Grendel Unit

by Bernard Schaffer

  The dead man was lying behind the dumpster just ahead, fully revealed now that they were no longer shrouded in smoke. It was difficult to look at now. Even if he'd been there to kill them, he was somebody's loved one, somewhere. All the life he'd possessed was gone, leaving just an empty husk behind. All the startling details of death were on full display, his hair, his wide-open eyes, the lettering writing across the back of his uniform shirt.

  Frank read the words aloud, "Unification Intervention Forces."

  He bent down to inspect the man's weapon and saw the action switch was set to STUN. "Oh no," Frank whispered. "Oh God, oh no."

  At the other end of the alleyway, Vic cut around the corner quickly, wanting to get out of the funnel to the building as fast as he could. He moved with his pistol in front of himself, keeping it at eye level, ready to shoot anything that came into his view. He bent low to move forward and felt the warm metal of a gun barrel press against his right cheekbone. "Do not move, Captain Cojo," the voice attached to the weapon said.

  A bright flashlight snapped to life only a few inches from his eyes, blinding him instantly. Vic involuntarily squeezed his eyes shut, expecting to hear the pop! of a gun that would splatter his brains across the wall, but instead, all he heard was the fast rush of boots across the ground as several more men surrounded him. "Sir, lower your weapon!" someone shouted.

  Vic didn't move. He was squinting and trying to gain some sort of vantage on his enemies, to see if he could manage to shoot any before they finished him. "Don't do it, Captain. You are being detained by Unification Forces on charges of treason."

  He turned to look into the light and said, "What?"

  Another man's voice, a more familiar voice, called out above the others, "Stand aside. Let me through."

  Vic turned and cocked his head, trying to identify where the voice was coming from. "General? Is that you?"

  "It's me, Victor. Put down your gun."

  Vic dropped the weapon and held his hand up to shield his eyes, trying to peek through his fingers, "What the hell's going on here?"

  "You disobeyed a direct order. Killed one of my men. Violated the sovereignty of a planet. I advise you not to say another word until you speak to an attorney."

  The soldiers moved in to scoop up Vic's gun and grab him by either arm. Someone else yanked off his gear belt and pulled out his earplugs. He could now see the ship and the throng of armed men. Vic struggled against them, "Where's Yultorot? He has to be nearby!"

  "Stop resisting!" one of the soldiers shouted. They yanked his hands behind his back and held them tight while applying a set of cold handcuffs. Vic winced as they clamped down on his wrist bones.

  "The asset has been secured on my vessel," Milner said.

  Vic looked at him in confusion until he saw S'bal's slithering, fish-faced form slide up beside Milner and say, "General, if that's all you'll be needing of me, I'd like to go."

  "That's the asset!" Vic shouted.

  S'bal rolled his eyes and held out his webbed hand toward the General, who nodded and said, "Of course." Milner reached into his uniform shirt pocket and removed a plastic credit slip. He handed the slip over to the Cryndian and said, "Don't spend it all in one place."

  S'bal flicked the slip with his webbed fingers and smiled, "Nice doing business with you." He glanced at Vic with a sinister smile, "See you around, human."

  Vic broke free of the men holding him to go after the fish, even with his hands behind his back, trying to kick and bite, but the soldiers fell on him swiftly and beat him across the head and shoulders until he fell to his knees.

  "Don't be so childish, Victor," Milner said. "The asset today is the target tomorrow, and vice versa. That's how this game is played."

  "You son of a bitch," Vic huffed, looking up at the General. "You want to use that murdering fanatic as an asset?"

  Milner shrugged, "Yultorot is like all the rest. He can give us a dozen important targets and do us more good in the field than in some prison. I told you, I've been doing this job longer than you have been alive. You should have done as you were told. Now, you'll have to pay the consequences."

  Vic was lifted back to his feet by his captors and struggled to get as close to the General's face as he could, "I hope you burn in hell for this. I hope the dead souls of all those children drag you down where you belong."

  The General sniffed and said, "Grow up. You're going to have a long, long time to think about all this, but at least you'll be around people you know. You've put almost as many people in Gratersfield Penitentiary as you did the morgue."

  The soldiers cranked Vic's arms behind his back until he cursed and pushed him away from the General before he could respond. They were taking him to the ship. Vic's mind reeled as it tried to catch up to what was happening when he heard the far away whine of what sounded like a thruster failing. He looked up in the air and said, "No way."

  Flame sputtered out of two jetpacks attached to Monster, strapped to his body to support his massive weight but unable to compensate for the rapid way he was careening toward the planet's surface. His space chute was shredded and the wind whistled through it as he dropped, almost as loud as the mantipor's yelling.

  The soldiers scattered to get out of the way of the four-hundred pound meteorite, and even the guards holding Vic had to stop and watch as Monster collided with the ground. An enormous cloud of dust kicked into the air on impact, making the ground under their feet ripple and shift. Monster shot to his feet and tore off the jetpacks, snarling ferociously like an animal at the sight of his captain being restrained. "Let… him… go!"

  "Take that thing down," the general ordered. "Non-lethal."

  Two of the nearest soldiers fired at Monster, sending electrically charged probes through the air as fast as bullets that stuck in the fur of his arm and side, sparking with energy. They probes sizzled and sparked, sending waves of bright blue current through the creature's body, making him roar in pain. Monster tore out the probes and lunged at the nearest solider, grabbing him by the face and tossing him at the others like a bowling ball.

  "Again!" Milner shouted.

  Two more soldiers fired, their probes sinking deep into Monster's neck and chest. The enormous beast dropped to one knee but he roared and fought through the pain, lurching forward and swinging at the nearest soldier. The man's body cartwheeled across the grass and smashed into the alley entrance. "Let him go!" Monster bellowed.

  A half dozen soldiers threw themselves in front of Vic and raised their rifles, the red dots of their sites painting the mantipor's blackened and scorched fur. "Switch to lethal measures," Milner said.

  "Stop!" Vic cried out. "Big Man! Stand down, please. That's an order."

  Monster skidded to a halt, looming high over the terrified soldiers, glaring down at them with red, furious eyes. General Milner walked around to Monster's side and raised his sidearm, firing two electrical probes at point blank range at the mantipor's face. Monster groaned as electricity circled his head and his eyes rolled back into his skull. The great beast staggered and finally collapsed backwards, unconscious. The air stunk of singed hair and ozone.

  Milner shut off his weapon and said, "Find restraints big enough to hold him and drag his sorry behind on board. Since he wants to be with you so badly, he can go to Gratersfield too for all I care."

  Vic watched them dig the probes out of Monster's skull and cursed at them, telling them to be careful, even as the soldiers dragged him away. His boots left trenches in the mud as they forced him up the ramp onto the general's ship. They yelled at him and threatened him to get him to stop struggling, but Vic fought them the entire time until they finally had him on board and threw him into one of the flight chairs. They strapped him down with restraints and pulled tight, cinching him down until it was all he could do to breathe.

  Sitting across from him, just a few feet away, was a short, pale-faced man with hollow cheekbones and a receding hair line. The man watched Vic and the guards nervously, and his eyes
kept shifting from side to side, as if he expected to be attacked at any moment from any direction.

  The entire group of soldiers struggled to load Monster aboard the ship, rolling him to the back of the ship. The cargo doors hissed open and the lot of them heaved the mantipor up onto the hydraulic lift.

  The man sat staring at the ground, mindlessly biting his fingernails. Vic saw that they were scarred and discolored from Kerogel burns. Vic shook his head and let out a hollow laugh, then turned toward where Monster lay, "Hey! Wake up, Big Man. I found him. Come sit on him until you hear his bones break."

  The man did not respond.

  "You're a dead man," Vic said.

  The man's eyes fixed on Vic momentarily, flaring with contempt, but he remained silent.

  Vic sat back and said, "Look at me."

  He did not move, except to nervously bite on his thumbnail, chewing at the ruined skin as he waited for the ship to take off.

  "Yultorot, look at me."

  The other man finally lifted his head from his wet nail and said, "I am looking at the face of a lifelong prisoner who will never be free from this moment forward. What could you possibly have to say to me?"

  "Someday, we'll meet again. That's when I'm going to kill you."

  Yultorot snickered and waved his hand at Vic, "Perhaps you do not understand your circumstances. I will not waste my time arguing with an idiot."

  "Just remember," Vic said. "Someday, I'm going to remind you of this conversation, right before I choke the life out of you."

  Yultorot rolled his eyes and looked away, unmoved. When General Milner came aboard, he said, "General, can I sit up front with you? This man is bothering me."

  General Milner waved for Yultorot to join him and looked down at Vic, "Save your strength, Victor. You're going to need it."

  Vic laughed slightly. "You know what's funny, General?"

  "What's that?"

  "For the first time in all the years I've known you, I actually believe the words coming out of your mouth."

  The General slammed the door shut and Vic looked back at Monster, seeing the mantipor roll over on his side and take a deep breath, snoring loudly. Vic leaned his head back and closed his eyes to try and get some rest.

  II. IGNITION

  SEQUENCE

  6. No Vaseline

  NOW

  The inquisitors surrounding the upper tiers along the Grand Hall loomed over the man seated by himself in the center of the room. Their elevated platforms were so high above the prisoner that he had to crane his neck to see who was speaking to him. Seated directly in front of him was the tribunal's Chief Judge. A stern-looking, older man, dressed in a long black robe, the judge twirled his gavel with his fingers as the inquisitors each took turns interrogating Lieutenant Frank Kelly about the events on Khor-wa.

  General Milner was seated to Frank's far right, surrounded by a dozen uniformed officers who, like himself, hadn't seen actual combat in decades. Their uniforms were pinned with so many medals there was no way to tell the color of their tunics any longer. Every time Frank opened his mouth to speak, he caught a glimpse of the General stiffening involuntarily. The man was bracing himself for whatever was about to come flying out of Frank's mouth next.

  One of the inquisitors, an older Army Colonel, leaned forward and said, "The only question that truly matters, Lieutenant Kelly, is whether you were a conspirator in Captain Victor Cojo's criminal acts, or a hapless witness."

  Frank turned to look at the older man and said, "I'm a member of Grendel Unit, sir. The tactical medic for a very small, very elite group of operatives who go into places men like you want to send us, but don't want anyone to know about. We do the things that people like every single one of you in this room deem to be necessary, as long as no one ever finds out." Frank glared at the faces looking down at him and said, "If you're asking me whether I'd prefer being called a criminal or hapless, I'd prefer criminal. Where I come from, honor still means something."

  There were murmurs among the officers at Frank's insolent response, but the judge's hand reaching for his gavel was enough to quiet them. The judge leaned forward in his seat as he regarded Frank for a long while, before he finally said, "I knew your father, Judge Kelly, young man. We served on the bench together and he always spoke of you with great pride. It's in his memory that I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you don't want to be thrown into prison for contempt of court."

  "My father spoke of you often, as well, sir," Frank said. It was, of course, an absolute lie, but Frank figured every little bit helped.

  The judge smiled slightly as if he were warmed by the idea, then said, "Perhaps I can rephrase the inquisitors question in a way that does not seem so insulting, yes? In terms of any illegal or unauthorized activity that your commanding officer, Captain Victor Cojo, conducted on the planet Khor-wa, were you a witness or a conspirator?"

  "I was a conspirator," Frank said.

  There was an outbreak of discussion among the officers at that point and the judge did have to raise his gavel and call them to order. Before the judge could speak again, Frank raised his voice and called out, "I was an active participant in every detail of our last mission, so how can I be anything but a conspirator, sir? However, I should add that at the time I did not know of any illegal or unauthorized activity. I was always under the impression that the Captain was acting on orders from General Milner."

  All eyes turned to the General, whose puffy face turned red at the sudden attention. "Well, he absolutely was not," Milner hissed, just loud enough for the others to hear.

  The judge placed the tips of his fingers against the side of his temple and leaned to his side, saying, "You were present at the Andoho-Sky elementary school terrorist attack, isn't that right, Lieutenant?"

  "Yes, sir," Frank said.

  "You saw the bodies of the women and children murdered by fanatics who do not agree with Unification, isn't that right, Lieutenant?"

  "Yes," Frank said stiffly. A hundred images flooded through his mind, but he steeled himself against them and kept still.

  "You received qualified intelligence that a Sapienist named Yultorot blew up that school and were on his trail when General Milner ordered you to let him go, isn't that right, Lieutenant?"

  "No, your honor. That is incorrect," Frank said. A dozen inquisitors hurled out challenges to him, and Frank added, "It is incorrect because Yultorot is not a Sapienist. He is a religious fanatic who thinks humans are the superior life form and he is willing to kill anyone, even children, who believe otherwise. It is his religion." He turned and aimed his words directly at General Milner, "Yultorot is a fanatical terrorist who will stop at nothing to destroy Unification. I would like to go on record and say I am greatly alarmed to find out that he is now employed as an intelligence asset by General Milner."

  Hatred bubbled in the general's eyes as the men around him all turned and looked in his direction. The judge tapped his gavel and said, "You are the one being questioned here today, Lieutenant. Not the general. It is your neck on the line, Mr. Kelly."

  "I understand that, sir," Frank nodded.

  "I was on the bench when your other crewmates testified, Lieutenant Kelly. The big, furry, one, a mantipor, I think? What is his name?"

  "We call him Monster," Frank said.

  "He did not have much to say."

  "Get to know him a little, your honor. He never shuts up," Frank said, flashing a quick smile that made several of the inquisitors laugh, despite themselves.

  The Judge silenced everyone by saying, "And before that, Captain Victor Cojo sat exactly where you are sitting and lied directly to my face. He told me no one else on the crew had any idea what he was doing, and that if any of you had dared question his authority, he'd have thrown you straight into the brig or shot you on sight. He even tried to confess to ordering Monster to rescue him from General Milner's forces when they tried to arrest him."

  Frank grunted, easily imagining Vic saying that, but did not re
spond.

  "Both of them are now serving life sentences in this galaxy's most secure penitentiary for violent offenders. They are in there with multiple criminals who they, themselves, placed within it. They must be having a terribly hard time inside that prison, I imagine, so let me ask you something, Lieutenant. Why would either of them offer themselves up to that kind of never-ending nightmare? Tell me what your opinion is of the testimony that this Monster fellow and Captain Cojo offered."

  Frank's eyes narrowed on the Judge as he said, "At Andoho-Sky, I watched Monster break into a burning building to save a little girl. It was certain death for both of them, but he got her out, and she's alive to this day because of him. And then, afterwards, he carried around this ugly little stuffed animal that she gave him everywhere he went. He probably has it now, sleeping next to it in that disgusting cell you people put him in." Frank's voice caught in his throat at the thought and he needed a minute to collect himself.

  He raised his face again to the judge and said, "Let me tell you something about Victor Cojo. I've worked with him for five years, and he's difficult and crazy and always getting us into a ton of trouble. But if you were alone on a planet filled with hostiles, and all you had to fight with were rocks and sticks, and nobody in this entire room gave you any chance of survival, but you had Vic Cojo on your side, you'd still win. He would find a way to win, and he'd find a way to make sure all of his people came out of it safe. He's that good, and he's that kind of captain, and he's that kind of person."

  The Judge nodded grimly and said, "It sounds as if you have great respect and admiration for your fellow crew members."

  "Hooah," Frank whispered through the lump in his throat.