The Unseen War

Chapter 4

Earth Year 3010, April 2nd

Twenty-Six Months after the Attack

I felt like I was finally starting to break through with Sia. She was the one who would start conversations while I would take more time listening. It had been two months since we had shipped out. Our squads were on the same ship, the Tempest. We were stationed near the Higher Quadrant, intercepting Taggon ships. The Taggons were among the most technologically advanced of the OtherWorlders, and also the wealthiest. With their wealth they had highered a large portion of the Regored mercenary force.

"The food is so much better than Nutra-Soup now, it makes it a whole lot harder to steal when soldiers are actually interested in their food." Sia said. I watched her while she sat down, surprised that she was sitting here with one tray of food so soon after leaving the line.

"Were there no Captain's emblems to steal today?" I asked.

"As a matter of fact, Chris, there was... But I decided against tormenting any of the forces today." She answered.

"So, you just wanted to sit with me today?"

"That shouldn't surprise you, we are married after all." She said it as if it were a fact rather than a lie she had made up two years ago to keep herself from being arrested.

"Hear that?" I held my hand up to my ear, pretending to listen. "I can't hear anyone saying that they believed that since the first month of our deployment."

"Earlier than that probably, but according to the military we are, and we both know the military is never wrong." She came back smartly, not missing a beat.

"Everyone just assumed that you only stuck around with me for the benefits," I joked. "Are they wrong?"

"At the very least they were observant." She said before going quiet for a moment. She sometimes went quiet like that and I always thought she looked sad.

"Really? I thought you married me for my good looks, not to get a separate bedroom from the rest of the army." I said, trying to keep her spirits up.

"There are only a couple of married couples in our squads, maybe we should set up a double date with one of them. Maybe you'll make new friends."

Hearing it like that made me feel a little weird, so I steered the conversation in a different direction.

"There are more fun things we could do together than sit with a married couple. If we were going to do something then we should at least make it fun."

"Heads up!" A call came out. "This squad is moving to intercept a Regored patrol that was reported to be making its way through the Higher Quadrant."

After the announcement, almost all of the conversations that had been floating around the room had stopped. Sia looked worried for the first time that I ever saw, I felt indifferent. It wasn't the first time they had moved us to intercept patrols that never ended up showing up. The Regored ships were better armed than the normal Taggon ships but I hadn't felt any fear about going into battle since the first Tracer attack. It wasn't that I was excited by it, I was just resigned to the fact that I was going to be in combat at some point.

This feeling didn't resonate with very many of the other soldiers. Most of the Totallers just assumed that they were going to die. I felt that if I was going to die in combat, then I was going to die in combat. My life was no longer my own, and the only purpose I had was to serve the military.

Slightly later the noise began again, as the conversations slowly started back up again.

"That was fun news." I said, trying to go back to our previous banter.

"Are you serious?" Sia asked, her mood obviously ruined.

Realizing that she had taken the news harder than I thought, I tried to lighten the mood a little. "Well when should we plan on taking our honeymoon?"

"That's not even funny." She said, obviously the playful banter was over.

Even with her complete moodshift, I was still happy. I had come to enjoy my time with Sia even when she didn't seem to enjoy her time with me. I started to look forward to waking up and seeing her. She was beautiful in her uniform and I knew that I had fallen for her. I had been hurting for a time before the charges had been dropped, but somehow since our chance meeting I was starting to open my heart again. And now that it was open, it belonged to her.

Dread sometimes made its way in even if fear didn't. The moment we were in battle, knowing that it was possible that either one of us could die. I was willing to die if it meant protecting her.

The thoughts were interrupted by a scuffle that broke out between some of the nearby soldiers.

Helmets were thrown to the ground and fists were flying, I stepped into the middle and caught one of the flying hands. "What are you doing?" I asked, completely surprised by my own blatant intervention.

Enraged, the soldier whose hand I caught pulled his hand away and stayed silent. They both stared daggers at me, as if I was the one who had started the fight.

At the sound of the commotion a Lieutenant had made his way over. "What's going on here Totallers?"

Totallers? These guys were also Totallers. I didn't recognize them so they must have been from a different squad.

"This guy here is getting into our business!" The Totaller who I had stopped said, pointing at me.

All of the sudden I realized I might have done more harm than good by stepping in between these two.

"Cut the nonsense, I was watching from the side. This Totaller stopped you both from causing more issues than would be proper for Totallers." At least this Lieutenant was a reasonable one. I had come across one who would have had all three of us running drills for the rest of the day.

"Karker here was talking about where the beasts were going to hit first. He kept saying that my city was, as it was the most useless." The Totaller that I had protected from getting hit was younger than I realized. Even still, most soldiers would usually be able to ignore that kind of jab from a squadmate but the younger hothead had taken it a little too seriously.

"On my word." The Lieutenant stated. "Totaller Karker, keep your words to yourself if you have nothing productive to say. Totaller Barbosa, don't take everything you hear so seriously. You might find yourself without someone like Totaller McMillan to keep you from getting yourself in worse trouble. Now both of you, check your equipment for damage and find yourself out of my sight. You are on the same squad so don't cause any more issues."

Not entirely sure what to do, I simply stood there while the Lieutenant berated the two Totallers.

Each of the Totallers went their separate ways and I found myself standing with the Lieutenant. "Thank you Totaller McMillan." I saluted him and simply walked away.

All of the tension of the moment seemed to dissipate. I was happy that no one had gotten in trouble for it, usually stepping into something you aren't involved in can end poorly. I was glad it hadn't this time.

Returning to the table, I waited a moment while Sia sat laughing. Her gentle laugh was enough of a reward that I could have taken a punishment and it still would have been worth it.

Trying to hide my pleasure at seeing her joy, I sat down and finished eating. We were happy at this moment. Little did I know how much I was going to need that.

Happiness was going to be elusive for a while.