Chapter Nine
Dexter was sitting at a comconsole, typing furiously, when Heidi entered the room. Hugo had shown them to the safehouse that had been designated for her, Trist, and Dexter, after which they had been allowed to bathe. Trist let her bathe first. She then asked where Dexter was because she was worried about him and had been informed that he was at headquarters attempting to contact Commander Trevana.
So that’s where she’d gone and finally found him in an office room by himself. It was an office very similar to the one Commander Trevana had except the desk was on the side wall instead of the back wall. Dexter sat behind it.
“Hey…” she whispered.
He looked up, registering her presence for the first time. “Hey…” he mumbled and looked back at the comconsole. He punched some more buttons on the screen and then dropped it onto the desk in annoyance. He sighed and sat back in his chair.
“Did you talk to Commander Trevana?” Heidi asked.
He shook his head. He placed his hand over his mouth in contemplation and rested his elbow on the arm of the chair. His other hand rested on the desk. He stared down at the comconsole on the desk. “I sent her a message but she isn’t answering.”
Heidi found a chair and pulled it up to the desk in front of him. She reached out and took his hand.
Maybe she’s busy and she’ll get back to you.
He pulled his hand away and sighed. He shifted in his chair until he was leaning forward, his head inches from hers.
“I just don’t understand this,” he admitted. “Yeah, at first, okay, I get it. The way you got to us was rather unusual and suspicious. But I would think after being with us for months and not betraying us and helping us train plenty of soldiers that you would have proven yourself.” He shook his head in annoyance. “It makes me so angry.”
“Because it’s now a reflection on you?”
His forehead creased. “No,” he said. “I don’t really give a crap what that clown Hugo thinks of me. And if the Commander is going to start distrusting me that’s her problem. I’ve been under her for five years and I would think she would know by now when I’m off my rocker and when I’m trusting my instincts.” He rubbed his temples. “It’s just that we have a chance to take the empire down here. We have a chance to end this ridiculous war and give everyone freedom and you’re the gift we needed from heaven to do it. And if they can’t see that… if we’re divided against one another… then we might as well just surrender to Ezar right now because it won’t work.”
The corners of Heidi’s mouth turned up. “You think I’m a gift from heaven?”
Dexter scoffed. He sat back in the chair and stared down at his hands. “For the rebellion, I mean,” he said.
“Just for the rebellion?” Heidi asked tentatively.
His eyes flickered up and met hers. He cleared his throat. “Yeah… why?”
She frowned and shook her head. “Nothing,” she responded. She folded her arms and sat back. She sighed and pressed her lips together in annoyance.
“You’re mad at me now?” Dexter asked.
“No,” she said.
He frowned and cocked his head to the side. “You’re lying.”
“Yeah, well, so are you,” she retorted in irritation.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nevermind,” she said. She stood up and started walking from the room.
“Where are you going?” Dexter demanded and stood up himself.
“It’s getting late,” Heidi replied as she stood in the doorway. “I’m tired. I’m going to bed. When you’re ready to be honest with me… you know where to find me.”
She didn’t wait for an answer, she just stalked out of headquarters and walked back to the safehouse.
She didn’t see much of Dexter the next few days. She suspected he was avoiding her and she was tired of going after him just to have him shut down. He left her alone while she trained the recruits. She was more comfortable doing it now on her own so it didn’t really matter except she knew that it meant there was a rift between them.
It was after they’d been there a week that Heidi walked out of the room at headquarters where she’d been training the recruits and saw Hugo was sitting in the same office Dexter had been sitting a week ago trying to get a message to Commander Trevana. Hugo was looking over some paperwork. All the recruits had left and she had merely been taking a moment to compose her thoughts before heading out. She paused by Hugo’s doorway and glanced in. He looked up and smiled politely.
She smiled back and then walked from the cave. Dexter was walking up towards her as she exited.
“I’m done for the day,” she announced.
He nodded. “You’re moving a lot faster here than you have at some of the other places,” he said. “I don’t think we’ll have to stay more than a few more days.”
“Great,” she said and folded her arms. She started down the path towards the safehouse, and away from him.
He sighed and turned towards her. “Why are you pissed at me?” he demanded.
“Why are you hiding thoughts from me?” she retorted, stopping and glancing back at him.
“I have to share all of my thoughts with you?” he asked, annoyed.
“Nope,” she said. “But I also don’t have to spell out why I’m angry with you. If you can hide stuff from me then I can hide stuff from you.”
“So it begins, then?” he said. “They’re not only distrusting you and distrusting me but now they’re causing us not to trust one another?”
“This has nothing to do with Lt. Hugo or Commander Trevana,” Heidi snapped. “And you know it. You have been closing down on me for weeks, way before any of this.” She waved her hand around to indicate the situation with Hugo.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Dexter grumbled.
“Oh, what a load…” Heidi said as she rolled her eyes skyward, but then stopped suddenly. “What is that?” she asked, pointing upwards.
“Don’t change the subject!” Dexter argued.
“No, seriously, Dex!” she insisted, pointing up.
Dexter sighed but looked up and his eyes went wide. An Imperial jet soared over the base—followed by several more. He watched in horror as a bomb dropped from the jet.
“Look out!” he screamed and dove into Heidi, knocking her over as the bomb landed directly in the hot spring in the middle of the base.
With a loud explosion, water and rock went flying everywhere. Dexter did his best to cover Heidi’s body completely with his. Pandemonium ensued and people began screaming and running for their lives as more and more bombs fell from the sky. When Dexter pulled up and looked around for a moment, Heidi tried to sit up but another blast went off and she had to roll to her left to keep from being pummeled by flying rock.
People dove into the caves for cover and, fortunately, the spring was deep and wide enough that most of the bombs fell into it and the blasts were tapered by the water.
Heidi sat up abruptly and whipped her head around, searching for Dexter. She saw he was scrambling to his feet about a meter from her. She then turned her head and saw that headquarters had nearly caved in
“Hugo!” she shouted and jumped up. She dashed across to the front of headquarters and dove through the tiny opening that remained.
Dexter stood up and glanced over in time to see her jump through.
“Heidi!” he screamed futilely.
Inside headquarters looked not much better than outside. Much of it had already caved in and there was very little light. She found Hugo slumped over at his desk, nearly unconscious and moaning. A large boulder sat immediately to the left of him and he was bleeding from a large gash in his forehead.
Heidi wound her arms underneath his armpits and clasped her hands together at his sternum. She pulled him from his chair. As best she could, she dragged him back towards the entrance of headquarters—only to discover
that more rock had fallen and it was now completely blocked.
She set Hugo down and pulled him into a sitting position. She grabbed his shoulders and stared directly into his face, though his eyes were vacant and unseeing.
“Lt. Hugo!” she shouted, shaking him slightly. “Is there another way out of here? We’re trapped inside unless there’s another way out!” She shook him again. “Hugo!!”
But he didn’t respond other than to moan. His eyes rolled around in his head and his head lolled backwards. She sighed and pushed the urge to panic down in her chest. She pulled his head forward. She pressed her hands against the sides of his face and concentrated.
Please, Chris, tell me. You don’t have to reveal everything to me. Just tell me if there’s another way out of here. We could both die. Tell me… please… trust me for just this one instance.
Her eyes snapped open. She wasted no time but grabbed Hugo around the chest again and drug him backwards, following the path she’d seen in his brain. She prayed that he wasn’t lying to her.
Around another corner, she heard another explosion and dirt tumbled from the ceiling. She tried to pick up the pace, but it was so difficult dragging him along with her. She couldn’t lift him; he weighed probably three times as much as she did. But she wasn’t going to leave him there. She’d gone in after him and he wasn’t dead yet. She wasn’t going to abandon him.
She turned another corner as another blast dropped more debris from the ceiling. Finally she saw a light at the back exit of the cave. She scurried as fast as her feet would take her with Hugo in tow. Another blast dropped more rock and caused her to lose her footing and fall over on her behind. Hugo collapsed against her.
To her horror, she saw that rock was starting to accumulate at the back entrance to the cave like it had at the front.
She shoved Hugo off of her and scrambled to her feet. She grabbed his hands and pulled with all her might, dragging him desperately towards the exit as more and more rock accumulated and made the exit smaller and smaller.
“Come on!” she shouted to Hugo. “Come on!!!”
To her surprise, his eyes fluttered and stared at her.
“Heidi?!” he said in surprise.
“Get up!” she shouted, pointing to the exit. “We’re about to be trapped inside!”
He was still woozy, but he got to his feet and threw an arm over her shoulders. Together they dove through the tiny space that remained at the exit, just before another blast caused more rock to fall and completely close in headquarters.
Hugo collapsed at her feet again once they were out. She bent down to help him, but he fell over into her arms. She sat down on the ground and held his head in her lap.
“You came for me?” he said, astonished.
She nodded, cradling his head. “Stay awake, okay?” she instructed.
They were in an outlying part of the base. She could see a few people milling around and tried to wave and call to them, but they were still in panic mode and no one acknowledged her.
She sighed and turned her face back to Hugo. “I’m going to have to go find help.”
He shook his head. “I can’t feel my legs,” he responded. “I can feel a serious puncture wound in my abdomen.” He pointed down.
Heidi looked down and, to her horror, saw that there was a giant, gaping hole in Hugo’s stomach. Most of his insides were starting to spill out. She hadn’t seen it in headquarters due to the lack of light.
“No…” she breathed, tears springing to her eyes. “I-I’ll find you a medic!”
He shook his head again. “It’s way too late,” he answered. “I can feel the life leaving my body.” His lips were bloodless and his face was starting to turn grey. A tear ran down the side of his face across his temple and left a single, clean line in the mess of dirt on his face.
Tears spilled out of Heidi’s eyes. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “I tried to save you.”
He nodded. “I know,” he said. “I’m sorry I didn’t trust you before.”
“It’s okay…”
He shook his head again. “It’s not okay,” he said. He swallowed. “Don’t let Ezar get away with this. There’s no telling how many of my men he’s killed here today. And not just my men, but their wives and children.”
Heidi nodded and sobbed. “I won’t,” she insisted. “He won’t get away with this.”
Hugo swallowed again. “Good.” He reached up and placed his hand on the side of her face and closed his eyes.
Heidi gasped as information flooded her brain. Her eyes widened as she saw the real reason for Dugan’s suicide mission. It wasn’t a suicide mission.
It was a Trojan horse mission.
As abruptly as it began, it stopped and Hugo’s hand dropped from her face. His eyes closed and he breathed out one more time. She stared down at his lifeless body and sobbed.