The Ability Era

3: Ambush

Gary Trebone – "Hourglass"

10 years ago

"Hey Gayry!" Jackson called out from the front. Jackson was the Squad Y leader, 24 years old and a real douchebag. He had thick brown hair, short on the sides and long on top. He had white skin, a lot of freckles on his face and brown eyes that screamed evil.

He always mocked Gary for never using his abilities. Like the rest of the squad he wore dark green boots, and green and brown camouflage which helped them hide in their environment. Squad Y was deployed to Qilar, a massive planet in System 2 that was entirely rainforest. They were sent to do reconnaissance and see if there were any Squent hidden there, although it was doubtful. Scanners had indicated life forces but what they found was mostly animals of the world. Today they were searching the last point that the scanner had indicated.

The Squent was an alien race that invaded System 1, the human system, this year and as a result the IBF was formed to defend against threats to humanity. All people with abilities were enlisted, and those who declined were sent to the jail planet, Lockup. Many were enthusiastic, but some felt forced into some sort of slavery. From then on, it was mandatory for all Ability Persons to be trained from birth to join the IBF, so few Ability Persons had families. Gary didn't mind it much, he just saw it as his duty to humanity.

The Squent didn't last long and were near annihilation within the year of their attack. All squads were deployed including Y, and now most squads were on clean up duty to exterminate the last of the Squent.

"I told you to stop calling me that!" said Gary. He was the youngest of the four in the squad at 18 years old.

"Leave him alone Jackson," said the fair, lean, and beautiful Piper. She was 25 had long blonde hair and grey eyes. She was a few inches taller than Gary who was in awe of her every graceful move. Even her voice was beautiful.

"What? You like this little twerp Piper?" Jackson sneered.

Piper remained silent. Gary's heart fluttered. Did that mean she did? Or did she just not want to give Jackson the satisfaction of an answer?

"Can we just focus on the mission?" said the final squad member, a tough and muscular quiet 29 year old black guy with a buzz cut named Darnell.

"Fine," Jackson said. The squad continued onward throughout the rainforest. There were many strange creatures on Qilar; none however could be considered intelligent life. One had short legs and a snakelike head. Another had horns sticking out all over the body.

Jackson led them, knocking aside plant life with a machete. Darnell was equipped with a long range flamethrower and the rest had a type of assault rifle that fired incendiary rounds since the Squent were weak to fire. The Squent were generally pure white, seven feet tall and had twelve tentacles that they used to walk, and also attack with having a reach of 5 metres. They ate humans and spoke a language that no one understood so diplomacy was out of the question. Now that they were almost extinct, the universe would soon know not to mess with humanity.

"There's something I need to tell you guys," Jackson said as they were walking. He turned around to look at everyone while walking backwards. "Look, I'm sorry for being an ass. I mean it. Gary we're good right? You know I'm just messing around with you." he apologized. This caught Gary off guard, it was really out of character for him.

Gary suddenly felt the need to say how he really felt, and without noticing, everyone had stopped walking.

"You're a bully. You've been screwing with me ever since our squad was formed. I can't forgive you because I don't think you're apology is genuine," Gary said.