by Lucas Marcum
Valkyrie: Rebellion
Book Two
By
Lucas Marcum
-23-
“Solace”
San Clemente, California, Earth
August 26, 2248
The aircraft rocked hard, and the engines took on a strained, sickly tone. Elizabeth could hear the warbling of alarms and strained voices through her helmet speakers. There was a sickly throbbing that cut through the noise, thrumming and seeming to cut through her skull.
Suddenly she heard a tight, high voice say, “Chips, two’s gone! Losing power in one!”
Then came a deeper voice that she recognized as Captain Wilkes, “Full power, flaps.”
The first voice again, which she now recognized as Mick, the co-pilot, “Losing power in one. Steve!! One!” There was a desperate tone in his voice. “ECUs aren’t responding!”
Wilkes responded in a calm voice, “We’re going down. Get the nose up. Nose up!”
There was a sickening dip, and suddenly the big aircraft rolled hard to the left and lurched, throwing her against the bulkhead.
Sergeant Johannes looked up at her, eyes bright with tears. In her arms she cradled the still form of another soldier. “He was supposed to go home, Liz. Stupid, stupid lieutenant. He was always trying to do the right thing. So stupid, and so enthusiastic.” Her voice grew lower as she gazed at the still form.
The woman pulled the body of the young man tight against her armored chest and murmured, “Stupid goddamn cherry. You were supposed to go to that stupid, fat girlfriend of yours, and your stupid house in stupid Ohio, and live your stupid, boring life.” She was openly weeping, sobbing as she held the young man’s body tight to her chest. She looked back up at Elizabeth. “Ma’am, he was supposed to go home. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.” With a sudden flash of hate in her eyes, she snapped, “You couldn’t save him. You couldn’t save any of us. You weren’t fast enough. You didn’t train him well enough. This is on you, Major.”
Elizabeth backed up from the woman’s sudden fury and tried to explain, but the words wouldn’t come. She bumped into the back wall of the bunker, and the woman came closer and closer. Her visor was now a slick black, and her armor was darkening to an ominous, familiar color as she advanced. The thrumming in the background was overwhelming and drowned out her words as she tried to apologize, tried to explain, tried to make the woman understand…
With a gasp, Elizabeth opened her eyes. The sour taste of not having brushed her teeth the night before filled her mouth. Her heart was racing from the dream, as it always did. She took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. It was still dark, so she turned her head to look at the clock, and the throbbing in her head became evident. She sat up, rubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands, and tried to think back on last night.
She’d drank too much, again, that much was for sure. Partly to avoid the dreams, but partly because…Why had she been drinking? She’d been at Louie’s, the bar down on the pier, for sure. After that…Memories started to come back to her. The margaritas, the shots. She remembered texting Elise to see if she could come out, since she was up in San Fran for a conference, and then things sort of blurred together. With a sudden flash of embarrassment, she remembered dancing way more closely with a guy than she ever would have without the tequila. Oh, god. The shots. She remembered slapping the guy when he ran a hand under her skirt, then tripping, falling down, and crying. The next thing she knew, Elise was wrapping a jacket around her, manhandling her back to father’s house, and getting her into bed.
“Shit,” Elizabeth muttered in the quiet darkness of the pre-dawn, her throat dry and voice cracking. Her phone chirped, and she reached for it, feeling her head pounding as she moved. Picking it up, she could see a reminder icon blinking. Frowning, she tapped the icon to start the playback.
Elise’s smiling face popped up on the small screen. “Hey, honey! You were a hot mess last night, so I put you to bed, and I’m leaving you a note here. I left some painkillers in your bathroom. Nice pink pony curtains in there, by the way. Your dad says he can give you a ride to the airport in the morning to meet me at the elevator.” Her image took on a mischievous grin. “Girl, why didn’t you tell me your dad was such a catch? If he were few years younger, I could be your mama!” The image laughed, as Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “Oh, by the way, the cops said that piece of shit in the bar ‘ran into a wall and then fell down some stairs’. They’re not going to say anything about his little accident. That bigger cop—Officer Bermudez, I think his name was—said he knew your pop from way back, and he’d take care of things. He’s a real nice guy. I did sort of go overboard on the little bastard, but what the hell. Kick hull, suck vacuum; right, chica? Anyway, I’m gonna jet. You look like you’re asleep now. See you at the elevator tomorrow! Muawh!” Elise blew a kiss, and the message ended.
Elizabeth sighed. Great. Now her father and Mike, whom Liz had known since she was a little girl, knew about her little meltdown. Sighing again, she threw the old comforter back and made her way to the bathroom. Flicking on the light, she blinked rapidly, and spotted the painkiller lying by a glass of water. She half smiled. Elise thought of everything.
Quickly putting the pills in her mouth and washing them down with the room temperature water, she finally looked in the mirror. Avoiding eye contact with herself, she examined her reflection. Her face was worn and looked tired. Tiny wrinkles had appeared in the corners of her eyes and the middle of her forehead, and she couldn’t remember for the life of her when they’d appeared. Finally, she forced herself to look at her eyes. They were still the same deep brown they’d always been, but they looked different now. They looked old, sad and tired, like someone else was looking out of them. She shook her head, trying to force herself to remember what it had been like before. Before Paradise, before Desolation. Before she’d left so many friends on battlefields hundreds of light years away. She shook her head again slowly, staring at the young woman with the old eyes in the mirror for a moment, then abruptly broke eye contact and splashed water on her face.
Going back into her bedroom, she opened her closet and pushed aside old dresses, clothes left from high school, and various bits of band uniforms and Halloween costumes. After a few seconds of rummaging, she found what she was looking for: her old sweatshirt from UCLA. Slipping it over her head, she looked around the small room. Her father hadn’t changed a thing in it in the years since she’d left for college, and then the Army. The posters, the lamp, the battered old wood desk with the stickers on the side. She smiled sadly and, slipping on a pair of sandals and wrapping herself in a blanket, she stepped out into the dark house, and headed for the veranda.
Sliding the glass doors open, she stepped onto the dark veranda. The sky was just beginning to lighten, and the sound of the waves and seagulls were the only sounds in the still sleeping town.
From a dark corner, a familiar voice, breaking the pre-dawn stillness, said, “Morning.”
Elizabeth started for a moment, then turned to her father, who was sitting in his favorite chair, a cup of coffee by his side. He gestured to the chair next to him. Elizabeth sat down without a word and stared out at the sea in the distance, visible over the roofs of the houses further down the hill.
After a moment he asked, “Coffee?” Elizabeth nodded, and he got up and moved into the tiny kitchen. She could hear him opening and closing cabinets, then after a moment he reappeared and handed her a cup.
She took a sip and smiled. “Creamer and three sugars. Thanks, Dad.”
He nodded, smiled, and sat back down. He picked up his mug, and replied, “Well, you’ve been taking it that way since you were a senior in high school. Some things don’t change.”
Smiling and thi
nking about the gentle arguments her mother and father would get into over her dad letting her drink coffee in high school, Elizabeth took another sip and replied, “No, some things don’t.” They sat in silence for a few minutes, watching the brightening sky.
After a moment, she asked suddenly, “Are you going to ask about last night?”
Her father shook his head. “No.”
Turning to regard the shadowy area where he sat, she asked, “Why not?”
Taking another sip of his coffee, he responded, “Because if you want to talk, I’m here. And if you don’t…Well. I’m still here.”
Looking down at her mug she said, “I’m sorry, Dad. I embarrassed you. Mike came and pulled me out of Louie’s. You’ve known him forever. I’ve known him forever.”
The older man laughed. “No, mejia. You didn’t embarrass me. Or Mike. Or Louie, if he was still alive. If anything, we’d understand better than most.” He paused and watched a seagull swoop by, then continued, “When we got back from Dionysus, the three of us did our share of stupid stuff, right here in this town. Louie kept trying to fight people, and Mike and I would have to peel him off. Mike would take his little boat way, way out past the islands, for days sometimes, and we’d wonder if one day he wouldn’t come back. I drank way too much.” He lapsed into silence again.
After a moment, Elizabeth, trying and failing to keep the tears from rolling down her cheeks, asked, “How, Dad? How did you deal with what you saw? How were you able to sleep? How did you put your life back together?”
She could hear a gentle chuckle from the shadows. “Your mother is what happened. She was sweet, and funny, and ferocious. She took me down to Donavan’s; you might not remember it. It used to be down on First Street, by the beach. It closed when you were a little girl. Anyway, we got an ice cream and sat outside on the benches, and she told me, ‘Domingo, I love you. But if you don’t knock this shit off, I’m not going to let you ask me to marry you’.”
Through her tears, Elizabeth couldn’t help but laugh. “That does sound like mom!”
Her father regarded her for a moment, then said, “Lizzy, I see her in you. You have strength you don’t know.” Another pause, then he continued, “You know, we’re all very proud of you. For what you’re doing. I have people every day in the store or at the coffee shop ask me how you’re doing. Ms. Gutierrez asked me just last week how you were doing.”
“Ms. Gutierrez? My old Sunday school teacher? She used to hit my knuckles with a ruler and call me a brat!”
Her father chuckled gently. “Well, you probably were being a brat. Anyway, she asked how you were doing. I told her you were doing ok, and she asked if she could pray for you at Mass this Sunday. I told her it was ok, and that we appreciated her prayers.” Elizabeth looked down and wiped her eyes, not speaking. Her father continued, “Mejia, when this is over, come home for a while. This town is your home. These people aren’t perfect, but they’re our people and our family. They helped me heal the wounds from my war. They’ll help you heal yours from this one.” He reached out and took her hand. Elizabeth squeezed it tightly. Her father continued in a gently teasing tone, “And eventually, you’ll have to produce this ‘Antonio’ you keep speaking about, or your aunts will think I’m telling them stories. This young man may have gone to war, but he’s seen nothing compared to your Aunt Candelaria.”
Elizabeth burst out laughing, then the laughter turned into tears. Her dad stood up and enveloped her in a gentle bear hug. He whispered, “It’ll be ok, honey. It’ll all be ok. You and your friend Tony will be home before you know it. All wars come to an end.” After another few seconds of the tight hug, he leaned back and asked, “Breakfast? We have time before your flight.” Elizabeth nodded, not trusting herself to speak lest the tears start again, and followed her father into the kitchen.
-24-
“What Lies Ahead”
Headquarters of the UEAN First Fleet
Hellas City, Mars
August 29, 2248
Elizabeth sighed and looked around the room again. A couple dozen officers from all branches of the UEA military sat in the auditorium. Elise had wandered off about fifteen minutes ago, leaving her with no one to talk to. She looked down at her phone again and frowned. This was the right place, but nothing told her why she was here. Not her orders, not the letter of instruction, nothing. Sighing again, she put her phone in her pocket. Her post deployment leave was up, and her request to be assigned to the medical training cadre at UCLA had been denied with no reason given. She’d then been unceremoniously ordered to Mars at UEA Fleet Headquarters for ‘Training’. They’d arrived late last night, gotten quarters assigned, and then Elizabeth had crashed, the light gravity of Mars leading to her first dreamless sleep in a long time. Sighing again, she picked up her phone and tapped the record button.
“Hey, Dad. Wanted to let you know I got to Hellas City and got checked in ok. Still no idea what I’m going to be doing, but that’s the Army for you. I’m currently sitting in an auditorium with a bunch of other officers from what looks like every single noncombat arms branch of both the Army and Navy, and no one seems to have a clue what’s going on.” She stopped and smiled slightly. “It reminds me of the story you used to tell me about the time they sent your regiment on an ‘Emergency Deployment’, and you went to Andromeda Nine and sat in a tent in a field there for eight weeks, then came home. I guess some things never change, huh? Anyway, someone’s coming up to the podium now. Love you, and I’ll write as I can!”
Blowing a kiss at the screen, she tapped ‘send’, put her phone in her pocket, and focused on the man in front of the room. He was in a simple khaki Navy uniform, but his left chest had a massive stack of ribbons, topped with the pale blue of the Earth Alliance Medal of Honor. On his collar were five stars in a circle indicating his rank.
As the room quieted down, the officer stepped up to the microphone and began to speak.
“Good morning. I’m Admiral Hiro Ozawa. I’m the outgoing commander of the Earth Alliance First Fleet, tasked with the defense of our home system, and with the outfitting of warships and training of the crews entering the fleet.” He paused somberly, looking around.
Rolling her eyes, Elizabeth mouthed the words, ‘You’re probably wondering why I’ve asked you all here today.’
“You’re probably wondering why I’ve asked you all here today.” With a shake of her head, Elizabeth pulled out her phone and prepared to tune out another ‘Welcome to Mars’ speech. She’d heard them before, albeit rarely by such a high-ranking officer.
The admiral continued in his characteristic even tone, “This isn’t your ordinary ‘Welcome to Mars’ speech. Each one of you has been hand-selected based on your military and combat records.” He stopped and looked somberly around the room, “Yes. Combat records. Every single one of you in here has faced the Elai, albeit some closer than others.” His piercing eyes swept around the room as he said, “We have two of the three survivors from an overrun hospital on Desolation. We have an ensign, now a lieutenant junior grade, who lead an impromptu boarding party onto a disabled Elai cruiser to seize the nav computer.”
The admiral methodically continued, his hard eyes sweeping the silent room, “We have an officer who was in command of a forward resuscitation team that was the sole medical asset in the Fifth Army’s area of operations on Solace for seventy-two hours. We have a Navy administrative officer who took command of and fought her cruiser when her captain was killed. We have a legal officer who organized an impromptu counterattack when the Elai breached the perimeter of Firebase Tennyson on Eridani Six. We have soldiers, sailors, pilots, logistics officers, doctors, nurses, lawyers, quartermasters, and computer systems specialists.” He stopped, placed both hands on the podium, and continued his slow roving gaze. “We have essentially every non-combat specialty in both the Army and Navy represented.” He stopped again. The room was dead silent. After a moment he said again, “Why are we here? Because, ladies and gentlemen, in the entire Ea
rth Alliance, YOU know the Elai the best. You’ve seen them up close. Who they are, and what they can do.” He looked down at his hands on the podium, then back up, and said, “Even I’ve seen them up close, which is why I was selected for this task, and why I’ve selected you.”
Elizabeth sat up straight in her chair, her boredom forgotten and listening intently. Straightening, Admiral Ozawa said in a hard tone, “This next piece of information I’m about to tell you isn’t classified. In fact, we need everyone for this mission to be successful.” He looked down at his hands again and said in a matter-of-fact voice, “The war is drawing to a close. As we speak, the Marines are attempting to seize vital starship fuel production facilities in Draconis 327. Simultaneously, a half dozen diversionary operations are taking place all along the periphery. It’ll be a hard fight, but we will prevail. When we do, the Elai fleets will have less than three months of operational fuel left. We’ll then offer them terms of surrender. If they refuse, we’ll take their home system by force.”
A murmur went through the room. Elizabeth felt queasy, thinking about how hard the Elai had fought for deserted chunks of rock, let alone their home system. For a moment she let her mind turn to Tony, who was god knew where, probably involved in the invasion…The admiral was speaking again. She snapped her attention back up front.
“We anticipate—if we’re forced to invade, or use even limited orbital bombardment—that civilian casualties will be extensive. That’s where this group and our mission come in. We’re to plan for the peace after the war. Our mission, as tasked directly by the prime minister, is to plan for the stabilization of the Elai home world. They may have started this war, but we will finish it, and the peace we’ll create will lead to prosperity for both our species. Planning for that peace begins now.”
Under her breath, Elizabeth whispered, “Holy fuck.” She shook her head at the enormity of the task ahead, hearing murmurs of disbelief from the officers around her.
