Rebellion in the Shadows

I went to leave my room but someone was in the way. Kirtis was standing right outside my door about to knock.

“What the hell happened to you?” he asked when he saw my face.

“Like you don’t know!” I said, trying to push him aside.

“Whoa! I don’t know. Come here,” he pulled me back into my room.

“What the hell is going on?” he asked.

“Everything! Some crazy alarm, the rebellion comm sheet is down. Notawa is probably on her way to Master Guardian right now to tell him I have gone crazy.”

“Why did no one comm me?” he asked.

“Who cares why they didn’t comm you? We have to move Kirtis!”

“No.” He led me to the chair. “Sit.” When I was sitting, he went to my kitchen and grabbed a glass of water. “Here.” I took a drink before he said, “Talk.”

I told him everything. When I was done, he looked more than a little concerned.

“I knew something was up. Last time I spoke with Arwago, he was cryptic, and I haven’t heard from him in days,” he said. He took the water from me and drank a long gulp, his eyes moving together, calculating something in his head.

“What are we going to do?”

“Let me handle it. I can try to go to the other MP’s and see what is going on.”

“You think they will help you?” His nod was less sure than his words, but he was at least going to try.

“Stay here and don’t do anything.” He left and it was only seconds until I was pacing the room again. Getting more worked up than before. I sent two digi-comms to Kirtis and another to Arwago, neither answered.

“That’s it!” I said aloud and left the room. My father was somewhere in the building and I was going to find him. Even if I had to go through Master Guardian himself. Every single Academy trainee stared at me as I passed them. They were probably confused as to why I wasn’t wearing my uniform jacket or why I looked ready to kill someone. I went straight to Master Gaurdian’s office.

My fist pounded on the blank wall. I knew this was it, the little room Notawa was talking about, the office where everything happened.

“Let me in, you son of a bitch!” My yells went unanswered but the noise was attracting a large crowd. Zarleque pushed to the front, worry etched in the creases of his eyebrows.

“Talaya? You need help?” he asked, with a touch to my shoulder.

I snapped around. “Don’t you dare.” My glare made him step back, but when I saw the look of concern on his face, I lost some of the venom in my voice. “This doesn’t involve you.”

“Maybe I should get Notawa for you?” I ignored his words and watched as he urged everyone else to leave the hall until I was left alone.

When I turned back around, the wall had disappeared. I stomped into the room still determined to get the answers Sidarc owed me.

He was standing near the desk. A small light was floating to the side of him and casting a sinister glow onto his face.

“Ah, Talaya, I thought you might be coming by. Please have a seat,” he said. I clenched my fists.

“I’m not sitting down until I get answers! You can’t—” He pressed a button on his desk. I was frozen in place, almost as if I had been encased in cement, exaclty like the chair on my first day.

“Let me stop you there, you seem to be under the impression that you have any control in this meeting, I can assure you that you do not. Now please. Sit. Down.” The electrical current pulled me from where I stood. It was like a lasso around my waist that forced me to the chair on the other side of the room.

This was a mistake.

“You think that you know what’s going on, that you know how I operate and that it’s ‘wrong.’ Well let me tell you that you know nothing. You have no idea how hard this job is.” The light followed him from the desk over to the chair. It cast a deep shadow across his face. Up close, there was a new, deep cut that ran from his hairline all the way down to his chin.

“You think you can steal from me and get away with it? You think that this tiny group of rebels will what? Take over the Flying Force?” He laughed, a deep guttural sound that made my skin come alive in goosebumps.

“Yes. Of course, I know all about Arwago and Tesser. You can thank Arwago for this,” he said, pointing to the cut on his face.

“I plan on it. I would love to give him some sort of award for it,” I said.

“Don’t worry he will pay for it,” He clenched his fist then leaned over to me. His dark brown eyes found mine. With a smile he said, “I am going to find him. I am going to hurt him, and I am going to like it. Just like your father.”

“What did you do?” I asked my voice almost failing me.

“He was pathetic, crying out for you, like a child. So weak.” His eyes were open too wide, the outsides of them yellow and bloodshot. There was nothing I could say.

“I know everything Talaya. Every night when you crawl into bed, I am watching. I see that dumb animal drink from your water glass when you aren’t looking, and I watch you toss and turn through the night. Every time you cry out, ‘Daddy’ while you dream, I hear it.” He stood up with another smile and crossed the room to my side.

“You didn’t see me steal those guns or see them put a camera in this very office. You didn’t see Arwago until he cut—” He slapped me across my cheek, some of his hair flew out of his bun and stuck to the fresh scab on his face then knelt beside me.

“Don’t you dare interrupt me when I am talking. I am your Master Guardian. I run this planet, and who are you? You are nothing unless I say so.” His face was trembling. The tears that fell onto my stinging face were involuntary and dripped down quivering jaw.

“You think I don’t know? I have ways of knowing Talaya.” He sprayed me with saliva. When I had cringed, he smiled again, then leaned in closer, his lips just barely grazing my ear.

“We will see if you last as long as your mother.” He jumped from where he was squatting. His footsteps light as he walked back to the desktop. My eyes followed his movements and watched him press a key on his desk.

Stabs of electricity coursed through my body. Hitting me in every nerve. My body went rigid, my eyes felt like they would burst from my head and my bones, like they would pop out of my skin.

While it was still going, he stood in front of me. “You know, it’s almost a family tradition at this point. Your father gave in immediately, trying to save you. Pitiful. Eventually, everyone gives in, just like you will. Talaya, you will realize that this is the best way to do things. We need the Flying Force to keep the peace. This is the best way, you know that don’t you?” he asked. I opened my mouth to tell him to go to hell, but all that came out was a scream.

The current stopped and he asked again, “You know that’s the best way, don’t you?” Between gasps, I barely got the words out.

“Bite me...” He slapped me again, in the exact same spot as before. My face throbbed with every heartbeat.

His heinous laugh echoed through the bare room as he went back to the desktop. The shocks started again. They felt even stronger. My eyes squeezed shut and my nails dug into the armrests. I couldn’t take it anymore.

The cry started in the back of my throat until it burst through my lips, “Stop!”

“Inspiring words indeed! Where’s all that snark now Talaya?” he said, his laughter rang out over my screams.

I begged, “Please.” The chair turned off and he moved to stand behind me. Air couldn’t get into my lungs fast enough, desperately I gulped in the oxygen I needed.

“Tell me Talaya, let me hear it now. You know the Flying Force is doing what is best for the people? We are keeping them safe. Say it. Say, ‘Peace for security.’”

My mind begged me to just tell him what he wanted to hear. But I was silent too long. He grabbed a fist full of my hair, twisted it in his hand and yanked my head backwards.

“Say it!” His voice echoed through the room. Still nothing came out of my mouth. He flipped my head forward and stomped over to the desktop and slammed the horrible button again.

The electric current was stronger, but without saying a word, he shut it off. To my great relief, it had only lasted a few seconds. While I tried to catch my breath, he screamed into his comms.

“Find them now and fix it.” He turned away from the comm and glared at me. “They won’t get away with this.” There was something in the way he said it that gave me relief. Whatever Arwago had done, was leaving its mark, both on Sidarc’s face and whatever was going on away from the room.

Panting, I said, “Seems like they already have.” His finger had almost touched the button again when someone came into the room. He was livid at the interruption.

“What?” His voice had come out in a bark, but I was focused on the man that had walked through the door; Rando from the lab.

“Master Guardian, a situation requires your attention in the hangar bay,” he said.

“As you can see, I’m busy Privy Mate. Please alert Master Guardian Select Geokee, he can take care of it.”

“I’m sorry but he is busy with a situation in the lab,” he said. Sidarc slammed his hand down on the desktop but started moving to the door.

“She better be here when I get back! Continue with the reaffirmation training,” he yelled into Rando’s face.

“Rando, thank Tau! Help me out of this thing,” With his eyes on me, he ran over to the desk.

“Arwago has a way out for us, but we have to go now Talaya.” He pushed a few buttons on the holo-keyboard and it released me. When I tried to stand up, my legs gave out and I crumpled to the floor.

“Are we safe?” I asked trying to pick myself back up.

“No. We have to leave. Now.” He grabbed onto my arm and pulled me to my feet, helping me walk to the door.

“Let’s go then before he comes back,” Walking was difficult. Both my arms and legs were numb, worthless from the electrocution. So he draped me half over his shoulder, and we started down the hall.

“Trust me, he won’t be back for a while. Tesser set off all the auto-drones. They are flying around the hangar bay.” I was pleasantly surprised at the lack of others out of their rooms, until I saw Zarleque coming around one of the curves.

“Shit,” Rando said.

“Let me handle this.” He took my arm off his shoulder and I carefully walked towards Zarleque.

“The gods alive, what happened to you?” His eyes opened wide at the sight of me. Where Master Guardian had hit me was puffed up and I was covered in sweat.

“It’s too much to explain. Either you come with us, for good, or, forget you saw me,” I couldn’t imagine leaving Zarleque here. Even though he was giant, he still needed protecting. After all that had already happened to him, there wasn’t another person I could think of that deserved to abandon their job as much as him. Rando was unsure.

“Talaya, we can’t really take more people we only have a four-passenger drone,” he said. Zarleque was conflicted. A debate raged in his head. I took another careful step, each one was easier as the feeling returned to my legs.

“What do you mean? Go where with you?”

“Anywhere but here. Think about what he did to you, to your brain, you want to stay here with that?”

“You really have a way out?” he asked, hope shining from his eyes. I nodded. “Then I’m in.”

We started down the hall again, but four of Sidarc’s men in their flashy Flying Force military police uniforms blocked the way, all armed with long black rods tipped with metal prongs.

“We have direct orders to return Talaya Hawtati to the Master Guardians reaffirmation room,” Rotowey said. He had done Master Guardian’s work before, it was the same man that took Zarleque from the simulation room. Judging by the look of rage on his face, Zarleque knew his memory loss had been somewhat caused by Rotowey.

“No.” Zarleque said.

“We have orders to use force.” Rotowey said. No one knew what to do. Zarleque gave one look to Rando and they both bounded forwards, into some sort of combat mode. Zarleque grabbed the man closest to him by the arm and threw his entire body weight into a punch, it landed on the man’s throat. He fell to the floor making a horrible choking sound.

“Talaya! Move!” he yelled, already moving towards the next guard. I was frozen in shock by the whole situation, staring at the man gasping for air on the ground.

I jumped forward but my movements were clumsy as I dove into the legs of the Privy Mate closest to me. Grasping for anything to hold onto, I grabbed his ankle and twisted my body on the ground. His weapon landed inches away from his fingertips, but he was stuck firmly in my hold. My back arched farther, the angle growing, forcing his leg the wrong way. The bone popped. The man fell limp in my arms, his foot bent awkwardly. I looked around, Zarleque was on the ground, trying frantically to take out Rotowey. There wasn’t time for me to watch them wrestle, a third person jumped onto me. His knees touching the ground on either side of me, he straddled my middle and brought the metal rod to my chest. But he wasn’t near as big as Zarleque, and not even remotely as talented as Kirtis.

It took one throw of my hips to get him off. I scrambled from underneath and shot up. He stood up and glared at me, holding the rod in front of him.

“You should just give up, he won’t ever let this go,” he said.

Anger launched at him and my foot caught him in the knee, sending it backwards. He screamed and dropped to the ground. I stumbled at him, arms wrapping around his neck before he even knew what happened. I squeezed, tighter and tighter, like I had with Zarleque. All he could do was grunt in discomfort. The wheezing started to come in bursts. His nails clawed at my arm until, with one last spasm, his body slumped over. I pushed him away from me and sprang back to my feet. Zarleque had somehow knocked Rotowey unconscious but Rando hadn’t fared so well. The last guard had stabbed him with the metal prod and it was making him completely rigid. He looked exactly how that chair had made me feel.

Zarleque got to them before I did. He grabbed onto the MP and picked him up off the ground, like he weighed about as much as a burla. He smashed the man on his back, then did it again. The second thump sounded throughout the halls with finality, blood poured from his skull.

“Let’s keep going before more come.” Zarleque said, eyes wide at the mess near his feet. All of us were out of breath but we sprinted down the hall.

“Where are we headed Rando?” It came out in a yell, but I was no longer worried about the amount of noise we were making. Everyone knew where we were by now, that fight in the hall had assured that.

“Our escape drone is already on the flight pad, here...” he held up his calcumat, “directions,” he said. The giant green line directed us out of the building. The directions fueled me, building the small flicker of hope that I could actually leave in one piece.

Outside, the green line showed the path to a four-person drone. It was already warming up and ready to fly but our path was blocked. One person stood between us and our escape from this place, and she was holding a gun, pointing it directly at me.