"I was taken prisoner by pirates for a couple of years. The only diversion I had was to read. I didn't really want to live in my own head at that point. Reading was an escape. The quotes help me make that time worthwhile." He replied.
"I guess it would also help you remember what you read. Using it, I mean." I paused, and then took the risk of saying what I was thinking. "Do you think that you make yourself who you are, or is it your past or genes which define you?"
"It is all three. Your genes predispose you to certain tendencies. Your experiences nudge you in certain directions. But it is you that makes the final decision as to who and what you are." He concisely stated.
"Mark, I may begin quoting you, if you keep spouting such wisdom." He burst out laughing at the oddity of being quoted for his own words. I had to smile at that too. But I meant it. His words would stay with me for a long time, I was sure of it.
.....
Sometime later I awoke with a start when the door opened again. Neil was brought in and Mark taken out.
"Thanks for letting me visit, Bree." Mark called back casually as they drug him away.
"Any time." I replied, hoping I managed to sound positive.
When the door closed, I turned my attention to Neil. He seemed less uncertain, more positive. "How are you Neil?" I asked.
"I did what I thought would be insurmountable! I didn't let him manipulate me and didn’t give him the satisfaction of getting more out of me." He said with an audible sigh of relief.
"I knew you could. We just all need to hold on. Mark and I talked about books while we waited here. Maybe we could do something like that?" I suggested.
"I would like to tell you more about your mother. I miss her every day and must admit that the thought of you and Echo being in my life is giving me courage." Neil said, slightly turning his head towards me. As he did, his hair fell away from his forehead, revealing a deep scar that ran from his left eyebrow to his upper right hairline. With the way he had worn his hair before; I only thought that he had a slight scar through his eyebrow.
Trying to pretend that I didn’t notice and keeping the subject on positive things, I encouraged, "I would love to hear more about her."
Neil then seemed to get lost in his memories. He repeated much of what he had already told me. But I didn't interrupt. It seemed that this was what he needed to stay calm. I realized that his feelings toward me were the same as he had for my mother. Did he even differentiate between us? Finally, I sensed he was beginning to wind down.
"Despite our dreary situation, things don’t appear as dreadful now. I even begin to believe I will be rescued with you." Neil said with a slight smile.
"Just hold onto that. We’ve all lost family, but now we have each other. I know you will be a very large part of Echo’s life and mine." I said, trying to be my most encouraging. "Remember, whatever happened in the past is done. All we can do is keep trying to make the best of our future."
"You have such great qualities in you Bree; I hope that if we get through this I can learn more about you. I wish that your mother could have seen who you’ve become."
Again the guards opened the door, Neil was taken away, and I was left alone.
Fenix Battle Cruiser Interrogation Room -Day 383- Mark Driver
Bree seemed more positive. She had actually slept some. I was glad she wasn't being interrogated like the rest of us. Though she wasn't someone who would betray anything willingly, she was young and had already been dealing with a lot. This would be traumatic enough.
They brought me to the same small room as before. This time a different voice spoke. It was Ana declaring her undying love. But I knew it wasn't for me. These were wedding vows, and they had been said to the man I had considered my best friend. What surprised me was that there was only a twinge of pain. Had I really moved past this?
The light dimmed, finally allowing me to put a face to my tormenter who now spoke. "As you can see, your fiancé’s allegiance was easily transferred. Why continue to protect her and Valhalla Enterprises? You owe them nothing."
"The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it. Fools may deride it. But in the end, there it is. (Winston Churchill) I have told you the truth. It will not change just because you keep asking." I replied.
The young soldier’s face contorted in a sneer, as he struck me across my lower jaw. "Such impudence! Maybe we should question the girl. Would she have the same story?" He asked.
"She would have less to tell. I just met her. She's been training for a security position on our ship." It wasn't the whole truth, but I didn't see that he had any right to know Bree's business. As a strategic move I added, "In fact it might be good training for her to be interrogated. She seems to learn more through experience." I hoped I sounded as unconcerned as I was troubled. It seemed to work, because he switched tactics again.
"Tell us about the Waylay. How are they connected to piracy?" He demanded.
I decided I would tell him, and launched into the story of our latest encounter with pirates, while we were on Jakodi Station, and the rescue of an innocent inventor.
Fenix Battle Cruiser in Route to Unknown Destination -Day 384- Bree Reiter
Once again time seemed to standstill after Neil had been taken away. Nothing else happened and I found myself counting my every breath. Still being unable to move, I couldn't even fidget or pace. My thoughts quickly gravitated to Kendric. If I never returned, would he know why? If we got out of this, what did I want to do next? I was glad I had the opportunity to talk to Neil. It had enabled me to learn much more about my mother. It seemed as though Neil had little more to tell me about her. I wanted to keep the connection with Neil, but I didn't feel I needed to be physically near him. What I did want was to go back to Talia, to Kendric. He had been right; the connection between us was real. I would tell him my fears, and then we would decide what to do, together. After coming to that decision, I let myself daydream about what life would be like with Kendric.
.....
I must have fallen asleep again, because I awoke to the sensation of floating. Someone was actually carrying me, but without feeling below the neck it seemed unreal. The only real sensation I had was the soft, grey fabric of the uniform brushing my cheek. Whoever this was, they had a different emblem on their uniform than the Fenix soldiers wore.
I noticed the sounds had changed. The engines were at rest, but there was a deeper sound. We passed through an airlock, into another corridor. We stopped at what appeared to be a cell and I was laid out on a bed. They left the restraint in place even though I could hear multiple locking mechanisms being secured. It seemed like overkill. Again I was alone, without knowing what was happening. Not knowing made it all worse somehow. I tried to sense the others, but got nothing. So I allowed myself to slip into my daydream once again.
…..
If I had been asked if we had been on Mecca Prime hours or days ago, I couldn't have said. The monotony was broken when a deep and unsettling voice came over the comm system.
"Bree, I wish to speak to you." He said.
"And what if I don't want to speak with you?" I asked, managing to sound defiant to my own ears.
There was an unpleasant sounding chuckle. "I didn't say you had to speak. You just have to hear. And since you can't very well stick your fingers in your ears, I am content you will do so."
Though I didn't really think I had much choice, I did imagine singing at the top of my lungs and drowning him out. I rejected the idea since, no doubt, they had vocal inhibitors as well. If I had something to say, I wanted the chance to say it. But I wasn't going to give him permission to talk.
"I see you will be compliant. It is a wise decision. One I hope you will make a pattern of." He stated.
I instantly bristled. If I had been capable of throwing a temper tantrum like a toddler, I probably would have. No, compliance to this man was NOT among my future plans.
He continued, "I can see that these three men are very important to you. Do you
want the best for them?"
There was a pause as though he wanted a response. If so, I was determined he would wait unsuccessfully.
Eventually he said, "If you don’t want any more harm to come to them, then you will encourage Neil to give me what I want."
"And what is it you want, Gregor? Yes, Neil told me about you." I was surprised by how calm I sounded. Yet, my heart was pounding.
"Ah, so little Neil told you about big mean Gregor did he? Well, he most likely didn't mention that I only want what is best for him. I have watched over him for a long time. Now he wishes to leave my protection. I can't allow that. He will ruin everything we have worked for." Gregor coaxed.
"From what I've heard, you have stalked him, demanded he prove his loyalty by actions he regrets, now you are requiring he relinquish control of everything in his life. That is not protection. That is tyranny!" I lectured the unseen villain.
"Almost all of us are under the tyranny of others. I promise my tyranny, as you call it, of Neil has been necessary. If not for me he would be dead. Considering that alternative, he owes me his life. I am the only thing keeping him from disaster." He justified.
"But if you never allow someone to stand on their own, they will never grow, never become stronger. Neil needs to succeed or fail on his own. Not be forced into compliance with what you believe is best." I countered.
"So, you refuse to convince him to comply." It wasn't a question, so I didn't answer. "Then, you've made your choice."
The com went dead, and a cold fear enveloped me. After some time passed, the door to my cell opened and two figures came in dressed in white, wearing face masks. One was pushing a cart, from which I heard metallic rattling. My fear spiked. What did they plan to do? I was turned onto my stomach. I could see one of them begin taking samples from my arm. The other was behind me so I couldn’t see what was happening... to my horror I could hear a drill, and smell burnt flesh. Soon they were finished.
Never in my life had I been so relieved that I didn’t physically feel what happened, but I was left in solitude to imagine the worst.
The Waylay -Day 380- Ell Singer
As I docked the Siren’s Song on the Waylay, all of the remaining crew gathered to greet me.
"We were so worried about you all! I'm glad no scanners could locate us. There was a crazy battle between all of those ships whose wreckage you had to fly through to get here. Is everyone ok?" Aria asked, finally glancing behind me and noticing that I was the only one that had exited the shuttle. "Where are the others?"
"They were taken by Fenix. We are going to get our people back." I stated as I moved past them and headed for the bridge. I had the engines powering up and the computer replaying the battle for me to watch as I entered.
Fenix must have had their plans set into motion long before we arrived on New Mecca. Eight of Neal's major transport ships had been standing by just out of orbital protection zone, when we had entered New Mecca’s air space. It was a protection zone that would have made the attack by Fenix a breach of a long standing contract with one of their highest paying customers; New Mecca.
There was no conceivable reason why he would ever have his ships beyond the planet’s contracted protection zone. I watched as a Fenix’ battle cruiser dropped into normal space and immediately started firing on the Mondragon fleet with heavy weapons. It was obvious that Neil's transports were caught completely off guard, not evening having time to put up their shields. It was a complete slaughter and it was over in a matter of minutes, but it was enough time for a shuttle from the surface of the planet to go almost unnoticed as it made its way to the Fenix ship and dock. Once the shuttle was aboard, the battle cruiser changed heading and engaged its stardrive.
I reached out to the battle cruiser as softly as possible. As I had feared it was a Phantom Corps ship. I would be greatly hampered in what I could do as long as my people were aboard. It was easy enough to track. I had even been able to access all of the personnel files, and their mission orders. As I had thought they were on a retrieval mission with an addendum to eliminate the ships that would be outside of the protected orbit. Fortunately, the Waylay had been concealed from the attack.
After delicately digging into their network further I found the orders for the strike team. It was a black op. New Mecca paid greatly to keep all Fenix activities off of their world. Whoever sent Fenix had enough power to make up for the risk Fenix was taking by violating their contract with New Mecca.
The operation was timed to the minute. It explained why the strike team hadn't found me, but not how I had ended up in the safe room in the first place. It was something I would have to investigate further at a later time.
The crew had followed me onto the bridge but had thankfully been waiting quietly for me to review the footage. I engaged the Waylay’s stardrive and turned to them. "I will handle the mechanics of whatever is waiting for us. Aria you will need to lead the recovery team when we arrive. I need you to make me a head rest out of conductive polymers. I sent the dimensions to your workstation. After you have delivered that to my quarters you can start prepping your team. Peter you need to see to Echo and monitor my vitals while I am submerged in the blue embrace."
They all seemed frozen for a moment so I added, "When I am under I will give any further instructions through the ship's comms. We all need to be ready for this. Go now and prepare."
That finally set them all into motion; unfortunately Peter didn't retreat to his med suite as he normally would. Instead once the others had left the bridge, he approached me and asked, "Are you sure about this? Do you know what you’re up against yet? I know you had to be fairly bad off when you first came on board. Will this push you past your limit?"
I took a moment to think about how much I had pushed myself when I was in the Fenix Service Program. "As long as you leave me in the blue embrace I will be fine. If I push too far the embrace will heal me. When I was with the Program I was in a coma for a few months after going too far. I don't think this will be as bad but even if it is, the embrace keeps me from having the normal effects that you would expect from a coma of that duration." I wanted him to be prepared but I wasn't going to give him a reason to try and stop me. "We all have a job to do. We need to get Jason back and this is what needs to happen to accomplish that." I stated firmly.
"I wish that Fenix had never messed with the Modrý Objetí." Peter said.
"If they hadn't we both would have been dead already." I told him plainly. My starkness appeared to startle him. "Set up what you need. Echo shouldn't be anywhere near me during this. You have work to do doctor. I suggest that you get to it."
With a nod of his head he exited the bridge. I returned to tracking the Fenix battle cruiser. It appeared to be on a direct course to an AlliedCorp base of operations, Zeta Sector Station. I turned my focus to the station’s security and started to work my way into every fiber of it.
The Waylay in Route to AlliedCorp Zeta Sector Station -Day 383- Aria Forge
What was I going to need? Mark usually calculated the risks, I just geared us accordingly. I stood looking at the gear I had chosen, wondering if it was right when Willow came in. I had to do a double take. She had told me her mother had trained her to protect herself, and I had seen her mother's gear displayed on the wall. But seeing Willow in it and looking as if it had been made for her was unsettling. This was the friendly nurse, Echo's care provider, suddenly turned warrior.
"Have you picked out what you want?" Willow asked.
"I think so." I replied, dazed.
The feeling got worse when Gabe entered and asked for a weapon. I stood, staring dumbly at him. He hated violence in any form. I couldn't even imagine him holding a weapon.
"Aria, I'm coming with you. I'd prefer not to be unarmed." Gabe said firmly.
I picked out a stun weapon, I just couldn't risk letting Gabe kill anyone. "You just point and shoot. It has a wide dispersal area of effect. The target will be out for at least thirty minutes." I explained. Th
is attack had affected everyone. We went to where Peter and Ell waited for us in the med suite.
"Are you all ready?" Ell asked.
"Yes." Gabe responded immediately.
"Are you sure about this, Ell?" Peter asked his voice full of concern. Ell nodded her response. Then, as Peter opened his mouth to voice what would obviously be another concern, Ell pinned him with a stare and said, "Let's get started then." Yes, everyone was changed by this.
The Waylay Approaching AlliedCorp Zeta Sector Station -Day 385- Ell Singer
I had never attempted something like this before, at least on this scale. We were approaching AlliedCorp’s main station in this sector, which was surrounded by a fleet of forty AlliedCorp ships. I hoped I could hold on long enough to buy Aria, Gabe, and Willow enough time to get our people out safely.
I was waiting in the captain’s quarters, in the separate shower room, for Peter to finish setting up his remote scanners. He wanted to track my brain activity along with my other vital signs. He would be in for one hell of a show. I had set codes running quietly in the background of all the AlliedCorp ships that were in range of the Zeta Sector Station, but for what I needed to pull off I would have to push myself farther than I ever had before. Of course, I wasn't telling Peter that, I couldn’t afford for anyone to try and stop me.
"That should do it. What do you want me to do if there are complications?" Peter asked in his best doctor tone.
"Whatever you do don't touch me or put your hands in the blue embrace. It was a miracle that Jason wasn’t hurt when he did. Let Jason know, even if I'm not responsive, that I should be able to see and hear him through the ship's sensors and he needs to wait for my signal before doing anything." I felt the cold rage that I had been trying to control, well up at the thought of how hurt Jason would be if I was injured saving him. "Take care of our family." I told Peter as I stepped down into the blue liquid.
Alpha Dawn: Book one of the Teragene Chronicles Page 25