The Hunters Salvation

2298 CE
Lingam 2
39 light years from Sirius

  The soldier crawled through the exotic foliage with a mixture of difficulty and efficiency. He inhaled through the nose filter and exhaled out his mouth, each breathe a sigh. The solider was a Tokoy animal, a species genetically engineered by man. They were a mix between man and animal and were made for the sake of cheap labor. But later this race gained their rights but was still considered cheap work. Thus when the twenty year long Thod war turned sour for man, the Tokoy's where put in as cannon fodder to replace the thinning human frontline ranks. That meant, that this soldier, known as captain first class Ket Satter had seen his fair share of war. How he wished he hadn't. His mind would remember back to battles past, he remembered the drop ships burst at Tenhauser gate, he remembered how the ion beams fried the Thod colony's at Zeta prima and he especially remembered the massacre at Prometheus garden. But now after battle after battle Ket was dulled by war. His purpose on this world was a simple clean and sweep operation. Thod activity had been detected here, but to what extent was unknown. When the UPDF force's landed on this lush world there was virtually no resistance. Thus the Tokoy wolf went out to hunt. This behavior was predictable for him, whenever there was a planet with game Ket would hunt. Doctors would call this unhealthy, but Ket did not mind, the hunt would keep him busy. Quickly he came upon a clearing and on the other side was a beast.

    The creature was simply a green scaly ball standing on three legs. Its proboscis pronged the ground for prey. Ket brought up his pulse rifle and looked down the sights, his goggles displayed target factors and vectors. Once he clicked off the safety, another of the beasts came out of the brush. It was smaller than the other and hooted to the larger, the larger hooted back. As if on cue the little one came over and snuggled with the larger. Ket sighed and lowered the rifle; he observed the two creatures and walked off.

    After Ket set up camp he turned on the portable stove and cooked a few rations. The rations were almost done, but he did not care. His mind recoiled to battles past; his mind began to recall his first combat mission.

    The stark lifeless surface of the moon shocked the private. Yet looking deeply he found beauty in the craters, rifts and grooves. The moons host world, a gas green gas giant, only added more beauty to the shimmering frozen hydrogen/methane landscape. But Kets peace was shattered when the orders roared in his helmet. He was orders to stick with his partner and proceed to the Thod bunker, in an arrow formation. He hop skipped in the low gravity, glad that the power armor kept him steady. Suddenly, the dead land exploded in shards of ice and vapors of gases as Thod kinetic artillery blasted the UPDF advance. Ket had to be careful for if he walked over a patch of frozen hydrogen, the hot suit exhaust would explosively thaw it out. If that happened the hapless recruit would have to endure a million year voyage back to earth. As he ran he quickly saw a ridge ahead of him, he nudged his partner towards the ridge and they followers underneath it. With their backs to the ridge they looked to their comrades. The enemy artillery was still pounding the landscape with merciless fury. Ket looked to his right to see a trooper disappear under the rim of a crater, suddenly an explosion of white gas and body parts flowed out as the trooper landed on a pool of frozen hydrogen. Ket held back vomit ant what he saw. Suddenly heard something click in his helmet and turned to his partner to see, he had connected a speak cable between the two. The partner orders him to unpack the guided motor. With haste Ket removed the weapon off his shoulder and set vertically on the ground, he gave the control unit to his partner. Putting his head above the ridge Ket deployed the smart goggles in his visor. Immodestly a large bubble of heat was seen on the edge of the horizon, occasionally there was a sharp plume of heat as the. Enemy artillery fired. Ket gave the partner the enemy coordinates who relayed them to the motor. Suddenly Ket saw the baseball sized rocket zoom to its target, the goggles tracked the bomb until it detonated at the bunker. The partner continued to fire as more friendly bombs were tracked by the goggles, quickly the goggles locked onto the Thod troopers you we jumping out of their sleeper pits. Ker deactivated the goggles and jumped up onto the ridge edge; he aimed his arm attached pulse rifle and emptied a drum of ammo with undying fury and hate. Quickly the Thod troopers died as their suits were punctured and let their contents exposed to the cold vacuum. Ket would carry this hate to every battle he went on, no enemy would be spared by his wrath.

    But that was many years ago. The terrible sword of hate had been dulled to a simple knife. Each battle had chipped away at Kets humanity, each battle only brought him closer to sadness. He longed for the war to end but he knew it wouldn't.

    The morning saw Ket standing by a river edge. He wondered if the liquid was water and so bent down for a sip. It tasted like water, might really be water but god knows what was crawling inside it. Standing up he dried his hand on his pant leg, he was about to move on when he saw it. There standing on the opposite bank of the river was a Thod.

    Its arthropod like body was immediately recognizable. It looked to be six feet tall but the quills on its back made it look seven. The two soldiers stood still observing each other intently. The Thod was the first to fire, but Ket was quick enough to dive for a rock for cover. Bolts of plasma blasted the area around Ket as he tried to aim the pulse rifle at his foe. He went for its six legs, but his aim was thrown off by the enemy’s suppressive fire. The Thod started to run across the bank trying to gain a firing angle on Ket. Ket decided to end the fight with a tactical retreat. Ket rolled into the river and was immediately caught up by the strong current. He dropped the rifle to the gotten and tried to swim but his foe shot at the water surface. Quickly though, the shooting stopped and when Ket surfaced, he found out why. The river ahead of him abruptly ended into nothing and mist. When Ket went over the edge he felt that he was falling into the maw of Hell.

    Ket woke up drowsy, blood caked his brow and vaguely remembered swimming to shore after falling and fighting the currents. The blood most likely came from the. Rocks quickly he noticed the failing light and got up to look for shelter, what he found was a curious tree deep in the foliage. When he climbed it he quickly found a cup like branch and promptly blacked out in it. When he woke he found that the local predators found him. Circling the tree were nothing but eyes, Ket would have rather not discover their owners. The soldier slowly broke down, at first it was whip miring but now it was a torrent of tears. He cursed his luck and himself at what had happened. The blade of hate had brought him nothing but anguish, he thought that maybe he should give himself up to the creatures. Maybe then the pain would end. No! Screamed a voice inside him, you have fought many battles, this is like all the others, the only difference is that you are fighting for yourself now. Ket thought this over and got up and said allowed "I will survive, but how?"

  As if under possession he started to pick at the leaves. He plucked and plucked at them, creating a small shower of leaves. Each leaf to him was the removal of pain; each leaf was a bad memory falling away. He picked at them and at times became teary at what he was doing; he found himself thinking of salvation. This process, this quest born of survival was now one for salvation. He did not know where the idea came from but he knew it was good. A solider does not have to be a casualty, thought Ket, when the battle has long since past. By midnight under the two moons half of the trees leaves had been picked. By dawn they were all gone and Ket slept peacefully.

    Slowly Ket got down from the tree to notice the predators had left. He was alone. Ket sniffed the air for the enemy, but found no trace of Thod. Suddenly he heard a rustle, Ket ripped out his combat knife and took on a fighting posture, turning around he saw a creature. It had four arms and was three legged, the face was tear drop shaped head, the head held only three eyes. The creature spoke "Are you the one who picked the leaves from this plant?"

"Yes," replied Ket.

  The alien smiled and spoke again "You have done something extraordinary."

"How so?" replied Ket.

    "My race is one of devoted thinking, every act we do always entails one of great meaning. What you have done is such an act. What you have done would be considered a great act of thought in my race. But I sense that your action of thought was borne of one of loss, was it not."

"Yes...yes it was."

"I see, and what lesson would you say you have learned?"

    Ket pondered for a moment. He scoured his mind and came upon only one word, salvation. He spoke the word aloud to the alien and it nodded and said "Salvation eh? Only someone of great troubles would say that."

"I a-was one of troubles."

"And I would say you are correct."

    The alien outstretched its arms and said "Take my hand and we shall finalize your salvation."

    When Ket held one of the creature’s hands he saw the world explode in light. He found himself zooming past galaxies and star clusters. He flowed through many nebulas. Then he came upon the black void of the cosmos, in the distance an omnipresent voice spoke “I have seen your life and I know your past, you have seen and done troubles. But now you are free, you are free to live and see all that can be seen for you can now be in salvation!"

The End