CASE - A Fluffy Lesbian Science Fiction

Luna walked with me to the armory where I would suit up and where our roads would split for the time being. We halted in front of the reinforced doors and turned towards each other. I put my hands on her hips and shuffled a little bit closer, looking deep into her eyes.

She in turn put her arms on my shoulders and leant in as we both exchanged a soft, yet luckily rather long, kiss.

I then leant my forehead on hers. "See you soon, okay?"

"Mhmm." She hummed. "Stay safe down there. Don't take any unnecessary risks."

"I won't." I promised and let our noses touch. "Same thing is true for you though. If something happens that endangers the ship, go. We will manage."

I saw that Luna had some difficulties with that statement but in the end she nodded. "I will make you proud."

"You make me proud every single second." I replied and kissed her again followed by a tight embrace that lasted for a while until I heard the doors to the armory slide open and a marine walking past the two of us. "I should probably go now."

Luna nodded and leant in to give me another short kiss. "I love you."

"I love you too. Forever and ever." We took distance from one another and Luna hesitantly walked away. I decided to opt for the short pain and turned around, walking into the armory after which the doors closed behind me.

I stopped in my tracks for a moment and sighed after which I walked towards my locker to get my armor on. The marines who were getting dressed around me didn't speak one word to me, they just looked at me and gave me a knowing nod. Every single one of them knew how hard saying goodbyes to loved ones was. They just simply didn't need to put it into words for me to feel their support. On the ground we were one family after all.

I strapped into my suit of armor and hung my helmet on my hipbelt after which I moved along to the weapon selection for the operation. While my trusty P900-R wouldn't be a bad option to take along, as I was going alongside the armor for a large part of the operation I wanted something with more punch over longer distances so I opted for something else. My choice fell upon the K-B0L 40, a large weapon which looked like it was mostly stamped out of one big piece of sheet metal but actually housed a lot of intricate mechanisms. It was a way heavier gun than my P900-R but it could also shred metallic armored plates like no tomorrow from almost any range thanks to the special ammunition that was unique to this gun. The gun's rounds used small amounts of rocket fuel to enhance the kinetic energy of each payload, also giving it a very satisfying punchy sound when firing. But again, the weight would be rather substantial. If I weren't close to the fabricators on the backs of our heavy armor, it really wouldn't be an option unless I were wearing an exoskeleton like our heavy gunners.

I strapped 4 magazines to my thighs, two on each and slammed one of the chunky magazines in the gun. It was ready to start roaring.

I left the armory and made my way towards the hangar bay which was jampacked full with activity. The shuttles that would be carrying our heavy armor and which would drop me and my squad off on the ground were already ready to go though the operation would only officially commence in fifteen minutes. I quickly did my rounds with the hangar stuff, among which was on incredibly stressed Yuki to see if everything had been checked, but everything seemed to be in order.

"Commander, a part of me really wished that I could go down with you to the surface." Yuki saluted me.

I saluted her back before I put my hand on her shoulder. "But the other part of you tells you you are more than happy you can stay up here, right?"

"Yeah…" She admitted.

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"Don't be ashamed of that, kid. You need to be a special kind of crazy to go down to an active warzone."

"Definitely…" Eva's voice sounded from behind me. She and Gunny had arrived too. Eva's suit of armour had a big green cross on her right arm and a similar one on the portable medpack stashed on her armor's thigh which was an easy way to recognize her in a hectic combat situation. As for a weapon, it looked like she had opted for the P900-R. "But where the hurt goes, the doctor has to follow." She put her attention on me. "Do you have your DiluFast kit with you?"

I nodded. "Yep, stocked and ready to go." Apart from being used for normal poisoning cases, it also worked pretty well against radiation poisoning as long as you had sealed the leak in your armor before using it. The kit would attach to the side of your helmet to inject an aerosol which you would then breathe in. Alternatively one could inject it into the thigh through a specialized airlock in your armor. "Armor sealant is also in place."

"Good." Eva nodded and then looked at Gunny. "You should double check as well…"

"But I already double checked thrice."

"Just do it again."

Gunny sighed and started manually checking all the pockets and bags attached to his exoskeleton and armor, choosing compliance over unnecessary arguments.

"Wow, I didn't know you were going as well, Lieutenant." Yuki saluted Gunny and Eva as well.

"Someone must make sure our baboons come back alive and I'm far younger than Doctor Freeman and I have some earlier combat experience as well. The choice was quickly made. We will still need a ship to return too though so we fully expect you to keep the fort while we are planetside."

"Will do my best, Lieutenant!" Yuki straightened her back some more.

"Well, it's pretty much time we head to our respective ships." I looked at the clock on my armor's wrist. "Don't want to miss it or we are going to have a tough time getting down. I heard everything is fully booked." I joked.

"Yeah, and last-minutes really aren't as cheap as they used to be either." Gunny hopped in on it after he had just confirmed to Eva that he did in fact have everything he needed, again.

"Don't let me keep you." Yuki responded. "The best of luck with the operation. Don't let our shoddy welding get in the way of your success." She joked.

"We will leave review afterwards. Don't worry." I smiled and saluted Yuki one final time before heading off. "See you soon and take care of Luna while I'm gone."

"Will do!"

With that the three of us turned around and headed towards the first two shuttles on the launch platform. Eva and Gunny would be flying down on a different shuttle than I was but they were still going to be on the first wave as theirs would also be carrying one of the heavy armor units.

"Pff, I'm glad I'm in a shuttle and not in one of those metal coffins. Can't believe the crews of those things descend in their vehicles rather than in the shuttles."

"Well, it saves space and it makes sure they can start operation from the moment they touch the ground. They can even provide a little bit of fire support while they still hang on the belly of the shuttle." I replied.

"And they probably have a better view of the outside as well with all the fancy camera tech those things have." Eva commented as she more closely inspected one of the tanks.

"Have better armor too." I nodded. It was definitely an added value to have these vehicles with us. I was originally a bit apprehensive of them as I saw them on the cargo list for our second disembarkation, but given the nature of our operation right now… it would be a lot more dangerous if we hadn't had them with us. Well worth the extra space they required in the hangar bay. I had heard from the engineers that they were glad to have something more to tinker on as well.

"They might have better armor but they are also in the line of fire between anything on the ground and the thing they are hanging from." Gunny replied.

"It's a win-win, no? They take the hits and we get them safely to the ground." I smiled.

"Hmmmm." Gunny grumbled. "Well, at least I don't have to be in one."

"I mean, I agree, but still." You needed to be a special kind of person to be a tank driver. "I wasn't that kind of person but I still had a lot of respect for those who did pick that as their job.

After our little chat we arrived at the shuttles and waited to filter inside as I put on my helmet as my friends did the same. "See you planetside?"

"The last one on the ground is a stinky animal." Gunny chuckled.

"Really?" Eva turned towards Gunny. "Are we really at toddler level now?" I couldn't see through her visor but I could vividly imagine her face.

"Well…"

-I just hope that Eva won't kill Gunny before we land… I'd rather she wait with that for the return trip.-