by J. N. Chaney
I reached behind my head to rip it off when a stunner hit me in the back. My body went rigid and sent me to the ground. The tech stood over me, baton in hand, with an angry look on his face.
“You aren’t allowed to touch the equipment,” he snapped.
By that time I was starting to lose consciousness and didn’t give a damn about his dumbass rule. I clawed at the mask, desperate to get it off my face and take a breath of air. He tapped at his pad again and finally I could breathe.
I dragged in greedy lungfuls until I was evened out. The soldiers dragged me to my feet again, holding me the same way they did when Dr. Parker used his stun baton. I thought the tech might do the same. Instead, he activated the mask again, this time cutting off all of my air supply until I blacked out.
He brought me back, then repeated the procedure twice more, just to make sure his message got across. It did, but he also went on my list. The list of people who were going to die slow, painful deaths when I got the hell out of here.
Similar tests ensued with weights and agility.
When the soldiers took me back to my cell I wanted to just drop into sleep. Anticipating this, the soldiers watched me eat the protein filled slop and down two bottles of water before they left. The training process was different than expected and surprisingly efficient. I would have expected a facility like this to do everything possible to break down their trainees. Of course, that could change at any moment.
I was too tired to think about anything else and let sleep take me a few minutes later.
The next few days didn’t vary much. A few different tests here and there, but my schedule stayed roughly the same. It wasn’t until my second week there that things changed for the worst.
The day started early, like all the rest. By that time the guards, who rotated the same two sets, had a rhythm. And by that, I mean we didn’t speak. Or, I didn’t. They issued orders and I followed them.
I knew the second week was going to be bad when I walked into a new room and saw Dr. Parker standing there. He smiled the fake smile again. “Hello, Eva. Congratulations. You passed all the tests with exemplary marks and have been cleared to begin the next level of initiation. It’s another test, sort of. We’ll be gauging your loyalty.”
And here we go, I thought.
This room was dim and only had one chair, which sat off to the side. Hanging from the ceiling were another pair of shackles. They swung ominously and made me think of some of the action vids I liked where the hero had to escape from a similar situation. Unfortunately for me, there wouldn’t be any escape.
It got a whole worse when the door opened and another person stepped in. Kaska. The pristine white dress uniform was gone, and in its place were the black fatigues.
Dr. Parker clapped his hands once, eager to get started. “Vice-Admiral, welcome. So glad you could make it. We’re just about ready to begin. You have a list of questions?”
Kaska held up his pad. “I do. And I’ll be asking them. I have a meeting in two hours, so hurry up. She should be ready.”
The doctor bowed a little. “Of course, sir.”
My guard detail stripped me of the black fatigue shirt, leaving the tank top and pants, but no footwear. Once I was in the shackles, Kaska stepped forward, a cat-like smile dominating his lips.
“So, Sergeant. I finally have you right where I want you. Let’s have a chat. First question: where are the replicators?”
It was a trick question and we both knew it. I had heard Jax tell him the replicators were being moved. This was a test of whether or not I would answer. It would be idiocy to refuse an answer when the answer wouldn’t yield usable intel.
Not being stupid, I responded. “I don’t know.”
Kaska flicked a glance over to Dr. Parker, who nodded.
“All right, how about this. Do you have knowledge of where your crew might move the replicators?”
I thought about it for a moment. We had a list of workable systems and sectors that would work, I just didn’t know where they were. That was Mack’s job and memorizing star maps wasn’t one of my strong suits. “No.”
Again, Dr. Parker nodded.
Kaska frowned. I could tell the Vice-Admiral was hoping for a negative result, probably so the bastard had an excuse to use the stun baton he kept tapping into his open palm. “You stole an expensive ship from the Empire. I want it back. Do you have the codes that will allow me access to the systems?”
He had finally reached a question that had an answer I wasn’t willing to give and we both knew it. Just to be difficult, and maybe postpone the inevitable, at least by a few seconds, I answered with the truth. “Yes.”
Realizing that I’d neatly avoided the baton, he glared at me. “And what are they?”
This time I stayed silent. Kaska raised the baton and gave it a little shake. “I’ll give you one more chance, Eva. What are the codes?”
When the baton’s prongs connected with my right side, I bit my lip so hard it bled but I didn’t scream. That came later, when I didn’t have the strength to hold back anymore. By the end of the first hour, they had the codes. I only hoped that Mack could do something to stop it before my friends got killed.
“Sir, might I suggest a break? This isn’t easy work and I’m not sure how much you’ll get out of her if you keep going. She’s more likely to give you false information to stop the pain.”
Kaska was breathing hard and dripping sweat. Flecks of my blood had landed on his face in places, giving him a mad look. He nodded after a moment and tossed the baton to one of the soldiers still in the room. “Thirty minutes, then we start again.”
After he was gone Dr. Parker tapped a few times on his data pad. The chains holding me loosened and I dropped to the floor. “There we are. You heard the Vice-Admiral. Thirty minutes, then back to work.”
He left the same way as Kaska, leaving me and the soldiers alone. They didn’t speak, even to each other. I figured this was doubtless a scene they had witnessed before and would again. I was just another prisoner. They could call me a trainee or operative all they wanted, but we were all prisoners here.
Not caring if it was dirty or not, I let the cool floor take the worst of the edge off my face. There was no helping the rest of me though. Both arms were numb and the spots Kaska had worked over with the baton screamed with the slightest movement.
Keeping still, I closed my eyes and tried to shut it all away, at least for the next thirty minutes.
18
The rest of my week and beyond continued to be a shitshow. It was a cat and mouse game between Kaska and me. Him asking questions and me doing my best to evade. More fragments of memory returned, but nothing he deemed useful. The crude map Jax had created from memory turned out to be accurate, a fact I realized as time went on. Our sparring session also came back, but by then I had all the same information back that I had already learned as part of my training.
When the Vice-Admiral had everything he wanted, I was turned over to Dr. Parker for reconditioning. The goal was to turn me into a Void operative through various methods of torture and brainwashing.
It was worse. So much worse.
As the good doctor said, it was where Void operatives were made. During shock therapy, he cheerfully told me that one third of trainees didn’t even make it to this point, so I was doing well.
While administering a syringe of what felt like fire into my veins, he confided that no fewer than a dozen potential operatives had died during his tests. In his words, weeding out the weak, something he was quite proud of.
My nights weren’t spent in the relative comfort of the first cell I’d stayed. I was moved to a cramped box of a room neither as tall nor wide as I was. Sleep came in short bursts, interrupted by bright lights that were like staring into a star.
Throughout the reconditioning period, the questions were all variations of the same. Was I ready to be a member of the Void?
Within three days, I said yes. Many times. Dr. Parker continued the reconditioning process
for an additional four days to make sure that was what I really wanted. When he was satisfied that it was, he scheduled me for surgery.
“Let’s see. Your dominant appendages are the right eye and right arm. I’ll make the cut here.” He’d marked the spot with a series of dashes and held a scalpel over them now, giving me a preview of his plan. “I have your new one right here. We have a few models to choose from, but all new recruits start off with the same one. Made mostly from N02-99, but as you prove your worth, Neutronium upgrades are possible. On missions you’ll be using a flesh-sleeve to hide your Void status.”
Most of my fight was gone and I stared at the gleaming metal replacement without much feeling or interest while he rambled on. If anything, surgery would allow me to get some rest. When he set the scalpel down on his tray of tools, I closed my eyes and waited for his attending team to strip me of my fatigues and wash my shoulder to prevent infection.
They guided me to the medical bed and stuck an IV needle into my wrist, then fitted me with a clear mask. An operating light shone down on the cut site. While I waited for them to administer anesthesia, I occupied myself with imagining what life would be like when I had a metal arm. I had settled into a daydream about using it to punch through Parker’s face when everything went dark.
“Damn it, what happened to the lights?” The doctor’s voice was angry.
I wasn’t knocked out just yet. Emergency lighting came on a few minutes later, bathing the operating room in red. It took a second to realize what that meant and that I wasn’t restrained to the bed. It was now or never.
I ripped the IV out and the mask off my face before anyone had time to stop me. The tray of tools was still close and I grabbed the scalpel off it, then brandished it at Parker and the nurses.
“Someone grab her!” he cried.
Parker ran to the far wall and slapped at the panel there, but it wouldn’t turn on.
Of the nurses, only one was male. He made to move toward me and I rushed him. The man swung out, but he wasn’t a member of the Void, nor was he prepared for me. I went low, slashing down hard. The medical knife slipped through his clothes and into his groin. He screamed and collapsed, clutching the injured area.
The female nurses backed away, both holding their hands up in surrender. That left Parker in the room. To his left, the door was open, an automatic function after a power failure. He saw me notice and smiled.
“Backup will be here soon. You can escape or kill me, but not both.”
“I’m going to try,” I told him, and hurled the scalpel at his heart.
Knife throwing wasn’t a specialty of mine and it missed my target, impaling itself in his cheek instead. I didn’t stick around to see whether it killed him or not and bolted through the open door. Being a medical wing, the hall outside was quiet but for the slapping of my bare feet against the floor.
Where was I?
I paused to get my bearings and heard voices behind me. They weren’t closing in on my position very fast and I realized they must be checking every open door. The medical section wasn’t an area Jax had explained, so it was up to my own shaky recollection gleaned in the past weeks. Going on instinct and familiarity gained during my time with Dr. Parker, I winged right down another corridor.
As I ran, I thought back to before everything had gone wrong. So fucking wrong. Of all the scenarios I’d come up with, drills I’d run in my head, running through a Void black site in nothing but my finest birthday suit had not topped the list. Thinking about it now, I should have grabbed one of the nurse’s scrubs. Oh well, it couldn’t be helped.
The only thing on my side was this power issue and the fact that Dr. Parker had been insistent that none of his tests did too much damage. Operatives were an investment. Permanently maiming vital real estate was a no go. My head injury also acted as a buffer. The doc didn’t want to ring a bell that couldn’t be unrung there. That didn’t mean I wasn’t beat to hell and damn tired though.
I finally made it to an area that I recognized from Jax’s map. The part worrying me was whether all of his information was correct. I had only confirmed a few bits and pieces. Others I hadn’t been allowed to see, such as my current destination: the armory. My entire off the cuff plan banked on the door being open. If it wasn’t, I would be done for and back on the operating table before the end of the night.
One promising fact I had learned was that there weren’t a lot of active Void members. Training and reconditioning might have weeded a lot of potentials out, but it also kept their ranks low. At any given point, half or more were out on missions. I didn’t have an exact number but knowing that made me feel a little better about my chances.
I navigated the halls, checking around corners before blindly turning down them, and ducking into empty rooms when soldiers came my way. It took about fifteen minutes, but I found the spot where the armory was supposed to be.
To my great relief it was there, open, and unguarded. I sent a silent prayer up to gods I didn’t believe in that my unexpected streak of luck would continue to hold. Inside I found the jackpot.
Anything and everything I could want, except for pants and a shirt, which hindered things a bit. Then, when I reached for the first handgun, things came to a screeching halt. The weapons were biolocked, something I didn’t remember Jax mentioning. I moved through the room, checking everything. To my dismay, nearly all the weapons were like that.
Only one type wasn’t. A rack of swords of varying sizes stood at the far end. Next to it were the shorter bladed weapons like combat knives and throwing stars. Of all the available items, it had to be blades.
One of them caught my eye: the two-handed bolo with a wicked looking hook at the end. It was long enough to give me reach, but not so long that it would throw off my balance. I hefted it, trying to bring back the one semester of training I’d had almost half a decade ago.
“Good choice. You’ll want to be careful with that though. It’s a monomolecular blade. They can cut through metal without even trying.”
At the sound of a voice behind me, I snatched up one of the throwing stars and whirled to fling it at the speaker. My aim wasn’t great, and the shadowy figure dodged it with ease.
“Alyss, easy. It’s me, Dolph.” He had a light and pointed it at his face to prove it.
“And I should trust you because?”
“Two things. I know you didn’t kill that kid like they claimed. I might be the only one who can prove it too. I’m with the Initiative. Farah and Mack sent me. I realize you have been through a lot recently, but if you’re going to make it out of here alive, I need you to trust me.”
He sounded earnest, but I was running low on trust at the moment. “Anyone with my file could say those words to me. Give me something better.”
“Okay, I can do that.” Dolph held up a hand. “Don’t throw another star at me, I’m reaching for my data pad.”
I motioned for him to pull it out. He did, unlocked it with one hand, and tapped. Farah’s voice hit my ears. “A, I know you’re confused and I’m sorry. So godsdamned sorry. We had to do it this way or the plan would never have worked. If you’re listening to this, Mack got into the system and shut the power off. It also means Dolph found you. If you trust me, trust him and trust Jax. See you soon.”
The recording shut off.
Dolph waved a hand at me. “I know you’re reeling but we don’t have time to figure things out. You’re either going to go with me or not. What’s it going to be?”
I took a few precious seconds to work it out. He was a Void operative, he was armed, and I had no chance against him. If he wanted to kill or capture me, he didn’t need a ploy to do it.
“Let’s go.”
He nodded, then tossed a bag at me. “You might want to put something on.”
It was just a pair of pants and a shirt, but that was more than enough for me.
“Sorry, I couldn’t find boots. I was told you might have a bad reaction to this, but we’re going to rendezvous with J
ax.”
Dressed, I slung the now empty bag crossbody, picked up the bolo, and did another quick pass of the armory. “My partner told me to trust you both. I can wait for the explanation later. Can you unlock any of these weapons?”
Dolph shook his head. “Sorry. The locks can’t be swapped or overrode during a power failure. Not without someone who knows what they’re doing.”
“Figured as much.”
Thankful for the pockets, I grabbed a stun baton and put it in the right pocket for easy reach. On another shelf I found a bin of the litegrenades and shoved a handful in my left pocket. Done, I met him at the door.
I gestured for him to go. “After you. I don’t know where we’re going.”
“To the labs. Jax is already on his way there. Our job is to meet him there and get the ingot out. Can you get there if we get separated?”
“That’s a tall order. Maybe you guys should have waited until I had the robo-arm.”
“Wouldn’t work. It takes months of training to learn how to use,” he said, missing the joke.
I let it pass.
We exited to the hall and proceeded down until it split. Digging into my memory, I struggled to picture where this was on the map. Right. Please, turn right.
When Dolph turned right, I smiled inside. The jumble of thoughts seemed mostly coherent now and I thought I knew the way. The Void operative went first and stopped short, almost making me run into him. The way he stiffened, went into a walking crouch, and raised his rifle told me we had company.
A pair of Void soldiers came around the corner ahead. The only way to avoid them was to go back the way we’d come and that wasn’t an option.
Dolph signaled for me to move behind him. I did, adjusting my grip on the sword. It’s monomolecular. They can cut through metal, he had said. We were about to find out.
“Operative Dolph, what are you doing?” one of the soldiers asked.
“Moving the prisoner.” He didn’t stop. From my position behind him I couldn’t get a good look, but their voices were only a few paces off.
