Endless Days

A Story by Noobwriter

A young captain tries and make his mark, and make a difference.

Chapter 1

My mom always said you have your place in this world, you just have to find it. Back then I could care less, a kid in 2030 couldn't care less about what's around him. I’m now 23 and have a low paying job in a restaurant as a waiter. My names Henry Carbonian but people call me Carbon. I live in the Federation, a free country built on rights and morals. Also one of the biggest nation on this planet, called Zel. There's a problem with this planet, half of it is a deserted wasteland. Meaning there is never enough resources or land to go around. Something I didn't know at the time was the events that followed were going to change my life forever.

“WAKE UP!!!” said my mom "YOU'RE GOING TO BE LATE, AND YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU’RE LATE A THIRD TIME!”

Being late for a third time lands you in the unemployment line in this restaurant. I got my job back once because i begged, but that's beside the point. As I scramble to get ready my mom starts talking about when I will get a life and leave the house.

“So honey when are you going to get out of my hair for good, I’m getting old you know.”

“We’ve gone over this mom” I say in a half awake, half annoyed at the fact she's going over this again. “I’m going into the military, but there's no openings now.”

It's always been a dream of mine to be part of the Rhino squad, a group of elite soldiers that is said to be the best in the world.

“Well, take a look at this.” she grabs her tablet to show me the news.

It reads : "Zilean’s and Confederate of Electronics (CoE) new alliance, could this mean another war?"

The Zilean’s, the scum of this planet, look like giant bugs that mutated. And the CoE are robots, human-like but metallic and built to kill. The creator of these death bots was a well-known scientist in the Federation. But he went crazy, built these death-bots and tried to take over the country.

“You should talk to uncle Tom about it.”

He's not actually anybodies uncle, but is friends with pretty much everyone in the town.

“I’ll call in sick for today, and go see him this might be my chance.” I say.

So I head down to his house, this might get me fired, but this might be my only chance to do what I love. Realizing that I’m talking out loud to myself I stop talking all together.

“Hey Tom!, how's it going?!” I say yelling at him from across his cluttered yard.

He doesn't do much of anything since he retired from the military. But he does hang out with his best friend, the General. They fought together in World War IV when the CoE first attacked 30 years ago.

“Not too good.” he says in his raspy, old sounding voice. “You know about the alliance that recently happened right? Well those bug b******s are preparing for war, even though that’s a direct violation of the peace treaty.”

“You look worried.” I say worried myself, I’ve never seen Tom worried or show much emotion at all.

“Well the General and I have talked and agreed that we’re not ready for another war. The country is still recovering from the last one.”

He was talking about the Great War of 2005 that ended less than 5 years ago. It was when the CoE was in its infant stage pumping out thousands of death-machines. Back then there was another major civilization called the Gur. Gur was a peaceful country, but a powerful one at that. They controlled half the planet, which was, for the most part all desert. But they had a huge civil war. Half of the Gur wanted to be with us, the Federation. But the other half wanted to be part of the new CoE which promised land and money if they joined. The Gur had massive nuclear reactors, and nuclear missiles. But they never used the missiles, and they used the reactors to power their massive empire. The war was going on for twenty years at this point, and both sides were running low on men and willpower. Somebody thought the only way to win was through the use of the nuclear missiles. They destroyed themselves in under 2 days.

“Is there any way I can join the Rhino squad now?” I ask.

“You make me laugh sometimes. You need at least 5 years of training, or fifteen years of combat. You would make a good captain though” he replied.

“Alright I guess.”

He was right though, I have always been a leader among my small group of friends.

“Take this.” he hands me a piece of paper “Give that to the general it will help you.”

“Thanks, what is it?”

“It's a leadership badge.”

“Really, you would give this to me?” I say in amazement.

A leadership badge is a slip of paper signifying that a general or somebody important saw talent in you. Giving you a better chance of getting accepted.

“Yes now go, and be careful, war is hell.”

I head to the main training base for the army to sign up. When I get there there’s a huge line of people volunteering, signing up, or in the draft. So I wait for 3 long hours in the hot sun, all the way thinking to myself if I should turn back now. I finally get to the front of the line. I’ve never seen the general until now, but I have heard countless amazing stories from Uncle Tom. He’s what you would expect a general to look like, tall, muscular, has short hair, and a face that looks like it's been through hell and back.

“NEXT!”

His voice actually scared me even though I knew he was going to say it. I walk up.

“Name, profession, and what do you want to be son”

He seems actually nicer than I’ve heard.

“Henry Carlbonian, I work at a restaurant, and I would like to become a captain.” I say nervously.

He smiled when I said captain, obviously he didn't think I was captain material. I hand him the slip sealed in the old envelope.

“What is this, blackmail?” he asked in a joking manner.

“What? N...no sir. It's a leadership badge. Uncle Tom gave it to me.” I said not realizing he was kidding.

“Really? How’s he doing I’ve been too busy to check if the old man is still alive.”

The general sure looked and sounded like he was busy. He had a raspy voice and that drooped look you have on your face when you're so tired you can hardly walk. Yet he still had a kick in his voice.

“Umm..”

“No umms, umm is not an answer” he cuts me off “You need to be decisive”

“H...he's doing well.” Sounding tough is harder than it seems.

“Better, COMMANDER JESSIE ATTENTION!” his voice so loud I jumped and my ears start ringing.

“Sir yes sir.” a fit, young man marches up to the general, and stands at attention waiting for an order.

“At ease, show this man around and get him ready for training tomorrow with the level 1 captains.”

“Sir yes sir, come with me please.” says Jessie

We walked past the guards and the three layers of electrified fence.

“So what's your name greenie?” he asked half not caring.

“H...Henry Carlb…” he cut me off.

“Stop stuttering that's how you get in trouble. It shows nervousness and weakness.” he said in a tone that made me think he was angry at me. “Anyways Henry, welcome to hell where you're pushed to your limits and then some. To see if your captain material.... Whatever you do, don't talk back.”

“Yes sir.” I said it, not fully paying attention.

“Look i'm trying to help you, if you don't want my help that's fine but good luck…..Also it's sir yes sir.”

“Sorry” I felt a little bad now.

He showed me around the rest of the compound, which took thirty long minutes.

Once the tour was complete he took me to the captain training area.

“...And this is where you're going to live for the next month. Well, I’ve got to go, so I'm going to give you to Larry over there. He's going to be your commander..”

I walk up and right away he looks at me in disgust.

“What?” Larry asks not caring about me or my answer.

“Sir Henry Carlbonian, here to learn how to be a captain sir.”

“Well i'm going to be your teacher, do what I say and you’ll be fine.” he said in a lighter tone now. “Your barracks number is A3 over there in the corner. Good luck, you’ll need it.”

Chapter 2

Training to become a captain in the federation is some of the hardest weeks of your life. The first week is to weed out the weak, you do excruciating exercises, and get about 3 hours of sleep. In the first week there is a 60% drop rate, and I was very close to becoming part of that percentage.

The next week of training was much easier physically, but mentally it was a challenge. For the next few weeks you learn battle plan after battle plan, and how to properly go about things. We spent an entire week only learning about the ROE(Rules Of Engagement). But after the first two months or so comes the fun parts.

“ALRIGHT, line up maggots! Today we will be assigning squads, these are rookie soldiers and you will be training with them for the next few months.”

For the next four hours we get assigned squads and we get to know each other. Each squad has ten people in it. This includes one medic, one communications soldier, and one engineer, the rest is up to the personnel.

One by the name of John Black shook my hand right away, and described everybody, he was a better captain than me. He had a double barrel shotgun, heavy armor and a gritty personality. Everyone called him Doubles.

I got the most rag-tag group they had. People from all walks of life. We had a Karnon, which is a branch of humans, only much larger. His name was Gerban, but his nickname was Tank. He carried a mini-gun that looked like it belonged on a Humvee. Yet he had a caring look on his face.

We had a man who couldn't speak, had his throat cut by a bear. His name was Lonny, but everyone called him Silence. He carried a sniper, and ranked first in his class.

Our communications soldier was a very young man, who looked terrified just standing. His name was Ping J Sung, he preferred Radar though.

Our medics name was Sam, a girl. She looked strong, but caring. She was keeping close to the engineer Cody.

Something many squads don't get is an assassin, we got the most egotistical one on the planet. I didn't even ask his name, but he was called Squire. And carried two smg's.

The last two were twins Jarvin and Harvin, Doubles called them inseparable. They carried m16-d's. And spoke broken English.

Now comes the real battle training, realistic simulations and competitions. These used fake guns that would semi-paralyze you if hit. For the most part my squad did good. Squire never wanted to work as a team as that would ¨Only slow me down¨. And communication with Silence was challenging. Arguments between Squire and Doubles was often, and lost us battles in a couple occasions.

There is a tournament every week, all squads go head to head so see who´s the best. We had never gotten first, Yuni squad was always number one. This is the last week, and thus the final tournament. This one we will win.

The tournament was semi-easy, we crushed most, except for Hut squad. Hut squad had beet us the last couple of tournaments, but Silence managed to save the day, now for the final, Yuni. The mission was simple infiltrate the town, save the hostages, destroy the radio tower.

¨Alright here's the plan, Tank will charge down the center street, with the Twins covering. Meanwhile Silence and Radar will take position on the hill, waiting for engage. Squire go around to the bell tower, and see if you can take out the enemy sniper. Double with me, we will enter the town from the left, With the distraction from Tank, we will go for the hostages. Cody and Sam go for the Radio tower."

It wasn't that simple, it's never that simple.

"Three by the Radio tower, two visible with the hostages." Says Radar. "They have spotted Tank, and moving to engage."

"Take up cover boys, start your magic Silence."

"Under fir....nee.......sistance" Cody's voice being overshadowed by gunfire.

"Sam down, Cody under fire from unknown enemies in building 4b. Silence can't get a shot." Radar's voice shaky and nervous.

"Doubles and I are at the hostage point, visual on hostages, no enemies. Something's not right."

"Bogey down in bell tower, what's next boss?" Squire says proudly.

"See if you can stall the enemies in 4b, so Cody can get out."

"Tank and the Twins have no resistance, there is no visual."

"Alright, Tank and the Twins go for the radio tower, we are leaving."

Doubles signals noises downstairs. The only way out now is through them, or out the back exit, but we will have no cover fire from Silence. As we open the exit, gunfire flies at us. Looks like we're taking option one.

"We have a visual on the enemies below you, Silence taking the shot." BANG..............BANG............BANG. "All three down.

"Squire here, I have single handedly saved Cody, we have grouped with Tank and Twins, and are placing the charges. We are under fire but I am here keeping us safe."

As we are leaving the building Doubles is hit, there's always one more. It's the leader.

"Good morning Carbon, ready to lose?"

"It's over Olaf, we're planting the charges now."

"Oh really?"

"Enemies inside the tower! Twins Do….!" Cody gets hit.

“Your squad never learned to check all rooms? So predictable.”

“Sir two enemies incoming” BANG “One down...no visual.”