Tabula Rasa: A time to remember, part two
Remembrance Day is coming to Tabula Rasa on December 21st -- the day the Bane invaded the Earth and the day humans everywhere take the time to remember their homeworld. To commemorate the event, NCsoft has released a fictional account of a soldier talking about how the people of Tabula Rasa remember their homeworld while struggling in the constant fight against the Bane. Today we're publishing part two: for the whole story, take a look at part one first.
A lot happened in the year following the Bane invasion of Earth. When those first groups of us got to Foreas it was like some strange altered reality. Like being on vacation in Florida, but in the middle of a warzone. And aliens... I can't forget the aliens. I remember the first time I saw a Forean. I remember thinking, "Green... there ARE green men", and just feeling like I was staring in an episode of the Twilight Zone. Either that or having some really vivid dream I would wake up from, roll over, and then tell my wife about.
But it wasn't a dream. We got a crash course in weaponry, field training, and basic first aid. Some of us were sent off to be trained as a receptive; not that we knew what that meant at the time. Not me though. I'm just another grunt with a laser rifle. But the receptives were different. When they came back, they could do amazing things I still don't fully understand. We have 3 receptives in our squadron and one of them, Jackson, she can change herself into a Thrax. First time I saw her do that I almost fell over in disbelief. I had to order her to stop sneaking up behind the others like that while we were in camp. It was funny the first time, but it looks so damn real. On more than one occasion, she's scared the hell out of someone so much it's nearly gotten her shot.
Things were in dire straights that first year. The Bane had managed to push their own front line forward almost all the way to Wilderness. The Foreans were struggling to keep them at bay, and were reluctant to fight alongside us. But we started to make progress. Working together made a difference. A small one, but one that grew with each inch of land we took back from the Bane. Then something happened that nearly tore apart the fragile alliance between our two peoples.
The Bane overtook Foreas Base not long after they overtook our planet. It was the very first base constructed by the Human and Forean alliance. That was back before the AFS was even formed, almost 5 years before the invasion of Earth. It was a devastating blow to our fragile relationship with the Foreans, and they became even more reluctant to fight alongside us. So a battle was planned and coordinated by the human leaders at the time and a handful of Foreans who felt the alliance between our people was critical to our survival and eventual victory over the Bane.
The plan was to take back Foreas Base on the anniversary of the invasion of Earth. The Generals thought it would boost morale, which had pretty much sunk into the depths. And it did... there was some serious partying inside the base once we finally secured it. But it was brutal. We were all recruits then, green as grass. Even with all the battle plans and firepower, it took two days to get Crusty out of that base. But by the 22nd, the Human and Forean troops working together successfully drove the Bane from Foreas Base. It was a huge victory, tactically and symbolically. We didn't know it then, but it was this battle that finally proved our worth to the Forean people, and paved the way for the treaty that formed the AFS we know today.
After the battle, there was a huge celebration. We didn't have fireworks, so we fired our chainguns, rocket launchers, whatever we could find that made a loud bang and a bright flash. There were restrictions because of the ammo shortage, but for that moment, no one cared. It was a time to rejoice. We've been doing it every year since. Someone came up with the name, Resurgence Day and it stuck. After all, it was the day we rose up and showed the Bane what we could do. That we weren't just going to give up. We showed them that we were going to fight till our dying breath.
And the Bane have a bit of a tradition of their own too. They try to retake Foreas Base every Dec 22nd with increasing ferocity, but so far, the AFS has been able to keep the base under their control. We built the inner wall in Foreas Base after the first Bane attack, to act as a fallback position in case the Bane ever managed to breach the front gates. I remember when they finished it... I was stationed there at the time. We were all so pumped, every single soldier that was there wrote their name on that wall, as a way of expressing their dedication to the AFS and as a pledge to defeat the Bane. The ink was faded by the first rain, which washed the rest of it away, erasing any evidence our names had ever been there. But it was the signing that was important. We signed our names on that stone, and made pledge that day which could never be washed away. That's why I want to get my squad back to Foreas Base; I have a few who haven't added their name to that wall yet. It has since become as important to us as the Veterans Memorial we had back on Earth. The only difference is this wall ended up being a monument to the living, in honor of those we lost, and a soldier only signs his name when he still has breath in him.
Maybe memories aren't all we have left after all. Maybe the most important thing we have is hope. Hope that we will someday defeat the Bane. Hope that we survive long enough to get our name on that wall. Hope that we will eventually step foot back on Earth. And hope that we can one day start creating new memories to carry with us.
