The Imperium (3 page)

Nothing that had happened to us over the last
couple of years had changed how deadly Shadra and I were on the
battlefield. Many people in the company had joked that to see us,
was to watch the work of one beast with two heads.
We were doing our part, dropping those insane bastard left and
right, but it was becoming plain that we were out-numbered and our
group of rookies was not faring well.

The sick part of doing battle against the
Ascendency was that they rarely shot to kill. Instead, they sought
to wound. In their mind, they thought they were being merciful, but
I had heard the stories of entire wounded company's being carted
off to who only knew where, never to return again.

The fact that they were not taking kill shots
was confusing the Munis. They were all taught about this tactic
during training, but out on the field there was no way to know how
someone would react. It's a very difficult thing to take a life and
even more so, when you are up against an enemy who is not trying to
kill you.

It was because of the number of virgin troops
we had and their hesitation to put down the Ascendency forces, that
they were losing the fight.
The call to fall back came in. We needed to regroup and buttress
the morale of the younger troops.

Shadra and I, along with the other veterans,
were the last wave to recede, continuing to lay down a line of
suppressing fire. As the field began to clear of standing bodies, I
could see just how many fallen ones there were.
Troops with various wounds to their limbs and hands and all with at
least one leg injury.

Instead of taking the opportunity to hit us
with the big stuff, they instead laid down just enough fire to keep
us occupied, while they went about collecting our wounded.

Perhaps it was all that we had experienced over the tour and the
feelings associated with going back home to the pain that awaited
us there or it was the sounds of her fellow comrades screaming as
they were dragged and packed away…I'll never know. Maybe all that
silence and the carefully crafted distance dance we had been doing
for almost two years, had eaten away at her, inside.

I heard her yell "You fucking bastards!" and
then saw her step out of our line, face contorted in exquisite
anger. She started shooting in the direction of the Pegasus like
vehicle, where they were taking the bodies.

Before I could react to what was happening, I
saw her lurch once to the left, which dropped the hand she had been
using to steady the weapon, but did not prevent her from continuing
to shoot. And then she lurched again and I saw that her right hand
had been severed and was still gripping the trigger as it fell. The
third time she lurched, her body was turned toward me and our eyes
met.

I'd saw everything there. The balloon I had
popped that made her cry when we were toddlers, how she looked in
the pale pink dress she had worn on her 16th birthday, the glaze of
passion on her face every time we made love, the vision of her
holding the son that I had always pictured and the photo I had kept
in my mind of how she would look in our final days after she had
gone grey.

Then the left side of her head blew out and
her eyes opened wide as if she was surprised to find herself out
here amongst the carnage and then they slowly closed as her body
slumped and she slipped down to join the crumpled mix of flesh and
machines.

I've heard many accounts of what I did after
that and they all feel like they could be true.
The similar details that they have, is that I went crazy and began
firing on everything that moved, taking out most of the
Ascendency's forces and that my actions incited others to join me
instead of retreating.

That day we had won a battle that we should
have lost and saved tons of our troops from the mind washing
clutches of the Ascendency. But, none of it registered with me. I
had lost the only thing that mattered in the world.

When the last month of my tour was up, I
refused to go back. I told my commanding officer that there was
nothing there for me. He understood and was glad to have me stay
on. It did not take long for me to work my way up to commanding my
own company. I was an effective soldier, so much so that some
people said that I was crazy when locked in the heat of battle.
Maybe they were right.

All I know is that in the beginning I had
fought for honor, to do my part as the ones before me had done and
to solidify my place as a citizen of the Imperium. Then, I had
fought for love, for the future, I thought I could seed with my
wants and hopes of a life with Shadra.

And now…

Now I fight for revenge.