by Nicole Rae
I changed from my casual uniform into my Ulum suit and went through boarding protocols with my pilot. As we ran through diagnostics the Commander boarded my vessel and dismissed my pilot for a moment. My mind began racing and my chest began swelling with anticipation. She smiled at me and the coldness that I had been feeling from her melted away.
“Z,” she said.
“Yes, Commander?” I asked.
“Thank you for your service. I just wanted to thank you and tell you that it has been a pleasure working with you and of course getting to know you on a personal level too,” she said.
I wasn’t sure how to respond without sounding distant. “Thank you,” I said, “I feel the same about you.”
Ruth reached for my hand and I fought back my desire to pull her into my arms. She ran her thumb over my fingers and looked at my face as though she had more to say.
After several moments she pulled me in for a hug and whispered into my ear, “Trust your intuition, please. It really is your greatest weapon.”
It was as if she were pleading with me.
“I will,” I returned her hug and she pulled away, turned and left without another word.
I was still staring at the entrance with my jaw agape when my pilot walked back in and asked if everything was okay. I confirmed all was fine and she remarked about having never seen two long faces as the Commander’s and mine. I reiterated that everything was fine and covered by saying the Commander just wanted to review some logistics one last time. She rolled her eyes at me and went about preparing the craft for departure.
When I arrived on Ulum, General A001 greeted me and escorted me to the conference. The other members of Ulum leadership were awaiting my arrival before transporting into the meeting. Conspiracy theorists thought that Earth would attack them as they all sat like easy prey awaiting my arrival. Tensions lifted when I finally arrived. I assured General A001 that I was there to negotiate on behalf of Earth for a peaceful coexistence between our two planets. She agreed that such an arrangement would be ideal for all involved and assured me that she would support me during the talks. The General offered me her condolences for the loss of Nelson Vokbar in person and took me by surprise when she gave me a hug. Touching and breaking personal space is not something that Ulum do. I was caught off guard by her attempts to be human and thanked her for her kindness. She laughed that she had to research how to properly hug a human. I chuckled out loud at the idea and I was suddenly feeling more confident about the talks. I knew that the General was most definitely on my side and I was determined to work her allegiance in my favor.
She notified me when the leader of the rogue state of Ulum arrived and I felt the first flutter of anxiety knowing that I would be face to face with the person who not only condoned, but ordered the death of my first love and more recently the man I considered as my father figure. I fought back nausea at the thought of even pretending to work with him. I did not let it affect my outward appearance. My ability to manipulate my facial expressions was on point since my arrival on Ulum. No matter what had happened to me personally, I was going to carry out my mission flawlessly.
As soon as all the Ulum leaders arrived at the summit, General A001 escorted me into the conference. She had her own security detail and had assigned one of her personal alien servants to watch for anyone who tried to take a hit out on me at the table. Despite the incredible danger that I was in, I felt safe. I actually trusted General A001 and felt that her intentions were honest.
As I made my way to my assigned seat I noticed an urgent message from my friend back on OrbForce in HR. I quickly scanned my comtal.
The Commander just called me personally and directed me to seal your personnel file and wipe OIS clean of any information about you. I don’t get these high level assignments. Something is up.
My heart was racing. There are only two reasons someone in OrbForce has all profiles wiped out of OIS and their personnel files sealed. They are either dead or they are the new Commander. I was not either of those at the present moment and the latter wasn’t a possibility. I could feel the blood surging through my body and I realized in that moment what was happening as the first missile hit the exterior of the building we were in.
I fell to the ground from the violent shake as another strike hit somewhere in the compound we were all gathered in. I remained expressionless as General A001 looked at me with fear and sadness. She too had just realized what was happening. This was a set-up and I would be nothing more than a necessary casualty of war. I could feel the room spinning in slow motion as the realization of what was happening washed over me and the last few days played in slow-motion in my head.
The Commander knew I would be killed in the strike. She knew the entire time and let me fall in love with her. She even had me convinced that she might love me back for a moment. Forcing me to stay away from Abby was to protect Abby and have one less person to worry about in the fallout. She hadn’t bothered asking HR about other potential jobs for me, because she was already planning the funeral, but why then did she tell me old high school friend to seal my records before I was even dead?
I was thrown again by another hit and smoke and dust filled the space around me. I fell to the ground and crawled past one Ulum leader who had been killed by falling debris. I crawled along the ground trying to find my way out of the room. Something grabbed my left ankle and pulled me back into the smoke. I realized the rogue General RU200 was pulling me back into the burning area. I kicked him with my other foot and he grabbed me and pulled himself on top of me and began choking me. I struggled to free my hands and managed to free a leg and kick him back. General A001 grabbed me under my shoulders and pulled me upright and ran with me. I attempted to contact my pilot on my comtal and saw that my craft had departed just moments before. The Commander had briefed my pilot ensuring only one person would perish in this attack and that person was me. I was short on breath but managed to mouth an apology in Ulumese to General A001. She hurried me into a room that was clear of dust and smoke and began shouting in Ulumese at her troops. RU200 lunged into the room and grabbed me around the neck again, but this time General A001 shot a laser beam through his torso and he dropped to the ground dead.
The floor was shaking from continued strikes and I felt an overwhelming sense of calm about dying. I had just witnessed a miracle in that an Ulum General killed one of their own, to protect a human. This would be the last beautiful thing I would see in my short life and as I looked around the room, dust and debris had started filling the air almost in slow motion around me. I was dying here on Ulum and I had been set up to pay the ultimate price. How had I not seen this? How did it not click? There were so many signs over the last two weeks, but I allowed lust, the downfall of humans according to Ulum, to override my instincts. I tried to breathe deeply but the dust and smoke were overpowering me and I was losing the ability to stay on my two feet. I searched around the room for General A001 but she was nowhere to be found. I saw Ulum soldiers running past me trying to thwart off the attack, but I knew that the Commander was relentless. She would not stop until the entire area was obliterated and she had most likely calculated exactly how many missiles and firepower it would take to do that. She would not stop until all Ulum leaders were confirmed dead and Earth would gain control of the Ulum people. A wall caved in next to me and a chunk of hard metal smashed me to the ground. This was it I thought. I had lost feeling in one of my legs and I was sure that this was what death must feel like. Strangely, I had no fear about the end. I tried to keep my eyes open but the smoke was becoming thick and my lungs were heavy now. I started to see a light above me and realized this must be the light I had read about in so many memoirs and books. This was surely the end. I had hoped to see the faces of loved ones who had past before me but through the blinding light I saw the silhouette of a woman. She was familiar to me, but my mind was cloudy now and unable to process who she was until she knelt against my head.
“Ruth?”
“I’
m sorry,” she said, “Please, no! Keep your eyes open! Z! Please open your eyes, stay with me.”
