Blank oblivion, peaceful, nothing to worry, nothing to mourn. The fact I had something driving a massive spike of searing hot pain into my brain could be ignored, for the most part. The infrequency of it not so much. Worst of all though was the voices, barely whispers and always out of reach. It was frustrating because I know damn well I heard my fucking name once or twice. I had screamed at them once or twice, trying to make them shut up, to no avail.

What made it worse was that I had no actual way to tell how long I’d been here. The pain and the voices were my only company and that didn’t do a fucking thing to tell time, it just hurt and annoyed the piss out of me.

Over an indeterminable amount of time, I started hearing a woman's voice calling my name. “Damian..” over and over, it grew clearer as time dragged on its slow little trek through...whatever the fuck this place was before I finally snapped a bit and screamed ‘WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT!” followed by the grey area and floating sensation giving way to blackness and something soft. I opened my eyes, wincing at the glare of the light and then shut them pretending none of this shit was real.

“Oh good, you’re awake. You, the big guy with the shield, get Fernando and Janus immediately.” I groaned in abject horror. I’d died to kill every last fucking Confederate I could after Nova fell before me, and my grand punishment was Green...wait...this seemed oddly familiar. The situation.

“Are you to be my torturer in death then Green? God knows you fit the bill.” I heard a snort, decidedly unfeminine in nature, and then she responded to me.

“Hardly, Damian, you’re very much alive and while I do enjoy being thought of as a ‘Demonic Entity’ by some people, I had hoped you were more open-minded, like the ever stoic Fernando who actually speaks with me, or Andy who absorbs all I have to teach like a sponge or even that sexy little bit of muscle…” I tuned her out at that point to save my remaining sanity. I was thankful though, she was distracting me from my personal loss. I could feel the tears brimming at the back of my eyes and forced them down. She was gone, so were a lot of other good men and women.

My eyes were still closed when I heard the door open and Fernando speak, followed by Janus speaking to Green. “Now listen here you two, twenty minutes and no more. Any longer and I will subject you both to a physical the likes of which will haunt your grandchildren! Perhaps not Janus, I like him more.” The threatening voice turning toward a slightly flirtatious one threw me and I chose to not imagine Janus trying to flee his living body at the thought. It made me smile a little though, the pain already receding a bit with whatever Green had given me while I was just waking up.

I literally felt Fernando hovering over my bedside. His silent imposing nature a fucking physical thing. Finally, though I hated doing so, I opened my eyes and looked at him. He had a fresh wound running along his cheek. I may have vindictively wished it would make him less handsome, the fucker only looked more attractive with it. It made him seem more rugged if anything.

He stared down at me calmly, for all the world looking as if he could wait out any silence with his stoicism. Fuck, for all I knew he bloody well could. I sighed, slowly lifting a hand that seemed to not want to listen to me and making a go-ahead motion.

“Sir reports state that all forces assaulting Bastion have been routed and terminated. Chimera’s Rage has limped back planetside after another dogfight with roughly ten more Battlecruisers equaling its size and damage potential. Loss reports for Chimera’s Rage are seven-hundred lost out of two thousand five-hundred. Salvage includes three repairable Battlecruisers ran by a skeleton crew moving outside of Bastion to await repairs a full staffing once people are trained. Bastion losses amount to” he paused, for once a moment of grief gracing his too handsome face, “ one-hundred and fifty soldiers, two hundred civilians. They are carving the names on the monument as we speak. A formal funeral has been scheduled for later this evening to send them off.”

I closed my eyes against the numerical values. So many killed, so many lost for something as pointless as the Confederates not wanting others to have power. I opened my eyes, voicing the question I so desperately wanted to know. Afraid beyond words I already knew the answer. “What about Nova?” I asked, my voice a whisper.

Fernando looked at me, flicking his eyes toward Janus momentarily before continuing his report, ignoring my question. “You will be pleased to know all settlements surrounding Bastion were taken once The Orion was free to assist. They had too few forces to stand their ground after such a commitment to Bastion.”

“WHAT ABOUT NOVA!” I finally shouted at him, lifting myself from the bed and grabbing the very edge of his Marine armor before falling back down, the exertion proving too much for me as I labored to stabilize my breathing. “Sir..” he began, but Green bursting into the room a moment later, likely because the fucking vital machines or whatever going batshit with the beeping, cut him off and she promptly kicked them both out and told them in no uncertain terms that if they came back within the next hour she’d subject them to something truly abominable.

Then she turned to me, eyes blazing in fury before going off in a tirade the likes of which would make any Sunday school teacher want her as a disciplinary nun. “Now you listen here you big idiot, do you understand you damn near died? I could have sworn you were dead when we finally got you to the med bay here. You weren’t even fucking breathing and here you are, alive and actually awake, screwing up all of my, and my staffs, hard work to keep you alive by moving about when you cannot do it! I swear to all things above and below that if you cannot sit your ass down and behave I will put you right back in that coma and wake you in three years when I feel you’re stable enough to be awake.”

I blinked at her, resisting the temptation to say that I’d die if she did that, I still had no idea how long I was even out. If I had any time to prep for the Campaign Map I had to do. I sat there taking my ass chewing like a man, whimpering only a little when her voice rose high enough in octaves to break glass...and my brain.

When she finished, I finally asked her about Nova instead, and she paused, looking troubled before she answered. “She’s alive, as are a few others from the final assault and your rather grandiose display of power. Before you even think of getting up, you can’t do anything right now for her. She’s in a coma, much like you were, but healing far slower. I’m not even sure how she is alive, let alone a few others, but they are healing most of the external damages and a few of the more dangerous internal ones while my people work on them. Nova herself is in intensive care, she took a bad blow to her head when that wall came down....I’m not sure she will even wake up.”

I’d stopped listening after she said she was alive, honestly. I could actually feel the tears making their trek along my cheeks to fall onto the pillow my head was on. I was crying, and I didn’t care who saw. She was alive, alive and not dead. I cried more, silently, while Green finally stopped talking and left the room. She had strapped me to the bed like an invalid, and I didn’t care. It was the right choice, I knew I’d hurt myself trying to get to Nova if not for that, I still hated her for it right now though as I wiggled around like a little worm and cried my relief at the news.

The fact so many others had died was horrible, but it was a minor note right now for me. I knew why one-sided though it was. I didn’t even know when it fucking started, but that woman was about the only thing that seemed normal to me right now. In my mind, she kept me together when all I wanted to do was break apart at times. She made me want to improve and be a better man, a better leader. It had to have happened at some point, me falling in love with her like I have, but I didn’t really care. She was alive. She was fucking alive! I spent the next hour, however long it truly was, alone and in silence while I cried it all out before I managed to pull myself together and call for Green.

“Green, get me my armor.” - “Nope, you get this lovely wheelchair and if you refuse it then I will sit on you and discuss the ins and outs of a lobotomy with you for the next two days.” That...well frankly that sounded horrifying so I agreed to the wheelchair. Andy was pushing me along once I was strapped in, ignoring my attempts to bribe her with nudes of Fernando to let me ditch it. Apparently Green was more frightening than her hyper lust for that perfect bastard.

I had been refused the right to see Nova right now, the reason was also a damn good one. She was apparently still in intensive care. I’d only actually been out nine hours since the end of the battle, Fernando had taken The Orion to mop up his objectives and return pretty quickly after word reached him about Bastion.

There were a whole shit ton of messages as well, mostly dealing with freaking loyalty gains out the ass from all the soldiers and citizens after my display. Apparently, I had my own little cult of die-hards now. I had read the messages I’d not bothered to notice when I went bonkers with anger. I almost wish I had died, mostly a remnant of me thinking Nova was gone, but I was glad I’d survived. The fact it wouldn't happen again made me very aware that I would have to start planning my own actions more as well...like that wasn’t obvious, to begin with. The messages pertaining to Fernando kinda made me curious and question some shit as well. Mostly what the fuck The System and those alien bastards actually had in store for those in these games. They had a real hard-on for that Faction name.

Attention Player! A Hero Unit under your command has united a third of Mar Sara under your banner through military might! All civilians have been made loyal to you, and joined your cause to retake Mar Sara from the Confederates!

Attention Player! You have met all requirements for a Faction and before being rewards further for conquests you must name your faction!

It was interesting to know Fernando actually took an entire bloody third of the Planet and made it mine, the man was a beast. That Faction crap was getting annoying now. More so with them denying me rewards related to conquering without it. I searched my memory, trying my fucking damndest to come up with something, anything, then remembered an old saying my Grandpa use to say. Took me years to understand the fucking phrase was Latin and not some gibberish his senile old ass made up. Respice Finem, Regard the end or something. Seemed oddly fitting, since I doubted I’d leave this damn game alive so I may as well play like every day was my end.

Congratulations Player! You have successfully named your Faction - Respice Finem - Diplomacy tab has been updated.

Attention Player, due to your war with the Confederacy you have been moved to Hostile relations with all Factions friendly and above with the Confederacy.

Congratulations Player! You are at War with ten factions! You one month reprieve will extend to the increased war, we ask you prepare properly.

Congratulations Player! For reaching a Hostile and War status with so many Factions you have been granted the Achievement - Warlord.

Warlord - All military actions against Factions you are at war with will increase Unit moral by five percent and their combat effectiveness by ten percent. This buff does not stack.

Congratulations Player! For conquering a third of Mar Sara you have been granted a Hidden Knowledge Card.

Hidden Knowledge Card - Grants the target of the card a powerful boost in knowledge based on their field of expertise.

Ok...Warlord was cool but kinda fucked me as well since it didn’t fucking stack with the shit ton of other passives I had increasing my soldiers combat abilities. I knew The System would fuck me over somehow, and there it was! I closed my eyes against the anger, and the pain as Andy pushed me over the bump leaving the Barracks. We were moving toward the Monument. I felt I should be there, even if I couldn’t carve any names myself.

That brought me to my rewards and sheer idiocy regarding my Imperial Guard. I looked at Trenton and it showed me the potential second specializations, an addition had been made. Healer to the original three. Interesting...But no, Trenton would become my literal bulwark against tides of foes, as would a few others. I chose Defense again and watched the change happen before my eyes while he walked forward in step with my chair.

His armor grew larger, though maintained a sleek and streamlined appearance. All along it spikes like protrusions appeared, making him look fucking frightening as hell. Added to that was his shield, it became a literal tower shield, easily the same height as he was in his armor and the outward plate morphed into three roaring heads, the lion, bear, and wolf from my crest. Above them was a serpentine head, maw agape. The fucking thing looked like it would jump out of the shield and bite you. His helmet changed as well, the plate morphing into a bear-like appearance. That was confusing since the main body was a damn lion, but whatever. He was a big man and reminded me of a bear anyway.

I went through the others as well, Georgie I made Defense and Healer. Kepler went from his ranged and I added in melee as well. The others went along the same lines. A basic iteration of Defense and Melee or Ranged with a few Healers mixed into the fray. Trenton was the only one that I double specialized. I was curious about the lack of prompt with each but figured I’d find out later when I looked at their stats.

The other rewards I used pretty much instantly. The ten thousand resource card gave me ten thousand in both Minerals and Vespene Gas. A much-needed boon, honestly. The randomized item card ended up giving me five working Predators, which I was shocked beyond words about.

Congratulations Player! You have gained five Predator Units and the Schematics to go with them.

Predator - Fast moving shock troop designed to deal explosive AOE damage with an electrical discharge. Weak to sustained heavy arms fire. Controlled by an A.I designed to act like an animal.

Fucking beautiful...I already had a plan for Swann with these, once he repaired those ships anyway...and finished working on The Orion. I sighed, realizing that my ideas for the Predators would have to wait until later on. I’d be taking those beauties with me on the next Campaign Map though.

The Unit Selection Card I wanted to use now but decided I’d actually think about it more. I wanted to get the most suitable unit for my people I could. The Randomized Passive Skill Cards actually gave me some neat ones as well.

Congratulations Player! You have used two Randomized passive Skill Cards obtaining both Mental Focus, and Firing in Motion!

Mental Focus - Decreasing Psionic Power required for all Psionic abilities by half. Cannot be increased.

Firing in Motion - Accuracy while shooting and running, moving in general, increased by thirty percent. Cannot be increased.

I had a feeling they would only work for me, so I was happy with it. More so with that decrease in Psionic Power. My current Psionic Power Pool was three-hundred but the newly gained Psionic Tempest required five-hundred to actually fucking use. When I read the bloody thing it explained why it was so high as well.

Psionic Tempest - You unleash a massive burst of Psionic Power in an arcing wave outward from the direction you are facing. The Psionic Power will jump from individual to individual, ignoring all shielding of low to medium quality while causing a chain reaction in such Psi Shields forcing them to implode on themselves, killing anyone within.

That genuinely scared the living shit out of me as well. The damn thing was way too strong to use willy-nilly. I was honestly surprised none of my own people died when I unleashed that thing on the Confederates. Right, use only when the shit hits the fan. Thankfully I had some time to actually gain proficiency in my Psionic abilities, even add to them so I didn't have to rely on what amounted to a fucking mind nuke.

The Hero Upgrade Card was going to be used on Nova...I knew, I fucking knew I should use it on someone else but, it didn’t matter. I wanted to do everything I could to prevent this shit from ever happening again. If that meant pushing things back, or limiting myself a little in versatility then so fucking be it.

The Unit Upgrade Cards I had a plan for as well, one was gonna go to the Siege Tanks, later on, the other to the Predators after I got Swann working on them and my plan to create a Unique Unit worked...hopefully anyway. The Building Upgrade Cards were going to The Orion, one was at least. It being upgraded as it was was a massive aid apparently. Upgrading it again might give me more options later as well. The other was going to The Command Center. I wanted to see what it would give me. I honestly hoped it’d gain a big ass fucking cannon but even a more advanced production line for SCVs would be nice.

The Primary Building Card I went ahead and looked through the options I had, a little frustrated that most Primary Buildings were already either constructed or being constructed. I still had more, of course, but one, in particular, was glaring at me, all but making my finger twitch to select the damn thing. The fact it wasn’t greyed out anymore confused the shit out of me. Made me think that because The Orion was now a Special Unique Unit that it freed up the original building to be brought to us again. I chose it, wondering what would come from that choice.

Congratulations Player! You have obtained the Unique Primary Structure - Star Base - Mobile! -WARNING- System shows you have two of this unit -CORRECTION TO FORMATTING- The System shows original version became Special Unique Unit, the facility is being spawned in at your location. You may not have another for the duration of your time among the living.

Well then, that last part was dark as shit, at least it worked though. I was grinning then as I saw it actually spawn in. My grin fled quickly though as I was bombarded with com traffic requesting what was happening, only two came across stating that they wanted it for themselves. Green and Fernando...well shit. I told them I’d address the issue later, and to not worry about the big ass flying building overhead, it was on our side.

I sobered shortly after that though, with everything planned out or used that left me in front of the Monuments, people mourning all around me while names were being carved into it. I smiled sadly at the few people, men, and women, who came up to me and thanked me for keeping them safe. It made me want to cry again, I’d failed in that you fools. So many civilians died because I couldn’t keep you all safe. I was only thankful we didn’t really have children here yet, I had a feeling that would actually break me, having to see tiny little-broken bodies. I was thankful beyond words that weren't the case, yet. I intended to have this place a literal fucking fortress of death by the time the first little patter of tiny feet graced my Settlement. It’d be the same for all the ones Fernando conquered as well.

Hours passed, I said a few words for the fallen as the final name was carved on the monument and the funeral began in full. I knew none of them personally, though I knew their names. The funeral lasted well into the evening, allowing me to breathe a small sigh of relief that I still had a day until the next Campaign Map had to be done. It gave us all time to recover, it also gave me time to go over all the plans that needed to be changed with the addition of several thousand Civilians with the newly conquered areas. I sighed, Andy, rolling me toward my quarters in The Command Center. That would have to wait until tomorrow, as would my visit with Nova. I looked in the direction of the Barracks, suddenly very fucking happy for Regeneration, even if it was far weaker here than in the Campaign Maps.

“Thanks, Andy, sorry for being a pain in the ass.” I smiled up at the petite woman who gave me a little grin before lightly gripping my shoulder.

“That’s ok, Sir. I’m paid to deal with pain in the ass people. You’re a saint compared to a few of the Marines.” of that I had no doubt, maybe a bit on the Saint part but I’d take it as a compliment. She left a moment later after making sure I wouldn’t do anything to monumentally stupid. The traitor Trenton said he’d sit on me if I did. I had grumbled about that but let it go. They were right, I needed to rest...a lot of it to even begin to recover.

Laying on my bed I remembered one other bonus. One I did not want to use, but that was only because that alien dick had given it to me. I sighed, activating the Companion Card, my eyes widening a little at the message I was given.

Congratulations Player! You have used a Companion Card. Analyzing memories, formatting happiest time with an animal companion...synthesizing...Companion formed.

You have acquired a canine companion. The companion is an infant, food, and toys provided as a bonus for using your first Companion Card. Companion is a mix between the German Shepherd and Pitbull Species common on Earth. The System hopes it relieves any emotional strain you may be suffering.

I stared at the sudden appearance of a little brindle with black marking puppy that was looking around in confusion and whining out of fear on my bed. It was the fucking spitting image of my dog before I joined the military. He’d died of old age, and I had missed him. Gangly in size for a baby, pointed ears with one raised and one flopping to the side. A German Shepards build with a Pits stance and fur. He even had those same soulful brown eyes...Oh, God...I choked back a sob as I looked at the puppy, pulling him into my arms while he whined a little before nuzzling into me for comfort. He even fucking smelled like a puppy, like home. I’m not ashamed to admit I broke a bit then, missing home, missing my Mom, missing my friends and a life before the Aliens, before the Wars I had fought. I fell asleep like that, crying for the second time that day, the puppy cuddling into me for warmth and comfort while I clung to him like a man drowning clings to a life raft.