[Orisoll]

What happens next is very hard to adequately describe, but suffice to say it involves the brief, yet surreal feeling of mental displacement in which the mind is completely separate from the body, mingling with all the other minds currently in the Matrix. It is now that I remember things I've never done, care for people I've never met, and have a deep connection to all around me, even those who I call the enemy. I am one with all the fighting men and women of Auraxis for only a brief moment before being pulled into the new body awaiting me, leaving any treasonous thoughts behind.


A familiar humming sound began to churn inside the deepest recesses of my head, slowly spreading outwards with the speed of a thick gas till the hum itself took the shape of a body. My body.


Seconds later my feet hit the spawn tube surface with a faint clunk, the sound loud to my hyper-sensitive post resurrection ears, and painful to my newly fabricated nerve endings. The sensitivity was a nuisance, but it wore off quickly as I staggered heavily out of the spawn tube, sitting down on one of the small beds near the center of the room to collect my thoughts. Despite nearly twenty-five deaths since my deployment, I still was not used to the feeling of resurrection. I always seem to feel slightly smaller in stature when I come out of that tube, like a small part of myself is lost in the rebirthing process.


Maybe someday there will be nothing left... maybe someday James Kerner will be no more than an intelligent amalgamation of Nanites. A life lost not to death, but to rebirth.


Interrupting my train of thought, a single body began to form out of the loose Nanite vapor within the nearest spawn tube. There was the sound of feet connecting with metal, and the one who's arm I had regrown came stumbling out of the tube.


"No! Get away! I don't wanna die!" he shouted in a voice slurred by panic, dropping to his knees and beginning to stain his goggles with tears. After a short moment of shaking and muttering he murmured between sobs, "I just wanna go back... back home, I wanna go home. Let me go... just... let me out you bastards!"


The crazed private began yelling curses at the ceiling, fists curled and trembling, tears pooling behind his goggles.


"You'll be fine." I reassured him in a flat tone, "I felt the same way after my first death."


The young soldier, an engineer upon closer inspection, ceased his wailing and fixed me with an expression that indicated his surprise at seeing another man in his personal Hell.


"What?" he asked, seeming slightly dazed.


"Just relax, take deep breaths. You don't want to stress your body too much so soon after refabrication."


"You..." the engineer began, lifting his goggles from his eyes to see past the tears, "You're that medic... the one who saved me." his tone was quiet and hoarse from screaming, but he seemed to be over the initial shock.


"Yeah, that's me." I confirmed, scooching over a bit and bidding him to take a seat.


"Thanks." he sighed, traipsing over the cold metal floor and taking a seat next to me on the bed.


"First time dying?" I inquired, realizing I had assumed it was his first time earlier without getting confirmation.


"Yeah." came the sullen response through a clenched jaw. "I swear I kill the bastard who got me. Even if it takes the rest of my conscription, I will kill him!" the engineer was shaking again, though not out of fear this time.


"You'll get a chance to soon enough." I began with a sly smile, "The brass is planning an offensive against the NC Warpgate while they're occupied with the Vanu on Searhus... word from the top. Eavesdropped it myself." I half-joked, grinning at the recollection of the night I had snuck out of my bunk and listened in on a classified war meeting. That was when I was still a fresh recruit, unaware of the things the Commissars did to people for crimes like that. I knew better now, but was thankful for the information. The assault was scheduled for next week, and I needed time to prepare.


"What do you mean 'offensive against their Warpgate'?" the engineer asked, glancing sideways at me before turning back upon realizing he couldn't read my expression through the composite mask.


"Exactly what it sounds like. We're going to take their Warpgate by force, effectively driving them off this continent."


"Damn... when's this going down?"


"I know it's sometime next week, not sure which day though."


The engineer and I sat in silence for some time while he considered the prospect of being forced into a massive battle having just minutes before been on the brink of madness from only one death.


"What's your name kid?" I asked after what I thought was enough time to mentally prepare for dying a couple dozen times.


"Nolan Reefer. PFC, if you couldn't tell by these things." he patted his shoulder pad where the rank insignia was located. "Yours?"


"James Kerner, Corporal." I said, lifting the composite shoulder covering to show my rank insignia.


"Nice to meet you... uh, what do I call a Corporal? Sir?"


"No, that's just for sergeants and above. You can just call me James... or 'medic', either one works...."


"Alright Medic." he said jokingly.


"...though James is preferable." I finished with a slight chuckle, then added in a more serious tone, "I gotta get a patrol path marked out, the enemy might be headed for this base next, and it looks like we're the only ones who spawned here. You can come with if you want."




"What exactly does this entail?" asked the engineer after we had exited the spawn building.


"Pretty much just walking around the perimeter of the facility, making sure no rebels show up."


"Sounds easy enough." he said, looking off into the middle distance as if already looking for the distinct blue and yellow armor of the New Conglomerate.


"Don't bother looking for anyone, they'd most likely send infiltrators. You're ears will be much better at locating them." I explained, taking a left to reach what I thought looked like a good place to establish a perimeter.


Nolan seemed to tense up at this. His eyes, still exposed with his goggles put up on his helmet, portrayed a great sense of worry.


"What's wrong?" I asked noting that he was now slowing down a bit.


"It's just that... infiltrators aren't really my thing, if you know what I mean." he said slowly, eyes darting back and forth to scan the undergrowth. "That and I did hear something a while back, sort of a harsh fizzling sound... is that what they sound like?"


"Where did it come from?" I asked hastily, slinging my Cycler TRV assault rifle off my back and positioning my finger to the side of the trigger.


"Over there." he indicated a small rocky outcropping amongst a patch of thorny vines, "About a minute ago as we were leaving the building."


"Cover me, I'm gonna go check it out." I ordered, starting off towards the outcropping at a slow trudge, my feet sinking into the water-saturated sludge below me with each step. I was nervous, but took comfort in the sound of an anti-infantry MANA turret fabricating into existence behind me. At least he knows how to cover someone properly.


I froze in my tracks at a sound projecting from the cluster of tall rocks Nolan had pointed to. A very faint staticy sound from behind the rocks amidst the thorns sent chills rocketing down my spine at it's implications. A helmet-mounted comms system was transmitting.


I shouldered my weapon and listened, hearing a hushed whisper seep out through the massed undergrowth.


"Looks like there's only two of 'em. They're starting to patrol the perimeter... yeah. One medic and one engineer... of course I will... yup. Got it. Delta 7 out."


The distinctive sound of an NC cloak engaging rippled through the air, hitting my ears and causing my eyes to widen. There were a few damp scuffling sounds, and a slender shimmer emerged atop the rocks.


"Holy shit! Look out!" came yell from behind me, ignoring the alarming rate my heart was beating at, I drew a bead on the faint outline and squeezed the trigger.


The weapon in my arms jolted back, filling the air with a piercing RA-KA-KA-KA-KA-KA-KA and numerous sounds of sharp, fleshy impacts.


Letting go of the trigger, I watched with a mixture of satisfaction, relief, and guilt as a blood-stained figure fizzled into existence atop the rocks, promptly slumping forwards and toppling into the thorny vines below. I lowered my weapon and shot a glance back at Nolan. He was crouched behind his turret, gripping his TRAC-5 carbine tightly to his chest.


"Clear!" I called back to the engineer, watching as he relaxed and let out a shaky sigh of relief. "Get back to the spawn room and notify you're squad leader, I'll keep an eye out here!"


"Got it." he called back, happily leaving his turret in favor of the high-density IFF spawn shields.


I turned my attention back to where the NC infiltrators body had fallen, listening for the sound of it disintegrating into a Nanite cloud. I began to grow worried when no such sound came. They're still alive.


I moved forward, forcing my way through the huge vines and thick mud to get to the rocky outcropping the infiltrator had fallen from. A twitching patch of blue, grey, and blood red appeared through the undergrowth as I approached the mosey rocks.


"Get... get away from me...." choked the thin figure as I drew closer.


I pushed away a large vine and took in the scene. The infiltrator lay crumpled at the base of the rocks, kicking weakly in the small puddle of crimson blood that had begun to form from the thirty-some bullet wounds peppering the stealth bodysuit. Covering the infiltrators face was a shemagh wrapping with bulky goggles obscuring the eyes, preventing me from seeing what was surely an expression of pure agony.


I drew my Repeater from my utility belt and knelt down next to the suffering figure. I pressed the barrel to the head of the infiltrator -whom I had idly noticed to be female-, and placed my finger over the trigger. A breath caught in the rebels throat as she attempted to sputter out some final words.

"Th... thank you... Terran scum." the phrase was barely a whisper, followed by a raspy cough and a spurt of blood staining the cloth face covering around where her mouth would be. "Do it... please.... it hurts."




This time the girl's plea was too much for me, I closed my eyes and -shamefully reluctantly- squeezed the trigger.