From Last Time:
"Zara!" he cried out, scanning the darkness ahead of him. He leapt to his feet and rushed toward the fiery metal blocking his path, receiving nothing but burns for his troubles. "Zara!" he yelled again, the smoke and the heat singeing his lungs. He coughed uncontrollably as Parth pulled him back down to the ground and toward the cleaner air. He looked frantically from side to side as he waited for the smoke to clear, but there was nothing in front of him except melted and deformed metal and broken debris. Tears stung his eyes as he struggled to breathe. His heart shattered before it was ripped from his chest, his entire body hollowed out in one fast, violent swipe. He buried his head in his arms as he sobbed, his hands fisting in his short hair.
"Come on, sir!" Parth yelled. "That fire is going to burn up all the oxygen in this corridor." The young lieutenant dragged his superior officer out of the hallway. The other man was too numb to move, too shocked to resist, too broken to put up a fight.
********
New Stuff:
The first squadron of Interceptors tore a swath through the sky above the main colony. They streaked toward the prison compound and broke formation, quickly establishing control over the airspace. Rebel gunships beat a hasty retreat, abandoning their assault on the colony's exterior defenses.
Ban Mol watched all of this from his ship's monitoring systems. That was it, their window had closed. They hadn't succeeded. "We have to get out of here," he announced.
"No," Rae Et declared, her tone leaving no room for equivocation.
"We are a lumbering, slow target about to get shot out of the sky as soon as they defeat our cloaking system," he shouted back, standing from his seat.
"I am not leaving my son down there!" she spat, her eyes flashing with venom and fire, daring him to continue to defy her.
Ban Mol smiled a half smile as he shook his head slowly. "And I'm not dying for you. Not today, anyway." He quickly drew his weapon and pointed it at her.
Rae Et immediately reached for the weapon he knew she kept under her greatcoat but he shot her, once, twice, before she could even put her hands on it. She stared at him, eyes wide, not with panic, or fear, or pain, but disbelief. He knew that her last thoughts were ones of outrage, unable to believe who this upstart was, and why he had the gall to kill her. He watched as she crumpled to the ground in a motionless heap. A bitter, twisted, frail old woman whose inhuman strength had finally deserted her.
Ban Mol stalked into the cockpit of the craft, his weapon still drawn. He pointed it directly at the pilot's head. "Get us out of here," he said calmly.
But it was too late.
The first explosion rattled the craft, threatening to throw it into a tailspin. Ban Mol was knocked to the ground by the impact, the gun sliding out of his hand and across the cockpit floor. He struggled to get back to his feet, but another explosion sent him sprawling to the floor again. The ship angled hard toward the ground, losing altitude quickly.
"I'm putting it down," the pilot yelled to the co-pilot over the sounds of alarms and wind howling through the punctured fuselage.
********
Dek Ra banked his Interceptor hard to avoid the shrapnel and debris flying from the wounded rebel transport, but several large, jagged pieces of metal collided with his craft, tearing its skin and sending smoke billowing into the night sky. Indicator lights began to flash on his control panel and smoke started to pour into the cockpit.
"I'm hit!" he cried out.
"Get your craft on the ground, Ensign!" came his commander's terse reply.
His hands trembled as he struggled to bring the Interceptor back under control. He tried to remember his training. He tried to remember what to do.
********
Ching stared unseeing at the monitors in front of him in the backup command center. It was almost more effort than he could expend just to remain upright. And he felt certain he was about to vomit.
Parth rushed toward him, but Ching didn't notice the other man. "Sir, we have a damaged Interceptor attempting to land outside the North Hangar Bays. We need a fire team out there. If that craft explodes, it could take half a hangar with it."
Ching turned to look at his subordinate, puzzled. He was quite certain that nothing the younger man had said was actually intelligible. "What?" he asked.
The lieutenant was obviously fighting to check his exasperation with a commanding officer incapable of commanding. "Interceptor Two Two Eight is about to make an emergency landing and we must respond, sir, or risk having one of the hangar bays go up in the explosion."
Ching's heart leapt up in his throat, blocking his airway and threatening to suffocate him. "No," he croaked. "No, no, no, this isn't happening," he managed, an unfamiliar panic in his voice. "That's Dek Ra's Interceptor, he's not supposed to be here!" Ching ran his hands agitatedly through his hair, fighting the urge to cower and hide and just wait and hope that it would all end.
But he couldn't do that. He'd failed her. He wasn't about to let her brother die.
Ching bolted for the door, leaving Parth to try to catch up. He raced to the hangar bays, his vision still blurred by tears. By the time he arrived, the Interceptor was already on the ground. Inside the bay, a group of mechanics was already pulling down the fire gear. Ching rushed past them, toward the injured craft, smoking on the tarmac. He scrambled to force open the cockpit hatch, his heart stopping at the sight of the unconscious young man – boy, really – inside. Ching choked on the smoke as he cut away the restraints and pulled Dek Ra's unmoving form from the craft. The fire crew had started working on extinguishing the flames from the craft.
"Hold on, young man," he whispered as he carried Dek Ra, whom he'd known since he was a baby, back toward the hangar. Two soldiers approached with a gurney and Ching relinquished his charge into their care. He stopped to catch his breath and doubled over, his hands on his knees. His lungs ached from the smoke and his stomach threatened upheaval.
He straightened himself to his full height and started back toward Lieutenant Parth. "We must secure the prison," Ching said, all traces of hesitance gone from his voice. He still had to do his job. Zara would never forgive him if he let the colony collapse because he was too busy mourning her. He'd made an oath, to New Krypton, and to her, to protect their people.
He let the young lieutenant lead the way back to the backup command center. The primary command center was still contaminated by the fuel leak and completely unsafe. Even the backup center was only marginally useful to them with its systems alternately sluggish and completely shut down. But they had to do what they could.
********
"Our window's closed," Theris said definitively.
"What?" Jen Mai shouted.
"The aircraft are gone, there is no extraction, and we cannot beat back the counteroffensive they've just launched. They're going to retake the prison," Theris rattled off the list of their troubles before turning to look over his shoulder down the hallway. "But we did find Nor," he said, highlighting the one bright spot in their current state of affairs.
Surrounded by his surviving lieutenants, Nor stalked toward them. "It's about time you showed up," Nor spat.
"We're not getting out the way we came in," Theris explained. "Our only shot is to go back through the colony. We split up and try to slip away in the confusion."
"And risk running into half the Kryptonian military on the way?" Jen Mai shook his head grimly.
"If you have a better idea, I'm certain we're all anxious to hear it," Theris snapped.
"Let's go," Jen Mai said in disgust.
********
Lok Sim ran in the middle of the small group of soldiers toward Engineering. Forces standing guard in the hallway quickly stepped aside for them. They came to the intersection of two major corridors outside the administrative compound and suddenly came under fire. They hit the floor and scrambled for cover, but one of the soldiers had already been wounded. The other soldiers returned fire as Lok Sim crawled along the ground toward the wounded man and dragged him to relative safety.
"I'll cover you, keep going," Faral shouted as he continued to fire at their attackers.
"I'm not leaving you behind," Lok Sim yelled as he hoisted the injured man onto his shoulders.
"You have a job to do, sir," Faral barked in response, never looking away from the firefight. "Now let me do mine." He echoed the words he'd told Lok Sim a lifetime ago, during another battle.
Lok Sim said nothing, but he knew the other man was right. With one last backward glance, he continued toward Engineering, surrounded by the remaining soldiers. Behind them, Faral gave them whatever protection he could.
********
Carefully following the communications engineer's instructions, they'd restored power and security systems to the northern half of the colony. According to Lok Sim, Engineering was busy working on the other half. "Any word on Kal El's location?" Talan spoke into her communicator as she walked down the deserted hallway. The silence was particularly disconcerting in a civilian housing wing – a place that was supposed to be bustling with life.
<<His guard confirmed they're in North Housing Compound Two>> came the reply.
"Site of the third explosion," Talan said, more to herself than anyone else. "Is he all right?"
<<He's fine, he wasn't injured.>>
He would be there helping, she realized. He wouldn't be able to stay away if people needed him. "I'm on my way there," she responded, quickly changing direction. Talan started to pick up her pace and was soon running.
********
Lok Sim walked through the doors into the Engineering offices, his stride not slowed by the weight of the man he carried on his back. Two men rushed over to take the wounded soldier from him. "He needs a medic," Lok Sim said quietly. Despite the crazed level of activity, everything suddenly came to a halt as all eyes focused on him.
He looked around, taking in the chaos of the monitoring floor. "Where is she?" he seethed through gritted teeth.
The object of his search appeared, hands cuffed behind her, dragged onto the floor by a pair of engineers. "She's here, sir," one of the engineers said unnecessarily.
Lok Sim stormed toward her, crossing the monitoring floor quickly. "What have you done?" he demanded. "Answer me!" His deep voice boomed as he looked down at the woman barely half his size, fury burning in his eyes.
She didn't flinch, even though everyone else in the room did. "I did what I had to," she said with no trace of regret in her voice.
"How could you betray your people like this? Do you have any idea how many innocent men, women, and children you've sentenced to death?" he asked frantically. "All for that sick bastard you call your leader…"
She shook her head as she laughed mirthlessly. "You really are a fool. You think I did this for Nor?"
Lok Sim had no idea what she was talking about and at the moment, he didn't care. If she wasn't loyal to Nor, maybe there was a way to reason with her. "You have one chance to set this right…"
Sur Ahn looked up at him defiantly, eyes flashing with anger. "Once you've listened to a six hour long tape of your lover screaming, begging for death, just to make the pain stop, then you should feel free to lecture me about the abstract concepts of right and wrong." She bit out every venomous word, the poison dripping from her voice.
His brow furrowed as he stared grimly at her through narrowed eyes. "What are you talking about?"
"Rae Et has my husband; she's had him prisoner for years and she will kill him if I don't do exactly what she wants. What would you do if you were me? If it were your wife? What wouldn't you do to spare her that pain?"
Lok Sim swallowed roughly and forced the gut wrenching thoughts from his mind. Bile crept up in his throat, bitter and burning. "I'm sorry for what's happened to you and your husband, believe me, I truly am," he said in a harsh whisper. "But if you think I’m going to let you do this, you are deeply mistaken." He looked at the soldiers standing mutely beside them, doubtlessly struck dumb by what had just transpired. "Get her out of here," Lok Sim spat.
He rushed to the chief's post and began undoing Sur Ahn's handiwork. Without her actively continuing the sabotage, he was able to stop and then reverse the spread of the virus she'd let loose in the systems. Lok Sim shouted instructions to his staff as they brought the very last systems back under control.
********
Ching looked around in confusion as the lights in General Command flickered back to life. The monitors and computers in the backup command center hummed as they turned back on, data from every corner of the colony pouring in. Indicator lights came on, showing the damage in the various compounds. That engineer must have actually done it. He turned on the communications system, finally able to monitor the movements of his commanders and their troops in real time, able to prioritize the threats they were facing.
And suddenly there was a major one.
Fires in the north compounds.
Only North Housing Compound Two had been damaged by a blast, but fire alarms had been tripped in several of the manufacturing and housing compounds. He frantically started to contact the emergency forces in the field, who grimly confirmed that they were combating fire and smoke, poorly equipped and without a plan to evacuate the many civilians still in the shelters.
********
"Sir!" Talan yelled as she approached the barely constrained chaos around the blast site. There was too much smoke. The ventilation system was supposed to be functioning here, but the air was still heavy and thick with it. "What's going on?" she asked.
Kal El stopped giving instructions to the rescue workers to look up at her. His greatcoat had been discarded somewhere and his black uniform was dirty and torn. His face was streaked with soot and sweat, and he only made it worse as he wiped his brow with the back of his hand, smearing the dark stain on his forehead. "Don't know yet," he replied. "We're just trying to get the people out of here."
"All that smoke isn't coming from your blast," she said as she pointed above them. Overhead, the smoke was moving toward them from one of the corridors.
Kal El frowned. "Looks like you're right. It's coming from the vents."
"Which means there's a fire somewhere in this compound and the smoke isn't being vented out," Talan finished. .
The look in his eyes made it clear that she wasn't going to convince him to get to safety. They stood shoulder to shoulder, ready to face just one more fight together "Let's go," he said simply.
********
"What the hell is going on?" Nor demanded between coughs as they crouched in a utility closet, waiting for the rescue workers to pass.
Theris regarded their surroundings critically. "Something isn't right," he said as he shook head. "There were no explosions in this area."
"And yet, we're still suffocating on smoke," Nor snapped irritably.
"We'll go through the civilian housing compounds. We should be able to get out." It seemed like a reasonable plan to Theris, better than running toward the smoke, or waiting around until Nor the imbecile came up with a better idea.
********
She watched as the medics rushed by her with a gurney, rushing heroically to aid the injured. She'd been acting as a conduit between the rescue workers and their dispatchers ever since they'd restored the power and communications systems. A persistent beeping drew her attention. Enza picked up her communicator and switched it on. "Yes," she said tersely.
"There's a fire in North Housing Compound Four," her husband's voice came through the line.
Her heart plummeted and she opened and closed her mouth several times before finding her voice. "I have to get to Thia," she choked out.
"I'll be there as soon as I can," Lok Sim replied, but she was much closer than he was. She would get there long before he could. Her rational mind forced her to pull a mask and fireproof coat from the rescue workers' supplies before racing off. Slinging her weapon over her shoulder, she ran.
She listened to the maddeningly calm voice on the line from Engineering as he described the situation. Firefighting crews were being dispatched from elsewhere in the colony, but they were overwhelmed by the sheer number of emergencies. The fires in the housing compounds had left only one safe avenue for evacuation. All the other passages were choked off by fire and smoke.
********
"Damn him," Ching muttered darkly as he turned off his communicator. Parth wasn't responding and hadn't been for the last twenty minutes. Ching tried not to dwell on the potential ramifications of that fact. General Command was still a mess, but some of the officers had managed to make their way back to their posts and take up the task of coordinating the colony's forces. Ching looked across the large room at the young captain barking orders to the far-flung rescue workers throughout the colony. Besides Ching, that intelligence officer was the senior-most staffer in the command center.
"Captain, command is yours," Ching said as he started for the door.
"Sir, you can't go out there," the captain replied as he leapt to his feet and rushed to block Ching's path. "You're the First Minister-designate, our standing orders are to keep you safe," he said, alluding to a vote that had taken place a billion years ago, in a totally different world.
"Stand down, soldier," Ching replied slowly, his tone was as calm as his mind was agitated. He had no time for protocol or checklists of procedures and he certainly wasn't going to be handled by an upstart junior officer. Without waiting for a reply, Ching pushed past the other man and proceeded through the doorway. Only after he was out of the command center did he succumb to the panic washing over him. He ran down the hallway, toward the passage that led to the tunnels. The ventilation system had been restored and the corridors were clear of smoke but the blast damage would prevent him from getting to her the same way they'd gone in. He would have to go the long way around.
His rational mind knew it was hopeless; there was no way she could have survived that blast. But he couldn't just leave her there. He couldn't think, couldn't breathe, knowing she was still down there. As though he'd abandoned her.
As though he'd forgotten her.
********
Talan glanced over at him as he ran beside her toward the source of the smoke. "Sir, you really should go back and let me do this," she said, knowing it was pointless to try to change his mind.
"It'll be difficult enough evacuating the entire compound with two people, why make it twice as hard?" he asked.
"At least promise you'll call for me if you need help," she countered.
"So that you can abandon those people and come to my aid," he finished. They turned a corner. The air was noticeably warmer here and the smell of smoke pronounced.
"My job is to keep you alive, sir," she replied. Talan stopped suddenly, realizing they were just outside the first of the emergency shelters.
He looked at her, his dark eyes unblinking. "It's not enough just to survive," he said calmly. Kal El wanted to deserve it. But he already did. He was already so much more than worthy; he didn't need to do this just to prove that. And yet, he wouldn't have been who he was if he weren't driven to help, if, at this moment, when he'd already endured so much and was now so close to going home, he didn't chance his own survival so that others might live.
Talan said nothing. She entered the access code and disarmed the shelter's door. "Get these people out of here," she said simply before turning to run off to the next shelter.
********
Slumped against the metal wall just above the stairwell leading down the emergency shelter, the barely conscious woman groaned. Enza dropped to her knees, immediately recognizing her as one of the teachers from Thia's school. She quickly removed her coat and the gas mask and placed them on the teacher, trying desperately to hold her breath. Finally able to take a breath, the teacher looked up at Enza, her eyes not quite focused.
"Stay low," Enza managed. "Keep heading that way." She gestured back the way she came. Even though the corridor was full of smoke, it was the quickest path away from the fire.
The other woman coughed, the sound muffled by the mask, and nodded slowly before crawling toward safety.
Enza nearly tripped and stumbled down the stairs, gasping hard as she breathed in the relatively clean air in the tunnel. She had to move slowly, her lungs still stinging and burning, as she made her way to the shelter in the darkness. She felt her way along the metal wall, trying to find the door. Finally, she came to the door panel and, after several attempts, managed to disarm it. A room full of terrified children looked up at her from the other side of the doorway.
"Aunt Enza!" Thia cried out, tears streaming down her little face as she ran toward her aunt. Enza fell to her knees and gathered her niece up in her arms, hugging her fiercely.
"I'm scared," Thia whimpered as Enza stroked her hair.
"I know, little one, I know," Enza murmured softly. She kissed the top of her niece's head, before rising to her feet again. She looked at the several dozen children – some about Thia's age, a few teenagers, a good number in between – as they regarded her nervously. "It's all right, I'm a captain in the Kryptonian forces and I'm here to help you," she said.
"Our teacher went to get help," a young girl, maybe thirteen, said. The dull, disaffected monotone of her voice revealing that she was in shock.
"I know," Enza replied, trying desperately to keep her voice calm, to keep the anxiety that wracked her from creeping in and frightening the children. "But it's not safe for us to stay here. I'm going to take you somewhere safer and then we'll find your parents. Come with me." She shepherded the children into the tunnel. They could travel part of the way underground, but they'd have to come back to the surface to make it out of the compound.
********
"This can't be right, we're only going deeper into the colony," Nor hissed.
"We have no choice, sir," Theris replied, gripping his gun tightly in his hands as he crouched beside the wall, peering around a corner. "All the other avenues are blocked by fire and smoke. We should be able to get out by going though the housing compound."
Nor started to move forward, but suddenly stopped, throwing his back flat against the wall. The sounds of voices were faintly audible in the distance. Whoever they were, they were getting closer. The two men inched backward slowly. The voices grew louder. A woman was giving orders, her tone calm but loud. From the sounds of their footsteps, there had to be dozens of people. They must have been fleeing the fire. Theris silently drew in a deep breath. All they could do was wait.
********
He'd practically stepped into an ambush the moment he left Engineering. It was through sheer luck alone that he'd avoided getting seriously wounded; The rebels or escaped prisoners – whoever they were, it didn't matter – were as surprised by him as he was by them. The shot he'd taken to the shoulder blade had stung and burned, but it was superficial. Inflicted by a laser rifle, it had cauterized itself closed.
Lok Sim raced toward Thia's school, twice having to change direction because a corridor had been completely blocked off or filled with smoke. He doubled back, but the sounds of harsh voices cursing in the darkness brought him to a halt. Apparently he wasn't the only one whose progress was being frustrated by the chaos, he thought darkly. Straining to listen over the sound of his pounding heart and ragged breathing, he could make out at least three different voices.
"Split up. At least one of these hallways has to lead out of here," one of the men said. Lok Sim closed his eyes. He wasn't going to slip away from this quietly and undetected, but if separated, he'd only have to take on one of them at a time, and right now, he had the element of surprise on his side. He crept back toward a bend in the hallway, hoping to conceal himself behind the blind corner. Sooner than he'd expected, he heard the sounds of approaching footsteps on the hard metal floor. He had to do this quietly or he'd draw the attention of the other rebels.
At the first flash of movement in his peripheral vision, Lok Sim struck. He hit the rebel hard in the gut before striking him in the head with his weapon. He grabbed the unconscious man before he could fall loudly to the ground. Lok Sim eased him to the floor and quietly crept back the way the rebel had come. While the other two were still searching the other corridors, he'd be able to get away. He ran toward the housing compound only to be stopped just outside it by a pair of soldiers.
"I'm sorry, sir, rescue crews only beyond this point." One of them said.
Lok Sim stared at the other man incredulously. "My family is in there," he said between labored breaths. He stood up straighter, trying to remind himself to think like a soldier, not a panicked husband and uncle. "I am an officer in the Kryptonian forces. Stand down, soldier," he said, his deep voice booming.
"Sir, we're under strict orders to control this perimeter," the soldier replied.
Lok Sim stepped directly in front of the other man, leaving mere inches between them. He stared fiercely down at him, feeling a muscle jump and twitch in his tightly clenched jaw. "If you want to stop me, you're going to have to shoot me," he gritted out. The soldier took a step back and Lok Sim brushed past him as he ran into the compound.
********
Flames licked the metal walls of the corridor behind the spot where they emerged from the tunnel, near the junction of the housing compound and its transportation facility. The air near the ceiling was already thick with dark gray smoke. Enza tried to hurry the children in the opposite direction, away from the fire and toward the one safe passage out of the compound. The sudden booming sound of an explosion caused most of the children to cry out or shriek in panic. Some of them ducked instinctively, others tried to run. "It's all right," Enza soothed, though she knew it wasn't. She had to get them away from there quickly. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw the first of the firefighters rushing to battle the blaze.
Another explosion caused her to flinch, her body suddenly going tense. There was another, and another. That wasn't an explosion, she realized. It was the sound of gunfire. Their extraordinarily perilous situation had just somehow managed to get even more dangerous. Taking in her surroundings frantically, Enza spotted the narrow hallway to the transit engineer's office. They wouldn't be able to take refuge their forever, but it would buy them some time until she figured out what to do. She shepherded the children through the hallway and into the office, locking the door after them as soon as they were all inside. Grabbing her communicator, she shouted tersely, "what's going on?"
<<There are reports of more than a dozen hostile forces in the housing compound, they have fired on civilians. What is your position, ma'am?>>
"I'm in the transit engineer's office with more than twenty five children evacuees. I need to get them out of here." As she spoke, she turned on the screens monitoring the area around the transport facility.
<<Ma'am, I'm getting a report that hostiles are closing on your position…>>
"Then we need to hurry!" she yelled.
<<You can get out of that office through another route. There's a security corridor at the other end of the room that runs south parallel to the transport line, you can evacuate through there.>>
Enza stole a quick backward glance, confirming that there was another door on the opposite end of the office. Her throat suddenly closed up as she looked back up at the monitor. "They're in the hallway, just outside the office," she croaked, her eyes fixed on the image of five men trying to force down the other doors. "Why? What do they want here?"
<<There are emergency crews between them and the way out of the compound, they're probably looking for a way out or a place to hide.>>
She realized she could hear them in that hall. Turning a dial on the console, she turned on the audio monitors from the hallway.
<<We have to find the control room, there's probably a way out through there>> one of the rebels said.
"We can't go back out into the hallway; the rebels have us trapped in here. Is there any way we can seal the security corridor after we're in it?" she asked, hoping that disembodied voice on the other end would prove their lifeline and salvation.
<<No ma'am,>> came the sorrowful reply.
She nodded even though he couldn't see her. "Well, is there any way I can close it off from within the office," she asked gravely.
<<Yes ma'am, if you blast the door's keypad from inside the office, it'll completely lock down. No one without heavy machinery will open that door again.>>
"Thank you," she whispered.
********
At the entrance to the compound, away from the fires, they'd set up a triage and were getting the injured and those suffering smoke inhalation medical help. Talan prepared for another trip back into compound. There were still a few more shelters that needed to be evacuated. She looked up at the sound of footsteps running toward them. The rescue workers and civilians seemed oblivious to the sound. Her hand moved slowly to her sidearm; they'd received reports that escaped prisoners had managed to get loose in this compound. From the darkened hallway a group of men, women, and children appeared with a figure she would have known anywhere.
He led them over toward the triage, relinquishing an injured man into the care of the medical staff, and made his way toward her. A thin sheen of sweat clung to his soot-streaked skin and the smell of smoke seemed to have fused itself to him, but he was all right. Talan tried to check the feeling of relief that washed over her. "All of the other shelters have self-evacuated except two," she explained. "There are fires blocking the shortest route to them, but there's a clear path through the east corridor."
Kal El listened intently, his brow furrowed, his hands on his hips. "Then let's go," he replied. They started toward the east corridor. They parted company at the hallway's end, each heading toward one of the remaining shelters.
********
Enza dropped to her knees and placed her shaking hands on her niece's shoulders. Her heart thundered against her ribcage, her pulse pounding loudly in her ears. They had only a few moments. She looked into the little girl's wide green eyes. "You are getting so big," she whispered, her voice wavering. Enza felt tears well up in her eyes, blurring her vision. She blinked them away. Why couldn't she think of the right things to say? She'd never thought she'd have to have this conversation, and certainly not when Thia was still so very small. How was she supposed to say goodbye to the most important person in her life? To the child she had raised since she was a baby?
"Listen to me," she instructed gently, startled by the evenness of her tone. She'd expected her voice to falter and break like a sliver of glass. "I know that you're afraid, but I need you to go with the other children. Do you understand?"
"Why aren't you coming, too?" Thia asked plaintively, her little mouth forming a frown.
Enza stroked her hair. "I have to stay here," she replied. "But I want you to know, and this is very important, I love you. I will always love you. Nothing can change that." Enza bit her lip to keep it from trembling.
Tears streamed down the little girl's cheeks. "You promised you wouldn't leave me," she whimpered.
Enza's heart broke as she pulled Thia into her arms. She swallowed around the boulder that had formed in her throat as she held her niece tightly. "No matter what happens, I will always be with you," she whispered hoarsely. Enza summoned up every drop of strength in her body and reluctantly let Thia go. She kissed her niece's temple. "One day, I hope you'll understand and you'll forgive me. Be brave for me, little one," she said. "I love you."
"I love you," Thia replied, wiping away a tear with her little hand.
"Be a good girl," Enza said, her voice thick with emotion. She wiped away the fresh tears that stung her eyes. She took Thia's tiny hand in her larger one and led her toward the other children. There wasn't much time left.
"Remember what I told you," she said to Sokol. The young boy, barely as tall as Enza nodded grimly. He was the oldest of the group, and suddenly, he had to take responsibility for all of the other children. "Go straight to the end of the security corridor to the engineer's office, sound the alarm, and call for help. Someone will come for you." She ushered the children through the doorway, and watched as Thia turned back to look at her, her eyes filled with tears.
"Aunt Enza!" she called out, trying to turn back. The teenaged girl holding Thia's hand, picked her up and continued down the hallway. Enza watched her niece cry, knowing there was nothing she could do. Her chest grew tight and she struggled to draw in a breath. She locked the door's portal, raised her weapon, and destroyed the security pad. Now no one would be able to get through this doorway into that hall.
Scanning the room quickly, she found every crate and piece of furniture that wasn't bolted down and dragged them back toward the wall, pilling them up to create a barrier she could take cover behind. Her hands still trembling, she removed the explosive charges from her belt and strung them around the doorway at the other end of the room. The attackers would have to come through that narrow bottleneck, and she was determined to hold her position for as long as possible. She would buy the children what she hoped was enough time to get to safety. She took her position behind the barriers and checked her weapons. Her back against the cold, metal wall and her hands gripping her rifle tightly, she closed her eyes and slid down into a crouch.
She exhaled, trying not to think about the fact that she would never see her niece grow up. Never see the person she was becoming. Never know what path Thia would take, what sort of life she would choose. Enza was never going to argue another case. Never hear the Chief Jurist tell her another one of his old, embellished tales of his long and storied career. Never see another morning or another star-filled night sky.
She was never going to make love with her husband again. Never feel the heavy warmth of his arms around her as he pulled her into his comforting embrace. Never hear his laugh again. Or the way he whispered her name breathlessly like a soft sigh. She would never see the smile that lit up his eyes. Or fall asleep as he read to her one of those wonderful myths about honor and glory and the sort of love that lasted forever, that conquered sadness and hardened hearts and even death itself.
And she would never bring a child into the world with him. She was never going to hold in her arms a tiny son or daughter who had Lok Sim's beautiful eyes, or ears, or smile.
It was an incredible life they would have had together.
Her breath escaped her in a sob as she struggled to stop trembling. She couldn't feel sorry for herself. Enza had had just a year with him, but she had loved him enough in that one year to last a lifetime. He had changed her so profoundly. He had given her a reason to be hopeful and unafraid.
A single tear rolled down her cheek as she stared up at the ceiling and hoped for the strength to die well.
********
"Come on, sir, we can take this corridor all the way out," Theris whispered as he gestured toward the clear passage.
Nor ignored the other man. He peered around a corner to the juncture of the numerous hallways, where a group of frightened civilians was being led by some hapless soldier out of one of the shelters. The soldier turned around and Nor stood up a little straighter, feeling his heart grow light. His fortunes were finally starting to change. He could almost forgive this extraordinarily poor rescue effort if it meant that he'd finally have a chance to kill Kal El. He tightened his grip on his weapon, reassured by its comforting weight in his hand. Nor lifted the weapon and aimed carefully. He wanted to savor this. To make sure it lasted.
"Sir, what are you doing?" Theris hissed.
Nor squeezed the trigger, firing once. Panic ensued as the civilians screamed and started to run. A slow smile spread across his face as Kal El stumbled backward, grabbing his wounded arm.
"Get down!" Kal El cried out. "Get into the hallway." Men, women, and children ducked down and scrambled pitifully for shelter. Kal El bent down to lift a little boy into his arms, saving the child from getting trampled in the chaos. He started to follow the crowd into the hallway when Nor fired again, missing, but not by much. The child in Kal El's arms screamed. Kal El handed him to another man before reaching for his weapon with his uninjured hand. He looked around frantically for the source of the gunfire. Nor fired, intentionally missing. More screams from the fleeing civilians. Kal El, too, dropped to the ground like a pathetic coward. The wounded man scrambled for cover before firing in Nor's general direction.
He suddenly rushed from his position toward a hallway leading away from the civilians. How noble of him, Nor thought as his smile became a smirk. He was trying to draw fire away from the innocent bystanders. Nor was only too happy to indulge the other man's act of heroism.
********
The sounds of screaming caused her to stop dead. She turned toward the source of the cries, her hand already reaching for her weapon. Talan shook herself mentally before looking back at the civilians. "Take this corridor all the way to the end," she said calmly before starting in the opposite direction. She raced down the hallway, covering the ground in long, rapid strides. She just barely avoided colliding with the mob of people rushing toward her. Panicked, she searched the group for him. "Where's Kal El?" she demanded.
"He was hit," one woman stammered.
"They were shooting at us," a man added.
"Who? Where?" she pressed, anxiety creeping into her voice.
"At the juncture at the other end of the hall," the man replied.
Her weapon drawn, she ran harder and faster than she ever had before. She came under fire even before she reached the end of the hallway. The metal wall by her head was the unfortunate victim of a blast of rifle fire. Talan crouched low and returned fire. She surveyed the scene quickly. The source of the shots was the hallway off to her right, but down the corridor directly in front of her, she could hear the sounds of footsteps retreating rapidly. She caught a glimpse of the shooter who had her pinned down. He was taking cover behind a wall, but he was more exposed than he realized. Talan ran out into the juncture of the hallways and fired several times at him, her weapon jamming on the last shot. She heard him cry out and drop his weapon with a loud thud against the metal flooring. Still running, she tried unsuccessfully to clear the jam. She dropped the useless sidearm to the ground as she sprinted down the hallway. Following the sounds of footsteps, she turned, horrified to see Nor raise his weapon and fire.
His shot hit Kal El in the back, just below his shoulder. He fell, as if in slow motion, first to his knees, where he swayed unsteadily for a moment before falling forward to the ground. Nor stepped around his victim, a distinct swagger in his walk. He grabbed the front of Kal El's shirt and wrenched him up to his knees, holding his gun to the First Minister's temple. Talan rushed toward them, pulling her knife from her belt without breaking stride. Her feet barely hit the ground as she flew across the hall. She could see the look of sheer, sadistic joy in the monster's expression as Kal El struggled to lift his head.
"No!" she yelled out. There was a moment of total silence before the sound of a shot rang out. And then her heart simply stopped beating in her chest. With Nor no longer holding him up, Kal El fell to the ground in a boneless heap. Talan's body refused to move as she stared mutely, her mouth agape. Nor's eyes grew wide and he stumbled backward, his hand covering his wound. He coughed pitifully as he fell to the ground, the look of shock frozen on his face. She heard a dull thud and then the clatter of metal on metal. Dazedly, she looked down at where her knife had fallen from her hand.
Shaking herself out of the stupor, she crouched beside Kal El, the gun still held in his grip. She gently rolled him onto his back and reached down to place her fingers against his neck. He moaned softly, confirming that he was still alive. His pulse was rapid and weak and his skin had already grown cold and clammy from shock.
Kal El opened his eyes and looked up at her. "Is he dead?" he asked, his voice a weak whisper.
"He is," she confirmed.
He nodded ever so slightly, his expression pained, as his eyelids drifted closed. His breathing was ragged and uneven.
"Stay with me, sir," she said hoarsely as she took his hand, but he didn't respond. Tears flooded her eyes. She sat down on the cold, hard floor beside him. He was going to freeze and she had nothing to cover him up with.
Slowly, gingerly, she lifted him up, immediately noticing that elevating his head and shoulders improved the sound of his breathing. She slipped behind him, letting his head fall back against her chest as she wrapped her arms around him.
Her hand still shaking, she reached for her communicator. "This is General Commander Talan, I...I'm in North Housing Compound Two, the First Minister has been wounded. I need...I need immediate medical assistance...I..." she brushed away a tear that slipped down her cheek.
"Dammit, somebody help me!" she cried.
To Be Concluded in "The Longest Road: The Long Road Home."
