Bruce decanted from the recovery tank a few days later as the Lord Commander had said. His body felt weak like it didn’t belong to him. The support staff told him that was normal and was a typical side effect of the body blocker they’d put on him while he was in recovery. He was brought down to his room and for the first few days, they came up to his living chamber three times a day to administer growth injections for his leg. After that, he was given a crutch and left to his own devices while his body recovered. The injections were to continue for another week, but he was expected to make his way down to the medbay to receive them. Finally, he was mandated a seven thousand calorie per day requirement to support his body. It didn’t matter how.
Bruce grabbed his tray from the window inside the mess deck before hopping his way over to where his squad typically sat, the contents of the tray clanking about as he did so. For some reason, the squad almost always sat in the same spot, in the same formation with three members on each side. Zack, Kelly, Candice on one side, Bruce and Andrew on the other. The sixth spot, to the left of Bruce, would eventually be filled with their new team member since Doug was no longer part of the team.
“Where’s your crutch?” Andrew asked as Bruce slammed his tray down and flopped onto the stool next to him at the table.
Bruce shook his head, “Don’t worry about it.”
Zack, sitting across from him to his left, pressed him about it. “No no, where is it. It’s gotta be easier to use than hopping around.” His voice raised a bit in an effort to get the story out. He always messed with the squad.
Bruce pulled a leg off the roasted half chicken on his plate and took a massive bite, chewed and swallowed. He let out a sigh, “Dude, these ships are not made for helldivers who are missing limbs.”
“Well no,” Kelly said, “Most of the time we don’t lose a whole limb. The medbay patches us up and we’re back to it the next day. MOST people don’t cut their own legs off.”
The squad chuckled.
Bruce let out an aggravated sigh then explained. The crutch helped as a stand in for his other leg, but it frequently got in the way of mobility. It became immediately apparent to Bruce that Super Destroyers were not designed with disabled Helldivers in mind. Most of the walkways and catwalks inside the ship were made of a steel grate material that was just wide enough for the tip of the crutch to get caught. More than once, Bruce found himself dragging the crutch behind him while using the catwalk railing for support. The final straw came after two days when the tip of the crutch caught the lip of the twelfth floor while riding the Hellchute back to his living pod from the med bay. The abrupt stop sent the top part up into Bruce's chin. While it didn’t cause much visible damage, the mental toll it took on him was debilitating. He missed his floor, and rode the chute down to the Hellport launch bays. A blind rage had taken him, and responding Helldivers had found him swearing and screaming while bending the crutch until it was nothing more than a twisted clump of metal.
“Another fun fact I found about Super Destroyer ship design,” Bruce shouted, “Hellbay’s are of course designed with efficiency in mind. Helldivers in through the Hellchute,” He gestured up with his left hand and made a diagonal sliding gesture with his hand down toward the table, “and out through the Hellport launch in the Hellpods.” He brought his right hand up to his left, made a fist, then dropped it down toward the table. “Why would anyone need to go back up once they got into the Hellbay during the launch sequence? Most Helldivers returned from their missions inside a Pelican right?” He said looking around the table at the squad as they nodded. “Well it fucken TURNS OUT, there IS a way out of the Hellbay during that time! A ladder. A God Damn ladder. About eight inches wide,” He held up his hands to show the distance as his friends lost themselves in laughter. “So here’s me, Ole One Leg Bruce, hopping up the ladder one rung at a time while everyone getting prepped for their drop is down below cheering for me.”
His friend's laughter actually made Bruce feel good in a way he hadn’t in a while. It’s easy to wallow in misery when you’re by yourself, but something about shared misery makes the most fond memories.
“They should call it,” Zack wheezed between breaths, “The Stairway to Heaven”!
At this, the whole group lost control to the point where none of them could breathe and tears ran down their face. As their laughter subsided, they resumed eating their chow. Currently, chow was roast chicken, broccoli, rice, and the mandatory protein shake that was suspiciously thick. Almost like a milk shake, but it didn’t taste anything like a milk shake.
Andrew was the first to break the silence, “It’s been a few days for ya now. Have you been enjoying your little break from diving?”
“Sort of,” Bruce answered honestly, “At first it was nice to be able to sleep for more than a few hours at a time, but I get bored a lot.”
“What’s that like?” Kelly asked, bringing the protein shake to her lips.
“I mean I don’t know.” Bruce said pushing rice around on his plate, “We’re out here zipping around the galaxy for a reason, and I’m just up here laying around ya know? Kinda seems like a waste of time.”
“I’d be catching up on movies if I were you.” Andrew said.
“I’d be in the gym every day.” Zack said.
“What would you do in the gym with this?” Bruce asked, lifting his leg up to lay the growing stump of his leg on the table. “You think you can squat with this?”
Zack snorted then brought his hand to his mouth as a he convulsed with a mixture of coughing and laughing.
“LEG OFF THE TABLE HELLDIVER!” One of the support staff overwatching the mess deck shouted.
Candice slapped his leg off the table. “You can’t keep doing that Bruce. One of these days the Lord Commander is going to send you out a Hellport without a pod.”
“Whatever. It’d be more interesting than laying around here doing nothing.” Bruce said.
“Why don’t you go exploring the ship?” Kelly asked. “I’ve never been to the command deck. I bet that would be cool.”
“Can we go there?” Andrew asked.
“Why not?” Kelly reasoned, “They told us we had free reign to go wherever we want on the ship. I just never have time to check it out.” Kelly reasoned.
“Or you could study for the pilots exam.” Candice suggested. “You always talk about how you want to be a pilot. Why don’t you take this time to study for it?” She scooped her fork through the rice then stabbed a piece of broccoli, “The next test is at the end of the month. If you start now, maybe you could make it happen.”
Bruce paused for a moment, chicken leg half way to his mouth, “You know, that’s not a half bad idea. Maybe I will do that.”
“HELLPORT LAUNCH SEQUENCE INITIATED. CREW TO STATIONS.” Blared over the speakers as the red initiation lights spun overhead. Andrew and Kelly stood and joined several other Helldivers in a mad sprint for the Hell chutes. Zack stood, mug in hand, and looked to Bruce and Candice, “Looks like that's us. You two good?” he asked, draining the rest of his drink.
“We’ll be fine. You should get moving unless you want to be a traitor.” Candice said.
“I live on this deck.” Zack responded, wiping the drink from his lip. “I’ll be the first one down to the bays. See you both when we get back.”
Bruce raised a fist toward Zack while Candice said “May freedom light your path.”
Zack punched Bruce’s fist then jogged off toward the exit of the mess deck. Bruce turned to look at Candice, “You don’t have to go?”
“I guess not.” She shrugged, “I don’t make the rules.”
The two helldivers sat in companionable silence enjoying the rest of their dinner for a minute. It occurred to Bruce that this was the first time he’d been more or less alone with Candice without being on a dive. He looked across the table at her and something happened inside him. Maybe it was her posture and the way she was sitting, slightly slouched but clearly ready to react to something if needed. Maybe it was the way the rolled up sleeves of her shirt expose the muscles of her forearms. His eyes crawled up her arm to her strong shoulders, along her neck then up to her red hair where it was pulled back in a tight ponytail. He found himself admiring the slight freckles on her face and her dark brown eyes and imagining her behind an E/MG-101 emplacement cackling like a banshee as round after round of 12.5 mm rounds lay waste to the hordes surrounding them.
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He couldn’t imagine a better way to die.
“You alright buddy?” She asked, making sudden eye contact.
Sweet Liberty he was staring again.
“Yeah... Uhmm.” He stammered, darting his eyes across the room to examine a very boring and uninteresting part of the wall. “Just thinking about our last drop.”
“Oh yeah?” She smirked. “Our last op? What about it were you thinking about.”
Bruce’s squad comm showed a high heart rate and he took a deep breath, trying to recover, “I don’t know, just regular drop stuff I guess.”
“Uh huh. Drop stuff.”
“Yeah. Drop stuff.”
Candice chuckled and took one last bite of her dinner. “Ok. Drop stuff.”
As red lights stopped spinning,Bruce became aware of just how quiet it was on the mess deck now that the drop had taken place. The silence was deafening. Blood surged in Bruce’s ears and he couldn’t tell if it was because of the experimental auto injector, or if he was just awkward. He had to say something.
“It’s really quiet in here.” He said
STUPID
“Yeah it is huh?” Candice said, “I’ve never been in here during a drop before.”
“Me neither.”
“Well, silence or not. I’m gonna get out of here.“ Candice said standing. “Need a hand?”
“One final observation.” Bruce said, finally getting control of his emotions and standing. “The seats in the mess hall are the perfect height for my leg. Since no one is here, I can almost feel like I’m walking again!”
“Would ya look at that.” Candice said, gathering the trays their companions left when they ran out. “He’s learning to walk again.”
“Oh shut up.” Bruce said, gathering his own tray.
They walked toward the exit and dropped the trays at the recycler on their way past. After a few awkward hops onto the catwalk, Candice draped Bruce’s arm across her shoulders then wrapped the arm closest to him across his back to grab a handful of his armpit.
“What are you doing?” He stammered
“You looked awkward so I thought I’d give you a hand. Or a leg, if you will.”
“Ha. Ha.” Bruce said sarcastically, but he did smile as they made their way toward the Hellchutes.
Great Constitution she’s strong, he thought to himself. He weighed nearly one hundred kilos and she was keeping him up without any sort of struggle.
When they got to the Hellchute, Bruce untangled himself from her shoulders.
“Same time tomorrow?” Bruce asked
“Sure. Or I guess we could go meet the others at the Hanger when they come back.” Candice responded.
“Yeah.” Bruce said, lost in thought. “I’ve never done that before. That might be kinda nice. What are you going to do until then?”
“I was going to get some rack time but since they just dropped, I must be off this cycle so I don’t know. What are you going to do?”
“I thought about checking out the command deck like Kelly suggested.”
Candice cocked her head to the side at the suggestion. “Want company? That might be fun. I’ve never been there before either.”
“Yeah, let’s do it!” Bruce said smiling. He grabbed the railing so Candice wouldn’t offer to carry him again, and they began making their way to the front of the super destroyer.
The walk to the front took a bit longer than they had thought it would. The cylinder of space craft serving as the Helldivers' berthing area narrowed to a single door that irised open as they approached, leading to a long gray hallway. The hallway was roughly fifty meters by Bruce’s estimate. A sign on the wall indicated the command deck would be all the way down at the far end of the hallway. As they walked, they passed doors that read SUPPORT BERTHING, STRATAGEM STAGING, INBOUND/OUTBOUND, SCIENCE LABORATORY and a few others Bruce didn’t understand. At the end of the hallway stood double doors that pulled open toward them to reveal the command deck.
Stretching out before Bruce stood a catwalk leading toward a circular platform with a hologram of a planet raised above it. To either side of the platform, a set of stairs led down to rows of computers where Bruce assumed the ships support staff busied themselves. Beyond the hologram platform sat another set of support staff with their own computer terminals. Large monitors sat above them, data scrolling by too fast for Bruce to comprehend. Three large glass windows slanting upward at an angle gave a prime spot to view the planet below. Before these windows, the Lord Commander stood like a statue staring down.
“HELLDIVER ON DECK!” Someone shouted and immediately, all support staff in the room popped to attention to the sound of chairs toppling. Unsure of what to do, Candice also popped to attention, while Bruce did his best to stand still on one leg.
“AT EASE!” The Lord Commander shouted, turning from the windows and striding toward the two friends. “Welcome to the command deck Helldivers. What brings you up here?” he asked, rounding the planetary hologram.
Candice spoke first as Bruce reached for the railing to his left, “Sir! We are off drop for this cycle and thought we’d do a little exploring of the ship.”
“Exploring you say?” The Lord Commander replied, a smirk stretching the left side of his chiseled face. “And what do you intend to find on this little expedition of yours?”
“I’m starting to go a little crazy in my bunk sir.” Bruce explained, “A few of our squad mates suggested we look around with our time off. Diver Candice wasn’t selected this cycle so she decided to come along with me.”
“Interesting. Well come on up front with me. I was enjoying the view.” The Lord Commander said, turning to lead the pair down the catwalk. “Each section of the ship has a representative on the command deck that monitors the status of their department. They’re checking things like weather readings from the planet below, status of supplies across the ship, and monitoring feeds from SEAF command.”
“Sections? How many are there? I thought it was just the Helldivers and support.” Bruce asked.
“There are six operational categories to the SEAF. At least, when it comes to a Super Destroyer that is.” The Lord Commander explained, “Each has its own designation. For example, H1 is Personnel. They handle medical, food, and ship cleanliness. H2 is Stratagem Support, H3 is Helldiver Operations and so on. Everything you two deal with is in H3. The other sections are more or less siloed into their own area.”
“This is a lot bigger operation than I thought.” Candice said.
“It takes a lot to support our brave Helldivers on their mission to spread managed democracy to the stars. Each section sends their data up here to the command deck where these support staff combine them into mission briefings and send them up to me here.” The Lord Commander bent forward to rest both hands on either side of a monitor on the rim of the planetary hologram. He gestured for Bruce and Candice to do the same.
“Here,” He continued, tapping a button “I select which missions to send our brave soldiers on.” He used the controls to make the planet spin, zoom in and out, and hover over highlighted areas around the planet. “Once the mission has been selected, I press this big red button and the staff back there make it happen.”
“It’s that easy?” Bruce said, leaning against the edge of the viewing area. “You just push that button and we head to our death?”
The Lord Commander regarded him with a stare that would stop a Behemoth in it’s tracks. “I do my best to make sure you’re all matched to the mission that best suits you. Trust me son, I’ve lost my share of friends defending humanity. Same as you. There’s more to it than sending our youth into the meat grinder.”
Candice, noticing the tension between Bruce and the Lord Commander, tried to cut in, “Once you pick a mission, what happens then?”
The Lord Commander held Bruce’s gaze for a moment longer before turning to Candice, “Orders go out to the Lieutenants back there, and the ship gets ready for drop. The Executive Officer plots a course to get the ship into position over the mission area. The flight crew gets to the flight deck ready, and the support deck readies the stratagems that the Helldivers select. Finally, the Hellports are primed so they are ready when the Helldivers get there.
“How long does that take?” Candice asked.
“After I pick a mission, each of the teams is given fifteen minutes to read up on the mission and prepare their department for deployment. They go through their proper checks and updates. Once those fifteen are up, the call for Helldivers goes out, and everything falls into place.”
“Or drops into place.” Bruce said.
The Lord Commander smiled at that and nodded. “Or drops into place.”
Bruce continued, “Ok so what do you do when a drop is underway?”
“Most of the time,” The Lord Commander stood up from the monitor to point at the windows, “I stand up there and watch. The view is incredible, and sitting up here powerless while my Helldivers are down there dispensing justice doesn’t sit well with me. Let’s go take a look.”
Bruce followed the Lord Commander to the front windows and took in the view. A blue planet with scattered islands stretched beneath him. The planet's silvery rings reflected the bright white light of the system's sun in contrast to the planet's soft, greenish blue atmosphere. To Bruce’s surprise, several other Super Destroyers were visible in the distance above the planet. Periodically, stratagems or orbital bombardments could be seen launching toward the planet.
“Sacred bill of rights,” Candice whispered. “It’s beautiful.”
“Yes it is.” The Lord Commander agreed.
The sight wasn’t lost on Bruce either, but for a different reason. “Are all those ships just like ours?” Bruce asked.
“Most of them. Some are supply ships for emergencies but almost every ship out there is a Super Destroyer like ours.” The Lord Commander explained.
“Man... I guess I thought it was just us against the whole planet?” Bruce said. “I had no idea there were so many on an offensive like this. There must be one hundred ships out there.”
“There are over three hundred ships in orbit around this planet.” The Lord Commander said.
“Why so many?” Candice asked.
The Lord Commander shrugged, “It’s a big planet. I guess Super Earth really wants this one.”
“Any idea why?” Bruce asked.
The Lord Commander laughed, “No idea Helldiver. I thought once I made Lord Commander, and was in charge of a ship, I would get some insight, but they scarcely tell me more than they tell you. I found its easier to just do what I’m told than ask questions that might keep me up between drops.”
“No matter how high up the chain you get, we’re still just cogs in the wheel.” Bruce said with more venom in his voice than he probably wanted.”
“Careful there.” The Lord Commander warned, leaning in close, “If someone overhears that tone, they might start to wonder where your allegiances lie.”
“We wouldn’t need to worry about that I don’t think.” Candice said quickly, “He cut his own leg off to complete the mission on Lastofe. No one would think he’s anything but dedicated.”
“Speaking of,” Bruce said, “I think I need to get to the medbay for my next round of injections. They said everything is coming along and I should be ready to get back into the rotation on schedule.”
“Excellent to hear Helldiver.” The Lord Commander said, “You’re an up and comer Bruce. I need you back to one hundred percent so you can get back to spreading democracy.”
“Thank you sir. I’ll do what I can.” Bruce responded, standing a little taller at the praise from his superior. The two Helldivers snapped to attention and gave a crisp salute.
The Lord Commander returned his salute and turned to continue looking out the window as the war raged below.
