- OOC:
ShanneTwoo
HVW Mobile Anti-Infantry 3.1
or "Got Your Back"
No prerequisites
FIRST DAY.
Terre stood at attention with a row of other recruits, her natural blonde streaks standing out harshly against her brown hair in the bright lights.
First day as a recruit, she thought,
and already, my eyes hurt. Just a scant two days before, she had shown up on Jerren’s ship, tired, grieving, and bitter. She had walked up to the nearest junior officer and asked him where to sign up. She had looked a terrible fright and she knew it. She had the taller, skinnier officer shaking in his boots as she stalked after him, right on his heels as he led her to the recruitment offices. Slamming her DC-15s side arm blasters down on the table in front of the officer, she had rather forcibly asked for the paperwork.
Now here she stood, her eyes beginning to smart from the harsh lighting that glinted off her newly issued stormie armor, her helmet tucked under her left arm.
Still reeks, too…The commander walked back and forth in front of them.
“Alright, recruits!” she barked. “I know you all are new to our Empire, and I know at least one of you has held a gun before--” Terre thought lovingly of her DC-15s’, “--but I’d bet money that NONE of you have been in a firefight in which the odds are one hundred of them and only one of you.” Terre felt her eyebrow try to rise. She forced it back down. The commander didn’t seem to notice. Terre kept her spine straight and her shoulders back as the commander droned on…
A FEW HOURS LATER.
Terre stood in front of her own target, a T-21 in hand. It was an unfamiliar gun to her, but she thought she could make it work. It was a heavy gun, weighing almost ten pounds. Her arm began to shake, but she braced it well. Taking deep breaths and controlling her muscle spasms, she waited for the command.
“Fire, greenies! And make it count!”
Terre took a deep breath, then let loose a clip of shots, most of them hitting near the bullseye. The gun had a massive recoil, though Terre wasn't exactly caught off guard. Such a heavy gun had to have repercussions of some kind. She ejected the first clip, slipping another into place and emptying it, some of them hitting the bullseye itself.
Not too bad for my first time...“Very good, Rae!” the commander said, impressed. Terre allowed herself to smile before snapping off a salute.
“Thank you, ma’am,” she said.
TWO DAYS LATER.
“You will be pairing off. Remember who your partner is, because they’re the ones to save your sorry butt if you find yourself in trouble, understand?” the commander barked to the row of recruits.
Terre shuffled her feet, looking at the other recruits. She zoned out for a few moments, waiting for her name to be called, and then snapped back to attention.
“Rae!” the commander barked. “You’re with Jaelin.” Terre looked to her right. A sandy haired boy grinned at her and walked over, tossing his hair to one side so it was out of his face. Terre caught a flash of green eyes before he looked away. “Take a couple minutes to get acquainted,” the commander said.
Jaelin stuck his hand out. “You’re Rae?”
Terre shook it. “Last name basis, huh?”
Jaelin shook his head, releasing her hand. “Not necessarily, but that’s all I’ve heard the commander call you.”
Terre chuckled. “Oh. I’m Terre.”
“You know my name,” Jaelin said, looking at the other recruits. Terre nodded. “I’m kind of the jokester around here, so people call me Jester, if you’d prefer.”
Terre smiled again. “Maybe,” she said.
LATER.
Terre was in the middle of a simulation, Jaelin at her back. She took careful aim at the doorway that stood at the end of the hallway, taking a deep, calming breath. Jaelin wasn’t taking the sim very seriously, and instead kept teasing one of his friends, Sprinter.
“Hey, Sprint! Make sure you keep your mouth shut, alright, buddy? I’d hate for you to eat my dust!” he laughed.
“Shut up, Jester! You’re just jealous you don’t have this,” Sprinter said, knocking his Z-6 against his mechanical leg, making a loud
bong sound.
Why doesn’t he cover it in synth-flesh? It’s almost like he’s proud of it…“Why would I be jealous of you, Sprinter?
You don’t have my rugged good looks,” Jaelin said smugly. “Why else would I have been the one to get paired up with this wild cat?”
“This ‘wild cat’ has teeth!” Terre barked, whirling on Jaelin. He just laughed.
I walked right into that one, Terre thought.
He wanted
to goad me into that… “Careful, lest I bite,” she growled.
“You’re right, Jester, you got the wild one!” Sprinter laughed.
“Oh, don’t be full of it,” Terre said crossly. “Just remember this.
Never bring me in to
anything ever again. Am I clear?”
Jaelin’s eyes flashed wide. “I was just joking, Terre. Cool your jets,” he said uncomfortably.
Just as she was about to fly off the handle, the doors at the end of the hall opened. With a scream of frustration, she aimed once more, just as Sprinter and his partner took off down the hallway. For some reason Terre couldn’t fathom, Jaelin followed them.
Neanderthals, honestly…She fired at the stormies pouring in the doorway, laying down heavy fire. The gun bucked against her shoulder, but with all of the extra training hours she had been putting in, Terre was better at holding it steady for longer periods of time. Her shots were well aimed, and she hit her targets more frequently than she missed, which said something, since these targets were moving, not stationary. Pleased, she continued firing.
As she was ejecting her second clip and inserting a third, she heard a
tink from behind her. She whirled. A small grenade lay at her feet, leaking gas. She looked up. Several stormies had come from the back as well. Panicking, she tried to kick the grenade back the way it had come.
It exploded at her feet, tear gas billowing up to envelop her. Coughing, she staggered out of it, swiping at her eyes. “JAELIN!” she screamed.
AN HOUR LATER.
Terre stood in the weight-lifting/training room, Jaelin in front of her, backed up against a wall. He was quite veritably pinned by the much shorter female.
“Jaelin, you FREAK! You were supposed to have MY back! What was your issue? Were your instructions not clear? Did the commander not ENUNCIATE enough for you?!” Terre shrieked at her partner. The six-foot-one male looked surprised.
“Terre, I thought you were following me. I didn’t know you were camping there in the hallway.”
“Well you should have ASKED rather than just ASSUMED!” Terre seethed. She turned in circles for a few moments, working through her frustration. Lashing out, she punched one of the bags hanging from the ceiling, causing it to swing wildly.
“Terre, I’m sorry. It was a miscommunication,” Jaelin said, hands spread in defeat. Terre sighed, bending over, arms dangling by her head.
“It was just as much my fault as yours, Jaelin,” she said, straightening. “I’m sorry too.”
Jaelin shuffled his feet. “Not just for abandoning you, Terre. I’m also sorry for pulling you into that thing with Sprinter.”
Terre shrugged. “I overreacted,” she said.
Jaelin blinked. “So then we’re cool?”
Terre nodded. “Yeah.”
TWO WEEKS LATER.
The alarms were what snapped her awake. Terre struggled out of bed, her hand already searching for her DC-15s. Instead, she found the T-21. She sighed resignedly. Two weeks, and this was her first time using it in a real combat situation. She had gotten much better with her aim and had just recently started using the Z-6. Terre pounded down the hallway, falling in with the rest of her class. Terre checked her clips, making sure she had plenty. Quickly, she scanned the recruits, looking for Jaelin. She saw him and made her way over.
“How you feelin’, Rae?” he asked, brushing his sandy hair to the side, checking his Z-6.
“Like I could use a trip to the ‘fresher first?”
He laughed. “Nervous?” Terre nodded. He ruffled her hair playfully. “Stiff upper lip, Terre. You’ll do fine.”
Terre took a deep breath. “I hope so,” she said, checking the clips again. She felt Jaelin’s hand close over hers.
“Hey,” he said quietly. Terre looked up into those green eyes she had found so enchanting the first day they met. “You’re going to do great.” Terre looked away for a moment. She felt Jaelin’s thumb and forefinger under her chin, and she looked up at him again.
He was so close… Her throat tightened, and she pulled away, taking a deep, shaky breath
“Gonna watch my back this time?” she asked, looking into his eyes.
“Of course,” he said, looking away. “I’ll be right behind you.”
Oh cripes… I hurt him…Terre shook her head and took off running to the front of the base, prepared to hold off as many intruders as she could.
Protect the base, protect the base, protect your home, pounded through her head, keeping time with her footfalls. She felt Jaelin right behind her, heard his breathing, hard and fast. Turning the corner, Terre saw approximately fifteen of the rival stormies firing on the other recruits. Opening fire, Terre wiped out five of them, using a shot each before some of the recruits got in the way. Terre felt herself detaching as she moved forward, running numbers in her head.
One shot each, which is five shots, thirty to a clip, one sixth used.She opened fire again, wiping out five more then turned back the way she had come, leaving the recruits to take out the remaining five. Jaelin followed her, asking no questions. She ran to the next corridor…
And cursed. “The sleeping quarters,” she murmured. Turning to Jaelin, she said, “We’ll have to check each room.” He nodded.
“Want me to go first?” he asked. She shook her head. Bracing herself, she walked to the first door and forced it open. She scanned the room, studying shadows. Seeing nothing, she moved on to the next, working systematically. Opening one of the last doors, Terre thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye, but further inspection turned up nothing.
I’m just getting jumpy, she thought. After checking the two remaining rooms, she spoke to Jaelin.
“Well, that was a waste of… Time…” She turned to see a blaster carbine pointed at her face. Two of the stormies had snuck up behind her. One had Jaelin in a chokehold, the other had Terre pinned at point-blank range.
“I’m sorry, Terre,” Jaelin choked out.
Terre shook her head. “How?”
“You saw one two rooms ago. That’s when this one jumped me.” Apparently, the stormie applied more pressure, because Jaelin gagged.
“No more talking! You’re coming with us,” the one blocking Terre said.
Swallowing hard, Terre steeled herself, knocked the blaster away from her face, and fired the life-saving T-21. The stormie’s head vaporized and his body keeled over. The stormie who held Jaelin stood in shock before hauling back on Jaelin’s neck.
“NO!” Terre shrieked, firing. The stormie keeled over, releasing Jaelin who lay still on the floor. Terre began to shake.
“Jaelin?” she asked, kneeling beside him. There was no reply. She felt herself go numb. She stood, her vision going red.
No more of her friends would die tonight.LATER.
Terre came out of her blood rage, remembering nothing of what had taken place in the last hour. She would spend weeks sorting through random images and homicidal tendencies before she found out. All she remembered was Jaelin. She walked back to the trooper’s quarters, knelt beside him, and gently, ever so gently, closed his lifeless green eyes and pushed his sandy hair out of his face. She saw a medic push a stretcher towards her and she stood, allowing the medic room to lift Jaelin onto the stretcher. She noted that now, with his eyes shut and lying in a normal position, he only looked asleep.
I’m sorry, Jester… I didn’t have your back…- OOC:
- WC: 2,041
