Revelation Genesis 3: Lunar Outpost

                  36 standard hours prior to bombing of Maas Tai

              The soldiers of the 121st lunar observation station learn quickly into their deployment just how important entertainment is to military morale. When other battle groups are engaging in war games on the home world the 121st are playing graphic board games in the barracks. As elite operation shock troops are fighting guerrilla insurgents in the disputed provinces the 121st are fighting over day old bread rations in the mess hall.
         All in all the daily routine of military life was not what 1st private Byron Grey had thought it would be when he let his recruiter sign in up for observation deck duty. Defending the kingdom one sector at a time Byron’s stomach turned one out of every three times he read the inscription on his dog tags.
         Most days none of the soldiers in the 121st bothered donning their tags, Byron included but today he had them on freshly cleaned and shined. Today was his personal day which meant he was calling home, and anytime he called his sister Vera he proudly displayed his service tags. Not because he wanted to show off, but because he remembered how proud she was the first day he showed them to her.
         Vera had sacrificed a lot for her younger brother after their parents had died, and anything he could do to make her proud he jumped at full heartedly.
         Byron powered up his communications transceiver and punched in his sisters ID codes. After a few moments a 1/5 scale holographic image of Vera appeared.
         “Hey baby brother.”
         “That’s private 1st class baby brother to you civilian.”
         “Oh how could I forget a few more months out there and I won’t be able to tell you apart from General Sang himself.”
         “It’s easy his jacket will have way more jewellery on it. I’m still working on that second bar.” He said pointing to his jacket.
         “Take it easy there big guy. I don’t want you getting too accustomed to that military lifestyle. Just long enough to pay for the science and arts academy remember?”
         “Trust me I’m looking forward to sitting in class all day. It’ll be so much more fun then sitting in the barracks all day. Besides I miss Maas Tai I miss being home”
         “Right and at least they’ll be girls.”
         “Hey there are girls here too, you can tell because they’re the tough ones.”
         The image of Vera fluctuated and became riddled with static, even the audio feed became scrambled out of nowhere. “What gives?” he said slamming his palm into the transceiver.
         Attention this is not a drill inbound bogies detected vectoring towards Maas Tai. All servicemen to your station repeat…
             Byron ran from the communications room towards his defense station with only two things on his mind. Save Vera, and 227 the number of his manned gun station. The hallways of the lunar observation station were filled with confusion. Some soldiers ran to gun stations just as frantic as himself, but others stood mindlessly as if they couldn’t fathom this being a legit emergency.
         Byron didn’t have the time to spur his fellow soldiers into action his primary concern was simply to arrive at his own gun station and lay as much fire into these incoming vessels as possible.
         He arrived at the two hundred block defense array, and almost immediately was knocked off his feet as a barrage of missiles detonated nearby in the base foundation.  He saw two gun operators take the fifty foot plunge down the side of the lunar station to their deaths. No time to mourn his fellow soldiers now he was focused on arriving at a usable gun station.
         As he pushed himself up he was almost swept off balance again, but this time by a stampede of gun operators scrambling from their perspective post. Byron didn’t have the wind in his lungs to scream at his peers to stay on duty, and truthfully he couldn’t blame them they were sitting sarr geese on these out dated turrets.
         Running wasn’t an option for Byron, these bombers were headed to Maas Tai and he was going do everything in his power to give his sister a chance to survive. Even if it meant he didn’t, but at least she could be proud of him.
         Once he was steady on his feet he fought through the escaping crowd. The few operators that had the nerve to stay on their guns after the initial bomb run were now frantically discarding their positions and making a run for the base interior.
         227 finally he thought as he placed his hand on the ID pad and hooped in the gunners seat. Identification confirmed gun operator private 1st class Byron Grey kill in the name of the kingdom his targeting screen flashed as it powered up. Fully operational. Byron let the twin cannons blare out in full auto sacrificing accuracy to satisfy his need for aggression.
         The second bomber run was now underway, and apparently the pilots were more concerned with the base foundation then the lone gunner on the defense array.  Several missiles crashed into the stone construction of the complex, and detonated in a brilliant flash of gold and white light. Bunker busters not the lower powered ordnance they had dropped on their first run.
         Byron had scored a hand full of vanity kills on the smaller fighter escorts, but his single gun turret was unable to affect the more heavily armored bombers. He continued firing well after the enemy ships were out of optimal range.
         After his weapon was depleted of anti air ammunition he began to calm down and noticed the scale of the damage done to the base. It was simply gone, the focused explosions of the bunker busters had literally wiped out the instillation. The only reason he had survived was because of the distance his gun had been from the main building in the complex.
         He knew he would have to get off world. He had no way of knowing if any message had been sent to the home world of the impending attack, and he might be the only person alive to attempt to warn the thirty million people of Maas Tai.
         Sgt. Will Decker lay dead four gun stations down and Byron luckily found his survival pack still thrown over his shoulder. In his rush to get out of the barracks he had forgotten to grab his own.
         He reached in and recovered the serve com, an orb shaped computing device. On-line…request?
         “Can you access the extra communications net?”  he asked while holding the device.
         Negative it appears reception in this location can not be acquired.
         “Figured, but it was worth a shot. Do you know where I can find an alternate hanger or any place I might find a space worth ship?”
         Affirmative, there is a reserve emergency hanger 5 kilometres south west of your current location.
         “Display.” Upon his request the serve com light up a holographic map image showing the location and direction of the alternate hanger.