by G J Ogden
The ship surged forward; Diana and the injured woman slid to the rear of the compartment, colliding hard with the aft console. Diana groaned, but pushed herself up and lifted the woman into a seat, pulling the harness over her chest; she was barely conscious and her head flopped forward, wispy black hair covering her face. Diana struggled back over to the two boys and buckled their harnesses. “It’s okay!” she said. “Your mom’s okay. Everything will be okay,” and then she lifted herself into a seat and fastened her own harness. “Everything will be okay…” she said again, this time to herself.
The ship decelerated, but the restraints held them tightly. Over the commlink, Diana heard Maria’s voice.
“We’re in the tube. Launch in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…” and then the ship surged forward again, the intense acceleration remaining constant for several seconds, before the pressure eased and the noise in the cabin reduced from a riotous din to a dull roar. Outside the windows, Diana could see stars.
“We made it!” Diana exclaimed, and looked over at the boys with a smile, “We’re clear, we made it!”
The two boys managed weak smiles in return and then looked over at their mother, and their faces fell again.
“She’ll be fine,” said Diana, with warmth and feeling. “We’ll take good care of her.”
Then the woman stirred and lifted her head up, her black hair still plastered across her face. She raised a hand and smoothed it away to reveal her features for the first time, and Diana’s heart almost exploded in her chest. She knew this woman. Her name was Ann Elizabeth Kurren, and she was General James Kurren’s wife.
Chapter 4
Raina was dragged to the center of the courtyard and thrown to her knees by a soldier wearing vibrant blue armor and a helmet that obscured his face behind an inky-blue, glassy visor. Surrounding her, also on their knees, were the remaining officers and crew under her command. There were eighteen in total – the spaceport’s complement at the moment of the attack had been ninety-four.
The soldier’s blank, masked face peered down at her. “Traitorous scum!” he shouted, and though the voice was heavily modulated through the mask’s digitizer, his contempt came across clearly.
Raina clutched her shoulder, unsuccessfully trying to stem the flow of blood leaking from a gunshot wound. She had been hit towards the end of battle, after the ships carrying the UEC evacuees had escaped and Maria had destroyed the pulse cannon. This had bought them some time, but in reality only delayed their inevitable defeat. All around her Raina could hear the fizz of smashed electrical systems, and the crack and creak of smoldering buildings and vehicles that had been destroyed during the fight.
Raina stared down at the blood pooling on the smooth, black surface of the deck, and released the pressure on her shoulder. Diana and Maria had been right, she finally admitted to herself; they had never stood a chance. Somehow, she had to let Maria know the spaceport was lost; she had to let them know not to attempt a return. Raina leant forward, bending double and feigning far greater pain and injury than she was feeling. She cradled her injured arm and, using her hunched-over body to shield her actions from the watching soldiers, flipped open the panel of her PVSM and entered a coded message. If she was lucky, Kurren’s forces had yet to take control of the spaceport’s systems and lock-out her access, which would mean there was still a chance to get a message out to Maria. She finished quickly, closed the panel and then rocked back, checking cautiously to see if she had raised any suspicions. But the blue boots just stood, statue-like, cradling their weapons as attentively as Raina had cradled her wounded shoulder.
One of the soldiers stepped forward through the line and stood in front of Raina. He removed his helmet and placed it under his arm. She didn’t recognize the man. He was young, perhaps in his late twenties or early thirties, with wispy blond hair that somehow didn’t quite seem to suit his rugged, square face, but the way this man looked at her, cornered and on her knees before him, made her feel afraid. It was the look of a bully, slowly bearing down on his quarry in the moments before the beating began.
“You can fall back in line now, Sergeant Nurem,” the man said, waving away the soldier who had dragged her into the courtyard. The masked soldier lingered for some moments longer, shrouded face still angled down at Raina, before finally withdrawing as ordered.
Raina heard the clump, clump, clump of heavy regulation-issue boots advancing towards her; she lifted her head and saw General Kurren marching imperiously across the courtyard. He was dressed in regular uniform, unlike his armored troops, and moved with the arrogant swagger of a man who believed he owned the place. As he passed them by, each of the armored soldiers stood robotically to attention, as if an electric current had suddenly been applied to their backs. Kurren stopped beside the unmasked soldier, who saluted stiffly, and then peered down at Raina. His expression was one of smug satisfaction, but there was also a wicked intent behind his eyes.
“Who have we here, Major Darien?” said Kurren in the same way a school master might address a newly arrived student.
“This is Commander Kira Raina, sir,” said Darien. Then he added, with heavy sarcasm, “She’s the one in charge here.”
“Not any longer, it seems,” said Kurren, cruelly. “Though it seems she was successful in at least one aspect, Major. Tell me, where are the defectors?”
Major Darien’s chin dropped almost imperceptibly, “I’m sorry, sir,” he said. “I take full responsibility, of course.”
“A minor complication,” said Kurren, still focused on Raina. “One that will be rectified soon, once I have destroyed the GPS space station.”
Raina laughed. “And how do you propose to do that, General?” She looked around the courtyard, faking a look of confusion. “I don’t see any blue boots in flight gear, and as sure as this moon orbits the planet, no UEC flyer will ever follow you, or fly for you.”
Kurren smiled, broadly. Raina’s arrogance and defiance was predictable and exactly what he had expected from her. He took a step closer and leaned forward, glowering down at her with unambiguous disdain. “I don’t need your precious flyers,” he said, savoring every moment of Raina’s humiliation. “For the last three years, I’ve been training a squad of my best men, in secret, right under the nose of that fool, Archer.”
Raina’s smile disappeared, which only made Kurren’s grin become even more boastful. He tilted his head towards Major Darien, while still keeping his eyes fixed on Raina’s. “Piloting these vessels is simple, isn’t that right, Major Darien?”
“Nothing to it, General,” said Darien, folding his arms. A corner of his mouth tightened into a cruel smile. “I never understood why we need the Flying Corp in the first place.”
Kurren looked at Raina squarely again. “Good point,” he replied, and with a darkly sinister edge, added, “The truth is that we don’t need the Flying Corp.”
Raina’s jaw was clenched so tightly that her gums ached. She wanted to reach up and tear Kurren’s throat out.
Kurren could see the tightness in the woman’s face and the veins swelling in her neck from the sudden surge of anger that she could not hide, and it only encouraged him further. “What did you think? That this was all done on a whim? That I hadn’t anticipated your pathetically predictable attempt to resist?” Kurren was enjoying himself now, and in full flow. “You flyers have always been stuck-up and arrogant. You always thought you were better than us simple blue boots. Now you are obsolete.”
Raina caved in and sprang to her feet, lunging at Kurren with hands outstretched like tiger claws, but her attack was obstructed by the forearm of Major Darien slamming into her face. Dazed, Raina scrambled to her knees and spat blood onto the deck. Darien moved to strike her again, but Kurren held out a hand, smiling.
“Easy now, Major Darien,” he said, brightly. “The Commander here is just a little spirited. We can understand that, considering the circumstances.”
Raina dabbed the corner of her mouth with her sleeve and examined the re
d smear it left behind. Her jaw throbbed and felt numb, and her failed lunge had caused more damage to her wounded shoulder, which continued to leak. Raina probed a loose tooth with her tongue, and then spat another globule of blood-streaked saliva onto the deck. Feeling weak and light-headed she scanned the courtyard and the rows of blue boots, lined up in front of what remained of her own forces, and the realization of what was to come suddenly struck her with the force of a dozen forearms to the head. If Kurren had trained his own men to fly then he didn’t need her compliance. He had no reason to keep her alive. She rocked back, sitting on her heels and looked up at Kurren. The metallic taste of blood lingered in her mouth.
“These soldiers may follow you, General,” said Raina, “But the people will never accept you, or forgive you for what you’ve done.”
Kurren’s eyes narrowed. “What I’ve done is win the war!” he growled, angered by Raina’s continued disrespect. “Five years ago, you would have done the same, but that fool, Archer, and your deserter-friend, Salus, have twisted your minds and made you forget our true purpose!”
Raina shook her head, “I was wrong back then,” she said, calmly. “We all were. This was never our war to fight. What Maria did was give us a chance to make things right; a chance that none of us thought was possible. And you’ve taken that away from us. From all of us.”
“I’ve given us a victory!” said Kurren, triumphantly.
Raina snorted. “Victory? Is that what you think this is?” She gestured to the bodies lying all around them. “These are our own men and women that you’ve slaughtered, General. Your own people.”
“Victory requires sacrifice, Commander,” replied Kurren, “and these were not ‘my people’, as you put it. They were warned not to resist, just as you were, and so they became the enemy. They are no different to GPS.”
“And what about your family, General? Your own children?” said Raina trying desperately to retain her calm and dignity. “Are they now your enemy?”
Kurren’s face contorted. “What are you talking about?”
“You didn’t know?” said Raina with a wry smile. “The traitors, as you call them, who fled here for safety, and who I helped to escape, included your wife and two sons.”
Kurren reached down and grabbed the grip of his sidearm. “You lie!” he snarled.
Raina laughed and smiled. She had lost the fight, but embarrassing the general in front of his men was at least some small consolation.
“No, General. We ran idents on everyone we let into the compound. You can access the data yourself and see that I’m telling the truth.”
Kurren’s face was like taut barbed-wire; he looked over at Major Darien, who was tapping commands into his PVSM.
“You expect the people to follow you, yet you can’t even manage to inspire loyalty from your own family,” continued Raina, taunting the general further, “What a fitting testimony to your great victory.”
Darien was scrolling through the list of names, and after a few seconds he stopped and his eyes widened. Darien looked up at Kurren and silently confirmed what Raina had said.
Kurren’s mouth curled into a snarl; he drew his sidearm and pressed the barrel to Raina’s forehead. Raina leaned into it, feeling the cold metal against her skin, and met Kurren’s eyes with a look of pure contempt.
“Here is proof of my victory!” Kurren said, and he squeezed the trigger.
The report of the gunshot resonated around the spaceport and hung in the air for several seconds after Raina had slumped sideways and collapsed onto the deck. Kurren stood for a moment, looking down at the body, cursing himself for not shooting her sooner. He had wanted to savor the moment; in many ways, he had hoped that Raina would submit and validate his actions. But instead, with her dying act, she had defied him and made him look weak in front of his men.
Major Darien cautiously stepped into Kurren’s peripheral vision. “What about the others, sir?”
“Kill them all,” Kurren ordered without a moment’s hesitation. He calmly flipped on the safety and holstered his side-arm. “Then get our pilots ready. We move onto the next phase immediately.”
“But, what of your family, sir? Should…”
“This changes nothing, Major,” Kurren interrupted him. “Is that clear?”
“Yes, General,” Major Darien answered promptly, though he was a little chilled by Kurren’s indifference to the knowledge that his family was on the space station that he now intended to destroy. Darien tapped a command into his PVSM and then approach three soldiers, distinguished from the others by a red stripe on one shoulder.
“Squadron, on me,” ordered Darien, before turning and walking purposefully towards the hangars at the other side of the compound. As he walked, the line of soldiers standing in front of the remaining prisoners raised their weapons and opened fire, but Darien did not look back.
Kurren pressed his hands behind his back and watched as the slaughter unfolded. The crackle of rifle fire was overlaid with gruesome screams and frantic pleas for mercy, but in a matter of seconds the cries had fallen silent, and all that remained was the distant rumble of gunfire, slowly fading away.
Kurren observed in silence as the bodies fell, one after the other, and when none remained, he again stared down at Raina’s crumpled corpse, her head now framed by a circle of blood that steadily dripped through grates in the cold metal decking. Anger still swelled in his gut, but now for a different reason. It didn’t matter that he had separated from his wife more than a year earlier; her defection, especially with his two sons, weakened his authority and opened up room for doubt, not only amongst the people, but also his men. He had mocked Archer and the others for their weakness in leadership and character, which meant he had to show strength now more than ever. Victory required sacrifice, he told himself again and, in that moment, he resolved to make an example of them all, including his own family. He would play the role of merciful leader, and offer GPS the chance to return these traitors, offering amnesty. But the truth was there would be no pardon for these traitors. Those of mature age would be executed, including his wife, while the young would be placed under military care, to be raised as the next generation of soldiers. Raised to believe unequivocally in the superiority of the UEC, and to fight for their birthright – governorship of the planet itself. He looked down at Raina’s body one last time and he felt sorry for her. How was it that she had failed to understand that his actions had been just and true? How could she turn her back on her own people? He thought about this and then his anger turned to pity and disgust.
In the distance he heard the engines of four fighter craft hum into life, and he looked up to see three UEC soldiers dressed in flight suits, led by Major Darien, climb into the cockpits and close their dark glass canopies. He watched the ships slide slowly towards the launch pods and then turned on his heels and marched back towards the smashed gate of the spaceport, stepping over the dead bodies lying on the deck as casually as if they were just litter in the streets.
Chapter 5
Maria set the ship down and punched a sequence of controls to depressurize and unlock the main compartment. The hatchway hissed open and the ramp extended onto the deck of docking platform four, inside the vast orbital space station of Global Power Security. They had been instructed to land in the secondary docking bay, which was one of the many additions to the original GPS Station, built to accommodate the fleet of scavenger ships that GPS used to scour the debris field left over from the destruction of the refinery. These ships combed space for usable resources, such as orrum, workable metals, and even damaged ships and other intact pieces of technology that could be used to repair or replace components on the station.
Maria jumped down from the flight deck and stepped up to Diana and the three other passengers. “We’re on deck, is everyone okay?”
“We’re all fine,” said Diana, releasing her harness.
A deck officer stepped onto the ramp and looked at Diana, awaiting her instructions.
“Please take these two brave young men to the temporary shelter and see that they have something to eat and drink.”
The two boys looked anxiously at their mother.
“It’s okay, you can go with him,” said Ann Kurren in a relaxed and comforting tone. “I’ll join you very soon.”
Smiling warmly at them, Diana unfastened their harnesses and the two boys trotted nervously down the ramp and followed the deck officer out into the cavernous hangar. When they were out of sight, Diana’s smile fell away and she turned to face Ann Kurren.
“What’s going on?” asked Maria.
“We have an added complication,” Diana answered. “Isn’t that right, Mrs. Kurren?”
“Mrs. Kurren?” said Maria. “As in Ann Kurren? You mean this is General Kurren’s wife?”
Ann Kurren unfastened her harness and stood up. “We’re not together anymore.”
“That’s hardly the point,” said Diana, folding her arms.
“Look, I didn’t mean for this to happen,” said Ann, defensively. “I had to get my boys away from him. You don’t know what he’s capable of, but I do.”
“I think we all know what he’s capable of now,” said Maria. “But surely you realize that by coming here you have made things worse for yourself, and your sons? You would have been safer staying.”
Ann thought about this for a moment, and then her eyes softened. “Safer, perhaps,” she said, solemnly. “But you haven’t seen what he’s become. He was always a serious man, and he could be cold and thoughtless. But these last few years he turned bitter and resentful, and increasingly…” she paused, struggling to find the rights words, before eventually settling on “…cruel.”
Diana unfolded her arms and instead held them in front of her.
“It’s why I left. It’s why I had to get away from him now. Not for me, but for my boys.”
Diana sighed. She couldn’t blame her, but it didn’t change the fact that her being here with Kurren’s sons was a dangerous complication.