by Chris Fox
trees, coming just short of the clearing to investigate. The signs that this facility was the source of the wolves of Sahlam were evident, as a muddy puddle nearby showed signs of large paw prints, as well as on a dirt road that led into the trees.
"But why are you guys here?" Najima asked, looking toward herself as she began to retrieve her Multiscope.
"The question is, why are you here?" said the soldier Najima had not seen, who placed his rifle’s barrel against Najima's down-turned head.
She raised her hands slowly, turned her head until the barrel was directly between her eyes, and smiled. “Well, hello there! My name’s Najima Dezetoiles.”
∞∞∞
"You have to admit, finding you was a feat in itself! It wasn’t exactly easy to get here. And I was pretty sneaky and stuff, right? I mean, you didn't see me coming, did you? You really didn't see me coming, did you?"
"Does she ever shut up? said a second soldier who was aiding the first in transporting the bound Najima through the long, brightly lit halls of the complex. The two held her by her arms, her toes dragging along the ground as she was suspended and cuffed behind her back, showing no sign of struggling.
The first soldier grunted, "She hasn't shut up since we located her at the perimeter."
Najima continued talking unperturbed and very quickly, "It's a strategy! Have you heard of strategies? Nonsense, you're soldiers, of course you have strategies. You were operating by strategy when you found me, of course. The strategy of defense, and patrolling. Good strategy, that is. It worked, too! You found me! Successful strategy."
"Shut up!"
"See, my strategy is to annoy the hell out of you. Because with any luck, you'll get really frustrated and-"
"Shut up, already!"
"-make a mistake, whereupon I can overpower the both of you. And my strategy is to seem nice and harmless, like the cheerful little girl I am, so that way-"
"Would you be quiet?!"
"-you wouldn't see me as a threat, and felt comfortable enough around me to let your guard down, so-"
The second guard stopped walking, holding Najima in place long enough to rap the back of her head. The two soldiers then continued dragging her down the hallway.
"Now see, that was just bad form. You should know better than to hit a child when she's being poor and innocent. I could ask questions if you would prefer? Stars know I have loads of them. Where are we? Where are we going? What are you all doing here? Where are you from? What's your name? Do you like pizza?" And so forth, until the guards led her to a pure white room, with nothing but a table in the middle.
"Ah, a table! Is it dinner time?" Najima asked enthusiastically, before the second soldier took her by the neck and slammed her face against the table. Najima groaned with pain. "Okay, I understand your frustration, and that did quite hurt. But I'll have you know that your rudeness does not exempt you from feeding me at dinner time, and I'm still very eager for a good pizza."
The soldiers allowed her electromagnet cuffs to unlink long enough to force them to bond to either end of the table. They then backed away, and left the room without a word. Popping her neck, Najima took stock of her situation. As soon as the first guard arrived outside, six more soldiers arrived, aiming six guns at her - apparently she was a six gun kind of girl on Sahlam, which was an injustice, as she thought she was easily a twelve gun kind of girl. She was cuffed and relieved of her weapons, satchel, and assorted travel-alls. The cuffs on her wrists were quality electromagnetic cuffs, standard issue Imperial, and completely impenetrable without the matching pulse key or via powerful form of shock that would disrupt them. She could move her legs, but could not lift her upper body too far from the table.
The room Najima was in was an overpowering shade of white, enough to blind a person if they were left within too long. Otherwise, it was surely a normal interrogation room with various microcameras placed systematically around the room, with a viewing room adjacent. "Now see, I know you're looking at me from the next room. This isn't the first time I've been in an interrogation room," Najima called casually to the empty room. "Although I really hope that the room is in front of me instead of behind me, as that would be slightly embarrassing and mostly perverted to know you're taking a fine look at my butt." She waited for a reply, and as the silence persisted, goaded, "I might have to make some rude statements about your standards and decency, and we don't need such talk, do we?"
After a minute or so longer, a man walked through the false wall in front of Najima, which was always a surreal image, as it appeared a person had walked through a perfectly solid wall. "Oooh, magic!" Najima cheered with a whistle. "Bravo, bravo!"
The man was very certainly in the military: fit, middle-aged, older than Najima’s father, and looked to be high ranking, although Najima didn't know how to read military symbols. He was dressed in a finely pressed uniform, as opposed to the white fatigues like the other soldiers. The man was stern looking, and clean shaven, with dark skin, and was followed by two others through the same false-wall. The first was a man older than the military man, with white skin, dressed in a white labcoat drenched in anti-chemical solution - which gave the shimmer of an iridescent violet-blue to the material, allowing the colours to shift in the light - which suggested this man was a scientist; the second, another fit soldier, this one clearly superior to Najima's original escorts, but inferior to the man in the pressed uniform. She noted the man's laser pistol and sonic emitter latched to the adhesive holsters on opposite hips.
The three exchanged looks between themselves and Najima, who patiently smiled back at the three of them. After a sufficient silence passed, Najima noted, "I would bow or curtsy to you all, of course, but I think your friends did most of the bowing part for me." She waved her cuffed hands and wiggled her body as much as her bonds would allow for emphasis.
"Who are you?" asked the superior soldier.
"Najima Dezetoiles! Pleased to make your acquaintance," Najima replied, full smile. "Again, I'd bow, but..."
"Who are you with?"
"You."
"What?" asked the inferior soldier.
"I'm with you," Najima returned simply. "With you, and you," motioning at each captor respectively with a nod. "And you all are with me, in this room."
The superior soldier sighed angrily. "You know what I mean, child. Don't tempt me.”
"Tempt?" Najima asked. "What could I tempt you to do when I'm bound and restrained? I hope you don't say, 'tempt me into locking you up,' because I hate to admit that the other guys beat you to that."
"Answer the question!" demanded the inferior soldier.
"Well, as said, I'm with you guys right now. But previously, I was with me. And myself. In the forest. Not easy to get here, by the way."
"Who are you working with?" the superior guard asked, clearly more frustrated than when he entered.
"I'm between jobs at the moment, actually. Are you hiring?"
"Why did you come here?" the inferior guard asked.
"Well, I heard you all had a puppy shelter in the region. And I heard they're very cute."
"She knows of the hybrids, General?" the silent scientist asked the superior soldier with a tinge of shock and nervousness.
"Doctor Ofreska, please let us handle this for the moment," the superior soldier replied.
"Oh, hybrids!" Najima exclaimed. "That's the breed! I could almost pick them out, too, but wasn't really sure. Glad we cleared that all up."
The inferior soldier turned his head to the floor slightly, and Najima saw his eyes glean into a haze. She recognized this as him receiving a communication from an implant, a nanomachine that operated as a form of telecommunication, which required no handheld devices. No sooner had this happened, he spun on his heels and left the room through the false-wall. "What do you know of this complex?" the General asked.
"Not a thing, except that it's odd that an Imperial structure operates in Commonwealth territory."
"Are you with a regiment of the Commonwealth?" t
he General asked as the inferior guard returned through the wall.
"No, saar," the inferior answered. "We checked her supplies. Imperial identification and currency. The crystal of both is officially emblazoned, and she has records we can scan if you wish."
"No, I believe her," the General said. "This one doesn't act like a Commonwealth spy. She's either a mercenary or a foolish adventurer."
"The latter, although not that foolish. I do have some pride in what I do," Najima retorted.
"Subedar," the General called to the inferior soldier, a word Najima recognized as a rank and not a name, "collect her things. We'll be deporting her by nightfall." The Subedar left the room.
"What then?" the scientist named Doctor Ofreska asked.
"She will be put to the Tribunal, and likely be sentenced to a distant asteroid belt for ice-mining."
"Pity. I could use her for personal experimentations I have had in mind."
"I would hope that's not innuendo," Najima chimed in, although she was ignored.
"Really, doctor?"
"Yes, General. The young are quite robust, their bodies still fresh and ripe. Perfection for genetic alteration, as their bodies react much faster. Orphans are hard to legally experiment on since the end of the war."
"I'm still really hoping this is not innuendo. I'm not into that kinda stuff, bro," Najima chimed again.
"I'll put in a call to headquarters, but no promises," the General replied to the scientist.
"She could always make for a meal for one of