The Diary of Lucas Strain

[formlesstree4 18]

The Diary of Lucas Strain

 

Story by: formlesstree4

 

Day 1:

Today, we started training. The Commander seems to be fairly decent...he hasn't been overly cruel to anyone in particular...yet. I'm pretty sore after what we did.

 

They strapped us into these simulators, and explained what we were doing. These were experimental crafts we were simulating, powerful ones at that. They were extremely mobile, and fast. They stuck us in an asteroid field and said get out with your craft in tact. Almost nobody made it, but me and a few lucky ones did get out. As we came out of the simulator, the Commander ordered the 'survivors' to his tent immediately. We went and were awarded for being the first people in nearly 20 years to survive the first simulation.

It was confusing, how it all happened, but for a first day, it appeared to be going smoothly. Hopefully tomorrow will be more productive.

 

 

Day 2:

Today, we found out just how cruel the Commander is. We were running laps, and one cadet fell over. The Commander came over, yelled at him till he got up, and proceeded to insult him all the way around until he caught up to us. Only when he did catch up did his insults cease. Everyone was shocked at him, he had fooled us into a false sense of security, and we all fell for it. After the track, we got no break, and instantly went to the weight training. During this, our Commander told us our daily routine: 10 laps around the track, 1 hour of weights, 1 hour of swimming, and 2 hours of simulator training. He expected to hear no complaints, and continued to say today was an easy day, since we're done after the weight training.

He walked out, leaving us in total shock. This was not what was expected, we all were tricked and there was nothing we could do about it. We finished up the hour, and walked back to our dorms, sore, stiff, and tired. Tomorrow will bring more hell, so I don't know if I can write anymore for a bit.

 

Day 6:

Something has gone terribly wrong. The Commander is always very jumpy and nervous. He has now started a night patrol, and won't tell us a thing. Simulator training has now been bumped to top priority, with over 4 hours a day. It didn't surprise me that we had several people pass out. He [the Commander] has started to make divisions out of us. I was in Division 1, the top of the line. We still had no clue what we were actually piloting, since our Simulators were only cockpit views, and on our own. There has been news of a recent bombing of sorts at the city, could there be something going on we don't know about? I hope to write more soon...but no promises.

 

Day 10:

We were attacked. Half the dormitories were destroyed, and we don't have a clue as to what has happened. The Commander is irate, he's been locked in his room yelling at what we only assume the Command Center about making sure we're safe. Either way, what we had been doing was just changed, new orders came in. Division 1 was to be shipped out in their 'Combat Units'. We had no clue what this was. The Commander summoned us to his office and explained to us what we had to do.

Combat Units, well, the ones we were getting were different than any other Unit the other divisions were getting. Ours had an AI inside it, but not just any AI, one that learns. The AI will be our partner for the rest of our lives, and once they're gone, that's it. We each were given a small rectangular device. This was sort of our ID tag, but the AI can read Biometrics to confirm. The 'ID Tag' enabled us to communicate with the AI easily, which still made no sense. Regardless, they're shipping us out tomorrow, to who knows where. I probably won't write back for some time, not until I know we're safe, and I won't be interrupted.

 

Day 12:

We're in space. I don't know my coordinates, but we're very far away from home. We traced the attack back to this planet we're orbiting over. The fleet is here, and I mean literally, the entire fleet. I overheard tactical data for planning a 50,000 ship assault on this star system. Whatever is going down, it's going to be big.

The Commander took us into space today with our AICU's [Artificial Intelligent Combat Unit] for Zero-G Training. It went...terrible. Several system's froze up due to programming errors, AI malfunctions, and weapon jams. I was lucky...my AI seemed to handle everything fairly well. At one point, he told us to disable our AI's for total unit control. That...didn't end well at all. One unit lost control, and we had to rescue it else risk it falling into the enemy's atmosphere. The Commander stripped him of his rank and dismissed him. This turned out to be really bad...I hear someone coming now, I must go.

 

Day 13 - 17:

It happened. The fight happened. Thousands of us descended on their planet. Their outer defenses were crippled quickly. My fellow AICU warriors and I had one specific target: Their Command Structure. This wasn't their base planet, but they were communicating. We were told to eliminate that structure at all costs. Unfortunately, our defense units were wiped out by the enemy's forward cannons. The fact that there were roughly 50,000 Star Ships hovering over the planet kind of tipped them off something big was going to happen. Whatever the case, our defense for our flight down stood no chance. They were eliminated rather quickly, leaving ourselves rather defenseless.

We managed to escape with little damage done to ourselves. The Commander was not happy to see us. He hailed us as soon as we were in range of the Video Feeds and ordered us to turn around. We tried to tell him our defense units were gone, but he wouldn't hear it. He ordered us to our doom, and there was nothing we could do about it.

We engaged in high altitude combat: Our AICU's vs. their High Speed Tactical Jet Squadron, or HSTJS. They were pretty easy to destroy for the most part. The AI seemed to track them quickly, and eliminated them fast. It was their ground units that gave us the most problems, with their Shoulder Mounted Rocket Squads (SMRS). Those rockets seemed to have a targeting system that we couldn't jam. Most we could do is to just flee out of range, and take them out. Dealing with them after they ran out of ammo wasn't that hard, we just came close and fired off our engines. The sound alone pretty much took care of them. Just to make sure, we dropped a small bomb onto their sector.

Once the SMRS guys were done, and the HSTJS was in combat with our own Jet force, we approached our target. It was brutal. The place itself was in a tri-layered metal warehouse that had defense levels and turrets all through it. The moment we came over the bunker, nearly 50 guns were locked onto us. We were warned against moving, but of course, we jetted into different positions. The guns tried to track us, but most missed. One of us got hit directly in the core reactor, causing instant destruction. The explosion created a shock wave that rippled through the building, toppling the first layer rather quickly. The inner layers held out, but the entire first layer was completely disabled. The enemy was now defenseless until we penetrate the first layer, which didn't take long. Our bombs penetrated the facility rather quickly. The final one dropped went through a hole and created a ripple through the metal. The entire structure collapsed, and an explosion engulfed the facility, and soon rippled out towards us. A few of us managed to escape the inferno in time, but we lost almost everyone else. I was one of the few remaining, with there only being 4 of us left. We returned to the ship, damaged, and burned. The Commander told us to go to our quarters, and wait for orders in the morning.

 

 

Day ???

I don't know how long I've been here. I'm not sure who these guys are, but they're definitely wary of me. The Guards even seem to fear me slightly, as if I had some sort of powers they didn't. Whatever the case may be, I sat in this...cell for hours on end. They supply me with the essentials like food and water, but just enough to keep me alive. My stomach groaned at me all the time, but I had to ignore it. Instead of thinking of food, I worked out in my cell, doing pushups, situps, and even pullups on the bars. I did anything I could to pass the time.

 

It seems like I'm getting the luxury treatment. Most of their prisoners are treated terribly, left to starve and die in their cells. The inmates on this level (I assume there are multiple) seem to be treated like me, so there's some interest in us. I don't like to think like this, but I know it has to be true. There's no other reason for this, especially me being a PoW! Hell, I don't even remember how I was captured. I just remember waking up in this cell...

 

It's getting dark outside as I write this, I should get to sleep. They don't enjoy it when I'm still awake to late...they probably think I'm doing some communication outside the walls or something.

 

Day 5 [Five days after the previous entry, date still unknown]

I feel like I've been trapped here for months, though it's probably been only days. Either way, they've done hell to me. I've been tortured for information about our movements, training procedures, even to how I was taught back in school. It seems my 'supervisor' enjoys to torture his prisoners, more specifically me. I have whiplash marks along my back, many bleed as I write this, and the ones that don't have scabbed over very thinly, and are reopened the next day of torture. I haven't had a decent meal outside of bread and water for what seems like ages, and living conditions are worse. I've had cell-mates die in their sleep and their rotting corpses are left there for hours before someone comes to collect them, only because the smell was to horrible.

 

There was some disturbance earlier today, it appears as if someone was trying to break through. Maybe that's rescue trying to come in...I don't know. I just know that I watch the lights from the Sunrise and Sunset and pray that they come soon. I don't know how much longer I can last in this hell hole. Oh hell, I hear them walking this way. I can't write much longer, if they see me doing this, I probably won't be able to walk for several days.

[Polraudio 122]

Very very interesting. I felt like i was actually there.

 

Day 10 was awesome. Cant wait to ready what happens next.

 

Have you ever thought of writing books and becoming rich?

[Wyzrd 12]

Pretty good so far, kind of reminds me of a series I once read. The first in the series was called Ender's Game.

[Kiriashi 117]

Dude, this is awesome. I can't wait for more!

 

 

 

 

"Have you ever thought of writing books and becoming rich?" I think everyone has thought of that. :P

[formlesstree4 18]

I'm glad you guys enjoy this. I'm working on more. Day 13 will flip you out.

[Tomo2000 60]

Very cool. Reminds me of "Halo - fall of Reach". Can't wait to 'flip out' at Day 13 :D .

[formlesstree4 18]

Added Day 12, and Day's 13-17 (One large section).

[Wyzrd 12]

Very good, not gonna say I flipped out but it was still good. I await for more.

[formlesstree4 18]

Sorry Wyzrd...I tried to make it intense :P

[Tomo2000 60]

"Every single day gets harder and harder. Mission after mission, death after death. It is, litterally, a hell hole down there," Sounds a hell load like Fall of Reach now, but only sorta. I think that it would be good if you were captured by the enemy, and wrote the entries for the days anyway, maybe on the cell wall or something :D .

[formlesstree4 18]

but only sorta. I think that it would be good if you were captured by the enemy, and wrote the entries for the days anyway, maybe on the cell wall or something

Crap man, you just pretty much blew the rest of the story

 

Sorry I haven't updated the Diary recently, I've been busy with a move and programming things. I'll probably finish it up soon. Hopefully people enjoy it (I know the ones that have posted have so far.

 

Wrote a new section, yay!

[Polraudio 122]

Nice addition man. I felt like i was right there.

Add some more.

[Wyzrd 12]

Sounds good man. I still swear it sounds like the book Ender's Game though :P.

[formlesstree4 18]

Sounds good man. I still swear it sounds like the book Ender's Game though :P .

I have never heard of that....is it good?

[Wyzrd 12]

Real good, there is a whole series on it. I love it.

[formlesstree4 18]

I have added another section to the story. Let me know what you think.