“Their weapons and biology were obsolete.”

The speaker stood before the entire Imperial War College Corps of Cadets.

“Well,” the Major pondered for moment, “Their weapons were clearly obsolete. Powder based propellants and metal projectiles were their main methods of warfare. But their biology tricky.”

A holograph of a human manifested on the stage next to a rotating display of a planet .

“Four limbs and a two eyes on the cephalic. Endoskeletons, and five fingers on their hands. About one and a half standard meters in hight. But strong, bulky, and mental titans of battle. The biological problems can wait, their mindset must be addressed. Their history is wrought with warfare. Thousands of cycles of conquest and collapse, each rendering a more ruthless method of slaughter than the last.”

Blotches of color appeared on the holograph of the human homeworld as it flattened out.

“Each color represents a nation-state, its shape altering as it’s conquered and revolts. Similar colors designate alliances. Warfare shaped their psyche. One continent of their race almost ruled their entire planet. They fought two planetary wars in just fifty cycles. Then they endured hundred and twenty of peace.”

“For a brief moment the borders of their planet remained mostly stationary. Massive amounts of their population lost their warrior ethos until the resource wars, and they never looked back.”

The colored outlines split at a few points, then the whole order broke into chaos. Lines shifting, splitting, a. expanding until three points began an unyielding advance across the planet.

“Three massive hyperpowers forged through fire, conquest, and resolve, which wrecked their whole planet down in a third and devastating terra bellum. Around this point, although hindered by massive destruction, their technology allowed exoplanetary mining to be feasible. This is when they entered our galactic community. We never needed to deal with a divided space faring species before. Our initial contact stunned the humans, as it does every species. Well they remain a divided species today, and a political nightmare for us. But their biological capacity for warfare?”

The display flashed to a paused holovid of a team of human soldiers. A red glow around them indicated their condition: wounded, exhausted,and dehydrated. They were in a wedge formation spaced fifteen meters apart. A flat outline of one soldier appeared with vital statistics. Blood loss was at 20%, rifle ammunition was down to a final magazine of 40, and two full 15 round magazines for his sidearm. The body had exhausted the last consumed energy intake and was burning up stored fat.

“This is their warrior mentality. These four men are all that remains of a platoon. One platoon, with bayonets fixed, covering a single bottleneck, as its battalion retreats during the biowar on travaticus.”

The video played in silence. The four fired in single shots. Casings flew through the air. Then, two three meter tall armored creature appeared at the far end of the projection

“This is monstrosity is the biologically engineered warriors of the Archave. Ape like with claws for hands, and a massive pain tolerance. And this is these humans last stand. They concentrate fire, notice the change in the stathue and this humans personal information. Notice the shift in color to blue, this is the release of their adrenaline. It’s potent. It’s blocking out pain, it’s increasing their reflexes and sharpening their fighting prowess.”

The ape charged forward, rounds shredding at its armor and skin. It roared forward and ripped into the 1st soldier. The Corps gasped. The humans were glowing blue, rifles now expending rounds at burst speeds.

“Their heart rate is off the charts, a percentage increase we cannot even fathom. Yet they controlled their breathing, each shot landing on its target. Pay attention on the human farthest from the attackers.”

The slat screen beeped as the farthest human ran out of rifle rounds and switched to the slower and controlled single shots of his handgun. The three remaining soldiers continued to lay fire on the advancing beasts, before they could reach the second victim the concentrated fire brought it down. The corps opened in a cheer that died as quickly as it erupted, the last beast had ripped another soldier in half. Rounds continued to fly, and the beast closed in on the third human, a claw spearing through it’s torso and ripping him in half.

Another beep The last human had expended his very last round. The holovid paused and rotated to give a better view of the human and beast. Their eyes locked. The video began in slow motion as the human reached for his slung rifle and pulled it to his hip. His mandible dropped, skin stretched, and and veins bulged as the human screamed and leapt forward.

At bayonet point, he charged the monstrosity that had destroyed his brothers.

The corps was in silent awe.

A bayonet charge.

The creature stabbed the human in the chest, a massive red oval appeared on his stat screen where the claw had penetrated, and the human threw his rifle. The bayonet pierced the apes cheek, as the human flat lined.

“That charge, that refusal to quit, that spirit give their last full measure in the face of death, is why they won”

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