“-and finally, Raisha?”

“Here, Drill Instructor,” the woman in question said, practically skipping forward to scoop up her package before retreating to stand with the rest of the similarly ladened recruits.

“Right, that’s everyone.” The DI said as she turned away from the desk that so recently had been piled high with sealed packages. Each one had contained what looked like a padded black rubber wetsuit and the bastard child of a motorcycle helmet and a VR headset. Of course, anyone who hadn’t been living under a rock for the last six years would immediately be able to identify those two items as the armor worn by Shil’vati marines.

Without the pile of armor and helmets in the way, Jason could see the targets on the firing range behind the table. Two mannequins, one with armor similar to that in his hands, and one without. Though the armor on the second mannequin looked like it had seen better days. The black suit was covered in light grey streaks and gaping holes.

“From this moment forward, the armor in your hands is your responsibility,” the DI said. “It has been custom made with your dimensions in mind. If you lose or damage it, not only will I be more furious than you can possibly imagine, but the cost to replace it will come out of your pay.” She paused for emphasis. “They are not cheap.”

With a smooth motion, the woman unholstered the weapon on her belt and flicked the safety off, prompting a slight uptick in the tension of the room. Turning casually around, the woman fired on the unarmored mannequin.

Jason had never actually seen a Shil’vati weapon hit a person before, but he could well imagine it, as the invisible beam of energy melted a fist sized sizzling hole right through the dummy in an eye blink.

“That is what the armor in your hands is designed to protect you against,” the woman said without turning around, casually changing her aim to the armored dummy. She fired again. This time though, nothing seemed to happen as she pulled the trigger.

Jason squinted.

No, something did happen. The unblemished surface area around the left pectoral on the suit seemed to shift slightly, its coloration subtly changing from black to a very dark grey. That seemed to satisfy the DI as she flicked the weapon’s safety back on and placed it back in its holster.

“The surface of your suits is formed from a material known as flexi-fiber. The material is soft and springy normally, but in the event of a sufficiently powerful kinetic impact or high temperature, it becomes momentarily rigid.” She gestured to the suit on the range. “This defense is not infallible however. Multiple impacts to the same area, or a blow with enough power, will overwhelm the material.”

To demonstrate, she fired more rounds into the same spot. Jason watched as each subsequent squeeze of the trigger resulted in the suit’s pectoral turning a lighter shade of grey. Finally, something seemed to give, and a bubbling hole formed in the suit – and the mannequin beneath.

Once more the DI holstered her weapon, before reaching for her own helmet, mag-locked to her belt. “This is the HS-5 series battle helmet. The exterior has a similar coating to your armor and a powerful sensor suite in front of the eyes. Though, in the event you need to go low tech or otherwise save the suit’s power reserves, the panel on the front can be removed.” To demonstrate, she unclasped the ‘VR headset’ component, revealing two plexiglass eye slots. “Note that doing so will not break the suit’s seal.”

She slotted the nodule back in. “In combat, the HUD will interface with your suit’s sensors, giving you real-time information on armor integrity, enemy and ally positions, as well as provide navigational data.”

She tapped a small bump on the back of the helmet. “The helmet has both air-filters and a two-hour air supply. It also contains ports to allow for the addition of more specialized equipment should it be required.”

Her speech finished, the woman looked over the recruits. “You have ten minutes to get back to the dorms, changed into your new suits, and be standing in formation outside. Thereafter we will begin physical training in your armor so you might grow accustomed to heavy activity while wearing it.” She smiled at all of them. “Please look forward to it.”

-------------

Jason slid behind a nearby tree trunk, heart hammering in his chest. The sound of his mask’s rebreathers sounded absurdly loud in his ear as he took great gasps of air and strained to listen for any pursuit over the sounds of the forest, occasionally peeking out to see if he had any pursuers.

He couldn’t see anyone, but as he’d learned over the last half-hour, that wasn’t any kind of guarantee.

“Ain’t anyone here, human. They’re probably still picking off the slow ones.”

He damn near shat himself as he dove to the side, sprawling in a pile of dead brown leaves. No sudden paralysis came over him however and he glanced up to find a Shil’vati standing over him, the red canopy of the planet’s bizarre alien plant life framed behind her.

His HUD helpfully identified her as Freyxh.

“Nice dive. Very cinematic,” the cadre’s resident asshole deadpanned. “Five out of five.”

“I wish I could say the same of you,” Jason sniped back, shifting back into a sitting position. “You look like shit.”

“Me?” the woman asked. “Hardly. A little jog through the woods won’t keep me down.”

Jason resisted the urge to scoff. The suit and helmet made it a bit harder to read someone, but there was no missing the alien’s hunched posture and the rapid rise and fall of her chest. Which was understandable, given that she’d somehow managed to beat him here.

Though looking at her, he doubted she’d be going anywhere else in a hurry. He was feeling a little winded from his sudden flight. Freyxh looked like she’d just run a marathon.

Not that he couldn’t understand the motivation to get as far away from their starting point as possible. The instructors had decided to spruce up their acclimation to their new armor by taking them all out and into the forest that stood to the south of the training base.

For an orienteering exercise.

The objective of the exercise was simple; get to a location marked on their HUD’s without getting shot. Which had served an explanation as to why six armed DI’s had accompanied them onto the Shil’vati-style bus. At the time, Jason had assumed it was just to keep any of the recruits from getting lost or perhaps ward off local wildlife.

…How young and naïve he’d been. The smiles really should have given it away. The DI’s were the most dangerous creatures in this forest. Hell, probably on this side of the planet.

“You seen anyone else?” Jason asked.

The Shil’vati shook her head as she took off her helmet – probably to breathe air that didn’t feel like you were sucking it down a hose - her spiky mane of white hair flopping out. “Not since that mad scramble at the start. I might have seen your pal Raisha go down. Or she tripped.”

Jason ignored the hint of sadistic amusement in the woman’s voice. It wasn’t like she was wrong. Either could have been true when it came to Raisha. Not that he blamed her. To call the start of the exercise a mad scramble was an understatement. The DI’s had barely finished speaking before they started shooting. Though he realized, now that he thought about it, they’d probably been deliberately aiming high given that any of them had gotten away.

“I hope she just tripped,” Jason said, surprised to realize he meant it. “She was more excited about getting an opportunity for shore leave than any of us.”

Hell, the girl had been practically vibrating from her spot in the formation when they’d been told that if they made it to the rendezvous point they’d get to leave the base next weekend. Not even the addendum that if they didn’t, they’d be spending that weekend in the tender care of one of the physical instructors had been enough to dull her excitement.

Freyxh shrugged, features indicating that she didn’t care one way or another. Which didn’t surprise him. Jason resisted the urge to sigh at his fellow recruit’s needless antipathy.

“You had any issues with the armor?” he asked, changing the subject. “I notice that if I run into trees or anything like that too fast, it locks up slightly.”

The other recruit just shrugged again, and this time Jason gave into the urge to sigh.

Apparently, the armor’s sensitivity could be increased as could the time it remained rigid. It was a training mode that made the armor lock up if it was hit by a weapon’s non-lethal setting. Take a few shots to the leg, the limb would lock up. If you got a few in the chest or the head, the whole suit would lock up, leaving you paralyzed.

To be honest, the whole thing seemed like a design oversight to Jason, given that the suits were networked in order to allow them to receive updates and orders from command. Assuming one either brute-forced their way into the network, or gained access via the command center, you could theoretically paralyze an entire army with a little creative code work.

It was the kind of weakness you’d imagine seeing in cheap Hollywood movies where the entire alien invasion force gets beaten by some fantastical weakness like water, disease or a computer virus. Given that real life wasn’t a movie, as Earth’s recent conquest had proven, he could only assume it wasn’t that simple. He certainly wasn’t arrogant enough to think he was the first person to think of the exploit.

“You could be a bit more helpfu-” he started to say, only to freeze as his suit’s motion sensor pinged.

To give Freyxh credit, it only took her a moment to pick up on his distress and shove her own helmet back on. Not that he was really paying attention to her. His entire focus was on the red dot that had appeared at the very edge of his mini-map. It was moving quickly too. Which was a given, really. It was a seismic sensor after all. If someone was moving slowly or not moving at all, they wouldn’t show up.

The contact was moving on a path parallel to his position. Too close for them not to notice him when they passed. He had to move. He got ready to run, confident he could outpace the instructor before she got in range. Sure, the instructors were all incredibly fit, but they weren’t human. He could outrun her. With all the trees in the way, the distance between them, and his small profile, he put pretty reasonable odds on being able to get out of range before she hit him.

…He was just getting ready to move, when he remembered that he wasn’t alone.

Freyxh was practically frozen in place. He could well understand why. The rise and fall of her chest was all the evidence he needed. She’d probably used everything she had to get out here as fast as she had and the short break they’d had wasn’t enough for her to have recovered. Hell, even if that wasn’t the case, he doubted she could outrun the instructors. The last few weeks might have done wonders for all of their fitness, but the DI’s lived and breathed it.

No, she wasn’t going to be outrunning their pursuer.

He should run. It was the smart thing to do. Just a few weeks ago he wouldn’t have hesitated. Hell, he didn’t even like Freyx. No one did. She was an asshole.

Unfortunately, she was their asshole.

“Alright, when she gets within visual range, I’m going to make a break for it,” he said, determinedly keeping an eye out for the DI’s appearance. “With any luck, she’ll go after me. When she does, you run.”

Jason couldn’t see his fellow recruit’s face on account of the mask, but he could see that she was doing that stupid head tilt thing.

“I’m not so desperate that I’m going to let a guy take all the risk to save me,” she grunted. “The fuck would the other girls say?”

“Is this a machismo thing or a Freyx thing?” he asked, determinedly keeping his eye on the approaching dot, very much aware that time was running out.

“Machismo?” she asked, her head tilting even more. “Why the fuck do you want me to get in touch with my masculine side?”

Jason felt like smashing his head against the nearby tree. He didn’t, more out of fear of damaging his helmet and incurring the DI’s wrath than any fear of damaging his cranium. He glanced at the rapidly approaching dot.

“Femchismo, feminismo, vagina-ego,” he grunted. “Whatever the fuck you call it. Are you so hung up on your feminine pride that you can’t accept that you have a better chance of making it out of here with a male’s help?”

He was very much aware that whether she was willing to accept his help or not would become a moot point in a few more seconds. The DI would be coming into view any second now. At which point he’d be making a break for it, whether Freyxh agreed to his plan or not.

“You won’t tell the others?” she asked. “That I let you- That I needed your help?”

“Not a word,” he said, unable to care less, catching a hint of movement through the trees.

“Then I’m-”

Jason didn’t wait for her to finish. He was off and running like he had a mountain lion after him. In many ways, a mountain lion might actually have been preferable.

They didn’t have guns.

He weaved between trees as best he could, remembering not to run in a straight line. He certainly felt his anus pucker as he heard the crackle of ionizing air behind him, and a bit of bark ahead of him warped and blackened. The DI had seen him and she was apparently shooting at him.

This could have been avoided if he’d just left the moody alien to her fate. Nope. He had to get all noble for an alien who was part of the race who had conquered his planet. Fuck, he wouldn’t have even stuck his neck out for another human a few weeks ago, yet here he was risking his butt for some alien asshole? Who the fuck even was he anymore? Was he really buying all this teamwork crap?

The human put the thought from his mind as the momentary distraction nearly had him plowing into a tree. The armor probably would have saved him from injury, but he couldn’t imagine that an impact at this speed would be much fun.

Jason stumbled a bit as his arm suddenly went rock solid, his HUD helpfully informing him that he’d been hit in the elbow. Ignoring the now paralyzed limb, he redoubled his running, practically leaping over a fallen tree. It was a very un-fun few minutes, as he watched a few more spots ahead of him blacken, as cracks rang about behind him, and the sound of his breathing roared in his ears as his heart thudded in his chest. As time passed though, the sound of gunfire behind him began to fade.

He risked a momentary glance at his mini-map, and was relieved to see the dot falling behind him. A little earlier than he had expected to. As he continued running, the figure slowly moved beyond the limits of his suit’s sensors and he allowed himself a sigh of relief.

Either the instructors were less fit than he had expected or she was pacing herself so she could catch ‘easier prey’ elsewhere…or she’d figured out Freyxh was behind her…or she had companions ahead of him…and was lulling him into a false sense of security.

He wouldn’t have put it past the instructors to use a bike or something to get ahead of the recruits and ambush them. Nothing he could do about it though beyond take a slightly more roundabout route to the rendezvous point.

Bringing up the map in his HUD using the controller on his wrist, he set about plotting a route towards his destination. He spared a momentary thought for the abrasive recruit he’d left behind, but quickly dismissed her from his mind. He’d done what he could to help her. More than he had to, really. What happened from there was on her.

He didn’t care one way or another.

-------------------

“Wooh, we did it!” Raisha cried, throwing a massive arm around Jason’s shoulders, nearly making him spill his canteen. Still, he couldn’t bring himself to fight the happy alien off.

Occasionally, another one of the cadre would limp into the clearing, but for the moment it was just him, Raisha, Nuiy, and the twins. Every one of them had their helmets off and they were practically glowing with happiness at their success. The twins were already animatedly talking to Nuiy about a nightclub they wanted to visit when they got to the city, the older woman visibly disinterested but humoring them.

“What I want to know is how you did it,” Jason said, turning his attention back to his friend and placing his canteen back on his belt. “Someone said they saw you go down at the start.”

“I did!” the alien said with cheerful obliviousness, nearly mashing Jason’s face into her tits as her grip tightened. “I fell on my face, but I guess the instructors thought one of them had gotten me, because none of them came over to finish me off.”

It was also entirely possible they’d just taken pity on her, but Jason still had to smile at his friend’s exuberance. “So you played dead until they left?”

“So I played dead until they left,” Raisha responded with a gleaming smile.

“A tactical play worth of Hannibal himself.” Jason chuckled.

“I know right?” Raisha said, proudly pounding herself on the chest, which made it jiggle in all sorts of interesting ways. Then she paused. “Who’s Hannibal?”

“Ancient general from Earth,” he said, not really wanting to go into it.

“Was he-”

“Don’t know, don’t care.” Jason laughed as he slipped out of her grip to go sit with the others. As he did, he kept a weather eye out on the tree line. Neither Tarcil nor Adrilla had shown up yet.

“Aw, come on,” Raisha whined as she sank into the dirt next to him. “You can’t just taunt me with an image like that. Some ancient human hottie all serious with his sword in hand. Gah, did he wear leather? I love leather.”

Jason deliberately tuned Raisha out as she systematically reduced one of the greatest military minds in human history into a fetish idol.

“I don’t know, Raisha,” Vieysha said, momentarily turning away from where her sister was keeping Nuiy occupied, to eye Jason up and down. “I think a human in Marine armor might be a bit better.”

Jason resisted the urge to roll his eyes as the two started to debate the differing merits of modern vs ancient armor. A sensation that only got more insistent as Raisha pulled out her omni-pad and started bringing up images of humans in various costumes that she’d been ‘researching.’

To retain his sanity, if little else, he returned his gaze to the treeline. Just in time to see movement between the tree trunks. He perked up a bit, excitement forming in his gut, as another figure emerged from the treeline.

Excitement that immediately curdled into disappointment.

“Ugh, Freyxh,” Raisha grunted under her breath. “Just our luck she’d make it.”

“It’s not too surprising,” Nuiy observed, perhaps grateful for an opportunity to escape the remaining twin’s exuberance. “She has some…personal problems, but she pushes herself as hard or harder than any of us. I’ve heard a few of the DI’s saying she’d be a shoe-in for special forces. With that in mind it’s not particularly surprising she made it.”

Raisha scowled but didn’t say anything else.

Jason caught Freyxh’s eyes from across the clearing, and despite the helmet that covered her face, he could see the surprise in her posture when she saw him. Out of politeness, if nothing else, he gave the surly alien an acknowledging nod. The alien seemed to freeze for a second before stomping off, sitting a good few meters away from the rest of the group and dumping her helmet in the dirt.

“Still alive, Freyxh?” Veiysha called.

The only response the other woman gave was to place two fingers in a V-shape in front of her lips. It was an obscene gesture remarkably similar to sticking up your middle finger at someone. In the case of the Shil’vati though, the subtext behind it was that the viewer could ‘eat her cunt.’

Raisha grunted. “Don’t bother. She’s made it clear from day one that she’s not interested in being anyone’s friend.”

Jason watched a round of wary nods go through the group, though Nuiy looked more reluctant than the twins. The human gave the lone recruit one last glance before his gaze slid over her to the forest beyond.