Even if someone is not currently a traitor, everyone has their price, it might be money, or the wellbeing of someone they care about, a low threshold of pain, or it might be something else I’ve not thought of. Actually, even I probably don’t really need to know all of it, just reassure me that the right people, people who I trust have my back and we can move on. What is it you would like me to do?”
He replied, “As you have already guessed, we would like to ask you to put yourself at risk. If you agree, we want to transfer you into the high security brig to see if we can flush a traitor out. Your Troopers from FNS Destiny are running this operation with Ensign Fraser as the liaison between the Troopers and me. I will take your advice and not give you the details but if you agree this will be a huge help to us and probably to the Federation as well.”
I considered the request for a moment then asked one more question, “If I do this for you, will you at least put in a good word for me when I am on trial?”
He simply replied, “You do not need to do this for me to put in a good word for you, I’ve already sent a report recommending the Federation Council find a way to clear you of all charges. Both Lady Conti and Jack Lanning have countersigned that report. You should know, their signatures will hold a lot of weight because her father is the current chairman of the Council and he is held in very high esteem within the Federation.
You deserve the support already not just from me, but from everybody you’ve come into contact with on FNS Destiny and even some of those on this station who’ve met you since you came here. Having said all that, I, no we, would consider it a great favour if you agreed. We already know the pirates have been able to infiltrate some of our security apparatus. Far too many operations we mount against the pirates fail, there are too many times when we send ships to one location only to have the pirates stage a raid somewhere else. If we don’t reverse the trend soon, the entire Federation may begin to unravel.”
“OK,” I said, “fair enough, now we need to agree on a plausible way for you to get me into the brig. I would suggest you be really cold towards me when we leave here. You asked me to help you, I refused, you have me put in the brig as punishment. Anne, Conti, you two complain about how I can be so damned stubborn sometimes. The people who’ve been interrogating me could testify to this. We want everyone to think I am there in the brig legitimately, not put in there as bait.
Better yet, perhaps we could even be having an argument as we leave here. I don’t think calling me a coward would work but you could be arguing that I need to make a contribution to the Federation if I am going to live here. For my part I should be arguing along the lines that I already have made a contribution. Sir, if you agree to this, I should warn you we should both allow things to get quite heated between us. Things may be said that we both need to be able to forgive and forget once we’ve achieved the goal.”
The Admiral was smiling by the time I’d finished speaking and he said, “By the gods Colin, you can be devious. I can see now how you’ve been so successful in dealing with the pirates so far. I agree with your assessment, even if one of the others we sent outside can’t be trusted, this might change some of the perceptions.”
We discussed how we should sell the idea that I was a legitimate prisoner for another couple of hours, even rehearsing the argument. We decided we would exit the room we were currently in while still conducting a heated argument. Shasi should be between us, keeping us apart but mostly behaving as if she is trying to keep me under control while both Anne and Conti would be trying unsuccessfully to get both the Admiral and me to calm down. Just after we exited the room, I would make a lunge toward the Admiral and Shasi would wrestle me to the ground. The other Naval officer who’d not yet been introduced to me would help Shasi to hold me down till I could be restrained. Meanwhile, the Admiral would be issuing orders for me to be locked in the brig pending piracy and attempted assault charges. By the time everyone there understood what was going to happen, Admiral Hanadon was having a little difficulty containing his amusement.
I found myself hoping he would be able to contain it when we went live, at least till he was out of the public eye. The success of this entire exercise relied on it being completely believable which meant our acting had to be flawless. When asked if he ever descended into a black mood, and became short tempered with the people around him, the Admiral admitted to me it’d been known to happen, particularly when someone would not cooperate with him.
I suggested he work himself into a foul mood during the argument, and display those types of behaviours after I was taken off to the brig. He asked me if I’d been looking at secure files relating to his behaviour. Of course I said no, which of course was the truth, I was simply relying on my experiences with the people around me to judge him. He looked suspiciously at me for a second, clearly wondering how much I knew about him before agreeing my suggestion was a good one and would be followed.
When we were ready, we started our argument relatively quietly while we all arranged ourselves into the positions we intended for our exit from the room. The others had all taken the whole thing to heart and were busy working themselves into a state that fit the mood we wanted to portray to any observers outside the room. Things progressed and we began speaking more loudly, slowly increasing the volume and the apparent anger as the other officer opened the door for the Admiral so he could leave first. I must admit, he was doing very well, he was going red in the face and the volume of his voice increased as our argument progressed. The tone he was using took on a sarcastic edge that even I found to be convincing. I found myself hoping he remembered this was all an act before he did something I would later regret, at least I didn’t want him to do anything beyond what we’d already agreed. Lady Conti was trying to calm him down while Anne was trying to do the same with me. Shasi for her part, was trying to restrain me. By the time we were all outside of the room the argument was in full swing and suddenly Hanadon told me I could rot in hell. This was my que and with a yell of rage, I lunged towards him. The entire thing went down like clockwork, Shasi threw me to the ground. When I landed I landed hard and was winded, so there was no acting needed there. By the time I could breathe properly again, they had me in restraints.
As I hoped, the Admiral had worked himself into a fine temper and was yelling at the Troopers who were waiting outside to throw me in the brig. He told them he would decide on what charges he would level at me later. He turned and left, with the darkest, filthiest look on his face I had ever seen on anyone anywhere. I have to admit, he really did look entirely convincing, I found myself hoping he remembered the whole thing was an act when this was all over.
The Troopers hoisted me to my feet and frogmarched me straight to the brig as ordered. They were not excessively rough with me on the way there, just left me no room or time to cause them any trouble at all. I suspect like many lower ranked military personnel they didn’t really have any particular feelings for the Admiral or for me, he was way too far above their heads so they would not have had much interaction with him. Besides, he’d not actually charged me with anything yet, they’d all heard him say he would decide the charges later. When we arrived at the brig, my escort checked me in at the guard station with charges pending. The brig guards took me to a cell, removed the restraints and shoved me inside rather more roughly than necessary. I fell as I went through the door but thankfully, didn’t receive any injuries beyond a bruise or two. As I hit the floor, I heard the cell door shut and the guards laughing loudly as they departed. Clearly, they were the types who found their amusement by beating up defenceless prisoners, typical bullies and thugs.
I thought to myself, “Well, I’ve been expecting to end up in prison ever since I took command of FNS Destiny, now that’s exactly what has happened though I didn’t expect it to happen quite the way it did.”
After the guards departed, I pulled myself up off the ground before making my way to the bunk where I lay down, beginning my wait for whatever was going to happen
next. Really, the only preparations I could make were mental. There was no way I could put up any kind of physical resistance, not when I was as isolated and alone as I was right then. I didn’t know what surveillance Ani and Shasi had been able to put into place for this operation, I was deliberately not told, but I felt completely confident they had it well covered.
As I lay on the bunk I realised this prison wasn’t the quiet place I’d expected it to be. I could hear some of the other prisoners yelling insults at anyone and everyone they could think of, the occasional thud with an accompanying yelp of pain, usually followed by evil sounding laughter and the sound of doors slamming shut. Sometime later, I heard a nearby cell door open, followed by several dull thuds then a scream. Once again, I heard the guards laughing as they walked away from their victim. The victim continued whimpering and crying for some time afterwards. I wondered if the Admiral knew what was going on in here. I hoped he didn’t, or at least if he knew what was going on, he didn’t condone the behaviour.
It must have been nearly a day later when they finally came for me. Four of the guards came to the door and it suddenly crashed open, startling me in the process. Two of them quickly rushed in and landed a couple of fairly ineffectual punches on me before flipping me over on my stomach, dragging my arms behind my back, and placing restraints on my hands. Of course, being the bullies they were, they made the restraints painfully and unnecessarily tight so it was not long at all before I could feel my fingers becoming numb. The other two guards simply waited at the door with hungry looks in their eyes, clearly disappointed they couldn’t join in on the fun. After I was suitably restrained, like bully’s everywhere, they took the opportunity to slap me around a bit more, causing my nose to bleed and splitting my upper lip. One of the guards hauled me off the bunk by my hair. Clearly, they liked inflicting pain on the helpless. I found myself hoping there was more to this than a couple of guards having some fun by beating up on a prisoner, I hoped they would show themselves to be the traitors we were after. Certainly, I didn’t want my injuries, as minor as they still were at this point, to be for nothing. I knew we only had one bite at this particular cherry, if we messed up here, the operation would be a complete bust and there may not be another chance to make any kind of a hole in the pirate infiltration. What I didn’t know right then, was that everything was being monitored. The Admiral did in fact have suspicions about what was happening but needed proof before he could act.
The guards dragged me out of my cell and down the passageway, pushing me into walls and corners on the way whenever they could, generally trying to cause me pain and to humiliate me. What they didn’t realise was outside of some relatively minor pain and bleeding, they were completely unsuccessful, in their aims. The damage they were causing to my body was relatively minor and they were totally unsuccessful in humiliating me simply because I didn’t care about them or what they were doing, I had much bigger things to worry about than their silly games. I hoped they were taking me somewhere Shasi or Ani could get in to rescue me if a rescue was needed because when the time was right, I intended goading them as much as I could get away with to try to make them slip in what they are saying.
A short while later, we reached what looked to be an interview or interrogation room which they took me into. They roughly pushed me down into a chair that was bolted to the floor and chained me to it. They left the restraints on my wrists so at this point my hands were beginning to become quite swollen and painful. The pressure of me leaning back on my hands caused more pain but when I tried to lean forward to ease the pain a little, I was roughly shoved back in the chair. I asked if they could loosen the restraints on my hands a little but they just backhanded me across the face and told me to shut my mouth in reply. I decided if I had the chance in the future, I would do the same to these two and see how they liked it. I didn’t care much about the beatings I had received so far but considered the over-tight restraints to be a step too far.
Only a few minutes after I was placed in the chair, I heard footsteps approaching from outside the room. Shortly afterwards a Trooper officer entered the room. He looked at the two guards then at me before waving them outside. I thought they looked a little disappointed at missing out on the fun they were expecting but they left without complaint before closing the door behind them. After the door closed, the officer walked over to it and locked it on the inside. After locking the door, he turned and walked over me. He hadn’t spoken yet; I think he was busy trying to look as threatening as possible while he slowly walked around me, looking me up and down. Eventually, he stopped in front of me with a frown on his face. I couldn’t help it, I just laughed. The entire scene was just so clichéd, me the helpless prisoner chained to the chair, unable to move or defend myself, him the big tough soldier standing over me, trying to be threatening. I found myself thinking how pathetic he was. I was chained to a chair with my hands tied behind my back while he strutted around in front of me.
After a few moments, he said with a sneer on his face, “You are in a lot of trouble human. The Federation wants you dead because you are a pirate. The pirates want you dead because you kept them from achieving something they wanted very much. Nobody will mourn your death. I might even be given a medal for saving the Federation the expense of a trial and the Peschal Alliance will pay me well when I provide them with proof of your death. But first, I need to know what you told Naval Intelligence, I need to know what you know. If you tell me quickly, I can make your death quick and painless, if not, well, I can drag it out for days if I need to. Nobody will save you, nobody cares. You did me a favour when you made the Admiral angry at you. He is going to put you on trial for piracy and then he will execute you.”
He chuckled at his own sick joke then continued, “You will tell me what I want to know, sooner or later.”
I laughed at him then stated, “So you are a traitor to the Federation then, someone who will sell his honour to the highest bidder. You are worse than the pirates themselves, an even lower form of life. At least they are open about what they are.”
Surprisingly, he laughed before replying, “I don’t care about the Federation. The Federation killed my father when they destroyed his ship. I will do anything and everything I can to bring it down.”
I thought to myself, “Gotcha!”
I just hoped my people were monitoring this room.
Then, in the hope of keeping him talking, I asked, “So what was your fathers ship doing that caused the Federation to destroy it? For that matter, what was your father doing? Was he just more pirate scum?”
I knew I was probably pushing the idiot too hard but I simply couldn’t help myself. It was just too easy to push his buttons, too easy to make him angry. Of course with the background knowledge I had, I expected the cavalry in the form of FNS Destiny’s Troopers to arrive sooner or later, I just hope it was sooner or I was going to be hurt, and badly.
His face went pale for a second then bright red as he started shouting, “You know nothing about him, the Federation Navy attacked him in our space. We reserve the right to take any foreigner who comes into our space. These people were just coming to us, giving themselves to us to be our slaves, and for our entertainment. When someone enters our space without our permission they belong to us, as does everything they bring with them. That is our way, that is how it is. The Federation had no right to come there, unprovoked, and attack our ships.”
I know I should have kept my mouth shut but I simply had to say something so I said, “So your people never raided into Federation space, never attacked ships without warning or telling them to leave immediately when they stayed into your space. If the Federation had any sense, they would be sending battle fleets into the areas of space your people claim as their own and would be exterminating you like the vermin you are.”
I had to stop talking then because at that point, he punched me, very hard, hard enough to snap my head back and daze me for a second, hard enough to loosen teeth. Just before he hit me, I thought
I may have heard the door rattle slightly, or perhaps it was just a soft thud on the other side, I’m not sure what the sound was but I hoped it signaled the arrival of the cavalry. Things were becoming very nasty in here, with me chained down to a chair in the presence of a certifiable psychopath.
When he hit me, I thought to myself the chair I was on would’ve been knocked over if it wasn’t bolted to the floor. From one point of view, he was so completely focused on me that he hadn’t noticed the sounds coming from outside the room yet. I found myself hoping someone would be coming through the door soon because by the look of him, this dangerous fool was preparing to kill me very soon. I was wondering how he planned to do it when he pulled some kind of baton from his belt.
I thought to myself, “This is really going to hurt, C’mon guys, it’s time for you to get me outa here.”
My playmate circled around me, thudding the baton into his hand. It was clear he was trying to intimidate me, to make me beg for mercy or at least show fear. He was always going to be disappointed if he thought I would show fear or plead for mercy from him. I could only feel utter contempt for him and for his kind. That feeling of contempt gave me strength and made me even more determined. Besides, I knew appealing to his better side would be a complete and utter waste of time and it would only give him satisfaction, and that was something I was completely unwilling to do. There was no way I was about to give him the satisfaction of breaking me, at least not mentally. I have always been a very stubborn person, sometimes to my own detriment but there was not much I could do right then to back out of the situation I was currently in nor could I just give in to him so I would have to see it through to the end whether I liked it or not.
Suddenly he swung his baton and hit me in my upper arm I heard a crack as pain exploded into my consciousness. I thought he may have broken the bone. The pain was excruciating but I clamped my teeth together and only let out a grunt. I heard something at the door again and noticed the officer glance that way. He’d finally noticed, something was going on out there so now he knew he was on the clock. He swung again, this time smashing me in the ribs, again inflicting pain that was almost unbearable. Now I was having trouble breathing as pain stabbed through my chest with every breath. He circled a little more then smashed my other arm, pain exploded in that one and now I seemed to have lost the ability to flex or move my arms at all.
Star Man 1: Star Bourne Page 44
