A New Life - Chapters 1 And 2

One And then I woke up. The pain was unbearable, though at the time I didn’t know what it was, or pain itself for that matter, I had no recollection of anything. The unimaginable pressure at the back left of my skull was overwhelming. It was the mother of all migraines, the high tempo rhythmic feeling so horrid yet natural I could only assume was an annoyance of what was my first few moments in the new life I wasn’t aware I was living. My mind was filled with multiple events on the records of mankind’s greatest successes and failures, multiple ways to keep myself alive, multiple ways to kill my killers, multiple ways to secure a battleground, multiple ways to become a soldier. I knew a hundred ways to kill a man before he knew what had happened but I did not know my name. My head was pounding but my mind was thriving on the mass amount of information that was circulating my brain. Blood was pouring from my nose; I was having a brain haemorrhage. And then I died. He signed his body off for the riches of the future; the risk of death or sustainment in his bleak life was outweighed by the potential wealth of a perfect life. Charlie Combes was a lonely man, a sad being sitting on the back bench of an unfortunate substandard life, unloved with no one to love. The cartridge was in the chamber, finger on the trigger and then he saw what must have been the first instance of propaganda in history to have saved a life, before leading to the deaths of others. Join the UEA – Humanity needs YOU. Why settle for the mundane? Have you ever seen the Stars? Have you ever felt what it’s like to be important?

Well now you can with the United Earth Alliance! “The hassles of life have never seemed more trivial!” declared the blonde bombshell model in her tailor fitted UEA smart dress. “I’ve never had to worry once about whether I’d paid the bills, why I had no food or when I was going to be evicted, with the UEA I can finally do something with my life, feel needed and wanted” It was perfectly spoken and oh so scripted but Charlie didn’t care, in his desperate times a second glance from a strange onlooker would have given him a reason to go on, even just for that while longer – but now he had a chance, a real chance to be a new person. Charlie Combes went to bed that night wishful for the first time in his life. And then I woke up. “Can you tell me your name son?” asked the blurry figure in the white overcoat “Are you aware of where you are, what you are doing here?” asked an equally blurry figure with a more feminine voice. “No” I replied rather bluntly, but when it feels like burning rods are being stabbed through your forehead you don’t exactly feel the need to converse. At least they were polite enough to skip to phatic talk. “You are recovering from the most serious change in your life, Combes” said the manly blurry figure. “Your memories will recover in time” continued the women “What’s happening?” I questioned. “Rest now, we will speak tomorrow morning” dismissed the man, “for now, don’t try too hard to remember anything you’ll just give yourself a headache”

Charlie woke up, the hammer of rain lashing out in anger on the window failed to dampen his rare mood. Deciding not to conform to his daily routine, skipping work and choosing not to study that days trolling of the world’s shortcomings in the paper gave Charlie a fresh start to what would have been, again, the day he pulled that trigger. Charlie stood outside of a building he had walked by countless times before but was so fixated on why the cars always miss him when crossing to road that he never even gave it a first look. The sign read The United Earth Alliance Careers Office. The UEACO spelt Charlies new future, a future based on an actresses false words, but what did it matter, any future was better than his present. He stepped inside. “...hello” he stuttered to the intercom on the inside gallery, “I’m Charlie Combes, um, I called earlier...I'm here to see Lieutenant Banks?” Moments later the latch opened with a crack and Charlie proceeded inside and followed the only route ahead of him. The solid corridor of white led him to a large open landing filled with a large number of people, most sitting silently but some sat in the background with a face all too familiar. He knew why they were joining. Charlie went and sat down in an open seat next to a smartly dressed attractive young brunette silently reading a pamphlet on why she was the greatest asset the UEA had. She saw him looking. “Its bullshit but that doesn’t stop me feeling flattered” she said suddenly “Flattery can get you far” Charlie replied “Yes, apparently on a ship heading off to God knows where” she said “I’m sure he does know” he replied again, “he’s just hasn’t told us yet”

“You’re a religionist?” she asked, now looking directly at Charlie, her head tilted left. “Oh, God no, excuse the pun...err, just making a joke...I’m quite sane actually” he said with a smile. “You think believers are insane?” her tone of voice dropped judgmentally “Well, they...no, I mean yes, but...” “I’m kidding! A bunch of loons the lot of them” she said stopping Charlie before he finished digging his hole, “Alice Knight, it’s nice to meet you” she ended placing out her hand “Charlie Combes” he said shaking her hand And then I woke up. “Good morning, Mr Combes. If you can get dressed now into these please” said the mysterious man, “then you can follow me.” I did as he said and followed as he instructed. He led me to a small room with two chairs and a desk; I sat on one while he sat on the other. “Hello Mr Combes, I’m Doctor Kauffman, do you remember anything new?” he asked “Yes” I replied, “I’m pretty much up to date with everything now” “Good, now I apologise but I can’t take your word, I’m going to ask you questions and you have to answer clearly, understand?” I understood. “Where were you born?” “London, England, USE” “Why did you join the UEA?” “I had nothing better to do” “Were you fully aware of what would happen?” “Yes, we’ve all grown up with the UEA...” “What is happening right now?”

“I have been selected for the Marines and am undergoing training” “Why were you selected for Marine training?” “I don’t know. My actions at basic? Why was I?” “Let me ask the questions please Mr Combes, where are you now?” “In orbit, awaiting further information” “Thank you Mr Combes that will be all” “That’s it?” “That’s it” After realising there was nothing left for me in my old life I decided to join the UEA for “adventure” and “a purpose”, the fact that they promise riches and benefits after you’ve served your time certainly helped, what I didn’t account for was being thought of as extra ‘special’. I had spoken to Lieutenant Banks at the UEACO, he sent me off to do some aptitude tests and interviews and three and a bit months later, here I am effectively being tortured until I become one of the many super soldiers they’re ‘creating’. Today I finally get to be released from this baby-sitting affair and leave the confines of the most tormenting class room in existence and start a gloried lesson of physical education, I thought I left school years ago, the military did not agree. School was a pretty dull time for me; so far it has been quite interesting. Lieutenant Banks sat there with a stale face; his pen in hand for another routine talk to someone who thought they were UEA material. “Tell me Mr Combes, what do know of the UEA?” Asked Banks “Well, not much actually” answered Charlie, “obviously I know what it was but I only decided to join up only yesterday”

“And why was that?” Beckoned Banks “I’m not really sure to be honest” replied Charlie. There was a moment of silence while Lieutenant Banks looked in thought while Charlie stared uncomfortably. “Return to the UEACO in two days at eleven hundred hours and then you can begin a few tests and interviews” Banks stated sharply “Sorry? What tests” Asked Charlie “Aptitude tests, nothing to worry about. They are not difficult but they tell us what we need to know. Thank you, see you in two days.” Charlie stumbled out of the room not too sure of what had just occurred. Departing the UEACO Charlie crossed eyes with Alice, they shared a smile and for once Charlie felt content. I was standing in a large open room, as were 450 other confused ‘Marines’, not quite sure what they were doing. Almost as soon as I had made my way to the new, ‘exciting’ section of the Training Centre we were herded through to an even larger room with a convenient 500 seats for us to place ourselves into. Most of us sat in silence, the friendlier ones were attempting conversation with those to their right and left, often to no avail. Everyone had a look of discomfort of what I assumed was the ongoing brain pain I had personally been dealing with since our transfer from basic two weeks previously, though It only seems like two or three days having been comatose or dead for the other eleven or twelve. A burly man wearing the UEA uniform walked in and with his rough voice clearly and concisely, a way very common to the UEA, told us what we needed to hear. “Congratulations, you have survived the preliminary Marines training; the same cannot be said for those who leave

their seats empty today. You may be somewhat confused as to why you are suffering from a never ending hangover or why you seem to know endless amounts of information you never learned. The simple answer is we stuffed them with what we believe each of you individually have an aptitude for. Some of you are now greater doctors then you could have possibly ever been, some of you are now humanities greatest engineers but all of you are in the first stages of becoming the greatest task force of soldiers the UEA has to offer. This overload of information effectively blew your brain into pieces and for all intents and purposes, you died.” There was confused silence in the room. We all knew we were becoming soldiers; this was obvious before we even joined, we all managed to make it through basic training and we were all informed of our selection for advanced training but none of us had a clue of what this strange man was saying, we didn’t know we were to become marines. “You will have all noticed the pressure in the back of your head” continued the burly man. “This is the chip we have placed in everyone of you,” there was an uneasy shift all of the seats, “it is the most important part of your body from now on, it keeps you alive, it retains the information needed to keep you from becoming a vegetable. It will be the greatest asset to you on the battlefield. All of your body’s functions are still controlled by the brain though only at the command of the chip.” “A side effect of the advanced training,” persisted the man, dismissing his cold statements, “was a collapse in your short term memory, this is where the chip comes in and records everything and slowly over time tricks the body into creating a permanent copy.” Everyone sat staring gormlessly; some were slyly feeling the back of their skulls. It was understandable enough to take in; similar technology has been used for years to counter illnesses like Alzheimer’s. It was quite a paranoid feeling thinking your brain was working just fine, and then suddenly discovering your

mental well being wasn’t in natural hands anymore. Things still felt exactly the same, but they were now different. “Today you begin body augmentation followed by a visit to our resident shrink, dismissed” The man was gone as soon as he appeared, he gave us no time to ask questions but left us to simply appreciate what he was saying and dwell on it enough for it to make sense. Body augmentation didn’t sound nice.” “Well done Mr Combes, this is the information you will need to hand over before you enter the shuttle. It departs at oh nine hundred, Thursday morning. It will be a three hour flight to Florida by which that time you will have a few hours before all responsibility is handed over to the appropriate UEA forces in the area.” Handing over the details to Charlie, Lieutenant Banks extended his hand as to wish Charlie good luck. Charlie understood the Lieutenant wasn’t the grumpy depressive he seemed the first time they had met, it was obvious there were many people who wasted his time in those initial sessions. Charlie was now a UEA recruit, it only took 5 weeks and his life changed more in that time than it did in 15 years. Charlie knew barely anything about what he was doing or where he was going. This excited him. It wasn’t Charlie's naivety that led him to his ignorance, the majority of Earth and most of its Colonies did not understand the full power or motives of humanities biggest controlling government. The most widely agreed answer is that, in times of need, long ago, nations banded together against the first other earthly species discovered, at an initial first contact meeting they concluded we were a future threat and thus wiped out the greeting party, that was 200 years ago and since nothing has been heard of them. The UEA rose

from the ashes of trivial nothings that came from the world’s acknowledgment that there were greater threats than themselves and thus the most successful martial law enforced dictatorship came to be. It’s not that people are too ignorant to want to know more about the UEA but the organisation themselves filter what they deem unnecessary knowledge the public need not know. Everyone knew most of the roles a UEA soldier would take. They would be a peace keeping force for those who surfaced as a threat. About once a year or so some colony, somewhere, would create an issue that needed resolving. What Charlie didn’t know was that the UEAs overall intentions were to amass an unbeatable force for when in the presence of enemies unknown. No peacekeeping force needs the population of Europe. Charlie was now going to be in-the-loop, someone he thought would make a difference, what difference he didn’t know but his life was young. They sent him off to the Orbital Defence Command and Training Centre, the ODCTC, where he would begin 5 weeks of basic training before being sent off to wherever he was thought of as useful, it just so happens that he was quite a bit better in this life than his last. “Name: Charlie Combes – Age: 25 – Sex: Male” dictated the shrink, “parents and sister died as collateral damage between the local police enforcement and the group of religious extremists acting up around the area, is that correct?” “...” I was shocked, he was more to the point than any UEA Officer I’d ever spoken with and he was supposed to be a doctor! “One of the police shot your sister in the forehead mistaking her to have been in possession of an armed device while your mother and father were gunned down by the extremists. Quite a traumatic experience don’t you think?” I stared at this ‘shrink’ was there a point to this I wondered.

“I wasn’t there at the time, I decided to stay home, but yes the news was shocking” “Why did you decide to stay home?” asked the shrink “Because I had a fight with my parents that night” “What about?” he asked leaning forward, leading me into a false sense of security, shrinks are sneaky bastards. “They wouldn’t let me take the day off school the next day” “I see. Quite an inconsequential episode when you link it to what happened later on that night, don’t you think?” “Of course it was,” I replied in a snap “But you did get the day off the next day?” he said in a tone of voice I did not approve of. “Yes.” “What did you think of this?” “I didn’t think anything at the time, my family was murdered – do you really think I gave a shit that I got my way?” “You’d be surprised” answered the shrink. “Is there a reason why you’re bringing this up?” I asked hoping to deter the conversation “Yes, actually, that was 10 years ago, it may seem like a long time ago, but you’d be surprised how you harbour emotions” “And?” I was becoming more frustrated “How did you find today’s body augmentation?” “What? Well, it wasn’t a serious augment, why?” the drastic change of subject put me off guard, today they infused our muscles with some form of liquid that seeped into our pours, it tightens the muscles and makes them more resilient to shock, Doctor Cortez says we’ll be fine for now, but tomorrow there will be more than one muscle stiff in the morning. The shrink continued with his interrogation. “Quite a body shock, don’t you think?” “Well, if they’re gonna make us stronger I don’t see why not...”

“Why do you think they’re making you stronger?” “I don’t know? Because they thought we did well at basic and decide we can do better?” “True, but why you?” “Listen, can’t you just ask some people higher in the chain of command? They’ll know a lot more than me.” I was getting quite fed up, I never liked therapy. “Oh, I know Mr Combes I’m just wondering if you do.” His cryptic sentence wound me up even more. “Well I don’t know,” I snapped. “You handled your parents’ deaths well; you kept your cool and were not overwhelmed with emotion. It took you 11 years before it became too much, before survivor’s guilt kicked in and you realised that that night had destroyed your life” “What are you getting at?” I questioned “Your suicidal tendencies Mr Combes” “What?! I don’t have any!” “Don’t patronise me Mr Combes, whatever matter, it’s not an issue. Your history shows you have a mentality of keeping your cool and your lack of self preservation gives us a good insight to how you would act when the heavy rain falls.” “So I was chosen because I almost killed myself once?” “That and your actions at basic training, you’re Marine material son, feel honoured” “I thought the Marines were those who outdid themselves, the best of the bed “That’s right,” answered the shrink, always sounding condescending, “that was how things were done, but in this day and age we can make you the best of the best.” I just nodded and agreed, I was tired and I wanted sleep. “Enjoy tomorrow,” said the shrink, “don’t have too much fun.” I thought did he really have to be so creepy, it didn’t matter

though, I was looking forward to the start of real advanced training. “Now approaching ODCTC,” spoke to voice from the shuttles intercom,” please prepare for a slight bump. It is nothing to worry about.” This was Charlie’s first space flight, they weren’t rare, but they weren’t exactly common. At the start of the era of Colonisation millions left to see the stars, most were never heard from again – maybe because they found homes on other worlds but a lot of the time they failed to find them. It wasn’t until the organisation that would later become the UEA gave a helping hand and encouraged people to head out that successful attempts were created. Most planets weren’t suitable for human life be it an incompatible atmosphere, gravity issues or, though it has never happened, conflict from a native force. Those planets that were discovered were never perfect and thus terraforming had to occur and still, even then, it wasn’t Earth. Nevertheless, the Colonies would eventually become home to over a billion lives. The role of the UEA was to protect Earth its Colonies from threats, the only possible threat known were the race not seen in two centuries, there were high hopes of never seeing them again. Charlie was amazed by Zero Gravity, they weren’t allowed to leave their seats but it didn’t mean he didn’t feel it. The recruits were heavily chaperoned when leaving the shuttle to the ODCTC, they didn’t want anyone hurting themselves floating about. As always, the recruits were herded into a large room to go play with other recruits. Charlie gave a shy look out to see if his ‘Earth friend’, Alice, was there. She wasn’t. Still floating about, a booming voice was heard.

“Could you please all place yourselves as close to the ground as possible, use the guide ropes to do so. Could you please make sure you are in a comfortable seating position within the next fifteen seconds.” Charlie was curious but obeyed. Within 15 seconds Charlie felt more and more pressure on his body, within another 15seconds he felt heavier than he did on Earth. Charlie turned tried to question to the nearest UEA member he could find but was told to keep quiet. The booming voice was heard again. “Thank you for your patience; you are now experience gravity at 1.2 times gravity of that relative to Earth.” He turned again to the man, slower than usually – adjusting himself to a slightly heavier gravity. “Artificial gravity? That doesn’t exist?” In a snappy reply the man said “it does for the UEA” then went on his business. Charlie was amazed at even this little snippet of technology the UEA had at its grasp. Artificial gravity did exist of course, but to have an entire station harness it? Even Charlie’s unscientific brain found that hard to fathom. Charlie didn’t think too much of it though, he was looking forward to the start of basic training. Two It hurt to think let alone walk, but perversely, I felt strong. As it turns out the ‘liquid’ used to strengthen the muscles was nothing but millions of nanomachines, much smaller than anything I’d ever read about on Earth. They latch themselves onto the muscle’s and dampen shock by spreading it out over a micro-protective layer and increasing the amount of pressure a muscle could take before tearing. A bullet will still mess you up

but it’s safer than nothing. The pain wasn’t helped by today’s increase in gravity, we were now on 2.2 times Earth gravity, I wasn’t looking forward to how many EG’s they expected us to take. The UEA gave us the benefit of the doubt for the first view days after the information overload; they stopped the military clock for us to recover and didn’t enforce the hierarchy. This all stopped with the start of physical advanced training. “Forget about any achievements you may have acquired in your time at basic,” bellowed a new, even burlier man than previously, “they mean nothing to me. You have proven nothing to me and I swear if I’m not weeping like a baby when you kids fuck off into the big dangerous world you will be held back and forced to repeat again and again, scrubbing each and every shitter as you go, until I’m proud to send you off to die, you get me?” “We get you!” we screamed back. We knew it was an act but it didn’t mean it wasn’t intimidating. “Now I know none of you feel like you’d be able move a metre. But do I care what you feel? Run. Forward. NOW!” He was certainly louder than Sergeant Baker from basic. We ran. “And when you come to a wall, turn - the fuck - around. Don’t stop ‘till I say.” His voice never changed volume, it’s like it increased with distance. “I need a shit; maybe I’ll make myself a nice cup of tea. I’ll see you weedy fucks when I feel like coming back.” He was gone and we kept on running. Unlike all other advanced training, Marine training stayed onsite at the Training Centre in the ‘left wing’ of the four by two kilometre long super structure. The setting wasn’t drastically different than basic. It had similar training facilities, though the classrooms were replaced by the mind-fuck rooms that would both kill you and make you a historical military genius. There were supposed to be just fewer than 500 recruits for the Marines but unfortunately some minds take a brain haemorrhage worse than others. They were unable to ‘fix’ the brain and thus. Dead.

The biggest difference, though, between the centre section of Training Centre and where we were positioned was the amount of space in the main rec-room compared to basic. It was amazing. It had been massive in basic, with different options for terrain, weather and all that magic but Marines training demanded a need for bigger and better. The main room we spent most of our exercises in was six hundred by four hundred metres; our barracks were right next to it. It was strange to think I’d been living in space for 2 months, with the exception of the basic training final exercise on earth. I’m not too sure how long I actually will have to live in space come to think of it When the DI, Sergeant Jackson, told us to run to the wall, he always referred to the one 600 metres apart from the other. This not only meant our endless runs of 20 to 30 clicks were monotonous and boring, usually running the same distance backwards and forwards 50 times – especially when he turned off terrain features. It also meant Jackson was able to leave us for as long as he wanted. I swear sometimes he forgot about us, no one can be that cruel. It had been two days since Charlie arrived at the ODCTC and in that short time they had increased the gravity to 1.25EG. It was the first day of basic training. The day before, Charlie had been split into a manageable section of 10 people. That meant that there were only 350 other sections training in this recruiting season. First on the agenda was ‘basic’ (everything was basic for the next 5 weeks) contextual knowledge of the Universe, with the signing of secrecy acts beforehand of course, though they weren’t likely to meet anyone in orbit that wasn’t aware of they were about to find out. “Hello Section F, I am Corporal Middlewick. Over the next two weeks you will come to grips with the UEAs actions

over the last two centuries. Two weeks is all we have so listen carefully and don’t piss about.” She was strict but wonderfully beautiful. It was a safe bet that the men, and possibly some women, would hang off her words. Whether they took anything in was a bonus, suffice to say she would have their attention one way or another. “The modern UEA is first and foremost a defensive organisation stretching back three hundred and fifty years in various different titles, but over time it has formed into humanities greatest governmental force, specifically the last two hundred after the United Earth Treaty. We control eighty percent of every human settlement with Earth as the main HQ, the other twenty either failed to see the benefits of our protection or they are religious extremists believing they are doing their god’s will. These extremists have been the UEAs greatest threat for over a century now. Contrary to popular belief we do not ‘cull’ them, we trade embargo them if they cause us hassle, it’s simple and effective but can make them angry, but they soon quiet done when they understand that its effectively nine to one odds against them.” She went on for 3 hours about the modern history of the UEA until she finally got to the subject that Charlie and the other 9 Recruits were waiting for. “Now I know you’re all interested in the events of ‘First Contact’ but I’m sorry, it’s not as exciting as you may have thought growing up with the rumours. I’ll put things straight: we made first contact with a race known to us as Juri, we sent a diplomatic party to extend and offer of peace, they did not return to favour, the convoy we sent was destroyed, 4000 souls lost. We’ve been in a technical state of war since. Let’s just hope the reason they haven’t returned is because they’re scared.” The class let out a chuckle until the Corporal spoke again.

“We’re not sure about their technology level, we’re not sure where they are, we’re not sure if we would be a match.” Charlie understood the meaning of ignorance being bliss. She continued with her history lesson while Charlie’s eyes became heavier. “To me, you are geeks, huge puss ridden nerds with nothing more than a glorified encyclopaedia in those swollen minds of yours that’s only alive thanks to your precious technology.” It was oh four hundred, thirty minutes before we were supposed to be assaulted by Sergeant Jackson’s own personal personification of his morning glory. It was pitch black but he was there. Our eardrums burst in unison as we fell from our beds. Having the top bunk sometimes wasn’t a good thing. He was standing there in the centre of the room while we scurried in utter blackness to perfectly dress ourselves. He could have been right in front of any of us. Intimidation at its finest, the theatrical bastard. The lights came on suddenly, they were blinding. When my vision returned I was the unlucky one who caught Jacksons attention. “I generously gave you 45 seconds to get your shit together and you give me this?” He was staring with his bloodshot eyes directly at second top button on my DPMs. I failed to do it up. I paid the price. “God damn Section F, you can thank your lucky stars. There was I, in my calm and collective state of mind, thinking I’ll attempt to learn more about you. I wanted to know if, like me, you liked to watch the sun in the seas horizon as it sunk into the beautiful abyss below, but no. Combes here must have thought it was a lovely day for a run. Now go! I don’t care if you’re not dressed. If you are in my eye line in three seconds you’ll be scrubbing the shitters for the next three months. And remember you retarded fucks turn around when you get to the wall.”

Simmons didn’t turn around; he collapsed before he could, the pressure must have got to him. The group punishment for that was far worse than mine. People forgot about my inability to button up, I got lucky. “Today,” said Charlie, the newly promoted section leader, “we are merging into platoons. Sections F, F two and G will create 4th platoon, I will be two IC while Section Leader Knight will be the acting Corporal.” Knight’s platoon began the day with a vigorous regime of fitness training but ended on a surprisingly low key affair. Instead of the evening planned, another hearty fitness session, it was a mild 15km run due to the death of one of 2nd Platoon’s recruits in a live fire accident. Charlie felt an overwhelming feeling of gratitude to the idiot who failed to understand what contact between ones face and speeding metal brought about. He didn’t believe he could be so callous but then again he wondered if anyone would care if it were him. Charlie has bumped into Alice Knight in the gymnasium a week previously. When they weren’t participating in training exercises the recruits had not much else available to them, so they were encouraged to train some more. Charlie was deliberating moving up the bench press weight another notch. He wasn’t unfit back on Earth but in the seven weeks between committing himself to join and that moment where he didn’t want the weight machine to take his pride he had made sure he wasn’t the weakest of the weak for when basic started. The downside was the daily gravity increase formed a need to lower the weights to be able to actually lift anything. Charlie was only 3 notches from his best Earth weight. He decided there was no harm in trying. He placed his back on the cold, firm bench with his legs placed hard on the ground, bracing himself. Charlie wrapped his hands

around the rough metal bar, arms shoulder width apart and pushed. He struggled with his first rep, then his second and finally realised he wasn’t going to make it to the eight or ten he set himself. Maybe next time, he thought to himself admitting defeat and returning the weight back to 55kg. Alice had been watching from a distance and when Charlie embarrassingly noticed he blushed and walked over to greet his ‘old friend’. “Maybe next time” she said in a friendly but patronising tone. “Maybe” he repeated before coming into a close enough proximity to greet her. “Hello Alice” “Hello Charlie,” there wasn’t any uncertainty in her voice. Charlie was pleasantly surprised she remembered him. “I wouldn’t be embarrassed” she continued, “You’re still lifting more than anyone in my section.” “My?” Charlie questioned, “You got section leader?” “Yeah, they told me last night. I was surprised but flattered” “They told me last night too, I told Sergeant Baker I was honoured and he told me not to be, that he gave me the role because shit roles downhill and instead of spreading his over 10 people he can put it all on me. I’d like to believe that’s his rough exterior saying ‘good effort’” Alice giggled and gave Charlie a smile before looking at her watch. “Twenty two hundred” she stated, “I think I better hit the sack, it’s great to see you Charlie, I didn’t think you made it to training.” “you too” Charlie quickly responded before watching her walk off, he thought to himself why he couldn’t find a girl like that back on Earth.

I just couldn’t make the shot. I needed to fire my rifle 50 meters into the two inch circle. It shouldn’t be too hard, I had done it many times before on basic, but yet I couldn’t make it today, maybe it was Sergeant Jackson’s breath on the back of my neck. I had one more attempt before Jackson realised I was falling behind. I took the shot and got it in with a few millimetres to spare. “All right” roared Jackson, “you’ve shown me all of you can make at least one shot with your training rifles but that means jack all. Here I present you with your new toy.” It was black, looked similar to our G-7L rifles from basic but with a longer barrel and a larger display at the back. “The biggest difference between the G-7L and the GT-8L is stupid fucks without Marines training can only fire the G-7L. You not-so-stupid fucks can fire the GT-8L.” His profanity and slurs didn’t really bother any of us anymore; in fact I don’t think we notice it really. “You all know you have a chip in your brain, well it wasn’t just to keep you alive.” He truly got our attention on that one. “The GT-8L assault rifle is designed to work with your chip and your chip only. It tells you when your rifle is damaged, what needs fixing, when you need to reload, what type of ammunition you are using. Now I don’t know how this all works because I’m not pathetic enough to need these cheats to be an effective soldier.” After practise with our geetee’s it became second nature to understand its processes. Our chips weren’t some type of super computer that spoke to us, when we were running low on rounds we would get a feeling, a sixth sense that soon we would have to reload. When my weapon clogged I knew full well how to clear out the round from the chamber but it didn’t stop the rifle telling me I had to. It was a strange sensation to have a whole new set of feelings that you never grew up with but they soon became

natural. We’d have to rely very much on our weaponry intuition for the final training exercise. We’d be going back to Earth. There had been chuckles throughout the entirety of 4th platoon for 24 straight hours. Everyone was jumping, throwing what they could about to each other. The heavier the better. When compared to 2EG, Earth’s gravity was a playground. No one understood the effects the gravity increase was having on their bodies, now they did and they loved it. “Listen up” shouted acting Corporal Alice Knight, “this is our final exercise and I want it done without any error. The amount of shit I’ve gotten because of your stupid mistakes is remarkable but it ends now. Am I clear?” There was an echo of ‘yes corporal’ from 4th Platoon that would make any leader proud. “Combes” insisted Alice. “Thank you,” said Charlie, “Ok, the mission is clear. Platoons one to three are holding the outpost, think of it as the centre of the circle; we are at a point seven clicks from it while Platoons five and six are at an equal distance on another point of the circumference. We have forty minutes to get there and given the gravity it shouldn’t be too difficult. We will attack at approximately oh one forty, 5th Platoon will instigate then attack while us and 6th Platoon will follow. Our exact target will be the power grid and we must take it out before 5th platoon break into the outpost. We will have ten minutes to scope out the ground when we get there, understood?” There was a definite agreement from the platoon, 28 men and women ready to follow Alice and Charlie’s commands. Charlie would never stop thinking how we went from pointing the gun at himself to having others point theirs at his say.

“Remember,” Alice began, “we have equal numbers. Three platoons on three platoons. We are supposedly at a disadvantage if we acknowledge the three to one ratio believed to be needed to win over a defensive position. Well, I say believe, but to me it is subjective word made up to cover something that can’t be proved, therefore we will choose not to believe this assertion but instead show military intelligence just how intelligent they are!” Charlie looked onward at Knight, he couldn’t help but understand her bumping up to Platoon leader. She was a natural. At 22 years old she finally made the age she had been waiting for her entire life. The UEA is what she wanted and the UEA is what she got. 20 minute fast march. 60 second break. 19 minute fast march and there they were, looking down over the cliff face to what looked like an impenetrable fortress. Thick steel walls surrounded by sentries on guard duty, turret defences and presumably the remaining forces burrowed down inside. “I count 29 outside,” started Carl, “eight at the back, six on the sides with nine at the front linked with main entrance” “Two turrets, front and back” began Scott “That leaves 61 inside” ended Alice “Must be cramped” interrupted Charlie “Split into original sections” ordered Alice, “section F: proceed in the direction of the power grid.” The grid was at the back of the outpost, it was shielded by its own structure but with a section of 10 it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. “Section F two: cover section F from the hills, sniping positions – stay low and out of site. Section G: you will attack the front; you will cause a diversion, stay covered, cause a fuss and get their attention.” It had been 9 minutes spotting time, 5th Platoon were bound to be in position. While we came from the west, 5th came from

the north. Leaked communication had let out information on an attack from the east, thus 6th platoon would come from the south, from 3 hours previously it had been radio silence. The attack began in 40 seconds. The first shot was fired bang on time. Milliseconds after, Section F2 began their lead shower, endless amounts of low velocity poison rounds heading for each of their friends. They wouldn’t kill them, but they’d certainly force them to hit the ground and the feeling for the following hours was not going to be pleasant for any of them. “Section F, move!” bellowed Alice “On me” Charlie shouted to his section Charlie led his 9 men down the embankment. They sprinted to the side of building closest to them and needed to head to the back. Section G were doing their job as planned, the enemy forces had been cut down from 29 to 20 in the initial onslaught and all of them were focussed onto on the section, Charlie wondered how Alice was coping. Charlie, still acting as second in command of the platoon signalled for Section F2 to leave from their covering positions and flank the guard forces attacking section G. Charlie then set 6 of his section to form a position outside of the power grid and sent the remaining 3 inside to clear and perform their task. There were no forces inside the grid room, Charlie was starting to worry. He had a fair reason to be and thus contacted Alice, breaking radio silence. “It was too easy,” Charlie said bluntly. “They’re not putting a lot of effort into their attack” agreed Alice. Charlie asked where 6th Platoon was and in perfect dramatic timing two shots were heard and two of his men were floored, the fell to the ground limp, the only thing missing was an exit wound a possibly a blown off limb. In haste Charlie re-

formed his section and herded them into the grid room fearing it was to become his Alamo. “I count 35 on the cliff line, give or take” immediately informed Carl. “Combes update” demanded Alice. “Closed in, need assistance.” Unbeknownst to Charlie, Alice silently sent the undercover Section F2 to take out as many ambushing enemies as possible, they took out 11 before they were compromised and had to retreat losing 2 of their own, but it gave Charlie the time to fall back. There were now 26 remaining for Charlie and Alice with 18 guard forces and 24 ambushers, who had the high ground. 5th Platoon made quick work of the guard forces as 4th Platoon’s accidental distraction kept the enemies’ eyes off them. Losing 4 on the way down Alice couldn’t help but keep note that 4th and 5th Platoons had lost the same numbers, she wanted to make sure 4th Platoon didn’t lose the most, for competitions sake. The tables had turned, it was roughly 2:1, on the surface, in favour of Alice’s Platoon, though with the ‘death’ of acting Corporal Keynes in 5th Platoon it meant she now had all 48 under her command. Things happened fast. Alice split her forces with 30 sprinting around, taking at most 3 minutes, to flank the ambush forces with the remaining 18 as diversion. Charlie was in charge of the distraction force. He ordered buzz grenades to be thrown, giving them roughly 10 seconds of moving time before the particles disintegrate clearing the enemies view. They ran, and in blind fire lost 2 more before coming behind cover and having to stick it out for another 2 minutes. They assumed 6th Platoon was wiped out, they assumed correctly. Alice risked another break in radio silence. “Now.” And with that order we leapt over cover losing Jane in the process just as Alice’s command opened fire. The

confusion led to them almost dismissing Charlies force, running and firing directly at them they scored many hits until finally Alice took the final shot. 26 down, 8 lost. After a quick calculation Carl noted there were roughly 26 of them left bunkered inside with 40 of them. They needed to be sensible. Alice chose to wait it out for a few hours. See if they would come out. They didn’t. They organised their plan. They acknowledged its risks but decided in context none of them were going to die so in this instance they accepted it. 4 hours went by then without any noticeable warning they stormed the front. They would have liked to have blown a hole in the side but unfortunately that may have caused casualties. Throwing buzz grenade after buzz grenade they stormed through the doors in their moment of blindness. Knowing that there was only one entrance the enemy forces fired simply in that direction. That’s how 12 of Alice’s forces were taken out, including Alice herself. Charlie’s head-chip gave him another feeling of this occurrence. Handy because he now knew he had command of the 28 forces still remaining. During the buzz-time Charlie’s forces successfully cleared out all those in view. He thought it was a shame Carl ‘died’, he was good with numbers. Charlie wasn’t. He supposed there were around 10 left in the back room. With the power down they were using night lenses. It ended a lot easier than Charlie thought. After one buzz grenade, 3 enemies down and 1 friendly lost the remaining enemy forces declared surrender. Obviously the person in command was hoping to justify that saving 7 or 8 lives was better than nothing. Things were different now, thought Charlie. 13 weeks ago he would never have believed he would lead a winning force in humanities historically biggest army. He felt proud of

himself. He was a different person. He was a tough person, brave and willing to trust, to believe in those around him and try his best to do whatever to aid them. For while he felt important, for a while he was happy with his new life. You could call it ‘graduation day’, it was a strange feeling. When we came out of basic we all knew we were only going onto another training course. This time they were splitting us up. Ten or so from each platoon were to be stationed onboard a designated ship; I was to be posted to the Samurai, a mixed class ship, mainly infantry with a quarter crew being Marines. Throughout the Marines training they had increased my muscles beyond belief. The nanomachines, now covering my entire body and sunken into the muscle in multiple layers had hardened. I had now spent three months with daily updates both to my neural pathways, constantly updating my head-chip, and my body. The muscles were the main focus area with a few operations here and there to update senses such as touch and sight. We were now well equipped with the ability to tell most objects with our finger tips just as easy as we could with our eyes, similarly, our eyes were now much more prepared for low light environments. It made everyone of us feel like the strongest people in the universe. On top of all of this we had all spent 5 months, on the Training Centre, with ever increasing gravity. We were now on 4EG and I was able to lift almost double the weight I could before I started basic, even with the gravity. After my reflection on just how much I had changed, physically that is, I still had a lot of time to question my personality, it hit me hard just how tough Sergeant Jackson was. We had been augmented beyond belief, strong thanks to science. We were standing up in 4EG, it was fair enough that could take it,

but Jackson was not augmented at all yet there he was, back straight. I don’t think anyone else realised. It was the morning of the end of training and the beginning of the rest of my life. The ships were all formed together, an armada, forty five of them, each ready for ten of us. I caught my first glimpse of the Samurai from the portside window of the Training Centre. It was mesmerising. Alice and I shared a glance before I saw her board her shuttle to the Centurion. If Jackson wasn’t in the room I may have shed a tear. Jackson watched us all, in silence, as we boarded our separate shuttles to our selected ships. He didn’t even crack a smile. I hoped he was joking about the crying-like-a-baby threat. Only eight weeks into basic training and things were coming to an end. Given the recruits need to know basis they were not told of results from their previous aptitude tests, they were not told what would happen once they had ‘graduated’ from basic training and they were not told what options they could choose from, or couldn’t for that matter. Only eight weeks into basic and Charlie was told what he needed to know. Charlie was called to briefing room two, as were five hundred other recruits. “Ok, listen up” declared a burly man Charlie would see again after the following two weeks in which he would die for his first time, “I’m going to make this quick. All of you here, through our reviews on each of you, have been chosen for The Marines. Your training will begin tomorrow as you do not have to leave the Training Centre. Report here tomorrow at oh eight hundred. Dismissed. Charlie thought it was very sudden, he didn’t know what it meant to have been chosen for Marines training. He didn’t see Alice in the room, thoughts went through his mind, the

burly man mentioned the others had to leave the Training Centre, maybe they had left? Maybe he’d never see her again? Charlie didn’t want to feel upset; in the grand scheme of things he had only known her through the various training for 5 months. There had not been any time for rest and relaxation to ‘catch a drink’. She probably didn’t care for him and nothing more needed to be said. The thought still led on his mind...or more on his head-chip. He would see Alice though; he would see her at the mess hall that evening and he prepared for his final moments with his platoon leader. Heading over with his overflowing plate of food, Charlie did as he always did: he went and sat with his platoon. Eight weeks of training had led to an unofficial structure of those who were obvious leaders and those who didn’t mind being led. Much to Charlie’s surprise it turns out he was a leader, an effective one at that, he wasn’t made platoon 2IC for no reason. The men and women under his ‘command’ thought his quiet manner evoked a serious outlook, someone you didn’t mess with, his clear and concise orders left no one wondering what he wanted and gave no time to question him. Alice on the other hand, as lovely as Charlie thought she was, had a fire in her. She was strict, to the point. She knew what she wanted and damn well made sure people did it. Together they made a good team, no one raised an eyebrow about her ‘death’ at the Earth exercise when it was revealed it was through her actions in taking out 3 enemies before blockading the doorway allowing entrance for everyone. Charlie thought to himself that it was good while it lasted. Charlie was late at the table; most people had finished and were already heading off to the barracks for their first early night in two months. “I’d just like to say,” started Alice, “you’ve been amazing over the last one and a half months; I don’t know how

productive our platoon would have been without them actually like you, they may have mutinied.” “They didn’t hate you” I replied, “we’ve been taught enough that if you’re too friendly with your command they’ll use and abuse you, they were definitely not going to cross you twice, it’s called respect. I think they would have gone against Sergeant Baker before you!” they both shared a laugh and Charlie proceeded with the cordial thanks for the last weeks. “Where are you going next then?” Charlie asked will all sincerity. “Well, get this, they’ve put me forward for Air Force training!” Charlie didn’t know whether to look shocked or not, he didn’t know where that measured up with The Marines. Neither did Alice so they decided to agree that they had outdone themselves and feel proud. Alice had finished her meal long before Charlie but she waited for him enjoying his company. When Charlie had finished they both got up knowing it was probably the last time they’d ever see each other. They shared a friendly embrace and a kiss on each other’s cheek then walked their separate ways to their barracks. The next morning Charlie was told to enter a body shaped chamber being told it was the start of Marines training, the next time he woke up, he died.