Breaking Ranks

Samantha: Breaking Ranks

"This isn't right," I whispered to myself.

"Ready your weapons!" came the command, after all. Somehow I thought it wouldn't come. Or maybe I just hoped it wouldn't, and there was never much of a point in hoping.

"Trooper Sara. Trooper Sara."

I hadn't raised my weapon. "This isn't right, sir." The crowd was shifting now, panicked faces seeing three raised barrels pointed towards them. Guns would be unfamiliar to them but they knew we had left a swathe of corpses behind us and we weren't hauling these things around for the fun of it.

"Lower your weapons," the lieutenant grated out, and the others followed suit obediently. The lieutenant was stalking over now and I knew he was going to give me a chewing-out. For the first time, perhaps, I decided I wasn't going to take it.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, rookie?" The lieutenant asked. To my surprise, he faced me now and took off his helmet. After a moment I followed suit. Perhaps he thought looking me right in the eyes would help convince me, but I found that my determination was growing more and more. In fact, I felt slightly ashamed that it had taken this long.

"Do you realize what you're doing?" the lieutenant asked me softly. This was a private conversation now, the two of us face to face, though I felt very aware of the huddled refugees who looked at us and the unmoving armored figures of my comrades.

"Do you realize what you're doing, sir? Did you join the Security Force to beat around the weak?"

He glared at me now. "You may not realize it from the exalted position of rookie trooper, but the Empire is fighting a war on many fronts. Last I heard we may even begin a new campaign of reclamation for the entire ship. Even as ignorant as you are, you should be aware that we are outnumbered. Vastly, vastly outnumbered."

"Does Command know what you're doing? Does the Emperor?"

He gave me a look of withering contempt. "How do you think the Empire started in the first place? Those strong enough to kick the others in line took command. I didn't realize it, rookie, but you're one of those soft sorts in the pampered rear areas. The Empire has a proud legacy, a legacy of crucifixions and corpses and violence and victory. Laws be damned, civilization be damned, at the end of the day we're the toughest bastards on the whole damn ship and when the passengers need reminding of that we make an example of them that will be remembered for decades. Now then. Are you going to pull the trigger or are you with them?"

"I'm with them," I said, tossing my helmet to the ground. By his startled expression he clearly hadn't expected that response. I broke ranks and strode over to the mass of refugees, some of the shying away, and whirled around to face my former squad mates.

"Sara," Potter said over his speakers, the distortion not enough to erase his pleading tone.

"So, are you going to shoot me?" I asked them, my assault rifle ready at hand. It was strange to see but they did look like something apart from humans, a bit like the beetles I had seen in the zoological histories, and two of them even turned as if to look at each other.

"Ready arms!" the lieutenant barked out now. He hadn't deigned to put his helmet back on and gave me a baleful glare. Ever loyal, I raised my weapon directly at him.

"Sara!" Kaltran said now, a booming warning.

"Aim!"

Well, I wasn't about to wait. My shots were clean and accurate. The lieutenant had his helmet off and was completely exposed. I didn't miss.

A burst of fire cut a ribbon of dirt between his legs. He looked down, and then at me in shock and rage. And then all hell broke loose.

***

There was a few seconds before the firing started, Seraphs yelling, refugees yelling, and more than likely I was adding my voice to the symphony as well. I remember pushing into the refugees, telling them to scatter, and a few did. Then the firing began, and most of those who hadn't scattered began dropping. I ran a good distance before I took cover behind a tree.

I popped out and fired a few bursts overhead, and then more concentrated fire on the suppression bot. I wasn't about to harm my former comrades but I didn't mind taking out the bot. Its "head" fell apart under the barrage, the bullets piercing through to smash electrical components to bits, and it sagged forward to topple to the ground. The silence that followed was broken by the swearing of the lieutenant, the wailing of dying refugees, and the sounds of streaming survivors running past me into the forest.

"Sara! Drop your weapon!"

"You drop your weapon!" I retorted. A barrage of bullets hit the tree I was sheltering behind and I slid low to the ground and bark and bits of shattered tree limbs fell around me. After a moment I twisted around and fired back, though I could barely see what I was aiming at. Their firing died down after a moment.

"Sara! Hold your fire!"

"You hold your fire!"

Another volley impacted on the upper tree limbs and I was beginning to see further negotiations would continue in this unproductive manner. I brought out a smoke grenade in my armor's outer webbing and lobbed it just a few meters away, the grenade blossoming out a thick fog. The Empire hated the idea of smoke grenades, as it clogged the ventilation systems, but their elite troops were able to carry one, and one was enough to cover my retreat.

I ran in panicked flight through the forest, thinking only of getting away so that I could take a moment to think. Around me were the rustling sounds of refugees making similar retreats. As I rounded a corner I almost bumped into Potter. Dammit, he must have flanked me while the shooting was going on!

Like the lieutenant he was helmet-less, his eyes pleading and his sniper rifle pointed downward. "Sara. Don't do this. It's okay to lose your nerve, it happens sometimes."

I stalked forward. "I'm not going to be a murderer."

He gritted his teeth. "It's complicated."

I sent a sudden right hook to the side of his head and he staggered to his knees. I wheeled around to kick him in the chest and he sprawled to the ground. His helmet sat on the ground and I nudged it over with my foot to expose the soft interior.

"Potter!" I heard the lieutenant's voice from inside the helmet, and I lowered my assault rifle to send a burst into the helmet. The firing shattered the electronics inside but I heard a click from my rifle. I shrugged the strap off and let it fall heavily to the ground, and then bent to pick up Potter's sniper rifle, the elegant streamlined wooden stock somehow blending in with the forest.

He was on one knee now, and spat out blood. He glared up at me. "You're making a mistake."

"Don't follow me," I said simply, and moved into the underbrush.