Mara

Mara Alive

Roundhouse, hammer strike, there's two behind you!! I need my bow staff, oh there it is. *pow* *clink*

"Gotcha, heh heh"

*Beep*

"Oh my god! It's a bomb!"

*Beep*

"Take cover!!"

*Beep Beep*

"Get out of here!! Find a safe spot!" I lay down on top of it, squeeze my eyes tight...

*BEEP BEEP*

I jerk up, hands balled in fists in front of my face.

*BEEP BEEP BEEP*

"OK, OK" I groan at the alarm and slam one of the fists down on top of it. I look down at the red, uniform numbers of the digital clock, 4:30 a.m. I look around the room at the other soldiers in their cots, Jake glares at me from his bunk next to the door "Mara, little miss perfect" he mouths mockingly. I don't know what his problem is, maybe he's mad that I beat his record in archery, or rather that I haven't let myself grow complacent like him, whatever it is he's always made life at the Syndicate harder for me. Starting rumors, pitting the generals against me. I've always felt out of place here, the others feel it too, so it's not exactly hard to alienate me. I came to the Syndicate much later than the other soldiers, I don't remember how I got here, the generals say it doesn't matter. I go to the washroom and chew my teeth cleaning pod while I put my hair up in my signature high ponytail, one of the Syndicate's 4 allowed styles. I look around to make sure no one else is up, flex my biceps in the mirror, do a couple of jab combos, stand up straight, puff my chest out and put on my best cocky smirk. The same smirk that the Resistance fighters see when they are unlucky enough to meet me in battle. "Ruthless" I crow. I turn and start walking out of the barracks to the training facility. Jake is propped up on one elbow, somehow still glaring at me. I walk up to him and lurch one step toward him like a territorial rooster, he flinches, loses balance on his arm, and ends up laying on his back, fuming. "That's what I thought" I whisper through my teeth.

I wrap up training at 7 a.m., a little early because we have a mission today. They haven't told us much, never do I guess. What we do know is that there is a rebel outpost on the planet Remulon-9, this planet is already under the Syndicate's control but there has been an uprising. The rebels have captured a town. We've seen more and more of this. There is great unrest in the galaxy, I can feel it, the generals have grown uneasy.

By 8 a.m. I'm geared up and armed, ready to board the last ship to Remulon-9.

Upon landing, we can see that these rebels are more powerful than we thought. They seem trained, firing arrows with great precision, winning hand-to-hand combat, disarming our fighters with skilled swordsmanship. All things I excel at, and their uniforms, they...The mission general's call for backup interrupts me before I can give it any more thought.

After I jump onto the ground I look for where I'm needed. I see a fighter on a pile of debris with a sword and shield, a pile of Syndicate soldiers at her feet. She's mine. I start running toward her at full speed, dodging plasma blasts and building wreckage, taking out rebels with my bow staff as I go, but her, she's the target. I finally reach her, but just at that moment, some second-rate foot soldier with a third-rate bow staff swings for me. I dodge the blow and somersault out of the way of his second strike, I'm half distracted by my real chosen opponent, the one that might actually be worth my time. I look back to the rebel with the shield as she turns after dropping yet another Syndicate soldier. We lock eyes.

"Mara?!" in the midst of battle...she knows me, my enemy knows me. I focus back on the rebel I'm fighting, in less than a second I sweep his feet and catch his forehead with a hook strike of my bow. He's out. I look back up at the rebel with the shield.