Fire and Ice

Chapter 38 ∞ Valentine

As soon as I arrive home I run upstairs to my room and throw my book bag aside. I pull up the email I forwarded to my personal account to view the vids in their full glory.

-"We're not going to fight the formics." Kayleigh says.

"Why?" One soldier asks, blankly staring at the wall.

"I'm tired of fighting," Ender proclaims. "All my life, the war has been all I've been told was important. Training. Battle School. Command School. Do your part. Don't be wasted resources. I'm exhausted of it. This war isn't working. The adults refuse to see it."

"It's up to us now. We have the capability of breaking whatever cycle we've become trapped in. We can still choose to try and make peace."

A young man near the front guffaws.

"You're one to preach about peace. Kayleigh Bright. A9 Karlstein. Harbinger of war, goddess with a scythe. Death incarnate. You're the monster parents tell their children to be scared of, but we end up idolizing anyway. And here you are, talking about peace and love and shit. Some legend you are. You're weak."

"If you think choosing to set yourself on a new course is weakness then you have no idea what true strength is. I was trained to become a weapon. One of the greatest soldiers in history. But I thought for myself, and brought an end to the war that enabled my torture. I broke the cycle and made peace with my former enemy. We must do the same now so that future generations will no longer live in fear of an enemy that may not wish to hurt us further. If you don't like it, plead innocent to the higher ups. You are technically just following orders."-

Oh man.

I immediately open the vid in editing software and begin chopping it up. I overlay vids from the first two invasions, some docus of Kayleigh, add some text here and there....

It's perfect.

Now, I write an article to accompany it.

"Whatcha got there Vally?" Peter calls from my doorway. I replay the vid without acknowledging him. He remains quiet for a few more minutes.

"She's such a powerful speaker," he says absent-mindedly, looking at the doorframe. "When are we releasing it?"

"Later. I'm going to have a few burner accounts write some articles to get the discussion started before we chime in. I think Locke and Demosthenes are going to wait until after the vid is released to make statements." Peter nods in agreement.

"Alright. I'll start on some fake accounts too. See you later." He pushes off of the doorframe and walks softly back to his room. I turn around and get work.

††

It's been two days since the simulator incident. A silent pact was made between Ender, his jeesh, and I to remain together as much as possible. It's kept most people from approaching us or questioning what really happened.

Every once in a while, a soldier or pilot the jeesh recruited while Ender, Petra and I were Earthside comes and discusses our plan. Only a few.

Starting a revolution feels incredibly lonely.

However, I received an email from Val containing articles written for several online forums about the possibility of ending the war. None by Locke or Demosthenes, but I trust Val. She's been manipulating the nets for years, and I'm no one to tell the master artisan how to do their craft. The last attachment is a video.

Good enough? Her caption reads. I watch it, and feel a grin creep across my face.

Perfect. Waiting for the grand public reveal.

[][]

I'm sitting in the common room with all of my friends, all of us sprawled in various positions to try and pass the time.

They haven't called us in for battle in two days.

They haven't given us schedules.

Something is amiss, but I'm not sure what. The air hangs heavy with secret plans, and I'm assuming that some of them belong to the Strategos.

An aide enters the room, offering a sharp salute.

"At ease," Kayleigh calls casually. "Do you have something for us?" He snaps another quick salute and hands her the datapad he was carrying. After a third salute, he turns sharply on his heel and leaves. Kayleigh flicks the datapad awake and frowns. She pushes Petra's head off of her lap where it was resting and sits upright.

"What's it say?" I call.

"Ender Wiggin, Petra Arkanian, and Kayleigh Bright to report for fleet analysis duty at 1700 hours. All others will continue about normal daily schedule." Oh no.

"They're separating us," I state. Bean nods.

"They must not want us plotting together."

"This is our punishment for the simulator," Kayleigh says.

"That's it? Some separation and ship analysis? No biggie," scoffs Petra, flopping around to try and get more comfortable.

"That wouldn't be it," muses Alai. Kayleigh nods.

"They have something planned for us on board those ships."