and he's seen and done some dark things if the holo archives are any indication, but when I saw you and Ayan I knew that if there were two people who could bring him back, remind him of who he really is regardless of everything he might have done out here in the dark, it would be you two. I'm just a soldier, but wherever you and Ayan go there's some kind of spark, rooms light up.” He sighed as he chewed through another bite. “Besides, after what you've been through you deserve to be where you want to be. Maybe we all deserve a little piece of what we had back,” he looked at the last bite of his meal replacement bar as he swallowed the preceding bite. “There's gotta be a better way to package emergency food. Ah well, quiet time's almost-” he started to say before he was interrupted by a sound, the smallest of sounds behind him.
He turned the audio receptors up on his comm unit and was instantly rewarded. The sounds of four running, booted feet were just on the other side of that wall and they were moving away. “Duck and cover!” he shouted as he dropped what was left of his meal bar, grabbed Minh in his protective vacbag, and ran a few meters to stop behind an upturned hunk of concrete.
The wall sealing the tunnel off exploded in a sudden heave of heavy brick, mortar and dirt.
Together At Last
Alaka and Jake led the way between several ancient maglev transit cars. They were two decks high and eleven meters across. Judging from the thick dust they were kicking up the tunnel had been abandoned for a very long time. “Why did they close all this up?” asked one of Alaka's children as he clung on his father's back and poked his head over his shoulder. He was from the middle litter, just barely a pre-teenager.
“They made a system that could travel horizontally and up and down so people didn't have to go from the rail cars to elevators as much when they got to the space port.”
“You and Mom used to tell me never to go there.”
“The Spaceport?”
“Yeah.”
“You remember why, don't you Temin?”
“I remember.”
“Say it aloud,” Alaka pressed gently.
“Because you and Mom didn't want slavers to grab us and take us away,” his son said quietly between sniffs as he pointed his snout in the air then directly ahead.
“That's right, but we have to go there now.”
“Because there's a ship ready to take us to the Triton,” he struggled to climb higher up on Alaka, almost coming over his shoulder as he sniffed the darkness ahead. “They're close dad.”
“I know, go see your mother,” Alaka said gently.
His son kept on sniffing the air, closing his eyes and ignoring his father's instructions.
“Go to your mother Temin,” Alaka said more firmly.
The boy hopped off his father's back and bounced off one of the old transit cars before running back to the rear of the line, where his mother and the rest of their children followed in the main group.
“He's a good boy, that one. He wanted to hunt rim weasels with me,” Alaka said quietly to Jake as he adjusted the strap on his massive improvised beam cannon.
“I like him, and he's right, we're getting close,” Jake said with a nod towards a light in the distance. He brought up a small sub display window on his visor and increased the magnification. There wasn't anything to see just yet, only the gradual curve of the corner with light hitting the far wall, but he knew that just around that corner they'd find the other group of refugees, led by Oz, Jason, Minh and Ayan.
His stomach was in knots despite the effort he made on concentrating on the longer goal; getting off Pandem and out to the safety of the stars if not directly back to Triton.
The temptation to initiate communications with his ship, to reach out and see if they were listening was incredible. Though it was almost more than he could stand he couldn't do it, there was a good chance they would respond and give away their position and it just wasn't time for that yet.
“We're almost there,” Jake said over the general command channel. “Just around the corner.”
“We'll be ready to move as soon as you get here,” Ayan replied.
Jake watched the magnified screen closely as they came out from between the last of the old transit cars. Even though they were far underground and the darkness of the tunnel was still pressing down on them, it felt like they were moving out of being trapped in a small space, into a much broader, freer environment. It was an easy feeling to enjoy and as Jake looked on Ayan and Jason came into view.
They were still over a hundred meters away, but as watched them the mental image of the Ayan he had met on Triton, of her final, parting smile, began to fade. It was replaced with what was right before his eyes. Her dark grey poncho hood was up, a few blonde curls had fought their way free and dangled down the front. She was happy, talking to Jason about something he couldn't overhear. There were differences, she was shorter, she'd gone blonde, and dimples played in cheeks that were thicker than he recalled, but she was still Ayan, she was still the most beautiful sight he'd ever laid eyes on.
The people behind her came into view. They looked more sullen but watched Jason and Ayan or spoke amongst themselves casually. It was good to see new faces, other survivors. It was incredible that anyone had survived the wasteland above the tunnels. All that wholesale destruction brought on by the Order of Eden couldn't eliminate all life in the city of Damshir and it was encouraging.
He had never been with a group of people who knew how to survive as well as those behind and beside him and he wouldn't have believed it unless he had seen it for himself. The things he'd done in his past career as a hunter seemed small compared to the hardships imposed on the survivors by Regent Galactic and the Order of Eden's West Watcher army.
The thought that his ship, Triton, a heavily armed close combat carrier with thousands aboard might be just in orbit, so close yet so far away nagged at him. Once he got aboard he would find out how the crew and ship were, situate the survivors who wanted to remain and help with the ship and then get to work.
The galaxy had to know what was going on and he knew that Ayan would stand right beside him along with his other friends from Freeground. He would do everything he could to make change happen, to expose the West Watchers and Regent Galactic while they worked together to strike at their most sensitive targets. For the first time in his own short life he felt he was about to have something he dared not hope for; allies.
The feeling of being alone, the one others relied upon while he felt he could rely on no one or no thing was starting to recede, then everything changed.
“Duck and cover!” shouted Oz on the open command channel.
Everyone Jake could see scrambled and hid behind some of the ancient wreckage then there was a rush of air and dust. Ayan, Jason and everyone behind them disappeared in darkness. He unslung his rifle and broke into a run.
“Get everyone who isn't fighting behind the rail cars!” Alaka called behind as he began charging his improvised beam cannon and started to run. “Jake! Be careful!” he called after him.
A rush of energy weapons fire filled the air, sparking in the dust and discolouring the light ahead. A heavy disruption shot caught Jake squarely in the shoulder and the next time he opened his eyes — just seconds later — he was on the ground between Alaka and Vernen. The other rebels were all catching up, ready to join the fight.
“-wait, we're going into the spaceport. Can you hear me Jake?” Ayan was saying over his communicator.
“I hear you, take cover and get safe, we'll take care of the ones behind you,” Jake answered as he rolled over onto his stomach and flexed the numbness out of his hand.
“I've never seen someone drop like that with no damage to their armour, are you all right?” Alaka asked.
“Fine, I think I just took a big electrical jolt from whatever hit me.”
“Does your girlfriend have a reset switch too?” Vernen snickered.
“She's an officer, and a better soldier than you'll ever be,” Jake replied.
