This had been knocking around my head for some time now, distracting me horribly. I honestly have no idea why it popped up.
Anyway, it's a one shot with no particular universe in mind, other than that it's sci-fi.
-----
Lessons taught
-----
He fired and they fell, as they always did. Ruby beams cutting through flesh and bone, slicing through metal and stone. He couldn't smell anything, the suit was sealed, but he could remember the smell with perfect clarity. Burnt flesh and boiling metal, the way heat would radiate in waves, almost too hot to breathe ...
He could almost admire them, their tenacity, their stubborn pride. The way they would throw themselves at him knowing it was futile, clinging to their existance with the same willpower all species possessed.
Screaming 'we exist' into the night, refusing to fade away. He could understand that, oh, how he could understand that. It wouldn't stop him, though. No matter what he might feel, he would not stop.
That was the way of things.
--------------------
Wilhelm knew it was futile, nothing they had could harm them. It took artillery to handle their infantry, armoured in those dreadful suits that could cut through even the thickest bunker, that could shrug off everything short of an anti-tank shell.
Still, like every member of the Bundeswehr, he would fight. Like every human out there, he would fight. Because humanity wouldn't give up it's existance lightly or cheaply.
Another burst from his G36 accomplished nothing. The hulking figure twitched a bit as the rounds hit him, but straightened quickly, turning to face it's attacker.
Wilhelm threw himself to the side, just as one of those beams passed through the space he had occupied moments before. He rolled further, finding cover behind the burning, shattered hull of a Leopard 2A6 tank, destroyed by the very armoured being that they were trying to fight.
Another beam sliced through the ruined tank, above Wilhelm, ignoring all the armour piled upon the vehicle as if it weren't there.
--------------------
It was easy, as it always was. Determination could only do so much. It couldn't make up for the massive technological gap between the two sides. Five thousand years of practice in mastering the art of killing showed clearly.
One of the enemy's lumbering vehicles emerged from over a hill, rushing over at full speed, it's turret spinning as it tried to take aim.
Like a god, he pointed his arms at the primitive craft, hands spread, as if signaling it to stop.
Two ruby beams sliced clear through it, leaving gouges in the ground behind. The vehicle continued on for a moment, before exploding as it's ammunition cooked off. He didn't spare the destroyed vehicle a second glance.
He turned to face the other soldiers fighting still, futilely and bravely.
--------------------
Wilhelm crawled through the wreckage of what had once been an army base. His rifle was long empty, his squad mates long dead.
The battle continued, of course. They fought, as they had sworn to do, defending the people and the fatherland to their dying breath.
The armoured monstrosity was busying itself with a trio of Wiesels armed with 20mm autocannon.
Exploiting the opportunity, Wilhelm crawled further towards the closest vehicle depot. He made sure to move behind cover. It was probably a futile gesture, but, hopefully, the invader wouldn't guess just what Wilhelm was planning.
It took time and he could clearly hear the unique screeching sound as those lasers tore through the armoured vehicles. The sound was soon followed by the bark of G36s being emptied at the invader.
It didn't do anything, but they weren't about to give up, not when so much was at stake.
Finally, Wilhelm reached the side of another Wiesel, destroyed the moment the armoured creature had appeared. The vehicle was on it's side, an explosion having tossed it in the air and turned it. It would never run again, but the external 120mm mortar would hopefully still work.
There was a box not far from the destroyed vehicle, containing mortar shells. Wilhelm grinned, hope at last.
--------------------
The impact of slugs on the armour made for a mildly unpleasant sensation. Not painful, but unpleasant. The smaller slugs fired by the personal weapons of the defenders did nothing.
They couldn't penetrate the advanced armour.
And still they tried, wasting lives with such familiar dedication and recklessness.
He had no doubt that these beings attacking him had sworn oaths of their own, just like he had, seemingly an eternity ago. An eternity of war and destruction as each carved their own place in the galaxy.
Their actions were so familiar, had things went differently, perhaps there could have been friendship there. But the galaxy was a merciless place and friendship, compassion, mercy, they had no place in it. It was a lesson learned through hardship and pain, but it was learned and remembered.
He cut down another soldier and turned to aim at yet another, hiding behind the cooling wreck of a vehicle, attempting to reload his weapon, if the sensors of his suit were correct.
A soft whump sounded from behind him and instantly the world went white. He could feel himself being hurled into the air by the detonation. The suit's display was flashing red, screaming alarms at him.
Catastrophic damage, the suit sang to him.
--------------------
The mortar had done it's work. The invincible armoured figure lay in a smouldering crater where the mortar round had landed, it's legs a mangled mess, the rest of the suit peppered with shrapnel.
With a whoop of victory, Wilhelm charged, drawing his service dagger, straight and sharp.
He landed heavily on the armoured figure, still struggling to right itself. He could hear the other soldiers moving from their cover, getting closer. He needed only buy them a little time.
Wilhelm knew that if the armour couldn't be harmed by bullets, his little dagger wouldn't do anything, but he had to buy just a little time for someone with a grenade to arrive.
He searched the place in the centre, where he guessed the thing's head was. Then he noticed it, lightly marked in an alien language, a button. Maybe an emergency release. Wilhelm pressed it.
Like a blooming flower, the armour peeled itself back, revealing the pilot of the death machine, unarmed and unarmored.
The dagger came down and alien blood flowed.
--------------------
He concentrated, looking through the flickering screens beyond. He could see the sky, familiar in colour, but with an alien sun hanging high.
Then a figure filled his view and he watched. So young, like he had been once. Clutching a dagger, long and sharp firmly in hand, bleeding from a slight wound on the left arm. Alien blood.
Those thin, elfin features, looked at him, triumph and defiance visible in those purple eyes. So much like he had been.
He issued a whispered command and the suit died, the armour that had protected him peeling back.
Surprise flickered across the alien features, but the dagger still went down.
As red blood flowed, Wilhelm smiled. He could see it in those eyes, that another had learned the lesson and this child, barely a woman, dressed in a uniform both familiar and alien, had learned her lesson.
Another people who possessed the will to survive, to exist and to defy the odds.
Even as light faded from Wilhelm's world, he was content. He'd passed on the lesson he had learned, just as humanity had passed on the lesson it had learned. And so the cycle would continue, as it always had.
As it always would.
Anyway, it's a one shot with no particular universe in mind, other than that it's sci-fi.
-----
Lessons taught
-----
He fired and they fell, as they always did. Ruby beams cutting through flesh and bone, slicing through metal and stone. He couldn't smell anything, the suit was sealed, but he could remember the smell with perfect clarity. Burnt flesh and boiling metal, the way heat would radiate in waves, almost too hot to breathe ...
He could almost admire them, their tenacity, their stubborn pride. The way they would throw themselves at him knowing it was futile, clinging to their existance with the same willpower all species possessed.
Screaming 'we exist' into the night, refusing to fade away. He could understand that, oh, how he could understand that. It wouldn't stop him, though. No matter what he might feel, he would not stop.
That was the way of things.
--------------------
Wilhelm knew it was futile, nothing they had could harm them. It took artillery to handle their infantry, armoured in those dreadful suits that could cut through even the thickest bunker, that could shrug off everything short of an anti-tank shell.
Still, like every member of the Bundeswehr, he would fight. Like every human out there, he would fight. Because humanity wouldn't give up it's existance lightly or cheaply.
Another burst from his G36 accomplished nothing. The hulking figure twitched a bit as the rounds hit him, but straightened quickly, turning to face it's attacker.
Wilhelm threw himself to the side, just as one of those beams passed through the space he had occupied moments before. He rolled further, finding cover behind the burning, shattered hull of a Leopard 2A6 tank, destroyed by the very armoured being that they were trying to fight.
Another beam sliced through the ruined tank, above Wilhelm, ignoring all the armour piled upon the vehicle as if it weren't there.
--------------------
It was easy, as it always was. Determination could only do so much. It couldn't make up for the massive technological gap between the two sides. Five thousand years of practice in mastering the art of killing showed clearly.
One of the enemy's lumbering vehicles emerged from over a hill, rushing over at full speed, it's turret spinning as it tried to take aim.
Like a god, he pointed his arms at the primitive craft, hands spread, as if signaling it to stop.
Two ruby beams sliced clear through it, leaving gouges in the ground behind. The vehicle continued on for a moment, before exploding as it's ammunition cooked off. He didn't spare the destroyed vehicle a second glance.
He turned to face the other soldiers fighting still, futilely and bravely.
--------------------
Wilhelm crawled through the wreckage of what had once been an army base. His rifle was long empty, his squad mates long dead.
The battle continued, of course. They fought, as they had sworn to do, defending the people and the fatherland to their dying breath.
The armoured monstrosity was busying itself with a trio of Wiesels armed with 20mm autocannon.
Exploiting the opportunity, Wilhelm crawled further towards the closest vehicle depot. He made sure to move behind cover. It was probably a futile gesture, but, hopefully, the invader wouldn't guess just what Wilhelm was planning.
It took time and he could clearly hear the unique screeching sound as those lasers tore through the armoured vehicles. The sound was soon followed by the bark of G36s being emptied at the invader.
It didn't do anything, but they weren't about to give up, not when so much was at stake.
Finally, Wilhelm reached the side of another Wiesel, destroyed the moment the armoured creature had appeared. The vehicle was on it's side, an explosion having tossed it in the air and turned it. It would never run again, but the external 120mm mortar would hopefully still work.
There was a box not far from the destroyed vehicle, containing mortar shells. Wilhelm grinned, hope at last.
--------------------
The impact of slugs on the armour made for a mildly unpleasant sensation. Not painful, but unpleasant. The smaller slugs fired by the personal weapons of the defenders did nothing.
They couldn't penetrate the advanced armour.
And still they tried, wasting lives with such familiar dedication and recklessness.
He had no doubt that these beings attacking him had sworn oaths of their own, just like he had, seemingly an eternity ago. An eternity of war and destruction as each carved their own place in the galaxy.
Their actions were so familiar, had things went differently, perhaps there could have been friendship there. But the galaxy was a merciless place and friendship, compassion, mercy, they had no place in it. It was a lesson learned through hardship and pain, but it was learned and remembered.
He cut down another soldier and turned to aim at yet another, hiding behind the cooling wreck of a vehicle, attempting to reload his weapon, if the sensors of his suit were correct.
A soft whump sounded from behind him and instantly the world went white. He could feel himself being hurled into the air by the detonation. The suit's display was flashing red, screaming alarms at him.
Catastrophic damage, the suit sang to him.
--------------------
The mortar had done it's work. The invincible armoured figure lay in a smouldering crater where the mortar round had landed, it's legs a mangled mess, the rest of the suit peppered with shrapnel.
With a whoop of victory, Wilhelm charged, drawing his service dagger, straight and sharp.
He landed heavily on the armoured figure, still struggling to right itself. He could hear the other soldiers moving from their cover, getting closer. He needed only buy them a little time.
Wilhelm knew that if the armour couldn't be harmed by bullets, his little dagger wouldn't do anything, but he had to buy just a little time for someone with a grenade to arrive.
He searched the place in the centre, where he guessed the thing's head was. Then he noticed it, lightly marked in an alien language, a button. Maybe an emergency release. Wilhelm pressed it.
Like a blooming flower, the armour peeled itself back, revealing the pilot of the death machine, unarmed and unarmored.
The dagger came down and alien blood flowed.
--------------------
He concentrated, looking through the flickering screens beyond. He could see the sky, familiar in colour, but with an alien sun hanging high.
Then a figure filled his view and he watched. So young, like he had been once. Clutching a dagger, long and sharp firmly in hand, bleeding from a slight wound on the left arm. Alien blood.
Those thin, elfin features, looked at him, triumph and defiance visible in those purple eyes. So much like he had been.
He issued a whispered command and the suit died, the armour that had protected him peeling back.
Surprise flickered across the alien features, but the dagger still went down.
As red blood flowed, Wilhelm smiled. He could see it in those eyes, that another had learned the lesson and this child, barely a woman, dressed in a uniform both familiar and alien, had learned her lesson.
Another people who possessed the will to survive, to exist and to defy the odds.
Even as light faded from Wilhelm's world, he was content. He'd passed on the lesson he had learned, just as humanity had passed on the lesson it had learned. And so the cycle would continue, as it always had.
As it always would.