Gabatrix: The Violet Wave

Chapter 4: The Battle of Aphadus Part 2

"Come on!" a marine master of arms yelled at the series of military staff members. "They could get here any minute."

Things were in an orderly panic. Over fifty personnel were at one of the armories of the base. Other arsenals were responding in the same fashion.

Javier was just one of the many officers and enlisted as he watched the marines hand out firearms to the personnel. One by one, the armory military staff handed out assault rifles and other various military weapons to the personnel. Basic body armor was also handed out, but there was one problem. The base only had so much of this armor to give.

Javier knew this was one of the biggest problems of the UHN. The glorified united military of the United World's Alliance was one of being flashy. People reveled in it, but in the end, it was mostly unprepared against the Itrean threat. If it weren't for the T'rintar clan, the UHN would have been smashed to pieces by now. Aphadus wasn't the biggest colony, but it wasn't the smallest either.

It was a joke that some officers like Javier could realize. Warships were old and needed to be replaced. Weapons were outdated and needed to be upgraded. There wasn't even enough body armor or equipment for the personnel to try to repel a land assault. They might as well send the unarmed personnel out naked.

The armory was not that big, to begin with. It was almost the size of a restroom. It had one person who worked inside that was busy tapping the display of his augmented hand as he handed out a gun and armor vest to each person. Inside the armory was a rack of different military personnel equipment. Different guns were housed, including even grenades. Javier was near the end of the line when he had arrived. The passageway was filled with everyone struggling to get the armor put on correctly. A few had helmets before the armory ran out.

One by one, a person would receive a gun. Javier already knew some of the weapons the military used. The one he was most familiar with was the PDW-20. It was a large fat carbine for most people to handle. The ability of the gun was the ability to store two linked magazines into the small rifle. This allowed the weapon to continue cycling caseless rounds into it until it simply ran out. One magazine could then be replaced or both to keep firing. It wasn't as heavy as it should be, though, and even most women and people like himself could still wield it properly.

"Javier? There you are!" a familiar voice could be heard behind him.

Javier turned around to the voice and knew it was his friend.

"Cason...., how's your staff?" he asked him, stepping into the line behind him.

"They're alright. Scared but alright."

"You can say that again....." Javier said with a sigh. "Hijo de puta...."

"Hey man, we're going to be alright," Cason said as he patted him on the shoulder. "The Shal'rein aren't going to conquer Aphadus."

"How much damage are they going to be doing, though? For all we know, the warships are going to be preparing to shell us from orbit."

Cason had nothing to counter that. He shrugged. "I don't know what else to say. Try to look at the positive side. What is it that you're good at?"

"History and logistics...."

"I also remember somebody that was really good at firearms. One that outshot me ten times over. They should hand you an anti-material rifle."

Javier and Cason continued stepping forward in the line. Despite the line, it wasn't taking long for everyone to get geared up. The fifth person in front of him received the news. He wasn't receiving any body armor. They ran out of helmets and handed the person a small link of a visor and headpiece.