The tale of Gustav

Gustav aboard Crusader I

I just do the story. I don't make chapters, it just works this way for me.

“Sir, we have a transmission from Crusader I.”
“Impossible, we are under cloak. They might guess were here but were not.” I said. I was confident that my mission would be completed. Then, I didn’t want to think about it.
“Sir, they have our location. They know where here.”
“Alrighty then. Let’s hear who gave us contact.” It was praobly some Noisen survivors trying to scare us off.
“Greetings. You may board Crusader I. We won’t fire. We want you to see our captain. He has given strict orders making sure nobody will attack you or any boarding party. Please respond if you agree to this.”
“What do we do sir?” The private nervously asked.
I wanted death. I was tired of seeing my friends die. They deserved better deaths. I just wanted the pain over with. If they were telling the truth, I do my job, and I get to see everyone again. But if they were lying… The pain would end. I hoped they were lying. “Let’s go in. We won’t try to fight them.” Everybody listened to me. Never questioning me. For once, I was happy that they didn’t.
Crusader I didn’t fire on us liked they said. They connected the tube for us. I felt a rush of pain. I wanted to die. Why couldn’t they lie and blow us up? “Sir, the tube is ready.”
“Alright, half of team one, assault rifles. The rest gets shottys and explosives. Let’s roll.” I had my machine gun. It was my friend. I think, how funny, I kill with my friend. A friend. All of them have died to them. Expect the one I never want to see again. The one in my hand right now. The tube opens up for us and we enter Crusader I.
All I see when I get on is a man he is about 40 y.o.e. old, bowing to us. “Please follow me. Our captain would very much like to see you.” We follow our guide. He takes a straight path to the bridge. Along the way, we see the crew. Only knives or swords in their hand. Each one glaring at us. “Please do not worry. They will not attack you.” Our guide says. I order my men to keep their weapons out. After walking for about 4 minutes, our guide stops. “We are here. Our captain has asked only Gustav to go in. Though the door will be open, on his orders, it is sound proof. But you can still pass through it in case of an emergency.”
“Why only me?” I ask. I hope it’s a trap. I will not fire back. I will embrace their trap with death.
“You will see in a moment. Please, go in.”
I enter the bridge. It is a pure green room, with yellow walls. On the walls, a symbol of the Crusade. Nobody in sight, other than the man in the chair at the end of the room.
“Hello Gustav. How have you been?” That voice… It’s familiar.
“Why do you care? I haven’t answered that question since-“
“When Trever died.”
“How do you know?” He stood up, at turned himself to me.
“Because it has been too long, my friend.” It was Trever. He lived? He was dead. He died when Girge got bombed. How did he live. A rush of pain. He lived, he fought with me. And now he stands here. Expecting me to kill him. How could I? “You must be mad. I will try to understand. I have much to explain to you.”
“Like hell you do. Why didn’t you tell me you were still alive?.”
“I am sorry. Please remember to check your anger. I will tell you. As you may guess, it started on Girge. My squad was placed to the most forward out post. We had no idea why. Even I had no idea why. But I obeyed orders. I fought for that house in the middle of nowhere, for three days straight. We held the bottom floor the first day. Then we forced upstairs. By the third day, I had no doubt in my mind that we were going to die. Then, on our radio, we got a message. It was from command. It was how we were going to be sacrificed for a bomb. They didn’t care about our lives. We had five minutes to live. I guess they thought that I would accept death. I didn’t.”
“I radioed all my air force friends. One of them, Jorge, responded. He was a troop transporter. I begged him to save us. He said he’d be there in 2 minutes. As I ordered my squad mates out, I noticed all the wounded there. They were Noisen yes, but how could I leave them? I ordered my squad to save as many of them as we could. We got 12 of them out. Jorge came. We loaded them in. We fled. We watched the bomb go off. During the ride, we discovered, that even if we had lived, we were supposed to be killed on sight. Yeah, a great hero of theirs, going to be killed because he knew too much about a weapon targeted on their position. Jorge was able to get us to the Carrier hanger. As we were getting off, Jorge got shot by a guard, I shot him back. He died, saying to never forget the evil that was done that day. I told him I would never forget. I boarded a Carrier. I was captured. But when I explained the situation to the crew, they munited. They helped us get the wounded off the troop transport. And then we flew, we got off planet. One of the wounded told us how to get to their home world. We landed on the planet. They let us land on it. They knew that we were going to be there. Only one person meets us there. He asked me to meet their leader. I know you were with him at his death bed. When I met him, he was healthier. He thanked me for saving them. He said he knew that this would happen. I guess he was a psychic.”
“Close Trever. He had the ability to see how a Noisen would die.”
“Oh, that explains that. Thank you for the knowledge. Anyways, he said that if we wanted to, he could make me a general in their army. He knew how good I was. I said no. I wanted to strike back at the people who dropped the bomb on me, the admirals of the Raxus fleet. They gave me a few ships to start out. We made our beginning protecting merchant ships. We slowly earned enough to build a creditable fleet. I asked the Noisen if they needed any ships. They laughed and put us in a fleet. I remember the first battle. We decimated the Raxus fleet.”
“Did you realize that Paul and Kyle were on the Raxus fleet there? And that you killed them?”
“What?” He was sad, he never realized it. I blamed the death of Paul and Kyle, on my best friend? I felt anger. I felt pain. My pain, caused by the friend that stuck by me in the worst of the worst? No it was not possible. “I never knew.”
“Yeah, your mosquitos did a nice job there. Your rail gun ships. Nice. A clean kill.”
“I’m sorry, I never saw the casualty list for the battle. If I did you would have been the first to know.”
“A little too late for that.” I had gained a little satisfactory from that. I helped avenge their deaths. By mocking my best friend’s descion?
“I know, that’s why, I am going to do something. I have no reason to live. My cause for peace and order has been ruined. You killed all those important to that movement. But not on your orders. Always someone else’s. I ask of you, will you kill me?” At this point, he had taken out a pistol, the same pistol he always had used. He placed it against his head. A finger on the trigger. “You decide, do I die, or do I live. I will not say anything else. Make your descion.”
I could kill him? A kindness, a choice whom I kill. I never had a choice before. I… Do I obey orders, or do I finally do what I want? I remember all my friends. Kyle, Paul, Hydra, Shorty, Tracey, the Drunk pike men, the admiral, and finally, my first friend, Trever. I didn’t know what to say. But I had to do something. I just couldn’t… Or… NO… no…no…no…
The words left my lips. He did what I told him to do. I left the room. Team one followed me. I walked past the sleeping quarters. Just glares. I got to the tube. I went in. once inside the transport, “Let’s go.” My voice, weak. Scared. On the verge of tears.
I started to cry, I had just ordered my friend to shot himself.
Nobody said anything. I am thankful for that.