The Last of the Firsts

by G J Ogden

  Ashley frowned, “Yes, there’s a door directly into the adjacent lecture theater, why?”

  “You two need to get out, soldiers are coming.”

  Maria pulled her sidearm out of her jacket pocket and loaded it. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, we must have been seen coming in here. We don’t have time to argue; for this plan to work you and Ashley have to get out, while I hold them off.”

  “Karl, you’re not expendable…” Maria began, but the sound of the boots grew louder, echoing up the stairwell and along the corridor.

  Page clasped his hand over Maria’s sidearm and fixed her gaze. She had never seen him look more determined. “If this crazy plan is going to work, they need you, not me. You know I’m right, Sal.”

  Maria clenched her teeth, refusing to release her hold on the weapon. She knew Page was correct, but she didn’t want to accept it. Page did not relax his grip or his stare, which was imploring Maria to go. She cried out in frustration and thrust the weapon into Page’s waiting hand. She wanted to say something, but words escaped her.

  “Go, please…” Page urged, and though his words were no louder than a whisper, they pierced Maria’s ears like a scream.

  The thump of the heavy boots drew up outside the door as Maria ran to join Ashley. She glanced back to see Page backed up behind Ashley’s sturdy desk, aiming both weapons at the door; she wanted to turn back and to fight with him, but if she did then both of them would be captured or killed and their entire endeavor would have been for nothing. Ashley called to her from outside an open window leading out to the fire escape platform and Maria forced herself on, arriving at the window just as the sound of gunfire erupted behind her. She hesitated, again feeling the pull to return, and it took all the force of her will not to run back. She punched the wall, letting the pain in her knuckles blanket the swarm of conflicted emotions that surged through her body. The sting of each punch overpowered her anger and overwhelmed her desperate helplessness, but no matter how hard she struck, she couldn’t numb her guilt or shame at once again abandoning her partner while she ran free. She climbed out of the window and raced along the metal escape route, blood dripping from her still clenched fist and falling through the metal grating like tears.

  Chapter 14

  The door burst open and Page immediately opened fire with both weapons, aiming low so as to minimize the chance of killing or fatally wounding the advancing soldiers. Killing maddened creatures on the planet was one thing, but these soldiers were UEC, the same as him, and they were only following orders, just as he had once done. He would only kill as a last resort, though he doubted that his former brothers in arms shared the same sentiment.

  The first two soldiers fell, both grasping their thighs, and amid the torrent of bullets from Page’s twin sidearms, the third ducked back into the hallway. Page shifted position, continuing to lay down suppressing fire through the door, as the soldier pressed his rifle through the opening and fired blindly into the room. Page was struck in the chest and rocked back against the wall; the hit felt like a hammer blow, but when he looked down there was no blood.

  They’re firing non-lethals, Page realized. They’re trying to capture us alive!

  More non-lethal bullets thudded into the wall beside Ethan, but he blotted out the pain from his throbbing chest and surged forward, firing through the wall that was providing the third soldier with cover. One of the rounds clipped the soldier’s calf and he yelped and retreated back down the corridor, shouting “Fall back, fall back!”

  Page advanced to the first prone soldier and kicked him solidly in the head, knocking him clean out. The second, having witnessed this, held his hands above his head and begged Page not to kill him. Ignoring the petrified soldier, he peered cautiously through the door, and saw that the remaining soldiers had retreated into the stairwell for cover.

  Discarding his empty sidearms, he quickly searched the body of the unconscious soldier and found what he was looking for; a grenade. Suddenly, rounds smashed into the wall beside him, showering him with dust, and he dove for cover. Non-lethals or not, if he was hit in the face or head then he would be knocked out just as soundly as the soldier he had just clobbered. He lay on the floor, staring at the grenade in his hand, contemplating whether he was desperate enough to use it, and then pressed the actuator. To throw it, he knew he’d have to move back into the line of fire, but there was no turning back now. With adrenalin coursing through his veins, he jumped up as if on springs and tossed the grenade through the door towards the stairwell. He called out, “grenade!” at the top of his voice and was then pressed back against the wall as more gunfire erupted towards him. He heard the panicked cry of ‘grenade!’ from down the hallway, followed by the frantic scuffle of boots, before a concussive blast pulsated through his body, shaking the floor and walls. He ducked down, grabbed the rifle from the unconscious soldier and charged through the encroaching smoke and dust, turning hard left out of the door and running in the opposite direction to the soldiers. At the end of the corridor he peered out of the window and saw Maria and Ashley slipping away though the narrow paths around the rear of the campus. But then his heart sank as he saw a unit of soldiers closing in on them.

  “Damn it!” he said out loud to himself, and then smashed the window with the butt of the rifle. Alerted by the sound of breaking glass, the soldiers skidded to a stop and aimed their weapons up towards the window. “In here!” Page shouted and then unleashed a volley of non-lethal bullets towards them, hitting three before the others reached cover.

  “Come on, come and get me!” he shouted out, willing the soldiers to break their pursuit of Maria and Ashley and come for him instead. He fired twice more and then watched as the shadowy figures rose and sprinted towards the campus building, away from Maria and Ashley, who were now mere silhouettes in the distance. He smiled, knowing they would be safe, and then pulled back from the window.

  There was a sudden barking of orders outside from a stern, female voice and Ethan could hear the shouts drawing closer. He tried to clear his mind and think of a plan to escape, but the shroud of dust was clearing and more shouts echoed down the corridor towards him, forcing him to move. He darted from door to door, but each was locked and would not budge against his weakened shoulder. He turned down another corridor and could hear the soldiers closing in; panic swelled in his gut and he felt himself losing the battle to control his fear. Frantically, he tried another door and it opened, leading him into a narrow stairwell. He ran through, almost falling down the flight of stairs and barreled into the wall at the bottom, using it as a brake. The shouts were not far behind.

  He threw open the door, ran through without checking if anyone was on the other side and spotted an emergency exit leading to the campus grounds half-way along the adjacent corridor. He ran for it and, without warning, bullets hammered in the wall to his side; but this time they were real bullets. Instinctively he dropped to a crouch and fired back in the opposing direction, continuing the suppressing fire until he reached cover. The rifle clicked and checking the magazine he found it empty. He threw the weapon to the ground and sprinted for the emergency exit but, seconds from reaching the door, it flung open and three soldiers charged through. Their eyes widened, evidently more surprised to see him than he was to see them, giving Page the early advantage.

  The first fell easily, as his momentum carried him swiftly into Page’s waiting fist; luckily, rather than intentionally, he had swung with his good arm. The second soldier was close behind and struck Page on his wounded shoulder; Page cried out in agony, but managed to wrestle the soldier off his feet, before being struck in the face by the rifle butt of the third. Page fell hard on his back. His lungs burned, his cheek bone and eyes stung, and his wounded arm lay useless at his side. He tried to rise, but he had nothing more to give, and collapsed back again, resolved to confront whatever fate awaited him.

  The third soldier stood over Page and then removed her helmet, revealing obsidian-black hair, pulled ti
ghtly back from her hard-edged face. She sneered at Page and then activated the commlink on her PVSM. “Sir, we have him.”

  Page did not hear the response, because the next thing he saw was her boot racing towards his head.

  Chapter 15

  Page opened his eyes, but then squinted against the brightness of the light. He was vaguely aware of being sat upright in a chair, but he didn’t know where. Pain stabbed below his right eye, which he couldn’t open fully, and his cheek throbbed and felt like it had swelled to twice its normal size. His eyes began to adjust to the light and, groggily, he was able to make out a few shapes, one of which was clearly the figure of a man. Adrenalin kicked in and he tried to stand, but found himself restrained to the back of the chair by his wrists.

  “Please do not try to get up, Major Page,” said a smooth and softly-spoken voice, which had a more lyrical quality to it than the speech of a typical soldier. “I assure you, there is no hope of escape. But, there is hope of release, should you decide to co-operate fully.”

  The man had slowly come into focus, and Page recognized the figure of Governor Jacob Kuba standing a few meters away, resting against an enormous black table. He glanced around the room, trying to work out where he was, but pain splintered through his neck and face and forced his good eye shut. From the little he could make out, he knew the room was an unfamiliar one. It had perfectly smooth, gently curved walls that appeared black, but shimmered as if made from some sort of crystal or glass, while the opulent black table and high-backed chairs suggested it was a place of some importance.

  “Where am I?” asked Page, returning his squinting eyes to Governor Kuba.

  “You are in the Teardrop, Major Page. I assume this is your first visit? I wish it were under happier circumstances.”

  The Teardrop? thought Page. Why in the hell has he brought me to the Teardrop? “Yes, I have always wanted to see it; thanks very much for the invite,” he said aloud, building up his bravado and steeling himself for the interrogation that he expected to follow Kuba’s softly-softly introductions.

  Kuba laughed, though it sounded just as fake as his half-smile looked. “You are welcome. Do you know why I have brought you here, Major?”

  Page shrugged, or at least gave an approximation of a shrug, given that his hands were tied to the chair. “I guess it’s just because you’re such a nice guy, right? Everyone says so.” Then he scrunched his face into an expression of intense puzzlement. “No, wait, I got that wrong. Every says you’re a sleazy, double-crossing, cowardly scumbag. Sorry, I don’t know how I mixed the two up.”

  Kuba’s half-smile wavered momentarily, but remained plastered to his face. When he spoke again, his tone had hardened. “Brave talk, Major Page, we shall see how long you manage to keep that up.”

  Page laughed derisively and shook his head. “Brave; you don’t know the meaning of the word. And if you want to make threats then why don’t you unfasten these binders, so we can have a proper… conversation.”

  “You soldiers are all alike,” spat Kuba, his mouth pressed into a thin line. “Boorish and boring. You bore me, Major Page!” He pushed away from the desk and paced two steps closer. “Kurren, Darien, Salus… all the same. Whether UEC or GPS makes no odds; the military are and always were the problem and the reason we are stuck on this wretched moon.”

  “And I suppose you’re the solution?” scoffed Page. Then he looked at his body and arms, bound into the chair. “It looks like your tactics aren’t entirely dissimilar to Kurren’s, Governor. Maybe if you’re trying to be better than him you can let me out, end martial law and hand back power to the council of ministers?”

  “Oh, I shall, my dear Major. But all in good time.” A flicker of a smile returned to Kuba’s face. “Before that, I must first complete the task that the arrogant imbecile Kurren was unable to finish.”

  Page was surprised to hear Kuba speak of his former leader in such derisory terms. “I thought you and the mad General were the best of friends?”

  “A mere relationship of convenience, Major,” said Kuba, his eyes twinkling. “I am curious, however; did you deal the finishing blow, personally?” Kuba’s dumpling-like face swelled in anticipation of the prospect of hearing about Kurren’s grisly demise.

  “I’m sorry to disappoint, but it wasn’t me,” said Page, honestly. “In fact, if anything finished him off, it was the planet. He was suffering from severe genetic deformation.”

  Kuba laughed and clapped his hands together like a drunk at a party who had just been told a vaguely amusing story. “Wonderful! Even better than I had hoped for!” he said, gleefully. “I had assumed that, since you betrayed him, it was you that dealt the killing blow.”

  “I betrayed no-one, it was you and Kurren who betrayed the UEC,” snapped Page. “Kurren lied about Diana and Maria and murdered everyone on the GPS station, bar the few that escaped, and he hunted those down to try and finish the job.”

  Kuba’s expression leveled again. “It must trouble you greatly to understand the role you played in the death of so many innocent people,” he said, driving the words into Page, as if tightening a screw.

  Then Page realized something that he had not considered before; Kuba did not know that the civilians had escaped Kurren’s grasp. He took a small measure of comfort in knowing that if Maria failed, they would remain safe.

  “You think that this foolish stunt of yours with Maria Salus will wash away the bloodstains from your hands?” Kuba added, stepping closer and leaning in so that Page could make out every oily line in his puffy face. “I am afraid you are beyond redemption, Major. And you will give me what I want, one way or another.”

  “I didn’t think torture was quite your style?” said Page, glaring back at him, and struggling with all his might to break the bonds that held him in the chair, so that he could wrap his hands around Kuba’s stumpy neck. “Where is Kurren’s other lapdog, Darien? I’m sure he’s the one you’ll get to do your dirty work.”

  Kuba leaned back, but matched Page’s dagger like stare. He was sick of the condescension from the military class; the constant discourtesy and derision and lack of respect.

  “I killed Major Darien,” said Kuba, coolly, observing the desired reaction from the soldier; a slight widening of the eyes and raising of the eyelids as his pupils dilated, involuntarily. Page had tried to disguise it as best he could, but Kuba had learned to read expressions and knew that for the first time since regaining consciousness, Page was scared. His smiled widened again.

  “I killed him in this very room, in fact,” Kuba went on, drawing confidence and satisfaction from seeing Page break, like a leech drawing blood. “You are correct, he was merely a lapdog, and without Kurren, his weakness was an impediment to my success.”

  “I don’t believe you,” Page lied. “You don’t have the guts to kill anyone.”

  Kuba hammered his fists on the corner of the black table. “I am stronger than any of you!” he bellowed, his face burning red. “You military classes think you know everything, but you are wrong!”

  He suddenly appeared embarrassed and straightened up, forcing his face to adopt a more neutral expression.

  “I apologize for the outburst, my dear Major,” he said, while straightening the jacket of his suit, “but I am afraid you are mistaken. I killed Major Darien and had his body incinerated. I simply claimed the body was that of a resistance sympathizer and traitor, who was killed while attempting to flee.” Kuba had outwardly regained his composure, but Page could hear the stress in his words and knew the rage was simmering just below the surface. “No-one will ever know what happened to Darien. I have the power to make anyone disappear; a fact I would remind you of, given your current situation.” He leaned in again and Page could see the veins throbbing in his neck, and feel his hot breath on his face; it reeked of alcohol. “I can make Maria Salus vanish too, when I find her. And I will find her, Major, mark my words.”

  Kuba glared at Page for a second longer and then leant across the tab
le and pressed a button on a small control panel that was built into the surface. “As much as I have enjoyed this conversation, I’m afraid we must return to the matter at hand.”

  The main elevator door slipped open and a black-haired soldier marched in dressed in jet black combat clothing. Page recognized her immediately from the flight training campus.

  “This is Lieutenant Zahn. She will be… assisting me,” said Kuba, with a crooked smile.

  Page laughed and shook his head. “So, you don’t have the guts, after all.”

  Kuba’s smiled vanished and the rage bubbled over again; he clenched his teeth and his lips wobbled, but then his mouth relaxed back into its default half-smile, as if a switch had been flipped in his brain. He smoothed away the imaginary lines of his creaseless jacket and glanced across to Lieutenant Zahn, who stood rigidly to attention at his side, fists clenched, eyes focused on Page.

  “So, Major Page; shall we begin?” said Kuba, unable to mask the cruel intentions behind his words. “Tell me where I can find Maria Salus…”

  Chapter 16

  The sun inched over the horizon, turning the sky from steel gray to ochre red, but the wind that licked at Ethan’s face was still cool and crisp. He heard the sound of boots clacking across the newly upgraded metal decking that had replaced the wooden planks on the walkways around the walls, and glanced across to see Yuna approaching. Over the top of the clothes that Ethan had given her the night before, she was wearing the thick ranger outerwear that was more commonly reserved for the cruel winter months.

  “Looks like you’re about ready to take the ranger’s oath,” said Ethan, smiling warmly.

  “No, I just got fed up with being cold,” Yuna replied, fastening another button on the coat to stop the wind from sneaking in. Our complex is always kept at a steady twenty-one degrees. I hope you don’t mind me borrowing this?”