A Sol of Ends and Beginnings, Part 5
Beck
“This is the Secretary-General,” Murad said.
The calm voice of the Secretary-General came through the radio, covering the screams of the dying Unit H soldiers and the footage of their machines in the middle of being torn to shreds by the Roland. Unable to wave while in the middle of her work, Dorothy instead winked. “Hey again, Secgen!”
“I see things are going well,” Murad said.
“Yeah, they are.” Dorothy scanned her surroundings. Her computer marked any disabled autoritters which still had upper body function or whose pilots still had intact vac suits. Then she corrected that in the next few seconds. “I believe this entire prong of the Austrian spearhead has been wiped out. I’m moving south to relieve New Novgorod.”
“Good, good,” Murad said.
“You don’t sound particularly excited, Secgen.”
To be fair, I don’t either. It’s getting harder and harder to keep this front up. “Cheer up, pops. The rest of your army can sortie now.”
“That’s why I’m calling,” Murad said, “The UN has begun its counterattack. The main battles will take place around Aesirlingby, but General Konstantinov has agreed to transfer several divisions to your direct command.”
“Hold on a moment, though,” Dorothy said, “Me? A field commander? Look, I signed up to be the Roland’s pilot, but you said nothing about commanding troops!”
“Word of your achievements is spreading,” Murad said, “Morale is rising again. Even before our counterattack began, the defenders of Khrushchev started pushing back the Austrians. Because of what you’re doing, everybody’s regaining hope. I think it would be best if they got their orders directly from you instead of me or Konstantinov.”
Dorothy sighed. “Well, as long as they listen to me, then sure.”
“Great,” Murad said, “I’ve put you on the relevant frequencies. Use them as you see fit. Dismissed.”
“Thanks, Secgen!” Dorothy disconnected and then tuned to the new frequencies. “Alright, listen up, defenders of Earth! It’s your girl, Dorothy! You got a problem with my voice, take it up with Mr. Secgen in Central Authority! Anyways, we got a war to win! Now’s the time to fight back against the Empire! Now’s our chance to drive them back to Olympus Mons! Attack!”
The radio was filled with cheers.
“Down with the Empire!”
“Democracy is nonnegotiable!”
“This is for Ramanujan Station and Phobos Base!”
“For a free Mars and a restored Earth!”
“We’re not done yet, medieval LARPers!”
Dorothy set a course for New Novgorod. Just as she prepared to switch to wheeled mode, though, another voice came over the public frequency. A voice that made her blood run cold.
“SIEG ANNIONA!”
Dorothy froze in her tracks, her feet still halfway through the motions for wheeled mode. Her entire body stopped responding for one long and agonizing second. Something in the back of her mind, in the most primal part of her brain, screamed at her to run all the way back to Beck and hide. As much as she tried to suppress it, she recognized that voice. It was a voice she hadn’t heard in years and wished she never had to hear again. She had hoped
he died on Earth with the others. But of course that wasn’t the case. After so long running from her demons, they had caught up with her.
Her cameras picked up an approaching autoritter. A normal Austrian sword-wielding model, like the dozens she had already cut down, but she was concerned with the man inside. Using all of her willpower to regain control of her body, she put the Roland into a defensive stance. The enemy was approaching from a too obvious angle—right in front of her. There was a good chance a second enemy might attack from behind. She tasked her computer with watching her back while her eyes focused on the autoritter in front of her.
The autoritter stopped about a hundred feet away from the Roland and drew its sword. Dorothy’s radio crackled as the other pilot once again spoke over the public frequency.
“Is that you?” The color drained from Dorothy’s face. There was no doubt left in her mind. “Can it really be? Oh, what luck!” Dorothy felt her hands subconsciously clenching so tightly her knuckles started going white. Durendal wavered in the Roland’s grip.
“What misfortune, actually,” Dorothy finally responded, all of the enthusiasm in her voice replaced with a tired determination, “That we meet here.”
“Oh, oooohhh!” In the many years since they had last met, it seemed
he had lost it.
His words were obviously weirdly chosen, but
his tone was also ecstatic and delirious, yet still held that same maliciousness she was all too familiar with. “It
is you! I caught up with you at last! Oh, how God smiles upon me after all I’ve gone through! Now I can finally get my revenge! I’ll bury you, for everything you did to ruin me!”
“What…happened to you?” Dorothy asked.
“Oh, it hurts, it hurts!”
he said. “The radiation, the pain, the weightlessness, the gravity, it’s all goddamn wrong! My head and bones and blood hurt and hurt and IT JUST DOESN’T STOP!”
I can’t make sense of this. He’s lost his mind. But I can still sense a hint of reservation. As if he’s playing it up. Like he’s trying to hide his true thoughts.
“I’ll use your organs to replace my own, and I’ll use your blood to free myself from the radiation!”
he said. “How about it, sound fair?!”
Dorothy gritted her teeth, trying to maintain a level mind.
He’s trying to rile me up, get me to lose myself in rage, then use that to give the ambusher behind me an opening. Her computer registered nothing behind her yet, but she knew someone was there. And if not, they would soon be there.
“I’m paying you back with interest for everything you’ve done to me!”
he said. “And then I’ll be rewarded handsomely by Lord Julius. I think I deserve that autoritter of yours, too. It’s only fair!”
At this point, Dorothy didn’t even remember what she did. She did, however, know exactly what
he did to her, back in the old Reich.
“It was your meddling that made me this way,”
he said, “I knew I should’ve left you behind when Mother and Father died. It’s your damn fault!”
She remembered every single reason she ditched her entire old life and requested asylum in Avalon.
“Think you’ll die quick?”
His autoritter shook its head. “Nah. I’ll enjoy your suffering.”
Dorothy shook her head. She had feared those words would have hit her much harder. But even though they were almost identical to everything thrown at her back then…she was barely moved. The voice in the back of her head telling her to run had stopped. After many years of going through contingency plans and hypothetical situations for
his return—rehearsed and run through her head without even mentioning
his name—she felt absolutely nothing when it finally happened. All of
his threats no longer held any power over her. She had been free for years. And she was still free today.
“Shut the hell up.” Her voice was quiet but clear.
“Huh?”
he said. “Hurts to hear the truth, doesn’t it?”
“You think you can pass judgment on me?” Dorothy slowly raised her voice. “It’s been years. You don’t know me anymore.” There was no reasoning with
him, even if he was fully sane. She had tried that before. Just like before, it was a waste of time to genuinely try talking to
him. Right now,
he was beyond help. “Get out of my way. I won’t repeat myself.”
“You’re not going anywhere,”
he said, “Because Lord Julius has ordered me to rid this planet of all of his enemies, and I shall carry out his will!”
“How pathetic,” Dorothy said, “Always trying to impose your will upon me, yet you yourself are enslaved to another’s will. If you were any other man, I’d show pity. Know that I have my own will, my own hopes and dreams that are my own. You never could comprehend that.”
“I am part of something greater!”
he said. “You are the ones who cannot comprehend the grand vision Julius envisions for Terrankind. A vision which has no need for useless relics like Earth…or failures like you.”
“I and countless millions share the same hopes and dreams.” Dorothy remained resolute. “Millions who remember the mistakes of the past so they don’t repeat them in the future. We all have lost someone on Earth. Even now, millions are suffering on that distant blue dot, while we’re stuck over here on the red wastes killing each other. We all just want the killing to stop. We want to protect what we still have. And most of all, we want to go back and rebuild our homes. Because Earth is humanity’s home, our common birthright, and we owe it to ourselves and the next generation to make it habitable again. If you want to deny us our birthright, if you stand in the way of shared future, if you want to destroy our hopes and dreams…” She activated Durendal’s plasma blade. “Then I won’t waste my mercy on you. I will
end you so thoroughly that there will be nothing for your precious Lord Julius to recover. I don’t care if you were once my brother. I will cut you down where you stand…
Theodor.”
“Excellent…” Theodor said, his words dripping with a mad glee, “EXCELLENT! I’m getting some primetime entertainment with you! I do hope you’ll scream for me…Dorothea.”
“Make no mistake.” Roland got into an attacking stance. “The Dorothea Tesla you know has been gone for decades. The woman you see before you—the free woman you have no power over—is not that scared girl you once tormented. I am not your sister. I am not Dorothea Tesla. I am Dorothy. Just Dorothy.” Her computer’s proximity alarm beeped. “And I will not run again!”
Theodor charged at Dorothy. She felt no panic, no fear, as
he drew closer and closer. Dorothea would have curled up and begged for mercy. But not Dorothy. She wasn’t going to ask for mercy, nor give it. She steeled her whole body, devoting her entire mind to a single action. A younger her would have hoped for a different resolution to this sad tale, but there was only one way forward. As Theodor pulled back, preparing to stab out, Dorothy raised Durendal…and spun around, dodging an incoming stab to her back from the Balmung. The Balmung’s sword instead pierced clean through the body of Theodor’s autoritter. Its blade emerged on the other side, covered in blood which quickly dried in the cold and thin Martian air. Theodor didn’t even get the chance to scream.
You don’t deserve anything from me, you monster. I’m thankful he’s still in his autoritter. I don’t need to see his face.
While Angelica adjusted her stance to pull her sword out of Theodor’s autoritter, Dorothy was still swinging Durendal above her, now bringing it down her enemy. Angelica engaged wheeled mode and barely reversed in time, throwing up a small cloud of dust and pebbles. The edge of Durendal’s plasma blade nicked the Balmung’s front armor, leaving a shallow gash of melted metal and paint.
“Well played.” Angelica’s heavily Norman-accented German came across the radio. “Seems they didn’t field you for nothing. That's the first time I've ever missed with that attack. You have my respect for that.”
“Well, well.” Dorothy smirked, gaining back some of her cockiness. She too spoke in German for the first time in years. “Angelica Neumann, the Empire’s very own Valkyrie of Alençon, has deigned to grace us with her presence. Though your attack doesn’t feel very honorable, if I do say so myself. Aren’t you guys obsessed with chivalry?”
“Chivalry takes second priority to victory on the battlefield,” Angelica said, “I believe you’d know better than anybody, Dorothy of UN special forces.”
Dorothy bowed her head. “Guess the secret had to come out eventually. Point taken. Doesn’t excuse your hypocrisy, though.”
“It was my lord’s will that we do whatever it takes to achieve victory,” Angelica said.
Dorothy scoffed and rolled her eyes. “You can’t absolve yourself of the horrible things you did by pushing them on someone else, you
khoroshiy-russkiy. You think you can run from your sins that easily by shoving them on your emperor? Hell no. I don’t blame Secgen for everything I do on assignment. Everything I’ve done is mine and mine alone. The lives I’ve taken, all the ones I’ve left behind to die…why would I shove it on anybody else? I know what I signed up to do, and why I’m doing it. To deny it is to deny who I am—no, who I choose to be.”
“That’s fair,” Angelica acknowledged, “You seem to be a woman of principles.”
“And how would you know that?”
“I did a little research just now, and that’s my conclusion.”
“All you need to know is that I’m Dorothy,” Dorothy said, “Nothing more, nothing less. Who you see here is who I am. I am Dorothy, the cheerful and bubbly engineer who gets lost and falls flat on her face sometimes. Dorothy the repairwoman. Dorothy the inventor. Dorothy the soldier. Dorothy, who built some semblance of a new life after the hell she went through. Dorothy, who will do everything in her power to protect that life and everybody in it. All that is me. I am Dorothy because I cannot—
will not—return to being Dorothea Tesla.”
“Very well, Dorothy,” Angelica said, “I will honor your wish.”
“Now are you going to shut up and fight me?” Dorothy said.
“If that is what you want, then by all means, we can begin.” Angelica raised her sword. “It’s been a long time since I had such an intriguing opponent. Do put up a challenge.”
“You’re going to pull all sorts of nasty tricks against me, huh?” Dorothy disengaged Durendal’s plasma blade to conserve energy. “Typical Austrians. Just like you betrayed UNAP.”
“UNAP betrayed us, for the record,” Angelica said, “But we are two enemy soldiers, and politics has no place on the battlefield. If you are concerned about subterfuge and deception, then let me put your mind at ease.”
Dorothy raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
“I propose an honorable duel to the death,” Angelica said, “A joust, if you will, with everyone around us as witnesses. Both of us will be free to use whatever tools are at our disposal. Our autoritters, the wreckage of other autoritters, the surrounding terrain. No cheap shots. The victor will be determined solely based on our skills. Nobody else will interfere. This I swear.”
“How do I know this isn’t another trick?” Dorothy said.
“This
is the public frequency, remember? How would we be talking otherwise?”
Dorothy, you ditz. How did you forget something so obvious? Well, it’s not like I’m leaking classified information or anything. Though Secgen might be fuming right now. “…Right, right. So?”
“So then…” Angelica took a deep breath. “Hear me well, my fellow imperial subjects! I, Lady Angelica Neumann, the Valkyrie of Alençon, have challenged UNAP’s champion to a joust!”
“We’re seriously sticking with that name?” Dorothy muttered.
“An honorable joust!” Angelica continued. “The two of us shall duel to the death, relying on our own skills and ingenuity, not on anybody else. Nobody shall interfere. I will personally cut down anybody who does. Even His Majesty himself.”
“I’ll hold you to that, Ms. Valkyrie,” Dorothy said.
“Please, call me Angelica,” Angelica said, “It’s only right, since I call you Dorothy.”
“What is the meaning of this?!” Over the public frequency, Dorothy heard a young man’s voice, speaking with a regal tone and a heavy accent that definitely wasn’t Austrian. “Explain yourself, Lady Neumann!”
“Stay out of this, Julius,” Angelica said, “I have made up my mind.”
“Do you know what you’re doing?!” Julius said.
“I am an imperial knight!” Angelica said. “I mean every word of what I say!”
“Don’t say such silly things!” Julius said. “We are at war! This is no time for childish games!”
“Look, kiddo, the lady’s made up her mind,” Dorothy said, “We’ve decided to do this, so you best let us do it.”
“What did you just call me?!”
“I’m not wrong, though. I’m old enough to be your mother.”
“You shut up, enemy!”
“Why don’t you come here and
make me?” Dorothy stuck out her tongue, even though she knew Julius couldn’t see it.
“Dorothy, what the hell are you doing?!” Murad said, over the private Central Authority frequency.
“Angelica and I’ve come to a mutual understanding of sorts,” Dorothy said, “We’re going to have ourselves a little one on one,
mano a mano. You’re not going to stop us.”
Then Clara’s voice came over the radio. “Dorothy, remember who you’re up against! That’s the Valkyrie of Alençon herself!”
“Oh hey, Clara.” Dorothy’s face genuinely lit up for the first time since she had launched. “Uh…you caught me at a bad time. Yeah, I know. I’m on a first-name basis with Ms. Valkyrie here already.”
Granted, I don’t have a last name, so…
“You promised!” Clara said. “You said you wouldn’t do anything reckless!”
“Just one day has been enough to devastate their front lines,” Dorothy said, making sure Angelica heard her response over the public frequency, “And this bad boy’s got
so many improvements that the Austrians
sorely lack!”
“Angelica!” Julius had also dropped the formalities. “You have no time to waste on an insignificant soldier like her! Your emperor commands you to conquer Beck! It’s literally right there!” There was the sound of furious tapping. “Captain Higa! I want you to fire
Gradivus’ primary railguns on grid N5 immediately! … What do you mean you can’t? … Below the horizon?!”
Angelica heard papers rustling on the other side of the private frequency. “Konstantinov, I need you to send five tank divisions to rendezvous with Dorothy and the Roland ASAP!”
“Yes sir!”
“It’s no use,” Dorothy said, “We’ll be done by the time anybody gets there. And I have a feeling that whoever wins will decide how this battle ends.”
“She’s right,” Angelica said, “We’re our sides’ champions. The side that loses its champion will lose their morale, and there won’t be any point in continuing the battle.”
“No, I will not risk it!” Julius said. “Hold on, I am on my way!”
“While I appreciate the gesture, kiddo, leave this fight to the grownups,” Dorothy said.
“
Julian.” That provoked another gasp from the boy emperor. “You should be more concerned that UNAP may use this as a diversion to strike our forces elsewhere.”
“You hear that, Secgen?” Dorothy said. “Our duel might be the stuff of legends, but don’t let me catch you slacking off! You’ve got the rest of the battle to fight!”
“How did it even come to this…” Murad muttered. “Konstantinov, you heard her!”
“Wait, am I supposed to send the tank divisions or what?”
“I don’t know, figure it out!”
“You better win,” Livia said, “Someone’s got to liberate Piddletown!”
“Yeah, yeah, bosslady,” Dorothy said, “That much’s a given. Been craving some New Jerusalem-style crab pizza lately.”
“Dorothy, please!” Clara said. “Think about what you’re doing!”
“Oh, I know full well what I’m doing and how this will probably end,” Dorothy said, “But somebody’s got to take a stand here.”
“Even knowing the outcome, you’re still going to fight?”
“Let it be known to everybody listening in that I hate doing any of this,” Dorothy said, “I’d rather go back up to
Fraternity and test my other prototypes. But if I’m in a position where my inventions and I can save lives, I can’t back down. If I did, then I might as well have killed those people. I’ll stomach my own feelings if it means I can protect the people I love and the civilization I’ve helped build. Everybody’s counting on me. We lost almost everything 21 years ago. I’m not about to stand by and lose the rest of it.”
“But you could—”
“Die? If I die, I die. Someone else will pick up after me. I mean, that’s why I had you hold onto my notebook, right?”
“But the classified information—”
Dorothy laughed. “It’s all out in the open now. I don’t think anyone would mind.”
“You can’t be seriously laughing at a time like this!” Clara said. “We’re talking about your life! I doubt anybody could replace a mind like yours! What would we do without you?”
“Why should I be concerned?” Dorothy said. “I’m going to die eventually.
Somebody’s got to fill in my shoes at some point. Might as well choose how I die and save as many lives as I can.”
“We’ve got those tank divisions on the way, you don’t need to do this!” Clara said.
Dorothy shook her head. “No. I’ve got to do my part. What good’s my work if I can’t use it in a way that helps people?”
Clara couldn’t figure out how to respond for a little bit. “You know, you can be really stubborn when you act like that.”
“I’m sorry,” Dorothy said, “I guess I overdid it again. No, not overdid it. That’s as much a part of me as the Dorothy you know.”
“I guess I can’t convince you, huh?” Clara said. “Do you know what Doctor Papadopoulos would say if he were here?”
“Oh, I imagine he’d flip out and say a bunch of things I probably don’t want to enter into the historical record with the rest of this conversation,” Dorothy said, “But if you do see him again, tell him that everything I did today was for him, you, and all of free humanity. And tell him I said thanks for looking after me the last 21 years. He was the closest thing I had to a dad.”
“Don’t speak as if you’re already dead, goddamnit!”
“I’m just covering my bases,” Dorothy said, “I haven’t given up at all. On the contrary.”
“Just…promise me, Dorothy,” Clara said, “Promise me and the doc. Promise me you’ll come back. When this is all over, we can go to that pizza place in Piddletown.”
Dorothy smiled. “I’d love that. In return, promise me something, Clara.”
“What is it?”
“Don’t watch. I’m going to become a demon on the wastes, so please…”
Dorothy knew that promise couldn’t be kept. As their earlier conversation proved, Clara cared too much about her that she couldn’t help but worry when Dorothy put herself in danger.
“Alright, I promise.”
“Friend’s honor?”
It was fitting, then, that Dorothy probably wouldn’t be able to keep her end either. “Friend’s honor.” She looked at Angelica. “I believe I’ve finished my preparations, Angelica.” The Roland gripped Durendal with two hands. “Why don’t we get this joust started?”
“By all means.” Angelica readied the Balmung in an attacking stance. “May the best knight win. Give me a worthy fight.”
“Come at me with everything you’ve got!” Dorothy said.
“As His Majesty’s sword, I will cut a path to Terrankind’s new future!” The Balmung accelerated.
“I carry with me the memory of Earth and humanity’s hopes!” The Roland also charged across the red wastes.
“ANGELICA!” Julius yelled.
“DOROTHY!” Clara pleaded.
---
khoroshiy-russkiy = “Good Russian.” At least from what Google Translate told me. It was slang adopted from the Soviets’ legal defenses during the post-WW2 trials.
I refuse to elaborate on whatever
he may have done to Dorothy. I never even imagined it in my head.