The door shook under another blast from that damned mortar. I didn't know how far away it was from us, but I know that is too far away to hurt. And when theres somethin' I can't hurt or damage some way, I get a mite ornery. Just a mite. Me an Evan and Jules were stuck behind this damned wall, unable to do any ruttin' thing at all to the 'Liance folk outside, 'cept maybe take potshots at the soldiers what weretoo stupid ta get under some cover fast enough. Jules popped out her head just enough to sight, and then, boom. There was a faint scream from the Alliance side a no-mans land. A grim smile crossed her face. Suddenly, there was a sound from the enemy lines that made myy heart skip a beat. A tank. "Oh, shit," I cussed. I turned to Jules, who was poking her head out a mite to catch a glimpse of that damned tank. "Jules?" "What?" "We're all gonna die, ain't we?" She darted her head back in as a bullet whistled through the space recently occupied by her head. She turned to me. "Yeah, yeah, we're all gonna die." I grinned. "Shiny." I turned to Evans. "Hey, get over here!!!" He sullenly turned back to us, eyes bearing a wild look. "I get the feelin' that this isn't the best place ta be at the moment." I grinned all the wider. "Yep! Thats why we all are a gonna get gone, all soon like." His smile was a mite more subdued than mine. "Shiny." The little wall that had been our cover was rapidly becoming the opposite, so we set off, back down the line. Folk were fighting all around us, and we got gone from where we were not a minute before, as a tank barelled down at it. Quite suddenly, it went up in smoke and flames, which had immediately followed a rather larger boom than a gunshot. Since we were still quite close to there, we went back, and met up with a heavy weapons squad, a four man affair that carried two rocket launchers. Problem was, they all had pistols, and some very angry 'Liance folk were comin' down on our posistion, bent on bloody murder. I guess folk get all angry when you blow up their tank, God knows why. The commander was a stocky man with a beard and blonde hair, a rather odd combonation to my eyes. He held out his hand. "Hello, I'm Captain George O'Niel, who might you lot be?" I stepped up to him and shook his hand. "Hi, I'm PFC John Mattitux, this is Simon Evans, and shes Julian Rouch." He smiled congenialy at us. "Hi all. Now, run for your lives." He took off at a surprisingly fast pace, and we all took off after him. Bullets flew around us, and we could see other units taking off to the high ground. Another glorious defeat for the Independents, apparently. When he finally stopped, we were all panting, but O'Niel seemed like he had only gone for a brisk trot, and not sprinted several hundred yards. "Right, we've got orders from Command to hold the peremiter from the Purplebellies.. So, anyone got any bright ideas on how to not die?" He was one of the better Captains, better than any I've had before then. "Well?" We all stayed silent. "Right. Well, baring some miracle or other, I'd say we should spread out and ambush the lot of 'em when they pass through. Shiny. Right. Evans and Pole, with me on the left flank. Rest of ya'll, right flank. MOVE!!!!!" We bustled off, and very soon there was a rocket on either side of the road, though one would have to sift through quite a bit of rubble to find it. And so we waited. And Waited. And waited... Well, eventually, some 'Liance folk came through, 'bout a dozen of 'em. Well, us being in a rather mean mood, we proceded to rain fiery death onto them. In a few seconds, there were a dozen bodies and two craters in the already jacked up road. Evan's stood up and cheered. There was a sound of thunder. He gaped at the hole in his chest where the bullet had entered him. Slowly, almost in slow motion, he fell to his knees, the color draining from his face. Damn fool, why'd ya have ta do it? More bullets flew, and more Alliance soldiers came in. Scouting party. It seeped into my brain that those dozen had been only a scouting party for the main force. Damnit, we fell for the bait. We fell right into their trap like some gorram recruits... I sprayed down at them indiscriminately, and two of 'em fell, clutching at their wounds. Bu tit was a lost cause for us. From far away, I heard O'Niel call, "FALL BACK, BACK TO THE LINE!!!!" Then, he slid down the slope with a bullet through his eye. Next to me, another of the Heavy's squad fell dead, even as he launched his second rocket in tandem with his buddy on the other side. They blasted two craters, creating a swath of good ol' destruction in the ranks of the purplebellies. But there were still close to fifty of 'wm to our four. The other two Heavy's were trying to load their 'launchers by themselves, leaving me and Jules to keep 'em pinned. We couldn't. Five of the bastards rushed the hill that Pole was on. He drew his pistol, shot one of the rutters in the nose. They took the opportunity to bludgeon him to death. The last guy from the Heavy squad gave up on the launcher, and just banged a rocket against the rock in front of him, and lobbed it like a gernade. It made a satisfyingly loud boom. He did that for three more before he ran out. Then, he drew his pistol and started to fire at tha Alliance soldiers, who were trying to use the scant ground cover to their advantage. Jules shouted at me from a few feet away, "Its no use, we're humped! We gotta cut our losses and retreat!!! C'mon! We gotta-" Suddenly, she dropped her rifle, hands going to her stomach. Her face looked like she was in quite a lot of pain. I saw the Alliance guy who had shot her. He saw me. He sighted on me. I sighted on him. He fired. I fired. His shot hit the ground by my ear. He wasn't so lucky. He fell dead, a bullet in his left temple. I crawled over to Jules, who was by now laying on the ground. I scatterded a few shots at the Alliance folk, but they weren't my chiefest concern right then, truth to tell. I took a hold of her hand. We both knew it was bad. No use lieing to my best friend when she was dying. She gasped, and coughed up some blood onto the rocky ground that we are all gonna die on. "Hey, hey Johnny... you mind doin' me a favor?" I pushed some hair outta her eyes. "Yeah, what?" "Tell my folks, when ya get back... tell 'em that I wasn't runnin'. Could ya... do that for me?" I sighed. "I'm sorry, Jules, but I can't promise that. Our strings run out, I guess." She laughed weakly. "Bloody shame, I wa hopin' ta go on for a few mo'..." Her eyes clouded a little more. "Well, could ya 'least... take some of 'em with ya?" I smiled. "Now, that I can do." "Shiny." Her head lolled back, her eyes misted over, and she exhaled her last breath. There was a muffled scream as the last of the Heavys died. I kissed her forehead. Then, I stood up. I learned something, right then. I learned that bravery is a willingness to kill for something. And courage... courage is a willingness to die for something. Some things you have courage for are living things, your friends, your family. And, somethings are simply the memories.