Loss
February 2062
“But they aren’t supposed to be there.”
Arinna’s heart pounded in her ears. She stared at the vid screens, no longer trying to make sense of the battle she’d been pulled in to consult on ten minutes ago. It was over. The screens, the long distance ones that still worked, showed a massive, spreading cloud. The blast knocking the primary vids offline was so strong that she gripped the rail in front of her to brace for the aftershock.
There was one question that she couldn’t voice. Her eyes dropped to the soldier stats on a lower monitor. All flat. Arinna tore her eyes away as dark vertigo rose beneath her. Grip on the handrail tight enough to throttle it, she asked, “Who took the orders to the Guard this morning?”
“Minister Eldridge himself, mam.”
She would kill him. Eyes darting toward the stats against her will, Arinna turned away. Across Command everyone waited, motionless, as if freezing could stop time, stop what had happened. Arinna swallowed her desire to scream denials, curses, just scream. It writhed with life waiting to be born in her innards, threatening nausea.
“MOTHER must be told,” Arinna ordered.
A waxen girl gazed at her, eyes unfocused. “Will you?”
“No, find someone else,” Arinna snapped. The girl, woman, winced. Realization touched her unfocused eyes. “Ms. Prescot, I’m so sor—”
“Families must be notified,” Arinna said, cutting her off.
Her jaw ached, she was grinding her teeth so hard. She thought of others waiting for word, waiting with hope. Just as she had been half an hour ago. Before word came that something was wrong and that they needed a strategist. Was it better to have watched than to be in her office pacing?
“I will tell Jared. He is Captain now.”
If anyone responded, Arinna didn’t hear it above the roaring in her ears. She left the room without physical connection to her feet. Denial as much as her decision to find Jared kept her from dropping to the floor in tears. Her mind caught on the need to locate him like a lifeline. It was a problem she could solve.
Jared had been ordered to stay behind. Most people would take that as a reprieve. Arinna knew it would just piss off her husband’s best mate. She guessed Jared would be doing weapons maintenance or shooting something. The chaos of fighting a war with no fronts that had embroiled them over six months before had improved. Shifting lines gained the Guard traction. There were zones with no FLF. But losing ground made the FLF even more dangerous. Bombs erupted, often not when planned based on minimal carnage to the Guard and victims belonging to the FLF. Their precise operations were falling apart. It was a small victory. It frightened Michael.
He’d told her last night that he wanted to split command. Risking both himself, now that he was the leader of the Grey Guard, and Jared, who was his second, was too much. Arinna hadn’t liked it. Jared protected Michael as much as Michael did Jared. Both foolishly risking everything for each other and somehow always getting through. Arinna didn’t know if she should be grateful for Michael’s preminescent foresight or angry that it might have been Jared’s absence and instinct that had allowed Michael to fall into a trap. No. It wasn’t Michael’s fault or Jared’s. It was Eldridge for having sent them there. The numbness twisted to anger again as Arinna found Jared in a ballroom turned firing range.
Anxious for news, he stopped shooting as soon as the room light indicated someone had entered. He put the gun down when he saw it was her.
“How bad is it?” Jared asked, pulling off his ear protection. “The mission was west. I know that much by the directions the planes headed.” He crossed his arms, still mad.
“The mission suffered extreme casualties. A strategic FLF base was targeted toward the reestablished western front,” Arinna paused, thoughts unthreading.
“Where?”
“Kiev.”
Jared frowned. “Michael said you were uneasy about Kiev. It didn’t sit right. You changed your mind?”
Arinna ignored the question. “It was a trap. They set off a bomb, at least one. Looks like it was dirty if not small nuclear.”
Jared blinked, the personal anger fading. “How bad?” he asked again.
“Our fighters were directly over the city when the bombs blew. We suffered a total loss.”
The door scraping open a moment later interrupted their silence. Even though she’d witnessed it, the news was really just sinking in. The Guard was gone. Michael was gone. Everything felt surreal.
“First Lieutenant Vries, Minister Prescot, you are needed for an emergency Defense Council meeting in Secretary Eldridge’s office in five minutes.”
“It is Captain Vries now,” Arinna corrected. Jared flinched.
—
“Thank you for joining us, General Vries. Though I regret the necessity of your promotion,” Secretary Eldridge said in somber greeting.
“It is Captain,” Jared answered.
“Don’t tell me you take stock in that superstition. I would think today’s events would prove there is nothing lucky about the rank of captain,” Eldridge countered.
“It is the highest rank common to all branches of the combined military, sir,” Jared replied calmly, if coldly.
Eldridge snorted. “Of course.”
Arinna’s hatred of Eldridge was the only thing keeping her from falling apart. The numbness and fear of what would come when that anger evaporated restrained her from throttling Eldridge. She was boiling with paradoxes; a tipping point not yet reached.
Eldridge paused in front of her, mouth open but without words. Arinna breezed by him, sitting next to Jared without seeing the chair or room. Heads shifted toward her, quick glances hurriedly turned away. Arinna stared straight ahead, fingers curled against the edge of her seat. Next to her, Jared tensed as if for a battle.
Why had she come?
The question smacked her in the face. Bringing her back to a cold present. Duty? She’d never have asked this of anyone. But Eldridge had asked for her too. The main contingent of the Guard was gone. The FLF was a larger threat than it had been an hour before. Arinna dragged her focus to Eldridge, realizing he was speaking but she hadn’t even noticed.
“—was launched this morning to take out strategic bases belonging to the FLF. Unfortunately, the FLF destroyed its Command and the city rather than surrender. By doing so it also annihilated the Air Guard and nearby mobilized ground troops.”
The hard facts of Eldridge’s concise assessment of the morning kept Arinna from responding to how much he left unsaid. Eldridge’s gaze swept over Arinna as if to confirm she would accept his version of events. She ignored him, watching Lewin instead. Lewin had been at the meeting to select targets as well.
Lewin frowned, sitting forward though he didn’t speak. Arinna didn’t expect Lewin to betray Eldridge, just like she had not. Saving Europe came first and taking down Eldridge’s power would need more than a shoutout at a meeting in the aftermath of the loss of the best of their military. But Lewin’s expression told Arinna what she wanted to know. Lewin hadn’t been aware in the change of the target either.
“When were the ground forces sent in?” Jared asked, arms crossed as he sat back in his chair. He looked like he was holding himself together about as well as Arinna, which was barely, but someone needed to get them out of this mess.
Faint red stained Eldridge’s pale cheeks. Arinna nearly hugged Jared for seeing what she had not. “I gave the order two days ago, expecting we would confirm Kiev as a target.”
Jared swore. “How much of a force do we have left?”
“Do you really think the FLF destroyed its base to take out our fighters?” Lewin asked.
“It isn’t outside of reason,” Arinna said, the room falling silent at her quiet voice. “Considering some of the recent failed attacks that took out more FLF troops than ours, it is possible.”
A modicum of tension oozed from Eldridge as she met his eyes. He hadn’t expected her to placidly agree. Good. Let him think
she accepted the subterfuge he was offering.
“You were in the Command Center when the bombs exploded?” Eldridge asked her.
“Yes,” Arinna answered, tensing muscles to keep from reacting to the memory.
“What is your assessment?”
This is why Eldridge had called her in. She had witnessed the attack, the only strategist in the room to do so. “Most likely there were multiple bombs set to explode across the city,” Arinna said without inflection.
“You said you thought they may be dirty?” Jared asked her.
“I’ll need to check the signature. But yes. I think at least one was nuclear. The EMP disabled the cameras before the fire or shock wave reached them.”
“That makes the risk to any survivors high. We’ll need to organize medical teams,” an aide named Shapner began. She slicked back her dark hair, which emphasized her roman nose.
“There were no survivors,” Arinna cut in.
“You can’t be certain. We need to organize,” Shapner argued.
“I am certain,” Arinna replied, staring her down until she looked away. “I was in Command. All of our soldiers’ stats are monitored. They are all dead.”
“The EMP,” Jared said, sitting forward. “It could have disrupted the transmissions. We don’t know. I should fly to Kiev. We need eyes over there!”
“Not until we check if it is nuclear. You can’t go flying into radiation, Captain,” Shapner warned.
“What are the FLF doing? Who is watching them?” voiced another aide.
“And what is the status of our remaining troops? Where are they?” Lewin asked again.
The room dissolved into chaos, but Arinna barely heard it. The floor dropped out under her feet. Could the EMP have disabled communications and disrupted the soldiers’ stats?
“They’re dead,” Arinna said, tears filling her eyes despite her best effort. The room jostled to quiet again. “We are getting a reading. The stats aren’t offline; they are flat. Jared, they are dead.”
Jared held her gaze, his expression fading from adamant denial to despair at least as deep as hers. She looked away before she fell in.
“What is the next step then?” Lewin asked, voice hushed.
“I recommend you find out what we have left for troops and what the FLF is up to,” Arinna said, standing. She was out the door before anyone thought to answer. She made it down the hallway before she couldn’t stop the tears.
—
“Arinna, I just heard.”
Arms caught her, pulling her against a warm chest. Overcome, it took Arinna a moment to register it was Byran who had caught her. She collapsed against him grateful for whatever fate had brought him to this military outpost.
“I’d hoped it wasn’t true,” Byran whispered in her ear, supporting her weight or she would have fallen to the floor. “Come. You shouldn’t be here.”
Arm pressing her tight to his side, Byran navigated down the rambling hallways of the country estate turned military headquarters. She paid no attention, walking when he nudged her forward and stopping when he did. A few words were exchanged. An order given. Finally, Byran pulled open a door to a small room holding dusty light, a bureau, and a bed. It was one of the few rooms in the manner that hadn’t been converted to an office or barrack.
Arinna staggered to the bed, gratefully sitting on the threadbare blankets. The room looked out into the bleak landscape of a warm February afternoon. She couldn’t remember what country they were in. It looked French with the lines of cypress trees reaching for cloudy skies. Byran sitting on the bed next to her jostled Arinna from her mindless stare at the clouds and bare branches.
“Thank you,” she said, throat sore from crying.
Byran took her hand, shaking his head before he kissed her fingers. “Stay here. Let me get you some tea. Just lie down, rest. Promise me you’ll stay.”
Arinna nodded, curling up on the bed like a child. Byran leaned over to kiss her temple, smoothing her hair from her face. She was staring at the bureau where its form faded into a shadow that reached out from the cobwebbed corner of the room when the door clicked closed behind him.
There was nothing in the room to remind her of who she was. Nothing at all linking her life to those that had just ended. Michael held no part of this place. She hoped that would help. It didn’t. Tears slid over the bridge of her nose. Michael would never see this room. She would never touch him again. Sobs racked her so hard, she thought she would rip apart.
Byran returned before she’d cried herself empty. He slid behind her, holding her as she sobbed. His warm breath and the brush of his lips against her neck became as much a part of her as the bottomless grief. She loved him for how tightly he held her, pressing her against him as she cried, just as much as she wished he were Michael. The emotions rolling through her were too vast to understand or fight.
Eventually, the intensity diminished. Byran wiped away her seeping tears. “I brought tea, though by now it is no better than the vinegar I used to try to save you from in Madrid.”
Arinna sobbed a laugh. “That is alright. Especially if it is still warm.”
It was tepid and strong, but it was tea. Arinna was grateful Byran had found any in the mess of shifting headquarters that life had become. Over the rim of her cup, she found Byran watching her. With rumbled hair and brown eyes looking to have been crying as well, raw emotions twisted at the site of him. Arinna looked away not wanting to feel ... anything for at least a few minutes.
“I can’t believe you are here,” she said.
“When they split up Parliament and embedded the fragments with military outposts, you didn’t think I’d make certain to end up near you?”
Arinna blushed, fueling a welcome rush of warmth. Of life. “You always had connections.”
“And I’ve learned how to use them watching you,” he replied, taking her hand.
Her eyes filled with tears again. “I’m sorry,” she said, wiping the new moisture away. “I’m a mess.” Byran waved her apology away, his eyes darkening in acknowledgement that she had cause. “Actually, I’m really sorry I missed your wedding. Where is your wife ... Isabella?”
“I understood. Choice between war and a wedding, I knew which was the most important.”
“Hah. The wedding! It will last longer than the war, I would think. I should have come.”
Byran’s eyes snapped from sad to a riveting energy that passed between them. Arinna couldn’t deny she felt it too, even if it weren’t the time and place for it. Byran’s offer to stay in Spain with him on the night they had almost kissed hung in the air between them. Arinna swallowed another mouthful of tea, washing down memories of that night, the following morning, and Michael’s jealousy at her tears for another man. The transposition was too much. Arinna trembled so that she had to put her cup down.
Byran reached for her, but a movement of her hand held him back. Staring out the window, Arinna blinked her eyes clear. She didn’t want to be left to her thoughts, so she struggled for something to say.
“A Senator ... you’ve done well. I’ve heard of the things you’ve put forward to help the Guard.”
“Not all my ideas. Derrick helped too. I want to see this war end. This isn’t how I want my daughter and son to grow up, amid battles with scarce food or power.”
“Daughter and son,” Arinna whispered, staring at him. “When? I didn’t know.” Her heart was flipping in her chest.
“The son, not yet. Soon. That is where Isabella is. Safe, as safe as I can make her while she waits to give birth. A few months left. Cerilla was born over a year and a half ago.”
Pride and awe filled Byran’s roughly handsome face. It was a look she’d wanted to give to Michael, one they had hoped for but had never found the time to make. The thought undid her composure. Well what little she had managed to scrape together. She fell into Byran’s arms, simply grateful to be held.
They spoke more later when the tears dried again. Lying side by
side on the small bed, her head nestled against his shoulder, they talked into the late afternoon and dim twilight of evening. Sleep came in fits, like the tears. Byran stayed, both of them ignoring what lay beyond the small world of the room, as if by doing so they could alter time. But the day faded. Night came. And a morning would come as well. Arinna wasn’t ready to face what it held. She buried herself in the warmth that Byran offered, forgetting her life and time passing. Well after midnight, sleep came at last.
Byran still held her when Arinna opened her eyes to a faint grey dawn. She expected disorientation or at least a moment when hopes held reality at bay. But that didn’t happen. She knew exactly who held her, where she was, and what had happened the day before. Tears sparked in her eyes and faded. That was it. Life would go on. At least hers.
Byran woke as she stirred next to him. There was no surprise in his eyes either, just warmth that gilded the brown of his irises. He kissed her, slow and tender as if in acknowledgement of the tragedy that brought the morning to fruition.
“I should find us something to eat. We’ve only drunk some rather pathetic tea since yesterday afternoon. I’ll go find us some toast or something.”
Arinna nodded, throat raw and aching. She watched him dress, emotions and thoughts resting only on the moment. The ruddy dawn darkened his tan skin and brightened his black, rumpled curls. In the dim room, he looked a painting out of time.
Byran smiled, seeing her eyes tracing his form. He returned to the bed, kissing her lips and then forehead. “I’ll be back soon. Sleep some more.”
He left her, his glance lingering as he closed the door. Which made her sad, but she didn’t understand why. The world remained wrapped in a misty grey morning with sharp edges blunted. Arinna shook her head to clear it. She could accept that grief wrecked havoc on her emotions, but she could not tolerate muddled thinking. They were still at war. She would be needed.
By not thinking of it, the reason for her sadness came to her. There had been no regret in Byran’s eyes. He’d sent his pregnant wife and daughter somewhere safe. But he had stayed and even chosen an outpost near her. She had seen him bed women for pleasure, but there were only two he had asked to stay with him. And she had never answered.
She wanted to think he wouldn’t leave his wife and the children his expression had so obviously indicated he wanted, not for her. But in a way, he already had. War had taken so much from many people. With a hard lurch, Arinna realized she did not want to be the cause for Byran to lose his daughter and son or Isabella her husband. Besides, she was needed elsewhere. Hadn’t she just thought that?
Arinna swung her legs from the bed and hurried to get dressed. Part of her wanted Byran to return before she left. She wanted to explain and say goodbye. But as the minutes ticked by, she worried less about Byran and more about what remained of the Guard and Jared. His loss was as large as hers if not more. She’d lost her husband. Jared had fought beside the men and women who had died. One large burden did not outstrip thousands of smaller.
A quick glance through the room turned up no scraps of paper or pencil. She hated to leave Byran with no word, but she could hunt him down later. The need to know what happened after she had left yesterday drove her from the room without a backward glance.
—
Staff in Command appeared shell shocked and worn when Arinna walked into the secure room. Glances her way wavered between relief and nervousness. She guessed her abrupt departure from the emergency meeting the day before had been shared. That was expected, so she ignored it. What she didn’t expect was to find Command empty but for a skeleton staff, none of which appeared to be doing anything.
“Where is Eldridge?” Arinna asked, grabbing a cup of coffee that made her wince and a hard muffin. It was food. If she could keep it down.
“He is meeting with MOTHER. There is talk of contacting the FLF,” the woman looked away, her pony tail of dark hair swinging with the motion.
“For a truce?” Arinna asked. The woman nodded. “I’m sorry, I don’t remember your name. I wasn’t stationed in Command much.”
“Terri,” she answered. Her accent could have been one from a number of countries. But that didn’t really matter now. They were all European.
Arinna walked forward to check the large screens. They were blank.
“What do you want to see?” a man asked. His accent was French though his features were Thai.
“Europe. Bring up the last known locations of the Guard, Kehm.” She at least remembered his name. But then, she should remember the Chief Communications Officer. He had set up most of her video chats with Michael and been decent enough to give her privacy when she spoke to her husband. Late husband. It was going to be a long day. “Where is Captain Vries?”
“He took one of the remaining planes and flew to Kiev,” Kehm answered.
The fact annoyed Arinna as much as she suspected he’d do that. “Was the blast analyzed first, I hope?”
“Four small nuclear and three other large explosions as well. He went escorted and protected from radiation. The plan is to launch a recon drone to survey what is left,” Kehm answered.
“What do we have left of the Guard?”
“Reserves, the injured ... we have about a third of our active troops.”
“And not all fit for fighting,” Arinna said, finishing what Kehm left unsaid.
“That doesn’t account for the new recruits,” Terri said.
“There have been recruits?” Arinna asked, pausing her survey of the map Terri enlarged on the screen. Without needing to be asked, Terri highlighted front lines, locations of FLF, and the locations of Guard troops and military supplies.
“Yes. Since word got out about the loss. People have gone to military stations to volunteer by the dozens,” Kehm replied.
“The populace wants to fight and our leaders want to yield,” Arinna said, squeezing the bridge of her nose. “Is MOTHER serious about this?”
“To speak bluntly, you would know better than I, Minister,” Kehm answered.
“You say we have what equates to a third of our active troops. The new recruits are untrained ... how many could we actually field in a battle?”
“A regiment. Not one that is used to working together though,” Kehm said.
Arinna swore. “Where is the FLF, Terri? What has it been doing since yesterday?”
“The western line is holding. Honestly, I would have expected more movement after their victory yesterday,” Kehm answered.
The word victory twisted Arinna’s mouth to match the seething it caused in her innards. “Put in whatever strength you can to protect our bases and embedded Parliament,” she added the last thinking of Byran. “It will be a good use for the new recruits.”
“Should you get Secretary Eldridge’s approval for that?” Kehm asked.
“No,” Arinna replied and didn’t elaborate. She would shoot Eldridge before she asked anything of him again. While Terri and Kehm worked to relay the order, one of the screens dissolved into static, pixels of blue sky and dark ground appearing in rapid flickers.
“I repeat. Are you receiving anything yet?” Jared asked.
“Yes. The display isn’t clear, but we are reading you,” Arinna answered.
“Arinna,” Jared breathed her name, the word holding relief and something tentative. She didn’t blame him for nervousness. She had abandoned him the day before. “It’s the radiation. Hold on, I’ll filter it out.”
The image cleared as Terri moved the scene to the large overhead. The world didn’t look real. A blue sky shimmered over a land of black wreckage and grey ash. Automatically, Arinna scanned the shapes for wings or the triangle of a tail. Relief washed through her to not recognize anything even if it left her empty as the emotion drained. She steeled herself to analyze the image without reaction.
“What did you see while you flew over?” she asked.
Jared coughed, not denying he had done exactly that. “It is all the same. Nothing is lef
t. No movement. I see no survivors.”
“No FLF either?” she asked.
“No. Assuming there was a base here, there hasn’t been anyone trying to salvage any materials. There are FLF tanks outside the blast zone. I wouldn’t touch them for the radiation. But I would expect if FLF is around, it would be hunting down the ammo in them.”
“It was a base,” Arinna answered, thoughtfully. “I agreed with MOTHER there. It was just a little too visible.”
“You think they were planning it as a target, hoping to take us out? You said it was a trap yesterday when ... when we talked.” Jared stumbled on the discussion of when she’d told him of the loss. “But they caught themselves in it too. At least MOTHER’s quick strike had one plus.” Jared’s voice was sour on the last sentence. Arinna let it pass again. If anyone deserved to know the truth, it was Jared. But not over a comm line.
“Send in the drone to be sure and get back. Pick up the best of any seasoned troops on the way, or at least order them to this base ASAP,” Arinna told him.
“MOTHER got more plans?” Jared asked, voice bitter.
“Yeah. They want to give Europe to the FLF. Get back here pronto. And destroy the tanks too.” Jared was still swearing when she clicked the line closed.
Arinna spent the day in Command. She didn’t mean to. But with the drone flying, she surveyed the damage along with Kehm and Terri. At first it was with a faint hope of finding survivors. But as they spread the search pattern away from the devastated city, her fantasy of seeing their planes or troops out in the barrens beyond died.
To fill the void, she perused the blasted hulls of the FLF tanks, fire still burning on two. It was odd to see a line of tanks stationed so far from the city, standing guard over fields and ... railroad tracks. Heart beating, Arinna directed Terri to have the drone follow the tracks.
There was nothing going into the blasted remains of the city. At least nothing left to be seen. Terri turned the drone and zipped away from the blast zone. The lines of well maintained tracks twisting off toward the horizon.
“Kehm, I need a map of the rail network coming into Europe. And ... has anyone been looking at how the FLF has been resupplying?” Arinna asked.
“Not recently. We’ve only just reestablished front lines.”
“And so busy we’ve barely taken stock of our supplies.” Arinna shook her head. “This isn’t any way to win a war.”
“I didn’t think we were winning,” Kehm replied. They glanced at each other. “Terri, compile a list of all supplies and ammunitions on hand. We need to know what we have after yesterday.”
“Include any notes on agriculture too. We can’t depend on supplies from abroad if most of the world is caving to the FLF,” Arinna added. “We’ll have to feed ourselves.”
“We should be protecting our best agricultural land,” Kehm added.
“Shouldn’t MOTHER be making these decisions?” Terri asked, glance darting between Arinna and Kehm.
How far could she push her authority? Officially she was a minister on the Defense Council and a liaison with the Guard. But Eldridge had proven it only took one person to direct the army. MOTHER ruled Parliament, though Parliament did not know it. Eldridge and MOTHER had shown they couldn’t make decisions fast enough to win battles. How many times had Michael railed against a command sent down? How often had she fought to make Eldridge see a reasonable military solution?
“I’m the liaison with the Guard. Leave MOTHER to me. Just do it.” It was one step from outright mutiny or a coup. Arinna knew it. Kehm did too. He nodded, turning to bring up the map. They’d kill her for this. But if they lost or yielded to the FLF, that would happen anyway. Besides, part of her was beyond caring. Mostly, she wished she’d taken the leap when Michael was still alive. It might have saved him.
Kehm brought up the rail map at the same time a shape appeared on the tracks the drone followed. There was movement around it. Troops in FLF black unloaded boxcars of food onto idling trucks. They’d found the supply train the tanks had been waiting to protect. Gunfire ripped past the drone, then the screen went dark. Arinna released a breath.
“It looks like two of the high speed lines went into Kiev,” Kehm said.
“Which is why it was a big base. The rigged explosions were most likely in case they needed to pull back, but they couldn’t resist the opportunity to take out most of our armed forces. Where are the other lines?”
“The next big one is through Moscow to Brest, Poland. But that one was damaged early on with the fighting through Russia. We could send recon, but I’m fairly certain it isn’t operational.”
“Which leaves the southern route through Turkey,” Terri said, enlarging the area on the screen.
“Send recon to double check the Moscow route and another south. I want to know where the FLF is getting its supplies. Get me the lists of our supplies and soldiers, including the new recruits. I want to know what we have.”
It was late. She had never found Byran to explain her departure that morning. That made her feel guilty. On the other hand, Eldridge had not come down to Command and there had been no word from MOTHER. Did they think the war would wait while they debated handing over Europe?
Arinna took the reports and left Command, hoping to run into Byran and knowing she should track down Eldridge. She couldn’t find either so she located a corner to start delving into the mess the Guard was in.
—
If she’d thought morning would bring rationalization and she’d regret her rebelliousness the day before, a night spent reading over reports cured that idea. Grief altered her emotions, but it was to put her into a place beyond worry. From there, she could see how close they were to losing.
They had been fighting a running battle dictated by the FLF. Sure, the FLF had gotten sloppy towards the end. Most likely their seasoned troops had been killed or pulled back. Something had altered how they reacted so that the smooth destruction brought about by dismantling communications, power, and internet had stalled, leaving spotty islands of civilization. Terrorize, divide, and conquer: it could have been the FLF motto.
When Arinna walked back into Command in the morning, she was certain of one thing: Europe needed a respite to train and arm new troops. The worry on Kehm’s face when she arrived told her that wasn’t going to happen without a fight.
“The tracks through Turkey are now the main supply line. From what I’ve managed to gather off our remaining satellite feeds, all FLF traffic is being directed that way,” Kehm told her.
“And they are moving a lot?” she asked, guessing the answer from his nervous movements.
“Yup. They know we took a hit two days ago,” he confirmed.
“And Eldridge is looking for you. He heard you were in here yesterday,” Terri added.
Arinna swore. “Is Jared back? Get him here. I’ll return in half an hour. I need to talk to MOTHER.”
She went to the well appointed room that MOTHER had taken over in the old manor and entered without knocking.
“What will our terms be?” Gerschtein asked. “And we should have Parliament ratify the truce offer to legitimize it.” Only le Marc appeared ill at the notion.
Arinna pulled up a chair, sitting back and crossing her arms. “And who in the FLF will you be delivering this message to? I wasn’t aware you had a direct line of communication with them.”
Eldridge glared at her. “I can understand you are upset, but we need to do this to save Europe,” he snapped.
“No. You are doing it to save yourselves. Europe is pretty much in tatters. And surrendering makes the whole war seem a little pointless. The FLF took out their biggest base to destroy our troops. We are equally hurt at the moment. Have you bothered to think about that?”
“If you have nothing constructive to add to the conversation, you may be dismissed, Minister,” Eldridge said.
“Don’t roll over for the FLF. Not yet.”
“Leave.”
Arinna wanted to fight hi
m just to let him know she would not listen to his authority again. But leaving quickly was the point. She walked out, swinging through the Guard barracks on the way back to Command. She needed clothes and the idea of entering her room in the manor, the closet that it was, wasn’t something she was prepared for. Michael’s memory still lived there. She couldn’t disturb it.
The barracks held a confusion of activity. New recruits mingled awkwardly with battle weary soldiers. All were directionless. Things needed to change.
Jared was waiting in Command when she returned, leaning against a desk with ankles crossed and an impatient frown. He didn’t move when she entered.
“Kehm, scramble all communications to the other bases unless I approve it,” she ordered.
“Yes, Minister. May I ask why?”
“They want the other sections of Parliament to ratify the truce offer and I want to ... delay that for a bit. And don’t call me Minister. Not anymore.”
Jared snorted, but there was appreciation in the glance he sent her way. “I hear you’ve been busy.”
“Very. But first will you walk with me?” Arinna asked as she headed toward the door, Jared keeping pace at her side. “Something has to be done about the new recruits and there are a few good potentials we need to look at. Do you think you could organize enough soldiers for an operation?”
“Give me a week,” he said.
“How about three days? We are under a short timeline.”
The next few days were a flurry of activity and lies. She told MOTHER communications had been damaged by the blast. Kehm backed her up. With no one else to ask to learn the truth, MOTHER’s truce plans ground to a halt. In the midst of it, Jared formed a battalion out of the scraps of an army.
Arinna knew MOTHER would catch on to her subterfuge eventually. If she couldn’t win Europe the respite the army needed, truce, surrender really, would be their only option. If she did win, maybe she could convince Parliament to keep fighting. It was a sliver of a chance, but it was all they had left.
Early the morning of the fifth day after the attack, Arinna braved her room. It had been hers and Michael’s for nearly a month. The chaotic fighting and need to protect Parliament had reunited them in the end, bringing him in from the front though he continued to lead missions. They needed the pilots. Now they needed soldiers. And like her late husband, Arinna was trained.
The room was tiny, holding a narrow bed and a few bags of clothes. Guard headquarters moved with the front, seeking locations before the FLF could target them. She and Michael had been married eleven years, and all she had now were random clothes, several pictures, and a few portable mementos. It hurt.
She looked through his clothes, packing them in his bugout bag. Smells, textures, and memories rose, but it wasn’t the time for that. She tried not to linger too long. Hopefully, she would return to them later. Next, she took off her wedding ring and slid it on the chain with her tags. She wished she had his: ring or tags. Something with his name and a piece of what they had been. But both were gone along with him. Nothing remained to be recovered from the wreckage of Kiev.
Arinna left out one photo, an old one taken of the times they had camped in the Outlands. Michael’s hair was so short, she couldn’t tell the color. But there was no mistaking the laughter in his hazel eyes. She put the picture in her pocket. Glancing up, she caught her reflection in the dark and dusty window. Her reddish hair was too short to be pulled into a pony tail but long enough to be a nuisance. She didn’t need distractions.
Fumbling, she found remembered scissors in the drawer of the bureau. They weren’t sharp, but worked better than a knife. In under ten minutes, her hair was sawed to an inch long. The shorn locks slipped through her fingers, their softness reminiscent of Michael’s buzz cut when he’d been forced to enlist in the newly formed Guard. With a laugh that held a sob, Arinna dropped the scissors on the bureau and grabbed a jacket. It was February out. She might be going south to Bulgaria, but she’d need protection. Including probably a flack jacket if she could dredge one up from the barracks.
There was one last thing to do and barely time. She pulled out the paper she’d brought with her and wrote a quick note to Byran: “I’m sorry I couldn’t stay. I have to end this war. Please, if you can, don’t let them vote for the truce. Not yet. Give me a few days. Love, A.”
She put it in her pocket next to the picture of Michael. Then she closed the door on the remnants of her life, wondering if she would return to them.
Dawn was on the horizon as she rushed from the manor. Along the road outside the compound gates, military trucks hummed, waiting to head toward the airstrip. Jared would be there directing operations. To her surprise, Kehm waited at the lead truck.
“I was beginning to wonder if you’d make it,” he told her as he held open the passenger door.
“There were a few things I needed to do.”
“I see that,” he said nodding toward her shortened locks. Arinna ran a hand through the short spikes, surprised again to feel the soft nap. “I’ll keep things quiet here as long as I can. MOTHER will get wind of this at some point today no matter what.”
“I know. Let me take the heat. Not you. My orders. Tell Eldridge I never said I was acting without their approval.” Kehm frowned, which made her like him more. It was good to know he didn’t want to throw her to the wolves to save himself. “And do me one other favor. Find Senator Vasquez and give this to him. Directly to him, no one else,” she said, fishing out the note.
“I will. Good luck.”
Arinna snorted. “We’ll make our own luck or die trying.”
Stories from the War: Military Dystopian Thriller Page 7
