The IMC base on Demeter was buzzing with excitement. They had just recieved the news that they would be going home after one last battle.

One pilot in particular was especially glad. His name was Carson.

Back on Earth, he was a hunter. But, at some point, it stopped paying like it used to, and he was forced to join the IMC Military to provide for his family. He started as a grunt, but quickly rose through the ranks, and his precision when sniping became legendary among those that fought with him.

Carson didn't like fighting, and every time he killed one of the so called "Militia Terrorists", he couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt.

He was glad the fighting was over. If nothing else, he wouldn't have to kill anymore.

The Militia squadron assigned to the assault of Demeter was not nearly as happy about the battle. They were going into what was almost certainly a suicide mission, and even if they succeeded, there would be a very low chance of them escaping anyways.

Captain MacAllan was going into battle with them, which raised spirits slightly, but the Militia forces still had a grim attitude in the hours before the assault.

One of the Militia pilots however, might have been too excited.

Ryan was one of the younger pilots in the Militia "army". He was able to demonstrate his quick reflexes, agility, and ability with an assault rifle when the training facility he was in was attacked by a wandering patrol of bandits. Eventually, he found himself with the Pilot's Combat Certification, and frequently took the lead in missions where he felt the assigned leader was moving too slowly.

The others might have thought that they were probably going to die, but Ryan was sure he would live to fight another day.

"Hey baby." Carson talked into the phone, leaving a message for his girlfriend. He had planned to get married a long time ago, but didn't have the money for a ring. "I'm coming home soon. Should be tomorrow, I'll see you then, okay? Tell my ma I said hi. I love you." The phone beeped as he hung up, and he noticed that Josh, his best friend, who had joined the army with him, albeit for different reasons, was waiting for him. Maybe by sheer luck, or maybe because John's father was a high ranking member of the army, they had ended up in the same squad. John was the team's medic. "Hurry up, there's only like, a half hour before we drop."

Ryan didn't have a family. He had lost his parents to an IMC raid, and he never met his older brother. He had always figured that it was for the best because, after all, if he died, that would destroy them. He never really made any friends in the Militia either, except for one. A girl named Lauren had saved his life one of the many, many times he was being reckless on an assignment, and they quickly became close friends. But, Lauren got reassigned to a different area a few months back, and they hadn't talked since. After the battle, Ryan hoped to get in touch. Get caught up. Seeing Lauren always made him smile.

At last, it was time. The IMC troops got organized into their squads. Carson's squad was Anvil-6. Vice Admiral Marcus Graves gave a speech. Carson wasn't listening all that much, he was thinking about home. He quickly regained his senses, however, when they began loading on to drop pods.

"I hate this part." He heard a voice say, among the mass of people.

I couldn't agree more. Carson thought.

The Militia dropships jumped into the airspace over Demeter, where they were promptly shot down by the outpost's anti-air missiles. As Ryan tumbled through the air, he tried not to get impaled by a falling piece of debris. After what felt like an eternity, he hit the ground. Hard.

Luckily, his pilot armor negated most of the impact, but he was still left winded. He slowly rose to his feet, and found Captain MacAllan bashing the gates open in his titan.

The assault on Outpost Demeter had begun.

As for the actual battle, it was a blur of steel, flesh, and blood. Carson made his way to one of the maintenance bridges used by the workers, and covered his team who advanced to the main pressure control valve. There, he began picking off the Militia forces that got a little too close for comfort. It seemed to be going well.

It probably should have been a given that something would have gone wrong.

The IMC took control of the valves quickly. The under-trained Militia forces were outclassed, but they had one advantage.

MacAllan.

He was a wild card. And in the end, he changed the course of the war by sacrificing himself.

Even though the Militia were locked out of the pressure control valves, MacAllan was able to manually increase it, at the cost of his own life.

Carson wasn't sure if he was supposed to hear the conversation, but not only was the port of Demeter to explode, everyone on the planet was going down with it.

A tear rolled down his cheek as he realized this was where he was going to die.

Ryan felt betrayed.

Rescue wasn't coming, and he and everyone else that came to Demeter with him were about to go up in flames.

For him, dying wasn't really that much of an issue. It made him really, really angry that they weren't even going to try to get any of their men out of there.

Maybe there was somewhere he could hide, and escape the nuclear explosion that was going to occur in about sixty seconds.

It seemed unlikely.

Ryan accepted his fate begrudgingly, but found himself saddened by the fact that he didn't get to say goodbye to his only friend.

He sat down next to an IMC pilot that had also given up. The guy had on the outfit of a sniper, and had probably killed hundreds of Militia troops.

Ryan didn't really care. They were all going to die anyways.

"Hey." He said to the sniper. "Name's Ryan. You?"

"Carson."

"You got any family back home, Carson?"

"Yeah. I got my girlfriend, and my ma. You?"

"Not really. Got a friend, but she's out in a different system. Haven't really stopped to talk to anyone else. No time to make friends now, I suppose."

Carson turned to look at Ryan. "Have you noticed that everyone's stopped fighting? All it took was our mutual destruction, and the fighting stopped. Maybe the only way the war can truly, truly end is with both sides wiped out."

Ryan didn't reply. He didn't feel like talking. He didn't feel especially like dying either, but he couldn't control that.

And almost out of nowhere, there was a blinding flash. And everyone on the planet was vaporized.

That's how the story goes, anyways,