“General Khrador, shall we talk about your failures?” Supreme commander Go’urkin asked.

  “My failures?” the general asked incredulously, “shall we talk about the intelligence failure? We should have known days ago those heavy batteries were stationed around Port Arthur. Or, Fleet Admiral, shall we talk about your inadequate bombardment before the invasion? Whomever is to bme, one thing is apparent: my army was completely wiped out before they set foot on the pnet. The few units that survived and nded were taken prisoner or destroyed on the ground.”

  “You will answer for those crimes against the Korveinian Empire, general. So, general Felurkin, since he has failed his mission, you will nd your forces beyond the range of the artillery and march your forces to Port Arthur and seize the teleport dampener and destroy it.”

  “The coastal pin on that side of this mountain range is out. The only area viable for an operation of that sort seems to be around the town of Qairo. The ground is open and level enough to nd the troop density I would need for the operation.” She studied the map for several minutes. “We would have to march thru these mountains,” she pointed, “the Lillian Range. We will have to be quick going thru the Aswan-Worgl trail. Speed will be the key. Supply will be difficult; these seem like barely a trail. I believe it can be done.”

  “Good. I think we have a good pn in pce, General Felurkin, get us a list of your needs for the operation, the Emperor and ministers want this operation going as soon as possible.”

  “I will get that list to you as soon as I can. I’ll need to see how many troops I can nd and how many I’ll be able to supply.”

  “As soon as you have them, I want them.” Go’urkin said sternly. “General Khrador, stay. Everyone else dismissed.”

  “Perceval wake up.”

  The dark sky loomed above. Clouds broke up the stars beyond. No rain tonight, my brain thought sleepily, a ship rocketed across the sky. Enemy supplies probably. Another streak hit the first. The fireball hung in the sky for a moment then debris rained out of the cloud and it dissipated.

  “I’m awake!” My body protested the attempt to rise.

  “We have to go on patrol now, it’s only two hours.” It was Private Malenovski.

  “Kenny. Right. I’m awake, let’s go.” Despite the achy muscles I slipped out of my sleeping bag. Collecting my weapon, I fell in next to my dear partner. The crisp night air stung with the onset of cold.

  “Do you want inside or out?” I asked.

  “In, you had it st time we picketed.” She replied. Last time. Sometime during the st FTX. It hadn’t been real then.

  “Ok, stay low.” We high-crawled among the long dense grass toward the Hosokawa valley below two trees that stood at an advantageous overlook. She stopped at the closer one, tapping Specialist Hadrian to go back up. I nodded at him and he returned the gesture. Moving further up I found Corpral Tanen and relieved him, with nods to each other he departed.

  I pced my rifle down and began low crawling to the edge of the cliff. I could make out the enemy camp below. Too far out of range for any of the weapons they carried with them. No tomorrow they’re gonna assault this hill and we are going to hold here for as long as we can.

  I crawled back and forth to keep an eye on the enemy and to keep a little warm, my breath had become visible. Two of the moons were full tonight and the pin below devoid of trees at the foot of the Conin Pass. I could see for several kilometers.

  Lights burst in the sky as the artillery in Port Arthur shot down more of the enemy supply ships, many more made it thru than not. The less the enemy has, the easier our job becomes because it reduces the enemy’s ability to fight. I comforted myself.

  It had only been three days since I had hiked up that track. How close I had been to getting caught! It had been an arduous hike over the Lillian Range, harried by this same foe all the way. Farce of a war! He had refused to join in the battle with the rebels. I won’t go to space for you but I’ll protect my home from these marauders. The senate had passed the World Defense Act after the massacres on Pranorin 4. An unprecedented act for an unprecedented time, they had cimed. I sympathize with those people down there, they probably don’t want to fight this war just as much as me. I won’t allow my home to be devastated by their state through them. And if all of them have to die for that, so be it.

  A tap came at the boot. I looked back. Henders. We exchanged nods, I grabbed my weapon and I moved back toward the camp. Nodding to the closer as I passed, I was soon able to stand and walk back. Kenny was waiting.

  “Good watch?”

  “Nothing interesting.”

  “I’ll go tell Sergeant Ptevconish.” She kissed me and went off. I’m so gay for her. Uh, you are a guy though and she is a woman. I shook my head, still tired, that's all.

  I headed off to the right to pee. I went back to my bag and checked for crawlers before getting back in. Kenny walked up and did the same.

  “We’ll fight tomorrow.” She said.

  “Yeah I think so. Get some good sleep, ok?” I smiled at her in the darkness.

  I watched the clouds roaming the sky above, another transport ship was attempting to nd, our artillery smashed into it and the fming wreckage burst in brilliant light. I saw the silhouette of at least three more cruises down without problem. I heard soft snoring next to me. Got to get some sleep. I thought and barely a moment ter drifted off.

  I awoke the next morning Termanion was cresting the ridge on the east, its striking rays flooding the nd all around. The air was still crisp but it would soon warm.

  “Kenny, are you awake?” I blindly reached over to shake her awake.

  “Let’s finish this battle then you can grab my tits.” She said sleepily.

  “Oh sorry!” I took my hand back quickly.

  “Shut up, silly! Let’s get food, I’m hungry.” She smiled at me.

  “Me too, I’m coming!”

  “After, after!” She giggled.

  I rolled my eyes and moved up the track to grab breakfast. The cooks got up very early and had a nice warm breakfast for us, it was eggs, cheese and potatoes.

  “I’ve heard, the top brass expect the enemy to move up the valley and begin scaling the trail by the afternoon. We are to be in the first defensive position,” Corporal Tanen said.

  “Clenti Company built our defenses.” Kenny put in.

  “I’ve heard a lot of them were farmers. They dig well then, hopefully.” I ughed nervously.

  Looking around, people knew that it was a st meal for some of us so they savored every bite. I ate with Kenny in silence after, all of us contempting the coming day.

  After the meal the Battalion XO came up to the meal area.

  “Soldiers!” Our battalion XO called out. “Gather up so we can talk about the game pn.” We gathered in loose formation to avoid potential enemy explosives. “I was at the defense of Incirlik and Bremen, the enemy’s favored attack style is to focus on fnking so I’m going to have a ptoon each covering the fnks with the rest of our force concentrated on the main track. I have 6 ptoons here so two will be in reserve about one and two hundred meters up the track. Does anyone have any questions about the pn? We pced Bravo and Delta Company, Alpha Battalion, 19th Defense Brigade 7th ID, your mission: slow our enemy. Make each step forward a struggle for the enemy. We need you to hold for three days so hold as best you can. Withdraw to Aswan after.”

  We sent up a chorus of “akno” then stood in silence. Everyone knew what was needed.

  “We hold here for three days like the area commander said. If we can make it four, we’ll make it four. This pnet is too valuable for them to have just cleaned us off so we will throw them off or we will make it such a hard invasion they rethink invading another human world!”

  “Don’t worry about the other invasion points, we have our job and have to trust our comrades on other fronts will do theirs as well. Commanders, get your units in position and watch out for the enemy.”

  I turned to Kenny. “I’m going to the Alpha company meeting, come see me before you go, ok?”

  “Of course, my love!” she departed with a kiss.

  “I love you.”

  “Too.” She smiled as she drifted away.

  Our company commander, Captain Ordus, stood at an average height with an athletic build. “Let’s make this quick, the Korveinians will try to surmount this crest as soon as possible third ptoon, you are on the right fnk, second is on the front and first will be in the 200 meter reserve position. Leutnant Neider, I’ll be with you on the right. Leutnant Sanderson and Major Graft will be in the middle. Leutnant Kimmel you will work with Leutnant Anders in the rear, her ptoon being closer, you will listen to her. We need to be a well-oiled machine. This is our home we are defending, leave your ego in Port Arthur down the track. Questions?”

  “Understood sir!” Rose a chorus.

  “You have thirty minutes to get moving. Go!” Delta broke at the same time. I caught Kenny’s eye and she came to me directly.

  She smiled. “I’ll be at the front. How about you?”

  “We defend our position together then! I’m right with you girl.”

  A mischievous look came to her eye. “No Korveinian will get thru our line then!”

  We took our packs and lined them up about eighty meters back in case we needed to make a quick escape. The mortar team was set up and they wished us luck as we set the packs down.

  We returned to the trenches. Over the radio the scouts called an enemy sighting and the first mortar tubs sang out as the first rounds of the battle were fired.

  I fired as the enemy crested the knoll. The Korveinian fell back and out of sight. His comrades attempted to bound forward, a mortar took out one and with no covering fire, the second was easily taken out. I could still hear fire coming from my left. I kept firing as more Korveinians attempted to bound forward. I pulled the trigger again and nothing happened.

  I ducked back into trenches to look at the malfunctioning weapon.

  “24,” I read off the error panel. I ejected the old tube and took out a new coont tube and pressed it into the weapon. The error panel spat out a 14. I rolled my eyes and tried a different coont tube. 14 again.

  “Coont?” Maeser asked as she scooted toward me.

  “Yes, and the repcements don’t seem to be working either. Can you give me a new rifle?”

  “They didn’t give us the best coont.” She shook her head.

  “No, they did not.” I tossed the weapon down.

  “One JX445 coming up.” Maeser pointed her weapon at the discarded rifle. In a shimmer it dematerialized a moment ter a new JX445 militarized. “This one should work.”

  I picked it up. There was a dull thud and the dirt next to Maeser kicked up. I yelled as I realized what had nded near us “Grenade!” I dove down and tossed the thing back toward the advancing enemy.

  “That was a close one,” She held a hand to her chest, “thank you, sir.” I scowled at her and clinched my teeth.

  I checked over the newly materialized weapon, ensuring it was ready for the battle ahead. I moved back onto the firing ledge and continued to fire once more. Every now and then I heard a human yelling out their st breath, I relished whenever I heard a Korveinian cry out though.

  I don’t know how long I stood, fighting. More grenades were tossed and along with a seemingly endless amount of trigger pulling. Finally, when the sun was high in the sky, the attacks began to scken.

  “Alright, we seem to have survived the first attack.” Captain Ordus announced. “Go to twenty percent defense. Ten can get the wounded to the back, the rest eat and drink. Understood?”

  A chorus of “akno” came up from the trenches.

  I sat on the firing ledge for a few minutes trying to process all that had just happened. Much of it was a blur. I stood, my body protesting the move. The battles have just begun.

  I quenched my thirst. My throat was dry, when had that happened? I hadn’t even noticed it. When my throat ceased to be dry I started digging into the domestic tuber and gravy concoction we received for lunch. I sat and talked with the other soldiers, learning of friends that were wounded or killed in one way or another. Despite the morbid talk I was able to eat and drink my fill then moved back onto the firing line so someone else could eat.

  “Corpral Tanen,” I said, “You can take your food. I’ll take a watch.”

  “Thanks, Rorke,” he said and jumped off the ledge. I climbed into his former position and looked into the jungle ahead. The jet and abaster skin that was typical among the Korveinian’s body’s y motionless on the ground, pouring their red blood onto the ground.

  I scanned the jungle but there was nothing there. A figure mounted the firing ledge next to me.

  “I’ve already had a break. Find someone else.” I said without taking my eyes off the jungle.

  “I came to see you.” Kenny’s melodious voice broke my concentration. I looked her in the eye.

  “Babe! I’m on watch right now.”

  “Ok. I’ll watch with you then. This is important but I also want to be with you.” I smiled at her and we scanned the jungle. Someone came up after eating and offered to let us have some time in the back for a bit. We thanked him and moved off the line.

  Making our way thru the transit trenches we came to the rear. Mortar tubes poked up from their dug-in positions and trails of blood gave evidence to the battle that had been fought.

  “How are you, Kenny?” I looked into her eyes and she looked down.

  “I made it thru.” She said sadly. “Smith 2256 was shot and Bromhalder died from a grenade. My other friends are ok for now.”

  “Bromhalder died?” I felt crestfallen. “She was such a social butterfly and lit up an otherwise dreary FTX, on top of being a genuinely nice person.”

  “I know, it's very sad.” She kissed me. “How about you?”

  “Zeluzhuny died,” tears were welling up now. “Henders and Alliena were both severely injured by a granade.”

  “Our casualties were pretty light overall,” we jumped to our feet. Major Avery stood above us. “It's no consotion for losing a friend but our situation is ok, take heart in that, soldiers.”

  “I feel numb about the loss, sir.” Kenny responded but tears rolled down her face too.

  He pced his hand on each of our shoulders. “I understand. It's time to get back to your positions, it has been two hours since the fighting ended. I expect the next attack to come soon.” He started to walk away but turned after a few seconds. “I’m sorry you’ve lost friends.” He turned again and continued to walk away.

  We made our way back thru the communication trenches. We came to the junction between the left and right fnks. I kissed her and she held me tight. After some seconds we parted and moved toward our respective positions.

  Within minutes I was firing as the Korveinians attempted to advance on our positions once more. I was grateful our comrades had felled the trees for half a kilo but keeping low stumps, every so often an enemy would trip and fall because of them. It made me chuckle when it happened.

  The jungle’s humidity was oppressive and we became parched again quickly. I couldn’t imagine trying to advance on the positions we held in this weather, defending was difficult enough. The Korveinians continued to come thru the trees. We stood our ground, firing our psma rifles.

  Hours went by. The fighting died down. Another break, many defenders were ravenous. I took the first watch while others ate. About an hour went by before I was able to get a bite. After I moved into the communications trenches toward the left fnk. I followed a trail of blood. This fnk had a worse time than us, it seemed.

  “Otani,” I called out. “Where is Kenny?”

  “Percy,” he looked down. “I’m sorry, she got shot. We moved her to the rear.”

  My head was swimming. Shot??? I felt sick. She was shot?

  “Hey man, sit down.” He came toward me.

  “Fuck you!” I shed out. I shoved him away and staggered back thru the communications trenched toward the mortar positions, beyond y the casualties.

  I stumbled passed the tube trenches and made my way into the hospital tent. I cast around frantically and saw her lying in the corner. I went to her.

  “Kenny,” I whispered. “Kenny?” A little louder.

  She shifted her head to look at me, wincing in pain. “Percival.” Bloody bandages covered her shoulder, neck and part of her face. Her chest! One was missing.

  “No no, don’t talk.” I said, patting her on the uninjured shoulder. “I’m going to make sure you get to the end of the track. I’m going to hold here as long as I can, Kenny.” I kissed her on the cheek. “Be safe. I love you, Kenny. No matter what happens I will always love you.” Tears blurred my vision. I dried my eyes as best I could.

  She smiled as best she could and grabbed my hand. She gestured to the entrance. I could almost hear her saying she’d be ok. I wanted to believe it.

  I squeezed her hand and let go.

  Then I was back in the trenches. I don’t remember when I got here. The sky was dark. The heat of the jungle had not abated.

  “Enemy!” Someone to the left yelled. I jumped up on the firing ledge with my psma rifle and began to fire at the oncoming Korveinians.

  At least once every few hours for the next few days the Korveinians attacked. Every time they were pushed back. More death. Injuries were evacuated down the track. The grinding battle wore on. The sleepless hours dragged.

  On the second day we rested in the furthest back position. The sergeants and corprals were moving among the troops.

  Corpral Tanen walked up, his seriousness. “Percival Rorke,” I winced, “you are a war fighting machine my dude.”

  I scowled. “i'm just protecting my home, corpral.”

  “Is something wrong, Rorke?” a look of concern dominated his countenance.

  “I'm just worried about someone, corpral.”

  “I understand,” he smiled sweetly, “you'll see that person again. I wanted to congratute and thank you, other soldiers said you got to nearly every grenade first and removed them safely. Good job.”

  “Thanks corpral.” I smiled.

  “They've been calling you chucky,” he ughed.

  I'd never frowned so deeply in my life. “I'd rather not be called by that male name.”

  “What?” He looked genuinely confused.

  “I said I'd rather not be called by that name.” I said thru my teeth.

  “Sorry. I came to tell you that you've done an outstanding job and to keep it up!”

  I nodded. “Thanks corpral.”

  I felt exhausted. I ate and went to bed. I awoke to another supply ship going down. The weight of the enemy attacks became too much and we were moved back onto the line.

  The intensity and duration of attacks had surged. I was impressed that the other companies had held.

  We did our best and held on as long as we could but after another day we were ordered back. We left some mines in the trenches before starting to pull back.

  Two hours ter we heard the explosions start.

  “Neider, I need you to set up on the hill about a kilo ahead.” Major Graff ordered. “I need you to bloody them a little, slow them down. These Korveinians are fast.”

  “Akno, sir!” Lautnant Neider responded.

  We continued to move up the track. Hill 422 came into sight.

  “Alright soldiers,” Lautnant Neider announced. “Quickly eat, maybe get a quick nap, I’ll get all of you into your positions soon.”

  I ate quickly and slept after we found a spot for defense. After two and a half hours of merciful sleep we were awoken by our scouts warning of the impending arrival of the Korveinians. We let them come close before setting off the ambush. The mortars fired from a couple kilos further up but only a few volleys. The skirmish ended quickly; we pnted more mines then moved on. Night fell, we continued to march forward.

  “How are you holding up, Percy?” Corpral Tanen asked.

  “This is a bit more than I was expecting to be honest with you. My girlfriend was shot and now we’re running on this track to trying save our own lives.”

  “Life has it tough moments for sure. We are gonna make it thru this though, just keep stepping forward, ok?”

  “Quick five minute pee break!” Leutnant Neider called out.

  “Oh good! I’ve had to pee for a solid hour now.”

  We walked to the bushes together I stood next to him let penis out, I always did think it was convenient for this but never really liked the thing itself. And the random erections! Hate them. Could definitely do without.

  I gnced over to ask Corpral Tannen a question but didn’t see him. I cast my gaze around.

  “Do you hear something?” Corpral said. I jumped as I saw him squat near the ground.

  “Geez, Corpral! You scared me, I didn’t know where you went.” I finished and tucked myself away. “What are you doing down there, anyway?”

  “Ah, thats easy,” he decred, “I don’t have a dick so I squat to pee.”

  “Don’t have a dick?” I was gobsmacked, “oh, sorry. Did you lose it in an accident?” My brain kicked in, “actually never mind, its none of my business.”

  He chuckled and stood. “Oh no, I’ve never had one. I was born with a vagina, you see.”

  My head whipped around to him. “What? Ok now I’m really confused. I mean I don’t want to be rude or anything but doesn’t that mean you are a woman?”

  We began marching once more. “Ok first off, I’m ordering you to never call me a woman again, soldier.”

  “Yes, corpral,” I said meekly.

  “Secondly, I am what people used to call transgender. Which,” he preempted, “means that I identify more with maleness for myself and not so much with femaleness.”

  “But we’re taught that there are men and women. I’m having a hard time understanding this.”

  “That is Korveinian propaganda. There is a long proud history of transgender humans going all the way back to the start of civilization.” The corpral insisted.

  My mind was racing, he obviously didn’t have breasts but also no penis. “I—this day is weird. Its strange and thats really all I can say about it.”

  “Listen,” corpral said, “I understand that you are a victim of their disinformation, but I can promise you me and billions like me exist on human worlds.”

  “Well fuck it who cares, this wasn’t a problem before, no need to make it one now.” I said in bewilderment.

  “I’m open to talking about it if you’d like a better understanding, Percy.” He walked on to another soldier.

  Transgender? People can change their bodies?

  The night was oppressively humid. Animals and bug song could be heard easily in the muted moonful night. Suddenly a voice called out, “Amaterasu!”

  “Japan!” Lautnant Neider called out.

  “Its ours! Hold your fire.” The soldiers paused and a metal scraping sound could be heard in the distance, a head popped up out of the darkness. “You must be tired. There's a nice sleeping space a couple hundred meters behind us. Let me talk to your officer for information.” The other unit’s commander said.

  The rest of us trudged onward. Then suddenly the camp was before us. I id down. Corpral walked by.

  “Hey corpral,” I said tentatively, “I was thinking about what you said earlier, can we talk?”

  “Let me get my roll.” He set up his sleeping area and id down.

  “So you were born a..?”

  “Human baby.” He said with a ugh. “I was assigned female at birth, otherwise known as AFAB. For people going the other way, we call them assigned male at birth, or AMAB.”

  “Men can become women too?”

  “No, no. You aren’t thinking about this correctly,” he expined. “Sure I was assigned female at birth but ever since I can remember I’ve been boy and then man in my thinking and manner. Whenever I had been forced to do things women would do I never felt right. Thats what we call gender dysphoria.”

  “So what? If I hate my dick I’ve got gender dysphoria?”

  “Gender dysphoria is a feeling of incongruence between ones assigned and socially enforced gender at the time of birth and ones true gender and whatever that means to the individual.”

  “I don’t, just because I wish I was a girl sometimes doesn’t mean I want to chop off my dick.”

  “Wait, you want to be a girl sometimes?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Of course, everyone fantasies about being the opposite.”

  His eyes widened at me “What? This conversation is getting out of hand I think. Why don’t we give things some thought and maybe reconvene ter on?”

  I nodded then fell asleep.

  The day was hot and bright. Battle sounds reminded me of our situation. Lautnant Neider got us moving. Everything hurt. It had been seven days, I think, since the Korveinians had first made contact. Kenny! Kenny had been shot. I hoped so much that she would be ok, psma burns were no joke.

  We trudged on, exhausted. Night fell and we id down to rest again. Lautnant Neider was doing the rounds, checking on his soldiers.

  “Percy,” our ptoon commander had asked me, “how are you holding up?” I stood to render the proper honors. “No, rex.” I slumped.

  “Tired, sir.” I replied. “I’m worried about Kenny. She was hit at the cliff. We are close, we have been for a few years now.”

  “You’ve known her for a while?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “I’ll look in on where she is when we link up with the rest of the division ter.” He assured me.

  “Thank you, sir.”

  “Sleep for now, you’ll be on the st watch.” He smiled.

  “Akno, sir.” I replied with a yawn.

  “Ok, get some sleep.” He moved off and talked to Mpofu next. I rolled over.

  Suddenly there was shouting and shooting. I jumped out of my bedroll and grabbed my weapon. Casting about to find the source, my eyes fell on a couple Korveinians running back into the jungle. I fired, one spasmed and fell to the ground.

  The battle was over in a moment. Three more of us y dead and several others wounded. Neider decided we would move further down the track right away. We traded off Mpofu, who had been hit in the leg.

  During midmorning we ran into a scouting party. We rested and ate. The heat was ever oppressive. The humidity drenched us after a moment of movement. I began to dread putting the ruck on.

  We continued down the track.

  Early evening fell and we came onto the next defensive position just north of Aswan.

  We were escorted to the vilge of Aswan. I went to the barracks right away. This was civilization! I dropped my things on the ground and stripped as quickly as I could. I tossed all my uniforms into the cleaner. All the dirt sweat and grime disappeared in an instant.

  That done I walked into the shower. FTX showers wouldn't be the same without Kenny. I looked at the stalls.

  “Oh, they've got 37’s.”

  “They aren't a 42 but they'll work,” corpral Tanen responded.

  I got in and dialed in the old machine. I was a bit sloppy but managed to clean myself. I saw the corpral as I exited. It still weirded me out that he has a vagina and not a dick. None of my business though.

  I finally felt alive again as I awoke the next day. The fogginess gone from my mind, the emotional toll of the st week hit me and I began crying. Corpral Tanen, who I had shared a room with embraced me.

  “Let it out, Percy.” He soothed. “We’ll get thru this.”

  “Percival,” Menovski said. A cold shock ran thru me. I hated being called that. My tears redoubled. I clenched my teeth. “Lautnant Neider said to tell you she was evacuated to Worgl. He said you’d know what that meant.”

  I felt like shit all over again.

  “I hate myself.” I announced. “Why couldn’t I have been shot and died instead of her.”

  “Dead?” Menovski asked. “I don’t think she died, Lautnant seemed to think she was alive and recovering in Worgl. Shes ok, man.”

  “Get out!” I swung haphazardly at him, tripped over Tanen and ended up on the ground.

  “Percy,” Tanen said, “why don’t we eat and have a chat, eh?” I let myself be led away. “We’re staying here again tonight and moving along in the morning. You can rest here.”

  I ate absentmindedly. Presently Lautnant Neider arrived at our side.

  “Percy,” he said a little flustered, “we need to talk about your attitude.”

  “Sir,” Corpral Tanen interjected. “I was about to talk to him about that.” I cringed and sunk in my seat. Tanen narrowed his eyes. “I think I can help, sir.”

  “I’ll leave it to you for now Corpral.” Lautnant Neider left.

  “Hey, how are you doing with everything?” he looked at me, his eyes kind. “I mean, there’s a war going on and we have been thru it a bit, haven’t we?”

  “Yeah,” I started to tear up, “my partner, Kenny, got hit at the first battle.” Hot tears rolled down my face as I remembered her scorched body id out.

  “That’s rough,” he soothed, “I can take a look to see if--”

  “Lautnant already did, she is at Worgl.”

  “Good, I’ll see about getting you regur updates, how does that sound?”

  “I’d like that,” I replied, wiping the tears from my blurry vision.

  “Percival.” I looked up at Corpral Tanen. “I’ve noticed something and just wanted to check in with you about it.”

  “Noticed something? What?” I asked.

  “Well, let me just say: I am transgender. I was assigned female at birth but that wasn’t doing it for me and after a lot of therapy and though I came to the conclusion that I am a man and then I started living my life as a man.”

  “What, yeah ok, why are you telling me?” I am so confused.

  “I’m coming to that. So what I realized at some point was that I had never felt quite comfortable in my body. I had tried to be ok with it for so long that eventually I tricked myself into believing I was a girl, but I never was. I did not like my voice, I hated pictures because I looked very femme in them. All of that is part of gender dysphoria.”

  “Hold on,” I said, shooting to my feet. “I thought people just felt like that though. My mom always said she felt like that sometimes too and that it was totally normal.”

  The concerned look on his face deepened further. “I can’t tell you if you are or aren’t transgender, that’s something you have to come to or not yourself. What I can tell you is that cis people don’t usually have those feelings and don’t typically have persistent fantasies about being the opposite sex as the one they were born.”

  “But I have felt like that for so long, ever since I can remember.” Could I really be transgender? Do I want to be a woman? Could I…my mind raced with the idea a smile curled my lips at the thought. I snapped back and cast about. “Corpral,” I was shaking, “Corpral, I had never taken the fancy too seriously before. What do I do corpral?”

  He came over and held my head close. “Hey listen Percy, everything is gonna be fine, you are gonna do great no matter what you decide, you hear me?”

  I looked up at him. “Persephone. I always wanted to be Persephone.”

  He smiled at me as he chuckled. “You got it Persephone.” My stomach leapt in the most pleasant way I had ever felt. The tears returned.

  “Can you say it again?” I whispered.

  “What was that?”

  “Can you say it again?” I asked a little louder.

  He ughed a little and smiled. “Persephone, it’s nice to meet you.”

  “What now Corpral? What do I need to do?”

  “You don’t have to do anything. You are and have always been a woman.”

  “Yeah but I want to do more and I have no clue where to start.”

  “Yeah, I will send you some resources on the page.”

  “Thanks, corpral, I need to go have a think.”

  I went to the tents and id down. I grabbed a pad and opened the page. I began to scroll thru genderdysphoria.fyi.

  “Hey, how are you doing?” Sergeant Tenno was standing a short distance away. “I saw some things happening earlier and wanted to check in. I know we aren’t in the same unit but you seemed sad.”

  “Thanks, Sergeant,” I replied. “I had a talk with my Corpral, Tanen and he gave me some things to think about. I’m just sorting thru it all at the moment, sergeant.”

  “How are you holding up with everything?”

  I put the pad down. “This whole situation sucks. I hate what the Korveinians have done. I hate that we have to liberate ourselves, I hate that my partner has been hurt and I hate that I’m having… well I just hate things right now.”

  “I hear you, Percival,” I winced. “I hate that my people are suffering all over this pnet.”

  That’s an odd statement. “All over the pnet? What do you mean? We’re all right here.”

  After a moment he broke the silence. “Oh, I see what may be confusing. I am Ryusan, Emperor of the Empire of Japan of Geldon 2 or Tenno Ryusan.”

  “Oh! You are a member of the Solon of Emperors of Japan?” I had never met an Emperor of Japan before.

  “Yes. Uncle Yoshishima of Earth is the Emperor of the Emperors of Japan. Sometimes we call him the Grand Emperor of the Japanese.”

  “How do you feel about all this, Sergeant?”

  “You know, this all reminds me of an ancient World War 2 campaign. It was called Kokoda Track. That was back when the Empire was not so good. To be honest the empire of that time could be described as evil and I would agree with that assessment.” He was lost in thought.

  “Why does it remind you of that?”

  “Oh, well you see, one nation states of that time, Great Britain had this empire too, one of the territories they had was Australia which included Papua. Japan decred war and invaded, for various reasons they could not take Port Moresby directly so an over nd campaign was attempted, the Aussies fought a deying action and were unable to take their objective. Well, that is pretty much exactly what we are doing against the Korveinians.”

  “I suppose that sounds simir to what we’re doing. That is pretty interesting, actually.”

  A figure pushed into the tent. A utnant walked in. “Ah, there you are sergeant. Korvys are coming down the track soon, it nearly time to do our part. Get the soldiers together and then in position, time now.”

  “Understood, Lautnant.” The Lautnant left the tent. Sergeant Tenno looked at me intently for a moment. “Any advice going against them?”

  “They will crash against you, wave after wave. No matter how steep the terrain. Never think you are safe, never think it will let up and always keep firing.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.” He said with a sad smile. “Good luck and get off this mountain as soon as you can.” He left and the silence surrounded me.

  “I just met a Japanese Emperor. Weird.”

  I picked the pad back up and read thru the material on Page. The sounds of battle could be easily heard up the track. I continued to read the pad. The feelings seemed to match one to one with how I felt. The discomfort I felt just being in my skin, the emptiness, the isotion, the silly little signs throughout my life.

  I put the pad down quickly, the sounds of battle had come near. It was nearly 0100, I decided to sleep a little before we were told to start falling back again.

  Corpral Tenan shook me awake. I rubbed my eyes and looked at my watch. 0430.

  “Battle is too close, we have to get going.”

  “I need to talk to you ter, corpral.” He nodded and moved to the next soldier. I quickly tossed my things back in my pack and secured the straps. I moved to the mustering area. In five minutes, we were marching up the final crest. At 0821 we crested and started the easier downward march. Another unit was camping out a little way down, the Lautnant stopped to talk to the commander and give him updates.

  “Percy, one moment. I need some notes written that I may need ter.” He turned back to the captain to the unit. “They were getting hit pretty hard down there sir, probably wouldn’t st too much longer in their positions, I think. The Korvys are determined.”

  “We will stop them at least a few days. Do you have anything else to report, utnant?”

  “They like to try and get on the fnks; be sure you protect those.”

  “Very good, then I have a message to the commander.”

  “Start writing, Percy.” Lautnant said.

  “The 4th company of Kitous Battalion Gina Brigade will hold, Janus Lewenhaupt Captain, commanding.”

  “With luck, captain.”

  “With luck, utnant.”

  We continued down the track. The heat and humidity made every step an effort even as we were going down the mountain. We persisted, drowning in our own sweat.

  A shadow cast itself over us. More dark than any cloud, my hackles were up immediately.

  “Cover!” The Lautnant called out. “I don't know what that is, can anyone see a ship?”

  I dove into the nearest underbrush. May gaze cast toward the sky searching for the enemy vessel.

  “Sir!”

  “Noi, you have something?”

  “Yes,” she replied. “This isn't an enemy ship, sir. This is an eclipse.”

  “What are you an astronomer?” Someone called out. Several snickers followed.

  “Yeah I am, actually.”

  “An eclipse?” Lautnant asked incredulously.

  “It was something we had been working on at Narva Astronomical Observation Station, sir.” Noi replied.

  “Right. Everyone up,” he announced. “We're moving out!”

  I pushed my way to my feet and we began down the track once more.

  At 1708 we arrived at Pt Cor Valley, another group of soldiers stood here for defense. Here we would stay the night. I opened Page again and felt like I had found the answers to my life. In the context of being trans, it all made sense, what a fool I had been to not see it before. The Korveinians had discouraged what they called “mutition practices” and knowledge of transgenderism been suppressed.

  “Percy,” It was corpral Tanen.

  “Corpral, please, come in.” I called to him. “I wanted to say thank you for sending me those resources on Page.”

  “Oh yeah?” He asked with a smirk. “Have you decided anything about it? I want to be clear; I don’t want you to feel pushed into anything. Life isn’t easy being trans, though it seems like things might be getting better once we’ve won our freedoms.”

  “I had noticed that things seemed to be a lot more open for these kinds of people in the past,” I said, “How long have you been transitioning?”

  “Over ten years. I come from a family who connected with some people who kept those kind of things alive in human memory.” He said smiling, “because of them, I was able to live as who I am. I remember how I felt when I was first figuring this out. It was a scary and exciting time. You don’t have to choose anything now, I would say don’t rush into anything but do what you are sure you are comfortable with.”

  “Well that’s kind of what I wanted to talk about a little too, what are the next steps that are avaible to people?” I gestured at him, “I suppose there’s a way for me to go the opposite way?”

  “Persephone! I almost forgot,” he said, “congratutions on cracking, by the way.”

  “Cracking?” I ughed, “What am I an egg?”

  He burst out ughing. “Yes actually. Before you crack, you were an egg.”

  He started ughing and told me what he knew of feminization thru his experience of masculinization. He told me of social transitioning and other bits of trans culture.

  He set up his bag in my tent and we slept there that night.

  In the morning, we moved down the track, by 1458 we had come to Worgl. I got set up in my quarters and moved to the hospital. A train of people were moving the sick, wounded and dying further toward Aomori and Port Arthur. I went in to the door to see if she was still there.

  I moved throughout the rooms casting about to take in the people still huddled or ying in pain. I saw one I recognized from Kenny’s company.

  “Hey, we were at first battle on the track together.” I said to him, I sounded so dumb, even to myself.

  “Yeah? You were on that ridge?” He stared at me. “What do you want?”

  “You know Kenny?”

  “Yeah, I saw her come in a few days ago.” He said, still disinterested. “Why do you want to know about her?”

  “I love her.” I said. “Where is she?”

  “Damn, go get her dude.”

  I spiraled. It was so quick. I’d never felt so awful before. A man. I looked like a man to everyone. I felt disgusted with myself.

  “Hey, you ok?” He poked me.

  “Oh sorry,” I shook my head, “I just got in from the track, please, tell me where she is.”

  “Yeah, sure. I think she is a couple doors down on the left.”

  I started out the door and turned before leaving, “Thanks!” I came to the door he said and peered inside.

  There she was.

  Arm in a sling and leg splinted. I went to her. She looked up as I approached, her face lit up as if she were a child on Winter Gift. She burst into tears when she grabbed my hand and found it solid. I started crying a moment ter. I dropped to my knees and threw my arms around her, being careful not to hurt her further.

  “I was so scared that you might be dead. I’m so gd, how are you Percival?”

  I winced. “I’ve decided to change my name, but we can talk about that ter. I have realized some things, you see. I am excited to tell you about these developments but I want to hear how you are first.”

  She has a quizzical look on her face. “Ok, sure. I have had a rough time. After I got shot I was moved further up on a stretcher but I was ok to walk so I did for a while but on the down slope I tripped and broke my leg. It was truly embarrassing. So tell me about your journey.”

  “We held for a couple days longer after you were hit. We performed a rearguard action before Lillian’s Crossing and had some time to march down. I think we are probably doing well.”

  “I’m gd I didn’t get hurt for no reason then.” She said sadly. “Now what about this name change?”

  Would she still love me? Should I tell her? I could lie. “Well, I have read some things and found that I really enjoy the name Persephone so I’ve decided to call myself that.”

  She looked at me sharply, “Persephone? Sure, of course if that is what you would like to be called, I will call you that. Is there anything else because that seems a little out of the blue.”

  I turned and took a few deep breaths. I turned back to her. “Kenny, I’m what our forebears would call trans. I should have been born a girl and I am a woman and have always been.”

  She scoffed. “Figures! I’ve always been more into women than men. I always kind of felt it was weird that I was so attracted to you.” She smiled sweetly, “I love you, Persephone. That hasn’t changed.”

  I burst into tears. I managed thru sobs, “Thank you Kenny, I love you too!”

  “Percy,” I turned toward the door, it was Corpral Tanen. “You’re on kitchen detail at 1600.” I checked my watch, 1547.

  “I’ve got it Corpral.” I turned back to Kenny. “I’ve got to go, I’m happy. Get well soon.”

  I left the hospital. The heat and humidity was oppressive but less so than in the hospital. She still loves me. I went to the field kitchen.

  “What should I do?” I asked the Kitchen Sergeant.

  He offered a peeler. “Start peeling the potatoes, wash your hands first. Fill this bucket.”

  “Got it, sergeant.” I replied and got to work. I peeled for what seemed like hours. A loud whine filled the air around me. My insides did a flip and I yelled, “GET DOWN!” I threw myself on the ground. A ways off a building was leveled. I tossed the potato and peeler to the ground and crawled to my rifle. “Sergeant, I’m leaving the kitchen.”

  “Get out there, kid.”

  I joined the defense line, bounding into pce. We used the buildings as firing points. There were plenty of soldiers around, the Korveinian attack was parried. An hour went by, the attacks stopped.

  “Fnk attack!” a voice to the left and right yelled out.

  “Cssic pattern,” I said to the person next to me. “A frontal assault is coming soon, be ready.”

  “How do you know that?” She asked me.

  “I was north of Aswan, holding the first position on the track.”

  “You’ve fought them before? I’m going to stay close to you, this is my first fight. My unit marched from there before the attack. How were the trenches?”

  “They helped us a lot, we couldn’t have held without them.” I replied.

  “I’m gd I could help so much.”

  The frontal attack went and we were occupied with trying to stay alive. In between attacks we tried to sleep and sometimes we would get a piece of bread or jerky. Water came around even under fire.

  The attacks grew less frequent, people moved around by crawling, anyone standing would be shot at. We learned by the morning we were completely encircled. The hospital had not had time to evacuate everyone. The sick and wounded left their beds in droves to help hold the line of buildings around the town. Bags of dirt were gathered and pced between the outer buildings at night on the first few days. The siege was monotonous otherwise. The attacks came infrequently and their vigor was waning. We couldn’t break out but neither could they break in. It was days and sleep was scarce.

  “Talk,” a voice from the jungle called out, “truce, talk!” A white fg emerged, then an arm, then the body of a Korveinian. He stood there, expectantly.

  I turned to the soldier next to me. “Find someone in command.” I cautiously stood. I wasn’t shot. She ran into the town to find someone. I waved him over.

  He walked, his head swiveling. Noting our positions, no doubt. This was war and there were rules. “Come on, you wanna talk? What about?”

  “You will surrender and be treated well.” He replied.

  I ughed. “Come on then, let's go talk to the commander.” We went to the bunker that had been built in, I checked my watch, the four days we had been here so far. A table was brought out and some chairs. I directed the Korveinian to one of them. The commander sat down opposite him.

  “I am the commander of the human troops here, Major Miller. You are?”

  “I am Cornol Khrekem.”

  “Ok Cornol, what do you want?”

  “Immediate and unconditional surrender. You and your troops will be disarmed and treated well. We have food and water a little way up the track. There is no reason to stay and die, Major.”

  “Surrender? Surrender… perhaps tomorrow.”

  The building rumbled and shook violently. Then a huge bang and screeching away.

  “What was that?” the Korveinian asked.

  “I don’t know,” the Major replied. “Karenski, go have a look outside.”

  The door burst open before anyone could move. “I am Cornol Ping, who is in command here?”

  “Sir,” the Major said.

  “What is this Korveinian doing here?” he asked.

  “Demanding surrender, fellow Cornol.”

  “Surrender, you say? No, no, no. You Korveinians can go to Hakh Ne?. We will hold this position. We will resist.” Cornol Ping waved at him dismissively.

  “Fool! You are encircled, you will die here.”

  “Some may, but when you surrender to us their sacrifice will have been worth it, I think.”

  “I’ll see you in Hekh Ne? before me.” Khrekem spat.

  “Someone take this birdbrain away.”

  “Sir!” I said and took the Korveinian’s arm.

  I walked the Korveinian back to our perimeter, I squatted down. He walked into the jungle and a shot rang out, it hit the bag in front of me. I dropped the rest of the way to the ground. The monotony of siege continued. I managed to sleep for thirty minutes here or an hour there. I felt dead inside.

  There was some fighting from behind, I could hear it. The attacks started again, the fierceness was on a totally different level than before. I fired at least a thousand times, tenuously holding the line. It was another day before the attacks stopped completely. I stood, no shots came to me. I yelled in triumph, the Korveinians were retreating!

  “Soldiers,” I turned. “You all did a great job, make way, 3rd Orome is counter attacking up the track.”

  I stumbled out of the way, tripped over my weakened legs and fell. “Good luck. They like to hit the fnks.” I said.

  “Thanks.” He said with a smirk. “Go rest, you look like you’ve seen some shit.”

  I slept an entire day. A soldier I’d never seen woke me. “Hey, there are some transports, your unit is going to Port Arthur for rest and refit. Come on, you can sleep there.” I followed unquestioningly.

  We flew low, the ship seldom clipped a tree. The occasional hit was better than suffering the attacks of the Korveinian anti air artillery. We nded on the outskirts of the port city.

  I found Kenny. “Shower,” I said. She nodded and we followed the soldiers to our billets.

  We cleaned ourselves up, had a quick meal and slept more. I woke up. Kenny was still sleeping next to me. I kissed her and went to the bathroom. She was sitting up when I finished.

  “Kenny,” I said. “I need to go to the clinic.”

  “Are you hurt?” She asked with concern.

  “I need to start feminizing my body. To start hormone repcement therapy.”

  She smiled. “You can do something like that?”

  “Yeah, I’ll send you some stuff on Page. I got these resources from Corpral Tanen.”

  I sent the sites and left for the clinic. I sat for a few hours in the waiting room. I grew more nervous with every minute.

  Am I really Trans? Is this really what I am going to do in my life? I don’t know, what am I doing here?

  “Percival Rorke.” I knew in that instant that this was the correct thing for me. I went to the back with the nurse. She took my vitals and said the doctor would be with me shortly. I waited and observed the posters on the wall. A skull and parts of an eye were of particur interest. The doctor came in.

  “Ok, Mr. Rorke, how can I help you? You seem to be in good health.” He flipped thru some of the pages. “Oh, you fought on the track, thanks for saving the city.”

  “Thanks.” I said, I hadn’t really thought about having saved the city. “I want to be feminized. I want estrogen.”

  He stared at me for several minutes. “I must say, I was not expecting that as your reason for visiting.”

  “We aren’t under Korveinian rule anymore and I want how I feel on the inside to be reflected on the outside.” I said with confidence.

  “Absolutely.” He said and typed something into his pad. “Side effects include breast growth, shrinking of the testes, facial hair loss, possible heart attack and erectile dysfunction. Do you understand this and are you willing to accept these?”

  “Side effects? Those the point, they are why I’m doing this. Except for the heart attack.”

  He chuckled. “Print here then.” I pced my thumb on the pad, it rang affirmation.

  “I never much cared for the Korvy prohibition on transitioning,” he said. “My grandmother was trans, she was killed during the riots when I was a child. That was about eighty years ago.” He smiled, “You are the first I’m prescribing this to. Its a time release capsule that goes under your skin. There is enough medicine in the capsule for ten years. You can get it repced between eight and half and ten years from now. Do you have any questions?”

  “No, doctor.” The door opened, it was a nurse with a syringe. She handed it to the doctor and closed the door.

  “Pants down.” He said. I undid and pushed them down, he motioned that I should sit so I did. The needle entered my thigh and the pressure of the medicine was nearly unbearable. “All done.” He said matter of factly.

  “Thank you, doctor.” I smiled.

  “Good luck out there,” he looked at the pad, then looked at me, eyebrow raised.

  “Persephone,” I replied.

  “I will change that for you here. Or at least make a note of it. I can’t guarantee you won’t be misnamed in the future.”

  “Thank you again, doctor.” I left with a smile on my face.