Chapters A little bit later.
I stood up and watched Pushka sleep for a while, she looked...cute. I don’t use that word often so calling something cute is rare for me.
Weird isnt it?. Making a least a conclusion about Pushkas sexuality would be a difficult matter for anyone but me. In a instant I had deduced that Pushka was a female. Quite logical.
Anyway, I gave Pushka some carrots that were lying around on a plate. She looked at them with even wider eyes and eat them pretty quickly.
“Damn this girl is going to be a drinker..like me”.I chuckled to myself.
For once I decided to save a living creature and scooped her up in my arms before she could fall backwards. I found her sleeping softly, Pushka was pretty soft as my skin felt her.
I was going to sell her for money, so I could drink more without trouble but now..well I suppose Im not going to. Trouble is now I have to care for my little Pushka.
“Well I suppose I can feed you,maybe take you out for a walk..after all you are my pet”, I said to her, still standing up.
A knock on the door stopped me.
I walked over to the door,I was a mess as I hadn’t washed myself or anything so I didn’t look presentable..not that I ever had to present anything. I took my time in the short walk for the door and noticed that Puskas presence had brightened the place up. All I really had was a bed, a table,two chairs and a bathroom. A cupboard full of stuff and that’s it. And now I had a cute little pony too.
I marched to the door and slammed it open but made sure that it didn’t expose Pushka, my friend wasn’t too surprised at my violent way of opening the door. It was a common trait in these parts.
“So,what am I being woken up for?”. I lied but kept a relaxed and tired face on.
“Well that went way”. I said out loud before thinking.
Two days later......
I suppose taking little Pushka out for a walk was a good idea...if it hadn’t been snowing. We usually only get snow later in the year. Only part of Pushka that could be seen was her head and upper body. Rest of her was covered in snow as she had to jump to clear it. Little hoof marks were made and the occasional body slam.
This pony is going to be one hell of tough thing to keep when she grows up.
But that concludes the walk, nothing special happened except for the fact that I had to teach her to how to talk. Almost as bad as the damn fan boys.
Well today was the day that I got back to my military activities, also the first day that I had left Pushka alone. I remember seeing the look on her face as she realised that I wasn’t going to be with her. I remember her mewling and..crying? As I left. Does she view me as her parent?. I swear if she somehow learns to speak and call me “dad” I will flip out. My name is Nexus, not dad and not the name I was born with either...just Nexus.
“Nexus drive forward!”
Thank logic that its the evening now as I stagger back to my room,begin to open my quarters door and breath heavily before entering.
“Mi mi mi mi mi”.I hear Pushka squeal from somewhere as she jumps on my flat and lying down body.
Apparently Pushka likes alcohol...apparently it makes her grow too.
“Mi mi mi mi”. She grows warm and falls asleep on me, content I think to be with her...”owner”.
She starts to cry real tears now. I never knew a pet could cry?. Her eyes tear up and her lips tremble. This is incredible but...I don’t like seeing my little Pushka upset. I think about what to do for a moment as she continues to wail. The waterworks began to stain the bed sheets.
Dammit!.What should I do?.
She no longer crys as I give her the most loving hug I have ever given anyone or anything for my entire life.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THREE MONTHS LATER.....
Military training exercises: Otherwise known as a boring waste of time. I find them to be pointless and a good excuse for the officers to order people about. This particular exercise I was currently driving my beloved T80UD around in was a “friendly competition” between the various tank units in the Division. The only reason why my tank is not knocked out with a 125mm paint round is because the best man in the best crew gets a prize.
This prize got my attention:20 BOTTLES OF VODKA were to be awarded and when I heard, well I just made sure that I would bother.
“DRIVER GET YOUR FOOT IN GEAR, THERES A T90 AIMING AT US ACROSS THE ROAD”.My commander shouts at me and I kick the tank in the fastest gear. I look around a find a deserted house...and drive into it. A second later the paint round from the “enemy” T90 hits the space where we were a few seconds ago.
Naturally it has been said that I have amazing fast reactions,many people comment on that and I didn’t prove them wrong this time as I continue driving through the house, bits of concrete and other stuff falling on the T80UD like rain.
“Driver, engage that T90”.The commander orders, he somehow expects me to find that T90 and ram it to death. Fucking idiot,I remember saying that the armed forces are being swarmed by fan boys, this is one of them.
Anyway I exit the house and burst through a hedge that somehow survived the harsh winter, but it didn’t survive a 40+ton tank with Nexus driving through it.
I ignore my commanders useless ranting as I open the hatch and survey the landscape with my own eyes. Before me is a paint ball match with tanks...stupid way to go but I’m winning that Vodka.
I stop the tank and breath heavily, then debate on where to go.
My answer is cut by the appearance of the T90, my commander whimpers.
“Good job Nexus”. The gunner says and I allow myself a brief smile.
My secret weapon then kicks into sense and I recoil back from my thinking and throw the T80 forwards just as a another T90 fires. The metallic shape of a 125mm round ejects out of the gun barrel in a plump of super heated smoke.
“Gunner,load a shell”. I whisper quietly into the crew intercommunication set.
This is where it gets tricky,I can turn the engine on and risk detection or...I can put the brakes off.
Soon we hit the bottom off the ridge and I hit the brakes as the tank comes to a sudden stop.
Just in time as the T90 crests the ridge, it then thunders down quickly before the driver slams on the brakes having noticed my T80UD sitting on the bottom of the ridge,barrel pre aimed and waiting for it , he brakes too quickly and it flips over comically.
I see a massive pillar of smoke eject before a red hot paint round slams into the overturned T90 and “kills it”.
My secret weapon is sixth sense that allows me to react before something happens. This happens again and I get a sudden feeling of being fired upon by several tanks.
My sixth sense was right again as a pair of T72s appear, they fire and miss like all the others.
The second just rockets past, how these fools passed basic training is beyond me.
The second wiggles its turret from some strange reasons, ironically it somehow manges to miss a stationary target.
We lost eventually as we got surrounded by something like ten of them. I think that was because my cry baby of a commander refused to help. I slugged him in the face when I realised what he did and after we got out of the tank.
I think he’s still in hospital.
I open my door and Pushka meets me as usual, happy to see me and her mane in a curl?.
Anyway we do the usual hugging as I bend down and peck her in the cheek.
One year later.....
A year ago Pushka called me the word which I most dreaded. That word is “daddy”. I taught her to speak both Russian and English, she speaks English better than I can. We have also moved off site to a good house in the middle of the city. From there she can move around and not be cooped up all day.
Two months later.
She used her magic for the first time. I didnt know what the hell she was doing until I got back from a parade with a few alcohol bottles. I was slightly drunk when I opened the front door and marched inside.
She giggled promptly and then moved them all out of reach. I gave up.
“No, its make you look terrible, your blue eyes go thin and I can see so much pain in your expression when you drink. I just don’t like to see you this way Dad”. Pushka replied in her high class English accent, she looked pretty depressed when she said it.
I have to admit she’s right, when I look in the mirror normally, I see a shaved headed man with lines on his face, he doesn’t laugh much either and his blue eyes are of the coldest blue imaginable.
“I suppose your right, what’s on the television”. I suggest and change the mood of the conversation.
“How about total wipeout?”.2012
At least Pushka was at my side the entire way, thanks to her I started to look better, I drank less and less. The lines of my face began to fade away, the pair of eyes that unnerved people so much had life thrown into them and I grew hair for once when I refused to have my head shaven.
Life seemed better in the military too, I took artillery training,gunner training,emergency loader training and in a year I was a tank commander in charge of a battalion. All they had to do was to promote me to colonel.
And then life went downhill.....
A/N. For any of you are wondering. I know the guy known as "Nexus", from here on (13th August) this fic will be no longer be based on his life. And yes, everything that happened is true....
13th August 2012.
I walked down the long shifting corridor that led to my current destination, I passed numbered rooms where tests were being carried out on armour and gun penetration.
I walk extremely fast, its been noted by many that in a sprinting race, all I have to do is to walk to win. In this case, the pair of Sargent’s thought I was out of ear shot when they started talking.
“Did you hear about Captain Nexus?”. One of them started the conversation off, trying to whisper by holding a hand of his mouth. I presume they were looking at me.
That was true, I am starting to get slightly unstable now. I think Pushka regards getting me off alcohol as a bad experiment.
Anyway I continued into the medical section of the sprawling complex that consisted off numerous barracks, tank depots and other places that I never bothered to visit.
It was difficult to focus on one thing for more than a few minutes, after that I would start to develop a twitch that lasted for hours on end.
“Soon”.Was in fact a hour long wait, I sat there and twiddled my thumbs so to say. By then I had gotten a nervous twitch in my eye which flickered so much it was difficult to see properly.
I stood up and stretched a little, letting my body out of the sitting position it had been in for some time.
The last thing I remembered was a mask being placed on my head and the world went black as a gas filled my lungs.
~~~~~~~~~~~Three hours later.
I woke up some time later, I felt like a chainsaw had just split me in half. Knowing the reputation of these people,they might have just done that.
As soon as I checked my head was screwed on propely, I looked down my body to see that my uniform was still on. Although my cap and medals were sitting on a table. Standing over me was one of those “doctors” with a clip board. Seeing that I was awake. He prepared to say something.
“Do you want the good news or the bad news?”. He asked, not concerned or anything about how I could take this. Like a typical Russian I suppose.
As always I wanted the bad news, made the good news sound better than it was usually.
“Well I don’t know how to say this Captain”.
“What s the good news then”.
With that I left, broken spirits slightly.Night time streets.
I walked home for once. Didn’t take the bus, I would usually use a bike or jog from job to home. And of course taking a car was out of the equation. I still have my fear of cars to be fair.
“I am going to die”. Came to mind, that’s all I had left in me. 10 years.
“Hey look guys,its a “Captain” on patrol”. A rough voice that sounded like a typical Moscow teenager broke my chain of thought. I spun round on my heels and faced directly into a gang of teenagers.
“We would like you to dump your uniform and give us your wallet...please”. The ringleader of the group crackled and so did his little group of followers.
This pathetic attempt did not impress.
The second jumped on my back and tried to lock my arms.
The fourth hang back as the ringleader joined the fight.
The last and fifth was soon reducded to a dead hulk within seconds.
Pushka loved the sights of Russia, the Kremlin and the snowy Siberia where we live was a fantastic place to look at. Whens it not freezing deathly cold of course.
A few evenings later, I had gotten back from my job, unlocked the keys as usual to find that there was no excited Pushka to greet me. The house was dark and felt like something was missing.
I did start to panic but the logical side told me that she could be sleeping.
Problem was, she was gone.
WAIT.
My daughter is gone.
I rang my rich friend. I told him to get the travel schedule going.
For the next three years I was all over the world trying to find her. I never stopped looking, I didnt eat much either in my quest to find her.
“Daddy do you like my clothes”.
“Daddy will you ever leave?”.
Pushka come back.
Its August 12th 2022.
The offensive has begun!. My spell check was down so I apologise for any spelling mistakes.
When I look at myself in the mirror now, I see a man who was once happy and has now had that happenings sucked out of him. The pain has caused this once bright man to be full of hate for everything that lives.
I see a man who can only feel pain, a man who finds more than a few hours of sleep difficult to archive. This man I am look at everyday when I get up has numerous bloody scars all over him, one eyes is always bloodshot while the other is permanently encased in a never ending twitch. I see the rage plastered on his face, I see a man who has seen war for what it is. I see a man who has killed hundreds and thinks nothing about it. I see arms and legs full of muscle that will never grow old. I see decorations and medals that he was awarded.
I see a man who finds it painful to think, painful to sit down a rest. I see a man who has lost everything. I see a man whose family is dead and his daughter forever gone. I see myself in that mirror.
I see death and it stares right at me. I see a colonel of a armoured battalion staring back, and I see that he is ready. Central Military District Siberian front. 5th Guards Separate Tank Brigade 1st T99 Battalion. Forward operating point. Colonel “Nexus”. August 13th 2022. 01:23. 2mins to zero hour. Operation “Iron Maiden”
ACT ONE."Preparations "
I had finished preparations for our gigantic offensive into China.
The attack is going to consist of over a million soldiers, thousands of tanks, helicopters, aircraft spread out over a gigantic 200mile wide front. Half a million artillery pieces will sound the beginning of operation rolling thunder.
My division is going to secure the forward edges of the battle zone by using massive transport aircraft and take Beijing itself in preparation for a giant squadron of bombers to level the place.
I check my watch and see that the time is 01:24, one minute till the attack begins.
Its a Antov225, a decade ago we had only one in service, now we have hundreads of them flying about. Advances in factory output has allowed the Russian war machine to rise back to cold war levels of manpower, we have the largest tank fleet in the world. 3.4million enlisted.
The loading door closes and I hear the An225s engines begin to power up, sirens wail outside and I glance at my watch.
Now we are up in the air, I go forward into the cockpit and look out one of the larger windows. Below me is a incredible sight. Millions of black dots line the ground below.A few hours later
“An225 squadron “Big Fish”, approaching target zone. We are 10mintues out”. The lead pilot who sat infront of me reported as he flicked switches and did what pilots do.
“Roger that, however fighters have not cleared the airspace as planned, artillery saturation has rendered most of enemy anti aircraft emplacements destroyed. But be on the look out for any missiles or flak that will come your way Big Fish”.
“Da, we will air drop as planned Big fish out”. The pilot responded and cut off the communication link. He fiddled around with the flight stick in front of him as he corrected the transports heading and height.
I nodded to him and walked out of the cockpit. My intention was to prepare for the ten thousand foot drop.
Expansion from a million under arms into four million was massive, the ratio of veteran crews and personal like myself who had been serving for a long time was dangerously stretched thin.
“Colonel there’s a call coming in from General Strakista, its marked urgent”.My gunner who was busy doing something or other outside poked his head in the hatch and reported.
“General cant you see I’m busy preparing for the drop?”.I bluntly remarked.
“Where am I needed then General?”. I confidently said, they couldn’t just let one of the best commanders sit out could they?
“On it General”.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ACT TWO: Madness.
“Da, tank 103 is ready”.
“30seconds till drop, doors opening”. A artificial voice reported and I heard the metallic sound of the rear doors at the back of the AN-225 being opened.
Or maybe they just liked swearing a lot, I don’t know really.
“Ten seconds till drop, loading ramp fully extended”.The last words of the “AI” spoke and we were being moved backwards into position. I guess the first tank to be dropped out was probably hanging out the plane right now.
“9 seconds”. I counted.
Even thousands of feet up in the air I could hear surface to air missiles strike my battalions transport planes, they crash into a section and blow it away,leaving the transports falling to earth and its cargo being scattered in the air like toys.
“Second tank away, third loading into position”. The same process repeats with the second tank, it rockets off the loading ramp and falls into the air.
“Launch in three,two,one, zero”.
“All units launched,proceed to RTB”. I heard the nearby radio call of my transport as it headed back to base.
“Two thousand feet sir”.
On August 13th,2022. At 07:34 in the morning, we land in the middle of my battalion of tanks.
ACT THREE.“Tread heads”.
Ive been shouting orders for the past hour now,been ordering dozens of tanks to their positions.
When enemy units are in range the following happens:.
Its like a fucking video game sometimes.
“Colonel Nexus?”.I hear a communication channel being switched in my headphones.
“We wont last long against those odds General”. I bluntly say.
I hear the click of the channel cut off.
“This is red moon we are ARGGHHHHHHHHHH”.
The radio traffic is clogged with screams and shouts, the noise of men desperate not to die and the cold commands of others trying to regain order.
I spot a group of Chinese Type99s, they seem to be in a state of shock that prevents them from getting a shot off.
“Driver, ram that tank ahead”. In the middle of chaos of armoured warriors clashing against each other.
We then move to engage another tank
The next target followd the same rountine.
A/N: Final chapter guys, thanks for reading.Date:August 13th 2012. Location:Unknown. Time: 15:04.
“Colonel Nexus put up a terrific fight with the remains of his battalion on the 13th August 2012 against overwhelming enemy forces. He later went missing, however we believe we is dead as his body and those of several Chinese soldiers went missing, only the burnt out remains of his tank and a few pieces of burnt clothing was recovered.”. “I believe he never found peace, someone as inhuman as Nexus will never find peace”. “Nexus never dies, he’s just missing in action”. “Daddy will you be there forever for me?, I don’t want to be alone”.
When I hear your voice,its seems like your there, sitting beside me. When I look at that picture of you, I cry for hours on end. Please don’t go. I cant live without you. Please I love you too much to see you go on your own. Please stay with me. Forever in my heart. Please....don’t die.
Do not stand at my grave and weep. I am not there. I do not sleep. I am a thousand winds that blow together. I am the diamonds that glint on snow. I am the sun that brings life to all. I am the gentle autumn rain. I am the quiet birds that slowly sing a song. I am the soft star shine at night. Do not stand at my grave and cry. I am not there. I did not die.
I am Nexus and I am the connection to multiple elements.
Just a few minutes ago I was fighting in China. My battalion was getting overrun, the situation was desperate so I called in a EMP to stop the Chinese from reaching their main base. The death I can figure was in the millions as the device exploded and took out all electrical systems.
It destroyed my tank, set me in fire. I clambered out and smothered the flames before falling on the ground, still burning. Desperately I tried to save myself as I rolled around in the snow. A few minutes later and there was no more snow and I was no longer burning. I stared at my broken body and found it still worked. I was in a another world, just me and some Chinese soldiers hell bent on killing. I don’t go down easily.
I crawled on the ground, I couldn’t stand up since the pain was unbearable. I think I had broken a kneecap or something. My face was covered in mud and the veins on my body were a bright blue tingling with red as I bled more blood that appeared on the ground around me.
A pair of them came over and prodded me, hoping to see if I was alive.
I was going to die by the hands of these bastards.
I stand on both of my shattered legs and look down on the two men. I am much taller.
Their eyes pop as their final moments come....and go.
I barley have time to evaluate my strange surroundings before another Chinese leaps on my back and holds my neck in place with a sharp knife. I realise he is trying to choke to death,like what I did to his comrades a few brief seconds ago.“Daddy”.
I ready my shoulders but relax, luring him into a false sense of security.“Daddy where are you?”
Something is calling, a voice I know. But I haven’t heard it for years. I want to reply but I cant.
We clash and throw fists at each other, I keep my knife away as I wait for the moment to strike.
I let the dead Chinaman flop to the floor, I am bleeding from the gunshots. Pretty heavily. I wont last for long.“Daddy answer me”.
The object in question completely decapitates a tree and makes it fall over, the trunk of it having been sliced open like a person being cut open by a chainsaw.
I turned round as I heard a twig snap.
It flaps its massive wings and the shockwaves throw me in the ground, I start to bled heavier now as the adrenaline has disappeared.
“Stop whatever you are doing in the name of Princess Celestia!” A female voice, accompanied by what sounds like swords being rattled enters my ears.
“I have a rough idea on who you are”. She says in a royal kind of voice, I guess this one is pony royalty. Since I cant talk I have to point to my mouth and use basic signing.
“Thanks”. I mutter.
The medical report. The heart, the papers strewn everywhere in my bedroom when Pushka left. I’m going to die today aren’t I?
At first I don’t know what she means, then as a large door at the end of the hallway opens slowly I begin to realise who it is.
“Yes I took her”. The royal pony admits.
“Because I saw what state she was in, I know you were trying to do your best but leaving your offspring alone for hours on end, drinking too much and coming home drunk is not the best thing you could do. I also realised that you were going to die, Rarity does not know I’m afraid about that”.
I guess Rarity is Pushkas new name.
“So this...”human” ere” is ya father”One of the friends speaks with a American country accent, I suppose she is saying what they all think.
“How have you been getting on Pushka?”. I ask, content to know what she’s been doing.
“Will you be here now?, with me?”. She asks the question that I’ve been dreading. She doesn’t know about the paper and my condition.
I hand it to her and she reads it..
10 minutes later and I was on my deathbed. Well to be exact I was dying on the floor. So “deathfloor”.
I could see the pained expression in Pushkas eyes, Princess Celestia and the other five ponies were busy trying to calm Pushka down as she cried and cried and cried.
I hug her tightly for the last time.
I let her go and slump back down on to the floor.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The year is 2010..and a half.
Almost funny that I’m a tank driver, I go by the name “Nexus”,it isn’t Russian and was somehow coined to me when my father who is the commander of the tank division that I served in. Saw my talent for driving tanks and apparently said.
Anyway today is a good one. Out in the training grounds for my tank divison.Ive been serving for a few years, thanks to my father of course I am well respected and treated by the officers. Some people ask me why I didnt just get promoted. Well...its because I prefer being a sargent.
Of course the one that I was teaching on today was unfortuantly stocked with live ammouniation.
The last one almost ended up in a ditch, why the hell they even let these morons in always confused me. I frowned and shoved the recruit out.
I was lucky enough to have my head shieled from the grenade. But I knew what was going to happen. You never want to stay in a tank thats about to “cook off”. So I opened the drivers hatch and sprinted for my life. It then exploded. I was a good distance away but a piece of the tank itself hit my shoulder blade and I collasped soon afterwards.
A few hours or a day later I believe, I was in hospital. A local one.
I was admitted out quickly.
Anyway, long story short. I got slightly drunk this time, no too drunk that I had to fiddle around with my phone and call fifty random numbers while laughing hysterically in a effort to call one of my fellow sargents to pick me up.
For a quick detour I had decided to go through the training ground, slip under the barbed wire and then just a few mintues walk, saves time.
So what did I do?.
“Sshhh, they hear you!”. I tried to whisper but shouted instead.
I was confused.
The question then came up. “What the hell was that thing last night?”.I said outload.
Thats when I realised that it could have use as a pet. Some weird coloured foal with massive eyes and a horn would be a good pet.
"Heh, my little Puska pony".
During world war two, the same battalion that I command now was cut off during the German Invasion. Outnumbered and out gunned the battalion fought till they were all dead. They paid a heavy price and the Germans suffered appalling casualties.
A few hours later and history is repeating itself. When I order my gunner to fire, I destroy a Chinese tank. But there are thousands of these things that my battalion is fighting. And there are thousands more coming. Our reinforcements are being delayed as the Chinese throw human waves at them.
My air supports is being mauled by anti aircraft batteries.
I shield my eyes as it explodes, a red ball of fire in the middle of a white snowy environment.
I say nothing as I get a vision of a shell hitting the turret and penetrating. The shell is going to come from the left in six seconds.
“This is tank 403, we are cut off and surrounded on highway 666, we are going down fighting”. I have been hearing stuff like this all day.
“Gunner, 20 degrees, fire”. I order, spotting a moving target.
The Chinese retaliate and destroy the tank next to mine.
“Infantry are trying to disable our tracks, keep a watch out we ARGHHHHHH!”. The radio cuts off as yet another tank explodes, this time by Chinese infantry.
Gripping the handle and pulling the trigger, I enact revenge and move the fuckers down.
They die quickly, I then look to the left and see a vast armada of new armoured divisions approaching us. Thousands of tanks fire on the move, most of them miss but the volley of shots reduce my remaining force to about six.
We cannot win at this rate. Grudgingly I get on the radio and call the General. My hands sweat despite the cold.
I need to say something to my men.
Then we get penetrated.
The gunners head is pulped like a pumpkin as razor sharp fragments destroy him.
30 seconds later I had loaded a shell in and found my first target by looking through the thermal sights. Its signature matches a Type-99.
My hands grip the next shell, its not heavy but the weight is enough to make me strain as I load it into the gun.
“Operation Dead Mans hand is now in action, I repeat operation Dead Mans is operational. All units retreat”. The still working radio reports.
“Dead Mans hand” is a electro magnetic pulse that disables anything electrical.
