Warriors at the Gates- Trojan Wars

by Rick Royster

  "What now?" Matrix asked. Both his and Tressa’s eyes were fixed on Cayden, awaiting his next set of orders.

  "Patch me through to headquarters. Set the course for Air Station Alpha," Cayden responded.

  Matrix looked on with sorrow-filled eyes at Tressa, and her face fell into her hands.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  For my part, I prefer fifty thousand rifles to fifty thousand votes.

  ― Benito Mussolini

  The early sunset over Air Station Alpha was picturesque. Clear blue skies and creamy clouds made the sun look like an oval fire set in the middle of the ocean.

  Tao-Tzu closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Out on a metallic flight deck, he felt the presence of General Chertoff approach him from behind. The two officers that walked with him gave him a salute and departed.

  The General cast a cursory glance at the gunship closest to them.

  "I've never seen Cayden so vehemently opposed to taking an order," The General said. "Are you sure he will obey?"

  Tao-Tzu finally turned his head to acknowledge Chertoff. "Nothing is ever certain in this life, General. Cayden has always been good at doing what's required of him, even at great personal cost and peril to himself."

  "That avoids the question," the General snapped.

  Tao-Tzu returned his attention to the gunship being serviced. Now it was three mechanics working on it. His hands were placed behind his back. From his expression, he could have been waiting for a cup of coffee. By contrast, Chertoff swung his hands back and forth and had trouble focusing his eyes in one direction. He seemed extraordinarily agitated.

  "For all his discipline, powers, and ability, Cayden is still ultimately human," Tao-Tzu finally said.

  General Chertoff moved closer, like he had the ammunition he needed. "So, you can't control him either?"

  Tao-Tzu wasn't sure if he'd answered the General or not; he could only remember the look on Cayden's face when he told Cayden to leave Winter behind. It was one of hurt and betrayal. Privately, he almost wished Cayden would disobey his command. At any rate, he could imagine his close teacher-student relationship was a thing of the past. He had personally crossed a line with his apprentice from which they'd never recover. But Tao-Tzu was on Earth for only one purpose: the destruction of the Global Union – an objective he would accomplish by any means necessary.

  "General, you and I are a different breed. Without hesitation, I'd destroy this fortress and everyone on it, myself and you included if it would lead to the Potentate's death. And I'd imagine you'd do the same?” Tao-Tzu said, raising an eyebrow.

  General Chertoff nodded.

  "Cayden isn't like us. He's on the frontlines. He carries his scars of the past and a lot of guilt and remorse. Yet still, he'd need overwhelming evidence of wrongdoing to disobey a direct command, no matter how painful it would be personally," Tao-Tzu said, sensing this was the moment the General had been waiting for.

  "I've ordered a search and retrieval team, just in case the Commander loses his way," Chertoff said with a bit of authority in his voice.

  A very bold move by the General, perhaps even a necessary one?

  Tao-Tzu couldn't put a finger on what the General was up to. "I'll go with them," Tao-Tzu said.

  Chertoff was taken aback. "What? That won't be necessary."

  "Do you really believe a team of soldiers, no matter how elite, can force him to come in if he doesn't want to?" Tao-Tzu said.

  Chertoff had ample time to answer. He remained silent.

  "I'll be there, just in case the search and retrieval team - how did you say it - lose their way?"

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  Thoughts are the shadows of our feelings - always darker, emptier and simpler.

  ― Fredrich Nietzche

  Several minutes later, all was quiet aboard the Cobra.

  Cayden sat in the life support room, staring blankly at Rhys. The conversation a few minutes prior with General Chertoff and his former teacher Tao-Tzu was still ringing in his ears.

  "Personal sacrifices are never easy but must be made. That's what you were trained for. Our mission is to defeat the Potentate; that is why we are here. We are bound to each other and to duty. After all, you are a Desani. I know you have a great personal attachment to Winter, but she did her duty, honored her sacrifice. She's a soldier, and she made it willingly," Tao-Tzu said.

  "So, we are just to cast aside the men and women we fight with? That we fight for? We'd be no better than Iterations if we did that," Cayden responded.

  "Just like the Iterations have their duty, so do we," Tao-Tzu said.

  "Yes. And our sense of duty should be to those we fight with, who risk their lives with us, for those that we love."

  "That is not why we are here. Our war is with the Desani, our sole responsibility to stop the Federation," Tao-Tzu said.

  Cayden turned away from his mentor, then turned back to him. "I understand."

  General Chertoff interjected.

  "I know it's hard, Commander. To leave behind loved ones is an unnatural thing, but Tao-Tzu is right, we must be bound by duty first, to understand what our objective is and how best to accomplish it. I'm sorry for your loss. All of us were very fond of Winter. She was a good soldier and an even better woman. You have my sympathy and condolences."

  Cayden stared at the hologram of the two men.

  "You've completed your mission; return to base, Desani," Tao-Tzu said as he sighed loudly.

  Cayden clearly understood that Tao-Tzu didn't refer to him as Commander, wanted to make sure he was a Desani first and a soldier second.

  Cayden watched as the two images disappeared. Given everything that had happened, he was surprised by his superiors' candor almost as if he'd completed a mere recon mission. Something more was happening, something his Desani senses were hinting at, but his mind couldn't yet conceptualize. He needed time to think.

  Matrix stared at the screen, pressed a button, and the ship's flight commands came up. "They are sending coordinates to return to Air Station Alpha," Matrix said.

  Cayden read the implication in his voice. Matrix wanted to be sure if he wanted him to return to base. Cayden turned without saying anything. He exited the room and headed for the life support room.

  His thoughts were interrupted by Matrix peeking his head in the room.

  Cayden turned and looked at Rhys. His life support meter was slowly beeping. The machine kept him alive, but there was no life in him in any real sense. Cayden imagined himself back at Air Station Alpha; how proud Tao-Tzu would be that he put his personal feelings aside and was able to do his job. Desani would gladly sacrifice their lives if it brought them one step closer to duty – the common good over self was their ethic.

  His heart began to sink, the thought of Winter being held hostage. He couldn't risk the mission because of his feelings. When faced with the truth, he could be honest. He wanted a future with Winter. The same type of strong feelings he had for Sateria at one time, he had for Winter now, maybe stronger. But he wouldn't be swayed; years of self-discipline and rigorous training allowed him to think with his mind and not his heart.

  Matrix checked on Rhys, glanced back at Cayden. "I'll set the coordinates to Air Station Alpha," Matrix said.

  With Sateria on that ship almost four years ago, Cayden had had to consider the welfare of his team. Although his gut told him Sateria wouldn't betray him, the facts were that she was an undercover Federation agent, and all he had to go on was instinct. For him personally, that was good enough, but it wasn't enough to justify risking a lot of lives if he was wrong.

  Winter, however, was a different story. She fought for the Coalition; she was consistently loyal and duty-oriented. If she wasn't worth saving, then the resistance movement as a whole wasn't worth fighting for. And just like Sateria four years earlier, déjà vu had struck again. He was in love with this woman. Duty called before for him to leave Sateria behind, and now fate presented him with the same choice again.


  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  Before all else, be armed.

  ― Niccolò Machiavelli

  Inside the small confines and cold white walls of a Region Twelve security station, officers stood at parade rest, staring seemingly without blinking at their prisoner.

  They had Winter strapped into a prisoner transport device built into the wall, preventing her from moving even her head from side to side. Searing energy beams, a foot in front of her and about a foot apart, ran vertical to her body. She wasn't quite sure if they'd burn her or sever a limb, and she had no desire to find out. And if she did somehow slip free of that, two legionaries were on base to intercept her.

  Sateria had developed a morbid fascination with Winter. She observed her prisoner's features, the blonde hair and blue eyes, the soft dimple and polite demeanor, and felt a churn within her gut and a rage kindle in her mind. She had a vast imagination, but somehow, she could never picture Cayden to be with anyone but her. Even though she deceived him, she thought he'd forever be hers, waiting for her, just as a wandering ghost waits patiently for his lover to join him in the afterlife.

  Switching her gaze to one of her Iterations, her mood improved. Sateria enjoyed how Brutus eyed Winter with a restrained murderous intent. The Iterations were programmed to hate Coalition soldiers, and even for a half-alien machine, it had to be hard for him to go against his natural programming and not kill her.

  The GU security officers were stationed throughout the room, hands still on their rifles as if she was somehow still a threat. Brutus stood alert like a pitbull on a leash, waiting with relish for the order to attack and devour.

  Sateria scanned Winter's eyes and smiled.

  So, this is what Cayden did after he left me?

  She had to admit the lady was almost as attractive as she was.

  Almost.

  Despite her confinement, Winter tried to keep her head erect and held a stoic expression.

  Arrogant!

  Sateria briskly walked over to her in an attempt to inspire fear in her prisoner.

  "Slut," Sateria said. The tone was one of an accusation more than an insult, her own ears surprised at the childish remark.

  Winter laughed and rolled her eyes. "I heard Cayden was known to have an affinity for girls who used big words. What else do you have for me in that impressive vocabulary?"

  Sateria looked at Brutus, then turned her attention back to Winter. "Go see if the Desani has responded. Tell him we need an answer in three minutes or the deal’s off, and we kill her, post-haste," she said.

  His temperament and bloodlust were evident. Sateria was sure he preferred to kill Winter now. A cold killing machine didn't understand empathy, negotiations, or patience. He pulled his blade, cast a dead stare at Winter, then sheathed the blade.

  The energy restraints sizzled, and the room went quiet. Brutus looked over at Winter once more, then turned and left the room.

  The doors sealed shut behind him.

  Sateria pressed a button on the side of the machine, and the top two bars over Winter's upper body disappeared. She then put her thumb in her mouth and licked it. Sateria then stuck her hand quickly through the energy beams, then ran her thumb across Winter's lips.

  "How do I taste? Seeing how you like to eat sloppy seconds, I thought I should ask," Sateria quipped.

  Winter's eyes narrowed and her cheeks flushed red, her restraints holding her in place. She then smiled back at Sateria, looking her up and down.

  "Old, uninspired, like a lot of people must have tried it before me, sorta like the lingering aftertaste of leftover trash," Winter said.

  Sateria slapped her hard across the face, and Winter grimaced and licked the blood from her lip corner, then calmly opened her baby-blue eyes.

  "One day, there’ll be no bars or restraints between us," Winter said. "Slut."

  Sateria smiled uneasily, then turned to the soldiers behind her. "Put her in a cell and get her out of my sight. If the Desani doesn't show in two minutes, we're going to put a laser bolt in the back of her head."

  The security officers quickly went to work on freeing her. She was unarmed against four highly skilled and trained mercenaries who would love for nothing more than to kill her. She had to cooperate. The soldiers pulled her arms behind her back, jerked them in place forcibly and slapped a set of energy hand restraints on her.

  They proceeded to march her out of the room.

  Alone in the hull of the Intrepid, Cayden wrestled with his demons.

  He was losing. Badly.

  Pictures of the past flooded his mind.

  Childhood friends, lovers, death.

  Sateria.

  He could not calm himself. No mantra or chant allowed him to find his peace.

  He had never dreamed his body could be in this much agony.

  Physical pain, he had long endured and mastered in early adolescence. He was accustomed to being comfortable in environments in which even other Desani would be uncomfortable.

  But nothing had prepared him for this, matters of the heart. He wanted to open his chest and look inside, to see if his heart was about to implode or was it dried up like a no-good piece of fruit.

  His mind battled the ramifications of what he'd done. Could he live with himself, would time and understanding cure him of this dark wound?

  Every thought was about Winter, and everywhere he looked he saw her face. It was pain etched there. She was judging him. But he saw compassion in her eyes. He'd chosen his duty over her and she was okay with that. The betrayal hurt, but he saw in her eyes forgiveness. He got an intense rush of guilt, deeply ashamed of himself. And he was certain she didn't sacrifice herself for the mission; she sacrificed herself for him.

  It was a nightmare he found himself in the same spot as before, feeling like it was Sateria all over again.

  And they’d both told him they'd love him forever, even in death. He found no solace in any biblical passage he'd burned to memory, and no comforting words from his mentor Tao-Tzu, no advice from his best friend General Dak would help now.

  He could feel her even though she was so far away. She was afraid, alone and abandoned. She was resigned to her fate, accepting the fact she was being left for dead by those she trusted the most.

  He dropped to his knees, looked up first to the heavens, then bowed his head in prayer. He had the Cube; sacrifices must be made, and she was a hero and he should honor that.

  But the heavens had no answers for him. The demons he battled within did.

  With that, he rose, determined to do the only thing his conscience would allow him to do. The only thing capable of taking away and arresting his pain.

  Cayden grabbed his holster, strapped in his guns, then he grabbed his katana.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  Therefore, let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.

  ― Romans 13:12

  Cayden crossed his hands and studied the woman on the viewscreen, the one he had fallen in love with a few years ago.

  Sateria's face was expressionless, but he still couldn't deny her beauty.

  He could admit that it pained him that she was now on the other side, and it was his doing. But maybe she was always on the other side? He still felt he’d failed her in the worst way. He had definitely made the wrong decision. It stabbed his heart.

  "We're on our way. Cube for the soldier - that's the deal. I'm sending the flight path now." He nodded at Matrix, who ended the transmission.

  Matrix turned to look at Cayden, waited for an explanation. Tressa walked up to him.

  "You'll be stripped of your rank and court-martialed," Matrix said.

  "He's right. You're too important to the Coalition to do this," Tressa said.

  Cayden put his hand under his chin.

  "Let myself and Matrix go. If I survive, you help me rescue my daughter and I give you my word I'll turn myself in," Tressa said.

  "I agree with her. Let us go, and I give you my word that it will be done,
" Matrix said.

  Cayden crossed his arms and stared at the spot where Sateria was.

  "I must go. You lost someone you care about, but fortunately, found something of great importance for which you can trade to get her back. I, too, have lost someone and am willing to take the risk to rescue her. This is my burden and mine alone. And besides, I don't doubt your ability, but this is going to be hard to pull off. But I still have a few tricks up my sleeve," Cayden said.

  "I know when you get that look in your eyes, there's no talking you out of it, so I won't try. I'll just ask one thing; let us help you, and in return, you fulfill your promise to find my daughter," Tressa said.

  "You're all about second chances, Commander. Give us both a chance at redemption," Matrix said.

  "Please," Tressa said, subtly touching his arm.

  Cayden released a deep sigh and considered his options. He needed their help if he was to free Winter. His choices were frustratingly limited.

  "Ok. I have a plan," Cayden said.

  Cayden sat beside Matrix in the cockpit, Tressa in the seat behind them. "So, Commander, what's this plan that you have?" Matrix asked.

  "Does this shuttle still have access codes to fly into Federation airspace?"

  "Of course."

  Matrix smiled, shook his head in excitement. "Ah - I know where you are going with this. We're pulling an Odysseus Maneuver. They'll let us right in. Then what? The three of us storm the city?"

  Cayden’s brows knitted in thought. "What did you say?"

  "You know, the Trojans, they let the Greeks right into the city."

  "That's not exactly what happened but never mind that, you're a genius anyway."

  "Of course, I'm a genius." Matrix rolled his eyes.

  "This Cube, we need to destroy it."

  "What?" Matrix and Tressa chimed in at the same time.

  Cayden turned to them, squeezed his hands together. "It's our Trojan horse. The submarine makes a lot of sense now. I think they wanted us to capture the Cube."