Chains of Destruction

by Selina Rosen

  "Damn it, RJ," Topaz said. "I wanted to figure it out."

  "Sorry, Old Man, but maybe now you'll be able to get back to work," she said looking at the hands and their apparatus at his feet

  Topaz grumbled, got up and moved to pick up the prostheses from where he had laid them in the dirt. He turned to Taleed and shrugged. "Sorry," he apologized.

  "I have gone a lifetime without hands; a few more hours aren't going to make a difference," Taleed said graciously.

  RJ went over to the fire, lifted the skewer from the tripods, and pulled one of the fully cooked and steaming hot snails from it. She let it cool only a few seconds and then took a bite out of it. "Wow! These are really good! What are they?"

  Taleed started to answer, and Levits moved quickly to put a hand over his mouth. "No. Don't tell us. I may actually enjoy it if I don't know." Levits let the boy go. He hefted the backpack from his back and sat down on the rock next to Taleed.

  "Did you bring me anything?" Topaz asked looking at the obviously full packs on each of their backs.

  "Some very heavy, horrid weapon RJ simply had to have. Nothing of any real value," Levits said glaring at RJ. RJ just smiled and returned the skewer to the tripods.

  RJ looked at the strangers, sizing them up with a glance. One thing was obvious; they were afraid of her. She could feel their combined fear like a wave. They didn't know what she might do to them, but they were pretty sure they weren't going to like it, and just as sure that there was nothing they could do to stop her.

  Of course they had a point.

  "So . . . Who's in charge?" RJ asked of them as a group. They all looked at the biggest man in the group, as the native – who had no doubt come with them – struck a neutral pose as if to say he was with no one and knew nothing.

  The big man turned and stared back at the woman. She looked up at RJ unblinkingly although her emotions gave her away. "Technically that would be me. Lieutenant Stratton, First Division, Space Force." She stood up and held her hand out towards RJ.

  RJ stuffed the rest of the meat in her mouth, grabbed the woman's hand with her greasy one and applied just enough pressure for it to be uncomfortable. The woman's face didn't falter, even as the fat from the meat dripped out the bottom of their joined hands, and RJ let her hand go. She wiped the goo from her hand onto her pants leg and smiled. Then she turned quickly on the big man.

  "But you're basically in charge now," RJ said noticing the way he jumped.

  "I don't think any of us are in charge now," he said, quickly composing himself.

  RJ laughed heartily as she helped Janad take the heavy pack off. "He's a smart man. Give him a gold star," RJ said smiling at Topaz. Topaz just shrugged as if to tell her that her little display of power was more irritating than it was amusing. She shrugged back, acknowledging his indifference and letting him know she didn't care what he thought.

  "Do you have a name?" she asked their leader.

  "Bradley. This is Jackson. Our wounded man is Decker, and the native is Jessit," he said.

  RJ could feel his fear of her start to fade. He really was a smart man, and he knew that if she meant to kill them she would have done it already, and saved herself the trouble of getting to know them. "Levits, David and Janad," RJ said pointing at each respectively. "Apparently we are all on the same side, so as long as you do what I tell you, when I tell you, we'll be all right."

  She spoke to Topaz over her shoulder, "Give them their weapons back."

  "Oh, I don't think that's such a good idea," Topaz said quickly.

  Levits dumped his heavy pack then grunted and walked into the brush.

  "Who died and left you in charge?" RJ said angrily. Now was not the time to question her authority. Not in front of the new "recruits." She looked around, then looked at Topaz suspiciously. "Where is my brother?"

  Topaz seemed to focus more intently on his work as if he hadn't heard her.

  "Topaz, I asked you a question. Where is my brother?" RJ demanded.

  "Ah . . . You don't have a brother. You have a sister, but . . ."

  "Don't start your shit with me, Old Man," RJ hissed back. "Where is Poley?"

  "He's watching them . . . You told me to have him watch them," Topaz defended.

  "Watching them do what from where?" RJ asked hotly.

  "Watching the camp, watching the prisoners . . ."

  "Prisoners?" RJ asked, her patience wearing thin.

  "Well, you're the one who always says you can't be too careful, and I was in charge . . ."

  "Who said you were in charge? Why would I leave you in charge? You're crazy; you know that. In charge of what?" RJ said hotly. "Of in case of any Reliance defectors should happen to land a ship in our camp? Give me a freaking break!"

  "I'm pretty sure you left me in charge, RJ. And, yes, in case something just like this should happen . . . I mean someone has to be in charge," Topaz defended.

  "Well, no offense, but it wouldn't have been you," RJ said with a sigh. She mentally counted to ten. "Now, what the hell have you done with my brother?" RJ demanded, taking a menacing step closer to him.

  "I had him walk up on the little hill over there and keep watch. I figured he could see the whole camp, and if any of the prisoners . . ."

  "Oh, just shut up, Topaz," RJ looked up at the hill, focused, and saw Poley. She waved at him and said, "Poley get back down here."

  She heard him answer, and then saw him start to run down the hill.

  A few moments later Poley seemed to appear out of thin air. The four newcomers seemed a little shocked at the speed with which he had returned, and from the look on Bradley and Stratton's faces they had already come to the wrong conclusion. "He's not, you know," RJ told them.

  "Not what?" Stratton asked.

  "A GSH . . . He's not," she said simply. "However, he is my brother."

  "Did you leave Topaz in charge?" Poley asked immediately, not allowing Stratton to respond to what RJ had said.

  RJ sighed deeply. "Of course not, Tin Pants."

  "Then it was just more of his crazy ramblings," Poley said matter-of-factly.

  Topaz's head jerked up. "Crazy ramblings! Crazy ramblings! How would you like this little metal arm shoved right up your little metal ass?"

  "I wouldn't like it," Taleed said. "I would like to use the hands."

  Just then Levits walked back into camp. He had his under wear on, but he had the top of his pants wadded up in one fist and they were hanging around his knees. His other hand was cupped very close to his groin.

  "What's wrong?" RJ asked with a sigh.

  For answer, Levits started to laugh hysterically. "Wrong? What's freaking wrong? Oh, nothing's wrong. My life's perfect – couldn't get any freaking better. I'm stuck on this floating turd of a planet with you bunch of lunatics, and now . . .." He moved his hand away to reveal a small lizard about an inch long and almost as wide stuck on his leg. "What the freak is this thing, and is it going to move?"

  "A vampire lizard," Jessit said moving forward. "It won't move until it's finished eating. It makes a hole in you and sucks your blood out through its tube-like mouth . . ."

  "I don't want to know it's freaking life cycle! I just want it off of me!" Levits hollered.

  "Can you get it off?" RJ asked the priest.

  He nodded. "Yes, but it hurts."

  "It hurts now," Levits said. "Just get the bastard off of me. I'm using my blood, I need it."

  Jessit nodded, walked over to Levits and smacked the lizard hard with the palm of his hand. Levits let out a scream, and the lizard fell to the ground hissing up at them. Jessit picked the little beast up by its tail and tossed him into the fire where he made a satisfying little popping sound.

  "Now we have to suck the poison out," Jessit said moving to do so.

  "Poison!" Levits screeched. Then he grabbed the native's head. "Wait! Wait a minute. How bad is the poison?" he glared at David, who was trying hard not to laugh, but not really succeeding.

  "It won't kill you, but
it could make you very sick."

  "Probably infection caused from the bite itself. Sucking on it probably removes the impurities," RJ said. "Better let him do it."

  Levits looked at her appealingly, then looked to the spot where the bite was.

  RJ looked at Bradley and Stratton. "So much for making a formidable first impression," she said. Rolling her eyes she grabbed Levits' arm and started pulling him towards the area behind the ship. "You are such a big baby."

  "You know what, RJ? Just once I wish something like this would happen to you," Levits said, and then they were out of sight.

  David looked at Bradley and smiled. "I'm not an empath, but I know what you're thinking," he said.

  "What would that be?" Bradley asked.

  David smiled more broadly and answered, "How the hell did this band of lunatics beat the Reliance?"

  Bradley smiled then and relaxed for the first time all day. "Wow! You read my mind."

  * * *

  Even shut up on the bridge he could hear the screams of the prisoners in the brig, although he wasn't quite sure whether the noise was real or imagined. He was spacing them as quickly as possible to make sure they didn't escape again. He had no qualms about executing the prisoners, he just wanted the job to be over so that the station could get back to business.

  What a mess! Whatever happened to dying with dignity? he wondered.

  "Could you please . . . " Briggs took a deep breath before looking back up at the screen and continuing. "I have told you that everything here and on the station is well under control. Please just dock and do the repair work as you have been ordered."

  "You're correct. My orders are to fix the ship. But I am not required to put myself, my ship or my crew in jeopardy to do that. To the contrary, unless you are in immediate danger, my first priority is to ensure the safety of my ship and my crew. The patch on the station is holding, therefore you are in no immediate danger. Your job is to make sure Pam Station is secure enough for my people and I to dock safely and make the repairs. You do your job, and I will gladly do mine . . ."

  "How dare you tell me what my job is, you glorified mop jockey! Listen to me! Dock that ship and get to work before I write you up!"

  The overweight man in the work coveralls looked at him and smiled broadly. "What's that, Briggs? I can't hear you; we're breaking up. Must be that damned magnetic pulse."

  It sounded more like he was scraping something across the transmitter.

  "Gee! I can't hear anything you're saying."

  "Damn it, man . . . I'll see you court-martialed! This is not some joke. My mission is in jeopardy."

  The image faded out, and there was no audible response.

  "They have cut transmission, Captain," the communications moron reported.

  Briggs took in a deep breath and wondered why he had been surrounded by idiots. There was no problem on the station now; they had totally crushed the uprising. No doubt the maintenance people who were giving him all the trouble had managed to make contact with the Kryptonite, and they were refusing to dock as a sign of solidarity.

  Well, that just wasn't going to work, not in the Reliance. Not with Captain Briggs!

  "Get me a line with Admiral Berk. I'll get that fat jerk off his ass one way or the other," Briggs ordered. "We'll see if the moron is still laughing when Admiral Berk gets done with him."

  "Yes, Sir," the communications officer said. It seemed to take the idiot an hour to get Briggs a clear line with the Admiral.

  "What is it now, Briggs?" the Admiral's voice sounded tired and angry. His features probably would have been impossible to read even if he had bothered to look into the monitor.

  Briggs took a deep breath. It was hard not to tell the guy where to stick his attitude. When he had accepted the position on Pam Station with the duty of moving the Beta 4 humanoids to Earth for military training, he had been promised it was a cushy position that would propel him up the ranks. Now everything was falling apart through no fault of his own, and he was dealing with all these nightmares while the Admiral was curled up in some cozy office planet side. Briggs realized now that if the mission was successful the Admiral would get all the credit, and he'd get his crumb for being a "good boy". If the mission bombed the way it seemed destined to do without some help from, Berk he, Briggs, would be hung out to dry.

  "Sir," Briggs saluted and swallowed hard. "We caught and executed the rebel spies who were directly responsible for the attack on the station and for giving top secret information to the New Alliance, and there was a minor disturbance among a few additional personnel. We have contained the rabble-rousers and things are now back to normal. My problem now is that the repair crew from Stashes is refusing to dock and do their job . . ."

  "Briggs, handle these problems yourself!" Berk said hotly, looking up for the first time. "We have bigger problems than a few disgruntled maintenance workers. Your little Beta 4 natives have just gone crazy in their camps and are tearing the bases apart and killing all the Reliance personnel they can get their hands on. It's all Earth Forces can do to contain the bastards. It's obvious the rebels were able to infiltrate at some point and win the brown bastards over. Until a full inquiry can be made, your operation is closed down. So you see? Making Pam Station operational is no longer a high priority. Someone somewhere dropped the ball, and you better hope it wasn't you, Briggs."

  "Sir, I assure you . . . I followed your orders to the letter! I gathered up anyone I even suspected of spying as soon as I knew there was any sort of problem. I feel as if I have acted admirably under these conditions. Nothing that has gone wrong is my fault. It certainly wasn't my idea to train Beta 4 humanoids to fight the rebels. It certainly wasn't my idea to trade them for radioactive gold. I was just following orders, and I really think . . ."

  "Quit whining, Briggs. If I were you, I'd quit wasting time figuring out all the reasons none of this was my fault, and find some way to salvage what's left of the operation. Do something right, and it might even make you look better in front of the board of inquiry." The screen went blank, and the transmission ended.

  "Well, that's it then." Briggs sighed. He stood up and started pacing, burying his fingers deep in his ever thinner hair. The worst had happened. The entire plan had fallen apart, and he was going to be blamed. Blamed for all of it. From the missing transport ship and the hole in the station to the Beta 4 natives' attack on Reliance personnel on Earth and the destruction of Reliance property. He was going to be blamed for it all, and at least his career, if not his life, was over. He walked back to his chair, sat down and took a deep breath.

  "Yumby, stand on," he ordered. The sergeant turned to look at him curiously. "Desperate times call for desperate measures. Power our weapons up and target the Kryptonite . . . Lieutenant Drex, get the Kryptonite on line."

  The fat maintenance guy's face filled the screen again. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Briggs?" he screamed. "Our sensors indicate that you have aimed your forward gun at us."

  "Yes, that's right, fat boy. And unless you dock and get your fat ass to work, I am going to blast your defenseless ship right out of the sky," Briggs said. "In ten, nine, eight . . ."

  "All right, you freaking lunatic! But don't think I'm not going to report this."

  "You have exactly twenty minutes to dock and commence work on the station. Transmission out."

  "Lieutenant Drex, get me Lieutenant Stratton on the surface. I want to know what if any progress they have made," Briggs ordered.

  "Yes, sir," Drex said.

  It took quite a while to raise Stratton, and sounded looked hurried and was obviously out of breath as she answered him.

  Briggs didn't beat around the bush. "Stratton, it is customary to call in occasionally and inform your Captain of what . . . if indeed any progress you have made."

  "Sorry, Sir, the magnetic pulses . . ."

  "Magnetic pulses! Magnetic pulses! I am sick to death of every incompetent buffoon on this mission using that as their excuse to scr
ew up. You will get up here immediately and report every detail of information that you have learned about that planet."

  "Sir . . . We aren't finished gathering information yet," Stratton said.

  "Oh, yes. Yes you are," Briggs said. "The entire mission has been scrubbed, and all that remains is for me to try to salvage our previous trading agreement with those filthy primitive bastards and try to save my own ass. I need to be briefed in full about what you've learned about their culture, attitude, and battle readiness immediately."