The Unseen War

Chapter 1

Earth Year 3008, April 6th

Two Months after the Attack

I wake in a cold sweat, my ears ringing from my nightmares. Both things that have happened and things that I can't help but imagine have happened. My name is Christopher McMillan. It's been two months since the attack on my town, but I still remember every vivid detail. A curse that plagues my sleep, mixed with older memories of pain. It has been two months but memories can always hurt.

When I had woken up after the attack, the stranger had been there with me. She had been a thief in my house ready to steal from me before the charges had gone off. She had told me why awhile after we had been stuck together and she knew she couldn't escape the military. Now she was my only friend, Siasana. The circumstances of our meeting had definitely not been the most conventional but it had formed a small bond between us. She had brought me to the military after I had passed out. When I woke up she had completely fabricated a fake life between us.

The military had drafted every able bodied person from the wreckage of my town. Their reasoning was that it was easier to use them rather than do any kind of relocation. I hadn't seen my hometown since, except in my dreams where it was repeatedly destroyed. I knew that I wasn't the only one, but I felt like I was the only one who missed it.

Being one of the few soldiers who had 'seen combat' among my squad had put me in good standing with most of the soldiers, but not so much with the Lieutenants. The Universe and specifically Earth had been at peace long enough that most of the Lieutenants had never seen combat, and the ones who had had only fought Tracers. They tended to view my experience as a hindrance to my squad rather than a benefit. Personally I didn't care one way or the other. The Charges had dropped and I hadn't actually fought anything, I didn't know where the admiration came from. I hadn't even seen the enemy.

"Welcome back to the OtherWorlds Christopher." Siasana said, seeing me awake. She was already in uniform and was drying her long light hair to be ready for the Reveille.

"How much longer do we have?" I ask while stretching.

"Close to twenty minutes until the Reveille sounds." We were both taken when the military came through. She hadn't left until she had made sure that I was okay and that was why she was stuck with me now. She had said we were married when the military asked questions, I hadn't been awake to contradict her and it had resulted in us getting our own space in the barracks. She took the bed while I 'slept' on the floor. I got so little sleep that I was glad that I had given her the bed.

After two months of basic training we had just recently been assigned our positions for the upcoming war. Siasana had shown great skill as a pilot while my physical prowess had landed me a Totaller position. It was kind of daunting to hear it put so simply, that the rest of our lives were being dedicated to an unknown cause.

Being stuck in close quarters with Siasana had only recently stopped feeling awkward, at least for me. I still didn't know her all that much. She only ever told me the bare minimum, like that she was taking my stuff when we first met. Whenever I tried to talk to her about her past or what she liked to do, she would make up an obvious lie or she would just ignore the questions.

"Hey, Anna?" I started, just trying to break the silence.

"What did you just call me?" She asked, her voice going slightly higher pitched than I was used to. She stopped doing her hair and stared at me. She didn't often give into her reactions and I was taken aback by it.

"I'm sorry, is that a problem?" I was worried that she might completely ignore me if I made her angry before we were separated. If we left on a bad note, I might lose my only friend.

She took a moment before speaking. "No, just..." Her voice trailed off.

"Do you not want me to call you that?" I asked, trying to make doubly sure that I wasn't losing ground with her. "What about Sia?"

"Sia is fine, I think I prefer it. As long as you don't mind if I call you Chris." She said before finishing putting her hair up into a military bun. "What was it that you wanted to know?"

In my uncertainty of the moment I had completely forgotten that I had started to ask a question. "What do you think about being assigned Pilot First Class?"

"I've flown ships before, but it might be nice to have a smaller and more nimble spacecraft." She answered without looking at me. "What do you think about being assigned as a Totaller?"

"The idea of being someone who has to attack a spacecraft directly is absolutely terrifying." I admitted. "I've never been a fan of the idea of space travel, so the idea of free floating in space is terrifying. Our crews are so small that I worry about the usefulness of such a small force."

She didn't reply, why would she? We didn't really know each other. I left it at that and got ready for the day myself. The uniforms were simple, camo for ground squads and a dark gray uniform for space squads. Being assigned as Pilot First Class and Totaller respectively, we were both in dark gray uniforms.

The Reveille sounded and we started on our daily drills. I tried to enjoy myself, it was going to be the last time that Siasana and I would be doing drills together for the foreseeable future. I was going to miss her even though we didn't really interact when we were alone, and even if she didn't say anything, I thought Sia would miss me as well.