[Option 1]

"A Failed Defence"

Colonel Aleck Winters dodged left as he avoided a blaster shot from the Collective's shock troopers. He had been pinned down by three Corsair Hive Mind Marines until he was forced to make a desperate move or risk getting shot to death as his cover was blasted apart, unfortunately for him, the pain penetrating through the left side of his body meant the enemy blaster had hit him. 'That's just crappy luck,' he thought to himself as he fell to the ground, and his vision started to blur slightly, 'I didn't think I would go out like this.' His blacking vision spied the Collective forces converging on his position and with his death imminent the wounded soldier's mind flashed back to how he ended up in this position.

The initial defence for the Shadow Academy orbital platform had never been about defeating the Collective forces but containment instead. Hold the from breaking inside long enough to evacuate personal and critical artefacts that were invaluable for the Brotherhood. The enemy forces were too vast and overwhelming to defeat, and it had been a long and bloody battle to fend off the invading army. Aleck had been fighting on the front, and it was brutal as the Collective's hive-minded soldiers were damn near unbeatable. It was how their minds were linked as a group collective controlled each soldier. Brotherhood scientists had tried to explain it like the soldiers were worker ants and there was a queen ant overseeing everything, but that seemed too tame for what was happening. After fighting and watching the enemy Aleck could only describe them as having one mind with multiple arms to get the job done. He didn't put much thought into it as his focus had been on the here and now. He had been disappointed that their first layer defence broke after only an hour and the invading force made their way deeper into the facilities with 67% of the evacuation completed. It had been losing battle to hold off the Collective as all that hard planning was for nought.

'Karking Murphy's law' Winters gritted his teeth as he waited for the end as his hate-filled eyes stared up at his executioners. However, it seemed that Murphy still wanted him around as its plaything as the Collective's shock troopers were blasted back by an explosion. Unfortunately, he was also caught in the blast and was sent flying back. As his vision blacked out, Winters saw he was being dragged back by some of his soldiers before everything went dark. This blissful darkness was practicality heaven compared to that living hell of fighting and watching his men die. His eyes then shot open as adrenaline began rushing through his system, Winters could feel his heart trying to rip itself out of his ribcage as his eyes darted to the faces of the combat medics patching him up. "The Colonel's going to make it Major Miles," one of the combat medics said to his second-in-command, "his wounds are critical and need to treated urgently, but he is out of this fight." Winters cursed the attrition of this battle having on Brotherhood forces, outmanned and overpowered, and now he was out of this fight as while his wounds were patched for the moment he couldn't continue the fight. He cursed Murphy move as he was carried away from the combat zone as he felt it was his duty as an officer to lead and inspire the men regardless of the outcome of the battle.