I was hunched over First Class Quinn, knees bent with an arm resting on the knee -- connected to a foot which was now firmly attached to her back. Now, I don't know how having tits work -- but seeing them flattened like that probably wouldn't have been the best feeling in the world. Still though, despite the rough handling, this one still seemed pretty attractive. Symmetric face, brown hair ending in a very slight blonde, yellow-green eyes with quite the natural brows and lashes, and a lean body to top it all off.

Oh, and a decent rack, too. Not that I was looking at it in particular -- had to if I was gonna make the whole flattened tits feeling something I could communicate effectively.

The scene around me was quite the looker, mind you. The trees were thin and far enough in between to let a few vehicles through, its branches spreading out horizontally into a thick, green canopy as it went higher. It might have passed for a forest back at home, but I seemed to recall there being no trees back there -- just a few references in some old books. How I remember this, I don't know. Must have had something to do with the dream I had, but now wasn't the time to think about it.

My soldiers were dressed quite appropriately for their environment, matching in greens with the vegetation around us. Their uniforms now seemed to have a few brown patches, which I recall weren't in the uniforms back when we were in the flats. Maybe some sort of fancy tech?

In any case, these guys seemed to have accepted their actions from earlier. I never gave the order to shoot, in fact, I specifically asked for crowd-molesting rounds, not the crowd-fuckers -- and only crowd-molesters, no bullets and explosives to top it all off like a cherry on a cake of war crimes.

"Now, would anyone care to tell me why First Class Quinn here isn't justifiably pissed?"

More silence. Grow some balls, you fucking twats.

"No? Nobody? Nobody thinks the Officer's right or wrong?" I looked around expectantly at each one of them, and none of them seemed to want to speak. A few bit on their lips though, so I knew they did have something to say, just wasn't man enough to do it. No bother, I'd say it for them.

"You think this shit's a fucking joke, hm? You think this world's at the mercy of your fancy rifles, your tech and all your gizmos? You think this was going to be a cakewalk? That we'd just roll the fuck over whatever this world could throw at us?"

"Or maybe you thought you could solve everything with the finesse of diplomacy, that you could play politician and wrangle this world's kingdoms together into some fucking Global Union?"

"Guess the fuck what, none of that is happening. Not on my fucking watch. We're here for exactly one purpose -- to prep this world for occupation. Do you want to know what that's gonna take? You want to know what I'll be putting you through to make shit easier for more guns to fuck this world up?"

I let my words sink in for a little while, hoping someone would actually answer. Pussies.

"Come on, that was a fucking interrogative -- you all have permission to speak." Still, no one wanted to say a word. Minus the damsel of the company, of course -- but I shut her up with a wee bit of pressure using my now very clean boots.

"Right then, I'll warn you just this once." I began, as I riled myself up to give them the good guy talk. I need to keep them on objective, and if it means giving a few baseless threats and assurances, so be it. Better to be paranoid when you don't know what you'll be walking into, and justified when what you're doing isn't morally right.

"You want peace? Fuck off to their side and have sex with the locals, I couldn't care less -- if you can avoid getting shot while you go. You wanted a fair fight, so you could bleed and struggle with honour? See how long you last without all your fancy gizmos, your rifles, sidearms, drones, a fucking fireteam. Oh, what if you do last? What then?"

"If you end up deserting us, I will kill you. If not right then and there, then later. If not by myself, then by those who succeed me. We will fucking hunt you down, and an occupation force isn't gonna have much trouble find-fucking you."

"Fuck off with your delusions. This isn't some grand narrative, nor is it some adventure. We're here as scouts, as skirmishers, and we're not the whole fucking army. You little shits have no idea what you're going to face, and you want to start fucking all of it already? Do you realize how insignificant we are? Do you realize how easily a sword can cut through your ass? How easily a large enough fucking army of swords could kill us all?"

All passengers aboard, prepare for the smoothest fucking landing you'll see. Time for Reasonable-Naird.

"We do as we're told by the Colonel, and you do as I tell you -- and I say we use every fucking advantage we have at our disposal. We've got the range, the mobility, the surveillance -- and that's all we have. We can win on our stage, but we can't win in theirs."

"We stick with what we can do, we stay smart, and we stay alive -- whatever it takes. No brainer, yeah? If you're gonna get rid of your greens, do it now before I shoot your ass up the fucking branches." I turned to the squirming bitch below me. "And you, do you get it now? How easily the shit you thought up could have ended up a bigger turd?"

"Yes, sir," she snarled, still pretty fucking mad. God, what do I have to do to get her to calm her tits?

I turned back to the rest of them. "I commend all of you for deciding to do what you did back there. You're all some pretty fucking fine soldiers, keep it that way." I said in a solemn tone, with all the sincerity I could muster. "Dismissed, set up camp before nightfall. I want rotating shifts on the perimeter once you're done. Gommelosch, get the ops room set up and look for First using whatever means you have."

There's nothing more attention-grabbing than a tall order. Should help the lads keep their minds off of the whole war-crime situation. There was one unsolved problem though, and that was Quinn.

I took my foot off of her back and motioned for her to leave. "Once we've set up camp, I'll need a word with you in private," I said in a tired voice and a deep sigh, hoping to draw some pity. Maybe it'd be comforting for the lads to know that this was taking a toll on me, too -- though it wasn't.

She nodded and turned sharply in the other direction, scurrying off into the mess of busy men and women, buzzing about with all sorts of supplies. I turned to the trees and began to scan the area.

In the distance, I could see a few human shapes moving about through the scarce foliage on the ground. They moved about in such a coordinated manner -- about ten of them -- sneaking through the shrubs, barely visible. Whatever those were, they probably weren't friendly, and alerting them wouldn't do. I turned around nonchalantly and spoke calmly into the radio, adjusting my fly for extra flair.

"Naird here, I need the shifts started right now. Stay alert."

I walked back to camp with another grin on my face. I couldn't help but feel like the universe was conspiring to give me more things to use as bargaining chips. First, it was the massacre, then it was the Obba, and now another massacre!

More advantages! More leverage! Fuck yes!