Decker's War Omnibus 1

by Eric Thomson

  A second woman, also in militia uniform joined her and this time, Decker struggled to contain his reaction.

  “I trust you’re feeling suitably miserable, Ser Skeen, or is it Whate today?” The captain held up his sheathed dagger. “Or is it something even more deliciously military?”

  Then she laughed as if she’d just heard the funniest joke ever told and Decker felt his weakened bowels turn to water.

  THIRTY

  “But where are my manners? I’m Captain Rika Kozlev, the militia’s intelligence officer, on loan from the Celeste National Guard.” She inclined her head briefly. “And this is Staff Sergeant Miko Steiger, though I believe you two already know each other.”

  When Zack didn’t respond, Kozlev seemed disappointed.

  “I believe mere politeness requires that you introduce yourself in return, don’t you? We know you’re not Skeen, the name Sergeant Steiger knew you under, and I don’t think the William Whate identification is genuine, but my compliments to whoever forged it.”

  “And this?” Kozlev held up the dagger again. “I believe it’s issued only to Marine Corps pathfinders. Did you earn it honestly or did you buy it in some tawdry surplus store on Cimmeria? It certainly looks genuine.”

  Decker raised a scornful eyebrow but otherwise kept his mouth shut.

  “I guess you’re the silent type who prefers actions over words – facta non verba, which I believe is the motto of the Fleet’s Special Operations Command. That’s okay. We’ll get to know each other quite intimately over the next few days; that is to say, I’ll get to know every little thing about you.”

  “I doubt that,” Zack said.

  “It speaks!” A beatific smile creased Kozlev’s pinched face. “Are you bragging or...”

  She snapped her fingers and then pointed at him.

  “You’ve been conditioned, haven’t you? What fun. I haven’t broken a conditioned prisoner yet, but you may well become the first.”

  She walked around Zack’s chair to examine his naked body from all angles, leaving a hint of expensive perfume in her wake.

  “I’m curious who you really are, big boy.”

  She ran slender fingers down his jaw line, triggering a surprisingly strong surge of revulsion in him.

  “Your lovely muscles are almost a piece of abstract art, with all those old scars, the marks of a seasoned warrior. You claim to have been conditioned against interrogation, you carry an authentic pathfinder knife and, oh yes, I almost forgot, an equally authentic Shrehari Imperial Armaments blaster, re-chambered for standard issue Fleet ammunition and power packs. I get the feeling I should be hearing name, rank, and serial number.”

  She reappeared in his line of sight, and he gave her a sardonic smile.

  “Hmm. Gone mute again, have you?” She pulled the dagger from its sheath and admired the tip of the blade. “I wonder how sharp this is. Shall we try?”

  When Decker didn’t react, she chuckled.

  “Not on you, of course. There would be no sport in it. But the young Sera Takan on the other hand...”

  Kozlev stepped over to Kari’s side and examined her smooth face.

  “It would be a shame to mar her at such a tender age. Perhaps restorative surgery might help if, of course, I get the answers I want from those rosy lips. Otherwise, life might be too short to worry about looks.”

  The terror in Kari Takan’s face turned to shock, and she fainted.

  “Not much of a challenge there,” Kozlev mused, shoving the dagger back in its sheath. “I prefer to draw blood from prisoners who are awake to enjoy the experience.”

  “Now, how shall I start peeling away the layers of your conditioning, I wonder? Obviously, sitting there in your birthday suit isn’t embarrassing you in any way. Bravo. I like a man who’s comfortable in his own skin. Your kind is unfortunately all too rare.”

  She reached down to stroke the insides of his thighs, all the time watching Decker’s eyes.

  “Perhaps I should take you to my bed and see if I can loosen your tongue that way.” A throaty chuckle punctuated her words. “I like loose tongues, you know.”

  Her hand ran up his stomach and over his chest.

  “I bet you’re trying really hard not to have a reaction right now.” She glanced down. “And so far, it’s working.”

  “No. You’ve probably had your share of dangerous lovers,” she continued, “so I can’t offer you any new sensations. Perhaps I should start off by gelding you?”

  “Wouldn’t help,” Decker said, hiding his alarm at her matter of fact tone. “Being conditioned means even if I wanted to tell you something, I couldn’t, no matter what you do. Push me far enough and I’ll only die. It’s not that I want to, but my conditioning will decide when my time’s up.”

  “It can speak in complete sentences. I’m so pleased.” Kozlev stepped back and considered him intently, her head tilted to one side like that of a curious bird. “I’m a firm believer that what humanity has wrought, a human can undo, conditioning included.”

  A soft moan escaped Kari Takan’s gagged mouth as her eyes fluttered open. Kozlev glanced over her shoulder at the girl.

  “Tell me, tall, dark, and handsome, if I try some of my more exotic techniques on this lovely, virginal lass and let you watch, would that help loosen your tongue?”

  “Like I said,” Decker tried to sound bored by the conversation, “even if I wanted to talk, I couldn’t, so torturing her in front of me won’t help.”

  It was perhaps not quite the truth, but it would have to do for now, provided Kozlev believed him.

  “Yet it might entertain me, and I know she’ll spill everything she can about the rebellion, but,” Kozlev sighed, “a mind probe is more efficient. There’s no chance she’ll make up stories to please me and end the pain. It’s just not as much fun. I’ve never been thrilled by mind rape. Of course, I’m sure a probe would kill you instantly, so I won’t even try. It would be a shame to lose you too soon.”

  She turned to Kari and removed her gag.

  “Do you know who this gentleman is?” She asked pointing towards Zack with her thumb.

  The girl shook her head violently, and Kozlev reached out to caress a tear-streaked cheek.

  “There, there. Relax child. I didn’t expect you to know him, which makes me wonder how he’d have proved to you that he came on behalf of your parents to save you from the evil militia. Care to comment, big boy?”

  “Considering that it’s a moot point,” he paused as if thinking about it, “the answer is no.”

  “I do believe it has something like a sense of humor. Good.” Kozlev stroked Kari’s face again. “Tell me, child do you know what a mind probe does?”

  Violent head shake again.

  “Do you?” She asked Decker. His eyes must have betrayed some sort of reaction because the predatory smile returned.

  “Of course you do and through first-hand experience I’ll wager, before you were conditioned. Would you like to describe the way it felt? The violation of everything personal, every memory; the rape of the soul? No?”

  “You see,” she continued looking at Kari again, “it’s been described as the most horrible thing that could happen to you short of violent death. Of course, a fair percentage of those subjected to a probe end up as animated corpses, their minds irredeemably destroyed. Your father’s friend Mathias – you remember him, right? He didn’t make it. I slit his throat to end a hopelessly vegetative existence. But he gave me your father’s name, and if it hadn’t been for tall, dark, and handsome over there, Papa Takan would be in this chair instead of you so you can thank both of them for your fate.”

  Kozlev turned to Steiger.

  “Have the guards take Takan to her cell. I feel like giving her the night to decide whether she’d rather have a friendly conversation with me or get the experience of a lifetime with my probe.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “As for you, my warrior friend, I’ll have to think some more. I wasn’t expecting a
freelancer to be conditioned, and that means I need to plan how I’ll tackle your case. Since you don’t need a quiet period to think things over...” she tapped her fingers on her chin for a few moments, “I’ll just leave you here with an all-night sound and light show. Who knows, perhaps disorientation will blur the line between what your conditioning will let you say and what it won’t. If you need to relieve yourself, go right ahead. The guards will hose this room out first thing in the morning, and if they’re feeling charitable, they might even allow you a few sips of water and a bite of whatever rotting food the kitchen is about to throw out. Have a pleasant night. I know I will.”

  “You’re a real queen among women, Kozlev.” Decker blew her a kiss. This time, her laughter sounded both delighted and genuine.

  **

  “Conditioned?” Harend stared into his glass, swirling the amber liquid around. “Rare for a civilian, no?”

  “He’s likely ex-Commonwealth military,” Kozlev replied. “Sometimes, it’s impossible to remove conditioning at the time of retirement or discharge.”

  “And the weapons, especially the blade?” He reached over and picked up the sheathed dagger she’d dropped on his living room table.

  “A souvenir from a happier time in his life?” Kozlev poured herself a glass of the Glen Arcturus and took a sip, smiling with pleasure at the smoky taste. “An active member of the Services playing spy wouldn’t go around carrying something that obvious.”

  “Perhaps.” He put the dagger down again. “But if he is from the Fleet or the Constabulary, then we have a very big problem.”

  “Not if he can’t report back.”

  “Shoot, shovel, and shut up, you mean? The governor wouldn’t be pleased.”

  “Bugger Cedeno.” She shrugged. “He doesn’t have the backbone for a proper counter-insurgency campaign.”

  “But he does have enough connections on the home world to make sure he can credibly claim his innocence when it comes to happenings on Garonne that cross the line.”

  “Would you like me to drum us up some insurance?”

  “Unless it involves Cedeno being accused of something so unspeakably vile that even his closest friends wash their hands of him, it won’t do much good. The man may not be the most charismatic politician in the galaxy, but he’s got a good instinct for survival.”

  “Pity.”

  “Let’s leave Cedeno to the side for now and get back to the man you have in your dungeon. What do you intend to do? From all I’ve read, conditioning, especially if it was done by the Fleet, is damn near impossible to break. You’ll have a corpse on your hands before you even get his real name.”

  “And if I do, he’ll join Mathias in an unmarked grave, though it would be a pity. He’s quite a specimen.”

  “Hormones acting up again?” Harend cocked a sardonic eyebrow at her. “Try to restrain your baser impulses when it comes to the prisoners.”

  “No fear, darling. I don’t think I’m his type.”

  **

  After the first hour of loud, often discordant music, including snippets of Shrehari opera, matched to flashing, multi-color lights, Decker finally managed to drop into a meditative trance that all but shut his awareness off from its surroundings. Though he hadn’t been given much training in the spy business after he’d been forcibly recruited by Hera Talyn, one of the few useful items they did teach him was this little mind trick.

  He wouldn’t actually sleep through the night, but the guards would nonetheless find him relatively well rested and completely sane come morning, not that he’d let them know; quite the contrary, in fact. It would better serve his purpose if Kozlev thought she was weakening him. There had never been any question in his mind that he would try to escape and take Kari Takan with him, but he knew that he’d get one chance and one only.

  At daybreak, the music abruptly stopped. One of the guards entered the interrogation room and immediately swore.

  “The bastard’s gone pissed and shat himself during the night. Get the hose, Otto. Her ladyship will want everything to be clean and smelling like roses when she shows up, and that could be any moment. I don’t think she’s the kind that sleeps much.”

  Moments later, a steady stream of cold water hit his bare skin. The guards, standing well away by the door, played the hose over him, his chair, and the floor, until he was numb and shivering like a leaf in a storm, now fully awake.

  “That’ll do, I think,” the guard named Otto finally said, shutting off the water. “I hope he had his mouth open because I’m not in the mood to fetch him a drink.”

  “Should I turn the heat on?” The other man asked. “It’ll help dry the place faster.”

  “Nah. He’d enjoy that too much. Her ladyship won’t mind a bit of damp in a good cause. C’mon, time for some breakfast.”

  Just before shutting the door, Otto called out, “Have a painful day, asshole. Rennie and me lost a couple of buddies in Holback the other day to your stinking lot, so I hope her ladyship makes it long and hard.”

  Mercifully, the guards had forgotten to turn the sound and light show on again, and Decker promptly fell asleep once the shivers stopped.

  He had no idea how long he’d been snoozing when a stinging blow across the face, delivered by an expert hand, woke him up with a start.

  “Who said you could take your ease like an honest citizen?” Kozlev asked.

  “Wh-what?” His eyes darted around the room as if he was disoriented by exhaustion.

  “Rise and shine, big boy. Today we get better acquainted.”

  She removed her uniform tunic, exposing a white t-shirt that perfectly outlined her thin, wiry arms and hard-ribbed torso.

  “Not interested,” he mumbled.

  “Oh but I’m very interested in you. My commanding officer has this notion that you might be Fleet, though I told him a proper spy wouldn’t be advertising his affiliation by carrying a fine pathfinder blade and a re-chambered Shrehari gun.”

  “So? Maybe I used to be in the Service. What do you care? I was just minding my own business in Kaholo when your fucking thugs shot me.”

  She slapped him again, hard.

  “Name, rank and serial number.”

  “Bite me,” he muttered.

  Slap.

  “I’ll find out eventually. We’ve sent your biometric data to Celeste where the National Guard will plug it into the various connections it has. If you’ve served in the Fleet, we’ll find out. If you’re still serving, we’ll know.”

  Good luck with that, Decker thought. They turned me into the man who doesn’t exist before we left on this mission.

  He let his head drop against his chest and closed his eyes.

  “Hey,” she grabbed him by the chin, “it’s not polite to fall asleep when you’re talking to a lady.”

  “Sure, but you’re no lady.”

  Slap.

  “Maybe I should geld you after all.” Kozlev walked over to the table where she’d carefully piled his weapons and clothes. “Your blade seems to be sharp enough for the task.”

  “Or,” she continued after pulling the dagger from its sheath, “will the physical shock suffice to trigger your conditioning’s suicide mechanism?”

  “Try it and see,” he replied with a tired grin. “I’m not getting out of here alive anyway, so now would be a good a time to go.”

  She locked eyes with him, looking for anything that might confirm the truth of his words. Whatever she saw must have been enough because she placed the dagger back on the table and dropped into the chair that Kari Takan had occupied the previous day. For what seemed like an eternity, Kozlev studied him.

  “Somehow, you managed to make it through the night without looking like a wreck,” she finally said. “I guess a man your size can take a lot of punishment before he starts crumbling. Mind you, everyone has his or her limits. I intend to find yours. If I can’t practice my art on you in conventional ways, I’ll have to find my entertainment through other means, but rest assured that I
will savor every minute of it.”

  She got up and opened the door.

  “I expect some fresh business later today, folks we know are associated with Larn Takan, so you’ll be taken to a cell for another musical interlude. We’ll talk again soon.”

  Kozlev gave him a little wave before leaving the interrogation room. He heard the click of her heels fade in the distance, and then Otto and his colleague entered and carefully released the seat restraints one by one before shackling his arms and legs together. Then, they escorted him down the corridor to a small, two-meter square cell with nothing but blank walls.

  “I hope you enjoy your accommodations, asshole.” Otto shoved him through the door. “Try to keep things clean this time.”

  He barely had time to lie down on the cold floor and prepare himself for another meditative trance before the discordant music and flashing lights started up again.

  **

  “Rise and shine, asshole. Her ladyship wants you back in the big room. I guess you two have a hot date tonight.”

  When Decker didn’t move, Otto turned towards Rennie, who was waiting in the corridor.

  “He’s passed out.”

  “Shit.”

  The two guards entered the small cell and stared at him. Otto kicked Zack’s leg, and when that got no reaction, he kicked him harder in the kidneys.

  “Well, at least he’s breathing, so there’s that.” Rennie knelt beside Decker’s head and pulled up an eyelid with his thumb. “Totally out of it.”

  “Shrehari opera will do that to you I guess. But it doesn’t excuse us from doing what Kozlev wants. She comes down, and he isn’t sitting in his chair, we’ll be lucky if we don’t get to try it ourselves.”

  “Fucker’s so big it’ll be a bitch to carry him.” Otto leaned down to grab Decker by the shoulders and lift. “Shit. It’ll need both of us.”

  Rennie grabbed Zack by the feet, and they tried again, but his body sagged in the middle like a sack of mud and they let go.

  “We’re both going to have to lift him at this end and drag,” Otto said, grimacing.