel was turned on, which contrasted the main materials, and had enough pull for General Theodore to be able to control his entire squadron.


    The /25 was in reference to the subgenre of Engagement 12; This is where the soldiers were recommended to sleep in their stingrays (How will be explained in just a moment), leaving their ships, honor, and lives to the general, who would still lead the ship forward.


    And so, Francis, knowing just as well as any of the other soldiers of squadron five that they would be fighting the dynasty in a few hours, opened up his control panel, Accepted the generals wire systems to link up magnetically to his, and opened the plastic door to the sleeping cot at the back of the ship.


    Despite all of these advancements in the stingray, sleeping quarters had been cut down to cots and a small window, a coffee maker, and a microwave. (This was used for soldiers to warm up cold meals that were stored in a fridge at the back of the ship) (Compared to the Dynastic¡¯s sleeping quarters, which were much more comfortable; This was designed to give the soldiers more propaganda that IKO was taking care of them better than any other region would.)


    And so, Francis could still hear the engines running as he climbed into the sheetless cot and simply slept¡ªHis mind simply would not stay awake, yet it would go ahead of itself and wake up to the slightest crack in case of an ambush attack.) If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Francis would awake to just this,


    ***


    The soft sound of static began to overcome the ears of Francis¡ªActually, no, it wasn¡¯t soft in the slightest; It was loud and upset, maybe unforgiving.


    Francis knew the drill of what was to happen; He woke up and made a run for the control panel like a madman; He practically completely broke his own separators trying to fly on the controls; And it wasn¡¯t until the shock ran out that he realized two things:


    Wouldn¡¯t there have been some kind of announcement if there was a problem? Wouldn¡¯t General come on the loudspeaker or something like that?


    Second of all...where the fuck is everyone else?


    It hadn¡¯t taken a detective to notice that Francis was no longer surrounded by fellow soldiers, out to get one common enemy; For he was floating endlessly in a loop around a random part of Riconsilla...No, he had no idea where he was, and it seemed that the built-in Navigation had been busted in some kind of Collison free-fall; Actually, that was the third thing he noticed¡ªwhat had happened to his ship.


    While the stingrays had been designed to withstand most collision, it had still taken some type of damage; Francis could see that on the check-up cameras.


    Frantic, he pulled up an RHD(Replayable Hologram Device) and started skimming through the recording.


    What could have happened? Why am I in the middle of space with no clear path of where anyone else¡ª


    There.


    At around 4:00 A.M. A bullet of some sorts flew across the hologram; Enabling free-look, Francis watched in horror as a bullet hit the General¡¯s Vessel.


    And another.


    And another.


    And another.


    And soon, the Generals ship Started to fly in circles; It seemed¡ªHe could see¡ªthat the general had no time to disable magnetic force; Within moments, the generals ship was down.


    And the magnetic pull made Squadron-5 go down with it.


    In a frantic pull, the hologram displayed as the pull was disconnected; Stingrays rammed each other like cars in a pile up; One started to smoke; Another exploded.


    The Holo went black.


    Then, a fire opened into Francis¡¯s feet¡ªhe looked up; There it stood.


    There was smoke. The stingray went upside down. Franc is heard a scream.


    Even as he was blacking out, he could still hear that screaming.


    ***


    ¡°WAKE UP, I SAID! GET OFF YOUR ARSE, SOLDIER 27!¡±


    Francis¡¯s number.


    Francis woke up to the sound of General Theodore¡¯s swearing and barking; No surprise there; Francis had overslept.


    Francis jolted awake, picked up the receiver; But he stopped himself. What would he say? He had to keep a stiff upper lip. Just the thought of what the general would think about complaints of a nightmare made Francis blush with embarrassment...