One last secret

By Ann Marie R. Harvie

            Nine stood silently at the open casket and stared at his friend’s body.  He examined the face of the corpse that was heavily made up with mortician’s wax and coloring to make it look alive.  Nine let out a short huff – it never worked.  When your soul leaves, you’re just an empty shell.

            He stared at Arion hard, still not believing that the lifeless form before him was once his adventure-loving friend.  A voice in his head asked, “How could this happen?  He was one of the best.”

            Nine let out an angry breath and answered his own question out loud.  “War happened.”

            Arion’s body was dressed in a black Special Forces dress uniform signifying Federation Defense Forces, the same Nine wore.  His lifeless, white-gloved hands clutched a Federation Chain of Life flag, as was tradition when burying a soldier killed in action.

            Just a week before,  Arion’s team was called out on a mission to evacuate scientists off of a planet that had been invaded by the Wardon Empire.  All of the scientists made it out, but three of the five soldiers that made up Omega Force didn’t make it.  The other two were seriously injured in the battle.

            After a Special Forces soldier dies, they are never left alone – that’s the code of the Special Forces teams.  A teammate or family member stays with them until they go to Warrior’s Hill for burial.  Arion’s only family was his team, and two of them joined him in the hereafter.  The other two teammates were in the hospital.  Nine volunteered  to stand guard. 

            Even with the truth lying before him, Nine secretly hoped that his friend would get up.  His common sense knew it wouldn’t happen, but still he wished it.  He never wished for anything so badly in his young life.  He knew he and Arion would never speak again.  No more battle tales and adventures.  No more fighting side by side.  No more anything.

            Finally, nearing the end of his lonely vigil in the funeral chamber, Nine spoke to his friend.  “I’m so sorry.  I don’t know what to say.  There are so many things going through my mind right now.  I don’t want to believe it, but here you are.”

            Nine stared at his friend, not really expecting an answer.  His face turned red and distorted into an angry expression.  “I’m so pissed right now I can’t even tell you!  I just want to hit something!”  he said through gritted teeth. 

            He was careful not to make too much noise so that others would not come in to see what was wrong.  This was his time with Arion.  No one else was allowed.  His white-gloved hands balled up into fists.  He lifted them up and slammed them back down to his sides.  “I hate this.  I really hate this, Man!  Not you.  I never thought they could get you.”

            Nine’s heart raced from the emotions flooding through him.  He paced from one end of the coffin to the other.  His breath quickened and he paced in an effort to relieve his uncontrollable frustration. 

            After a few minutes, he stepped back to his position by his friend’s head. Tears welled up in Nine’s brown eyes.  “I’m going to miss you so much, Arion.  I’m going to miss going to Sully’s with you and talking about our missions.  Bragging about how we outsmarted Tozar and his idiot army.”

            Tears rolled down his cheeks.  “I guess you couldn’t outsmart them this time.”

            As Nine wiped away the tears from his face, he became angry at the smell of the bouquets of flowers that filled the room.  “Man, it’s a good thing you can’t smell all these stupid flowers.  You’d gag.  It smells like a funeral.”

            Nine let out a short laugh.  “Well, I guess it is.  But you’d hate it trust me.  It’s suffocating.”

            More tears welled up in his eyes.  “I can’t believe it’s over.  I mean, this is it.  I’ll miss your advice, Arion.  I’m sorry I’m making this about me, but I’m really going to miss you.  What I wouldn’t give to hear you laugh at me just one last time.”

            Nine once again wiped away tears from his reddening eyes and turned his head sadly towards the door.  “They’ll be coming for you soon and then we won’t even have this.  I mean, this sucks, but soon there won’t be anything.”

            Nine turned back to his friend and lowered his head.  “You successfully completed your mission, you know.  All those scientists are all okay.”

            Nine cleared his throat.  “Sammi and Frankie didn’t make it, but you probably already know that.  Neptune is standing with Sammi.  Neptune always liked her.  Star is standing with your commander.  She’ll take good care of him until it’s time to go.”

            Nine pulled on his dress jacket to straighten it and adjusted his hat.  He swiped at his eyes once more and held his head up.  “I have to look presentable when they come for you.  We can’t let them know we’ve been carrying on in here.  All of this right here, this will be our one last secret.  Never show your emotions, right?  Always look brave.”

            Nine reached into the coffin and squeezed Arion’s cold, hard arm.  “And you were brave, Man.  They said you gave it your all.  You were the best of the best and I’m so honored that we were friends.  I love you, Man.  You’re a hero and I’m proud of you.”

            Just then there was a knock at the door.  Nine gave no response.  He straightened his posture and put his hands behind his back as the door opened.  Two morticians, General James Hunter, General Matthew Stewart and the head of Federation Defense, Mr. Richard Sanderson entered the room.  “Major, it’s time,” said General Stewart.

            Nine could feel Mr. Sanderson’s eyes on him, but he did not look back.  He nodded, gazed at his friend’s soulless face one last time and stepped back to allow the morticians to close the coffin.

            Nine felt a lump in his throat when he heard the slight creak of the lid and the small click when it locked into place.  He watched stone-faced as the two generals draped another flag on top of the coffin as Mr. Sanderson looked on.  Nine  took his place at the back of the coffin and walked with his friend one last time into the ceremonial chamber.

End

 

Dragon Catchers

By Ann Marie R. Harvie

                Nine gaped at the giant, winged creature flying towards his single person space fighter.  “That’s a dragon?”

                The calm voice of his teammate Osto  echoed in his headset.  “Yep, that’s a dragon.”

                Although he was still a good distance away, Nine could see the 50-foot dragon begin to fill his cockpit window.  It’s leathery, bat-like wings flapped furiously in pursuit of its dinner.  The sun hid behind thick, rolling clouds, but he could see the shine of the beast’s brown scales as it came right for him.  And those teeth – Nine wasn’t expecting such large, pointy teeth.

                Nine banked a hard left as soon as the dragon got too close.  The instruments in the cockpit flashed several different colors.  Alarms began to sound.  The special forces pilot was used to a state-of-the-art, five- person warship.  Unfortunately, his ship would be too large for the dragon to want to eat.    Maldar’s Royal Air Force gave him one of their smallest spacecraft.  Nine soon discovered they lent him a piece of junk.   The dragon swung around and was right on Nine’s tail.  “Are you ready?” he asked anxiously as he flipped several switches to recalculate his radar.

                “Almost,” replied Osto.

                The mission seemed straight-forward enough – capture the dragon the Wardon Empire sent to terrorize the floating Kingdom of Maldar.  Now as Nine tried to dodge the giant reptile, it all seemed decidedly less straight-forward. Osto would be flying above the kingdom with the net cannon.  Nine drew the short-straw when he agreed to be the bait.

 He dipped the fighter down into the mist and banked left to try to lose the monster.  He caught a slight glimpse of the creature’s yellow eyes and gnashing teeth.  His blood ran cold.  The thick metal of the cockpit and the protection of his helmet could not completely shut out the dragon’s high-pitched screech as it protested angrily about missing the kill.

                Nine zigzagged his fighter towards the Maldarian Kingdom.  The white marble structures with various black peaks and roofs sat situated on a large island that floated above a misty abyss protected from enemies.  Unfortunately, this enemy came in the form of a dragon.  The beast  had done considerable damage to the structures, not to mention the population.  Nine’s attention turned back to the advancing dragon.  His cheeks burned with anger.  The dragon was not supposed to be able to outrun the fighter.  Another lie told by the Maldarian Air Force.  Nine swore under his breath.  What else did they lie about?  “Ready or not, we’re coming in!”  he yelled into his communicator to his teammate.

                “Acknowledged.  The cannon and I are in place,” said Osto.

                As Nine reached for the thruster, he felt an impact and a shudder come from behind the fighter.  The dragon had the tail of the fighter in his teeth.  “Oh come on!” Nine shouted in frustration.

                He flew in jerking motions to try to free the fighter  from the dragon’s mouth.  Osto’s voice came over the speaker in his helmet.  “Nine, what’s going on?  My scanners indicate erratic movement.”

Nine’s temper flared.  “That’s because the dragon is eating me!”

Osto’s voice indicated his annoyance.  “I can’t get a lock on the dragon when you fly like that.  Stop fooling around and get over here.”

Nine shut off his communicator and a flurry of swears left his lips as he continued to try to shake off the dragon.  The instruments beeped furiously.   The damage to the tail increased.  He had no other choice.  He reached for the thruster lever and pulled back as hard as he could.

Fire spat from the back of the fighter and burned the dragon.  It screeched in pain and finally let go.  It dipped down into the mist and disappeared from sight. Nine kept the thrusters on and headed straight for Osto’s position.

As Nine expected, the dragon reappeared on his radar and once again rapidly approached the rear of the fighter.  Nine frantically scanned the area for Osto.  He found him on the floating, single-stand cannon.  The barrel of the cannon pointed in Nine’s direction.

Nine turned his communicator back on.  He lowered the nose of the fighter slightly to align exactly with the cannon.  “I’m in position,” he said.

“Understood.  Pull up on my mark.”

Nine could hear the dragon screeching angrily behind him.  The sound seemed laced with pain and fury now.  Osto’s voice snapped him to attention.  “One.  Two.  Three.  Now!”

The special force’s pilot pulled on the controls as hard as he could.  Before his cockpit windows filled with clouds, he saw a giant net shoot out of the barrel of the cannon.  He leveled out the fighter and hovered over the kingdom to assess the situation.  Osto netted the dragon and safely lowered it into a field inside Maldar’s marble walls.  Dozens of Maldarians shot tranquilizers into the dragon.  It lay still soon after being struck by the tranquilizers.

“Great job, Nine,” said Osto.  “The scientists will take him back, study him and set him free on one of the nearby uninhabited planets.”

Nine breathed a sigh of relief that the whole thing was over.  “Nine the Dragon Catcher,” he said with a slight laugh as he turned his fighter back to base.  “I kind of like the sound of that.”

Temple of the Raven Sisterhood

By Ann Marie R. Harvie

                Neptune stepped out of the boat and onto the rocky shore.  She looked up and marveled at the floating islands above her.  The guide smiled at Neptune.  Her gorgeous ebony complexion contrasted beautifully with her white temple dress.  Neptune smiled back and the guide turned and placed her staff into a crevice in a rock near the water.

                Soon Neptune heard a creaking sound.  She glanced up and saw a wooden staircase begin to emerge from the mist.  After a moment, it’s decent ended at their feet.  The guide silently began to climb the stairs and Neptune followed.  She breathed in the cool, misty air scented by the surrounding mountain range and felt a peace and contentment that hadn’t been present in years.

                The women continued to silently ascend the staircase.  Neptune could hear the sound of the waves lapping onto the shore grow fainter the higher they went.  She licked her lips and could taste the salt on her lips and feel the mountain mist dampen her face.  What a stark contrast to the choking smoke-laden battlefield she had left only 12 hours earlier.  The only smells in the air then were of burnt flesh and freshly splattered blood.

                The Temple of the Raven Sisterhood lay situated on the larger of the two floating islands.  A long stairway of cobblestone led up to the large but simple temple.  On either side of the stairway were levels of greenery where Raven Sisters tended various types of vegetation.  As Neptune walked up the stairs, the sisters briefly stopped their work to gaze at the stranger, only to resume their gardening after she passed.  The scent of mint on one side and basil on the other wafted through the air as Neptune approached the temple entrance. 

                Neptune’s guide went no further and silently motioned her to enter the temple.  Neptune turned to look at the other small island that connected to the Temple Island with small foot bridges.  Simple huts stacked on pillars that covered the island.  Neptune smiled as she heard children’s laughter coming from the huts.

                Glancing out over the mountain peaks, Neptune now knew that the battle between the Federation Chain of Life and the Wardon Empire to save the work was worth it.  She stepped into the temple and walked across its stone floor.  Images of ravens in various sequential scenes of battle and serenity decorated the otherwise plain slate walls.  She stopped at the bottom of another stone staircase and glanced up.

                A woman with ebony skin dressed in white and gold robes sat in a high-backed chair sat at the top of the stairs.  Neptune took the long, thin parcel she had been carrying on her back to the front and unwrapped it.  When the woman saw the golden staff with the raven on the top, she let in a quick breath.  She made her way down the stairs to meet Neptune, who bowed and reverently offered the staff to the woman.

                When the woman laid her hands on the staff, great black wings emerged from her back.  A high priestess ruled over the land once again.  Neptune straightened. Sadness washed over her face.  “I’m sorry the other high priestess was killed on her way to petition for membership with the Federation Chain of Life.  We fought long and hard to get the Staff of Power back to where it belongs.  I hope now that you are ruler you too will consider membership.  I hope this proves that we are on your side.”

                The high priestess’ wings expanded and contracted.  “You are a worthy ally.  What will your reward be for returning this to me?”

                Neptune shook her head.  “No reward necessary.  Coming here even for just a short while is enough.”

                With another deep bow, Neptune silently left the temple.