The Company Man (12) Part 2

        It really was a fool’s errand, Nic thought, as he glanced mournfully at his stump. 

        ‘Nic, step forward,’ Odessa ordered.

        He hesitated.

        ‘Step forward, Nic,’ she said again. ‘Please do enlighten the Captain.’

        He hesitated again.

        ‘Ha, looks like the cat’s got the craven’s tongue,’ chided Drevo gleefully. 

        He theatrically shrugged his shoulders and appealed to the surrounding crowd. 

        ‘Does he know that a truly loyal Officer would never accept these purposely vague half-truths and outright lies?’

        As he watched Drevo mindlessly spouting Company propaganda and playing to the gallery, he was reminded of himself just weeks earlier. After sharing in Odessa’s visions, he’d been the same obstinate block determined to spit in the face of any who dared question the most noble goals of an even nobler Company. After a few moments he finally managed to blurt,

        ‘It doesn’t matter if you believe it or not.’

        ‘So, it speaks,’ Drevo boomed, ‘what do you have to say for yourself, Lieutenant?’

        Before Nic had the chance to speak, a distant explosion echoed through the tunnels, and a minor tremor caused powdered limestone to lightly dust the crowds in front of him. The intensity of the blast was not enough knock anyone onto their backsides this time, and the guards kept their blasters firmly trained on Officers.

        Are they heading away from us? Nic thought mercifully. He looked back at Drevo, whose sinister smirk chilled him.

        ‘Your reckoning is almost upon you,’ he roared, before letting out a booming laugh that echoed through the caves. 

        The mood among the prisoners visibly elevated, and they jeered and hurled obscenities at Nic.

        He appealed to Odessa with his eyes, but her expression was blank. She was facing the crowd and appeared to be watching intently, but something in her eyes seemed vacant, and her head was very gently twitching. It was unnoticeable to the crowds, but standing right beside her, it was clear to Nic something was not right. 

        Meanwhile, Drevo was standing tall in front of the prisoners, his palms outstretched and urging them on. He dragged his finger across his neck in a slicing motion, and silence resumed.

        Drevo turned back to face Nic, and as Nic looked into his eyes, he saw Drevo’s smirk blossom into a full-blooded grin. He looked past him and tried to address the pack behind him.

        ‘It doesn’t matter what you believe,’ Nic finally managed, ‘when you walk out of these caves and meet the Visigoth’s men in the open air. You will all meet your end anyway.’

        ‘Piffle,’ yelled one woman.

        ‘Codswallop,’ yelled another.

        ‘Your words have no weight among us, Lieutenant.’ The Captain laughed.

        Nic again searched Odessa’s blank face for help but found none forthcoming. Rather confusingly, she just smiled and nodded. Nic pressed on.

        ‘Under orders from the General himself,’ he began, his voice shaky. ‘I was sent to infiltrate these very rebels you see around you, and to bring this woman,’ he motioned toward Odessa, ‘to face the General’s justice.’ 

        ‘It looks like you did a marvellous job,’ spat Drevo, ‘is she always this chatty? Seems like something’s got her tongue, too.’

        The prisoners sniggered, but Nic continued.

        ‘And when I delivered her, do you know what happened?’

        ‘Why, please tell us, noble patriot,’ Drevo sneered, ‘did you piss your pants at the sight of her fiery red locks?’

        Nic tried to ignore him but felt his blood beginning to boil.

        ‘I delivered her into his arms,’ he said confidently, ‘and he repaid me with torture…’ 

        ‘Lies! Heresy!’ came the cries of the crowd.

        Nic tried to speak over them. 

        ‘…And unimaginable pain.’

        ‘How could we believe such a flagrant lie?’ Drevo boomed. He then addressed his followers. ‘Even a fool knows the General would repay such loyalty with honours galore.’

        The prisoners grew unrulier and heckled.

        ‘Hear, hear! Bless the General and long live the search!’

        ‘The search, the search, the search!’

        Nic looked desperately at Odessa’s blank expression, and suddenly, she twitched into action and roared,

        ‘Your planet is dying!’ But before she could continue, a mighty blast struck directly above them and sent everyone flying to the ground.

        Without warning, Drevo shouted, ‘NOW!’ 

        Several captives had somehow managed to slip from their restraints, and they sprung on top of their guards, some wresting their blasters from their hands. Shots were fired into the air, stalactites dropped from the ceiling and smashed on people’s head’s, and Drevo lunged forward at Nic.

        He didn’t get far. 

        As he sprung up towards the rock that had become Nic and Odessa’s makeshift podium, Odessa caught him by the neck in mid-air and held him out in front of her, so his legs were dangling a full metre off the ground.

        Nic, meanwhile, had slipped off the rock and crashed into the floor beside them.

        ‘Enough!’ She roared, as Drevo’s face began to turn blue. 

        She sighed loudly, and as Drevo’s eyes began to close under the pressure of her grip, another blast, closer again, rocked the cave, sending everyone sprawling. Odessa dropped Drevo, and he thudded into the ground beneath them, gasping deeply.

         The melee continued as rebels piled on top of the prisoners, attempting to wrest back control of the weapons. 

        Nic picked himself up and saw severals bodies strewn on the ground, their blood staining the grey stone floor. He saw Mika in the pile, holding a prisoner in a headlock as another yanked at the blaster he was carrying. Without thinking, he charged forward towards the nearest Officer, and swung a non-existent fist in his direction. 

        The prisoner dodged his stump easily and started towards him, his thin-lipped smirk left Nic feeling helpless.

        The next blast was like an earthquake that caused the whole cavern to shudder violently. 

        Then another. 

        After the third blast, the shelling stopped. 

 

Odessa was the first to pick herself up and dust herself off. She surveyed the carnage in front of her, and saw Nic just two meters away covered in debris. She yanked him to his feet.

        ‘I guess they found us,’ Nic managed, as he coughed up a healthy amount of dust. 

        Drevo also stirred, alongside prisoners and rebels alike. As they dusted themselves off and remembered they were enemies, they began to wrestle once more.

        Drevo stumbled to his feet and spluttered,

        ‘You’ll… regret… that, …woman, the Troopers will be here to kill you in no time.’

        ‘I wouldn’t count on it,’ she said proudly, ‘why don’t you ask the lieutenant what happened the last time they came for me at close-quarters.’

        He didn’t bother asking. His snarl returned with his senses, and he motioned to charge Odessa again. 

        ‘I said, ENOUGH!’ She boomed.

        With a flash of her arm, her armour instantaneously unfolded from within her skin. It enveloped her entire body, save her head. She crossed her arms and then fired them outwards, sending bright orange energy beams across the cavern above everyone’s heads. The hanging stalactites and columns that they crossed were vaporised instantly, lightly sprinkling everyone with yet more dust. 

        The prisoners who’d managed to hold onto their weapons dropped them along with their jaws. One managed to fire on her, but the blaster beam was deflected by her armour into the walls of the cavern, again spraying limestone residue onto anyone who was standing beneath it. 

        With a flick of her wrist, she fired a light blue pulse into the attacker, rendering him unconscious immediately.

        She looked down at Drevo.

        ‘Are you ready to listen, yet, Captain?’

        Drevo looked up, aghast.

        ‘It’s the beast atop the tower!’ He screamed. ‘She’s here to slay us all!’

        Almost hysterically, he charged, but Odessa effortlessly grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, lifted him up, and stared deeply into eyes.

         ‘That’s enough words,’ she said, ‘it’s time for you to see.’

        Odessa’s eyes blazed that familiar orange and gold, and the crowd was captivated by the extraordinary scene unfolding before their eyes. 

        Nic, perplexed at the charade he had been made to perform earlier, wondered why it had taken so long for Odessa to use her formidable power. Instead, she had made him flounder in front of Drevo. She must have known he would never be able to reach one whose ideals had been so ingrained, so conditioned, into him. He felt his blood boiling again, and he focussed. He stared intently at Odessa, and he felt a heat burning in his retinae. Eventually, the cave scene in front of him melted into an artist’s palette, colours melting and merging together, into that which he had already seen. Again, he saw the electromagnetic storms thrashing into the barren wasteland that extended beyond the pulsating shield that encircled the city. Again, he watched as the General transformed into the Visigoth and crushed Bagon and Honza to within a millimetre of their lives. Again, he watched as Odessa cut through reams of the Visigoth’s men in the cliffside bunker. Finally, again, he saw the images of his dreams. He watched as the star went nova and the surrounding planets were incinerated to dust. 

        As the flames enveloped him, he was jolted free of Odessa’s psychic hold. 

        He turned and examined the room. Not only had Odessa transfixed Drevo, but she was radiating an intense orange glow that had transfixed everyone in the room. He scoured the cave and saw the awesome power which Odessa possessed. Everyone was transfixed. Prisoners and rebels alike. As his eyes moved across the room, he finally came back to Odessa. Only now she was not staring into Drevo’s eyes, but intently at him, aware that he had broken contact. 

        Her appearance had become almost as monstrous as the Visigoth himself. Her hair extended away from her head, as though it was charged with a thousand volts, and the golden aura that surrounded it resembled a shining corona. Golden-orange beams emanated from her eyes and hypnotically stalked down towards Nic as he lay helpless on the hard cave floor. As they pierced his eyes and entered his neo-cortex, he heard her say,

        ‘Show me what you have seen, Nic, and I’ll show them all.’ 

        Although her lips didn’t move at all.