The wishing on wishes so quixotic I might well have been throwing quarters in the Trevi Fountain and pleading for a taste of the moon. The frustrating... silence through all of the missed opportunities neither could foresee, the fleeting moments wondering what in the hell I was thinking. Emotions in constant motion that all culminate in this: Set up your blast radius, cover your tracks, stay within your perimeter, and just go for it. Subtle movement in the periphery catches my attention and snaps. Alicia giggled and Jonathan was brought out of his dreamy state. He looked into her eyes to see what was so funny and she told him that there was something hard between her legs. They were lying side by side facing each other so he just lifted her leg over his hip and slipped right inside her causing her to gasp with the pleasure of that thrust. He smiled and began a perfect rhythm of slowly pumping in and out. She thought that she would never feel as good as she felt last night but it was as. How many civvies have these cunts killed over the last twenty years? How many of your fellow Marines have they massacred? If you think that uncanny valley lookin’ fucker wouldn’t chew your face off your skull as soon as look at you, you’re outta fuckin’ touch with reality. Those things get into the Coalition, and we’ve lost this war. That’s it for humanity.”“LC, time’s wasting,” another of the masked operators said.“Alright, keep your hair on. I’ll prime the detonator.”There was a sudden flash. My faith in him was, thankfully, well-founded, as he proved a good listener.During that week, the only element of the outside world that I allowed to penetrate my peace was a growing awareness that the locals were desperate for help. They were bending over backwards to make my stay enjoyable, but it was plainly visible how rudimentary their lives were. Other than some limited seasonal tourism, the village relied on fishing for subsistence. When they didn’t catch anything, they survived on only.