Duty and Obligation

by Sean Benjamin

  The room relaxed a bit after the reassuring words. A woman in the crowd of prison administrators spoke out. “Sir, how will the police get across the river?”

  “They tell me they do have a method for crossing,” replied the warden. “They should be there in ten to fifteen minutes and will be bringing floating air platforms used to carry dirt and debris at the mining sites. These platforms are long enough to span the river at the bridge site and will provide a structure that can support the air cushion of an air car. It will take a few minutes to get the platforms into place but it can be done and reasonably fast.”

  Another voice piped up. “Who are these people?”

  The warden shook his head but maintained his confident tone. “We have no idea why we are being attacked at this time. There have been no threats made against us and no recent events have occurred such as high-profile prisoners coming here. Maybe these people want to free several of our prisoners who are friends, relatives, or partners in crime.”

  The three plumbers had been ignored as they had stood quietly against the back wall opposite the entrance doors. They had slowly spread out along the wall so that one man was at each corner while the woman remained in the center. Each plumber had a hand in a tool bag. The two men watched the woman and when she withdrew two shooters from her bag with her right hand, they did the same. Baby Doll dropped her bag, quickly switched one weapon to her left hand and then aimed both shooters at the crowd.

  She spoke loudly as she addressed the warden in a chiding voice. “Come on now. You have no idea why we are here? You know that isn’t true. You have been doing something for years that has attracted our attention. We are now getting around to addressing the problem.” Her comments drew all the attention in the lobby to her. She now added, “Drop all your weapons and raise your hands.”

  Everyone stared at her and nothing happened for three seconds. Then two guards started to swing their weapons to take aim at the woman. Both men were shot by the pirates at either end of the wall. The shots were aimed to kill so as to intimidate the crowd. The dead guards fell backward and lay still on the floor. Silence followed the shots. Then the crowd surged to the entrance doors on the other side of the lobby away from the three pirates. Two people ran out the main entrance in an effort to escape and were shot down by three of Cody’s people from the staging area door off to the side. The remaining people froze at the doors. They couldn’t run and they couldn’t stay. Everyone looked at each other in uncertainty. Silence enveloped the lobby.

  “Drop your weapons and raise your hands.” Baby Doll repeated herself calmly but with added menace in her voice.

  Weapons from four guards clattered to the floor and hands were raised. Baby Doll’s commands were heard over the earpieces of Cody’s team. Now the three people who had covered the front from the staging area door appeared at the main entrance. The crowd was almost on top of the entrance doors as they had pressed in that direction to get away from Baby Doll’s group on the far wall. Now the noise of the front doors opening caused them to turn. Cody came in with his shooter level and his eyes searching for a target. A man and a woman followed, also with weapons leveled and searching for targets. All three newcomers had a silent, menacing posture. The crowd moved back from them but didn’t want to get near Baby Doll so everyone stopped in the middle of the room. Cody and his companions spread out behind the crowd just inside the door, and now, six pirates had the group covered from two sides.

  Baby Doll returned her focus and her weapons toward the warden. She shook her head at him. “I loved your little speech there. You really don’t know why this prison is under attack?” A short pause and she continued. “Actually, I believe that. You have been doing your dirty business for so long, you probably don’t even think about it anymore.” She took two steps to cut down the distance to the man. “Your guards abuse women, and you treat that as a reward for good service. Your people abuse other prisoners for enjoyment. They have committed more crimes than some of the prisoners held here. It was just business as usual for you. Well, guess what? Business as usual ended today. The bill is now due, and we’re here to collect.”

  The warden was taken back by this new development but quickly recovered. He decided to negotiate. He addressed Baby Doll in a smooth voice. “If there are procedures here that need to be addressed, we can certainly take a look at that. There is no need for this violence. We have always been willing to make changes for the betterment of all involved.”

  Baby Doll gave him a cold smile. “You’re bargaining. I think that’s cute. Well, we happen to agree on one topic. Change is definitely needed, starting with you.”

  She shot the warden in the face. He fell backward in slow motion as parts of his head flew in several directions. He landed flat on his back as the crowd leaped back from the scene and the expanding pool of blood. Several prison employees were spattered with blood and pieces of skull.

  Baby Doll pointed with the weapon in her left hand. “Those two,” she said as she pronounced sentence on the deputy warden and head of security. Before the men could react to the verbal death warrant, energy pulses came from shooters of her two companions and the two men dropped where they had stood. The smell of expended energy rounds and burnt flesh filled the lobby. The dwindling crowd of prison employees was near to stampeding and were only deciding on a direction to go. Baby Doll spoke up to cut them off before they started moving. She had to make it clear the executions were over, at least for now. “Keep your wits about you and your hands up, and you will be fine. Anyone starts running, we start shooting.” She pointed at two prison guards. “You two, clear the furniture out of the hallway there. We need to get to the staging area next door.”

  The two guards got to work immediately as two pirates peeked into the lobby from a window in the front. They were also from Cody’s team and were responding to the sound of the shootings. Once they realized all was well, they came through the front doors. One of the men spoke to Baby Doll. “We got everything secure in the courtyard and the wings. We’re moving everyone outside to the courtyard now.”

  Since there was a break in the action, Logan spoke up. “How’re the two captains?” He, like all of them, had followed the chatter over the tactical frequency through the comm pieces each of them had in one ear.

  “Captain O’Hare lost her left hand. Captain Hawkins took a pulse to the thigh. Both are down by their shuttles,” reported the first man.

  Everyone nodded. They could do nothing about it right now. Casualties were the price of doing business, and there was still business to be done. Everyone here was veteran enough to focus on the task at hand. Baby Doll watched as the final pieces of furniture were cleared away and directed two pirates to herd the lobby crowd down the short hallway, through the staging room, and out into the courtyard. She directed another two men to go through the admin offices and collect lists of all personnel assigned to the prison. They needed the names of everyone on other shifts. The guilty ones would be handled through blood contracts. Then she led the remainder of the pirates to the mess hall via a hallway on the opposite side of the lobby from the staging area. She pounded on the double doors leading into the dining facility and stepped quickly to the side in case someone decided to shoot through the door. Nobody did. There was a moment of silence, and then a man’s deep baritone voice called out, “Who’s there?”

  “The bad guys,” Baby Doll replied. “We got all the prison but your room. You can come out or we can come in. If we have to come in, I personally guarantee we will kill every guard and prison employee in there. You got ten seconds to decide.”

  “No need. We’re the bad guys too and we already got the room. We whacked the guards while the fightin’ was going on. We’ll come out if you guarantee our safety.”

  “That works for us,” Baby Doll answered. “Come on out.”

  The pirates kept to each side of the entrance so as to be out of the line of fire if this was a trap. They held their weapons ready. One of the double doors
slowly opened and a small old man in a yellow prison jumpsuit leaned out and looked around. He spied the pirates on one side and looked them over. He glanced in the other direction and saw the remaining pirates on the opposite side. He looked up the hall toward the lobby. “You got the warden and his lapdog assistant under guard?

  “No,” Baby Doll replied. “We killed them, along with the head of security.”

  The man gave a huge grin. “You wouldn’t kid an old convict now, would ya?”

  “We would not. Come to the lobby and look.”

  “I will damn certain do that,” the prisoner answered in a gleeful voice. He turned back into the mess hall and shouted, “They killed the warden and his two dogs!”

  Whistling and cheers greeted the announcement. The man added, “We can go look! They’re in the lobby.”

  An alarmed expression crossed the man’s face as he stared back into the mess hall. He hurriedly moved from the front of the door and joined Baby Doll on the side of the hall. A second later, a stampede of yellow burst through the double doors and headed to the lobby. As the rush died down to the slow movers bringing up the rear, the old man turned to Baby Doll and remarked, “They surprised the hell out of me with that speed. Nobody moves that fast around here. That’s the happiest I’ve seen any of them in years.”

  Baby Doll smiled at him. “I guess those three men had it coming.”

  The old man nodded. “And then some. When I die, I hope I go to hell just so I can get them myself.” He now smiled wide and displayed several missing teeth. “Excuse me. I gotta look.”

  Baby Doll nodded, and the man followed the stampede. The pirates went into the dining hall and found five guards on the floor. Two were dead and three had different degrees of injuries, all serious. None of the pirates felt sorry for them. Logan spoke up as he stood over one of the bodies. “I think this guy is one of the four we have been looking for. His nametag says he is.” Baby Doll walked over to stare down at the corpse.

  She nodded in agreement. “He’s middle-aged, dark, and got a scar on the forehead. His nametag matches one of our targets. Yep, this is one of them. Looks like he was stabbed about twenty times.”

  Logan said, “If he was as bad with the women as we heard, the prisoners in here saw a chance to get him and they took it.”

  Baby Doll responded, “Probably.” She glanced in the direction of the other dead guard. “Maybe him too.” She called to the pirate standing over that body. “How’d he die?”

  “Stabbed at least a dozen times.”

  Baby Doll nodded in reply and then looked at Logan. “The other three guys are too young to be any of the guards we want. This guy here is one of the four anyway. Plus, that bonus guy.” Then she added quietly. “Justice is as justice does, and we don’t much give a damn who dispenses it as long as it gets done.” Those who heard the quiet comment agreed. She looked around the dining room and the general mess caused by the fighting with the guards and the takeover by the prisoners. She was not put off by it. She knew from experience that change tends to be messy. She also knew all change involved winners and losers. Part of their mission here was to ensure the losers got what was coming to them. Baby Doll checked her watch. They needed to wrap this up and get on their way. She spoke with authority. “Leave the three wounded guards here. They aren’t a threat. We have to get moving.”

  The pirates moved back to the lobby. Only the mess hall prisoners and the three dead men were there as the earlier group of prison officials had already been moved to the courtyard. Now the pirates herded the gawking prisoners out into the courtyard. Many of them kicked the three corpses as they passed by. Baby Doll’s people were joined by the two pirates who had been tasked to go through the admin offices and get the lists of all personnel. One man gave Baby Doll a thumbs up. She nodded and led her group down the hallway, through the storage room, and out into the courtyard.

  The prisoners, guards, and the administration officials had self-segregated into three groups in the courtyard. They huddled together and watched all activities with anxious expressions. Pirates watched over all of them as Baby Doll passed between groups and joined Tactical in the center of the courtyard. She was talking through her throat mike and directing actions as a prelude to departure. Baby Doll waited for a break and then asked, “How much is the damage?”

  Tactical shook her head and said, “God favors fools and pirates. We have only wounded, some seriously, but no dead.” She looked around the courtyard at the damage. “Amazing.”

  Baby Doll remarked, “Guards put out a high volume of fire but couldn’t hit anything, I guess. They aren’t trained for that and most have never shot a weapon outside of the training range. They also have never had anyone shooting back at them. That tends to disrupt concentration, especially the first time you experience it.”

  Tactical nodded. “Probably true about them but the same thing can be said about us regarding experience in large assaults. We are good at close-in barroom fighting, but we were no great shakes today. I overestimated our abilities and got away with it. Not a good habit to get into.” She looked at Baby Doll and gave a shrug. “I’d have to say luck actually favored us today.”

  Baby Doll smiled. “First time ever,” she exclaimed. She added, “We found one of the four guards we were looking for in the mess hall. The prisoners got him.”

  Tactical nodded and replied, “Killian got one before she went down. That leaves two to find and kill.” Tactical looked at the guard group. “Time to start checking nametags and descriptions to sort through these guards.”

  At that moment both of them were startled by a tormented cry for vengeance. Someone had already done the sorting process and now wanted punishment to be administered.

  Chapter 19

  “Kill them!”

  Everyone looked around for the speaker. Surprisingly, it was Killian O’Hare. Despite her grievous wound, she had risen to her feet and was upright while clinging to a med tech with her one hand as she had her shattered left arm close to her body. She briefly let go of her handhold and pointed to two middle-aged guards in the guard group.

  “Kill them!” she repeated with poisonous venom.

  Nobody moved as they all stared at O’Hare in amazement. Moments earlier she had been down on the ground, and her survival was in doubt. Now she was reenergized by hate and fury. She continued to stare at the guard group while a med tech held her upright. Her face was a mask of repulsion, rage, and the need for vengeance. She didn’t come here to let death get in the way, and she was damn certain she wouldn’t let it happen when she was this close to her revenge. At least not yet. She continued to point at the two guards with her right hand. “Kill those fucking bastards!!” Her demand reached all corners of the courtyard. A primordial call for a reckoning due for sins long past. Long past but not forgotten. Or forgiven. Some things can never be forgiven. Ever.

  Many pirates throughout the courtyard leveled their weapons at the guard group and started toward them. It was clear from their demeanor they would be quite happy to kill every guard and let the devil figure it out. “We got this,” shouted Tactical as she and Baby Doll turned to the guard group and walked toward them. She took charge quickly as she knew this could easily get out of hand. The pirates had seen two of their squadron leaders and several comrades go down hard with wounds. If many pirates had started to carry out O’Hare’s demand, it could have easily gone well beyond the two men O’Hare wanted dead.

  The other pirates stopped their approach but watched with keen interest. They wanted to see the mission carried out to the fullest extent. They came for justice and wanted to ensure it was done. For most of their lives, these pirates had seen justice ignored, forgotten, or simply lead away, never to be heard from again. Everyone had been told this mission was on a voluntary basis and nobody had withdrawn. They knew the reason why this prison was hit, and they wanted to be part of it. Now it was time to square accounts, and there was only one way to do that. Justice demanded it, and these raider
s were here to see that the demand was met.

  The two identified guards backed up as other nearby guards quickly separated to one side of them. Those other guards knew what was coming as well as their two marked colleagues and wanted no part in it. Death was strolling their way and wasn’t in the mood to make a deal. The two guards held up their hands in a protective posture in front of them as they backed up to the wall of the prison’s cross-section. They looked around wildly for an escape route. There was none. They were out of options, out of time, and out of ideas. Many people died that way.

  “We did nothing,” one of them yelled.

  “No, you did something. And you damn well know it,” remarked Baby Doll as the two women closed the distance with a slow, deliberate walk, shooters steady in their hands, and their faces hard and intent on their purpose.

  The guards pressed their backs to the wall and moved along it. They glanced in both directions along the wall one more time, but no magic gate had appeared since their last scan of the area. In response, both pirates adjusted their closing angle to the two men as they moved along the wall. The marked men tried to run as the two women raised their weapons and fired at the same time and then several times more. All shots hit their marks. The two guards were slammed against the wall by the impacts of the energy pulses and slid down to the dirt. One man left a bloody streak on the wall. The women ceased fire and continued to close on the bodies as the other guards spread back even further to allow plenty of room. Both pirates stopped and looked down at their targets at their feet. Both men had blackened holes on their torsos and faces contorted in their brief moment of pain and fear before dying. What these two guards had done to women in this jail for many years had been dealt with. Revenge had taken the form of two other women. Some people would call it irony, but it really wasn’t. It was karma.

  At the Nemesis shuttle, Killian O’Hare stood and watched justice administered on her behalf. At the conclusion of the shooting, she smiled. For a brief moment, all the pain in her body and soul were gone. Then she seemed to deflate and staggered, causing the med tech to grab and steady her. He then guided her into the shuttle for evacuation with other wounded pirates.