Great South Road

Only a few minutes had passed since Meier had triumphantly announced that his forces had retaken the core from the rebels, but already the mood in the people Tomalon passed had improved. Most were slapping each other on the back, joking and laughing about the short lived rebellion, while others seemed to be getting to work trying to repair the damage, which was extensive. Large sections of the base were in ruins, and the main elevator shafts had all been destroyed, which was why Tomalon was having to walk the long way from the middle levels to the ops room. He'd had to ask directions multiple times, as nothing seemed to be signposted, and a few people had tried to stop him when seeing his armor, which now showed a blank space where the clan decal would normally be. Thinking of that reminded him of how his clan no longer existed, which led onto the big question troubling him.

What happens if I die?

Of course, Spartans died permanently, eventually, but only after a good 400 years of life. Tomalon had 150 years left to live- he wasn't ready to die, not yet. It was as though a safety net he'd never realized existed had been removed from beneath him, and now he was teetering precariously on the wire. He'd never had to worry about dying before- if there was something which would kill you then you avoided it, but if necessary any Spartan would sacrifice themselves. Why wouldn't you? You knew you were just going to wake up 6 hours later, good as new.

Such weighty thoughts followed Tomalon up the innumerable flights of stairs until he reached the ops room, which seemed to have escaped any of the fighting. The usual faces were manning desks and workstations, although the usual babble of voices seemed subdued for some reason.

'Can I help you?' The receptionist asked, looking pointedly at the lack of a clan emblem on Tomalon's armor.

'Yes, actually,' Tomalon said, walking over. 'I need to see Meier.'

'He's busy. Said nobody was to disturb him.'

'Just tell him it's Tomalon, from Vermillion,' Tomalon said. The receptionist shrugged and spoke quickly into an intercom. Her eyebrows raised.

'Seems like you know the magic words,' she said. 'He'll see you now. 4th on the left.' Tomalon thanked her and hurried in the direction indicated.

'So you made it,' Meier said, glancing up from a map of the northern continent to see Tomalon. 'We lost contact with everything in Vermillion. Sorry.'

'I already knew,' Tomalon said. He pointed to his bare armor. Meier peered at it.

'As we thought. You have no clan tie.' Meier frowned. 'Do you feel any different?'

'Not physically. It's just a shock realizing that- that if I die now, I don't come back.'

'That isn't surprising. The psychologists told me that there would be mental issues associated with this- humans aren't meant to be in a situation where they can die permanently.' Meier sighed. 'Anyway, there is a solution. We should be able to induct you into Aspertias.'

'Does that work?'

'It has up until now. We've been getting a stream of refugees from the clans that have fallen, and we've managed to add all of them to our ranks.'

Tomalon smiled. 'That's a huge relief.'

'Yeah, yeah,' Meier said, nodding. 'Get yourself down to the core and we'll get you set up'

'I'll do just that,' Tomalon said, leaving. 'Oh, and if you see Vivian, tell her I said thanks.'

'Stick around a minute and you can tell her yourself,' Meier said. 'And I think you'll be just one of many wanting to congratulate her.'

2

The entrance to the ops room seemed almost like a home to Vivian; so frequently had she been in and out the past few days. She nodded to the familiar faces on the desks, and was surprised to see them stand up and start walking towards her, smiles on their faces.

'Here's the woman of the hour!' A captain said.

'Word is, you're the only reason we beat those assholes,' another said.

'How do you do it?'

'You must give me some tips sometime, you really must.'

'If only all our squad leaders were as good as you!'

The sea of smiling faces crowded around Vivian until she began to feel slightly claustrophobic.

'Please,' she said, 'It's not that big of a deal...'

'Nonsense!'

'The best are always so modest, aren't they?'

The crowd seemed to have no intention of letting her go. Vivian glanced around, and saw two more familiar faces.

'Give the lady some space!' Meier yelled, Tomalon at his side. 'Go, get out of here!' The crowd dispersed, still crying encouragement to their hero.

'You really are something,' Tomalon said, smiling warmly at Vivian. 'I had no idea.'

'She's good at doing her job,' Meier said. 'That's all.'

Vivian nodded. 'And you wanted to see me as soon as possible, sir?'

'Yes. Follow me. There have been some disturbing developments.' Meier smiled wryly. 'Not that there has been any other kind since this whole affair started.' He began walking briskly towards the tactical room. Vivian followed, and Tomalon fell into step beside her.

'I wanted to thank you,' he said. 'You're the reason I'm alive now.'

'Don't be so melodramatic,' Vivian said. 'There were plenty of other dropships at Vermillion.'

'And I wouldn't have taken any of them,' Tomalon replied. 'I was ready to die for my clan, for real. But now I realize... I like life better.' He blushed. 'Sorry. I must sound so silly to you.'

'Not so much. There are many things worth dying for. There are even some worth dying permanently for. Your clan is one of them.'

Tomalon nodded. 'I wonder how many feel the same way.'

'Hurry up!' Meier shouted. Vivian quickened her pace, leaving Tomalon behind. He was a clan leader, like Meier, but the polar opposite. He cared about his people far more than Meier. On the other hand, Meier was the one who still had a clan at all.

Vivian entered the room and took her position by the map table. Tomalon tried to follow, but was stopped by Meier.

'You need to get down to the core and be registered,' Meier said. 'You can come back when that's done.' Tomalon stopped in his tracks.

'I'd rather not miss anything. I'll go later,' he said.

'You'll go now,' Meier replied firmly. 'If you keep putting it off what happens when you die and you still haven't been registered?'

'What, that I'll die inside the base? I'll take my chances, thanks.' He tried to push into the room, but Meier planted himself in Tomalon's way.

'That was an order. We're not equals anymore, Tomalon. You do what I say or I throw you out.'

Tomalon stared at him, shocked. He glanced to Vivian, who turned away. Eventually he conceded.

'Fine.' Without another word he turned and strode away. With a tut Meier shut the door and walked to the table.

'No comment?' He asked.

'It had nothing to do with me,' Vivian replied. Still, it was a bit harsh. Meier didn't need to show his authority quite that strongly.

'He likes you, you know.' Vivian turned sharply to Meier.

'What?'

'He liked the look of you when he saw you at that meeting the other day, or so he told me afterward. I think you saving his life turned that to love.'

'And I think your better at warfare than romance,' Vivian replied. 'Where do we begin?'

Meier shuffled some papers. 'First, I want to get something out of the way. You're bound to find out sooner or later anyway, so I'll just tell you. We lost Zero.'

'Lost him?' Vivian asked, surprised. 'How? Where?'

'The rebels hit the prison during the war. Zero was released and it looks like he joined them, but he's not among the ones we killed. So either he's still here, hiding, or he fled.'

'He fled, I'm sure of it,' Vivian said. 'He was going to run anyway, I think.'

'Well, a number of the other ringleaders are also missing, so chances are they're together.' Meier said. 'You wouldn't have any idea where he might have gone, would you?'

'Nasces. He'll be looking for a way off the continent, to get as far away as possible.' Vivian stood up.

Meier sighed. 'Vivian, I forbid you to go after him.'

'Sir, please let me go. I need to hear his explanation for this.'

'No, and that's final. We can't spare you, Vivian. I should never have let you leave to go to Vermillion- look what happened when you were gone!'

'You know me being here wouldn't have prevented the rebellion.'

'No,' Meier replied, 'but it might well have made it less of a disaster.' He shook his head. 'Well, nothing we can do about that now. And speaking of disasters,'- he turned to the table- 'lets see if we can prevent the next one.'

Vivian walked to the other side of the table. Meier fiddled with some controls and the image zoomed to a display of the base and the area around it.

'What's our situation at the moment?' Vivian asked.

'Bad. We've been steadily losing people to the blackheads anyway, and the rebellion has left us severely undermanned. We're down two, maybe three thousand Spartans.'

Vivian gasped. 'That many dead already?'

'They're not all dead. I included the fuckers who rebelled against us. When they respawn, if they haven't already, they're going. There's no way I'm chancing them rebelling again.'

'Are you sure that's wise? Why not just make an example of the ringleaders?'

'Two reasons. Firstly, the leaders escaped. Marco and Haru were seen fleeing south when the battle started to go our way.'

'And the second?' Vivian prompted.

'Vermillion was a disaster, yes. But not all of the evacuations went so badly. We've picked up nearly two thousand troops from other clans. We won't need the rebels now that we have them- and they're mostly grateful to us for saving them, so I doubt they'll be rebelling anytime soon.'

'So we're not that badly undermanned after all,' Vivian said. 'So what's the big deal?'

'It's easier to show you,' Meier said. He zoomed in on the base of the Aspertias tower, at the valley floor. 'This is where the blackheads are probably going to attack. We rarely use it or the other lower levels, but there are large elevators and ramps for getting vehicles into the base from the valley.'

'So we put defenses there?'

'We had already put some in there, but some idiot decided to stand and fight there. They're in ruins now. I've started to organize some repair teams but it's going slowly.'

'How long until the blackheads arrive?' Vivian asked, suspecting that she wouldn't like the answer. Meier fiddled with the controls some more and another map appeared of the area around the base. The red circle indicating the expansion of the OCP was touching Aspertias base.

'They should be here now,' Meier said.

'Then we need to get a move on,' Vivian said. 'Anyone who isn't doing something vitally important- get them down to the bottom of the base and installing defenses, or repairing the vital parts of the base, like the elevator. Those rebels you spoke about earlier- find the ones who don't really believe and tell them that if they work on the defenses you'll let them back into the clan.'

Meier nodded. 'Good ideas. They'll leave us without any offensive capability though, if all our soldiers are building defenses.'

'So? Name me a clan which is in a position to attack us right now. And besides, they'll still be Spartans. If someone does attack then we'll be able to defend against it just fine. Better, since we'll have all of our troops home.'

'Alright. I'll start implementing these. Anything else you might be able to suggest?'

Vivian scanned the image of the base. 'These defenses are good, but you're missing something. We need an escape plan, should the worst happen and we lose. Something that ensures a good number of our people escape, and the clan lives on regardless.'

Meier shook his head, smiling slightly. 'No. We won't run. We either win or we all die permanently- there will be no middle ground.'

Vivian glanced at Meier in shock. 'Why on earth would we do that? We gain nothing by fighting to the end, besides an early grave.'

'I said no, Vivian.'

'But you can't just say no! You'll be sending people- living, intelligent Spartans- to their deaths for nothing! What good will that do?'

'Quiet!' Meier shouted suddenly. He turned away from her, clenching his fists. 'I will not be remembered as the leader who ran. If we flee it will be as a shadow of our former selves- I won't let that happen. Death is better than that.'

'Not everyone will agree with you,' Vivian said quietly.

'Do you?' Meier asked. Vivian didn't reply. He sighed. 'Go. You've helped enough.'

Vivian left, saying nothing until she was in the elevator. Then she let her breath out.

'I can't let him do this,' she said aloud. 'But how will I stop him?'

3

'This is such bullshit,' the spartan in red moaned. 'Why do we have to clear this stuff up? We have an engineers department, for pities sake.'

'I hear you man,' the spartan wearing blue replied. 'We're soldiers, not slaves. Why doesn't Meier just force those assholes who rebelled to do the work for us?' He turned to Gigolo. 'You agree with me?'

Gigolo shrugged. 'Would you trust one of them with one of these?' he asked, waving his hand saw.

'The man has a point,' the red spartan said. 'Still, I can't say I wouldn't rather be sleeping right now.'

'I bet that's what that lardy-ass Meier's doing,' blue said. 'You wouldn't catch him helping out with menial work.'

Gigolo tuned out of the other spartans' conversation, focusing on what he was doing with the saw. He was cutting away damaged pieces of support and dropping them onto a trolley to be melted down while the others replaced the beams and girders. It was hard work, but at least it kept him from thinking too hard.

He nearly cut his arm off when the spartan in red nudged him in the ribs.

'Do you think she's hot?' he asked. 'I think she's hot.'

'Man, there is no way she would be hot to anyone but you,' blue said. Gigolo looked up from his work and followed red's outstretched arm, which was pointing at another spartan working on the other side of the foyer. The spartan turned slightly, and Gigolo got a good look at her face. It was Elesa.

'Hey? Dude?' red asked. 'What do you think?'

'I think,' Gigolo said slowly, 'that they need me more. Be right back.' He picked up his saw and jogged over to Elesa.

Elesa either didn't notice him or ignored him as he approached. Gigolo stood awkwardly for a moment, then coughed slightly. Elesa gave a start and then turned to face him, a neutral expression on her face, which soured slightly when she saw him.

'Hey, I saw you working so I thought I'd come... say... hi,' Gigolo trailed off under Elesa's stare.

'That's nice,' Elesa said. 'Don't you have work to be doing?'

'I thought I could come and help out your team.'

'Oh, really?' Elesa gestured to her left. 'Get to work then.'

Gigolo walked to where she had gestured and started working again. After a few moments he looked at her.

'You were pretty good in the fighting,' Gigolo said. 'Put us all to shame.'

'Don't be so surprised,' Elesa replied, not taking her eyes off what she was doing. 'Vivian and I are the only ones who do any regular training.'

'Hey! I do training,' Gigolo said indignantly. 'We trained together the other day, remember?'

Vivian gave him a flat look. 'Yes, sadly.'

'Why sadly- oh.' Gigolo suddenly remembered how that session had ended. He cast around for another topic of conversation. 'How is Midori these days? You're still close with her, right?'

'She's still upset by Atlas being a jerk. Something that she, and I, blame you for entirely.'

'How is that my fault at all? It's not like I made him say what he did!'

'He picks up what you do,' Elesa said. 'You're a role model to him.'

'Really?' Gigolo smiled at the thought. 'I hadn't realized he thought of me so highly.'

'It's not a good thing, moron,' Elesa replied hotly. 'He caught your obsession with Zero.'

'Zero's gone,' Gigolo said. 'He's dead or he's fled. Either way, we're probably not going to see him ever again, so it's not a problem.'

'That's not the issue- oh hell, you won't understand.' Elesa looked away. 'Why are you even here?'

Gigolo frowned. 'As in, with you, here?' Elesa nodded. 'I guess I just enjoy spending time with you.' He paused. 'Do you like spending time with me?'

Elesa froze. 'I...'

A voice interrupted her. 'Gigolo!' Atlas shouted. 'I've been looking all over for you.' Gigolo turned to see Atlas walking up to him, a frown on his face. 'I need to speak with you.'

'Can it wait?' Gigolo asked. He glanced at Elesa, but she had gone back to working, intently ignoring Atlas.

'Why would it need to?' Atlas replied, either not seeing or ignoring Elesa. Without further comment he took Gigolo's arm in his hand and pulled him up and away, down the hallway to a secluded area.

'You do know Zero was arrested, right?' he said when they were out of everyone's earshot.

'Yes,' Gigolo replied. 'Something to do with rebel affiliations?'

'That was thanks to me,' Atlas said. Pride shone in his eyes. 'I found some old news articles, dating from 20 years back. Some of them referred to a civil war that took place around that time.'

'There was a civil war?' Gigolo asked, surprised. 'How come I've never heard of it?'

'Aren't you going to congratulate me?' Atlas asked. 'I mean, I did just get Zero locked up and out of our hair.'

'Uh. Yeah. Well done, bro.'

Atlas frowned at him. 'What's wrong? Is it Elesa?'

'Uh, not really,' Gigolo replied. 'It's nothing.'

'Just ignore her, man. If she's bothering you then I'll talk to her for you.'

'No!' Gigolo said quickly. 'I mean, I'd better handle it. Not that there is anything. Well, I'd best get back to work.'

Atlas nodded, the frown back on his face. 'Be careful dude.' He walked off again.

Gigolo stood for a moment, watching his friend leave. Why do I feel bad all of a sudden? Not sure what he felt anymore, he turned and returned to his work.

4

Midori had never been to Vivian's apartment before, but she knew roughly where it was. After stopping a few passers by to ask directions she eventually found the door. She knocked in her quick, distinctive, style and after a moment the door opened, revealing a tired looking Vivian.

'Good morning Midori,' Vivian said with a pause to yawn. 'What brings you here?'

'I wanted to talk about stuff,' Midori replied. 'And it's past noon.'

Vivian blinked. 'Really? I was working longer than I thought, then. Come on in.' She walked over to her kitchen and put a kettle to boil. Midori followed her and sat on the sofa. Vivian took the armchair adjacent to it.

'What's this stuff then? Vivian asked.

'It's Atlas, mainly. And everything else.'

'Everything?'

'Yeah.' Midori looked around uncomfortably. 'You've probably caught on that Atlas and me had a go at each other. I ended up telling him not to see me again until he had sorted his life out.' She sighed, and Vivian reached out to hold her hand.

'You don't have to tell me if it's hard for you,' she said.

'Thanks, but I'm alright. Atlas has been acting strangely for the past couple of days. I think he caught whatever it was that was possessing Gigolo, because he's barely talked about anything else but Zero since.'

Vivian nodded. 'I can understand how you feel. Zero hasn't been acting normal since... well, for several years now.' She gave a pained laugh. 'I suppose that's his normal now.'

'How do you mean?' Midori asked. She knew little about Zero and Vivian's history together.

'He used to be... so much more. He was a natural leader- charismatic, strong, liked by almost everyone. I thought I was so lucky to have him. After the civil war 20 years ago, he changed. I don't know why. I probably never will.' Vivian shook her head. 'But you didn't come here to listen to me talk about Zero.'

'I don't mind,' Midori replied, although she knew better than to press Vivian for any more information. It would be rude, and disrespectful to Vivian. 'Atlas is obsessed by Zero now. It's like there isn't room in his head for anything else- not even me.'

'He blames Zero for everything, I think.'

Midori nodded. 'Even the things that Zero had nothing to do with.' She looked Vivian in the eye. 'Make no mistake, I think Zero can be found at the root of a lot of problems. Atlas has never been like this before. It's Zero's influence, his and Gigolo's.'

'Do you blame Zero for Atlas's problem?' Vivian asked, looking surprised. 'That's like blaming the murder victim because the murderer wouldn't have murdered if the victim hadn't been there.'

Midori shook her head. 'No, it's not. You know Atlas. When has he ever done something like this? Although,' She continued, 'It's probably better not to talk to you about Zero.'

'Hey, that's unfair,' Vivian replied hotly. 'Zero's not my idol. He's done enough shit to me in the past.'

She sighed. 'But you're right, at least in some respects. You know Zero got arrested, right?'

'Yeah. Nobody told us why, though.'

'He was working with the rebels,' Vivian said. 'I ratted him out to Meier.'

There was a pause. After a moment, Midori spoke. 'You did the right thing.'

'Did I?' Vivian asked. 'He escaped in the confusion, and now I'll probably never see him again.'

'Do you... do you still love him?'

'No.' Vivian said firmly. 'I realized it after I heard he'd gone. I don't love him anymore, and I don't know if I ever can again. But I still need closure. I need to hear his side of the story, at least.' She took a deep breath. 'Midori.'

'Yes?'

'Promise me you'll talk to Atlas again. Hear his side of the story. Whatever you decide in the end, you'll be glad you did. There is no regret deeper in life than losing someone without finishing what you started.'

Midori nodded. 'I will. Thank you, Vivian.' She stood. 'I'll leave you to your sleep.' Midori let herself out quietly.