Learning the Hard Way 1

by H. P. Caledon

  “Sounds like you got a good night’s sleep.”

  An overwhelming sensation of disappointment washed over Mike. He’d fallen asleep and not had time to enjoy every second of freedom before he was tossed back into the pit of pain.

  Discouraged, he sat up and with help from the medic he changed his clothes. He saw the red scars from his latest fight cutting their way across his ribs and all the way to the belly button, but he wasn’t given time to examine them closer. Since Mike couldn’t bend forward enough to put on his shoes, the medic helped him with those, too.

  The guard Jameson was waiting outside the door. “Ready?”

  “If I say no do I get to go back to bed?” Mike asked. Jameson snorted and shook his head. “Isn’t the question kinda redundant then?”

  “Guess it is.” Jameson unlocked a door with his fingerprint and followed Mike all the way into the prison and up to the corridor where Mike and Keelan had shared a cell. He waited until Mike had limped his way to the cell.

  “Hey,” a voice said as Mike had opened the door. Everything in Mike froze, but then he recognized the voice.

  Keelan.

  Mike glared at him with his one good eye, then moved past him and climbed into his bunk with painful pride.

  “Who did that?” Keelan asked.

  “Like it matters to you! Just leave me alone... you’re good at that.”

  Keelan stared at him for a while. Then he turned and left the cell. Mike shook his head and felt a tear press its way forward. Over the last month he’d been beaten, raped, and humiliated worse than he’d ever thought possible, and then it was the reunion with Keelan that made him cry? He wiped at the tear, instantly regretting not being more careful about it.

  The reunion with someone he’d trusted and who’d sold him so easily hurt more than he’d thought possible.

  Keelan entered the cell again and stopped next to the bunk. “Here, Mike. This might help you a bit.” Keelan held out a small vial with two tiny blue crystals. Mike half-turned in the bunk and stared wide-eyed at the vial.

  “Thought you said no,” Mike sneered sarcastically.

  “There’s a time for everything, Mike. This,” Keelan said, shaking the vial lightly, “is a time to forget the pain.”

  Mike stared at him for a while but then reached out a still gauze-wrapped hand. Mike felt grateful, but he also felt that Keelan had lost another standpoint. He wasn’t as stubborn in his convictions as he’d said earlier, and Mike hated the fact that he’d once trusted the man.

  “What did they do?” Keelan asked, but he’d barely finished the sentence before Mike glared at him with the most convincing killer-eyes he could muster. He would never share that with him. Why should he? Keelan didn’t give a rat’s ass anyway.

  Mike held out the vial and smiled at the sight of the crystals. He carefully poured them into his hand and was about to lie down when a thought crossed his mind.

  Keelan won’t protect me. Has he sold me and made it easier for them to take me?

  Suddenly Mike didn’t want the crystals and the release he could find in the high, so he tipped the crystals back into the vial and pocketed it. He curled up and suffered in silence, trying to tell himself that he was at least a bit safer with Keelan there. Maybe enough to sleep more than an hour without jolting awake?

  Rainer came by about an hour later. “I see you got your pet back.”

  “Wanna do this in your cell?” Keelan growled.

  “Okay.”

  Mike heard them leave and closed his eyes, forcing back another tear. The betrayal hurt more than the beatings that came with it. The physical pain was relative—it disappeared with time. The mental pain didn’t.

  The door opened. Keelan came in and reclined on his bunk. Mike once again tried to fall asleep. He managed an uneasy slumber for a few hours, but then jerked awake as someone knocked on the door. Sal came in and looked at Mike’s bunk.

  “Rainer’s proposition.” Sal handed Keelan a note. Keelan sat on a chair and read it. “That question you asked him? When he didn’t answer,” Sal said, nervously fidgeting with his hands. Keelan looked at him, expectantly. “A fight, one on one in the arena. None of the bosses in here fight their own fights, they send someone. If you want to knock Rainer off and take over his domain, then you have to fight the fight yourself. If you do then he can’t deny you a fair fight for power, and he can’t send someone else. It’s either he fights you himself or relinquishes everything to you, no questions asked.”

  Keelan looked surprised. “Is that all?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why are you telling me this, Sal?”

  “Uhm, Rainer is a good fighter. Not as good as you, but he has brute strength. And he has loyal folk elsewhere. He feels threatened by you... that’s why he keeps you close. That’s why he gave you Mike. So you could be kept busy, but they say you don’t use him.” The words spilled out of Sal and he seemed so nervous he didn’t look at Keelan at all.

  A small smile formed on Keelan’s lips. “You didn’t answer my question, Sal.”

  “Take me in when you take over?” Sal asked with a voice so tiny that Mike could barely hear him. It wasn’t a request. It was a plea.

  “Taking over wasn’t my plan,” Keelan said, but the shock in Sal’s face cut him off.

  “Please?” Sal knelt by him and grabbed his arm. “If you don’t, please don’t tell him I told you all of this. Please?”

  Keelan stared at him, wide-eyed. “How did you end up in Delta?” Keelan asked. Nearly a minute passed in silence as Sal thought. Finally, he looked up at Keelan with a destroyed look in his eyes.

  “I don’t remember,” he whispered. “Please?”

  “I won’t say anything,” Keelan said. Sal got to his feet and almost ran from the cell.

  “Don’t worry, he’ll smarten up,” Mike said.

  “What do you mean?”

  Mike propped himself up on one elbow and stared hatefully at Keelan. “When you fuck him over, too. Abandon him.”

  An awkward silence followed, and Mike lay back down and stared at the ceiling.

  “Mike. I found an escape route—”

  “Yes, thank you, I know!” Mike turned to stare at him again. Keelan looked surprised.

  “How?”

  “Look at me!” Mike yelled and tried to get up faster than his bruised body allowed, but when Keelan stepped forward to help him, Mike pushed him away. “I know you found a way out, how the hell do you think I ended up looking like this? And now what? Are you trying to sell me some bullshit about you being sorry? Your word is nothing but hot air nicely wrapped up in a fart, but I trusted you! I actually thought you and I were getting along pretty well, but boo fucking hoo!”

  Even as he saw the anger in Keelan’s eye grow, Mike didn’t hold back or fear him. He’d held this in for so long and buried it under so much pain that Keelan’s anger didn’t worry him any more.

  Just as Keelan had sucked in air to yell at Mike, the door opened and two guards came in.

  “Mike, pack up,” Jameson said.

  “Why?” Mike demanded.

  “You’re a free man. Your transporter is waiting.”

  Chapter Seven

  Mike felt hollow. All anger and feelings of being betrayed had left him when the guards had uttered those few but wonderful words. Now they walked the corridors on their way to the big doors, and Mike had no registered thoughts or feelings. Neither hope, joy, skepticism, nor distrust.

  The big iron doors opened, and Mike left the prison. It wasn’t until he heard them slam shut behind him that his heart rate picked up. The air around him seemed thinner, and he gasped for air while everything seemed overwhelming as the reality of his release settled. In the prison, he knew what to do each day. Survive it.

  But now? What now?

  He had no home, because as a mercenary, he’d lived on the ship. He had no place to go... maybe his sister would take him in and let him sleep on the couch until he found a job? But what could he
do other than being a soldier or mercenary?

  “What are you shaking your head for?” Jameson asked.

  “Never again,” Mike whispered. “That paycheck was definitely not worth it!” he exclaimed as the reality and all the pent-up feelings washed over him.

  “I’ll believe that. None of us knew you were a soldier. That you worked as a lawman. Not until the physician came for us. I don’t know what you did to make him run for help that day in the canteen. But it was obvious then that you’re a well-trained soldier. You killed three out of ten before we got there. Four, including Serge.”

  Mike stared at Jameson. “The physician? Three? I don’t remember squat.” But then the memory of the physician leaving the line and going through the door came back.

  “With the beating you took, I’m not surprised. Only that you were still standing.”

  “Does anyone know that the physician helped me?”

  “Just a few of us guards.”

  “Yeah, great. Does that include the ones in Rainer’s pocket?”

  Both guards stopped and turned to look at him.

  “What are you saying?”

  Mike stared at Jameson for a while. Nothing about him indicated that it was an act. “Rainer can buy things. Goods, library access, and other stuff.”

  Jameson looked away, nodding, and continued through the holding bay. “The library we know about. Rainer rents out his followers to some of the guards once in a while. It’s a long way home to the wife.”

  “But how can Rainer have that kind of power? To have power, one needs to possess something no one else has. Money isn’t worth anything in there, so it has to be influence. He buys it, trades Sal and the others. But the others with power, what do they trade?”

  “Why?”

  “Just curious.”

  “You don’t need power to have influence. It all depends on how you use it. Black-eyed Burton didn’t have power.”

  “No, he was just too fond of Rainer’s followers. Guess he didn’t have enough influence to trade with for time with them.” Mike chuckled at the thought of a guy like Black-eyed Burton holding a position of power.

  “What? Burton was impotent,” the other guard said.

  “Didn’t stop him from feeling up Rainer’s followers, which was why Rainer had Keelan kill him.”

  Both guards stopped to gape at Mike.

  “Do you know who Burton was?” Jameson asked.

  “An odd little man?”

  “He was our informant. No one, not even Rainer, dared to go after him.”

  “So that was the big price,” Mike muttered, feeling that he finally understood the details of the ruse that had caused him so much pain. “Rainer really needed something big in return for pulling enough strings for an escape plan. Maybe that’s why the Blood Brothers had to go. And Jack Ripper.”

  “What?” both guards exclaimed.

  “Keelan’s escape plan. If it was the brothers and Jack who orchestrated it on Rainer’s order, then no wonder they had to go. Keelan got first dibs on their belongings and me to keep him occupied while waiting. I never even saw it coming. Not until he ran off and left me to be Rainer’s new rent-out toy.”

  “Mike, Keelan didn’t attempt an escape. He’s been in isolation for a month for murdering Burton. Rainer brought him to us the next morning.”

  All air left Mike’s lungs. Keelan hadn’t betrayed him, and Mike might just have delivered him into the arms of the guards. Keelan said he’d found a way out. Had he tried to get Mike out with him? No matter what, the guards were going to check on Keelan’s involvement in the escape plan now.

  Jameson nodded to the other guard who called back to headquarters.

  “And get Rainer there, too. Let him think it’s something to his advantage,” Jameson said.

  “Okay.” The guard left them.

  “Come on. Let’s get you out of here. Your transport’s already here,” Jameson said.

  Mike followed him to the inner gates, but what he really wanted to do was run right back into the pit and warn Keelan. He also knew he couldn’t.

  He sighed and looked through the window. There was a military hunter—a quick and heavily armed military transport—and several soldiers walking around. A familiar face came into view and Mike gasped.

  “Lewis?”

  “You know them?” Jameson asked, surprised.

  “That’s the second in command himself. Why am I being released?”

  “Your verdict was overturned.”

  Mike laughed humorlessly, but then a door behind him opened, and he turned to see the physician coming toward him with bags in his hands.

  “Hello, Mike. I see you chose to pray to your lucky stars. With bows and ribbons.”

  “What?”

  The physician looked through the window. “Lewis. His sleeves carry both bows and ribbons, don’t they?”

  “You arranged this,” Mike whispered. “You saved my life.”

  “You saved your own life. By getting me out.”

  Mike looked at the physician. Not even right then. Not when only a door was between them and freedom did the physician have a genuine smile to show. “ife ... h bows and ribbons, don’tars. to see the physician comming back. s or feelings. ed him away. he coul

  I saved my own life by getting him out? More like by getting him a job interview. The rest is his doing. The two-week vacation, the rescue in the canteen, and my job leaked to the guards. He could have screwed me over thoroughly, but he saved me anyway. He’s a good man, but doesn’t want anyone to know. Fine.

  The inner gates opened, and the guards on the other side let them pass. Lewis came at them, smiling. Even though Mike wasn’t in uniform, he still saluted. Lewis did the same.

  “You still look like someone who tried to take on a whole platoon by himself,” Lewis said.

  “Close,” the physician said. Lewis looked at him, wonderingly.

  “Long, very long story,” Mike said.

  Lewis smiled half-heartedly and turned his attention to the physician. “Lieutenant Lewis,” he introduced himself and held out his hand.

  The physician looked at his hand, then shook it. “Physician.”

  Lewis smiled. “When we get to the big ship and create a profile on you, I’m gonna need more than that.” Lewis showed them to the hunter.

  “Well, then you get to find the information yourself,” the physician muttered. Lewis looked at him and arched a brow at Mike, who shrugged.

  “What about you, soldier? You want a real uniform again?”

  “I don’t know, Lieutenant.”on n we get . looked at his hand, then shook it. ion on the physician. self.”ician have a genuine smile to show.

  “Okay. Jason, will you help with the physician’s luggage?”

  “Yes, sir.” The soldier led the physician through the hunter.

  Lewis put an arm around Mike’s shoulder and steered him to the cockpit. “When we get back to Spec Edit twelve we need to talk. It’s not only behind bars that nothing is free, and your freedom has been exchanged for knowledge,” Lewis said and took the pilot chair.

  Mike hadn’t had time to think it all through, and those exact words were more than he could bear. Keelan hadn’t betrayed him—he was the one who’d betrayed Keelan. He had broken the deal.

  “What knowledge,” Mike asked, absentmindedly.

  Lewis turned to stare at him. “Mike, what is it? Hey, focus on me?” Lewis snapped his fingers to get his attention. Mike looked up at the underlying order in Lewis’ tone. “You went all blank there for a second. What information don’t I have?”

  “Could we please leave it, sir? At least until we’re onboard the mother ship?”

  Lewis looked as if he didn’t recognize Mike.

  “You’ve seen that look before, haven’t you?” the physician asked from the doorway. Mike and Lewis both looked at him, but the physician’s attention was on Lewis. He finally nodded and looked at Mike again.

  “We’ll talk about it later.” Lewi
s patted Mike on the shoulder. Mike collapsed in a seat, relieved, and buckled his seatbelt. The physician sat next to him, and Mike checked his seatbelt while Lewis called for everyone to get ready. He went through the protocols and the hunter turned its nose toward the outer gates.

  Mike pressed his face against the window and a fleeting sensation spread as the sky became visible. He hadn’t seen it for almost six months, and the color of the sky almost convinced him that he could feel the wind against his face and that he could smell the fresh air. He smiled and felt the cool window grow warm from tears. But his joy and relief were quickly replaced by a guilty conscience.

  He’d betrayed Keelan, and Keelan had only been trying to keep his word.

  Mike, the physician, and Lewis walked the halls of Spec Edit twelve. Mike relished being back in the familiar surroundings and the feeling of everything being overwhelming and unpredictable disappeared. Here it had been easy—one simply followed orders and waited to bitch about it all until one sat with the unit and played tasarik or watched VID. To see the different colors of uniforms and work-suits made him smile.

  “Mike, will you tell our new employee about the ship?” Lewis asked and smiled encouragingly. Mike nodded.

  “Spec Edit twelve is, as the number describes, one of thirteen identical Special Edition ships flying under the same flag. Spec Edits are the biggest ships in the fleet and have the capacity to hold approximately twelve-thousand people on four military decks and three sublevels of service personnel. Each ship is self-provisioned with food, water, and oxygen. The three sublevels are also recycling stations where everything on the ship is recycled.”

  “Clever,” the physician said.

  “Each Spec Edit ship carries in its two docks more than five hundred SN’D’s, several hunters, freighters, and AX’ plus other common smaller ships which make it possible to infiltrate or land incognito on planets.” Mike filled his lungs with air to continue, but Lewis took over.

  “Each Spec Edit also has several special units so we can independently take on almost any assignment almost anywhere in the systems, but we can also work in conjunction with other units on other Spec Edit ships, Destroyers, and so on.”