Chapter 4

The jungle was vast.

Planet had a single mass of land and it was all jungle. A densely packed wall of grass, wines, trees and all other kinds of lifeforms. There was a single spot several miles wide where the jungle seemed to be cleared by some sort of natural event. So the Imperium set 20 marines and their supplies in the area and left them to ensure the planet was peaceful enough for settlers to come.

The air was perfect for humans, deliciously sweet. But it also seemed to be rich in other matter that gave the insects an edge over other lifeforms. The bugs on this planet were huge. Raging monstrosities that swarmed every square foot.

Marine’s duty never ended. Instead of giving them sick leave, they were thrown into another war zone. Barely a few months in between.

The men were pacing around the perimeter.

Their black armor shining in the hot sun. Hours earlier they spent a good chunk of their free time digging graves for their dead brethren. The stasis that were brought over for use laid broken on the scortched ground by the onslaught of the swarm. Most of their equipment was destroyed. However, their hearts ached for their beloved brothers in arms. Their chapter of marines suddenly in serious trouble.

Close to annihilation.

However, like they were thought, in the bleakest of hours the real mettle of marines shines through. Their Imperial training taking over.

They started clearing around their encampment, creating a grassy valley ahead of them, ready to receive their incoming fleet of transport ships. None would land, yet they needed something to pass the time. Hence, the 100-foot-long valley in front of their camp. The men went on a spree. Energetic and lively they tore through the trees helped by their enhanced bio-suits. Behind and to the camp’s sides was a dense wall of jungle.

The clearing was finally ready. Wood from the trees that they fell was used as an impromptu base for a primitive wall, a low one at that. As it was just above the men’s waistlines the wall served for nothing, yet it provided them a minor psychological boost. The bigger trees were further inside the dense jungle, however, the brute marines were too scared to even walk one foot inside it. Their nerves were frayed since the incident with the monster. Several housing units were quickly erected with the supplies that weren’t ruined by the onslaught of the bugs. First week was the hardest. In the end they protected what they could with the meager contingent of marines that was given to him. Claude followed the wall and inspected it for any breach attempts. His weapon was always on his person and ready.

The veteran shook his head.The height of the wall wasn’t enough. A pathetic barrier to protect them from the jungle. But it was a start. Claude’s mind kept returning to the problem. He wanted engeneers, builders and most of all more marines if this planet was to be kept safe.

At some point in time, during the day, they found a strange creature near it and started wondering what it had done to the low wall, but they saw no damage atempts. They gave it some thought and eventually realized it might’ve been a local primitive life form. After they saw the monster and it’s face there were no other sightings.

The planet was full of misteries and oportunities to take one’s life.

However, that night, nor any other, no one slept. The veterans of two war tours were terrified.

Captain Claude kept pleading with anyone at comand who would listen to stop the colonization, but it had fallen on deaf ears. He had no power over the people who wanted to proceed with the settling on this gorgeous monster of a planet. The first settlers were on their way. The relief would come. Contingent of several hundred marines. He hoped with enough armament to burn the monster back where it came from. He spat on the ground. The bile would come and go, yet the memory kept it coming. He hadn’t eaten in quite a while. His skinny arms are having problems with the heavy suit and its energy pack. He gazed at their work and shook his head, the camp would fall if the bugs swarm them again. And the monster, if it rampages through the camp it would be the end of them as well. He just hoped none of that would happen.

The perimeter was 100 feet around with one exit, one housing in place for the scientists and engineers and the sickbay. It was full. Since then the troop he was commanding was no more. 20 of them only survived. 8 combat ready. He helped dig the graves of his brethren, but vowed he wouldn’t let them be buried here. He vowed he would carry their remains to the holy lands of Terra. They just didn’t prepare for what they encountered.

Still he watched himself in the reflection often. His mind going back towards the moment he made eye contact with the creature. The fear he felt, paralyzed him. Yet, the shame afterwards was even worse. He was a Marine. Not some babe.

“Everything all right, sir,” Matt softly asked, his rifle gently pointed towards the jungle.

Claude watched the tired man, with his tired eyes. God all of them were tired, beaten and their spirits were broken, “Checking the wall, again,” Claude’s raspy voice sounded so weak, even to himself.

“Have you slept, sir? The medic keeps telling me to let you rest,” Matt stated.

Claude closed his eyes for a moment, allowing himself a moment of peace, “I can’t sleep. My boys don’t.”

“The men need their Captain healthy. I promise you the camp will still be here,” Matt stated again, if a little nervous about his promise.

“I trust your ability. You’ve never let me down so far. But this is something the men need. I’m on my last legs, emotionally. The men are jumping at every noise. That ... thing has messed us up,” Claude softly said gazing at the canopy.

The silence between two men was palpable. They were reminiscing about the monster and wondering what was its part in this huge jungle. This place to disembark from their shuttle after it left them ‘stranded’ was pretty bad and the situation was slowly getting worse. Heavy thicket of odd trees was at first blocking their view from any long range scouting. They sent one scouting party and they came back running in terror. The bugs charging behind them.

Captain Claude suppressed a mighty yawn, “I think tonight we might get a chance to relax. I’ll be on the first watch. Let a couple of guys’ rest.”

“Captain, you’re the only one who hasn’t slept in at all in days. If you keep injecting the stim into your bloodstream, you are going to do irreversible damage to your health,” Matt turned and checked the side of the road leading into the wide clearing.

“When is the ship scheduled to come,” Captain asked.

“Not for another 12 hours. Give or take a day. Who knows, they told us and they are usually on schedule, but you know those on top. The transport can get lost. I’m just not hopping,” Matt gently shook his head.

“If they sent it by itself, I’d be worried too. But they do that very rarely. If ever. So calm down,” he was too tired to suppress another yawn, he let it go and continued speaking through it, “I think they usually send a battle cruiser and two escorts. Not sure.”

Matt whistled in awe, “Good to know. If we fail, I want this rock to burn. That being is not normal.”

The men allowed some silence to descend on them. The jungle was still vibrant as ever. The noises were easy to acclimate, but so very strange. For Claude it was his first jungle mission. Including his team’s. The reason they chose this one was simple, the war. It had eroded their will to fight. Yet, suddenly every one of them wanted to be back at the rustic plains of Ghram Highs, swapping fire with the marauding pirates. Their base on an abandoned terraformed moon which was strangely resistant to their firepower.

Ghram Highs escalated into an all-out war with the entire criminal underground. Months of sieging of the dreaded base turned into several years. Very quickly the situation got out of hand. A guy got killed. And it would seem every bad guy with a bad intention was warping in and depositing their version of depth bomb on their position. How it escalated, who was to blame? Nobody knew. Lots of people died. All they wanted was to bring justice to their Imperium.

Matt watched the plants and the trees, the strange birds and the monster insects burrowing into the ground, “God damn it. I can’t wait for the help to arrive.”

Claude turned towards his second-in-command, “Walk with me,” he said and started to follow the edge of their camp, looking for any breaches.

He was silent for a few moments, then making sure no one could hear him he whispered, “Don’t let anyone else hear you doubt. Men need strength. And that creature has made them jumpy. I can see it in their eyes.”

Matt’s eyebrows rose, “But we’ve been in combat before. This is nothing new.”

“Aye, we’ve been killing rogue commanders and pirates all over the sector. You’ve seen what men can do, fire a gun at you, at most. But this is a monster. In our eyes it can move mountains. I’ve been affected, you’ve been affected. But know that we mustn’t let it show. We, as their superiors, must project an aura of total dominance. We’re in control, not that creature. Got it?” Claude asked.

Matt nodded silently. The captain’s words echoed strongly within him. Indeed, he was scared. But the fear he felt in those brief moments was nothing comparable towards the shame that would wash over him afterwards, as he sat, alone, remembering his cowering. He clenched his fists.

“I promise you captain I will never falter again,” Matt’s eyes had a different glint to them and Claude was satisfied.

“Good. Now remember, every soldier we lose is a blow to the Imperium. We must prevail. And I swear we shall prevail,” Claude exclaimed.

Satisfied with their exchange they went back to their posts, “Now one more thing,” Claude said, “Take several men and start upgrading this wall. We cannot be exposed like this ... I feel it’s important.”

“We’ll use the trees around the perimeter, I doubt the men would want to venture any further into the jungle,” Matt said.

Claude watched the jungle breathe for a few moments before leaping onto the first tree and hacking it down with his axe. The tree thundered as it fell on the ground making all of the marines turn towards the sound.

The captain, aided by his suit, grabbed the heavy trunk and dragged it towards the encampment, “If they don’t see it they will always doubt our strength.”

After depositing the heavy tree beside his friend and second-in-command, he gave him a funny look, waiting for his turn. Daring to copy what he just did.

The younger man didn’t need to be shown twice, he jumped into the fray, his limbs shaking. The face of the horrid monster in his mind. His axe worked over time. Fast and precise strokes. His arms were hurting, even with the aid of his suit, it took him two-three minutes to fell the giant tree. Bigger, wider and more robust than his captain’s. As it thundered towards the ground, felling the trees in its wake, the marines ran outside and saw the chaos it was producing. Some cheered their joy as Matt tried to move the giant, without much success.

“Go ahead, help him,” Claude whispered, a small smile on his lips.

The men ran and dragged the giant trunk towards the base, the ones that couldn’t help started to chop others, their bravado bolstered.

Soon, the soldiers were constructing the remaining wall. Extending it beyond its current height. Claude watched as he helped two others watch their back. Both men had their eyes peeled on the vast jungle behind their brethren. The jungle was chipper. Birds were squawking and every so often a weird thing would screech across the valley. At first they thought it was the beast. The monster warning them of their impending doom. But soon found the culprit to be a young female monkey. Apparently they used high vocal pitched screams to stake a claim to a tree. Very strange creature.

After a few hours of work Claude spoke, “Let’s eat. I’ll be on guard duty. The rest of you deserve some rest. After that we can swap.”

They ate their meals. An awful smelling, tasting concoction that Imperium gave to any marine. A hungry marine is a dead marine.

One of the soldiers complained as he chased the stuff with his utensil, “Ugh, I hate tasting this. I would like it more if it weren’t so ... disgusting.”

Another nodded his head, “I know.”

A private across from them grinned, “It’s better than the grub I ate when before I joined the Marines.”

“God damn it, Jonesy. You never stop eating this crud,” the marine next to him grumbled.

“Not possible,” another shook his head.

“Well, it is. I grew up in the slums of New London. We ate rarely. When we ate we often ate from the dumpsters, and let me tell you, eating rancid meat and veggies grows old after the first decade,” the young man Jonesy grinned.

“Empress save us; you didn’t feel ill afterwards? Eating all that rancid food,” another marine waved his utensil at him.

The young man grinned, “New London slum kids grew up on it,” he proudly stated, “None of us felt ill afterwards, though I reckon some of us would die for a bite of this,” he chewed his food in bliss.

“You’re mental, Jones. Mental,” another grimaced as he swallowed, “I doubt I would love it either way, but hearing you I guess I’ll be happy I don’t eat rancid meat,” his core shook as the meal passed through him.

“Ah, ‘tis not that bad, I think you wouldn’t mind when my mum makes ‘Spotted Dick’. Makes my knees buckle just rememberin’,” Jones ate in bliss.

The marines stared at him in silence before one asked in confusion, “A spotted-what? You don’t just say what I think you said and just walk into the sunset. Speak boy,” man’s eyes grew large in expectation.

Jones laughed, “That was the same thing I said to my mum, but you ‘ave to taste it. It’s a treat, also has nothing to do with dicks.”

The men breathed a sigh of relief. Some laughed as their friend described different foods you could prepare with food muck they found in the slums. The company enjoyed the time sharing the stories of their youth. Some were known through their time together and some were spoken anew.

“Marines! On your feet, we’ve got company,” Claude yelled from his spot.

The group rose to their feet and grabbed their weapons quickly dashing towards their posts.

“What is it? The creature is back?” one marine asked.

“Swarm! And a lot of them, defend the camp,” Captain Claude yelled.

The swarm of bugs started advancing. The bugs now had company. Several bipedal bug-like creatures ran with them. The group menacingly advanced tearing through the clearing, the trees fell and the grass was trampled under their heavy feet.

“Fire!”

The guns blazed across the valley tearing through the strong carapace of the creatures advancing toward them. They fell one after another, screeching as they did. The mass of bugs would just trample their fallen soldiers, green blood and guts sprayed all over them.

“Reloading,” A soldier to the side announced.

Claude trained his weapon towards the larger insects, felling one, then pointing the sights onto the next. Each large creature took one magazine of 20 bullets to fall. Their carapace was tough. Enduring hit after hit.

Finally, having had enough, “Using thermo-rounds,” the captain announced.

He ejected a magazine from his lasgun and checked it, it was half full. He stored the magazine in his bio-suit. An extra pocket opened on his left side, the gun switched hands. With his heavy suit’s gloves, he took a red glowing magazine with his deft hands he then fed it to his lasgun. The sound of clicking told him he properly fed the magazine.

He pointed the gun towards the larger bug and fired.

The bullet made contact and sprayed the insect with a liquid that ignited instantly. The creature’s carapace burned. Then a flurry of bullets started spraying the large creature as it screeched its painful fate. It fell and was eaten by the incoming mass of other insects.

“I thought they weren’t supposed to come,” Matt yelled over his noisy rifle.

Claude shook his head, “I thought wrong. Fire at them and kill them.”

“Why are they insisting on attacking us? Why this position? It must have some meaning to them,” A soldier asked.

The guns kept firing, the insects kept advancing. They’re advance was stopped briefly as they started dying more and more. Their carapaces finally caving to the onslaught of the marines’ bullets.

“LET THEM TASTE OUR FURY, BROTHERS! They’re caving. Strike them down. Eliminate every one of them for the Imperium,” Claude yelled victoriously as his thermo-rounds started another round of burning the insects. The yells of their fallen foes bolstered their morale.

The mass of bugs finally started to slow down by their fallen brethren. The wall of bugs was growing wider and wider. The wall started slowly caving when several bugs jumped over and met with a similar fate as they got sprayed by the marines’ bullets. Finally, the advance stopped.

The marines rose from their cover. One by one they approached the wall of dead grotesque bugs.

“Empress save us, I thought this would never end,” One marine said.

Another started to kid with him, “Afraid of a little bug, are we?”

The marine flipped him the bird, “Fuck you, Brutus. I dread these fucks. Nasty.”

Claude watched the wall and the many different insects inside it, “Jones,” he called out and the young man approached the captain, “Go get your helmet. I want you to start recording every bug we pull. I think these are different.”

With the help of his bio suit he jumped on the mount of dead corpses. The height allowed him an unobstructed view of the valley behind. He directed his view across the basin. He noticed something moving among the trees, but without his helmet he wasn’t sure what it was. Finally, satisfied that nothing was coming toward them, he directed his attention toward what lay beneath his feet. He grabbed a tiny insect. One he saw among the trees frequently. It seemed, changed.

“Take this one for example,” he threw its corpse to the ground where marines were spread out, “You can see those perched on top of the trees feeding on its sap. I reckon something has or is happening to them.”

Matt noticed the change as well, “Look at those teeth. Insects don’t have teeth do they?”