Why Humans Make Bad Pets!

I am xeno King Arthur III

"Reports say the battle's already underway on Helictor-4, and is going badly," said Trxcl, giving his usual pre-battle rundown. "It seems that the main offensive line broke and is now fragmented over an area of about 4 bortos (8 kilometers). We'll be dropping into the thick of it. There have also been unconfirmed sightings of a Vulza, so keep your eyes open. Our squad as well as a few hundred others have been tasked with picking up those we can find of the first offensive and then bring them back to base. We'll be moving in a roaming defensive circle formation. I don't want anyone breaking away and looking for their own glory. If we see a Vulza, I want an orderly retreat with covering fire in a layered switchback. Any survivors we find are to be returned to the landing zone and then we'll go back for more. This is a pack-fight like most of what we've dealt with, so any enemies we come across will likely be in groups of ten. The skirmishes will be quick and brutal. Any questions?

"What does Human do? He doesn't have a gun, and he didn't understand a word you said." Manthlel probably should have kept his mouth shut, but he wasn't going to let Human die because he hadn't been willing to risk Trxcl's momentary anger.

"If he stays out of the way I don't care what he does. If he starts tripping us up I'll shoot him myself. Any other questions?" Trxcl glared at Manthlel, daring him to ask another. Manthlel silently promised Human that he would protect him and keep him from getting in the way.

"Good," snorted Trxcl. A klaxon sounded. "Get to our dropship then. You know the drill."

Manthlel swallowed as he strapped himself into the dropship's harness. Human seemed to have just realized something and was gibbering away excitedly. What was he on about? He better not be about to puke up the massive amount of nutrient spheres he had eaten. Manthlel guessed he would never find out, for at that moment the transport dropped out of hyperspace and into the middle of the part of the battle that was being waged above Helictor-4. The ship began to shake as its shields began absorbing shots. Trxcl's squad didn't get to feel the punishment the ship was taking for long, because soon after dropping out of hyperspace their shuttle shot out of the troopship's bay and began the long decent towards the planet's surface.

Things had gotten worse. A lot worse. I know I should have put 2 and 2 together. I mean, everyone had been suiting up for battle, what should I have thought was going to happen? It still didn't seem real though, as I strapped myself into a seat next to Manthlel. I mean, I had woken up about 2 hours ago, had my first real meal in 3 days in half that time, and was now about to enter battle against an unknown enemy fighting for an unknown cause over an unknown planet. With all those unknowns combined, I was feeling rather confused, and it didn't help when the shuttle I was in shot out of the troop ship like a bullet and turned its nose towards the planet beneath us. At first I had a horrible feeling as I thought the planet was Earth. Then I checked the continents and couldn't recognize any of them, but it still looked a lot like earth. Maybe smaller, but there was no way I could be certain.

My discomfort with the current situation was only increased when shuttles on every side of ours started exploding. Every time one of them decided to see how life was as a fireball our shuttle would rock ominously, and the entire way down to the planet I was clutching my harness, white knuckled and sweating. We made it, though I don't know how. When the shuttle doors opened, I wished we were back up in space. At least it had seemed cleaner up there.

Bodies were everywhere. Eviscerated, exploded, dismembered, you name it, it appeared down there in one form or another. I know war on Earth is terrible, but at least battlefields don't look like the only form of firearm used on either side was some form of artillery. If someone was dead, then they were the kind of dead that left you unrecognizable. My squad seemed to know what they were doing, however, and they ran out of the dropship, formed a circle, and began trotting towards an area in the distance where the discharge of weapons could be seen. I followed after them, not wanting to get in the way. Manthlel seemed to approve of my position, because he gave me another thumbs up; I am glad I taught him that gesture. I sent one right back at him and he fell back into formation.

My first pitched battle was actually pretty boring for the first thirty minutes or so. We didn't come across anyone. Really, it seemed like the dropships could have maybe dropped us a little closer to the actual battle. As it was we seemed about 4 kilometers distant from where the fighting was actually taking place. As we got closer, I could see that the fighting was more like a pack-fight instead, with small groups, each about the size of our squad, fighting each other whenever they met an enemy squad. It didn't look like there was any overshadowing strategy at all, just a bunch of groups gotten together and then told to fight. I was starting to like my position in this army less and less.

I was dragged out of my musings as our group stumbled upon what I guess was an enemy group. Honestly, I couldn't tell. The enemy group was composed of an assortment of aliens like our own, carrying guns identical to ours, wearing combat-harnesses identical to ours. The only difference was they were wearing white shirts and brown pants underneath their armor. Their group started shooting at our group, however, and my squad reciprocated, so I guess we were at war with them. Not needing any more instruction I drew my lava scimitar - it was even cooler with a curved blade - and leap-flew towards the enemy.