Blood Of The Enemy

Tina took her position in the line. It was her first time and as expected, she was nervous. For one final time, she checked her face in the mirror to see if the powder was alright.

Her friend, Mona had got killed in the last mission. It was her first time.

That was the price to pay. You asked Dame Fortune to bestow on you her rich blessings, because without them, you wouldn’t survive the ordeal.

There was clanging of armour everywhere and the soldieresses were sucking their lips.

The wing commandree was flailing her arms. That was the signal to start the march. We would march out of our colony and then the colonelle would inspire us with a speech.

I marched in step with the others. It was an amazing experience, knowing you could go out and never come back.

The colonelle addressed the army. “Hear! Hear! Women and brave warriors of Amoskua. Once again, we are here to do what we are supposed to do; what we are proud of doing; and what we have to do, for the sake of the Amoskuan way of life. There are species out there which hate us, despise us and detest us. In truth, they detest the Amoskuan values of liberty and equality, which we are proud to defend.

“We are here today to risk our lives so that our friends might live; that we might save our families; that we might have families.

“Should any of us dread death, let us remember!! Dying for the sake of the common good is better than dying for oneself. I ask you to dedicate your life for Amoskua. What we need today; what we want today and what we shall have today is…

THE BLOOD OF THE ENEMY!!!!”

And the entire army roared “THE BLOOD OF THE ENEMY!!!”

“Ya right!” thought Tina, “you are not risking your life, are you?”

The wing commandrees were at the head of the divisions. Each commandree led her division in proximity to the target site.

Tina’s commandree was a stout buxom female. Rumours abounded that she had had 16 sisters, 15 of whom had died in combat. The commandree shouted at Tina, “Hey you, newcomer, buck up! Are you scared?”

They flew to the target site and assembled to have the compulsory divisional briefing.

The commandree addressed the division:

“The target is close to us. The target is in a state of slumber and this is the opportune time for us to attack. Is the plan ready?”

The Divisional Head of Strategy came forward and said, “Target is well defended for the attack. It is surrounded by cotton defences, making it seemingly impossible to penetrate. However, I think we have found a way in near the target’s ankle. Besides, large portions of the target, including the head and part of the hand are not defended. The best strategy would be a 3-pronged simultaneous blitzkrieg attack and immediate retreat.

Now it was the turn of the Divisional Risk Analyst to speak: “The target is of young age, 20 years. Possible reflex defence can be much higher than normal. However we have the advantage of surprise.

“However, as shall be seen, the enemy is six orders of magnitude larger than us. We can utilize this fact to our advantage. Its size notwithstanding, the target is equipped with a poorly developed primitive brain, much lower in intelligence than us.

“Nevertheless, if we fail, losses will be heavy.”

Her face was grim as she said it and the entire division grimaced. But everybody knew that they had to do it.

The commandree said, “What are we waiting for, gentlewomen? Let us do our duty!”

We were divided into three sections and placed under a section head. Tina’s section head never knew how to apply her lipstick. But she had won more than her share of medals in combat.

Tina’s section was instructed to attack the exposed hand section of the target.

Section Head: “Comradees, is the target in sight?”
Section (in a chorus): “Yes, Section Head, we see it”
SH: “Comradees, lock the target.”
S: “Target locked, Section Head”
SH: “On the count of three, attack!!”
S: “Yes, Section Head”
SH: “Three… Two… One… GO!!!!”

And, like a swarm of insects, they flew to the target’s hand and alighted on it. As they inserted their weapons, they heard the distant cry of the target.

The target was moving. It was supposed to be asleep and now it was moving.

“Retreat!! Retreat!!” yelled the section head and the Amoskuans retreated. Just in time.

Tina barely avoided getting crushed by the target’s blow.

As they moved away, they realized that the section attacking the enemy’s feet was helpless and had no way of escape. They looked back and watched the gigantic enemy decimate their friends. The mission was a failure.

Yawn! Damn these mosquitoes. They won’t let me sleep peacefully. Why else would I write about them at 4 in the morning?

I really wrote this at 4a.m. in the morning after I was rudely awakened by mosquitoes.