by Mark Tufo
“Dee, I appreciate the words, I do. I consider you not just my best Genogerian friend, but my best friend friend. You are the kindest soul I have ever known. So this I will tell you, I am going to give them one final chance. I have to. Personally, I don’t think it’s wise, and it’s unlikely they will concede, but I have to try.”
“Michael, they are not above deceit; of course you know that by now. It is a distinct possibility they will take your offer and drive it into your back the moment you are not looking.”
“I fucking know it, brother, and still I am going to do it.”
“I have openly questioned or disagreed with many things you have done thus far; many more times I have kept my doubts to myself. Yet unfathomably your decisions have produced their desired outcome whether directly or circuitously. Let us hope this is another in a lengthy line of irrational, irresponsible, preposterous, successful plots.”
“Yeah. Ummm, thanks. Have you seen BT?”
“Is he resting?”
“Maybe, but it seems like there is way too much going on for that.” I was about to get someone to check but figured it would be just as easy for me to do it. I had a pit in my stomach and no amount of rationalization could make it go away. He was conspicuously absent. BT was an invaluable part of my team, he was always at my elbow unless I’d personally sent him on a mission, and I hadn’t. “Where the fuck are you, man?” I asked as I looked down at his empty bunk. Wasn’t an hour later that I got my answer. Not the one I wanted, not by a long shot, but it was an answer.
“General.” It was Captain Fields, he had a radio and a grave expression as he handed it to me.
The pit in my stomach grew into a multi-winged beast.
“This is General Talbot.”
“This is Field Commander Harker, do you remember me, hu-man?”
I wanted to tell him how could anyone forget such an incredibly ugly mug or something equally as offensive but I got a very real and visceral feeling that to provoke him would not be wise.
“I remember.”
“I have the one named BT. If you want him back, you will meet me in the weapons room. Bring no more than five with you.” He hung up. Didn’t give me a time or any other instructions besides the arbitrary number; why would he want me to bring a team?
“Fuck. Dee, Colonel Talbot!” Neither was in my line of sight, though I had to think someone would let them know I was looking for them.
“You know we have radios, right?” Tracy asked as she came up to me. Must have been on my face. “What’s the matter?”
“Harker has BT.” Dee had heard me utter the words.
“Where?” was all he said.
“Wants me to meet him at the destroyed weapons locker, bring five people with me.”
“And?” Tracy asked.
“Tracy, this isn’t one of those times where I tell you the bare minimum because that’s how men talk. That is literally all he said.”
“We are all aware this is a trap, correct?” Dee asked.
“I know, buddy, but what am I supposed to do? I got the distinct impression if I didn’t show up he would kill BT.”
“Did you talk to him? BT, I mean?” Tracy asked.
I shook my head in the negative. He could already be dead.
“How do we even know they have him?” Tracy asked, it was a hopeful, yet fruitless question. It was a huge ship, but the humans on it tended to stick very close to others of their kind. Tensions were entirely too high to get caught out on your own in contested territory. Plus, what were the odds of Harker knowing BT was missing and then have the intelligence and wits to set up a complete bluff? That would be very uncharacteristic of his kind. The bluff, I mean, I’ve already stated they are more intelligent than they have a right to be. When you’re as mean and nasty as they are, you have no real need for deception. Brute truth seems to be their modus operandi.
“Shit,” was the best I could come up with as I took my hat off and swept my hand through my hair.
“No,” Tracy said.
“No what?”
“I’m not even going to argue against you going because I realize that won’t stop you. What I’m saying ‘no’ to is that you’re going to ask me to stay behind, and no. Just no. So don’t even bother.”
“I can’t risk the entire chain of command walking into what we know is a trap,” I pleaded. It was as if I hadn’t said anything; she’d already given her response.
“Dee, it looks like it is you, myself, and the general. Who else should we bring?” she asked.
“Leave Captain Fields in charge and enlist Master Sergeant Beckert and Corporals Gomez and Hayes; they are very adept in a firefight, should we need them.”
“There you have it, General,” Tracy said as if she’d just beaten me in a debate. I guess she had, but there were no trophies here, just the pointy ends of sticks.
Had a good idea what was going on, still, makes sense to do recon. Pulled up images of the weapons room from the bridge and had them relayed to where we were. Harker was there with five of his best friends; they were in a loose semi-circle and BT was up near the wall, alive. His hands were not restrained in any way, but where could he go? He looked to have a hell of a shiner and maybe his nose was broken, if the amount of blood on the front of his shirt was used as an indicator. Other than that, he looked pissed off, and maybe a bit worried.
“We could send a team in there.” Beckert was looking at the pics. “Have him out in under five minutes.”
“Look at this one,” I said pointing to the mute farthest from the twisted, broken doors of the storage room. He was seven feet from BT, his weapon was out, and while not directly pointing at BT, it was in the general vicinity. “Nobody can sneak in past that wreckage and make a decent shot before BT eats some rays. Has to be at least sixty feet away.”
“I like that idea a whole lot better than sending my general into that shit hole. General, I like BT, I really do, but he’s not my superior officer, and basically, not the man that’s going to see this thing through to the end.”
“Master Sergeant, I appreciate the sentiment, but I can’t leave him there. Not without finding out what they want.”
“What they want, sir, is for you to be dead. I don’t think that’s in question.”
“The Master Sergeant and I are in agreement on that point,” Dee said. “Let us put a strike team together and we will get him free.”
“It’s him, sir,” Gomez said as he handed me the radio. He had a worried expression on his face as if we were in olden times and I was going to kill the messenger for bringing bad news. Although, now that I thought about it, that wasn’t a horrible idea. That would mean nobody would dare bring me anything but rainbows and sunshine. I could gladly live in my fantasy world built on lies and half-truths and good news.
“I grow weary of waiting,” Harker said. “You come now, or I detonate the hidden bomb that rips open level seven.”
That was it. The mute of few words hung up. It wasn’t hard for the rest of the group to hear; Harker’s conversational voice was several decibels louder than humans talking at a rock concert.
“Well, that changes things,” I said. “He’s not killing BT, but rather the entire ship. I think at this point I need to hear him out.”
“‘Hear him out’ would imply that he plans on talking,” Dee said.
“Let’s saddle up.”
“Michael, what are you going to do if he says your life for those on the ship?” Tracy asked. “And why bother rescuing BT if it means they still have this bomb? We will always be under duress.”
“Bomb or not, the threat is too big to ignore. And as far as the ultimatum…what can I say? First, I’ll tell him ‘Sure,’ and then I’ll fill him full of holes.”
She smiled at that.
Dee looked at me questioningly. “How can you fill someone with holes? By definition, a hole is an empty space.”
“I’ve got to get higher quality friends.”
“There are no bet
ter,” Dee said as a matter of fact.
“True enough. We still need to go save number two though.”
“What am I?” Tracy asked.
“Goddammit. This is like walking through a minefield with clown feet.” I took Fields aside and told him to take care of something for me and call me when it was done. He smiled and saluted before we headed out.
We approached the twisted and mangled doors of the weapons locker. I had fifty with me, the five I was allowed and forty-five who would wait out in the hallway to make sure we didn’t get trapped between a hammer and an anvil. Beckert would not let me go in first, saying that if it was indeed an ambush he would be the one to spring the trap. I mean, I guess he knew that by “springing the trap” he would either get shot or blown up. I lined up to go in next. No matter what Dee said, I already had one friend in danger; I wasn’t going to keep compounding the issue.
BT’s head sagged rather than lifted when we came in. “You shouldn’t have come,” was all he said.
“Ah, General Talbot. I did not believe you would show.”
“Compelling argument. How you doing?” I asked BT.
“You really shouldn’t have come, Mike.”
“Too late for that, buddy. Now, what do you want, goon?” I asked Harker while I did my best to look around as I pretended to not look around.
“I want to kill you,” came out pretty easily, like he was asking if we could go and get coffee. Everyone there, including the enemy, had their rifles in the ready position. “And it will be on a field of battle. Honorably.”
“What are you getting at?” I asked warily.
“You are the Earth champion. I wish to fight you. Being to being, no weapons.”
A mute was easily five times my size; the entire monster had been genetically manipulated and bred to be a weapon. In one on one, hand to hand, combat I stood no chance. It was like pitting a squirrel with a grizzly bear. I would shatter my hand, wrist, and arm before any of my punches would even begin to affect him.
“When I win, I will allow your man here to go free. If I should somehow stumble and fall onto a scythe and cut my own head off, my men have been instructed to let him go as well.”
“What is the point of this, Harker?” Dee said. “The ship has been ceded to us, you have lost. You bring dishonor to yourself by continuing to antagonize and fight.
“Dishonor to myself?” Harker screamed. “This coming from the Geno scum that has forsaken his entire species to scurry around with these two-legged rats!”
Like the fucker knew what I was thinking, he swiveled his head to me. “The remote control for the bomb is not in this room. If I or one of those with me do not return to say that this happened the way it is supposed to, it will be detonated and all of your precious humans will be killed.”
“What about your precious Alken?” I asked.
Harker was a lot of things; an adept liar was not one of them. “He is weak. I am doing what needs to be done. His death will be a necessary evil.”
“A traitorous mute. Never thought I’d live to see the day. Turning on his master. Good for you, Harker. Wouldn’t have thought such a simple-minded beast capable of open rebellion.”
It was there, on the tip of his snout. He wanted to yell at me that he would never be disloyal.
“Was he surprised when you told him?” I asked.
Harker went quiet; if he could have turned color like a chameleon he would have been the bright red hue of a fire engine.
“It’s unimportant. The Imperial Witness has more immediate issues to attend to. The events that led us here–that we must conclude them is all that matters,” Harker said. “Me ripping your arms from your scrawny body is where I wish to start.”
“We should start firing,” Beckert said softly.
He was right; it was our only chance, though I had an ace I was trying to shove up my sleeve if Fields would hurry the fuck up. This called for just a little more stalling.
“Maybe it’s me who does the dismembering,” I said.
A chuckle went through the Mute team. “I watched two of your so-called fights before I got bored,” Harker stated. “It was as clear to me then as it is now; you are not a warrior. You rely on luck and the actions of others to get you through.”
“If that is the case, Field Commander, what do you gain by fighting and defeating him?” Dee asked.
The massive head turned to regard Dee in a whole new light.
“Am I not the champion that you would wish to defeat?”
“Dee, what the hell are you doing?” I hissed.
“Hmph. These rat-beings must be taught a lesson; that they are nothing in comparison to us!”
“A warrior’s greatness is determined by the quality of those against whom he achieves victory. You will be seen as weak if you fight this human.” Dee said. “I was toying with him during our fight; I could have killed him at any time. I am the true champion, and since I have sided with the humans in this battle, that makes me the Earth champion.”
I could see Dee’s reasoning, but I didn’t like the idea of him falling on the sword. It was my damn sword; I’ll shove it through my own goddamned breastplate if I want to.
“Major, stand down!” I shouted.
“In this, I will not, Michael.” He pulled me to the side, as much as circumstances would allow. “You are a warrior, a great one. But this battle, under these circumstances, with no weapons, you stand no chance.”
“Dee, he’s just one more.”
“Michael, look at me. Would you fight me hand to hand?”
“Fuck no,” I said before I even thought about it.
“Harker has played in the games for the enjoyment of it. He has killed species of all kinds including Stryvers and Genogerians with his bare hands. He is a fighter of great skill and deep cruelty. He will not toy with you, other than to kill you slowly, perhaps even with one of your own limbs. I will not idly sit by and watch this happen.”
“What about you, my friend?”
“I am Drababan.”
What more really did he need to say?
“I am the rightful winner.” Dee turned to face Harker. “If you wish to kill the Earth champion then you must fight me; otherwise your challenge is a cowardly one.”
A grin spread across Harker’s toothy snout. I think he was all on board with this. I would be nothing more than a pebble on the roadway to his steamroller. Drababan, on the other hand; now there was something you could really hang your hat on. He would instantly rise to legendary status, and hell, he could kill me any time.
“I want BT back,” I told Harker, who was busy. He’d placed his weapon down and was rolling his head around, loosening up.
“After I shatter Drababan’s spine upon my knee I will release the hu-man.”
“And when you lose?” I asked.
“That is not a possibility, but I will give you the assurance you need so that this fight will remain unimpeded. Blugs, you will release the human at the end of the fight, unharmed. That is my order to you.”
“I understand, Field Commander.”
Dee’s mouth opened quickly, then he snapped it shut. Knowing that he was nervous was sending a herd of water buffalo through my innards.
“Have you said your prayers?” Harker sneered. “I would not want you lost wandering in the netherworld your heathen kind believes in.”
“It is better to have a soul for which one hopes to find peace in an afterlife than to be completely devoid of that which makes one whole.”
“I don’t need a wispy filament of one’s imagination to know that I am whole!” he roared.
Dee took a step forward and gave a slight bow to Harker, never taking his eyes from his opponent. Harker forewent the small nod of respect and instead closed the distance. I was watching what was happening intently, and I still don’t know how he produced the telescoping baton. The sound that it made as it struck the side of Dee’s head was louder than the report of a twenty-two. Dee staggered back.
He did drop the baton. He did not, however, raise his hands in the “you caught me” pose. I could just about see the thought bubble above his head; he wanted to rush me. I would be forced, no matter the outcome, to pull the trigger until he got to me and killed me or I emptied the magazine into his sorry ass and he came to an abrupt end. I almost wished he would have; at least that would have been on my terms.
“It is all right,” Dee said to me, trying to halt the calamity of errors that was about to take place. I would kill Harker…Blugs would kill BT…those were the definite outcomes and then it was anybody’s guess what happened in the melee following. A lot of rounds would be expended in a small area; it was safe to say more of us would die. Dee most definitely did not look okay; blood dripped freely from his mouth and nose. There were fragments of teeth on the ground and I didn’t catch it then, though I would in a thousand nightmares: his eyes had a cloud to them like maybe he had the brewings of a concussion.
“Dee?” I spared the briefest of glances his way. “Say the word and this is over.”
“I am fit.”
He stood–I think he may have wobbled, but I was seeing his movement from my peripheral vision and I couldn’t be sure. Like an idiot or a scared man, I took his word for it. Once Dee stood, Harker looked at me, asking me to either shoot or put my weapon down. I lowered it slightly, if he did something shitty again then I wasn’t going to ask Dee whether I should shoot or not.
