by C. R. Allan
Waking up with a start from the sound of heavy snow falling onto the roof from a nearby tree, Jacob looked out at the sunlight spilling in through the frosted window. The cabin was warm, and a small fire still burned under the mantle. In those brief moments after waking Jacob felt warm and content before the memories of the preceding events came flooding back. Noticing he was alone; Jacob threw the thick fur blankets off him. Realising his old wet clothing had been taken off as the freezing air hit his skin, he looked around the small room for something to wear. Finding his clothing hanging dry on a wood rack near the fire, Jacob quickly got dressed as he unsuccessfully searched his memory for when they came off.
A frigid torrent of cold wind hit hard as Jacob opened the cabin door. Zipping his coat as high as it would go, Jacob pulled a toque he found tightly over his ears as he looked out at the artic wonderland. About ten yards up ahead near the base of a steep hill, Jacob could see Orm and Dawn talking in low voices, with looks of concern on their faces. Stepping out into the snow, the pain of the hike and his wounds quickly returned, brutally reminding Jacob of all that had happened. Forcing himself to move forward through the pain and stiffness, he made his way over to the others.
As Jacob approached, Orm turned to look at him and put his finger across his lips, gesturing Jacob to be silent. “Their over there...” he whispered as he pointed up the hill.
XII
Quickly turning around to the sound of an alarm, Jin began working the levers and nobs on the control panel in front of him. The hologram sphere at the centre of the bridge again began spinning and working its gears. The light above the device flickered as it focused into a map of the area closely surrounding the ship, with three bright objects highlighted near the edge of the image. The flagged objects appeared motionless in the trees to the souths, within a hundred yards of the vessel for several minutes, before disappearing from the holographic display. Getting out of her seat, Reliq walked over to the large window facing the direction of the unknown objects. Looking intently towards the tree line across the snow-covered clearing, all she could see were whisps of wind dancing across the fresh snow on a gentle breeze.
“There is nothing out there, ...probably a sensor glitch from the crash.” Said Reliq, as she continued to watch the tree line.
“I will recalibrate the sens... Wait we got another ping, this time moving fast from the northeast… It’s a company scout craft. They will be over us in less than a minute Captain,” said Jin, leaning over the hologram.
“Any operational weapons systems?”
“Weapons are light to begin with on these diplomatic vessels... And anything usable was damaged in the crash,” responded Jin. The frustration clear in his voice.
The sound of the twin rotors of the small company vessel roared loudly past overhead fading slightly into the distance before returning.
“They spotted us.” Said Reliq, quickly heading back down to the ring. “Start the take-off sequence, we won't have a choice but to make a run for it. I’m going outside to buy us some time”
“You are hurt captain...”
“And you can’t shoot Doc... just focus on getting the ship airborne.”
“Reliq...”
“That’s an order Jin. Keep the radio open…. And Jin, if I don’t make it back you need to return to Tyde without me. The Judicators need to know what’s happening here... Do you understand?”
“Yes Captain...” Said Jin, with a sombre hesitation in his voice.
Dropping down out of the shaft, Reliq landed hard on the surface below, causing her to grimace as pain shot up her injured leg. Fuelled on pure adrenalin, she worked the mechanism of a door below the command ship. Prying the damaged door open enough to squeeze through, she entered the small room, filled with survival gear and weapons. The impact of the crash had torn the far end of the room open exposing it to the outside environment. Reliq quickly dressed in thick winter weather gear, pulling the hood of her coat up over her head as she grabbed a rifle and small pistol from the rack. Placing the magazines into the weapons, she grabbed a few extra ammo packs, shoving them into her pocket before slipping out through the torn hull. Falling a foot deep into the fresh power as the cold air took her breath away, Reliq paused briefly. This place would be a beautiful place to visit under different circumstances she thought to herself before continuing. Keeping herself tight against the outside wall, she crouched at the furthest point of the ship, and watched as four red-suits descended on cables from the rotor craft ten yards above.
Jacob and the others had seen the invader ship fly overhead then turn back around. Dawn, never one to sit back and wait, had already made her way to the top of the hill. Staying low and in the tree line as she looked back at the others, gesturing for them to come up. Jacob began crawling his way up the snow-covered hill, slipping periodically as he fought against the stabbing pain in his arm, every time he used it to pull himself further. Arriving at the top of the hill, Jacob laid beside Orm and Dawn looking out at the ships across the clearing. The strong air current from the rotor craft hovering above send torrents of fine snow in every direction as the three of them watched the events unfolding, as two groups of red-suits could be seen splitting up and heading in different directions around the large crashed ship.
“Great, red-suits.” Said Orm sarcastically, looking out from behind the tree line.
“That downed ship doesn’t look the same as ones from the city... or the same as the one in the air.” Said Dawn, as she looked down the scope of her rifle for a better view.
“They could be here to help us. "Said Jacob, with excitement in his voice.
“Or they could be competing to see who gets our planet, Kid. Either way they don’t seem to be in much of a position to help us.” Responded Orm.
“Orm’s right, those red-suits seem to be looking for something or someone... and we all know they are not here to make friends.” Added Dawn.
A loud crack suddenly exploded through the air followed by a bright flash as the air started rushing past towards the hovering ship. Struggling to understand what he was seeing, Jacob stared as the air near the rotor craft as it became distorted. Another loud snap soon followed, leaving the air completely still, as the hovering machine began to spin uncontrollably with one rotor and a large section of the ship suddenly missing. Watching with confusion as to what just happened, Jacob and the others saw as the ship completely lost control and hit the ground hard at the far side of the clearing. Suddenly busting into flames and billowing out a thick cloud of black smoke high in the air, nothing remained of the aircraft except a heap of twisted burning metal.
“What the hell just happen?” Said Orm, as he stared out at the wreckage.
Moving her sights from the now downed airship, Reliq spotted a red-suit coming into her view. Focusing on her target, she took in a slow breath before pausing to squeeze the trigger. The powerful rifle kicked back hard against her, as the projectile clipped the shoulder of the unsuspecting red-suit, knocking her target to the now blood-stained ground, highlighted against the white backdrop.
“What did you do Jin?” Said Reliq through her radio, following her shot.
“I used the last of our aillinium to collapse a relay probe through the ether near that airship... Figured I could help buy us time.”
Without the covering noise of the rotors above, the sound of her weapon discharging quickly gave off her position. Reliq unable to see the other red-suits on the far side of the ring, slowly began to make her way along the hull. The sound of snow crunching drew closer as she listened to one of them slowly move around the craft towards her. Keeping her back tight against the wall, Reliq waiting quietly for her adversary to get close enough to make her move. Noticing the barrel of a rifle rounding the corner next to her, she instinctively grabbed the weapon, pushing it up and out of the hands of the red-suit, forcing them off balance. Throwing her body weight against them, Reliq knocked the red-suit to the ground while targeting them through the sight of her rif
le. Squeezing the trigger to dispatch her enemy, she held her breath anticipating the recoil of the weapon. The firing pin hit the round in the chamber with a soft ping, yet no round was discharged, leaving her exposed as she tried to chamber another round.
“Damn unreliable union weapons,” Reliq murmured to herself, as she struggled with the rifle.
Seizing the opportunity, the red-suit sprang to their feet and charged towards Reliq forcing her to drop the rifle into the snow and reach for her pistol. Rapidly drawing her side arm Reliq discharged two rounds in quick succession, hitting her target twice in the chest and causing them to retreat to the other side of the ring and out of sight.
“Watch out, behind you captain!” Called Jin, through the radio, as he watched the events unfold from the command module.
Reliq spun around in time to see two red-suits rounding the far end of the ring with their weapons pointing straight at her. As fast as she could, she raised her pistol to take a shot. Feeling the sting and burn of a bullet passing through her upper chest near her shoulder, Reliq was knocked backwards to the ground from the force of the projectiles impact.
“Get up, Reliq.”
“Just take off without me Jin.”
“I can’t leave you here.”
“Go, that's an order Doctor,” finished Reliq as she noticed hundreds of company ships passing overhead high above them.
“You won't be going anywhere union pigs.” Said a red-suit, in a deep but muffled voice, now standing directly over Reliq.
Looking down the barrel of the red-suits weapon, Reliq tried to reach for her pistol lying in the snow next to her. Approaching from the other side a second red-suit stepped on Reliqs hand while kicking her side arm out of reach.
“We could kill you now,” said a red-suit as he kicked Reliq hard in the abdomen. “Or we could let you die when this whole area is turned into a crater.”
“You can’t do this... You will all stand before the Judicators for what you’ve done here.” Replied Reliq as she struggled to breath from the blow.
“I’m not worried. It’s already done, as soon as Asus is over head, in about twenty minutes, it will release a kinetic rod, erasing any evidence that you or your union friends were ever here.”
“Your ship is disabled; you will die too.”
“Don’t worry about us, we have alternate transport. I can hear it approaching now.” Continued the red-suit
“Enough playing around. Let's just kill her now and get out of here,” Interrupted the second red suit as he raised his rifle towards Reliqs head.
The loud crack from a rifle firing beside him took Jacob by surprise, causing him to jolt. Dawn had made a clean shot from a hundred yards across the clearing, with the round hitting one of the red-suits hard. The bullet easily passing through their helmet hitting the metal hull behind them, sending loud metallic echoes through the air. The red-suit remained standing motionless for a moment before collapsing dead into the snow.
Looking at Dawn with speechless surprise, Jacob stared in uncertainty at what she had just done. Helping the unknown girl and involving themselves, may have somehow saved them or caused their death, either way Jacob was unsure if it was the right course of action.
Noticing the others looking at her Dawn said, “I couldn’t just let them kill her,” as she continued looking down the sight of her weapon, ready to take a second shot.
Pulling the trigger, Dawn loudly sent a second round down range, missing the second target. Causing the red-suit to quickly move around to the other side of the downed vessel and out of sight.
With her path back into the ship blocked, Reliq took the opportunity to head across the clearing. Taking the risk, she assumed those who were shooting were friendly locals and ran out into the open towards the tree line while guarding her injury. Another bang exploded from behind her and Reliq fell to the ground face first as a burning pain shot up her leg.
Noticing a red-suit on the ground barely visible, Dawn said, “he is lying at the edge of that ship on the left” as she began to take shots in that direction.
Jacob watched as the girl forced herself to her feet and began limping towards them, a trail of stained red snow following in her wake. Unwilling to simply watch the events, Jacob sprang to his feet and began running across the clearing.
“Give the kid some cover!” Yelled Orm, as he too began shooting towards the edge of the ship, where the red-suit was seen last.
Reliq froze momentarily at the site of Jacob running towards her, unsure of the intentions of the local inhabitants. Yet, without any other choice, she had to keep moving forward in painful determination.
Arriving at the injured girl Jacob put her arm around his shoulder and helped her move across the open clearing. Only a few feet remained between Jacob and the tree line when he felt the burn of hot metal grazing his upper arm near the area of his knife wound, causing him to tense with pain as he continued to push forward.
“Right side,” yelled Orm, as he took a shot. Noticing the red-suit fire from the other side of the downed vessel.
As Jacob approached the safety of the thick brush, Orm ran out to help carry the wounded girl, past the tree line and down the embankment as Dawn kept watch at the top. Slipping down the steep slope, the three of them rolled down the embankment, leaving Reliq unconscious as they hit bottom.
“Is she breathing?” Asked Jacob as he got up to his knee and knelt over the girl.
“I think so, but she has lost a lot of blood,” responded Orm.
Remembering his past life as a medic, before the invasion, Orm began to instinctually examine Reliq’s injuries, autonomously repeating tasks his hands had done thousands of times before. Removing her coat, the wound on Reliq’s shoulder was evident, as Orm ripped of a piece of cloth from his sleeve and pressed it over the wound.
“Keep pressure on this” said Orm, as he grabbed Jacobs hand and placed it over the cloth, as he began to look through his backpack. “We need something to tie off her leg, she is losing too much blood.” Orm continued.
Up on the hilltop Dawn watched as a large ship passed by overhead, then came back around and hovered over the far side of the clearing. The craft rotated slow a hundred and eighty degrees as four massive blooms of fire kept the vessel suspended above the ground. Sending waves of intense heat rushing through the air towards her, Dawn watched as the ship descended toward the ground.
Regaining consciousness, Reliq looked around in a panic as strange people that knelt over her. A surge of adrenaline coursed through her as she sprung to her feet ready to fight. Startled by Reliqs sudden movements, Jacob and Orm backed off to give her some space.
“It’s okay,” said Jacob, in a soft tone, as he held out open palms in front of him.
“We are here to help,” added Orm as he pointed towards the bandages he had applied.
The ship touched the ground softly on landing pads that folded out from the bottom. The grungy and tarnished looking craft appeared covered in char and soot, its brass colourings barely noticeable, as Dawn stared at the crude hull, a patchwork of sheet metal rivets. A loud hiss echoed across the crisp forest air as the back of the ship opened, sending plumes of steam out to be crystalize in the frigid air. Once opened, Dawn could see into the dim interior of the vessel, its walls lined with knobs and levers. Water vapour could be seen escaping periodically from the pipes throughout the vessels interior as blinking lights rhythmically flashed against the darkness.
Raising her rifle, Dawn quickly got ready to fire as two red-suits came into view, making their way across the far end of the clearing towards the landed ship. Noticing one of them was obviously injured, as the other helped them towards the open ship, Dawn took her finger off the trigger. Watching them enter the vessel, Dawn decided against shooting and starting another firefight, one her and the others were sure to lose.
looking down at her dressed wounds, Reliq realized the locals may not be hostile and lowered her guards. “Reliq,” she said as she gestured to h
erself.
“Okay Reliq... I’m Orm... Orm,” Orm replied as he said pointed at himself.
“Jacob.” Jacob followed, with a smile.
“Dawn,” continued Orm as he pointed up the hill.
Suddenly becoming acutely aware of what that red-suit said, Reliq began running for the top of the hill. Dawn hearing Reliq approach looked behind and put her finger across her lips as she gestured out across the clearing at the ship, before even realisng who was coming towards her. Dropping to the ground beside Dawn, Reliq watched as the two red-suits disappeared into the vessel. After a brief pause, a man dressed in fine business attire and a top hat came walking down the ramp of the ship, stopping before the snow line. Staring intently at the distant man Reliq felt some familiarity, uncertain she grabbed the rifle from Dawn, and looked down the scope at the man.
“Hey!” snapped Dawn as the rifle left her hand.
“It’s okay,” Said Orm from behind, where he and Jacob had been watching from.
Through the rough magnification of the crude weapons sights, Reliq could not be sure she knew the man. Putting her finger on the trigger of the weapon, she began to squeeze with complete apathy. She had to hold someone responsible for the deaths of most of her crew and the horrors unfolding on Issa. Before following through with the shot, she released the trigger, as Oret stared right at her, while pulling a small purple vial from his pocket. In that moment as Oret held the vial in one hand and tapped his wristwatch with the other, Reliq realized the man was one of the people the union had on the inside of the company. A feeling of relief came over her as Oret gestured at the sky as he dropped the vial into the snow at the end of the ramp.
