[ WP ] War has been raging for years upon years now . You are a reporter embedded in a famous military unit among your newest allies in this war , humanity .

Another Klar-cracking *BOOM* shot through my exoskeleton. My nerve fibers jangled and my myomer bunches shuddered in involuntary reaction. I steadied my 6 claws, clutched the tri-dee recorder, and rode out the shockwave. My anterior tarsus claws began to lose their grip when the winds buffeted our position, but a strong limb with five gripping digits suddenly pushed down on my shell's hump and I was able to stay immobile. 
 
 I looked up at my rescuer and activated my translator with a jab of a mandible. 
 
 `` Thank you, Earth-clan. Your weapons are most prodigious.'' The human's aural and visual matrices were shielded behind a half-dome arma-glass helmet, currently opaque and reflecting the burning firled fields of Maruc, the enemy's home world. The dome nodded and the human rose on two powerful legs, red armor glinting in the sunlight, turning back to observe the battlefield. Good, my people found the armor units the humans rode into battle impressive. Excellent interview material. 
 
 I turned to my fellow Trodev and scented the Local Prime a message. `` My observer-self would like to know more of your assistance to the humans in adapting to the battlefronts, Prime Naul'tec'lus,'' I began. The Prime swung its head in my direction, oversized mandibles rustling, and scented back. 
 
 `` The humans need little assistance now, Observer Kaul'noc'lus. Their original miscalculations have been rectified. They know now that they can not fight on the front lines of this war - the Maruci are beyond their physical capabilities. They have adapted to assisting at range, in the skies, and with mechanized infantry. Their war-mounts are slow but powerful, and capable of delivering their most punishing weapons to the front lines. Their sky-mounts are easily superior to our best Wing units and have granted us commanding air dominance for our wind-hives. But my favorite element of their assistance lies beside us.'' 
 
 The Prime's scent shifted subtly, and she cast a smug antennae at the human unit beside us. Two of the domes were cast in our direction now, while the third maintained vigilance. `` The human-clan's capacity for long-range destruction is something to envy, Observer. This plasma caster, for instance, which just fired. Our drone-eyes report that the plasma burst has incinerated an entire *horde* of Maruci Feasters. Their accuracy is astonishing and the Maruci can not shield themselves from the annihilation of a plasma burst.'' 
 
 Obediently, I turned my recorder to the plasma caster. A squat and boxy construct, it hunched on three metal legs. From a center mass of metal and wires jutted a fat cannon-head framed by articulated magnetic poles. The lip of the cannon was still glowing from the recent plasma-round's exit. I observed the battle-field and saw its work: a huge, glassy crater had appeared where a dense swarm of Maruci forces had once been. The destruction was complete from center to edge, and scorch marks radiated for several meters beyond the edges of the blast. 
 
 One of the human-clan turned and loped toward us. I instinctively quailed towards the larger Prime, who ignored my reaction and greeted the armored warrior with friendly antenna and politely spread mandibles. Her own translator clicked on. `` Greetings, human. Have you any message for our hives? The Observer will relay them faithfully.'' A peremptory antenna brushed my own, and I shrugged off my fear to raise the recorder to the human's dome. 
 
 The dome nodded. I noted that this one was blue, though of the same construction as its fellows. The humans did not modify their war-carriages to reflect rank, I knew, and they were physically almost identical in size. They relied on symbols, memory, and social constructs to order their military. An alien concept, but few races were so alien as these. 
 
 The human's own translator activated with a near-inaudible hum. Inside the dome, I knew the human would be using its central intake and tiny, rigid mandibles to push air out of a central sac, making noises to communicate, but the translator faithfully synthesized the corresponding scents and wavelengths for my audience. 
 
 `` Thank you, Local Prime. I am Commander James Harkness. The equipment behind me is called a T-38 Plasma Caster. It and three other casters are situated behind the front lines, dropping plasma rounds onto concentrations of enemy forces across the battlefield. Collectively, we are delivering 15 plasma rounds per minute, which is a low-intensity volley. As you can see, the effect is more than adequate.'' 
 
 I scented out a personal query, eager for the response. The humans were composed and clannish most of the time, but sometimes on the battlefield a commander-human would let slip some of their race's fury at the Maruci for the loss of their moon-colonies. `` Are you eager to avenge Luna, Commander-prime Harkness? Reports from battlefields across the Spiral speak of the humans' implacable advance.'' 
 
 The dome nodded again, more slowly. `` We humans thought we were alone until the Maruci came. They used our excitement and naivete to their advantage, worming their way through our colonies before trying to cripple them. To humans, this is a violation of our most ancient codes of conduct. We welcomed them as neighbors and friends, and they used our generosity to stab us in the back. That insult was profound and felt from Sagittarius-3 to Sol... and on top of it we lost Luna and nearly half our colonies. Yes, Observer, we are here for revenge, as well as to repay your people for your protection and aid while we rebuilt. The full might of our fleets and manpower is now bent on subjugating the Maruci.'' 
 
 The human's dome turned back toward the caster, and he snapped out an order too quickly for the translator to catch. The caster belched forth a miniature star in response, and the magnetic poles came alive, rotating and describing delicate arcs, remotely guiding the projectile's path through powerful magnetic fields that set my mandibles shut and cast sparks along the human's armor. 
 
 The sun touched down where the Maruci horde was gathering for a last stand, and three other suns touched down in a perfect circle a moment later. Even as I observed, the remaining horde was incinerated. 
 
 The dome turned back towards me. `` We mourn for our lost brothers and sisters, Observer. But the Maruci are savage predators, not warriors.'' The five digits on the human's right limb creaked closed into a fist, the human's only natural weapon. I knew from my studies that they used these rarely, and its presence indicated great anger or stress. `` We have annihilated their colonies. We will make their homeworld a prison. Their hordes will be crushed, their cities conquered. The Maruci may have had the first strike, and they may be faster and deadlier than any human in direct combat, Observer, but war is in our nature. They will be tamed, and made to answer for Luna.''
