Renaissance

by Caleb Fast

  “How would we do that Clive?” Jenessa asks, “We both know the Coalition will come in force to ensure no one finds out about a breakout like this.”

  “Well, since the prison will be a target…” Clive starts, hating the harebrained idea he was about to voice, “They could risk it in by going out into the jungle.”

  “The jungle?” Raycee asks in dismay, “That’s suicide!”

  “And how would you even get anyone to voluntarily leave the protection of the prison’s walls?” Jenessa demands.

  “They’d be better off out there than they would be in here when the Coalition comes,” Clive protests.

  “He’s right,” Trix affirms after remaining silent for so long, “I’ve seen Coalition bombers do their work firsthand, staying here would be a surer way to get yourself killed than risking it in the jungle. The bombers will only target the prison, they won’t think about needing to destroy the jungles.”

  “The newcomer is right,” Frankie states after Trix’s comment silences the room, “They’ll probably blow this place to kingdom come and forget about it, rather than waste soldiers and munitions on a lost cause like chasing down people in a jungle they deemed inhospitable. At least everyone outside of the prison will have a fighting chance unlike those within the walls. The prison would be the ideal kill box for the Coalition.”

  “We’d have to time everything perfectly,” Clive warns, “Otherwise Jenniston may tell the freighter to stay away, and we’ll have no way off this rock.”

  “Not necessarily,” Richardson chimes in with an odd look in his eyes.

  “How’s that?” Jenessa demands impatiently.

  “Well, the planet’s moons and the dust clouds in orbit cause a lot of interference on our transmissions,” Richardson starts, “I could have my team knock out our long-distance comms, and make it seem like nothing is amiss. That being said, our signal is rarely so bad that we can’t communicate with the freighter once they enter our atmosphere, so I’ll just be sure I am the only one they talk to.”

  “How long would that take?” Clive asks, contemplating the specifics of the new plan.

  “I could have it done in a half hour or less,” Richardson says, nodding, “Just say when you want it done,”

  “Might as well do it now,” Dream offers as he stares though one of the cracks in the ceiling to the sky outside, “Some clouds are gathering, so that will make it more believable.”

  “What do you say, Clive?” Richardson asks.

  “Go for it,” Clive says, giving the order. After a beat, he continues, “And Jenniston won’t think anything of it?”

  “The comms here are always acting up,” Richardson informs Clive, “She’s used to them going down, and she’s made the issue known to her superiors on countless occasions.”

  “Great,” Clive says with a smile. Richardson and Phelix immediately pull out their comms and whisper orders to the rest of their team to knock out Paradise’s long-distance comms, and to get the gears turning for their grand escape. Turning to the rest of the group, Clive continues, “Now, what can we do about giving those we leave behind a better chance of making it?”

  “We’ll leave the guards’ weapons once we take them out,” One man declares, his voice leaving no room for debate.

  “We can send them off with all of the prison’s food supplies, that way they won’t go hungry,” A man by the name of Danno Reach offers as he pulls an apple from the folds of his prison uniform.

  Danno had been introduced to Clive moments before the meeting by Gene, the man he had met in the mines. According to Gene, Danno had grown up on some desert planet where food was impossibly scarce, where thieving from the Coalition garrison was the only way anyone could stay alive. He had shared his know how on stealing with them all which made their lives more bearable. In fact, Gene assured Clive that their larceny had become their preferred pass-time and morale boost since Danno had arrived. Clive had quickly met with the rest of that group and decided they would all be great additions to his team as well.

  “How would we be able to find them once we come back for them?” Dream asks, always keen to consider any rescue plan.

  “There’s plenty of equipment they can salvage from here, and the rest of the planet,” Phelix replies, “Quite a few abandoned cities too, I’m sure they have more supplies.”

  “How would they find the cities?” Someone inquires.

  “Forget that, how could they even get there?” Another calls.

  “There’s several old transport bays,” Richardson offers between orders to the rest of his team, “The garages have been sealed off, but I can open some doors for you guys. Maybe there’s some vehicles worth getting back online.”

  “Mav, you know how to work on old engines?” Clive asks, looking to his solve all man.

  “It’s been a long time…” Mav starts before continuing with a cop out, “Plus I will need to be with my bombmakers now that we’ll be needing several dozen more explosives.”

  “Right,” Clive mutters with a sigh as his shoulders slouch, and he bites his lower lip in thought.

  “I’ve got several people who are great at fixing things, I can have them take a look,” Dream proposes as he sits up a little straighter from his spot on the floor.

  “I can help too,” Trix offers with a raised hand.

  “Richardson, will your doing all of this draw any attention from Jenniston?” Clive asks, worried for his new ally’s safety.

  “I’m the Major now!” Richardson announces in mock pride as he smiles, “If anything, she’ll be happy I’m taking control of so much of the prison in Triborn’s absence.”

  “That reminds me,” Clive starts as he strokes his scraggly beard in thought, “Will it only be you and your team for morning shift now?”

  “Oh,” Richardson breathes. He and Phelix exchange a look and whisper between one another for several moments before he continues, “I’ll change the work assignments for the guards, and your people so things will progress more smoothly. Including getting some of your people on the shipment tomorrow.”

  “And Jenniston wouldn’t bat an eye if you did that?” Clive asks skeptically.

  “As I said, she’ll be happy to see me doing something productive for a change,” Richardson says with a laugh.

  “We can announce the prison break over the PA,” Audaz exclaims in excitement, “Now that would get everyone’s attention!”

  “That it would,” Richardson says with a chuckle, “It would be doable, since I’ll be in charge of the control room.”

  “Can you open all the doors from up there too?” Clive asks Richardson, knowing that if they could get all the doors in the prison open, things would progress with ease.

  “Sure can,” Richardson says with a smile, clearly on the same page as Clive, “And I can transfer controls of the mine’s lifts to everyone down there too.”

  “Looks like we’ve got ourselves a rebellion in the making,” Frankie concludes with a laugh.

  “Will we still leave some of our people behind to organize everyone?” Raycee asks the sobering question loud enough to be heard over the commotion of several dozen plans that are emerging from every corner of the group.

  “I think it would be for the best if we did,” Clive responds after several moments of thought, “Otherwise everyone we leave behind may feel abandoned. By leaving some of our people, they’ll know we will be coming back for them.”

  “I hate the idea of it, but it makes sense,” Audaz admits with a sigh.

  “Those who are remaining volunteered to do so,” Jenessa adds, “Clive didn’t ask them to stay, they knew what had to be done.”

  “Are we sure there’s going to be enough room for everyone?” Raycee asks.

  “Yes, I have the full report of what all will be coming,” Richardson answers reassuringly, “It’ll be tight, but we’ll manage for sure.”

  “How will we ensure that everyone we leave behind will be able to find the old cities?” Clint asks
from his seat.

  “I’m sure there’s old maps somewhere,” Clive responds before looking over expectantly at Richardson and Phelix for a firm answer.

  “There are some, but I think Jenniston has all of the detailed maps of their locations,” Richardson replies.

  “I’ve never found something I couldn’t steal,” Danno volunteers as he takes a step forward, away from the line of his people who are standing along the wall, “Just point me in the right direction.”

  “It’d be in the archives adjacent to her office,” Richardson informs Danno, “But that is pretty far into the guards’ wing, you’d never make it.”

  “Never say never,” Danno says with a laugh. After a moment of thought, he continues, “Jenniston is a ranking officer, so she’d probably have a window with quite the view, is that correct?”

  “Yes,” Richardson replies hesitantly.

  “Well that’s how I’ll get in,” Danno announces.

  “It’s ten stories above the ground!” Phelix exclaims.

  “Alright, so I’ll need some help from my team,” Danno counters.

  “Some?” Richardson asks with a laugh.

  “You’d be surprised how easy it is to climb old buildings,” Danno informs Richardson with a sly smile.

  “And you’re confident that you can make it there undetected?” Clive inquires.

  “Depends on how I have to open the window,” Danno answers with a chuckle as he makes a breaking motion with his hands.

  “You can open it without breaking the glass,” Richardson assures Danno, “But it may be a little stiff because of the rust the jungle humidity causes.”

  “Sounds easy enough,” Danno nods. He glances behind him to the rest of his people and is met with several reassuring nods. Likely satisfied with their support, he continues to Clive, “Can we get on it now? I hate waiting around when there’s work to do.”

  “Go, let’s make give those we leave their best chance of survival,” Clive instructs.

  “Well, here’s to hoping everything works out,” Comes a half-hearted voice from the far side of the group.

  “Hope is about all we’ve got left, everything else has been taken from us,” Clive says glumly before trying to motivate the others, “Put up a strong front, and don’t let your people know about your doubts. We need everyone on board and all in, there’s no room for reservations anymore. I know we can do this, and deep down, you all do too.”

  “Let’s see how the cards fall,” The dissenter replies, evidently still doubtful.

  “We’ll make it,” Clive says, partially for his own sake. He stands and starts for the door, after seeing everyone had said all of what was on their minds. He turns and addresses the others one last time before stopping at the blast door, “Tomorrow we will retake our freedom, and Jenniston can’t stop us.”

  Someone slips into the meeting room after a quick rap at the door, and they cry out as soon as they see Clive, “Have you seen what they’re doing out there?”

  “What is it?” Clive asks as he tries to catch a glimpse of the commons before T eases the door shut behind the intruder.

  “They’re burning them!” The intruder manages between sobs.

  “What do you mean?” The voice in the corner demands.

  “They’re going to burn her—” He manages before he begins weeping uncontrollably.

  “You, take care of him,” Clive orders someone as he points toward the crying man. His eyes dart around the room before he continues to T and several other inmates, who are Clive’s bruisers of sorts, “Come with me, let’s see what’s going on,”

  “You got it,” T responds as he eases the door open once more.

  Clive, and his selected band quickly congregate at the mouth of their meeting room with Richardson and Phelix closely behind. Seeing the scene unfolding at the front of the cafeteria, where the executions had been the day before, Clive felt himself being sickened more than he ever had been before. Lined up in the usual execution area were five people tied to one of the supporting columns in the prison. At the feet of those who are tied up are the charred remains of several other poor sods who had already been burned alive, and behind them are the terror-stricken faces of an additional forty or so men and women. By the looks of it, Yalland, Copen, and Koch’s teams were all present, all eager to avenge Triborn, and every other guard who had recently been killed.

  “I thought they were bluffing,” Richardson breathes just loud enough for Clive and Phelix to hear.

  “You knew about this?” Clive demands in a near whisper as to not be heard by the rest of the group. After a brief pause, he continues louder for the rest of the group, “Get whatever weapons you can, we’re putting a stop to this.”

  “Now?” T asks, “Is everything ready for it Richardson?”

  “It should be,” Richardson responds after raising his hand to his earpiece for a few moments. Looking around the cafeteria once more, Richardson makes a request, “I’m going to get some distance between us so Jenniston doesn’t make the connection between us, can you all hold off until I’m out of sight before you do anything?”

  “Fine,” Clive says dismissively, he continues under his breath to Richardson, “We need to talk later.”

  Richardson simply nods before raising his hand to his earpiece once more, and swiftly making his way out of the cafeteria, barking orders into his comm unit the whole way.

  “Should we get everyone in position?” T inquires as he readies himself near the open doorway to burst into the cafeteria.

  “Yes, but have our people play things safe. We need everyone breathing for our plan to go without a hitch.”

  “You got it,” T nods before forcing the old door all the way open, rather than simply easing far enough for someone to squeeze through. Stepping inside, he calls out to everyone inside their meeting room, “Get a move on, we’re moving things ahead of schedule!”

  “But we haven’t made any preparations!” Jenessa calls as she jumps to her feet.

  “Doesn’t matter,” Clive shoots back as he catches a rusty pipe T tosses to him, “Jenniston forced our hands with this stunt.”

  “What stunt?” Jenessa demands as she steps out of the room and takes in the sight before her. After eying the guards who are still too distracted with their burnings to notice Clive and the rest of his group, she mutters, “No way…”

  “Let’s show them why they should have behaved on our watch!” Clive calls to his team who promptly rush out of the room with everything they could get their hands on.

  “I’ll spread the word!” Dream says as he tumbles through the door with an armful of metal scrap he likely intended to use as clubs.

  “Sneak up as close as you can,” Clive instructs the others, “They have the advantage with their guns,”

  “Copy,” Raycee responds as he ducks and surges ahead, careful to not be seen by the guards.

  “You! Halt!” A guard shouts from Clive’s right. Glancing over, Clive sees Dream slowly stand and raise his hands in surrender as his armful of rebar and scrap crashes to the ground.

  “Hands in the air!” A nearby guard also calls out to Dream as he marched towards him, his gun trained.

  Clive pauses long enough to watch as Jenessa come up behind the first guard who had seen Dream. She wraps her hand around his head from behind, covering his mouth, and she run a rusty piece of metal up into his ribcage, killing the man.

  “You! Drop your weapon!” The guard calls out to Jenessa as he turns from Dream to face Jenessa, after hearing his comrade’s cry of pain. He sends a quick barrage of bullets toward Jenessa who uses the first guard as a shield before dropping his corpse to the ground and disappearing from view.

  “On the ground!” Koch screams at Dream as he leads several of his guards toward Dream, their guns trained on him.

  With a mischievous grin, Dream looks to Clive, and drops to the ground, ducking out of Koch’s sight as well.

  “Halt!” Another guard cries from across the m
ess hall to another one of Clive’s people who, like Dream, was caught sharing his makeshift weapons. This time, several people stand from their table and take a hold of the guard, pulling his down to the ground as he pleads with any nearby guards, “Help!”

  All over the room, guards are dropping one by one as small groups of inmates make their move. With a guttural shout, several men charge Yalland and the rest of his team who are doing their best to continue with the executions, ignoring the commotion in the rest of the room.

  “Shoot them!” Yalland calls out to his guards as he pours some fuel at the feet of the people who are tied to the column, anxious to finish what he started. Several shots ring out, and the dozen or so inmates who had tried to free those earmarked for a gruesome end, quickly found themselves sharing the same fate.

  “What are you waiting for?” Clive calls out for everyone to hear. Rushing toward Koch and his team, whose backs are turned to Clive as they are now occupied with trying to get out from the throngs of mutinous prisoners whose thirst for blood was on the rise. Charging toward Koch, Clive raises his weapon and brings it crashing down upon Koch’s head, killing the man with a sickening crunch. Spinning to swing his weapon on the nearest guard, Clive calls out again to the masses, “This is our time!”

  Emboldened by the call to arms, and by the handful of small victories across the cafeteria, a battle cry of sorts rises from the sea of humanity in one united voice, which thunders across the room. Within just a few moments, a tidal wave of inmates rush from their seats and charge in every direction. Some prisoners make a break for the doors, anxious to get away from the violence, but most fix their attention on the guards closest to them.

  In the cramped quarters, with a mass of humanity rushing in every direction, the guards quickly find their rifles to be of little use. Most of the shots they take end up hitting the wrong targets, and after a few brief moments, they lower their firearms and bring out their nightsticks. Seizing the opportunity, Clive’s people, alongside the rest of the prisoners, rush the remaining guards, who are quickly overcome by the sheer number of their opponents.