GUNS OF WAR - CHAPTER 1

Chapter 1

         Captain Alaina Magarain studied the lush forested landscape through her night vision goggles for the hundredth time.  They were in the middle of a rain forest on Sheliak.  Rain descended on them in torrents as she and her command huddled in foxholes.  Despite the raingear, she was soaked to the skin.  Rain plastered her regulation length chestnut hair to her scalp beneath her helmet, and dripped into her eyes beneath her goggles.  Chills ran through her despite the warmth of the planet.  Mud covered her gray uniform.  Her hands gripping her weapon were wet and grimy.  Even her feet inside boots laced halfway up her shins were wet, and her socks soggy from the rain.

         She thought she saw movement as she wiped the rain from her goggles.  She had gotten intel that enemy troop movement was in the area.  No one would catch her unaware.  It was hard to see with the Sheliak uniform the same dark green as the foliage and trees around her.  There, she saw it again.  She turned to her troops.  Corporal Lynneayia Reilly manned one of the guns and Corporal Ken Woodard the other.  Several other men and women, good soldiers all, looked to her as they waited.  She motioned to them and made eye contact, a dozen total in her foxhole, ankle deep in mud and water the sandbags could not hold back.  She spoke into her shoulder walkie-talkie, to the other units posted in foxholes throughout the area, and gave them a three count before they opened fire even as the enemy moved in on their position.

         With guns blazing from every foxhole in a quarter mile, missiles launched and screaming through the air, blinding smoke that made eyes water and parched throats, she led her troops from the foxholes against the enemy.

         Enemy fire countered their attack as soon as they knew their position had been marked.  She saw troops gunned down in the battle, but still she persevered, vowing she would remain free and her troops with her.

         Trees cracked, splintered, and toppled with every missile launch, exposing the enemy.  Little by little, they whittled away at the command until not one stood.  It was an overwhelming victory, a surprise attack planned by Sheliak, had gone in their favor, thanks to Adonai and the intelligence report she received the day before about troop movement.

         Alaina removed her headgear and slumped to the ground.  Lynneayia came toward her.  “Captain, it would not be a good idea to remove your headgear.  How many times have you told us not to do that until we were safely inside our quarters?”

         Alaina looked up at her, put her headgear back on her head, and smiled a weak smile.  “How many casualties?”

         “Six dead, four wounded.”

         “Out of one hundred fifty, I would say we did very well.  I will notify Colonel Latimer of our victory this day and have him notify the families of the victims.”  She sighed with the enormity of it.  She hated war and all it stood for.  She cringed at the sound of gunfire, even her own, every time a missile screamed through the air.  Thoughts of sending troops into battle who might not survive to see home again, made her nauseous, but she knew her duty and she did it, despite every nerve in her body screaming at her to turn and run.  “Do you know what I’m going to do when this war is over?”

         “Yes, you’re going to find a place where war has not been invented.”

         “Do you know why we left Old Earth all those years ago?  It was because of war.  It was because we had destroyed our planet through greed.  I would like to think there is a place in this galaxy where war does not exist, where peace is a way of life, but we know from studying Adonai’s book, that war has been around since the beginning.  Even in heaven there was war before the beginning of time.”  She shook her head.  “There is no getting away from it.  I long for the day when the prophecy comes true, and we will live in peace forevermore.”  From memory burned in her from childhood and in the militia academy, Alaina rehearsed from Adonai’s book:  “Alas!  For that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.  For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him: But they shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them.  Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the LORD; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid.” 

         “It will be a glorious day.  You know the peace talks are taking place even as we fight for our lives.”

         “Yes.  I’m hoping for word of peace, but it has been several days, and nothing has transpired yet.  Though in four hundred years, nothing has broken through Sheliak’s defenses in their need to castrate everyone through implantation.”

         “Well not castration exactly.”

         “Castration of will, emotions, freedom, that is the castration I speak of.  If given the opportunity, they would implant everyone who speaks the name of Adonai and we would be lost forever.”

         “Emperor Terhana will not let that happen.”

         Alaina looked around at the decimation their armament had done to the Sheliak army, and the landscape.  “I will be happy to go home and do something different with my life.”

         “What would you do?”

         “I would become a biotech engineer and an astro physicist.”

         “Two majors?  They aren’t even related.”

         Alaina looked up at her as she stood to her feet with Lynneayia’s help.  “Of course they are.  They are a study of the earth and space.  It is a study of the universe.  I want to dig my hands deep into the soil and see what it’s made of, and I want to see how the stars and planets in this galaxy affect our way of life.”

         “You know, I might just join you.  It sounds like fun, and it would take us away from the war once we’re able to go back to our civilian lives.”

         “We might be civilians when we go home and take off our uniforms, but we will always be militia.  We have it drummed into every cell of our being.  It’s part of us.”

         Lynneayia nodded as they went back to their troops and gathered them for the trek back to base camp.  “That makes two dozen attacks, and two dozen victories, three of them surprise attacks, which you found out about only hours before.  You’re a hero, you know that don’t you?”

         “I don’t want to be a hero.  I just want to go home and get away from the guns of war.  Even in my sleep, I hear their shelling all around me.  I wake in a cold sweat, only to go back to sleep and dream I’m still in the thick of it.”  Alaina shook her head.  “I just want to go home and do something different.  College is the answer.  When I think those missiles could take us out next time, it makes me shake.  I don’t think I’ll ever get over the sounds or smells of war.  It even invades my dreams.”

         “I know.  I’ve seen you toss and start at every sound, waking in fear.”

         “I admire you.  It seems nothing scares you.”

         “Oh, I’m scared.  Don’t let this bravado fool you.  I can’t wait to get this uniform off.  I just do my best not to let it affect me.  You’re an officer, and closer to it by your every action.  Do you make the right decision in what you do?  Should you turn right instead of left?  Should we maintain radio silence, or can we talk above a whisper.  Everything you do has the ability to make or break your entire command.  You hold our lives in your hands.  I wouldn’t want your job, but you are a good officer, and so far, we have fared very well.”

         “We are in Adonai’s hands.  If I had to trust me to lead and guide you, we would be lost.  No, if it weren’t for Adonai, we would all be bowing down to humanism and the people of Sheliak.  I will not give them that hold over me, so I will continue to look to Adonai to lead and guide.”  She laid a hand on Lynneayia’s shoulder as she got to her feet.  “You’re a good friend, the best I’ve had.  We’ll need to be careful we don’t lose sight of each other when this war is over.”

         “Are you kidding?  I’m going to stick to you like glue.  I’m even determined to sign up for college at the same time, on the same day as you when we get back to Vega.”

         “When we get back, if we get back.  We’ve been here for more than a year.  I’m straight out of the academy.  I’ve been thrown to the symbiotes, if you will, fighting for my life and the lives of every man and woman under my command.  It boggles the mind to think what Colonel Latimer entrusted to me.  I couldn’t do any of it without Adonai.  The people from Sheliak think we use Adonai as a crutch, that he is only a fairytale for children.  He is so much more.  He is my life and my salvation.  I have most of King David’s psalms memorized for those moments when we face our biggest challenges.  I remind Adonai that I am His and I need His protection in order to win the battle in front of me.  He just quietly assures me that He goes before me at the head of my small army.”

         “And that is what makes you a great militia leader.  You look to Adonai as your source.”

         Alaina looked up at the sun, so close, so warm on her skin, and looked at her watch.  “The rain stopped and I didn’t notice.  A new day already, but I’m calling for sleep.  We’ll convene the troops in eight hours.”

         “Almost a full day, you’ve been up all night.”

         “You know the one thing I wish we had here that they had on Old Earth – twenty-four hour days.  Instead, we use two twelve hour days to accomplish what we need to.  We see two sunrises for every twenty-four.  Even their years were twice what ours are, but then we are closer to the sun.”

         “If we were still back on Old Earth, we wouldn’t have the problems we have here, we would have other problems.  The reason we’re here is because we destroyed the earth.  You couldn’t breathe the air without a facemask.  I think any people still there are all underground due to radiation poisoning.  So wishing we were back there would be a fight for our lives on another level.  You don’t want that either.”

         “No.  I know you’re right.  Well, I need to get in touch with Colonel Latimer and let him know about the victory achieved here today and find out our next orders.”  She directed the troops into their tents.  “Set your watches.  We convene in eight hours.”

         They had been on Sheliak for nine months, a year and a half.  In that time, they had come up against enemy fire dozens of times, and every time she thanked Adonai she was still alive.  Her command could have fallen victim to any number of attacks.  She had lost good troops.  War did that to people, cut them down, and made them wonder why they fought.  She knew why she fought.  She fought to remain free.  She fought for Adonai.  She would not allow anyone to put restrictions on her life and turn her into a walking zombie with no thought of her own, only the thoughts that came from a symbiote.  No, that wasn’t for her or any of the men and women in her command.  They looked to her, trusted her and her judgment.  She had proven herself over and again.  She would not let them down.

         She made her report to Colonel Latimer and lay on her cot, fully clothed, with her boots on.  She never knew when they would need to mobilize again.  She only wanted one thing, to have the war over and go home.  She never wanted to hear the sounds of war again as long as she lived.  When would it end?  Only Adonai knew.