A New Beginning

by Alexander W Meurant

  "Do shut up you uncultured baboon. I don't have any patience for your sort, all angry and blustering" Keu stated and pressed the pistol against Garka's forehead that bit harder, a trickle of blood leaking from the point of contact.

  "Ha! You think you scare me fuck wit. Even if we tell you shit, you will still fucking kill us! So fucking go get bent jack ass" Garka snarled right back and pushed his head forward, causing the pistol muzzle to dig in further. Keu didn't show any sort of emotional reaction to the verbal abuse and simply pulled the trigger on his weapon. There was a bang and then the back of Garka's head exploded, plastering gore all over the floor behind him. Keu pulled his pistol away and grabbed Garka's turban, wiping the muzzle of his gun with it even as Garka slumped forward, blood running freely from both the front and rear of his head.

  Hearing screaming Mehrasa realised it was her and she scrabbled wildly at her bonds, her feet pushing forwards, trying to push her backwards along the floor, but she went nowhere. She just kept screaming, her eyes wide open and her terror now mixing with that of Mehrbad as he started to shake uncontrollably.

  "Someone shut her up" Keu snapped and flicked his pistol in her general direction before holstering it. One of the other four men stepped forward and backhanded Mehrasa hard across the face, sending her mind reeling and she slumped sideways, her screams suddenly cut off.

  "Good. You are quiet now. I don't need a damned harpy shrilling in here. It hurts the ears" Keu stated before moving to a wall and sitting down on a crate stacked against it.

  "Now, I am going to ask you some questions. If you answer truthfully, I will consider sparing your lives and letting you go. I would have done the same for your friend, but in my experience people like him get hard on's from being assholes" Keu stated and Mehrasa sobbed a little, her shock still quite strong. She was afraid, and she was shaking now, quite badly. Her drenched clothes didn't help either.

  "Just ask us what you want then! I'll answer what I can I swear" Merhbad said, his voice wavering badly and Mehrasa gulped, another sob coming through. She could feel a bruise welling up on her cheek from where she had been struck and her face was tender from the blow.

  "Good. Glad you will. First question. How many of you were there when you took the ship? Pirates I mean?" Keu asked as he brought out a small device and pressed a button on it.

  "There were twelve of us ok. I don't know how many there were in the other group. Those mercenaries" Mehrbad stammered, the words coming out in a panicked rush. Mehrasa stayed silent, as she tried to control her breathing and bring her shaking to an end. She was in an unknown place and had just witnessed a cold-blooded killing. She needed to think, to figure a way out of this situation and being hysterical would not help. She was tougher than this. Stronger. This guy had said he would let them go. So, there wasn't much to fear right? She flitted her gaze to Garka briefly and another sob broke through her before she looked away. She shouldn't have looked at his corpse.

  "The mercenaries? That is interesting. Tell me more about them" Keu asked, leaning forward with interest in his eyes. Mehrbad stared at the man with wide eyes, still shaking like a leaf in the wind.

  "We were paid to take the ship and told that we would meet up with mercenaries that were on the ship already, hiding in containers. They had been on board for weeks. We were just meant to take the ship, so the military would get involved, and the mercenaries would take care of everything else" Mehrbad replied, his words coming haltingly as he tried to form coherent sentences. Keu stayed silent as he pondered Mehrbad’s words for a short time. Quite suddenly he stood up, walking closer to Mehrbad, a thoughtful expression on his face.

  Mehrbad flinched and tried to push his chair backwards a little but failed, and Keu simply ignored his futile attempt to escape

  "I see. What were they supposed to take care of then? And do you know who hired them" Keu asked and then stopped moving, instead focusing his gaze on Mehrbad once more who seemed to wither under his gaze.

  "I am not sure. I wasn't told much. Our bosses just said that we should listen to the mercenaries when we got there, and they told us that they were going to trap and kill the marines, so that the Special Forces would get involved. And that we should knock off everyone’s helmets before we killed them. If there was a blond-haired man, then we were to capture him and kill the rest. I don't know anything else, but maybe Mehrasa does" Mehrbad stammered, his words coming in a barely controlled rush. He looked desperately over at Mehrasa then, a look of terror in his eyes and she felt her blood run cold. She swore she could see her own fear reflected in his gaze.

  "Ok. That fills in a few gaps. So, Mehrasa was it, what can you tell me about the employers" Keu asked and Mehrasa shivered, her eyes going to his. She watched the man crouch down again in front of her, his device still held in one of his hands, a small light flashing on it. It was distracting. Mehrasa blinked and let out a shuddering breath, her heart thumping painfully in her chest now.

  "I, I can't say much. I met with the guy organising the job in Kairo. The leader of the Rehani pirates, um, Rehan. He never told me who the actual employer was. But um, one of the guys in the group said the mercenaries boarded the ship up north in a Lyesian port" Mehrasa stammered, her eyes wide as she stared at the man, heart thumping even more painfully in her chest now, like it was fit to burst. Keu stayed silent as he seemed to think, then after a few moments he reached up and cupped the side of Mehrasa's face, the side that she had been struck earlier. She flinched and drew back from his touch causing a smirk to cross his face.

  "Well, that is a pity. Is there anything else you can tell me? Or is that it? Are you actually even Cassar? Where did you come from?" the man asked, his voice low as he focused solely on Mehrasa now, his stare now quite creepy. Mehrasa gulped and shook her head.

  "No, I don't know anything else. But we are Cassar, from the south" Mehrasa stammered and Mehrbad hissed.

  "Don't tell them where we are from sister! Don't! And you, Keu, we answered your other questions so let us go. Please" Mehrbad hissed from his chair and Keu pulled back a little, a wry look on his face.

  "Sister. You two are siblings. Well, that is intriguing. No matter. And I did say I would consider letting you go. I have considered, and I have decided not to. The penalty for piracy in the Union is death" Keu stated and lifted his hand again to pat Mehrasa on the cheek, sending lances of pain through her body even as an ice cold feeling enveloped her. Was this really the end?

  "No! No please! We told you everything we know. Please let us go!" Mehrbad begged, his voice distraught. Mehrasa just slumped in her chair, all the hope fleeing from her. She closed her eyes, defeated. The only emotion she felt was hate now. Hate for her brother who had insisted on an easy payday. Who had insisted on going back to piracy. And she had followed him so easily, wanting a better life than that stifling village. A niggling feeling of regret came up then, replacing that hate and she scowled bitterly.

  “Just, just be quiet Mehrbad, this is the risk we took. It was always a possibility” Mehrasa murmured softly, all fear seeming to evaporate from her. Mehrasa opened her eyes then and looked up as Keu walked away. He looked briefly back at her, not even any hint of remorse or guilt on his face. He then looked around to the four Samite men that had been lounging about listening to the exchange between Keu and the siblings.

  "Lads, kill them and throw them out the trash hatch. I don't want a mess. Oh, and feel free to have a play with the girl. My father used to say you should never let a pretty woman go to waste" Keu stated, his voice not even wavering before he finally walked off, the sound of a door opening and closing somewhere in the hold they were all in. Mehrasa blinked and stared wide eyed at the man's retreating back before turning her gaze on the group of four men, a new terror starting to creep through her.

  "What! You bastard! Don't you dare touch her you fuckers! Or I will kill you all" Mehrbad shrieked as Mehrasa watched the four men approach her, grins splayed out on their dark faces, flashes of white teeth showing i
n the gloomy light. As one started to undo his belt Mehrasa shook her head in disbelief. This wasn't happening. It couldn't be. She had to be dreaming, and she would wake up soon surely. But then the sting on her cheek reminded her that dreams didn't hurt. She whimpered as the men came closer, one producing a knife. Mehrbad spat at him and the man growled, turning sharply to face Mehrbad.

  "Dick head. I was gonna let you watch but I can't get in the mood with another dude spitting at me" the man stated and walked straight to Mehrbad and then stepped around behind him. He grabbed Mehrbad by the top of his head, getting a handful of turban and hair and pulled his head up even as that knife came around and was dragged across his throat.

  Mehrasa screamed as she watched her brother get his throat slit in front of her, blood instantly welling up and running down his front. He stared at her the whole time, his mouth flapping open and closed silently, the whites of his eyes showing. As his life fled him and he slumped forward, Mehrasa felt tears well up and spill over. She had treated him badly for the last few weeks, hating him, and yet he was her twin brother. And he had just tried to stand up for her, as futile as it was. And now he was dead in front of her because of it.

  The man that had killed her brother ripped off Mehrbads turban, the white cloth now stained with blood on its bottom half and he approached Mehrasa and shoved the bloodied end of the fabric into her mouth, cutting off her screams. Her eyes went wide as the other men grabbed her, other knives appearing and hacking away at the bonds that tied her to the chair. As soon as her limbs were free, she struggled, kicking and punching outwards randomly.

  She got a hard whack around the head and she slumped, falling into one of the men’s arms, dazed. They were all laughing even as they set to work tearing her clothes from her body and throwing them into the corners of the room. As Mehrasa felt the cold wet clothes torn from her, she sobbed into the cloth stuffed into her mouth, the taste of blood heavy on her tongue. Her brothers blood.

  Each of the men grabbed a limb of hers then, and Mehrasa struggled feebly once more as they pushed her down onto the cold floor of the room, the hard surface uncomfortable for her. Her struggles didn't faze the men at all now as one man grabbed both her arms, pulling them back up over her head. These men were all too strong for her. She couldn't fight them.

  As her eyes blurred with tears even more. Mehrasa saw a shape appear above her as a man leaned over her, and then pain suddenly tore through her lower body and she screamed into the gag, her arms struggling that little bit harder for the briefest of moments. The pain got worse and the blurry shape above her kept moving and she just kept whimpering, her legs spasming with each motion. As the pain continued, Mehrasa found herself wishing for the pain to end. Wishing for this whole thing to be over. Wishing for the release of death she knew now awaited her.

  * * *

  "They are definitely following us, though they are being fairly cautious" Anne stated as she jabbed a stick down into the dirt and circled a point of the rough map she had drawn.

  "I saw them at the part where the ravine splits in two. They were looking for our tracks" Anne continued and jabbed her stick at the point again.

  "Good luck with that, its rocky ground and we left no footprints. How many were there, and did they take the correct path?" Victor asked and heard someone scoff in the circle of group leaders. He frowned and looked at the speaker, seeing it was Rupert, the cocky lieutenant. Victor stared at him and the man eventually just looked away from Victor, staying silent.

  "There were twenty-eight of them, some wounded and barely fit for duty. When my team and I left, they had just sent two runners up each branch. Probably to search for tracks" Anne stated and shrugged. Victor scowled and stood up and looked around his position. They were currently at the end of the ravine and essentially trapped. They had followed the thin stream and it had led them to a small forest of dry trees. And that forest butted up against a sheer cliff wall on three sides, from which thin rivulets of water cascaded from between cracks in the rock wall.

  The place was essentially a dead end, and a death trap. The forest was barely a few hundred square meters at his bare estimate, and was cluttered with dry underbrush, rock and fallen trees. If a fight with energy weapons erupted here, the place would catch fire easily and turn into a raging inferno.

  "There are less than thirty of them. We outnumber them four to one. We should just wipe them out" came that voice a second time and Victor looked at Rupert with annoyance as some of the other leaders murmured their agreement with the man. How this man had become an army lieutenant he didn't know.

  "And only half of us have proper weapons, and even then, we have next to no ammunition. Anne can only refresh the energy clips so fast. And to add again, we can only fit around twenty people abreast in the ravine with barely any cover. And do you want to fight in this forest, turning it into a fire and cooking us alive?" Victor growled in anger and he whipped his head around the group of leaders, many of them now refusing to meet his eyes.

  "We could charge downhill into them and many of us would die. Are you prepared for that? Do you want to lead that charge, because be my guest" Victor added and he looked around again, noting the silence among them. After a while Anne stood up to and sighed.

  "Then what are we to do Victor? We lose in any situation. We can't do much without ambushing them" Anne asked, causing some of the group leaders to look up. There was a dozen of them all here, each leading a group of ten guerrilla’s each, yet Victor doubted they could actually lead. These people were marines, used to landing operations and urban warfare, not the sort of fighting they did now.

  Victor sighed and looked around the area again, flicking his eyes at the cliff that ran along the eastern side of the ravine. He could see a number of outcroppings and wondered if they could be scaled to offer a firing position from up high. He then looked down to the forest around him and noted the many fallen trees around them, many of his guerrillas siting on or resting against them.

  "A great general once said that half a victory was already won if the battlefield was chosen correctly and manipulated. Shawn, get your fighters to swap their weapons with others for long range ones, then grab some rope and climb those out cropping’s and set up a firing position. You will have to lay flat on them I imagine" Victor stated and pointed to the outcroppings he had seen. As his people all looked to where he pointed, Victor cast his gaze to the bottom of the ravine. It ran south, dead straight from the forest for about a hundred meters before turning sharply to the west and curving away for a few kilometres until it reached the split where it joined with another ravine.

  "The rest of us get to work moving some of these fallen trees down the ravine, a few dozen meters away from this forest. We will make a few rows of barricades. Thankfully the ravine runs downhill from here, so we can set up a few firing lines above each other. If Shawn gets on those outcroppings, we can use our superior numbers to a certain degree when the Imperials arrive" Victor stated and looked around at the leaders, all looking a bit more confident than before.

  "Get to it people! We don't have long!" Victor exclaimed and there was a sudden burst of movement as people erupted into action, all going to do what Victor said. All except Anne who stepped up to him and perked a brow.

  "I guess I will take my team down the ravine and act as scouts then?" she asked, and Victor blinked. He had not thought of that.

  "Yes, do so, and come back as soon as you see the Imperials. I doubt we will get the complete drop on them, but we don't have much of a choice" Victor stated and smiled weakly at Anne who returned it before turning away and taking her team, another two people who had magical abilities. If they got spotted, they could shield themselves magically and retreat. Sighing, Victor turned away and got to helping his people with moving trees for makeshift barricades. It was going to be tiring work and hopefully they could get it done by nightfall.

  Chapter 34

  * * *

  "Are you listening Lieutenant?" Sembak asked and Lesha
jolted back to her senses, turning her head to look at the commander, a slightly confused look on her face. She blinked a few times, trying to focus her attention and push away her drifting thoughts.

  "Apologies sir, my mind was elsewhere" Lesha stated and smiled apologetically at Sembak. He narrowed his eyes at her and then let out a heavy sigh as he leant back into his desk chair, an irritated look on his face.

  "I am not stupid Lieutenant. But nor am I heartless. If you thought I didn't notice how you reacted to Belford, then you are mistaken. Whatever you had going on with him has clearly affected your performance. So when we return to the base, I expect you to have forms on my desk for time off. A week perhaps" Sembak stated as kept his gaze on Lesha, looking over her demeanour. She gulped, realising that perhaps her facade had not been as tough as she thought.

  "Yes sir, I think some time off would be best" Lesha stated, refraining from enlightening Sembak on the nature of her relationship with Sain. It was only a casual thing anyway. He didn't need to know. Sembak didn't reply and simply kept his gaze on Lesha, surveying her silently. The silence spread between them, to a point that it became quite uncomfortable. Lesha felt she needed to say something, just to break the awkward situation. She opened her mouth to say something right as a knock sounded on the door to Sembak's small office, causing Lesha to jump slightly in surprise.