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Chapter 15

Mother Confessor:

What a sight of order and grace. Quite a sight to see such large machines of various designs. Like giant metal soldiers just waiting to be ordered onto the battlefield. My eyes rest on one that was easily twice the size of the largest I had seen on this tour. Unable to help myself I verbalized my awe of the hulking metal monster that seems to be our destination.

Marckus:

Arriving at the docking port and the captain nowhere in sight. Only one option remain. Starting the ascension to the cockpit on the back of the machine. Mother Confessor close behind. Once atop, I help her aboard as well. “Knock, knock”, I announce our arrival into the open hatch. Letting the Mother Confessor enter before myself.

Once inside I see the captain busy reading something at the console.

“Well captain, what have we here”, I inquire of him.

Slipping his boots down, and turning to face us. A look of bewilderment on his face.

“To be honest sir, I am not entirely sure myself. Spent the last hour going on an inspection and reading the operators manual. This thing is loaded with all kinds of things not easy to detect from external inspection. According to my readings, there are two light 72mm cannons housed in the hips for auto defense. Three Hyperion Class missiles housed in the upper back. The oddest thing is the cache of civil control gear just beneath the crew quarters compartment. The massive chain gun is loaded with depleted uranium rounds. And their was also found to be twenty small tactical nukes in the missile pods. I am waiting for an analysis of the raw or isotopic material of the warheads. Other than that I am still investigating, sir”, Captain Graxis offers.

Extending my hand to him, he passes me the book. After spending a minute going over the first few pages, something doesn’t add up. Words like suppression, and detention leap from the pages into my mind. This is not for open warfare at all, but for security and defense.

Graxis:

“Sir, I would like to inform you that we are three days out from the outpost of Pluto. I trust that makes you happy to finally start in on the action”, I say to the Ober-Commander.

“Yes captain, it does. Then from there to Jupiter’s moons, next the Martian colonies. And then our proving ground, Terra herself. I will make sure that they know I will be drawing first blood. Thank you, Graxis” , he replies coldly.

Then adds promptly, “Instead of wasting time trying to figure this out”, waving the manual, “I think I know someone who will have some answers for us. That way we can begin working on our plan of attack on Pluto. I don’t want any collateral damage on my conscience for this one. Understand captain”.

I nod my acknowledgement. I agree that only combatants should be dealt with extreme prejudice.

Marckus:

Upon parting ways with the Mother Confessor after our little expedition, I decide that it is time to pay a little visit to that mouthy prick that spat on me. Making the trek in silent malignance to the Brig. A broad, brooding smile across my covered face as I travel. His contempt for me is about to grow a thousand fold for what I have in store for his insolence.

The guards outside check me for weapons. None were on me of course, as I did not want this to end quickly. Marching arrogantly up to the Terran Commanders cell, to the music in my skull. Then I saw his scowling face through the hardened metal bars. A big grin flush on my face.

“ Well I have good news, and bad news” ,I proclaim to his unyielding scowl.

“Ah, the good first then. I have a small problem that you can help me with. Do you know anything about this” , I ask him while flashing the manual before him.

No response from him.

“Now for the bad news. This is going to be your text book for the next approximate eighty hours” , tossing the book through the bars slamming squarely in his face, “ Better study hard, because there is going to be a test on all that you have learned. The teacher will not be as lenient as I am for giving incorrect answers” , I finish my little taunt.

Biting my tongue to keep from laughing at his reddening face in anger. If only he knew what I really had planned for his smug ass.

I fidgeted all the way back to my quarters. Using every ounce of my strength to keep from letting out the roar of laughter wanting to escape. My ribs and sides ache and burn from not releasing it. Once in my privacy I let it all out. All the side splitting pain more than happy to oblige in being set free. It is so forceful that tears began to stream down my face.

Graxis:

One day left until we hit Pluto. The Ober-Commander decides a smaller squad of men should be more than sufficient. I see his point since the outpost will not be heavily guarded while under construction. The plan was simple enough. Swiftly dispatch any and all armor in orbit with the battleships cannons. Then drop the landing party in hot. Move through the base, taking out any and all resistance. Free the poor inhabitance and offer assistance. Just my kind of plan quick clean and efficient. There would be eleven of us altogether. Red Wolf would be our eyes in the massive cargo bay upon arrival.

I also like the part where we rely heavily on close quarters combat weapons, only relying on small arms when absolutely necessary. I always enjoyed the thrill of the hunt. The silent kill is always the most satisfying.

Marckus:

Sitting away from my desk, sharpening my field knife on a whet stone. The metal on the stone making the light metallic sounds in the silence. Thinking about taking that scimitar for this upcoming mission. The medium length broad sword would make short work of the enemy. It seemed better than using a short sword since this was to be a stealthier mission, and the lack of having to carry the bulky assault rifle as well. The thought reminded me of the ancient gladiators in the arena. Back to a time when they were forced to face their foe, and see the lights leave their eyes when they defeated them. Savoring the thought of using raw energy to cleave apart the enemy in combat, archaic as it was it made me feel more primal. Letting my mind wander into my lessons of history at the academy. Imagining the more barbaric times millennia ago, when armies clashed like opposing waves of metal and flesh. This fantasy starts to question our modern times. Are we really any less barbaric than our ancestors of so long ago? I would have to say that we have taken all the passion and numbed ourselves to the realities. The brutal realities our ancestors understood, back when war was not cushy and indifferent.

Spending all that time in being forced to think of my enemy as nothing more than a target and regarding them as such, has been the wrong way to see them. It may have to do with my experiences throughout the last two centuries, and my now wiser perception of those realities. Never thought any of these thoughts before now. Being an orphan at birth and taken by the state, forced into servitude. But now things have changed. Spending time amongst my supposed enemy the Centurian . My savior from being a slave to a broken regime. And I trying to keep them from suffering the same fate as my own. To keep them from the tyranny that is starting to expand its grasp. Trying to create another empire, just as those before it had done. Only problem is that those empires collapsed. This one will as well, and it will be beneath my resolve and my boots.