LJ Idol - Week 23 - Pass The Ammunition (Three-way Intersection)
The Most Eclectic League of LJ Idol Gentlemen presents to you a war story, the prelude to the Battle of Bradbury Park. These vignettes can be read in any order you wish. Much credit to my partners in defeating awkwardness - the Season 6 Finalist talonkarrde88 and the long-playing veteran beldar.
beldar has contributed the view of a sergeant on one side of the conflict.
talonkarrde88 has contributed the story of a special agent instigating a battle in a way he didn't even know.
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Personal Log, "Captain" Jonathan Briggs, 16/13/2371, 2215 MTC
Never when I joined the Order did I expect that I would end up here, or that I would be referred to with a military rank. I still can't call myself by it. Yet even after agreeing to help lead what resistance is left, I keep asking myself the same questions my people have been asking me for months.
What does it take to be free, and what does it mean?
For hundreds of years now people have called themselves Texan and wanting nothing more than that. Freedom is simple - nobody telling you what to do, except your neighbors for those things that take more people. It means no oppressive government, no corporate rule, and no taxes to pay for wars we have no business being in. Some people think that because we like our guns and our hovertrucks that we must like fighting. I might be rare for clergy, but I've learned a thing or two about how to shoot, because it's what's important to the people I guide. But it's not about fighting, and it never will be.
We came to Mars in the hope that we could finally be left alone. We could settle our own differences, trade with those around us for what we need, and live our lives as we want. Nobody would meddle in our lives that didn't live the same life we do. We support each other and those around us as best we can. We could be free to worship God as best we know how. Yet there are those that want to use us to their ends, especially the fruits of our labor, and not to the benefit of our fellow man. Because we resist this they want to kill us, and nowhere in our faith does it say we have to lay down our lives for nothing.
War is hell. There's no dignity in it. It takes more bravery to put down arms than to pick them up. There's that old saying, war doesn't determine who is right, only who is left. But another old bunch of rebels said Live Free or Die. Well, those are my choices. I don't plan to die, but if I don't fight I am already dead. If the faithful do not see me help defend ourselves I can't help them. So therein lies the dilemma of a peaceful faith. It must be strong enough in force that it can protect itself from aggressors, but wise enough to recognize the evils of a militaristic society.
I can't believe I'm writing this, let alone thinking it. I feel faithless for it to cross my mind. But how can we believe in a good God that allows such evil to take place in the world? I know others in my care have thought this often as there have been more and more dead. There's only so many times I can give rites to people saying they have honored God in warfare, for what in such atrocity honors God? Anyone can die "well", but who can attain the strength of giants, that they might live well, as God has taught us to?
A bunch of us took down a UNC hovertruck loaded with laser rifles and antimatter rockets. They won't stand up to battleships, but they will make anyone who tries to capture us think twice. They can kill us, but they won't take us prisoner. We can't face them in the open, but we can make it very hard for them to finish us off. Bradbury Park is the only place that has enough cover to give us a chance; Mars was never known for being a great place to hide. They have to pass through if they want to move anything by land without its own life support. Life support. Funny phrase, as it is faith that supports life, not the other way around.
It no longer matters what uniform they wear. We don't have a uniform. Corp, indi, no longer matters. They're both destroying us and they both want our land and our labor. We are claiming the Park for ourselves and anyone who wants to live our way of life.
I haven't heard from my brothers Earl and Harvey in quite a long time, but I dearly wish they could join us right now. It's not as though communication to Terra has been very reliable since the fighting started. I pray God can keep them in His light through whatever lies ahead. My holy Trinity is my brothers in arms, and in faith, and in bloodline. Nothing short of being in Heaven would gladden me more than all three being the same in these trying times.
beldar has contributed the view of a sergeant on one side of the conflict.
talonkarrde88 has contributed the story of a special agent instigating a battle in a way he didn't even know.
----------
Personal Log, "Captain" Jonathan Briggs, 16/13/2371, 2215 MTC
Never when I joined the Order did I expect that I would end up here, or that I would be referred to with a military rank. I still can't call myself by it. Yet even after agreeing to help lead what resistance is left, I keep asking myself the same questions my people have been asking me for months.
What does it take to be free, and what does it mean?
For hundreds of years now people have called themselves Texan and wanting nothing more than that. Freedom is simple - nobody telling you what to do, except your neighbors for those things that take more people. It means no oppressive government, no corporate rule, and no taxes to pay for wars we have no business being in. Some people think that because we like our guns and our hovertrucks that we must like fighting. I might be rare for clergy, but I've learned a thing or two about how to shoot, because it's what's important to the people I guide. But it's not about fighting, and it never will be.
We came to Mars in the hope that we could finally be left alone. We could settle our own differences, trade with those around us for what we need, and live our lives as we want. Nobody would meddle in our lives that didn't live the same life we do. We support each other and those around us as best we can. We could be free to worship God as best we know how. Yet there are those that want to use us to their ends, especially the fruits of our labor, and not to the benefit of our fellow man. Because we resist this they want to kill us, and nowhere in our faith does it say we have to lay down our lives for nothing.
War is hell. There's no dignity in it. It takes more bravery to put down arms than to pick them up. There's that old saying, war doesn't determine who is right, only who is left. But another old bunch of rebels said Live Free or Die. Well, those are my choices. I don't plan to die, but if I don't fight I am already dead. If the faithful do not see me help defend ourselves I can't help them. So therein lies the dilemma of a peaceful faith. It must be strong enough in force that it can protect itself from aggressors, but wise enough to recognize the evils of a militaristic society.
I can't believe I'm writing this, let alone thinking it. I feel faithless for it to cross my mind. But how can we believe in a good God that allows such evil to take place in the world? I know others in my care have thought this often as there have been more and more dead. There's only so many times I can give rites to people saying they have honored God in warfare, for what in such atrocity honors God? Anyone can die "well", but who can attain the strength of giants, that they might live well, as God has taught us to?
A bunch of us took down a UNC hovertruck loaded with laser rifles and antimatter rockets. They won't stand up to battleships, but they will make anyone who tries to capture us think twice. They can kill us, but they won't take us prisoner. We can't face them in the open, but we can make it very hard for them to finish us off. Bradbury Park is the only place that has enough cover to give us a chance; Mars was never known for being a great place to hide. They have to pass through if they want to move anything by land without its own life support. Life support. Funny phrase, as it is faith that supports life, not the other way around.
It no longer matters what uniform they wear. We don't have a uniform. Corp, indi, no longer matters. They're both destroying us and they both want our land and our labor. We are claiming the Park for ourselves and anyone who wants to live our way of life.
I haven't heard from my brothers Earl and Harvey in quite a long time, but I dearly wish they could join us right now. It's not as though communication to Terra has been very reliable since the fighting started. I pray God can keep them in His light through whatever lies ahead. My holy Trinity is my brothers in arms, and in faith, and in bloodline. Nothing short of being in Heaven would gladden me more than all three being the same in these trying times.