by T S Paul
She looked and dressed like another prisoner. She said her name was Shelly.
I didn't talk to her, thinking, this might be a trap.
Unlike me, “Shelly” was wearing an orange prison jumpsuit with boots. She still had some personal items like a necklace and was well fed and healthy.
Very suspicious.
I slept that night with one eye open. Wilson saved my life, again.
While I slept he monitored the room through the station's sensors.
When security shut down the cameras turning off he sensors, he quickly turned them back on and woke me up.
In my head I heard “Athena, wake up! Someone, just tried to make your cell a black hole by turning everything off. Get ready! I think they may try to hurt you.”
Playing dead wasn't too hard to do. Days without sleep and very little food had left me looking like death warmed over anyway.
I heard cloth ruffling across the room and a boot scrape, just before I was attacked by Shelly.
The woman grabbed me and tried to strangle me. My years of martial art training kicked in. I broke the stranglehold she had on me and punched back.
Facing off against me my opponent pulled a shiv out of her jumpsuit. Shit just got real!
“ Can I ask you, why you are trying to kill me?” I said to her, panting.
“No.” she said, “Just a job. You have to die. Its supposed to look like an accident.”
She lunged at me, her shiv at the ready.
I had nowhere to run to, my life was on the line. She missed me as I dodged to the left.
Using my right arm, I blocked the knife lunge and punched her with my left fist. This stunned her for just a moment. I followed up with a hard kick to the groin. She slashed at me some more as we grappled. I got my hand to her face and tried gouging and punching at her.
She slashed my arm and hand deeply. Blood was running down my arm and onto the cell floor. Repeated strikes to her head blinded her for a moment. I used both hands and wrestled the knife away from her. Not waiting and knowing that no help would come, using the knife I struck her several times. Falling, we both crumpled to the floor. Shelly's body lay in the center of the room bleeding out.
Crawling over to her, I left the blood-covered shiv next to her body. Pushing myself up I crawled back to ‘my’ corner. I sat back down now in my usual place. With what was left of my shirt I managed to stop the bleeding in my hand and arms.
A short time later the cell door opened the guard called. “Sergeant Shel, are you ready to come out now? Job all done?”
Silence of the dead.
The guard turned on the lights and came into the room. He saw her body on the floor and ran to it. He turned her over and checked the woman's pulse.
I made a grunting noise.
He turned and noticed me, sitting there still covered in blood, staring at him.
He quickly grabbed the Sergeant's hands and pulled her body from the room, closing the door behind him.
It was another full day before that door opened again.
Chapter 3
The small fleet dropped into sector 12 unannounced.
The HQ traffic controller jumped in surprise when his control board lit up and started beeping. He quickly checked the IFF and saw that the ships belong to the home fleet. Using fleet frequency he hailed the ships.
“This is fleet Admiral Yager on board the EOH ship Falcon. I need docking clearances immediately! ”The Admiral looked really pissed.
This was way, way beyond the traffic controllers pay grade so he sent out the clearances. “Someone is about to have a bad day,” he thought to himself.
The fleet consisted of one of the new battleships, a cruiser, and five destroyers. It certainly looked formidable. As he watched, six armored troop transports left the ships and headed for the Fleet station. Leaving formation the five destroyers began a CAP (constant air patrol) around the inner sector. Protecting an Admiral looked like it was serious business!
Six transports soon docked with the station. A quickly formed honor guard was waiting for them.
Governor Buckley had hastily dressed and was almost late to arrive. Buckley growled at his chief of staff “Why didn't I know the Admiral was coming? Did you not get a notice? You are supposed to be on top of things like this! Why else am I paying you!”
“Sir, the Admiral sent no notice. We received nothing, not a single communique. I have no idea why he is here. There must be something serious going on for him to bring that much firepower with him!”
The transports unsealed and the hatches opened up. Off first was the Admiral's security team. Six very scary troopers in assault gear exited and took up firing positions around the entrance to the ship. At some unknown signal the admiral and his staff exited. Just behind the admiral were two ESS agents.
The ESS were the special police that answered only to the Senate and the Chairman of the Empire.
“Holy Shit, Governor! Why are they here? Whatever this is, it must be a huge threat to the Empire!”
The Governor nodded he looked at his staff telling them “ Whatever these agents need, supply it to them. They answer to the only to the Senate. Give them everything that they need.”
Before the Governor could step forward and greet the party, the agents interrupted him. “Excuse us, Governor?”
Buckley paused in mid step and asked, “yes?”
“We are placing you and your entire staff under arrest.”
“What! How dare you. I am the Governor of this sector! What in the hell are the charges?”
“The charges are attempted murder and treason.” The agent signaled the Admiral.
The other five transports opened up and several hundred armored combat marines marched out.
“We are declaring military martial law and taking command of this station in the name of the Senate. Admiral Yager is now in charge of operations here.”
Two squads of marines followed the agents as they entered the station. The lead agent pointed at one of the station guards, who was standing there with his mouth open.
“Where are the holding cell and the brig located at?”
I was not having a good week.
After the ordeal of the past three days I was tried, hungry, and cold. The pain was almost unbearable.
Checking my link, it had been more than 30 hours since I last saw one of the guards.
I tried yelling but the room is soundproof.
Another beating from the guards would be nice right about now. At least with the water boarding, I would get some water. I'm having trouble sitting up and the pain in my arms has gotten worse since the fight.
Maybe they intend to starve me to death?
Wilson chimed in whispering into my ear “Hold on Athena, help is coming.”
At least I think that was Wilson. I've been slipping in and out of consciousness all day. Hearing the door open I looked up.
“If she's dead, it's the death penalty for all of you! By all that is holy! What have you been doing to her?”
Two men in a uniform that I didn't recognize entered the room. “I want a medical team in here NOW!”
At that point I fell over and passed out.
Awakened by the sharp pain in my ribs, I heard voices and loud beeping.
“..nurse I need 3 units of whole blood.......get a hemostat up here.....she's seizing, hold her....” and I passed out again.
When I awoke again I was in white room, this must be sick bay. Once again I could hear voices. Someone was yelling.
“Dammit, I'm not telling you again. Lock up every security guard on this station! I want everyone that anything to do with THAT locked up!”
Feeling the drugs kick in I passed out again. I awoke in a haze. Checking my link, several days had passed me by. The monitors must have alerted them as a doctor and those strangely uniformed men entered the room.
Chapter 4
“Ensign, can you hear me?” at my nod and groan, he nodded and sat by my bed.
“How hurt....am ….I?” The doctor replied to that one.
“You have three broken ribs, a cracked ulna on your right arm, a severe concussion, three broken teeth, a dislocated wrist and three fingers. You have deep cuts on both your arms and right hand. Because of lack of water and heavy bleeding, you are very dehydrated. There are numerous scrapes and scratches and deep bruising. You are very lucky to be alive.” He paused looking at his hands.
“I saw the video, the former sergeant was a very skilled knife fighter.”
I thought for a moment and answered the unspoken question. “When I was young, my father wanted me to be prepared to defend myself. He trained me in krav maga, and other fighting skills. During my time alone on the station, I kept in shape doing the fighting drills. I never expected to have to use it.”
“It's a good thing that he taught you then. The agents here have further questions for you, I believe. If you need help, press the bedside button.” With a smile, the doctor left the room.
The taller of the two agents sat down. “If you are up to it we would like to talk to you about the state of affairs. We represent the Senatorial police also called the ESS. We have reviewed the reports of what happened out in the Diablo sector. All actions that Admiral Kane took have been upheld by the Senate. Somehow, the entire record of the Diablo incident and your recent incarceration and torture was forwarded to our office at the ESS. I’m sure you can imagine our surprise when the vid was viewed. It was as if someone “kicked over a hill of ants” at the Senate building. Everyone demanded military action. A fleet was sent. Governor Buckley has been arrested along with his entire staff. What happened to you impinges on the honor of our government. Is there anything that we can do for you?”
It was kind of hard to breathe with the broken ribs. I asked the agent, “what is my status? Legally. Am I still a POW?”
Both agents nodded their heads. “Yes, you are still a POW, technically. It's our understanding that the original plan, before the gov...before Mr. Buckley's intervention, was to have you resign your service with the PPLN and sign on to the the Empire's Navy. No reduction of rank at all. Now? Now it is becoming a very large, very loud, very public political snafu.”
“I'm sorry, agents, I don't understand. Snafu? What is going on?”
“Fifteen years ago, when we joined the two groups together, the joining wasn't perfect. Political sub-groups formed to repeal the joining. Most were and are still, underground movements. When the records came to light about both your existence and torture, some of those groups came out into the light. Protests have broken out across many worlds. Several well-known politicians have ‘come out’ as leaders of these movements. The Senate believes that you are a lightning rod or figurehead with these groups. We are going to turn you over to the admirals and to the fleet. Please pay careful attention to the situation that you are in.”
With that they left the room.
“Politics, why is it that I get wrapped up in things I either know nothing about or have nothing to do with. All I have ever wanted to be is an engineer.”
Chapter 5
The med staff moved me from the station back aboard ship, where I would be safer.
Once again, my old friends Turner and Hooch were my security detachment. The boys were actually talked to me now and are actually very sweet.
In some ways my getting beat up and tortured helped me. Not really, but it might be nice to think that.
No jail cell for me yet, I'm confined to sick bay at least until my broken bones heal. This time I have a nice view port to look out of, even if it's at the station that I now hate.
Wilson has been unusually quiet the past few days. I suspect that he got himself into trouble helping me out and is keeping a low profile. None of the admiral’s staff of security has asked about him so I haven’t said anything either.
I borrowed a new tablet from security so I could read and keep busy. I suspect that it's bugged and they are watching me.
As I’m not a programmer, Wilson fixed it so they only see me reading ‘old’ manuals and books, not the new and shiny manuals that Wilson got for me. One has to stay current, don’t you know?
I have been looking at the instrumentation that the sick bay uses. Not something that I know much about, but I made some notes to myself to read up on it. What I am reading about is, the new jump engines, they are way more efficient than our old mark 21Bs. They have similar parts and the repair procedures are the same.
Everything that was old is now new again. Part of me wants to learn how to build one from scratch and the other part wants to take one apart.
Fun!
Unfortunately they won’t let me into the engine compartment, still. At least not yet.
Very soon, I will be joining this Empire of Humanity’s navy and leaving my old one by the wayside. In some ways I don’t want to go. I have spent my whole life in the PPL navy. But now I am the only current member of that navy. So, time for a change. I expect to hear from the admiral or his staff any day now.
It took about another week.
My ribs and arm had healed and I was starting to really annoy the med staff.
I looked up from my reading and saw Admiral Kane and her staff entering the room.
“Good morning Admiral” I said as I nodded to the staff. Admiral Kane smiled at me and sat in the chair beside my bed.
“Ensign, it is time to decide your status here. My staff tells me that you are recovered medically and are ready to resume work?”
At my response of yes, she continued. “I have had calls from navy shipyards and station construction asking for you. Several of our best fleet engineers wish to pick your brain.”
I smiled. Things were looking up. Lots of new ‘toys’ to play with! Then she said it and shot me down.
“Unfortunately, because of the political shitstorm that former Governor Buckley has caused, all of those potential assignments are now out the hatch. What is going to happen is, we will have the public ceremony of you leaving the PPL and joining the EOH formally. Your assignment will be to sector 25 aboard the training vessel Empire.”
Sector 25? That’s way out in the boonies. There goes the fun. Visions of a lonely freighter filled with cadets entered my mind.
“From the look on your face, I see that you know where that is. It’s not a permanent assignment, Ensign. Right now you have too high a profile. This is more of a way to keep you out of sight while still putting you to work.”
“Oh, OK, I understand, Admiral.”
“If you like you can take leave and go visit your family.”
“Thank you, but no, I will resume duty if is all right with you.”
Looking troubled the admiral turned to her staff “is your family not happy you are alive?”
“No, no. Everything is fine with them ma'am. Traditions are different in my family. Don’t get me wrong, they care about me. My family believes that if you choose a military career that becomes your life. You may call and visit, if you must, but the ‘army’ is your family until you retire. My father is a planetary militia colonel.”
“Well, then; the ceremony will be tomorrow. Lt Commander Smith will get with you tonight and go over any legalities that you need to be aware of. Dress blues for tomorrow as this will be on vid. Have a good day.”
That was three hours of my life that I will never get back.
The trip to uniform and supply was an adventure in boredom. The techs had to research the uniform since I was its only member. They claimed that it took three hours to reprogram the cloth extruder. I could have helped with that, but no, I was still a POW.
I had dinner that evening in the mess hall. This was my first time back since my arrest. Turner actually allowed me to speak to the cooks, claiming it was because I was about to join the navy. Less pointing, more talking this trip. For once I was spoken to by the crew, it was nice.
To use something my dad says al
l the time, 'what a clusterfrakk' describes the ceremony pretty well. Never leave something like this up to a committee especially a political one, bad things tend to happen.
The group that did the invites did not tell catering or the hotels how many people were coming to this thing. They also failed to put on the invites that this was military, not politics. All the politicians and their wives showed up wanting food and housing like it was a major social affair.
Big old mess.