ON KORHAL, TIME OF REBELLION

***

As men in combat fatigues ran past, Jeremiah crouched down and fired his gauss rifle. “Spikes” rained down on the Confederate troops. “Take that, ya confeds” shouted Oliver, his bunkmate. Confederate marine after marine died in the deadly shower. Jeremiah took a shot of stim as he fired his assault rifle. The euphoria rush of stim overwhelmed him as he screamed like a madman, stood up, and fired case after case of bullets onto the Confederate troops. They fell like flies, until Jeremiah heard a sound. “Tsee!” A deadly siege tank pulled its shorter barrel in and the huge barrel of the larger siege weapon slowly extended out.

The tables turned as Confederate support shells blasted their deadly, and much bigger shells at the garrison. Korhal recruits and veterans were dying left and right. Jeremiah, still high on stim, picked up the C-14 rifle from his now dead commander, Lieutenant Kargilas, and fired the lockdown shells at the tank. His shots went wild as the lockdown canisters bounced up and down, some hitting marines and letting out a discharge of energy, paralyzing them for about 10 seconds, long enough for them to be cut down. Finally, one shot found its way to the tank, letting out a discharge of energy, shorting its systems temporarily and creating a bubble effect as the systems shorted here and there. The Confederates then retreated to their dropship, and as it lifted off, “spikes” pelted it here and there, nicking away armor, not doing much damage, until the dropship pilot made a bad mistake. She veered left, out of the range of the marines, but in the range of a missile turret. The inevitable longbolt missile tracked the dropship, as the pilot desperately veered left and right, trying to evade the missile. But like a shark, it followed it and rammed right into the exhaust port. The explosion came one second later, as metal sheared and the dropship literally exploded like a nova. As the marines pulled down their visors, shrapnel rained from the skies, striking holes in the armored building of the garrison.

***

Tinny music blasted its way in the marines’ ears as they marched. The sergeant commanded a few fancy parade moves as the recruits graduated. They wanted to throw their helmets in the air and shoot their rifles, but the helmets, weighing approximately 30 kilos, would fall back and give them a concussion. Then the honors were being presented as the general shouted out, “Newly promoted Lieutenant Jeremiah, bravery award for bravely disabling a large part of the Confederate army with a C-14 rifle.” Oliver started clapping and it spread like wildfire, and a huge round of applause greeted Jeremiah as he stood up and half ran, half jogged, to the platform. Finally, the “diplomas” were given and the recruits, now officially marines, medics or firebats, raised a hand and shouted, “For Colony Korhal!”

***

Jeremiah glanced up from his Malt liquor 18 oz bottle. His bunker mate sat next to him with his drink. “So how’s it like to receive full honors for graduating from the academy?” his bunker mate Oliver asked with a tint of jealousy in his voice.

“Pretty good my but folks aren’t here. I kinda miss them.” Jeremiah replied.

“Ha! You couldn’t wait to get away from them at the Starport.” Oliver said.

“Yea will back then I wasn’t-” Jeremiah stopped at mid sentence as a gunshot rang out in the bar. People screamed and ran out the door. The bunker mates scrambled from their chairs and drew their rifles. Jeremiah looked around, a drop of sweat dripping down from his forehead.

They crept quietly through the bar, looking right and left, until they saw a body, still warm, with warm crimson blood spurting out of the eye. The bullet had punctured the brain from the eye and had instantly killed the victim. The bunker mates gagged until they saw the murderer, a silhouette, a shadow creeping to the stairs, barely noticeable to the naked eye, but visible to the night vision goggles standard to every marine suit. The silhouette was a ghost uncloaked. As one of the most feared assassins of the Terran Confederacy, they “enjoyed” a reputation as cold-blooded assassins and were often avoided and were known for brain probing. They followed the shadow up the stairs, where it left to an alley.

The bunker mates could hear faint murmurs coming through. “Orders. Kill -----.” The bunker mates couldn’t hear the rest, as the murmurs were getting faint. They burst through the door as the ghost and some type of commander were about to depart. The ghost reacted immediately as he rolled and fired his C-14 rifle, hitting Oliver in the arm. The bullet passed clean through as the power suit pumped his arm with steroids. Oliver gasped and shifted his rifle to his left hand. The bunker mates rolled behind a filthy trash bin and fired their rifles. The ghost faded and disappeared, as the commander pulled out a shiny modified C-10 rifle. Gunfire pattered on the trash bin as Oliver emptied his bullets at the commander.

The commander fell, with blood spurting out of his chest. Jeremiah ordered a Comsat with his new lieutenant status. The Comsat detected cloaked objects/people with sparkles. The “sparkles” were seen above. The sparkles descended, coating everything with a radiation seen only to special filtered glasses. Oliver and Jeremiah fired their rifles at the ghost. “Kaa-kaa” “Kaa-kaa”. The ghost was hit 3 times in the arm. Oliver shouted with glee as the ghost ran, dragging his rifle with him. The Ghost fired 2 parting shots that impacted on Oliver’s leg and at his chest. Oliver fell and Jeremiah knelt near Oliver.

“Are you OK dude?” Jeremiah asked.

“I’m goonnaa diee,” said Oliver, “Tell my parents I missed them.”

“No man, you go tell them yourself!”

“I can’t… I feel so faint…”

“Lemme inspect the wound!”

          Jeremiah reached for Oliver and turned him over. Oliver gasped and rolled back.

“Roll over man!”

“No way!”

Jeremiah rolled Oliver over again, and he rolled back. Jeremiah rolled him over and kept him there. There was no blood. Finally, Oliver burst out laughing.

“YOU TRICKSTER!” laughed Jeremiah. “I don’t know where to laugh or feel relieved.”

          Jeremiah ran out of the bar, looking for any trace of the ghost, and giving up, called a taxi, dragged the laughing Oliver to it, and asked to go back to their bunkers.

***

10:00 A.M. DROPSHIP OF MARINES LEAVING FOR PALACE GUARD

            Jeremiah glanced out the window at the green, lush landscape of Korhal. Bengalas pranced around with their young, and a graceful and endangered species of Kakaru glided past his Dropship. “Korhal is beautiful.” he thought to himself. He then focused his attention back to his sergeant/lecturer. “This Regiment will be placed on palace guard duty at 1:00, after you eat your meal. IS THAT CLEAR?” the sergeant shouted. A chorus of ‘YES SIR’ answered him.

***

Jeremiah and Oliver were patrolling at the massive Palace gates. They went back and forth, back and forth at the gates.

“This is kinda boring don’t you think?” Oliver said.

“Yes, I’d prefer boot camp training to this.” Jeremiah kidded. As in reply, a hoverbike glided to the gates.

“Hey, there’s a hover bike coming this way.” Jeremiah said to Oliver.

“YES! Finally something to do with my worthless time.” Oliver replied with a hint of sarcasm.

“Should I go or you go?” Jeremiah asked.

“You go, I’ll have more fun watching the SCVs pick their nose.” Oliver replied. Jeremiah then ran out.

“ID please?” Jeremiah asked the rider.

“Sure, here you go.” the rider said. Jeremiah realized the voice sounded familiar. It was the mysterious voice from the other ghost!