by Caleb Selby
Ganon’s lone eye lowered in anger. He raised his hand to interject but Tarkin wouldn’t let him.
“On second thought, if the thought of lending a few hundred of your Protectors is just more than your selfish minds can handle, forget it!” Tarkin shouted, waving the Counsel off with a mighty brush of his three right arms. “And while you’re at it, try forgetting the tens of thousands of Namuh servicemen and women that have died over the years, keeping our selfish little world safe.” He shook his head. “If only Nebod could see you now! Pathetic.”
For a brief moment Kesler thought he spotted shame, or perhaps embarrassment, on the Chief Protector’s countenance, but Tarkin ended the transmission abruptly before he could be sure.
Tarkin looked at Kesler and shook his head woefully.
“I think Ganon likes me,” Kesler said with a smile. “It was something I saw in his eyes...make that eye.”
Tarkin didn’t smile back. He was ashamed of his people and knew the Namuh would never truly accept him until his own race regained their respect and trust.
Reesa put her lydeg aside and pushed on the metal hatch with all her might. It reluctantly gave way, letting a wave of sweltering heat and foul smelling air into the shaft. She tried not to gag as she moved up to peek in. What she saw brought tears to her eyes. Tens of thousands of people, clinging to small blankets, half empty water bottles and what few personal possessions they could carry, were packed into a space designed for only a few hundred. There was barely enough room to stand, let alone lay down. Dozens upon dozens of levels lined the giant cavity of the super bunker, with thousands occupying each floor.
“Stay back, Sweetie,” she said to the little boy as he scooted forward to take a look for himself. “Let me make sure everything’s ok first. You stay here and hold onto your blanket. Can you do that for me?”
The boy nodded and brought his blanket up to his face and thrust his dirty thumb into his mouth.
She patted him on the head. “Good boy,” she said with a smile. “I’ll be right back.”
She squeezed out of the passageway and into the bunker. Much to Reesa’s surprise, her arrival went unnoticed and unchallenged by the sentries posted around the perimeter of the massive bunker, which was fine by her. Once settling on a direction, Reesa began the difficult task of fighting through the thick crowd. The “excuse me’s” and “pardon me’s” got old quickly as she pushed deeper and deeper until she no longer cared and just shoved her way through. She didn’t know exactly what she was doing or where she was going but as she stumbled into the center of the ground level, she found herself gaping up through the hollow core of the imposing chamber. Straight to the top she gawked where a massive screen fixed to the ceiling showed updated images from the surface, prompting many sobs and cries of despair from the destitute refugees around her. She knew the damage was bad, but had no idea it was this bad. Dozens of buildings that once adorned the skyline of Larep were no more. Even the imposing Freedom Tower, where she had just last week worked, was noticeably missing.
She turned away from the screen and shook her head. So much destruction and death had ensued. What did it matter anymore? The planet had fallen. There was so precious little to save. She was just about to turn around and fetch the boy when she noticed a familiar face.
“Zane?” she called out and scrambled to reach him before he was lost back into the crowd. “Zane, wait!”
The man turned around and looked to see who was calling when he spotted Reesa nearly climbing over an old man trying to reach him. “Reesa?” he called out, unsure if it was really her.
“Zane!” she said again with a smile while frantically waving her hands, relieved that he had seen her.
“Gosh, Reesa?” Zane said after giving her a strong, heartfelt hug. “What are you doing here?”
“What am I doing here?” exclaimed Reesa as she caught her breath. “What are you doing here? Last time I saw you, you were still at Voigt planning on attending medical school at the primary dome. What happened?”
Zane shook his head as he let Reesa go, still smiling. “Yeah, well it wasn’t enough of a challenge for me.”
“Oh?”
He shrugged. “Being a med tech on a passenger liner? Now that’s what I call a challenge!”
“So med school was too expensive?”
“Extremely,” answered Zane and they both laughed. The laughter was therapeutic for both of them, each having little to smile at the last several days.
“So what happened? You got stuck here when the docks were attacked?”
Zane nodded. “Yeah. They grounded the merchant and civilian fleets until they called them up to defend the planet against the Krohns. So now my home’s gone, my job’s gone and I’m stuck in this hole waiting to die. I’ve had a bad week.”
“Mine hasn’t been stellar either,” remarked Reesa.
“It could be worse,” Zane said smiling. “We could still be at Voigt. Speaking of, how’d you get off? Come into some lost inheritance or something?”
“It’s a long story,” answered Reesa shaking her head. “But it can wait. Right now, I really need your help.”
“Sure thing,” Zane said and smiled. “Anything for a pretty lady.”
“None of that,” Reesa said glancing back at the shaft where the boy was hiding and then back at Zane. “You lost your chance a long time ago.”
“Hey, it was worth a try,” Zane said and shrugged his shoulders. “What’s up?”
Reesa nervously glanced around and took a step closer. “Its a big favor,” she said ominously.
Zane nodded. “What do you need?”
Without a word, Reesa motioned for Zane to follow her toward the access shaft, which he silently and obediently did.
After several more minutes of shoving and pushing, they once again reached the shaft. Reesa paused and looked at Zane before opening it. “Its not too late to say no,” she said. “No hard feelings if you turn away right now.”
Zane shook his head. “No, I’m in!” he said emphatically. “I have absolutely nothing going on right now and would do just about anything to fix that. What do you need?”
Reesa exhaled and opened the shaft. “I need you to babysit...” she began to say but her words trailed off when she looked in the shaft and spotted a young Branci girl with blond curly hair tending the little boy she had just left.
“Why, hello there,” Reesa said as she hoisted herself into the shaft. “What’s your name, Sweetie?”
“Linea,” the girl quietly answered and looked down as if she were in trouble.
“Don’t be afraid. Here, look up sweetie,” Reesa said lifting her chin. “It’s ok. We aren’t going to hurt you. Where are your parents? Are you lost?”
“My mommy is up there,” she said pointing up with all three of her right hands toward the surface.
“Oh, Sweetie,” Reesa said grabbing the little girl up in her arms and holding her tight. The little boy stood up and took a step toward them to embrace both, stretching his little arms as far as he could.
“I must have misheard you, Reesa,” Zane said stepping closer. “I thought I heard you say the word babysitting but you didn’t say that...did you?”
“Yes, I did,” Reesa said frankly. “I have something to take care of and I need him...both of these kids taken care of.”
Zane looked at Reesa blankly, and then at the kids behind her. “You’re kidding, right?”
“Come on Zane, look at them,” Reesa said quietly. “Their parents are dead, their homes are gone and they’re terrified. They won’t last ten minutes down here without anyone to lookout for them!”
“What about you?” Zane protested. “Where are you going that’s so important?”
“I...I can’t tell you,” Reesa answered much to Zane’s dismay. “It’s not that I don’t trust you or anything. It’s just that it’ll
take too long and I don’t want to risk someone overhearing. It’s very important, Zane. Believe me.”
Zane looked at her critically, not sure what to say.
“A lot rests on me doing this right now...more than you can possibly know. Please do it for me, for old times sake if for nothing else,” Reesa finished with a look of desperate pleading in her eyes.
Zane shook his head. “I’ve never been able to tell you no; even when you wanted to break up with me because I told you that I didn’t brush my teeth.”
“That wasn’t the only reason we broke up,” Reesa said with a roll of her eyes. “But it sure didn’t help your candidacy.”
Zane smiled. “Would it change anything if I told you that I’ve started?”
Reesa smiled and shook her head. “Not today.”
Zane shrugged. “I’ll tend the kids Reesa...for old time’s sake. Besides, I’m something of a pro with kids now since I’ve had some practice watching with my twin nephews.”
“Your sister had kids?” Reesa exclaimed.
“Married and everything,” Zane said and laughed. “Who would have guessed?”
Reesa laughed too and then reached down and hugged her childhood friend once more. “Thank you,” she said sincerely. “I owe you one.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Zane said as he hugged her back. “Don’t be gone too long. I only watched the nephews one time and I haven’t been asked to do it again since...and that was four years ago. I think it had something to do with the house burning down but I can’t be sure.”
Reesa rolled her eyes and was just about to lower herself from the shaft when a quiet voice reached her ears.
“Don’t go.”
Reesa spun around and looked at the two children. “Did you say something?” she asked looking at Linea.
“No,” Linea softly answered, shaking her head.
“Was that you?” Reesa asked, looking at the little boy, who had yet to speak since Reesa had rescued him from the butcher shop.
The boy nodded as tears slowly filled his eyes. “Don’t go. Stay with me.”
“Oh, Honey,” Reesa said as she scooped him up in her arms and squeezed him. “I have to go. But I’ll only be gone for a little while. This is Zane. He is a nice man and he’ll take good care of you, ok?”
The child reluctantly nodded.
“What’s your name kid?” Zane asked as he pulled himself up into the shaft.
“Xander,” he shyly replied. “My name is Xander.”
“Hey there, Xander. My name is Zane,” he said, holding his hand out. Xander timidly reached his hand to meet Zane’s.
“Say!” Zane exclaimed, grimacing in feigned pain and withdrawing his hand. “That’s quite a grip you got there! You’ll have to teach me what your secret is so I can start impressing the ladies.”
Xander smiled and then looked up at Reesa.
“All right, I have to go,” she said and scooted Xander off her lap. “Xander and Linea, obey Zane. Zane, there is a heavy lydeg back over there. I don’t think I’d get ten feet with it before being stopped. If you need it, don’t be afraid to use it.”
“No problem,” he answered as he sat back against the wall of the shaft and brought his hands behind his head. “I actually get more room in here than out there so this might not be such a bad thing after all.”
Reesa slipped out of the shaft. She then made her way toward the bunker’s primary entryway across the massive room. She had a lot to do and the clock was ticking.
CHAPTER 10
An Admiral and a General
Fedrin gazed out the Iovara observation window at the tiny speck of light on the horizon…the Defiant. He wondered what was transpiring in her halls even now while he was safe and far away. Was everything ok? How was Drezden? Did an Unmentionable get aboard, as he had feared? The implications of a worse case scenario were more than he wanted to dwell on, but he couldn’t help it. Having been immersed with more than his fair share of death and despair over the last several days, he was ready for a terrible outcome, or so he thought.
He didn’t know how long he had stood at the window when he finally shook his head and slowly walked back toward the center of the bridge. The boarding team that had been sent to resolve the situation hadn’t been heard from in over two hours. Fedrin had considered sending another team for a time but dismissed it after the second hour had elapsed with no word. If a Raider team couldn’t solve the problem in two hours, another team wouldn’t change the outcome.
“Anything?” he asked, approaching Etana’s station.
“Nothing,” Etana replied sadly. “I’m checking a couple times every minute.”
Fedrin patted Etana’s shoulder and then turned and walked back up to his own chair. He sat down with a sigh and looked up at the main screen. He saw the afterburners of the Arbitrator directly in front of his ship. He was in a daze, staring at the deep oranges emanating from the engine cores when Gallo called up to him.
“We have a coded, priority one message incoming!”
Fedrin jumped out of his chair and ran to Gallo’s station. “From the Defiant?” he asked, as he looked over Gallo’s shoulder.
“No Sir. It’s coming from Namuh Prime,” Gallo said, not believing it himself.
The bridge immediately went quiet.
“Shall I patch it through to your private transmission room?” Gallo asked. “Or your personal screen?”
Fedrin paused. “How do we know it’s a genuine message? How do we know it’s not a shot in the dark by our enemies to see how we are and what our intentions are?”
“I’m not sure,” Gallo said. “Judging from the activation codes, it looks like it’s coming from a General on the planet.”
“Not that it matters much, but it feels right Fedrin,” Etana said. “I think you should activate it.”
Fedrin looked at Etana and then back to the blinking message on Gallo’s screen.
“Shall I then?” Gallo asked, as he reached his hand toward the switch.
Fedrin sighed and then nodded. “Go ahead and patch it through to my transmission screen,” he said and walked back to his chair.
Fedrin took his seat and looked into the screen as it activated. Fedrin was shocked at what he saw. There on the screen was General Darion; the last person in the galaxy Fedrin expected to see sending him a long range, coded transmission.
Fedrin had never been terribly fond of Darion, mainly due to his recurrent efforts to take funding away from the fleets and put it into the army and other ground based defenses. Fedrin was fairly sure that Darion disliked him too, mainly for the same reasons. Yet, all the differences and all the past squabbles the two men had, instantly melted away when Fedrin saw Darion’s face. The two men were suddenly no longer rivals fighting over money, assets, and lobbying power, but were rather comrades drawn together to fight a common enemy.
Darion’s appearance told more than anything he had to say. Fedrin assumed correctly that it would take hours to fully explain the events Darion had gone through to be at a deep space transmission unit. Green goop, that resembled liquefied trash, was caked all through his hair. His cheeks and forehead were black with dirt, dust, and ash. Several large strands of cobwebs coated his exposed chest, wrapping around his neck and draped over his left ear and floated back and forth as he moved. His left hand was bandaged and his right hand clutched a pistol for dear life. He looked agitated and concerned. His eyes darted everywhere, seemingly just waiting for something terrible to happen.
“Hello, Admiral,” Darion finally said and nodded his head.
“General,” Fedrin responded in kind.
“I’m transmitting from the Clear Skies Center on the outskirts of Larep.”
Fedrin nodded, trying to imagine the ordeal he must have undergone to get there. “What’s your situation, General? Rumors say we’re not doing good back t
here.”
Darion shook his head. “The rumors you heard were lies then. We’re doing awful! The planet is overrun with Krohn troops, the defenses have totally collapsed, Larep is burning and there is no end in sight. ‘Not good’ doesn’t even begin to touch this mess!”
Fedrin closed his eyes and shook his head slowly. “What’s left?” he asked, opening his eyes.
“As far as I know, nothing of any consequence is left, at least within the ranks of the standard ground forces. The armies are completely gone or disbanded. As far as I know, all of the security towers and planetary fighter squadrons are gone too.”
“And Clear Skies?” Fedrin asked.
“Never activated,” Darion answered.
Fedrin nodded. “Just like he said.”
“Jabel?” Darion clarified.
Fedrin nodded. “He said this would happen, and he was right.”
“And he’s why I’m here,” Darion said. “I have a partner locating him now. Will I have something to give him once he’s found?”
Fedrin removed a data device from around his neck and held it in front of the transmission. “Several thousand of my men and women, not to mention some of my best friends, died getting this General. Please honor their sacrifice and get this program into the right hands.”
Darion nodded solemnly as the upload started. “I’ve made some decisions in my life that I’m not proud of Fedrin. Some I’d say, I’m downright ashamed of. But believe me when I say, that I intend to make up for all my past mistakes with this mission and if need be, die to complete it.”
“I know you’ll make your people proud,” Fedrin said. “You must. Failure is not an option.”
Darion glanced over his shoulder and then back up at Fedrin. “I’ve finished the download. I should go.”
Fedrin nodded and then looked intently as the General stood to his feet and tucked the data stick containing the program into his pocket. “Please be careful Darion. There are evil powers at work right now, many of which cannot be distinguished from friend and foe. Be on your guard.”
