Warriors at the Gates- Trojan Wars

by Rick Royster

  "The Global Union will see to all of your needs. You are to leave at once," Saigo said, his voice raspy, sounding like what you'd expect from a ghost.

  Sateria nodded, then shivered when she saw lightning roll across Saigo's eyes. There was a depth of darkness and evil in those eyes; they burned with hate.

  For the first time in three years, Sateria could picture a future without walls, and in time she'd have a chance to get revenge on the man responsible for putting her in this predicament in the first place - a man she used to love. He broke her heart then betrayed her and left her for dead; after she found the Cube, Cayden Battle would die.

  Saigo watched as Sateria gave a slight bow and walked out of the room.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  “Treat your men as you would your own beloved sons. And they will follow you into the deepest valley.”

  ― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

  On top of a quiet multi-housing-plex under the graying early morning skies of Zone Six, Tressa watched as Rabbit planted down a halo-portation device. It would allow them to send a secure transmission.

  He stepped away from it and walked toward her.

  Tressa thought about how Cayden was the supposed chosen one. Other Desani talked up his importance. She chose also to leave him dead at the bottom of the Atlantic, sure not the glorious ending anyone would have guessed for the demigod. She prayed he went fast. He deserved that much.

  Rabbit put a hand on her shoulder. "You did what you had to do; we had no other option."

  She had no choice but to destroy the ship. The Coalition had to believe they were all dead. Cayden was one of only a few Desani, an order so old they were supposedly created with time. If it was known she was still alive, without a doubt the others would hunt her across the four corners of the planet.

  "Thank you for what you did for me. All of you. I owe you all my life," Tressa said, glancing back at Goliath and Hoss.

  Tressa hugged Hoss tightly, then she hugged Rabbit, leaning her head on his shoulder for a moment before kissing him on the lips. She glanced up at Goliath.

  "If ya hadn't noticed, I'm not the mushy type," Goliath said.

  She was grateful her team was willing to kill for her. She had risked her life and freedom for each of them more than she could count. And her love for the Coalition exceeded anything she'd ever known in life, including her wellbeing and her personal happiness. She would have gladly accepted she be the only one to die on that ship if her daughter could have been saved.

  "The hard truth is the Coalition is our enemy now. It's best that Cayden is gone," Goliath said.

  In truth... Tressa was relieved Cayden was dead. She thought they all were. The raw power that he had was a liability to everything that existed. The earth, after all, wasn't made for demigods. It was human nature to fear and to want to destroy that which you didn't understand.

  "He had no right to run around like the rest of us. We did the right thing. He's dangerous and as far as we can tell, not human," Rabbit said.

  Instead of fighting each other, humanity should have been teaming up to destroy the Desani. He belonged where she had left him at the bottom of the Dead Sea.

  Yes, she'd done the right thing. Leaving him to die on that fiery ship was maybe a better death than he deserved. She found it a bit odd that the part that respected and cared for him was subservient to the part of her that feared him. She felt more relief than sadness that he was gone.

  Rabbit looked down at the device. "Making contact now."

  "Try and get their location. I'd love nothing more than to give these bastards a nasty surprise," Tressa said.

  Rabbit gave her a thumbs-up.

  Three human images emerged, flickering in life-sized blue holographs, before forming into full color. All three were dressed in blue armor with white sleeves and white plastic featureless masks. The man in the middle mask had a one-inch backline at the top.

  "I'm Kwan Chang; you have my Cube?" the man in the center said.

  Tressa looked at the man in the middle and folded her arms. "Kwan Chang, I can't say it's a pleasure to meet you, but I have what you want; now let me see my daughter."

  The faceless mask just stared at her. The halo-portation 3-D made him appear as if he was standing a foot in front of her. "You kneel when you address me."

  "What?" Goliath stood erect, moved closer, and tapped the holograph with the butt of his rifle.

  Tressa was puzzled. Kwan did have a thick accent, and his English was a bit choppy. Perhaps something was lost in translation linguistically or culturally?

  "Before we go further, it's important for you to know who is in charge here. Now kneel." Kwan turned his head, looked at something off in the distance. "Don't make her suffer. I don't want to ask again."

  Goliath's grip tightened on his large rifle; his biceps bulged, and his finger went to the trigger.

  "It's ok," Tressa said.

  Tressa rubbed the back of her neck. She felt a sharp pain in the back of her throat and suddenly had trouble swallowing. But she'd do whatever she needed to, had done whatever she needed to, to save her daughter.

  Tressa dropped to one knee, bowed her head. "Sir, I have your halo-cube. May I see my daughter?"

  Kwan folded his hands in front of him and waited. "Please," Tressa added.

  Kwan placed his hands behind his back and stood dominant over her with his legs spread apart, clearly relishing the vulgar display. "This why you were chosen. No backbone. Such an easily conquered spirit. Not willing to sacrifice or endure pain."

  Goliath's head swiveled to Kwan, then back to Tressa down on her knees. He inched closer.

  Kwan nodded his head. The two men beside him walked to his right. He cast a dead gaze at Goliath.

  Tressa’s palms were sweaty and her hands trembled. This would be the first time seeing her daughter since she was a baby.

  "Let me show you something," Kwan said.

  It was a plastic bag over the girl’s head, and she was tied to a chair. She struggled, kicked and convulsed for air. The man ripped a hole in the bag and removed it from her head.

  "Sarah," Tressa whispered. She wanted to instinctively reach out toward her daughter, even if it was only a simulated image. Maintaining her composure was paramount. But as she saw the girl's face, Tressa covered her mouth with her hands, and tears began to flow. "Please, don't hurt her."

  She studied her daughter’s face; it was a replica of hers. She saw the pain and confusion in the young woman's eyes. The red hair and flawless oval face, darting green eyes to match quintessential eyebrows.

  "Very touching," Kwan said.

  "Who are you? Who are these men? What do they want with me?" Sarah said.

  "It's ok, Sarah, I am your mother, and I'm coming for you now," Tressa said.

  "Mother? My mother is dead. These men killed her," Sarah said.

  The man to her left slapped Sarah.

  Tressa stared at Kwan, felt her heart murmur. She could imagine the wicked smile under the mask.

  "If you hurt her—" Tressa said.

  "You in no position to make demands," Kwan interjected.

  "Why are you doing this? You wanted the Cube, I have it." Tressa said. "Give us your location, and we'll bring it to you."

  "You show yourselves to be very untrustworthy. We know you trying to track us now. It won't work. We smart; you not," Kwan quipped with a smug smile which faded into a series of angry furrows. "What about the Desani? Where is he?"

  "Why? He's of no concern of yours."

  "We know of his tracking skills. We don't need you leading him to us," Kwan said.

  "He's dead. So, it's one less thing you have to worry about."

  Kwan glanced at the man and woman on each side of him. "Dead?"

  Tressa thought he sounded disappointed. She nodded in the affirmative.

  "We'll give you coordinates soon; we need to make sure what you say is true, and you're not being tracked. Be alert and on standby," Kwan announced.

 
"Who are you? You aren't an agent of the Global Union, so why is the Cube so important to you? What's on it?"

  "If you don't wish an ill fate to befall your daughter, you'll stop asking questions and be at the rendezvous point when I tell you." Kwan stepped forward. "What you need to know is someone within your Coalition that has access to classified information and the highest level of clearance wants the Cube as badly as I do."

  The transmission cut off and as the images of Kwan and his cohorts disappeared, so did Tressa's sense of optimism about rescuing her daughter.

  Tressa was motionless on her knees. Rabbit knelt down and touched her shoulder, then Goliath helped her to her feet. "Don't worry, we'll get her. Then, we'll go get them."

  "Were you able to track them?" Tressa asked Rabbit.

  "No, sorry. They scrambled our systems, gave us over a hundred possible locations."

  Fighting the growing sense of despair, Tressa steeled her mind to determine what to do next. Like all her past opponents, she had to out-think them before taking action.

  Certainly, Kwan was quick to establish dominance, showing his willingness to torture his asset; he would put pressure on her to deal expediently on his terms, and by killing Sarah's adopted parents, he had shown that without question, he would do whatever was necessary.

  His hope was that she would panic - not have time to face a moral dilemma or realize the worth of the Cube. He was right; it worked. She wouldn't let her child be punished in any way, because of her. Kwan had nearly all the leverage.

  But he was also arrogant and overconfident, an extreme exploitable weakness.

  "Let's just get to Matrix, so we can find out what's on this thing. We get your daughter, get paid, then disappear," Goliath said.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  From now until the end of the world, we and it shall be remembered. We few, we band of brothers. For he who sheds his blood with me shall be my brother.

  ― William Shakespere

  If you wanted to disappear, the underbelly of Zone 6 was the perfect place. It was a place where seedy businessmen served people who wanted to get lost and stay off the grid. So chaotic, wild and untameable was the region, that a common saying among investigators in the both the Coalition and the Union was, "Well, they’re either dead and their bodies are incinerated, or they're hiding in Zone 6. Either way, you'll never see them again."

  Rothschild Boulevard was filled with runners and couples walking, the streets teeming with traffic as sky-cars whisked by.

  Tressa and her crew made it off the hyper-loop without incident. They got off a few blocks away from Matrix’ place to be extra careful, and after slipping into a back alley, they sauntered halfway down and stopped at a door.

  Tressa turned around and observed Hoss, who was still favoring his side and grimacing in pain. It was unseasonably cool in Zone 6, even for December. Tressa glanced at her wrist-comm, seeing the temperature read thirty-five degrees. The cold moist air bit at her cheeks but her suit’s life support systems kept her body temperature otherwise comfortable.

  "You sure we can trust this Matrix fella? How well do you know him?" Rabbit asked.

  "Have more respect, boy," Goliath said.

  Rabbit frowned.

  "Matrix is a good man," Hoss said, grimacing in pain.

  "Matrix was a legend long before the Coalition. He was a top American engineer when there was still a place called America, and a very skilled fighter pilot. When the war struck, he was one of the few that got out. But he went back over a hundred times, rescuing other survivors," Tressa said.

  Goliath looked down at Rabbit. "Imagine living through that. One day, your country is the most advanced, powerful nation on earth, and forty-eight hours later, it's back to the stone age."

  “EMP," Rabbit said.

  Tressa imagined for a moment what that must have been like.

  A total blackout of a country of four hundred million people. No electricity nationwide. Without a single bomb blast, the war was over before it started. In a moment, America was ended before its people had known they were under attack.

  The hammer of the earth was broken.

  Of course, just as nature abhors a vacuum, so do societies. Within weeks, sectarian factions formed and mercenary armies that had gathered in America years prior sprang to life. In a country already deeply divided, its political structure long compromised by corrupt politicians beholden to the elite and mega-corporations didn't stand a chance.

  Within six months, the land of Columbia became pandemonium made manifest.

  Conveniently, the rising man of peace, Annirus Aurelius, sent in his soldiers - the Annihilators - to "help" the Americans and calm civil unrest. He'd amassed a massive army seemingly out of thin air, subduing the country.

  His cyborg soldiers were completely loyal and near destructible, part-machine and part-clones replicated from the DNA of genetically superior soldiers. They were programmed and purposed for one thing: destruction - or as Aurelius referred to it - "tools for a great cleansing."

  Within a year, all American military personnel were wiped out, the country just a carcass left for its enemies to come and pick its bones.

  Tressa was one of the only people Matrix had made contact with since he’d retired from the Coalition forces. His moniker was derived from his unparalleled affinity to computer systems. There wasn't a system made which he couldn't slice into, given time.

  When he left, he was supposed to live at a Coalition facility built under the Atlantic Ocean, codenamed Atlantis. Being unbound by even the military's rules, he had other plans, and one day disappeared. He realized the war was a dead end regardless of who won, and the old system and values he believed in were no more, never to be seen or heard from again. But before he left, Matrix managed to teach Tressa something vital, something so revolutionary it helped motivate her to steal the Cube and rescue her daughter.

  Both now and in the past, for the poor and destitute, there was no justice. Not in the Federation. Not in any nation that had ever existed. What the common man didn't understand was how the system, all systems, were designed to oppress him, but also to give him the illusion he was just like everyone else and a part of the country’s success.

  And so, there were no masters worth serving, even those who claimed to keep the peace.

  Tressa glanced behind her; Hoss was struggling to keep pace, and Rabbit and Goliath stopped up ahead.

  "This is the place," Rabbit said, looking up at a broken sign written in Hebrew over the entrance.

  "Keep your eyes open," Tressa said before stepping inside. Goliath, Hoss, and Rabbit followed her in.

  A light fluttered off and on over a pool table, and two women with cheap red lipstick and trashy black leather skirts played a game. The bar held an area for old-school virtual reality games, three rugged beat-up couches that were probably used for VIP a decade ago, and several bar stools that needed to be reupholstered.

  Tressa walked in and peeked around, and the entire bar stopped and turned and looked at her. The bartender went about wiping the bar down, all the while staring at her. Tressa approached and sat in the only stool available.

  "Drink?" the bartender asked.

  Sam, a skinny boy in his late teens and wearing a brown hoodie, approached Tressa from her rear.

  "Follow me if you want to live," Sam said in a robotic voice.

  Rabbit had already moved into position in front of her, and Tressa had to grab his hand so he didn't reveal his weapon concealed underneath his raincoat.

  "He's with Matrix," Tressa said.

  'Don't be so jumpy. Sorry, I like old classic movies. So shoot me," Sam said, raising his hands in defense.

  "I almost did," Rabbit said.

  "Matrix? Where is Matrix?" Tressa asked.

  Sam motioned with his head for them to follow, then shuffled to the exit. A short ride later, and they were at an old warehouse in an alleyway.

  Matrix was outside to greet them.

  "Hurry it up. We don'
t need you getting spotted," Matrix said.

  "No need to fret, we're dead," Tressa said.

  "Just the same, I want you all inside. I haven't stayed hidden for five years by being sloppy," Matrix said.

  "No one has found you because no one is looking for you," Tressa smirked.

  He turned around and began to walk, then turned back to her. "I intend to keep it that way."

  Tressa grabbed his arm, his green jacket’s tough hide belying its looks. "We need to get Hoss into a med chamber. He's hurt bad."

  Matrix regarded him. Hoss' face was ghost-white, and his right hand clutched to his left ribs.

  "This way," Matrix said, pointing in the opposite direction up a flight of stairs.

  They all made their way up the stairs. Then Matrix led them into a small room. The walls were a cold and drab gray, and a single medical bed of the same color floating next to the wall and a metal stand were the only furniture.

  "Lie down," Matrix said to Hoss, then addressed his young assistant. "Sam, get them out of that armor."

  Sam placed an orb on the back shoulder of Hoss' armor. It sent a flow of electricity over the uniform, then the armor split and detached at the seams. The T-shirt he wore underneath was soaked in blood.

  "I just want to put as much space between us and this place as possible," Tressa said.

  Grimacing in pain, Hoss sat first then laid himself down on the table. Matrix saw the worry in Tressa’s eyes and then went to work on Hoss' ribs.

  Twenty minutes later, Hoss was patched up, and the crew was upstairs in what Matrix called his game room, where several holographic screens lined the walls. Tressa reached into her pouch and handed Matrix the halo-cube.

  In Matrix’ work room, four men sat in a circle around a metal table, their cushions torn from years of abuse. The walls were filled with posters of nude exotic women covered in tattoos, while above them toy models of muscle cars swung from the ceiling.

  Matrix pressed a button, and the table lit up, displaying numbers, letters, and maps in holographic form.