Rebellion in the Shadows

Arwago had made it sound like half the Flying Force wanted out, but we had a hard time finding anyone. They were too scared or unwilling to trust us. Either way, help was becoming an issue. Prelle had assured Kirtis that everything had gone to plan on her end, but the MP’s were now patrolling the hangar bay nightly. Redirecting a flight plan for routine patrol was a lot easier than setting up a night operation, so the next day, I volunteered to take a Condor-99 out.

“Prelle, is everyone else here?” I asked when I saw her next to our oversized drone. She was coming along to scrub the flight logs and scramble the calcumat signals on the four civilians we were smuggling out.

“Civilians are already loaded onboard. Be careful though, one of them brought their burla.” I jumped into the pilot’s seat and started pre-flight for the two engines.

Condor’s were different than drones or 4-5-2’s. The blades could point upwards like a drone or towards the horizon like a plane. This made it possible for vertical take-off, whereas the 4-5-2 needed a runway to take off and land. Last I heard, the Collaboration of Science and Engineers were still trying to get that tech onto the 4-5-2. Problem was, it was too big. The plane was 452 feet long, the longest ever built. It was irreplaceable as far as moving cargo. If a drone broke, it could fit ten of them inside and it shipped literally tons of food around the globe. Most of it was grown here at the equator then distributed to the many small cities around the globe.

“Who is my pilot?” I asked her, I had noticed that the flight plan listed me as the co-pilot.

“It’s here let me find it.” She scrolled through her calcumat. “Privy Mate Whyla Artifoe,” she said. My eyes went wide. Right on cue, my friend climbed into the cockpit.

“Whyla?” I got out of my seat and threw my arms around her.

“The gods you’d think I’d died and come back with a golden ass or somethin’. If you missed me that much, why’d you ignore all my calls?” she asked. She looked great, her brown hair was lighter, bleached from sunshine and her green eyes were bright.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“Volunteerin’. Put in for a Condor a long time ago. Saw your name and thought you put ’em up to it.” She slapped my back. “So, how’s it feel to be the SMG?” The biggest smile was on her face, proud that I had been selected for that great honor.

“Feels like being slapped on the back.” She was going to complicate things. Whyla liked to do everything by the book. I moved to the control board and checked everything. When I started to buckle in, she asked, “What’s the hurry? We got all day to fly in a giant circle.”

“No, we have cargo to drop in Durok at 119W,” I said. “And we don’t have to talk about me being Select Master Guardian.”

“Oh boy, I knew you’d be a surly burla about this. I’d ’bout lost my mind when I’d heard. Just ask your dad. He and Suttah were in the garden last time I was there, and he was all kind of grumpy ’bout your promotion. I told ’im what a big honor it is, but just knew you’d hate it.” She pulled up the flight log on her wrist, “What cargo? There’s nada on the manifest.” She was still not getting buckled in.

“It’s a civilian drop off. Harness up. We have a timeline.” I said. The mention of my dad had my heart pounding, she didn’t know he’d been killed. She started at the buckles and Prelle looked at me out of the corner of her eye.

“Ready for take-off Talaya,” she said. Whyla put her helmet on and tested the mic by blowing on it, much to the annoyance of my ears.

“Civilians? That’s weird.” I looked at Prelle.

“Let’s keep the channel clear for tower instruction,” I said. Whyla jerked her head back, like I had smacked her, but didn’t protest. She also didn’t say anything when I switched the piloting controls to myself.

For hours we flew in silence. When it came time to drop the civilians, Prelle went into the back to get them ready.

As soon as she was out of earshot, Whyla asked, “Talaya, what’s going on here?” One of her hands was covering the helmet mic. The plan was falling apart with every one of her questions. If I was a co-pilot and someone said there was a drop off, I wouldn’t have thought anything of it but Whyla lived for the details.

“Don’t worry about it.” I said, without looking at her.

“It’s not authorized?” I ripped off my helmet and turned my head to her. The look of confusion on her face didn’t deter me for even a second.

“I authorized it. We land in ten and I want to be back in the air in fifteen.” After another few minutes, she took her helmet off too.

“Talaya, you know how dangerous this is?” she asked.

“Yeah I do actually. Just ask my dad,” I said. We were at the drop off point and I started to lower the plane towards the ground.

“What’s that ’sposed to mean?” Her eyes had opened wide.

“He’s dead Whyla, and I wish that someone in the Flying Force had smuggled him out before it happened.”

“Dutom is dead?” I tried not to look at her but when I finally did, I saw the disbelief and fear in her pale face. Before I could explain any further, Prelle came into the cockpit.

“It’s done Talaya, gave each of them a good chunk of money and mapped them to Attle at 122E,” she said. Whyla looked at her, that was the last straw.

“No. Nope. No way. I am not helpin’ with this. Suttah ain’t ending up like Dutom.” She was at her calcumat trying to send a comm.

“Whyla! Don’t! Just hear me out.” If she decided to do anything, the civilians that were just dropped off would be helpless. But while we were landing, I couldn’t take my hands off the yoke.

“No Talaya. This ain’t some game. Do you know the punishment for this?” She was typing something on calcumat and panic was building in her voice.

“Prelle, stop her!”

Prelle started towards her, but she screamed out, “Go for it sister, see what happens!” Prelle hesitated. A holographic face popped up over her wrist. Glaring at Prelle she said, “I’d like to report dissonance. Unauthorized relocation—” I let go of the yoke and the whole plane tilted to the side just above the tree line. I yanked her hand away from the calcumat and covered her mouth.

I yelled over my shoulder, “Prelle! Grab the yoke, just hold it steady.” She jumped up and did what she was told. The plane leveled out.

“Whyla, listen to me, people have died over this. If you report this, all of us could die. Maybe even you.” The blood drained from her face. She looked at me, her brows stretched high on her forehead and shook her head. She thought I was going to kill her.

“Not me. I wouldn’t kill anyone. But Master Guardian would in a heartbeat.” I said. Then added, “Can I let go? Will you let me land this plane and get these innocent people out of here?” Tears started to form in her eyes. She blinked hard and they dripped onto my hand. Slowly, she shook her head. She wasn’t going to play along.

“Shit.” I looked over my shoulder, “Can we break her calcumat?” I asked Prelle.

“Maybe just take it off?” she said. That made more sense and I felt a little foolish at the suggestion.

“Don’t make a single peep.” I said and pulled my hand off her mouth. She stared at me, eyes wide, the same betrayal written in them I had felt with Notawa. When I reached for her calcumat the whole plane lurched to the side.

“Holy Tau! Just hold it steady Prelle! That means don’t let it move!” I ripped Whyla’s calcumat off her wrist and jumped back over to the controls, pulling it up inches from the top of a tall tree.

“Watch her.” I said to Prelle, while I leveled the plane.

“How’d you think this will end? Hugs and happiness? No Talaya, you won’t get away with this and who else is gonna get killed before then?”

“Shut up.”

“I’ve seen it a dozen times, people get all huffed up ‘bout some little thing and get it in their heads to try somethin’. Always ends the same way.”

I turned to her, “You think I want to do this? I don’t have a choice. They killed my mom, my dad, my friend, and countless others.” She turned her head to look out the window. Tears still in her eyes, but her chin stuck up in the air.

It was only a few minutes later that we were on the ground. Whyla stood next to the plane shooting daggers my direction, with Prelle close by but not a very threatening figure. The civilians had already left. We just needed to decide what to do with her.

“If we take her back, we are done.” I said to Prelle as I typed out a comm to Kirtis.

“I wouldn’t do that if I was you, comms are very easy to hack,” Prelle said. I swiped it away.

“So what do we do? Why didn’t Kirtis just run co-pilot?”

“The only person watched more closely than you, is him,” Prelle said. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. The mountain air smelled like home and calmed me down. I turned to Whyla.

“What do you want me to do?” I asked her. She leaned back on the plane and looked at her naked wrist.

“Turn yourself in,” she said. I thought about our options. Turning myself in was not one of them.

“We are going to leave you here,” I said. Then threw her calcumat at her, “If you tell them it was me, I can’t protect you. Do yourself a favor and stay far away from the WFF. You probably aren’t safe just because you know me.” She picked it up and wiped dirt off the screen.

She snapped it back over her wrist and said, “Do yourself a favor and stop going against Master Guardian.” I half expected her to finish her distress signal, but she walked over to a tree and sat down in the shade. If there was a way to reassure her, I would try. But it was already getting late, and she didn’t want my reassurances anyway. Both Prelle and I got back into the Condor.

“You’re going to Co-pilot on the way back,” I told her as we started to take off. Her face turned sour at the news but sat down without complaining.

Four hours later, we landed in the hangar bay. Nothing had come over the comms about our mission, not even tower checking in on our patrol. That was odd, tower always checked in a few times an hour. It gave me a horrible feeling in my gut.

When I opened the door, I knew why. Dozens of MP officers came pouring out of the building door. Master Guardian was easy to pick out among them, he was the only one that looked livid and led the pack. Boots shuffled towards us, each one holding a black laser rifle. Frantic eyes searched the hanger bay. There was nowhere to run or hide. Four of them grabbed Prelle first.

“Where did you leave them?” Master Guardian’s voice even and calm. I moved forward to jump in, but he ripped a rifle from the guard next to him and pointed it at my chest. Arms raised, I backed up a few steps.

“Grab her,” he shouted over his shoulder. Two guards grabbed either arm while a third aimed their rifle at my head. He turned his attention back to Prelle.

“Where did you leave the civilians?” The words echoed through the hangar bay. His eyebrows were low, but his eyes were wider than I had ever seen them before. He looked rabid as he pressed the barrel to the back of her head. Silent tears dripped onto the concrete, but she didn’t say a word. From two feet away, I watched him squeeze the trigger, felt the heat blast out of the tip, and saw the young girl crumple into nothing right in front of me.