Fire and Ice

Chapter 3 † Kayleigh

Kayleigh tread carefully in the tiny ventilation system. One wrong step, and she fell through. One step too loud, or in a security measure, and she was done for. She only hoped that the soldiers were trained in marksmanship by the Imperial Stormtroopers themselves. She carefully tiptoed through lasers, gently stopped fans and avoided security drones as best she could.

Voices came from the corridor underneath her. She stilled.

"Let me go!" a voice cried. "I'm 15 years old, and perfectly capable of walking by myself," it claimed indignantly.

A pause. "Listen, kid," a new voice whispered urgently. "It's my job to keep you safe. You gotta be where you gotta be, and I gotta get you there alive and on time. Hear? This ain't meant to offend you," it stated. Their footsteps clipped neatly down the hallway to her left. Kayleigh followed quietly in the vents as best she could.

†††

Kayleigh knew several things from that conversation. One: a fifteen year old boy was being escorted around by a soldier. This means Two: The fifteen year old might be of some importance. Three: the pair looked as though they came from the direction Kayleigh had been coming from, which meant Four: they had been watching, presumably from the other side of the wall-spanning mirror. She had to assume that they knew who she was and that she might be able to barter using the boy.

So, she followed them. All the way across the facility (a rather large one?), until the boy was dropped off in a room. Peering through the vents, Kayleigh observed. She saw a bed, a desk, a tiny nightstand, and a panel in the wall with a keypad. I wonder what that is. Future tech is strange.

†††

He paced. It had been half an hour, but still he paced. Back and forth across the room. Maybe it was time to make an entrance.

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Thirty minutes after the Gold Leader had become a fugitive on the tiny planetoid Eros, Ender was still confused. Worried. Stressed. Was his team alright? How good were the security measures? Have they caught her already and just haven't let me know yet? No they wo–

A throat cleared, stopping him midthought. Ender whipped around, to find a girl with wavy black hair and bright bronze eyes staring right back.

†††

She hasn't expected him to be this nervous. The moment she'd made herself known, he had whipped around to face her, his eyes wide with shock and fear, and he was in a stance to defend himself, should he realize it or not. She sighed gently. This might be more difficult than she'd anticipated.

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She smiled. A tiny smile meant to reassure. To calm prey. It dropped quickly, and she moved a finger to her lips as a sign to keep quiet.

"No," I proclaimed defiantly. She glared at me. "Why should I? You're being hunted and-mmph!"  Her hand shot from nowhere, quickly covering my mouth and shoving me against a wall in one fluid motion.

"Look," she whispered, "I'm not out to get you, any of you, despite stunning all the guards in the lab. I just want my team, and then I'll be out of your hair,"she demanded quietly. Oh. Oh no. Her team was still alive, sure, but all were at least four times her age at this point. She released my mouth and asked pointedly, "Do you know where my team is?" I shake my head violently.

"My superior told me they were all dead."

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No. They separated them? Her best friends, her team? Kayleigh backed up until her knees buckled on the bed frame.

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I shouldn't have said that.

Kayleigh took a few steps back from him, her knees buckling. His bed caught her, and he saw her face.

Shattered. Broken. He should have let Graff tell her. This was unbearable. He barely even knew her, but the look on her face made him cry. He walked over and knelt beside her.

"I'm sorry," was all he could choke out.

"You are not at fault," she shakily murmured. Ender grabbed his blanket and gently wrapped it around her shoulders.

"You won't report me, will you?" she whimpered.

"No," was Ender's immediate response. "Never." She seemed reassured, so he let her be for now.

†††

Three hours. It took Kayleigh three hours to compose herself. The boy was kind and gentle, seeming as scattered and lost as she was. But this wasn't the time for her emotions to take over. Her team was dead, and even if they couldn't fight beside her anymore she still had a job to do.

"What is your name?" she asked the boy. He jumped in surprise after being in silence for hours.

"Ender Wiggin," he replied.

"Did you view my Awakening?" He hesitated.

"Yes," he says.

"Who are you to the superiors?"

"I'm supposed to win the war."

"Which one?"

"The Third Formic war." Oh no. They hadn't killed those buggers yet?

"What about Earth? What's it like now?" He looked taken aback for a moment.

"Population control is strictly enforced. Tech here and there is pretty much the same."

"Where is 'here'? Are we not on Earth?"

"We are on the planetoid Eros. I have been battling the formics via ansible for the past four years to no avail."

"Why here?"

"It was occupied by formics, but we took it from them. It serves as a forward base for the invasion and the old Command School."

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The questioning went on for what felt like hours. Ender had forgotten that Kayleigh would need so much filling in on what had happened since the last war. Ender almost gave her his datapad and told her to look it up herself, but talking to her was honestly interesting. Her curiosity was limitless. She asked not only about Earth, but about Ender and his past. He opened up to her almost immediately, feeling strangely safe around her. Near 'nightfall' she was talking about her life on Earth, as though Ender needed to hear.

"You do know that you and your team are famous right? You went down in the history books as heroes. Every pilot who's worth two cents knows all about you."

"They unclassified my past?" Ender nodded. "Damn historians." He burst out laughing. "Just wait until they get at you in thirty years, see how you like it then."

"No, no, not to be mean. Hearing you talk is entertaining, but it's getting close to night, and I figured you should know anyways."

"Well thanks. Better find a comfy spot in the vents before showing up tomorrow."

"You'll be alright?"

"Thanks for your concern, honeybun, but I think I've got this." She was up the wall and unlatching the grate before she finished speaking.

But before she could get anywhere, the door slammed open, and soldiers pointing guns came pouring in.