Shai – Steve Macdonald

When you're born on Coby
A miner you will be
You'll live thirty years (if you're lucky) --
But not for Tom and me.
So we sold off at nineteen years
From Coby we did flee
It might be a shorter life
But we'd damned well die free

From the sulfur pits of Venus
To the shores of Maran seas
We hacked and clawed our way to war
Contracted troops were we
We'd sold our contracts to see sun
And breathe clean air you see
We could not control our destiny
So much for dyin' free

Chorus:
Live fast, die young, leave a handsome corpse.
Those were the words that we said.
Somehow, somewhere, after every fight
Someone else would lie dead
Then we met Dorsai

We were landed then on Kultis
Slave officers and conscript men
Tom was due for captain's bars
I'd be his right hand again
But they stopped us short,
Gave us corporals stripes
And anger flashed in my eye
'Til the contract master told us
`Your officers are Dorsai.'

The plan laid out before us
`Suicide' we all cried
Outnumbered fifty to one
Our deaths could not be denied
Our job was just to slow them up
And weaken the coming tide
Our orders were to stand our ground
Fodder for the Dorsai

Chorus:
Live fast, die young, leave a handsome corpse.
Those were the words that we said.
Outmanned, outgunned, or so we thought
We knew that we would be dead
Hell and damn the Dorsai

Then Tom, a dark gleam in his eye
Dragged me to the Captains side
Tom spoke of a miner's strengths
What the men could do if I'd guide
Then we sent two hundred out
To fight at the main force's side
After our Captain explained the plan
To the suddenly smiling Dorsai.

We climbed to the leafy canopy
Our enemy passed below --
We came down the trees in silence
To dig; and soon there did grow
A redoubt fit for ten thousand
Manned by fifty men
Then we rested through the night
While the tide was turned again

Instrumental

At dawn their troops cleared the trees
Ragged, tired, and spent
Fearful looks o'er their shoulders
Stopped short by our manmade fence
They piled up like broken waves
Thrown to the shore by the tide
Confused, lost, and beaten
Victims of the Dorsai

Our Captain cried `surrender'
To the churning mass of foe
`You're between the hammer and anvil,
With nowhere else to go.'
They lay down their guns
And were rounded up
By the early evening damp
I'll never forget their shock when they saw
Our mostly empty camp.

Chorus:
Live fast, die young, leave a handsome corpse.
Those were the words that we said.
Outmanned, outgunned, so we fought by stealth
We had won by days end
Victory like the Dorsai

Our men they shipped back out
But Tom and I kept aground
`What are the Dorsai after?
What's next, where are we bound?'
Then Tom was called, and so he went
To try and set them to rights
He returned with contracts in hand
Paid free and stamped Dorsai.

Chorus:
Live fast, die young, leave a handsome corpse.
Those were the words of our lives
And now we give a fighting chance
To our troops to help them survive
Shai Dorsai