Chapter 9: Unfolding Time
"Perfect." Wolfe smiled broadly, pulling back on his machine. Kore simply looked towards the floor, curling a ringlet of her long hair around the tip of her finger in her lap. She swallowed, but said nothing. "It's going to be okay, Kordelia. This is going to work. I don't know how long it will take. But it is going to work. Please believe it."
"I'll believe it when the war has finally ended, Jeremiah." She sighed. "Until then, everything is as it always has been. Lodged into a world with very little forgiveness."
"The Official Signing and the Unionization are coming up. Are you sure you aren't just feeling on edge like the rest of the base?" He crossed his ankles, leaning back against his desk. "Everyone feels like this with the ceremonies coming to a head. I just didn't peg you as the type to let it bother you."
"It doesn't." She snapped, instantly regretting her outburst. "It just...-"
"Kordelia, I've known you since I was a kid, since before puberty, for crying out loud. I know when you are bothered by something. And, I believe, that particular something is a tall silver-haired Commander, whom you've been in love with for years." He finished smoothly.
"Do not say anything to anyone else, pup." She buried her face into her hands. "I don't think I could handle it. Gossip is one thing. Confirmation, something else entirely different."
"The squad knows. But, honestly, I think we've always known. We just don't joke about that kind of thing. Not with lives potentially being put on the line for it. Base dwellers have been put to death for less. I don't think our squad could function properly without you." Wolfe stared past her, as if trying to imagine it. "You and Alekai belong together, we've all agreed. You both have been through so much and you both deserve happiness more than anyone else here."
"Today is his thirtieth, the signing is tomorrow. He has less than twenty-four hours to make that decision. He won't lay down his weapons, Wolfe. So, this plan, our plan, it's my only option. I'm going to bring down the Egrarian Empire."
Suddenly, the doors to the lab slid open. Kordelia stiffened as she recognized the two women that came through the entrance. Zyphyr and Myka. Both women were of Adonai's squad of lieutenants. They had hardened expressions, grabbing for Kore's arms.
"What's the meaning of this?" Kordelia demanded, ripping her left arm free and shoving one of the women, Myka, backwards, making for her knife. The other, Zyphyr, drew her handgun at her side and jabbed it directly into Kore's side causing her to wince before freezing.
"You're not permitted to be in here. I demand to know who sent you." Wolfe countered, his blade staff rested against Zyphyr's throat.
Zyphyr jammed the barrel of her gun deeper into Kore's ribs. "OTA General Everett." She looked back over her shoulder. At the sound of his name, Wolfe lowered his weapon. Kore growled against the restraint. Myka came forward and twisted Kore's arm around her back and pushed her forward. "Let's go, traitor." She hissed in her ear. "Move."
"It's alright, Wolfe. Just take care of everything. I'll be fine." She said through clenched teeth, all three women disappearing from his sight.
***
Myka shoved Kordelia forward, her foot catching the floor tumbling her through Everett's door. She straightened and rolled her shoulders, ready to throw a swing at the woman. Her glare blazed as she brought her fist up, drawing back...
"Enough, Major General." Everett's voice boomed throughout the room.
Kore turned, dropping her fist, and inspected the sight before her. Alekai stood rigid just feet away from her. The two women guarded the door behind them. She looked ahead to find a red-faced Jac, no doubt angry, and a smirking Adonai standing behind his right shoulder, arms crossed.
"What is this?" She snarled, a cornered animal in uncharted territory.
"It has been brought to my attention that you, Kordelia Rose MacIntosh, and you, Alekai Vasyl Ivanov, have committed treason in the laws of your country and of your people. Fraternization is forbidden among soldiers, no matter the rank or status. The punishment is as follows: treason committed by any soldier, who in complete faith has taken their oaths and signed their contract, shall be executed by hanging. What say you?" He glared at them both from his perch, Adonai looking extremely proud of himself.
"This is blasphemous." Kore shook her head in disbelief, her stare boring into Jac's.
"No, what is blasphemous, Kordelia, is that I cannot keep my two deadliest soldiers from keeping their damned bloody paws off of each other! Ivanov. You've turned today. Do you plan to reenlist?"
"I had every intention of doing so, Sir."
"And of the Major General?" He asked.
"I feel nothing for the Major General, sir. It was a game between mates. It meant absolutely nothing to me, Sir. She is nothing." Kore swallowed hard, forcing down the building knot in her throat.
Everett nodded, pleased. "As there is no solid proof of a union, this will be your one and final warning. Next time, I will show no leniency. Major General, you will be removed from your partnership with Commander Ivanov, effective immediately, and shall be placed with Major General Adonai. You both will have limited contact with one another. If it isn't in training or on the battlefield, it will not be permitted. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, Sir." Alekai spoke calmly, at the same time Kore spoke. "Transparently, sir."
"Dismissed."
***
"Alekai...Alekai, please look at me." Kordelia had given in to pleading.
The hasty dismissal left her thoughts scrambled and she fought with herself to find the right words to get him to respond. She matched his pace, her two steps to his one. The sudden onslaught of being dragged to Everett's office had left her winded, her emotions in a whirl. She wanted to throw up. Had he meant what he had said to Jac? Or was it just a cover to keep them both safe? She knew it was wrong, and it went against everything their cause stood for, but she didn't care. She needed to know what he really felt for her. She needed to hear him say it. To look at her and finally tell her the complete truth, instead of the half-truths she was becoming used to. The knot in her throat still present, she constantly swallowed to force it back down. She reached out to him, her fingertips barely grazing his arm.
Alekai jerked his arm away, throwing his hand out to force Kore into the wall. The air between them electrified as he instantly ignited her anger.
"Do not think for a moment that I actually cared for you, Kordelia. It was nothing. A reality you dreamt up in your spare time. You're just a lost little girl, desperate to be loved. It was a notion that was fun to entertain out of boredom." The hostility stole her breath. "You are grotesquely disfigured and I could never love someone like you."
"Alekai...Kai, you don't mean that." She choked on her words, holding in the tears the storm inside her was forming. Her chest had shattered, leaving a gaping hole in its wake.
"I meant every word." He hissed. "Stay away from me, Major General MacIntosh. If you know what's good for you."
He left her there, stalked around the turn and right out of her heart. Kore crumbled to the floor, finally letting it all out. Her face drowned in her own tears. She knew he couldn't have meant any of those horrible things he had said to her, but the effect still remained, planting little seeds of doubt. The sound of approaching footsteps snapped her out of her thoughts. She looked up to the worried expressions of her closest companions, headed by Wolfe. Madocc offered his hand, and she took it. They pulled her into their embrace, even as sobs tore through her chest. Not one of them gave any words of encouragement, or questioned why she was currently emotionally unstable. They were just there, and that's all she really needed.
"Come on, let's get out of here." Madocc whispered, taking on most of her weight. Kore leaned heavily on her troop, curling into their ring of protection. They were her family, and this was her home, regardless of if Alekai wanted to be a part of it or not.
***
Dinner was in full swing, yet Kore paid no mind to everything around her. She spent most of the afternoon clipping through every moment, every memory she spent with Alekai over the past five years. She dissected them, pulling each individual one apart and staining it with his hate-filled words. Her squad stayed quiet compared to the camaraderie surrounding them, glancing in her direction every few minutes or so. She wasn't up for idle conversation, let alone breathing. The gnawing pain in her chest was slowly receding, a hollow numbness beginning to take it's place. She was confused above everything else. It just didn't make sense. Alekai had to be lying. Nevertheless, his words seared the back of her mind and imprinted there. In all of their fights, disagreements, and bickering arguments in the past, nothing came close to this.
Just the same, she needed to press on. Momentarily distracting her, she thought of her and Wolfe's plan and how everything was starting to fall into place. If Adonai's henchmen had made an even more sudden entrance, they might have been found out. Luckily, Wolfe knew how to skillfully hide anything in his lab. All of their testing and reports over the past month had already been deleted, his hard-drive wiped clean. They had decided to keep their plan a secret from the rest of the squad, knowing that they would completely disapprove and potentially try to keep Kordelia from what she had already set her mind to. She was going to end this war, one way or another. Too many lives had been lost already, and she wouldn't be able to handle it if she lost anyone so close to her.
"I love you, guys. You know that, right?" Her voice cracked, hoarse.
"Of course. We love you, ti sè." Felix answered for them, giving her a hard look. "Look, Kordelia, if you want to talk about what happened up there, fine. If you don't, that's fine, too. But we are always going to be here for you."
Felix didn't realize the deeper meaning to her words, but she let it go. All it would take is one word of objection, one request and her resolve would disintegrate.
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