Star Rebellion (22 page)

I shakily stood and leaned against the wall while surveying the damage that had been done. Cerberus was sitting on all four wheels perfectly fine, as if nothing had happened, though Vlad was caked in mud standing toward the side, moodily glaring at the vehicle.

“What happened?” I asked as he came to my rescue. I had barely been able to stand with how messed up my knee was.

“The car flipped, you went flying, I was smushed into the ground. End of story.”

“Nice to see that Ice’s design worked out though.”

Vladimir only grunted in reply.

Rebels streamed out of the building to come help us and a team of medics took Ice from the vehicle. Another group of medics led the rest of us into the closest room from the door and did a fast inspection. Everyone besides Forest and me was pretty much unharmed except for some scrapes from the explosion and a few minor burns where the rain had leaked through, though a medic did point out that Darkstar might want to get some cuts checked out. They had put a brace on my knee and given me crutches then cleaned out Forest's cuts and bandaged up his arms before letting us follow the rest of my team to go see Icestar.

They were all standing outside a door with a red Templar’s cross; our parody of the Earth’s medic sign. We could hear commands for certain medicines coming from inside, and apparently none of us would be allowed in for some time; not until Icestar was conscious, if even then.

Arctic eventually found us sitting in the hall. I was so focused on bouncing the rubber end of my crutch off the opposite wall and trying to catch it that I almost hit the Commander.

“Come on, guys. I want a full report, and Vatican here says he has something to tell us.” I felt the atmosphere around us cheer up slightly as Arctic spoke. Stupid mood changing powers.

Chapter 13: Word of the Angels

FIRESTAR

Water and I did most of the rundown on mission, with the occasional detail from Forest or Dark. Arctic was expressionless during this, and the Vladimir dude stayed silent through the entire process, and I still had my doubts about him, though Arctic welcomed him to our ranks without a second glance. He must have one hell of a backstory to get the Commander to trust him like that, but he would have a tougher time getting my approval. Everyone else here had been in the Rebellion since we were practically babies. New guys weren't cool with me.

“My turn,” Arctic said when we had finished. “Firstly, I shouldn’t even allow you into this room; you should have been taken to the captivity cells for blatantly disregarding multiple orders.” Each of us got a personalized glare from the Commander. “However, I cannot deny that it has helped, and harmed, us incredibly. You unleashed the entire wrath of the Underworld onto both known worlds with hardly a second thought, but you also have completed the purpose of the mission. In hindsight, that is a lot less important than the crisis we have at hand right now, but it’s a shame that you weren’t able to bring the Mystic Animals to the surface with you, like we had hoped, but at least we know that they aren’t in Lucifer's or the NOPCW’s grasp. Speaking of which, every member of the NOPCW fled to Earth once the demons started coming out. Every member besides the one that you would say we hold captive, though really that isn’t the proper term for it. She says that she won’t flee from where she is, and is being treated quite well,” the last part was meant for Darkstar, who merely nodded his head. Even if he didn't really show it, we all knew he was capable of feelings.

“As Vatican had tried to warn you before the connection had cut out, demons like to be in high places. As far from the Underworld as possible, I believe he said.” Vatican smirked a bit at Arctic’s mimicry of his voice. Arctic wasn't able to achieve the deepness of it though, so it had sounded mostly silly. “We have the top floor of our building completely guarded, not even a demon claw can get through without being shot. I’m afraid that we can’t say as much for the garage; they seem to have an affinity for gas or really anything toxic. Most of the cars have been ravaged, as I’m sure Icestar will be disappointed to hear.

“Now, as for the world of Earth, things are going quite poorly. Word has it that the citizens didn’t believe their leaders when they had been warned, and the militaries only half heartedly made their preparations. When the demons came from almost every crack and crevice that they could, spreading throughout all habitable continents, there was extreme panic. It has only been three hours since then, but already there has been near a hundred-million casualties on Earth. It’s highly populated areas, like the cities of London, New York, Tokyo, and Beijing, that have been prime areas of target for the demons. Our plan is to first secure the portals and the main resource areas of Calsh before traveling to help them. The survival of our sister plant depends on how efficiently we can execute these plans. Our estimates that are within a month they will lose close to four billion people unless they can find a decent way to fight back worldwide. A way that won't strengthen the demons along with killing them.”

“How many freaking people do they have? They must breed like pollution,” I muttered. So that analogy might've sounded stupid, but hey. It's all we have on Calsh so deal with it.

“You mean they must breed like rabbits,” Forest’s voice carried over from behind me. Stupid ambassador, all Earth savvy when it came to stuff like this.

“Whatever,” I rolled my eyes and looked back at Arctic.

“Eleven billion, and counting,” Vatican said.

No wonder Calsh was so messed up if it had been taking pollution from a planet with over eleven billion people. Calsh had less than a hundred thousand, not counting the NOPCW, who came and went quite frequently. And if you didn't know, that's less people than quite a few Earth cities.

“So we’re just going to let Earth suffer? I mean, yea there isn't much we can do right now, but that's eleven billion people who don't have great defenses right now. I would rather not go down in history as the people who let the majority of humanity die,” Waterstar stated from next to me.

“We don’t have much choice; what are we supposed to do? Leave the families here unprotected as we send forces up to Earth? Less than half the people here are trained fighters, and many are having troubles keeping demons from slaughtering the citizens in our bases and villages to begin with. They have militaries there that are large enough to fight wars across their globe, they just need to get them trained to fight within their borders. We have one Rebellion, only one, that can fight for all people on Calsh. Unfortunately, we do not currently have the resources to deal with Earth and help them.”

I could see that Arctic was really strung up about this; almost like he was in charge of the protection of both Calsh and Earth. Damn, that had to be a lot of stress for one person. But it also didn't make sense that the Commander from a mostly forgotten colonization project is the one who is incharge of both worlds. I had a feeling that my team and I were making this more complicated than it needed to be. It didn't make sense that Earth wouldn't be able to defend itself. They had more resources than we do, more fighters, more everything. Why would we need to come to their rescue?

“Tell us what to do, and we’ll help how we can. We’ve fought them, and have brought back a lot of weapons from the NOPCW, thanks to Water’s infatuation with them.” I butted in before Waterstar could come back with a retort to Arctic. We didn’t need fighting among ourselves, and I had a feeling that this was a lot bigger than any of us knew.

Water smirked next to me and crossed her arms while Arctic eyed the backpacks we still had with us for the first time.

Finally, the Commander sighed. “You are to first report to your rooms and sleep. We have a set of eight hour shifts in place, which changed recently. I’ll send a messenger to wake you before the next shift, and you four can take patrol. I’ll have further instructions when you report back in a few hours.” Arctic turned his back to us and started studying a map on the wall that had about fifty bajillion sticky notes.

I glanced at Vatican, who had been silent for most of the meeting. He was good at observing, and I knew that his silence meant he had simply just been taking notes on the six of us. What he had to do with this I am unsure, but Arctic believed him to be important. Vatican finally spoke, “Once you all are rested, I will tell you what I have to say. It’s a pretty mind boggling thing, and it’s best to be told when you’re fully recuperated. Until then, goodbye. Oh, Vladimir, please stay behind.” His head dipped slightly before joining Arctic at the map. Guess that was our cue to leave. How nice of him to come in and act like he is in charge.

We filed out of the room one by one, with me being last. I glanced back at Vlad and he shrugged; guess he didn’t know what was up with that either, not that I trusted him to tell me what he was thinking. We weren't exactly buddy-buddy if you hadn't noticed by now. “Come on, let's go bust into Ice's room, even if they say we can't,” I said when we came to where the hallways separated. The others nodded but were silent. No one has had experience with demon cuts, nor could they figure out why Foreststar was peachy fine and Icestar was unconscious on diseased. When science doesn't know what's happening, things tend not to bode well for others.

The door was still closed and the Templar’s cross seemed to glow in the dimmed hallway. Despite what I had said earlier, none of us tried busting down the door. Waterstar leaned against the wall with her crutches loosely held in one hand. “Do you think…” she started to say.

Darkstar shook his head, and then knocked on the door. There was a look in his eyes that gave me a bad feeling.

The door opened to show a girl that I had never seen before, though she had pale streaks in her already pale blond hair. “Yes?”

“Can we see Icestar?” Dark asked without emotion, as usual. This time, though, it was like he was purposely trying to seem calm, not like his typical apathetic-ness.

“I’m sorry, but he can’t see visitors at the moment.”

“Why not?”

“Doctor’s orders.”

“Is he awake?”

“No.”

Dark fell silent after that. I doubted that Ice still being unconscious was something we should rejoice about. “When do you think he’ll wake up?” Waterstar whispered. Her skin had become even paler, and with the dim lights, it looked a bit freaky.

“We’re not sure,” the nurse looked at us almost pitifully before gently closing the door. I hated the looks of pity we sometimes received, we being the field mission guys. I stared at the cross, not really thinking much except the fact that it was probably my fault if Ice died. I had been the one who had asked if he would come with me. Hell, I already had one death on my shoulders with Sunstar. Maybe it would’ve been better if I had followed what Arctic had instructed me to do; if I had been a good little boy, then Ice and Sun would’ve been fine. But who knows what would have happened to Water and Dark. Did that, however, mean that I valued their lives higher than other people's? Was that something that was morale to do? I mean, being in Star Rebellion isn't exactly meaning we follow morales, but sometimes things happen and it just doesn't seem right.

“Come on.” I felt a hand push slightly against my shoulder. I looked back and saw Forest pushing me away from the door. Water and Dark were looking at me with worry written plainly across their faces. They followed shortly afterwards. I guess it was kind of obvious that my thoughts were spiraling downwards.

I let Forest lead me down the hall, and I was about to turn away from him with Water and Dark to go to our room when he put his hand on my shoulder again. “Can you come with me to my room for a second?”

I looked back at my best friends and they shrugged. We were all tired, but what could a few moments hurt? “Sure.” I turned down a hall I had never been through before.

Forest’s room was dark, and I doubted it was because he hadn’t turned the lights on. I then checked the ceiling, and sure enough, light was barely permeating through darkly shaded bulbs. There were posters of various bands on the walls, and I recognized a few from the times that an ambassador would bring CD’s from Earth to play during meals. Most of the members on the posters were wearing dark makeup, like raccoons.

“What’s up?” I asked while standing by the wall next to the door, which was still open to let the hall light in, as meager as it was.

“It’s not your fault.”

“What?”

“Icestar… and Sunstar… it isn’t your fault. We all went with you by our own choice. We knew there was a risk, and quite honestly, it’s Sunstar’s own damn fault that she’s dead. She didn’t listen to Kuro. Icestar… well, accidents happened. No one was prepared for the demons.” Forest wasn’t looking at me, and I was surprised to hear him say so much in full explanation.

“How did you know?”

Forest shrugged. “It wasn’t hard to guess from the way you were looking at that door earlier. It was either you were having regrets, or you are strangely interested in Templar crosses.”

I looked away. Maybe I should get lessons from Dark on masquerading emotions and stuff. Taking my silence to mean who knows what, Foreststar leaned over a basket that contained CD disks. He pulled one out and inserted it into an ancient looking stereo system. Loud music blared from it, starting with a heavy bass line before two guitars joined the melody. A woman's voice started singing in a different language, and I eyed Foreststar. He wasn't a person that I had communicated with really before the incident at the NOPCW. I didn't know much about him, but for some reason I had thought him trustworthy enough to come to the Underworld and help us.