Battle for the Kuiper Colonies
Story by Michael
Chapter 1//Ship Data Log // Date [classified]
//Label: Daedalus - 4
//Data Entry - Begin
//Fleet entering <Earth> System Proximity.
//Exiting FTL... 4... 3... 2... 1...
//Thawing Protocol Active
//Crew Status: Waking
Valerian would wake up in the fog of thawing cryo-tubes, pieces of ice and flecks of frozen dust across his skin-suit. The black fabric would relax slightly, and he'd take a deep breath, coughing up nutritional fluid that had been pumped into his body before entering cryo-sleep. He'd grab his throat for a moment, as a large slush of consumed, clear liquid would spill out over the protective mat.
"Spit much, Val?" a laugh was heard across the bay, as one of his squadmates, a tall tanned man, probably an inch or two taller than he, walked up and patted him on the back, forcing more fluid out of his body and lungs. The man's bald head gleaned in the bright blue lights above, his brown eyes looking over Valerian, ensuring he was alright.
"Sorry Captain," he'd say, taking a deep breath in, relishing the fresh air, dribbles of the rancid, pungent fluid dropping from his chin," I hate that shit." He'd take a look around, seeing that the other soldiers had thawed as well.
"We all do, take five to get re-oriented and suit up, we'll meet in the armory at," the Captain would pause, looking towards the clock," 2:30, holy shit it's early."
"Gotcha sir," Val would sit up, looking over the eighty other soldiers in the room. Most of them were like him, tall, pale, having lighter colored hair. Martians, a few others were from colonies they had liberated. He trusted each of them with his life on the field, and it seems like he would have to again soon. Standing up, he noticed his legs were much more unsteady than they should be, perhaps cryo-sleep had been harder on him than normal.
He stood up, and filed out with the rest of the troop to the lockers, as they stripped down and began gearing up, like an oiled war machine. Remove skin suit, replace with under armor garments, then begin assembling the combat armor. The pieces of layered gel would fit their form, and a few of their troop were even gifted with activated reflective panels. Due to the power cost of the individual suit, and the inability to access a power grid while in combat, most of them were not gifted with this boon, and relied on the tried and true layered gel armor.
They'd all walk from the room, out of formation, but in a long column, soldiers talking between friends. Val walked between two troopers he loosely knew, nicknamed Jax and Tucker, they were standard combat troops. Support for the twenty psionics in the cohort. Jax was a medic, and tucker was a supplies runner, both were marines, trained to kill, but neither had the extensive training of some of the more elite of the cohort.
Boots would leave slight marks on the pristine white hall, as they entered their cohorts briefing room. The rest of the legion was being briefed alongside them at the moment, in other large rooms in the Super-Carrier "Mons". The design of all Martian military ships was similar, sleek, modernistic in design, with white and black as the primary colors, offset by the Martian Flag plastered on the side of each of the ships.
"The Colonies on the asteroids in the Kuiper Belt recently entered their bid for independence, and as per previous operations, our current operational duty is to assist the colonies that do wish independence, in their attempts to free themselves of the control of Earth-Gov. If we are successful, we will be able to effectively cut off Earth from a majority of extra-solar assets, at least, for a short time. This period of time would allow the Martian Legions and Fleets to muster, and effectively end the seeping corruption of Earth-Gov and the Corporation," the android at the front of the room would say, speakers on the sides of it's neck and head amplifying the sound out to the large crowd of seated people. Val would twiddle his thumbs, bored, he'd heard this briefing several times over. The only difference here would be the possibility of zero gravity combat, which would be interesting. Maybe they'd get to use propulsion packs.
He sighed at all the possibilities, and refocused on the briefing....