The following takes place in the year 2050 and the year 2056.

Shot after shot came out of a seamlessly empty window towering high above a crevasse of water. The water ran thick with the blood of fallen soldiers, their souls claimed by an unseen force. These men did not even have the satisfaction of seeing their killers face. Soldier after soldier ran bravely through the door into the open, only to have his corpse catapulted back against the wall. It was clinical, sterile mass killing, akin to that you would normally expect from a sniper. This was different. The carnage was too great, the death toll too high. There was more than one of them, there had to be.

It suddenly fell silent. High in the sky, two rifles subtly stuck out of the windows. The morning sun reflected off their jet black surface. Smoke escaped out of the end and faded into the canvas of the massacre. The last body had fallen. The men had marched bravely to their death, like all good soldiers should. Inside, 2 figures stood side by side, cradling their weapons.

"You're getting good, Phobos." One said, turning around to face the other.

"I have a good teacher, sir." Phobos replied.

"I'm going to have to watch my back the next time we play Sniper Tag." The first chuckled.

"Very good," an appeased voice sounded out of no where. "You're turning out to be a better teacher than you thought, Deimos."

"Thank you, general." Answered Deimos, standing to attention.

As the corpses, blood and discarded bullets began to fade away, Deimos and Phobos walked towards a door. It whizzed open to reveal a sterile corridor. Many military important looking types were going about their daily business. A beep came from Phobos' pocket.

"I better take this," she said. "I'll see you at training tomorrow."

"Okay, I look forward to it," replied Deimos as he walked off.

With that Phobos picked a small object out of her pocket. It was curved at the sides, with a small ridge on the top. It focused on a small centred screen with a red and green button underneath it. She lightly pushed the green button and a face appeared on the screen.

"Hey," said the face.

"Hiya" Phobos replied.

"How's your last year marksmen training going?"

"Pretty well, I've got a new teacher this semester."

"Cool; who is he?"

"His name is Deimos."

"Deimos, I've heard that name before."

"Yeah, he's a high ranking officer from the sniper corps. He flew in from England to train a few of us."

"Wow that must be an honour."

"It is! Anyway, I've got to run now, tomorrow I'm going to get some holographic snipers to test my mettle." Phobos then pushed the red button and put the object back in her pocket. She started down the corridor towards her room.

That night, Phobos was curled up in her bed. Around her there were things like photos of her family. Two sandy coloured papers above her bed were framed. One was her 1 year graduation from the Medical Academy and the other was her certificate of completion for the first year of marksmen school.

"Warning," shrieked the sterile and ever patronizing voice of the computer. "Power has been cut."

Phobos jumped up violently.

"Warning," the computer continued. "Section A has been breached. Section B has been breached. Gliders A, B and C have been destroyed."

The door began to open. Phobos slipped her hand under the covers and drew a knife from her thy-strap. A figure began to emerge. It was Deimos.

"Phobos," he said. "The base is under attack. It looks like rebels. Some very well trained rebels." He paused for a moment to glance over Phobos. "Grab your gear and get moving."

"Sir, yes sir." Phobos replied, as professionally as ever. She quickly chucked on her jumpsuit and picked up her weapon. She had faced rebels before at the Medical Academy, but never since she changed careers sniping. She was nervous.

Deimos led the way down the dimly lit corridor and began to fill Phobos in.

"They just breached our walls with artillery fire. Thor's team has set up a defence just outside the academy; we're on our way to join him. There seems to be an excess number of them, how much they outnumber us is not known."

"Can't we just evacuate the base?" queried Phobos.

"We would but the only way out of the valley they have blocked off. All our gliders have been destroyed. There is something different about these rebels, they knew exactly where to hit us."

Phobos looked worried. She wasn't even a graduate sniper, yet she was being thrown into a conflict. They reached the end of the corridor. A large hole replaced where the blast doors once were. The blinding sunlight of 6am streamed into their faces and the sound of gunshots and death rattled in their ears. The ground was rocky and cracked. They were surrounded by mountains of dirt, the only opening covered in the scent of war. Combat here was different than in the simulation. The feel of warm blood filled the air and the dirt felt cold beneath their boots. Thor ran up to greet them.

"It's good to see you sir," said Thor, referring to Deimos. "Cadet? I don't think this is the place for yo…" he began but was suddenly interrupted by Deimos.

"She's with me, corporal."

"Yes, sir," Thor respectfully replied.

"Where do you want us?"

"There is a placement up ahead. They're using artillery to bombard our position. An evacuation glider cannot get through."

"Say no more, corporal." Deimos said and started up across the field. Phobos followed him.

Eventually they reached a small rock away from the focus of the attack. Over a small hill they saw the artillery fire. It made a fantastic roar as it sawed past them and a deafening bang as it impacted against its target.

"I can't see him from this angle," Deimos murmured in a frustrated voice, looking to Phobos. "I should be able to get a clear shot from the rocks over there," he continued gesturing to some rocks a few feet away. "Cover me."

"Sir!" Phobos yelled pulling Deimos back down. "I'm not … qualified," she said in an embarrassed voice.

"We can fix that." Deimos pulled a small device out of his pocket. It was similar to the one Phobos had used the night before. "Authenticate Captain Deimos," he said in a mood-less voice.

"Voice scans complete, welcome Captain," the device replied.

"Graduate Phobos, serial 668911, from marksmen school with merits. Promotional rank private," he paused for a moment and looked at Phobos. "Now you are," he said pushing her weapon to her chest and starting towards the rock placement ahead. He stayed as low as he could and avoided the shrapnel flying overhead. He crouched down and looked through his scope. The tell-tale red dot pierced against the artillery soldier's side. He appeared only slightly irritated by the growing heat against his hip and carried on firing his near endless supply of missiles. Deimos took a second and slowly gripped the trigger. The noise of Deimos' rifle was like a horn of victory to Phobos. As she stared intently at him, learning from his every move, she felt her nervousness subside. There was something about his presence which comforted her. She felt safe. As the artillery fire stopped, Deimos glanced back towards Phobos with a subtle smile on his face. Phobos was about to smile back when suddenly she spotted a medic running towards him with a white, blood stained kit in his hand.

"Captain!" She yelled and took up aim in her scope. It felt like she was aiming for an eternity. Finally she landed a shot on the medic. It wasn't enough to cut right through him, but it was enough to kill him. The corpse of the medic fell on Deimos, knocking him over, the small needle sticking out of the white kit dug deep into his chest. Deimos made the noise of air escaping from his lungs and he fell to the ground. Phobos began to run to him. She threw off her helmet and crouched down to his side.

"Sir?" she questioned with urgency about her voice. He was fighting for breath. He had been infected. Phobos pulled him up and they began to stagger back to the base. Deimos clutched his chest. His last memory was looking down at his blood-soaked hand. Then it all went black.

He awoke in a tent and over-heard a conversation between Phobos and Thor.

"The glider will be here in about an hour," Thor said with a new respect for Phobos apparent in his tones. "Thanks to you two. How is he?"

"I've managed to isolate and disable the virus. He should wake up any minute now with only a minor chest pain."

Thor nodded and walked out of the tent. Phobos was about to follow him but was stopped by the voice of Deimos calling her from his sick bed. She hurried over to him.

"Deimos, thank god," she said.

Deimos gestured for her to bring her head closer.

"Thank you," he whispered into her ear.

Even in this disabled state he looked as ready to fight as ever. Phobos had a special, unique kind of respect for him. She came over all hot and flustered. It was like saving the life of your favourite movie star. She began to breathe heavily as Deimos stared at her. His eyes seemed to pierce straight through her, as if he was reading her soul. She put her lips closer to his and he could hear her breathing heavily, the warm feel of her breath crashed against his face. She began to kiss him passionately. Her soft, pillow-like lips pressed against his. He closed his eyes as she began to kiss his neck. Each kiss felt like it meant something special. Each was a metaphor for the words that cannot be expressed, the words which describe how one sniper feels towards another. She began to undo his shirt. The bright light from the bedside lamp focused on her face. She began to sweat. The sweat dripped from her head onto his body and slowly dribbled off. A pilot suddenly walked in through the tent door and began to speak.

"We're going to be shipping out in 20 minutes…" he stopped suddenly and glanced over the two. "Make that 30 minutes, I'll hold the glider for you." He chuckled and walked out again.

The two snipers smiled at each other as Phobos reached to the bedside lamp and clicked it off.

The flight was short and Phobos was happy to see the shadow of the academy fade into the distance. She hadn't seen Deimos since they took off. He was further down the glider receiving a confidential transmission. The wheels of the glider crashed against the tarmac of the runway and made a screeching noise. The door burst open and allowed sunlight to stream in. Phobos was about to walk through when she was suddenly pulled to one side by Deimos.

"Phobos," he began. "I've got something to tell you. It turns out the rebels had a very influential position on the Dynasty senate. They've split from the main empire. The confederacy have already signed over it's allegiance to them."

"No," she said in a shocked voice.

"It's true. The empire has been divided over the 14th quadrant. Senator Sarflux was leading the, what we thought to be, rebel attacks. He has split from the main Dynasty and named his faction the Red Dynasty. The rest of the senate have named their faction the Blue Dynasty. Everyone is being given the choice of which faction they wish to join. When you step off this glider, you'll be given the same choice."

"The choice will be easy; I will not join the rebels."

"They're not rebels; they've been part of the Dynasty all along! Phobos! Look at me. This is the start of a war that will last a thousand years. The Red Dynasty has full support of the military and has already made critical strikes across the border. I don't feel like dying Phobos! Everything the Dynasty as an empire has ever done wrong is being repaired through the Red Dynasty! You know who will win this! Don't be a fool!"

"I will not destroy that which I have spent the last 3 years learning to defend!"

Deimos drew a gun from his holster. It was grey and cold. The large round barrel at the end had a thick blackness inside it. He pointed it at Phobos.

"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem." He stated.

"I wouldn't be surprised if you shot me," Phobos began. "After all, I'm just serial 668911 to you."

Deimos' finger rested carelessly on the trigger. He began to pull it back. Phobos closed her eyes and braced herself. A clicking sound escaped from the gun.

"You don't know how far from the truth you are," he stated and put the gun on the table. He began to walk out of the door. That would be the last she saw of him for a long time.

Many months later, Phobos was stationed on the 14th quadrant base. She was loading ammunition in the armoury when she was called up to the battlements. The General, Killer Bunny and Battle Cattle were already up there waiting.

A room faded into sight. It had sterile white walls and a faint bleep noise came from a console to the right of her. The window was open and a gentle breeze made the curtains sway. A clock to the left of her said the date; it was the 1st of August, 2056. Phobos was in a hospital. A medic with 'Maestro' written on his tag stood over her.

"Another flashback?" the medic asked.

"Yeah. It's odd how close we became and how quickly we learnt to hate each other. It seems like only yesterday we were given an extra 10 minutes to get to the glider." Phobos replied from her bed.

"Ah," the medic began. "Tempus fugit."

"Yes, time flies. Even so, I'll never forget the events that transpired from the day I met him up to that morning at the Respawn facility."