¡El pueblo unido jamás será vencido!
Chilean protest song/chant, 1970s
Office of the Communist Party of the PRA, Yan’an Underground Complex 1, China, PRA, Earth, 05/05/2230, 0723 hours
Hanabi taps the datapad on the desk, signs it with a stylus. She turns to Zhengming.
“Thank you, Zhengming. For having me.”
“You have earned the right to call me Ka Zhengming, Ka Hanabi.”
Ka Hanabi smiles, eyes smarting. She laughs, brushes a tear away. Something inside of her clicks back into place, a wound that had been left unset for decades finally rectified.
“Ka Zhengming. It will be an honor to serve the People beside you.”
Fourteen days later. The Underground Complex is bustling with tense preparation. The response to the Tritower operation is clear — the empire, long on the back foot after the development of Thanatic arms in the PLAA, is in panicked disarray. Hanabi catches up on the war strategies via the local commsnet. After the devastating loss of the major weapons lab in Kunlun last year, research on the PLAA’s unmanned Thanatic arms project had been set back many months. The Kunlun op. The place all of this began — now, finally, coming to a close. The image of Wing Erra reduced to ash still burns in her memory. A past life, by another name…
The PLAA had finally managed to regain the capacity to develop the prototype unmanned drone weapons that Hanabi had seen in Kunlun — and were producing them at scale. The PLAA had tens of thousands of these drones prepared for this first major push back.
Hanabi stands at attention, among the masses of the PLAA. She’s been granted a designation as Special Pilot Recruit — infantry-ranked, but afforded the clearances to pilot Venus. Hanabi casts her thoughts to Venus’ cockpit. Together, forever.
Ahead, PLAA officers are leading a mass briefing. The briefing is translated into eleven languages, including English.
“The successful development of the Unmanned Anti-Defensive-Field Drone Weapons, codenamed ‘Eels’, facilitates a significantly larger set of strategies than we had access to before. The Eels offer us a hard-counter to the ‘halo-hallow’ defensive fields, which have historically guarded the infrastructure of the imperial base, as well as the chassis of enemy mechanized armors. With the Eels, we now have the ability to pierce these fields in a controlled, coordinated manner.”
“Our goal is simple in concept. The difficulty lies in the scale. Our target is the massive doloric energy processing plant in South Texas, known as the GETHSEMANE Complex. We will attack in three waves. The first wave will be entirely unmanned. We will send in the Eels to devastate enemy mechanized armors, and disable ‘halo-hallow’ field generators around the GETHSEMANE. Then, our own mechanized armors will lead the charge to open the path towards the interior of the GETHSEMANE and its surrounding structures. Infantry will penetrate into the GETHSEMANE and disable it. The goal is to disable. Catastrophic destruction of a doloric energy source of that scale could lead to an irradiation event that could swallow the entire Gulf of Amerexico. This is not our objective. Our objective is to cause the lights to fail in the metropole, not nuclear winter.”
A chill crawls up Hanabi’s spine. An operation in the belly of the beast. A single careless bullet… The horror would be incomprehensible.
“Comrades, we will launch at 0600 hours tomorrow. Make your final preparations. Hold your loved ones. Today we brace for the future. Tomorrow, we go to meet history.”
Hanabi sits with Ka Zhengming on the balcony of Ka Zhengming’s housing unit. The unit is small, sparsely decorated — not much more than the unit where Hanabi currently resides. Ka Zhengming reaches into their pocket, slowly pulls out a pack of Chunghwa Cigarettes. Lights one, takes a deep pull.
“I didn’t know you smoked, Ka Zhengming.”
“Only on special occasions. It is a rare indulgence. Discipline demands that I control my vices. But tomorrow is a special day.” Ka Zhengming chuckles quietly.
“And I’ve been saving this pack for too long.”
“I suppose no time like today.”
“Indeed. Would you like one? I have plenty. A cigarette is better when shared with a friend.”
Hanabi smiles. Reaches for the pack, pulls out a slender cigarette from the scarlet packaging. Balances it in her fingers, watching the tobacco smolder.
“…My father always wanted me to be a soldier,” Hanabi says, looking out over the city. Ka Zhengming is silent, listening respectfully.
“He… He said I would make an honorable man. Someone to bring glory to our name, and the UCF. He took me, personally, to put in my enlistment papers. What a rare treat. He was never around long enough to take me anywhere, really. I barely knew the man, in honesty.”
“Christmas Day, the day before my birthday. As a special present, he said. Enlistment. God, I was such a stupid kid. Couldn’t pour water out of a boot if the instructions were written on the heel.” She laughs. Ka Zhengming smiles softly. Sadly.
“My mom never wanted me to go. Said it was dangerous. That there were other ways I could serve the UCF. She wanted me to follow my own path.” Tears trickle down Hanabi’s cheeks.
“Well, mom. I found my path. I hope…” Hanabi takes a deep breath. Trails off.
Ka Zhengming offers a hand upon Hanabi’s shoulder. For a moment, Hanabi sees the shadow of Ka Kailani.
“Tomorrow, we purchase a future for the People.” They look up at the misty ceiling of the immense cavern containing the Underground Complex.
“Come, comrade. Let us rest well tonight. Tomorrow, we light up the sky.”