Markov's Prize

by Mark Barber

  “What’s a Tahl?” The captain asked.

  “Glad you asked, old boy,” Owenne replied, nodding to the shadows to his left.

  Rhona saw Tahl move out of the shadows like a blur, driving straight into the nearest squad of five MAA soldiers. It was over within perhaps three of four seconds. Tahl drove an elbow into the gut of the first man with enough force to bend him over double, then slammed a fist into his face to send him flying back to slam motionless into the tunnel wall behind him. Before the first man had landed, Tahl whipped a leg around to smash a foot into the face of a second soldier, dropping him down to the ground before dispatching a third man with a side kick to the abdomen and a reverse punch to the face. He swept the legs from beneath the fourth soldier and slammed an armored boot down onto the side of his head to pin him in place, whilst he grabbed the last man and span him around helplessly to hold his neck and one arm in a vice-like lock.

  Three men lay unconscious; a fourth soldier cried out in pain with Tahl’s boot pressed against his head, whilst the last man gurgled and fought for breath in Tahl’s grip.

  “Well, that’s a quarter of your boys down,” Owenne said nonchalantly, “and I’ve got two prisoners now, whilst you only have one. And I’m barely warming up. Shall we do that again?”

  Van Noor stepped out by a second group of MAA soldiers. Having seen the fate of their comrades at Tahl’s hands, the five men raised their hands and stepped quickly away from Van Noor.

  “Stand your ground!” The MAA captain barked, dragging Rhona up to her feet by her hair and holding his knife to her throat.

  Both men who were suffering at Tahl’s hands suddenly cried out in pain as he increased his force on them in response.

  “It’s three Concord soldiers!” The Freeborn leader shouted. “They’re not supermen! They’re just soldiers! Shoot the bastards!”

  “No!” The captain held his hand up. “Let my men go.”

  “Send my ‘space commando’ corporal back over, and I’ll stop my monster here from ripping your men apart,” Owenne said seriously.

  The captain opened his mouth to speak, but without warning, the earth shook violently as explosions sounded from the planet’s surface somewhere up above. Half of the assembled men fell to the ground whilst those who remained upright struggled to do so. A moment later, a large clump of tunnel roof smashed down from above, causing Rhona and the MAA soldiers near to her to jump back instinctively. A second and then a third pile of debris fell down from the roof to form a barrier across the tunnel mouth. Rhona looked over her shoulder, saw the opportunity to run, and took it. She had barely moved two paces before two MAA soldiers tackled her to the ground whilst a second pair trained their weapons on her. She let out a sigh of resignation as she was dragged back to her feet.

  “Concord?” The captain shouted out from where he stood by the barrier of masonry and debris. “You still there?”

  “Afraid so,” Owenne’s muffled voice could just be heard from the other side of the rubble, “and I’ve still got five of your men. Now tell your pirate friends to drop that shard suppression device right now, or your soldiers may see my unpleasant side.”

  “Do it,” the captain nodded to the Freeborn leader.

  “But…”

  “Just do it!” The officer yelled.

  Rhona let out a sigh of relief as she felt the connection to Tahl, Van Noor, and Owenne renewed.

  “Hang on,” Tahl transmitted, “we’ll get you back. We’re not leaving without you.”

  “I know,” Rhona replied. “Don’t worry, I’m fine. This guy clearly has loyalty to his men, he won’t sacrifice them.”

  “Neither will we,” Tahl replied.

  “I’m sending coordinates to my trooper now,” Owenne shouted from the other side of the rubble barrier. “You get her there. Safe and sound. One hour. If you’re late, I shall start experimenting with my magic nano stick. You wouldn’t want that for your soldiers.”

  “One hour,” the captain agreed, picking up Rhona’s carbine and slinging it over his shoulder, “but if you hurt my men…”

  “Yes, yes,” Owenne shouted back, “threats, posturing, alpha male, all that nonsense. Be there in an hour.”

  Rhona raised her hands as she was marched down the tunnels at gunpoint.

  ***

  It would only be a short time before the questions started, Rhona figured, as she was marched along the subterranean transport tunnel with the dozen MAA soldiers. The Freeborn moved at the head of the column with the captain, whilst Rhona was pushed along at the back, three mag guns levelled at her as she walked. The shard suppression device had been activated again, and she had no means of communicating with her comrades. Doubts began to nib away at her, leaving her wondering whether she would ever see them again or even survive the night.

  “If you’re Freeborn,” a grizzled looking soldier with a scar on his chin suddenly asked, “why are you with the Concord and not with those guys up at the front?”

  “It’s not that simple,” Rhona answered after considering her words for a moment. “All of known space is split into factions, empires, territories, just like your planet was in ages gone by. The Concord is the largest territory in known space. We’re like your evil empire, I guess you’ve already jumped to that conclusion. The Freeborn are more a collection of thousands of different smaller factions, most of them based around trading fleets wandering through the stars like nomads. I was born within a Freeborn house, but I became Concord.”

  “Why?” A second soldier asked, much younger than the first and nervous looking.

  “I didn’t have a choice,” Rhona said, “and neither do you. You’ll lose. Everybody does, eventually. Planets with far greater technology than yours have fallen. Half of your planet has already fallen. You can put me up against a wall and shoot me, but in a matter of days, you’ll all be Concord citizens. Some of you might even get enlisted in the military. In a few days, some of you will be learning to use this same armor I’m wearing now so you can invade other planets. That’s how it works.”

  “Don’t talk to her!” A broad soldier snapped. “Don’t listen to her crap!”

  “You think I’m the bad guy here?” Rhona asked. “The real world ain’t black and white. There’s no clear right and wrong. You guys held a knife to my face and threatened to cut me up, and now y’all claiming the moral high ground?”

  “That was the captain,” the first soldier said, “and he’s got every right to feel the way he does. He found his wife and children up against a wall alongside fifty other dead civilians. So yeah, you’re the bad guys.”

  “That wasn’t us, that was the Ghar,” Rhona replied as the column of soldiers rounded another corner. “You want a true evil to vilify? There you go, take them. They’re monsters, through and through. Nothing more. We don’t kill civilians. Hell, we even offered you a peaceful entry into the Concord, no strings, no conditions, but you turned it down. Oh, y’all didn’t know about that? That’s because you’re puppets to politicians. We don’t even have politics in the Concord. Our system is robust enough that people can just do what they want. That’s how our system works.”

  “We’ve heard all about your IMTel,” the soldier with the scar spat. “Some invisible computer which gets into your head and controls your thoughts. Controls your every action. That’s why our politicians said no to your offer. We want our freedom. And we’ll fight and die for it.”

  “Yeah, that you will,” Rhona risked a smile, “but you’re dying for nothing. Do I look like I’m having my thoughts and actions controlled to you? The shard can suppress negative emotions. It has the ability to curb sadness, anger, all the things which make you feel bad. That’s how it’s pretty much eradicated crime. The only crime we’ve got comes from those who aren’t IMTel compatible, and that’s a tiny minority. So, do I think I’m the bad guy for invading your planet? Yeah, a little. I never wanted to kill anybody. Except the Ghar, I’ve got no moral dilemma there. But the Concord is a wise paren
t, and you guys are the child. You think you know what you want, you think you know what’s best, but you don’t. We need to show you, by force if we have to. This war? This is us putting you guys in the naughty corner until you wise up, grow up, and listen to us. I lost my mom because my Freeborn house’s medicine wasn’t cutting edge, and I lost my pa to crime. If my family had been born in the Concord, I’d still have both my parents. So you fight and die for your cause all you want, your cause is nothing but crap and you are fighting and dying to stop your children from having longer, safer, and happier lives. And you let me fight and die for my cause.”

  A little natural light from the night sky was visible ahead as the tunnel inclined up a little to move toward the surface.

  “So all of this,” began a short soldier who had remained silent up to this point, “all of this is your soulless, computer IMTel reaching machine omnipotence and deciding the best thing it can do is try to make everybody in the universe happy? You realize how crazy that sounds?”

  “Yeah, you got it,” Rhona sighed. “It ain’t perfect, but it’s the closest to perfect we’re ever gonna see. And all that’s stopping this planet, all of your friends and family, from getting to be on the inside of the club? You guys. You’re all that’s standing in the way. But that’s cool, I’d be doing exactly the same if I didn’t know better.”

  “What, you think you’re the same as us?” The soldier with the scar grimaced. “You come down form the stars with your perfect face and clean armor, telling stories about how back home everything is perfect, and you think you can relate to us?”

  “Across all of time,” Rhona replied as they moved closer to the moonlight ahead, “for the entire history of panhumanity, some things have never changed. Any planet, any age, from the days of spears and shields right up to now, soldiers will always get treated like crap by the people above, and they’ll always feel better about it after whining like a baby to their pals. So yeah, I can relate to you ‘cause it’s exactly the same in my army.”

  Rhona’s response triggered a few sniggers from the surrounding soldiers. The MAA captain whipped around and stomped back to the rear of the line.

  “What the hell is going on here?” He growled.

  “I’m establishing a rapport with your boys so that it’s difficult for them when you order them to shoot me,” Rhona smiled with a wink.

  “Why would I shoot you?” The tall captain scowled. “I gave my word to your… commissar or whatever the hell that thing was, that I would get you to the exchange point, Corporal.”

  “Yeah, well that’s all cool, but there’s half a legion of Ghar out there who might not like that plan. So could you be a sweety and give me my shooting stick back?”

  The grey haired soldier slammed a fist into Rhona’s cheek with enough force to knock her to the ground. Rhona winced and shook her head as she staggered back to her knees.

  “Keep your mouth shut,” the captain said, “or I’ll take your gun and shoot off your kneecaps. I’ve already watched that animal hanging around your boss beat the crap out of five of my men, so I’m not averse to handing you back in worse condition that you arrived.”

  Two soldiers helped Rhona to her feet as the column continued to move. The group emerged from the subterranean tunnels back to the city center. The wind had died away and a layer of smoke and dust hung eerily at waist height, punctuated only by the skeletal remains of buildings punching up into the air like despairing hands reached up for the heavens.

  ***

  Somewhere to the north, another series of staccato crackles snapped as yellow flashes lit the night horizon. Seconds later came the now familiar deep thuds as heavy shells landed somewhere amid the ruins of the sprawling city. Van Noor quickly checked the Company Intelligence Shard, but there was no news of Concord units in combat, meaning that whoever was shooting and being shot, it was an exchange between the Ghar and the MAA.

  Van Noor looked around the site Owenne had chosen to meet the MAA and exchange prisoners. The multistory building was composed of floors of thick, grey concrete, open to the elements, and used as a vehicle park before the invasion. The exchange was taking place on the top floor, allowing clear shots from the x-launcher crew Owenne had located on the roof of the next building. That, combined with the eight strike troopers of Squad Jai, plus the lowest two floors of the vehicle park being rigged with explosives, meant that the initiative was firmly in the hands of the Concord delegation.

  “What’s taking so long?” Tahl growled, pacing up and down in the open area on the top floor of the building.

  “We’re the ones who are early,” Van Noor said, “we’re not expecting them for another ten minutes or so.”

  “What’s the plan after the prisoner exchange?” Strike Leader Rall asked from the rubble where his squad hid in the corner of the floor. “Are we letting them go or taking them out?”

  “We let them go!” Owenne snapped. “What else do you think we would do? We’re the heroes in this, remember? Not the villains!”

  “You’re all heart, mandarin,” Van Noor smiled beneath his helmet.

  “Don’t talk drivel, man!” Owenne scoffed. “I couldn’t give two buggers about shooting some backward cavemen from a planet which is about to fall. But if news of that gets around? That would be cataclysmically bad. We need the moral high ground. Always.”

  Van Noor could feel the anger, fear, and desperation surging through the shard from Tahl even before he spoke again.

  “This shouldn’t be taking so long,” the strike captain seethed. “They should be here by now!”

  “A word, sir?” Van Noor gestured to Tahl.

  Letting out a suppressed grunt of anguish, Tahl stomped over, his armored fists clenched tightly.

  “What’s going on, Ryen?” Van Noor muttered quietly, communicating conventionally rather than via the shard. “I know you get attached to your people, but this? Is this because it’s Rhona? You told me that you’d explained the score to her and this was all put to bed. Have you still got feelings for her?”

  “Well it’s not up to me, is it?” Tahl hissed through gritted teeth. “I didn’t choose to feel like this! I know it’s not ideal…”

  “Not ideal!” Van Noor interjected. “Within the entire spectrum of leading a military unit on combat operations, falling for one of your subordinates is significantly worse than ‘not ideal’, Ryen! Now look, I hope this goes down the way we want it to tonight, but either way, you and me are having a talk about this when we get back to the firebase. Now go sit this one out with Rall’s boys, me and Owenne will do the talking.”

  Tahl threw up his hands in resignation. A message was transmitted through from Squad Jai’s lookout – the MAA troopers were approaching.

  “See?” Van Noor grinned. “They’re here. Now go back off and let me handle this.”

  Owenne walked over to Van Noor, hands clasped at the small of his back, as Tahl walked away and the MAA troops arrived at the ground floor of the building.

  “Having problems, Senior Strike Leader?”

  “No, nothing to worry about. You know Ryen. He’s always been soft when it comes to the welfare of his men and women.”

  “Yes,” Owenne uttered the single syllable with distaste. “Well, we need people like him to keep soldiers happy. We need people like you and I to get the job done.”

  “Yeah,” Van Noor suppressed a laugh, “I often stay up late at night wondering, ‘why am I so similar to Owenne?’”

  “Funny,” Owenne rolled his pale eyes. “Now look sharp, here they come.”

  The black armored MAA soldiers and their Freeborn allies filed up through the doorway from the stairwell and took position at the far end of the rooftop. Rhona was led out to the front by two soldiers who stood with her alongside their captain.

  “Where’s my men?” The captain demanded.

  Owenne nodded to where Squad Jai was hidden in the rubble-strewn corner. The eight strike troopers stood up, revealing not only themselves as a show
of force, but also the two prisoners they held.

  “Where are the other three?”

  “Unconscious, where they fell,” Owenne replied evenly. “I didn’t have the manpower to carry them. If you hurry up with this exchange, you can go and pick them up before the Ghar eat them alive.”

  “That wasn’t our deal!” The captain yelled, pointing a finger at Owenne. “You said you would bring my men here!”

  “I never said anything of the sort, you merely assumed it,” Owenne said calmly. “Now, last time we met you had five more soldiers and we still bested you. Now you’re five men down and I’ve got eight guns here and an x-launcher a few yan away which is zeroed in on you right now. You’re not in any position to bargain. Send my soldier back. Now.”

  “You first,” the captain insisted.

  Owenne nodded, and Rall’s troopers released the two MAA soldiers. The pair walked quickly across to their commanding officer, who nodded to the soldiers holding Rhona. She walked across the rooftop toward Owenne and Van Noor. Van Noor noticed that she had a painful looking cut at her temple and significant swelling over one eye.

  “You alright?”

  She nodded.

  “Next time your strike captain tells you to wait, you bloody well wait, woman!” Owenne snapped. “Time is marching on and I have things to achieve tonight! That does not include babysitting you! Clear?”

  Rhona nodded again.

  “We’re done here,” the captain called out. “Pray we don’t cross paths again.”

  “Yes, yes, last word, alpha male, well done,” Owenne replied dismissively.

  Tahl jumped down from the rubble and walked purposefully over to Rhona. He leaned in to inspect the wound on her face.