Space Opera & Military SciFi – Forged in Fire Bonus Lyrics

Military SciFi & Space Opera - Forged in Fire bonus lyrics

Writing a military scifi requires familiarity with ways of doing things that many people don't understand. I did not serve in combat, but I am a veteran. I joined during the Viet Nam era, and served in the US Navy. Stationed at NAS Miramar (now a Marine base), I had plenty of opportunities to learn military lingo and discipline. The lingo is now hazy. But the discipline has stayed with me my entire life. In boot camp, our unit marched to songs with words that expressed life in the Navy - especially for us. Booties. They were a way to stay in step as well. We had two people who led us in song, called cadence callers. One song went:

Baby booties,
don't be blue
my recruiter
screwed me too.

So when I wrote the military scifi series Bringer of Chaos, I knew the immortal Ultras would have the same thing. For the series, I wrote the lyrics for a slow, haunting battle song called Forged in Fire to be performed by Pietas. In the book, I only give a few lines. Here is the entire song.

Sung slowly in a minor key, as if remembering the honored dead.

Cast out upon a barren world, all hope of home forsaken now.
The rage of war has here begun. The vanquished cry as victors rise.
An Ultra’s life is borne in grief.

Raise high the shield. Cast out all fear. Our honor’s choice will be revealed.
No dead to mourn. No debt to pay. The battle’s won upon the field.
An Ultra’s fate is built by strife.

There is no hearth. There is no home. No child to rock.
No love to lose. No peace to gain. The endless war becomes our own.
An Ultra’s will is set in stone.

We can’t forget. We won’t forgive. We must return. We shall avenge.
We never quit. We do not sway. Our enemies—we will repay.
An Ultra’s heart is forged in fire.

Fire reveals what cannot be broken.
Some loyalties survive the flames.