[GZG] [GZG Fiction] Dear Ma.... 3 of 5

Specialist Morgan Summers, OU 3rd SAS, to his wife September 6th 2196

L.,

We’re flat out like a lizard drinkin’ these days! Not a minute to spare
for a good scratch. So you can probably guess how life is with us these days.
Damn busy, dirty and tired. Still I’m all in one piece and missing you as
always. Don't worry.

All my love!
M.

> [quoted text omitted]

Note this is a translated script, clarifying descriptions are presented in
italics in brackets.

Shang Wei (Captain) Cheung Ho Long, 6th Kong Jun 2nd Bīng Tuán, to his
parents September 6th 2196

Fù mǔ (father and mother),

At present I find myself lying under what passes for the sun in this sorry
place. In truth it is not an unpleasant orchard, or what remains of one. A
force of about 500 NAC VR fighters has just gone overhead. Once I would have
found a sight most discouraging, but that was a different war. Now I find it
most encouraging. If you close your eyes and liken the occasional gun or
mortar in the distance with the chirping of summer crickets then it is
possible to just about fool one’s self into believing I am lying in your
garden at home.

Mǔ (mother) will be pleased to note we’ve even just been supplied with new
underthings, which is such a luxury after a week of solid fighting and
laborious marches. I am quite certain I have lost buckets to the exertion; my
clothes certainly give the aroma of hard work. We were even brought a few
bottles of rice wine. We have also scratched together some egg noodles, a
chicken, a bag of onions and three carrots. Not a banquet, but as wà i zǔ mǔ
(grandmother) is always telling us they would have dreamed of such bounty when
she was a girl in the great famine of 2139. What we would really like is some
rice. We are all heartily sick of the tired biscuits or army bakers keep
sending forward to us, but what can you expect that are all Mò sī kē rén
(Muscovites)!

I am honoured to see my platoon in such good form. They all work well together
and even the seven replacements we picked up in Vologansk are bearing up well.
The dung mat (animals or Kra’Vak in this case) have dealt us the odd blow,
but none too deeply yet. Now we have some small measure of liberty to talk of
the grand undertaking against the aliens I can finally tell you of our small
part of it.

We were inserted by sêung bîn gei (dropship) and it was a bloody fight! By
the time we formed up with the VR and grav escort it took much longer in the
air than we are typically used to. Young Li became very ill, but once we over
the channel, in calmer air, he was well again. I feared he would become ill
again as we came over the coast to the gei dêi kùi (landing zone), but we
landed too quickly and we were all far too excited. The landing was pretty
ghastly. Ours was the first sêung bîn gei over the gei dêi kùi, we all
came down the rope fine. Second insertion was executed excellently, but the
third sêung bîn gei was hit by a dung mat (Kra’Vak) missile. The tail end
shattered, showering us with slivers of burning razor sharp debris. The nose
continued on and ended up bouncing across a field a few kilometres
ahead; topsy-turvy before it slid to a halt against some monument,
breaking along its midline. The noise and light brought in more dung mat,
which made it very unhealthy a place to be wandering or standing about. We got
the platoon moving. Our immediate threat was a machine gun in a defensive
position about 300m to our northwest. I had Inja direct his section’s fire
at the gun while we tried coordinating with the mortars. The radio boosters
were not as effective as our leaders had hoped. Thankfully, the gun was very
effectively silenced when one of the dung mat missiles hit another sêung bîn
gei, which fetched up right on top of the gun emplacement! We assaulted
through the crash site, checking for survivors. There was nothing but dung mat
bits, the gore actually worse as it looked all wrong. All but three of our
comrades were also dead. Lin Yao stabilised the hòu biān pà o shǒu (rear
gunner), who had cracked ribs and had lost his left leg below the knee.
Xi worked on the bié fēi xíng yuán (co-pilot) – crushed shoulder,
cracked pelvis. Park judged that the zhèng wěi (political commissar) was
beyond assistance and opted to help Huan Yue with the radio. While they could
not shake it into full life, under the heavy jamming by the kě pà (awful)
dung mat, they did get a chain happening and a grav ambulance came for the
wounded. The zhèng wěi did not make it. Once this was done we checked we
were all there and set off again.

The next three days were very busy and potentially sickening so I shan’t
tell you of them. Suffice it to say that apart from a rice bar and half the
contents of my flask it was an uncomfortably long period (nearly 50 hours!)
before I before we pitched up here in the orchard and had time to eat or drink
again. You must find that incredible, given how much I enjoy my food and tea,
but I assure you it is true. More incredible still, at the time food was far
from my mind, there was far too much else to do. As Mǔ will have guessed, I
have been making up for it since!

The dung mat guns have started in full roar now and my orchard is becoming
less endearing. So that's all for a while.

Love to all my family,

Ho Long.

> [quoted text omitted]

Phillipe Sanxay, Sergent Aviation Légére de l'Armée, to his wife Amelie
September 7th 2196

As you know my love, the battle against the Kra’Vak positions in Osuga and
Tokalau has begun. If you do not hear from me for a little while, do not fret.
As I am sure you can imagine, we are committing ourselves in total. This
leaves precious little time for writing, though I steal every second I can.
This is fight is about everything we hold dear, about the existence or decline
of Mars and even Earth. How each one of us gets through this is really not so
important. The main thing is that we can soon rid ourselves of this threat and
win back one step on the journey to peace. I have learned to forego almost
everything during this war, the sight and feel of you, showers, sleep, even
food and drink. Nearly all that we relate to as people and to our comforts and
futures has been stripped away. Yet I still catch myself again and again still
having dreams and wishes that may, together with life, be extinguished forever
by the next shell or shot. Next to you, ice cream is something I plant to see
a lot of once this is all done. I feel I should finish this grandly, as it
feels that I am living history now, something our children will teach to their
children as a turning point. So I will end by saying that we have begun the
greatest passage of arms, one so great I (and most others) can only but guess
what will have passed by the time this letter reaches your hand.

Phillipe