Church's Crusade #16: The Fiftieth

Grif stared for several long minutes. Finally he turned to Church, "I give up. What is it?"

Church smiled for a moment as he carefully repaired the hole in the back of his head, "Well, imagine for a moment what it would look like if that piece there looked more like that piece there. Then imagine that they were attached on either side of this piece here and that these other two pieces were attached onto the bottom of that piece."

Grif stared at it again for a moment, then turned to Church, "So what is it?"

Church sighed. "It's a new type of hover-bike okay? Paul replicated some of those anti-grav things from the other bike as best he could. We are now attaching some engines that are made from old parts of the ship I crashed and we also intend to have these two gattling-guns attached to the bottom of it. After that we'll try and come up with ways to improve it."

"Sorry, but you said that Paul came up with this. How does he know about this kind of thing?"

"Oh before he joined the army he was a military physicist and engineer back on earth. He had to leave after a minor incident with an experimental weapon. They say that Southern Florida has never looked the same."

"And you're letting him design weapons for you here? On top of where you sleep?"

Church looked at Grif, "First of all. I don't sleep anymore remember? And second. That last one only happened because he forgot to carry the 3 in one of his calculations. He's promised not to do that this time."

"Huh. Well I better just get back to the other's in the caves. Just one moment." Grif raised his rifle and fired a few quick bursts at Tucker, who had been edging closer to Sister, "Stay away from my sister you sleaze!" Grif turned back to Church, "Well see ya…"

Church was spray painting an old Wyoming helmet Cobalt when Paul wandered over, "Hey Church, the new bike is done. Plus I made this to go with it."

Church looked at what the Private held in his hand. It looked, as far as Church could tell, like an old fashioned metal cavalry sabre, made from a jagged strip of the drop-ship's armour plating, with several added buttons below the hilt. He looked at Paul, "A sword?"

"Not just any sword sir. Here, hold it." Church did so.

"Now push the red button."

Church did this and the sword began to give off a low hum.

"Now push the blue button."

Church pushed the blue button and raised his eyebrows in surprise as the single edge of the weapon was suddenly covered in a cobalt-blue glow. He looked questioningly at Paul.

Paul grinned, "Superheated plasma sir, contained in a magnetic field."

"Where did you get the plasma from?"

"It's this military food,' said Paul, 'They'll put anything in it."

"Gross. So what's the green button for?"

"Oh I'll let you figure that out on your own. All you have to do is point the blade at someone and press the button. However if your going to use that you'll need to use this."

Paul walked to one of his work benches and pulled the cover from it. Underneath was a gleaming set of newly painted cobalt armour. Church stared from it to Paul.

"What's this?"

"I modified some of that stack of Wyoming's armour down in the bottom of the base. I left most of the Freelancer tech in place. I added some things to support the sabre and all it's functions, as well as modifying it's systems to mesh with your own systems. Just for a bit of fun, I did some work on the visor and people who look at it from outside will now see a skull. Also, you once told me that there were 49 Freelancer's, named after the 49 remaining states. So,' he turned over the torso section so that it was back up, 'I thought this would be appropriate."

Church looked down at the number 50 painted in black edged with white. He looked again at Paul, "50? The Fiftieth State? But it was destroyed. Nothing was left."

"Exactly,' said Paul, 'A Ghost of a State for a Ghost of a Soldier…"

The next few days passed quietly. There were occasional attacks by the enemy, but nothing major. Church continued to fight with his traditional weapons, deciding not to use the sabre yet. When he was not working on the hover-bike, Paul was repairing and modifying more of Wyoming's old armour for Rourke, Anna and himself. However, one day when Church was trying to get the sniper program to work, Paul came over to him, "Sir, it's done…"

The characters Church, Caboose, Tucker, Simmons, Sarge, Grif, Sister, Donut and Doc are owned by Rooster Teeth Productions.