Chapter 2: The Pillar

Everything changed.

Mr. Dimitri had immediately pulled Meno back into the small wooden house and made him gather all their provisions into the woven basket.

“Leave on the Eastern side. The trees are thick, which messes with their comms equipment. You must be ready to leave at any time.”

“But, I’m not going to…”

“Meno,” he said sharply, “this is no longer up for discussion. If we get a chance, you take it.”

Meno had never seen him like this before. He just sat at the table watching the old soldier, trying to take it all in, his head was swimming with thousands of thoughts. He couldn't concentrate. He couldn't understand.

“A Pillar?” he asked, the words slipping out unfiltered, “For…us? That’s a fucking warship isn't it?”

“Language”, Mr. Dimitri admonished reflexively.

The old man looked at him for a moment, then sat at the table. The adrenaline was fueling his body, and he would hurt later. He took a breath and looked at Meno with intensity. He calmed himself before speaking.

“You know why all of us were sent here, yes?” Mr. Dimitri asked.

“Yes, but…”

“This has been an operation run by House Dorlec. This is not a legal operation. It simply cannot be.” Meno just stared at him. It was the first time Mr Dimitri had ever spoken to him anything…real. “With Hellen’s passing, they are clearly packing it all up. Before you ask, I don't know what it was for, I don’t know why. That is a Dorlec ship. Did you see the Diamond shape with the lines through it on the Pillar?”

“No. What?” Meno’s head was now looping in on itself. What the hell was happening here?

“No matter. They are a nasty bunch, no moral core. They believe they are better than everyone else,” he said, standing. He picked up the kettle and placed it on the windowsill.

“She hated when you did that”, Meno said, his mind clinging onto something familiar.

“She hated it because it tells the guards that I want to speak with them”, he responded, peering through the window, watching the Pillar. “It doesn't seem like there is much going on there, but we still need to…” He pushed the basket toward Meno. “I know this is a lot, my boy, but you need to pay attention now. Pack your provisions.”

However, with all the initial chaos, two days passed with no movement. The guard rotations continued as usual, and two supply ships landed, only one of which departed again, sending Mr. Dimitri into a tailspin of thought.

Meno recognised them as standard supply freighters, the same kind he’d seen before, but something about them seemed different to the old soldier.

“Just a resupply,” he muttered to himself again. He was crouching low, watching from the window.

Life, unnervingly, carried on as usual in the little town named after the moon of Gol. Meno hadn’t slept either night, and he suspected Mr. Dimitri hadn’t either.

The old soldier would leave the house at night, under the cover of darkness, creeping into the woods. He had asked Meno not to follow him, not to wait in the street, and not to look out the window when he went.

“They will have their eyes on any movement”, he would say.

“Won’t they pick you up?”

“A Pillar has just landed on the moon that I live on, I’m going to have questions”. He came back each night disappointed, though. Despondent, until he noticed Meno watching him.

“I’m sure she’s just trying to find the right time to meet with us,” he’d say, managing a smile.

They spent almost all their time in Miss Hellen’s little house, more than ever before. Meno still went out each morning to gather their mushrooms and herbs. Mr. Dimitri had told him to collect more than usual to pack the basket, which he begrudgingly did.

The house was becoming a prison. The old man didn’t want the Pillar to see how weak he was, hoping instead that they’d wait until he was at his absolute weakest before making a move. He would stand outside and act as though he were much stronger than he really was.

Meno knew he wasn’t, and suspected that wasn’t the reason they hadn’t come into town.

Still, it didn’t stop Mr. Dimitri from trying to prepare him at every opportunity. He reminded him constantly which way to go, how long to wait before heading for the guards’ barracks, and the code word to give to Captain Lawrence when he eventually found her. He had become desperate. Meno started his forms on the second day.

“Good,” the old man said as he saw Meno fall back into his training. It took his mind off things for a moment and gave Meno a way to work through his anxiety. Meno knew it wouldn’t help in the grander scheme of things, but it got them through those tense moments, avoiding them from turning into panic. He had never felt so powerless. And for Mr. Dimitri, it seemed even worse.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Are you going out again tonight?” Meno asked on the third day, taking the bowls after they had finished their dinner. It was sparse, and the old man took less food. Meno knew it was so the basket could be packed fuller for when he needed to leave. It irritated Meno that the old man was not thinking about himself, but one look from Mr. Dimitri had made it clear that it wasn’t up for discussion.

“I won’t be long. Don’t look out the windows,” he said as he walked out the door.

It took him more time than he liked to admit to get in and out of the forest on the outskirts of town, but he pressed on, trying not to appear weak under the watchful eyes of the Pillar. Even at night, it loomed, stretching across the sky, blocking out any light from the sky behind it.

It had been almost twenty years since he’d last seen one. He imagined this must be what the inhabitants of the planets he’d once been deployed to felt, the first time they laid eyes on that imposing monolith.

He had served on a Pillar once.

The 37th Reon Battalion had been under the command of Guy Reyes, serving the Hulfean House at the end of the war.

That Pillar had been named Gram, and it was in far worse condition than the one now hanging above the town.

He couldn’t tell the name of this one. It looked like the same model used during the war, though he knew better than to judge it by its exterior. What mattered was what it held inside.

Each Pillar could house two thousand soldiers, hundreds of fighter ships, and just as many tanks aboard carriers. Each was designed to take over countries on planets, and they were very effective at it. They would distort gravity fields, instil deep vibrations into a planet's crust, causing enormous earthquakes and cut communications, leaving a planet completely isolated. That would all be before they sent in the army and started shooting.

He managed his way through the damp forest floor and eventually came to the meeting spot. Taking his usual position on the rock, and waited, twisting the walking stick in his hands. His mind ran with thoughts of how he could get the boy out. They had very little to work with, but the boy was strong, clever, and determined. He would make anyone proud.

He wondered if Hellen had been right. If he made the boy run, would they deem him a fugitive? Or was it better to have him turn himself over to them? They could prove that he wasn't sick. His blood had been given multiple times. He had personally handed the blood over to Lawrence, who had it tested.

A crack in the woods made Lor open his eyes.

She was standing there, clad in the exo-suit armour he remembered so well. It was a mix of reinforced metal plating on the shoulders and chest, all held together by a deep blue fibre weave. The sharp, angular patterns made him feel reminiscent for a moment. But it was the helmet that stood out the most. A seamless, glossy black visor completely obscured her face, broken only by the tech integrations on the sides, housing the sensors that fed data into the computer at the back of the helmet. Its hardest point. Around the shoulders and chest, utility pouches and compartments were seamlessly integrated, some better hidden than others, as he recalled. The gold lining along the most prominent plating had faded. And it no longer held the Diamond Cage seal of the Dorlec. He wondered if she had intentionally worn it out.

“Hello, Angie.”

“Captain,” she replied mechanically through the helmet’s modulator. “Guess you’re wondering about our guests.”

“How long do we have?”

“I don't know. We are just receiving orders at the moment, and before you ask,” she added, holding up a gloved hand, “We’re to carry on as usual. They have not asked us any questions. The Pillar has access to our systems. They don’t actually need us”.

Lor Dimitri nodded. He had expected as much. He tapped his ear twice. She returned the gesture with a nod.

“Turned it off,” she said, confirming the status of her comms.

The forest would muffle their voices enough to keep the Pillar from hearing them clearly, but he remained cautious.

“Any news from our old friends?”

“I sent your message. No response,” she said heavily. The helmet distorted her voice, but he could still hear the sigh in it.

He nodded mournfully. He had hoped to hear from them by now.

“The Pillar has access to your systems, so they should be able to see the results from Meno’s blood work, correct?”

She nodded.

“Then they should know that he’s fine.”

She tilted her head to the side, and he understood what she meant. They had been part of an illegal prison camp. They were never going to let him leave. He’d been too hopeful these past few days, letting Hellen’s optimism seep in.

“Who’s in charge?” he asked.

“Commander Sheppard. Young up-and-comer. Just been elevated to Commander by Lord Valentine himself.”

She paused. “He started with an equipment inspection,” she added, knowing Lor would recognise the type. Young, ambitious, strict with the rules, and eager to prove himself.

Their situation couldn’t be worse.

With older commanders, there was always a chance the rules might be bent. But this was the Dorlec, and from what Angie had told him about Valentine, he was a man of strict order.

Lor didn’t know him personally.

He had known of the previous head of the Dorlec, Lord Kasim Hoter, who, from everything Lor remembered, was cut from the same cloth.

“I’m sorry, Captain. There really isn't much that I can do here,” she added, still using the rank he’d been stripped of twenty years ago, back when they fought together.

“We don’t have access to the Pillar. I can’t see…” Lor raised a hand, stopping her.

“It’s alright, Angie,” he said heavily. “If you could, would it be possible to send one more message?”

“I’ll do what I can, Captain”, she replied, her voice distorted through the helmet. She took a moment before starting again. “Captain, I just want to say…” Lor held his hand up once more. He knew what she wanted to say. He wished that she, like Meno, had left this place years ago.

“Thank you, Angie”, he said simply.

He nodded and made his way back through the forest. His heart heavy.

She watched him as he disappeared into the trees. It was hard to reconcile how weak he had become with the strapping Captain Lor Dimitri she had once known, the man who never gave up, the soldier who had earned praise from Guy Reyes himself.

She wanted to tell him how sorry she was, that she couldn't do anything. She wanted to help him like he had always helped her. He vanished into the trees, and she wondered to herself if that would be the last time that she would ever speak to the only person that she had left in this world.