Signing Bonus
// Put It On The Line
Nima wasn’t going to kid herself as she stared down the line of troopers, catching the glint off their visors as artillery flew high over head-eating up the night. She gave a tilt of her helmet, a nod. Something, a sign of assurance to fill the space where doubt ate away at a soldier. Nima had been in the fight long enough to know. Each breath dwindled with the call to arms and the woman planted her forehead against the wall of the trench before daring to look back to Agrippa. That’d be the last time she saw him standing, she wished she had listened to her gut. Shouldn’t have let herself grow fond, it was like cutting away something-a bloody and painful business every time they found their boots on the ground.
She smiled behind the helmet, chuckling even though she was scared. A little steel and the willingness to meet the challenge didn’t change the danger of the barrel they were staring down. They had gotten this far somehow. Nima didn’t have enough humility or grace, she hid behind her bravado to get the job done-the job she took pride in. For once they were doing the right thing and most days that got her through, though the missions weren’t getting easier..
They could complain about it later over sabacc she promised herself. I mean this was one way to ruin the beach for them all, right?
Nima wanted to believe they’d get out, and maybe make something out of their fucked up square of the galaxy and put the guns down. At Least it was her plan to, bad orders or not. Too much shavit to do too much to see, she whispered to herself. This charge, it was too costly and all the reasons not to go flooded in. She trusted Agrippa, they had pulled off the worst. A stray cannon blast ate up the ledge above and sand rained over them. Though the audio receptors buzzed with shrill noise.. She shook it off, throwing a hand behind the ranger at her side; pressing them back up. The rest of Gladius always managed to keep up the fight, they wouldn’t leave that hell of a job to them alone. She was just tired of them being the price, watching the ranks decimate.
She wanted to be back at the shop, scrapping parts- the simplicity.
A soft panic that grew in her gut, it would fade away and calcify her nerves when it was all said and done. She breathed slow, hands scraping up the wall as the call sounded out. The Company followed behind as they all scrambled up the wall, rifles hauled up as they faced down no man’s land. It was stupid, Agrippa was stupider-and they were in the wrong profession for a pair of fools. Nima didn’t hesitate to charge out-orders flying from her lips. She just didn’t do it with a straight spine though. They shouldn’t charge, but they couldn’t lay their arms down in the sand and skip out. They didn’t get that luxury.
Crossing the open field under fire, heat licking their buckets and dogging each step. She had gotten one look at Agrippa almost losing him to the mob-she had watched the bolt drop him and heard the uproar over the comms. Nima didn’t like thinking about it, the moment was still a better part of a blurr after he was shot.
Any confidence was stamped out under foot when he didn’t get back up. No. She was used to dealing with shavit situations, getting kissed by a bug on Aeten-to Lyra getting ripped apart. She had cut a swath through the charge, pushing aside troopers and sending them on their way to the trenches. If they stopped, they’d die and she tried not to let her shaking voice betray her too much. She had collapsed next to him, hauling a hand under him, until the field medics could grab him. Of course it had to be him, and of course she had to turn and walk away and delve back to the siege. He'd be disappointed if she didn't keep up the fight, she'd be disappointed in herself but it didn't change it felt wrong. The painful clench in her chest as she traded him off, turning back to face the bloody beach. Nima had made a big mistake and he was as good as dead, and she threw herself back into the fray so she didn’t have to think about it- they didn’t have anyone else to keep the line in order and hope sometimes was a stupid choice.
When they had crawled back from the front licking their wounds, to the safety of the fleet-fatigue written under each eye and bruised. Her first choice should have been staring at a data pad but she wouldn’t be able to produce a single word for the report. Maybe she’d bother with come morning, but she was a bit too spiteful to give Command over their neat little records. Her men were in order first, they were soldiers but that had been hell and she had bothered to check in on Gladius. Nima decided it was time to face down the worse and go looking for him or the corpse to say her respects to. Fuck the rest-Of course they wouldn’t get off scot free, she was bitter and the walk down the halls spent with the worst thought and nursing a burnt caffe along the way. What was she going to do? The infirmary, or the chop shop as far as she was concerned was too clean to sterile, she didn’t have any fond memories and at this hour and the influx of wounded coming through. She slipped past the droids and doctors, cornering the right nurse until Nima tracked
Agrippa
down.
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