Chapter 14
Dave
People were rallying outside as Dave walked back to Dr. Simms’s office with Alan. Dr. Simms had left the auditorium as soon as she had finished informing everyone of the danger, and Dave wanted to check in with her one last time before he left. Everyone else thought they were going to a designated crisis shelter, but Dave knew what he had to do. He just wanted to make sure it was absolutely necessary.
"Why aren´t you gone yet?" Dr. Simms asked without turning from her computer. Alan stood just a bit straighter; the scientist commanded respect in everyone, especially now that they knew what she would do if she had to.
"I just got another update," she continued, not expecting an answer to her previous question.
"High Command was taken out by Covenant special forces twenty minutes ago. Our people managed to transfer a lot of the software. Selma from Intel is running the show now. Our hackers are in the process of regaining control of some of our missiles." Dave didn´t need an explanation. Total war was going to erupt, with forces rolling through the Dead Zone, aircraft flying across the Rift, and missiles in the air carrying their deadly loads.
"Enemy soldiers will be here sooner or later, and make no mistake: War Order Five will be carried out. So get out of here while you can, and bring everybody except for the security detail. One of our airships is coming in from the North in five minutes to take you away. Get everybody on board, Dave, and get out." Dave looked at her. She looked amazingly determined for a woman who had probably less than an hour to live. He had always respected her, but never so much as in that moment.
"Don´t worry about us, Doctor. In fact, I know exactly where to take everyone." Dave hesitated, but then he figured she had earned the right to know.
"Alan, would you excuse us, please?" he said. Alan nodded and stepped outside, closing the door behind him. Dr. Simms cocked her head and looked at him.
"I want you to know something only I know about. As soon as the aircraft comes, I´m taking these people to see something. Or rather, to see someone who just might be able to save them." Dr. Simms looked puzzled, and Dave managed a smile.
"I´m taking them to see our visitors from Aurora."
The scientist didn´t reply, but she slowly got up from her chair. She hugged him, and when they released, Dave saw her wet cheeks. She smiled at him.
"Thank you," she whispered.
"Thank you for making it all worthwhile."
Sue
Sue and Renee were walking through the early morning streets, trying to resist the temptation to start running. Renee set the pace, and Sue realized they were on their way to the outskirts south of Charlestown.
"Stop," she said, panting. Renee stopped and turned, a stern look on her face.
"We really do need to hurry," the French woman said. Sue shook her head.
"I will not leave Jason and Mom behind." Renee looked at her for a few seconds before nodding.
"Alright, we can still make it. Follow me."
Renee stepped onto a side street, and they began to run through the shadows.
"Through here and to the left will get us over to your house in five minutes," Renee said over her shoulder. Sue had just enough to keep up with her.
"A stealth airship from Buchanan is picking us up in twenty-six minutes. If we´re not there, they have orders to depart without us."
They walked the last few meters to Sue´s house and knocked on the door. Jason opened the door, eyes wide when the two women entered and closed the door behind them. Beth came to stand beside Jason, clearly waiting for an explanation. Renee opened her jacket and produced three small handguns. She checked each one before tucking one of them back inside her pocket. She handed one to Sue and another to Beth.
"Don´t use them unless you have to. We´ll try to get out without anyone noticing. These are just for insurance."
"What about me?" Jason said, puffing himself up. Renee acted as if she hadn´t heard and peeked out the door.
"Not now, Jason," Sue said.
"Is there another way out? A back entrance or something?" Renee asked.
"Yes, come with me," Beth said.
They followed Renee without question, and they were outside moments later, passing through back alleys and sneaking through empty streets. Ten minutes later, they were leaving Charlestown behind. Sue looked back at the city that had once been her home. No one said a word. They were past that.
Renee
When Renee saw the officers approaching, they were already too close to turn away from them. There were two men, both English. She knew of this type of officer, and she knew they had a reputation for being ruthless killers, willing to do anything for their privileges. Mostly used to hunt escaped Corpus slaves, they wouldn´t be used to seeing a woman of the Moon blood. She motioned for the others to stop and stepped out in front of them. She still wore her Moon people outfit, and if she played the arrogant master-race card, she might be able to pass these guys.
"What´s this?” she asked before the officers had a chance to say anything. She raised her chin to give the effect of looking down on them, even though both were slightly taller than her. It worked more often than not.
"IDs please. You too, ma´am," one of the officers said. Renee grumbled and produced her ID. Her mind raced as one of them studied it. The ID might hold up, but there was no way they would believe the rest.
The shot was louder than anything she´d heard, and she felt the searing heat of the blast on the right side of her face. The officer´s head exploded in a red mist, and Renee leapt to her left while fishing her gun out of her jacket. She looked back and saw Beth with her gun drawn. Though Renee was unable to hear anything in her right ear, she´d been through enough gunfights to know this one would be over in seconds. She pointed and squeezed off several rounds at the remaining officer, more to gain the initiative than to actually hit anything.
She was too late. The officer sank down, clutching his bloody chest while holding his smoking gun leveled at Sue´s mother. A single shot to the head dropped him. Sue lowered her gun, and Renee looked over at Beth, who had dropped her gun, and was clutching the growing dark patch in her stomach.
"Mom!" Jason screamed as he rushed to her. Sue stood, narrow eyes scanning their surroundings, with her jaw set. Renee realized Sue was remembering. Not an event or any particular memory, but something more basic: she was a Janissary again, a combat veteran who had seen unspeakable horrors and survived, and who knew exactly what it looked like when death reared its ugly face.
"Jason, she´s already…" Renee began. Sue walked over and laid a hand on his shoulder.
"We have to go, Jason. She would want us to," she said. Her brother looked up at her, tears streaking his face. He nodded and got to his feet.
"Should we bury…" Jason began.
"There´s no time," Renee said, and he nodded. They all knew that the aircraft would leave without them unless they hurried. There were only a few minutes left. Sue hugged her brother, and Renee stood close enough to hear her whispered words.
"Let´s get moving, Jason. If we don´t make it, this will have been in vain. She gave her life for us, so let´s make it worth it."
Chapter 15
Sue
Sue saw that the airship was already powered up as they approached. A red-haired woman in a khaki uniform and body-armor stood outside, waving them over.
"Move, move!" she said. Sue noticed she wasn´t looking directly at them because her eyes were constantly scanning the surroundings, moving the muzzle of her weapon along with where she was looking. This close to the Belt, patrols might discover them, even if the patrols were random.
"Good to see a ranger again," Renee murmured to the woman, who nodded in acknowledgement.
They climbed on board and buckled into their seats. A man came to sit beside Renee, and Sue could see from her looks that she was pleased. They acknowledged each other in a way that only those who have shared an important experience would do.
The ship jolted as
it took off. The windows were covered, so she couldn´t look outside, but she had a feeling they were ascending rapidly. There was little noise from the engines, and she figured this ship slipped across the border on missions like this all the time.
She looked over at Jason and felt a pang of regret. The boy was dissolved in tears, and she should be, too. They had just lost their mother. Now, they only had each other. She reached out a hand.
"It´ll be okay, Jason. If we hadn´t taken off now, she´d have just a couple of years left anyway." She immediately regretted her words; it was the absolute worst thing to say right now.
Jason stared at her through his tears before shaking his head and looking away.
"Jason, please."
"You´re more messed up than I thought," he said, refusing to look at her.
The man beside Renee released his buckles and came over to sit beside her.
"Susan, I´m Grey," he said. She looked at him. Dark as night and with an unwavering smile, he looked confident and made her feel like they were in good hands.
"I work with Renee, and we´ll get you back to safety. We´re crossing the Rift in about thirty minutes. We´ll be in Buchanan in an hour." Sue nodded. Buchanan. This place she had heard so little about, but had so many ideas of, a place where everyone was equal and people lived until they died from natural causes. A place where kids didn´t have to risk being sent to slave away their lives. Renee had told her about the world outside the Covenant, and now she was going there with her brother. A mixture of emotions raced through her: relief at escaping the bonds of servitude, excitement at finally seeing this world she had only heard about, gratitude for having her brother safely by her side, and sadness for her mother, who had sacrificed herself for them all.
Her eyes welled up, and a tear trickled down her cheek. She noticed her brother sneaking a look at her. Beth would have been able to live for decades longer if she had lived through their escape. Sue’s cheeks were wet, and her shoulders shook. Jason reached out to her.
"It´s all right, sis. We´ll get through this," he said, forcing a smile. "I´m just glad to see you´re still human."
Evan
Evan stared at the grey walls of the command bunker. Strategos Command was busy, and several operations were underway, most of which didn´t need his constant attention. He had moved to the command bunker, ten stories below ground, to make sure everything was ready. He had spoken a little with everyone, from comms operators to strategic weapons controllers and the head cook. Finally, he found a comfortable chair and sat down to take a quick rest when one of the comms operators, a tall female tacticus, signaled for his attention. Evan found that curious. Normally, she would just report to her superior, who sifted through the information and produced a coherent report for him, delivered hourly or whenever needed. He stood up and walked over to her.
"Talk to me, Tacticus," he said.
"Sir, all the orbital platforms are down." He raised an eyebrow, chills creeping up his back. He hadn´t expected this.
"Are you saying they have shot them all down? There are hundreds." The operator shook her head.
"No, sir. As far as we can tell, they are all still there. It seems to be something else, like an EMP, an electromagnetic pulse. But an EMP would take out all the electronics onboard, whereas this one seems to be limited to weapons and comms. The thrusters seem okay, but they can’t fire at anything."
"A finely tuned pulse then. To send a message. They take out the orbital´s offensive capability, but none of our people get hurt and we retain the orbitals themselves. Smart, but futile."
"Sir, that was my first thought as well, but it isn´t possible. Wherever the EMP originated, the orbitals are at various distances from it and, well, there´s no way they could have done that. Some would have crashed and burned, while others would have survived the attack entirely."
"Luckily, we don´t depend entirely on the orbitals, so, like I said, it´s a futile attempt to scare us." Evan turned to walk back to his comfortable chair. He sorely needed rest, just five minutes to gather his thoughts.
"Sir, there is something," the tacticus said from behind him. Evan turned.
"Tacticus, thank you for informing me. Make sure you leave any thoughts as to the origin of the attack in your report."
"Sir," she said more forcefully. Evan cocked his head, surprised.
"I suspect it wasn´t an EMP at all. In fact, it has to be something else in orbit. There´s no way Buchanan could have done this by launching a missile. They have something up there, and we haven´t got the faintest clue as to what it is, sir." Evan nodded slowly. It made sense. Buchanan would never have been able to pull off something like this unless they had a capability no one had ever picked up on.
"Okay, you have my attention. I want you to stay on top of this, find out what you can, and report to me as soon as you have anything. We should have expected this, and I don´t like surprises. Especially not now."
The doors opened, and Evan looked over to see who it was. He was surprised to see a senior warden officer enter. The Wardens didn´t have the same rank system as the rest of the Covenant´s military, so he wore no distinction other than a small pin on his lapel. The Wardens were the unseen army, the black ops instigators, the tinkerers. Shrouded in secrecy, their main war effort would be to simply hold off refugees and keep the western border safe. They would also conduct intelligence operations in Buchanan and the Dead Zone, but they were much more autonomous than the Luna Brigade or others already engaged in the field.
The warden saluted him, and Evan returned it.
"What´s going on?" he asked.
"Sir, we intercepted a message from Charlestown just minutes ago. Susan Atlas has escaped."
Evan swallowed hard, but his face remained set in stone. He noticed the warden staring at him as if he knew of the bond between Evan and the English girl. Of course, he knew—the Wardens knew everything.
"That´s too bad, but I don´t see why that warrants any special attention. In fact, I was just discussing something…" The warden, lacking the discipline of the Janissaries or the Luna Brigade, interrupted him.
"She´s got Bliss. The complete treatment including documents she stole from the doctor treating her. She is on her way to Buchanan as we speak. You know what that means, sir?"
Evan knew.
"I take it she´s in the air. Can we shoot her down?"
"No. She´s probably on a stealth aircraft somewhere near the Rift. We haven´t picked her up anywhere, only the message from Charlestown. The orbitals might have a shot."
"The orbitals are offline," Evan said.
"Sir, if Buchanan gets their hands on this, they can destroy us."
"And they will. Once they have, they can mass-produce it and us it on our forces. There can be no peace after that."
The Warden smiled thinly before he spoke, revealing once more that the Wardens knew everything.
"So, we have a spaceship that´s clearly not from Earth, an enemy who´s about to get their hands on our most powerful secret, and all of our orbital platforms are gone. It would seem we´re at a fork in the road here, sir," he said.
Evan hesitated before nodding in agreement.
"This is it then. The final war. We have no choice anymore."
He walked back to the tacticus and motioned for her to open the channel to Strategos Command.
"It´s a go," he said simply.
The warden spoke softly.
"Sir, have you considered that you will be seen as our greatest hero in history if we win? But if we lose, you´ll be the one who lost the Covenant and the Moon people´s grip on Earth. It all hinges on what happens today."
Chapter 16
Renee
Grey had been speaking in hushed voices with the pilot for a while, and now he came back, looking like he had seen a ghost. Renee had been with him in some pretty harrowing situations, but she´d never seen him like this.
"We just received a message from the airport. They are being overrun by
Covenant forces. They said they would try to hang on as long as possible, but it won’t be safe to land there."
"We´re not used to safe," Renee said. "Let´s get this airship down. We´ll find a way out." Grey shook his head.
"That´s a negative. They are firing anti-aircraft rockets at anything that approaches. They´re not taking any chances. We´d get shot down by our own. If you prefer being shot down by the enemy, that´s even more likely. "
"So the war has begun," Sue said quietly. Grey nodded.
"Looks like it."
"So where do we go? We have to land somewhere," Renee said. Grey scanned his infopad before he spoke.
"There´s a valley up in the western mountains not far from the Frost Observatory. It´s secluded, but close enough to Frost. There’s also a lookout point where you can see the road clearly, so we won´t have any surprises approaching from the lowlands, which is where the enemy seems to have concentrated their forces." Renee thought about that for a moment and nodded.
"Sounds good. As soon as we land, we´ll assess the situation and decide what to do next. The proximity to Frost is nice, too. After all, we´re carrying Bliss."
"Is the Bliss still relevant?" Sue asked.
"Absolutely. Think about it: what if we managed to spray it on the enemy without them noticing? Who knows what they´d do? Run for cover? Forget they´re at war? Forget who they are? I doubt there’s still time, but it´s worth a try."
Mark
The screen flickered, and the new head of the Covenant, the Leader as they called him now, appeared in front of him. Mark thought he looked tense.
"Hello, Evan," he said.
"Hello, Mark. How are you feeling?"
Mark thought about that. The last time he´d taken the treatment, a few decades ago, he’d been a wreck. Interestingly, he felt fine this time. He was a bit sore from the muscle stimulation and had a dull ache in his back now that some of the pain medication was wearing off—but, after all, the bone marrow in his spine had been completely replaced.
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