Chapter 409 (1/2)

Ten Thousand bleed before me

Ten Thousand cry behind me

A Thousand stand beside me

War has destroyed us

The Hikkenite female's voice was soft and pure, wafting through the refit point. It merged with the howl of the cutting bars hacking down trees, the grinders working on vehicles, the shouts of the Terrans as they worked, and the sound of the ad-hoc crews doing what they could.

War has changed us

War has united us

Once he stood alone, called a cheat

Now we stand as one among many

Beside her an immature Welkret female was playing a slow melancholy tune to go with the Hikkenite's singing. She had a little wind instrument, the end against her mouth, the reed parallel to her face. Her fingers worked as played, strong fingers that I had seen holding down a Terran with a blown off arm as the medics worked on him.

A Herd of a thousand voices

Feral, primitive, Lanaktallan united

We stand with one purpose

To protect those that cannot fight

I sat in the mud, my legs folded underneath me, leaning over slightly to rest my shoulder against the expended missile pods. I felt exhausted, like I had been up since the dawn of time. I checked my chono in my helmet and saw I'd been awake for nearly thirty-eight hours. Over twice the recommended time for even sleep deprivation training.

Podling, Colt, Filly, it no longer matters

Every voice lost is one too far

Every inch gained is a thousand short

Every machine destroyed is a million too few

My biological eyes closed and I was loathe to open them. The two cybereyes let me see anyway, almost with perfect clarity.

I thought about how an old Lanaktallan on the sixty-third floor of the hab-complex I had grown up in had cybereyes and often complained that he could not see things clearly, only shapes and shadows and a slight bit of color.

My eyes felt like they were stuck together when I opened them again at a crash.

Yet we stand

We stand filled with rage

With loss

With the conviction that no more shall die

Another tank had been pulled in by the recovery vehicle and I knew I should get up, go over to it, but I couldn't seem to find the strength of stand up as I listened to the beautiful voice of the young girl singing such a melancholy song.

I saw a Telkan that I recognized from the first days, a Telkan that I had seen bring his family and watch me seal them away in the first shelter. He left where he was eating, shoving the rest of his Goody Yum Yum Bar in his mouth as he pulled a paint stick from his pocket.

Boot, Hoof, Talon, or Fin

Fist, Claw, Gauntlet, Blade

Nothing matters more than the lives behind us

I closed my eyes slowly, my cybereyes still watching the doctors working behind the cloth. I could see the two inch thick plates of armor that had been pulled off the Terran woman, hear the beeping of machinery.

Four times an arc of bright red blood has sprayed across the cloth, arterial spray as the doctor's struggled to save her life.

I could see the monitor where six lines moved steadily. A device to measure brain activity that I knew was connected to the fallen Terran who had led the foundlings out of the ruins, fighting alone, protecting them, calling out her faith to the Digital Omnimessiah to give her the strength to save them.

Skies burn

Innocents scream

Metal screeches

Rounds explode

The singer's voice was low, soft, as she sang the dirge.

Only one line of the brainscan had a single blip. Every few seconds it would give a little hiccup.