The Second Fall

by G J Ogden

  The scenes continued to play out in Maria’s mind as she recounted them to Raina. She described how Governor Archer, having finished his speech, had reached for the pen sitting on top of the treaty document, only to be stopped by First Minister Kuba. Kuba had leant across and placed his hand over the thick, yellow paper. Archer looked at his first minister with confusion, words escaping him, and then Kuba peered intensely into his governor’s eyes and announced in a clear and officious tone, “This treaty is treason, Governor. It must not be permitted!” Maria remembered exchanging bemused and worried glances with Diana, before turning to confront Kuba, but in the moments it had taken her to process a response, Kurren had swept forward and thrust a dull-colored dagger into Archer’s neck, slicing though his carotid artery with the skill of a veteran soldier. No weapons had been permitted into the Teardrop, and everyone had been searched and scanned for metals before entering, but as Kurren withdrew the bloodied implement, Maria could see that it had sprung from a concealed compartment in Kurren’s jacket cuff, and that it wasn’t made of metal. Whatever it was, it had served its purpose, which was to commit an assassination and make a very clear statement. Kurren wrenched Archer’s dying body away from the desk and let it fall heavily to the floor behind him. “This treaty is an act of treason, and treason is punishable by death!” he had then declared to the room, before raising his blood-stained hand and thrusting it at Diana, “There will not be peace with GPS!” As he spoke, a single drop of blood dripped from the end of the dagger-like shard extending from his cuff, and fell onto the pristine signature page of the treaty document, landing beside the name of Governor Thomas Archer.

  Maria finished describing the events to Raina, who had listened in stunned silence. A few paces away stood the young lieutenant, who had finished relaying Raina’s orders some time earlier and had overheard everything. The look on his face reminded Maria of how Ethan had looked after she had told him about the Fall, during the Planetsider mission five years ago; except this time Maria’s story was true. For Ethan, it had been the shock and disappointment of learning that his beliefs about the reason for the Fall had been wrong, and that everything he had hoped for was merely a fantasy. Although it was for different reasons, Aster had the same look; the look of a young man whose world had just collapsed around him.

  “If Kuba was in on this then Kurren now has control of the blue boots and authority over the governing council,” said Raina.

  “But how can they justify it?” wondered Aster, rejoining the group. “They can’t just claim treason when there’s no evidence! And you can’t just execute someone without due process!”

  “They don’t need any justification or proof,” said Diana, calmly, hands in front of her. “Kuba will fabricate any evidence they need, and with the First Minister backing Kurren, the council of ministers will be manipulated to believe the lies. Even if they don’t, without the backing of the military, they can do nothing.”

  “He only has the blue boots,” said Raina, sounding almost offended. “The Flying Corps. won’t side with Kurren, not even those who still have concerns about reconciliation.”

  “Of course, Commander, I meant no disrespect,” said Diana, “and I don’t question your honor or determination, but the fact is your numbers are small in comparison to his. You cannot hope to resist for long.”

  Raina’s eyes narrowed. She studied Diana intensely for a moment longer and then turned to Maria, eyebrows slightly raised, inviting her opinion.

  “She’s right, Kira,” said Maria. “You can hold off the blue boots for a time, if you fight smart, but you know as well as I do that they will break through eventually. They have the numbers and the gear.”

  Raina knew Maria was right, but she wasn’t willing to admit it and was steeling herself to fight her corner, when the two-tone chimes of the public holo system sounded all around them.

  “A base-wide compulsory broadcast?” said Raina. “That can only be used in an emergency.”

  “And with the Governor’s authorization only,” added Maria, with a sense of foreboding.

  Raina raised her left forearm and activated the holo emitter on her PVSM, which automatically began to display the base-wide message. They all watched with concerned anticipation as the image of Major Kurren emerged out of the static, standing imperiously in the surroundings of Archer’s former office. A deathly silence fell throughout the compound as the newly self-appointed leader began to speak.

  “This is General James Kurren. For his acts of treason, I have removed the traitor, Thomas Archer, from the office of governor and assumed personal command of this base. As of this moment, I have declared martial law. I regret that these actions were necessary, but Archer conspired with the enemy to deliver a sham peace treaty, engineered by our enemy to render the UEC defenseless against GPS aggression, and I was duty-bound to act. All citizens are hereby ordered to return to their homes and remain inside until further notice. A further statement will follow shortly. General Kurren, out.”

  The holo dimmed and flickered off. For a few moments they all looked at each other in silence.

  “General…”, spat Maria, her rage barely contained. “And he has the gall the say he acted out of duty too.”

  “Lieutenant Aster,” said Raina, turning to face the young officer, “prepare pad one for launch and ready the fastest ship we can get off the deck quickly.”

  “Yes, Commander,” said Aster and he made to leave, but then hesitated. He swallowed hard before asking, “Who are the ships for?”

  “It’s imperative that we get Commander Salus and President Neviah off the base and back to the GPS station,” said Raina.

  “Wait,” said Maria, motioning for Aster to stay. “It’s not just us that have to leave. You need to evacuate everyone, before Kurren seizes this facility and all your ships.”

  “You have your orders, Lieutenant,” said Raina, shooting Aster a determined look. Aster glanced apologetically towards Maria and then ran off in the direction of the ops center.

  Maria began to protest, but Raina cut her off. “Look, Sal, I’m not going to just turn tail and run; someone has to stop him.”

  “Then let’s work together,” said Maria. She knew that Raina was being prideful, and in her place she may well have responded in the same way, but she also knew what Kurren was capable of, and staying would almost certainly mean capture, or worse. “You can’t stop him on your own, but if we take the ships and pilots over to GPS, we cut off Kurren’s ability to mount a fighter defense, or launch a strike on GPS. This base contains the bulk of our fleet and most of our pilots; Kurren could scrape together every other combat-capable craft from all the other launch facilities and not amass even half of what you have here.”

  Raina shook her head; she would not be swayed. “He only has the blue boots and most of them can barely shoot straight, let alone fly a fighter. If we leave now, we hand him control of this spaceport, which means no way back. He wins, Sal!”

  A thin strip of lights surrounding the perimeter of the space port suddenly turned red and a klaxon sounded repeatedly for a few seconds, then abruptly shut off, leaving a faint ringing sound in their ears. Maria looked around the compound and saw men and women running from their barracks, offices and ready rooms, responding to the alert.

  “We’re on lock-down now, so let’s move this discussion inside,” said Raina, who had no intention of discussing the matter any further. She pointed to a briefing room close to the main launch pods – the conduits that connected the interior of the dome to open space – and set off towards it without another word.

  Maria followed close behind, observing the sudden buzz of activity around the compound. There were uniformed and armed men and women running out of buildings and forming squads, and towards the perimeter of the compound, near the edge of the dome, she saw a combat recon ship being maneuvered towards to the holding position in front of launch pod one. Only one ship. Maria tried to think of another argument, another way to convince Raina to
evacuate, but she knew Raina too well. She was the only person Maria knew that was more stubborn than herself; apart from perhaps the flame-haired ranger that had taken a disliking to her on the Planetsider mission. She wondered what had caused her to suddenly pop into her mind. What was her name? she thought, annoyed that she couldn’t recall it, and then she was more annoyed that she was allowing her mind to wander and become distracted.

  Maria entered the briefing room and saw that Lieutenant Aster was already inside, using the tactical holo to plot a flight plan to the GPS space station. He briefly looked up to acknowledge them, and then continued working. Raina stood beside Aster and began to study the plan, while Maria stood opposite and was soon joined by Diana, who, in her white suit, look almost ethereal under the cool white glow of the holo emitter. If Raina would not listen to her, perhaps she would listen to Diana, Maria thought. Raina had already demonstrated a deference towards her, which perhaps Diana could use to her advantage. Maria looked around the small space of the briefing room, trying to work out a suitably discreet location to make her suggestion, but it was as if Diana had already read her mind.

  “Commander Raina, I noticed only one ship out on the deck. To stand any chance against Kurren, we will need everything you have,” said Diana, sounding calm and confident, but also disapproving, yet without coming across as aggressive or condescending. Over the last few years together, Maria never failed to be impressed by Diana’s chameleonic ability to adapt her speech and manner to the character of the person she was speaking to. “Kurren has instigated this coup for only one reason, Commander,” Diana continued. “He intends to continue the war and destroy GPS, and to do this he will need ships. The question is not whether we fight, but how. If you stay, you allow Kurren the chance to capture your pilots and combat ships. We can remove that potential advantage from him right now, by evacuating to the space station.”

  Raina watched Diana carefully and listened respectfully, but Maria didn’t need to hear her response to know her answer; she could see it in her eyes.

  “But he can’t fly them, Madame President!” said Raina, testily. The idea of retreat disgusted her. “What good are my fighters to a bunch of blue boots? If we leave now, we’ll never get back. Our only chance is to mount a resistance here and now; to stop him before he gains control of the base.”

  “And what if you fail, Commander?” said Diana, responding with a more assertive and aggressive tone. “Faced with the threat of execution, can you confidently say that none of your pilots will switch allegiances? Can you guarantee that there are no pilots amongst your ranks that sympathize with Kurren’s cause? Even one pilot who turns is an advantage we cannot allow Kurren to get!”

  Raina’s jaw tightened and her eyes narrowed as these questions were put to her. Diana knew she was pushing, but there was no time to dance around the issue; she was relying on Raina’s military professionalism to outweigh her instinct and need to fight back. Tactically, Raina would know that the strongest move now was to withdraw, and prevent Kurren from gaining control of the UEC’s most powerful assets – their fighter craft. It didn’t matter whether or not Kurren had the personnel to fly them at this moment; the fact he controlled such a powerful asset would mean the threat would persist. Soldiers could be trained to fly, but neither the UEC or GPS had the resources and engineering capabilities to build new spacecraft. The only way to replace destroyed or irreparable ships was to salvage derelicts, and this was difficult and dangerous work, exposing salvage crews to heavy doses of radiation and hazardous, fast-moving debris fields. Not to mention that restoring these derelicts to working order stretched the capabilities of both sides to their limits. Diana was aware that Raina would know all this, and she was challenging her to defy her own better judgment. Diana waited for a reply, keeping her eyes locked onto Raina's and standing perfectly still, hands pressed tightly in front of her.

  Maria wanted to push even harder, but fought back the urge. She could see that Raina was struggling to answer, because it would either force her to concede, or commit to a lie for the sake of pursuing her own agenda against Kurren. The two-tone chimes of the emergency broadcast system sounded again, filling every corner of the government precinct as the public holos were automatically turned on and switched to the emergency broadcast channel.

  “We’ll continue this later,” said Raina, grateful of the interruption. She switched the tactical holo to the public broadcast channel and stood back, folding her arms, waiting for the announcement to begin.

  Diana cursed under her breath, also realizing that Raina had been let off the hook, and then watched as First Minister Kuba appeared in front of them. Disturbingly, the tactical holo magnified Kuba’s diminutive frame, making him appear imposing and also quite sinister, especially because of the ghostly white tone that the holo added to his normally rosy features. Maria glanced out of the windows and saw that the same image was being projected on every public holo, including the massive informational holos that hung on the side of the tallest buildings that stretched up towards the vast protective dome covering the government sector.

  “Citizens of the UEC, thank you for your patience during this difficult time,” Kuba began, with a well-rehearsed forlorn look on his face.

  Kuba’s appearance elicited an involuntary shake of the head from Maria, followed by an exasperated sigh. She detested Kuba. A life-long politician, following in the footsteps of his father, Kuba had studied and emulated Archer’s near-permanent soft smile and saccharin tone, but layered on top of this a number of other equally repellent and disingenuous facial and vocal performances, designed to convey sincerity, or sadness, or joy at good news and so on. However, he lacked Archer’s talent for it, and merely came across as a caricature of himself, at least to those who knew his act well, as Maria did. In person, with these layers stripped away, and no audience and holo cameras to play to, Kuba was a dangerously ambitious but small-minded and petty little man, who rated his own intelligence far above its actual level. He was a man who believed that status and high office were marks of superiority, and so he had lied and schmoozed and back-stabbed his way up the political ranks. Archer had known how to handle him; how to service his ego, yet still keep him bound within set limits. And for all his faults, Kuba was an effective first minister, who relished the task of keeping the government departments in line, like a sadistic drill sergeant. Maria had often wondered why Archer had kept such an ambitious and disingenuous man so close, and had once plucked up the courage to ask him at the conclusion of one of the monthly face-to-face meetings that Archer, Maria and Diana would hold in private during the mid-stages of the talks. Archer, wearing his trademark easy smile, had simply replied that he would rather Kuba be on his side than against him, and had left it at that. Unfortunately for Archer, it seems that Kuba’s back-stabbing days had been far from over.

  The holo broadcast continued, “I regret to inform you that after his arrest for treason, Governor Thomas Archer was tragically killed while attempting to escape from custody, aided by a small band of suspected GPS terrorist sympathizers.”

  Maria, Diana and Raina all looked at each other, wide-eyed.

  “I didn’t think I could hate that man any more than I already did,” Maria cursed. “I was wrong.”

  The flickering three-dimensional image then zoomed in on Kuba’s face, and his insincere sadness was replaced with an easygoing smile. “However, please do not be afraid. At General Kurren’s request, I have assumed the position of Acting Governor, and I pledge to you now that we will work through this difficult time together. We still face a perilous situation and must deal with the imminent threat of GPS terrorist elements on this base. I now hand you to General James Kurren.”

  The holo flickered and switched to a new angle showing Archer’s desk in his office, though the chair was empty. Behind the desk was a large, metallic UEC logo, which instantly caught Maria’s eye, because it had not been there when Archer had been alive. It was a subtle change, or more accurately a res
toration to how the office had looked before Archer, Diana and Maria had formally begun discussing the prospect of peace. Archer had replaced the logo with an old, hand-painted depiction of the UEC moon base. The planet loomed unrealistically large in the background, shrouded by the refinery; the orbital mega-structure that once surrounded the planet, delivering the precious orrum fuel to every megacity. Its destruction led directly to the cataclysm that had plunged both sides into a generations-long war. Maria remembered Diana tactfully asking Archer why he had chosen that particular image, in light of the UEC’s instigating role in what had happened. Archer had replied that they had denied their culpability for long enough, and that perhaps it could be a symbol of better things to come. Kurren had been angry at the change, and Maria had overheard him complaining to Archer that he was becoming sentimental, and had forgotten their purpose, which was to win the war not capitulate to peace. It no longer mattered how the war had started or what had been lost, Kurren had said; it only mattered how it ended. He warned Archer that peace with GPS was an insult to all who had fought and died, including their own parents and grandparents, and that he wouldn’t allow it to happen. Archer had retaliated by threatening Kurren’s rank and position, and the last Maria saw was Kurren storming out of the office, shaking with rage.

  Maria was stirred from her daydreams by the appearance of James Kurren on the holo, in the full-dress uniform of a UEC High General. He stood for a moment, imperiously, and then sat down at the chair behind the desk. When he spoke, his powerful, sand-papery voice filled every corner of the UEC moon base, from the smallest office to the largest public space.

  “Citizens of the UEC, this is General Kurren. I regret that I must confirm the death of former Governor Archer. While regrettable, these actions were just and necessary. Over the last four years, I have uncovered incontrovertible evidence that Thomas Archer was being blackmailed by GPS President, Diana Neviah, and the traitor UEC Captain Maria Salus…’