Aspirations: A Near Future Sci-Fi Thriller

by Randal Sloan

  “Agreed. But I need to lead the team into the building. I may be the only one fast enough to keep them from turning on the prisoners before your team can get in.” Julie knew he would argue, but it was the one thing in the mission she would not negotiate on.

  The man had saved his best card for last. Unfortunately for him, it wasn’t going to be good enough. “If your uncle allows it, ok.”

  Julie looked him straight in the eye. “Well, let’s get that straight now. Uncle Ted runs the day-to-day stuff in the company, but with my father away, I am in charge. I may defer to my uncle’s judgement, but ultimately I have the final say.”

  When Uncle Ted unhappily nodded, the man was smart enough to know when he was beaten. He returned her look, locking eyes. “Yes, ma’am, I’ve got it now. I’m going to brief my team. We will be ready when you say.”

  #

  Five hours later the mercenary team was assembled in the X-plane hangar at the Space Tech airfield. Jimmy, who was the newest member of the team and the youngest, stood beside the sergeant who had taken him under his wing. “Never rode on an X-plane before,” he told the sergeant.

  “None of us have,” the sergeant replied. “But I’m going to take a nap as soon as we get settled in. You never know when you will get another chance.”

  “Wheels up in five,” Captain Newsome told everyone. He had been watching Julie, who was standing off to the side going through her warm-up routine, which he was amused to see was beginning to draw the attention of his team. He was still not completely sure of her, but so far she had delivered everything she had promised and then some. What he was really worried about was whether or not she might freeze under pressure. The only way to know that was to be out there with someone. But he always made backup plans when he had unknowns. He or the Sarge would have to make sure the team was covered at all times.

  Julie had been doing a basic monk warm-up, trying to get used to her armor. She had found it to be very flexible, but it was still enough of a difference that it threw her timing off just a little. She was gradually getting used to it, and finally began to move through her routine at full speed. Suddenly she looked up to see the whole team watching her. “Sorry, guys. I’m just trying to get used to this armor. It was slowing me down.”

  “You are really fast,” Jimmy told her. “If that was slow, I would hate to see your fast.”

  Even the old sergeant was impressed. “I’ve never seen anything like that, and I’ve seen a lot of special forces.”

  The young one couldn’t resist. “What are you? A ninja or something?”

  “Sorry guys, I didn’t mean to show off. I’ve trained with Tibetan monks, and the armor was throwing my timing off. But I think I’ve got it now.”

  “Remind me to stay on your good side,” the young one told her.

  He was so earnest, Julie couldn’t keep from laughing. “You guys ready to go?” she finally asked.

  “Yes, load up,” Captain Newsome told them. Grabbing their gear, the team quickly loaded up on the X-plane. They all were amazed at the accommodations. “I’ll say this,” the Captain told Julie as he settled in a seat near the front. “You guys at Space Tech sure know how to travel.”

  “Yes, I’m spoiled now,” Julie told him. “I’ve traveled commercial, and I’ve traveled military, but none of them come close to this. We’ll be at our destination airport in less than an hour, which is the best part.”

  “Maybe you should hold Jimmy’s hand,” the girl on the team said to Julie. “He’s afraid to fly.” Julie remembered she had introduced herself as Jazz. She liked the way the girl carried herself.

  “Nah, get off it,” Jimmy told them. “Of course, you can hold it if you want,” he told Julie. Everyone laughed at that, especially because they could tell he was serious.

  Very quickly they were airborne and their flight time was just under an hour, the X-plane landing in an airport just across the border from Kinza. A few minutes later, they were settling in aboard the military grade helicopter that would take them to the Landing Zone. “Forty minute flight in,” the pilot told them. “Everyone strap in.”

  Julie had loaded up with her full kit. That had gotten Jimmy’s eyes big, but he wisely kept quiet. She partially assembled her sniper rifle, although she was hoping she wouldn’t have to actually use it tonight. She had been thinking about what this mission meant. She had never actually killed anyone before, even in the rescue of her school group from Kinza. She suspected she would have to do that before this mission was over. To Julie that was a terrible thing to have to do, but she knew it was sometimes necessary. I will fight to protect those things important to me.

  Julie also knew that the Organization was the ultimate force behind this. The battle was with them, and with the ones pulling their strings. That group appeared to be the driving force behind most of the recent events in her life. She vowed, I will do whatever it takes to rid the world of their evil. She felt something snap into place with her vow.

  Bringing her thinking back to the mission, despite her air of self-confidence, Julie was concerned for her friend. She had only spent a few hours with Carla, but they had bonded during that time. She was also wondering something about Carla that she really wanted to find out. Both Carla and her Uncle Ted had told her stories of lost loves. Julie really thought they were talking about each other. Enough of the details fit, but she hadn’t had a chance to follow up on it. She really wanted it to be true.

  She was very worried that bad things had already happened to Carla, or that she was already dead. There was no telling what that warlord had done. She had read the file on him, and she knew just how callous he was when it came to killing people. She just prayed that they were on time, and that she could get to Carla before he could do anything. Oh God, please!

  “LZ four miles out. Get ready team,” Captain Newsome announced. Julie had already decided to put this team on permanent retainer if they came out of this mission in one piece. That was her other prayer. Ultimately, she was now responsible for whatever happened to them. She had been impressed with their leader, and she had been impressed with how well they worked together. Even Jimmy.

  It wasn’t very long before they reached the LZ with the helicopter settling in a large clearing. “Out, Jimmy left, Jazz right,” the Sarge said. The whole team was out in seconds, with everyone in position to complete their assigned tasks. Seconds later the helicopter had lifted, and they were in complete darkness. Everyone donned their night gear, even Julie who could have somewhat compensated for the darkness with her nanites, but didn’t see any reason to do so. She needed to fit in whenever she could. They rapidly moved out, with the Sarge setting a fast pace.

  A few minutes later, Julie was setting up in her sniper position, with the night viewer enabled on her scope and a silencer on the barrel. As soon as she had the range, she signaled the captain she was ready. The team rapidly disappeared into the night. She constantly scanned the area below with her scope, but so far it looked good. No one was aware of their arrival. As the team did their job, the guards began to disappear from their positions. The rover team had made it easy by stopping for a cigarette break and the two of the team assigned to them easily overwhelmed them, again without a sound escaping.

  Just before they had the last one down, a door to the barracks area opened and a man in some sort of officer’s uniform stepped out, closing the door behind him. Dropping into her deep state, Julie had him in her scope. Time slowed to a crawl as she considered her options. Could she do it? Shoot this man from a distance, no way to defend himself? What if he was really a good person, someone just caught in a bad situation? Could she somehow incapacitate him without killing him? Did she dare risk her team?

  Finally, after what seemed an eternity to her, Julie went for the killer shot, pulling the trigger and dropping him, going for the upper body. Intellectually she knew that this was different than anything she had ever done before. That man had been a real human being and he wasn’t going to ever get up
again. She shut it down, at least for now. They have Carla and will kill her, the rest of Carla’s team and my team, and me too if they have the chance. Her monk training also helped her focus. She knew she had done the least amount of harm in the current situation. It just happened to be killing this man was the least harm.

  Julie saw the “All Clear” sign from the leader. She broke down her sniper rifle, had it on her shoulder and was moving toward them an instant later. The team quickly assembled in a dark corner of the target building. Their tech, Olson, had an infrared scanner and was pointing out the locations of the guards in the building. Each team member was assigned one of them. A large group was obviously the prisoners. Julie nodded when he pointed them out. They all rapidly moved to the assault point, where the Sarge attached explosive charges on the target door. Everyone took cover just out of range. He counted down from three with hand signals, and then blew the door.

  Julie was moving and hit the door before the smoke cleared. The prisoners were in a room to the right, and she immediately ran in that direction. She trusted her team to take care of the rest of the guards. She burst into the room moving at full speed, stopping when she saw the warlord. He was standing in front of the prisoners, holding Carla tightly in front of him with a knife to her throat. “Drop your weapon or I will kill her,” he yelled.

  Julie smiled, dropping the gun she had in her right hand. He relaxed the knife hand the smallest amount, obviously believing she was now unarmed. Julie threw the knife she had in her left hand, burying it to the hilt in his eye socket. Without a sound, he dropped the knife and fell to the ground, with Carla, remembering her military training, rolling away to the right.

  Seconds later the captain came running into the room, the Sarge and a couple more members of the team right behind. He had been really worried about this part of the plan, very concerned for her and the hostages. He was shocked to see the warlord lying on the floor — was that a knife sticking out of his skull? Make that a very dead warlord. Julie had moved much faster than he thought was possible, so he had feared the worst, but apparently that was her knife. Instantly checking the rest of the room, he saw Julie clinging very tightly to the girl he recognized as Carla Davis, and the rest of the prisoners rising to their feet. Remembering his responsibility as team leader, he said to his team, “All clear.”

  Glancing around the room he asked, “Is everyone all right?”

  Everyone nodded. Julie released Carla enough to turn toward him, but she didn’t turn completely loose. His team quickly moved to release the prisoners from their restraints. Seeing that they were one short, he asked them. “Where is your team leader? He is the only one I see missing.”

  Carla answered for the group. “He’s dead. The warlord shot him in the head the first thing. We all figured we were next, but instead he just laughed, telling us the man had betrayed our team to him. The only good trait in the warlord, he couldn’t abide traitors. Instead of shooting us, he had us brought here.”

  Captain Newsome looked at her closely. “Any of you have medical needs? Any injuries or other needs?”

  Carla shook her head. “We suspected that it was just a matter of time. The warlord had just come in here moments ago, talking about what he was going to do to us. We were his prize and he was going to ‘savor us’ he said. He was still talking when you showed up.”

  When the mercenary leader began giving orders to his team, Carla turned to Julie. “I know you, but I don’t know you. Who are you?” She held her out at arms length, trying to get a better look at her.

  “You knew me as Miranda, but quite a few things have changed. You like the new me?” Julie told her, turning her head to show her the very blond hair she had bound behind her. She had told her nanites to darken her hair to keep it from shining in the dark during the earlier parts of the mission, and she had undone that as soon as Carla was safe. “The world now knows me as Julie Randolph. We will talk some more when we get back to Space Tech, but right now, let’s get everyone to safety.”

  Of all the things Carla had expected to hear, that was just about the last thing she would have come up with. She stared at Julie in surprise and amazement. She had already known that Miranda was special. What she had just seen exceeded even those expectations, and no way would she have expected her to be Julie Randolph.

  The team quickly completed their tasks. Julie pulled her knife out and cleaned it on the warlord’s clothing. Jimmy had been photographing the warlord’s body for evidence, and he stared wide-eyed at her when she did that. The few remaining guards had been captured and detained in the barracks, the medic had cleared all the former prisoners as ok to travel, and they were ready to go.

  Moments later the helicopter landed in the courtyard, everyone quickly boarded with the Sarge on the lookout, and they headed straight to the airport. With the X-plane prepped and ready, Space Tech was only an hour away.

  #

  The returning group was sorted out when they arrived at Space Tech’s facilities. All of the rescued personnel were directed to Space Tech medical where they were treated for their small injuries. Fortunately for them, the warlord had not had time to abuse any of the prisoners, including the two women.

  Julie in the meantime had returned to the offices at Space Tech, where she had given her uncle a hug of reassurance and then retired to her office. When she checked her VR queue, she immediately saw a message from the Master monk, who she knew technically worked for her now. When she returned the VR call, she wasn’t surprised that he answered, even though she knew it had to be early, early morning there.

  “Hello, my dear one. I knew I would need to talk to you today. Mama Kash and I foresaw what you would have to do, and I knew you would need to talk about it. Today you had to use your abilities to kill, and even though they both deserved it, you are now struggling with it. “

  Julie didn’t trust herself to speak, so she just nodded. It was just now really sinking in to her what she had done. Up until now, she hadn’t had the time to think about it.

  “I know that you regret that you had to do it, and that is the right feeling to have. Your dilemma is the one that all warriors for our cause must face. Our monk code deals with it directly, so I know that you have the foundation you need. You just need a little help today, so that is why I called you.”

  Julie nodded again, not trying to hold back the tears. “It’s really hard, Master. I don’t guess I will ever again be the same person, will I?” When he nodded, she went on. “I know in my head that you are right, but I still have to deal with my feelings. I also know there will be more in my fight against the Organization. Eventually I may have to do it on a much larger scale to stop that evil group, but today was very personal.”

  Julie just sat there a minute, letting the tears flow. Finally she gave him a sad smile. “Sometimes I wish I could just be the girl that my stereotype would say that I should be, the spoiled little rich girl with no worries in the world. Then I would never have to deal with this kind of thing.”

  “Yes, sometimes I wish I could have been the simple goat herder that my father was, but we have to accept what life has given us. Your purpose in this life is to change the world, to change the world for good. You have only begun, as we both know. One of your tasks is to rid us of the evil Organization, and you must do what you have to do to succeed at that task.

  Julie wondered exactly what the Master and Mama Kash saw. “That doesn’t make it easier, but thank you, Master. I appreciate you talking with me. I will have more to work through to deal with this, but your kind touch is always appreciated.”

  “We will talk again later. I can only tell you to take care, for there are evils that even Mama Kash and I cannot foresee fighting against us. All I know is that you will need your knives again, and once again, it will be a matter of life or death, so be prepared. I fear the next time it will be your life on the line. Nothing must happen to you or I again will be boss.”

  “You still are, even if you did trick me. But I
thank you for watching over me.”

  #

  Hernando and his team were quickly cleared by the medics. They were directed to a secure facility that was not far from the Space Tech offices. A section of the facility appeared to be occupied by the mercenary forces that had been involved in their rescue. It chaffed him and the members of his team to have to be rescued in the first place. Even though it wasn’t his fault or the fault of his team, having been betrayed by their leader, it was still humiliating to have to be rescued. Especially by a team led by a teenage girl!

  Hernando was still trying to work out if he had overheard the girl correctly when she was talking with Carla. If it was true, that girl was somehow the same remarkable girl that had been instrumental in their rescue of the student hostages when he had been in Kinza the last time. If indeed it really was the same girl, she had somehow changed her appearance. She had also probably been just as instrumental in this rescue as before.

  He really wondered what was her story. If it was her, she was even more unbelievable now. Something had happened to her. She had grown a lot from the girl he had known as Miranda, who while very capable and willing to do any task before her, had been just a little tentative in her actions. The girl he saw today was none of that. Confident and not afraid of anything. And fast. He had feared for her just for a moment when she had dropped the gun on the warlord’s threat to Carla. But the next second the warlord was dead with a knife in his eye, a knife obviously thrown by her.

  Consumed with his thoughts, Hernando was rather surprised to find that they were taken to an empty group of rooms with full facilities, including a gallery, armory and bunk area. They were told to wait there. So he figured he was beyond any more surprise until he received a secure VR from the high ranking officer over the regiment that his team operated out of.