Osdal (Harmony War Series Book 3)
Page 33
Mark searched the table with his eyes. “Well they wanted to cause me some more pain before I died. Seems like they’d been watching how Caroline and I cared for one another, so they beat me using shock sticks so I couldn’t fight back.” He looked up into Alexis’ eyes, holding them there. His deep brown eyes almost looked black, filled with hatred.
“See, they wanted to hurt her to hurt me. They skinned her in front of me. I tried to fight them, they kept hitting me with shock sticks but made sure I was conscious to hear her scream as they cut her skin off. Fuckers didn’t do it right,” he snorted, shaking his head, his eyes finding Alexis’s again.
“See, they cut too deep, they took off most of her one side from her kneecap, up her ribs to her chest. Fuckers were touching her the entire time.
It was only when they were going down the other side when one of the Chosen was about to rape her, that I got my chance. The fucker watching me was distracted, and made it so I could kill him. Killed the rest of them good too.” He drank from the bottle, putting it on the table and looking at it.
“See, I was too late. They'd cut chunks out of her sides, and she was losing blood and fast, pain sent her into unconsciousness for a little bit, so I used some of the Chosen’s drugs so she could deal with the pain. If I’d had just a can of sealant, or a hot brand, I might have been able to save her, but all I had was some clothes.” His eyes drifted to Alexis and then away, his voice and body heavy.
A small sad smile that made tears well in Alexis’s eyes appeared on his face.
“She said she liked me.” He laughed; it was a painful thing, but full of wonder.
“Said that she wished we could have got an asteroid miner, just gone off and done our own thing. That was the first time I saw her face, and she was beautiful.” Mark slid in his seat, looking at the ceiling, wrapped in his memories, drinking from his bottle. He stayed like that for some time. Alexis knew that there was nothing that she could do for Mark right then and there. She knew she would be in the same place if Tyler died. It hit her close to home, and she held tears at bay, barely.
She reached across the table and squeezed Mark’s hand. It was hard seeing him going through this inner turmoil.
“Let me know if you need anything,” She said, holding his hand for a few more moments before letting go.
“Help me kill the bastards that killed Caroline, help me kill Harmony.” His eyes chilled her to the bone. There was no hatred, no love, just the eyes of a killer.
Chapter 65
SLS Furtim
Heading away from Osdal System
10/3267
His last memory was of being in a spinning Combat Shuttle with a hole revealing missiles going off in the distance.
He woke in a warm substance. He had been in it many times before, but never while he was part of Earth’s Military Forces.
He pushed himself out of the medical vat. It looked like a pool of swirling silver, but in reality it was a vat of nano machines that were small enough to work on the molecular level.
“Sir, I’m going to have to ask that you get back into the medical vat. This is our medical ward and we’re trying to…” The medicos in the room started. There were fourteen other medical vats chugging away that Nerva could see.
“Legate Nerva, Recruiting for the Legion. Why the hell am I here?” Nerva demanded. The medicos’s placating gestures disappeared.
“Nerva,” NIDenise started.
Nerva closed his eyes, rubbing his head and sighing at her tone. He felt like he wasn’t going to like this next part.
“Your enlistment within the EMF is over, it was the thought of myself and of Legate Aurelius that it would be best if you died in the eyes of the EMF. Nivad Selvra was taking a close look at you and the people of the carrier Reclaimer,” NIDenise continued.
“Who is Centurion of this ship?” Nerva asked, looking to the Medico. They looked almost puzzled as to why he hadn’t asked his Neural Interfacing Artificial Intelligence.
“Centurion Exceter,” NIDenise answered.
Nerva nodded and started walking out. The Medico shook his head and went back to looking over his charges through the holographic screens at the bottom of their medical vats.
NIDenise overlaid his view with instructions to get to Centurion Exceter’s position.
Nerva marched through the halls of the ship. People that saw him came to attention, slapping their chests in salute and bowing their heads. He returned the gesture, though it almost felt foreign to him, it had been 25 years since he had last saluted someone from the Legion. And those 25 years had been spaced out with nearly two hundred years of being in cryo-sleep.
Nerva traveled on a few grav-walks, taking him across the ship in minutes. He quickly found centurion Exceter’s room, and knocked on the door. A green light appeared in is view, the Centurion seeing who it was and agreeing to his entry.
Exceter stood and saluted Nerva from behind his desk.
“It is a great pleasure to meet you, Legate. I have heard tales of your feats since my childhood,” Exceter said with a wide smile.
“He is an old bastard,” Legate Aurelius said on a wall screen to Nerva’s left.
“Why the fuck am I on a Space Legion Ship headed away from Osdal?” Nerva asked, staring Aurelius in the eyes. He hadn’t seen his old friend like this in years, it had always been through NIDenise and Aurelius’ own NIAI.
He could see that his friend had aged heavily in the years apart. His dark hair was salt and pepper, but his face was still clean-shaven and his brown eyes were commanding as always.
“Because we need you back, and we don’t want Nivad Selvra sniffing around the Legion,” Aurelius said as if the argument was over.
“I never asked to be pulled, I have people depending on me over there!” Nerva’s anger built.
“That might very well be true, but you can’t go back now anyway, it’s been weeks since you died.” Aurelius said.
Nerva made to argue but Aurelius cut him off. “They’re still fighting one another for land and resources, just like when they first found Roma. They didn’t care that they entered us into a war for our very survival. All they care about is what they can get from the situation. The Legion is fighting for the survival of the human race; they’re just fighting for credits. The bastard that came up with Harmony is just a kid who doesn’t have the patience to play their power games. One kid and a bunch of CEOs looking to get rich, that’s what their war is all about. Millions are going to die because of those idiots’ games, and they don’t give a fuck,” Aurelius raged.
“We’re out in the black of space, killing and getting killed by the Maraukians, keeping humanity, including Earth and Her Colonies, safe. I need you Nerva.” Aurelius’s anger dimmed, showing a tired old man that had seen too much. “The Legion needs you, Legate Nerva.”