Mission 13 - Actualisation - Part 2

  Chas had slept on the small couch, staunchly refusing the offer of the beds. The couch was a bit too small for him to sleep on and certainly not soft enough, but that suited him fine. A few hours of being half asleep was still better than anything he had during the walk here.

  He quietly stood up and put on his clothes. Glancing around for a piece of paper, it took all he had not to scream when a hand softly patted him on the shoulder.

  There stood the old man, Al's uncle, already awake and beckoning him to the hallway. With a sigh, Chas kicked himself for not checking if he was first up and followed the Abhailen uncle.

  Stepping outside, he led Chas to a rickety plastic bench, its colour long lost and its surfaces fraying badly. Glancing up at the still pitch-black sky, Chas couldn't help but wonder if he'd slept at all. A single streetlight still functioned nearby; it’s flickering giving them some company at least.

  Then Chas remembered this was Abhiale, a planet with a peculiar orbit leading it to be in the shadow of Bhaile all year round - a planet with a bare handful of sunny hours at the best of times.

  "So you’re leaving?" the uncle said, breaking the silence.

  "Ya, better had," Chas said back,

  "Is it the whole uncle thing?"

  Chas blinked. He'd been absolutely certain he hadn't let that show.

  The old man smiled at his gobsmacked expression, "Well, on behalf of uncles, sorry for whatever yours did to you."

  "I- Ya, thanks. I didn't mean to be rude. Mostly, I just don't want to impose too much."

  "You going back to the military?"

  "You worked that out too?!" Chas fired back, only for the old man to shush him while suppressing a laugh, "Just a hunch, you look like Tom, Al's dad that is, used ta’ look is all. The couple a’ times he came back during the war."

  "I see," Chas slumped his shoulder in defeat at the man's acuity.

  "If it helps ya relax, I’m not really Al's uncle, just a relative of his dads, not even a particularly close one. I'll be seventy soon, ‘can't help but wonder if I'll be able to see the lad to adulthood or not. Not that ‘am much of a substitute parent, never mind uncle."

  "I think you're a great father!" Chas said, surprising himself with how strongly he felt about it.

  The not-uncle offered a wily little grin, "Heh, why thank you, kid. But really, I remember Tom when he was Jack's age. Taller, able to read an’ write, and so much more. Lil’ Al has none of those opportunities with me."

  Chas had no response, no matter how much he wanted to disprove it. "What did Mr. Tom fight for?" he asked after a long moment. It felt rude, of course, but some part of him needed to know. Why did Al’s dad - No, why did anyone fight?

  "His country, I suppose," the old man looked thoughtful, "His king, the four hundred-year dream of his people. And most of all, I'd wager to give his family a better future. Though I guess that last one backfired..."

  "Maybe it does for all soldiers. I thought I was doing the right thing, but I... I've killed so many people," Chas mumbled. If this was the peace that followed war, then every soldier must be a fool, he felt.

  "The right thing, eh?" Jack said, hand on his chin, " I don't think there is such a thing. I got every reason to hate TSU, especially the governor who's taken away my boy's future, but I bet you got reasons just as good."

  "I-- I thought I did, once. I lost my friends and colleagues, even though we were civilians, killed for no good reason. And to think a machine I'd worked on was out there repeating that, it was too much to live with - but in the end, I hurt people too. Allies, and even innocents like me and my friends were. I'm no better; my reason just gets people killed."

  "I see. So you ran away?"

  "Ugh!"

  Jack laughed at Chas’s strained response, "Sounds to me like you must care an awful lot to go that far. Running away takes guts. Sometimes I want to run away myself."

  "You do? From what?"

  "From a child not my own, who I know I can't raise right. A boy whose smile lights up the whole world one minute, only to burst into tears the next."

  "Oh, ya, that makes sense, I guess," Chas nodded. He stared out at the poorly lit road; the footprints in the dust from last night had already mostly filled in.

  "What's the point then? We just keep killing each other, both sides thinking it's right until there's no one left? Trading places with those who suffer while someone else lives it up?"

  Jack looked fondly on the young man, "Tom said that once, he'd been having terrible dreams. It was the last time I saw him before the war ended. Somehow or another, he got up and went back again anyway."

  "He had his family and his cause. Me, I'm just..."

  "Just what Chas? Ya know, you don't need to be the exact same as Tom or any other soldier. Uncles, we aren't all the same, and neither is any other type of person. There are TSU people like the Governor, but likewise, there's you, Chas."

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  The younger man looked up, wide-eyed at this simplest of truths; "I have to stop the fighting, don't I," the boy suddenly said. Jack raised an eyebrow.

  "You guys, you should be my reason. Why should I accept what he said, that only one side can have peace at a time? We’re all people, aren't we? The countries and flags we worship are self-made lines. They don’t have to be in the way like this!”

  "Who said what? And hey, now hold on; you aren't about to admit you’re my long lost son, are ya?"

  For the first time since leaving the Curadh, Chas laughed at that, and Jack joined him. That wonderful smile from yesterday back in full force. These weren’t a ‘good people’, Chas finally realised. They were just people, the same as on the moon, or the Nation-States or planet Bhaile. The same as on his ship and no doubt the same as in Kigen’s forces.

  "You, struggling for your kid the best you can. Al doing his best to be brave and not cry for his mom. Everyone on this street sharing tiny rooms to try and make the food and the heat and everything else stretch a little further.

  It's not just bad shit that's universal to mankind; we don't just repeat war and nothing else. Even here, where my supposed enemies live, is the same kindness and compassion as any other good family. And likewise, we're not all the same. I'm not just a soldier, I'm a Casnel pilot!"

  "You what?" Jack's jaw drooped, but Chas didn't notice, he was on a roll now;

  "If I stop fighting, if I run away, it'll just start all over again, won't it? Someone else will fight and break down and kill. But I have a choice.

  If Remembrance, if Kigen wins this war, all that happens is a loop. This time, Bhailen cities get decimated, and maybe that's fair even - but what good does that do?

  I have to stop them, and then I have to come back here and shoot the governor myself if needed.

  I'm not alone! I thought my captain was a coward, but maybe he just hopes for peace. I can see that now. Moncha, my boss, he wouldn't put up with this either; if he saw the state of this place, he'd do something; I know he would!

  Maybe there’s no such thing as perfect peace, and maybe more innocents will die along the way, but if I stop trying, what was it all for? What did I fight for until now if I give up.”

  "So you'll fight?" Jack asked warmly.

  "I have too, right? No, that’s wrong. I can run away, I know that but I don’t want to, not anymore. People will die again, because of me, but if I stop, that will still happen, and it'll be someone else at the end who chooses what they all died for. If I fight, then maybe I can choose; maybe I can change things."

  The old man squeezed his shoulder with a smile, "Be careful, ya hear? Dedication gained through a chance meeting or two is a fragile thing. Sounds like you'll have lots more in your way.

  Well, if you do break again, come back any time."

  Chas stared wide-eyed at the invitation, "Even though I'm the enemy? Even though I'll kill people, this planet's people, many more times before I can ever help?"

  "I'm tired of the hate, lad, it's like ya’ say; either way, more people will die before it gets better. If you’re brave enough to take on that weight, to try and improve this world, then you'll always be welcome here."

  "Uncle?" a small voice called behind them.

  "Morning, Aly," Jack smiled happily. He reached down as the kid climbed the last couple of steps and sat him on his lap.

  Al was rubbing groggily at his eyes, looking even younger than last night in his sleepy state.

  "Listen, Al, Chas ‘ere has to go now," Jack said.

  The sleep left Al's eyes immediately, "Already?! B-but we just met."

  "He has some important work to do, for all of us."

  "He does?"

  "That's right, Jack," Chas smiled, "It might take a while, but one day I'm gonna come back. I just know it. And we’ll go for nice food, and you can show me all around town. One day it's going to be better. They’ll rebuild, the villages will be alive again, and this place, it must have been awesome, right? It will be again, one day."

  ****

  TA419 - 18/04,

  Planet Abhaile, Occupied Capital City, Side Street.

  Just two houses down from the plastic bench, standing in a stone alcove, was a man obscured from view. With a faint smile, he began padding down the street before turning into a small alley;

  "Everything seems to have worked out. Have the path Chas took to get here cleared of patrols and leave a dune buggy or something in his way. That boy will be back home by supper. I reckon he'll leave before sunrise if it ever rises on this accursed rock," Lt.Commander Donal Moncha said breezily.

  Before him stood two suited individuals, each with a buzzcut and rather stoic features.

  "You're not suggesting we don't bring him in?" the taller of the two growled.

  "Indeed I'm not, I'm telling you."

  "You bitc--"

  "Ahem," the other cut in, raising a hand between Moncha and the taller agent, "How can we be sure the asset will do as you say?"

  "I'm sure you boys will keep an eye on him on his way back. I trust you won't lose sight of him again."

  "There are protocols, Commander, especially in the face of desertion."

  Moncha’s lax expression tightened, "It took nearly five days to find him. Now we can bring him in and make all this official, removing a Casnel pilot from the ongoing war and making a laughing stock of the Secret Service, or we can pretend this never happened."

  "We'd have had him faster with our full force," the taller of the two growled, looking very ready for a fight.

  "He has a point, Commander. Letting him go back quietly benefits you alone. You'll owe some serious returns."

  "I already do," Moncha replied with a shrug.

  They studied each other for a long moment before the agent sighed and turned away, "Very well."

  "Ross, you can't be for real?!" the taller man nearly shouted, but his companion simply started walking away down the alleyway.

  The taller man squared up his shoulders, closing the distance with Moncha until their noses nearly bumped, "Your time will come, pilot. It's people like you who make our armies weak, who bend the rules and ruin discipline. Your number will come up."

  The Commander held his stare, not saying a word.

  The agent scowled, considered spitting, but thought better of it, following after his colleague.

  Moncha let go a long-held breath. It had taken quite a few favours being called in from himself and the Captain to get a security team on side unofficially. A lot of favors they wouldn't be able to use again.

  "Man, you're a handful, Chas," he muttered, but the faint smile still on his lips betrayed his true feelings. It wouldn't be the boy's last moment of doubt, Moncha was sure of that. He still doubted himself from time to time even. This little diversion of self-discovery would wear off. The darkness of this life would find Chas again, no doubt. But Moncha was glad all the same. Glad his hope in the boy wasn't misplaced, that Chas was ready to try and make the world a better place, perhaps together with the captain and crew of the Curadh, there really would be a difference they could make some day.