“We’ve gotten words of a company that were sent out earlier today to reinforce Warden Depot. According to reports, they were ambushed about a mile away from the depot by enemies composed of Vregmen, numbering in the hundreds” The soldiers in the room murmured amongst themselves as the commander finished speaking, the information being rather troublesome. Jimmie just sat in silence, outwardly looking cool, but inwardly rejoicing, knowing what this information would eventually lead too.

The commander coughed artificially, silencing the gathered soldiers.

“We’ve already sent out ten companies with the support of artillery to recapture the position, as it is in a strategically important location for us, being a choke point where we can easily funnel most our enemies into-“The commander droned on, talking about "important” details and stuff that Jimmie felt was unimportant to the mission, whatever it would be. He could guess that they would be assigned to some hit-and-run mission, deployed once the battle turns heated. Or even better, once the battle turns against our forces, being sent as the cavalry to save the day, hailed as heroes.

Jimmie perked up when one soldier raised his hands, one named Dick, the only name he learnt in the entire company, for obvious reasons. The commander went silent when he saw Dick’s hand, then gesturing for Dick to speak. Dick rose to his feet, back straight as he asked.

“Commander, forgive my stupidity, but I have a hard time understanding how anyone could survive such an ambush” Dick asked, getting a murmur of assents from the rest of the soldiers. Even Jimmie agreed, considering how stupid of a name Dick had, he could ask smart questions. The Vregmen were known for never leaving survivors, at least in the battles they won.

The commander nodded at the question, gesturing for Dick to sit down, then spoke out.

“That is what will be our mission, the company that were sent to reinforce Warden depot was bringing some very, very precious cargo, a BPC Mark II” The commander said, and a second ticked by, then the entire room broke out into loud gasps, the soldiers turning to one another and talking loudly, not even trying to hide it this time. The commander stood silent, letting the words sink in before loudly, artificially, coughing, silencing the room again.

“Yes, a BPC Mark II, our mission is to deploy once the battle begins, using the battle as a smokescreen to hide our intention then retrieve the BPC Mark II and fall back” Then going silent again, using the silence to let the orders sink in. The commander really liked his dramatic silences. But before he could speak up again, Dick raised his hand, raising to his feet even before the commander had gestured that he could speak.

“But commander, wouldn’t the enemy have already taken the BPC Mark II?” He said, leaving the commander staring blankly at Dick, but only for a moment, darting his eyes amongst the gathered soldiers, then sighed and said.

“Yes, that is a poss-“ He didn’t even have time to finish his sentence before the rest of the gathered troops started yelling, talking loudly amongst themselves and towards the commander.

“But how do we get it?!”

“It's a suicide mission!”

“Why can’t the troops attacking the fort just retrieve it?”

A cacophony of noises, drowning out any semblance of cohesion that the soldier had held in the beginning of the session. It took several more attentive soldiers trying to silence the rest before they took notice of the commanders defeated look. It took several minutes before the soldiers quieted down, basking the room in an uncomfortable silence.

Eventually, the commander spoke up.

“We’ve been assigned this mission from the higher ups, it's not in our position to pick what mission we get, nor complain about it. This is what they’ve given us and it is what we are going to do”

Dick rose again, this time not even trying to raise his hand as he asked.

“Commander, what if the enemy has brought the BPC Mark II inside Warden depot?” The rest of the soldiers remained quiet, waiting anxiously for the commanders answer. And a moment later, he responded.

“Then we just have to get inside and take it.” This time, the soldiers remained quiet, Dick slumping back into his chair, defeated. The rest of the soldiers had the same grim faces, one by the corner even started puking, the only noise in the room.

The commander held his stoney facade, but it cracked for a moment as sadness took its place, but only for a second, just enough for Jimmie to take notice. Then the commander spoke again.

“We will be deployed in groups of nine, each soldier armed with a combat rifle and a hardened obsidian knife” Then he paused for a second, hesitating before he spoke up again.

“No armor will be supplied for this mission, we’re getting old tech, kevlar body armor and kevlar helmet” Jimmie expected the room to rouse in a cacophony of helpless yells, but the soldiers seemed oddly pacified. Jimmie guessed that these bad news weren’t bad enough to warrant disapproval, or they weren’t listening.

The commander might have been surprised bye this lack of response, but didn’t show it as he continued speaking after a second of silence.

“Questions?” To which Dick raised his hand and rose.

“Where’s our evac?”

“There is no evac” The commander responded quickly, the room stunned in silence, before screaming out “what the fuck” in unison. The commander hushed the room before saying.

“You will be your own evac for this mission, Warden Depot is a hot zone, we can't risk any airships to retrieve us during the mission” He let the information sink in for a moment, then said before anyone could scream their dissatisfaction.

“We’re on our own”

The rest of the planning went by in a blur for Jimmie. Getting assigned groups, planning what tactics they should use, writing their wills and getting a nice hot meal and shower. But Jimmie didn’t care for any of that, no. He had already spent the last three years of his life in training, he already knew what he was going to do.

He was going to kill alien-scum, and he was going to have fun doing it.