Dragons of War - Rising Storm

Chapter 5 (1/3)

"I would rather die than continue living this excuse for a life."

Jaya's words echoed in my mind as I endlessly typed commands into the panel below me. My hands shook and my eyes flew across the screen as I double, triple, checked every line.

This new code was not something I was used to, I had only perfected it last night, even after that Lieutenant had come to deliver his 'message' from the Order. But I felt a powerful energy about it. It had very similar parts to it from the original code, the one I had first created for the project, but I knew this would work differently than any other procedure before it. I had added, and removed, many things the Order had deemed, 'necessary', but only served to control something that wasn't meant to be.

The mind, and heart, is a fickle thing, after all.

A red light began to blink in the corner of the panel in front of me and I jumped back with a drop in my chest.

They'd found me.

I whipped my head around the room and ran for the closest chair. I carried it to the door, closed it and propped the chair against the handle. I stepped back to admire my work and with a stale smile, I realized it would never hold them back. Not even a little.

I frantically looked around the room again and my eyes landed on the large bookcase standing tall and proud next to the door.

I smiled at it.

Running up to the bookcase, I got between the wall and it's edge and pushed with all my might. It wobbled and I heaved out a breath.

I was getting too old for this.

I pressed my feet against the bookcase and tried again and this time it toppled down onto the ground in front of the door, books flung everywhere. I dusted my hands and ran between the books back to the bright flashing panel.

I heard voices crying out behind the door and a chill went down my spine.

What would they do to me...

I think it would be easier to think of all the things they wouldn't.

I knew, even with the added strength of a Dragon Warrior, that bookcase would give me a few moments to spare, so I shook my head and glanced at the script one more time, my hand hovered over the execute button.

I flinched, closed my eyes and slammed my finger down.

No matter how much I valued my dream, the freedom of that colony, and the world, and the promises I had made to people, that girl in there was the closest thing I had to family.

How could I be doing this to her? The one person I hoped to shield from such horrors, I was the one submitting them to her.

The door behind me was rammed against and I jumped back in my seat and watched it. The bookcase was holding.

No matter all the regrets in my heart, or the hopes held in my dreams, I knew there was one thing this colony needed, and she was the one person I put all my faith into giving it. I had watched, from the moment we found her alone on that battlefield, to the moment she left my sight moments go, grow. While most saw a silent, emotionless and broken soul from the war, I knew what went on below the surface. The few times she had opened up to me, I saw it. The real her underneath, hidden and protected.

She had something that no other Warrior I knew of had. The pure desire.

I looked at the panel again and my eyes widened. The numbers showed all seemed above normal. It was working!

For one so young I thought things would be at least a little different.

I thought too soon.

The stats spiked and I stepped back from my chair in both horror and excitement. The power in the panel below me flickered and the machines sound changed pitch. I glanced around between the machine and the panel, helpless to the process that was transpiring.

I didn't actually know what was going to happen to her. Every time the code was changed, the results were different. I only remembered one other time with the same results... And there had only been one survivor. But that was a different procedure.

The door behind me was slammed against again and again until the bookcase slid enough for the people behind it to burst through.

I glanced at the soldiers pouring in for only a moment and saw that General Gernard was with them. My favorite of the 15 Generals that made up the Order.

"Stop it now you old fool and she'll die," I called out in warning to him.

"She?!" The General, clad in his full uniform of medals and suit, cried out in anger. He looked like he had just come from the recent announcement.

"Lewis what have you done!" He ran over to the panel and stared at it, motionless.

He knew nothing of the science behind what was going on. That was his loss.

The soldiers scattered around the room, their feet traipsing over the papers that covered the floor. Some stood to watch me closely and others looked around at the panels with the General. Not a single one of them cared what was going on in that room, yet half of them had the very procedure preformed on them.

"Sir, these readings are showing success so far." A soldier said when he looked up from the panel to the General.

I remembered him, his name was Luke and he was a successful Warrior from two years prior. It was rare for one to live to long, and he'd rose in the ranks quickly because of it. I still remembered when he'd gone through his own Changing. I remembered them all.

He was unusually curious about the science behind it and learned much during the many weeks prepping for the procedure himself, and the many that followed as he recovered from the Changing.

"What are you talking about?" Gernard charged over to Luke to look at the numbers for himself.

"Lewis, you will answer for this." He looked back at me with sharp eyes and a cold rage.

"I know." I smiled at myself.

Luke was right, it was working.

I watched the machine from a distance and from the sounds alone I could tell. They had no idea the groundbreaking event that was playing out before their eyes, but I did.

I had borne witness to hundreds of procedures. Some failed, some worked mostly, and some were complete successes.

This one I knew, was a success.

"I want this thing shut down, quickly!" Gernard barked out.

"No!" I cried out. A cold fear rushed through me and I charged for the panel, pushing Luke aside.

"Someone restrain him!" The General shouted and hands came reaching towards me. I tried to fend them off but it was a feeble attempt and they pulled me into a lock.

Just then, the bright lights snapped off and the low hum from the machine slowed to a stop. Darkness surrounded us save for the few fire lamps that remained scattered in the room.

"Dear god no..." The General mumbled turning back to the machine door.

The machine's sounds slowed down and faded until there was only silence in the room.

"Lewis if they don't execute you for this, I will." Gernard snapped in my face and then walked over to the machine.

He waved more men over and they crowded around until I could not see anything.

A part of me was worried about what would come out, but another part was so sure that it was excited.

When they opened the door, steam escaped into the air above until it almost filled the room with fog.

Everyone in the room seemed to be leaning forward, their eyes trained on the door but once it was open far enough for everyone to see inside, a body slid out onto the floor, motionless.

"Is this what you wanted Doctor?" Gernard looked back at me pointedly.

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