I didn’t leave in the morning. I didn’t leave for another week. The doctors, of whom B’honnes was not a part of, told me that I was nowhere near fit enough for combat. They told me, in no uncertain terms, that I was to remain in bed rest for two more days, then they were going to allow me to walk around. After that, they would let me go.
Clint walked in the day we were supposed to leave. He was dressed in his battle clothes, overcoat, dark pants, and red shirt. He sat down in the chair and looked at me lying in the bed. “I heard they’re not letting you out of there for another week,” he said.
I shrugged. “Two days. Then I get to walk around for five and then they’ll let me leave.” I winked at him. “But I plan on busting out of here soon.”
Clint pushed himself up and stood close to my bed. He poked a finger into my chest. “You’re not leaving here until you’re better. I’m not going to have you die on me because you work your body past its limits. I’ll tie you down myself if I have to.”
“NO!” I shout. “No chains.” Clint flinched, stunned at the force of my reaction. I was shocked too. I hadn’t meant to sound so forceful, but the thought of chains restricting my movement, allowing someone to do what they want… I shivered.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “Just … I’ll be fine. You can trust me.”
Clint nodded. “I never doubted it. I’ll come get you in a week. Hopefully by then we’ll have a base and some idea of what to do next.”
“I look forward to it. Who’s leading the squad?”
Clint looked down at me. “I am.”
I stifled a laugh. “You? They’ll all be dead in a week from exhaustion.”
“You managed to keep up just fine. Even in the beginning, before your sudden growth spurt. Besides,” Clint said, waving his hand, “that’s the whole point of this squad. The official purpose is some behind the scenes destruction and mayhem, but what they really want is an army just like you and me.”
“I don’t know if that’s going to be a good idea,” I said. “I mean, look at us. Between us, we’ve managed to kill about fifteen hundred beings and we haven’t even started the real war yet. Do they really want an army that only knows how to kill?”
I realized after the words left my mouth that I should not have said them. It sounded like I thought we were good for nothing except killing. We were good at it, no one better, but someone who just kills is not someone to admire. Clint looked at me with that dark look he gets sometimes, but it was not directed at me. I think it was at the thought that that was really all we were. We were known for killing. We saved people too, but usually we killed people to do it.
“I think we’re going to need all of the killers we can find,” Clint said. “The Swrun outnumber us about a hundred to one and they have a great many more resources than we do. And on that dark note, I must take my leave. See you in a week,” he said, already half way out the door. He waved his hand over his shoulder and disappeared through the doorway.
I lay back on my pillow and stared at the ceiling. My body still had not recovered and I was exhausted. I fell into a deep, dreamless sleep. When I woke up, the clock read eleven o’clock of the next day. I had slept for over twenty four hours. I must have really pushed my body. I understood why the doctors had made me stay behind. With my body like this, I wouldn’t have been any use to the squad.
A nurse walked in a short while later. She gave me a quick glancing over, made sure I was doing alright, and asked if I wanted anything to read from the hospital library. “No,” I said. “I’m fine. But could you send in Doctor Mycoy if you get the chance? I’d like to speak with him.”
“I’m sorry but Doctor Mycoy has been in the Nunemabi hospital for the last week. He won’t be back for another month. Do you want me to leave him a message?”
“Ah … No, no, I’ll be fine.” I waved my hand absently, consumed in thought. The nurse left when I didn’t say I needed anything else. If B’honnes wasn’t here and hadn’t been here for the last week then who – But that couldn’t be right. I had seen him with my own two eyes. I had been tired, yes, but I trusted myself enough to distinguish between two beings. But he hadn’t been acting like himself. I shook my head at the ridiculousness of it all.
But I kept turning it over and over in my head, thinking that if I saw it from another light, the puzzle would become clear. But it didn’t and all I got for my troubles was a dull ache behind my brow. I was sitting there, consumed by my thoughts when a most unexpected visitor walked through the door.
It was Lady Night. “Hello,” she said when I looked up. I had no idea how long she had been standing there. “Oh, hello, Lady Night.” I sat up taller in my bed. Motioning to the chair, I said “Please make yourself comfortable. I would stand, but doctor’s orders.” I smiled ruefully.
“Please, call me Jaein,” she said as she seated herself in the chair. Her movements were very precise and measured, giving the impression that she was taking great care to appear in control of her actions. She wanted me to call her Jaein? That meant a lot, according to Clint.
“What brings you by, Lady – Jaein?” That was going to be a tough habit to break.
“I thought I would give you some company,” she said. “Clint’s off on his mission and I’ve got to leave for a Diplomatic meeting tomorrow, but I thought you could use someone to distract you from the boredom.”
“You guessed right,” I said. “What do you want to talk about?”
“I don’t know, really. I thought I’d just get to know you a bit more, since we’re going to be seeing a lot more of each other in the future.”
“You and Clint that serious, huh?”
She shrugged. “He’s quite the man. We’re -” She stopped suddenly, as if preventing herself from saying more than she meant to.
“He loves you, you know. Really, truly.” Her face lit up.
“He loves you too. Not in that way,” she said quickly, raising a hand, “but like a brother. He’d do anything for you.”
I had known that, but it still felt good for someone else to confirm it. “And I would do anything for him.”
We feel into an easy conversation after that, discussing the various aspects of Clint that we found ridiculous and yet at the same time intriguing. I told her about our adventures, giving her a different perspective on the things Clint had told her, and she told me about Clint and baseball. That was a fascinating sport and one only Clint could have thought of. Who else would have thought to make a game out of hitting a ball as hard as you could and running as fast as you could in a circle?
But soon she had to leave and I was left by myself again. The nurse came in to give me supper but that was the only other contact I had that day. I sat there and soon fell asleep. The next day, they let me out on the condition I didn’t get into any more fights and I wandered through the city, looking for my house. I had never actually gone to it before, I had just spent the night at Wyena’s and then I was chained to a table for three days.
When I did find the house, it was a small little structure, built much the same as the rest of the houses in that part of town. It had two bedrooms, a living room, kitchen, washroom, and several closets. Perfect for a guy who had very little to his name. I found that Clint had left my things on the bed, instead of taking them with him on Susan, which I was grateful for.
I had nothing to do for the next four days. I didn’t know what I was going to do, but I knew what I wasn’t going to do. I was going to stay as far away from trouble as possible. That’s what I told myself. I did well the first two days, staying inside, cooking meals and reading a few of the books Clint had left in the house. I hadn’t known how much he liked to read until we got to a steady place to stay and then it seemed he devoured every book he could get his hands on.
The third night, I couldn’t stand it. I had to get out of the house. I wandered into the Market and I travelled the bars. I didn’t drink anything, because I didn’t know what that would do to me, but I did talk to a lot of people and many of them recognized me as the guy who tore apart the Arm. Many congratulated me and offered me a drink, which I politely declined.
Eventually, after a long evening of people meeting, I was on my way home. The streets were mostly empty, as it was late and this was a lower end of town. I cut through an alley to get home faster when two shapes stepped out from the wall, blocking my path.
“Give us your wallet and things will go smoothly,” said one of the shapes, metal glinting in his hand. They were trying to rob me. I almost laughed at the absurdity of it. “You really don’t want to do that,” I said.
“Yeah, why’s that?” grunted the other one.
“Because I’m the jahen who fights. I just spent a week trying my best not killing people and my patience is running thin. I need to kill soon.” I spoke in my best Clint voice, that low hushed whisper that sounds so much more dangerous than shouting.
“I don’t give a flying fuck who you are, I want your wallet,” shrilled the one with the knife. Well, I tried. I took a step forward and saw them recoil in terror. Good. Then I noticed they were looking over my shoulder. They turned and ran as fast as their legs could carry them. I turned around to face the being at my back.
It was Kra-ort, all six and a half feet of him. He stood, massive in the alleyway, his hands by his sides. “Thanks,” I said, “but I could have handled them.”
“I do not doubt you could have, but this way no one has to die.” His voice was a little slurred and uneven.
“Have you been drinking?” I asked. He hiccupped. “Yes. And I need to speak with you. Is there a place close?”
“I’ve got a house just up the road,” I told him. “We can talk there.”
I lead him to my house and through the front door. He sat heavily on the couch in the living room, causing it to creak violently. I half expected it to break. I took the other chair.
“What was it you wanted to talk about?”
He looked at me with beady eyes, dulled by drink. “I know about your mission in Empire territory. I want to tell you something that will be very important to your mission.”
I leaned forward. “Okay, what is it?”
He drew a deep breath. “I know you, and most of the people in the Rebellion, think that the Swrun are evil and they like to enslave and kill and murder. You are justified in thinking this, because that is all you know about us. The only contact the galaxy has with the Swrun race is with its military and its slavers.
“Most have a great many reasons to wish the death of our race, none more so than Clint Stone. What happened to Earth is one of the greatest crimes my people have committed. But you need to know it is not the Swrun race who do these things.”
He paused and I grew very confused. How were the Swrun not responsible for the last hundred years of misery and the enslavement of billions?
“It is our leaders. You see, the Emperor and the government rule over us with an iron fist. Those who disagree or speak out against the leadership are silenced. Killed if they are lucky or sent to reeducation camps if they are not. Those places are one of the greatest sites of misery and pain, you can’t even begin to image the things I have seen there.
“Why tell you this, you ask. What good is it? I just want you to know we are not all bad. Most of us are decent beings. We want to be left in peace. Raise a family, work a quiet job. But the government has created a state of terror. Those who disagree are sent to the camps.
“But why don’t we rise up against our rulers? I don’t know,” Kra-ort said, his voice thick with sorrow and regret. He rambled on, fueled by the drink. I doubted very much he would have shared this without it. “We’re scared. The army works for the Emperor and the secret police are everywhere.” He shivered. “During my time as Home Guard, the things I saw … no living being should have to witness those things. I left the Empire, joined the Rebellion because of the things I saw.”
He looked up at me, fire blazing in his eyes. “It is the Emperor who is to blame for this war, him and his family stretching back three generations. It was the House of Yth-Usa that brought about this war. Those sick, twisted bastards decided that ruling over an entire people was not enough and they decided they wanted the rest of the galaxy as well.”
He jabbed a finger at me. “You remember that when you find yourself on a Swrun world. Those who live there are not evil, they are not ruthless murderers who wish to see everything crushed beneath their feet. They are people, just like you, who just got caught up in something outside of their control. You have to understand this.”
He stood and walked to the door. I stood quickly. “Hey, wait! I’ve got questions for you!” But he did not listen. He left the door and he soon disappeared into the night. I sat back down hard in the chair, processing what I had just heard. From what I understood from Kra-ort’s drunken rambling, it wasn’t the will of the Swrun people that they go to war, but rather the Emperor alone. Because he had control of the military and the secret police, he could force them to do as he wished, because they were afraid of him.
This information had far-reaching implications. We weren’t fighting an entire race in this war, just those who fought because they had to. There were definitely those who fought because they wanted to, but many were likely forced to choose between the military and death. This meant the Swrun Empire was fighting two wars. One against outside aggressors and one for the minds of their people.
This could change everything. But why had Kra-ort not told anyone about this before? I could guess why. He was a proud being, not one to suggest cowardice in his people, even if he disagreed with the leadership. It must have taken a lot to come speak with me.
I sat back and thought about what I had learned through the wee hours of the dawn. When I heard footsteps outside the door, I thought perhaps Kra-ort had returned, but it was someone else. Clint Stone bounded into the living room.
“Ready to go?”