With a war going on across the system, Maxwell and his squad have to do their duty. But as strange occurrences begin to take their toll, he must look deeper than what's on the surface.
This wasn't supposed to happen. How could it? We had a plan-- we had a TEAM. But now... now nothing will be the same.
I took the lead as acting Squad Leader. I increased my speed; the Kleiss might have ships down there. They weren't supposed to, but I wasn't taking any chances.
"C'mon, guys... let's get back quickly."
"Right..." Xavier said.
"Okay..." said Edmond.
Katie remained silent. I didn't blame her. We'd all seen too much.
We all accelerated around the planet until we found the mothership. I punched in my numbers for the bridge to let us approach.
I opened a channel and heard a voice on the other end. "You're missing two craft and I'm only detecting four life signs. What happened out there?"
"Hell," said Edmond. "Hell happened."
"Where's your Squadron Commander?"
"He's dead," I said. "I'm acting Squad Leader right now."
"Oh my... report, please."
I continued on to tell the person on the ship our codes and report of the mission. Two casualties, two missing ships, and a failed mission.
____________________
We boarded the mothership and made our way to the conference room. That's where we usually took our breaks and talked about life. Now, I don't think we can do either of these things comfortably. I thought about Chris-- he was only 22 years old. He had a girlfriend that he was going to marry, and was expecting a child soon. We hadn't known him for very long; Only about three months. In all honesty, he wasn't all that important to me... I took him for granted. And now...
Now I'll never talk to him again.
Eventually, my mind shifts to Squad Leader Neville.
He died right in front of me, and there was nothing that I could do. I was useless. He had a wife and children and was respected by his comrades.
He didn't deserve this...
I looked up at my crew members, and the looks on their faces told me that they were thinking about the same things. I walked over to Kate to try and comfort her.
"Hey, Kate, how're you holding up?"
"I-I don't know... this wasn't supposed to happen... and... and I miss them already," she said as her voice began to quiver.
"I know, I know... It's ok," I said softly to her while giving her a hug.
"They were good men. They died with honor and won't be forgotten."
"But why?" she asked and looked up at me. "They didn't deserve it. They were good men, and they didn't deserve it!
She began to yell and cry at the same time. The sight of it made my heart hurt even more than it already did.
"I-I know, I'm sorry..." I began to cry as well.
We sat there for a few seconds, just crying into each other's shoulders. Eventually, the others joined us and we all were grouped into a sad huddle for several minutes.
The ship began to move. I knew that we couldn't remain in this state forever; We had more missions to accomplish.
I needed to move on.
I needed everyone to move on.
So, I stood up and spoke.
"Okay everyone, listen to me. A good friend of mine once told me that sometimes, bad things happen to good people. This is a fact proven to us by life. It isn't fair and it isn't right, but we have to move on. We may never be the same, but we won't forget our friends. And I can promise you one thing-- they won't have died in vain. We're gonna fight in this war and we sure as hell aren't going to lose!"
Silence.
I had a determined look on my face that slowly began to lose its confidence.
Katie stood up as well.
"Y-Yeah... Yeah! You're right! We will remember them. And we'll win! For them!"
"We will win!" shouted Edmond.
"Yeah, we'll beat them!"
My dumb look turned into one of pride, and I pulled them all back into a great big hug.
"Thank you guys, I could never do any of this without you..."
"And you won't have to," Kate said. "We'll stick with you to the end, no matter what. You're still losers though," she said with a smirk.
I sighed and smiled at her. "Right back at ya."
Everyone laughed, and we eventually began to head out the door with a bittersweet atmosphere hanging over us.
I heard something in my vest pocket and found the dog tags. They were Squad Leader Neville's.
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Neville, Roger K.
TAF October 23, 2994
O+
Squadron Commander
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I felt tears welling up in my eyes, but I didn't let it phase me. I had to stay strong.
We headed our separate ways to our temporary quarters. Mine and Xavier's were next to each other, so I said goodnight to him last. He flashed me a salute on his way in the door.
The Terrian Salute:
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I nodded and headed into my own quarters. Not too big or comfortable, but they were only temporary. Until we could go home, they'd suffice.
I turned towards the bed and hopped under the covers. We'd probably have another mission in the next few days, so I was going to get as much rest as I could. I thought about the events of today, and about my speech earlier. I hope they liked it.
It was all for them.
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And that's chapter two!
It's shorter than the first one, but I'll try and keep each one between 900 and 1200 words. Anyway, I hope you guys like it so far!
