The Coming Of A Hero

Chapter Three – The Beginning Of The Middle

The following months were fairly quiet for our two friends; they were mainly concerned with settling in. This includes getting used to the new job, new lifestyle and new surroundings. Both Xander and Alyssa got prompted during this time. Alyssa was given the title of Lieutenant because of a brilliance display of piloting during a daring raid on a Regime outpost. She risked her life to not only ensure the success of the mission but also the safety of a fellow pilot called Julia Dekker. Despite what the last sentence implied Julia was a very competent pilot, if a little eager at times. She was not at the same skill level as Alyssa but few were. She had joined the FFs a year ago after her brother was killed by the Regime. She had learnt her piloting skills during that time having chosen fighter command on the toss of a coin. She had long blonde hair that she always tied up when she went on a mission; Alyssa guessed that this was as much to do with superstition as practical reasons. That was common for those in fighter command, most pilots had a special routine they followed before a mission, and Alyssa’s one was to kiss the first gift Xander had ever given her. That gift was a coin that he had found on the ground when they were young, it was very old but beautifully made, he had given it to her simply because she had wanted it. Julia was a couple of years younger than Alyssa and they might not have become friends in a different situation. However they weren’t in a different situation and the two quickly became close friends. There was one problem though, Julia fancied Xander though she never did anything about it. This was due to her knowing about Alyssa’s feelings for him. Although Alyssa had never told her about her feelings it was pretty obvious, well it was to everyone but Xander. There developed an unspoken agreement between the two that they wouldn’t make a move on Xander, if anything would happen it would have to be at his initiation. Despite this potential conflict the two of them were best of friends, often spending their off time together, not that there was much of that. If there is one thing you do a lot of when you are an FF it is work. It was surprising to Alyssa exactly how much work was involved in fighting the Regime. It wasn’t all about combat and missions, in fact it was rarely about combat and missions. Most of the time was done planning, this is not planning missions but planning how to get supplies, how to remain a secret organisation etc, basically all the things you don’t think about until you are actually have to do them. There were also the cleaning tasks that all new recruits do but the less said about them the best. So anyway Alyssa was relatively happy with her new lifestyle, she was doing something she loved with someone she loved and a new best friend, what more could she ask for in life? I think you could probably guess what but I this is not the time to talk about that, well not yet.

As was said previously, Xander was also prompted in his job. He didn’t make it to the level of Alyssa however just becoming a chief sergeant. His new job meant that he was in charge of 15 troops in his squad. During his time at the Kalot armed forces Xander commanded a lot more troops but somehow he seemed to be more responsible for these ones. He supposed that living as well as working with them creating closer ties and therefore more of an emotional involvement but Xander liked to think it had something to do with him developing his skills as a commander. That was probably one of the skills that had improved most thanks to the move; it sure as hell wasn’t his awareness of other people’s feeling. Another thing that had changed was that Xander had also made new friends, although there were all technically under his command. The two best of these friends was Elmo Rofe and Adli Sandheim. Elmo was quite a bit older than Xander and Adli having joined the FFs relatively late in life. This explains why he had such a low rank but also why he didn’t get made fun of because of his name. He was sort of the grandfather of the squad, always willing to listen to the problems the younger soldiers. However he was very ambitious and despite being friends with Xander he despised the way that he had been passed over for promotion. If there was one thing that Elmo hated more than anything else it was not being enough respect. That was why it he was able to be friends with Xander; he had always given Elmo respect. Adli was very similar to Xander having also been made an orphan by the Regime at an early age. He also had come from another part of the galaxy to join the FFs. In fact one of the few differences between the two was that Adli didn’t have anyone like Alyssa in his life. He had lived most of his life alone, this meant that he could easily make friends but that he didn’t really let people in. These two don’t seem like people you would think would become best friends to Xander but that is the funny thing about war, and that was what it they were in, you never know what can happen. However back to Xander, although he had been promoted it wasn’t to the same level as Alyssa. The problem was that it was a lot harder to move up the ranks in the infantry than it was in fighter command, something do to the history of the two sections. Anyway he was growing impatient with the situation, he needed to hold a position of power if he was going to achieve anything. Sure commanding 15 troops gave him some power but not over missions and definitely not over overall strategy. He needed control over them if he was going to implement his plan. You see Xander didn’t believe that the hit and run strategy that was currently employed would achieve anything of value and even if it did it wouldn’t be for a long time. The new plan would mean concentrating large amount of forces in strategically important points in the whole Outer Rim then drawing in a Regime force and knocking them out. This would temporarily make the Outer Rim territories independent and would allow the FFs to generate large amount of support and resources. The Regime would eventually send in a much larger force to put down the revolt but with a little bit of luck the new and improved FF force might be able to destroy them as well. The end result of this would be the forcing of the Regime to make the Outer Rim territories independent. This plan had many points in it, which depended perhaps on too many variables coming in to place, but when times are desperate so are the plans. If the FFs wanted independence any time so they needed to follow this plan but with Xander not being in power there was no way of convincing them of that. He needed somewhere to rapidly move up the promotion ladder and conveniently enough just such an opportunity arose.

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The opportunity came in the form of a mission, not an ordinary mission but one so deadly that people weren’t assigned to it but asked to volunteer. The dangers involved in this mission were so great that in an organisation that had given up everything to fight the Regime there was a shortage of volunteers. In fact the only reason Xander volunteered was because he didn’t fully understand the possible peril until it was too late. Maybe you will understand all this when you get to hear exactly what this mission involves. The aim of the mission was to knock out the communication hub on the planet of Martot. This may sound easy enough but Martot is under direct Regime control meaning that it wasn’t colonised but is used solely for the purposes of the Regime. They built on it a communication hub for the Alpha sector of the Outer Rim. It was designed as an early warning system against potential enemies to the Regime and it has the capacity to send message straight to the regional centre for the Regime. This means that an attack detected by this hub is known instantly by the Regime’s central command allowing it to quickly send in large amount of troops. The importance of this hub to the Regime’s interests in this part of space cannot be over-estimated. That is reflected in its defence. Squads of 3 Regime fighters regularly patrol Martot’s orbit on a rotation system of 3 hours. This is a flaw to this defence system; every time the patrol changes between the squad there is a 5-minute window of opportunity to enter the atmosphere. However anything entering Martot is immediately spotted by the ground control system and asked for identification, if none is provided then a warning shot is fired from the powerful anti-aircraft guns on the surface and if still there is no identification then the craft is shot down. This craft is shot down if there is no identification even if it is a Regime craft. The only way round this system is to somehow land an advance party on the planet and then knock out the guns. So far no pilot has managed to navigate through the system no matter how small the craft is. Now you are being to see why there was a lack of volunteers for this mission. Assuming that a way if found past the guns then a craft should be able to land if it does so far enough away from the main complex. This is where it gets really tough; the main complex was built deep inside one of the larger mountains on Martot. It holds the communication hub, which is divided into two separate parts. The satellite section is located in the very top portion of the complex. It is made of up the satellite dish, a reverse dish for emergencies and the detection system. The function of this section is the sending and receiving of messages over the vast distance to the regional centre and to detect anything which is classed as unusual and potential dangerous activity. The second part is the information section, which is located just below the power generator in the centre of the complex. It contains the computers needed to sort through the gigantic amount of data collected through the detection system. Each section has the ability to perform the function of the other function if only in a very limited capacity. That means you can’t just destroy one section, you must destroy both and it must be done at the same time. This requires the placing of two explosion kits set by the same timer. However there is an alternative method of achieving the same desired outcome. If an explosion kit were placed on the main power generator then the resulting blast would be powerful enough to destroy the whole complex in one go. Unfortunately there is a problem as the Regime is fully aware of this scenario. The main power generator is the most heavily guarded part of the whole complex. There literally is no conceivable way in and certainly not one, which would allow the placing on an explosion kit. So the only option is the placing of two separate kits and detonating them at the same time. Once the timer was set then it would be a race to get out of the complex and back to the waiting transports. So the mission is to take a small craft past the patrols and to somehow land it on the planet. Then a team of three elite troops, largest amount able to fit in the small craft with a pilot of course, will go knock out the guns and the ground detection system. This will allow the FF fighters to take out the Regime’s fighters and for transports carrying four squads to land. The squads will then proceed to gain entry to the complex through the less well-defended entrance at the base of the mountain. Meanwhile the three elite troops will try to rendezvous inside the complex with the squads at pre-arranged ordinations. If all goes well then two squads will head towards the information sector and the other two towards the satellite sector. When both explosion kits are deployed then the timer is set for 3 minutes which should just give enough time for the squads to get out and not enough time for the bombs to be either detected or disarmed. This was the plan that was presented to Alyssa and Xander at the briefing. Alyssa had volunteered to be the pilot of the small craft and when he found out about this Xander volunteered as one of the elite troops. The other two elite troops would be Adli and Elmo. The four squads would be the 7th, 9th, 20th and 26th. The time of the mission was set and everyone was told to be prepared for the possibility of not coming back. For Alyssa and Xander this meant sitting in silence trying to conjure up the courage they needed to tell each their true feelings. But they just sat there saying nothing at all.

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It was dawn when they finally got the call. No one had slept the night before, many had tried, but whenever anyone closed their eyes they imagined the things that could go wrong with the mission. They saw blasters not working, fighters being shot down, and explosives going off too soon. They saw their friends dying because of their mistakes. Each one of them told themselves that everything would be okay, somehow everything would be okay. It wouldn’t happen to them, it never happened to them. However when the call came it was down to business. All these thoughts and feelings were immediately put out of the mind with an ease that comes with extensive military training. All anyone could think of now was what their part in the mission was; over and over again people recounted exactly what they had been told. Alyssa and Xander were no different in this respect. Alyssa thought about how to get the craft through the ground detection system and past the guns. Xander thought about how to get close enough to the guns to plant the necessary explosives. Soon all the troops were standing inside the aircraft hanger awaiting the order to board the transports and fighters. It was at this time that Xander was approached by his superior officer, “Xander, I have been told to give the troops a sort of pep talk. You know build up their confidence for the mission ahead.”

Xander replied with the kind of respect that is given to superior officers, well the ones he liked anyway, “That’s a good idea, sir. The troops probably need something like that.”

“Well that’s just the thing.” The officer pulled out a cloth and began to press it against his sweating forehead. “I’m not that good at this sort of thing. I was wondering if you might possibly do it instead. I wouldn’t normally ask but I have heard that you are rather good at motivating the troops. So what do you say, will you do it?”

The last thing Xander wanted to do at this time was to try and motivate the scared troops in front of him. Hell he could do with some motivating himself. He would have refused but he caught a glimpse at Alyssa and saw the frightened look in her eye and he just blurted out that he would do it. So Xander found himself standing in front of about 100 troops with all their eyes upon him. He didn’t have a clue what to say so he just launched into the first thing that came into his mind, “You all know the dangers of the mission ahead so I won’t lie to you. There is a chance that you may not come back alive. But you know this and don’t need me to tell you. What you need me to say is that everything will be alright and everything will be fine. We are good and they are evil so that must mean we will win. Well life doesn’t work like that. What I can tell you is that every sacrifice you make is a sacrifice made for the greater good. In years to come when the Regime has fallen it will be you people, here and now, that will be regarded as heroes. But that is not why we fight. That is not why we die. We do it because we know that we right. We know that what we are fighting for is good. We know that if we succeed tomorrow will be a better day. We do not fight for the present. We fight for the future. We fight for the future of Yorus. We fight for the future of the Outer Rim. We fight for the future of the Galaxy. We fight for the future of humanity itself. Now go out there and fight!” Xander was shouting this last sentence but he wasn’t being heard. The troops were also shouting, they were not shouting words but just shouting. They were shouting because they wanted to fight. They wanted to fight right there and then. It was as if Xander had reached right into their hearts and pulled out their deepest fears. They were lifted of a emotional burden and they wanted everyone to know it. All that was left for Xander to do was to turn to the officer and say, “You wanted something like that? Right?”  And with that Xander walked away not waiting for a response.