This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/Phat_Tank on 2026-04-21 04:47:59+00:00.
Zov stepped off the passenger shuttle and stared at what her home had become. She knew the city of Jonas’ Corner would be different but seeing half of it taken over by vegetation still hurt. 4 hab blocks, the market, the hydroponics bay, and the local mechanic shop were engulfed by the bioengineered kudzu vines. A result of an old war attack, the vines had taken root on the planet and been impossible to eliminate. The only thing holding the green wave back from the city was the energy fence. The energy field was covered in vines but without anything to grip onto, they tapered out 40 feet up. Some of the poles from the old energy fence could still be seen peeking out of the top of the morass beyond.
Zov remembered when they had turned that fence off. “Too high an energy cost” they had said. It was just a coincidence that the fence shutting off coincided with a new gravity fountain in the regent’s manor. Speaking of, with the height of the spaceport and a little help from her ocular implant, the majestic currents were visible 5 miles away as they crested up and down, all without any visible things to move them. Fucking party asshole. That one fountain took up as much energy as the whole fence had. Everyone knew that; they just didn’t have the resources to do anything about it. The people of Jonas’ Corner were poor but they weren’t stupid. After all, the stupid people died or got pressed into the mines.
Even with the loss of population, the city was still less populated than it should have been. Then again, the only employment in city was the factory and supplies or repairs were exorbitantly expensive with the only options being out of town. Anyone who could left. Zov sure had. The military might not have great odds but it had better living situations than a triple packed hab block or a hab block overtaken by bleeder kudzu. If the kudzu got you, your buddy was never seen again. The vines would not let good fertilizer go to waste.
A pair of guards in bright yellow walked towards the shuttle. “Stop gwaking and start walking” Zov was walking before she registered the words. The shock prods on their hips sent her muscles tensing in fear. It may have been 12 years but the screams had come often enough to be burned in her memory. Every few hours someone broke some code, some law, or was simply in the wrong place when a member of the Saffron Guard had a bad day.
Heads lowered as the guards strolled by. Bags subtly found resting spots between the guards and faces. Fortunately these saffys had a job to do and cargo to inspect. The squad guarding the entrance to the spaceport didn’t even look up from their datapads as the security scanner went off. Zov breathed a sigh of relief as while she had permits for her gear, permits mattered little when the guards could make themselves look tough by beating a soldier.
Pink and purple clouds reflected the failing sunlight as Zov reached her destination. The dry stone walls marking the path between the mausoleum and the city was respectfully quiet. Several groups of residents stood or squatted along the wall. Some brought memorial trinkets, some simply brought themselves to the Dead Walk. Anyone not able to pay for a spot at the mausoleum was enshrined here. Each stone in the wall had a name on it. Some were etched by a hand tool, others burned in with plasma cutters likely pilfered from the factory. Other still had pictures painted on. Incense burned in pots. Prayer papers fluttered. Lanterns glowed. Jars of ashes sat along the top of the wall. A sugar skull could be found here or there. Flowers adorned some places, carvings others, and still more had trinkets. All the different cultures of the city shared their remembrances here. A child cried at a nanoprint of a face; the adult with them had silent tears running down their face as well. Zov walked by.
The insects sang their chorus as a few birds tweeted or cawed. Someone jumped as Zov came up behind them. “What do you want?” The person’s family stood protectively over a patch of wall. Their hostile stares weren’t the first Zov had gotten.
“To set down a few friends. Some of my pals from hab 7 wanted to Walk.” Zov’s voice was quiet.
The hostility melted away. They parted around the next patch of empty wall. Everyone knew someone who left after the blocks were abandoned to the kudzu. Zov pulled out several ID plates and a small welder. One by one she put her friends on the wall. A name, date of entry into the service, a date of birth, a religion, and a unit number. Such little information. Those plates could never hold all that a person was. Dorina, John, Alik, Al-Darwish, Kietso, Kuba, Bartholomew, each whole people with vibrant lives. Each gone far too soon. As far as the military was concerned, they were lines on a casualty list. As far as Jonas’s Corner authorities were concerned, they weren’t even worth a line. As far as Zov was concerned, they were family.
Had she been more aware, less in her memories, she may have noticed the insects go still and the other people start hunkering down. As it was, she only lifted her head when boots clacked on the stone behind her. Saffy bootfalls were loud and sharp. Zov’s boots made no sound as she stood up and faced the faceplate behind her.
“Defacing public property are we?” The first saffy looked almost bored. Shit, bored were the most likely to invent trouble to punish. The second was actually alert and subtly daring any onlookers to interfere.
“No sir, these plates belong to former residents.”
“And you are attaching them to this nice wall. Thats a crime if ever I’ve seen one, right partner?” He looked over his shoulder at the 2nd saffy.
“I do think it is.” The second guard chuckled, glee radiating off.
“Think we need to keep public order then.” He tapped his stun prod and Zov flinched involuntarily. “Oh so you know the punishment. That must mean you know the rules. Repeat offender here.” The sense of malice grew even stronger.
Zov did the only think most residents could do: she curled up and mentally prepared for the beating. Anything else would just make it worse. Jonas’ Corner saffys, egotistical COs, the best way to end the pain was to take it till they felt secure in their superiority.
The first blow felt like a light knock. The shock that came with it burned slightly along Zov’s wires. She braced for the smell of cooked flesh, knowing her nerves were too damaged to send proper feedback.
“Why is your prod on low?” Malice asked Glee.
“Whoops. Let me fix that.” Glee flicked the slider all the way to the other side.
The next blow was equally soft and had no shock. “Fuck was that?” Malice looked at the prod in confusion. “Wait, the first time was on max?” He cranked it up again and swung again.
Baffled at the light treatment and wondering why she was feeling ok, Zov dared to look up. Arcs of electricity were coming off the prod. When he swung again, training kicked in. Combat implants came online with an unconscious mental command. Instincts honed by years of training and combat overrode the years of social conditioning. Malice stumbled as his full strength swing hit empty air. Glee looked down at the knife in her chest, the energy edge having ignored her armor. Zov’s follow up blow was blocked by pure chance as Malice’s prod came up behind the off balance. The electricity coursing across its length ran through the wires of Zov’s redirect mesh. The mesh-designed to give soldiers a second or two to spike their grounding rods against arc throwers-barely registered the electricity from the rod. Even before Zov had activated it, her wires had taken the full power prod with only a light burning sensation. With it online, it would take several rods at once to even feel the burn.
It was only at that moment that Zov realized why the blows had felt so light. Vs her chemically enhanced musculature, the swings of an out of shape bully were nothing. She had suffered far worse during training and worse still during combat. The bright uniform that had woken Zov up in cold sweats so many nights suddenly looked so small. Hell, if he tried to swing at her she probably didn’t even need her implants to dodge it. The cloud of fear that hung over her life prior to the military seemed far less oppressive. Far less permanent.
All those thoughts happened in less time than it took for Malice to finish his off balance step. Before he could take a second, she gave a light rap to the helmet. Well a light tap for an enhanced shock troop. Malice’s faceplate cracked against the pavement. He reached for his radio but Zov was faster. She crushed Malice’s radio then turned to do the same to Glee. Glee was on the ground trembling as she tried to get the knife out of her chest. Zov moved it from her chest to her eye socket.
“W-w-w-what the f-fuck are you?” Malice crawled backwards on his hands and feet as he stared at Zov.
Zov took a moment to think through what had just happened. Then she responded. “Someone that just realized how outclassed you saffys are. You all keep control over people with fear. Thing is I gotta wonder how good your cyber security is. I think my pals in EWAR can probably beat it. I wonder how yall are gonna do without your fancy toys. Or better yet if your drones turned against you. The party paid off their debts to the Core by sending so many of us to be footsoldiers. They didn’t buy protection money though. I gotta wonder: how many hab blocks did you empty into the Core’s military? Attriti...
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