Interstellar War

rocketrider

Virgin
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Apr 3, 2001
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The stars danced magnificently under the night time sky. They brought back the fond memories of my life when I was a small child still living on Earth. Even after twenty eight years of time, and after traveling a distance of over one hundred fifty light years from Earth, I still believed that a star filled night sky was the most inspiring and beautiful sight to behold.

To me, such a sight represented total peace and total fulfillment, but the news of an Interstellar War was a reality of total destruction and mass death. How sad it seemed to me, the only female Historian in my family, that the greatest success Humans had achieved, during their two thousand year history of Space Exploration, was gaining more space in which to kill each other.

Once again, the soldiers would march off to war, because once again, the time for battle had come. But worst of all, entire families would be torn apart and grieve over the loss of loved ones.

As I looked out into the star filled night sky, I realized that tonight might well be my last night of peace on this or any other planet. My name is Amilleesa Davieniott Vaerronos, and tomorrow, I will become a soldier.

"Amilleesa," I heard my father's voice call out to me. "It's very late. Please, you must come in now."

I turned and looked down the hill, located about fifty feet from the back of our house, and saw my father's large frame silouetted by the night lights shining through the opened back door.

"Be there in while," I called back.

"You have to get up early, you know."

Give me credit, I thought to myself. I know better than you what I need to do.

"I said, I'll be there in a while." I answered again.

There was no response as he closed the door behind him.

I hated being impatient with him, but I was a grown woman quite capable of making my own damned decisions, and I wanted this moment of peace and solitude to last a little longer.
 
Phillipe Saintclaire

I had made it from my home to the Vaerronos residence in fifteen minutes. Mainly due to the fact that there was hardly any traffic out now. The news of the coming War came to me rtaher quickly..along with a stated nottice of Draft from the Colonial War Department on Teleriun IV. I was never one to run from anything..not even the little man from the draft board. The report date on the form stated that I was to report to the recruiting center in two days time to be sent to my destination of training. Two days...hardly time at all but due to the fact that most of our forces had been zapped during an intial attack on Lacando that started this whole mess, it left them hard up fro more troops.

Amilleesa Vaerronos...we had grown up together..been through school together...she was one of my best friends..probably my greatest. I at least had to tell her about the news if not anyone else. I thought she needed to know.

Stading at the door of her home I knocked upon it. A few seconds later her Father opend it.

"Phillipe? What are you doing here at this hour?" He asked with a curious look on his face as he bagen to cross his arms.

"I have some news to tell Amilleesa" I said to him in a near hushed tone "Is she still up?"

"News...hmmm...well whatever it is it must be important if you are here this late..she's out back"

He let me in and I went through the house to the back door, opening it I stepped outside. It didn't take me long to find her, I could see her quite clearly as the stars shone down upon her, casting her in a soft light that made her hair seem to glow in a radiance that up until now I had never seen.

"Amilleesa..." I said as I began to walk towards her..I wasn't sure how to tell her what it was I came here for.
 
Wilfred Owen:

I was beginning to think anyone going by this name was cursed, but at least the last one was famous. There was no chance I was going to be.

Yet, there was that same excitement and hype about this war. As a citizen of the Coalition, many on our side of the planet felt the war was little more than a formality. We are the strongest in this part of the universe.
 
On the eastern horizon I saw a pale yellow light give way to the brighter yellow crescent of Telias, my planet's single large moon. The fainter stars in the night sky slowly retreated from sight as Telias ascendended. How magnificent you are, old fellow, I thought to myself. As I watched, I remembered the words of the great poet Jinosh Esperiast (jee- nosh) (ess pair ee awst)


Give rise to the night
and bless the free spirits born to Eilandor.

Touch your people with golden light
and lead them to truth beyond the unknown sea.

Give rise great Telias. Defeat the spurious trite
that torments your people with the shadows of darkness.

Touch each one with boundless delight.

Oh, great Telias,
make real their fantasies as an endless flight.


My eyes, my mind, and my heart were totally captivated. I must have seen this very sight hundreds of times since my parents became citizens of Eilandor. I remembered the first words my father said about Eilandor.

"It'll be just like living on Earth, except for one thing...Nobody wears any clothes."

At the time, I was a little young to appreciate the full impact of his statement, and to young to understand why he wore such a huge grin when he said it.

I heard a loud crack of a twig come from behind me, and I was instanly jolted back into reality. I turned to see what or who was behind me.

It was Phillipe, my oldest and dearest friend. His fine tuned naked body was lightly bathed by the light of Telias. I was sincerely happy to see him, but I dreaded the task of telling him I was leaving Eilandor at first light.

"Phillipe, you scared the livin' shit out of me," I said.
 
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Phillipe Saintclaire

"Sorry.." I said to her with a small laugh as I came up behind her. Looking down at her I gave her a smile as I toussled her hair. "Listen.." I said, deciding rather to tell her out right than cut corners and prolong the news as I had the habit of sometimes doing. "I received a letter from the War Department the other day...I leave for training two days from now..I just thought you should know..." The smile I had held had fallen to a slight frown as I told her this. Looking up at the stars I sighed a bit as I took a seat behind her with my legs crossed. "To think..in the twentieth century we thought that space exploration and planetary colonization would help bring peace to our race...Nothing has changed has it. Maybe the fate of humanity is to destory ourselves in the end.." Shaking my head I shrugged. "Sorry..I don't mean to sound so..grim I guess...but that's how I feel at the moment. And you did say to open up to people more. Some opening huh.."
 
I freed myself from Phillipe's soft embrace and took two steps back from him. Whenever I talked about serious matters, it had to be eye to eye.

At first glance, I percieved the look of concern on his face that told me he knew I was still offended.

Looking back at him, I tried to smile enough to hide the fact that I was mad as Hell. I had planned for him a surprise attack, and I wasn't quite ready yet, as the old saying goes, to rip "full blaze running."

"I'm shocked," were the first words I could think of to say.

I literally spent hours, during the last month, rehearsing how I was going to break my news when I saw him again...if I saw him again. And when the time arrived, I could remember nothing of what I had rehearsed.

"Well...I...uh...I guess that's that," I tried to speak again. "I guess I've got one over on you this time."

"Huh?" my friend tried to ask.

Instantly, I placed my left forefinger over my lips signaling him to let me finish. As he conceded to my request, I tried to smile.

"It hurts so bad sometimes," I said as tears filled my eyes and a lump filled my throat. "But you, me...I've got to tell you..."

Tears streamed down my cheeks betraying my emotional weakness. "Enough," I thought to myself while wiping tears from each eye with back of each hand. "Enough of this female over reaction."

"See what happens when people let their pride run their lives?" I asked looking him straight in the eye. "We fought over a stinkin' date written on stupid ass bottle of wine. And because we're both too damned hard headed to admit we're wrong...we didn't talk for the past month. Do you realize how idiotic that was?"

With his arms crossed over his chest, Phillipe smiled slightly and shook his head in agreement, but he remained silent.

"So now, here you are without saying hello, how are you, I'm sorry, or kiss my ass...nothin'. But you do have this wonderful story about waltzing off to war." By this time, both sides of my face were covered with tears.

The one thing I loved most about Phillipe was his ability to stand back and let me rant and rave. He was one of the only few men I've ever known, that was willing to be my best friend and just listen.

He offered no solutions, gave no advice, and never once did he say "I told you so." I wondered if Phillipe knew that, sometimes just being a woman's best friend was just about the best thing any man could offer a woman.

"Okay...Okay," I continued. "If that's the way you want it...well, have I got some news for you."

I paused for a moment and executed my favorite posture of defiance. I spaced my legs shoulder distance apart, put my hands on my hips, looked at Phillipe with a stoic facial expression, and said, "I'm leaving at first light tomorrow on the Warrior Craft, Tethus."

I tried my best to hold back more tears, but I could not. Even in defiance, the lump in my throat returned, and my tears felt like streams of hot burning water rolling down my face. I was still crying, because deep inside, I hoped that Phillipe could see my defiance was really faked.

"You haven't seen Wilfred lately, have you?" I asked trying to change the subject.
My worst reality is most often a limited fantasy.
 
She was right..I didn't say hello or any of that. Then again I had a habit of skipping minor formalities when I had something to say. And so it seems she had nes for me as well. As she stood there talking I just listened, sometimes there was no need for the other party to say anything in response, and as I listened I could tell she was trying to act defiant in the matter. Although her true emotions betrayed her as she began to tremble and the tears began to slide down her cheeks. "Bottle of cheap wine...." I thought to myself. It wasn't the best wine out there either. I couldn't help but laugh inwardly at the way we had acted then. But at the question of Wilfred I shrugged.

"Wilfred? No I haven't seen him lately. I tried calling him a few times but got no answer, no vid mail replies either. Why...is something up?"
 
"I just happened to think of him, that's all." I answered.

While wiping more tears from my face, I continued, "For such a long time he used to crowd with us. I hope nothing bad has happened to him. Every time I think about him, I always feel guilty we didn't pay a lot more attention to his feelings. Maybe we should have made him the center of our attention more often."

I turned my back to Phillipe to see a good deal more of rising Telias. I turned my head back to him and said, "It would be okay to stand next to me, if you want."

He nodded his head yes and joined me at my side. I grabbed his left hand with my right. Instantly, his hand firmly surrounded mine.

"Look, Phillipe," I said pointing to our great Moon. "Have you ever seen such a magnificent picture?"

The lump in my throat and burning tears returned, but this time it was for a different reason.

"I'm scared, Phillipe. I'm so scared, I haven't been able to sleep much at all the last few nights. All of this...everything...everybody we've ever known, or ever loved, may be gone by the time this war is done."

I turned to face my old friend and said, "Promise me one thing. Promise me you'll never forget me...no matter what?"

He was about to answer, but I thoughtlessly interrupted.

"I've made arrangements with my father. If we loose track of each other, we can always write to each other using my parents house to send the letters. That way we'll always have a source to find each other."

Again, I switched to another subject. "Im sorry, Phillipe, Maybe I do over react. What were you saying earlier? The latest war news, I mean."
 
The latest War News? Well...it wasn't exactly war news..more of news involving myself. "Oh that...I said I had been sent a letter of draft and will be leaving in two days.." I said, ending it in a sigh. Looking again to the night my eyes fell on the sigh she indicated and I shook my head. "No..I have not seen such a magnificent sight such as this..." Looking once more to her I smiled a bit as I kissed a tear off her cheek. "I know your scared..I too have thought about the things that frighten you now, but you know what? Everything here will always be with you no matter what if you just hold it in your heart. And I will never forget you." I offered her a gentle smile as I gave her hand a soft squeeze. "Do you remeber whe we first ran into each other..quite literaly?" I asked. We had been kids then in te third grade. And yes we had quite literaly ran into each other...and that's when I found out her temper when she proceeded to give me a roll in the dirt. And later that day we had laughed about it.
 
I remember you

"Yeah...I vaguely remember the incident," I said desperately trying to recall the details. "I remember colliding head on with you while I was carrying an arm load of books. I could barely see over the top of the stack."

I couldn't help but laugh inwardly. I smiled and continued reminiscing, "I must have been about four foot two inches tall, if that, and the books I carried seemed to be half as tall I was."

When he smiled and snickered at my words, I knew that Phillipe enjoyed hearing my story as much as I enjoyed telling it. As I watched him listen, I saw a part of Phillipe that I had never noticed before tonight. He was so willing to forgive.

The tension between us a few moments ago was gone, and I knew, with out a doubt, that Phillipe had completely forgiven me for being a...well...a bitch.

"I had a real hard time trying to keep those books balanced, walk forwards, and at the same time, watch where I was going," I continued. "So, if I wanted to see everything in front of me, I had to peek around on either side.

Then, all of a sudden...bam! I was on my butt, and books were all around. You were standing in front of me rubbing your forehead, and I was so damned mad."

The last part of the story came to me in an instant. It was the first time, in many years, that I had remembered the incident that followed.

"Do you remember the two of boys standing a few yards away? They both thought it was real funny to see me on my ass, totally humiliated.

That was when you turned around and yelled at them for laughing. 'Hey, why don't you two ass holes shut the fuck up?"

And, being just a little girl, I was so shocked. I had never heard such language.

Before you could finish helping me pick up my books, those two boys pounced on you. I remember, they were both fifth graders; a lot bigger than you. But, you didn't care.

And, even if you did have to give up in the end, so what. Those two jerks left knowing they had been in a good fight. You were so gallant...and my hero ever since."
 
Days gone by

"Oh yeah..a heroe with a bloody nose and two bruised ribs.." I said with a small laugh. Shaking my head I loked to her and laughed again. "You know...that was the first time I saw you smile." I knew she had smiled..I was probably dazed as hell from the trouncing to do anything else. "And then Mr. Jenkins, the Principal comes out and drags me away by an arm"

"Hmmm...remember when I smushed my pizza into oyur face at lunch. It was meant to be part of a joke..I didn't expect you to turn and lean into it"

(( Yeah I know, post could have been better but me tired at the moment...just got back from a week of camping in the mountains ))
 
Emotional Warrior

My body began feeling very strange while I listened to Phillipe. I asked myself, "Would we ever stand here again and be able to reminisce about tonight as easily as we did about our childhood days?"

As Phillipe continued to talk, I realized that the evening was quickly growing late, and that after we've said good night, I may never again see or hear from Phillipe. I realized, too, that I was destined to spend the rest of the night crying myself to sleep.

I don't know exactly when it happened, or what triggered it, but all of a sudden, panic devoured me. I felt like I had the burdens of every human being living on Eilandor placed on me. My heart started pounding harder and faster. Blood began surging through my veins at an alarming rate, causing my body temperature to rise. My head spun as if I was intoxicated with Old Earth Rye.

First my hands began to shake. Then, following my hands, my arms and legs began to shake. Within seconds, my whole body trembled.

I looked at Phillipe as he continued to speak, but all I heard coming from his mouth were phonetic sounds. I could make no sense out of his words.

I remembered my breathing getting deeper and quicker as my head spun around even faster. After about two seconds he looked back at me with wide opened eyes.

"Amillissa!" he called out.

The buzzing in my head increased to the point that it sounded like loud Radio Receiver Static. My vision quickly turned to a blurr, and I desperately struggled to form the words, "Help me."

The next thing I remembered was the human hands supporting my head and shoulders. Soon after that, I recognized the sounds of several human voices.
 
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The first voice she could hear was clearly her Father's. "What happened to her..." "I'm not sure.." said Phillipe "We were just talking and then she just fainted and passed out"

"What were the two of you talking about?" Her Father asked

"We were talking about our child hood...She just started shaking and then collapsed.."

"You know this doesn't look good...she has to leave in a few hours."

Phillipe sighed and nodded, yes he knew, he also knew he would be leaving the next day.

Looking over at the Doctor her Father half sighed and shook his head "Well how is she?"

"She'll be fine...all she needs is a little rest" Packing his htings the Doctor then left them. Her Father soon followed but before leaving he looked back to Philipe. "Are you coming?"

"In a minute..." Phillipe said. Her Father nodded and then left.

Looking down at her he shut his eyes as he took a seat beside her on the bed. Taking one of her hands in his he held it gently while he ran his fingers through her hair. As he spoke to her his words were quiet and soft. "In answer to your last question..I hope we can..."
 
First day

I spent the entire night rolling around my bed from one position to another. I woke up at least four times during the night, and each time I went back to sleep by crying like some lost little girl. Phillipe, my champion, spent the night with me, and provided comfort whenever I needed.

It was just before sunrise when Phillipe, my father, and I arrived at the E.A.S.E. (Eilandor Armed Service Expeditionaries) site, Starchase 17. I saw crowds of passengers gathered at each of the other nearby departure sites, Starchase 18 through 22. Some people where dressed, but many more were not, as they talked and waited for their Transport Craft to depart.

Together, we walked up to my designated departure site without saying one word to each other. We walked through the site entrance and to the window marked by the sign, "Military Recruit Personnel". Behind the window stood a rather somber looking gentleman dressed in his bright red Military Dress Uniform. His black Saucer Cap was cocked over to his left. His toe of each shoe was polished to a mirror like finish.

I gave him a copy of my enlisted personnel orders.

"Let me see, now..." he said. "You're Amillissa. Is that correct?"

"Yes, I'm Amillissa."

He grabbed a special tablet which contained single perforated sheets of paper. Each sheet was about half the size of ordinary writing paper and was made to be torn across the middle. The upper half was for registration and remained with the tablet. The lower half, a duplicate of the upper half, was designed to be torn away as a stub.

The military man, I was unfamiliar with his rank, copied bits of information from my orders onto both halves of top blank sheet.

"Here," he said. He turned the tablet towards my front and handed me his writing pin. "Please...sign your name on the two lines." One line at a time, he pointed with his left forefinger to each of the signature lines.

I signed and returned the tablet and pin. The soldier handed back the separated lower half.

"Okay now...listen up," he continued. "I'm only going to tell you this once. Come inside the gate here and...see that man sitting at the desk across the room?"

"Yes," I answered.

"He is our Quartermaster Sergeant, here at Starchase 17. Give that receipt to him. He will issue to you two sets of traveling uniforms. These uniforms will be worn by you, and only you, during your two week journey to your Basic Training Station. After you arrive at your destination, and at the time you are told, you will then exchange them for Army issues. Do not, I repeat, do not damage these uniforms; they are the only clothes that you will recieve until you arrive at your training center. Do you have any questions?"

"Uh...no sir, I think I can handle..."

"Don't call me sir," he snapped. "I'm not an Officer. You will address me as Sergeant Arnos."

Right away, I hated Sergeant asshole's attitude. Arnos saw the frown on my face.

"Hey, Troop...," he said raising his voice. "You got some kind of damned problem?"

I heard Phillipe draw a sudden breath getting ready to speak; so did Sergeant Arnos.

"Well...you got something to say?"

Before Phillipe could utter one word, I stopped him. "No...no problems here, sir," I said.

"What the hell did I just tell you?"

"Sorry, sir...I mean, Sergeant."

For a moment that seemed like an eternity, Sergeant Arnos glared at me-waiting for me to say or do one thing wrong. He shifted his attention back to Phillipe; both men met each other eye to eye.

"Hey, stud. If you want to see your lady friend off this morning," the Sergeant said, "you'd best keep your mouth shut."

My father, as unnoticed as he tried to be, couldn't hold back. He smiled as he spoke up.

"Sergent Arnos?" he asked.

"Can I help you?"

"I was a military man once, many years ago."

"So."

"Tell me something, Sergeant. Those military trousers you have on..."

"What about 'em?"

"Are they covering your face or your asshole?"
 
I couldn't help but laugh a little and shake my head..I was thinking the same question he had just asked.

"Oh..so you want to make jokes..." Arnos said as he glared at her Father. "Well how's this for a joke...YOU young lady will depart NOW and as for you two you wont hear from her again until she gets to where she is going...is this understood..."

Her Father mearly shook his head as he glanced to her. "Ami..take care of yourself.." He realized he may have made htings her a little worse. Stepping up to her he gave her a Fatherly hug and then stepped back. "I love you sweety" "I love you too Dad." She said as she successfuly held back a tear that was threatining to fall.

Looking to her I went over to her and gave her a warm smile as my arms wrapped around her. "Do what your Father says..take care of yourself...I'm gonna miss you..kid." I knew she didn't like it much when I called her a kid..and then I stepped back.

"Well doesn't this just bring a tear to my eye.." Arnos said as he motioned for her to step in line. "But right now this sentimental moment is ending..YOU young lady have a job to do..so go do it."

And that was the last I saw of her that day as she gave us both a parting look that had a mixture of emotions in it, and then she was lost in the crowd as the line began to grow and split into two lines.
____________________________________________________

The next day I found myself in the same place again. Although this time I wasn't here to see anyone off, now I was going off.

Andros was there again. "Oh..it's you..Pri..CORPORAL Saintclaire???" He had to glance at the roster again to make usre he had read that right. "How did you make Corporal laready..you haven't even been through training yet.."

I shrugged and tok the papers from him and signed the appropriate lines and handed them back. "I asked you a question boy..how did you make-"

Cutting him off I smiled a bit "Because even though I was drafted doesn't mean they aren't looking for higher enlisted now does it..Sarge..."

Befofre he could say anything or start a shouting and grumbling match I patted him on the shoulder and made my way to one of the appointed lines.

I wasn't going to tell him but I had made the rank by signing on for Spec Ops which were indeed...looking for higher enlisted to fill in some gaps in the ranks.
 
First Letter Home

Date: 21 July 4126 E.Y.

Dear Phillipe,

Got a little time on my hands. So, I thought I would write my first letter to you.

Please forgive the formal Earth Year date. The Captain of this ship told us that, from now on, all Military Personnel had to use Old Earth Dates as a form of standardization. I started using it now to help me get into the habit. When I have more time, maybe I can figure out how the dating system works.

By now, I thought I would be well on my way, but here I am, sitting aboard this makeshift Warrior Craft. We've been orbiting Eilandor for the past sixteen hours–who knows why? Well, I'm sure somebody does, but they're not telling us. And let me tell you–we're all getting pretty restless.

I heard that the Tethus used to be a passenger cruise vessel, Deep Space Class 1400 Series, recently converted to a Troop Transport. Hell, that means this hunk of metal is over 70 years old.

I heard too, that the Tethus was upgraded from the Light Speed Propulsion Pulsar Engines to the Matter Conversion Gravitational Stabilizers less than ten years ago. At the time, of course, the Tethus had the most advanced light speed engines available; perfect for people wanting a long range cruise.

Can you imagine being restricted to Light Speed Multiples and having to travel anywhere in the Galaxy? Think about it. Traveling at ten times the speed of light would mean a ten year voyage just to travel 100 light years–1000 years ago, people would actually do that.

You'd think that a Warrior Craft would have plenty of Neutron Canons for defense. Not this ship. It has absolutely no Canons or defense weapons of any kind. Great!

Uh, oh–got problems...later.

I'm back...

Oh, shit. We've just made the big time. The Tethus has been ordered to return to Starchase 17.

The Eilandor Governmental Agencies (The Presidential Expediency Council and The Planetary Defense Parliment) have been alerted by The Colonial War Department. Consequently the Eilandor Agencies have alerted Starchase 17–enemy attack is imminent.

Looks like I may see you sooner than expected. Who knows, I'll probably hand this letter to you.

Love


Amilleesa

P. S. Matter Conversion Gravitational Stabilizers; Is this the latest worm hole technology? I figured you'd know.
 
Little did Amileesa know that I would be there to greet her when she returned. Not as my usual self but as somone wearing the uniform of a Spec. Ops. Soldier. My unit had already been alerted before word had even reached the Expediency Council. I looked up from the Land Pad that was situated outside of the Command Center. The ship was coiming down slow, the blow bck of its thrusters blowing my jacket around, I had to keep one hand on my cap to keep it from flying off.

After it had landed and the ramp lowered they began to file out. I could see her near the back with a duffel bag full of gear resting on her shoulder and weighing her down. As they got to the bottom of the ramp I walked up to the group.

"Fall in!" I said firmly. Quickly they formed there ranks which were five deep. Walking up and down in front of the first rank I looked them up and down.

"Welcome back..sorry your trip was cut short..now it's time to bring you up to speed. Three weeks ago two Heavy Battle Groups were spotted heading in our direction.." I continued my ground breifing then I stood in front of them once again.

"Now that you understand the situation, go to the barracks and get settled in...Dismissed."

I watched them as they began to file off and turned away from them, adjusting my pistol belt I began to head to the cafe.
 
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