S1, 03 Betrayal (April 12, 2015)

War rages across the galaxy. Tensions between the Galactic Imperium and the Aurelian rebellion have increased swiftly ever since The Shift occurred. The GI have invaded the Aurelian moon Fuyoria, a moon unlike any other, overwhelmed with life, thick jungles and inhabited by native tribes. The Aurelians will not allow the GI to take control of the moon without a fight.

A battle has been going on for days, and the Aurelians currently have the upper hand. The relentless GI has decided that if they can't conquer the moon, the Aurelians cannot keep it either, and have therefore dispatched squadrons of GI fighters to destroy the jungles of the moon and burn down the homes of the natives, exterminate all life that dwells in the moon and burn everything to the ground.

Among these squadrons, two pilots are forced to make the most critical decision in their lives...

Location: Qotor, GI Military Base

Date: June 6, 2095

Sergeant Stern: "Alright pilots, first of all, congratulations on completing your training. Now it's time to test you in a REAL battle. If you succeed, you will graduate from the Academy and will become official aces. Welcome to your first mission. As you already know, we have launched an attack on the Aurelian moon Fuyoria. We have received a distress call and our forces are currently in need of reinforcements. The rebels have allied with the natives of the moon to fight against us and currently have outnumbered us. Now, here's what you will do. You will fly to Fuyoria and attack the territories where the tribes live. By achieving this, the rebels will be on their own, and our ground forces will then take them out and the moon is ours. Show no mercy, these creatures may be natives, but they're also savages and dangerous, plus they are killing our own men. That is all."

Jed Barron: "I have a bad feeling about this."

Damon Gode: "Me too."

Zoe: "Native scum. We'll burn their homes to the ground and then they'll regret ever taking sides with those rebel pests, right guys?"

Jed: "Yeah... sure. Whatever you say."

Sergeant Stern: "Alright,you are dismissed. Your squadrons will consist of three fighters, each with a pilot and copilot. Now go, prepare your fighters, and good luck."

All the pilots left the room except Jed, who was ordered by the sergeant to stay a moment so they could talk.

Jed: "What is it, sir?"

Sergeant Stern: "Jed, I've observed you during your training. And I'm actually surprised you've made it this far. I notice you let your conscience influence you too much."

Jed: "Sir, with all due respect, I was raised to follow my conscience."

Sergeant Stern: "Listen, boy, I'm sure you've realized that we're currently at war. There's no room for conscience. War is a nasty environment where there's no difference between right and wrong. There is only win or lose, and if you lose, you die. So if the Imperium was to lose this war, everyone will die, including you. You cannot hold back. Understand?"

Jed: "Yes, sir."

Sergeant Stern: "Good. Now go and get ready, Gode's your copilot. Don't make him wait."

Jed: "Yes, sir."

After the briefing, all squadrons made their way to Fuyoria. During the flight, Jed and Gode, both in the same fighter, kept contemplating about the task at hand. The more they thought about it, the less they wanted to go through with it.

Gode: "How are you doing, Jed?"

Jed, making sure the com link was off to prevent the other pilots in the other fighters from hearing him: "Honestly, I feel like crap."

Gode: "Yeah I kind of feel that way about myself as of now, too."

Jed: "Has it ever occurred to you that we could be the bad guys, Gode?"

Gode: "Sometimes, yeah."

Jed: "I mean, look at us. We were the ones to launch an attack on Fuyoria in the first place, and because of that the Natives have sided with the Aurelians. Can you blame them? They're only defending their home."

Gode: "I can't say I disagree with you, buddy. But there's nothing we can do about it, is there?"

Jed: "I don't know. I don't even know if I want to graduate anymore. I'm starting to think this isn't worth it. We're gonna become killers today. That's why we're gonna graduate. This all goes against what my mom always taught me."

Suddenly, the com link started beeping, forcing Jed to activate it again. It was Zoe and Sam, they were piloting the other two fighters of the squadron along with their copilots.

Zoe: "We're closing in on Fuyoria. You guys ready to show these natives who's boss?"

Jed and Gode exchanged glances. They both knew that they were both not ready.

Jed: "Yeah, Zoe. We're ready."

After the squadron entered Fuyoria's atmosphere, they could see from the sky a large jungle with trees that reached the clouds... already covered in fire, burning down. It was a devastating sight...

Jed, making sure the com was deactivated again: "Gode, are you seeing this?"

Gode: "Yeah... I guess we're the bad guys after all."

Jed: "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Gode: "Probably. You do know that if we do this, we'll lose everything we have, right?"

Jed, before turning on the com link: "I know."

Zoe, through com link: "Alright guys, we're in range. In one, two, three..."

Zoe: "...Fire!"

Jed: "Let's go, Gode. We're outta here."

Sam: "Hey, you two, what the hell do you think you're doing? Get back here!"

Zoe: "Ughhh you gotta be kidding me."

Jed: "Sorry guys, but this is wrong. We're not killing the natives for simply defending their homes."

Zoe: "If you won't serve the Imperium..."

Zoe: "...You will die as traitors!"

Gode: "Crap! Jed, we're hit!"

Jed: "Dammit. This ship is done! Hold on tight cause we're going to crash!"

*BOOM!*

Gode: "Ugghhh. That was the worst crash I've ever experienced."

Jed: "That's the only crash you've experienced, Gode. You alright?"

Gode: "Yeah. I'm just glad we stumbled through the trees before we hit the ground. All those branches slowed down the fall."

Jed: "We need to get moving."

Gode: "What do we do, now?"

Jed: "Well first we gotta destroy these helmets, and make sure we cover our tracks from this point on. Otherwise, any other GI can trace our movements and discover that we survived the crash. At least the pilots must think we're dead."

Gode: "We gotta get out of here soon, they're probably getting back to firing at the jungle again any time now."

Jed: "Yeah, you're right. We need to find a ship to take out the other pilots if we really want to help the natives defend their home. There's not much else we can do."

Gode: "Agreed. Let's get out of here first."

Jed: "I see a path. Let's see where it'll take us to. Maybe we could find a ship we could use."

Gode: "Alright."

While the two pilots, now traitors of the GI, walked quietly by the path after the crash, they spotted a few GI soldiers with three Aurelian hostages and a native. They hid behind some plants to avoid being discovered.

Jed: "Gode, do you see them?"

Gode: "Yeah, I see them. Should we help the Aurelians?"

Jed: "Well we're already traitors to the GI."

Gode: "Did you grab that gun you kept in the ship?"

Jed: "Yeah, I got it."

Meanwhile, the GI troops engaged the Aurelian prisoners.

Lieutenant Zar: "Alright, you rebel scum may have outnumbered us before, but now our aerial support has arrived, and you will give me all the information I demand from you.

Cody (orange-haired Aurelian): "You're pretty stupid if you think you'll get us to talk."

Zar: "You, get up. Right now!"

Cody refused to stand up until the GI soldier grabbed on to him and pulled him up to his feet.

Zar, pointing his gun at Cody's face: "I could kill you right now, you know."

Cody didn't say a word, and although he knew he was going to die anyway, he was still most certainly frightened. There was nothing he could do now.

GI soldier: "Aaarghhh!"

Suddenly, the GI soldier who had pulled up Cody was shot right in the chest.

Zar: "What the hell?"

GI soldier: "Urrkk!"

Then the second soldier was shot right in the chest as well.

Now that the two soldiers were dead and Zar was distracted, Cody surprised the Lieutenant with a punch in the face, making the lieutenant pull the trigger of his pistol in the process. Luckily, he missed.

Zar: "Akkk!"

The other Aurelians and the native stood up just as soon as Zar fell to the floor and pounded him.

Zar: "Arrghhh!"

The evil lieutenant lay still on the ground now, totally beaten. The other soldier in red armor grabbed the lieutenant's pistol and aimed at the plants before him at a distance.

1st Officer Figgs: "There's two of you and four of us. I can see you hiding behind those plants. Show yourselves! Now!"

Jed: "Alright, alright. There's no need for this to get any nastier."

Figgs: "Lay down your weapon!"

Jed, putting the gun on the ground: "Alright, I am now unarmed. Please, just let me explain what's going on. We're only trying to help."

Figgs: "Damn right, you got some explaining to do. You're wearing GI Pilot suits! Why did you shoot down your own men?"

Jed: "We're not with the GI anymore."

Figgs: "Lies! You could be spies, pretending to be against the GI, so you can get us to trust you, and then you will feed them with intel about Aurelia!"

Gode: "If we were with the GI, we wouldn't have killed two GI soldiers right now, and we could've just killed you if they hadn't done it."

Cody: "Sir, these men just killed two GI soldiers. I don't think they're with the GI. Plus, they are now disarmed. I think we can trust them, sir."

Figgs: "Yeah, I guess you're right. I just have a really bad feeling about this."

Cody: "Let's just see what they have to say."

Jed: "We're traitors of the GI, and we can explain in detail later, but right now we need to figure out a way to stop the other fighters from destroying the jungles further."

Sarii (orange-skinned female): "If you two really want to help us, I know what you can do."

Figgs: "Sarii, what are you trying to say here?"

Sarii: "Sir, if these men truly are what they claim to be, let them pilot the ship we've hidden in the jungle so they can take down the GI fighters."

Figgs: "Absolutely not, Sarii! That's the only ship we have! They could just take the ship and leave the moon!"

Jed: "Sir, I understand why you won't trust us, but if we don't take down those fighters, this whole jungle will turn into ashes in no time."

Sarii: "The man is right, sir. If the GI destroys what remains of the jungle, they'll kill the rest of us. Do you want that to happen, sir?"

Figgs: "No."

Sarii: "Then let these men take our ship."

Figgs: "Alright. You win. We'll escort them to the ship."

Figgs: "The ship is located that way. Just a few minutes from here."

Jed: "You can count on us, sir."

Gode: "We won't fail you."

Figgs: "Alright, let's go before I change my mind."

Jed: "Lead the way."

Fourth Wall:

I hope you've enjoyed the 1st episode of my Free Builds for The Insurgency. This episode was originally intended to be longer than it actually is, but I've been so caught up with school and college stuff among other things that I just didn't get enough time to make it as long. Nonetheless, I've already developed the storyline for Episode 2. Credit to Kermunklin the Giant Evil House Head for creating the Insectoid species. Please rate, comment and stay tuned for the next episode!

God Bless and Keep On Brickin'!

The original main image.