Siege of Terra (The Mavrik Woods Series, Book 1)

by Robin MacMillan

  I look closer at him; it looks like it’s General Weber.

  “Is that you General?” I ask him.

  “Indeed it is son, we thought we lost you. If it weren’t for my team you would probably be a prisoner still, or dead,” he replies.

  “Yeah, probably. I have no way of expressing how appreciative I am for you sending a team to pull me out.”

  “Well, you know our policy don’t you? Never leave a man behind. I just regret that it took us as long as it did,” he bows his head.

  “You got me out, that’s all that matters.”

  I look at the other two that stand on either side of him; one of them looks like a medical officer, that’s the assumption I make by the look of his clothing. The other’s a security guard with a giant assault rifle.

  “Do you think you would be able to debrief us immediately?”

  “I’m sorry Sir, but I need to see my wife before I do anything else,” there’s no look of shock on the Generals face; he probably expected that I wanted to go to the hospital as soon as I touched the ground.

  “Doctor Zanning can lead you,” he gestures to the man in the white suit to his right.

  “Thank you Sir, I will notify you when I can debrief.”

  “Make it soon though Colonel; we don’t have a lot of time.”

  I give the General a quick salute and then turn to the medical officer, “lead the way.”

  I feel a hand on my shoulder, I turn towards the person; It’s Major Foxx,“I hope she gets better; tell her to get well from me ok?” Her voice isn’t in ‘military mode’, it’s the voice of a kind and gentle woman.

  “Thank you Foxx, I hope she gets better too,” she tries to give me a salute; I however reach out and take her hand; she shakes my hand in return.

  “Sorry about that, lead on,” I say, turning back towards Doctor Zanning.

  Zanning nods, “don’t worry about it.”

  A door opens up on the side of the tunnel, it’s an elevator door. We step inside, the door dings behind us as it closes.

  “Where would you like to go?” A voice says.

  “Medical level six,” Zanning says.

  “How many levels are in the place?” I ask him.

  “There are forty two in this complex. This is our home now, seeing as we can't go above the surface we needed to make this a city, it has everything we need.”

  “I see, and how long has this complex been around for?”

  “Well, I’m not exactly sure, I think it was built shortly after we landed here.”

  That piece of information shocks me, had we really thought that we would go to war as soon as we landed? Would we be fighting over land and destroying each other for pointless purposes? You’d think we would have learned from our mistakes that we made on Earth. Our race is so young, compared to what the Hakorians told me of the other races that inhabited the many stars; humans are like infants in comparison.

  “That’s disappointing.”

  “Sir?”

  “Just to the fact that we are predicting that we need bunkers for war, wars that haven’t even been started yet.”

  “Well Sir, if our government didn’t build these bunkers we would all be dead and buried under a kilometer of rubble.”

  “Good point.”

  The door dings open, revealing white hallways. Medical staff scurry about, along with injured soldiers that are roaming the hallways; the medical staff trying their best to usher them back to their crammed rooms. They’re obviously trying to play the hard soldier; never scared of anything, including loss of blood and blacking out.

  Zanning leads me through the hallways; it’s hard to navigate through them, they’re so full with the sick and injured. Zanning had said this was level six, if there’re six levels this full then we’d be hard pressed to survive, especially if more and more people keep flooding in.

  “We’ve kept her room private, here she is,” he gestures to a shut door.

  “Thank you Doctor,” I pat him on the shoulder.

  I swallow hard before I open the door. Part of me wants to race in there and grab hold of her and hug her to death. Another part wants me to never see her in her particular condition.

  I slowly open the door; my heart racing as I do so.

  Syreena lies there, in the middle of the room is her bed, flowers sit in a vase on the corner of a table, they’re beginning to wilt.

  I rush to her side.

  The only thing that looks like it’s helping her recovery is a breathing apparatus around her mouth. There’s also a round object connected to her chest, it’s blinking a steady green. I’m assuming that it’s a heart monitor.

  My eyes brake out into tears, never before have I felt so helpless, incapable of saving the one person in my life that I love the most. I lower my head over hers and kiss her gently on the forehead.

  How could such a thing happen to her? I was supposed to be there for her whenever she needed me. I had spent years searching for ‘the one’ that would make my life complete, eventually I gave up after having no luck. As soon as I stopped looking, she appeared into my life, just like that. Everything from that point on fell into place.

  A knock on the door makes me swing my head towards the door. It’s Doctor Zanning.

  “Can I help you Doc?”

  “I’m just here to inform you of the details, if you want them,” he steps into the room.

  “Lay ‘em on me,” I usher him over to take a seat.

  “Thanks, but I prefer to stand.”

  I nod at him to continue, “what kind of details are we talking about exactly?”

  He sighs, “the condition that she is in and how long she has left. She is a strong one, no doubt about that, otherwise she would have died long ago, but the human body can only take so much.”

  My heart lights up, “so are you saying that she’ll survive this?”

  His head goes down a little and his eyes shut slightly. “No, I’m saying the opposite, as strong as she is she won’t be able to beat it. When we found her in your home, she had three broken ribs, another two were cracked, and luckily, none punctured her lungs. A broken collar bone, an inflamed larynx, an-” he sees the look on my face, “shall I go on?”

  “No, just stop, I don’t need to hear anymore. Just tell me she’s gonna make it.”

  “I can't do that Sir. We’ve kept her in a medically induced coma so that she would last until you returned. Other than that if we revive her then she would only have a day or so, maybe even hours.”

  “What? You are asking me if I should basically make the decision that could end my wife’s life, I can't do that.”

  “Well, you are the closest family; you have full rights to decide what happens. Just let one of us know what you want to do,” he starts to walk towards the door.

  “Wait,” I grab him by the arm, “it doesn’t make any sense.”

  “What doesn’t?”

  “Why is she even dying? You said that she just has a lot of broken bones, we’ve been able to mend bones quickly and efficiently.”

  “We can't explain it Sir, for some reason we’re just losing her, none of us know why exactly, all that we do know is that we can't do anything about it.”

  That doesn’t make any sense at all. How can someone just lose the will to live? If only she could realize that she has something to stay alive for, and fight for, she doesn’t even know that I’m here right now, standing over her.

  “How long can she stay in this state?”

  “Well, in the state she is now for at least another half cycle. Now, there are more advanced methods of to prolong her life, but they wouldn’t do anything in this situation.”

  “What kind of methods?”

  “The only one that would work is cryogenics.”

  “You want to put her on ice?”

  “That’s not what I said, if however we did go in that direction she could stay like this indefinitely. Reviving her though in this state would result in the same conclusion.” />
  “What do you mean?”

  “She would still be on the verge of dying. If we waited ten years we might have developed new medical technology that could save her, but that’s a large gamble.”

  “So you are saying that I could be an old man by the time we could save her?”

  “Yes, to develop technology that would help her in this near death situation seems almost impossible at this time. It would need to heal her almost instantly for her to survive.”

  I scratch my chin, it’s a lot of new information that would be able save her life one day, but will it be worth it? If I were an old cripple with only a handful of years left it wouldn’t save her, it would be torture to see the one person she loved die just when she got her life back. Unless…unless I go out exploring the galaxy, in search for this City that the Hakorians talked nonstop about. The citizens there might be willing to help save her life, I’m sure that they’ll have some form of technology that can save her from the brink of death.

  “If you take her out of the coma and then put her in the cryo thingy what would that do to her?”

  “Why would we take her out of the coma? It would be a lot safer for her if she went immediately into cryostatis.”

  “Because I want to say goodbye, would you be able to arrange that?”

  “I’m sure we could do that for you. So then, do I have your permission to use that technology on her?”

  “You have my permission, but let me talk to her first.”

  “It will take almost a day to prep the tank. If you wish us to revive her from her coma so you can say your farewell it must be done only minutes before going into the tank.”

  “You’re saying that I only have a few minutes to say goodbye?”

  “Yes, to help prevent any further internal damage.”

  It’s a big decision to make, it’ll be worth it though, if all goes well, someday I’ll return with the proper technology to save her. “Let me know when the tank is ready. I’ll say my goodbyes then ok?”

  “Of course, we will notify you when the time is ready.”

  “Thank you Doc, you can leave now.”

  Zanning nods before leaving the room.

  I turn back towards Syreena.

  It’s the hardest decision that I’ll probably ever have to make. One shouldn’t have that much power over another’s life.

  “Syreena, I’ve heard before about patients that are in a coma can still hear subconsciously to events that happen around them. If you can hear me now, know that I love you, and that I will be back soon,” I bend down and kiss her on the lips, more tears stream to life in my eyes as no response follows.

  It’s rather disconcerting; even if the person was just in a regular sleep; their body recognizes the action and reacts on a subconscious level.

  This however is completely different.

  I squeeze her hand gently before getting up and leaving the room, if stay here longer I know that I’ll never leave her side.

  ****

  Day 32: Cycle 3: Period 2: Year 2397

  It takes me longer than I thought to find the war room. General Weber contacted me via intercom, ordering me to get up to the briefing room as soon as I could to debrief him on my time spent on the Hakorian ship.

  It isn’t the first thing that I want to do after two cycles of being imprisoned, but orders are orders. He’d given me a loophole that I can exploit though, he’d said as soon as I could, so I take my time.

  It’s nice being back on solid ground, just walking about and exploring the compound, coming across many things. One of the best locations that I come across is the commissary. I sit there for what feels like hours, gorging myself on fresh food.

  After I finish my meal I begin to walk around and try to locate where exactly the briefing room was, somewhere on level 23. I find a lift that has access to the many levels. The lift doors hisses open, revealing the same white interior, the architecture around me makes it feel almost ghostly. I punch in the level that I want to travel to.

  My stomach drops at the sudden increase of speed, it feels like I’m going up, it doesn’t seem right though. When I first arrived, we went to level medical level six, so technically I should have been heading down. Unless the levels are divided into specific sections, maybe six levels of each section.

  It’s several seconds before the lift doors opens. The corridor is exactly same as the others; this one however is rather crowded as soldiers hurry about, most likely trying to get to a location that’s hard to find, similar to my predicament.

  I walk out of the lift, immersing myself into the mob, it’s so packed in the hallway that it’s actually hard to maneuver, my shoulders are constantly rubbing up against someone else’s. A man with a cowboy-like hat is walking in front of me; I tap him on the shoulder. “Excuse me Sir? Is there any chance that you know which room General Weber is in?”

  The man spins around; his face looks familiar, as if from a dream a long time ago.

  “Jayon?” I say simply, it’s highly unlikely that it’s actually him; there’s a very small chance that the man survived this long.

  “Kid? That you? I thought you were dead!” Jayon says, a startled look carved into his facial features.

  “I thought so too for a while.”

  Jayon rushes up to me and for some reason gives me a large hug, it feels like my internal organs are going pop.

  “Take it easy eh? I’m still recovering.”

  “Me and Krystil were saddened to hear that you were captured, and about your wife. We both thought you to be dead, what happened?”

  “A squad of soldiers came and rescued me. It’s as simple as that, well, I’m sure it was a hard mission to pull off, I blacked out from my injuries shortly after being sprung from my cell,” it’s right then that I remember that I’d been shot; I didn’t even noticed the pain coming from my shoulder until I thought about it. Pain from hunger and pain for my wife completely overrode my thoughts on anything else. Plus being doped up on all the painkillers probably helped me forget about the pain. I know though that I won’t pass out again, I’d most likely just go straight to the infirmary after my debriefing.

  “Sounds like an interesting rescue mission,” he scratches his chin as if he’s almost disappointed about not getting a piece of the action.

  “Well, rescuing me was only half of the mission.”

  Jayon doesn’t look surprised by this piece of information, “I’m assuming that there was a greater benefit to the mission than to save your life?”

  “Yeah, how did you know?”

  “Son, I’ve been in this game for a lot longer then you. I know all of the military’s dirty tactics and secrets. Is it classified information by chance?”

  “No one has told me that it is classified, either way I’m not sure it would matter at all if it was. The main objective of the mission was to recover the Thopium tanks that were loaded up onto the transport ship that I was on, and if they couldn’t recover them, then they would destroy it.”

  “Well, now ain’t that disappointing, I guess they value objects more than human life. That’s why I only trust myself and my co-pilot.”

  “I take it Krystil is still doing runs with you?”

  “Indeed she is, I guess she just can't stop coming back,” his eyes glance over to my shoulder, “are you injured?”

  A sharp burst of pain arcs up my neck as I twist my arm to inspect my shoulder, “yeah, during my escape I was shot from behind, luckily it cauterized the wound when the bolt struck.”

  “Well it’s a good thing that you at least wrapped it up, wouldn’t want a wound like that exposed for long without it having properly looked at. If I were you then I would recommend getting that looked at as soon as you could my friend; I’m surprised that you haven’t passed out again already.”

  I let out a sharp laugh, “yeah, you’re right. I took several painkillers and dressed the wound several times on the long ride back. It’s nothing to really worry about.”

  Ja
yon lets out a small ‘ahh’ sound.

  “Anyways, I need to get back to the hanger floor; we need to make repairs on the Comet.”

  “Why are you on this floor then? Isn’t the hanger floor basically at the top?” I point up towards the ceiling.

  “It is, I just came down here to get my next mission, me and Krystil are flyin’ all over the place.”

  “Did you by chance go to General Weber for the briefing?”

  “Why yes I did, why? You lookin’ for him?”

  “Yeah, that’s actually why I first started talking; I never actually got directions to where he wants me to meet him at.”

  “Oh, well I can help you with that,” he gestures to a green stripe that illuminates the ceiling panels, “you see that?”

  I nod at him.

  “That leads all over this complex, it’s kinda like a map, only more basic. Each new corridor you turn onto will make a green stripe appear. Those lights will add or subtract depending on which corridor you are in. It just lets you know where you are then. All you need to do is follow that and made three lefts and one right, that should lead you directly to the briefing room.”

  “Thank you Jayon, for all your help. Oh, and I’m glad to see you, it’s nice to see a familiar face around here. Say hi to Krystil for me.”

  “Don’t worry son, I will. Good luck,” he clasps my arm and shakes it. After he turns away from me he easily disappears into the crowd.

  I look for the green stripe on the ceiling. It’s an ingenious and simple piece of technology. Seeing as you can barely see the floor because of the crowd the strip on the ceiling seemed the perfect solution to that.

  I follow the stripes of light in the pattern that Jayon suggested, it doesn’t take me long to reach my final destination. Unlike the T.A.R. base, the doors have very little security; the door to the briefing room only has a number pad to punch in your personal ID code. I hit the seven buttons in sequence; the pad beeps at me, yet the door remains closed. I try again, this time slower, just to make sure that I hit them all correctly. The outcome is the same.