November 12, 2111

  James Stone

  The color was gone from the world. My vision was distorted, and I barely made out a room. I was in a corner, on the outskirts of an assembly. At the center was a square table that floated off the decorated floor. Water trickled out of a miniature nozzle in the center of the table and flowed off each of the four sides. Bright lights ignited the room with beauty, floating in a black, endless ceiling that could only be described as stars. The technology was undoubtedly from the Devisors.

  I tried to move my muscles; nothing. It was as if they were locked in place. My body was a stone statue; my head and eyes were the only thing I could move.

  Out from an archway, at the far end of the tunnel, came a group of four individuals. But these beings didn’t seem real. They were shadows of their former selves. I couldn’t distinguish any facial features because they were all absent. Their bodies seemed to glow with a bright white light, and their voices were distant. I couldn’t make out words. From their backs extended something I couldn’t distinguish. Like everything else, they were distorted and nothing more than obscurities.

  They gathered around the table, and I could suddenly hear them.

  “The situation at hand is most unfortunate,” one of the four said. “How must we survive?”

  “Most of us won’t,” came another’s bleak response.

  “But we have to do something.”

  “As we speak, our species withers away under the power of the enemy.”

  “If we are to save the galaxy, we must unlock them,” a third added.

  “Those abominations are our mortal enemies. The risks are great. You know what happens if we do: War. All remaining life… everything could be destroyed in the conflict.”

  The room went silent, and the entities gazed at each other. Finally, the silence was broken as the entity at the head of the table spoke with a voice that created trembles in the air.

  “This situation is not pleasant in the least, but it must be done. If we don’t act now, all life will die. All of us who remain alive will hide in our safest location - one of the few places that can survive the conflict. Once our foes are annihilated, we will rebuild.”

  “Your Grace?”

  “My decision is final. Go inform the rest.”

  All the beings except the leader left the gathering room. I stared at the being and tried to make sense of anything that had just been spoken, but nothing made a lick of sense. Who are these beings? What are they fighting and dying to? All these questions danced over and over in my head.

  “You!”

  The entity’s booming voice caught me off guard. The humanoid being of glowing light walked toward me, then stopped right in front of me, as if it could see me.

  “Inheritor of this galaxy. Remember this: In the beginning, life stood two; light created what darkness destroyed until one gained the favor over the other. The Prism of Life, judge and creator, casts a dark shadow, a beacon of life; but only one, from a cast of souls empowered, can unlock the gates to ultimate power. The galaxy’s fate rests in your hands now.”

  As those words rang through my ears, a sudden, blinding light blasted me back into the cave. I wiped at my eyes as they readjusted, then looked around to see Frost and Brad pulling themselves up.

  Frost heaved, breathless. “Did you all see that shivf?!”

  “Hell yeah!” I responded and saw Brad nod.

  “Wha-what? Are we going crazy?”

  Brad shrugged off the question as if he didn’t care, but I was still in shock from what had happened. The feeling could only be described as if your mind had been stretched like a Slinky and the experience was engrained in my memory.

  “In the beginning, life stood two; light created what darkness destroyed until one gained the favor over the other. The Prism of Life, judge and creator, casts a dark shadow, a beacon of life; but only one, from a cast of souls empowered, can unlock the gates to ultimate power,” I repeated the words which stuck with me the most. As I spoke those words, something lit in my head, and it felt familiar, as if the words belonged there.

  “I need time… time just to let the memory rest,” Frost admitted.

  “I agree. This isn’t something we fiddle with and mold into something more than it should be. We let that memory sit in our heads until it begins to make sense.”

  “Yo, boneheadz, we got placez tah be.”

  Brad pointed down a pitch-black cave system. The door that had previously blocked us off from this was now gone, as if it had never been there.

  “Come on, then,” I said, leading the way

  After hours of trekking, we were still in the darkness, with only our brightstone lights to navigate the way. We’d already passed a few alternate routes and at that point had no idea where we were headed. Our cyberwatches couldn’t find our location, and we heard only static every time we tried to make contact with the rest of our unit.

  Ahead, the tunnel grew narrower. From above the smooth cave ceiling, the sound of rushing water crafted an eerie atmosphere. As I continued down the tunnel, the walls closed in. Soon, I was crouching - and even crawling - as the cold surface of the cave walls brushed against me. I gazed back to see if Brad and Frost were still with me; they were.

  “This is just clowning now,” Frost complained. “Are you sure we are going the right way?”

  “I haven’t been sure since the second we began walking, Frost,” I retorted. Although, doubts started to rise in my head. “What if we can’t find our way out?” I thought for a moment before tossing that negativity out of my mind.

  “In that case, this path might just be a dead mission, uzzo,” Frost mumbled, with a rising sense of defeat in his words.

  “Not yet. The path still goes on.”

  Frost sighed in annoyance.

  “Hope y’all boneheadz ain’t claustrophobic,” Brad snickered.

  The tunnel wound upward, narrowing and then widening, turning first in one direction, then another. A puddle of moonlight lit the floor ahead of me. As I passed through it, I glanced up and saw a narrow gap above me, too high and small to climb through. Suddenly, the tunnel narrowed and began to slope downward. I felt like the tunnels were just screwing with my mind now.

  The slope continued downward. As my light shined ahead, I halted at the sight in front of me. The tunnel ahead split.

  “We got another decision on our hands. Right or left?” I called back to my allies.

  “Right,” both Brad and Frost grunted simultaneously.

  My mind drift away from their response to a faint but still present aroma. I could smell fresh water out of the left tunnel. Something pulled me in, so I followed.

  “James?” Frost questioned.

  “I’m following the all-natural gut feeling.”

  In less than a minute, hope flooded back into my body as I saw light. Soon, the tunnel brightened and opened into a large cave. The rocky walls were lit by moonlight filtering through a tiny hole in the roof, and the floor was smooth, rippled stone. Most amazing of all, a river wound across the floor and flowed away into a low, broad tunnel, disappearing into an engulfing darkness.

  I stood up and powered off my brightstone light. In astonishment, I stared at a stone mantel positioned over the flowing stream. On top of it was a triangular artifact covered in symbols - almost like the one Steion took when he captured Landis in the ghost town. However, this one had three lines converging from each of the three triangle edges to the center, clearly different than the other two I’d seen. This must be why the other warlords were here; they wanted this to add to the two they already had.

  I dashed across the cave and pulled it from its mantel. It was small enough to put in one of my pockets, so I stuffed it in.

  Frost joined me. “Yo! We need to let command know what we found as soon as we can make contact.”

  “Damn straight.” I nodded.

  “N’ I might’ve da way out.”

  Brad pushed over a boulder and revealed another tunnel. He was the first in, and we followed.

  What was inside shocked us. A massive machine, more advanced than I’d ever seen, stemmed from the floor and into the ceiling. Floating disks spun around it, and a dark, black ball rotated behind crystal glass. Weirdly enough, gooey tentacles would pop out of the black ball before disappearing inside again.

  This was of no interest to Brad, though. Instead, he was studying a rock-carved pedestal at the back of the room. As I walked closer to it, I realized why he wasn’t looking at the rock. He stared at something strange carved into the pedestal top: A pad. Brad then placed the palm of his hand on it, and a sudden light activated.

  Crash!

  The door slid shut and locked us inside. A second later, drops of water rained down, spattering down into the room.

  “Brad, what did you do?” Frost gasped. Brad shrugged in response.

  Pop!

  A small trap hole opened in the floor behind the pedestal. Faster and faster, water poured into the room, emptying into the trap hole. Alarms buzzed in my brain, and my gut screamed at me to leave.

  “We need to get pacing. This place will flood and drown us if we don’t make like cowards and bail!”

  I didn’t give them any time to respond and hopped down into the trap hole. After a short slide, I landed feet first into a series of more underground tunnels. Brad and Frost were behind me. I gazed at the series of choices; only one called to me. I shot onward, making sure my allies could keep up.

  Moving faster now, I bumped into the sides of the tunnel more often in my desperation to find a way out. Frost and Brad skidded as they followed me around a sharp bend. The tunnel floor was becoming more slippery as the rock floor grew wetter and wetter. Water dripped faster through a series of thin holes lining the ceiling as we ran through random tunnels.

  I stumbled to a halt. The tunnel had stopped at a smooth gray wall. Quickly, I spun around and raced past my tripping allies.

  “Brad, you bum! Look what you got us into!” Frost sneered as he regained his balance.

  “Shut up a second. This is not even close to a time to fight!” I hollered between breaths. I was struggling to keep my terror under control. “Frost, freeze as many of these holes as you can. We need to buy all the time your powers will allow us.”

  As we powered on through the water, he nodded and tried to blast waves of ice at some of the holes. I raced away, veering down an opening in the side of the tunnel. They skittered over the floor as they tried to keep pace with me. The tunnel dipped sharply. Water was now at our knees, but still more of it came rushing down the passage, washing further up our bodies.

  As the tunnels continued flooding, I swerved through a new opening. It was narrower than the previous tunnels, but it led upward. A hole let in a glimmer of light, but it was too far up to climb out. Two tunnels were ahead. One sloped down sharply in front of me and disappeared into water so deep, it lapped against the roof. The other was straight, so I ran down that one.

  Blood pounded in my ears. Unbridled terror pulsed from Frost’s pounding heart, but Brad was as calm as the breeze. The lucky punk didn’t feel fear.

  Suddenly, I heard a roaring. Wind surged behind me, sending shivers down my back. I glanced back over my shoulder and saw a wave skidding toward us, splashing around the walls and roof.

  “Shivf!” I cursed “Hurry!”

  We were running for our lives. Frost was blasting as much ice at the flowing water as he could to try to slow it down, but it hardly did anything to the rapids. I could see his eyes shining with terror.

  I turned back and saw a faint light under a narrow path. I slid through it and stumbled back into the same cave where we’d found the artifact. Brad and Frost were right behind me, and so was the rapids. The flood of water burst through the hole.

  “Jump into the river!”

  Frost pointed to the stream in the center of the cave - the one that led into darkness. Before I had a chance to make up my own mind, he hurled himself into the rushing torrent, followed by me and Brad. The water lifted us instantly, swallowing my feet, belly, and finally engulfing all of me so I was tossed and swirled by cold, clutching waves. Water filled my ears, eyes, and mouth as I struggled in the darkness. Air! I was lifted to the surface of the stream for a quick breath before being tugged under again.

  The current dragged me under, and I was helpless in the tumbling, black water. The river dragged me further and further into the unknown, and the current constantly fought for my demise. After many minutes of being completely submerged, my lungs begged for air. I fought the urge to suck in water and kept my mouth firmly clamped shut, knowing my body could take more before giving in. Rocks scraped my ass, and I finally felt air touch my face. I drew a quick breath before the river dragged me down once more.

  The flood carried me further. I felt stone graze my battered torso as the water tossed me against the sides of the tunnel. The roaring of river grew louder to the point where I thought my ears might bleed. Then peace.

  The current let me go, and the noise died away. I opened my eyes and strained to see through the dark water. Was that light? Bright dots sparkled in the distance; it was the stars shining through the surface of the water. But I couldn’t swim up yet. I swerved around, looking for Brad and Frost. There! I saw Brad sinking in his power armor. He kicked his feet and paddled for the surface, but the armor was too heavy for him to swim up.

  Using the skills I’d learned in training, I powered through the water; deeper, deeper. Reaching Brad, I grabbed his hand and kicked for the surface; nothing. His armor was too heavy, and I couldn’t get us up.

  Suddenly, below us a block of ice formed and shot for the surface, carrying us with it. Within a minute, we burst through the surface of the lake. I was startled by the chill of the wind as it swept my face and filled my nose and ears. I gasped as I let in as much air as my lungs would allow. Brad was hunched over. Unlike me, he had an oxygen supply in that suit of his; otherwise, he may not have made it.

  Splash!

  Frost shot out of the water and climbed onto the ice block. He was gasping for air far harder than I was. Exhausted and drained of energy, we all lay down as the sun began to rise in the sky.

  I checked the time; it read, “10:52 ARW military time.”

  Frost sat up, still panting, and popped an energy pill into his mouth. “Either of you uzzos want one? Today’s going to be a long day. We will need all the edge we can get.”

  “My body will be fine.” I shook away my exhaustion.

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  Brad shook his head. “Nah. I’m gud.”

  Frost shrugged and stared ahead. “Looks like we will reach the city within a few hours at our drift speed.”

  “In the meantime, I’m going to see where our unit is.” Using my cyberwatch, I contacted Valiic.

  Ring, ring, ring. Answer!

  “Valiic reporting.”

  “Valiic! Damn, is your voice good to hear. We got lost in a tunnel system and couldn’t make contact.”

  “So, that’s what the issue was. When we couldn’t contact any of you, we began to fear the worst…. almost even reporting to command.”

  “Hey, don’t count my freckled ass out yet.”

  “I have always had faith you would come through,” Valiic said with a chuckle.

  “Did you and the others escape the borjers?”

  “All is well. It was a fight, I tell you. But in the end, we pushed through to the lake and tossed out the waterdrills to take us to the city. Those beasts didn’t chase us after that. Here, let me send over our location to your cyberwatch.”

  “Got it.” I looked at the beacon. They were in a small building at the edge of the city - not too far from our location.

  “We set up a temporary base of operations after we made it to the city’s outskirts. A kind family allowed us shelter.”

  “Extend my thanks to them. Don’t explore too far from the base until we arrive. We are only a hop, skip, and leap away, so we’ll be there in a few hours.”

  “Roger that.” Valiic hung up.

  Frost peeked over. “That is definitely great to hear that everyone made it… so far.”

  “Why yah gotta say shit like dat, Iceberg?” Brad hissed.

  “Hey, uzzo. I was just joking. Chill.”

  Brad responded with an annoyed click of his tongue before giving Frost the cold shoulder.

  Frost looked at me and shrugged. “What? I was just playing.”

  “It seems Brad doesn’t take to jinxes. Personally, I don’t believe in them.”

  “Same.” Frost sat back against the ice with his hands behind his head and his drenched fedora on his chest. Brad remained in his spot and held his beloved shotgun over his lap. His gaze was lost to the cityscape.

  “You don’t get cold lying on the ice like that?” I asked.

  “Uzzo. I’m an ice man. What do you think?”

  “I thought not.”

  “I take it you can take more than most though.”

  “Just a tough, durable body. Don’t get cold as fast as normal humans.” I chuckled.

  “I hear that. Hah, God gave us a gift.” Frost smiled. “One that so few have.”

  “Do you really believe that?”

  Frost chuckled. “Kalvin always tried to explain my ability was rooted in science, but he could never get past the 2nd Big Bang. So yeah, in short, I do. What about you? Where do you think they come from?”

  “I never saw the worth in finding out. I just try to use my abilities to help win the war.”

  “So, you never wondered?”

  “Wondering where my powers came from is what led Kalvin to throw me into his torture lab!” I snapped, then took a breath. “Listen… sorry for the outburst. He took me from my mother when I was twelve, and--” I bit at my lip and half-grinned. “I just… it was the worst story-point in my life. I don’t really talk about my past much. Every time I bring it up, I, er… I almost feel like it was all a distant nightmare… one I want to forget.”

  “I know what you mean.”

  “You do?”

  “You see, Kalvin isn’t just a mentor to me. He--” Frost paused for a moment.

  “He what?”

  “The uzzo saved me.”

  “From what?” Hearing this almost made me wish I saw Kalvin this way.

  “Myself.” Frost pushed himself up off the ice and was now sitting upright. “Most people don’t understand the stress of always being looked up to. In school, I was always the first choice in rec-class; played for the basketball and football team and was practically the star in both. People always wanted to be me, but I… nah, I didn’t want to be me. Every time, every screw-up, in a game was placed on my shoulders. As the star of the team, I was often the one who carried our weight. The stress was… was too much for Big Daddy.” Frost stopped speaking and started to materialize ice in his hand. He began to play around and fiddle with it uncomfortably.

  “What did you do?”

  He played with his ice for a long moment before answering. “Drugs.”

  “Drugs?”

  “As I said, I was stressed all the time. My friends offered it as a release. God, I should’ve listened to the stories. Those drugs… they screwed me up. Who knows what I could have achieved if I had just stayed off them?”

  “Well, look at you now. Isn’t this war worth sidelining a few dreams?”

  “That’s easy for you to say when your only aspiration was to fight in this war!” Frost snapped. I was baffled and confused. How did he know that about me? Frost took a breath. “I’m sorry. Kalvin told me things about you sometimes. Hah, come to think of it, he always had this… this pride in his voice when he spoke about you. I found myself jealous sometimes.”

  Hearing that Kalvin told others about my past made my blood steam up a bit; so, I decided to push the conversation away from my past. “If you didn’t want to fight in this war, what did you want to do?”

  “Umm, it would have to be building… I think.”

  “So what? Carpentry?”

  Frost looked down and fiddled with his ice again. He twitched and looked uncomfortable. “More like artwork. See, I, uh… I had this class in middle school. It was some optional tech class; woodworking, maybe. I choose it because it was a screw-off class - an easy pass for Big Daddy. I came in the first day and was surprised… the teacher… he was like some old cop or something like that before he got his legs injured. The first day of class, he took an old, rusty bucket and threw in a bunch of crumbled-up papers. He told each of us to pick one, and we formed a line, each pulling out a paper. When I uncrumbled mine, it said jewelry box. Then he revealed that whatever was written on our paper was the project we had to build by the end of the semester. Your boy thought he had won the lottery! While others got complex shivf like chairs, stools, and desks, I only had to build a simple-ass jewelry box. I figured I could wrap up this project in a couple days flat, then cut classes for the rest of the semester to light up with my uzzos. You know, because I was on drugs at this time. My end product definitely sucked ass cheeks, but the shivf worked for, uh… for putting jewelry in and whatnot. So the following class, I showed my project to my teacher for grading. He looked at it and asked, Is that the best you can build? At first, I didn’t really think much of it and just accepted the grade so I could go get lifted with my boys. It wasn’t till I was sitting there, high on drugs, that I came back to what he had said. I don’t know. Maybe it was the way my teacher phrased his words. He wasn’t exactly saying my product was ass-water, he was more just… just asking me if I honestly put in my best effort. It made me want to do better.” Frost paused and smiled like a child at an ice cream store.

  “So what did you end up doing with the small beauty?” I asked him.

  “I started that shivf over from scratch. I made another and another. I just kept on giving it more than one hundred percent. By the end of the semester, like product number seven or eight, I had built this master-craft of a thing. You, uh, hah… God, you should’ve seen that boy… whoo hoo. I mean, I built it out of mahogany, and that shivf wasn’t cheap, baby. I fitted the girl with pegs, no screws, and I sanded it for days until it was as smooth as silk. Then I rubbed all the wood with polyurethane and stained it until it was rich with a crisp, dark-red tint. That beauty even smelled fancy; the kind of smell that fills a room with character. It was… perfect.” Frost stuck his eyes to his hands. He didn’t move for a minute.

  “What happened to the chest?”

  His eyes began to sparkle with some tears. “I would love to say I gave it to my mother. Her birthday was coming up, and my dad… my dad left when I was a newborn. It was just us two. But the truth is… the truth is I traded it to a dealer for a few ounces of lift - a damn drug.”

  The guilt radiated off Frost. I pondered his story and realized I’d once felt that same level of guilt.

  “Let me tell you a story worth its two cents. Like you, I struggled with guilt. When my former captain was captured, I blamed myself. Then someone once told me the best way for me to rid myself of the guilt was to correct my mistake, and hell… I put every drop of sweat and every ounce of elbow grease I had into trying to get my captain back. Even though I failed, I soon found myself relieved of the guilt. Sure, her death still haunts me to this day, but it isn’t because of guilt. Simply put, whatever is causing you to feel your share of guilt needs a remedy. You just have to put in your maximum effort to fix it. Even if you fail, you’ll find yourself feeling better knowing you put your soul into fixing it.”

  Without even really acknowledging me or my words, Frost, after a bit of time, responded, “Yeah… maybe.”

  I wasn’t even sure if he’d even taken in my advice. Whether he did or didn’t, each of us just sat in peace and thought our own thoughts for the remaining time before reaching the rock shore.

  The mid-day sun was beating down on my back, and the ice had shrunk to half its size by this point. That was now of no concern, though, since we’d reached the shore. The rock shore was steep and required our coordinated efforts to climb up. Once we did, we were welcomed by the beautiful cityscape. Towers of buildings nearly hugged one another. The streets were slender, with classy decorations and natural beauty, covered with blowing fans, made for a summer stroll. Tubes and skyways connected many buildings to one another. This place was a paradise community for wealthy individuals.

  I gazed at Valiic’s beacon on my cyberwatch. “Come on. They aren’t far.”

  I led the way into the streets. From what I’d heard about this city, it was newly built. So, I wasn’t surprised to see very few civilians roaming the patio-streets. Nearly all the civilians I did see were of the jenjarian species - a species neutral in this war. A sick feeling brewed in my stomach, knowing our war might affect yet another species that wanted nothing to do with it.

  When we reached the household marked on the location, I was surprised to see how much smaller this place was than the rest. It was semi-detached from the rest of the skyscrapers and had a freehold-like design. We walked into the yard full of designer plants and statutes. At the door, we were welcomed by Valiic and a jenjarian man. He was rather tiny for his species, coming up only to my gut.

  “Welcome,” the amiable jenjarian greeted us. “I am the mayor of this city, and this is my residence.”

  He gestured us in the door, and we followed. Inside, we were welcomed into a finely decorated living space with the delightful smell of a tropical bug-jungle found only on the home planet of the jenjarian species. Lining the walls were fancy bug decorations and a multivision paint job that changed to a new, dark color every few seconds - a unique aesthetic design. At the center of the room, the rest of my squad was gathered and sitting on two cultural sofas, catching the latest grabel game on a duel-sided holographic television.

  “Through that hall in the corner are two guest rooms I have loaned to your unit.” I followed the mayor’s hand and made a note of them.

  “This is a low-key, nice place.” Frost put on a charming, friendly smile as he shook the mayor’s hand - a smile he must have borrowed from Kalvin’s collect. “My friends call me Frost.”

  “A real visual eye-soother,” I agreed. “I’m James Stone, and on my six is Brad Swift.”

  The mayor smiled. “Thank you. This place, along with our city, took a lot of time to build. In fact, this is the first city built by jenjarians outside our home world. So, you can imagine why we would like this city to remain standing through this war.”

  “Believe it or not, I can imagine,” I responded. “During my time in this war, I’ve seen many cities like yours left in ruin. I see the pain in citizens’ eyes as their homes become collateral damage. Each of my squad mates will second that.”

  His face filled with fear - the same fear I saw painted on so many faces. “Is our city next?” His question was so to-the-point that it caught me off-guard.

  I sighed. “I can’t lie to you, it might be. Notwithstanding that, though, if you give your support to the ARW, I can promise they will do their best to repay and rebuild whatever your species may lose.”

  “Do they tell you to say that? Because the Wersillian Legion promised the same thing,” he replied. In all honesty, the ARW does want us to bring in supporters whenever possible. However, I couldn’t tell him that.

  Frost jumped in. “Sir, you’re scared. I can see that. But the Wersillian Legion will only bully its supporters into their ideals. At the end of this war, if they come out on top, they will rule the galaxy using fear and discipline as methods to keep everyone in line. The ARW offers spots in its senate - equal representation! We believe in freedom, individualism, self-expression, and that is far more than the Wersillian Legion will ever allow.”

  “Right. You’re right. But I’m not the one who can make that decision,” the mayor informed us.

  “But you can show your support in joining the ARW. Your actions may start the foundation for your species’ future in supporting the ARW.”

  “I’ll see what I can do. In the meantime, feel free to make this your home until your departure.”

  “Thanks, sir.” Frost shook his hand.

  When the mayor had left earshot, I remarked, “Did Kalvin teach you that?”

  “What?” he responded, confused.

  “The whole silver-tongue act?”

  “Oh, no. He always said I had a big brain on me and just told me to use it.”

  I shrugged. “It was impressive nonetheless.”

  I sat down to reunite with our unit. Frost and I jumped into their conversations and activities.

  ?????

  Alone inside one of the guest rooms, I waited. The room was just as delicately designed as the rest of the house, with soothing decorations and furniture to aid in destressing one’s mind. Nighttime was a few hours away, and after a long two days without much sleep, I was ready to rest. However, I would have to wait. The flashing red light on my cyberwatch indicated another meeting was about to commence. I activated my hologram to project the faces of my allies.

  Dancing-Sky went straight to business. “Captain Stone, it is nice to see you again. I’ve noticed you are ahead of schedule and already in the city.”

  “Situations pushed us away from the mountains.”

  Captain Wild-Heart jumped in. “So, we can expect your ambush on the enemy by tomorrow?”

  “By midday, expect my squad to initiate an attack from the enemy’s flank.”

  “That is the best news I’ve heard today. Our war machines did jack-shivf to these furry beasts! They set up a turret that literally created small quakes around the bullets! It ripped the war machines to pieces, and we haven’t been able to make any ground on the bridge!”

  “Keep up the efforts, Captain Wild-Heart,” Dancing-Sky commanded. “Captain Yundor. When can we expect your flank maneuver?”

  “Tonight. My infiltrators are gearing up as we speak to hit during the shadows of night. I have already set up a recon beacon marking the location near the enemy’s ship,” he explained.

  “Good. Captain Waseem, how far are your legionnaires from the city?” Dancing-Sky asked.

  We awaited a response; nothing. I checked the chat and noticed his comm was there. So, why wasn’t he responding? Scrolling over, I saw his face. The feed was paused. And strangely, he looked almost as if he was posed in position and his stare was blank. Taking in a finer look, I swore up and down I could see a few tiny drops of blood on his check.

  “Waseem!” she yelled.

  After a few more seconds of no responses, what happened next nearly made me jump off the chair I was sitting on. A thunderous explosion blasted from Waseem’s comm, then nothing. It had disconnected.

  “What the hell was that?” was more or less each of our responses over the chat.

  There was a moment before Dancing-Sky responded, “Bad news! I sent a locator signal to all of the 0920 Legionnaires’ cyberwatches. Nothing was returned!”

  “Are you saying they’re dead?” Captain Yundor’s words hit us like a hammer.

  “I’m saying I don’t know. Maybe the borjers got them. But, whatever happened to them, we can only pray for the best. Meanwhile, we go on with the mission as intended. James will still ambush, Yundor will still flank, and Wild-Heart will still hold our foes’ attention. Now, before we finish this meeting, does anyone else have anything to report?”

  I took this chance to lift their spirits and inform them of the good news. “I am in possession of another artifact. This must be the whole reason the Wersillian Legion is here… at this city. They want this, and now it’s firmly cuddled in my pocket.”

  The responses from Wild-Heart and Yundor were glorious cheers and congratulations. However, Dancing-Sky’s next commands smacked the smile right off my face. “In that case, you and your squad are ordered to stay put.”

  The cheering stopped. “What?” was the only response I could muster.

  “Since the Wersillian Legion is after that artifact, we need to make sure they don’t get it… by any means. So, I’m ordering you to stay concealed. The enemies don’t even know your unit is on Garatopia. Now we keep it that way. Roger?”

  “But ma’am? How can I just sit back and let the other captains fight these behemoths without me? Besides, the warlords still are in possession of an artifact of their own.”

  “You have your orders! When my star cruiser, the Whispering Dragon, enters the atmosphere, we will be expecting to extract your squad with the artifact in hand. Roger?” This was the most stern I’d ever heard Dancing-Sky.

  Begrudgingly, I responded, “Will do.”

  “This meeting is at an end.”

  Just like that, the chat was closed and I was left feeling useless and defeated. With every fiber of my being, I wanted to help my allies in the fight. I mean, for heaven’s sake, they were up against two warlords and a small unit of korkyras! Fighting against that would be like wrestling a herd of bison upstream.

  After a bit of contemplating what I could do, I decided to relay the news to my unit. I entered the living quarters to see everyone chatting.

  When Valiic saw me, he quickly spoke up. “What’s the situation look like?”

  I took a seat, as well as a massive breath, before repeating each captain’s next move, along with the Waseem mystery. That news left them in shock as they shifted uncomfortably in their seats. They awaited the rest.

  “But that’s just scratching the beard. Dancing-Sky wants us to sit on our asses while the other two captains are left to fight on their own.”

  “What? Why in the world would she put us on the sideline?” Frost was the first to speak.

  “Yeah! How did that crazy idea even enter her head?” Shadow-Walker exclaimed.

  I placed my hand up, signaling the others to listen. I pulled out the artifact from my pocket. “After I found this, we had our answer as to why the Wersillian Legion was here. Although one of those warlords has another artifact, hah… and with that big, bright head of hers, Dancing-Sky figured our time would be better spent hiding and protecting this little thing.”

  “Well… damn.” Shadow-Walker shrugged. “That settles it, I guess.”

  “Wait, hold on! We can’t just ignore the other artifact!” Frost ranted. “I mean, what kind of clowning is going on in that mind of hers? Look! If the warlords escape this planet with the artifact they stole, they will have two. That is one more than us, and I don’t like that!”

  Valiic, still calm in his seat, spoke. “While I don’t agree with Frost’s exact reasoning, I do believe it would be dishonorable to leave allies with no aid.”

  “What about our orders?!” Uslar flipped out. “Guys! I want to ask you all something. Are you all really considering disobeying orders again?”

  I smirked. “Technically, we completed the orders Sizar gave us. Remember the verdict from my trial?”

  “Honestly, we all know what we did. We went rogue and were lucky to get out without consequences. I, one hundred percent, do not want to disobey orders again!”

  “Of course you don’t, you goodie-two-shoes, you.” Shadow-Walker laughed in an attempt to lighten up Uslar.

  “Shut up, Shadow! This is serious!” Uslar snapped back.

  Valiic placed his hand on Uslar’s shoulder. “We all agree this is a delicate matter, Uslar.”

  “Uslar. Let’s just take a breath and put it to a vote,” I suggested.

  “No, no! No vote! Captain Landis wouldn’t have put it to a vote, and she wouldn’t even consider disobeying orders!”

  “Uslar, look at my face. I am not Captain Landis! I’m James Stone, and this is what we are doing!”

  “Yeah, you aren’t! Captain Landis was a far better captain than you!” Uslar’s words sent the room into an unbelievable silence as each of us stared at his boiling red face with our jaws dropped.

  Seconds later, the mayor came in with a tray full of snacks. “I brought yo--” Realizing the awkward situation, he slowly stepped out of sight with small, sneaky steps.

  Valiic was the first to break the silence. “Uslar, where is this coming from?”

  Uslar took his tone down a level, but his words were just as sharp. “Ever since James became captain, people have died. Malcolm, Vaalima, and Landis… dead! His sloppy decision to go after Landis led to others’ deaths. And remember, the reason Landis was captured was because of another stupid decision he made.” Uslar pointed at me. “James reacts with too much visceral emotion, and look at the results.”

  “You can’t put all of that on one man, uzzo,” Frost came to my defense.

  “If it weren’t for James, we would’ve all died on Delkeedo… much less have been able to kill a warlord beforehand,” Valiic reiterated.

  “And everyone is different in how they lead. No one way is perfect,” Frost added.

  “Honestly! Look at James.” Uslar pointed at me with even more fury. “You can see the guilt in his eyes. He knows what I’m saying is true.”

  He was right. His words were cutting deep, and my expression showed it. I was to blame for a lot of piss-poor misfortunes.

  “James--” Shadow-Walker tapped my shoulder. “Where is the fearless leader in that head of yours? I know he is in there.” His words snapped me back to reality.

  After releasing a breath full of stress, I finally stood up for my actions. “Uslar, you’re right. I’m not Landis and probably will never be the leader she was. Her death, along with many others, will live with me forever, and I accept that. I also accept that I am nowhere near perfect… nobody is. Hah, not even you and that ego of yours, Shadow. Now, let me tell you what I am. I’m a guy who will give his last breath fighting against the legion, for the ARW, and most importantly… for each and every one of you. Because you all are my family, and I would gladly give my life in place of yours. And every decision I make… I do it with everyone in mind. And right now, those soldiers - our brothers and sisters - are about to face a force much stronger than them. So tell me, are we going to let them?”

  Cheers erupted, and everyone except Uslar and Brad gave a resounding “No.” Over the cheers, I stood up and asked Uslar, “Are you in?”

  Each of us awaited his response. After studying each of our faces, he stood. “Fine. I’m in.”

  “Then let’s kick some ass!” I hoorayed.