Chapter 8: Just Cause

December 3, 2010

Van was lucky. The explosion had only burned most of his clothes. He still had minor burns but nothing life-threatening. In some ways it was a throwback to his days in air warfare and how lucky he was to survive it. Yet for the others waiting on his status, it was a mystery as to how he was doing. Jennifer was far too lucky. She was nearly killed in her brave attempt to land safely. For Anna Lovecraft, Adam and Alice Kamprand it had been a fatal experience; A mere act of mother nature had taken three lives. As for the facility itself, the damage was actually minor. So it was that David, Kei, Claude, Marimeydia, and Justine Orel found themselves waiting for the news.

No one spoke; that is until a door opened, and a familiar face reared his head.

"Hey! Well I'm alright, but I gotta wear this stupid bandage for awhile...wait...what happened to the others? Are they alright?"

"You didn't see the crash!"

"No. I was in the hangar trying to get out of the damn rain. Then I slipped and fell and hit my head on the pavement. I was out. When I woke up my clothes were burning, my head's aching, and I had no idea what happened. So what did happen?"

"Van, Alice and Adam are dead."

"What! What the...what happened?"

"Lighting bolt hit the plane as it was landing. It must have hit the ground when you were out cold."

"Oh my god...how, what about my cousin? Is she alright?"

"She fine. But she's uh...she's a little off. Kinda freaked out there when she saw Anna. We thought she had a heart attack, but it was shock mostly. She calls her husband then comes to the hospital-from what David tells me- and sees her all messed up and...thunk!" said Claude.

"It's nice to see you have a sense of humor about this." David said sarcastically.

"It's not that. I'm interpreting events."

"Damn, what a disaster. What's gonna happen to Alex?" asked David.

"Who's Alex?" asked Van.

"Their son." replied Claude.

"Dear God."

Suddenly, there was rapid set of clanking heels that could be heard. The door to the waiting room burst open. It was Chloe. She nearly slipped on the cold, checkered floor. She was soaked from head to toe.

"What happened?" she asked sadly.

"Where the hell were you?"

"Hans and I were on a date when you called; I was on the other end of the island. How did this happen!" said Chloe looking in David's direction with a visage and sadness, confusion, and anger.

"Jennifer and Van were flying a pair of planes they were giving to us as a gift for what happened in the store in May. Behind them were her sister and brother in law in a Cessna. It was raining pretty hard. Van landed, and went inside the hangar, slipped and fell busting his head. A lighting bolt hit the Cessna and came down right in front of us. Anna was in the hangar with us. So I told everyone to get down...and we did. But, when the explosions stopped, we got up and...there she was, just totally shredded by debris. I just grabbed Kei and we got under a table. Everyone else was fine. I didn't see anything. It was dark and there was debris, rain and wind everywhere. It was so fast. I guess she hesitated or something. I can't blame her really. What do you do? I reacted perfectly given the situation. I guess I...I didn't forget about her. But, I thought she'd get down. I guess she did, or maybe she didn't do it fast enough. Or maybe I saw it first. I don't know." he said.

David looked at Chloe's mixed expression.

"Oh I know what you're thinking. You chose to protect Kei over your own family. Is that it? Is it? Well?"

"Shut up! I'm not! I never did! Why are saying that? Why are you angry at me?"

"I'm not."

"Then..."

Chloe now understood. Whether her brother realized it or not, he was emulating how she would act in these situations: lash out to take the anger off one's self. But in this case, what David was doing was not aberrant. He had every reason too. He probably thought it came down between his wife and his own blood and his choice killed Anna. But it was no choice really. It was a rapid, heat of the moment thing. The two were no longer at the crossroad. She finally understood. She couldn't hold herself back. Now David found himself reaching out for the sister he'd detested for so long. But there was no obligation, even because they were just family. Suddenly, there was a crash. It was clumsy Grimm, having rushed here as well and having slipped.

"What happened?"

But there was only silence marked with sadness as Chloe continued to cry uncontrollably.

Meanwhile...

It was one in the morning. Damien was getting worried. There was no word from Jennifer. What must it feel like to have family die right in front of you? But Damien felt guilty. He felt sad but stoic. He was in a strange emotion. It was not apathy; he was concerned. But it was general death that was affecting him. Why, of course. Just a year ago, he'd seen people die everyday...

December 17, 2010

Zalus, Yuktobania

They were in a very bad spot. It was not a good place to die. They were in the cold snow in the middle of a random Yuke town in the coldest place in the world. They were in Zalus, a town right in the middle of the Rydling-Gublina region that was suffering the worst winter in 150 years. And it was here that Sgt. Damien Klein and his small team found themselves freezing and waiting on the enemy; they were also killing...and being killed.

They were of Bravo Company of the 117th Regiment of the 79th Airborne Division and they were smack in the middle of Yuktobania's massive counterstrike that had bogged the war down. Morale was at an all time low. The disastrous air battle above Cinigrad had cost Osea over 200 planes. In one well documented battle, a mere 30 Yuke aces blew 50 allied planes out the sky with a loss of only 3 planes. Now they were on the offensive and Osea was getting pushed back.

There were two men and one female in an small apartment complex. Next to Damien was Sgt. David Gordon. Gordon was a thin, tall man from the country. But like Damien, seem to speak as if he wasn't. Ever since females were allowed to fight in front line duties, many did not waste time joining up. There were many who were against it. Damien was not. Anyone, regardless of gender, that would volunteer to be here was worthy of respect in his opinion.

This woman was 20 year old PFC Miranda Allen. Just a day ago, her twin brother 20 year old, PFC Johnny Allen, had taken a bullet in the head. The city was very fluid. There was enemy activity everywhere. Both sides fought like rats; with the weather preventing air support, there was only protracted, static urban warfare; and urban warfare was not something the army was proficient at. No one dared show their face on the streets.

Damien, however, was focusing his attention on a wounded enemy soldier out in the street; one Miranda had wounded intentionally. She pointed her gun, a semiautomatic XM25, out at the street waiting to shoot anyone that dared show themselves. .She wanted to see if anyone would help him. Of course, this was an hour prior. The man's screams were driving Damien insane.

"For god's sake! Finish him off!" said Damien, obviously annoyed at the noise.

"No. This is an interesting sociological experiment." said Dave.

"More like psychopathic. This is for revenge isn't it?"retorted Damien.

"Yes. For them starting this war. For my brother. Do I have to spell it out? I just realized...I hate this place. I do. I don't want to be here anymore. I fucking hate this place. And if I to kill one more socialist pig to do it..."

"While I do agree with some of that and the fact this is a valid tactic. But, it's not gonna bring him back." said Damien.

"I don't care." she said with figurative poison dripping from her words.

"Now that's professionalism if I've ever seen it."

Damien simply grunted. Damien felt like a hypocrite. He did agree with Miranda. He hated this place too. He'd spent the last 17 days in the freezing cold because of the Yukes. He'd seen even more die here. I'm going to lose my soul in this place no matter how much Jen prays for it, he thought.

Damien no longer believed in the mission. He'd seen the truth of all things. Politics fueled war and because of it he was here. This was no longer a "just cause". Both sides, mostly Osea, had committed unspeakable acts. Sure enough, Miranda found her targets. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Then there was silence.

I'm never voting again.

Present Day...

Damien had played the role of obedient soldier, acting as if he believed in his country. But what happened in Dresdene and Sevaspol(in which he was a witness) was far beyond anything his superiors had told him would occur. Perhaps they were deluded by revenge and "righteous might". In reality, it was a campaign of political will; a will the regular people did not have. For only the second time in Osea's history, people rejected a war due topolitics. Although, his return home was not greeted by mobs of angry people. So what did this have to do with Adam and Alice's deaths? Everything. Alice was there in Yuktobania, facing the same dangers as the ground troops to report the stories of the war. Her death was going to send shockwaves through the 79th, where she was embedded. She would have only been 34 in four days. She was considered by some to be the greatest war correspondent ever. But not even the 39 days he spent in the freezing cold could hardened him that much. Death was terrible, buther's was downright tragic.

December 14, 2010

They decided to bury Anna Lovecraft on the island itself. It was nothing new to them. They'd moved all over Osea and they really had no set place where they lived. But it was totally backwards. To Michael and Catherine Lovecraft, the act of burying their youngest child was once an unthinkable act. Now it was a painful reality. For David and Kei, it was very bittersweet; here they were about to welcome a new addition to the family and had to say goodbye to another. For Chloe it was utterly devastating. She was not her usual self and had been this way for days. Grimm tried his best to comfort her but she was a broken woman.

Alice Kamprand was given a grand funeral with full military honors, a uncommon act for a non-combat type. It was a shame since Adam and Alice were buried in two different places; the 79th Airborne Division had its official cemetery at Sierra City. The accident did in fact send shockwaves through the 79th. Everyone was crushed. Then there was Alex, their son. Jennifer and Damien would assume legal guardianship of the nine year old. It did not really bother them, but someone else, a rather minor encounter, would get involved in Alex's life. And it was the last person they ever expected...

But no planes flew from the field. There was quiet and serenity underlined by grief. But the pain would go away. Anna would live on. But there was one death that still remained there, that being the death of Chopper. For David, there was still no truths to be told. There was still mystery about it. He remembered Kei's words: I wonder who did it. I'd like to know. I wonder if he was proud of it. I wonder if he felt guilt. But for now, it's a mystery wrapped in a riddle inside of an enigma...

But that was about to change. And it all began with a knock on the door...

To be continued...