Through a dark and broken mirror...
Earth, somewhere over the Pacific Ocean
Terran Empire Experimental Weapons Testing Facility 18-13
Two years ago
Dan stared up at the barrack's ceiling. He'd been awake in his cot for the past four minutes, having timed his sleeping pattern so precisely that it was barely a second's difference from the day before, not that anyone else in his unit was aware of it. The young human had many rituals, many protocols and procedures and subtle practices and ways of doing things that it was almost impossible for others not to notice. He had an almost-OCD way of doing some things, like cooking or cleaning or even tying his shoes.
He believed that such precision, such diligence made him better and that's why he would never tell anyone else exactly why or how he did anything. Because he didn't want them to be better; he wanted to be better than them, ahead of everyone else, on top of them in every way. And especially, he wanted everyone else to be underneath him. Especially now. He had them right where he wanted them- literally.
The edge of the blanket covering him ruffled just slightly, as if nudged by the whisper of a breeze. It was something that wouldn't even have roused him if he'd been asleep, nor would he have noticed it if he hadn't been expecting it.
He saw the reflection next. There was only a small amount of light filtering into the barracks from one of the windows but it was just enough to illuminated part of the back wall. The line, a razor-thin wire came just above Dan's head and its edge caught a little bit of the the light. It grew as it passed over him, crossing over his neck, a silver line extending over him as he slept. He breathed in and out slowly, waiting.
Finally, the line reached the other side of the bed. Dan cleared his throat and the line stopped just for a brief moment. Then, it continued, dipping down on the other side of his cot again. It was time.
Dan put his hand up, catching the wire just as the line pulled down to crush his neck. It was a grapple line, the kind of hooking cable that was still strong enough to hold someone up when latched onto something. And it would've been nearly impossible to escape if it had constricted him. If he hadn't known it was coming.
"You never were that creative," Dan said, grunting and struggling against the wire. "But trying to use my own tricks against me? Chris, I'm disappointed in you."
"It'll be Captain Chris in a moment," his 'ally' under his bed muttered, grunting. "After I finally get rid of you!"
"Heh," Dan smirked. "Maybe in your dreams." He grabbed the line with both hands and pulled it, turning and tumbling over, using his weight to wrench himself free.
"Grrrr, arrr-aaaah!" Chris yelled as the action pulled him to the other side of the mattress.
Dan still grasped both taught lines of the grappling wire. He held them up and looked under his cot. Chris, his 'friend' and would-be assassin was bound to the underside of the mattress, both his hands caught by the razor-thin wire. He glared at Dan from under the bed, teeth gritted. "I almost had you."
"You weren't even close," Dan said. He pulled the line tighter, eliciting a pained groan from Chris. "I'd consider taking one of your hands as punishment but seeing as you need both to fly, I think we'll look past it. It's still early, anyway."
Chris groaned again, the wire cutting into his wrists. He still managed a menacing smirk at his commanding officer. "Am I supposed-urk! to be grateful?"
"You're supposed to be smarter." Dan released the wire and Chris dropped to the floor. He got out from under the bed and rubbed both his hands together. "And recognize that timing is everything."
"I thought I'd catch you off guard early in the morning," Chris said. "That's how you killed Commander Zimmerman."
Dan smirked back at his taller comrade. "Commander Zimmerman's 'tragic accident' was an unfortunate result of vehicle safety failure. He should've checked his engine."
"But you tied the winch to the motor so when he used the gas, it would choke him to death," Chris said, recalling how their previous boss had been found. Assassination had always been the unofficial method of advancement in the Terran Empire's military hierarchy. The "rule by the strongest" philosophy filtered down to every member, even the citizenry and if a leader was seen as weak or someone else wanted their position, it was natural for the dispute to end with either the opposition or the incumbent to suffer an "unfortunate accident." Captain Dan and Flight Lieutenant Chris had not been exceptions.
"It wasn't my fault," Dan said with a slight, sly smile. "His check engine light was on."
His lunkheaded friend was still puzzled. "I don't see how that's any different than what I tried to do."
Dan patted him on the shoulder, despite the fact that Chris had just tried to kill him. "That's why you fail. And why I'm not worried about watching my back around you. But hey, what are friends for, right? Better luck next time, Flight Lieutenant."
"Yeah. Next time," Chris repeated, unconfidently. Dan washed and dressed in his standard gray fatigues, shaved around his face and trimmed his goatee and applied more hair gel to his already slick-looking hair. His's hair was in fact so gelled and slicked-back it almost looked like a black dome covering his head, a rubber helmet that couldn't be removed.
Before Dan left the bathroom, took a moment to greet his only other friend at the station. "Good morning, Mr. Mumbles," he said, greeting the creature sitting at his desk chair. "And how are we this morning?"
The furry white ball hissed at him. He mussed the hair on its head back against the grain, unnerving it. The cat tried to bite him but his hand was too quick and had already recoiled. She would've scratched him had he not already filed off her claws. Instead, she continued to growl at him and curled up on the chair, waiting to be fed again.
Animals weren't allowed on base but Dan had made an exception for himself. The small white cat he called Mr. Mumbles had expensive taste and tolerated his presence so long as Dan fed her almost gourmet-quality table scraps. He kept the cat around because it was easy to predict, like Chris, and he could gauge much from its mood. Like how he could tell when the creature prodded his utility kit last night that the grappling line had mysteriously gone missing. The cat's own curiosity had clued Dan into Chris's plan early allowing him to be prepared. Not that he would ever tell him.
The two men left the barracks and went to the mess hall for breakfast. Soldiers they passed stopped and saluted Dan, the standard Terran Empire salute of closing one's fist over the heart and then thrusting the arm outward. Dan did not return nor acknowledge them, instead walking onward, seeming to ignore them. It only further enforced the concept of rank, for him to act like the rank-and-file were so far beneath them and further the gap between himself and those lower on the ladder. And it was something he knew Chris hated. Dan smiled, enjoying it.
The two ate quickly and quietly among the others at the base. They were all soldiers, cogs and crucial parts of the Terran Empire's military machine that continued crushing and conquering every day. Originally, Dan and Chris were from a region that had previously been called the United States of America, one of its states called California but that had not been the case for decades. The Terran Empire, originally the Terra Party that started in Italy and eventually rose to conquer the world through political influence, economic purchase and military conquest. Once, the Earth had been divided amongst different nations and tongues, races and creeds but now they were all one under the banner of the Terran Empire. They were all Terrans, loyal to Emperor Zachary Cromwell Cochrane unto their deaths and would serve the Terran Empire forever. Or so they had vowed.
Dan and Chris suited up. Today was special, not just another sortie. While one of the Empire's chief concerns were still the rebels and the few resistance movements spread across the world, one of their more primary focuses was the acquisition of new resources. The Earth had one nation now, one giant, oppressive state of tyranny and apart from the occasional slave uprising or the problems from the few rebel cells and resistance movements, there wasn't much conflict. Unfortunately, that also meant there was less to go around, even with strict population control.
That was why projects like the one Dan and Chris were assigned to was so important. Officially, the installation in the middle of the pacific, the massive metal island that was Experimental Weapons Testing Facility 18-13 didn't even exist. Underneath the black ink, the facility was made to test weapons with the focus of fighting the rebels. And beneath that, under all the secrecy that could be piled upon it, was the true nature of the experiment Dan had been hand-picked for: a new frontier. Not a final frontier but another frontier entirely.
"So, this is the latest model?" Dan asked.
"Apparently," Chris answered. "These are the new specs for it. They were loading it on last night," he said, handing Dan a clipboard.
Dan looked over the technical documents. He had already seen them but made sure to act like he was reading them for the first time, glancing over the data he already knew was there. The bomber was called Defiance, some sort of next-generation stealth prototype. It was loaded with the best weapons the Terran Empire had constructed so far: tactical precision nuclear warheads, photo-vulcan cannons, stealth technology and power systems that were borrowed from the decades-in-development Warp Flight program the Emperor was overseeing himself. And finally, Dan saw again the device.
"Seems they're very confident about this one," Dan remarked, handing the clipboard back to his copilot.
"That's what you said about the last one," Chris said. "And the one before that."
Dan smirked. "And I was right."
Chris huffed in disdain. "Didn't change the fact that they sent us out for nothing. That's probably what this will be. Just another in a long list of milk runs for the Terran Empire."
"You should be happy," Dan said with another smile.
"Why's that?"
"It'll give you plenty of time to think about how you'll get that promotion."
Again, the taller human expressed disdain. Another few hours being confined in a tiny space and staring at an instrument panel. Nothing exciting ever happened out here.
Dan patted his compatriot on the back. He was a dumb muscle, someone Dan was happy to have around but he was also ambitious. Not smart enough to take Dan out but it was beginning to become a distraction. Others at the base were starting to get too used to the idea of seeing Dan and Chris together so that had to change. It was good to stir things up, keep people on their toes like that. Always keep them guessing was Dan's motto.
The pair boarded the bomber and took their seats in the cockpit. Two other individuals, helmeted like them approached from the sides and walked up the loading ramp of the craft after them.
"Looks like we won't be alone this time," Chris said, before Dan could ask what the two were doing with them.
Dan smiled at his 'friend.' "The more, the merrier."
Chris grinned back. "Of course, you're still the captain. You can clear it with command if you like."
"Perhaps I should," Dan considered, turning back to the controls. "But I'm sure they wouldn't be here if they didn't have a good reason, right?"
"Right," Chris nodded, painfully obvious.
"Might as well get settled in now, guys," Dan said over his shoulder. "It's going to be a loooooong flight."
"No in-flight movie?" one of them jokingly asked as they took a jump seat.
"I was hoping for Revenge of The Nerds," the other said.
"Eegh," Dan snarled. "I hate that movie. Especially that guy who plays that greasy-looking mucus character."
"Yeah. Wasn't that guy in something recent? Some kind of reality game show with nerdy kids in it?" Chris asked.
"Meh," Dan said, keying the controls and starting the plan. "Nobody pays attention to that crap anyway."
The bomber taxied down the runway and took off. There was no need for clearance or radio acknowledgement; everything had already been taken care of for them. This was a mission that was secret on top of secret on top of top secret, secretly. If it worked, the Terran Empire may have discovered a new frontier, another dimension.
Of course, the last half-dozen missions had been the same. They flew up in the bomber, bombarded the fuselage with energy of some weird kind and tried to see if it allowed them to pass through the "fabric of space and time to another reality." So far, the only thing they'd managed to do was deplete their fuel supply and turn the ocean and sky outside different colors. Beyond that, the results were inconclusive.
They were approaching the coast of California, now known as just the western coast of North America. All states, all nations and all borders were one: the Terran Empire. Apart from Bozeman, Montana and a few other exceptions, everything else was just referred to as another part of Terra.
"We've reached optimum cruising level," Dan announced.
"All systems are nominal. Ready to engage autopilot."
"Engaging autopilot."
A few clicks and the plane was flying itself. Dan looked over at Chris. He noticed his copilot was already watching him before he looked over.
"You guys ready back there?" Dan asked over his shoulder again. "One of you going to do the honors or do we still turn it on?"
"Oh, don't worry," Chris said. "We'll all be doing the honors, captain."
The first passenger wrapped a grapple cord around Dan's neck, the second around Dan's arms. The back of his head pressed against the head of his chair. He gritted his teeth as his trachea was choked off. He reached for wire wrapped around his neck but the one around his torso prevented him from raising his eyes. Darkness crept in around his vision.
Chris turned in his seat, looking at Dan. He bore a huge grin. "Like you said: timing is everything."
"It is," Dan said, straining. "And yours is up."
Unlike the other men, Dan had not disengaged his safety restraints. He reached forward instead of up and disengaged the autopilot. The other two men saw what he was doing, Chris got up to stop him. They pulled him back and up, pulling him up in the chair while still choking him. He couldn't reach the controls. Not with his arms, anyway.
Using his knee, Dan nudged the yoke to the right, causing the ship to bank instantly.
"Augh!" The other three men were thrown to the side of the cockpit. The wire around his neck released.
"Ahhh," Dan breathed, gulping in several fresh breaths of air. Before they could recover, Dan grasped the controls again and pulled the plane up into a straight climb.
Chris and his two conspirators hit the back of the bomber, slamming against the loading ramp. Dan continued the climb, preventing the men from getting up to him.
"You were all right, Chris," Dan said, disappointed only that he couldn't turn around and see his face. "Another time, another place, maybe we would've been friends."
"What would you know about friendship, Dan?" Chris said, groaning under the pressure. "The only thing you trust… is the Terran Empire!"
Dan smiled. "What can I say? Trust gives me plenty of opportunities for advancement." He hit the button that opened the bay doors. In an instant, Chris and the two others were blown out, scattered to the abyss. Dan would say later that Chris and the two others- he'd also have to find out their names- were part of the rebellion and had attempted to steal the bomber and other experimental equipment and that he had single-handedly stopped them, part of which was true. If he was lucky, they'd reward his actions and maybe assign him someone who'd wait a few weeks before trying to kill him.
Suddenly, the instrument panel lit up with errors. Alarm klaxons rang out as all the lights in the cockpit turned red. Something had happened- the engines were stalling! All of a sudden, the plane went from going straight up to plummeting straight down. Dan tried to pull up, tried to correct the course but the controls wouldn't heed him; the engines were dead.
The black bomber flew like an arrowhead down to the surface of the Pacific ocean. Nothing but blue expanse was beneath Dan and the plane was plummeting fast. Even the alarms stopped blaring as power from the plane disappeared completely. The controls became slack and useless.
Dan tried everything on the instrument panel, every possible button combination he could think of but there was nothing. The plane dropped like a stone. The inertia began to catch up with him as the safety systems failed and he felt the full force of bomber's descent. It was just then he remembered the device, the cell phone-sized dimensional transference device they were supposed to test. It was still in his pocket.
He brought up the phone with both hands, careful not to drop it as the plane spiraled. He looked at it, forcing his eyes to focus on the words. Quickly, he realized it was just a phone. Perhaps Chris was smarter than he thought. Had there even been a test scheduled for today or had it all been part of a ploy?
Dan tapped the phone's screen. With what he thought was his last actions on Earth, he typed in a hastily-written plea to anything that could find it to rescue him, save him, do anything and he would do anything in return. He hit send.
"Two bars…" he muttered. "Figures."
He looked up. The endless Pacific was still before him and it was a matter of moments before the plane impacted it and disintegrated, along with him. Suddenly, his vision of the sea was obscured by a dark cloud. A bank of dark clouds, a storm swirled into vision faster than he could've anticipated. It quickly blocked out his view of the sea and the plane passed through it.
And then Dan and the bomber were no longer on Earth.
Chris and his wife Elise, along with their friend Wally watched as their parachutes carried them to the mainland.
"He passed through the clouds… but not out," Chris said.
"What do we tell command?" Elise asked.
"Rebel activity," Chris answered, smiling. "We'll tell them the dear captain was an insurgent planning on stealing the bomber for the rebels."
"Isn't that what we were trying to do?"
"It was. But maybe now, I'll get a promotion." The three adjusted the sails on their gliders and banked towards the mainland. With any luck, they'd arrive at the rebel base at San Gmod before dark.