PRISONER
S.J. Bryant
Copyright 2015 Saffron Bryant
Published by Saffron Bryant at Smashwords
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Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
The Journey Continues
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CHAPTER ONE
"This is ridiculous," said Aart over Nova's shoulder. "There has to be a better option than breaking into a prison just to talk to a mob moss who might tell you how to get past the border… which is a stupid idea anyway!"
She rolled her eyes and studied the plans spread out over the table. Precise rectangles dotted the centre with small hand-written labels.
"Getting past the border is the only way to really be free of the Confederacy. I'm doing it."
Other bounty hunters filled The Jagged Maw's cafeteria but Nova and her companions created a still island amongst the milling crowd.
Tanguin pointed to the largest rectangle. "The guards' quarters overlook the central courtyard and cell block. A radiation shield separates it from the prison. No-one goes through it in either direction. The only time anything leaves the planet is when the guards change, every three months."
Nova nodded. "What else have you got?"
"The central courtyard and cell block are known as the 'Inners'; that's where Carter will be. It's got the food generators; the only source of non-toxic food on the planet… other than your fellow prisoners."
Nova grimaced. "Tasty. Speaks volumes about the Confederacy that they poisoned the whole planet. You can't even eat the rats because they've got so much poison built up in them."
Tanguin nodded. "Surrounding that is the prison's 'middle class' or the 'Mids'. They have shelter and a few water taps, but that's about it."
"Where are they getting water, if the whole planet is poisoned?" Orion asked.
"They set up some kind of recycling and filtration system deep underground. It's worked so far." Tanguin shrugged. "Outside of the Mids, right where you'll be landing, is the 'Outers'. As far as I can tell it's full of corpses and people who will soon be corpses. From the Inners to the Outers is about five kilometres and beyond the Outers is desert. Without the water filtration system, nothing can survive so it's a barren wasteland."
"Simple. I just have to get from the Outers to the Inners," Nova said with a grin.
"And get an introduction to Carter Mason," Tanguin said, rolling her eyes.
"And pass through a killer radioactive force field," Gus added.
"And, after you've done all that impossible stuff," Orion said. "You have to somehow get past the guards and catch a ride on their ship out of there."
"Simple. I'm going to use a ring filled with gas to knock out one of the guards and assume their identity."
"Oh of course." Orion threw up his hands. "Deliver a ring to some guard on the exact right day and just fall right into their shoes."
Nova nodded. "Exactly. And it's not just any guard; I've studied Terry's profile. She's a loner; no friends, and keeps her head down. She's perfect."
"You're crazy," Aart said, turning away from the table. "Too much can go wrong and there's no way for us to help you."
Nova looked up at him. "The plan will work."
"Plan? What you have isn't a plan. It's a notion at best."
Tyra frowned. "He's right. So much can go wrong. Are you sure there's no better way?"
Nova shook her head, ignoring the gnawing doubt chewing through her stomach. "No. Not with the time we've got."
Tanguin slapped the table with her palm. "Even if all of this goes according to plan. It doesn't solve how to get Nova to the planet in the first place. We've got immediate shoot to kill orders on our heads. As soon as she goes near a Confederacy soldier they'll blow her brains out."
"Can't we get someone else to do it?" Orion said, staring out across the cafeteria.
Tyra snorted. "No one would volunteer to go to Ankar. No matter how much they might like us."
"It's my idea. I'm going," Nova said.
"So?" Tanguin said. "How do we avoid the sudden death scenario?"
Nova sighed and rubbed her forehead. "We've got to create a fake identity. One with a criminal history but maybe not as colourful as my own."
Tanguin's cybernetic eye swivelled up from the plans to stare at Nova. "I can make a fake identity no problem. But I can't change your DNA and there's the small matter of the bio-imprint. They're probably honing in on us as we speak, and if you go anywhere near a Confederacy soldier their alarms will go off like air-raid sirens."
Nova groaned and sat back, staring up at the cafeteria ceiling. "There has to be a way to get past it, just for a little while. I'll be safe once I'm in there. No Confederacy soldier would risk entering Ankar, no matter how big the bounty was."
They sat in silence, Gus cleaning his gun and the others staring at different walls. Low chatter buzzed around them from the other bounty hunters, but tension hung thick in the air like smog.
"What about Grish?" Gus said.
The others turned to look at him.
"The crazy killer who's been rampaging through the outer galaxies for the last six months?" Aart said.
"Yeah."
"What's he got to do with anything?"
"Fake handover," Gus said, still wiping his gun.
Nova met Aart's eyes and shrugged.
"I'm gonna need more information," Aart said.
Gus sighed and put his gun on the table where it gleamed under the orange lights. "We fake a handover of Grish. It wouldn't be weird to have him locked in a crate; he's too dangerous to have loose."
Aart's eyebrows rose. "You're saying put Nova in a crate and hand her to the Confederacy?"
Gus shrugged. "It's what we were going to do anyway. Except now you can shield the crate and provide a fake DNA sample for inspection. They won't open it to check…… wouldn't want to risk it."
The Hunters stared around at one another. Nova's mind raced. It was a good plan. Complicated, but there weren't many ways they could fool the Confederacy scanners.
"And Grish's DNA?" Tanguin said, voice flat.
Gus shrugged. "I've been looking for a job anyway and I've got an inside tip."
Orion laid his hands flat on the table. "This sounds as bad
as the plan to send Nova to Ankar. Grish is a maniac. He tore a man in half with his bare hands!"
Gus rolled his shoulders. "I can take him."
Nova bit her lip. "It might just work."
"Good," Gus said. "Make sure everything's ready. We won't have long once I've caught him to make the switch."
Nova nodded and folded the plans for the prison, tucking them into her jacket pocket. "I'll be ready."
CHAPTER TWO
Nova's breath created a hot fog around her face as she crouched in the darkness of the crate. Cushions softened the hard metal but they couldn't stop cramps clenching her muscles and sending shots of pain through her legs and neck.
Outside her crate something scraped against metal and a rough voice cackled. "I'll be out in seconds. You'll see," Grish's voice rasped in a continuous stream as his body thudded against the sides of his crate.
"Hold still you bastard," Aart said.
Nova couldn't help but smile as she imagined him trying to get a needle into Grish's flesh.
"Got it!" Aart said.
"Stings," Grish said. "I like that."
"Ugh," Aart said. "You're sick. Good job catching this one, Gus, I think you did us all a favour."
"You know this isn't Haven," Nova said, trying to stretch her neck. "If we can move this along that would be great."
Footsteps stomped towards her cage and a thin slot opened, revealing Aart's grinning face. "Nearly there."
Nova nodded. "You'll send the broken labourbot to the guard complex?"
"In a couple of weeks, just like we planned."
"Good. The guard change is in three months. I'll see you then."
Aart's expression darkened. "You'll be careful. Won't you?"
Nova nodded and bit her lip, not trusting herself to speak.
Aart's smile wavered and he let the slit fall shut. "Okay you two. You understand the mission?"
Two new voices joined Aart. Nova recognized the rookie, Jimmy, from Drigoon; he'd come a long way since then and had started making a name for himself. The other voice had to be Maya.
"When I gave you my call sign on Kopet this definitely wasn't the kind of call I was expecting," said Maya. "Are you sure this is the best idea?"
"It's all we've got. Remember, don't let them open the crate. No matter what."
More voices, and Nova's crate jostled, lifting of the ground and making her stomach drop. The crate swung from side to side as they carried her up into the bowels of the waiting ship. It clunked as it hit the floor and footsteps echoed away into the distance. A few moments later vibrations shook through Nova's crate, setting her teeth on edge.
She closed her eyes and tried to sleep but her cramped joints and aching neck kept wrenching her awake. She shifted her weight and glared into the darkness for what felt like hours before a gentle tap on the top of her crate let her know they'd arrived.
Shuffling footsteps drew closer, overlaid with unfamiliar voices.
"You're trying to tell me you rookies managed to catch Grish?"
Jimmy cleared his throat. "We're just here for the bounty, not to discuss technique."
The Confederacy soldier snorted. "Excuse me. But I'm going to need to check, you could have a block of wood in there for all I know."
The slit on the front of the crate slid open and Nova's heart clenched.
The shadowed shape of Jimmy's leg stepped in front of the hole. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."
"Look, rookie, you're not getting a bounty until I confirm the identity."
"If you want to get your hand bitten off, that's your business," Maya said. "But I think this will be easier. I took the liberty of taking a blood sample before locking him up."
The guard paused. "I'll take the sample, but I need to sight the prisoner as well."
Jimmy stepped away from the slit. "If that's what you want to do. I should warn you though, there used to be three of us. He's a maniac, will probably chew your face off just for looking at him."
Nova swallowed, her throat dry, and muscles tight.
"Well…" the Confederacy soldier's voice wavered.
"Go on. I don't have all day."
"Yeah alright," the soldier's voice sounded tight. "The blood sample should be enough. Stay here while I run it."
The footsteps faded away and Nova let out a long breath, head drooping.
A short time later the soldier returned. "It checks out. I don't know how you did it but here are the credits."
"Glad to get him off our hands. And a friendly piece of advice; ship him to Ankar in that crate; don't risk moving him."
"Thanks, Hunter. I think we can handle it."
Fingernails rapped on the top of Nova's crate; Maya's way of saying good luck, and then she was lifted into the air once more.
"Quieter than I expected," the Confederacy soldier said.
"Yeah. Dare you to open it," said another unfamiliar voice from Nova's other side.
"You first. You heard what those Hunters said."
"Hunters. What would they know?" But the soldier sounded unsure and Nova's crate remained closed.
When they placed the crate down they let it drop from a few inches off the floor so that it smacked against the hard ground and knocked Nova's head against the metal roof. She bit her lip to stop from crying out and braced herself against the walls.
They left her there for days. She lost track of time as she drifted in and out of consciousness, nibbling at the few rations she'd packed. Sometimes voices and footsteps drew closer but mostly she was left alone. By the time her rations ran out, she'd decided that they planned to leave her in the crate to die, and had started planning her escape.
"Prisoner transporter is here," a rough voice said, waking Nova from a troubled sleep.
"He's in there."
"We're gonna have to transfer him to standard issue transport."
Uneasy footsteps shuffled beside Nova's crate. "He's dangerous. Better to leave him in there."
"It's not protocol…"
"If your people want to transfer him, that's your business, but my crew won't touch him."
"I didn't know your division had grown so weak, Trevor."
"If you want to have your face chewed off, that's your problem. But I'm not doing it."
Feet scuffled beside Nova's crate and her hand clenched into a fist. She longed for her plasma pistol, or even a knife, but it was too risky, a simple weapon scan would pick it up, shield or no shield.
"You got a blood sample?"
"Yep. It checks out."
"Alright. We'll ship him as is."
More jostling followed until Nova's crate thunked against another metal floor.
"Arms out Grish," a rough voice said, accompanied by a solid kick to Nova's crate.
She held her breath and snaked her hands out through two circular holes cut into the crate.
"For a monster he's got girly looking hands," the rough voice said as cold metal handcuffs snapped shut around Nova's wrists.
"Lucky he's going to Ankar, he'd probably hunt you down and eat you alive for that kind of comment," said a new voice.
Footsteps faded away. Nearby, a door hissed closed and engines rumbled through the floor. A digital voice crackled over unseen speakers.
"Prisoner ship bound for Ankar. Arrival two hours."
Nova waited, but no one spoke. Her ears strained for any kind of hint as to what, or who, waited outside of her crate, but only silence and uneasy shuffling met her ears.
She tensed her muscles and pressed her shoulder into a thin silver button. The crate's door clicked and fell away in two pieces from around her hands. It clattered to the floor and Nova held her breath.
Sharp gasps echoed around her.
She stayed crouched inside the crate, the handcuffs pinning her close to the wall of the ship. When nothing happened, she took a deep breath and sprung out of the crate, as best she could with her hands tied.
People in ragged clothes gasped and drew back, pressing against
the walls. They glanced at one another, hands clenching into fists.
Nova turned in a tight circle, eye flicking across the prisoners. They stared at her with gaping mouths for a few moments before letting their eyes fall back to their laps. Their clothes were as filthy as their faces and their hair hung in loose tangles. Only a dim orange light fell over the metal interior and the ragged prisoners.
She nodded once and lowered herself into a hard metal chair set into the wall.
The stench of desperation hung heavy in the stuffy air. Heat from the engines pulsed in the close confines and sweat dribbled down Nova's forehead.
The cylindrical prison ship had an automatic guiding system at the front that eliminated the need for guards or pilots. The ship had only one destination; Ankar. The cuffs would snap open once they landed and from there it was each prisoner for themselves.
Nova gauged her companions. A life sentence on Ankar meant they probably didn't have much to lose. The woman opposite her looked harmless enough, although some would say the same about Nova. Her dark hair covered most of her face and her hand twitched, but she didn't look blood thirsty.
The big man further down the ship looked angry but not crazy. Even in his cuffs his hands curled into fists. His face formed a permanent snarl and he glared at anyone who dared look his way. He would probably push them aside to get out of the ship but he wouldn't go out of his way to hurt them.
The man at the end though; he was trouble. His pale skin hung off his bones, clinging to a skeletal frame. He stared directly at Nova with eyes opened so wide that the whites shone in the semi-darkness of the ship. His hands twisted around each other in his cuffs. Something metal glinted; a knife up his sleeve.
Dark shadows rimmed his bulging eyes as he licked his lips. He had a look about him; he was the one to look out for. He reeked of a thirst for blood and his eyes stayed fixed on Nova.
The ship rattled and shook, setting her teeth on edge. A screw fell out from above her head and clattered against the metal floor, rolling under her seat. She watched it until it disappeared.
A noise sounded, like a choked engine, and the ship jerked upwards, hurling Nova back against her seat. Her arm jerked up and caught on a loose piece of wire, flesh tearing open and blood dribbling down into her hand.
Prisoner Page 1
