Starship Troopers: From Hell to Angels
Maybe you’re shaping up to be a Marauder pilot; a veritable one-man army with the firepower of a whole company at your fingertips. Maybe you’re a future sniper; a silent predator of the battlefield who only lives by one mantra… “one shot, one kill”. Maybe you’re destined to be an officer, leading your own platoon into the thick of it knowing that they live and die by your decisions, and confident they will live. Maybe, just maybe, you’re the future Sky Marshall-in-chief; someone has to be, though maybe you’ll be content with being a regular career grunt, one of the few who has seen so much action to truly earn the title “veteran”.
Eight months down the line, you’ve managed to resist washing out (though it may have crossed your mind once or twice) and managed to become a semblance of a Mobile Infantry trooper. But right here, right now, you’re two weeks away from passing out from the Mobile Infantry, and that means it’s Hell Week, your last exam. It hasn’t been easy; your instructors have been a nightmare. As Career Sergeant Charles Zim put it during your first parade:
“To me, you maggots are less than human. At least humans have the good grace not to waste my time trying to join my beloved Mobile Infantry.”
You’ve probably been battered to the brink of being hospitalised, broken bones, been taken to the limit of your psychological breaking point, learnt how to survive naked in the wilderness, can aim and shoot at a target before you’re even consciously aware of them, and many other things. Eight months have passed and it culminates in proving yourself tonight and for the next week.
It began several hours ago. Woken in the middle of the night, you and your squad were sent by helicopter to a military spaceport with a transport. An unfamiliar corporal orders you onboard and as you travel to your destination, he gives you all your mission orders as you don your power suits:
“The squad will be dropped at an undisclosed location. An enemy command post is nearby. The squad is to scout the area, locate the command post, neutralize the guards stationed there and hold the post until reinforcements arrive. The reinforcements will sound a call, similar to a combat recall. Anyone who arrives without such a call is a hostile, and must be eliminated.”
Two hours pass in almost total silence and you’ve finally been given the order to drop. It’s time to prove you’re worthy of your power suit…
