Capture the Flag

Today was the day. The day I became a citizen…or would. If we won. When we won; I reminded myself to remain confident. I crouched behind a thick tree trunk and peered across the field. My bow rested across my thighs. Two people raced each other through the tall grass. I controlled my breathing to steady my heart.

I waited, knowing they had nowhere to go.

As they grew closer, I noticed they were young and both wore orange armor. A man and a woman, near my age. Sparse details on the other team didn’t concern me. I wasn’t supposed to ask questions, only do my job. The pair grinned at each other. To my left, a blue flag rippled in the wind. They reached toward it, arms outstretched.

An officer in dark blue armor dropped onto the field!

I glanced up, an Andoran hoverboard floated above his head.

With a smirk, I stood and nocked an arrow to my bowstring. I knew they’d come from this direction. No one would risk the woods. I glanced behind me for a quick moment. Darkness stretched deep beneath the tangled boughs. The wilds held terrors few dared face. I merely used the tree line to hide.

The Andoran drew his pistol. The young adults stopped. Terror in their eyes. The Andoran raised his weapon.

I searched the pair. No weapons?

They raised their hands.

I shook my head with a silent curse.

The Andoran walked closer. Wrapped his gloved hand in the woman’s hair. She whimpered as he pulled her close.

I drew my bowstring back. Took aim. Relaxed my fingers. The arrow launched forward.

It pierced the Andoran’s neck. He turned toward me as he crumpled to the ground.

The man gaped at me. “You just shot your teammate!”

“I missed.” I nocked a second arrow and growled, “I won’t again.”

The man grabbed the woman’s hand and turned back toward the open field.

“I wouldn’t go that way.”

“There’s nowhere else to go,” the woman said.

I jerked my thumb over my shoulder, pointing back toward the woods.

They laughed, fear tinged their voices, “You’re joking,” they said in unison.

I shrugged.

They glanced at me, their eyes lingering on my bow, then they stared at the dead officer, at his pistol.

“Don’t,” I whispered.

The man glared at me. I didn’t back down, didn’t blink. He tore his eyes away. Long years practicing archery came in handy during staring contests. He dragged the woman toward the forest.

“You’re sure?” she asked.

He nodded with a grimace.

I crouched beside the corpse. “Smart.”

As they disappeared into the darkness of the forest, I removed my arrow from the corpse’s neck. I wrapped the Andoran’s hand around his pistol, pointed it at my arrow—though I hated wasting it—and fired. A plasma laced bolt cut through the field, leaving scorched grass in its wake. No trace of my arrow remained.

Two hoverboards sailed into view at the far edge of the field. One carried an orange flag. I took the pistol from the officer’s hand. Both wore armor, but with the sun at their back, I couldn’t tell the color.

The hoverboards raced toward me.

I raised a shaky hand and squeezed the trigger. A bolt arced between the boards.

“Hey!” the one with the flag shouted. “We’re blue team.” I recognized Kal’s voice.

I waved to show my understanding.

A few moments later, I could see their blue uniforms. Then, after another few minutes, they dropped to the ground in front of me. They removed their helmets and grinned while brandishing the flag.

The wind whipped through Kal’s dark hair. “You should’ve seen it. We rode in like whirlwinds, darting around their defenses. Jai did this thing—”

One sight of the dead officer, however, and their grins faded.

“They killed our captain?” Kal asked.

I nodded.

“How?” the other asked.

I shrugged. “Close quarters, Jai. I didn’t see much.”

Jai narrowed his eyes. “Where are they now?”

“Disintegrated.”

Lieutenant Jai frowned as he paced around the corpse. He liked things neat and orderly. This, though, was a mess. The only things he hated more than messes were traitors. “He disintegrated them after they killed him?”

“Same time.”

Jai stepped close to me. “What did you do, private? Watch? Why didn’t you help?”

I stared up at him, met his green eyed glare with a stoic face. “There wasn’t a shot, sir.”

Kal rested a hand on Jai’s shoulder. “Leave it, Jai. We won. We’re done here.”

A snarl curled Jai’s lip, but he turned on his heel. “Rendezvous with the rest of the team. We’re leaving.”

Kal and I bumped fists.

“Citizens,” he whispered. “Finally.”

I walked into the woods while Kal and Jai recalled the captain’s hoverboard and strapped his body to it. I collected my gear, disassembled my bow and put it into my backpack. I pulled the heart shaped locket from beneath my armor and opened it. A round face with long chestnut hair and gray eyes smiled at me. The braces across her teeth sparkled in the sunlight of that day so long ago. A day before Andorans. “Almost, Rose.”

With the rest of our team assembled, we flanked the captain’s corpse in honor guard formation. Jai in the lead, Kal and I on either side with Lauren and Izzy behind us.

Jai held out his hand toward me. “I want that pistol.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Regulations require I return it to the armory.”

“As your ranking officer—”

“The officer who finds a discarded weapon,” I interrupted him, quoting the corpsman handbook, though I knew he had it memorized, “shall return it as expediently as possible, in the condition it was found.”

“You can’t fire it anyway, Jai. Against regulations.” Kai winked at me.

Jai pointed at me. “You’ll answer for nearly disintegrating us.”

My head drooped and my shoulders slumped. He was correct. Trust Jai to dampen a win with citations.

He landed outside the barracks. After tucking our boards under our arms, we marched into the armory. We returned our borrowed equipment. The bow and arrow were mine, but I still had to store them with the quartermaster.

The Andoran quartermaster scowled behind his cage, his yellow eyes narrowed dangerously to slits. “Where’s Captain Ajax?”

I slid the pistol forward. “KIA, sir.”

We stepped aside, revealing the corpse floating behind us.

The quartermaster shook his grey skinned head. “Damn shame. He had promise.”

We hung our heads in silence, mourning our fallen commander.

After turning in our equipment, weapons, and armor, the quartermaster pressed a button. On our left, a door opened with a swoosh. “Winners get pick of the lot.”

We grinned with pride as we walked into the darkened hallway, our chests puffed out and our heads filled with glory.

“Welcome, citizens,” a computer voice said. “Browse our wares. Choose your prize. Enjoy the benefits of citizenship in the Andoran Empire.”

Suddenly, lights flicked on, bathing the hallway in sterile brightness. White from floor to ceiling nearly blinded us. Six monitors slid out from behind nearly invisible panels in the wall. We each took a station.

I scrolled through an exhaustive food menu. “We’ll never have to survive on rations again.”

“We can choose a spouse!” Kal’s voice brimmed with excitement

Lauren giggled.

I quickly slid the food aside. I scanned the other options. Searched for a particular face. I slapped my palm against the computer screen.

“Something wrong?” Izzy asked. Concern etched on her face.

It took me a moment to find the words. To patch together an excuse. “All this excitement… It doesn’t seem right, celebrating when our Captain just died.”

“Don’t be such a downer,” Lauren said. “He trained us to win. He’d want us to celebrate.”

Jai stared at me, a funny expression on his face. I couldn’t tell if it was triumph or loathing or just his casual smugness. “Careful. Emotion isn’t tolerated in the Empire.”

Ignoring him, I stared down at Rose’s bright smile. Beneath her picture, in bright red letters, was the word, “Claimed”.

After we had made our selections, another set of doors opened. We walked into a large banquet hall. We gaped at the dance floor, the tables, and the decorations. No sooner had we sat at our own tables then our chosen spouses strolled through a door at the opposite end of the room. They carried trays of food. Each had the dishes to fulfill our order and flags inscribed with our names.

A young woman with dark hair slid plates in front of Lauren. As she played with Lauren’s blonde locks, Lauren pulled the woman into her lap.

Rose glanced at me once before sitting beside Jai.

An old man carried my food tray.

Kal’s eyes widened in surprise. “That’s who you picked?”

My ears grew hot as I blushed deeply. “Hi, Dad,” I whispered as he sat beside me.

He gave my hand a squeeze. “I wish your mother was alive to see this day,” he whispered. Dad beamed at me, tears in his eyes. “My son, a citizen.”

“Picked randomly, like I did?” Jai asked. I disliked the twinkle of mirth in his eye.

Izzy gasped. “You didn’t?”

Jai lazily speared an olive from his salad with his fork. “Hardly matters now. She’s mine. After tonight, no one can take her from me.”

I shoveled spinach into my mouth to cushion my teeth as I clenched my jaws around a sharp retort.

“Who’d take anything from a citizen of the Empire?” Izzy asked?

Jai glanced in my direction. “Who indeed?”

I stood quickly. Jai slid away from the table, a panicked look in his eye.

“I’m getting a drink.”

Jai regained his composure. He covered his nervousness with a falsely merry laugh. “Bring me something, too, private.”

We had trained with weapons, tactics, and poisons. We weren’t allowed to carry anything with us, however I never really followed the rules if I could find ways around them. Whenever we turned in our armor, they scanned us. Through trial and error (when feigned forgetfulness didn’t work, I had spent a night or two in the stockade), I had discovered that they didn’t search for certain things. One was castor seeds.

Andorans loved them. I always kept a few on me to barter. They thought them harmless to humans because I swallowed them whole. I even kept them linked together on a silver chain as a bracelet.

I dropped a few from my jacket pocket onto the counter.

The counter had every liquor, juice, or soda pop I could imagine. A bowl of pistachios sat on the corner. I reached for the nut cracker and cracked my castor beans. I scraped the remains into a bowl, careful to not touch the dust with my bare skin, and crushed them into as fine a powder as I could.

Jai clasped a hand on my shoulder. “What’s taking so long?”

I spun toward him, hoping to hide my startled jump. “It’s all in the presentation.” I tossed dust into the air.

Jai coughed as he inhaled the castor dust.

I poured the crushed castor nuts onto a napkin, wet the edge of a fancy glass, and coated the rim, making sure to fully cover it.

Jai’s eyes widened as he smiled. “A candy rim? You’re spoiling me.”

“This is a celebration.”

After I finished mixing our drinks and slipping more castor dust into his glass, I returned to my table, shooting furtive looks at Jai.

He raised his glass. “I think, I’ll let my new beloved sample it first.”

Rose gave a startled chuckle.

Jai smiled wolfishly at her. “We share everything, now we’re betrothed.”

I forced myself to laugh. “You believe that two become one nonsense?”

With a scowl at me, Jai took a sip.

I smiled, noticing the coating on that portion of the edge was gone.

Jai coughed again, more forcefully. I drank deeply.

Flag captured.