Free Swan Song (Book Three of the Icarus Trilogy) by Kevin Kauffmann

had been unable to grieve for his friend and his sacrifice at the time, but that just made the reaction worse.  Ryan was directly responsible for the boy’s death and it wore at him every day.
    Feldman was another story.  The titan was more than enough to be a hero and a messiah, as far as Ryan was concerned.  Jenkins had never met a more worthy example of nobility and heroism, but that wasn’t Feldman’s fate.  He had been set up to be a martyr, resorting to using a sword in a gun fight.  It wasn’t Ryan's fault or his choice, but Gregory Feldman gave his life anyway just because it was the right thing to do.  Jenkins prayed to no god in particular that he was worthy of the giant’s faith in him.  Ryan had yet to feel like he had done the man justice, no matter how many sacrifices he made.
    But as Jenkins stared at the ceiling of the sparsely-lit room his thoughts fell to another sacrificial lamb.  Ryan thought about his clone and the injustice of his entire existence.  As a way to recoup losses from Ryan's suicide, the Commission had decided to use a behavioral modification technique on the soldier’s brain.  The result had been a nearly-sociopathic version of the young Crow.  Perfect for battle in every way; an artificial hero.
    Ryan couldn’t save him, either.  He had wanted to, desperately.  That alternate version of Jenkins was the closest thing to a brother that Ryan would ever have in this lifetime, and it had been ripped away from him.  The artificial man had given himself in order to save Charlotte; he had tried to make his artificial life worth something more than artificial.
    And then Montgomery had stolen that, as well.  Ryan thought about the multi-trillionaire and his temper tantrum; destroying an entire world because a few slaves decided to rise up.  It was cold, brutal and totally devoid of humanity.  It had robbed Jenkins of his love and his army and it had robbed so many of so much more.
    However, it had given the Earth Freedom Initiative exactly what it needed.  The catalyst was put to the human race and now all Jenkins needed to do was help the process along.  Ryan just needed to push humanity in the right direction and eventually all of those sacrifices would not be meaningless.  It didn’t matter what Atlas and all the reports said; the EFI still had a solid hold in this revolution.  The others might have studied war theory and the insurgencies throughout history, but Jenkins knew that this fight wasn’t over.
    Jenkins would lead them; he would make certain that Jasper Montgomery paid dearly for his crimes.  Ryan would make absolutely certain that Earth and the seven daughters left to it would be the shining beacons of humanity that they always deserved to be.  The young Crow was going to do everything in his power to make it happen and would not accept any sort of compromises.
    The messiah figure rolled up the blueprints of the Jericho installation and then brought up a folder from the inbox.  There were plans to be made over the next few assaults and Jenkins knew he had to write a speech for each one of them, be it success or failure.  His work was never over; it didn’t matter if he was plagued by dreams of flying and pain.  It didn’t matter that he only had a few hours of fitful rest and that he had to play messiah for the world.  Jasper Montgomery was going to pay for his crimes and Jenkins was going to bring this war to an end.
    He owed it to them.  Every single one.
    -
    The flame-haired man was looking at the sky and felt completely at peace.  This was the kind of work he was always meant to do; it only made sense after the years of training he went through on Eris.  He only needed to be calm and placid at the right moments and the rest of the time he could just laugh and dance without any real cares.
    It was too bad that real cares had decided to make themselves known anyway.  Edward Norris could no longer live in a fairytale world where he could