The Last Day of the War - Part 2

The Last Day of the War

Part 2

I had been among the Outworlders for several months and at the time Kaarl seemed to have run out of troops to send against us. The Sergeant Major decided to secretly install a second sensor feed in the command post, which meant I would spend the day crawling under consoles and into dusty maintenance spaces. I was lying on my back under the main console trying to make sense of a tangled jumble of cable when I felt someone tapping my leg with the toe of a boot. I peered out from under the console and looked up into the grinning face of Major Kolete, the pilot whose life I had saved.

"You won’t find any traces of the Sergeant Major’s traitor in the security system, Tetyana. You should convince him to inspect the long range comm systems." The major looked around the room and rolled a nearby chair over to where she could sit and talk with me. She had an average appearance that few men would call attractive, but she had a grace about her that somehow enhanced her beauty.

"What makes you think the Sergeant Major has me looking for signs of a traitor, Major Kolete?" I closed the access panel I was working through and slid out from under the console. On the status display above the console one of the sensor icons flashed red twice, indicating the Sergeant Major was receiving the new signal on his datapad.

"He has been muttering darkly about a traitor for months now. Since you are from Galine, not only does he know he can trust you, he also knows you have the necessary skills in electronics to be of use to him. No one in the Unified Armed Forces possesses much more than the basic electronic skills required to change out the emergency power supply in their weapons. We don’t have many techs any more." The major looked at me thoughtful for a moment as I donned my uniform jacket. "Tetyana, you are not really a part of the UAF so there really is no reason for you to keep calling Major Kolete."

"Because I saved your life?"

"No, more because…in a way…we are sisters." The major took a deep breath and then quickly unzipped her flightsuit down to her navel. She wore only a bra beneath it and I was quickly able to see what she was trying to show me. Two thin scars traced out a crescent moon that curved around her right breast just as the members of my society once marked themselves in times many centuries past. The major quickly zipped her flightsuit shut as her face flushed with embarrassment, but her eyes were set in firm defiance. "You think I am a barbarian."

"You are sworn to a Hunter’s Quest? Against who?"

"Kaarl and those who follow him. Given the chance I would kill them all. I only showed this to you Tetyana to prove you could trust me. For all I know you really are the Great Huntress of the Path, during times when an entire nation can be slaughtered in a day anything may be possible." The major smiled at me in what seemed an oddly satisfied manner. "There are those who believe our Sisters in Galine completed their journey on the Path so long ago that they have forgotten the old ways."