Prisoners of Paradise

by Brandon Lars Erikson

  Moke smirked as he said, “In High Senator Semnor’s case, I think we can prove it was a kickback…in Glik’s case, I might even go so far as to say money laundering could be taking place.”

  Malia ran her fingers through her hair. The long, black strands fell back into place with the perfect amount of bounce. “Their lawyers just met with us to follow through with an injunction. But I am going to convince the judge to dismiss it. Hopefully, we’ll have this done soon.”

  Moke licked his lips as he found himself ignoring the contents of her words. “When this is all over…I want to bring you flowers, rub your feet, pour you a glass of champagne… and then strip off all your clothes and make love to you until we both pass out from exhaustion…” Moke fondly remembered how many times, over the past ten years, he had looked at her this way. He sighed with regret as he recalled how they had mutually decided that their careers were more important than the marriage they had contemplated several years ago after dinner and some champagne. It seemed like so long ago that their loved burned like a flame.

  She continued speaking over his head,“High Senator Glik’s lawyers think they might have found a loophole…but I believe that I can close it.”

  She stood up and smoothed out her dress.

  Moke undressed her with his eyes.

  She smiled at him and said, “How are the investigations into the narcotics rings going?”

  Moke kept a serious look on his face as he said, “As far as we know Ailana’s biggest Cutz producers are two men named Makula Pilikoa and Marco Giraudoux…they are still on the planet, still at large, and have major influence over Polynean street gangs such as the Kukane and the Kahala. The fighting between these two gangs has been escalating ever since the Kukane lost drug selling territories to the Kahala, who have been loyal to Makula. Since these two gangs are at war with each other, we’ve been able to identify a number of bad guys and we have several agents trailing several different leads. We’re hoping to find that final nail for us to put in their leaders’ coffins. We’re trying to charge someone with murder and we’re getting close.”

  “Wouldn’t it be great if we could bring these criminals to justice ourselves?” Malia said with a soft, but serious look on her face. “Then there would be no need for this, Operation Shade, which those arrogant fools in the Ailanian High Senate want so badly.”

  “So, we have something else in common,” Moke thought as he remained stoic.

  She looked at him longingly as she said, “Moke, I have to be honest with you…I don’t want a Military operation to happen on our planet.”

  Moke looked at her with compassionate eyes and said, “I don’t want it to happen either, Malia…and I’m doing the best I can to make sure it doesn’t.”

  Malia said, “Operation Shade is not only politically expedient, it’s a violation of our constitution and our way of judicial prudence…I’d like to think that even the worst of criminals should be thought of being innocent until proven guilty. We can arrest them ourselves Moke…we can try them fairly and punish them according to Ailanian law. If we let these soldiers take care of our business for us…then Ailanians will be sacrificed for the laws of war. And Moke, you and I both know that the law means nothing during a war.”

  “Exactly,” Moke said. “Our hands aren’t tied yet, Malia…I have a plan of my own…and until that Special Forces team from Earth gets here, we are going to continue our investigations as I have prescribed.”

  “Do High Senator Wram Karamotzain and his cronies know about this?”

  “No,” Moke said with a serious face. “They don’t know that I have Jack and Audrey investigating some murders that seem a bit out of the ordinary. A drug dealer named Donny Sparks and some other people he knew have been found murdered. Hopefully we can connect some of the loose ends we’ve been running into and we can use them to catch those bigger fish we want to fry.”

  She sighed and looked at him, “Operation Shade will not happen if we can prove Glik and Semnor took bribes, but I can’t guarantee a conviction. While our glorious High Senate might think this is the best course of action, but I can’t help but think how history is just repeating itself through all of this. Do you remember that gangster named Fats Manawilli and the organized crime ring he ran?”

  Moke felt his brain going numb from a stressful memory. He held his breath and felt his heart starting to beat faster and faster as a voice from his past shouted, “Who is Fats Manawilli!? Who is Fats Manawilli?!”

  Malia continued speaking while Moke kept a stoic look on his face, “I remember being a kid in high school, and hearing about all these kids my age, ruining their lives with drugs, and the fast life that gangs created. I remember the poverty that fueled the desires of young people to join street gangs, which provided a family for Ailana’s newest generation of neglected kids…I remember the gangsters in charge of those gangs. Fats Manawilli, I remember how people feared that name…”

  Moke found himself not breathing, his mind was caught up in a terrible memory as he exhaled and starting lying, “Yes, I seem to recall such a man, I was accepted into the Academy the year he was brought to justice…but that was over a decade ago. Why is he of relevance now?”

  Malia said sternly, “He’s proof that people, who are denied opportunity, will turn to crime…and their crimes will eventually affect innocent people. I had friends in high school that were killed because of the street gangs that Fats Manawilli supported. They were innocent bystanders, killed by stray laser fire in a drive by shooting…their lives were cut short before they even had a chance to live them. That was the real reason why I decided to go to law school, it wasn’t just the fact that my father was a prosecutor at the time, and he told me all about the government’s case against the Manawilli family and the corrupt Ailanian politicians that sheltered them…but I remember how the things he told me made me so angry. Those events shaped my life and gave me a mission that I still have yet to complete.”

  Moke’s eyes glazed over. He appeared mesmerized and lost in deep thought for several moments. Malia waited a few moments for him to respond before she cleared her throat and said, “Moke? Are you alright?”

  Moke sighed and said, “Oh yes…sorry. I agree, while a government who wishes to control every aspect of a person’s life is immoral…governments should create and enforce laws that provide an environment for its citizens to obtain legitimate, good paying jobs and the chance for entrepreneurship. A government cannot provide everything for its people, but it can provide a certain degree of fairness and equality in society, which would allow people to provide for themselves. Governments that turn their back on such responsibilities, in order to make just a few people rich and powerful, will inadvertently create the social situations that criminals thrive under.”

  Unaware that Moke’s thoughts were troubled and stained with guilt she said, “I don’t want a system of socialism on this planet…but the path we are currently taking is wrong. Our current government takes taxpayer money, which could be used to improve communities, and then wastes it by investing in banks and companies that do nothing to improve the poverty that is trickling up through the ranks of our society. Our peoples’ tax dollars have helped corporations outsource jobs and eliminate jobs through robotic automation, all for the purpose of making a few millionaires into billionaires…no wonder we have so many young adults turning to gangs.”

  Moke bit his lower lip as he thought, “Oh my gods…I hope all this assistance I’ve been giving her won’t allow her to find out what I was really doing with my life all those years ago.”

  She said, “Back then politicians, like Glik and Semnor, knew the social conditions they created would cause such things to happen. I find it ironic that after the Moralists went through all that effort to remove Fats from his position of power on Ailanian politics, they did nothing to improve the social conditions that led to the emergence of these gangs. Since then, politicians
like Wram Karamotzain and your Aunt Ulu, have had over ten years to do something better.”

  The voice in the back of his mind screamed, “Who is Fats Manawilli?! Who is Fats Manawilli?!”

  He sighed as he said, “and here we are…back at square one.”

  “I would like to show the whole world that these new trouble makers such as the Kukane gang, Makula Pilikoa and his family, along with the likes of Marco Giraudoux, are simply manifestations of political neglect. Gangs and their gangster leaders are the obvious proof that these politicians, who are in power today, do not know how to lead our people.”

  Moke bit his lower lip and realized that she was clearly unaware of the real reason for his current state of mind. “I sure hope I can keep the wool over her eyes…I really need an ally right now…”

  She lowered her eyes and said, “I’m sorry, Moke…but I believe in this cause…”

  He tried not to smile as he said, “I’m with you one hundred percent. These men we are targeting in our corruption cases allow our government to rule the masses through the fear. I think it’s time to make give them a taste of their own medicine.”

  “Thank you, Captain Kalapana…and good luck,” She smiled and said, “I’ll see you tonight.”

  “I can’t wait,” Moke said as he smiled back.

  “Oh…and by the way, Captain,” she said with a warm tone. “All that money that Glik and Semnor helped to embezzle…has your team found it yet?”

  “We assume it’s a secret account somewhere on this planet…we have a new computer technician working for us now. His records show that he was a decent computer hacker…so if Glik and Semnor hid that account somewhere in cyberspace, I’m sure our new guy will be able to find it.”

  “Good,” She said as she turned to leave. “I know all this is in good hands.”

  She exited the room and left him with a warm feeling. A few moments later, the warm feeling was interrupted by a memory, triggered by what she had said earlier.

  “No wonder we had so many young adults becoming gang members…”

  Moke felt the room closing in on him as he suddenly found himself lost in thought. In the memory, he saw the rough, mean faces of half a dozen teenage boys. He remembered how the boys gave him evil stares and said, “What’s up punk? You’re no longer with your Royal friends and family…this ain’t your neighborhood punk, it’s ours. And we’re gonna show you just how we deal with Royal punks, who used to say all sorts of shit about us behind our backs, and talked down to us, while their friends laughed and called us niggers. I hope you’re ready for the ass kicking you’ve been asking for…cuz you gonna get it!”

  Moke remembered the tough voice yelling from behind him, “Back off shitheads! This guy here is MY friend! And nobody messes with my friends!”

  The horrifying memory was suddenly interrupted by the cold ringing of his com. He answered it with a stern look on his face, “Kalapana here.”

  “Captain,” Audrey said cautiously. “I’ve been helping Tavin decode this medical file you gave me…and I was wondering if I could ask you some questions about some of the things I’ve seen in it.”

  “What?”

  She sounded as if she knew she had crossed a line, “Uh…I’ve got some questions about Captain Harris.”

  Moke felt himself shutter as he remembered his old friend, Ronald James Harris, with his hands covered in blood. A panic-induced thought raced through his mind, “I destroyed his life…what if he is coming here…because he wants his well-deserved revenge?”

  “Audrey,” He said, “I’m really busy at the moment. Thank you, for all your work on that file…please take it off your servo driver and e-mail it to me immediately. I need it now.”

  “But sir…there is something I need to know about him…”

  “Send me the file, Audrey…that’s an order. And make sure Tavin doesn’t have access to it!”

  “Sir, yes sir,” Audrey said in a compliant tone.

  Moke hung up his com and sighed, he felt nervous and short of breath. “I guess I always knew this could happen…the man I betrayed is finally coming home after all these years…and I am going to have to make a terrible decision when he gets here. There will be only one outcome…only one winner and one loser…and I may have to kill him…before he kills me.”

  Moke felt his teeth grinding as the horrible memory of Ronald James Harris, standing in front of him, with his hands covered in blood, ran like uncontrolled wildfire through his mind. Moke felt himself gasp, and nearly weep as he thought, “Please, forgive me brother…I’m so sorry about what happened to you…I swear, I didn’t know what was going to happen to either of us, all those years ago!”

  CHAPTER 9

  Location: Level 132 of the EMS Rousseau…Officers Quarters.

  Standard Ship Time: 0700 Hours.

  In the dream there was darkness, and from the darkness, came the thundering sounds of war accompanied by high pitched screams of panic. “HELP! CAPTAIN HARRIS! THOSE ALIEN FREAKS ARE RIGHT ON TOP OF US! CAPTAIN HARRIS! WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!” The voices were accompanied by the feeling of spinning around, and around, that was soon replaced by the gut wrenching feeling of falling very, very fast, almost as if one was simply falling through the darkness of a never ending abyss.

  “What is happening to me?!”

  Captain Ronald James Harris gasped as he awoke and began choking on the dehumidified air within the cabin. He had fallen asleep at his desk. His pulse was racing. The flashbacks were becoming more frequent now. After he calmed down with a few breathing exercises, he began to speak again to his laptop computer, which was automatically typing every word of his thesis for him onto the screen.

  He tried to breathe normally as he said, “The leaders of ancient armies convinced their men that the place they were defending, whether it be a city state or even an entire nation, was the sole reason for their existence. When the Allied Military forces first discovered Ailana, the humans found the Ailanian people living in civilizations that were very similar to ancient Earth societies created by the Aztecs, the Greeks, the Hawaiians, the Egyptians, and Norsemen of Earth’s antiquity. And within these Ailanian societies, this line of reasoning was found to be very prevalent. It proved to be quite helpful in the forging of an alliance between not only Earth and Ailana, but also creating an era of inter-tribal and ethnic peace never before recorded in Ailanian history. Our cause stopped not only the advance of the Terraxakors, but also brought an end to the civil wars that were ripping the Ailanian nations apart.”

  Harris felt his train of thought being rudely interrupted as his monitor began to blink the words, “INCOMING MESSAGE.”

  With reluctance, Harris answered the com. The monitor blinked on, and showed the image of an ugly soldier who was under his command. Harris didn’t like speaking with him unless he absolutely had to.

  “Yes, what is it, Lieutenant Hatcher?”

  “Sir!” The wide-faced man said, “I’m here to report that all our supplies and equipment are properly packed and stowed. Is there anything else we need to do?”

  “Nope,” Harris replied. “We are on vacation, now go have a beer, Lieutenant Hatcher…and leave me alone.”

  “Sir, yes sir!”

  The soldier’s face disappeared from the monitor.

  “Hatcher is such a kiss ass,” Harris thought as he selected a file that contained an image, along with some information. Harris sighed and then held his breath. He was reluctant to look at it. The file he had selected contained a professional record, which included a photograph of an Ailanian man with a face that looked almost human. The Ailanian had bronze skin and dark hair that was cut short, giving it a sophisticated appearance.

  “Well,” Harris thought to himself as he looked at Captain Moke Kalapana’s picture and professional record that the Ailanian government had sent him, “I guess we both figured that this day would c
ome sooner or later.” Harris took a deep breath and stared up at the ceiling, the rectangular lights appeared almost dirty.

  He was startled by a beeping sound.

  “Captain Harris,” A voice from the com said.

  Harris instantly felt irritated. “Yes?” He said trying to hide his annoyed attitude.

  “Sir, we just need to remind you to take your medicine before we jump into faster than light speeds.”

  “O.K.”

  “Remember, sir…you alone are responsible for your health regiment while on board this ship.”

  “Will do. Thanks a million,” Harris quipped as he turned the monitor off. The pills were in the medicine cabinet in his latrine. After taking them, he would feel slightly nauseous for about an hour, and would then feel a slight headache for about three hours. He would then have to take some more at bedtime, and it would cause him to stay awake for several hours as well as making him nauseous and achy. This sort of thing only happened while he was traveling on spaceships; it didn’t happen on the ground. Harris didn’t know why, and the doctors didn’t either. Harris stood up and went into the latrine. The bottle of pills stood there looking like an enemy. He had a thirteen week supply of medicine, enough for the trip to Ailana, and back to Earth.

  “Take as needed to prevent flashbacks and reoccurring nightmares,” Harris thought. His face felt tired and he sighed. He hated feeling sick because of these pills. “Just some bad dreams, that’s all that will happen…I might have some bad dreams…ah, screw it…it shouldn’t be a problem, I’m on vacation now…and I need some time…to think.”

  Harris realized that he didn’t want to do as they told him. Defying the order, he picked up the bottle, opened it, and dumped the purple pills into the toilet. He then sat back down at his desk and stared intently at the picture of Captain Moke Kalapana. He read through the information the file presented and thought, “Well…it looks as if you have done quite well for yourself. Why do I feel so…conflicted, and strange about seeing you again? Why do I feel this way? Maybe now that those pills aren’t going to be suppressing my memory…the truth will finally come out. All I know is…that I assured my men that you were a good man, Captain Moke Kalapana…and may the gods help you if you make a liar out of me.”