16

Hello, my name is Les Carpenter I was born and raised on a place called Beaumonde. My family was moderately wealthy and me and my older sister Becca had privileges that I’m sure now other children didn’t have. At the time though that wasn’t our concern. When a child is young like that all that you are aware of is what is in front of you.

Sis and I lived as if we knew that every child had caring, loving parents just as we. We thought that every child always got what they wanted on the “ Divinity “ Holiday. I remember talking to a friend of mine that lived on a planet called Shadow. I can’t recall his name right now but I do remember that he had told me that he’d made a wish to wake up on “Divinity Day” and there waiting under the “ Divine Tree ” would be a rocket, Model # 652731. At the time I thought it was strange because I’d gotten that toy rocket 3 solar years ago on “Divinity Day”. I guess that was the time that I realized that not every kid had the privileges that we ( my sister and I) had.

I told him that what I really wanted on “Divinity Day” was a pony. He laughed because he had had several while growing up. It was funny because each of us realized that the other had what the other had wanted. The very next Holiday I awakened to find a wide-eyed Shetland pony standing by the “Divinity Tree” that morning. I’m not sure if he ever got the rocket he dreamed of because I never saw him again.

I do remember that he worked on a ranch and I thought that that was the neatest thing at the time. His mom owned some land on Shadow and she and my father thought that it would be a good idea if I were to work there a couple of summers to get my hands dirty and find out what manual labor was all about. I’m sure in my father’s mind he was thinking that it would convince me to get serious with my school studies and look toward education as a brighter future on the job market as I grew. He was right. I knew from that second summer on Shadow that ranching wasn’t the life for me.

By that time anyway I was getting older and, there had come a disturbance in the verse’s order of things. There was an upheaval and some of the outer worlds had become unhappy with the way government conducted business. I was still too young to understand it all but I did know that dad leaned more toward the governing policy makers while some folk on our world seemed to lean toward the rebellious side.

There was a regulated group of planets forming in opposition. They called themselves “Independents” and as time went on they became more aggressive. All I wanted to do at the time was ride my pony which I’d named Shadow but I could see that mom and dad were distress over world events. There were several families on our planet that sided with the Independents so this made for some slight friction in the towns and cities. There was always some kind of arguments going on in the local papers and wave broadcast and sometime friends at opposite ends of the discussions ended up fighting. It was strange.

All I know is that soon after war broke out and that our once peaceful planet was right in the middle of things. I was 19 or 20 at the time and wanted to joint the ranks of the Allied to fight off this band of rebellious heathens. My father forbid me joining the force though and I hated him for it. Oh, the misgiving of youth. Beaumonde was a planet of some wealth and natural recourses so it was of interest to both Alliance and Independence. There were Independence gorilla groups among the hills and valleys and some of the local business folk seemed to be aligned with them also. The planet was a terrible mess…….then came that day!

I was out riding Shadow in the hills one sunny afternoon. Smoke along the horizon came to my view. It came from the direction of my families property. I rode Shadow as quickly as I could on the path toward home. When I got there I was stunned. The estate was in shambles. Most of it blow to bits. I dismounted Shadow and ran to the front entrance. Once inside I could see that there wasn’t much left of our home. I called out to my family. No one answered, then there came a low moan to my ears. I found Becca lying in a heap of twisted timbers in a hallway near the kitchen. The servants and everyone else were gone.

My God Becca was a mangled mess. She looked at me and uttered one word “Alliance” then her last breath escaped her. I held her there in my arms but life from her was gone. I screamed at the heavens……but my shouts went unheard.

I never found my parents, nor anyone else of our employ. I heard through the townsfolk that friendly fire had hit the area while Alliance soldiers were chasing Independence fighters. That was bad enough but later I found that they had come and ransacked the place. Everything of value had been taken. The travesty was soon covered up and only spoken of as an “unfortunate” incident. I made up my mind then to get down to the truth of things. After the war I joined an underground movement that’s name will remain a secret. The name I’ve given at the beginning of this tale is a lie, though the story is true.

I have since found myself aligned on a ship with a rebel crew. I still function in the Alliance world as a member of the all respectful body of believers. Truth is there is another movement going on at present, a residence movement. The answers I’ve received from the governing body have never been satisfactory in my view of the bombing of my home and the raiding of our house. I am with the rebels now and all I can tell you is that we’ve received a mission. I will tell you that a family member has paid us to reacquire his sister.

She is in an Alliance camp somewhere and that she’s around the age of 15 or 16. The same age I was at during the happiest time of my life, that’s all I know. My emotions go out to him because I know how missing family feels. For now it’s all the details I have. Don’t know if I will ever be able to tell you more. What I do know is that I am on the RIGHT side and that I will continue to fight.

Loyal soldier LC