This was the worst way to celebrate a twenty-first birthday, Scott thought as more arrows and ballista bolts rained down out of the darkness. It had been scarcely six days since he turned 21 when the Imperials launched a surprise attack on the nighttime darkness. The recon planes the carriers had launched a few days ago had reported a large army on the other side of the mountain shortly after they were launched. This was without a doubt the rest of the group that had shot up their convoy a few weeks back. Scott flipped his NVGs down over his eyes "Anyone see them?" he shouted from behind the crates he was using as cover. "Negative" was the general response over the net. This wasn't going to end well, they had the advantages of heavy weapons and night-vision equipment, but that was it. The Imperials had the mobility and height advantages, along with the camouflage that darkness gave. Scott flipped his NVGs back up and cursed aloud, the lamps illuminating the FOB had been shut down for some time in an effort to conceal them, it clearly hadn't worked. Scott heard an engine over to his left and flipped his NVGs back down. One of the Tankery teams had gotten their tanks started, the turret turned and the cannon elevated as high as it would go. Scott grabbed his radio's speaker-mic, he saw the tank was a Panzer IV H and knew who was in it "Mitz! Tell Miho to fire illumination rounds, we'll shoot the bastards when we can see them!" "Roger that!" Mitz replied lightening-quick as usual. Scott heard the order repeated over the net in Japanese, everyone hunkered down in preparation for the muzzle blast. CRACK! The flash from the cannon firing lit the area for a fraction of a second, Scott watched the round hit the mountain and explode into a ball of bright white light. In their NVGs everyone saw the enemy and opened up, machine guns and rifles cracking and rattling, tracers moving back and forth across the mountain face.
May 1, FOB Ramius, 12:30 Local
Lieutenant Cody rubbed his eyes and yawned, he hadn't gotten any sleep in over 24 Imperials clearly understood sleep deprivation wore heavily on troops in the field. The enemy had pulled back shortly after the sun rose, leaving the dead and wounded behind. After burying the dead in a single, large grave, the wounded were stabilized by the CRUs medics and airlifted by helicopter back to the SDF base for further treatment. The Captain and a number of others had gone back to their bunks to get some sleep while the rest cleaned up or stood by the heavy weapons in case the Imperials attacked again. Sera had decided to get some sleep, while he stood in one of the guard towers manning an HMG. Cody had become good friends with Captain Coady rather quickly, as had Sera and Atago. It seemed kindred spirits can find each other regardless of nation or planet.
Scott lay in the hammock his mom had sent him as a birthday present, he'd hung it up in his quarters using the back and side walls to mount it. The lights where off and the window covered with a poncho to prevent light getting in, making it just dark enough that one could make out furniture and other objects in the small room. Scott exhaled slowly and closed his eyes, it was almost like camping back home. He heard the door open and close and opened his right eye to see who it was. Atago walked over and flopped down on top of him "Hey! C'mon, Atago, I need to sleep and so do you." She looked at him "But I haven't given you your birthday present yet!" Scott cocked an eyebrow "Oh? and what just might this present be?" Scott was smiling, he thought he knew what his "present" was going to be. Atago smiled and ran out of the room, a few moments later she came back with a large box "Here it is! C'mon open it!" She giggled excitedly. Scott stood up, he had thought wrong. "Could I have a hint?" "Nope!" Scott sighed and cut the tape holding the top of the box closed with a pocket knife, inside he was a round, brown something sticking out of the packing peanuts. Now he knew what it was. He reached into the box and pulled out a three-foot-tall rubber alien "Atago, I love it!"