Xynadda - a world in the Presius Sector
The world didn’t strike her as impressive, no matter Jiit said. From orbit, it looked like a purplish orb with a cloud strand or two flaked out here and there for effect only. A nameless documentary watched on a sleepless night long ago had told her of vast canyons that crisscrossed an otherwise flat surface which itself was punctuated on occasion by a towering mountain or city-dome. Not impressive, at all.
“ Why are we here?” she asked, turning away from the window. The padding in his jacket was as inviting as the pillow behind her head, so she rested a cheek on him and closed her eyes.
“ I’ve told you my dear, I have to meet some friends. They’re helping us.”
Maxa did not want to be rude so she decided against sneering openly, though inside the gesture could not be silenced. Us was a relative term, meaning the movement to which he belonged and had unqualified faith in; it certainly did not include her. She could not be interested in an anti-government movement no matter how much she wanted to, but she was interested in him. He cared about something the black haired woman found distasteful, but at least he believed in something. That made him the only male she’d met in far too long a time to see beyond himself. It was…endearing…if not skewed. Maxa sighed and fell asleep, four years’ experience coming and going from an abandoned space station allowing her to sleep right through the atmosphere entry.
* * *
“ Only united can we hope to stand against those who would do us harm. We know damned well what is coming – not even a blind man could miss it! And how will we resist? With words? Good luck friends; there aren’t enough to speak out! With guns? What guns? Even if we had them, will you stand with your neighbor? Will you fight by his side? Of course you wont! I’m not sure why I’m wasting my time…”
The speaker trailed off, turning to leave the stage; catcalls from the audience kept him at his post, shaming him on one hand for failing to believe, commending their own resolve with the other. Maxa did not understand exactly what he was driving at, but then he was the fourth such man to mount the dais at the crowd’s center and yell forth. The first man had been raving, screaming and gesturing wildly as if he were at some rally of fanatics; the second had been quieter, more intelligent, more collected, but also long winded, the third was a mix of the two. This man seemed almost insulting but far more down-to-the-rocks than the others, even dressing as if he were right out of the crowd of disenchanted wretches gathered around. She was not exactly in her element, but Jiit was, screaming at the right moments and conversing loudly with those around, those she doubt he knew, about the rights and wrongs of what was being said.
“ So maybe you will fight when the time comes and the enemies descend, maybe you will. But it will be too little too late. However comes first doesn’t matter, Imperial or Confederate, but make no mistake they are coming. We are in a vice, remember that. We have enemies on both sides who have been too lazy to conquer us, but that will change. We cannot fight them off now and maintain our freedom, who knows – maybe we can. Should we? Is this freedom?
“ Ah, there’s the point, isn’t it? Sure, we have freedom now, but is being free like this worth it? We send our children to dilapidated schools, we call corrupt cops when we get robbed, we pay taxes to which we see no progress. The roads are still shoddy, the hospitals still dirty, the government still weak. Is this freedom? Is this good for us? I say no. I say no! Too long I’ve been living in filth and no one has helped me. So now I will help myself. If the bosses cant do the job right, then we need new bosses! Now is the time to stand up and say no!”
The words kept coming and more and more Maxa realized what the man was saying, the point driven home by the increasingly wild yells of those around her. Beings of all sorts thumped appendages on chests, shouting their willingness to follow and act. She realized now just what the man was saying – revolution was the only way to improve things. Maxa wasn’t a smart woman, nor was she stupid. She was, however, smart enough to realize that no matter how bad a revolution could be, any future was better than no future. Try as she might, she couldn’t scream out that it was madness, or stupidity, or foolish. Was it better to live in filth, fearing the next few moments, or die trying to improve how those precious remaining minutes were spent? She had to say the later sounded appealing. Companies got bigger and bigger, fired more and more people, and left the masses in the lurch. A few held all the wealth and the rest did all the suffering.
Maybe they’re right. Not realizing it, Maxa squeezed Jiit’s arm just a little tighter.
* * *
The crowd had disappeared, going by groups and throngs into the night. They would return. Some stayed behind in the dark warehouse to carouse some more, and Maxa had a chance to see the last speaker up close. He was a tall man, a human, with sharp cheeks and a strong jaw that hutted away from his face almost comically so but impressive all the same. He had deep-set blue eyes and a shaved head and did not seem friendly at all – but he did seem confident, there was no denying that. Others, almost everyone she had ever met, slouched or trodded where they went. This man held his head high and kept his back straight.
“ You’ve given the less serious ones something to think about, Sir.”
“ Thank you, Citizen, I only speak the truth. Live in filth or die in filth, I promise nothing. Only hope is here to guide us.” Jiit shook the man’s hand feverishly as if the middle-aged human was a holo-actor known from Rim to Core. Maybe not well known to others, Jiit was certainly star struck, his eyes wide as a school boy’s that Maxa couldn’t help but find cute.
“ Who’s this?” the man asked, turning to Maxa and flashing a toothy grin. His teeth were craggly to a point, but not nearly as bad as hers, a point she had never really be embarrassed about until now in the presence of someone with a more appealing visage. Jiit’s smile was wider and just as toothy – and almost as clean.
Maybe they’re relatives.
“ She’s Maxa, my girlfriend. She believes.”
Maxa didn’t like being spoken for, but she let a grin grow on her face as the human kissed her offered hand. Manners, too – she hadn’t seen that in a while. She was about to say something nonchalant when a crash came from the door a hundred or so meters away.
“ Down, now!” yelled someone in the distance, audible over banging and clanking around beyond the threshold. A single blast shot ended the banging, the bolt heralding a stampede of footfalls. A few men standing around like bodyguards rushed to the door while another came from outside and screamed “ everybody out, they’re here!”
“ Who?” Maxa asked, turning. Jiit grabbed her by the arm without an answer, dragging her across the floor as best he could. She walked with him then ran, turning as she did. Xynadda did not welcome the rally, apparently, for in stormed black robed officers of the local police in the company of blue-uniformed soldiers wielding long-barreled blasters. The police fanned out and two-two-one over powered the bodyguards who tried to stop them. A few grabbed stun batons, others chemical aerosols and quickly arrested those who resisted. The soldiers seemed content to let the civilian authorities do the work until they saw the clump of frightened people running away, trying to squeeze through a set of doorways behind rows and rows of crates. Rifles were leveled, then fired.
“ Come on!” the bald speaker yelled, waving his followers on with him towards the doorway, not retreating himself until his friends were with him. The shots missed him, though a few came close. Jiit smiled towards the man, and stood with Maxa to dash for the door. One bolt sizzled a crate-lid next to him, the following shot striking him in the left side of his head. Burning flesh filled the air, and Maxa stumbled down with her lover. She cried openly, but didn’t grasp the fact that all life had drained from the man’s face – what remained of it, anyway. Grief or panic-stricken -which was irrelevant – she just sat there, cradling his head on her lap while others dropped to the concrete floor around her.
“ Let’s go!” yelled the speaker, waving her on through the doorway. All but two or three of his bodyguards, those with weapons who were shooting back, were either deead or in custody. The police would be on them in moments. “ Now!”
Maxa still sat there, cradling Jiit’s head in her lap. The bald man ran over and hauled her to her feet, blood now staining his jacket as well as hers. She screamed, hammering him with her fists, but he held on tight and drug her outside where repulsor cars and trucks were scrambling about trying to break free of police pursuit or he surveillance of a shuttle overhead. He threw Maxa in the truck waiting for him, and sped off into the night. As darkness eclipsed her thoughts, she vowed to get even. She would have her vengeance.
* * *
“ A brilliant idea, Colonel Valorm. Tipping off the authorities to the rally at the right moment solidified my claims.”
“ Thank you, Major, thank you. It was difficult to convince them at first of the scale on which I spoke, but they acted as I directed.”
“ Only one negative; Agent Fissik was killed by a local.”
“ Pity, he was a good man. The Director will not be pleased.”
“ The Director expects casualties, that we haven’t had any yet will please him and offset the news. I must go before the signal is traced. Good luck.”
“ Of course. Keep me informed.”
The holo-projector cut off, and a scramble sequence took the image’s place before going totally dark. The last thing seen before he darted away was the reflection of a stray ray of light on a bald man’s head…
