All That Was Lost

by Robert Byers

  “As soon as I saw these images, I threw up my breakfast, I’m not being facetious either, I literally threw up so keep that in mind as you look at the images I’m about to bring up.”

  The screen changed, and this time was replaced with a government building, a former embassy that had been turned into a meeting place for the various elected officials that ran the various planets humankind had colonized during our expansion into space.

  On the screen the image changed from one in the heart of Terra, to a few hours later when the attack happened. The building was in ruins, the caption read “AT LEAST THREE BOMBS HAVE EXPLODED INSIDE OF THE D.C. MEETING BUILDING” and they saw first responders bringing bodies from the rubble. One man was openly sobbing as he carried a body and laid it on the gurney. It was the body of the Emperor’s right-hand man, Vincent Daxos, and he was missing an entire arm along with severe third degree burns along his entire body.

  Another brought a woman’s corpse from the rubble, what was left of it at least. The Admiral wondered if this was when his Lieutenant had lost his nerve. He wasn’t upset with him, on the contrary if he had an iron stomach after seeing this it would make him think something was wrong with his man, make him wonder if he was a sociopath who had no emotions whatsoever.

  “There’s more footage but it’s the same thing. We have a list of three governors who were killed there during the bombing, and of course there’s Lord Daxos’ death.” Crane was doing his best not to look at the images as he swiped past them and onto more information. “It appears that the emblem these terrorists are using is the very same one on the uniforms of our prisoners, which is slightly different from the one we knew the Rising Anvil was using, so we know that much is true. But I’m not finding a manifesto which is very unusual in these sorts of cases. Normally they would want us to know why they are going through and killing our people. Some sort of list of demands at the very least.”

  “You mean there’s nothing?” this time it was the XO’s turn to look confused.

  Crane shook his head, “I know it makes no sense, but there’s nothing I could find.”

  “Maybe that’s because they aren’t working together.” Watson suggested. “Think about it, if they were a part of the same cell, even the same organization there should be some sort of consistency to the attacks. The first one was at a hospital, the second was at a government building. Those are light years apart. So, what if they are pretending to use the Rising Anvil as a scapegoat for their actions and no one would be the wiser.”

  “Then you’ll press them for more information.” The Admiral said matter-of-factly. “When you go back in there to speak with them you will ask them why they attacked both places. If the person is truly apart of the group and the group did both bombings, then they should have no problem taking credit for them.”

  “Sir if I press them any harder it’ll be torture. I’m already using sonic devices to try and make them talk, if I go to anything else-“

  “Then I guess you can’t speak about it to anyone, can you?” the Admiral’s tone bordered on threatening and it was sharp enough all three of them sat straighter and none of them spoke up about the blatant disregard for the law. This wasn’t what they were used to from the Admiral, and it scared them.

  The Admiral looked at them and smiled “Then I guess that’s everything for this meeting.” He stood and left the room, leaving all of them to wonder just what he was going to do if they were caught torturing someone.

  Chapter 9

  Ortiz looked at his new tattoo with joy, he had that high that came with so much adrenaline flooding your system that he didn’t realize he was about to walk into the street until Walsh grabbed his shoulder to stop him. “Thanks. Man, he did a great job on this.” His face beamed with joy, he’d come a long way from when Tiberius first saw him running through their shared quarters because of Walsh’s prank. He’d even forgiven Walsh for it and Walsh appeared to be making progress towards becoming a better person.

  “Well it’s a good thing you like it since it’s permanent.” Tegan said as she looked at hers, she got hers colored instead of the black and white the others had. She wanted hers to stand out, and this way it would. Not to mention the fact that hers was on her right bicep whereas everyone else got theirs on either the outside or inside of one of their forearms.

  “I’m just glad we all did this together.” Ortiz said.

  Everyone looked at him, he was so adamant about getting a tattoo that they hadn’t been able to talk him out of it. Originally they’d gone along with it to get him to shut up and because it seemed better than sitting in a bar for a couple hours drinking. But as Walsh and even Daisy looked at their tattoos, they had to admit the artist was great and they did love the tattoos themselves. It had been a great experience. And if they were to do it again, they’d end up getting more tattoos.

  “Maybe this could be a ritual we do on liberty?” Tegan asked them.

  “I don’t see why not, hell if you don’t want it you can at least be there for your friends.” Ortiz replied.

  “I still can’t believe you did it.” Walsh said as he looked at Tiberius.

  “I can’t either.” Was all he said as he looked at his forearm again and saw the tattoo. It hadn’t hurt like everyone said it would, instead it was euphoric. He could hear the needle going and knew it was puncturing his skin, but he couldn’t feel any pain. He did feel the rush of adrenaline that flooded his blood and made him come alive.

  “Well, you’ve got the tattoo to show off on any shore leaves you get, maybe it’ll get you a girl or two.”

  Tiberius stopped walking and looked at him, “You might just be right.”

  It was enough to make Walsh stumble a step. He couldn’t believe it. “Strait laced Tiberius willing to show off his tattoo for a girl? Really?” there was a smirk on his face and Tiberius just shot him a dirty look, hoping to make him stop.

  “Okay, I probably wouldn’t. But I never thought I would get a tattoo either so, you never know right?” He never thought he’d be called strait laced by anyone, with how he reacted to being cheated and how he’d reacted just two days ago to the borders they had to repel.

  They were all walking back to the ship when their coms went off. “All personnel are to return to the ship immediately. Shore leave has been canceled.”

  It stopped them in their tracks. Shore leave canceled? Something had to be seriously wrong. They took off at a run for the ship, afraid of what they were going to see when they got there.

  When they got there, they noticed the only thing that had changed, at least on the outside, was that there were guards posted at the entrance.

  They got to the guards and Tiberius asked “What happened? Is everyone OK?”

  The guard nodded. “I’m sorry, but I don’t have that information. We were posted here by the XO, we weren’t briefed on why.”

  “Is there anywhere we are supposed to go once we arrive back?” Walsh asked, hoping there was something that would explain what was going on.

  “Just return to your bunks. Your captain will be with you all shortly.” He replied.

  They looked at each other and walked back into the ship. All of them walked back to their bunks and wondered what their captain would be able to tell them.

  Returning to their bunks they found their squadmates already there and gathered in the same set of bunks as the captain slept.

  “Oliver have you heard anything?” Walsh asked her as they walked to the group of soldiers.

  “No, we were still on board, so we were just told to wait here until the Captain came back.”

  “Damn, there’s even guards outside at the top of the ramp.”

  “That means its something serious.” Quintus said.

  Tiberius nodded and looked at his friend.

  Captain Sidonia walked up behind them and cleared her throat making them all jump to attention. “It’s good you’re all here. We are going to a meeting with the Admiral, it’ll be in the hangar and it�
�s mandatory. He’s to call the meeting once everyone is aboard so that everyone can be there.” She looked at them all and smiled “Well you must be learning a good deal. I think if this had happened when you lot first came aboard, I would be bombarded with questions.”

  Each one gave her that look that said they had questions, but were afraid to ask them.

  “Everyone assemble in the hangar the Admiral will be holding a meeting in fifteen minutes.” It was the voice of the XO coming over the ships coms.

  All of them looked to the Captain and she actually looked scared about what was going to happen. They marched to the hangar with Sidonia leading the way and the entire way they each worried about what it would mean.

  Once they arrived and took their spots every minute that passed was an eternity. Looking around they saw the hangar fill up, there were no chairs, so everyone had to stand, but it was to be expected. At the front of the room stood a podium, and six chairs, the only six chairs in the entire hangar. Finally, the fifteen minutes were up, and they watched as first the Admiral and then his XO walked to the front of the room and stood at the podium.

  Following him were his five closest officers and the XO. He stood and spoke into the mic. “It is with great sadness that I have to report there have been some terrorist attacks on our Imperium. There was an attack on Chelnix IV, and another one on Terra just two weeks ago.”

  At the mention of their capital each and every one of them sucked in their breath and stood straighter.

  “It also saddens me to say that I’ve received a communique from the Emperor himself.” His eyes fell, he truly did not want to deliver this piece of news.

  The podium in front of him shown with a blue light as an image of the Emperor’s face came up. His face still shown beautiful and unwrinkled even though he was over three hundred years of age, he looked no older than thirty. “My children, I have grave news for you. My Fist, Lord Daxos, has been murdered by these terrorist scum. I know, I know this is horrible news, but I have to give you some more news now. Before these terrorists killed my best friend, and killed children of the Empire I was content to allow them some room to breathe, because they could be persuaded eventually.” His face turned dark and stormy with anger. “Now, I am officially declaring war on this group Rising Anvil. You are to use whatever means necessary to stop them, there is to be no quarter given, no mercy of any kind. They showed none to us and we will show none to them and we won’t rest until they are wiped from the galaxy.”

  Everyone was shocked, everyone was thrilled to see their Emperor, but saddened by why they were hearing his words. No one under the age of sixty had any idea how bad a real war could be, that was part of what scared them all.

  Tiberius couldn’t believe it. He looked at his squadmates and noticed how sad they all looked, they never thought they’d live to see war declared. Everyone knew that they were ‘at war’ with the organization, but it was more unofficial since they were such a ragtag group, they didn’t seem to have any sort of method to their madness. But now that they’d made it official it meant the Emperor was bringing the entire military to bear on them.

  Something flashed through his mind and he looked back at the Admiral. The image of their Emperor was gone and now the Admiral stood behind the podium with a solemn look on his face.

  “Because of this everyone aboard this ship is being conscripted, there will be no liberty while we are at war.” There was a murmur from everyone around about that and the Admiral put up a hand to silence them. “I know why you’re all upset, and you have every right to be. However, this is a directive from our Emperor. From the man who united all of our warring nations, who was enlightened enough to expand humankind into space and to terraform so many worlds. Remember that it was our Savior who declared war, and who declared that we not rest until the war is won.”

  That made everyone calm a little. Reminding them of what their leader had accomplished in his years as their Emperor. He united the entire earth after centuries of war. He had the foresight to take us not only to the stars, but to actually terraform the other planets so we were able to live there without fear of radiation or lack of oxygen. Because of his wisdom they’d evolved as a race and they had become even stronger for it.

  “We will be leaving soon for our next destination, there will be more cadets coming aboard soon, and you all will have plenty of chances to earn your stripes out there. Dismissed.”

  Everyone turned to leave, and Tiberius noticed that his captain looked unsettled by what the Admiral had said. He looked to her and she gave him a look before turning on her heel and leading them out of the room. They all followed her out of habit as she led them to the firing range on their deck.

  “Everyone needs to get into using their firearms and with their regular drills. We could be entering a war zone at any time now. So, let’s get moving.”

  She split them up into teams of four and began put them through their paces. She drilled them until dinner time and made them work out in the gym until an hour before lights out. For the next four days they were put through the same grueling routine from wake up to lights out and made them work until they were as close as could be in such a short amount of time.

  It was on the fifth day that things changed. She woke them all like she had been for the past few days and they had their breakfast, but by lunch she called them all to the gun range. “The repairs have been completed and we are to shove off after lunch. But some dark news has arrived, there’s been another attack by the Rising Anvil. I don’t know where we will be heading, I do know that if we are called to fight your training thus far will have proven invaluable.”

  They were paired together in teams, that weren’t even but were effective nonetheless, and they became better soldiers. Tiberius noticed how his skills became more honed, his marksman skills were even sharper. Each one was told they had to learn basic first aid. And they did. Some, like Tegan were adept with it and would have done well to go through a more proficient course to become a fully trained battlefield medic.

  Tiberius wasn’t sure what was going to happen when they left the Orion, but he was sure they were going to be embroiled in a battle within a month, if the scuttlebutt was even remotely correct the Rising Anvil was gaining momentum with each passing day. Gaining more members with every hour. And he couldn’t understand how when they stood for deposing the only man in history that has been able to unite humankind, and who tried to bring as much peace and prosperity as possible.

  He and his partners went through their drills, concentrating fire to take down a turret nest, or using the dummy grenades to practice their throwing. When the ship lifted away from the station, they didn’t feel it. There was no glamorous send off or a party the crew threw together. It was just simply that they went about their business and the ship lifted off to its next destination.

  Tiberius could only hope that wherever they were going was safe enough for the time being.

  —

  The Admiral sat in the ops room with his XO; the head of security David Watson; his head navigator Dave McIntyre; his radar specialist Ellis Cole; and his communications officer Jeffrey Crane. They were the heads of his major departments, save his flight crew who’s head was late. The door buzzed and opened to reveal Carmen Ripley standing there in her flight uniform, she’d taken to keeping everyone ready to go just in case they entered a battle zone.

  “Sit Lieutenant Ripley and we can begin.”

  She walked to the closest chair and took her seat, eager to hear what the Admiral had to say.

  “We are at war, this much is known to everyone in the Imperium. But there is something only select members of the military have been made privy to.” He took a moment to look each of them in the eye, his voice darkening and turning threatening, “This is not to leave this room, or it will be considered an act of treason.”

  All of them sat straighter and nodded.

  “Good. We have made first contact.” All of them started, a few spat out some cuss
words, but the Admiral just sat there waiting for them to finish politely, only because when he was read into this operation, he’d had the same reaction. Because he couldn’t believe that after all this time they finally found intelligent life. “This race is very unique and have much to offer us for little return. It’s a true win-win situation. But I’m allowed to declassify this information for only those of you in this room, because the reason we are working with these aliens is to gain access to more powerful weapons and technology.”

  Everyone stared at him, some were happy they were being read in, others were worried it was a mistake to work with these aliens. “From what I have seen they have weapons that utilize particles to fire as a powerful beam, much the same as our particle beam cannons, but these are on the level of a sub machine gun. Think about that for a second. That much power, in such a small package.”

  Everyone began talking now, there were words getting thrown around like “insanity” and phrases like “no one should have such power” but all he did was let them talk until he held up a hand and they quieted down.

  “These are the same concerns that myself and the other admirals voiced when Lord Daxos spoke about them with us. But these are pacifist aliens, they have no aggressive bones in their bodies, however they are advanced in technology and have met other races that used their technology and did not return on their end of the deal. Protection.”

  “Protection? From who?” Watson asked him, he was more wary than the others since security was his job.

  “From another race of aliens that enslaved them for years until they left. Apparently because they are pacifists they were kept as slaves to clean and build and repair. But when their slavers disappeared for a time they disappeared.”

  “And now they want us to protect them? Really?”