by DJ Morand
Judging by the amount of light he knew it must be near to dawn. This unsettled him, not because he was headed to his death - or at least what he assumed would be - but because he was doing so without having told Zee and Echo how much he cherished them. Abel found this line of thought odd; he hardly knew the half-Quintarran Echo Shade, but he had come to cherish her all the same. He knew too, that if they knew where he was they would try to rescue him. He hoped they did not try. Abel Cain was not a fool and after his encounter with the Judge the evening before he was beginning to understand who the New Exodus people were.
It was the nature of the EXOs to expand and conquer, and then to subjugate. When they did subjugate the EXOs took every precaution and transformed their captives into an image of themselves. He guessed it was a perverse way of acting out the need for familiarity that was a part of human nature. When Alek Vale merged with the AI, there must have been some part of his psyche that survived. So in accordance with their programming to grow, the EXOs invaded, subjugated, and transformed.
Abel knew he had protected Zee from this fate, and himself. Their various attacks on EXO strongholds and dog fights with the mass of Vulture BAA-Cs they needed to be protected. Were he a better man, Abel would have shared his revelation of protection with other humans; this was his first crime and the one Echo had hoped to help him reconcile.
She is too late, he lamented internally.
Occasionally, Zee and Abel would waylay a human vessel to commandeer a portion of their fuel and supplies, these were mostly targets of opportunity. He had become a pirate out of necessity. At least that is what he always told himself. In truth it was his pride. These actions left the humans aboard vulnerable; this was his second crime.
A crime he was not sure he could reconcile. Whatever name they gave to his crimes he understood he was responsible for what had happened to the people of New Exodus. He was responsible for their implants and their hatred of him. He had begun to understand that the people of New Exodus had all been exed, and as former EXOs blamed Abel for their predicament.
Somehow, Abel speculated, these people had found a way out of the EXO grasp. These humans who were not entirely human - or entirely Quintarran - and they no longer belonged in the EFNF. They would have been shunned in Admiral Shade’s EFNF and had no reason to suspect different from the true EFNF. They had no home and so they took New Exodus and made it their home.
Abel suspected there were those that were not previous EXOs on the planet, and those were likely survivors of his raids. Something, though, was tragically wrong with these former EXO subjugates. They believed themselves wholly human, even cited Abel Cain’s actions as crimes against humanity.
They did not know they were not human, nor Quintarran, not entirely. Knowing now all this was his fault in some way, Abel could not plea for release or even mercy. He was at the heart of the creation of these twisted beings.
The former-EXO guards continued leading Abel to the location where he would be judged or so he assumed. Perhaps the judgement had already been passed. A moment later he stepped into the light of day. It was momentarily blinding. He looked up and saw a grand platform, not so different from ancient Earth in design. The entire platform was made of wood save for two stone pillars rising up through the wooden planks. The platform was in the center of the city raised high so any onlooker could easily see. Abel realized, for the first time, this was going to be a public trial, and likely a public execution to follow.
Abel looked up at the platform, and up past the wooden structure, and up to the sky. The sky was a gorgeous purple haze and the mountains in the distance shone bright with the light of Quintar Prime, rising over them the star cascaded light pure and beautiful. He considered the size of the mountains if the star was just now cresting them, they must be massive. Abel marveled again at how the Quintarran race had managed to keep from polluting their planets while humans had ruined every one they touched. The guards shuffled him forward a bit too quickly and the power of the shock collar nearly brought him to his knees. The guard to his left stared at Abel in disbelief.
“That should have killed you.” He whispered part in awe, part in fear. Abel realized then that the guard had purposely shifted the collar to try and kill him. If the guard was so desperate to kill him before his appointed trial, what did they even have on him? Abel decided he might want to prolong his life a bit more, at least until he was able to get some answers.
The guards carefully lifted the chains from two posts on top of the platform and attached them to his collar with expert precision. The collar never even touched his skin. He stood exactly where they left him, meaning his left leg was a bit off center, which sent a twinge up his spine.
Better the pain of my own making than that of the collar, he thought.
Abel watched the crowd gathering and at least some did not display signs of external wet-ware.
I suspected as much, he thought to himself. Maybe I don’t owe them anything, he thought, shortly before dismissing it entirely.
He was certain of the result of his actions against these people. He was not, however, sure of what they knew about him, or themselves. As he watched, the Judge stepped from the crowd. There was a low murmur and then penetrating silence as he ascended the steps to stand face to face with Abel.
“It is time Abel Cain, FOR JUDGEMENT!” He spoke the last in a booming voice as he raised his arms, allowed the sleeves of his robs slide down to reveal one entirely mechanical arm and another nearly as altered. He turned and faced the crowd the last words still echoing through the city.
“Abel Cain, you are accused of crimes against humanity, extortion, banditry, and murder. How do you plea?”
It was Abel’s turn for theatrics and he drew in his left leg, wincing as the shift caused the collar to connect with his skin. To his credit he stood to his full six feet of height and raised his chin, despite the burning flesh touching the collar. After he rose to his full height and adjusted his footing, the collar stopped the shocking display and his own began.
“Not guilty.” He bellowed as loudly as the Judge, emphasizing the not; his words echoed, “I, Abel Cain, have only ever fought for the good of humanity, and for my own survival. Extortion you say? I have never threatened a human in my life. Banditry? Sure I’ll cop to this one, I took supplies from ships; but never all, and never without making sure I took care of EXO patrols in the area. Murder? Whose murder? I’ve killed thousands of EXOs, but they weren’’t human when I killed them.” He said loud enough to incite the people to talking. His confidence seemed to spark doubt and it spread through them like wildfire.
* * *
Quintar VII - Raven Squadron: New Exodus Air Space
2972 ESD - Tuesday, November 11th 06:30 hours
Mercury Frinz saw the crowds gathering in the center of the city for some sort of spectacle. He didn’t much care why they were gathering, only that they were.
That many in one place would make for a great flakking massacre, he thought devilishly.
Lowering the altitude of his craft, Mercury flew in close to one of the buildings over-looking the square and let the standard RAVEN fighter lasers tear into the building. The lasers crumbled the top half of one of the stone balconies. He punched the throttle and sped past the falling debris. Mercury watched the carnage as the damaged balcony tumbled into the masses below.
Three of the EXO Hawkeyes followed his lead striking out with lasers sheering off pieces of stone from the buildings. The other three ships spread out to intercept the New Exodus atmospheric fighters. The NE LED fighters were far smaller than the EXO ships, but also far more maneuverable. Two of the NE LED fighters moved in synchronous action around one of the EXO fighters. The sleek unilateral atmospheric vehicles had a single turbine engine in the rear of the vehicle and handlebars like an ancient Earth motorcycle. If Mercury could call them anything he would have called them bikes, after the colloquial term of the late nineteen hundreds. Each had a singular pilot hell-bent on making troub
le for the EXO forces.
After a few short seconds of courting and a dance through the lower city, the NE LED fighters managed to isolate the single EXO Hawkeye. Mercury and the others had other (sky bikes) he decided to call them, bearing down on him and his associates. The two sky bikes circling the lone Hawkeye unleashed a barrage of projectile weaponry, tearing the larger ship apart.
Mercury watched as the projectiles penetrated the spaces between the quantum plating on the bird and scored several hits on the aft portion of the vessel. The result was astounding. The gunship burst into brilliant flames of blue and white as the anti-matter containment was breached. The resulting explosion destroyed the smaller sky bikes and a good portion of the surrounding buildings.
It is unfortunate, Mercury thought, they were not near a more populated area.
A thought came to him then. The sky bike pilots were doing all they could to navigate the fight away from the growing mass of people in the city center. His smile deepened as this as he whipped his Raven HAW-K around and prepared for a strafing run on the square. He approached the site quickly and squeezed the trigger on his forward weapons.
“Time for a sneak attack glitches.” He laughed as the pulse lasers, masquerading as communications nodes, unleashed his fury. The lasers blasted up chunks of the group and people began panicking and trying to flee from the crazed pilot. He spun the craft, lasers still active, and sliced up the buildings as he continued the strafe. The sky bike pilots followed him, but they could not maneuver out of the way as chunks of the stone buildings crashed into them, and in turn the public below.
“H1 and H2, pursue any additional sky bikes and draw them into populated areas.” Mercury ordered over his communications link. The EXOs did not respond, but they followed his orders. This left him with three wingman and two other fighters flying around the city. The Hawkeyes were not particularly small or maneuverable craft, but they were well equipped and able to devastate even the larger parts of the city’s structures.
“H3, break away and give me a visual at all times on the square. I want magnified view. Show me their faces!” Mercury ordered his third wing man, leaving him with just two. “H4 and H5, stay with me, we’re going to find the Kodiak.” He smiled the entire time. With his birds here the NE LED would be caught up trying to take down those harming their people instead of the birds taking flight away from the battle.
“Converge and form up, I want full area scans for the URSA GS-I. You get sight of that and you alert me, do not fire on the Kodiak.” He felt his orders were clear enough and shut off communications.
He still feared the EXOs and did not believe they would not try to ex him. He kept his channel on a single wave frequency to avoid any accidents. Just as Mercury was about to track down the Kodiak he received the enhanced images from H3. On his screen stood Abel Cain still chained to the posts in the middle of the square. Mercury could not resist trying one more time to kill Abel. The EXO Prime could do what he wished with him, as long as he was able to kill Abel and finally get his vengeance.
“H4, H5, keep moving and scanning. I have a score to settle.” Mercury was not above revenge and he could not pass up the opportunity to kill Abel.
* * *
Quintar VII - New Exodus: Execution Platform
2972 ESD - Tuesday, November 11th 06:35 hours
Abel watched as the RAVEN F came towards him. He watched how it handled the atmosphere, the front end dipped too low and the propulsion seemed to falter slightly. He decided the RAVEN F was in bad shape, before deciding it was not a RAVEN. He continued to watch as it approached the city, larger than life and dangerous.
It certainly had the same sleek design and appeared to have the communications systems indicative of a RAVEN, but there was something different about it. It spun through the city firing its pulse lasers - he expected that, the pulse lasers were standard on a RAVEN fighter. He stared in horror as the RAVEN joined formation with six other fighters, he knew those - Hawkeyes.
If he had a guess he would say these were EXOs sent to reclaim the liberated masses. Something was wrong with that theory though, the RAVEN, or whatever it was, had just targeted the buildings and sent huge chunks of stone crashing into the crowds below. This was not a reclamation mission. It was an extermination.
Abel watched as the fighter broke formation and the NE LED officers mounted their own personal vehicles. He didn’t really know what to call them. A single turbine engine in the rear and a motorcycle like appendage attached, he could only think of them as some sort of atmospheric fighter.
No different than what Earth had historically called motorcycles - except that they could fly. The NE LED crafts were light and agile and he watched - somewhat impatiently – as they singled out and destroyed one of the EXO ships.
Quantum plating!? He thought incredulously. No one had mastered that save for him and Zee with the Kodiak. In fact the URSA GS-I was the only ship in the galaxy that supported the complex magnetic quantum locked plating as far as he knew. The Hawkeyes seemed to have a different type of plating, smaller and more numerous. Abel scoffed at the idea.
The reason for larger plates was that the amount of magnetic current was difficult to maintain ship-wide, which is why the Kodiak only had eight intersecting magnetic rails that allowed the plates to be shift for maximum effect. These lighter gunships with the mass of plates would be like a puzzle sorting out where the magnetic lines needed to shift and where the plates could go. A wrong move in the calculations could break the entire set up, launching plates in every direction. As he thought about it, he witnessed the exact event. The NE LED vehicles were pulverized as the anti-matter containment was breached on one of the Hawkeyes. He could see the RAVEN pilot again, arcing overhead and executing a very familiar maneuver.
“Mercury!” He cried out in disgust. He knew the RAVEN pilot was Mercury. That spiraling maneuver and blasting the buildings spoke of someone with little to no regard for life, let alone those who had escaped from the EXOs. The spinning backward somersault that the ship was executing was something he had taught to only one other person, Mercury Frinz. The two had worked together as relief and defense on Eden, before it started to decline.
The communications arrays on the ship, he realized, were weapons. If Mercury was here then the Hawkeye pilots were certainly EXO, which meant that they may actually be able to maintain the calculations for a quantum field. The size of the gunship would require an extended field to manage keeping the plates from disruption. The exploding Hawkeye launched shrapnel towards the uninhabited part of the city and only did so due to the containment unit.
Abel watched helplessly as people ran and screamed. He could do nothing, especially with the collar. Mercury and three other fighters curved around another building and disappeared.
Flak! Abel thought. He works for the EXO Prime, he must.
It made the most logical sense why the leader of Eden would be able to leave and pursue a vendetta like this. Plus, Abel decided, he had to have connections to even get off Eden. It had to be more than that though, otherwise why attack the city. Abel was having a hard time understanding the point of this attack. Logically, the attack could create a diversion, but for what? He considered what Echo had told him about the EXOs wanting him and the Kodiak. Mercury isn’’t just after me, he wants the Kodiak, but that means he needs me alive. Abel thought carefully. He was certain that Mercury did not intend to kill him.
The NE LED forces outnumbered the two remaining Hawkeyes and Abel noticed they were drawing the EXOs away from the city. However, just as the two ships moved further out, Mercury came back, with his weapons trained on the platform. Abel waited, still sure Mercury was not going to kill him. The RAVEN fired the laser extending out towards him and Abel’s life flashed before his eyes.
* * *
Abel stood out staring over the lakes of Mars. He was not a boy this time, he was a man. In fact he was his current age; his current self. He watched as the fires rained from the heavens. The spir
es glowed a muted red matching the color of blood. Abel watched as the fire rained down on the city.
“Abel!” He turned. He never turned in his dreams. He expected to see his mother and his father. Instead it was Echo and Zee. The spires exploded and all three of them were flung through the air.
* * *
Quintar VII - New Exodus: Execution Platform
2972 ESD - Tuesday, November 11th 06:42 hours
Abel blinked and he was again standing on the wooden platform. Chained and waiting for his death. He watched as the Mercury’ laser unleashed doom. As the laser blasted from the modified RAVEN, two of the NE LED bikes intercepted Mercury and fired on the rear engines of his ship. The disturbance had little effect, but enough that the laser intersected the stone pillars Abel had been chained to.
The pillars rocked and tumbled the chain on the left broke freeing Abel. However, he tumbled backward to the right dragged backward violently by the other pillar. The collar pulled against his neck so forcefully he was simultaneously choking and being shocked. Somehow during the exchange his collar snapped and he was freed. Abel lay among the rubble writhing in pain and trying to extricate himself from the debris.
* * *
Quintar VII - Kodiak: New Exodus Refueling Station
2972 ESD - Monday, November 10th 05:30 hours
““We’re not just going to stay here and wait are we Zee?” Echo asked.
“I had not intended to. The officer that took the Captain said we would be refueled and allowed to leave.” Zee said. “We are waiting for the refuel, then we are going to rescue the Captain.”
