POLITICS AND SOLDIERS THE HEROES

Pagal Griffin Vengance

2006 02 03

The Battle Cruiser USLN Saviour was a tough ship. Perhaps the best of the times. She and her crew had braved near impossible odds before, fighting and winning with now typical expertise and flagrance. The Saviour's adventures were what parents told as bedtime stories; they were the Galaxy's hopes and dreams.
But the crew knew better then anyone their limits, and that of the aging battle cruiser. Everything afore mentioned is indeed true...but in the military, there were no fantasies.
Even the heroes of the Saviour couldn't win a battle where they were surrounded and outnumbered 50-1 in an enemy system.
Which is the exact reason why there was not a single smile or cheer from the military as the command crew of the Saviour walked along a carpet to their ship; officially, they were apparently going to attack what was now dubbed "Hell's Angels", a squadron of alien warships that, ton by ton, had the same combat capability as the Saviour. The two sides had "quarrelled" on many an occasion.
But war isn't a story of good guys beating the best bad guys.
War is blood, gore and the cold brittle patriotism that burns in the heart of every soldier.
War is the destructive apex of evil.
War is WAR.
And the cheering crowd had no idea that they were indeed right if they believed the Saviour was going on the hardest mission in history.
It was just significantly harder then they could imagine.

As the celebrated hero of the Skylords gave his final wave to the crowd, the airlock rolled to a close, and he turned back into a tired old commander.

Ten minutes later, the mighty Saviour rose from her perch on Twilight Citadel and raced for the stars.