Kass

The impact sends me reeling, I trip over something and fall to the dirt. When my vision clears I see that I had in fact tripped over Maya. Well, it might've been Maya. The face was so badly burned I couldn't tell. Resisting the urge to gag, I stumble up and jog over to the nearest foxhole and plop myself down. The other soldier in the foxhole looks just as shaken as I am, his face covered in muck and twisted into a fearful frown.

"Look, if we stick together we'll make it out of this mess OK?" I manage to shout over the booming of shells and whizzing of bullets. He nods quickly and I silently count to three before I peek my head out into the battlefield. We're losing, the Empire is slowly advancing on our position. I point my weapon, an A7 Semi-automatic rifle at the nearest charging Empirean soldier. I squeeze the trigger and watch as the soldier, only a boy, is launched back from the impact. I then aim at the next soldier, who spots me as I prepare to lay him to rest. He stops in his tracks and stares right at me with sad eyes; I can't bear to do it. I lower my weapon and scream at him,

"Run you idiot! Get out of here!" I yell, pointing back to the fog from which the Empire's ambush emerged. He seems to get my message and sprints away. I turn to face the kid in the foxhole with me,

"We're retreating! Let's go." I shout. We crawl out of the hole and start running back to the ravine where we were originally ambushed. Our overly-proud generals thought the Empire would be too scared to attack us. As usual, they were horribly wrong. Ironically, the people we look to for guidance are the reason we are losing the war. I think as me and the boy slide down the slope into the ravine, where we find Commander Tremmings helping to patch up some badly wounded soldiers.

"Commander sir! News from the front, the Empire has pushed through our defenses. Me and this private pulled back as we saw a large push of them overwhelm our right flank." I say through bated breath. The lanky commander stands and pats the shoulder of the soldier he had been applying a bandage to.

"Gods thank you for getting here Kass, we need to fall back to Fort Whitefall. We can't afford to stay here. You and Private Anders get these wounded on stretchers and prepare them for evac." Tremmings commands.

"Yessir," I reply with a quick salute and trot over to the pile of stretchers. I'm pretty strong for girls my age, so I grab one in each hand and walk over to the closest of the wounded. Anders and I lift each one onto a stretcher and carry them over to a truck. I hop in the drivers seat and quickly hot-wire the old brute. Military Knowledge classes finally coming in handy. I say to myself and hop out. I grab a older boy who was milling about and order him to drive the truck to Fort Whitefall. He salutes and climbs into the drivers seat, then slowly driving off down the ravine. Suddenly, I hear a loud scream coming from the top of the slope nearby,

"Incoming!", I look up to the sky to see a large cluster of Plasma Shells fall from the heavens. People are torn apart and incinerated. Then, a shell lands next to me; and everything fades to black as I feel myself being launched into the air.

Aidan


"Glory to the Empire, and all that it stands for." I mumble the last two lines of the Citizen's Pledge and turn to face Officer Tyrian. He is a stoic man, and his allegiance to the Empire comes before anything. Even his family, which he proved by killing his mother because she had been accused of stealing rations.

"Any assignments available, sir?" I question. Tyrian looks up and frowns.

"We have one, it requires a great deal of perseverance though." He mumbles.

"I'm ready for anything, sir!" I reply, enthusiastically. Maybe too much so, because he does not look up again. He continues to study the map on his desk and finally he says

"Fine, we captured a live Freedom's Veil soldier. She's still unconscious; a plasma shell landed mere feet away from her. Interrogate her, find out what you can about what they plan to do," He says "I honestly don't know why I am giving you this job, considering she is the first we have captured alive in these recent weeks that the West has seceded from the Empire and declared themselves Freedom's Veil."

"Yes sir. It will be done." I manage to get out before I walk out and leap into the air from excitement. I run down the white hallway towards the blank door at the end. Skidding to a halt, I place my hand on the scanner and wait as the machine processes my prints. After what seemed like an eternity the scanner blurted out in a flat, robotic tone,

"Welcome Aidan Grey. Please proceed." I push the door open and stepped briskly into the interrogation room. Inside, an unfamiliar Empirean soldier is hunched over a T.V. screen.

"What's the situation?" I question. The soldier turns and I can see bags under his eyes. He's been up all night, but doing what? Couldn't have been fighting, he ain't dirty. I wonder.

"The girl's still out, but she's stirring. I blacked out the glass so that she couldn't see us. So that's why he's looking at the T.V. I say to myself.

"Alright, my orders are to question her and find out what she knows about Freedom Veil's motives." I say as I step towards the door. The soldier snorts.

"Good luck, she looks about as clueless as a deer." He mocks. I give him a dirty look and step in. The girl is still almost awake and as her eyes flutter open and she looks up I see her face.
She's beautiful.