Chapter 19 - Cold Vengeance

Several decades prior, the Veetan Rebellion began to brew.

For numerous years, many natives of Talis had an irksome feeling that they were not being represented in the way that they should. Their traditions had been replaced. Their numerous languages had dissolved into nothingness over time. Borders that had once grouped like-minded individuals were blurred into obscurity. 

Groups complained, and the media on Talis covered it heavily. New opinions that most people didn’t have before soon became a part of their very lives. The notion that the Galactic Coalition was akin to a disease became something that people started to believe. 

Oppression from the Coalition.

Oppression on non-natives.

The indifference of local politicians.

These worries occupied the minds of every inhabitant of Talis. 

Justifying violence in times when there could be peace is nigh impossible, but still, many Veetans felt as though they had reason enough to try.

The people took up arms to confront the politicians of Talis about their plans to restore their homeworld to its original culture, but no clear answer was given. 

Riots.

Terrorist attacks.

Assassinations.

Talis was in a state of political emergency. As a last ditch effort to restore peace, the world leaders of Talis decided to hold a vote that anyone born on Talis could partake in. 

The vote was to decide whether or not Talis should break off from the Coalition.

With seventy percent of the votes against and thirty percent of the votes for breaking off, many believed that the conflict would be over. It wasn’t necessarily overwhelming, but those who wished to break off from the coalition were outnumbered over two-to-one.

But what of the thirty percent? Should they have been happy with their position just because the majority disagreed with them?

Rather than giving up, they were vindicated. Knowing that the majority was capable of oppressing them was all they needed to take action.

Blood.

Death.

Heartbreak.

Armsdealers took no issue with selling weapons to the rebels. Large corporations and conglomerates invested in the rebellion, hoping to make even the slightest bit of profit off of it.

The rebellion eventually gained shape as a proper group, and they contested the pro-Coalition government to the point that the Coalition itself got involved.

The Galactic Coalition sent myriads of soldiers to suppress the conflict, but that wasn’t the end of it. Groups across the entire galaxy banded together with the rebels. Some shared similar interests with them, some were hoping to gain power, and some were merely bored.

The fight was no longer about Talis’ culture. It was an all out war.

This went on for years, and in time it became clear that the rebellion was losing out.

The Coalition had decided that it was time to draw the war to a close when the rebellion’s leaders and a majority of their remaining forces cornered themselves off in a large city called Tebin.

The Coalition gave them the option to surrender, but the rebels were stubborn. If they gave up, what fate would await them? Perhaps the Coalition would have been willing to ease up on their sentences, but peace would not be something that they would know for the rest of their lives.

They held their ground, and the people of Tebin were practically held hostage. Anyone who attempted to leave would be forced to remain, or in the worst cases, killed.

To the remaining rebels who had experienced the horrors of war, anyone not supporting their cause was viewed as someone who turned a blind eye to the crimes of the Coalition.

The Coalition encircled the city. 

For a good while, no weapons were fired from either side, and the conflict turned into a siege. The supply chain in Tebin had crumbled. People, food, water, electricity; none could safely get in or out of the city. 

As uncertainty and unrest set into the general population, many turned to crime. Theft, stealing, cheating, and in some cases, even murder, became a survival instinct.

The Coalition put down its foot, making a decision that would forever remain as a stain on its long history.

The Ranger Corps was called upon to send all available forces to wipe out the insurgents.

The remaining rebels were given one final chance to surrender, but not one dared to submit.

The residents of Tebin were instructed to evacuate, but not one dared to leave.

Over two-hundred Rangers answered the call, and they spent no time deliberating. They had decided that it was best to end it quickly. The city had been in a state of chaos for far too long, and it was only getting worse.

But history wouldn’t remember that decision. It only remembers that the Rangers were under the orders of the Galactic Coalition when they invaded Tebin, broke into homes, destroyed property, and slaughtered rebels with little precaution or consideration.

Civilian casualties weren’t exceptionally high in Tebin when compared to the larger scale of the war, but it was still far too much.

After all, it was nigh impossible to justify violence in times where there could have been peace.

One Veetan girl vividly recalled her experience of the event that would later be called the Tebin Massacre.

A stray missile hit the apartment that she and her parents were holed up in. Her father carried her in his arms and did everything he could to shield her as they evacuated the building through the chaos. 

“Where’s mommy?” the girl asked her father when they managed to escape the building.

Streaks of light, fire, and the sounds of explosions filled their environment. Rubble and dust covered what used to be sidewalks and roads. Collapsed buildings and broken down vehicles were scattered about.

“Oh, she’ll be with us soon, sweetheart. Don’t worry,” her father said as he continued to carry her, “She needs to grab a couple of things before she can come meet up with us.”

“Okay,” she said as she burrowed into her father’s chest fearfully. She didn’t even think to question whether or not he was telling the truth.

Most of the people who escaped the building just ran into another one, but the father kept running.

The father eventually set his daughter down near a vehicle that looked like it could still run and wrapped his hand in cloth. He punched in the window of the vehicle, and opened the door.

The keys were still inside of it, and he started it up. It floated it off of the ground. He exited the vehicle, and placed his daughter in the driver’s seat. He got in the back seat.

“What do you say we leave this town? You wanted to learn how to drive one of these, right?” he asked, as he put the vehicle into drive mode from the back seat. He grabbed her hands and placed them on the control wheel, “Just use that to steer it.” He placed his hands atop hers, and titled the control wheel forward. “That’s how you get it to move,” he said, “Just pull it back if you need it to stop.”

He continued to control the vehicle from behind the girl. She did not ask why he wasn’t the one in the driver's seat.

A loud sound of glass shattering followed by a thud was heard from behind the girl, and her father let out a strained groan.

She started to turn her head, “Daddy are you oka-”

“Don’t turn around! Always keep your eyes in front of you when driving,” he said with a shake in his voice, “You got that?”

She snapped back to face forward. “Y-yes daddy,” she stuttered.

“Good,” he said, “You’re doing very good. Just keep… at it… until you get to… safety…”

The grip that he had on her hands loosened.

“D-daddy?”

There was no response. 

His hands dropped from the control wheel entirely. The girl felt something wet on her shoulder where her fathers arm rested. She turned her eyes slowly, and saw a heavy trail of crimson red running down his arm onto her.

She sniffled.

“D-daddy, please! Stay!”

She cried. She sobbed to the point that she could no longer see the road.

She crashed into something solid. 

She woke up in an emergency room.

A doctor informed her that she was found by a Ranger and rescued. Her only wounds were bruised ribs and a light concussion.

Neither her mother nor her father survived.

The war was over, but not for her.

She spited the world. She spited the Coalition that let this happen. She spited the Ranger Corps. More than anything she spited herself for being so worthless.

She strived to take revenge on whatever she could.

Seventeen years later, Lasia stood before a young Ranger, who was kneeling down and grasping onto an injury that she caused, and stared at him with cold, dead eyes.

Although it didn’t hold up, it was fortunate that Quin attempted to block with the club. The ice would have made a direct hit on his chest had the fragile club not changed its trajectory. Instead, he had a deep gash on his right shoulder.

“Ashur was right. Your attacks are soft,” Quin huffed, “Were you trying to hurt me there or was that some sort of joke?”

“Funny. Yes, very funny.”

Quin gathered his aura in his right shoulder, it began to heal. He stood up from the ground.

“Don’t even bother standing up,” said Lasia, “You really should give up now.”

“Why? Are you scared that you’ll lose or do you just not want to fight?”

Quin ran directly at Lasia as fast as he could, winding up a punch.

“You really don’t learn, do you?” she said calmly, closing her eyes.

She flicked her fan downward, and a cold air blew. The ground beneath her froze into a thin sheet of ice.

Quin continued forward, but not of his own will. His feet slid across the icy floor, and he fumbled around in an attempt to maintain balance, but it was futile. He slipped right past Lasia and tripped face first into the dirt several meters behind her.

Quin sat up and brushed himself off. 

“You really are funny,” Lasia chuckled.

“Shut up!” Quin said as he stood up. “You just caught me off guard.”

A loud thud was heard from behind him. It sounded like a body hitting the ground.

Both Quin and Lasia turned their heads to the source of the sound.

A large Tothan was planted face-first into the dirt at the edge of the arena.

“Who?” asked Lasia to no one in particular.

The Tothan placed his hands firmly on the ground and pulled his head out.

“I thought I would die!” Teek cried out.