The first war

[Eros]

As I have had some free time (1 month enforced laziness) I have started writing again... I have alot of material i want to go over again, clean up and stitch into a full story (probably have some 300 pages but alot of it is crap)... If anyone wants to follow the progress i will update this with more as i rewrite it... (or at least parts of it). Constructive criticism is more than welcome.

Sorry about the strange formatting, i am writing in LaTeX so there will be the occasional markup command dotted around. Ill not tell you what the full story is about, though some of you from years back probably know.



\chapter{Winter 2043}

`Hey open your eyes, I said open them! He has been like this since he got here Sir.' I felt something sharp in my arm, though I felt too exhausted, too shattered and broken to respond.

`Give him time for that to work it's way in, will he be able to answer her questions?'

`It is hard to say, it depends how much he actually knows and how much he remembers. We should probably get him some food and water before she starts.'

`Sure, give him some bread and water, nothing else.' I heard a door close with a metalic clang, I felt the sensation of someone moving away from me, things seemed lighter and colder, a door clanged for a second time.

I cracked open my eyes, they felt dry and sore it was difficult to focus on anything around me for a few moments. I felt a sudden rush come over me, which drew things into sharper focus, I was in a cell with rusted metal bars, there was a smell of rust and rot in the air. I leant to my right, releasing my left arm which was until now folded behind my back. The limb was completely dead, I could bearly feel it, all i felt was the skin of my shoulder moving as I picked it up with my right hand and placed it on chest. I became more and more aware of the smell, it was truly horrible, and the sight of what was causing it was probably on the same level.

A putrid rotting body was sat up against the bars of what appeared to be an adjacent cell, strangely there were no flies, at least none that I could see or hear, everything seemed dull and fuzzy. A shaddow appeared through the crack under the door and it swung open with a long metalic creek.

`You all perked up I see, you are going to have to have some answers for us or you might end up like your buddy there.' I couldn't make out his face, just that he was mostly wearing black, I could see him gesture at the corpse in the other cell however. He walked over and pushed a small tray with a wedge of what I assumed was bread and a small cup of water. I started to drag myself towards it, only then noticing how wet and cold the ground is, soiled with filth and most likely the blood of that unfortunate soul. I was starting to get some movement back in my other arm, though it hurt to use it. I leaned up against the bars and wiped my hands on my rags, It didn't really do anything for them, though I guess it was still the civilised person in me saying I shouldn't eat off of the floor, or with dirty hands. I broke a large chunk out of the bread and bit it near to my fingers. It was dry and hard to chew. I swallowed, feeling the lump slowly move all the way down into my stomach. I took a sip of water to try and help it down. After taking a few breaths, my stomach cramped, I fought it for about 30 seconds, trying my hardest to keep the bread and water down, after that time, I don't think I had the strength left to be sick, I passed out.

\bigskip
I woke in a similar upright position as I had passed out, something cold bound my wrists behind my back, I was sitting on a metal chair, infront of a plain table. There was a large jug of water with something floating in it. I felt a rush of stagnent air from my left and I became aware of two figures who where sharing the same space as me in the room. They sat down at the table.

`Hello?' A warm voice said, it was female, with a slight accent though I wasn't coherent enough to say where from, it seemed to echo and reverberate, every sound did. It made it hard to focus on anything. I squinted my eyes trying to focus on the source, but all i could see where two blury shaddows on a white background.

`H...' My throat was dry, I hadn't spoken in maybe a year, I knew the words, but they wouldn't come easily. I tried again. `Heee-llo'

`You are in a bad way Mr...?' I remained totally silent, I couldn't tell if she was reading something or waiting for me to tell her my name. I waited for her hoping she knew it, I didn't want to speak it hurt my throat.

`Mr...?' Shit, it was a question. I pressed my bottom lip on my teeth and tried to speak.

`F....F...F-air...' It felt like razors cutting into neck.

`Mr Fair?'

`F... Fairhurst' I coughed and jerked forward feeling something wet on my throat and a metal taste in my mouth.

I saw the shaddows look at each other and begin talking to eachother in an echoing rumble. I closed my eyes for what I thought was only a second, I felt something warm take my jaw, I opened my eyes to see a flash of kindness, in a smiling female face. In her other hand she was holding a glass of water. I passed out again.

\bigskip
The first thing I felt when I started to come around was the taste of fresh water, and the smell of roses. I cracked open my eyes, everthing seemed so bleached white and black at the same time it was difficult make out her face, to see that kind expression again.

`You will be ok Mr Fairhurst, but you must try to remember. If you try to remember, all this pain will stop.'

`Re...remember?' I asked, my thoat no longer felt dry, but still hurt to utter the slightest word.

`Were are you from?'

`B..b...Bri'

`Britain?' I swayed my head the best I could to nod.

`What is your rank?'

`No.. not sol...soldier.'

`But you did fight?'

`What...what else... could I do?' I coughed again, she pressed a cloth against my face, I felt her hand on my back leaning me forward.

`We need to get him help, he is going to die if we leave him like this'

`Do you want him?'

`Mr Fairhurst, how did you get here?' She lent me back and took the cloth away from my mouth. `Where were you when it happened?'

`I don't know... It was so long ago. Someone... someone destoryed the city. The name? The name...name was Sheffield.'

`We are in France Mr Fairhurst. Sheffield is a long way away, how did you get here.'

`Moved, moved away from the cities... I had to, everyone was dying... everyone.'

`You said you had to fight... who did you fight?'

`I didn't know who they where... they wanted to kill us, it was us or them. Every time. Us or them.'

`Who is us?'

`Jack...my friend Jack. He died too, but I forgive him.' I lurched forward coughing once more, she caught my face once again. Everything seemed to darken I was loosing the strength to even open my eyes.

`So, do you want him? Seargent?'

`He survived that hell-hole, of course we want him.'

`The last selector here was more picky I must say, that last guy was probably in better condition.'

`Well I guess Mr Fairhurst was more fortunate.' She lent me back again and took the cloth from my mouth. With all my strength, I opened my eyes, and once again I saw her kind face. `--- Do you have name Mr Fairhurst?' I couldn't answer her, I just slipped away into the darkness.

[Eros]

\chapter{Spring 2044}
When I woke, it was dark, there was little to see other than a few flashing LED lights that didn't illuminate their surroundings enough to make anything visible. They were like flashing stars. I couldn't move, I couldn't really feel anything, not even the sensation of my face. I laid watching the stars for what I guess must have been a few hours, light was beginning to break through some curtains behind me, slowly unmasking a hospital ward, It appeared quite empty, no one was in the 3 beds opposite. I couldn't hear anyone else in the room, snoring or breathing.

The light above me flickered on, I closed my eyes for a moment then squinted as I tried to get used to its brightness. I could hear a door sliding open and clicking feet approaching me. Two women appeared from around the side curtain. One wearing white, I assumed a doctor or nurse, the other in green. I looked more closely at the woman in green. She wore a military uniform, long black hair hung behind her shoulders.

`Thank you,' she said to the nurse, who fiddled with a few boxes and tubes to my right then walked away. `---I didn't catch your name before Mr Fairhurst.' She smiled at me, her accent was now clear and it became obvious she was Japanese.

`Morgan...It is Morgan Fairhurst.'

`They told me you almost died, how do you feel?'

`I don't feel anything.'

`That will be the drugs, you have been sedated for about 6 months while they fixed you up. You are almost done though. You had several forms of cancer, probably due to the radiation exposure.'

`Where am I? Who are you?'

`You are In a military hospital near Battle Mountain in Nevada. I am Sergeant Hasegawa of the Mobile Earth Forces. Probably not what you want to hear, but you have been enlisted.' Enlisted as a soldier in some army I have no idea about, probably payment for my survival. I wasn't sure whether to be happy or upset, but it didn't matter as I couldn't muster either emotion.

`We have similar fates you and I. This isn't usual by any means, I think anyone else would have taken one look at you and let you die. Maybe I did wrong.'

`Thank you.'

`Don't thank me yet, thank me in another year if you have survived training. You will be fine, most Brits who make it this far are. You get out of here next week, training starts slow, lectures and demonstrations in the morning and physical in the evening. You need to know more than the regulars, once we get you on the level, things get hardcore. You will be expected to take counselling but it is optional.'

The whole situation felt strange, she looked like a guilty parent wanting to admit some dark deed she had committed. Her speech was sometimes broken like she wasn't sure what she was saying. She looked tired, her complexion grey. I could feel her tapping her foot on the floor as though something made her nervous. How could she be nervous? What possible reason could there be for being nervous in front of some helpless stranger? I looked into her eyes, she stared back completely emotionless, there was nothing there, it was as though she was hollow. She blinked and looked away.

`Get well Morgan. We both have many trials ahead of us.' As she stood a man appeared around the curtain. He ignored me, and looked at her for a few moments, she seemed to shy away from him.

`Ah Ms Hasegawa, the nurse told me where to find you.' She turned to face him, it was then when I noticed something metallic glisten through her black hair at the base of her skull. `---We are ready for your sharding. You look nervous, there is nothing to worry about.'

`Lets just get it over with. There is always something to be nervous about with you, always.'

He smiled at her, it was probably the worse attempt at faking a smile I have ever witnessed, despite my experience being somewhat old. She walked past him and out of sight, he followed directly behind, leaving me alone once again.

\bigskip
I was woken abruptly by the lights of the room flickering on and the sound of clattering and shouting. It sounded like someone was wrestling an animal of some kind. Voices repeatedly shouted, `hold her hold her', a man, the same man as before said `Not in the face, and no shocks, everything else is fine' I heard a thud and what sounded like coughing and choking. They came into view, I squinted my eyes hoping they would not see me watching.

Hasegawa was strapped to a table, she was struggling, trying desperately to thrash around, to get free. A group of two men held her arms while a single man held her legs as though the straps wouldn't hold. A nurse untied the straps and they lifted her onto the bed opposite. As I watched her movements, it was hard to tell if Hasegawa was trying to escape or was just thrashing around without any control. Everything was so uncoordinated, she didn't appear to be looking at anyone, her eyes seemed totally white. One thing was clear though, beyond her gown her body was littered with scars and marks. While it was difficult to focus on her limbs, but it was clear they too suffered the same appearance.

`Is this normal?' the nurse said, with panic in her voice.

`Yes, the patient will suffer such... such loss of control, it should only last a day or so. She should make a full recovery. Now, make sure she is restrained adequately.' They pulled the straps through holes in the bed and fixed her in place. She was still thrashing though held down, she was also less verbal than on the way in. `---OK, keep an eye on her, 24~hour watch.' Everyone stepped away and sighed, before leaving the ward. About 30 seconds later a nurse came and sat down in a chair next to her. I watched her for a few moments, she looked up at me as though to see if i was awake, she had a black eye and a bruise on her lip.

[Eros]

\chapter{Glass}
A lone block of grey metal slowly drifted into the orbit of a planet approximately the same mass as the Earth. This planet did not however have the same blue white glow at the Earth, instead it was a deep brown color. The atmosphere swirled, hiding the surface from watching eyes.

A young man turned around on his chair, looking away from a console of flashing lights and data readouts to address the Captain, who stood overlooking him.

`Sir, it looks the same as PX32b, the atmosphere is full of radioactive material, dust and water vapor. Do you want to send a probe?'

`Yes, short duration just a simply flyby. See if you can get through the smog and map the surface, look for anything interesting then send the probe there. We can wait for a few cycles I don't think it will matter if we are a few days late back.'

`Yes, sir' A red light flashed on the console drawing both their attention. `--Sir, proximity alarm. There is a large object on an estimated collision course. It is radio silent, probably a moonlet, running spectral.'

`Nav, move us out of this objects path and stabilise the orbit, you know the drill.'

`Spectral shows... the object is metallic, we can get it on optics but it wont look like much at the moment.'

`Nav, cancel that, move to a higher orbit then bring us along side this object.'

`Looks like we have been unlucky, 10ly out and all we have found are two fairly inhospitable planets, I hope the others have had more luck.'

`I think we are the lucky ones, what do we know about PX32b is that it's surface is like a glass crust, broken only in small regions, probably from tectonic activity. It is too far away from its host for the start to have scorched the surface like that, with so much radioactive materials in the atmosphere it suggests it is hard not to ponder if that planet was subject to heavy nuke bombardment.'

`The prospect of doing that is quite scary... the ability to do that is a little, excessive.'

`Well, if this object is metallic it could be an artifact of some kind, maybe the remains of a station. We could have stumbled on the most important object mankind has ever known.'

\bigskip
Some 50 hours of watching and waiting revealed the object to be some form of synthetic construction. It was not clear if the object was a space station or something else. It most definitely was not a rock. It looked like part of a shattered sphere, as though someone had cracked open a giant bearing. The `outer' surface was a highly reflective mirror, while the inner surface was a fused mass of dark metal, forming a crystalline pattern speckled with girder like protrusions. The crew looked in awe at the object, recording all information the sensors could provide.

`What is it?'

`I don't know, It is stunning, simply stunning. It has to be part of something larger, most likely given the shape, just a large metallic sphere.'

`A sphere? That would make it about 3 or 4 km in diameter. I don't really know what to suggest it is, a guess would be some kind of station. But the insides appear as though they have been melted and have crystallised, the surface of the inside is like a crystal garden of some alloy, exactly what however I don't know, our sensors don't want to offer anything useful. Only way to find out is to try and get some on board. I am really not sure how particle that is.'

`We can always try, send a probe out, take it in slowly, very very slowly. I don't want to rush down their and get hit with any nasty surprises. Any idea of its mass?'

`Our sensors appear blinded by the proximity of the planet. All we read is around 1.5 Earth Mass. The probe would give us a better idea.'

The probe took about an hour to reach the object, it synchronised its orbit to match the target, allowing relatively easy examination of its structure. The first useful piece of information it provided was that the object was very dense, causing the probe to nearly crash into its black surface due to gravitational well it was producing. The response of the probe and the effort required to move around to take measurements meant there was approximately 5\% Earth Mass contained in the 1~km wide broken section. The probe took a long flight over the blackened mass of material trying to sample what it was, scan for any loose debris that could be scooped and brought home for analysis. Scans produced very little useful information, the material didn't produce understandable spectrographical results. All that could be obtained without specialist study was that it is metal rich. The probe neared the edge ofthe mass, nearing the mirror like shell that inclosed all the crystalline black. As it looped around the edge, the probe quickly dove and collided with the structure, deflecting off in several pieces.

`What just happened there?'

`It wasn't me, I just told the probe to fly over there, the controls are on automatic.'

`Those things are about 10 billion credits you know, 10billion, more than you're worth ensign, work out what happened and fast!'

`Flight recorders show nothing significant, the flight path shows a steep descent as the probe was looping over the edge, there where no technical problems, boosters where firing as expected, but the probe just looped into the far-side.' he paused for a moment resting his chin on the palm of his hand, squeezing his fingers softly into this cheek.
`---Oh, but that is not possible.'

`An idea? That was faster than I expected.'

`The only part of that thing that seems intact, it is a gravitational mirror. We are in between the planet and the object, the object seems tidally locked in a synchronised orbit, the same face will always point at the planet, much like Luna. What if that shield is some kind of gravitational damper. The only way the probe could have crashed like that is if it was over-compensating for nearby gravity.'

`Send another probe, I want to confirm that, it doesn't sound likely, but if it is correct we might have found something incredible. Give me a report in my office tomorrow, first thing. I want samples, something useful to take back with us.'

[Eros]

I have written a few sections after this, though i did a total rewrite of Luna as the first edition of it had little to no point. This one doesn't really have a great one, just trying to serve up some ideas and capabilities.

Better late than never I guess
------------------------

\chapter{Luna}
Half of us looked on in awe while the other half seemed indifferent as the Sargent addressed us wearing what she explained a few moments ago as a soft-suit, though I suspect many of us had probably forgotten that already. The suit itself was a tight fitting skin that covered every part of the body with what looked like implanted armor plates. I stopped looking at her figure and focused on the lesson.

`The suit is composed of a non-Newtonian liquid armor system, it is fairly light and mobile giving you flexibility and protection from the elements. There is an embedded computer system for tactical purposes and a life support system mounted in the part that makes me look like a hunch-back.' She turned around and hunched over to make it more obvious. The suit itself looked very thin, I started to doubt about its ability to actually provide protection to anything.

`Everything is vacuum sealed, including the boots and gloves, your more personal bodily functions are also taken care of, though the suit is not designed for long term use without... restroom stops, more about that later as it is not very important. Their are several solid armor blocks to provide constant support, and attachable points to aid weapon usage, The ones you see here on my wrists double as computer consoles. This suit allows you to withstand hard vacuum for as long as the oxygen lasts, thermal insulation or in most cases dispersion is regulated by the life-support pack, I would advise to keep your hands off it, it can get a little warm.'

`This suit will allow you to withstand a round from an assault rifle about 60\% of the time, so do not count on it, the suit will self heal any minor nicks and scrapes to keep itself sealed but if you include environmental factors such as hard vacuum or hostile atmosphere this figure may as well be zero! It is this way because, providing more than 60\% survival requires a twofold weight increase and the suit then becomes a burden on the user more than an advantage. It is also figured that if we do find anything intelligent out there, using our own weapons as a minimum standpoint there is little point in a huge burden when using softsuits.' She stopped and looked around at us, and smiled. It seemed like she was looking through everyone, it felt a little ghostly like she just gave us our death certificates and was actually rather pleased to do so.

A small voice came from near the front, it echoed through the hanger cutting through the quiet. `Are their more protective options? I heard mechanical suits of armor had been developed years ago but were not in standard use.'

`Indeed there are and you lucky people will be trained to use them, but there usefulness has yet to be determined. The plan is to use them for very harsh environments to begin with and perform multiple war-games to determine survivability and mission usefulness. We will not touch those until we do Titan training.' I gasped to myself, being here on the moon seemed strange enough, when everyone talked about off-world operations I didn't quite believe they meant the middle of nowhere. Up until now I hadn't really thought about where we were heading I didn't really care to much I was glad just not to be running for my life all the time like before.

`That wont be for a while at least though, It is up to you when you go. You wont go unless you are ready.'

\bigskip
Everything was procedure, everything had to be done in the correct way, in the correct order. I hated this, it was more like we are machines than people, but despite that I wasn't going to risk exposure to hard vacuum because I naturally want to put gloves on last. The `Plants' as we called them where mounted on a robotic frame, to say the suits are tricky to put on was an understatement. You have to first put on your boots and gloves, then squeeze into the suit, the breast plate opens and you step into the suit like some sort of heavily armoured body stocking. The fact very few parts of the suit feel solid while it is not powered gives you the constant feeling that everything is falling off. The suit feels fairly snug once it is on, though doesn't adhere to the body around the bottom, or shoulders, i guess to account for body shapes and sizes. With this, you back into the robotic frame, which apparently locates the correct position to mount the plant, which it then tries to insert into your back. That is the best I can describe it, despite it being a padded fit for your back, it roles it on from the bottom, so at first it feels like it is trying to punch a hole in your lower back, before trying to push itself through your chest. Once it is in place, your helmet goes on and the whole of the suit is vacuumed, which again is a little uncomfortable as it feels like you are forced into what ever posture you was standing in when the suit was powered.

The whole day was spent getting in and out of the suits, each time, we had to stand in the airlock and be exposed for 15 seconds, then rinse and repeat. We did get into the flow though, I think towards the end the best record was 2 minutes. Kago could do it in 30 seconds, it looked absolutely chaotic yet poetic at the same time. By the end everyone was totally exhausted, but no one was injured other than feeling sore. I guess it proved whatever reservations I had about procedure were just silly. I sat down in the mess on a table out of the way, things were fairly quiet everyone had scattered around the base, any extra free time we had were used very wisely. I say we but I mean them, for the most part I didn't have much to do other than sitting around, I sometimes just did some monotonous task like loading and unloading rifle magazines. I took a spoon full of rice and put it in my mouth, it was dry and tasteless. Someone dropped down on the table opposite me, I didn't notice them approach so I looked up in a startled reflex. I thought for a moment trying to remember her name. Jen, it was Jen.

`So hows the ass Morgan?'

`Sorry?'

`How is the ass? Mine is sore as hell, those suits are too small.' Thinking about her figure she did have large hips, and bottom for that matter.

`No, I'm OK, though my shoulders feel a bit raw like iv taken the skin off them. I guess one size doesn't fit all.'

`Noticed everyone there staring at the Sarge like a bunch of teenagers' She paused taking a bite from what looked like some form of meat as it dangled from her fork. `I have to admit, she has a really nice body, but it doesn't look like she is strong, more fragile.'

`Well...'

`Come on Morgan, talk... Just because your British doesn't mean you can't speak English.' I laughed, but still wasn't sure what to say.

`Well, I don't know.' I shrugged I felt a little like a blank slate, nothing in my mind to talk about, nothing in my mind to really make conversation.

`OK let me start. Your from Britain, have you ever talked to anyone about it?'

`No I haven't.'

`Most of the others don't talk about it at all, but I find it hard to believe you have to keep it all inside bottled up.' I swallowed hard, I felt angry, though I wasn't sure why, she had done nothing wrong and I think was just trying to be friendly.

`Well, it is hard to explain. My memory of it is a little broken. I remember certain things, but the rest...'

`What is the first thing you remember then?'

`The first thing.' I took another scoop of rice and held it near my mouth. `I think watching the nuke go off is my first memory. I don't remember what I was doing that day, I just remember being stood in a doorway. Then darkness. I'm sorry I can't.' I wept, I felt utterly ashamed as I tried to hold back my tears.

`I'm sorry Morgan, crappy choice of subject. Must have been hell, if it's any comfort to you... that's the most iv gotten out of anyone, everyone else seems a little emotionally crippled.'

[Eros]

This is joined to the above, had to split due to the 10k character limit

------------PART 2---------
`Thanks, it is just there, it comes to me sometimes and it makes me shudder. Then I can't take my mind off it for hours.'

`These surroundings can't help, everything must remind you.'

`Strangely... it reminds me, but in a more comforting way, like feeling home, only not as paranoid as home.'

`Hours you say? Well... you know, Morgan, there are some ways of taking your mind off of it.' I smiled and looked down at my food scooping up my next mouthful, again I wasn't completely sure what to say, such advances didn't seem natural for me to respond to. `---well good thing I can make you smile, that Is kind of cute, I wouldn't dare say such a thing to any of the others through fear of what they will do to me.'

`I don't think they are rapists, though, I don't remember going through any aptitude test... maybe I did, I don't remember.' I really didn't remember much, though anything like that is fiercely dealt with. She smiled, seeming to find my doubt amusing, it felt quite comfortable.

`No I guess not, but hey wow today was amazing wasn't?'

`Yeah, those suits are scary!' I laughed and scooped up some rice and threw it in my mouth. `---they are so complicated its outstanding, feels like I could just spend hours playing around in that thing.'

`Yeah! Though my body hurts a bit from all the jumping in and out I'd probably go suit up now and just mess about if I could.'

`You can if you want.' The Sarge sat down next to her with what looked like the dregs of what ever food was left at the canteen. `Pretty good work today, no fatalities or injuries, its what I like to see, but Morgan, don't get sloppy with suiting up, it can cost lives if the suit isn't correctly sealed. There are safety features, but not many. When not training or on some form of duty you are free to do what you like... you should know that by now. Anything we have trained you to use, you may practice with if you so wish within the confines of the base. So obviously no live fire tests. I actually recommend it, it will give you an advantage.'

I wasn't sure what to say, I didn't really expect her to sit with us, she usually sat by herself or took food elsewhere.

`Sir, it is probable that you cannot answer, but, what exactly are we being trained to face? We aren't at war right? And we haven't found any intelligent life?'

`Really it is for the possibility of those two options, while we have found life, nothing developed beyond basic instinct. Not that it makes conditions easier. We do the footwork effectively. Whether it is a simple establish and hold, or a retrieval mission. Believe me, it is quite easy to get yourself killed out there. Even if bullets aren't coming in from an enemy. If you want my opinion... we wouldn't be prepared, even if we did find something. Most of the MEF is composed of people who have nothing else, and the band of people who through bravado or determination, want to be part of something different. The split is around 40 : 60, and no not all the 40 is made up of British ex-pats.'

`Bad squad coherency?' I said quietly.

`Exactly, It isn't that people aren't trained well, they just don't perform well. I hope I can change that, at least in the people I train. More care is being taken with new trainees. But the old bunch will take allot of time to move. Getting them killed off might be an easy option, but it is a very foolish one given our resources.'

`I hope you don't mind sir but, Is it OK to talk about this stuff? I mean us grunts aren't usually invited to think very much.'

`You must think, at all moments. We have the technology to make sure you are on your toes, but for us, I would like you guys to rely on it as little as possible. I don't expect scientists of you all, god knows I'm no genius! I know most of you must think I'm some kind of emotionless stone cold machine, that is normal and unfortunately the way it is supposed to be. Feel free to hate me as much as you like. I hope that turns into a mutual respect between us all.' The table dropped silent, neither of us had seen the Sarge like this, I perhaps had experienced her kinder side during my time in hospital but for the most part she did play the cold mechanical monster rather well. For the most part most of us feared her, for the whole time she had been sat with us, neither had taken a bite to eat. I can't speak for Jen but I felt like at any moment I would be reprimanded for something, so didn't want to have a mouth full of food when it happened.

[Eros]

\chapter{6 hours}

The only things I could hear were the sound of my heartbeat and my breath hitting the front of the visor grill as I tried to breathe slowly. I pulled on a leaver on the rifle, I felt it crunch through the action, it felt rough and uneasy. Today's war game was underway. I was in team B being lead by Jerry, who sounded like he was half trying to sell us all something. He made me cringe, every order he gave made me want to slap him. Not usually because they where bad, but the pure grease in the way he slid it through the radio. I was holding my position on a hill side, quite annoyingly because I wasn't given new orders to move. Providing some kind of sniper cover from about 2k away was probably not going to be very good. Not without some special electronic wizardry, but these war-games where mostly manual.

I scanned the gray surface for team A but I wasn't able to spot anything until Jerry ran our guys into an ambush. It wasn't so spectacular, a few laser pointers and a light flashes later the whole team laid down dead.

`What the ****ing hell did you call that? Huh?' Came through the radio, the Sarge was absolutely fuming. `--Jerry, that was pathetic, running in out in the open? You didn't even try to use cover, why not paint a great big target on your face. You give out orders well, but your idea of strategy would only work when going solo. You have ONE unit alive, ONE! Morgan, to give you a chance, I'm activating your full suit systems, I know you haven't been trained but allot of it is fairly simple to work out. Have fun. The rest of team B, think of an original way to punish your team leader because everything I can think of is far to harsh. War game will last for another 3 hours, your suits will be getting low by then, so have fun.' The radio clicked off, I sighed muttering under my breath. My visor lit up with an overlay and menus.

The first thing I could think was thermals, those suits would still give off a pretty good signature, even if it wasn't heating air. The scene went black for a moment, then as though the visor adjusted for the lack of light, became brighter and very grainy. I could see 4 fuzzy dots light up, I made a mental note of approximate locations then switched the visor back to normal.

I slowly moved the rifle and tilted my head down the sights and swept the farthest target into view. The range finder said approximately 2.4~km, I set the rifle at maximum zoom. I saw a figure laying on the almost white surface, It was difficult to see exactly what it was doing, though it looked like who ever it was, was sweeping the horizon. I set the target by looking directly at the fuzzy Image on the scope and flinched my face to select it. A number of arrows and cross hairs appeared on the view finder, showing my selected target and where I should aim. I lined up a little to the left of the target and slowed my breathing and listened once again to my heart beat, waiting, waiting, then pulling the trigger between them. The rifle jolted back sharply into my shoulder, the suit taking much of the impact as it went rigid for a split second. The rifle confirmed a hit, so I pointed towards the second target, this time mid distance but geographically nearest the first target. I dug my elbows back into the thin soil and looked down the sights once more with a slight smile. The target being a little closer was more than just fuzz and it was clear arms were flailing around. I saw something catch the sun, sending a flash of light in my direction. I ignored it and steadied myself once again for the shot, softly squeezing the trigger. It felt like the rifle was trying to bury me.

I zoomed over the scene, other than the pile of suits that used to be my team, there wasn't much to see. I slowly started to shuffle myself backwards up the hill so I could maybe take a loop around to the east of the area.

At my distance from the action, I was able to get much closer using the small bumps and hills in the terrain. I figured everyone was looking for me so I wasted no time in finding a new vantage point over my first two victims while half burying myself in dust. I waited, trying to watch for movement, looking on thermals for any heat signatures originating from the plants. From the corner of my eye I saw a figure, walking, it was hard to see without fully turning my head, but in the interest of being undetected I tried to stay as still as I could. With my right hand I reached under me and retrieved my side arm. As the target moved closer it froze on the spot. My heart gave a sudden hard beat, I lashed out with my side arm and pulled the trigger several times. I apparently wasn't dead, so I leaped up from my spot, misjudging the gravity a little flipping my whole body away from the surface. My suit went dead and locked up, the visor then blacked out. I held my breath, trying to predict my landing.

\bigskip
We stood and sat around in various places in the hanger bay, no one wanted to talk to each other, the air felt thick, it felt like someone had died and making any noise was not the correct thing to do. The door slid open, bouncing off of its metal frame, the motor making a crunch as the Sarge stormed through. I looked at her, her face was red, her eyes locked on to Jerry she headed straight In his direction. Everyone moved out of the way of her, Jerry stood up, he was a good head and shoulders taller than her, it didn't matter though. She punched him in the gut causing him to gasp and lurch forward. Before he could take a breath she grabbed him by the throat and picked him off of his feet. She carried him what looked like 10 feet and thew him onto the floor.

`I have seen far too many kids die because of this shit! Do you think you are the first? DO you think this is a walk in the park? You need to start using your brain Jerry or you might as well let me shoot you in the face right here and now. You didn't make it out of Britain by being an idiot, I know you have no choice but to be here... Iv been doing this shit for 6 years, I don't plan getting killed, or anyone else here killed because of some jerk who thinks this is a game.' She paused as though to catch her breath, but it wasn't clear she was out of breath at all, her eyes where still fixed on his, her face twisted.

`---GET OFF THE FLOOR!' He leaped to his feet, clearly scared out of his wits, the usual color in his face had completely vanished. `You are on funeral detail, I want a report, a list of the losses and assessment of the operation. It wont take you long, so after you have done that you are on sweep up, and bread and water for the rest of the week... oh and lucky you, its Sunday! I hope your fellow team mates have it in their hearts to forgive you for getting them slaughtered.' She snapped her head over to me and stood up straight, `---Morgan, come with me. The rest of you, well done, for what chance your leader gave you, I cannot criticize any of you.' She turned and started walking toward the door, I followed.

\bigskip
`Take a seat Morgan. While your nerves got the best of you at the end of that exercise, those two shots, even with the aid of the tracking computer were excellent.' I sat down in front of a sparsely populated metal desk, she closed the door then perched herself on the edge of it. `---Do you have any sniper experience?'

`No Sir, though... I'm not sure... it is a little hard to explain.'

`Well, does it feel comfortable or was it difficult? Bring back mixed emotions?'

`No Sir, I felt calm, I was 2~km away. Unless I had been spotted I didn't feel the need to be nervous.'

`That is good, well I think I will be assigning you as sniper, I wouldn't usually ask, but it is important to consider backgrounds when doing this. The worse thing that can happen is for you to freeze up having a flashback of some kind.' She lifted her left arm and twisted the seal on the wrist joint, then did the same on the right. Before lifting her neck and pulling the release around her neck. She stood up, her plant making a hissing noise as it let air back into the suit. She stepped over to my right and backed into a frame, into which the plant locked and detached from her. She came back and sat again on the desk.

----PART1----

[Eros]

`It wont start proper until Titan, where we test the hard-suits. You guys are really lucky, they really are state of the art. You should try and get a feel for the old rifle out in training. You have twice the work than the rest, there is no point in you being able to use the LGD20 but not the LGD10.' I looked a little confused at her though it was a safe bet that the 20 was the longer range of the two.

`The other day, during mess you said we were being trained just in case we find any intelligent life?'

`Yes?'

`Is much time being spent on possible diplomatic contact? From experience, walking in with a gun helps you come out alive, but it doesn't make any friends.'

She looked at me for a moment, resolute and unwavering. `Do you want my opinion? Or the official lines?'

`Both I guess?' I said with a shrug

`Well officially we do not fire unless threatened or fired upon, in essence that has been the rules of engagement since the MEF was founded. Stand back and hold fire until we have to. Only problem is, there are allot of trigger happy commanders and people in the MEF. I was there during our expedition on GA-73a.'

`pul... parch...'

`Pulchritude, yes, the first world discovered with a breathable atmosphere and life. Despite that it was very harsh, nearly 1.5g underfoot, temperature in the 30s. It was lovely at the same time as it was harsh, plant life like you had never seen, strangely delicate yet strong, rich in color. When we came across the first none flora life-form, I can tell you, there wasn't a single bit of diplomacy. The poor thing got shot through what looked like the head, but we later discovered was more approximately it's chest. Stupid thing was, it was probably the most docile creature on the planet. As dumb as a brick and a wonder it had even evolved as far as it had. I somehow doubt given the average response to the more violent creatures there, that if some form of alien waved at us and said hello, it would get very far beyond that gesture.'

`Does command know this?'

`Yep, but does command care should be the real question... the answer is unfortunately; not very much. Things are changing a little with the CAPs but they can be as dangerous as they are useful.'

`CAPs?'

`Disregard that comment, I didn't say a thing. Hit the showers.'

`Sir?'

`Hit the showers Morgan.' She shouted, pointing at the door.

----END PART2---

[Eros]

Quick check if anyone is actually following at all? Any comments so far?

As a little bit of a spoiler or setup... Up to the current posted chapter I am following two plot lines... Morgan, and this exploration ship.
There is another plot line to be introduced in about...another chapter or two (i cannot remember... im up to about chapter 10 on my computer)

So, at this point its sill very much getting going

[Eros]

Well, the view count appears to be going up so i assume someone...or something... is reading. Be really nice to get some feedback. Even if its just to say "Eros its crap, please for the love of GOD STOP."

Following chapter hasnt been reviewed fully- so apologies if its got bad spelling/typos etc


\chapter{Learn through death}
A bodly of a woman floated inside a glass tube, thousands of small strands connected her along the spine and up to her neck to the back on the tube. The room was completely white, with lights that circled the room, breaking up basic shapes to leave a blank, undisturbed white.

Her fingeres twitched, followed by her eyes. After a few moments she slowly opened her eyes, squinting into the blank surroundings. A man entered the room, he stood directly in front of her. Closely examining her physical features. She looks at him and slowly lifts her hand to presses it against the glass.

`Good morning 53, how are you feeling?'

The woman opened her mouth but did not speak, instead she frowned at him with a distasteful look. He just smiled as he watched her float for a few moments before her eyes rolled into her head and she began rapidly twitching. He looked away for a moment at a notepad, pressing it a few times without any want or purpose. He looked back at her as she now floated, lifeless.

A woman in a white coat entered the room and stood next to him, She fixed on him, not looking at the woman in the tube.

`Sharding was successful, less burn than previously, this one will probably be ok to use in a few days.'

`48?'

`Probably. She seems to be taking the sharding better and better, I cannot explain it though. There arn't any physilogical changes, and they are born without memory... I really dont understand it.'

`The product is becomming more stable, all these are good things, we should be careful but not too worried.'

`Understanding these things are important for mass production, what works here might not be reproducable.'

`I understand, but we should move to phase 3 regardless, are the samples prepared?'

`Yes, we just need the signatures from the commity.'

`**** the commity, we can get a head start. Ill take the fall if things go wrong.'

`Yes and the glory if things go right.'

`I might be excited, but im not a fool, things rarely go right. We shouldn't forget what we did to get here. That kind of thing weighs pretty heavy even with the devil.'

`The devil? Ha, I think he would clap his hands.'

[Eros]

\chapter{Glass II}

A bead of sweat dripped down the Captain's neck, over her chest making her shiver slightly. She was physically shaking, biting at her nails trying to calm herself.

`Ensign?'

`Sir, I... I just don't know, it just appeared there.'

`Your telling me we didn't see it? How the hell did we miss something like that? It is like a moon for christ sake? What is it doing? Other than moving closer?'

`We are already trying to move away, but it's faster than we are... and 5000 times bigger. I tried changing direction, it just adjusts. What do we do?'

`We already hit it with our radio, what ever it is, it doesn't want to talk.' There was a loud bang and a creek.

`What on Earth was that?'

`Hull breach... midsection, all decks, we are venting.'

`Jump ensign, just jump. Get us the Hell out of here. while we are in one piece. '

`Roger that! Navigation, double on our last jump coordinate and excecute as soon as possible, do not wait for instruction, just do it.'

`Bridge, Navigation here, we are picking up a large gravitational field from that thing, if we jump there is no telling where we will land unless we have more time.'

`Navigation, we don't have time, just jump now now now!'

There was a frenzy of action on the bridge, everyone was looking at the screen that showed the object growing larger and larger, at this point it looked like an anbiguous surface without feature. There was a loud hum as the engines spun up. The Captain took a deep breath and crossed her fingers behind her back and closed her eyes.

When she opened them again the monitor screen was blank, showing a normal starfield. She sat back in her chair and sighed loudly holding her face in her hands. As she took her hands away and looked at the screen once more, the object appeared once more.

`This thing is going to follow us... we can't go back home, it will follow us there and then god knows what will happen. How are the hull breaches?'

`Just cracks it appears, the repair team are down there already, we will be sealed in less than 10 minutes.'

She took a few deep breaths and bit her lip. `We know it is intelligent, and I assume it will follow us, that means we cannot send directed transmission to Earth, if they can track us through a Jump they will work out the direction we send any transmission. It means we have to go Isotropic through normal methods. At this distance... it is hardly worth it. Are weapon systems online?'

`Shoot at it? Are you serious? We already suffered structual damage and we have no idea what caused it. The repair crew reports things seem fine down there, but we still have a fracture across the mid section, we can probably count ourselves lucky the jump didn't rip us in two.'

`The jump field is large enough, we don't suffer from inertia differences passing through it, again it is pretty obvious that its something to do with that thing out there... OK I have a plan, I believe all of you will understand what we have to do.'

Everyone looked glum, but all nodded. The location of Earth should not be revealed, regardless of whether the object was hostile or friendly.

`We have to plot a course into the red zone. Make jumps until we can go no further. Then overload the engines. I had honestly hoped to have made it back people, this was never a suicide mission.'

`Coordinates are plotted sir.' The navigation officer said quietly, the Captain nodded and the ship once more jumped. Once more the star field appeared, then the object a few moments later.

`---Again, jump when ready.'

The engines spun up once more, then the ship went totally silent, the starfield vanished and was replaced with blank canvas as though the stars had been removed.

`What the hell? Do we have power?'

`Yes, though we might as well not have, our sensors are making no sense, there is nothing out there... nothing at all.'

The Captain sat back in her chair once again and lifted a panel and looked at it deep in concentration for a few seconds. She took a deep breath then spoke.

`All crew, suit up and arm yourselves.' She paused and dropped the panel and looked around `--That stands for you lot too.'

Captain Summers stood and took a sidearm from the underside of her seat, checked the clip and attached it to her belt. Everyone followed suit a few moments later.

`Ok you all know the drill, suit up by quaters, we need to monitor all systems, get moving. Someone wakeup the ex-o'

The door slid open, `I'm already awake Louise, it is difficult to sleep through your bad driving. What is the situation?'

`Well you missed most of the action. We are about a light year or so beyond our return range. Right now, I have no idea where we are.'

`From what I saw on my way over, I'm pretty sure we know where we are, or at least what is nearby.'

`Its certain we are inside that sphere, where exactly that is is the other question. We should experiment. Assume they are trying to learn about us, how long does it take to learn a language based on zero knowledge of our phonetics?'

`Depends on their intelligence, our computerised systems are still trying to lear ours, they have been trying to learn for the best part of 20 years.'

`Well let us hope they don't take that long.'

[Eros]

I will not be updating this post anymore - but i will bump it with chapters as they come, see my wordpress for chapters as they come. Total of 8 posted so far, leaving the project up to date so far.

Cheers

[Eros]

*bump*

Updated - posted up to chapter 09... 10 is coming soon, im reviewing and checking it over and it will go up fairly soon (day or two)