Battle of Lakeview scenes 1

The battle had been swift and decisive. The forces in orbit had been torn through rather easily, and the forces on ground were cornered and segragated with minimal casualties. Many injured, but true loss of life was more numerous on the human side than anything.

The officers classified it a great success, and the first step to pushing into the hostile alien territory. Others were skeptical, especially now that the soldiers were acquainted with their foes.

To say fighting people the size of a child's toy was disturbing to many was debatable. Some were sick to their stomachs, others moderately guilty despite it being orders, but several were unphased. An enemy was an enemy and a threat was a threat. Nothing to it.

Still others had demonstrated a rather nasty streak of hate crimes to prisoners. They would be shipped back home for court martials, and likely imprisonment.

Then there was Unaona, demolition specialist of a special operations team that had led an attack on a crucial foothold in enemy forces. Missiles and grenades were her department, and beneath the thick, curly red hair of her frizzled head, was the mind of a mathmatician and physics minor. She could play out scenarios in her head several times over with a good deal of accuracy to how they may play out.

At the moment, she was watching with accute interest the line of human POWs. Soldiers, officers; anyone that had been at a military installment. All of them scarcely to about the middle of her shin.

'Well no wonder they're not any taller, their legs are so short,' She thought, observing their alien physiology. Not so much alien as an alternative, though. The similarities between these 'humans' and herself were rather startling.

Not startling enough to make her think they weren't cute. Good at building and using terribly effective weapons, but but still the cutest little beings she'd seen.

The battle had been hard, and she froze up more than once, but her team's psion, and her own up-and-coming friend, Aramathea, had helped guide her to at least defend her fellow troops.

Four hovering, flying gunships, and three tanks had been the cumulative total of enemies she had shot down. It had only been with Ara's help that she could focus solely on the vehicle and not let her imagination run away about what was going to happen with the crew. Even now the thought made her cringe but she did her best to push it away.

Tapping the shoulder of one of her taller sisters-in-arms, she asked "What will we be doing with them?"

The white haired young woman sighed, still tired from the combat that had ended so few hours ago, "We'll be interogating officers for intel, but the soldiers we're disarming and desemenating to the populations centers around here. Ground Captain Sheya thinks if we allow soldiers to  stay with civilians, our occupation might go a bit smoother."

"Oh, okay. What kind of intel are we hoping to get?"

"I'm sure relevent things for the rest of the forward offensive. System coordinates, fleet positions, relay stations. Anything to keep surprise on our side." The soldier ponders for a moment, looking out among the line of troops, a handful cowering, but most clearly trying analyze their situation. "It's weird, though, don't you think? They destroy one of our colonies and then retreat. You'd think they'd be expecting retaliation."

Una gave a nod. "Yeah. They put up a good fight, but after seeing their equipment in action, this was a rather underwhelming victory. Once we dropped their vehicles their smallarms fire only added a few serious injuries. I don't think they were prepared at all."

"Either way, it's a morale boost and a foothold in their territory. Not to jump to conclusions, but if they really are unprepared for us, then we might just have the advantage this time around."

Una held a crooked smile, "Well, if it puts this all behind us that much quicker, it'll be for the best."
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Walking the perimeter of the base, Jatiig was housed in the heavily armored, and equally heavily armed Infantry walker. Twice as tall as nearly any other alaerin, it was the largest piece of hardware the occupation force had in this early stage advancement.

The tarmac cracked with each heavy, whirring footfall, but seemed to handle the weight well enough. anywhere else and the tri-dactile hoof sunk into the ground.

Combat was over, but it never hurt to deliver a message with theatrics. It gave the girls some sense of security, and the POWs a second thought. Jatiig didn't care if they tried escaping or not, they'd just better not go putting holes in her girls.

Parking the armored walker, Jatiig disengaged and removed her harness as the hatch opened, allowing her to climb out on to solid ground.

"Great job in the offensive, ma'am. You honestly saved alot of our lives," came the thanks of a recruit.

"There's no room for 'thanks' on the battlefield, Telidd," Jatiig informed, reading the tag on the young woman's uniform. "The only thing I 'spect when keepin' yer hide from bein' tanned is that you keep mine from bein' so, too."

Her accent was strong and carried a hint of Imperial dialect. On top of standing head and shoulders taller than most everyone else and a long-standing military career, Jatiig was almost as intimidating to new soldiers as she was to the humans she towered so easily over.

The recruit nodded uneasily, "Y-yes ma'am. I'll do my best."

With that Jatiig was left alone to patrol or wander at her leisure. Her curiosity piqued at the structures, most not even coming close to her waist, or even knees in some cases. Vehicles were fashioned of a design scheme she wasn't familiar with, though it was to be expected. Interesting as it was, she hadn't thought alien military equipment could look so bland. Everything was boxes or cylinders; sleek in some cases, and certainly intimidating, but nothing here was suave or catchy, or even grim. Not to mention the exact same thing over and over again.

Jatiig harumphed, deciding to get over the humans clear fixation with doing things one way and no other. Her own armored mechanical walker was practically built from scratch. She was way taller than most, so her walker had to be that much bigger than any other walker. She picked the weapons, defenses, and sacrificed some armor for the precious manueverability that had proved indispensible in the battle. She was a big target, and small or not, the human tanks dealt as much punishment as they took, and then some.

Speaking of punishment, Jatiig rounded a corner to a line of small warehouse buildings that housed a great many aircraft still. There was a lone psionic alaerin, shorter than the more numerous non-psionic variety, with this one only coming up to Jatiig's abdomen. It wasn't the psion freely using her telekinetic abilities that caught her attention, it was the fact the psion was using them to twirl a human about in midair, letting it panic and plead that coaxed Jatiig to approach.

Letting out a snigger of amusement, the pale green-haired woman, looked over her shoulder and spun around to catch Jatiig's gaze. The psion hesitated and was momentarily worried, but was surprised crouched down to regard the floating human in his whimpering panic.

She glanced over to the psion, "Pretty cool, I bet. Being able to make'em hang like that."

Apparently quick to gain her composure when Jatiig seemed of like mind regarding humans, "Oh you bet. You wanna a turn?"

"Haha, sure. Put'em down and I'll give'em somethin' to think about."

With a an anticipating smirk, the psion lowered the human to ground level, where he scrabbled backwards but soon seemed to give up trying to escape.

"Thanks, doll." Jatiig stretched her hands and fingers, popping them quickly and rolling her shoulder in preperation.

The Psion was very suddenly on her ass, and then knocked on her back, legs hoisted suddenly into the air as she dangled. Screaming and calling for help, she got the attention of a good number of soldiers. Humans and alaerin alike.

Jatiig began taking wide, lumbering steps, holding the other alaerin this way for several moments before an officer approached.

"And what do you think you're doing, Operative Jatiig?" came a deep, rather level voice from the Ground Captain.

"Nothin' much, ma'am. Just found this one harassing prisoners. Thought I'd teach a little lesson." Still holding the soldier by the ankles, Jatiig turned to face her superior.

"Punishment is my department, Jatiig. Next time report harassment and save yourself the effort. Now put her down."

"Aye, ma'am. I'll keep it mind." Stretching her arms out, Jatiig lowered the psion until she at least had her hands on the ground to brace herself before dropping the rest of her like an armored sack of vegetables.

She looked over to the human who had been watching in confusion and, no doubt, terror considering how easily she hoisted a being so many times its size. Among the mix of emotions, there might have been a smidge of gratitude, but Jatiig simply smirked and gave a non-chalant wave before going on her merry way.