One

And then I woke up.

The pain was unbearable, though at the time I didn’t know
what it was, or pain itself for that matter, I had no recollection of
anything. The unimaginable pressure at the back left of my skull
was overwhelming. It was the mother of all migraines, the high
tempo rhythmic feeling so horrid yet natural I could only assume
was an annoyance of what was my first few moments in the new
life I wasn’t aware I was living. My mind was filled with multiple
events on the records of mankind’s greatest successes and
failures, multiple ways to keep myself alive, multiple ways to kill
my killers, multiple ways to secure a battleground, multiple ways
to become a soldier. I knew a hundred ways to kill a man before
he knew what had happened but I did not know my name. My
head was pounding but my mind was thriving on the mass
amount of information that was circulating my brain. Blood was
pouring from my nose; I was having a brain haemorrhage.
And then I died.

He signed his body off for the riches of the future; the
risk of death or sustainment in his bleak life was outweighed
by the potential wealth of a perfect life. Charlie Combes was
a lonely man, a sad being sitting on the back bench of an
unfortunate substandard life, unloved with no one to love.
The cartridge was in the chamber, finger on the trigger and
then he saw what must have been the first instance of
propaganda in history to have saved a life, before leading to
the deaths of others.
Join the UEA – Humanity needs YOU.
Why settle for the mundane?
Have you ever seen the Stars?
Have you ever felt what it’s like to be important?
Well now you can with the United Earth Alliance!
“The hassles of life have never seemed more trivial!”
declared the blonde bombshell model in her tailor fitted UEA
smart dress.
“I’ve never had to worry once about whether I’d paid the
bills, why I had no food or when I was going to be evicted,
with the UEA I can finally do something with my life, feel
needed and wanted” It was perfectly spoken and oh so
scripted but Charlie didn’t care, in his desperate times a
second glance from a strange onlooker would have given him
a reason to go on, even just for that while longer – but now he
had a chance, a real chance to be a new person. Charlie
Combes went to bed that night wishful for the first time in his
life.

And then I woke up.

“Can you tell me your name son?” asked the blurry figure in
the white overcoat
“Are you aware of where you are, what you are doing here?”
asked an equally blurry figure with a more feminine voice.
“No” I replied rather bluntly, but when it feels like burning
rods are being stabbed through your forehead you don’t exactly
feel the need to converse. At least they were polite enough to skip
to phatic talk.
“You are recovering from the most serious change in your
life, Combes” said the manly blurry figure.
“Your memories will recover in time” continued the women
“What’s happening?” I questioned.
“Rest now, we will speak tomorrow morning” dismissed the
man, “for now, don’t try too hard to remember anything you’ll
just give yourself a headache”
 Charlie woke up, the hammer of rain lashing out in
anger on the window failed to dampen his rare mood.
Deciding not to conform to his daily routine, skipping work
and choosing not to study that days trolling of the world’s
shortcomings in the paper gave Charlie a fresh start to what
would have been, again, the day he pulled that trigger.
Charlie stood outside of a building he had walked by
countless times before but was so fixated on why the cars
always miss him when crossing to road that he never even
gave it a first look. The sign read The United Earth Alliance
Careers Office. The UEACO spelt Charlies new future, a
future based on an actresses false words, but what did it
matter, any future was better than his present. He stepped
inside.
“...hello” he stuttered to the intercom on the inside
gallery, “I’m Charlie Combes, um, I called earlier...I'm here
to see Lieutenant Banks?” Moments later the latch opened
with a crack and Charlie proceeded inside and followed the
only route ahead of him. The solid corridor of white led him
to a large open landing filled with a large number of people,
most sitting silently but some sat in the background with a
face all too familiar. He knew why they were joining. Charlie
went and sat down in an open seat next to a smartly dressed
attractive young brunette silently reading a pamphlet on why
she was the greatest asset the UEA had. She saw him looking.
“Its bullshit but that doesn’t stop me feeling flattered”
she said suddenly
“Flattery can get you far” Charlie replied
“Yes, apparently on a ship heading off to God knows
where” she said
“I’m sure he does know” he replied again, “he’s just
hasn’t told us yet”
 “You’re a religionist?” she asked, now looking directly at
Charlie, her head tilted left.
“Oh, God no, excuse the pun...err, just making a
joke...I’m quite sane actually” he said with a smile.
“You think believers are insane?” her tone of voice
dropped judgmentally
“Well, they...no, I mean yes, but...”
“I’m kidding! A bunch of loons the lot of them” she said
stopping Charlie before he finished digging his hole, “Alice
Knight, it’s nice to meet you” she ended placing out her hand
“Charlie Combes” he said shaking her hand

And then I woke up.

“Good morning, Mr Combes. If you can get dressed now
into these please” said the mysterious man, “then you can follow
me.” I did as he said and followed as he instructed. He led me to
a small room with two chairs and a desk; I sat on one while he sat
on the other.
“Hello Mr Combes, I’m Doctor Kauffman, do you remember
anything new?” he asked
“Yes” I replied, “I’m pretty much up to date with everything
now”
“Good, now I apologise but I can’t take your word, I’m
going to ask you questions and you have to answer clearly,
understand?”
I understood.
“Where were you born?”
“London, England, USE”
“Why did you join the UEA?”
“I had nothing better to do”
“Were you fully aware of what would happen?”
“Yes, we’ve all grown up with the UEA...”
“What is happening right now?”
 “I have been selected for the Marines and am undergoing
training”
“Why were you selected for Marine training?”
“I don’t know. My actions at basic? Why was I?”
“Let me ask the questions please Mr Combes, where are you
now?”
“In orbit, awaiting further information”
“Thank you Mr Combes that will be all”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it”
After realising there was nothing left for me in my old life I
decided to join the UEA for “adventure” and “a purpose”, the fact
that they promise riches and benefits after you’ve served your
time certainly helped, what I didn’t account for was being
thought of as extra ‘special’. I had spoken to Lieutenant Banks at
the UEACO, he sent me off to do some aptitude tests and
interviews and three and a bit months later, here I am effectively
being tortured until I become one of the many super soldiers
they’re ‘creating’. Today I finally get to be released from this
baby-sitting affair and leave the confines of the most tormenting
class room in existence and start a gloried lesson of physical
education, I thought I left school years ago, the military did not
agree. School was a pretty dull time for me; so far it has been
quite interesting.

Lieutenant Banks sat there with a stale face; his pen in

hand for another routine talk to someone who thought they
were UEA material.
“Tell me Mr Combes, what do know of the UEA?” Asked
Banks
“Well, not much actually” answered Charlie, “obviously
I know what it was but I only decided to join up only
yesterday”
 “And why was that?” Beckoned Banks
“I’m not really sure to be honest” replied Charlie.
There was a moment of silence while Lieutenant Banks
looked in thought while Charlie stared uncomfortably.
“Return to the UEACO in two days at eleven hundred
hours and then you can begin a few tests and interviews”
Banks stated sharply
“Sorry? What tests” Asked Charlie
“Aptitude tests, nothing to worry about. They are not
difficult but they tell us what we need to know. Thank you,
see you in two days.”
Charlie stumbled out of the room not too sure of what had
just occurred. Departing the UEACO Charlie crossed eyes
with Alice, they shared a smile and for once Charlie felt
content.

I was standing in a large open room, as were 450 other

confused ‘Marines’, not quite sure what they were doing.
Almost as soon as I had made my way to the new, ‘exciting’
section of the Training Centre we were herded through to an even
larger room with a convenient 500 seats for us to place ourselves
into. Most of us sat in silence, the friendlier ones were attempting
conversation with those to their right and left, often to no avail.
Everyone had a look of discomfort of what I assumed was the
ongoing brain pain I had personally been dealing with since our
transfer from basic two weeks previously, though It only seems
like two or three days having been comatose or dead for the other
eleven or twelve.
A burly man wearing the UEA uniform walked in and with
his rough voice clearly and concisely, a way very common to the
UEA, told us what we needed to hear.
“Congratulations, you have survived the preliminary
Marines training; the same cannot be said for those who leave
their seats empty today. You may be somewhat confused as to
why you are suffering from a never ending hangover or why you
seem to know endless amounts of information you never learned.
The simple answer is we stuffed them with what we believe each
of you individually have an aptitude for. Some of you are now
greater doctors then you could have possibly ever been, some of
you are now humanities greatest engineers but all of you are in
the first stages of becoming the greatest task force of soldiers the
UEA has to offer. This overload of information effectively blew
your brain into pieces and for all intents and purposes, you died.”
There was confused silence in the room. We all knew we
were becoming soldiers; this was obvious before we even joined,
we all managed to make it through basic training and we were all
informed of our selection for advanced training but none of us
had a clue of what this strange man was saying, we didn’t know
we were to become marines.
“You will have all noticed the pressure in the back of your
head” continued the burly man. “This is the chip we have placed
in everyone of you,” there was an uneasy shift all of the seats, “it
is the most important part of your body from now on, it keeps
you alive, it retains the information needed to keep you from
becoming a vegetable. It will be the greatest asset to you on the
battlefield. All of your body’s functions are still controlled by the
brain though only at the command of the chip.”
“A side effect of the advanced training,” persisted the man,
dismissing his cold statements, “was a collapse in your short term
memory, this is where the chip comes in and records everything
and slowly over time tricks the body into creating a permanent
copy.” Everyone sat staring gormlessly; some were slyly feeling
the back of their skulls. It was understandable enough to take in;
similar technology has been used for years to counter illnesses
like Alzheimer’s. It was quite a paranoid feeling thinking your
brain was working just fine, and then suddenly discovering your
mental well being wasn’t in natural hands anymore. Things still
felt exactly the same, but they were now different.
“Today you begin body augmentation followed by a visit to
our resident shrink, dismissed”
The man was gone as soon as he appeared, he gave us no
time to ask questions but left us to simply appreciate what he was
saying and dwell on it enough for it to make sense. Body
augmentation didn’t sound nice.”

“Well done Mr Combes, this is the information you will

need to hand over before you enter the shuttle. It departs at
oh nine hundred, Thursday morning. It will be a three hour
flight to Florida by which that time you will have a few hours
before all responsibility is handed over to the appropriate
UEA forces in the area.”
Handing over the details to Charlie, Lieutenant Banks
extended his hand as to wish Charlie good luck. Charlie
understood the Lieutenant wasn’t the grumpy depressive he
seemed the first time they had met, it was obvious there were
many people who wasted his time in those initial sessions.
Charlie was now a UEA recruit, it only took 5 weeks and his
life changed more in that time than it did in 15 years. Charlie
knew barely anything about what he was doing or where he
was going. This excited him.
It wasn’t Charlie's naivety that led him to his ignorance,
the majority of Earth and most of its Colonies did not
understand the full power or motives of humanities biggest
controlling government. The most widely agreed answer is
that, in times of need, long ago, nations banded together
against the first other earthly species discovered, at an initial
first contact meeting they concluded we were a future threat
and thus wiped out the greeting party, that was 200 years ago
and since nothing has been heard of them. The UEA rose
from the ashes of trivial nothings that came from the world’s
acknowledgment that there were greater threats than
themselves and thus the most successful martial law enforced
dictatorship came to be. It’s not that people are too ignorant
to want to know more about the UEA but the organisation
themselves filter what they deem unnecessary knowledge the
public need not know. Everyone knew most of the roles a
UEA soldier would take. They would be a peace keeping force
for those who surfaced as a threat. About once a year or so
some colony, somewhere, would create an issue that needed
resolving. What Charlie didn’t know was that the UEAs
overall intentions were to amass an unbeatable force for when
in the presence of enemies unknown. No peacekeeping force
needs the population of Europe.
Charlie was now going to be in-the-loop, someone he
thought would make a difference, what difference he didn’t
know but his life was young. They sent him off to the Orbital
Defence Command and Training Centre, the ODCTC, where
he would begin 5 weeks of basic training before being sent off
to wherever he was thought of as useful, it just so happens
that he was quite a bit better in this life than his last.

“Name: Charlie Combes – Age: 25 – Sex: Male” dictated the

shrink, “parents and sister died as collateral damage between the
local police enforcement and the group of religious extremists
acting up around the area, is that correct?”
“...” I was shocked, he was more to the point than any UEA
Officer I’d ever spoken with and he was supposed to be a doctor!
“One of the police shot your sister in the forehead mistaking
her to have been in possession of an armed device while your
mother and father were gunned down by the extremists. Quite a
traumatic experience don’t you think?”
I stared at this ‘shrink’ was there a point to this I wondered.
 “I wasn’t there at the time, I decided to stay home, but yes
the news was shocking”
“Why did you decide to stay home?” asked the shrink
“Because I had a fight with my parents that night”
“What about?” he asked leaning forward, leading me into a
false sense of security, shrinks are sneaky bastards.
“They wouldn’t let me take the day off school the next day”
“I see. Quite an inconsequential episode when you link it to
what happened later on that night, don’t you think?”
“Of course it was,” I replied in a snap
“But you did get the day off the next day?” he said in a tone
of voice I did not approve of.
“Yes.”
“What did you think of this?”
“I didn’t think anything at the time, my family was murdered
– do you really think I gave a shit that I got my way?”
“You’d be surprised” answered the shrink.
“Is there a reason why you’re bringing this up?” I asked
hoping to deter the conversation
“Yes, actually, that was 10 years ago, it may seem like a long
time ago, but you’d be surprised how you harbour emotions”
“And?” I was becoming more frustrated
“How did you find today’s body augmentation?”
“What? Well, it wasn’t a serious augment, why?” the drastic
change of subject put me off guard, today they infused our
muscles with some form of liquid that seeped into our pours, it
tightens the muscles and makes them more resilient to shock,
Doctor Cortez says we’ll be fine for now, but tomorrow there will
be more than one muscle stiff in the morning. The shrink
continued with his interrogation.
“Quite a body shock, don’t you think?”
“Well, if they’re gonna make us stronger I don’t see why
not...”
 “Why do you think they’re making you stronger?”
“I don’t know? Because they thought we did well at basic
and decide we can do better?”
“True, but why you?”
“Listen, can’t you just ask some people higher in the chain
of command? They’ll know a lot more than me.” I was getting
quite fed up, I never liked therapy.
“Oh, I know Mr Combes I’m just wondering if you do.” His
cryptic sentence wound me up even more.
“Well I don’t know,” I snapped.
“You handled your parents’ deaths well; you kept your cool
and were not overwhelmed with emotion. It took you 11 years
before it became too much, before survivor’s guilt kicked in and
you realised that that night had destroyed your life”
“What are you getting at?” I questioned
“Your suicidal tendencies Mr Combes”
“What?! I don’t have any!”
“Don’t patronise me Mr Combes, whatever matter, it’s not
an issue. Your history shows you have a mentality of keeping
your cool and your lack of self preservation gives us a good
insight to how you would act when the heavy rain falls.”
“So I was chosen because I almost killed myself once?”
“That and your actions at basic training, you’re Marine
material son, feel honoured”
“I thought the Marines were those who outdid themselves,
the best of the bed
“That’s right,” answered the shrink, always sounding
condescending, “that was how things were done, but in this day
and age we can make you the best of the best.”
I just nodded and agreed, I was tired and I wanted sleep.
“Enjoy tomorrow,” said the shrink, “don’t have too much
fun.” I thought did he really have to be so creepy, it didn’t matter
though, I was looking forward to the start of real advanced
training.

“Now approaching ODCTC,” spoke to voice from the

shuttles intercom,” please prepare for a slight bump. It is
nothing to worry about.” This was Charlie’s first space flight,
they weren’t rare, but they weren’t exactly common. At the
start of the era of Colonisation millions left to see the stars,
most were never heard from again – maybe because they
found homes on other worlds but a lot of the time they failed
to find them. It wasn’t until the organisation that would later
become the UEA gave a helping hand and encouraged people
to head out that successful attempts were created. Most
planets weren’t suitable for human life be it an incompatible
atmosphere, gravity issues or, though it has never happened,
conflict from a native force. Those planets that were
discovered were never perfect and thus terraforming had to
occur and still, even then, it wasn’t Earth. Nevertheless, the
Colonies would eventually become home to over a billion
lives. The role of the UEA was to protect Earth its Colonies
from threats, the only possible threat known were the race
not seen in two centuries, there were high hopes of never
seeing them again.
Charlie was amazed by Zero Gravity, they weren’t
allowed to leave their seats but it didn’t mean he didn’t feel it.
The recruits were heavily chaperoned when leaving the
shuttle to the ODCTC, they didn’t want anyone hurting
themselves floating about. As always, the recruits were
herded into a large room to go play with other recruits.
Charlie gave a shy look out to see if his ‘Earth friend’, Alice,
was there. She wasn’t. Still floating about, a booming voice
was heard.
 “Could you please all place yourselves as close to the
ground as possible, use the guide ropes to do so. Could you
please make sure you are in a comfortable seating position
within the next fifteen seconds.”
Charlie was curious but obeyed. Within 15 seconds Charlie
felt more and more pressure on his body, within another
15seconds he felt heavier than he did on Earth. Charlie
turned tried to question to the nearest UEA member he could
find but was told to keep quiet. The booming voice was heard
again.
“Thank you for your patience; you are now experience
gravity at 1.2 times gravity of that relative to Earth.”
He turned again to the man, slower than usually – adjusting
himself to a slightly heavier gravity.
“Artificial gravity? That doesn’t exist?”
In a snappy reply the man said “it does for the UEA” then
went on his business.
Charlie was amazed at even this little snippet of
technology the UEA had at its grasp. Artificial gravity did
exist of course, but to have an entire station harness it? Even
Charlie’s unscientific brain found that hard to fathom.
Charlie didn’t think too much of it though, he was looking
forward to the start of basic training.

Two

It hurt to think let alone walk, but perversely, I felt strong.

As it turns out the ‘liquid’ used to strengthen the muscles was
nothing but millions of nanomachines, much smaller than
anything I’d ever read about on Earth. They latch themselves
onto the muscle’s and dampen shock by spreading it out over a
micro-protective layer and increasing the amount of pressure a
muscle could take before tearing. A bullet will still mess you up
but it’s safer than nothing. The pain wasn’t helped by today’s
increase in gravity, we were now on 2.2 times Earth gravity, I
wasn’t looking forward to how many EG’s they expected us to
take. The UEA gave us the benefit of the doubt for the first view
days after the information overload; they stopped the military
clock for us to recover and didn’t enforce the hierarchy. This all
stopped with the start of physical advanced training.
“Forget about any achievements you may have acquired in
your time at basic,” bellowed a new, even burlier man than
previously, “they mean nothing to me. You have proven nothing
to me and I swear if I’m not weeping like a baby when you kids
fuck off into the big dangerous world you will be held back and
forced to repeat again and again, scrubbing each and every shitter
as you go, until I’m proud to send you off to die, you get me?”
“We get you!” we screamed back. We knew it was an act but
it didn’t mean it wasn’t intimidating.
“Now I know none of you feel like you’d be able move a
metre. But do I care what you feel? Run. Forward. NOW!” He
was certainly louder than Sergeant Baker from basic. We ran.
“And when you come to a wall, turn - the fuck - around. Don’t
stop ‘till I say.” His voice never changed volume, it’s like it
increased with distance. “I need a shit; maybe I’ll make myself a
nice cup of tea. I’ll see you weedy fucks when I feel like coming
back.” He was gone and we kept on running.
Unlike all other advanced training, Marine training stayed
onsite at the Training Centre in the ‘left wing’ of the four by two
kilometre long super structure. The setting wasn’t drastically
different than basic. It had similar training facilities, though the
classrooms were replaced by the mind-fuck rooms that would
both kill you and make you a historical military genius. There
were supposed to be just fewer than 500 recruits for the Marines
but unfortunately some minds take a brain haemorrhage worse
than others. They were unable to ‘fix’ the brain and thus. Dead.
The biggest difference, though, between the centre section of
Training Centre and where we were positioned was the amount of
space in the main rec-room compared to basic. It was amazing. It
had been massive in basic, with different options for terrain,
weather and all that magic but Marines training demanded a need
for bigger and better. The main room we spent most of our
exercises in was six hundred by four hundred metres; our
barracks were right next to it. It was strange to think I’d been
living in space for 2 months, with the exception of the basic
training final exercise on earth. I’m not too sure how long I
actually will have to live in space come to think of it
When the DI, Sergeant Jackson, told us to run to the wall, he
always referred to the one 600 metres apart from the other. This
not only meant our endless runs of 20 to 30 clicks were
monotonous and boring, usually running the same distance
backwards and forwards 50 times – especially when he turned off
terrain features. It also meant Jackson was able to leave us for as
long as he wanted. I swear sometimes he forgot about us, no one
can be that cruel.

It had been two days since Charlie arrived at the

ODCTC and in that short time they had increased the gravity
to 1.25EG. It was the first day of basic training. The day
before, Charlie had been split into a manageable section of 10
people. That meant that there were only 350 other sections
training in this recruiting season. First on the agenda was
‘basic’ (everything was basic for the next 5 weeks) contextual
knowledge of the Universe, with the signing of secrecy acts
beforehand of course, though they weren’t likely to meet
anyone in orbit that wasn’t aware of they were about to find
out.
“Hello Section F, I am Corporal Middlewick. Over the
next two weeks you will come to grips with the UEAs actions
over the last two centuries. Two weeks is all we have so listen
carefully and don’t piss about.” She was strict but
wonderfully beautiful. It was a safe bet that the men, and
possibly some women, would hang off her words. Whether
they took anything in was a bonus, suffice to say she would
have their attention one way or another.
“The modern UEA is first and foremost a defensive
organisation stretching back three hundred and fifty years in
various different titles, but over time it has formed into
humanities greatest governmental force, specifically the last
two hundred after the United Earth Treaty. We control eighty
percent of every human settlement with Earth as the main
HQ, the other twenty either failed to see the benefits of our
protection or they are religious extremists believing they are
doing their god’s will. These extremists have been the UEAs
greatest threat for over a century now. Contrary to popular
belief we do not ‘cull’ them, we trade embargo them if they
cause us hassle, it’s simple and effective but can make them
angry, but they soon quiet done when they understand that its
effectively nine to one odds against them.”
She went on for 3 hours about the modern history of the UEA
until she finally got to the subject that Charlie and the other 9
Recruits were waiting for.
“Now I know you’re all interested in the events of ‘First
Contact’ but I’m sorry, it’s not as exciting as you may have
thought growing up with the rumours. I’ll put things straight:
we made first contact with a race known to us as Juri, we sent
a diplomatic party to extend and offer of peace, they did not
return to favour, the convoy we sent was destroyed, 4000
souls lost. We’ve been in a technical state of war since. Let’s
just hope the reason they haven’t returned is because they’re
scared.”
The class let out a chuckle until the Corporal spoke again.
 “We’re not sure about their technology level, we’re not
sure where they are, we’re not sure if we would be a match.”
Charlie understood the meaning of ignorance being bliss. She
continued with her history lesson while Charlie’s eyes became
heavier.

“To me, you are geeks, huge puss ridden nerds with nothing
more than a glorified encyclopaedia in those swollen minds of
yours that’s only alive thanks to your precious technology.”
It was oh four hundred, thirty minutes before we were supposed
to be assaulted by Sergeant Jackson’s own personal
personification of his morning glory. It was pitch black but he
was there. Our eardrums burst in unison as we fell from our beds.
Having the top bunk sometimes wasn’t a good thing. He was
standing there in the centre of the room while we scurried in utter
blackness to perfectly dress ourselves. He could have been right
in front of any of us. Intimidation at its finest, the theatrical
bastard. The lights came on suddenly, they were blinding. When
my vision returned I was the unlucky one who caught Jacksons
attention.
“I generously gave you 45 seconds to get your shit together
and you give me this?” He was staring with his bloodshot eyes
directly at second top button on my DPMs. I failed to do it up. I
paid the price.
“God damn Section F, you can thank your lucky stars. There
was I, in my calm and collective state of mind, thinking I’ll
attempt to learn more about you. I wanted to know if, like me,
you liked to watch the sun in the seas horizon as it sunk into the
beautiful abyss below, but no. Combes here must have thought it
was a lovely day for a run. Now go! I don’t care if you’re not
dressed. If you are in my eye line in three seconds you’ll be
scrubbing the shitters for the next three months. And remember
you retarded fucks turn around when you get to the wall.”
Simmons didn’t turn around; he collapsed before he could, the
pressure must have got to him. The group punishment for that
was far worse than mine. People forgot about my inability to
button up, I got lucky.

“Today,” said Charlie, the newly promoted section leader,

“we are merging into platoons. Sections F, F two and G will
create 4th platoon, I will be two IC while Section Leader
Knight will be the acting Corporal.” Knight’s platoon began
the day with a vigorous regime of fitness training but ended
on a surprisingly low key affair. Instead of the evening
planned, another hearty fitness session, it was a mild 15km
run due to the death of one of 2nd Platoon’s recruits in a live
fire accident. Charlie felt an overwhelming feeling of
gratitude to the idiot who failed to understand what contact
between ones face and speeding metal brought about. He
didn’t believe he could be so callous but then again he
wondered if anyone would care if it were him.
Charlie has bumped into Alice Knight in the gymnasium
a week previously. When they weren’t participating in
training exercises the recruits had not much else available to
them, so they were encouraged to train some more.
Charlie was deliberating moving up the bench press weight
another notch. He wasn’t unfit back on Earth but in the seven
weeks between committing himself to join and that moment
where he didn’t want the weight machine to take his pride he
had made sure he wasn’t the weakest of the weak for when
basic started. The downside was the daily gravity increase
formed a need to lower the weights to be able to actually lift
anything. Charlie was only 3 notches from his best Earth
weight. He decided there was no harm in trying. He placed
his back on the cold, firm bench with his legs placed hard on
the ground, bracing himself. Charlie wrapped his hands
around the rough metal bar, arms shoulder width apart and
pushed. He struggled with his first rep, then his second and
finally realised he wasn’t going to make it to the eight or ten
he set himself. Maybe next time, he thought to himself
admitting defeat and returning the weight back to 55kg. Alice
had been watching from a distance and when Charlie
embarrassingly noticed he blushed and walked over to greet
his ‘old friend’.
“Maybe next time” she said in a friendly but patronising
tone.
“Maybe” he repeated before coming into a close enough
proximity to greet her. “Hello Alice”
“Hello Charlie,” there wasn’t any uncertainty in her
voice. Charlie was pleasantly surprised she remembered him.
“I wouldn’t be embarrassed” she continued, “You’re still
lifting more than anyone in my section.”
“My?” Charlie questioned, “You got section leader?”
“Yeah, they told me last night. I was surprised but
flattered”
“They told me last night too, I told Sergeant Baker I was
honoured and he told me not to be, that he gave me the role
because shit roles downhill and instead of spreading his over
10 people he can put it all on me. I’d like to believe that’s his
rough exterior saying ‘good effort’”
Alice giggled and gave Charlie a smile before looking at her
watch.
“Twenty two hundred” she stated, “I think I better hit
the sack, it’s great to see you Charlie, I didn’t think you made
it to training.”
“you too” Charlie quickly responded before watching her
walk off, he thought to himself why he couldn’t find a girl like
that back on Earth.
 I just couldn’t make the shot. I needed to fire my rifle 50
meters into the two inch circle. It shouldn’t be too hard, I had
done it many times before on basic, but yet I couldn’t make it
today, maybe it was Sergeant Jackson’s breath on the back of my
neck. I had one more attempt before Jackson realised I was
falling behind. I took the shot and got it in with a few millimetres
to spare.
“All right” roared Jackson, “you’ve shown me all of you can
make at least one shot with your training rifles but that means
jack all. Here I present you with your new toy.” It was black,
looked similar to our G-7L rifles from basic but with a longer
barrel and a larger display at the back.
“The biggest difference between the G-7L and the GT-8L is
stupid fucks without Marines training can only fire the G-7L. You
not-so-stupid fucks can fire the GT-8L.” His profanity and slurs
didn’t really bother any of us anymore; in fact I don’t think we
notice it really.
“You all know you have a chip in your brain, well it wasn’t
just to keep you alive.” He truly got our attention on that one.
“The GT-8L assault rifle is designed to work with your chip and
your chip only. It tells you when your rifle is damaged, what
needs fixing, when you need to reload, what type of ammunition
you are using. Now I don’t know how this all works because I’m
not pathetic enough to need these cheats to be an effective
soldier.”
After practise with our geetee’s it became second nature to
understand its processes. Our chips weren’t some type of super
computer that spoke to us, when we were running low on rounds
we would get a feeling, a sixth sense that soon we would have to
reload. When my weapon clogged I knew full well how to clear
out the round from the chamber but it didn’t stop the rifle telling
me I had to. It was a strange sensation to have a whole new set of
feelings that you never grew up with but they soon became
natural. We’d have to rely very much on our weaponry intuition
for the final training exercise. We’d be going back to Earth.

There had been chuckles throughout the entirety of 4th

platoon for 24 straight hours. Everyone was jumping,
throwing what they could about to each other. The heavier
the better. When compared to 2EG, Earth’s gravity was a
playground. No one understood the effects the gravity
increase was having on their bodies, now they did and they
loved it.
“Listen up” shouted acting Corporal Alice Knight, “this
is our final exercise and I want it done without any error. The
amount of shit I’ve gotten because of your stupid mistakes is
remarkable but it ends now. Am I clear?”
There was an echo of ‘yes corporal’ from 4th Platoon that
would make any leader proud.
“Combes” insisted Alice.
“Thank you,” said Charlie, “Ok, the mission is clear.
Platoons one to three are holding the outpost, think of it as
the centre of the circle; we are at a point seven clicks from it
while Platoons five and six are at an equal distance on
another point of the circumference. We have forty minutes to
get there and given the gravity it shouldn’t be too difficult.
We will attack at approximately oh one forty, 5th Platoon will
instigate then attack while us and 6th Platoon will follow. Our
exact target will be the power grid and we must take it out
before 5th platoon break into the outpost. We will have ten
minutes to scope out the ground when we get there,
understood?” There was a definite agreement from the
platoon, 28 men and women ready to follow Alice and
Charlie’s commands. Charlie would never stop thinking how
we went from pointing the gun at himself to having others
point theirs at his say.
 “Remember,” Alice began, “we have equal numbers.
Three platoons on three platoons. We are supposedly at a
disadvantage if we acknowledge the three to one ratio
believed to be needed to win over a defensive position. Well, I
say believe, but to me it is subjective word made up to cover
something that can’t be proved, therefore we will choose not
to believe this assertion but instead show military intelligence
just how intelligent they are!” Charlie looked onward at
Knight, he couldn’t help but understand her bumping up to
Platoon leader. She was a natural. At 22 years old she finally
made the age she had been waiting for her entire life. The
UEA is what she wanted and the UEA is what she got.
20 minute fast march. 60 second break. 19 minute fast
march and there they were, looking down over the cliff face to
what looked like an impenetrable fortress. Thick steel walls
surrounded by sentries on guard duty, turret defences and
presumably the remaining forces burrowed down inside.
“I count 29 outside,” started Carl, “eight at the back, six
on the sides with nine at the front linked with main entrance”
“Two turrets, front and back” began Scott
“That leaves 61 inside” ended Alice
“Must be cramped” interrupted Charlie
“Split into original sections” ordered Alice, “section F:
proceed in the direction of the power grid.” The grid was at
the back of the outpost, it was shielded by its own structure
but with a section of 10 it shouldn’t be too much of a
problem.
“Section F two: cover section F from the hills, sniping
positions – stay low and out of site. Section G: you will attack
the front; you will cause a diversion, stay covered, cause a
fuss and get their attention.”
It had been 9 minutes spotting time, 5th Platoon were bound
to be in position. While we came from the west, 5th came from
the north. Leaked communication had let out information on
an attack from the east, thus 6th platoon would come from the
south, from 3 hours previously it had been radio silence. The
attack began in 40 seconds.
The first shot was fired bang on time. Milliseconds after,
Section F2 began their lead shower, endless amounts of low
velocity poison rounds heading for each of their friends. They
wouldn’t kill them, but they’d certainly force them to hit the
ground and the feeling for the following hours was not going
to be pleasant for any of them.
“Section F, move!” bellowed Alice
“On me” Charlie shouted to his section
Charlie led his 9 men down the embankment. They sprinted
to the side of building closest to them and needed to head to
the back. Section G were doing their job as planned, the
enemy forces had been cut down from 29 to 20 in the initial
onslaught and all of them were focussed onto on the section,
Charlie wondered how Alice was coping. Charlie, still acting
as second in command of the platoon signalled for Section F2
to leave from their covering positions and flank the guard
forces attacking section G. Charlie then set 6 of his section to
form a position outside of the power grid and sent the
remaining 3 inside to clear and perform their task. There
were no forces inside the grid room, Charlie was starting to
worry. He had a fair reason to be and thus contacted Alice,
breaking radio silence.
“It was too easy,” Charlie said bluntly.
“They’re not putting a lot of effort into their attack”
agreed Alice.
Charlie asked where 6th Platoon was and in perfect dramatic
timing two shots were heard and two of his men were floored,
the fell to the ground limp, the only thing missing was an exit
wound a possibly a blown off limb. In haste Charlie re-
formed his section and herded them into the grid room
fearing it was to become his Alamo.
“I count 35 on the cliff line, give or take” immediately
informed Carl.
“Combes update” demanded Alice.
“Closed in, need assistance.”
Unbeknownst to Charlie, Alice silently sent the undercover
Section F2 to take out as many ambushing enemies as possible,
they took out 11 before they were compromised and had to
retreat losing 2 of their own, but it gave Charlie the time to
fall back. There were now 26 remaining for Charlie and Alice
with 18 guard forces and 24 ambushers, who had the high
ground. 5th Platoon made quick work of the guard forces as
4th Platoon’s accidental distraction kept the enemies’ eyes off
them. Losing 4 on the way down Alice couldn’t help but keep
note that 4th and 5th Platoons had lost the same numbers, she
wanted to make sure 4th Platoon didn’t lose the most, for
competitions sake. The tables had turned, it was roughly 2:1,
on the surface, in favour of Alice’s Platoon, though with the
‘death’ of acting Corporal Keynes in 5th Platoon it meant she
now had all 48 under her command. Things happened fast.
Alice split her forces with 30 sprinting around, taking at most
3 minutes, to flank the ambush forces with the remaining 18
as diversion. Charlie was in charge of the distraction force.
He ordered buzz grenades to be thrown, giving them roughly
10 seconds of moving time before the particles disintegrate
clearing the enemies view. They ran, and in blind fire lost 2
more before coming behind cover and having to stick it out
for another 2 minutes. They assumed 6th Platoon was wiped
out, they assumed correctly. Alice risked another break in
radio silence.
“Now.” And with that order we leapt over cover losing
Jane in the process just as Alice’s command opened fire. The
confusion led to them almost dismissing Charlies force,
running and firing directly at them they scored many hits
until finally Alice took the final shot. 26 down, 8 lost. After a
quick calculation Carl noted there were roughly 26 of them
left bunkered inside with 40 of them. They needed to be
sensible.
Alice chose to wait it out for a few hours. See if they
would come out. They didn’t. They organised their plan. They
acknowledged its risks but decided in context none of them
were going to die so in this instance they accepted it.
4 hours went by then without any noticeable warning
they stormed the front. They would have liked to have blown
a hole in the side but unfortunately that may have caused
casualties. Throwing buzz grenade after buzz grenade they
stormed through the doors in their moment of blindness.
Knowing that there was only one entrance the enemy forces
fired simply in that direction. That’s how 12 of Alice’s forces
were taken out, including Alice herself. Charlie’s head-chip
gave him another feeling of this occurrence. Handy because
he now knew he had command of the 28 forces still
remaining. During the buzz-time Charlie’s forces successfully
cleared out all those in view. He thought it was a shame Carl
‘died’, he was good with numbers. Charlie wasn’t. He
supposed there were around 10 left in the back room. With
the power down they were using night lenses. It ended a lot
easier than Charlie thought. After one buzz grenade, 3
enemies down and 1 friendly lost the remaining enemy forces
declared surrender. Obviously the person in command was
hoping to justify that saving 7 or 8 lives was better than
nothing.
Things were different now, thought Charlie. 13 weeks
ago he would never have believed he would lead a winning
force in humanities historically biggest army. He felt proud of
himself. He was a different person. He was a tough person,
brave and willing to trust, to believe in those around him and
try his best to do whatever to aid them. For while he felt
important, for a while he was happy with his new life.

You could call it ‘graduation day’, it was a strange feeling.

When we came out of basic we all knew we were only going onto
another training course. This time they were splitting us up. Ten
or so from each platoon were to be stationed onboard a
designated ship; I was to be posted to the Samurai, a mixed class
ship, mainly infantry with a quarter crew being Marines.
Throughout the Marines training they had increased my muscles
beyond belief.
The nanomachines, now covering my entire body and
sunken into the muscle in multiple layers had hardened. I had
now spent three months with daily updates both to my neural
pathways, constantly updating my head-chip, and my body. The
muscles were the main focus area with a few operations here and
there to update senses such as touch and sight. We were now well
equipped with the ability to tell most objects with our finger tips
just as easy as we could with our eyes, similarly, our eyes were
now much more prepared for low light environments. It made
everyone of us feel like the strongest people in the universe. On
top of all of this we had all spent 5 months, on the Training
Centre, with ever increasing gravity. We were now on 4EG and I
was able to lift almost double the weight I could before I started
basic, even with the gravity.
After my reflection on just how much I had changed,
physically that is, I still had a lot of time to question my
personality, it hit me hard just how tough Sergeant Jackson was.
We had been augmented beyond belief, strong thanks to science.
We were standing up in 4EG, it was fair enough that could take it,
but Jackson was not augmented at all yet there he was, back
straight. I don’t think anyone else realised.
It was the morning of the end of training and the beginning
of the rest of my life. The ships were all formed together, an
armada, forty five of them, each ready for ten of us. I caught my
first glimpse of the Samurai from the portside window of the
Training Centre. It was mesmerising. Alice and I shared a glance
before I saw her board her shuttle to the Centurion. If Jackson
wasn’t in the room I may have shed a tear. Jackson watched us
all, in silence, as we boarded our separate shuttles to our selected
ships. He didn’t even crack a smile. I hoped he was joking about
the crying-like-a-baby threat.

Only eight weeks into basic training and things were

coming to an end. Given the recruits need to know basis they
were not told of results from their previous aptitude tests,
they were not told what would happen once they had
‘graduated’ from basic training and they were not told what
options they could choose from, or couldn’t for that matter.
Only eight weeks into basic and Charlie was told what he
needed to know.
Charlie was called to briefing room two, as were five
hundred other recruits.
“Ok, listen up” declared a burly man Charlie would see
again after the following two weeks in which he would die for
his first time, “I’m going to make this quick. All of you here,
through our reviews on each of you, have been chosen for The
Marines. Your training will begin tomorrow as you do not
have to leave the Training Centre. Report here tomorrow at
oh eight hundred. Dismissed.
Charlie thought it was very sudden, he didn’t know what
it meant to have been chosen for Marines training. He didn’t
see Alice in the room, thoughts went through his mind, the
burly man mentioned the others had to leave the Training
Centre, maybe they had left? Maybe he’d never see her
again? Charlie didn’t want to feel upset; in the grand scheme
of things he had only known her through the various training
for 5 months. There had not been any time for rest and
relaxation to ‘catch a drink’. She probably didn’t care for
him and nothing more needed to be said. The thought still led
on his mind...or more on his head-chip. He would see Alice
though; he would see her at the mess hall that evening and he
prepared for his final moments with his platoon leader.
Heading over with his overflowing plate of food, Charlie
did as he always did: he went and sat with his platoon. Eight
weeks of training had led to an unofficial structure of those
who were obvious leaders and those who didn’t mind being
led. Much to Charlie’s surprise it turns out he was a leader,
an effective one at that, he wasn’t made platoon 2IC for no
reason. The men and women under his ‘command’ thought
his quiet manner evoked a serious outlook, someone you
didn’t mess with, his clear and concise orders left no one
wondering what he wanted and gave no time to question him.
Alice on the other hand, as lovely as Charlie thought she was,
had a fire in her. She was strict, to the point. She knew what
she wanted and damn well made sure people did it. Together
they made a good team, no one raised an eyebrow about her
‘death’ at the Earth exercise when it was revealed it was
through her actions in taking out 3 enemies before blockading
the doorway allowing entrance for everyone. Charlie thought
to himself that it was good while it lasted. Charlie was late at
the table; most people had finished and were already heading
off to the barracks for their first early night in two months.
“I’d just like to say,” started Alice, “you’ve been amazing
over the last one and a half months; I don’t know how
productive our platoon would have been without them
actually like you, they may have mutinied.”
“They didn’t hate you” I replied, “we’ve been taught
enough that if you’re too friendly with your command they’ll
use and abuse you, they were definitely not going to cross you
twice, it’s called respect. I think they would have gone against
Sergeant Baker before you!” they both shared a laugh and
Charlie proceeded with the cordial thanks for the last weeks.
“Where are you going next then?” Charlie asked will all
sincerity.
“Well, get this, they’ve put me forward for Air Force
training!” Charlie didn’t know whether to look shocked or
not, he didn’t know where that measured up with The
Marines. Neither did Alice so they decided to agree that they
had outdone themselves and feel proud. Alice had finished her
meal long before Charlie but she waited for him enjoying his
company. When Charlie had finished they both got up
knowing it was probably the last time they’d ever see each
other. They shared a friendly embrace and a kiss on each
other’s cheek then walked their separate ways to their
barracks.
The next morning Charlie was told to enter a body
shaped chamber being told it was the start of Marines
training, the next time he woke up, he died.