CHAPTER 8 - ROUNA
We exit hyperspace and the paradise planet called Rouna comes into view. Its thin, white asteroid ring passes by below us and the Magnatech kicks in. My stomach tightens and feels like it is about to come up through my throat, but it doesn’t bother me as much as usual. I watch Hound sitting in Terri’s seat and wish my buddy was still here. I don’t even have a body to take back to Earth.
What am I going to tell his folks?
The rich-blue world in front of us, almost twice the size of Earth, is a mind-blowing sight. Entirely covered by a beautiful blue, salt sea under a perpetually calm, tropical atmosphere, it is a paradise indeed. It has been a long time since I’ve seen Rouna. Almost every pilot in Earthfront military service would have passed through here at one time or another. Being entirely under Earthfront control, it plays host to one of the largest Earther military training bases in the galaxy.
One of the three spaceports orbiting the planet is now in view. The mammoth diamond shaped complex hangs suspended in nothingness like a brilliantly lit, white city. The coms come to life.
“UNA Mirage…Argyle Spaceport Control has you on approach, go auto and state Intensions.”
“Argyle Traffic Control…Captain Richard Gant of the UNA Mirage, requesting docking. In need of resupply and repair under order of General Alexander Madison.”
“UNA Mirage, one sec…” The voice is female and almost robotic. Five seconds pass “…request acknowledged, cleared for docking, you have Guidance on link. Welcome to Rouna Captain Gant.”
I check the linkup and Hound sets us on autopilot.
I wish more than anything that Terri had stayed in the ship. The station’s Magnetic system shakes us as it takes over. Why did he go against my command? I’m angry with this sadness, and with him. On the other hand, any one of us would have joined that fight, and died for each other if necessary. I should have killed the unknown in combat. Why couldn’t I kill it? The wreckage of Terrier’s MAV flashes through my head and I blink back the tears.
The Communication Module flashes. “UNA Mirage, docking at Bay, F seven, five, three.”
“UNA Mirage copies Bay F seven…five…three…”
I turn to Hound and he looks my way. Under his visor I don’t see it, but I feel his sorrow. There are no words to express it so our silences remain. My fingers find the digital Com panel and I enter a code that would give me direct access on a secure link to our superior. His image comes up on all of our holographic screens as Argyle’s Magnatech pulls us closer.
General Alexander ‘Hawk’ Madison appears. He looks older, but just as mean and hardened as ever. His greying head, proud eyes and hawkish nose looks through me as though I were a rookie all over again.
I acknowledge him “General…”
“Iron Five…”
“We’re on approach to Argyle…”
“…And Terrier..?”
“Gone, Sir…”
“Do you have his body and his Dees?”
“No Sir, there was nothing salvageable from his wreckage.”
I’m not sure what I see in Hawk’s eyes when it comes to his sympathy, but a look of annoyance is clearly visible.
“I’m sorry about Terri. He was one of the best…and not just pilots…I know he was a brother to you. How are you holding up soldiers?”
He’s not genuine. I’ve been around the man long enough to know what formality and protocol is supposed to look like.
“We’re holding well sir.”
“Good. You have the bastard responsible for it and that’s what matters. Right now...”
“Had him, sir…interrogated him with Truezine and got some valuable Intel before he died.”
Its funny how the General, as far back as I’ve known him, could go from zero to ballistic in the same split second; like the good old days of me and Hound at each other’s throats all over again.
“I gave specific orders not to interrogate him until on base at Rouna! You disobeyed a direct order soldier!”
“Sir, with all due respect, I felt it right to carry out the interrogation. After all, it was us who suffered and lost in order to bring him in…”
“You know full well the consequences of these actions. As of this moment, Iron Five is hereby decommissioned until further notice. You’re lucky that you and your team are not on a ship to Earth by morning.”
My guts feel as though they are being sucked into some deep hole within “But sir…we have valuable Intel that I think might make a…”
“My orders were clear, were they not soldier? Yet you disobeyed the directive and in doing so, lost us our only link to Deepcore!”
I remain silent. Maybe I’ve pushed it too far this time. But we need to get to Mirana and its too late. We’ll never be able to break free of Argyle’s Magnatech now.
“What did you learn from the interrogation?”
The look on the General’s face is dangerous. He is a hardened man, by-the-book and void of emotion. But I am angrier than before and no longer willing to talk to him. Yet, as my commanding officer, I have no choice in the matter. I tell him about “The Man”. He is unusually silent about this. I think it has caught him off guard. He is also equally puzzled about the Deepcore fleet being on Keden to get rid of Iron Five.
“That’s a farce. How could they have known that you would have been sent to Keden to find them?”
“Either way it almost worked. They got Terri.” My voice is not my own.
“…After you got all of them.”
His words sting me. There is no victory in this fact. I lost my friend, my brother. I could not care any less about some Deepcore imps getting away to live another day, as long as Iron Five remained Five.
“…must be a mole in the ranks…” The General is talking again “…Someone is obviously leaking information to Deepcore.”
I go on about Keden being locked down and what the pilot said about Keden and Earth falling. I remember Mirana again. My stomach rolls over. I have a screwed up sensation in my gut that just won’t go away. I mention the Cyclones and what they might be capable of but it doesn’t seem to impress him.
“As of this morning we received a coded message from SysDef’s base on Keden. The base has been attacked, all air and space travel has been locked down and the Commander and her men have been holding off a siege for the past eight hours…”
I sit up in my seat…I’m sorry buddy…and push Terri from my mind.
“We need to get back. We’re only two thousand lights away. We could be there in…”
“Negative Captain. You are to report to Station Commander Brice and remain on Rouna until further orders. I won’t court-martial you for your disregard of my command this time but one more strike Alpha, and you and your team, are out…”
We look at each other in a moment of silence and then he continues
“…Earthfront has dispatched a Starfleet and will have the Keden crisis under control in a matter of days.”
Mirana won’t last that long
“General Madison, we’re twenty four hours away from Keden. We can get there ahead of Earth’s forces and…”
“And what soldier?” He’s the man I remember now “What…Four ill-disciplined soldiers in Light Mecha will just walk onto Keden and win the day? I understand you want to avenge your brother-in-arms but you, like countless others, along with Terrier, knew the risks and how to deal with the losses. So deal with it soldier or you will be deemed unfit for this service.”
I’ve already avenged his death. I want to prevent another from happening. But I can’t say this or I’ll definitely be on my way back to Earth in a military shuttle by nightfall. I’ve zoned out again.
“…understand me soldier?”
“Yes sir. I was just caught up in the loss sir.”
The General softens again “We all have been at some point son. Get it together, and get some rest.”
The connection vanishes and the thud of the ship connecting to the docking bay brings the surroundings to my attention. We all feel the loss. I have known Terrier ever since we were kids. Mrs. Andrews had brought a then six year old Carlos to play with his next door neighbor while she and my mother prepared for the family barbeque; we’ve been best friends ever since.
The walk through the suspended corridor is a hard one. The last time I set foot on this station, it was Terri and me, fresh out of flight school and ready for training on Rouna.
Through the large, almost floor-to-ceiling windows, Rouna, the stunning blue orb many miles below, is breathtaking. Two doors ahead of us hiss and slide smoothly into the walls. The magnificent view of the paradise world is replaced now by a large and busy terminal filled mostly with tourists dressed in tropical wear and toting luggage, children, or both. Not far away, two kids slip out of sight and begin switching their parent’s bags while their guardians talk to a travel agent. I remember the first time Terri traveled with my family. It was the beginning of summer and my parents were headed to Titan. We would have been no more in age or size than those two bag switchers.
I continue on and follow the rest of the team into an elevator and come out three levels above. The guard behind the desk nods us toward an office with a large oak door, and we enter.
“Have a seat, gentlemen.”
Station Commander Arnold Brice, the man behind the voice, is a powerfully built soldier and the commander of Earthfront Galactic on Rouna. He has allowed no time for salutes and protocol so we take our seats.
“I am disappointed in your lack of discipline but at the same time, I commend you on your recent achievements and sympathize with your loss…Terrier was a good man…”
It’s as though he just stuck that last part in for effect. His beady, but focused eyes stop at mine.
“…General Madison has asked that I be lenient with you on this however, I run a tight ship. Any soldier who has trouble following orders will find themselves a little short of being ejected into vacuum. Are we clear on this?”
We all acknowledge with a quick “yesir” and he continues. “…The Deepcore pilot on your ship will be removed and your MAV’s will be resupplied and repaired. However, you are to board a shuttle and get planet-side for debriefing and some good R and R. I’d say you almost deserve it.”
His squared jaws become squarer as his broad mouth cracks a slanted smile. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a more clinical and one sided conversation in all my life. Not even with the Battle Axe.
“Sir, if I may?” He seems a bit put off but allows me to speak “…We were ordered by General Madison to resupply, repair and await further orders…”
The man behind the desk looks menacingly at me “These, are, further, orders. As you know, Keden is now entirely under Deepcore control. Our forces should be arriving there in four days and with the Kedenian Government, this minor problem will be solved.”
“Permit me Sir…” I can tell that he’s fighting with himself now “…We’ve seen what our forces would be up against. You’ll need pilots who are experienced in dealing with this threa…”
“You are ordered to get planet side and stand down Captain. Now unless you’d rather spend your time in paradise, in a cell, I suggest we end this meeting here and now.”
I return his cold stare for a split second. “Yes Sir, thank you sir.” I stand and the rest of the guys follow, then issue the crispest salute I can muster and he nods his head in approval.
********
“That was bullshit!”
We’re walking through another corridor and toward the shuttle bay while the monstrous, blue planet below us fills the space through every window.
“Coming from you Bull…that’s saying something.”
We all laugh at Hound’s reply but the laughter is hollow and without substance. In fact, we haven’t really spoken to each other since Solace. I have got to let this go. Somewhere in the back of my head, I know that it makes no sense to lose what I have for what is gone.
We pass through the retractable corridor of a bridge that extends outward and away from Argyle, connecting the complex to our shuttle. Unlike Starships, planetary shuttles here don’t dock in-station.
As we enter the low ceilinged, cozy cabin of the shuttle, I remember sitting in tandem with Terri the first time to Rouna after my scuffle with Hound. We had both wanted window seats. I walk to where he would have been a little over eight years past and strap in. God, that’s not so long ago. The flight today would be just the four of us but back then, it was filled with young pilots ready for adventure. Terrier and I hadn’t met the rest of the team yet, in fact, we wouldn’t meet some of them until almost a year later.
I relax and settle into the formfitting, memory cell seat. The material shifts as it takes my shape and I look through the oval window next to me. Our view is now the white of the space station’s outer shell and the black of space beyond the edge of it.
Exhaling and letting my weight go, I take another look around. The Cabin is chilly, almost homey and soft lights add a nice ambiance to it. On the overhead Holo’s above and behind every seat, a counter counts down to launch…fifteen minutes to go.
“Good day Iron Five” The thought of us being five only a few hours ago and only four now stings me. “…I am Captain Benn, along with Co-pilot Galeno, and we’ll be planet-side in forty five minutes. The weather at Callican is a balmy twenty seven degrees with crisp chips, cool breezes, pissed off generals and hot chicks. Strap in and enjoy the flight.”
The com goes silent. I see that the cabin announcement hasn’t changed much. If anything…I’d say that it’s gotten a bit cleaner since my last visit. The room is weirdly quiet save for two seatbelts being clipped into place. We are all lost in our own thoughts. On another day, in another time, this trip would have been exciting and just what the doctor had ordered. But today…there are no words to describe what we all feel. I see Terri’s face again. He’s concentrating on landing us on Solace Five while I leave the cockpit to go strap into my MAV, never to see him again. I see Mirana telling me not to let the Deepcore fleet escape before going into her office. I hear her voice “Come back in one piece…”
There is a thud and the cabin shudders as we undock from the space station. The ship drifts backward for a short while. Everything shakes a bit more from the pilot’s slow, deliberate magnetic interactions with Argyle and then we begin a flat spin, until the planet is ahead and below us and the Giant Spaceport drifts behind.
More small vibrations ripple through as the four thrusters behind us begin their push. What will become of us now? How will our actions regarding our prisoner affect the future of Iron Five? Iron Four…I wish I could scream right now. What kind of soldier am I? For God’s sake, how many times have I seen death? Too many to count and yet here I am, like a child who has lost his brother.
Through my window, the black of space fills every corner as Argyle disappears. I am pressed into my seat but comfortably and while we rapidly accelerate, Rouna’s atmosphere begins to embrace us.
The blue planet slowly changes color, from rich blue, to almost white, to orange and now red as we burn through the sky at more than ten times the speed of sound, but barely feel it. The ship’s rhythmic hum is almost soothing and I fix my eyes out and below my window. Red to light-red to light-blue to dazzling blue, we enter Rouna’s airspace.
Bright white clouds drifting lazily, take shape and within minutes of entry, we pass through a few and leave them above and behind. The shuttle’s low rumble is all I hear and my memories of a time when the world made sense and every problem was solved by a Mom or a Dad are all I have; memories of traveling by aircraft to countries unknown on vacations never to be forgotten; of spaceports and holidays on moons with views of deep space with my friend…my brother…
The Spacecraft tilts on my side and Callican reveals itself in the early morning sunlight. I turn to the rest of the guys and they all look my way. There is still nothing to say so I return to my window.
Callican’s first spire appears now that we’re a few thousand feet above the tropic blue and I remember the first time learning of them.
“Picture this” my teacher had said “…the planet Rouna is like a ball of tightly wound fiber. These fibers, made up of rock and metal break free of each other over time, millions of years, and give the planet, land, in the form of towering, straw-like landmasses.”
I remember her saying this while standing in front of the class wearing a short skirt and high heels. I don’t remember what else she was wearing, as a matter of fact, most of the class as ten year old boys, nearly missed the whole lesson because of that red and white skirt however, the image of what our teacher had used for a visual is still clear. In her hand was a ball of straw and after making a few cuts across it, pieces of its fibers stuck out at odd angles. I remember her short skirt again but the com jolts me from my reverie. “Iron Five…welcome to Rouna.”
We are now only six hundred feet above the ocean and the view outside my window is marvelous. Over thirty spires, some separated by a few miles and others, close enough to each other to almost touch, jut out of the water and angle up and out; all in the same direction.
The land at its highest point, according to my Digital eyes, hangs around five hundred feet above sea level which puts us only a hundred above the nearest one. The information, appearing before me in visible colors that adjusts to the light, also tells me that the spire off my side of the shuttle is about a half mile away. Where it and the sea connects is a broad, white-sand crescent beach with a road linking it to the rest of the land mass, and hover and Air vehicles move along their individual paths, adding to the strange serenity.
I take a deep breath. The shuttle has slowed considerably…seventy knots and as the clear blue waters move smoothly below and the tip of the spire is much closer now. On its edge, the Spire’s highest elevation, a glimmering city stands like a crystal mountain. The mixtures of light-blue, white and silvery glass buildings make it blend into its surroundings. But the shuttle tilts again, replacing the city with the sea and we begin a gentle turn toward our destination.
“It’s been so long.”
I turn to Akita as his voice comes to me. It’s good to hear.
“Yeah, it has…” Pitbull jumps in now “What do we do now Alpha? I know when they’re lying. Once we set foot on Rouna, we’re grounded.”
It’s as though they were just waiting for someone to break the ice. The thought of being grounded had indeed crossed my mind.
“We’ll figure something out. We just need to get some rest and then get together with fresh minds on this.”
“Hey Alpha…” Hound now “…let’s cut the crap. We’ve got to get off Rouna, get to our ship, get out of this system and back to Keden. It’s as simple as that. So the first order of business is…how do we get off Rouna?”
Silence
I think hard but come up with nothing “Rouna is not just an ordinary world where we can just come and go. It’s one of the most secured locations in the galaxy, bested only by Earth.”
“I know a way…”
We all turn to Akita now
“…I know someone who might be able to help us.”
“Who do you know on Rouna?”
“I girl I met a few years ago when I was stationed here, not long before I met you. We had a thing for a while but then…well you know…it didn’t work out.”
“…Should have known that it’d be one of your trophies.”
“…No, not a trophy. She was the real deal, but time and distance and…you know…?”
“No, we don’t know…” Hound smiles.
“…Seriously guys, she’s heavy into the underground, the best mechanic you’ll find and a damned wicked pilot to boot…”
“…Pilot? I must admit, I’m curious now.”
“Yeah, she was a test pilot for the Galactic nine…”
This is interesting. The Galactic nine is a Syndicate made up of nine major, Corporations from nine different Solar Systems. Their pilots are some of the best, Galaxy-wide, and the Air and Spacecraft of the Galactic Nine Syndicate, rival even the technologies from Earth. They are supposedly one of the very few organizations outside of direct Earthfront control.
“So how’s she gonna help us get off this world?”
“I’m not sure Alpha, but if there’s a way off this planet, she’ll know it.”