Part 1 - Part 08

After we got inside I asked Delche to sit to my right and I activated the panels. My guards walked in and took their place. Ori sat in his usual place, manning the communications.

“There are six messages from Vieria, she has been looking for us all night.”

While Ori was trying to contact Vieria, Delche was looking at the navigation panel.

“This is very old technology for a modern ship, I trained on a panel just like this one at the academy. Funny, the maps in it are modern and very up to date. I don’t understand this?”

At about the same time Vieria replied to Ori. I asked him to open the visual screen so that she could see us. I introduced Delche to her.

Delche spoke to her in their language and told her something about being part of the crew in the scientific expedition to earth and that he spoke Macedonian.

She said she was not familiar with his name but recognized his face from the report he had submitted over twenty years ago on his anthropological findings in Bitola, Macedonia. She told him he had done well, much better that any trained anthropologist. Delche was thrilled to hear that and thanked her. She then asked how dinner the night before had been. I had Ori and Delche give her a detailed report as well as let her know about Delche’s wife.

To my surprise she approved a plan for a rescue mission to go in and rescue all the political prisoners. She said she had an armed tactical team ready to go in. All she needed was a distraction and air support. I said we would give her anything she needed. She told us to stand by and wait for further orders.

About five minutes later she gave us the coordinates of a place in the middle zone and a countdown for our bombing run. She also warned us of the four energy cannons defending the underground building. I asked Delche if he wanted to be part of the mission. He said he wouldn’t miss it for the world and entered the coordinates in the ship’s navigation.

“This is police headquarters. It will give me great pleasure to see it blown up.”

“It will take place in about three hours, we need to leave sooner and wipe out the building’s defenses,” said Ori.

“We need to fly very low and fast so that we aren’t detected. I can help with that,” said Delche.

He then mapped out the path the ship was to take and said, “When the time comes set the ship on autopilot and it will take you directly

to the targets. We can program the ship’s energy guns to autofire when we are within range.”

“This ship has autopilot and autofire?” I asked, surprised.

“From what I see this ship has those things and more,” replied Delche.

“Show me!” I said.

“Once the path is set on the map like this, and the speed is set like this, then just push this button to engage the autopilot and the ship will do the rest. You can disengage by moving the joystick and re-engage by pushing the autopilot button again. As for the autofire targets, set the coordinates for each, power up the cannons, set the power limits and the ship will fire them one by one as the targets come into range. In this case because the cannons down there are hard targets you may want to set the power to maximum so that they will be obliterated. Do you want me to set them up for you?” he asked.

“Yes, please do,” I replied, “except I’m not so sure about setting the energy guns on maximum power. Won’t they do a lot of damage to the other buildings underground?”

“Yes! But only to the citadels where the cannons are housed. I know the area well, don’t worry,” he said and asked Ori to patch him in so that he could call his daughter and let her know he wouldn’t be back for a while and not to open the restaurant until he returned.

We sat quietly waiting for the time to count down. Then we got a call from Vieria who said her forces were ready to attack and for us to begin our bombing run immediately. We complied and had the ship operational and on course. I was surprised at the ship’s maneuverability and reaction time as it flew through the terrain at low altitude and at breakneck speeds. Everything looked like a blur and I heard the energy cannons fire. After I recovered from my shock, I felt the hair on the back of my neck standing up. I looked at Ori and he too was in shock.

I then looked at Delche and he said, “The defenses are dust and the ship is yours.”

I grabbed the joystick, turned to Ori and said, “Contact Vieria and tell her the defenses are down and to give us the word when to fire on the building.”

She replied and said, “We are in the process of extracting the prisoners, we faced no resistance, the rats are running further underground and abandoning the building. Stand by.”

About three minutes later we got a call from Vieria with orders to vaporize the building and leave a crater.

“I want them to know who they are dealing with,” she said.

“Well, we have our orders,” I said. “Any suggestions?”

Delche said, “Four energy blasts at maximum power should open a hole underground and then a torpedo to create the crater.”

The energy guns were powered up and the torpedo tube was armed and activated.

I raised the ship to an optimal angle and distance and began to fire on the surface. It was the most gruesome sight to see. A hole opened up underground like some giant monster had taken a bite. The torpedo was so powerful it scared us all. Debris and dust flew high into the air. I looked at the site and thought I would never forgive myself for the destruction I had caused. We were all frightened by the ship’s awesome power.

The communication’s panel started bleeping. It was Vieria calling to congratulate us.

None of us wanted to speak to her.

“Ori, send her a thank you message. Tell her we’re going to Delche’s and give her the name and coordinates of his restaurant.”

We took the same path back using the autopilot but at very low speeds and parked the ship in the same place.

We got out and began to walk back with our heads down.

“For years I hated those bastards for what they did to my wife and craved revenge. Now, after what we did, all I can do is feel regret. I don’t know what to feel anymore,” Delche said and shook his head.

Both Ori and I, half his age, felt it would be inappropriate to speak so I patted him on the back and said nothing.

When we got back Airam dashed outside and wanted to know what we had done. She said we were all over the news and people were accusing us of murder, high treason, destruction of property and so on and wanted our heads.

“I knew this was a mistake, we didn’t think it through, did we?” yelled Delche and asked his daughter to bring glasses, a bottle of rakia and some dry snacks.

“What are we going to do?” Delche asked.

“Nothing!” I said. “We are soldiers following orders.”

As we sat there feeling sorry for ourselves, there was a knock on the door.

“Don’t open it,” yelled Delche.

“I’ll get it. My guards are right behind me,” I said.

I opened the door a crack and saw a woman escorted by two men. She pushed the door slightly and it opened wide. I then heard Airam scream and run towards her. They embraced.

Delche grabbed his head and pulled his hair in disbelief. The two men who had come with the woman turned around and left. Delche ran towards the woman and gave her a long embrace.

He turned to us and excitedly said, “This is my wife. I can’t believe she is free. After twenty years… I can’t believe it…”

I felt like an intruder and said, “Ori and I will return to the ship to give you some time to be with your family. You have our call number, call us when you have some free time.”

When we arrived at the ship there was a message from Vieria, she wanted to know if Delche’s wife had arrived safely and if we were all right. Ori replied and told her everything.

We didn’t feel like sitting inside the ship so we stepped outside and sat on the grass. I lay down and looked up at the perfect sky. It was noon and a perfect temperature. It was paradise but I felt like I was in hell. The one thing that gave me comfort was Delche’s reunion with his wife and Airam’s happiness to see her mother free and back home.

Ori turned on the news on his device and was giving me a play by play commentary on current events. The biggest news was the violent destruction of the district police command building. It had the entire population on the planet in an uproar. They were calling for our heads. There wasn’t a single person who supported our actions.

“Turn it off or change the channel,” I said. “We are depressed enough.”

Ori changed the channel. According to the news on this channel we were heroes for standing up to government oppression and for freeing the political prisoners.

“Enough, turn it off.”

I looked at him and said, “Ori, we need a long-term strategy to extinguish this situation before a civil war erupts and we get caught in the middle of it. It’s not going to be good if we have to choose sides. It must never come to that.”

“And how are we going to extinguish it?” asked Ori.

“We can’t, the government can’t and the royals can’t. They are all compromised. We need a fresh face, an honest face, a face that has suffered and is well-known to all the people on the planet. When we find that face we’ll put our support behind it.”

We heard footsteps and my guards turned to investigate. It was Delche.

“Are you crazy man, what are you doing here. You haven’t seen your wife for twenty years and you left her to be here with us?”

“No, of course not. She insisted I come and get you. She wants to see, meet and thank the people who changed her world.”

“Well, I’ll close the ship door and we can get going. We don’t want to disappoint the lady,” I said.

We walked back in silence. For some reason I was nervous and my heart was pounding. Delche sat us at the same table, went to the back and came back with his wife. He explained to her that I was the earth man who had piloted the ship that bent the will of the government and that I didn’t speak their language so he would have to translate for us.

When they came to our table he introduced her as Asora his wife and to my surprise she shook my hand.

In the midst of my nervousness I smiled and all I could say was, “Otsiron”.

When she shook Ori’s hand he had a lot more to say. She looked back at me. She looked at me with interest.

Delche said, “She knows the ins and outs of our society and politics more than anyone so if you have questions you may ask her.”

She said something to him and again began to stare at me.

“What did she say?”

Ori spoke up and said, “She wants to thank you from the bottom of her heart for freeing the political prisoners and herself and for making it possible for her to be with her husband and daughter.”

I didn’t know what to say so I said, “You’re welcome but it was a joint effort between the three of us on the ship and many others on the ground.”

Again, I didn’t know what to say and it appeared neither did Ori or Delche, so we sat there like dummies staring at this lady.

Before the situation became too awkward I asked Delche to tell his wife that we were simple people caught in a complicated situation and not to expect too much from us.

She burst out laughing and said, “I too am a simple person but with complicated principles. I don’t lie or cheat and always respect justice, I believe in equal justice for all and not just for the privileged ones.”

Her response made me even more nervous so I asked her, “What did you do that landed you in prison for so long?”

“I told the truth about our corrupt government and about the incompetence of our king. I pointed out the injustices exercised against our people and called for them to end. I was sentenced to life imprisonment for speaking the truth. They tried me in an open court and forced me to repent but I refused so they put me in prison for life.”

“How many people know that you were in jail and why they put you there?”

“Everyone! We were a big movement. We had branches all over the planet. They shut us down and jailed all the leaders. For a simple person you sure ask complicated questions,” she said and smiled.

I told her exactly what I had told Ori. “The reason why I’m asking these questions is because we need a long-term strategy to get us out

of this situation without bloodshed. And to do that we will need an advocate to carry us forward with a third option, which is to find a solution without violence. And for that we need to find a fresh face, someone to bridge the divide, someone to convince the people to unite under a common and just cause.”

Suddenly the woman perked up and said, “I’ve been thinking of the same thing for the past twenty years. I’ve also been thinking of a third option, someone incorruptible and trusted by the people to carry the torch forward.”

“I think you are that person,” I said. “You have all the elements to make a good advocate and lead us out of this mess.”

She smiled and said, “You have to be kidding me. I can’t possibly do that? I’m nobody. There is no way I can go up against the political machine or against the elite on this planet. I was sent to jail for just speaking up. No. No way!”

“Fair enough. We will have to find someone else,” I said. “In the meantime think about it.”

It was almost evening when we heard a knock on the door. Delche opened it and people wanted to know why the door was closed. Delche told them he had just been reunited with his wife and didn’t have time to cook and that was why the restaurant was closed.

When people heard that his wife was back there was a buzz in the crowd and many wanted to come in and see her. When word got around more people arrived. In a matter of hours the restaurant was full to capacity. They all wanted to see her.

I told Delche, “This is your night, spend it with your wife and call us when you’re free. We’re going back to the ship.”

Delche and his wife thanked us and we left.

When we arrived at the ship and were inside Ori said, “I don’t know about you but I’m starving, can we eat something?”

We ate some of the dry, preserved blocks of food from the ship’s reserves.

“I used to love eating this stuff but now it feels so plain and inadequate,” Ori said.

I told him he was getting spoiled.

I went to bed.

The next thing I remember was waking up to a beeping sound coming from the communication’s panel. I could see from the front windshield that it was light outside. I called Ori and he was on it. He answered the call.

“Who is it and what do they want?” I asked groggily.

“It’s Vieria and she wants to know how we’re doing. I forgot to file my report last evening.”

“Tell her we’ll call her back later. I want to discuss some things with her,” and I went back to bed.

About an hour later, after we had had a dry cube of the white stuff and some jelly for breakfast, we contacted Vieria and had a long talk about where we were headed with her campaign to drive the rats out of power, as she put it.

“To be honest, we are losing the campaign. We are losing because I can’t get much support from the royal family or from the people because the media is controlled by the rats and they have the upper hand. I don’t know where this will lead us. And if it wasn’t for the fear of your ship, we would have been overrun by now and put in jail or killed,” she said.

“We can’t proceed like this because the situation will only get worse. We need to do something, something different,” I replied.

I then introduced the idea of a third option and asked her if she was willing to support such an option.

“Wholeheartedly yes,” she said and was thrilled by it.

I mentioned Asora, as a possible candidate to lead a rebellion to unite the people.

Vieria agreed and said, “Asora would be an ideal candidate but I have my reservations about her accepting such as task. Asora is a great humanitarian but no politician. But if you can convince her, more power to you. All I want is peace and fair treatment for my people, that’s all I want, that’s all I’ve ever wanted.” And with that she closed the channel.

Ori and I looked at each other and I said, “Give it some time, the answer will come to us.”

There wasn’t much space to do anything inside the little ship except lie in bed or sit at the controls. We even had to eat sitting at the controls. We both sat in our chairs looking outside and thinking about what to do next.

Ori suggested we go outside. I agreed.

“Is there any chance we can leave the robots, I mean your guards, inside the ship and not have them follow us around everywhere we go?” asked Ori.

“I guess we could but what happens if we’re attacked, these are trying times. We are now public enemies and should take precautions, even arm ourselves maybe,” I said.

“There is another thing; we have no portable communication devices to take with us when we go outside the ship. We need one of those. Do you know where we can get one?” I asked.

“We have them in the armory where the guns are. I’ll get us a couple,” he replied.

“I don’t think I’ll need one, who am I going to talk to?” I said.

“Of course you do. You can talk to me or Delche. What if we get separated?”

“You’re absolutely right. Then get us three, one each and perhaps three side arms.”

“Carrying arms is illegal,” he reminded me.

“Not in this part of your planet,” I said. “And also arm the robots before we go outside.”

“Yes Sir!” he replied and went and opened one of the cabinets by the ship’s door.

I opened the ship’s door and stepped outside. The guards followed.

Moments later Ori came out with five guns in holsters and three communicators also holstered. He gave us a gun each and showed me how to tie it around my waist.

He said, “You already know how to use it, you shot the police chief with one of these.”

These were small guns but very effective for short range. The guards already knew what to do with them. He then showed me how to use the communicator. I found the instructions too complicated.

He took my communicator, pushed a number of buttons and said, “When you want to talk to me push this button, when you want to talk to Delche push this other button.”

I thanked him and then asked, “Can you talk to Vieria with this?”

“This has all the communications functions the ship has for short range except it doesn’t have the big screen. It takes much power to drive the holograms and this gadget just doesn’t have it.”

I pushed the button and the ship’s door began to close.

“Are we going somewhere?” asked Ori.

“I think we should go and see Delche and give him the gun and communicator.”

He agreed.

We took our time going there but when we arrived we saw a large crowd in front of the restaurant. When they saw us they first ran and then began to yell. We then saw Asora with her arms raised up in the air and yelling something. The people stopped yelling.

“What did she say?” I asked Ori.

“She said we were the friends who freed her and not to be afraid of us.”

She ran towards us, grabbed us by the hands and raised them up. My guards pulled out their weapons and were ready to fire at her. I gave them orders not to. The guards were behind us and I don’t think anybody saw what had happened. There was a roar from the crowd.

While holding our arms up Asora whispered, “If the offer is still available I will take it.”

“It is,” I replied. “And you have our full support.”

At about the same time Delche arrived and Ori handed him the gun and communicator and said, “I take it you know how to use these.”

I figured Delche would refuse the gun but he thanked us instead.

“It’s a zoo out here and I haven’t had a moment of peace all night. I’m sure Asora is exhausted.”

I instructed Ori to contact Vieria, let her know what was happening and ask her for advice as to what we should be doing. Also mention to her that Asora has accepted to be the third option.

We got an immediate response and Vieria wanted to talk to Asora. Ori handed her his communicator and they talked for about ten minutes.

When she was done, she raised her arms up high and said to the people, “Go home now and watch the news on channel 45 for my instructions.”

Channel 45 was Vieria’s media network.

Asora told us to go inside.

We again sat at the same table and anxiously waited for her to tell us what Vieria had said and what was going to happen. Asora looked nervous and very excited. She was running on pure adrenalin and was exhausted.

“Vieria told me to act now, strike while the iron is hot. She asked me to make contact with my old network on the planet and revive it. She appointed me interim leader of my movement and asked me to form an illegal party. I am to remain interim leader until elections take place. She strongly suggested I work with you and follow your advice on strategic matters. She told me not to be afraid of the ship and its power, and to emphasize that to the people. Tell them that the ship is here to protect them and enforce the new laws that my party will enact when it gains power, laws that will be fair to everyone. Above all, she told me to be truthful about everything, everything that was done to me and my movement and by whom. She said she was well aware of my reputation for being honest and the people would believe me and do what I ask of them.”

Holding her hand Delche said, “You can do this, but you need to relax.”

I noticed teardrops running down Airam’s cheeks.

After some silence I said to Delche, “Tell her to make contact with two or three of her organization’s cell leaders using secure communications and then ask them to make contact with the rest of

the cell leaders and have them watch channel 45 for instructions. She can use your communicator.”

“That’s an excellent idea,” he said. “I’ll ask her to do it now and she can tell them what to expect through the media. And, at the same time, everyone else will know what’s going on.”

She agreed. Delche showed her how to use the device and she went to the back room to make the calls.

A short time later she came back smiling and said, “We have a plan now and we can relax, but not before I come up with a speech and broadcast it.”

“You can relax, we’ll all help you with the speech, we’re all behind you, the entire planet is behind you and you know it!” Delche reassured her.

The speech

“How do we go about doing this?” I asked.

Asora shook her head and said, “There is so much to say I don’t know where to start?”

“You should start by introducing yourself as Asora, leader of your worldwide movement and talk about your party and what you’re planning to do. Then in general and in simple terms tell the people what happened to you and to so many other people under the current regime. Tell them what the current government did to you for having the courage to speak the truth and fight for your rights. Tell them what motivated you to go into politics and what you aim to do. Tell them that you are willing and prepared to bring change for the better. Tell them that you want to get rid of the corruption, the injustices and give everyone a fair chance at a better life.

Tell them that you have our, the warship’s, support. Don’t tell them you have Vieria’s support, she is a royal and right now people hate the royals because they stood by and did nothing while the people were oppressed by the regime.

When your party starts gaining popularity and strength then you can tell everyone Vieria is behind you. The elite usually go with the strongest party and right now the rats have the strength. When the elite realize that you are gaining strength and are about to surpass the rats they will come running to you. That’s when you quietly announce Vieria is behind you, in order to gain their committed support and the support of the royalists. With this kind of power and support you will then be able to dictate your own terms about anything.

Vieria wants the same thing that you do but for now, in the eyes of the people, she is compromised; she is a royal and they hate royals.

You should also publicly address your party; tell the people in your party what you expect from them. This way everyone hears the same message.

Then, before you finish your speech, tell everyone to watch channel 45 for more announcements and further instructions.”

Asora looked at me, smiled and sarcastically said something. According to Ori she said, “Well, thank you, you just wrote my speech for me.”

I smiled back and Ori translated as I said, “That’s what I’m here for.”

We all cracked up laughing.

Asora and Airam then left and went into the back to work on Asora’s speech.

“Delche, I bet you wouldn’t have guessed in a million years that this was going to happen to you...” I said.

He laughed and said, “Oh well life is what it is and it’s full of surprises...”

Ori and I looked at each other.

“Delche, why don’t you start cooking some food and open the restaurant? Let your customers in, we’ll help you serve.”

“You’re right, I should open the restaurant. I always feel more relaxed when I’m cooking, I could use that relaxation right about now.”

He went into the kitchen and began to prepare the food.

I turned to Ori and said, “Maybe now we can get something decent to eat.”

“That would be great. But I don’t know how to serve food or drinks,” replied Ori.

“You’ll learn.”

Moments later Delche showed up with a plate full of meat and two forks. He went back and brought a bottle of rakia and three shot glasses.

I pointed at the meat and said, “That was fast!?”

“That’s your food from yesterday, you left it on the table and I just warmed it up,” he replied and filled the shot glasses with rakia.

We each picked up a rakia and Delche toasted to “a better future” and Ori and I repeated the toast.

After taking a sip of rakia Delche left and went back into the kitchen.

There was a loud knock on the outside door. I jumped. My guards also jumped and drew their weapons. Ori and I went to the door and opened it slightly.

There was a large man standing in front of the door wearing black clothes. He yelled something.

“What did he say?” I asked Ori.