Snippet #1248762

The sun peaked over the tops of massive unearthly trees, which looked more like a giant mutated ferns, then the Terran plant they were named after. As the warm rays of the summer gently caressed the planet’s surface, the various small animals began to stir, chirping and squawking to one another. The light also signaled four sleepy Provosts that their shift done and the unsettling night was over. Slowly the prison guards descended from the towers of Fort Jailbird.

Not that they were really guarding a fort but rather something more like a crudely built camp, surrounded by a fence. There were five buildings inside, a small hut for the camp’s commanding officer, a two long buildings used to housed the Provosts and the convicts (separately of course), a storage building for the exercise equipment and one squat structure that was labeled as an armory, which as been empty. Now the fence should be taken into consideration.

It was strange for a place that contained convicted criminals. Between each fence post were four bars. Two of them were placed diagonally to form a large X, with one bar running along to the bottom and one bar running along the top. Each of the bars and fence post was electrified but if one were careful, it would be very easy to slip through. This is because the fence was not there to keep the convicts inside but to keep the local wildlife out and in particular, the Londinium Spider.

Now this native creature is not an Arachnid but does resemble them, looking very much like a jumping spider. There are several key differences though. Firstly, the Londinium Spider has ten legs. Secondly, they have but fours eyes, which are of the normal type, unlike the compound eyes of the Arachnid. However, the third difference is the greatest, seeing as that the Londinium Spider grows to be larger then a draft horse. Hey also do not weave webs but hunt at night, like large solitary cats and sleep during the day.

Major Robert Rogers, formerly of the 9th Regina Light Infantry and currently assigned to a special project by the Federation Council, woke up slowly. It was still early in the morning, or at least it was on Londinium, as it was roughly seven-thirty hours local time. As it was unsafe in the early hours, the camp had shifted everyone’s sleeping pattern to fit the local predators. On a normal day, in about half an hour, the Provosts would be waking the dozen convicts in the bunkhouse, so they could start the five-mile run before breakfast

Yes, there were only twelve of the thirteen convicts in the bunkhouse. The last inmate was nestled right up against the Army Officer, as the cot he slept on didn’t give them a lot of room (it should be noted that everyone had slept in a cot designed for one person). A ghost of a smile passed over his lips, as he watched Inali’s breasts move with each of her breaths.

Moving slowly, the Major lifted his lean and muscular body from the cot, so that he did not disturb his partner. A couple of months ago, he would have laughed at the notion of his caring about Inali Vercona, the prison whore he had recruited from a frozen shithole called Jukau Gamma, for a near suicide mission deep behind enemy lines on a planet far from his home. But you know, surviving mutinies, attacks by alien life forms, attempted murder together and some great sex could change just about anyone’s mind. Maybe just the really great sex would have been enough to make him care about her beauty sleep. Whatever it was, it didn’t matter, not really.

As Rogers started to dress in his utilities, getting on his shorts and pants before he couldn’t help reflect on his mission. He had recruit thirteen convicts, train them and then attempted to destroy a number of defensive installations, on a world held by the Tarnakians, an alien race bent on wiping out humanity. As he went through the mission details in his head, he couldn’t help the look of smoldering anger, as he came to the communication he had received just about a month ago.

It had been about the weapons he was expected to force his convicts to use. Now he wasn’t a big enough fool to think they were going to get the latest and greatest weapons in humanity’s arsenal, like the Mark IV Pulselaser Carbine but he had been think that they’d get the somewhat dangerous Mark Is. This was not the case, they were going to get even older weapons, that used a chemical explosive to fire a projectile from the muzzle of the firearm!

Thankfully the weapons had arrived the day before, while he had the convicts out on a training run. There had been cases and cases of weapons and ammo moved into the camp. There were submachine guns, assault rifles (some of which were outdated army issue and some that must have been local models from the armory they had been stored in), a single light machine gun, a case of what he guessed were sniper rifles and more then a few cases of handguns. The second to last case he opened, had a treasure in it, a Mark I Flechette Cannon.

Now the Mark I had been developed for Federation Special Forces, as an anti-light armor and anti-personal weapon. It rather looked like a Milkor MGL but with ten chambers in the revolving cylinder, as apposed to six. It was loaded with what looked like over-sized shotgun shells, which were packed with flechettes (for those that don't know, a flechette is a pointed steel projectile with a tail, much like a dart). The mark I was removed from service when too many reports came in, of the flechettes going through walls or enemy combatants and killing friendlies.

In the last container, Rogers found just what he was looking for. When he had been informed that he wasn't getting any Pulselasers, he sent bribes out to a few selected quartermasters and arranged for fifteen Mark IV pulselaser pistols to be included in the shipment. The Mark IV was chunkier then his Mark IX, had a slower rate of fire, didn't have a non-lethal setting and burned through a powercell quicker but at least it was a stable weapon, unlike several other variants of the Pulselaser pistol.

The Major stretched. He had given the convicts half of this morning off and he didn’t need to be awake yet but he felt edgy. Maybe it was because everything had been going so smoothly after the rocky start to this mission. Maybe it was because he was going to be handing guns and ammo to criminals, then let them take a day for target practice and hope they didn’t turn on the guards. Maybe it was because he only had a few weeks left on this planet, before he had to lead his misfits into combat.