Chapter 1

The rain poured down clanging against the shoddy metal sheets covering the quickly flooding mud trenches. The men inside foot deep in water stood leaned against the walls of the trenches slowly seeping in to the mud on all sides, Even in such a situation the soldiers still took this small amount of downtime to rest and prepare for the next bloodbath to commence. Peaking across the battered no mans land a soldier stood guard waiting for any enemy advance but through the mud, heavy rain and harsh smog left behind from recent shelling. Hidden in the smog laying in the mud barely able to breath, the next wave had already took the time to slowly crawl ever so closer to the enemy lines.

"Hey, how much longer do you reckon we got to wait?" one of the men whispered to another lay beside him.

"How the hell should I know, and what are you doing keep your damn distance." The other whispered in irritation without even looking at the soldier beside him, his eyes closed as to get as much rest as possible.

The soldier moving further away from the the other before speaking again in a softer tone, "Hey Kane, what do you reckon the Generals are thinking sending us to our deaths over a shitty little farming planet like this? "

Opening his eyes for a moment only to close them again Kane responded in a plain robotic tone, "For the glory of the Grand Terran Empire, or some bullshit like that."

"Hey I was being serious, I mean what could we possibly do with another piece of farmland when most of those noble pricks eat synthetic foods anyway."

"Hey I AM one of those noble pricks, and Hell if I know. Sure they have some purpose for it and if they don't who cares, won't concern us anyway."

"Ah yes the noble that was thrown to the wolves, I'd like to at least know why I died surely you do to." The soldier replied with a barely visible smirk.

Simply ignoring the man Kane stopped responding and lay deep in thought, how did he go from living a lavish life of low nobility to fighting tooth and nail on some backwater planet for some unknown reason. Although he was only the fourth son among twelve children he though that he had done a good enough job to avoid the attention of his more ambitious older siblings and relatives battling for power in their pond of a family, he somehow was swept up and cast away along with other relatives as soon as the conscription bill landed at their families doorstep. As he was already 16 not being the heir nor was he engaged, Kane was eligible for the conscription and his father nor his mother put up any sort of objection, It was only because his cousins informed him as they too had been conscripted was he even aware of the events about to take place.

In the current 56th Millenia war is common however not much talked about by the residents living in systems closer to the capital planet of Terra, instead they are more concerned with more internal wars, inheritance battles, piracy, simple disputes, honour and others are among the more discussed wars inside the empire. The reason for many of these squabbles being that the average lifespan of a Terran through genetic alteration as well as many other things exceeds 400-1000 not including those who further increase their lifespans through various means, mostly nobles, royalty and warlords. Of course this lifespan only includes natural effects on the body such as disease and aging, with the body reaching full maturity at around 30 and only resuming visible aging at around 350. This does not include the interference of war with the average lifespan of soldiers being only around 16 the minimum age of enlistment and 100, this is mostly due to the intensity and overall duration of wars lasting anywhere from 10 to 200 years for even the smallest of wars waged. With the population of the empire spanning hundreds of star systems they are plentiful in numbers as are their enemies, allowing them to throw as many bodies at the problem as needed.

Kane recently turning 17 was eligible for conscription and as he was still a minor under Terran law he had no right to object or challenge the order sent from the Royal Courts. After spending just over two decades on this muddy planet constantly fighting both the enemy along with the challenges of the world being a planet that rains all year round he and the men beside him battled common flooding in the trenches as well as resigning to the fact that his armour along with his clothing was a lot more heavier due to always being drenched. This led him to often forget his life before as he had now been fighting for most of his life, the only way to stay sane was now to accept that you were already dead.

As he once again was reminded of his unfortunate fate filling his head again with questions, and and regret he head the whispers of the men lay infront of him, one carrying a radio talked into it and after remaining silent for a moment looked back at Kane and the soldiers around him. Raising his hand and beginning to rise from the mud the couple thousand other soldiers did the same and in only a moment they began rushing as whistles rang out through the stormy night. Kane with all his accumulated strength ran once more as he did countless times before wielding his rifle equipped with a bayonet.

As the troops charged the defenders already used to the charges were prepared in a moment and began firing mowing down many of the attackers leaving their bodies decimated, exploding on the impact of high pressured bullets tearing a hole in the charge only for another man to fill in the gap. As Kane got close to the trench he felt an intense pain in his thigh causing him to drop to the ground, clenching his teeth he looked at the wound and seeing the fist sized chunk taken out he was relived that he was only grazed. Quickly taking a needle from a pack on his belt he jammed it into his thigh near the wound and prayed a foamy substance on the wound which quickly froze over, recoiling in pain he then got back up still under heavy fire and began charging with the following waves of troops. This time reaching the trench he jumped toward one of the gunners stabbing him through the throat and upon landing in the trench pullet the bayonet out and started firing on all around him, Kane along with the Terrans covered in blood and mud raged through the trench falling one after another but only after taking out as many enemies as they could.

Kane made his way through the trench running out of ammo only to unsheathe his sword and begin swinging, he clashed blades with many defenders and sustained many cuts across his face unprotected by his helmet and even being stabbed only to be saved by the plating of his armour. As he took out a few stragglers unable to retreat in time he looked up hearing a dreadful whistle and a second later he was thrown five foot into the air landing flat on his back momentarily knocking him out. Waking back up with explosions going off all around him simply deciding to lay and wait as the rain washed away the mud and blood from his face only to be replaced by a fresh coating. The enemies being driven from their last intrenchment decided to bombard the enemy along with their own troops left inside to try and slow down the Terran advance. The battle was already over however the shelling only stopped a few ours after once they had run dry of shells.

Finally certain the battle was over Kane sat up looking at his wounds to his legs, his face on fire from the slashes and his bones feeling crushed, he vomited out a few chunks of his insides along with a pool of his own blood, crawling over to his sword and using it as a walking stick Kane began to hobble to a nearby medic to receive treatment, after a few hours he was bandaged up and sent ahead to regroup with what remained of his battalion, what was a few days ago made up of 1000 men was not little more that 200, Knowing that in another few days the depleted forces would be replaced by fresh troops ready to die for the empire, Kane wasn't much concerned however after not being able to find his friend Alan who he had shared many conversations with only a few hours prior he looked at the ground with a sorrowful frown. Having survived the war until now along side Alan he had thought that they would both live long enough to make it home, this was a sentiment that he had shared with a few that had thought and died alongside him. Now overly familiar with this feeling and after losing the last of his original comrades, Kane now alone fighting for a reason unknown to him began to fully accept even in the deepest parts of his heart that he would not survive this war.