Chapter 2: The Loyal

Year: 7097/03

Everything had changed for Meno. Mr. Dimitri had sat him down at the kitchen table as they discussed the emergence of the Pillar and what it meant. The old man had forced him to pack provisions into the basket and have it ready to go at any moment. He had told him to use the forest on the Eastern side of the town as the guards seldom ventured in there,

‘The trees are too thick, it messes with their comms equipment’

Meno had never seen him like this before. Meno himself just sat at the table watching the man, trying to take it all in, but his head was swimming with thousands of thoughts at once. He couldn't concentrate, he couldn't understand.

“A Pillar?” he asked, his thoughts vocalising themselves, “For…us? That’s a fucking warship isn't it?”

“Language” he admonished reflexively. The old man looked at him for a moment and then sat at the table. The adrenaline was fueling his body and he would hurt later for moving the way that he was now. He took a moment and looked at Meno deeply, he calmed himself and then spoke.

“You know why all of us were sent here, yes?”

“Yes, but…”

“This has been an operation run by a House, and even though I have been here for some twenty years now, I still cannot imagine that something like this is legal” Meno just looked at the man, this was the first time that he was ever speaking to Meno about anything…real. “With Hellen passing they clearly know that the end of the experiment has come. They are going to pack it all up. Before you ask, I don't know what it was for, I don’t know why. That is a Dorlec ship though, did you see the Diamond shape with the lines through it on the Pillar?”

“No. what?” Meno’s head was now looping in on itself. What in the hells was happening here?

“No matter. They are a nasty bunch, very pompous as a House, they believe that they are better than most” he said standing. He took up the kettle and placed it on the window sill.

“She hated when you did that” Meno said, his mind clinging onto anything familiar.

“She hated it because it tells the guards that I want to speak with them” he peered through the window, watching the Pillar. “It doesn't seem like there is much going on there, but we still need to…” he pushed the basket at Meno, “I know this is a lot, kid, but you need to pay attention now, pack your provisions”

Two days passed without any movement from the Pillar, nor was there any change in the guard's pattern on how they patrolled the perimeter of the town. They had spotted two ships landing near the Pillar, thought Mr. Dimitri identified these as small freighters usually for resources, and they were not of any major concerns.

Life all happened as usual in the little town named after the moon of Gol. Meno hadn't slept either night though, he suspected that Mr. Dimitri had not either. Meno had noticed that he left the house at night and crept into the woods. He had asked Meno not to follow him, not to wait in the street, nor to look out the window when he went.

‘They will have their eyes on any movement’ he would say. Meno had asked about him going out to which the old man merely said; a Pillar has just landed on the moon that I live on, I’m going to have some questions. He had come back each night disappointed though, somewhat despondent until he noticed that Meno was looking at him,

‘I’m sure she is just trying to find the best time to meet with us’ he would say with a smile.

Their days blended, and they found themselves spending more time in Hellen’s little house than they ever had before. Meno still went out to get their mushrooms and herbs in the morning. Mr. Dimtri told him to gather more than usual to pack the basket.

The house was becoming a prison though, they didn't want to move around the town as they did before. The old man didn't want the Pillar to see how weak he was, hoping that they would wait until he was at his weakest before coming down, he would stand outside and act as though he was much stronger than he really was. Meno knew that he was not, and suspected that was not the reason they were not coming into the town. It didn't stop Mr. Dimitri from trying to prepare Meno at every chance he got. Reminding him which way to go, and how long to wait before he made his way to the guard's barracks. The code word that he should tell Captain Lawrence when he eventually found her. He had become desperate. Meno started his forms on the second day,

‘Good’ the old man said as he saw Meno fall back into his training. It took his mind off of things for a moment and also gave Meno the ability to work off his anxiety. Meno knew that this wouldnt help in the grander schemes of things, but it got them through those moments of worry and avoided them turning into panic. Meno had never felt so powerless, and for Mr. Dimitri it seemed worse.

“Are you going out again tonight?” Meno asked on the third day taking the bowls after they had finished their dinner. It was sparse, and the old man took less food, Meno knew it was so that he could have his basket filled more for when he needed to leave. It irritated Meno that the old man was not thinking about himself, but he had given Meno a look to tell him that it was not up for discussion.

“I won’t be long. Don't look out of the windows” he said as he walked out of the door. It took him more time than he would have liked to admit to get in and out of the forest on the outskirts of the town, but he tracked along, trying not to look weak in front of the prying eyes of the Pillar which was even visible at night, stretching across the sky blocking any light from the sky that hung behind. It had been more than twenty years since he had seen one.

When they had arrived on Gol, they were brought by a small transport ship, nothing fancy, nothing as ominous as that. He had served on one, in the 37th Battalion which was under the command of Guy Reyes under the Hulfean House at the end of the war. This one was in much better condition than the Pillar he had served on during that time. Their Pillar was called ‘Gram’, he couldn't tell what the name of this one was. It seemed to be the same model as the Pillars used during the war, though he knew that it was more about what was held in the Pillar than what it looked like on the inside. Each had the capacity to house two thousand soldiers, hundreds of fighter ships and an equal number of tanks among carriers. Each Pillar was designed to take over countries on planets, and they were very effective at it. They would distort gravity fields, instil deep vibrations into a planet's crust and cause enormous earthquakes, cut communications. That would all be before they sent in the army, and started shooting.

He managed his way through the damp forest floor and eventually came to the meeting spot. He took his usual position upon the stone and waited. His mind ran with thoughts of how he could get the boy out. They had very little to work with, but the boy was strong, clever, and determined. He would make anyone proud. He wondered if Hellen was right. If he made the boy run, would the Pillar deem him as a fugitive? Was it better to have him turn himself over to them? They could prove that he wasn't sick, his blood had been given multiple times. He had personally handed the blood over to Lawrence who had said that she tested them.

There was a crack in the woods and Lor opened his eyes to see her standing there. Clad in the exo-suit armour that he was so familiar with. It was a mix of reinforced metal plating on the shoulders and chest plate all held together with a fibre weave of deep blue. Its sharp angular patterns made Lor feel reminiscent for a moment. It was the helmet that was the striking feature of the suit. A seamless glossy black visor that completely obscured the wearer's face, only broken by the tech integrations on the side of the helmet where he knew the sensors were housed and which fed into the computer in the back of the helmet. It’s the hardest point. Around the shoulders and chest, an array of utility pouches and compartments were neatly integrated. Some were better hidden than others, he remembered. The gold lining that held to the most visible metal plating had faded on her suit. It no longer held the Diamond cage seal of the Dorlec. He wondered if she had intentionally worn it out.

“Hello, Angie,” he said to the figure,

“Hello, Captain,” she said through the mechanical voice changer on the helmet, “Guess you're wondering about our guests”

“How long do we have?”

“I don't know,” she said, “We are just receiving orders at the moment, and before you ask, it is to carry on as usual. They have not asked us any questions. The Pillar has access to our systems, they don’t actually need us”. Lor Dimitri nodded, expecting that this would be the case. He tapped his ear twice and she nodded,

“Turned it off” she said confirming that her comm was off. He wanted to make sure that they were not being overheard. The forest would stop the Pillar from hearing them clearly, but he would still be cautious.

“Heard anything from my old friend?”

“I sent your note, but I never received a response,” she said heavily. The helmet distorted her voice, telling him that she had sighed again. He nodded, with a heavy swallow. He really was hoping that he would have heard something by now, or seen something.

“The Pillar has access to your systems, so they should be able to see the results from Meno’s blood work correct?” She nodded, “Then they should know that he is fine” he said, though he was not hopeful about this. He shook his head, he couldn't believe that he had thought earlier that the kid should hand himself over. He had seen and been part of an illegal prison camp. They were never going to let him out of here. He had been too hopeful. “Who’s in charge?”

“Sheppard. Young up and comer, just been elevated to Commander by Lord Valentine himself. He started with an equipment inspection” she said, knowing that Lor would know the type. Young, ambitious, holding the rules, eager to prove himself. Their situation couldn't be worse. With older commanders, there was always the chance for rules to be bent. Although this was the Dorlec, and if Angie had told him previously about Valentine, he was a man of order. Lor didn't know him, he had known of the previous commander of the Dorlec, Lord Kasim Hoter, who from what Lor knew was of a similar mould.

“I’m sorry, Captain. There really isn't much that I can do here” she said, hanging her head, “We don’t have access to the Pillar and we haven’t had a ship on this rock for nearly twenty years now, I can’t see…” Lor held his hand up.

“It’s alright, Angie,” he said heavily, “If you could, would it be possible to send one more message to our old friend?”

“I’ll do what I can,” she said in her distorted voice. He nodded and made his way back through the forest. She watched him as he went down, not really able to believe how weak he had become. She had known him as the strapping Captain Lor Dimitri. The man who would never give up, the soldier who gained praise from Guy Reyes himself after his efforts during the war. She stood there for a few moments after she had lost sight of him, her helmet not picking up heat signatures since she had turned it off. She then turned and made her way back to her glider bike. She would finish her patrol and get back to the barracks. No doubt Collins would moan that her comms were off again. She periodically did it to ensure that it didn't create a pattern of her meeting with Lor. Though, tonight was probably more of a risk. If the Pillar had been looking at them they would have noticed that her comms were down. She exhaled, she would just tell them what she always told Collins; the suits were twenty-five years old with no engineer on site.

Once she parked her glider bike after her patrol of the town, she made her way towards the pre-fab barracks, which like all pre-fab buildings, have a permanence. The lights came into focus, but she noticed that there were figures standing outside, as well as a transporter ship that was parked in the clearing. She saw that there were four soldiers in Dorlec uniform accompanying an officer, who while still wearing the Dorlec exo-suit, also had some gold trim on his helmet. A Luitenet.

“Ah, Captain Lawrence” came the distorted voice of the Luitenet through his suit's mask. He had been speaking with one of her men, Collins. She didn't need to see Collins’ face to know that this was exactly the type of situation that would turn him into a puddle.

“Luitenet” she said, “What do we owe the pleasure?” she said walking up to them.

“Commander Sheppard would like a word,” he said bowing his head slightly, his voice was, cheery, thought Angie, even through the mask, “We tried to contact you through the comms but it seems that you may be having some issues with yours?” he said in faux concern for her equipment, “In fact it seems a miracle that your equipment still works at all, seeing the state of this,” he said gesturing the blocky barracks. It had been sitting on planet for twenty years now, and the elements had taken their toll. It had even sunk into the earth a bit.

“Very well” she said ignoring the words of the barracks, “Let me change into my uniform and I will join you” she said darting her eyes, but not changing the direction of her head to Collins. She didn't want to seem concerned about this at all. The younger man, Collins, had only been on moon for three years now. A delinquent soldier who had been sent here for no other reason than to be out of the way. He was a sweet kid, and he was visibly panicking right now, his head moving from right to left between the armed Dorlec soldiers and herself.

“No need, it will just be a report” said the Luitenet. He held his arm out towards the transport ship. She nodded and passed Collins, placing her hand on his shoulder.

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“That fence strut on the Western side has fallen over again, can you go fix that before morning?” he nodded quickly,

“Ah, before that” interjected the Luitenet, “We will be inspecting the barracks. Two birds and all of that. You may perform your duties once the inspection is complete. You understand right, Captain?” it was now Angie’s turn to nod. She squeezed the shoulder of Collins tight, needing to get through the armour plating on the exo-suit. “Shall we?”

Two of the guards stayed at the barracks and two joined with Angie and the Luitenet, once on the transport ship which only added to Angie’s anxiety. She did not feel comfortable here at all, she didn't like leaving her men, she didn't like that they were being separated, and now she was being thrown onto a Transport deployment ship. She had been on many of these, they were common to Pillars and used for the strategic deployment of ground troops on planet. Memories of the war swelled in her as she stepped aboard the Rhombus-shaped, vee’d hulled ship with open sides placed for gunners on all corners. These ships were usually the last familiar thing that someone knew before being dropped off on a battlefront. She felt the same now.

They didn't speak while en route, the wind coming in would have made it difficult and her comms equipment ‘was-not-working’. She preferred it that way, it allowed her to think of everything that was about to come. She hoped her men would be okay. There were three of them, Collin’s, the closest to her, Aubrey who had been there for only six months now and Callum, who was serving his fourteenth year on the moon. She didn't feel comfortable leaving them with those Dorlec soldiers.

They flew over the forests, the small dim lights from the town being the only break through the fog. Angie turned and looked up to the Pillar, she was taken back to the enormity of them, the monolithic structure, when on a planet always seemed impervious, they had a stillness to them in their towering over the lands below them, as though they were not affected by the landscape around them at all. The rounded curves of the ship gave nothing away to the weapons that hid under almost every square inch of the thing.

They started to descend and the light below the Pillar came into site, only a few people who were moving crates were seen, all moving from the freighter ships and the gravity lifts under the Pillar, hanging suspended above them. They came in, docked and made their way into the light where the platform was lifted into the heart of the ship. Angie hadn’t seen this much light for a long time. The platform, a basic metal shelf that they were now standing on, stopped ascending and moved sideways across the room. It didn't jolt them at all, gravity lifts assisted you in holding your position. She had forgotten about that and had tried to counter it, the Luitenet took her arm as though she was falling, she held her hand up,

“You’ve been in a Pillar before, correct?” he said sounding surprised to her over-correction. She stood up straight and nodded,

“It’s been a long time, though,” she said not wanting to offer any other explanation.

“The Hulfean fleet?” he asked as though just passing conversation,

“The 78th Reon, it was very much like this ship,” she said, looking around at the massive interior. On the lower floors of the Pillar, it was cavernous. Lift platforms moved up and down, side to side, darting between bays that held tanks, soldiers, and scientific equipment. She had never spent much time in the cargo hold, besides when getting ready for deployments by foot.

“Ah, yes, under Commander Guy Reyes, if I’m not mistaken”

“Should I be worried that you have studied up on me?” she didn't get an answer, but again, he held his arm out and they passed into a room with five doors, Angie moved ahead through one of the doors and the Luitenet through his own. It was a decontamination room. Angie had been using one of these daily for the last twenty years, though this one was far larger. She removed her exo-suit and placed it next to her as she stood in the room, wearing only her base layers. She waited for the familiar vibration to occur and felt her entire body buzz as it started, and then the jets of smoke sprayed forward into the room. She could feel the marks on her face from wearing her helmet for too long, the itch of sweat. Once the smoke stopped, the wall to her left was imprinted with a holographic display of her. Gods she looked old, she thought, tired. They had taken a scan while she was being decontaminated, her hand moving to the messy bun that her hair was being kept in, wondering if that’s really what it looked like looking at the revolving hologram.

Writing flashed up and cleared her of any contamination. She looked at the image of herself again. She had lost that spark that she once had, that eagerness of eye, she wondered if she had lost her ability to intimidate anyone. Her stats showed that she was still five foot nine, but her frame had slimmed. She had always been strong, but she wondered how much of that strength nowadays was from her tech rather than her natural muscle.

The door on the opposite side from where she entered opened and she saw the Luitenet waiting for her, his hands held behind his back with impeccable posture, he must have been in his early thirties. He didn't look like he was someone important enough to have age extending privildges. He had neatly parted black hair, a clean shaven face and was by all accounts, a good looking man, though he held the usual smug face of a Dorlec soldier. It was their defining feature, really.

“All clear I see” he said with a smile that did reach his eyes,

“No uniform?” Angie said looking around,

“No need, in and out, as I said, it’s just a report” he said again with that wonderful ability to lie with his eyes. “I must apologise for my previous questions, it is just that I am fascinated by the war, always have been,” he said with a smile, also confirming her thoughts on his age. “I was too young you see, but I saw the world change regardless, I’ve watched all of the programs on it, and heard some of the war stories, but I have never spoken to someone who was in the Hulfean fleet. I've studied it of course. Difficult not to study the Hulfean while looking at the war, with people like Guy Reyes and of course, King Locne” he said as they walked, “Did you ever meet him?”

“No,” she said, slightly irritated that he was speaking this much.

“What was it like?” he said as they reached an elevator, he resumed his pose with his hands held behind his back, “The war, I mean?”

“It was like trying to negotiate with a grenade that's already gone off,” she said dismissively. The Luitenet seemed to get the message that she had been so desperately trying to send to him, and thankfully, shut up. They rode the elevator in silence, though the Luitenet did not seem uncomfortable in the silence. Once the doors opened they came to a small antechamber adorned with a painting hanging on its wall and two large chairs on the other with a small table in the middle of them. The painting showed a great battle, Angie could see some long-lost city being destroyed by Pillars with Dorlec sigils on them, and soldiers swarming the city. She didn't remember much about the Dorlec during the war, she had been on the other side of the galaxy. This seemed a bit, dramatic though.

“An original,” the Luitenet said with a smile and a slight shake of his head while admiring the painting. Thankfully, the doors opened before Angie could say something to actually offend the man now, and once again, his arm raised to allow Angie into the room.

She had been in a Pillar Command room once before, but at that point, it was filled with the smells of blood and explosives. They had witnessed a call of relief from the Matise House after being ordered to drop onto another gods damned planet, their Pillar already in tatters, their men weak or broken, or dead. This one though, was, plush. It wasn't anything like Angie had ever seen before, the room was carpeted with thick material, the walls were and had linings of wood, from what seemed like a single tree that wrapped up the right-hand side of the room, no leaves, it seemed that the wood had been finely polished. There were sofas of fine leather, and in the place where Angie had remembered there being a rectangular table, there was now a round table with high wing-backed chairs. She looked to her sides and saw heavy doors on either side, each with a Dorlec guard in full exo-suit uniform. The room was long, and she saw the silhouette of who she supposed was the commander sitting at a desk that must have been four meters wide, behind him, the large viewport of the Command room showed the skyline and the rising sun far in the distance. A small illuminated square on the window which looked to be a zoomed-in image of the town with information scrolling through on the side.

“Commander,” said the Luitenet, “Captain Angela Lawrence for you” Angie threw her hand up in a salute. She saw the briefest movement and imaged that he had only bothered to raise his eyes to this from what he was working on,

“Step forward, Captain,” he said in a formal tone, “Thank you, Smik” he said to the Luitenet, who instead of leaving, moved to one of the sofas on the side of the room. Angie stepped towards the desk, it took her some time, the room really was very big. The carpet was like walking on a cushion. She saluted once more when she got to the desk, not remembering if that was the correct protocol or not. She was not relieved, and so, stood there saluting.

“Commander Sheppard, sir” she eventually said, her eyes never lowering to his face.

“Your comm device seems to be non-operational, Captain”

“Yes, sir, our tech is old”

“Are you not maintaining it?”

“We are sir, though we do not have an engineer on moon” she said, feeling irritated that she was not allowed to drop her salute yet.

“Luitenet, get an inspection of the Captain's equipment done, send the report here,” he said not bothering to raise his voice any higher,

“Sir” came the voice of Luitenet Smik from behind her, and she heard him tapping on a datapad.

“You were picked up on the scanners meeting with, one, Lor Dimitri this evening. What did he want to meet about?” he said lazily. Angie dropped her salute and held her arms behind her back, she also dropped her eyes to look at the Commander. Her first thought was that he recruited in his own image, it seemed Luitenet Smik had modelled himself off of the Commander. He had neatly parted hair, not a single hair out of place in it’s work, he had a sharp nose and chin, piercing eyes and held himself well. He was clean-shaven and wore his uniform with textbook precision. He did not look impressed that Angie had decided to relieve herself, but did not press the matter.

“He wanted to know about the Pillars arrival and what it meant, sir”

“And what did you tell him?”

“That I didn't know, sir. We have not received any information about the next steps”

“Are you always that candid with prisoners, Captain?” the words took her by surprise. It was foolish that she would think that that would have been okay. She didn't want to say anything, and it seemed that Sheppard did not need her to. “Lor Dimitri, you served with him during the war in the Hulfean fleet”

“Yes, sir” they had picked up the message she had sent, she thought.

“I am sure you can understand my view of a meeting that seems so, clandestine in nature to cause concern”

“Concern, sir?” he watched her carefully for a moment and then said,

“The boy, Meno, no other name, has picked up nine per cent muscle mass in the last few months according to your scanners. Lor Dimitri is training him. I was not sure of what to make of that, and then one of the guards, Captain of the guard” he inflected on her rank, “Meets with Lor Dimitri, outside of her patrol schedule without her comm device active” again he let this hang in the air. She would not be baited. “I am quite sure that you are telling the truth in his interest in the Pillar, but why like that? Was there nothing else that he wanted to ask you?”

“He wanted to thank me for the herbs, sir”

“Yes” he said peering over at his datapad, “You have planted a number of rationed seeds in the forest for them over the years?”

“Yes, sir”

“And he chose now to thank you for that?”

“He doesn't know how much longer he has, sir” she knew it was weak. Why did she have to say anything in the first place? She was on the back foot here, rattled by what he wasn't saying. They knew, they must have.

“What else did he want?” he said quickly, and sharply, his tone changing for the first time. She would need to give him something. If he knew anything about Lor, he would know that Lor was always up to something. His military record would say as much.

“Some time ago, he asked me to send a message to his homeworld, a farewell” Too little too late, she thought after adjusting her strategy. What a weird order to deliver her report.

“Did you?”

“No, sir. These people do not exist”

“No, they do not” his tone was low and dangerous. “Have you corresponded with the Hulfean House since the war?”

“No, sir, I was posted here after the war, we only received Entangled communications two years ago”

“It’s not the only way to communicate,” he said, leaning back in his chair. “It’s no matter even if you did, they are bound by the Houses and their laws, you would have been foolish to have even tried,” he said as though speaking to a toddler, “No House would expose themselves to the rest for a mere guard”

“If I may sir, am I being interrogated?”

“You are being interrogated for assisting a Hulfean House sympathizer, Captain. We have already established that you are incapable of maintaining military equipment, and have no regard for military rations being used in a decent manner”

“I was in the war with him, sir. Are the Hulfeans not our allies?”

“And you have lost your sense of hierarchy, Captain” She felt her breath become uneasy, as his tone remained implacable. “Tell me about the boy” he said pulling up the datapad in front of him again.

“Meno, he is seventeen, seems to have a natural immunity to the disease. He was dropped at the fence fifteen years ago, it seems that his parents did not want him, and chose the worst place in the universe to leave him”

“Who were his parents?”

“Unkown, sir. We did not have the scanners that we have today back then. Nobody saw them come in”

“You collected his bloods?”

“We received a blood sample from one of the prisoners, Hellen Milton some years ago, the results came back clean. Somehow he doesn't have a trace of it in his blood, nor does he have any mutations to suggest that his body learned how to fight it off, it seems that the virus just, misses him, sir”

“Yes, Milton, she took primary care of him, did she not?”

“It seemed so, sir. He grew up in her house” She could tell where he was going with this. Hellen, although sweet in her disposition and kindliness to the rest of the townspeople, had murdered her last employer. She had been a housekeeper for a Commander of the Matise house, Angie didn't know much more detail than that. Hellen had never had a trial.

“How long does Lor Dimitri have?” he said putting the data pad down once more. His tone had become somewhat exasperated, as though this was a waste of his time.

“I couldn't tell you, sir”

“Surely, Captain” he raised lazy eyes at her, “You have watched them for twenty years, do not tell me that you have not gained some measure of this disease”

“A few months, maximum, maybe weeks, he has been in the final stages for a while now, sir”

“Not exactly a quick end is it?” it was the first time that he seemed to express his own thoughts, and he had said something like that. Angie, took in a breath to calm herself.

“The disease has a somewhat slower rate with them than previously seen sir. Fatality usually occurs within six months, some on gol have lasted twenty years, though they have felt the effects of it”

“Well, it sounds like he has suffered for long enough then. Luitenet, make the preparations, I do not want to spend more time here than needed. Captain,” he said straightening up and facing her dead on for what seemed the first time, “You are being stripped of your rank” She spluttered but he continued, “You will be moved to a Dorlec for treason against the House’s. You have failed the Autarch and yourself as a soldier”

“Charges!?” she roared, all pretence now gone,

“The forementioned offenses, as well as fraud in manipulating the blood work that you sent for testing” he said as calmly as before, he looked at the datapad, “And it seems for intentional sabotage of House equipment”. She hadnt noticed the guards behind her that grabbed her by the arms.

“I didn't…” the words escaped her mouth, but the Commander did not say anything, he had turned back to the datapad as she was being dragged out. She passed Luitenet Smik who smiled at her and said,

“It was lovely to speak with you, Captain”