by Kal Spriggs
The Admiral stared at me for a long moment, “But then again, it might.” She shook her head, “In any case, back to our current issue. I've forwarded Lieutenant Dutson the plan. Both of you are still expected to attend training with your squadron, whenever there's no conflicting events. I fully expect the Guard Army to attempt to get you two to stand down or to turn him over. You are to ignore those orders and if they raise any issues, tell them you are members of the Century Planetary Militia and they can't countermand any orders you have from your government. That should muddy the waters enough that they won't know what to do.”
“Ma'am,” we nodded.
“Good,” she shot Lieutenant Dutson a look. “They're all yours. The first event is in...” she consulted her implant, closing her eyes in a slow blink. “Two hours time. Good luck.”
We saluted and followed Lieutenant Dutson out. It looked like things were about to get interesting.
***
“Apparently most of Admiral Rao's family went into hiding during and after the coup,” Lieutenant Dutson told us as the Valkyrie shuttle descended through the atmosphere. There was some kind of storm hitting much of Harmony's southern continent and the ride bounced and jostled us around. “The ones that didn't, there were some really nasty attacks. I guess the Guard arrested a few 'for protection' and the others were either killed or faked their own deaths. The decoy is one of the ones who hid early, so we're going to retrieve him. But the problem is that we don't want people to know this is a pickup. So we've put out to the planet's media that Admiral Rao is visiting one of the locations from his childhood, sort of a meditative retreat thing that I guess is common enough here.”
“In the middle of a storm?” Ashiri asked doubtfully, pointing out the porthole at the black storm clouds that buffeted the shuttle.
“Why not?” Lieutenant Dutson shrugged. “Hey, maybe they're into storms here? God knows, it never rains this much on Century.”
I snorted at that, but I thought it was kind of a sketchy story myself. I mean, the guy had two or three attempts on his life, why would he risk it again to visit someplace from his childhood?
Then again, if you were facing a good chance of death, wouldn't you want to go home one last time? The thought struck me pretty hard and I had to take a tense breath to prevent a sob. Maybe it wasn't as sketchy a story as I'd thought.
“We'll land at the back of the house, keep the team tight together. Robbins is going to wear civilian clothes, he's the right height, coloration, and build. We all stay tight on him, no one should get a clear look at him. Once we get inside, we make contact with the decoy, we secure the perimeter, then we give it a few minutes and we get the decoy back to the shuttle and we jet, got it?”
He'd already briefed the squads back on the ship. Ashiri and I had to go draw some of the special equipment we needed for the mission, including a pair of long range comms. The concern was that if the storm picked up too much, our personal comms wouldn't be enough to talk to the shuttle.
I didn't want to know how strong they thought the storm would get if that was the case. As if to punctuate my thought, lightning flashed outside the porthole, brighter than a strobe.
The Valkyrie settled in to the landing pad and then we rolled out. Lieutenant Dutson and Third Squad established a perimeter while Ashiri and I took Second and First Squads through the lashing rain to the main house. The wind gusted, slamming me around and the rain was like being blasted with a fire hose. I'd never had reason to hate rain before, but in the hundred meters between the landing pad and the house, I came to loathe it. It was hot, wet rain that managed to get in my eyes despite my helmet visor. It soaked me to the bone and my boots squelched with every step.
I nodded at Ashiri and she directed her people out to the sides, moving to establish an outer perimeter while I led my people inside. The old stone house's thick walls cut off the rain and wind, leaving me swaying a bit in response.
I pulled off my helmet, my hair sodden and dripping. An older woman stood there, a handful of armed people waiting, their expressions guarded. “I am Cadet First Class Jiden Armstrong,” I said, nodding at the older woman. “I am here because,” I had to pause, remembering the words I'd been told, “the brother must stand for the brother.”
“You are expected,” the older woman seemed to sag in relief. “There have been others who came before. We served the family, as we have for generations. Bakhi, go get him.”
One of the men hurried out. The woman looked around at us, “Can I get you some chai?”
I heard one of the infantry snort with suppressed laughter. “No, thank you,” I told her. “If it's alright with you, can I send my people out to help secure your house, in case we come under attack?”
She seemed shocked by the idea, but she gave a nod. “Pakril can show you.”
“Thank you,” I ran a hand through my sodden hair, feeling like a drowned rat. Sashi likes the rain... what a weirdo. I talked briefly with the young man she'd pointed out, and then talked with Sergeant Arnold. “Two at the back door, I think, ma'am. This building seems pretty secure, like they built it for this sort of thing.” I didn't argue there. The windows were all narrow, too narrow for entry. The building only seemed to have a rear and front door, and apparently Pakril had ten more of his people there.
“I'll let Second Squad know,” I told him. “Ashiri?” I asked over my radio.
I heard her sputter a bit, “You make contact? It's raining cats and dogs out here.”
“Cats and...” I shook my head. Sashi and Ashiri were both weird. “I've made contact. I'm putting two of First Squad at the back door. Looks like there's only two ways in and out of the building... well, short of explosives or something.” I sent her the icons of where my two people were moving on my implant.
“Right,” Ashiri coughed, “Second Squad will mark their location. Hurry it up, I might drown out here if this keeps up.”
“You and me both,” I muttered, shaking water out of my hair. This is crazy. Water wasn't supposed to fall from the sky, it was supposed to lay there on the ground and maybe flow in a stream or something.
The decoy showed up after only a few minutes. He was a tall, striking man, with a dark complexion and broad, powerful shoulders. His dark eyes locked on me, “You are in command?”
“I am,” I told him.
“Very well. We should go, as soon as you are able. My presence has been enough of a risk on these people, I'd prefer we not jeopardize them further.” He said it in a low voice, clearly he didn't want it to carry.
“The plan was to stay here--” I didn't finish.
“Contact!” I heard over my net. A moment later, I heard gunfire outside, barely audible over the roar of the storm. “Contact south!” Someone shouted on the net.
I moved to the doorway and looked out through a gap, we couldn't move out to the shuttle if it was under attack, and the gunfire came from Third Squad.
I heard Lieutenant Dutson speak, “Movement in the brush, Third Squad, defend the shut--”
He didn't finish.
There was a flare of light, far brighter than lightning, and then a blast that blew the door in on top of me. I didn't lose consciousness, but I was more than a bit dazed, rain and wind driving into me, the wooden slats of the big door crushing me to the ground. I blinked my dazed eyes, trying to get them to adjust. My visor on my helmet was equipped with night vision gear and the capability to dim in case of flash blindness, but of course, I'd had my helmet off..
I rolled over, shaking my head, hearing more gunfire from the south. I pulled my helmet back on and buckled the chin-strap. “Status?” I yelled into my radio.
“This is Lieutenant Dutson, shuttle's down,” He shouted over the net, I could hear gunfire picked up on his radio. “Anti-vehicular weapon of some kind. We have to move!”
“Yeah, no kidding,” I muttered to myself. If they'd smoked the shuttle in one hit, they'd destroy the house just as easily.
“Sir, we're going to move no
rth,” I snapped. I pointed at the decoy and two of the squad formed up on either side. “Let's go.”
“We can't leave these people undefended,” the man snapped.
“They're after you. As soon as they see us running, they'll follow,” I snapped back. “Let's go!”
He didn't argue further and we ran through the house.
“Second squad is moving north, we have no contact yet--” She broke off and I heard gunfire. “Contact, north. In the treeline. We--” She broke off in a grunt and I bit my lip as we reached the back door of the house.”
“I'm hit, armor caught it. Second Squad has pushed through. Looks like a couple sentries,” Ashiri went on a moment later.
“First Squad, moving out,” I snapped and we rushed out into the storm. The wind buffeted us and the flashing lightning and flashes of gunfire made it hard to make out a path across the muddy ground.
“This is Third Squad, we're pinned down,” Lieutenant Dutson shouted. “Trying to circle right, but there's too much open ground to go for the house.”
“Roger, sir,” I answered. “Should we come back to support?”
“Negative. Use your long range comms, call for extraction,” he snapped. “Keep moving and protect the target.”
I bit my lip. We were risking losing an entire squad to protect the decoy. It didn't make sense to me.
On my implant, I could see where they were, pinned down in a ditch to the south of the house. They were about fifty meters from the entrance, but even if they could cross the open ground, the enemy still had their anti-armor weapon, whatever it had been, and the house wasn't going to hold up to something that had slagged the shuttle in one hit.
“Ashiri,” I messaged her, “call for backup, First Squad, let's get moving.” I hesitated though. It would be easy, really easy, to move back and support the Lieutenant. We could circle around in the tree-line, set up some flanking fire, and give Third Squad time to get clear.
But we had the target.
I closed my eyes for a moment. “Move out.”
We hurried away. A few seconds later, I heard Ashiri calling for support, even as we stumbled along in the woods behind Second Squad.
Gunfire still came from behind us, but I could see indicators on Third Squad on my implant. One winked out. Then another. Then a third.
I heard Lieutenant Dutson calling out orders, his voice controlled, “Shift left, we've got leakers in the trees--”
Lieutenant Dutson's icon winked out.
After that, I turned all my attention back to the trail, focused on putting one step ahead of the next, on keeping my body between the decoy and any potential threats behind us.
***
We linked up with another shuttle in a clearing a couple of hours later. As we climbed into orbit, I sat in my jump-seat, shivering and cold. The warm rain had seemed to congeal into icy water that saturated everything I wore.
Ashiri sat across from me. She opened a private network between us without asking. You did as you were ordered, she told me.
I left Lieutenant Dutson and Third Squad to die, I answered. I felt empty. I could have gone back. Why hadn't I gone back?
There was nothing we could have done, she answered.
I knew that was a polite lie. There was plenty that I could have done. I could have violated my orders from the Lieutenant, I could have gone back. I could have risked the entire mission.
Instead, I had followed orders. We hadn't seen any further enemies. Ashiri had called in another shuttle. We were headed back to orbit. And Lieutenant Dutson and eight others were dead.
I disconnected from Ashiri's private network and sat back, feeling empty, cold, and dull. As the shuttle docked, I walked the decoy down off the ramp, turning him over to the ship's security detail. I led the survivors of the platoon through the debrief and cut them loose. I wondered if they hated me.
“Jiden,” Ashiri said, after the others had left, “It wasn't your fault.” She went on, but I ignored her, staring at the empty seats.
After they left, after Ashiri finally gave up on me answering her, I took a seat in the empty room, my gaze going to the seats where Third Squad should have been. I'd failed them. I'd failed Lieutenant Dutson.
The Admiral came in as I sat there, staring at those empty chairs. “Had enough time for self-pity?” She said it calmly, her words all the more biting for the fact that she didn't put any anger into it, just a calm, matter-of-fact tone.
I looked up, my lips drawing back in a grimace of anger, “I screwed up--”
“You did as you were ordered. We had no reason to expect opposition in those numbers,” she answered.
“There weren't that many of them,” I snapped, “If I'd gone back--”
“Between Hammer Squadron and the Centurions, we dropped almost a battalion of troops on that ambush location,” the Admiral told me, her voice hard. “We killed over a hundred and fifty of the attackers. If you'd gone back to help Third Squad, they'd have killed you.”
I blinked at her in shock, “A hundred and fifty--”
“With railguns and missile launchers, machine guns, and more offensive firepower than any of us expected,” she went on. “They'd slipped onto the planet over the past few weeks, collected weapons from stockpiles, all under orders to capture Admiral Rao alive if he came there. We suspect the orders came from Admiral Mizra.”
I sagged, too shocked to process all that. “But...”
“It wasn't your fault, Jiden,” the Admiral said, her voice tired. “If anyone is at fault, it's me. I never would have expected this brazen of an attack. I expected the Guard Army to send a sniper team or maybe a squad of Special Service. I might have expected some kind of bombing or grenade attack from Guard Free Now. The platoon could have handled that. This was...” She shook her head. “They had plenty of time to get into position, maybe they suspected Rao would visit the place, maybe someone had sold out Nik... that is, the decoy's presence.”
She came over and rested her hand on my wet, cold shoulder. “Either way, it doesn't matter. You got your surviving people out, you accomplished the mission.”
“That doesn't feel like enough,” I said in a small voice.
“It's the best we can do,” she told me. “And I told you once, Jiden, you can't always save them all.”
She had, sometime after I'd asked to attend the Academy, after I'd had my run in with Isaac Champion's goons, after I thought Ted Meeks had been killed. I reached up and held her hand. I couldn't really say anything. I didn't know if I could say anything. I felt hot, angry tears roll down my face and just then, with her being there, it felt like I could let go, just a little bit.
She stood there as I cried, squeezing my shoulder once, to let me know it was okay.
***
Chapter 17: I'm Terrible At Saying The Right Thing At The Right Time
Things went on, and of course, as soon as I felt like I'd gotten my head on straight, Ashiri ambushed me.
“Did you message Kyle, yet?” We were working off some excess energy in the gym, me practicing some of my kerala defense moves and Ashiri trying to pick some up.
I answered her by twisting my torso and throwing her over my hip. My best friend landed flat on her back on the mat and her breath whooshed out. “I'll take that as a no,” she gasped.
“I haven't really had the opportunity,” I growled at her, giving her a hand to get up. She caught my wrist and kicked my leg out from under me, pulling me down face-first into the mat next to her. “Oof.” I grunted.
“You should have made some time for that,” she told me, even as she rolled over and stood up. “At this point, you're just delaying.”
I rolled over on my side and gave her a glare. “At this point, we're almost halfway through our time here. The next courier won't be out here for another week, it would take two weeks to get back after that. We leave here in six weeks. What's an extra three weeks?”
“I dunno, Jiden,” Ashiri cocked her head, her dark eyes meeting mine,
“let's say you had asked Kyle and he stormed off saying he needed to think. Do you think three more weeks would matter?”
I looked down, unable to meet her gaze. I knew it would.
“Besides,” Ashiri's voice went soft, “we nearly died. Other people did die. Would you want to die without Kyle knowing that you did want to marry him?”
Now I wanted to melt into the floor. “I just... I don't know what to tell him.”
“Tell him 'yes,'” Ashiri laughed. “Hock, just send that one word. He won't care about the rest of it, he's a guy.”
I giggled at that, “You think?”
“Yeah,” Ashiri shook her head. Her expression went wistful. “I wish just about any guy would look at me the way he looks at you, sometimes.”
I looked up at her, “What? Are you crazy? You and Alexander were pretty good together.”
She sighed and offered me a hand up. Despite her previous treachery, I took it. She gave me a crooked smile, “Jiden, I may be many things, but Alexander never looked at me like Kyle looks at you. We had some nice times. He's still my friend... but he's got his priorities.” Ashiri held up a finger, “Military Service, Honor, and then there was either food or sleep.” She looked at her three fingers. “I was somewhere around four.”
“Is that why you broke up with him?” I asked her.
Ashiri gave a shrug and turned away. “I told you before. He snored.”
“You snore,” I snapped back, a little annoyed by the dodge.
“Do not, that's a filthy lie spread to dishonor me by those jealous of my capabilities,” Ashiri sniffed disdainfully. She looked over and saw several crew waiting impatiently, “I think we're holding up the mat, I'm done, you?”
“Yeah,” I ran a hand through my sweaty hair. I wanted a shower. I fell into step next to Ashiri as she headed out of the gym, back towards our quarters. The doors opened up directly into a section of equipment spaces and we had to go up a set of stairs to get to the living quarters. I didn't let Ashiri get away from my question, though, “Why did you break things off with him?”
