The Sixth Line of Defense

by Shiva Winters

  * * *

  With too little sleep and no time to rest as the road seemed to stretch out forever Shiva's strength didn't seem to be returning. Vala had fallen into an uneasy sleep some hours earlier, and Shiva was just as glad there was nothing but silence and the sounds of the road. There was nothing either of them could have said at that point that would have made any difference, no words that could have made their situation any better. Emotionally burnt out by then Shiva couldn't summon up any more tears and was hard pressed why that would bring such a sick feeling to her heart. When Vala had first come into her life and all the emotions that had been buried under by training and her psychology programming at the base began to emerge, she had been hard pressed to find a reason why it bad thing that she had begun to feel something for someone in the world around her. Now almost 24 hours after the disaster, some small part of her wished she could turn all of the emotions off and be able to return to all that cold dispassionate logic that ruled her world before Vala had came in and broken down all those walls.

  Even though those thoughts made some place deep down in her chest ache with a pain that wouldn't go away, she couldn't stop herself from thinking if she hadn't changed, if those emotions hadn't been allowed to bubble up to the surface that she would have been able to do something more. That if things had been different the General wouldn't be dead, Rei wouldn't be in some hospital bed somewhere, and that Vala and her brothers wouldn't be suddenly on the cusp of losing both of their parents. It was more than just the fact that he had promised to help all those people who had meant something to her when all she had known was the inside of the laboratory. Outside of Devin, the General was perhaps the first person to show her what it might have been like to have a father. Even as such thoughts whispered through the back of her mind, another smaller voice was telling her that if she hadn't changed that he would never have meant anything to her. Without Vala that new world would never have been opened up, without Vala she probably wouldn't have cared about that attack outside of the simple basic impulse of self preservation, and without Vala she would probably have been long since kicked out of the Academy, on the run, or stuck back in stasis and unaware of anything.

  That thought drew her eyes away from the road long enough to check on the girl leaned against her. Even though her expression was calm, the arms that held onto hers were twitching with disturbed dreams. Shiva knew of course that Vala had forced everything away that previous day, buried everything she was feeling to try and keep them alive for another few hours. That at least was enough to stir up the faded emotions and firm knowledge of how very precious Vala had become in so short a time, and that knowledge was enough to call up the vague smoldering glimmer of the very real fury that still lingered over those that had disturbed their peaceful little world.

  With the silence of long hours behind them, there had been far too much time to summon up the darkness and create thousands of scenarios that might have lead to those recent events. Or to recall the unanswered questions and very real concerns that could create the shadowy images of the unknown enemies who could be behind this. While answers were far too few and the unknowns were far too many, she could at the very least be sure that Devin had not been behind it. Vala would probably have known if those reactions they had both seen had been faked, nor would he have the authority to authorize the deaths of the entire family. That was a chilling thought that made her wish she had some way to insure the safety of Vala's brothers, or that it had not been necessary to let Rei slip away and possibly into hostile hands. But it was a thought that kept her mind awake and focus on the road ahead of them, if it had been some official act Devin might not be able to help her, but she felt certain he had a few friends that could insure the safety of Vala's surviving family members. However such thoughts couldn't keep her going forever, and some hours later she was pulling in behind another abandoned home this one the result of fire by the looks of it before she too gave into the desperate need for sleep.

  It was the cold that woke both of them the next morning combined with growling stomachs that hadn't seen enough to eat the previous days, necessities that seemed to stir them both pf them awake within an few minutes of each other. Taking a bearing from their last known position and using her best guess as to how far they had driven combined with an average speed, Shiva located the few small towns that might be close by before they slipped back onto the road with a tense and heavy silence hanging over both of them. Vala was lost in her thoughts, tied up in her emotions. And without anything to focus on that could keep her own mind from wandering in those same directions, Shiva lapsed back into her dark thoughts. For as much as Shiva would have wanted her to drive to keep her from shifting her thoughts in those directions, the simple matter was she very much in need of the distraction herself to prevent those black clouds from returning completely and further worsening Vala's shaky control. Her words the previous morning had brought Shiva back from the brink, but it had also shown her that one of them had to stay strong.

  While she would have liked to have simply given up the fight and let herself be taken away to whatever fate might await her on the chance it might save Vala and her family, she wasn't so foolish to think it would solve anything. She was determined if nothing else that she wanted to know Vala was safe, dead set on insuring that the woman who had made her life worth something would continue on even if she wasn't there. Hours more passed before they found the next town and the food they needed to keep going, Shiva's thoughts inevitably wandered back in the shadows as Vala moved away from her to eat slowly and probably without tasting much as she stared blankly out the window at the passing scenery. She was becoming more and more convinced that whatever was truly happening they had been merely collateral damage to some other purpose, that Shiva's presence in that house had either not been known or that she was the scapegoat for the General's death. That was perhaps an even less pleasing thought than if she had been the primary target, it implied a far deeper conspiracy and even darker complications as even Devin and Seila would be included in the list of potential targets.

  "Stop it.." The first words spoken in that car except those absolutely necessary for moving ahead. Shiva was so surprised by the sound that her head snapped away from the road to find Vala looking at her. The slim ghost of a smile held only a glimmer of real amusement and an even greater sadness. "You can't change anything like that.." She whispered into the following silence.

  "I'm sorry.." Shiva whispered back to her. "I was trying.. I really was.. but.."

  "I know.." Vala whispered tenderly as she shifted back across the seat to rub Shiva's shoulders. "Just push into the background until we can find those responsible.." Surprised again, Shiva looked up Vala's dark expression. "We can't bring my father back, but somehow.. with you.. I know we can make them pay for what they did.." She sighed in a moment later and gave Shiva a smile that was mostly feigned. "Pull over, it's my turn for a while." Not quite able to argue with her and too tired to really try, they quickly switched and Shiva settled next to her to check the maps. "Will we make our deadline?"

  "Should.. might be a few minutes late if the snow doesn't clear up soon." Vala nodded and the silence returned for a few long hours more. The distant scene of a town far off on the horizon as it was seen from the tops of last few hills before the long flat plains stretched out for some distance to come, was the first sign that the silence might soon come to an end. "What happens.." Shiva stirred from a half dozed state at the sound. ".. if they did do this.."

  "Devin would never have authorized this.. beg him.. to get your mother to safety, make sure your brothers stay away or go into hiding.. somehow protect Seila and maybe help us to get off world.. I.. I.. honestly don't know.. the more I think about it, I don't know.. I.. I am not ready to say it." Shiva whispered back to her to scared and worried for all of them to truly voice those words.

  "That my father was the target.." She whispere
d to her, saying what she could not, she gave a dark nod as the town loomed up around them. They soon located a telephone in a dark, empty parking lot and drew at long last to a halt. All it took to get them out of the car, was a solemn shared look. Shiva whispered that she had spotted an older model phone, one that would have taken longer to trace, but hoped that truly wasn't a concern she needed. It was just a touch comforting that the number Devin had provided was a voice only line as he picked up on the third ring.

  "Devin.." Shiva whispered uncertainly.

  "Excuse me for a moment sir, I've got to take this, it's my girlfriend and I had to break our last date." He called out into a room and was greeted by wolf whistles and cat calls by the relaxed atmosphere around him. There was a retreating rush of sound and then a click of a closing door. "If there was an order it didn't come out of this base.." He murmured in a low hurried voice. "I've got people making discreet inquiries but it doesn't seem that any deployment for Series 5 troops has been authorized in three months, are you sure it was them?"

  "I'm positive." Shiva told him just as quickly. "Their weapons, their tactics, they even had military issue vehicles and at least one strong telekinetic.." Something in the lines crackled and there was a moment of static.

  "This line is now secure." A new rumbling voice stated at the end of it, Shiva's hand snapped around the cables more than ready to pull the plug. "A girlfriend was a good story Lieutenant, but you would never be so careless to give one the number to a secure phone."

  "General.." Devin murmured with surprise.

  "Devin.." Shiva whispered warningly.

  "Is General's Winters' daughter there with you?" He demanded, Shiva's hand surged backwards to grab Vala's hand to stop her from responding.

  "General, swear to me this call isn't being traced." Devin growled across the line.

  "My word on it soldier." The voice rumbled back.

  "Shiva, I would trust this man with my life." Devin stated to them.

  "I'm here, General.." Vala murmured determined enough but to make the decision for her, but uncertain enough to sound frightened.

  "How many guards did your father take with you when he went on his break?" It seemed a very odd question.

  "Six.. but two more had gone on ahead to secure the house.." Vala told him.

  "Shiva.. reports were filed this morning that you were the one who did this, that you somehow infiltrated the General's household seeking revenge against the military, that you killed the guards and then used the General's service pistol to execute him." Shiva might have been irrationally angry at that partial accusation if she hadn't already thought that was a possibility. "That's why you are on the run and that Ms. Lunara is your hostage."

  "SHE DIDN'T DO THIS!!" Vala's own anger was not so easily quelled. "She loved my father, and he was going to help her and Series 6!"

  "Vala!" Shiva snapped before she could really start yelling. "General.. we ran to try draw them away from Vala's mother.. she needed that hospital if she was going to have any chance of surviving. By.. by the time I woke up, the General was already dead.. authorized or not there were at least five teams of Series 5 soldiers.. maybe more.. it was just about all I could do to get the three of us out alive.."

  "Do you have any evidence of this?" The General asked.

  "A little.. and everything that's in my head.." Shiva whispered back now almost wishing she had dragged one of the bodies along for the ride.

  "It did seem a little too convenient that you would have an anaerobic enzyme to spray down all those blood stains found at the scene to make DNA evidence irretrievable." The General murmured back to them. That had been another possibility Shiva hadn't quite wanted to think about before hearing it confirmed. "Tell us where you are.."

  "Devin.." Shiva warned.

  "General.." Devin concurred with dangerous tones.

  "My command has no access to Series 5 troops, no reason to see General Winters killed, and I have every personal and professional reason to want to see the truth revealed and the culprits punished." He stated officially and in no uncertain terms and with no glimmer of an untruth. "General Winters was good man and one of my greatest friends and allies. If you swear to me you did not do this, I give my word that I will protect you at the cost of my own life."

  "Promise me, General, promise me that you will send people Devin trusts to protect Vala's brothers and the Dean of Madam Felini's academy." Shiva whispered back to him as her resolve to stay out in the open began to waver.

  "My word on it." He swore to them vehemently.

  "We are.. about.. 50 miles out of Huris tracking range, a small town called Deliuma." Shiva told him softly.

  "Trying to come home in case it was safe?" The General asked with a half amused sound.

  "Yes, sir.. I thought.. maybe.. Devin could protect Vala if.." Vala rubbed her shoulders as her emotional control began to waver once again.

  "I've got it now, sir.. Shiva there is an abandoned private air strip about 15 clicks south of there." Devin stated.

  "It was on the old maps we have been following.." Shiva agreed as she calmed back down.

  "Where are your brother's, Ms. Lunara?" The General asked and Vala quickly named the planets and the cities where their meetings had been. "Issue your orders Lieutenant and then get your ass down to the hanger.. you'll met us at that airstrip Shiva."

  "Yes, sir.." Shiva agreed reluctantly. The call ended the next moment, and Vala drew her away before she could reconsider running yet another public phone and once they were pulling back onto the street, Vala found the airstrip she had marked earlier.

  "It's okay.." Vala told her feeling far more confident than she did about the situation. The large heavy vehicle had little trouble leaving the road behind and forging a path through the dense forest of trees that surrounded the outer perimeter of the airstrip and by chance they found just a small rise in the landscape surrounded by pine trees that gave them a good view of any activity happening below. With few other places as obscured from view around them, from that vantage point and still leaving them hidden from the air, they would be able to see any vehicles moving through the mostly bare trees or any other air vehicles except the one that she expected. Safe in the knowledge that if they were going to get betrayed they would have at least some small warning Shiva settled into wait and watch. By air it would take less than an hour for them to arrive, but knowing that a General was never able to leave his base quite so quickly and that Devin had things to take care, Shiva tried to calculate the time of their arrival. She was almost disappointed that nearly two hours passed before the sleek black lines of an unmarked military issue thopter swooped in low over the forest before spinning it's tail around and shifted into a landing.

  "Shouldn't we.." Vala half asked, Shiva shook her head and gestured for her to wait. The four rotor engines began to slow inside their cowled housings as the wind that kicked up the snow all around it slowed and left a large circular patch of bare concrete. Three of the four doors opened and Devin, a man in a pilot's uniform, and a man in a high three shiny metal stars on his shoulder stepped out to peer around their surroundings. Though she hardly believed that a second vehicle would come sweeping in at that point to expel the troops for a trap Shiva waited for about 10 minutes just in case they might spot vehicles moving in around the perimeter before she put the truck into gear and sent it lunging down slope and bouncing across the rough terrain towards the chain link fence that marked the outer boundary of the air field. Vala gave startled sound as that barrier loomed up in front of them and feeling unsubtle she crashed right through it before spinning the wheel and skidding out onto the tarmac. They raced half way down the runway before she skidded the truck sideways as she applied the brakes. Almost before they came to a complete stop, Vala was launching out the passenger door to throw herself into Devin's arms and in truth Shiva very much wanted to do the same as she turned off the engine and gathered what was still us
eful. The General surprised her by coming up to the driver's door to open it and help lower her to the ground. When he stepped back he surprised her again by giving her a salute that she mimicked out of instinct.

  "I guess I should be pleased that you haven't forgotten how to do that." He murmured as he looked at her with a measuring look.

  "Most of the blood on these pajamas doesn't belong to any of us.. a little work and you should be able to make a DNA match to someone from Series 5." It was his turn to be surprised as he took the tightly tied plastic bag. "And this is a military ID I grabbed out of a the transport truck I stole." It also contained a day pass issued from and for passage out of Rinner base. "I can't be positive.. but I am pretty sure that Private 1st class Gordon was the driver of the truck.. and that he is dead now."

  "Right.." The General agreed darkly and then gave a sigh. "How long have you been in the area?"

  "Since about a half hour after we last spoke." Shiva confirmed.

  "Seeing if we would turn on you?" He asked.

  "Yes, General, I was.." Shiva replied honestly. "You aren't are you?"

  "No.. Hornton made a pretty good case for your innocence on the way here, even without all this.." He murmured as he pocketed the ID. "We.. heard from the place Rei was taken and placed in protective custody.. she woke up about an hour ago.. but she's blind.." Uncertain whether that was good news or terrible news, Shiva looked away as her throat closed up and her eroded control. "She doesn't remember what happened but other than that there doesn't seem to be any other per.." Stranger or not, ally or not, all Shiva wanted at that moment was someone to hold her and he grunted as she threw herself forward and clutched desperately at his jacket as outraged and angry sobs bubbled up. He held her a bit uncomfortably as she fought desperately to bring herself back under some semblance of control.

  "Vala.. Vala isn't going.." Shiva forced herself to breath as she stepped back, struggling to get her voice to work. ".. to want to go anywhere but where Rei is.."

  "That was the plan.. I can't trust that everyone on Huris base will know when to keep their mouths shut.." He gently touched her back and moved her towards the thopter. By the time they arrived Devin had already got Vala into the passenger compartment and out of the cold. Shiva managed to regain her focus as they arrived and barely hesitated to take the empty pilot's seat as the General got in behind her and started talking to the pilot over the rising sound of the engines. Not caring enough to listen and by no means ready to stay out in the open any longer than they already had. Shiva flipped over the controls, strapped herself in, and pushed the throttle up to take off speed. When they reached speed Shiva took the stick and sent the vehicle upward. The pilot, unaware that she was in the other seat, lunged for his stick as Shiva skimmed over the abandoned truck and buzzed the empty tower as she adjusted the rotor controls to tilt them back for more speed. When he realized she could handle herself he leaned over and settled radio head set over her ears.

  "Did you hear when I said to stay below radar?" The General asked with a chuckle as they barely just cleared some of the bare treetops.

  "No, General.. if I heard that, I'd be flying lower." Shiva murmured back to him and not at all in play.

  "Heading.." The Pilot murmured as he consulted his flight maps and plotted out their course. ".. 123:67." Shiva nodded and adjusted more to the southeast and dropped down below the canopy as a conveniently placed stream shifted into position below them. "You're pretty good.." He murmured even as he grunted in warning as they nearly clipped some nearby trees as Shiva wound the way along the course of the river. Even low into the air she could tell that their course would have them in nearby mountains quite soon as the plains spread out towards the end.

  "Our simulators were pretty accurate then." Shiva commented back to him. He gave her a surprised look as if he hadn't realized until that moment how young she looked.