Disclaimer: I don't own the mice, except for Cairo, Retro, Vert and Turbine… I also don't own Moby Dick but that guy's dead so hopefully he won't mind me mentioning it.
The martian desert was silent except for the soft whisper of the wind as it washed over the dunes, spraying sand off the crests like waves. A soft glow emitted from the small resistance camp at the base of one of the sand dunes; a figure slowly came into view at the top, sitting down with a groan. Upon closer inspection, the figure was clearly male. His long black hair was tied behind him in a tight braid that whipped gently in the unforgiving wind as he looked behind him. He smiledas the spot beside him was suddenly occupied.
"Shouldn't you be sleeping? That's a pretty bad gash you got there." He grinned slightly at the slender woman beside him.
"I got bored. There's too many things that go bump in the night way out here." The woman fell silent then laughed bitterly. "Crash… Do you think we'll ever find the freedom we've been wishing for for so long?"
"Freedom isn't found, Carbine. It's fought for." Crash smiled over at his younger sister as she shook her head. "And don't say that I sound like dad because I know… I heard myself." He stood up and offered a hand down to her which she took. "Let's go back in and go over the maps again. There has to be a way to get back to the rest of the group without alerting those stinkfish."
Carbine nodded and followed her brother down the hill, glancing back up at the sky one last time to make a silent wish.
The vision faltered and suddenly there was shots ricocheting all around them.
"Carbine! Get the HELL out of here! You have to find Turbine and-" Crash grabbed his sister by her arm and shoved her behind him as a single shot rang out.
"Crash? Crash! CRASH!" Carbine sat upright in her bed with a gasp, emerald eyes scanned the room as she slid from under the covers. The tears that threatened her were blinked away and she bit her lip. She had been having the same dream every night. She saw her brother die over and over again in her head; the scene was bad enough the first time but now she felt herself going insane with torment. She dressed quickly and stood staring at herself in the mirror for a moment before breathing deeply to regain her composure. With a forced chuckle, she walked out of her room and down the hallway to Stoker's office. Maybe she would talk to someone about the dream, she kept telling herself, but deep inside she knew she'd never speak a word about it.
Stoker sat in his office with his feet propped up on the desk and a clipboard on his knees. To the passing soldier, he looked hard at work but Carbine knew better. She opened the door and shook her head as his echoing snores were no longer muffled by the door.
"Stoker." Carbine reached out slowly and tapped his shoulder. "Stoker!"
The older man shot up, grabbing her wrist as he slid out of the chair and onto the floor. "Wha! HEY!" he jumped up and glared at Carbine as she snickered to herself.
"You were the one sleeping…" Carbine rubbed her neck as Stoker moved around her to tap a few keys on a control panel. "Found anything more on that ship?"
Stoker nodded and sat back down as Carbine did the same. "Yep. We think it's Plutarkian but what it's purpose was…" He sighed, leaning his arms on his desk. "Well, we have no idea what it was doing."
Carbine nodded slowly, deep in thought. "I can take the others and go check it out. I'll report in when we know something."
Stoker nodded absently, silently worrying about Carbine's health. Since she and Throttle had their last falling out, she had seemed strange. She no longer dressed in her usual army garb but a pair of jeans that Charley had gotten her on Earth and a black tank top that was, by army regulations, supposed to go under her regular uniform jacket. He had watched her go from an opinionated General to a silent soldier. When she abandoned the army, he had raised his eyebrows; but when she silently sucked herself out of reality, he had to say something.
"Carbine… What's going on?" He moved to stand beside her, watching her facial features carefully.
"I don't know what you mean." Carbine stood up and stared up at him, her eyes were empty and emotionless. The fire she had once held deep in those green pools was gone, replaced by a tired sort of surrender.
"Carbine…" He could only sigh as she exited the office and went to gather the rest of her little rag tag group.
"I am the hottest male on this entire planet!" Cairo stood up on his chair, arms raised above his head in victory as his 3 companions laughed. "Carbine! I'm the king of the oof!" His sentence was cut short as he was yanked backwards by his tail.
Carbine grinned at the sight and moved to sit next to her twin sister, Turbine. Turbine gave her sister a sudden slap on the back, making the taller woman flinch slightly as she looked around the table. There was Cairo, a tall black mouse with a scar running down the side of his face; Retro, a white mouse that looked a lot like Vinnie except for the long grey hair he took so much pride in; Vert, Cairo's younger brother who was a sandy, tan color and much shorter than the rest of the group. Carbine and her twin sister Turbine made up the last half of the circle, the same circle that had been friends since childhood.
"We up?" Vert asked with a boyish smile aimed at Carbine. He was the energetic one, always willing to rush into battle without worrying about who he was fighting for. She wished she was like that again, ready to fight and die for the freedom she wanted so badly. Freedom… he brothers words danced in her head and she closed her eyes to keep her demons at bay.
"You alright, Sis?" Turbine set a hand on Carbines shoulder and smiled softly. "What's on your mind anyway?"
Carbine only shrugged her off and stood up. "Alright, here's the poison for today… Stoker's boys picked up some ship moving over the Air Defense building at 2 this morning. There was no sign of it again until about 9... When it crashed into the mines just west of this local. We are to find the ship, find any survivors and any information that might help us understand what it was doing." She fell back into her seat as her speech ended and the others nodded, mumbling amongst themselves.
"So… We're going on a fish hunt?" Retro asked, sliding his shades down his nose slightly to look at their unspoken leader. As Carbine nodded, he leaned back in his seat. "Alright then. Let's roll."
The group stood, exiting the small lunch area and headed out to their vehicles as a sinking feeling hit Turbine's stomach. She watched Carbine as she mounted her bike, shaking her head as her sister cooed softly and stroked her fingers along the tank. The bike she rode had belonged to their brother, Crash, before he died. Carbine keeping the bike showed what she'd never say; how much she missed him. As they sped out of the base and off towards the area the ship was seen going down, the icy ball in her stomach rose into her throat as the ship came into view.
"Thar she blows!" Vert hollered loudly and Turbine wondered if he had been reading too many of Carbine's books that she kept in her closet. That particular line, she assumed, was from something he was trying to finish off called 'Moby Dick' but she hadn't read it so she couldn't be sure.
Carbine was the first to reach the ship and climb off her bike. "If this isn't a Plutarkian ship, I don't know what is." She spoke softly, jumping as Vert hit the hatch release on the ship and the door slid open. She wanted to gag as the air practically turned green, making her hold her nose as the foul smell bombarded the area. She wasn't ready for what followed, but as the explosion sent her flying backwards, se heard her brothers voice again.
"Freedom isn't found, Carbine… It's fought for."
Her world spun as she hit the ground on her back, darkness enveloping her as her body went limp.