Planet: Eteran, Insurgency Storage Base

First Insurgency War

RAYAN

If that's all Meryn could give me, I'll have to try something else. I need a backdoor into the Sanctum, something to assuage my suspicion. I know where I'm going to get it.

Sirens rang through his ears while he walked through the Insurgent facility on Eteran and set up warning systems. Everyone knew their duty and their place, and Rayan knew his risk. If the Sanctum arrives like Aaron suspects... I know what I have to do.

Knowledge came at a price. He learned everything came at some sort of price.

Seventeen. Shaken. Lost.

He found himself in the safety of Roxton and slumped into the support of the First Insurgency. He half expected death when they found out the truth of his name, but Aaron and Garcy spoke for him to Seeto, the leader of it all. It took time, but he fought for the trust within the ranks of the Insurgency. Codebreaking reminded him of painting in a fashion. It relied on a certain colourful pattern and how everything connected with a brushstroke. Reluctant to lose the frozen moment, the First Insurgency showed him the truth of their goal and their longing for change.

The Strike Forces were too late to save Eastpoint. I had to do something.

Anything.

He needed to fight for something worth dying for. It was an escape from the ringing in his ears, where the wailing sirens signalled the end of life while Ava pushed him to the ground.

Months came and went when he rose through the Insurgency ranks — twisted favouritism he once resented as a naive teenager. I'm the son of a Sanctum General, and though she never told me what really went on behind the scenes, I know now.

He knew where to hit hard without harming innocents. A swaying force for the battle-weary Insurgency — and the slight difference he made. Seeto called him ignorant, but Rayan found a small gift. People listened to him and followed him in their fight against the injustices of the Galactic Sanctum.

No. More.

In quieter moments, his mind wandered back into the field of flames in search of a picture. Ava, who he failed to keep his grip on, and James.

James...

I made a promise I failed to keep. I couldn't protect either of you.

Flames burnt them to ash.

Freedom from his parent's shadows, he ran from the sirens to join the First Insurgency's fight for freedom.

His ears continued to ring, so he focused on the moment and what he had to do to see the goal realized. I have to protect the innocent, no matter what happens to me. It's the only way we'll win.

He directed the Insurgents to move precious information from their servers and out of the mountain base. I'm sure they'll be here soon, Aaron hasn't been wrong once. I can't give them anything that'll cut our chances. Just me.

Rayan swiped through his datapad.

Unlisted deaths rolled across his news report. Too fast. Too unnatural of a pattern though the missing piece rested on the tip of his tongue. It always hits where we were or we planned to be... a weapon pointed straight at us. His heart churned at the nauseating thought. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe it's a coincidence. Another part of him screamed for justice to be brought to the table of change. Only the Strike Forces and Aelius have that missing piece... I commend Meryn's loyalty to Aelius... which means I will put my head in the guillotine instead.

"Are you sure about this, Falae?" Tyro asked when he guided the last dregs of the base to the back doors.

"Positive. Meet with Seeto at the other base. Use the Malakai supply routes if you must. I'll return with more information." He checked outside the window where thunder rumbled the world and lightning tore through the sky. "You should move while you have the cover of the storm."

Tyro frowned but moved into the hidden hangar to leap into one of the cloaked transports. Rayan locked the panel and closed himself from an escape. He listened to the shimmering hum of deception before turning his back to it to return to the upper levels and start the waiting game.

If they want me... they can have me.

He walked over the catwalks of the storage abyss beneath him. Windows curved around the base while thunder roared and lightning gave pause. Metal creaked beneath his boot while he listened to any oddity while hours passed on. Edevic swords at his side, he patrolled the catwalks, alone with his thoughts. His ears scorched with embers while distant sirens echoed through the massive space.

Maybe I am making dangerous assumptions — Meryn made a correct observation, but what can I do? Rayan set his hand on the railing, losing his grip on the paintbrush. If I back away from the edge I ran to during Eastpoint... I'll lose everything else and just be alone with the ringing...

I'll fight for change.

It was one more assumption to who would come to get him when they caught wind of his location, and grew used to the idea of being nothing more than a disappointment to Mom.

For one last moment of comfort he brought his hand to the wolven necklace. Metal against skin, he breathed ten times.

I'm going to find out what's going on, one way or another.

Time dragged the war out, and Seeto grew desperate in his rage. Rayan refused to turn from the pursuit for an escape. I'm not a leader... I'm just good at tactics and information. For how long the frantic Insurgents would listen to him was in question especially with a dycades long war stretching forever.

Fear, hot as fire, immolated his bones.

And that is why I can't let the truth go.

He froze in the middle of the catwalk when it creaked in time with the lightning outside. It flashed blazing white through his view until it grew back with its last shimmer of colour. He whipped around at an edevic rush on one of the upper catwalks above his head. He swallowed his fear when the Elite stood on the railing above him, whose crimson eyes bore into his soul. He tried to peer through the darkness, to look for the red star, but the dim emergency lights shuddered with the rumble of thunder and the white crack of lightning.

He drew out his swords, ready to put up a fight, though he would never match his mother. I'm only half of what they are. It's not going to be enough. He took a step back when they leaped off their railing to land on his catwalk with graceful precision and landing prowess, where their combat boots took in the shock.

"I was wondering if you would get here," he whispered. "Mo—"

He hesitated when lightning flashed to reveal the uniform and highlighted the monstrously empty mask, where no edevic blades hung on their belt.

Shit... that's not Mom.

Every dim emergency light died when he straightened himself out and the shaking world continued with the storm. "Show me your face," he demanded. "Who are you?"

Ice swelled in his soul when the Elite followed his last wish.

In a flash of cruel lightning, she came with a vengeance for his failure. He held back the screaming symphony of the people who lost their lives at Eastpoint.

James Ranier.

"Forgotten me already, Rayan?" James asked with a face not his own. Cold. Relentless and full of hatred.

He loosened his grip on his edevic swords. His heart tore at the dogtags around his neck, where he begged for James to change his course, where Ava hoped for a different path.

A tag his mother wore.

"You're... an Elite?" Rayan took another step back for his potential escape route.

You're alive?

He longed to release a cry of relief, to rush over and pull James close, but as he took a step forward, James shot past his head. His body went still when James energised another cartridge where the hatred twisted the hazel mixture of longing love.

"James, I..." James aimed at the last light between them and shot it out. Rayan dove out of the way of molten shards while the Elite who swallowed James loaded another blaster. Back on his feet, the darkness kept a distance between him and his reminder. "James, wait..."

"That's it? James, wait?" James questioned. "Oh, please, Rayan Falae. Give me something to work with."

Rayan grunted when James sped for him in a shimmer of white. His foot met his stomach, and he rushed to catch himself when James walked forward with an intensity within the hazel. He groaned and then bolted for a different catwalk and leaped onto the railing before taking his own jump to land on the platform.

James followed suit.

"James, wait!" He ducked out of a swipe from James' transforming weapon, where it sizzled with energy. "I want to talk about this! Please!" He held his hands out, but gasped when James sent another powerful kick into his ribcage, pushing him off the lifting platform and to the lower level. His back rang out, but he scowled and got onto his feet when James landed.

"I'm not here to chat," James hissed, full of venom. "You lost that chance, and I won't hear another word out of your mouth."

Rayan chewed on his broken heart full of grim relief. He's an Elite, an enemy... He dodged when James raced forward, full of emptiness. He swung his hand into a nearby panel, which unloaded the boxes to fill the distance between them. James stopped when the lightning flashed. "James, I don't want to fight you."

James phased through the debris, and Rayan brought his hands up to grapple James. Close enough to pull in and make his mistake right, but he scowled when James' fingers dug into his arms while an eerie inflection of a smile grew over James' lips. It echoed through memories of his determination against a larger opponent. Rayan held on tight, but choked when James swung him to the side, where his hand grasped his neck and his other arm wrapped around his back. Rayan coughed when James kicked out his feet from underneath him, and slammed him into the ground.

Fuck!

He activated his pulse emitter, which forced James off him and sent him back across the floor from the push. He rolled back onto his feet and snapped his head up while James died in his arms. "James."

Is there nothing I can do?

"Don't make it so easy, Falae," James said. "Here I thought you never backed down from a fight."

Rayan blocked his next swings, avoiding his hits and hoped for an opening, to change what he made. He raised his arm to block James' weapon, then latched onto it to bring himself closer to James, but he grunted when James backhanded him, and his grip on the weapon failed. His fingers found his emergency blaster, but James sent his foot into his arm, and it clattered out of his reach.

He...

Rayan pressed what little advantage he had, but James was too fast, and too much of a weapon. He protected his neck and jaw from James, but he swallowed blood.

He's actually going to kill me.

Rayan brought up his pulse emitter to put distance between him and James, but James matched it with his own. It exploded with a wave of force, and sent both of them sliding from each other. In his side view, his blaster.

He's going to kill me.

His fingers trailed across the ground while his breath escaped his lungs, with James long onto his feet and rushing for him.

If I don't do something...

Tears swam behind his eyes as he grabbed the grip of his blaster and brought it closer to him, to point at danger.

James scowled within the lightning while he pressed the trigger as his hand found his collar and threatened to strangle him.

It tore through his eardrums with the fireball.

It went quiet.

Embers fell across his cheeks, and he snapped open his eyes.

James held a blazing shield close to his face with an expression of pure disdain, lip jutted in irritation while his dirty-blonde hair rested from the force of the blast he redirected.

The blaster slipped out of his hands when James' protective shield broke apart into pixels and his hand dug deeper into his chest while his knee rested on his lower body.

"You are such a shitty shot," James said with trembling anger, and in an instant, he raised his fist with pure rage.

Rayan tried to meet it, to touch the flaming past, to calm it, to comfort it.

In another instant, James sent his fist forward and the world went black with the crack of bone and thunder.