Usan wa Biru mènt nemwe ase
The mountains seem different tonight
December 20th, 2056
"What's your name?" asked the Cindorayi officer.
"Mori Dar na ye?" (What is your name) repeated the interpretor, Omatu Gumira (Unconstrained Equilibrium).
"Rom Mènt Vine Dar oode yèng ko fa" (I am called Simple Forces), answered the handcuffed Adanaya, looking at the collaborator with steely eyes.
The officer asked them if they knew what they were accused of. Simple Forces shook their head.
"You've been distributing seditious leaflets, haven't you?" asked the Cindorayi like a statement, glancing at the prisoner from aside.
"I don't know what you mean." placidly replied the Adanaya.
"We have the proof, you know. And you know it full well. You'll be executed for this", said the officer without any alteration of her voice. "It's truly unfortunate what you force us to do. If you were a thief, it would be alright, we would put you to work and you could become a productive member of society. But this sort of thing, we can't tolerate. Minds are our most precious asset. But you know that, since you picked this battlefield."
"Why are you telling me this? If it's true just kill me. If it isn't, what's the difference anyway?" quietly said the prisoner.
"Do you deny it?"
"I deny it. But you mind is made, so why even bother asking me?"
"Do you know what happens to terrorists and those who enable them, like you?"
Simple Forces remained silent.
"You'll discover soon enough. The rumors fall far short of the truth." she said with an evil grin. "Up there, on the slopes of the volcano, every breath does feel like an asphyxiation. It's rather unpleasant. Now, I know you think you are a hero. You don't care about yourself. You are defending your people from oppression." She paused for maximum effect – Unconstrained Equilibrium knew her tricks. They'd seen her do it a thousand times. "Well you're not. You're grievously mistaken. It's those like you, in fact, who insist on making your people miserable. You sow pain and misery everywhere you go. You could've stayed neutral in the war. We didn't harm the neutrals; we respected their sovereignty. They still live in peace and prosperity. And now, we've given your people a second chance on Cindorya. It's a new world; we thought we could start anew. You have disappointed us at every opportunity. A-11 looks like a prison: you made it into a prison for yourselves. We wanted peace, but you chose war. All this time, you have been the sole authors of your demise. Do you know how much those you claim to be defending will suffer because of you? Now that you've chosen to break the rules, how can we be sure of your family's trustworthiness?"
"Hostages" thought Unconstrained Equilibrium. The officer loved letting prisoners finish her thoughts. She was convinced it made her fantastically vicious. She had built up the pressure. Now she would would offer an alternative to the prisoner.
"Show them you love them and put an end to this violence. Look at them", she said while pointing at Unconstrained Equilibrium. "They were caught trying to throw a bomb at Chief Commander. They ended up killing twelve of your own kind. Such an idiot. Senseless violence, isn't it? That's what we made them realize. Now they and their family live safely under our protection, because they have pledged allegiance to our empire."
Unconstrained Equilibrium could feel the cold contempt they had for them. The prisoner was very subtly lighting up. If they could have they would've insulted them just like that. But they knew the cameras could catch it.
The prisoner's mouth remained utterly shut. This one would be tough.
The officer wasn't one to let go so easily. "Are you afraid we won't keep our word? We are a people of soldiers; honor means everything to us. We promised we would destroy your nation; that's what we did. It wasn't out of cruelty, but of necessity. And now necessity commands that order be restored and that cannons be lowered to the ground.
You can see for yourself that those who have the humility to recognize their mistakes are treated well. They walk freely among you and us."
Outside a column of prisoners marched by in rythm.
Unconstrained Equilibrium's mind started wandering off. They had translated so many of these interrogations that they barely had to be conscious to do the job anymore. They could part their mind in two, let one half run smoothly like a machine, and the other escape from the walls of the compound.
The barracks were neatly aligned around the forbidding bunker-like structure housing the intelligence activities, made of interlocking cubes. The room had a long window running along the entire upper half of the wall, which provided an open perspective on the empty avenues of the central command, the sprawl of tents and shacks of camp A-11 beyond it, and the mountains in the distance.
Some wind was sweeping dust across the alleeways, adding some grey to the sky, over grey buildings, grey roads and grey vehicles. In the distance a haphazardly-built watertower was precariously tilting in the wind. That was beyond the pale delimiting the Cindorayi quarter, which was in essence a glorified barrack with luxury shops and bright cafés.
Besides soldiers, only Cindorayi engineers and their families were willing to come to the Valley. But they were handsomely compensated for the inconvenience of moving so far from civilization. That was unlike the Adanaya, whose arms had been put to use to extract the incredible mineral resources of the Valley. They lived in the shantytown surrounding the central command, between the inner wall and the outer wall beyond which no one could trespass at night. The splendid snowcapped mountains could never be approached; they were only to be dug under. In fact there was no need for the outer wall; the mountains marked the outer limit of the imagination. There was no world beyond them, hence nowhere to escape.
The officer was still at it. "If you don't care to live, at least tell me what you know so others don't need to die miserably like this." She was whispering, half-threatening, half-soothing.
The prisoner was on their knees now, coughing blood. "Awaye", he muttered. Unconstrained Equilibrium declined to translate this unspeakable profanity. They were holding on well, they thought. Quite a bit longer than most of the others.
It went on for several hours. At last they relented.
"Why are you doing this?" yelled out Silent Forces. "I can't take any more. Just finish me off." It seemed a blood-thirsty creature had lacerated their body. They were lying on the ground, grey with deep red stains.
Officer Haraja took out her respectful and dignified face, which she used to hide a triumphant smirk. She helped them up, and sat them back on their chair.
"Tell me what you know and we'll end this."
"What..."
"Who", she corrected gently. At this stage, she acted like a confidante. The metamorphosis was quite spectacular. "Who are you associates? Who printed the leaflets? Where do you store them?"
Their breath was short now. Like in the mountains. "A dream was made... they helped me. They are the only... one I know. We... each know only one... person in the chain."
The officer looked like she had just lost ten years. She was radiating. "What is their role?"
"They distribute... the leaflets that are printed... outside the camp."
This was a bombshell. The resistance networks were not only linked between the camps, but had the means to transport equipment from one to the other. Officer Haraja would surely get promoted.
"Do you know anything else?"
"No... they told me what to do. I just gave them... out."
She nodded. "You see, you can be reasonable too."
Silent Forces closed their eyes. They were drained of all strength. Tears of blood flowed from their forehead. Their arms flailed behind.
"You'll be rewarded. Your family will be safe. Does that make you happy?"
They looked up, with half-opened eyes. The expression was completely blank. Were they seething with anger or thankful beyond measure? A few tears of waters mingled with the blood.
"It's time now. You've done well. I'm proud of you." The officer smiled.
The prisoner closed their eyes again, put their hands over their face. Haraja got closer, as if to embrace them. She took out a small metallic cylinder, and pressed it against the top of their neck. She clicked. When she let go, they fell to the ground. She left the room, beaming with pride. After a few minutes, Silent Forces stopped breathing. Their pulse slowed to a halt, and their skin cooled down.
They were quite handsome, after all.
January 1st, 2057
The room was cold and dreary. The Adanaya rebel leaders were gathered there, in a small bunker high up in the mountains. An unresolved tension hung in the air.
"Rakaw pamawde." (They choose loyalty) announced commander Yane Illa (Great Expectations) with their coarse voice. "The garrison in Yasheron has reaffirmed its loyalty to the emperor, despite the troops in Sennor (Sylvnor) siding with the protestors. Other towns have declared allegiance to the new regime. The latest to do so is Harma, at the southern tip of the lake. They're trapped now."
Captain Lira na Usan (Dream of the evening) seized the occasion. "Commander aKrajam (Flowing waters), it won't be long before the Cindorayi rebellion takes hold of the rest of the territory. When that is done, it'll take care of the remaining pockets of rebellion. Yasheron will be the first target. It's too precious, and an enemy holding it endangers the road to the space base."
Great Expectations asked, "What do you suggest?" bemusedly. Dream of the evening was ever the adventurer.
"We have to strike first. If we want to be respected by the new authorities in Sennor, we need to show out military and organisational abilities. Ideally, the garrison would surrender to us. When the army arrives, we'd already be in charge. We would have freed ourselves. Otherwise, who says what we'll become. Revolt against the emperor doesn't mean freedom for the Adanaya, despite the fancy words used in the declaration of independence. If we want to organize ourselves after it's over, that's the only option."
The others nodded. But naysayers quickly sprang forward. A lieutenant rightfully pointed out that, "We don't have the numbers. And even if we did, they'd never surrender to us. It would be complete dishonor for them. Why would they do such a thing when they can choose to surrender to a Cindorayi general?"
Dream of the Evening was clearly peeved by this comment. "What's the point of this meeting if we can't do anything?"
The lieutenant replied, "We should act realistically. What can we do? We have less than a thousand soldiers, we have a couple dozen armored vehicles, maybe ten surface-to-air batteries, equally few ground-to-ground missile launchers. We have no planes, no long range missiles. What are we going to do? They have twelve thousand troops. I don't even need to go on. We know they'll crush us if we face them head on."
Great Expectations cut the chattering short. "Captain Ramye (Force) is right. If we don't act before the army down south arrives, we'll never have the authority to negociate with Sennor. We all know how little the Cindorayi respect us. We'll only get from Verasha what we can impose on her."
The lieutenant cut him short. "We all know that. How do we impose anything on her?"
Great Expectations contained their irritation at the subordinate's arrogance. "We can't win if we face off against the full brunt of the Cindorayi forces. We need to keep them divided and get them by surprise. We'll be defeated if its drags on. We don't have the numbers to keep up a long fight. Besides, the PRC's forces won't leave us the opportunity for a long fight. That means we have to strike the heart and take it out. Once the center is down, and the army is on its way, there won't be any point dragging on the fight. They'll surrender."
The lieutenant gasped. "Strike A-11? That's impossible!"
Dream of the Evening pounced on the occasion. "It's possible if we attract the bulk of the troops out of the camp and keep them busy."
Again, "How do we keep them busy? We don't have the numbers."
"We don't have the numbers so we have to look like we do. We won't win this with the usual methods. We always knew that."
Great Expectations was about to present the grand master plan. "We can't attack the camps themselves. They're too heavily fortified. But we can attack the mines, which are more valuable and too spread out to be consistently defended. Take a few down, and the whole garrison will be in full alert. What we need is to empty A-11. While we keep up the pressure in the mines, that's when we use our agents in the camps to stir up some trouble. Except A-11 and A-10. A-10 is the smallest camp. If we draw out part of the troops stationed there, get some support inside, we could probably take over with a minimal taskforce of a hundred or so soldiers. If we can keep up the trouble in the other camps, there'll only be one option left for the Cindorayi: send troops from A-11. We can hold the siege long enough for the plan to work, or not, as long as we keep that contingent out of the way. Then, we lit the match within the camp, and strike from without."
A wave of nodding rippled through the room. The lieutenant started saying something, edging on their chair, then fell back. So it was.
A few hours passed. Despite the frenzied activity in the base, it was practically silent. Snow kept pouring from the sky, muting any sounds in the mountain.
In spite of being the author of the plan, Great Expectations was more than a little apprehensive. It appeared quite sound, but its success was contingent on everything going perfectly right. Everything would not go perfectly right. And they had so little time and so few ressources. The task ahead was daunting.
January 3rd, 2057
Great Expectations was swinging back and forth on their chair. When would the news come?
The radio shrieked. "Commander aKrajam here. Can you hear me?" Nobody answered. Another buzz. "Is there anyone?" They started fearing the worst.
"Captain Ramye here."
"Thank the ancestors! Has the mission succeeded?"
"Yes, but... there's something strange happening here."
"What is it?"
"We blew up three mine shafts, but then we realized... there were practically no soldiers guarding them. We took three down, before we realized most of the guard posts were empty. No one in the military command. Not only that, but there were no miners either. We approached camp A-6. Clearly something was going on. We could hear gun shots and saw some smoke rising. You should call our people on the ground to know what's going on."
"Thank you captain. I'll tell you if there is any new information."
What could be the matter? They hadn't yet given the order to start the uprisings.
Well someone else had apparently done it for them, informed their agents. Miners in A-7 had apparently refused to go to work early in the morning. They had been detained. That in itself wasn't overly surprising, especially given the context. But what was was the reaction of the denizens of A-7. A couple hundred had gathered at the gates of the military compound, demanding they be freed. It hadn't gone down very well; quickly the camp had erupted. Within short notice, similar events repeated elsewhere, in A-3, A-9 and without a doubt A-6. At the very moment, crowds were gathering in A-11 and A-10.
Who could be behind this? Verasha hadn't told them anything. There were other rebel groups, but none had the ability to cause such widespread mayhem. What should they do now? This could only help them, couldn't it?
While they were pondering these questions, a radio channel opened. It was unknown.
"Is this commander aKrajam?" asked a shaky voice.
"Yes, that's me. Who are you? Are you behind what's going on in the camp?"
"I am called Lènga Kisaan (Hope). I suppose you could say that. I am contacting you in the name of the Grey Shroud."
"The Grey Shroud? But you were destroyed with A-1!" exclaimed Great Expectations. It was the name of the main resistance group behind the only major uprising since the resettlement on Cindorya, in 2052. It had overrun A-1, the main camp and de facto capital of the valley of Yasheron. But the Cindorayi armed forces had gotten the better of it, and had reduced the entire camp to smoking rubbles, executing practically all of its former inhabitants. It then built A-11 right across from the river from A-1, leaving the ruins for all to see. The repression had been tremendously harsh. On top of the 17,000 Adanaya who had died in A-1, thousands more had 'vanished' in the remaining camps.
"We were nearly wiped out, but we survived. We reformed."
Great Expectations was thrilled to hear this good news, but also felt a sense of unease. "I am glad to hear that. But what do you want?"
"We need your help. We both want to free our kin. We have little time to do so. The PRC's forces are marching towards the valley. We need to act before they get here. We can't afford to wait for Cindorayi's mercy, however good their professed intentions are. We know your plan."
"How...!" Great Expectations was taken aback. The rebellion had been infiltrated at the highest level, and they didn't even know of the continued existence of this organization!
"We'll talk about this later. We had to keep things as secret as possible. Couldn't risk the same thing as in A-1."
"Alright." begrudgingly said Great Expectations.
"You can't capture A-11 in normal circumstances. We can provide you with the abnormal circumstances in which you can."
January 5th, 2057
It was only a matter of time now. The Cindorayi troops had lost control of most of A-11, or what was left of it. In the chaos of the past two days, a bunch of ragtag rebels had descended from the mountains and encircled the central command. The inner wall was breached in numerous sections, but for the time being, the Adanaya rebels, were kept at bay.
General Rogon was staring out the window. The snow storm had not abated since the events of late December. Down in the valley, it was uncommon enough for it to snow, due to the warm microclimate. Such a blizzard had simply never been witnessed since colonization had begun. It gave the fighting a surreal atmosphere. The blown-up buildings were now buried under a good meter of snow. The camp seemed to be made up of thousands of little white mounds. The shells caused a momentary commotion; then, all of a sudden, everything returned to its former stillness.
Sergeant Arsov entered the room and saluted. "General, we have bad news. The frontline has been breached at Velchin. The secessionists will soon be at the gates."
"Thank you, sergeant. You may resume duty."
"Yes, general." He departed.
Rogon turned towards Major Karika. "The sooner the better. We just need to hold on until then."
"Those savages will pay for it." she sneered. "We can't let them savour victory. Whatever happens, the emperor will soon put an end to this rebellion. And all who disobeyed will suffer dearly."
They returned to their still contemplation. Whatever their words, they were both exceedingly worried. It was just a pose. The general continously tapped his fingers on the window sill.
A detonation shook the building. The general rushed outside.
"What's going on?" he yelled in the corridor. An aide de camp quickly came to him. "There is a breach at level -3. We are stil evaluating how many intruders have entered the building."
"The building is breached! Prepare for combat! Join your units!" ordered the general. Soon would not be soon enough.
Several others buildings shook in the area.
Thanks to infitrated agents, the rebel troops had found their way around the network of underground tunnels undetected.
The Cindorayi fought well, but they were quickly overwhelmed, less by the rebel troops themselves than by the mass of hastily armed inhabitants of the camp, who were pouring in through the breaches in the wall. Communications within the central command had broken down.
"This is general Rogon, speaking to all units. I order you to cease resistance and to surrender. Follow the orders of the enemy troops and you will not be harmed. You fought well, soldiers." Rogon cut the radio and turned towards his captors. There was Tunye kam Gaya (Endless Ascent), leader of the Grey Shroud, and Great Expectations. Outside the compound, gunshots slowly stopped.
"We won't harm you." said Endless Ascent. "We need you."
"And why is that?"
"We need to judge you for your crimes against the Adanaya and against your own people." He ordered him to be carried away.
Endless Ascent and Great Expectations remained where they were for a couple minutes. They walked out on the balcony. The freezing wind hit their faces like a whip. It was evening now, and towards the south, the blizzard was clearing somewhat. A few weak sunrays reached them from behind the peaks.
"Usan wa biru mènt nemwe ase" (The mountains seem different tonight), said Great Expectations tersely. "They aren't the walls of our prison anymore. They're the walls of our home now." Endless Ascent nodded. After a while, they returned to their duties.
Outside the room, Endless Ascent was stopped by one of their agents. "Can I do what I was promised?"
"Yes, you may. She would've been sentenced anyway. We owe it to you for getting us in." As Endless Ascent walked out, they shook something off of their hands.
In a room with a long wall-to-wall window, a Cindorayi was bound to the chair. An Adanaya entered.
"Officer Haraja, I'm glad you survived." said Unconstrained Equilibrium.
She replied nothing.
"You don't have anything to tell me. I know everything you know. There's just one last thing I'd like to tell you."
She stared at him emotionless.
"Simple Forces lied to you. Unknowingly, admittedly. There is no such person as A dream was made. Your searches would have led nowhere. I would know, since that was my codename."
She frowned.
"It'll be quick. Please look at me."
