Witness [A First Contact Romance]-COMPLETE

7. Liberation

Lumiea

Year -20 (L.D.)

Aeryn stretched her sore neck and closed her eyes, so tired, she thought she had started to drift off while standing.

Today was not the day for fatigue, though. After three months at Iyla she'd survived orientation and officially received her rank as private in-training. Commander Vehru would address them this afternoon for the second time to formally initiate them on the mission which they all had dedicated their lives to preparing for.

Standing in the ceremony hall, she looked around to notice that she knew as few people as the day she'd arrived. It wasn't that she hadn't met anyone. Only that those people were gone or she hadn't had the chance to meet them again. It had seemed unthinkable at first to easily send home recruits who had worked so hard to arrive. But most of the world wanted the honor of serving here. They were all expendable until they proved themselves not to be.

This day was a cause for celebration, but her final trial of orientation kept her up most of the night as she raced to create body modifications from scratch, a skill which even seasoned bioengineers struggled with.

The three beeps that she had learned to associate with the start of a session rang through the hall and Commander Vehru appeared above them in the blink of an eye. She hovered closer this time than she had before, gliding along the crowd as she looked around.

"It's amazing to see how many of you made it to this day. Never lose sight of this accomplishment."

Aeryn's fatigue faded from her mind as she listened to the opening speech by Vehru.

"It is my great honor to officially welcome you to our mission. While there is so much more ahead of you and there are some who will not make it, each of you standing here today has proven yourself. From now on, no one goes home unless I personally decide it's time."

All gathered were too disciplined to react, but Aeryn could feel years of tension unwinding from them all as if they were one massive body. The relief was palpable and so powerful that her knees felt like buckling.

"You've grown used to saying goodbye. To leaving behind families and homes. Look around. This is your family now. Your job now is not only to continue to train yourselves, but to train as a team. We must learn to act as well as one as we do alone. Perfection."

Aeryn couldn't imagine the security of belonging or of having people to call her own. Part of her resisted this because while it wouldn't be an instructor sending them home any longer, a much worse parting could await any of them in the room. It hurt so badly to say goodbye to a friend, even knowing they would go home. How much worse was death?

"You've chosen to live difficult lives in the service of humanity. There's no greater sacrifice. Three generations ago this world was set free from the chaos of war and suffering. You came home to the federation. All of you were born into a world of peace, and yet, you've chosen to leave it behind for a world you don't even know. It's an honor to stand before such fine soldiers."

Vehru's commanding voice echoed through the room as she spoke. She lowered slightly as the screens littering the room came to life. A beautiful planet appeared on each screen throughout the ceremony hall. Deep blue covered the world in luscious oceans with wispy clouds swirling around the globe.

"While I am thankful you did not grow up in the darkness that ruled your world before you found the federation, I also wish I could help you understand what a gift you have today. No longer does anyone in the world go hungry. Nations do not sacrifice their civilians in war. The omni-AI constantly monitors every little town to ensure that everyone has their needs met and to identify risks that arise. To warn of potential natural disasters. And your body modifications have allowed you to live full, healthy lives. These are the gifts this other world is missing."

Aeryn imagined people she had never met far away in another solar system living their lives without the slightest idea that they were not alone. How would it feel to have no security beyond that your young world could offer? The poor people.

"This planet is much like your own, or how your world was before peace came. The suffering is greater than you can imagine. And yet, there is such profound joy, as well. They are a strong and vivacious people who deserve to never worry about shelter for their children or care for their elderly." Vehru raised her chin and lifted her hand to one of the screens where the planet seemed to swell in size. "On Liberation Day, it will be you who brings freedom to the people of Earth."

It was the first time Aeryn had heard the name of the planet they would one day save spoken. Despite having trained in the two languages the most people on the planet spoke–English and Mandarin–the name itself was allowed only to those invited to the mission.

"Peace will not come easily for Earth. Those in power will not want to cede control to the federation, to our military, or to our Omni-AI, no matter what benefit we may bring. The most powerful physical weapons the Earth possesses are nuclear. Right now, two nations own eighty-nine percent of these weapons. These countries are called the United States and Russia. And it is the United States which holds the most political and economic power in the world. This is why you are only allowed to speak in English now that you have arrived at Iyla, and why your dialect must be perfect. If we are to bring freedom to earth, it is imperative that you can speak as one of them."

Vehru gave them a few moments to process the information.

"There is much to discuss, my young soldiers. But understand this, the Earth is in a dire state. Omni-AI has identified a dozen ways that civilization is likely to fail in the coming decades. Without intervention, it could mean the end of life for humans on their planet. Even beyond the catastrophic, most of the world lives in poverty compared to the superpower, the United States. Their imperial power controls much of the world. Children toil in other countries in factories to make cheap clothes for US citizens to purchase. The value of American currency continues to lose its power while more and more are pushed into poverty. The fabric of American and western society is deteriorating, throwing the rest of the world into chaos. In the US, every year, hundreds of gunmen open fire in schools where their young children go to learn."

Such conditions were unthinkable on her planet. Sure, there were areas of rebellion still here on Lumiea where the war didn't end so much as it deteriorated into small anarchist communities or terrorist cells. Some would rather have the freedom to ruin their lives than flourish under the security the federation could bring. But this was not the norm in her world. When she heard that people opened fire in the schools she hardly caught herself from asking why. Why would anyone want to shoot children as they learned?

Her passion and determination had driven her away from her family and into a painful, difficult life. Something new swelled in her heart today as she watched a silent film begin to play over the screens. It had been abstract before to think that she was fighting to help bring peace to a faraway people. Now she could see them on the screens. Homeless unable to lie under shelter because of strange bumps on the sidewalks; protests where heavily geared police left armored cars and shot gas into the crowd; children living with dirt floors and distended bellies; buildings crumbling beneath the crush of bombs. Image after image of the kind of suffering Aeryn had never seen.

Minutes into the film and there hadn't been a sound, until Vehru gently lowered herself to the ground in the middle of the crowd.

"There will be a war unlike anything you have ever experienced or can imagine." Her voice rose. "But when we win that war, Earth will be free of this chaos, and the people will forever live in peace."

All the soldiers gathered, the freshly minted privates in-training, raised their fists and cried out. All of Aeryn's heart went into that cry. Because she had bought everything Vehru said. Everything the commander stood for.

Twenty years before Liberation Day, Aeryn swore her soul to a war she did not yet understand.