Frenemies

"Did you think it would all end like this?"
Bo'Shin turned his helmeted head to look at Vaakran.
"No, I was hoping for something a bit more exciting and full of explosions."
Vaakran put his torso out of the cover he hid behind and took a few shots at the line of advancing soldiers. The shots bounced harmlessly off the giant shields the soldiers carried in front of them. Mortar fire from behind the soldiers landed several feet from the cover the two men were hiding behind.
"See, explosions, do you feel better now?"
Bo'Shin growled at Vaakran.
"No, I'm not. There are nothing compared to the deaths our past iterations had. It sure doesn't compete with all the power generators of a Dreadnought overloading and taking out itself and everything else in a twenty kilometer radius."
Bo'Shin went around his side of the cover and shot at the soldiers that advanced on their position, but none of his shots pierced the shields or slowed the soldiers down.
"Are you still sore about that?"
Bo'Shin ducked back behind cover to reload.
"Sore, no. Jealous, maybe. My past self had died before that point, so I didn't get to see it in person."
"I didn't either since I was inside the Dreadnought."
The mortar fire slammed into the cover and peppered the armor of the two men with broken rocks, pebbles, and powder.
"Well Bo'Shin, I think they're close enough for my special technique."
"Whoa, what special technique?"
Vaakran grabbed Bo'Shin by his armored chest piece and spun him counterclockwise as he stepped over the cover.
"Hadoken!"
Vaakran threw Bo'Shin as hard as his powered armor let him straight at the center of the advancing line of shields. Bo'Shin cursed and flailed his arms as he tried to avoid the coming collision without letting go of his rifle. He hit the shield hard, but the shield did not break. The arm holding the shield was not so lucky.
The force of Bo'Shin being slammed backfirst into the shield broke the soldier's arm and drove him to the ground. Bo'Shin brought his rifle up and shot the nearest soldier as he began to turn to this unexpected intrusion into their rank. His fire was joined by Vaakran from his cover on those behind Bo'Shin. The line was divided, and the soldiers were unable to adjust in time to avoid disaster.
Mortars that were so close to hitting Vaakran were silenced as the artillerymen were forced to deal with an opponent too close for their main weapons wile in the ranks of their mobile shields. Bo'Shin grabbed a shield from a dead soldier and threw it horizontally at the artillerymen, and decapitated four of the eight men. The rest of the soldiers and artillerymen were soon slain.
"Well, that worked out better than I thought."
"What the hell were you thinking in the first place? You threw me at them!"
Vaakran nodded.
"Yup, they were not expecting my fastball special!"
"You could have killed me, you idiot!"
Vaakran shook his head and slapped Bo'Shin's shoulder.
"It wouldn't have, it worked in a webcomic I saw before, so I knew it was flawless and bound to have killed most of them. But we got all of them, far better than I hoped. And you're still alive!"
"I hate you so much..."

Together

Ever since I first met her, all I could think about was how pretty she is. I have always wanted to get to know her, to understand her desires and goals, her fears and nightmares. I wanted to be the one that held her in his arms when she cried and share a smile with her when everything was right with the world.
We’ve known each other for a while now, as I’ve gotten to know her. There have been times that I’ve wondered just what is it that goes through that brain of hers, but over all, I can’t help but love her. There’s just something about her, her smile and her love for life. It makes me want to be by her side, to try and keep her happy and smiling no matter the situation.
The more I knew about her, the more I fell in love with her. She consumed my thoughts, took over my dreams, and her name always came out of my mouth. She bewitched me. I had to force myself to look away from her to keep from staring every time I saw her.
I couldn’t help myself, not only was she beautiful, she had brains and a sense of humor. Almost everything about her was attractive. It’s difficult not to fall for a woman like her. Her soft skin, her smile, her laugh, her wit, her desire to help others... She was a complete package, if you will. I wanted to be the one for her, and so I asked her out and she said yes.
There she is, beautiful as usual. She walks towards me, a smile on her face, a light in her eyes. Her footsteps are light and she practically skips as the distance between us closes. She opens her arms open for a hug.
He opens his arms and picks her up, holding her close to him as he swings her around.
That’s right, she isn’t mine, but someone else’s. She had broke up with me not long after we got together. In the end, I’m alone while she’s in someone else’s arms.

Mirror Talk

The sweet caress of a blade, the pouring of blood from the opening on a cheek. The empty face stares back at me in the mirror, bleeding from a wound to its cheek, devoid of emotion and without a gram of care about the wound on the cheek. A line begins to flow from the cut in the middle of its face to fall to its chin, falling down into the sink below, leaving a trail mirroring the line made by the tears on the other cheek earlier in the night.

What a pathetic person, that person looking at me is, to have gone from the arms of their beloved one day to the edge of a knife the next after being tossed aside by that beloved person. What could anyone possibly see in a person like that?

“You’re worthless.”

I tell the other, and that other raises the knife and touches their cheek with the flat side of the knife.

“Finding comfort from the graze of a knife...what do you expect to gain from this?”

The other ignores my question, but turns the knife towards the cheek and presses down, cutting into the flesh and separating it. Blood begins to form from within the line and flow out as the knife withdraws from the skin. I blink my eyes and stare at the other as the blood from the new cut connects with the other, like a tributary feeding to a river.

“You’re abandoned by the person you love the most, and now you’ve lost all desire to live? What’s your excuse for living before her?”

I watch as the other shakes his head and looks at the blood on the knife.

“Doing this won’t change things for the better, and you know it. Nothing will. Are you satisfied with this poison?”

The other nods and moves the knife in front of his eye.

“So you’re willing to die because she left you, when you were willing to live for her just yesterday?”

The other nods.

“Weak. You’re so weak. No strength in you, it’s no wonder she left your ass.”

The other nods.

“It’s a wonder she saw anything whatsoever in you in the first place. You don’t deserve the gift of life given to you.”

The other stabs the knife into his eye and lets out a scream. He sets his free hand on the mirror and pulls the knife out.

“You deserve death. Just hurry up and die.”

The other puts the knife to his throat and closes his eyes before slicing his throat open and collapsing to the ground.

Distraught

I lie here on the bed, staring off at nothing. The minutes I spend like this quickly turn into hours. The music in the background repeats itself, but I barely notice the notes playing or the words the woman is singing. My eyes are glazed over from the lack of focus the brain behind them has. The synapses within are firing, but there is a lack of cohesion between the ideas sent along one after the other.

The words you had said resound in my mind as I replay every scene we were together in. The memories come and go quickly as I try to understand where things had gone wrong. I try to understand what it was I did to kill your love for me.

We used to be happy together, where it felt that the only thing we needed to survive was each other. Our time together had grown less and less, and the warmth in your arms chilled completely. Now we never talk, and this hole inside my chest grows ever bigger. The effects of this hole also expand, sapping me of my drive and desire to do anything.

You were the light of my life, the catalyst that brought a sunnier disposition to me, the one that let me know that I was capable of being loved. After changing me, you left me. I had grown dependent upon you emotionally, even when we were separated physically. I managed to keep myself together enough to not be a burden to you, as others have said I could be, as I tried to balance the dependency I had for you and the need to not smother you.

Did this balancing act fail? Was I in fact distancing myself so much from you that you grew cold because I had first? Did I show too much of my dependency on you and it drew you away? Could it have been that you needed me to need you, and the balancing made you think I did not have need of you? Were you getting tired of having me around, even the sparse amount of time our paths were able to cross?

All I do know for sure is that I miss you. I miss the warmth of your body in my arms, the sight of your smile, the sound of your laughter, your scent, and the taste of your lips. I also know the truth: that when you said how things couldn’t work out in the end, I lied that I accepted it. I still haven’t. I can’t stop thinking of you. I can’t give up all hopes that things can work out. I said I accepted it because it would be easier for you. Despite my selfish desire to be with you, I want you happy. I want to be the person that can make you happy, but I can’t force you to be happy with me. Even if I’m damning myself by losing you forever, I still love you too much to want you to be anything but happy.

This leaves me at an impasse. You’ve made your opinion quite clear. The path you’ve decided on has been decreed. I’m left at the wayside wondering what to do as you continue on with your life. I can’t decide my own route, even though I know the road I have to go on is one that doesn’t have you in it. Grief stricken, I lie on the bed as the hours turn late afternoon to morning. Time that you’re now getting up to get ready for your day, and my own night has not occurred. I rub the tears from my eyes and turn everything off as I try to go to sleep. And in my sleep, I see that smile once again directed at me.

When in Love

What better feeling is there than to be in love?
Why would someone want something more than to hold their beloved?
When the seasons change and the temperature drops, what better way is there to warm up than in their arms?
Who could deny the warmth of their tender touch of their hands on your back, embracing you and never letting go?
Where could there possibly be a better place to be or where could you find a more comforting sight?
How I long for that time to come again, to hold my beloved close and let her know she's loved.

Life of an NPC

The eight men walked into the room and took a seat in front of the podium. All of them wore a red, paramilitary uniform with a black scarf that covered everything but their eyes and eyebrows. The eight men chatted amongst themselves as they waited for their commander to enter and brief them.

The door on the right side of the room opened, and two men walked in. The first one that walked in was their commander. He was a career soldier, and had fought in numerous conflicts, which had worn his face accordingly. His chest also held numerous medals from past campaigns and skirmishes. The commander ran his fingers through his brown hair and coughed into his other hand before he stepped behind the podium.

“Alright men, listen up. The task you’ll be undertaking will be to escort and assist this man here in infiltrating and destroying the supply depot located near Zertonin. Yes, you’ll be going into dangerous enemy territory. Yes, it’s going to just be you guys. There will be no further support on this mission. Stealth is of the utmost importance. Now, let me introduce you to this man.”

The commander waved forward the man who entered with him. The man was in a dark green jumpsuit with a forest camouflage painted face. The man nodded his head to the men in front of him, with a lit cigarette in his mouth.

“This is Major Nick O’Tine. He’s been infiltrating enemy buildings and territory since most of you were still in elementary school. Pay attention to what he says, and do it quickly, and you shouldn’t have any problems. That’s all you need to know. Now, dismissed.”

The eight men got up, and all but one moved to exit the room. The lone man raised his hand.

“Uh, sir?”

The commander ignored the young private and talked to the Major instead. After the two are done, the Major walked out of the room. The lone private still tried to get the attention of the commander.

“Sir, I have a question.”

The commander didn’t acknowledge the existence of the private, instead, stood there looking out the door. The private moved to the commander and found the commander had stopped moving, and breathing. The private waved his hand in front of the commander’s face, but he got no response. With a sigh, the private left to catch up with the rest.

Outside of the building, he ran into the men standing around chatting in the clearing of the forest the base was built in. Surprisingly, the Major was not there. The private thought it was odd, as the Major had left before him, yet was not here yet.

The Major walked out of the base, He beckoned the men closer to him.

“Okay, I had just talked with the commander, and he said that all of you know what you’re doing, so I’ll spare the training session. Unless one of you has forgotten, in which case, press X on the subject matter you’d like to review.”

The private looked at the Major dumbfounded, as he wondered what the Major was smoking, since it would be far easier to just simply ask. Never mind that there wasn’t any menu to select something to review anyways.

“Alright, let’s get moving. Remember, to move, push the left analog stick.”

The private held his head in his hands, as he felt an oncoming headache.

The nine men moved through the forest easily, not encountering any enemy soldiers or traps. They quickly arrived at the top of a hill overlooking the supply depot. The Major spoke up.

“We’re running behind schedule. It took far too many hours to get here.”

The private blinked, since it had only taken maybe two minutes.

“Since we’re this close, it’ll be okay to run. Hold down the O button to run while moving the left analog stick.”

The private shook his head at the ridiculousness the Major continued to sprout.
The men ran to the supply depot, and enemy soldiers that wore blue armor and full face helmets rushed towards them. Everything became bright and the world spun around. When it ended, the private found himself incapable of moving, and that three soldiers were standing in a row facing the Major. The Major stuck a fresh cigarette in his mouth and lit it before he started to talk to himself.

“Notice the slots in the upper right corner? The one who’s on the left is whose turn it is. The next slot will be the next person. Use this to your advantage.”

The private thought the Major seriously needed some medication.

It was a very odd scene, as each person attacked one at a time, and the gunshots were incapable of killing someone off with one burst. That was ludicrous, as the rifles had more than enough power to kill someone. The Major decided he needed to say something else.

“Notice how my rage bar is full? The attack command now says ‘Special’. Select it and then select ‘O’Tiney bomb.’ Notice how it selects all enemies as targets.”

The Major then pulled out a large grenade and hurled it at the enemy soldiers, and it exploded. The soldiers faded away, and the Major took a long drag on the cigarette and blew the smoke in the air before he spoke.

“Piece of cake.”

The private stared in utter confusion when the Major said, “Level up already?”

Everything went to black, and when his sight returned, the private noticed that there were now dozens of bodies of the enemy soldiers littering the ground. This failed to make any sense.

The Major shrugged animatedly and shook his head.

“Wow, they seriously didn’t put up much of a fight, did they? Things will be smooth sailing from here on out if that’s all we have to contend with.”

The nine men ran into the supply depot, and they passed crates of various supplies along the way. The pathway was clear of any obstructions, and they made their way quickly through the building. They were going in more or less a straight line the whole way, except for twice, when the Major ran to a chest that was along the side of a wall.

The private still had no idea why there was a chest in the supply depot, and why it actually would have something in it. Nor did he understand why when the chest opened a little ‘beep’ noise was made. He thought perhaps it was the sound of an alarm going off or a bomb ready to explode. It was neither case, and it puzzled the poor private greatly.

A minute or so later, the team arrived at the back of the supply depot. The privates looked around for a little bit as the Major took another puff of his cigarette. The Major dropped the cigarette and crushed it underneath his boot.

“Alright boys, place the explosives on the munitions. Set the timers for five minutes, then haul butt out of here.”

The privates quickly did their task, and everyone ran as fast as they could for the entrance to the supply depot. They stopped at the sight of close to thirty men blocking the large garage doors of the supply depot. A voice called out from the group of enemy soldiers.

“There are the intruders, kill ‘em!”

The Major roared and sprinted forward as everything again spun around and went to white. The Major and three of the soldiers lined up in a row in front of six enemy soldiers. The blue soldiers all fired first, and the three soldiers in red died off in quick order. It left the Major alone and outnumbered.

However, the Major killed the enemy before he could be killed. At the end of the fight, the Major was breathing heavily and barely standing. The fight had taken quite a toll on him.

“Wow, they were stronger than I thought…”

Everything went to black, and when vision returned, he was of two still with the Major. They were pinned down behind a crate by the machine gun fire of the enemy soldiers. The Major didn’t seem too happy, and he fidgeted in anger.

“We’re running out of time and unable to advance! Things couldn’t get worse.”

The private disagreed with that statement completely. Things could get worse, and the Major could very well have jinxed them by saying that.

Screams of joy flew through the air as the enemy soldiers celebrated some new change. A rumble could be felt through the steel floor as something incredibly heavy made its way towards the three intruders. The private took a quick glance, and regretted seeing the sight.

A large, dark green treaded tank made its way into the supply depot. It boasted a main cannon that fired fifteen inch shells, and two smaller guns mounted on either side of the tank manned by a soldier. There was an extension in front of the tank with barbed wire snaked around the metal poles that stuck up from the extension.

The private went back behind the cover and explained what he saw to the Major. The Major shook his head and raised his rifle.

“Well boys, looks like we have a serious fight on our hands. You guys take care of the soldiers, and I’ll take out the tank.”

The private didn’t think that was a scenario that worked. The soldiers had proven to be capable of killing the private’s comrades without a problem, and the likelihood that the two privates could handle eight of the enemy soldiers wasn’t worth consideration of anything beyond suicide.

The private thought that this would end up killing him. He knew that he was little more than fodder. Hell, he figured he may as well be wearing a red shirt… until he realized that he was wearing a red uniform, which seemed to equate to the same thing. It boiled down to two nameless soldiers against eight nameless soldiers. In fact, he realized that the Major was the only one with a name.

That bothered the private greatly, not knowing what his name was. There was no way to distinguish himself from the other soldiers in a picture without taking a close look at their eyebrows. He was about to die, off in a war he didn’t really know what was being fought for, and he was of no significance to anyone or thing. His time was up, either dying from machine gun fire, or being blown up by the explosives on the munitions pile.

Major Nick O’Tine roared and leapt over the crate, and he fired his rifle at the tank. The privates left the safety of the crate and joined the counterattack. Time slowed for the private as bullets narrowly missed him and struck the wall behind him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the other private jerked and fell backwards as bullets pummeled into him, a cloud of blood sprayed from the wounds.

Just as the Major slew both gunners on the tank, the private felt a sharp pain in his chest. His body flinched and was thrown to the right. The world spun, and pain spread to his back as he connected with the floor. Every breath became a struggle and he wished that his suffering would end.

The world spun again and was flooded with a white light. From his angle on the ground, he couldn’t see what was occurring. The sounds seemed to be machine gun fire and a thunderous sound that had to have been the main cannon of the tank. The Major yelled ‘O’Tiney bomb’, and explosion soon followed. Several other things were said, but the private was losing consciousness and awareness.

“Alright! Level up!”

The private thought that was the Major, but was unsure. Everything went black, and the private thought he had gone blind before he died. That was not the case, as everything became clear again, as the cold grey color of the ceiling stared back at him. Boots clicked on the floor, heading in the opposite direction, and the private surmised it had to have been the Major.

“After everything I had to go through, it’s my lot in life to die in this damn place. A nameless grunt, some piece of machine gun fodder… it pisses me off. Where’s the justice? I guess I don’t matter to anyone. My existence was meaningless, which is why I’m dead. No, I can’t accept that. Please, someone, save me…”

He raised his hand to the ceiling as he hoped someone would answer his prayer and take him away from that place. No one answered it, and his hand fell to his chest. Through the uniform, he felt something out of place. He struggled to take it out and find out what it was. He raised it into his sights, and his eyes widened in surprise, and then in anger.

“A… game? This is a script for a game? You mean I’m in a game and I didn’t know it?! No wonder I didn’t understand what was going on, or had a name or background! That’s why I don’t have a face or anything special about my appearance! I really was just fodder!”

The rage he felt intensified as he began to yell from the pain his pride took as well as the pain from the spot on his left pectoral where the bullet hit him. He earnestly wished to destroy the building. The explosives blew up, and he got his wish as the supply depot and everything within it was consumed in a flash fire.

Tresher scar

A medium sized shuttle descended through the cloud cover that surrounded the planet of Tinallis. The gray shuttle was stubby and bulky, though it was aerodynamic enough to not crash and burn while it made the descent. The winds buffeted it and forced the pilot to pay attention lest it shift out of control and prove the dangers of defying gravity.

From within the cockpit, Lasitor Icine smiled broadly and glanced over at his copilot.

“See? I told you I could handle this with no problems.”

The older man who sat in the copilot seat shot a glance back at the young man that wore the same kind of black fatigues and combat armor he had. Both sported a patch on the upper right arm, an uneven crimson ring that symbolized a star going supernova. It was the symbol of the Velir’s Nova, a mercenary band.

“How about you say that after we land? Remember what happened the last time?”

The young, black spiky haired pilot rolled his eyes, and then strained to bring the shuttle back under control after turbulence knocked the nose of the shuttle down and starboard. Lasitor grinned as he forced the shuttle back on course. His blue eyes sparkled at his success.

“If you were focused, you wouldn’t have had to strain; you would have felt the shift and adjusted then when the nose was still close enough to where it was to begin with.”

Lasitor sighed at the retort. It seemed like no matter how much he tried to impress his mentor Rasik, he always missed something.

The rest of the descent was in silence, as Lasitor tried to do as instructed and focus on flying. They shut down the engines and moved out of the cockpit and to the back of the shuttle where their cargo was at.

An elderly man in a black suit and pants marched to them as soon as the door to the cargo bay opened up.

“This is an outrage! We have valuable, expensive equipment here, and your reckless piloting could have damaged them! We would have had to abort this entire expedition if we couldn’t use them!”

Rasik folded his arms over his chest and stared down at the smaller man.

“And are they damaged?”

The corner of the elder man’s mouth twitched.

“No.”

Rasik smiled.

“Well, then there’s nothing to complain about. We got you, your people, and your equipment here in one piece as we said. You were the one that said the wind was unpredictable and required skilled pilots, which was why you didn’t want to use someone from the University. Right, Dr. Gibson?”

Dr. Gibson turned crimson in anger, but stalked off to his biology team to direct them in unloading everything and setting up camp. Rasik threw an arm around Lasitor’s neck and led him away from the biologists as they lowered the boarding ramp and got to work. They moved out of the cargo bay and deeper into the shuttle.

Rasik smirked at Lasitor.

“He’s mostly annoyed at how he was forced to use us. The University agreed to sponsor the expedition, but only if they were given an armed escort. Tinallis isn’t a planet a human would want to go to unarmed. Not if the human wanted to survive anyways. There are a lot of predators and natural hazards out there. Still, biologists can go there and find something new and name it. The main reason Dr. Gibson wants to go, to be famous for finding a new species of whatever he can find. Don’t let his comment about your piloting bother you. You did well.”

Lasitor grinned back at Rasik.

“Yeah, I know I did great.”

Rasik smiled and shook his head ruefully.

“That pride of yours is going to get you in deep trouble someday.”

Lasitor just laughed off the comment and nodded back to the biologists.

“So, should we go ahead and help them arrange their camp before they allow a predator to just walk in and make meals out of everyone?”

Rasik chuckled, and his blue eyes showed his merriment.

“Sure, since getting eaten would be a great start to any expedition.”

He saw the smirk that appeared on Lasitor’s face and shook his head.

“Kids… all you think about is sex.”

Lasitor laughed and the two made their way off the shuttle.



The eight person team of biologists had arranged their tents in a loose circle, with the equipment in the middle of the encampment, a few meters away from the edge of the rainforest they had set down next to. After some harassing and verbal jabs from Rasik, the camp was reversed, with the equipment on the outside and the tents in the inner circle.

Lasitor leaned back against the landing gear of the shuttle and rested his hands behind his head. His heavy blaster rifle laid on his lap, the barrel pointed at the ground. A smirk appeared on his lips as he remembered the way Rasik made Dr. Gibson look like a fool.

“The University said we would handle everything pertaining to the defense of the research team. Campsite placement would fall under such a category.”

Lasitor chuckled to himself and closed his eyes for a second. When he opened them, he found the good biologist stood before him. Dr. Gibson tapped his left foot, and his arms were crossed while his right fingers tapped against his left bicep. The annoyance he felt was clearly written on his face, and the good biologist used all of it on the young spiky haired man before him.

“What are you doing loafing around here? There are plenty of things that still need to get done. Why don’t you go help instead of sitting around sleeping?”

Lasitor shook his head and waved lazily with his left hand at the campsite.

“What is there to do? The only thing that’s getting done right now is dinner. There are plenty of people assisting that, and I suck at cooking anyways.”

He put his hand back behind his head and closed his eyes, dismissing the old man’s presence. Dr. Gibson stomped forward and glared further at Lasitor.

“You’re supposed to be watching over us, making sure nothing will cause us harm. That’s what your master is doing-”

The elder man was stopped in midsentence when Lasitor popped up his head, opened his eyes, and grabbed his blaster rifle. He pointed the weapon at the biologist, and the biologist stepped back in surprise at the anger and fury in the young man’s eyes.

“He is not my master. He’s my instructor. Don’t call me a slave. Ever.”

The biologist raised his hands and stumbled on his words in an attempt to apologize. Lasitor just scoffed and lowered the weapon before he turned his head away and told Dr. Gibson to leave. The good biologist wasted no time and retreated from Lasitor.

Several minutes later, he was still angry at the comment. Someone close by cleared their throat, and Lasitor ignored them. The person cleared their throat again, and Lasitor ground his teeth together.

“What?”

“You do realize that this is going to be a long mission if we can’t get along with the client, right?”

Lasitor opened his eyes and turned to see Rasik looking down at him. Lasitor raised an eyebrow.

“You aren’t doing that great with him, and he took it out on me, so why should I care if he ain’t happy?”

Rasik sighed and sat on his haunches.

“Just because things aren’t going so smoothly now doesn’t mean it will be that way later on. I’m letting him know the boundaries now so we won’t clash in the future. I’ve let him decide where we’ll be going, and consulted him about how far we’ll be out. It’s give and take.”

Lasitor remained quiet after Rasik was finished. Intellectually, he knew that both sides had to be in agreement. However, he felt that Dr. Gibson was an idiot and couldn’t make a plan to the refresher, much less an expedition. His grip on the blaster rifle tightened as he refused to accept the idea that he’d have to listen to that idiot.

“You’d be far better at leading this thing than that moron.”

Rasik chuckled and shook his head.

“I’m not a biologist. My knowledge doesn’t really extend into that field. Gibson is the expert, and so it’s mostly up to him.”

Rasik got up and extended his hand to his partner. Lasitor looked at it for two seconds before he took it. The larger, older man pulled him up onto his feet. Rasik smiled and slapped Lasitor’s back.

“Things will turn out fine, just you see. Gibson knows what he’s doing in his field.”





Several days later, Lasitor had to grudgingly admit that Rasik was correct. Although, the younger mercenary was also correct. Dr. Gibson was an idiot in everything outside of biology. It took only a few hours into the first day’s hike for both mercs to realize the good biologist had no sense of direction, since he had led them in a complex and circuitous route through the dense forest close by to the rear end of the campsite. He had also unwittingly been bitten on the hand by a spider whose legs were longer than the biologist’s hands. Luckily for the biologist, the spider was not poisonous, and it occurred in the campsite, where it took no time to tend to it.

Lasitor questioned how the biologist survived back home at all.

When the good biologist had gotten over the shock and surprise of the spider bite, the group set off once again to find some new and exotic animal that would make the ‘team’ famous, as Dr. Gibson kept reassuring his colleagues. No one had denied that would be the case, though the other seven biologists knew that Dr. Gibson wanted all the glory himself.

The group woke up early and set out on a trek for a ridge overlooking a lake around six kilometers away, everyone carrying a backpack full of supplies; the mercenaries carried all the weapons while the biologists carried their own equipment. Dr. Gibson’s reason was extremely simple, if misguided.

“Treshers are one of the biggest predators on this planet. The avians feed mostly on sea crabs, though I’ve heard they will eat plenty of other things as well. We might be able to find something else that they eat that no one else knew about. Then we can name it and describe it and its impact on Treshers, therefore getting us mentioned in TWO articles!”

Lasitor noticed no one else felt compelled to explain that there would have been plenty of others that would have tried that all ready. Since threshers were well known all ready, wouldn’t their prey be fully understood by now? Sadly, the idea seemed to never have crossed the good biologist’s mind.

As the trek continued for its third hour, Lasitor wondered why they were walking. A quick hop in the shuttle would have gotten them there in less than thirty minutes, and would have given them more time to study the thresher’s other prey, if there were in fact any others. He had talked to Rasik about it before they left the camp, but he had shrugged and said that Dr. Gibson was adamant in walking there, since ship pollution was hazardous to the thresher chicks and against the law here on Tinallis.

So what if it’s against the law? If a law is gonna be a hindrance, why obey it?

No one else agreed, and so he was forced to walk the whole way. He played rear guard and was bored out of his mind, so he let it wander far away from this blasted planet. To him, anywhere was far better than here, where he had to follow the lead of an idiot biologist and the saps that willingly followed him. Rasik was the only other intelligent person in the group, but he played the part of a follower instead of the leader Lasitor knew the older man could be.

The Novas had a few changes in leadership since I joined it, and I can see him leading us one of these days. He’s got all the right traits for it. Hell, I’d follow him through the Maw, confident he could get us through it.

His musings made him smile, as he just knew that things would only get better with Rasik with them.

He also had spent enough time musing that they had finally reached the ridge. The lake below was pale blue-green with spots of darker green in patches spread throughout it. Lasitor pulled out a pair of macro binoculars and looked closer at the water. He was surprised to find that the water was wide, but not as deep as he had originally thought, since he saw the rocky bottom fairly easily.

Trees and shrubs started a few meters from the water’s edge, and a small stream that flowed from the ridge into the northern edge of the lake and had an outlet on the opposite side. There didn’t seem to be many animals around the lake, which rather surprised the young mercenary. You’d think that with a supply of water close by, there would be plenty of animals out here.

A loud caw pierced the air, and the attention of all ten people went to its source. A large bird with a black feather coat flew majestically in an arc down towards the water. The biologists and mercenaries watched as the bird sped up and descended towards the water’s edge. As it flew right on top of the water, it extended its talons and then pulled up and away. In its talons were two sea crabs, one in each talon. The avian flew towards another part of the ridge.

“Beautiful, isn’t it? The tresher is truly a wonderful bird!”

Lasitor lowered his macro binoculars and looked at the good biologist. He did agree that the tresher was pretty impressive, though he wouldn’t have gone so far as to call it ‘wonderful’ or ‘beautiful’ as Dr. Gibson had. The tresher’s face wasn’t every appealing to him. The beak seemed too wide for even a bird as large as the roughly two and a half meter tresher was. Also, the legs seemed too thin to support the weight of the bird properly. To him, it seemed far too much like an old person’s limbs: too much bone and not enough meat.

The tresher settled down somewhere on the ridge thirty meters away to their right. Dr. Gibson immediately set off after it. Rasik raised a hand to stop him.

“Hey, wait, what are you doing?”

Dr. Gibson ignored the man and continued going after the tresher. Rasik shook his head and sighed before he waved his hand for everyone to follow. The group followed in the wake of the good biologist.

Dr. Gibson led the group in a surprisingly straight line to where the tresher had set down. Lasitor was very surprised at how the biologist had managed to navigate them to it when he couldn’t even get them anywhere a couple days ago. Then Lasitor understood. The biologist would push himself when he saw his goal clearly in front of him. Before, there wasn’t anything in particular that the biologist was looking for, and so he took a roundabout route in the hopes of accidentally running across something.

It seemed like he was wrong about the biologist and he knew he’d have to do a better job of profiling people in the future. It wouldn’t do to misjudge an enemy and have to pay a hefty cost for it.



The group stopped and looked down the ridge to where the form of a tresher could be made out among the twisted branches of an exceedingly large and barren shrub. The sound of crab shells being ripped apart reached them, as well as the sound of high pitched chirps. Apparently, it was lunchtime. Dr. Gibson pulled out a pair of macro binoculars and settled himself down onto the rocky ridge to observe the tresher and its young below him.

Lasitor looked over at Rasik, and saw the older man let the biologist do whatever he wanted while the mercenary made sure nothing would happen to the group. The younger mercenary turned his attention in the opposite direction and scanned the area for any dangers. On top of the ridge, the entire lake and its immediate surroundings were visible. The scenery was nice, though he wasn’t too interested in the view. The trees could possibly hide numerous natural predators that could spring up and climb the wall of the ridge and make a meal of the team.

As if such a thing would really happen…

Lasitor sighed and picked up a rock. He grunted as he threw it as far out as he could, having grown bored of this already. After five days of the same things, he was tired of needlessly being cautious. Rasik turned and gave him a stern look and a frown. Lasitor shrugged with a ‘What? I didn’t do anything wrong’ expression. Rasik shook his head and returned to scanning.

Annoyed, the spiky haired youth kicked another rock off the ridge. The rock tumbled down and fell on top of the tresher as it was about to eat its share of the crabs. It squawked and turned its expression upwards. Dr. Gibson pulled away as quick as he could, while Lasitor moved closer to look at what had made the noise. The tresher saw a potential threat and flew up to deal with it.

Lasitor was amazed at the speed the large bird was about to move. He barely had time to move back and to the left as one of the tresher’s talons reached out to him. It missed, for the most part. The sharp talons only slashed the right side of the mercenary’s face instead of ripping off the whole face. He yelled and fell backwards face first, off balance from the shift in weight within the backpack and his sudden movement being thrown off by still getting hit.

The avian noted that there were far more creatures here. It decided that every last one of them was a threat, and it cried out as it begun a swoop down at them.

Rasik’s blaster rifle quickly opened fire three times on the bird and forced it to fly away in surprise. Rasik’s eyes widened when he saw that the trio of shots hadn’t killed the bird. He reached into his backpack and withdrew a concussion grenade.

The tresher had withdrawn five meters away and flapped its wings as it prepared to fly right back at the invaders. Rasik activated and threw the grenade, then told everyone to get on the ground. The tresher moved out of the way, though the grenade landed on its left wing.

A shockwave rippled out from the small explosive. The tresher took the blunt of the blow and the explosives held within the grenade. With a squawk and a flash of feathers, the bird met its untimely end. The ridge shook for a few seconds, and then calmed down. The humans on the ridge were knocked around and stunned, despite their attempts to remain untouched.

Rasik slowly rose and shook his head, trying to clear it and the ringing in his ears. He looked over at Lasitor, and found the young man face down on the rocky ridge. Slowly, he crawled to his comrade. He turned Lasitor over and gave him an inspection.

Blood flowed from the triple cuts on the youth’s right cheek and his nostrils. The skin had all ready started to bruise from what Rasik assumed was the impact of when Lasitor had fallen to the ground. The young man’s chest slowly rose and fell. Rasik smiled at the knowledge he was still alive. The smile fell as he realized something still had to be done with his wounds.

One of the biologists touched his shoulder, and asked a question Rasik couldn’t hear over the ringing. A quick exchange ensued where both sides realized they couldn’t hear each other. Rasik used inventive sign language to let the other know he needed to treat his comrade’s wounds. The biologist took off his backpack and rummaged through its contents until he found a first aid case. Rasik took it and nodded his thanks before he turned his attention to Lasitor.



Lasitor groaned and struggled to open his eyes. He finally managed it, and took in his surroundings. He was no longer on the ridge overlooking the lake, but on a bed in one of the cabins onboard the shuttle. With a groan, he sat up and placed his hand on his head as the cabin begun to spin around. He laid back down and closed his eyes and replayed his memory of what occurred.

He recalled the tresher flew at him and slashed him with one of its talons. He fell backwards and had connected with the ground. Everything afterwards was a blank. He reached to his cheek and felt a gauss pad over it. A sigh escaped his lips.

“Maybe it wasn’t a smart idea to put thirty kilos of stuff in my backpack and make sudden movements.”

He stayed on the bed for a few minutes before the door opened up. He turned his head and watched as Rasik entered the cabin. The older man smiled slightly at Lasitor.

“I see you’re awake now. That’s good, because I was getting tired of lugging you around.”

Rasik’s voice was harsh and condescending. His face twisted into annoyance and he crossed his arms over his broad chest. He walked further into the room and the door closed behind him. With the door closed, Rasik dropped his brooding and smiled more genuinely.

“The others are elsewhere in the ship right now. Had to keep up a façade for them.”

Rasik sat on his haunches next to the bed and patted the younger mercenary’s shoulder.

“There wasn’t really much else you could have done in that situation, that tresher was real quick. Don’t worry though, I kept the others alive and fulfilled the mission on my own. The good Dr. Gibson ended up finding something else on the way back to the campsite: a plant that caught his eye, actually. There seems to be a strain of flytrap in the rainforest, which is rather odd since they usually don’t do well with a lot of water. So, the trip was a success.”

Lasitor nodded and closed his eyes as he laid his head back. He processed what Rasik had said and it finally dawned on him.

“Wait, ‘was’ a success? You mean we’ve already left?”

Rasik nodded.

“Yeah, we’re about to dock with the station in orbit so we can properly get you patched back up. And, if you wanted it, remove those new scars you picked up.”

Lasitor shook his head.

“I’ll keep them. I’m a mercenary, so I’m supposed to look tough. Nothing says that as much as scars to brag about.”

Rasik laughed lightly and patted Lasitor’s shoulder before he stood up.

“I’ll tell you how things had gone with the tresher when we’re docked and on the way to the infirmary. That was one tough bird, I’ll tell you.”

Lasitor grinned, and winced at the pain it caused.

“Ow, well, at least I know I didn’t lose to something that was a wuss. I don’t think I’d ever live that down.”

Rasik laughed and left the cabin. He paused at the door and smiled back at Lasitor. Lasitor smiled back before he spoke.

“See you later.”

Rasik nodded.

“Yeah. Don’t forget, the bill’s coming out of your share.”