ã€ŠAn HFY Tale: Drop Pod Green, Ch 1ã€‹


 The First Leg

    Audio version can be found here: https://youtu.be/m8lReKjIrCA

    Drop Pod GreenA HFY Short Story Collection

    The First Leg

    Rhidi looked over the rim of her canteen, eyeing the long line of Human recruits standing idle in the grass. Her long, lupine ears flicked with open aggravation at how they simply stood there, waiting for the rest of the non-Humans to get their rest in after only rucking halfway to their training center. Rhidi was a Kafya, children of the stars that found themselves bound in paw, snout and fur. The early days during training had been rather¡­ interesting, as the Humans poked fun at her and her fellow Kafya for being ¡°furries¡± and tried to weed them out via hazing. It was a fair bit of culture shock when Rhidi had gone looking into her data-slate for just what those were, and she feared Humans for a whole other reason now, heaped onto all the others. She sighed out as she stared up at the big, angry, hot blue sky of Earth, and closed her eyes, thinking back to what got her here in the first place.

    ¡ª

    Humans had proved themselves to be the key in eliminating the star-wide threat of the Ur, a sadistic and highly aggressive race that was partially cybernetic. The Ur culture had deemed their natural, avian, wide headed forms too weak to take what they believed was destined to be theirs. To combat this, they became nearly as much machine as Humanoid, and took to the stars in a conquest of bloodshed.

    For the Inner Dolcir Coalition, things were grim nearly from the word ¡°go¡±: The Ur had broken through so many blockades and fleets at once, it sent the entire IDC into complete disarray and panic, allowing the Ur to slowly bisect them all, piece by piece. The Kafya were holding their own, as well as the Pwah, Kojynn, and Lilgara, but it was a losing battle all the same. Planet after planet fell, swallowed whole to be consumed by the Ur war machine and churned into materials to further their now swelling empire.

    The IDC was being pushed back at such a rapid pace that they were shunted out into the outer layers of the Milky Way, desperately searching for any child of the stars that could be recruited and help hold back the tide of the Ur. Some were found, mostly pacifists like the Gikiri, while others were still in their humble beginnings of life, no use even as cannon fodder. Things took a steep turn when a Kojynn speed-skipper found Earth, nearly ramming into it due to none of the skip-charts showing it even being there.

    Kojynn, with their carved, metal masks and two sets of arms, were greeted warmly despite the obvious alarm from Earth, the speed-skipper recon vessel finding itself quickly swarmed by point-contact fighters and multiple frigates that bristled with more guns than any Kojynn onboard had ever seen on a war vessel. Humans were remarked by a Kojynn Wayfinder as ¡°the most boring race I had ever laid eyes on, but I knew I didn¡¯t want them to get ahold of me while angry¡±, causing the Kojynn to be as respectful as possible. The Human language was quickly decoded by the Kojynn, and there was a short burst of mirth as Humans were recognized as ¡°the noisy neighbor¡±, an IDC moniker given to the unknown race ¡°blasting the stars with their incessant broadcasting¡±.

    Kafya, Pwah, and Lilgara ships arrived within record time, pushing their skip-engines as hard as they could to try and engage these newly discovered children of the stars. Humanity, as they called themselves, issued what many now see as ¡°warning signs¡±: They didn¡¯t even need coaxing to join the IDC and fight, and took the offer with little more than ¡°show us how we can get there¡±. When skip-engine technology was offered, the Humans then asked for ¡°more ships¡±. When more ships were given, Humanity then asked ¡°what are your rules of war, and how far can we go¡±.

    It was an odd question. How far could they go? Neither the Kafya, Pwah, Kojynn, or Lilgara knew how to even answer that question. They instead began to list the history of the Ur, showed them how they conducted themselves in battle, their many atrocities, as well as their utter disdain for mercy and the proper conduct of agreeable rules of war. When the Humans heard of the desolation and extinction of the Ifrikana by Ur hands, the previously unknown race had a sudden shift in demeanour.

    ¡°We¡¯ll see it done.¡±

    That¡¯s all that was said, all that Humanity had found needing to be said, as the Unified American Authority and European Unified Council marched in lock step to war. Their previous bickerings and skirmishes were wiped clean from the board as they now had a common enemy, an enemy that was as unjust as they were vile.

    Humanity, after all, loved an enemy they could hate.

    Their ships arrived in good order to a planet under siege from the Ur, and the bloodletting that filled the news unsettled many within the Inner Dolcir Coalition.

    The Kafya and Pwah saw the Humans as a monster they had, now, unwittingly let out of their cage. The Kojynn and Lilgara saw the Humans as a beacon of hope, warriors of good that fought with an instilled rage and conviction that they had never laid eyes on before in the history of their stars.

    To the Ur, Humanity would end up being their obliteration, the headsmen pulled from the shadows of the void by their enemies. The Ur went from years of victories to conducting a final, bitter last stand on their home planet of Zahari I. After nearly a decade of constant warring and killing amongst the stars of the Milky Way, Humanity drew from their armory a weapon capable of splitting a planet in two. A final gift and farewell they held in special regards to beings they saw deserving of being reduced to a mere memory.

    They went further than what was even required of their weapons, reducing Zahari I to crags of rock floating in space, turning the once grand planet of interstellar control and power to nothing more than the dust of grand plans and lofty ambitions of domination. Humanity made sure nothing breathing left the planet at all, and after a further year of hunting, declared the Ur extinct from the star-record.

    Humanity, disgusted by the Ur, had reduced them to nothing more than words and pictures.

    Impressed, and mildly terrified, the Kafya, Pwah, and Lilgara sent their own soldiers to Earth in order to learn from these ¡°butcherers of iron¡±, and it was because of this, Rhidi found herself there now.

    Rhidi had been a special operations trooper of her race¡¯s main home planet, Kafya Mintulcurr, and had been participating in the grand ¡°clean up¡± of the Ur remnants. With her job now over, her mother had made it quite clear that she was to ¡°now get married and help rebuild the populations of Kafya¡±.

    Instead, Rhidi hopped on the first ship off that damn planet. It was a good gig anyway, even though Earth was both hotter and had a higher gravity than her home planet.

    She had rode there with the Pwah and Lilgara, and the ride was¡­ eventful, to say the least. Rhidi had not known much about the other star children until the war, and she still found them odd; The Pwah were shorter than her, averaging out at five foot even, and had both pointed ears and many features that were akin to Humans; While the Kafya had paw-like hands and mildly digitigrade legs, the Pwah could very well have just been odd, shorter cousins of the Humans. Despite their pointed ears and thickly fibred hair, they also had rather odd eyes. While they were a normal shape, which was an odd similarity that everyone but the Ur shared, they were fully colored. The color deepened around the rims and came to a lighter hue near the middle, giving them an oddly gem-like quality.

    The Lilgara were an odder people, and only shared the general construction of their hands and feet with the Humans. While they were lizard like with rounded noses, thick tails, and slitted pupils that burned as if filled with the fire of rising suns, they had great, loose hoods around their heads. These could be flared out, depending on the Lilgara¡¯s emotion, and normally sat around the neck in folds of lightly scaled flesh, making them all look as if they were constantly wearing cowled sweaters under their usual clothing. This remnant of their evolution was mostly bothersome, but it did wonders in hiding things such as snacks or drinks.

    Then there were the Kafya, and Rhidi pondered about it for a moment. The Humans, despite calling them ¡°furries¡±, had apparently fallen upon a similar design in their own literature, something that fascinated the Kafya to no end. ¡°Space Wolves¡± was used often, while other Humans believed they were more ¡°vulpine¡±, owing to their more refined snouts and far more attractive faces. They had tails, much like the Lilgara, but instead of being long, strong, and scaly, theirs were just an extension of their spine and covered with fur, much like any other creature. Their fur colors were varied; White, black, red, if there was a color out there, it was likely a Kafya wore it at one time. Small designs in their coats sometimes arose, such as freckles of darker colors, dots, stripes, etc, while their eyes were said to shine ¡°like the minerals hidden beneath soil¡±.

    Rhidi thought that her given color was a bunch of bullshit; She had been born icterine yellow with a splash of marigold freckles across her face, a rarer color, and had ivory eyes to boot. The Kafya military had refused her several times for service just for how ¡°loud¡± she was color wise, and had tried to make her become a nurse. After enough pestering to drive even a Human mad, they finally let her join a special forces shock infantry unit, since they usually went in loud anyway. Her sister and mother were both nearly goldenrod in color, with eyes that shone like mother of pearl, but they both went into fashion as their chosen professions.

    She had gotten the same kind razzing from the Humans when she had landed, with one Drill Sergeant remarking that he could ¡°wear her as a PT belt¡±. The planet itself, ¡°Earth¡± as the Humans called it, was less than comfortable; She had landed in something called a ¡°state¡±, of which was called ¡°Georgia¡±. Learning how to say ¡°Georgia¡± had been a task in of itself, though the name of the fort was rather fun to say.

    Fort Benning was a military installation renowned for training parachute dropped soldiers during the earlier years of its creation, and now was the premier training grounds for drop-pod born infantry. Unfortunately for Rhidi and everyone else in her training unit, their planets had signed them up for the hardest, and toughest training school for the Unified American Authority military: Heavy Onslaught Infantry. In their own minds, the Human training should have been easy according to their governments and councils, and this would be proof that they were, despite the outcome of the war, on equal footing with Humans when it came to power and strength.

    Besides the blistering heat, air that felt like it was made from lead and suffering, and all the nano-medical inoculations, Rhidi and the other star children had weeks of in-classroom learning; First they had to learn the language, which wasn¡¯t all that difficult, as well as acclimate to the higher gravity. This was just a lot of working out in air conditioned gyms, and they all bounced back rather quickly¡­ some faster than others. With a gravity rating of 14.5 PPD, and the average being 8-9 PPD on other planets within the IDC, Earth was a real pain to get used to.

    Their teacher was a rather odd woman, one of the Skalathir race that mostly aided in the war by financial and material means. They were a robust, scaled people that radiated strength and poise, but were far different than the Lilgara. The Skalathir were far more blocky, less refined, a feature of their own evolution and time spent digging the ground apart for its minerals. Skalathir were master miners, refiners, and workers, crafting and forging some of the strongest metals known to the stars, and their muscular figures made them of¡­ keen interest to the Humans. The Humans, nearly as a whole, were taken in by their curved horns, strong features, and toil-crafted bodies, leading the Skalathir councils to take a tight grip on their own people who tried to immigrate to Earth; Human attention was, according to the Skalathir, highly addictive, and the Skalathir were years ahead of everyone else in regard to working with Humans, due to helping them build their ships and armors for the war.

    Lathway Aum-La, or ¡°Miss La¡± as she preferred to be called, was the first Skalathir that Rhidi had seen with her own eyes; The woman was¡­ well.

    She was huge.

    Standing at nearly seven and a half UAA feet, the blue scaled woman looked as if she could snap her desk in half with her well muscled tail alone. According to the brief biography portfolio on their data-slates, she had been an armor forger before taking a teaching commission on Earth, and was apparently several months overdue returning home. Her horns arched back towards the rear of her skull, and she had several long strands of scaled flesh that ran down the sides of her face. Every once in a while the strands would twitch if Miss La became angry or agitated at her students, and Rhidi made a distinct measure to not ask what the hell they were.

    When they had a firm grasp on ¡°English¡±, Miss La then left to return to an orbiting station, leaving her students to the whims of their new instructors.

    On her home planet of Kafya Mintulcurr, her military training had been no different than any normal college or place of learning; There were classes, range days, physical training three times a week, and there was a cordial respect between all soldiers, instructor and trooper alike.

    When she was told to leave the bus and stand on a pair of painted boot prints on the sidewalk, she couldn¡¯t help but raise her eyebrows. She almost spoke out in Kafyah-hi, but remembered to instead use English.

    ¡°What the hell is this?¡± Rhidi asked, turning to look at a brown furred female Kafya to her left as sweat began to form under her shirt. The heat was just as unbearable today, and they had not been allowed to wear Kafya environmental suits for some reason, instead issued the olive drab uniform, white shirt, and newly made paw-boots.

    The woman shrugged, pursing her lips as her tail gave a curious sway. ¡°Perhaps we are being scanned?¡±

    ¡°What would they scan fo-¡± Rhidi began, but both she and the brown furred Kafya snapped to the position of attention when a growling voice barked out over all the mild chatter.

    ¡°Shut your god damn mouths! Furry feet on the boots, now!¡±

    Rhidi¡¯s heart rate spiked in fear as she turned her head left and right, trying to see who was speaking.

    ¡°Stop looking around, furball! Eyes straight! Arms to your sides!¡± The voice bellowed out again as recruits poured from the buses.

    Leave it to the Humans to still use vehicles with rubber wheels of all things. Not that the ride was unpleasant¡­ it was just¡­ archaic.

    As fast as they could, over two thousand recruits from beyond the clouds of Earth poured into their marks, a mixture of Kafya, Pwah, and Lilgara. There were over a thousand Humans as well, but they were sectioned off into their own places to stand.

    ¡°What¡¯sss happening?¡± A male Lilgara muttered behind Rhidi, and her ears turned to the sides to hear him better. ¡°Why are they yelling at usss? Did we do sssomething wrong?¡±

    A male Pwah standing on Rhidi¡¯s right turned his head as far as he dared, muttering out of the side of his mouth. ¡°I think it¡¯s beginning.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s beginning?¡± Rhidi muttered back, her ears flicking back and forth as she heard someone crying near the rear of their formation.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

    ¡°Our¡­ training.¡± The Pwah sighed out, his head already slicked with sweat. ¡°This is the breaking period.¡±

    Rhidi wanted to ask him what the hell he was talking about, but before she could turn her head, a boot connected with the doors leading to the ¡°Forging Halls¡±, the reception building for new recruits. Two double doors slammed into brick walls with a tortured rattle of steel and puff of dust, and from those doors poured hundreds of male and female Humans, all wearing round, brown hats bearing brass badges on their fronts.

    Rhidi didn¡¯t even understand half of what they were saying as they streamed into the formations, moving around them like a river breaking free of a bank and coursing around rather confused, and scared, rocks.

    Before a mere thirty seconds had passed, Kafya, Pwah, and Lilgara were breaking ranks and making runs for the buses.

    ¡°That¡¯s right, run!¡± An extremely short female Drill Sergeant howled, her face marked and scarred by her war wounds, badges of honor amongst Human warriors. Despite being a mere five foot five, she had the aura of a nine foot tall Skalathir Magmasmith. ¡°Run for those buses you little sonsa¡¯bitches! You come here and make a mockery of my Army?!¡±

    The woman twitched left, moving so quickly that Rhidi had thought she teleported. Her equally scarred fists gripped Rhidi by the front of her uniform blouse, pulling the five foot nine Kafya down to her eye level.

    ¡°Are you going to run and hide, you little furry shit?!¡± The Drill Sergeant bellowed into her face, shaking Rhidi as if she were a toddler. ¡°You gonna piss yourself and hide under the seat?!¡±

    Rhidi saw from the scant second of pause her name was Almoore. A second quick thought of her rank, Rhidi remembered seeing a single rocker¡­ Staff Sergeant Almoore.

    ¡°N-No, Staff Sergeant Almoore!¡± Rhidi stammered out, and tried not to make any noise as the Human shook her again roughly.

    ¡°Staff Sergeant? Staff Sergeant?! I am Drill Sergeant Almoore to you, you fucking fur-licking cretin!¡± Drill Sergeant Almoore bellowed as she threw Rhidi to the ground, knocking the air from the Kafya¡¯s lungs. ¡°Push! Push you little bitch!¡±

    Rhidi, at a loss of what to do, began doing push ups. She only got three reps out before Drill Sergeant Almoore grabbed her by an ear.

    ¡°You bore me recruit! Bore me! Get up! Get up off my god damn concrete!¡± Drill Sergeant Almoore screamed, hauling the painfully hissing Rhidi to her feet before turning and finding a new target, pointing a scarred hand at a female Lilgara. ¡°You! I saw you looking at me, snake shit! Who the fuck do you think you¡¯re looking at?!¡±

    Rhidi shuddered and trembled as she stood at attention on her boots, her eyes fighting back humiliated tears as the yelling continued around her. ¡°T-The fuck was t-that?!¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re weeding us out¡­¡± The male Pwah murmured, not even daring to look as if he was breathing. ¡°Two hundred and ten have already fled. Twenty three are currently sprinting through the fucking woodline¡­¡±

    The attack was sudden, violent¡­ and then they were gone. The overwhelming calm and quiet was nearly as unnerving as the Drill Sergeants being there, but no one dared to move their heads and look around. No one was brave enough to obtain the sudden ire and rage of the Drill Sergeants if they happened to still be nearby. Indeed, Rhidi and other Kafya could hear the Drill Sergeants some ways away, as well as the panicked screams of those who fled¡­ but Rhidi alone could hear the fact there were Drill Sergeants still near, lurking around the back of the buses, waiting.

    Rhidi had never been stalked before, and she did not find the feeling to her liking.

    A new sound broke the quiet, a pair of polished black combat boots calmly stepping along the sidewalk. The soft click and scrape of the heels made Rhidi¡¯s fur stand on end, blinking at the sweat that stung her eyes, and she gave a soft puff of air out her nose to clear the sweat from there as well.

    A male Human stepped out into all of their view, and he lifted his head. It was as if someone had carved a Human from a block of stone, and the man¡¯s uniform struggled to hide the warrior¡¯s form he held underneath it.

    ¡°Right, face.¡± He said calmly, and everyone snapped to the right.

    They all turned in their own way; Kafya soldiers changed directions to the right by lifting their left foot-paw, kicking it out to swing right, and then planting their foot-paw back to the ground. The Pwah shifted off of the toes of their right foot, pushing off of their left and bringing their feet back together. The Lilgara swung their heads and tails in a swishing motion, rapidly picking up their feet in a marching motion and coming to a halt at their attentive position.

    With the Human now in view, Rhidi¡¯s eyes were drawn to his brown campaign hat. His brass badge was different, bearing two crossed combat bayonets behind the usual emblem. This told everyone that he was not only a Drill Sergeant that was a combat veteran, but a veteran who saw combat on the ten major battleground planets controlled by the Ur. A Senior Drill Sergeant, a ¡°double dagger¡± as they were nicknamed according to their briefing folders on the data-slates.

    His quiet voice and pleasant demeanor was perhaps even more unsettling than the noise of the other Drill Sergeants.

    ¡°Welcome to Fort Benning, Georgia.¡± He said, smiling to them all as sweat coursed down their bodies. ¡°It appears you have lost some weight in number, but that is fine. You will lose more before the week is out. I am curious, though, to see just how many of you will last until the end, and earn your mark of honor.¡±

    The reception building loomed behind him like an execution chamber, the tall, ancient drop towers standing behind it like sentinels.

    ¡°You will all be staying in the Airborne Barracks, walking and treading the same path as millions of Humans have before you.¡± He continued, slowly speaking in front of them all. ¡°Their spirit, their sweat, their pain, it will all be intertwined with yours as you learn, become stronger, are forged sharper, and honed deadlier. By the time you leave this place¡­¡±

    The Senior Drill Sergeant partially turned, opening his arms to the ancient Airborne Barracks, the old drop towers and newer pod bays, all while smiling.

    ¡°... Your own people won¡¯t even recognize you.¡± He finished, then pulled off the data-slate from his belt. ¡°As it is, we will first start with you all being issued your gear, as well as more uniforms. That single one you are wearing won¡¯t do, but we knew not many of you would be sticking around, so why issue more than we would care to receive again?¡±

    He chuckled to himself, and the doors to the reception building opened again like a great maw ready to consume them

    ¡ª

    Outfitting had been just as chaotic and rigorous as their initiation on the sidewalk. They all stood in lines, being measured by the staff of the building or scanned by handheld machines. They were issued a ¡°cack¡± card after their pictures were taken, and Rhidi was annoyed at how frightened she looked in hers. She looked as if she had been thrown out an airlock; Eyes wide, hair frayed, even her cheek fur was standing on end with stress. She had made up her mind that if she survived the training, she would get a new one taken. Showing this one to other military officials would just be embarrassing¡­

    At the end of their many scans, measurements, and digital signatures, a tidy rucksack was waiting for them with their name on it. They were all of Human make, great big monsters that were wide and nearly twice that in height. Inside were her seven uniforms, seven PT uniforms, extra paw-boots, socks, her patrol caps with their half-moon cut outs for her ears, as well as other gear for the rest of the hellish Earth seasons. The Humans had done their homework on the otherworldly races from the stars, as they had included ear picks for the Pwah, a Kafya grooming kit including multiple curved shears, and Lilgara scale scrapers.

    ¡°Toss on that ruck and head to the intake armory, you¡¯ll get your rifle as well.¡± A woman said, jerking her thumb over her shoulder. ¡°Hubba hubba, dog girl.¡±

    Dog Girl? Rhidi thought to herself with a silent growl in her throat, but slung on the massive pack onto her shoulders and trudged off to the armory. The armory itself seemed more like a¡­ temple, more than an armory. Along the walls were weapons of Humanity¡¯s past, arranged like icons of religious importance with little plaques next to them. She turned her head to see one such older weapon, narrowing her eyes at the plaque and working through the English letters slowly.

    ¡°Brown bess smooth bore muskert¡­ mucket¡­¡± Rhidi leaned in a little further as she muttered. ¡°Muscket. Smoothbore, ramrod loaded.¡±

    She blinked at the old weapon, then shook her head, moving down the line, talking to herself as others read or moved quickly past them. ¡°Springfield, Model 1795. 1795? This thing is-¡±

    ¡°Three hundred and twenty two Earth-years old, give or take a few years. I¡¯m not quite sure how their calendars work yet.¡±

    Rhidi turned and saw the male Pwah from earlier was looking at the same rifle as her, reading the plaque with the same eye as a professional student.

    ¡°You again.¡± Rhidi said, turning to face the Pwah. He had dull white hair, nearly gray, but eyes that looked as if she were looking at a nebula through a telescope. He was five foot two, maybe three, and looked a little more rugged than the other Pwah she had seen. ¡°Military?¡±

    ¡°We all are, I just got more work done.¡± The Pwah said, offering a hand to Rhidi. ¡°Names Alias.¡±

    Rhidi cracked a grin, and Alias held up the offered hand. ¡°Yeah, I already know.¡±

    ¡°Rhidi.¡± The yellow Kafya offered, holding out her own hand that was quickly taken by Alias. ¡°What are our numbers? You seemed to be keeping track earlier.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not actually sure. I saw quite a few sneaking out of the building, but they¡¯re breaking us up into something called ¡®training Companies¡¯. There¡¯s going to be four hundred of us, all mixed together with the Humans.¡± Alias said, turning and slowly walking down the long hallway towards the armory.

    Rhidi followed after him, watching the weapons slowly evolve as they went down the hallway. Odd little weapons such as the Krag-Jorgensen, the M1903 Springfield, Garand, M1 Carbine, all the way down the wall until they came before the current, modern issue rifle; The SR-113, Mod. 2.

    It was a deceptively vague looking thing; It was a weapon of simplistic beauty and attractive lines, yet blocky and utilitarian in design. The barrel was capped with an odd looking device that both reduced recoil and allowed for the attachment of what looked like¡­ a can, of all things, poking out of the foregrip with the block that fed the piston the gas it needed to operate the weapon. The magazine well was flared, boasting an impressive forty round capacity thanks to the brick of a magazine that fed the weapon. The buttstock collapsed down against the frame via two sliding rails, allowing the stock to sit flush to the rear of the weapon via a telescoping mechanism. The grip to the weapon was bulky, but it at least had some curves to it for comfort.

    To Rhidi and Alias, it looked nearly neolithic.

    ¡°We were all using pulse rifles, gaur-rail carbines, lazer-crop emitters¡­¡± Alias said with an annoyed narrowing of his eyebrows, looking at the rifle as if it would bite him if he touched it. ¡°Then these guys show up with lead throwers. This thing killed all the Ur?¡±

    Rhidi shrugged. ¡°The Ur had the best shields in the game, and their bodies were pretty much the power cells. If you couldn¡¯t blow parts of them away, it always came down to melee. The weapons of Humans blew chunks off of the Ur, the rounds were so slow the shields didn¡¯t even register them as attacks.¡±

    Alias shook his head, walking on. ¡°Remember when we found out they could shatter their steel bones and turn them into blades?¡±

    ¡°It was a massacre, that¡¯s what it was.¡± Rhidi said, remembering the recordings taken of the 1046th¡¯s last moments on Ilihi. ¡°They thought they had finally ground them down and had no more ammunition, all to just be butchered on the rocks.¡±

    Rhidi and Alias came to the armory proper, and it was even more temple-esque in here. Racks of rifles were held aloft in rotating racks, slowly spinning and depositing a rifle when the correct serial number was found as mechanical arms picked and plucked at weapons. Around the walls were parts from millions of rifles, pistols, and crew served weapons through Human time, arranged in blackened steel, art-deco designs. On plinths made of brass casings were artifacts; Helmets bearing the marks of battle, combat vests and armor still stained by the detonations of Ur munitions, twisted and still blooded blades sitting upon welded V¡¯s of brass casings. The lack of natural light and moodier attitude about the place made it feel as if they were in a tomb¡­

    ¡°Artifacts from the war.¡± Rhidi whispered, pointing to one such dagger. ¡°That blade took the final Ur life. They flayed the Ur alive, something called a ¡®blawd eengel¡¯.¡±

    Alias nodded, pointing to a helmet with dozens of incense burners around it. ¡°First Human trooper to be killed in battle wore that helmet, I remember it from a few books I read on the way here. William T. Turner.¡±

    As Rhidi looked around, there were actually a lot of incense burners in here, filling the armory with the smell of sandlewood, black powder, carbon, and the very smell of fire itself. It was during his observation that she realized the Humans in this area were not nearly as¡­ normal, as the others. Curiously enough, while they still wore uniforms of olive drab, they wore great leather gloves inscribed with stars at the fingers, while from the wrist and below were bands of bars, the gloves running all the way to two inches before the elbow. Around their heads were heavy woolen hoods of more olive drab, cropped out to shed shadows down their faces. The hoods gathered around their necks as if to protect them from the cold, pouring down their shoulders and hanging just an inch above the ground, perfectly level.

    Oddest of all were their pauldrons, blocky outcrops of drop armor emblazoned with the emblem of a firing pin crossed behind the notched face of a rifle bolt.

    ¡°Armorers.¡± Rhidi whispered, and Alias turned, not realizing the Humans had finally shown themselves.

    Armorers were revered amongst the Humans as each armorer had to serve at least ten years in the military, as well as serve in an active combat zone and shed blood. When a Human became an armorer, that was the job they held until they died, and Rhidi saw an older armorer with a long, gray beard braided down the front of his uniform. A second glance around the armory told her that there were no more Human recruits here¡­ it was all off worlders, and the older armorer slowly stepped out from behind the rifle counter.

    ¡°Today, you receive your rifle.¡± He said, flexing his shoulders. Rhidi could tell that even in his aged state, the man could likely kill more than half of the room in one on one combat. ¡°You will be issued one rifle, and one rifle only. You will bear your rifle until you either finish your tenure within these armed forces, or fall upon the field of battle. If such a fate should befall you, your rifle will be buried with you, and no one else will ever bear it. Some of you may gain a rifle with a name upon it. This is the name of its previous owner, and their warrior spirit will be with you, and should you leave, your name will then be laid upon it. No matter what comes in the future, no matter what new weapon may come along, you will only bear the rifle you are given now. Its number will be etched into your very flesh, and you shall become one of the same soul.¡±

    The older Human man pulled off one of his gloves, and there upon his forearm was a long string of numbers, ending with the same notched facing of a rifle bolt.

    ¡°You are not Human, but you shall still be baptized in the soul of powder, lead, and flame.¡± He nodded his head as the long tendrils of incense smoke drifted across the air that hung between him and the offworld recruits. ¡°With these rifles forged of iron and steel, crafted by Human hands, you shall become more than what you arrived as. You, shall become equal.¡±

    The older Human slowly stepped backwards, and with a raised, gloveless hand, he snapped his fingers. The machines all whirred to life at once, the ceiling becoming a crawling, writhing mass of mechanical apparatuses as rifles were pulled from their storage racks. Ten mechanical arms slowly swung down from the ceiling, presenting ten rifles to the armorers who bent down, running a gloved hand along their serial numbers and scanning them into the tattoo machine that would stamp the same numbers onto the flesh of the recruits standing before them.

    ¡°Do not dishonor the steel and iron. Do not dishonor the Human spirit within these rifles. Do not dishonor yourselves.¡± The older Human intoned with finality, slamming his gloved and ungloved hands together with an ear ringing clap.

    The mechanical arms spun around, and presented the rifles they bore, the SR-113 Mod. 2¡¯s catching the dull light as incense smoke drifted slowly across them.

    Much to Rhidi¡¯s disappointment, twenty seven more children of the stars bowed forward and stepped back, unable to bear the weight of such duty, and they were quietly ushered out of the room by hidden Drill Sergeants that had been lingering in the shadows.

    The older Human smiled, his teeth just barely visible under his hood. ¡°You there, in the yellow. Choose your rifle.¡±

    ¡ª

    Rhidi, an elite soldier of her peoples, had chosen a rifle with three names etched upon it. Rifle number 33k-96578-3 was now etched onto her right forearm, and it itched terribly, but she walked out of the armory with the rifle on her shoulder and her rucksack on her back. She couldn¡¯t explain the feeling she had within her chest, but she felt¡­ heavier than when she had first arrived. As she walked down a long, thin concrete walkway towards a slowly growing formation, she casted her eyes to the rifle, reading the names again.

    ¡°R.C. Brola¡­ Matthew Erwinn¡­ Ronald Dawden¡­¡± Rhidi whispered, looking at the number on her arm again.

    Did they bear the same number as her? Did she share a brotherhood of warriorhood with these three Humans? Would they hate sharing a number with a non-Human? Should she meet them one day?

    She didn¡¯t know, despite her wanting to.

    While waiting in a white circle on the ground, along with other white circles, she saw Alias join the formation, and she smiled at him.

    Alias showed his forearm, and he smiled back, winking at her and looking around at their growing training Company.

    It was a hard mix of Humans, Kafya, Pwah, and Lilgara, with maybe an even split of Humans to offworlders. Their Drill Sergeants, all twelve of them, stalked around the formation, calm for the moment, and allowing idle chatter as long as it was quiet.

    ¡°It itchesss¡­¡± Someone hissed beside Rhidi, and she turned her head to the Lilgara.

    He was a younger one, and had a scale across his round nose, denoting him as coming from the northern region of his planet.

    ¡°I remember your voice, you were behind me earlier.¡± Rhidi said, holding out her own right arm to him.

    He looked up, then smiled, exposing his needle-like teeth. ¡°Ah! The Kafya with the sssun colored fur. Good to sssee you didn¡¯t pussssy out like the others.¡±

    ¡°Pussy out?¡± Rhidi asked, and it actually caused a Drill Sergeant nearby to cough out a laugh.

    He cleared his throat before continuing his walk. ¡°It means to get scared and run away like a little bitch, recruit.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Rhidi said with raised brows and wide eyes, then turned back to the Lilgara. ¡°No, I did not.¡±

    The Lilgara took her hand, shaking it. Honestly, shaking hands was an odd amount of fun, and was apparently a Human custom they all had to learn. Their entire classroom practicing shaking hands had ended up on the Human Interlinked Information Network, and it was quite popular, even now.

    ¡°I¡¯m Shasta.¡± The Lilgara said, smiling brightly.

    Alias gave a snort. ¡°Oh no¡­¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Shasta asked, turning around to look at the Pwah.

    Alias pulled out his data slate, a newer issue that attached to his belt, and pulled up the particular brand of soda that was quite popular in the early 2100¡¯s, before it went bankrupt.

    Shasta stared at the slate for a long while, his face souring as he slowly scrolled down the information logs on the display. He then looked to Rhidi. ¡°Thisss training cycle is going to sssuck¡­¡±

    Thank you for reading my story. If you liked it, please let me know down below. I am a self-published writer, so you will likely see mistakes that my editor missed, but the main desire is for you, the reader, to be entertained. If you were, I''ll chalk that up as a victory. More chapters to come.

 Feeling The â€œBootâ€ Of Bootcamp

    <h2>Feeling The ¡°Boot¡± Of Bootcamp</h2>

    Audio version can be found here: https://youtu.be/TZc4EcDXgEY</a>

    Screwing the canteen lid onto her water vessel, Rhidi placed it back into the pouch on her belt. Another odd, archaic aspect of the Human military was the metal canteen. There was an industrial, anti-microbial wax liner on the inside of it, but most modern militaries amongst the stars simply used hydration bladders within their uniforms or armor, or wore a hydration pack on their chests.

    Rhidi ran her pawed hands through her hair, letting out a long exhale as the sun beat down on her from on high. Alias, draining his entire canteen, let out a wet cough and wiped at his face. He then pulled out his data-slate, numbly tapping at it while breathing through his mouth.

    ¡°Are you kidding me? Six hundred and ten pelqi?!¡± Alias growled out, shaking his data-slate. ¡°How does anything even live on this planet?!¡±

    ¡°Sssix hundred and ten.¡± Shasta said, running his fingers along a string of soda can tabs the Drill Sergeants started making him wear on his belt. ¡°That¡¯sss¡­ eighty four UAA degreesss. Quite mild, really.¡±

    Alias gave a tired, strained laugh. ¡°Mild? Mild he says. Feels like my skin is about to melt off of my bones. Not to mention how moist the air is¡­¡±

    ¡°At least we can sweat despite all this fur. I don¡¯t know how the animals here do it just by panting¡­¡± Rhidi muttered, looking around to all the other suffering Kafya around her.

    Their fur was damp, slicked, frayed, and fluffed out to the extreme, allowing more air to course along the fur and cool the sweat that attached to the strands. Kafya fur had evolved to do some rather neat things with water, and one of those things was using sweat to cool down their bodies. She had described it to the other Human recruits in the manner of their fur acting like a ¡°funnel¡±, carrying sweat to their pawed hands and feet to cool down faster, as well as their ears helping them radiate a little more heat from their blood. Kafya ears became quite stiff when they were overheated, as more blood flowed through the veins, and their eyes became quite dark due to their purple blood trying to cool through that area as well.

    Humans, frankly, had it easy; All they did was just get wet and drink water.

    It didn¡¯t even seem fair, not at all.

    The Lilgara loved heat, becoming lethargic and snackish when it was too cool. This was a common trait in most races such as them, creatures of scale and tail. The Pwah were struggling far more than anyone else; While they could sweat, they just rarely had to, their planets being quite cool all year round during their growing seasons, and deeply cold during the others.

    Earth may as well have been an oven for them, the gravity not helping at all either.

    Their respite was not as long as they¡¯d hoped, as Drill Sergeant McPhiston clapped his hands together. ¡°Alright, enough lollygagging for you lot, on your feet.¡±

    Drill Sergeant McPhiston was a shorter Human, but his expertise was second to none. He was the exact opposite of Drill Sergeant Almoore, who seemed to be pure aggression wrapped in a slightly marred, cute candy coating. Rhidi had seen Drill Sergeant Almoore talking to some ¡°Regs¡±, or normal, fully honored infantry, and she looked almost pleasant, smiling and joking with the men and women as they asked her about the war.

    That veneer dropped as soon as she was facing Rhidi and the other recruits, as if the ground had cracked apart to spew forth rageful magma to swallow them whole.

    ¡°Only four more miles to the training site. Come on Charlie Company, let¡¯s go then, back into route step!¡± Drill Sergeant McPhiston bellowed out, clapping his hands. ¡°Don¡¯t make me get mean now!¡±

    Route step. Rhidi thought to herself, falling into place along the sides of the road while slinging her rucksack back onto her shoulders. Only Humans could make walking along a road into different styles¡­

    Their first true training week, also known as ¡°Red Phase¡± according to the UAA data-catalogues, was a play upon their flag colors, and had been a part of the doctrine for over a hundred years. Red Phase was when the chaff was beaten from the berries, and they were drilled in how to ¡°move like a soldier¡±. Such training only lasted a couple days in the Kafya military, but here it lasted for weeks. This very training alone had caused more to quit, marching and manoeuvring around in the grass with the roaring Sol sun burning down upon them.

    Besides breaking down their weapons over and over again, and practicing some light hand to hand combatives, this bit of training was at least supposed to be a change of pace from the usual. Rhidi did not understand why they were walking there, and it was a sentiment that Alias seemed to share.

    ¡°They bus us to the barracks, but make us walk all the way to the training site?¡± Alias groused behind her, panting lightly under the weight of his own rucksack. ¡°And it¡¯s all the way in the middle of the damn woods?! I¡¯ve seen their aircraft and armored personnel carriers, why couldn¡¯t we just take one of those?¡±

    Rhidi looked up at the odd, needled trees that were now thick around them, and blinked. She had been so tired that she didn¡¯t even realize they had walked into a forest, the tall, towering trees looming over them only barely keeping the sun at bay. Trees were nothing new or special; Most planets had trees, though the colors varied, and was considered one of the three ¡°Constants¡± for a planet to be worth taking. If a planet had trees, water, and warmth, it was nearly always habitable and worthy of becoming absorbed into whatever empire got its hands on it.

    Rhidi had never seen trees with spears though, and still found them extremely odd. Trees should have leaves; Soft, fluttering things that caused the shadows to dance and wind to gain a voice for song. Some of Earth¡¯s trees were that way, with their green leaves, but these¡­ these trees looked as if they were wary. They held thousands of tiny green spears as leaves, with bark that was thick and blocky, like hundreds of shields. Rhidi wondered if these were ¡°warrior trees¡±, trees that fought back against anything that dared trifle with their growth.

    Leave it to Earth to make a tree that wanted to fight you, she supposed.

    They continued on the road until they came to a small clearing within the trees, and there stood a few wooden benches, bleachers¡­ and a solitary building made of concrete blocks.

    ¡°What the fuck isss even that?¡± Shasta murmured, his eyes widening. ¡°I sssmell¡­ I don¡¯t know what I sssmell.¡±

    Rhidi cocked a brow at the Lilgara. ¡°Fuck? Been diving hard into the slang, have you?¡±

    ¡°Alias wasss. I ssstill don¡¯t know what ssskibidi means.¡± Shasta said with a sniff, and unshouldered his pack. ¡°I think it hasss¡¯omething to do with plumbing.¡±

    The Drill Sergeants called them all to form up, gather their rucks, and then stage their rifles in triangular stacks, barrels to the sky. The next order, after the chaos of trying to get the rifles to lean and stay leaned together, was to grab their gas masks.

    ¡°Gas masks?¡± Rhidi asked aloud, pulling out the canvas bag that held the odd little, face sucking device. ¡°What are we going to need these for? Is there a fuel leak somewhere?¡±

    The Human gas mask was an odd little creature; Made of rubber, silicon, and other polymers, there was also a smart device that had a small motor and vacuum inside of the breathing apparatus. With a half-face visor and a bulky, radiator type breathing vent on the front, it made a normal Human look like a monster that haunted the dreams of the living.

    The mask had even caused a few off-worlders to have panic attacks when first seeing them on others, as they had the same shocking appearance as Ur Cull-Squad infantry. Highly advanced, the mask locked onto whatever face it was pressed against, inflating a thick rubber gasket and then suctioning the mask to the head. It even kept a perfect seal onto fur, making it quite handy for the Kafya as a whole; If the nose fit, the mask would sit. When the seal was obtained, a single, thick elastic band wrapped around the head, taking some of the weight off of the face itself.

    Rhidi tilted her mask back and forth in her hands as she looked around at the confused faces of everyone else, then the hissing-¡°clisssck¡± sound of masks sealing caught her attention.

    All the Human recruits were putting on their masks, as well as the Drill Sergeants.

    ¡°It¡¯s time to take a stroll in the gas chamber, my little darlings.¡± Drill Sergeant Almoore said, her voice slightly muffled despite the mask¡¯s microphone and small speaker. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, none of you are likely to die.¡±

    ¡°Gas chamber?¡± Rhidi whispered to herself as she absorbed the words, then slowly turned, looking towards the, now highly alarming, concrete block building. ¡°Gas chamber¡­¡±

    Shasta sniffed again, then turned to Alias who was standing nearby, looking at the gas chamber with skin as pale as star light. ¡°What gasss¡¯mells like¡­¡± He sniffed again, then snapped his clawed fingers. ¡°Like fresh cut applesss!¡±

    ¡°Johnny-3.¡± Alias said in the same tone of voice one may use when they feel a snake slither across their naked foot. ¡°I had completely¡­ we¡¯re in Heavy Onslaught Infantry school, we drop in pods, and Humans are famous for slamming the pods into enemy lines. They release gas when they land because Humans wear their dagger-helms, they completely seal-¡±

    ¡°Today.¡± Drill Sergeant McPhiston began, his voice muffled as well. ¡°You will be subjected to Johnny-3, an aggro-gas that is designed to stun and disrupt the enemy should we be landing amongst them. This is to make you aware of what it does to the enemy, as well as build your confidence in your equipment. In the event you lose your helmet, you can use this mask as a back-up to keep yourself safe from gas, poisons, toxins, and other nerve agents you may get ambushed with. This is not normally a problem we deal with, as we are usually wearing or nearby our helmets, but it is still a precaution you need to learn to master.¡±

    Drill Sergeant McPhiston and  Drill Sergeant Almoore then began to show everyone how to properly apply their masks, the shoulder touching signal for a gas attack, all while the other Drill Sergeants prepared ¡°the room¡± inside the concrete block building. After twenty minutes of practicing clearing the masks, purging, and other steps of use, they all formed lines.

    Or ¡°sticks¡±, as the Humans called them.

    Rhidi made sure Shasta and Alias were in the same stick as her, the third one in sequence.

    ¡°First stick, get in there!¡± Drill Sergeant Almoore called out, clapping her hands together. ¡°Take a deep breath fishies, because you are going to drown inside! Do not drop your mask, or we¡¯ll make you go back in and get it!¡±

    Rhidi pinned her ears back, grimacing as she turned and spoke to Alias. ¡°Why would she say that? What would ever possess her to say that?¡±

    The sound of three masks hitting the ground and pounding feet were her answer, and Rhidi spun around to see a Kafya and a pair of Pwah making a run for the road.

    ¡°What?!¡± Rhidi shouted, stepping out from her stick and raising her fists as her mask bag wiggled back and forth on her thigh. ¡°Get back here you fucking cowards!¡±

    Shasta gave a light, hissing titter of laughter. ¡°Language, language.¡±

    ¡°Stand firm, Recruit.¡± Drill Sergeant Almoore called out, though the Human¡¯s smile was riding on her words as she tapped her middle finger twice to pad of her thumb. ¡°Three runners heading South along the 9th Infantry Loop.¡±

    With that business finished, Drill Sergeant Almoore turned to the troopers standing in their tidy rows and pointed to the first line. ¡°Alright second stick, you¡¯re going in the chute next. Third stick, get yourselves ready.¡±

    Rhidi stood there as quietly as she could, but her fine ears could easily pick up the sounds of chaos and suffering going on inside the building. Each stick was thirty troopers; Thirty people howling, screaming, and hacking up their lungs was not easy to miss. When the back doors of the building flung open, the sounds of vomiting and roars of pain were even harder to ignore.

    The second stick went in, more rather¡­ distressing noises echoed out to her, and soon it was Rhidi¡¯s turn. They had already placed their masks on, and went running into the dark building in an orderly line.

    Rhidi was breathing heavily as she entered the building, looking around at the interior; It was stark, nothing more than concrete walls, concrete floor, rinsing hoses, and a drain that ran along the back wall where they all stood. The floor was freshly wet, their boots splashing along a thin layer of still draining water that carried¡­ substances towards the drain. In front of them were their other Drill Sergeants, all wearing their masks and watching the gauges on tanks of gas.

    ¡°We¡¯re sealed.¡± Came a voice over an intercom, and Rhidi saw that in the corner of the room was a small glass booth in which a CBRN specialist sat in, monitoring oxygen levels and how much gas was in the room. ¡°Bringing gas levels to Delta 3-1.¡±

    The sound of a light hiss began to fill the room, and Rhidi¡¯s heart hammered ever harder; She could feel the gas pressing against her fur and skin, as if sniffing around her and wondering where her nose was.

    ¡°Recruits, you are currently sealed in properly. If you weren¡¯t, you would likely be puking at the current moment.¡± Drill Sergeant Curahee said, pointing at them. ¡°Breath in and out of your masks, feel how they react to the gas.¡±

    Drill Sergeant Curahee was a massive man of tanned skin and blonde hair, and there was a rumor that he could strip an entire roasted chicken of all its flesh in just minutes. He also had a massive blonde mustache, which usually bore the remnants of the poor chicken.

    Rhidi breathed in, and out, of her mask, feeling the mask pull her flesh as well as give a few soft, interesting clicks as it figured out what compound she had breathed in. On the visor, a few words began to crawl across her vision in calming green text: ¡°Compound identified: Johnny-3. Use: Crowd control and enemy formation disruption. Death risk: Low. Filter: 99%.¡±

    ¡°Well that is rather handy.¡± Rhidi said, turning to Alias and tapping him on the visor of his mask. ¡°It even tells you what the gas is!¡±

    ¡°Charming.¡± Alias muttered, though he was wondering why his said his filter was at 43%... and rapidly dropping.

    ¡°Recruits!¡± Drill Sergeant Curahee shouted, his bushy blonde mustache bristling and glittering with sweat. ¡°At my command, you will break the seal on your masks, lift them completely off of your face, then place them back on. You will then purge your masks, and continue breathing as normal. If you fuck this up, we will know. Execute!¡±

    Rhidi, along with everyone else, squeezed their eyes shut, pulled their masks away, lifting them up from their heads, then placed them back against their faces again. Rhidi quickly jammed her thumb into the emergency purge valve, blocked her filter grill, then exhaled as hard as she could. Her breath coursed along her face fur, both breaking the seal and pushing all the air out of the mask and filter.

    ¡°Manual purge detected.¡± Scrolled across the visor of her gas mask, which then displayed a ¡°...¡± as it waited for her to finish breathing in.

    When she had no more breath to give, she pressed the mask against her face, removed her hand from the filter and purge valve, and breathed in.

    The mask resealed to her face seamlessly, gave a soft hiss, and the mask confirmed she had successfully purged it. The scent of ripe apples filled the mask, and it was starting to make her eyes water. It felt as if the smell alone was politely poking at her eyes, wiggling its fingers into the flesh in some kind of half-hearted torture.

    A few of the other recruits in her stick had, apparently, not done it correctly, and were now clutching at their chests while coughing roughly. The Drill Sergeants didn¡¯t even move to help them, just turning their heads and narrowing their eyes as they wrote down names. To Rhidi¡¯s relief some of them were Human, so the shame didn¡¯t fully rest on the offworlders.

    ¡°Drill Sergeant!¡± A female Pwah called out, raising her hand and pointing to the stricken recruits with the other. ¡°They¡¯re choking!¡±

    ¡°Sucks to be them, then.¡± Drill Sergeant Curahee said briskly, and ignored the hoarsely choking recruits. ¡°Recruits, at my command you will remove your masks once again, and recite the Onslaught Creed.¡±

    Alias growled out, staring inwardly at his visor. ¡°Ten percent?! What the hell is wrong with this thing?!¡±

    ¡°Execute!¡± Drill Sergeant Curahee bellowed, and Rhidi ripped off her mask while closing her eyes, lurching into the Onslaught Creed.

    ¡°Hail the Iron Victory!¡± Rhidi called out with the rest of the non-stricken recruits, and she did her best to not breathe for as long as possible. ¡°With the weight of our duty we howl through the skies!¡±

    The Creed was always shouted, or yelled, and that left very little air in the lungs after ¡°skies¡± was said. Rhidi, out of reflex, opened her eyes and inhaled, and it was like her lungs had suddenly been filled with needles of ice.

    ¡°Huah!¡± Rhidi coughed out, clutching at her throat and chest as the Johnny-3 shredded her lungs and flayed her mind; It was as if the gas was attacking her very thoughts, causing her vision to swim and sound to distort around her. Her knees buckled nearly as soon as she breathed in, snot instantly dripping down her mouth, and her single, strangled exhale blew ribbons of mucus down the front of her uniform.

    ¡°Augh!¡± Rhidi cried out, her fingers now lacquered with sticky strands of snot and lungs burning like fire. The Johnny-3 gas also made her ears hurt, as well as her teeth, and she was starting to think it may have actually been a partial nerve-agent. It took everything in her to not curl up into a little ball and cry, so she casted her tearing eyes about; At least everyone was suffering in some way, though the Humans seemed to be having a better time of it. The Kafya on the other hand were getting the worst of it, and snot bubbles were being blown everywhere.

    Rhidi¡¯s ears were buzzing so hard that she didn¡¯t even realize the Drill Sergeants were yelling, and she was jerked up onto her feet by rough hands.

    ¡°Outside Recruits! Outside! Flap your arms!¡± A Drill Sergeant was yelling, pulling Recruits to their feet and shoving them towards the open door. ¡°Flap flap flap! Fly away little birdies!¡±

    Rhidi tried to snort in anger, picking up the slightly distorted words, but all that did was shoot another load of mucus down the front of her uniform. The sunlight burning through the haze of the gas was blinding as Rhidi bounced off the door frame, but was plowed forward by the wheezing form of Alias with Shasta hot on his heels.

    Rhidi drew in a huge, rasping gasp of fresh air and blew out, shredding the long strands of slime out onto the grass. Alias gave up the goat and bent over double, gurgling out a spray of vomit while Shasta danced away, trying to pull his own sheet of snot away with shaking hands.

    Alias spat, mumbled out a curse in his mother tongue, then bent up with a sigh of anger. ¡°My mask wasn¡¯t working.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because you were fucking with it, Pwah.¡± A Human Technical Sergeant called out, snatching up the mask and opening the vent enough to peek inside. He then opened it fully, pulling out a small wad of applique-sealant. He flicked the gray goo away, shaking his head. ¡°Worried, were you? You clogged up the damn filter, Frodo, and we need to draw a new one now. Drill Sergeant!¡±This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

    Alias didn¡¯t even look at the man, instead spitting out another cheekful of slobber and sniffing.

    ¡°Mine worked.¡± Rhidi said with hard cough, turning to look back at the door as she placed the mask back in its pouch. She had remembered Drill Sergeant¡¯s Almoore¡¯s warning, and had had a death grip on the thing the entire time.

    Shasta groaned, wiggling a claw in his nose. ¡°Why would they gasss¡¯us? It¡¯sss¡¯o cruel¡­¡±

    ¡°It lets you know your mask works, of course.¡± Drill Sergeant McPhiston said as he materialized out of the pained haze, smiling to the three recruits as the others recovered. ¡°And, you¡¯ll know what the poor bastards around you are feeling as you land. You will know they can neither see, hear, or even smell you properly. Seconds of time to butcher them with free reign. After that, that¡¯s where the real fun begins.¡±

    Rhidi, Alias, and Shasta stared at the Human with silent, disheveled, wary regard as he walked away, and they all slowly looked to each other as Drill Sergeant McPhiston called at them all to gather up.

    ¡ª

    There were a few who had to go back into the chamber and grab their masks, as well as Alias being sent back in to build confidence in both his mask and Human manufacturing practices. They were not, however, allowed to change their clothes, only being allowed to swap their uniform blouse for a clean one. The ruck back to their barracks was miserable, but Rhidi found her nasal passages clearer than she had ever known them to be.

    Her wide open nasal passages did not help with trying to ignore the ever-present wafts of vomit that arose off of their ranks, along with the raw stench of chemical-ridden sweat and snot.

    By the time they arrived at their barracks, they only smelled of sweat and sun, and were commanded to hit the showers. For the first time since their arrival, there was no Drill Sergeant waiting to command them into the fully tiled racks of shower heads; Since their arrival in Red Phase, a Drill Sergeant had always been there, commanding them to shower, bellowing at them to ¡°rotate¡± and change shower heads, all while they stared on in fury. Getting used to the co-ed barracks had been weird enough, but co-ed showers had caused many to buckle.

    It was not funny, per say, but watching a Pwah panic and run screaming, naked, from the shower had been a rather funny moment Rhidi would likely remember forever. While there were breasts, chests, and butts aplenty, all of the recruits were either too exhausted or too harried to really look around. Rhidi had usually just stared up into the water from the shower heads, wondering if getting married was still on the table back home¡­

    But now?

    There was no one there, just a call out to be ready in forty five minutes for chow.

    Rhidi, after getting back to her rack and shedding her soiled clothes, grabbed a fresh uniform, underwear (which Humans demanded they all wear, and the Kafya were issued mesh units for breathability), a towel, and trudged off for the showers.

    Bathing was nothing new, but the UAA military seemed to view it with some kind of odd contempt; Kafya military bases had lavish bath houses where soldiers could wash and relax, along with gender-separated communal pools to soak. Here? Tile floors, tiled walls, and stainless steel fixtures that spat water.

    It was as if the washroom itself was telling Rhidi to ¡°get washed and fuck off¡±.

    She was not alone there in the bench-room as she peeled off her well ruined under-clothing, and didn¡¯t even pay the male Pwah beside her a second glance as she trudged into the shower room. There were others here too, but none of them could even muster the energy to care; The Drill Sergeants had made it extremely clear that anyone caught being un-toward or sexual during training would get throttled with Article 15¡¯s, the name alone being akin to a hex cast upon the lowly ranks. While fully seasoned Human soldiers were known to be quite free with their affections, that courtesy did not extend to recruits still in training.

    ¡°I found out why they have us in co-ed showers.¡± Alias sighed out as he took a shower spot next to Rhidi, Shasta groaning sleepily from another place over as he turned on the hot water. ¡°It¡¯s to desensitize us to nudity.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m too tired to care what your zindiho looks like.¡± Rhidi muttered, quickly washing her face fur with the hot water before she grabbed the soap.

    Alias, despite himself, chuckled. ¡°Well thanks for that, but no, this has been how UAA Humans have done things for nearly a hundred years now, since the Citizen Soldier movement before they joined the war. Both genders train, bathe, eat, fight, and die together. Getting used to their naked bodies helps them during combat, as no one gets bashful when they have to shove their hands down someone¡¯s pants to stop a bleeding shrapnel wound.¡±

    ¡°That would have been handy with the Kafya.¡± Rhindi mused, spitting water away from her mouth as she scritched her soapy fingers through her filthy face fur. ¡°We had male and female medical troopers, and it was forbidden for them to work on the opposite gender. Plenty of Kafya bled out on the field for want of the correct medic.¡±

    ¡°Only ssskistishi can be medical professionalsss in our military.¡± Shasta said with a happy sigh as the hot water flowed down his flared hood. ¡°Non-producing malesss that failed to meet genetic ssstandards are chemically cassstrated and made into healersss.¡±

    Both Rhidi and Alias paused in their washing and grimaced at that, while around them other Lilgara were nodding.

    ¡°Well, for us, fighting females are quite new.¡± Alias said, leaning to the side to look at a naked female Pwah washing her face as hard as she could with a bathing cloth. ¡°It was rough in our armies, a lot of mishaps and cultural conflicts.¡±

    ¡°Not gonna be a problem here.¡± A taller female Pwah said from the other side of the showers, though she had chosen a far more private corner area. She had her long lavender hair un-bunned, and was washing the snot out of it. ¡°Human¡¯s don¡¯t seem to give a single damn about nudity.¡±

    A male Human barked out a laugh, turning off his shower head. ¡°Don¡¯t say that. Our histories are quite comical when it comes to privacy. You should look up ¡®ankle scandals¡¯ some time if you want a solid chuckle.¡±

    ¡°As it is, this is about duty.¡± A raven haired female Human spoke up, walking through the shower bay brazenly. ¡°All are equal in the eye of the barrel, and bullets do not discriminate.¡± She shoved the male Human out of the way, as that was apparently her shower head, and turned it on. ¡°In civilian areas, everything is kept separate and private, but not so much in the military. We have to prepare ourselves for weeks before we join.¡±

    Alias nodded at the logic, then shrugged. ¡°I always thought it was kind of funny, personally. Human medics were feared for their lack of care with nudity.¡±

    ¡°Feared is putting it lightly.¡± Rhidi said with a smirk. ¡°I remember when a wounded male Khafya tried to run away from a Human medic, and when the medic caught him, she ripped off his pants and had to fight him to get his bleeding under control.¡±

    ¡°The Sihiti 2 incident!¡± An extremely tall female Human called out, turning around fully to look at Rhidi. ¡°I remember that! It almost caused an IDC political war within the Kafya councils.¡±

    Rhidi, despite herself, had to blink and look somewhere else besides the tanned woman; Humans were quite famous for their¡­ biological oddities, and had some of the largest mammaries for their general height and evolution. This specimen nearly made Rhidi feel self conscious¡­

    ¡°Well, uh¡­ he survived, and that is what matters.¡± Rhidi said with a nod, then elbowed Alias in the shoulder because he had been staring nearly as hard as Rhidi. ¡°Quit it.¡±

    ¡°Right. Sorry.¡± Alias stammered, then looked up at Rhidi with raised brows that said ¡°Can you believe these people? Who evolves like that?¡±

    ¡°I know, I know.¡± Rhidi expressed with her own raised brows, and a slight shake of her head.

    Now fully clean, Rhidi left the shower and walked up to the body dryer. The Humans, clever as always, knew that the Kafya had fur, or that some of the races may have issues with towels, so they installed additional dryers within the walls of the bench area. These were long, six foot tall air-pushers that could blow a Kafya near dry in just under five minutes. During the earlier weeks, the Drill Sergeants had allowed them to do a quick spin under the blower, and then pushed them away from the next furred recruit. Now, Rhidi could actually fully dry herself, and she stood in front of the blower for as long as she wanted, slowly turning while fluffing out her tail.

    Her first big push of air had accidentally showered a black, male Human recruit in loose water and fur, causing a bit of spitting and cursing while Rhidi apologized in a panic.

    ¡°¡®Gotdamn furries!¡± He shouted, then dipped back into the showers to quickly rinse off the new spackling of yellow fur in his hair.

    When he came back out, he held a towel over himself, as did all the other Humans while darting through the Kafya trying to get dry.

    Rhidi toweled off the rest of the way and put on her clothes, leaving the bathing area just in time to see a female Human pulling a strand of red fur from her lips. She looked at Rhidi with eyes that said ¡°Are you serious?¡±, while Rhidi just shrugged in a way that said ¡°Well it¡¯s not mine, so¡±.

    Time was dwindling down quickly at this point, so Rhidi made her way down the stairwell into the mustering area, smoothing down her uniform blouse; Humans were fastidious about appearances, and all the Kafya had learned this the hard way. If you were wrinkled, you were a wrinkle, and Drill Sergeants didn¡¯t hesitate in ironing you out.

    As she came out into the blazing sun, she turned and noticed that the little flag area was missing its usual red banners. Every barracks had this odd little display rack, in which flag-poles were stuck into it, arranging the flags in a kind of crest around the unit guidon. There were red banner bearing flag poles there before, but now there was only the guidon.

    The twin-tailed banner fluttered happily from its pole, bearing the flaming drop-pod symbol on a horizontally bisected field of black and blue. Rhidi eyed the banner with a tilt of the chin, but the clamour of boots coming out of the stairwell made her turn her head away.

    Everyone was forming up, so she fell into her Squad¡¯s line within their Platoon. This had been a lot of their early weeks during this ¡°Red Phase¡±; Falling into formations correctly, maintaining formations while on the move, marching, manoeuvring, and other mind-numbing exercises. The obstacle courses had at least been fun, in terms of moving around and problem solving, and she would rather do that every day than march around in boredom. The First Aid Course had been just as equally boring as it was alarming; Humans still relied on torsion based devices to stop bleeding, despite their supreme command over nano-medical tech and hemostasis solutions.

    There had also been the whole¡­ ¡°CPR¡± thing, which bewildered everyone, including Rhidi. She had never gone lip-to-lip with a fake Human before, and there was an odd challenge with their differences in anatomy. It was as if Humans forced fellow Humans to live, even if that meant manually filling their lungs with the breaths of the living.

    Charming, and slightly romantic as Rhidi thought about it again.

    ¡°Company! Atten-shun!¡± Came a great shout from Drill Sergeant Curahee, and hundreds of boots came together, hands at the seams of their trousers and thumbs pointed towards the ground.

    ¡°Hail the Iron Victory!¡± Rhidi shouted out, her voice joining the hundreds of others as they shouted their MOS creed. ¡°With fire we fall!¡±

    All of them went quiet as the heavy boots of Senior Drill Sergeant Fairymoss came to their ears, the woman pushing open the front doors to the NCO Office attached to the barracks.

    Senior Drill Sergeant Fairymoss was a massive female Human, standing at six foot three and had more muscle than most Human men. It was the second time Rhidi had seen the woman, and she still took her breath away when she saw her; Missing her left eye, Senior Drill Sergeant Fairymoss only had one, single blue eye left, the other covered by a leather eye patch. She had fists like hammers, and a body like a rugged cliff-face. She was the only female Human to claim over a hundred melee kills in battle, and still held the record at three hundred and thirteen Ur confirmed to be killed in melee by her own hand.

    Her right arm was completely mechanical, having lost it during a boarding action on an Ur station, and had fought one armed until the medics dragged her away from the battle line. It was crafted and shaped to match her other arm, and it made her all the more terrifying. Her orange hair was cut close on the sides but left longer on top, giving her the appearance of a space pirate. Her ears were mangled by shrapnel fire, nearly looking like creative body piercings or scarification. According to the other Humans, she was considered ¡°quite ugly¡± in terms of conventional attractiveness, but that didn¡¯t mean the sight of the woman didn¡¯t leave Rhidi staring in open fascination.

    Her last name was from some other land known as ¡°Scotland¡±, and Rhidi was curious if all women were like her there.

    ¡°Recruits.¡± Senior Drill Sergeant Fairymoss called out, and her voice was just as oddly feminine as it was the first time Rhidi heard it. Rhidi had thought she would sound like a bearess, but she sounded like any other mother would. ¡°As of now, after completing the NBC chemical chamber training, you have successfully survived to the White Phase stage of your training.¡±

    Four Drill Sergeants walked in from the corner of their vision, bearing flag poles that had fluttering white banners upon them. They placed them down into the holder one by one, until the flags all guttered under the guidon.

    ¡°From here on in, your training only gets harder.¡± Senior Drill Sergeant Fairymoss stated, slowly pacing in front of the arranged Company. ¡°You will be trained further in the art of hand to hand combat, harder, more thoroughly. You will now begin your training proper in our many weapon systems, your rifles, and anything else you may get your hands on while in the course of battle. You will take on the advanced confidence course, ascend, and repel from the Glory Towers, suffer The Long March, and finally, your hardest physical fitness test yet.¡±

    Rhidi felt an odd, fluttering pride in her chest; She had made it all the way to this next phase? Senior Drill Sergeant Fairymoss wasn¡¯t yelling at them or being mean? This was a good thing, right?

    Senior Drill Sergeant Fairymoss continued, pointing a bladed, metal hand towards them. ¡°Many of you show promise, especially a few choice individuals from you who came to us from the stars beyond. All of you were rankless, lapel-barren worms when you arrived, but fifty of you will enter White Phase with iron at your necks.¡±

    Rhidi¡¯s heart skipped an excited beat; Ranks? Now? How important was this?

    Senior Drill Sergeant Fairymoss called out the name of a male Human, who fell out of the formation and quickly jogged up in front of the Double Dagger Senior Drill Sergeant. Rhidi was quite keen to know if she got one of these ranks, a single chevron of black iron, but her excitement died in her throat when she saw Senior Drill Sergeant Fairymoss place something on the man¡¯s lapel, then reared back her metal fist.

    Rhidi heard the rank pins impact into bone, and she tucked her tail along with every other Kafya in the formation.

    ¡°Blood pinner¡­¡± A male Human to her back right muttered. ¡°Great.¡±

    ¡°What does that mean, Human?¡± A female Pwah whispered back, her voice audibly fearful.

    ¡°It means she¡¯s a staunch traditionalist and earned all her ranks on the field.¡± He whispered as the next name was called. ¡°If a Drill Sergeant earned all their ranks on the field of battle, they carry the duty of blood pinning the recruits they train.¡±

    ¡°Blood to remember, blood to pay.¡± A female Human groaned out, shaking her head. ¡°Damn it to hell, I was hoping we got a normal one¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a great honor to be blood pinned by a Double Dagger.¡± Another Human hissed out. ¡°Do not cast fear onto our privilege!¡±

    Rhidi, on the other hand, was casting a lot of fear, and she visibly startled when Senior Drill Sergeant Fairymoss called out her name.

    ¡°Huh?!¡± Rhidi barked out, looking left and right before placing a pawed hand to her chest. ¡°Me? Why?! What did I do?!¡±

    To Rhidi¡¯s surprise, Senior Drill Sergeant Fairymoss actually cracked a smile. ¡°Get up here, Recruit Rhidi, before I change my mind and give it to the purple Kafya behind you.¡±

    Said Kafya, not wanting to get a rank punched into her collar bone, gave Rhidi a swift boot in the ass, sending her stumbling forward out of the formation. Rhidi quickly made her way in front of Senior Drill Sergeant Fairymoss, making absolute sandwich meat out of the falling out movement, but came to attention in front of the massive woman, looking up at her with ears pinned back in anxiety.

    ¡°Congratulations, Private Rhidi.¡± Senior Drill Sergeant Fairymoss said quietly to Rhidi, setting the rank in place on her lapel. ¡°You have been chosen to receive the rank of Private for your excellent performance in both your Reception and Red Phase. Later on, your other lapel will hold your MOS badge, but we¡¯ll teach you that come Black Phase.¡±

    More phases¡­ great. Rhidi thought to herself as she turned her head and looked down at the dull, raw iron rank on her lapel.

    ¡°Blood to remember, blood to pay.¡± Senior Drill Sergeant Fairymoss stated quietly to Rhidi, then reared back her metal fist.

    The impact of Senior Drill Sergeant Fairymoss¡¯s fist rattled her bones from neck to toe, and Rhidi actually staggered backwards, letting out a harsh exhale of air as her lungs were forcefully voided.

    She didn¡¯t get far, thanks to the swift grip of Senior Drill Sergeant Fairymoss¡¯s natural hand, and she was pulled back to standing.

    She smiled at Rhidi, pulling on the lapel to jerk the tines free with a dull noise of metal leaving bone. ¡°Hard to forget, you¡¯ll find.¡±

    Rhidi could smell her own blood, even as Senior Drill Sergeant Fairymoss placed the pin-caps over the bloodied iron.

    After that, two more female Kafya¡¯s and five male Kafya¡¯s received promotions, the rest being mostly Humans with a slew of Pwahs and Lilgaras.

    Rhidi¡¯s chest was hurting, more from the punch than the rank, but she felt¡­ proud. She thought it was pride, it felt like pride anyway, but it felt different than her other promotions in her people¡¯s military. She had received the ranks by mail along with a congratulatory letter, and they were just a magnet you stuck to your combat suit. This felt more personal¡­ more real.

    When all fifty three ranks were given, that left three hundred and twelve rankless within the training Company; They had suffered trickling losses, some due to cowardice, others to injury, but it already seemed like so few were left to Rhidi. This was only one of many training Companies, and Rhidi couldn¡¯t help but wonder how the others were doing.

    ¡°Chow time, fuck bags!¡± Drill Sergeant Almoore bellowed out, and even Senior Drill Sergeant Fairymoss squinted an eye at the woman in annoyance. ¡°Company! Riiight, face!¡±

    Boots churned the ground as the entire Company executed their right face, and Drill Sergeant Almoore took her position beside the Company as the guidon banner holders ran to the new front of their Platoons. ¡°For-ward, march! Left, left, left right-o left!¡±

    Boots left the ground at the same time, the entire formation jerking forward into motion with smooth, practiced ease. For the first time since they had started these formation marches to the chow hall, Drill Sergeant Almoore began to sing.

    With the voice of smooth honey, Drill Sergeant Almoore began to sing cadence next to them. Rhidi wasn¡¯t the only recruit to lose their step as they jerked their heads around, wondering where the hell the voice of a solar-angel had come from.

    ¡°Among the stars I¡¯ll make my way.¡± Drill Sergeant Almoore sang out, her marching form perfect and not even short of breath despite the heat. ¡°Bulkheads of steel and iron gray!¡±

    Thankfully the Humans in the formation appeared to know what to do, repeating  ¡°Bulkheads of steel and iron gray!¡± in a ribcage vibrating yell.

    ¡°Protein meal and bark-head bread.¡± Drill Sergeant Almoore sang out again, and she seemed to be¡­ smiling. ¡°It¡¯d make you want to eat the dead!¡±

    Rhidi sang along this time, and it was just another oddity about the Humans stacking up on all the others; Humans usually sang when they were miserable, breaking out into song even when they were melting in the heat or fussing with old mops in the barracks halls. The singing lasted all the way up until the chow hall, and Rhidi wondered to herself if it was some kind of way they also measured distance, or time.

    Chow for the day was something called ¡°creamed turkey¡±, which was one of the better ones due to how fast someone could eat it. It was hot as fire fresh, and required a fair bit of blowing on so that it didn¡¯t scorch the mouth and flame the stomach. She grabbed her metal tray, fork and ¡°shovel¡± as the Drill Sergeants called it, and stood in line. There was no ¡°choosing¡± in a Human DFAC, something they all learned during their first days on Sand Hill, and the cooks scooped or placed food on their trays as they moved down the line; Scoop of mashed potatoes. Scoop of creamed turkey. Scoop of stewed greens. Scoop of spiced apple compote. Fruit placed on tray. Hunk of bread and butter placed on tray. Square of cake placed on tray, and so on.

    Rhidi then followed procedure, speeding down the salad bar and making a quick bowl of greens; They got yelled at if they didn¡¯t eat greens, and Rhidi had learned to stomach the leafy things. She was still terrified of being caught not eating a salad; A male Human recruit had been caught with an empty bowl, and had to shovel leafs of lettuce into his mouth while yelling, ¡°Mmm mmm! Hungry rabbits need their greens!¡± for nearly an entire minute.

    After finding her place to sit along the benches, she set down her tray and sped off to get her glasses of water.

    Two bright red cups held to the chest, elbows out, and feet moving. She didn¡¯t know why she had to walk in such a stupid way, but she did because getting yelled at wasn¡¯t worth it. She got her water, having to ignore all the other drink options for the fully trained soldiers, and then hurried back to her seat.

    Seconds meant the difference between leaving fed, and leaving hungry, and Rhidi had learned from Alias and Shasta the best way to eat; They always sat next to her too, which was nice. She ate the salad first, shoveling leaves into her maw and chewing as fast as she could. There was spinach again, these deeply green oval things that had a high iron content, and she hated the way they tasted most of all. She finished the bowl, still chewing as she scooped the stewed greens into her mouth as well. These were mustard greens, or at least she thought they were; Alias had figured out what was what, and they all agreed that turnip greens were the better of the choices.

    From the greens, she ate the apples and then the bread with its butter, her teeth gnashing as fast as they could and swallowing only when her breathing allowed. The entire table was nothing but the sounds of teeth and fangs masticating, and trays being scraped with metal utensils. Rhidi chewed through her apple in record speed, and she quite enjoyed the crunchy little fruits. They reminded her of alpfwacka berries, if just bigger and with less seeds. Despite the logic, she left her cake for last; She loved what the Humans did with sweets, and cake was by far the best thing she had ever eaten so far while in training.

    With her spoon she quickly shoveled her mashed potatoes and creamed turkey into her mouth, sniffing and whiping her cheek as a little bit of gravy spacked onto her fur. Eating like this would have been seen as barbaric on any other planet, but here they were, a bunch of little cavemen in training.

    She quaffed an entire cup of water, warm this time after she had learned her lesson on cold water, then took a little bit more time with the cake.

    Chocolate fudge cake, a little slice of the divine amongst all this hell, was worth risking time over.

    With that finished, she dragged her tongue along her teeth, finished her water, then sat up straight, waiting for the command to leave.

    After five minutes, Drill Sergeant McPhiston clapped his hands. ¡°You¡¯re done! Put it away!¡±

    Recruits spat out food they were chewing; If you were caught chewing as you stood, you were likely going to end up on the table doing push ups until that food came out of you. Rhidi still vividly remembered being surrounded by three Drill Sergeants, bellowing at her to ¡°Spit it out!¡± when she was caught chewing on a piece of chicken meat.

    They all stood, picked up their trays, and deposited them in the auto-washer, a rather fussy machine that did the duties of dishwasher and food disposal.

    It was another day in the books, the first day of White Phase, and Rhidi was just looking forward to going to sleep after such a shit go of it.

 Drop Pod Green: A HFY Short Story Collection Ch 3

    <h2>Black Powder Blues</h2>

    Rhidi woke up with a slow blink; The usual shouting was there, but there were no trash cans being whacked with sticks.

    A marked improvement.

    Her Human Drill Sergeants were as punctual as ever, and Rhidi glanced over at the data-slate on her locker: 0600 hours. Right on time.

    Unlike Humans, both the Kafya and other members of the Inner Dolcir Coalition required very strict sleeping regimens. Humans could sleep anywhere and at any time they wanted, but the same could not be said for their allies. Kafya alone required at least six hours of uninterrupted sleep in order to be considered rested, with the Pwah and Lilgara able to get away with a scant five. Once they were up, they were up, and moved like zombies until they could get another block of sleep.

    In all honesty, no one had seen a planet like Earth; Everything just slept whenever the hell it wanted. One of the crippling attributes of the war had been the Ur pumping themselves full of narcotics and stimulants, allowing them to slowly grind their enemies to paste since they didn¡¯t require as much time to rest.

    Humans were the weaponized answer to this.

    They had napped their way to victory by slamming an hour or two of sleep, crushing several cans of commercial stimulants, and then lurching back into action like some kind of war-addicted monster.

    Strict regulations were in place to make sure non-Humans got their sleep, agreed upon by the accord put into place before alien troops ever landed on Earth. To be kind, Humans gave the ¡°fragile¡± children of the stars an extra hour, and Drill Sergeants were extremely punctual. Red Phase had been a chaotic hellworld when the Drill Sergeants received their calculations, and when 2200 hours struck the clock, Drill Sergeants actually threw Kafya, Pwah, and Lilgara into their racks.

    ¡°Bed time!¡± The Drill Sergeants would bellow, going as far as to hunt down missing troopers while the Human recruits rolled their eyes and climbed into their racks. ¡°Sleepy aliens need to go to bed!¡±

    One night, Rhidi had been trying to stay up late to make some logs in her data-slate, and she had been too slow to return to her rack during the fifth day. This resulted in her skittering down the barracks hallway, screaming in horror as three Drill Sergeants pounded after her, sniffing her out of the broom closet she had been hiding in.

    She had been catapulted into her rack, then tied into place with her own sheets and blankets.

    Thankfully, the Human recruits popped out of their beds when the lights were turned out, untying her since the other recruits were too terrified to get out of their racks.

    The Human recruits would usually wake up around 0200 hours, puttering about and making sure all their gear was ready for the coming morning. They sometimes woke up Rhidi on accident, causing her to groan and bundle up in her blankets; While they were, technically, getting plenty of sleep, Rhidi had no idea where the hell the Humans got their energy from. Between all the drills, drag training, marches, rucks, and entry level battle drills, Rhidi felt as if she could sleep for twelve hours a day and still be tired the next morning.

    She felt no different this first day of White Phase, and had been bumped awake several times during the early morning by Human recruits double-checking their lockers.

    ¡°You have thirty minutes!¡± Drill Sergeant Curahee called out as male and female recruits dragged themselves from their racks. ¡°Standard morning PT, shorts and shirts, with training to follow! It is a glorious day in the UAA Army, hooah!¡±

    Rhidi¡¯s ¡°hooah¡± was a little lackluster, but she fwipped her blanket away and stepped down onto the cool tile floor.

    ¡°Make my bed.¡± Rhidi mumbled, turning and flicking the blanket back into place while pulling her sleeping pants from the crack of her ass.

    She hated this part the most, of all things; Kafya beds, even in the military, self cleaned. Here, on this damned planet, she had to make her own bed¡­ like some kind of backwater peasant. Rhidi couldn¡¯t think of a single yellow Kafya that would make their own bed, even her kind hearted father would balk at such a task. She ran the palm of her hand along the bottom of the mattress, tucking in the blanket and sheet, straightened them so they looked okay, then managed a passable hospital corner.

    ¡°First task compleeete¡­ woo.¡± Rhidi grumbled, then started changing into her PT uniform.

    The first couple of days she had been bashful, trying to hide within her locker to change. Now, she was so tired she didn¡¯t even care that her tail brushed the naked legs of the male Human beside her.

    ¡°Morning Rhidi.¡± He said, pulling on his socks as he sat on his still messy bed in his underwear.

    Rhidi held up a hand, fishing out her shorts as she kicked off her sleeping pants. ¡°Morning, Jackson.¡±

    Recruit Jackson was from some Human hellhole known as ¡°Kansas¡±, but was a kind enough man. He had brown hair and brown eyes, but she figured he must have been a farmer, judging by his rough hands, scars, and well built body.

    ¡°Ppt! Rhidi!¡± A female Human spat from the other side of the locker aisle, and Rhidi turned, looking at her sleepily.

    ¡°Oh, sorry Shorsey.¡± Rhidi said, having bent over to grab her shoes and accidently whacking the woman in the face with her tail.

    Recruit Shorsey was from ¡°Ontario¡±, and was a mean little shit that could give as good as the males in training. Rhidi quite liked her freckles, and orange-ish hair.

    Elbow room was tight while getting ready, and getting whacked by a tail or arm was common. The Pwah learned quite quickly to avoid and dodge elbows from all kinds, while Humans coined ¡°The IDC Hop¡± as having to step and hop around the many tails from the Kafya and Lilgara.

    Eventually they all made it outside, getting into formation, but Rhidi narrowed her eyes; There were Drill Sergeants missing, enough to make her quite nervous.

    Drill Sergeant Mavericko, a black-skinned male Human that seemed to have not been born with hair atop his head, fell them out to the training field. The field was a large, grassy area in the middle of the barracks that was shared by the other training Companies. Charlie Company was on the far end, giving them a good area of grass to toil and suffer in. To her own annoyance, as they extended out to get their spacing, she found herself behind a bottom heavy blue Kafya with a larger, fluffier tail than the norm. This was common amongst the blues, and she found them insufferable; They were normally ditsy, airheaded, stupid Kafya whether male or female, and never failed to piss her off in some way.

    Recruit Inthur was no exception, and half of their warm up exercises resulted in Rhidi getting whacked with Inthur¡¯s damn tail. After the third whack, Rhidi could have been used to boil water

    ¡°Pasha¡¯ta holum.¡± Rhidi swore under her breath, baring her teeth and having a mind to latch onto Inthur¡¯s tail should it come close again.

    Having to stare at her large, stupid, wobbling butt while doing push ups nearly made Rhidi¡¯s blood boil; The stupid blue could barely manage the bare minimum of push ups required just for morning PT, and was a huffing, whining shit when they went out on their runs. Worse still, she was a massive flirt, as blues were, and was already trying to get friendly with the male Humans.

    Rhidi hated leadership positions, but the thought of being able to cuff the blue Kafya was nearly enough to make her take the position of Kholihl. Each gender for the Kafya race always had a leading male or female Kafya if there were more than ten of the same gender in one place. For the males, they had their Hohrlihl, and the females, their Kholihl. No one had made moves yet within their training Company, but that was more for the fact the Drill Sergeants did the job good enough on their own.

    In time, though, a pair of Kafya would have to rise to wrangle the others; If not, things could get¡­ chaotic.

    For PT, though, all there was left to do was sit ups before the two mile run, and Rhidi ended up paired with Inthur. It took every inch of Rhidi¡¯s willpower to not glower down at Inthur as she struggled to complete her sit ups; How she got into the Kafya military was a mystery to Rhidi, but her blue-furred daddy likely had something to do with it. Rhidi was still surprised this blue-furred idiot was still here; The more rugged greens, reds, and oranges had lost some of their own, but here were the blues, holding out until the bitter end for some reason.

    After their two mile run, Drill Sergeant Mavericko threw in a wild card with a new exercise: The buddy drag.

    After seeing it done, Rhidi latched onto Inthur with a snap of her hand.

    ¡°Ow! Rhidi, what are you doing?!¡± Inthur wailed with a whimper as Rhidi dragged her over to the starting point.

    Rhidi turned her bright yellow head towards Inthur, just enough so she could see the blue¡¯s eyes. ¡°Training, my little battle buddy.¡±

    ¡°T-Training?¡± Inthur whimpered, letting out a quiet squeal as Rhidi whipped her around, holding her by the wrists as the blue Kafya stumbled to the ground.

    Drill Sergeant Mavericko raised an eyebrow as Rhidi took to the line with the other recruits; While everyone else had their fellow recruits in the normal drag hold of their arms around the chest, Rhidi had the other Kafya by the wrists.

    ¡°... Exercise!¡± Drill Sergeant Mavericko called out, and couldn¡¯t help but grin as Rhidi took off, knees pumping as she dragged a shrieking female Kafya behind her.

    ¡°My taaaiiilll!¡± Inthur wailed as Rhidi dragged her along the ground, the yellow Kafya growling as she put every inch of strength into her legs.

    Rhidi was annoyed at how much drag weight the blue Kafya¡¯s giant ass produced, but by the time she reached the opposite line for the end of the exercise, she felt better as she tossed Inthur¡¯s limp arms to the ground; She may have been blue before, but her tail and legs were now green with dirt and grass stains.

    ¡°Good time, Private.¡± Drill Sergeant Mavericko chuckled out, tapping at his data-slate. ¡°Your form is sloppy, though.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll work on that, Drill Sergeant.¡± Rhidi said with a panting, but satisfied, smile as she jogged off towards the starting line for Inthur to drag her as well.

    She ended up being dragged by a female Human, as Inthur was too busy sniffing and sobbing while pulling grass from her ruined tail fur.

    Drill Sergeant Mavericko knew he should have yelled at her to get up, but he couldn¡¯t even manage a straight face when he glanced over at the furry alien. Something was clearly going on between her and the yellow one, and he would have to keep an eye on that.

    ¡ª

    Rhidi¡¯s high was short lived as they all went back to their barracks to change, and a sudden outcry of ¡°Oh come on!¡± from a male Human made them all stop short, peering in through the double bay doors.

    The barracks was a mess: Uniforms, underwear, socks, and personal items hung from the rafters, corners of the barracks, pipes, racks, and as one Pwah wordlessly found, stuffed into the toilets.

    Rhidi had thought it was rather funny¡­ until she saw her own locker door was open.

    ¡°Oh fuck me.¡± Rhidi groaned, as Alias chuckled from his still tidy bed and locked, locker.

    ¡°Now who¡¯s dipping into the slang...¡± Alias said smugly, opening his locker to change.

    Rhidi walked towards her rack and locker, and saw with a frustrated stare that her bed was made perfectly, as if someone had redone it for her. She leaned hard to the right, looking at her locker, and inhaled sharply through her teeth.

    It was an absolute ruin.

    Someone had combined all of her paw-boots together, tying multiple knots in all the laces and making a monster of the task. Her socks were full of shaving cream from someone else''s locker, all but a single pair she could use for the day. Her underwear was wrapped tightly around strips of beef jerky and laundry pods, then tied into place with dental floss. She opened her data-slate, which she had left attached to the locker, and her search history was nothing but dog collars from some place called ¡°Pet Smart¡±. There were also data searches for ¡°Am I a good girl?¡± and ¡°Is Drill Sergeant mad at me?¡±.

    Rhidi sighed and hung her head backwards, taking in the sounds of distress, chaos, rage, and depression that were circulating around the barracks in waves. She decided to just toss a lot of her stuff into the washing unit, the laundry room sitting across from the latrine and showers, and she was joined by the quicker moving of the others. Thankfully her uniforms were left mostly unscathed, but she had to gather her personal effects from some of the other recruits. One Human male had her mesh support-bras shoved into his locker, which was an awkward transaction with fist coughing and plenty of eye aversion; Her language books had been used in the creation of a book fort, which was quickly being torn down; All of her grooming combs and brushes were tossed into a grand pile at the far end of the barracks, and it took her quite a bit of time to snuff them out from all the others.

    A female Lilgara was staring down at the floor, eyes narrowed, and as Rhidi walked past with her brushes, she saw that a Drill Sergeant had written out the Lilgara¡¯s name in blue detergent upon the ground.

    As well as the message ¡°Ha ha, scale brain¡±.

    ¡°That¡¯s rough.¡± Rhidi murmured, patting the Lilgara on the shoulders. ¡°Come on, I¡¯ll help you wipe this up.¡±

    The Lilgara nodded, her hood flared out in anger, but it slowly fell back down to her shoulders as she turned to Rhidi. ¡°Thanksss¡­ Humansss are mean.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, they are.¡± Rhidi said with a snort, then set down her brushes and grabbed a few towels nearby.

    Despite their best efforts, the detergent had deeply cleaned the tile, and no amount of brushing or wiping could remove the name from the ground, left there in clean, white lines. Rhidi, literally, threw in the towel when she knew time was running low and she needed to change.

    The Lilgara, Recruit Bisshi, thanked her with a wave as she too needed to change, and Rhidi opened her locker back up to grab a uniform.

    Her final discovery came when she pulled it out, and a litany of Earthen canine biscuits poured out of the pockets of her trousers and uniform blouse.

    Rhidi drew in a long, tortured breath as a few of the Human recruits let out quiet snickers, though Recruit Shorsey clicked her tongue.

    ¡°Honestly, is nothing beyond them?¡± Shorsey growled, kneeling down and picking up the dog biscuits along with Rhidi. ¡°You would think they would at least keep things non-rac-¡±

    ¡°Are you fucking kidding me?!¡± Alias barked out, and both Rhidi and Shorsey raised their heads.

    Alias was holding his pillow case up, and dozens of fake pointy ears were pouring out of it, along with a single pair of fake, pull on Halfling costume feet.

    Shorsey narrowed her eyes, but as Rhidi had been lucky enough to watch the first movie on her flight down to Earth, she let out a light, trilling laugh. She laughed a little harder as Shorsey slapped her on the chest with the back of her hand, but even Shorsey had to smile and shake her head.

    With the crop of doggy biscuits thrown away, uniform fluffed out, and the barracks bay cleaned up from the chaos, a call came from over the intercoms.

    ¡°Prepare your fast-packs and limber up recruits, we¡¯re going to the range. Trucks will be here in twenty minutes, and you¡¯ll be downstairs in ten!¡± Drill Sergeant Almoore bellowed, and they all began preparing their fast-packs.

    Fast-packs were lighter, smaller than the larger rucksacks, carrying water, a spare uniform, cleaning kit, and anything else they may need during training for the day. They hadn¡¯t gotten to use them yet, and there were plenty of pleased looks around the barracks; Always using the massive rucksacks had sucked, to say the least.

    They all ran downstairs in a wave, eager for both their first bit of weapons training and for the fact they wouldn¡¯t be walking there this time. Red Phase had been rather devoid of any actual range time, and this was quite exciting for a bunch of off-world military volunteers. Human rifles and pistols were akin to curiosities, and were never allowed to be in the hands of non-Humans due to the ritual-like nature of Humanity and their weaponry. Their crew serves were, however, used extensively, and many an M2 Browning had the names of planets etched into them by thankful members of the IDC.

    All of their weapons were staged downstairs in their Company armory, ran by a perpetually tired looking E4, and he opened the doors for them all to run inside and grab their weapons. They got to grab them on days when they were doing training at the Company itself, lugging around the rifles like some kind of steel teddy bear.

    Rhidi thought that, at least by now, they would have done a few dry runs of how to aim the weapons at targets, but it seemed she and her fellow children of the stars were going to learn on the job. They had learned the basics, pointing the weapons at little circles of paper on the wall while balancing metal coins on the receivers, but that was different than using them outside.

    She turned to Alias, the Pwah blinking blearily despite his long night of sleep. ¡°Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s odd that we aren¡¯t¡­ you know, in a classroom learning how to use these? At least in dry runs on a simulator.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re the odd ones out.¡± Alias muttered, gesturing to the Humans around them with a wafting hand. ¡°All of these iron blooded lead slingers have been shooting rifles since the age of ten.¡±

    ¡°Ten?!¡± Rhidi stammered out. ¡°Why?! Shouldn¡¯t they be learning in school, or playing in the forests?¡±

    Alias chuckled darkly. ¡°Oh, my little Kafya, they learn how to use them in their schools. Riflery is a non-elective course they have to pass in order to graduate. At least it is in the UAA, I don¡¯t think the EUC does that.¡±

    ¡°All students in the Unified American Authority leave high school as marksmen.¡± A nearby male Human said with a nod, patting his rifle. ¡°We learn on older weapons, usually beat to hell M4s with the giggle switch removed.¡±

    Rhidi stared at the man in horror, then looked around at all the Human recruits around her. ¡°All of you¡­ all of you leave your entry level schooling knowing how to wield a weapon?¡±

    ¡°Long ranged, single fire weapons, yes.¡± He said with a smile. ¡°The ranges are used to grow hay in between the school year, helps feed the animals over in the 4-H barns.¡±

    Alias slowly shook his head from side to side with a smile, all while Rhidi looked at the male Human as if he had grown two heads.

    ¡°Drill Sergeantsss coming.¡± Shasta hissed out, and Rhidi noticed that his long loop of soda-can tabs had grown by nearly double. At this point if he were to walk, it would make an audible clink¡­Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    The Drill Sergeants wasted no time in calling them to attention, issuing an about-face order to walk towards their awaiting transports. The guidon bearers always hated this, as they had to run around their Platoon and come to the new front facing of the formation. As they marched out towards the parking lot, Rhidi got her first sight of their Human transportation.

    She had a sudden thought that she may actually prefer walking.

    Three ¡°cattle cars¡± were sitting and waiting, basking in the warm morning sun like giant steel whales. These were the full size of a semi-truck trailer, and hauled by the same vehicle. Made of steel, iron, rubber, and powered by sour-diesel, Rhidi remembered seeing something similar in their museums back home. Both the cab and the trailer of the cattle car were painted in the colors of black and blue for the drop-pod infantry, with the middle of the trailer bearing a strip of olive drab green.

    There were windows¡­ kind of. They were maybe a foot wide and eight feet long, but at least natural light could get in. Along the side of the trailer were two double-folding doors, with an emergency hatch at the rear.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go! Onto the cattle cars!¡± Drill Sergeant McPhiston called out, shoving a recruit forward by their pack. ¡°Take too long and we¡¯re not turning on the air conditioning!¡±

    Rhidi would have thrown people on the bus herself if she could have, but instead opted for leaping on and getting the process started. To her confusion there were no seats in this trailer, just places to stand and bars hanging from the sealing.

    ¡°Nut to butt, now! Cram it in there!¡± Drill Sergeant McPhiston bellowed again, and Rhidi found herself quickly shunted forward towards the rear of the trailer.

    Recruits piled into the trailer until the Drill Sergeants were satisfied, taking their positions at the bottom of the stairs that held the doors. The other Platoons were shoved into the other trailers, with the remnants of the latter Platoons getting a roomier ride in the less-filled trailer.

    They were also riding with the rest of the Drill Sergeants, and Rhidi wasn¡¯t sure if the extra room was worth it.

    Due to the cramped nature of this ride, Rhidi found her fast-pack crammed into the corner of the trailer with her tail, and she was face to face with a male Human recruit who was one of the few to receive a promotion.

    Rhidi cleared her throat and tried to look around, but it was hard to look at anything but the six foot tall man in front of her. It didn¡¯t help that their knees were touching, or that the lurching of the truck moving caused her to squeeze against him.

    ¡°Sorry.¡± Rhidi said lowly, sniffing as she kept her vision locked to the bottom left.

    He just shrugged, head slightly tilted due to the Lilgara beside him failing to manage her reptilian head hood. ¡°So¡¯kay.¡±

    Kafya noses were good, real good, and she could smell the ancient motor oil in his hair, along with the warm scent of something else. He had rough and cracked hands, as if he was a miner, and had eyes like forest moss. It looked odd against his brown hair, cut short in the recruit-cut that all the Humans had. Rhidi and the other races had been spared this ritual, being allowed to keep their hair as per normal due to their different cultures. He had a strong, oval chin, and was as annoyingly built as all the other Humans were.

    Rhidi had thought the Kafya strong during the war, and assumed that a lot of the strength that came from Human warriors was their armor. Her months here on Earth had taught her that Humans were unsettlingly strong, and made her understand just how weak her own race was due to their technological advances.

    Normally she had thought male Kafya quite strapping, as was custom with the yellows, but being chest to chest with this Human male¡­

    ¡°... So, uh, Private Morris.¡± Rhidi began, keeping her voice low as she glanced up at the Human. ¡°Did you¡­ work in mines, or?¡±

    ¡°Mines?¡± Morris said with a laugh. ¡°No, I was a mechanic.¡±

    Rhidi perked up her ears. ¡°Oh! You work the uh¡­ engines and such? Of automobiles?¡±

    ¡°Trucks, mostly.¡± Morris said with a smile, but both he and Rhidi let out a shout of alarm as the semi-truck slammed on its brakes, avoiding an errant Officer¡¯s wife running a red light.

    The semi-truck driver then hit the gas to clear the intersection for the other trucks behind, and this caused Morris to slam backwards into Rhidi, the two being crammed into the corner as all the recruits were sent hollering into the rear of the trailer. Morris, for his credit, held up his elbows, keeping Rhidi from being crushed by his own bulk. This did however mean he was face to face with the bright yellow Kafya, and Rhidi felt the man¡¯s chest press hard against her own.

    There was an awkward six seconds as all the other recruits settled, and Morris was finally able to lean back, now clearing his own throat and running a hand down the front of his uniform; Rhidi was not super well endowed, unlike Recruit Inthur, but there was enough of her to let Morris know what his chest was pressing against.

    ¡°Sorry about that.¡± Morris murmured, and it seemed to finally click with him that Rhidi was a woman, his neck flushing.

    Rhidi waved a hand between the two of them as she pinned her ears back; It was difficult with the blood now rushing to them. ¡°No no! It¡¯s fine, I appreciate you not¡­ crushing me.¡±

    Shasta let out a quiet snicker, both Morris and Rhidi looking over at the Lilgara who was pinned between two Pwah.

    Rhidi let out a low growl from her throat, ears still pinned as best as she could, while Morris squinted at Shasta.

    ¡°Are those soda can tabs?¡± Morris asked, pointing across his chest at the long chain of soda can pull tabs that hung near Shasta¡¯s right pocket.

    Shasta grumped, flaring his hood as best he could while pinching his brow-ridges together. ¡°Mind your own businesss¡­¡±

    Rhidi stuck her tongue out at him, which made Morris laugh, and Rhidi¡¯s ears to perk up a little taller.

    The ride to the range was short, in terms of distance, but having to breathe in Morris for the entire ride had made it feel like an eternity to Rhidi. By the time she got off the cattle car, she pretty much had his cologne and toothpaste flavor locked into her brain for life. The range was a basic looking creature, one of the few used for the zeroing of rifles and nothing much else. These were known as ¡°short-stop¡± ranges due to them only being twenty five UAA yards in length.

    Rhidi narrowed her eyes at that memory as she fell into formation; The UAA and EUC still refused to use the same units of measure, and she had even heard that ¡°stone¡± was used in an even more stubborn EUC country. Every member race of the Inner Dolcir Coalition used the same measurements, but here on this little dirt rock they still couldn¡¯t decide on just one.

    Along the range was a wooden overhang to provide cover for the shooters, a large latrine towards the rear of the range, the ammo dump, bleachers, and what appeared to be a sprinkling of dark green sand bags all up and down the range itself. It was basic, sandy, and as per usual, surrounded by the tall pine trees of Fort Benning.

    The Drill Sergeants ran them through the ¡°zeroing¡± process while they ate bar rations for breakfast, at which they would use their ¡°iron sights¡± to make sure the weapon could strike a target at three hundred yards. The number alone made all of the non-Human recruits glance at each other warily; Three hundred yards was akin to five hundred lardil, and the fact Humans were hitting targets with non-augmented, or digital, sights at that range made them all a little uneasy.

    They formed lines and went to the ammo dump to collect their magazines for the rifles; Rhidi found them extremely heavy, nearly triple the weight of a power cell for her old gaur-rail carbine. Guar-rail carbines slammed a titanium dart at four times the speed of sound, but proved to be lackluster against Ur shielding technology. The darts traveled so fast they would hit, and then skip off the Ur shields, warbling off into the distance uselessly. The weapons of Humanity instead threw a 30-06 lead bullet at their targets; Battle rifles, such as the SR-113 Mod. 2, used the 30-06 ¡°Oakley¡±, a shortened version of the round that used a far more powerful propellant. This allowed a better magazine capacity, as well as cutting down on size without handicapping the round too heavily for ranged effect on target. Other rifles, such as ones used by marksmen, used a full sized 30-06 ¡°Heritage¡±... and were rather frightening, as Rhidi had seen the pictures of what they had done to the Ur.

    They were all given a hundred and twenty rounds, but there was a smug smirk on all of the Human recruits¡¯ faces that made Rhidi worried. Her alarm only grew when the recruits were segregated, all of the Humans going first as they formed their sticks behind a range slot. The Drill Sergeants pulled out their data slates, walking behind the many shooters and looking over their prone forms to the berm.

    ¡°Targets up!¡± Drill Sergeant McPhiston called out, and someone in the ammo dump hit a switch.

    Along the berm, target modules slowly trundled up from their hidden dugout within the ground; They were tall, black figures on a field of white, while in the middle was a white circle with a smaller red circle within it. The figures were vaguely humanoid, Rhidi guessed, and a green light pulsed from the bottom of the display hangers. Everyone put in their ear protection, which was easier said than done for the Kafya; Regular electronic earmuffs worked just fine for everyone else, but with their tall, animalistic ears, Kafya required inner-ear electronic dampening pods.

    Rhidi was extremely ticklish within her ears, and she kept giggling trying to get them in place.

    ¡°Commence zero protocols.¡± Drill Sergeant McPhiston called out in a bored tone when he saw that everyone was ready, and the range erupted with gunfire.

    Recruit Inthur and three other blue Kafya let out a yelp of pain, as they had bumbled their inner-ear dampening pods. Other Kafya and Lilgara had to come to their rescue, the Pwah just ignoring them as they watched the Humans keenly.

    Rhidi, along with the Lilgara and other Kafya, were watching as well; The iron sights on these SR-113 rifles were an odd arrangement of a turning-barrel rear sight, and a hooded-peg front sight at the end of the barrel. Rhidi¡¯s old weapon, as well as other highly advanced weapons in the IDC, did not have manual sights, instead relying on an electronic suite to make sure rounds landed on target. They had all studied the pictures and manuals before, but seeing it in action was completely different.

    The Humans were fast, firing a single round every second and then pausing after they fired their third shot. The sudden burst of noise and silence was deafening in the weirdest of ways, leaving all of the non-Humans staring on in confusion.

    ¡°Recruit Simpson, one click right, confirm with three more rounds. Recruit Maverick, zeroed, exit the lane. Private Herlick, zeroed, exit the lane.¡± Drill Sergeant McPhiston listed off, and slowly Human recruits began exiting and entering the range in a steady stream. The target hangers would slide down when a recruit would leave the bay and come back up with a fresh target, ready to go for the next shooter.

    Rhidi sought out Alias, who was in a group of other Pwah, and they were staring hard at the range while muttering. ¡°Alias! How quickly-¡±

    ¡°Three rounds.¡± Alias said quickly, waving his hand at Rhidi in a motion that asked her to keep her voice down. ¡°Nearly all of them are zeroing their weapons with only three rounds, that doesn¡¯t make sense.¡±

    A female Pwah turned to Alias, her pink-lemonade colored hair bright in the sun from under her patrol cap. ¡°I¡¯m telling you, they were using some kind of Human ritual magic! I told you how I saw them taking the bolts of their rifles out, and they kept looking down the barrel with a little mirror!¡±

    ¡°How would they zero a weapon with a mirror?!¡± Alias hissed. ¡°And while staring at a wall with black circle drawn on it?¡±

    The female Pwah stamped her feet. ¡°There was also a line from the center of the circle! I don¡¯t know how they did it, but they all pre-zeroed their weapons and didn¡¯t even bother telling us how!¡±

    ¡°... They¡¯re going to humble us.¡± Rhidi said quietly, her voice easily heard with the electronic muffs they all wore. ¡°We¡¯re all going to look like a bunch of bumbling idiots out here¡­¡±

    ¡°Shit.¡± Alias spat, and the other Pwah sighed out, resting their hands on their hips.

    In only half an hour, all of the Human recruits had zeroed their weapons via their iron sights. They all now lounged in the bleachers, watching the non-Human recruits as they formed lines of their own. True to Alias and the other Pwahs¡¯ math, the Humans averaged just three rounds to zero, but none of the children of the stars had been able to do whatever the hell the Human recruits had done earlier with their rifles.

    This led to them all going in raw, and Rhidi just hoped they wouldn¡¯t bring shame to their planets and people with this display.

    Rhidi, regardless of those around her, had studied the manuals quite deeply to understand these ¡°iron sights¡±; These were normally used as backups, just in case the main optic suite was damaged during battle and the helmet could no longer communicate with the weapon system. They were also used in cases where the enemy had devices to see the glow or energy readouts of the optic suite, known as ¡°going to irons¡±. The Ur had been stumped by this, as they had been enjoying a leg-up by knowing where their enemies were by the glow of their advanced targeting systems.

    The barrel of the rear sight could be rotated, a four position rotary UAA diopter device: There was an open facing used for close quarters, then a series of peep holes for the other ranges. They had been told to zero their rifles on the ¡°2¡± setting, then adjust with the barrel for longer ranges. I felt odd to Rhidi, zeroing the rifle for two hundred UAA yards on a twenty five yard range, but then again the targets were also calibrated for maintaining that zero¡­

    She thought better of overthinking it all, and just settled into the sandbags when it was her turn to shoot. Finally getting into a lane had been slow, and it was a bitter taste watching one Kafya take fifty seven rounds to zero their rifle. That stupid tart Inthur was on her fourth magazine, and she had two female Human recruits trying to help her get the damn rifle inline. They were all military, after all, and the streams of failures was a hard sting.

    Rhidi fussed with her cargo pocket and pulled the magazine free; Normally, as she had been told by the soldiers in the ammo dump, they would all have some kind of battle webbing to hold their magazines, or a ¡°plate carrier¡±, but the Drill Sergeants didn¡¯t want to deal with turning in gear in case more non-Humans split.

    She plugged the magazine into the flared magazine well, turned her rifle to the side, and racked the charging handle with an oddly satisfying ¡°k¡¯chunk!¡± of the bolt. She then brought the rifle to her shoulder, looked through the rear sight, and froze.

    She had no idea what she was looking at.

    It was¡­ just a damn stick!

    Rhidi blinked through the rear sight as sweat coursed along her fur, both from the heat and from pure nerves. Her tail gave an awkward wag as she remembered what the manuals said, and she tried her best to keep the front sight hood in line with the rear circle, only leaving the peg visible. She placed the center of the red circle along the top line of the front sight post, and then slowly pulled back on the trigger.

    The rifle barked, making her close her eyes as the piston cycled and gave her shoulder a light punch. She blinked open her eyes, then wagged her tail.

    ¡°Well, that wasn¡¯t so bad.¡± Rhidi breathed out with a smile, though she could hear Inthur crying like an idiot a few lanes over. She rolled her eyes and brought her rifle back up to her eye, and slowly squeezed off two more rounds.

    Rhidi had to remind herself to aim for the same spot every time, even though she saw she was shooting way left. The 30-06 ¡°Oakley¡± round was a stout little beast that thumped her shoulder harder than any other weapon she had used, but the mechanical actions of the weapon itself held an odd, satisfying sway over her. With her ear so close to the weapon due to the cheek weld, she could even hear everything working as the bolt came back into the springs.

    After she had shot her three rounds, she placed her selector to ¡°safe¡± and held up her hand, giving it a little wave. Her hand was, of course, bright yellow, and it was hard to miss.

    ¡°Yeah yeah, I see you safety belt.¡± Drill Sergeant Curahee called out, holding up his slate as stepped over to the lane and squatted down beside her. He pulled up her target, and Rhidi was surprised to see him smiling. ¡°Well hell, looks like it¡¯s just the blue and pink ones that can¡¯t shoot for shit. You¡¯re grouping left, let¡¯s take ¡®er a few clicks to the right.¡±

    Rhidi nodded, smiling brightly as she took the offered screwdriver and unlocked the rear sight, allowing her to adjust the windage just enough to satisfy Drill Sergeant Curahee.

    He took back the screwdriver after she tightened back down, then pointed a bladed hand downrange. ¡°Alright furball give me three, aim as you should.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Drill Sergeant.¡± Rhidi said, and quickly got back behind her rifle. She felt a little giddy as she slowly squeezed off three more rounds, her ears wobbling along with her tail as she fired.

    Drill Sergeant Curahee looked back down at his data-slate, then tapped at it a few times with an approving nod. ¡°Well well well, looks like you aren¡¯t a useless bag of dog biscuits after all.¡±

    Rhidi snapped her head around to look at the Human, and he was grinning.

    ¡°Private Rhidi, you are zeroed. Exit the lane and turn in your ammo.¡± Drill Sergeant Curahee said with a wink, then stood up to go check on a Pwah that had his hand held up.

    ¡°You mother fucker.¡± Rhidi grumbled, remembering that phrase from the other Human recruits.

    She cleared her weapon and stood up, though her anger evaporated when she turned in all but six rounds of her ammunition. Nearby a few of the Human recruits were watching, and a female let out a long whistle.

    ¡°Wooow, look at you! Only six rounds to zero.¡± She said, her blonde hair rippling in the bright sun. ¡°What is big blue butt¡¯s problem then? She¡¯s gone through six magazines so far!¡±

    Rhidi shrugged, allowing herself the pleasure of leaning against the turn-in counter to the ammo dump. ¡°Not all Kafya are created equal, some of us are dumber than the rest.¡±

    ¡°I see¡­¡± The female Human hummed, then crossed her arms across her flat chest. ¡°So what do all the colors mean? Are you based off of a sect system, or is it like a caste?¡±

    Rhidi chuckled and shook her head. ¡°No no, not a caste, it¡¯s more like a clan kinda thing. Browns, reds, and oranges are usually our warrior clans, while the blues, pinks, and yellows work in society. Er¡­ civilian sector, I think you call it. Blacks, greens, and whites work wherever they can, really, while purples and golds tend to be in leadership positions. It¡¯s not a strict system, but there are just patterns that are too obvious to ignore and certain colors flow freely. We all tend to marry and stick with our own clans, but sometimes they do mix, why you find oranges and grays running around sometimes.¡±

    ¡°So what does your clan do, then? You are obviously yellow, yet here you are in the military.¡± A male Human recruit asked, though he was thinner than the other males with lightly tanned skin and black hair.

    Rhidi pressed her lips together, and leaned up off the counter. ¡°Uh¡­ well. My father works in accounting, but my sister and mother are¡­ models¡­¡±

    There was a collective snort of laughter, and Rhidi hung her head backwards as the small gaggle of Humans began to laugh.

    ¡°It¡¯s not funnnyyy!¡± Rhidi drawled out, even though she felt the shame crawling up her spine. ¡°It¡¯s just¡­ it¡¯s what they do! They put on clothes and model-¡±

    Two of the female Human recruits struck poses of a modeling fashion, and Rhidi pinned her ears back.

    ¡°Oh, shut up.¡± Rhidi growled, but even she had to laugh as the two women started stepping towards the bleachers in a cat-walking strut.

    Rhidi took a seat with the Humans and the other, faster off-worlders, and they collectively watched as the rest of the recruits did their best to zero their weapons. Inthur, finally, got her weapon zeroed after it turned out she was looking above the diopter sight, and after discounting the blunder of the blue Kafya, it took an average of thirty rounds to zero for the non-Humans.

    Horrible, in comparison.

    Rhidi had made it out along with Alias in the club of only needing six rounds, as did a lot of the Pwah and brown Kafya. The Lilgara took particular issue with the iron sights, and needed on average thirty rounds to figure out how it all worked in practice.

    With this being the only task for the day, and it being Friday, they were all bussed back to their barracks and given the rest of the day off for recovery. The ride back had been less pleasant, as Rhidi was crushed in between two male Lilgara, but she did manage to give Private Morris a little wave when they caught each other¡¯s eyes.

    He was crammed in between two female Pwah, but they were far less annoyed than he was judging by their faces.

    They arrived back, unloaded, and then set about their recovery tasks. Weapons were cleaned but not turned in, instead staying with them in the barracks and hung on ready hooks at the end of their racks.

    Rhidi focused her free time on her laundry, tossing the wet clothes into the dryer and putting her more delicate things into a mesh bag, so they wouldn¡¯t get tangled. With that done, she cleaned up her locker, swept up even more dog biscuits when they fell out of the pockets of her other uniforms, and arranged everything back into a logical order.

    By the time she got all of her paw-boots untied, it was time for lunch. Breakfast had been those dreadful bar rations, which seemed to be more like a dense, greasy cookie than anything else, and she was wanting some actual food.

    They formed up, marched to the DFAC, and she once again ran through the entire rigamarole of getting food: Sometimes the Drill Sergeants liked to quiz them on random facts, or make them recite creeds before they were able to go inside.

    With tray, fork, and shovel in hand, Rhidi made her way down the line; Today was apparently ¡°enchilada day¡±, and Rhidi had never heard of such a dish. She rounded the corner to the dishing line of the cooks, and her nose was assaulted by so many scents that her mouth wasn¡¯t sure whether to water, or recoil.

    ¡°Congratulations on White Phase, Private.¡± The cook said, a massive male Human that was as wide as he was tall, and as bald as he was sweaty. ¡°They won¡¯t tell you this, but you get fifteen minutes to eat now, so try and taste the food this time, eh?¡±

    Rhidi¡¯s tail wagged involuntarily at both the news, and the serving of chicken enchiladas the man spatulated onto her plate.

    Despite the rumors and songs, the civilian contractors on Fort Benning took a great amount of care and pride in their food, and these odd little¡­ wraps looked delectable. She sniffed lightly at them as she was given a scoop of tomato rice, a scoop of pinto beans, a slice of cornbread, and a weird, jiggly dessert round that was covered in some kind of brown liquid.

    She quickly got her bowl of salad, moving around a week 1 Red Phase recruit that was telling the entire DFAC he was a ¡°hungry rabbit¡± while a Drill Sergeant bellowed into his ear, and set down her tray. She quickly got her water, again moving around another week 1 Red Phase recruit that was saying ¡°glub glub thirsty fishes need water¡± after spilling their own cup, and sat down to finally eat.

    Rhidi leaned down and breathed in the odd little wraps; The light green sauce was tangy and made her mouth water fully this time, and the white drizzle of cream flirted with her nostrils. It smelled¡­ spicy, that was the word, some kind of pepper that the Humans loved to consume with gusto.

    Rhidi hoped that the cooks remembered that not all of them were Human, and turned down the heat a little bit.

    She grabbed her fork, cut away a hunk of the enchilada, and took her first bite.

    The flavorful explosion on her tongue actually made Rhidi touch her face with her free hand as she chewed, and her tail wagged unconsciously behind her. The sauce was tangy, slightly sweet, and bursting with the gusto of vegetables she couldn¡¯t name if she tried. Laden with more spice, salt, and pepper, the shredded chicken was also layered with cheese, creating a whirlwind of pleasure in Rhidi¡¯s mouth.

    She quickly scooped up another forkful of the enchiladas and popped it into her mouth, happily kicking her paw-boots back and forth along the  tile under the table. As she chewed this second mouthful, she figured out the wrap was made of soft¡­ corn.

    Had to be corn, it tasted similar to the cornbread and was yellow.

    She remembered her salad and quickly ate it, then swiftly took down half of the scoops of pinto beans and rice. Watching the Human recruits, Rhidi saw them putting the rice, beans, and enchiladas together; She got a little bit of all three on her spoon and popped it into her mouth. The combination of textures and flavors were found to be highly agreeable to her palate, and she quickly ate the rest of her food in record time.

    It was not for being rushed, but more for enthusiasm than anything else.

    The weird, jiggly thing was a force to be reckoned with, and the weird, slimy texture nearly made Rhidi blow it out of her nostrils as she gagged. It was sweet, sure, but that was not a mouth feel that Rhidi could ever find herself getting behind.

    She instead gave it to Shasta, who slurped it down whole as if it was an egg.

    Still retching lightly from the ¡°flan¡±, as she found out it was called, they put away their trays, and made their way back towards the barracks after forming up. The rest of the day was a calm blur as the Drill Sergeants left them to their own devices, and Rhidi got all of her laundry done with little drama to be had.

    With her socks not full of shaving cream and tucked away, she spent the rest of her day scrolling along her data-slate, reading up on the histories of Humanity and having a long, long dive through something called ¡°The Viking Age¡±. She found it to be an apt analogy to current Human society; Warriors in arms on a voyage across seas known and unknown, laying waste to the lands beyond.

    She couldn¡¯t help but chuckle at that, and read long enough that she was caught off guard by the call for lights out.