Chapter Five: Doorways

Cress stood at the back end of the hanger, watching a salvage droid with a flashing light on it finish setting the wrecked defender craft on the hanger floor to be worked on. His hands were in fists, his jaw set. In one hand was a crumpled read-out of the battle report.
The contents revealed bad news. Settler 13 had fallen, every one of the 40 or so settlers were either dead or captured. Jake's defender was found but Jake himself was taken, to where Cress had no idea.
He promised Jake he would come back for him. He would keep his promise.
He ground his teeth at the thought in determination. He was about to turn about when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He glanced back to see his commander standing behind him.
"Commander Adams." he acknowledged, nodding lightly.
"Captain, a word?" his commander requested softly. Cress nodded in reply, releasing the report and letting it fall in a crumpled ball as he turned about to follow his commander into his office.
This was a room which he'd seen the inside of many times through the last few years. It was simple, the dark steel walls being lightly adorned with a few pictures from Earth, an antique American flag, and of course the flag of the United Earth Forces, the flag which had now become the Finellian banner.
Cress took his usual seat across the desk from his commander, sitting up at attention.
His commander waved his hand a little to tell him to be at ease as he sat down at his desk and lifted up some paperwork.
"Cress . . ." He began, his voice concerned. "How many more do you think you're going to walk away from?"
Cress stiffened, he knew where this was going.
When Cress didn't answer, the commander went on. "You hold the record for crashes survived, but you can't cheat death forever Captain. What happened today should show you that."
Cress still didn't answer, just watching the commander.
Commander Adams watched him a moment before he went on. "We have an instructor position opening, and I want you to take it. The time comes for everyone to turn in their wings, Captain. Don't-"
"Permission to speak freely, sir?" Cress interrupted him suddenly, cutting him off.
Commander Adams paused, measuring what reaction was coming before he nodded. "Granted."
Cress straightened. "With all due respect sir, I can't do that. I'm the most experienced defender pilot still alive and you need me out there."
"Don't be so cocky." his commander said shortly. "You might think you're pretty great, but you're not the only one with a few moves in a defender."
Cress narrowed his eyes a little before he spoke. "Is this a voluntary assignment?" he asked softly.
His commander hesitated, knowing the answer. "Yes . . . according to fleet code, you hold the option to refuse instruction position assignments."
Cress smiled coldly. "Very well then, I refuse."
Commander Adams stared at him, anger flaring in his eyes, but it quickly burned out and turned to a cooler sadness. "Cress, you and I go back a way. I don't want to see you get killed."
Cress stood up slowly, reaching out to shake his commander's hand. "Better to live a short time with my wings then die for a long time without them." he said softly before withdrawing his hand and saluting. After Commander Adams saluted back, Cress turned to leave. Just before he reached the door, his commander said something else to him.
"Oh, Captain. I thought you'd like to know, we found your wingman."

~

December once again found herself in the combat training she so hated. Because she'd missed her lesson during the day, Lord Gareth thought it would be well to have it in the evening instead. She hated her luck.
She was wearing more combat conducive clothing, loosely fitted trousers that were tight about her ankles and a fitted tunic. It felt odd to her to be wearing men's clothing, but it was certainly better than doing the training in one of her dresses.
She set her feet apart in the stance that was taught to her and attempted to focus, aware of Gareth's critical eyes on her. She let out a breath and stretched her hands before her, suddenly tensing in an effort to push magic before her.
There was some jumping light, and a soft electric sound, but nothing went forth.
December sighed and leaned back in a more relaxed posture, waiting for the incoming lecture she would have for her failure.
"Princess..." came the tired, yet still silken voice of her forced mentor. "How is it that you still cannot summon it? You are giving it your full effort aren't you?"
December flushed. "Of course I am. You don't think I like failing do you?"
it was far more difficult for her to keep her temper with him than with really anyone, she could honestly say she didn't know what it felt like to hate a person until she knew Lord Gareth.
The dark clad, fare featured man let an ill sounding sigh and walked over to her. She tensed, fearing what he was about to do and the revulsion at the thought that he might touch her.
"You have the power, that I know. I've never seen so perfect a healing with so short a touch. Use that power, princess and call forth the lightening." he commanded as he closed the distance, ready to arrange her footing as he always tried.
December not very subtly stepped away. "It's completely different." she countered. "With one I'm trying to help someone, with another I'm wanting to hurt them."
Gareth didn't make any motion but answered in speaking. "Then simply change the way of thinking. Decide to hurt something and your magic will react." he instructed coldly.
December grimaced. "I won't." she said simply.
Gareth's face didn't move more than slightly, yet his expression changed entirely to frustration. "It is not as difficult as you believe, December."
She hated how her name sounded on his lips. "I've never hurt anyone ever before." she said. "I don't want to."
Gareth closed his eyes and frowned, covering his bitter dark eyes. He was probably thinking of some odd thing to say to try to encourage her to . . . be like he was.
He opened his mouth to speak, his pale lips opening to reveal the black insides when he was interrupted.
The door to the training room opened and Prince Cast stepped in, not looking to December but to Gareth, with an excited look on his face. "Gareth, come quickly!" he shouted.
Gareth looked up from December and to Gareth, a question on his mind. "What is it?" he asked softly.
"Success." replied the prince, his face beaming with excitement.
Gareth appeared distracted a moment before he nodded and moved after the prince and both left without a word to December.
She glanced after them, confusion written on her features. She was admittedly curious about whatever mysterious project Cast and Gareth were working on, but they certainly weren't inviting her along. She was actually very afraid of what she might find out.
She hesitated a moment, but finally made her decision, moving to chase after them. She had to admit, she was glad she wasn't wearing a dress.
She came out of the training room and glanced to both ends of the hallway, seeing the hem of Gareth's cape behind him as he turned a corner. She turned and went to follow them, trying to be quiet so as not to alert them that they had her in tow. She felt certain that they'd send her back or stop her, and she'd never satisfy her curiosity if that were to happen.
She followed them from a distance through a large portion of the castle, hearing the prince talk on and on and Gareth listen, but she couldn't hear most of what was said. The rounded a corner into the library, moving through the endless bookshelves and up a spiral staircase. Much of the shelves were levitating in the expansive magical library, making it look busy, yet serene. They made it easy for December to hide, but difficult for her to keep up with the pair.
December soon lost them as they ascended the library, losing track of them as they rounded a bookshelf up yet another spiral staircase.
She followed them up, not sure where they had gone only to find that at the end of the book aisle, there was a hallway leading out of the library. It was a shallow hall, ending quickly with no other alcoves or other hallways, there only being a crest and shield set at the opposite wall.
The two men were gone after having turned that way, and she had lived in the castle long enough to know that there was a high number of hidden passageways and trick doors. She felt certain that one must be there, for both men had simply disappeared.
She moved to the wall and quickly started feeling around about the crest, searching for the switch that would activate the wall. It wasn't difficult, the switch was directly behind the crest, a small lever at the top of the shield.
She flipped it with the tip of her fingers and heard the machinery softly go to work. The wall slid smoothly to the side, locking in place away and revealing a long dark hallway ahead of her.
December hesitated where she stood, suddenly unsure of herself. She couldn't see either of the men through the dark of the corridor, and didn't know if she'd be able to find her way back. She stayed where she was standing for a short moment longer before she took a breath and walked forward into the dark hallway.
It wasn't long until she'd taken several turns, that the only light was torchlight, quite unlike the natural lighting in the library or the magical lighting in the rest of the palace. It gave the corridors an intimidating feel.
She continued to wander about inside them, following their general course and not taking any turns along the darker hallways she passed. She hoped this was the course that the Prince and the Lord had walked along on their way.
Before long, she felt like she could feel the darkness starting to weigh down on her. There was a chill in the air that was starting to make her shiver, but more than anything else, there was something she could feel in the air that was somehow undefinable. Although she couldn't decide quite why, she felt terrified. There was almost total silence until suddenly she began to hear voices, not speaking, just making sounds. The moans and sobbing she could hear seemed to come from just ahead.
December felt unsure that she even wanted to find out the source of all the sounds, she felt entirely ill at ease.
Her heart was beginning to pound along with the fear she felt, but she couldn't seem to make herself stop moving forward. In the darkness ahead, a shape began to materialize, a door.
She stopped before it, looking up and down over it, nervous even to touch it. She could hear her heart pounding in her ears as she stood before it, for some reason she couldn't explain, she was terrified. Almost as though it was moving on its own, her arm began to rise, her hand reaching for the door handle.
Suddenly, she felt a hand land on her shoulder, making all the spinning sensations suddenly fly to a stop. Her head snapped around to see the source of the hand to find a guard standing behind her, concern mirrored in his eyes.
"Are you lost, Princess?" he spoke softly.
December stared, stunned for a moment before she finally nodded. "Ah, yes." she admitted.
The guard nodded his understanding. "Would you allow me to escort you back to the library?"
December agreed quickly, shaking her head of the curiosity that drove her. She didn't want to be here.
They began walking back, the guard making a light appear over them with a with a spell while they walked. December nervously began talking to the guard as they went, trying to relieve her fear. The guard seemed easy enough to talk to.
As they stepped out into the welcome light of the library, December looked back to the guard, smiling gratefully.
"Thank you, sir..." she said gently, showing her smile.
The guard nodded and was about to turn about when December asked quickly.
"Wait . . . that door," she began softly, watching the guard turn to look back at her. "That's the door that the Prince goes to, isn't it?" she asked.
The guard nodded quietly.
Her face revealed a little more of her fear. " . . . What's behind it?"
The guard was silent a long time before he answered. "I don't know," he said.
"But whatever it is, I hope I never live to see it."

~

Cress sat in the dark briefing room, his face lit like all the other men and women in the room by a blueish glowing hologram mapping the Castor city that rotated in the center of the table. Walking about the table and continuing the briefing was Commander Hacking, head of the ground forces. He continued where he was at after pointing to a spot on the hologram.
"We were able to track the comsat device on Lieutenant Farr's uniform to the Castor's capital. Intel did not anticipate this happening because of their religious fervor toward the capital, yet the results are clear."
He pointed to the base of the tower on the hologram, making it pulse lightly. "We all know the new fleet code, no one is left behind. We need our man back." he said in a stately manner. Everything about the commander bespoke military respect.
"Intel has developed a rescue plan already." he begun and pointed to a spot on the hologram again. "We'll have two infiltration teams made up of special operatives enter from the roof via drop-ship. Your mission is to locate the prisoners inside the castle. We're looking for a group of thirty to forty prisoners. We'll extract them at the main courtyard where the dropship will be able to make a landing."
He pointed to each point he spoke of on the map as he went over the briefing.
"Team Alpha will be led by Captain Grant from the par-corps." He said, looking up to nod to the captain at the table who'd been in listening to the presentation. Grant, a man of dark complexion nodded his acknowledgment of the objective.
Commander Hacking returned the nod and went on. "Team Alpha will be inserting on the western end by repelling rope. Bravo team will be entering here on the east." he spoke. "and will be led by-"
Cress interrupted him. "Excuse me sir." he said, standing quickly up.
The Commander eyed him in surprise. "Yes, Captain?"
Cress saluted sharply. "Sir, with permission, I would like to volunteer to lead the team."
The commander paused a moment, clearly surprised by the outburst. "Captain, you are a defender pilot, correct? Are you sure you're qualified for this mission?"
Cress nodded. "Sir, with respect, I am the last remaining of the original generation of defenders. Back when I was trained, I was also certified as a phantom operative." He said, some reaction as he finished. "As I understand, I am the last of the Phantoms as well. I believe that I am qualified for this mission."
The Commander watched him for a time before he finally nodded. "Captain Alvin, I cannot include you in this mission without the consent of your commanding officer," he began. "However, if you were to have that, I would put you as Bravo lead."
Cress nodded quickly. "Understood, Commander." he looked back to the door before he looked to the commander again. "Please excuse me a moment."
Commander Hacking smiled lightly as Cress moved from the room to the door.
Only a few moments later, the door to Commander Adam's office came open. Commander Adams looked up to see Cress enter the room, taking a sigh as he did. Cress spoke before he could though.
"Commander, you want me to accept that instructor position, right?" he spoke hurriedly.
Commander Adams looked taken aback from the statement, answering cautiously. "Yes..."
Cress smiled. "I'll make you a deal."