Chapter Eleven—The Calm

Captain Kellis Forthright smiled as they drove back toward base. The rain was hitting the top of the roof hard and he was welcoming a dry space.

After that call from one of their local informants, finding the location of the stolen food had been easy. The resistance members had all been executed except for two of their member, who would be tortured and interrogated until they gave up the location of their terrorist cells located in this area.

“And that’s how war is fought,” he said. “You make an example out of terrorists!”

The corporal in the driver’s seat glanced at him and nodded. “Yes, Captain.”

“Sir,” one of the privates in the back said, “are you sure these prisoners will be useful?”

‘Of course they will be, and if they’re not, they can rot in a cell for all I care. We do our job. If they talk, they talk. If not… well, it’s going to be rough going for them.” He laughed.

The roar of the mech jets came over head.

“Is that Lieutenant Rai?”

“Yeah,” Kellis said. “But he’s supposed to go back to the mech yard. Why is he out here?” He tried to get him on the coms. “Dammit, what channel is it, Corporal?”

“Here,” the Corporal said. “Now you’re on.”

“Lieutenant Rai, what are you doing?”

“Lieutenant Rai is dead, the voice came back.”

“What? Is this some kind of joke? Who are you?”

“My name is Ichiro and you killed my family,” the voice said.

Suddenly Captain Kellis’ heart jumped into his throat. He looked into the rearview mirror and saw the alarm on the faces of the two privates.

“You can’t kill us,” Kellis said shrewdly. “We have two of your friends still alive in the back of the transport.”

The area outside the armored vehicle lit up as a loud roar exploded from behind the convoy.

“That’s the rear guard!” the Corporal shouted.

“Stop the vehicle!” Kellis screamed. “Stop!”

As the vehicle came to a halt, he switched the coms channel. “Listen up, everyone! Lieutenant Rai is dead and that’s a resistance fighter inside that fucking mech! Shoot it down!”