He smiled at her once more, and he could see that it was unsettling to her staff and the others in the room, but not her.
"So?" she asked.
"What is it you really want from me? I'm sure you have no shortage of fighters. What is it that I can possibly give you?"
He could see in her eyes that there was more to the story, and she sighed, knowing she needed to reveal it.
"You seem to be a man who can handle the truth, so I am going to give it to you. We resurrected Taylor because we needed a hero, and we found one in him, but we brought you back because we need something wholly different. We can't afford to lose Taylor. He is the fabric which now holds the Alliance together."
"So you need a disposable asset?"
"Not disposable. As much as I don't like you, I need you to carry out tasks that are far beyond the capability and willpower of those troops at my disposal."
That idea entertained him, and he just smirked once again.
"Dirty work? You want me to do what others haven't got the stomach for?"
"Precisely. I need a Human who has the cast iron willpower of a Krys warrior. Someone smart enough to know what is required, and has the stomach to go through with it. I want you to lead a new operation, a covert one; one which answers only to me, and will operate outside of normal procedures. A black op, if you like."
"So this isn't about me being the poster boy beside Taylor?"
"On the surface, yes, but in reality, that will only be your cover. What I require of you is more than any Human officer would do."
"And what do I get out of it?"
"Your life, for as long as you can keep yourself alive."
"Mmm, well, I can't see any other better offers coming my way, so I guess I'm in."
She looked surprised, as though she had expected he would have needed more convincing.
"If this is going to work, then I need to know that you will follow my orders. How you accomplish the tasks you are given is up to you, just so long as it does not compromise the safety of the Alliance. I already know I will not like your methods, but I am not interested how you get the job done, only that you do it. Taylor can remain the poster boy for the Alliance, and we'll promote you occasionally when the time right."
"So you want me to do the dirty work that you don't admit to the world?"
"Yes. We live in a more civilised age than you used to know, and that is saying something, as you were considered an animal in your day, an animal that many would want to put down. As far as anyone need know, you are not the clone. You are Captain Charlie Jones, hero of the Alliance. Can you live with that?"
"Whatever you say."
She didn't look confident, and he was aware that she still wasn't comfortable with the situation, or even being in the same room.
"You are unpredictable, CJ, and that is what worries many on my staff. I am not oblivious to the risks, but I believe they are worth taking. Please do not prove me wrong, or I will make sure you are buried in a hole so deep you'll never see the light of day again."
"Just curious, do you think the threat of punishment and death is enough to motivate a man to fight?"
"That was always the Krys way, was it not?"
He smiled, realising he didn't have a leg to stand on.
"You live to fight. You were programmed for it, and I am giving you a chance to do just that. What more could you want in life?"
He shrugged. He couldn't think of much until one thing sprang into his mind.
Taylor...dead!
But he didn't dare speak it aloud.
"The simple fact is this. I could have had you reprogrammed, and control modules attached to your brain to stop you from hurting Humans, but I didn't. I made sure you were left exactly the way you were. Why? Because I need you to be that ruthless killing machine you were created to be. That is a huge risk to take, and it has already cost a few lives, but I know you are going to more than make up for that. Have you got any questions?"
"Just one, this Bolormaa that you say is leading the armies against your Alliance, what does she want?"
"I wish I could tell you. That is the question we are all asking. So far, she seems to want nothing but the destruction of all civilisations, besides those under her rule. And she appears to care for her own people no more than ours."
"A killing machine that wants to destroy all life? I don't buy it."
"I wish I had a better answer for you. I wish I had a better answer for everyone. All we know right now is that she wants us dead, and quite honestly she's winning. Taylor has helped us win a few victories, but she will surely come at us far stronger."
"And this ultimate being just sprang out of nowhere?"
She shook her head.
"The Aranui and Krys had dealings with her long ago. So long ago that few in the Krys Empire even believed the stories, but the Aranui still remember."
"They knew of this dormant threat and said nothing? Some Alliance you have."
"I didn't say the Alliance was perfect, but we have lived with one another in peace."
"Sounds thrilling."
"Maybe peace doesn't mean much to you, probably because you have never lived through it, but it is worth fighting for, and it is worth dying for."
"Mmm," he groaned.
"Walk with me," she said as she strode to the door.
Wespe tried to follow, but she gestured for him to stay as she walked out with CJ by her side. Two security guards stayed close behind as they paced the corridors, and these were not equipped with non-lethal weapons. They were geared up in exo-skeleton powered suits with armour covering seventy percent of their body and sizeable battle rifles in their hands.
"You don't like or trust me, do you?" CJ asked.
"I judge people on what I see, and not what I hear. What I have heard about you is all bad, but I am willing to give you a chance."
"And you don't think you are just getting desperate? You'd have to be for you to consider releasing me."
"Yes, we are. You were created as a desperate measure in desperate times, and you did a lot of evil work, but I think there is hope for you. Deep down you have Charlie Jones inside of you, and you can be that man, that hero."
“What if I never wanted to be that man?”
“This life requires many things of us that we never wished nor dreamed of. I’m sure you still want to complete the mission you were cloned for, the mission you were programmed for, and yet the man who gave you that mission no longer exists. Your purpose in life has gone. I am giving you a new one, but I am not giving it to you with the stick, but with the carrot.”
“And if I don’t much like the carrot?”
“A peaceful solution is always best, but where peace cannot be sort, war must be fought, and I am not accustomed to losing.”
“And yet you must be heading that way, or you wouldn’t have called on me.”
“Yes,” she sighed, “The truth is we have begun to turn things around, but the fate of the Alliance still hangs in the balance. We need hard fighters to keep going forward.”
“And you thought of me?”
“You like to fight, and you like to kill. You enjoy it more than any man should, but you are also very good at it.”
“You talk like I am a wild animal.”
“Yes, you are,” she replied sternly. He smiled as he so often had, “but I need you to be my wild animal.”
“And I guess you are supposed to tempt me with some hope of a life in this new world you want to create? And you think I would have a place in it?”
“If you can live long enough."
“I’ve been alive a few hundred years, if what you say is true, so I’d say my odds are pretty good,” he said as he looked around at his surroundings, “Yep, I’ll be around long after all of this is all gone.”
“What makes you think that?”
“Just look at your crew,” he said, pointing at them passing back and forth, “I’ve seen more fight in the rawest of recruits. You’ve gone sof
t in your time of peace.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“Well, isn’t it?”
“We’ve made a great civilisation since you have been gone. A civilised society based on peace and understanding.”
“And all of that led you to this, not being ready for the next war.”
She sighed, unable to find a way to explain it to him, but he could see she was also starting to see his point.
“I’ll fight for you, but not because you’ve asked, or you think you’ve forced me, but because I like it. I like the challenge. I like to kill my enemy with my bare hands and see the life drain from his eyes, and that’s what it’ll take to win this war. Are you prepared to become that? Are you prepared to follow me down that road?”
She looked hesitant.
“That’s what I thought.”
“That’s what we have you for. To do what some of us can’t.”
“Well, that’s just fucking great!”
Chapter 4
“What can I get you, Captain?” asked the man behind the bar as he strode in.
He grimaced at the sound of his rank and the link it had to Charlie Jones, but he had to grin and bare it, for now at least.
He looked across the bar and didn't recognise a single thing, though he was appalled at just how clinical it all looked.
"The strongest thing you got."
The man looked surprised.
"Sir..." he began.
"Just do it."
The man put a glass on the counter before him and began to pour from a clear bottle, but he soon stopped after just a few millimetres had been poured.
"Keep going," insisted CJ.
"Sorry, Captain, I am not allowed to serve more than a single measure of this."
CJ glared at him until he went on and doubled its amount. He took a seat on a high stool and finally took a sip, as if expecting to be hit by some acidic monstrosity, yet it went down as smooth as silk. The barman looked astonished, as if he'd never seen such a sight before. CJ put the glass down and gestured for him to fill it up once again. The barman didn't hesitate.
"Well, I guess you think you're some kind of tough guy, don't you?" said a voice off to his side.
CJ stayed calm as he waited for his glass to be filled. He didn't even turn to face the man.
"You really think you're something special, don't you? Don't you, tough guy?" the man pressed.
Jones reached over, grabbed his head, and smashed it against the bar without even turning to look at him. The man's head struck the sharp corner, and he crumpled to the floor unconscious. Jones reached for his glass and casually sipped it as if nothing had happened. Footsteps echoed as several others ran to his side, and CJ spun casually around on the stool.
"Why did you have to do that?" asked a woman who was attending to him.
"I didn't have to, but he surely needed it."
She shook her head in despair and called for a medic on her comms unit.
"Captain Charlie Jones, you are under arrest," another voice rang out.
He spun back around. Two guards were standing there. One had a cut over a black eye, and CJ remembered giving it to him. He smiled as he finished his drink and relaxed against the bar.
"You surely aren't stupid enough to dance this dance a second time?"
"You are a wild dog, one that needs to be put down."
"That's probably true, but you'll never be the man to do it."
"Come quietly, or we'll take you by force."
He smiled and shook his head. The other guard came at him with a stun baton. CJ leapt nimbly from the stool, closing the distance and locking the man's arm before he could deal his blow. He threw his glass at the other and struck him on the eye. He let out a cry of pain as his wound opened back up, and he collapsed backwards, cradling his bloody forehead.
The man in CJ's grasp tried to resist, but he could no more easily move CJ than a child could move a giant. The look of fear overcame his face at the realisation he was powerless, but that didn't mean CJ would go easy on him. He struck him heavy with an elbow to his face. He hit the deck hard and didn't get back up. The other man was just looking at his own blood on his hands before giving the most wicked of looks to CJ, but he didn't seem to care.
"I do what I want, when I want, and god help anyone who get's in my way," he declared and gestured to the barman once more, but he was backing away. CJ leaned in and grabbed the bottle. He considered pouring it into the glass before necking the bottle instead.
"You're a savage!" declared the woman kneeling beside his first victim.
CJ nodded in agreement as he continued to drink.
"Everybody out, right now!" a voice bellowed at the entrance.
General Lysenko was in the doorway. Several marines stood at her back, and medics flooded in to help the wounded.
"Get out!" she bellowed.
CJ kept drinking as the rest of them scurried away in terror. The wounded were dragged away until finally she took a seat beside him, seemingly waiting for him to say something.
"What?" he finally asked.
"We had a deal."
"Yes, we did. You want me to be the blunt instrument that you need. Well, here I am, and this is me at my most blunt."
She sighed in despair. "You need to stop this," she groaned.
"No, it isn't me that needs to change. Look at them. Pathetic," he said as he watched the two unconscious men being carried away.
"They need to harden the fuck up, and learn not to pick fights they can't win. No it isn't me that needs to change. If you want to win your war, it's more people like me that you need. "
"It's not my war. It's ours. All of ours."
He shrugged.
"I guess that remains to be seen. I've not got a gripe with this Bolormaa yet. You say I have to fight here for my freedom, and fair enough, I'll do it for that reason alone."
"She is trying to destroy all of our people. Whether you consider yourself Human or Krys, you have to understand that she is coming after both of us."
He shrugged once more.
"I just don't understand you. I don't understand what it is you even want in life."
"I was born to fight."
"And I am giving you more than enough chances to do so, please try and fight the enemy, not our own, you hear?"
"Then let me at them. Time is passing by, and I am just stuck here."
"Within twelve hours, I will have assembled a team to work with you, and you will be on your way. You have to understand that we weren't even sure if bringing you back would work."
"That I'd live, or that you'd be able to pull my strings?"
"Both," she quickly replied.
"At least you don't bullshit me."
"I have no need to. What we are asking you to face are tasks that strike fear into the hearts of men, but I know you are different. You revel in that fear, and you strike it into those who stand before you. I need you to strike that fear into our enemies."
"Then point me at them."
"All in good time. Tomorrow we'll find out if you really have got what it takes. Get some rest. You'll need it."
She got up to leave, but CJ only laughed and took another drink from the bottle. The General stopped and thought to say something, but decided against it. She shook her head as she began to wonder if she had made a terrible mistake, but she was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. She'd heard of Taylor's exploits. It wasn't this bad, but he wasn't much better. She had to keep telling herself that the end result was worth the means.
"You've got your own quarters. 46A on Deck B, I suggest you get some rest."
"I've been resting long enough."
She strode out of the room and left him alone in the bar with his bottle. No one came back in, and he realised he'd been left to himself. Lysenko was giving him a long leash, and he couldn't help but feel lonely now. He began to dwell on all the information that had been thrown at him. He had nothing and nobody left in this l
ife. All he had was an enemy, Taylor, and Jafar. But at least they still had a cause. He had nothing.
"Well, fuck," he said and took another gulp from the bottle.
He stood up and began to sway; the warning of the barkeep was justified. He staggered a few steps before regaining his composure, but he felt uneasy on his feet.
"Not so funny now, is it?"
He looked up to see the man who he'd injured for the second time standing in the doorway. His wound had been covered over, and he had four friends with him. CJ smiled.
"Well, I guess there is some fight in you yet."
"You are a has-been, a criminal from the dark ages. You aren't Charlie Jones, and you soil his memory."
"Maybe so, but what are you going to do about it?"
The one he had wounded came forward confidently, but CJ did not stay idle and wait for them to cover the distance. He grabbed a stool from the bar and threw it at the man. He got his hands up just in time to save his face, but the impact knocked him to the floor. Three of the others kept coming while one knelt down to care to the man on the ground.
That evened up the odds.
He smiled at how much fun he was about to have. He picked up the bottle from the bar and smashed it over one of the men's faces. It was hardened to such a degree that it only just broke under the immense pressure as he was thrown aside.
A shock baton came at him from another, and he arched his body back, kicking out the man's inner knee, and then stamped on his face while he was on the floor. The third one struck him on the head with his baton, but CJ was more bothered that he had been too slow to notice any pain that he might be feeling. He spun around and struck the man with a backfist, snapping a kick into his torso that launched him two metres into and then over a table.
CJ calmly regained his composure and stood waiting for the remaining two, as they were both on their feet now.
"I bet you think this makes you some kind of superior being? You're a wild animal, and that is nothing to be proud of."
Phoenix Odyssey Book 1 (Battle Beyond Earth) Page 3