[GZG] [GZG Fiction] Dear Ma.... 3 of 5

Specialist Morgan Summers, OU 3rd SAS, to his wife
September 6th 2196

L.,

We’re flat out like a lizard drinkin’ these days! Not a minute to
spare for a good scratch. So you can probably guess how life is with us
these days. Damn busy, dirty and tired. Still I’m all in one piece and
missing you as always. Don't worry.

All my love!
M.

>>>>>>

Note this is a translated script, clarifying descriptions are presented
in italics in brackets.

Shang Wei (Captain) Cheung Ho Long, 6th Kong Jun 2nd Bīng Tuán, to his
parents
September 6th 2196

Fù mǔ (father and mother),

At present I find myself lying under what passes for the sun in this
sorry place. In truth it is not an unpleasant orchard, or what remains
of one. A force of about 500 NAC VR fighters has just gone overhead.
Once I would have found a sight most discouraging, but that was a
different war. Now I find it most encouraging. If you close your eyes
and liken the occasional gun or mortar in the distance with the chirping
of summer crickets then it is possible to just about fool one’s self
into believing I am lying in your garden at home.

Mǔ (mother) will be pleased to note we’ve even just been supplied
with new underthings, which is such a luxury after a week of solid
fighting and laborious marches. I am quite certain I have lost buckets
to the exertion; my clothes certainly give the aroma of hard work. We
were even brought a few bottles of rice wine. We have also scratched
together some egg noodles, a chicken, a bag of onions and three carrots.
Not a banquet, but as wài zǔ mǔ (grandmother) is always telling us
they would have dreamed of such bounty when she was a girl in the great
famine of 2139. What we would really like is some rice. We are all
heartily sick of the tired biscuits or army bakers keep sending forward
to us, but what can you expect that are all Mò sī kē rén
(Muscovites)!

I am honoured to see my platoon in such good form. They all work well
together and even the seven replacements we picked up in Vologansk are
bearing up well. The dung mat (animals or Kra’Vak in this case) have
dealt us the odd blow, but none too deeply yet. Now we have some small
measure of liberty to talk of the grand undertaking against the aliens I
can finally tell you of our small part of it.

We were inserted by sêung bîn gei (dropship) and it was a bloody
fight! By the time we formed up with the VR and grav escort it took much
longer in the air than we are typically used to. Young Li became very
ill, but once we over the channel, in calmer air, he was well again. I
feared he would become ill again as we came over the coast to the gei
dêi kùi (landing zone), but we landed too quickly and we were all far
too excited. The landing was pretty ghastly. Ours was the first sêung
bîn gei over the gei dêi kùi, we all came down the rope fine. Second
insertion was executed excellently, but the third sêung bîn gei was
hit by a dung mat (Kra’Vak)  missile. The tail end shattered,
showering us with slivers of burning razor sharp debris. The nose
continued on and ended up bouncing across a field a few kilometres
ahead; topsy-turvy before it slid to a halt against some monument,
breaking along its midline. The noise and light brought in more dung
mat, which made it very unhealthy a place to be wandering or standing
about. We got the platoon moving. Our immediate threat was a machine gun
in a defensive position about 300m to our northwest. I had Inja direct
his section’s fire at the gun while we tried coordinating with the
mortars. The radio boosters were not as effective as our leaders had
hoped. Thankfully, the gun was very effectively silenced when one of the
dung mat missiles hit another sêung bîn gei, which fetched up right on
top of the gun emplacement! We assaulted through the crash site,
checking for survivors. There was nothing but dung mat bits, the gore
actually worse as it looked all wrong. All but three of our comrades
were also dead. Lin Yao stabilised the hòu biān pào shǒu (rear
gunner), who had cracked ribs and had lost his left leg below the knee.
Xi worked on the bié fēi xíng yuán (co-pilot) – crushed shoulder,
cracked pelvis. Park judged that the zhèng wěi (political commissar)
was beyond assistance and opted to help Huan Yue with the radio. While
they could not shake it 
into full life, under the heavy jamming by the kě pà (awful) dung mat,
they did get a chain happening and a grav ambulance came for the
wounded. The zhèng wěi did not make it. Once this was done we checked
we were all there and set off again.

The next three days were very busy and potentially sickening so I
shan’t tell you of them. Suffice it to say that apart from a rice bar
and half the contents of my flask it was an uncomfortably long period
(nearly 50 hours!) before I before we pitched up here in the orchard and
had time to eat or drink again. You must find that incredible, given how
much I enjoy my food and tea, but I assure you it is true. More
incredible still, at the time food was far from my mind, there was far
too much else to do. As Mǔ will have guessed, I have been making up for
it since!

The dung mat guns have started in full roar now and my orchard is
becoming less endearing. So that's all for a while.

Love to all my family,

Ho Long.

>>>>>>

Phillipe Sanxay, Sergent Aviation Légére de l'Armée, to his wife
Amelie
September 7th 2196

As you know my love, the battle against the Kra’Vak positions in Osuga
and Tokalau has begun. If you do not hear from me for a little while, do
not fret. As I am sure you can imagine, we are committing ourselves in
total. This leaves precious little time for writing, though I steal
every second I can. This is fight is about everything we hold dear,
about the existence or decline of Mars and even Earth. How each one of
us gets through this is really not so important. The main thing is that
we can soon rid ourselves of this threat and win back one step on the
journey to peace. I have learned to forego almost everything during this
war, the sight and feel of you, showers, sleep, even food and drink.
Nearly all that we relate to as people and to our comforts and futures
has been stripped away. Yet I still catch myself again and again still
having dreams and wishes that may, together with life, be extinguished
forever by the next shell or shot. Next to you, ice cream is something I
plant to see a lot of once this is all done. I feel I should finish this
grandly, as it feels that I am living history now, something our
children will teach to their children as a turning point. So I will end
by saying that we have begun the greatest passage of arms, one so great
I (and most others) can only but guess what will have passed by the time
this letter reaches your hand.

Phillipe

_______________________________________________
Gzg-l mailing list
Gzg-l@lists.csua.berkeley.edu
http://lists.csua.berkeley.edu/mailman/listinfo/gzg-l