Valor's Calling

by Kal Spriggs

  I thought she wouldn't. She walked right past me...and then my tablet vibrated to signal I had a message.

  Sashi turned and saw me. “You...” Her eyes narrowed. “You heard that, did you? You must be gloating. You've ruined my life!”

  “I didn't do anything, Sashi,” I answered. “You did this yourself.”

  I probably should have been more diplomatic.

  “I'll kill you!” Sashi hissed. She came at me, flailing limbs and anger and it was everything I could do not to let her shove me right over the railing. We struggled for a second. I caught an elbow to the sternum and I kneed her in the stomach. We both stumbled back.

  “Cadets,” a voice barked. “Stop right there.”

  We both looked up. Commander Bonnadonna stood there, his expression hard. For a second, I felt a spurt of real fear at the anger I saw there. “What's going on here?”

  Sashi opened her mouth, I wasn't sure what she was going to say, but I knew it wouldn't be good for her and probably not for me.

  “Just a misunderstanding, sir,” I said. I didn't know how much he'd seen, whether he knew she'd attacked me or not, but I didn't want her to get in further trouble.

  “A misunderstanding?” Commander Bonnadonna looked between us. “Well, Cadets, perhaps you should be more careful about what you say... and do. Cadet Armstrong, get out of here.”

  “Yes sir,” I responded. I put my head down as I hurried away, feeling a bit ashamed that I hadn't told the whole truth. I hadn't lied, not really, but...

  I shot a glance behind me as I left and saw him standing there, his face stern. He knows, I realized, and he's not happy about it.

  ***

  Chapter Twenty-Four: The Pieces All Fell Into Place

  I didn't really know what to do. I could still hear the bell ringing and the cheers. I needed to distract myself from the noise and from what had happened with Sashi and I. My mind went to the maze and I fixated on that and the random thought I'd had about the ceiling. When I got back to my room, I pulled it up on my datapad. The barracks was pretty much empty. Almost everyone was at the parade ground. I was glad for the quiet and lack of interruptions. I pulled up the map that Webster had uploaded and zoomed in on this area or that, but I wasn't getting it. It wasn't familiar from a game, it was somewhere I'd been... and it was driving me insane.

  I stared at the map of the maze for a long time. On impulse, I printed it out and set the sheet of paper on my desk. I turned it sideways and it seemed more familiar. I took a pen and started drawing a long entrance shaft, where it would connect to the surface. I started drawing other details, crossing out sections that didn't seem right, areas where I could tell that Webster had altered the overall design for the exercise.

  It wasn't until I started drawing the buildings of Black Mesa Outpost just outside the entrance until I realized what it was that I was staring at. It wasn't a maze, it was the ruins under Black Mesa. It was the access tunnels that my parents had excavated. That was why it was so familiar. I'd grown up there, following them from tunnel to tunnel. That was why the maze had seemed so familiar and alien at the same time. It wasn't weathered and old and it wasn't lit by portable lights. I'd seen it in the green shades of my visor's night vision.

  In fact, the diagram pretty much exactly matched the sensor survey that my parents had taken a couple years earlier, back when Tony Champion and his father had been there. I remembered then. Tony had asked me to see a copy, and I'd sent him a digital copy that I'd taken off my mom's datapad. It had been a simple thing. I hadn't thought of it since...

  How had Webster seen a copy of that map? The only answer I could come up with was that Tony must have given it to him, but I had no idea why.

  No, I thought, that's not right... Webster had mentioned the maze, he'd said he got the idea from a game that Commander Scarpitti had given him. Commander Scarpitti had worked in Duncan City. She'd somehow had the image of the alien ruins at Basalt Outpost that I'd given Tony Champion. Webster had trusted her. He probably wouldn't have thought anything if she'd called him aside during the final exercise...

  She would have had access to ammunition to swap real rounds for the training rounds during the Grinder and at the final exercise. She'd have had the experience to use the launcher and the explosives. She was an engineer, so she probably knew what parts would have been the most valuable for the smugglers to take.

  I reached for my datapad and then I heard the door open.

  I spun, half expecting Ashiri, “You're not going to believe...”

  I trailed off. It wasn't Ashiri. Commander Scarpitti stood in the doorway. “Cadet Armstrong,” she said with a pleasant smile, “What is it, exactly, that I won't believe?”

  I didn't know how she'd got the door open. I didn't know how she knew I knew. I opened my mouth to shout.

  She kicked me in the stomach. I doubled over, gasping for air. I felt like I wanted to vomit, but I couldn't control my diaphragm. I lay there, like a beached fish, gasping, unable to speak, unable to move.

  Commander Scarpitti squatted next to my head, cocking her head, her smile still pleasant, as if we were discussing something casual. “I could have killed you just now, Armstrong. I pulled that kick, just enough. You won't suffocate with a ruptured diaphragm. You should be grateful. Don't feel like you need to thank me, though.”

  I saw her stand up and pick up my datapad. She typed in a message. “Now, I think it's time for you and Cadet Drien to have a conversation. Something appropriately dire, I think. How about, 'let's settle things, see you at the maze.' Hmm?”

  I tried to force out words. I felt tears work their way down my face as I rocked back and forth, trying to get my body to move.

  She pulled out an injector and touched it to my throat. “Now, time for you to go to sleep.”

  The world faded out.

  ***

  I woke up in the dark. My hands were tied behind me, tied off to my feet. I shifted around, my stomach a ball of agony from where Scarpitti had kicked me. I managed to roll over and my fingers found warm flesh.

  “Who's there?” I asked.

  “Jiden?” I recognized Sashi Drien's voice. “What's going on, why am I tied up. What have you done?”

  “It wasn't her, girl,” Scarpitti's voice spoke from the darkness. “Well, not directly. If she'd just died the first few times, we wouldn't be here. I'd be enjoying a good drink and you'd be getting ready to go home and bask in the disapproval of your woman-hating family.”

  “You won't get away with this,” I growled.

  “But I have, Armstrong. I got away with this for years... right under Admiral Drien's nose. I made millions, Armstrong. And that was just the beginning. The Enforcers thought this was just about money... but that was just a nice perk. There's changes coming out here on the Periphery, and I signed on with the winners. The rest of Century... well, you're just going to be the losers. You just don't know it yet.”

  “You're nuts,” Sashi said from beside me.

  “I just have more information than either of you,” she said. “And I was going to just let you two go on being oblivious until Armstrong here started getting nosy again. She set off a monitoring program I'd installed on her datapad, which is why we are gathered here today. I thought the information about my involvement was gone, safely dead with Webster when I murdered him, but I guess I was wrong.”

  “You killed him?” I asked in shock. I'd taken the investigators word that it was suicide.

  “Poor Webster,” I heard Scarpitti walk in a circle around us in the dark. “He wanted so hard to do well here. It was so easy to get him onto Rex when he did his summer assignment. Then I put him to solving the puzzle labyrinth there at Black Mesa. Then the whole Champion Enterprise news broke and having the data that they got from you was a liability... and so was Webster. He never saw it coming. An injector to the neck and he had enough drugs in his system to kill an elephant.”

  “You set him up,” I growled.

  “I needed someon
e to take the fall,” Scarpitti continued to pace in a circle around us, the sound of her boots surprisingly soft on the hard floor. “What with you surviving all those attempts to kill you and all. Webster made the perfect stooge. A waste, but he was a liability anyway, what with him keeping the copy of the labyrinth program I'd given him.”

  “I'll kill you,” I said, my voice calm.

  “Doubtful, dear child. You see, the rest of this writes itself up as a report quite easily. You sent a message to Cadet Drien, telling her you wanted to meet and settle your little ongoing feud. You've been taking Commander Pannja's defensive classes. It only follows that you got a bit cocky. The pair of you met here in the maze. Drien took care of disabling the security monitors, or at least, they'll find her datapad plugged in for that purpose. Your fight here escalated, I think there will be a tragic fall... very sad.”

  “After the incident with Webster, I think your grandmother's career will be done for. Three cadets killed in just a year? One of them the granddaughter of her rival? That's going to look bad on her. It'll look bad on Admiral Drien, too, but I'm sure he'll make it work in his favor, he's good at snaking out of things.” Scarpitti stopped her pacing. She came forward and I felt her press something on the restraints that held my hands and feet. A moment later, I could move.

  I rolled away from her and kicked out blindly, but I might as well have just flailed in the dark. She chuckled. “Oh, please. This is your chance, Armstrong. Don't waste it fighting me.”

  I heard her release Sashi's restraints. “Now. I'm going to let the pair of you try to escape. It shouldn't be too hard. We're not far from where Drien nearly managed to kill you. Oh, here,” she turned on a flashlight and threw it at my feet. “Run along, now, children... I'll be following you soon enough.”

  I snatched the flashlight and brought it up just in time to see her disappear around a corner. The way she moved, she had to be wearing some kind of low-light vision gear.

  “She's crazy,” Sashi muttered.

  “Yeah, but she's going to kill us if we don't get out of here,” I replied.

  “We should split up,” Sashi said. “She can't get us both if we go in opposite directions. Whichever one of us gets out, we get help...”

  I waved the one flashlight around, “Go ahead. Think you can find your way out in the dark?” That wasn't very fair, I knew. It was a good plan, but clearly Scarpitti had headed that off.

  I could hear her fuming. “I hate you.”

  I didn't respond. I led the way down the corridor, quickly realizing where we were. It was the inner ring. We were very close to where Sashi had nearly killed me. I hurried along, trying to sweep the flashlight in all directions while Sashi ran next to me.

  I turned a corner and caught a punch to the face. The blow slammed me into the wall and I felt my cheek tear open. I dropped the flashlight and stumbled back, my vision blurred and my head aching. In the flickering shadows, I saw Scarpitti hit Sashi and then slam her into the wall. “The pair of you really beat each other down, the investigators are going to see that one of you ambushed the other here... but the fight continued onwards...”

  Scarpitti vanished back into the shadows. She was toying with us, I realized. I felt sick to my stomach. The woman was clearly insane. All of the attempts on my life made far more sense, now. This wasn't revenge or the actions of someone in a panic... this was a game to her.

  I stumbled to my feet, still seeing double. I stooped over to pick up the flashlight and barely caught myself from falling on my face. Sashi got to her feet. “This way,” I said.

  “It's no use,” Sashi leaned against the wall. “She's just going to kill us.”

  “She'll kill us faster if we stay here,” I replied. But that wasn't all. I had the inklings of a plan forming in my head. It was something that Webster had said and his words came back to me as I led the way. Leverage, I thought, it's all about the leverage.

  ***

  “I'm sorry,” Sashi said as we limped through the dark.

  “This isn't your fault,” I replied, still putting together the plan in my head. I couldn't tell Sashi. Scarpitti would overhear. I just had to hope that she'd understand and do as I told her.

  “No... I'm sorry about, well I'm sorry about everything, okay?” Sashi sounded miserable as she said it.

  I turned the flashlight on her in surprise and she winced away from the light. “Sorry,” I said, turning it back down the corridor. “I... well, I'm sorry too, for what it's worth.”

  “You should be,” Sashi muttered. “You ruined my life.”

  “I ruined your life?” I demanded. “You're the one who betrayed me.”

  “I had no choice!” Sashi snapped. “My father and grandfather were watching. You have no idea what kind of pressure that brings. They saw you save me, during the final exercise. When I nearly got shot from behind. If I hadn't shot you, they would have...” She trailed off, “Things would have been much worse. As it was, they said I brought dishonor on the family for coming in behind an Armstrong. Then I had to transfer to Ogre because no one in Sand Dragon trusted me anymore...”

  “You did okay there, it seemed,” I said.

  “I'm miserable. Bolander and Thorpe are the only ones who talked to me at all, and then after Recognition, even they ignore me. I have no friends. I have to study on my own. My older brothers think it's hilarious. They keep telling me to quit. They say that I'm weak. That a proper woman would not come here.”

  I hadn't known any of that. I'd known that she looked miserable around her family, but the rest... “God, I'm sorry Sashi.”

  “You're sorry,” She spat. “That doesn't help. Even if we somehow survive this, I'm going to end up failing out. Your future is set. You're at the top of our class, your grandmother is paving the way for your career...”

  “I don't get any help,” I said. “I barely speak to her, and when I do, it's generally about people trying to kill me.”

  “I wish I had one third of the luck you have, Jiden,” Sashi said.

  We reached the big chamber where Sashi and I had fought it out. I heard mocking laughter from Scarpitti as we moved towards the row of pillars nearby. “A nice set of symmetry, here, don't you think? Perfect for the two of you to end up.”

  We had come out near the same pillar I’d hidden behind when Sashi had fired on me. I aimed the flashlight upwards and as I’d remembered, the two-meter wide basalt stone pillar ended at the same height as the walls around us. There wasn’t a ceiling and that gave us an opening.

  I pushed Sashi into the gap between the pillar and the wall. “Climb!” I shouted at her and I started up, bracing my feet against the wall and my back against the pillar. “Go!” I shouted at Sashi.

  I craned my head around, shining the flashlight around the chamber. As expected, I found Scarpitti quickly enough, she walked up, amusement clear on her face. She wore a set of night vision glasses, which darkened slightly as I shone the flashlight on her. A little closer, I thought. I kept climbing. It was slow moving. There was no way we'd reach the top, not before she could catch us.

  She paused, cocking her head at us, “Clever,” she said. “Get on top, then run along the walls. It won't save you, but it was clever. I'll almost regret killing you, Armstrong. You've stubbornly refused to die, I've got to say.”

  We were almost two thirds of the way up the wall. I kept climbing, inching my way up while I tried to keep my light on her and keep her in sight.

  She took another few steps forwards and I could see her gauging the best way to climb up and catch us. Just about....there.

  “Push!” I shouted to Sashi. I stopped trying to climb and instead I shoved against the wall with my legs and at the pillar with my back. Sashi seemed to realize my intent and she did the same. The huge stone pillar shifted ever so slightly. It had to weigh seventy tons or more... but we were high up, and it wasn't anchored. Webster had counted on its weight to keep it in place. It seemed oddly fitting to use one of his design points to defeat the w
oman who’d murdered him.

  I turned over, pushing with everything I had, wondering if it would be enough. I can't do it, I thought, I'm not strong enough... I'm going to die in the dark. The pillar tilted then and I clung to it as it fell. It seemed to happen in slow motion, seventy tons of stone falling like a blow from a giant. I caught a glimpse of Scarpitti, her jaw dropping, her face going blank in shock. Then the pillar blotted her out and it slammed into the ground with a world-ending crash.

  It was louder and more powerful than the skimmer crash. It felt like the entire world had shattered. The impact sent me flying and I slammed into the ground and rolled away. I lay there on the floor, feeling like a broken doll for a long time. After a moment, I managed to climb to my feet. I could hear the sounds of sirens and shouts in the distance. Apparently they'd heard the noise, so even if the attack hadn't worked...

  I searched around and found the flickering flashlight, the whole thing bent from impact. I shone it over where I'd last seen Scarpitti. I flinched away from what I saw there, among the tumbled pieces of rock from where the pillar had shattered. “Cadet Lieutenant Webster sends his regards,” I said. It didn't change the fact that he'd died, but at least I'd helped him gain some measure of justice. I stood up, keeping my eyes averted and feeling nauseous. “Sashi, you okay?” I asked.

  “Yeah,” she croaked. “That was your plan?”

  “Yeah,” I replied. “That was my plan.”

  “Terrible plan,” Sashi Drien said. “Stupid plan. Thank God it worked.”

  “I love it when a plan falls into place,” I said. I sat back down on the floor, feeling utterly spent.

  “I hate you,” Sashi replied, but there was no weight to her words when she said it. She came over and took a seat next to me on the floor. We sat there, listening to the shouts coming closer. “I'm sorry, Jiden,” she said after a moment

  “Me too,” I said. I reached out and patted her on the leg. “You should come back to Sand Dragon. After this, we shouldn't be enemies.” I wasn't sure I could be her friend, but there was no reason for us to keep fighting each other.