Interplanetary war has broken out and youâre a mercenary who will fight for the highest bidder. Suddenly, news that your childhood sweetheart has been captured and is being tried as a traitor on Earth changes your mind and you decide to recuse her instead.
What would be your choice...
Zack was looking down at his pistol in deep concentration, he was fiddling with the compressor and trying to tune it up or, that is what it looked like to onlookers. Those closer would hear the high-pitched sound of Zack using his tongue to try and remove something stuck between his teeth, he was not sure what was stuck but he had been trying to get it out for about twenty minutes now.
âAre you trying to over charge that pistol in the attempt to blast whateverâs stuck in your teeth?â
Zack stopped, mid attempt, with pursed lips as his eyes lifted to look at Jess the mercenary coordinator not lifting his head. He always thought it was strange that the Imperium would not only hire mercenaries but also have a coordinator to keep track of their movements, make sure they completed the jobs and got them paid on time and dealt with if they failed.
This was the strangest mercenary job he had ever taken, but the money was good even if that was not his main reason. When the war broke out between the Imperium and the Free Nations he could not have cared less, he was skulking about the belt picking up odd jobs and occasionally shooting people.
The war between the Imperium and Free Nations had been coming for the long time, Earthâs royal family had never been able to let it go that several nations have broken free from the Imperium and formed the Free Nations. The Imperium could not have a free democracy along it borders, the totalitarian monarchy feared what it could mean for their power and lineage and so war was inevitable.
Zack had watched the coming war and laughed with his fellow mercs about who was going to win and how they might be able to profit from the situation.
The announcement came that the war was beginning, that the Imperium declared it would be taking back the Free Nations that had illegally broken away, and all those responsible would be brought to justice.
And as they all knew, justice only meant on thing.
But Zack saw something on the screen, a face he had not seen in a long time, a face that sent a chill down him, made his body feel light and faint, shooting with adrenaline giving him an uneasy feeling.
For he saw Janice.
They had grown up together in one of the colonies, being neighbours and childhood friends, they had grown into adulthood together and with that they fell in love.
They were inseparable, Zack decided to follow Janice in applying to join the Imperial military academy after school. With Janiceâs test results she was almost seen as prodigy and was invited to attend the most prestigious military academy on Earth.
Zack was not so lucky; he had always been unsure about joining the military and becoming part of the Imperial machine. It was as if the Imperium knew, as if they could tell, as Zackâs test scores were nowhere near as good as Janiceâs and therefore was sent off to one of the lesser known and distant military academies.
And so, they parted, Zack was worried about them separating, worried about what would happen to their relationship given the distance, fear of those she might meet on Earth, that he would lose her.
Janice promised him that this would not happen, that they would speak all the time, and so they parted heading off in their separate ways.
To start Janice was right they spoke all the time and managed to retain and keep their closeness. But as Janice continued to progress in her academy, Zack struggled, and slowly, almost unnoticeably a distance started to appear.
Zack was not sure when it happened, but the communication eventually stopped. Unable to bear this, it reflected in his performance in the academy eventually resulting in him begin kicked out. Zack did not realise what this would mean at the time, to be an outcast thrown out of the Imperial military academy, no one would hire him, no one was interested in being associated with him, resulting in him having to use what skills he had learned to become a mercenary to survive.
And on that screen, he saw Janice, standing amongst those called the elite and best of the Imperiumâs young officers.
Zack, still full of love for his childhood sweetheart, decided to join the Imperiumâs forces as a merc, feeling and burying deep down that he simply hoped that being part of their forces would give him a chance, give him a shot at seeing her once again.
âAlways good to have an over charged pistol Jess, never know when it might come in handyâ said Zack lifting his head to smile at her, with a slight threatening feel to his smile. Jess did not take the bait having seen and heard all this before, she was going to reply with a comment of her own, but lifted the data pad in her hand slowly, not breaking the gaze with Zack until the pad was almost in her face.
âWhat, more interesting than me?â mocked Zack as Jess started scrolling through the pad.
âThat over charged pistol is more interesting than youâ she replied as if not paying attention to him, âanother traitor has been found trying to help the illegal nations, an apparent officerâ she said surprised by the news, âcommander Janice, I always heard she was supposed to be some kind of prodigy when she joined the academyâ continued Jess going back to sounding disinterested.
Zack felt a cold hand grab his spine, his body felt light and as if he would pass out, it was just like that time he saw her on the screen in the bar, âyou alright there Zack, you look like you have seen a ghost?â questioned Jess suspicious.
Zack hesitated for a second before answering, âwhat? yeah, yeah, Iâm fineâ replied Zack trying to act as if everything was fine, he went back to trying to calibrate his pistol, but his hand was shaking ever so slightly as he could not concentrate.
âOkâŚâ replied Jess raising an eyebrow as she turned and headed off, her suspicions not lifting.
Zack knew he needed to help Janice but was not sure how, but first he needed to get off this ship.
The ship was oriented to Earths standard time, Zack had gone around and acted as natural as he could until 0300 Earth time, when the ship would have been on night rotation and quieter.
It was easy to sneak through the ship as it was on night rotation, he moved the access door out the way to the maintenance tunnel and jumped down into the hanger deck, but the hanger was dark, he could hardly see anything except for the emergency lighting he looked round quickly as he was suddenly blinded by light.
Zack lifted his hand to block out the light, âoh Zack, do you not think we would know about all of the traitors associatesâ Zack could not see thanks to the bright lights but he recognised Jessâs voice, he could feel his arms being grabbed roughly and put behind his back as his eyes started to orient to the light.
Just in time to see Jess walk up to him, Zack put on his best cocky smile as he was panicking inside, âsince we are making our way back to Earth, I thought I would call a head and make sure to set up your execution for the same time as Janiceâs, show the galaxy what happens to traitors to the imperium.â
The panic in Zack left and the cocky smile was there for real this time, âwell, that is one that issue solvedâ he thought to himself.















