In a previous chapter, an annotation was made regarding the switch from a story written entirely in third-person to one which was third-person when the main character wasn't present to narrate. As stated in that annotation, the reason for this switch was to place readers into the mind of the main character and hopefully draw an emotional reaction in a particular chapter which is pivotal in said character's long-term development. After pulling the chapter from its 7 year hibernation and sharing it with an individual who was curious, I noticed a number of hits on it overnight. Therefore, I will share it even though there are many chapters between the current post and it, many of which exist only in outline.
I would really like to know what you think about this chapter and what your feelings were, if any, while reading it. Later I will repost it in the proper order and ask the same to see if readers' responses have changed after getting to know the character.
Dropcraft Landing Area
Kongsfestning, Kongsbyen, Aesir
0900 VST, February 20, 2482
The fall sun was just above the horizon as my three closest lady’s maids and I drove from the Dragonfly to the palace complex. Kara drove my unassuming but well-armored car while Hillary sat in the front passenger seat and Alyssa in the back next to me.
Like most cars within the Republic, even inexpensive models, the interior of the car was more like an aircraft cockpit than a car. The seats were comfortable yet sporty and hugged my shoulders and thighs to keep me from sliding around during high speed turns. Four-point harnesses, rather than lap and shoulder belts, kept occupants in their seats. The roof had a low profile and the interior was generally tight compared to average cars in other factions.
We sped along at close to 105 miles per hour, which wasn’t fast at all by any measure within the Republic. Ahead of and behind us were several large slate gray SUVs full of communications equipment and heavily armed guards. I was unusually quiet, knowing what was going to happen today. My decision to withhold the information from Hillary and the other two about the misfortune that was going to befall me today nagged at my sensibilities; however, I had other business to attend to until those horrible events unfolded.
In front of me video feeds of members of my cabinet were displayed on the touchscreen mounted in the back of the driver’s seat headrest. I would be doing a routine daily briefing video conference during the almost half hour drive from the aerospace terminal to the palace. Chiefs of various departments and ministries took turns briefing me on the state of their respective areas. While important, I found most of it dull.
The Chief of Treasury told me that the Republic’s gold and silver reserves were growing due to the intrusive regulation and tax statutes I repealed upon taking power. Additionally, the treasury was being pestered by some to abandon our three century old adherence to a gold standard. I knew this was the work of several nobles who would profit from it while helping to usher in a plethora of socialist programs.
“Our SMEWS network and DSSN reports several large groups of jumpcraft amassing near the core systems of the Khaytif Emirates. We currently have no reason to believe that these groups are a threat to the Stagecoach sector or any other part of the Republic”, Bareth Goldwasser said.
I addressed my Chief of Intelligence, Brodie Stewart, “What developments are there within the People’s Democratic Republic?”
“The PDR has also been moving several large battle groups towards our border with them. We expect the first of these groups to be within SMEWS and DSSN detection range in just over 52 hours.”
I cut him off, “They’re not a threat. They won’t attack, they are just trying to intimidate us.”
“Pardon me Kaiserin, but what makes you think they have no ill intentions”, Brodie asked.
“You will not question me in that manner again. I am the empress and you are in my cabinet. You are here to give me intel reports when I ask for them”, I responded sternly then continued, “The PDR will not attack because their leadership isn’t crazy, stupid, or suicidal. They will bring their battle groups to the edge of our mutual border in an attempt to trigger fear in the general population of our republic. Once they have done that they will withdraw and mark it as a victory against ‘those evil free-market pigs’. The population of the PDR is growing tired of the promises of equality and abundance and is also tired of living under the notion of some benevolent collective. A ‘victory’ for them would quell the discontent for a short while. You seem to have forgotten the most important tool in one’s arsenal is warfare of the mind. The PDR has witnessed what our republic does to those who provoke us into using force, our thirst for blood and retribution. They also know my own reputation for the same very well. You seem to have also forgotten this.”
Brodie answered like a puppy who had just been kicked, “I apologize Kaiserin.”
“The Emirates are the suicidal ones. A noble has baited those stupid extremists into coming after my assets in the area. They are the threat but I will handle them, along with their allies here in the Republic. Bareth, I do not expect Nemesis to be breached but ready your aerospace forces in the Stagecoach sector for that possibility. Continue our normal patrols along our border with the PDR. Let them know we are aware of what they are doing and that we aren’t going to flinch”, I said then tapped the end icon on the screen to end the conference.
“Have Nemesis ready for an invasion from the Emirates. I want all of my aerospace assets in the area to be on alert”, I told Alyssa, “They’re not going to get Nemesis. Also tell our package the operation is a go.”
I was interrupted by Kara, “What are these idiots doing?”
Her comment was accompanied by a feeling of deceleration. This was it. There was no other explanation for slowing down this far from the palace. Just as she finished her inquiry a helicopter blurred past us and opened fire on the lead SUV, quickly rendering it useless. Kara mashed her foot on the brake as she downshifted and yanked the wheel left, causing the SUV behind us to slam into the back of our car. It was a smart move, the collision with the SUV gave us an extra boost to quickly pull ahead of the vehicle in front of us. Kara put her foot down on the accelerator and shifted, sending us past the other vehicles as the car's engine growled.
Hillary and the other two knew something wasn’t right about the entire situation and didn’t plan on staying with the other vehicles to find out what it was. The helicopter was taken down by the SUV that had been second behind us. That SUV and the one in front of it were still trailing us but had fallen back several hundred feet. It looked as if a firefight might erupt between the guards in that vehicle and the one we had been behind. My attention was drawn back to the road ahead of us as Kara uttered some obscenity. The road was barricaded off well into the gravel on either side of it.
“Go around”, Hillary ordered.
“We will get stuck”, Kara responded, “I don't think there's anything behind those barriers, trust me. There's only one viable option.”
With that she pulled the steering wheel right and mashed her foot on the brake. Kara's protective services driving training had paid off. She managed to stop the car with the passenger side headlamp in the general direction of the SUVs, putting more metal and armored glass between myself and the danger. Thick gray tire smoke from our sudden stop enveloped the car, slightly obscuring the view outside.
Hillary looked back over her shoulder from the front passenger seat, yelling to Alyssa while drawing her pistol and switching the safety off. Hillary's hazel eyes momentarily caught my own as she turned back around to exit the car. Her gaze said more than dozens of volumes ever could. She knew these would be her last minutes alive yet was determined to carry out her duty to ensure my safety.
My heart sank down into the seat. If I could physically shed tears I might very well have done so. I could cry but there were no tears. Being modified to the point I was had disadvantages and I was just now realizing this was one of them. The look in Hillary’s eyes told me that my expression gave away my emotions.“I'm so sorry,” I told her with the most reassuring smile I could manage.
“Don't be,” she replied smiling and reaching back with her free hand to drop something into my palm as she gave my hand a gentle squeeze.
Hillary released her grip as she turned away, grabbing an autoinjector pen from her left shoulder pocket and jabbing it into her thigh after removing its protective cap. She growled in pain as she repeated the process using a second pen. Hillary then opened her door and was out falling back towards the rear of the car as quickly as she had slipped her locket into my palm. Using the open door for partial cover, she brought down several of our attackers with well-aimed shots from her pistol. Kara and Alyssa had exited and moved to my side of the car for cover in the few short moments that my exchange with Hillary took. They were also doing a good job of taking down the attackers.
I drew my own pistol but decided that Hillary wouldn't have given me one of her most prized possessions without good reason. Opening the locket revealed several small photos – not only my father and Ulrich, but also Hillary and Senator Gallegly. The silver backing of the locket was engraved with a short message telling me to do the right thing. It was then I realized Hillary was my aunt and Senator Gallegly had been my uncle. The resemblance of Kara and Alyssa to Hillary meant that they were her daughters, my cousins.
For the first time I can remember I was broken. A deep wave of sadness hit me like a violent wave crashing into a lonely lighthouse during a hurricane. The loss of Hillary, Kara, and Alyssa would more than just business as usual – it would be a destructive blow.
I murmured “no” several times as I released my seat harness and tried to open my door. To my dismay it was locked and wouldn't unlock. I scrambled across the center console towards the open front passenger door but its timed auto-shut closed it before I could reach it. Kara had enabled the security lock after Hillary got out and I was now sealed within the car until the feature was disabled.
I sat back in my seat and banged on the window while yelling Hillary's name as loudly as I could, trying to order her to stop firing so she wouldn't be killed. She and the other two ignored my pleas.
Kara, the youngest at only 17, was the first to have her life snuffed out. I could just hear her muffled scream as a bullet tore through her right shoulder. Her painful outburst turned into one of anger but it wasn't enough. She fired three more shots as she stumbled too far into the open and was silenced by a round to her chest.I screamed her name as I frantically tried to open the door again. Our attackers were slowly and methodically making their way to us. There wasn't much time left, perhaps less than a minute until they were on top of us.
Alyssa ran out of ammunition and charged towards one of the attackers. Several rounds tore through her body but the powerful drugs she injected into herself gave her several extra seconds to leap onto her target and quickly kill him. Her life ended after being shot several more times, leaving only Hillary to hold off the dozen remaining assailants. She hadn't been hit yet but would be running out of ammunition. I slapped my palm against the window to get her attention as she ducked down to reload. The only response I received was her own palm on the glass as she stood to send one last attacker to their grave.
She was out of ammunition and her death was certain. Despite this she dropped her pistol, bent down to look into the car at me, and placed both her palms on the window. She couldn't see though the reflective coating on the glass but she somehow knew I was on the other side staring back at her with my hands placed near hers.
I could hear her start to yell something, her voice muffled by the metal and glass of the car, “we love you and always will kid.”
“Give up. They can have me instead, I will surrender”, I screamed back.
“Never, kiddo.”
She was shot several times, stumbling to her left but managing to briefly grab hold of the window sill before falling to the ground.
“No! Hillary,” I cried out as she fell.
Three masked red-clad figures advanced towards the car, their .50 caliber automatic weapons aimed at my window. The window and door would protect me from quite a few rounds but would eventually give in to such abuse. With the caliber and firing rate of their weapons I had perhaps five seconds at the most from the time they started shooting until the door’s armor failed.
As for my body, the red figures would surely be using high explosive incendiary armor piercing rounds in their weapons. I could survive numerous hits from hollow-point ammunition and several normal rounds; however, the high explosive ammunition would easily punch through my body and explode inside me. A single round could take me out for good if I was hit in just the right spot.
On the other side of the car several more figures kept their pistols aimed in my direction as they closed in on me. One of the figures moved around the front of the car to my side where Kara’s body lay. He bent down and searched her for the car’s keystick, finding it in her right shoulder pocket.
“Keep your hands on the window, put your head down and do not look up at us,” the figure who appeared to be the ranking member shouted as he aimed his rifle at my head.
I hesitated for a moment, “keep your damn paws on the window and put your head down! NOW”, he ordered again.
Resisting my usual instinct to pick up my pistol, I did as the figure told me and looked down at the seat. How did they see through the mirrored window into the car? I heard the doors unlock immediately after I put my head down and moments later the door opened. I was yanked out of the car by the rescue strap on the back of my spacejumper and thrown face-down onto the hot concrete road. Burnt gunpowder still hung in the air, mixed with the odor of burning gasoline, rubber, and plastics.
A knee buried itself into my back as its owner held the business end of a rifle less than an inch from my head. The knee in my back was accompanied by a muffled pop and the feeling of something in my chest being stressed to the point of breaking.
“Easy, I think you just broke her”, the leader said.
Another of the men patted me down checking for weapons, “tag confirms it’s her.”
The sound of several large helicopters rumbled through the air and I lifted my head slightly to look in the direction of the sound.
“I said”, the ranking man growled as he placed his boot on my head and forced my cheek back onto the concrete, “keep your pretty little head down!”
“I thought you said take it easy”, one of the others replied.
The man kept his boot on my other cheek, “she doesn’t listen very well.”
I didn’t need to see the approaching aircraft to know what they were anyway. The signature sound of their engines and rotors gave them away as TGR-4R Tanngrisnir combat transports. It was perhaps fitting that I be carted off to my death in an aircraft one of my own companies developed and built.
My ankles were tied with metal cable-tie style cuffs, “when he gets off your back keep your face down”, the leader instructed me, “look up again and the boot is going to be where your teeth are now.”“Bomb has been installed,” one of the men informed the group.
Two men grabbed the rescue strap while the third man got up off of my back and the ranking man took his boot off my cheek. I kept my face down as the two unceremoniously pulled my upper body off the road and flipped me face-up using their boots.
I looked at the bodies of Hillary, Alyssa, and Kara as the men dragged me towards the sound of the helicopter. I wanted to yell out but it would be no use, they were dead and my captors seemed to have no interest in them.
Before being thrown into the helicopter a cotton sack was put over my head and the drawstring pulled until snug around my neck. I knew the sack had been impregnated with several layers of metallic shielding because my sense of position became more uncertain once both my vision and radio navigation became obstructed.
“We’ve got them”, someone yelled.
“Yeah ok, let’s go”, another ordered as I heard the side door of the helicopter being slid shut.
The helicopter began to rapidly lift into the air, pushing me down into my seat. Less than a minute later I heard one of my captors comment on the bomb they planted. I assumed they put it somewhere near my car. Any hope of my companions being alive by some miracle was crushed when the man said the bomb detonated. My head hung limply atop my neck within the darkness of the sack as I cried over the loss of three cherished friends, and as I just learned, family.
Great stuff... I'm hooked! :D