Live Free or Die

“And tomorrow never comes,” Jim said.

“True. And then, slowly, everything goes back to the way it was, after the fervor dies down,” Ael said. “And it all turns out to have been for nothing. The last stands and the first ones, the betrayals and the heroism, the great battles and the small. Despite them, everything ebbs back to what it was before. Oh, a few things are improved, some of the tyranny scraped away-but elsewhere it accretes again, and everything is as it was before. That is what I fear.”

“The inertia of history,” Jim said.

She glanced at him. “Is that what your people call it?”

“I don’t know,” Jim said. “But I know what you mean. The fear of not mattering, of having made no difference.”

It wasn’t often that entertainment dropped right out of the sky.

Logically, 71 knew it was stupid to just assume someone so small was harmless. In reality, he’d been logging inventory for the past six hours, and anything different was a welcome distraction.

The girl was smaller than any functioning cadet he’d ever seen, and he didn’t count the ones who bombed their physical exams, whose fragile bodies were recycled to serve a better purpose.

71 could have picked the little sentient up in one hand, and that made him almost want to laugh. Instead he fixed her with the blank helmet-stare, datapad in one hand. His flat intonation and the speakers’ buzz that turned his voice into a growl made the greeting a threat.

“Good morning.”

Stang.  Her initial reaction was not fear, but indignation. What business did anybody have working that quietly? She shoved that thought aside. The clone (ARC trooper, Janin remembered, the ones with the skirts are ARCs, like Tal.) hadn’t immediately drawn on her or alerted anyone else, yet she was not reassured.  The very blandness of his words -- Tal’s voice, but utterly devoid of any note of tolerant amusement -- told her she was in serious trouble.

The GAR was well-defended against armed assault and saboteurs alike, but there were still gaps, particularly if you were small enough.  The ventilation ducts were too small for the average adult humanoid to fit through, much less one with the shoulders of a soldier. For an underfed twelve-year-old, though, they worked just fine -- though maybe not for much longer.  Armed with Tal’s knowledge of the layout, she made her way through the narrow shafts to base stores.

The commando (well, ex-commando; her CT number had to have been registered as AWOL by now) scowled. Her pride was a bit stung, if only because the kid was right in that doing reconnaissance without a weapon was as good an idea as kissing a rancor… but she didn’t trust herself with a blaster anymore. Not after she’d-

No, no, don’t think about it. Her jaw clenched and she gave her head a small shake. “Still doesn’t answer my question, though. Kids like you don’t just trip over GAR issue ordinance.” Kriff, the kid looked tiny, as if she’d be blown away into the wind by the kickback of the very weapon she wielded. Something protective rose up in her chest, wanting to make sure that didn’t happen, wanting to make sure this kid never had a reason to use that blaster, but she tamped down on it. Chance had other priorities.

She pulled uselessly at the hood of the jacket she wore, desperate to get some feeling of security, however flimsy and insubstantial it was. “Kid, you wouldn’t happen to know of any ship that’s leaving today, would you?”

@luminousxbeings​

“Kids like me get into all kinds of things we aren’t supposed to,” Janin retorted, but then admitted,  “I got it off an ARC trooper.”

Janin chewed her lower lip momentarily, brows knitted. The trooper seemed less like a spy with every moment.  “You’d better come with me,” she said authoritatively. 

We are the nowhere generation

We are the kids that no one wants

We are a credible threat to the rules you set

A cause to be alarmed

We are not the names that we've been given

The Road I Must Travel -- Tom Morello

Well I fought in the jungles And I fought in the streets But the road I must travel Its end I cannot see Once I had a reason Don't know what it could be And the road I must travel Its end I cannot see Well I sang to myself That I want to be free But the road I must travel Its end I cannot see

Collapse (Post-Amerika) -- Rise Against

This is a chance to set things straight To bend or break the rules back into place There is no middle ground, no compromise We've drawn the line With perfect aim, we stand back and throw Glass windows break and it's all about to blow Lights go out as we pass the torch again And hope that it stays lit Neutrality means that you don't really care ‘Cuz the struggle goes on even when you're not there Blind and unaware

Madmen -- The Briggs

So farewell to the King, farewell to the throne These are the strangest times I've ever known He claims his resignation as power of choice I can hear the death in his voice So down the rabbit hole we sink into this dream Is there nothing in this world that is as it seems? With a looking glass that only can reflect the past This image of freedom will never last Come all you mad men Join in the sound till they put us underground Buried deep, buried deep where the dead men sleep With bellows and screams, we'll all sing So loud we drown them out

Deadman’s Gun -- Ashtar Command

Your hand's upon A dead man's gun And you're Lookin' down the sights Your heart is worn, and the seams are torn And they've given you a reason to fight And you're not gonna take What they've got to give And you're not gonna let 'em Take your will to live Because they've taken enough And you've given them all you can give And luck won't save them tonight They've given you a reason to fight

Ride the Wind -- Poison

Hearts of fire Streets of stone Modern warriors Saddle iron horses of chrome

Taste the wild Lick the wind Like something they never saw before Their jaws dropping to the floor Steel made of soul and sin

Rebels born without a care (And the day he listens) Only to fly where eagles dare And the night she whispers

Ride the wind Never coming back until I touch the midnight sun (Ride the wind) (Never coming back again) Ride the wind Never coming back until I touch the midnight sun

Tagged by: @preempire

Janin was still for a long, long moment, then she laughed abruptly and lowered her weapons -- but did not holster them.  “Well, never let it be said I’m a sore loser.”