by Brian Dorsey
“Lady Astra, what a pleasure to see you again,” said Ophelia, taking the conversation over from Neo. “My father was very impressed with Senator Varus’s speech before the Forum Thursday last. He was especially moved by his argument for strict adherence to societal systems and structure during the coming conflict.”
“Thank you, Ophelia,” replied Astra. “It is true that during trying times such as these it is imperative that we hold true to the fundamental beliefs of our society. It is the structure and order of our civilization that will lead us to victory. It is our duty to ensure that everyone knows their duty and their place,” said added throwing a cold look at Stone.
“Lady Astra, your seat,” replied Stone as he held her chair out for her.
“Of course, darling.”
Astra positioned herself in front of the chair and pulled the length of her dress in to allow Stone to tuck her into the chair.
“My Lady,” said Stone as he pushed the chair forward, almost knocking Astra off balance. She again shot daggers at him with her eyes as he took his seat.
“Oh. Here comes Brigadier Tacitus,” exclaimed Ophelia as she again rose to her feet.
Cataline strode toward the table in all of his arrogant glory with his sycophant aide in tow. Astra, already standing, reached back and grabbed at Stone’s shoulder in an attempt to make him rise. After another piercing glance from Astra, he slowly began to stand.
“Good evening, General,” said Vatarus in a flat but not overtly insolent manner.
“Sir,” added Neo.
“As always, General, it is a pleasure,” included Ophelia with a courtesy.
“General Tacitus,” spoke Astra, “my father sends his greetings.”
Stone remained silent as he glowered at the general. Astra’s fingers digging into his palm did nothing.
Cataline glared at Stone briefly before turning away. “It’s good to see you all again,” he said. “As usual the dinner is always much sweeter when we are joined by such beautiful company,” he added as he looked toward the ladies. “It is also good to have all of my commanders together again.” After a slight pause, he continued. “Let the dinner begin.”
Cataline took his place as the first course began to arrive. Several dozen servants entered the room carrying covered dishes. As was customary, the head table received the first plates. Once all attendees had a dish in front of them, Cataline raised his glass—the signal for the servants to remove the covers.
A low rumble came over the banquet hall.
Cataline had spared no expense for the dinner. Nepalan greens, almost more valuable than titanium, made the foundation of the course. Covering the greens were assorted exotic fruits from throughout the Empire, including a few that could only have been obtained through the black market. The entire dish was covered with a brilliant red sauce.
“This is a wonderful setting,” spoke Ophelia. “I feel as if I am dining at the 150 Consortium in Mt. Castra. It is marvelous.”
“Very well done,” added Astra. “Your superb choice of first course has only piqued my interest in the disclosure of the others.”
“I am sure you will find the dinner very entertaining, to say the least,” replied Cataline as he cast another odd glance toward Stone.
Stone returned the glance as he mechanically chewed at his food like it was leather. “Yes, General,” added Stone speaking his first words of the dinner. “Perhaps you should have become a chef instead of joining the military.”
“General,” spoke Astra quickly, “I believe Tyler is trying to say the course is magnificent.” Stone felt Astra forcefully kick his shin but he ignored her.
“I am sure that is what he meant,” replied Cataline, still smiling at Stone. “Enough about the food. I have a bit of news that may surprise our prodigal son.”
Stone had already finished the fruit and was now chewing the greens like a cow chewing on the cud. “I would love to hear any news you have, Sir.”
“Thank you, Colonel. I am sure you will find this very interesting. It appears that you were not alone while you were stranded on that desolate planet.”
Stone stopped chewing. “What do you mean?”
“It appears a Terillian Scout Ranger was also stranded there.”
Stone turned toward Astra, who returned his stare with a false smile. “That is very interesting, General,” she added. “Do tell us more,” she said, as she delicately placed another piece of fruit in her mouth.
“It appears that she also escaped from ship you were held captive on. I am surprised you did not have contact with her as she was captured in the same area that you were found.”
“Captured? How? Where was the enemy captured?” Stone could feel his stomach drop and sweat began to bead on his forehead.
“Oddly enough she was captured just outside the settlement where you were rescued. She apparently was trying to escape in a slaver ship…put up a hell of a fight before she was caught. The report says she killed four of our men and injured several others.”
“Where has she been taken?” asked Stone, trying to not give himself away completely.
“No need to worry about her. She has been taken to the prison on Capro. If she has any information, we will find it out.”
“Capro,” gasped Astra playing up her surprise. “What a horrible place.” She placed her hand on Stone’s in a feigned attempt at shock.
“What is Capro?” asked an inquisitive and unaware Lady Ophelia.
Colonel Vatarus elaborated. “Capro is where our most dangerous prisoners are sent. Over 95 percent of its surface is covered with a vast ocean of sulfuric acid. The few outcroppings of land are harsh granite plains with high bluffs rising above the acidic water below. The atmosphere is deadly; a few seconds of the toxic air will turn lungs to liquid.”
“How awful,” said Ophelia. “How does anyone survive?”
“The prison itself is the old battle cruiser Romulus Nextus,” explained Cataline. “When the Senate passed the Punitive Directive Decree fifty-seven years ago, Romulus was decommissioned and configured for use as a special purpose prison. Key military captives are transferred to Capro for interrogation, and other criminals such as rapists, traitors, and high profile murderers, as determined by the regional magistrates, are ‘spared’ death for a life of punitive rehabilitation at the hands of the highly skilled prison guards.”
Stone felt sick. Capro was the worst of the worst of Humani military prisons. Mori would have been better off dead.
“And you say it was a woman,” asked Astra again.
Stone could see through her façade. He knew she was involved somehow.
“Yes, and apparently a very attractive one,” answered Cataline.
“How shocking!” added Ophelia. “Terillians truly are barbarians. A woman, you say.”
“Oh, it was no woman,” interrupted Astra. “More like a savage beast. The Terillians must be concerned if they are putting females in uniforms. I often wonder why we allow our own lower class women to serve either; it’s so ghastly and repulsive.” She took another bite of her fruit and looked at Stone with her galling smile. “What do you think, darling?” she posed to Stone.
Stone wanted to slap her for the obvious jab at his dead friend Martin. Before he could formulate an answer, Cataline spoke again.
“That is an interesting question,” returned Cataline. “There has been some discussion among High Command about that. Even though we need more recruits, the idea of halting female service has been discussed…partially due to the Sierra 7 operation.”
“What do you mean?” asked Stone. He was fighting to hold himself together.
“Well some people believe you may have been better served by having a male officer filling Captain Martin’s position.”
“What the hell does that mean?” shot back Stone.
“Well,” replied Cataline as he dabbed his napkin to the side of his mouth. “Perhaps a more skilled operations officer would have provided better communications betwee
n your unit and my command. Actually, the Senate has considered lowering the status of her family.”
Stone could contain himself no longer. He sprang from his chair. The attention of the entire banquet room focused on Stone as he began to shout.“Captain Martin was a brave officer and gave her life in service of our people. She died because the idiots at High Command placed an incompetent fool in charge of the brigade. It’s your ineptitude that caused the massacre of my regiment.”
“Colonel, wait!” implored Vatarus.
“No…I can hold my tongue no longer. You, not the Terillians, are the cause for the death of my regiment. Not only did you sign their death warrant by failing to support us but you showed yourself for the coward you are by refusing to come down to the planet!”
“Enough!” yelled Cataline. “You have displayed gross disrespect for your commanding officer for the last time. I order you placed under arrest for disrespect and challenging the honor of a superior officer.”
“I have not even begun to disrespect you!” shouted Stone as he moved quickly toward the general. In one swift movement he intertwined his right arm through Cataline’s with his hand over his throat—a move that immediately deprived the general of air. Gasps spread through the room
Cataline’s aid attempted to draw his weapon on Stone. With his free hand, Stone quickly disarmed him and wrenched the aid’s wrist, driving him to his knees. The general’s face began to grow red as he struggled for air, his arms uselessly trying to pry loose Stone’s death grip.
“Tyler!” shouted Astra. “What are you doing?” she shouted as she also tried to pull him off Cataline.
The strategic attack on his dead friend and news of Mori’s capture had unleashed Stone’s demons. Nothing existed for Stone but Cataline’s throat and his fingers wrapped around it. The general’s face shifted from red to a pale blue as his struggling subsided and his body weakened.
Just as Stone was prepared to see Cataline fade into nothingness, a sudden sting on his back broke his concentration. He recovered quickly but there was another. And another.
Security teams had arrived with stun sticks.
“Release the general!” shouted the security team leader over the pleas of Astra and Vatarus. Stone tried to maintain his death grip but the shocks took their toll. His hold on Cataline soon weakened and his consciousness faded.
Chapter 12
The hard, cool surface of the cell floor felt soothing to Stone’s aching body although his head throbbed and his back burned from the stun stick wounds. Grasping the bars with his hands, he struggled to pull his body erect. He let out a low groan, his muscles aching from the repetitive shocks. Still hazy, he tried to work out the cobwebs and come to grips with what he had done. As he thought, he rested his head on the bars.
“I cannot believe what you have done!” came a cold voice from the other side of the bars. The comment was followed by a cold burst of fluid splashing over his face as Astra threw a pitcher of water at the bars. As the droplets of water slowly ran down his face, it was as if the splash of water had cleansed him of any illusions about Astra’s—and his society’s—true character.
“You low-bred animal!” she spat. “You have ruined everything. I can not recover from this. Our family took a chance on you and you have ruined us. Not only did you betray me with that Terillian bitch, you have ruined yourself and damaged my family’s name. I am contacting Father and will see you reduced to private and sent to the most remote post in the Empire, if you are lucky. Better yet, maybe you can join your little whore on Capro.”
“That may not be necessary, Lady Astra.”
Another voice stopped Astra’s tirade. It was Cataline. “If you agree,” he offered. “I would like to discuss some options with you.” As he spoke, he motioned for Astra to move away from Stone’s cell.
Stone watched as the two began speaking in hushed voices. At first Astra seemed surprised, but her surprise soon turned to deep thought. Stone overheard only small pieces of the conversation.
“Are you crazy?” asked Astra. “He is an elite guard officer. He would—”
Cataline stopped Astra and whispered into her ear.
“Do you think it will work?” replied Astra. “I will need to inform Father but the proposal makes good political sense.”
“Yes, Lady Astra. It would be an excellent political move,” said Cataline as he ran his hand over her shoulder and down her arm.
Astra smiled. “I will contact Father. We have an agreement.”
Astra walked back to Stone’s cell. “I can’t wait to see you reap the fate you deserve…low class scum.” To make her point she spat into his face. “Enjoy the final moments of your pathetic existence,” she said as she walked out of the brig.
Wiping the spit from his face Stone looked toward Cataline, who was now standing near the bars of his cell.
“You are lucky, coward,” said Stone. “A few more seconds and I would have succeeded in squeezing the life from your miserable body.”
“You almost succeeded, Stone, but came up a little short. I thought for a minute my plans had been for naught.”
“Plans? What are you talking about?”
“No harm in telling you now that you have played right into my hands. I knew if I pushed you enough, your self-righteous nature would do you in.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” asked Stone, still woozy from the shock sticks.
Cataline leaned in toward Stone and in almost a whisper, spoke. “I figured a few comments about your Terillian slut and your dear, dead Captain Martin would force you to make a rash decision.”
Stone grabbed for him but the general pulled away just in time.
“Still so aggressive,” taunted Cataline. “And foolish. You have openly disrespected a superior officer from a First Family. Regardless of your fame, that will not be tolerated.”
“So your plan was to get me to try to kill you?”
“Oh, it is so much more. There will be no relegation to a remote station for you. I intend to challenge you to proporia combata.”
“Then you are a fool and I’ll have my revenge yet,” replied Stone, not believing Cataline would be that stupid.
“Maybe if you were in any condition to fight,” replied Cataline as his mouth turned upward in an ambiguous smile.
“You truly are a coward,” Stone paused. “If you are the best our society has to offer, the sooner the Terillians conquer us, the better.”
“…and traitorous too,” replied Cataline. “Maybe I am a coward, but I am not a fool. I will challenge you in public for questioning my honor. Once I have killed you, there will be no more questions of my bravery or skill with a sword and under the code of proporia combata I will have all of your possessions, including the Lady Astra.”
“Astra?”
“She has agreed to allow the challenge to include marital rights. It seems the Varus family has grown tired of the novelty of marrying a virtual commoner. Apparently your tendency to not know your place and your dalliances with enemy whores has not endeared you to her.”
“She is no whore.”
“She really must have been something, Stone. I understand having your way with her. I hear she is quite attractive.”
“You are a bastard,” replied Stone matter-of-factly.
“Me,” laughed Cataline. “Your black sheep branch of the Lucius family tarnished that family for eternity when your ancestor spread her legs for that commoner, and now you have bedded the enemy. It appears treachery and propensity for low-class bloodlines runs in your blood.”
“At least we are not a family of cowards and military fools.”
“You know,” replied Cataline, “I thought about having you shipped to Capro, or even better sent to the Navato System for alteration, but I am going to enjoy gutting you in person.”
Cataline had given something up. Stone remembered Mori talking about the Navato System, something was going on there.
“Navato?” asked Stone.
“What is going on there?”
The general leaned in again, this time placing his hands over Stone’s as he gripped the bars. “Better to have those wretches in the Dark Zone or Terillian religious fanatics be slaves to the Xen than us. All we need to do is continue to fight and conquer and we will be spared.”
“Spared?” asked Stone, his confusion showing.
“Do you think the little problem at Gateway Station was really a Terillian attack? It was all part of our plan to draw Alpha Humana into war,” said Cataline. “We needed to start the war in order to increase our number of prisoners and expand the operation of slavers.”
Stone stepped back from the bars in shock. Mori was right. It had all been a lie.
“You could have been a part of it too,” continued Cataline. “You were set to marry into one of the best families. But now you will die a traitor and a fool and your Terillian bitch will rot in prison, be whored out in the Dark Zone, or maybe even be genetically altered and sent to the Xen.”
“Altered?”
“I would love to tell you more, Stone, but I have to prepare for our fight.”
Cataline started to walk away, but then turned and walked back to Stone’s cell.
“In case you are wondering,” added Cataline, “it’s true, there’s no way I would face you in open combat without a little edge.”
“What are you talking about?” asked Stone, still coming to grips with his world being turned upside down.
“That something special I had added to your salad, a little extract from the Hiato leaf, should have you feeling very, very relaxed when we face each other again,” ended Cataline with a treacherous smile. “I will see you soon…Colonel.”
***
The banquet hall had been transformed into an arena of violence.
A large oval area had been cleared in the center of the room. The seating had been reorganized to allow viewing of the individual combat. Word had spread fast, and the hall was filled with the social elite onboard Pantelus Varuk.
