Nearly everyone who had been invited to the Shargara conference had retreated. Rask’s forces chased away or slew the remaining Titanian soldiers. He had come too late to watch the bulk of the Black Shield’s fight or even Gareth’s battle with Rhona. 2,000 soldiers of the Anti-Imperial Volunteers from Mars had come to the Linden house and occupied its grounds, preventing the already delayed forces stationed at the Shargara garrison from arriving quickly. Their communications had already been deferred as so many higher-ups including the General herself had become casualties of the Black Shield.
“You were supposed to come at our signal!” Jay smacked his forehead in front of Rask in the tunnels.
“I know, and I apologise sincerely!” Niklas Rask said with candor. “But… a lot has gone on back home. You have my support, but my priorities rest with my homeland. We too are at the brink of civil war.”
Jay sighed, turning slightly away from the Martian-born Titanian.
“We’re going to have to hit one of their weapons depots at some point soon,” Jay said. “You got any plans, documents that can help us get into one? There ain’t no fighting without them.”
“I can get something arranged; I’ll just need a bit of time. Have you accounted for Baron Linden?”
“No,” Jay said. His lips quivered, remembering the sacrifice of his foster brother. How he turned himself into a villain in the face of the people of his ancestors in the pursuit of freedom. “He remains missing. We’ve searched the entire building, up and down and we’ve sent parties all throughout the tunnels. Ain’t no sign of him. We suspect that he might’ve gotten outside somehow, but they have snipers waiting for us outside of the plantation grounds.”
“So he’s a lost cause…?” asked the Marquess.
Jay stared daggers into the man’s eyes. It pained him to hear such truth, but he had to accept it.
“Yes. Yes, he is.”
On the upper floor of the building, below the stars that dazzled over Shargara, a bloodied figure lay on a balcony, below the railings. He was weak, yet just barely alive. It seemed that he would die any moment, and he was well aware of it. After all, only a few hours earlier he had his left arm and leg severed by a laser cannon. A normal Terran would’ve passed away instantly, or at best, a few moments later. But he wasn’t like them. Not in blood, at least. He had crawled up there with blood oozing from his wounds, using Gareth and Rhona as a distraction to get away from everything. For the past several hours he had fallen in and out of consciousness, accompanied only by his thoughts.
“It was here where I met you, dear brother. After that day, I'd spend my free time watching you copy the soldiers outside with the wooden sword and gun Paridi bought you at the city-centre. How I wish to stand here once more with you beside me, watching those pointless Empire spars again,”
A smile creeped along his lips. Although Jay was not physically with him, he swore he could see the likeness of his face in the patterns of glowing stars above him.
“Perhaps those playfights were all in preparation for something bigger. Something I will not get to see—
His museful last monologue was interrupted by the doors to the balcony being slammed open. A soldier in Titanian garb stormed in, but interestingly enough he was no Titanian. He was something far more familiar.
“Warrant Officer Meinrad Glynn reporting. The leader of the Terran terrorists has been located,” Meinrad spoke nonchalantly into an earpiece, his eyes lacking any emotion whatsoever. “Your orders, Instructor?”
“You know… I should’ve realised from the start that you were someone to keep an eye on,” the Anbieter wheezed. “You were far too powerful, far too calculated, far too precise to have been at the level of any of the other recruits. No human besides Gareth could’ve taught you what you knew already, or someone at his level. And the same goes for Klaudia. You were too perfect at blending in.”
The boy averted his gaze, displaying a cold, detached façade.
“Neutralise him immediately. Take the corpse to the entrance hall to confirm identity.” Colonel Gerlachus ordered after several moments of deliberation.
Meinrad drew out a pistol and quickly aimed it at Linden’s forehead. To that, the Anbieter chuckled.
“Realize this, boy. You may be strong, but you have no morals. You are little more than a cog in the machine, a mere piece that can be replaced at any time for any defect. You mean nothing to the people that--
The traitor didn’t let him complete his rant, though, as a beam of Reserve cleanly entered his skull. The man had died the millisecond his final word was excruciatingly belted out. Meinrad stepped forward and crouched to confirm his pulse—he no longer had one. He lifted Egon Linden’s corpse in a bridal fashion and exited to the hallway outside. Klaudia was waiting for him.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“You could’ve come with me, you know,” Meinrad sighed. “I don’t enjoy taking all the credit.”
“It didn’t feel right,” Klaudia muttered, playing with her fingers as she avoided gazing at the corpse. “I’m sorry.”
“Our time on this planet meant nothing,” Meinrad sharply reminded. “All we had to do was complete our mission. You wanted to go home? Now we can.”
“U-Understood, Warrant Officer.” Klaudia hesitantly accepted, following him down to the dilapidated entrance hall of the Linden manor.
“Good work, Warrant Officer Glynn,” Colonel Gerlachus making the closest to a smile as she ever had in front of her students, accompanied by two majors from the regular military. “On that table, right there.”
Meinrad placed the corpse as he was asked. Sindri glared at Meinrad from the side, emitting envy through his eyes. Lucia was somewhat intimidated by him, yet simultaneously awestruck. Malin almost looked like she had a look of relief on her face. Joakim, however, was indifferent at first to seeing his two senior fellows for the first time.
One of the two majors took out a pair of shining black-and-purple tweezers from a utility kit with gloved hands. Positioning it above the top of the Anbieter’s head, he plucked a single fine strand of golden hair. The strand hovered above the corpse it came from before a sterile, sealable bag the size of a hand appeared below it held by the other major, where it was carefully dropped into before being closed. The sealed bag was then placed securely inside the first major’s utility kit.
“Warrant Officer Meinrad Glynn was the one who neutralised and procured the traitor’s corpse. Do tell Lieutenant General Salomon if he asks,” Gerlachus said as the majors awaited permission to exit the building towards the Anti Imperialist-occupied fields of Shargara. “And please be careful on your way out. Active battle is taking place outside.”
With a salute, the two majors unsheathed their helmets from their armor, holding the rifles that hung from their necks at the ready as they approached the front doors of the house, promptly leaving.
“That’s it…?” Joakim asked. “To find out who he is, a single hair was needed…?”
“Our power warrants a substantial level of technology that reflects it, doesn’t it?” Gerlachus asked rhetorically. “Transporting an entire corpse wastes time and space.”
“They took my mother’s head,” Joakim admitted bluntly. “They cut it off as she was already dying. Why did they have to take it…?”
“Oh… for bragging rights, I suppose,” Sindri smirked. “Who wouldn’t want a piece of Terra’s proudest guardian?”
“That comment was unwarranted, Lance Corporal,” the Colonel suddenly turned, a stern look on her face. “We don’t know why the General ordered for that woman’s remains to be dealt with in such a way, and it’s none of our business. We are soldiers. I do not appreciate baseless statements being made. Do I make that clear?”
Tove seemed to gaze straight into the boy, as if examining every dark and intimate feature of his soul and mind. Sindri was taken aback, and he looked towards his feet in defeat.
“My apologies, Instructor.” he half-heartedly said.
“Good. Now—
Joakim raised his hand to ask a question to the colonel.
“What is it, Private?”
“Right before the… Angel Slayer came down here… why did you do that?”
“You’re one of my students,” she said firmly without asking of him further elaboration. “Ensuring your safety is just as much my responsibility as teaching you to become fine warriors,”
So… she doesn’t care that I’m Terran. We’re all just the same to her.
“Before I forget…” she said. “Warrant Officer Glynn, Master Sergeant Nordskov, this is your new colleague, Private Joakim Holt. He joined us two months ago. I hope you will get to know each other and cooperate.”
“Good to meet you, Private.” Meinrad shook the boy’s hand in the Titanian way.
“You as well, Warrant Officer.” Joakim respectfully returning the gesture.
“I look forward to working with you, Private.” Klaudia said when she got her turn to greet the boy the same way Meinrad had.
“Me too, Master Sergeant.” Joakim nodded as he reciprocated the gesture.
For a moment, Meinrad and Klaudia’s eyes made contact through their corners. They acknowledged how similar Joakim looked to his younger brother, as if the boy looking back longingly at him during the conference hadn’t already given away their relation.
“Now,” Colonel Gerlachus said as her students finished introducing themselves to one another. “Brigadier General Brose has ordered us to return to Titan promptly. With this many casualties, he suspects a major shake-up in the military hierarchy. We must be there for it.”
“But,” Lucia said, pointing at the Anbieter’s unmoving corpse. “What about that, Instructor?”
“It’s no longer our matter. If the terrorists want their master back, they can take it whenever they’d like. Lest they allow it rot on this table under the Terran sun.” she said, moving up front to the entrance, readying her rifle to shoot as soon as they left the door. Lucia followed right behind her. Malin trailed slightly behind, but Klaudia was almost right next to her, glad to be back with her after so much lost time even though the former didn’t express it openly. Joakim was just behind them, needing to be protected due to having no Reserve of his own. All the power he could’ve used at that moment was in the Pool inside her armor and weapons. He would have to borrow someone else’s Reserve if he had to fight.
Sindri was not caught up with them. instead, he remained at the table with the Anbieter’s remains. He held a knife at the dead man’s neck, intending on leaving the house with a souvenir.
“Your hands don’t need to be there, Fabricius.” a boy’s voice sternly reminded him from behind. The seven-foot tall Titanian teen, about average size for a male of his kind, turned around to see the six-foot-and-three-inch-tall soldier of Terran origin looking him right in the eye.
“You come back and get right back to giving orders now, huh Glynn?” Sindri laughed mockingly.
“I can,” Meinrad scoffed. “In case you forgot, you are still a Lance Corporal. You could’ve easily been a corporal or sergeant by now if you knew to act like a Titanian soldier. I am a warrant officer. Don’t make me have to tell you twice.”
“F-Fine.” Sindri relented, feeling humiliated. He stomped as he followed Meinrad out, brandishing his weapons so they could push their way out of the Anti-Imperial blockade.