I ignored a number of hostile stares as we waited inside the ship's hangar for the order to move out and begin the attack. Just ahead of us stood a man in armor just like ours, the difference being the nice and shiny badge he had over his right breast. The mark of a commander. He stood on two legs and had two arms like most people aboard the ship, but the two sets of eyes he had and the flat nose marked him as one of the rarer species in the PTO, or at the very least aboard this ship.

His skin was a rather dull grey, and his teeth were large and blocky. I recognized him as Commander Jell. I had interacted with him on a few occasions, and he was kinder than most of his counterparts. Whether or not that was because of his species being herbivorous or just a matter of his temperament I didn't know. What I did know was that he was strong, one of the strongest on this ship. Possibly the strongest with our old captain dead. Probably wouldn't be a good idea to get on his bad side.

Not normally an issue for me, but with the girl around there was no guarantee she wouldn't say something stupid and get us both killed. Worst part was, I knew I would have to step up in her defense if it came to it, at least verbally. Apara was more valuable to me than anyone on this ship could hope to be. She had too much potential for me to let her die for anything less than a guarantee against my own life.

Luckily she seemed rather tame as he began to speak, her eyes focusing on him and casually drawing over his battle power through her scouter. Her energy told me she considered him at least somewhat worth listening too.

"If you haven't heard it already I'm the commander assigned to this batch of fresh meat aboard the ship. I'll be showing you the ropes over the next mission so you understand properly how we do things around here. My name is Jell, and I'm going to be leading this squad for the time being. I don't have time to teach you this more than once, and the punishment for failing to do your jobs properly is death, so pay attention."

He rolled his shoulder, hopping up and down a moment before he started speaking again.

"Most of you were recruited from the local moon, so I have no doubt you're at least partially aware of the kind of danger were walking into. However, This operation was put together because our strength alone is not enough to handle this purge. So stay close to each other and avoid being separated at all costs. If you find yourself alone, you will die. If it can happen to captain Torin, I guarantee it can happen to you. Am I understood?"

The response was a unanimous "Yes, commander!"

"-Good. Now, This is a standard enough operation for a bug world, We take care of any resistance we find on the surface, before diving deep into their holes. We'll be using specialized machinery to map out the underground, and once we have an idea of the size of the infestation we burn them from the inside out. Each of our squads will be making our way through the entrances we found on a number of mountains in the eastern hemisphere."

"All in all as simple as it is a pain in my ass."

'If only.' I thought. 'If only.'

I couldn't help the feeling of annoyance running through me, alongside that familiar spark of fear I was hoping would one day leave me behind. I'd have to make sure the others used up their energy first. Otherwise they might just leave me to die or kill me when they realized they could. I kept myself from grinding my teeth and reaching for my sword. I should have figured I'd be dealing with the other recruits. I thought they might just put me in another squad or something. I had even planned to approach the captain to ask if Apara could come along with me.

I might have made a mistake.

Apara examined the human as he rigidly stared ahead. He seemed to be listening to Jell, but as the commander wrapped up his little speech she noticed that he was occasionally looking over their supposed squad-mates. The aliens weren't anything special as far as she remembered, yet he seemed somewhat wary of them. Something completely unnecessary.

So they were killing those fools too, so what? It's not like it mattered. Something like that was only a bonus. She nearly found herself jumping at the excitement at the thought of it. They would fight these "bugs", then they would move on to the blue-skinned idiots. It would be bloody, it would be difficult, and it would all be done on a scale of combat she was completely unfamiliar with. Wonderful! Just wonderful!

Of course there was the risk they would both die outright, but that was half the fun! What was the point of a fight without any real consequences?

She did jump in the air a few times as the commander went on, the smile on her face growing with every word of caution thrown her way. Just how many would she fight at once? A dozen? A hundred? A thousand? She nearly squealed.

She was seconds away from doing just that when the hangar doors finally opened, and the clustered groups of warriors began to leave four at a time. The veritable army of warriors inside the hangar quickly moving out of the ship and taking to the skies. She moved alongside the not-Saiyan as they made to join them. She grinned at the charred landscape that met her eyes as they went into freefall, before it dropped at the sight of the others speeding ahead of her.

Her vision blurred as she sped up, before she noticed yet another reminder of her own weakness. She growled as the other warriors tore though the distance with annoying ease. These moments were becoming more common.

Then the human grabbed her from the scruff of her uniform, before flying after the warriors in one smooth motion. Her frown formed into a snarl as soon as she realized what was happening. She could almost hear the mocking laughter from the weaker races, from her own people at the thought of her being carried into battle.

"Let me go!" She yelled, her fist smashing into the man's nose a half second and nearly two miles later. " I can do it myself!" They halted in an instant, the sudden stop nearly breaking her neck with the force of it.

A thumb came up to Dennis' haggard and dirty face, brushing just under his nose and catching the small stream of blood now dripping down it. She cringed as his fist clenched, and flickered towards her face, the incoming blow clearly strong enough to send her to the ground, and likely death, her eyes closing just as a fist nearly met her face. The only impact was a rush of air sending her hair back before it settled down.

"...Maybe, but if you use everything you have just to keep up you won't be part of the fight." His arms crossed, waiting for her to make a decision.

"...Fine, but make it quick, were falling behind." The hand returned to the neck of her uniform, before they shot off again, this time at twice the speed. She made no effort to stop him this time. Bastard.

They tore through the air above the broken landscape, their journey seeming to swallow up the shattered hills, empty rivers, and half burned woodlands as quickly as they came. Her scouter beeped as it registered other squads in the distance, the fighters now far beyond her own ability to see. It also picked up the first of many smaller signals. Each with a battle-power on par with her own. Probably those bugs.

Communications lit up in her ear as the first of the battles began. The thunder of hundreds of warriors unleashing energy blasts on the surface, alongside the answer call of thousands of weaker, but far more numerous return salvos. Moments later the sky lit up in dozens of pockets of crisscrossing red and blue energy.

They landed on the ruin of a mountain, half burned away by some battle with the local creatures and still smelling of cinder and charred flesh. Her eyes barely made out the half a hundred holes littering the wreckage that was the landscape in front of her. Each was around three times her size. Dennis let go of her uniform as they all began to descend to the earth below.

She caught a whisper on the wind just before they touched the ground. "Conserve your energy." She looked up at the human to make sure she heard him right, but he didn't say anything else, his gaze focused just below them, eyes on a dozen enemies she couldn't see.

She soon found that their own piece of the battlefield was no different than that of their allies. Only delayed. The very instant the first of them landed their scouters began to ping as they recognized energy signatures approaching from below. She heard a small snap as Dennis pulled the weapon he carried away from a strap at his side. It seemed like useless frivolity to her, but she hadn't felt the need to question it.

"Remember, If you fall behind you get left behind!" The commander growled, giving her and the not-Saiyan a glare as the first of the bugs crawled out of their holes. "Kill em all!"

Energy erupted from each of them at the command, coming out either in a rapid succession of attacks or single, laser-like lines of power. She hurled her own energy into the mix when one of them finally managed to break past the initial barrage, lobbing single, large yield blasts at the holes she knew they where coming from. She preferred area of effect over any kind of real precision.

She got her first real look at the creatures nearly two minutes later, when the tide was subdued enough that they could begin moving forward. One managed to slip past their scouters, and from the smoke and dust that rose up from their attacks lunged at her.

It caught a fist to whatever counted as the bugs face for the effort, the thing not being all that fast even for her. As soon as the strike landed she immediately realized she hated the feeling of hitting them. Their flesh was disturbingly soft, so much so that it seemed almost like a kind of armor, and Their appearance was just as disgusting as it felt.

It's flesh was the color of mud, and it stood on two legs like any sentient, but that was were the similarities ended. It had two limbs vaguely shaped like arms, but had no fingers. It had a head without any eyes, the only notable feature on it being a wide open, toothless, gaping mouth the size of her own head.

The impact of her blow pushed into the weak and pliable flesh with ease, but instead of the warm comfort of flesh and bone breaking against her fists, it was nothing but cloying cold softness. She knew the creature was all but unphased before it even landed. It began to stand, rising from the ground before it was impaled into the earth, a blade going through its torso. Dennis crushed its head with a stomp of his boot, before gesturing to the hole it emerged from, and clearing his throat for the rest of the squad to hear.

"That's the biggest hole, let's get this over with."

The commander grunted at his words, marching to the pitch black opening in the earth. The Naldinnians followed after him, one of them shoving Dennis aside as he passed. Apara's eyes narrowed at the human as he beckoned her over.

"Hey! That was my kill!"

"Stick to energy blasts and I won't take them from you."

Power Levels-

Dennis- 256

Apara- 78

Jell-1358

Naldinnians- 300(On Average)