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Disclaimer: This Novel includes:

- Violence

- Mild Language

Reader discretion is advised

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It wasn't really his fault.

The year is 57,750. People, beasts, and all akin walk around the streets. Intergalactic travel has been achieved through thousands of years through technological advancements and breakthroughs, and now everybody is accustomed to it. In a distant and barren planet, known to the entire galaxy as Vespera, who was a planet of endless heat. 

The whole planet was deemed a desert that stretched out for thousands of miles. There was a small town located in one of the regions making up the planet. The town had streets as busy, full of life, and chaotic as any other streets would be.

There was a person haggling with another, a mother scolding her child, a person chatting with his friends, a street performance which enthralled the interests of the many people just strolling around the market. 

However, these interactions were short lived as it was all soon interrupted by a group of people dressed uniformly, they all wore a black uniform with accents of red from top to bottom and had a hat with a sigil embedded in it, they held weapons and were ready to exterminate anybody who was willing to stand up to them. 

The people in the streets made way for the soldiers and some of them hid behind allies and just refused to look even in their general direction, even the vendors were closing up their shops for they fear they would get caught up in unwanted trouble.

One soldier who fashioned a more unique attire than the others, pointed in a specific direction. The other soldiers nodded and rushed to where he was pointing towards, an alleyway where it seemed like there was no entrance, nor was there any exit to go through.

These people were soldiers of the Intergalactic Federation, a dominant governing force in the known universe, more widely known for ruling over planets and civilizations with an iron grip. Currently, they were focusing on fixing the galaxy’s issue with the recurrence of outlaws, those who were known to steal and plunder from planets with less Intergalactic activity for Myrid, known as the “Universal Currency” invented and distributed by the Federation.

The soldiers entered the narrow alleyway, not knowing what would reside in it, whether it could be an outlaw hiding around waiting for its prey, or something more catastrophic waiting around the corner. Whatever it was, it was eventually gonna lead to something unsatisfactory, they were all prepared for as they were informed to be ready as they're mission was a dangerous one, and they were anticipating it.

Intergalactic Captains, they are who commands a battalion, giving orders and accompanying them during missions to have a smooth and successful mission. They kept walking throughout the alleyway that was as dark as a winter night, the captain led the troops whilst the soldiers trailed behind him with no fear, showcasing their bravery as a soldier of the Intergalactic Federation.

The soldiers kept walking through the alleyway, the captain still at the forefront. As they reached the dead end, the captain stopped in his tracks, the soldiers also halted. It was eerily quiet. A sharp ringing then echoes through the soldiers ears, this was followed by an explosion nearby.

“What the hell was that?!”

One of the Intergalactic soldiers yelled out as he stopped walking, and quickly aimed his railgun in the general direction of the dark alleyway, to which he couldn’t see anything beyond that point.

“Stay calm, we’re in enemy territory.”

The Intergalactic Captain reminded his soldiers, trying to stay calm even during an intense situation where they would normally panic. The soldiers relaxed, softening their limbs and sitting down on the ground as they waited for the area to calm down before investigating further.

However, another sudden explosion occurred, one that was much louder and more intense than the previous one, and they were quickly put into a state of panic. They stepped back, stunned by the realization that they were about to step into enemy territory, which was not what they had planned from the start.

The explosions kept increasing in volume, and intensifying as the time passed, shaking the entire ground beneath them and destroying many buildings in the area, causing millions of Myrids of damages that couldn’t be properly funded by the planet’s poor government.

After a while, the explosions kept increasing, and reached its peak after a few minutes. The entire area, including the dark, narrow alleyway where the Intergalactic Captain and his soldiers resided, was covered in a thick, fog that encapsulated the entire city, blinding everyone that resided in that specific area.

This thick fog was extremely dangerous to the lungs, forcing the Intergalactic soldiers to wear their helmets, which had a gas mask whose purpose was to fight off against chemical warfare that outlaws mainly used against the Federation.

However, this only lessened the effects of the fog on the soldiers, with one of the soldiers experiencing severe nausea, his vision slowly blurred, his stomach started to ache, and later on he vomited on the ground due to the fog that encapsulated them.

“Are you okay?” said one of the Intergalactic soldiers, who was worried that something bad might happen to his comrade, however, that wasn’t the only thing that he needed to worry about

Shortly after, he also experienced effects from the thick fog that resulted from the explosion, with him coughing up blood repeatedly, and it didn’t seem to stop no matter how hard he tried.

But that was when the Intergalactic Captain realized that his mask was broken, and had a slight crack in the right side of his helmet where the transceiver resided, creating an opening for the thick fog to enter his airways, and cause his lungs to be covered in this fog that was dangerous to inhale.

He quickly went to patch up the opening on the soldier’s helmet, using a bandage to temporarily seal up the damaged equipment that he failed to realize before going on with the mission.

“Sorry about that, I wasn’t aware that your helmet was damaged…”

The Intergalactic Captain apologized, he was furious about who caused the explosion to happen and released the toxic fog that caused multiple problems to his squad, who were only amateurs in the Intergalactic Federation’s hierarchy.

However, their mission was at stake, and they needed to quickly move on and prevent the outlaws from causing any further damage in the town. They couldn’t just move to the area beyond the alleyway though, as it was riddled with multiple outlaws and bounty hunters fighting each other along the way.

It didn’t take long until the thick, white fog started to fade away, and the Intergalactic soldiers could now see clearly again. The area beyond the alleyway was still barely visible, filled with a dark shadow as the soldiers would describe.

The Intergalactic Captain patiently waited for his soldiers to be fully healed before they could traverse the area where the outlaws resided. Thankfully, they had a medic on board that knew how to treat the soldiers with ease, the medic pulled out a syringe from his medic bag, and using it to treat one of the soldiers’ wounds, causing their nausea to slowly fade away and eventually be fully revitalized within just a few seconds after the medic injected him with the syringe.

“Thanks, I wouldn’t have done this without you…” said the soldier.

“No need to thank me, I’m just doing what I’m supposed to do.” said the medic.

He also did the same for the second Intergalactic soldier, curing his wounds within the span of a few seconds. The syringe proved to be a great help for the Intergalactics, with massive breakthroughs in medical technology and research, the Intergalactic Federation invented a way to fully restore their soldiers to their greatest strength using the syringe, but there were also other ways, like taking a pill, or drinking a strange fluid just to name a few.

The two Intergalactic soldiers stood up, grabbing their railguns and fixing their attire as they prepared to move on to the alleyway where they would get rid of the outlaws.

“Let’s move out.” the Intergalactic Captain proclaimed to his soldiers.

The Intergalactic soldiers were about to move out, going beyond the alleyway where they would unleash mayhem to the outlaws and serve justice upon them. When suddenly, a silhouette of what seemed to be a tall shadowy figure appeared in front of them, causing the soldiers to become hesitant, and stop their footsteps once again.

“Don’t panic, just don’t move and he won’t notice us.” whispered the Intergalactic Captain to his soldiers.

The soldiers listened, and silenced themselves, concealing their presence to the shadowy figure who they deemed to be an outlaw fending off against the bounty hunters, it was clear that what they were getting into was a quite dangerous task where one tiny mistake could cause certain death.

But still, the soldiers persevered, and rushed towards the silhouette of a tall, shadowy figure with no hesitation.

However, as the soldiers were about to encounter the silhouette, it suddenly vanished in just a few nanoseconds, as if he just teleported away from the battlefield, leaving them to wonder where he went.