Beyhund's (Very) Bad Day

[Nazsteph]

'Bad day', thought Beyhund as he fell toward the rapidly growing body of water immediately below him. He knew it was a bad day when he woke up this morning and his personal RADAR refused to show him anything but a single arrow against a featureless background. No matter which direction he was facing, that damn arrow always pointed north. But, he was used to the occasional snafu, after all, being practically immortal, there is always time to get around to fixing these little problems. So the techs usually took there time on something affecting only one solder. Though the techs might have warned him that the guidance systems of the HART were tied directly into a solder's RADAR instead of learning the "hard way". His drop pod opened at an altitude of 800 meters and nearly 3km off target. Which left Beyhund in his current predicament. At least his inertial dampeners were working. He twisted his body in an attempt to catch a glimpse of where the shore was and thought 'its not too far, I think I can make...(splash)

The water swallowed him, thrusting him into an alien world of silence, and yet it was oddly peaceful. Beyhund started walking toward the shore giving no thought to shedding any of his equipment in order to gain buoyancy. He just held his breath and set out on the march of the determined, he was taut well, just not how to swim. In this quiet landscape he started to think about swimming and why nobody (at least nobody that he knew) was taught how. But, he decided that this is one of those topics that gets filed under "things he didn't need to know".

With his oxygen reserves rapidly dwindling Beyhund began wondering why he hadn't reached the shore yet. By his best estimate he should have long before now. He decided to risk a couple seconds of oxygen to check his map. What he saw stopped him cold. He was further from the shore then when he started. 'Bad day.' (glug..glug)

His consciousness being consumed by the giant super computers when his body died was a weird sensation. It was not that different from the eerie quite he had just left. He felt disconnected, almost like he was looking down at his own body. Beyhund didn't like it; frankly it gave him the willies. He wondered if other people felt the same way, but he never had the courage to ask anyone. Weakness was not tolerated, and complaining about getting an uneasy feeling whenever he died felt like weakness to him.

Inside the spawn computers his mind felt clearer. It seemed to him that without his body to tend to his mind could spend its energy on other pursuits. His all to frequent visits here gave him time to ponder all those things that keep getting stashed in the "didn't need to know file". A prime example is the respawn interface. He was just a disembodied consciousness floating around in some giant computer somewhere. How did the computer give him his options? And how did it know what he chose?

The options seemed to just appear to him like some long forgotten memory that suddenly floated to the surface. As if they were always there, always a part of him and the sensation of being submerged in the computer triggered their release. When making a selection of a respawn point nothing conscious that he is aware of locks his decision in. Its like his brain kicks in reflexes that bypass his conscious mind, he is aware of making a decision but its not the decision itself something else triggers the spawn. Beyhund knew it had to be something else because he has tried to trick the computer, play games sometimes for several hours trying to get the computer to spawn him somewhere he didn't choose. But, the computer has yet to fall for it. He always wound up where is true decision lay.

Now Beyhund was given a choice of where he wanted to respawn. As usual the choice he wanted was not there. Just once he would like to see a deserted island be one of the options. Some place where he could be alone while still in possession of his body. But he was presented with a limited selection. He decided on the AMS just outside the base his squad was sent to reinforce. The Gens were down at the base itself otherwise he would have spawned there. He didn't know how he knew they were down, he just knew.

A thought that would have to wait as Beyhund was once again in possession of mass, and by that queasy feeling in his stomach apparently he had velocity too. 'Bad day'...(splat)

Well, now he had a little more time to think about things. Like why they were here, again, fighting over this base, again. The three empires have been fighting for so long he wondered if they even knew what they were fighting about anymore. While in his body these thoughts would be treasonous, but as a free roaming soul (if indeed that is what he was) such thoughts only seemed natural. Something he added to that ever-growing file. Only two days ago his squad had taken the entire continent with minimal resistance. Today the NC had pushed them back to this single base and things were not looking good.

[Nazsteph]

The Gens were back up and Beyhund chose that as his respawn location. He geared himself up for the fight that usually accompanies spawning into a base under attack. Gaining the solidity of form he burst from the spawn tube weapon drawn then happily greeted the four heavy MAX units guarding the spawn room. They were always a comforting sight to Beyhund, like big teddy bears. Actually they were more like giant, metal, mean looking, gun wielding, death dealing teddy bears, but just the same a very comforting sight.

This was a major relief to Beyhund because spawning into an enemy controlled room was often instant death to just about everybody. And if Beyhund was sent back to his spawn point before he sent at least one NC to his he was going to call it a day. He would disregard a direct order by recalling to Sanctuary, locking himself in his room and berry his head in a pillow. That would show the world whose boss. He had already started composing a program he titled "/ignore world".

Beyhund crossed over to the equipment terminal and loaded up with a few of his favorites. He was ready for some action and decided to make his way toward the Gen room to fend off the latest attackers. As the door slid open Beyhund met two lightly armored and very surprised NCs hacking their way in. Beyhund just smiled and pulled the trigger. He quickly ripped through the two, sustaining only minor wounds not even worth breaking out the med kit for. He mad a mental note to start on a new program "/forgive world".

While reloading he received a message that three more of his squad had suited up and had his back. Then the four of them set off for the Gens. They entered the corridor in a spread out formation, everyone with clear lines of fire. They used an asynchronous firing pattern so there would always be at least three of them unloading into the enemy while the fourth reloaded. They were met with heavy resistance but kept a steady forward momentum.

They had cleared the hall for the fourth time and the squad was taking a few seconds to repair and reload. Together they reduced any unfortunate NC's lifespan to mere seconds. No NC was getting down that corridor, 'My corridor' thought Beyhund. He had just picked up the next unfortunate enemy's movement on his audio amp. He aimed at where the enemy would appear and could feel his squad doing the same behind him. He started a silent countdown in his head '3...2...1...FIRE!' he pulled the trigger.

Red light and a piercing sound seared through his brain, flooding his senses. "Aaarrgghh!" His head cleared and he heard the dreaded computerized voice:

<BEYHUND you are in violation of the Friendly Fire Ordinance, and as such your weapons have been locked until your case comes under board review. Do to the large enemy force detected in your immediate area we suggest you find a safe place and recall to the your Sanctuary barracks. We thank you, and salute your years of service to the Empire. Have a nice day.>

"Weapons Lock!" 'Bad da...(KACHUNK..KACHUNK)

'Damn it!' Beyhund searched through the entries in the kill comp. Another interface he was at a loss to understand but right now he wanted to know who jumped in front of his LoF. He knew deep down who it was, its who it always is, as he scrolled through the names and there it was, 'Tabitha!'

Beyhund had 533 separate friendly fire incidents 43 resulting in death and all of them against Tabitha. That woman could be on the opposite side of the world and still manage to get in his crosshairs. Beyhund didn't know how, but a couple months ago he even managed to rack up an incident in the Sanctuary mess hall that ended with him being banned from using spoons for a whole month.

Well, he wasn't going to let Tabitha ruin it for him. They might be able to take away his guns but Beyhund had some hacking skills and was certified with the Stealth Suit. He won't be doing much killing but he could sure mess with the NC's computers.

Spawning into the base again, he was glad to see the defenses were still holding. He loaded up on all his stealth gear and as an after thought decided to download his pattern into the base's computer. He approached the console and began the download.

[DOWNLOADING PATTERN]...

He was abruptly shoved to the side by an individual. Apparently they had the same idea. When he turned to say something to this rude individual his vision was filled with that most hateful of sights, "Tabitha!" he hissed under his breath.

[DOWNLOAD INTERUPTED]...

He pulled out his REK and pointed it at the back of Tabitha's head. He mimed several shots being fired, by the exaggerated recoil each shot should have been a killing blow. This made him feel a little better, enough to manage a weak smile as Tabitha turned to leave.

[DOWNLOAD COMPLETE]...

"What?!? How?!? Wai...(KACHUNK..KACHUNK)

His usually limited selection of spawn locations was even more so now. Next thing he knew he was back at the Sanctuary. Beyhund stepped out of the tube, his actions feeling very awkward. He chalked it up to the bad day he was having and accessed the equipment terminal. What met him was an equipment list and file names that he had no knowledge of acquiring.

"What the hell?!" It was definitely time to carry out his threat of head-to-pillow action.

He angrily flipped off the terminal and caught a glimpse of himself in the reflective surface...

She immediately started to write a new program; "/delete world"...

[Nazsteph]

Can anyone suggest how I could spice this up a bit? Maybe its the title (never been good at titles). This is my first ever attempt at Fan Fic and it has been a while since I have written any fiction at all. I guess I am looking for any feedback. Any suggestions on how to get people to read this, I had to write it twice because an unexpected page update wiped the first draft. And also I think I am a bit needy, but then arnt all writers? Just looking for some validation

[Kongstad]

Its good, well written. Had me laugh a bit with the droppod opening to early or that bastard getting in his LoF. A guy always does that to me :P

Well to spice it up? More fun stuff. Making people laugh always win hearts

[NewCong. Marine]

'Beyhund didn't know how, but a couple months ago he even managed to rack up an incident in the Sanctuary mess hall that ended with him being banned from using spoons for a whole month.' Hahahahahaha....thats good.....hoo...ahem...im good.... Well... Pretty cool, coming along real nice..... And yea....funny things aer teh roxxor...