V surovykh pokhodakh, v ogne i v boju, Kak znamja, pronosim my pesnju svoju. Gvardejskoje znamja k pobede zovjot, Gvardejskaja pesnja v ataku vedjot.

Pripev: My smerti ne pugajemsja, Ot puli ne sgibajemsja, Ot rany ne shatajemsja, - Takoj uzh my narod! Ne raz ognem provereny, Ne raz v bojakh obstreljany, I nas nedarom Rodina Gvardejcami zovjot.

My khrabryje vnuki gvardejcev likhikh, I dedam ne stydno za vnukov svojikh. V krovavykh bojakh my sumeli pronest' Gvardejskuju doblest', gvardejskuju chest'.

Gerojev-panfilovcev podvig svjatoj V istoriju vpisan strokoj zolotoj, I svetit, kak solnce grjadushchikh pobed, Otvazhnykh gerojev-gvardejcev zavet.

V boju rukopashnom s desjatkom vragov Gvardejec besstrashno srazhat'sja gotov, On pervym vorvetsja vo vrazheskij dot I smelo s granatoj na tanki pojdjot.

Kto derzhit oruzh'je v umelykh rukakh, Tomu chest' i mesto v gvardejskikh polkakh. Gvardejcy ne drognut v surovyje dni, I k smerti i k slave gotovy oni.

Arkady and Dmitri sat in the gathering light and planned the upcoming mission. There heads together, ringed in cigarette smoke, the two talked and planned, discarding one idea for another until they had both agreed on a course of action. “Eight men.” Arkady looked up at the house nearby as one of his soldiers wandered out and disappeared into the trees. “Who? None of the new guys, we need solid troops for this bit.” “Visily, for sure. Katya, Nicoloi, Sergi, Alexi.” Dmitri answered. “What about Petr?” “Dead.” “What? When?” “Last week. That ambush on the supply train.” “Oh…right.” Arkady shook his head, “I almost forgot about that.” The sat in silence for a moment. “I suppose one of the new troops, then.” Arkady spat into the dirt, “They are mostly new anymore. Not many of the old guards left.” Dmitri glanced over at Arkady. “Remember I was new once too. The only old guardsman here anymore is you.” Arkady stood and walked towards the house, “Yes. I am aware of that.”

The soldiers gathered around Arkady as he sketched into the dirt. “Here is where we are now. This is the river. Here is Cholkovograd. Tonight at dusk we will move along this road to link up with the Engineer Company here. They will have the boat ready for us. At 2200 we cross the river at this point and land approximately here. We infiltrate Alliance lines and meet the contact here at this road. Our mission is to bring him back through Alliance lines across the river and back to our company Command Post. Counter-Intel will pick him up there. We should be in and out before sunrise.” Arkady looked at the soldiers around him, “Questions?” “We’re going in stealth?” Visily asked. “Yes. No noise. No witnesses.” The soldiers looked at each other and grinned. “Other questions? No? Good. Dmitri get over to supply and work your magic, get double ammo and grenades for the lot. Sub-guns only. If you got something else, trade with someone. Knives and e-tools. Three days rats…just in case.”

As the soldiers went their way to prepare Arkady walked down the trail. As he walked the wood around him faded and he found himself walking down the street in Kiev. It wasn’t really Kiev. Kiev was never this clean. He knew he was daydreaming, but he enjoyed it. He needed it. He turned to look at the woman on his arm. “You never listen to me,” she was laughing in his ear,” You nod and say yes, but you never really listen, do you.” Arkady nodded and said, “Yes.” The two laughed and walked down the street. In this waking dream, this vision. Arkady could still see her out of the corner of his right eye and he watched her now. This has happened, he thought to himself. It had happened sometime. I remember the smell of her hair. I remember the wind, the birds… The vision faded and he was again in the woods. “I listened, Valoria. I did.” His whisper was lost in the gentle breeze. He shook his head a few times and walked on.

Dmitri stepped down from the running board of the truck, “Thanks for the lift.” He turned to the other three soldiers, “well…let’s get moving this crap to the CP.” Nicoloi, Alexi, and Katya grabbed up the crates and struggled to keep up with Dmitri. “Why’d you have to give them our last bottle?” Alexi mumbled under his breath. “Because,” retorted Dmitri,” If I didn’t you’d be lugging that crap 3 kay-ems. You wanna do that?” he laughed,” ‘sides, who said that was the last bottle.” Nicoloi bumped into Alexi, “Told you.” “Shut up.” The four soldiers walked on chatting back and forth until the got to the small house. They set the crates down and pried them open, removing the ammunition, grenades and food and setting them into eight piles. Dmitri stood up and stretched. He reached into his pocket of his jacket and pulled out a cigarette. New Russia may be running low on food, ammo, and men, but they always had plenty of tobacco. He lit the cigarette and pulled in the smoke. He looked over at Katya who was bent over pulling grenades out of a crate. She looked back at him and smiled. He nodded to her and she turned back to her work. Hopefully they would find a moment or two alone before the mission started. A relationship like theirs was not completely frowned upon in the New Russian Armed Forces. You just had to be smart about it. Dmitri liked to think they were smart. Of course everyone knew what was going on. “Look,” Nicoloi said to Alexi, ”All I was saying is that if the Alliance wanted to take us out they could have done so a year ago.” Nicoloi snorted. “We’ve held them for two years since the invasion. What makes you think they can beat us.” The rest of the soldiers stopped working and watched the discussion. “They hold all the key cities. They hold all the ship docks. They’ve got us out in the hinterlands barely scraping by. They don’t need to wipe us out. They just need to keep the ship ports open.” “That is so much bullshit.” Alexi turned to Dmitri. “Tell him its bullshit.” Dmitri spat on the ground. “You are new so I’ll cut you some slack.” He waved his arms around the area, “This is all we have, Alexi. That river we are going to cross? That is as far as the Alliance went in the first three days of the invasion. We didn’t stop them. They stopped because all this,” again he waved to encompass the area, “Is nothing.” Alexi sputtered, “But…we…we control all the agriculture for the whole planet.” He shook his head, “They only control the primary cities and the outlaying districts. We are holding them!” Katya turned to Alexi, “They only need to control the launch bases. They have 90% of the population in those cities. We are just a stopping point for their war effort against the rest of the independent states. Why do you think there are no other independent forces on this rock?” Alexi shook his head again. “Because we’re behind enemy lines, kid.” “It doesn’t matter,” Arkady’s voice broke the brittle silence. ”They are the enemy. We will resist them. We will be victorious.” Dmitri turned as Arakady walked up. “Hey, just a bit of talk, you know.” Arkady’s eye bored into him. “Enough talk. More would be bad.” And Arkady walked off into the house. The group looked at one another. “What does he mean by bad,” asked Alexi. Katya and Dmitri shared a glance. “You don’t want to find that out, kid.”

Captain Donilov sat across from Major Kinski in the command post. Donilov couldn’t meet the eyes of the counter-Intel officer and so focused on the map on the table between them. “I can’t believe its all going to be over.” The Major cocked his head to one side. “Why?” “All that has happened, all we’ve gone through…for nothing?” “It is not for nothing. The State remains.” Kinski frowned, “Or do you think that the extermination of our entire people is better?” Donilov shook his head. “But my soldiers?” “They are expendable.” Kinski leaned forward, “We have lost so many. Do you really know the cost we’ve paid so far?” Donilov shook his head. “Best we can guess at is close to thirty million.” Donilov’s head snapped up and his jaw dropped. Kinski sneered. “You think the Alliance is feeding our people behind their lines? Did you think their ships would bring medicine for them? They are being slaughtered. In another year no-one would be alive but us in this rag-tag army. Your men are nothing in relationship to the greater whole. We have lost so many…What is a few thousand more or less.” He stood. “The Alliance will allow the Czarina to continue to reign. The Planet will be ours. We will simply swear allegiance to a higher power. The military will be dismantled. We won’t need it. The Alliance will protect us. “Besides, the Alliance doesn’t want any chance for a flare-up, a continuation of difficulties, so to speak.” His smile was cold, ”Do you think men like Renko would just lay down their arms?” “No, sir.” “They will accomplish this last mission and then…the small details will be dealt with. You are comfortable with your new position in the State?” Donilov sat with his head bowed, “Yes, sir.” “Excellent.” And the Major left.

Arkady had left for the Company CP. Dmitri and Katya had wandered off into the woods. The rest of the platoon sat outside the house in the yard around a fire and talked. They were young, very young. Most of them were only fifteen or sixteen years old. They had come from farms that had escaped the Alliance’s nurturing attentions. Most of them had a brother or a sister who’d already been killed fighting. All of what they knew came from those few around them. To them, Dmitri, at 23 years, as so old as to be non-understandable. Katya was seventeen, exotic, experienced. Most of the talk dealt with her and girls they knew at home. How she got along with Dmitri was the second most talked about subject. Senior Sergeant Renko, who must be at least 30, was a relic. The third most talked about topic was Renko and his ‘past’. Everyone had heard a story or two. No one knew the truth. Renko didn’t bother to tell them, clear up any rumors, or even acknowledge most of them existed. He didn’t make friends. Nobody tended to be around long enough.

New Russia had been colonized by those Monarchists who refused to give in after the Sino-Russian war. The Czar fled to this planet with a half dozen million people. They kept the old ways here long after the rest of the ‘verse changed. No one spoke Sinoglish. No one intermarried with off world trash. They remained Russian. Pure. Backward. When the Independent worlds rebelled New Russia took no side. They didn’t care about the rest, as long as they were left alone. Then a tragic event occurred that changes every soul’s life on the small planet. It became useful to the Alliance. Its three space ports lay on a direct path between the core and the western rim. So the Alliance came. They took the ports and the key cities and set a defensive perimeter around their center, crushing the small planet’s defense force all in 68 hours. The Czar and his whole family were killed but his cousin escaped into the wilds with the remains of the Army. Czarina Alexandra was crowned and the Holy War against the Alliance began. After two years fighting the battle lines remained the same. The Alliance poured in just enough forces to keep the posts open. It was a vicious war with no quarter given by either side. New Russians behind the Alliance lines were given the choice of cooperate or die. Those that cooperated were viewed as traitors by those who remained loyal. Those that didn’t cooperate died a slow death of starvation and neglect.

It has been said that they were the lucky ones.