Resistance Rising

by Matthew Savage

  “We are on our way now, sir,” Steven said.

  “Carry on, then,” Director Moore said. He rushed past them giving orders to other agents.

  They reached Captain Underwood’s office and Steven knocked. “Come in,” Captain Underwood’s voice said muffled.

  In his office sat Mary and Orson. They had been waiting a while for the rest of them to show up. Captain Underwood stood and closed his door behind them. Sarah wondered what this was about.

  “I just wanted to say, good job at the Fortress,” Captain Underwood said. He had a somber tone in his voice. “I know things didn’t go as planned. I am not pleased with the outcome, and I can only imagine what you two are going through. Despite that you all acted valiantly. You made the Insurgence proud,” He said gesturing toward Sarah and Nolan. “I wanted you all here so I could say that we are a team. We are here for each other.”

  “Thank you,” Sarah started. “It means a lot.”

  “For now we are to remain here and gather intelligence. Our attack is bound to have made some ripples; it won’t be long now before we have to make another move against the Government. This time we need to be well prepared.”

  The team silently nodded in agreement. Captain Underwood dismissed them until tomorrow. Sarah wanted to do more but she could feel the exhaustion setting in. When they arrived back at base after the battle they all crashed in their rooms. Sarah was physically so tired and only now did she start to feel, mentally tired. A part of her wanted to work to get her mind off of her loss. The other part wanted nothing more than to just stay in bed.

  The rest of the day was boring. Sarah, Nolan, Steven, and Karli hung out on Sarah and Nolan’s floor. They watched the news but it didn’t last long. The news was trying to spin the attack negatively against the Democratic Insurgence. This filled her with rage; didn’t they realize what happened to her father there? They didn’t realize that they were being controlled by the government.

  “Of course they are going to say we were wrong,” Steven said. “It isn’t about them saying we are wrong it is about hearing what the enemy is saying. We made the first move by telling people. Now the government is playing catch up to try and discredit what was said.”

  He had a point, Sarah thought. Steven had a good way of seeing things from different angles. She figured that was why he was sent to work in intelligence rather than just a regular soldier. Sarah liked hearing him speak, there was something about how passionate he got when he spoke that made her want to just sit and listen. She wanted to get closer to him and she thought she knew why. Sometimes when he spoke, she thought of that moment when he held her on the ship that brought them back. She wondered if that was just a post-battle thing they did or if it meant something more. Sarah also noted that Nolan seemed to be getting closer with Karli. There was something funny about their appearance. Karli with her wrapped up foot and Nolan with his hurt shoulder.

  Karli excused herself to bed early. Karli told them how she had to return to work in the morning, ‘apparently work doesn’t stop’ Karli joked. She worked for the communications department and with the way things were now Karli said she thought they would be much busier now. Nolan said he would help her to her room and they both headed to the elevator. This left Sarah and Steven alone. She had been alone with Steven before but something felt different about this time. They made small talk, Sarah felt awkward. They were at war and all she could talk about was random people she had served at her restaurant. Steven seemed to find the talk amusing and he chimed in several times about experiences he had while working at a grocery store in his home town. They both had yawned several times in a row before Steven said he was going to go to sleep. They both stood and walked towards the elevator together. Sarah had no idea why she went with him. He knew where the elevator was. Steven hit the button to go down. They both stood in silence with each other.

  “So what happens now?” Sarah asked. Sarah wondered what kind of mission they would go on, now that they were at war.

  Steven stepped closer to her. They were looking into each other’s eyes. “With what?” Steven asked. This was the closest she had ever gotten to him. Their heads started moving closer together but the elevator door opened and Nolan was standing there.

  “What are you two doing?” He asked.

  Sarah and Steven both took several steps back.

  “Waiting for the elevator,” Sarah said trying to think of something on the spot.

  “I was just off to bed,” Steven said.

  His face was red and he walked past Nolan and into the elevator. He waved goodbye and said something but Sarah couldn’t understand what he had said. He had talked so fast it was almost like the words had mushed together. Sarah and Nolan were in the empty hall together.

  “What were you two doing while I was gone?” Nolan asked.

  “Nothing,” Sarah said. She headed towards her room.

  “It didn’t look like nothing,” Nolan said.

  “Look who’s talking. Ever since we got back you and Karli had been at each other’s side.”

  “She needs help getting around. I am her friend.”

  “Just her friend?” Sarah asked, not believing for a moment they were just friends.

  “Yes, just a friend.” Nolan said defensibly.

  They entered their room and Sarah got ready for bed as fast as she could. She lay there thinking of Steven. He was so close to her. Her eyes got heavy.

  Sarah was in the hallway with Steven. They were nose to nose. She could feel his breath on her face. He slowly put his hand around her. She was almost touching him. BANG! His chest exploded. His weight had pulled her to the ground. She was covered in blood. Steven’s face was as white as a sheet. She looked up and the Major from The Fortress was there. His eyes were red and his gun was smoking pointing at Sarah. She watched as Major Fulton slowly pulled the trigger and a flash of light erupted from the barrel.

  Sarah awoke and was drenched in sweat. She had the urge to go and find Steven to make sure he was alright. She realized she had been dreaming, the Major wasn’t inside the base, and Steven was safe in his bed. Sarah looked out her window and it was dark out. Sarah decided to get up and shower. She felt gross from how much she had sweat. It was a relief washing in the shower and even though Sarah was tired, the dream was still on her mind. She didn’t want to sleep for fear of falling back into the dream. She got ready and put on her uniform to wander the base until she had to report to Captain Underwood. She knew some people would be up but so far as she knew there weren’t any rules about walking around at night. Though she wondered if that rule had changed since the last time people were wandering the base they had started the war. If that was the case when she was told to go back to bed, she would just sit in her room or try and get a jump start on work. Sarah turned a corner and ran straight into Ian. He seemed out of it. For a moment Sarah thought he was sleepwalking.

  “What are you doing up?” Sarah asked.

  It took him a moment to register the question. “I… uh… couldn’t get comfortable,” Was all Ian said. His voice was hoarse. “You?”

  “Same,” Sarah said. She didn’t want to tell him about the dream.

  “Mind if I hang out with you?” Ian asked. He seemed embarrassed.

  “Not at all. I can use some company.”

  “How is Nolan’s shoulder?” Ian asked.

  “I think it is getting better. It is still wrapped.” Sarah explained.

  “I talked to President Powell,” Ian started. She was surprised, but remembered that they were close.

  “What did he say?” Sarah asked.

  “He wasn't pleased with me leaving to go fight,” Ian said with a forced chuckle.

  “I can imagine.”

  “He wants to keep me in an office. Considering how we are all on thin ice I can’t exactly go sneaking off to fight.”

  “Is that such a bad thing?” Sarah asked. They had seen a little of the horrors of war. She wondered if people were reconsidering joinin
g because of what had happened.

  “I should do my duty,” Ian said. Sarah could have sworn that he pushed out his chest a little.

  “There are other ways to serve,” Sarah said.

  “I can do more,” Ian said. He stopped and looked into Sarah’s eyes.

  She knew he was frustrated. He didn’t want to organize papers or hand out orders, he wanted to be out there, fighting. Where ever there was fighting. Sarah looked at her watch. She couldn’t believe how much time had passed.

  “I have to report to work now,” Sarah gave Ian a small hug. “We will talk more soon.” Sarah rushed to the D.I Intelligence office. She was running late and she knew it. She entered the small office and Kelly let her in. Sarah rushed to her team’s office. Sarah entered the grouping of small offices. Nolan stood and moved quickly towards her, he had a concerned look on his face.

  “Where were you?” Nolan asked.

  “I couldn’t sleep, so I went on a walk, and lost track of time,” Sarah said in a whisper.

  “I’ll let it slide,” Captain Underwood said as he came out of his office. “Don’t do again. It is our first day back at this.” His eyes met Sarah’s and the look showed he wasn’t kidding. “Don’t let this become a habit.” He smirked. “Get to work we got a lot of it ahead of us. USSB is working hard to discredit us. We destroyed a prison but that doesn’t stop them from taking people.”

  “Taking them where?” Sarah asked.

  “That is what we are going to find out.” Captain Underwood said.

  They worked for several hours going through reports. Some information was nothing. Occasionally they would read things, and send it to other teams. They would get reports from other teams and decide how much to look into the information. The work was tedious but Mary would say “Better the information, the more we can do.” Sarah could follow her logic so she did as best as she could. Sarah and Nolan were new, so when they had questions the team members were good at helping them. Steven was especially helpful with telling them what to look for when reading through reports.

  The team worked through lunch and had almost missed dinner. By that time the team was exhausted. They ate together but it was in silence. Sarah looked around to see if she could see Ian anywhere, but he must have left dinner early. After dinner, the team headed back to the office and got new reports.

  “It seems that some of our ships were attacked in the Great Lakes,” Captain Underwood started. “They ran into some Coast Guard vessels as they were coming down from Canada. A firefight broke out and one of our ships was sunk.”

  “How many did they lose?” Orson asked.

  “We didn’t sink any but I think we disabled two of theirs,” Captain Underwood said reviewing the notes.

  “What kind of ships?” Sarah asked.

  “We disabled several defender boats and possibly badly damaged a destroyer.” Captain Underwood looked around the room. “This is big. This is an outright battle. Not a big one - ”

  “But a battle.” Orson finished.

  Captain Underwood sighed and rubbed his temples.

  “Admiral Hayes will want to make a move,” Steven said. “Sinking a ship is better than disabling. Those ships will work again.”

  “What does this mean for us?” Sarah asked.

  “No idea.” Captain Underwood said. He looked at his watch. “Go get some rest, everyone. Sarah, show up on time tomorrow,” He laughed at the last part.

  The team was dismissed and Sarah and Nolan headed to their room. Sarah couldn’t believe another battle was fought so soon. She wondered how many more Insurgent soldiers were killed during this battle. She wondered with the war starting where the wounded would go. They surely can’t all come back here to the base can they? Sarah wondered if there were other bases. They arrived at their room and Nolan collapsed into bed. Sarah changed in the bathroom and when she came back out Nolan was snoring. Sarah lay in bed and it wasn’t long before she fell asleep.

  Sarah awoke startled. Someone was knocking on her door. Nolan and Sarah both woke up alarmed. Sarah, gathering herself, got up and went to the door. She was surprised to see Steven standing there.

  “Get ready,” He said. “We have a meeting with the President.”

  Sarah was surprised at this. The last time they met the President was in the lounge area and they were being told about their father. What would he want this early in the morning?

  “About what?” She asked.

  “I think we got a mission,” Steven said.

  “Give us a minute,” Sarah said and closed the door. “Nolan get ready we are meeting with President Powell.” Nolan got up and started getting ready. Sarah quickly got her uniform on. She pulled her hair back into a ponytail. They walked out into the hall where Steven was waiting.

  “Let’s get moving,” Steven said.

  They walked through the base toward the elevator leading to President Powell’s office. They entered the elevator, Steven hit the button sending them racing toward the top floor. The doors opened and a light shined on them. The room was bright for the windows that covered three walls. They stepped into the suite, which was empty except for several guards standing next to a pair of double doors that led to President Powell’s private office and living quarters. The elevator doors behind them opened and Captain Underwood followed by Mary and Orson entered the room.

  “This must be important,” Orson said.

  “What makes you say that?” Nolan asked.

  “We are the first ones here.” Captain Underwood said.

  The double doors opened and Director Moore walked out. He was dressed in a suit and looked freshly showered. This must have been his first stop also.

  “You can come in.” Director Moore said.

  He stood aside to let the team enter first. Everyone entered the room and stood at attention. President Powell rose from behind his desk. “Good morning everyone,” He started and walked in front of his desk to sit on the edge. “The war has started. We have had two battles now,” He looked up at the ceiling as if he saw something no one else could. “Your battle used a lot of our resources.”

  This made the team squirm. Sarah thought for a moment that there wasn’t a mission but this was an opportunity for them to be yelled at in private.

  “We didn’t have a lot of equipment then and now we have less. For this reason, I need you all to get us supplies.”

  “Sir?” Captain Underwood asked. He must have been just as confused as Sarah was.

  “We have gotten information that we may have allies that would be willing to work with us.”

  “Who are these allies?” Captain Underwood asked.

  “It’s the CEO of the Domino Defense Corporation. This company are military contractors, mostly for other countries but they have been used many times by the United States during the last war.” President Powell informed them.

  “We believe this CEO will be willing to work with us,” Director Moore answered.

  “Where is there office located and why are we the ones who have to do this?” Captain Underwood asked.

  “We’ll Captain, the lack of supplies is in part due to your team’s action,” He smiled at this. “Also, because you have experience with this.”

  “With what, Mr. President?” Captain Underwood asked.

  “Getting past the wall into Canada.”

  Chapter 2

  New Mission

  Canada? Nolan thought. How are they supposed to get to Canada? Captain Underwood took a deep breath and spoke. “You want us to go to Canada and convince this CEO to join us?”

  “Of course,” President Powell said. “This is important without this company we might not last in a war very long. This gives us a real chance. You have to do whatever it takes to get them to work with us. Your new call sign will be Foxhound Squadron.”

  “We can do it, Mr. President,” Sarah said.

  Nolan was surprised how confident she was. He wanted to know how they would get to Canada. He had never seen the wall
but he figured it wasn’t easy to get over it.

  “The five of you will head to the Great Lakes and into Canada. From there you will find our contact, who gave us this information,” President Marshal instructed.

  “Who was the contact?’ Captain Underwood asked.

  “Wait. The five of us?” Nolan asked. “There are six of us?”

  Director Moore looked at Nolan. “That is because you aren’t coming.”

  “Why not?” Nolan asked.

  Anger sparked in Nolan. He was capable of going. His arm wasn’t that bad.

  “You are hurt private. You can’t function in combat.” Director Moore said. His voice had become very stern.

  “We are going into combat? We would be talking to a CEO about joining. It won’t be dangerous,” Nolan said. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

  “Private Hunter, Do I need remind you about the last time you contradicted orders in my office?” President Powell said.

  Memories of this came back to him. He had yelled at General Wilkins on his first day of training. He knew he couldn’t do that again. He took a breath and tried to bury his anger. Director Moore and President Powell instructed them as to what they would do but Nolan couldn’t pay attention. He wanted to go. What was he supposed to do while they were gone?

  “Do we know what we are going to do with Mrs. Foster?” Mary said.

  This brought Nolan back. She had lost her husband at the battle for The Fortress and he hadn’t even spoken to her about it. He had hoped that someone from the team had made sure she was alright.

  “Doctor Edwards said she is due soon. This means it may be too risky to move her while she is this close to delivering. She will have to stay here. We considered having her come with, to get her out of the country but the doctor overruled us.” He paused before starting again. “Somehow doctors always outrank everyone,” President Marshal said thoughtfully.

  That was the key. Doctor Edwards, could say he is good to travel and then there would be no reason for Director Moore or Captain Underwood to say that he couldn’t go. He wasn’t going to wait around the base while everyone else was able to go and do something more for the Insurgents.