Hey guys, a bit of a warning for this chapter, there is a lot of boring stuff ahead. It is mostly where I explain the Solar government and political orientations which is stuff I am interested in, but you might not be. So I will place a warning for this chapter when this appears, so you can skip to the better and juicy stuff of the story. Now onwards!
We were aboard the SRN (Solar Republican Navy) "Columbia". After our expedition in Baku, Fortress (the call sign of the captain of the vessel, his name being Garrison) decided to pull us out of the planet all together. Our little espionage run has finally come to an end. They gave us a few days aboard the ship as we traveled through interstellar space, technically illegal, but we were the Solar Republic. So who cares? Right?
I spent most of the time thinking about how in the hell we lost the best commander I have ever served under. I felt as if Myers didn't need to die. But who am I to tell? War is war, and people die in wars.
The ship we were on was operated by the ISDF and was staffed with Marines and ISDF soldiers alike. But a few protectors were on board, Most of them from Hylotl, Novakid, and the rest were of a many different races descent. But mostly human Marines and ISDF soldiers occupied the ship.
The Columbia was a big ship, commissioned about 50 years ago, it was one of many carriers of the Solar navy. The ship in design was basically a space ship carrier, a mothership of sorts. It housed hundreds of smaller ships and vessels that are used to be launched ahead of the Columbia in combat. It has long since lost it's splendor as it had to make way to newer and more advanced ships, but it still was a force to be reckoned with.
Tombstone, Misfit, Delta, and Foxtrot squadrons were all housed in a larger room with bunks, tables, a television, electric oven, and radio. Our home, the room designated 122 TMDF.
I spent most of my time in my bunk thinking about how badly we messed up in Baku. While High Command considered it a victory, I thought we had done everything wrong. It seemed the rest of Tombstone wasn't very happy either, the four squadrons were usually always laughing together, but with one of the soldiers missing it seemed that the fourth squadron was a little tired of all the fun and games. Parker, myself, and Irish moped around the room, in our bunk, or sitting by ourselves while the other men laughed, celebrated, and played cards.
It was agonizing, waiting for those days. During lunch, I felt like a angel had kissed me when our squadron crackled on the radio. A female voice came on and read the beautiful sentence I ever heard, "Tombstone; Isaiah Nelson, Trevor Parker, Omar Mohammed (Irish's real name), report to Captain Garrison's headquarters ASAP."
Tombstone jumped up at the fact and we practically ran out of the cafeteria. We twisted down through the corridors and labyrinths of the Columbia until we reached the headquarters of Garrison. Stepping inside, we saw a older man in his mid fifties, balding and with white hair. He was rather skinny, and he had a pistol on the cabinet behind his chair. We would joke that if you ever got him upset while standing in his office, he would just take the gun out, shoot you, and eject your body through the airlock. But there were no jokes today.
Garrison looked solemn too. Was it the water?
"Tombstone, gather around. We have a really big situation on our hands today." He said without looking up at us, and instead studying the numerous papers scattered around his desk.
We stood around him as he looked up and addressed us.
"Martial fucking law for over a Trillion people. They're all pissed off about the assassination of Jin-Je." We knew instant that he was talking about the Apex.
"Who was he sir." Parker asked, a question that we all had.
"He was on deck for the presidency, pushed for transparency of their government, freedom of speech, and fairness to the people. Now Admiral Chang, convinced than a few of them that we, killed Mr. Je." Admiral Chang was the leader of the Miniknog People's Navy. He became famous, when he attempted a failed coup to gain control of the government. It achieved limited success as hew was granted virtually unlimited power, but had to give the people free elections because the country went into collapse after the coup and he needed to prevent it from becoming an all out civil war. But after numerous riots, he enforced martial law in the country and froze the elections.
The situation was extremely unstable, until Jin-Je showed up (Garrison explained this to us) he gave the people hope of a better future. A future that wouldn't be trifled with despair and war. But last year, he was assassinated. Admiral Chang led a campaign to make the people believe the Solar Republic was at fault, and ever since the Republic has gotten more enemies than friends. The Solar Intelligence Agency (SIA) swore on its life it had nothing to do with it, and all out war almost broke out between the two countries, until the Protectorate stepped in.
"…He convinced more than a few of them that we, killed Mr. Je. Now if this operation blows up, he will be able to direct and give all that hate…all that anger, a real target. It will be war."
A war between the Miniknog and Pentagon seemed almost inevitable, but everybody in the galaxy tried as much as they could to prevent that from happening. The last time the Apex and Solar Republic was at war, was nearly two hundred years ago in the Second Galactic War. And it tore the galaxy apart. There are still some countries that haven't yet fully recovered from the shock of it all. And it forced the galaxy to remember that no matter what, war between the two countries must be averted as much as possible. No matter the cost.
"Now your job is to accompany Misfit, Viper, Foxtrot, Delta, and Cobra squadron on an assault on a Kluex extremist base on the desert planet Solitudinem. That Intel Isaiah picked up in the rebel hideout has led us over there to find something game changing. But High Command, in all their wisdom, needs more information to take action." Garrison finished as he returned to his desk.
"Don't worry sir, you picked the right squadron for the job, we will get it done-" Garrison interrupted me by putting a hand on my shoulder. He looked me straight in the eye as he said his next words.
"I have decided to put you in charge of Tombstone for today's mission. It was after all, Myers wish. His loss is, tragic to say the least. Don't make me regret his last wish…" He started addressing everyone, "…Do the right thing. Go in and retrieve whatever it is Command wants. No room for mistakes boys."
(Warning boring stuff)
The current political situation of the galaxy was not simple to explain. So let me over simplify it for you. There are currently millions of different nations and races. All with varying degrees of influence and power. And millions more yet to be discovered. But ten of them control the most power. The Solar Republic, Kingdom of the Glitch, Novakid confederation, Apex Peoples Republic, The Florian tribal confederation, Cuzco Empire, Papua, The United Federation (A merchant republic with a very diverse population ranging from nearly all races), Galactic Empire (A vast warmongering country) and the Grand Monarchy of the Hylotl.
Out of these Galactic powers five of them hold even more power than the rest and are considered 'superpowers'. These countries are, The Solar Republic, Apex People's Republic, Galactic Empire and the United Federation.
To understand the Solar Republic, I have to explain to you the country and its government. Its capital, on Earth in a city on Antarctica (creatively named The Capitol), is the most populous and diverse planet in the known universe, with a last check indicating a population of over 507 Billion people. The Solar Republic is centered around Earth and it's main star, Sol, but it has control over every planet in the system as well as fully colonized the Centauri systems, Orion, and Kepler star systems.
The government is a democratic capitalist state (with some Socialist influences like free Healthcare and education, welfare, you know that stuff). The country is ruled by a Congress, and each member represents and is elected by a planet or territory the Republic controls (when it comes to Earth, there is a councilman for every district on Earth, I will explain this later). Every congressman is called a Minister, with the head of the congress known as a Lord or Executive minister. It is this congress that decides the fate of the country, and while it is bound by a constitution it is the congress ( AKA the National Assembly or The Council depending on who you ask) who has the most say in how the country is run. Except for the constitution which cannot be overridden by Congress in anyway.
The Constitution, the most sacred document in Solar history, is a series of forty codes that lists all the rights and abilities of the people, government, and military. It has forty codes which cannot be changed or overridden in anyway, but it can have more codes added on to it as problems arise and transpire. These codes are not as sacred as the first forty and can be repealed by congress if congress vote unanimously to remove it.
And on the subject of Earth, our main planet is probably one of the most unique in the entire galaxy, considering the fact that it has 'districts'. These districts are the remnants of the warring nation states that decimated the planet nearly two thousand years ago. After the Third and final World War, Earth was invaded by the Florans (Humanity up to this point, only had colonies on planets in the Solar System and never ventured out) and the Earth, aided by the United Nations Organization (Which still exists to this day) unified, and each country was demoted in status to district with representative power in congress, but no national army, separate government or laws. The capital was moved to a city called Kodiak (A Pan-American research station) and Antarctica became an administrative district with no representative power other than to pass laws.
Now back to the political stuff, The Solar Republic is the galaxy's second most powerful nation, the single wealthiest nation, and the fourth largest in size. Ahead of it is the Apex, who maintain a huge army, yet it is mostly full of conscripts rather than Solar volunteers. The Apex and Solar republic have been rivals ever since humans first emerged out of the Solar system and ventured beyond into Galactic politics (this was back when both countries were practically unheard of and much weaker, maybe 2 thousand year ago). This rivalry has sparked two Galactic wars, countless civil wars, revolutions, a biological disaster, a economic depression, and has coasted the lives of millions.
The Solar Republic was gaining on the Apex, and fast. It wouldn't be long until the Republic eclipsed the Apex completely and took the spot as number one in galactic politics.
The main allies of the Solar Republic are the Hylotl, Novakids, and Avians (there are actually two different countries of this race. The nation of Papua ,the one the Republic is allied to, is made of grounded Avians and is a democratic state, while the other is known as the Cuzco Empire and is controlled by an emperor with unlimited power), United Federation.
The main allies of the Apex are the Cuzco Empire, Glitch Kingdom, Tribal kingdom of the Florans, and the Galactic Empire.
This rift in allies has meant that these two countries (Solar Republic and Apex) have become the two most powerful in the discovered universe. And the two countries have the most fierce armies too, with Solar Republic wielding the mighty ISDF and EMC, and the Apex using the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA).
End of boring stuff
I myself am Isaiah Nelson, I was born to two parents, and they moved to a colony out to a mining Colony in the Kuiper Belt, but a 'accident' took both of their lives. This was when I was still a newborn. I was taken into and raised in an orphanage with other kids and I made a few friends and enemies. But my life changed when I turned 12 years old.
Every child has to take the Solar National Exams, a test that shows the various skills and brain power that you possess. It doesn't usually affect anybody's life in anyway the government just uses that information for a worst case scenario where it has to assign jobs, but I scored so high on the political, historical, and general knowledge aspects of the test that the Solar Republic sent me an invitation to go to Battle School.
Now, granted, this was technically illegal. I was far too young to go to Battle School. It is usually 16 or older, but the Government granted me 'special circumstances' citing that since I was a orphan I had no choice.
Being twelve, I thought it would be exciting, and my child self accepted the invitation. I left Earth and went to a orbital station surrounding Luna to do battle testing and training. And that's how I ended up in the Marines. To be honest I am still considered, too young, to be a Marine. I am only twenty one and I haven't started to grow a beard yet (I am working on it) while all the other guys need to shave at least twice (or even thrice) a week. Despite being pretty tall, and looking older than I really am, I currently am, was, and probably always will be too young to be in the Solar Armed Forces.
Why I stayed, I don't know. If I took the Republic to court I could sue their ass! But I didn't. I liked it here, and I felt like this is what I needed to do, my 'destiny' if you will. And slowly I rose the ranks from Battle School (AKA boot camp), to private, to Sergeant, to Special Operations Force commander.
But enough about me, lets get back on with the present situation. The Apex have gone through a series of revolutions and civil wars and now there are two armies fighting for control. The Rebels, and the PLA.
The Rebels are losing the battle severely, but that hasn't hindered the government from feeling the setbacks of such a disaster. Admiral Chang and Jin-Je were vying for power in the upcoming elections. With Jin-Je assassinated Chang was the only one left with any chance of becoming the new chancellor for the Apex Peoples Party, and if he gained that position he could attempt a second military coup to take power away from Big Ape. The Rebels have been fighting for a new state and regime for years now and the situation was only getting worst. Top that with a famine, extreme climate change on the Apex main planets, and a brutal police force, the Apex were extremely unstable.
Now the Pentagon on Earth, and the Miniknog on their capital planet are vying for control as the Apex is slowly crumbling to ashes. Chang has done many things that have upset or even completely disobeyed Terrene Protectorate law (numerous civil rights violations to boot).
I followed the rest of Tombstone back down to the main building. We were due to go towards fitness training right about now, as we were assigned new schedules for running a mission in a day or so. The good thing about running missions, was that they always gave your squadron a better breakfast and lunch and even dinner, either as a thank you gift or a last meal. Maybe it was a good luck charm? Either way I didn't complain, eggs with chopped peppers and veggies in it, with a side of toast sure as hell beat freeze dried foods.
After Personal training, which left my entire body sore and aching from having to do endless exercises and getting screamed at by a instructor, the Marines pretty much had the rest of the day to do whatever. After taking a shower, we headed down to the common area. A place where most of the squadrons on our deck (group of floors on the ship) congregated. A television, pool table, poker table, computers, even a beer fridge. But something else caught my eyes.
Two Avians, one male and female. A Floran (male I would assume, but I don't think flowers have genders). And a female human, she looked as if she was from one of our mining colonies. They wore rugged and low grade clothes and armor. They wielded some pretty decent weapons.
"Mercenaries," Irish muttered under his breath. He stole the words straight from my mouth.
"They have no honor. No pride. No values, damned mercenaries." Parker added. They served no nation, except the one who paid the highest price. They had no god, except money.
Congress outlawed the practice of recruiting mercenaries for the Solar Republic. So these guys technically had no right to be here, unless they were being paid by the Terrene Protectorate, which still recruits mercenaries, and uses them in their Protectorate force. The entire situation is rather complicated but here is a breakdown:
The ISDF and EMC allows Protectorate forces to use their ships to get from destination to destination, but the protectors must fulfill various quests that arrive from High Command. Since High Command doesn't allow mercenaries to do these tasks, the mercenaries join protectorate ranks to gain access on board ISDF ships and receive tasks from High Command. Remember when I said mercenaries have no honor?
"No god except money. That's all they fight for, they have no flag, no country, no banner," I said before I called them out, "Mercenaries! What the hell are you doing here?"
One of them looked up at me, the human, and what I assumed was the commander of their group, looked up at me. She looked tough, a scar adorned her left eye, piercing emerald eyes, a tall and rather tomboyish physique.
"What do you want, can't you see we are busy?" She said, a bit of sarcasm in her voice. I folded my arms, mercenaries were always tough. They sure as hell had skill, and they fought like a vicious dog. But they had no discipline, they had no real training. Even Apex conscripts were more trained than they were.
I remembered the image of a Avian mercenary, a really big guy, he was sure as hell strong, stronger than me, but I whipped his sorry behind! They looked tough and were extremely dangerous, but an Apex conscript (let alone a Marine, or even ISDF soldier) would rip them apart.
Tombstone has dealt with the toughest mercenaries before. They didn't scare us, but we didn't show it. We stayed a little more humble.
"You do know this is Solar property, right? And if Home world Security finds out you were here…" Parker was interrupted as the Floran flashed a Terrene Protectorate insignia.
"What are you doing here anyway?" Irish asked them, the leader just rolled her eyes and sighed. Very annoying, considering the fact that they don't belong here.
"What's it to 'ya?" I could tell the Human was a farmer before she was a mercenary, probably from the agriculture planets Titan or Kepler.
"This is our ship…"
"Do you own it?"
"Do you even know who Garrison is? Does he know you are here?" The mercenaries behind the woman looked ready for a fight, which would have been a stupid move. Even though Tombstone was the only squad currently in the room the rest of the ship was still filled with hundreds of Marines and ISDF personnel. But she ignored them and continued talking to us.
"Garrison knows, and you ought ta' stay outta my business!"
"Mercenaries, only thing you bastards fight for is pixels and fame." I muttered while I turned my back on them.
I decided not to press it any further, whatever happens to them wasn't going to find its way back to me. I can't believe Garrison would let these crooks onboard the ship. But what could I do about it? If High Command wants something done, it will get done. That's the bottom line, no use fighting it. Besides, a fight with these monkeys would probably get my ass screamed at by the deck captain.
That guy creeps me out, so I have been trying to get on his good side for a while. He usually just stares at people he doesn't like and then they disappear with no trace a few days later.
Tombstone left the common room as it was apparently 'occupied' and we took ourselves elsewhere. I guess those mercenaries got into a fight with nearly every squadron on this deck, because nobody was in the room at this hour. And since it was around d 2 o' clock EDCT (Earth daylight commons time) that meant the interstellar soccer cup was on around now, and people would rather die than miss that.
Everybody just bunked down in their rooms, and we did the same. Misfit, Delta and Foxtrot were all in our bunk room, as expected, watching the game.
They were so into the little black box on the wall that they barely noticed us entering, only one of the sergeants noticed our existence in this universe. Blackburn, he turned his head to us for a brief moment and waved his hand, then his head snapped right back to the television.
I saw Piles of Terra (Solar Money, Terra being the Latinized name of Earth, why we still use a language that was over 5,000 years old to name things, I have no idea) on the table and floor. They were placing bets on the game, and I could tell the tension rising.
I myself, wasn't a fan of soccer, or sports in general. I was more a computer type of guy. The only thing people watch television nowadays for are cartoons (if you are a kid, or a nostalgic adult), movies, Galactic News, political debates, philosophical talk shows, and sports. Television shows, celebrity gossip shows, and talk shows (in general) have largely died out. People just stopped watching them, good riddance.
I had a personal computer that I brought from a store on Mars a few months ago, and decided to use that to fill in the free time. Irish video called his wife, and Irish read his Quran (he was Muslim after all). My computer was my main source of entertainment, and literature. Especially the latter since the Columbia doesn't have a formal library (That hasn't stopped people from stealing books from libraries on Earth and smuggling them here to form a bootleg bookstore).
A story was circulating around the Commweb (Communications Web, the internet for the galaxy) that the Penn Republic, a nation made up of pirates, bandits, raiders, and black market crooks, was recruiting Mercenaries to defend the country from Terrene Protectorate attacks, and to help assist in raiding trade routes. But it wasn't just that, the Penn Republic and Apex seemed to have teamed up to develop new ships for pirating. And the Apex have gotten in on this Mercenary business. Those mercenaries we met in the common room seemed all the more suspicious. I made a mental note to make sure to keep my eye on them.
But brushing past that, the Apex and Terrene Protectorate have clashed heads again, and a Protector has been sentenced to prison for 40 months, doing hard labor, for treason. This has of course pissed off the Protectorate, especially since they were already upset at them for siding and aiding the Penn Republic AND for the numerous civil rights abuses that have plagued the nation for the past few centuries.
The Solar Republic has decided to capitalize on this, and the Lord Minister of Congress gave a speech rallying all the allies of Earth in a call of arms against the Apex. Admiral Chang in response has started a Anti-Solar propaganda campaign throughout the universe and hacked into many television news station throughout hundreds of smaller nations displaying their message. The hack lasted for about 12 hours until the SIA managed to lift the cyber attack.
That's another thing the Solar Republic and Apex love. Instead of fighting with weapons, they fight on cyberspace. Launching Intel attacks, hacking each others servers, conducting Commweb espionage and sabotage, funding rebel agencies (a harder task for the Apex since there are no documented rebels fighting against the Republic), launching proxy attacks, and selling private information to black market and dark web buyers. All of these are very illegal, and very, very, low blows.
Despite the fact that the Solar Republic rarely ever listens to what the Terrene Protectorate considers illegal and legal (it does what it wants mostly), the protectorate rarely ever calls the republic out on it. Maybe because the headquarters is located in Berlin, District of the Deutschland. And that almost half of its budget comes from Solar donations.
Once in a blue moon the Protectorate will actually call the Solar Republic out on doing something wrong, and usually the Republic will comply. Usually. But the Solar political agenda and Terrene political agenda are very similar and diverge little, so it doesn't make a difference either way.
Screaming came from one end of the room. A fit of yelling, cheering, and bragging came from over there. Somebody just lost, and now they had to pay for it, quite literally.
"Fork over the money, Montes," Blackburn said cheerily like. A hint of 'ha-ha-in-your-face' was present in his tone. Montes, looking sad, took his bundle of money and distrusted it among the men. Cheering, and taunting ensued, while Montes just looked at them. Misfit squadron loves to bet money, they love it. It seemed the betting only took place within that squadron, because Delta and Foxtrot still had their eyes and attention fixated upon the screen.
"Isaiah, can you believe this? Some bullshit right here I will tell you that!" Montes said to me when he begrudgingly gave his last Terra's to another Misfit member, Campo.
"You were the one who bet money on a soccer game, if that isn't asking for trouble I don't know what is," a fit of laughter ensued from Misfit.
Montes retired to his own bunk. Clutching whatever was left of his paycheck. Oh, I forgot. Today was payday.
"Isaiah, where is Myers? Last I saw him was…." Campo squinted his eyes to remember the date, "I think last week. What, did they give him leave?"
"Yeah, they gave him leave all right," Everybody could tell from my tone that something was up.
"What really happened to him?" Li Jie of Foxtrot squadron asked, we usually just called him Lee.
"Drowned…off the coast of Baku. He got his leave, and he sure as hell isn't going to come back." Even the most dedicated soccer fans of the group were silent, they pulled their attention from the screen to us. Now they understood why we were so quiet the past few days.
The silence didn't help, I would've rather if they just went back to whatever they were doing. Irish closed his eyes, Parker just stared at the roof, and I myself looked down at the bed sheets.
"Well… look, we get deployed tomorrow. And Command is sure that whatever we are looking for is going to be worth all the while. Hopefully he hasn't died in vain." Matkovic from Foxtrot said.
"Hasn't died in vain, my ass," Campo spat out, "Tell me. How many more people are going to die even after him? You think all war is going to stop? And the entire universe is just going to join hands and sing kumbaya and joy to the world? Fuck no!"
Obviously Campo was upset, and who wouldn't be? But Campo was an exception, he practically loathed everything political and would rather have it that we just did away with governments and people in suits and let everybody do what they want. He wasn't an anarchist per se, but he wasn't exactly happy with the way things were going now.
"Everybody who died in a war has died in vain. No matter the reason. If they fought for the love of their country, they died in vain, all empires no matter how strong collapse some day. The Republic will fall someday! Could be tomorrow, the day after, or a million years in the future. If they fought in the hope of preventing more war, they fought in vain. Look at us now! Fucking bullshit, I don't even understand why I'm here."
Campo stood up and left the room, slamming the door on the way out. He was prone to rants like this, and we were quite used to it really. But damn, he was right. Why am I even here? Any of us?
"He is right you know. Why are we here anyway? Delaying the inevitable isn't why I signed up for this. The Republic will fall one day, one way or another. Just like every empire in history has," Irish said, his eyes still closed.
A depressing silence fell over us. One thing was clear, Myers wasn't going to come back. No matter how much we debated the ethical, or the moral consequences of war, it wasn't going to bring anyone back home.
Matkovic stood up and went to his own bunk. He opened his journal and began to write. After a while he nodded his head and put the pen down.
"What are you writing?" Parker asked him, Matkovic smiled.
"You want to hear it?"
Parker nodded in agreement. Kovic cleared his throat.
"The guns will rust, and the grass will grow. And someday somebody will look at all of this and remember. Remember our sacrifice. Our stories. Our legends. Our fighting spirit. But by then, we will be little more than faded away. Hopefully, just maybe, we will be gone. But not yet forgotten."
Matkovic smiled, he always had something great to write. He was a poet, hoping to make it big one day and go down as one of the greatest.
"It's beautiful Mat. Beautiful…"
"It is a work in progress, ja (a little of his Polish accent breaking through). But, I need a name." Kovic laid back in his bed.
"How about, Sand through the hourglass?" Blackburn suggested.
Kovic shook his head no.
"Nothing is ever written in stone?" I asked, Kovic thought about it.
"Nothing is ever written in stone. Nothing is ever… Nothing is written in stone. I like it."
He wrote the name on his journal. Campo came back, he had the smell of cigarette smoke and carried a newspaper in his hand, and bottle of water in the other. Campo wasn't a smoker really, he only did it when he got stressed out. Which didn't happen all the time. Nowadays, people never got addicted to the stuff, it just didn't happen.
Campo sat down and opened the newspaper, skimming through the happenings and going to the crossword section. His favorite.
After a while he called out, "A word that is seven letters long and means to uphold…"
"Protect? Wait no, that isn't it…." Lee tried to help.
"Value? No that's not seven…." Said Montes.
"Enforce? Enforce?" Blackburn tried. Campo nodded his head and wrote it down.
They kept egging the crossword while I stay on my bunk. There was a window in the room leading to outer space, but all you can see now is a bright milky color full of orange and pink and blue, and yellows. We were going far too fast to be able to see what was outside. We only got the chance when we slowed down by planets or space stations.
A hour or so later and the room was a lot calmer, the memory of Myers was still there but it wasn't enough to dim down the lights forever. And it was up to Irish to let his family know what happened. Speaking of which, he was on the floor, on his knees, with his head facing down.
He was praying, and it made me think of praying to my own God. As far as I could tell, only myself, Matkovic, and Irish were the only ones who were outright about our personal beliefs. And Lee was the only explicit Atheist. Everybody else just kept silent.
So I imitated Irish and prayed to my own Christian God, I asked for protection for tomorrow. As we were about to head out, and maybe, just possibly, never return.
Matkovic mumbled to himself about new ideas, I could hear him rejecting ones he didn't like. The ones he loved, he would jot down.
"Woe to Man. For our lives are just but a flash. But a bang. But a crash. Woe to Human mortality, for we all must go. Adam and Eve's sins in the garden still haunt down every living man to this day. And for what? For death is relief. Relief from the problems of this world, relief from the sins of man. For our lives are short so we must not deal with the torture and suffering and misery for long. And the knowledge that there is a light at the end, a dream."
Kovic shook his head, and tried again. It wasn't right. It needed to be better in his head. Even though I myself would be surprised if I came up with that. Damn I needed to show this to a publisher, or something. The guy is a genius.
Even after an hour, Campo and Blackburn were having a yelling match about what word belonged where on the crossword puzzle, Lee was listening to his own music and podcast or a combination of both, Parker reading a book (probably smuggled from a library somewhere, the sly dog), and everybody else doing whatever they do in their free time.
It was peaceful. Especially since the soccer game ended.
-End Transmission-
"The strike begins tomorrow. We confirmed everything there is to confirm, and there is definitely something there."
"The Intel Isaiah picked up in Baku was even more important than the Intel they were sent to capture."
"If I may ask, but what was in there anyway?"
"A lot of stuff. The Apex Rebels are doing everything in their power to bring down Big Ape. But, it seems they are resorting to more desperate measures." Zee Feng the director of Situational Command, or SITCOMM said to Garrison.
"Like?..."
"Nuclear devices…"
"But we don't even have a nuclear weapon arsenal. Where did they get that technology from?"
"Black market, you can buy just about anything."
"Zee, but this is major. Who sold that to them." Garrison asked.
"Hopefully this raid will let us find out. And we can put a stop to this madness. High Command is still a little suspicious. The people in the Pentagon have no idea what is going on, and the whole Pentagon is about to burn down."
"Who knows how much damage those rebels will cause if they have a WMD in their hands. And to think we are funding them."
"The Solar Intelligence Agency is still trying to figure out a solution. Our latest asset, Solomon, is onboard and is cooperating with us. The whole situation should be cleared up after the raid. But until then we are in the dark. Now TMDF's operation is crucial. Especially more for Tombstone since they are leading the raid. Whether this operation succeeds or fails is on your shoulders and your tactics Garrison."
"I am sure Tombstone and Misfit will be able to retrieve the Intel. Delta and Foxtrot are also extremely capable of their mission. You can rest assured that this will succeed."
"It had better, the fate of the Galaxy is at hand…"