The night sky was alight with stars and explosions. Sleek metal ships chased each another, exchanging fire until one or the other came crashing down onto the rocky terrain below.

Things on the ground were just as chaotic, if not more so. Human soldiers clashed with numerous metal beings. Shooting, slicing, and blowing each other up amidst the canyons.

Steve peeked over the boulder he had been hiding behind. Up ahead he could see a troop of red robots. Each a tall, lanky mess of metal and wires with blinking lights on their blank “faces”. In their hands, they held a laser rifle, ready to fire at a moment’s notice.

One of the bots turned in the boulder’s direction. Steve quickly ducked down out of view.

Clank! Clank! Clank!

Steve remained as still as he possibly could. Had he been spotted? He squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his teeth together to the point of risking fracture.

The clanking got louder and louder until finally, it stopped. Steve held onto his rifle, his eyes still tightly closed. His heart pounded so loudly that Steve worried it would explode from all the dread and panic.

After what felt like an eternity of silence, the clanking resumed.

Clank... clank... clank…

Steve waited a few minutes before daring to look again. To his relief, the bots had wandered back to the active battlefield to resume fighting. Taking this opportunity, he rushed back to a narrow opening, leading into the canyon.

Deep within the tall canyon walls, lay the remains of a crashed military plane. Completely black and bearing the white symbol of the Conjoined Armies, it had put up a good fight before clipping its wing on a canyon wall and going down.

Two of its passengers stood in front of the craft, trying to contact for help. A second rummaged through the ship, trying to salvage whatever could be useful. And a third apathetically leaned against the rocky wall, inspecting his pistol and waiting to see if they’d be rescued or gunned down by bots.

The Colonel looked over at Captain Williams. He had gone quiet as he fiddled with the settings on his watch. If it hadn’t been for the blue light of the watch reflecting off his helmet, one might have mistaken him for a funny shaped boulder sitting in the dark canyon.

“Anything?” asked the Colonel. Williams flipped the metal cover back on his watch and shook his head.

“Nothing Sir. They must be jamming the signal,” he said.

“Of course.”

“Need a hand there buddy?” Rick suddenly said.

Waffle yanked on a pair of handlebars, trying to pull out whatever was lodged inside the jet’s cargo hold. He grunted in confirmation, gesturing with his head for Rick to come and help already. With their combined efforts, the two managed to pull out a small vehicle from the wreck. To their surprise, it turned out to be a hover scooter. A silver one with a faux leather seat and a magenta-colored stripe going down its center. On its side were the words ‘Star Chaser’ in fancy lettering.

“That doesn’t look standard issue,” said Rick.

“Don’t look at me,” said Waffle, holding up his hands.

Williams turned to the Colonel. The Colonel tilted his head, as if daring the captain to say anything. Williams looked away, deciding it was best to keep any questions he had to himself.

It was at that moment that Steve came sprinting over.

“Bots! Bots!” he shouted. He stumbled before the troop, trying to catch his breath. “Th-there’s a platoon of them out there. I-I think we landed behind enemy lines!”

With that, he collapsed onto the ground in an exhausted mess. Waffle took out a dome-shaped lunchbox from his pack. Like the scooter, it also wasn’t standard issue, but Waffle had managed to make a good case for carrying it around.

He took out a thermos from it and offered it to the tired Steve. Which he gladly drank from as they waited to see what the officers would say about their current predicament.

Captain Williams spoke first.

“That is… troubling,” he said. He flipped open his watch and began fiddling with it again. “What do you think we should do, Colonel?”

The Colonel crossed his arms, deep in thought.

“We’ll have to sneak past them,” he finally said.

Steve choked on his water and went into a coughing fit. Waffle patted him hard on the back to help.

“What?!” Steve exclaimed. “We’re completely outnumbered! If they catch us we’re dead!”

The Colonel took a step in Steve’s direction, his large stature towering over him.

“...sir.”

Even with the Colonel’s helmet obscuring his face, Steve could feel a cold glare bore into him from behind the dark visor.

“It’s either that or cower in the canyon until the bots find us,” said the Colonel.

Steve and Waffle turned to Williams. He uneasily shifted his weight from one foot to another.

“Sir,” Williams started. “Perhaps there’s another way out of the canyon?”

Instead of answering right away, the Colonel started walking in the direction Steve had come from.

“This canyon could go on for miles. We’d probably starve before we ever got a way out,” he said. “Now let’s move while we have the element of surprise.”

“Yes sir.”

Steve and Waffle sighed in despair as Williams followed closely behind the Colonel. Rick shook his head. He knew better than to expect anything from the Captain.

“I didn’t even sign up for this,” muttered Steve as they all began walking.

“Like any of us did,” spat Rick.

“I did,” said Capt. Williams.

The three soldiers all shot him deadpan looks. Williams awkwardly looked away and continued walking.

“Don’t you think it’s worth fighting for your country?” asked The Colonel, having overheard the conversation.

“Sure. Except it’s not my country I’m fighting for,” said Rick.

The Colonel stopped and faced Rick.

“Last I checked, your colony belonged to the Empire,” he said.

Williams cleared his throat.

“Sir, we should probably get going,” he said.

Rick took a step towards the Colonel.

“Ah right! And once again, the two mighty empires have dragged us into yet another war,” he said.

“Rick, you should really keep your voice down…” Steve warned.

By now, Rick and the Colonel were face to face. Or rather, helmet to helmet. Neither one of them seemed to be willing to budge. Williams pushed himself between them.

“We need to move!” he said. “… if we want to keep the element of surprise that is… Sir.”

The Colonel held his glare for a few more moments before walking away. Williams let out a sigh of relief.

“Stubborn, whiny, weak-willed, useless, colonists...” the Colonel muttered to himself.

Anger bubbled up inside Rick at the Colonel’s words, clenching his fists in frustration.

“I guess we better get moving,” Steve sighed.

Rick narrowed his eyes. Slowly, he reached for his pistol.

“Rick?”

He raised the pistol and pointed it forward.

“RICK!”

BANG!