We were conquers.
// Numb
The roar of the waters filled her ears, though Lyra had never stepped foot in the depths of the ocean until that very night-she really hadn't done a lot now that she was thinking..She had a vivid interpretation of being engulfed. The rush of the frigid waters sweeping over her, drowning her. Where were her men? She could hear the faint crackle of the comm links, head lolling over in the sand-bumping her helmet. Lyra raised her servo, the faint outline against the night sky behind it. The artillery lighting up the heavens, the burn of plasma on the air. She had been on fire, wading through the grit and gore but fear had come to steal it all away. Survival had become a loose concept, the euphoria of the hunt offering momentary bliss.
If only the shot had caught the eye of her screen and not the crest of the helmet. Then perhaps she wouldn’t have to face the consequences, she was too tired to face the weight of it. In the end everything could have been dragged away by the undertow. So too the pain that bloomed over her brow-replaced by the rushing sensation, it had almost been calming. Reassuring. It had been a long time. Through her flickering sight the shadow above her collapsed and then her own consciousness lapsed. Unknown to her Lucien Dooku 's own hand stealing away the worst of the blunt force trauma. If it wasn’t the war that would kill her, how long until old injuries whittled her body away?
“Ma’am-can you hear me?”
The woman could hear the soldier, but her lips wouldn’t move and her body-lead. Her chest raised, sucking in a deep breath. Prying open her eyes, a chill hanging over her. The echoes of battle surrounding her and she stared up at the stars. The world was swaying around her, stuffed on some stretcher. They were moving, a pale solar lantern blinding her. The soldiers armor creaking alongside the rhythmic footfall, the men set to a fast pace. Squinting her eyes, the loss of her helm stirring the unfortunate memories from Muunlinist. She couldn’t recognize where she was, surrounded by blast plate and the stench of salt strong in the air. Raising one cold hand, she felt her eyes burn brushing the servo across her face to sweep away the specks of sand there.
“Ma’am where are you injured?”
The blaster shot had missed its mark, the weight of the storming of the beach washing over her. She loathed it..stolen from the front a second time. Slowly relinquishing herself to her fate, carrying-she was..A shaky breath escaped her as she screwed her eyes back shut, unable to the murky night-pressing the palms of her hands into her eyes.
“I’m not,” she said, a defense building as she shirked back in the face of the voice-of concern. The were all strung out, tension rippling through the rank. Such came with any harried flight on the front. The woman knew it all too well, but her concerns were the cog and the machine; the fight. How far was the siege in or better yet could she slip back into blissful nothingness? Her lips screwing together, blindly propping the sore spot upon her brow. “Caught a bolt to the head..where is my helmet-where are soldiers going?”
Lyra didn’t realize what she had said.
“Slurred speech, make note of that-” the soldier, she presumed now the medic. A phantom paint washed over her-maker help her, she felt alone. There were a handful of them speaking over her, they were far to exposed-out here on the beach. A call for arms, she could barely follow the exchange before they were moving again. Maker help her..”We're transporting to the triage station ma’am, evac is fifteen minutes out.”
“No no-apply stimulate injection. Get me to forward command..we need to..organize” the woman gritted out, the stretcher jolting as they kept her moving. She was forced to raise her voice over the barrage of gunnery stations, trying to focus upon her breath.
“Ma’am you’ve been shot multiple times-” that grating voice spoke back up. Someone grasped her vambrace, tilting-twisting her arm; inspecting it. “You used both stimulate injections, I can not administer anymore in your condition.”
“And the armor,” Lyra snapped, though she felt the twinge of each faint burn down her body. Knowing it was a bold face lie, how much could they pump in to her before her heart just gave- “did it’s job. Fucking hell, I am not asking you soldier. I am ordering you-”
“Ma’am the Imperator himself ordered your evacuation.”
A sinking feeling ran down her shoulders to her gut, they shouldn’t be near each other-not here not on the battlefield and the woman opened her mouth but what could she truly say. It always came to this. The stretcher jostled and there was a mutter of an apology from one man but she couldn’t be bothered. Where was her rifle perhaps, a fury building and unbridled. Lyra peeled her hands back, forcing herself to brave the night. She shook of the rust, gathering herself and the scraps of her senses; a migraine beating at the base of her skull. As if they weren’t wading out of a trench and past mounting bodies of the troopers-of their brothers.
It drove a knife through her anger, reminding her and she slouched back. Her head lolling to the side, past the brush of armor-across the dark sand she could see prone bodies and roving vehicle. If it had been the sun high overhead, not the faintest sliver of the moon, you could see the real evisceration. One day she would have to learn to stop punishing herself like this, but it just another searching brand; failure. Lyra could not forget herself. The woman had to trust them all to do their job, but it felt like she was slowly being back in to a corner. From the Orderlies to the Sergeants, they could keep it together but not him-no she trusted Irveric Tavlar the least to act with rationality. As if she wasn’t peering over the ledge, only coping with it but still begging for the barrel-force help her.
“And where is he?” she dared ask, shifting against the stretcher. Catching the visor of the Medic, her servo hissing as she raised it to shield herself from the light of the lantern.
"The Imperator has returned the field-"
"Good," Lyra said, reaching out a gauntlet to seize the arm of the soldier at her right. "Stop!"
Much to the chagrin of the medic, the woman hauled herself off the stretcher-steadying herself with one hand planted on his pauldron. The blood roared in her ears so similar to the ocean's churning and Lyra bore the pain behind shut eyes as she found her feet. The head rush was the worst and she was frozen like a statuette until she seized a deep breath. Slapping the man's shoulder, Lyra took a few unsteady steps before turning to the squad of troopers.
"We will move faster by foot-I can walk. Get me to the forward command post, medic. That is an order," she grounded out. The echoes of battle growing farther away, flames eating up the horizon as the regiment assaulted the second leg of the installation. Inhaling deeply, she was riding the waves of confusion and the sharp pain prickling along her skull and she plucked at it like a harp. Drawing it around her and Lyra leveled the soldiers with one scathing look, she could feel their stares but the armed escort stepped to. Reaching back out, Lyra did not hesitate fall in behind the nearest gunner. She was with out the second set of eyes, the benefits of the armor so she trusted the man infront of her to guide her. They needed to keep moving, and Lyra kept her head down as the changed course. Racing all but back toward the frontline.
She still chided herself silently as her boots hit the and, she shouldn't but Lyra was tired of excuses. Even if at some point, she could say she had done her duty and any more was unnecessary but that wouldn't hold down the defense, wouldn't stop reinforcements. Sometimes you had to bite the bullet. L yra wouldn't dare bring to light her thoughts on those orders, on him-not infront of the common soldier but she wasn't going anywhere. One life or not-what he didn't know at least and maybe it was just to spite him just the same..It was disgusting.
Wading back in to their trenches, the woman steadily grew numb to the hail of noise and chaos-the constant creak of armor and blaster fire a reassurance to the woman. They retreated to the post carved out closest to their artillery and Lyra planted herself before the expansive holo map, finally letting herself sink in to the chair. Letting the medic access her as she took in live report, the bare bones of the command functioning over field tables. The crackle of communications traded as she waited out the battle; waited for the call to arms.
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