For decades, defeat had not been in the U.S.C.'s vocabulary. The sold utopia of humanity's heirs, space pioneers fighting against those who tried to delay progress, easily gained strength through victories against the enemies on Earth. Primitive apes, as they were pejoratively called. It was easy to have the press on the side of the government and The Cathedral when triumphs piled up.
However, the atmosphere of mourning that hung over the U.S.C.'s main colony and metropolis was the greatest indicator of the changing times ahead. It didn't take long for the part of the press that disliked the organization's policies to become aware of the successive colonial defeats. As much as intelligence had done its part to contain the spread of such news, it reached a point where this was no longer possible. Still far from a state of panic, the population was beginning to realize that the war—which they no longer even called that—was going to change.
At The Cathedral's memorial, in one of the sectors of the Alpha metropolis, a ceremony was being held under artificial rain created by the gigantic colony's climate system. If this were a coincidence, it would be an appropriate one. This was Helena Kjestein's thought as she, along with her squadron, dressed in their army's white ceremonial attire, watched the burial of 278 bodies that weren't even there—bodies lost in Earth's atmosphere. Joshua Balogun consoled his family a few meters away; Florentin Balogun's widow, shattered in tears, was not the only one to display such emotion. In her mind, Helena blamed herself for the rescue mission's failure. It didn't matter that they told her the appearance of a new enemy superweapon was impossible to predict, that her actions had been correct. In her first mission after her return, she had lost almost three hundred lives. She paid a few more tributes, preparing to leave the ceremony; she was worried about her children, whom she hadn't seen for some weeks.
"Captain Kjestein."
On her way out, Helena encountered Mathias Granqvist, who was doing an even worse job than she was at hiding the guilt he felt.
"I would like your presence at the development center, starting early next week."
She merely nodded and continued her walk towards the ceremonial exit. Mathias seemed to have something more to say but didn't. He just watched her silently as Helena walked in the rain.
<>
In a dark room, Rafael Hertzog observed eight small holograms, with the symbols from Alpha to Eta on each of them, in sequence.
"How can this be possible!? Months ago, we were close to total control of Earth, and now you're telling me that not only have we lost it, but we're about to receive an attack from Aegis forces??"
The synthesizer couldn't hide the anger in the voice of the cardinal speaking from behind the display marked with the letter Beta. Beside him, in a much calmer tone, Gamma also spoke.
"That's what doesn't make sense. How did they achieve such advancement without us noticing? It would be impossible for such technology to have gone unnoticed by our research centers."
With the discussion becoming heated, it fell to Alpha, as expected, to calm things down.
"Gentlemen, arguing among ourselves like this is pointless. We need to be rational."
After achieving silence, the deep voice continued.
"What is your opinion, Supreme Commander Hertzog?"
The veteran, who had kept himself out of the discussion, now found himself obliged to participate.
"Your Eminences, I believe we don't have enough information to make any decision. However, we are preparing an operation to try to circumvent this situation. We will use our enemies' eagerness—who certainly want revenge—and capture one of the units with the unknown technology."
After a brief silence, Alpha decided to end the meeting.
"Very well, Supreme Commander. Just remember that failure in this mission could mean the end of The Cathedral and the U.S.C. as we know them."
The light in Hertzog's room was on again. The man's patience with the cardinals, who held so much power in the organization, diminished with each meeting. He had no time to complain further; he had another appointment in the same room in moments.
A few minutes later, Mathias Granqvist found himself in front of the Supreme Commander's desk. He felt Hertzog's inquisitive gaze.
"So, Director Granqvist, what do you think of our plan to capture the enemy technology?"
"Solid, sir, but I don't like the dependence on the enemy's actions for the operation to even begin."
Rafael nodded at Mathias but didn't entirely agree.
"Revenge is a sentiment that has accompanied man since his earliest days, and the hearts of the Earthlings are filled with it. We've given them enough reason for it. They will want to take advantage of their new strength, and that's where we will act."
Mathias understood the Supreme Commander's point of view, and although he disliked not having total control over the plan's surroundings, he also understood that it might be their last solution, now that The Cathedral's ability to act against Earth was severely limited.
<>
In one of the colony's housing complexes, Helena visited her sister Amelia's family home. The reunion with her children was tearless; she managed to hold them back. After dinner, Helena sat with her sister while watching the children play on the living room carpet. Amelia observed her older sister for a few seconds before continuing the conversation that had been going on for some minutes.
"There have been several rumors in the news recently, my sister..."
Helena noticed a certain hesitation in Amelia and then decided to be honest.
"They aren't rumors, Amelia."
Amelia shifted on the sofa, now clearly worried. Helena felt a twinge of guilt but needed to be sincere with her sister; besides, she had a request to make.
"Is Sergi still working on the Ita colony?"
"Yes, he still has a few more months until the project ends."
Amelia's husband worked on the construction of various projects, traveling throughout the U.S.C. colonies, something he had been doing for years. Helena took her sister's hand, making her even more nervous.
"I'd like you to take the children and move there."
Amelia observed Helena for a few seconds, trying to understand why her sister wanted to send her and the children to Neptune, when an expression of terror took over her beautiful face.
"Do you think things will get dangerous that quickly!?"
Helena watched her children for a few seconds before answering.
"It's possible, now that they have the time and possibly the power for it."
Amelia clasped her hands, reflecting on the information she had just heard.
"Sorry for scaring you like that."
"It's alright, Helena. I know you're doing this for our good... And what about you?"
The question caught her off guard. The two simply looked at each other when Helena noticed the single tear running down her cheek.
"I miss him so much..."
Amelia hugged her sister, knowing that Helena Kjestein's fragility could only be shown there. For the rest of her life, all that was left was to embody the Ice Queen whom the military forces respected.
<>
In one of the colony's many bars, Elijah Thompson was enjoying his rare moment of leave, drinking in an attempt to forget his last few weeks. For someone unaccustomed to defeat, the loss of his sister and the recent humiliation and failure on Earth had been a hard blow to swallow sober. He looked at his empty glass, and as he was about to order another shot, he saw a delicate hand place itself over it.
Laila Rubio looked at him with that smile he knew from their early years together at The Cathedral's academy. The smile she simply couldn't stop giving people. And the fact that he knew how fierce the young pilot became when in her M.M.U. made him like Laila's other side even more.
"Are you going to try to drown our defeat in booze, Elijah?"
He just chuckled softly, without answering. Laila observed him for a while, and then, to his surprise, spoke to the bartender.
"Two more shots, please!"
Elijah, looking at her startled, made her return the gesture.
"What's wrong? My plan was to have you sober to keep me company tonight, but if there's no other way, we'll spend it getting wasted together."
"You're unbelievable."
"I hear that a lot, so I must be. Thank you!"
Laila picked up her glass and raised it, expecting a toast from Elijah, who, as usually happened, couldn't go against his old friend.
"A toast to our failure! And to the success we'll achieve using it as a foundation."
He looked at his friend before inevitably accepting the offer for a toast.
"Cheers."
In a single gulp, he downed the entire hot drink. Through the bar window, snow could be seen falling slowly; the end of the year in the colony was as cold as in the north of Earth. The irony of seeking similarities with the planet that a good part of the U.S.C. detested was worthy of a laugh from the pilot. Laila also turned to see the falling snow.
"To another white Christmas."
Both knew that the future would make moments like that night rare; on the horizon, they saw battles with uncertain outcomes for the first time in their young lives. But on that particular night, they at least had the certainty of having each other.