Gabriel

<snip> Get it together, Solvay.
He mentally slapped himself and drank deeply from his water flask, thought for a moment, then also drank deeply from his hipflask.
A nasty, spiteful, frightening thought poked at him.
Had the rifle fire even been real?</snip>

Alex had spent a tour of duty in the Kuiper Belt, informally known as the Hinterlands, a lost and lonely area on the fringes of the solar-system consisting of ice-teroids and terraformed plutoids. The tour had been his last.
They'd been posted out there to fight an impossible-to-win battle against a swarm of sick-in-the-head Holograms. Simple enough, you’d think. In fact you’re probably thinking “What are holograms doing trying to engage in combat anyway? They have a tricky enough time just making a cup of tea.” But these holograms weren’t your run-of-the-mill ‘no touchy touchy’ types, no, these stone-dead sons-of-glitches had a big physical presence.
They were hard light holograms.
Hard light holograms hadn’t even been invented yet, at least not officially. It was freaky as hell, and Alex always supposed they were fighting bad-assed muthasmeggers from the future. But, of course, they’d never been informed one way or the other. It was a grunt’s job to fight, not ask questions. Knuckle down, do as you’re told, firefight, ambush, couple hour’s sleep, do it all again, and maybe you’d live to see the next day, even if the rest of your unit didn’t.
So many people died during the twisted mission that it came to be known as the ‘Holo-Caust’. The War against the Obscenes.

The number of dead was unthinkable. Good men, young men, older men, middle aged men, even-younger men, even-older men, difficult-to-age men, and some just practically boys... I guess what I’m trying to say, is that lot of men of varying ages lost their lives in the conflict.
Oh, and women, of course. Many women bought it too. Good women, young women, older women, middle aged women, and some ju-

Basically, a lot of soldiers died.

Needless deaths, in a war wrought of cover-ups, greed and hypocrisy. They never should’ve been sent in there in the first place. How were they supposed to win any sort of battle against a super army of hard-light holograms?

They weren’t.
--

<snip>To be doubly sure it wouldn't mess with them any more, he used one of his charges to blow it the f*ck up, striding calmly away and lighting a fag, as the room exploded hugely down the corridor behind him.</snip>

Alex stepped through a door to his left, in time to escape the blast from a second explosion. He glanced through the door’s oval window and, disinterestly, watched the blaze spread from the weather control room, down the corridor he’d just been walking.

Someone giggled behind him.

He span, the fire forgotten. “What was that?”
The giggler scuffed away, into the darkness.
He scoped around, noting that he was in another of the earthy style tunnels, brown, dim, and oppressive, but this one sloped downwards and had others leading off it.

Another giggle, from somewhere else. It sounded like a kid. “Stop it! Who’s there?”
Footsteps, running away.
Squinting into the darkness, locked and loaded, Alex crept forward.
“Ahh, they’re using littluns now, are they? Resurrecting children as war-holos, that’s smeggin’ sick.”
“I’m not a war-holo, longlegs.”
“AARGH!”

A pretty little Roo child had swung from the ceiling and was grinning at him, upside down.
“Who are you? Get the smeg outta here!”
She dropped to the floor and he pushed her aside, in order to carry on prowling forwards. “It’s not safe. If they catch you, they’ll kill you” he murmured.
“Who’ll kill me, humie?”
He lowered his voice further, eyes still searching the dim area in front of them “the holograms, of course.”
It would be true to say that Solvay had rather dramatically mislaid the plot.

The pretty little Roo giggled again. “You’re funny.”
“Quiet.”
“I wish the others didn’t hate humans. I think you’re cute, with your pinky skin and funny fur.”
“Would you shut up, unless you want to be skinned alive by a twisted, merciless skull fu-“ he looked at the creature realising she was very young.
She returned the look, with big, inquisitive, glistening blackberry eyes. “Skull thumping… meany.” He amended.
“They wouldn’t?” She whispered, enjoying the game.
“Oh they would. They make rugs out of human skin, let alone a nice furry wombat like you.”
“Excuse me, I’m a gerbil.”
“Sorry Gerbil.”
“Naaame’s Tabitha!” She proffered a paw.
He ignored the introduction and carried on with his forward creep.
“And I’m your new owner” she persisted.
“Hm?”
“You’re mine now. Are you a boy or a girl?”
He stopped scouting about and looked at her. “A boy.”
She beamed, delighted, “Then I shall call you Gabriel.”
He lowered his gun and sniffed. “Popular gerbil name, is it? Gabriel?”
“Not really, but you look like a poster of a humanoid angel that daddy has in his office. He’s called Gabriel and he’s got long fur too.”
Oddly touched, Solvay swallowed, privately betting there were no submachine guns on the poster.
“I’m no angel, darlin’.”
Just then, the unmistakable sound of oversized rodent feet came scampering along the tunnel towards them. “Get back!” He shoved the little one into a side tunnel.
“Bad Gabriel! What are you do-“ He clamped a hand over her adorable whiskery mouth. “Mm, mm, mmff!”
“Shh.”
A pair of Roo skittered past them, and up to the door.
“Holy sawduststicks, the corridor’s aflame!”
“Misty, I can smell smoke…”
Solvay quickly dropped his cig and trod it out.
“Yes, that’s coming through the door, Roland, you idiot. Don’t open it.”
“I won’t. Aargh! I’m so angry right now!”
“Don’t you worry, we are going to capture those furless wonders and give them something to think about…”
“You don’t mean…”
“Oh I mean…”
“That’s foul.”
“Well so are they! Come on, let’s find the squeggers who did this.”
And they bounded off, down one of the opposite corridors.

Alex and Tabitha emerged from their hiding place. “Ah” said the small one. “Told you” said the larger, more unhinged one.
“But they are not holos, Gabriel. They are real people. Roo like me and-“ she looked at him “… me.”
She was currently on all fours, he crouched down low beside her. She smiled happily and scritched him behind the ear. “That’s what they want you to think” he hissed.
“Ooooh, you’re so adorable!” She told him, on a different wavelength completely, and now stroking his hair with her little pink paw.
His eyes slid askance and he gave her a mildly unimpressed look. She licked him.

He stood back up, removing his other SNIG JLS from his pack. “It’s been great meeting you, Tabitha, but I’ve got to go now.”
The sweet little gerbil’s face fell, and she looked like she was going to cry.
“No, no Gabriel, please don’t run away! I want you to be my boy forever and ever!”
“Sorry poppet” he stroked her head. “Man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.”
She thought about what he said, and, a splendid thought hitting her, suddenly brightened. “Are you… Are you going to protect people, Gabriel!? Are you doing good things? Like the angel?”
He thought about helping his crewmates, and the reason they were in this hellhole in the first place, to save Jacob, no… Jay. Not Jacob. Jay Chrysler. They were here to save a life.
“We’re going to save his life…” he murmured.
“Oh GOOD BOY!” Tabitha clapped her little paws together in pride. “Go then! Go and be kind, Gabriel!”
He bent to stroke her head. “Stay safe, Tabitha.”

And with that, he stood back up and, sore leg forgotten, strode down the corridor, oversized pack on his back and a SNIG JLS in each hand.

~ And the Lord said to Gabriel: “Proceed against the bastards, and the reprobates, and against the sons of the fornicators. And destroy the sons of the fornicators, and the sons of the Watchers, from amongst men. And send them out, and send them against one another, and let them destroy themselves in battle…~

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<To Be Continued>