With Our Dying Breath
Page 14
Panicked that he might lose it all at this very last moment Oswald reached under the table for one of the standard EF device chargers. He lost grip on it as he jerked it too quickly, bent over to grab it again, and knocked the holo skidding across the table. Oswald froze, took a deep breath, and waited for everything to stop moving.
The holo accepted the charging plug and the light changed to a blinking green. Oswald hit play and caught his breath.
A life size holographic bust projection of Anahita snapped into existence over the table, eye to eye with Oswald. He didn't know if the color and clarity of holos had been available before they left or if this image was newer technology. But it was full color, high resolution, and the projector traces were barely visible. It clearly showed that she had aged since they'd parted. He laughed sadly at how angry she'd have been at the accuracy of the camera.
"This message is for Colonel Pierce Oswald of the Earth Force Space Service, Flight Commander of the battle rocket Roland. If you're Ay-Yon, may your mother burn your siblings to save their eyes from your face. If you're not Ay-Yon, what I just said is very stout insult to an Ay-Yon, trust me.
"Howdy Pierce," the smiling holographic face gave a playful wink, "and just where did you get off too?
"I ask this knowing of course that you can't tell me. If you recovered this then the reason I can't tell you is dead obvious." Anahita's smile turned distant and melted away. "We needed you, Pierce. If you'd have been here... if someone better than me had been here, we might have won.
"I'm not even sure why I'm recording this. It's been almost twenty years since you sent that jump message saying you'd be home in a sec." A small snifter materialized in front of her mouth and she took a sip. "Delamain. Replay this later and let's toast to you being alive! Cheers." The glass gave a jaunty tilt to the side and swung towards Oswald before sinking out of view.
"How did I find you?" she teased. "A simple transponder programmed only with Roland's IFF. Very short ranged, but obviously not too short if you are here. And I am glad you are. If you are dead then this message died with me.
"If you were to open my crypt you'd find a large solar battery with leads running through the pretty rock into the lunar soil and to a power tap in the solar panels of the habs above us. The rock was imported from Brazil just for us you know. Very classy. Anyway, it was arranged beforehand and if it didn't get done, you're not watching this so never mind. I would however prefer that you didn't open my crypt, as I'm sure it won't be my good side.
"I will never know what happened on your side, Pierce. But I knew you could pull it off. What manner of accident or incident kept you from me... us? But I'll tell you what you probably didn't see. Starting with the fact that your parting shot finished both targets. Good shooting for a missile that was fired without permission." Anahita winked, made a pistol shape with her finger and thumb, and pointed it at the recorder.
"What happened when you jumped back was amazing. A permanent jump gate opened between Sol and Delta Pavonis right as you were to jump in system. Our best guess was that the artifact you had recovered—what was that stupid name? Oh, the UXA, the 'ooooxhaah'," Anahita shook her head scornfully. "Stupid. Anyway the best guess was that the artifact somehow caused the worm hole, but no one knew if it was its function or a fluke. Or what happened to you. I guess it doesn't matter now—at least to me.
"What does matter, Pierce, is that the Ay-Yon lost their minds. They recognized it for what it was and immediately sent all they had to secure it. We found ourselves in a two-front war, which is a funny way to think of it I suppose. We sent search missions to Delta Pavonis and fought them there as well as in Sol. Fought them hard."
Anahita took another ghostly sip and lifted her shoulder to make sure her awards were visible. On full golden detail were a Combat Comet and a Lucky Star.
"Oh, Anahita..."
"They gave me a command ship to win Delta P. I was MCC and sometimes the flight commander. I took what you said seriously about the MCCs at Barney's, but they still sniffed us out. It ah... didn't end well. As you can see, I was lucky. We won the campaign but it was a Pyrrhic victory. There were just flying spacecraft to collect the survivors and get back to Sol. By the time we threw a few scouts together from the scraps, the Ay-Yon had established a squadron around Delta Pavonis Five."
Oswald clenched slightly each time she used the formal name of the enemy. He wanted to yell at the holograph that they were called Centipedes.
"I never found you, Pierce. But I swear to you I tried. The whole time I led the squadron there I tried. It was why I volunteered. I sent scouts far and wide. I peppered the whole system with sensor drones. I even sent more Rangers to explore the surface when the Ay-Yon had been driven back—I'm sure you can guess how that turned out." She sighed heavily. "But you hid from me."
Her lip trembled and Anahita began sobbing. The holo flickered and her face was replaced with another version with glistening cheeks but otherwise back in control. Oswald brushed his fingers through the air where one of the streaks of white ran boldly through her flowing hair.
"We kept fighting for about fifteen years after you went MIA, or KIA depending on what you bet in the pool." She smiled very brightly and wiped the vestiges of her tears away with a small cloth. "I of course bet on you. It was a safe bet anyway since the macabre bastards that started it at least had enough decency to never try to collect. You flight commanders." A fist grew in front of Oswald's face and shook centimeters from his nose. Anahita laughed.
"As most great empires—I speak of magnitude, not quality—fall so did Earth. The space forces were in shambles. We'd lost station after station and Delta Pavonis cost us heavily in rockets.
"But it was the infighting that killed us. Europe and the US started bickering. China actually launched strikes on some Japanese transport ships over a trade dispute. I even heard that two of the mega-corps tried opening up trade agreements with the Ay-Yon behind our backs!" She shook her head and downed her cognac.
"Anyway, we're talking global recession. Or depression, depending on whose expert you listen to. There was a lull in the war as both sides stopped to lick wounds. The Ay-Yon licked theirs and we poured salt in ours.
"They eventually sent a massive force against us and we had little chance. I was, as I am for one more day..." Anahita smiled and looked off to the side of the recorder, "... SUPREME COMMANDER OF EARTH FORCE..." She laughed as the booming voice echoed into dramatic silence. "I love that."
Oswald laughed along with her as if they were back in her office again. Then he stopped.
"Anyway, we got our butts handed to us. I did my best but once again, it wasn't enough. As they say, 'Troopers train tactics but leaders learn logistics.' We just didn't have the deltaV to fight back.
"We tried anyway, but the Ay-Yon went around Earth Force and eroded support planetside with talks of peace and interstellar trade." She spread her hands wide and shook out her hair. "We could be the beginning of a galactic empire!" Anahita shook her head more slowly. "Earth Force was ordered to surrender and agree to an orbital occupation force."
Anahita stared off in silence for a full minute then reached down. Her visage was replaced with one whose hair had been brushed back into place.
"I am ashamed to admit that I welcomed the end of the war, Pierce. I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't have. But it had been so long. Some kept fighting. Remote posts, Saturn Station refused to comply at first. Major Mahamoud took Excalibur on a final run and fragged three Ay-Yon command craft alone." She shrugged. "Too bad his engine got blown out by a lucky shot just as they were about to escape. Excalibur got pulled into the Jovian skies. I watched the final flare in the atmosphere from my MCC with my Ay-Yon handlers.
"Others tried holding out, but you were right when you always teased me." She screwed up her face and stuck her holographic tongue out. "This isn't Captain Yasmina. There are no rowdy pirate bases to hide in. Only deltaV, momentum, entropy, and enthalpy. No room for girlish fantasy."
"For the record, it was Captain Harold Herman of the USS Ceres, one of those nuclear powered orbital defense subs. He hid down in the depths as everyone else surrendered, surfacing months later at just the right time to burn a hole in the gloating, ambassador ridden, Ay-Yon orbital command ship." Anahita's image pouted her lips, still sultry through the centuries. "I must admit it was a good shot. And, he got away—unlike the Ay-Yon on that ship.
"That was about a month ago. The next day the Ay-Yon began gathering world leaders here. All Earth space assets were destroyed or captured. I've been told that tomorrow I'm to be honored. It is apparently a great kindness, as I am assured that I don't want to be around to see their retaliation below." Anahita began crying openly, this time not cutting the recording. She cried for three minutes, deep throaty sobs that left only the top of her head in frame. Oswald cried with her.
"Pierce," she sobbed, "I hear that they honor enemy war leaders by shooting them in the head. I'm so scared, Pierce. I don't want to die. I know I deserve to. I know you're probably watching, scoffing at me considering how many I've sent to their deaths..."
Oswald slammed the table angrily with his fist. "You know better! That's not true!"
"But I'm scared. I don't know what they're going to do to Earth and I don't know how I'll face my death. I fought the good fight and I'll think of you as I look my killer in the eye and try not to cry or even blink. It is all I can do." Anahita cried some more and the face flickered and reconstructed itself once more.
Her hair was now put up tightly and her jaw clenched. Anahita seemed unable to look at the recorder, instead glaring angrily into the distance as she spoke.
"I didn't think I'd have any more time or anymore to say. I'm told that my 'honoring' ceremony will be within the hour and I've got some news. While being spared from witnessing it, apparently it was decided that it's alright to let us all know—right before we die—that they will be exterminating all life on Earth via the use of a short-lived, bioengineered virus, deadly to humans. And by short lived they mean it will die out in approximately sixty of our Earth years." She continued, still unable to look at the recorder. Oswald saw that the timestamp on the projection matched that on Anahita's stone. "It seems that the AyYon bastards that burned to a joyous, flaming crisp when they hit atmo were like über bosses. High mucky-mucky ambassadors and kings and emperors or whatever they bow to.
"I think it was just a pretense though. Can you imagine trying to enforce an actual planetary blockade? Or enforcing a no fly zone over a planet of space farers?" Anahita shook her head. "I know for fact that the ship carrying the virus has been here since the beginning of the occupation. They nuked a few places to get the holdouts to finally surrender. So NBC genocide was never outside of their plans anyway."
"So while my mortal self really wishes you half-cocked Americans could just leave well enough alone, in a way I'm glad he spit in their face though it be our combined ends. Burn'em all."
Oswald smiled despite himself; when Anahita swore it was a shock. She considered it vulgar and rude, especially on those rare occasions when she was the one doing it.
"Even though I'm really looking at a little lens, all I see is your face, Pierce. Even though it has been twenty years, I see you as if it were yesterday." She grinned grimly, fighting off her natural bright smile. "I hope I've aged well, Pierce. None of my recent fantasies of being rescued by you focus much on the fact that I'm now an old lady."
"You're still beautiful," Oswald whispered.
"And I can't look at you for what I'm about to say. I can't stand to imagine the pained looked on your face, given what I just told you about our fates." But she did turn to face him. "I'm going to tell you about your family, Pierce. Some of it already bad. So if you are not ready to hear it, stop the holo now." Anahita turned away again.
Oswald considered shutting it off. What did they do to Earth? A virus that ate the whole planet? Some sort of crazy self-replicating nano-bot de-constructors? Obviously they hadn't told her everything. But he decided to go on, to take the next blow while he was still numb from the first barrage. He took a deep trembling breath, trying to steel himself for whatever was coming next.
"I'll give you the good news first. I believe at this point you could use some. Mary and Brent have three children, Pierson, Roland, and Anna. They waited for three years to get married, waiting for you to come back. I finally gave them permission and even then they wanted to wait. Mary was a beautiful bride and your grandchildren, Colonel Grandpa, are lovely. Pierson has already finished his primary school. He has a very cute girlfriend with dreams of joining EF—despite my advice to never marry military." Anahita glanced quickly at him and looked away. "You have a beautiful family, Pierce."
"Misty became holding a vigil for disappearance. She is a good woman and married some judge in Colorado seven years ago." Anahita paused as if to give Oswald a moment to let it sink in.
"Please forgive me for not shedding any tears as I tell you of these things, Pierce. I have cried all my tears and I need to be at my very active with various spouse organizations, you and Roland on the anniversary of your strongest—or numbest—to face my execution with honor. Some of the politicians are trying to run and hide as I record this. Not many places to hide on ol' Luna. But know that my heart is with you as I share these things. As it always has been, even though I sent you to die." Anahita's eyes narrowed and her jaw bulged as she fought off the emotional assault of her last statement.
"Mara joined EF... she was at the last battle of Delta Pavonis. She pleaded with me to help look for you. Mona wasn't on my rocket, Pierce. But I assigned her rocket, Gigante, to the squadron." Anahita words poured out in a fast staccato as if she were trying to drop them before they burned her soul.
"Gigante was destroyed with all souls lost, Pierce. Once again my decisions have cut you deep. I can only hope that in whatever distant time or dimension you are hearing this, that you can forgive me. Sol duty was just as dangerous and really, I was just trying to help her. She was a fine officer, up for an Aux position on her next tour."
Oswald stared at the stony face. It was so unlike the Anahita he knew, but it wasn't the same woman, not really. This was a ghost that had escaped from her body a little early to tell her tale of woe. A woman who had borne the blood burden of the men she had ordered to their deaths for fifteen years after she'd ordered his own. The weight of twelve billion ingrates that in the end betrayed her had eaten away at her from the inside and out. It was a ghost recounting her last day in the universe. A ghost that he had always loved.
"I hear the screaming of the politicians. For as brave as your American military people may be, Pierce, your politicians are shameless cowards." Half of Anahita's face slid into nothingness as she tended to some unseen business. "At least Sun met his end without a blink or whimper. I will do the same. There are pictures of your family on this device, Pierce. May they bring you comfort. There are also a few other things like war reports, campaign timelines, tactical observations. Oh, and not to mention their home-world and the jump information to get there. I'm not sure when you are, so it might have to be recalculated if you wanted to go give them my regards."
The gentle chime of a door buzzer sounded from the holo. Anahita's face jerked to face it as if the door had been kicked in. "Yes, one moment please," she called loudly.
"A final request, love. Bring me with you on your journeys, whatever war or peace you may wreak. Let my face ride beside you and in you." Her face loomed large above the table, shifting from stoic to defiant. It was a fierce face, the face of a wild desert dervish; a bloody-handed shield maiden. It was Captain Yasmina. Wicked and delightful at once, malice and mirth poured into one vengeful vessel. Then Oswald was alone again in the blink of a holograph.
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"Yes, Anahita. You will ride with me."
Chapter 20 Oswald watched the recording at least five times, wistfully perusing the treasured pictures as he did so. Anahita was right, his family was beautiful. Mary and Brad started off holding their happy kids, skipping between unseen years, and ending with pictures of them standing next to their tall, wonderful, nearly grown children.
Mara's looked like a supermodel working to recruit people to the EF. Nearly all the included pictures were from her duty stations, some grinning happily, some grim determination. He tracked her from cadet to a final picture of her in a combat vacc-suit with major's stripes.
Misty had aged well, looking good beside her new husband. He looked like a good man; he hoped Misty died happy. It hurt to see her happy with another man but he couldn't find it in him to begrudge her choice. She deserved to be happy in his absence. She deserved it. Anahita included some pictures of those two young EF cadets kicking it up planet side. Her young eyes were clearer and happier than he remembered ever seeing them.
McFarran led the staff into the small conference room, the gravity acting to make it feel more crowded than usual. Oswald's Aux had nothing to say, confirming that he'd been to the mausoleum and understood the implications. They looked into each other's eyes looking for hope, but only found their own despair reflected back at them.
Each officer glanced at the small box as they sat, but were otherwise as grim as convicts awaiting a jury debating their deaths. Heads hung low in dread silence, no one willing to even make eye contact with another.
Oswald sat stone still, arms crossed, as the hologram played through twice. Despite some of the personal messages imbedded in the projection Oswald decided to let them see it all. He stared at the top of the table to avoid Anahita's face, not quite sure if his tears had dried up yet. McFarran powered it down as the holo snapped into thin air and Oswald continued to stare at the table.
Oswald expected some pity, some compassion, given the personal information shared, the love lost, and his family dead. Then he smiled at his own conceit. These men weren't seeing Oswald's love, Oswald's dead family; they were seeing their own grief. They knew nothing of Oswald's personal history and put the masks of their own lives on Anahita's message. It was a message of a shared and certain doom. The universe had swung its gavel and the entire crew had been caught beneath it—not just poor Pierce Oswald.