Story Segment: #0512

((Here's story segment #0512. I think that I'll write segment #0513 next, and post it next week.))

Corporal Dalton's gut wasn't very good at telling him things. It only seemed to tell him when he would definitely succeed or definitely fail, which he could usually figure out for himself anyway. He didn't need his gut to tell him not to play the lottery, or not to play that knife game with his fingers, given his coordination. Nevertheless, when Corporal Dalton saw that figure clad in white with bits of black, and holding something that glowed a bright, pale blue in its right hand, his gut told him that he didn't stand a chance.
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There are three primary ways to improve the visibility of a laser beam, short of looking into the beam itself. One way is to darken the surrounding environment, in order to make the scattered light stand out even more. A second way is to increase the amount of medium-borne particulates which scatter the light in the first place. A third way is to increase the intensity of the laser itself. When dealing with a laser beam-producing device which strongly resembles a weapon, this is relevant to one's interests.
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Xot Ut ran low to the ground. As he approached the first soldier, he let his sword get so low as to begin to char the stones beneath it. The soldier had barely brought his weapon up to fire when Xot Ut was right under him. Xot Ut leapt up, cutting through the soldier's assault rifle. His jump landed him well past the first soldier's position, where he made a sharp right turn, running low to the ground again toward another soldier. This one had just turned around due the noise, and effectively had no better warning than the first. The rifle was cut in two again, and this time Xot Ut went left, parallel to his original direction, where there were three soldiers conveniently lined up.
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Corporal Dalton was a bit shocked. It may have been the brief and sudden but strong heat that he felt as the laser sword went past him, mere inches from his body. It may have been that said weapon just cut cut his primary means of attack and defense. It may even have been that someone with no firearms, explosives, or other ordinance just charged an armed soldier like a total loon and somehow won. It was really the sort of thing that would take more than a few seconds to work out.
Dalton did get the notion to warn the others, though. Unfortunately, his shout ended up lacking words. He just yelled. However, the most useful thing that anyone managed to immediately shout was "What IS that?", so he didn't feel so bad about that later on.
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((Having a random segment of a random story makes no sense? Read this post for the short explanation, and pretty much everything with the story tag for more info.))