The Soul of a Soldier
November 7, 2007
Xenet 71.43.1 System Msg
TTY31201.11.07
Network Connection Enabled
_____________________________
I was not a soldier before. I was a screwup. I could never do anything right but now… Now I have a job I can do and it is one I am good at. I am an AFS sniper.
Today, I was busy working in the Pools area on Valverde, searching for high value Bane targets and eliminating them. Generally I work alone because I tend to make my fellow soldiers a bit nervous. I rage at what happened to my family, my friends, my planet, just like they do. But I do it quietly. I am not boisterous or obnoxious like many others have become. The angrier I get the quieter I get.
I had a good score today. I was sent after a Bane overseer, a Lightbender, a fellow sniper. It never knew I was there until I fired. Then it was time to run like hell, as the Bane take it really amiss when you kill a leader. The linkers in particular were hard to evade, it was like they could see me through the solid rock of the mountain. I took down two of them when chances presented themselves. Then I hit a Predator in the sweet spot, dead astern of it, with my EMP torqueshell. It blew up nicely. That made them a bit more cautious. I finally managed to shake the Bane.
The problem was that my evac route ran right through a tree lurker colony. They hadn’t been there when I ghosted in, but there they were. Next thing I know I’m flat on my back and unable to move. I thought I was dead and then I hear the sound of a flamethrower. Another AFS soldier saw me go down and saved my bacon. She slapped a medevac tag on me and then disappeared into the gathering darkness. I don’t know her name and it doesn’t really matter.
As I lie in the sickbay tent at the Snakepit recovering, I think about about what I am and what I do. We are all part of a team, even if some of my teammates find me a bit strange. I help others as I can because in the end we are not here for ourselves. We are here for each other. My name is Kalenath Gerin and I am an AFS sniper. You will probably never see me, but I am there, backing up my teammates.
One shot, one kill.
