by M. D. Cooper
It was a strange thing to see the brown plants growing and flourishing in the red sunlight. Tanis had to admit she was glad New Eden orbited a yellow primary. Something about plants that weren’t green was unnerving.
The craggy mountain range north of Landfall eased into view and Tanis pulled up a forward view over the Link, looking ahead for the domes of Landfall.
The small outpost had grown considerably over the intervening decades, its population surpassing two million inhabitants.
Tanis remembered the naïve estimations that had projected a Victorian population of a quarter million. The Victorian people bred with a passion—finally free from generations of strict population control.
The total system population was now at nearly five million. Three of which resided on Victoria, a million on the Tara colony, and another million on stations and orbital habitats.
It was quickly becoming a well-populated system.
While much of Landfall was still underground, it now sported several massive ES domes—something now feasible with the planet sporting a half-atmosphere near the equator.
The main dome covered the new government buildings, a university, thousands of homes, businesses and no small number of parks.
One of the dome’s properties was to enhance and alter the sunlight so that it took on a golden hue and plants utilizing green photosynthesis could thrive.
Refineries and manufacturing plants crouched beyond the domes, adding greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere and producing materials to expand the city.
Beyond that, east and into the deep dusk, lay the space and air ports.
The pinnace bucked as it dropped lower and passed into a crosswind. Anywhere else the winds buffeting the pinnace would be considered a navigation-blocking storm, but the pilots who dropped down into Victorian atmosphere referred to this as nothing more than a breezy day.
The final approach was swift and the pilot settled the pinnace gently on a landing pad, while three groundcars drove up. The passengers exited the ship and spaceport ground personnel guided the passengers to their transportation. In minutes the procession was wending its way toward the city.
The funeral was to be held at a place Markus frequented in life, the city’s first above-ground park. It would take thirty minutes to arrive and Tanis settled back in her seat, her hand clasped with Joe’s.
The streets neat the spaceport were silent and empty; but as the procession passed through the dome and neared the park, silent mourners were dotted the corners and sidewalks, clustered together in small groups. The park was only large enough for a few hundred people, and Tanis knew that other gatherings were taking place throughout Landfall.
Tanis felt their sorrow more keenly than she expected. She had lost many comrades; seen many heads of state, or great heroes of humankind pass away; but for some reason seeing the sheer number of people who felt as she did about a quiet man who did the right thing hit her the hardest.
The park’s soaring trees came into view—their tops swaying gently in the small amount of wind which passed through the ES dome. The cars stopped and the party disembarked.
The walk through the park was serene and calming. Tanis clasped Joe’s hand and few words were spoken by the Intrepid’s delegation.
They approached the glade where the funeral was being held and ushers led them to seats right behind Markus’s immediate family.
Katrina was already there and turned to clasp hands with each person as they filed in. The casket bearing Markus’s body was at the front and Tanis walked to it, gazing down at the old man she had come to know so well.
Even though Markus had not reached his one hundred and fortieth birthday she couldn’t deny what her eyes saw: the casket held the body of an old man who had lived decades fewer than her. The tragedy of it was nearly unbearable. He was so selfless, had only ever sacrificed for his people and never done evil. He was too young to die.
“Thank you for coming,” Katrina’s voice was soft beside Tanis. “I know Tom tried to control the attendees.”
“There is no way I would have been absent,” Tanis turned and embraced Katrina.
“You have no idea how much you meant to him,” Katrina said. “You were the first non-Luminescent he ever met who treated him as an equal and with respect from your very first communication. You shaped all of his thoughts and opinions on what the future could hold from that moment on.”
Tanis didn’t know how to reply, there were no words that would be satisfactory in response. She held the embrace for another moment and finally said, “I’m so sorry to see him go.”
“Me too,” Katrina’s mouth made a smile, but her eyes were filled with sorrow.
They separated and Tanis leant over to place a kiss on Markus’s forehead before returning to her seat.
She couldn’t help noticing Tom’s emotionless gaze and Kim’s more hostile look as she got settled. Her thoughts clouded and before she could return her own caustic glare, Angela interjected.
Tanis couldn’t help letting a small smile slip onto her lips. Even though she had lost a friend in Markus, she would never lose Angela.
Or Joe, she thought, as she took his hand once more and shared a somber look with him.
The ceremony was touching and Katrina spoke at length about how much Markus had meant to her. Other Victorians spoke, including the president, Tom, before Tanis rose to give her speech.
“I remember clearly that first message from Markus,” she began. “He was in the direst of straits, facing the end of all his endeavors when he made that call for help. Even so, there was no wavering in his voice, no distress. He was a leader who led from the front and would make whatever sacrifice he had to for his people.
“It is fitting that he will be laid to rest here, on the world he brought you to, and where he met us. Two peoples, lost between the stars, trying to make a new home and form a new start.
“I think that if there were anything Markus would want us to remember, it is that we are all children of Earth, far from where humans began, but still humans, and still truly one people.”
Tanis paused to wipe tears from the corners of her eyes before continuing.
“I learned a lot from him, I—.”
Her words were interrupted by Angela’s scream in her mind.
Tanis hit the ground, hearing a ballistic round whistle through the air where her head had been a moment before. Several more shots fired, one hitting her in the leg and ricocheting off the armor she wore beneath her uniform.
She could see the Marines pushing their way through the crowd as people scattered in all directions, many crying out in fear knocking chairs and other attendees to the ground
In front of her she saw Joe and Katrina laying prone with the rest of the Intrepid’s party crouched low behind a row of bushes.
Joe looked at Tanis and gave a nod. “We’re okay, they were all aimed at you.”
“Sure, why wouldn’t they be?” Tanis sighed.
She couldn’t tell for certain amidst the screams, but it seemed like the sniper fire had stopped. Likely the shooter didn’t want to hit other targets in the fleeing crowd. Moments later the Marines were around her, scanning the surrounding terrain and buildings for the sniper’s position.
Tanis rose to a crouch and took a pulse rifle from one of the Marines. Based on the shots and the trees, the best angles were from the northwest. The sniper had to be in one of two possible buildings in that direction.
She cycled her vision, looking on the ultraviolet and infrared bands for the shooter’s position. Before she spotted him one of the Marines highlighted his position on the combat net.
Tanis sighted down the pul
se rifle and fired a few shots at the window before moving to new cover. The Marines also brought fire to bear and Timmins scored the winning shot—infrared showing the sniper falling to the floor after he fired.
Across the clearing Tanis could make out black forms moving through the underbrush. She cycled her vision and could make out no distinguishing insignia.
The Marines began moving her group to cover and Tanis signaled Joe and Katrina to follow as the black gunmen reached the far end of the clearing and began firing on the Edeners.
Tanis’s group crouched low behind a fountain, returning fire with their pulse rifles, while the enemy let loose a withering round of projectile fire. Pieces of the stone wall flew around them and Tanis gauged they only had a few minutes before their cover was no more.
The combat net updated and showed three separate enemy groups, each with over a dozen members converging on their position. There was an opening to the south, but it was closing rapidly.
She cast an eye at Markus’s casket, standing amidst the ruin of his final ceremony, it was no way to end his time—she couldn’t believe that any group of Victorians, no matter how disgruntled with the state of affairs, would do such a thing to their patriarch.
Tanis looked over at Katrina and saw anger writ large on her features.
“I can’t believe they actually decided to take violent action,” Katrina shook her head, her words echoing Tanis’s thoughts. “And at Markus’s funeral too!”
Brandt provided a verbal update over the combat net.
“I knew things were heating up, but I had no idea we were at this stage. Normally there are a number of peaceful escalations before we get to the attacking foreign heads of state phase,” Tanis said to Katrina while taking aim at a young woman moving between cover. She made the shot and saw the woman stumble and fall.
Katrina saw it too and her face twisted with sorrow, “I can’t believe these children are going to die for their folly.”
“Katrina, we’re not barbarians, this is suppressive police action; we’re only taking non-lethal shots.”
“Oh thank god,” Katrina sighed. “Sorry, I should know that, I just…”
Tanis laid a hand on her arm. “I know.”
The combat net laid out the fields of fire and the safe vectors for the remaining members of the Edener party. Jessica was covering Abby behind a children’s play structure; Joe and Andrews were behind a tree to Tanis’s right. Trist was behind a bench with Terrance, who turned out to be a good shot with the small pistol he had taken to carrying since the Intrepid came under attack so long ago at Mars.
Tanis signaled for Trist and Terrance to retreat first and the team increased suppressive fire while the pair raced across the grass then the street. Marines held the office building’s doors open for them.
Tanis and Katrina were next. They moved single file, with Tanis running backward protecting Katrina behind her. The enemy’s rate of fire increased and Tanis wondered which of them the main target was.
Two shots hit her armor and Tanis nearly fell as it solidified across her torso to absorb the impact. Katrina made the crossing unscathed and the Marines took advantage of the attackers over-extending themselves. In moments several more were marked down on the combat net.
Tanis and Katrina burst into the office building and a Marine led Katrina behind a large desk in the reception area. Tanis surveyed the area to see two Marines covering a hall leading into the back of the office. She dispersed nano into the structure to ensure there were no surprises elsewhere as she walked to Brandt.
“Another lovely day in the corps,” Brandt said.
“Have you made contact with the Intrepid?” Tanis asked the commandant as Joe and Andrews burst through the door, Abby and Jessica following a few seconds later.
“I sent up a general alert before the Link got knocked out. I have Sarin on the roof seeing if he can get a line-of-sight hookup.”
Corporal Hill jogged into the foyer and addressed Brandt.
“Building seems clear. Looks like some renovations were underway in here—construction’s mostly wrapped up, but it’s vacant.”
“They’re taking positions across the road, but I only see two groups,” Sergeant Lee called from his position at one of the windows.
“Likely flanking us,” Brandt nodded. “Hill, I assume there are windows in the second story of this place, take one/one up there and keep those SOB’s from entering this joint.”
Hill nodded and jogged to the staircase, signaling one/one to follow him.
“Trist, Jessica,” Brandt called to the pair who were covering one of the front windows. “Find this building’s access to the undercity.”
“You bet, your pixieness,” Trist grinned as Jessica motioned for PFC Ramos to cover their window.
It took less than a minute for Trist and Jessica to find the undercity access; during that time the exchange of fire increased drastically. Tanis was covering one of the windows and even Andrews and Terrance were taking shots.
“This is ridiculous,” Terrance said as he swapped the charge cylinder in his handgun. “How can the police not be here yet?”
“I think it’s pretty safe to assume that the police are in on it, or at least some of them are,” Tanis said.
“Do you really think that’s possible?” Terrance looked genuinely shocked.
Tanis was sometimes amazed at how someone with such business acumen could be so naïve about what people were capable of—especially after the Intrepid had been attacked dozens of times.
“Well, those two guys over there are,” Brandt said as she fired several pulse blasts in their direction. “I had beers with one of them about a month ago. No wonder he seemed twitchy.”
Brandt ordered Sarin back down from the roof and directed Terrance, Joe, Abby, and Andrews to join Trist and Jessica at the entrance to the undercity.
“She’s as bossy as you,” Joe gave Tanis a wink as he dashed past.
Sarin joined one/two at the front windows while Brandt and Tanis joined the rest of the group at the undercity entrance.
It was a rather non-descript door at the bottom of one of the building’s stairwells. Joe and Andrews were guarding it with Terrance and Abby standing just inside the building.
“Jessica and Trist are securing the far end of the corridor,” Joe supplied.
Tanis noted the unconscious bodies of five young men and women from the Victoria colony. Based on their clot
hing and build they were all from the planetside group and not the station or mining platforms.
“Fools,” she muttered.
“Or deluded,” Terrance commented.
Brandt updated the combat net with the Marine’s withdrawal plan and Tanis signaled her group to move down the corridor. There was no reason to get everyone bunched up.
Trist updated the combat net, showing the corridors beyond their current location. Tanis added her personal map of the undercity. They were seventeen kilometers from the spaceport with nearly two million civilians of unknown allegiance between their current location and the pinnace.
Tanis updated the combat net with her plan and received agreement. Jessica began scouting in the new direction.
Tanis led her group down to where the corridor ended in a T-junction. She followed Jessica’s path down the right hall and out into an open atrium.
Tanis recognized it from her many trips to Landfall. It wasn’t far from the original City Hall where the MDC ‘accident’ had collapsed the roof.
Tall colonnades ringed the atrium and a holographic ceiling showed blue sky and white clouds above. There was plenty of cover for would-be ambushers and she flushed the area with as much nano as she could spare.
As the tiny robots spread out she directed Joe and Andrews to the lower level where Trist and Jessica were waiting.
“Anything?” Tanis called down.
