Present Day, Phoenix City, Saraya, Standard Year 404

  Clara watched glumly as the giant Sarayan cockroach made its way across the small TV screen of their seedy hotel. Their IDs would not withstand scrutiny. Their housing options were limited. The night before, they had all slept in a stolen car, after Captain James Hawk, their fearless leader, decided they could hit three locations in one day, placing the deadly nuclear bombs around three of their eight selected targets. They had been on the planet for three days. Two nukes a day for the first two days, and three on the third. Seven down, one to go.

  The roach made its way to the top of the TV screen. Rather than having the decency to hide on the other side, it made a full on U turn and made its way back down, cutting across the image of a man whose face took up most of the screen. The news reporter’s voice droned on softly in the background.

  “That’s Will Atwater.” James nodded at the screen, taking a bite of a ration bar. They had gotten them from the hotel vending machine. It tasted borderline stale, but appeared to still be somewhat edible. Saraya’s humid hot climate was hell on rations.

  “That’s where we’re… going tomorrow.” Henry said carefully. Nowhere on Saraya was truly safe, and they all chose their words carefully.

  “To his ship factory, yes.” James nodded. Will Atwater’s company built virtually all Sarayan space ships. Every warship ever used by the Sarayan navy was made in his factory. It was the last target on their list. And then they could all get the fuck off this hellhole the local residents called a livable planet and go home, James thought with completely uncharacteristic vehemence. James was newly engaged, and he wanted to go home and sleep in his own bed, with his fiancée. Outwardly, his face remained as impassive as ever.

  “Wait.” Clara sat up, her focus fully on the screen. “Turn up the volume.”

  “…to declare my intention to run for president of Saraya in our upcoming election. My message, is simple. Greatness is not achieved with words and promises. Greatness, is achieved through actions. You’ve flown in my ships. You’ve already trusted me with your lives. You know what I can accomplish. I’m here to protect you and make your lives better. No more words, no more promises. Just results. Thank you.”

  “Holy shit.” Henry whistled softly. Current Sarayan President Lorelai Achly had been at the head of the fraction opposing Tundran independence. Opposing Tundra. Will Atwater… was an unknown.

  “Dead man walking.” James said with a nod towards Will’s image on the screen. He took another bite of his stale ration bar and with some reluctance, started chewing.

  Later that night, James lay awake and stared at the darkened ceiling of the hotel, breathing in the overheated stale air and wondering what growing up in a Sarayan orphanage must have been like for Alanna. His parents had been orphans. And while they didn’t talk about it much, James had always understood the experience was not a pleasant one. Alanna’s must have been at least as bad, if not worse. She always expected the worst of everyone she met. And yet she loved Saraya. Loved this hellishly hot planet and tried to protect the people on it, in spite of all their flaws. James shifted on the bed, trying to get comfortable in the stifling heat. He was glad they were tactical nukes. The damage would be limited. After all, he promised Alanna he wouldn’t blow up the whole damn planet.

  ---

  The night dawned bright and hot. They walked out of their dilapidated hotel room into the sunlit night. It was late summer on Saraya and Phoenix City was located on the north pole of the planet. In the summers, daylight was nearly endless. The night before, they dumped the car they had stolen and walked to the hotel, relying on the cooling gear their contact Tom had acquired for them to survive the walk. It had not been pleasant.

  “It’s a parking lot.” Clara said softly. “Why don’t we just pick one of the cars here.” Nighttime or not, she was not looking forward to another walk in the Sarayan summer.

  James glanced around the concrete covered lot. A dark tarp stretched across its surface in an attempt to keep out the sun. Much like everything else in the ancient hotel, it barely worked. The tarp was held up by haphazardly spaced poles that looked like they had been there since before the hotel was built. He touched one of the poles, unsurprised to find that it tipping dangerously at the push of his hand.

  “Distraction?” Henry asked softly at his side.

  James took a breath, feeling the hot air burning his lungs. He wasn’t particularly looking forward to a walk, either. “Distraction.” He agreed. “Henry, you and Clara take that car over there. It looks to be in the best shape. I’ll join you in a minute.” And then he grinned. This was going to be fun. And the damn hotel with its barely working cooling system, had it coming. Unlike the car he selected for Henry and Clara, the car James chose for himself was ancient. The good news was that the security system was laughable. The bad news was that the damn thing barely worked. James breathed a quiet and overheated sigh of relief when the engine finally started. He glanced around the parking lot one last time, memorizing the location of the cars before the tarp came down and blocked his view, and plotting out the path to take down the maximum number of poles on his way out. The instant Henry flashed him a thumbs up, he zig zagged across the lot, taking down nearly every supporting pole in the whole damn place as he went.

  Hearing a squeal of tires to his right, James grabbed his things, exited the ancient deathtrap someone called a car and ran towards the open passenger side door. They pulled away just as the first people inside the hotel began coming out of their rooms, looking around blearily in the still dim early morning light and trying to understand what the hell happened. The whole operation had gone flawlessly and with luck, it would take hours before anyone figured out one of the cars was missing.

  “Go, go, go!” Clara whistled, patting him on the shoulder from the backseat. “That was awesome, and a hell of a lot better than walking.” They all grinned happily as Henry took the car onto the open road, on their way to finish the job they had all come to Saraya to do. One more nuke, one more mission, and they would be on their way home as some of the greatest heroes of the war.

  Taking a breath of the blissfully cooler air inside the car, James looked out the window at the enormous trees towering over all their heads and the alien landscape beyond. Alanna thought that Saraya was more like old earth than his home planet of Tundra. He wasn’t sure if that was true. The trees towered hundreds of feet into the air, far taller than the tallest trees earth ever had. The shade of their leaves varied from green to lavender. Massive multicolored flowers, some of them bigger than he was, reached above the canopy towards the sky. From inside the protected and climate controlled interior of the car, it was stunning. Having experienced the reality of the Sarayan jungle firsthand as they hiked through the deep forest towards their seven previous destinations, James despised the place with the fire of a thousand suns and sincerely hoped he would never return. With a shake of his head, he leaned down and turned on the radio. They had a long drive ahead of them, and he was curious to hear the news.

  “Why are we going to the ship factory last?” Henry asked curiously, turning carefully to follow the route they had planned out the night before. “I would have though it would be one of our first targets.”

  “It’s more out of the way. Also Robert suggested it.”

  “Why would Robert care?” Clara asked from the back seat.

  “Who knows.” James shrugged. Privately, he thought it was a good question. Was it possible Will Atwater had a connection to Robert Nagar, the head of the Tundran Secret Service? Was it in fact possible, that one of their allies was running for the presidency of Saraya? But even if that was true, Robert would not have told any of them. Giving James and his crew that kind of knowledge before they went to Saraya would expose William Atwater to unnecessary risk. The possibility of their capture, was very real. As was the possibility of William Atwater’s death. What hubris compelled the man to think he could survive an attempt to take down President Lorelai Achly, who held an iron grip on power over the entire planet for over a decade, James could not even begin to imagine. “My money’s on him not surviving the week, so I don’t see how it matters.” He said out loud, before turning up the radio as a stray word about orphans caught his attention.

  “Orphan, warrior, traitor.” The ominous words rang through the car. “This morning we explore the complicated history of Alanna Summers. An orphan with nothing, whose continued existence was made possible by the generosity of people like us. In the end, she did not thank us for the gifts we provided. In the end, she betrayed us all. What led to this outcome? What can we do to identify other traitors in our midst, before they take that final step? And what does the future hold, for the gullible and na?ve young orphan who betrayed everyone? Today we are fortunate to be joined by a fellow orphan who knew Alanna Summers as a young girl. Jonno will help us answer all these questions, and more. This morning’s story brought to you by Sarayan Network News, SNN. Jonno Summers, welcome!”

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  “Thank you for having me.” The smooth, deep voice flowed through the car’s speakers like honey.

  “I don’t like him.” Henry said with a frown. “I don’t know what it is but he just… he annoys me.”

  James nodded in silent agreement. So this was the famously kind hearted Jonno who took in stray women with nowhere to go, and whose honor and well being Alanna so diligently defended. James didn’t like him either. And the obnoxiously smooth voice wasn’t helping. But he continued to listen as his eyes scanned the road. They were headed to an out of the way location, but he was surprised to see how few cars there were. He had become accustomed to the anonymity that the steady stream of traffic afforded them, and the unusually deserted road left him feeling exposed. He breathed somewhat easier as a few more cars zoomed by.

  “Jonno, can you tell us what Alanna was like as a young girl?” The announcer continued.

  “As always, the roots of evil grow deep.” Jonno said smoothly. “She was one of us and we all tried to do our best by her, but on some level I think we always knew. Alanna Summers, was not to be trusted. The gifts we were provided with at the orphanage by the people of Saraya were generous indeed. But Alanna always wanted more. Her greed was endless, and she would do anything, sacrifice anyone, to achieve what she wanted. We didn’t hate her for it, of course. It was just the way she was.”

  “Yeah, that really sounds like her.” Clara said sarcastically, snorting quietly in the back seat.

  “You have forgiveness in your heart.” The news commentator murmured.

  “He’s a known associate. He has to distance himself or risk ending up in prison.” James spoke up in Jonno’s defense, with some reluctance. That damn voice was irritating him to no end.

  “And now” the announcer’s voice continued smoothly “it seems she must have everything she dreamed of, and more. Wealth, power, fame. Her engagement to James Hawk brings all that and more. Do you think your sister will finally be satisfied?”

  A dramatic silence followed.

  “I love my sister.” Jonno’s smooth voice flowed. “For all her faults, we grew up together. It is not an easy question you ask of me.”

  “Your loyalty is to your credit.” The announcer murmured.

  “You really want to keep listening to this?” Henry asked, speaking into another somewhat overdramatized pause in the speech.

  “Might as well.” James said with a shrug.

  Henry nodded in somewhat reluctant agreement. He wasn’t always Alanna’s biggest fan, but the character assassination left a bad taste in his mouth. At least their faces were unrecognizable. He was feeling especially grateful for the talents of the Tundran surgeon who changed their appearance before they arrived on Saraya. Because Henry was beginning to suspect that James Hawk’s face was plastered across half the screens on the while damn planet.

  Jonno lowered his voice, so much so that James had to reach down to raise the sound. “I do not feel right divulging this.” He whispered.

  “Oh for fuck’s sake.” Clara rolled her eyes in the backseat. “This is just painful.”

  “But between us and your trusted audience, I will share… Alanna and I have been in touch. It is no easy thing, to leave behind everything you have ever known. Imagine being completely, utterly alone. And try if you will, to imagine the reality of her existence. Hated by everyone she has ever known, a pawn for the Tundrans to use as they will. The value of her life measured only by the damage she can bring to her own people.”

  “But she is not alone, is she? Does she not have her fiancée, the infamous James Hawk to protect her?”

  “We are all adults here.” Jonno Summers said smoothly. “I’m sure you as well as your audience are wise enough to see through the smokescreen, wise enough to know that the Tundrans, and James Hawk most of all, are using my dear sister for their own ends. Imagine what it must be like, to come to that realization. They cannot kill her, of course. They deem her continued existence valuable. Their opinion of us is laughably erroneous, for they believe some of us might be foolish enough to be demoralized by the actions of a single traitor. They do not understand us. But they will. I will tell you all what Alanna tells me every day. Her existence is a living hell. And the people of Saraya know, that for all whose existence is defined by endless greed and thirst for power, there is a price to pay.”

  “That was kind of an odd way to end it.” Clara said thoughtfully. “Why for all? I thought they were just talking about Alanna.”

  “Seemed to go a bit off topic at the end there.” James agreed.

  “Now can I turn it off?” Herny asked, glancing over at James.

  “The whole charade is ridiculous.” Clara pointed out. “If James was so very evil, why would he let her write this guy every day?” Even in the privacy of a randomly hijacked car, none of them would say that the man sitting in the passenger seat, carrying the fake ID of James Townsend, was James Hawk. The risk was simply too great. But that didn’t mean Clara had to remain silent altogether. “Would they really throw him in prison just for knowing Alanna?” Clara asked curiously.

  “Usually they go after family.” James said, his eyes on the road. “But Alanna Summers is an orphan. She has no family. And for what she’s done… for what she’s done, they’ll find someone and they’ll make them pay, family or not.” James frowned silghtly, looking out at the empty road in front of them. And somewhere off in the distance, he heard the distant sound of something he couldn’t quite place. “Go faster.” He said, turning to Henry.

  With a nod, Henry floored it.

  Going at top speed on the now nearly empty road, they arrived at their destination in under twenty minutes. As usual, James insisted they pull the car off the road, driving it into the jungle and covering it with a few fallen branches to ensure it would not be visible from the road or from the sky. The plan was the same as it had been for their seven previous targets. They stopped a few miles from their destination and took out their equipment. Silently, they shed their wrist comms, ensuring no tracking devices of any kind would retain a record of their movements. A very low tech, manual device would release a beep when they were within half a mile of their intended target. The duffel bags containing the nuclear bombs also covered an anti grav device that made it possible for anyone to transport the devices across long distances, without worrying about the weight. Grabbing the last bag with the last bomb, they headed into the jungle in the general direction of their destination.

  It was later in the day now, and the heat was suffocating. They wore standard Sarayan hiking gear. Wide brimmed hats with a metal net hanging off on all sides protected them from the insects that swarmed their field of vision. Cooling packs encircled their necks, ankles, and wrists to cool their blood back down to a reasonably safe temperature. A supply of carefully filtered water that was supposed to be pure but in fact always bore the chemical aftertaste of Sarayan filters was contained in a large reservoir, a straw winding upwards making the water readily available to avoid the dangerous risk of dehydration. And none of it quite worked. For the hundredth time, Clara raised her net and tried to sweep a disgusting, many legged insect away from her face without letting in three more. Some of them bit.

  “There are no words to describe how much I hate this place.” Clara announced as they continued on.

  “Yes.” James agreed.

  Clara paused momentarily, looking over at him. “Are you all right?” She asked. Clara knew James better than almost anyone. Well enough to pick up on the unusual tension in his voice.

  “Yes.” James repeated, ignoring the insects as his eyes scanned the jungle.

  “Is this about…”

  “No.” James replied before Clara could say more.

  They continued on. Sometimes it took them a while to get within a half mile of their target. On one memorable occasion, they got lost and had to leave the jungle and try again. But not this time. Everything went smoothly and the beep signaling they were within target range came as quickly as could be reasonably expected.

  “We’re getting good at this.” Henry said with a grin.

  Clara remained silent. She did not want to get good at what they were doing.

  As before, the planting of the actual bombs was relatively uneventful. Unlike the closely monitored Sarayan moonbase they visited earlier, with its stone surface and dilapidated ships, the Sarayan jungle surrounding their targets was quite literally in the middle of nowhere. No members of the Sarayan military were likely to randomly wander through. And the jungle provided its own camouflage in record time. Within a day or two of their visit, all traces would disappear, never to be found again. That is, not until a detonator set off the bomb itself, leaving a mile wide swath of destruction in its wake.

  So far, the most dangerous thing about their mission had been surviving the heat while trying to dig a hole in the middle of the jungle.

  “Can’t we just drop it?” Clara gasped. “The jungle will cover it within a few days anyway.”

  “No.” James said, digging harder. The tension in his voice was now even more evident. He was especially careful this time, using the leaves and vines along the forest floor to cover up any disturbance in the soil. All traces of their presence, were gone. Within ten minutes, no one on the three person crew would be able to find the location. The knowledge would be lost forever, until and unless the bomb went off.

  Their trip back to the car was relatively uneventful, other than the brutal heat, the insects, and the radiation of the Sarayan sun. Of course, those things were bad enough. By the time they drew close, Clara was feeling slightly dizzy from the heat and desperate to return to the air conditioned interior.

  But as they approached their car, once again, James paused.

  “Too few cars?” Henry asked quietly, his voice barely audible over the din of insect life covering every inch of the jungle.

  “Less than I would expect.” James agreed. “Let’s refill on water and supplies before continuing on.” The remainder of their supplies was still inside the duffel bag with the antigrav device. They took everything out, redistributing the supplies before continuing on. When they returned to the car, James got into the driver’s seat, flooring the gas pedal as soon as everyone was inside. “Seatbelts.” He said shortly. The radio was off and remained so, as James scanned both sides of the road, his eyes narrowed in concentration. There were no cars. Not one. They went faster still, but the road remained completely deserted. Based on the number of cars they had seen on their way in, this was statistically improbable, verging on impossible. James scanned the horizon and still, there was nothing. He slowed down as he heard the faintest of sounds in the distance, rolling down the window to hear it more clearly.

  It took Clara and Henry and extra second before they heard it as well. Far off in the distance, there was the faint drone of a helicopter. No, it must be multiple helicopters. And they were all drawing closer.

  James slammed on the breaks. “Get out of the car.” He said, his voice short and clipped. “We split up. Go off into the jungle. Survive. Meet at the backup location. You have your orders. Go. Go.” He repeated, physically pushing Clara into the jungle before heading off in a different direction along the side of the road.