Desperate Times

"Hey Rico. If you could meet an author, living or dead, who would it be?"

"The living one."

Thomas "Sev" Sevchenko rolled his eyes and returned them to the wonders of his rifle's scope. He should have known better than to expect a response that even bordered on being intellectual from Rico. Not that intellectual thinking was going to do the ISA much good down here on Helghan, but if it would shield him from the knowledge that every non-helghast on the barren world was as good as dead, so be it.

"You know what I admire most in a woman? Proximity."

Sev glanced at Natko, currently entertaining some privates of what seemed to be a tale including a loss of virginity. Sev couldn't be bothered to stop him-it seemed cruel to tell such tales to kids who were probably still virgins as well and would probably remain that way unless their tastes were either exotic or they got desperate. He'd heard that a half-human had aided Rico and Templar back on Vekta, but he hadn't inquired too much. His friends, back before one was dead literally and the other was dead figuratively, were enough to handle.

Watching as Rico took out a lighter, he appeared that his fellow NCO wanted to be dead literally as well.

"Hey Rico, get that crap out of your mouth," Sev murmured, making a half-hearted attempt to swipe the cancer stick and failing.

"Come on man, it's just a cancer stick. Don't give me crap about-…"

"Rico, cigarettes are like weasels. They seem harmless, but once you put them in your mouth and try to set fire to them-…"

"Then I'll get a whiff of what's proven to be an effective contraceptive for pregnant woman. Now shut up and fuck off."

Sev sighed. He didn't know why he cared. Smoking probably wasn't going to kill Rico. Heck, smoking probably wasn't going to kill any of them. Camped out in the wastelands, having retreated from the assault on Visari's palace, they could either go out in a gunfight from helghast, be vaporized by an aerial assault from helghast warships or, if they were really good at fighting and hiding, they could go out in the glory of starvation and exposure. How fitting.

"Alright guys, time to move out," came the voice of a lieutenant that Sev recognized, but didn't know the name to. Man would be dead too soon to bother with names.

"The Intruder?" Sev asked. "It's working?"

The CO shrugged. "Pilot said he didn't like the sound of the engine. Still, we've got a new pilot flying it now, so problem solved."

Rico snorted, Natko swore and Sev remained silent. Under normal circumstances, a faulty engine would be cause for inspection. However, since faulty engines probably encompassed normal circumstances now, he supposed he and every other marine would have to put up with it.

Boarding the Intruder and taking a glance at every other member of the walking dead, Sergeant Sevchenko knew he'd have to put up with a lot of things.