Cage

by Jessie Rose Case

***

  The Empire. Plus 9 years, 3 months, 3 weeks, 1 day, 19 hours, 1 minute, 32, 33, 34 seconds….

  The memories woke him again. Over 86 years ago and still they came. Mac said it was trauma. She was likely right….. Their doc made few mistakes. A mate to Dark, she had become very specialised when it came to Cyborgs. The years of captivity had taken their toll on him she’d said. Even with his pain receptors and emotions still turned off. The memories were always there in the back of his mind. Cyborgs forgot nothing. Everything from the day of their birthing was recorded in their data stream. Easily retrievable when triggered. And his memories wouldn’t let up. There were times in that first instant of waking that he could smell his cage. Would think for a micron they were still there.

  He looked up at the unusual view screen above his bunk. It reflected the space around them. Cyborgs didn’t need much sleep. Three or four hours at most every few days. He acknowledged the vid screen made being onboard easier and a reminder when waking, he was far from that cage. Mac had recommended it after being told he’d had plenty of episodes where he’d struggled for reality on waking. It seemed unnecessary for a Cyborg, but he’d accepted it all the same. It showed the stars moving through folding space and his data told him it was something he enjoyed.

  Did he?.... His data never lied. So he accepted that too as fact.

  The Empire had become his sanctuary. After their freedom and helping the villagers get rid of their oppressors, they’d taken their transport and ship and left that world. They’d surged the villagers to leave too but they’d refused knowing what was left of that army would be back. They refused to accept the logic and chose to stay. With the officers killed by the villagers they’d been no one left to order them to stand down. The village leader had been only too happy to set them free. Cage knew he’d been lucky. They all had. It could have all turned out very differently.

  Their programming prevented them turning on their officers or disobeying orders. It left them vulnerable to those who would take advantage of it. The fact that their owners should have freed them had been the turning point in their programming. It required that they be formally set free before their programming would allow them to walk away and it had to be the recognised leading authority left alive. Only the fact that they had been put in danger of their basic programming to survive, had allowed them to attack their wardens in the first place. They’d known that too, which was why they’d always come in such numbers. Eight to one with guns hot were a ratio that would get a Cyborg killed. Some had tried. In the beginning.

  His men had badly injured…. He didn’t need the reminder. It had taken months to recover. For all of them and still now, the memories caused problems.

  The Empire was their home now. Decades in the making, they’d been finally freed, or some of them had. There were others, like him and his brothers still lost to the Empire but they were determined to find them and bring them home.

  Earth Corp who’d made them, had a lot to answer for. Secret experimentation that had gone on for decades. First using prisoners with no choice in their private prisons, employees who became a threat, then soldiers who volunteered not knowing what they were volunteering for, then colonists. DNA, cells, blood, skin tissue, bone marrow, eggs and semen were all taken to create the ultimate soldier without anyone knowing.

  And for years they played god, terminating what they considered failures and allowing those that met their expectations to go to full term. It was the beginning of their creation. Founded on lies and deceit and nothing much changed for Earth Corp over the long years since.

  And in time they got what they wanted. Discarding year on year, what they didn’t. Creating ever stronger, bigger, more agile humans until that still wasn’t enough for them. They wanted more. So added biometrics to their systems, carbon fibre steel to their skeletons, data nodes and computers embedded in their brains and soft tissue with software that ran it all, controlled by programming that couldn’t be over ridden. They’d made them so strong they feared what might happen. Being able to control them became essential. And not letting them die when they could go into battle time and time again to protect their billion-credit industry, paramount.

  They gave them nano’s for advanced healing, allowing them to take some serious damage and be able to fix themselves and keep fighting or the nano’s shut them down to protect the product. Dead didn’t always mean dead to a Cyborg. They could be shut down and rebooted and when more aggression and better senses were needed, they looked to the animal world. Splicing in animal DNA giving them animal traits. It made them exactly what the Designers had wanted. The ultimate super soldiers. But that came with unforeseen side effects.

  He felt the ping on his neuro net. Mac’s surgical team had been able to reconnect them. It was still a surprise to hear it. Opening the connection De’th reported.

  Two ships on our long-range sensors. One is attacking the other.

  Cage sat up. Do we have any designations?

  Negative too far out.

  Take us in full speed. Get me ID’s.

  Affirmative.

  Going into the bathroom Cage turned the shower on. Water, enough of it in space to allow for water showers were unique and a testament to the people who worked with them. Better recycling, water storage and equipment made that possible. He stepped in recalling their mission. Keep the trading lanes open and clear of danger. Connecting to the ships computer he requested the temperature he wanted.

  ***

  If the damn ship would stop rocking and rolling for just a god damn minute she could get a grip on this shit….. Another blast hit the ship. Fuck!... Marlea looked at her people around her. Tired and exhausted they’d been fighting for hours and holding them off, but it was getting close. She could see they were struggling to believe they could win this. Her earpiece updated her consistently. She’d given one order to her people. ‘Hold them back and push them back. They were not to get a foot hold on this ship!’.

  They’d listened to her and pushed back. Hard. Time and time again. And some had died trying. Marlea couldn’t think about that and doubled down. It hurt knowing people had been lost. But they knew the score if they lost this battle. They all did. Running the trading routes in this sector came with high reward and high danger. It was why they were all on bonuses. Deliver and score big. Fail and it could be fatal.

  They were going hand to hand on the deck below her forward and aft. She and her crew were desperately trying to keep the ship functioning. Suddenly the alarm bleared and computer public address came on.

  “Beach on Deck E in process.” Shit…

  Marlea nodded to her group. “Time to go people. Fire on anything that moves that isn’t us,” she shouted. “With me…” she called out running for the stairs. They’d be no taking the lifts they were locked down as per protocol.

  They ran for their lives down the corridor and up. She pressed her coms. “Back up reinforcements to Deck B, skeleton crew to remain, they are NOT to get through.” That would pull most of her people from engineering protecting against a possible breach there. That would be fatal. No engines no going anywhere. Grabbing the rail, she pulled herself up stair by stair. Ignoring the next level knowing the computer would tell her if there was another breach, she ran on.

  Reaching the next top stair, she waited until her men were all with her, then she nodded to the two that came forward. One took the handle as the other raised his rifle. They all knew the drill. They’d practiced it over and over again. One pulls the handle, one takes point. Once clear, they all pile in behind them spreading out in both directions. The door was pulled, and point led into the corridor.

  Marlea went in behind them as they gave the all clear signal. They could hear the breaching tool up ahead. She gave the signal and they moved forward quickly. Keeping it quiet they scanned the rooms as they sped by making sure they weren’t already in. As they approached the breach area, Marlea realised luck was on her side. They’d picked badly. A storeroom. Two straig
ht sides and one way in and out. Telling her team to hold, she slowly looked around the doorway. The cutting tool was nearing completion. She turned to her team.

  “Line up both sides, they’re nearly through, throw everything at that doorway. Stun grenades.” She watched as the first two on either side activated grenades. Just before the mental cut out dropped, she shouted. “Fire.”

  ***

  Cage walked onto his Bridge. He felt the ping on his neuro net from his comms officer. They no longer had to speak. Cage opened the link.

  The bigger vessel is being attacked on both sides, breaching on multiple levels. It is unlikely that they will survive.

  How long to intercept?

  20.6 Universal minutes.

  Can we communicate with the ship under attack?

  Negative. Not without also alerting the attackers.

  Then we go in blind. Find me a way in to support the ship’s crew.

  Affirmative.

  Cage took his seat. He’d seen this time and time again. The humans would survive or not on that ship. There was nothing he could do about that.

  ***

  They held the breach. It had cost them, but they’d held it until they’d blown the breaching ship away and their ships atmospheric security net snapped back in place preventing them from being vented into space. Several of her people were dead or with varying degrees of injuries. She took satisfaction in that their attackers had lost far more. Their dead littered the storeroom and the ship that had been blow away. But it didn’t help much. Marlea bit down and carried on. Setting mines into the breach that would prevented them from trying again. If they were stupid enough to trigger the mines both her ship and theirs would take some serious damage. Marlea knew that at that point, it wouldn’t matter. It was a hail Mary move. She activated the warning lights flashing out the word ‘mines’ then checked her wrist data pad. Fuck…. The breach on Deck G didn’t look good. They were struggling to hold. Her group was the nearest one. Two floors up. She wiped her brow, her people were on empty but she had no fucking choice they had to go.

  “Computer moving to reinforce Deck G. Inform Gunny we are on our way.”

  “Affirmative.”

  Marlea gave a quick look at her people. They were tired and stressed but they were alive. Its more than the likely outcome if they took the ship.

  “You’re alive,” she told them. “Stay that way. Cos if we lose this ship, there’s little chance of any survival.” She caught each of them in the eyes. Where it mattered and instilled their conviction to win. “Ok, enough of the preamble, we’ve a raid to put down and salvage to take,” she rallied. They gave a rallying cry back. “Deck G, we’re coming. Move out.”

  Her people moved with more vigour towards the exit for Deck G. Marlea stopped and spoke with each of her injured. They’d been given first aid and were being left behind weapons hot, to hold that breach in case the pirates were real stupid and did come back. Squeezing the shoulder of the last one, she jogged on to catch up with her forces.

  She didn’t expect the pirates to be that stupid but it gave her people a feeling of being useful and when injured you needed something to take your mind off your pain. She knew.

  “Malware infiltration of ships systems.” WTF!... now what…

  Marlea kept moving and connected to the Bridge with her earpiece. “Ajan what the fuck is going on?” He was controlling the Bridge and locked in.

  “Sorry Chief, they’ve infiltrated the ships software, we have a virus being uploaded, I’m trying to shut them out.”

  Fuck!... More stairs. 5 Floors. They kept going. “Do what you can,” she told him shutting off the communication. She’d not heard of them doing that. Trying to take over a ship’s computer…. Taking a breather mid-way she wondered what that meant. Realising she had no time to dwell on it, she jogged on racing to catch up. Two of her men waited for her, she gave them a nod and up they went. Around the next deck until they caught the tall end of her people entering G. They could hear the fighting up ahead. Marlea gave the signal for attack and they charged down the corridor, around a corner and straight into the lines of defence that were crumbling under the pressure of those coming at them.

  She spotted Gunny fighting tooth and nail. “Supernova,” she shouted above the din. “We fight for what is ours!” she screamed out. Then, “Fire in the hole,” and threw two stun grenades into the centre of their attackers. Prepared, her people went down covering their heads then up and fighting once the blast was over before the pirates had a grasp on the situation. “No one gets passed us!”

  ***

  We have the ship that is being attacked. Designation Supernova. Part of the Pilexain Trading Corporation.

  Can we communicate?

  Negative.

  Get me a boarding solution.

  Affirmative.

  ***

  The fighting had been over quickly after that. Not a large force, but enough to distract them from supporting their other forces. Marlea was pissed. It was a rookie move and she’d fallen into it but her people would have been in trouble without them. But dividing their forces meant another area was getting hammered. She touched her earpiece. “Computer, get me the Captain.” Marlea wiped her face on her sleeve. “Cooling system to max.”

  “Affirmative.”

  She waited. They’d managed to take care of business on Deck D and G. It hadn’t been easy and would probably be worse before it got better.

  “This is the first mate. Captains been injured.”

  Shit…. “Barney, this is the Chief Marlea. We’ve secured Decks D and G. Do you need assistance?”

  “Negative. We’re holding here.”

  “Second breach on Deck G, east section.” Fuck!....they’d just come down from there!.... “Watch your back Barney, you might have more incoming, we got this one, catch you on the other side.”

  “Second breach on Deck B, aft section.” Double Fuck…….. this was going south quickly.

  “Barney you got that?”

  “Yeah, I’m on it.”

  She couldn’t do both and had to hope Barney had this. He was a good man. A fighter. He’d do his best. Marlea turned to her troops. “Ok people no sleeping or celebrating yet. Some more cockroaches to kill. Lock and load. No choice back to Deck G.” There were several moans and groans. She sympathised not liking the idea much herself. They nodded at her warily. She didn’t want to see the fear or worry in their eyes. They were at their limit she knew that, but couldn’t let them rest. Not yet. Not with a threat so close.

  Following the intel on her wrist data pad she lead them back up to Deck G. Moving as fast as they could they exited once more and checked around. Nothing near the exit. She checked the position of the breach and jogged further on until she could hear the cutting tool. Telling them to hold. She went for a look. This time, they’d pick a better spot. Smack bang in the middle of a junction. It gave them three options. Left, right or straight ahead. Shit…. Too much exposure… She noticed the cutting equipment looked better too. “Computer are these the same attackers as before?”

  “Negative. They have asked for the formal designation of this ship.” Opportunistic thieves?....

  Pirates didn’t normally ask for designation unless they were looking for something specifically. She turned back to her people. “Stun grenades, then hold. This could be something other than pirates. Be ready.” Grabbing furniture from nearby rooms they put up barricades in each route. Several men behind each. “Wait for it.”

  As before, she called ‘now’ just before the wall fell to the floor. Stun grenades flew into the newly created doorway.

  As the smoke cleared, she could see movement beyond the new doorway.

  Marlea gripped her rifle holding it steady. She’d give them once chance and rain hell on their asses if it didn’t sound right. She was head of security and she'd be damned if she was going to lose the ship on her watch. Her team had fought tooth and nail to make it this far. She was determined to face this new t
hreat as she had the others. Head on. Silence met her as they slowly emerged from the smoke.

  Stunned she stood there out in the open. Holy Shit… These were not the ‘mess with me kind’. Marlea swallowed. She doubted they could fight these off. They were clearly trained, an army, not a rage tag bunch. Way too good looking and just….. huge! Making no sound they moved towards her their hands raised.

  The tall, large, dark-haired man leading those behind him stood out amongst a body of super male species. Her eyes soaked up the vision on show trying to keep her composure. He was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen. and the most deadly.

  “You with them or us?” she asked impressed that she’d managed to keep the shake out of her voice.

  He stared at her. It was hot, dark and intense. Marlea’s legs felt weak and not from all those stairs. She wondered for a split second if she was out of the frying pan and into the fire.

  Until he spoke. "We're with you female...."

  Chapter Two

  Marlea looked from one giant of a man to another standing with him. She wasn’t sure she could date all of them, but she was willing to give it a go..... The one in the front all tall dark and deadly drew her attention once more. He was a Friday night date every day of the damn week!..... A nudge from her Second Officer brought her back to reality. “Drooling,” she told her. Marlea frowned turning to her. Jacqui leant in towards her. “Drrooooling.”

  Instantly realising her mouth was open and although not actually dipping liquid it was close. She closed her mouth and swallowed and looked at her friend who was grinning like a cat. Marlea sneered, turning back to the god in front of her.