January 10, 2110

  Castle

  Roughly three years after Castle first joined the monarchy army, somehow, someway he was still stuck with the two knuckleheads he met during testing. Man, did he wish he could just jump back in time and hit the damn ‘reset’ button on this tragic mess of a mistake; yet, in the three years, nothing of importance had happened from that point until now. It was war; action happened, the population of both sides decreased, blood was spilled, people mourned. Yada yada. It was all meaningless to Castle.

  Kerplunk, Kerplunk.

  Each second, a teardrop of water dripped from the cavern’s smooth ceiling into the crystal clear pond in front of Castle, sending a crisp ring echoing through the cave. Standing on a ledge in near blackness, Castle shined a brightstone light down at the pool of water below him. Because of his enhanced eyes, Castle could already see in the dark. The light was for the lessers accompanying him on the raid.

  In front of the pond were nine separate tunnels. Only one of them would lead the group to an enemy outpost, which they had orders to raid for intelligence. Ivinage, Frob, and two recruits waited for Castle’s assessment. Besides simply accomplishing this operation, Ivinage and Frob had additional stakes in the success of this mission over the rest. A few weeks back, their dear friend Gharah was captured by the socialists and taken prisoner. If this raid were successful, they’d be able to locate Gharah, and possibly other war-imprisoned allies.

  “Okay, let’s start this out. I’m ninety percent certain the enemy outpost is that way.” Castle pointed to the middle tunnel. He hopped off the rock ledge he was on and splashed into the pond.

  “Only ninety percent certain?” Ivinage leaped into the water behind Castle.

  “Oh boy, if there’s one thing I’ve learned from fighting alongside you… it is that there is always… always margin for error,” Castle reposted.

  “Har-har. Look at the smartass.”

  Frob jumped in the pond, landing with an astounding display of athleticism. “I think it’s pronounced margarine of error.”

  “Remind me to kill whoever taught you words.” Castle’s smirk disappeared. “Like, seriously, Frob… the world would be all the better if your mouth never opened.” Frob was unfazed by this remark.

  “Well, if you’re ninety-percent certain it’s that way, which way is the other ten percent?” Ivinage asked.

  “Which way do you think? All the other ways!”

  “Then I think that is the way we should go.”

  “And I think you might just be… the stupidest individual alive! Oh, wait… I forgot about Frob.”

  “Well, I think you’re just covering your ass with your ninety-percent nonsense!”

  “Please explain to me how I’m covering my ass? If anyone was covering asses, it’d be your ass!” Castle growled.

  “That doesn’t even make sense!”

  Frob raised his voice centimeters past a whisper, slightly extending words as he usually does. “Stop yelling! Why can’t we all just get along and be friends?”

  “Okay, look, Frob actually has a point.” Castle put up his hands in submission. “So, here it is: I’m not covering my ass, and you most certainly aren’t covering yours. Nobody’s ass is being covered. Got it?”

  “As long as we can agree on that,” Ivinage responded.

  “Then my choice, it is.”

  The two recruits looked at each other with confused glances before following Castle, Frob, and Ivinage into the middle tunnel.

  As he trekked along, Castle swooshed around the water, kicking up water like a child in a puddle. Frob and Ivinage were slightly behind him, on either side of him. The two recruits were farther back, whispering back and forth to each other. This carried on for a few minutes.

  Castle was right: In view was a reinforced wall leading to the valley where the enemy outpost was located. Near the top of the wall, which was now right in front of them, was a rectangular window protected by a stasis shield. It was wide and long enough for a head to peer through.

  As Castle approached the wall, he commanded, “Frob. I need a lift.” The window was too high for anyone of the group to see through it from their current positions.

  “Umm… you’re aahhh great fighter and aahhh veerry funny person and aahhh--” Frob complimented.

  “I didn’t ask for my spirits lifted, you empty-headed waste of life! I meant a physical lift! I need to see in that window.”

  “That window is veerry… veerry high. I don’t think you are tall enough to see inside.”

  “Oh boy, this guy. Frob, listen closely. I need you… to help me… see inside.”

  “I don’t think, aahhh… I’m tall enough either.”

  Castle smacked his hand into his face in frustration. “Never mind. I can just do it myself.” Castle had been teaching himself a new trick to do with his ace ability. The problem came from focus; it required a lot, since Castle was unaccustomed to the maneuver at the moment. “Check out my smooth new trick.” Castle cast his aura below his feet and lifted himself off the ground. Concentrating, he was finally able to peer through the window.

  “What do you see?” one of the recruits asked.

  “A clearing past this wall. I’m thinking it is the valley.” Castle sniffed the air. “Do you smell that, Ivinage?”

  “What?”

  “It’s the smell of being right!” Castle burst into laughter, and Ivinage splashed water at Castle. “Oh, wow!” The sudden motion caused Castle to lose his focus, and he splashed down into the water, back first. He hastily kicked back to his feet and brushed off rocks and mud like nothing happened.

  Ivinage and the recruits were laughing at him. “What happened? Did you fall from that mountain of ego you have?” Ivinage teased.

  “You are such… a prissy little girl. You know that?” That remark only tempted Ivinage to laugh harder.

  Castle placed a lava bomb on the wall and signaled for everyone to step back. Once everyone was clear, he pressed the trigger, and the bomb erupted into molten lava. It was easily enough heat to melt through the wall, and the group marched through after the molten rock had cooled.

  The distant sun offered a flicker of warmth in the freezing temperatures. Castle peered over the horizon at an outpost stationed in a valley. He and his squad waited at the end of a tunnel under a tree that bloomed mud-brown leaves.

  “What kinds of trees don’t lose their leaves in this cold weather?” Castle asked himself.

  “The kind that grow on a near-frozen planet,” Ivinage offered her smartass remark.

  “I wasn’t talking to you, Fritz,” Castle snapped.

  “Were you talking to me?” Frob asked.

  “No. Shut up!” Castle hissed under his breath, annoyed. “Jeez. I can’t believe Evwei gave you your own squad, Ivinage.”

  “Mercenaries like you don’t get squads,” Ivinage retorted. “Besides, do you really count Frob and two recruits as a squad?”

  Castle laughed, feeling better. “No.”

  As they waited, a long, armored vehicle hovered over the stone and snow path, coming to a halt to the right of the outpost’s storage rooms located at the back right of the outpost.

  “That’s it! It’s the intel truck!” Castle jumped in excitement. “You guys wait here, I’ll go scout ahead.”

  Castle broke off from the group and hugged the edge of the mountain as he gained a better viewpoint. He continued creeping along the left side of the valley, using many redrocks as cover. Eventually, Castle found a large rock protruding at an angle from the ground and clambered up it. After going prone on the rock-face, Castle was able to see everything in the valley. At that moment, a truth came to Castle’s realization: Security was tighter than expected.

  “Guys, it seems they beefed up the security from what our scouts previously assessed.”

  “Why the hell would they do that?” Ivinage asked.

  “Well, the extra security could be off a list of many reasons: The presence of a high-ranking individual, anticipation of an attack, or it could be a simple result of the supplies I stole from this outpost a month back.”

  “I wonder which one?” Ivinage asked rhetorically.

  “Ah, I mean it’s pretty obvious. It’s the supplies,” Frob stated.

  “Stop talking,” Ivinage instructed.

  “Well, I’d say our primary goal is a bust. Time for the old, reliable backup plan,” Castle said.

  “Wait, what? Plan B? Since when did we have a backup plan?” Ivinage questioned, with an irritated ring in her voice.

  “I mean, it doesn’t take a genius like me to throw a backup plan together. But I guess I forgot I was talking to dimwits,” Castle teased.

  “Alright. If you’re so smart, what do we do?”

  “We plant some plasma bombs, leave, then we blow this place sky-freaking high… marveling at our handiwork from afar.”

  “What?”

  “A standard hit-and-run. Come on, I’ve done it countless times before. I’m a bloody professional at this awesome shivf. It’ll all be fine.”

  “Umm, actually, no. Frob and I won’t be fine. You originally told me we were here to gather intelligence. Now, that’s gonna be pretty damn hard to do if that intelligence is blown into thousands of pieces!”

  “Ivinage, trust me when I say, I understand you want to save your friend, Gharah. Really, I do. But that skill-less chump got captured. Live with it. With security like this, data retrieval is an unlikely option. I have no doubt on the day we do find out where the Allsung Socialists are holding Gharah and the others, the Allsung Monarchy will do everything it can to rescue them.” Castle sighed. “But you’ll just have to wait for another opportunity.”

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  “Yeah… whatever.” Ivinage clearly wasn’t happy.

  “Now, Frob has some sticky launchers in his backpack. Use those to fire off the plasma bombs. Everyone, take some and be ready.”

  “What’s the plan?” Ivinage grunted, still displeased with the situation.

  “I’ll take this over-watch position and make callouts. As for everyone else, follow Ivinage’s orders.”

  “Haha, right! I’m the squad leader!” Ivinage gained enthusiasm.

  “Don’t let it go to your head,” Castle teased.

  From the rock, Castle watched as Ivinage crept toward a power cable that powered a stasis-shielded fence further down the road. Ivinage pulled out a knife and sliced open the cord. Sparks flew, and the cord whiplashed around. Ivinage and her squad high-tailed it behind some redrocks near the mountain’s sharp edges.

  “What the hell are those dummies doing?” Castle whispered to himself.

  Two enemy guards patrolled over to the cut cord. From behind the rocks, Ivinage and her squad bashed the guards in the back of the heads with the butts of their weapons. They then pulled the knocked out bodies aside and took off the guards’ armor, which Ivinage fitted on her two recruits.

  “They must be joking!” Castle fumed. “Ivinage, that was foolishly fortunate!” he told her over the comms.

  “Come again?”

  “I mean, what if we ended up with two really big-bodied enemies? That whole plan of yours would’ve been in the gutter. Do you think just because you see something in a film, it’s good idea?”

  “You don’t?”

  “You can’t be serious. I guess it doesn’t matter now anyway. Might as well get this train wreck plan underway.”

  Ivinage commanded, “Alright, you two.” She tapped the shoulders of the recruits. “Head to the truck and try and distract the guards. I’ll try and get closer to plant the bombs.”

  “What do I do, ma’am?” Frob asked Ivinage.

  “You guard our exit.”

  “Oh… okay,” Frob responded.

  “For the record, Frob, it’s because you’re a liability!”

  “Got it.”

  “Honestly, if you were involved in this mission, you’d probably get us all killed.”

  “Yep, that’d be me.”

  “Hurry up, gents! The enemy is almost done loading supplies,” Castle commanded.

  The two recruits in the hijacked armor sauntered toward the enemy guards. Under the armor, the two recruits blended in well, despite them still carrying a monarch marked weapon and wearing monarch clothing underneath the armor. All things considered, the plan might work well.

  “Do you think this plan will actually be successful? I know Ivinage is in charge, but she doesn’t seem like a good leader to me,” a recruit spoke over the coms.

  “Dumbasses, your coms are still on,” Ivinage informed the recruits.

  “Oh,” the recruit spoke awkwardly before shutting off his comm.

  The two recruits made it to the guards and started to chat them up. All seemed to be going well. The guards didn’t notice just yet they were talking to monarchy troops. From under the truck, Ivinage passed the guards and got up on the other side, between the truck and outpost. She spurted inside the outpost before a guard noticed her.

  Castle contacted Ivinage, “Find something expensive and shoot a couple plasma bombs at it.”

  “Are you going to be fine by yourself, Castle?”

  Castle chuckled. “What did I tell you about worrying about me?”

  “Don’t”

  “Exactly.”

  Castle glanced back to the recruits. The enemy guards moved closer to them.

  “Oh no!” Castle said, crossing his fingers.

  The guards grabbed the recruits’ helmets and tossed them to the snow-covered dirt. “Sound the alarm!” he heard the guards yell from his position.

  “Our cover has been blown! Get out of there, Ivinage!” Castle shouted as the alarm sounded.

  The socialist soldiers pointed their weapons and laid out the recruits.

  “Hold on, almost done,” Ivinage spoke over the intercom.

  “Almost-- Wait what?” Castle yelled back.

  “Almost done transferring intel.”

  “You’re what? Are you screwing with me?!” Castle shouted, furious. He was unaware of all the noise he was making. “I specifically told you to blow--” He noticed Ivinage had cut off the comm link. Frustrated, he punched the rock he stood on.

  “Freeze!”

  Castle turned and whipped his hand at a guard behind him, tossing a blade at another. His aura field stabbed into the gut of one guard, while his blade pierced the other in the heart. Both fell in the snow. Blood trickled from the wounds and turned the snow a lemon yellow.

  “Alright, that’s it! Abort the mission!”

  Castle jumped off the rock and rolled in the snow, then shoved himself to his feet and booked it to Frob’s location. Two guards beat him there by seconds. They raised their weapons at Frob, and he held up his hands.

  “I surrender,” Frob said.

  “No, you don’t.” Castle launched his aura at the guards and knocked them back. Frob grabbed his gun off his back and shot them. “They definitely heard that. Quick, Frob, follow the caverns back to our transport vehicle.”

  As Frob took off, Castle pulled out a trigger and pressed the button. Boom! A mushroom cloud full of purple smoke and gray dust obliterated sections of the outpost.

  “Good shivf, Ivinage, you managed to plant some plasma bombs inside after all. And speak of the devil--” Castle announced as Ivinage scudded into view.

  Guards pursued Ivinage from behind as Ivinage fired plasma behind herself without aiming. Castle used his aura to shield Ivinage as she returned.

  “I got it!” Ivinage shouted as she got close to Castle, holding a micro-bug between her fingers.

  Smack!

  Ivinage’s body collided with the ground, and she lost the micro-bug. Another omelic had just tackled her into the snow; it was Ghost, the Socialist’s mercenary.

  “Shivf! It’s Ghost!” Ivinage bellowed as she struggled under Ghost’s grip.

  “Damnit, Ivinage!” Castle cursed.

  He ran forward and held his aura in place to block the oncoming plasma. Ghost’s gauntlets jabbed into Ivinage’s gut, and she wheezed under the hard hit. Ghost flung a knife from its holster and plunged the knife down at Ivinage’s throat.

  “Get off!” Castle shoulder-checked Ghost off Ivinage. Ghost rolled over and flipped up to his feet. “Ivinage, take care of the guards!”

  “Move, or I’ll move you myself!” Ghost threatened Castle.

  “Stop flirting and bring it on, then.”

  Castle signaled for Ghost to make the first move. Ghost sprinted at Castle. Castle tossed a knife, but Ghost slid under it. From the ground, Ghost flipped sideways and launched two knives of his own from a cuff attached to the wrists of his gauntlets. Castle’s aura was giving Ivinage cover, so he had to duck. In seconds, Ghost was in front of Castle. He took a swing, but Castle jumped back. Ghost pointed his gauntlets forward, and Castle ducked down, dodging the knives from behind him. Ghost had returned his knives to his gauntlets using magnets.

  “Are those damn guards dead?!” Castle screamed at Ivinage.

  “No! There are a lot of them!” There was a click, and Castle heard Ivinage’s gun stop firing. “Shivf! The gun… I think it jammed. It’s doing this thing and--”

  Castle shouted, “What?! A thing?! No, I’m in a thing right now, so hurry the hell up!”

  Ghost came at Castle again and swung at his head. Castle ducked under the blow and parried with a blow of his own. Ghost dodged, and Castle tossed more knives at Ghost, but he caught them and tossed them back. Quickly, Castle pulled out another knife and blocked them, but Ghost closed the distance between them and was attacking Castle again. Castle knew Ghost would beat him if he remained so close.

  Castle heard Ivinage’s weapon firing again. “Last one… now!” Ivinage roared and scooped up the micro-bug from the snow.

  Castle immediately let his aura return to him. Ghost’s next punch hit the aura field. “Run to the transport vehicle, Ivinage!” Castle shouted over his shoulder as Ghost pounded away at his aura.

  Ivinage took off. Castle returned his gaze to Ghost and launched out his aura. Ghost dodged the powerful field like he knew where it was going to be.

  Castle smiled and mocked, “Goodbye, Ghost. I’ll see you soon.”

  Like an ice cube in the middle of summer, he disappeared into the tunnel before Ghost had a chance to see him leave.

  ?????

  Back at the monarchy base camp, Castle strolled past Ivinage, who was sitting down on a bench outside the barracks with her head down. Castle saw a picture of the two deceased recruits emulating from Ivinage’s cyberwatch. From across the field, two of Ivinage’s buddies came over to her. Castle distanced himself far enough from the group to be inconspicuous, using the barracks wall for cover. There, he stopped and listened.

  The two buddies now stood over the bench, staring down at Ivinage. “When did you get back?” one of them asked Ivinage.

  “Just recently.”

  “What happened?” the other asked.

  Castle took this chance to jump in. He couldn’t contain himself. “Oh, please… let me be the one to tell you gents what happened. Captain Ivinage… decided to disobey my orders and took it upon herself to copy a drive full of socialist army secrets.” Castle walked over to Ivinage. “And the kicker: That decision cost her the lives of two of her men.” The men looked at Castle in astonishment. For a moment, Castle let the awkward silence sink in before bursting out with, “Hah! But that’s a pretty damn good trade-off, am I right?”

  “What?!” Ivinage jumped up from the bench in shock.

  Castle laughed. “You should have seen this fool, like some elite infiltrator… going in like a crazy mad-woman or some shivf!”

  Ivinage stuttered, “W-wait. Y-You aren’t pissed? I disobeyed y-you… I--”

  Castle chuckled. “Hey. Don’t get me wrong. For a moment, I wanted to beat your ass into the dirt until you shivfed out dusk clouds. But look where we are now. You took a risk, and the payoff is as spectacular as I am… which is saying a lot.”

  Ivinage teared up. “Paid off?! Two of our men are dead! They had families… families I know!”

  Castle retorted, “And two more men will probably die tomorrow. Seriously, I would’ve figured you gents understood this by now. It’s a simple fact of war, and just in case you have forgotten, that is what you are fighting in. Did you expect everything to be all sugar roses and fairy dust?”

  Evwei showed up. “That’s enough, Castle!” She walked over to Ivinage and tried wiping away some of her tears.

  “Just saying,” Castle whispered out of earshot.

  Evwei put her hand on Ivinage’s shoulder. “Ivinage. Under your leadership, you made a decision that cost two of our men their lives. That being said, that same decision also got us access to valuable intel. Whether or not this was the right decision to make is something you, as a leader, will have to come to terms with yourself.” Evwei removed her hand from Ivinage’s shoulder. “Right now, I need to have a talk with you two,” Evwei said, pointing at Castle and Ivinage. She then instructed Ivinage’s buddies, “Go find Frob and send him here.” As she commanded, the two left.

  Minutes passed before Frob showed up. “What took you so long?” Evwei asked.

  “I got lost.”

  Evwei sighed. “Ivinage, Frob. I know where all the prisoners are… including your friend, Gharah.”

  Frob jumped up and down. “Yeeesss! I have a friend!”

  Ivinage responded in surprise, “You do?”

  Evwei continued. “I had some technicians dig through the files you got us, Ivinage. To my surprise, they found battle formations, patrol routes, and schematics from the socialist capitol. On the schematics, there is a prison where your friend Gharah and many others are being held. Information like this could not only save our allies, it could end the civil war on this planet! The socialists have been trying to force us to move into the colder, uninhabitable parts of this resource-rich planet. I say we make those leeches pay and hit them where it would hurt the most: The capitol.”

  “The capitol? Are you kidding?” Castle threw his hands into the air.

  “No, I’m certainly not. With all our troops, our army can make a final push into the capitol and - once and for all - win this four-year-long civil war! And Castle… I want you to lead the rescue operation into the prison and save all the prisoners you can.”

  “What? Why does Castle get to do that? I actually have a friend in there, so I should lead that mission,” Ivinage complained.

  Castle burst into laughter. “Oh, listen to her… she’s actually being serious.”

  Evwei nodded. “Okay, Ivinage, how about this? I’m going to make a speech preceding our attack on the capitol five days from now… at first sunlight. If you can assemble a squad and capture Castle within those five days, I’ll grant you leadership of the rescue operation. Deal?”

  Ivinage gave Castle an enormous grin. “Deal!”

  Castle objected and turned to Evwei. “Umm, at what point did I agree to this?”

  “Don’t tell me you’re scared, Castle,” Ivinage taunted.

  “No, I, ah… fine! Just don’t bitch to me when you hurt yourself. Now… if you’ll excuse me?” Castle stormed off.

  He looked around the clearing and snuck into his secluded spot between the piles of snow boulders at the edge of camp. It was just as he left it from the last time he visited.

  After making sure nobody was around, Castle called in, “We have a problem!” There was no response; only static played back. “We have a problem! Ghost, do you copy?”

  “What is it now?” Ghost replied over the intercom.

  “That intel we captured, right-yeah, that bitch had schematics, patrol routes, and other shivf about the capitol.”

  “So, what’s the problem?” Ghost’s reply was calm yet cold.

  “What do you mean? The problem is, the monarchy is gonna mount a full-scale attack on it and wipe out the socialist army. Our mission will be a bust.”

  “After my assessment of the war up to this point in time, the men under my command were ordered to allow your men to capture the intel. All returning fire was aimed only to kill those who were of no importance. All maneuvers were designed to intimidate those left. Let me assure you, my plan was calculated, choreographed, and designed to look like the monarchy scored a major victory today. The socialists are under the impression the intel you acquired today is completely false, but I replaced half of it with accurate models. They have returned all their troops to the capitol, awaiting the arrival of the monarchy.”

  “So, what are you getting at, friend?”

  “When the socialists and monarchy attack in this last battle, both sides will experience massive losses.”

  “And when nearly everyone is dead, we let our bishops take out the rest and have some fun ourselves. I like it. At the end of this, Xan’Ohmo will be completely unoccupied and ready for the Wersillian Legion to do as they please with the planet.”

  “Now you’ve got it.”

  Castle sighed. “But you couldn’t find it in that plan of yours to inform me about it beforehand?”

  “I needed you to proceed with the mission as you would have under normal circumstances so I could adjust my men accordingly. With you informed, coordination on the fly while keeping our cover would’ve been impossible.”

  “I hope you realize I almost blew up that joint.”

  “An example of why I always design backup plans.”

  “Guess a bit of luck never hurt anyone,” Castle snickered. “And nice job on making our fight look compelling.”

  “Same for you, my friend.” After Ghost responded, Castle heard someone behind him, and he turned immediately. A monarchy soldier had his hands over his mouth, frozen in fear. Ghost added, “Take care of your liability. I’ll see you at the end of this.” He then cut out.

  Castle smiled a devilish smile. “Don’t you just love a good plot twist? Turns out--” Castle pointed to himself, “--yeah… bad guy here. Which means I’m a damn good actor, right?” He stabbed the eavesdropper in the heart with his aura field, and the body tumbled down a hole between some boulders. Castle used his aura and flipped a bunch of snow over the body. “Nobody is ever going to find you!”