Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

Wan Ren capital ship

High Orbit

Planet IV Nóngtián (Farmland)

F�"ngfù System (rich)

Xun had not slept well that night.  The faces of those slain in the recent months haunted his dreams.  As his mind drifted in and out of sleep he suddenly found himself back on Nongtian at the beginning of the assault, though it seemed stranger this time.  There was a strange mist rolling over the land, different than the Fog.  He felt an odd aloneness. He tapped at his suits sensors but they seemed to be malfunctioning.

His instincts took over as he pulled off his helmet.  The air was thick.  The scent of charred flesh and fresh blood penetrated his nose.  He raised his rifle as he called for his squad over the network.  Nothing but static answered.  He tried hailing the dropships, but again nothing.  The ground beneath him began to tremble.  Something inside him was telling him to move, but without his sensors, the mines would be impossible to navigate.  Another tremble shook the ground, this time stronger.  He had no choice, he had to move.

His movements were slow and strategic, each step placed carefully in succession.  He swept the surroundings area as best he could with his eyes, but the fog seemed to be growing thicker.  Odd. It should be dissipating.  Something moved in the corner of his eye and he swung to meet it with his rifles barrel.  But there was nothing there.  He could feel his heart begin to race, which was strange as his training taught him control.  Something about all of this, however, was not something he had trained for.

Xun eased his stance and slowly stepped towards the direction of the ghost.  Without warning another shape raced past his vision.  This time he could feel the wind rush past him as the shadow moved.  A slight disturbance in the mist confirmed this was real, but again, he saw nothing there.  He squinted his eyes, peering in to the mist as far as he could.  The stench of death was growing stronger.

Straight ahead he could see something moving, this time slowly and directly in front of him.  A dark figure slowly taking shape in the dense clouds.  He took aim.

“You there!  Identify yourself!” he shouted.  

No response.

“You there!  Stand where you are!  Identify yourself!”

Suddenly, a blue shockwave ripped through the air beside the figure’s head.  For a brief moment, Xun was blinded.  As his vision returned, he raced over to where the figure had been expecting to see the shredded remains of an innocent civilian.  But there was nothing there.  No body.  No remains from the mine. No scars on the earth.  A whisper from behind called to him, like ice pouring through his veins.

“Xun.”

He spun so fast he stumbled over his own feet and fell backwards, a single round escaping his rifle as he slammed to the ground.  Terror filled his eyes as a figure stood before him.  The persons face was half missing, blown apart by what he could only assume was the phantom mine, its flesh dark, scorched, and rotting.  He fumbled with his rifle as he attempted to aim.  That’s when it hit him.  The face, he remembered it.  It was a woman’s, and not just any.  It was his mother.

Xun struggled to his feet, his mother’s eyes sympathetically locked with his.

“How can this be?” he asked.

“Be still now, son,” she said, placing a hand on his chest.

A warmth washed over him, radiating out from her fingertips.  Like a strong gust of an ocean breeze the warmth poured outward pushing away the haze around them.  But what he saw in its place did not ease his mind.

Before xun’s eyes sprawled a vast landscape of destruction.  The ruins of a massive city.  It looked as though the city has just seen a horrific battle. Structures engulfed in flames as others had already been reduced to cinder waiting for nature to reclaim it.

His mother placed a hand on his shoulder, gently turning him. Behind him lay an endless wasteland covered by a sea of lifeless corpses.   Xun turned to his mother.

“What happened here?”

She said nothing.  He saw more movement coming from the ocean of dead and instinctively raised his weapon, ready to defend.  But his mother pushed down the gun as the figures came in to form.  It was his father, and little sister.  His mother walked to them and turned back to face Xun.

“What are you doing to us, Xun?”

Her words pierced his heart like a knife.  He had no words.  Tears began to well in his eyes as he gasped, struggling to form words.  He then realized, he could not breathe.  His armor fell from his body.  He dropped to his knees as his lungs desperately tried to pull in air.  It was no use.  He was suffocating.  He knew he would be dead in less than three minutes.  He frantically began searching the ground for his air supply, his vision quickly getting worse.  He found something, buried in the dirt, but it wasn’t his air tank.  No, it was a pair of boots.  He moved his hands up to explore, perhaps the corpse would have air.  The fog was rolling in again, more quickly now than before.  His mind in pure panic.  He looked up from the boots, ready to bed the person for help, but standing there, as his life began to fade, was the boy he had killed the day before, behind him, the girl.  Xun stumbled back.  What was this madness?  The world grew dark.  His lungs had been empty for too long.  He was dying.

When Xun awoke his terminal was chirping violently for his attention.  His pillow was damp with sweat, his heart and mind raced as if in competition.  He sat up and grabbed his terminal.  Hsiao-chi had been trying to reach him, asking why he wasn’t at morning P.T.  Damn.  Over slept.  He dressed and readied himself as quickly as he could and headed for the galley where Hsiao-chi would most likely be getting some breakfast.

Sure enough, as he walked in to the room, he spotted her sitting at a table with a few other officers.  Her clockwork like schedule and precision habits both fascinated and comforted him.  He waved to her then headed over, stopping a few times to acknowledge and greet some of the soldiers under his command.

“You’re such a popular leader,” Hsiao-chi said, half teasing, half jealously.

“It’s easy to be a good leader when you have such good people following.” He replied, more for the benefit of the other officers than an earnest reply to her.

They all nodded and mumbled with mouths full of food.

Xun sat down across from Hsiao-chi, the other officers returning to their meals and conversations.  While most of them were of the same rank, several of Xun’s fellow officers had an almost divine respect for him.  They were all aware of her adherence to the old ways, and some believed it directly helped him on the battle field.  They also knew that he and Hsiao-chi had a unique relationship, even if Hsiao-chi always denied it.

“Why were you not at training this morning?  And now you’re not eating.  Are you alright?” she asked.

Xun stood up and moved to sit next to her.  The others glanced over, but he ignored them.

“I had a vision, Chi-chi.” He knew she hated being called Chi-chi in public, but he didn’t care right now.  “They spoke to me.”

“Who did?” she asked

“My family.”

Hsiao-chi turned to him with a mouthful of food.  She finished the bite quickly.

“What did they say?”  She was trying to hide her curiosity.  Her family and Xun’s had been close and when her parents died in the plague, Xun’s family took her in for a while.  Until Xun’s family fell as well.  She had opened up to him once about her frustrations with her inability to commune with her own family the way he could.  But she didn’t resent him for it.  No, she was fascinated by it.  Xun leaned in closer to whisper.

“They asked me what I was doing.  To them.  They looked…” he paused, searching for the words, “like the dead.  Like the civilians from the last assault.”

“Xun, I think maybe…”

“They showed me something.  A city.  A city in ruin, and of an ocean of dead bodies coming towards me like a rising tide.”  He could feel the others beginning to listen in on his story.  

Many Wan Ren still practiced the old traditions, but few were as in tune with the universe as he.  Some of his peers were jealous, but most, like Hsiao-chi, were simply fascinated.  And it only helped his reputation on the battlefield. After all, who better to follow in to battle than one so closely watched over by their ancestors?  But his focus was on Hsiao-chi now.

“Chi-chi, I believe they were trying to warn me.”

“Warn you of what?” she asked, now openly showing her intrigue.

Xun leaned back.

“I don’t know.”  It was a lie.  He understood, but he couldn’t trust the officers at the table.  Sure most of them loved Xun like a bother, and was a well-respected leader, but their duty was not to him.  They would report treasonous speech by him as readily as a true traitor to the people.

Hsiao-chi tossed a half-eaten roll at him.

“You’re always so cryptic, you fool.  Eat this.  You’re getting delusional.” She stood and began walking away.

“Wait, where are you going?”

“Some of us actually do work, Xun.  I have my rounds to make.  We’ll talk later.”  She smiled at him and walked off.

Later that night Xun sent a message to Hsiao-chi to meet him.  Moments later his door chimed..  He answered, the door sliding open to  reveal Hsiao-chi like a pleasant surprise.

“That was fast,” Xun said, welcoming her in.

“What?”

“I just sent you a message letting you know I was here.”

“Oh,” she said, looking down at her terminal. “So you did.”  I was just coming back from the lab sims.  I’ve been working on a new neural enhancement interface.”

She sat down on Xun’s bed and shot a glance towards the meditation room he had set up.

“Always up to something, Chi-chi,” he said with a chuckle.  He grabbed a cup of tea he had just made and handed it to her.

“I hate when you call me that.”  She was doing her best to hide a smile.

Xun sat down beside her and lowered her cup away from her lips and leaned in to kiss her.  Her skin was warm and soft. A feeling of comfort washed over him. Hsiao-chi pulled away and stood.

“Tell me more of your vision,” she demanded, stepping towards the meditation room.  Xun smiled and stood to join her.  He placed a hand on her back and gently guided her towards the room.

“When was the last time you spoke with them?” he asked.

“Not since they died.”

They were standing in front of the alter now, Hsiao-chi laying her head on Xuns shoulder, allowing his embrace.

“Why?  Do you not miss them?”

“Of course I do.  I mean, I have tried since, too many times to count.  But I’ve never heard them.  I fear they are still angry with me”

“How could they possibly be angry with you?  Hsiao-chi, you are the most incredible human being I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.”

She blushed at the compliment.

“When the plague struck, we fought.  I didn’t understand then.  I wanted to leave school to be with them, but they refused.  Young as I was, you know me, I was stubborn.”

“Was?” Xun said in jest.  She poked his side and he feigned pain.  “I’m sorry.  Please, continue.”

“When the government quarantined them with the others…” her thoughts began to drift. “Why didn’t I get sick like them?  Why were some of us spared?”

Xun spun her to face him, his embraced strengthened.

“Because we are the Chosen.  Like our ancestors before us, we have a purpose.”  He kissed her, this time she accepted.  The moment was sublime to Xun.  As when he communed, the ship fell away and they were one with the universe.  As it was meant to be.

As they lay there in bed together, staring off at nothing in particular, she asked again.

“Tell me of y our vision.”

Xun rolled to his side to face her, his fingertips exploring her body.

“I believe we are making a mistake, Chi-chi.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, shifting as well to face him.

“Something is coming.  My mother, she was trying to warn me.”

She listened intently.

“I believe a great war is coming.”

“Of course a war is coming, Xun.” She all but laughed and rolled herself from the bed.  He skin seemed to glow in the dimly lit room, her sweat dancing across her body like a thousand tiny stars. “We’re causing it.”

“That doesn’t bother you?” he asked.

“I’m a doctor.  My job is to save lives.  Do I agree with our methods?  Sometimes, no.  But our people are dying.  Our lives have been ripped away from us.  If we don’t do something?”  She paused.  She had managed to get her top on but still remained half naked as she lectured.  Xun left the bed as well, an attempt to keep focused.

“Yes, but I fear we are setting in motion something, something that we can not predict, that we can not control.  I fear it may very well be that end of which you allude to.”

His terminal began to chirp.  He swiped up his pants and checked to see the message.

“The next assault briefing is in 0:30.”

Hsiao-chi was fully dressed now and making her final adjustments to her uniform in the mirror.  Xun walked up behind her.

“Can we finish this later?” he asked, kissing her cheek.

“Always,” she said, then turned to face him. “Xun, I have a favor to ask.  Next time you commune, could you search for my father?”

“You could seek yourself.”

“Please?” she asked again.

Xun nodded and Hsiao-chi headed for the door.  She swiped it open and was startled to find herself face to face with Hiro.

“Hiro! Good to see you,” she said and sent a smile back to Xun before passing Hiro and disappearing down the hall.

“Hiro?” Xun asked.  Hiro seemed to be in a bit of shock. “Are you alright?  Are you here about the briefing?  I’ve just received the message.”

Hiro snapped awkwardly to attention

“Oh, yes sir!  I was just…making sure you were aware.”

Xun gave him a comforting smile and he began to relax.  He then spun and disappeared down the hall.