IDETHIA 7

by Vorserkeien

Rating: PG-13 (may go up) for violence and language

Summary:

Year: 2170

Location: Earth

The story so far: The harsh rules of a cruel and unforgiving world mean that all children must train in General Rook's army, erasing all free time, the purpose of which is to create complete obedience and loyalty to Rook. Once in the army they are made to forget life before Rook's control.

At 14 they graduate to join the Junior Federation, where their loyalty is tested through arresting any others of that age who refuse to join. At 18 although they have the option of combining a different line of work with frequent army training, the purpose is still to remove all freedom from the lives of all citizens ensuring complete loyalty. Those who speak out against Rook and refuse to work in the army are killed.

The few, who still remember what life was like before Rook took control in 2159, 11 years previously, make up the rebel army of 'Idethia 7'. What is the identity of their leader, who was given the nickname of the Black Fighter, as a result of constantly appearing during rebellions as a figure dressed in black and can he/she and Idethia 7 team return life to how it used to be?

Sci-fi / Action / possible future Romance

Read, review and enjoy!

Prologue – 7 years earlier (Year: 2163)

They would come tonight, come to confirm her decision to the Junior Federation; the 14-year-old girl knew this. She also knew the result if she refused.

"You are strongly advised to join them." It was what every person in her family had said.

She pulled out two worn and faded photographs from the very bottom of a drawer. She stared hard at the first, which showed a small 9-year-old girl in the middle of a playroom, surrounded by her favourite toys. She smiled as she brought back memories she was supposed to have forgotten long ago.

As someone knocked hard on the front door of the house, she looked up startled. Dropping both photos she crawled across the floor and looked out of her bedroom window. They had arrived. Stephen and Amber, her older brother and sister, now soldiers in the Junior Federation. The girl pulled sharply away from the window as they looked up. As she did she caught sight of the first photograph, which she had left on the floor.

She heard the door open, voices and her mother calling for her to come down. It seemed like an impossible choice, join them, and spend the rest of her life lying because of remembered memories due to a photograph, or refuse and wait and see what fate awaited her. Or…

Her eyes moved from the first photo to the second, taken in the same year, of her family, slightly blurred caused by her desire to use her parent's camera, and then to her bedroom window. She couldn't. That would be crazy.

"Sharon."

The sound of her name made up her mind. Picking up both photographs, she slid them into an inside pocket in the jacket hanging on her chair, another rule she never followed, keeping all property tidy. Putting the jacket on, she pulled the zip right up to her chin and opened the window, pleased that she had at least paid attention in some of her military lessons. The street below was empty. She climbed out of the window and carefully lowered herself onto the flat porch roof below. No turning back now. Her fear increased as she heard someone coming upstairs. She didn't bother climbing down from the porch roof; she jumped, rolling over as she hit the hard gravel below.

"Hey!"

"Damn it, Stephen," she thought, as she picked herself off the ground and ran. Glancing back, she saw him start talking into some sort of communications device, and saw the shock on her mother's face. She speeded up when Amber left the house in pursuit of her, and with the realisation that their family now meant nothing to either of them. The only thing they cared about now was a desire to please the man they worked for. They were nothing more than Rook's slaves now.

Tears stung her eyes at this thought, but she ran on, her shoulder length brown hair sticking to her face. Now alone in the world, she put her last remaining amount of energy into keeping a greater distance as possible between her and Amber, who was catching up rapidly with her.

She knew where she wanted to go - Streetwell Alley. She knew it well enough to allow an escape, but was she going to reach it?

One hundred metres, fifty metres, thirty…

A gun was fired behind her, the bullet missing her by inches. Amber had obviously caught onto her plan. The sound of a second shot, and pain as the bullet hit her right shoulder. Knocked off balance, it wasn't hard for Amber to catch up and force her face down on the ground.

"Treacherous bitch." Amber spat as she firmly held her captive down.

The girl raised her head slightly, "Amber…" she pleaded in a desperate attempt to find even the smallest amount of affection.

"Shut up!" her sister replied, forcing her back down. However as Amber removed one hand to alert other soldiers in the area freeing her captive's right arm.

The girl swung her arm up, knocking Amber's hand away from her communications device, taking in a deep breath as she did to prevent herself from screaming with the pain she was causing her wounded shoulder. Forcing Amber's other restraining hand off her, she pushed her captor away from her, kicking her gun out of reach as she did. Dragging herself to her feet, the girl took off again, reaching the entrance to the alley but feeling the pain increase in her shoulder as she did.

Half way down the alley, she realised that she was no longer being followed, not taking in its importance until she could see the end of the alley and the waiting soldiers.

"There she is!" The girl turned and fled back down the alley as a hail of bullets smashed into the brickwork around her.

"Stop!" A voice yelled behind her.

"Not a chance," she thought before, "oh help," when she saw more soldiers approaching from the other direction. Trapped apart from a small passageway on her right, but she knew where it led, the main high street. Still…

Knowing that any exit was better than none, she turned and ran down it, voices echoing behind her, telling her to stop. But she didn't.

As she left the sheltered passageway, a hand resting on her injured shoulder, a car, completely black, including blacked out windows, pulled up next to her. The back passenger door opened and a boy who could only have been about 16 asked,

"Sharon Oslow?"

The girl nodded.

"Get in."

She looked around at the rapidly approaching soldiers both behind and now on either side of her.

"Hurry."

A couple of resounding shots, one striking the car itself, decided the girl's unsure mind. She got in, slamming the car door closed, as the car sped away.

Inside, the girl, Sharon Oslow, hesitantly allowed the teenager next to her to examine the wound on her shoulder, as she asked,

"Who are you? Who…Why are you here?"

The boy replied calmly, "We work for Idethia 7."

TBC…

R&R. Constructive criticisms welcome.