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Disclaimer: OC and plotmine. Blizzard stuffnot mine.
Chapter 3: With Five Simple Words
"Alright, we're full! Everyone, please strap your safety harnesses and stay calm!" said the sergeant, who could be seen through the closing doors of the bus. The bus' bottom glowed and slowly hovered a few feet above ground before zooming off towards the highway.
"Now that was the last bus…" said the Marine under his breath
"Ok, I want everyone to stay together while I get orders." He said turning to face the confused teens. One of them yelled out towards the marine.
"What about our families?" she asked over the bustle of the noise.
"They're being brought to the depot now. Please, just follow my instructions." He replied before jogging up to the APC parked nearby.
The bewildered teenagers stood still obediently. They whispered among themselves, as they always did when anything happened. It was only inevitable they should do so now. The platoon of marines was watching over the group of them while one of them was talking over the APC's radio.
"Attention!" yelled the marine in the APC to the teens.
"We're going to be riding in the APC. I want no funny business. Take your valuables and get in silently and cooperatively." He instructed.
The teens were herded through the rear-end ramp by the marines. Soon they were all cramped and huddled inside. After a moment noises could be heard outside, indicating that the marines were riding on top. As the APC began to power up its anti-grav, the teens began chatting wildly again.
"Keep your voices down, there!" yelled the driver.
One of them, however, did not have her voice up at all throughout the commotion. Jia was sitting tightly packed between the mass of her schoolmates and the titanium plating of the APC. Her snowy-white skin was pale with stress. She sighed to herself silently. Her friends were on the last bus that left. They were probably riding along comfortably while she was suffocating in the cramped APC with these unknown seniors.
Jia remembered that Tyler had probably ridden on an APC like this before, perhaps even everyday. She wondered how he endured it. Jia hated cramped spaces. The only time she enjoyed being in a confined space was when Tyler had taken her on a flight in his wraith and the both of them squeezed together in the cockpit that was meant to seat only one person.
Her insides squirmed at the memory of Tyler. She's been forced to see her sweetheart leave her for some pointless patrol mission. And that God-forsaken mission had most probably gotten Tyler killed! She loathed the Directorate when she received the news of the attack on the Tamerlane. Her loved one was probably dead and for what?
She hated herself too. Why had she been so cruel to him after he had given her that birthday present? If she had accepted him, they could have had so much more time together. She loathed herself and her illusions that dictated terrans were disgusting creatures. What a lie! Tyler was the most loving and sensitive person in the universe. She wondered how Tyler could love someone as despicable as herself.
Jia's face remained expressionless all throughout her self-loathing. She had mastered the practice of nonchalance. She wondered why she was afraid of showing her feelings. Why did she insist on attitude of indifference when it was perfectly normal to be depressed, nervous, even exited at a time like this – and especially in Jia's case? She was in the middle of a sector-wide evacuation, her loved one was probably dead, and she would be probably be dead in the next week as well. Yet she kept her face unreadable.
Tyler once said that he loved her for being like that. That was all bullshit in her opinion. She did not understand how Tyler could love her, but she could tell from his eyes that he was truthful. Eyes… Tyler had told her that she had the most beautiful eyes in the universe. She could never understand him, her eyes were nothing. They were brown and almond-shaped. Lots of people had brown, almond-shaped eyes. Yet Tyler said it with all honesty his heart could muster.
Doubts flooded Jia's mind and she still remained expressionless. The trait of nonchalance that Jia despised in herself was something that Tyler adored. She thought of her personality as despicable, afraid of emotion, and disgracefully cowardly and self-conscious. But Tyler looked upon her with admiration; her inner strength and self-control, despite any circumstances. Tyler knew she was much stronger than him. She could control herself with ability far beyond that of Tyler's and that's why his heart would go out to her.
The APC landed with a thud on the pavement in front of the main HQ on Vraxia. The students filed out and were lead through the lobby and told to keep an eye out for their family. One by one the body of students lessened as they joined their families. Jia was not going to find her parents here. They were going to stay behind while Jia left because her brother was a marine and her parents refused to abandon him as promptly as they refused Jia's offer to stay as well.
"Private, I must have a word with Ms. Tsong." Said a lieutenant, who approached the marine leading the group of students.
"Yes sir. Do we have a Ms…err – Ch-song with us?" he said, with difficulty pronouncing Jia's surname. Jia silently raised her hand and was taken under the arm of the lieutenant while the marine continued leading the students
"You'll be riding with the HQ staff, Ms. Tsong" he said, and she nodded.
"I understand that you were personally acquainted with an airman onboard the Tamerlane." He said, tactlessly attempting to provoke conversation.
"Yes." She said plainly.
"An unfortunate piece of business there; a lot of good men died there. You can count on the Directorate to get some payback on the bastards that killed them." He said. She might as well give in to idle talk for the mean time.
"Has there been any news of the Tamerlane?"
"Not much from the last reports. The Clarkson and the Virtual have been aiding in getting her main propulsion back on line in the Plyrinth sector."
"What about the survivors?"
"They're getting shipped back for debriefing by dropship." He said. She looked at him, her eyes faltered a bit and a bit of concern showed on her face for a moment.
"No need to worry. I'm sure your friend is alright." He said, unconvincingly.
The lieutenant stopped to clear Jia's orders for transport. The clerk behind the desk ran the security papers through. After a while, the clerk approved them and told them that their transport was still being fueled.
"I'm under orders to see you off to the ship." He said, turning to Jia.
"Fueling takes a long bit of time; we might as well make ourselves comfortable." He said, leading the way to some waiting chairs. He sat down and Jia awkwardly took a seat beside him. Upon doing so he offered her coffee and a sandwich.
"Gam-sa-ham-nida." She said taking the food.
"Your welcome." He said, calling up his little knowledge of Korean dialect.
"Sorry." She said.
"No worries. It happens to me too. When I'm stressed, I usually blurt out things in German."
Jia ate the food while a welcome silence followed. When she finished the sandwich, she decided to at least keep the kind lieutenant from getting bored.
"So what do you do for the Directorate lieutenant?" she asked.
"Please, call me Vincent." He said. Jia smiled.
"Jia." She told him.
"Guten-tag, Jia." She smiled again.
"Anyway, I'm in the mechanized infantry. I'm XOA of a platoon of twenty five." He told her.
"Once Vraxia is evacuated, we're supposed to take garrison around Blomsville along with the 312th." He continued.
"But, what exactly are we fighting?" it was a question that had bubbled up in Jia since she received news of the attack on Tamerlane.
"High Command is hoping to find out from the reports of the survivors from the Tamerlane." Apparently Vincent wanted to know the answer as much as Jia did. Jia looked out towards the parked dropships visible through the glass of the HQ.
"So, who is this airman onboard the Tamerlane?" he asked. Jia's insides squirmed with grief again, but she still maintained her indifferent look.
"My boyfriend." She said plainly. Vincent was taken aback. Apparently he had not anticipated that this fifteen year old Korean could be intimate with a Directorate pilot who was usually in their late twenty's.
"I'm sorry."
"No worries." She said. Another awkward silence followed.
"Do you have a special someone, lieute – err, Vincent?" she asked
"Yes, actually; she's waiting for me back in Bremen IV." He said, welcoming the break of silence.
"That's nice….. Tell me… are you in love?" she asked at length. Vincent face flashed with surprise and Jia blushed.
"I'm sorry." She said again. Now she was being timid. She hated herself again. Timidity and fake indifference was all she was capable of and yet a man as good as Tyler still loved her. Why?
"Oh, no worries… I suppose… Yes, I suppose I do love her." He said.
"What's it like?" she asked him, this was another question bubbling up inside her. She needed to know what she felt for Tyler was the real thing. She was afraid of asking her parents, but this unknown lieutenant was safe enough to ask.
"Well…that's not an easy question to answer, Jia." He said. He realized that this girl must want to know what she must be feeling towards this unknown airman onboard the Tamerlane. Vincent groped for some way to indulge her request.
"Well…what do you feel about him?" said Vincent after Jia sighed.
Jia opened her mouth to answer, and then closed it again. She was being her cowardly self-conscious Jia again, not wanting to voice her feelings out loud. But then, she realized something; she wasn't afraid to voice her feelings out loud. It was different, this time she truly didn't know the answer. She never really gave much thought on her views of Tyler to her. She recalled Tyler's wonderful company. She recalled how he comforted her. How he was so good in making her feel special. She thought of all this and yet, she still didn't know the answer to Vincent's question.
She knew this must mean that she didn't love him. She opened her mouth to speak again, and then closed it again. She didn't know what to say because she didn't love him. So that was the truth. Jia felt an extreme loathing towards herself. It was horrible; of all the honesty of Tyler's love towards her, she did not love him back. Then, even though her face still maintained its indifferent expression, a single tear streamed down her cheek.
"I'm no expert…." Said Vincent and Jia looked at him.
"….but I'd say you love him." He said.
More tears fell from Jia's face. Vincent offered her some tissue. She took it and buried herself inside it as Vincent rested his hand on her shoulder to comfort her. She sobbed some more, all the worries of self-consciousness gone. When she looked up her eyes were puffy and red, and the tissue was dripping wet.
"He's a very lucky man." Said Vincent and Jia smiled at the compliment.
Jia shook hands with Vincent as she stood at the entrance ramp of the shuttle. She wished him good luck in his defense of Blomsville. He nodded and promised to give 'em hell if anything happened to 'the airman on the Tamerlane'. She thanked him for his hospitality again before she walked in to the shuttle.
The flight to inner Directorate space was uneventful. She was heading to Vega, along with the HQ staff. She wondered if her friends would be there, but then she remembered their families weregoing to Orion. She wondered if her brother would be okay. She wondered if Vraxia would be okay. She smiled as her mind inevitably drifted towards Tyler again. What if Vincent was right? God, she hoped he was.
The dropship steward woke Jia up when they landed on Vega. She was given a cab to her apartment in the Capital. She remembered that she had brought nothing except her the things she kept in her locker at school, which was the only reason she and her schoolmates was had been sent to school. The clerk told her that her things were sent to her apartment before-hand and she took the long complimentary ride in the cab.
The apartment building was nice and clean. Everyone seemed to be formal and professional and she grew self-conscious of her short-sleeved shirt and jeans. All of Vega was like this; rich and clean. Her 'apartment' was a hotel in Vraxian standards. Evacuation wasn't so bad in her opinion. The bell-hop welcomed her and showed her to her room. Her room had a decent view of the city, it was air-conditioned and carpeted. The bell-hop showed her the empty luggage bags and told her that they had taken the liberty of unpacking for her. She thanked him and tipped him.
When he left, she dropped her bag and counted the money which her parents had given her. She checked the shelves that were full of her clothing. The side desk had her laptop plugged and ready for her. Toothpaste, toothbrush, soap and shampoo were in the bathroom. She wanted to thank her parents of their thoughtfulness.
She went out to the balcony to catch some fresh air. She looked up and saw a formation of wraiths on a training flight, high above the clouds, the army base in the distance could be seen drilling their men for the upcoming battles that might (though not likely) reach Vega. She smiled again and went back inside. She decided to look at how the bed was. As she did so she noticed the stuffed dog that Tyler had given to her for her birthday so long ago hiding behind the pillows. She hugged it and lay on the bed. She read the note on its collar once more. The Korean characters that were roughly written by Tyler's unfamiliar hand were written in that way so that her western classmates would not be able to understand what it said and tease Jia. It was thoughtful of Tyler to do so. She read what they said for the thousandth time since she had first seen it.
I need to know if your love is there
When I sleep you're everywhere
You are the definition of sweet
Please Jia, make my life complete
She smiled again at the simple and roughly written poem. She rested her head on the pillow and curled up on her side. As she did so, she saw a something leaning on the wall. She realized it was an electric guitar. It was solid black and old fashioned; six stringed, and manual tuners, probably made in the 22nd century. It looked very familiar to her. She walked over to it and studied it. Tied to one of the strange silver tuners was a note.
Bah! All these notes! Jia was getting irritated at notes. To top it all off, the letters were tiny; she had to lean in close to read them. It had five simple words on them:
You can still complete me
It hit her like a shell of a siege tank. This was Tyler's guitar! The same one he used to sing her that song in front of the Flight Academy on Vraxia! She gasped.
"Ahn-yong-ha-se-yo" said a voice behind her. She turned around slowly and gaped open-mouthed at Tyler who was standing in the doorway looking at her. He was alive! Oh God, she wanted nothing but to be with him at that moment.
She dashed up to him at the speed of sound and jumped into his arms. She inserted her tongue in his mouth with such ferocity, even Tyler was taken off-guard. She yearned for him. She knew she loved him and wanted to show it. Tyler must have something to say. He probably wanted to tell her what happened about the Tamerlane, probably to apologize for his rude entrance, or probably to tell her how much he missed her. But she didn't care. Whatever it was that Tyler had to say had to fuck itself and wait.
Her heart leaped as he was drawn into the passion and began kissing her back. This was it! No more self-conscious and timid Jia, not right now….not tonight. She had no second thoughts about her decision. She hooked Tyler around the back and dragged him on top of her as she lay on the bed, without breaking their kiss. Tyler hesitated and she bit his lip to urge him to continue. Tyler sensed Jia's seriousness and let himself be dragged under the sheets.
Ok, I know I said this would be up by next week, but I got it done anyway. Chapter four definitely up next week. Please review fellas.
-NaytchX