For many months now in this grueling war that ground to a stalemate in just 28 Days, you were wondering why your Human Allies didn't seem all that fazed by it. Tonight you got the Answer. They cope:
"Hear the sound of a machinegun
Hear it echo in the night
Mortars firing rains the scene
Scars the fields
That once were green
It’s a stalemate at the frontline
Where the soldiers rest in mud
Roads and houses
All is gone
There is no glory to be won
Know that many men will suffer
Know that many men will die
Half a million lives at stake
At the fields of Passchendaele
And as the night falls the general calls
And the battle carries on and on
What is the purpose of it all?
What’s the price of a mile?
Thousands of feet march to the beat
It’s an army on the march
Long way from home
Paying the price in young men’s lives
Thousands of feet march to the beat
It’s an army in despair
Knee-deep in mud
Stuck in a trench with no way out
..."
AN: Yeah, i just wanted an excuse to get this song a bit more attention.
H(whispering in awe, voice getting higher and higher)"You can drive this thing through Red Giant and not even scratch the paint. And it even comes with the extended option of 8 universal mounts for point defense!"
Human Spec-Ops:
uncloaks right behind the Prime Senator
"May I politely interrupt you, Senator? As is evident by my uncontested presence, your "Grand Council of the 500 free Races" is definitely not ready for a War with Humanity. We were fighting, and perfecting to kill each other, long before you even got sentient, let alone sapient.
We perfected Warfare and even got a nifty, not-anymore-all-that-little Book called "The Geneva Conventions" to regulate Warfare and ban certain Weapons and Practices because we got too good at killing each other and were on the brink of wiping ourselves out, several times in fact.
So, if you have not yet mastered Warfare to at least the MAD Doctrine on the Quantum-Entanglement Level, one of the banned practices by the way Quantum-Bombs are nasty!, i politely suggest you redo that Vote to Invade our newest Colony.
And yes: It is in fact a Colony, and not our entire Species. Humanity alone is about 6 times bigger in Territory than your entire Council, and we have a technological head-start of about 500'000 years over you."
chuckles
"And we fuck like rabbits, so we are also about 20 times your entire Head-count. Ah, almost forgot..."
throws a small Dataslate to the Senator, waves, and then cloaks again
"On there is proof of everything I just said. Toodeloo~"
I have been pleading with life through my clenched-tight jaw,
Hands shaking, heart breaking, trying to reason with its law.
Every step feels scripted, like I lost before the start,
Back bent, soul spent, body bruised in the dark.
I gave blood to the grind, got silence in turn,
Watched faith turn fragile while my knuckles still burned.
I am not asking for crowns, nor a turn on the throne,
Just a breath, just a break, just proof I am not alone.
Begging life for mercy - hearing the strain when I speak,
Knocking hard on the door - i am praying through my teeth.
Stumbling through the storm - trying to stay on my feet,
Asking in the rain - "Are you at least seeing me?"
Then hope turned silent, never slammed, never yelled,
Just faded to the background when my lights finally fell.
Dreams stutter their promises, every future feels thin,
Every “almost” turns “never”, when doubt settles in.
I reached for tomorrow, felt it pull itself back,
Like “You should have known better”, when it laughed through the cracks.
Now my vision is static, every color is gone,
Hope did not die screaming, it just quietly walked.
Begged life for mercy, but belief felt weak,
Knocking hard on the door, still pleading through gritted teeth.
Standing in the storm, feeling pushed underneath,
Screaming in the rain: "Are you hearing me?"
Now I stare at the truth and it shifts when I blink,
All those years pushing forward just to stand on the brink.
Every scar tells a story but the numbers feel wrong,
Like I gambled all my life, for a prize long gone.
All that grind, all that pain, every night I survived,
Searching hard for a reason it was worth being alive.
I do not scream or give up - just question the score,
If this is the end of the road, what was any of it for?
Begged life for mercy, never questioned the plea,
Knocked hard on the door, "Was it ever for me?"
Sat in the storm, questioned my belief
Whispering in the rain "What is any of this?"
Then the sorrow went septic, turned to venom and heat,
Every sentence calmly spoken with a blade held underneath.
Life comes back late, now speaking gentle and kind,
Offering mercy like it didn't just watch me decline.
"Where was that helping Hand when I was starving for air?"
When I begged for a lift and you answered: Just use the stairs?"
So I smile with my scars, let the fury stay fed,
If life offers mercy now, I laugh instead.
Begged life for mercy, now I laugh when it speaks,
Knocked hard on the door, now I bar it forever to be.
Sank alone in the storm, and felt the depth underneath,
Now i ask with a grin: “Do you still believe I am in need?”
I have been pleading with life through my clenched-tight jaw,
Hands shaking, heart breaking, trying to reason with its law.
Every step feels scripted, like I lost before the start,
Back bent, soul spent, body bruised in the dark.
I gave blood to the grind, got silence in turn,
Watched faith turn fragile while my knuckles still burned.
I am not asking for crowns, nor a turn on the throne,
Just a breath, just a break, just proof I am not alone.
Begging life for mercy - hearing the strain when I speak,
Knocking hard on the door - i am praying through my teeth.
Stumbling through the storm - trying to stay on my feet,
Asking in the rain - "Are you at least seeing me?"
Then hope turned silent, never slammed, never yelled,
Just faded to the background when my lights finally fell.
Dreams stutter their promises, every future feels thin,
Every “almost” turns “never”, when doubt settles in.
I reached for tomorrow, felt it pull itself back,
Like “You should have known better”, when it laughed through the cracks.
Now my vision is static, every color is gone,
Hope did not die screaming, it just quietly walked.
Begged life for mercy, but belief felt weak,
Knocking hard on the door, still pleading through gritted teeth.
Standing in the storm, feeling pushed underneath,
Screaming in the rain: "Are you hearing me?"
Now I stare at the truth and it shifts when I blink,
All those years pushing forward just to stand on the brink.
Every scar tells a story but the numbers feel wrong,
Like I gambled all my life, for a prize long gone.
All that grind, all that pain, every night I survived,
Searching hard for a reason it was worth being alive.
I do not scream or give up - just question the score,
If this is the end of the road, what was any of it for?
Begged life for mercy, never questioned the plea,
Knocked hard on the door, "Was it ever for me?"
Sat in the storm, questioned my belief
Whispering in the rain "What is any of this?"
Then the sorrow went septic, turned to venom and heat,
Every sentence calmly spoken with a blade held underneath.
Life comes back late, now speaking gentle and kind,
Offering mercy like it didn't just watch me decline.
"Where was that helping Hand when I was starving for air?"
When I begged for a lift and you answered: Just use the stairs?"
So I smile with my scars, let the fury stay fed,
If life offers mercy now, I laugh instead.
Begged life for mercy, now I laugh when it speaks,
Knocked hard on the door, now I bar it forever to be.
Sank alone in the storm, and felt the depth underneath,
Now i ask with a grin: “Do you still believe I am in need?”
"We didn't win at Midas! We had to blow it up!" one Soldier said.
"The Humans held longer than the Planet did. Even as it was breaking apart from under them, they didn't stop fighting, no: killing us for a single second" another mentioned.
"You want to hear about the Fight at Midas? We lost 8 Battalions in under 4 hours for barely 500 meters of advancement! Almost 10 thousand Men gone, just like that!" a third claimed.
Military Reports state, that the Order to destroy the Planet instead of capturing it was given on the 149th Day of the Invasion, but couldn't be carried out until the 207th Day due to the intense resistance.
A"But this says that you should only use half a scoop per cup or there may be serious health ramifications! Also: "Do not consume if: pregnant, Breastfeeding, sensitive to caffeine, want to live a long and healthy life, want to sleep in the next 3-5 business days, want to have a pulse of under 140 ... DANGER: May lead to hallucinations, the urge to fight God and be able to win, may explode your Heart from over-consumption..." What in all that is holy are you doing to yourself!?"
H"Overtime..."
Those Human Pilots are widely regarded the Elite of the Elite in Merchantile Travel, able to skirt event-horizons with razer thin margins to save fuel, and run gravity wells with computer like presicion. And you got the questionable honor to be selected as the first alien crew and Captain to go through that training to earn this Badge.
After a long and gruesome Battle, the Fleet is all but out of ammunition and faces the last Hail Mary from the defeated Enemy, a near Wall of Torpedoes heading their way
Human: radio transmission
This is [Frigate Captain] Jonathan E. S. Scherer of the EW-Frigate UNSC Deutschland to the rest of Patrol Fleet. After 87 Years 5 months and 11 Days of Service we find this Task uniquely suited for UNSC Deutschland. Escape Pods for all non-essential Personnel are being launched, be so kind and pick those poor Souls up, will you? The Chef makes a rather nice [Stew] and the Chief Engineer is [an Asshole], but he knows damn well what he's doing, he was keeping the Old Lady alive for the past 5 Years... It was an Honor knowing all of you. Deutschland out.
static, then slightly muffled [automatically translated from native tongue]
Full Burn Ahead, EW-Suite i want as many of the Torpedoes as you can handle and more! Let's give the Old Lady one last cheer!
...
Aye, Captain!
...
58 Torpedoes inside Net 1
...
I got 32
...
Last 8 are mine
...
singing, chorus
Unity, and justice, and fre-
static
ERROR: Connection interrupted
ERROR: Connection failed to re-establish
ERROR: Connection Lost
Human 1st Sgt. : What the FUCK did i tell you before you were going on leave!?
Alien Private: To call you if shit went FUBAR, Sir.
Human Sgt: Then why in the EVERLOVING! !MOTHERFUCKING! HELL didnt you call me when you needed help?!
Alien Pvt: Sir, we thought it was a formality speech.
Human Sgt: Did you !ever! see or hear myself using hyperbole, making a joke, or say something i am not absolutely fucking able and willing to follow through on, Private!?
Alien Pvt: No, Sir.
Human Sgt: Then let me make myself clear one last time, if shit goes FUBAR, and you need help- i dont fucking care if its 2 in the morning, or you are on another planet fucking a whore in a district you have no business being in, or went fucking ape-shit on a civie and need someone to bury the remains- You! fucking! call! me! I probably -well absolutely- will rip you a new asshole if you were contributing to shit going FUBAR, but you are one of MY fucking Men, so i am the only one allowed to fucking do that; Understood!? Dismissed! Oh, and Private: If you !EVER! fucking call me "Sir" again, Im gonna have you do pushups until you can make a reasonable Atlas impression!
Edit: Added the last comment to the Sergeant after Dismissed
In every other Friendship, its like: "I'm so happy for you to get married."
In HUMAN friendships its like: "Dude, your S.O. is so fucking ugly they could legit make it as a Flashbang in the Marines"
Other Friendships: "Yeah take the last brownie, i don't need it."
HUMAN friendships: Its the fields of Verdun over the last CRUMB of a Brownie.
Other Friendships: Oh my God, you should turn yourself in, you killed someone..."
HUMAN Friendships: They arrive in an unregistered Vehicle with 2 full body suits and shovels.
Inside a Military Dive Bar
Human 1: I dropped a contingent of special forces on Traukn 4 during the initial assault.
Humans 2-5: *nodding, affirmitive murmurs*
Human 2: I managed to run "Hells Corridor" in under 4 Days.
Humans: Damn! *all looking to Alien*
Shy looking, maybe 4ft tall Alien: Well... I was shot down over what you Humans call "Amazonia" and found my Wife there.
Human 1: How big is your Bed?
Alien: Ehm... normal size...?
Human 1: *laughs* LIAR! IT HAS TO BE BIG ENOUGH TO ACCOMODATE THOSE MASSIVE STEEL BALLS OF YOURS!