Well, this is it.
Today, on May 30th YC118 I am officially retiring from being a clone soldier. This past year or so I have been largely inactive preparing my final exit from the mercenary life that my previous blog posts have covered, and disconnecting myself from this implant. According to statistics provided by CONCORD, during my more or less two year career as a clone soldier I had taken the lives of 21012 clone soldiers, lost my own life 10700 times and accepted at least 1517 contracts. So much blood spilled. So much pain endured and misery caused.
I would like to think that over these years living the life of an immortal soldier has given me a new perspective on the Idama way that many Intaki hold in high regard. Before they were nothing more than a group of overthinkers who could see 'deeper meaning' in the moles of their feet. But now, after several years working with the ILF, studying the Intaki and just being on Intaki V for the first time in over a decade have given me new perspective - as cliché as that may sound. Maybe there is deeper meaning in the moles of my feet after all.
The life of a clone soldier is always a hectic one - jumping from contract to contract on yet another desolate world around New Eden, enduring the pain, the suffering and the brutal onslaught that is clone soldier combat for that ISK that you can do it all even better. Every single one of us, our kind, the immortal soldiers, we all lose a bit of ourselves to the endless war. Some may even lose their minds and that was a risk I faced daily during my active period. I studied the Intaki to counterbalance the madness of combat, their history, their heritage - my heritage. I can not help but feel drawn to returning to my roots.
Of course I am not saying that being a soldier of fortune and a clone soldier are bad things - far from it. The clone soldiers of New Eden while destructive have also done good to help better the broken and warring empires, we have left our own mark on this galaxy and while the peak of our glory has already gone past, there will always be a need for a soldier with a gun in his hands to control an anti-MCC cannon on some far flung planet in the middle of a war zone. The rumors I have heard of new technology makes me think that a second resurgence may still be a possibility. Perhaps there will still be a time where I take up the shotgun and remote explosives again.
But for now, I focus on my study of the Way. I have to say, Intaki V is incredibly beautiful. The bustling diamond city that I see in the distance from my home, rising from the tropical rainforest each day is truly a privilege.
Farewell.
