A/N: I never meant for the events on Tarsus to take so many chapters. It was actually supposed to have only been one or two chapters, but these characters had a story they wanted to tell.
Because of that I've decided to reorganize the structure of this first fic in the series. I've decided to break what would have been one fic into three shorter pieces.
Hence the revised summary and title.
Chapter 10
Jim led Jack, Jennifer, and Jude, they were the league of J's, as Kevin had called them, through Kodos' grounds. He had walked this path so many times he could do it blindfolded. He knew every bush, every fountain, and every spot that was cast in shadow.
He hoped Aiko and Eli would be able to figure out how to get the trans-receiver working. That they would be able to get a message through to Starfleet because the further Jim walked, the less confident he was about this plan.
It was almost midnight. If Thomas was right, they only had seven hours before dawn… before… Jim didn't want to think about the alternative. He couldn't.
He looked back behind him. His friends and companions' faces mirrored his own. He hoped Thomas, Kevin and Tsuneha would be able convince more people to help. They had to help.
Kodos had 'invited' four thousand people to his 'New Year's' party.
As they rounded the last hedge, the pit of Jim's stomach dropped. He felt Jennifer bump up against his back.
"Jane!" Jack hissed. "Wha…" The words died from his lips at that moment.
And Jim knew, he knew he wasn't hallucinating.
It seemed in those weeks that he had been staying in Kodos' mansion, Kodos had erected a large coliseum like structure in his backyard. There were large, blinding white lights that shown into the stadium located on the four axis of a compass. It was shorter than the ancient Roman one. The walls were barely taller than one and half full grown men. Jim could tell it was also smaller volume wise from the Roman one which could hold over 80,000 spectators comfortably. If anything close to a stampede happened, it could be just as deadly. Jim wondered if Kodos had chosen these dimensions for that reason.
"What the fuck is that?!" Jack cursed out.
"Clearly our destination," Jennifer commented.
"The south side," Jim muttered. They turned to look at him. "There's a second entrance on that side," he clarified. Jim had taken them through the east. The north and west sides were both bordered by Kodos' mansion. They each nodded.
They crossed the length of the garden and a quarter of the stadium's outer wall in record time. They could hear muffled sounds coming from inside. They hastened their movements. At the southernmost point, Jim noted a set of rocks that were perturbing slightly outwards from the wall of the stadium. Jim vaguely wondered if Kodos had intentionally constructed the walls with these footsteps. The idea died from Jim's mind as they stepped on the stones. He lifted his eyes over the edge of the walls, just barely high enough to see and hopefully not be seen.
The moment Jim looked over the wall, his heart nearly stopped.
Four thousand people were standing inside. Four thousand hungry stricken men, women, children, and even babies pressed against their mothers' blossoms, were just standing there. Just as Jim had feared, there wasn't nearly enough space for everyone. They were nearly all shoulder to shoulder. Jim couldn't understand why they weren't questioning what was going on. How could anyone think this was a party?
The adults seemed to be talking amongst themselves in hushed voices.
Jim noticed a few stubs of holly hanging along the wall. It was the only thing festival about the whole set up.
He scanned the stadium quickly.
Neither Kodos nor any of his men were anywhere in sight.
Maybe Kodos was just really bad at hosting parties?
Jim shook his head. That was ridiculous. He had entered some of Kodos' parties during the summer, before everything suddenly went to hell. They had all been lavished parties. They were nothing like this one.
Jim gripped the sides of the wall. His fingertips dug into the stone wall. He can feel the loose pebbles burrowing under his fingernails. They had gotten long. He had forgotten to trim them.
Half of him wanted to throw their entire plan away. They were only here to observe. They weren't going do anything. They weren't enough of them. However, now that he was here all he wanted to do was jump over the wall and… and… the thought died from Jim's mind. He couldn't. He knew that.
He turned towards his friends. Jennifer looked pale, while Jack and Jude just looked angry.
"We can't." Jennifer muttered.
Jim looked at her.
"We can't charge in like that. We can't make a scene." Her voice sounded so level. The words Jim couldn't say.
Before any of them could respond, there was a loud bang. They all turned their heads back to the arena. They peered over the wall. From the north, a figure walked out. He was flanked by four guards on each side. Jim counted them easily. He had always been fast with numbers.
Jim recognized the figure immediately. He could recognize that stature from anywhere. It was Kodos. Jim took a deep breath as he watched the man head for the elevated podium. He watched as he held out his hands, palms facing upwards towards the heavens. The arena went quiet.
The man smiled.
"Citizens!" He shouted. Jim can hear him so clearly… so clearly. The words vibrated through the coliseum. "Tonight is a glorious night, a night of history… the dawn of a new era. Mankind has always strived for perfection, for superiority. Even nature looks for a way to survive, to rule out the weak, the inferior so that only the strongest, the most superior lives. Food is running out. The Federation relief ships are four weeks out. However we only have enough food to sustain the entire colony for two weeks, or half the colony for four weeks."
Jim took a deep breath.
"As a result, it is with a heavy heart, after long, agonizing hours of analyzing the data, we…" Kodos motioned towards guards surrounding around him, "have determined all who is assembled here to be the inferior breed." Kodos pulled out a sheet of paper from his pockets. He looked down at it before he continued to speak. "The revolution is successful. But survival depends on drastic measures. Your continued existence represents a threat to the well-being of society. Your lives mean slow death to the more valued members of the colony. Therefore, I have no alternative but to sentence you to death. Your execution is so ordered, signed Kodos, Governor of Tarsus IV."
Kodos looked up.
Even from so far away, he could see a small smile forming on Kodos' lips. He looked directly in Jim's direction, and at that moment Jim wondered if Kodos knew he was there. For his eyes lingered on him for a fraction of a second. He recognized the madness in his eyes. However, what scared Jim the most was that even through the insanity, Jim recognized him as the man who said 'checkmate' to him during those long, hot summer nights when he taught him how to play 3D chess. He could still recognize the man who taught him about the world, about history, and for a second made him feel wanted.
And then it began.
The thousands of shots that were fired through the night sky hailing in the dawn of the New Year. Over and over the guards fired their guns. They weren't even phasers. Instead they used the ancient weapons of the past: the guns with bullets, with gunpowder.
He heard the screams. He heard the cries. He saw the rivers of red that ran through the stone platform of the coliseum that penetrated between the stone tiles to forward stain the ground red with blood. The air smelt like iron. It tasted like death, sorrow and sadness.
And all he could do was stand there and watch. All he could do was stand on that stone ledge and watch helplessly as four thousand died in front of him, as four thousand people were murdered in cold blood.
Most of all, his throat felt so, so raw.
"Jane!"
"Jane!"
"Stop it!"
Jack!
His eyes, that he hadn't noticed he had firmly shut, snapped open. Jack's arms were on his shoulders. He was shaking him furiously. He immediately closed his mouth. He had been screaming.
"God Jane," Jack hissed; however, there was very little malice in his voice. His hands dropped from Jim's shoulders. He turned to look at Jennifer and Jude. They both looked visibly pale.
He had failed. He had failed Aiko. He failed Kevin. He failed them all. All those people dying or dead in the coliseum. Kodos had told him. He really did think 'tomorrow is a dawn of a new era' had meant dawn. That would have many hours to plan a resistance, not until the stroke of midnight.
"We should see if there are any survivors," Jude muttered.
Jim looked up. Of course, Jude didn't have any blood relatives living on Tarsus, but Tsuneha and Aiko did. Their whole family had been invited. Jim nodded.
By the time they found an opening, the cries and moans had already died down. None of them had the stomach to scale the wall. It was only a person and a half in height.
Kodos and his soldiers had long disappeared. The spot lights had been turned off. The only light was from the moons of Tarsus.
The ground was sticky. The air tasted more like iron here than on the other side.
Jim quickly looked away when he spotted bloodied claw marks along the east wall. There was a pile of bodies scattered at the base of another.
His friends had gone off in different directions. He noted how Jennifer walked slowly, stopping at each body. He watched her tenderly place two fingers along the neck of each body she passed. He noted how she would turn away in disappointment.
Jude was more frantic. He barely gave most of the bodies a passing glance, but Jim could understand that. There were thousands, thousands of bodies here: four thousand bodies. And he had to find Tsuneha and Aiko's parents and grandparents.
Jack fell in between. He didn't walk as fast as Jude, but he also didn't stop at each body like Jennifer did. However, he too seemed to be looking for somebody. He never did ask their friends if they had family here. He had just assumed Jack and Jennifer didn't.
He didn't have time for regrets. He had to find Joan and Tom. He had promised Kevin.
He chose to go north, north where Kodos' main back door was.
He felt sick walking through the sea of bodies. The horror on their faces… it was the last look on most of these colonists' faces.
He suddenly felt sick.
Jim gripped his stomach and looked away.
But he couldn't escape. He couldn't escape the heavy iron smell that laced the air.
He stumbled forward.
All of the faces… all the nameless people that he never got to know but was supposed to have saved.
His nausea subsided to anger.
"Kodos…" He muttered under his breath. He would never forget that name. He would never forget that man's face, his eyes, his voice…
"I'll revenge you all."
"Jane! Jude! Jack!" Jennifer's voice pierced through the stadium.
Jim immediately turned towards his friend's cries. Jennifer was only a few feet away. She was stumped over on the ground. She seemed to be cradling something in her lap. Jim realized it was a person. She seemed to be talking to them.
He was the closest. His heart nearly dropped as he approached Jennifer.
"Ja… Jane?" She reached for him with one hand. With the other, she had it over her chest. Jennifer's hand was also over her hand. Jim could tell it was covering a wound. Red blood was seeping profusely from under her hand.
Jim fell to her side and immediately took her hand.
"Ms.… Ms. Kimura," Jim choked out.
He looked up at Jennifer. Her eyes were red from crying.
Ms. Kimura creased his cheek. "O… oh Jane… I'm so sorry." She muttered. "So sorry."
"No…" Jim shook his head, profusely. He placed his own hands over her hand before cupping them with his fingers. They felt so cold, so boney… so covered in wrinkles. "Nothing to be sorry about," Jim continued. He looked up at Jennifer who nodded quickly in agreement.
"Jude will be here soon, Ms. Kimura." Jennifer continued for him.
She smiled at them. Her chocolate brown eyes were so warm and inviting. Just like the first day he had met her so many years ago. Just like every time had taught them. Jim suddenly regretted never paying attention to her lessons. That he never got to talk to more about her past… after her adventures… got her to teach him more than xenolinguists.
No…
No...
He couldn't think like that. She was going to be fine.
"Hold on," Jim muttered. He clenched her hand tighter.
Her smile got wider.
"You… you going to tell me I'm fine?" She asked humorously.
"You will." Jim stated. His blue eyes steeled with conviction. She couldn't die. She was Hoshi Sato. She couldn't die here on Tarsus.
She smiled. She raised her other hand, the one covered in blood to cover Jim's hands. This one was warm and sticky. Jim chose to not look at it.
"D… don't lie to me now. I… I know it's bad."
Jim shook his head. She couldn't die. She couldn't. She was a hero of the Federation, a member of Archer's legendary crew.
"No…" Jim shook his head, again. "You'll be fine. Right, Jennifer?" He pleaded to his friend.
Jennifer bit her lips but nodded hurriedly through her tears.
"See! You have to be fine." Jim continued frantically. "We'll find a medic. Starfleet will be here soon." He knew he was rambling now. "Aiko's probably got through to them by now. They'll be here soon. Warp drive ain't so slow anymore. Can't take them four weeks."
She took a deep breath and smiled again.
"Star… fleet… it's a long time since I heard that name." She gasped. Her body shuttered. Jennifer tightened her hold. She coughed up a mouthful of blood.
"And… and you'll see them soon," Jim continued.
She smiled. She shook her head. "No… no it's time for me to go…"
"No!" Jim shouted out. "You can't! You… you got to teach us more."
She chuckled through the blood. "Never… never taught you anything, child. Too smart…"
Jim shook his head. "No… no that's not true."
She smiled again. She looked at them both long and hard. "D…don't lie to an old woman." She chided between her shutters. "May…maybe I can teach you one thing. Look at me children."
They both nod.
"It… it's too late for me, but… you two… you got your whole lives ahead of you. You got to live… got to tell the world…"
"We will," Jennifer muttered before her sobs.
Jim nodded.
"And… tell Johnathan… tell him… it was a pleasure… to serve with him…" Her eyes closed. She took her last breath. Her hand went limp. Jim looked up at Jennifer. Tears streamed from her eyes. Jack reached them, moments later.
He managed to loosen Jim's hand from Ms. Kimura.
Jude arrived seconds later. He fell to his knees. Jim backed up. He looked up at Jack. His friend looked horrible. He knew his face wasn't any better.
"We… we got to get out of here, Jane," Jack stated.
Jim turned. He knew that Jack was right.
Nobody could have survived. Kodos made sure of that. He didn't know much about medicine nor was he a doctor, but he knew enough to know that a normal wound shouldn't bleed that much. Ms. Kimura hadn't even been shot in a critical area. In fact most of the people hadn't been shot in critical areas. There shouldn't have been so much blood.
Kodos… Kodos must have done something.
But then he remembered the little boy waiting for him… the little boy who he promised to bring his parents back. No, he… he had to find Tom and Joan. He knew he probably couldn't save them, but he had to know. He had to remember, but he had too.
"Kevin's parents… I got to find them." Jane stated. He took off to the sound of Jack calling out his name.
He plowed through the stadium. The body of hundreds that he couldn't help, the nameless thousands who he had been too slow... too weak to save.
He found Tom and Joan near the east entrance. They looked like they hadn't tried to run. Thomas' arms were wrapped around Joan, while Joan was clenching Thomas just as tightly. He didn't even have to step closer to know. Jim choked out a cry.
"I'm soo… sorry." He muttered to the dead who couldn't hear him.
"Jane."
He looked up. It was both Jennifer and Jack. Jude was only a few steps behind them.
"We should go."
Jim nodded.
It was true. There wasn't anything they could do for these people, but there were still four thousands citizens in Tarsus who needed to know what Kodos had done.
Jim nodded.
They ran for the caves. They didn't even try to be discreet this time. They all knew there wasn't any point anymore. Kodos had already succeeded. They had failed.
They weren't even a few meters from the arena when Jim saw it: the flash of lights in the dark sky… the loud bangs that thundered overhead. He felt the heat on the back of his neck. He didn't even have to turn around to know that Kodos' men had dropped a series of fire bombs into the arena… another weapon from a bygone era.
They are going to burn the bodies. They are going to reduce them to ashes so nobody will know.
But he'll know… they'll know.
He now understood what Hoshi Sato was trying to say with her last breath.
He won't forget. He'll never forget.
He gritted his teeth and ran faster.