by Andrew Mack
Balerra continued. “You were captured. You became a prisoner. The violence suddenly had a real consequence.”
Kaya replied firmly, “I have always been prepared to die fighting for what I believe in.”
Balerra gave the tiniest of grins and continued, “There is no question to your unwavering commitment. But your potential death left him questioning his motives. Had he gone too far? Is there a compromise where you do not get everything you want, but the miners, these people you are fighting for, get something and can live in peace?”
Kaya thought for a moment. After a long pause, she looked down at Balerra and said, “My Quillisar, I am simply willing to die for what I believe in. To compromise is to become a prisoner in their society.”
Balerra countered with, “And Octavious agrees. Yet, he is willing to give himself up, so that you can live, in any capacity.”
Kaya was confused. “What do you mean?”
Balerra answered, “When you were captured, Argo offered an exchange. You for Octavious.”
Kaya answered, “He would never do that. It’s against his principles.”
Balerra gave another small half-smile, and said, “Kaya, you are his principle.”
Kaya was angry. She put the wine down. She said, “I cannot just stay here. I have to find them. I have to do something.”
Balerra answered, “Kaya, you must stay here and wait for Syren. It is not safe for you out there.”
Kaya looked at her and said, “I am leaving. You can either help me or not.”
Balerra thought for a second. After a five-second pause, she said, “What can I do for you, my child?”
Kaya began taking off her makeshift robe and replied, “You can start by giving me something proper to wear.”
Balerra replied, “I have just the thing.”
Belinea 7.13
Avola
Lowell Province
Sector 14 Mining Center
Two F-81 Sirator Fighters, along with two bombers and Argo’s personal transport shuttle, were flying to the Mining Garrison about two hundred meters off the ground. Argo was sitting behind his two pilots. He hit a couple of buttons on his screen, and Walva, who was back at AuFa Base Six, appeared. Argo said, “Any new information? Anything on the camera feeds.”
Walva answered, “Nothing, my Lord. However, Majavkee Lord Bialos got back to me. They estimate that Octavious has about twelve full crates of Vait.”
Argo answered, “More than I thought, but worth the sacrifice if he is dead for good.”
The ships were coming up on the Garrison. The towers were still there, but still heavily damaged from the attack they had weeks ago. Only one turret was operational, but as they flew closer, it seemed to be abandoned. The SS officer flying with Argo repeatedly tried to make contact with the garrison, but to no avail. They did a flyby of the facility and saw four transports, still parked in the same spot. The ventilation was still coming off them, so the engines were on. After Argo did another pass, he said over the intercom, “Order Number One…”
The two bombers, escorted by the two Sirators, made another pass. Each unloaded a payload of four bombs from a higher altitude than when they did the flyby. The bombs were huge, and within minutes, the entire Garrison had been destroyed. A ball of fire and smoke extended one hundred and fifty meters high. One of the AuFa pilots confirmed the destruction and said over his radio, “Target confirmation. Garrison is destroyed.”
The ships turned around and began heading back to Base Six.
Lieutenant Walva was watching the bombings from the screen in the control room of AuFa Base Six. The three functional cameras all went to black after the bombs were dropped. About thirty seconds after, a transmission popped on the screen. One of the AuFa officers could be heard saying, “Yes, are you sure?”
Walva had a curious look on his face. The AuFa officer then said to him, “I have someone claiming to be Octavious Killian.”
Walva replied, “Put it through….., who is this?”
The voice over the transmission said, “This is Octavious Killian, who is this?”
Walva replied, “This is Lieutenant Walva of the AuFa.”
Octavious spoke again. “Where is Argo?”
Walva replied, “He is not here.”
Octavious replied, “Well, at least he got that part of the message correct. Patch me through.”
Walva answered, “Excuse me?”
Octavious replied, “I know he just got done blowing up Garrison Fourteen, so please patch me through wherever he is because he missed the target.”
Walva looked worried now. He hit a couple of buttons, and spoke: “Lord Argo, I have Octavious Killian on the speaker.”
Argo replied, “We just blew up the Garrison, how is that possible?”
Octavious was now patched through and answered, “You did, Argo. I am sending over the video transmissions from the other cameras we disabled so you could get a better look at your work.”
There was a long awkward pause until a video transmission popped on the control screen at Base Six. Walva hit the view buttons, so the feed patched indirectly to Argo’s personal transport. As the video showed the other cameras, it became apparent that not only did Octavious take over the base, he left all of the AuFa soldiers handcuffed and sitting on the ground as prisoners. Twenty four in all that died as soon as the bombs from AuFa’s squadron exploded. Octavious had it on a loop with different angles of the base, and began narrating as Argo was watching. “Let me commend the accuracy of the bombings. That is some exceptional work out of your crew. I wish I had an entire air-wing capable of this kind of destruction, but who needs one when you are willing to do the work for me.”
Argo grew enraged with every different angle showing the soldiers getting blown up from the bombings. He finally replied, “Octavious, you are a dead man.”
Octavious replied, “You may get your wish soon enough. In the meantime, Argo, you did not play by the rules. I said to come alone with Kaya, and you brought bombers and fighters instead. In more ways than one, you only have yourself to blame.”
Argo angrily answered, “You and me, right now, Octavious, just tell me where.”
Octavious said, “I tried that, but you reneged, so that deal is no longer on the table. But thank you for pulling out the AuFa soldiers. Despite a few more Majavkee security I had to deal with, it has allowed me to take over Mining Center Six in Lowell Province.”
Argo angrily replied, “I am coming for you, and the Vait, Octavious. Don’t go anywhere!”
Octavious replied, “As long as you bring Kaya, you have something to barter. I should warn you though. You might want to contact whoever is in charge of that Battle Cruiser up in space, first.”
Argo gritted through his teeth, and he was pointing at his pilots to turn the ships around. “I don’t have time for your fucking games Octavious.”
Octavious replied, “No games Argo. However, right about now, your engineers are going through those crates, (Above on the Battle Cruiser, the engineers are inspecting the Vait crates.) and realizing there is just a layer of Vait on top. It is only about twenty percent of a full crate. The rest is rocks. The other eighty percent of the Vait never left this Mining Center. And since I am now in charge here, I have considerably more Vait than you realize.”
Argo, hitting a switch so that only Walva would hear him, yelled into the speaker box. “Walla, confirm with Holland how much Vait he has?”
Octavious continued, “Your assistant is going to get back to you with that confirmation. You have twenty minutes to get here. And this time, if you do not come alone, you can add mining center, Majavkee Security, and Vait to the list of things I am going to blow up.”
The line went silent. Argo yelled, “Walla!!!”
Lieutenant Walva answered back. “My Lord, Admiral Holland, has confirmed. The crates were
not full. He is counting now, but it seems likely they are about 70-80% short.”
Argo paused and put his hand on his forehead. He shook his head and whispered to himself, “Fucking shit…..”
Argo thought for a second. There was an awkward silence. The pilot in front of him said, “Lord Argo, we are about fifteen minutes from Mining Station Six.”
Argo said nothing. He kept thinking, trying to figure a way out. The pilot asked him, “My Lord, do you want me to tell the AuFa Wing to stand down?”
Argo said nothing. He kept looking out the window. Five, then ten, then fifteen seconds went by, Argo not saying anything. He whispered to himself, “Wait, he thinks I still have her…”
Argo sat up. He flipped a switch and spoke, “Walla. Tell Leahy to bring the cargo to Mining Station Six.”
Walva responded, “The cargo, my Lord?”
Argo answered, “He will know what I mean. And get me Admiral Holland, stat.“
Argo, now looking at his pilots. “You guys, tell that AuFa wing to drop back six minutes behind us, but no more. No fucking way we are going in there with our fly undone.”
The Pilot turned around and asked, “My Lord, If he ties the bombs to the Vait, it will create an explosion that will destroy everything in the Mining Center.”
Argo just half-smiled, and replied “Good, because I do not care anymore. If it costs me my life, so be it, but Octavious Killian is not leaving that Center alive.”
Belinea 7.14
Avola
Lowell Province
The Quillisar Priestess walked down the streets dressed from head to toe in her bright red cloak. Turning a few blocks, she would make her way to the Mining Center. It was dusk as she noticed more people walking. Joined by others, there seemed to be a mob growing as the Quillisar Priestess, her head completely covered, whispered to a civilian, “What is going on?”
The civilian responded, “Quillisar, the miners. They are revolting. They say Octavious Killian is alive and leading them.”
The Quillisar Priestess continued to walk that way. With each block they walked, the mob got bigger. By the time they had walked eight blocks to the Mining Center entrance, they had grown to a crowd of almost three thousand people. Twenty armed Majavkee Security blocked the entrance to the Mining Facility. The crowd began getting rowdy, threatening to overrun the security guards, who now looked worried.
The Quillisar Priestess made her way to the front, wiggling through the civilians. She noticed some of the miners on the other side of the fence inside the facility. They had mining equipment such as hammers and chisels, while the others were throwing rocks at security. They were positioned some forty meters away from the fence, but the danger was imminent. When the Majavkee security fired a gas-like substance into the civilian crowd, it only made the crowd angrier. Three of the civilians tried to climb over the fence. One of the Majavkee security soldiers fired four shots directly above the civilians climbing the fence. Fifty miners rushed the Majavkee Security from behind. Once one got a hold of a rifle, the miner turned and used it on a Majavkee Security guard. Within seconds, chaos had broken out. The civilian crowd began tearing the fence down. Within a couple of minutes, over thirty civilians were wounded or killed. The rest had breached the fence, overtook the security, and ran into the facility.
First in line was the Red Priestess, as she made her way forward. The crowd was chanting “Val-May, Val-May, Val-May, Val-May.”
Inside the Mining Facility, Octavious has taken over the Control Room. He was waiting, looking at all the security camera monitors to gauge what was going on. Cortes, standing next to him, said, “They are over-running the facility, sir. Word has gotten out.”
Octavious nodded. “The revolt part is working. Now we just need Argo to play along.”
Cortes asked, “You trust him to bring Kaya and not bomb the whole facility? No offense, sir, but he only cares if you are dead.”
Octavious kept looking at the screens. He replied, “There is certainly a chance. He showed his intentions at the Garrison. But the amount of Vait we have, and the number of civilians will give him pause. It is a simple exchange.”
Cortes asked, “When will we know?”
Octavious replied, “He has ten minutes. He will probably show up alone. If he does not, he will bomb and burn this place to the ground. One other thing Cortes….”
Cortes looked at him and replied, “If you see any AuFa ships show up after we are talking, or I give you a signal, get all the civilians out of the facility. Have the miners and soldiers escape through the caves if you have to.”
Cortes asked, “Signal for what, sir?”
Octavious turned and looked at her. Quietly, he said, “The signal that Argo does not have Kaya. And that means he was never going to give her up for anything. And I will end it, one way or another with Argo, right there.”
Belinea 7.15
Avola
Lowell Province
Mining Center Six
The miners and civilians were now shooting, along with throwing rocks, at Majavkee Security. The Red Priestess saw a Majavkee Security guard shooting into a defenseless crowd. She pulled out her ring, and a fire sword came out. Running up to the guard with flames flashing around her, the guard had difficulty shooting her. She dodged a couple of rounds as she flipped up, behind the security guard, and sliced his head off in one motion.
Two more security guards ran up, but the Red Priestess took them on simultaneously. They tried first to shoot, but the Red Priestess first blinded them fire, then cut their hands off. After stabbing one in the neck and cutting the leg off another, she took her free hand and removed her hood. Kaya took her flaming sword and stabbed the security guard with the missing leg through his eyeball.
With smoke now everywhere, Octavious was waiting with five of his Valmay soldiers on the landing pads near the caves. Behind the soldiers were four transports, engines running. A shuttle from the sky appeared, gently touching down in front of them. The engines never stop running as Argo emerged from the lowering ramp. He walked down and stopped ten meters away from Octavious. Octavious yelled, “Argo, I was worried. My soldiers thought you would just bomb this place like a coward. Welcome to the party.”
Argo looked up at the smoking buildings and civilians throwing rocks on the other side. “Love what you have done to the place Octavious, they call this the revolution look, no?”
Octavious yelled, “Where is Kaya?”
Argo yelled back, “We will deal with that in a second. Where is the Vait? The Majavkee Lords say you have forty full crates.”
Octavious shook his head and yelled, “Their counting is as good as their shooting. I have over sixty, but you will not see one crate of that until I see Kaya.”
Argo kept staring at Octavious. After a pause, he said, “A lot of people underestimated you, Octavious. Not me, but the Majavkee and the AuFa. It is a shame we are on opposite sides of this conflict.”
Octavious replied, “Argo, I got four transports behind me, each carrying four full crates of Vait. There are four more transports outside the base. They each have four full crates and a Majavkee pilot waiting with a gun to his head. That is thirty-two full crates of Vait in exchange for Kaya.”
Argo smiled and said, “I thought you said you had over sixty crates?”
Octavious was not smiling. “I do, the rest I am keeping. Had you kept the original deal, you would have got all of it. Now, where is she?”
Argo turned around and looked at the horizon. Coming up was another transport, with AuFa markings. The ship gently touched down right next to Argo’s transport. This time the engines shut off. As the ramp came down, it was Captain Leahy and another SS officer. Behind him was Quillisar Sovinna and ten Avolian children, the same ones that helped him escape the Temple. As they all got off, they were followed by eight more SS soldiers. Octavious closed his eyes briefl
y, and took a deep breath. He knew this would end badly.
Argo yelled, “I am tired of you dictating the rules, Octavious, so here is my counter-proposal. I take off with the Vait, and you can have these precious little children you seem to care about.”
Octavious yelled back, “This was not part of the deal, Argo. Children? You spineless piece of shit.”
Octavious grabbed his earpiece. Argo yelled back, “It’s my deal now after you killed the AuFa soldiers at the Garrison. Right now, one of your soldiers is telling you they picked up two air wings, heading this way, probably eight minutes out. They are gonna blow this whole place up, unless I stop them.”
Cortes yelled in Octavious earpiece, “Sir, you got two air wings headed this way, each has ten fighters and eight bombers, with military transports as well. They got AuFa soldiers, sir.”
Octavious yelled, “What are they going to do, Argo? Blow up the base with you in it?”
Argo yelled back, “That is exactly what they are going to do because they do not even know I am here. They will not stop unless I call them off, which I am not inclined to do because as long as you die, I have won.”
Octavious was pissed. He yelled, “Kaya and the children, and you get all the Vait, Argo. That is the last offer.”
Argo smiled and said, “Well, then I guess we are going to die because I cannot give you what I do not have.”
Octavious yelled as loud as he could, “Where the fuck is she!?!”
Argo yelled back, “She is dead, Octavious. The surgery never saved her. I was bluffing the whole time. It was the only way I could get to you.“
Octavious looked stunned. What had happened? He had played this entirely wrong. Argo continued, “But for good measure, once she was dead, we carved her heart out and pinned it against the wall in the control room as a reminder. I, too, was shocked she had one.”
Kaya was running through the facility, killing Majavkee security along the way. A mob of miners were behind her, some with rifles. When they got to the Control Room, they noticed it had twelve Majavkee soldiers outside, trying to get in. Turning around, the soldiers fired on them, and Kaya took her mob down the corridor for cover.