Tali the grunt

Tali was marching through the dense undergrowth when he turned round to look at the rest of his squad. There was Hájc his best friend (who he joined up for the grand covenant army with), Tulon who was a master on the Cudai drum, Foersaw the jackal sniper who carried ‘far death’ his beam rifle and ‘The (new) Leader’ who looked a lot like the enemy they were fighting.

Tali aimed at the enemy base with his plasma pistol and wondered why he joined into this hell willingly. He recalled the holo-posters, the war veterans and the promise of his own square of land. He wished that he could travel back in time and warn himself about the reality of war, the small travel space, the stale taste of packaged methane and the cry of dying fellow soldiers.

He snapped back to reality as Foersaw rushed by him to get into a good sniping spot. ‘The (new) Leader’ ordered him to go out and be the first to attack the enemy, aka commit suicide. Tali knew better than to argue and lumbered out to the enemy base seeing their vast overwhelming force and superior arsenal through the broken glass window.

Tali looked around admiring every leaf, every rock, every blade of grass and every speck of dirt on this alien world knowing it would be his last. He looked back to see the rest of his squad urging him onward towards the enemy. He got to the doors of the enemy base, opened them and fired.

He awoke from the darkness and sat up to see camouflaged soldiers rushing out and firing at his squad, one by one they fell. He felt his chest with his hand and looked down at the blue liquid gushing out.