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…Yikes… two years huh? That's a bit longer than I was aiming for. It’s not like I forgot, god knows I felt like shit for not doing this sooner. I could talk at length about why it took so long but I’m not going to do that here. Anyways, chapter ten is out now, I know it isn’t perfect but at some point I need to call it finished before another year passes.
JACK
Jack slowly opened his eyes, at first everything was blurry but soon his vision began to clear. He recognized the bright fluorescent lights above him and the dull blue curtains in a ring around his bed. He recognized the white sheets neatly laid across his body and the faint beeping of a heart rate monitor somewhere to his left. But most of all he recognized the thin air surrounding him and the heavy weight of his bones in this gravity. He was free.
Jack tried to push himself up to a sitting position but his muscles trembled and shook, acclimating to this increased weight would take time. Suddenly the curtains flew open and a tall woman with dark skin and hazel eyes walked in. Her hair was done up in a bun and she was wearing the typical doctor’s garb.
“Well it’s about damn time.” She said half to herself. Jack tried to sit up again and greet her but the doctor just pushed him back down. “Don’t try to get up. You’re not ready yet.”
“Who are you?” Jack asked with some confusion.
“I’m Doctor Hodges, and you are Lieutenant Pierce if I’m not mistaken.”
Jack stopped for a second to process the doctor’s words, it felt like forever since he was called that. “Yeah… What happened?” He asked.
Dr. Hodges sighed deeply. “Well let’s see.” She reached over and grabbed a file from on top of the heart rate monitor while pressing a button that pushed him up into a reclined position. The doctor shuffled through the papers before saying. “First thing is you’ve been in a coma for about a month, the blood loss from your injury caused your brain to shut down.”
“Okay… ” Jack said, still trying to process what was happening.
“Second, your main injury. The sword punctured up through your diaphragm, through your right lung, and exited cleanly.” She held up some X-rays, presumably of him, with red circles highlighting some dark spots. “After you fell, the sword shattered which tore open the skin on your back. The fall also caused the blade to shift and nick an artery, which is how you lost all that blood.” Dr. Hodges held up another X-ray showing the artery along his spine with another red circle showing where it was hit. “Thirdly, as for your eye, it was beyond recovery so per your medical paperwork we’ve given you a donor instead of a new one. We matched the color as best we could.”
Jack felt the bandages covering his right eye. “Fuck…”
“You’re going to want to keep the eye covered for another week, take it off for a few hours at a time to acclimate it to the light.”
“Right…”
“We also found two stress fractures in the metacarpal bones in your right hand, a hairline fracture in your left radius bone, another fracture in your right tibia, and on top of all that you were suffering from malnutrition, dehydration, and muscle atrophy. To make a long story short, you should be dead.”
“Lucky I guess.” Jack said quietly.
“Luck had nothing to do with it.” She said firmly. “The field medics of that Mako team saved your life. That and modern medicine.”
“So, will I…”
“You’ll be alright. The muscle atrophy wasn’t too bad, and the dehydration and malnourishment was taken care of with IVs. All you need to do is eat, sleep, and start a light workout regiment and you should make a full recovery.”
“Thanks.” Jack said.
“You’re very welcome.”
“Where am I now?” Jack asked.
“You are aboard the MNS New Chicago, currently en route to Medeina.”
“But that’s… on the opposite side of our territory.”
“And right on the border of those cybernetic freaks, no better place to keep prisoners.”
Hearing those words was like someone kick-starting his brain. Where was Reni? He couldn’t believe he forgot, she could be hundreds of light years away or more by now.
Jack must have had a grim face because Dr. Hodges looked at him with concern and asked. “What? What’s the matter?”
“I- I uh…” Jack gulped. “There was an avali with me, I need to know if she’s okay.”
“An avali?” The doctor asked, confused. “Why?”
“Because she–” Jack stopped himself before he could finish. “I just, need to know…”
Dr. Hodges looked at him skeptically.
“She’s different!” Jack defended. “I need to find her, please.”
“Well don’t waste your breath because I don’t know shit about the prisoners… But if it’s that important to you I’ll ask around.”
“Thank you.”
“What I can tell you is that the New Chicago detached from the 8th fleet to resupply and deliver the prisoners to Medeina. So if your friend wasn’t killed in the raid she’ll be on board.”
“Thanks again.” Jack nodded, not exactly satisfied with the answer but it did help calm his nerves.
Somewhere beyond the curtains a door opened. Dr. Hodges glanced in the direction before turning back to him and saying. “You have a visitor.”
Jack was confused, who would want to see him? Jack turned his head to see an older man somewhere in his late forties, pushing aside the curtain. His uniform was decorated with all manner of service ribbons neatly stacked together on the left side of his chest. His hair was gray and thinning but he still looked like could hold his own in a mess hall brawl. It was Admiral Williams, the man who saved Jack’s military career after his incident, and his commanding officer. “Sir!” Jack saluted.
Admiral Williams shooed Jack’s salute away with an annoyed look. “That’s entirely unnecessary, Pierce.” He said in a gruff voice. ”I've told you this before.”
“Uh, yes sir.” Jack responded.
“Doc.”
“Sir?” Hodges responded.
“Get the man off of these machines and get his discharge papers ready.” The admiral demanded while peeking his head into another curtain-offed area.
“Yes sir.” She nodded.
“And uh, take your time.” He grabbed a chair from the other room. “We have a lot to talk about.”
Jack told the admiral his story, making sure to emphasize Reni’s involvement, he did leave out the part under the tree though. During their conversation, Jack found out that he had been missing for four and a half months before he was found and that the landscape of the war had changed drastically.
“So we’re winning?” Jack asked.
“Well, winning is a strong word, winning battles is more like it. Since the beginning, we’ve been either losing or drawing every battle. But in the last few months the Avali war machine has hit a brick wall.”
“What changed?”
“Leadership changed, and so did the tactics we were using. We set a trap in the Serta system, took those feathered bastards by complete surprise.”
“Serta system… That’s a mining colony right?”
“Mining and heavy manufacturing, vital infrastructure for our war effort. The Avali were permitted to break through our naval perimeter around Serta III and when they were certain they had beaten back our ships, they called in an entire fleet to assist in their assault of the planet. And that’s when we got ‘em!” He gripped the air and laughed loudly. “As soon as they got close to the upper atmosphere, three fleets of our own ships ambushed them! The sheer fire power of one avali frigate is enough to stand toe-to-toe against three of our own. So we ignored them, and aimed our weapons at the troop carriers, forcing them to flee to low orbit.”
“Why didn’t they jump out? I know three fleets is a lot of ships but it shouldn’t have been enough to disrupt warp bubbles.”
“Arrogance, they still believed that with all of our ships fighting against them, they could still land ground forces on the planet. Well maybe arrogance is the wrong word, because they still almost won. With the frigates occupied those troop carriers were easy pickings for our in-atmosphere birds and SAMs. Over fifty percent were destroyed trying to land, an estimated 30,000 soldiers killed before they ever made it to the battlefield.”
Jack let that sink in for a moment, thirty thousand souls gone in a single day. “So sixty thousand total, that’s not a lot.”
“They would only need that many to take the largest population center on the planet and occupy our factories there. It’s a shame Langley isn’t here to see it, he was a good kid.”
Lieutenant Langley, Jack’s co-pilot. They hadn’t met before their last mission but from the limited time they spent together it was obvious that Langley was a good guy.
“If it makes a difference for you, the cargo you two delivered was used to great effect.” That was all the admiral ever said about his missions, always something vague, Jack wasn’t allowed to know anything more.
Dr. Hodges entered with a stack of paper and a wheelchair. “Paperwork is all done, you can leave when you’re ready.”
“What’s with the wheelchair?” Williams demanded. “Get him crutches so he can walk out of here with some damn dignity.”
“Yes sir.” She said with a forced smile.
“How did you find me?” Jack asked.
“A day or two before our intervention, a ship picked up a radio transmission while patrolling the front. The transmission as you might have guessed was yours. But the brainiacs over there dismissed it because they couldn’t figure out what it meant, they just saw it as a series of random numbers.”
“My ID number. I started transmitting after we jumped to escape the destroyer.”
“A simple SOS probably would have worked better but it’s not important. A bit later another ship received the same message for a brief moment. This time some actual digging was done and they figured out that you were trying to make contact.”
Dr. Hodges returned with a pair of crutches.
“I’ll wait for you outside, we’ll continue then.” Williams said while getting up to exit.
With the help of Dr. Hodges Jack was able to put the crutches under his arms and stand up.
“Thanks.” Jack said.
“It’s no problem at all, soldier.” Hodges looked over at the doorway before she turned back to him with a cold face. “Look Lieutenant, I personally don’t give a damn what your reasons are for searching for your avali friend, but as soon as you walk out those doors you need to keep your mouth shut.”
“The hell are you talking about?” Jack asked, taken aback by the shift in tone.
“It doesn’t matter what she did for you, it doesn’t matter how different you think she is, you need to just keep it to yourself.”
“Why? What’s the issue?”
She sighed. “This ship is carrying more than just POWs, it's carrying a platoon of marines and they aren’t exactly logistics guys. They're door kickers, tip of the spear, always the first ones to the fight. In their last deployment they lost a lot of men. If they think that you’re a sympathizer, it won’t matter how many admirals you know, they will crucify you.”
Jack was silent, finding Reni might be harder than he had originally thought.
“I’m not judging, I’m just trying to warn you.
“Thanks I guess.” Jack said, still a little shocked.
“I mean I’d go see a therapist because it sounds a whole lot like Stockholm Syndrome but you do you.”
“It’s not Stockholm.” He said flatly.
She raised her hands. “If you say so.”
Outside the doors Admiral Williams was waiting for him.
“Come, we can finish our chat while I show you to your room.”
Blinding white LEDs reflected off of the spotless white walls and exposed pipes and mechanisms of the narrow hallway. A gray floor led the two of them through a labyrinth of corridors. The maze was broken up by multiple beveled doorways, the doors of which were propped open and secured with exposed hydraulic arms.
“So as I was saying.” The admiral continued. “We received your communication and the ship that did, I believe it was the Endeavor, warped toward the signal. Eventually they found the source of the signal, a crippled avali destroyer. The reactor on their ship had been knocked out and they were running on auxiliary power, they quite literally never saw us coming. An SF team from the Endeavor extracted you and secured the ship, it was a treasure trove of avali tech.”
They stepped to the side as they continued past a man wearing a tool belt and a hard hat pressing himself against the wall to make room.
“One team secured the whole ship?”
“Not exactly, the Endeavor is a battleship four times the size of that destroyer, to say we had a numbers advantage would be an understatement. We couldn’t let the opportunity of capturing one of their ships be lost.”
The admiral stopped at an elevator door and jammed his thumb into the up button.
“Sir, I need to find someone.” Jack said cautiously.
“Who?”
“A prisoner sir.”
Admiral Williams side eyed him and scowled. “This Reni I assume.”
The elevator door opened and they both entered. The admiral pressed two buttons on a keypad and the number eleven popped up on the digital display. The elevator launched upwards.
“Yes sir.”
“Why?” The response was intimidating, like he was daring Jack to give him a reason to sock him in the jaw.
“She broke me out of prison sir.”
“Did she? I remember you saying that you broke yourself out.”
“The first time, she broke me out the second time.” Jack said quietly.
The elevator came to an abrupt halt and the door opened.
Admiral Williams paused before responding. “Fine, I’ll look into it. Don’t go looking until I say so.”
“Yes sir thank you sir!”
The rest of the journey was silent and thankfully it was short. They ducked through one last doorway and stopped in front of a narrow square door. The admiral twisted the knob and pushed it in. The room was small but it had a bed(more like a cot) and a desk.
“You will stay here for the time being. After you settle in, go down to the mess hall and get something to eat, it’s on floor ten. I’ll be in touch with your next assignment soon.”
“One question sir.”
“What is it?”
“How long until we reach Medeina?”
He paused. “Tomorrow morning.”
“Thank you sir.”
Jack wasted no time heading to the mess hall, leaving his crutches behind. He got a full plate of food and found an open seat. Just the smell of it made Jack’s mouth water, he had pulled pork, some type of cheesy pasta, a side of mashed potatoes, and a few bread rolls. It had been months since he had a proper meal; while to some the quality might have been ‘military grade’ to Jack it was practically manna from heaven.
It didn’t take him long to scarf down most of the meal. Before he could finish, Jack flinched as he felt a hand clasped him on the shoulder. “Damn friend, slow down!”
Jack looked over to see a young man, with a high and tight sit down next to him, practically throwing his plate onto the table. Jack recognized his camo.
“I’ll be fine marine.”
The man eyed Jack skeptically. “I don’t think I’ve seen you before. You just change shifts or what?”
Jack paused before stating, “coma,” as he shoveled more food into his mouth.
The soldier was taken off guard by Jack’s bluntness. “...Well that explains it.”
Jack didn’t respond, he was eating.
“So why’s a guy in a coma aboard a navy transport ship to Medeina?”
It was a good question, Jack wasn’t entirely sure of the answer himself. “It’s a long story.” Jack said while stuffing a bread roll into his mouth.
“Can you at least say what put you in the coma?”
Jack nodded and swallowed the rest of the roll. “Avali got me with a sword.” Jack lifted his shirt to show the scar.
“A sword?” The soldier said, astonished. “I assume that’s what got your eye too?”
Jack didn’t respond but he didn’t have to, two more marines joined their friend at the table.
“Check this out.” Marine 1 said enthusiastically. “He just got out of a coma.”
“How did that happen?” Marine 2 asked. “And why would I care?”
“He got ran through with a sword.” Marine 1 said, ignoring the second question.
“Lucky.” Said marine 2. “They should have shot him.”
“You know, I was thinking the same thing.” Marine 1 responded.
“Why are you bothering him again?” Asked marine 2.
“Just making conversation.” Marine 1 said with his arms up. “But now that we got to talking, I thought it was weird that they stuck him here. I mean the only place he would have got hurt was that raid by the Endeavor.”
“And?”
“So why is he on the New Chicago?”
Jack started to get concerned, Dr. Hodges' warning ringing in the back of his mind.
“Have you asked him?” Marine 2 asked.
“He says ‘it’s a long story’.” Said marine 1. “Hey pal, you gonna tell us that story or what?”
Jack swallowed thickly and hesitated.
Thankfully, before Jack could speak the third marine looked up at the first. “Leave him alone.” His deep voice dominating the group. “Your voice is going to make him wish he was still in a coma.”
Marine 1 shifted his attention to the third and began arguing with him, leaving Jack alone.
Jack quickly finished his meal and left, grateful to have been bailed out of that conversation. Returning to his room he sat down on his bed. Although he had just come out of a coma he was already feeling tired. Leaning back against the laced plastic he closed his eyes and tried not to think of Reni. There was nothing he could do but trust that she was on board and safe.
The ground was cold and hard. Every breath was labored as the pressure squeezed his chest. His eyes were shut but he could hear the click click click click of taloned feet on the cement floor. The gashes and cuts from yesterday still stung. The sound got closer. His heart pounded against his rib cage as adrenaline and cortisol flooded his bloodstream. They were at the door now, speaking in a language he couldn’t understand. His breath quickened and his muscles tensed. The cell door squeaked open. A foot landed right next to him. In an instant his body reacted, throwing a fist towards the avali.
Jack gasped and shot up, drenched in a cold sweat. He pressed a hand against his chest and looked down expecting to see blood, only there wasn’t any. Jack looked up and blinked a few times, where was he? It took him a minute but eventually he remembered the MNS New Chicago, just a dream then. He looked to his left where he saw an unfamiliar man with a beard leaning against his desk with a scrunched face and a hand pressed against his stomach. It didn’t take Jack long to put two and two together.
“Oh shit! Are you okay?”
“Jesus fuck man! What the hell?” He said while taking a seat on the desk.
“Ah fuck, I’m sorry I don’t know what happened.”
He took a deep breath through gritted teeth. “Must’ve been some dream.”
“Yeah…”
“I knocked but you didn’t answer.” The man said while leaning back against the wall.
“Sorry again.”
He waved the apology away. “I came to give you this.” He handed him a folded up piece of paper. Jack opened it up and saw what looked to be just a part of an after action report.
“Hodges said you were looking for an avali.”
“Yeah. How do you know the doctor?”
“She patched me up after the raid.” He smiled. “I got to know her.”
Jack looked over the document, it was a strange list with descriptions and hand written notes. “Sorry, what is this?” Jack asked.
“A potential person of interest list. A list of avali to interrogate. Now Hodges said this avali was with you when when our guys found you, I wasn’t there but-“
Jack interrupted. “You’re a Mako?”
“Yeah.” He said like it was no big deal.
Jack stood up and held out a hand. “Thank you.”
The man paused before accepting the handshake. “Like I was saying, I wasn’t in the team that found you. The guys who did, said there was an avali in the area who had apparently killed one of its own.” He leaned forward and tapped the paper. “Definitely a person of interest.”
“Thank you…” Jack’s voice trailed off while he scanned the document.
“Don’t mention it. I’ve got to get out of here before my CO comes looking for me. And if anyone asks, you did not get that from me.” he said while pointing at the paper.
“Of course, thanks again.”
The soldier didn’t say anything as he left.
Jack poured over the document reading description after description, until eventually he came to an entry describing a purple avali in possession of an army issue combat knife detained in the immediate vicinity of Lieutenant Pierce. She was here. A cell number was written down at the end of the notes. He paused for a moment, a nagging voice in back of Jack’s head reminded him of Admiral Williams' warning. Jack was stuck, he deliberated between his loyalty to the man who saved his career versus the avali who saved his life. He shook his head, I’ll just check on her.
All of these ships were built with pretty much the same layout with the prison level on the top floor. Armed marines guarded every entrance, fortunately Jack was able to convince the guards to let him see Reni using the POI list as fake proof of his legitimacy. Finally they arrived at a door, the man escorting Jack took a badge from off his belt and pressed it against the door handle. There was a kerchunk as the locks disengaged. The soldier opened the door to a small dark room, at the far end an avali dressed in white digicam was sitting leaned against the wall, her eyes closed as she slept peacefully. Her feathers were a familiar purple and beige with a little bit of cyan separating the two colors. Jack kneeled down next to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Reni… Reni.”
Her eyes opened slowly. She blinked and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes before freezing. She stared at him. “J-Jack?”
“Hi–”
Before Jack could say anything else Reni launched herself into him, wrapping her arms around his body in the most aggressive hug he had ever received.
“I thought you were dead.” She whispered.
Jack was speechless, he was stunned by the intimacy she was giving him. But even though he couldn’t make sense of it he gladly accepted her embrace, melting into her. Damn it, he thought to himself, I missed her.
Hello there! Thank you for giving my story the time! My last post was two years ago and damn have I counted every second of it. This chapter was cursed with writer’s block, my own expectations of quality, and good old fashioned over thinking. Chapter ten went through so many iterations with how the story was going to turn and how the events were going to unfold and what it all meant in then end that it never really got fully written out. At some point I just realized that it’s my goddamn story and it’s okay for it not to be perfect, so I picked a version and wrote. Perfection is a fickle bitch and constantly chasing after it stops you from doing what you truly want to do.
Anyways, I kind of used my author's note as a bit of journal entry there but all that aside I hope you enjoyed chapter ten. If you have thoughts/criticism/complaints feel free to share, thanks for reading.
JACK
Jack slowly opened his eyes, at first everything was blurry but soon his vision began to clear. He recognized the bright fluorescent lights above him and the dull blue curtains in a ring around his bed. He recognized the white sheets neatly laid across his body and the faint beeping of a heart rate monitor somewhere to his left. But most of all he recognized the thin air surrounding him and the heavy weight of his bones in this gravity. He was free.
Jack tried to push himself up to a sitting position but his muscles trembled and shook, acclimating to this increased weight would take time. Suddenly the curtains flew open and a tall woman with dark skin and hazel eyes walked in. Her hair was done up in a bun and she was wearing the typical doctor’s garb.
“Well it’s about damn time.” She said half to herself. Jack tried to sit up again and greet her but the doctor just pushed him back down. “Don’t try to get up. You’re not ready yet.”
“Who are you?” Jack asked with some confusion.
“I’m Doctor Hodges, and you are Lieutenant Pierce if I’m not mistaken.”
Jack stopped for a second to process the doctor’s words, it felt like forever since he was called that. “Yeah… What happened?” He asked.
Dr. Hodges sighed deeply. “Well let’s see.” She reached over and grabbed a file from on top of the heart rate monitor while pressing a button that pushed him up into a reclined position. The doctor shuffled through the papers before saying. “First thing is you’ve been in a coma for about a month, the blood loss from your injury caused your brain to shut down.”
“Okay… ” Jack said, still trying to process what was happening.
“Second, your main injury. The sword punctured up through your diaphragm, through your right lung, and exited cleanly.” She held up some X-rays, presumably of him, with red circles highlighting some dark spots. “After you fell, the sword shattered which tore open the skin on your back. The fall also caused the blade to shift and nick an artery, which is how you lost all that blood.” Dr. Hodges held up another X-ray showing the artery along his spine with another red circle showing where it was hit. “Thirdly, as for your eye, it was beyond recovery so per your medical paperwork we’ve given you a donor instead of a new one. We matched the color as best we could.”
Jack felt the bandages covering his right eye. “Fuck…”
“You’re going to want to keep the eye covered for another week, take it off for a few hours at a time to acclimate it to the light.”
“Right…”
“We also found two stress fractures in the metacarpal bones in your right hand, a hairline fracture in your left radius bone, another fracture in your right tibia, and on top of all that you were suffering from malnutrition, dehydration, and muscle atrophy. To make a long story short, you should be dead.”
“Lucky I guess.” Jack said quietly.
“Luck had nothing to do with it.” She said firmly. “The field medics of that Mako team saved your life. That and modern medicine.”
“So, will I…”
“You’ll be alright. The muscle atrophy wasn’t too bad, and the dehydration and malnourishment was taken care of with IVs. All you need to do is eat, sleep, and start a light workout regiment and you should make a full recovery.”
“Thanks.” Jack said.
“You’re very welcome.”
“Where am I now?” Jack asked.
“You are aboard the MNS New Chicago, currently en route to Medeina.”
“But that’s… on the opposite side of our territory.”
“And right on the border of those cybernetic freaks, no better place to keep prisoners.”
Hearing those words was like someone kick-starting his brain. Where was Reni? He couldn’t believe he forgot, she could be hundreds of light years away or more by now.
Jack must have had a grim face because Dr. Hodges looked at him with concern and asked. “What? What’s the matter?”
“I- I uh…” Jack gulped. “There was an avali with me, I need to know if she’s okay.”
“An avali?” The doctor asked, confused. “Why?”
“Because she–” Jack stopped himself before he could finish. “I just, need to know…”
Dr. Hodges looked at him skeptically.
“She’s different!” Jack defended. “I need to find her, please.”
“Well don’t waste your breath because I don’t know shit about the prisoners… But if it’s that important to you I’ll ask around.”
“Thank you.”
“What I can tell you is that the New Chicago detached from the 8th fleet to resupply and deliver the prisoners to Medeina. So if your friend wasn’t killed in the raid she’ll be on board.”
“Thanks again.” Jack nodded, not exactly satisfied with the answer but it did help calm his nerves.
Somewhere beyond the curtains a door opened. Dr. Hodges glanced in the direction before turning back to him and saying. “You have a visitor.”
Jack was confused, who would want to see him? Jack turned his head to see an older man somewhere in his late forties, pushing aside the curtain. His uniform was decorated with all manner of service ribbons neatly stacked together on the left side of his chest. His hair was gray and thinning but he still looked like could hold his own in a mess hall brawl. It was Admiral Williams, the man who saved Jack’s military career after his incident, and his commanding officer. “Sir!” Jack saluted.
Admiral Williams shooed Jack’s salute away with an annoyed look. “That’s entirely unnecessary, Pierce.” He said in a gruff voice. ”I've told you this before.”
“Uh, yes sir.” Jack responded.
“Doc.”
“Sir?” Hodges responded.
“Get the man off of these machines and get his discharge papers ready.” The admiral demanded while peeking his head into another curtain-offed area.
“Yes sir.” She nodded.
“And uh, take your time.” He grabbed a chair from the other room. “We have a lot to talk about.”
Jack told the admiral his story, making sure to emphasize Reni’s involvement, he did leave out the part under the tree though. During their conversation, Jack found out that he had been missing for four and a half months before he was found and that the landscape of the war had changed drastically.
“So we’re winning?” Jack asked.
“Well, winning is a strong word, winning battles is more like it. Since the beginning, we’ve been either losing or drawing every battle. But in the last few months the Avali war machine has hit a brick wall.”
“What changed?”
“Leadership changed, and so did the tactics we were using. We set a trap in the Serta system, took those feathered bastards by complete surprise.”
“Serta system… That’s a mining colony right?”
“Mining and heavy manufacturing, vital infrastructure for our war effort. The Avali were permitted to break through our naval perimeter around Serta III and when they were certain they had beaten back our ships, they called in an entire fleet to assist in their assault of the planet. And that’s when we got ‘em!” He gripped the air and laughed loudly. “As soon as they got close to the upper atmosphere, three fleets of our own ships ambushed them! The sheer fire power of one avali frigate is enough to stand toe-to-toe against three of our own. So we ignored them, and aimed our weapons at the troop carriers, forcing them to flee to low orbit.”
“Why didn’t they jump out? I know three fleets is a lot of ships but it shouldn’t have been enough to disrupt warp bubbles.”
“Arrogance, they still believed that with all of our ships fighting against them, they could still land ground forces on the planet. Well maybe arrogance is the wrong word, because they still almost won. With the frigates occupied those troop carriers were easy pickings for our in-atmosphere birds and SAMs. Over fifty percent were destroyed trying to land, an estimated 30,000 soldiers killed before they ever made it to the battlefield.”
Jack let that sink in for a moment, thirty thousand souls gone in a single day. “So sixty thousand total, that’s not a lot.”
“They would only need that many to take the largest population center on the planet and occupy our factories there. It’s a shame Langley isn’t here to see it, he was a good kid.”
Lieutenant Langley, Jack’s co-pilot. They hadn’t met before their last mission but from the limited time they spent together it was obvious that Langley was a good guy.
“If it makes a difference for you, the cargo you two delivered was used to great effect.” That was all the admiral ever said about his missions, always something vague, Jack wasn’t allowed to know anything more.
Dr. Hodges entered with a stack of paper and a wheelchair. “Paperwork is all done, you can leave when you’re ready.”
“What’s with the wheelchair?” Williams demanded. “Get him crutches so he can walk out of here with some damn dignity.”
“Yes sir.” She said with a forced smile.
“How did you find me?” Jack asked.
“A day or two before our intervention, a ship picked up a radio transmission while patrolling the front. The transmission as you might have guessed was yours. But the brainiacs over there dismissed it because they couldn’t figure out what it meant, they just saw it as a series of random numbers.”
“My ID number. I started transmitting after we jumped to escape the destroyer.”
“A simple SOS probably would have worked better but it’s not important. A bit later another ship received the same message for a brief moment. This time some actual digging was done and they figured out that you were trying to make contact.”
Dr. Hodges returned with a pair of crutches.
“I’ll wait for you outside, we’ll continue then.” Williams said while getting up to exit.
With the help of Dr. Hodges Jack was able to put the crutches under his arms and stand up.
“Thanks.” Jack said.
“It’s no problem at all, soldier.” Hodges looked over at the doorway before she turned back to him with a cold face. “Look Lieutenant, I personally don’t give a damn what your reasons are for searching for your avali friend, but as soon as you walk out those doors you need to keep your mouth shut.”
“The hell are you talking about?” Jack asked, taken aback by the shift in tone.
“It doesn’t matter what she did for you, it doesn’t matter how different you think she is, you need to just keep it to yourself.”
“Why? What’s the issue?”
She sighed. “This ship is carrying more than just POWs, it's carrying a platoon of marines and they aren’t exactly logistics guys. They're door kickers, tip of the spear, always the first ones to the fight. In their last deployment they lost a lot of men. If they think that you’re a sympathizer, it won’t matter how many admirals you know, they will crucify you.”
Jack was silent, finding Reni might be harder than he had originally thought.
“I’m not judging, I’m just trying to warn you.
“Thanks I guess.” Jack said, still a little shocked.
“I mean I’d go see a therapist because it sounds a whole lot like Stockholm Syndrome but you do you.”
“It’s not Stockholm.” He said flatly.
She raised her hands. “If you say so.”
Outside the doors Admiral Williams was waiting for him.
“Come, we can finish our chat while I show you to your room.”
Blinding white LEDs reflected off of the spotless white walls and exposed pipes and mechanisms of the narrow hallway. A gray floor led the two of them through a labyrinth of corridors. The maze was broken up by multiple beveled doorways, the doors of which were propped open and secured with exposed hydraulic arms.
“So as I was saying.” The admiral continued. “We received your communication and the ship that did, I believe it was the Endeavor, warped toward the signal. Eventually they found the source of the signal, a crippled avali destroyer. The reactor on their ship had been knocked out and they were running on auxiliary power, they quite literally never saw us coming. An SF team from the Endeavor extracted you and secured the ship, it was a treasure trove of avali tech.”
They stepped to the side as they continued past a man wearing a tool belt and a hard hat pressing himself against the wall to make room.
“One team secured the whole ship?”
“Not exactly, the Endeavor is a battleship four times the size of that destroyer, to say we had a numbers advantage would be an understatement. We couldn’t let the opportunity of capturing one of their ships be lost.”
The admiral stopped at an elevator door and jammed his thumb into the up button.
“Sir, I need to find someone.” Jack said cautiously.
“Who?”
“A prisoner sir.”
Admiral Williams side eyed him and scowled. “This Reni I assume.”
The elevator door opened and they both entered. The admiral pressed two buttons on a keypad and the number eleven popped up on the digital display. The elevator launched upwards.
“Yes sir.”
“Why?” The response was intimidating, like he was daring Jack to give him a reason to sock him in the jaw.
“She broke me out of prison sir.”
“Did she? I remember you saying that you broke yourself out.”
“The first time, she broke me out the second time.” Jack said quietly.
The elevator came to an abrupt halt and the door opened.
Admiral Williams paused before responding. “Fine, I’ll look into it. Don’t go looking until I say so.”
“Yes sir thank you sir!”
The rest of the journey was silent and thankfully it was short. They ducked through one last doorway and stopped in front of a narrow square door. The admiral twisted the knob and pushed it in. The room was small but it had a bed(more like a cot) and a desk.
“You will stay here for the time being. After you settle in, go down to the mess hall and get something to eat, it’s on floor ten. I’ll be in touch with your next assignment soon.”
“One question sir.”
“What is it?”
“How long until we reach Medeina?”
He paused. “Tomorrow morning.”
“Thank you sir.”
Jack wasted no time heading to the mess hall, leaving his crutches behind. He got a full plate of food and found an open seat. Just the smell of it made Jack’s mouth water, he had pulled pork, some type of cheesy pasta, a side of mashed potatoes, and a few bread rolls. It had been months since he had a proper meal; while to some the quality might have been ‘military grade’ to Jack it was practically manna from heaven.
It didn’t take him long to scarf down most of the meal. Before he could finish, Jack flinched as he felt a hand clasped him on the shoulder. “Damn friend, slow down!”
Jack looked over to see a young man, with a high and tight sit down next to him, practically throwing his plate onto the table. Jack recognized his camo.
“I’ll be fine marine.”
The man eyed Jack skeptically. “I don’t think I’ve seen you before. You just change shifts or what?”
Jack paused before stating, “coma,” as he shoveled more food into his mouth.
The soldier was taken off guard by Jack’s bluntness. “...Well that explains it.”
Jack didn’t respond, he was eating.
“So why’s a guy in a coma aboard a navy transport ship to Medeina?”
It was a good question, Jack wasn’t entirely sure of the answer himself. “It’s a long story.” Jack said while stuffing a bread roll into his mouth.
“Can you at least say what put you in the coma?”
Jack nodded and swallowed the rest of the roll. “Avali got me with a sword.” Jack lifted his shirt to show the scar.
“A sword?” The soldier said, astonished. “I assume that’s what got your eye too?”
Jack didn’t respond but he didn’t have to, two more marines joined their friend at the table.
“Check this out.” Marine 1 said enthusiastically. “He just got out of a coma.”
“How did that happen?” Marine 2 asked. “And why would I care?”
“He got ran through with a sword.” Marine 1 said, ignoring the second question.
“Lucky.” Said marine 2. “They should have shot him.”
“You know, I was thinking the same thing.” Marine 1 responded.
“Why are you bothering him again?” Asked marine 2.
“Just making conversation.” Marine 1 said with his arms up. “But now that we got to talking, I thought it was weird that they stuck him here. I mean the only place he would have got hurt was that raid by the Endeavor.”
“And?”
“So why is he on the New Chicago?”
Jack started to get concerned, Dr. Hodges' warning ringing in the back of his mind.
“Have you asked him?” Marine 2 asked.
“He says ‘it’s a long story’.” Said marine 1. “Hey pal, you gonna tell us that story or what?”
Jack swallowed thickly and hesitated.
Thankfully, before Jack could speak the third marine looked up at the first. “Leave him alone.” His deep voice dominating the group. “Your voice is going to make him wish he was still in a coma.”
Marine 1 shifted his attention to the third and began arguing with him, leaving Jack alone.
Jack quickly finished his meal and left, grateful to have been bailed out of that conversation. Returning to his room he sat down on his bed. Although he had just come out of a coma he was already feeling tired. Leaning back against the laced plastic he closed his eyes and tried not to think of Reni. There was nothing he could do but trust that she was on board and safe.
The ground was cold and hard. Every breath was labored as the pressure squeezed his chest. His eyes were shut but he could hear the click click click click of taloned feet on the cement floor. The gashes and cuts from yesterday still stung. The sound got closer. His heart pounded against his rib cage as adrenaline and cortisol flooded his bloodstream. They were at the door now, speaking in a language he couldn’t understand. His breath quickened and his muscles tensed. The cell door squeaked open. A foot landed right next to him. In an instant his body reacted, throwing a fist towards the avali.
Jack gasped and shot up, drenched in a cold sweat. He pressed a hand against his chest and looked down expecting to see blood, only there wasn’t any. Jack looked up and blinked a few times, where was he? It took him a minute but eventually he remembered the MNS New Chicago, just a dream then. He looked to his left where he saw an unfamiliar man with a beard leaning against his desk with a scrunched face and a hand pressed against his stomach. It didn’t take Jack long to put two and two together.
“Oh shit! Are you okay?”
“Jesus fuck man! What the hell?” He said while taking a seat on the desk.
“Ah fuck, I’m sorry I don’t know what happened.”
He took a deep breath through gritted teeth. “Must’ve been some dream.”
“Yeah…”
“I knocked but you didn’t answer.” The man said while leaning back against the wall.
“Sorry again.”
He waved the apology away. “I came to give you this.” He handed him a folded up piece of paper. Jack opened it up and saw what looked to be just a part of an after action report.
“Hodges said you were looking for an avali.”
“Yeah. How do you know the doctor?”
“She patched me up after the raid.” He smiled. “I got to know her.”
Jack looked over the document, it was a strange list with descriptions and hand written notes. “Sorry, what is this?” Jack asked.
“A potential person of interest list. A list of avali to interrogate. Now Hodges said this avali was with you when when our guys found you, I wasn’t there but-“
Jack interrupted. “You’re a Mako?”
“Yeah.” He said like it was no big deal.
Jack stood up and held out a hand. “Thank you.”
The man paused before accepting the handshake. “Like I was saying, I wasn’t in the team that found you. The guys who did, said there was an avali in the area who had apparently killed one of its own.” He leaned forward and tapped the paper. “Definitely a person of interest.”
“Thank you…” Jack’s voice trailed off while he scanned the document.
“Don’t mention it. I’ve got to get out of here before my CO comes looking for me. And if anyone asks, you did not get that from me.” he said while pointing at the paper.
“Of course, thanks again.”
The soldier didn’t say anything as he left.
Jack poured over the document reading description after description, until eventually he came to an entry describing a purple avali in possession of an army issue combat knife detained in the immediate vicinity of Lieutenant Pierce. She was here. A cell number was written down at the end of the notes. He paused for a moment, a nagging voice in back of Jack’s head reminded him of Admiral Williams' warning. Jack was stuck, he deliberated between his loyalty to the man who saved his career versus the avali who saved his life. He shook his head, I’ll just check on her.
All of these ships were built with pretty much the same layout with the prison level on the top floor. Armed marines guarded every entrance, fortunately Jack was able to convince the guards to let him see Reni using the POI list as fake proof of his legitimacy. Finally they arrived at a door, the man escorting Jack took a badge from off his belt and pressed it against the door handle. There was a kerchunk as the locks disengaged. The soldier opened the door to a small dark room, at the far end an avali dressed in white digicam was sitting leaned against the wall, her eyes closed as she slept peacefully. Her feathers were a familiar purple and beige with a little bit of cyan separating the two colors. Jack kneeled down next to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Reni… Reni.”
Her eyes opened slowly. She blinked and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes before freezing. She stared at him. “J-Jack?”
“Hi–”
Before Jack could say anything else Reni launched herself into him, wrapping her arms around his body in the most aggressive hug he had ever received.
“I thought you were dead.” She whispered.
Jack was speechless, he was stunned by the intimacy she was giving him. But even though he couldn’t make sense of it he gladly accepted her embrace, melting into her. Damn it, he thought to himself, I missed her.
Hello there! Thank you for giving my story the time! My last post was two years ago and damn have I counted every second of it. This chapter was cursed with writer’s block, my own expectations of quality, and good old fashioned over thinking. Chapter ten went through so many iterations with how the story was going to turn and how the events were going to unfold and what it all meant in then end that it never really got fully written out. At some point I just realized that it’s my goddamn story and it’s okay for it not to be perfect, so I picked a version and wrote. Perfection is a fickle bitch and constantly chasing after it stops you from doing what you truly want to do.
Anyways, I kind of used my author's note as a bit of journal entry there but all that aside I hope you enjoyed chapter ten. If you have thoughts/criticism/complaints feel free to share, thanks for reading.
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