Author’s Note: This is a short transition scene. Chapter 50 will be the normal length.

Chapter 50: A Brief Meeting

Date: November 26, 3007
Time: 06:20
Location: Orbis

The stalemate lasted an eternity, frozen in time. Their eyes darted to and away from each other, but each seemed fixated in horror. Felix stood awkwardly in front of Zanna, who stood rooted to the spot, her eyes stuck on Caleio.

“Maldran?” Caleio finally managed to stammer, breaking the silence between them.

Tears of joy ran down the man named Maldran’s face. He tore his feet up from the ground and made his way to her, enveloping her in a tight embrace. “You’re… you’re still here! I thought I had lost you forever!”

Zanna noticed Caleio was crying too, but she didn’t seem to share the same euphoric feeling. “Maldran please…” She broke away, wiping her tears with the back of her hand. “Maldran, I… I can’t…”

“Can’t what?” Maldran asked ecstatically, unaware that Caleio was feeling somehow troubled, “We’re together again after all these years!”

He took a step forwards but Caleio backed away towards Felix, who was still speechless, a bystander of the action.

“Maldran…” she tore her gaze from Maldran to Felix’s. Zanna could not tell what he was thinking, but apparently Caleio could. She looked back at Maldran and sniffled, “Maldran… things… things change over time…”

And then it finally hit him. In her head, Zanna sighed in exasperation at the slow-mindedness of men. Looking into Maldran’s eyes, Zanna could tell he was piecing each piece of the puzzle together, to reveal a green-eyed killer behind him, waiting for him to let his guard down. As Caleio stepped back again, her hand grazed Felix’s.

“What… what does that mean?” Maldran asked, his breath turning into short gasps of air, “What the hell does is that supposed to mean?”

Caleio grabbed hold of Felix’s hand and gave it a tight squeeze. In her mind, Zanna could feel the sorrow filled air closing in around them. Maldran’s eyes darted from Caleio to Felix’s entwined hands as tears dropped down onto the rubble.

“I’m sorry, Maldran… I don’t love you. I can’t love you anymore…” Caleio cried, and then buried her head into Felix’s chest. Felix in turn, led her away while rubbing her back as she sobbed, leaving Maldran quite broken-hearted.

“Maldran?” one of the men asked uncertainly, “You ok, Sergeant?”

“Get the f*** away from me…” Maldran shunned the man off coldly.

The two behind him climbed the rest of the way up the rubble to the man’s side, “It’s ok, Michael,” the woman said.

“Yea, Mal needs to chill off somewhere,” the other man replied, “Come on, captain, we need to leave him alone. And besides, there’s still a war going on!”

Zanna suddenly realized they were still in the middle of a battlefield. Memories of the explosion tearing through the streets swarmed back into her head. She could almost feel the intense heat from when she dove behind a rooftop chimney to escape the brunt of the blast.

As the squad mingled with Zanna’s platoon, they left Maldran standing alone by the edge of the top of the rubble, staring out into the smoke filled morning sky.

A cool breeze blew by, wafting the smoke around into mini-tornadoes. Somewhere below, numerous patches of fires were still crackling, fueled by the morning wind. As Zanna looked out into the broken street, neither army was in sight. Perhaps they were all dead?

“Captain?” a voice behind Zanna called out. Zanna whipped around and saw Felix with his head turned towards Annikabelle. She was looking out the back window onto the next street over from the destroyed one. “I think you need to have a look at this.”

Both Felix and Zanna made their way to the window and peered out. At first, Zanna couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary, but then her eyes caught something. A black figure appeared for a brief second inside the misty morning fog, and then disappeared instantly, leaving the scene undisturbed.

“What is that?” Annikabelle pondered. But before Zanna could respond, a violent explosion tore through the Orbisian morning, shattering the temporary peace. Everyone sprang up as more of the building started to crumble into dust. However, the fog veiled everything from their eyes.

“Alright, let’s go, we gotta find where that came from,” Felix commanded as he readied his rifle. But then, Michael stepped in front of him and pushed his rifle down.

“Who made you in charge?” he snapped angrily, waving his pistol threateningly.

Felix blinked, taken aback for a second, then regained his intimidating attitude, “I am always in charge, bub.” The two glared at each other, then Felix broke off and strode towards Zanna and the others.

Suddenly, in a brisk and hasty motion, Michael swept around and pointed the muzzle of his pistol directly at the back of Felix’s head, “I don’t appreciate your attitude,” he growled, his finger twitching unsteadily on the trigger. Everyone froze; one false move could set the bomb ticking inside of Michael’s head off, and that would mean a bloody mess of Felix.

Slowly but surely, Felix turned around with his hands raised. He stared at Michael for a few moments, looking rather amused, then busted out laughing. “Are you really going to shoot me soldier? After all of this sh** that has happened? Are you really going to shoot me over this?”

Michael paused, then hesitantly lowered his gun, “Alright, fine. We got off to a bad start. I’ll admit I was wrong.

“That’s better,” Felix retorted and strode forwards, “Captain Felix Shadeswalker of the Dom… I mean, former Dominion Army.”

Michael took Felix’s hand in a firm handshake, “Captain Michael Reinhart, former soldier of the Dominion Army, at your service.”

Felix shook the rival captain’s hand, then murmured in a steady tone, “Look, we’re all on the same side. To split now is suicide. Like an old American proverb says, Unite or Die.” Michael clapped his hand on Felix’s shoulder and nodded approvingly, then walked to his men to prepare his squad.

A few minutes later, Zanna found herself cautiously moving down the street, her flamethrower ignited, the plasma cells on her back set to optimal levels. Though the sun had risen a bit higher in the morning sky, the fog persisted to haunt Orbis, unwilling to surrender to the bright rays. One by one, they disappeared, lost into the shadows.