unnamed cpl

(get rdy 4 cheese)

Time To Die
It didn't hurt. Not the way they show it in the films. It was peaceful. It was nice.
The advanced recon squad wasn't suppose to be sent in like this. This wasn't an important
mission, not one worth dying for. But then again, in the wide scope of things, no mission is.
Not for a corporal, barely 4 months into the first cycle of deployment.
Scans didn't show the ambush, we were only suppose to record the number of working Starports, then head back.
They came up from the shadows, the six of us were taken down almost instantly.
Thermal Plasma. Silent. Deadly.
Only one shot per person was needed but they fired seven, two was placed into Alpha leader.
They were needlessly cautious.
This war has been going on for so long now, I don't remember when it started, I should have payed more
attention in class. But then again, it's hard to separate the propaganda from the facts nowadays.
The notion of a cold, morally corrupt enemy seemed so far fetched now.
"Sorry kid" one of them came up from the shadows, it's hard to see how many of them was there.
The laid down slouched position I'm currently in makes it hard for me to maintain a 360 degree vision, especially since my virtual HUD was damaged in the firefight.
He takes off my mask "Calm down" he says gently, reaching into his left chest pocket to pull out a silk cloth, it looked beautiful, a rare sight nowadays. He wipes the liquid waste of blood and snot spewing from my face. It was painful to see such a nice cloth used in such a way, it hurt more than the thermal shot.
Suddenly, I started to cry. I've never shown much emotion before, at least not in public like this.
"I'm going to die...right?" I spoke, the words were hard to say. It sounded stupid the moment it came out of my mouth. Thermal Plasma is 100% fatal. If shot, the person will die either instantly, or if lucky they'll live for a few minutes longer. I guess I was lucky.
He didn't say anything, he just stared at me, I'm not sure if he cared or not, but it was nice to be with someone at that time.
"I don't mind" I said as I choked on the blood rushing out of my mouth. "I didn't really live, you see, I was one of 'em bred soldiers, genetic selection, accelerated growth and all that. Ever since my I was born, I was kinda destined to be here now."
It seems stupid and pointless to be so reminiscent now, but I couldn't help it. I wasn't really in control of it.
"But I don't really regret anything" I mustered a smile, my body was getting really cold now "I've seen beautiful things. Capital Starships falling from the skies, as a million lights lit up their path. The failing shield core, and the millions of deaths didn't seem to matter then. It was peaceful. Kind of like now. Maybe I'll go join them now."
As I closed my eyes I could still see him looking at me, it was assuring in a impossibly hard way to explain.
I could feel my cells deteriorating, the expensive genes selected for me seemed pointless now. It felt like I was soaring into the sky.
"This is a good death" I thought "Because I'll forever live in the stars"


I really hope someone will take read this, any feedback is appreciated.

I kinda ripped off the part about the downed Starship falling from the ending of Blade Runner. That scene was basically the inspiration for this story.