In Silent Dreams

SIDE CHAPTER - Resistance Of A Free Mind

"On our six! Get the Talons on our rear!"

"Talons locked, FIRING NOW!"

The launchers fired eight rockets towards the incoming gunships, forming a helix-shaped flight trail behind them. One of the Talons swerved behind the tower that the resistance fighters were running from, leading the chasing missile into the building itself. The explosions covered the entire floor, blowing up and devastating everything within. The other Talon was hit by another missile, blowing up in blue flames and smoke.

The building roared. The upper floors started coming down at accelerating speeds. Ten resistance fighters were caught in the crumbling structure, and disappeared in a blind of smoke and rubble.

The Holographic bridge started collapsing as well, resembling a domino chain from the demolished tower outwards towards the resistance fighters. They were suspended 80 storeys above ground level, on a breaking bridge while running for the South Tower.

"Keep moving! Use your cloaks! Do not let the Talons acquire you!"

The remaining resistance fighters activated their cloaking tech, rendering them almost invisible. The smoke from the first building had reached them. Soon the breaking bridge will give way, and drop the men down into the cityscape. The Talons engaged at the smoke, blind-firing ballistic cannons, hoping to kill the remaining survivors.

The front scout kicked the doors in on the south tower, leading the team inside. One of the fighters at the back who was still running on the balcony pulled out a grenade and placed it in his hand and disengaged his cloaking tech. He then slammed on the emergency disconnect panel, destroying it and deactivating the holo-bridge.

He looked at the rest of his squadron.

"Go on, I will fake a surrender."

"Aaron what are you-"

"We are not going to make it running down the tower while those gunships tear the buildings down."

"No. I am ordering you to come back here and-"

"Already done. May the angels grace us with our victory."

The fighter Kneeled down and placed his hands on his heads, concealing the grenade in his clutching hands.

The smoke gave way, as a large glaring searchlight was shone on him. It was over.

The assassination of the Empire's Legatus Friar was a successful mission.

Klein gulped down the alcohol in his mug, oblivious to the woman beside him trying to stop his drinking.

Woman: "I give up. You're never going to listen to me."

Klein: "They are all gone. Aaron, Victor, Ymer, Yu Ming, April, Snow, Jids, even those new recruits whom I should not have allowed to follow us."

W: "Friar is dead. Our plan worked out."

K: "Friar was never the issue. We could have taken him out on the streets. We could have intercepted his convoy when he was on the way. Why attack him at the towers? Why would he even be at the towers? A Legatus personally overseeing data transfer operations at a remote tower in the heart of the city?"

W: "I do not know the reasons. But what matters is that he is dead. The Imperial troops in Ushoulkt have lost a capable leader. I expect smoother assaults from our resistance fighters deployed on their bases. Don't worry too much. And stop drinking, it's bad for your health."

The woman starts walking away.

Klein: "You know what's bad for your health?"

The woman stops and turns her head back at Klein.

Klein: "Ignorance."

"Resistance is futile. Surrender now while you still have the chance, or face the consequences."

-Imperial warning poster, 3753.

"Every day, our brave men and women risk their lives, their dreams, their ambitions. They risk their lives, in the hopes that in turn, we all have a chance at a better future. A future not spent in the containment cells of Empire prison ships, a future not spent in the ditch of war. Their sacrifices may be disheartening, to see such good spirited people take arms and perish. But this sacrifice is necessary, and you need to understand that. You yourself know this, Klein."

Klein looked out the window at the cityscape of Horus, a city bathed in the warm orange glow of the two suns. There were large ships floating in the clouds, with scores of patrol scout ships traversing between them and the city below.

"I understand. I just want to know why we had waited until he was at the tower before we attacked. I had suspected such an outcome even from the start."

The man he was talking to walked over to him, and faced the window as well, patting Klein on the back.

Man: "Klein, orders are sometimes given in which the circumstances do not favor the outcomes. We are mere pawns in this game. We move when we are told to. We shoot when we are told to."

Klein: "This is it, isn't it? It was all a ruse to show the empire that we are willing and desperate enough to send twenty suicidal men to two towers with no escape to kill one guy."

M: "Their lives were not for nought. The message was clear."

K: "It is. Yet I thought the reason for the resistance's existence was to oppose the ideals of the empire. The ability to talk, to roam, to act freely on one's own will. Everyday resistance fighters get sent on suicidal missions and die fighting for a cause they believe in, yet they do not know the real reasons behind their orders. What difference then is the resistance and the empire? Both sides send their fighters against each other, as mere guns in a war of talk and face."

M: "Questioning your orders could be risky. This is a very dangerous game you are playing with the people who are really in charge."

K: "I understand now, Mitch."