Innocent Beginings

The sun rose quietly in the east, its light flooding the windows with warmth, its soft touch caressing all the sleeping citizens of Omni-2. As she woke up Angel turned to her brother and helped him out of his crib, they went bounding down the stairs to get their breakfast as they always did, but when they got to the bottom of the steps they looked across the room, their mother was crying while watching the grid news. Their father was standing in the door way with his helmet held in his hands, and his head hung low.
With no idea what was going on, but overcome with the remorse in the room, the 2 children burst into tears. When Angel looked up to the grid news to see what was making everyone upset, she saw a photo of her eldest brother and several of his friends. Her mother looked to her and said, “they died defending the citizens of omni-tek” it was upon hearing the word “die” that the gravity of the situation truly sunk in.

The heartbreaking moment was shattered in an instant. All around there were explosions. The gentle suns were eclipsed by the tangible cloud of debris. Panicked the children looked to their Father who shouted to their mother to get the children safe. Their father fastened his helmet straps, grabbed his rifle from its rest next to the door before running out into the street, he looked back one last time, and blew a kiss to his children. They ran alongside their mother down the stairs, spiraling towards the shelter of the basement. Their mother stuffed them into the closet. And began to search for a hiding place for herself.

Upstairs there were noisy unfamiliar voices. There was the sound of splintering wood as the doors to each of the upstairs rooms were kicked asunder. Their mother ran to switch off the lights hoping they would ignore the basement. But it was a futile attempt. As the flashlight beams slowly arced around the room, one centered on their mother, the 2 children peering from a small hole in the closet door, could make out the shape of several men in the room. The first man grabbed their mother and threw her onto her knees, she looked at the man, and spit on his shoes, he snarled, she cried out you’ll never get away with this, and he shot her. Her crimson blood pooling around her head, highlighted by the flashlight beam. The men began to search the room, both angel and her brother knew that if their mother wouldn’t want them to scream, and they stayed silent, transfixed by her lifeless corpse.

As the men began to file towards the stair well, there appeared a pair of red crosses in their path at about head height The children didn’t know what to think, but it was clear that the men knew what was going on, they stood shocked. Only one daring to center his flashlight on one of the crosses in the door way, the children could see the White Omni-Tek logo emblazoned on a large piece of black armor. They had never seen such armor before, it was similar to the white armor their father and elder brother wore, but it seemed somehow more .. .. vicious.

In a flash of gunfire, the men who had killed their mother were annihilated. The children did not know what to do. One of the Red crosses centered on their hiding spot, moving through the darkness as though enhanced by some sort of ability to see in utter darkness, the as he moved closer into view, he activated a light bar fixed to his armor. It was only now that the children could see what it was, there, infront of them, was an Omni-Tek soldier, his helmet bearing a modified visor, that had emitted a red glow into the darkness.

He removed his helmet and looked at the 2 children huddled into the back of the closet, strewn with shoes and old clothes. He calmly asked them if they knew where their father was. Angel looked up and answered. “No.” he clipped his rifle to his back, and reached down, taking a child in each arm he began to walk back up the stairs. Angel wanted to protest, but she felt strangely comfortable in his arms.

When they got outside they were able to realize the full extent of what was happening, though neither of the children could even begin to fathom it. There were explosions everywhere, and gunfire was erupting on the streets of their home city. Moving down the road quietly they passed behind a barricade that had been set up by some of the soldiers in the white armor That her father wore.

Ontop of the Hill, where they had played as babies, there was a large aircraft. The children were lifted into the doorway along with many other families they knew. As the ship began to lift off, the soldiers turned their attention back to the front lines. Looking out of the plasteel view port Angel could see that her home would never be the same again.

Her ears were ringing, as she opened her eyes and looked upwards she realized she was on her back, she was staring into a familiar face, it was her brother, he pulled her to her feet and gave her a pat on the back. As consciousness took hold she remembered what was going on, glancing to either side of her, she could see her fellow troopers running, and ducking between the obstacles, their gunfire leading her eyes forward, she could see the goat horns, she had grown to hate, Rising out of the trench dug in front of them. Grabbing her Rifle out of the mud, she trained it on the first set of horns she could see. In a hail of gunfire the goat skull was shattered, saturating the ground in front of it with human ichor. Her com unit flared to life. “Common sis, what are you waiting for!” she shifted her attention to her left where she knew her brothers unit was operating. She could see him standing atop the edge of the trench, screeching in excitement he was emptying his clip down the insides of the trenches. Him and several of his friends leapt into the trench. In a way it was rather comical, as the goat horns that had given the defenders away as sentinels, the most hardcore of the clans, also gave away their fear.

The horns had begun to move horizontally along the trench trying to find a way to escape from the storm of gunfire being unleashed by the 3 troopers in the trench. She looked back to her own unit, laying prone in the mud, she knew that her headstrong brother would inevitably need to reload in short order. She looked into the faces of each of her longtime friends, they all knew what was going on, they’d saved her brother from certain death at least a dozen times. They all checked their clips and charged forward into the trench. There were bodies distributed in bunches through out the trenches, among them lying the alien weaponry that they had worked so hard to acquire, each weapon dropped by a sentinel represented months of hard work by their clan allies. She sneered, it would be years before they could get this many weapons back to re equip these men, even if they were insured. She hopped they weren’t. She hoped with all her heart that they weren’t. A mental image of her father’s last glance flashed into her mind. But she only allowed it to remain for a moment. She knew that to stay an effective officer she had to clear her mind of any personal feelings towards the enemy; she knew that the cold, methodical, un-relenting emotionless assault is what the OTAF were renowned for.

The troopers either side of her began to move across the open ground inside the compound, several clan sharp shooters holed up in a tower at the end of the road were taking shots at her brothers unit. She knew it was too late; he had succumbed to his rage again. There are those that argue that it makes him a better fighter, but she knew otherwise, she knew it impaired his judgment, she knew it made him feel like the force of wrath. She watched him and 2 of his squad members tear the door off its hinges, though she felt no remorse for the clans, she felt pity for what was about to happen to them. She could hear their screams through the din of battle even though they were at least 200 meters away. She knew that there was no stopping him until the clanners were dead, so she resumed active command of her unit and ordered them to move forward. At the apex of the hill the sentinels appeared to be preparing for a last defense of their tower research center.

Gunfire tore through the air, pinning the OTAF soldiers down, they knew that if there was to be any hope of victory they would need to reverse the situation quickly. A squad member on the other side of the road crouched behind a boulder and activated a laser beacon, he hurled the flare towards the clan lines. With a roar three black triangular aircraft appeared above the battlefield, white logos reflecting the sunlight in blinding display of strength. They were flying at mach 3, there was no sound, but it was still deafening.

They ducked down low, she knew they were lining up the attack, she had seen this at least 200 times since she joined the Armed-Forces. The bombers rose over the mountain range behind the OTAF squads. She looked across at the faces of the clanners. She could see their terror. She could see their fear in their eyes. As the Viral bombs rained down onto the Enemies, she allowed herself to indulge in a moment of deranged pleasure. She had personally killed hundreds of clanners, but no amount could ever satiate her internal hatred for them. As the corpses were shredded by the viralbot cloud swirling around them, she gave the order to Press on.

They were close to their objective. Increasing the magnification on her helmet she could see the target standing indignant in the doorway at the end of the road. She ran towards him with her gun trained on his breast. The tiny goat effigy carved over his heart. He looked back at her his face washed with contempt for Omni-Tek, and for her. He laughed as a storm of bullets tore into his chest. She stood over his body. As his blood filled his lungs, he laughed at her, his lungs gurgling and retching with pain. He proclaimed “I’m insured, you stupid lacky”

* * *

She felt a searing pain, she looked down to see her leg was ripped to a bleeding stump, hearing familiar screams she looked around, it was a scene from Armageddon. She could see hundreds of her fellow OTAF officers lying on the ground bleeding out, Their Comrades fighting on to the last. she felt overcome with a sorrow that gripped at her very soul, as she began to feel her life force fade she didn’t feel the grip of the insurance claim that she normally felt tugging on her soul before death. She faded into the nothingness of a permanent death.

Angel Jumped up, her face covered in a cold sweat, her heart racing, she clutched at her leg, “good” she thought to herself, “it was just another one of those dreams” it wasn’t the first time she’d had one of these terrifying dreams, infact they had started shortly after she had killed her first enemy. As she progressed, so did the dreams evolve, expanding to incorporate more aspects of her life, keeping the dreams as concurrent as possible. Recently they had become more frequent, the visions of slaughter overcoming her almost every time she dozed off, she couldn’t figure out why.

She reached up with the Hair ties, and tied her hair up. She put Glanced at the holo screen that displayed an image of the outside world; it was beautiful, the sun peeking in at her. She looked down, and picked up her sunglasses and tucked them snugly into her pocket. Thoughts passed through her mind, remembering the sun and how it touched the cribs when she was young. With blinding speed the recollection was shattered. She could hear glass breaking, and shuffling feet, along with howling drowning out the single indignant voice she could hear. Having a momentary lapse of shock, she resolved that no clanner would kill her the way they had killed her parents. She grabbed a handgun off the desk and threw open the door to the main room. She leveled the gun at the source of the noise. Before she could shoot she heard a voice say, “sis?” recognizing the voice she paused and looked up. Her brother had the bartender in a head lock, he was howling, and the bartender was stubborn in his declaration that the young officer did not require any more Vintage Whisky. She glared at her younger brother and in short order he let go of the bartender, the bartender straightened his collar and walked towards the broken glass and began to clean it up. She glanced at him, and apologized on behalf of her brothers shenanigans. The bartender a slight nanomage called lambda92 looked up at her, and spoke in a clam rational tone, “madam, please. Since he figured out how to get in her without a key I have been updating my insurance everyday before work” she looked back at her brother who had now moved across the room towards the stereo. She spoke in a stern harsh voiced that she usually reserves for dealing with uncooperative citizens, “Why are you here?” he, turned towards her, shocked that she had spoken to him in that tone and said, “I came to tell you that we got Zeakke.”

Angel felt distinctly relieved, she hadn’t doubted that the team would succeed, but she had been sure to keep the odds of survival to herself.

The suns began to creep down the edge of the spires of the hive like city of Rome, Angel stood perched upon a landing platform scanning the horizon. A docking drone scuttled towards the pad, lights on its back blinking, flashing and pulsing in sequence. She glanced down at it only for a moment before turning her attention back to the twin suns descending ever closer to the horizon. The whine of turbines thrust her attention skywards, the drop ship was hurtling towards the landing pad, it was jet black, the only identifying marks on it being the large white Corporation logo on its vertical stabilizer.

She picked up her rifle from its space on the rack, and leapt into the troop bay of the aircraft, her squad followed her onboard. Her XO grabbed the door handle, and pulled it shut, as the door sealed, Angel snatched one last glance at the sunlight outside, she’d done this a thousand times before, but for some reason this time felt different, it was a disquieting pain, it made her wretch. She felt a hand on her shoulder, and she turned around to see who it was, through the Helmet visor she could see it was the crew chief, he handed her a headset, and she put it on. In her ears she could here static, it irritated her, but she much preferred the white noise to the whining engines groaning and heaving under the weight of the men and their equipment.

* * *

A small red light illuminated the cabin, Angel grabbed her helmet off the floor and fastened it to her head, the visor powered up, and she could see again, looking around she saw her fellow officers, their guns clutched between her legs, each going through their last minute mental checks, it always amazed her to observe the methods others used to justify killing another human, or preparing to be killed. Since the dawn of Insurance, war had lost much of its value.

The ambient light in the cabin switched instantaneously from red to green. In a fluid movement they all took to their feet shuffling towards the doorway. A voice blared over the loud speaker, “It’s a Hot LZ” Angel activated her com and spoke to her men, “We’re gonna be jumping!” She threw the door open and sprung down onto the ground. She leveled her assault rifle at the undergrowth, she could see nothing, but if the aircraft sensors had picked up targets she knew they were there. She signaled to her men with hand motions and they all lowered their profile, some going prone, and the others crouching.

Sporadic gunfire erupted along the line as the clans chose to begin their attack. She ordered her troops to return fire, after a few short bursts she could hear that it was only her men shooting, confused, she ordered them to conserve their ammo, she gazed long and hard towards the foliage, and it scared her, never before had she seen clanners withdraw. An explosion rocked the ground around the squad. Stunned she looked up into the sky; she could see contrails streaking towards her – it was orbital artillery. She screamed into her comm, “Artillery! Run! Clear the zone!” As angel started to run she heard a voice in her com, it was her XO, he was laying on the ground with a large piece of shrapnel embedded in his abdomen. She turned to run back, before she could get into cover another explosion shredded back, her legs collapsed from under her, the pain leaving her in a daze, she faded into her darkest nightmares.

* * *
Her consciousness clutched at the edges of her mind, dragging her back into the present. She felt a pain the numbed her mind, looking down, she could see her leg, torn to ribbons, her thoughts turned to her dream, she feared what she would feel next, but it never came, and as her blood Spilled onto the mud, she felt faint, and drifted off.