29

29

Spencer stood with Jensen at the shipyard and just watched the mass amounts of Adican, Rapirian, and Corinian, soldiers of The Silver Company boarded all kinds of ships and prepared to travel to the Corinian planet where, hopefully, they would strike their first blow against the Adican Empire.

"Lots of soldiers, lots of guns."  Jensen said.  "Lots of ways to take down the empress."

"It does seem like a lot of people."  Spencer remarked as he looked around.  "Hopefully it'll be enough."

"Enough?"  Jensen said with a smile,  "I think it will definitely be more than enough."

"You're forgetting the Adican's military strength."  Spencer said to Jensen.  "Remember how many ships and soldiers they had back when we were prisoners."

"You're right."  Jensen said.  "But I think this army can still whip the Adican's butts."

Spencer laughed as they both climbed into small fighter ships, similar to the ones they had used in the simulation.  Inside it was dark.  This was primarily due to the fact that the fighters had been mounted to the hulls of Battleships, Cruisers, and Dreadnaughts.  The small fighters lacked the capability to make the jump to hyperspace, so the larger ships carried the fighters with them in the jump to hyperspace.

Spencer let out a deep breath.  Their whole armada of ships, fully loaded with soldiers, was about to set off to accomplish what they had been working towards for so long.  The engines of the battleship Spencer's fighter was mounted on roared to life and Spencer thought.  This is the day, the day we finally begin to tear down the Adican.

Spencer's head was thrown to the back of his seat as the battleship began to propel itself off the ground and accelerate into the air, through the atmosphere, and into Space.  The force of the ship lasted for about a minute, as far as Spencer could tell, then there was the calmness that came with antigravity.  He looked out the window of the cockpit and was amazed to see all the ships orbiting the planet alongside their own.  A few minutes passed and Spencer watched as, one by one, the ships made the jump to hyperspace, and their target planet.  Finally it was their turn and the ship slowly powered up, and then shot forward as it made the jump.

.            .            .

An Adican sat in a chair on a small space station located above the smallest of the Corinian planets.  She was sitting peacefully, looking at the stars when he was interrupted.

"Ma'am"  Another Adican said nervously to her.  "Our scanners are indicating a large jump to this planet."

"Impossible,"  She said,  "Who would want to come here?"

The other Adican gasped and pointed behind her.

"What is it-" she said as she turned around and gasped.  A large number of Black, Green, and White ships had just exited hyperjump near them.  "Oh my,  Dispatch all available forces and send to nearest planet for reinforcements."

"Yes ma'am" the Adican said as he scurried away.  She had a suspecting feeling that, whoever these people were, they were here to win.

.             .             .

Spencer lurched forward as the battleship exited hyperspace.  He looked around to see a grey planet to his left, very similar to the one Rojan had shown them back home.  There was also a space station very close, which began flashing bright red lights as soon as they had entered the vicinity. Almost as if the Adican were ready to fight to the end.

"You're good to go."  He heard Helena say through his mic.

Spencer detached from the battleship and powered on his engines.  Spencer then switched to his squads channel,  which consisted of Jensen, Grace, and Lily.

"What exactly are we doing?"  Lily asked.

"There doesn't seem to be much, let alone any, resistance."

"Stay in formation."  Spencer said.  "They'll be here."

As if on cue, from the horizon emerged two Adican dreadnaughts, and from each, emerged a squadron of Adican fighters.

"Here we go,"  Grace said.

They banked left trying to flank the squadrons but a few fighters saw them and pulled out after them.

Using a trick they had practiced in the simulation,  Spencer fired his rotational thrusters, spinning him backwards so he was facing the Adican ships, but still moving in the same direction he had been moving.  His friends followed his lead and this caught

the Adican pilots off guard.  They all fired their guns lighting up the Adican fighters before they had time to react.

"Nice!"  Jensen shouted as they flew away from the recently destroyed Adican ships.

"Spencer!"  Helena shouted from the battleship.  "We're nearing the planet and preparing for descent to the surface.  Keep near the battleship until we go under, and keep those things off of us!"

"Yes ma'am!"  Spencer shouted as his group banked right, behind the battleship where they saw a few Adican fighters.

"Open fire!"  Spence commanded their squadron and they began firing on the fighters shooting the battleship.

They destroyed two of the ships, when another fighter pulled up behind Spencer and began firing.  He swerved left just in time to see a blue laser fly past the spot he just was.  Spencer began to desperately try to shake the fighter off.

"Look out!"  Jensen shouted to Spencer as the Adican fighter began firing towards him again.

"I can't get him off me!"  Spencer shouted back as he desperately maneuvered his ship out of enemy fire.

Spencer looked out the cockpit and, directly in front of him, he could see the flashing red lights of the small space station.  He eyed the building quickly and realized that the center of it was round like a cylinder, Spencer formulated a plan.  He flew directly towards the space station, with the Adican pilot closely following him, and began flying in circles around the center, cylindric part, of the station.  The Adican fighter followed him as he circled, trying to get a killing shot on Spencer's ship.  As he flew around and around the station he began to close the gap between his ship and the station.  He was 10 feet from the station, 5, 1, mere inches separate Spencer and the Adican from the station.  Spencer closed the gap a little more, and then…  Spencer could see something orange in his peripheral vision and turned around to see the Adican's ship had gotten, 'a little too close to the space station,' you could say.  Spencer watched and smiled as the explosion dissipated and debris from the ship and the station floated outward.

He was so mesmerized by the explosion he didn't move out of the way of a small metal piece of debris, which hit his ship, damaging one of the two engines, and putting a small crack in his windshield.  If he were in a car Spencer wouldn't have cared about a small crack in his windshield, but he was in space, and his life support systems began basically screaming at him that he was losing oxygen and cabin pressure.

Spencer wasted no more time before contacting Helena,  "I've got a cracked windshield.  I can't stay out here much longer."

"Get to the battleship."  Helena said.  "We're about to enter the atmosphere and descend to the planet.  We could use a good soldier like you down on the ground anyway."

"Roger that,"  Spencer said as he fired up his remaining engine and headed towards the large battleship as fast as he could.

Spencer pulled up to the battleship and latched his fighter to the bottom of the ship.

"I'm in."  Spencer said. "Good to go."

"Alright,"  Helena responded as the ship began heating up as it ripped through the atmosphere.

Spencer watched as the stars slowly disappeared and was replaced by a beautiful silver landscape.  It was similar to the Earth's moon, but there was something about it that made it seem more pretty and exotic.  All this was washed away though when Spencer laid eyes on a built up yellow landscape, which he knew, could only mean one thing.  There was an Adican city there.

The ship was falling fast, and when they were near the ground, thrusters fired from the bottom of the ship to slow it down.  Eventually the ship touched down just outside the Adican city.

Spencer exited his fighter, which he had arrived in, and joined the large group of soldiers gathered near the ship.  Every soldier saluted him as he passed.  He was handed an Adican rifle by Helena.

"Here we are,"  Helena said lightly,  "The Adican capital of this planet.  Let's go kick-"  she was cut off by a voice that came from the cities wall.

"You shall never enter this city."  An Adican soldier said, with a small army of Adican behind him. However, Spencer thought he didn't look as experienced as soldiers he had met in the capitol, or soldiers like, Rilfor.  "We will defeat you, and you shall never breach these walls!"

"Oh yeah?"  Helena said as she walked into the ship and typed some commands into a computer.  She walked out smiling as a large gun on the ship turned towards the Adican wall and fired a large red laser which literally burned a hole through the Adican wall.

The Adican soldiers were quite surprised by this, as you can imagine, considering their leader just said they would never penetrate the wall.  The Silver Company's soldiers charged through the large hole in the Adican wall catching them off guard.  Many of the soldiers near the wall were shot and in some cases, trampled by the Silver Company's forces.  A few Adican managed to get one or two shots off, dropping a few soldiers, but most ran inward to regroup with other Adican forces deeper in the city.

"What's the plan?"  Spencer asked Helena.

"Basically,"  Helena said.  "Kill all hostile military forces in the area and take control of the city.  Once we control the capital, we basically have control of the planet.  From there it should be quite simple to liberate the planet."  She looked towards the city center. "And from the looks of the Adican military on this planet.  This won't be anywhere near our hardest battle to come."

"Well okay then,"  Spencer said with a grin,  "Let's go take this city."

Spencer and Helena fought with the army of The Silver Company, through the yellow stone roads and buildings the city had. Lasers flying in all directions killing both Adican and Silver Company soldiers.  Foot by foot, the army pushed its way towards the center of the city.

After hours of fighting, The Silver Company had eliminated all hostile Adican forces and arrived at the center of town and surrounded the central building.

"What's inside that thing?"  Spencer asked Helena, pointing towards the building.

"The, I guess you could say emperor of the planet."  Helena answered,  "I'd be willing to bet there are also a bunch of well armed, well trained soldiers protecting him."

"How do you suppose we get inside?"  Asked Spencer.

"I'm thinking,"  Said Helena to Spencer.  "All entrances will be heavily guarded, we'll need to do something their not thinking of."

"How about cutting open one of the walls?"  Spencer asked Helena as he observed the building.

"Too noticeable."  Helena said.  "The walls of the building are blast resistant and cutting through would be a lengthy process.  They would notice what we were doing well before we actually cut through."

"Then we go under."  Spencer stated.

"Excuse me,"  Helena said with a tone that let Spencer know she thought he was crazy,  "What?"

"Think about it,"  Spencer said.  "They wouldn't notice us coming.  The ground surely isn't reinforced is it?"

"You're right."  Helena said slowly,  "It's not."

"Exactly,"  Spencer said excitedly,  "We could come up from underground, inside, with a small force.  Maybe just you and I."

Helena was silent for a second before nodding,  "You're right.  That would work, but I will coordinate the digging.  We want to come up behind the cover of a staircase, not out in the open."

"Sounds fair enough."  Said Spencer.

The hole was started immediately, a few soldiers quickly dug a small hole, as directed by Helena, to a specific location in the building.

"I think this is it,"  Helena said after a few more minutes of digging.

"I sure hope you're right."  Spencer said as he let out a deep breath,  "Any idea what to expect on the other side?"

"Hopefully,"  Helena said,  "We come up behind a flight of stairs unseen.  If I remember correctly we should be in a fairly small room guarded by only four or five soldiers."

"How do we deal with them?"  Spencer asked Helena.

"Quietly,"  Helena replied.  "Sneak up behind them with your knife, and when your close, lunge forward, cover their mouths with one hand, and slit their throat with the other."  She looked Spencer up and down.  "You may have to swing yourself up onto the guards, you may not be able to stab them anywhere near the neck or head if you don't."

"Okay,"  Spencer said.  "I think I got it.  Let's go."

Spencer watched as Helena cut a circle, large enough for herself and Spencer directly above them.  She then slowly lifted up the circle and quietly placed it down next to the opening.  Spencer then pulled himself up as quietly as he could and looked around.  As Helena had expected they were behind a yellow staircase in a small room.  Helena pulled herself up after Spencer and Spencer could faintly hear the soft tapping of her metal legs on the ground.  Spencer peered around the staircase to see four Adican guards facing away from them.  They were guarding two doors.  Two guards were near the left door and the other two on the right.  Helena held up two metallic fingers and then pointed left.  She wanted Spencer to take the two guards on the left.

Spencer moved out from the left side of the staircase slowly, in sync with Helena.  He pulled out his knife as he crept towards the guard nearest to him.

He watched as Helena, with a certain grace, swiftly crept up to her first target and grabbed him as she slit his throat.  The guard went limp and Helena quietly set him on the ground, blood pouring out of his throat.

Spencer went up to his guard and managed to quietly leap onto the guard and cover the guards mouth.  Before the guard could react though, Spencer buried his knife in the back of the guards skull killing him. Blood oozed out of the hole in the guards head, Spencer had quietly managed to kill the guard, but he was now on the back of the guard and couldn't really set him down quietly.  Spencer managed to jump off the guard as the guards body crashed to the floor, a 'little' more loudly than Spencer would've liked.

"What the hell,"  The two remaining guards said as they turned around to see Spencer standing behind them.

The guards opened fire and Spencer barely managed to dive to cover behind the dead guards body.  Suddenly the shooting stopped and Spencer heard two bodies fall to the floor.

Helena ran towards Spencer,  "Come on!  I'm sure most of the guards in the building heard that fire fight."

Spencer pulled out his sidearm as he ran behind Helena up the stair well.  "Where are we going?"  He asked.

"No time to explain now."  Helena answered as she threw open a door and buried her knife into a guard eye and threw him down the stairwell.

Spencer and Helena ran through the building for a few minutes, dodging lasers, and killing Adican.  Eventually they came to a large door guarded by two Adican who Spencer and Helena quickly dropped.  Helena broke down the door to enter a large chamber with several Adican in it guarding what looked like an older Adican.

The guards opened fire and Helena and Spencer ran behind a row of chairs.  Between hails of bullets, Spencer and Helena formulated a plan.

Spencer slowly crept through rows of chairs in the Chamber while Helena continued to trade shots with the many Adican guards.  He was eventually behind the majority of the guards and only two guards stood between him and the older Adican who Helena had told him was the planet's president although he still served under the Adican empress.  He stood up and dropped the two guards between him and the planet's president.  Fortunately for Spencer, due to the firefight going on between Helena and the other guards no one noticed him. He had to admire Helena's courage, fighting all those Adican single handed.  He tapped the president's back which made him turn around, surprised to see Spencer holding a gun towards his face with a finger over his lips.  The President noticed the finger over Spencer's mouth and remained silent although he looked scared.  Spencer motioned for the President to walk towards him.  After about walking fifty feet Spencer told him to turn around, and Spencer who was directly behind him held his gun to the President's head.

Spencer began shouting until everyone stopped shooting.  "Drop your weapons or I'll kill him!"

The Adican guards turned around weapons raised, ready to kill Spencer, but hesitated when they saw the gun pointed to the President's head.

"I said drop your weapons!"  Spencer shouted again.

The guards slowly set their guns down and raised their hands.  A second later many guards, from the rest of the building entered and when they saw Spencer and the other guards with their weapons on the ground they did the same.

"Is this all of you?"  Spencer asked Authoritatively.

One Adican stepped forward,  "I believe so."

"Good,"  Spencer said,  "Helena, let the soldiers know it is safe to enter the building."

Helena spoke those words into a walkie-talkie and soon about one hundred soldiers of the Silver Company entered the chamber and lead the Adican guards outside.  Now just Spencer, Helena, and the Adican President remained in the chamber.

"What do we do with this guy?"  Spencer asked Helena waving his gun at the President, not really caring whether he lives or dies.  "Kill him?"

"Not until we get the cameras ready."  Helena replied to Spencer smiling.

"Hold up,"  Spencer said, an eyebrow raised.  "What do you mean cameras?"

"Well you didn't think you were just gonna kill him did you?"  Helena replied.  "We'll broadcast the execution all over the planet and then a speech will be given talking about the Silver Company and now is the time to rebel and defeat the Empress."

"Who will be doing that?"  Spencer asked.

"Well you of course,"  Helena said.  "You're the leader of this company.  Throughout your speech we'll also have live footage of firing squads killing the Adican guards we rounded up."

"Is that really necessary?"  Spencer asked.

"You want to kill the empress don't you?"  Helena asked and Spencer couldn't really argue with her on that point, although he didn't want to murder the Planet's President on video...

The Adican President remained silent, too scared to speak, to scared to act out, throughout this entire conversation as they waited for Helena to set up the cameras.  Helena moved Spencer across the room where he stood facing a camera at an angle.

"On your knees," Helena said calmly to the Adican President.

"I-I'm sorry, what?" The president asked, barely muttering the words.

"I said on your knees a*****e!" Helena shouted as she kicked the old Adican hard in the side, sending him flying across the floor before dragging him back across the room and leaving him on his knees a few yards away from Spencer.

"Well that's one way to do it." Spencer said with a smirk as he looked the frightened president straight in the eyes.

"Okay,"  Helena said,  "Cameras rolling, broadcasting on all frequencies.  Let's go Spencer, I don't know how long we have before the Empress realizes what we're doing and shuts down Corinian frequency channels. Oh, wipe the blood off his face, there will be plenty after you blow his brains out." The president looked very frightened now.

Spencer ripped a piece of cloth off a dead guards body and smiled at the president as he wiped the blood off his face, making it visible to anyone watching. Spencer began speaking, his voice seemed especially commanding with the echo of the chamber.  "Down with the Adican!  Today is the beginning of a bright future for you all."  Spencer walked a few feet towards the President.  "Here is your planet's President, always unfairly punishing you, simply for seeing the flaws in the Adican regime.  Well I say down with the President!"  Spencer walked up to the President, put his gun to his head and fired the gun without a thought. He certainly didn't care for the oppressive man's life.  The President collapsed immediately and lay dead on the ground.  "The Adican think they can control you, control us.  You and me both know this isn't true.  My name is Spencer Giphero of The Silver Company.  Join us, this war is just getting started and with your help, we can defeat the empress and give this empire to whom it belongs to.  The People!  I know you feel the same, are you going to stand idly by as the Adican slaughter and torture more of your people?  Come to the capital, for the capital now belongs to you, to me, to us.  We will be departing in a week so come quickly to join The Silver Company!"

Helena turned off the video feed.  "Good job,"  She said to Spencer,  "You did better than I thought you would. I didn't think you'd kill him so easily"

"Well, thanks?"  Spencer said unsure whether Helena was insulting or complimenting him.

"Let's go set up camp."  Helena said quickly.  "We're going to be here for a week as you stated in your speech.  We should check the progress of the two other planets too."  Helena looked upward.  "God, I hope they succeed."

Spencer followed Helena through the many hallways and rooms contained within the building until they finally reached a set of doors leading outside.

"Hopefully everything is orderly out there."  Helena said softly to Spencer as she slowly pushed open the door to the outside.

When Spencer stepped outside, it was the smell that really hit him.  Lying all around the building were blindfolded Adican bodies their soldiers must have executed on camera for part of Spencer's speech.

"My god that smell is awful,"  Helena said, her nose crinkled in disgust.  "Let's move quickly."

Helena guided Spencer down, through the city, until they arrived at the battleship where most of their soldiers remained.

Helena stood up on a crate near the ship and began to speak. "Alright everyone listen up.  You all did a fantastic job with this city.  We will remain for another week so eat drink in good health!"  The soldiers cheered.  "One more thing, as far as sleeping goes, some of you will remain in the ship, but the majority of you pick a room anywhere in the city, and just report back here at seven o'clock each morning the rest of the week.  Dismissed."

The soldiers cheered again and dispersed into the city as Helena motioned for Spencer to follow her into the battleship.  He followed her into the cockpit where she pulled up the three planets the silver company were invading up on the screen.

"Hmm,"  Helena said.  "It looks like we're the first ones to capture the capitol." She pointed to their planet which was blue, while the other two were red meaning they were still in Adican control. "Wait,"  Another planet turned blue,  "Looks like they also just captured the capital and killed the President.  I'm worried about what's taking group three so long."

"Will the other ships be coming down here soon?"  Spencer asked thinking of Grace.

"I'm not sure,"  Helena said.  "It shouldn't be too much longer though.  There couldn't be that many Adican ships still flying up there."

There was a moment of silence and then an incoming transmission flashed on the screen.

"It's from Grace!"  Spencer said relieved as he pushed the accept button, and her face flashed up on the screen.  It looked to Spencer like she was still in her fighter.

"Spencer you're alive!"  Grace shouted.

"So are you!"  Spencer shouted back.

"Listen, Spencer,"  Grace began.  "We defeated the Adican up here and it looks like you did down there, but we found out group three is having some trouble.  We're on Kat's dreadnaught headed to the third groups planet to provide support."

"Okay,"  Spencer said a little disappointed.  "Be careful."

"Same goes for you!"  Grace said,  "I gotta go, we're powering up. Bye!"  The screen went black before Spence could reply.

"Well now that your little love fest is over,"  Helena said.  "Do you want to grab something to eat?  Liberating planets makes me surprisingly hungry."

Spencer felt his own stomach growl and laughed.  He hadn't realized how hungry he was.  "Yes,  Let's go,  I'm starving."

Spencer and Helena walked out of the ship towards the large area where the soldiers had set up most of the ship's food.  They each grabbed a bowl of what looked like chile and Spencer decided it tasted good enough.  They sat down at a fold up table and began to eat in relative silence.  By the time they finished, it was getting late.  Spencer watched as the bright orange sun slowly sank below the horizon and yawned.

"Tired?"  Helena asked Spencer.

Spencer nodded his head groggily "Yeah,  I think I'm gonna be going to sleep early today."

"Well I'd say that you definitely deserve it."  Helena said to Spencer.  "I think I'll be going to sleep soon as well.  Just go find somewhere in the city."

"Thanks,"  Spencer said to Helena as he walked away, into the city.

Spencer roamed the streets for a little while before entering a building he thought looked like a hotel.  He opened the door to the main entrance and stepped into a lobby.  He went down a hallway and opened a door on his right which, thankfully, led him into a room that looked like a hotel room, confirming his thoughts.  It was a small room with a bathroom, sink, and a large bed, fit for an Adican.

Spencer had just lay down and closed his eyes when he heard someone open his door.  He opened his eyes and sat up, trying to focus on who had entered his room.  Spencer realized it was an Adican, armed and didn't look friendly.  It was advancing towards Spencer and he tried to grab his gun but he wasn't quick enough.

"You're coming with us,"  Spencer heard the Adican say just before he was hit in the back of the head and blacked out.