The sergeant spoke into his communicator. “I need corpsmen on deck five, passageway 3B, ASAP.” As he took in the scene, Morrison’s eyes widened. He turned back to David with surprise. “Damn, Corporal, you want to transfer to the Marines? There’s got to be thirty dead Leaguers out there—and you took out a Goliath to boot.”
Shock began to set in, and David shook uncontrollably.
“Corporal, are you wounded?”
“I’m okay. Take care of Beckett and Munford first.”
Morrison knelt, putting his hands on the bullets sticking out of David’s armored vest. “Damn lucky, son. You’re going into shock. Lie still, okay? Help will be here soon. Your fight’s over for today.”
David nodded at Morrison without trying to reply. Taking in the death and destruction around him, he stared at the dead bodies of the Leaguers and back at his hands several times. What did I do? I… killed them.
Even though the commandment Thou shalt not kill didn’t really apply to war, it still roared into David’s mind with the punishing tone of an angry teacher. It was them or me. Does that make it okay? Eyes fixed on Becketts’s body, David focused on a traditional prayer for the dead. He whispered, “God, filled with mercy, dwelling in the heavens’ heights, bring proper rest beneath the wings of Your Angels, amid the ranks of the holy and the pure, illuminating like the brilliance of the skies the souls of our beloved and our blameless who went to their eternal place of rest.”
Two corpsmen ran into the passageway, carrying a medical bag and a portable stretcher. One knelt next to David. “Corporal, can you hear me?”
“Privates Beckett and Munford need medical assistance before me.”
“He’s got a shoulder wound. Looks like it went straight through. Leg abrasion consistent with a graze. Likely rib fractures from the bullets and possible internal bleeding.”
Out of the corner of his eye, David watched the other corpsman check Beckett’s vitals. “This one’s dead,” he said.
The first corpsman pressed an auto-injector against David’s neck. It stung for a second, then reality receded into a fog.
Drifting in and out of consciousness, David was aware of being placed on the stretcher and felt himself being carried down the passageway. “My team,” he said, his voice distant and words slurred.
“Munford’s going to be fine, Corporal. Lie back and enjoy the ride,” one of the corpsmen said.
Unconsciousness finally took him, followed by nightmares of being shot over and over again.
2
Thanks to Terran Coalition medical technology, physical wounds healed far faster than mental ones. Standing in the lobby outside the counselor’s door, David felt a sense of trepidation. I really don’t want to do this. But the sooner I get it done, the sooner I get back to my duties and finish my time. Then I can go home and never have to kill again.
After the battle, the Artemis had been rotated back to a military space station for repairs and replacement crew members. On light duty during his recovery from his physical wounds, David had been ordered to see a counselor—which was the only reason he’d come.
Next to the door was a button with a sign over it that read “Please Press to Enter and Be Mindful of Others.” Under that sign was a nameplate marked Dr. Amy Ellison.
He hesitated for several moments, debating just walking away. Finally, he pushed the button.
The door opened, and a petite woman in her midthirties with, short, straight, natural blonde hair motioned David in. “Come in, Corporal Cohen,” the woman said in a bright and cheery voice.
Oh great. It had to be someone bubbly and happy. David forced a smile. After making his way into the small office, he sat down on a couch with a pillow that proclaimed Prayer is the Answer!
“I’m Dr. Amy Ellison. How are you doing today, Corporal?” she asked.
“I’m… okay, Counselor.”
“I’m not in the CDF, Corporal Cohen. There’s no need to be formal here. Please, call me Amy.”
“Yes, ma’am… Amy.”
“It’s been challenging to get you down here to talk to me,” she said, giving an easy grin.
“I… haven’t wanted to talk about what happened.”
“Why not?”
David looked down. A voice inside his head screamed at him, Because you killed eight people!
“May I call you David?”
He met her eyes. “Yes, ma’am.”
Amy leaned forward in her chair. “I see soldiers all day long that have been through a trauma such as you have. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, from what I’ve read in the after-action report, the commanding officer of your ship thinks you were directly responsible for preventing the League from gaining control of the Artemis.”
“I killed… I don’t know, at least eight people. Maybe more. I shot one in the head with a pulse pistol and watched the beam slice through his brain.”
“Eight people that were trying to kill you and the two crew members who were with you.”
“I look down at my hands now and see blood. I wanted to be a rabbi. I wanted to help people. How can I do that now? How can I do anything? I violated one of the Ten Commandments.”
Amy sat back, thoughtful. “Why do you want to become a rabbi, David?”
“To minister to people. To help them learn. The word rabbi means teacher, after all. I wanted to do good.”
“I think there’s more to it than that. I think you want to make up for something.”
Wow. She’s good. “What do you mean?”
“Where were you on September twenty-eight, 2433?”
That day was one of those that if you were alive during it and able to remember, you never forgot. It was the date that the League of Sol, a supernational entity that controlled Earth and many colony planets, had invaded the Terran Coalition.
That was also the day my father left for the last time. David’s heart sank at the memory.
“I was at home with my mother and father,” he whispered, tears forming in his eyes.
“Would you like to talk about it?” Ellison pressed.
That fateful day would forever be burned into his mind. “I was eight. My father was on terminal leave from the CDF. He was a reservist with twenty years in service and had spent the previous two years on active duty to top off his retirement earnings. He loved us. He’d do anything to protect us. He was a good man.”
As he spoke to her, David’s mind wandered back to the night his father, Levi Cohen, had died. In his childhood, David knew that his father was an officer. Later, he came to understand that he was a major in the Coalition Defense Force. David’s mother, Sarah, was a homemaker and a traditional Jewish wife. They lived in an Orthodox enclave on Canaan, where his father was stationed at the main Canaan space dock. Every morning, the family rose together at five a.m. His father went off to work, and his mother dropped off David at school. In the afternoon, she picked him up after he’d finished with his after-school activities.
That night, raised voices coming from his parents’ bedroom was the first indication that something was amiss in the Cohen household. David recalled creeping down the hall to listen in on the conversation.
“Sarah… I’ve got to do this. I’ll come home as soon as I can.” his father said.
“I’m scared, Levi. I’m scared you won’t come home this time. What if it’s an invasion?” his mother asked through sobs.
“Then we’ll hold the line. I’m not going out alone. That’s for certain. Let me finish getting dressed, and you go get David. I want to tell him goodbye before I leave.”
“The party tomorrow was going to be perfect.”
“Just postpone it a few hours, okay?”
“Okay,” Sarah replied, her voice level once more.
David took the cue to run back into his room and busied himself with his tablet, which contained learning games and a GalNet link.
His mother came into the room, wiping her eyes. “David, come say goodbye to your father. He has t
o go to work.”
David put down his tablet and peered at her, confused. “But I thought Dad was on leave for the next few weeks.”
Sarah shook her head. “He’s been recalled, so he’s got to go in. I’m sorry. I know you were looking forward to him being here for your birthday.”
David followed his mother into the bedroom, where his father fussed with the rank pin on his collar.
Sarah laughed softly then walked over to Levi and adjusted the pin.
“Thank you, dear,” he said, a twinkle in his eye.
“You can never seem to get that pin right, for all the trouble it caused you to earn it,” his mother said with a hint of a smile.
David’s father motioned for him to come over. “Son, I’m sorry. I have to take command of a ship for the next few days.”
Baffled, David sat down on the bed. “You’re retired, though. Why are they calling you now?”
Levi gave Sarah’s hand a squeeze then sat down next to David and pulled him into his lap. “Because I’m not quite out of the military yet. I’m still under orders, son, so I’ll go where I’m told and do what I need to do.”
David gazed into his father’s eyes. “Why you, Dad? Aren’t there others they can call instead?”
Levi paused for a moment. “I swore an oath, son. Sure, there’re others, but they called on me, so I must go. David, listen to me. I know you’re young, and I know this is hard to understand.”
David’s eyes filled with tears as he thought about his father going away yet again. It seemed like he never saw him anymore.
“Son, there are some things, like our freedoms, the right to say what we want, do what we want, worship God in the way that we want… Those are all things we’ve had to fight for and must continue to fight for.”
David began to cry. “Dad, are you going to die?”
Sarah inhaled sharply.
Levi smiled and patted his head. “No, son.” He turned to Sarah. “Why don’t we take our picture for the album?”
David didn’t realize why then, but every time his father went out on deployment, they took a family picture. Little did he know it was so that they would always have something to remember him by in case he didn’t make it home.
After taking the picture, Sarah and David followed Levi to the front door.
Levi set his space bag down by the door and turned to hug David. “Take care of your mother, son. You’re the big man of the house while I’m gone.”
Levi stood and turned to kiss Sarah. “I love you. I’ll see you all very soon,” he said then turned to walk down the drive, giving David one last look.
“Godspeed, Levi,” Sarah said as Levi walked toward his helicar.
Watching his father walk down the driveway filled David with both pride and overwhelming sadness.
David took off running as his father got to his car. “Dad! Dad!” he shouted.
Levi turned around, and David stood tall, holding his hand to his brow in the best imitation of his father’s salutes as he could. His father’s face broke into a grin, and he brought his hand to his brow in a crisp, practiced motion. Snapping his hand down, Levi turned away and climbed into his helicar. Moments later, it took off into the night. David stood in the path, looking up at the sky.
David eventually went back inside and found his mother, who tried to act normal and go about getting ready for the next day.
“Mom, is Dad going to be okay?” he asked as he plopped down on the couch next to her.
“Of course he is. Your father is as stubborn as you are,” Sarah said, playfully tousling his hair. “Now, you have school tomorrow, young man. Go brush your teeth and say your prayers, and let’s get ready for bed.”
“Yes, ma’am.” David slid off the couch and went to the bathroom to do as his mother instructed.
After brushing his teeth, David stood beside his bed and said his bedtime prayers in Hebrew, as he’d been taught. “Lie us down, Adonai our God, in peace; and raise us up again, our Ruler in life. Shield us; remove from us every enemy pestilence, sword, famine, and sorrow. Remove all adversaries from before us and from behind us, and shelter us in the shadow of Your wings. For You are our guarding and saving God, a gracious and compassionate God and King. Guard our going out and our coming in for life and peace, now and always. God, please protect my father. Please guard him. Please bring him home safely.” With tears running down his face, he climbed into bed, then he quickly fell fast asleep.
David was jerked out of sleep to the sound of sirens wailing. He glanced at the clock next to his bed, which read four a.m.
“Mom!” he screamed as he crawled out of bed to run to his parents’ room. “Mom! What’s going on?”
His mother sat on the side of the bed as she rubbed her eyes to wake up. “Calm down, little man. Let’s go turn on the holonet and see if there’s any news, okay?”
David, even though a young child, still recognized when his parents were worried. His mother tried hard not to show it, as every good parent did, but her hands trembled, her face was tight, and her voice was high-pitched.
“Yes, Mother.”
David obediently followed her to the living room, and she turned on the holonet projector and changed the address to Canaan News Network. The set of the news program filled half the living room, as if they were there in the studio, watching the announcers.
“And we’re going to go live to President Nolan, ladies and gentlemen,” the announcer said. Jason Nolan was the President of the Terran Coalition, the supernational government of their republic.
The holoprojector switched to show the interior of an office, in which President Nolan was seated behind a desk. “Citizens of the Terran Coalition,” he said, beads of sweat dotting his forehead.
David remembered vividly how scared the man looked. He’d never seen it before.
“This morning, we were attacked by an enemy that had been long since forgotten. Earth and the World Society have returned. We believe they’re calling themselves the League of Sol, and over a thousand starships from the League’s military have attacked our capital. Those of you on Canaan have been warned by the emergency warning system reserved for major natural disasters, and I urge all citizens to remain in your homes. Do not go outside. Do not get into your helicars. If you are a member of the Canaan militia, report to your muster station. Otherwise, stay inside. I know that citizens around the Terran Coalition and her member planets have many questions and that fear is gripping us all as I speak.”
David had learned in school that humans escaped from Earth after losing a war against nations who called themselves the World Society and wanted to stamp out religious belief while instituting a communist system of government in the late twenty-first century. Over a hundred years after the initial refugees found the world of Canaan and established it, humans from that settlement began to spread out.
Nolan paused for a moment and took a drink of water. “But rest assured that the Coalition Defense Force is prepared and ready to meet any threat. As we speak, they are holding the line against the League’s attack while reinforcements from all nation-state militaries are proceeding at best possible speed to Canaan. As soon as we’re able, we will brief the press on the exact events, but as this battle is currently being waged, I cannot go into more detail. At this point, I would like to ask everyone on Canaan and in the Terran Coalition to pray for the safety our service members fighting the League, for victory against them, and for God to protect the Terran Coalition in this dire hour.”
Three hundred years after the landfall on Canaan, there were dozens of human-controlled planets within the Terran Coalition. Each planet had its own government, constitution, military, and cultural customs. An overarching constitution and government handled external matters and policed disputes between the planets that made up the Terran Coalition. David’s family was from the planet of New Israel. Since Levi was stationed on Canaan, however, his family lived planet-side with him.
David looked at his mother, wh
o watched with rapt attention, her eyes wide and her mouth open.
“Our republic has overcome much in its history. We will not fall now, and we will not surrender. Regardless of what happens today, we will fight on. For now, may God bless you, and may God continue to bless the Terran Coalition.”
* * *
“The crazy thing is I can repeat that speech Nolan gave, almost verbatim. It was so seared into my mind,” David said. “We sat there for an hour, watching the holoprojector, until my mother made me do my schoolwork.”
“I was nineteen and in college the day it happened,” Amy said. “I’ll never forget sitting around the holo with a bunch of classmates, shaking with fear, crying, and trying to reach our parents. It took weeks for life to return to any kind of normalcy.”
“I’m not sure our lives ever really returned to normal.”
“Why?”
“It started when they came to tell us Dad had died.”
* * *
David thought back to how they had watched another news broadcast that announced the Terran Coalition’s victory over the League forces. After it had finished, he asked with tears welling in his eyes, “But what about Dad?”
Sarah held him in her arms. “He’s going to be fine, David. Let’s pray for him, then we’ll fix lunch together, okay?”
David nodded and hugged his mother back. “Okay, Mom.”
The two of them made lunch, and the holonet projector remained off.
As they sat down at the table to eat, a chime sounded throughout the house, and a computerized voice announced, “You have a visitor at the front entryway.”
Sarah glanced at the door with hesitation. “Stay here, David,” she said and walked into the foyer to open the front door.
Disobeying, David trailed behind her and watched with bated breath as she opened the door. Standing in the entryway were two CDF soldiers wearing what David recognized as dress uniforms.
Coalition Defense Force Boxed Set: First to Fight Page 23