Chains of Redemption

by Selina Rosen

  She started her covert interrogation in the truck on the way to their first stop. She was driving the truck, because one of the things she had learned already was that RJ always drove. Jessica would have been happy to kick back and let someone else do the driving, but apparently the only time RJ let someone else drive was when she planned on taking some action that she couldn't do while driving.

  As she drove along the bumpy half-dirt, half-asphalt road she wondered why RJ would want to drive. What was it about this simple act that she found appealing? She saw a bump in the road ahead and drove around it, and suddenly she had the answer. RJ was even more of a control freak than she was. She wanted to know exactly where the vehicle was going and to control its every movement. No surprises.

  "So . . . What's been going on since I left?" Jessica asked Gerald, who was riding in the cab with her. The others were in the back of the truck, well hidden.

  It wasn't hard to get Gerald talking, and it was easy to see why he and Mickey had become such fast friends. The man was genuinely warm and easy with a smile. When he laughed it was genuine, and when he was serious he was very serious. In short, he was very sincere and loyal. A leader of men needed someone who would always tell him the truth whether it was what he wanted to hear or not, and he needed someone whose integrity was never in question.

  Gerald was all of these things. He would never have willingly betrayed Mickey, but he had no reason to mistrust her. He believed her to be RJ, and therefore beyond reproach, so he was easy to bait.

  "That Marge is some computer," got Jessica everything Gerald knew about the computer. "Topaz was a certifiable genius but completely insane," inspired him to tell every story Mickey had told him about the old man, and she pretended like she'd heard it all before.

  By the time they reached their first destination he had told her enough details that she felt that if she were very careful she could keep from stepping in any real holes, and maybe finally win Mickey over totally.

  It was dark when she brought the truck to a stop. She parked just off the road, and she and Gerald ran to the back and opened the doors. They had used a refrigeration unit and set it on high, which kept the warriors comfortable , and the truck would draw no unwanted attention.. Nothing terribly intimidating about a truckload of refrigerated food.

  They quickly unloaded, and all two hundred forty Fourers immediately headed for the brush and disappeared. When they got back Jessica looked at the relieved-looking group of men and women and smiled. They weren't dressed in the traditional Loincloth and vest that most of the warriors wore. They were dressed instead in black fatigues. Gone were the spears, bows and arrows. She had given them all laser sidearms and equipped them with short swords for close-in fighting. She'd also trained them to use both.

  "All right, do you understand our mission?"

  Gerald repeated her words in their language just in case some of them didn't understand the Reliance tongue she spoke, though she had noticed that most of them were now speaking it as well as most farm units.

  "Oui," they said in unison, then, "yes."

  They were a people bred and trained for war. They were more than ready for this; they were looking forward to it. This was why she had decided to take the Fourers. No one fought quite as well as those who actually wanted to do it. There was no fear in them, only anticipation.

  "Let's move out, three deep, keep close," she ordered, and she and Gerald started walking through the scattered brush towards the sounds of battle that she knew only she could hear. They had traveled some thirty minutes before the others could hear them as well. Ten minutes after that they could see the laser blasts, flame, and smoke. "Pick up the pace." She jogged, remembering not to leave them behind. As long as she kept a good, even pace and didn't run to her full capacity they could easily keep up with her. This was another reason for using the Fourers. Earth's gravitational pull was considerably less than what their bodies were used to, so the Fourers were much stronger than any human.

  They came to the fence, and as she had expected with all of the fighting going on at the front gates and central complex, no one was paying particular attention to the perimeter. Stupid, but predictable. She took hold of the fence and ripped a huge hole in it, impressing all hell out of the Fourers who weren't quite sure that she wasn't some sort of god anyway. Of course Jessica, for her part, wasn't rushing to tell them any different.

  They made their way across the complex toward where she knew the transmat station was, the Fourers just seeming to blend into whatever was around them. She heard a troop of men running in their direction and motioned for her troop to get against the barracks they had been moving beside. When she turned to see if they had complied, she almost couldn't see them at all. She smiled happily; finally she was working with people who knew how to take orders. People with a semblance of a brain, some very real instinct, and an inbred talent for killing.

  When she had been working with the Reliance she had been working constantly with incompetent imbeciles. No wonder RJ had jumped ship so easily. The reasons to be on this side just kept adding up. It was so nice not to be working with idiots.

  The Reliance troop seemed to prove her point as they ran right past the Fourers without so much as a second glance. It wasn't till they had completely passed them that an Argy hybrid in the back ranks suddenly turned, having no doubt felt more than seen them. He screamed a warning, but before the troop of about fifty soldiers could even turn, all two hundred fifty of the Fourers had taken a target, aimed and fired. When the blaster fire stopped only seconds later, not one member of the Reliance troop was left standing.

  "I love these guys," Jessica said in whispered excitement. She motioned for them to run towards the transmat station and they followed her. Another Reliance troop, having heard the blaster fire, rounded the corner of a barracks building just as the station came into view. They met with the same fate as the first troop, and Jessica didn't even get to fire her weapon.

  Jessica set the transmat controls and they all got in. By the time the Reliance realized their real objective, they had already materialized aboard Moonbase Station. They left the transmat port at a run.

  "Squads one and two go left. Squads three and four go right. Squads five, six, and seven come with me."

  She unwrapped the chain from around her waist on the run. As she slung the chain towards its intended victim and felt it connect, saw the man slapped against the wall quite dead, she became RJ. Here was yet another piece to the puzzle. Another answer to the question of why she and her sibling, her clone, were so different. Jessica had been built for this, but she had never actually done it. She had no memories of any youth. She had been given growth hormone until in months she had emerged from the tank as she was. She'd been fed large amounts of information for three months and then thrown out into the world, on her own, for all intents and purposes an adult-sized infant with no real experience.

  Stewart had given her the recorded past of being raised Elite, and transferred from one unit to another. It just so happened that the unit he had her "transferred to" was stationed on Earth. Jessica had been intelligent and driven. She was drawn to the power of position, and so she worked for and attained political positions. Before anyone had a chance to notice that she didn't age she had herself transferred, always into a better position, and changed all the dates on her personnel files as she went. There had never been any problem until RJ had come into the picture, and she'd never actually been in a real war until now.

  RJ had been raised by Stewart. She'd gone into the service at the bottom and worked her way up to Elite—only she would know why. RJ had served on a dozen planets in a hundred different campaigns. She'd led soldiers, not from an office, but in the field, long before she took on the New Alliance's cause.

  Today Jessica felt like she knew her sister better than she knew herself. There was a rush of adrenalin she got in battle that she'd never had before. A thrill from knowing you were going to win. You couldn't lose, because you had so
ldiers behind you that you had trained and that you could trust to follow you into hell and back again if you but shouted the order.

  The chain and laser became like parts of her well-manufactured body, the chain popping heads as the laser mowed down the remaining opposition. She didn't have to think; she just acted. Her body seemed to know exactly what to do. The laser was aimed and fired without real thought. The chain moved as if of its own accord.

  It was a rush—like nothing she'd ever encountered in her life.

  RJ had always won because she fought for a cause she believed in. She had always beaten Jessica Kirk because she had the love and loyalty of soldiers who were willing to follow wherever she led and lay down their lives, if need be, for the cause. The cause was freedom, and after having been a slave on Pete for well over three years she now knew just how sweet and important freedom was.

  In less than six hours they had killed every last Reliance soldier and taken complete control of Moonbase Station.

  The Fourers cheered as Jessica made contact with Marge.

  "The battles on the surface have also been successful," the fake feminine voice droned in her ear.

  "Very good," Jessica said feeling completely satisfied with herself. She wrapped the chain, now covered in blood, back around her waist. "Send the pilots and the crews up."

  "Yes, RJ," Marge droned.

  The computer didn't have a clue. It saw and heard RJ. It was much easier to fool the computer than it was Mickey.

  She licked her lips and tasted blood. It was only then that she realized she was covered in it from head to toe. "Better than sex with Zark," Jessica mumbled of the blood bath all around her.

  "What's that, RJ?" Gerald asked.

  Jessica smiled. "Happy with the victory is all. We take many casualties?"

  "We haven't done a head count yet, but it looks like we lost very few warriors. Very few serious injuries at all, I think. Mickey is right, you are indeed the greatest of generals."

  Jessica felt pride, real pride. This was actual accomplishment, not like sliding your hands over the computer keys and ordering things done hundreds, even thousands of miles away. She smiled and patted Gerald on the back a little too hard. "Ah, sorry." She looked around at all the Fourers, and after only a second to contemplate what RJ would say shouted out, "You guys! Now you guys kick some major ass! I have never before seen or heard of warriors like you. Man! This is all just such a rush!" She wasn't sure if it was exactly the kind of thing that RJ might say or not, but it was what she felt.

  "What should we do with the bodies?" Gerald asked.

  "Sling them into an airlock and let them float in the vastness of space. I'll just bet there isn't anything quite as distressing to a Reliance battle fleet than hundreds of dead Reliance soldiers floating around pinging off the sides of their ships."

  Of course cleanup wasn't really necessary. By the time the battle fleet got there, they'd be long gone. The pilots and crews who would come up after the Fourers had cleared the place would load every ounce of cargo they could find onto every ship docked here and plot a course for Beta 4. The reason was two-fold. First and foremost, they were getting much-needed supplies and weapons to Beta 4. Second, any ship they had was a ship the Reliance didn't have. This would both help and impress their Argy allies.

  The two biggest ships would land on a moon orbiting Beta 4 and lock into the surface, making a haphazard but operational space station. A few ships would be kept tethered to the station. The rest would land on Beta 4 with much-needed supplies and arms, and be used as well-armed bases across the surface of the planet.

  Marge had been monitoring the traffic on Moonbase Station, looking for a full contingent of ships to be there fully loaded with weapons and other materials necessary to sustain the colony on Beta 4, but awaiting departure to Reliance colonies. When this coincided with every Reliance fleet being too far away to amass an attack of any size against the ships en route to Beta 4, they had made their move.

  The operation had been smooth and flawless. Jessica wasn't really surprised, but she was really excited and incredibly impressed by her own brilliance.

  This is why RJ was always so cocky. Once you pulled something like this off a couple of hundred times, you just began to feel that anyone who was challenging you was obviously not aware of just how badly they were going to get their ass kicked.

  Eventually Beta 4 was going to be very important to her plans, so it had to be sufficiently fortified. Today they had taken a huge step in that direction.

  Chapter Nine

  Poley scratched at the wall, putting the finishing touches on his most recent masterpiece—a picture of his father. He held the small vacuum in his left hand to catch the scrapings so that they wouldn't float around and get into the ship's equipment.

  He had realized over the years that he had literally billions of images in his memory banks, but he found that he most enjoyed etching people, so he did.

  He suddenly heard a light buzzing that rose to a crescendo, and he found himself pocketing his knife, slinging the vacuum aside and running for the flight deck. He flopped unceremoniously into the pilot's chair and started to read the information screaming across the screen. He had set it at a speed no human could have read.

  He made a happy noise. The computer had found an Earth-type planet. He calculated that it would take them approximately five years, fifty-nine days, sixteen hours and forty-five minutes to get there. He was so excited that he started to go wake the others up and tell them, then could find no logical reason for doing so. He sighed, noting once again that it didn't really make him feel better.

  They had assembled in Taleed's throne room as they did every week to discuss the state of their planet. Together they made the rules that governed this society. David had tried his best not to be a part of this group, but finally had to admit that in spite of the mistakes of his past, or maybe because of them, they needed him on this council.

  "I just want to know why she keeps sending them here," Taleed insisted. One of Taleed's mechanical hands had stuck in an odd position, and he made a face as he tried to fix it with his other. He wasn't having any success, so Haldeed, smiling, ran up and fixed it for him. Taleed smiled broadly at the mute man. "Thank you, Haldeed." Haldeed just nodded and went to sit to the king's side, as always completely attentive to him. "David?" Taleed prompted.

  David had hoped that during the adjustment Taleed would have forgotten his question. No such luck. David didn't know why he found it necessary to defend RJ or her actions after all these years. Especially when he was sure he knew, and that her reason was far from compassionate. "With the fertilizers they've sent, the new farming equipment, and the constant stream of supplies she sends . . . There's more than enough food." Not that farming on Beta 4 wasn't a constant uphill battle—it seemed that nothing really palatable grew well there.

  "I didn't say there wasn't enough food, and certainly we have seen a long and profitable time of peace, while the Earth has seen much war. I just know that RJ never does anything without more than one reason, and I wanted to know why she sends all the war orphans here. The fact that it's safe and we have plenty of food isn't her only reason. I dare say it isn't even her main reason." Taleed was calm; his manner was far from confrontational. He really did just want to know. He was curious. David also knew that Taleed's manner could change completely if he didn't get a satisfactory answer to his question.

  David and Taleed had become good friends; in many ways he had replaced RJ in David's life. Yet David knew that if he had to make a choice between what RJ wanted and what Taleed wanted, he was going to choose RJ every time. He wasn't sure whether RJ would want Taleed and the others to know or not, but if she did she no doubt would have told them herself. Since she hadn't told David anything he didn't feel particularly guilty not telling Taleed what he thought, even if it meant Taleed was going to throw one of his now infamous royal fits.

  David shrugged. "I don't know."

  "You're full of shit!"
Taleed said very unmajestically. "I think you know exactly what she's up to."

  David looked to where Baldor, now ten, and his six year old sister Sandra were playing with the king's three year old. Taleed had married and given the planet the male heir to the throne—Taheed the second, who the kids all called Two—as was expected of him. Only a handful of people knew where Taleed's true heart lay, and they kept silent. David didn't really understand, but he had learned the hard way just what happened when you tried to tell your friends who they should or shouldn't love. The queen, for her part, was happy not to be part of an uncared-for harem as had been the old tradition. She enjoyed a comfortable life in the palace, and if rumor was true, the attention of several of the palace guards. No one seemed to be hurt by the arrangement and everyone seemed happy, so who was he to push the limitations he'd learned under a Reliance enslaved population onto these people who had grown up in a different world with a different culture?

  David watched the children play and smiled, for the moment forgetting about the meeting at hand, or that he was supposed to be part of it.