Planetside 2 Story Part 7: Welcome Home by Jetsunstrider < Submission

Keywords human 107434, males 42897, females 24719, story 13782, war 1825, planetside 2 13

Chapter 1: Battle Scarred

   I could only tell with was going on between blurry blinks. I knew I was wounded and bleeding, lower back. Plasma sniper shot to the lower spine… laying in a pool of expanding blood… my blood. I guess this is the end… but between my blind blinking, I could just barely make out one of the transports circling above… I think the other members of the Terran Murder Squad was inside, leaning out the side and popping shots off, but it’s hard to tell. I managed to swing my head to the side, and watched as dozens of purple fuzzy people charged. I wanted to reach for my revolver, but I had no strength to… I was stuck, hopelessly bleeding out in the mud.
   I saw ropes fly from the clouds, followed by fuzzy red people sliding down, landing near me. A couple of them… I think Black and Axx were holding the Vanu off as Mich heaved me over her shoulder, and wrapped her arm around the nearest rope. After a small tug, the two of us were lifted into the transport.
   Now, you’d expect me to yell out in pain or punch and kick the everloving shit out of Mich, but honestly, my body just doesn't care. I lost so much blood, I’m hanging on my a miracle here.
  Soon, the other two red blops appeared on the transport, the side door closed, and we flew out of the atmosphere, and into the wormhole…

   When I finally opened my eyes, I was meet by a blinding white medical room. With fancy equipment and a quiet beep going off every couple seconds. I was also surrounded by members of the NR. They were all in casual clothes… I don't think I ever saw my comrades outside of their battle armor before… it was a weird, and new feeling. What was also weird, is after I adjusted to the strange room, I started getting feeling back into my body… all but my legs.
   “Well, look who’s awake.” Black chuckled in the back of the room.
   “Jesus… I swore you were a goner!” Mich heaved a sigh.
   “Uggggh… okay, first off… I think Jesus abandoned us long ago… seconded… where the fuck are we?” I coughed. Everyone in the room kinda bursted out laughing.
   “Yeah, he hasn't changed a bit.” Axx chuckled after calming down.
   “Oh, really where are we?” I asked again.
   “A medical facility in Washington.”
  “How long has it been?”
  “Couple weeks…”
   I let that sink in… couple weeks and we are in fact on Earth. Wow… all that time spent fighting, and I almost have to return home in a body bag.
   “One last question… why can’t I feel my legs?” I asked. Everyone fell silent.
   “Oh… about that…” Mich mumbled…
  “You were shot in the lower spine, that kinda messed you up… you're paralyzed from the waist down.” Axx explained. Okay, so I almost came home in a body bag and now I spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair? Fucking perfect…
   “Oh… that’s… fine… I guess…” I felt my own voice trail off.
   “But hey, you made it… honestly, it is amazing that you did.” Mich tried to lighten my mood.
   “Yeah, sure… it’s great! Just gonna crawl the rest of my life…” I snapped scarstatly.
   “Oh, come on… it’s not that bad.” Black chimed in.
   “Easy for you to say… ugh… maybe I need some time to myself… think about all of this.” I admitted.
   “But-” Mich started.
   “He’s right, this is a lot to take in right now. He’s probably over stressed as is, let’s give him some space.” Axx stepped in.
   “Thanks…” I mumbled.
   “No problem, just rebuild your strength.” Axx patted me on the shoulder as the rest of the squad was leaving. “Just remember, no matter what the end result is, you're a hero.” He added before leaving himself. Just me, myself, and my thousands of mixed, amalgamating thoughts dancing in my head.

Chapter 2: The Past is Past...

    As I sat alone in my medical bed… I had plenty of time to think about everything that led me here. First arriving on Auraxis… the Terran republic fleet passing through the Wormhole so many…. Many years ago. I was aboard the secondary ship…. Explorer Six was it’s callsign. Or was it Ten? I honestly can’t remember. Back then I was only just a footsoldier for the TR, working under command of Axx and the Terran Murder Squad. I was a heavy weapons expert, one of the best in the Outfit. I mainly worked as a peacekeeper in one of the major cities. When I first heard of Thomas Conroy's voyage through the Wormhole, I was eager to sign up. Seeing that I was so willing, the rest of the Terran Murder Squad joined me.
   The voyage itself was massive… almost a dozen ships and countless volunteers, all sharing Conroy's dream of exploration, looking to expand hummainy’s influence on the world. Looking for a new home. But… it went horribly wrong. About halfway through, the Wormhole shut down on us. Just over half of the fleet was destroyed, and we only had five ships felt. We were stranded in an unknown world with no way back home, not even a way to communicate. But even with those setbacks, we were determined to see our mission though.
   That was… until things started getting reckless. We found many planets, but after sending drones down to the surface… we did now have any luck. Planets were either too cold, to warm, not enough atmosphere, or pure water words with no land. People started to question Conroy’s leadership, and some even went to the extreme to rebel. By the time we got close to finding a suitable planet, a civil war almost blew out. Actually, I think it did…. Explore Five, the ship that Conroy was sabotaged and destroyed. This caused an uproar within the TR. Commander Waterson took over command of the fleet and turned it into a Military Dictatorship. Curfews, mandatory guard duty, checkpoints at docking bays… ugh it was horrible.
   Soon, people rose up against the TR, formed their own faction and took weapons and armor to take over the next ship in line… Explorer Six. The ship the Terran Murder Squad was assigned to. They did attack as we expected, and even though Axx did not agree with Waterson’s way of running things, we tried our best to hold them back. We lost… myself, along with my friends, were taken hostage.
   When everything was at its worst, one of the Ships, Gatecrasher, had received drone reports of a habitable planet. We called it Auraxis. As soon the scientists confirmed it was indeed colonizable, a temporary ceasefire was made so we could do just that. Of course, it was only temporary. As soon as we landed and started setting up, the Rebels backed stabbed us. They stole almost half our equipment and ran off to the other side of the planet. Know what they called themselves? Yeah… The NC… The New Conglomerate.
  As all of that was going down, the Vanu Sovereignty had already formed itself. Briggs, Conroy’s closest friend, commited suicide over some strange artifact that lead to the belief of Aliens. They devoted all their time in finding the truth about them and of course, saw the TR as a treat to their “Enlightenment”. I was never one for religion, I thought their shit was just a bunch of bullcrap… boy was I wrong.
   As the story goes, the Great War broke out and well, you know the rest. Many years later, the TR and NC finally found something to agree on: The Vanu had to be dealt with. We formed the New republic, and I was elected it’s leader. I mean, I get it, I was the perfect soldier. I climbed the ranks of the TR rather quickly, and soon I became Axx’s right hand man. I have no idea why they chose me over him… but it’s what happened.
   But like all good things, it can’t be that simple. Remember the Vanu? Apparently they do exist. The rose from the underground and wrecked us. And like all sudden attacks, people were pissed off. Started to think the NR was not strong enough. They stole our weapons and Max Suites, beat us up, and left us. We were back with the same three way war we started with, just with new fancy names. Soon, the Magrider Nuke destroyed our rebirthing tech and we were on the brink of collapse. But we found a way to clean it up, took us forever, but we did it. Then the Space Dish… and after that… well, I’m here. With broken legs and a scarred mind. I don’t think I was ever ready for the end of the war… I mean come on, it's all I’ve done since I was Eighteen.  I feel out of my element… as weird as that sounds. My mind is telling me the war is over, I should be celebrating! But my heart tells me that we left Auraxis war torn, and there's still work to be done. We have to go back… cause as far as I can tell, we failed our mission. We failed to colonize and bring peace to the planet. One way or another, I’m going back there.

Chapter 3: A Shift in Momentum

   As I lay in my bed, lost in thought, I heard a knocking at the door. It damn near made me jump outta my bed…
   “Huh? Who’s that?” I called out. The door, opened and my jaw dropped at who it was.
   “Hey bro, heard you and your squad made it back.” Jax, my brother, walked in. He was wearing some kind of uniform… looked like a fancy police uniform.
   “Jesus christ Jax… how long has it been eh?” I smiled wide, sitting up in my bed.
   “Too long, brother… too long… but I came down as soon as I heard the word, I live on the other side of the city… I also got you something.” Jax sat down beside me, handing me a tall bag. I reached inside, and pulled out a fancy bottle of beer.
   “Whoa… ah, you didn't have to get me anyway. I’m just glad to know you're still alive! Also, what’s this fancy outfit you got?” I chuckled.
   “Of course I had to get you something! It’s a huge day for ya, man. And this? This is my Police Uniform, a couple years after you left I joined the local force… ya know, doing my part as you do yours.” Jax explained.
   “Yo, that’s awesome dude! Maybe the next time I go back to Auraxis, you can come with me” I laughed.
   “Speaking of that, it’s said you're the leader of some new faction called the New Republic… what’s with that? Wasn't it called the Terrean Rubplc? Lead by Conroy?” Jax asked.
   “Get comfy, it’s a long story…” I smiled.
   “I’m all ears, pal.” Jax adjusted his seat. I went off to explain everything that happened. How the Terran Republic Convoy got cut off, the uprising of the rebels, the artifacts of the aliens, the introduction of rebirthing technology, the long years of endless war… jesus it was a very long story. I haven’t even gotten to the rise of the New Republic by the time Jax was confused.
   “Wait… you guys invented rebirthing technology!?” Jax shouted.
   “Yes, but it was destroyed and left behind shortly after the rise of the New Republic…” I counted my story, with the NC and TR coming together to form the NR… but then the Aliens return, the rise of more rebels… and so on so forth.
   “Wow… quite the story.” Jax said after a moment of long silence.
   “Yeah… it was crazy.” I sighed. “Ya know, I meet a lot of people in my time as leader of the NR… old war vets, friends of Conroy, Inspired military leaders… but after the Magrider Nuclear Explosion… most of these memories were lost as I remembered what war really looked like… what It had looked like before all this new technology took it over…” I sighed again, staring off outside the window.
   “I can only imagine what you went through… but come on bro, you got a whole new life waiting for you outside. No point staying cooped up inside a hospital.” Jax patted my back.
   “How will I even fit in? I’m a soldier… have been all my life… I don’t know how to live any other way.” I asked.
   “Don’t worry, I’ll help ya. Maybe we could get you a job with the military… but you just can't be boots on the ground anymore, maybe an intelligence officer.” Jax explained, rolling up a wheelchair. I rolled my eyes and sat up.
   “Fine… and don’t worry about me, they unblocked me from all the equipment a long time ago, and appeared dressed me as I was still out.” I sat on the edge of the bed, noticing my new clothes, a red shirt and blue jeans. I jumped in the wheelchair from the bed and Jax started to wheel me out to the front desk. I checked in and the guy at the desk said I was free to go, so Jax rolled me to the door… as it slid open, I was blinded by the fresh light as the door to my new life opened up to me…

Chapter 4: New World

   I was shocked at what I saw when Jax wheeled me outside…. Huge white buildings stretched across the city, as tons of people wandered the streets. The crazy thing is that I saw no smoke… no smog, nothing of what it was like when I left. Even the cars seem to be running on some kinda clean energy.
   “Whoa….” Was all I could muster, Jax let my wheelchair go and allowed me to move myself.
   “Impressive, isn't it?” Jax chuckled, his hands on his hips. “We may never have invented rebirthing tech…. Not like we need that crap here, but some of the world’s top scientists developed a solar/lunar power system big enough to handle entire cities. Not to mention in the early days, after the Terran Republic left the system, the first thing we came up with were super scrubbers that turned most of the pollution in the air into bio energy.” Jax explained.
   “That’s… unbelievable. And yes, I can understand Earth not needing Rebirthing tech… there's enough people on this planet to handle that already.” I laughed.
   “Of course, no system is perfect… some areas of the world can’t be recovered… we call them dead zones. Remember China from the Old World?” Jax admitted.
   “Ouch… couldn't save that, huh?” I gasped.
   “Yeah… hell, even America was a pain in the ass… we tried all we could but China was a lost cause, we abandoned it and walled it off.” Jax replied.
   “Well, you can’t save everyone.” I sighed… “You know, we lost the rebirthing tech after the enemy set off a massive Nuke… destroyed the entire system.” I stared off into nothing for a while.
   “Oh my… I had no idea…” I guess I caught my brother off guard.
   “No, no… I wasn't trying to judge… I just… will never forget that day…|  trailed off. I can still hear the screams of my friends, sometimes. I shock the thought outta my head. “Besides, I’m here now… time to embrace this new world, right?” My voice was a little off… Jax decides not to press on.
   “Yeah, of course. Hell, we even got a whole community dedicated to war veterans, that’s where the rest of your friends went, I can take ya there.” Jax offered.
   “Eh… sure I guess.” I hesitated for a minute. Jax shrugged and walked be down to his car. A big blue two seater. “Wait… where's the engine?” I asked without thinking. Jax laughed.
   “They run on three power cells that are inserted into the glove compartment. No more noisy engines or annoying exhaust!” The words coming from my brother’s mouth were almost to good to be true… another weird thing I noticed is the lack of tires… but the car was standing on 4 “feet” where the tires should be.
   “One question… how do I get in?” I scratched my head. Jax walked over and opened the door for me, and I hopped in as best I could. “What about the wheelchair?” I looked out the window, then I saw a hospital staff member walking towards us.
   “Oh don’t worry, the staff will take it. It’s hospital property after all. I got something better for you in the trunk anyway.” Jax winked. Then, he places his hand on a big screen next to the wheel and I heard the power cells come to life. The inside of the car started glowing a dim white, and the feet gave away underneath the car until we were hovering.
  “ Uggggh… we're floating!” I suddenly grabbed the arm rests of my chair. All of my days sitting in Tanks, giant Mech Suites, and air transports never prepared me for this.
   “Don’t worry, the cars are hovering over the magnetic roads… hell, they can even float on water by themselves.” Jax explained as he started pulling out of the parking lot. As we drove, I looked out my window… there was even a megantic train system and skyway, where small citizen transports flew across the city.
   “I thought we’d have self driving cars by now…” I mumbled.
   “No, no… that project failed horribly, to many crashes and deaths.” Jax explained.
   “And what, floating cares are just as safe?” I snapped.
   “It’s been working the best two thousand years.” Jax shrugged. Within no time, we were on the highway, screaming down the road at incredible speeds. I’m surprised we haven't hit anything yet. Off in the distance to the right, I could see a dark, almost green looking void, with decaying buildings and a shit ton of smog.
   “Is that the dead zone? Why'd you build do close to it?” I asked.
   “Yeah… the emissions from that area provide our scrubbers with plenty of energy, so it does not get very far inside the city before being sucked in.” Jax replied.
   “Is anyone even allowed in the dead zone?” Come on, I had to ask that.
   “Sometimes, we let scavengers go on expectations out in the dead zone, never know when you might find something cool from the old world… but not without special equipment… trust me, that place is toxic as all hell.” Jax warned. Reminds me of the aftermath of the nuke all those years ago… we had to develop special armor and shielding for our tanks and aircraft, and we had to keep the warpgate shields on full power 24/7 until we cleaned up the mess. Regardless, I stare off into the dead zone as we drive, waiting to reach our destination.

Chapter 5: New Life

   As soon as we got there, Jax’s car was meet by a mob of New Republic soldiers.
   “So, did you convince him?” I heard Black’s voice among them.
   “Yes, he’s here… now please, give us ame space, eh?” Jax replied in frustration. Finally, they let him out and Jax walked to the rear of the car, popped something out of the trunk, and walked over to my side. I opened the door to see a hover chair staring me down...
   “You do not expect me to get into that…” I sighed.
   “C'mon, don’t knock it till you try it.” Jax shrugged. I rolled my eyes and hopped from the car to the chair, falling over instantly. I heard chuckles from the crowd and I climbed back in the chair… it was controlled by a weird dual joystick thing… one for spinning and one for moving. My feet were sitting on a small stool bit sticking out of the bottom. Felt like I was controlling a low altitude helicopter…
   “This is ridiculous…” I grumbled after basing into a trees, houses, and even knocking over a mailbox.
   “You’ll get used to it…” Jax tried his best not to laugh.
   “Come on, you have to admit, this place is pretty cool.” Mich chuckled.
   “We even have a house picked out for you, designed specially for you're hoverchair.” Axx offered. I rolled my eyes and followed my squad members to my house. Everything looked half the height of what a normal person would use. I floated inside to see it was exactly that, low hanging shelves and counters. The stairs were even replaces with a elevator big enough to fix not only my chair, but at least one extra person. On the upper floor, was a bedroom fit with a widescreen TV, fluffy 2 person bed, and even a bathroom fitted neatly into the corner. Their was even a personal gym designed for someone who was paralyzed from the waist down, but of course with enough equipment for anyone to use.
   “Alright, I admit… that’s impressive… more so the elevator.” I sighed, not wanting to admit it.
   “Don’t worry, all the other vetreams are within walking distance from you.” Jax smiled. “Everything you might possible want in the perfect community. And when you're ready, I’ll take you down to the Peacekeeper’s HQ and see if they can’t work you into a job.” Jax started walking to his car. We all bid him farewell, and I turned back to the others.
   “Well, I guess I better look around…” I started floating down the block, and everyone left me to explore.

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Planetside 2 Story Part 7: Welcome Home

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