[center][h2][url=http://listenonrepeat.com/watch/?v=F8q3F_IqfvA#Valiant_Hearts_-_War_Makes_Men_Mad_%2F_Nurture_%28Piano_cover%29]Sirisai, Province of Saseice, 2900[/url][/h2][/center]
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Smoke and blood filled the air. The trenches had recently taken a bombardment, and many lay wounded. The crack of a railgun's slug could be heard every once and a while, a testament to the brutal war between the Empire of Shelishi and Niiserian empire. The reasons for the war had long since been forgotten, leaving the two empires to drain their own manpower in a pointless punch-out. In the province of Saseice, the most brutal of the fighting had taken place, miles upon miles of trenches visible.

The soldiers were weary. The young and old had been conscripted as well, supplementing the depleted manpower of the two armies. Meanwhile, Schale circled like a vulture. Ready to steal from the two weakened sides. It was the ending of a particularly bloody war, another generation fed to the meat grinder. A tragedy. Lost opportunity.

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Nipomi sat in her trench, her arms shaking. Shrapnel occasionally flew overhead, pinging off her helmet. In the young Resomi's hands was a single-shot railgun, a packet of slugs in her pack. The Niiserian Empire's trenches had recently suffered a bombardment, and soon they would be over the top in a charge. A suicide charge, every soldier knew that full well; But you didn't cross the officers of the Empire of Shelishi. They thought it would work, and the grunts were along for the ride.

The sound of railguns filled the air as several rapid-fire railgun emplacements fired towards the enemy trenches, a final measure to ensure they were truly dead. The other side was eerily silent, not a single slug coming from it. No matter. The whistle call went up. Across miles of trench, Resomi climbed out of the trenches and charged the line. Thousands of men and women, all in an open field of barbed wire and the dead nobody was brave enough to recover.

The silence was too good to be true. All across the enemy line, railguns lit up. Machinegun emplacements opened fire, firing flurries of slugs across the field. The unlucky were fatally wounded. The lucky instantly vaporized by the horrifying force of an incredible number of slugs. Across the line, thousands of men and women charged the enemy line, and thousands of men and women died. The survivors, the smart few, took cover behind mounds of snow and dirt. One of those few was Nipomi.

She could do nothing but scream. Scream for what exactly an unanswerable question. Scream for the fallen? Or perhaps in response to the shrapnel as slugs impacted the ground at terrifying speeds? Perhaps a scream of frustration, frustration that the officers would send them to their deaths so? Whatever the reason, one thing was clear, and that was she screamed. Others screamed as well, others instead returning fire. Those few that returned fire were brought a quick end at the hands of the incredible firepower posed before them.

The attack was as decisive as it was devastating. Almost everyone who had left the trench were dead or wounded. Many of the wounded were doomed not to survive. But yet, the troops of the Niiserian empire did not advance. There remained the machinegun emplacements of the Shileshi empire, and they were not about to make the same mistake. A brutal blow to the Empire of Shileshi. An astounding victory, though a temporary one, for the Niiserian empire. Within moments, thousands of soldiers were out of the picture.

It was no matter in the end. The Empire of Shelishi would pull up reserves from the backmost trenches. In time, the Shileshi were destined to deal the same blow to the Niiserian empire. All in a pointless war, with pointless victories and pointless defeats. The only result achieved was the mass death of the Resomi.

Nipomi cowered behind the snow and dirt, trying not to be noticed. It was all she could do, all the survivors could do. It was unlikely she could return to the trenches without being shot, and unlikely she would be recovered. She would have to wait, perhaps without any chance of living. Such was the war.

And so it continued.

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[center][h2][url=http://listenonrepeat.com/watch/?v=BHIo6qwJarI#Public_Service_Broadcasting_-_Go!]The Endeavor, Space[/url][/h2][/center]

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"This is mission control, a week into the flight of the Endeavor. It's silent in mission control. Director Esche has ordered the beginning of the deceleration," the voice paused, as a series of people responded with, 'go!'.
"This is mission control. Endeavor, you are clear for deceleration. Good luck."

The ship lurched as the deceleration began. After this, the ship would take the rest of the year to recharge the FTL drives. Meanwhile, in the various offices of the diplomats onboard, they prepared for whatever they would find in this new system. Unfortunately for them, it would be nothing. Various other representatives scurried about, keeping the ship in working order. It was truly at the cutting edge of Resomi technology.