[b]UEG COLONY WORLD APEX
OCTOBER 16, 2846
1330 HOURS (LOCAL TIME)
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The colony world Apex was well-known for its heavily forested and mountainous landscape. The entire forest was basically one gigantic mountain range, covered in both native and non-native flora. All kinds of wildlife prospered in the underbrush, while birds and aerial predators ruled the skies. It was a peaceful planet, managing to avoid the threat of terrorism for its hundred-year history as a colony, thanks to its general lack of political importance. However, the planet was finally attacked in mid-2846, not by humans, but by the alien race known as the Vaskran Hierarchy. By the time it was attacked, humanity had been at war with the aliens for more than two years. 

Two long and bloody years since the outbreak of hostilities.

Now, the United Earth Government and its military, the United Earth Government Naval Command, was fighting a gruelling campaign against the Vaskrans in order to reclaim the planet. A blocky and rather unsightly alien transport streaked by overhead, above a small Vaskran base. Two aliens soldiers stood on the top of a hill, one with orange markings on his armour, the other one red on both armour and scales. They each grasped a T3EW Energy Beam Weapon in their hands, fingers ending in a sharp talon claw.

"Hey." The red one began, turning to his partner. His six slitted eyes were all focused on his orange partner as he attempted to strike up a conversation under the shining sun and scattered clouds. 

"Yeah?" The orange one questioned, turning to his red partner, though his expression only read boredom as his snake-like tongue slid out of his elongated snout as he tasted the air for the umpteenth time. 

"You ever wonder why we're here?"

The orange alien seemed to dwell on that for a while, showing his rows upon rows of razor-sharp teeth as he considered it. Then, he shrugged and spoke. "It's one of life's great mysteries, isn't it? Why are we here? I mean, are we the product of some cosmic coincidence, or is there really a god watching everything? You know, with a plan for us and stuff. I don’t know, friend, but it keeps me up at night."

Silence followed as the two stared at each other, the red one with an incredulous expression, the orange one with an uncomfortable and awkward one. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the red one spoke, clear disbelief in his rasping voice. "...What? I mean, why are we out [i]here[/i], in this forest?"

The orange one stared at his armoured three-toed feet. "Oh. Uh, yeah."

"What was all that stuff about god?"

"Hm? Nothing."

"You want to talk about it?"

"No."

The red one raised a claw to say something else, when the ground beneath them suddenly began to rumble. "What the-" Then they caught a glint of [i]something[/i] in the treeline. He raised his weapon and stared down the scope, and immediately realised too late that it was one of those armoured fighting vehicles used by the humans. "OH SCHINDA!" 

The two were then vaporised along with most of the uppermost portion of the hill when the vehicle's main cannon fired. The 125mm armour piercing high explosive round left the elongated rectangular barrel with such velocity it left a trail of white-hot plasma as it streaked through the air, and smashed into the hill hard enough to send a massive amount of grass and soil into the air. As the grit and dirt began to rain from the sky, the four-tracked RT413 Dragoon main battle tank rolled out of the treeline and towards open ground, the words [i]Rolling Thunder[/i] proudly painted on its left side. 

"Ha, ha! Good shot, Bowman!" Staff Sergeant Marcel Carver congratulated in his usual gruff voice, sitting at the commander's seat inside the tank. He was currently staring at the destruction through the Dragoon's holographic 270-degree view and watched as the lizards scrambled and began to deploy a response force. The commander wore his stripes on his Flame Resistant Multipurpose Vehicular Command with much pride. He didn't spend all those years in tank school and numerous offworld deployments for nothing. "Target, left side!"

"You got it!" Sergeant Adrian Bowman responded in his usual relaxed tone as he swung the turret around and pressed the fire button, causing the entire vehicle to shake as another 125mm round shot out and annihilated a Vaskran tank-like vehicle. The vehicle went up in a massive fireball of blue and orange. "Whoa! Damn, whatever the lizards use in those things are volatile as hell!" He observed as the [i]Rolling Thunder[/i] was pelted with those strange alien energy beams. He'd seen what those things did to unarmoured soft targets like civilians. Burned right through flesh and bone, leaving a large hole where the beam entered and exited. Against armour, however, it wasn't as effective due to duratanium's high heat resistance. Sure, Marines still fell when they were hit, but against tanks, then they were akin to throwing snowballs at a brick wall and hoping it would fall. Bowman switched to the tank's 25mm Swarmer missile system and independently target every offending enemy soldier, before firing. A dozen tiny missiles immediately launched out of the tank and rocketed towards each one, before detonating. "How're you doing down there, Fields?"

"Fine, really." Replied Corporal Collin Fields as he stepped on the accelerator pedal, leading the charge as the other three tanks of Chariot Platoon. The four treads of the tank kicked up a large amount of dirt as they spun, propelling the vehicle forwards. The other tanks had begun blasting away, tearing any Vaskran vehicle or infantry to shreads. It would be easy to take out the first of the responders, harder to beat the main force. Even now, the next wave Vaskran troops had arrived, alien dropships landing and spewing troops from their carrying bays. Alien fighters engaged in a fierce dogfight with UEGNC Warhawks, decorating the sky with a plentora of smoketrails and explosions.

"Alright, people!" Carver said over tank's onboard communications systems. "Looks like the lizards are coming with full force. Keep pushing forwards!" By now, human DTT-143 Vulture dropships had swooped down behind the tanks and unloaded squads of armoured Marines who immediately opened fire on the alien infantry. Within minutes, the formerly tranquil scene had transformed into the site of a brutal firefight. 

And it was just the calm before the storm.