The Battlehymn Of The Asbahri

Synopsis

Sometimes, it is better to be dead and stay dead.

The militarised Asbahri face twin existential threats: a generations-long Total War with the more-populous, primitive Squids, which they are losing, and global warming washing away many of their precious islands. High Command might have found a strategic solution in space, but its only key may be a nerdy clone: Lt. Kirel Ilker-145 (it/its). But Kirel is an unreliable asset; for a start, it is dead. That is lucky for Kirel because, being dead, it no longer faces court-martial on a charge of ‘Malfunction’ then execution. 

If Kirel were still alive, it could only have one overwhelming desire: a swift re-communion with its clone mates (missing, presumed dead) … Without communion, it would go mad with grief. Literally.

Unhappily, Kirel is born again.