Dawn was just beginning to break over New Rhodes, but the sky was already lit with columns of fire as hundreds of anti-aircraft batteries unleashed their fury into the heavens. A swarm of black-hulled assault boats were descending through the atmosphere, flanked by squadrons of smaller dropships and gunships, bobbing and weaving to dodge oncoming fire. Craft after craft dodged just a second too late, and was ripped to shreds by flak. Clouds of missiles darkened the sky, attempting to overwhelm the ships' flashing point-defense lasers through sheer volume. The sound was deafening, from the steady, chest-vibrating thump of the air defense guns to the earsplitting scream of missiles and earthshaking roar of exploding spacecraft. Strapped to a seat from head to toe in the dark belly of an assault boat, freshly minted Private Saara Madrelan was terrified. The troop compartment was only lit by a single large red light above the currently-sealed ramp, and even with her excellent night vision, Saara struggled to make out anything around her clearly. The boats were originally designed for 100 Human soldiers in full power armor, but the Liberation Front generally considered capacity limits to be more suggestions than rules and had crammed almost two hundred other alien Sha'dee into the vehicle with her. Even though she couldn't see, Saara could feel them all around her using the sensory lines on her flanks. She could sense their fear and distress, which only compounded her own. Each explosion outside caused everyone to hiss and shiver, clutching their weapons impotently and flattening their pointed ears. The compartment reeked of gun oil, rocket fuel, sweat and fear. Only half a meter from Saara's head, she could make out an irregular bit of hull where it had clearly been penetrated and later patched. She swallowed and looked away, trying to keep her hastily-devoured breakfast down as the boat rattled through the atmosphere like a tin can behind an aircar.

Eventually, the explosions seemed to thin out, and the vehicle's path became more stable. They must have passed under the envelope of some of the defenses. Dozens of sighs of relief echoed throughout the hold, and Saara finally began to get control of her breathing. It was only a brief reprieve however, as the boat began to swoop in for a landing and the g-forces threw them all back into their seats. In a matter of minutes, they began to slow and Saara felt all the buckles holding her to the seat click and fall apart. The light turned yellow and got a lot brighter, and everyone staggered groggily to their feet, trying to find footing on weak knees and a shifting deck. Saara could now feel the full weight of her gear, from her rifle, a massive and heavy thing clearly designed for a Human, to the dumb-armor harness digging into her slender shoulders. She was completely hemmed in by other soldiers, unable to even stretch her tail for fear of hitting someone. A larger female standing next to her slapped Saara on the back and yelled into her ear over the noise of the engines.

"Close your sunlids, boot!"

Before Saara had a chance to take the other girl's advice the ramp fell open and she was blinded by the sunlight flooding into the compartment. She heard a klaxon bellowing and felt everyone around her surge forward, bearing her with them out into the bright morning sun. As Saara's eyes got used to the sudden increase in light, closing her tinted secondary eyelids to tame the glare, she realized with relief that she was not on a battlefield. They were standing in a staging area by an airfield, which was bustling with troops and vehicles. There was an entire field of atmospheric VTOLs in various states of repair and re-fueling, crawling with Sha'dee mechanics and crew chiefs, not to mention the forest of tents clustered wherever they wouldn't get in the way. 

Dominating the area was the spaceport's central building, which had been hastily converted into what a large banner proudly proclaimed was the field headquarters of 1st Brigade, 369th Airmobile Infantry Division, 3rd Army, Orion Arm Liberation Front. Not that you wouldn't be able to tell by the number of Liberation Front flags draped about the place, featuring the rebellion's signature twin black fists, one Human, one Xeno, breaking a chain against a dark red backround. Saara had the same symbol sewn to various places on her uniform, and painted on the outer surface of her left shoulder pauldron. She was frankly surprised they hadn't tattooed it to her forehead. She felt her goggles vibrating, and pulled them down over her eyes. The augreal display was simple, primitive and utilitarian, but it showed her a virtual line on the blacktop which she was supposed to follow to find her unit, which the display informed her was Section 1 of 1st Platoon, Charlie Squadron, 177th Aerodragoons. It also informed her why; she was a replacement for one Pvt. Korth, who was KIA a couple days previously.

Saara wandered through the herd of soldiers and mechanics for a good while before stumbling into a group of tents to the south of the main building which her augreal labeled as the home of 1st Platoon. She stood there for a bit, trying to figure out what to do next, when a figure burst out of one of the tents and began stalking towards her. It was another female Sha'dee, much taller than Saara with brilliant orange hair and clever, piercing purple eyes. Saara couldn't help but be a bit in awe of the other alien. She was a stunning specimen of Sha'dee female; small, slender and quite humanoid compared to most species, with rich red skin, long neck and limbs, clever pointed ears, a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth and a long, thick prehensile tail. Unusually for her species she was almost as tall as a Human female, and looked as though she had walked straight out of footage streamed from the front. 

Dressed in a dirty sergeant's uniform, she wore a dress beret instead of the bulky helmet that clung to Saara's head like a stubborn beetle, and had either lost or discarded most of her armor except for her chest rig and elbow/knee pads. Her uniform jacket was rolled up past her forearms and held in place by the elbow pads, revealing strong, dark red arms scored across by lighter stripes and black tattoos. Most of her equipment was gone as well, replaced with spare canteens, grenades and pouches full of taped together magazines for the rifle slung lazily across her shoulders. The rifle itself was oddly configured too, despite being a standard assault railgun it had been fitted with the scope off a heavier DMR, and had a vertical grip attached to the smart 'nade tube under the barrel which could be folded out into a bipod. Decidedly not regulation.

"You, are you Private Madrelan?" The sergeant shouted, prompting Saara to hoist her rifle back onto her shoulder and hurry towards the noncom. 

"Yes sir! Private Saara Madrelan, reporting for duty, Sir!" Saara snapped automatically, skidding to a halt and throwing up a hasty salute.

The bigger Sha'dee rolled her eyes and chirped dryly.

"This isn't basic, and I'm not a drill instructor. You don't call field noncoms "Sir". I'm Sergeant Tessa Cordhan, your new Section Leader. Now get over here, we're saddling up in about 10 minutes and I need you combat ready."

Saara followed her new commander over to one of the tents, where she was instructed to set down her duffle bag just inside the flap, "to be dealt with later". Tessa immediately got to work on Saara's uniform, unsnapping plates and pouches.

"Don't need this, don't need that, these will just weigh you down, this will break in a week, this you'll lose in a week, these interfere with your lines, and lose the helmet, but keep the earpiece and googles. Your ears will thank me. There, now you don't look like you fell out of a recruiting poster." 

Saara felt a lot lighter and more mobile, but the pile of discarded armor concerned her.

"Don't I need that armor?" She asked tentatively as Tessa was digging through a nearby supply crate. The sergeant burst out laughing as she located the objects of her search: a box of 25mm smart grenades and a soft fabric "nutsack" of machinegun belts, which she tossed to Saara. 

"Honey, you're on the front lines of one of the biggest battles in this sector. We're not fighting rent-a-cops and piss-terrified Indents in harnesses here. Every one of those Human fuckers is a hardened mercenary in full power armor, with more Overlords than you can shake a freq sword at. Have you seen what an assault gun round does to one of those plates? Trust me, you won't miss them. Stick that ammo in your backpack instead. First lesson they don't teach you in basic: the machinegun and your fireteam leader's 'Tube are your life out here, keeping them fed will do you more good than your own rifle." Tessa explained, filling every free pocket in Saara's chest rig with hand grenades and gesturing for Saara to follow her as the rookie struggled to get the heavy boxes into her pack without taking it all the way off.

Tessa had long, well-exercised legs for a Sha'dee, and Saara was hard-pressed to keep up without jogging as she was led towards a cluster of VTOLs with the familiar Aerodragoon markings from her abandoned armor. They had already finished fueling and were ready to go, several were even spinning up their engines. Tessa hopped effortlessly into one of the VTOLs, which was missing most of its paint save for the rebel flag and an image of a snarling red ape waving an anti-tank missile painted on the aircraft's nose. 

Saara managed to clamber up behind her, and was helped into the belly of the machine by Tessa and the Crew Chief, a surly-looking male with a bandana tied across his forehead under his flight helmet. Besides herself, Tessa and the Crew Chief, there were eight other Sha'dee in the VTOL, all wearing the same uniform and insignia as Saara. These must be the rest of her rifle section. Saara found a seat next to a slim, quiet-looking female with a thousand yard stare and a DMR to match, its long barrel almost taller than she was. She had barely gotten settled in when the VTOL lifted off, and began rapidly gaining altitude. 

"You made us wait for that, Sarge?" Another female shouted from the back of the compartment, grinning from behind the bulky machinegun on her lap, and spitting on the deck. "A scrawny boot who's just gonna bite it in under a week?"

"Go ahead, spit in my VTOL one more time Sparky! See what I do!" The Crew Chief growled, looking up from inspecting his own door gun on its articulating arm. 

Sergeant Tessa had reacted too, stepping past the rest of the section to slap the offender across the back of her head.

"None of that! You can complain on your own time, Sasca, or I can give you something to complain about!" Tessa hissed, causing Sasca (a corporal from her uniform), to grudgingly flatten her ears and lower her head in submission. "This is Private Madrelan, she's Korth's replacement. I expect you monkeys to be patient, and don't forget, I can remember when every last one of you was just as green as she is."

Saara chittered nervously, trying not to meet anyone's eyes.

"Hey, over here Private. I'm Corporal Chora, your fireteam leader. Man, the gods must not like you if you got sent here. They call this patch of line the New Rhodes Meatgrinder, heaviest fighting I've ever seen." Chora was a male, shorter than Saara like most males, but broader and less graceful, with an honest face and irregular spots peppered across his medium red skin. "They even say there's an Arbiter directing the enemy troops here personally."

"Yeah, that creepy female one that almost did the Supreme Commander in on Braccos about ten years back." Sasca added, making like she was going to spit again, but swallowing it at the look on their Crew Chief's face.

"Did you say female Arbiter?" Saara asked breathlessly, feeling her heart jump into the top of her throat at the vivid memories that sprung unbidden to her mind.

Before either Chora or Sasca could respond, there was an explosion of gunfire and the VTOL began to swerve wildly, diving and banking to avoid whatever the source was. The side door slid open and the Crew Chief swung his door gun out, scanning the landscape below them. Everyone readied their weapons and patted their gear to make sure it was all there. 

"ALRIGHT YOU GREASY CHOPPER-MONKEYS! LISTEN UP!" Tessa bellowed, swinging her rifle off her back and holding it in one hand with most of the weight hanging off the sling, her other hand clinging to a strap dangling from the VTOL's ceiling. "The enemy is attempting a breakout again, we're going to drop in about half a klick back and move up to reinforce the front line at Valley 589, with support from our platoon's choppers and a couple attack birds from one of the Squadron Weapons Sections. 1st Platoon and the rest of Charlie Squadron needs to hold the line until regular infantry reinforcements from 3rd Battalion arrive to plug the gap. Crystal?!"

"YES SARGE!" The entire section bellowed, Saara joining in at the last minute.

They could hear the crackle of small arms fire below as the VTOL descended, joined by the roar of the autocannons on their attack VTOLs and the Crew Chief's door gun. Saara swallowed and readied her rifle, clicking on the red dot and double-checking that there was a slug in the injection chamber as the VTOL leveled out and the Crew Chief stepped back to let them exit. Tessa was the first out, landing adeptly on the ground and bringing up her rifle immediately. Saara was still terrified at the prospect of combat, but as she was shoved out the side door of the VTOL her ancient hunting instincts took over and she landed perfectly on her feet, scanning the terrain with large powerful eyes and sensitive ears. She could see the platoon's other two VTOLs landing behind them, expelling Section 2 and the Weapons Section accompanied by their Platoon Sergeant and Lieutenant, both older male Sha'dee. Ahead of them, she could see the valley Tessa had mentioned, nestled between two rock faces and currently being peppered with gunfire and small explosions. As her platoon advanced into it Saara caught her first glimpse of their allies, the Irregulars who had been fighting against the Conglomerate on this world before any uniformed rebels like her had shown up. They were a ragtag bunch, composed of all different species with no apparent standard uniform beyond the rebel flag armbands they all wore. Their arms and equipment were widely varied as well, from advanced railguns clearly taken off of dead Mercs to repurposed hunting weapons. They whooped and cheered as they caught sight of 1st Platoon and their attack VTOLs, firing their rifles in the air and pumping their fists in the universal gesture of the Rebellion.  

As they reached the Irregulars' lines, Tessa motioned for the section to go to ground. Sasca got her machinegun set up on its bipod, with her assistant gunner lying prone next to her with a spare ammo nutsack like the one in Saara's pack. The Designated Marksman Saara had been sitting next to had already found the nearest high ground and was surveying the battlefield through her scope, while the rest of them went prone or crouched, rifles at low ready. Saara watched from behind a boulder as their Platoon Sgt. and Lieutenant walked up and began talking with the commander of the Irregulars. Tessa had her head cocked, apparently listening to the Platoon Sergeant relaying orders over the command channel. As the Lt started walking back towards Weapons Section, Tessa straightened up and motioned for the section to form up on her. 

"Alright, so there's a fortified position right up at the other entrance to the valley over there. The enemy made a push, and the Irregulars got driven back. We're gonna retake that position, with Section 1 on point. The Irregulars, the rest of Charlie Squadron and our attack birds are going to make some noise over there, and 1st Platoon is going to move around on this side of the valley, retake the fortified position, and hold the enemy off until the new meat from 3rd Battalion arrives. With any luck we can trap the breakout force in the valley, and just let the Irregulars and 3rd Battalion deal with them while we hold off the main body of the attack. Any questions?"

"Yeah, why are we on fucking point again?" Someone yelled.

"Anyone have a question who isn't a little bitch?" Tessa asked, glowering at them. "No? Well then pull your tails out of your assholes and get fucking moving!"

They moved swiftly but quietly, a skill which fortunately comes to Sha'dee naturally, always keeping an eye on where they thought the enemy was. As they reached the edge of the rock face, they heard the Irregulars open fire en masse and saw their attack birds soar overhead, loosing torrents of missiles into the valley. The enemy responded in kind, sending flights of 40mm antipersonnel rockets and heavy railgun fire into the scrub and boulder clusters where they thought the Irregulars were. Saara caught sight of one, a massive hulking Overlord suit firing its 20mm assault gun from behind a boulder, and shivered involuntarily. The Overlord suit was a real monster, almost two tons of composite ceramic armor and synthetic muscle standing over 8 feet tall. You wouldn't think there was a live Human inside if you didn't know. They were starting to run into the bodies of Irregulars strewn throughout the valley, and Saara had by now received a first hand reminder of what one of their weapons did to a Sha'dee in light armor. It wasn't pretty. Thankfully the distraction was doing its job, and they were able to move around the enemy in a column, encircling them as they approached the fortified position at the mouth of the valley. Saara's heart was still firmly lodged in her throat as they switched to a line formation and crept closer, keeping low and moving between cover and concealment with a preference for the former. She was positioned on the right flank, behind Cpl. Chora and in front of the other member of their fireteam, one Pvt. Tierni. Behind them and to her left was Tessa, accompanied by Cpl. Sasca and her assistant in the center of the formation. The other fireteam was farther to Tessa's left. 

They could see the fortified position now, three lines of sandbag walls facing out the mouth of the valley with a pair of bunkers and a cluster of abandoned mortars. One of the bunkers was still smoldering, the forward firing slit scorched by the gauntlet flamer of an Overlord. There were two Overlords left to hold the position, crouched behind the sandbag wall farthest into the valley, scanning it with their assault guns and the 40mm rocket pods behind their left shoulders. There were also five mercs in lighter power armor crouched and alert along the line, three carrying shoulder rifles, and the remaining two armed with 25mm smartguns. A fairly standard rearguard for a mercenary platoon. 

Tessa signaled for them to move into assault position over the augreal system. Saara found a cluster of rocks and a fallen log, where she dug in next to Cpl. Chora, with Pvt. Tierni assuming a position behind a large boulder to Saara's right. Cpl. Chora had quietly loaded three 25mm HESH rounds into the 'tube on his rifle, and was training it on one of the Overlords. Steeling her nerves, Saara thought back to her basic training and readied her rifle, lining up the reticle with the head of one of the more lightly armored Humans. Her augreal showed her where everyone else in her squad was aiming as well, and she had made sure to pick a target that wasn't already taken care of. She carefully flicked the safety off, and put her finger inside the trigger guard.

"Listen up. I just called in mortar fire on the position, as soon as it comes through, open up on them. Understood?" Tessa whispered, trusting the section's powerful Sha'dee ears to pick it up clearly. 

They all nodded, and just in time too, because the mortars had arrived. Explosions rocked the landscape, kicking up massive clouds of dirt and gravel. Before the dust had settled, Tessa raised her rifle and bellowed, fangs fully extended;

"LIGHT 'EM UP!" 

The entire section opened fire, dominated by the roar of Sasca's machinegun and the periodic earsplitting cracks of their marksman's DMR. Some of the enemy had apparently survived the mortar salvo, because they began to return fire. It was almost surreal, watching a towering Overlord slowly walk out of the cloud of mortar smoke, assault gun blazing with a steady thump-thump-thump that shook Saara's chest with every shot. A burst struck Pvt. Tierni's boulder, sending chips of rock flying everywhere in a shower of sparks. Tierni looked like she was swearing, but Saara couldn't make it out over the din. The smoke was beginning to clear, and she could see that two of the lightly armored mercs had been shredded by the mortar, and the other Overlord had been weakened, then finished off by several 25mm HESH rounds from Chora, Tessa and the other fireteam leader. The remaining light mercs had gone to ground and were attempting to provide cover fire for the Overlord as it advanced. Saara found the last one with a smartgun and fired a burst at him. She was either starting to get used to the recoil of the gun, or she was so numb from fear she couldn't feel it. The bullets spattered across the cluster of sandbags he was crouched behind, causing him to duck. 

"Pvt. Saara, SUPPRESSING FIRE! KEEP HIM PINNED, I GOT HIM!" Cpl. Chora shouted, reloading his 'tube with airburst grenades. 

Saara kept firing, preventing the merc from firing back or moving. She heard the loud "thunk" of Chora's 'tube, followed by a muffled bang and an explosion of shrapnel and blood just behind her target's cover. The body was tossed back and halfway over the sandbags like a ragdoll, his chest armor ripped apart by the grenade. Saara couldn't stare for long, because one of the others had managed to engage in some suppressing fire of his own, and she was forced down out of his line of sight. 

"Grenades!" Chora ordered, firing a few bursts wildly over their cover without raising his head. "SPARKY, I NEED SOME FIRE OVER HERE!"

Saara found one of the grenades Tessa had crammed into her vest, set the fuse for three seconds and pulled the pin, holding the spoon tightly against the body of the grenade. Sasca had heard, and turned the fury of her machinegun away from the Overlord and onto the remaining light mercs. Swallowing and mentally preparing herself, Saara popped out of cover and hucked the grenade in the general direction of the enemy, then dropped back behind cover. The grenade exploded, accompanied by a muffled scream, and the enemy fire slackened. Saara peeked out and was about to take aim at the last merc, but she was interrupted by the crack of the DMR and the sudden decapitation of her intended target. Saara couldn't remember how many rounds she had fired, and was surprised to find her weapon had been locked open on empty. She hastily grabbed a fresh magazine out of her belt, kicked out the empty mag and rocked the new one into place. Suddenly she felt something in her lines and turned around to find herself looking at the enormous back of the Overlord, which had managed to reach their position and was about to turn its assault gun on the hapless Pvt. Tierni. Without thinking, Saara swung her rifle around and emptied her magazine into the hulking suit of armor, screaming. The Overlord staggered under the fusillade, but appeared more annoyed than hurt, pivoting around and leveling its weapon at Saara. Before it could fire however, it was interrupted by a shrieking battle cry and the spine-tingling screech of a freq blade spinning up. 

Tessa surged past them, appearing as a red blurr to the slow eyes of the Human in the Overlord suit, and plunged her bayonet into his gut, the freq blade slicing through composite armor like butter. She stabbed him repeatedly, ducking and weaving as he blindly swung his gauntlet at her. Before the wounds could take effect, he managed to catch her with a swing, sending her tumbling to the ground, bleeding from the forehead. Saara's eyes went wide and the world seemed to slow down as she raised her rifle and found the Overlord's neck, exposed by a gap in his armor, almost directly in her sights. It was a one in a million shot, fallen into her lap by chance. She held her breath, and squeezed the trigger. There was an explosion of red mist, and the Overlord toppled over. 

Saara and Chora rushed over to Tessa, who was already getting to her feet. The Sgt. was coated in dust and mud from head to foot to the point you could barely tell her skin was red, and her face was caked with blood from a small gash on her temple, but she was grinning savagely. 

"Ho-ly shit, rookie! First day here and you bring down an Overlord?" Tessa grabbed Saara's chest rig and shook her, beaming proudly. "Nicely done!"

"Thanks, new chick." Tierni grinned too, still propped against her boulder, wiping dust and bits of rock off her face.

"Fireteam 2, get over there and police those bodies!" Tessa yelled at the rest of the squad, hauling Tierni to her feet and gesturing for the rest of them to move up, stopping only to collect her fallen rifle and drive one last thrust through the side of the Overlord's helmet.

Saara walked over to the dead Overlord. The suit had gone limp, like an enormous puppet with its strings cut. Bright red Human blood was seeping out of the suit from stab wounds courtesy of Tessa's bayonet, and the neck where her own shot had impacted. It had fallen on its side, leaving the freq gladius sheathed across the small of its back exposed. Saara tossed her rifle over her back on its sling and leaned in, wrapping a delicate four-fingered hand around the huge grip of the weapon. She felt the sensation of Tessa approaching her from behind and stepped aside.

"Oh, want a trophy, do we Pvt.?" The big Sha'dee asked with a playful smirk. "You know you can't use that thing, right? You need a power transmission glove, not to mention the power pack and months of practice."

"I can find those things. And I can learn." Saara piped, shrugging and grinning weakly.

"Well, if you want to haul it around, it's your funeral." Tessa shrugged, leaned over the Overlord and with a few seconds of fiddling, detached the blade and its magnetic scabbard, which she passed to Saara. 

It was heavy, solid feeling in her hands. She pulled the trigger experimentally, feeling it take up and break cleanly. Of course nothing happened, without the power transmission gloves Tessa had mentioned, the blade lacked the energy to spin up. She tucked it into her pack and hurried to join the others.

"The hell do you want a freq sword for anyway? There's loads of other shit you could get off an Overlord. Why not cut off a piece of his helmet? Something smaller and less heavy." Her Sgt. asked as they marched down towards the mouth of the valley, grinning at the sight of the diminutive alien toting the bulky blade.

"You can't kill an Arbiter with a piece of helmet." Saara said, straightening her pack.

Everyone around her burst into uproarious, chittering Sha'dee laughter. Especially Tessa, who looked like she was going to bust a gut.

"Honey, *you* couldn't kill an Arbiter with a nuclear missile. Sha'dee don't kill Arbiters. Only things I've ever heard of killing an Arbiter was another Arbiter, a dreadnought's antimatter reactor going critical or a good carpet nuking. Have you ever even seen one?" The Sgt. chirped, patting her on the back.

"Yes, actually." Saara muttered, grimacing.

"Bullshit." Cpl. Sasca smirked, cocking her ears in their species' version of a raised eyebrow.

"It's true!" Saara protested, stopping just short of hissing at the other female.

Tessa looked amused as they picked their way through the newly recaptured position. 

"Where did you see an Arbiter, Private?" The big sergeant asked, directing the other troopers to collect the weapons from the dead Humans to be distributed among the Irregulars.

"I was born on Braccos." Saara said, simply.

"Ah." Tessa frowned. "Well, that would explain a few things..."

"Yeah." Saara looked down.

The rest of the battle was a blur. They had barely dug in to their new position and begun reassembling the sandbags when they heard the roar of VTOLs and found 3rd Battalion descending upon them from on high. Much to everyone's relief, their reinforcements had arrived before the enemy's. The next thing she knew, Saara was on their section VTOL heading back to base, surrounded by dirty and tired but triumphant Sha'dee. She hadn't realized that she herself was covered in grime until Tessa clambered over and began wiping her face off with a bandana. The big female's hands were strong and sure, wiping every bit of mud and crud from Saara's cheeks. She was smiling, and Saara found herself smiling back. 

"So, how's it feel to be a combat veteran?" Sgt. Tessa chirped.

"I-I dunno, to be honest..." Saara chittered weakly. "I'm glad I'm not dead I guess..."

"You're more than not dead, little one, you did a damn good job. Not many Sha'dee can say they've killed a Human in Overlord armor, much less the first time they see combat!"

"It was mostly luck..." Saara said sheepishly, looking down and flattening her ears in embarrassment.

"What isn't in war?" Tessa grinned. "Speaking of luck, Comns says we've been given a ration of real meat tonight in return for not taking any casualties!"

The entire section cheered, pumping their fists and thumping their tails against the deck as their VTOL soared through the mountains and back to the base.

*****

The light was starting to fade from the sky as Saara sat on a patch of rock just behind her Squadron's tents, examining her prize. It was the standard sort of Overlord freq blade; a short, broad gladius-style thing with a two-handed grip and manual trigger. The power transmission plates embedded in the grip were cold to the touch, buffed to a high polish from being handled by the rough ceramic and steel gauntlet of the previous owner. 

"Think fast." She heard Tessa's voice behind her and pivoted around, catching the heavy bundle the Sgt. tossed her. "Should be all there. Power transmission glove, pack, cables..."

"Where did you get this stuff?" Saara asked incredulously, spreading the kit out on a nearby boulder and looking over it.

"Let's just say you should probably avoid contact with any Marshall Sisters for a while." The older Sha'dee smirked playfully, guiding Saara around to face her and helping the little rookie attach the power pack and scabbard to her belt. 

Saara blinked as Tessa guided her hand into the heavy, metal-plated glove and connected the power cables. 

"There you go. Now, set it to practice mode. It'll give you the inertial effect without the danger of actually cutting anything." Tessa explained, stepping back and reaching down to pick up something she had set down earlier; a single-handed sabre-type blade.

"Where did you get that?" Saara asked, hefting her own sword and getting used to the glove.

"It's part of my dress uniform" Tessa explained "it's a dummy, there's no actual mechanism in it, but that's fine for this."

She drew the blade and leveled it in an expert grip. 

"Try to hit me."

"Really?"

"Did I stutter? You can't learn if you don't practice."

Saara readied the blade, then swung it wildly at her Sgt. As soon as she pulled the trigger, it felt like the sword had hit a brick wall and she was thrown off balance, toppling over into the grass. Tessa was clearly struggling not to laugh as she held out a hand to help Saara up.

"You have to press the trigger after you've built up momentum, right before the blade hits. Otherwise, well, that happens. Try again." Tessa instructed, stepping back and resuming her guard position.

Saara nodded, squared off, and attempted again, swinging the sword and pressing the trigger right before she expected to connect. Tessa effortlessly caught the blade with the flat of hers and turned it away, sending Saara staggering. Before Saara could ready her blade again, she found the point of Tessa's hovering a few centimeters from her throat.

"You're dead. Again." 

After almost 20 minutes of this, Saara threw the sword down in frustration. 

"It's not fair. I have to fight the inertial effect, you don't." She pouted, crossing her arms.

"Well, neither do Humans. We're not Human. We're weaker than them, so we have to make up for it with skill and technique. If you can't beat me, there's no way you're going to last a minute against an Arbiter." Tessa explained patiently, wrapping an arm around Saara's shoulders and pressing her close affectionately.

Saara purred quietly, resting the side of her head on Tessa's chest. 

"Why are you helping me?" She asked, looking up.

"You're one of my soldiers. Out here, your platoon is the closest thing you've got to a Colony." Tessa explained warmly as she stroked Saara's head, referring to the basic social unit of Sha'dee society. "You're part of my platoon. Besides, I wondered why a pretty thing like you would become a rebel. Now I know. And now I know you're actually worth something in a fight."

Saara flattened her ears and blushed dark red at the remark.

"T-thanks..." She managed to reply, grinning nervously. 

"Here, it's starting to get dark. Let's pack in and get some grub." Tessa chirped, picking up Saara's blade and handing it back to her.

Saara followed her, picking her way over the rocky field back towards their tents.


***Part 2***

Chips and splinters flew as they clashed, weapons moving faster than the Human eye could follow. Saara pressed her advantage, hammering her opponent with blows and forcing him back. He jabbed at her, but she knocked his point aside and swung at his chest with all her might. At the last second, he raised his guard to stop her strike.

Both of their sticks broke. 

Saara pounced on her brother, bowling him over and wrestling with him in the tall grass. He was stronger, but she was bigger and faster so it was even. They chittered and hissed playfully at eachother, baring their stubby baby fangs as they rolled around on the soft ground. Human children would have long since been called in for the night, but their Sha'dee eyes could see perfectly well in the twilight. 

"Saara! Ketan!" 

They broke apart and poked their heads up above the grass, ears picked and eyes wide as they scanned for the source of the call. Their sensory lines hadn't come in yet, but their other senses were already far more developed than a baseline Human (with the notable exception of smell). Spotting one of their mothers making her way through the field, they rushed to her, pushing and shoving to get the best grip around her waist. She chirped lovingly and ruffled their hair, scratching them behind the ears and purring maternally.

"Come on, little ones. Time to come home." She crooned, putting her hands on their shoulders and leading them back towards the settlement.

Their home was a circle of large, ramshackle buildings nestled in a valley in the midst of the Purple Sea of Braccos, so named for its sprawling plains of tall purple grass. Each building had started small but had been progressively added to over the years as the colonies that inhabited them grew, until they rose over the plains like pagodas made of shipping containers and hab modules. They were dimly lit by Human standards, but shone brightly to Sha'dee eyes.  

As they approached, a male waved at them from his perch atop one of the hivelike buildings. Light gleamed off the scope of the rifle he cradled in one arm. They waved back, Saara and Ketan jumping up and down to be seen through the grass. 

They passed through the alley between two buildings to reach the center square. There were tractors and airtrucks parked along the side of the buildings, some of them still loaded with the harvest from the farms surrounding the village. As their mother led them to the entrance of their colony's building they saw another truck drive in, laden down with dressed animal carcasses and flanked by aerocycles. Each bike had two huntresses straddling it, one driving and the other perched behind her with a slug gun. 

Little Saara paused outside the door and stared at them in awe and envy, admiring their riding gear and weapons. It would still be a couple more years before she was old enough to tag along on hunting expeditions and start learning their trade. 

"Come on little one, it's time for dinner." Her mother insisted, wrapping her tail around Saara's shoulder and gently tugging her into the building. 

The dinning hall was crowded, packed end-to-end with laughing, chattering Sha'dee. They sat around a pair of long low tables, with children Saara's age running plates of food up and down between them. The mood was loud and boisterous. It had been a good harvest for the males working the farms, and the huntresses had had good luck lately as well. Adults drank wine and smoked sajhat cigarillos while children fought over the fatty, salty meat cracklings that were like candy to the little carnivores. 

Saara and Ketan snuggled up between two of their mothers, sitting cross-legged on cushions on the floor. Trays were passed to them by their siblings on serving duty, loaded down with meat and fruit, the latter being especially important for growing children. Saara and her brother were both hungry from doing chores all day and playing all evening and they dug in eagerly, stuffing their faces with juicy slices of grilled meat from the previous day's hunt.

After dinner they curled up in the nest with their siblings and watched a movie through their augreal goggles while the adults discussed the next day's work. Saara was only half-paying attention to the film, she was more interested in eavesdropping on the grownups' discussion. There was a quiet but heated argument underway over the decision to clear more pastures for domesticated animals. One side was adamant that it was necessary to sustain the growing colony and their community as a whole. The other, including the mother who had brought them in, was concerned that someone or something would be able to see them better from the sky.

The adults were being very cagey, avoiding any reference to the danger directly. It seemed as though the argument wasn't really about pastures, but something else the grownups didn't want to mention out loud. Eventually Saara got bored and quietly slipped away from the group, telling her siblings that she was going to the latrine. She left the building and walked over to where a cluster of aerocycles were parked, ogling the dirty, well-used technology. As she looked up from the bike she was pouring over, she saw something shining over the hill behind the village. 

Intrigued, she ran out of the village, avoiding the gaze of the sentries on the rooftops and keeping low in the tall grass. As she reached the top of the hill, she realized it wasn't just one light, but a whole cluster of lights. They looked like shooting stars, burning brightly in the night sky. She stared at them in wonder, then in concern as she realized they were headed straight for her. 

The shooting stars began to change trajectory slightly, which Saara had never know a shooting star to do. They slowed down, and the angle of their descent became more shallow, the light fading as they skimmed over the plains. Saara still couldn't see what they were very well, but she could hear a rumbling roar that couldn't be a mere meteorite. 

Lights flared on the front of the approaching objects as they landed about a thousand meters away on the other side of the village from Saara. There were more flashes of light, and plumes of smoke streaked over her head towards the village. Before Saara could react, the night was split by the tremendous sound of explosions. She cowered and stared in horror at the tops of their buildings, engulfed in billowing flames against the dark sky. 

The once still air was filled with the crackling of flames and the screams of villagers as Sha'dee poured out of their burning homes with children and elders in their arms. Saara was frozen in place with fear, unable to move or cry out. Suddenly a louder, harsher crackling sound erupted from the general direction where the things from the sky had landed, and villagers out in the open began to fall over while the rest scrambled to hide behind vehicles and storage bins.

Smoke was filling the valley, drifting back towards the source of the chaos. Staring mutely at the carnage below, Saara saw them for the first time.

Humans.

Emerging from the smoke they marched slowly and inexorably into the valley, hulking figures in dull green armor with four gleaming lenses peering out from under their helmets where eyes should be. The lower halves of their faces were covered by a similarly colored scarf, leaving only the empty, soulless eyes to indicate the presence of a face at all. They carried enormous black rifles that were louder and spat more sparks than any hunting gun or sentry's rifle that Saara had ever seen. 

Their movement was almost lazy, advancing in rows upright and firing their rifles deliberately and precisely. By now some of the villagers had gotten their hands on weapons of their own and were beginning to shoot back. It was, however to no avail. Bullets struck the armor of the oncoming figures and glanced off harmlessly, causing a few to stumble but none to fall. As they reached the edge of the village, the rows parted, revealing a single figure that towered over the others.  

It was the largest person Saara had ever seen, taller even than the other Humans at over 7 feet. The figure wore no armor, just a long black overcoat that billowed in the cool night breeze over a dark grey uniform. To Saara's surprise, the Human appeared to be female, but far more intimidating than any Human female she had seen in a movie or webshow. She had intense solid black eyes and long, jet-black hair standing in sharp contrast to the lifeless, artificial porcelain white of her skin. Her lips were as pale as the rest of her face, curled into a cruel smirk that revealed gleaming teeth almost as sharp as a Sha'dee's.

The pale Human stepped forward as the rest of them came to a halt, leveling their rifles but not firing. She planted her feet authoritatively, resting one hand on the pair of long, slender blades hanging from her right hip.

"ATTENTION VERMIN." Her voice boomed with the strength of a loudspeaker, ringing through the entire valley with a vicious sneer. "You are outnumbered and outgunned. Your weapons are useless against us. Lay down your arms."

She looked around slowly, seemingly able to see where clusters of terrified Sha'dee were hiding, even behind cover. 

"There is a Human boy in this... place. Send him out to us, then come out with your hands up, and I will show you mercy. You have thirty seconds to comply."

There was a moments pause, then Saara stared in surprise as a young Human male emerged from behind one of the trucks and slowly walked towards the center of the square. The female Human motioned for one of her men to meet him and lead him out of the village in the direction they had come. As the two of them disappeared, there was a rumbling sound and two enormous metal monstrosities burst through the buildings on either side of the giant Human.

The structures collapsed behind them in a shower of sparks and flame as they ground to a halt on their treads, engines still rumbling. The villagers had begun to slowly emerge, trudging defeated into the square with their hands up. One of them, the mother who had come out to fetch Saara before, stepped forward and spoke.

"What now? You have the boy. You said you'd let us live."

The ghostly-white Human laughed, a slow booming guffaw dripping with scorn.

"You need to work on your active listening, Rodji. I never said I'd let you live. I said I'd show you mercy. And I will. By killing you quickly." The Human glanced back at one of the rumbling machines. "Load canister."

Saara's people turned en masse to run, but it was too late. Two earthshaking explosions ripped through the valley and left Saara virtually deaf. She stared, the ringing in her ears drowning out all other noise as gouts of smoke and flame erupted from the giant cannons on the vehicles. The entire crowd seemed to just... come apart before the blast. Men, women and children disintegrated in explosions of dark red blood, bodies and limbs flying through the air as the faces of the buildings behind them were ripped asunder. 

Saara could only stare, mute and horrified, as the smoke cleared to reveal a heap of shredded, bloody bodies sprawling across the pavement of her once peaceful village. Some of them were still moving, and she could hear their screams and whimpers as the ringing in her ears abated. There was only one figure left standing, albeit struggling to. 

It was the same mother, loose white blouse soaked with blood from a sucking chest wound. She was still upright, somehow, lurching slowly towards the Human woman. One of the soldiers raised his rifle, but his commander silently held up a hand. She walked forward deliberately, stopping just a few feet away from the wounded Sha'dee. 

"My, my, my. Someone just doesn't know when to quit." The Human sneered, towering over the other woman.

Saara's mother looked up, her normally soft green eyes blazing, and spat a mouthful of blood into the Human's face. There was a piercing shriek that sent earthquakes up Saara's spine, and faster than her eyes could detect, something swooshed through the air. The defiant alien toppled over, collapsing in a heap with her entire torso laid open like a gutted animal. The Human was still standing, one arm outstretched with a shimmering freq sword in her hand. She gave the blade a flick to rid it of blood, and returned it to its scabbard. 

"Shoot anything that's still moving. Then torch the place. These Xeno squatters will not be tolerated now that I'm in command."

The Human soldiers saluted, then moved forward, firing their rifles into the heaps of dead and dying while others deployed flamethrowers and began to hose down anything still standing with billowing jets of fire.

Saara finally collapsed, curling into a ball in the dirt and struggling to stifle her sobs as her chest heaved and her vision blurred. After what seemed like an eternity the sound of gunshots faded, followed by the roar of engines and the rumble of treads, then silence but for the crackling of the still burning fires. Even then, Saara was still paralyzed, unable to budge from the fetal position until she slipped into the cold embrace of unconsciousness. 

***Part 3***