Orphans of War

by Cory Travis

  Chapter Two

   

   

  Duncan managed to get himself and Matt across town to the spare apartment he and Trent had set-up as a precautionary measure should anything ever happen. Duncan was amazed they had made it there before the whole planet fell into total chaos. He took extra caution to ensure no one had followed them.

  Matt hadn’t said a word since they left his house. “I know it’s not much, this if for you,” Duncan handed Matt the photo he had grabbed on the way out.

  Matt took the photo and hugged it tightly to his chest as he sobbed.

   

  It had been nearly an hour since Matt had stopped crying, but he wouldn’t even look at Duncan. Not that Duncan could blame him, it was his job to protect them, all of them, and he hadn’t been there when his Dad needed him most. Duncan couldn’t even look himself in the mirror.

  “Mom and Dad are dead, aren’t they?” Matt asked, still holding the photo which Duncan really looked at for the first time since they left, it was one of those picture-perfect family photos, everybody smiling and neatly dressed, hair combed perfectly, and it made Duncan realize just how much he was holding back his own grief.

  He stared at Matt’s bloodshot eyes and knew there was no point in lying; he already knew the truth. “Yes. I’m so sorry Matt.”

  The tears began to swell in Matt’s eyes once more and Duncan took him in his arms, trying to comfort him while fighting back tears of his own.

  “What do we do now?” Matt asked after a long moment.

  “I need to get you someplace safe. I’m hoping your Uncle might be able to help with that,” Duncan said, turning away as if to check to see if he’d received a message back yet on the computer, but in reality he was bracing for what he knew would come next.

  “You called Uncle Finn?!” Matt exclaimed with equal parts disbelief and dread.

  “Yes. But right now we need to get out of here – grab your stuff.”

   

  Duncan knew that Matt’s uncle wasn’t the ideal choice. If he had any other option he would have taken it. But as it were, the boy’s uncle, Finn, was their only option. They needed to get off world fast and lay low until Duncan could get ahold of Finn and find a safe place. War was upon them and if they didn’t get away soon, they would be caught in the middle of it. Finn was the perfect pilot for getting them out of a war zone, but Duncan hoped they would be long out of danger by the time they met up with him.

  Duncan pulled his enclosed mini-transport into the long-term parking at the space port, checking his mirrors and surveying the scene around him – nothing looked out of place, or more accurately everything looked out of place. People looted shops left and right, panic reigned supreme, Duncan knew he would be on edge until they were safely off planet.

  “Let’s go. Stay close to me and keep your head down,” Duncan said to Matt. “Don’t worry, I won’t let anything happen to you,” he said reassuringly.

  “Like the way you didn’t let anything happen to Mom and Dad?” Matt replied accusingly as he threw the door open and climbed out, slamming it back shut.

  Duncan knew the boy was grieving and didn’t take the words personal. But he also couldn’t argue the point Matt had made. It was his job to protect them. He had failed. But he would not fail again.

  Duncan emerged from the car with a new sense of purpose as they made their way through the parking garage toward the entrance to the cargo delivery section of the space port. He found himself saying a silent prayer that the code would still work with the military lockdown in effect.

  He punched in the code – the key pad beeped and flashed red. It didn’t work. Maybe he had entered it wrong.

  Before he could enter the code again an overweight security guard came jogging over to meet them. “You can’t go in that way. The whole space port is in lockdown,” he stated between labored breathes.

  “We have to get inside to receive a time-sensitive shipment,” Duncan replied, pasting the most innocent and scared look he could muster on his face. “It’s medication for my nephew,” he added indicating Matt as he tried to keep his face hidden under the adult sized baseball cap Duncan had given him.

  The guard seemed to study Matt for a second before nodding to himself. “Right, then I’ll just have to check your Red Card for medical shipments,” the guard stated, looking to Duncan expecting him to show the red authorization card allowing access for medical shipments.

  “I must have left it at home,” Duncan replied after checking his jacket and pants pockets, making a show of searching for the card.

  “I’m sorry, but I’m afraid that without that card I can’t let you in,” the guard stated as he wiped the sweat from his brow with a handkerchief.

  “We really need those meds, sir,” Duncan pleaded. “Without them the boy won’t make it through the night,” the desperation in his voice very real.

  The guard seemed to consider their predicament, weighing his options for a moment. “Let me see your ID and I’ll call it in real quick, maybe someone can go retrieve the supplies for you,” he offered reaching for the microphone clipped to his shoulder.

  “Sure, I got it right here,” Duncan replied as he glanced around the empty parking garage – no witnesses or cameras in sight. He turned slightly to his side, balled his fist, and drove it into the side of the guards head with practiced precision that knocked the guard out cold.

  “What did you do that for?!” Matt demanded.

  “Keep your voice down,” Duncan whispered harshly. He grabbed the guard’s keycard off his belt. “We have to get out of here now.”

  “But why did you have to hit him?” Matt asked, quieter this time.

  Duncan swiped the key card and got the door opened before turning back to Matt. “Hold the door,” he demanded, ignoring the boy’s question.

  Matt complied with the request with obvious reservations as Duncan hauled the guard through the door and propped him against the wall of the hallway on the other side.

  “Don’t worry – he’ll be fine,” Duncan said, trying to sound reassuring. He regretted having knocked out the guard, but it had to be done.

   

  It took five minutes for them to make their way through the corridors leading to the hangers in the industrial shipping area.

  “Are you sure we should be back here?” Matt asked skeptically.

  “Yep,” Duncan continued to check the numbers on the side of the hangers as they jogged past maintenance workers and utility robots refueling spacecraft, sweeping floors, and other menial tasks. “This is where your Dad and I stored her in case of emergency – I’d say this qualifies.”

  “My dad?” Matt asked, taken aback. He was trying not to think of his parents. It was the only way he could deal with what was happening and keep moving forward without breaking down.

  “There it is,” Duncan announced triumphantly. He pulled the keycard from his wallet and slid it through the lock, the display lit up green.

  As the hangar doors split apart they slowly revealing the small, below-average-looking transport ship. Duncan thought back to the day Trent had called him to meet at the spaceport for a ‘special surprise’. “Why would someone with the kind of wealth you have buy something like that?” Duncan had asked him at the time. “In case of emergency,” was all that Trent had said before showing him the laundry list of special modifications done to the ship. “I decided to call her the Spirit of Freedom,” Trent had said with a sad look in his eyes. It was a day that Duncan remembered well, a day that echoed of the past that both men had tried to outrun.

  “That’s what you were looking for?” asked Matt with all the same reservations Duncan had had on the day Trent had shown the ship to him for the first time.

  “Trust me,” Duncan replied with a laugh and a wink.

   

  The little ship fired right up and Duncan began punching in coordinates to get off Hekla when the radio call sounded. He stopped what he was doing and stared at th
e blinking light on the console, trying to think how to handle it. If it was the planetary launch control at the spaceport they would surely instruct him to shut down immediately. Failing to follow instructions would mean he’d have the planet’s Space Force after him as well as whoever was surely waiting for them in orbit.

  “Are you going to get that?” Matt asked.

  “No,” Duncan replied, knowing that answering would only slow them down – they needed to go. Now. Duncan finished punching in coordinates and pushed the thruster handle on his right, engaging the thrusters for takeoff as the ship began to hover he slowly moved it out of the hanger before punching the throttle, sending the ship skyward with such speed that Duncan was certain no ship on this planet would be able to keep pace.

  They broke through the atmosphere and a warning light flashed as the target lock warning blared. Duncan could see the planetary defense turret to his left rotating its guns to bear on their ship.

  Duncan twisted the ship around, spiraling away from the turret in a gut wrenching run for the stars. Red laser blasts streaked by wide to starboard as the Jupiter Drive came online and the navigation computer finished calculating their course.

  “Here we go,” Duncan announced as he reached for the silver lever in the middle of the dash, pulling it down and engaging the Jupiter Drive, sending the ship and passengers safely into the portal created by the Jupiter Drive – allowing them to travel at nearly six times the speed of light, nearly double that of the fastest Alliance Space Patrol ship.