Ajax plucked his radio from a velcro strap on his metal chest armor. “Commander Ajax here. Requesting report. Over.”
A pair of voices crackled over the radio, static mixing with the unrecognizable chatter. “Ajax…” Crackle. “Ajax… this is…” Crackle.
“This is Commander Ajax. Come in. Over,” he replied, shaking the radio violently to the sound of more static.
“Ajax, this is Susa. I’m leading the rebellion right now and need assistance from the TDU. We broke the assault up by wards and they’re holding their fire until I give orders to advance.”
Ajax strained cautiously to see over the tank, his orange goggles glowing through the transparent fog.
“Report on status of Knights. Over.” Ajax said, waiting.
“We put their numbers anywhere from 50 to 75 strong. There are several other pockets of resistance, but I’ve already sent several wards and fighters from Camp #4 to assault those positions. The Golden Dome is their last holdout. Most of the Knights perished in the initial attack on the headquarters,” Susa replied.
“Roger. I’ll order my men to bombard the Dome with the Fox Hounds.”
“No!” Susa yelled, interrupting him. “I want the Dome saved at all costs.”
“With all due respect, I don’t give a shit. Unless you want the blood of hundreds of civilians on your hands, then we’re going to turn that building into a crater of ash.”
“You’ll do no such thing!” Susa shouted angrily over the radio. “The Dome needs to be saved. The Capitol is gone now; last I checked, the TDU turned it into a smoking cave. The Dome is the only feasible place to set up a transitional government!”
“She’s lost her freaking mind,” Ajax snorted, cocking his head to glance at his squad.
“This could be a very costly assault, Ajax,” Nathar said, fear in his voice. “The rebels have no chance at taking that building. Not with their weapons. They will be slaughtered.”
“We don’t have a choice; the Knights have refused to surrender. If it were up to me, we would use the Fox Hounds to bombard the building until it’s nothing but ashes, but we can’t win this fight without Susa, or her army.”
Another shot rang out, dropping a rebel in the middle of the field, arterial blood staining the gray dirt a bright red.
Spurious watched the rebel claw at his throat, trying to stop his life source from flowing out, but it was no use. The man twitched a few last times before he became another casualty—another statistic in the war that had already killed so many.
The sudden feeling of Déjà vu gripped Spurious as he scanned the frightened faces peeking out of the fog. He saw the face of a young man dressed in tattered clothes hiding behind a trash can, gripping a shotgun tightly to his chest. He saw the face of an old immigrant crawling towards the fallen rebel who was bleeding out in the field. He saw the face of a young woman crying uncontrollably behind a light pole. And finally he saw a man and woman holding pistols nervously behind a pickup truck. To anyone else they would have been mistaken as ordinary citizens turned soldiers, but to Spurious they were more. They were Ing, Paulo, Lana and his parents.
“NO!” Spurious yelled.
Ajax took a step back from the tank, shocked at his sudden outburst.
“No what?” Ajax asked, studying the young man’s battered face.
“No one else needs to die, Ajax. We’ve lost too many good people. And when the smoke clears we’re going to need trained soldiers to help protect our walls. There are threats in the Wastelands they can mitigate; pirates, raiders, countless other terrors. Let me offer them the chance to surrender.”
Ajax muttered something under his breath. “Spurious, this isn’t your call. Besides, we’ve offered them the chance to surrender and they won’t. We have no choice…”
“What would Obi do?” Spurious asked, cutting Ajax off.
The soldier scratched his beard, recalling a conversation he had with Obi in an abandoned windmill not a month ago. “Save those you can and help those that can be rehabilitated.” The words repeated over and over in his mind.
“Damn, you’re right.” Ajax patted Spurious on the shoulder. They both knew Obi would have done everything he could to save the Rohanians, and to find a useful purpose for the remaining Knights, who were brainwashed into following orders. Obi always saw Governor Felix and Commander Augustus as the real enemy, and believed their mindless minions of Knights were pawns in the larger chess game.
“I’m going to patch a line into the arena and see if you can talk some sense into the lead Knight…” Ajax checked his watch. “Spurious, we won’t have long before our channel is shut down by the rebels, so make this quick,” he said, patting him on the back again.
A scream cut through the morning, another rebel falling to the ground, the victim of a CRK sniper round.
“You have to hurry! The rebels won’t hold back much longer!” Creo yelled.
Spurious nodded and grabbed a radio from Ran.
“The Knight in charge is Royal Knight Tinus. Good luck,” he replied.
“That’s the Knight that killed the Samoan!” Spurious shouted anxiously.
Ran shrugged. “I don’t care who he is. This isn’t going to work. You can’t trust the Tin Can’s. They will never surrender,” he replied.
Spurious ignored the small soldier, knowing he was still grieving over Nordica’s death. Snatching the radio, he took a knee behind the Fox Hound.
“Royal Knight Tinus come in. Over.”
Static crackled over the radio for several seconds.
“Roger. Tinus here. With whom am I speaking? Over.” His voice was edgy, strained from yelling.
“This is Spurious Timur. I’m a State employee with SGS. I have been authorized to offer you a conditional surrender. Over.”
Tinus laughed. “If you can give me one good reason to talk to a traitor, then I’ll give surrender honest consideration. Over.”
Ran chuckled. “What did I tell you?”
“Shut up, little man. Let him talk,” Ajax growled.
“Royal Knight Tinus. I understand how you may feel right now. Everything you have known has turned upside down within hours. Your work, dedication and loyalty to the State may seem lost, but I can assure you it’s not.”
“You know nothing about dedication and loyalty; you’re nothing more than a traitor!” Tinus yelled, interrupting Spurious.
Spurious stiffened. “I know more about loyalty and dedication than you think. After my parents were killed in the beginning years of the revolution I was sent to an orphanage and later to the University. I became a State employee and have served the State since then. In the past two months everything changed for me. My best friend was killed in the subway attacks; the woman I loved betrayed me and was killed…”
Spurious choked, the memory of Lana’s death haunting his thoughts before the crackling radio brought him back.
“It turns out everything I have known to be true is a lie. My parents were the founders of the TDU. The State I served has oppressed those it has sworn to defend. I have seen the Wastelands, I have seen the immigrant camps and I have seen the ruthlessness of both the TDU and the Knights. And on top of all of the death, misery and pain I have seen something else. I have seen a common humanity I once read about when I was a young boy. There was once a place called New York City, a city full of immigrants from around the world. They came to Ellis Island for a chance at better life. As I have traveled throughout Tisaia, the camps, Rohania and even Lunia I realized what made New York great can make Tisaia great. If we give everyone a chance to survive, Tisaia can become a just place again. You know as well as I do that we have enough Biomass and food reserves to last a century. We can help those in need. We can build a strong Tisaia, one that values righteousness.”
Ajax watched the young man and smiled. “Go on, Spurious,” he said.