[ti]Ep 3[/ti]Building Bridges [Skystone, Avalanche]
May 10, 2021 16:24:45 GMT -5
Post by Avalanche on May 10, 2021 16:24:45 GMT -5
Skystone's yellow-green optics met Avalanche's smouldering orange gaze, and held there. There was a little shock of connection, like the electrical spark that snapped when a high-voltage line was plugged in. The two towering femmes formed a tableau, posed in the cold, clean fluorescent light that poured down from the fitting above like a spotlight, a hand resting on a shoulder, a hand reached out in return to touch that same arm.
In the absolute stillness of the base's deep levels, with only the distant hum of the generators pulsing through concrete and rock, the rest of the garrison - the rest of the world - couldn't have felt more remote.
Whatever happens, we'll never see them again.
Perhaps that really was all the closure Avalanche could believe in.
"Keep moving forward. If you can't move anymore, dig in and hold on. Don't look back." Her voice was quiet, but then, it didn't need to be any louder. "I gave that order, more or less. More than once. Always wanted to boil it down to some pithy battalion motto, but I'm not that good with words."
Not that it mattered now. That was something both of them knew as well; that gradual winnowing down of options, of opportunities, choices not taken, chances that wouldn't come again. For the first time, Avalanche realised, truly realised, that she'd probably never command a major unit again. The numbers of soldiers left just weren't there, and if there was competition for who led offensive operations, she wouldn't be the first pick. She'd never been popular enough with high command for that.
A flicker touched her optics.
Her heavy hand closed a little tighter, squeezing Skystone's shoulder, then released. She lowered her arm. "I've dug in and held on when I had to. No shame in that. Hope this world will mean moving forward towards something. Guess we'll see."
In the absolute stillness of the base's deep levels, with only the distant hum of the generators pulsing through concrete and rock, the rest of the garrison - the rest of the world - couldn't have felt more remote.
Whatever happens, we'll never see them again.
Perhaps that really was all the closure Avalanche could believe in.
"Keep moving forward. If you can't move anymore, dig in and hold on. Don't look back." Her voice was quiet, but then, it didn't need to be any louder. "I gave that order, more or less. More than once. Always wanted to boil it down to some pithy battalion motto, but I'm not that good with words."
Not that it mattered now. That was something both of them knew as well; that gradual winnowing down of options, of opportunities, choices not taken, chances that wouldn't come again. For the first time, Avalanche realised, truly realised, that she'd probably never command a major unit again. The numbers of soldiers left just weren't there, and if there was competition for who led offensive operations, she wouldn't be the first pick. She'd never been popular enough with high command for that.
A flicker touched her optics.
Her heavy hand closed a little tighter, squeezing Skystone's shoulder, then released. She lowered her arm. "I've dug in and held on when I had to. No shame in that. Hope this world will mean moving forward towards something. Guess we'll see."