Ash Meets Marie, pt. 2

Just hammered this out waiting for the doctor to answer his phone, just some more personal exchange, nothing too fancy.

--

Ash did Marie the favor of not vomiting in her immaculate car and she did him the favor of driving him home instead of shoving him out of the car in mid-air for ruining the interior. Ash's home was humble and by no means opulent but it was definitely better than most of the residential sectors on this tier of Espher. Ash's salary covered everything well and gave him enough money to spend most nights getting shit-faced. As the Nexus W-X came to a quiet, delicate rest on its landing struts, Ash turned to look at Marie while using pure will to force down the nausea. “I... this was a hell of a night. Thanks... I needed--” Ash began but his lips were assaulted by her own for a brief, blissful moment. He presumed she was rolling the dice on his nausea, getting a kiss in before anything came out. He was struck by it, however, and lost his train of thought. “You...”

“Kissed you...” She replied, mimicking his tone perfectly.

“Hell of a night. I.. wish I weren't drunk so I could be a bit more... coherent. Yea, that's the word.”

“You're fine. If nothing else, being in this state shows who you are at heart. You really broke free tonight, it was wonderful.”

Ash tilted his head “I what?”

“Broke free. You had fun, you stopped moping, you lived in the moment and being able to help you achieve that is great.” She replied, turning in her seat, slightly.

“You saw all that -and- drove through all that crazy shit?”

“I have my skills, cherub.”

“I'm wondering how much of an understatement that is.”

“Don't be like that. I just happened to have a sequence of events to showcase my abilities, tonight.”

Ash sighed and shrugged “I don't question good fortune. I was just surprised.”

“Can you make the walk?”

“Yea, no problem.” Ash said, looking outside the car for the first time. Inside, it was so easy to forget everything that was not a part of her.

“Can I at least make sure you don't fall and hurt yourself, Ash?” Marie asked, keying a console which brought the engine to a slow stop and the struts creaked just a bit as the repulsordirve shut off.

“My place is kind of a wreck.” Ash warned, looking at her uncertainly.

“You should see -mine-.”

“I'm not going to pass up a chance to bring a celebrity into my home. Maybe they'll make some kind of tour where they make a big deal about how you helped some drunken idiot home out of the kindness of your heart. Big to-do and everything, selling some cheap alcohol as a souvenir and explai--”

“Ash. Hush. Let's get you inside instead of waking all of your neighbors, all right?”

“Fair point.” Ash muttered, turning as the door began to move and stepping out of the car with only one small stagger.

The doors on the car sealed and there was a faint beep to indicate the security system on the car had been enabled. Marie helped Ash to his home twice, the first had been just a door too far. After returning to his actual home she guided him in to sit on a worn-out couch. She shut, and locked, the door behind her and turned around, smiling. Ash was sprawled out on the couch, looking at her with no attempt to disguise it. She was the kind of beautiful you got angry over, so much frustration building in knowing that someone so beautiful would never be a part of your life and that is where his thoughts lingered. Surely she was stringing him along, there had to be some reason. She walked casually across the room and took a gentle seat next to him, turning to look him over. She smiled that warm, disarming smile and if it were possible, Ash would've melted in the heat.

“Are you feeling okay?” She asked, placing her hand on his.

“Yea, better, just... trying to settle down.” Ash replied, turning to look at her more directly.

“Good. I don't want to watch you ruin your carpet.... any further.” She said, smirking as he was sprawled there and pretty much defenseless. “Do you have anything to drink?”

Ash nearly heaved, alcohol wasn't what he wanted to think about right now. “Kitchen, kitchen. Third cabinet from the left.”

There was a pause and a whistle “Wow, you sure do bring a lot of your hobby home with you.” she called out from the other room.

Ash smiled, furrowing his brows “Yea, been... kinda rough lately. Some really frustrating things.”

“Oooh? Are we reaching 'classified' levels of detail, here?” She called out, glass tinkling lightly amid her words.

“No, not really... It's not really so classified as it is... just... gone.” he said, closing his eyes and reliving the moments all over again. CO Green shouting in his ear, the weight of the rifle in his hands, how completely out of place he felt.

“Not surprising, honestly.” Marie said, stepping into the living room once more and gently slipping around his legs with a subtle grace.

“There's a lot of things they don't show. Bad for the morale of the people of Espher.”

“I've seen it happen. Friends I had that just... disappeared and never existed so far as any record is concerned.”

“That's why I stay out of politics, I don't want to be a part of that kind of thing. It's childish as hell and I can't stand that.”

Marie poured a bit of some amber colored liquor into a small glass and brought it up to her lips “Tell me about it, if you want to get it off your chest.”

“It's just... Things are obviously changing. We were taken off reserve and sent to O-S-Zero-Five to find and confiscate and and all firearms or similar weapons. Half-way there it suddenly changed into 'Kill them all, don't ask why'.”

Marie's eyebrows raised as she took a small drink. “That's... a big change of plans.”

“And we were stuck with it. I... I'm not even 'off duty' right now, I'm on forced leave. There were orders I refused to follow and they slammed me the moment I got back.”

“When was this?”

“About three days ago.”

“If I may ask, Ash, what orders were you refusing?” Marie inquired, tilting her head.

“I was being ordered to shoot a kid. Probably twelve or something, grew up out in the settlements, never knew a life without guns on hand for defense. We come in firing rockets and air-strafing his home, who the fuck isn't going to grab their gun and fight?”

“So they wanted you to kill him for defending himself?”

“No... he killed at least one of our eight-man squad. That was why they wanted him dead but... it was our fault. No one -ever- gave us a reason why the mission changed.”

“So you just didn't feel he did anything wrong?”

“I... no, I knew those guys, all the ones we lost, but we didn't even say anything, we just came in and started blasting the place all to hell.”

“Sounds awful...”

“I'll spare you the details and just say that Espher never gives the whole story, just enough to justify their actions or remove doubt. There's thousands of things I've noticed over the years that escape mention and there's no explanation other than someone actively filtering what is made public... but I think all governments do that.”

“You're right. They all do. I don't think there has ever been a government that gave the people the whole story.”

“I'm just sick of pretending not to notice it. Some people can look it over, some people just don't ask questions and they can just be fine with that-- I can't. It aggravates me to the damned bone.”

“Calm down, Cherub, just try and relax.” she cooed softly in his ear.

Ash had somehow managed to miss the way she shifted her slight form against him and leaned over to partially lay along his side as he slouched slightly. There were all sorts of things buzzing in his head right now and the feel of her against him was not the least of them. Slowly his arm curled around her shoulders and she exhaled against his neck, laying her head there and reaching across to set her drink upon the table. If he could open his eyes he would be seeing what he would presume to be a dream but it was actually happening. What was so appealing about him? Did she just go for the kind of person who feels broken and use their misery as a sort of muse? Did she genuinely care this much about someone she met less then twelve hours ago? He had so many questions and so little nerve to ask them. Slowly he let his eyes open and behold her. Her hair was a wash of deep red spread across their bodies, her arms running from her tee-shirt up and around his neck where he could feel her nails gently bite at his flesh. She had ditched her boots somewhere and had her lower half tucked neatly against her in her slim denim jeans and thin black socks. He pondered what the material was, it looked like silk from his view, and was then struck wondering why he was thinking about that at all.

“Ash...” Marie began, turning her head upward to whisper on his jaw.

“Yeah?” he responded, half-groggy but fully focused on her.

“Do you mind if I--”

“Not at all.”

Marie smiled a bit “You didn't know what I was going to ask.”

“I think I had a good idea.”

“Maybe.”

“Just be quiet and come here.” Ash said, turning slightly to pull her body onto his own as he slipped down to lay on his back.

Marie's slight build was even more apparent in this way, her arms around his neck and her head tucked into the nape of his neck. Her legs had tangled into his own, Ash sighed with plain, simple content. His hands moved down her back slowly, fingers tracing along her spine before resting on her lower-back. One arm curled around her possessively and kept her held snug and he turned his head to press his lips to her hairline, closing his eyes. It was quiet, it was never this quiet when he was home. The was no racket from the television pane, no food cooking or declaring it had been long-since ready to be eaten. He could hear every breath she took and he was unsure if he could hear her heartbeat or if he was just imagining it but in this moment there was a quiet, still world that did not exist anywhere else in his life. As if his home had simply been removed from the world, it was just as it was in the car. Nothing existed outside of her and the room they shared. Ironically they were much closer when they had so much more room to spread out. Ash tried to find the words to say some appropriately pretty or meaningful or... something poignant at all only to find nothing coming to mind. Just the same, he could feel sleep overtaking him and he begrudgingly accepted it as it creeped over him and pulled him into the abyss of slumber.

Ash Meets Marie (First Revision)

FIRST REVISION, oh boy. I took a look at the scene of Marie and Ash (which has not been posted to this blog, not the original rough draft) pretty thoroughly and changed a lot, added more character to the scene, I feel. Helped to grasp why the two of them just connect.

So, here you go:

---
Ash looked back to his fondest memories of her, when he had first met her. She was the most beautiful creature he had ever known. He had no idea why she actually came in to that bar (which he was pretty sure was being kept afloat by his patronage alone), she didn't belong there. It was like putting a ruby in the a puddle of sewage. So out of place that he actually forgot himself and just stared at her. She was not tall by any means, he was certain she wasn't even five feet tall and she could not have weighed more than a hundred and ten pounds and that was pushing it. She was mostly swallowed up in a freshly unbuttoned beige-colored coat of NoSoak material and her red hair was tucked down her back and under the it.

A slim, perfect-fit t-shirt covered her torso this only helped to show her chest was not devoid of endowment but she had a more than modest bust. The words upon her shirt were currently too hard to decipher with what little of his brain was not completely drinking her in. Tight jeans ran down right into a pair of beige boots, no doubt they were NoSoak as well. The coat by itself cost more than it would cost to demolish this dive and that was exactly why she boggled him. There was more to her than he could see there, but everything he saw he liked. What he did not like was the risk she took in wearing such an expensive coat in this part of Espher. She bobbed a bit on her heels and scanned the room carefully as if she were here to meet someone.

No doubt an Adonis by means of cosmetic surgery and implants but why would he want to come here? Maybe he had grown up here, in the bottom tier of what was essentially Espher's totem pole in the just-above-The-Cloud list? There was almost no way to discern her age but her brilliant green eyes showed she had been around long enough to know when to be on her guard.

So vibrant was that green that he had dismissed them as implants or augmented with some manner of expensive magic that could be had for the right price. In his head he had been peeling her clothes away and lost in the lurid, beautiful thoughts so intensely that it never registered that she was approaching him.

"It says 'Art is all we have left'." she spoke, shattering his dream-scape with harsh reality. The good thing was that reality was almost better.
His silence prompted her to respond "Saw you eyeballing me when I came in.". Her voice was just as beautiful as the rest of her.
"I-- Shit. I didn't mean to... Fuck, you know... I couldn't help..." he paused, sighing with defeat. "Yea, I admit I was staring. A little."
"Oh-ho, just a little?" She spoke, her smile exposing teeth that were a dazzling white.
"Okay so... maybe a lot. I didn't mean to offend you--"
"Hush. Stop worrying and just relax."
"I... okay." This would have to be the first time he had ever been caught ogling a woman and not been shot a disgusted or angry look. Even before his hair had changed.
"See? Is it that hard to stay calm?"
"Not when you're telling me to." he admitted, flat-out.
She laughed, he smiled involuntarily, and she shook her head. "Why are you sitting in this dirty corner by yourself?"

Why she was interested in him at all was confusing for him. He had to look like a train-wreck. "It's pretty much how I spend all my time off these days."
"Drinking in a dirty corner in a dirty bar just above The Cloud?"
"... Yea, pretty much." he conceded and looked down at his drink. It was much more depressing when said aloud.
"You must be an officer." She said with laser-accurate certainty, raising one brow just a bit.
"I... yeah.," he looked at himself to see if something gave it away but that was not the case, he wore a plain outfit that didn't stand out at all. "That obvious, huh?"
"You have body language a lot of other people don't so you are either a soldier or a an officer of the law. Either way I hear it's pretty much a hell you can't get out of."
"Just where do you hear that?"
"Places."
"Clean bars in clean parts of Espher?"
She smirked "Why haven't you just asked me to sit down already?"

The thought had never even crossed his mind, inviting her to sit down. He was sure she was just wasting time waiting on a boyfriend or fiance. Moving to clear the table (or at least wipe up what he had spilled over the evening) he pushed the empty ash-tray aside only to have her take his hand and guide it right back to the table.

She sat down with a grace he had never seen so close. In fact, this whole situation was surreal to him. She pulled a silver case from her coat pocket and thumbed the latch that held it closed. She pulled a long cigarette from the case and placed it between her immaculate lips. Her eyes flicked upward to look at him expectantly. He stated into them, this close he could tell that they were either complete biological replacements or natural.

In sudden realization he scrambled from pocket to pocket to find his lighter. After a few awkward moments he pulled the thin metal rectangle from his pocket and flicked it open, offering it to her. She leaned in just far enough to place the tip of the cigarette above the lighter. A flame sparked and burned blue, igniting the tobacco as she took her first drag of the cigarette. She exhaled to the side out of courtesy and eyed the three-quarter-full bottle on the table while he put his lighter away.

"How are you not a complete drunken mess right now?" she inquired, laughing in a way that made it impossible for him to be less than cheery.
He grinned and shrugged his shoulders "Maybe it's my form of artistry."
"Oh, I bet. The hangovers must be beautiful to watch."
"Only when I'm smart enough to cut myself off from finishing the entire thing."
"Doesn't look like you're smart tonight, Cherub."
"I'm usually not, no."
"Then you won't mind me helping you finish it?"
As if there were some possibility he could deny this woman anything but his still-beating heart-- and that was just because he was pretty sure blood wouldn't suit her. "Oh ye-yeah, go ahead, it's already paid for."

She reached toward the wall and plucked a glass from a stack recessed in the wall and took the bottle to pour her drink. "Oh, good, that means I don't have to pay anything, right?"
"Wouldn't dream of asking."
She grinned broadly and delicately tapped her finger on her cigarette, sending ashes into the glass tray. "I think you're setting a record, here."
"A record for what?"
"For how long it has ever taken a man to ask me my name."
He had been so caught up in the moment he hadn't even thought of it. "I... err, sorry, what is your name?"
"Marie."
"It's really nice to meet you, Marie."
Marie shook her head and then made an unfurling flourish with her hand just before her chin as she instructed him "'And my name is...'"
"Ash." he said
“Oh, is that short for something?”
“,,, Ashley.”
"Oooh! I bet you got a lot of shit for that in school!" she said, her excitement infectious.
"You have no idea how many times I asked my parents -why- they chose that name. They didn't even bother with a middle name."
She laughed, it was so easy, it seemed, to bring that laughter from her and spread its warmth around. "I like it. It's unusual. Like me. Ashley--"
"Ash, just call me Ash."
"Ash, I really am curious about something but you can't be mad when I ask, all right?"
"I ... guess." he had a feeling which question she wanted to ask.
"What's with the hair?"

He was right and he went on to tell her the truth. Ash had, a few years after puberty, inexplicably had his raven black hair go shock-white. There was no mental trauma in his life outside of dealing with being stuck at the bottom class for the middle tiers. Money was a bit tight in his home but his mother managed to save up enough to take him to a doctor of reasonable standing.

Through testing and examination they had written it off as just some extremely rare genetic fuck-up. What followed for about six years was constant color treatments that never managed to stick. They did, however. slowly manage to darken his hair to something of a deep gray with random streaks of black where some of his hair had actually been successfully treated. He was far ahead of everyone else at the irony of his name and the way his hair had turned out.

“It's like they knew.” Marie said, her smile far too warm for her to be rude.
"I... it's some kind of genetic thing, my mother nearly worked herself to death working odd jobs to get the money for the color treatments and they just didn't really work. Used to be as white as snow." Ash spoke, although it was pretty much a miracle if snow ever fell in any part of Espher, much less being pure white.
"I see... and your name..." she began.
"Yea, I got more hell out of kids for the hair than the name. It was just another place for them to pick at me."
"You could do a scalp replacement, you know. I hear they're pretty well priced now, especially since they've been having to compete with NeuTek's fiber-optic jobs." NeuTek had been transplanting scalps of fiber-optic hair that could adjust color as often as someone desired.
"Eh, everyone already knows me this way, if I change it, it'll just be weird, you know?"
"Aha. So now you're a masochist"
"I live in Espher, don't I?"

She laughed again, taking a drink and smiling at him with blinding cheer. Ashing her cigarette, she looked into his eyes deeply. There was a rush of heat in his cheeks that he hadn't felt since he was in his last relationship... and that was many years past. She crossed her legs and reached across the table, taking his hand which he had no objections to. He was still worried that he was flushed, that he were embarrassed but instead he felt like he had been talking to an angel.

She tilted her head slightly "You have questions, don't you, Cherub?"
Ash furrowed bis brow, "I... well, yeah. I have no idea why a woman so beautiful would ever bother to come to this place at all.".
"I came here, Ash, because I remember how it was when I was a child. I was very lucky to get out of there. I also miss the times when people didn't recognize me."
“Recognize you? Are you famous for something?” he was sure it was modeling of some sort.
“I was wondering if you knew, that explains something ”.
Ash frowned, immediately struck by curiosity "I... I'm sorry but I don't... really know who you are?"
"Oh, go up a dozen levels and you'll see something of mine eventually."
"What do you do?"
She simply shrugged off her jacket and pulled her tee-shirt taut to make it perfectly readable... and her chest all the more apparent. "I'm an artist."
"That's a pretty broad term."
"I do a bit of everything. Music, painting, I've written some things, and I've done a fair share of modeling--"
"I feel like an asshole for not knowing who you are-- wait, I know! I've definitely seen you modeling something... I can't remember but... it was an advertisement...” Ash muttered to himself
"Well, I did do an advertisement for Genetic Cosmetics. When I create my art. I go by Anna. I came in here because something told me to do it and it led me to you. There is something about you that just pulls me in and I can't place my finger on it."
"My winning personality?"
She laughed and gripped his hand tightly. "No, but I can see you as a person. Who you are, I know you're a good person and I see that less and less as days go by.”
Ash wondered, immediately, if she were on the run from someone, if perhaps her last work had been too far over the line and had provoked some sort of threat “I don't know what to say.”
"You don't need to say anything, I know how you're feeliing."
“If that is the case then you've got a really good poker-face going on.” he spoke, self loathing perhaps a bit exposed within his own words.

They continued to drink, she smoked a few more cigarettes and conversation had shot all around various topics but every time he was left feeling a bit better about himself. Ash has began to think she were some sort of roaring, inviting flame in the middle of a very cold world.  Something he would be hate to be without. The fact she was so beautiful was secondary.

She laughed almost every time she spoke, she was so enthusiastic that it was strange. She seemed to just love the moment, to be having a great time just... talking. He had not, before his ex-fiancee had cheated on him, felt so happy in quite a long time. It felt so good to be able to escape the world and curl up next to this source of warmth. It had, however, been four or five hours and last call had been announced.

“Would you like to come to my place? Talk some more?” Ash asked, no idea where his sudden confidence had been born.
“I think that would be all right but you sure aren't going to drive.” Marie said, concern in her voice.
Ash laughed “No, no... I call for a cab. I know the driver for this area better than I knew my cousins.”
“Just ride with me.” she said simply.
“That sounds nice.”
“Come with me, I'm parked over here,” she indicated, pointing “It's the red one.”
Ash looked at the car and widened his eyes a few moments. “You drive a Nexus W-X?”
“Yea, I love it, it's like my baby.”
“Classy car... damn. I was never able to ride in one but we sure as hell gave their drivers a lot of tickets. I always loved this damn car. The design just works for me. Price? Not so much.”
She grinned and keyed small device in her hand, the doors opening slowly. “The prices dropped -a lot- when the W-X-Squared was released.”
“How much?”
“Enough for me to afford it, I forget the price but it was about half of the value it was when they were fresh off of the assembly line.”
“The W-X-Squared looked so stupid. The way they changed the front end. It just looked wrong.”
Moving to slip into the driver's seat, Marie turned her head to Ash as he carefully got in. “We have a similar kind of taste.”
“I guess we do.”

The Nexus automobile company was almost always creating the newest, hottest cars that all the rich people could afford. Their ads made no attempt to appeal to less wealthy individuals and they didn't even bother advertising beneath the cloud. Several years previous the Nexus W-X has been the top of the line, it had been the thing of dreams for several people and they had reduced production upon it due to a financial scandal that had blown up during the time. If there were any sharp angles on the car then one would be hard pressed to find them. It was all curves, even the windows and it seemed as if it had been carved from a solid block of metal, it had no seams aside from the doors, hood, and trunk. Even then those has been almost invisible on the machine.  It was definitely one of his favorite cars.

Marie slipped the ID-stick into the ignition port and it confirmed her thumb-print before it brought the car to life.  “You're off duty, right?”
Ash was so absorbed in looking over the car that he took a moment to answer. “Yea, they, well they don't like us doing anything remotely fun in uniform.”
“Good. Now, if you'll put on your seat-belt, I'll show you a few reasons why I love this car.” Marie said with impish delight.

Ash did as he was told, grinning, and buckled in. The car had come to life but it was impossible to feel, it retracted its landing struts and glided out of the parking slot and headed for the skyway. Ash couldn't even feel the turns she made but dampening devices helped a lot with that. As did the alcohol. What would follow would be more traffic violations than he could count (or remember) but it was one of the most exciting nights of his entire life, escaping notice of police forces because he knew their patrol patterns and happily passed along that knowledge.

Riding shotgun in this beautiful car with this beautiful woman and worrying about exactly nothing at all, Ash was free. He was able to shed all the burdens on his shoulders and exist, for that time, purely to enjoy life. No concerns that existed outside the two of them in that car. It was amazing and it was the first time in his he had ever felt this way.
---

Shadow of a Dead Star and an update on the Prequel

I just finished Shadow of a Dead Star by author Michael Shean. You always hate when a book you enjoy is thinning out. You notice when you're half-way through it and as the pages tick down and the ending nears you start wondering just how much more story there is and if it really can fit those pages. You find yourself wishing there were more pages (at least with a good book) to keep yourself in the story longer but they have to end some time.

I -really- liked Shadow of a Dead Star and I thoroughly recommend it if you've got the slightest shred of noir or sci-fi or cyber-punk within you, others might have to adjust but it's a great read.

I don't think I had even heard of the term 'bio-punk' before this book but I can completely see the genre now. The book, and its author, will have a noted impression upon my own work but as I have finished it I am going to revise some of what I've already written just in case I may have carried some of his writing into my own. It's not really a bad thing but I'd like to make sure my work does not seem as if it were piggybacking another person's own writing. This could also be a complete non-issue for some people (I certainly enjoy his writing) but part of me is just really dedicated to try and see if my style, as it is, works and compels others.

As for the prequel-with-no-name, I have had a friend read over it and corrected some grammatical errors (damn you spellcheck) and some decisions to alter how things play out to be a bit less... overt. I intend to actually give CO Green a rank and make him seem like less of a psychopath. Which might or might not work. Time will tell as I juggle bits and pieces around.

I urge you to go take a look at Michael Shean's work, there are some free short-stories on his site and even a small Shadow of a Dead Star journalism excerpt on what exactly those 'Princess Dolls' are all about, mentioned in the blurb on the back of the book.

A piece of work from my upcoming RFTA prequel.

And here is where you start reading....

Part One

The sirens howled as the lights in the corridor went red and began to rotate, the crimson washing over the body armor of the soldiers as they rushed along, all with one destination. It had taken Ash under ten seconds to put on his gear but Phoenix took twice as long and only when Phoenix sharply nodded did Ash proceed. Running along the back of a line of other men with their rifles and their armor toward the octagonal platform on the roof. Set well above The Cloud and unobstructed by nearby structures, it served as the landing pad for the Espher military. Each platform held a somewhat ovoid tilt-rotor aircraft that all cried out with the same shrill sound of their engines coming to life. Squads were assigned specific landing pads and Ash and Phoenix hooked sharply to the side to rush up stairway to pad six, Haborym squad, as their commanding officer shouted hoarsely hanging off of a tilt-rotor and standing on the skid. It had been a fairly innovative and useful design but it was not the cutting edge of what the military had in their possession. Its body had been painted black with Juno stencils showing its designation in white. Housing three primary weapons, the tilt-rotor's left wing kept a massive Vulcan cannon beneath it while the right held a broad case of missile pods under its own. The chin of the tilt-rotor had two long barrels on a mount that enabled rotation to any direction. The barrels had thick, armored hoses that connected to a recessed pair of openings. The weapons had been dressed up, like all the other tilt-rotors. Haborym squad's paint-job had been stylized with the face of an angry man on the left side of its body that resembled no-one. Upon the right there was the face of some vicious, feline creature was upon the right. Upon the from of the craft a serpent had been painted, maw open around the chin-mounted weapon while its body curled around the length of the aircraft and terminated at the tail of the craft.

"GO, GO, GO, WE ARE IN THE AIR IN SIX SECONDS, GET YOUR ASSES IN GEAR! MOVE!" he yelled even as Ash and Phoenix made it to the tilt-rotor and climbed in to strap themselves into their harnesses. "BAKER, YOU ARE CLEAR, LIFTOFF!"

"Where are we headed?" shouted Martin, just loud enough to be heard over the engines spinning up.

"We are to sweep and retrieve all firearms from Oscar-Sierra-Zero-Five. Straight up the chain of command!" the CO responded.

Their CO, Devon Green, did not begin to climb into the aircraft until the skids had left the landing pad. The soldiers stomachs collective lurched as the vehicle took swiftly to the air, climbing high before the wings at either side began to rotate forward and send them on the path to their destination. Outlying Settlement Zero-Five, one of the many clusters of structures that still stood in the outer range of Espher's full breadth. They were hardly ballsy enough to try and attack Espher. Even if they had the weapons they did not have the sheer amount of people needed to get past the fourth gate into the city.

"Sounds a bit off, we sure that Zero-Five has firearms?" Smith inquired, leaning toward the CO.

"Intel says that they have been procuring firearms from the caravans that go between the settlements."

"For what? They couldn't put a dent in us." Smith responded, tilting his head.

"Raiders?" Watanabe offered, looking toward Smith and then the CO.

"Not this close to Espher. They're far out there but the raiders wouldn't do shit to them when they can see The Ob' from the settlement itself!" Cortez interjected.

"Some kind of civil war between the settlements?" O'Neil offered but the look he received from everyone made him hunch and try to shrink into his seat.

"The reason is irrelevant, we are in the business of following orders! We have received orders and we are following them, questioning them will fast-track you to a life in The Gutter's outstanding military." Their CO yelled, ceasing the discussion.

The Gutter had no military, at least not for very long. Initially there were small groups who operated gates and watched the ins-and-outs of the city and more importantly all the ways upward. The soldiers stationed there had been executed and left on display, the Obelisk's neglectful eyes had no video of just what happened. Every soldier stationed there since then had somehow met a painful end, punctuating the statement where The Gutter declared just how much they hated everything above The Cloud, and even some who weren't. It had led to being a post for soldiers put in disciplinary positions to teach them whatever lesson command had expected them to have already learned. Before the reserve was tapped for military action Ash and Phoenix were not strangers to passing through the streets of the gutter, rarely finding reason enough to stop. Still, it was always worth it when they could save lives by culling the psychopaths that tended to come out of the woodwork every so often.

"Baker! E-T-A!" CO Green shouted to the cockpit.

"We are within range in two mikes!" he responded, his bulky helmet covering his head with wires and various connected to matrices of ports that gave him full awareness and ability to fly (and fight) in the machine as if it were his own body.

"Give me a warning when we've got one mike to go!" Green yelled back and regarded each of the men in their battle-armor with their assault rifles housing caseless ammunition.

"Sir, are we expecting resistance?" Phoenix inquired.

"Negative, Stonewright, command says this is a straight search-and-confiscate operation."

"What happens if they see us coming and fear we're going to destroy them?"

"Did you really just ask that question?" Ash said with a mild bit of surprise. It was pretty clear what would happen.

"Shit happens, you know things can turn into a clusterfuck if even one damn round is fired!" Phoenix barked, his hand moving to emphasize his words.

"Don't pretend to be so naive, you're not a complete idiot or I'd have ditched you a long--" Ash was responding before being cut off.

"Scarborough, Stonewright, stow the bullshit for when you go back on reserve, you'll have plenty of time to talk there, now shut the hell up and get focused! We will respond to any threat of force with a show of equal or greater force. We do not flinch in the face of any danger, we are soldiers and we don't back down!" CO Green shouted, shutting down the conversation.

"CO!" Baker yelled from the cockpit "We are E-T-A one mike!"

"Acknowledged!"

"Say again, command?" Baker spoke, his head turning toward the front, his words hard to hear from the bay where the soldiers were strapped in. "Confirming Sierra-Echo, Command? Understood! Altering mission parameters." Baker turned to look at CO Green and half of the soldiers in the bay that could actually see them from where they were secured.

"Don't be in a rush to fill us in, Baker!" Green shouted "We love the suspense! Relay that change in orders to me!"

"We are Sierra-Echo on Oscar-Sierra-Zero-Five. Straight down the chain, we now have a hot L-Z, I am disengaging the safety locks on all weapons as commanded, sir!" Baker spoke as the Vulcan cycled a few times and the missile pods began to click and spread slightly apart.

"How the hell did we go from search-and-procure to kill the fuck out of everything in one and-a-half fucking minutes?" Ash shouted toward CO Green.

"I don't know, Scarborough, but we -will- follow orders. They may have been scoped by another tilt-rotor that passed within range and be preparing an ambush. We're going into a combat zone, make no mistake! Eliminate any and all threats!" Green replied, sounding pleased with the change in orders.

Ash and Phoenix looked at one another with similarly confused expressions before looking back to CO Green. He had a grin forming on his face-- but some men just loved the feel of battle. The fact that his body-armor was likely beginning to inject stims into his system was also likely reason. Ash released the magazine from his rifle and looked in it before slotting it back in position and re-gripping at an angle more ready to respond to incoming fire. There was not much the people could really do to warrant such a retaliation. Sierra-Echo, Scorched Earth, meant the entire razing of the settlement and leaving it to burn for days, leaving only ashes. It was hardly something he or Phoenix could rationalize although no one else really seemed to care as much-or they didn't manage to show it if they did.

"Visual confirmation, Oscar-Sierra-Zero-Five, altering course to lay down a strafing run and then provide covering fire as you rope out, Haborym Squad." Baker shouted as the craft angled sharply and and angled downward. The soldiers all braced themselves in expectation of incoming fire. The tilt-rotor soared down like an angry hawk, closing the distance in seconds. The whine of the Vulcan spinning up drew Ash's attention and he watched as the barrels cycled. Baker yelled out something Ash couldn't make out while next to the Vulcan but it quickly began to pour bullets down into the settlement. Ash risked leaning out to look at the settlement but he could see nothing that resembled even a moderate threat. As the rounds began to stitch across the dry, cracked earth he saw bodies blown apart as if being cleaved in half by some massive blade. The bullets that did not hit anyone were easy to forget about as the pods on the right wing as the caps upon them began to eject and fly away in the decent. Bright flares of light followed by a loud hiss was all he heard as the missiles soared ahead and arced in the air. The aircraft began to pull into an upward turn and Ash turned to the right with all the rest of the soldiers and watched as the missiles split apart and exploded, throwing untold amounts of shrapnel in large bursts. Phoenix saw a man turn to run but he was quickly shredded by steel fragments whickering through the air.

The lights above the doors on either side of the tilt-rotor went from a quiet red to a bright green as the tilt-rotor was maneuvered into drop position, the Vulcan laying out arcs of covering fire while the barrels mounted at the chin of the craft began to spray enormous gouts of flame across the rear of the settlement, cooking people alive, burning up the oxygen before they could use it to scream. Flaming bodies fled in all directions, tripping and falling or rolling in attempts to just put the flames out. Those who could scream were already doing so even before the soldiers freed themselves and hopped off the skids, riding down lengths of rope as if in free-fall only to have their harnesses automatically slow them almost to a complete halt a few feet above the ground. The soldiers unhooked their harnesses and dropped to the ground. The squad dashed in toward the walls of the settlement. It was not particularly large but it would still be extremely risky to try and handle if there were opposition that were waiting to ambush them.

The tilt-rotor overhead began to circle, cutting arcs through the settlement and perforating buildings and people just the same. Ash was hunting for any sign of resistance or hostility but every body he saw was dead, dying, or running for some sort merciful cover from the fire. In the rear of the settlement some flammable container exploded and sent a hard-thumping explosion across the settlement and into the diaphragms of the soldiers who were stalking in with their weapons at their shoulders. A few minor explosions followed before a stream of people fled from a building that was soon demolished by a solid strike by a missile. Debris shot outward and knocked several of the fleeing people to to the floor, mostly the children. Ash furiously searched for some threat, some sign of intent to retaliate, seeking a logical reason the settlement was being torn to pieces.

"CO... I... I'm not seeing any hostiles, sir." Ash spoke, feeling the adrenaline charging through him and completely welcoming the sensation... if only he could find a reason.

"They are -all- hostiles, Scarborough, take your shots!" CO Green shouted at Ash. It was not a second later that others in the squad began to fire. The targets were clearly being picked off in terms of threat level, men were being shot and sent to the ground, a few women caught in the fire either by accident or deliberate intent among the soldiers. The CO's teeth were set tight in a vicious grin as he fired out bursts of ammunition at the people pouring forth from buildings. It was not until minutes after the firefight had begun that Ash saw anyone carrying a weapon and the first was a man brandishing an axe better used upon wood. He was taken down by eight shots nearly in complete unison, his head gone in a mess of gore and holes shot through his chest before he fell to ground, twitching, while blood poured generously into the hungry earth.

Sweeping for targets, CO Green suddenly jerked back, hissing as the impact of solid rounds dissipated across his armor and removed his grin from his face. He began to rapidly search for anyone in his line of sight, the barrel of a rifle, a glint off of a scope, a puff of smoke lingering in the air, a shell casing hitting the ground, anything. He did not find what he was looking for and it seemed that whoever had shot him had either given up or moved somewhere else. The sound of the fight was deafening but among the explosions and gunfire all that Ash could focus on were the screams of those being cut down needlessly. Finally the sounds of opposing fire began to surface and it brought Ash back to focus instead of staring with eyes gone blurry. "Three o'clock high!" someone in the squad shouted and Ash snapped his rifle to the exact direction, hunting down the sights for targets. It was slightly hard to make out but there was half-destroyed building of three stories and in the shadows cast by the sun they had managed to sneak into a fairly well bit of defensive cover.

Shots were exchanged back and forth, rounds bounding off shoulder armor or helmets, sending the aim of soldiers wide or too high as they felt the impacts. As the squad began to focus their fire there was a heavy crack in the air and a faint tingle all around. O'Neil staggered backward, looking down at his chest and found a steel bar sticking out of his chest. It was just as far out of his back, as well. He gasped and tried to find words as he fought for balance but a well aimed shot went right between the armored collar on his body armor and his helmet, tearing his throat out and sending him to the ground. Upon impact the steel bar buried itself in the earth under him and he tried to cover his throat with his hands in some vain hope that the wound was something less than lethal. Ash and Phoenix stared at O'Neil as he looked around, gurgling and gasping, making mortifying sounds as his life was slipping away from him. His hand reached desperately toward Phoenix as if he could somehow help to save him but Phoenix shook his head slowly with an apologetic look on his face before he turned back and began to fire at the hostiles taking cover in the remnants of the building. Another arc of gunfire from the tilt-rotor crawled across the settlement but largely did nothing else.

CO Green was the first to capitalize on the angle O'Neil had been struck from immediately after changing out his empty magazine for a full one. Three rounds sank into the gunman's face and sent him down limp. Going onto the offensive, the squad collectively began to push back the hostiles, working their way into the settlement and beginning to split up. Ash and Phoenix, together as always, ran with Watanabe, checking corners and buildings for any signs of resistance. Out of nowhere that same crack pierced the are amid the gunfire and Watanabe was instantly nailed against a concrete wall. Held fast by the length of steel sent through the side of his head his body twitched and went into spasms as his body hung from his head. The angle of the shot arrived in Phoenix's head before the horror of the sight did and he quickly turned to empty his magazine into the side of an ancient motor vehicle, punching holes through it in hope that he might wound or outright kill whatever the hell was sending these lengths of steel at them, it went through their body armor effortlessly, it seemed. Ash shouted and cursed as he stumbled upon Watanabe and ducked as he saw Phoenix do the same.

“What the fuck is that!?” Phoenix shouted, ejecting his spent magazine and fumbling in a pouch at his side for a new magazine.

“I don't know! For fucks sake it's just shooting steel bars, they're not even fucking sharp!” Ash replied as he had the fortunate position of being able to see the bar on the other side of the wall where Watanabe hanged.

“Where the hell do they get a weapon like that?”

“Espher.”

“You sure it couldn't be improvised?”

“No, there's not shit here they could have to make something like that.”

“But they still have it!”

“They had to have gotten it from Espher.”

“That would make the most sense.”

Maybe someone in intel had caught wind of some black market sale of such a weapon, that made the initial moments of the battle much easier to stomach even as he heard the weapon fire again. Whoever was firing it was moving fast, changing positions immediately after firing or even firing on the move-- but that seemed a bit ridiculous. He had heard of weapons that used magnetism to fire metal projectiles but he couldn't imagine anyone making one unless they were connected in Espher in some degree. Perhaps it had been stolen somehow or maybe someone had actually managed to rig one together out of junk found in the outlying settlements.

“You ready to move?” Phoenix asked, looking at Ash.

“Yea, just... I'm taking a mag from Watanabe, you should too.”

“Good idea... damnit, I'm sorry, man...” Phoenix muttered at the dead body of Watanabe

“As soon as it fires again we're moving.”

As if on command the crack burst into the air again and the clarity of it made Ash realize how little gunfire there was now. Distantly someone was screaming but he could not be sure who it was or what side of the battle lines they were from. Ash and Phoenix dashed down an alley between ruined concrete buildings and came to a fork in the path. Phoenix instinctively went right and Ash followed, watching behind them as they moved. His back collided with Phoenix's own and he turned around in surprise.

“I hate this.” Phoenix admitted, shaking his head.

Ash turned to look in front of Phoenix to find what had clearly been a little girl before shrapnel had rendered half of her into a crimson mess that pooled around her and soaked through her dirty clothing. He held in his words but was no less disgusted.

“Fuck, just-- just go back, go the other way.”

“Yea.”

Ash and Phoenix turned around and jogged their way down the alley as gunfire continued to pop intermittently amidst the mostly silent settlement. A majority of the noise was the crackle of flames burning man and structure alike. Moving down the alternate path in the alleyway Ash brought his sights up and swept the large open area of what was likely a small market before missiles and bullets had torn it all to hell. Looking back to Phoenix, Ash nodded his head and broke into a sprint across the open area as Phoenix angled his rifle around the corner, looking for any sign of movement in the light of the setting sun. Nothing. Ash brought his rifle up in a similar manner to allow Phoenix to break across the open area and then duck into cover with him. As the ache in Ash's muscles began to surface his armor was already on the task. A faint prick into his arm and he was almost instantly able to ignore the pain as his armor injected the stims into his blood.

“How many do you think are left?” Phoenix asked.

“What?”

“How many of us do you think are still alive?”

“Fucking hell, don't go asking shit like that.”

'What? Why?”

“Because it's fucking depressing!”

“And watching all those people burn to death wasn't?”

“I--” Ash began but the crack entered the air again and they both instinctively ducked.

“How the -fuck- have we not found him yet?”

“I don't know but I'm getting really fucking sick of this.”

“Come on, we gotta move, see if we can't find this son of a bitch.”

Running along between ruined and burning buildings (as well as corpses) Ash and Phoenix passed a building where they heard the gasps of others. Stopping instantly they flanked the half-covered doorway and listened. They could hear the breath of at least three people as they panted and did their best to remain silent. Phoenix reached up and turned the light mounted on the side of his right on, kicking the door in and sweeping madly. Ash was right behind him but what they saw was nothing they wished to ever see again. Three children were clinging desperately to the corpse of what was likely their mother before a bullet went through her head. Two little girls shuddered and recoiled in horror, gripping their mother tightly for the fading sense of security it might bring. The little boy looked around franticly before diving into the next room. Phoenix moved to follow but Ash placed a hand on his shoulder, halting him.

Part 2!

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Part 3!

I will be posting these in reverse so you don't have to scroll down and read upward.

Part Three

Twenty minutes later, Baker was descending for a landing, the shrill howl of the engines quieting somewhat. Ash and Phoenix had carried what remained of their squad-mates and their gear to the landing site while Smith and Martin carried long sacks full of confiscated firearms on their backs. Ash and Phoenix began to lay the dead out in the tilt-rotor, Watanabe, O'Neil, and Cortez. The confiscated weapons were stowed in cargo compartments and as time passed Ash and Phoenix had hope in their hearts that maybe the CO would leave the kids to survive on their own, maybe he just didn't care enough to think about them anymore. It was not long until he found out the answer.

“All right, waste the kids and lets get back.” CO Green said as he pulled a cigar from one of the pouches on his belt and brought a thin rectangular object up to ignite his cigar before he bit down on it. Ash. Phoenix, Martin, and Smith all turned to regard the CO, unsure of who he was trying to shovel the guilt upon. “Damnit, stop looking at me like some damned Gutterwaste pieces of shit and -do it-.” Green shouted, with his helmet off I was easy to see the throbbing vein of his anger coursing through him Still, no one spoke. “Do I have to pick for you, you pack of pussies? Ash, you do it. You're alphabetically first.”

“Only if you're going by first-name and you never call me Ash, you call me Scarborough.”

“Well I just fucking ordered, deal with it -Ashley-, grease the fucking kids and lets get the fuck home.”

Ash wanted so badly to empty the rest of his ammunition in the face of CO Green, he wanted nothing more than to feel the man's neck trapped in his hands as he strangled the bastard to death. “Why?”

“Did you just fucking ask me a question, Scarborough? I gave you an order, now fucking do it!”

“I... I'll do it, sir.” Smith volunteered

“No! Scarborough is doing it and he's going to do it now. Plug those little fucks and lets get home!”

Phoenix began to offer as well but it was clear the CO had decided to make this personal, Martin was not envious of anyone around. The anger in the CO was building up pressure in his head and it could boil over any second. Ash looked at he rifle carefully, as if he had never used it. He carefully pulled back the bolt to see a round chambered and a small green display on the side of the rifle had the ammo-count at [31] rounds. It felt heavy, now, cumbersome, leaden like a weight that was making him sink into an ocean of everything he did not want and he would drown sooner than later. Carefully he flicked the flashlight on and off before moving to run his finger along the sight-rail After some contemplation the words of the CO were beginning to pour in again. He wished he could have been deaf for that moment, this whole battle.

“AND THAT IS WHY YOUR MOTHER SHOULD'A THROWN YOU OUT THE FUCKING WINDOW ON HER WAY BACK TO THE WHOREHOUSE!” CO Green screamed in Ash's ear. Phoenix had heard the entire string of the insults and was frankly impressed and slightly unnerved at how little they provoked his best friend-- Phoenix wanted to kill him for those insults alone. He had known Ash's mother and she was the best mother she could be. Closing his eyes, Ash lowered the rifle and leaned his head back, thinking and contemplating while doing his best not to to kill his CO.

“YOU AREN'T A PART OF HABORYM ANYMORE, YOU MISERABLE PIECE OF SHIT, YOU'RE GOING TO BE WORKING THE GUTTER UNTIL THE END OF YOUR FUCKING LIFE, DO YOU HEAR ME, SCARBOROUGH? SHOOT THEM, YOU FUCKING WEAKLING!” CO continued, still in full force.

With a sigh Ash looked his rifle over again, wondering why it still fell so heavy. The words his CO was screaming at him were beginning to penetrate his mental shield and after that he was not sure what would happen. Something bad, probably. Phoenix was put between a rock and a hard-place there. He could not take Ash's place now although he was pretty sure if the three of them ever ended up in a combat mission again that CO Green would die by friendly fire. CO just kept going, pointing out everything that made Ash who he was as a part of his failure to be a soldier or policeman and that he would lose his job entirely if he did not follow those orders. The pressure inside Ash's own head was mounting and he could feel the anger offering itself up to him. It was like closing your eyes to surrender to sleep after a very hard day. It promised to help you, to feel good when you indulged it. With the full run of combat stims used up, Ash was hurting everywhere and he finally looked his screaming CO in the eyes.

Ash set his jaw and grit his teeth until he was sure they would crack, his hand wrapped tightly around the grip as his finger found the trigger and he brought the weapon to his should, his eye running right down the sight-rail Slowly he brought the sights upon the boy who seemed resigned to death but his eyes were more focused on his sisters. He could be okay with it but the sisters were different and each spent time lined up within the sights of the rifle of roughly equal amounts. “FIRE YOU FUCKING FILTH, KILL THEM NOW BEFORE I--”

Ash's finger squeezed hard and his rifle began to buck slightly in his hand. His eyes shut tight as ht held the trigger, until all thirty-one rounds, had been fired. He lowered his gun and slouched before turning to look at his CO. The children still stood in fear, having watched all those rounds fly up, into the sky. Ash held back a tear well enough but just one, the second one could not be contained.

“RELOAD, SHIT-FOR-BRAINS, YOU'RE A REAL COMEDIC GENIUS!”

Ash did as he was told before the order started being screamed in his ear again.

“No.” Ash said calmly.

The CO tightened his hands in to fists and growled “YOU WILL DO IT BECAUSE IT IS A FUCKING DIRECT ORDER!”

“Go fuck yourself.”

“What the FUCK did you just say to me?”

“I said 'Go fuck yourself'!”

Phoenix and Ash shared a glance and Ash's own eyes flicked gently in the direction of the children as Ash turned around to the expect fest that collided with his jaw. Staggered, he managed to stand up as the CO closed the gap fairly quick and sent a hard punch to Ash's stomach, causing him to double over which ended up being very convenient for the knee to the face that he took as he allowed the CO to assault him. Phoenix had already done the work, having given the children the declaration for them to flee. They did as much, running back into ruined, burning settlement, right back to their home with their mother still slumped in the corner. Phoenix cleared his throat, checking his watch and nodded at Baker.

“CO Green, sir, we are being ordered to return right now, no detours, directly home.”

“Fine, I'll just make sure this miserable fuck never had a decent life again.”

“Yes, sir, spinning up now.”

Ash slumped into Phoenix who helped haul him into the tilt-rotor and strap in. The bruises and swelling were the only real issue. One of his eyes could barely open and somewhere he had split his lip.

“I don't know what they're gonna do about this, brother, but... this is probably the end of your job, unless they put you in the Gutter. I hear they're low on manpower again.” Phoenix said, leaning in as close as he could and speaking just high enough to be held over the engines as they took flight.

“I don't care,”

“I get where you're coming from... wish I could've done more, could have changed his mind.”

“Doesn't matter, I'd really starting to see all the shit behind the scenery in Espher and it's already disgusting.”

“You're probably going to lose your job and all the things that come with it, back to being strictly civilian if they don't just throw you in the prison system.”

“Yea, well, the difference in kill those children and prison is that I could sleep at night if they threw me in prison.” Ash spoke aloud, intentionally, as he watched the settlement smolder like coal, burning down.

Being set free in the outlying settlements of Espher wasn't a good thing but at least this way they had a fighting chance, especially with the looted revolver Phoenix had 'traded' with the boy. Maybe they could make their way to another settlement before they were too tired, maybe they could actually have some sort of burial... but mostly likely a caravan would take them to a settlement where they could find a place... If the other tilt-rotor squads didn't wipe all of them off the map, too.

Lets reboot this mess.

Recently cleared out and cleaned, this is my dusty old blog that I have come back to so I can re-use it for my writing. DeviantArt is fine and all but I get sick of my friends needing to register to see anything that constitutes adult content (and I know that I make that decision but come on, a disclaimer is fine).

So many many years ago I began writing Rise From The Ashes (name is still not concrete) and put varying amounts of work in it. Originally all the characters were named after online and RL friends but I changed that a few years down the line, though I did keep about five or six since they weren't out of the ordinary.

Somewhere in the first revision of what I had already written my hard drive died on me and stole the only copy of it I had on hand. A friend had an older, unrevised copy (but it was still more complete than starting from scratch) so I began writing again and it all was going through a second revision up to chapter 7 but then I just stopped working on it.

After a few years hiatus on it and the inspiration of my friends who have published their own work (which I will gladly link you to) have made me return to RFTA. Looking it over while discussing things with author Michael Shean ( author of Shadow of a Dead Star, Bone Wires, and the upcoming Red-Eye ) I realized just how hard it would be to write Rise with so many characters. The idea sparked in my head to write a prequel to the story.

This way I can introduce characters who are a part of Rise but have flashbacks within the story or other things I can pull in to a prequel and flesh out and then lead in with the characters of Rise without having to go into extensive detail about backgrounds or other events. So the prequel was born and my writing has resumed (albeit a bit... intermittent) in writing exercises. I'll be posting them as time goes on since I don't want to rely on DeviantArt alone.

Now, go buy Shadow of a Dead Star, like, right now.