Retribution_Downfall of the Republic

by T. C. Shrader

  “I've never slept much. Let's go surprise the crew with breakfast, I'm sure they'd love to see your apron.”

  “Coffee,” Alistair said. It wasn't a demand, a request, or even a question. Just a statement of fact.

  “I'll meet you in the galley,” she said as she left.

  Great, now I've got a fourteen year old roommate he thought. He found himself in the washroom, almost confused as to how he'd made it there, then splashed cold water on his face.

  “A brave new day,” he said as he stared at his reflection, then dried off and headed toward the galley.

  Mel was already heating up a few pans on the electric stove when Alistair made his way in and he noticed Stewart and Garcia already dressed and having coffee in the mess hall outside the galley.

  As he passed the men in search of coffee, Garcia said “I have to admit, sir – I've served on a lot of naval vessels and you definitely don't run a tight one.”

  The marines both laughed and raised their mugs to Alistair who gave the poorest excuse for a courteous smile imaginable.

  “Good thing we're not in the navy then, eh?” was all he could muster. “The fuck are you two doing up so early anyway?”

  “Once a marine, always a marine,” replied Stewart. They clinked their cups as Alistair tried to figure out how exactly that answered his question.

  “We're used to getting up early for physical drills, sir,” said Garcia, almost as if he could read Alistair's mind.

  “Fair enough.” He plopped down at the same table as the men, then realized he was apparently supposed to be cooking breakfast. “I'd better go help before she burns the ship down.”

  “I don't even want to know how a teenager could manage that, but I wouldn't put it past her,” said Rachel from behind.

  “What, is there some sleepless epidemic running through the ship that we don't know about?” Alistair asked. Maybe everybody else was always up this early, but his nights usually ran late enough that early mornings turned into a blur. And lately he'd been hitting the sauce pretty hard.

  Melanie was a surprisingly good cook, especially when it came to using the powdered eggs and milk. She managed to make omelets while Alistair played waiter, bringing out plates in his ridiculous apron. It brought a hearty laugh out of Mel, not to mention the marines. He figured it was worth it. If looking like an ass in a small floral apron was all it took to raise morale, he'd never take the damn thing off.

  After breakfast, Alistair and the two marines suited up and began hauling the various prefab pieces down the ramp. Their powered armor saved a lot of backache, especially considering some of the larger pieces weighed several thousand pounds. Once all of the different equipment was stocked and organized, the entire group began the arduous task of carrying it the two kilometer hike to town. Fortunately, the plots Cairenn had highlighted were on the near side.

  Chapter 27

  It took two days to get the prefabs hauled and by the end of the third day they were setup. The pieces were small in number but large in stature – moving them would have been an impossible feat without the powered armor. It would take several more days to haul the rest of the equipment down to the new homes, mainly because they had to carry it all by hand. Every crew member and passenger, Cairenn included, took as much as they could to help speed up the process.

  The end of the fifth day saw the group hauling their last load to the families' new homes, but the group decided to stay and celebrate for one more night before saying their goodbyes. Alistair, Cairenn, and the marines had grown fond of the families they were about to say farewell to. For Rachel, however, the culmination of her life's work had been getting these people steady on their feet again. And although it hadn't panned out the way she'd hoped, it was still the happiest and saddest day of her life. She had raised the young boys and girls as her own, while she had become best friends with their mothers.

  There were four houses in total, two on each side of the dirt path leading into town. Each prefab was complete with solar power panels, external power inputs for the inevitable installation of infrastructure, as well as very hardy water extracting and purification systems. Achilles had even purchased a large bottling facility, which the families had decided would go into Hitomi's house.

  Alistair made sure that each home was equipped with several locking chests, as well as printing units for general household goods. Achilles took it a step farther and provided them with high end models, capable of producing even microelectronics given the right materials. A bit of tinkering on behalf of Garcia and Cairenn unlocked each machine's ability to manufacture firearms as well, just in case. The future of the Republic was grim and they wanted to make sure their friends would be able to fend for themselves.

  While on The Ubik, the marines worked with every family member to teach them the basics of firearm safety and personal defense as they felt crippling guilt for leaving these people undefended, even if they were on the 'Jewel of the Republic'.

  After a night of semi-drunken revelry, the remaining crew left the burgeoning colonists to enjoy their first evening at home. They would reconvene in the morning for a teary goodbye before The Ubik departed for the foreseeable future.

  Alistair had one special gift the morning they were set to part ways - he had to wear his powered armor to carry it down.

  “Um.. what is this?” Hitomi asked, surprised to see the group return with an iron clad super soldier at the fore.

  He opened it to reveal an immense cache of weapons, as well as some basic medical supplies and a few electronic cards.

  “Achilles and I decided that you could use some emergency funds, as well as extra means to keep yourselves safe.” Alistair was going to miss Hitomi and certainly hoped that he would find a reason to come to Burmea again one day, if only to bask in her unending optimism.

  “I know we didn't get the chance to know one another as well as I'd have liked, but you were a light in the darkness for all of us. This is my way of saying thanks and that I hope you continue to light the way for your new neighbors.”

  Hitomi teared up and smiled. “You dope,” she said as she hugged his armored form around the waist.

  The group spent a few more minutes saying their tear-filled and hug-heavy goodbyes when they heard a loud crack. All eyes shot skyward to see a plume of smoke heading in the direction of The Ubik. Eyes widened, mouths gaped, and hearts pounded when they all realized that it was a ship burning hard through the atmosphere.

  “Mr. Crowe, you had best make your way to the following coordinates. There is a ship experiencing technical difficulties and their captain is doing her best to stabilize. I estimate that she will be able to perform an emergency landing but casualties will be high.”

  Alistair's heart sunk and he sprinted toward the coordinates that Achilles had forwarded to his armor's heads up display. The location was only two kilometers out from where The Ubik was landed, so it was a four kilometer run in total. A trained and experienced soldier wearing powered armor could cover that distance in about three and a half minutes. The terrain was rough, however, and he knew any time wasted was lives lost.

  The crippled ship was shrouded in thick black smoke: it almost looked like the heavens had opened up and tossed a smoke bomb toward the planet. Fire briefly showed itself amidst the swirling dark clouds and the ship was noticeably changing direction. Their pilot still has some control, Alistair thought as he pushed his suit to the max. The exhaust turbines shot fire of their own, only it was smokeless and blue.

  “Achilles, close up shop and meet me at the crash site. Prep the med bay, we're going to have to do some triage,” he barked, and he could already see his ship gaining altitude and changing its heading to face the anticipated crash site.

  About a minute before Alistair reached the ever changing crash zone forwarded to him from Achilles, an ear crunching shatter filled the air. His speakers amplified the sound, and he knew the ship had violently touched down.

  “Mr. Crowe, it may benefit you to k
now that you've encountered this ship before. Recently, in fact. Scans suggest it's The Omarra Kahn.”

  “What?!”

  Alistair didn't understand it, but he didn't have to. He'd spent a lot of time thinking about the Kahn's brave captain, a woman with which he was immediately smitten. Her stoic demeanor and stern dismissal of who she thought was a high ranking federal official had helped to amplify the whimsical beauty he obsessed over. He willed his suit forward.

  The ship had indeed crash landed and left a broken black trail in its wake across the brown landscape. Nearby pockets of grass were ablaze and the crushed rock was charred black. He made his way over the initial impact crater and toward the ship, which he could now confirm was The Omarra Kahn.

  “The rest of our crew will be there within several minutes to render assistance, Mr. Crowe.”

  It almost seemed like Achilles knew that he was scared and was trying to console him from aboard The Ubik as it hovered just overhead.

  “I am scanning for life signs, and can see 13 signatures, although thermal scans are unreliable due to the heat. It's possible that the thermal life signs I'm witnessing are pockets of heated air.”

  “Scan for ID chips, then!” Alistair shouted.

  “19 total ID chips are currently functioning and relaying signs of life.”

  19 alive on a ship with nearly 60. Shit.

  Alistair rushed down to the smoldering wreckage and immediately located the recognizable airlock he had breached only a week earlier. His powered armor suit came equipped with a powerful thermal torch and, in combination with its enormous physical strength, was able to quickly rip away the battered shards of hull. He kept his eye on external temperatures and the state of the Kahn's reactors, the status of which was being relayed in real time from The Ubik.

  After clearing the outer doors and moving several pieces of melted bulkhead, he finally gained access to port cargo bay. Inside he found several bodies, all deceased.

  “These are gone, guide me to somebody I can help, Achilles.” He felt on the verge of panicking, something he had not experienced in many, many years.

  “The captain's quarters seems to have been the most reinforced room aboard the ship. I see 12 signatures from inside.”

  Alistair ran across the cargo bay toward the door leading to Captain Ito's quarters, and briefly remembered the anxiety he had felt after opening the door and having his heart melt only several days earlier. He prepared for a significantly worse experience this time.

  He jammed his fingers into a small tear where the side-sliding doors met and was able to use the suit's strength to pry the doors open, albeit slowly. Inside, he found fifteen bodies, and used Achilles' overlay to discover which ones were still showing signs of life.

  As he was reaching down for the first set of unconscious bodies, Stewart and Garcia approached from behind. Both men had swiftly boarded the Ubik after sprinting to the crash site, installed themselves into their armor, and leaped into the fire behind Alistair.

  “We need to grab them one at a time, we don't want to make their injuries any worse,” Alistair said, to which both marines nodded. Inside their helms, however, the gestures made little difference.

  “I'll check the rest of the ship while you two get these. Achilles said there are only 7 more life signs strewn about.” Garcia was just as eager to help these people as Alistair and it provided a brief modicum of comfort.

  After gently ferrying all of the survivors from the wreck, the worst cases were to be admitted to The Ubik's cellular regeneration tanks, while the crew worked feverishly to provide triage. Two more died from their injuries before they could be tended to and Alistair was crushed to see that Captain Liliana Ito suffered from the most grievous wounds. He found her on top of a young girl and figured that she had tried to shield the girl when impact was imminent. Unfortunately, the young girl didn't survive to see Alistair and the marines arrive... the concussive force of the crash landing was just too much.

  As Alistair rushed Captain Ito up the ramp and into the medical center, he received a worrying update from Achilles.

  “Mr. Crowe, four Republic corvettes are en route to investigate the crash and render aid. They will arrive in eight minutes.”

  “Shit!” he shouted and relayed the message to the rest of the crew. “Six minutes until dust off. If they find us here, they'll scan our SVIN and we'll have a lot of questions to answer.”

  Thus far, they had only been able to load Captain Ito onto the ship, but Alistair took some small comfort in knowing that the Republic ships would immediately provide aid to the wounded passengers and crew. They had all been laid in the dirt outside the burning wreckage when Achilles warned of the incoming vessels and the entire crew hoped no more would perish before the Republic arrived.

  With only three minutes to go, the rest of the group boarded the low hovering Ubik and made themselves scarce.

  Alistair stood at Captain Ito's partially covered form floating in the tank, blood seeping from multiple lacerations. He trusted Achilles as a physician, as he had personally experienced the AI's medical subroutine's expertise many times.

  Small robotic arms cauterized larger wounds, while imperceptible medical nanites flooded her system and worked their magic. Alistair knew she would be livid when she awoke. He had removed her from her ship and her dying people, but circumstances were out of his hands. Had they done nothing, none would have survived – the temperature was rapidly rising in The Omarra Kahn – but losing people in your care rarely follows a logical path.

  He only hoped that she would be able to recover. Forgiveness was not something he'd dare aspire to.

  Chapter 28

  It had been 36 hours since their unplanned rush from the Burmea system and Alistair had yet to sleep.

  “Mr. Crowe, I can alert you if her condition changes.”

  “I'm fine, friend. I'm well below my stimulant limit.”

  “Very well. I have an update on the cause of the wreck. It seems that after we initially left The Omarra Kahn, they were sought out by another corsair seeking vengeance. The Republic navy was too busy investigating wreckage of the URS - Kris to notice and the corsair managed to land several hits on The Kahn before warping away.”

  Alistair clenched his fist until his knuckles cracked and turned white.

  “Was this our fault, Achilles? Did we bring this to them? Did we do this?”

  “Mr. Crowe, a pirate corsair fired on The Omarra Kahn.”

  Alistair hung his head and sighed.

  “If you are conjecturing that our timely rescue of The Omarra Kahn resulted in their attack, the answer is most likely yes. But according to medical records I was able to download from a nearby beacon, all of the humans you retrieved from the ship survived. If we had not intervened when we initially discovered her, every life on The Omarra Kahn was most likely forfeit.”

  Alistair blinked a few times, then took out his PCD. He knew Achilles didn't have a face he could look at, but felt like his small communicator was the closest he would get.

  “You really are growing, aren't you? You've never offered such a deep perspective on things before. I'm a little proud of you, old friend,” he said with a small, but recognizable smile.

  “Thank you, sir.”

  Alistair decided it was time for a stiff drink, despite his better judgment. He headed to the mess hall and grabbed a few meal bars, then retreated to his room. The crew was somber, including Cairenn, who had no choice but to accompany them as they left.

  As the doors slid open, he saw what was becoming a familiar sight; Mel commandeering his bed. He ignored her, slumped down in his chair, and shut his eyes.

  “Will she be alright?” Mel asked.

  “Achilles still doesn't know. He thinks so, but her injuries were the worst of the group. He thinks she dove in front of that little girl as a heavy girder came loose. How she was so fast, I have no idea.”

  She sat up and looked him in the eye, “She seemed strong. She'll pull through.
” Melanie wanted to be strong for her friend, just as Alistair had been strong for her. But she was otherwise preoccupied with problems of her own.

  “Laura decided to stay behind on Burmea,” she said with a small waver to her voice.

  Alistair opened his eyes and looked at her, gently nodding. “I'm sorry. I know you were close. We can always go back and visit. I'd like to see them all again, too.”

  Their brief discussion ended on a somber note and, once again, they both sat quietly until the both of them dozed off.

  Chapter 29

  After a fitful sleep, Alistair awoke feeling unusually rejuvenated. The overall morale of the crew of The Ubik was low, so he made a full breakfast and gathered everyone into the mess hall after letting them have a chance to sleep in.

  “I spent the morning working with Achilles to find out who had attacked The Omarra Kahn. We determined it was a local gang that call themselves The Burmean Pythons.” He said their name with a bit of incredulity and decided to look into whether Burmea shared any history with the namesake.

  “You all joined this ship for different reasons – adventure, desperation, or a drive to help. I know we've all been together a short time and, in some cases, barely enough to remember each other's names.”

  Cairenn snickered.

  “But what we saw – innocents dead, children dead – that's what drives me. And all the charitable acts in the galaxy won't stop more atrocities from happening. More children from being murdered as a 'show of force'. I'm not just after justice and I'm not trying to create a balance in the universe. When I first pried my way onto The Kahn, I wanted so badly to do something about the chaos unfolding around me. At the time we all did what we could. But it will never feel like enough.”

  Every member of the group nodded, their faces a sea of grim determination. Rachel's eyes were alight with anger and even Cairenn had shrugged off her usually candid demeanor. Alistair flared with rage and he heard a cacophony of noise swirling in his head. Muffled screams, the tearing and burning metal of The Kahn, the screams for help he imagined existed all throughout human space.