Book 3 - Stars
Part 2
This thread is intended to be paired with The Hourglass (3.2)
Thursday, March 16th, 2023
Askiiz, Dabaab 57th, 412
4 days until the revolution
It had been decades since the bunker had been this busy - fighters running this way and that, the constant crackle of radio chatter, the faraway sound of gunfire at the ranges. Saarkis had to admit, he had kind of missed it. But his old ears did appreciate how much of the sound faded away as he stepped into the command room and the heavy metal door slid shut behind him.
“Good to see you here, colonel,” said the Mutadiit without looking up from the report in front of them.
“Likewise,” Saarkis responded. “Status report?” Talia kicked off from the wall in one of those spinny chairs and turned around to face him.
“We’ll definitely have enough guns - they may be old, but the upside of sitting on our a - I mean, lying in wait,” she corrected to a nod from Saarkis, “has meant that they’re in pristine condition. Munitions are a different story, but we have enough to take the ADF depot here -” she said, pointing forcefully at the map “- and resupply from there. Our reports indicate that they also have enough heavy munitions to cause some havoc. After that, we can strike the President’s office here and the Zakyn HQ here. If we can get both of those secured, we’ll have won in the city.”
“Perfect. And how is the training going?”
“Considering our people have been doing nothing but training for 40 years, I’d say pretty well,” came the pointed reply. Saarkis shrugged it off - not much he could do about that now. Besides, it had clearly worked out pretty well for them, hadn’t it.
“And our allies?”
“We’ve got operatives in key places ready whenever we give them the go ahead. Our people back in Mukarras have cracked Zakyn’s code and we’re ready for radio takeover. Hopefully, it won’t take much to sway the people to our side. After all, Zakyn has already done most of the work for us on that front.”
“Agreed. And finally, how is the countryside looking?” The Mutadiit takes this one.
“Good. We’ve smuggled some arms into key work camps. We have operatives waiting to ambush convoys on the way to the capital. Everything is just as planned,” they say without once looking up from their dossier. Little weird, but that’s fine. Besides, the Mutadiit is probably having very important conversations with Ildarra, or something. He wasn’t sure how exactly that whole… situation worked, but so long as the soldiers believed in the Mutadiit, he didn’t really care.
“Colonel,” Talia began, getting his attention, “would you mind if we had a word privately?”
“What about?” the old orc responded, in his classic gruff manner.
“I’d rather not discuss it quite so publicly.”
“You should go, Colonel,” piped up the Mutadiit. Well, fine then. Saarkis walked into an adjoining room and beckoned Talia in.
“You can’t seriously be considering going to Sayaduun,” Talia started irately as soon as the door was shut.
“So that’s what this is about?” Saarkis responded with a raised eyebrow. “Why wouldn’t I go to Sayaduun?”
“Go, sure, but… with the first strike team? Are you insane? That’s too dangerous.”
“I’m a soldier.”
“You were a soldier! There are bigger things at stake now than your honor.”
“And how will it look to the people if I stay here, where it is safe? We all know the Mutadiit intends to make me governor when this is all through - they’ve all but said it in the past weeks.”
“How do you expect to be governor if you’re dead?”
“I’d rather die a hero’s death than govern without the respect of the Sayaduuni people - my people.”
“The people will understand!”
“Would either of us have understood?” Saarkis said, leading to a painful silence for several seconds, before the grizzled veteran spoke again. “When our homes were taken from us, would we have followed someone who pulled strings from the shadows?” Talia takes a seat, and they stay there in silence for a full minute. Maybe more.
“I don’t want to lose you, dad,” Talia says, crystalline tears forming like dew on her eyelids.
“Don’t worry, miikha, I’ve always found my way before.”