I watched in spite of myself as her blonde hair gleamed with the intense, gold rays of the midday sun. The desert shined upon her and I knew she loved me, and I her. I watched as she came walking towards me with a smile spread across her face, baked tan by the constant bombardment of sunlight over the four years she had been here fighting.
I glanced towards the sky and saw the gleaming of metal flying far off in the distance. I squinted to see the shape and prayed for the telltale signs of friendly craft. My prayers went unanswered.
The shapes became larger to my eyes and I ducked behind a jutting slab of granite and screamed for my love to hurry. The ships were now clearly distinguished as Federation Scout Ships.
I watched with eyes wide and my mouth agape as the blonde hair finally realized its peril, finally realized the true meaning of the hurry which I had communicated. She looked at me, into my eyes, and began to run.
I saw the shapes begin to dive as they spied their prey and made their gun run. I watched as she stumbled over loose rocks and debris. I saw her helmet fly from her head as she ran, the gold hair spill into the sunlight, and the twinkling of the blasters on the ships.
In an instant she looked at me for the last time and mouthed my name. I saw the blaster bolts descend to where she was still frantically running toward me. The bolts stitched a path of flying dust toward her and I screamed as she was hit by a bolt and then disappeared into the powder of sand.
I attempted to run out of cover when a trooper next to me grabbed my shoulder. I turned and slammed my fist against the bridge of his nose and I felt his blood spurt out onto the back of my hand. His grip loosened and I sprinted from cover to where I last saw her.
The dust was still heavy in the dry air as I reached the spot where the blaster bolts impacted with ground. I looked towards the ground and saw the blood, saw the blonde hair still attached to a chunk of skull.
I screamed.
I cried out her name in anguish and sobbed as I picked up the small part of scalp and cradled it in my arms.
I felt a hand on my shoulder, You broke Daivins nose, the voice stopped abruptly before it could chastise me further, Oh my God.
I still had the tears on my cheeks as I stared at the desert greedily absorbing her blood. A comm crackled from behind me, Victor-Fox trot reporting downed scout ship in grid three, repeat, downed scout ship in grid three...
I sprang to my feet and ran towards grid three with blaster rifle in hand. Voices behind me were saying something about not doing anything foolish. Ignoring them, I ran for grid three.
I crested the last hill and ducked behind a rock when I saw the wreck. The ship dug deep grooves in the sand and left twisted chunks of metal in its wake. A large black burn surrounding a jagged hole in the hull of the ship rested above the engines. I watched with blazing eyes as the pilot staggered out of the cockpit and fell to the desert earth. He slowly got to his feet and looked around. I moved even closer until I was at the base of the hill.
He turned his back towards me and I jumped to my feet and lunged toward him. I covered the distance in a few seconds and tackled him to the ground. I brought the rifle over my head and swung it down and smiled in sick satisfaction as it crushed his cheekbone.
His helmet flew off and golden locks fell around her shoulders. I stared blankly for a moment as the blonde hair gleamed in the sunlight with golden brilliance. I pulled out my knife and brought it to her throat. For the third time today, I had blood on my hands.
