Leap of Faith

There was one thing that Sister Kara of the Martyrs of the Holy Sepulchre knew. And that was that the True One was with her. She was the leader of twenty four other nuns, all of the same sect, all sitting in the same APC, all waiting for the Flagritz outside to break open the door and kill them. While the rest were disposed to their eventual deaths at the hands of the godless flagritz, Sister Kara knew otherwise. Sister Kara had faith.

There were few people in the starport when the Flagritz military drilled a hole into the apc, flooded the interior with knock out gas and then literally ripped the APC apart. One by one, after removing their gas masks the nuns stepped out, hands raised, all except Sister Kara, who stood before them all and confronted the Flagritz. The battle armoured leader walked towards her and jabbed her with his rifle, his laugh loud over the squad comms. She dusted the spot, tilted her head and smiled at him. He lunged again and a few seconds later found himself lying on the floor.
"As a sister superior of the Brotherhood I demand to know why we have been assaulted. I demand to see your superior."
She repeated it again, this time in flagritzi. The rest of the squad simply pointed to the enraged warrior she had knocked down. She sighed and closed her eyes.

The party of nuns, now stripped of the weapons sat in the cells waiting. Two of them were treating the bruises and cuts that Kara had recieved. Even now, she still believed that the True One was with her. Pain and a beating from the embarrased leader was nothing, it was more painful to be seperated from her rosary. She began to pray, the others followed her example.

By the time they came for her, Kara knew what she had to do. She had already heard from sympathisers of what was to happen to her. If it was true, that she was to be executed then she would fight it. She would take at least one of them with her, and she would die, a true Martyr. Stretching she stood up and removed her outer garments, leaving only her thin vest and a flowing red skirt. Two flagritz grabbed her, one to each arm, their tentacles holding her tight while a third walked behind them, reading from a list of charges. From the direction they were going, it looked like the hiport. As they reached the base, the sun broke from the clouds and she gazed into it's beauty and for a moment.....

The platform they stopped at was high in the atmosphere, a maintenance section that was out of prying eyes and easy for all of them to breath. As soon as they let her go she struck....

Holding her broken arm she looked at the sun.... she could hear the voice in her head, the subtle prayers that came from a choir of angels, could see the fortress towers of the city of angels in the clouds. She knelt down next to the unconcious forms of the warriors and looked at them, shaking her head that none of them could see the beauty that she was seeing. Could hear the glory of the True One and his words. She would die, become a Martyr, her name written in the lists of faithful to be mentioned by those who would come after. Here, on this planet, there would be a cairn for her, a place of worship. She would be remembered. The Flagritz would have their pound of flesh, and the True One would gain a Martyr.

Opening the platform door she walked out of the platform along the structure arching out over the starport. She started to run and at the edge, she leapt.

Many of those in the starport who witnessed the end of Sister Kara would only hear that she had been executed for being a Brotherhood spy. Other saw, and believed.

But then those who had to clean up the mess saw only the folly of humanity. Somewhere, for everyone, there was meaning in her death.