Start|
Previous|
Next Keya awoke still in her seat. Brilliant light streamed in through the windows, and the idyllic greens, oranges, and blues of the landscape below resembled a bejewelled rug below the transparent floor. Keya gasped again recalling where she was.
The fantasy continues. “Morning, Goldilocks!” Jon sat cross-legged upon the circular window cradling a large bowl of porridge. He spoke between mouthfuls. “I’ll serve ya some mielie pap now-now. How d’you sleep?” He ate from a flawlessly formed glass bowl: not a single bubble or crack in its lustre. The container held a creamy white mush, perhaps like flour but with a rougher grain. It steamed succulent and buttery sweet in the cabin.
“Huh?” Her mind was not yet wholly present.
“Yeah, aeroplane seats: not ideal. Took the liberty of reclining it, removed your boots, and gave you that blanket. I considered moving you to your bed, but that’d be kinda weird. I ain’t your daddy, and here was safe enough.”
That explained some discontinuities, but she was far from trusting all her senses just yet. “Death or dream? Death or dream?” She mumbled to herself still half-conscious, her eyes drifting across the land below.
“What was that?”
“I am contemplating my reality, Master.”
“First thing in the morning? As good a time as any I s'pose. Got you presents!” He scooped another mouthful and gestured to items with his silver spoon. The man insisted it was just steel that did not rust. Whether that was more or less valuable than silver, she was unsure. Strewn on the deck between them were three bundles.
Keya fumbled with the seat belt and eventually extricated herself. She had no idea how to right the chair vertically so instead moved to an adjacent seat. Shaking herself, she tried to compose her mind. Thoughts and visions from the night before had stirred up many things within her. Even now she felt the once tranquil steam of her mind was muddled. Her thinking felt murky as if the silt had yet to resettle. Sleep had made her thoughts a degree more limpid, so she pushed on to articulate concerns she wished to air.
Opening her mouth, she stopped. The elevation was wrong. Jon looked for all the world like a child staring up at his mother, as she recounted a fireside tale. Even supplication and deference toward this man was a daily struggle! She slid from her seat into a formal kneel. At the very least his casual demeanour indicated his station if elevation could not.
“Master, there is something I must clarify. Next to your sagacity, I may seem foolish, but I suppose that hardly matters. You let me into your home, provide food, clothes, and lodging, and now this. Whatever these gifts are, I am sure they are priceless treasures that I could never hope to repay. Already, I am indebted beyond comprehension.” Stopping to form the question better, she gazed upon the miracle of flight before her eyes. “What am I to you?”
“You’re…” Shovelling another spoonful, he pensively chewed.
“This treatment you give a stranger… I am but a simple village maid. Either I am to be your indentured servant or concubine, which is it?”
“Fuuck, those are my options?”
“I am serious, Kel-sun! Debts must be paid, that is the law of the land. I am a penniless peasant. I cannot hope to repay the wealth you have bestowed upon me. These clothes and boots alone are worth a year’s wages, so I must know! What is the price?”
Master furrowed his brow; it appeared he grasped the gravity of her quandary. “I see your issue: The golden rule—reciprocity. You fear you're making a bargain you are not aware of. I get it.”
“
Yes, I wish to know the full extent of the payment you will demand from me. However horrid a price, I might still pay it. The
unimaginable wonders I have been privy to thus far, I—many would pay with blood, gold, and their lives just to behold a faction of it.” She found his sea-blue eyes and burrowed her stare into them. “What is the price? What is
your price?”
“Jesus! It’s like nine a.m., and we’re already talking about fucking sex-slaves. You don’t let up, do you!” He broke her stare and rocked back another spoonful in his mouth. “Fine, let’s talk shop.” His expression went hard. “My world has stringent rules against slavery of any kind. We abolished it a few hundred years ago. If you wanna talk taboo, that’s very fucking taboo. All people have inalienable rights, and that definitely extends to you. Meaning our world grants each person privileges from birth that no government, kingdom, or court of law can strip them of. Are you with me so far?” It sounded impossible to believe.
“If I catch your meaning, slavery is unlawful in your land?” Keya said.
“Yeah, pretty much. So point one, you ain’t paying with your body or your life. In fact, access to clean drinking water, food, electricity, sanitation, Internet, and shelter are all human rights. I’m not treating you special. If a guest came over to stay at my house, I would give them the same. Be they kings, paupers, or prisoners.
“You have no point of reference for the world I come from so you’d probably think it unbelievable.”
She vigorously nodded.
“You see these things around you and think: ‘This is amazing. I am blessed.’ I see all the things your world lacks compared to mine and think: ‘This is tragic.’ I am not here to give you a life of comfortable servitude. I am the vanguard and emissary of the greater universe. The endgame here involves elevating your entire world, every man, woman, and child, maybe even goblin, to this!” Arms outstretched, he swept across everything around them.
“That is a foolish errand! They will knife you in your sleep and steal it before you can give it away.”
“Don’t you worry. We know our darker natures well. History has countless wars and tragedies to draw wisdom from. Frankly, we're better at being bad than you; it just doesn’t pay in the long run. Much in the same way being good all the time doesn’t pay either.” He gazed out the windows beyond her. “Now you know some of the ‘why.’ The ‘how’ will become more evident in time, or more correctly ‘if.’
“That’s where you and I come in. You see the gates to my world are sealed shut. I step through to judge the lay of the land, and if your world is deemed amenable, then the doors are opened, and we establish treaties and trade. If not…” He made a thumbs down gesture, spoon still in hand, “condemnation. Your world is sealed off, maybe for a long time, maybe forever.
“So what does all of this mean to you? Well, your riches are meaningless to us, there are entire worlds we could mine bare of gold, silver and a myriad of other metals you’ve never even heard of. We have whole planets dedicated to agriculture and husbandry. Your kingdoms are trivial, their armies insignificant. We want what is irreplaceable, and what do you think that is?”
“If you speak truly, then I cannot even begin to imagine.” This new side to Master was terrifying; there was an abyssal depth in his eyes. Such a massive empire beggared belief.
“How much do you think a single map of your planet would go for?” Twirling a finger.
“Kingdoms would…” And then the pieces started to fall in place.
“Ja, a king’s ransom, right? Who do you suppose helped me put our current map into perspective only yesterday?”
“A minuscule contribution!”
“An irreplaceable one. I could’ve mapped for months before I knew where I was. Next, how much do you think a bestiary of local fauna and flora would go for? How about knowledge of dragons? What about culture and history? Data, knowledge, and understanding: non-fungible resources.” He enumerated on his fingers.
“Anyone could have given you this information!”
“No, not just anyone. What we need, what
I needed, was someone. And that someone is you! The one who chose the red pill, the one who survived goblins, direwolves and the death of their only family. Someone who stepped forth through a strange gateway with a strange man. We have a saying perhaps you know it: ‘Knowledge is power,’ and as such it’s valuable.
“The truth is Keya you don’t owe me anything, and you never will. Save for the burdens and debts you choose; you are free. If anything I may owe you. But if you care about debt…” He levelled his eyes at her “…you owe it to this world so that other young boys and girls might eventually see the wonders you have. That is
your burden should you choose to shoulder it, or cast it aside.”
He looked down at his bowl. “Damn it, the porridge is cold, one sec I’ll go microwave it.”
She stopped him before he made it through the silver ring. “Do you swear upon the Gods this is true?”
“I don’t believe in any gods, so take it for what it’s worth, but yes I swear it’s the truth. On my honour, I swear you will be adequately compensated for your work. You are a diver like me now; we are equal. Oh, and have this…” He walked back, pulling a small polished card from his pocket. “You are officially recognised as a citizen of the 37-72 branch and are granted the formal title of Diver in Training.”
She saw the same little painting of her in one corner and various numbers and words on the rest of the polished card, including her full name. She was born on the full moon of Yen in late spring, so the birth date was indiscernable, but she had the measure of it. “You would grant me citizenship already!”
“Of course, but this also serves as proof. Look, here’s mine.” He withdrew his card of identic artifice, more worn with time. “Your rights under the multiverse constitution are assured.”
Keya slowly found her seat as Jon attended to his errand. She beheld the card and the promise it stood for, contemplating all their deliberations. Perhaps a lie, but it was a weak one. Something easy to test, and hadn’t Master told never to trust completely. To always doubt and take knowledge as provisional.
So she would do just that. If she were a kept woman rather than his equal, and free, then he would be unwilling to grant specific requests. There was unlikely to be any decadence beyond his grasp, and she was, after all, an unsophisticated village girl. Such demands would tell her little of the man.
No, what he would not do, or would not risk is take her to where he might be powerless, and she could leave of her own accord. With that in mind, she formed a plan.
On his return, she felt far greater certitude and began her gambit. He resumed his cross-legged seating on the floor, the ‘gifts’ still untouched.
“So, can I start prezzie time now?”
“Master, I have a request?” She knelt before him again.
“Shoot.” He shovelled more porridge.
“I assume from your tone, that is an affirmative?”
Nonchalant nods returned.
“I would implore you to take me to my homeland and the city of Elgelica. It is across the Elgen Channel; I assume in this flying ship such a voyage is easily chartable?”
“Awesome, a destination. We’ve been idling around since lift-off, with you asleep n’ all. You identified it on the map yesterday, right? Elves in London! That’ll be a sight. Evy, set our course for place-marker Elgelica, full speed ahead.”
“Destination set to Elgelica. ETA 3 hours 20 minutes” Came the familiar impassive female voice from the ship.
“You were waiting for me to set our bearing? Wait? Did the elemental just say three hours!”
“Uh, which question you want answered first?” Jon was scrapping his bowl clean, the clink of his silverware rang about the cabin.
“That is unthinkably fast, even on horseback!”
“It will be instant when we have a rift set up there. Still, I get your drift. Flight is super convenient, even slow flight like this.”
And he has the gall to call it slow! The barrels attached to the outside made more noise. They pointed lengthwise rather than up compared to the previous eve. Outside, the hull was also unmistakably pale blue, instead of black or white. Jon continued. “No mountains, rivers or forests in the way, you can just make a bee-line,” he paused. “Ya know, I never understood that phrase, bees don’t fly straight.”
“Why is the ship a different colour every time I look? Gods, am I crazed?”
“Hmm, about that, we’re 6k up but still pretty easy to see given our size. So, the ship’s surface is covered with a thin film of e-ink. It does black, white, and blue plus every shade in between. If you’re looking you might find us, but the sky is big and who looks up much anyway. Tinted windows take care of cabin light at night. As I said, this thing mitigates a lot of risks. Worth every gram of gold I paid. Well, it’s almost paid.”
Keya asked. “So to be clear, I am in an invisible, flying ship, moving as the crow flies, faster than the wind, toward Elgelica. Furthermore, we will reach my ancestral home before lunch?” Master looked at his wrist, glinting with a bejewelled bracelet she had not seen before.
“A little after lunch.” Well, it appeared her tests would proceed more rapidly than anticipated. No matter, if this ship indeed flew and she wasn’t confounded by magic then stepping foot in Elgelica would put many uncertainties to rest.
“Very well, Master, show me what gifts you’ve brought.”
“We’ve been over this ‘Master’ thing, haven’t we?” He placed his bowl on a seat and mercifully found one himself.
“I shall call you what I like in private company, ‘Master’.” This too was a test.
“Savage!” Rang Lee’s voice in the ship.
“Lee, you keep this quiet you hear me!”
“Oh, my lips are sealed ‘Master’!” His cackle bellowed, before abruptly being cut short.
“You see. This is why we can’t have nice things. Your loudspeaker privileges are revoked!”
“Shall that be a problem, Master?” Jon focused back on her.
“Fuck, fine, call me what you like. But if we’re incognito planet-side, then I’ll be depending on your subtlety. Is that fair?”
“Quite.”
“Okie dokie,” He rubbed his hands together “Prezzie time!” Reaching for the first package, it, like all the bundles, was wrapped in a thin translucent sack. A fabric she recalled first seeing in the larder, one of the multitudinous things she had never seen before meeting him. Doubtless, there would be endless more. It shimmered and crinkled in her hand, both flimsy to handle but hard to tear.
“Open it,” said Master.
She found the opening and pulled the bundle out. They were multiple sets of identical grey and black clothing to be sure, but the shape of two rounded cups on each set left little to the imagination.
“Oh, Master, it appears a concubine was not far off the mark!” Did he wish she dance for him in these? Though she had to admit they did look as though they could be quite comfortable.
“Please for the love of all that is good and holy do not use ‘master’ and ‘concubine’ in the same goddamn sentence. They’re sports bras with matching underwear. Evy got your size with the medical body scans. Had I known you’d pull this sex-slave crap with me; I might’ve let you go rough rider for a while longer.” He glanced down and shook his head. “To be clear, you wear this UNDER your clothes, and if you decide to dance half-naked outside your room, it’s totally on you. Also please give me fair warning so I can GTFO.”
“Is that an invitation?” The gift was somewhat puzzling and did not strengthen his case,
and yet he had proceeded regardless. “Consent works both ways, Ms Ces. You ask for my permission, and I’ll ask for yours. But walk round base in your birthday suit, and I’m not shielding my eyes. FYI aside from the ears, there’s nothing I haven’t seen. Gesturing with the spoon. Plus, I’ll bet you dance like a turkey.”
“A turkey?” Keya asked.
“A big chicken.”
“You horrible man!”
“Uh-uh, just try them on, show me nothing, and thank me later. Honestly, it’s like no good deed goes unpunished with you. Not another peep and tell me when you want to order more; then I’ll know I’ve won.” Keya smiled mischievously but refrained from teasing him more. Clothes were clothes after all, and with all the fabrics she had felt thus far she was quite curious.
“Well then thank you, Master, for your… thoughtful gift. What else do you have for me?”
“Thank fuck that’s over, here.” He unceremoniously pulled an item from a bigger sack. Though the colours and materials were unique, the shape was unmistakable. She eagerly stood to receive it.
“This is a bow!”
“Yeah, a recurve bow to be precise. Give it a pull; let’s see if the draw strength is alright.” Pulling the string, she found it to be a little stiff, but she would grow into it.
“Remarkable Master! It is just right I think, and the workmanship, as with all your wares, is sublime.” She had seen many things new, but having a tool she understood from his world truly helped her grasp the height of their technical prowess. Her old longbow quailed compared to this. It’s smooth contours perfectly matched her grip, and an unmistakable notch belied where the arrow would rest. A smile of rising excitement revealed her desire to test it as soon as she could.
“You can give it a spin on the test range later, along with…” He pulled another thing from the large sack. “…this.” She felt her eyes widen and almost dropped the first prize. Doubtless, the order was intentional. Had he not shown the recurve bow first, she might not have realised what it was.
“It is also a bow, yes?”
“Very good, it’s a modern bow from my world. Recurves you might see here and there in your world; of course, our material science and fabrication is more advanced. But this is a compound bow; your world has likely never seen anything like it!”
Before her eyes was a matte black frame of exquisite intricacy. It floated in her hands lighter than any wood, with crisscrossing beams and cross-woven gut in ways that were not readily apparent. She felt herself almost unconsciously clasping the handle nestled in her left palm. The other bow was lain on a nearby seat practically forgotten. Pulling the string, it strained at first before slackening substantially at an extremely long full draw. She found herself appreciating the completely unobstructed path and placement for the arrow; the shaft would not wobble and flex in flight. Her eyes naturally sighted through a circular instrument with oddly luminous pins, sophisticated yet elegant.
Any elf would intuitively understand the perfected craft of this bow. In the Fair Folk’s hands, with
their eyes, this artefact would make every shot flawless. She almost forgot she was still drawing back. At a whim, she extended her earth sense through it. More intricately bound and fastened parts than even sight could not manage, revealed themselves to her.
“This… is art,” came her breathless response.
“That good, huh?”
“You don’t understand, Master. To elves, a gifted bow is a right of passage, usually from elder to child—a propitious and sacred event. Ralfen and I, however, shared no such illusions about our lot. My parents gone, no heirlooms or artisans were awaiting to gift me my first hunting bow. We bought it from a peddler passing by the village. It cost many pelts, and I cherished its gnarled and twisted form like a newborn child. You have given me not one but
two priceless artefact bows from your world!
“There are once again, no words, no words to express my gratitude. Thank you, thank you, a thousand ‘thank yous’.” With the Compound bow at her side, she half knelt. Supplicated before him in a chamber above the world, she thanked him again in Elven. “I hope to one day earn the honour you have bestowed upon me this hour. I make this pledge to the gods, in this sacred ship above the clouds. Master Jonathan Kelly of the Honourable Order of the Divers, I Keya Ces of no house nor family pledge my allegiance to you. May honour bind us, and may I be your bow.” She did not look up, and she dared not move. This covenant was both a test for him and an avowal of heartfelt gratitude from her. The pledge required his honour after all.
Moments passed by and then Jon audibly exhaled. “Okay Keya, if that’s what you want then I accept your pledge."
She raised her head and smiled.
"I like the honour part it sounds reciprocal. Bound by honour then. You are my bow, and I am your…,” patting the spoon on his forehead, “gonna have to figure that one out. Anyway, it’s not like its legally binding or anything; you're still free to do as you choose.”
“Thank you, Master, I will bear that in mind.” She stood smiling. “Now, you mentioned a shooting range…”
Previous|
Next Comments & Calculations
This scene was difficult for me. I leave it to the reader to decide how well it was handled. Obviously, there is a clash of ethics here, Kay is from a world prior to universal suffrage. The duties and ethics between commoners and nobility conflict with Jon's modern liberal values. Lords do not simply endow commoners with riches in exchange for nothing. Subjects serve their lords, and in return, their needs are provided for.
Reeling from techo-culture shock, Kay is attempting to classify what kind of subject she is, in terms she understands. The master-apprentice artisan dynamic would root the relationship in purely transactional bounds. Given the wealth disparity, what debt she must be incurring naturally concerns her.
After Jon's flat denial of such an arrangement, Kay is left reaching for anything familiar upon which root her experience. Enter the bows, a cultural icon of her people, containing archetypal significance. They even give her a technological benchmark. Lords do not arm commoners, so squire or apprentice knight it is. As such, she takes an oath, framing her and his duties in terms she understands for the moment. Citizenship was also a big hint for her, but cards can be faked, getting a weapon cements the deal—the right to bear compound arms and all that.
Amazon | Patreon | Cover I'm a Brave Creator too. An easy decentralised ad revenue based way to support me, costing you nothing and fully integrated into Reddit. If you have the Brave Browser just click the triangular BAT icon labelled 'Tip' below.
submitted by [Author's notes in comments for translations and details. Enjoy!]
Near Banbridge town, in the County Down
One morning last July
Down a bóithrín green came a sweet cailín
And she smiled as she passed me by.
She looked so sweet from her two bare feet
To the sheen of her nut brown hair
Such a winsome elf, I'm ashamed of myself
For the see of her standing there.
Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 9th Marines
Assigned to the 76th MEU, TFSS James Mattis
23 years since first contact, 5 years until Operation Inchon
The side doors of the UV-70 Mamba opened and I let my feet hang over the side. The trees below me were a blur as we flew past. A wave of hot air washed over me as I leaned my head out of the dropship. It was either from the planet’s tropical biome or the fact that half the colony was on fire. The crew chief to my left swung a 14mm machine gun out the door and loaded a belt into it with a satisfying thrwack. He leaned his own head out of the door to get his own bearings. He turned to us and held up 5 fingers and shouted, “FIVE MINUTES”.
“FIVE MINUTES” shouted back the 12 Marines and one Navy Corpsman, all of us copying his gesture.
“Hey O’Hare” said a German voice from behind me. I turned around to look at the source. Corporal Blucher was checking the Marines’ gear one last time. He turned after aggressively tightening down a strap on one of the boots who had apparently not secured his body armor well enough. “What the fuck are we supposed to do if you get shot first?”.
“I don’t know, have Doc Stevens fix me up?” I replied.
“Fuck no, stay next to me. Let Garcia take point since he wants to let his Scheiße hang loose” said the Prussian corporal as he pushed the well corrected PFC away and towards me. Not counting Doc, Blucher was the oldest one of us at 23, and he was an Old Corps salt dog to the bone. He didn’t take shit, but he didn’t give it either. He was a dick sure, but he was always right about it.
“Aye corporal”
Cùl tòna, I’ve been on that ship for months! I just want to get my feet back on solid ground already I complained as I heaved my legs back from the edge and took my place next to the squad leader. On paper a squad leader is supposed to be a sergeant and the assistant squad leader a corporal. But things don’t work the way they’re supposed to in the Marine Corps. They work the Marine Corps way in the Marine Corps! So, we were short on NCOs and making do with a corporal and a senior lance corporal as the assistant.
“Don’t worry, you’ll have plenty of chances to get some today” said the senior lance corporal in question. He depolarized his visor so I could see his shit eating grin. He was just as happy to be off the ship as we all were. The side of his helmet said, Don’t Panic!. He said he read it in a book once. Good advice I suppose. “But if you do take a round, we are kinda fucked” he added.
“Ach you’ll figure it out Thompson” I said to the American. He was a bit more of an eejit, but he knew what he was doing most of the time. A comm link isn’t that hard to use! Everyone else just likes having a comm nerd to yell at.
“THREE MINUTES” yelled the crew chief breaking me from my internal ranting.
“THREE MINUTES” we all replied.
I began taking inventory of my kit for the thousandth time. One M89A5 assault rifle, check. 6 spare magazines with 32 rounds of 5mm Terran Caseless each, check. One M77A2 pistol, check. 2 spare magazines with 18 rounds of 9mm Dillon each, check. One comm link with a tactical bracer, check. One field drone, check. Two frags, one flashbang, two marking beacons, and a rainbow of smoke grenades across my belt; check. One first aid kit, check. One mostly full hydration bladder, check. Some rat fucked MRE snacks, check. One ka-bar, check. One multitool and a roll of electrical tape, check. One semi crumbled pack of cigarettes plus a lighter, fucking check. Also, Blucher had me snag a thermite grenade incase this went “Mogadishu” on us. Whatever that means. All of that plus my helmet and body armor and this was turning into quite the load. Who’s fecking idea was it to give the 1.6-meter 50 kilogram Irish girl all this gear? Oh right, mine when I dropped out of uni and enlisted.
Sufficed that everything was still there I looked back through the open door. The Mamba had banked to the left and gave me a good view of the city without having to lean out of the damn thing. Ok maybe three quarters of the colony was on fire. Christ, this was the kind of shite that made the Taurans get all worked up at The Table. They were constantly crying about how “humans can’t be trusted”. How we are a race of undisciplined children that haven’t even left behind their regional identities. That it wasn’t right that a fledgling race be given free reign the of stars and colonization of unclaimed worlds. That our unchecked expansion invited these kinds of attacks. That we still weren’t ready. To be honest, they just sounded jealous. At least the Dracs and a few of the rest made good trading partners.
“ONE MINUTE”
“ONE MINUTE”
A silence came over the inside of the dropship. It wasn’t out of fear or anything. Oh no, we were all too damn excited to be scared. You can’t stick a bunch of Marines on a ship with nothing to do but lift weights and masturbate for months and expect us to not want to kill something. Come to think of it they probably do it on purpose. When you take into account that my number one rule is “don’t fuck Marines in 1/9” and the fact that I can’t stand sailors long enough to get into bed with one, you can see what I had been directing my energy towards. When word came down that some pirates had torched a mining town and a bunch of civvies needed saving, we couldn’t get kitted up fast enough. Getting paid to kill a bunch of gigantic pieces of shite that zero people will miss? Fucking ‘rah.
“THIRTY SECONDS”
“THIRTY SECONDS”
“Condition one weapons!” ordered Blucher. The dropship was filled with the sound of slightly less satisfying thrwicks as we chambered rounds into our weapons. The digital round counter on my rifle read 32 to confirm that it was loaded. If I had the genetic predisposition for it, I probably would’ve been sporting a hard on. I almost felt bad for the dumb bastards. Almost.
From Bantry Bay up to Derry Quay
From Galway to Dublin town
No maid I've seen like the fair cailín
That I met in the County Down.
The engines roared as we approached the ground and the ship shuddered when the landing gear touched the surface. We spilled out of the side doors and formed into a semicircle in front of the ship, crouching and facing outward. No orders were needed, we had practiced this same maneuver dozens if not hundreds of times. The Mamba’s engines roared again as it took off and flew over and away from us, leaving us in a field that separated the colony from the planet’s massive rainforest.
“O’Hare call it in” said Blucher.
“Reaper 3 Actual, Reaper 3-1. We have reached phase line Budweiser and are pushing to phase line Busch” I said into my helmet’s integrated mic as I keyed my comm.
Whoever comes up with these objective names needs to learn what a real beer is. Why can’t there ever be a phase line Guinness? Fucking yanks wouldn’t know a good pint if I shoved one up their arse.
“Copy 3-1, out” replied the disembodied voice of our platoon commander. The other 2 squads of 3rd platoon reported themselves as well and the lieutenant responded accordingly.
“Van Dusen your team takes point. Tokugawa, Petrov fall in behind, squad column. Let’s get a fucking move on!” commanded Blucher. “Rah” “Yut” “Kill” responded the South African, Japanese, and Ukrainian team leaders respectfully. Again, they were supposed to be corporals, but experienced lance corporals could do the job just as well.
“O’Hare you fucking pogue! What did I tell you? Stay next to me!” shouted Blucher as we started to move out and form into staggered columns down a semi paved road surrounded by abandoned homes and storefronts. Everyone that hadn’t been already evacuated was held up at the government house with the rest of Charlie company.
“Rah corporal” I prefer battery powered grunt thank you very much.
“Thompson hang back with Doc and make sure everyone has their spacing” Blucher continued.
“Slay bodies”
“All Reaper 3 callsigns be advised, Reaper 6’s comms are down. Coordinate with Reaper 2 Actual. How copy, over?” our lieutenant said. I checked my tac bracer and sure enough the CO’s callsign had dropped off the net. 1st, 2nd, and Weapons platoon were at least still up. Fecking hell Ali! Get your shite together, you’re making us comm guys look bad.
“Copy”, said 3-2.
“Lima Charlie”, said 3-3.
“Solid copy”, I said.
“Roger, out”
“What the fuck did he say? It was cutting out” said an annoyed Corporal Blucher.
“The CO’s comm is down. We’re talking to 2nd until they unfuck it” I answered. Blucher grumbled something in German and smacked the side of his helmet a couple of times. It doesn’t work like that but ok. Our helmets had integrated UHF comms for the squad level so we could talk outside of shouting distance, but anything beyond that needed a comm link. They had a feature where they could wirelessly connect to a nearby comm so the TCS (Tactical Communications Specialist that is) wouldn’t have to be constantly repeating what he heard like an ancient radio operator. But as we learned during field exercises in 29 Palms and on Luna it liked to shit out on you when you started moving. The link has 2 cables so that you can hook it up to your helmet and get a much more reliable connection. It’s good for the TCS but I would basically have to be piggybacking Blucher if he wanted to use the other one.
We pushed further into the city towards the simple two story building that was our objective, keeping our eyes and ears open for any sign of trouble. The inferno continued to blaze and engulf more and more of the mining town. The sound of weapons platoon’s medium machine guns and enemy plasma weapons clashing were getting louder now. Every now and then I could hear them touch off a rocket and some grenade launchers.
“What about your shortwave?” I asked finally.
“The cable gets in the way of my speed reloads” answered Blucher. A bhastaird bhreallghnùisigh! Why does everyone have to try and make my job harder? A shortwave was essentially a handheld comm link issued to officers and NCOs that you could fit into a pouch on the front of your plate carrier (or an empty magazine pouch if supply ran out). It didn’t have the same output as the bigger ones but it could do the job in a pinch.
As she onward sped, sure I scratched my head,
And I looked with a feelin' rare,
And I says, says I, to a passer-by,
"Who's the maid with the nut brown hair?"
Well he looked at me and he said to me,
"That's the gem of Ireland's crown.
Young Rosie McCann from the banks of the Bann,
She's the star of the County Down."
As we approached an intersection Garcia gave the hand signal for a danger area. Again, no orders were needed as just about every Marine has done this thousands of times since boot camp. One fireteam pulls security while the other two get across. There are to be four Marines that have their weapons trained on either direction of the road, two on each side. I dropped down to a knee and took my post on the corner of a building, resting my rifle on the wall. Van Dusen was across from me mirroring my position. Blucher put a hand on my shoulder as Tokugawa’s team went across. “Alright send it”.
“3 Actual, 3-1. We have reached phase line Busch and are approaching objective Icehouse”. This is an insult to real beer.
“Copy 3-1, out”.
Without taking my eyes off the road I was overcome with a sudden desire to be a cheeky cunt, “Ya know corporal, as soon as we get libo I-OH FUCK”. Before I could finish a figure stepped out of an alley and turned to me. It looked like a human, sort of. If a human had veiny beet red skin, completely black eyes, no ears save for the holes on either side of its head, coarse fur like hair, a squashed rectangular nose, 4 fingers and the body of a tall dwarf. Not like a little person but like a proper mythical dwarf. It seemed very surprised to see me. It was carrying a plasma rifle and was wearing a strange x-shaped harness on its chest over a red jumpsuit. Its black eyes went wide, and it opened its mouth of shark like teeth as if to say something. I quickly decided that I had no intention of hearing its opinions as it raised its weapon at me. I fired 3 rounds in rapid succession. Two to the chest, one to the pelvic girdle. My rifle’s integrated suppressor muzzling my shots to a quick phwip.
The harness must’ve been some kind of personal shield because a flash of light emitted from the alien pirate as my first rounds tore into it. Probably designed to redirect energy from plasma weapons, not absorb a 5mm fin stabilized discarding sabot at 10 meters traveling just a bit over Mach 3. Surprise fecker! You’re dealing with proper Human weapons now you gobshite! My third shot into its pelvis dropped it like a bag of hammers and it laid on the ground gurgling in a pool of black blood. Van Dusen shot it twice in the head for posterity’s sake.
“HOLY FECKING SHITE I GOT ONE!” I yelled. I just popped my cherry! Not the gross awkward one with all the blood but the fun cool one with all the blood.
“Keep your fucking pants on O’Hare!” said Blucher. “Let’s fucking go Petrov! Get your Marines across!” He pumped his forearm vertically up and down, the hand signal for "hurry the fuck up".
“At least we know who it is now, bru. Fucking Kats!” chimed in Van Dusen. As if on que to defend their honor from the Afrikaner’s insult more Katavarian pirates began appearing from further down the road. I flicked my rifle off safe again as Blucher, Van Dusen, and I poured fired down the road. The Kats seemed woefully unprepared to have been caught in the middle of a Terran Federal Marine Corps infantry platoon’s advance. They were firing wildly as we cut them down, their shields doing little to protect them from our high velocity rounds. Red faces were appearing from around alleys and behind windows trying to take potshots at us. Christ, were these guys taking a fecking nap when we showed up? For every flash of red that I saw I fired 2-3 rounds. Sometimes I’d be rewarded with a flash of a broken shield and an alien howl, other times they’d duck out of the way before I got a good sight picture. It did seem like I was drawing more than my fair share of their ire, probably on account of the antenna sticking out of my back that said “Look at me! I’m important!”.
Van Dusen fired his under barrel grenade launcher into a store front where some of them had set up a firing position. No doubt taking cover when they realized their shields were doing fuck all. The 40mm HEDP shell exploding in their face was our way of saying “nice try but still get fucked”.
“No shit it’s Kats! It’s always fucking Kats!” said Doc Stevens as he ran across. The Katavarians barely had a presence at The Table. Their government was a powerless operation that just existed to say “oops sorry what can we do” whenever another pirate band attacked shipping lanes or colonies. And as the newest race to discover FTL technology it was mostly us that fell victim to their attacks on our outer colonies. And to be quite frank, we were getting very tired of their shit. Like today. “At least their physiology is pretty similar to ours” he added as he got across and took a position next to Van Dusen. I put a burst into one of them that had appeared on a roof holding a shoulder fired weapon. It fell to the ground in a heap.
“Can you translate that to crayon, bru?” quipped Van Dusen. He knew what he was talking about but he just liked being a prick. Especially to navy guys.
“Bloody hell, their important bits are the same as our important bits” sighed the HM2 from Liverpool.
“Yeah, I kind of figured that out when I shot one in the head and it fucking died, Doc. Thompson hurry it up!” said Blucher as he slammed a fresh magazine into his rifle. The Kats’ fire was slowing down now, and it seemed as if they had decided that discretion was the better part of valor. I guess that’s what happens when you go from raiding colonies with token Planetary Guard forces to facing a bunch of grunts that have had nothing to do but think about killing for the past 2 months.
“Last Marine!” said Thompson as he touched my shoulder and ran past, letting me know that he was the last one in the formation to cross behind us.
“O’Hare call it in and let’s get moving” ordered Blucher.
“Copy”, I keyed my comm “3-2, 3-1. Be advised we have engaged a reinforced squad sized element. They are breaking contact and oscar mike to your pos. How copy over?”
“Solid copy 3-1, we’ll be waiting for them”
“Roger, out”. I couldn’t help but smile under my helmet. Imagine the look on their faces when they run into more Marines!
“Ok O’Hare your turn!” I sprinted across and relieved Van Dusen. Seconds later Blucher came across and touched my shoulder. “Last Marine” he sighed. “Ok are we good to go? Team leaders?” The three team leaders responded positively that their Marines were in fact alive and had all of their important bits.
“Alright form it back up and let’s double time it” ordered our squad leader.
From Bantry Bay up to Derry Quay
From Galway to Dublin town
No maid I've seen like the fair cailín
That I met in the County Down.
“3 Actual, 3-1. We have reached objective Icehouse and are setting up overwatch”.
“Good to go 3-1, out”.
As I touched off a marking beacon to confirm to everyone all the way up to the Mattis where we were Blucher cursed and smacked the side of his helmet again.
“Still?” I asked.
“Yeah...” he admitted.
“Here let me fix it. Hold still feisì” I said, adding my Gaeilge when he began to protest.
“The fuck did you just call me?” spat Blucher.
“Nothing at all Corporal!” I quickly answered. Oops.
“Du Fickfehler” he answered.
Despite the exchange he let me get to work. I grabbed the end of the cable from the shortwave under his left armpit and pulled out and under his arm to get it as far away from his mag pouches as I could. I ran it back up to his helmet and plugged it into the port under where he had written “Kerle, wollt ihr ewig leben?”. Whatever that means. He held up a thumb when he heard the rest of 3rd platoon reporting their positions. Corona and Miller? Janey Mac I’m surrounded by heathens!
“What’s so hard about cursing in English?” asked Thompson.
“It’s so much more fun in Irish!” I said hoping Blucher wasn’t paying attention.
“If you have 40 ways of saying “fuck you” why would you use just the one?” chimed in Lance Corporal Singh, our designated marksman. I gave her a fist bump and laid down in between her and Blucher. She had something in Sanskrit written on her helmet. I ought to ask her what that means. Thompson nodded at this response and went back to looking at what we all were.
Objective Icehouse was a simple two story building with a flat roof. The only thing special about it was that orbital imagery from the Mattis indicated that it gave us a pretty good over watch position to the government house. 2nd and 3rd squads got similarly positioned buildings. I was on the roof with Blucher, Thompson, and Singh. The rest of the squad was set up on the floor below us or on street level. From here we could see the rest of Charlie Company exchanging fire with what was left of the Kats. Tracers streaked out from the government house towards assortments of buildings the pirates were firing back from. They must’ve started to wise up because they were holding back at a range that their shields might’ve done something now. They were firing back with whatever heavier plasma weapons and lasers they had. It wasn’t doing much though, and they were starting to try and push forward. They had to have been getting desperate. Stuck between an advancing inferno that they started, and an infantry company that they pissed off, with their extraction burning up in the atmosphere. Their only hope for salvation was to flee into the rainforest and hope they could call for another pirate band that could use the numbers before more Marines came and mopped them up. I bet whatever unobtanium this colony was mining doesn’t sound worth it anymore.
It used to be that they would just surrender at the first sign of trouble or cut their loses and flee. But we stopped handing Kat prisoners back over when we found out we had captured the same band half a dozen times just for the joke of the Kat government to release them and have them back attacking us. Not anymore, new procedure was to treat every Kat vessel as a potential threat and engage the confirmed ones at every opportunity. Provided they didn’t have any hostages outright destroying them was the best option. This made some of the other races get all jittery (especially the Taurans) but fuck them. If the want to attack us they can turn big rocks into little rocks on Mars for all eternity.
So, most of the company had landed after the rest of the battalion got who they could, and we were held in reserve to cover their push to the last evac site. The plan was to cover them, hold off whatever the Kats threw at us while the engineers cleared a landing zone for the Albatrosses, and then get the fuck out.
“Get the drone up. I don’t want any more fucking surprises” said Blucher.
“Roger” I answered fishing the field drone out of its polymer case. Its four propellers sprang out and spun to life as I activated it from my tac bracer. The hummingbird sized device flew out of my hand and in front of our position. With my bracer I controlled its movements and got a visual from it’s on board camera. Normal visuals weren’t doing me any good, so I switched over to thermals and was greeted with a white hot screen. The fire along with the planet’s climate was overloading the system. I turned down the sensitivity until I got a good visual of my surroundings. A Kat’s internal body temperature was a little higher than that of a human. This made them all that easier to spot them on thermals. First, I swept the buildings directly in front of us. Nothing. Then I started branching out. Block by block, darting my little drone up and down alleys and streets looking for Kats that thought they could hide. Eventually, I found something. About 200 meters up and to the right of us. In another two story building was a blob of orange and red.
“Corporal I got something” I said without looking up from my bracer. The heat was enough to be a Kat, but it looked all wrong. Like it had two heads or something. From what I could tell it looked to be crouched or sitting in a closet in the center of building away from any doors or windows. I tried getting inside but with all the windows and doors closed there was nothing I could do. Fuck.
“Let me see” Blucher said crawling over to me. I held out my forearm for him to see and he studied it for a moment. “Eh it’s probably one of those fuckers trying to hide out. Either way it’s out of the way of the extraction route and if it suddenly gets brave Singh can perforate it from here”. Singh put up a “rock on” hand signal at this.
“But Corporal what if- “
“No”
“Corporal I really think- “
“Shut the fuck up, Lance Corporal!”
Thompson put a hand on my shoulder, “What happens if we send out a team and they get bogged down out there? What happens if we get rushed and we’re not at strength? What happens if we send out some Marines and they get chopped up just to find it’s another Kat? Everyone is supposed to be at the government house”. I turned to look at him and frowned. His eyes were worried and doubtful. He was thinking the same thing I was. But he was right. And so was Blucher. As much of an arsehole as he was, he didn’t want to go home with 8 Marines in his squad instead of 12. But things don’t work the way they’re supposed to.
“C’mon get your head in the game” said Singh playfully smacking my helmet. Yeah ok, it’s nothing. Gotta be here in the now. I marked the building on my map and went back to looking through my rifle.
“All Reaper 3 callsigns you are clear to engage”
“Light them the fuck up!” commanded Blucher. With that the 12 Marines and one Corpsman in Objective Icehouse began suppressing the more threatening sources of Katavarian fire. To our left and right the Marines in Objectives Corona and Miller were doing the same. Singh’s M109 DMR was spitting out 7.5mm Martian polymer cases with a dull fwup. I switched my optic from 1x to 4x so I could get a better look at what we were shooting at. The Kats’ shields were doing them some good at this range. It took 2 good hits for their shields to drop. It was hard to get good targets though so most of us were just trying to suppress the buildings, puffs of dust kicking up from our rounds hitting the walls. I would’ve put my weapon on burst or even auto if I thought that I wouldn’t burn through the rest of my mags. I did get to see some of Singh’s shots “canoe” a few of them so that was nice. But even though they were redirecting some of their guns to us it wasn’t enough to take the heat off the government house.
“MAAWS?” Thompson asked anxiously.
“MAAWS” agreed Blucher.
“Fuck yeah! Hey get that fucking MAAWS up here!” Thompson yelled down the staircase, not that he had to with the internal comms. He was just excited. I heard Petrov yelling Ukrainian obscenities at his Marines to sprint up the stairs. And I’m the one that has to keep her pants on? Two Marines raced out of the staircase and took a knee behind us. One holding the Man portable, Antitank, Antipersonnel, Weapon System and the other taking a bundle of 70mm rockets off his back.
“2 Actual, 3-1. Be advised we’re engaging with our MAAWS” I said into my mic.
“A-firm 3-1. Standing by to give you BDA” replied 2nd Platoon’s commander.
“You know which one you’re shooting at right?” asked Thompson.
“Yes, Lance Corporal” replied the rocket team. Fucking boots. They were the same rank technically but “billet before rank” and all that. Blucher, the micromanaging kraut that he is, wasn’t convinced and said, “Singh put some tracers on it”. She promptly retrieved a fresh magazine that had a strip of red electrical tape on it. She replaced the magazine she already had loaded with it and chambered a round. She fired two rounds that glowed as they flew towards the building we were engaging. The two Marines nodded their heads.
“Hey, load a thermo” Thompson said to the assistant gunner. Blucher looked at him as if to say “really?” but didn’t continue. This was going to be fun. The assistant took out a rocket with a thick orange band from the case. He twisted the tip and loaded it into the rear of the weapon. Once it was in, he then tapped the gunner’s helmet twice to confirm the weapon was armed. Now it was up to the gunner. The scope on the MAAWS had a range finder and a targeting computer so the gunner didn’t have to sling rockets at his target until he got it right. It told him exactly were to hold based on the distance to the target, angle of attack, and munition being fired. All he had to do was hold it steady and pull the trigger.
“On target!” announced the gunner. “CLEAR BACKBLAST!”
“BACKBLAST CLEAR!” confirmed his assistant.
“ROCKET!”
PWOP
FWOOOOOOOM
The 70mm thermobaric rocket streaked out from the Marine’s shoulder and over our heads. My eyes were glued to it in anticipation. What’s great about thermobaric weapons is that they don’t just explode, they implode. It works by igniting the oxygen in the air, which results in a vacuum. The air in the immediate atmosphere will then come rushing in. This has the effect of sucking anything in in the immediate vicinity. Like walls. Also, apparently, they contain some kind of chemical that if exposed to it too often will give you cancer. But that’s for the VA to worry about.
The shot couldn’t have been more perfect. The rocket shot straight through a window and into the building. First the explosion, igniting the available oxygen and burning the Kats’ lungs from the inside. And then the implosion. The walls of the house caved in on themselves and the whole thing came down. If anything in there wasn’t already dead, it was now. Eleven Marines and one Navy Corpsman roared in excitement as our target was turned into a pile of dust and rubble from the inside out. Second and Third squads must’ve gotten the same idea because rockets streaked out from their positions towards their targets.
“Good fucking shit boots!” applauded Thompson.
“Aye Lance Corporal!”
“Lock it up! Lock it the fuck up!” commanded Blucher when our celebrating went on for a second too long.
“Good hit 3-1, position destroyed, estimate 10 EKIA. Pushing Reaper 4 to you now.”
“Copy, out. Corporal you get that?” I said turning my head to Blucher. He put up a thumb in affirmation. Yeah that’s right fecker I know I’m good at my job. Weapons platoon began spilling out of the government house and double timed it up the main road towards us. First the machine gun section, then mortars, and finally engineers. They would bolster our defenses while the engineers secured a landing zone. The Albatrosses needed a lot of space. Then the rest of the company would move the civvies knowing they were under a protective blanket of machine guns, mortars and rifle fire. The gunners were moving hard with their guns on their shoulders and their assistants following behind laden with belts of ammunition and spare barrels. Squads started breaking off from the section and one headed towards our position. A machine gun squad consisted of two machine guns with two Marines per gun plus a squad leader. In this case all of these Marines were lance corporals in true Marine Corps fashion.
“Marines coming in!” announced the machine gunners one after another as they entered our building. Soon a burst raced out from the floor below us. “GUN ONE UP!”
Another burst. “GUN TWO UP!”. With that the 7.5mm general purpose machine guns began their dance of death. One gun would fire a burst of 6 rounds, and then the other gun would take over. This way, it was a constant stream of fire without eating up all their ammo. While one team was loading. The other was firing. While one was changing barrels, the other was putting rounds down range. The GPMGs weren’t suppressed like our rifles, so it was quite the racket. But the noise was gas sometimes! Sometimes I think I should’ve chosen 0331 but then I see their platoon sergeant make them do gun drills all day and I think better of it. One bad decision is enough thank you very much. We watched their tracers speed towards the Kats that had fancied themselves brave and were setting up on the rubble. The guns caught a few in the open with the opening bursts and the rest dove for cover. We followed suit and began picking off those we could while the machine guns kept them suppressed. At this range Singh got most of the good hits but every now and then the rest of us would catch one.
First and Second Platoons started moving now. Along with them were battered looking civilians, constables, and planetary guardsmen. The Marines surrounded them as they moved down the street. Some of them were carrying their wounded. Others were carrying their dead. I had to give it to those “parental guidances”. They didn’t have our training or equipment (some of these guys had M89A1s!), but this was their home. And they weren’t leaving it without a fight. Aside from the Marines the procession was quite the clusterfuck. Wounded constables and guardsmen hobbling along. Families holding their children and whatever possessions they were able to grab. And these are only the people that made it.
The crowd finally got to us and the Marines started reinforcing positions or securing the civilians while the Corpsmen got to work on the wounded. The mortarmen finally got to work and started shelling the government house with their 60mm tubes so the Kats couldn’t use it. No doubt they had their guns preset and were just waiting for everyone to get clear.
“LANCE CORPORAL O’HARE!” called a voice from street level.
“Better go” sighed Blucher.
Fuck me. I stood up and quickly made my way down and out of our house. I was greeted by the sight of our CO, Captain DuBois, and a very confused looking tactical communications specialist. And the sound of the engineers blowing down trees and buildings with det cord.
“Kill sir” I said trotting up to him.
“Excellent, would you please assist Lance Corporal Ali with getting comms back up” said the French officer.
“On it sir” I answered trying not to sound like a cunt about. Ali was fiddling with his bracer when I took a knee next to him.
“I don’t know what happened! It just dropped data all of a sudden!” he said. I grabbed his arm and turned it so I could look at his screen.
“Rinne tù margairlì crànach de” I whistled looking at the absolute hell of a readout.
“What?” Ali asked.
I sighed and started punching through the options, “Did you load the encryption keys before you loaded the frequencies?”
“…no” he admitted.
“You have to! If not, sometimes the data won’t take, and it’ll just drop after a few hours”.
“Why does it work like that?”
“How the feck should I know? It just does! Look, do you have backups?”
“No”
“Jesus wept”, fucking headquarters nerds. I pulled a cable out from my own bracer and plugged it into his. I was sure to upload the encryption keys first and show him what I did. “Grand, now get comm checks”. You’re lucky I like redundancies fecker.
The captain laughed the kind of laugh officers do whenever they want to feel heroic. “Corporal Blucher!”
The Prussian’s helmet poked out over the edge of the roof, “Yes sir?”
“You are no longer allowed to have O’Hare to yourself! She will be my personal TCS from now on!”
“Aye sir” Blucher said dejectedly, there was a reparations joke in there somewhere. Fucking hell, I hate being dependable. I can deal with the kraut and the yank but if I have to follow some frog shiny around all day I’ll go mental!
I took a look around the area that Charlie company had occupied. The CO was talking to the Mattis and trying to look like he knew what he was doing. The XO was pretending like he mattered. And First Sergeant was yelling at the mortarmen. In that regard everything is exactly as it’s supposed to be. Then my mood changed. There were families comforting their children. People were looking at what was left of their lives in their hands. They had it good here and a solid future for their kids and now they would be refugees until they found somewhere else. I saw Doc Stevens and some other corpsmen triaging the wounded. There were kids among them. Their bodies were scarred by plasma burns. The Kats didn’t have rules of engagement. If they weren’t going to take you as a hostage, they didn’t have use for you. And these are the ones that made it.
“O’Hare if you’re done get the fuck back here!”
“Rah Corporal!”
[Continued in comments]
submitted by a abandon ability able abortion about above abroad absence absolute absolutely absorb abuse academic accept access accident accompany accomplish according account accurate accuse achieve achievement acid acknowledge acquire across act action active activist activity actor actress actual actually ad adapt add addition additional address adequate adjust adjustment administration administrator admire admission admit adolescent adopt adult advance advanced advantage adventure advertising advice advise adviser advocate affair affect afford afraid African African-American after afternoon again against age agency agenda agent aggressive ago agree agreement agricultural ah ahead aid aide AIDS aim air aircraft airline airport album alcohol alive all alliance allow ally almost alone along already also alter alternative although always AM amazing American among amount analysis analyst analyze ancient and anger angle angry animal anniversary announce annual another answer anticipate anxiety any anybody anymore anyone anything anyway anywhere apart apartment apparent apparently appeal appear appearance apple application apply appoint appointment appreciate approach appropriate approval approve approximately Arab architect area argue argument arise arm armed army around arrange arrangement arrest arrival arrive art article artist artistic as Asian aside ask asleep aspect assault assert assess assessment asset assign assignment assist assistance assistant associate association assume assumption assure at athlete athletic atmosphere attach attack attempt attend attention attitude attorney attract attractive attribute audience author authority auto available average avoid award aware awareness away awful baby back background bad badly bag bake balance ball ban band bank bar barely barrel barrier base baseball basic basically basis basket basketball bathroom battery battle be beach bean bear beat beautiful beauty because become bed bedroom beer before begin beginning behavior behind being belief believe bell belong below belt bench bend beneath benefit beside besides best bet better between beyond Bible big bike bill billion bind biological bird birth birthday bit bite black blade blame blanket blind block blood blow blue board boat body bomb bombing bond bone book boom boot border born borrow boss both bother bottle bottom boundary bowl box boy boyfriend brain branch brand bread break breakfast breast breath breathe brick bridge brief briefly bright brilliant bring British broad broken brother brown brush buck budget build building bullet bunch burden burn bury bus business busy but butter button buy buyer by cabin cabinet cable cake calculate call camera camp campaign campus can Canadian cancer candidate cap capability capable capacity capital captain capture car carbon card care career careful carefully carrier carry case cash cast cat catch category Catholic cause ceiling celebrate celebration celebrity cell center central century CEO ceremony certain certainly chain chair chairman challenge chamber champion championship chance change changing channel chapter character characteristic characterize charge charity chart chase cheap check cheek cheese chef chemical chest chicken chief child childhood Chinese chip chocolate choice cholesterol choose Christian Christmas church cigarette circle circumstance cite citizen city civil civilian claim class classic classroom clean clear clearly client climate climb clinic clinical clock close closely closer clothes clothing cloud club clue cluster coach coal coalition coast coat code coffee cognitive cold collapse colleague collect collection collective college colonial color column combination combine come comedy comfort comfortable command commander comment commercial commission commit commitment committee common communicate communication community company compare comparison compete competition competitive competitor complain complaint complete completely complex complicated component compose composition comprehensive computer concentrate concentration concept concern concerned concert conclude conclusion concrete condition conduct conference confidence confident confirm conflict confront confusion Congress congressional connect connection consciousness consensus consequence conservative consider considerable consideration consist consistent constant constantly constitute constitutional construct construction consultant consume consumer consumption contact contain container contemporary content contest context continue continued contract contrast contribute contribution control controversial controversy convention conventional conversation convert conviction convince cook cookie cooking cool cooperation cop cope copy core corn corner corporate corporation correct correspondent cost cotton couch could council counselor count counter country county couple courage course court cousin cover coverage cow crack craft crash crazy cream create creation creative creature credit crew crime criminal crisis criteria critic critical criticism criticize crop cross crowd crucial cry cultural culture cup curious current currently curriculum custom customer cut cycle dad daily damage dance danger dangerous dare dark darkness data date daughter day dead deal dealer dear death debate debt decade decide decision deck declare decline decrease deep deeply deer defeat defend defendant defense defensive deficit define definitely definition degree delay deliver delivery demand democracy Democrat democratic demonstrate demonstration deny department depend dependent depending depict depression depth deputy derive describe description desert deserve design designer desire desk desperate despite destroy destruction detail detailed detect determine develop developing development device devote dialogue die diet differ difference different differently difficult difficulty dig digital dimension dining dinner direct direction directly director dirt dirty disability disagree disappear disaster discipline discourse discover discovery discrimination discuss discussion disease dish dismiss disorder display dispute distance distant distinct distinction distinguish distribute distribution district diverse diversity divide division divorce DNA do doctor document dog domestic dominant dominate door double doubt down downtown dozen draft drag drama dramatic dramatically draw drawing dream dress drink drive driver drop drug dry due during dust duty each eager ear early earn earnings earth ease easily east eastern easy eat economic economics economist economy edge edition editor educate education educational educator effect effective effectively efficiency efficient effort egg eight either elderly elect election electric electricity electronic element elementary eliminate elite else elsewhere e-mail embrace emerge emergency emission emotion emotional emphasis emphasize employ employee employer employment empty enable encounter encourage end enemy energy enforcement engage engine engineer engineering English enhance enjoy enormous enough ensure enter enterprise entertainment entire entirely entrance entry environment environmental episode equal equally equipment era error escape especially essay essential essentially establish establishment estate estimate etc ethics ethnic European evaluate evaluation even evening event eventually ever every everybody everyday everyone everything everywhere evidence evolution evolve exact exactly examination examine example exceed excellent except exception exchange exciting executive exercise exhibit exhibition exist existence existing expand expansion expect expectation expense expensive experience experiment expert explain explanation explode explore explosion expose exposure express expression extend extension extensive extent external extra extraordinary extreme extremely eye fabric face facility fact factor factory faculty fade fail failure fair fairly faith fall false familiar family famous fan fantasy far farm farmer fashion fast fat fate father fault favor favorite fear feature federal fee feed feel feeling fellow female fence few fewer fiber fiction field fifteen fifth fifty fight fighter fighting figure file fill film final finally finance financial find finding fine finger finish fire firm first fish fishing fit fitness five fix flag flame flat flavor flee flesh flight float floor flow flower fly focus folk follow following food foot football for force foreign forest forever forget form formal formation former formula forth fortune forward found foundation founder four fourth frame framework free freedom freeze French frequency frequent frequently fresh friend friendly friendship from front fruit frustration fuel full fully fun function fund fundamental funding funeral funny furniture furthermore future gain galaxy gallery game gang gap garage garden garlic gas gate gather gay gaze gear gender gene general generally generate generation genetic gentleman gently German gesture get ghost giant gift gifted girl girlfriend give given glad glance glass global glove go goal God gold golden golf good government governor grab grade gradually graduate grain grand grandfather grandmother grant grass grave gray great greatest green grocery ground group grow growing growth guarantee guard guess guest guide guideline guilty gun guy habit habitat hair half hall hand handful handle hang happen happy hard hardly hat hate have he head headline headquarters health healthy hear hearing heart heat heaven heavily heavy heel height helicopter hell hello help helpful her here heritage hero herself hey hi hide high highlight highly highway hill him himself hip hire his historian historic historical history hit hold hole holiday holy home homeless honest honey honor hope horizon horror horse hospital host hot hotel hour house household housing how however huge human humor hundred hungry hunter hunting hurt husband hypothesis I ice idea ideal identification identify identity ie if ignore ill illegal illness illustrate image imagination imagine immediate immediately immigrant immigration impact implement implication imply importance important impose impossible impress impression impressive improve improvement in incentive incident include including income incorporate increase increased increasing increasingly incredible indeed independence independent index Indian indicate indication individual industrial industry infant infection inflation influence inform information ingredient initial initially initiative injury inner innocent inquiry inside insight insist inspire install instance instead institution institutional instruction instructor instrument insurance intellectual intelligence intend intense intensity intention interaction interest interested interesting internal international Internet interpret interpretation intervention interview into introduce introduction invasion invest investigate investigation investigator investment investor invite involve involved involvement Iraqi Irish iron Islamic island Israeli issue it Italian item its itself jacket jail Japanese jet Jew Jewish job join joint joke journal journalist journey joy judge judgment juice jump junior jury just justice justify keep key kick kid kill killer killing kind king kiss kitchen knee knife knock know knowledge lab label labor laboratory lack lady lake land landscape language lap large largely last late later Latin latter laugh launch law lawn lawsuit lawyer lay layer lead leader leadership leading leaf league lean learn learning least leather leave left leg legacy legal legend legislation legitimate lemon length less lesson let letter level liberal library license lie life lifestyle lifetime lift light like likely limit limitation limited line link lip list listen literally literary literature little live living load loan local locate location lock long long-term look loose lose loss lost lot lots loud love lovely lover low lower luck lucky lunch lung machine mad magazine mail main mainly maintain maintenance major majority make maker makeup male mall man manage management manager manner manufacturer manufacturing many map margin mark market marketing marriage married marry mask mass massive master match material math matter may maybe mayor me meal mean meaning meanwhile measure measurement meat mechanism media medical medication medicine medium meet meeting member membership memory mental mention menu mere merely mess message metal meter method Mexican middle might military milk million mind mine minister minor minority minute miracle mirror miss missile mission mistake mix mixture mm-hmm mode model moderate modern modest mom moment money monitor month mood moon moral more moreover morning mortgage most mostly mother motion motivation motor mount mountain mouse mouth move movement movie Mr Mrs Ms much multiple murder muscle museum music musical musician Muslim must mutual my myself mystery myth naked name narrative narrow nation national native natural naturally nature near nearby nearly necessarily necessary neck need negative negotiate negotiation neighbor neighborhood neither nerve nervous net network never nevertheless new newly news newspaper next nice night nine no nobody nod noise nomination none nonetheless nor normal normally north northern nose not note nothing notice notion novel now nowhere n't nuclear number numerous nurse nut object objective obligation observation observe observer obtain obvious obviously occasion occasionally occupation occupy occur ocean odd odds of off offense offensive offer office officer official often oh oil ok okay old Olympic on once one ongoing onion online only onto open opening operate operating operation operator opinion opponent opportunity oppose opposite opposition option or orange order ordinary organic organization organize orientation origin original originally other others otherwise ought our ourselves out outcome outside oven over overall overcome overlook owe own owner pace pack package page pain painful paint painter painting pair pale Palestinian palm pan panel pant paper parent park parking part participant participate participation particular particularly partly partner partnership party pass passage passenger passion past patch path patient pattern pause pay payment PC peace peak peer penalty people pepper per perceive percentage perception perfect perfectly perform performance perhaps period permanent permission permit person personal personality personally personnel perspective persuade pet phase phenomenon philosophy phone photo photograph photographer phrase physical physically physician piano pick picture pie piece pile pilot pine pink pipe pitch place plan plane planet planning plant plastic plate platform play player please pleasure plenty plot plus PM pocket poem poet poetry point pole police policy political politically politician politics poll pollution pool poor pop popular population porch port portion portrait portray pose position positive possess possibility possible possibly post pot potato potential potentially pound pour poverty powder power powerful practical practice pray prayer precisely predict prefer preference pregnancy pregnant preparation prepare prescription presence present presentation preserve president presidential press pressure pretend pretty prevent previous previously price pride priest primarily primary prime principal principle print prior priority prison prisoner privacy private probably problem procedure proceed process produce producer product production profession professional professor profile profit program progress project prominent promise promote prompt proof proper properly property proportion proposal propose proposed prosecutor prospect protect protection protein protest proud prove provide provider province provision psychological psychologist psychology public publication publicly publish publisher pull punishment purchase pure purpose pursue push put qualify quality quarter quarterback question quick quickly quiet quietly quit quite quote race racial radical radio rail rain raise range rank rapid rapidly rare rarely rate rather rating ratio raw reach react reaction read reader reading ready real reality realize really reason reasonable recall receive recent recently recipe recognition recognize recommend recommendation record recording recover recovery recruit red reduce reduction refer reference reflect reflection reform refugee refuse regard regarding regardless regime region regional register regular regularly regulate regulation reinforce reject relate relation relationship relative relatively relax release relevant relief religion religious rely remain remaining remarkable remember remind remote remove repeat repeatedly replace reply report reporter represent representation representative Republican reputation request require requirement research researcher resemble reservation resident resist resistance resolution resolve resort resource respect respond respondent response responsibility responsible rest restaurant restore restriction result retain retire retirement return reveal revenue review revolution rhythm rice rich rid ride rifle right ring rise risk river road rock role roll romantic roof room root rope rose rough roughly round route routine row rub rule run running rural rush Russian sacred sad safe safety sake salad salary sale sales salt same sample sanction sand satellite satisfaction satisfy sauce save saving say scale scandal scared scenario scene schedule scheme scholar scholarship school science scientific scientist scope score scream screen script sea search season seat second secret secretary section sector secure security see seed seek seem segment seize select selection self sell Senate senator send senior sense sensitive sentence separate sequence series serious seriously serve service session set setting settle settlement seven several severe sex sexual shade shadow shake shall shape share sharp she sheet shelf shell shelter shift shine ship shirt shit shock shoe shoot shooting shop shopping shore short shortly shot should shoulder shout show shower shrug shut sick side sigh sight sign signal significance significant significantly silence silent silver similar similarly simple simply sin since sing singer single sink sir sister sit site situation six size ski skill skin sky slave sleep slice slide slight slightly slip slow slowly small smart smell smile smoke smooth snap snow so so-called soccer social society soft software soil solar soldier solid solution solve some somebody somehow someone something sometimes somewhat somewhere son song soon sophisticated sorry sort soul sound soup source south southern Soviet space Spanish speak speaker special specialist species specific specifically speech speed spend spending spin spirit spiritual split spokesman sport spot spread spring square squeeze stability stable staff stage stair stake stand standard standing star stare start state statement station statistics status stay steady steal steel step stick still stir stock stomach stone stop storage store storm story straight strange stranger strategic strategy stream street strength strengthen stress stretch strike string strip stroke strong strongly structure struggle student studio study stuff stupid style subject submit subsequent substance substantial succeed success successful successfully such sudden suddenly sue suffer sufficient sugar suggest suggestion suicide suit summer summit sun super supply support supporter suppose supposed Supreme sure surely surface surgery surprise surprised surprising surprisingly surround survey survival survive survivor suspect sustain swear sweep sweet swim swing switch symbol symptom system table tablespoon tactic tail take tale talent talk tall tank tap tape target task taste tax taxpayer tea teach teacher teaching team tear teaspoon technical technique technology teen teenager telephone telescope television tell temperature temporary ten tend tendency tennis tension tent term terms terrible territory terror terrorism terrorist test testify testimony testing text than thank thanks that the theater their them theme themselves then theory therapy there therefore these they thick thin thing think thinking third thirty this those though thought thousand threat threaten three throat through throughout throw thus ticket tie tight time tiny tip tire tired tissue title to tobacco today toe together tomato tomorrow tone tongue tonight too tool tooth top topic toss total totally touch tough tour tourist tournament toward towards tower town toy trace track trade tradition traditional traffic tragedy trail train training transfer transform transformation transition translate transportation travel treat treatment treaty tree tremendous trend trial tribe trick trip troop trouble truck true truly trust truth try tube tunnel turn TV twelve twenty twice twin two type typical typically ugly ultimate ultimately unable uncle under undergo understand understanding unfortunately uniform union unique unit United universal universe university unknown unless unlike unlikely until unusual up upon upper urban urge us use used useful user usual usually utility vacation valley valuable value variable variation variety various vary vast vegetable vehicle venture version versus very vessel veteran via victim victory video view viewer village violate violation violence violent virtually virtue virus visible vision visit visitor visual vital voice volume volunteer vote voter vs vulnerable wage wait wake walk wall wander want war warm warn warning wash waste watch water wave way we weak wealth wealthy weapon wear weather wedding week weekend weekly weigh weight welcome welfare well west western wet what whatever wheel when whenever where whereas whether which while whisper white who whole whom whose why wide widely widespread wife wild will willing win wind window wine wing winner winter wipe wire wisdom wise wish with withdraw within without witness woman wonder wonderful wood wooden word work worker working works workshop world worried worry worth would wound wrap write writer writing wrong yard yeah year yell yellow yes yesterday yet yield you young your yours yourself youth zone
submitted by I am about to post the 3000 most common words in the English lexicon. Wish me luck...
a abandon ability able abortion about above abroad absence absolute absolutely absorb abuse academic accept access accident accompany accomplish according account accurate accuse achieve achievement acid acknowledge acquire across act action active activist activity actor actress actual actually ad adapt add addition additional address adequate adjust adjustment administration administrator admire admission admit adolescent adopt adult advance advanced advantage adventure advertising advice advise adviser advocate affair affect afford afraid African African-American after afternoon again against age agency agenda agent aggressive ago agree agreement agricultural ah ahead aid aide AIDS aim air aircraft airline airport album alcohol alive all alliance allow ally almost alone along already also alter alternative although always AM amazing American among amount analysis analyst analyze ancient and anger angle angry animal anniversary announce annual another answer anticipate anxiety any anybody anymore anyone anything anyway anywhere apart apartment apparent apparently appeal appear appearance apple application apply appoint appointment appreciate approach appropriate approval approve approximately Arab architect area argue argument arise arm armed army around arrange arrangement arrest arrival arrive art article artist artistic as Asian aside ask asleep aspect assault assert assess assessment asset assign assignment assist assistance assistant associate association assume assumption assure at athlete athletic atmosphere attach attack attempt attend attention attitude attorney attract attractive attribute audience author authority auto available average avoid award aware awareness away awful baby back background bad badly bag bake balance ball ban band bank bar barely barrel barrier base baseball basic basically basis basket basketball bathroom battery battle be beach bean bear beat beautiful beauty because become bed bedroom beer before begin beginning behavior behind being belief believe bell belong below belt bench bend beneath benefit beside besides best bet better between beyond Bible big bike bill billion bind biological bird birth birthday bit bite black blade blame blanket blind block blood blow blue board boat body bomb bombing bond bone book boom boot border born borrow boss both bother bottle bottom boundary bowl box boy boyfriend brain branch brand bread break breakfast breast breath breathe brick bridge brief briefly bright brilliant bring British broad broken brother brown brush buck budget build building bullet bunch burden burn bury bus business busy but butter button buy buyer by cabin cabinet cable cake calculate call camera camp campaign campus can Canadian cancer candidate cap capability capable capacity capital captain capture car carbon card care career careful carefully carrier carry case cash cast cat catch category Catholic cause ceiling celebrate celebration celebrity cell center central century CEO ceremony certain certainly chain chair chairman challenge chamber champion championship chance change changing channel chapter character characteristic characterize charge charity chart chase cheap check cheek cheese chef chemical chest chicken chief child childhood Chinese chip chocolate choice cholesterol choose Christian Christmas church cigarette circle circumstance cite citizen city civil civilian claim class classic classroom clean clear clearly client climate climb clinic clinical clock close closely closer clothes clothing cloud club clue cluster coach coal coalition coast coat code coffee cognitive cold collapse colleague collect collection collective college colonial color column combination combine come comedy comfort comfortable command commander comment commercial commission commit commitment committee common communicate communication community company compare comparison compete competition competitive competitor complain complaint complete completely complex complicated component compose composition comprehensive computer concentrate concentration concept concern concerned concert conclude conclusion concrete condition conduct conference confidence confident confirm conflict confront confusion Congress congressional connect connection consciousness consensus consequence conservative consider considerable consideration consist consistent constant constantly constitute constitutional construct construction consultant consume consumer consumption contact contain container contemporary content contest context continue continued contract contrast contribute contribution control controversial controversy convention conventional conversation convert conviction convince cook cookie cooking cool cooperation cop cope copy core corn corner corporate corporation correct correspondent cost cotton couch could council counselor count counter country county couple courage course court cousin cover coverage cow crack craft crash crazy cream create creation creative creature credit crew crime criminal crisis criteria critic critical criticism criticize crop cross crowd crucial cry cultural culture cup curious current currently curriculum custom customer cut cycle dad daily damage dance danger dangerous dare dark darkness data date daughter day dead deal dealer dear death debate debt decade decide decision deck declare decline decrease deep deeply deer defeat defend defendant defense defensive deficit define definitely definition degree delay deliver delivery demand democracy Democrat democratic demonstrate demonstration deny department depend dependent depending depict depression depth deputy derive describe description desert deserve design designer desire desk desperate despite destroy destruction detail detailed detect determine develop developing development device devote dialogue die diet differ difference different differently difficult difficulty dig digital dimension dining dinner direct direction directly director dirt dirty disability disagree disappear disaster discipline discourse discover discovery discrimination discuss discussion disease dish dismiss disorder display dispute distance distant distinct distinction distinguish distribute distribution district diverse diversity divide division divorce DNA do doctor document dog domestic dominant dominate door double doubt down downtown dozen draft drag drama dramatic dramatically draw drawing dream dress drink drive driver drop drug dry due during dust duty each eager ear early earn earnings earth ease easily east eastern easy eat economic economics economist economy edge edition editor educate education educational educator effect effective effectively efficiency efficient effort egg eight either elderly elect election electric electricity electronic element elementary eliminate elite else elsewhere e-mail embrace emerge emergency emission emotion emotional emphasis emphasize employ employee employer employment empty enable encounter encourage end enemy energy enforcement engage engine engineer engineering English enhance enjoy enormous enough ensure enter enterprise entertainment entire entirely entrance entry environment environmental episode equal equally equipment era error escape especially essay essential essentially establish establishment estate estimate etc ethics ethnic European evaluate evaluation even evening event eventually ever every everybody everyday everyone everything everywhere evidence evolution evolve exact exactly examination examine example exceed excellent except exception exchange exciting executive exercise exhibit exhibition exist existence existing expand expansion expect expectation expense expensive experience experiment expert explain explanation explode explore explosion expose exposure express expression extend extension extensive extent external extra extraordinary extreme extremely eye fabric face facility fact factor factory faculty fade fail failure fair fairly faith fall false familiar family famous fan fantasy far farm farmer fashion fast fat fate father fault favor favorite fear feature federal fee feed feel feeling fellow female fence few fewer fiber fiction field fifteen fifth fifty fight fighter fighting figure file fill film final finally finance financial find finding fine finger finish fire firm first fish fishing fit fitness five fix flag flame flat flavor flee flesh flight float floor flow flower fly focus folk follow following food foot football for force foreign forest forever forget form formal formation former formula forth fortune forward found foundation founder four fourth frame framework free freedom freeze French frequency frequent frequently fresh friend friendly friendship from front fruit frustration fuel full fully fun function fund fundamental funding funeral funny furniture furthermore future gain galaxy gallery game gang gap garage garden garlic gas gate gather gay gaze gear gender gene general generally generate generation genetic gentleman gently German gesture get ghost giant gift gifted girl girlfriend give given glad glance glass global glove go goal God gold golden golf good government governor grab grade gradually graduate grain grand grandfather grandmother grant grass grave gray great greatest green grocery ground group grow growing growth guarantee guard guess guest guide guideline guilty gun guy habit habitat hair half hall hand handful handle hang happen happy hard hardly hat hate have he head headline headquarters health healthy hear hearing heart heat heaven heavily heavy heel height helicopter hell hello help helpful her here heritage hero herself hey hi hide high highlight highly highway hill him himself hip hire his historian historic historical history hit hold hole holiday holy home homeless honest honey honor hope horizon horror horse hospital host hot hotel hour house household housing how however huge human humor hundred hungry hunter hunting hurt husband hypothesis I ice idea ideal identification identify identity ie if ignore ill illegal illness illustrate image imagination imagine immediate immediately immigrant immigration impact implement implication imply importance important impose impossible impress impression impressive improve improvement in incentive incident include including income incorporate increase increased increasing increasingly incredible indeed independence independent index Indian indicate indication individual industrial industry infant infection inflation influence inform information ingredient initial initially initiative injury inner innocent inquiry inside insight insist inspire install instance instead institution institutional instruction instructor instrument insurance intellectual intelligence intend intense intensity intention interaction interest interested interesting internal international Internet interpret interpretation intervention interview into introduce introduction invasion invest investigate investigation investigator investment investor invite involve involved involvement Iraqi Irish iron Islamic island Israeli issue it Italian item its itself jacket jail Japanese jet Jew Jewish job join joint joke journal journalist journey joy judge judgment juice jump junior jury just justice justify keep key kick kid kill killer killing kind king kiss kitchen knee knife knock know knowledge lab label labor laboratory lack lady lake land landscape language lap large largely last late later Latin latter laugh launch law lawn lawsuit lawyer lay layer lead leader leadership leading leaf league lean learn learning least leather leave left leg legacy legal legend legislation legitimate lemon length less lesson let letter level liberal library license lie life lifestyle lifetime lift light like likely limit limitation limited line link lip list listen literally literary literature little live living load loan local locate location lock long long-term look loose lose loss lost lot lots loud love lovely lover low lower luck lucky lunch lung machine mad magazine mail main mainly maintain maintenance major majority make maker makeup male mall man manage management manager manner manufacturer manufacturing many map margin mark market marketing marriage married marry mask mass massive master match material math matter may maybe mayor me meal mean meaning meanwhile measure measurement meat mechanism media medical medication medicine medium meet meeting member membership memory mental mention menu mere merely mess message metal meter method Mexican middle might military milk million mind mine minister minor minority minute miracle mirror miss missile mission mistake mix mixture mm-hmm mode model moderate modern modest mom moment money monitor month mood moon moral more moreover morning mortgage most mostly mother motion motivation motor mount mountain mouse mouth move movement movie Mr Mrs Ms much multiple murder muscle museum music musical musician Muslim must mutual my myself mystery myth naked name narrative narrow nation national native natural naturally nature near nearby nearly necessarily necessary neck need negative negotiate negotiation neighbor neighborhood neither nerve nervous net network never nevertheless new newly news newspaper next nice night nine no nobody nod noise nomination none nonetheless nor normal normally north northern nose not note nothing notice notion novel now nowhere n't nuclear number numerous nurse nut object objective obligation observation observe observer obtain obvious obviously occasion occasionally occupation occupy occur ocean odd odds of off offense offensive offer office officer official often oh oil ok okay old Olympic on once one ongoing onion online only onto open opening operate operating operation operator opinion opponent opportunity oppose opposite opposition option or orange order ordinary organic organization organize orientation origin original originally other others otherwise ought our ourselves out outcome outside oven over overall overcome overlook owe own owner pace pack package page pain painful paint painter painting pair pale Palestinian palm pan panel pant paper parent park parking part participant participate participation particular particularly partly partner partnership party pass passage passenger passion past patch path patient pattern pause pay payment PC peace peak peer penalty people pepper per perceive percentage perception perfect perfectly perform performance perhaps period permanent permission permit person personal personality personally personnel perspective persuade pet phase phenomenon philosophy phone photo photograph photographer phrase physical physically physician piano pick picture pie piece pile pilot pine pink pipe pitch place plan plane planet planning plant plastic plate platform play player please pleasure plenty plot plus PM pocket poem poet poetry point pole police policy political politically politician politics poll pollution pool poor pop popular population porch port portion portrait portray pose position positive possess possibility possible possibly post pot potato potential potentially pound pour poverty powder power powerful practical practice pray prayer precisely predict prefer preference pregnancy pregnant preparation prepare prescription presence present presentation preserve president presidential press pressure pretend pretty prevent previous previously price pride priest primarily primary prime principal principle print prior priority prison prisoner privacy private probably problem procedure proceed process produce producer product production profession professional professor profile profit program progress project prominent promise promote prompt proof proper properly property proportion proposal propose proposed prosecutor prospect protect protection protein protest proud prove provide provider province provision psychological psychologist psychology public publication publicly publish publisher pull punishment purchase pure purpose pursue push put qualify quality quarter quarterback question quick quickly quiet quietly quit quite quote race racial radical radio rail rain raise range rank rapid rapidly rare rarely rate rather rating ratio raw reach react reaction read reader reading ready real reality realize really reason reasonable recall receive recent recently recipe recognition recognize recommend recommendation record recording recover recovery recruit red reduce reduction refer reference reflect reflection reform refugee refuse regard regarding regardless regime region regional register regular regularly regulate regulation reinforce reject relate relation relationship relative relatively relax release relevant relief religion religious rely remain remaining remarkable remember remind remote remove repeat repeatedly replace reply report reporter represent representation representative Republican reputation request require requirement research researcher resemble reservation resident resist resistance resolution resolve resort resource respect respond respondent response responsibility responsible rest restaurant restore restriction result retain retire retirement return reveal revenue review revolution rhythm rice rich rid ride rifle right ring rise risk river road rock role roll romantic roof room root rope rose rough roughly round route routine row rub rule run running rural rush Russian sacred sad safe safety sake salad salary sale sales salt same sample sanction sand satellite satisfaction satisfy sauce save saving say scale scandal scared scenario scene schedule scheme scholar scholarship school science scientific scientist scope score scream screen script sea search season seat second secret secretary section sector secure security see seed seek seem segment seize select selection self sell Senate senator send senior sense sensitive sentence separate sequence series serious seriously serve service session set setting settle settlement seven several severe sex sexual shade shadow shake shall shape share sharp she sheet shelf shell shelter shift shine ship shirt shit shock shoe shoot shooting shop shopping shore short shortly shot should shoulder shout show shower shrug shut sick side sigh sight sign signal significance significant significantly silence silent silver similar similarly simple simply sin since sing singer single sink sir sister sit site situation six size ski skill skin sky slave sleep slice slide slight slightly slip slow slowly small smart smell smile smoke smooth snap snow so so-called soccer social society soft software soil solar soldier solid solution solve some somebody somehow someone something sometimes somewhat somewhere son song soon sophisticated sorry sort soul sound soup source south southern Soviet space Spanish speak speaker special specialist species specific specifically speech speed spend spending spin spirit spiritual split spokesman sport spot spread spring square squeeze stability stable staff stage stair stake stand standard standing star stare start state statement station statistics status stay steady steal steel step stick still stir stock stomach stone stop storage store storm story straight strange stranger strategic strategy stream street strength strengthen stress stretch strike string strip stroke strong strongly structure struggle student studio study stuff stupid style subject submit subsequent substance substantial succeed success successful successfully such sudden suddenly sue suffer sufficient sugar suggest suggestion suicide suit summer summit sun super supply support supporter suppose supposed Supreme sure surely surface surgery surprise surprised surprising surprisingly surround survey survival survive survivor suspect sustain swear sweep sweet swim swing switch symbol symptom system table tablespoon tactic tail take tale talent talk tall tank tap tape target task taste tax taxpayer tea teach teacher teaching team tear teaspoon technical technique technology teen teenager telephone telescope television tell temperature temporary ten tend tendency tennis tension tent term terms terrible territory terror terrorism terrorist test testify testimony testing text than thank thanks that the theater their them theme themselves then theory therapy there therefore these they thick thin thing think thinking third thirty this those though thought thousand threat threaten three throat through throughout throw thus ticket tie tight time tiny tip tire tired tissue title to tobacco today toe together tomato tomorrow tone tongue tonight too tool tooth top topic toss total totally touch tough tour tourist tournament toward towards tower town toy trace track trade tradition traditional traffic tragedy trail train training transfer transform transformation transition translate transportation travel treat treatment treaty tree tremendous trend trial tribe trick trip troop trouble truck true truly trust truth try tube tunnel turn TV twelve twenty twice twin two type typical typically ugly ultimate ultimately unable uncle under undergo understand understanding unfortunately uniform union unique unit United universal universe university unknown unless unlike unlikely until unusual up upon upper urban urge us use used useful user usual usually utility vacation valley valuable value variable variation variety various vary vast vegetable vehicle venture version versus very vessel veteran via victim victory video view viewer village violate violation violence violent virtually virtue virus visible vision visit visitor visual vital voice volume volunteer vote voter vs vulnerable wage wait wake walk wall wander want war warm warn warning wash waste watch water wave way we weak wealth wealthy weapon wear weather wedding week weekend weekly weigh weight welcome welfare well west western wet what whatever wheel when whenever where whereas whether which while whisper white who whole whom whose why wide widely widespread wife wild will willing win wind window wine wing winner winter wipe wire wisdom wise wish with withdraw within without witness woman wonder wonderful wood wooden word work worker working works workshop world worried worry worth would wound wrap write writer writing wrong yard yeah year yell yellow yes yesterday yet yield you young your yours yourself youth zone
submitted by Sports Betting Branches South Africa. A list of all the branches in one place. ... Government Square: Tel: +27 13 261 2042: HollywoodBets: Limpopo: Hollywoodbets Musina Cnr National Rd & Smelter Ave ... Sports Betting Branches South Africa: World of Sport: Eastern Cape: Njoli Shop 11, Njoli Centre Corner Njoli and Meke Road Welcome to the Best Sports Betting Blog. In our Blog post posts we'll chat about everything to do with sports betting in South Africa and around the world. Sports betting has seen so many changes over the last few years, not only in SA but also Worldwide. With cricket and Aussie rules football being followed religiously, the sports betting market is one of the biggest in the world. Apart from that, major international sporting events such as The Australian Open and the Ashes cricket series have their own exclusive betting markets. 7. Ireland. Continent : Europe Preferred Gambling Method : Sports ... What Sports Teams are Sponsored by Betting Sites? Believe it or not, despite the optics, betting companies sponsor sports teams. Examples are found in European soccer where teams such as Manchester United, Aston Villa, Arsenal London, and Chelsea London receive very generous sponsorships from some of the world’s largest sports betting companies. Complete List of Sports Betting Branches in South Africa We’ve put together a comprehensive list of all of the sports betting companies and their branch locations in South Africa. You can use the search bar below, or click on the arrows and see all the branches for a certain province, or for a certain bookmaker.
People who never give up. Humans Are Amazing Sports Recommend: 8 Crazy Stories of Kids Driving Cars! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16PUrOGQ2RI Mom Opened T... World Record Men's 100m Final ... Isle of Man Government Coronavirus Press Conference ... 2017.11.26 World Sports Betting Merchants (RSA) - The Thinker - Duration: 1:17. fometter1 3,622 views. This video is unavailable. Watch Queue Queue. Watch Queue Queue Betting online with less than 50 Kenyan shillings will be illegal if the proposed Gaming Bill is passed into law. ... Leading betting firms affected by government license ... World Sports Network ... REMASTERED IN HD! Listen to more from Tears For Fears: https://TearsForFears.lnk.to/Essentials Discover more about Tears For Fears here: https://www.udiscove...
