Oppression's Tomorrow

The way they had explained the mission in the briefing, Astra was under the impression that it was a simple mission, but when they were a good billion miles away from Earth, she wasn't so sure. Her mind recapped the mission expectations a million times before it let her thoughts travel somewhere else. Her legs were crossed in the tight quarters of the spaceship's passenger cabin. Her eyes drifted to the soldiers sitting across from her, none of them bothering to make eye contact with anyone, her eyes settled on a darker skinned soldier staring at his shoes. He was, as they all were, in his traveling uniform. Standard gray button-up with insignias on the shoulders, accompanied by darker gray pants and black boots, as well as a gun at everyone's hip. His fairly long wavy hair fell on to his face and over his eyes. Suddenly he perked his head up and looked at her. Astra quickly averted her gaze to her shoes, distracting her mind with thoughts about to mission that was about to take place. Her thoughts were interrupted by the crackle of the loudspeaker above.
"Attention all passengers, we will be docking on the moon colony shortly."
Astra let out a sigh of relief. The cabin door then swung open and the colonel strode into the middle of the cabin. He was tall and pale, his messy red hair bounced as he walked and freckles littered his face across his nose and cheeks. He scanned the room before speaking.
"Alright. On this mission, I hope you are aware that my command is absolute and that I am your sole commanding officer, unless stated otherwise. I know soldiers do reckless things when they are this far away from the law but you are closer to the law than you think. I am the law, so don't try anything that you might regret," He took a deep breath. "Once we dock, all the cargo is to be immediately moved into the storage unit by the empty cabins where you will be residing. None of you are to look at the contents of the cargo, after it's all unloaded you are to find your cabin and wait there until further instructions. Understand me?"
"Yes, sir," Everyone in the room responded with a salute, Astra's voice sticking out no more than the fifty something men and women around her. Fifty soldiers to around seventy colonists, it shouldn't be a problem to wrangle them back in, but you can never be sure. The speakers buzzed to life again.
"We will be docking momentarily," A soft laugh came across the fuzzy audio. "You might experience a slight jolt, don't worry about it. Try not to fall on the soldier next to you, they probably won't appreciate that."
A few people around Astra laughed and elbowed the people next to them. She felt herself smile and scan the smiling cabin, her eyes finding the colonel and the coy smile that had spread across his face as he kept his eyes trained on the door.
As the commander stepped off the ship onto the docking bay and into the artificial gravity and filtered oxygen of the colony, the faces of a handful of colonists stared at him in fear. Astra passed by the group, the box in her arms in transport to storage, one face stuck out to her as she passed. A man in the back, his glare bore into Colonel Black with fire in his eyes. Astra frowned, struck with pity for the man, he was undoubtedly one of the ones spearheading the rebellion. How reckless, she thought, to put yourself in the open so quickly like that. However, she said nothing as she passed by the crowd without a word. She walked on the wide cement sidewalk that lead to the storage unit and she let her gaze wander to the things around her. The uniform gray houses, the grass and shrubs that helped provide oxygen, the translucent dome above and around them that held in the manufactured atmosphere. When she finally arrived at the huge storage unit she set her box down amongst the rest and began to head back for another box. On the way back to the ship she caught the eye of another officer. The blond female officer scowled at her, Astra averted her gaze before remembering that she was an officer now. This was an officers only mission. Astra turned her head back to the blond officer and scowled back, the officer gave her a smirk in response. Astra kept walking, back to the ship for another supply box.
When she returned, the colonel had just finished a speech to the colonists that had come out to greet them. He was now whispering to his second in command, Major Levi Brooks, as hard to impress as the colonel but half as intimidating. He was a short man, eyes sealed in a permanent squint, and lips always pressed together. The Major called out to the group of soldiers that were unloading the ship still.
"I need Captain Winters, Captain Robbins, 1st Lieutenant Hayley, and 1st Lieutenant Spears to spread out and gather all the colonists to the Square."
"Yes, sir," The four soldiers echoed in response as he addressed the rest of the soldiers.
"Keep unloading those crates."
"Yes, sir," The voices behind her echoed back to the Major. He gave a curt nod and the four of them took off towards the inhabited colonist houses. Astra took the far left, closest to the west barrier. Robbins took sector 2, right next to Astra, and Hayley and Winters took sectors 3 and 4 closest to the east barrier.
Astra weaved between the monotone houses and made her way to the doorstep of a house closest to the barrier. She nervously hopped up the short steps up to the door and gave it a soft knock. It swung open and the man inside quickly looked her up and down, surveying her uniform and rank before speaking.
"What do you want?" He asked, his tone sparking with accusation.
"Colonel Black requests that all colonists join him in the Square for... an announcement of some sorts," Astra spoke, a facade of confidence overtaking her voice and posture. The man at the door scoffed before he leaned a shoulder against the door frame.
"And what does the good colonel want with me?" The man was dressed in a simple undershirt in jeans, he seemed to be in his late 20's but very obviously unhappy with a soldier's presence at his door.
"You can have the pleasure of asking him yourself when you see him," Astra replied, sass evident in her tone. He merely scoffed at her. "Have a good evening, sir," Astra retorted before casually walking away from the ungrateful colonist, onto the next house.
Astra had successfully announced the colonel's wishes to every house she was allocated to visit, whether they came or not was up to them, but Astra was inclined to believe that this particular meeting held a promising surprise for those willing to attend. Of all the houses she visited, she had two doors slammed on her face, one petrified, and a man who sobbed when he saw her. She spent an extra five minutes attempting to console him. He babbled apologizes about the rebellion and spouted nonsense about how it wasn't his idea but he was running out of food. Astra dutifully noted all he attempted to say as well as the house numbers of the particularly suspicious colonists.
Yet as she walked back to the Square, she couldn't get that man's voice out of her head. His sobs seemed desperate and her mind drilled into her the phrase he kept pitifully repeating.
"I had no food," He had cried, on his knees by the wide open door. Astra never dared to step into the house, but she crouched down in front of him and tried to assure him that they'd brought him food. When his sniffling had died down, Astra left, but she wasn't confident that he would come to the assembly, or stop crying any time before morning. Whatever constituted morning around here.
Trying to distract herself, Astra focused on the click sound her boots made when they hit the concrete pavement. It wasn't hardly enough, her mind kept replaying the sounds of the man's pitiful sobs. Was he just crazy? Surely they wouldn't stave the colonists. The mission briefing did seem off, her thoughts rang. She tried to shake her doubts as she walked but everything seemed off. The last thing she wanted to do, however, was report her doubts to a superior. It could be classified as treason. So she schooled her thoughts and emotions to the best of her abilities as she came upon the mass of people gathered around the colonel. As she hovered around the edge of the crowd, Colonel Black began to speak to the still gathering crowd.
"Colonists, we've heard your cry for help and we have finally brought you what you were promised," People gathered behind her, blocking Astra into the crowd. Some people around her started crying. "Don't worry! We're here to ensure your safe keeping and wellbeing. We want to normalize your life on this colony as much as possible," A few mumbles rose from the crowd at this, the people here obviously didn't feel like their life was being normalized. "And for letting us join you in your humble home, we come bearing a gift. One per household," He waved his hand towards some soldiers standing in line behind him. They sprang into action passing out a small package to every family group. A package was nearly shoved into the hands of a man next to Astra, the man next to him drew closer to him as the first man unwrapped the brown paper around it. Astra looked on as he unwrapped it, attempting to feign nonchalance but failing pathetically. As he unfolded the brown paper, Astra felt her mouth open slightly in shock, and her brows knit together in confusion. They had given the colonists whiskey. Something specifically outlawed on all of the moon colonies. Hollers of joy rang out through the crowd along with whistles and one man who might have been crying. Astra scanned the crowd for the colonel but her gaze was only met with her fellow soldiers that were just as confused as her. The colonel's second in command, Major Brooks, was in the place that Colonel Black had just vacated.
"Drink in moderation," He commanded. "Any colonist found drunk will the confined to their house until their intoxication has passed."
And then he left. An officer with beach blond hair stepped up and dismissed both the soldiers and the colonists to return to their houses. As people began to leave the Square, Astra remained still. Staring at the dark sky above her, that littered with stars. Her thoughts spun and grappled with the realization that this mission was definitely not going to be like anything she had ever witnessed before.
Astra, then, paced towards her assigned house. She knew she'd be rooming with other soldiers, most likely of her same gender, but the noise level made it sound like she was rooming with a whole squadron. She passed by the small kitchen and into the living space that three of the four girls currently inhabited. This was certainly going to be the nicest military housing I've ever lived in, she thought with a small smile playing on her lips. She approached the rowdy girls that were lounging on the couch.
As Astra neared the couch, she got a good look at the three girls that rested there. One had reddish brown hair that barely clipped her shoulders. Another had long black hair that fell over the back of the couch, straight as a board. The last girl had brown curly hair that was bunched up in a small ponytail on the top of her head.  All eyes turned to Astra as she stopped in the entrance to the living space.
"Hey," She offered with a weak wave. "I'm Astra," She gave them a small smile and tucked a lock of her curly white hair behind her ear. The tan girl with the reddish brown hair flashed Astra a huge grin and a friendly salute.
"2nd Lieutenant Maria Spalding," She chirped. The other two girls introduced themselves. They were all 2nd Lieutenants, making Astra the highest ranking officer in the house, barely.
Curfew was called and all the girls headed upstairs to get ready for bed. As Astra was on the edge of falling asleep she realized she had yet to meet the fifth soldier that would be living with them. The bed across the room from her remained empty. Astra didn't bother to stir when the door creaked open and someone quietly slipped into the vacant bed.
When Astra woke up, the orders were called to by at the Square by 10, and she still didn't see the fifth girl. Yet the sleepy morning dragged on. They all suited up into their everyday uniform. Jeans, combat boots, army tee shirt, and a gun. Astra slipped a knife into her boot, as she always did, in case of emergency. The girl with the black hair who introduced herself as Joni Barlow was absolutely fascinated with the "beautiful contrast" between Astra's dark skin and white hair. She didn't know how properly respond so Astra settled for blushing deeply and putting all her focus into her extremely uninteresting breakfast. After all four of the girls were dressed and ready. They headed to the Square together, all arriving just as the crowds gathered. It was the same as before, but another group of soldiers were rounding up the people into already gathering crowd. Colonel Black stood in front of the crowd yet again, but he was whispering something to Major Brooks. Brooks whispered this message to the soldier next to him. Astra watched as the message made its way around the soldiers hovering near the edge of the group until Lieutenant Barlow made her way over to Astra and whispered into her ear.
"Colonel Black says to make your way to the back of the crowd, like almost for like a fence around them, and wait for further instructions," She paused and Astra turned to her, confusion plainly displayed on her face.
Maria just shrugged in response. Astra did her best to convey her message to the soldier on the other side of her and then she watched the soldiers pass on the message and making their way to the back of the crowd. As the order slowly made its way around the semicircle of soldiers hovering in the crowd, the colonel spoke.
"As many of you may know, there were rumblings of a rebellion on this colony," A chill ran up Astra's spine, she could feel the fear and tension in the crowd, this wasn't good. "And the... terms, so to speak, of this revolution of yours is purely insulting! You should've known that some hardships would come when you signed on for this."
"We had to ration our food!" Someone shouted from the middle of the crowd. The colonel looked almost affronted.
"I'm sorry that you thought you signed up for a nice space picnic but that's not what this is. The reason you didn't get your food rations was because the supply ship crashed. But that's no reason to begin to smash communications equipment. This little resistance of yours hurt you more than it hurt us. There is nothing you can do on this little space rock that would ever make even a tiny impact on the command center. You only hurt yourselves."
"We obviously made enough of an impact for them to send you up here!" Someone piped up. The colonel almost twitched with anger.
"No more backtalk! The only reason we are here is to save you from destroying yourselves!" Colonel Black screamed, voice dripping with rage. Everyone tensed up even more, including Astra. "First you threaten to break your atmosphere, then you almost kill your only doctor, then you all go on strike?! Not farming, which is part of the reason you were starving by the way! Not making any scientific observations, nor bothering with construction, or growing the population. You have failed at being a successful colony! But, luckily for you, we're here now. To set everything right," He stopped, it seemed like the first time in this meeting that the he had taken a breath.
"Now," He continued. "Every name I call is to make their way towards the edge of the crowd, understand?" About seventy terrified voices echoed various words of agreement. Then, the colonel began calling names. The people did as they were told and made their way towards the soldiers standing a few feet around the perimeter of the group. And after all of the seven names were called, an order rang out.
"Detain them, if they resist, shoot to kill," Astra stared at the colonel, dazed, before turning to the man in front of her. Her fear probably evident in her eyes. Then she lunged for him. She recognized this man, he was the on waiting for them when they docked, fire and hatred in his eyes. She knew a split second before his fist connected with her jaw that he wouldn't go down easily. Astra flung herself backwards, putting space between him and her only for him to close the distance with a punch to Astra's nose. A sickening crack rang out, followed by warm blood trailing onto Astra's lips. She turned and pushed her elbow up into his jaw causing him to stumble back. He quickly recovered before Astra could do anything and charged towards her once again, this time something silver shone in his hand. He had a knife in his hand. Astra wasn't sure where he had produced the knife from but she her arm instinctively sought the weight on a gun in her hand. He pulled an arm up to cut Astra anywhere his blade would reach but she stuck her left arm up right in time. Her right arm brought the gun up and her left arm, stinging with pain, met the gun to steady it. She aimed the handgun and fired one shot. Screams echoed around her as she released her left arm and lowered the gun. Blood dripped down her chin, from her arm, and pooled at her feet. She turned to the side at all the peacefully detained rebels and the looks of fear and grief on their faces. The world went blurry in front of her and darkness overtook her.
Astra woke up in the building that was marked on the map as "hospital" which was just an empty house. Luckily, she didn't need any surgery but the gash in her arm needed resealing. Her nose was also broken in the fight, but the doctor that talked to her in her barely, sleepily conscious state told her it would heal fine, not that she remembered anything about that interaction.
At least one of her roommates came in to see her every day, telling her about the various demonstrations that had taken place while she was out. Apparently Astra had been out for a day, in the hospital for three more and had missed two "demos", as they were now being called. Maria had come by to tell her about the trial that had happened for the first of the detainees that were being held in the other empty storage unit. Apparently, this trial had included a lot of threatening and a bullet to the kneecap. With Astra's many hours of alone time, she had plenty of time to think over the two trials that had gone on while she was incapacitated, and the morality of them. She told herself this is what they needed, this is what they deserved, but it still seemed a bit brutal to her. However, it wasn't hers to command and questioning the colonel was as good as a death wish. That didn't stop the treasonous thoughts from consuming her idle mind. Eventually, she decided that what the colonel did to reprimand this colony didn't matter to her and it was just her job to enforce the rules created.
The doctor told her she should be fine to continue service as long as she didn't tear open the still healing skin plaster on her arm. She bid farewell to the unfamiliar bed and the hours of free time just in time to receive orders that she was to be posted on security detail for the storage unit containing the supplies. She figured to keep people from trying to break in and steal something.
After recovering her ability to walk from her countless hours spent bedridden, she reported to her post at the eastern storage unit. She gave the soldier keeping watch a salute, he merely returned the salute and sped off towards the Square. The trial was about to start.
Astra was disappointed that she would be missing it but if anything got out of hand, she would be more of a liability than any sort of helpful. So she stood between the door and the huge garage type door that Astra hadn't seen open since they first unloaded the supplies. It also seemed to have a heavy lock on it, whatever was in those boxes was certainly not to be seen by the general public.
Astra rested her hand on her gun, it felt good to have the familiar weight of it on her hip, and her knife now sat tucked in her waistband, for easier access. From what Maria had told her, these trials usually lasted for about an hour or two and Astra assumed that they didn't rotate guards until after each demo, so she was in for a long haul.
After about fifteen minutes of standing in the exact same place, thinking of anything she could to distract herself from the doubts and horrors that wracked her mind. Just three days ago she had murdered a man. It had been under direct orders and out of self-defense, but that didn't seem to stop the guilt that gnawed away at her mind. Things just weren't adding up; this was way too brutal for just a simple reform mission. They should be putting them back to work, not putting them on trial, and executing them. These people had families and friends.
This wasn't right, Astra's thoughts nagged at her. She put that aside, she was here to follow orders and to get this colony back into shape. Right now, the best way to do that, was to stand by this storage unit, and try to keep all treasonous thoughts at bay. After thirty minutes of standing and pacing and attempting to debunk what was really going on and trying to tell herself she was overthinking it. Then, a brilliantly stupid idea popped into Astra's mind. They'd been withholding these supplies from the colonists, but what was even in them? That had to give her some kind lead, right? So she waited a while until she heard faint shouts from the Square, and ducked into the dark storage unit.
She flipped on the lights to reveal almost the exact same amount of boxes as were here when they unloaded them, only this time, some were opened. Astra paced over to them and peered inside. They were full to the brim with food supplies. She checked another box, it contained the same thing. A third box, the same thing. When she was done she counted at least 10 boxes, full of food. The sudden realization sparked through her. If they were holding this much food, and the colonists were having to ration food even before we got here, then that means... Her thoughts skidded to a screeching halt as she sank to the floor.
"They're starving," Astra whispered to herself, horrified. She didn't want to believe that this confirmed her suspicions, she wanted to tell herself that she needed more evidence, but something within her told her that she had been right all along; and she hated herself for it.
She sat on the floor amongst the boxes whispering to herself, her hands seemingly glued into her hair. She muttered to herself in the dark, trying to coax herself from jumping to conclusions but her mind knew exactly where this was going to go. Footsteps rang from outside, someone was coming. Astra didn't even have time to try to close the ajar door before a vaguely familiar face furiously swung into the unit, staring at her with pure bewilderment on his face.
"Lieutenant Spears!" He cried. Astra merely straightened her posture, took her hands out of her hair and stared at him. Letting fear run rampant through her system. Her mind cried for her to say something to defend her case. Yet she just stared at him, trying to put a face with a name. Suddenly, it clicked. The brown waves, the olive skin. She knew this man, it was the soldier she had glanced at on the ship, Captain Ryland Winters.
"Captain Winters," Was all she thought to say in response. He nervously walked towards her, throwing glances at the slightly open door behind him. As Ryland neared her, she pushed herself up off of the ground and shook off the fuzzy feeling in her brain.
"Captain, let me explain," She started. He looked extremely anxious, frequently looking over his shoulder at the door.
"You're due for next rotation in 10 minutes so you better explain yourself very quickly," He said. Astra didn't know what to say, she didn't think she would get this far, nor did she fully know what was going on let alone how to explain it to someone else. So she took a deep breath, tucked a curl behind her ear and began the only place she thought to, the first demo.
"Well...um..." She started to fumble for words until they all came tumbling out. "Well I was supposed to be rounding up people for the first demo and there was this man that came to me sobbing and was babbling on and on about how he was starving and had no choice but to join the rebellion because they promised him food. And then when they did the demo and literally gave the colonists contraband and something just seemed off. Then while I was in the hospital and I had plenty of time to think over the super sketchy mission briefing and the 'trials' that were going on that were super unfair and didn't even let other people testify and they basically used torture to get information out of people, only to execute them it's insane!" She sputtered, breathless. By confessing all these treasonous thoughts to a superior officer she was digging her own grave. "But then I came in here and found all of these opened boxes filled with food and there like the same amount of boxes here then when we unloaded them which means they're still starving the colonists!"
She stopped to collect herself and because she no longer had anything to say. Captain Winters ran a hand through his brown hair and inhaled deeply. He kept his hand in his hair, let out a sigh, and looked around at the boxes full of food.
"He's working them too hard," Ryland whispered to himself, unless Astra was mistaken, he almost looked in disbelief. "What's in the other boxes?" He muttered.
"Uh..." Astra stammered. "I don't know; we were instructed not to open them." Ryland grunted in response but his thoughts had moved on from that. His mind was now trying to decipher what this all meant. He couldn't say that he hadn't had the same thoughts as Lieutenant Spears, but those thoughts were thoughts that could get them both killed. Astra knew that he understood, she saw it on his face.
"You've noticed it too," She whispered, still fearfully staring up at him. He finally met her eyes again and nodded. "This isn't right. And... and if this is just the beginning than-"
"Who knows what will happen later," Ryland finished, Astra just nodded. "We can't keep ignoring this, can we?" Ryland, tried to smirk or make a joke or anything to lighten the mood but this just wasn't the time.
"No... no I don't think we can," Astra answered, and there was something almost mournful in her voice.

~

Astra still hadn't decided whether or not to trust Captain Winters. Even after their talk in the storage unit, they hadn't had the chance to get together again.
It was two days later when Astra was sitting on the couch in the middle of the night, the only person awake in the silent cabin. A soft knock came from the door. Astra quietly dashed over to it and cracked the door open. Captain Winters stood in her doorway, brown eyes filled with apprehension, his brown hair plastered to his forehead and sticking up all over the place.
"Hey," He whispered nonchalantly, schooling his facial expressions. Astra carefully pried open the door and shoved him inside. She silently shutting the door behind him.
"Winters? What are you doing here?" She gasped. "The curfew patrol could've caught you!" He gave her a slick smile.
"Spears," He chuckled, eyes gleaming with mischief. "I am the curfew patrol."
"Keep it down, my roommates are asleep," She nagged.
"Speaking of, why are you up? You planning a revolution?"
"I couldn't sleep," She huffed. "And why did you even come if you were expecting me to be asleep?"
"I... Uh..." He began before Astra cut him off.
"Why are you here, Winters?"
"I heard some rumblings in my cabin between some of the lower level officers saying some of the stuff you talked about. I figured I could set you up on some like revolutionaries' match making sort of thing,"
"'You'? What about 'we'?" Astra replied.
"Astra, I can't be too involved in this. There's too much at stake,"
"Ryland, this isn't the time. There's a lot at stake for all of us. And now you're talking like were going to stage an uprising."
"You know how the colonel is, Astra. He's lost more than a couple marbles. If you try to question his authority, then he'll probably lose the rest of them."
"Then, we go to his second in command. And ask for his help."
"Yeah let's go to the colonel's favorite lapdog, that's sure to do a lot of good," Ryland mused, but Astra wasn't in the mood for humor.
"You know, if you're just going to sit around and not do anything about it then why didn't you just arrest me for treason back in the storage unit?" Astra quietly demanded. Ryland turned back towards the door.
"I want your stupid little revolution to succeed, but if it doesn't, I can't be caught up in the middle of it," He softly confessed.
"What is at risk that you resort to this level of cowardice?" Astra hissed.
"My job and my life, Astra. Two things I happen to find of great importance to me."
"So you would let innocent people suffer because the title of 'captain' fits nicely before your last name."
"It does. I agree," He retorted, he was trying to lighten the mood but he was making it so much worse.
"Tell me why," Astra plead.
"I just need this job, okay?"
"And..." Astra paused, lowering her voice. "And I need your help."
Ryland gave a laugh and sighed, raking his messy brown hair out of his face. Astra took a step towards him, he turned back around to face her, standing a little less than a foot taller than her.
"My fiancee is counting on me, I can't abandon her now," He was lying to her face and he couldn't tell if she knew it or not, but guilt immediately rushed through his system. He had just lied to a girl who needed his help desperately.
"Don't you think your girl back home would be more proud of this than you just sitting by and watching innocent people suffer?" He sighed again as Astra stared at him expectantly.
"Fine," He resigned. "I'll help you."
Astra's eyes softened and her shoulders sagged with relief. Ryland turned around and walked towards the door. He twisted the knob and pulled the door open. As he stepped outside, he stood on their doorstep and thought how painful it would be to look at Astra's face when he eventually turned them in. She shut the door behind him and he went back to his rounds, trying to ignore the fact that he had just gained a girls trust with only the intention of betraying it and how much that ate him up inside.
After Ryland left Astra slid back into her room. She kicked off her boots and put her knife on the nightstand, along with her gun and settled into the cold sheets. Just as she closed her eyes, the door creaked open. Astra flung her eyes open and fumbled for her gun, knocking her knife onto the ground, and aiming at the doorway. The lights flicked on and Astra squinted from the sudden change of light. A girl she had never seen before stood terrified in the doorway, hands raised in surrender.
"Who are you?" Astra demanded, taking note that the girl was in military uniform.
"I'm 1st Lieutenant Renae Wortham, and you're Astra Spears," Renae quietly pronounced. "You're the one that got in a firefight during the 2nd demo."
"Yeah, I did," She responded, unwavering. "Why have I never seen you before?" Renae eyes widened, as if she had just gotten a test she hadn't studied for.
"I... Uh..." She stuttered. "I can't tell you."
"Trust me, whatever it is I won't turn you in." Confusion flashed across Renae's face but she spoke anyways.
"I've... I've been talking to the colonists," She confessed. "Offering them words of advice and encouragement, and sometimes mourning. And sometimes, for the really starving ones, I'll smuggle them some food."
"Wait, did you break in to the storage unit?" Astra questioned, lowering her gun. Renae paled and looked taken aback.
"Oh heavens no! I might be somewhat of a rebel but I'm not nearly that brave."
"Have they gotten any more food? The colonists are they still staving?" Astra eagerly asked.
"Yeah, some of them. The colonel gives food based off work you do. So if you work hard you'll get food, if you don't, you're out of luck until tomorrow."
"But they're plenty of food to go around, and then when they get the farms set up..." Astra's thoughts trailed off to a darker train of thought. "There's no way to do productive work when you haven't eaten a full meal in weeks. This has to be stopped."
"Wait you don't mean like actually starting a rebellion do you?"
"I mean we can't just sit here and wait for Colonel Black to have a sudden change of heart can we?"
"Well... no.. But that would be-"
"Yeah, certain death. Trust me, I'm aware."
"They..." Renae started.
"'They' what?" Astra urged.
"They won't rally behind you."
"Who won't rally behind me?"
"The colonists," Renae said, almost looking embarrassed. "They don't blame you for what you did to Nikolas but they certainly don't forgive you either. If it makes you feel any better, he would've been killed anyways."
Oh, that's who were talking about, Astra thought.
"Nikolas, was he like the leader of the rebellion?" Astra inquired. Renae nodded sadly. "Renae, I'm going to need your help. I need you to get the colonists to trust me."
"Astra, I don't think you get it. They like... really don't like you."
"Please, Renae. I did you a favor by not like, calling the curfew patrol. Now you do this for me. Please?"
Renae sighed, Astra was starting to think that people sighing at her was going become more common than she might like.
"Okay, I'll try and convince them."
"Okay good. I'll take care of the curfew patrol."
"Wait... what?"
"Goodnight Renae," Astra muttered before drifting off to sleep.
~

The next day Astra woke up and barely made it out of bed. She dragged herself downstairs, ate breakfast, got dressed and headed out to the farm. She had watch duty today, which meant she watched and made sure that everyone farming was doing their jobs and not slacking off, and then deciding who gets to starve.
Before any of her roommates could talk to her, Astra left for the farms. When she arrived, the few soldiers she would be working with were already there. When she came into view they cheered. They cheered for her. They congratulated her on taking out the leader of the uprising. They rushed over to her and talked to her about how great that fight was. They asked to see the scar on her arm and gushed over it and how cool she was. These were men that were at least two ranks higher than she was. Astra thought she was going to throw up. Still, she faked a smile and a couple laughs for them, and then the colonists started to arrive.
Astra had to try to not gasp. They looked terrible. They were thinner than the last time she'd seen them. Almost everyone of them had bags under their eyes. But they were anything but defeated, every last one of them seemed to have fire in their eyes. The only bad thing was, that fire looked like it would incinerate Astra without hesitation. She lived through the glares that were thrown her way the entire work day and when it came to the end of the day when they were deciding who would get today's rations the officers were still so infatuated with Astra, that they just let her pick.
She took the shoe box size box full of rations and found the woman whose fires seemed to burn the brightest and glared at Astra the most. Astra gave her a mischievous smile as she handed the box over. The woman looked at Astra, her face tired and covered in sweat, her messy hair sticking to her forehead and her mascara smudged under one eye and flashed the same smile back at Astra. Astra just hoped she had gotten the message she was trying to send.

~

That evening, after all the soldiers had eaten dinner, Ryland decided to talk to his roommates about the uprising. He told himself that he would help them until time came. Then, he would sell them out and be a hero. He also told himself that it was the right thing to do. His conscience told him he was a selfish pig, but Ryland could live with that. His resolve wavered today when he saw Astra give the daily food rations to the woman who had hatred in her eyes for Astra, for all the soldiers. She really wanted to make a difference, and he was going to get her killed. No, he thought to himself, I'll get Colonel Black to pardon her. Only he knew somewhere inside of himself, that he was dooming her. He pushed those thoughts aside and right before he went on curfew patrol, he addressed the soldiers he roomed with.
He pushed himself up from the bar in the kitchen and walked to the couch where they all sat. Their conversation halted and they looked up at him, expectantly.
"I heard you talking the other day about the mistreatment of the colonists," Ryland started. Immediately their faces whitened in fear, so it was true. "So it's true?"
One of the men closed his eyes and nodded. A smirk spread across Ryland's face.
"Lighten up boys, I have a job for you," He laughed.
After he told them who to contact, he left for curfew patrol. As he made his rounds, he came up to Astra's cabin and slowly pulled the door open, then carefully shut it behind him. He turned back around and saw an unfamiliar girl standing in the kitchen, her whole body tense with fear.
"Shh," Ryland whispered. "I'm not here for you. Where's Astra?" The girl pulled her blond braided hair over her shoulder and pointed to the couch with a trembling hand. Ryland gave he a curt nod and paced over to Astra. He looked at her, asleep on the couch, and smiled with a sigh. She was curled up in a ball, using her shoulder length thick curls as a pillow with her head resting on her arm. Ryland shook her arm, and she awoke with a start, eyes wide and pupils dilated.
"Hey, hey," Ryland lulled. "It's okay. It's just me." She sighed and relaxed with a smile. A tidal wave of guilt washed over Ryland. So he did what he did best, and made a joke.
"I got your fun little revolutionaries club like seven new members," He mused.
"You mean 'our little revolutionary club'?" She replied. Ryland's smile didn't even falter.
"Yeah, our little revolutionary child is growing up so fast," He laughed. He felt sick with himself.
"I talked to the colonists today," Renae piped up from the doorway. "They are starting to like you I think."
"Oh yeah!" Astra remembered, pushing herself up into a sitting position. "I talked to our roommates today and they said they had the same thoughts, I heard them talking about it yesterday night. They also said their friends in another cabin were talking about it too. So that's at least nine more."
Ryland turned to Renae.
"About how many colonists do you think would come to our aid?"
"Well," She paused to think about it. "There will be cowards who refuse to get involved, that's at least a third of them. Half at the most."
"But do you know how many would join up with the colonel?" Ryland questioned.
"Ha," Astra scoffed. "Anyone that's not ride or die with us or dead will probably be forced to fight with our gracious colonel."
"I hear his type of tyranny is very pleasant this time of year," Ryland cooed, sarcasm dripping from his tone.
"Oh yeah, tyrannical oppression is my favorite vacation spot," Astra mocked.
"Well, it's been a nice luncheon but if you don't mind I going to have to slip out so that I like... don't get shot," He smirked. All humor in the room suddenly disappeared.
"Stay safe, Ryland," Astra uttered, staring at the back door. Ryland turned to look at her but all he saw were white curls.
"I will," He murmured and walked silently to the door, opening it and closing it with extreme caution. As he walked down their porch steps he could help but feel like a monster. He had to pass Astra as his accomplice, he had to spare her. He shut his eyes tightly, trying to force away the guilt that seemed to loom over him. It will never work, his thoughts echoed. He tried to distract himself from it by reminding himself why he was doing all this, why he was here in the first place but her words just came back to him over and over again.
"Useless," She spat at him. "Good for nothing, worthless, disgusting!"
The night it all came crashing down. His fiancee had screamed at him, calling him words he would never want anyone to have to hear from someone they loved. She told him he was useless, that he would never be worth anything to anyone. Then, the threw her engagement ring on the ground and stormed out. The next day Ryland had been requested for this mission, and out of desperation and hope that this would prove her wrong, he agreed. He also vowed to do anything to help this mission succeed, if only to get her back. He had convinced himself that "anything" meant betraying his friend. His conscience called him a fool and a monster, but if that was what it took to get his fiancee back, then so be it. Yet, he failed even convince himself that what he was doing was right.

~

That night, after Ryland left, Astra stayed up and came up with a plan. The assignments were sent out at midnight every night, and they were displayed on the screen in the kitchen. It was 3 in the morning when their plan came together. The goal was to get all of the allies of the uprising into one of the storage units and pick off the enemy one by one. Every allied soldier was supposed to bring every gun and scrap of ammunition they could find. When morning rolled around, Renae would leave extremely early and tell as many colonists as she could about the plan. Then, since she had roundup duty for the demo, she would remind as many as she could that they were to get to the western storage unit as quickly as possible. After Colonel Black realizes there's not nearly enough people at the demo, he will send soldiers looking for the colonists, that's when our allied soldiers will make their way to the storage unit as well as free the four prisoners that should be left.
However, before that, Ryland and Astra will go and make sure the coast is clear in the storage unit. If they don't return by the time the demo roundup starts, Renae is instructed to tell all the allies to go to the eastern storage unit and barricade there.
Although it seemed like a pretty solid plan, Astra's mind raced with doubt. She stayed on that couch all night, messing with her hands, mentally rehearsing the plan and the pep talk she would give the rebels, and staring off into space. When Ryland's shift was over he came back to their cabin and sat on the couch with Astra. They talked in hushed tones and Astra told him all of her doubts. Ryland tried to make her laugh and lighten the mood by joking around, but he looked just as unsure as she did. After she filled him in on the plan he just nodded solemnly. After that they didn't mention the rebellion anymore. They just talked about stuff that normal people talked about. Their favorite cafe's back home, what they missed most about Earth, they told each other stories from their childhood and teenage years, not like either of them were very far out of those years. Both of them were in their mid-twenties.
"You know; people say it's about our age when people tend to go through their bring-down-an-tyrannical-system phase. Don't worry, though, you'll grow out of it," Ryland teased.
They snickered over that comment for at least five minutes. When the time came for the plan to be put in action, Astra gave Renae a hug and wished her well as she sent her off. Today's demo was supposed to happen early in the morning which meant if Ryland and Astra were going to make it back in time, they had to hurry and leave before everyone woke up. Astra ran upstairs and grabbed her gun, threw her boots on over her jeans and slid her knife onto her waistband. She tucked her gun in her waistband on the small of her back, beneath the black army tee shirt she slipped on. She fixed her hair and Ryland watched, amazed, as the white curls bounced as she. Astra turned to him after fixing her hair and studied his. It fell messily around his head and the ends stuck up everywhere. It came about to his chin and matched the scruff on his jawline nicely. It was somewhat of a mix between curly and wavy and it was very fitting for him.
"You know," She started as she put on mascara. "Your hair looks really nice for someone who probably doesn't do anything to it but shower in the morning."
"Thank you!" He smiled sarcastically as he ran his hands through his bangs.
As soon as Renae returned safely from her rounds, they headed out to the western storage unit. They dodged both passing soldiers and colonists, not making a single sound, except for the soft noise of boots on grass. As they darted behind buildings slowly and steadily making their way to the unit, Ryland felt a sickening mixture of fear and remorse rise up in him. When they arrived, Ryland felt sick. He wanted to grab Astra by the shoulders and tell her everything; but at the same time, he didn't. He just kept his mouth closed as the guards opened the door and let him and Astra waltz right into a deathtrap.

~

When Renae arrived at the demo as all the other soldiers began to arrive. Major Brooks stood at the front of the already gathering group of soldiers. As Renae made her way to the group, Brooks called her name.
"1st Lieutenant Wortham, sector two," He yelled. She gave a quick salute and ran off to the sector two cabins. Ryland and Astra should've been there when she got there. Her heart sank as she ran, but she promised them she would alert the colonists of any changes in the plan. So the frantically knocked on doors and alerted the colonists that they had switched to plan B and they should spread the word. She got a lot of good luck wishes, but she wasn't sure even luck would help them out much here. She finished her sector as quickly as she could and began to race back to the Square. As she drew closer she heard a colonist yelling at Major Brooks. She slowed her run to a cautious walk and tried her best to listen to what he was screaming at the major.
"Listen!" He screamed. "The girl, the female soldier, she's part of the uprising! She was telling people to go to the eastern storage unit!" Renae knew she had been sold out, yet she her legs were still moving towards the Square. She turned to run, but she had already been spotted. She whipped back around to face the crowd, gun drawn and aimed at Major Brook's head. She heard a gun being cocked so she cocked her own gun and pulled the trigger as fast as she could. Two shots rang out, one after another. Major Brooks hit the ground, then Renae. Both dead within seconds.
After that, the entire Square exploded with movement. Soldiers started pulling out guns, and firing aimlessly at other soldiers. Allied soldiers instantly dispersed, fleeing from the Square as quickly as possible. They darted behind houses, in houses, in between houses. Anywhere they could find shelter from the oncoming gunfire, a soldier was huddled there. Some soldiers provided cover for their friends so they could make their way into the safety of the unit, others raided houses for anything they thought could be helpful against the onslaught they were about to face.
Maria knew how this firefight was going to end. Without the leaders of the rebellion here to lead, they were doomed. Still, she pulled out her handgun, sought shelter closer to the enemy who was across the square, and started firing. Then she noticed that four men kneeling off to the side on the Square that leads towards the military cabins. They were kneeling with two soldiers standing guard behind them. Maria turned her head back to the storage unit to see that soldiers and some colonists were still pouring in. As she turned her head back to the prisoners, her eyes scanned the street and the number of dead soldiers and colonists alike was ungodly. She disregarded the dead and focused back on the prisoners. The guards had moved from beside them, to behind them. Only now the soldiers were both holding a gun against a prisoner's head. Maria could see their faces twisted in sorrow. She wanted to give them some respect and look away but she couldn't take her eyes off of them as the soldiers put a bullet through the heads of the two prisoners on the ends. As their bodies fell forward and the soldiers readied themselves to execute the last two, Maria told herself she wouldn't cry. The firefight seemed to have paused before two more shots rang out and Maria watched as the death toll went up by two more.

~

Astra stepped into the unit first and Ryland followed and when the door shut behind them, he didn't so much as flinch. Then, they were plunged into darkness.
"Ryland?" Astra asked into the darkness, sounding desperate and afraid. "Ryland, where are you? Say something."
He didn't say a word. He just stood there as the feeling that he had made a terrible mistake washed over him.
"Ryland, please talk to me," She begged.
"What a time for a blackout," He joked, trying to distract himself from the feeling of dread that hung over him.
"Hilarious," Cooed an eerily familiar voice. Ryland tried to say something, anything, but he couldn't. He just stood there trembling in fear of what he'd done. The lights flashed on suddenly, leaving Astra and Ryland blinking.
"Talk about a dramatic entrance," Colonel Black beamed from across the room, hand still on the light switch.
"No..." Astra murmured. The colonel tilted his head slightly to the side, causing some of his short red hair to fall onto his face, covering up some of the freckles plastered across his nose and cheeks. Astra shook her head. "We can take one guy, Ryland. Right?" Her voice wavered.
"Take her gun," The colonel commanded flippantly. Astra whipped behind her, probably expecting to see a soldier or Major Brooks, but only Ryland stood there. His head was down and tears were silently running down his cheeks. Astra looked up at him, gently brushing her curls out of her face and met his eyes. He pulled her into a hug and she hugged him back. It wasn't until his hand was on the grip that her blood went cold. She pulled away, shaking. Her eyes widened and welled up with tears.
"Ryland, please," Her voice cracked. Ryland closed his eyes tightly and pressed the barrel up towards her forehead. When he opened his eyes, she was still staring at him, a steady stream of tears rolling down her cheeks.
"On her knees," Ryland hated the stupid colonel's voice, this was a mistake. Astra got down on her knees and faced the colonel, who was making his way this way. Although she was terrified and betrayed and tears continued to streak down her face, she held her head up and refused to break eye contact with the colonel. He crouched right in front of Astra and held out his hand, palm up. "The knife please."
She grabbed it from her waistband and threw it across the room. Xavier shrugged and pushed himself back up.
"Okay, Ryland. If you're done playing rebel, you can shoot her," He said, almost like it was an afterthought.
"And..." Ryland's voice broke as he spoke. "And what will you do when she's dead?"
"Well, we'll go round up the colonists and make sure this never happens again."
"And how many innocent people will die in that process?"
"Innocent?" Xavier barked. "Innocent? These people were anything but innocent."
"No, they were being treated unfairly and you tried to oppress them into behaving!" Ryland shouted.
"Listen, Ryland," The colonel hissed. "Do you want you fiancee back or not?"
"Do I... wha- how do you know about that?" Ryland sputtered. The colonel just laughed.
"I know everything! I know that you, Captain Winters, enlisted to take your lovesick heart on a space cruise to try to win back your sweetheart," Xavier recalled. "And I know that you, Lieutenant Spears, enlisted because your family wanted you to get out of the house and make something of your life, correct?"
"And look where I've gotten, Xavier." Astra spat. The colonel looked down at her, contempt written across his face.
He turned back to Ryland. "Are you going to shoot her or not?"
Ryland shook his head furiously; he couldn't do it. He just couldn't shoot her.
"What a shame," The colonel slowly shook his head. "I was going to promote you at the end of this mission. You could have a fancy title to come home to you fiancee with... Oh, I'm sorry ex-fiancee."
"Does the title come with the military burial as well?" Ryland sneered.
"Not if you die in space it doesn't."
"Well that's just too ba-" As quickly as Ryland aimed the gun at Xavier, Xavier has a gun pointed at Astra's head.
"Well isn't this just a situation?" Xavier smiled, and Ryland had never been more terrified in his life.
"No," Astra replied, trying to seem calm, but terror seeped into her voice. "It's not."
Before either man could react, she jumped up at Xavier. She brought her knee up and it connected with his diaphragm, then she brought her leg up and kicked him square in the chest, sending him toppling backwards. Astra ran towards Ryland who tossed her her gun back before drawing is own just as quickly. Astra cocked the gun and steadied the gun with both hands. She tried to steady her aim but she couldn't. When the trigger was pulled, the bullet went through his kneecap. His scream was horrifying. Astra turned back to Ryland, so many emotions playing on her face that he didn't even have time to decipher them but he saw one question, plain as day. Why? He opened his mouth to explain himself when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. His attention snapped to it as Xavier raised his gun towards Astra's turned back. Shock and fear surged through Ryland's system, in a moment of sheer panic and confusion he screamed.
"Lieutenant Spears!" He roared at the top of his lungs, lunging for her. He shoved her down on to the concrete floor. She screamed and squeezed her small green eyes shut, though tears leaked through her lashes. He lied on top of her staring at her pained expression before he scrambled to get up off of her. He knelt down next to her and watched as her shirt grew darker around her collar bone. He shoved his hands onto the wound, trying to stop the bleeding but he knew it was futile. She reached up and weakly brushed a strand of his brown hair off his forehead back into his bangs.
"Astra," He cried. "I'm so sorry." He pulled her up onto his lap, petting her white hair, half of it now stained with blood.
"Hey," She faintly responded. "It's okay, I forgive you." She clasped her hand around his.
"I love you. I'm going to miss you a lot," Ryland sniffled.
"Creep," Astra coughed. "I've barely even known you. And... I love you too, by the way," She flinched and drew a breath, then she went still.

~

As he left the storage unit, he made sure to put a bullet right through the colonel's head. Then, Ryland didn't waste time on tears, he sobbed as he walked to the storage unit. He had taken the guns from Astra and Xavier, who he assumed passed out from blood loss, and strode through the middle of the street to the firefight he could see going on at the eastern storage unit. He took note of the dead as he walked. It reeked of death, and the ground was soaked in blood. Ryland just kept walking.
When he got close enough to the colonel's men, he started putting bullets in people's heads. He moved out of the middle of the street and started zig zagging between buildings. Some ally soldiers recognized him and opened the door just long enough for him to slip in before they relocked it. Ryland did a quick head count, they had about twenty men and women still living in the unit while outside they had about thirty. This probably wasn't going to last long, but that didn't seem to matter to anyone. They had opened the garage door a couple feet and broke the boxes and formed a sort of barricade to shoot out of, it was smart but it wasn't going to be enough. Ryland tossed the two extra guns to random people and began firing. He shot a couple more but the rate that they were going down, it was hopeless. When Ryland's handgun ran out of ammo he whipped around to the people manning the supplies.
"I need ammo!" He yelled over the gunshots.
"Sorry, sir," A colonist yelled back in response. "We're officially out of ammo."
"So what now?" Ryland asked, moving away from the barricade. "We wait until we die?"
The boy nodded gravely in response.
"It's not like we could've gotten of the floating rock anyways," Ryland joked, but he wasn't convincing anybody, let alone himself. So he found a nice corner and curled into a ball and mourned Astra. The girl he had grown to care about so much but who's demise had ultimately been his fault. By the time the colonel's men knocked down the barricade there were so many bodies piled in the storage unit and on the streets that Ryland prayed that whatever afterlife there was still had rooms open. Then when the soldier placed his gun to Ryland's forehead, he thought of Astra's wonderful laugh and closed his eyes. He was dead before his body hit the ground.