Mission 20 - Battle of the Compassionate - Part 2

  "Sir!" Columbae's assistant cried, climbing the steps to the top level of the command centre and just barely catching the falling Admiral. The command centre's ceiling was lined with the warm glow of suppressor fields, and that weight fell all too greatly onto the old man’s tired shoulders.

  "I'm alright, just a bit of a toll. Did you see it, too?"

  The lieutenant, not much more than a teenager himself, looked embarrassed to admit it but nodded nonetheless, "Yes, but, what was that?"

  "The future. Magi phenomena are strange and poorly researched at the best of times.

  Perhaps the stress and proximity to a Magi like Kigen unlocked my own ability, a tad last minute in life, I might add. Rotten luck to be such a late bloomer," the Admiral laughed dryly as sweat rolled down his bald forehead.

  He reached to the console and pressed a final button. In front, on the cinema-like viewing screen, the Defence Platform fired another yellow bolt of plasma across the battlefield. With just the two of them and the computer subroutines running it, the platform’s shots had been clumsy. Still, the few hits they'd landed had been worth the effort.

  "Last chance to leave, Lieutenant. That meteorite will arrive any minute."

  The young man shook his head, saluting resolutely, "You said it yourself: a servant stands with his master to the end. Unless you'll flee with me?"

  "Heh, no my boy, I can't do that. The cancer that riddles my body is coming to claim its due. I was lucky to live such a long life as is. The radicals will control TSU tomorrow, make no mistake - but the home fleet otherwise intact? That will give the moderates some ground to push back with unless, that is, their leader is still me - the old man who failed to stop so much destruction and is rapidly becoming bedridden.

  The last thing I can offer my successors and the future is a last stand, an easy scapegoat."

  "I understand, Sir," the assistant said with a pleasant smile.

  Columbae smiled back at the young man, then shot him.

  "Sir?!"

  "A knickknack I picked up, put a horse to sleep, or so I'm told. You have a future yourself, and I refuse to claim it. I'm sorry for being so selfish."

  The Lieutenant's eyes clouded and closed against his will; he slumped into a false sleep in the Admiral's weary arms.

  It took considerable effort to carry the lad out of the control centre into the gravity-less corridors, and Columbae was glad his staff didn't let their administrative roles lead them to put on weight. Once in the 0-G, it was relatively easy to get the young aide to the nearest escape pod, one he had already programmed to head for Vice-Admiral Louise's flagship. He prayed for his young friend's good fortune before hitting the launch switch reverently.

  For a moment, he let his head bow forwards, let it rest against the metal above the switch. Between the strange Magi vision and carrying a soldier a third his age, Columbae exhaustedly made his way back. He slouched into the admiral's chair at the top of the command centre and set another cannon blast to fire, borderline aimless at this stage.

  The rows of multilevel seats were empty before him. The computers whirled almost silently. He thought back on that vision; it felt like a treasure, one he wasn't sure he'd done anything to deserve, a reward telling him his beliefs and hopes weren't wrong, that life would keep fighting and someday find a way.

  With an old smile and renewed hope, he stared out at a meteorite appearing in the distance, headed right for him.

  Kigen rounded the last corner, leaving behind the corridor of glass windows showing the devastation outside, his booted feet hammering over the metal ground. The vision still on his mind and the meaninglessness of the fight happening out there plagued his thoughts. Ahead across a corrugated floor was a series of airlocks, including the one he’d come in from. Just a few more metres and he’d be–

  The pistol blot scorched the ground just in front of his boot. He froze like a statue, turning as slowly and none threateningly as possible. Standing a short distance away, pilot-suited, was Chas Collins.

  "...Why do it like this," the young man said after a few tense seconds of silence, his pistol at the ready to shoot again, his lungs heaving from having sprinted from the opposite wing of the Platform all the way to here.

  Kigen blinked in genuine surprise, not expecting the youngster to question him. It was then that his mind buzzed a second time. It was nothing compared to the earlier vision, but he had a feeling of familiarity, like he knew this boy he’d never locked eyes with before; like they’d been on each other's tails this whole war.

  "Why?" Kigen said, putting the feeling aside, "Why what? Why all this fighting? In order to free my peop--"

  "I've heard all that before! But why like this, why kill so many innocents? My friends at Vanadis did nothing to you, neither did the hundreds of civilian operators of installations you've destroyed, merchant ships and refinery workers, and so many people who did nothing wrong!"

  'Vanadis, huh? Someone survived that,' Kigen mused, a perfect example of the folly in letting even one enemy survive. He gently laid his hand on his sword’s hilt. There was no way this boy would let him draw a gun, but maybe a theatrical sword draw could work.

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  "Innocents? Everyday people die, the streets of my people’s capital city are lined with the starving and abused," he added, mainly just to continue the chat, to look for an opening - and yet - also because he felt like he needed to say it. That momentary connection, the vision, his talk with the Grand Admiral - Oames. It was all building up, all starting to chip away at the Great-Ace’s tranquil warrior’s composure.

  "I know... it was just for a little bit: I won't claim to get your pain, but I've seen it,” the boy added, his hand trembling a little, seemingly at the thoughts of what he’d seen.

  Now Kigen was really surprised, "Then why would you, a warrior, ask such a question?"

  The smaller man bristled, perhaps struggling to find the right words, "This won't change that! You try and destroy this fleet, try and oppress Bhaile, then maybe your people will recover, but only until the reverse happens. Only until Bhiale rises back up in turn.

  You could have used your forces, your Casnel, to end the occupation; you clearly have the strength. You are powerful."

  Kigen scoffed, "Are you that naive? If you uprooted the governor and his forces, then this very home fleet would be the next to come. With our group, we could hold Abhaile for a few days at best in a defensive battle. As long as the TSU fleets exist, simply removing the occupation would achieve nothing but extra bloodshed!” Adding more force to the final sentence to really sell it, Kigen drew his sword as though in a fit of patriotism.

  The kid seemed to buy it, not firing. Of course, deep down, Kigen realised this was no act; he was simply saying the words he really felt, however shameful they might be.

  The young man blanched, clearly realising the truth in what the ace had said, but in some ways, that intrigued Kigen all the more, "If you believe in, what, justice? In making this world a better place, then join me right here and now, boy!"

  "Y-you're kidding, right?" Chas stuttered, "All you want is to keep this cycle going endlessly. That’s not justice or peace or anything. I want both sides to be at peace!"

  Kigen almost laughed. Had he been any less disciplined, he would have howled, "Both sides? Humanity has always fought wars and always, always will. The only way my people can ever find ‘peace’ is if the other side is obliterated. There are no other solutions.

  As long as any TSU force stands, they will come for us; just as a single Remembrance ship, a single soldier will always come for TSU. The closest to peace this solar system ever reached was the four-hundred years when my people were too weak to face TSU. Total dominance is the only way to safeguard your own kind."

  "At the cost of billions of others!?"

  "Yes,” he replied flatly, “They'll always be victims. In order for any measure of peace, someone else is out there suffering. You saw the people suffering right now with your own eyes - it is my job as their warrior, as their sword, to make sure someone else can suffer in their place," against himself, Kigen's grip on his blade's hilt tightened, his resolve subconsciously deepening with each proclamation of the ideals he kept so deep.

  "Why not peace? Real peace, not the sort you believe in but actual genuine peace. It's only possible if both sides want it, if you don’t stop believing in it. Not every member of TSU is the same; not all of them approve of the occupation. We could work together!

  Why not use your strength and try to believe in it?!" The boy's voice was growing desperate; he waved the gun, almost taking it out of range completely. Kigen held, however, the distance between them, just a few metres, was too much to risk. He’d have to block and make a run for it - if a sword could actually block a bullet, that is.

  "Heh-Heh, ha! Alright, tell me then; the commander of the attack on Vanadis, the man who gave the order to leave no survivors even after he’d already taken what he came for. Can you forgive me, pilot?!"

  Chas's breath caught. That same fear that had frozen him during the battle of Defence-Platform 2 gripped at his heart. His vision doubled for a second as bile threatened to rise up his throat - but he held it all back - he wasn’t that ignorant child anymore, held afloat solely by his machine. He had seen both sides and chosen to fight all the same, choosing to fight for hope instead of anger.

  With a deep breath, the young man spoke, "I-i… I… I understand why you did it, and I know what drove you to go so far. I'll never forgive what you did to my friends or approve of your method, but I'm willing to move past it. For the sake of the future, I will not ask for revenge. I will ask for your hand instead," Chas solely outstretched the arm not holding his gun, and took one step forward.

  Kigen's breath caught, "You– You what?"

  "First-ranked, Abhailen hero, I won't forgive you, but I don't want vengeance upon you either. That is my determination!!"

  All traces of intrigue or even sympathy for a young pilot in the throes of his first war, grappling with questions a young Kigen had, too, disappeared as the ace’s gaze turned to steel, "Then you will die this day. Your dedication is flimsy, ill-defined. No one can protect everyone, especially not someone who would forgive the murder of his comrades."

  Chas's expression darkened, but a weak smile crossed his lips, "You might be right, but it's that same fixation on vengeance that makes me so sure I can't let you win. That makes this what I have to do for peace, however contradictory. I'm sorry."

  Not a second later, he lowered one arm and pulled the trigger with the other.

  The pistol round screamed through the air the short distance between them. It took mere seconds but felt like an eternity as the little metal round that could change everything crept close - but Kigen was ready.

  It was pinpoint, the slightest movement of his blade. The bullet collided into it, or at least against it. Kigen knew his sword would shatter if he tried something as fanciful as cutting the bullet, but maybe, just maybe he could alter its direction.

  The Kigen Clan’s centuries-old ceremonial sword cracked. The bullet whizzed, and a portion of Kiyo’s hair fell away just next to his head.

  He didn't waste his chance, immediately sprinting for the airlock while shouting, “You’re ten years too young to say that to me, boy!”

  Chas fired twice more, one missing entirely, a second grazing him, and then - he was out of there.