Playing with Aliens

I can see them. Now that I'm signed back in. Maybe that was the cause.

Tom, your guesses were good. Logical even. I did not know that there was a .45 caliber Uzi.

The P90 is also a good guess considering that it's produced by FN-Herstal, but I wouldn't rechamber it in the 6.5mm. That's a full size rifle round, like 6.5x54mm. Really rechambering wouldn't be that much of a stretch considering the fact that the FN2000 is not offered in a 6.5mm caliber or a 7.62x39mm caliber. However, I decided that the Legion would not use the P90 for the simple expedient that they had not adopted the Five-seveN pistol as their standard sidearm. Who knows, though? There might be a unit that does adopt the P90/Five-seveN combo as their PDW/sidearm combo of choice.

However, much though we think alike, you are incorrect, sir.

The correct answer is:

The Kriss Vector!

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Specifically, I'm thinking that the Red Jacket mod package would be the final appearance that it would take:

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I'll come up with the "stats" on the "Gladius PDW" in the morning.

Oh! I forgot: Metal Storm of Australia actually exists and the 3GL and the MAUL are REAL weapon systems. These are the same folks who built a "machine gun" with a one million rounds per minute rate of fire.

Check them out at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

The MAUL in action: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

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The "Gladius" Personal Defense Weapon (PDW)

The Gladius is the Terran Legion's submachine gun and Personal Defense Weapon of choice. The foundation for the Gladius is the Kriss Vector submachine gun, a highly advanced, "proof of concept" firearm designed to lower perceived recoil and still have an incredibly high cyclic rate of fire (one thousand rounds per minute in production models; 1500 rpm for the original prototype). The original Vector used the magazines from the .45 ACP caliber Glock 21 allowing it to used 10- or 13-round standard mags or an extended 33-round mag. The Legion has modified the Vector to utilize the same 15-round pistol magazines as the Pugio sidearm, as well as a 33-round extended magazine, which can also be used by the Pugio. The Gladius is selective fire with the option for semi-automatic, 2-round burst, or full automatic operation. Although Kriss offers a version of the Vector that has a telescoping metal butt, the Legion prefers the older style plastic folding stock for its weight savings. Kriss offers three barrel lengths: 5.5 inches, 6.5 inches, and 15.9 inches. The typical Legion Gladius uses the shorter barrels, which are threaded to accept add-on sound suppressors. A Special Operations model Gladius uses the 15.9" barrel, which incorporates an integral suppressor.

The standard model Gladius has a multi-sensor unit mounted in the space above the barrel where the tactical light would be mounted on a standard Vector, and a standard Legion HUD scope is mounted on the upper Picatinny rail. The lower Picatinny rail is typically used to mount a forward hand grip (the model provided by Kriss, which incorporates a bipod with the hand grip, is a popular option). The Special Operations Model mounts a MAUL unit and has a space in the butt stock for holding two pistol magazines for rapid reloads. As previously mentioned, the Special Operations Model is integrally suppressed.

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A Special Operations Model Gladius PDW.

Still not seeing links or pics.

I wasn't seeing any pix on my iPod until I logged in. I also couldn't comment until I did. So, it may be an admin problem that Liv needs to resolve. For the pix and links just google Kriss Vector and Metal Storm MAUL. Metal Storm is the dot-com website, not the dot-net website. The dot-net site is for heavy metal music, not a company that builds robots, stand alone gun pods, and stackable munitions weapons.

Fuzzy latin for "fighting for earth"?

We fight for Earth (ok, literally "land" but then again, we did essentially name our planet "Dirt.")

"For Earth, We Fight."

And that took a lot of time working with Google Translate to get it just right.

I had considered:

Ad astra per aspera (To the stars through difficulty)

Auribus tenere lupum (I hold a wolf by the ears)

Bella detesta matribus (War, the horror of mothers)

Bella gerant alii (Let others wage war)

Ense et aratro (With sword and plow)

Semper superne nitens (Always striving upwards)

Virtute et armis (By courage and by arms)

Got all those from a Latin quotations site before hitting Google Translate and coming up with Pro Terra Pugnamus. Now, for the Achilles teams I'm thinking that they'll have their own Latin motto. Which do you think it should be:

Ad eundum quo nemo ante iit or De inimico con loqiaris sed cogites or Nemo deserit, omnes pugnat

Well, the first and third have a certain... familiarity... to them.

I thought you'd get the joke, Tom. The middle quote is actually the one I was thinking would make a great spec ops motto.

pilis comminus non timent?

This is what Google Translate gives me: hairs are not afraid to close.

WTF? I might need a transliteration to parse that one out.

For the record "De inimico con loquaris sed cogites" means "Don't wish ill on your enemy, plan it."

Oh, and the others are "To Boldly Go Where No Man Has Gone Before" and "Nobody quits, Everyone fights."

Wait, as I played with it, it's something about javelins or spears?

fearlessly going to close combat with javelins?

Now, I understand why kids begin to hate Latin.

Do not fear the clash of spears. Or at least that's what I asked Google Translate for...

Well, that certainly sounds better. Google Translate is handy one way, not necessarily the other.

true, very true.

Nice so far. A bit of HALO, a bit of Starship Troopers, and a bit (ok, more than a bit) of Ringo's There Will Be Dragons.

I figure that if aliens showed up tomorrow and started recruiting human soldiers, things like HALO and Ringo's Posleen stuff would be what the military would turn to for a manual. Now, Ringo had the government getting onboard with it, he didn't have the aliens setting up their own private military contractor. Also, his "good" aliens weren't so good when you got down to it. The enemy Posleen were far more honest with Humanity than our allies were. I'm going for a far more benevolent ally with my story.

Of course, for there to be drama, there's gotta be some kind of conflict among the good guys. Right now, during training, they're all Band of Brothers, "let's fight the Hun, lads" kinda sentiments, but they haven't seen a Ro'chaq yet. They haven't found out that the enemy is themselves, and they haven't found out that it's the Makers' fault the Ro'chaq are so uppity.

Oh, speaking of There Will Be Dragons, there's an episode of Mail Call with R. Lee Ermey where the Gunny learns about the pilum... while wearing a Roman Legionnaire's tunic and leather sandals, and his old patrol cap.

I am thinking right now that of our Second Squad POV characters, Colton is gonna have a big shock of adjustment when he gets Earthside again. In the space of a week, he'll have gone from a 48-in waist to something closer to a 32 or 34-in waist. None of his civvies will fit. He's gonna have to hit up Walmart to get something to wear. That should be an interesting scene to write as he struggles with the fact that he can now wear the skinny jeans.

I love Vann!!!!

Have you considered sending some of this to the MI and SMI at the ROTCs here in the county (Newton and Rockdale to MCJROTC). They may have ways or thoughts on something that would or would not be said by a Marine. If you want a squid's POV try Henry county. Just a thought. and one I fully expect you to ignore.

And I happen to know a real and true drill instructor at Parris Island who, I'm sure, would do the same.

I'll consider it. I've read books written by real Marines and I'm trying to emulate the how and why of what they said in those books in this story, but I'll likely not let anybody else read it until it's more of a complete story.

Glad you like Vann. He started out as a throwaway character, but he's doing a pretty good job of being their teacher, more fully filling the role that I'd originally envisioned Master Sergeant Monroe filling. I do believe, though, that their ethics classes are taught by Monroe.

Currently working on the next scene. Hope to have it up in a day or two.

Okay, I'm working on a bit of a retcon for the Ergrahthah, a way of visually telling one gender from another. The idea came to me when I saw a picture of an African lion.

I'm thinking "manes", areas on the head where hair grows from the fur in various lengths and thicknesses depending on sexual gender. I'm thinking that males won't have any kind of mane. Females will have a long mane, and omales will have a short mane (which seems to fit because they're halfway between being male and female).

What do you guys think?

sounds like a good idea