A glorious nothing

[Bored]

This is the first fan fiction I've ever written so be merciful. Its quite long by the way

-

Aside from the howling wind and the scrunching of snow under his feet, the only thing PFC Taylor could hear was his breath passing through the filter of his composite helmet. It was eerily silent and even though he couldn’t see their faces, he could sense that the rest of his squad were just as terrified as he was. Despite the deathly silence and fear, he couldn’t help but notice how beautiful Esamir was at night. He remembered how his mother used to describe Esamir to him when he was just a little boy. The endless plains of shimmering snow, the glowing peaks of Auraxium spikes, the Aurora hovering above in the night sky, blanketing the continent in a warm, neon green glow. It was something Taylor used to dream of seeing one day. This fleeting moment of raw beauty was cut short by a crack in the comms of his helmet. A stern, unwavering voice followed soon after, snapping Taylor out of his little daydream and back into reality. The group came to a halt…

“Listen up, squad; I just caught wind of some Vanu bastards snooping around back here and command wants us to take care of it. All our Air and Armour support is held up at Freyr so don’t expect to see either of them any time soon. We’re alone out here… Over and out”

The fear… the cold, unforgiving fear entered Taylors heart once more. He held on to the grip of his Cycler even tighter as his squad continued to walk into the night.

--------------------------------

Minutes felt like hours and hours felt like days as Taylor and the rest of his squad continued to chase an enemy who they couldn’t find. Fatigue began to set in and the landscape that was once beautiful to him started to look like something out of a bad, surrealist dream. The rest of the squad, along with Taylor, slowed down to a halt. Many of the men looked around nervously. A crack rang over the comms once more.

“Sarge, what the fuck are we doing? We’ve been out here for hours…”

“Keep your mouth shut. We have our orders and we’re going to see them through”

The frustration in the Sergeants voice was as obvious as their situation was perilous.

“We have to keep moving Sarge, look at where we are. We’ll be dead if we’re caught out here”

“I SAID SHUT THE FU-

A torrent of red and purple mist shot out of the Sergeants throat. The shot that had hit him echoed across the frozen plains seconds after. He clutched his neck with both of his hands as he began to stumble aimlessly. Taylor looked on in horror. The comms of his helmet was filled with the sound of the Sergeant gargling on his own blood. The noise had stopped and the gravely wounded man fell to his knees. He remained like this for a few seconds before collapsing to the ground.

Silence once more…

“INFILTRATOR”

The men started frantically running in every direction. There was no cover. It was a sniper’s playground. Taylor began to run. He didn’t know where. He just wanted to get away. His comms was filled with the frantic voices of men telling each other to “RUN. FUCKING MOVE” and asking hopelessly “WHERE THE FUCK IS HE?”

More shots echoed across the plain.

As he listened to the screams of pain coming from his squad mates, tears of complete and utter terror began to stream down his face. His breathing had become frantic, his mind a jumbled mess. He continued to run aimlessly, completely blind to everything around him. Single shots continued to fill the air but the screams and frantic chatter slowly started to die down. Taylor continued to move like a crazed animal. One last voice, of a woman this time, cracked over the comms along with the DAKKADAKKADAKKA of a T9 Carv.

“FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT! WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU!??”

Taylor didn’t stop moving. The shots carried on being fired. A scream followed soon after. That merciless, single shot echoed once more.
Taylor ran for about a minute more before running out of energy. There wasn’t a single part of him that wasn’t aching. Soon enough, his crazed, animal like running had slowed down to a stumble. His breathing was laboured, his body covered in sweat. He looked around in confusion, turning and stumbling around like an infant who’d lost his mother. His situation, hopeless as it was, started feeling strangely similar. Once again, aside from the howling wind and the scrunching of snow under his feet, the only thing he could hear was his breath passing through the filter of his composite helmet.

Suddenly, indescribable pain shot through every fibre of Taylor’s body as his left kneecap was completely destroyed by a scolding, purple beam that had come out of nowhere. Taylor collapsed, clutching his knee in pain. A pain worse than he had ever imagined. He screamed and cursed like the Terran Drill Masters he had learned to hate in basic training. And what a memory that was; a memory that, despite being completely absent from his mind at this very moment, was still very fresh. A second shot penetrated his stomach. His whole body glided a foot or two across the snow from the force of the shot. As his screams of pain slowly started dying down, and the morphine implants started to kick in, Taylor felt a little more at ease as he figured death and his eventual rebirth were around the corner.

This was not the case…

--------------------------------------------------

Before being deployed into combat zones all newly recruited Terran troops are told that their first death is quick, painless and nothing to be afraid of. They are told that with Rebirthing technology the fear of death has been completely eliminated. They are told that fighting, dying and continuing to fight on was a worthy way to serve the honourable and mighty Terran Republic.

Loyalty until Death!

That was the motto. Sadly for all fighting Terran men and women, death never truly comes. Because of this, the Terran Republic has the ensured loyalty of each and every one of its troops; a loyalty that endures forever.

When Taylor lapsed back into consciousness he cursed the men and women of the Terran Republic who’d fed him lies about honour in “death”. He cursed the doctors and scientists who told him that his first death would be quick, painless and nothing to be afraid of; for he was still alive, in agony and petrified. He lay there groaning on his back, his left leg convulsing in pain and his stomach torn. He knew that his death would come soon enough, ending this misery. But before that, he wanted to breathe real air. He pulled off his helmet and propped himself up. The pain was unbearable but the cold Esamir breeze and fresh air helped relieve it slightly. The nightmarish landscape once again became beautiful to Taylor. He was glad that (despite losing his life for the first time in such a brutal fashion) he was in a place of such beauty.

Then came the scrunching of snow in front of him; a sound with no visible origins. An Infiltrator! A cloaked Infiltrator! Fear once again disrupted the beauty around him and he knew what was coming. He’d been told in basic training that the last thing you’d want to happen to you is getting captured by the enemy. Most of the things he was told regarding capture was just hearsay among the troops and was passed around like one of the girls in the registered Army brothels back on Indar. The New Conglomerate would beat you mercilessly and have you sent before their corporate sponsors who would torture you for information before putting a NC4 Magshot round between your eyes. The Vanu Sovereignty would keep you alive and experiment on you endlessly, morphing you into something gruesome and completely inhuman. New recruits, picked on by the older and experienced soldiers would be told these things endlessly. No one really believed any of it but everyone was afraid of the off chance that these rumours were true.

Taylor looked on in horror and wanted desperately to grab the Repeater that had somehow fell out of its holster and lay in front of him. Movement was not an option as the pain and fear was too great. All he could do was hope the person behind the footsteps would be merciful enough to put an end to his life.

The person behind the footsteps decloaked

--------------------------------

The man stood before him was an infiltrator. A tall, slim man adorned in the colours of the Vanu Sovereignty. He took a few steps forward until both his and Taylor’s feet were close enough to touch. Taylor looked up at the man looming over him, completely petrified. The Vanu Infiltrator stood before him looked off into the distance, not once looking at Taylor. His mask emanated that trademark eerie Y shaped glow.
They stayed like this for a few minutes… Nothing but the snow and the wind keeping them company.

The Infiltrator began to speak. His voice as cold and as desolate as the earth he stood on.

“I forget how many people I’ve killed…Terran, Conglomerate. I’ve even killed men of my own kin; men who spoke against the teachings of the Vanu. I’ve been fighting longer than I can remember. I’ve seen things you could only imagine. And yet, I have never had the honour of watching a man’s life slowly wither away before my eyes. For that, I thank you”

The silence that followed was deafening and Taylor, out of fear, pain and exhaustion wasn’t able to utter a single word.

“This will never end. It will go on until the universe burns in the fires of war. There will be no end. No new beginning. Just a glorious nothing”

Taylor, who finally felt death creeping on up on him, was not able to support his body weight and fell back down. He looked up at the aurora lazily painting the night sky and wondered if the man who had gifted him with this very first death was right about this war. The cold fingers of death slowly started to close his eyes, darkening the world around. Before death swallowed him, the Vanu infiltrator spoke for the last time:

“I’ll be here when you get back”

[Sonny]

Hi Bored,
That story was absolutely awesome. The description, the pacing, the theme - really good. I can't really think of anything that I would improve in that .

Keep it up, would love to see more!

Sonny

[Micro]

This was awesome!
Great work!

[Sonny]

I felt this story deserved a bump as it was particularly awesome

[GreyFrog]

Yeah neat story. Sarge obviously hadnt certed into Nano weave 5.