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 Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 1:31 pm
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BAD DREAMS
written by Mac ninja
She flipped Martin the bird and jumped backwards out of the Valkyrie with a cheer from the others, making a perfect somersault before going level. She strained to look up, expecting to see Martin and the others there. The Valkyrie was gone, replaced by a black cloud and flaming debris flying everywhere.
With a gasp corporal Elise Konig shot awake, bathed in sweat.
Not again, third time this month. Glancing round she noticed that the others were still asleep with the exception of one. Byron’s bunk was empty again. With a sigh she quietly got out, softly padding along the corridor of bunks to the door leading outside. Once outside she felt a slight but pleasantly chilly breeze of the night go over her.
‘Hey Elise.’
She noticed Byron sitting with his back against the wall, pencil and a notepad on his lap, he was contently looking at the night sky. Unlike Konig he was still in his jump suit, only minus the bulky flak armour. She joined in with his stargazing, leaned onto the rail of the porch and looking at the vista of bright lights for a moment. For a brief moment she wondered which one was Elysia, but she was light years away from home. But you could always dream. She picked the brightest star and for a moment imagined that it was home.
‘Thought you might be here again, don’t you ever sleep John?’
‘Sometimes, I just feel that I can’t sleep at all. So I sneak out, have a seat and look up. Stars are sometimes comforting to me in their ancient but simple beauty. At other times they scare the living crap out of me.’
‘Why that?’
‘One of those might be a future warzone for us to play on. One of those might hold my tombstone. Though I plan on postponing that as long as possible.’
‘Never figured you a career man John, at least not like that.’
Byron let out a laugh and shook his head. He was something of a mystery to Konig. Before he enlisted he had everything: good education, a wealthy family and the promise of a bright future on Elysia. Instead he threw that all away to become one of the most dangerous occupations in the Imperium: a drop trooper. Death rates during training were already notoriously high at five percent and the death ratios during actual operations were even more frightening. She noticed that Byron was studying her and for a moment she thought that he was admiring her derriere as she wore nothing more than shorts and a shirt. But no, John wasn’t like that. From what Drake had told her and what she noticed was that John Byron wasn’t a ladies’ man. With a frown she reminded herself that no man would love her ruined face now.
His face was serious and he asked the one question she dreaded to hear:
‘Elise? What really happened down there?’
+ + +
Landing went like a textbook instruction, rigorous training overruling any remaining hysteria and sorrow she had moments before at the sight her squad’s demise. Konig performed a perfect landing: touching down, performing a roll and ending on all fours, the armour on her knees and elbows taking most of the brunt of the sudden stop of motion. With a shrug the grav chute detached, dropping hard to the ground. She pulled her lasgun from her back and checked the charge, immediately raising it and aiming through the sights. She was in enemy territory now, danger could lurk anywhere. First course of action was to establish contact with the others.
She tried hailing other squads several times, but some sort of interference seemed to prevent her from making actual contact. She did catch snippets of orders being given and reports being made, but not enough to know what was really going on. Despite that she thought she knew where she was and where she was going, having studied the map intently and memorizing most landmarks of importance.
Slowly she picked herself a way through the ruined city, staying away from the main roads, instead sticking to the winding alleys and ruined buildings for the most cover. Something made her stop dead in her tracks and scramble into a ruined store, quickly and quietly climbing to the second floor overlooking a rubble strewn intersection. Over the distant fire fights and artillery she could hear people calling out, their accents marking them as locals. Slowly the enemy patrol moved into view, men dressed in simple grey camo uniforms carrying bulky automatic rifles. There was something about them, Konig thought to herself as she carefully aimed at the first man. How could they call their selves soldiers if they walk in the open and disregard all safety by shouting out loud? Unless she was somehow behind enemy lines, where the enemy thought himself safe from enemy fire. She ignored the thought for now, counting six men slowly walking into the open.
‘Come on..’
She waited another heartbeat and opened fire, the pop-crack of her lasgun cutting through the silence as she gunned down who she thought to be the man in charge. As he went down the others went for cover with cries of anger and surprise. One of them froze up, looking at the body in shock. Konig made sure that it was the last thing he’d do, ending him with a quick trio of shots. She quickly scanned the piles of rubble, waiting for one of them to make a run for it. She could wait out for them, though a part of her was screaming for her to run. Maybe just a few more seconds and then leg for it? There! Movement, just a few more shots.
‘Filthy rat!’
Something heavy slammed into her back and made her lose her grip on her weapon, the momentum letting her drop it out the window. Something cracked against her helmet and Konig fell forward, two strong hands grabbing hold of her and turning her around, the hands now around her neck, trying and succeeding in strangling her to death. From the look she got the man was hell-bent on killing her with his bare hands, his face a grim mask of controlled rage. Without thinking she chopped her right hand into the throat of her assailant, blocking his windpipe. She kicked him away, kicked his feet away and brought her boot down hard on his neck, crushing the windpipe. For good measure she stomped down on his nose three times, killing him outright. It seemed those merciless drills she had to endure were good for something after all.
‘Mother-’ she managed to cough as she wiped away tears.
‘Andrei?’
With a curse Konig looked for a weapon, dismayed to find out that her assailant was unarmed. She went for her only remaining weapon: her knife. She quickly hid behind the door, deciding that it was better to hide than fight superior numbers with guns.
‘Andrei? Did you get that b*****d? We found his gun!’
The footsteps slowly ascended the stairs and Konig held her breath as they drew closer.
‘Andrei?’
The utter lack of training shown by the soldiers was yet again obvious as the man saw the dead body. All caution was thrown out the window as he entered the room and knelt down besides the body, letting out a gasp of horror at the sight of the crushed face. He turned to leave but made eye contact with Konig.
A spilt second passed as both sides looked at one another in surprise.
The man reached for his gun but the knife got to him first, thudding into his unprotected chest. Armour was another thing they seemed to lack dearly. What the man didn’t lack was a pair of lungs as he let out a long scream of pain and horror. Loud enough to make his comrade barge in and forget about any threat. Konig decided to make the best of it and slammed the door shut, hoping to unbalance the man. The impact disoriented him for a moment, all she needed to tackle him and beat him senseless, the armoured panels on her gloves aiding her with her savage blows. As a coup de grace she wrenched his head to one side, taking him out for good.
Panting she turned to the screaming man, who was on the ground now but still screaming.
‘Shut up already!’
He didn’t shut up. With a grunt she pulled the knife free and plunged it into his throat, silencing him with a slew of wet gurgles that grew fainter after a few moments. She then grabbed his rifle, checking the weight and studying it for a moment. It was a bulky slug burper that was set to full-auto.
*creak*
Startled Konig spun round and emptied the clip into the door and wall, fist-sized holes punched into the material with ease. Something thumped down the stairs and landed at the end with a thud. A careful glance revealed the ruined, twisted and bullet-ridden corpse of the sixth man of the patrol. Lying not far from him was her lasgun, still in functional working order.
As she went down to retrieve her weapon she checked her hour piece, sighing as she noticed that hardly an hour had passed since she jumped from her transport.
It was going to be a long day.
+ + +
‘Elise? Are you okay?’
She blinked and looked down at Byron, concern etched on his face.
‘s**t happened John, a lot of s**t.’
He sighed and got up, stooping to pick up his pad and pencil.
‘Okay, I get it. But Elise, just so you know: if you ever want to talk about it, we’re there for you.’
‘I know.’
Byron left her to her own thoughts, finally heading inside for his bunk.
Elise Konig did want to talk about it, but not now. Nor was she entirely sure how to talk about it. She could deal with it, for now.
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Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2009 4:52 pm
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Posted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 2:36 am
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Posted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 8:21 pm
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Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2009 3:35 pm
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Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2009 8:16 pm
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Posted: Fri Apr 03, 2009 2:25 am
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Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2009 9:49 am
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Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2009 8:57 am
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