-Friedrich Nietzsche
The Good Life, The High Life and The After Life
Shawn Hagen (1993;2005)
CHAPTER 1
It was an excellent plan. Yuri puts on the right clothes, the right attitude and drops about a hundred IQ points. Then she wanders around playing airhead until the slavers nab her. After that she sits tight and waits for the cavalry.
Problem was Yuri wasn't the type to sit and wait.
-Philasa Drast's 'Guns, Bad Karma and Babes'
(Unreleased, under litigation, unauthorized, biography of the Lovely Angels.)
There was, on the planet of Taris 4, a city called Motrono. It was a small city, primarily serving the planet's secondary spaceport. It was, for the most part, a quiet city, its inhabitants dealing with unimportant cargoes that came down from orbit. At the time most of its five hundred thousand inhabitants were asleep except for a few thousand shift workers and night people.
Near the bay three black, stealth, dropships hovered in a triangular formation. The flat-black ships were only visible to the naked eye when they moved, and then only because of how they temporarily obscured the stars. Most people would not even have recognized them for what they were.
Powerful ECM equipment rendered them invisible to all but the most powerful sensors. Air traffic controllers had been keeping air traffic away from the sectors the ships had been in all evening. Those controllers did not know why they were required to do such a thing, and then knew they were not likely to find out any time soon.
In the Ops bay of one of the ships sat a woman upon a nylon-web bench. She was surrounded by the men and women of the SSWAT(Superior Special Weapons And Tactics) team, but was obviously apart from them.
Her medium-length, red hair was held from her face with a black ribbon, a similar ribbon had been tied around her slender neck. She wore a pair of v-cut shorts that were silver in colour. Her top was the same colour, as were the calf hugging, knee-high boots she wore. The uniform showed a lot of her creamy gold skin; too much in the opinion of those with conservative tastes and ideology.
Not that Kei was the sort of person to let what other people thought bother her.
She looked around, checking on the activity of the members of the SSWAT team she shared the bay with. Most of them were quiet now, making last checks of their equipment. Not so long ago they had been loud and boisterous, but as time passed most of them had assumed a more professional demeanour.
She brushed her hand across the pistol grip of the heavy, laser pistol she wore in a holster along her right thigh. It was how she had checked her equipment.
Captain Asam, the Ops commander, walked past her. She suspected he had been in the back, making sure the battle frames and cymechs were ready to go. Kei Reached out and grabbed his arm before he could pass.
He looked down at her, in an almost absent way his gaze took in her long legs and the sensuous curves of her body. Kei supposed that the lack of interest he showed had more to do with the things he had on his mind rather than a lack of appreciation for her not inconsiderable charms.
"Yes?" he asked, tone nearly flat.
Kei looked at the man, calm, cool, it seemed he did not have a worry in the world. He was either an unfeeling bastard or a consummate pro. Slightly above average height, in excellent shape, she could feel muscle in the arm she held. His short brown hair was only beginning to grey at the temples; dark blues eyes patiently regarded her as he waited for an answer.
"When?" was all she said.
"It should be any minute."
"I've heard that before and I don't want to hear it again unless it's the truth." There was anger in her quiet tone. She saw Asam's eyes narrow slightly and realised that she was digging her fingers into his arm, probably causing him some pain. She relaxed her grip.
"We are doing our best, no Op ever goes completely to plan," he told her. Kei suspected that there was an unvoiced, 'You should know that.'
"It was your idea," Kei accused, her tone nearly petulant.
"I'm aware of that, thank you." A touch of anger coloured his voice as his composure cracked ever so slightly.
"You will take responsibility," Kei said, it was a statement and not a question.
"Of course."
"If anything happens to Yuri you're dead." Kei let go of his arm and settled back into her seat.
He nodded and left.
Kei stared at his back. Yesterday she and Yuri had been laying bets on who could seduce him first. Now she was thinking about killing him. Closing her eyes, she let her mind drift free, trying to keep her thoughts away from her friend.
As Asam walked away from Kei he did not let her threat bother him. He understood her; he had lost two partners in his career.
He still was not sure why the trouble consultants had been assigned to him, to the Op really. From what little he had been able to ferret out they were finishing something that might be personal. They wanted the criminal organization they were after brought down. He might find out what their personal stake in it was some other time. At the present he could not afford the time to speculate about it.
The Captain climbed the ladder up to the command section of the drop craft. Coming up behind his com officer, he laid his hand across her shoulder.
"Sir?" She turned to look at him.
"Have you got it yet?"
"We're in the general area, but it's a circle with a diameter of almost five klicks. I'm having trouble pinpointing the signal."
"Why?"
"Interference."
"Are they onto us?"
"No, it looks like it's accidental. Probably due to the structure they're in I'd guess."
"How long?" Asam asked.
"Next pulse should come soon. I'm certain I can get a lock from that one, or the next. Let's say ten minutes, max."
"Too long," he said softly.
"Don't worry Captain." She smiled up at him. "We'll pull the Prima Donna out before any one has time to offend her sensibilities."
Asam shook his head. It was obvious that his com officer did not care much for the trouble consultants. "She's not that bad."
"Maybe my reasons for disliking them, especially Yuri, are petty and childish, but then," she and she smiled again, "so is Yuri."
"Keep that shit quiet, especially around red right now."
"Yes sir."
Asam took his hand from her shoulder and continued forward to the pilot's station. "Mryia make sure your ready to go as soon as we have a location," he said to her as he knelt down beside her chair.
"I'm all ready on it," she told him. "All ships are holding their engines at full readiness. We'll be able to move and move fast on a moments notice."
"Good," Asam said.
The large room, like so much of the deserted factory, no longer served its original purpose. As to what that original purpose might have been Yuri could not guess, but at the moment the room was an interrogation cell. Her hands were secured to an old shelving bracket above her head. The thin cord chafed at her wrists and her shoulder's hurt. She really hated that kind of thing.
There was an angry red mark on the left side of her face. Her blonde dyed hair was dishevelled, her blouse ripped, but the rents were covered by her jacket for the most part. Her skirt had a tear in it and there were several holes and runs in her stockings.
The man standing in front of her was named Valemar. She had read his file. Tall and wiry, chrome cyber-eyes set in a pale face; he was a distinctive gentleman to say the least, Yuri thought. His head was shorn, showing several input jacks mounted in his skull. He wore tight leather pants and a t-shirt with no sleeves.
"Who are you?" he asked Yuri, not for the first time.
"You have my ID," Yuri sobbed, not for the first time, and tears poured down her face, streaking her mascara.
Valemar backhanded her, hard enough for her teeth to cut into the inside of her cheek. Yuri once again thought of how much she hated that sort of thing as she tasted her blood.
"Not the answer I wanted," he screamed into her face.
What had he been eating, Yuri wondered. She resisted the urge to tell him that she would talk if only he would go gargle for a week with a germicide. You are supposed to be a terrified sixteen-year-old she told herself, act like it. She began to cry even harder.
"Stow your bawling girl or I'll give you something to cry about."
Yuri acted like she was trying to make a valiant and vain attempt to do just that. No one seemed to appreciate it. What kind of heartless bastards were these peoples she asked herself. She knew the answer to that question, of course. They were slavers, among other things.
"Who are you?" he asked once again.
"Ismae Grey. Just like it says on my ID," Yuri sobbed. Hopefully they would believe it this time. She hated being helpless and the beating didn't help much.
Valemar shook his head slowly. Then, with an almost regretful look on his face, he slammed his fist into her stomach.
White light danced in front of Yuri's eyes, breath exploded from her lungs, saliva mixed with blood ran down her chin. Her body arched as much as the bonds would allow.
"Valemar, I'm surprised," the big man who came into the room said, becoming the centre of attention. "You know not to damage the merchandise. Really, I didn't think you went in for this sort of thing." The man's name was Alamon, and ultimately it was his fault that Yuri was in such a situation.
Alamon was a very powerful underworld figure. Yuri and Kei had been assigned to track him down two weeks ago, half a galaxy away. He had acquired some information that was considered very dangerous in the wrong hands. Hence requiring the 3WA to act.
The two trouble consultants had already retrieved the information, and killed or captured most of those who had come in direct contact with it. While it was believed that Alamon had not actually reviewed the information, it had been considered prudent to find the man and capture him, just to be sure.
It had taken them some time to find him. Along the way several thousand people had been killed; not that it had been their fault.
Alamon was a well-built man; however a generous layer of fat covered his muscle and it made him look obese. One might even believe that he was slow and harmless. It was a dangerous thing to think. With his greasy blonde hair-worn long-and his muddy brown eyes, he was not a pleasant sight.
The fact he was referring to her as merchandise did not impress Yuri all that much. She did not have much time for any angry thoughts however. She was too busy trying to force air back into her tortured lungs. It felt as if there was an obstruction in her throat.
"I need her to tell me who she really is."
"Have you tried checking out her ID?" Alamon asked, a hint of sarcasm in his tone. "Blade does her ID check out?" he asked, turning to a young woman hooked up to a small computer.
"As far as I can tell," she said. "I've gone pretty deep to."
"Well?" Alamon turned his gaze on Valemar. Yuri was having an easier time breathing and was watching to two men carefully. She was hoping that Alamon might leash Valemar. She really did not need to deal with much more of his interrogation.
"She killed three men in the pens," Valemar told him.
So much for that, Yuri thought.
"Really." He turned to look at Yuri more closely. "One might wonder how she hid weapons in clothes that barely hide her."
"She didn't use a weapon, bare hands, well feet for the most part. When I got in there she had just crushed Cansor's trachea with her hand cuffs."
"Isn't it policy to cuff their hands behind them so things like that can't happen?" Alamon asked, a bit of anger in his tone. He was obviously a man who did not like people getting careless.
"They were"
"Most interesting." Alamon rubbed his chins looking at Yuri very
closely. "I suppose we should find out if she really is who she says."
He conceded the point to Valemar. "Torture is not really the way to do
it, however. And I don't want her being damaged."
"We could sell her to one of our blood game clients, we know she can fight and they won't mind a few scars," a short, rat-like man suggested.
"The best return would come from selling her as a pleasure slave," Alamon said, dismissing the rat's suggestion with a wave of a pudgy hand.
"That would be like selling someone a mountain lion when they asked for a kitten," Valemar said.
"So, I have several clients who would enjoy breaking her."
"You people make me sick," Yuri told them. Perhaps not the best thing to say, but she felt the need to assert herself.
"No doubt, but we are rich," Alamon said nonchalantly as he took a seat close to her. "I'll give your method a little bit longer," he said to Valemar, "continue."
Valemar spun on his heel, hand extended to strike her. The blow split her lower lip.
"Well girl, what do you have to say now?"
Yuri spat a spray of blood and saliva onto his face and shirt. He looked shocked for a second. He reached up and wiped some of the blood off his face. Then he growled and cocked his hand back, obviously forgetting Alamon's earlier warning not to damage her. Yuri recognized a man planning to kill when she saw one.
Yuri dropped all her weight onto her arms, ignoring the pain of the cord cutting into her wrists. She snapped her legs up, jackknifing her body, slamming her heels into the underside of his jaw.
Valemar's body jerked upwards, his feet actually leaving the ground. Yuri was reacting faster than she could thing, hardwired reflexes driving her. Body still folded, she spread her legs and then used her feet to grasp the man's head, holding it tight. As he began to fall she twisted her body again, her bonds twisting above her as she jerked Valemar's body around.
There was a crack as his neck snapped, and his body fell heavily to the floor.
Yuri pushed herself up, taking the weight off her arms, turning about
to face the rest of the room. She could feel blood from her cut wrists
trickling down her forearms.
Everyone in the room was silent. Alamon looked at Valemar's body, a curious look of disbelief and anger on his face.
"Get that body out of here," Alamon finally snapped. "Someone tie her legs."
Several men and women rushed to do his bidding.
Yuri fought, though she knew it was useless, and she wanted to get a few licks in while she could. She broke one woman's nose with a kick, doubled a man over when she hit him in the crotch. It didn't help though. In the end they had tied her feet to another shelving bracket.
"Very well," Alamon said, looking at Yuri, "let's see what we can do. Drugs?"
"Already tried them," Blade said. "High dosage, she should not even be awake now."
"So difficult," he said, as he looked Yuri over. "Garman." Alamon's tone was deadly soft and regretful at the same time. "Convince our guest to talk."
A short, stocky man stood. He took a riot club from the floor and approached her. Yuri found herself begging and crying. Most of it was faked. She was terrified, but she didn't let that control her.
"You want to talk?" Garman asked.
"Please don't do this," she said, knowing he would.
"Wrong answer." He slammed the club into her side. Yuri screamed as she felt a rib snap.
"Captain Asam," the com officer called, looking over her shoulder.
Asam looked up from what he was doing; snapping ballistic plates onto the armour-cloth body-stocking he wore. He would not be going in with his men as his reflexes had been slowed by age and his presence would therefore be a danger to everyone. Still, stray shots killed as well as directed ones.
"I've got the prima-donna's location pin pointed. Lamar Island." Asam felt the ship turn and accelerate as Mryia acted. "In the deserted factory complex. I called up the file and got the floor plans. Supposedly the place is deserted."
"Good work. Get a map transferred to all section commanders." He walked to the rear of the bridge section, grabbed the ladder, and slid down into the Ops bay.
"All right boys and girls, it's showtime," he yelled. "Lock and load."
A flurry of activity erupted around him as his people made last second preparations. The ramp at the back of the drop ship was beginning to open for launch of the flight capable battle frames and cymechs.
Asam looked at his watch. It was almost thirty minutes later than he had planned to extract Yuri. She should be fine, but he could not help feeling he had sentenced a woman young enough to be his daughter to her death. It was a grim thought. He climbed back up the ladder to the bridge.
Kei pulled a submachine gun from the weapon rack near her seat. As she pushed a drum magazine into it she thought about Yuri. She pictured her friend, with her hair dyed that stupid shade of blonde, popping bubblegum as she parroted the slang of the local teenagers. Kei had called her an idiot.
She cocked the weapon. "Yuri you better not die on me or I'll never forgive you," Kei said quietly to herself.
"Want to talk now?" Garman asked, his tone almost civil.
Yuri was not feeling her best. Her lower right arm was broken. Her left eye was swollen shut, she had felt something warm and sticky leaking from the socket earlier. Several more ribs had broken; fortunately she did not think that hey had caused any serious internal damage. On top of that were many welts, bruises, cuts, and abrasions, and she had to go to the bathroom. The silliness of the final thought made Yuri smile.
"You think something's funny bitch." Garman grabbed her chin. She winced as he reopened her split lip but continued to smile in spite of it.
"Oh go to hell you slimy, boneheaded, sad excuse for a sentient being," Yuri said around her swollen lips and the blood in her mouth. She met his gaze with her one good eye and broadened her smile.
"It's useless, she won't talk." Garman said.
"Oh who gives a damn any more," Alamon said, a certain exhaustion in his tone. "Kill her and we'll figure it all out later."
Garman nodded and cocked his arm back. Yuri guessed this next hit was not going to be the taps he had given her before. He looked quite ready to crush her skull.
Her mind seemed to explode into so many directions at once. There were thousands of things she had wanted to do but now never would. The operation had gone sour and she could not expect extraction. She was dead. Then her mind focused fully on Kei. Poor Kei, without me around who is going too keep her out of trouble, Yuri thought.
Then the absurdity of that thought hit her. Kei was sitting safely in one of the drop ships right now. Yuri laughed, ignoring the pain it caused her.
Garman stopped his swing; he looked at Yuri, obviously not understanding what was so funny. He looked back at Alamon. Alamon just shrugged his shoulders and drew a finger across his throat.
Garman nodded and prepared to swing again.
Still laughing she looked right into his eyes. Something from her earlier days at the 3WA training academy on Shimogu came back to her. Live fast, love hard, die young and go with a gun in your hand. It was a motto of young women and men who believed they were immortal. Still, three out of four was not bad though, Yuri decided.
The drop ships made a full combat landing, coming in fast, cutting their speed at the last moment. They hit the ground hard enough to damage their landing gear. Asam slid down the ladder from the cockpit; his com link was already filled with noise from all the teams. To anyone else it may well have sounded like bedlam, but he heard a symphony. All around him people were moving into their positions.
The flight capable cymechs and battle frames were all ready penetrating the structure. So was Kei.
He had seen her grab a map board, a locator and a flight harness. Then she had gone out the ramp with the air assault section. He had not even thought about stopping her.
"Mryia," he said, switching his com frequency over to air tactical, "get these birds in the air. On my go signal flame the two bridges leading to this island."
"Don't you think that is a little extreme sir?" she asked, but her drop ship was all ready taking to the air, the other two following.
"Yes, but do it anyway and any aircraft not emitting a friendly signal are to be considered enemy, take them out."
"Yes sir," Mryia said her tone professional. Asam was certain she was smiling.
He switched back to ground tactical frequency and began giving his orders.
Yuri watched as Garman raised the club above his head. He shifted his grip on it and then began to bring it down. She forced herself to keep her eyes open. If she was going to die she wanted to see it. Then Garman's skull seemed to explode. Yuri was uncertain what had happened, but before she could give it any serious thought she was falling.
For some indeterminate time Yuri lay sprawled on the floor in a daze. It was probably only seconds, but for all she could tell it might have been an eternity. Then the screams brought her back. She could hear gunfire as well. It was far off, but getting closer.
She pulled her wrists apart--trying to ignore the pain from broken bones grating together--and the cord came loose. It looked as if it had been burnt. The result of some very close shooting. It had Kei written all over it. She thrust her legs apart and the cord around her ankles unwound just as easily.
Someone was running at her, or towards her, Yuri was not certain. She grabbed the riot club Garman had dropped, twisted about, and slammed the club into a woman. The woman fell and Yuri was on her back in a second, driving the handle of the club against the woman's skull.
She had to keep herself from hitting the woman again. It was not the time to give into the anger. She could save that for later.
Out of the corner of her eye Yuri saw Alamon knock an old cabinet over and exit through the doorway revealed. Yanking the assault rifle out of the woman's hand Yuri pushed herself up and set off after the man, revenge dominating her thoughts. She had no time for pain though she didn't doubt she had to clear a reasonable portion of her calendar for it later.
It was not easy to keep up with him, but fortunately there were not many places he could go. The corridor was almost straight with few cross-corridors. He went down several flights of stairs, Yuri following as fast as she could push her abused body. She knew she was not really in the shape to be doing it, but she had a stubborn streak.
Time passed and Yuri felt as if she was on her tenth wind. She was having trouble breathing. Please don't let lung be punctured, she thought. Her adrenaline high was gone; she had trouble believing it had ever existed.
Then she saw Alamon ahead of her, standing in front of a set of elevator doors.
"Freeze or your dead," she yelled even as she pulled the trigger. Her first shots went wide, slamming into the wall.
Alamon
spun and fired, one of his rounds grazing Yuri's arm. Deciding that
short bursts were not going to work in her current condition Yuri
instead held the trigger down and simply sprayed the area.
She
caught him first across his knees, almost taking his lower legs from
the rest of his body. He conveniently pitched forward into her reverse
swing. The hollow points chopped away at his head and chest. Messy, but
very gratifying.
The bolt locked back when the magazine emptied. She let go of the rifle and it clattered loudly on the floor.
Yuri turned slowly and began to walk back the way she had come. What a lousy day, she thought. "I need a drink." She began to giggle and suspected that was not a good sign.
"Yuri!" a familiar voice called out.
Yuri looked up and saw Kei running towards her. Kei held something in her hand that Yuri guessed was a tracking device. "Kei," Yuri called out, or tried to. Her voice sounded weak in her ears.
Kei ran to Yuri and threw her arms around her friend. "Yuri," she cried, hugging her tightly. Yuri did not let the pain that caused bother her, just happy to see Kei. "Don't you ever do this to me again," Kei said fiercely.
Kei released her after a moment and stepped back to look at Yuri. The smile was instantly gone from her face.
"Those bastards," Kei snarled. "I'll kill them."
"I'm all right," Yuri lied. "And the bastards are all already dead, for the most part."
"Your not all right," Kei told her. "You look like you've been through a shredder." Kei touched her com link and switched to medical frequency. "This is tri whisky alpha. I want air medevac on my signal and I want it yesterday!" Kei turned the receiver off so she would not have to listen to someone berate her for improper radio procedures.
"Come on." Kei helped Yuri to the elevator. "I'm pretty sure this will take us up to the surface of the island, if the plans are still current."
The doors of the elevator stood open. Kei helped Yuri over the body of Alamon into the elevator.
"I swear if there's not a hospital ship waiting for us I'm going to rip Asam, and anyone else I can lay my hands on, into bloody chunks," Kei growled.
Yuri began to giggle again. It was a mixture of shock, hysteria, relief and the humour she found in Kei's over uncharacteristic protectiveness.
Kei looked down at Alamon's body as the doors began to close.
"So much for bringing him in alive," Kei said.
"Oops." Yuri said, and then she passed out. Kei grabbed her before she hit the floor.