A Journey of Rebels

VII: Contingencies

POV : Brian

DATE : Nov 25, 2147

LOCATION : EasSec Main Base

Clutter builds up around us, slowly piling up until it becomes nearly impossible to navigate around it. The things in our lives will always accumulate, memories that we'll never truly be able to let go of, despite the pain they bring us.

Papers flutter around me, landing upon the ground in a scattered mess. Several drawers are left open, their precious contents rearranged and disorganized with hurried hands. Numerous notepads lay strewn across the wooden table top as I flip through my most recent finding, looking for anything decipherable that I may later use against the High Commander. A few previously found notes were already shoved deeply into my pockets for further examination, though they weren't what I was searching for.

Finding nothing more of interest, other than the location of numerous other bases, I forego my current actions and resume looking for the item that I came here for.

My sister was not locked away within these walls as I had always presumed, but she was indeed nearby. Nearly one hundred meters past the edge of this base laid the High Commander's Prison unit, guarded by a squadron of men and hidden in plain sight. I simply had to locate the keys that unlock her cell, a task that was becoming exceedingly troublesome.

Muscles within my back and shoulders tense as previously unheard voices sound outside the High Commander's office. I slowly shift into a crouch and pull a blade from my belt, the weapon gifted to me by the Commander's favorite Captain.

There's a pause in the commotion, a shadow behind the door. I wait in anticipation, though the body soon shuffles away. It was a simple false alarm, but my time here is up. The key is not within this room, but likely on the High Commander himself or the man who leads the prison guard.

I move towards the door, Swift and light on my feet. Cracking the door open, I cringe at the light and irksome squeak that emits from its ungreased hinges. After a moment's pause, I begin to exit the room and head West, heartbeat quick and restless.

"Find what you were looking for, con?"

I freeze for a moment, taking the time to gather my wits before turning towards the owner of that taunting voice.

"Can't say I did Rumaris, perhaps you could assist me in my endeavors?"

An ugly snear stretches across the other man's face, darkening his expression. "Like hell I will."

The man's hair is short-cropped and of a lively flame-orange color that contrasts boldly with the surrounding atmosphere. His eyes are a shade of chartreuse. His chin squared, slightly tapering off under his short-clipped beard, while his nose ran long and slender. Upon Rumaris' standard blue uniform, he wore a thick black leather belt thats design accommodated a wide variety of loops that holstered numerous items. My eyes traveled from his choice of weapons, a short-barreled handgun and a sleek baton, to the ring of coded keys that hang near his left hip. A thought flipped through my mind. My sister's future relied heavily on my ability to acquire a piece of plastic.

I tuck my hands behind my back, taking hold of the knife once more as a smirk creeps upon my face. I needed to get close enough to grab those keys, taunting him to make the first move appeared to be my best bet.

The other man glares at my indifference as he withdraws the black baton from his belt. "I don't enjoy associating myself with the likes of you, so why don't you just tell me what you were looking for, get this over with." Why not use the gun he hates me so much, then?

My shoulders jerk upwards in a quick and careless shrug. "I would like to, Officer, I really would." I slowly begin to walk towards the man, watching as he shifts his weight back and stands tall, a miserable attempt at looking self-assured. "However, that just can't happen, not yet anyway."