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.