pushing his rifle aside he said to them, “When is she going to get here?”
A soldier, one of the seven named Romon, “Maybe she can’t get from the base camp here.”
Angle rubbed his stubble, “There not going to give her an escort.”
Abreon picking at the ash, forlorn, “Maybe she was captured or killed.”
Romon, “It is war.”
Abreon rebutting Roman’s coldness, “Over land, nothing more.”
Angle kicked his legs out from under him: ‘‘Here, here!”
Abreon looking out into the darkness three levels down from ground level, “I have done all I can. I have lost all I can and now I need her with me.”
Angle stretching out placing his helmet under his head to prop it up, “She will arrive, give it another day, unless the Tanar arrive first. Besides we shouldn’t leave this hole yet anyway.” Adding, “I’m going to sleep my shift is next.”
Romon: “So s mine.”
Abreon looked out up, seeing a bit of light enter from a floor above where the fire had eaten away the floor. His thoughts drifted toward his past, his wife and children, the burns he suffered, the scars…drifting away…
“Someone’s here! Two on shift detained someone upstairs for questioning!”' Romon yelled climbing up the burnt out emergency stairs.
Abreon all alone, “She is?”
“Their bringing him up right now!”
“He?”
The two on shift brought Loss down into the basement of the warehouse, Loss looking tired, weak and soaked from the rain, seeing a familiar face he beamed showing his steel teeth, “Abreon!”
“What?”
Loss running to him, “Abreon!” hugging him, “I missed you so!”
Abreon pushed him away, “Get away, then, “Sit down.”
Loss sitting in the ash. Romon to Abreon, “What do we do now?”
Abreon taking a seat on the floor as well, “Um.”
Loss, “I came from the encampment.”
“What happened?”
“They burned it, killing any soldiers they could find and scattering any civilians they came across.”
Abreon, “So there is hope.”
Angle, “Maybe she’s still alive.”
Loss begins, “Can I have some food Abreon? I am hungry.”
Abreon frowned, opened a chest pocket, pulled out a nutritional bar, “Here,” and tossed it to him, “Eat this.”
Angle, “But what do we do? We have to make a run sometime.”
Abreon asserting authority he felt he did not have, “Not without her.”
It seemed to work. Perhaps because they believed in Abreon, perhaps because they needed Nece’s wisdom, perhaps they were just frightened to venture out back into the war zone, Angle, “So what do we do?”
“We wait.”
Loss nodding, munching on the nutritional bar, “Sounds good to me Abreon!”
Another few days past. They were almost out of rations. The rain and ash had fully penetrated their steel thread uniforms and was festering on their skin. They could not wait any more. Abreon had to give up hope. Abreon looked at the washed away piles of ash he had made he had made. He cried silently again. In a moment of resolve, he let it go. Abreon stood up ready to call over the remaining soldiers, but then he turned, hearing a voice yelling from the floor above. He ran up the emergency stairs, up to basement level two, then one and then he was at ground level. He hopped over the broken holes, which were the ground floor of the warehouse, the building partially caved in. Abreon ran to one of the warehouses broken windows. It was Nece.
Nece yelled to him, “Abreon!”
Some of his team of seven rushed out to get her. They took her in and began to bring her downstairs. When they reached the warehouses basement level three he grabbed her, pinning her to the wall and kissed her, “I love you!”
Nece, rain dripping from her forehead, “Abreon.”
“What?”
“I love you too and I missed you.”
Abreon grabbing her hands and then walking with her, “I missed you too. I was afraid for you. Come we will feed and protect you. We will run through some plans tonight and with your help execute them tomorrow.”
Loss pushing in, “What plans?”
NINETEEN
The rain had stopped, but the flooding remained. Everyone was there, the seven soldiers, Nece, Loss, and Abreon. They were all sitting in a semi-circle on basement level two of the warehouse. From left, to right there sat Kotto, Lune, Angel, Nece, Sam, Wy, Ramon, Donna, Loss and Abreon. All of them minus Loss, Nece and Abreon were Srax, all of them except Loss where well trained seasoned soldiers. Abreon addressed them, “I did not have a specific plan of engagement with the Xelon Dru. Now I believe I have. You see, they must be stopped for they are the common enemy of many other corporations, including your own yours. I do not want to see war anymore. I want all to be at peace with each other and be among friends. You are all my friends. What I ask from you is great, what I can give in return is little. I know I am a conscript, but I was a commander in my own army and have seen much. You need to fight alongside me or I fear we all shall die along with this entire sectors way of life. The Xelon Dru will destroy it. They have nearly accomplished it; they only have to take the key.”
Loss, “What is the key?”
“They key is the Unar bridge.”
Kotto, “Why should the bridge be the key to anything?”
“The Unar connects this sector with the one before it. It is the only way to cross the canyon safely for a thousand kilometers. If we destroy it, the Xelon Dru will not be able to pass from where they are to where they want to be which is here. We shall be saved.”
Kotto shaking his head, “But they could just build a new bridge.”
“They lack the technology to span such a long way with a gorge that deep. The river is too deep for them. There is no science that can repair that bridge for heavy equipment to cross for a thousand kilometers.”
Angel picking at the ash, “What do we need to do?”
Abreon thought for a moment, “We need to first obtain my total protection suit.”
Romon, “Why?”
“That is the only way to safeguard my passage up to the tank.”
Romon, “Why do we need the tank?”
“The tank is a powerful machine. Generating that power is a nuclear decay mechanism. Wearing the suit, I can safely remove the unit’s safety mechanisms, causing to detonate. The nuclear explosion will destroy the bridge.”
Nece angry, “And you with it.” then crying, “And you with it!”
“Perhaps not Nece. I’ll have the suit on. It is damaged, but still operable. When we reach the suit, I will put it on. Then from there I will head toward the bridge along and cross it, make my way to the plateau and run it down from there. I will try to go undetected, though I will undoubtedly take heavy fire from the Xeion Dru who are painstakingly rebuilding and crossing the bridge into this sector. Once I get passed the bridge I can escape into the hills until I return with the tank.”
Lurie: “How will you survive this? Surly the explosion will kill you?”
“The panels of the suit are lightweight. They will allow me to jump into the river before the explosion and still stay afloat. The swift current will pull me down river and I will survive.”
Thirteen
EIGHTEEN
Abreon stepped out of the warehouse onto the flooded ground, his unit right behind him. Kotto and Luna directly to his rear, the remaining, still within the building. Abreon flanking what remained of the building burned out walls, the scars of the fire present from the immediate past. The rain had collected on the roads leading into the town, the collapsed buildings. The clouds still heavy, shimmering at them. He could hear intermittent gun fire and returning cross fire seeming to come from nowhere. Abreon took it slow, peering out from the corner of the warehouse to see if there would be fire. When there was none he motioned for the first two to take the first buil
ding they could reach.
Kotto and Lune ran across the street. Quick wispy sound could be heard and a laser blast was seen hitting the ground behind them. The hot blast turned the water, which had collected into pools on the ground turned to steam. There was a sniper held up in one of the building forward of their position. Kotto and Lane quickly took the house’s doorway and hand signaled that it was okay to proceed cautiously. Abreon inched forward along with Kotto and Luna. Sam, Angel and Wy were next out the warehouse. Abreon nearing where the next forward location was, another home. Abreon stopped and waited as Kotto and Lune ran to that building. Again, another shot was heard and another laser blast was seen, this time biting the heels of Lune. Kotto and Lune quickly found the edge of the next building, Sam and Angle taking the first, Wy to the rear of him.
Abreon looked toward his left at the next building, where the water was deeper and then to his right. Out from the shadow of that building he saw the sniper peek out of its corner and fire at him. Abreon fell to the ground the blast just missing him. Kotto, Lune and Wy fired at the sniper. Kotto and Lune missing, Wy striking him, just before Wy fell dodging a second round of fire. Another sniper from a second adjacent building fired at Abreon as he stood up, Abreon falling back again, the blast again just missing him. Romon and Wy turning to fire at the second sniper, missing as she ducked behind a doorway. Abreon stood, pulled his rifle, turned and aimed. When she appeared again he fired at her, but not before she had fired a round at Wy. Wy was hit in the shoulder, the blast burning through muscle and Into bone, Abreon’s shot hitting the sniper in her face. She