Somnia throws her arms out. "Did you guys miss me?"
Most of us nod, and in earnest, Ziel is a bit of a loose cannon with a hair trigger.
"Unlike normal school, we won't be having any ice breakers or going around and saying our favorite flavor of ice cream. Today, we will be covering the basics."
Walking over to the large display, she swipes through pictures of supposedly famous heroes.
"While most of you likely know, as we have looked up to these people since we were kids, they are the superheroes of this world. We are humanity's greatest and only weapon against insurgents. They call us the Pioneers."
"We already know this!"
"Thats what I just said jackass! But not everyone can afford to have idols."
Like me. (;_;)
"So, onto the next topic, why do you exist? Due to Earth's abrupt abduction into a different galaxy 300 years ago, we were thrown into an age of war. Thus, humanity has faced off with countless foreign adversaries, the Muyos, Halwraiths, Polytofs, these are just the start. But, with the help of our outposts on the planets Vinrear and Apollo, we have won or at least driven our enemies out of the solar system."
"Unlike our previous alien invaders, our current threat is something we've never faced. Imagine trying to beat a mirror in a staring contest. I present the first race of aliens with sentience: The Strain."
Somnia taps the board, showing us a diagram of a tall faceless figure.
"Wild animals are born with claws, blubber, fangs, but humanity always triumphed in combat due to our sentience and free thought. Well, The Strain have this gift, matching our intelligence, except they were also born with the claws and the fangs in a metaphorical and literal sense."
"As I mentioned before, we base our artillery on their ecology, now tell me, when has the sequel ever been better than the original?"
She points at us. "Never! ...except for Quantum Mark 2, that was a pretty good gun."
"If they are better than us in every sense, what hope do we have?"
"Yeah, that wasn't a very motivating speech."
Her eyes narrow as she tilts her head down. "Our fear."
She got the dramatic pause she was going for, except all it's done is fill the room with despair.
"What the hell!?"
"Can I change my answer? I want the million polar before humanity is killed off."
"Let me ask you, what is the first instinct of a human when they see a spider on their wall?"
"Kill it."
"Right! We fear the unknown and the all-knowing, therefore we try and kill what we fear. Meanwhile, the Strain, built solely for killing, are better than us in every sense, which includes empathy. They see us as puppies that they have to skin alive. Every time they kill us, their tears daze them in an empathetic explosion."
"Are you saying they don't even see us as a threat?"
"That's right. Like us humans, The Strain are social beings. But, they have no poker face, their emotions change like the weather, conversing with them is like walking a tightrope while juggling 3 dumbbells over an active volcano. One minute they will love your heart, the next they will be holding it in their hand with tears in their eyes."
"If that's the case, why don't we try and make a peace treaty with them?"
"Imagine them as an adult with the brain of a child. So they demand everything and expect to give nothing in return."
Some of my classmates begin to relax. "Well, maybe we can win then, if they're just a bunch of babies."
"We just have to use their kindness against them."
"But, we will not be fighting them."
Everyone groans.
"Teach, what does that even mean?"
"Who are we fighting then?"
"There are monsters within our species, we call them psychopaths, void of any remorse, victory is all they see, how do we reward the pinnacle of humans? We lock them up in asylums. So, just as we have genetic mutations such as these psychopaths, the Strain also shares such beings, with no emotion."
She reloads her gun. "This strain of The Strain is called Sundials. They lose any sense of teamwork or empathy; in exchange, they become the evolution of humanity, a sentient weapon that lives only for itself."
The mood in the room drops except for Ekstasy's chair, which creeks as he rocks.
"Anywho, once natural selection makes the Sundial the dominant trait, humanity will have no hope, and we will all die at the expense of their whims. If that isn't as motivating as a cup of coffee on a Monday morning, I don't know what is!"
Despite how good a coffee sounds, it didn't seem to brighten anyone's mood.
"Since you guys look like these metaphorical kicked puppies I was speaking of, I will now talk about what we as humans have managed to copy."
She taps the board. "Night Cores, these are almost on par with The Strain's ecologically inherent cores, which is why they cost a shit ton."
Pushing down on the metal plate on her chest, the glowing white fuse ejects into her hand. "These are the elemental fuses, think of them as a battery containing power based on the element. The color coding makes it pretty obvious which of the 7 elements it is. Just like a battery, they will eventually deplete, after which they will need to be either replaced or recharged."
Inserting the core back in her chest, she waves her hand cannon around.
"While normal guns do work on them, it's like hitting a bear with a rock, you're going to need quite a few, so this acts as a... slingshot? A trebuchet? I'm not sure where I was going with that."
Scratching her head with the base of her gun, she shrugs.
"The Sundials, they are few in numbers, but they are the puppeteers in the shadows, always holding positions of power. So, we as the High Rollers have a single responsibility, fighting this selfish fire with our own desire to live for ourselves, a battle of sins."
The class is divided half and half.
"Lets kill these Sundial bitches!!"
"I still want to change my answer."
"Too bad, better get selfish. For the first two weeks, we will learn the ecology and the capabilities of the average Strain, along with strategy building. After that, we will be training solely to slaughter this genetic mutation into oblivion."