Siege of Terra (The Mavrik Woods Series, Book 1) (10 page)

“Well, I hope you take lots of other men with you on this, so other people can get the experience so that you can take your well-deserved time off.”

“Hmm, I’ll throw that out there and see what they think. Not sure they would let me just walk out on them when we are at the beginning of a war,” I say, a grin spreads across my face.

“What's so funny?” She asks.

“Oh, I was just thinking of what we would be doing on our honeymoon right about now.”

“Hmm, and what would that be,” she says, her hands tracing through my hair.

“I think you know.” My hand slides gracefully on her neck, my hands always have the slightest touch. I watch as Goosebumps appear on her arms, she sighs softly as my hands glide down her back, nothing could ruin the moment -my intercom beeps at me from inside my pocket- “Shit.”

“Don’t pick it up,” she says softly, her lips find their way to my neck.

“You know I don’t want to, it might be Headquarters” - I check the display number- “yeah, it’s the Base. I need to answer this; otherwise I’m in big trouble,” I say regrettably.

“Fine,” she says as she gets up and walks into the kitchen.

“Colonel Woods here,” I say.

“Yes, Colonel, you have been ordered to report for duty at oh-seven-hundred tomorrow,” a man over the Intercom says.

“Yes Sir, has there been a development?” I ask.

“Why yes there has Colonel, our satellites have discovered a base of operations in the Kelownial Rain Forest, just on the outskirts of Jalin City. More information will be revealed tomorrow morning at the briefing.”

“Alright, thank you, Colonel Woods out,” I say, switching off the Intercom. I sigh; at least I now know when I have to leave home, again.

“Syreena,” I call to the kitchen, I stand up from the couch and walk towards the kitchen, “Honey, I just got my orders.”

She looks at me, her eyes are starting to tearing up.

“Don’t cry, I will be fine, I promise,” I say, wrapping my arms around her.

“I don’t know that, even you can't possibly know that.”

“Hey, you know me; I will do everything I can to be back here.”

“I just don’t like it when you leave me like this,” she says.

“We’ve known each other for five years, and I’ve gone away during that time, and I’ve always come back to you. What would you have me do?”

“Leave, you can leave the army, and we can live a normal life.”

“You know it’s not as simple as that.”

“It can be, just tell them that you want out.”

“Alright, I will think about it, if it’s what you want, but know this, as long as there is one alien on this planet or near it I will never leave. I can't just back out on humanity.” I say.

To make a man choose between his life career and his wife was a tough one, ultimately it came down to love, love for your work, or love for your wife. Good thing I’m a smart man, I know which is the better option.

“I will hold you to that. Now, where were we?”

“I think I remember, oh yes, we were on our way to the bedroom.”

Day 8: Cycle 1: Period 2: Year 2397

An alarm is blaring in my ear, I set it for 0600, it couldn’t possibly be that time already though, it felt like it had been only minutes ago that I had closed my eyes.

I drag myself out of bed, wishing that this is just a  bad dream.

A hand grasps my wrist, not too tight, but tight enough that it meant for me to stay, I take a glance over my shoulder, Syreena is on the other end of my arm, barely awake.

“How am I supposed to get dressed with one arm?”

“You don’t, that’s the point. Why don’t you come back to bed?” She yawns out.

“Because I need to get to a meeting, that’s why.”

“Well, you have an hour, it takes what, ten minutes to get ready and out of the house?”

“You’re stubborn, did you know that?” I say, kissing her on the forehead.

“Wow, you have lovely morning breath, don’t you agree?”

I smile at her, it was one of those moments where I wish I could stay in forever, she returns the smile with one of her infectious ones. It was the perfect moment to be in, if only it could last forever though.

“I’m really sorry, but I need to have breakfast, a shower, get dressed, all of those things.” That was it, that is how long the moment lasted; her smile disappears, replaced with a sad face. In my wedding vows I had promised to make her happy, whatever I had to do, and by the looks of it I wasn’t doing a good job.

“I will be back before you know it. Don’t worry, I won’t just leave right away, when I’m all ready to go I will come back in here for as long as I can.”

I get up to start my morning, I wish I hadn’t seen that single tear go down her cheek though, it just made me feel worse about leaving.

It took me only twenty minutes to get ready; in that time I had a shower, made a gummy bowl of porridge, made a cup of coffee and got dressed.

When I was done those tasks I had plenty of time to spare. I go back into the bedroom and lie on the bed. It took only seconds for Syreena to throw her arms around me and snuggle closely into my side.

I lay there for what felt like hours -in a good way though- and just listened to the inhaling and exhaling of Syreenas lungs, a marvelous sound, the sound of life.

I look over at the clock, I’ve been lying here for fifteen minutes already, time sure passes fast when you’re relaxing.

“I gotta go now sweetie, I love you, and I will be back as soon as I can,” I say, giving her a kiss goodbye.

“I love you to.”

I get up to leave; it was déjà vu, just the previous day I had done the exact same thing, although the distance that I would have to travel had grown exponentially.

I walk through the dark hallways, it’s only 0640, and the sun hasn’t yet peeked through the massive skytowers, casting most of the city in a prolonged darkness.

I go through the garage door, walking up to my speeder; I scan my thumb print on the pad near the door, it pops open. I jump inside and scan my thumb and eye.

“Welcome Mr. Woods, where can I take you?”

“T.A.R. Headquarters please,” I say.

“Right away.” Please sit back and enjoy the ride, at this time of day traffic should be minimal, we should arrive in a little over two minutes.”

The garage bay door open and the speeder soars into the sky, zooming into the designated skylane that would take me where I need to go.

The speeder glides through the same skylanes as yesterday morning, taking me along the path most efficient. I look out my window, noticing the two towers that had been destroyed yesterday. The demolition crews were still moving debris around and loading it onto huge container trucks. They must have worked all night, because a large portion of the first building is already missing, probably sent to one of the large recycling plants on the outskirts of the city.

“We have arrived at our destination Mr. Woods, have a nice day.”

“Thanks, you piece of junk,” I say, even though it functioned well, technology was always going to get outdated, and fast.

“You’re welcome,” it says, oblivious to my last comment.

I roll my eyes as I jump out of the speeder, technology would one day be the bane of our existence, and yet people keep making it smarter and smarter.

I walk up the steps, going through the glass doors.

“Bob,” I say, walking past the security guard, he nods at me; I must be one of the few people that actually acknowledges him.

The doors magnetic seal shuts off, allowing me access to the rest of the building.

I walk towards the same conference room as yesterday, the General would be surprised that I’m this early, but I have a few things I need to talk to him about beforehand.

I scan my thumb into the security pad on the door; I walk through the door, not surprised that no one is here yet, even though I’m fifteen minutes early there’s usually someone sitting here waiting.

I sit down near the door.

The minutes pass by as if time is irrelevant, it feels very lonely in the small room. The only thing I could do is watch as the sun crowns over the buildings, it might’ve been lonely, but definitely peaceful.

The door hisses open and General Anders walks in.

“Ah, Colonel. I didn’t expect you to be here this early. He says, taking the seat at the front of the table.

“No Sir, I didn’t really want to be here this early, but I need to talk to you.”

“What is in regards to?” He asks.

“It’s about my wife, well, probably a lot of wives feel like this. She doesn’t exactly like me being in the army, getting sent off for sometimes cycles at a time. She wants me to either get reassigned or discharged.”

“Well, I’m sure that we can’t let you do that at this time Colonel, we need you in the field, I’m sorry son, but I will not authorize your leave.”

“I understand Sir, I will give my life protecting humanity, but I’m just letting you know, if I survive this war I’m out. I’m also entitled to a personal leave, but don’t worry Sir, I have no plans to abandon you in a time like this.” I say.

“Thank you son, thss planet is in serious trouble if we don’t have people like you defending it.”

“Can't we get more people to help defend it?” I ask.

“Of course, the military’s plan is not to fight a war with only two soldiers, we have entire platoons prepping for missions. Don’t think you and Captain Ravenson are the only people that are useful; I have command of thousands of soldiers, all of which are going to be departing within the next hour to certain locations on this planet.”

“Where are you sending them?”

“I will get into more of that specific information at this meeting. I didn’t brief all those soldiers like I am going to be telling you and the Captain. You two have personal experience in combat with these Hakorians, that gives you and edge; and that makes you the best logical choice for the harder missions.”

My heart drops, I would basically never be allowed any leave while these aliens inhabit our solar system, and it was going to be a very long war in that case.

“Understood Sir,” it was all that I could say safely, without further arguing with a very powerful man, powerful in the totem pole for the military, in reality the man was a blob with a thin greased mustache.

The door opens abruptly and T-Rave walks in.

“Sorry General. Am I interrupting anything Colonel?” T-Rave says, giving a small salute.

“At ease Captain, the Colonel and I were just having a discussion about his further
need
in the military. Now, let’s get started,” he says, taking his gaze off me and focusing it at the table in front of him, which lights up at his touch and streams information.

“Alright gentlemen, I’m not sure how informed of the situation you are, so let’s start at the beginning.”

“Our satellites have spotted dozens of small mining operations. At least by the looks of it they could be mining operations which are all around the planet, seeing as these photos were taken only hours ago.” He hits an icon on the table. In response the tables mirror image appears on the wall in front of us, “now, look at this top image, it’s different from the rest, this one has kind of a circular base of operations, while all of the other ones just have -what looks like- drills. This top photo clearly shows buildings. Now, I know for a fact that this area was empty just days ago, so there is no chance that this is a photo of a settlement, this area of the planet was virtually empty.”

“Sir, isn’t that the Kelownial Rain Forest?” I ask, remembering my conversation with the person that called in last night.

“Why yes it is, and this is going to your mission, but before I get into that I need to know if you two are prepared, and willing to be my liaisons to these Hakorians.”

That caught me off guard.

“For what purpose General?” T-Rave asks.

“Yeah, we already tried to negotiate with them; it didn’t work out so well, if I need to remind you then you should look outside to those buildings that blew up.” I say, backing T-Rave up, I was willing to fight to protect my planet, but not to negotiate with them, it just wasn’t in my forte.

“No, you tried to negotiate with a small band of them,” the General corrects us, “this looks like it's their main base of Operation, which means that their leader is most likely there. I want you two to do your best if the opportunity arises to make a deal with them,” he says.

“I need to know now gentlemen,” he urges.

“Alright, I’m in, if we are going there to blow shit up we might as well try to negotiate if the ‘blowing up’ plan fails,” T-Rave says.

Now all the pressure’s on me, “sorry General, I will be your foot soldier, but not a representative, T-Rave can have the job.”

“I was only trying to be polite son, you don’t have a say in the matter, I’m ordering you to be a liaison with Captain Ravenson.

I sigh, what the hell is the point in someone asking if you want to do something, and when you say no they make you do it anyways? What was the purpose? Why bother asking in the first place.