Thursday, June 3, 2010

Never sleep after the gym

Well. This was one for the books. I am a soldier with a sort of colonial marines force, ala "Aliens". We had been sent to a colony world because (naturally) nasty aliens had decided to invade. Or else they were indigenous, and we of course were evicting them. Regardless they were tough critters; over 6 feet tall, and a fire-engine red body. They were chitinous like lobsters, and in fact had a pair of pincer-tipped arms. The similarity ended there. The tails were up in the air, with the head, such as it was, at the bottom on a short extendable neck. Six legs ending in a three toed claw, with the "arms" at the mid point of the body. If you drew one as a cartoon, it would look like a red banana with 6 legs, two arms, and the mouth a round "O" shape. They were not very funny though. The mouth was filled with shark like teeth, and could cut through kevlar armor. The pincers were like tin snips. Not as good against our body armor... but real nasty on, you know, flesh. They were spider-fast, and in attacking could swing that extendable head upwards from the ground to near waist height, while grabbing and tearing with the pincers. They could also kick and gouge with any pair of the legs while standing on the other four. Their own natural armor was tough enough to take several hits from heavy rifles, lasers, or grenades. Mines worked nicely... but there were a LOT of these things.

There were perhaps 10,000 troops on the planet when I arrived, along with two friends from high school (oddly it was in fact two friends, Jeff Adair and Victor Engesser). We had been out on a few patrols, and had our first direct fight with the "lobstrosities" (thanks Mr. King...). Our Captain had decided I should work with two other sergeants (??OK..) and form an "elite" squad of snipers (yipeee!) to work on long range ambushes.

While we were back at the base, I stopped in to visit a girl there I had developed a crush on. Naturally. I'm on planet three days and I have a crush? Come on, even a TV sitcom doesn't move that fast....well, except for "Big Bang Theory"... whatever.... so I have stopped in her apartment where she and her roommate are dressing for a big dinner celebration that night. The girl is tall, and looks like the Egyptian girl from "The Mummy" (actually a Brazilian, I think..) except a bit more muscle than curves. Apparently that was not an issue for me. Her name is Jihanna. I manage to get a date (yay!) and am off like a shot to change out of uniform and get back to the huge hall being used for the party. The base reminds me a lot more of an industrial complex with a support "town" around the edges than either a military base or a colony, but still quite impressive. On the way in I am walking with two other members of my team, and Jeff and Victor. We stop and watch as a rather notoriously clumsy scout tries to navigate his two man ATV around the base perimiter fance... and seemingly manages to drive into, then have to back out of, pothole after pothole. His shotgun rider finally jumps off, screaming that it's safer to walk alone than ride with him. At that point everyone watching starts laughing, including the parapet guards and the lookouts in the closest towers.

On to the party! Once inside it's a weird mix. Half the soldiers are still in full patrol gear; a number are in full dress uniforms, perhaps 30%, and the rest of us, including all the top officers, are in everything from jeans and shirts to semi-formal. The food is also a bit of a mix. There are buffet tables, and also servers bring trays and plates. One consistent element is the dancing and the drinking. Everyone is doing a lot of both, and the number of couples who suddenly vanish from the floor, sneaking off somewhere, is rather comic.

I've managed to dance with my potential next ex-girlfriend several times, and even once with her roommate... who would not be a loss to date... and I am carrying drinks back for all three of us. Suddenly there is a notable vibration in the floor; everyone stops, and then we all begin running for our homes or the closest sets of weapons and armor. As I get outside I can see the cause; another troopship has just landed, and at least 5000 more troops are pounding towards the main gate as fast as they can run. The drop ship is lifting away from the pad in such a rush that the back ranks are lucky not to be killed in the blast wave; as it is they are getting pushed forward and almost carried faster than they are running. From the towers and fence parapets every single guard is firing, and alarms are blaring an alert. From three directions a tsunami of the lobstrosities is rushing at us; if there were 50,000 I would not be at all surprised.

I can see Jihanna rushing towards the apartments she lives in, and I am torn between staying with her and getting my own armor and weapons. I'm slowing down, trying to get my body to go two ways at once. Apparently Jihanna has already figured me out. She takes another look in my direction and yells "Go! I can shoot too you know!" Then she is sprinting off... and waving back over her shoulder. OK, I can take a hint. She likes me! No way these things are gonna kill me now....

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