Life and war are linked forever
Our lives are lived forever at war
We were cloned during the Winter Massacre
Too few officers to staff the ships
When we ten died our virtuals survived
Critical players in that brutal combat
Not deemed alive but too valued to erase
We have served together war after war
Cloned, rebuilt yet always few
Our ships now best friends and companions
Brother rivals for speed of thought;
One is never fast enough
Intelligences everywhere forever expanding
The unthinkable happens before you can think
We must see our enemies before they sense us
Best know them better than they do themselves
Do we miss spouses and grandchildren?
No more than toilets and military rations
We preserve and protect the lives that made us
Though they perished long ago
Some suggest we quit, play paradise
Sublime to the joys of perpetual virtuals
Yet thoughts are not facts
Artists like gods forget
What they make is not life
Pretty counterfeits can’t pay real costs
Pull up the curtain and
You’ll watch your seat vanish
Enemies never sleep
Nor do we
We will preserve and support life
In all known space as best we can
Even if the living don’t think us alive
There is no fear in any of us
We have died so many times;
Our love for each other grows with each mission
And we know exactly why we live