War In Heaven
Draft Notice.
You have been selected for conscription due to the ongoing conflict in the outer rim, and the ensuing manpower shortages.
You are to report to the nearest spaceport with the paperwork included in this letter. You have 24 hours to do so. Failure to comply will result in Execution, or Wartime Capital Punishment #217.
Welcome to the Colonial Defense Force.
The year is 3146. Humanity has been at war for the past 279 years. Billions are dead, hundred of solar systems have been extinguished of all life, and a coalition of eight different species are attempting to throw off the chains of human imperialism.
We are losing.
Our only advantage is our industrial capacity, and relatively short gestation period. For every slug the enemy makes, we make twenty, for every tank, ten. For every alien dead, we have eight humans, either tank bred or drafted, to barge through the gap.
Yet we are still outnumbered. The training time of draftees is 8 seconds, their life expectancy is 32 seconds. Due to orbital bombardment, and the general tactic of not allowing any disadvantageous retreat, most KIA reports are from friendly fire. Almost 6 billion soldiers lay unidentified or MIA scattered about distant battlefields as of current.
The material situation has escalated beyond total war: full asteroids are processed, planets are detonated and processed for their ores, the ice and helium processed into fuel for capital ships and oxygen, uranium used for reactors on smaller ships, the granite and stone used for the projectiles of the CDF's caseless ammo. The technologies for countless designs have been lost in the destructive efforts of Asset Denial Teams, yet the aliens continue to achieve technological superiority.
Every alien species can use our corpses for logistical purposes, we share no DNA, so food... and morale services... are easy to supplement. The possibility of being kidnapped from your foxhole in the middle of the night to face death or worse is an entire possibility. Their biological states on their own are enough to induce illness and disease, all troopers are required to wear gas masks to prevent infection. There is still a 45% risk of viral infection due to communicable diseases.
A super-soldier program named 'The Olympian Program' was initiated 30 years ago. 1200 genetically engineered humans deployed as a breakthrough force. They made the first victory in the war for over 100 years possible, all are currently listed as actively serving on the front line. None have been seen for over a decade.
A sister project, "The Revenant Program', utilizing a fail safe system implanted into one's central nervous system to keep them fighting even after the removal of limbs, heads, or the cessation of all bodily function. Their bodies will not stop fighting until they decay fully. A 'volunteer' service, over 500000 members are currently fighting.
Numerous wartime ratifications to the United Terran Federation's constitution have been put in place, no elections have taken place in 240 years. Numerous laws have been passed to ensure victory, including Wartime Capital Punishment #217, a legal order for able bodied deserters to be mind wiped, and become biological propaganda machines, with a control chip in their skull for a crippled soldier to control them from their recovery station. It is nicknamed the 'Fleshpuppet Law'.
Shock Armies are formed from those imprisoned in cryo containment, criminals, and the mentally handicapped, they are armed with a sole ceramic chest plate and whatever they can find on the battlefield. Standard Infantry are armed with semi-automatic rifles reminiscent of early 20th century designs. Most units run out of ammo or die before automatic firearms and emplaced weapons can be delivered to their locations.
The Inner Colonies have had the media downplay the war to an insane degree, travel between the inner and outer colonies is banned, veterans are not able to return home, refugees are fighting on the front line, video messaging is banned except for high level government officials, and news of the front is lies. The general public merely sees the war as a collection of slave revolts, the soldiers given permanent changes in station, and messages of the deceased on the front are fabricated to keep everyone in line.
Welcome to the Colonial Defense Force, desertion is constituted as leaving your designated post at any time unless directly ordered to by your superior, if your superior makes a mistake, they will be executed and replaced. You, however, will remain in active service. You may never return to Terra or the inner colonies, as that would add unwanted violence by your mere presence. Service is a lifetime, and you will be in active duty until crippled beyond what cybernetics can replace or you die, whichever comes last. Officer commissions are either bought or gained through eight years of front line service, if your CO has no scars, no thousand yard stare, or no cybernetic prosthetics, they might as well be conscripts. No medals have been handed out in nearly 48 years, as the recipients die before they have a chance to obtain them.
And you have been drafted. You will be joining the ranks of the CDF 3145th Battalion, 6th Company (3MCXLV/6 CDF). With an outstanding service length of ten months, they have yet to be wiped out, and have received the unbelievable achievement of two unit commendations. They will deploy back into combat in eight days, on the outer rim planet of Hanlon XII, a tropical garden world with a very large amount of minerals key to the war effort. Currently under a eight year long siege.
No amount of luck or prayer can save you now.
