The picture is not mine, but it seems to match a bit to a portion of my story, so why not! Anyways, this will take a couple posts I expect to get it all out, so please allow me to do so :P I wrote this several years ago but wish to share it. Feel free to criticize it or let me know what you think! [i]There it is[/i], thought Private Hevain, gazing with irresistible curiosity at the warm flush of orange against the blood-red dawn, [i]that’s where it’s happening. That’s where I’m going[/i]… Explosions resonated softly over the horizon’s tip, flashing a dazzling blue with each powerful detonation. Small arms fire tattered gently, almost harmoniously, with the deep rumble of the fight. The driver of the Malic APC moved the vehicle, loaded down with Extraterrestrial Combat Units, or ECU combatants, steadily forward to the battle glittering at the horizon. Captain Archile, a seasoned combat veteran, stared determinedly ahead to their drop off zone. Beside them, many other open-topped APCs raced on, also weighed with ECU combatants. The COM link crackled and hissed with static, smothering the screams and yells of men already fighting before them. Hevain detached his curious stare and began fiddling with his CDEW-7 standard issue assault rifle, trying to keep his mind off the videos from training of the first horrible encounters with the Therion race. “Hey, newbie, how you feeling?” Hevain looked up to Buck, seated directly across him. Buck puffed on a cigar as the APC jostled them around. He smiled, and with smoke rushing from his mouth and nostrils, patted his CDEL Pulse Rifle like it was a good dog. “First fight, newbie?” He asked. Hevain nodded. He wasn’t sure exactly how he felt. Fear was knotting itself in his gut, but excitement rushed through his veins. Buck’s deep voice heckled with him as he laughed. Back at ECU Deployment, Hevain could remember how for everyone, but himself, this was all a big Déjà vu. For them, it was second nature. Killing Therions was nothing new, and these men were so skilled in their profession, they almost seemed like an unofficial Therion Extermination Unit. Is that something to be proud of? Maybe not… Hevain had heard rumors of terrible things that TEU combatants had done to Therions who had peacefully surrendered. Sickening things that were as horrendous as what the Therions themselves would do to humans, soldiers or not, who surrendered, or didn’t. His thoughts trailed away as Buck’s irritating laugh faded beneath the roar of the APC’s engine. Captain Archile raised his binoculars to the horizon. He scowled in disappointment and tapped the driver’s shoulder. The driver pressured the brake, and barked into the APC’s radio, “Halt advance!” The column of vehicles slowed to a stop. Hevain looked toward the horizon, wondering why they stopped. The first orange rays of the morning sun were breaking the tip of the hill ahead. Silhouettes of men scurried along the top of the ridge, sharp beams of blue chasing after them, shouting in a frenzy of confusion. They were retreating. “Dismount!” Archile bellowed. Men started to jump from the APC to the damp grass of the plains. Hevain followed Buck over the side. The rest of the APCs beside them unloaded their supplement of soldiers, hundreds in total. They lined in crisp ranks. “There’s been a slight change in plans…” Archile continued, “Instead of us going to the Therions, the Therions are coming to us.” Hevain felt himself sigh louder than he felt comfortable with. Around him, veterans grumbled. They always liked striking the Therion forces, spearheading through their ranks in grizzly and hellish glory that quelled their lust for honor and bloodshed against the monstrous creatures. Buck chewed on the end of his cigar. It didn’t seem at all glorious or honorable – more suicidal and unnerving. Of course, the average soldier would be shredded apart in attempt to what the ECU troopers do. “That ridge you see over there,” Archile said, pointing at the crest lined with the silhouettes of the retreating men, “is to be demolished on sight of the first Therion head to stick up from it’s piss-shit cover. Glassed. Incinerated. Whatever. All of -blam!-ing hell will be fired on that spot until the Therions are sent squealing back to their piss-hole city, burned, de-moralized, and defeated. We have more than enough firepower to blow the entire ridge apart and kill them in their retreat.” He looked to the fleeing soldiers, when his COM crackled with the voice of the CO of the retreating men. Colonel Brickham’s voice, Commanding Officer of the 113th Spearhead Battalion, of the first regiment of soldiers assaulting the Therion-controlled city. Archile smiled while Brickham’s voice stung loudly in his earpiece. It was too hard to make out what he was saying, though everyone around Archile could here that Brickham was unusually unnerved. “Yes sir. Understood.” Archile glanced at the row of APCs and soldiers awaiting the appearance of Therion soldiers. “No sir, that won’t be a problem at all. We’ll handle it. Thank you sir.” Buck spat a smoldering cigar stud into the ground. “What was that about, sir?” He asked. “We outmatch the Therions three to one. Brickham picked off a good count of their infantry before he was overwhelmed. But don’t worry; we have our work cut out for us this morning. It isn’t over yet.” Cocky. That’s what all these men were. So used to winning, to beating the Therions so easily with each fight they had, it was like a game to them. Just a damn game. Too few Therions to kill was boring, they needed to be matched or outmatched so there was plenty of fight to go around. The first of the retreating soldiers arrived, panting heavily. A joyous sensation sparkled in their eyes at the sight of the ECU line. “Goddamn it’s good to see you guys,” One said, leaning up against the APC, “we sure could use your help.” They were battered and dirty. A long night’s fight tolled them of strength and endurance. It was amazing by the fact they were able to make it here. “You look like you need it…” Archile commented to himself. “Join rank. It wouldn’t hurt to have a couple extra guns.” The men nodded diligently and filed in with the ECU combatants. More soldiers arrived, just as exhausted and drained of their strength. Like the others, they joined the ECU soldiers in line to continue fighting. Archile stepped up to a lieutenant whose hand was a black and shriveled mess. “Do you know where Colonel Brickham is?” He asked, in a sharp demanding tone. The lieutenant merely shook his head. “I don’t know sir. He was right behind me when we were retreating…” He looked at his hand. “They were firing at us like mad. It was getting hot. Explosions all around and everything… Infantry and reinforcements popped outta’ nowhere, trying to cut off our retreat. We just ran. A shot glanced my hand, that’s how I got this… But I don’t know where the Colonel is. He was behind me -” His voice hushed away as he stared blankly ahead, remembering the battle. There was nothing more Archile could get from this soldier. “Thank you lieutenant. That’s all. Report to the Medi-Malic on the far end of the column and get that hand checked out. Get some rest too.” “Thank you sir.” The lieutenant left in a slow, morbid manner. Archile didn’t seem to notice. Most soldiers acted strangely after a battle with the Therions. He was either used to it or didn’t care. Archile looked to the ridge with his binoculars once more, and smirked. There were no more retreating infantry. “It’s game time…” Hevain heard him whisper. Archile swung back around, cueing his shoulder-set COM link to the lead APC, “Bravado, focus energy output on that ridge and fire at first sight of the Therions. Maximum power, and don’t stop firing until they’re sent squealing away.” A moment later, the APCs swiveled their CLC turrets towards the ridge that burned with the vivid orange morning sunlight.