Chapter 4

TFS Vanker, Shanxi, April/22/2329 AD

Commander Canus Albiraka, walked through the halls of his cruiser, inspecting the damage his ship had suffered. For the most part his vessel had come through the landing relatively unscathed, however a large section along the starboard side had been ripped open, 30 Turians had been injured and another ten were dead or missing. The wounded were being taken care of as best as they could but some of them were touch and go cases.

As for the hole in the hull, there was not much they could do, the crew were working hard trying to fortify it and the marines were deployed there heavily, but it was still a major weak point that the aliens could take advantage of if they infiltrated the perimeter.

Canus looked out the hole at the world he and his soldiers were standing on. It was a gorgeous garden world, from orbit he had seen only a few areas of civilization and now he saw why. Most if not all he could see was farmland for two crops that grew as stocks from the ground, one was a yellow flower that appeared inedible, the other grew some kinda seed laden bulb which he guessed was tasty enough if they were producing it in such numbers. He would have to get the ship's doctor to check it to see if it would be safe for them to consume.

Sighing he rested his hands on what was left of a railing, he already had the marines scout a two kilometer perimeter seeing if they could find anything of use and they had found the house of the farmers who owned the land a field away. It had been abandoned, the marines reported, but they also noted that as they entered the alarm rang, informing them that the occupants weren't home but it was lived in recently.

The evidence they found on the computer told them exactly what had happen. Apparently not long after he ran into the first Terran ship, a mobilization began along with a recall of all settlers to the major city named Shanxi City, named after the planet.

Several of his bridge crew came up behind him, most likely with the reports on how functional there ship was, "Yes?"

"Commander, the ship's going to be permanently grounded and most of her guns were ripped off in the landing. What few weapon we have left are useless for anything but triple A duty to us as they're either pointing toward the ground, or like the broadsides, pointed towards the sky." The gunnery officer reported.

"What about the emergency anti aircraft GARDIANs?"

"We're getting them up now but I doubt they will be able to put a dent in the aliens ships."

"I wouldn't be too sure, remember the Terran's do not have a defense to our weapons and the aliens seem to be of the same tech tree, double efforts to get them up, they might be the key in holding out. And make sure that the ground targeting protocols are in effect as well, if they decide to come at us with armor I want them cooking alive." He didn't let it seep in that they were counting on some force to intervene on their behalf. Instead he turned to his marine commander.

"Colonel Stradas how are your soldiers fairing?"

Vibius Stradas looked over the field, "My infantry are fortifying the ship and are setting up bunkers hidden in the field, we can give them one hell of a fight but we can always make it better. If we were to crack open the armory we can convert the unusable ammunition and explosives into mines, and if we look around hard enough I'm sure we can find some fertilizer, it's a farm after all. And if we are allowed to rescind the weapons limitations on mine warfare we can add in some extra surprises like rusty nails and anti coagulants. Some of my boys and girls are from Taetrus and Invictus, so they got alls sorts of experience with this stuff."

Albiraka had to think about it, only for a moment, "You have a go ahead Colonel, do what you must to hold back the ground forces. We will do what we can to keep the air clear."

Finally he turned to his sensor officer, "What can you tell us about the enemy ships?"

"Not much sir, there are a few ships poking around. The smaller scout boats I guess. They're circling a few kilometers out but nothing else. The bigger ships all seem to be in the direction of the Terran city, if I had to make a strategic evaluation they're going to hit the Terrans first then worry about us. Although to be honest sir I'm just glad we aren't breathing atomised metal from that battle in orbit. My meteorologist noncom says there will definitely be meteor showers and shooting stars for the next few nights."

"Hmm then let's hope the Terrans are able to hold the city long enough for reinforcements to arrive." Canus was about to try and give some inspiring speech when the communication officer turned the corner of the hallway at dead run and stopped before the assembled officers, "Sir! We've gotten communications open with the Terran Defenders."

"Well what did they say?"

"Beyond asking for you, they said, 'welcome to the Terran Federation, hope you enjoy a good fight because we got that here.'"

Commander Center, Shanxi, April/25/2329 AD

Brigadier General Alexander Williams stood looking over the holo map, watching the enemy ships land around the city. He stood there pondering previously established doctrines for fighting the enemy, ignoring the chaos of his staff organizing the forces. Williams had never faced the skinnies in combat before. He had read up on their tactics and weapons once or twice over the years but the last major fighting he had been a part of was the bug war. He had been sent to Shanxi specifically because it was nice and quiet.

He had led his forces to victory on several planets in the Hamia system during the Road to Victory campaign, and had held those planets after the crushing defeat at Klendathu, until his troops were recalled home.

He had been injured not to long before by a Rippler, leaving a scar running down the right side of his face, he didn't remember much of the retreat after that. When he finally returned to Federation space, he considered retiring like his wife from the military, but as he considered the idea he was offered an "easy assignment" as an award, a position on the other side of the Federation where there was no active enemy.

Of course it wasn't really an "award" so to say for a young ambitious officer, the Sky Marshal in charge of that front after the disaster that was Klendathu had been getting rid of the old guard who messed up that operation so new commanders who had been forged in the current bug war could rise. He had simply fallen through the cracks and been offered this command by mistake and happily enough accepted it and decided to ask for it to be a more or less permanent posting. Yeah it had probably saved his life and allowed him time to raise a family with his wife but he did wonder what would have happened if he continued to participate in the Bug War. At the very least this last battle on Shanxi would make a remarkable book end for his career.

If the records survived the invasion.

The Skinnie forces would most likely not bomb the city, they were here for slaves and the dead can't do much, even if their goal was to take the planet as they had originally proclaimed before getting their invasion force decimated while landing, they would still want slaves, it was their de facto strategy to raid until they had everything of value.

This meant that they would most likely keep pressing the attack, even when night fell. Most of his troopers had night vision equipment but that was only a part of the solution. They would keep hitting them until they were dead or his men were. He had deployed most of his light armor troopers along the wall and trenches he had constructed a few weeks back. His plan was a basic Russian style Defense in Depth.

He had 30 fighters at the local base being prepped for combat but it was hard to tell if they would be able to do anything against the ships if the Skinnies decided to use them against the defenses, thankfully they did have one thing that could keep the Skinnie ships far enough away. The destroyer Jamestown was hanging low over the city ready to drive the enemy off, the destroyer had been designed to take on most Skinnie ships, she wouldn't be able take on the entire fleet but supported by the fighters and triple A fire from the city, she should be able to hold.

After thinking of the word Skinnie so many times, he was tempted to make a drinking game out of it with the troops, if they survived this. He could imagine the wonders it would do for morale at the medal ceremony if they got a shot each time the word was said in the official reports.

Finally he was keeping his power suits units and marauders as a mobile reserve, ready to move to any hot spots that pop up. He'd also taken the initiative to form up a makeshift emergency logistics company to support them. Thanks to his experience in the Bug War he knew the importance of keeping his soldiers well supplied, and if they were close to breaking it was likely they were low on ammo too.

"Sir we're receiving a response from the crashed alien ship."

"About time." Williams said with satisfaction, reaching over and picking up the radio, "This is Brigadier General Williams of the Terran Federation and commander of Shanxi Local Defense Army, I'm not sure what you did to piss them, off and I don't care, the enemy of my enemy is less likely to be my enemy seems to be reasonable in this situation. I'd like to personally welcome you to the Terran Federation, I sincerely hope you aren't the one pacifistic species we've met so far."

There was a pause for a moment then a voice said in pretty good English "I'm Commander Albiraka of the Turian Hierarchy, I accept your welcome on behalf of the Turian Hierarchy, we do not know what we did to anger the aliens you identify as thin, but we confirm your suspicion of not being enemy."

Williams smiled, "Great we already have a massive list of enemies as is." He didn't let that settle in before he continued, "I assume you've never run into the Skinnies before?"

There was a momentary pause, "No not before today. Not until you said their name."

"Alright well, I'd love to send you reinforcement, but I barely have enough soldiers to protect my own perimeter, so I'll give you the next best thing, intel. Here's a rundown on what you will be facing so you won't be in the dark as to the enemy's capabilities. Most likely they won't send in their heavies unless you cause a problem, so for now you will likely see raiding parties wielding basic projectile weapons and maybe Constrictors which you need to be careful of, they spay a blue goop that tightens and hardens, used for capturing normally, but if you get hit in the face or more than one dose your just as dead as the projectile weapons. If you make yourself a problem they might send power suit troopers and energy weapons."

"They have hand held energy weapons?" The alien sounded shocked.

"From what I know they do, though the weapons are rare and have poor effective range if you're armored."

"Alright is there anything else we should know?"

Williams thought about it and added, "Yeah, don't bother taking prisoners. They will only cause trouble. Or a mess."

"… Alright… General Williams, I hope will talk in person on friendlier terms when this is over. Maybe share a bottle."

"Same here Commander, see you on the other side." Williams hung up the radio as the doors to the command center opened, and several troopers led in a Morita company' mercenary captain, "Ah Captain Harper I was wondering when you would get here."

The mercenary captain looked uncomfortable, "Well I really didn't have anywhere else to go."

"True... Captain Harper you served in the south against the Skinnies before you retired from the MI, am I correct?"

"Yes sir, I'm familiar with the Skinnies tactics, though I never thought I'd see one of those ugly bastards again. What do you need General?"

General Williams took a moment to formulate a proper explanation, "It hasn't gotten out yet, but there's a downed alien ship about 12 miles south of the city, these aliens, known as Turians apparently, have no experience with skinnies other than what they learned in the last few hours. I need you to gather some of your mercenaries and sneak out of the city and provide support and advice to them."

"Sounds like a suicide mission to me." Harper replied distastefully.

"I can get you a 3 month re enlistment papers as well as a promotion to Major, which if memory serves me right Morita Company pays a higher wage and gives more benefits the higher your rank in the military was." That set the merc pondering how much his life was worth, "Putting you back to active duty would benefit us both and no one really retires from the Mobile Infantry now do they?"

The Mercenary thought about what he said then saluted, "Its a cold day in hell, and shit for the devil when that happens sir! Reporting for duty!"

THS Hierarchy's Fist, Relay 314 system, 2657GS April/24/2329 AD

Commodore Erica Chavez sat in a shuttle seat trying to remain calm and clear headed. After she had explained the situation in basic terms to the Turian Admiral, he requested that she head over to his ship to discuss the issue at length.

Personally she wished to get under way to their nearest colony planet so she could speak to their leaders and get help to Shanxi fast, but beggars can't be choosers so she had agreed. After that she had went back to quarters and dressed in her power suit in case the Turian environment was... unfriendly to humans, and then put her dress uniform on so she looked properly dignified.

She had ordered a shuttle readied. Now she waited for the shuttle to dock with the Turian's battleship with a couple Fleet Engineers and marines as guards to escort her on this trip and provide assistance.

The squad of engineers and marines across from her wore navy blue power suits and unlike the Mobile Infantry's own, it didn't have the jumpjet modules, armed with Morita 201-C "Boy Toy" Carbines and a single Morita 202-AS Assault Shotgun in case of combat. There were only five of them though she would have preferred more.

"Captain we will be landing in a few seconds." Erica gave an affirmation and looked to the engineers, "Alright, best behaviour and if any of you make a xenophobic comment I will not stop them from kicking your ass. We need their help to save Shanxi." She didn't care that several of the Engineers looked annoyed by her comment, there was too much depending on the negotiation to leave things to chance.

Once the boat landed, Erica stood up and straightened out her coat before she walked over to the door. The Engineers were waiting for her, guns shouldered on their backs to show there were armed but not there for a fight.

The Turians were… armored, they didn't just wear armor, which they did, and looked as tough as a power suit or more so, but their skin looked like some form of armored chitin, or natural metallic plates, a disconcerting idea to say the least. There was an honor guard of Turians standing at attention across from her with another Turian standing in front of them.

They were not the ugliest species Erica had seen, though that award still went to the fourth, but they diffidently were in the running. Two engineers marched forward and stationed themselves on both sides of the open door allowing Erica to step toward the Turian near the center who she assumed was the welcoming committee and stood at attention, "I am Commodore Erica Chavez of the Terran Federation, take me to your commanding officer."

THS Hierarchy's Fist, Relay 314 system, 2657GS April/24/2329 AD

Admiral Varlikam looked over the humans rather unimpressed, like he had seen before the humans looked like Asari, though with fur on their head and different genders. The armor they wore looked rather unimpressive and very utilitarian, and he couldn't tell much about their guns. But considering how early in their development they likely were he doubted it was much of a threat. He hoped.

The human who'd been led to him looked even more like an Asari then the rest so he figured it was a female of their species, mammal likely, due to her breasts, and very fine hair across her visible body. He made a Turian salute and she replied in kind with her own, before they shook hands. Judging from how she used her right hand first before switching to his left, and observing the weapons her guard used, he decided it was probable that their species was a majority right handed.

"I am, Admiral Albirus Varlikam of the Turian Hierarchy, there is no need for the helmets, our races breath a similar enough mix atmosphere you won't get oxygen poisoning or anything like that."

Erica appeared to consider this before pushing a button on the side of the helmet and lifting it off, "You can never be too sure, the one time we don't bring our helmet it turns out they breath nitrogen or something." Varlikam was very much thankful of the First Contact Package they were given, it had included a format to a basic language, and had sped the translator process up substantially.

Varlikam nodded, "We have a similar track record, though we have met several species that rely on a different atmosphere."

"Let me guess they then declared holy war upon you for being different?" the Human commander said without an ounce of humor.

"Ah…. no, one became the bankers and another religious followers in our space," Varlikam said taking note of her assumption things went bad, "But that is a discussion for later, not something we met to discuss right now, I have a conference room waiting for us and two superior officers wanting to meet you, so please follow me." Indicating the direction which they were supposed to go, he lingered from turning his back on her for a moment, before she nodded that it was acceptable in her culture, or he assumed so, and began to lead the group, "Oh and your soldiers will be lead to the mess, we happen to have some Levo amino acid rations they can have."

The marine on guard opened the door for Varlikam and the Terran commander to enter the flag officers conference room, "It will take a moment for them to make a secure connection, so take a seat." He indicated the chair across from him while he took the other.

"I thought you said they were waiting for us?" The Terran asked, keeping the confusion out of her voice as she sat in the surprisingly comfortable chair. She noted it was different than the Admiral's who's looked better suited to his physiology.

"I did but it takes a while to establish a secure communications with the FTL buoy." He replied patiently.

"Ah so we're not that far from one of your worlds I assume." Varlikam looked over the Terran.

"No, we are not," He mentioned off handedly, purposefully vague.

The Terran sat up a little straighter, "Instantaneous communication?"

Varlikam did the Turian equivalent of a smile, "Your species has yet to discover that ability of the Relays? How long have you known about them?"

"I've only know about them for about a week and we haven't seen any new public technology leaps or extended colonization for a while. So yeah not long apparently, otherwise we would be ripping it apart to find out how we can do that."

Varlikam nodded making an assumption, "So then may I assume that Shanxi is one of your first colonized worlds?"

"Not even in the first 30." She said mysteriously.

Varlikam was about to ask more when two holographic projections appeared before him, causing him to rise to his feet and salute. Primarch Fedorian and Councilor Gratlienus both looked displeased.

Councilor Gratlienus spoke first, "Admiral Varlikam would you care to explain what's happened during your mission to the Terran world? I can't help but feel you managed to start a war over there." His voice was cold and angry, not a good sign.

"I will answer your questions as best I can but I'm afraid I do not know what prompted the aliens to attack us." Varlikam maintained an even tone. He quickly gave the debrief and report of what occured, at the end of which Gratlienus' anger was replaced with thoughtfulness, "Well at least we don't seem to be facing a threat that will entirely upset the balance currently." He said just like a politician, "Assisting a species that has just taken it first steps into our galactic community from a more hostile aggressor should allow us to maintain peace." He turned to the Primarch, "Fedorian you should have informed me of this operation and the event which lead to it before this. Fedorian I will leave the operation up to you but I want this Terran planet retaken, to help our newfound friends."

Fedorian nodded, "I'll call up the 1st Quick Reactionary Force and prepare a strategy with Palaven Command." He turned to Varlikam and Chaves, "The 1st QRF should be arriving in three days, in that time Admiral I want as as much information about our enemy. If you would not mind divulging this information Commodore, of course."

"Yes sir."

"If you'll help Shanxi I'll give you the entire combat manual on them." Commodore Chaves replied diplomatically.

Councilor Gratlienus turned to Chaves, "Before we begin I must apologize for the loss of your first ship and we will return the serving crew as soon as possible. Along with any salvage you ask for." Chaves looked confused, and suddenly upset, if Varlikam could judge, he didn't have enough time to inform her of the first ship.

"The Ragnar... what happen to her?"

Councilor Gratlienus looked at Varlikam with annoyance, "Your ship was accidently destroyed in a misunderstanding when it met one of our patrols. We aren't sure what happened just yet, we need to talk with the crew some more, but we're willing to pay any reparations to the families and your government for the loss. We're the peace keepers after all, such an incident should have never happened in the first place, no matter who's to blame."

The Admiral was not sure what he had expected from the new culture, maybe sadness or anger, political saber rattling at worst, "ugh… Well at least it a was just a single ship this time, and you said the Crew got into escape craft?" She said only slightly annoyed it appeared, "I'd call this first contact a resounding success in my book! Some of my crew survived, AND I didn't lose my entire battlegroup or have to nuke a planet."

The room was silent for a moment before the Councilor inquired, "How many other species have you encountered so far?" He asked, astonished.

Erica shrugged nonchalantly, "Officially five major first contacts disasters. Unofficially there could be dozens more, I haven't heard of them but if they weren't mentioned then they aren't a threat to the Federation or the politicos decided to not get involved in that area of space or just nuked them off. It's very well possible that a first contact with a minor race could be covered up, forgotten about, or we just ignored them. We don't go looking for more problems right now. Maybe after killing off the Bugs, and pacifying the Skinnies we'll go expand a bit more, but for now we have enough powerful enemies as is."

"You encountered five species though the relay network already?!" The Councilor sounded surprised, and Varlikam could see why, the Terran were so technologically jumbled up.

"What? No! No, no, we just found a relay last year, IF THAT. For all I know we could have found them a dozen times over and we just ignored them as asteroids or something." Erica replied, looking at their reactions closely.

"Are you saying that in a single year you managed to have five first contact go bad? At the same relay?" Councilor Gratlienus said, looking confused and now very suddenly worried, judging from how casually she said her species threw around nukes.

"I'm telling you we have had five first contacts and have just found the relays, making you the first peaceful one afterwards. These are definately separate events since we have have been colonizing and travailing the stars for the last 113 years. A bit more if you count the 20th century Space Race to get to our local moon." Erica replied smoothly.

"..." Councilor Gratlienus seem to be at a loss for words and Varlikam was in the same boat. no species had come up with another faster than light travel method, not even the Salarians and yet the Terrans had just said they had and used this method long enough that the comment of Shanxi being nothing really noteworthy to have great credence.

He didn't know what Councilor Gratlienus was thinking but he knew he wanted an alliance with the Terrans if only to get his hands on their tech, "I need to consult with the other Councilors." Gratlienus finally ended, "Admiral please offer the Terrans all services we can provide, especially if any of her ships need repairs. It is an honor to meet a new and technologically interesting species such as yours Commodore Chavez, I would like to speak more about your species and culture in the future."

Chavez nodded, smiling pleasantly, "Of course Councilor, I would love to discuss the various Terran Cultures and our governmental system. As long as you share about yourself."

"Of course of course, good bye." With that said the projections turned off, and left the two ship captains alone.

Varlikam wasn't sure how exactly to break the ice so he looked over and asked the first question that came to mind, "So what was your worst first encounter?"

Chavez looked at him and sighed, "Oh yeah that one, it's like they came from a japanese cartoon…"

Shanxi, Northern defense line, April/24/2329 AD

Sergeant Major Erich Hannawald flipped his coin "heads" he muttered only to sigh as it landed as he had called it. He looked down the trench, they were on the northern wall, though really only the west and east had walls, the north was almost an open flank and if not for the trench works. Annoyed he ordered, "Jonnie could you turn that shit down."

Private Jonnie sat across from him listening to some old rock and roll music loudly, "Come on Sarge I'm just trying to psych myself up for the fight." He complained.

"And your damn music is too loud, I can't hear anything else." Erich snapped, as he flipped his coin again, "heads" he caught it mid air and checked.

"Tails…" getting a bad feeling he got up and moved to the trench wall, "turn it down." his voice brooked no argument or debate, it was deathly serious.

The Private, suitably spooked by the suddenly very serious manner in his NCO, turned it off entirely, feeling his ears ringing from the previously loud noise and looking intently before him, his head barely over the lip of the trench.

Erich looked out over the darkened field, the skinnies were deployed inside the tree line about a quarter mile from his position. Early in the day there had been activity with lots of raider and hovercrafts moving into position, now they were just waiting. What for was the question, and he was worried what that could be.

Normal doctrine would have had such an obvious move bombed with artillery, but they had a lack of big guns at the moment with no hope of resupply for ammunition, so only destruction on call targets were allowed.

In a moment, he decided to get a better look at the situation, reaching down he picked up his night vision Snoopers. It was cheap model that he'd brought from a surplus store after he lost his last one a few years ago, but they did the job. His boys called it his lucky charm, cheap and inexpensive, just like himself and his men.

Bringing them to his eyes, he focused on trying to see the enemy, but a sudden flash of light and he fell from the lip of the trench and impacted his head against the wall.

He didn't know how long he laid on the ground in a daze, but when he regained his senses he heard the sound of screaming, gunfire, and explosions.

Staggering to his feet, he lifted the Morita 203-HMG "Punisher" Gatling Gun into position as two Heavy Speeders sailed over the trench above him. Three raiders jumped from the craft into the trench. He didn't waste a moment, as training took over, he fell to a prone position, aimed down the barrel, and held the trigger, shredding two of the raiders with its 5mm HE tipped rounds.

The last one aimed his Boneshard Rifle fired down the slit trench, but missed as Erich dove behind an ammo crate, leaving behind the heavy weapon.

"Shit shit shit!" He muttered as he checked himself and found only his sidearm right now, as more enemy fire smashed into his cover.

In return, he raised his pistol and blind fired over the edge burning through a few bursts. He didn't hear any screaming, which meant that the enemy was still alive. But thanks to Trenches being narrow and him not being an idiot, the guy was at least hiding behind cover.

With a quick motion he unhooked a grenade, and rolled it along the trench with a good throw without priming it. The skinnie reacting on instinct, and tried to get to another piece of cover farther back, Sticking his head and pistol just barely over the crate he shot the bastard in the back.

He stood up to have a look at the rest of the trench, which was just in time to see the fight ending. Disheartening in his mind was the fact that only six troopers were left standing in visible range from where he stood in the trench, "Fucking hell." He muttered, as his eyes noticed that there were more Terran bodies than Skinnies in the trench. But further back he saw many of the vehicles that had passed him destroyed or wrecked by the main line of the trench system, "Someone radio command that the enemy snuck past a raiding force into the north side of the city."

"More incoming! WE GOT A SECOND WAVE! Get to your posts! RUN!" Suddenly it was chaos as the infantry made to make a mass attack on the weakened Terran forward tench. Machine guns and mortars fired out onto the Skinnie charge, while they countered with armored vehicles and gun fire.

Shanxi, Northern City Districts, April/24/2329 AD

Raider Sergeant V'Lith kicked the Terran in the gut as his raiders banged on the double doors of the bomb shelter, "Tell me the means to enter Terran and I will not harm you further." The Terran spit on V'Lith's boot and replied.

"Go fuck yourself you ugly mothers fuckers." V'Lith sighed and kicked the alien again.

"You Terran never know when to give up, you've been defeated, the time of fighting is over, just accept your fate and you won't be killed."

The Terran spit on him again and started a foolish speech that he'd heard dozens of times by now, but now V'lith didn't care anymore, the time of been nice was over. "You two get him up and secure this fool to the door." The raiders he indicated picked the Terran up to the wall and used their constrictor pistols to make the alien stay up in a T.

V'Lith moved over to the heavy speeder that was being moved in front of the double doors so they could fire its mass driver at the door, picking up his Phase Beamer, a small pistol like weapon, along the way. He walked over to the secured Terran soldier, "Tell me the code to enter the shelter or I will shoot it open with."

"Fuck you! You couldn't intimidate a school girl!"

V'Lith fired at the Terran's right arm, the door behind the Terran was painted red with the gore that had been the soft tissue of the Terrans arm all that was left was the bone. The Terran was screaming in pain from the wound, a couple of his raiders held the man up, while another used a constrictor pistol to seal the wound.

"Tell me the code Terran, I won't ask again!"

Terran muttered in agony, "Star 69!" V'Lith nodded one of his raider tried the code, which failed.

"You shouldn't have lied to me Terran." He said raising the pistol to shoot his other arm, a frag grenade landed behind him in the second seat of the heavy speeder. Exploding chaos ensued as the raiders tried to turn and fire out the doorway of the building the bomb shelter was hidden in after, a few seconds of firing, the enemy did not appear.

"Where are they?" V'Lith whispered, signaling his raiders to spread out and guard the windows. He was about to move away from where he stood when a wall was ripped out of place by a large bipedal war mech commonly referred to by the Terrans as a M-8 ape.

Before V'Lith could get a shot off, the wall behind him opposite the M-8 Ape exploded outwards, and two Terrans in back power suits rushed in, one tackling V'Lith to the ground and put a Brunham TW-109-E "Emancipator" Heavy Pistol to his head, "PUT your weapons down or I blow your bosses brains out with all of you following suit!" The Terran yelled as the other Terran with the white and red marks of a medic punched a raider in the face that was between him and the injured Terran they had been interrogating and the Marauder revving its weapons menacingly.

The Skinnies by the windows laughed and aimed their weapons at the Terrans, their environmental suits were not as good as a Terran power suit in terms of protection, but the numbers were in their favor. V'Lith smiled, "Terran, you're a fool, if you shoot me one of their number will take my place in a moment and you and your friend would still die, your marauder would soon follow." He explained this with joy knowing that these Terran must be fools to believe more of his raiding party wouldn't come.

The Terran's face was obscured by a fold down visor that usually was kept up, but the lower portion of the face was visible with a smile as he looked about the room, "You might have a point, but capturing you alive was never my plan."

V'Lith, confused by this, looked at the Terran's shoulder and saw they had a single gold bar upon their shoulder, his mind began to work, 'that wasn't right there should be at least 16 troopers with this Terran if they were an officer' "Where the rest of your men!?"

On that a resounding series of bangs happened, bullets coming through the walls and windows to slay his men from all angles. In an instant the raiders fell to the ground dead, and the Terran took their pistol away from V'Lith's head. "They're in sniper positions around this building. I was hoping you'd ask that question, it was their cue. Now you'll make a fine trophy for interrogation back at HQ."

V'Lith's eyes narrowed in rage, "A bit theatrical for a Terran aren't you?"

The Terran simply smiled, "Just because I kill for my country doesn't mean I dan't take pride in my work, now let me see that pistol, I've been meaning to pick up a war trophy from a Skinnie!" The Terran put their pistol barrel to V'Lith's arm holding the phase beamer. "Now drop it or I will Dis-Arm you."

Shanxi, south east of the city, sewers April/24/2329 AD

"God damn this stinks." One of the mercs, Adams, complained as they moved along the edge of the black river, with a slimy grimy railing the only protection between them and a shit river.

"Yes, yes it does, but it's the safest way out of the city." Another merc, Ulrich, said as he followed the path carefully carrying the one of the two collapsible Zodiac boats the group had.

"I'd rather take my chances -"

"No you wouldn't." Jack Harper interrupted as he led the way, "This is the fastest and most efficient route to the crash site. Any other way would have us going straight through the Skinnie lines, and we can't carry enough ammo to slip out unscathed." He pointed out, "This way we get past all of that, then we can ride the river to within a mile of the target." He said as he stepped down on something he would rather not think about and nearly slipped into the foul river.

"Got'cha." Ben Hislop said as he grabbed a strap on Jacks armor and pulled him back from brink and slipping over the slimy railing.

"Thanks." Jack said before he continued on down the path. Jack wanted to get out of the sewers ASAP, while they were down there they had no idea what was happening on the surface. Yes the rumbling from explosions above them did tell him the battle was on, but it did not tell him who was winning, and that was the most important thing to him.

Sighing Jack led the group though the dark dank tunnel, careful enough to watch his step and hoping this trip was not for nothing.

to be continued.

Terran Federation Codex Issue 1:Teran Small Arms

TW-109-E Emancipator Heavy Pistol: Used by SICON agents and Light Armoured Mobile Infantry, these powerful, but under ranged weapons are very concealable and effective on the right target. They are powerful, but with a small amount of bullets in a clip, (only 12 shots) these weapons are the life-savers of SICON against smaller bugs like Control Bugs and base line warriors.

Units produced: ~100,000,000,000 (100 Billion)

Morita 201-C Carbine Rifle "Boy Toy": The carbine version of the Morita 201-A Assault Rifle "Ape MAker", was created in the planning phase in response to the obvious matter of weapon weight. Coming at nearly a full 7 kilos lighter, at a cost to ammunition capacity, reliability, and modability, the weapon is issued on request, and generally to the Fleet. Despite its lack of clip capacity and its inability to attach underslung weaponry, its popularity with recruits rivals that of the standard issue.

Units produced: ~75,000,000,000 (75 Billion)

Morita 403-HMG "Punisher" Gatling Gun: 5mm HE tipped rounds, firing 10,000 rounds a minute, the 403-HMG Gatling has proven the term "More dakka is best dakka". Nicknamed the Punisher, it has seen more use in the marauder corp then the standard infantry division. Cheap, effective, and loud, its success has however been limited due to lack of enemies recently.

Units produced: ~10,000,000,000 (10 Billion)