Sleep

[Kaale]

Sleep

I don’t like to sleep anymore, the dreams that come at night are more horrific than anything we see in the war. For some they dream of nothing but I am now plagued by the sight of my comrades faces, their expressions at the moment when they are killed, when their bodies are damaged to such an extent that they can no longer function, no longer Kill.

In battle these moments are brief and the chaos will keep you busy, you can’t stop, you can’t reflect, you just do your duty, you help by locating and killing your enemies eliminating the threat. You help by resurrecting your fallen, by healing those who are yet to fall. You repair what is destroyed and what is damaged. You don’t think, training and time has taught you, instinct is what keeps you going.

But if you sleep that is when you see it all, every bullet fired and every bullet received. You feel the pain more then than you ever do during battle. On the battlefield an enemy that dies to your rocket is one less thing for you to worry about, at night it’s one more face contorted in agony. It’s strange that no one remembers feeling anything when we fight, but it comes back to you like a replay when you stop.

I have decided never to sleep again, for me I will fight until this war is over, my rest will be that temporary place between death and rebirth. When you’re in this stasis you feel nothing, you are nothing, just Nanites. A blueprint in the system waiting to be created into ‘you’ am I still the same person I was a year ago? Who knows, maybe the Vanu but they aren’t telling anyone how this works. What I know is my body does not need sleep if I am not alive, the war rages so constantly that the place between death and rebirth is easily obtained.

I am not he only one some of us that fight until we can stay awake no longer and then find a battle that is too much for us, sometimes the enemy is not obliging. There are many ways to escape this madness but they all lead back to the same place, we are reborn at the Warpgate and join our comrades for another battle. It will never end, I just know this is my future.

[Sonny]

Nice work Kaale, well written. Very interesting perspective that sleep is in fact worse than death and rebirth .

[Kaale]

Cheers,

It kind of goes alongside another piece I am working on.

No Death

There is no death, there is no death, there is no death.
Go! Go! GO!

I remember my first death, the sudden shock, the blackness, then the slow dim light coming back like a sudden green flash and straight back into the fight again and again and again.
So many times. So much confusion.
It takes a lot to stand up and carry on as if nothing has happened, a year has passed and I couldn't tell you how many times I died without checking my battlelog; the computer which tracks all rebirths.
I know that at first a death is completely debilitating, if you are resurrected in the field the sense of confusion is overwhelming. I have seen grown men fall to their knees and cry. Some soldiers have deserted us, gone to who know where? Never to be reborn again. We lost a commander that way; the troops still hold a hope that one day he will be reborn to join us in battle again.
For those of us who remain, constant war is now our way of life.
To Rebirth in a spawn tube is a little better, a moment to gather yourself, a chance to reload and reequip before heading back to the front, but even then it is common to find yourself surrounded by overwhelming enemy forces, bombarding you with everything they have. Some take refuge and try to fight from these shelters, only to watch their enemies instantly resurrect, a pointless cause which gains us nothing.
Sometimes I think to die and end this madness would be easier, but I am a soldier and I will fight on.

Am I tired? I don’t know. I don’t remember sleep now just blankness, every other memory of life before the war seems to be slipping away; they say that the memories never quite reform correctly when you are reborn. Day to day things are fine, but events from before the war are now shrouded in a fog and seem so far away and untouchable.
Maybe with time and without death my memories may come back but now all I remember is my field craft, I can reload, I can repair, I can see a base and know where the enemy may be and how best to get my squad inside to capture and how to hold the point.
I have no memory of family or of friends before the war. I know I fight for the Terran Republic(TR) because I wear their clothes, I use their weapons.
I’m sure I fight for a just and noble reason but if I was honest I fight now because of my squad, the people who are with me by my side, who I know will heal, repair and resupply me when I fight, people who are now my friends.
I am sure I could just as equally be fighting for one of the other factions as I have no memory of why I chose my side, if indeed I did choose. All I know now is the propaganda we hear around the camps, that the Vanu Sovereignty(VS) are Religious zealots who would change our bodies and minds if we don’t stop them. The New Conglomerate (NC) are just the puppets of business fooled into thinking they are fighting for freedom. Whilst we just try and keep the peace and bring back normality to Auraxis.
I’m not sure if I believe anything I hear now, I have spoken to members of these other factions during ‘peaceful’ meetings and they appear normal to me, our views are differing and we all fight now for our comrades more than anything else. Even these peaceful meetings end the same way, usually death by C4 with everyone knowing it’s just a matter of time.

[Kaale]

Finished No death for WarStories.

http://en.planetside2.eu/forum/commu...c-t565986.html

There is no death, there is no death, there is no death.
Go! Go! GO!
I remember my first death, the sudden shock, the blackness, then the slow dim light coming back like a sudden green flash and straight back into the fight again and again and again.
So many times. So much confusion.
It takes a lot to stand up and carry on as if nothing has happened, a year has passed and I couldn't tell you how many times I died without checking my battlelog; the computer which tracks all rebirths. I know that at first a death is completely debilitating, if you are resurrected in the field the sense of confusion is overwhelming. I have seen grown men fall to their knees and cry. Some soldiers have deserted us, gone to who know where? Never to be reborn again. We lost a commander that way; the troops still hold a hope that one day he will be reborn to join us in battle again. For those of us who remain, constant war is now our way of life. To Rebirth in a spawn tube is a little better, a moment to gather yourself, a chance to reload and reequip before heading back to the front, but even then it is common to find yourself surrounded by overwhelming enemy forces, bombarding you with everything they have. Some take refuge and try to fight from these shelters, only to watch their enemies instantly resurrect, a pointless cause which gains us nothing. Sometimes I think to die and end this madness would be easier, but I am a soldier and I will fight on.
Am I tired? I don’t know. I don’t remember sleep now just blankness, every other memory of life before the war seems to be slipping away; they say that the memories never quite reform correctly when you are reborn. Day to day things are fine, but events from before the war are now shrouded in a fog and seem so far away and untouchable. Maybe with time and without death they may come back but now all I remember is my field craft, I can reload, I can repair, I can see a base and know where the enemy may be and how best to get my squad inside to capture and how to hold the point. I have no memory of family or of friends before the war. I know I fight for the Terran Republic(TR) because I wear their clothes, I use their weapons. I’m sure I fight for a just and noble reason but if I was honest I fight now because of my squad, the people who are with me by my side, who I know will heal, repair and resupply me when I fight, people who are now my friends. I am sure I could just as equally be fighting for one of the other factions as I have no memory of why I chose my side, if indeed I did choose. All I know now is the propaganda we hear around the camps, that the Vanu Sovereignty(VS) are Religious zealots who would change our bodies and minds if we don’t stop them. The New Conglomerate (NC) are just the puppets of business fooled into thinking they are fighting for freedom. Whilst we just try and keep the peace and bring back normality to Auraxis. I’m not sure if I believe anything I hear now, I have spoken to members of these other factions during ‘peaceful’ meetings and they appear normal to me, our views are differing and we all fight now for our comrades more than anything else. Even these peaceful meetings end the same way, usually death by C4 with everyone knowing it’s just a matter of time.
Now is not a peaceful meeting now is war, now it is critical that we get back into the Tech Plant. The NC have taken it from us and our troops are unable to use the Nanite terminals to create Prowlers; A form of heavy battle tank. It is our job to capture back the plant that holds the designs for these and allows us to generate them at other bases.

It has only been a short journey and Murgs our platoon leader has briefed us along the way. Everyone knows their role, everyone is prepared. This is a battle that has been fought many times over the last year, if we still bled then these walls would be crimson, but Nanites are curious things. All of what makes us is regenerated and every battlefield leaves no trace that we were here and that we will be here again. I sit here with my squad 12 men, as brave as any I have fought with over this past year. We have equipped ourselves and trained for this, we have Keasar and Novokane in their armored Max suits, heavy machine guns on both arms. Sparr and two Tom’s the Engineers to supply us with Ammo and repair the Max’s, Kawasaki, Archaic and I are Medics ready to heal and resurrect the fallen. The others are all Heavy Assaults with the firepower to stop both infantry and Armour. I look into their eyes and I can see hardened killers these men are feared on the battlefield they can strike dread into the hearts of the enemy. Some wear masks and turn themselves into faceless war machines but all will give everything they have for this fight.
It seems to have taken an age from the moment we got the order to redeploy to the Warp Gate. Sometimes the newer members of our squad always seem to want to kill just one more person, or are reluctant to abandon their current vehicle which seems strange as it is just another collection of Nanites held together by Vanu technology. They learn, or they leave us. This time though we were quick but time still seems to slow down when you’re not actually fighting, the time between the battles is when you have time to think and talk.
Now though we are over the Tech Plant in our Galaxy transport plane and are dropping onto the roof before descending into the shitstorm of a battle we know is awaiting us. We are not alone we have a full platoon, 48 people all with one objective, secure this base and push back the NC. We drop between the roofs and make our way to both ends of the plant, our plan is to take the balcony entrance; the high ground. We know we will meet heavy resistance and we know that the NC will be aware of our entry methods, these bases can be captured in so few different ways. We just hope that today, in this battle we will prevail, that our platoon will be better than theirs.
Go! Go! GO!
We see from our displays that both factions have radar up, Shit they will know exactly where we are. No surprise, not this time, in early battles everyone was less prepared, everyone was learning, but now we are all old hands at this and we know each others ways.
Ok “breach”, it starts again. Another fight, such intense and brief moments surrounded by gun fire, Rockets and Grenades.
We enter from the balcony and take out the turrets that are trained on the doorways with our Max’s, next the medics to stop them from reviving each other, In this war to kill all the medics can be a decisive blow.
Shouts go out “Quick get that Harasser down”, Below us from the stairs they are trying to get a Harrasser up to provide them with the heavy firepower they need to stop us. Ashbird from Bravo has dropped C4 with his Light Assault and Parriah finishes it with a Rocket, all the time machine guns fire and grenades explode. An infiltrator uncloaks and drops a Bouncing Betty Mine “Pizza Delivery”, “Medic”, time to revive some fallen comrades, thank god for the Res Grenade.
” I need Repair”, “Max, Max on the point”. Revive, kill, revive, kill, revive. These fight can be over in a minute of they can be long and drawn out.
This fight lasted only a few minutes with 4 squads against a similar number of NC, but we were ready, we were in the zone, through the bullets and rockets and grenades now the smoke has cleared we have the point. “I need ammo”, time to resupply.
It’s quiet now, we have taken the point but we know it only a matter of time, it will take 7 minutes for the computer to transfer ownership to the TR and in that time they will be able to use the Rebirthing tubes to pull in support. They have powerful Max’s their shotgun wielding armored soldiers that will kill in an instant, with shields that seem immune to damage. We take up defensive positions, we set up turrets and take position on the Balcony along with Bravo and Charlie whilst Delta go for the Spawn Control Unit, if we overload the SCU we will stop the enemies from spawning at the base. The vehicle terminals are hacked and we spawn out own Harassers to help protect the point from what will come.
Too late “Incoming”, before we can get the Harassers into position we see the dots, damn they were quick. First the radar shows them moving in the tunnels, they don’t stop, they’re not stupid. Get ready, Wait for it. “Max Crash” So many Max’s it‘s not just the squads that were here when we arrived they must have reinforcements, wave after wave, our rockets and C4 start to make a dent in their numbers. The turrets slow them down but they keep on coming constantly repaired by their engineers or resurrected by Medics. The harasser is still on the stairs and takes several down with its powerful gun but there is too many and all too soon it is destroyed. A radio call, faint and broken, Delta has been wiped. We have no local spawn points; the beacons which our leaders placed when we arrived have been destroyed. A friendly mobile spawn Sunderer had been deployed on the edge of the base but that also has been destroyed by the heavy tanks that we ourselves cannot create.
We are lost, our defeat as swift as our attack.
I died and revived and died again in the end no one is left alive.
They are pushing hard now keeping us away, cutting our links to this Tech plant, and stopping us from trying again. We are too far away now too many bases lie between us, a new plan is needed, new orders required.
We are recalled to the Warpgate, another continent needs our help. For now we have no Tech Plant on Indar, but that will change, it always does. Nothing is stable here, change is constant we just carry on fighting. Time for me to redeploy.
Ting!
Sniper! “Damn him”
There is no Death.

[Sonny]

Good work Kaale! Looks like your doing very well in the first voting round, well done for that .

[Kaale]

cheers, are you entering? I think I need to write something as NC, they seem to be lacking entries

[Sonny]

Yes I'm planning to submit an entry. I'll enter something for at least two factions, maybe all three if I find some spare time somewhere . I suspect that there will be a lot more competition for the second round!

By the way, just in case you were interested in having a couple more outlets where you can post your work, you can try the Lore subreddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/PlanetsideLore , also I have a website for planetside 2 lore and fan fiction at www.talesfromauraxis.com .

Look forward to seeing more!

Sonny