Kadance

5a

The waitress brings them their food and they fall silent until she's done. They thank her and then quietly resume their talk.

Kadance sighs, "I never got the chance to meet Maj. Durance. My sister's courtship was a whirlwind one. They got married and then he was shipped out. My sister found out she was pregnant the day after he was killed."

"Major Durance was a good man. One of the best actually. Your sister made a good choice when she chose him. He was part of Alpha Company. Rumor had it that he was supposed to be discharged, redlined as it were. Maybe that was why he chanced getting married.

"Anyway he wasn't. Sigma and Alpha often worked together when a battle was expected to get especially bad. But not that time. Sigma was assigned another planet, another battle." Jayse stops and looks inquiringly at Kadance.

"Do you know how he was killed?"

"No, only that he fell in battle," Kadance says softly and sadly for the heroic man she never knew.

Jayse snorts in derision. "No, I guess they wouldn't say would they. Listen, I think this is something you should know and I can get into a lot of trouble for telling you this if you say anything." Kadance watches him in wide eyed wonder at his trust in her, a civie.

"Alpha Company was sent to a colony planet with a working population of half a million before the shifters hit. By the time Alpha got there fully one fifth of the population was down.

"The civilians gave us what information they could, but they never had any military training and weren't able to help us much. But the information they gave us was good enough to give us a good idea about what needed to be done and where we were needed.

"Alpha landed amidst heavy fire. Major Durance led a charge that opened a way for Alpha Company to escape and regroup.

"He held off the shifters long enough for the city to finish evacuating. Then he rewired and set explosives throughout the city, using their security to decimate the shifters. But it wasn't enough.

"Before Alpha could fight their way to him the shifters broke through his defenses. By the time the rest of Alpha got there, there wasn't much left of him." Jayse is lost in memories as he continues, "We think he was able to take the final grace before they got him. We hope he did any way." Jayse drags himself from the memories. Sigma had been reassigned to help Alpha mop up as soon as they finished their battle. The scene had been horrific.

Jayse returns to his narrative with a brisker tone, "It was a great loss for us and an even greater sorrow. Maj. Durance saved thousands with his actions.

Kadance says softly, "He'd redlined and turned suicidal hadn't he?"

Jayse has rarely if ever been so reluctant to answer a question. But he finally does, "Yes."

"How many shifters did he take out when he went suicidal?" Her tones were soft but the demand was definitely there. A demand Jayse found he couldn't not answer.

"We're not entirely sure, somewhere between two and three thousand. We couldn't get an exact count due to the nature..." Jayse trails off as she raises her hand.

"I don't understand. I thought 'redlining' meant you were about to lose control. What he did took a great deal of self control and clear thinking to plan and execute." Kadance is truly at a loss at the turn the conversation has taken.

Jayse finished with his dinner sighs and relaxes in the booth. He sets his hands behind his head and closes his eyes feeling more relaxed than he has in a long time. "Ah, yes, I see. Self control is drilled into us from the time we are born. Self control, assessing your enemies/opponents, using weaknesses against them, using just enough energy or whatever to get the job done and to not waste time/energy.

"That is why a man who hits a woman or child is thrown out of the warrior class. Hitting either is a cowardly act and one that no true man would do. Same with forcing another in sex. Those are castrated before being removed from our class." Jayse slits his eyes and watches Kadances reaction to that. He knows that most of the females in the lock down ward are there due to violence done them, usually rape.

Kadance is unable to hide the satisfaction she hears about the punishment. More than once she's wanted to castrate those responsible for the damage to her patients.

Jayse hides his smile of satisfaction at her reaction and continues. "What I'm told is that the suiciders go into a hyper-aware state of being. Time seems to slow down for them once they cross the line. Whereas for civilians, from what I understand, have become so depressed and self oriented that they are unaware of what's really happening.

"With the hyper-aware state a warriors thoughts clarify, enemies identified, and they could have been friends just moments before, and action is taken." Jayse stops for a moment and takes a drink as he collects his thoughts.

"Should we ever go suicidal in a major city or on one of the core worlds," a haunted look enters his eyes. "I could destroy this city to the point where not even a fourth of the civilians would survive." Jayse's tone has become bleak and his face matches his tone.

Kadance suddenly finds it hard to breathe as Jayse continues. "I've already started assessing, planning and deciding how to take action. I find it harder and harder to keep from implementing my plans." A shudder convulses his body and he looks at Kadance with empty eyes.

It wasn't the best time for a loud mouth obnoxious fool to enter the diner and start making a fuss. Jayse takes his eyes off of Kadance's calming look. He watches as the fool saunters around the diner looking to pick a fight. He's not surprised that the idiot zones in on him. He is after all the biggest man in the diner.

The man walks over and deliberately bumps into Jayse and insults him. Jayse loses the fragile control he'd been able to maintain.