Lunar One

Chapter 16: An Act Of Violence

     Things were relatively quiet on the station for the after the town hall that Morgan tossed his monkey wrench into. Soldiers all over the base started to have discussions about elections and their duty to protect the right to hold them. Regardless of their views, Morgan was just happy to get everyone to talk about it rather than be told to ignore it, which he was sure Gordon was tempted to do but hadn't yet as of that moment. When he met with Captain Rogers the next day, the pilot was not furious but was nervous at what Morgan had done at the meeting. He seemed genuinely concerned about it.

     "What's the big deal?" Morgan said, "I just wanted to open a discussion about it. Based on what I'm seeing around here, I was rather successful."

     "If you want to talk about something," Rogers replied, "I'd recommend doing it with Doctor Hoffman; at least he'll keep a secret and keep you safe."

     "Safe from whom?" Morgan asked, laughing out loud.

     "You are civilian," Rogers pointed out, "And like you said, only civilians were allowed to really run for office. It sure looked like you were challenging his authority right in front of everyone."

     "Seriously?" Morgan asked, doubtful it was what he did.

     "Just bringing it up," Rogers continued, "Suggested we elect a new leader could have been seen as a critique of how he's been running things."

     "I can't control how people think," Morgan told him, "But reminding someone of their sworn duty is not a critique, it's a suggestion. This is how things are supposed to be run, and I didn't make the rules. Hate the game, not the player."

     "I can't believe you just said that," Rogers replied, dumbfounded. "You're going to quote Ice-T during a serious conversation?"

     "Hey, that man is a deep thinker," Morgan paused for a moment, "Or he was at least. He probably didn't survive the impact."

     "Morgan!" Rogers called out, "This isn't a game! People with power take that possession very seriously. It sure looked to everyone that you were making a campaign statement more than standing up for the constitution. I'm sure Gordon felt very threatened by what you had to say that night."

     "I don't even know if I want to run," Morgan confessed, "But I don't want the reason to be because Gordon wouldn't allow it to happen. That is wrong and I will fight him if he tries to scuttle democracy on the moon."

     "It sure didn't look like it," Rogers said, "It looked like you were preaching to the crowd, pandering for votes. That might make Gordon feel threatened."

     "What is he going to do?" Morgan asked, "There are too few of us for him to even risk taking me out. Just losing one of us puts our species one step closer to extinction. Is he that desperate for power that's he'd risk ultimate doom?"

     "If he can't be in charge, it wouldn't surprise me." Rogers answered.

     Morgan tried to walk away but Rogers followed him down the hall.

     "I'm not saying he would," Rogers continued, "I really hope he doesn't, but I'm telling you to watch your six. Desperate men have a history of making dim-witted decisions to protect the status quo."

     "You're being ridiculous." Morgan said, refusing to believe it.

     Just as he was reaching the corner of the hallway, Rogers was about to say something else when karma interrupted him. One of the soldiers on the base walked into the hallway, and he was carrying a gun, something that wasn't allowed for regular personal. When Rogers saw the gun he ran up from behind Morgan, and pushed him to the right while, jumping to the left himself to get out of the way of the man who was raising that gun to fire. The shot rang out through the hallways as the man tried to shoot Morgan but missed because of what Rogers had done in response. The person who was walking behind Morgan and Rogers wasn't as lucky, as the bullet ripped into her torso, hitting her in the heart. She had been walking up behind Rogers and Morgan because she wanted to ask Morgan a question about their studies. Lt. Jordan had no idea what was going on until it was too late. When Rogers pushed Morgan out of the way, the bullet that was meant for him went right into her with no warning. As she fell to the ground, Morgan couldn't believe what had just happened. He looked back up at the soldier who had just shot Lt. Jordan, who was pointing the gun at Morgan again to take another shot.

     Before the soldier could fire off another round, the gun was knocked out of his hands. Someone had come up from behind and disarmed the man before, driving his forehead into the soldier's own head, knocking him unconscious . Demetri dropped the unconscious soldier to the ground, turning to face Morgan and Rogers.

     "Are you man all right?" he asked.

    "We are, but she's not!" Morgan said as he got up, scrambling to where Lt. Jordan was laying. "Someone call a medic!"

     Morgan opened his jump suit, and then removed the t-shirt that he was wearing underneath of it so that he could use the shirt as a compress on the entry hole, "Stay with me Jordan, keep looking at me!"

     "Son of a..." Rogers pointed to the people who entered the hallway after hearing the shot. "Someone get a medic! She's in bad shape here!"

     The moment he said that, Jordan had stopped breathing as she went into cardiac arrest. Moran stopped pressing into the sound and began to give her CPR, doing the compresses, while Rogers breathed air into her lungs with every five compressions. They had been giving her CPR for the better part of three minutes when the medics finally arrived to take over. They resumed trying to revive her, even using the paddles to shock her a few times, but it was all in vain. After close to ten minutes of fighting, the medics stopped and called it. Morgan couldn't believe what had just happened, and then he looked at his hands which were all covered in Jordan's blood. He looked over at Demtri and spoke to him in the Russian's native language which he had gotten rather good at since the big man got out of the brig to teach him.

     "How did you know?" Morgan asked.

     "That day in the town hall," Demetri answered, "He had a look in his eyes that I've seen many times before. The moment you challenged him, he has wanted you dead ever since. I've been playing sick to avoid my chores so that I could stay close and protect you."

     "This is my fault," Morgan said, near tears. "I shouldn't have said anything, and she paid for it with her life."

     "This was his fault," Demetri said pointing to the man on the floor. "We need to get out of here, in case someone else tries to attack."

     "What the hell are you two saying?" Rogers asked, frustrated that he couldn't understand either of them.

     "He's afraid we might get attacked again," Morgan answered in English this time. "We need to get away from here."

     "You room isn't safe if you're the target." Rogers retorted, "Where on the station do you want to go?"

     Morgan walked over a few steps and picked up the gun. He looked at it and then back at Demetri, happy to know that the former Spetza was on his side. "You take this assassin to your quarters. Demetri and I are going to pay a visit to the one place where we can even the odds, then we'll come back and have a chat with this dirt bag when he wakes up."

     "Where are we going, comrade?" Demetri asked.

     Morgan handed the big Russian the gun he picked up off the floor. "This won't be enough to defend ourselves. We need to hit the armory."