Forgetmenot

by elveloy

Tonight was New Year's Eve. But there would be no parties, no singing or fireworks to welcome in the New Year. Apart from the 9pm curfew, everyone was simply too tired, thought Daisy. Too worn out.

Slowly and painfully, the war was limping into its sixth year. The war which was supposed to have been over by Midwinter, five years ago, but which was dragging on and on, eating up people and resources.

Mind you, the Brettons had started it. Invading Khajiit's territory to the north, claiming they were only taking back what had been stolen from them in the last war, thirty years ago. For a while it seemed the Brettons were going to win, sweeping all before them, but then the Khajiits had begun to turn the tide, reclaiming their land foot by foot, battle by battle.

Now the Khajiit and the Brettons had fought each other almost to a standstill. The Brettons would have to surrender, wouldn't they? Everyone knew it was the only sensible thing to do.

On her way to work, Daisy couldn't help wondering, if the war didn't end soon, would there be anything left to fight over. She ducked down a side street, stepping over the rubble which had fallen during the night and heaved a sigh of relief when she saw her workplace was still intact.

Then there was a loud ping and her left arm twitched once before dropping to hang uselessly at her side. Damn it! Daisy plucked irritably at the leather sleeve and peeled it back. Made of delicate gears and springs, she was supposed to be looking at a top of the range clockwork limb replacement, but like everything else these days, it was a makeshift job. Blast! Looked like the main spring had broken this time. She hoped she would be able to fix it before she had to start work.

Daisy pushed open the door into the huge hangar and stepped inside. Instead of the dozen stately dirigibles in various stages of construction or repair, there was only one, floating up near the ceiling, tethered by a rope ladder. Small and battered, the airship's beautiful balloon was marred by ugly patches and the once-blue gondola below could have done with several coats of paint. But it was still in working order and even more importantly in Daisy's eyes, it was hers.

Forgetmenot hadn't been intended as a military vessel, nor had Daisy ever wanted to be a combat pilot when she was growing up, but the war had given them no choice.

Awkwardly, with only one working hand, Daisy climbed the rope ladder up to the gondola.

"Hi Daisy! I thought I heard you." A young woman popped her shaven head out from inside the engine room and smiled at her. "I've been working on that steering problem we had and I think I've fixed it... Oh dear, arm gone again? Want me to take a look? "

"Thanks, Anna," said Daisy gratefully. Her engineer, chief steam-technician and sole crewmate, stepped forward and took Daisy's broken limb gently, in work-roughened hands.

"I think I can fix that."

Daisy watched Anna as her clever fingers worked on the mechanism.

Anna was wearing her favourite leather corset, now bereft of all those beautiful, shiny brass fittings. All brass, up to and including personal ornaments had been requisitioned by the War Office months ago—every last piece scavenged to feed the war effort. Anna had covered the holes left behind with embroidered patches. Some of them, such as the bolts of lightning were rather cool, but to Daisy's eyes it just wasn't the same.

"Have you heard the news?" asked Anna, her expression suddenly grim. "You know how the War Office has been threatening to trigger an explosion at Mount Nariu? In north Bretton? Well, they've done it. Blown a hole in the Nariu reservoir wall and sent millions of gallons of water into the magma. They're saying it could be as many as twenty thousand dead. And you know the worst thing? It wasn't the lava that killed people, there was hardly any, it was the steam. Steam and poisonous gasses."

Daisy paled. "That's terrible," she whispered. "But at least it will mean the end of the war. Surely they'll have to surrender now?"

"I hope so," said Anna. "Because if they don't, the War Office is threatening to do it again. At Mount Guinea."

~~~

Underground and many miles to the north, inside the headquarters of the Bretton High Command, ten people sat and stared at each other. They were old—all the young people were on the front lines. Their faces were pale and drawn, reflecting their shock and horror at the disaster which had just befallen them.

"Twenty thousand dead. Most of them not even soldiers!" exclaimed one.

"How could they? So many children..."

"Monstrous!" whispered another, then sighed, "We'll have to surrender... "

"No. Monsters!" corrected the first speaker, anger rushing in to replace the shock. "We must fight back! We can't let them get away with such a hideous crime!"

"But what can we do? They have no volcanoes anywhere in their wretched land for us to threaten in return."

"We must surrender! We have no choice. If we don't, they've threatened to destroy Mount Guinea! Thousands more will die."

"Never!"

"Monsters."

~~~

High above, invisible in their ship outside the atmosphere, the aliens watched—and waited.

~~~

"Hullo? Is anyone there?" A young male voice called up from the floor of the hangar.

Daisy left the engine room and leant over the side of the gondola. A boy of about thirteen years old—too young to be a soldier, at least this week—was standing there in a dark grey messenger's uniform. She felt a punch to the stomach. Her baby brother, Mikey, would have been around that age by now, if only he hadn't been killed in the second year of the war.

Daisy cleared her throat.

"Yes?"

"I have a message for Pilot Daisy Walker," he answered, holding up a white envelope. "Is that you?"

"Yes, that's me. Hold on a moment and I'll come down."

"It's from the War Office," the boy announced, importantly.

Daisy bit back a sigh. So here they were then, orders for another mission. She'd been hoping that her last assignment, which had been relatively easy—ferrying supplies back and forth to the front—would be her final one. She would have thought having her arm shot off by a Bretton ray gun would have allowed her to retire gracefully from active service, secure in the knowledge that she had done her best for her country. But no sooner had she been fitted with her prosthetic arm, than she was summoned back to light duties.

Light duties! Huh! Daisy raised a scornful lip. Her clockwork arm wasn't as good as the original despite the maker's promise and flying the Forgetmenot had become hard work.

She reached the hangar floor and stretched out her right hand for the orders.

"I'm to wait," said the boy, handing them over.

Daisy raised her eyebrows and tore open the envelope. The message was brief enough. "Report to the War Office, immediately."

She read the words again, but they could only mean one thing. She was going to be assigned a combat mission. She winced. How bad had things got, that the War Office had to rely on disabled veterans?

"Anna? I have to go. I'll be back later—I hope," she added under her breath.

Reluctantly, she followed the messenger boy out of the hangar.

~~~

A week later, Daisy and Anna were cruising high above the Khajiit countryside in Forgetmenot with the wind in their faces. They were making an effort to keep their eyes forward. If they looked over the edge of the gondola, they could see too many ruined villages and blackened fields.

To their rear, came the majestic airship, Segelen, the largest remaining vessel under Khajiit command. Freshly coated in sky-blue paint, its gondola was three times the size of Forgetmenot, large enough to carry a crew of six and their cargo.

Ahead, the dark blue waters of the Grootsee glistened in the sunlight. And beyond the Grootsee, lay Bretton.

"I simply don't understand why the Brettons haven't surrendered," Daisy muttered, not for the first time. "How many more people have to die?"

Anna shrugged. "Would we surrender, though? If the situations were reversed?"

"But that's different!" protested Daisy. "They started this damn war. They should finish it."

"Well, somebody has to end it, that's for certain. I'm just not sure this is the right way."

Daisy fell silent. She had doubts of her own, but she was a soldier, her loyalty sworn to Khajiit. She had protested loudly enough when she was given her orders that day at the War office—Forgetmenot was too small for such a task, her left arm was unreliable—but they'd told her there was no-one else.

She had no choice.

Both women turned their faces back into the wind.

~~~

Above the planet, the aliens continued to watch. This world had not yet invented radio so they were unable to monitor verbal communications, however, they were confident in what their long range scanners were able to show them. The images of a debilitating war were self evident.

Their expressions tightened, first in dismay and then in resignation as they followed the progress of the beings below. This didn't bode well.

"I think we've seen enough," said one in grim tones. "We've got enough data now to make our decision. The Council will support us in the face of all this evidence."

"Let's wait a little longer," pleaded the other. "We might as well stay till the end. I don't think it will be long."

"I suppose so," agreed the first one reluctantly. "After all, we want to be as thorough as possible. Our decision will affect this world for thousands of years."

~~~

The two airships crossed into Bretton skies without interference. Segelen took the lead, changing tack slightly to bring them on course for Mount Guinea.

"There it is," called Anna, pointing to a jagged peak on the horizon. A cloud of grey smoke, tinged with reddish-brown, billowed into the sky. "The volcano."

Daisy looked down. A stream of tiny people, loaded with bags and pieces of furniture were on the road heading south, away from the volcano. Some of them had their belongings piled onto carts but many were on foot.

"At least they're evacuating the civilians," said Daisy, feeling relieved despite herself. "There will just be the military installations to hit this time."

"Can you see the lake yet?" asked Anna.

"It's at the bottom of the slope," answered Daisy. "We'll have to fly across the lake and target the northern edge. Our reports say that's where the hot springs come out of the ground to fill the lake. If we make a big enough hole at the source, it will drain the lake backwards and down into the magma chamber."

She paused to concentrate on adjusting the steering. "Segelen will make the first run, then we'll follow. Maybe we won't even be needed," she murmured.

"How far will the steam and gas spread?" asked Anna, worriedly, trying to calculate the distance. "Will those people be safe?" Small buildings had begun to appear on the ground below, the outskirts of Guinea.

"I'm sure they'll be fine," said Daisy firmly, though really she had no idea. "Hang on, I'm going to take us up a bit while we pass over the town."

Flashes of red burst upward from a building to their left, only to fall short of Forgetmenot. Daisy took the ship up even higher.

"Ray guns," said Daisy briskly, "Not very powerful ones by the look of them but better safe than sorry."

"There are still people down there, Daisy," said Anna, looking over the edge again.

"Can't be helped," Daisy gritted her teeth. "Remember all the people the Brettons killed when they invaded. Dan, Shaun, Reffie... all our friends that have died in this damned war. This is our chance to put an end to it." Neither of them mentioned Mikey.

Anna was silent.

Now they could see the lake, nestled at the base of the volcano.

Segelen was nearly a mile ahead of them when a small white balloon rose unevenly from the ground. A red gondola swung beneath as it climbed to intercept the larger vessel. The enemy craft was tiny, smaller even than Forgetmenot, but it was big enough to do damage if it got close enough. Was it carrying weapons?

Daisy hauled out her spyglass and focussed on the enemy craft. She couldn't pick out details from that distance, however, it seemed the larger Segelen was drawing away. Segelen had reached the edge of the lake, the smaller craft in dogged pursuit. A beam of red shot from the front of the enemy's gondola, but went wide. Both craft were now over the lake. Segelen was starting to descend, preparing to line up the mission target and Daisy saw a crewmember go to the stern. He (or she) began to fire back at the tiny pursuer, keeping it at bay.

Segelen was almost on top of the target area. Daisy found she was holding her breath. Any minute now they would release their payload, carving an abyss out of the wellspring and sending lake water pouring into the magma chamber. She was supposed to follow, adding her own load to the destruction, before turning back to Khajiit. But how many minutes would they have before the steam and gas engulfed them? Five, ten, perhaps? She wondered, not for the first time, if it was going to be enough.

The enemy airship fired again, but not with a raygun. Confused, Daisy swivelled the focus on her eyeglass. She blinked and looked again. Were they really using a bow and arrow? Segelen was lining up for the run in to the target, approaching two hundred feet... one hundred... fifty. The massive airship swerved violently as an arrow pierced her balloon and Daisy could see the clock-bombs falling. Would they reach the target? Or had that last swerve caused them to miss? The bombs exploded, sending a massive shower of spray up into the air. But she didn't think it was enough—the final blow would be up to her and Anna.

Focussed on the task ahead, Daisy barely registered Segelen collapsing slowly onto the lake. She hoped vaguely that the crew would make it safely to shore, not that it would do them any good once she dropped her own clock-bomb. Delicately, she adjusted the steering, bringing Forgetmenot down nearer the surface of the lake, lining her up for the target run.

She spared a brief glance for the enemy airship. Still airborne, it had overshot the edge of the lake and was attempting to turn back to challenge Forgetmenot. Whoever was piloting was making a hash of the job, she thought. The vessel was dipping and wobbling as if the pilot was struggling for control. Then one last, overeager, turn of the wheel had the vessel lurching around to face them before the ropes anchoring the balloon snapped on one side and the tiny gondola plummeted down to land in the lake. Right in the path of Forgetmenot.

Daisy stared into two small faces staring up at her from the gondola in a mixture of fear and tragic despair. They were children. A girl and a boy around ten or eleven years old, doing their best to fight off the invaders and save their town.

Daisy swallowed. Had it come to this then? Nothing could be more glaringly obvious that someone had to end this war—but it wasn't going to be with another bomb.

She pulled hard on the wheel and sent Forgetmenot high above the lake, taking her in a wide circle back to Khajiit.

~~~

The two aliens in orbit above the planet exchanged startled glances. "I didn't expect that," said one.

"Neither did I," agreed the other. "Well have to rethink our decision. I suggest we give this world an extension, and recommend a second visit."

"I agree, Jon. Who knows, in a couple of hundred years we might be welcoming them into the Terran Alliance."