Another Day
by: Dullard

“These Humans have an insatiable lust for life. This may penalize them with an unspeakable burden. Will they find the strength to carry it, or will they be crushed?” - deciphered transcripts from Eloh High Council.

“Even after a bad harvest, there must be sowing” - Ancient Earth teaching

You... hey... are you Franklin? Jenkins? What kind of name is that? Anyway, give me your dat-disk and let me run your files. Where you from anyway? Newcastle huh? Tough break on that kid. Alright, everything checks out, you're cleared. First, let me officially welcome you to Foreas and into active duty in the AFS forces. Ok, now that that's out of the way you better follow me if you want a place to sleep tonight. Hey! Blue-head, aren't you forgetting something? Where's your pack? You didn't leave it on the damn hedgehog did you? No? Good. Well grab it son. Get it and lets go! Alright, here's what I want from you. First thing, follow me! You wander around here, you're likely to end up as Bane-bait. I ain't spending my time trying to save your sorry ass. Secondly, keep your trap shut, I don't have time to answer all your questions. The third thing is, listen up! If you make me repeat myself I'm gonna have you on KP. You ever peeled a Foreasian potato? Let me just put it to you this way son; we ain't got enough med-packs to keep you in one piece through that. Them little suckers are slippery.

for.eas.ion tub.er.o.sum 1. A multi-celled Class D sentient primoplantae organism native to the planet Foreas. 2. The outer skin-sack secretes an oily lubricant that causes a complex tribological interaction allowing it to easily escape from predators; this also aids in the burrowing process. 3. Often referred to as a "potato" by humans because of it's similar ovoid shape and high-water content. 4. Goes great with butter.

Alright Watkins, this pile of glory you see all around you, well this is your world from now on. Now we run your standard four forty-six around here: Four cycles per day, four soldiers to a cot, six hours apiece. No need to go making friends. You'll get to know your rack buddies real well. Don't worry about sleeping past your cycle either; you'll get kicked out of bed by the next sorry heap. Get used to chunks of ceiling falling down on you too. We get so many damn explosions around here that you can tell the time of day by how many rounds go off. Now most likely, those cannon-****ers had too much to drink the night before and can't quite get their bearings. Now don't go and tell them I said this, but between you and me, I don't think those arty boys could hit the ground if they tried. You tell them that though, we won't get a solid hour of sleep for days. They'll do it just to piss us off.

ar.til.ler.y 1. Mounted projectile-firing guns, mobile or stationary. 2. Light or heavy large-caliber weapons, such as ion-cannons, proto-launchers, and the newly acquired Logos infused projectors. Typically, most guns of these types are operated by crews of three, but recent breakthroughs in advanced Eloh technology has been incorporated to allow high-precision firing from remote locations. 3. A device used to motivate our infantry-men into moving forward.

Move it Perkins! Stop starring at the Foreans, they ain't that damn interesting! Man, why do I get stuck with all the newbies? Alright, now you've probably noticed that our clothing isn't exactly what a sane man would call a uniform. They're stained, they're smelly, they're constantly dirty and almost always torn. I hear the brass are finally getting off their lazy duffs and using these Eloh transports for something useful, like getting us some resupply's. We'll see. For now though, I'd hoard that needle and thread. That mend-kit will be your new best friend. Can you sew? Oh hell, it doesn't matter. Before this all began I couldn't sew a button to save my life. Now? Well, now I can mend my clothes before I'm done sitting on the can, and once you see those beasts, you'll understand why that's no place for hanging out.

mend-kit 1. A small thread fed sewing machine that utilizes a basic quad-stitch for mending fabric. 2. Though it is included as standard equipment for front line military personnel it is often found in first-aid kits and survival gear. 3. Commonly referred to as a “mom-in-a-box”.

Alright, here we go. This is your cabin, our sleeping quarters. Call em what you like, but most of these 'scripts just call em racks. It's your new home. Now, now... hold-up Wilkins, I see that look comin' across your face. Yes, they are ate-up. All of them are like that though. You'll find that same sticky wet feel in all the beds in all the camps, trust me. Were all equals here. But you just wait. When you're out there busting your hump, you'll wish you were back in here all snuggled up. You'll come to love 'em. Now, there's only a few things constant about life around here. One, the walls are gonna be smeared with you-don't-want-to-know-what. Two, the floors. These floors are so filthy from traffic son, that you better never take your boots off. Trust me. Speaking of, you got extra socks right? Yeah? Good. The best thing you can do for yourself is to take good care of your damn feet, keep em clean and dry. Now when you actually get to sleep, if you're lucky, your blanket will only have a little bit of dried blood on it. Don't worry about it though. It's probably been decontaminated. Now, let's see here... ahh! Pillows! Yeah that's the third things, well... let's just say that the AFS doesn't have a pillow requisition officer right now. What you're gonna want to do is to try and find something that won't leave too much of a mark on your face after you wake up. We get so many guys wandering around the base with stuff stuck to their head that it's easy to tell who just came off their cycle. Now, when you actually get to hit the sack, don't worry too much about being able to fall asleep. In war time, you'd be surprised at the number of things that don't keep you awake. Predators overhead? Hmmph... angels singing my friend. Gun fire? Well, that's your very own baby cooing. It'll lull you right to sleep before you even know it.

pred.a.tor 1. A mechanical swing-role offensive airborne platform utilized by the Bane army. 2. This unit is typically deployed for aggressive ground attacks in the forward edge of battle, often doubling as area reconnaissance. 3. “Fighting against a predator is like wrestling with a pig in the mud, after a while you begin to think the pig likes it.” -common infantry lament.

You're gonna be going out on patrol soon Hodgkins, so you need to prepare yourself recruit. You're gonna see stuff go pear-shaped in no time flat. There's no denying that. Last week, I dragged this big salty meat-shield back from the front lines. I turned around to see that he'd left a trail of guts and bits of... insides for the last 50 meters. It pointed a big fat red arrow right at me. I've seen the Bane turn so many of my friends into tiny pieces of... well, calling it paste would be pretty accurate. You'll get over that stuff though; just see that you do it real quick. Another part of front-line combat that people don't think much about is the smell of war. Charred flesh, ha! You'll find cooked bits of soldiers in your gear all the time, but trust me, it's never that smell that's gonna bother you. What you do need to prepare for; what you need to get ready for... well it's these damn stinking makeshift latrines we've got. I'm being gen' my friend. I don't think there's a soldier alive that's used to that. Pump and dump. Do your business and get out soldier. That's an order.

la.trine 1. A communal toilet of a type often used in a camp or barracks. 2. The standard AFS procedure calls for a ventilated dry pit installation with an adequate floor plate suitable for collection. Waste is often burnt off with a flammable ignition source. 3. When given the choice between two latrines, always choose the one on top.

Okay, I hear a protein-square calling my name, so we're gonna wrap this little tour up. Before I go, let me give you a little piece of advice. If you think rotting in a body bag sitting there waiting to be shipped off to home that aint even there no more is the real danger to guys like us; well it ain't. Hope is the real killer around here, it burrows into your mind and festers in your gut. These 'cruits, see, all they ever talk about is home or what they'll do after the fighting... jeezus, you know... after the war. I'd feel sorry for these dumb thrax if I really cared, but I can't do that, not anymore. These guys go on about life after, always after. What they don't realize though, these I-used-to-be-a guys, is that there is no end to this war. There is no going back to normal, do you hear me? Don't buy into their dreams soldier. There's the before now and there is the now. Your story in all this, yeah, your little bit, it's still being written. You want to be the hero? Then you damn well better be it.

“What can you or I do? Alone, almost nothing. Yet one person - you alone - can make the difference. The failure of just one person to join, to participate, to do whatever he or she can - your failure or my failure - may mean that there is just one too few to win the fight for sanity, and so leave the world on the road to destruction. Each of us, all of us, must do what we can.” - Ancient Earth teaching