As they continued their march, the terrain slowly changed. Going from flat dirtland as far as the eye could see, to stones cropping up randomy. In the distance, small hills were creeping closer with every step.

The closer they got, the more ragged the terrain became, more rocks, looking black and with sparks of white and grey. The ground turning a shade of brown while more and more hills clawed their way up towards the sky. The smell had even changed, turning more acidic, as if someone had spilt iron-dust everywhere.

Jimmie noted that it would be easier to find cover here, but also easier to ambush. He eyed the rocks suspiciously, but eventually grew bored with it, knowing that Piernov already had his eyes wide opened.

Time went on.

And the first sign of battle resounded through the hilly landscape, distant and rumbling, the tell-tale sound of artillery. Jimmie looked at Piernov, asking if he could see anything, but with a shake of his head the group continued, more alert than before.

The day moved on.

A few hours passed, the group had eaten their rations, drunk their water and done their needs. It's better to fight with a full belly; you don’t when the next time to eat is.

Jimmie glanced up at the suns, one a little stronger than the other. They felt alien, wrong in so many ways that his brain could not fully cope with. Jimmie knew about them, knew that they existed, but every time he looked at them, it would surprise him before his monkey brain could get connected with his logical brain.

He shook his head and looked away from the sun, not feeling like he wanted a headache at the moment. He instead did a quick check on his gun. Rub any parts that seemed dirty, use his shirt on parts that looked unkept. It was kinda bothersome doing it while walking, but it kept his mind occupied.

While cleaning, Jimmie glanced up, peeking at Piernov and Chris, who were silent. Nerves or focused, Jimmie couldn’t tell.

Removing the mag, he checked the inside of the gun, a cursory glance, nothing much, but he spotted a few black soot spots. He quickly reached his fingers in and cleaned it, sliding the mag back in and noting the red “195”.

Feeling that the gun had been adequately cleaned, he patted himself to search for his mags. Two he found on easily reachable places, on the front of his body. Not finding more, he searched his bag, noting two more inside it.

And time went on, the sounds of distant artillery coming closer, getting louder. The sounds of small arms would now periodically echo out, Jimmie assumed they were close. But Jimmie felt slightly confused, if they were close enough to hear small arms, shouldn’t they hear plasma guns?

Jimmie didn’t ponder it for long, as Piernov had gestured for everyone to stop. The group quickly moved behind respective cover close by. Piernov and Chris took position behind a big rock to the left of Jimmie, separated by, what could be called, a dirt road. Jimmie had to hunker down behind his rock to be fully covered, although it let him easily sit down while resting the rifle on top for support. Jimmie glanced over at Piernov and listened.

“Movement spotted, unknown entity, entity amount unknown” Chris nodded, then repeated Piernov’s words on the radio. A few silent seconds passed, Jimmie staring out with narrowed eyes, trying to see what Piernov had seen. Failing.

“How far?” Chris asked, letting his sights stay forward. Piernov leaned above Chris and pointed, saying.

“Up to the north-west, behind that large hill” Jimmie snapped his sights to where Piernov had pointed, looking down his sights and recalibrating them to zoom in, getting a very narrowed, but clear view of the hill. It was indeed large, covering up whatever was behind it, going up at a fourty degree angle, up several hundred meters until it curved out of sight. Rocks, ditches and holes covered the hill, placed at seemingly random, some holes more natural than others.

But as Jimmie looked through his scope, he couldn’t spot anything. He kept looking, but split his attention to listen to what Chris was saying.

“-for them to come” Chris said, Jimmie hadn’t heard the first part. He glanced back, noting that the rest of the group zig-zagged between covers, closing on our position. Jimmie looked back into his scope, watching out over the hill, waiting.

And waited he did, even with just an odd hundred meters between them, it took several minutes for the rest of the group to get within speaking distance, time wasted in Jimmie’s opinion.

“Status” The commander whispered somewhere behind Jimmie. Jimmie glanced back, noting that the commander was speaking to him, Jimmie also noticed Dick crawling up towards him.

“Nothing” Jimmie answered quickly, letting himself focus back on the top of the hill, not waiting for the commander's response. Jimmie heard some footsteps behind him, then heard the commander ask the same question, this time to Chris and Piernov. Both answering the same as Jimmie.

He then felt a small bump to his rock, glancing to his right, he noted Dick and his rifle, poking its way above Jimmie’s rock. Dick glanced at Jimmie and nodded slightly. Jimmie didn’t nod back, focusing back in his scope.

“Who saw what?” Bill whispered somewhere behind, and Rick answered.

“Piernov, and I dont know”

“Where?”

Jimmie didn’t hear a response, but guessed that Rick had pointed where. Hearing a heavy thump, Jimmie guessed that Bill had positioned himself with his heavy gun, a silent cocking-sound was all the confirmation Jimmie needed.

The minutes passed. Nothing happening.

And then the minutes dragged on, still, nothing happening

Jimmie’s arm tiring from the weight of his rifle, leaning it against his shoulder, letting his arm rest against his legs. He wiped sweat from his forehead with a gloved hand, then let his eyes drift away from the hill, looking over at Piernov, Chris and the commander. Chris and the commander were huddled together, pointing at different parts of the ground, completely hidden behind the rock, sometimes glancing above it, trying to determine. Something.

His head lazily drifted, seeing Rick positioned inside a particularly wide hole in the ground, suspiciously square for it to be just natural. As his head continued on its journey, he noted that Bill was absent, but his gun's barrel poked out from behind a particularly big rock, and a pair of boots twitching to a rhythm. Jimmie had a guess where Bill was.

Then his eyes swept back and met with Dick’s, and they stopped. Dick was paying attention to the hill, arms still firmly holding the gun, no amount of sweat visibly, not even the slightest twitch. He marveled at Dick’s composure, then shook his head, hitting the side of his helmet for thinking that. Dick twitched at the noise, but calmed as he noticed that it was only Jimmie. He smiled and asked.

“Nervous?”

Jimmie scuffed loudly, smirking at Dick. Smirk quickly fading as Dick smirked back. Jimmie tried to think up a clever retort, but Dick beat him to it.

“Kids like you should be nervous”

Jimmie felt heat rising to his face, he quickly retorted.

“Old farts like you should shut the fuck up”

And to Jimmie’s great surprise, Dick’s smug smile faded. But only for a moment, as it quickly renewed, a wider smile taking its place.

“Ohoo, the kid has grown some balls I see. Well, I doubt you have a brain though, you stupid little fuck.”

Jimmie felt more heat rise up, but it felt bearable, it didn’t flow down to his fists.

“Of course I have a brain. Altough, do you? I’m assuming yours is where you got your name from? Am I right or am I right? Dick?”

Jimmie said, tapping slightly at his pants region. Dick narrowed his eyes, still sporting the same smug smile.

“Playing that game, are we now? Then what’s the name of this planet? Ji-mm-aaay?”

Dick said, exaggerating Jimmie’s name to an absurd degree. A small vein popped to surface, but his anger was still dim, and Jimmie’s smile just grew.

“Sunetera, the planet that will end all wars, the richest, most profitable planet in the whole universe. Or so they say, right Dick? Or should I say, Dick for brains?”

“Haha, you’re not very good at this, are you Ji-mm-aaay? I’ve heard worse from actual kids.”

“Oh, so now you're saying I’m not a kid then? Not surprised, you're just as much of a hypocrite as your name. Someone named Dick should at least have a big dick”

Dick opened his mouth to speak, but Jimmie quickly shut him up by talking over him, almost yelling.

“Oh wait, Dick is the perfect name. You look like a dick.”

In the distance, Jimmie could hear Bill laugh his ass off, cluttering of gear hitting the ground, and then the commander hissing loudly. A second later, Bill popped his head above his rock, holding one big hand over his mouth and giving Jimmie a big thumbs up. Jimmie’s smile grew wider, and as he looked at Dick, it practically beamed in delight.

Dick, didn’t look amused. Although his eyes looked. Happy?

“Incoming” Piernov suddenly said, and the whole group hit the ground, guns at the ready and aiming. Jimmie quickly scanned the hill, searching for what’s coming.

Then he saw it.

It peered down from the top of the hill, as it slowly peaked its head above it. Then it moved, and as it came into view, Jimmie couldn’t believe his eyes, or rather, his monkey brain couldn’t believe. He blinked several times, trying to get rid of his fantasies. But the more he blinked, the more he had to accept what he was seeing.

It was huge.

And it wasn’t a mech.