Star Crusades by Michael Thomas (whitelam books txt) 📗

his hand a firearm, though hewas clearly unused to holding it. Shapes were moved towards him ashe shouted to others nearby. Some fired, while the others fled. Theman shouted once more, and then turned back to face the namelessshadows. He lifted his weapon, and it failed to fire.

“Stayback!” Valentine screamed, but the man ignored her.

He took a stepforward, and the battlefield shifted tothe icy cold tunnels of the Martian moon. She screamed again, butthen Corporal Bennett ignored her. There were Ski’ligs all about,but one grew larger and brighter by the second. Like some greatdemon from the deep, it tore apart all of those who came closewhile increasing in power with each hit it sustained. She could seeother Novas blasting away or charging at it with melee weapons.Then came a flash, and all of them were down.

No, not again.

Valentine reached out to stopher, but Jane slipped through her fingers and ran at the monstrousbeast with something in her hands. Valentine knew it was amilitary pack filled with explosives andammunition. Many of the soldiers had carried similar as they moveddeeper underground and mined the various tunnels and entrances. Andthen it happened exactly as the other hundred times she had seenit.

No. Not again.No!

The wounded Corporal leapt upwards and threw her arms around the greatbeast. Her clothing and sections of armour hissed as they wereburnt against its nearly molten skin. She was still there even asshe suffered hideous injuries against the living sun. And then asquickly as she’d charged forward, she was gone. Valentine wanted tolook away, but she couldn’t. Something kept her looking directlyahead as the pack detonated with a devastating flash. It blindedValentine and threw her backwards through the air. She knew theimpact would be hard, but even as her body braced, it was notenough to stop the air from being blasted from her body. And as shelay there amidst the smoke and destruction, she knew she hadfailed, and once more her friend had sacrificed herself to end thebattle.

She blinked, and the view shifted to the interior of the ship, a shipthat she knew deep down had been lost with all hands decades ago.She was on the ground surrounded by bodies. Valentine tried tomove, but it was not her body. A discarded thermal shotgun laynearby, and as she reached for it, a creature grabbed her leg andpulled her away. She knew who it was, and struggle as she mightthere was nothing she could do.

“No!” she screamed.

“Lance Corporal!”

Valentine opened her eyes, and atonce felt a pulse of pain through her body. The light from inside the medical bay was in stark contrastto that experienced inside the tunnel battlefield of themoon.

“I’m here,” she said weakly.

The figure infront began to take form, and then shesmiled at seeing the heavily scarred form of a Jötnar leaning incloser. His people were a rarity enough as it was, but out hereamong the old worlds of Sol, it was even more rare. At his side wasa medic, who then leaned in closer to her.

“Lance Corporal. Your tests areall in the green, and the final graftsare holding. They will be painful, but you will be back to…well,normal in a few more days. Your trauma is another matter. It is myrecommendation you return home for a period of rest.”

A smile spread over her face, andthe doctor appeared confused. She turned to the officer standing at her side.

“Is everything okay? She doesunderstand, doesn’t she? The only thingthat can heal her mind is time. We can only do so much.”

The officer spoke, but Valentinecould not make him out. Instead, she struggled to removethe thoughts of the violence from her mind andconcentrated on her body. The doctor then left, even as Valentinelay there with a dazed look to her face. She looked up at theofficer and blinked twice.

“Captain?”

The old warhorse smiled, bearinghis chipped oversized teeth ather.

“Lance Corporal Valentine. So…you didmanage to stay alive this time.”

“This time? How many times have Idied, Sir? In my mind, or inreality?”

He laughed and then pulledhimself back upright. She could see hewas currently unarmoured and could identify numerous injuries hehad sustained over the years. Jötnar were infamous for gettinginvolved in impossible battles, and as she thought back, shecouldn’t remember if she’d ever seen an unharmed Jötnarbefore.

“Does it matter?”

That was a question that seemed much harder to answer than sherealised. Yes, she had died in combat the first time, but therewere at least two other occasions where she was technically dead.But then came the dreams, the flashbacks, and the memories. Anddeath, those seemed no less real.

“I…uh…I really can’t tell anymore,Sir.”

“I thought so,”said Captain Olik, “You’ve died too manytimes, Lance Corporal.” He glanced off to his right, and thenlooked back down at her, “Your injuries have been patched, and yourreplacement components fabricated and repaired. Is there any morethey can do for you here? It’s been what, nearly nine months andmany visits.”

He then tapped the side of hishead.

“And the nightmares. They are of thesiege?”

Valentine nodded slowly.

“Partially. Some go back much further. To when my...”

She tried to say more but then shookher head.

“My body needed time toheal. I should have been out of there inthree months, tops. But apparently the few of us left fightingsustained the worst lung damage.”

Just saying it brought back the taste,and it almost made her retch.

“The gas caused…”

She stopped upon remembering that hehad been there, right alongside her.

“What about you?I saw you wounded many times.”

He shrugged as though she wastalking about getting a good soakingduring a rainstorm.

“Jötnar were built to sustain damage.It’s nothing a few months off the frontline couldn’t fix.”

Without thinking, she pulled awaythe covering over her body to find she was naked underneath. Shegasped, but not at the sight of hernakedness, but by the damage she had sustained more recently. Herlimbs were artificial, but she could see skin grafts from her thighrunning up to her left breast. A line of studs marked where thecombat surgeons had done their work, and it was going to leave amark, even after many years.

“Wow,” she said in mocksurprise, “After all this time, you’dthink I’d be shocked.”

Olik grunted but said nothing.

“Give it