Flight from MO-V Prime

Zach awoke only to be staring into bright light; he had no idea how long he had been knocked out. The second thing he saw was a blonde nurse hovering over him.

“Oh thank God you’re alright; we were worried that you weren’t going to make it!”

Zach tried to sit up but had to lie down from the stabbing sensations in the left side of his head. He reached up and felt the wet bandages wrapped around his head. What the hell?

“Please lie down, Mr. Rendar… you’ve sustained a serious blow to the head.”

Zach settled for merely moving his head to look around the room, outside a window, he could see the tapestry of stars and space idling slowly by. He was obviously in a shuttle… a frigate from the sound of the engines.

“Wh- Where’s Ms. Okami?” he asked, his voice sounded as though he had been shouting.

“Just rest, please.” The nurse said, in a falsely calm voice.

Zach, in no mood to argue, let himself drift idly into the realm between sleep and dreams.

***

“Mr. Rendar, Mr. Rendar, please wake up.”

Zach opened his eyes a second time, he was sitting up this time, he was looking out the window into space.

“The doctor says you’d be better suited to a wheelchair for now, until you’re back to full capacity.”

Zach nodded, this time only experiencing a numb pain in his left temple.

“What happened?” he managed to ask.

“Th- The Presidential Mansion was stormed.” The nurse said softly.

Immediately, Zach’s mind went into overdrive. He remembered only too well what had happened. He had entered the private offices with Okami, where they had talked about courses of action to take with other colonies and Earth, they were going around in circles, when an the sound and feeling of an explosion rocked the office. The two had rushed to the window to see the smoking remains of a truck around the outer wall, and a stream of people swamping through the hole the truck had made. Many were carrying signs, Zach could make out one that said. “Don’t steal our lives, we sell to live!”

Okami cursed and dragged Zach through a door behind a bookcase and down a bare hallway. There were sets of doors flanking the sides of the tunnels, and personnel were streaming into the hallway, all running the same direction. At the end of the tunnel sat a gate that looked like it led into the inside of a shuttle. Okami and Zach were almost there-

A door behind them burst open, and a mob of angry people flooded the hallway, grabbing at Okami and Zach. Okami pressed a button on a panel in the wall, and a sheet of metal flew up from the floor between her and the mob, Zach heard a scream and could have sworn he saw fingertips falling to the floor from the top of the metal barrier-

Okami pushed him once again towards the shuttle door, where the personnel were waiting for them to board before shutting the door. There was a blast from behind Zach, and a triumphant scream from the mob. They had blown out the metal barrier. Okami turned to face the crowd, so did Zach.

“Get in the shuttle” she growled. Zach ignored her.

“I said get in, Rendar!” she shouted this time, Zach turned to say something, but was stopped when an iron bar, wielded by Okami, made contact with his skull…

“Mr. Rendar?” The nurse asked.

“Where’s Okami?” He asked again.

“Maybe you should see the news.” The nurse said softly.

Zach turned his wheelchair to see the television which everyone on the shuttle was gathered around. On it was a newcaster talking over an image that played as though it were in slow motion… of a colony exploding in silent space.

“It is unclear at this time what happened on MO-V Prime, but primary speculation leads to terrorism not unlike what happened last night at the Earth Leader, Milliardo Peacecraft’s first press conference…”

Zach would have gasped, but the air had been stolen from him. Onscreen, the colony destroyed itself again, bright orange-white flames erupting from within.

“Mr. Rendar” a man’s voice said.

Zach looked up into the face of a man in a doctor’s uniform. “With the President’s… absence… we looked into the computer records and we came across her final wishes. It appears, young man, that she… left you a large sum of money with the message. ‘A hero’s journey can only be completed with an Epiphany.’ Do you know what that means?”

Zach merely nodded, the tears welling up in his face already. He would not cry. Hadn’t he trained himself over the years to not allow himself to do that? Hadn’t he adopted his smile to make sure all was well in the world?

Yet a smile was only a smile, and a false smile was no help to anything.

Although flowing tears blurred Zach Rendar’s face. The look of abject defeat on his face was clear enough for all.