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I hadn’t expected this. Perhaps I should’ve seen it coming. There had been rumors of an alien fleet getting closer and closer and war had always been an ever present bedfellow in the back of all of our minds, but until it happens to you, happens to your home, it’s hard to picture anything but the lifestyle of your day to day.
I expect the flower shops and the farmers markets, the day to day grind and a daily commute. And I wasn’t the only one.
When the first explosion shook the walls of the mechanic shop I worked at, we all collectively froze.
When the first screams started, we all ran.
My fellow mechanics, the owner, and his family, all ran outside to see what had happened.
The scene is something I will see every night when I close my eyes for it’s burned into my eyelids.
Fire, debris, smoke, and through it a marching band of horrific ochre armor on the horizon.
The chaos that followed was immediate as my fellow mechanics panicked and rushed to get themselves into their cars.
I rushed to do the same, not bothering to grab anything but the keys off my tool belt.
I heard the whistling before it landed.
I didn’t hear much else immediately after that.
I felt my body go flying in the opposite direction of my crew and felt the impact as I hit the wall of the shop, striking my head against the brick.
I was barely conscious, eyesight blurry, as I looked around, the whole world on its side.
I couldn’t get up and could only hear ringing and muffled shouting as I watched my boss look back at me from his truck.
I saw the faces of his children in the back, wide eyed and pale and frightened.
He looked like he was going to come get me but I could feel the vibrations of the troops getting closer.
I looked at him as he ran at me. I just managed to raise a hand to stop him.
He stopped in that distance.
I pointed.
I mouthed the only word I could manage.
And I watched him hesitated before climbing back into his truck with his kids and speeding off.
I didn’t see much else.
My eyesight when dark and I blacked out.
I didn’t expect to come to again.
Didn’t want to if I’m honest.
My whole body throbbed and there was stabbing pain in my head, shoulders, and back that was hard to bear. The ringing was still there too, though it was just a background noise that made my head buzz.
There was rumbling still, shots being fired, shouts and commands.
But some of those shouts I understood.
Slowly opening my eyes I looked around.
Everything was still a little blurry at first but I could tell it had gotten dark.
As I blinked my eyes into focus, I could see the rubble and fires and the figures fighting.
I still caught the haunting sickly color of ochre but mixed into them was a color of green that didn’t match.
Squinting my eyes I focused on one of the colors of green close to where I lay, far closer than I would have thought given that I was still alive. Fighting off a half a dozen of these xenos was a green version of the most recognizable armor in the galaxy.
A space marine.
Thank the God Emperor.
I watched him fight from the place where I lay even as I slowly started to test every limb, flexing fingers, willing toes, accounting for every muscle. I had to see if I could get up but subtly. They were fighting on the huge plot of concrete that was the parking lot of my shop now, not far from where I was. If I drew attention to myself I could become a target too.
I realized the only reason that I hadn’t been killed already, in all likelihood, was because I was half hidden behind the collapsed steel roof that hid most of my body like a tent.
Slowly, I managed to pull myself fully behind the metal as I watched the space marine fell two of the xenos.
I manage to sit up, limps stiff but functional. My head throbbed with the action and I reached up to find dried blood crusting in my hair and a sizable lump, but nothing that I thought would kill me immediately. My more immediate danger was that of the fight happened just outside of my hiding spot.
BOOM!!
THUD!!
I jumped and let out a shriek of surprise and fear as something exploded not far from me and was swiftly followed by a heavy and loud thud beside me. The Space Marine had landed not far from where my head had just been, his heavy armor absorbing a good chunk of the impact.
I’d never seen one up close before, a massive wall of metal and armor. He seemed bigger than the seven feet I’d been told in school was average for space marines.
But then again it was hard to consider his actual size when he was looking right at me.
The glowing yellow of the eyes of his mask stared straight at me and I felt an odd sense of both comfort and intimidation.
I jumped and squeaked again as he moved with a speed I don’t expect from a man so large, his head whipping to the side and his bolter coming up in time to shoot the xeno who had lunged at him while he was distracted with me. The bolter went off just as the Xeno’s weapon collided with the marine’s helmet.
The xeno fell to one side, dead, and the Marine threw the corpse to the side as he pulled himself off the ground.
I frowned.
Despite my still ringing head, I noticed something and quickly crawled to the edge of my hiding place to peek out from where the space marine had just been.
I had to see if I was correct.
Looking at the space marine as he squared up and fought against the three remaining Xenos, I searched his helmet and my frown deepened.
It just a dent, it’s fine, you’re just a panicked mechanic worried over nothing. He’s fighting great. This isn’t that. This is just you worrying over little things like a doctor worries over a kids wet cough it’s not-…he’s grabbing at it. Fuck.
The range of emotions ran through me as I watched the space marine, down to only one xeno reach up and grab at his mask, his chest convulsing twice before he returned his hand to his bolter and ran up to the xeno with a surprising agility.
One born of an imposed time limit.
Shit.
I’d heard about the fully integrated systems that were the space marine armor. Heard rumors that they could even survive in space with just their armor.
But I had hoped that it was just a rumor when I saw the huge dent that crimped and shattered what had to be the release valve.
He was suffocating and he couldn’t get his helmet off.
Shit.
Maybe it was the brain damage from hitting the building so hard, maybe I was the one not getting oxygen, maybe I’m just a fool, but I was sprinting before I could realize what I was doing.
The action seemed to distract the xeno, who was facing me while the large green soldier had his back to me, and gave the Marine the opening to grab the offending armored covered invader and fire multiple shots into its belly.
Just as the thing when down and was thrown across the parking lot, I reached my destination.
I could see the man struggling, could hear the gasps for air when I got close enough.
I didn’t have time to be polite about this.
Grabbing the Marine’s arm, I could feel the power of the armor hum under my fingers and could see that he was about to react but I didn’t care as I placed the toe of my boot on the gap between his lower leg armor and his thigh armor, using it to boost myself up.
To his credit, either through the determination in my eyes or his unwillingness to grab me for worry of hurting me, or even just blind curiosity, the space marine did nothing but hold his arm steady under my weight as I used it as my next stepping stool.
I grabbed onto the sturdy ring between his chest piece and his helmet and hauled myself up further, straddle his shoulder and setting myself between his helmet and the massive pauldron covering his shoulder.
I could feel him reach up with his free hand and grab my thigh, probably to pull me down, but I grabbed my wrench off my belt and smacked his hand before attaching the wrench to the valve.
His hand didn’t react the way I expected, not flinching or releasing when I hit it but slowly releasing a moment later as a decision.
My wrench, the size of an arm of full metal, must’ve felt like the punch of a kitten to him. And I’d hit glove not armor.
I didn’t have time to dwell on the thought of just how powerful these men were as I hooked the wrench to the relief valve and pulled.
I could hear the hiss of air escaping and new air entering and I felt his shoulder beneath me rise with a huge intake of breath.
It worked.
I sigh happily as I release the wrench.
Thud
Shit.
The seconded I let go of the wrench the valve shut again, cutting him off from the supply of oxygen I’d just given him.
Until we got this helmet off or got the valve fixed, this had to be held open manually.
I opened the valve again as I spoke firmly and loud enough to be heard over the chaos happening not far from us.
“I have to hold it open! It won’t stay open on its own!” I call. There’s only one word I get in response.
“Understood.” He reaches up again and I feel his large hand land on my back and press.
There was that strength again.
I knew he was being gentle, more instructing me than forcing me, but I could do nothing to resist that power.
Following the press of his hand, I curled up over his shoulders, wedging myself between the power pack he wore on his back and the back of his helmet, hands still gripping tight the wrench and holding it down, using a little bit of body weight to help as I tucked my feet into the gap between his pauldron and the rest of his armor.
Tucked as safely as I could in between his armor, I felt him adjust one or two of my limbs for ease of movement before I felt him begin to run towards the sounds of battle.
—
I don’t know how long we fought for.
I say we, but I was only there to hold open the valve, a piece of human duct tape.
The Space Marine had been the one doing all of the work, protecting me while he fought.
More than once I felt his arm move up to shield my body moments before the sound of the bullet echoed off the metal bracers of his power armor.
Only once did he not catch one of those in time.
An attack from behind had me screaming as a bullet went through my exposed thigh.
I hadn’t bled out so it hadn’t hit anything vital. But it had me shaking and whimpering against his armor, mostly using my weight at this point to hold open the valve, a lot of my strength zapped away due to the pain.
I managed to hang in for a while but the moment I heard the order to return directed at the space marine, I couldn’t hold on any longer.
For the second time in my life and the second time that day, I passed out.
—
I slowly came to with the muffled sounds of talking. It was too much effort to open my eyes or move so I just lay there and listened. My marine was talking to someone else, someone higher up the chain than him based on the language used.
They were talking about me.
Which I can’t be surprised about.
Not every day your space marines return with a human scarf tucked into their power armor.
There’s a small hint of worry in the space marine’s voice, or perhaps I’m imagining it, as he explains that I’d been hit in the “line of duty” - again, human duct tape. Hardly what I’d call “line of duty” but perhaps that’s just the terminology for someone hit during war - and how I was unconscious but alive.
Not entirely sure how he knew that, but I was strangely touched that he’d checked.
The man he was speaking to gave a few orders to the marine and the people around him, instructing them to remove me and get me to medical while someone took my place so the marine could head down and get his power armor removed and fixed.
I decided there was enough reason for effort in this moment and opened my eyes slowly, reaching up and pressing against the Marine’s opposite shoulder to pull myself upright, still death gripping the wrench with my other hand to keep the valve open. My leg throbbed with the movement but I might have more spinal damage than I realized because it doesn’t hurt as much as I think it should.
Ignoring potential paralysis because I’d rather not vomit on the armor of the man who’d saved my life, I instead focus on the huge man in front of me in matching green armor to my marine, but with an added ring of metal behind his head ringing it like a halo.
That must be-!
Someone important. Probably.
Struck by the need to learn more about space marines and the armies that protect humanity, an army I never thought I’d see on our little planet, I incline my head politely as the man approaches a little closer to talk to me.
“What you did was noble and foolish.” He says through the speaker in his helmet. “We will take over from here. Let us get you to medical to tend to your wounds.”
I feel someone climb up my space marine before someone’s hands replaced mine on the wrench from my marine’s other shoulder.
I look over to see another average human sized soldier give me a nod before I feel something grab me under the arms like a child. The strength of this new green man is so great that I can notice the effortless difference even beyond that of My space marine.
Slowly lowering me gently to a gurney beside him, I can’t help but marvel at the gentleness and care of the man’s handling.
I didn’t know space marines could be so compassionate. Perhaps these ones were the exception?
I didn’t have much time to think about it as my gurney was hauled away from the two men.
I give my space marine a small wave, which to my surprise, he returns, before turning to talk to the man again before being dismissed.
My space marine walks in the opposite direction while his boss turns and looks at me as I’m hauled off.
I offer him a small wave too, it would be mean not to give him one.
He waves back.
Maybe it’s the blood loss and damage, but I think I might love these big green softies. I’m glad I could manage to help save my space marine’s life.
Those were my last thoughts before exhaustion overtook me again and I was out.