Caught

2.

The next day I was summoned to a meeting of the Council.

I stood outside the ancient stone gate and gazed upon the elegant roofs of the palace that now served as the base of the Resistance. How would the Emperor have felt if he knew that his magnificent residence was being used by the rebels?

The capital had been badly damaged by the fighting, with only a few parts bearing remote resemblance to the magnificent place Kashima had been before the war. Fortunately, the historic centre was one of the least affected. Here you could almost forget that the surrounding districts were in ruins, the periphery littered with forgotten mines and damaged factories contaminated with chemicals.

I hated to admit that we had caused most of the destruction. The Resistance was determined to bring an end to the long siege of the city, which had become the last bastion of Imperial power, and was using every means at its disposal to do so.

Arriving late at the palace, I found that the meeting had already begun. I hurried through the vast gardens, a shadow of what they had been before the war, and made my way to the back entrance.

I slipped quietly into the huge hall full of people. Nobody noticed my late arrival. General Feranden, who led the final battles, was speaking.

The general believed that the Emperor and the rest of his army had fled to the North Island and were hiding in the mountains. Feranden asked for more soldiers to pursue the enemy leader. Some disagreed, saying that it would weaken our position in Kashima and that holding the capital was the most important thing now.

The discussion dragged on, and the room grew stuffy. And it was hot. I unbuttoned the top buttons of my commander's uniform, but it didn't help.

Other speakers followed, reporting on the situation. The news from the capital was not optimistic. The Imperial renegades had cut us off from the power station in western Kashima, leaving a third of the city without electricity. A large number of enemy troops had fortified themselves in the western, industrial part of the city, repeatedly resisting our attempts to retake the area.

"The situation is critical," continued Commander Riisen. "We certainly cannot withdraw troops and send them away," he added, referring to General Feranden's earlier request.

I have seen what the western part of Kashima looks like. It was a dead city. Destroyed factories and buildings, bombed-out streets, rubble and smoke everywhere. In some places it was impossible to walk without a gas mask. Beneath the whole area were the hard-to-map tunnels of a long-abandoned underground railway and an old sewer system.

And our enemies used this maze of tunnels as escape routes. Unlike us, they could navigate them with unwavering certainty.

 "It's a labyrinth," said Riisen. "Some of the canals are even flooded with radioactive water. It's suicide to send our troops in there blind."

"Are there no plans in the central computer?" Another of the commanders said.

"All records were erased before we attacked the palace," said Riisen. "We have nothing to go on."

"We can't allow this sabotage to continue," the Governor said firmly. "If we have no other choice, an air strike will destroy the place to the ground."

Loud whispers and arguments echoed through the hall.

"With all due respect," Riisen spoke after a moment. "There are still tons of dangerous chemicals there, one bomb dropped in the wrong place and we'll contaminate all of Kashima."

"Besides, if they're still hiding in the tunnels, I'm not convinced of the effectiveness of an air strike," General Feranden added.

The whispering turned into a loud argument. Finally, the chairwoman, who was coordinating the meeting, called a break. The argument had intensified.